34 The Nine-tailed Fox doesn't want to sleep alone

When they reach the room, Lan Tian deposits him softly on the round bed, and then looks up at the hanging net.

"I'll sleep up there, you stay on the bed."

Before he has the chance to move, Wu Yun pulls him down on the bed by the sides of his robes.

"Nooo, stay here." He continues pulling until Lan Tian loses balance and falls on top of him. "This room is cold and you're warm, stay with me."

Lan Tian looks down at Wu Yun's open, smiling face. He doesn't think he's ever seen him this unguarded. He knows he doesn't mean it like that, but his words make Lan Tian's mind conjure all kinds of thoughts.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Lan Tian says, trying to disentangle Wu Yun's fingers from his robes.

Wu Yun feels very happy and light, and doesn't understand why Lan Tian is trying to ruin his good mood.

He frowns and starts trying to pull Lan Tian's robes down his shoulders. "You're going to sleep with me."

Lan Tian sucks in a sharp breath at those words, and is frozen still by the look of determined concentration on Wu Yun's face. By the time the gears in his brain start turning again Wu Yun has the robes and inner robes down to his waist and is working on the waist sash keeping them together.

Lan Tian tries to still his fingers. "Just stop and go to sleep."

Wu Yun looks up at him with a worried frown. "Why don't you want to sleep with me?"

Lan Tian doesn't know how to explain that he wants nothing else, but that in Wu Yun's current state he doesn't think that's a very good idea.

Wu Yun changes tactics and wraps his legs around Lan Tian's waist, keeping him in place over his body.

"Ah, now you can't run away from me." He's very proud of his strategy, except that now he doesn't have enough room to take off Lan Tian's robes.

This feels like a great shame to him. Lan Tian looks very good out of his robes. Wu Yun thinks he should tell him this.

"You look good without your robes," he says, and runs his fingers over Lan Tian's shoulders and trails his hands lower over his chest.

Lan Tian's skin is cool and soft under his fingers, he likes touching him.

Lan Tian squeezes his eyes shut and shivers. "Please don't do that." He tries to disentangle himself from Wu Yun, but that only makes him squeeze his thighs tighter against Lan Tian's middle.

"Why? I like touching you, it's nice." He drapes his hands around Lan Tian's neck with a smile, and trails the tip of his fingertips down his back, until they touch one of the raised scars.

That gives him pause. He touches the scar lightly with feathery passes of his fingers before biting his lip and looking up into Lan Tian's amber eyes. "I'm sorry you got hurt because of me."

Lan Tian wants nothing more than to escape from the sweet torture of having Wu Yun's legs around him, but he can't ignore the genuine concern in his dark eyes.

He turns his head to look at Wu Yun's wrist around his neck, the curling scar almost touches his lips when he speaks, "It's nothing, and besides, you got hurt because of me too."

He doesn't know what instinct possesses him to do it, but he bridges the short distance and presses his lips tenderly against the raised skin on Wu Yun's wrist.

Wu Yun draws in a sharp breath, and looks in wide-eyed wonder at the place where Lan Tian's lips touched his skin. "Do that again."

Against his best interests, Lan Tian obeys him. He unwraps Wu Yun's arms from around his neck and brings the scarred wrist to his lips. He kisses the smooth silky scar again, and again, dropping tiny, brushing kisses onto the warm skin.

He hears Wu Yun let out a muffled giggle. "That tickles."

Wu Yun runs his free hand from Lan Tian's neck up into his hair and tangles his fingers into the silky strands.

Lan Tian lets out a shuddering breath against Wu Yun's skin, and looks down at him.

Wu Yun smiles, a big radiant smile that takes over his whole face, and says, "I like you so much."

Lan Tian freezes like a rabbit caught in a trap, he can't be sure he heard right. "What?"

Wu Yun answers but his words are low and slurred.

Lan Tian lowers his head and rests his ear against Wu Yun's lips. "What did you say?" he asks again.

Wu Yun doesn't answer him, and when Lan Tian looks at his face, his eyes are closed, full eyelashes casting deep shadows on his cheeks.

He can't help letting out a fond chuckle at Wu Yun's peaceful sleeping face. It's probably for the best that he fell asleep. Lan Tian was letting himself get too carried away by the moment.

Wu Yun's slack legs fall away from around his waist and Lan Tian can finally get up. He must still not be tired of having bad ideas because he can't help himself from pressing his lips gently against Wu Yun's forehead.

"Sleep well." He takes one last look at the gentle rise and fall of Wu Yun's chest and climbs into the hanging net. He gets his outer robes the rest of the way off and shucks them to the side.

He lies down on the net and looks up at the cave's ceiling, expecting not to fall asleep any time soon.

---

Wu Yun is running, and someone is chasing him. He's dreaming once again, but he has no memory of falling asleep, he doesn't even recall how he got into bed.

His last solid memory is of drinking several cups of plum wine at dinner in the courtyard, and now he's dreaming he's Ling Yan once again.

Despite running away from someone, Ling Yan doesn't seem scared. He's in a large corridor with ceilings and floors completely made of jade. He looks over his shoulder and spots Shu Luan turning a corner.

