To say that Lan Xichen was surprised at Wen Ruohan's choice would be an understatement, but at the same time - not false. On the other hand, among the leaders of the four Great Sects, the two bachelors are him and Mingjue, and Mingjue-xiong would never agree to it.
Still...
Xichen was sure that there were many more threads behind the choice.
All the same. The ceremony was now past, the three bows to the Heaven and Earth, the Ancestors, and each other completed. Xichen was carrying a pouch with a mix of the hair of both of them.
Once they were in the privacy of the Hanshi, Xichen reached to remove the red veil from his, ah. Bride. And smiled, slightly.
"In case it needs to be said, I will not touch you or demand any - physical intimacy of you unless by some chance you wish. Or until such a time as you need it.
"I assume, by this arrangement, that you have already had at least one heat. Is there anything about it that I should know?"
Reasonable and direct. He could talk circles around his husband. He considered it mean and unnecessary.
Re: A/B/O. I can't promise speed but. Also, starting here, we can time skip later.
Wen Chao is still seething about the whole thing but he had known not to go
too far in his protests with Wen Ruohan. The fact he was an omega made him
little more than a political bargaining chip to him.
The fact that the other could smile at him so... sincerely is irritating to
Wen Chao. That he was being perfectly nice about it is a strange feeling.
He scowls a bit and he doesn’t want to be civil but he leaves it at the
scowl. The other is being perfectly nice.
“There’s nothing you need to know,” Wen chao says and he doesn’t want any
of it, at least that’s what he tells himself. Despite himself the other is
... attractive and he’s not immune to him. But he’s just stubborn and
defiant enough to pretend he could manage a heat without help.
Xichen raises his eyebrow, but his expression remains soft.
"I have no doubt that you are an accomplished cultivator in your own right, and for the most part, that statement is true. As things are, however, there will be times when, as your husband, you might.
"I want those times to be..." A corner of his mouth curls up a bit higher, and his eyes glint, for a moment the softness of his temper eclipsed by the Alpha that he is. "Satisfactory."
Wen Chao is so frustrated, angry. He wants to lash out but it's not wise to do so against one's husband and alpha no matter how calm they seem. So he just scowls again. He doesn't want Lan Xichen to be right but there is a sinking sense that he is. He can remember how difficult his first heat had been and to go through that again when there was an alpha, his husband...there's a point where you lose control, the need to great and he doubts the other would let him simply lock himself away.
His eyes are drawn back to him before he finishes the last sentence, the chance of expression from his lips to his eyes... to the way the last word sounds on his lips it sends a shiver through Wen Chao, which he does not appreciate at all.
"Not if I can help it." Which he can't but he'll be stubborn as long as he can.
Oh, but the resistance dances over Xichen's instincts, ones that he has only slightly loosened his grip on because he has a spouse now, and his hand reaches, fast, taking Wen Chao's chin in his fingers, touch gentle but very firm, making their eyes meet.
"Is that so?"
The touch is not one that would breach any propriety, as such.
The look, on the other hand, that may be a little more complicated.
Wen Chao's eyes widen when the other grabs his chin, the touch unexpected and sending... something through him, a warmth and something else. He wants to look away but he can't. His heart quickens and is the other doing this on purpose. His fingers curl at his sides trying to fight the effect that simple look had on him, the fact that he couldn't make himself look away or jerk his chin away from him.
"Yes," he manages to answer, though the word is less steady, less bluster.
"Hmm." He holds the burning eyes for another moment, then lets go, hands demurely held behind his back.
"Come, let me show you around your new home, husband. We will need to think of things for you to do here, lest you get too bored."
And while showing him around, he will keep being close to him. As a husband should. Not outright giving orders in any way... but commanding, confident, crisp.
He can smell the beginning of something. He is going to make sure he is not mistaken, of course.
Wen Chao struggles to get his heart to return to normal, to breathe once the other let him go. He's still struggling with the rising sensation of warmth, need... The other is surely doing that on purpose and it makes him want to resist all the more.
"I can keep myself occupied," Wen Chao counters, contrary because after that he must but still he doesn't directly go against his husband. He tries to put more distance between them and it never starts to work and it's more apparent what's happening. He wants to make the accusation but that would mean admitting that he was feeling a heat starting. It appears Lan Xichen isn't as pure as he seems, Wen Chao thinks to himself.
