Time for something a little...unorthodox
Okay, so this story is actually a series of one shots centering around my completely made up and original Zhao Yun x Zhang Liao pairing.
Several of these stories will be lemons, smut, Bara, Yaoi, ect, whatever. Not all of them will have sex, but most will contain romance. Some of them will feature other characters, but the stories will mostly center around Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao. These are all stand alone stories - though I may link or relate some of them - each taking place in one of various continuities (historical, hypothetical, Warriors Orochi, AU, or even modern AU.) Some will be lighthearted and humorous, others will be tragic and sad. Some will be uplifting and heartwarming, and some will be dark.
(Disclaimer: Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao and all Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, and Warriors Orochi characters are property of Koei Tecmo. The stories and situations presented in this series of one-shots are purely fictional and of my creation and are not based on any existing context within Dynasty Warriors/Romance of the Three Kingdoms canon or historical records.)
With that, my first ever published lemon. Enjoy!
The Gift of Time.
Universe: AU
Characters: Zhao Yun x Zhang Liao, Liu Bei (towards the beginning)
Genre: Bara, Humor.
Rating: M for moderately explicit sex and mild language.
Lost time is never found again.
-Benjamin Franklin
It had been a long battle. From head to toe, Zhao Yun could feel exhaustion practically pulsating through his blood. No amount of training could have readied him for the length of this battle. Yet, he had to keep standing to keep up the class act. The warriors of Shu stood in the enemy's main camp whilst Liu Bei carried on his speech. The stench of dirt, sweat and rotting blood plagued the air. As Zhao Yun listened to his lord speak, he could hear his voice deepened by the strain of years of fighting on his back.
"Fellow warriors. After such a long and grueling battle," Liu Bei announced with obvious strain, battered down in much the same way as everyone else. "We have been able to push back our enemy. However they are large in number; our forces I fear grow weaker, but so do theirs. The coming days will prove to be a great trial for us. I recommend everyone get a good night sleep, for I don't know what tomorrow will bring. You are free to go everyone. I thank all of you for you're effort today."
Zhao Yun rested on a bench near the edge of the garrison after the generals had dispersed. His arms rested in his lap. Zhao Yun had not suffered any wounds, but his body ached from sheer exhaustion alone. Finally getting a chance to rest, he realized that walking back to camp would be too tiring. Hell, he didn't even feel apt to taking a horse.
Am I getting too old for this? Shit, how does Huang Zhong always have so much energy?
There was no question Zhao Yun was aging. When he had first joined Liu Bei, he felt as if he could fight nonstop if it meant protecting his lord. But his waning stamina became more of an uphill battle with age in recent years.
He felt a familiar heat radiating near him as he heard footsteps approach him. He didn't look up; he already knew who it was.
"You can't possibly be worn out now..." Zhao Yun ignored his condensing tone. Of course these days, war wasn't the only thing that occupied his energy "...after just that much?"
"It's only because of you that I am."
The Shu warrior began to rub his temple. He had no desire to put up with Zhang Liao's bragging. He did it in the most subtle way, but Zhao Yun had known him long enough to know when he was trying to put him down.
"So it's my fault again?"
Zhao Yun clenched his teeth.
Shut up, Zhang Liao, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up Zhang Liao shut up, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!
Zhao Yun felt the warrior's hand upon his shoulder.
"Don't stress about it."
Zhang Liao sat next the Shu general.
"These battles are getting harder for us to fight. Can't deny that there comes a point when age starts to catch up to you." The Wei general chuckled.
"If you're going to start insisting that I care about my age, then you can save me the lecture," Zhao Yun snapped. "So long as there exists threats to the Kingdom of Shu, and my lord's ambition goes unrealized, I'll fight until my bones shatter."
"Typical."
Oh, how Zhao Yun hated having to put up with Cao Cao and his goons. They could never understand just the amount of dedication it took to serving more than just theirselves.
"The thing is, Zhao Yun, I'm also a man who dislikes letting the winds of time control my destiny. I understand you more than anyone. But even I have my limits. Now, surviving on the battlefield is one thing, but I'm not immortal. If I could find a way to stop it I would, but I can't. We're always going to get older."
