Bonus: three days, part 2

The next morning, Lan XiChen woke first, engulfed in something warm and breathing and pleasantly heavy on his chest. He looked at the head nuzzled against him and his hands couldn't help but skim down Xie XiYue's back and grab handfuls of the generous behind. He could feel his desire stirring again, and he hesitated, his head, heart and loins waging war inside him. He wanted, but he didn't want to wake Xie XiYue. He wanted, but he needed to get up and get ready for another day as the leader of his clan and Cloud recesses. 

Then Xie XiYue woke and stretched, his soft, smooth skin rubbing against his. "Do we need to get up now, Lan Huan?" Xie XiYue asked, his voice rough from sleep.

"No," Lan XiChen suddenly decided, the familiar address making his heart flutter. "My brother is here, he can take care of things today. It is all just administrative, today." He sent off a magical butterfly message to his brother, his conscience flaring as soon as he sent it off. 

It didn't take long for a butterfly to return. "I understand." Lan WangJi was always a man of few words.

In their guest quarters, Lan WangJi smiled, and turned to look at his own sleeping lover. His brother deserved one day with his new beloved. 

But one day turned to two, then three.

Lan XiChen tried, he really did, but somehow every time he opened his mouth to say something about returning to work, he found his mouth full of Xie XiYue. And the momentary resolution disappeared. The next day... he would go back to work the next day. 

His conscience twinging at the back of his mind, Lan XiChen indulged himself for the first time ever. He had always been all about duty and reserve and discipline, but now... their time together was too precious. Xie XiYue was like his favourite meal that he couldn't stop eating, except Lan XiChen had never really been much interested in food. It was now that he realised it was never the food that Xie XiYue had cooked for him, delicious though it was, it was Xie XiYue, and his smile, and the time they spent together that had so enraptured him. But if Xie XiYue was his favourite meal, Lan XiChen was like a man starving... He couldn't stop eating, not when the meal enjoyed being eaten so much.

But they still needed to eat actual food. Ever the considerate brother, Lan WangJi sent a disciple over with food for two three times a day. The first attendant had been reverent when he had brought over their meal that first morning.

"I hope you recover from your illness soon, ZeWu-Jun," he had said as he placed the food in front of Lan XiChen. "Xie XiYue, your teacher was informed that you are nursing ZeWu-Jun through his illness and he sent a message that you are excused from training until ZeWu-Jun recovers."

Lan XiChen's ears flushed, but he bowed his head in silent gratitude and dismissal. The food was the usual fare of Cloud Recesses, and when the attendant left, the two lovers looked at each other and then at the unappetising food in front of them.

"I could go and cook...." Xie XiYue offered.

"No," Lan XiChen said hastily. He couldn't bear to part with Xie XiYue so soon. "You are not my attendant anymore and you do not need to cook for me."

"Then, what am I?" Xie XiYue asked.

The only reply Lan XiChen could come up with was, "Mine." 

Xie XiYue's eyes widened, then he scrambled over the table and into Lan XiChen's arms, and after that the food was forgotten. They ate it cold an hour later, when their bodies were again heavy and lax with spent pleasure.

That day they discovered oral pleasures. Xie XiYue's tender entrance needed rest and when each in turn discovered the heights of ecstasy that a mouth could bring, they took turns learning everything about the new experience that they could. Those were Xie XiYue's favorite lessons ever.

Late next morning, Lan XiChen got off their bed regretfully. They had woken hours earlier to a respectful knock on the door, then a soft voice calling, "ZeWu-Jun, I will leave your breakfast on the table."

They had only gotten up after they had heard the footsteps leave, and eaten their meals on the bed, Xie XiYue lying in Lan XiChen's arms. After the bitter flavoured breakfast, Lan XiChen wanted something sweet, and he had uncorked the ointment jar, which had lead to the renewal of heady pleasures, as Xie XiYue had fully covered from his first time. Afterwards, Lan XiChen had cleaned them both with a soft cloth, dipping it into the shallow pan of fresh water the attendants had brought with their breakfast.

He lingered now and watched as Xie XiYue turned to lie on his stomach with a pleasurable sigh. The sight of his bare, plump behind made Lan XiChen groan. "What are you doing to me, Xie XiYue?"

"Hm?" Xie XiYue hummed, and looked over his shoulder. "Oh." He wiggled his behind at Lan XiChen. "See something you like, Lan Huan?" he asked and giggled.

"Be careful, XiYue, for if I take you again, you may not be able to walk today."

Xie XiYue fluttered his eyelashes at him. "I'm not going anywhere today... Am I, Lan Huan?" He asked with sudden alarm.

"No, not today," Lan XiChen replied, having already sent a butterfly message to his brother earlier that morning. He settled to lie between Xie XiYue's legs, pulling his hips up to his face. Xie XiYue moaned softly into the mattress as he felt the mouth start exploring his ample cheeks, then lick deeper, until it found a spot that had never been licked before. His voice broke into needy whimpers and he ground his face into the tongue delving into him, and Lan XiChen blessed his brother for the unexpected present of that slim volume he had read cover to cover eight times by now. Present which Lan XiChen was sure neither would ever mention to the other again.

Xie XiYue was completely undone by the gentle touch. Then a finger pressed inside him and Xie XiYue lifted his hips up eagerly to meet it, his face still pressed into the mattress, and the last of Lan XiChen's self control fled. He reached for the little ointment jar again, now much lighter than it had been a few days earlier, and dribbled some into the enticing crack, replaced the jar on the table, and pushed home.

How could he ever stop this? Lan XiChen wondered, as the tight heat enveloped him and the irresistible moans and whimpers from Xie XiYue seduced him again.

The third morning went as the day before, with Lan XiChen burrowing into his lover in bed, listening to an attendant leave them their food, feeling guilty about his sloth. He sent another butterfly message to his brother and received the same terse response as before.

They ate because they had to, then pulled on their robes and went to the little stream behind the house and had a proper wash. The sight of Xie XiYue splashing about in the stream, naked and wet, did its usual magic, and they didn't even make it back to the house, but coupled like Xie XiYue's beloved bunnies in the open air. This time Lan XiChen had had the forethought to bring the ointment jar, so they didn't have to rush back to the house for their joining. The water in the stream felt much cooler on their overheated skins afterwards, and they washed hastily before returning back to the house.

Their vigorous activities over the past few days had made Xie XiYue's body ache. It was a pleasant ache, of muscles exerted that hadn't been so taxed before, but Lan XiChen was remorseful. An hour later, Xie XiYue lay bonelessly on the bed, pleasure written in every spent curve of his body. He was flushed pink, his skin still glistening softly with the remains of the ointment that Lan XiChen had first massaged into him and then licked off, until the taste of the skin on his tongue had made Lan XiChen abandon his plan of taking easier on his young lover, and he had plunged deep inside him halfway through. Afterward Xie XiYue could hardly keep his eyes open.

"Rest..." Lan XiChen. "Our midday meal will be here soon, but it can wait. I will go meet the attendant or else they will think I am unwell." He washed quickly and pulled his robes on, his eyes on the limpid mound snuggled into the bed clothes from where he could only hear a muffled "Yes, Lan Huan."

Lan XiChen had sat behind his desk for only half an hour, when there was a knock. He looked up and his eyes widened.

"Lan Zhan... Wei WuXian... you're here."

"You've been ill for three days. We brought a midday meal. Lan Zhan cooked."

And of course Xie XiYue chose that moment to stumble out of their bedchamber, clad in only Lan XiChen's hastily tied undershirt. "Come back to bed," Xie XiYue said, as if the sight of him and the multiple purple love bites marching up the inside of this thighs didn't already spell clearly enough what the two had been doing for the past three days.

What followed was the most embarrassing meal Lan XiChen had ever taken. Faced with his brother and the far too gleeful Wei WuXian brought Lan XiChen face to face his own shamelessness. Luckily, Lan WangJi had his hands full of Wei WuXian, and had little face to chastise his brother for pleasures Lan WangJi had himself been indulging in for past several months.

After Lan WangJi and his imp of a husband left, Lan XiChen sighed.

"Are we in trouble?" Xie XiYue asked.

Lan XiChen had to laugh. "No. But I have indulged myself for too long. You heard my brother. 'You have still rest of today.' Tomorrow I have to go back to work."

"And I have to return to my training. And the disciple dormitory." Xie XiYue's tried to keep his face from falling.

"Is that what you want to do?" Lan XiChen asked in alarm.

"Where else should I go?"

"You should stay here. With me. I mean, live here with me." Lan XiChen thought. "For today. And tomorrow morning we move to my usual rooms."

"You mean it?" Xie XiYue lit up like a lantern. "But then the others will know..."

"Then they will know. If we live together openly, what rumors there may be will die eventually. I do not want to hide."

Xie XiYue squealed with joy and threw himself in Lan XiChen's arms. Their love making that day was urgent, both knowing that their lazy days of loving were coming to an end.

The following morning, after they had settled in their quarters, Xie XiYue glowing like a lantern the whole time, Lan XiChen bade him farewell. It was even harder to part than he had thought, even though he knew he would see Xie XiYue that evening after their duties. He worked diligently that day, catching up on what he had missed, hoping to finish early. 

When his uncle came by to congratulate him on his recovery, Lan XiChen seized the opportunity. "Uncle, there was something else I wanted to tell you."

"Hm?" Lan QiRen asked, pouring himself another cup. "What is it?" Lan XiChen told him.

Lan QiRen turned puce. "Absolutely not! It is bad enough that one of the famed Twin Jades has taken up with that-- that -- shameless Wei WuXian, but that you, too, would take up with a man?! And not even a man, yet! I forbid it! At least Wei WuXian has some skill, this boy of yours is still untested. I forbid it, you hear!"

Lan XiChen had to bite down a smile at this meagre praise of Wei WuXian. "I am sorry to hear of your objections, Uncle, but since I am head of this clan, I do not need your permission. Xie XiYue has moved to my rooms and we will form a cultivation partnership in due time. WangJi of course knows already."

Lan QiRen looked like he was on the verge of an apoplexy. "You...! You dare! Talk! To me! Like that!! I am your uncle!"

"I have always given you my respect and hold you in high regard. But I will not live alone forever. I have found the partner who makes me happy and with whom I can see a long and prosperous cultivation partnership. I will not let anything, or anyone separate us."

And no matter how much Lan QiRen argued, Lan XiChen stood firm. After his uncle left, Lan XiChen finished what work he had left and then hurried to his rooms. Despite how angry Lan QiRen was, Lan XiChen knew him to be a man of honour and integrity. He would not have to worry about his uncle doing anything underhanded. Still, he hadn't seen his beloved the whole day and that was a whole day too long.

"I have told my uncle about you," Lan XiChen said when they had greeted each other enthusiastically three times over the next two hours and were lying languidly in each others arms again.

"You... told your uncle? Did he...? Was he...? What did he say?"

"He said he would approve of my choice if that person was a world renown cultivator," Lan XiChen said with a faint smile.

Xie XiYue's face fell. "But I'm not," he whispered.

"Well, then. Focus on your studies, until you are."

"But until then...?" Xie XiYue said despondently.

"How else would you learn best, if not from the leader of Cloud Recesses? I think close supervision from me would be the best solution, do you not? Very close supervision," Lan XiChen repeated, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Xie XiYue's eyes grew round and for a moment he was speechless. Then he burst into giggles when he understood. "Yes, ZeWu-Jun!" 

A/N:

Image source:https://lashana.tumblr.com/post/183215583420/xiyao-%E6%9B%A6%E7%91%B6-i-love-xiyao-very-much-i-will-post-more

Note: the image is actually of Lan XiChen and JinGuangYao as per the artist, but here it stands for Xie XiYue, my gentler love for Lan XiChen.