Work Text:
“Your part’s done! Gege was an outstanding model, as always,” Hua Cheng declares, wiping his hands on a color-stained cloth. “Come take a look.”
Hua Cheng appreciatively looks from the corner of his eye as Xie Lian stands up in a big stretch. It’s summer, and the door of the studio is locked from the inside; he doesn’t bother putting on his bathrobe.
Naked, Xie Lian walks over to peep at the canvas to the rhythm of the music playing on Hua Cheng’s speakers. His hair, still long and flowing but a bit shorter than when they met over a year ago (he got an impressively large ball of gum stuck in it weeks prior, and sacrifices had to be made), sways against his back when he whirls around, then drapes handsomely over his neck as he leans closer.
“San Lang, it’s already beautiful!” Xie Lian exclaims. “You’ve truly outdone yourself.”
Hua Cheng hears the smile in his voice. He drops on his chair, twirling a brush in his hand as he peeks at his work over Xie Lian’s shoulder. The painting depicts Xie Lian on the edge of a lotus pond and dipping his hand in the water, sketches of future flowers climbing up his legs as though rooting him in place. A white flower crown sits atop his head.
“Ah, I only draw what I see.”
Xie Lian turns his head to humorously narrow his eyes at him, but is unable to stop his cheeks from reddening.
Hua Cheng pats his legs and, not having to be asked twice, Xie Lian happily straddles his lap, immediately seeking a kiss that Hua Cheng eagerly indulges him in.
He then grabs Xie Lian’s hand, pressing his mouth to it before sweetly making his way up to Xie Lian’s neck, one kiss at a time.
Where he left the last kiss, right under Xie Lian’s ear, Hua Cheng begins painting a flower from the tip of his brush.
Xie Lian instantly squirms. Hua Cheng has to bite down on his tongue at the unexpected friction.
Unaware, Xie Lian laughs. “Stop, it tickles!”
Hua Cheng raises the brush once more.
“But gege, it’ll be so pretty?”
He purses his lips, looking quite cute. “Alright.”
“Gege, did you know bodies can grow flowers?”
Xie Lian raises an eyebrow. “Can they? Pray San Lang show me.”
“It only works on unique individuals. As bright as the sun, as strong as the mountains, as beautiful as a flower. Here, look.” Hua Cheng tips slightly forward, kissing Xie Lian’s collarbone. He then paints a flower on the spot he’s kissed, beautiful enough to be worthy of the man before him. “See? It works on you.”
Xie Lian lightly shoves Hua Cheng’s shoulder.
“You’re such a sap,” he scolds, and Hua Cheng replies with another kiss, and another flower—this time, on the ribs.
“Am I?” Hua Cheng wonders. “Or is it nothing but my sincere heart speaking?”
Xie Lian squirms again in his embarrassment, even closer. Despite his best attempt at hiding it, a groan escapes Hua Cheng, and the hand resting on Xie Lian’s hip grips it tighter.
Xie Lian clasps his hands over his mouth.
“Ah—sorry.”
Hua Cheng shakes his head, smiling reassuringly.
Before they got together, Hua Cheng would stay professional and banish any stray thoughts as he worked without difficulty, the job made easy from being used to years and years of life drawing practice.
Now, things are certainly different; more and more, he’s been allowing himself to indulge, which means he finds it nearly impossible to resist Xie Lian's natural charm anymore.
As for Xie Lian, well, just like Hua Cheng can look at anyone else and be wholly indifferent to them beyond aesthetic appreciation, he's like that with everyone—even with Hua Cheng. Controlling his thoughts was never an issue, so he doesn’t usually notice when he’s doing something to the effect he is now until his body reacts on its own.
However, as they explored each other, Xie Lian did discover that he likes to indulge and be indulged nearly as much as Hua Cheng does.
Hua Cheng has painted several flowers, each on a place he kisses first, when a particularly light stroke makes Xie Lian wiggle yet again.
“God—gege,” he whines. “Stop that, I—”
Xie Lian stills at once. “Do you really want me to?”
He sounds somewhat regretful. Pleased, Hua Cheng smirks.
“No. . .?”
“You’re shameless,” Xie Lian tuts, poking Hua Cheng in the middle of his forehead.
“Don’t look so innocent,” Hua Cheng teases back. He pointedly glances down. “You’re as interested as I am.”
“Well, if you hadn’t asked me to sit here and been ‘interested’ first, maybe I wouldn’t be,” Xie Lian counters. It’s not always true—Hua Cheng distinctly remembers several delightful instances to the contrary—but he knows it is more often than not.
“Ah, I suppose gege is right,” Hua Cheng sighs, playing along. Though, for once, his asking Xie Lian to come over originally had no ulterior motive. “This San Lang is nothing but a bully.”
Attempting to distract Hua Cheng with a kiss, Xie Lian slides his arms around his neck, grinning through it, his chest rumbling with repressed laughter.
