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.

Comments

[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.

[creeksidealtarboy]

He shrugs. "Blamed? You let him think it wasn't his fault?" he laughs. "That would have made him a very good ally."

[threedontknows]

"Not for very long!" he smiles. "I like to see him sweat, but not at your expense. He went back to Gusu to look for me."

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Should you send for him?"

He points to the towel and then stands up. His fingers are already wrinkled and pruny and he just wants to lie in bed.

[threedontknows]

"He's here."

He picks up the towel and then the robe, wrapping him up in soft, warm fabrics.

"As soon as he heard you were found he came back to the Impure Realm."

[creeksidealtarboy]

Aaron flinches away from his touch, but hates himself for it and immediately leans into him, into the warmth and the softness. "For you. Good. You need - friends." If that's what they are.

[threedontknows]

His husband isn't offended - perhaps a little sad, and still incredibly angry, but not offended. Aaron's comfort with touch isn't about him, and he'd wait a hundred lifetimes if it meant Aaron could heal in his own time.

"I have allies," he tells him. "Lan Xichen was a brother to me once. He destroyed that relationship, but perhaps some day we can return to being friends once more."

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Maybe," he says, leaning on him again. "Maybe. I'm tired. Can we go to bed?"

He just came from bed, but that's the only place he wants to be right now.

[threedontknows]

"Here I am, going on and on," Huaisang laughs quietly. He loops is arm around Aaron's waist and brings him to the bed, letting him lie himself down. He does bring the blankets up around his waist, smiling as he sits down beside him on the edge of the bed.

"You need to eat."