Zhang Liao held his fingers to Zhao Yun's lips when he tried to say something. "Don't try to deny it! The added stress is only going to make it worse. I was just like you three ago...trying to tell myself that it didn't matter. Eventually I made peace with the fact that I was past my prime, and I no longer felt weighed down by it."
The one thing Zhao Yun hated more than putting up with a Wei soldier was putting up with a Wei soldier that was right.
Zhao Yun sighed. He really couldn't say anything. He knew that Zhang Liao spoke the truth.
"You smell like a rotten noodle broth," Zhang Liao quipped abruptly.
"Likewise."
"Come on. The bathing rooms should still be open at this hour. Let's get ourselves cleaned up..." Zhang Liao turned to him with a devious half-smile "...and I'll help you relieve some of that stress?"
"I suppose that's what I'm here for. Knock yourself out."
Zhang Liao burst into a rolling laughter. Zhao Yun couldn't help but roll his eyes.
He had to admit, he felt better already.
Zhao Yun slipped out of the last of his essentials, and hung it on the clothing pole. Zhang Liao stood near him with a white towel hanging around his waist. Beside him was an open water coffin used for spa treatment. The Shu general glanced at the older warrior, noticing him with him eyes closed and his arms crossed over his bare chest.
"What are you thinking about?"
Zhang Liao opened his eyes, but he didn't make eye contact with him.
"When this war is over..." Zhang Liao started... "Would you be willing to come with me back to Wei?"
That question was so sudden, but it reemerged a sense of foreboding dread. He knew he would have to have this conversation eventually.
If someone had asked that question years ago, Zhao Yun would never have considered it. His loyalty lied only to Shu. If the wars were to ever end in his lifetime, Zhao Yun desired to live with his fellow warriors in Shu.
But for what purpose? Was it loyalty? Zhao Yun had served Liu Bei since he was but a mere wonderer. He was one of the first to swear loyalty to him, but he was never bound by an oath. He could never have a place in Liu Bei's heart like that if his sworn brothers.
"Only if there will be peace," Zhao Yun answered in a surprisingly truthful way. Really when he thought about, if peace between Shu and Wei could be maintained, what reason did he have not to go with Zhang Liao? There was no denying it now, he had a connection to the Wei general that he never had with anyone before.
"Then let's work at keeping it that way. After all, if there's one thing that we can depend on to get better with age, it's our minds. It'll be difficult, but it'll be better for us in the long run."
For all of his faults, the thing about Zhang Liao that he always respected was his undying determination in the face of adversity. Perhaps that is why he accepted his offer. It gave him a chance, as a man with another, to further his own wisdom. It was Zhao Yun's greatest hope in these confusing, ever changing times.
"That seems to be an offer I cannot refuse."
"Good!" Zhang Liao patted his shoulder. "Now get in the water."
Zhao Yun rolled his eyes again, before stepping in the leaning over the coffin and laying himself down into the open, broad container. Zhang Liao supported him as Zhao Yun lowered himself. Once most of his body was submerged in the shallow water, Zhao Yun then lowered his head, touching the bottom of the coffin so that his ears were underneath the water. Zhang Liao stood over the Shu general's head. Zhao Yun closed his eyes as he felt the older general's calloused fingers caress his head, sinking through his hair and gently into his scalp. The older warrior took in a deep breath.
After a few minutes, the sounds that gracefully carved through the water swelled in his ears. Soon, there were daunting, hollow sounds erupting through his ears as he felt his head lightening. Life moving about their surroundings flowed into him, from footsteps in the hallway to negotiations in meeting rooms and nocturnal wildlife in the surrounding habitats and wilderness. The water grew colder, and soon he could feel Zhang Liao's faint breathing against his cold face.
