When Xie Lian woke up the next morning, he was still lying in Hua Cheng's embrace; the only difference was that he must've turned around in his sleep, and was lying with his back pressed against Hua Cheng's front. And instead of clutching onto the alpha's arm himself, this time it was Hua Cheng who was actively holding him, and Xie Lian blushed with how nice it felt. It was almost a reflex to cuddle deeper into the embrace, though he stopped short when Hua Cheng started chuckling behind him.
Of course he was awake already.
"Comfy?", the king asked.
"Very", Xie Lian admitted unrepentantly.
His emotions had been all over the place yesterday, and now that his mind was clear again, and not muddled by insecurity, he vowed to better himself, and be more honest and direct when talking to Hua Cheng. After all, the alpha was also like that, and it would be rude not to reciprocate in kind.
Hua Cheng huffed out a laugh, and pulled Xie Lian even closer.
"How's this?", the king then asked mischievously.
"Slightly constraining", Xie Lian answered honestly, and made a show out of gasping for air.
It caused Hua Cheng to let go of him, laughing.
It had taken a while until Xie Lian caved, but eventually he gave up on claiming that his ankle was completely healed already. Hua Cheng was adamant that it needed at least one more day of rest, and, once he'd sensed weakness in Xie Lian's conviction, he'd promptly picked him up in his arms, and carried him back to his own quarters. Xie Lian thought this was in all honesty rather ridiculous. Still, he couldn't help but smile at the king's antics.
When Hua Cheng was carrying Xie Lian leisurely through his back garden, General NanYang came barrelling towards thm, and Hua Cheng was forced to stop before they even reached the pavilion.
"Your Majesty, there are urgent matters for you to tend to in the throne room", he said, his voice rather tense.
Hua Cheng nodded at him once.
"I'll be there shortly."
With that, General NanYang disappeared again, and Hua Cheng looked back at Xie Lian with something akin to a pout.
"Am I allowed to walk by myself now?", Xie Lian asked in amusement.
"Only when it's necessary. Don't go on walks, and don't dance. I'll have Shi QingXuan visit you if his schedule allows for it", he said, and reluctantly allowed Xie Lian to climb out of his hold.
Xie Lian still thought it rather funny how the alpha was fussing because of such a minor injury, and couldn't help but pat his cheek playfully.
"Now be a good king, and take care of your responsibilities. I'll wait here until you come back", he promised. Really, it was a little audacious of Xie Lian to presume to be allowed to stay in the king's private quarters, without the king being present, but Xie Lian knew Hua Cheng well enough by now to know that he wouldn't mind. Also, he'd just gone through the trouble of carrying him all the way here, so it would be rather redundant to send him away again.
As expected, Hua Cheng nodded at him once, still somewhat pouting, and then walked off to do his job.
Xie Lian could only shake his head fondly.
True to Hua Cheng's word, Shi QingXuan did pay him a visit in the afternoon and confirmed that his ankle was indeed completely fine within a few seconds. And then he sat down across from him with a scary glint in his eyes.
"So, spill", Shi QingXuan grinned.
"Spill what?", Xie Lian pretended to be dumb.
Shi QingXuan sighed in mock exasperation.
"How's it going with His Majesty? Have you kissed yet? Have there been any promises ? Can we expect a wedding soon? Is there reason to think you're preg-"
"STOP!", Xie Lian interrupted him, feeling absolutely mortified, and hid his burning face behind his hands.
"What? I saw how the two of you interacted, you can't tell me there's nothing going on. I won't believe it", Shi QingXuan said decisively.
"There's-", Xie Lian stopped. How should he even explain it, if he himself didn't quite understand it? It was true that there was… something, but that something was still very undefined and raw, nothing that was easy to describe. After all, before Hua Cheng had carried him all the way to the infirmary that day, they'd only spoken to each other a handful of times, but the time he'd spent with Hua Cheng afterwards had been… . Even if it had only been a few days.
"Oh no…", Shi QingXuan said, before Xie Lian could gather his bearings and continue. "Oh no, I don't like that face. What went wrong?"
"Nothing went wrong", Xie Lian clarified immediately. "I just… really only realised my own feelings last night", Xie Lian admitted, his blush intensifying.
"Awww that's so cute!", Shi QingXuan exclaimed. "But I'm honestly surprised it took you so long. With the way His Majesty was looking at you, I thought for sure he would either devour you as soon as he took you home, or marry you the next day. But I was so convinced it would be both", he sighed.
