The forest was alive.

Birds sang and small animals chittered.

A young woman in green sat below the wide canopy of a tree.

Weaving flowers together slowly as a man beside her hummed and a child tumbled in the grass.

Standing apart from the small family seemed to be a body guard, watching the scene.

•••

Birds sang at full volume beyond a window and it began to wrench Qing Xiashu from his peaceful dreams. He was still pillowed in exactly the same position he'd fallen asleep in. But something was braiding his hair and was buzzing under his cheek. His half asleep brain produced Hei Xianying as an answer, but the more awake part argued that she wasn't there and that it was likely Hong Chunji.

That certainly made more sense.

An amber eye popped open to view the prince, who was humming quietly to himself and focusing on the curled tips of hair in his hold. "Good morning." He noted with a fond smile, resting his hands down to the dip of Qing Xiashu's back.

"G'morning..."

Where did that prince find so much energy so early?

Qing Xiashu would need at least another hour before he was that awake.

"Not awake yet?"

"Mn-mm..." Instead of attempting to wake up like a good kid, one he was not, Qing Xiashu buried his face into Hong Chunji's throat and took a long breath.

Lavender, oranges, and ginger.

Also known as heaven.

That's what he smelled like.

Actually...

That didn't quite make sense, lavender was far too rare east of the wilds.

Now that he thought about it, Hong Chunji always smelled like lavender. It just hadn't registered until now that there shouldn't be any available, especially not to someone like him.

On that note, Linghun Xianshen had smelled pointedly like vanilla and jasmine. Much like lavender, vanilla was incredibly rare and came from the far Southwest. It too was only stored in a few treasuries and had mostly lost its scent, unlike the endlessly fragrant lavender.

Did gods just... smell weird?

"Are you sniffing me?" Hong Chunji snorted, trying to peek down at the head disciple but not quite succeeding in doing so.

"You smell like lavender." Qing Xiashu mentioned in a seemingly wonder filled state.

"What?"

"Lavender, it's a Western flowering plant. And on that topic Linghun Xianshen smelled like vanilla, but it's also rare."

"How do you know what that smells like?"

"Don't change the subject, help me figure this out!" Qing Xiashu was wracking his brain to produce something that might make a similar scent, but it was just so specific...

"I'm not sure what vanilla or lavender is. How are you supposed to identify that?"

"Xue Shixiong likes to collect bestiaries and herbarium indexes from all over the place, he has plenty from the South and East, even a few from the Western kingdoms. I think you could call it a special interest of his at this point. And I've read almost every book and scroll in the library."

"But the smell..."

"A few collectors have stores of vanilla and lavender from before trade ended."

"Could you be mixing it up?"

"No way." Qing Xiashu sat up and stretched his arms over his head, yawning as he sat back on Hong Chunji's waist. "Lavender is hyper specific."

There was only one thing that made any sense but it... didn't make sense for Hong Chunji the way it made sense for Linghun Xianshen.

There is a practice of offering perfumes to gods, and a legend attached to it about identifying the gods, supposedly they would smell like whatever the primary fragrance was.

Arguably Linghun Xianshen was probably known over the entire world, likely under different names, so if someone with access to vanilla religiously offered it to Linghun Xianshen, then it would make sense that he smelled of it.

But Hong Chunji shouldn't have worshipers, he wasn't a god... Then again, demigods must have a domain just as minor deities do... So if someone worshiped the concept of his domain then theoretically...

That still didn't track.

It didn't work like that, you can't pray to the domain of death without knowing which of the two death gods you wanted to pray to.

Not that anyone did that...

"You're very sweet looking while you're thinking and all, but unless you're planning on holding me down forever, you really shouldn't do it while sitting on me."

"Eh- I suppose you're right. But you should let me check everything while we're here, especially after you were sitting around in the river. I'm sure that wasn't good for the burns."

Hong Chunji snorted, rolling his eyes, remaining calm below Qing Xiashu. "Go ahead then."

The head disciple snickered as he began loosening the prince's robes so he could check over each of the injuries.

So far, everything, even the bruises, were practically healed, so unfair...

"I think the only thing left to worry about is that burn." Qing Xiashu said as he climbed off of Hong Chunji, letting the man roll over before settling over his hips again, hunching down slightly to apply more of that burn ointment to the affected flesh of his back. "All better!" He chirped, patting the prince's shoulder when he'd finished, climbing off again.

Hong Chunji sat up and organized his robes once again, tying his sleeping shirt again. "Qing Xiashu~"

"Yes, yes. I'm not running away, I'm not running away." Qing Xiashu snorted, sitting on the bed again and letting Hong Chunji practically pounce on him. He was haphazardly pinned to the wall beside the bed as the prince crossed his legs below the head disciple to make him a neat spot to settle.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

A nip on his lips had him opening his mouth.