Zhang Liao was performing a ritual called "Zhangti." It was a form of hypnosis that he learned from a monk (at least he said he was a monk) that he met when he ran away from home when he was an adolescent. It allowed the hypnotizer to manipulate the water's effects on the receiver's body to either heighten or suppress stimulations, requiring a very focused transfer of chi. It was said that one who practiced it enough could eventually learn to control people's thoughts. For this reason, the practice was said to be forbidden among legends and religious scriptures (which made Zhao Yun question the legitimacy of this "monk") because it could be used to "poison the mind with unholy thoughts". Zhang Liao, however, was able to hold Zhao Yun's trust by teaching the ritual to the younger warrior, and the two agreed that they would keep the knowledge of the ritual between the two of them as another one of their secrets. Wrong though it was, Zhao Yun liked keeping these secrets with him. He felt it strengthened their connection, in a sense.
Zhao Yun's breathing slowed to a level completely inaudible. Zhang Liao opened his eyes to look upon his half conscious, now shivering form.
"How do you feel?" Zhang Liao asked.
"The water is...really cold." Zhao Yun whispered somewhat incoherently. Once Zhao Yun was able to hear Zhang Liao coherently through the water - and his lessened state of mind - that was the sign that the hypnosis was complete.
"Alright, that'll be enough."
Zhang Liao supported the half conscious general as he got out of the coffin and stood him on his feet. Beads of water slipped off his bare form and splashed on the wooden floor. The Wei general removed the towel from his waist and began to dry him off. As the cloth brushed over Zhao Yun well-toned body, Zhang Liao smirked to himself. He stared at the trailing beads of water with wanting eyes as they slid down Zhao Yun's skin. He threw the towel aside wanting to explore the rest of him with his hands.
His hardened palm brushed over his damp skin. The sight of the Shu warrior's ruffled, spiky hair falling over his freshly moist peach skin filled him to his passionate drive. His hand glided over to his chest, rising and falling with his slow breathing. Zhao Yun uttered a drunken moan when he felt his nipple being rolled in his fingers. In his hypnotized state, his heightened nerves sent pleasure dancing one through him with almost excessive intensity.
"That's good..." Zhao Yun whispered.
"Just relax, Zhao Yun," Zhang Liao's hand rolled down to the younger warrior's organ. "Just let me do all the work, and I'll get rid of that stress for you."
Zhang Liao stroked the shaft and eased his hand back in a painfully slow movement. His smirk grew Zhao Yun's face contorted in drunken pleasure.
"Yeah, that's it. Keep doing that."
Zhao Yun couldn't stop his hands coming up to rub his pink knobs. Seeing the Shu general, submitting to the desires of his body, had Zhang Liao wooden in seconds. He had to move Zhao Yun's arms away to keep himself from completely losing all restraint.
"What did I say?"
The Shu general growled in frustration, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything.
"Just let me handle it."
Zhao Yun's manhood pulsating in his grasp, Zhang Liao's face twisted in his focus to give Zhao Yun the highest level of stimulation. He waited, teasing the warrior with his inaction, as his eyes skimmed over his chiseled body as it flexed with arousing rhythm.
Zhang Liao's mouth moved over Zhao Yun's nipple. His tongue circled, stabbed, and swiped the pink nob. Zhao Yun, putting his arm across the other man's back, gasped uneasily as he felt soft, warm flesh intensely rubbing the darkened circle. The hand around his now fully erect pole twisted and stroked with more speed. Zhang Liao moved to the other nipple and treated it to his tongue. Already he could feel some of his substance leaking out of his organ. Zhang Liao's grip tightened and his stroking continued to accelerate. He still had an expression of focus as the younger warrior pulsated pleasure through his being. He pressed himself against the Shu warrior, feeling the heat that exuded from him, a sensation once foreign but now comfortingly familiar.
Zhao Yun gasped when he felt himself being lifted off of his feet. Soon he was on the floor, slightly in a daze from the quick movement, sitting leaned back on his forearms with Zhang Liao now lying over him. In their sudden closeness Zhang Liao's organ was touching his own. The older warrior dragged his tongue across his chest before digging and biting at his darkened nob again. With their manhoods nestled together, Zhang Liao grasp them tightly with his free hand and stroked them together with torturously slow assertion.