He's sure the other's already smelling it, the scent of the alpha beside him is overpowering the more sensitive he becomes to it. He tries to put distance between them again, walking a few steps away from him. "You've shown me enough."
"I am sure you can, and yet the ways you are used to are not our ways." Soft, complacent.... ish.
"But if you have enough, of course. I can show you to our quarters next, so you can rest." The corner of his eyes crinkle even as his nostrils flare. "It has been an eventful day."
Wen Chao wants to say no. The last thing he wants is to be in their quarters. He wants to be far from his husband but it seems that's not possible. He feels the urge to submit and there's a frustrated expression that passes his face. Maybe... Xichen would leave him alone, maybe he could stop this before it couldn't be stopped.
"Yes," he agrees at length, not looking at Xichen because the other's eyes do something to him. Eventful is one way of putting and it now it seems that he's going to have an unexpected heat that leaves him vulnerable on their wedding night.
Lan Xichen also has enough control, in fact, to know better than not leaving a choice.
The quarters have been prepared, even before this, to accommodate this. There is an inner room which has its own closing partition, and Xichen shows him there. His voice is... a little rough around the edges, but still musical and sweet.
"I know... there are things that are expected to happen. But there are... reasons why I would not force myself on you, husband. I will only enter this partition if you invite me; and you are welcome to come to me," he gestures to the bed in the next one, "if you so choose. Our natures are outside our control; our choices are not. You have your own choices, too."
Wen Chao stares at the partition and there's a part of him that doesn't really believe it. No omega is treated with such respect by an alpha. It makes him suspicious. So he's no less hostile than he has been in the face of the other's words.
But it's hard to keep hostile when he's getting warm, when he wants to strip his clothes off... when he feels his body's growing need. His hands curl at his sides.
"Did you do this on purpose?" he questions, despite all his words the moment he'd felt it coming on is the moment the other had grabbed his chin. He's still in control, still won't give into his instincts just yet but he knows he will soon. It had been easy locked away alone it wouldn't be easy when he has a spouse that's so close. There's a part of him that's thinking that's not so bad and maybe if he's not so angry about the entire situation that put him in a marriage with Lan Xichen in the first place he would have more easily accepted that voice inside himself.
"I am afraid not. There may be songs that can induce heat, but that is not something I have ever had a need of - heats are trial enough when they come naturally, I have observed. I would not wish to force them on anyone.
"I have read that being in close proximity with someone you are very compatible with may cause their onset, but that part, I do not have control over."
The compatibility, that is.
"Unless, of course, there are other things that cause your own to begin...?"
Maybe it was that it had already been about to begin, maybe it isn't that Xichen is the one that triggered it.
"We're not very compatible," it sounds emptier and less confident than Wen Chao had intended. He looks away after that, crossing his arms. He doesn't know anything else that serves as a trigger for him. He hasn't had all that many heats and all of them tended to be predictable, it was just time. And he has never been with an alpha before and he won't tell that either. He shakes his head just slightly to answer the question.
All in all, he can't meet the other's eyes it's too hard to look at him and be dishonest.
... Wen Chao does not, in fact, slip into the provided space and slam the partition shut, and that disorients Xichen for all of a couple of heartbeats.
Then his smile settles back on, and he motions towards the table, moving there to pour tea for them both.
"Come." Not really a command, but definitely a confident invitation. "This will not help too much with the warmth, but perhaps it might settle your mind a little."
Wen Chao should say no. He shouldn't accept anything even just tea but with a bit of a scowl he moves to the table to settle, ignoring the growing warmth, the growing need. He knows that by not getting away he's giving in, that before long he'll all but be ready to just jump on the other. He's angrier at himself than anything. Weak, that's what his father like to tell him he was and he was right. That's why he's the one that's here.
"I am afraid my answer will not be particularly heart-warming. The considerations of the Sect lie far above my own personal ones, so other than absence of a particular dislike for you, everything else was... more abstract." He does raise his eyes to look at him. "One cannot help but hope that things will work out, that with time we will find mutual understanding, perhaps even more, but I have always known that chances are very slim that I would get the opportunity to choose a spouse following my heart.
"That is ... not the same as saying my heart is closed to you, however."
Wen Chao wants to say that he doesn't want heartwarming and he doesn't want the other's heart but the sentiment doesn't reach his tongue. He also wishes the tea were something stronger but he's aware of the rules of Cloud Recesses and he'll surely be constantly chafing under them just another slight against him in his eyes.
He takes a sip of the tea before setting it down, feeling restless and all the more aware of his body. His fingers pull at the collar of his robes and why is the other's voice so... pleasant.
Maybe they are very compatible... no, he refuses to accept that.
"I had no choice. In the Nightless City, omegas are simply property," Wen Chao doesn't know why he's telling him this. "I spent my heats locked away and that's one of the reasons I was chosen."
If he's going to be in heat and he won't be able to resist the other then Xichen should know.
"I won't be able to resist you here."
Maybe it's the heat or maybe he's just tired, the hostility is exhausting to keep up when the other is being so kind in the face of it.
Wen Chao looks down at being told he's not property here. He refrains from saying that he still is even if they're kinder here. He still belongs to Xichen now.
He tightens his jaw at the question and a part of him wants to say no to those things but is there a point? It would happen eventually. He likes to think he isn't a coward or at least he wants other people not to think of him as weak or a coward.
"I don't see a point in you holding back. I am bound to you already."
Wen Chao still finds this hard to completely accept but the other's hand is cool and Wen Chao is on fire. He said yes and he meant it but it doesn't mean he doesn't find himself a little scared, he'd always been such a coward despite all his bravado.
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Wen Chao
A/B/O. I can't promise speed but. Also, starting here, we can time skip later.
Still...
Xichen was sure that there were many more threads behind the choice.
All the same. The ceremony was now past, the three bows to the Heaven and Earth, the Ancestors, and each other completed. Xichen was carrying a pouch with a mix of the hair of both of them.
Once they were in the privacy of the Hanshi, Xichen reached to remove the red veil from his, ah. Bride. And smiled, slightly.
"In case it needs to be said, I will not touch you or demand any - physical intimacy of you unless by some chance you wish. Or until such a time as you need it.
"I assume, by this arrangement, that you have already had at least one heat. Is there anything about it that I should know?"
Reasonable and direct. He could talk circles around his husband. He considered it mean and unnecessary.
Re: A/B/O. I can't promise speed but. Also, starting here, we can time skip later.
Wen Chao is still seething about the whole thing but he had known not to go too far in his protests with Wen Ruohan. The fact he was an omega made him little more than a political bargaining chip to him.
The fact that the other could smile at him so... sincerely is irritating to Wen Chao. That he was being perfectly nice about it is a strange feeling. He scowls a bit and he doesn’t want to be civil but he leaves it at the scowl. The other is being perfectly nice.
“There’s nothing you need to know,” Wen chao says and he doesn’t want any of it, at least that’s what he tells himself. Despite himself the other is ... attractive and he’s not immune to him. But he’s just stubborn and defiant enough to pretend he could manage a heat without help.
“I don’t need you.”
no subject
"I have no doubt that you are an accomplished cultivator in your own right, and for the most part, that statement is true. As things are, however, there will be times when, as your husband, you might.
"I want those times to be..." A corner of his mouth curls up a bit higher, and his eyes glint, for a moment the softness of his temper eclipsed by the Alpha that he is. "Satisfactory."
DID you want to time skip soon?
His eyes are drawn back to him before he finishes the last sentence, the chance of expression from his lips to his eyes... to the way the last word sounds on his lips it sends a shiver through Wen Chao, which he does not appreciate at all.
"Not if I can help it." Which he can't but he'll be stubborn as long as he can.
Either that or sOMEBODY could trigger a heat now.
"Is that so?"
The touch is not one that would breach any propriety, as such.
The look, on the other hand, that may be a little more complicated.
XICHEN PLZ
"Yes," he manages to answer, though the word is less steady, less bluster.
get ready it's going to get worse
"Come, let me show you around your new home, husband. We will need to think of things for you to do here, lest you get too bored."
And while showing him around, he will keep being close to him. As a husband should. Not outright giving orders in any way... but commanding, confident, crisp.
He can smell the beginning of something. He is going to make sure he is not mistaken, of course.
smh!
"I can keep myself occupied," Wen Chao counters, contrary because after that he must but still he doesn't directly go against his husband. He tries to put more distance between them and it never starts to work and it's more apparent what's happening. He wants to make the accusation but that would mean admitting that he was feeling a heat starting. It appears Lan Xichen isn't as pure as he seems, Wen Chao thinks to himself.
He's sure the other's already smelling it, the scent of the alpha beside him is overpowering the more sensitive he becomes to it. He tries to put distance between them again, walking a few steps away from him. "You've shown me enough."
