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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[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.

[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.