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Hua Cheng had taken Xie Lian to a charming little town at the base of a mountain to get away from Paradise Manor and the demands of the Heavenly Realm. He could tell Xie Lian was becoming restless, spending more and more time at Puqi Shrine. Hua Cheng quickly came to the (correct) conclusion that his husband missed the presence of humans more than he would admit. Not that Xie Lian ever admitted anything; he remained close-mouthed about most things. He was improving in telling Hua Cheng his feelings but asking for things he wanted remained difficult for him.
So, it was up to Hua Cheng to figure it out. Not that he minded, of course, he would do anything for His Highness, but he couldn’t always figure out what Xie Lian wanted. However, he had gotten better and better at it, and he had preened when Xie Lian eagerly agreed to go on a short trip during the Dragon Boat Festival to a human town.
It would only be a few days, as both had many duties to attend to, but Xie Lian didn’t seem to mind. They had closed their communication arrays to everyone but themselves, reserved a room at a rather expensive inn at Hua Cheng’s insistence, and were now wandering the night streets and stalls, lit by flames and lines of brightly painted paper lanterns. The nearby river was filled with gently bobbing Dragon Boats, the race having already concluded.
Xie Lian hopped from stall to stall, grinning and buying whatever he wanted (at Hua Cheng’s insistence), always sharing half of his purchases with Hua Cheng.
Hua Cheng smiled serenely as Xie Lian handed him a stick of candied hawthorn.
“Thank you, gege,” he said and Xie Lian’s smile widened.
“You’re welcome, San Lang!” he said, popping one of the candies into his mouth. “They’re delicious! I thought you’d like some!”
“You were right, gege.”
Neither of them really needed to eat, but that didn’t stop them from enjoying food and drink. Especially delicacies and the sweet and savory foods only sold during festivals.
Xie Lian took another bite of his candy, still smiling at Hua Cheng with round cheeks, and Hua Cheng laughed in delight. This made Xie Lian blush before his smile impossibly widened and he took another bite — this time a whole candied berry.
He was in the middle of swallowing the candy when a blur of white and black collided with Xie Lian’s thighs, causing Xie Lian to choke. Hua Cheng, alarmed, beat Xie Lian between the shoulder blades until he coughed up the candy. He fell back against Hua Cheng’s chest, gasping when the candy was gone, splattered on the cobblestones, hands scrabbling at his throat.
Hua Cheng caught his hands before Xie Lian could do any real damage to his skin and murmured to him, holding Xie Lian close until the god calmed down.
Around five minutes later, when Xie Lian had calmed, Hua Cheng turned to see the culprit standing at their feet, eyes huge.
A child, no more than five.
He was dressed in white robes, black hair pulled into a ponytail, with a colorful bracelet tied around his wrist. Hua Cheng recognized the bracelet as a five-colored silk-threaded braid, meant to ward off bad luck on the day of the Dragon Boat festival, but nothing was going to stop Hua Cheng from lashing out at the little boy.
“You!” he hissed through gritted teeth, red eye flashing. “Look what you did!”
The boy stared up at Hua Cheng and Xie Lian with huge brown eyes before falling into a clumsy bow, hands clutched in front of his chest.
“I’m sorry!” he cried. “I didn’t mean to!”
“Who cares if you didn’t mean to?” Hua Cheng all but yelled, anger boiling in his unbeating heart. It wasn’t beneath him to harm a child. Nothing was beneath him when it came to His Highness. “He almost choked! And it was your fault!”
The boy’s lip trembled, and tears began to well in his big eyes.
“I-I’m sorry!” he said, clearly on the verge of sobbing. “I really didn’t mean to!”
“Shut—!”
“San Lang,” Xie Lian interrupted, and Hua Cheng immediately fell silent, looking down at his husband. He seemed fine now, color returning to his face, and he was calm. Xie Lian smiled at Hua Cheng reassuringly, patted his chest, then pulled away from him, kneeling on the road, eye to eye with the little boy.
