Chapter Text
The Imperial Palace had a remarkable talent, Emperor Jing thought. He was emperor, in the most lavish accomodations his country could provide, and still be felt like there was a layer of ice over his skin when he laid down to sleep most nights. He had begun rejecting his wives from entering his bed chambers at night. He could hardly remember their names or which one gave him which child, he didn't need them clinging to him with hands that felt like brands on numb skin while he waited for the night to be over. At least during the day he had his duties to keep the gnawing wave inside himself at bay.
It had been months since Chu Yanyu had last slept beside him. There wasn't a fight, or a reason. Chu Yanyu had simply found an excuse to spend a night in his own room, and that became two then three and so on. He'd done it before, Mu Tianchi had simply called him back after graciously allowing him a break... but he wasn't sure if he wanted to do that again.
Sure, his greatest joy was Chu Yanyu's laugh, not the fake one he used to placate, but the real one that made his beautiful face scrunch up. The only gift his muteness had given him was stopping him moaning Chu Yanyu's name while he was between his other wives' legs as he couldn't stay erect for any of them without thinking of the only person who has ever made him feel weak. That didn't mean it was easy to reach out to him anymore. They had been married near two decades and his love was still met with nothing but resentment. He was like a fire pit after the forest fire that was born from it had gone out. Smouldering and surrounded by nothing but ash and a cold night.
He fell asleep to chill silence but woke to warmth and quite giggling.
How did he get to Jing Palace? He recognized the room immediately but it was all wrong. The decor was different, there were paintings he recognized as being by his own hand but didn't remember ever making, there was a giant fish tank right beside the bed and he could see a massive pond under the evening moonlight outside the window. A strange setting for a dream.
At his side there was a naked man sleeping soundly. His shoulders and chest were bruised with love bites, his face utterly content as he sighed in his sleep. His curly hair a mess on the pillows. When Mu Tianchi had sat up the covers had lowered enough to expose the slight outward curve of the stranger's belly, he almost looked pregnant.
The giggling hushed as one little voice spoke. "Shh!! Don't wake up Fish Dada, Háobao. We have to be sneaky." she was whispering in that way very small children did before they learned how to do it correctly. Slowly the door slid open and a sweet face framed by the same brown curly brown hair as the man next to him peaked into the room. Her doe like eyes went wide as she saw Mu Tianchi already awake, but she didn't retreat.
She shushed the other child with her, a boy who was maybe two or three while the girl was nearer to seven, before leading him into the emperor's room like it was the most normal thing to do. The boy- He looked startling like Mu Tianchi. He had the exact same (formerly) round face and dark eyes and pin straight hair.
The girl came to the side of the bed, peaking over the edge with a look like a pleading dog.
"Dada, Méngbao had a nightmare. Can we sleep with you?" she pouted forlornly. His own children had never once so much as mentioned a dream to him, this one was calling him her Dada and using her younger brother as an excuse to sleep in his bed despite being too old for even the most doting parent to tolerate that.
"Yuebao?" the man stirred with a yawn. "I heard something about a nightmare?" he sat up then leaned over the edge of the bed and picked the boy up to settle him between himself and Mu Tianchi, then did the same with the girl.
"Emperor Dada missing." Méngbao explained sadly as he hugged onto Mu Tianchi's arm.
"Oh no, I wonder if we'll ever find him." The man bit back a small laugh as he bent to press a kiss to the boy's forehead. "Hmmm..." he pretended to look around the room with a finger held to his lips before turning to Mu Tianchi and smiling something so warm it might burn. "There he is!"
The children giggled, the man put a hand on the side of Mu Tianchi's face to steady him as he pressed a brief kiss to his lips. A questioning look passing over his face when Mu Tianchi didn't reciprocate. "Love-?"
Mu Tianchi cleared his throat and waved away the implied concern as he settled back into bed. This was all just a dream. It was ok to live it for a moment.
There was a chorus of mumbled goodnights and I love you's as the others got comfortable, and then they went to sleep like there wasn't a stranger in their midst.
The man knew him. These children called him Emperor Dada. What meaning was he supposed to take from this? He lay awake in that bed listening to their steady breaths until sleep claimed him. He almost dreaded waking. This had been so strange... but comfortable in a wholely new way.
He woke slowly in the morning. Keeping his eyes closed for longer than he needed to just so he could let the warmth linger a moment longer. When he opened them he was still in Jing Palace. There was still a stranger in his bed, and he realized that this might not be a simple dream.
Li Yu woke to Mu Tianchi getting out of bed like it were on fire. He pulled on a robe in a hurry as he swept around the room like he'd never seen it before. His face cold and stern in a way it hadn't been around Li Yu in years. The children slept soundly enough that he was able to get up too and follow Mu Tianchi to the desk.
"Tianchi? Are you ok?" he caught him by the sleeve, only for it to be ripped away from his hand. "That's a no- What's wrong?"
His husband didn't say a word, just shoved him out of the way to get at the brush and ink. A revised painting of their family in their koi forms was on the desk drying from his work on it the night before. The original had only been designed to accommodate Li Yu and their sons, it was passable when Mu Tianchi and Xuebao were added, but with their two younger children and their eighth on the way there had been no pretending it didn't need to be updated properly.
Mu Tianchi acted like it was scrap as he picked an empty section and wrote "Who are you?"