Xie Yi-jun

1302 years after The Long Night

Hêi'àn City

The man smiled and everyone smiled back. He laughed, and like that, they were all wrapped around his finger. After spending his life trying and struggling to become someone who was personable and well-liked enough, the King was both jealous and highly impressed by Jin Songcai's ability to get along with anyone...

Xie Yi-jun knew it might be difficult for some of his people, soldiers mainly, to accept another from a foreign place so quickly joining them like this. His people were not naturally suspicious, but with Meng Bai and that whole mess, it was hard to trust these days.

Unsurprisingly, everybody gravitated toward Songcai anyway. Yi-jun had introduced him only as a highly skilled healer that had come to aid them. Songcai and him hadn't discussed the few heated encounters they'd had over the last few weeks, or what it all had meant, but Yi-jun figured it was best to keep all of that private for now.

Having gone out with Songcai in the early afternoon to show him around and introduce him to some folks he'd be working with, the King was quickly shut out of the picture when villagers and soldiers alike came out to the streets, a few even seeking Songcai from within their own houses, noticing him and coming out to say hello.

Jin Songcai was soon surrounded by a small huddle of people, all of them, no matter their age or status, staring at him with wide, sparkling eyes...

Yi-jun scoffed, then wondered if that was what he looked like when he was staring at the man-

"He's like a Prince, isn't he?!"

"Pardon me sir, but you couldn't possibly be the healer they've sent us from Wúmeng?"

Jin Songcai nodded and smiled, "Yes. Pleased to meet you all,"

A soft murmur fluttered through the crowd-

"He's so handsome!"

"What a lovely voice..."

"I've never seen someone so charming!"

Songcai spent a while chatting with the townspeople, as well as several soldiers and guards who were also struck by his presence. Xie Yi-jun was waiting a little ways away, arms crossed, warring with himself over whether he should feel jealous or justified.

Hah, so it's not just me who finds him irresistible... and I thought perhaps just his own people adored him. Looks like that's not the case-

"Dear sir!" An old woman called to Songcai, who looked up attentively.

"If you have any time at all while you're in town, do you think you could take a look at my hands for me? They've never been the same after so many years at the mill..."

Yi-jun stood still, watching in fascination as Songcai gently extended his hands, taking the woman's and nodding with a sweet smile.

"It would be my honor," he said.

His genuine caring for others was so apparent, the King felt his heart ache just from witnessing such a thing once more.

Never in his life had he seen someone who loved others so much, so deeply. Like it was all he existed to do; be there for them. Be their crutch, their lighthouse...

"That-"

Everyone seemed to lean in closer, straining to see what the great healer was doing. Yi-jun could feel, even from several paces away, Songcai's familiar light-energy that spilled from him whenever he healed.

Like a moth to a flame, the King also stepped closer. Upon seeing him out of the corner of his eye, Jin Songcai turned and blinked at him, smiling as he lowered his lashes and then releasing the woman's hands with a soft sigh.

She was staring wide-eyed at him of course...

"How's that?"

"But... there's no pain!"

Again, the buzzing started amongst the crowd-

"Incredible!"

"Outstanding, how did he do that?!"

"Do you think he will stay for a long time?"

Xie Yi-jun also caught a few whispers from a group of women that had come to watch, all young and lively, hiding their blushing faces behind delicate hands.

"He's so handsome..."

"No! Not handsome, he's beautiful!"

"What's the difference-"

"Well, I don't know! He's too... soft to be handsome-"

Meeting eyes with Songcai, Xie Yi-jun jerked his head subtly, indicating that they had to go. After bidding farewell to his adoring fans, Songcai once again began following the King. They walked together in silence until eventually arriving at the grand entrance of the palace.

Songcai was of course fascinated by the architecture and scale of it all, asking Yi-jun all manner of curious questions that the King could only answer distractedly...

Finally in the main throne room, it being empty of course until they arrived, Jin Songcai exhaled-

"My King, whatever is wrong?"

Yi-jun paused for a moment, feeling out of sorts and gloomy as he sulked over to the most uncomfortable chair he'd ever sat in. A chair that was only made for him.

