Chapter Text
Gentle fingers card through his hair, smoothing out tangles, soothing his skin. The comforting hands running through his hair pause slightly as Wen Kexing shifts, curling closer into the man holding him. It feels really good, and he doesn't want the motions to stop. He whines at the pause, barely awake, bleary.
A soft laugh echoes over him and the fingers sink into his hair again. The laugh falls onto Wen Kexing with aching familiarity. Suddenly, he's wide awake, chest billowing with so much hope he could burst. He opens his eyes properly and promptly goes breathless, staring wide-eyed at Zhou Zishu. His Zhou Zishu, his A-Xu, his love.
It wasn't a dream, he really did come. Zhou Zishu came for him.
"A-Xu!" He bursts out, grabbing him around the waist tightly, burrowing his face into the familiar slope of his neck. Breathing in the comforting scent of his skin, a little bit of metal, a little bit of earth. Just the smallest hint of salty sweat. Wen Kexing knows his face is split into an obnoxious grin, but he can't possibly stop beaming. How could he not smile, how could he dare stop smiling? The love of his life in his arms?
"There you are." Zishu begins warmly, "let me see that face, let me see that smile." A hand curls under his chin and gently lifts his face up. They both sit up properly.
As much as Wen Kexing likes to act shameless, looking into Zhou Zishu's eyes is a challenge. The sheer love in his gaze makes him go warm all over, flushing in embarrassment.
"I always knew you looked good in red, that goes beyond just red clothes I think." A-Xu speaks, voice dropping into a low hum.
Wen Kexing's brain grinds to a halt and he jumps up, trying to back away, hands covering his flaming face. "Zhou Zishu, you shameless-
A hand wraps around his arm and tugs him in, he tries to pull back but it's already too late, he falls straight into A-Xu's waiting arms, straight onto his lap.
The shriek he releases is so loud he's pretty sure everyone in Ghost Valley heard him.
Strong arms wrap around him tightly, lips brushing over Wen Kexing's neck, "look at this blushing bride, what's there to be shy about? It's just your husband."
His mouth goes dry and he shivers, trembling against Zhou Zishu's chest. All at once there's warmth seeping into him, his back pressed against a well defined torso.
A loud crash sounds from the walls nearby.
"Zhuren!"
By the time Luo Fumeng and Gu Xiang reach the room, Zhou Zishu has mercifully let him go, but Wen Kexing has practically lost all the strength in his knees, and is sitting on the bed glaring at Zhou Zishu with dark eyes.
A-Xu gives him a wicked grin, taunting, resting his head on his hand, lounged over the table nearby. The sight sends a throb through his already twitchy body. His heart is thundering so loud he's amazed it's not audible to their audience. His skin burns where Zishu had trailed his lips over but mere seconds ago and Wen Kexing feels overwhelmed by the amount of love he feels when looking at his soulmate. Oh but this precious man. His precious love.
"Zhuren, who's this man, what did he do? I'll tear his eyes out!" Gu Xiang yells angrily, stalking over to Zhou Zishu, dagger poised threateningly.
"Nothing little girl, he just fell." Zishu replies mildly, face back to a near expressionless façade. It doesn't fool him. Wen Kexing has a premonition that A-Xu plans to torment him for each and every single shameless act he'd thrown at him beforehand. As if he'd let him get away with it. He isn't losing this challenge. Wen Kexing is the one who's going to be waxing poetic and making life hard for him.
"Who's your wife?" He growls out.
"You tell me." Zhou Zishu replies slowly, eyes flashing.
Gu Xiang pauses awkwardly between them, confused at the exchange. Luo Fumeng watches them with a bland face from the corner, but somehow Wen Kexing has a feeling she's laughing at him. He frowns at them both and asks tersely, "who asked you to come? Meddlesome, the both of you, I'll call you when I want, scram."
The Tragicomic ghost rolls her eyes and pulls A-Xiang away again, who's starting to look quite cross herself. Clearly mad at the lack of explanation he surmises, but there would be time for that later.
Wen Kexing lets out a sigh and gets up, reaching for the wine flasks kept nearby. Speaking of explanations, he really needs one himself.
Zishu waits for him at the table patiently, clearly reading into his confusion. He sits at the table to join him, placing the wine flasks in easy reach.
"A-Xu, what happened?" He cuts straight to the point. "Don't tell me your meridians collapsed? They shouldn't have once I transferred the energy to renew them? Even if something happened, what's all this? How did this happen?"
Zhou Zishu, who'd been nothing but happy till now suddenly goes very still. The smile melting off his face.
"My meridians at the cost of you, your life. So you knew about the consequences." His voice emerges slowly, tone cold.
Wen Kexing doesn't meet his eyes, well aware of his last lie. Zhou Zishu simply watches him for a long time, quiet.
"Whatever happened, happened. We have a chance now, that's all that matters." He finally speaks, something final in his tone.
Wen Kexing takes a deep breath, that's not- it can't be that simple. Things like this, they come at a cost, sometimes too expensive to be borne.
"A-Xu, these things have heavy costs, what did you-
"What was I supposed to do? Forget you?" Zishu interrupts him sharply, "Was I supposed to live without you?"
A-Xu looks at him with angry eyes, his hands are clenched, trembling, as he stands up. "Was I supposed to live without you?" He asks slowly, rage permeating each word as he manoeuvers around the table to kneel beside him. Wen Kexing looks into the his burning eyes, frozen.
"You're so idiotic Wen Kexing. I died. You gave up your life and took me along with you. You didn't save me, you doomed me. An eternal life without you, that's what was left in the end. As for me, what was left behind was nothing but an empty shell. I died, I died with you."
There's a lump in Wen Kexing's throat. He lets out a wordless apology and reaches for Zhou Zishu, trying to say something, anything-
Zhou Zishu falls into him this time, both of them clutching at eat other.
"All of my immortal cultivation for this chance. It was a cheap price. For you, I'd have given more. I'd have given anything. I would have given everything." Zhou Zishu murmurs feverishly, holding him so strongly, as if afraid that he might disappear.
To give up immortality, for him? For someone like him?
Wen Kexing presses his lips to Zhou Zishu's, kisses him softly, barely, "A-Xu, you're mortal again, for me. I-
"If you didn't hear me, I'll repeat. I would have given everything for you. You're not the only one who can be willing to burn down the world for your soulmate."
He lets the weight of his words sink in. To think A-Xu would believe him worthy of such love, to think that he's worthy of getting such a soulmate, someone so utterly perfect. This is his fortune, his chance after all his suffering. His light at the end of the tunnel. He's going to grab this gift and never let it go.
"Wen Kexing, I'm mortal, and I'll live this life with you. Then I'll find you in my next, and in the one after that. We'll always be together." Zhou Zishu promises, leaning back to look at him properly. His eyes burn with so much pain, and far too much love and all the many things that he can't bring himself to say. Wen Kexing can see all of it. He wants all of it, and he'll have it. He'll have him. They won't have to fail each other ever again.
"Yes. If you'd be willing, I'd never leave you. Zhou Zishu, never. We'll always be together." He agrees, voice cracking.
It's an unspoken agreement that washes all their regrets away. No more lies, they don't need to hide anything. There's nothing to be hidden between soulmates. They both chose each other, they both chose each other to love, each other to live for, to live life together. There's only trust, and their love. Wen Kexing doesn't care about any of the problems that they might face. They'd found each other through death, through warped time. Nothing could take them apart.