equivocations | open rp post

Wanyin's heart races under his hand, and Lan Xichen can feel his own begin to beat faster to match it. He wonders, briefly, if Wanyin will shy away from this question as he did the ones earlier this afternoon, if he will shut him back out again after they have both already opened up to each other.

Hope blooms in his chest when Wanyin answers honestly, and, feeling unbearably sentimental, takes Wanyin's hand with his free one and presses it to his own chest, over his heart.

"Neither do I," he admits quietly. "Will you let us be that for each other? Let there be no expectations between us, no need to keep up appearances. Here you can be Wanyin, and I can be Xichen, and that is all we have to be."

Whatever Sect he's a part of, Jiang Cheng frowns, they are missing out on how wonderful a person Xichen is. His hand feels along Xichen's chest, feeling the racing heartbeat beneath that matches the rhythm of his own. He struggles with himself, not wishing to be so vulnerable, so weak, yet Xichen has seen past the towering expectations that surrounded Jiang Cheng and saw him as...just as Jiang Cheng.

"...you can call me by my birth name." He isn't sure if Xichen is older than him or younger. He seems older. "...a-cheng...if...if you want," he says quietly.

As much as he wants this, for both of them, he doesn't want to push it on Wanyin if he's not ready for it. But that - he's taking that as a yes, and his face lights up. "A-Cheng," he says, trying it out, and his fins fan out happily.

"You can call me A-Huan, too, or Huan-ge, if you want."

Fear stifles him, briefly, but - he trusts Wanyin. Wanyin would never use any information he gives him to hurt him, or his family, or his sect.

"I am Lan Huan, of the Gusu Lan Sect."

Gusu. Lan.

Jiang Cheng's eyes widen. Gusu is far. Not only that, he had heard of the Gusu Lan Sect. The cultivators from that sect are so mysterious that very few people in the world have ever seen them, let alone meet them. Now, with Xichen before him, wrapped around him with his tail and fins, he understands why they keep themselves hidden. If the world knew of their abilities...of who they really are...they would be hunted down, cultivators or no.

Jiang cheng faintly recalls a story of an ancestor that protected a mermaid. That she had gone to great lengths to make sure that her friend was protected at all costs against hunters, harpooners, and collectors. That story didn't have quite...a happy ending. But that was then. This is now. He reaches to caress at the head fins.

"I'm glad to have met you, then...Huan-ge."

There's recognition in Wanyin's expression, but that isn't surprising. They still venture out for night hunting, to help when they are needed, and even if no one knows of their true form, it isn't as though Gusu Lan itself is is unheard of.

His uncle and the Sect elders would be furious with him, he knows, and even Wangji would probably tell him this is dangerous, but he knows they have nothing to fear from Wanyin.

His head tips into Wanyin's touch, nuzzling into his hand.

"And I you, A-Cheng."

By now, the moon has risen high in the sky. Normally, he would feel a chill being in the water this late. Yet...he feels warm wrapped up in the merman. Jiang Cheng hesitantly reaches out, sliding his hand up from Xichen's heart and over his shoulders, moving even closer.

"You'll need to tell me how to court a merman," he murmurs. "I don't think they allow anyone up into the Cloud Recesses, from what I've heard. I could bring you more bao here if you want."

Strange. All of this is strange. He's being courted by a merman. A very handsome merman. But a merman nonetheless.

Lan Xichen follows suit, sliding his hand up to tangle in Wanyin's hair again.

"No, they are not." He gives Wanyin a small smile. "But we are allowed to leave, when our help is needed, or to keep up with the rest of the world and make sure word of who we really are hasn't started to spread. That is what I was doing, although my uncle does not always know how far I travel."

Or that he talks to humans, but to be fair, this is the first time he has done so.

"I would like that. We could still meet here when you're free in the evenings, perhaps? I want to know more about you, and your Sect's teachings, and I could share about mine." He leans in to rest his forehead against Wanyin's. "And I... would like more of this, if you're amenable."

"Yes. To all of it," he interrupts Xichen. "This lake is mine and...everyone knows not to come here. So you would not find anyone else that wanders here ever."

The forehead touch is the most intimate thing, he imagines. Even with Xichen's hands on more intimate places, this is the feeling that steals his breath away. Jiang Cheng licks his lips and looks at Xichen.

"You might find me boring. Or get sick of me. And my ill temper."

Though his temper has not flared up since meeting Xichen. His earlier ire with Wei Wuxian had even faded away.