Sometimes he wondered where exactly the shy blushing disaster went. The duality of that to then pinning Qing Xiashu to any upright surface and kissing him breathless gave him whiplash.

Though mentioning this would imply that Qing Xiashu particularly cared that the prince seemed to flip affection styles on a dime.

Which he didn't.

At all.

Before he knew it all of his injuries were redressed in clean bandages.

Unlike the demigod, Qing Xiashu's injuries were nowhere near healed, his wounds were still open and occasionally seeping blood. Not to mention the bruises were still violently bright, there were even a couple little gashes on his face. "I'm jealous." He mentioned quietly when they took a second or so to breathe.

"Hm? Why?" Hong Chunji didn't actually give him the opportunity to respond right away, momentarily blocking any words from escaping with a comparatively chaste little kiss.

"You're practically healed and my legs are still so achy!" Qing Xiashu groaned as he leaned closer into the prince, wrapping his arms around his shoulders now that he didn't need to leave room for his injuries to be tended to.

Hong Chunji rolled his eyes. "We have to keep checking you over every other day? I don't see the issue."

With a scoff, Qing Xiashu slapped the prince with his sleeve before leaning back into him for another lazy taste of his mouth.

"Hey gege I'm coming in."

Yin Hua's voice sounded with the inevitable echo of the door opening.

It all resulted in very little time for Qing Xiashu to leap away from where he was caged against the wall, finding another spot and frantically trying to get his robes back into place.

"What are y-"

For a moment the young woman stalled at the view of the slightly panicked head disciple and her foster brother, both ruffled and one partially undressed.

"I knew it! A-Niang!" The girl sprinted, her foster brother hot on her tail calling profanities and threats.

Qing Xiashu was left in the small bedroom to bury his face in the blankets to muffle a tiny discomforted shriek.

•••

Breakfast was beyond awkward... Qing Xiashu sat at the table with his face in his hands, shoulders slumped and hair undone. He'd gotten dressed but after that had just given up. Gloom and doom hung in his surroundings like some dark stinking miasma leaving him looking just a little like a water ghoul.

"... Alright what happened?" Yin Zhi sighed, observing her daughter nursing a skinned knee and her slightly antsy foster son.

And that was without mentioning the brooding ghoul sitting at the table muttering nonsense under his breath like a quiet prayer. Said ghoul grunted in displeasure while her foster son averted his gaze like he typically did when he didn't want to confront something.

"A-Hua..."

Yin Hua was buzzing like she'd been waiting to be asked that exact question. "I caught them kissing!"

Qing Xiashu's forehead hit the table and Hong Chunji cleared his throat as if to distract himself.

"I see." Yin Zhi hummed in a noncommittal note.

"She sees." Qing Xiashu muttered in an empty echo. "Of course she sees..."

"Oh come on! Is getting caught making out with gege so bad? He's cute isn't he?" Yin Hua huffed, hands on her hips.

Hong Chunji coughed quietly and Qing Xiashu finally sat back up. "That's not the issue at all." He grumbled, hiding his face behind his hands. "A-Ming is very beautiful... However, no one likes getting caught with their figurative pants down..."

Yin Zhi let out a laugh and shook her head. "I see your concern my dear." She mentioned, gently patting the top of his head before gathering his hair, tying it up into a bun and threading a wooden hair stick into it to keep it secure. "Don't worry, no one is about to chastise you for adoring our Ming-er even more than we do."

Qing Xiashu peeked through his fingers to look at Hong Chunji, who was pointedly looking out the window, arms crossed and brows furrowed.

He looked upset. The head disciple could understand why...

Getting caught kissing the sibling of his proverbial villain probably wasn't a flattering position to be in... Slowly Qing Xiashu lowered his head back down to the table, setting his hands on the back of his skull and just resting in place.

He was miserable...

To say that Qing Xiashu was sure Hong Chunji would soon have had enough of him would be kind.

Their little... arrangement had definitely been meant to remain solely between the two of them. Having it exposed so unceremoniously, even just to the two women in the house, was horrifying.

And of course there was the added issue of whatever emotion Hong Chunji was currently feeling.

All he could pray was that it wasn't something too negative.

The curled tips of Qing Xiashu's fringe were carefully picked away from his face, exposing his eyes to the one who was moving his hair. The prince had leaned over him to peer into his face, and was smiling.

Smiling.

Not glaring or sneering.

Smiling...

"Breathe." He directed calmly.