"Q-QingXuan, you can't just-... I'm sure His Majesty has many more things to consider in a potential m-mate than just his own fancy. If he were to marry a mere dancer, people would… not be …"
"Do you really think His Majesty cares what the people think about matters such as this? Also, weren't you a prince yourself? Even if your country is gone now, you were still born as royalty. Who would dare to say you weren't a proper match for His Highness?"
Xie Lian blinked, and thought that what Shi QingXuan said also made sense.
"But I'm not here to discuss schematics like that. I'm here because I want to learn some gossip I can spread. So tell me, have you kissed yet or not? Have you seen him naked yet? Is he as well endo-"
"STOP!", Xie Lian screeched again, feeling like his head was about to explode from the sheer amount of shamelessness Shi QingXuan was displaying. "I've only given him a kiss on the cheek so far! And I- I'm not going to tell you anything about- that!"
"I just wanted to know if the gossip of the concubines could be trusted", Shi QingXuan muttered, but then his eyes widened in realisation, and he looked a bit remorseful. "You're right. That wasn't very tactful of me, I apologise. But really, I'm impressed you snatched him from the bachelor's market so easily. There have been sooooooooo many people trying with all their might to just so much as get a look from him, but he was never interested in anyone! I really wonder how you managed to do it. Teach me your ways!"
Xie Lian rubbed his forehead, feeling a little out of his depth with this conversation.
"I didn't really do anything? I think… I think he started showing interest when he caught me teaching Banyue and Pei Su martial arts, but… it's been weeks since then. I don't know what made him want to spend so much time with me."
"Maybe he tried to resist your charm for a while? Oh that's so romantic! You can just picture it! The lonely king that secretly-"
Xie Lian couldn't bear to listen to the tale Shi QIngXuan was spinning, and heaved a long-suffering sigh. He zoned out until Shi QingXuan was done.
"Honestly though, I think your kids would look absolutely adorable!", Shi QingXuan was still blabbering after the sun had lowered in the sky. The phrase 'your kids', had drawn Xie Lian's attention, despite his best efforts du endure without hearing. He spluttered.
"K-kids?!"
"Yes! Just imagine! Your faces would mesh so well together! His Majesty's scary scowl would look so adorable on a little kid's face, especially with your softer features, don't you think! I think it'd be the most adorable scowl ever! Oh! Your Majesty! You're back!", Shi QingXuan said, looking past Xie Lian's shoulder.
Xie Lian whirled around, and indeed found Hua Cheng standing only a short distance behind him. He definitely heard what Shi QingXuan had said just now, and Xie Lian had half a mind to strangle his fellow omega.
The look on Hua Cheng's face was amused, his eyes full on mirth and he opened his mouth to say something as soon as he saw Xie Lian looking at him.
Xie Lian stood up hastily, and said a firm "no", before any ridiculous words could leave the king's mouth, and then he turned around in an attempt to flee.
He heard Hua Cheng yelp behind him, and just a few steps later, Hua Cheng had already caught up to him, and stopped his attempted escape by hugging his middle from behind.
"Leave-" me alone, Xie Lian was about to say, but he stopped himself in time. After all, it wasn't Hua Cheng's fault Shi QingXuan was such a blabbermouth.
Hua Cheng chuckled.
"This is my palace, and you're telling me to leave?"
"Yes. No! Not you", he corrected himself quickly. He was about to cry from the sheer embarrassment he felt.
Hua Cheng laughed.
"Well I'm glad. Shi QingXuan. What have you done to make gege so skittish?", he asked, still amused.
"Oh, you know, just this and that, Your Majesty. I think it was talk about your future kids that might've been a bit much. But I stand by my words. They would be absolutely adorable", Shi QingXuan said unrepentantly, and Xie Lian started physically trembling with the sheer stress he was feeling. His relationship to the king was still a fragile thing, still in its early days, it wasn't even clear which sort of relationship it was, and Shi QingXuan just went ahead and implied-
"I think it's best if you leave now", Hua Cheng said, his voice having lost all humour. "I'm sure your patients at the infirmary already miss you."
"... I said too much again, didn't I? I'm sorry. I'll take my leave now, Your Majesty. Xie Lian…"
"I'll see you soon", Xie Lian replied with a slightly hysterical laugh.