It works, until Hua Cheng’s hand moves slowly from Xie Lian’s hip to his thigh, then when no protest comes and Xie Lian kisses him deeper, closes around him.
Xie Lian draws in a sharp breath, his hips immediately searching for closer contact, but Hua Cheng doesn’t move another inch.
However, Xie Lian isn’t always one to be played with; his hand leaves Hua Cheng’s neck to catch his wrist, pulling his hand away himself.
“Wait, let me,” he says, placing Hua Cheng’s hand on his thigh before unbuttoning Hua Cheng’s shirt, all the way down to the zipper of his pants.
With that done, Xie Lian presses himself to Hua Cheng’s chest as close as he can, and wraps his hand around them both.
Hua Cheng shudders, briefly wondering how lucky he is as he gazes wide-eyed at this mesmerizing sight—until Xie Lian moves his hand, removing any further rational thoughts from his mind, replacing them with blinding pleasure that quickly builds up and up; overwhelming and unyielding.
Soon enough, Hua Cheng is panting into Xie Lian’s neck, marking it with murmurs of Xie Lian’s name as he efficiently works them to completion, using of both his hand and the rocking of his body. The only words on his lips, whispered praise and San Lang.
At a perfectly timed flick of his wrist, Hua Cheng’s hips uncontrollably stutter and he comes first, biting down a sob on Xie Lian’s collarbone.
Following closely behind, Xie Lian’s head droops under his jaw, where Hua Cheng feels the scrape of teeth as Xie Lian gasps out a cry.
Hua Cheng’s legs are a bit numb under Xie Lian’s weight, but he keeps him securely seated, massaging his hips with his thumbs. Awed, he watches Xie Lian come down from the high, cheeks flushed red and, though a little embarrassed, looking content.
With crescent eyes, Xie Lian peppers Hua Cheng’s lips in affectionate pecks.
He doesn’t stop until Hua Cheng cradles his face between his hands and plants a kiss on his forehead.
“Mh, my genuine thanks to gege for blessing me with his skills so generously.”
Xie Lian somehow flushes more, muttering about ‘unnecessary thanks’ and “Come on, you sweet talker, you’re much better at it”—amused, Hua Cheng can’t resist kissing it away.
As the music still plays, Hua Cheng grabs a clean cloth from his work table and gently wipes off their mess, humming along.
When he’s done and Xie Lian’s blush has recessed, Xie Lian steals his brush and attempts to draw a butterfly on his chest, brows knitted in concentration, eventually settling for a quick heart around Hua Cheng’s nipple when it doesn’t work out.
He shoves the brush back in Hua Cheng’s hand.
“No, nope, art’s not for me, you keep doing it.”
Hua Cheng chuckles and obliges. He adds flowers to Xie Lian’s upper arm in silence, humming along to the music as he paints some graceful, dancing butterflies between the flowers.
“We should get tattoos,” Xie Lian says pensively, admiring Hua Cheng’s work in progress on his arm. “What would you get?”
“A portrait of you, so I can look at you whenever I want,” Hua Cheng replies, not looking up from the wing he’s tracing near Xie Lian’s armpit.
“Ew, no!” Xie Lian protests. “San Lang, promise me you will never get a tattoo of my face. Remember I’d have to look at it, too.”
Hua Cheng glances up. “What’s wrong with that?”
“San Lang!”
“Alright, alright,” Hua Cheng laughs. “I promise gege I won’t get a tattoo of his face.”
“Good.” Xie Lian nods, satisfied. “What tattoo should I get?”
The tip of Hua Cheng’s tongue pokes out as he traces the finishing touches. When he’s done, he sets the brush down.
Returning his attention to Xie Lian, he finds him waiting patiently but expectantly, a lock of hair threatening to obstruct his sight. Hua Cheng tucks it away, letting his fingers linger on Xie Lian’s cheek. Xie Lian leans into the touch, the edges of his eyes crinkled with quiet glee.
The sight reinforces the feeling of soothing peace that settles in Hua Cheng’s heart whenever he so much as thinks about Xie Lian. Unable to resist it, he briefly kisses the corner of his mouth, followed by the bridge of his nose, and finally, his temple.
“What does gege want?”
Xie Lian parts from him to peer down at the colourful flowers and butterflies, fluttering from his collarbone all the way to his elbow.
“I don’t need anything to always have you with me, but. . .” he says softly. “I think I’d like something like that.”
He embraces Hua Cheng, sleepily snuggling for touch. After this unexpected bout of exercise following two long hours of posing, if they were to go home, no doubt Xie Lian would take a nap on the sofa as soon as they walked through the door, E’Ming cuddling against his stomach.
“You should be the one to draw it,” he says drowsily.
“Then gege should draw mine, too.”
Xie Lian pulls back and makes a face. “I don’t think you’d want that.”
