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Xie Lian saw the bath as a place of purpose. You went in, you washed, maybe you got a bit distracted and wandered in your own thoughts for a bit, but then you went about your day. Bathing was functional. Like eating or sleeping, it could be enjoyable but really it was just a task.
Hua Cheng seemed to feel differently.
Bathing was a luxury. An experience. When he washed Xie Lian, he did it with reverence and care. It wasn’t the sort of attitude Hua Cheng had when bathing himself. And yet… it was still clear bathing was more of a luxury to Hua Cheng than it was to Xie Lian.
The baths in Paradise Manor were ridiculously large and perfectly heated with a large array of soaps and oils and things to scent the steam.
Still, though he frequently asked to help bathe Xie Lian with careful and worshipful touch, Hua Cheng always seemed uninterested in doing more to savor the experience besides indulging in the fine products himself.
Xie Lian sought to change that.
Hua Cheng came over to kiss him as he wrote out practice sheets, soft and slow and no doubt attempting to distract Xie Lian from his latest calligraphy homework. “Does gege want to join me for a bath?”
It was definitely an attempt to distract him. But Xie Lian had been considering his plan for a few days now and was more than willing to give into the obvious ploy to make use of the opportunity.
“San Lang has to let me help him wash.”
“If that’s what your highness wishes, it would be this one’s honor,” Hua Cheng smiled.
“Great!” Xie Lian set down his brush and promptly threw his husband over his shoulder, heading towards the baths.
Hua Cheng laughed at the treatment but didn’t fight it, perfectly willing to be tossed around as Xie Lian pleased. “I had no idea gege was so eager.”
“I’ve been thinking more about the way San Lang bathes me recently and I want to do that for him too.”
“Gege’s washed me before.”
“It’s different. San Lang does it so gently.”
“Gege is nothing but gentle with me.” The soft smile in his voice was an audible thing.
“It’s different. When San Lang does it it’s like… I can feel his devotion.”
“That’s because it is devotion, your highness. Everything I do for you is worship.”
Xie Lian set his husband down, giving him a quick peck before moving to undress him. “I think I should worship San Lang for a change.”
“Gege doesn’t have to do something like that.”
Raising a brow, Xie Lian looked up at him as he peeled off his husband’s layers with slow, gentle hands. “I want to. Isn’t that why San Lang does it too?”
Hua Cheng seemed amused. “Gege’s my god.”
“And San Lang is my husband,” Xie Lian answered simply.
Hua Cheng preened a bit at that.
“So San Lang must let me take care of him, alright?” Xie Lian asked, kneeling down to help his husband out of his boots.
Hua Cheng flinched, trying to move to pull him up, but was stopped with a hand to his stomach.
“Alright?”
Relaxing a bit, Hua Cheng nodded, allowing Xie Lian to help him out of his shoes.
“Good,” Xie Lian smiled up at him, watching the way his husband eased further with the praise. Pressing light kisses to both his knees as a reward, Xie Lian stood again.
“Will gege give this one a kiss to worship him properly?” Hua Cheng had a way of making it sound like he was trying to get away with something. As if Xie Lian didn’t want to kiss him every moment of the day anyways.
Xie Lian leaned in to kiss his husband’s lips, then both his cheeks. He kissed a line up his nose and across his forehead until he came to the point of his husband’s widow’s peak, kissing right back down down the bridge of his nose to give him another peck on the lips.
Hua Cheng was smiling widely before he even finished, eyes closed and body leaned towards Xie Lian like a flower reaching for the sun.
Perfect.
“Can San Lang sit on the edge of the bath for me?” Xie Lian asked, tossing his own clothes off to the side and tying his hair up in quick motions as his husband followed his instructions.
Hua Cheng leaned back on his hands, feet swishing lazily in the water as he watched Xie Lian prepare himself and step into the bath to settle in front of him.
“So good for me,” Xie Lian rewarded him with another smile before setting to work. Lifting Hua Cheng’s heel, he carefully massaged him, soaping up his husband as he worked.
“Gege doesn’t have to—“
Xie Lian looked up, stern and clearly disappointed.
Getting the message, Hua Cheng stopped himself from finishing the sentence.
