"How could I ever deny gege anything he asks for? If I show you, will you promise not to scream?", Hua Cheng asked, and his voice sounded oddly timid, completely unlike the king he'd gotten to know.
"Of course I won't scream", Xie Lian promised immediately. What an absurd thing for Hua Cheng to think!
Hua Cheng sighed again, before he untied the knot of the eyepatch behind his head.
When it fell off, Hua Cheng still had his right eye closed, though from what Xie Lian could see, it looked completely normal so far.
Hua Cheng took Xie Lian's hand in his then, and squeezed it before he started talking again.
"Please, don't be scared of me", Hua Cheng begged him quietly, and Xie Lian could now smell the anxiety rolling off of him. So he made sure to squeeze his hand back reassuringly.
"I could never be scared of San Lang", he swore.
Hua Cheng nodded, and closed his left eye as well.
A few moments later, he opened both of them
When Xie Lian saw Hua Cheng's right eye, he understood why he'd been so worried about showing him. It did indeed look rather terrifying.
The whole eyeball was flaming red, and not the kind of red eye people get from inflammatory diseases or anything, but it was a deep red, like the colour of freshly spilled blood, only that it was brighter, so bright in fact, that it was glowing. The pupil of it was strange, too, completely inhuman. It was a black slit, comparable to the pupil of a snake; however inside this blackness was a bright, white ring. It was tiny, but nevertheless noticeable.
Xie Lian was relieved to find that he could keep his promise. However demonic the eye looked, it still couldn't possibly be enough to scare him away.
"It really doesn't hurt?", he asked, and raised his hand to touch just underneath the eye, making sure to be very careful.
"It doesn't. It feels normal, just like my left eye", Hua Cheng replied, and Xie Lian could physically see the tension seeping out of his whole body when he didn't detect even a trace of fear on Xie Lian's scent.
"How did it happen?", he couldn't help but ask.
"I don't know, gege. I was born with it."
It was indeed a strange affliction to be born with, Xie Lian thought, but didn't say it.
"Do you… see things differently through that eye?"
"A bit. It seems that I have a better vision with it, especially in the dark...", Hua Cheng said, and hesitated, but didn't continue after all.
So Xie Lian kept nudging him gently.
"Is that all?"
Hua Cheng huffed out a small laugh.
"What? Does gege expect me to have some sort of superpowers because of this eye?", Hua Cheng teased gently, and effectively caused Xie Lian to blush.
"Of course not, San Lang. I'm sorry about asking stupid questions. It's just… I've never seen something like this before", he tried to explain himself, and once again put his hand up to touch Hua Cheng's cheek, carefully stroking his thumb underneath the demonic looking eye. It almost looked like the eye itself was trembling at the action, though Xie Lian told himself that it was just twitching because Hua Cheng was sensitive there. So he changed to stroking over his brow instead.
"You know, the more I look at it, the less scary looking it becomes", Xie Lian said after a few moments of silence between them. "It… it's actually… once you get used to it, it is actually pretty", Xie Lian said hesitantly, because he didn't want Hua Cheng to think he was lying to him. He just really thought so!
Hua Cheng clicked his tongue in mild annoyance.
"You wouldn't say that if you saw it from the other side of the room", Hua Cheng muttered, but Xie Lian was more than willing to take him up on that challenge.
"Alright then. Go over there", Xie Lian ordered.
The king just looked at him for a moment, before he chuckled, shook his head, but eventually obeyed. He walked to the other side of the room with his back turned towards Xie Lian, and only turned around when he was quite a distance away.
It was so dark that Xie Lian could only barely make out Hua Cheng's silhouette, but the glowing red eye was indeed very hard to miss. In the darkness it seemed to be floating around, not attached to anything at all, and it would have been incredibly creepy if the look in that eye hadn't been so utterly vulnerable! Xie Lian could only smile helplessly. No matter what Hua Cheng thought of that eye himself, to Xie Lian, it was still a part of the man, and while it certainly had an initial shock factor, he also hadn't lied earlier. The more he got used to it, the prettier it became.