"Then I will be here every day to meet you."

It is the most intimate touch he's done tonight, as far as he's concerned - although Wanyin's hand traveling up his tail to his waist had come close. But this is intentional, this is nothing but wanting to be closer to him, wanting intimacy.

Of course, he would be lying, if he pretended like his eyes were not drawn to Wanyin's lips when he licks them.

"You might find me boring, or get sick of me, and my passive nature."

Although he supposes he has not been passive at all, since he first loved Wanyin's voice so much that he decided to ignore his uncle and their elders. Another reason that it feels so remarkably freeing, here with Wanyin.

"You don't seem to be very passive at all and I've only met you not too long ago," Jiang Cheng replies easily. "You interrupted my song, talked about yourself. Even daring to race with me. Those are certainly not passive things."

They're nearly chest to chest. It wouldn't take much to tilt his face and kiss Xichen. But of course, they need to follow the courtship rules, shouldn't they? They've already broken a few just by being so physically close and entwined. Again, he should feel a chill in the air and yet he doesn't. He reaches and runs his fingers along the head fins again, fascinated by them. How would that even work? A courtship between a human and a merman from a sect that most people aren't sure existed?

His head fins twitch just the tiniest bit before fanning back out again. He should be embarrassed, but mostly he's... pleased. "You do not seem to have much of an ill temper, either. You shared your food with me despite my interference with your solitude and indulged all of my curiosity."

The thought makes him smile, and this time when Wanyin strokes along his head fins, he pushes into the touch for only a few moments before he tilts his head to press a kiss to Wanyin's palm. "Perhaps we have already started to allow ourselves to be different than what is expected of us, with each other."

Lan Xichen certainly has. But then - why not? There are no expectations for a courtship between a human and a merman, why should they not do what feels right between them?

The kiss is soft, cool. He wonders what it would feel like against his own lips.

"No one truly expected either of us to be drawn to the other," he snorts. "Wei Wuxian thinks you to be a fairy tale that could be true. He's willing to go to Gusu to even prove me wrong." He shakes his head. "He'll probably get distracted by wine and fishing and not make it to your Sect."

Jiang Cheng could hardly take his eyes off of the fins fanning out. It must be a way for Xichen to show that he likes whatever Jiang Cheng's doing. He brings his hands to where Xichen's arms, running his fingers along the fins there to see if there is a similar effect.

There's a soft laugh at that. "Even if he did continue looking, he would be unlikely to find it unless he was invited. Our entrances are sealed and our home warded."

He had thought he was used to how warm Wanyin's skin was, but under his lips it seems to be even more intense - and he wonders, how it would feel to kiss him other places, does he burn this hotly everywhere?

"If there is a precedent for a courtship between a merman and a human, it is not one I am aware of." He shivers at Wanyin's touch, just a little, fins spreading eagerly under his fingers as though trying to encourage as much of it as he can. "My uncle would say such a thing is impossible."

"Then it's lucky our motto is to achieve the impossible," Jiang Cheng replies easily.

His attention is zeroed in on the arms. He caresses where the fins join along skin and watches as the fins spread. The shiver catches his notice and he looks up to Xichen's face once more.

"My--" He stops. Would anyone notice? "...my shige would have so many questions about it. Inappropriate questions."

Oh. Lan Xichen smiles at that, pleased. "It suits you."

It is something he can see easily, with the way Wanyin has talked about how he will lead his sect. The living embodiment of its motto.

He'd found it pleasing before, to have Wanyin's attention on his fins and tail, hoping that meant Wanyin liked them, but now it crystallizes into something more as he keeps focusing on them. He feels a low tug of arousal when Wanyin looks back up at him.

"...do you have such questions?"

A warm breeze wafts through and yet Jiang Cheng feels himself shivering. He swallows thickly again. Those questions could have crossed his mind. He was too focused on learning about Xichen than focus what other effects his touches would have on the merman. How does...his cheeks redden at such salacious questions that sound much more like his shige than him.

"Does...does it feel nice to have your fins touched like that?"

"It does." His head fins twitch, a little, but he finds himself not quite as embarrassed about answering as he thought he might have been. "It was soothing at first, and then I just hoped you like them, but... it feels nice. I think, even nicer because it's you."

Not that he has much experience with people touching his fins, but he does have some, and it's never felt like this before.