The boy’s eyes widened even more but he didn’t look frightened. Xie Lian had that effect on children; they were never scared of him, no matter the situation.
He bowed again, still clumsy.
“Daozhang,” he greeted. Tears still shone in his eyes and when he lifted his head, he looked sheepish and sorry. “I didn’t mean to.”
Xie Lian smiled and laid a hand on top of the boy’s head.
“Of course, you didn’t, little one,” he said. “It’s all right, I’m not mad.”
The child nodded before his eyes flicked to Hua Cheng, uncertain. Xie Lian laughed.
“Don’t worry about him!” he said. “San Lang is harmless!” He lowered his voice to a whisper, as if Hua Cheng couldn’t hear him. “He just loves me very much, you see. He’s very protective.”
The child’s lips parted in a silent “oh” and he nodded slowly in understanding.
“My a-die loves someone too,” he said. He pouted. “But he won’t tell me who it is.”
Hua Cheng laughed shortly, making the boy glare at him, but Xie Lian just smiled at the boy, gentle.
“I’m sure your a-die has his reasons for not telling you,” he said. “Sometimes grown-ups like to keep secrets.”
“You shouldn’t keep secrets if they make you sad!” the boy argued hotly. “A-die said that! And whoever he loves makes him sad!”
Xie Lian frowned in confusion and exchanged a look with Hua Cheng, who just shrugged. Don’t ask me, he said through their communication array. I don’t know what he’s talking about. I’m shit with kids.
Xie Lian opened his mouth to ask what the little boy meant, but the child had already jumped to the next topic, as young children were ought to do.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, pointing at the bandages wrapped around Xie Lian’s arms. The boy’s eyes widened. “Did I do that?” he cried.
“Of course, you didn’t,” Xie Lian reassured. “My arms were already bandaged before you ran into me.” He paused for a moment. “Why did you run into me?” he asked. He looked around for an adult to claim the boy but saw no one approaching. “Where’s your father?”
“I lost him,” the boy said, lip wobbling again. “I ran into you because I thought you were him. A-die wears white robes too.”
“Oh, I see,” Xie Lian said. “That makes sense.”
The little boy turned to Hua Cheng and pointed at him.
“And you look familiar too.”
Hua Cheng frowned, puzzled.
“What are you talking about?” he said. “I have no idea who you are, kid.”
“Not your face,” the boy said with a shake of his head. “Your clothes. Red and black. They look like. . . something I’ve seen before.”
“What?” Hua Cheng said. “What are you—?”
“A-Yuan!” a voice cried, and the little boy turned his head, face lighting up when he saw who was running up to them.
“A-die!” he cried, raising his arms up for the man. “I was looking for you!”
The man rushed to them in a flash of white, scooping the boy — A-Yuan— into his arms, hugging him tight.
“Why did you run off?” he asked. “I told you not to leave my side.”
A-Yuan returned the man’s hug.
“Sorry, a-die,” he said. “I saw a wax rabbit you might like, so I ran to get it before anyone else could.”
The man holding A-Yuan melted a bit, patting A-Yuan’s back with a sigh.
“It was kind of you to think of me, A-Yuan,” he said, “but there’s no need to get me anything. We came down the mountain for you, after all.”
“Mn!” the boy cried. He pulled away from the man and pointed to Xie Lian and Hua Cheng with a big smile. “These geges were taking care of me!” he said. “The one in white was very nice!”
The man holding A-Yuan looked up for the first time since he had found the boy, and Hua Cheng and Xie Lian were met with serious golden eyes set in a young, handsome face. He did not smile when he got to his feet, A-Yuan on his hip, but bowed to them respectfully.
“Thank you for watching A-Yuan,” he said. “I apologize for any inconvenience.”
Hua Cheng opened his mouth to complain about the incident, but Xie Lian waved two fingers at him, a signal to back off. Hua Cheng did so, though he wasn’t happy about it.
The man seemed to notice this, because his grip tightened around A-Yuan, and he whispered something to the boy. He pouted before nodding unhappily. The young man sighed.
