The day after Hua Cheng's rut had ended, Xie Lian was begrudgingly allowed to start dancing again. Which had the side effect of moving back to his own house in the dancer's quarters, since construction was also done there, and he'd only stayed at the king's private chambers in order for Hua Cheng to keep an eye on him while his ankle was healing to begin with.
However neither Hua Cheng, nor Xie Lian had remembered that little detail, and it was only because Feng Xin had come to pick Xie Lian up, effectively disrupting their go match in the process, that they both had been confronted with that reality. At first, Xie Lian hadn't quite known how to react, and he'd even contemplated asking Hua Cheng to be allowed to stay, but he hadn't wanted to impose, and Hua Cheng himself hadn't argued either. So, after the most awkward goodbye Xie Lian had ever experienced, he went back to the dancer's quarters with Feng Xin.
On the way, Xie Lian was trying to make conversation, mostly in order to distract himself from thinking too much about the distance there was going to be between himself and the king again from now on.
"Did you have a day in mind for our shoot off?", he asked casually.
Feng Xin gave him a sideways glance.
"Since we're both rather busy, I was thinking the spring festival would be the best time for it. Everyone will have a few days off, so we won't have to do it in a hurry."
Xie Lian thought that made a lot of sense, and agreed readily.
Once they arrived at the dancer's quarters, Xie Lian was left to his own devices when a small ball of energy in the form of a little girl came barreling towards him, and almost managed to knock him over.
"Xie-gege! I missed you!", Banyue cried, and gave his middle a tight hug.
Xie Lian couldn't help but laugh, and patted Banyue's head indulgently.
"I missed you, too. How have you been doing?"
"Really well! Miss Fang has been kinda grumpy recently, so she's been pretty relentless with our training, but it also helped me improve a lot! Oh, and I kept trying to help Pei Su to improve his martial arts, and taught him all the things you taught me already, but that wasn't going so well…", she ended sheepishly, and scratched her nose.
Xie Lian shook his head, feeling rather amused, but also a bit worried. He definitely needed to have a look at what Banyue had tried to teach Pei Su. But first, he was curious what the workers had made out of their rundown house. When he mentioned it to Banyue, her eyes began to glitter.
"It's amazing! I need to show you before the break is over! Come, come!", she urged, grabbed his hand, and dragged Xie Lian after her at a surprisingly high speed. Xie Lian could only laugh at her enthusiasm, and felt incredibly relieved that she really seemed to be doing very well.
Once they stood in their courtyard, Xie Lian immediately noticed the difference. There were no loose stones sticking out of the floor anymore, nor were there any other tripping hazards for Banyue, the old splintering wood beams had been replaced by new, smooth ones, the paint wasn't splintering off anymore… and that was only the outside!
The inside looked much more welcoming as well, Xie Lian realised as soon as he'd opened the door. It looked much cleaner, much brighter, much more… expensive, for lack of a better word. Xie Lian didn't know if it had been Hua Cheng's direct order, but he could see the high quality of their new furniture. And of course, there was the fact that there were now actual walls separating their respective sleeping areas from the sitting area. Xie Lian absolutely loved it, and was even feeling a little less sad at having to leave Hua Cheng's chambers.
The next week went by in much the same manner; Xie Lian woke up, went to the Guoshi's quarters, trained until he was about to keel over, went back to the dancer's quarters to sleep, and if there was any time left at all, kept practicing martial arts with Banyue and Pei Su.
But the week was over sooner than he had anticipated, and suddenly it was already the day of the week when he was supposed to dance for the king in his private entertainment room.
Honestly, Xie Lian didn't quite know how to feel about going back to how things used to be between them. So much had happened between them during the few days he'd spent in the king's chambers, but he hadn't even so much as heard the tiniest bit of news of Hua Cheng, and thus, he was now feeling rather unsure where he stood with the king.
Surely he would have come to visit Xie Lian if he'd missed him at all? Or maybe he'd simply been too busy. Thinking about it, Hua Cheng had almost not worked at all while Xie Lian had stayed with him, so he probably was very busy having to catch up on everything he'd missed during those days. So Xie Lian eventually decided not to worry about it, and even had the mind to give him a bit of a reward for his hard work.
Which was why, for the first time, he dared to dress in the red and black outfit to dance for the king. He was a bit out of practice fastening the veils and accessories, but eventually he managed to get all ready, and made his way over to the king's entertainment room.
When he arrived there, the musicians were already there, but Hua Cheng wasn't.
Xie Lian was about to get into position when he realised he hadn't thought of a theme for tonight yet. He'd already done shy, as well as playful, so those were out. Given the costume he was wearing, sensual and seductive would be the most fitting theme, but he still wasn't confident when it came to those butt shaking moves. But… this was Hua Cheng. And the musicians were still behind that screen; Xie Lian only knew they were there because of the sounds they were making tuning their instruments. So… even if he looked utterly ridiculous, Hua Cheng would be the only one to witness it, and Xie Lian was comfortable enough around him to not be bothered by that.
Hua Cheng walked in a few moments later, and seemed like he wanted to greet Xie Lian properly, but he hesitated when he saw that Xie Lian was in position already, and eventually just went to sit down on the divan. He looked at Xie Lian for what felt like a rather long while, as if he'd wanted to take him in, and carve his image into the very back of his brain. The look alone gave Xie Lian goosebumps.
"Begin", Hua Cheng said eventually, his voice deeper than Xie Lian remembered.
The music started, and luckily, it was a rather slow song, that already sounded sensual just on its own. So Xie Lian decided to go full in from the very beginning, and started off by moving his hips, letting the slow music guide his movements. He'd really missed Hua Cheng, he realised once again, but to keep in the proper mindset for a song like this, he also told himself that he didn't appreciate being left behind just like that, and that he would show the king exactly what he'd foregone in favour of work.