His fingertips trace the curve of Wanyin's ear, and on impulse, he leans in to press a kiss to it, and another just below it.

"Does it feel nice for you, too?"

His ears aren't fins but they're sensitive to the cool touch. Heat somehow creeps up his neck when he feels the cool, soft lips of Xichen on his ear, then below it. He wonders if Xichen could feel his pulse quicken at the kisses or notices the gooseflesh that rises from it.

"Yes," he mumbles.

He puts his arms around Xichen's shoulders, kicking gently in the water as an afterthought, almost, to help keep himself afloat. Perhaps, if he's honest, to even tangle his legs around the snow white tail beneath the crystal clear waters.

Oh, he definitely notices, and he kisses his ear again before he pulls back to look at him.

Lan Xichen hums contentedly when Wanyin's arms wrap around his shoulders, and he feels his legs moving under the water, running over his tail. Feeling particularly daring, he drops his arms down, fins spread out and churning the water slightly so he doesn't have to use his tail to keep him afloat.

Instead, he lets it go still as Wanyin's legs tangle around it. The last third of it or so breaches the surface so he can press it up against Wanyin's back, a solid line of muscle underneath scales and fins draping along the back of his shoulders. His heart is beating even faster, now - it is one thing for Wanyin to be interested in his fins, in running his hands over the transitions from scale to skin, but it is another to so firmly remind him that he is not human.

"Are you-" he starts, then hesitates, ducking his head briefly before he straightens and pushes on. "I will still want to court you, even if your interest in where I am not human is purely curiosity. I understand that I am - different, than what you're used to, I will not be offended."

He hears the splash of something coming out of the water. What stops from turning to see what it is when he feels the cold press of a tail against his back and fins draping his shoulders. He didn't forget that Xichen is not human. Instead, he reaches up and runs his fingers along the transparent fins that drape over his shoulders, looking at it in awe before looking back at Xichen.

"My interest is you, Xichen, not just...what you are. I want to know more about you."

What would make a merman swim so far? What is it like being sect heir to his peoples? How lonely must it have been?

That is - a better response than he could have even dared to hope for. Wangji is the only one who has ever cared to know more about him, about who he was as a person and not just as a future Sect leader. How is it that a human he has known for only a day can make him feel more understood than almost anyone from his home?

"A-Cheng," he murmurs, voice soft and pleased.

Before he can second guess himself, he leans in, trapping Wanyin between his tail at his back and his chest pressed against his, and kisses him.

His eyes slip shut at the kiss. Being surrounded by Xichen makes him breathless and he meets the kiss, kissing him back happily and pulling him close.

"Huan-ge," he sighs against his lips.

They're cool, soft, like a cool drink of water after a hard day's training. He couldn't get enough. Jiang Cheng chases that kiss with another, pressing close to him. His legs move to bracket around Xichen's hips.

He can't help but be endlessly fascinated by Wanyin's legs. The way they wrap around him, bright points of warmth on either side of his tail, is unlike anything he's ever felt.

When Wanyin kisses him again, he arches up into him, tail undulating just enough to rock Wanyin back and forth a little.

"My thoughts are running away with me," he whispers against the heat of Wanyin's mouth. "I want to know everything that makes you feel good, I want to explore you with intent."

"This," he says quietly. "This makes me feel good. You make me feel good."

There's a thrill that runs through him with Xichen's kisses and more at Xichen's tail moving and pushing at him. He reaches up to stroke the fin that drapes over his shoulder. He wants to know what makes Xichen feel good as well, what makes him tick, what else could he do to make the fins fan out and that look of joy appear on his handsome features.

"What--what intention?" he asks.

His expression lights up at that, smile coming slow and pleased, in a softer version of the delight he'd shown earlier in the afternoon. It... means something he can't quite articulate, that he's been able to take Wanyin from the melancholy solitude of when he first ran into him to this, to making him feel good.

His tail fin twitches under Wanyin's touch, fanning out as wide as it can to give him more access - he has never really considered how this might feel, before, never thought of what it might be to have someone touch him like this, like his fins were more than just there to help him move through the water with ease.

He wiggles a bit, until the upper part of his tail is pressed more firmly between Wanyin's legs, and he can slide it along his groin, the one spot he knows for sure is an erogenous zone for him.

"Intent to make you feel wanted," he replies quietly. No, not quite accurate - he wants Wanyin, of course he does, but he has already declared his intent to court him. "To make you feel desired, to give you pleasure."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject