Xie Yi-jun

2004 years after The Long Night

Jingshén

"Look!"

Sounds of excitement and thrilled laughter echoed across the field as the residents of Jingshén celebrated another New Year. Fireworks and lights exploded over top of the castle from the roof. In the pitch darkness, every burst of color painted the grass and trees and faces of the onlookers with dapples of rainbow light. Only for a few seconds at a time, but the fireworks weren't the only thing going on that late night...

Xie Yi-jun was new to this sort of festival and watched it all with amused fascination from the archway of the front door. All the boys were running around, chasing each other in their elaborate gold and white outfits and hats, playing games and trading coins given to them based on their age by the Three Masters.

Yi-jun saw Reian playing too, though he seemed to be distracted as he carried a little boy in his arms closer to the fireworks, and closer to The King...

Xie Yi-jun greatly enjoyed watching Wen Rei play with his friends and juniors. Not only did it remind him of a simpler time in his own life, but the spark of happiness and love he felt from Wen Reian was so beautiful and stunning, it was almost more brilliant in depth than the colors igniting above the castle.

Lost in thought recalling his city's old traditions, Xie Yi-jun didn't even realize someone was coming towards him until the shadowy figure was standing beneath the archway too.

Boom!

As a firework went off overhead, Yi-jun's heart softened that much more as he saw Reian beside him, gazing up into the dark sky with a look of pure wonder.

Speechless for a few moments, he watched the way the light danced across the boy's skin. Finally when Reian glanced up at him, Yi-jun could only blink.

"Aren't you missing your friends?" The King asked, knowing it must have been difficult for Reian to pry himself away from the little one.

The boy smiled thoughtfully, closing his eyes and seeming to shrug.

"I've spent twenty years worth of New Years with them, I'll probably spend several more. But this is the first one I will ever have with you."

Boom!

As Yi-jun stared in speechless wonder at the person beside him, he felt as if his heart was up there with the fireworks... dancing and twinkling, bursting with love and hope, reflecting in Reian's eyes-

For several blissful moments, Xie Yi-jun forgot all about his past. He forgot about his home, his life. His pain dissolved in an instant, like embers fading in a fire. What he was left with was the overwhelming sense that more than anything, he wanted Wen Reian. To be with him, to love him. To smile and laugh and witness a million more beautiful things together.

Yi-jun wanted to watch the boy's starlit eyes in the darkness forever. Wanted to witness the beauty of his soul, that safe and comforting thing. The thing that held the King's hand through so much, and yet still somehow loved him.

When Reian had woken him that day in Sanlín City, Yi-jun had felt that his spirit was familiar. He'd assumed it was Jin Songcai... is it possible to have two soulmates?

The thought made Yi-jun frustrated and confused.

But the way I felt for Jin-cai and how I feel about Wen Rei is so different... and yet, the same. What does that mean, for us? For him-

"Did you see that?!"

Reian exclaimed, eyes widening as he grabbed Yi-jun's arm and pointed to the sky.

The King watched a brilliant shower of blue and violet sparks rain down, like diamonds that faded in an instant. The beauty of them was so momentary, so fleeting. It made his heart ache...

"It's gone already." He said, thinking out-loud.

Wen Reian grinned, still staring up. Yi-jun watched as another one lit the boy's eyes once more with flecks of amber and gold, as if he was shining from the inside out.

"That's why you look!" The boy said, rocking up and down on his heels in excitement.

"You open your eyes and you hold your breath! And then you keep the whole thing right in here-"

Suddenly Reian was placing his hand over Xie Yi-jun's heart, the heat of his palm through the King's clothes surprisingly warm. It startled Yi-jun, but then he found himself gazing down into Wen Rei's eyes, holding his breath, and he swore in that moment he understood.

The next moment however well, that was something neither of them predicted...

Yi-jun moved, and it wasn't to step away from the boy. Instead, with a helpless sigh, the King took hold of Reian's shoulders, pushing him back into the corner by the door.

"Wha-?"

Reian's gasp of shock was immediately swallowed up by Yi-jun's lips, as he bent his head and drew the boy's face up to his.

I'm done. I'm done holding back-

Pressing Wen Reian tightly between his body and the wall so no one would see them, the King's heart sang with joy, pulse seeming to quicken with every firework. They kissed as if there was never a doubt in their minds, as if it was the only right answer.

"Hmm..." Reian hummed softly in his throat, a sound that called to a deeper, more incessant part of Yi-jun's soul.

Running his hands down the boy's arms, Yi-jun found his wrists at last and held them tightly, shocked and elated when Reian tugged quite brutally on his bottom lip.

This can't be good... this really can't be good! Am I shaking? Do I really want him that bad?! Damn-

The King's control was slipping. Raising Reian's hands to the wall, Yi-jun held them firmly in place, aware on some level that he was probably pressing too hard.

Reian only gasped a few more times as their lips and tongues explored each other. Sinking deeply into his taste and warmth, the desperate and curious little whimpers and cries that issued from Wen Rei's mouth, Xie Yi-jun was thinking only one thing...

"Come with me?"

Unaware for several moments that he'd said it out loud, the King blinked in stunned silence as a very dazed Wen Reian didn't even bother catching his breath before he responded;

"Yes!"

As the castle was empty they nearly ran all the way from the front door to Yi-jun's bedroom, stopping several times on the staircase and in the hallway to kiss and touch one another. Outside the fireworks grew dimmer, sounds fading into the background of their world, like only each other existed.

Xie Yi-jun was unsure in the extreme what he was planning to do once he and Wen Rei were alone. All he did know was that he loved him, and wished beyond anything that he could explain that without words.

