Aaron/Huaisang

[creeksidealtarboy]

It's nightfall by the time Aaron finally sees this "Impure Realm" that they took him to. He's hungry. He's filthy. He's thirsty. And there's nothing around him that's familiar. He has cigarettes in the pocket of his jeans and nothing else of his own. No note. No information.

Only the vaguely unsettling feeling that he's been deposited somewhere...wrong.

These people look like Huaisang. The robes, the way they move...it's familiar enough that, before they could unsheath their swords, he's throwing his hands out, asking for Nie Huaisang to their complete bafflement. But they loaded him up and took him. Goddamn.

Hopefully they sent someone ahead.

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[threedontknows]

Aaron will find himself tucked into their own bed when he wakes, talismans to keep bad dreams away pasted on each corner of the four-post bed. Nie Huaisang isn't far when he does, just working on a table that he's turned into a makeshift office while he waits for Aaron.

When he hears him he practically knocks over his inkwell as he jumps to his feet and runs to him. "We're home," he smiles, sitting on the bed beside him. He smooths his hand down Aaron's arm. "How are you feeling?"

[creeksidealtarboy]

Aaron looks over to him with a smile, leaning over to kiss him. "I'm better. I could use a bath."

[threedontknows]

He kisses him back gently, cupping his face and stroking his thumb over his jaw. "I'll heat some water for you. Do you want something to eat? I've got congee and ribs, or if you need something lighter a broth."

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Bath first," he tells him. "And then I can think about food." His stomach is full of rocks and he'd like to enjoy being clean.

[threedontknows]

He knows it was bad for Aaron. The moment he laid eyes on him on that rotted floor he just knew they’d done awful things to the man he loved.

He was going to kill them all anyway, but the look in Aaron’s eye - they deserve to face his husband’s wrath. They deserve every morbid thing Aaron’s going to do to them, and they’re going to lie in wait until he’s ready.

When the water is warmed and the oils poured, Huaisang comes to Aaron’s side and takes his hand. “Do you need help, or would you like me to leave?”

[creeksidealtarboy]

He takes his hand immediately and then stands.

"Do you - how can you stand to want to even look at me, A-Sang?" he murmurs. "I didn't fucking want any of that."

But it still happened.

[threedontknows]

He doesn’t keep the shock from his face, but he doesn’t allow it to stay very long either. Aaron needs to see how serious he is about this matter, and disbelief at the question won’t help.

He reaches for Aaron’s shoulders and holds him firmly. “You’re my family. My family. This changes nothing. In fact - those days you were missing, I nearly burned two cities to the ground just looking for you. I knew I loved you, but I couldn’t live without you.

“You are not weak, baobei.”

[creeksidealtarboy]

Aaron wants to cry at that admission, but he doesn't. The time for tears is over and this Aaron, the one left behind, is grateful. Overwhelmingly so. He pulls him into an embrace.

"Tell me about it?" he asks, slipping out of his clothes. Huaisang had managed to cure all of the bruises and welts, leaving his skin as untouched as before.

He's grateful for that.

[threedontknows]

Huaisang holds him tightly, for Aaron's benefit but also his own, and pulls back to let Aaron undress for his bath.

"About nearly burning two cities to the ground?" he asks, sitting by the wooden tub to wait for him.

[creeksidealtarboy]

He finishes undressing and steps into the clear water, sliding down into its warmth. "Mmhmm," he manages to answer before he grabs a rag to scrub himself.

[threedontknows]

Huaisang spins his fingers in the water, adding a little extra heat to Aaron’s bath. “They weren’t being cooperative,” he says simply. “Not letting me search where I choose. Some of them were even harboring members of the organization that took you, so I said they either had to give them up, or I’d burn them to the ground. Guess what they chose?”

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Did they believe the Nie clan had gone soft?" he huffs. "They are stupider than I thought."

He continues scrubbing until his skin is red and raw.

[threedontknows]

Huaisang won't touch Aaron unless explicitly asked. He just sits in support, monitoring the temperature of the water, watching Aaron for signs of discomfort or waiting for a request that he might be able to fulfil.

"They forgot that the Nie are descendent from a butcher," he nods sagely. "After the death of my brother they thought we'd lost our teeth. It's good to remind them of that every now and again."

[creeksidealtarboy]

Huaisang is exempt from Aaron's shyness, from the caution he shows to others. He hands him the rag and turns his back, wanting him to get the spots that he can't reach.

"I want to visit those places," he says after a moment. "Whatever you left of it."

[threedontknows]

He takes the rag from him, grateful for the trust, and gently helps to scrub his back. He remembers seeing scratches and bruises on him, and he's careful in those areas even though Aaron's qi had already healed him of those flesh wounds.

"I left the cultural areas intact," he tells him. Because of course he did. It would be such a shame if all the theaters and artists and fine goods shops were decimated because of some foolish politicians. "The homes of the nobles were the ones that took the brunt."

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Yeah," he breathes. "Yeah, that's - what I want to see."

He wants to tour the wreckage and know that he came out on top. He wants to walk through the ruins of those homes and know that it was because of him. That Huaisang loved him so much.

"I'm - glad you came for me," he mutters.

[threedontknows]

"I was never going to leave you." And he would have burned the entire world to the ground just to find Aaron and bring him back home. No one gets to take what's his, never again. He's clever enough to deal with it, powerful enough to prevent it.

"I never will." He rubs at Aaron's back and takes a vial of rice water for Aaron's hair, but he waits for permission.

[creeksidealtarboy]

He's slow to give consent, but he eventually leans his head back, closer to Huaisang. It's grown longer in the time that he's been around.

"I won't be fucked with again," he says to the ceiling. "They got me once and they won't get me again. What happened to my guards?"

[threedontknows]

Huaisang combs his fingers through Aaron's hair gently, massaging the rice water into his scalp. His pretty light hair is dark when it's wet, but he can't help and remember the blood that had been caked in it when he found him.

"I reassigned them," he says simply. "They were clearly exhausted and couldn't focus."

Far, far away, to Yiling. They can spend their time near the Burial Mounds for a while.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Good. And my new guards?" he wonders, closing his eyes, humming softly as Huaisang's fingers in his hair relax him as he sinks down into the water a little more.

[threedontknows]

"I'm still in the process of choosing them." He rinses Aaron's hair, fingers still caressing his scalp and gently working through the tangles. "I'm looking outside the Nie for this. I'm loyal to my disciples, when they've earned it."

[creeksidealtarboy]

"The Lan Clan?" he guesses, wondering whatever came of the meeting he was supposed to have? Was that what saved him?

He sits up once his hair is rinsed and reaches up to feel it. It always feels better after the rice water.

[threedontknows]

"The Lan Clan, and the Jiang," he nods. "The Jin are still too young, but some day they might have some worthwhile cultivators. But I'd trust the Lan and Jiang with your safety, especially if they came recommended by Zewu-Jun and Sandu Shengshou."

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Lan Xichen," he mutters. "I missed meeting him at the pier. I hope you gave him my apologies," he says with a wry sort of grin.

[threedontknows]

"After he stopped apologizing to me, yes," he smiles. "He blamed himself."

And he was slow to reassure the Lan Clan leader that it was his fault. Even after all this time, he still likes making Lan Xichen sweat.