Xie Yi-jun

2005 years after The Long Night

Riyeri

Yi-jun could feel the tension radiating off of Wen Rei. He tried catching the boy's eyes several times, but the young cultivator kept glancing down. He hadn't noticed Reian acting this way until they'd entered the forest, so Yi-jun stopped him, taking his hand and bringing it up to his lips. There-

Reian looked at him finally and Yi-jun smiled at the warmth within those dark eyes.

He kissed Reian's hand, noticing how he inhaled. When Yi-jun released him, Reian blinked as if startled and took a step back. The young King frowned...

"What's gotten into you? You're as nervous as a baby deer."

When Yi-jun reached out Reian flinched, but it wasn't the type of flinch that would mean fear. Yi-jun didn't know why the boy was so jumpy, but he was sure it had something to do with where they were.

"You don't like being this far from home..." he guessed, and one look at Reian said he spoke the truth.

Catching him around the waist and pulling Reian into his arms, Yi-jun tucked his chin over the boy's shoulder and tried to reassure him...

"We can leave instead of staying the night. These trees don't sit very well with me either-"

"No, I'm okay."

Xie Yi-jun tried to look at Reian's face but he couldn't see it. In his grasp, he felt him shiver so he hugged tighter. The boy exhaled, aura still chaotic and confusing. Yi-jun wasn't sure what was going on.

He thought maybe a soft kiss on the cheek would help, so Yi-jun bent his head, but as he did Reian turned to say something and their eyes met. Xie Yi-jun recognized with a bit of surprise that within those eyes was something he knew all too well.

Around him, Reian's aura heightened in intensity, becoming more like a pull from his soul toward the boy. Wen Reian's lips parted...

Right before Yi-jun was about to kiss him, Reian swallowed and said-

"I remember the first time I felt this."

Xie Yi-jun was entranced, just watching his lips move, he had nothing to say.

Reian continued, "On our journey to Wúmeng, the day you told me to stay away from you. I was walking through here and I saw you..."

Yi-jun couldn't remember. He barely recalled saying that to Reian.

"Saw me what?"

His voice was deep, laced with desire, and Yi-jun felt the same from Wen Rei-

The boy's eyes lowered briefly, and then settled upon Yi-jun's mouth.

"I wanted to know what you were doing... I wanted to be there in your place and feel what you felt,"

And all at once, Yi-jun remembered.

Speechless, he blinked a few times as Reian whispered; "Now that I'm here again, it's all I can think about."

Yi-jun's heart raced and he swallowed, "What?"

Reian's lips were almost touching his. He could feel their softness, the way his warm breath slid out, begging for Yi-jun to taste it-

The boy nodded gently...

"When you opened your eyes that night in Sanlín City, all I felt from you was pain. For once, in this forest, I saw something else-"

Suddenly Reian moved, and it wasn't to kiss him. Instead, Yi-jun was left with the breath knocked out of him, Reian landing on top as the two fell to the ground covered in pine needles and leaves.

"Reian-"

Yi-jun had gasped when he'd been pushed down, his heart racing in fear that Reian had been hurt, but the boy was sitting rather comfortably upon Yi-jun's legs, tilting his head to the side in a way that made Yi-jun long to kiss his neck.

Thinking back to the day he'd mentioned, Xie Yi-jun felt an embarrassed flush creeping up on his cheeks as he recalled his actions.

I was going through the painful withdrawals of being frozen for seven hundred years... my aura and spirit sealed off with no way to regulate my emotions.

The more he tried to rationalize it the more ridiculous he felt. The truth is, it had been such a long time since he'd come and his body was aching for it.

So he'd touched himself, underneath a tree, imagining it was Songcai and that nothing had changed...

Xie Yi-jun had a hold of Reian's waist, the boy's hands upon his chest. Biting his lip, he tried to think of a good excuse. As he was thinking, he felt Reian suddenly shift-

"Mmn..."

