Hualian AU Xtraz ~ Hua Cheng's Birthday

Part 6

Hua Cheng threw the box into the kitchen bin, while Xie Lian looked on, sadly, leaning against the door frame. Hua Cheng walked over to him and hugged him around the waist, then asked by his ear,

"Gege, you're not happy we found out your allergy was to that Korean stuff?"

Xie Lian replied, "Yes, but – "

"It's all sorted now, we don't have to worry about anything anymore...", Hua Cheng concluded, smiling and biting Xie Lian's earlobe teasingly.

Xie Lian sighed, "It was your first birthday with me, so I wanted it to be nice and memorable, but all you did was to run around in hospitals and clinics, all because of me. And you even had to throw away the present I gave you!"

Hua Cheng let go of him, then grabbed his hand, pulling him back to the lounge. He kissed Xie Lian's hand, and smiled, "Being with you is enough, you know that".

"Yeah yeah", Xie Lian said, shrugging.

Hua Cheng added, "Even so, you made me so happy!"

"Oh? Why?", Xie Lian asked.

"When you said you wanted to be with me no matter what, and without me you can't –"

"Yeah that was a bit soppy wasn't it?", Xie Lian said, blushing and biting his lower lip.

"I love soppy, you know", Hua Cheng said, winking, and hugging him again.

"I wasn't being myself at the time too", Xie Lian added as an excuse, "Please forget it".

"I can never forget you saying you wanted to be with me no matter what...", he replied, and added, "Anyway, I still didn't have my birthday treat". He gave Xie Lian that look, so of course Xie Lian knew what he meant, and blushed.

He replied, all innocent, "Right, the cake! I need to bake you a new one..."

"I love when you play dumb Gege, it's such a turn-on", Hua Cheng said, chuckling, "You know very well I don't mean cake".

Mentioning the cake made Xie Lian think of the Korean skincare set again, and he gave another sigh, "It was such a nice present too! Your skin felt super soft, and it smelled so good..."

"For obvious reasons, I'd rather go without it", Hua Cheng said, "If Gege's alright with my lizard looks", he pffted a laugh, referring to the dry, flaky skin he had sometimes if he forgot to moisturise.

Xie Lian looked at him: Hua Cheng wore a plain white t-shirt, and his hair was messy; he was laughing happily, hugging Xie Lian around the waist. The soft sunlight was coming in through the glass doors to the balcony, showing his pale and unblemished skin. It was beautiful. He didn't need any fancy skincare in the first place, what was Xie Lian thinking?

"Yeah, fuck Korean skincare", he replied, smiling and kissing Hua Cheng's face.

●

He found Feng Xin and Mu Qing at The Palace of Xuan Zhen's server room, changing some settings; Feng Xin was typing codes furiously, while Mu Qing looked on. They both turned to Xie Lian and, seeing his face, didn't need to ask if everything was alright.

"Alright, let's have a break", Mu Qing said, and they went inside the lab. Xie Lian threw himself heavily on a grey bean bag and just stayed still, as if it was hard to move, in shock. Feng Xin made him his usual salty caramel latte, leaving it on a little coffee table by Xie Lian; he didn't touch it.

Feng Xin and Mu Qing looked at each other: things seemed to be really bad!

"What happened, c'mon spit it out already".

Xie Lian just fished out his phone, unlocked it, and showed to them. A text from Hua Cheng. With a picture. A selfie, on what looked to be The Heavens, smiling happily, wearing the photo t-shirt Xie Lian ordered initially for his birthday; the one Feng Xin and Mu Qing convinced him not to give!

"Fuck! Xie Lian, you ended up giving him that tacky t-shirt?", Feng Xin gasped.

"I gave it as a joke! I didn't know he'd take it seriously and..."

"You should have destroyed it", Mu Qing said, clenching a fist, "Now, it fell on wrong hands".

Xie Lian and Feng Xin looked at him; what's with these lines straight out of some comics?

He went on, "The solution is simple. Break up with him".

"MU QING", Xie Lian and Feng Xin shouted together.

"It's bad enough that the allergy story went out", Feng Xin said, "and everyone knows you just can't stop sucking face with Crimson Rain Sought Flower".

"Don't call him like that", Xie Lian replied, half-heartedly. He seemed thoughtful, as if making a difficult decision, then said, "Alright, I'm gonna sort it out", and started texting on his phone.

Feng Xin and Mu Qing heard him typing back and forth, frowning, and pings from his phone here and there; it seemed they were having a proper text argument. Finally Xie Lian gave a little smug smile, and put his phone back in his pocket, then, reaching for his salty caramel latte, gave it a long sip, then said, "Sorted".

"What happened?", Feng Xin asked.

"I told him to change, or zip up his jacket, or something. Otherwise it'd be two weeks without, hum, seeing me", he said, blushing deeply. Of course both his friends understood what he meant.

"Man, you're fucking ruthless", Feng Xin said.

Mu Qing nodded in approval, "The end justifies the means".

Everybody at The Heavens knew how Xie Lian felt towards Hua Cheng, and stories circulating are bound to happen; if not the allergy, it's something else about Xie Lian and Hua Cheng sucking face. But, Hua Cheng wearing that t-shirt was too much! Xie Lian knew he was playing dirty, but he didn't care. If this was the only way to save his dignity, so be it. 

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this little extra.

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