Zhao Yun needed to assure him of how fast he was coming to the edge, but his mind quickly went blank. He couldn't focus on anything. In his hypnotized state, all he could think about was the passionate flames conjuring in his body. Feeling Zhang Liao's heated body - his cock against his own as he paced his strokes, wrapping him head to toe in a spell of his manipulative touch - satisfied his darkest desire.
"Zhang...dammit...ahh!
Zhao Yun's body trembled and tightened when he felt two fingers pushing into his entrance, showing his muscles flexing with alluring rhythm, as the older general's lips sank into his neck. With lust burning through him with such intensity that could melt his skin, his organ pulsated and set off it's release. Arching his back, he shot his warm seed in bursts across his chest, some hitting Zhang Liao's body and face, until his load had been emptied. He steadied his gasping, breathing through the fiery aftermath of ecstasy as he slumped on the floor.
Zhang Liao stood above the younger general, readying himself to ejaculate. His hand still wrapped around his own shaft as he enjoyed a moment to himself before stroking again, positioning to empty himself on Zhao Yun's limp body. That teasing half smirk came back at the sight the Shu general covered in his own cum.
"That look suits you quite well, Zilong."
"Damn you, Wenyuan," Zhao Yun said clearly. It was the first time he had said something coherent since he had been hypnotized. Zhang Liao just chuckled at his response as he continued to pleasure himself. "You actually don't look too bad yourself."
A smirk appeared on Zhao Yun's face as he watched Zhang Liao consume himself in his own pleasure, numerous scars and light sheets of dark hair lining his body. His figure was slighty bigger in proportion but not quiet as toned in muscle as Zhao Yun's more lean body. Seeing Zhang Liao face twisting with contentment and arousal, he felt him becoming erect again.
"You ready for this?" The Wei general shuddered. He was beginning to tremble.
"Like I said, it's all yours."
"Hehehe...ah..." His laughter quickly devolved into light moans. He moved his hand faster in the wake of his imminent climax. His eyes scrunched and his teeth clenched. He breathed through his nose as he snarled profoundly. A deep, strained growl his last warning before before shooting his load. Zhao Yun frowned when the warm cum hit his chest, but he couldn't deny how arousing it felt.
"Now I hope you're going to clean that up." Zhao Yun muttered sarcastically.
Zhang Liao uttered several gruff moans before slowly collapsing over the younger warrior, still breathing heavily. After a while, Zhao Yun observed the Wei general's sudden calmness, and as he held onto Zhao Yun as they lie down together, relaxation emerged on his face.
"Feel better now, Zilong?"
"Maybe I should be asking you that question," Zhao Yun replied.
"Hm?" Zhang Liao raised his eye brow.
"Be honest, Wenyuan. You were just as tired as I was after that battle."
He opened his mouth to respond as he always did, but he found himself speechless for once. Zhang Liao pressed himself back up, now sitting up on his knees.
"You know me too well, Master Zhao Yun."
He hadn't used the word "master" in a long time, since before they were in relationship, when they were no more to each other than enemies who served different kingdoms. What was this sudden use of an old formality spawned from. Did he no longer desire being on these terms with him? Was he backing out?
Zhao Yun rose to a sitting position. He grabbed Zhang Liao by the neck and pulled him down to lock their lips together. The kiss was slow, and they stayed that way for what felt like hours, but passionate as it always was between fierce warriors, if for different reasons than usual - perhaps which included a faint desperation.
Once they finished their exchange of heat, Zhang Liao held to Zhao Yun as the younger warrior rested against his torso.
"Forgive me," Zhang Liao sighed, "but quite frankly, I grow tired of fighting."
"Hey, don't stress about." Zhao Yun's up into Zhang Liao's metallic gaze with determination. "We'll move to other things...in time. Right?"
"And until that time comes, you'll be with me?"
"Certainly. Think of it as something to hold onto in the meantime...a promise if you will...so that when we can finally live in peace, we'll know it's a time we can look forward to."
Zhang Liao chuckled again, this time not with arrogance or amusement like usual, but with a gentle endearment. "In that case, until that times come, I'll make it worth the wait."
Zhao Yun gave a sincere smile in response.
"Likewise."
Reviews are much appreciated, please and thank you in advance
-StoneSabre