It seemed to have been enough however, because Shi QingXuan grinned, waved, and left.
"Gege? What's wrong?", Hua Cheng asked, once he realised Xie Lian had trouble calming down.
"How much of that conversation did you hear?", Xie Lian asked tersely.
"Enough to know that Shi QingXuan is more invested in our relationship than he has any right to be", he answered, which Xie Lian wasn't happy with.
"... and what is our relationship?", Xie Lian asked after he managed to push his embarrassment enough to the side to gather the courage to say something like this.
"It is whatever gege wants it to be."
Xie Lian's shoulders sagged, not in relief, but disappointment.
He knew it wasn't reasonable to expect anything else at this point, really, that they'd only really started getting to know each other a few days ago, but he just couldn't help feeling incredibly attached to Hua Cheng already.
"Let me go please", Xie Lian said quietly.
Hua Cheng hesitated, and loosened his embrace. But he didn't let go completely.
"Is something wrong, gege?", the king then asked tentatively.
"No", he said, because it was only right that Hua Cheng couldn't give him a definite answer after such a short time of knowing each other.
The king let go of him then, and Xie Lian made to scurry off to his room, but was stopped almost immediately when Hua Cheng caught his wrist.
"San Lang…"
"If nothing is wrong, then why is gege trying to run away from me?"
Xie Lian didn't have an answer to that.
"If anything is wrong… no matter what it is, no matter if it's because of me, or something else entirely, the direction I wish gege would run to, would be towards me. Never away from me", Hua Cheng said, and it sounded very earnest.
Still.
"San Lang, you really shouldn't say such things", Xie Lian chided with a sigh.
"Why not? It would be a great honour if gege trusted me enough to let me chase his worries away."
Xie Lian sighed again, and finally turned around to face Hua Cheng.
"You saying things like that should be one of my worries. It's the whole reason why Shi QIngXuan came up with that crazy story of his. You can't keep saying such things. We've only known each other for a few days, San Lang. Even if it feels like I've known you for a lifetime already, that's just a delusion."
"Does gege really think time matters to such an extent? I don't believe that", Hua Cheng replied, and it gave Xie Lian pause.
Hua Cheng definitely had a point, Xie Lian had to admit. It usually didn't take more than a few days to decide whether one liked somebody, or if one disliked somebody. In most cases, hours were enough to come to a decision. It was clear to both of them that they liked each other, so there was no need to pretend otherwise.
However, since Xie Lian's thoughts had gotten away with him last night, he felt funny whenever Hua Cheng came close to him, and that had absolutely nothing to do with likes and dislikes, but with attraction and affection. And while affection was a part of liking someone, attraction made everything a bit more complicated. After all, friends liked each other, but what if one friend was also attracted to the other, who in turn, maybe wasn't? What then? Wouldn't a lack of time of knowing each other be a great excuse to create distance again, to try and chase that attraction away? It was silly and childish, no doubt, Xie Lian knew that. However, what else was he supposed to do?
While Xie Lian knew that he really, really liked Hua Cheng, he still had doubts. He was sure that, once they knew each other for a longer amount of time, things would settle, and become much clearer, but that wasn't something he could just force. Forcing things simply wouldn't do him any good in the long run.
Xie Lian knew that, right now, Hua Cheng was asking for his trust, but wasn't trust also something that needed to be developed over time? Especially with Hua Cheng being like… this ? How could he possibly trust the king if he did Xie Lian's every bidding? True, Hua Cheng had been stubborn about taking care of him, but Xie Lian had nevertheless realised already that, if the king didn't think it would harm Xie Lian… Hua Cheng would do pretty much everything he told him to.
What Xie Lian didn't know was how Hua Cheng treated his other friends; if he was always so generous, or, in different terms, always so easily manipulated by other people, with possibly bad intentions. If he was, then Xie Lian really couldn't help but worry about the king, and how he wielded his power. Or… if maybe someone else was pulling the strings. Xie Lian had disregarded the latter option, because he knew Hua Cheng could be very stubborn about certain things, too. But Xie Lian just didn't know what those certain things entailed yet. After all, looking out for Xie Lian's health couldn't possibly be the only thing Hua Cheng refused to yield on. Which was why he was still on the fence about trusting Hua Cheng completely.
"Can I ask you something, San Lang?"
"Of course."
"If I listen to you now, and come running to you with my worries, some of which you won't be able to just chase away like that, what will you do then?"