I don't have words, I don't know how to explain. I need him, he is special to me-

They fumbled rather ridiculously into the room, door closing with a heart-quickening thud before Yi-jun pulled away to stare at the boy's face, his expression so innocent and captivating as he ran his thumb over those wet, kiss-stung lips...

Reian's eyes were black, ringed with violet, and the King realized with a sense of irony that it was the same color his own eyes turned when he was overwhelmed with desire. Probably the color they are now-

Reian followed Yi-jun's lead as the King stepped closer and pressed kiss and after venerative kiss to the boy's mouth. After so long hearing and tasting each other's gasps and sighs, it didn't startle either of them when Xie Yi-jun reached down to begin pulling off his own clothes...

As they parted, breathing softly, Wen Rei's eyes fluttered open to Yi-jun pulling his robes apart one by one. Slowly, as if so many things hinged upon what they decided in this moment, Reian's hands found their way onto the King's sun-kissed body, the feeling of them like a cooling breeze upon fevered skin.

Reian might have seen him before like this, but now there was that question tossed up in the air. The question Wen Rei answered every time he breathed;

Do you want me? Like this?

The boy blinked, seeming as if he couldn't believe what he was looking at. Xie Yi-jun held his breath. He was covered in scars, he knew. Some as long as his hand, some white, but others deep purple and still hard to see. An emotion was stirring behind Reian's eyes that looked to Yi-jun like awe.

Could he really be so shocked by my body that he doesn't know what to say?

"Wen Rei," Yi-jun exhaled, reaching up to stroke the boy's chin and cheek.

Bringing his eyes gently up, he stared at Reian, longing to know what lay trapped inside his mind. The thoughts and feelings that swayed him, and why he looked as if he was feeling some unknowable emotion.

Before Yi-jun could voice any of this however, Reian suddenly smiled. In that same second, a single tear fell from his eye as he stared up at the King with the most grateful, incredible expression.

Xie Yi-jun was speechless again, waiting instead for Reian to speak, and when he did all the boy said was;

"You're... all I want. Please?"

The King saw the way Reian's eyes kept on taking in every inch of his exposed chest and stomach. He swallowed, saying nothing. Xie Yi-jun didn't know what to say. Reian was analyzing every detail of him, thinking deeply, memorizing.

When Reian reached up to push Yi-jun's robes further off his shoulders, the King helped him, sliding them off completely and letting them fall to the floor.

"Is this okay?" Reian said, his voice trembling as he gently reached out.

"It's..."

But the boy was too distracted to hear Yi-jun's answer. He took the King's hand in his own and brought it up to look closely at his fingers, feel the roughness of them, see the veins that traveled from the back of his hand all the way down his forearm.

Watching the way Reian's lovely blush had settled upon his face, his lips swollen from their kissing and his eyelashes fluttering softly as he stared down at Yi-jun's body, it was impossible for Xie Yi-jun not to think about Songcai.

Reian's soul was familiar to him like Jin-cai's was, from the moment they met. And now he was wondering just how lucky and cursed he would have to be, to have two different soulmates, in two separate lives.

I can't think about this now, it'll only drive me mad...

With a desperate sigh, Yi-jun breathed; "Wen Reian?"

When dark velvet eyes raised to his own, the King felt his heart skip a beat in his chest. Wen Rei was still holding his hand, his parted lips; the most beautiful shade of dark red, crimson, and glistening.

Xie Yi-jun was spellbound.

"Yes?"

The King smiled, everything about Reian pulling him in deeper and deeper.

"Please," Yi-jun said slowly. "Let me be your teacher..."

The boy's eyes grew wide.

He likely has no experience to even imagine what I-

"...!"

Yi-jun's shock came as a sudden gasp, Reian grabbing the King's face and kissing him hard.

Ah, so maybe he has some idea...

Arms going around the boy's back, Xie Yi-jun decided to take it a step further by parting Reian's lips again, slowly sliding his tongue inside. He felt Reian jump, but then he softened, gentle sighs mixing with Yi-jun's heavy breathing as they tasted each other over and over, bodies pressing into one another until Yi-jun was practically lifting Reian off his feet.

Like that time in the greenhouse, the day I asked him for a second chance. What was his first kiss, that became his second, third and forth-

The little gasp as Reian begged; "More!"

One of the King's hands on Wen Rei's back ventured around to the boy's chest, and while Yi-jun kissed him deeply, surrendering to the feeling of those delicate lips, his hand was also slipping inside Reian's clothes.

Wen Rei hadn't seemed to notice yet; Xie Yi-jun's hand pressed against his warm skin, right above where his heart was racing-

It wasn't until Yi-jun's fingers traveled down a little more, loosening his shirt, that Wen Rei parted from him, inhaling sharply and shivering as he felt the King's touch.

Reian's eyes were wide, dark black and shining as he stared deeply at Xie Yi-jun, whose fingertips were now boldly caressing the already hardened bud on Reian's chest.

Seeing so closely the effect on the boy; his panting and parted lips, the confused but intrigued expression on his face, Xie Yi-jun was elated and went in for another kiss.

This time, he licked Reian's lips first, still twirling the nipple with his fingers and catching every pleasurable sigh from the boy's mouth...

He really is so soft, so warm. I adore his hushed little moans, like he's afraid of being too loud. I want to give him everything he wants. I want to give him more-

"Wen Rei," Yi-jun exhaled, his taste lingering and causing the King to go lightheaded.

"My curious little student..."

Wen Reian was staring at him, his hands having fallen to the King's chest. And Xie Yi-jun could only blush, gazing deeply into those dark eyes while he whispered two shy, tempting words;

"Study me."