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"Nothing," he pouted.

"I didn't mean to pull you away from your new friends. You can head back if you want..."

He watched as Songcai approached him slowly, and Yi-jun's heart tightened when the man was close enough to stare down at him, one hand softly going out to rest upon the King's shoulder.

"Do you know why I came here?" Songcai said carefully.

Xie Yi-jun was still pouting, though he could feel heat rising on his cheeks under Songcai's gentle, but piercing gaze. He shrugged and watched Songcai grin...

"I came here for one reason-"

About to ask what it was, Xie Yi-jun's words halted in his throat as Songcai suddenly kneeled before him, now staring up into the King's wide eyes.

Yi-jun bent forward and gasped; "No-"

The King immediately went to pull Songcai up, but the man wouldn't budge, holding both of Yi-jun's hands in his lap and squeezing them tightly...

I don't want him to bow to me, not here, not like this! Yi-jun's mind raced. I don't deserve it-

Unable to stop him, unable to do anything but watch, he held his breath as Songcai bent further to kiss the back of his hands, the warmth spreading out across the King's neck and up to his ears as he watched helplessly.

"Mmm..." Songcai smiled, even taking a second to lean his head upon Yi-jun's lap, before finally raising his eyes and speaking with so much fervor-

"Because I knew, I would regret it if I let you go alone."

Speechless, falling deeper and deeper into the endless depths of those azure eyes, Xie Yi-jun didn't know if that sound was his own heart racing or Songcai's, as he took hold of the man's face with shaking hands and leaned down close enough to see every flawless detail of him.

Those rosebud lips... how I long to spend a lifetime tasting them-

I can't believe he's kneeling here on this freezing stone when I'm the one who should be bowing to him...

"Ah,"

A gentle sigh slid from Songcai's mouth, Yi-jun raising the man's chin ever so slightly to kiss him. Eyelids flickering closed, it was with all his heart that the King parted those lips, venturing inside, sealing them together like two halves of a misplaced puzzle.

"Mm-"

Without even realizing, Xie Yi-jun had somehow grabbed a hold of Songcai's shoulders, drawing him up, drawing him closer as Songcai held the King's robes at his chest.

A burning need was rising, so suddenly that Yi-jun didn't even have time to understand it before he acted.

"Yi-jun, Xie... Xie-"

In the span of a few seconds, the King had stood, pulling Songcai along and then spinning quickly to push the healer down. Songcai gasped and sputtered, trying to rise from the throne but Yi-jun only held him there, bending over him, eyes gleaming with a gently flickering flame that was his own desire and love overflowing.

Songcai was panting softly, "What are you-"

To quiet him or maybe just because he could, Yi-jun dropped to his knees before the man. Without a question. Without a doubt.

"Xie!"

Songcai gasped, doing what the King had done earlier, pulling at him to try to make him stand. But like Songcai, Yi-jun also would not move. Instead, he took a moment to look up at Songcai from where he felt he could finally see him in all his beauty...

By doing this, Yi-jun was hoping he was saying; do not bow to me. I will bow to you, as I should. That is what you deserve-

Jin Songcai was holding the King's collar tightly in both his hands, staring down at him with an expression full of shock and fear. Unable to voice what he believed he could never say, Yi-jun ended up mumbling;

"More than jealousy..."

Songcai frowned and shook his head-

"What?"

Yi-jun, though kneeling at the man's feet, was still so close to Songcai's face he could even see his beautiful dark eyelashes, such a striking difference to his long pale hair.

Swallowing back the need to simply press his lips across every inch of the man's skin, Xie Yi-jun tried to force his feelings into sentences.

"It was more than jealousy, seeing them all fawn over you..."

Songcai seemed to think for a second, searching the King's eyes. When he finally realized what he was talking about, the healer frowned, still unsure.

"More than that," Yi-jun whispered. "It was anger-"

Songcai blinked as the King drew closer...

"Why?"

Seconds from taking his mouth again, desperate to feel that, to taste him, Yi-jun huffed impatiently-

"Because," he said. "I realised that no matter how much I adore you, no matter how much others do, nothing will ever be enough. Nothing will ever..."