During the dance, Xie Lian made sure to keep his pace slow, to keep proper tension in his whole body, to arch his back in ways that were uncomfortable, but apparently looked enticing, if Miss Fang was to be believed. He even turned around, and, with his backside facing the king, did a whole sequence of swaying his hips from side to side, making sure to give Hua Cheng the best view of his butt, since it was only a fair repayment for having gotten such a good look at the king's own butt a while ago.
Thinking of which, when Xie Lian had stared at Hua Cheng's butt, it had been naked. Obviously he wouldn't pull his own pants down during a performance, especially not with other people in the room, but he did the second best thing, and teased the king by playing with the strings holding the pants up, before he trailed his hands upwards along his body. He turned around again, because he wanted to see Hua Cheng's reaction to a provocative dance like this, and sure enough, he wasn't disappointed.
The king had both of his hands balled into fists, the look in his eye was intense, his pupil blown wide, and there was a bit of a bulge in his lap.
Xie Lian allowed himself to smirk, feeling utterly pleased with himself, and that he managed to make Hua Cheng react in such obvious ways to him.
Sadly, the music ended then, and Hua Cheng let out a shuddering breath.
"Come here. Sit", he demanded, and Xie Lian was more than happy to obey, quickly going over to kneel in between the king's legs.
His knees had barely even touched the ground when Hua Cheng already grabbed his face hastily, almost roughly, and pressed his thumbs against Xie Lian's cheekbones.
"You will be the death of me", the king accused him in a low, raspy voice, that almost sounded like a growl.
"I would hate for Your Majesty to die", Xie Lian replied, and leaned his head further into one of the king's hands.
Hua Cheng humphed, but he sounded a bit amused.
"Why didn't you come visit me? Was it because you wanted to have an effect like this with your performance?", Hua Cheng then asked, causing Xie Lian to frown.
"I thought you were busy. And… I thought if you didn't have anyone come and get me for you, you didn't want to be disturbed", Xie Lian admitted.
"I'm sure I've told you before… but if gege wants to see me, I'll always make time for you, no matter how busy I am. I missed you", Hua Cheng said quietly, and stroked Xie Lian's cheeks with his thumbs.
It was the last straw for Xie Lian's self control, and he lunged forward, hugging Hua Cheng's middle as tightly as he possibly could without hurting him.
"I missed San Lang, too."
Hua Cheng hugged him back immediately, and stroked his back.
"Next time you miss me, you have to come and visit me right away", Hua Cheng ordered, to which Xie Lian could only huff out a short laugh.
"Even if I wanted to visit San Lang, Mei NianQing would never allow me to skip training because of it. I tried discussing with him once, but he didn't budge at all", Xie Lian complained, and unconsciously nuzzled into Hua Cheng's stomach. He'd missed the alpha's smoky scent and the comfort it brought him more than he'd realised.
"We can't have that", Hua Cheng mumbled into Xie Lian's hair; apparently he was sniffing on him as much as Xie Lian was sniffing on the king himself. "How about you only train with him every second day? Training every single day is too much anyway. You need more free time."
Xie Lian couldn't help but chuckle at the grumpiness he could hear in the king's voice.
"Is it that I need more free time? Or is it that I need to spend more time with you?"
"You need more free time in order to spend more time with me, obviously. I really missed you, gege…"
Xie Lian wanted to say something to that, but before he could, Hua Cheng let go of their hug, and grabbed his waist instead, before he suddenly lifted him up, only to put him down on his lap in a way that had Xie Lian straddle him.
"There. Isn't this more comfy than the floor?", Hua Cheng smirked at him. He'd made sure to sit Xie Lian down on his knees, not at all close enough to his body to run the risk of having Xie Lian touch the bulge, but Xie Lian was still very much aware that it was there. However, since Xie Lian had already hugged him very tightly earlier, and felt that bulge against his chest, he felt somewhat lax about it being there in the first place, and inched forward a bit, just so he could keep hugging Hua Cheng. The king didn't comment on it, and just hugged him back again with a laugh.
"Gege is being rather clingy today."
"I already said I missed you", he repeated.
"Hmm… we really can't have that. Me missing you is one thing, but you missing me to the point of getting clingy is inconceivable. Obviously gege must move back into my chambers", Hua Cheng said jokingly.
Xie Lian had picked up on that, but decided to ignore it, and pretended Hua Cheng had been serious.
"I agree", he mumbled.
He was in a rather strange mood now that he was finally close to Hua Cheng again. He hadn't lied at all when he said he'd missed Hua Cheng, and now that he was back in his arms, he somehow realised just how much he actually wanted to be close to him, always . If he had to let go of Hua Cheng at this very moment, Xie Lian didn't think he would be able to take it.
"Gege?", Hua Cheng asked, and he sounded... hopeful?
"I really want to stay with you", Xie Lian admitted, though saying it out loud made him feel rather shy.
Hua Cheng stayed silent for a while, and only kept stroking his back. However, after a few nerve wrecking moments, he replied.
"If gege wants to stay with me, he's more than welcome to move back here. You can have your own room in the main house, or preferably share mine. Whatever gege wants. I'll be beyond happy if you come back to me."
Xie Lian could hear the sincerity in his voice, and smell it on his scent as well. They hadn't seen each other for only a week, but apparently that was already too much for the both of them. He decided then and there that since they both obviously felt the same about each other, Xie Lian would stop questioning the why and the how… he would just accept it, enjoy everything Hua Cheng was willing to indulge him in, for as long as it lasted; whatever 'it' was.
"Then, if San Lang really doesn't mind, I'll share his room", Xie Lian said, and blushed.
"I'm glad to hear that", Hua Cheng said, and kissed Xie Lian's cheek gently.