Mmhm... hate and heat have the same letters...
"But if you have enough, of course. I can show you to our quarters next, so you can rest." The corner of his eyes crinkle even as his nostrils flare. "It has been an eventful day."
...that is true
"Yes," he agrees at length, not looking at Xichen because the other's eyes do something to him. Eventful is one way of putting and it now it seems that he's going to have an unexpected heat that leaves him vulnerable on their wedding night.
Alphas.
I try
The quarters have been prepared, even before this, to accommodate this. There is an inner room which has its own closing partition, and Xichen shows him there. His voice is... a little rough around the edges, but still musical and sweet.
"I know... there are things that are expected to happen. But there are... reasons why I would not force myself on you, husband. I will only enter this partition if you invite me; and you are welcome to come to me," he gestures to the bed in the next one, "if you so choose. Our natures are outside our control; our choices are not. You have your own choices, too."
no subject
But it's hard to keep hostile when he's getting warm, when he wants to strip his clothes off... when he feels his body's growing need. His hands curl at his sides.
"Did you do this on purpose?" he questions, despite all his words the moment he'd felt it coming on is the moment the other had grabbed his chin. He's still in control, still won't give into his instincts just yet but he knows he will soon. It had been easy locked away alone it wouldn't be easy when he has a spouse that's so close. There's a part of him that's thinking that's not so bad and maybe if he's not so angry about the entire situation that put him in a marriage with Lan Xichen in the first place he would have more easily accepted that voice inside himself.
no subject
"I am afraid not. There may be songs that can induce heat, but that is not something I have ever had a need of - heats are trial enough when they come naturally, I have observed. I would not wish to force them on anyone.
"I have read that being in close proximity with someone you are very compatible with may cause their onset, but that part, I do not have control over."
The compatibility, that is.
"Unless, of course, there are other things that cause your own to begin...?"
no subject
"We're not very compatible," it sounds emptier and less confident than Wen Chao had intended. He looks away after that, crossing his arms. He doesn't know anything else that serves as a trigger for him. He hasn't had all that many heats and all of them tended to be predictable, it was just time. And he has never been with an alpha before and he won't tell that either. He shakes his head just slightly to answer the question.
All in all, he can't meet the other's eyes it's too hard to look at him and be dishonest.
no subject
Then his smile settles back on, and he motions towards the table, moving there to pour tea for them both.
"Come." Not really a command, but definitely a confident invitation. "This will not help too much with the warmth, but perhaps it might settle your mind a little."
Because tea.
no subject
"Why did you agree to this?"
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Xichen wraps long fingers around the tiny cup.
"I am afraid my answer will not be particularly heart-warming. The considerations of the Sect lie far above my own personal ones, so other than absence of a particular dislike for you, everything else was... more abstract." He does raise his eyes to look at him. "One cannot help but hope that things will work out, that with time we will find mutual understanding, perhaps even more, but I have always known that chances are very slim that I would get the opportunity to choose a spouse following my heart.
"That is ... not the same as saying my heart is closed to you, however."
no subject
He takes a sip of the tea before setting it down, feeling restless and all the more aware of his body. His fingers pull at the collar of his robes and why is the other's voice so... pleasant.
Maybe they are very compatible... no, he refuses to accept that.
"I had no choice. In the Nightless City, omegas are simply property," Wen Chao doesn't know why he's telling him this. "I spent my heats locked away and that's one of the reasons I was chosen."
If he's going to be in heat and he won't be able to resist the other then Xichen should know.
"I won't be able to resist you here."
Maybe it's the heat or maybe he's just tired, the hostility is exhausting to keep up when the other is being so kind in the face of it.
no subject
"Are there limits you wish to set while you can choose? Knotting, bonding, they can both - not be imposed on you."
Xichen has had enough ruts to know the limits of his self-control. These two things will not be easy, but he can commit to refraining from them.
no subject
He tightens his jaw at the question and a part of him wants to say no to those things but is there a point? It would happen eventually. He likes to think he isn't a coward or at least he wants other people not to think of him as weak or a coward.
"I don't see a point in you holding back. I am bound to you already."
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Steady, certain.
This kind of belonging goes both ways, after all. It will not be fully in effect until Wen Chao realizes that, too.
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"I'm telling you yes, though," Wen Chao says, he can't say that he wants them, even though he thinks it might be true despite himself.
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"Then may I kiss you right now?"
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"Yes."
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