“I like taking care of San Lang,” Xie Lian explained as he switched feet. “You always take such good care of me it makes me happy to get a chance to return the favor. Or does San Lang not like it?”
“I like it,” Hua Cheng admitted quietly.
“Good. It would be meaningless if San Lang couldn’t enjoy himself.” He rubbed circles into the arches of his husband’s foot, doing his best to keep his touches firm and purposeful. Hua Cheng wasn’t as ticklish as him, but he wasn’t immune to being tickled either and was always even more ill prepared than Xie Lian to handle the sensation.
Luckily it didn’t seem the massage was making him squirm or tense up, perfectly at ease with Xie Lian’s touch.
Content with his work, Xie Lian moved back to the first leg, massaging and soaping up Hua Cheng’s ankle, then up his calf, kneading into the firm muscle with attentive hands.
Hua Cheng sighed.
“Was that good?” Xie Lian looked up, doing it again.
Hua Cheng’s eyes were closed, but he opened them again at Xie Lian’s voice. “Everything gege does is good.”
Xie Lian smiled. “San Lang is easy to please.”
“So is gege.”
“Probably,” he agreed, working at his husband’s leg a bit longer before mimicking the action on the other side. Once he was satisfied he held out his hands. “Come in.”
Taking his hands, Hua Cheng followed him into the water properly.
“So good,” Xie Lian praised, grabbing more soap to begin to wash his husband more. Dedicated hands massaged down his husband’s palm, stroking up each finger to linger against the fleshy pads of them. Only after following each finger down did he work his way up, guiding Hua Cheng to roll his wrist in light circles. Kneading and lathering up the length of his forearm. Then his bicep. Then back down again to guide his husband’s wrists into another gentle roll.
He couldn’t resist a small kiss before moving to the other arm, smile wide at how clearly relaxed Hua Cheng was becoming.
By the time he finished the second arm, he caught Hua Cheng yawning.
“San Lang is doing perfect,” Xie Lian encouraged, letting his hands and the soap slide up to Hua Cheng’s shoulders then down his front, trying to make the full force of his love felt with every touch the way Hua Cheng always seemed to be able to do.
“I’m not doing anything, gege,” Hua Cheng smiled.
“You’re accepting all my love,” Xie Lian gave him another kiss before moving to wash his back.
“Oh yes, it’s very hard to be spoiled by my husband,” Hua Cheng teased.
Xie Lian slipped his hands around his husband’s waist, hugging him close. “I know it is, San Lang doesn’t have to play it off as a joke.”
Hua Cheng fell quiet for a moment, hand coming up to rest over Xie Lian’s for several moments before he spoke. “Gege makes it easier,” he promised.
“San Lang makes it easier for me too,” Xie Lian agreed, hugging him closer for just a moment more before pulling back. “Can I wash your hair?”
Hua Cheng lowered himself so Xie Lian could reach easier, earning a kiss to the top of his head before Xie Lian began his work.
He wasn’t quite sure how to massage someone’s scalp, but he did his best to mimic what always felt good when Hua Cheng washed his hair. It took hardly any time at all for his husband to be half melted in his hands. Practically boneless, really. It was honestly impressive he was even managing to stay upright.
“Can San Lang stay up a bit longer while I grab the bucket he uses to rinse me?” Xie Lian smiled, only half joking since his husband really did look ready to dissolve into the bath.
But Hua Cheng nodded so Xie Lian moved to grab and fill the little bucket. He tried to keep the water from spilling over Hua Cheng’s face like his husband always did for him, but he had no practice in how to do it and water still ended up running down everywhere, hardly blocked.
“I’m sorry San Lang, I’ll do better next time,” Xie Lian frowned.
“Gege could give me a kiss to make it up to me?” Hua Cheng suggested quietly.
Xie Lian had no issue with that idea, moving to oblige him before trying to rinse and work out the soap again. He thought it took him a bit longer than usual, but it was worth it for the way Hua Cheng was leaning against him so happily.
“Is San Lang ready to dry off?”
“A few more minutes,” Hua Cheng fake pouted.
“If that’s what San Lang wants,” Xie Lian found the place to sit, pulling his husband into his lap to enjoy the warm water and soft sweetness of soap filling the air.
Every task really was better with his husband around.