He laughs and runs faster. He sees a door left ajar a few zhang away, and slips into the room before Shu Luan can catch up to him.

The room has large round windows carved into the jade, the window panels are open, making the thin muslin curtains billow in the soft breeze. In the center of the room a huge canopy bed is enclosed in red drapes, he can see a vivid red silk mattress peeking through the opening.

The room is decorated in red and gold tones, it seems ready for a wedding. He realizes then that this room is a nuptial chamber.

A body collides with his back, making him let out all the air in his lungs with a huff. Strong arms circle his waist to hold him steady.

Shu Luan buries his head in the crook of his neck and whispers, "Caught you."

Ling Yan turns his head to the side and drops a tiny kiss on his lips. "I didn't run very far."

"Then why did you run at all?"

Ling Yan disentangles himself from Shu Luan's arms and walks towards the bed. He pulls the red drapes away and sits on the mattress. He crosses his legs and rests his face on his open palm, cocks his head to the side and smiles at Shu Luan. "Because I love it when you chase me."

Shu Luan lets out a loud laugh and throws himself over him, making Ling Yan fall down on the mattress. "The Heavens were never this much fun before you got here."

Ling Yan raised his hands and pulls away the hair crown keeping Shu Luan's hair in a tail. He lets it fall loose around their faces like a dark curtain and runs his finger through the sleek roots. "I hate being here, but I love that I met you."

"Were you like this, too? Back in your sect? Making men's hearts beat fast with your smooth words?"

Ling Yan turns his face to the side and laughs. "You are the one who taught me to be like this. You were my first everything, you know?"

Shu Luan lets out a wounded noise and hides his face against Ling Yan's neck.

Ling Yan smirks, and starts listing all his firsts. "My first kiss, my first love, my first," he raises himself on his elbows and whispers against Shu Luan's ear, heavy on the fricative, "fuck."

Shu Luan groans, takes both of Ling Yan's wrists in his hands to pin them against the silk mattress. "Did I teach you how to talk like that, too?"

"Half of it was you, the other half was those human books you like so much."

Shu Luan takes on a distinctive red hue around the cheeks and ears, and tries to defend himself. "Humans are very creative! They're always coming up with new things, I'm just trying to stay informed about what happens in the mortal world."

"A short life makes for a sharp mind," Ling Yan says.

He wraps one of his legs around Shu Luan's waist and uses his momentum to reverse their positions. "Maybe that's why I always win against you."

Shu Luan looks up at Ling Yan's dark eyes. "You still consider yourself human?"

Ling Yan shakes his head, and smiles sadly. "I just forget myself, sometimes. I know I don't have that right anymore."

Shu Luan raises one hand and touches Ling Yan's cheek with tender fingers. "I think it's very beautiful, you know? How much you love humans. Most gods forget, that our purpose is to serve them, not the other way around."

Wu Yun can feel the anguish Ling Yan feels, just as he can feel his desire to move past it.

He shakes his head, and drops his chest down over Shu Luan's. "What do you say we put the things in those books to good use?"

Shu Luan's eyes widen and he looks around at the room. "Here? In the Jade Palace's nuptial chamber?"

Ling Yan shrugs and starts peeling off his thin robes. Unlike humans, gods don't wear inner robes, just thin flimsy robes that can be shed with ease. The weather is always mild in the Heavens and the seasons unchanging. Ling Yan shimmies out of the thin silk until it pools around his waist and thighs.

Despite his misgivings, Shu Luan's eyes are immediately drawn to his naked chest and narrow waist. He runs a possessive hand over the side of Ling Yan's ribs and sighs. "You know he wants to marry you, right?"

Ling Yan's eye darken. "He'll have to marry my corpse, because as long as I draw breath that will never happen."

Shu Luan rises up from the mattress and wraps his arms around Ling Yan's back, pulling him until he's sitting on his lap. "I'll kill him first before he gets the chance."

Ling Yan cups Shu Luan's head in both his hands and looks into his golden eyes. "Your own brother? You would do that?"

Shu Luan takes Ling Yan hand in his and brings it to his lips. "We've never been close, you know that. He has always hated me."

A fleeting emotion runs over Ling Yan's eyes before it's gone again. Wu Yun can't hope to understand the mess of thoughts and feelings going on in his mind.

But Shu Luan does. He places Ling Yan's hand against his chest and says, "If it was me, who was sent to the human realm to see if you were ready for ascension, and you told me you didn't want it, I would never have brought you here against your will."

"What can you do against the will of the Heavens?" Ling Yan says, in a mocking tone. Wu Yun recognizes Xue Jin's words

"I would have tried, I would have found a way," Shu Luan says, and presses Ling Yan's hand more firmly against his heaving chest.

Ling Yan must believe the earnestness he sees in his eyes, because some of the heaviness lifts from his chest.

He pushes Shu Luan against the mattress by the hand he has over his chest, and settles himself over his legs. "I don't want to think about that. Make me forget."

When Shu Luan next opens his eyes they burn with heat. Ling Yan smirks, and takes his robes the rest of the way off.