After having fled the throne room, Xie Lian didn't quite know what to do with himself, so after wandering around the palace aimlessly for a while, he went back to Hua Cheng's chambers.
However, after having strolled around in the late afternoon sun, Xie Lian had finally managed to wrap his head around the situation. He officially had a mate now. The best mate anyone could ever have. And he would get his Xian Le back, in one way or another. He didn't doubt for a second that Hua Cheng would be successful in his endeavor to integrate Xian Le into WuYong. Really, Xie Lian was so happy, he felt like he was just about to burst!
Which was why he had to get out of the throne room when he did. He absolutely didn't have the head for that sort of conversation, but he felt rather bad about having left his alpha to his own devices in a critical situation like that. He hoped Hua Cheng would find it in himself to forgive him.
Thinking about it now, didn't having a mate come with responsibilities, too? Also, was it alright for Xie Lian to call Hua Cheng his mate already? After all, they hadn't… well, mated… yet.
It was probably alright, he figured, since Hua Cheng seemed rather enthusiastic about it as well. And while Xie Lian knew that he wasn't ready to have real sex with the alpha yet, he thought that, maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be too bad to start exploring sooner rather than later. It wasn't out of a sense of duty towards his alpha or anything, but after Xie Lian had done such a terrible job to help Hua Cheng through his rut, he thought it was better to avoid the chances of a second disaster like this happening again.
After all, a rut happened every three months. And not to mention, his next major heat should be happening around the same time. It would be in both of their best interest if Xie Lian was ready to be mated to Hua Cheng properly by then. He didn't like the thought of it happening accidentally during his heat, or his alpha's rut. There was also the slight possibility of an accidental bonding, which was a bit anxiety inducing. Xie Lian still wasn't quite sure how he felt about bonding nowadays. But really, it was much too early to think about that. He should just focus on getting ready to mate for now.
After having arrived in Hua Cheng's bedroom, Xie Lian realised that his alpha was already there, sitting on the divan, and not looking amused at all.
"Gege… you left me there to die", he accused as soon as Xie Lian had closed the door behind him.
"San Lang… if you lied to Banyue about what a harem is, then why should I be the one to rectify that?", he asked, and couldn't help but feel amused.
Hua Cheng kept grumbling while Xie Lian busied himself with tidying up the king's chamber a bit. His alpha really had a lot of interesting books thrown all over the room, he noticed while picking them up. He made sure to keep to the other end of the room in the process, in order to tease his alpha a little.
It wasn't long before Hua Cheng cracked.
"Gege… you're too far away", he pouted when Xie Lian was almost done putting the books back into the shelf.
Xie Lian huffed in amusement, and walked over to his alpha, before he kneeled in between his legs again.
"Are you done pouting?", he asked with a smile, still beyond ecstatic that they were in a proper, romantic relationship now.
Hua Cheng looked like he wanted to put on an act for a while longer, but eventually he just sighed, and stroked Xie Lian's cheek with his thumb.
"I'm done pouting. Do you want to go play some go? It's still early."
Under previous circumstances, Xie Lian would be happy to agree without a second thought, however now, things had changed, and so he swallowed nervously before he replied.
"Not right now. I want to try something else first."
"Oh? What does gege have in mind?", Hua Cheng asked curiously, and even tilted his head.
Instead of replying, Xie Lian just leaned forward to hug his alpha's middle. He nuzzled into him again, though instead of the stomach, he aimed for Hua Cheng's crotch this time. He immediately felt his alpha stilling beneath him.
"Gege?", Hua Cheng asked carefully.
"I want to do something for San Lang… but I'll probably be very bad at it. Will San Lang mind if I try anyway?", he asked, and couldn't help but feel a bit shy again after all.
"Skill comes through practice. How could I deny gege the chance to learn something new?", Hua Cheng replied gently, not a hint of mischief in his eyes this time.
Gaining some confidence from that, Xie Lian pulled at Hua Cheng's pants, until his alpha lifted his butt off the divan, and allowed him to pull them down. Xie Lian then proceeded to swipe the robes out of the way, and eventually got to see his alpha's dick up close.
It hadn't gotten stimulated into full hardness by his nuzzling alone, but it also wasn't completely unaffected, so Xie Lian already counted that as a win. Apart from that, Xie Lian also realised once again just how big his alpha was. It was no surprise that just one of his hands wasn't enough to encircle it completely. He knew he'd seen it before, but when he'd given Hua Cheng that handjob, his focus had been more on trying not to mess up more than he already had, and to do what he could to help.
Now however, he was in the proper headspace to appreciate his alpha's physique. As far as dicks went, this one was pretty, Xie Lian thought. Rather veiny, and somewhat uneven because of it, but Xie Lian didn't mind that. At least he didn't think he would.
"H- how do you usually like… it?", Xie Lian asked eventually, and could kick himself for having stuttered like this. How was that supposed to be seductive!?
Hua Cheng thought a moment before he answered.
"I think instead of telling you what I like first, it would be better for gege to explore how much he wants. I'll just let you know if you do something I don't like, and we'll talk about it afterwards. Is that okay, gege?", his alpha asked.
"Okay", Xie Lian said, though he still had no idea how to go about it.
