Work Text:
Liu Mingyan is having an interesting dream. Giggling, bells, a warm weight over her, the whole thing slow like syrup drizzling out from a spoon. Someone calling her name.
This could be good, part of her brain notes absently. She doesn’t use her love life for book fodder—she doesn’t want to read the way she fucks, at least—but this could be a harem setting, maybe. Someone undercover with their lover? The teasing familiarity, the warm murmur, the—
“Yan-er,” Sha Hualing breathes in Liu Mingyan’s ear, and then sticks her tongue in it. Well. Fuck. Liu Mingyan swats the air above her, sight unseen—the sun isn’t up yet, Sha Hualing isn’t even supposed to be in the human realm, excuse her for not being prepared this once—but she only hits a trailing bit of fabric that slips through her fingers before she can yank it.
“Aren’t you happy to see your Ling-er?” Sha Hualing coos, and settles back down on one of Liu Mingyan’s legs. “We’ve been apart for sooooooo looooooooooooooong, and not a word all that time, not one letter—”
Alright then. This isn’t a problem Liu Mingyan can solve by closing her eyes and falling back asleep. Even if Sha Hualing did manage to get off from humping Liu Mingyan’s thigh on her own, she never stops at one. “I thought—what was it? Base passions? Demons don’t get attached?”
“Don’t quote me back to me,” Sha Hualing says, settling into a groove. If Liu Mingyan’s hands come up, it’s only because Sha Hualing’s ass needs to be grabbed that badly. “Why think about what I said however long ago when I’m—mm, I’m right here, aren’t I?”
“You sure are.”
“Oh, fuck,” Sha Hualing says, “oh son of a fucking—god damn it,” and then she dives off the bed and runs into the next room.
She must have come in through the window; it’s opened, and there’s a light breeze. Liu Mingyan is suddenly very aware of the damp patch on her pants.
“What the fuck,” Liu Mingyan says. There’s a sound of… throwing things? Drawers slamming? as she makes her way across the room. “Whatever’s going on, you can just tell—” and a tangle of something smacks her in the face.
“Tie me up,” Sha Hualing says.
Liu Mingyan picks her way out of the—rope? “Demonic binding cables? You couldn’t ask first?”
Sha Hualing swallows. Her wrists are held together in front of her, her face strangely grave. “Yan-er, I need you to tie me up right now.”
“For… for fun, or—”
“Fucking do it,” Sha Hualing snaps, rearing forward like—“No, sorry, babe this is why, c’mon c’mon I’ll be so good, don’t you want to help your baby be good for you?”
Well. “One question. Honest answer, alright?”
A tendon works in Sha Hualing’s neck. “...Make it fast.”
“Ling-er. I just need to know,” Liu Mingyan says. Sha Hualing’s hands are so soft. “Is this some horny demonic ritual shit?”
“Yes, alright, talk later, tie me up and put me on the fucking bed.”
“Okay,” Liu Mingyan says. Whatever the fuck else is going on, this is… important to Sha Hualing, for some reason. And Liu Mingyan tries to respect what’s important to her, mostly out of the misguided hope that Sha Hualing might in turn respect the human need for things like food safety and clothing. “Is this a good position?”
Sha Hualing breathes deep as Liu Mingyan winds the rope around her wrists. Something quiets down in her that Liu Mingyan hadn’t noticed was upset. “Could you—more of it,” she says. “Up to the elbow? Please?”
“It wouldn’t be a good idea, if you want it on your back—”
“No way. Facedown,” Sha Hualing says, like this is of deep concern, and then fishes out a coy wink. “Don’t you want to see my ass? I think sometimes you like it better than the rest of me.”
“Alright, I’m not asking,” Liu Mingyan says. She slips a finger under the last bit of cord—good, a little room to move but not enough to give out—and tugs experimentally.
Sha Hualing sways forward, eyes deep and intent. Her breath falls on Liu Mingyan’s collarbone, close enough to kiss—and then she leaps back.
“Not—not a good idea.” She swallows. “Could you… stand behind me? Walk me in.”
Liu Mingyan gets a hand around Sha Hualing’s waist, the other on the Immortal Binding Cable, and they shuffle over to the bed. Sha Hualing wriggles up to the bedposts herself, waiting for Liu Mingyan to attach the cord—facedown, like she said.
“How are you feeling?” Liu Mingyan says, tying the knot.
“Good,” Sha Hualing says. She cranks her head over one shoulder to smile at Liu Mingyan better. “You can keep going now, baby, thank you, thank you sooooooo much. It came on so sudden, you know, and I just didn’t think—I really didn’t want to eat you.”
Liu Mingyan blinks. “You didn’t want to fucking what?”