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]

Huaisang also pauses to watch Aaron to work, impressed with the scribbling of unfamiliar characters.

He sets down his brush and moved a little closer to him, adjusting Aaron’s collar affectionately. “Read it to me?”

[creeksidealtarboy]

Aaron smiles over his shoulder at him.

"In shadows cast, a man with hair of night,
His locks, a silken tapestry unfurled,
In every strand, a tale of love's delight,
A muse for poets, envy of the world.

His tresses flow like rivers in the dark,
An ebony cascade, a midnight stream,
In every braid, a tender lover's mark,
A silken touch, a sweet and haunting dream.

With eyes that gleam like stars in the moon's embrace,
He stole my heart, a thief of gentle grace.
In his embrace, I find my endless place,
A love profound, a sweet and tender space."

[threedontknows]

But surely he’s exaggerating for the sake of the poem, the beauty and rhythm of the words. He can’t mean it all, he can’t think those things about him —

It’s beautiful.

Huaisang automatically goes to reach for his fan, but stops himself. Instead he allows his eyes to remain overbright.

“It’s very pleasing to the ear.”

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Yeah, I'm still working on it," he says, somewhat shyly. He wasn't sure what he was expecting as a response, but he doesn't know what to do with genuine praise.

"Anyway, it's stupid. C'mon, let's go for that walk."

[threedontknows]

He's so adorable! Huaisang smiles and takes his arm, hanging on Aaron a little as they walk together. "I'll show you all the gardens. Da-ge let me take care of them from an early age. They're my pride and joy."

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Saw a little of 'em the first night," he recalls. "But not in the day. There's all different kinds, right?"

[threedontknows]

"All different kinds," he says happily. "Representation of different seasons, different moods and elements. There's one where I only planted red and purples!"

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Cool."

He straightens his robes as they walk. "Show me whatever you want.'

[threedontknows]

He isn't sure that Aaron really cares, but when has that ever stopped him before? He drags him out of the family wing and into the main courtyard, over the long boardwalks overlooking carefully-combed rock and sand gardens and immaculately kept plants.

Huaisang talks. And talks. He talks just to fill the air, aware of his own awkwardness but hoping that it'll come across as charming.

[creeksidealtarboy]

And Aaron listens, soaking up each bit of information like a sponge, an arm eventually snaking around his waist.

"Huh. I like this," he mutters of a spot more muted than the rest. Understated while still being lovely, with ivy reaching across a wooden statue.

[threedontknows]

Huaisang's heart skips a beat. It was his mother's part of the garden, a place he made sure no one touched just in case some part of her still lingered on in this place. He liked it too, more than he could possibly say.

"There's a quince tree that still flowers," he tells him, pulling him gently towards a quiet part of the garden.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Alright." He follows after him, taking his hand and linking their fingers together.

[threedontknows]

He smiles and leans against him, head against his tall shoulder. He can picture this life, walking arm-in-arm with Aaron though the various cultivation clans.

Huaisang takes Aaron to the neglected tree that still is somehow flowering and sits them down underneath it.

[creeksidealtarboy]

Aaron sits down beside him and crosses his legs.

"Tell me about your mom."

[threedontknows]

“I don’t know all that much, she died when I was just a baby.” Mingjue’s mom too, such was the misfortune of the Nie Clan of Qinghe. “But Father told me she was sweet and always smiling. She could dance and sing and play the dizi.”

[creeksidealtarboy]

"What's that?"

He doesn't really mind any of the lack of details. It's nice to have some memories that are passed down.

[threedontknows]

“Instrument made of a reed usually. It’s held like this.” He raises his hands and mimics playing a flute.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Oh. Like a flute."

He reaches up to take his hand. "Do you play?"

[threedontknows]

"I do, but I'm nowhere as good as my mother, I'm sure." His talents lie elsewhere. "It brings me closer to her though when I do play."

He wonders if Aaron's ever thought of something like that with his own family members. He recalls the scars on his back and bottom -- his father, he's sure of it.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Yeah." He laughs. "Not sure if my mom ever knew any instruments. She - she had lost her mind by the time I left," he admits.

Most of what he had told Huaisang in the past about his family was a lie. Something he almost regrets, but there had been a reason for it.

"Got really bad after my brother died."

[threedontknows]

Huaisang didn't know he had a brother, and he'd never heard anything about his mother. He brings his hand up to Aaron's hair and brushes it back.

"Tell me?"

[creeksidealtarboy]

"About my brother? His name was Samuel. He worked in the mines, like my dad. He died while fucking his girlfriend in his car on top of a hill."

He leans forward, plucking some blades of grass. "And mom was - I don't know. She was always a little weird, but she - lost it. She started talking to herself, talking to things that aren't there."

[threedontknows]

What a way to go. It's a shame his own brother most certainly died a virgin.

"Was she ill?" he asks, gentle with his prodding. He won't push if it's too painful for Aaron.

[creeksidealtarboy]

He considers his answer for a moment. "Her mind was," he finally decides. "But in a small town like that, there wasn't anything to be done about it. Heard she died after I ran off. Never asked how."

He was sure it was his own fault.

[threedontknows]

Grief can be like that, Huaisang knows that firsthand.

He moves a little closer to him, until their hips are touching and he can invite Aaron to lay his head onto his lap.