Since he had no idea, he figured he could start with what he already knew, and carefully kissed the dick on the head. He couldn't help but look up at Hua Cheng right afterwards, though it was only to see his alpha trying and failing to suppress a smile. Or a laugh. He wasn't quite sure.
"San Lang!", he whined, already feeling embarrassed.
"You're just too cute gege, I can't help it!", his alpha tried to justify himself. "Keep going, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time", Hua Cheng reassured it, and stroked his head gently. Xie Lian couldn't find a single trace of a lie on his scent either, so he huffed, and put his attention back on the dick.
He kissed it again, though this time he kept kissing along the whole shaft, until he reached the base, and once there he kissed his way back to the head again. By the time he was done, it had grown increasingly harder, so Xie Lian decided this was a good start, and did the same thing to the other side of the dick.
Given the sounds Hua Cheng started making this time, it seemed like Xie Lian wasn't doing too terrible of a job. Feeling encouraged by that, he kissed the head again, before he promptly took it into his mouth. Xie Lian had thought that, since the head was really only the tip of the whole thing, it should be comparatively small in size, however, his mouth already felt sufficiently full with only this much inside it. He couldn't help but frown at his miscalculation.
Hua Cheng must've seen his frown, because he put his hand on top of Xie Lian's head as soon as his brows had furrowed.
"Don't force yourself, gege-", Hua Cheng started, but Xie Lian interrupted him with a defiant look. Sure, he'd miscalculated, but he could still make it work!
After all, he'd already gotten used to the feeling of something of this size in his mouth, so it would be a waste not to work with it, he thought, and started giving the part he'd managed to put his lips around some kitten licks, to test the waters.
Hua Cheng's reaction was immediate; Xie Lian could feel his hair getting clenched into his alpha's fist. Which… wasn't actually a bad feeling, he realised, but ordered himself to put his attention back on the dick in his mouth. Since kitten licks had worked well, he grew bolder with his tongue, and eventually tried to massage the tip with it.
"Gege… I'm not going to last long", Hua Cheng said after a few moments, and Xie Lian tilted his head, and, since he couldn't talk, and refused to let go of the dick, hummed in confusion. It caused his alpha to jolt, and moan and Xie Lian was delighted to find out that, apparently, he could even use sounds to his advantage!
He also realised something entirely unrelated. Xie Lian had paid so much attention to the head, that the rest of the dick had gone entirely without attention from him, and he felt bad about that. At first he tried to slide his mouth further down, and he did manage to take it in deeper, but not nearly as much as he wanted to. Growling a bit in frustration, he grabbed the rest of the dick with one of his hands, but it wasn't enough to cover the whole length of it either, so he wrapped his other hand around it as well.
Hua Cheng's grip on his hair had tightened even more when he'd done that, but Xie Lian was too distracted to take proper notice of it. So instead of looking up at his alpha again, he slowly started bobbing his head up and down over the part that he could reach with his mouth. It didn't take long before Hua Cheng moaned again.
"Gege-... gege I'm about to- you should move- off", he panted, and even sounded somewhat panicky.
However, Xie Lian hadn't ever done anything halfheartedly, and he wasn't about to start now. So, instead of listening to his alpha and moving off, he instead started licking with new fervour, and even used his hands to massage all of the shaft as well. After that, it really didn't take long before Xie Lian could feel his alpha's release shooting down his throat.
Xie Lian had overheard other omegas talking about how bitter it tasted, but Xie Lian couldn't disagree more. It was true that it wasn't the most pleasant taste in the world, how could it be; bodily fluids never were, but at least his alpha tasted somewhat sweet! Xie Lian was quite pleased with that, and made sure to show it to his alpha by swallowing everything he could, and licking up what he'd missed.
When he was done, he looked up at Hua Cheng expectantly. However, his alpha just stared back at him with an open mouth and a wide eye, and if Xie Lian had to be honest, he looked a bit silly. Thus he couldn't help but laugh a little.
Hua Cheng still looked rather entranced, but he eventually lifted his hand from Xie Lian's head, and moved his thumb to Xie Lian's cheek instead, and then further, until it rested on his lips. Xie Lian noticed there was something on the thumb, and reflexively licked against it, only to realise that it was a part of Hua Cheng's release that he'd missed. So he readily licked his alpha's thumb clean, and when he was done, kissed it, and nuzzled into the hand attached to that thumb.
After all, he'd brought his alpha to orgasm, so he couldn't have done too terrible of a job. And he wanted to be praised for it. Hua Cheng was still staring at him, but at least he understood what Xie Lian wanted, and stroked his cheek, while putting his other hand to good use by stroking Xie Lian's hair.
"You've done… incredibly well, gege. I'm actually pretty shocked", he said with a light laugh, before he leaned forward and hugged Xie Lian properly.
Xie Lian immediately leaned up against him, and hugged him back, extremely pleased with himself that he'd managed to make his alpha react like this.
Just a moment later, Hua Cheng started sniffing his neck, before he chuckled.
"I can smell how pleased you are, gege. Do you want me to praise you more?"
Xie Lian nodded eagerly against his stomach.
Hua Cheng laughed a bit, but made good on his promise.
"You look so incredibly cute with my dick in your mouth, gege. I think that's a talent only you have. And I still can't believe this was your first time doing something like this! It's like you could read my mind and already knew exactly what I like. Clearly gege is a natural talent", his alpha praised him to the point of making Xie Lian purr.