The head disciple blinked, then took a breath, relieving the slightly painful pressure that had been discreetly building in his chest.

Hong Chunji smiled just a little brighter with a tiny puff through his nose.

Qing Xiashu felt his cheeks go red and face planted into his arms. Trying to block out the sound of Hong Chunji's laughter. "Have we switched places? The second someone else is in the room you get all bashful, is that it?" Something seemed to be egging the prince on more than ever.

The head disciple's weakness had been found.

Hong Chunji settled down beside Qing Xiashu and leaned into his space, making the older man shrink slightly in his spot. "Qing Xiashu~"

"Oh hell no-!" The head disciple tried to jump up and make a break for it, but was grabbed and hauled back into a seated position directly into his aggressor's lap, which only made the prince laugh and wrap him into a crushing embrace, caging him in. "Noooooo!" Qing Xiashu whined, flailing.

"No rough housing at the table. No canoodling either."

"Aw! But A-niang, let them be!" Yin Hua, the cause of all the world's issues, argued on her brother's behalf.

"No no, I can't have my children completely breaking the North's head disciple, they'll want him back." Yin Zhi chuckled, setting out their breakfast, some parts leftovers, others freshly made.

Hong Chunji left both arms hooked almost possessively around Qing Xiashu's waist, refusing to allow him to vacate his lap but allowing him to twist and reach food.

"Feed me too." Hong Chunji chirped innocently.

"Who's shameless now!?" Qing Xaishu hissed, but of course he offered some meat over his shoulder, letting the prince eat off his chopsticks like a toddler even while his face was burning way way too warm.

Now that Hong Chunji knew of this weakness, he was sure to abuse it at every turn!

And oh how right he had been...

For the rest of the day, Hong Chunji was taking wild pleasure in forcing Qing Xiashu's cheeks to burn redder than the faded stain on his forehead.

"A-Ming, I swear to the high heavens I will get you back." Qing Xiashu announced as they walked.

Yin Zhi had asked them to deliver some of the produce to one of their neighbors in exchange for eggs and more chicken meat. Yet even outside of the safety of the house, the prince was still taunting the poor little mouse.

Yet even outside of the safety of the house, the prince was still taunting the poor little mouse [https://img.wattpad.com/d9f01befa83fdca9cdafe3561b186c4f260fb5ad/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f5f7a3375464f306f5571785851513d3d2d313439373031393133372e313830393438616164343266333663623534383032303230323136352e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

"Oh really? How do you plan to do that?" Hong Chunji asked with a smug grin, head cocking.

He rethought his decision to continue his taunting when Qing Xiashu smirked and stepped into his space.

"Just remember Chunji, you have to sleep in a bed with me, keep going if you dare." That, in such a low and promising tone, seemed to do the trick, Hong Chunji had averted his eyes and flushed, finally pausing his day long harassment.

Qing Xiashu skipped down the road, satisfied with his work.

Blissfully unaware of how little good the threat would do him.

Hong Chunji kept touching and grabbing the head disciple, pulling him into his space constantly, and it was starting to fry the poor man's brain.

His face burned so hot he was practically cooking himself! He was surely going to launch a horrific revenge when they returned to the Yin residence and went to bed.

No amount of underhanded threats seemed to work in quieting Hong Chunji's vicious "fun" until Qing Xiash tried a literal under the table tactic. A hand landed against the prince's thigh during dinner and ran up and down the length of it, squeezing the flesh harshly any time the head disciple felt threatened by another onslaught of teasing.

The squeezing didn't seem to frighten Hong Chunji the way it was meant to, instead his voice would just fall off into a cough or simply trail off as he zoned out.

Qing Xiashu found that he adored the control it gave him. He utilized this tactic to ward off any excessive affection for the entirety of dinner, finding it fantastically effective even a near hour later.

"That was cruel." Hong Chunji pointed out when he shut the door to his old bedroom.

"So were you. All. Day. Long." Qing Xiashu argued, stripping down to crawl into sleeping robes, turning his back to the prince but otherwise not really bothering to hide himself. At this point they'd seen plenty of each other's skin already, there wasn't much point in hiding.

"Plotting?"

"For the last six hours." The head disciple said flatly as he plopped down onto the bed and waited, making a point to watch Hong Chunji run through his bedtime routine.

"How afraid should I be?"

"How afraid do you think you should be?"

"Very afraid."

"Then you should be very very afraid." Qing Xiashu smiled, settling on his knees atop the bed and pulling the wooden stick from his hair, dropping it on the small table where his tassels had been left.

"Come here." He ordered, placing a hand on the blankets before him.

•●•