Yi-jun's fingers tightened, a soft sound escaping his throat as their hips pressed together. The look in Reian's eyes said it had been on purpose and now Yi-jun's heart was pounding in his chest-

"Wen Reian, what are you doing?!"

Yi-jun silenced another moan when the boy moved atop him, rubbing in such a way, the King knew he was already half-hard. Reian just gazed at him...

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"I've thought about what I would do, if I really was in your place," he said.

Reian's hands slid down Yi-jun's chest, all the way to the sash around his waist.

The boy pouted. "It's kept me up at night, thinking about it..."

Yi-jun swallowed again, silently watching as Reian unfastened the King's belt, quickly and with no hesitation pulling apart his robes to reveal his chest. Feeling like he should say something, Yi-jun forced himself to form words, though they sounded hoarse and not thought-out.

"I didn't mean for you to see,"

Reian's eyes suddenly found his. In that split-second, Yi-jun realized that this was a deep secret of Reian's. Something dark and precious to him. The first time he'd ever felt desire...

No wonder he seemed so nervous-

Without another word, Reian slid his hand inside Yi-jun's pants, immediately finding the hard shaft. Somehow, watching the astonishing expressions on Reian's face was even more arousing to Yi-jun than his warm fingers.

The boy's lips parted in a silent gasp, his eyelids closing slightly as he touched Yi-jun for the first time...

He knew Reian had never done something like this before, but that just made it so much more potent. Every experimental touch, every blush that settled across his face. Knowing this is what he wants-

Yi-jun raised his hips, gripping the back of Reian's neck and roughly pulling him down. Through stuttering kisses, he could hear and feel the boy's rapid breathing, the spine-tingling sensation of his hands cautiously discovering where and how Yi-jun liked to be touched.

The King was suddenly reminded of his own first experience of this kind of pleasure... it had been something he'd learned about on his own, as having companions or partners growing up was nearly impossible.

He remembered the illicit thrill of certain things you could never admit to yourself you had done the morning after. His discovery when he was a teenager that he liked men as well as women, the experimenting, the fluttery heat of it all...

"Mmmph! Reian-"

Xie Yi-jun panted, parting with the boy's mouth only to end up staring into his ever-darkening eyes and the way he was biting his lip.

Agh! Yi-jun's hips arched up again, pushing closer to Reian's hands as he touched a sensitive spot-

"I don't know what I'm doing..." Wen Rei admitted breathily, still touching Yi-jun only because he was curious.

"You'll have to teach me-"

Heat flared up on the boy's face, but he didn't seem like he regretted what he'd said.

Xie Yi-jun was wondering just how much he should take Reian's word for it, how much he should show him, when the boy suddenly smiled, sending a surge of warmth through the King's chest.

Reian's lashes lowered, his voice far too innocent for the things he was doing and saying. Yi-jun didn't know what had caused such a dramatic change in the boy, but he was not going to question it now...

"If I told you I was curious about something specific," Reian murmured. "Would you show me?"

Yi-jun nearly groaned out the word; "Yes."

Then Reian's hands moved up his stomach, sliding across his bare chest, the boy's eyes taking in everything on his way-

"When someone is on their knees, what happens?"

Yi-jun only blinked...

"What?!"

Wen Reian frowned cutely, trying to recall-

"What happens between their bodies, why would the one standing feel... good?"

The King wasn't sure he was hearing correctly. Was Reian really asking about that?! How would he even-

Heart pounding, feeling his whole body tighten in response to such innocent curiosity, Xie Yi-jun decided it would be better in this instance to show rather than tell in so many words...

He brought Reian's lips up to his again, kissing him softly, then whispering;

"You do this, where your hands just were."

Reian's breath seemed to catch as understanding dawned on him. Xie Yi-jun was curious why he was asking and how he was aware of such an act, with his limited life-experience...

When Reian finally leaned back a little to stare at him, Yi-jun took a few moments to admire the little birthmarks on his face and neck-

Oral sex aside, Wen Rei might stand to learn a thing or two from me...