His last few words slid away as he felt the brush of Songcai's lips against his own once more. Eyes closing, reaching up a hand to grip the back of the man's neck and gently pull him down, the King lost himself in the ease of kissing Songcai. How everything else slid away and all he knew was how happy he felt, catching every sharp inhale, the heat between them rising to singe at his skin-

Breaking away with a barely silenced moan, Yi-jun's voice slid out roughly; "I could never love you enough... kiss you enough, touch you enough."

He was shaking, tears forming in his eyes as his fingers tangled themselves into Songcai's silken hair. The King couldn't tell, but Jin Songcai was shushing him softly. Yi-jun was frenzied, inconsolable...

"Cry your name with so many tears in my eyes, like I've somehow sinned against God for mentioning it."

Blinking, all was blurry for a moment as his tears dripped down. Seeing the blush upon Songcai's cheeks, his eyes like diamonds and those kiss-stung lips, Xie Yi-jun tucked his cheek against the man's, whispering with the most timid, anguished voice he'd ever heard, something he didn't even know he was capable of until now-

"No worship will ever be enough..."

He felt Songcai's sudden inhale. They both turned their heads at the same time and suddenly it was a fight for who could capture the other's lips faster. In the end, as Yi-jun was still crying, Songcai won. He grabbed the King's shoulders, holding him down as the healer eased onto the floor, and like that, now they knelt together.

Emotions swaying him like waves of the ocean, Xie Yi-jun only had the sense that he wanted more. More of whatever he will allow me to have-

Still gasping through Songcai's burning kisses, his shaking fingers traveled mindlessly to the man's chest and collarbone, feeling the other hugging him close, not even giving an inch. Aware that his whole body was quivering, not used to feeling this much at once, the King broke away from Songcai with a painful sob, unwilling to stop but not knowing if he could go on...

"It hurts-" he cried, then Songcai's hands were on his face and he was begging the King to open his eyes.

The second Yi-jun blinked, seeing Songcai's loving but worried expression, Yi-jun felt more tears fall.

"It hurts," he was slurring his words now-

"-to think that you could... be on this e-earth, and I could f-find you, only for it to be impossible to give... to give you enough-"

Songcai sighed, hugging Yi-jun tight and letting the King rest his head upon the man's shoulder while he cried, Songcai only soothing him gently with little strokes of his hair, a warm hand comfortingly against his back.

Why am I weeping?! The King didn't know...

Is this because I love him? I love him so much and I'm frustrated that I don't know how to explain it? He makes me so happy, even like this. These are tears of incredible joy, but how do I tell him?

Jin Songcai was used to comforting people. He was as practiced in it as Yi-jun was in losing them. Now, with his loved one holding him in his arms, absorbing every shiver of Yi-jun's body, it was more than obvious to the King why everyone adored the man.

He eases pain... it's as simple as that-

"Xie-jun," Songcai's gentle voice pierced his heart, as did such an intimate nickname.

"All I need is you, I'm here for you. You are enough. You are more than enough!"

Jin Songcai chuckled and Yi-jun found enough strength from that to slowly raise his head. Songcai was smiling, so much unbridled hope in his gaze that the King had to choke back another sob.

"Jin Songcai..."

The healer smiled, tilting his head and raising a hand to Yi-jun's flushed cheek, chuckling warmly even as his eyes sparkled with unshed tears.

"Shh, why are you crying?!"

"I don't know," Yi-jun sputtered.

The healer just shook his head.

"My King, you needn't worry so much, or be jealous or angry. Have faith in us. Have faith in me."

Seeing and feeling and knowing how genuine all of Songcai's words were, Xie Yi-jun could only nod and try to respond with anything that might make sense from the depths of his overwhelmed heart.

If Jin Songcai shall call me King, I shall call him mine. He will be my lover, my family, my reason. I have nothing more in this life I want, knowing what I will breathe for.

Inside those crystal eyes, Yi-jun saw his own face. Inside Songcai's smile; his fate.

"Jin-cai..." he tasted the name for the very first time and watched the healer grin.

"My faith is you."