"Alright San Lang, you're right, it's very scary and I need you here in bed to comfort me now", Xie Lian said in his most deadpan voice, and immediately heard Hua Cheng sigh.
"You're such a bad liar, gege", he said, but did listen to him and climbed back into bed, before he cuddled up to him again. "I can't believe it doesn't frighten you at all", Hua Cheng said, and sounded like he didn't know what to do with this situation. It was as if he'd been fully prepared for Xie Lian to scream and run off, maybe even throw an insult at him on the way out.
"How could I ever be scared of anything that's a part of my San Lang, hm?", Xie Lian asked a little sleepily, which was why that slip up had happened without him noticing.
"Oh? If I'm your San Lang, does that mean you're my -"
"Dancer", Xie Lian interrupted Hua Cheng before the king would say something to make him die of embarrassment.
Hua Cheng looked stunned for a moment, before he burst out laughing.
"That's not what I was going to say, gege, but sure. I'm your San Lang, and you're my dancer."
Realising how utterly ridiculous that sounded, Xie Lian did the mature thing, and threw the covers over his head. He could still hear Hua Cheng chuckling though, so he threw them off again and gave the king a disgruntled look.
"I'm sleeping", he said grumpily, and turned around, his back now facing Hua Cheng.
"Gege, don't be angry", Hua Cheng said, and Xie Lian could already feel him inching closer.
"I'm not angry, I'm sleeping."
Hua Cheng chuckled some more, before he put his arms around Xie Lian, and cuddled up to him from behind.
"You know… I didn't have much reason to laugh before you came here. So please don't hold it against me. I just enjoy having you here with me very much", he explained, and shamelessly began purring.
Xie Lian couldn't stay mad if he tried, and let himself relax into Hua Cheng's embrace.
The next day, Xie Lian went to visit Mei NianQing to inform him that he would only come by every second day for training from now on. However, the Guoshi, rather predictably, threw a fit.
"I refuse", he'd said, which Xie Lian hadn't expected, and he really didn't know whether to laugh or cry. After all, it hadn't been a question, nor an option. It had been a statement.
"Excuse me?", he asked politely through his befuddlement.
"I refuse. I know exactly why you want to skip training. It's because you want to spend more time with this- this- bad influence of a king! He's already corrupted you!"
Xie Lian blinked in confusion.
"San Lang isn't a bad influence. He's very nice."
"Very nice, my ass. Of course you think he's very nice, you spent his rut with him!"
Xie Lian narrowed his eyes, wondering how that information had made it to the Guoshi. He couldn't imagine San Lang talking about it.
"So what? We get along well, so isn't that a natural thing to do? I don't see why you're so upset about it", he countered.
"Do you still remember that he's absolutely ruthless? One misstep from you and-"
Xie Lian clicked his tongue.
The Guoshi was trying to intimidate him with that? One misstep? He'd lost count of how many missteps he'd done during the king's rut alone, and Hua Cheng was still as sweet to him as he'd ever been.
"I've made plenty of mistakes already. The king isn't at all how you're making him out to be. What are you trying to achieve?"
"I'm trying to protect you!", the Guoshi said, now raising his voice.
"From what?!", Xie Lian shot back, voice raised as well. He was running a bit low on patience with Mei NianQing.
"From the utterly disastrous future you will have if you keep engaging with that menace! He's defying nature by still being alive to begin with, given the star he was born under!"
And just like that Mei NianQing had managed to raise all the red flags for Xie Lian. He'd already lost his parents, his kingdom, his friends, his comrades, his place in society, his freedom… and now this Guoshi was predicting he would lose his alpha as well? Xie Lian saw red at the implication, and his instincts overtook him.