“Oh?” Hua Cheng says, tilting his head to the side, much like a confused fox denied its favourite treat. “But what if there’s nothing else I want?”
Xie Lian looks like he feels rather complicated. He glances from his attempt at a butterfly on Hua Cheng’s chest, to his face, and back again.
“Mh I suppose, with practice. . .” he mumbles to himself. “Alright, but you should put it where no one can see it.”
“That’s a given,” Hua Cheng agrees. “No one but gege.”
Xie Lian stares at him. He gapes, suddenly seeming to realize Hua Cheng is taking the conversation very seriously.
“You really, really want to?”
Hua Cheng shrugs. “I do like the idea.”
Xie Lian scrutinizes him for a moment longer, before his eyes move somewhere behind Hua Cheng.
“Shit!” he curses, fully awake once more. “Shit, shit!”
At the same time, the clock on the wall ticks over to a new hour.
“Come on, we’ll think about it later.” Xie Lian hurriedly stands up, despite Hua Cheng stubbornly holding onto him. “We need to get ready for tonight.”
“Gege, I don’t want to go,” Hua Cheng whines.
Hua Cheng knows Xie Lian isn’t using his full strength to pull away, or else he’d be dragged on the floor by now.
The thing is, Xie Lian promised to go on a double date with Feng Xin and Mu Qing tonight. What he doesn’t know is that Shi Qingxuan—feeling rather lonely since Xie Lian moved in with Hua Cheng in a new, smaller apartment—is somehow aware of it and plans on crashing it with Ming Yi, while Hua Cheng also overheard Quan Yizhen enthusiastically suggest to Yin Yu to go as well on that same evening.
Now, Xie Lian wouldn’t have a problem with any of that. He’ll probably be happy to have all his friends together for a night out.
Hua Cheng, however—
Hua Cheng is not there yet, but he already has a headache.
“Well that’s too bad, because I said you’d come too.”
Xie Lian pulls on Hua Cheng’s arms, holding him by both his wrists, but Hua Cheng doesn’t budge, digging his heels into the floor and his bottom on the chair.
“San Lang. Don’t make me carry you.”
At that, Hua Cheng cheekily grins at him.
“Perhaps gege should get dressed first,” he purrs. “Then he can carry me home.”
Xie Lian drops his hold at once. He looks like he doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry and wags a finger at Hua Cheng, visibly holding himself back.
“You’re impossible,” he says, fondly rather than as a reprimand, grabbing his pants from where they’ve been abandoned by the canvas and putting them on. “It’ll be fun, you’ll see!”
Hua Cheng stands and hugs Xie Lian before he can put on his tank top.
“Are you keeping the painting?”
“I would love to, but I need to wash up,” Xie Lian replies apologetically. He crinkles his nose. “You do, too.”
Hua Cheng fakes a pout, burying his face in Xie Lian’s hair.
“But I worked so hard on it. . .”
“How about this,” Xie Lian says, turning around in Hua Cheng’s embrace and bumping their noses together. “We’ll go home, take a shower—maybe a bath if we hurry up now—and then you can make me a new one before we see our friends, what do you think?”
Hua Cheng winces at having Feng Xin and Mu Qing referred to as his ‘friends’, but Xie Lian’s promise is too appealing—he’s already thinking about which bath oil to use and how to ease the tension in Xie Lian’s back after a morning of hard work and an afternoon of patient posing.
Hua Cheng holds his hands behind Xie Lian’s back and smiles, nuzzling his nose under Xie Lian’s ear.
“Deal. Can I choose the design?”
“As long as it’s appropriate.”
“Of course,” Hua Cheng promises. He may like playing with those idiots, but as entertaining as it would be, he would never wish to embarrass Xie Lian.
Catching up Xie Lian’s tank top, Hua Cheng helps pass it over Xie Lian’s head before letting him button up his shirt.
“How does gege feel about rhododendrons?”
The edges of Xie Lian’s eyes wrinkle with a smile of his own.
“I’d like that.”
With that, Xie Lian interlaces their fingers before dragging Hua Cheng along, yelping when he sweeps him off his feet, declaring he’s exerted himself enough for the day.
Still, Hua Cheng is not as strong as Xie Lian. Breathless, he lets him down at the bottom of the staircase, earning himself the ever-treasured sound of Xie Lian’s laughter, and a kiss for his trouble.
At home, Hua Cheng paints Xie Lian’s arm in graceful, white and pink rhododendrons; yet, nowhere as bright and beautiful as Xie Lian himself, comfortably sitting on a stool, daydreaming.
Hua Cheng doesn’t ask what he daydreams about; be it of charcoal, flowers or love, it doesn’t matter—because as his eyes find focus again and move up to contently gaze at him, Hua Cheng only sees the quiet shimmer of joy inside them, igniting the grin that blooms on his face.