The King's Dancer

Chapter 25

After Hua Cheng had efficiently coddled Xie Lian for quite a while, he eventually asked "gege, should we have dinner in our room tonight, or would you prefer eating in the garden pavilion?"

Xie Lian thought for a moment, but since it had grown rather late, and therefore quite cold outside, he decided to have dinner in their room.

Their room.

Xie Lian felt giddy at having Hua Cheng so readily share his space with him, and couldn't help but give him a kiss on the cheek, before he pulled his pants up to cover him properly again.

Dinner was a rather quiet affair, though conversation still flowed easily between them, and somehow didn't feel awkward at all. Xie Lian had honestly expected to pretty much die of embarrassment after having done something like... that, but he felt strangely content, and not embarrassed at all. Though he still couldn't quite believe he'd really done something ...  that .

Once they were done eating, Hua Cheng showed Xie Lian into his bathroom. There wasn't a pool in the floor, obviously, since they were on the second floor. Instead, there were two steps leading up to a rather humongous bathtub. Xie Lian was convinced that 4 people could sit in there comfortably, without touching.

They didn't waste any time undressing and washing themselves off before entering the huge bathtub.

"Do you like it?", Hua Cheng asked cheekily when Xie Lian was still very obviously astounded by this thing.

"I think it's great!", he replied, and cuddled up against Hua Cheng's side.

"You're very cuddly today", his alpha called him out.

"I'm just happy", Xie Lian replied quietly, to which Hua Cheng hummed contently.

After the bath, Xie Lian wanted to put on his undergarments as usual, however Hua Cheng stopped him.

"How about we don't bother with this tonight?", he asked, and Xie Lian immediately blushed quite a dark shade. Though he had to admit that it did sound rather exciting. Still...

"We'll just cuddle, right? You- you don't want to.... already?"

Seeing Xie Lian's insecurity, Hua Cheng's face turned incredibly soft.

"Of course. The only thing I want to do is to repay gege for his efforts earlier. But only if you don't mind", his alpha added as soon as he saw some apprehension on Xie Lian's face.

If Xie Lian was honest, he didn't understand why he was nervous about the prospect either. It should be less nerve wracking to have Hua Cheng do something like this to him than vice versa. But despite feeling flustered, he still wanted to try it out.

"Of course I don't mind. I'm just nervous, don't mind me", he explained himself hastily, before Hua Cheng backtracked on his offer completely. "But... can I ask San Lang to take his eyepatch off before we go to bed?", he added hesitantly.

Now it was Hua Cheng's turn to hesitate, but it was only for a short moment, before he nodded, and did indeed take it off. This time, his right eye didn't startle Xie Lian nearly as much as the last time he'd seen it, and somehow, even though Hua Cheng had told him he could see slightly better with that eye, he felt less... vulnerable. Maybe it was because with the eyepatch off, Hua Cheng felt about as exposed as Xie Lian did.

After having climbed into bed, Hua Cheng didn't waste any time cuddling up to Xie Lian, kissing his forehead and holding him close. To Xie Lian, it was the first time to cuddle while being naked, and he had to admit that it indeed felt rather nice to have so much skin on skin contact with his alpha. It was a bit like his body was on fire, but in a good way.