He fletched his teeth and growled at the Guoshi, something omegas weren't quite meant to do, but his time in the military had made him internalise quite a few alpha-like characteristics. However the Guoshi didn't apologise, nor did he back up. He just kept standing there dumbly, having gone speechless. It was enough for Xie Lian's instincts to tell him it was a provocation, and so he pounced.
Mei NianQing blocked him, and then there was an all out fight.
Faintly, he took notice of several people coming in, and trying to break the fight up, but they were no match for Xie Lian's strength, and he simply pushed him aside in his attempts to get to the Guoshi.
There were cries of "the omega has gone feral!" and "what the hell!?", which Xie Lian ignored completely, having absolute tunnel vision on Mei NianQing. Nobody would kill off Hua Cheng in front of him, not even with words.
Xie Lian was in the middle of attacking Mei NianQing again, when he got blocked by a third party. Looking at the person intervening, he saw Senior General Pei in front of him, and promptly snarled.
The general looked taken aback for a moment, which was the only reason why Xie Lian had gotten a hit in at him. Skillswise, they were on roughly the same level, but even on their level, if someone let their instincts overtake them, it was inevitable that they would lose to someone clear headed. It was the first thing they had been taught in the army; to keep their emotions in check under any circumstances, or they would be the first to die. So of course, Senior General Pei managed to get the better of Xie Lian in seconds. However, Xie Lian refused to be subdued under any circumstances, and kept trying to fight no matter what.
It was only when Senior General Pei smacked Xie Lian's neck with the side of his hand that he lost consciousness, and went down.
When Xie Lian eventually came to, he realised immediately that he had been put in a cell. Most likely underground. He rubbed his aching neck, trying to remember what had happened to put him in such a place. It came to him soon enough, and he sighed in defeat. He'd really done something incredibly stupid.
Who did he think he was, a mere dancer attacking the Guoshi of WuYong of all people? The man outranked him by leaps and bounds! The problem was, Xie Lian didn't have a single thought in his head when he had attacked. It had all just been instincts to protect- protect someone who didn't need protection in the first place.
He sighed defeatedly, and leaned back against the cold, moist stone wall.
Xie Lian had put Hua Cheng in a rather unfortunate position with this as well, he realised and could only sigh again. Xie Lian knew Hua Cheng liked him well enough, but really, what did likes and dislikes have to do in a situation such as this? He would have no choice but to punish Xie Lian, and he already felt incredibly bad for putting Hua Cheng in such a position.
He didn't know how long Xie Lian was sitting there, on the dirty ground in his small cell, when he heard footsteps coming closer, and eventually saw the general open the door to his cell.
"Senior General-", Xie Lian started, but got interrupted by the general lifting his hand.
"Please. Pei Ming is fine."
Xie Lian blinked, feeling utterly stunned, but proceeded to talk with only a short pause.
"Pei Ming, I'm sorry I attacked you. I wasn't in my right mind. I hope I didn't injure you."
Pei Ming just laughed.
"Oh it's nothing, don't worry about it. Just a little flesh wound. It'll heal within the month. I must say, your reputation still holds true. I hope we can have a rematch some day, but for now, His Majesty is waiting for you in the throne room."
"Is S-... Is His Majesty very angry?", Xie Lian asked, while trying to get on his feet.
"Oh he's absolutely livid. The whole throne room stinks of his anger. It's not pretty", Pei Ming laughed.
Xie Lian couldn't see the humour in the situation at all however, and followed Pei Ming dispiritedly. However, he was quite surprised at the way he was being treated.
"Why am I not being restrained?", he asked, when he realised Pei Ming made no attempt to put cuffs or ropes on him.
"Do you want His Majesty to behead me? Who would dare to treat you like a criminal?", Pei Ming laughed.
"Am I not?"
"Pfft, of course not. His Majesty just wants to know what happened, and settle the situation. Oh, also please don't tell him we kept you here, it was the only free cell this close to the throne room. I know it's a disgusting place. Sorry about that", Pei Ming said sheepishly.
Xie Lian really didn't know whether to laugh or cry.