return from lanling

[shangba]

A full moon, unblinking.

You did not sleep, to see?

Comments

[shangba]

Wei Ying.

You must know you will bathe. Surely.

[emperorssmile]

You mean before we cultivate or after?

[shangba]

Both.

Do you expect me to bed you with road filth, or share your sheets in sweat after?

[emperorssmile]

Okay, okay, we can bathe both times.

We can bathe together or have you already washed away the road filth?

[shangba]

We may, together.

[emperorssmile]

We can soak in the warmth until the chill leaves us.

[shangba]

One day, it will be Wei Ying who cannot prevail without bathing.

[emperorssmile]

You make it sound like I hate baths. I like them well enough, I just feel like bathing twice in one day is overkill.

Besides, you know I’m fond of the way you smell after we sleep together.

You smell good clean, too.

[shangba]

After lovemaking...

Wei Ying, is it not that you enjoy your own scent upon me then?

[emperorssmile]

It’s not just mine. It’s your scent mixed with mine and I like it. You don’t like me having your scent all over me?

[shangba]

...do.

But obscene. Sticky.

[emperorssmile]

Is it really obscene when it’s just the two of us?

It is pretty sticky though.

[shangba]

It is why I hold you close during bathing.

To catch scent.

[emperorssmile]

I like it when you hold me and now I like it even more.

I’ve been using your oils to bathe with since we’ve been apart. Wearing your used robes to sleep.

[shangba]

I ever speak of pining.

But, in truth, Wei Ying also yearns.

[emperorssmile]

I do yearn for you, Lan Zhan. Every day we’re apart, it feels like I’m walking around with half of me missing.

[shangba]

Only a handful of hours more.

[emperorssmile]

I don’t like being away from you, but I really like reuniting with you after we’re apart.

[shangba]

Why?

[emperorssmile]

It’s like having a drink when I’m thirsty or eating when I’m starved.

I have a place in me that feels empty when we’re apart and the only way to fill it is being in your arms.

[shangba]

And you crave the moment of completion.

[emperorssmile]

Yeah, I do. In both ways you could mean it.

[shangba]

I yearn always the days after the reunion. The first, the second.

After the longing settles. The peace.

[emperorssmile]

I like that part, too.

I always feel so much better when we’re together. I sleep better, I eat better.

[shangba]

And your ankles are warmed.