How To Polish A Pearl

Chapter 75 - Aching

Author's Notes:

This chapter contains a little bit of anxiety and some mature content.

To move my head space from the two previous chapter and into the aftermath, this is the song I had on repeat – for two days: Lifehouse – Flight

⊂ (▀▿▀) つ

This certainly wasn't the first time he had killed someone. It wasn't the first time he had killed someone in Ghost Valley. It wasn't even the first time he had killed someone in front of Wen Ke Xing. So why does it feel different?

From that first swift motion with the short sword until that last with the dagger, things had started to change inside Zhou Xu. Memories of people dying by his hand, one face after the next, in a never ending stream of eyes that were either begging for mercy or filled with hate, had surged through his mind like a tsunami of death. However, in the wake of it, it wasn't the memories of all those people that was lingering in his thoughts. It was what was missing−remorse.

Zhou Zi Shu, is this who you are now? Is this what you have done since Shifu died? Is this what you have used his sword for? Why?

Zhou Zi Shu turns to look at the man that is quietly gazing out over the valley from where they are submerged in the hot spring right next to the waterfall. He didn't know what was going on inside Wen Ke Xing at all after what he, they, had just done. His man hadn't said anything at all since the devil had been executed. To be fair, neither had he.

Before Zhou Zi Shu had finished cleaning the dagger, Wen Ke Xing had just unceremoniously taken it and placed it on the table next to the other tools. He had walked back to where Zhou Zi Shu was standing, his cold hand had closed around Zhou Zi Shu's wrist and he had more or less dragged him out the door−not that Zhou Zi Shu had put up any resistance, guessing as to where they were going.

They had walked up through the bamboo forest in silence, Zhou Zi Shu walking one step behind. With his eyes focused on the back of his man, he wonders what could make his man−the man that was always talking, joking or flirting−quiet. Halfway to the hot spring, Wen Ke Xing had looked over his shoulder, smiled and loosened the grip on his wrist to trace down his hand, hooking their pinkies. That subtle promise of intimacy had made his heart ache.

After they had undressed, Wen Ke Xing had taken his hand and guided him to their spot right next to the waterfall. And here they had remained for over an hour, shoulder to shoulder, skin against skin, listening to the white noise from the waterfall and taking in the view in silence.

The only time they had moved was when Wen Ke Xing had picked out a peach blossom soap and handed it to him. It had been a gesture so natural, his heart had ached a little more. Is he trying to give me a small piece of Four Seasons Manor?

In a silent understanding, they head back towards the outdoor pavilion and their clothes. After getting dressed, they walk back in silence. This time Zhou Zi Shu reaches for Wen Ke Xing's cold hand, interlacing their fingers. He doesn't known what to say but he doesn't feel like Wen Ke Xing is waiting for him to speak either.

Walking into Kaihua pavilion, Zhou Zi Shu slows down and stops at the center of the room. The main room is empty. The table is clean. The floor is clean. Everything is clean. There is not a single trace of what had transpired in this room just hours earlier. The air even has a subtle scent of peach blossoms, just like back home. Of course Lao Wen would have arranged someone to clean up... He has even arranged for a few plates of bao buns and wine. No matter how detached from any emotion he had been during the interrogation, all of these small gestures pierce straight through his marble, making his heart ache even more.

Wen Ke Xing watches his man standing in the middle of the room, just staring at the food. Even though he had not been able to read what was going on behind Zhou Zi Shu's hard marble façade during the interrogation, he had seen the slight trembling in the fingers and the subtle softening at the reminder of his promise on their wedding day.

Closing the door, he turns back just as Zhou Zi Shu stops right in front of him. He is so close he can feels Zhou Zi Shu's breath against his skin. Wen Ke Xing's arms are still aching to touch his Ah-Xu, however not really sure he is allowed to touch Zhou Zi Shu. Staring at those walnut-colored ones, he can see his Ah-Xu and Zhou Zi Shu flickering back and forth. Though somehow, they both look at him through the same eyes and with the same expression. Like they are asking him something.

"Ah-Xu... I−"

Wen Ke Xing's voice is silenced by a warm and soft kiss. Their lips only touch for a few seconds before Zhou Zi Shu pulls back, leaving a gap between them of a few centimeters. He is still reaching up on his toes, leveling their eyes, though Zhou Zi Shu's eyes are closed and his lips are still slightly parted. He just wants to stay there for a moment, breathing in the feeling of Wen Ke Xing's cold exhales and the subtle peach blossom scent that surrounds them. The feeling of being this close to his man but not touching him makes him ache. The thought of his man's hands and how they feel against his skin makes his pulse quicken and his breathing hitch.

When Zhou Zi Shu opens his eyes, they are like lightning. He rests his hands on Wen Ke Xing's shoulders and pushes him back against the wall. His lips still parted and just a few centimeters from those cold ones, his eyes deep within those black ones.

In the end, they don't know who kisses the other first, just that they are kissing again. Like magnets they lock together, unable to be separated from the other anymore. The kiss is slow, deep and wet. Zhou Zi Shu's hands traces along Wen Ke Xing's shoulders and neck before they dig into his hair to steady them as he pushes to reach deeper.

Wen Ke Xing's hands move like they have a life of their own, his insecurity from just a moment ago obliterated by the kiss. Feeling the outline of the curved back, his palms wander up to those strong shoulders, pulling him closer as he leans back against the wall, supporting them both.

Wen Ke Xing doesn't know how long they stand like that, but at some point, he feels like this is never going to be enough, he wants this moment to extend indefinitely. Circling them around, he lifts Zhou Zi Shu's up to circle his legs around his waist, wedging him against the wall. With his fingers digging into those milky thighs, he pushes closer in between them. Zhou Zi Shu's hands are still buried in his hair to push in deeper. Low and longing moans escapes in puffs between the wet sounds of their tongues and lips, their sounds intoxicating and erotic.

After a long while, Zhou Zi Shu slows down the kissing and pulls back, both of them panting from their desires. With eyes still like lightning he loses himself in those black ones. Leaning in, his voice but a whisper against wkx ear, "Lao Wen, I need you to fuck me until I come. Then I want you to fuck me until you come."

o(≧▽≦)o