How To Polish A Pearl

Chapter 48 - Holding

Not really sure how to react to this new feeling of waking up with a man wrapped around him, Zhou Xu lays there for a while listening to the serene breathing of the sleeping death god. Trying not to analyze the warm feeling spreading from those interlinked fingers, he snuggles the hands closer to his face. When the urge to kiss those fingertips pops into his head, his heartbeat quickens. Snap out of it Zhou Xu. Don't give in. Don't give him the upper hand. Don't get distracted. Today is the day!

Before his body has even reacted to the signal from his brain to start moving out of the bed, that arm pulls him tight against the others chest. A soft and sleepy voice spoken so close to his neck it leaves him with goosebumps, "Not yet. Just a little bit longer." The lips those words were spoken from nibbles between his shoulder blades, sending shivers all the way down his spine.

As Wen Ke Xing gets ready to continue nibbling his way up the neck, he is rolled on to his back with Zhou Xu holding him down, the hanging strand of pearls resting on his chest.

Propped up on one elbow, he quietly watches the man that is under him for the first time. Wen Ke Xing has a lazy smile on his face and his eyes are still dimmed from whatever dream he had during the night that had kept his hand holding on tightly. The long raven black hair draping around his shoulders and over the pillow. This is the softest Zhou Xu has ever seen his husband. The vision is breathtaking.

Lowering himself down, Zhou Xu's lips gently searches for Wen Ke Xing's in a slow kiss that is soft yet deep. The tongue gently caressing the others, whilst the lips moves over those cold ones, as soft as the silk against his skin.

Wen Ke Xing's mind hums, his arms moving on their own to wrap around Zhou Xu's neck, his fingers combing through that hair until they find their perfect spot to partly rest and partly hold the man in place. The moment is one of warmth and comfort, not one of desire and passion.

A long moment later, Zhou Xu pulls back and quietly studies the man below. Wen Ke Xing still with that lazy smile on his face but his eyes sparkling at the edges. Tracing his wet and slightly swollen lips with the tip of his thumb, he says with his soft voice, "Okay, now I will go."

When the man rolls away from his embrace, Wen Ke Xings arms ache again. Turning his head to look at the back of Zhou Xu, his feelings are all jumbled and complicated. This was the first time that he had woken up next to a man, a man that he hadn't even enjoyed any passion with during the night. Not only had he stayed the night, but he had also begged to stay and then just held him all night. Holding on to that hand, terrified that he would disappear or get kicked out.

A little bit more dazed that he would like to admit, Zhou Xu doesn't bounce out of bed like he had the day before. That kiss had his feelings so jumbled up, it's not until he is draping the second inner rob one, wondering why he was getting out of bed in the first place, that he remembers the drying flowers. The flowers!

He had slept so soundly that he hadn't woken once during the night. What if they hadn't kept the coal coming to keep the urns hot? Like possessed, he forgets all about that man on the bed that is watching him, he races out of the room and down the corridor. Though if he had taken a moment, he would have realized that the entire pavilion is warm and the closer he gets to that room, the warmer it gets.

When he sees the coal his lets out the breath that he has been holding racing down the corridor. Taking up a thick glove, he moves one of the lids and carefully prods at the sand until he sees the florescence. The color is still vividly purple, though a little bit matte, and it appears to have fully dried out.

"What is it with this flower anyway that you had to go chasing around heaven and earth for it?"

Zhou Xu jumps at the voice behind him. He had forgotten all about the half-naked man he had left behind in his bed that is now leaning against wall just inside the door watching him. Turning back towards the purple florets, he responds, "This little valley of yours is hardly heaven and earth."