Note:
TRIGGER WARNING for all the snowflakes out there who have never read/watched any fucking yaoi.
*
Inspiration for this chapter's title:
Linkin Park - "Crawling"
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Lan Xichen was woken in the middle of the night by loud yells, and he quickly donned on a robe, as someone was pounding on the door, calling his name.
- Zewu-Jun! There has been... oh Gods, there was a terrible accident! Sandu Shengshou... Please, Master he was hit badly! Please help! – one of the Elders was bowing to him and asking him to hurry.
- What... What happened? Bring him in! – he mumbled.
The disciples were telling the story excitedly, speaking simultaneously, how the hunt went very wrong at one point, and Sandu Shengshou was not really paying attention, and a curse hit him in the chest, and they could not fix it, no matter how hard they tried.
Lan Xichen was frowning. Jiang Cheng was placed carefully on the bed, and he was thankful to the housekeeper who lit several more candles and shooed everyone away, so that the Masters could have some privacy. Zewu-Jun could however still hear the nervous talk outside the doors, but paid no more attention.
He approached and stared at Jiang Wanyin's peaceful face. He hesitated to touch him, but he had to open his clothes to take a look at the wound that was clumsily dressed by the disciples. He frowned, thinking that those boys needed a good scolding, and soon. He leaned in and opened Jiang Cheng's clothes, removing the bandages carefully too. By candlelight, his skin looked lily-white, and he bit his lip when he saw the deep and festering wound on his ribs.
He immediately used his cultivation energy to stop it from spreading and weakening him more, and as he was doing that, his eyes roamed over the relaxed body in front of him. It was as if for the first time that he saw the delicate lips, the pale cheeks, the sharp jawline, the elegant neck... Zewu-Jun had no idea why he was suddenly feeling hot, but his eyes slid down, and he was staring at the perfectly shaped pink nipples, and the muscular chest, the thin waist and...
~~~
...there was an awful urge to touch him, oh just for one second, just once.
In a trance, Lan Xichen let go of his magic, and his fingertips touched his husband's skin, caressing his chest and his cheeks gently. He shivered all over – this was wrong. Jiang Cheng was unconscious, it was not right. But then... they were married. Didn't he belong to him? Wasn't he his? Didn't he have every right to touch him, to claim him?
Lan Xichen felt that his heart was breaking again; he could not afford to fall in love again. He was sure Jiang Wanyin would never understand. It was very clear that he had absolutely no interest in him whatsoever.
He could not make his soul bleed again, it was all too much.
The housekeeper knocked on the door, and brought in medicine and new bandages, thankfully pulling him out of his miserable thoughts.
- Master, should I bring servants to bathe Sandu Shengshou? Or maybe I could help... - she asked, unsure about how her Master Lan would feel about it all.
- No. No need. He must not be moved now, but prepare the bath for tomorrow morning. I will take care of it.
She bowed and left.