“I will take A-Yuan now,” he said. He reached for his purse, but Xie Lian shook his hands wildly.
“No, no, no! You don’t need to give us any money, a-die!” he cried. “A-Yuan was so sweet to watch over for a bit.”
The young man’s fingers froze above his purse. His lips turned down into a frown.
“Lan Wangji,” he said.
“Huh?”
“Lan Wangji,” the young man repeated. “That is my name. Not a-die.”
“Oh.” Xie Lian flushed red. “Oh, yes! I’m sorry!”
“It’s fine,” Lan Wangji said. He hefted A-Yuan closer to him before turning away without another word, but Hua Cheng called out to him.
“Wait!” he cried. “Are you from the Gusu Lan clan?”
He watched as the man stiffened, all the confirmation Hua Cheng needed besides the white robes and embroidered forehead ribbon, but the boy looked over Lan Wangji’s shoulder with a grin.
“We’re from Gusu!” He pointed at the high peak nestled among the clouds and stars. “We live up there! All the Lans do!” He poked a thumb at his chest. “I’m Lan Yuan!” he said proudly. “Lan as in blue and Yuan as in hope and desire!”
“Is that so?” Xie Lian said with a smile. “My name is Xie Lian, and this is my husband San Lang.”
Lan Wangji stiffened even more but A-Yuan just smiled and nodded.
“That’s cool!” he said, clutching at the ends of Lan Wangji’s forehead ribbon. “My dàye likes a man too! They’re both Sect Leaders!”
“A-Yuan,” Lan Wangji said, voice tight. “You shouldn’t speak of private matters.”
A-Yuan pouted and turned to whisper something in Lan Wangji’s ear.
“Do you love a man too, a-die?” he asked, and Lan Wangji stiffened so much that Hua Cheng thought he would shatter. He laid a trembling hand on A-Yuan’s back.
“No matter who I love, they are no longer here,” he said, voice quiet. “You are the only one I live for now.”
“Oh.” A-Yuan nodded like this made all the sense in the world and laid his head on Lan Wangji’s shoulder. He patted Lan Wangji’s back with his small hand. “I won’t leave you, a-die,” he said. “Never, ever.”
He fell asleep on Lan Wangji’s shoulder a few moments later, clearly exhausted.
The muscles in Lan Wangji’s back loosened a bit, and Xie Lian exchanged a sad look with Hua Cheng.
“Where did your loved one go?” Xie Lian dared to ask, and Lan Wangji turned to face Xie Lian, golden eyes dark and clouded.
“Dead,” he said, voice tight. “No longer here.”
“Oh,” Xie Lian said. For the first time, he noticed how very young this man was, hardly even twenty. Too young for the heartache written on his face and voice.
“Maybe they’ll come back,” Hua Cheng spoke, and Xie Lian whirled to him, eyes wide in warning. However, Hua Cheng ignored him, speaking gently to Lan Wangji. “My love came back.”
Lan Wangji narrowed his eyes, looking between Xie Lian and Hua Cheng. After a moment, he sighed.
“He will not come back,” he said, voice tight. “He is not immortal.”
Xie Lian’s eyes widened.
“How—?”
“I know your faces,” Lan Wangji said. “You have many temples in the villages surrounding this area.”
“Oh.”
“Indeed.” Lan Wangji dipped his head again, careful of the sleeping boy in his arms. “Farewell,” he said, and disappeared into the milling crowd without another word.
Xie Lian and Hua Cheng watched him leave with the little boy, and, when they had gone, Xie Lian reached out to take Hua Cheng’s hand. He squeezed it tight.
“Sometimes I forget how sad humans are,” he whispered. He turned and looked up at Hua Cheng, eyes shining with tears. “Can we go home now, San Lang?”
“Of course, Your Highness,” Hua Cheng said. “Anything for you.”
They abandoned their room at the inn, returning instead to Paradise Manor, and when they laid in their bed hours later, Xie Lian stared at the ceiling, haunted by the sad golden eyes settled under a white forehead ribbon.
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