[ There's a blink of surprise, seeing Xie Lian so close, although his expression doesn't change from anything but that soft, gentle look that he always has for Xie Lian when he's feeling particularly tenderhearted. He's bent forward, almost like he's about to kneel, and there's no motion to pull away from his side either. Instead, he just - looks at him. A quiet hum is his only response to the gratitude, his ears perked straight on his head, then slowly swiveling back into something relaxed, to match his face.
Xie Lian's hands have always been warm. Even in a world where he has a beating heart, the difference is still there, and Hua Cheng has relished in each and every single touch, gesture, point of contact with the person before him. His kind-hearted Xie Lian, so ready to give you the shirt off his back as much as he is to lay down his life for another person. Who the world was so unkind to.
Every day spent with him, no matter how the rest of the day had been, is a better one. Xie Lian looks at him like he hung the stars in the sky, but, really, the only reason he would have done such a thing is so that Xie Lian could look upon them. For Hua Cheng - back when he was younger, all the way to now, a known and familiar constant - it was Xie Lian who opened up the sky to him in the first place.
So he smiles at him, soft, as he allows himself to follow the natural progression of everything. His posture, his heart, his devotion.
He calmly takes a knee to kneel, breathing out a little huff of a laugh as he covers Xie Lian's hand at his. ] Of course, gege.
[ hua cheng kneeling in front of him is... it's a lot.
seeing san lang like this brings back old memories, of being taizi dianxia, where people would kneel like this on the daily, much to his general disinterest, and it flusters him more than it should. back then, he might have just nodded, used to the behavior from anyone and anyone, but now--now, he doesn't deserve it. the idea of being something valued has been beaten out of xie lian in the past eight hundred years. every amount of pride he had is gone.
but hua cheng has made a concentrated effort to give xie lian what he needed, no matter what that was. most of the time, it was just company, something xie lian ached for more than he ever really knew. other times it was a joke to make him laugh, a cheeky remark that made him smile. sometimes it was help around puji -- a portrait, beautifully drawn for his altar, or a door, when puji didn't have one. in algos, it was much of the same. there, xie lian had fallen head over heels in love with hua cheng, and he carries the memories of that lifetime with him now. and now, again, they're here in this world, a whole other place, where san lang is there. he's always there. he prays desperately perhaps that that will never stop.
xie lian looks down at him, stopping himself from immediately trying to pull him up in embarrassment. his hand is still in san lang's, and he doesn't move it, his fingers curling gently around his hand.
(it would be so selfish of him to say too much. what about the other daozhang? what about-- what could xie lian do, just by being near him? he could destroy hua cheng, and he couldn't live with it.)
but looking at hua cheng here recalls the memories of the six weeks they've spent in this place. of all of the things they've been through. their investigations, his armory, the dreams, the scars, san lang's eye--over and over, they've been through so many things. if the daozhang will remember them all, as he's sure he will, then he can't imagine another xie lian thinking differently.
san lang is so, so important. he is someone to be cherished. a bond that xie lian wants, so badly, to be unbreakable. ]
...San Lang. [ he says, softly, and drops down next to him, to his knees, too. xie lian has not been someone to be worshipped in a long time, but maybe down here they can be equal, giving and taking from each other, learning from each other, growing together. spending time together. his san lang will -- remember this, certainly, even if it's a bit different, and xie lian will hold the terrifying fact in his chest that these little feelings that have started to develop are not just the fault of some alternate universe. they're his.
he gives the hands holding his a tiny squeeze, his face starting to take on color, as he tugs to get him to look at him. ] ...would... we should. I'd like to..
[ be direct, don't chicken out. you can do this. how is it any different from algos academy, before? ]
--if you want to, I'd like to form a red string bond with you. If you'd be willing. [ there we go. once it's out, the words start to tumble. ] I don't ask anything of you, and I don't need anything, and I know, that you'll probably end up supremely unlucky for doing so, and perhaps start running into doors or being chased by disasters but -- I said that I wanted to share with you, and I meant that, and I still do.
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Xie Lian's hands have always been warm. Even in a world where he has a beating heart, the difference is still there, and Hua Cheng has relished in each and every single touch, gesture, point of contact with the person before him. His kind-hearted Xie Lian, so ready to give you the shirt off his back as much as he is to lay down his life for another person. Who the world was so unkind to.
Every day spent with him, no matter how the rest of the day had been, is a better one. Xie Lian looks at him like he hung the stars in the sky, but, really, the only reason he would have done such a thing is so that Xie Lian could look upon them. For Hua Cheng - back when he was younger, all the way to now, a known and familiar constant - it was Xie Lian who opened up the sky to him in the first place.
So he smiles at him, soft, as he allows himself to follow the natural progression of everything. His posture, his heart, his devotion.
He calmly takes a knee to kneel, breathing out a little huff of a laugh as he covers Xie Lian's hand at his. ] Of course, gege.
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seeing san lang like this brings back old memories, of being taizi dianxia, where people would kneel like this on the daily, much to his general disinterest, and it flusters him more than it should. back then, he might have just nodded, used to the behavior from anyone and anyone, but now--now, he doesn't deserve it. the idea of being something valued has been beaten out of xie lian in the past eight hundred years. every amount of pride he had is gone.
but hua cheng has made a concentrated effort to give xie lian what he needed, no matter what that was. most of the time, it was just company, something xie lian ached for more than he ever really knew. other times it was a joke to make him laugh, a cheeky remark that made him smile. sometimes it was help around puji -- a portrait, beautifully drawn for his altar, or a door, when puji didn't have one. in algos, it was much of the same. there, xie lian had fallen head over heels in love with hua cheng, and he carries the memories of that lifetime with him now. and now, again, they're here in this world, a whole other place, where san lang is there. he's always there. he prays desperately perhaps that that will never stop.
xie lian looks down at him, stopping himself from immediately trying to pull him up in embarrassment. his hand is still in san lang's, and he doesn't move it, his fingers curling gently around his hand.
(it would be so selfish of him to say too much. what about the other daozhang? what about-- what could xie lian do, just by being near him? he could destroy hua cheng, and he couldn't live with it.)
but looking at hua cheng here recalls the memories of the six weeks they've spent in this place. of all of the things they've been through. their investigations, his armory, the dreams, the scars, san lang's eye--over and over, they've been through so many things. if the daozhang will remember them all, as he's sure he will, then he can't imagine another xie lian thinking differently.
san lang is so, so important. he is someone to be cherished. a bond that xie lian wants, so badly, to be unbreakable. ]
...San Lang. [ he says, softly, and drops down next to him, to his knees, too. xie lian has not been someone to be worshipped in a long time, but maybe down here they can be equal, giving and taking from each other, learning from each other, growing together. spending time together. his san lang will -- remember this, certainly, even if it's a bit different, and xie lian will hold the terrifying fact in his chest that these little feelings that have started to develop are not just the fault of some alternate universe. they're his.
he gives the hands holding his a tiny squeeze, his face starting to take on color, as he tugs to get him to look at him. ] ...would... we should. I'd like to..
[ be direct, don't chicken out. you can do this. how is it any different from algos academy, before? ]
--if you want to, I'd like to form a red string bond with you. If you'd be willing. [ there we go. once it's out, the words start to tumble. ] I don't ask anything of you, and I don't need anything, and I know, that you'll probably end up supremely unlucky for doing so, and perhaps start running into doors or being chased by disasters but -- I said that I wanted to share with you, and I meant that, and I still do.