"Here," Yi-jun said softly. "I'll answer whatever you want. But first, I can't stop staring at your freckles. I want to kiss them all-"

Wen Reian smiled shyly. When Yi-jun took the boy's chin in his hand and leaned closer to press his lips to the little mark just under his eye, Reian suddenly exhaled-

"What about when two men are making love?"

Yi-jun's breath caught in his throat, his heart skipping a beat in shock. He pulled away to stare at Reian, who seemed only sweetly curious...

The King raised an eyebrow, "How-"

Wen Rei pouted shyly, as if he was hesitant to tell him. Finally he said with a soft shrug; "Books. Just books,"

Yi-jun laughed, "Then I'll tell you something you won't learn from books. Come here-"

Reian seemed eager, which made Yi-jun smile...

With his lips beside the boy's ear, the King whispered softly his only words of wisdom;

"Everyone is different when it comes to pleasure, you have to be in tune with what your partner wants, watch how they react to things... for example; you like when I do this-"

Pressing a sneaky kiss upon Reian's mouth, Xie Yi-jun slowly drew the boy's bottom lip between his teeth, sucking gently, tasting his sweet sighs and feeling how he inched closer.

Reian's fingers curled upon his chest and finally, after far too much indulging himself, the King pulled away only for Wen Rei to huff softly-

"And you like when I do this..."

Yi-jun's breath caught in his throat, eyes widening as he felt Reian's hands flutter up to his hair. What the-

Reian tucked his hair behind his ears, making Yi-jun shiver. Then, as if he'd planned it, the boy took the end of the King's braid in his hands, undoing it nimbly and gently... like he knew what it meant.

When he was done, Wen Rei combed his fingers through the dark strands, being careful. Yi-jun was unable to tear his gaze away from the boy's expression. Somehow, he felt as if Wen Rei knew that this was something important, something from his past-

"Ah!"

The King inhaled sharply, Reian's fingers tugging hard enough that desire swelled inside his heart. Xie Yi-jun was suddenly imagining how it would feel to kiss Wen Rei everywhere. To decorate his shoulders with little love-bites... maybe even a few on his soft stomach-

Absolutely dizzy by the mere thought, Yi-jun could only gasp and groan as every little pull and touch sent him further away from reality.

It wasn't until he felt Reian kissing his forehead softly, that the King recalled where he was, and as his eyes flickered open, seeing Wen Rei's darkened black ones gazing at him with such tenderness and love, Yi-jun knew in that moment that he could never take for granted or forget the feelings he had for the boy.

Reian was still blushing, staring like Yi-jun was the answer to all his questions...

The King swallowed, and when he spoke his voice came out choked and raspy-

"Wen Reian,"

Yi-jun wanted nothing more than to lay here all night with him, enjoying each other, learning like it was the first time. And for Reian it was-

In love with the way the boy looked at him, the sun slowly setting around them amidst the winter trees, Xie Yi-jun whispered to Wen Rei a simple request.

It wasn't a promise of forever. Yi-jun had made those kind before and had failed to keep them. Nor was what he asked of Reian something they might regret in the morning...

He said only, with much love; "Be with me?"

When Reian smiled, he knew he understood. There was nothing he wanted from him that wouldn't be satisfied by spending a night together under the stars, sharing breaths and bodies, falling asleep to the sound of each other's hearts.

Wen Rei nodded, and like that there was nothing else that needed to be said.

Into the late hours of the night, they laughed and talked, kissed and touched. Yi-jun experiencing Reian's firsts in a way that made him feel like it was his own first time asking such things, blushing and sighing in the dark.

Never was there a sense of wrongness. Of time running out. For the King knew, time was finite. Every second that passed by, he simply smiled as it did. Spending all the moments he wanted to whisper to Wen Reian about how beautiful he was, how precious and dear. Secrets being spilled like water into a basin, washing away doubts, fears, regrets.

At last, nearly asleep, Yi-jun caught the faintest of whispers from the young healer's lips, holding it in his heart for a long time after...

"Xie-jun, I love you."

Their eyes met in that last second before their lips touched, and the King was lost once again.