TIAN GUAN CI FU Fan fic stories

WHAT I WANT FROM YOU IS SWEET

CHAPTER 1

"San Lang, San Lang! Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Xie Lian's worried face swam in front of Hua Cheng's eyes. The look of concern was like a shard of ice through his heart; with some help, he sat up in the bed, propping himself against the pillows.

"Don't worry, gege," he said, through chattering teeth. "I just caught a chill, it's nothing."

"A chill?" Feeling for a pulse point, Xie Lian furrowed his brow. "You're a ghost, why would you get cold..."

Another round of shivering made Hua Cheng lose his balance, the arms propping him up folding like jelly. He sank into the pillows. This alarmed Xie Lian even more.

"I'll get you hot water," he said quickly, and slipped off the bed.

Despite his languid look and half-lidded eyes, Hua Cheng watched him go with something like panic. Wait, wait!, something inside was wailing. Your Highness, don't leave me, please don't leave me...

The shivering seemed to crush inward, until it felt like his heart was shaking, too. Hua Cheng tried to sit up, but he was dizzy and soft. His face was so hot that it nearly forced out tears.

He'd known this had been building up for a while; he just hadn't thought it would hit so suddenly.

Still, to say that it happened without warning would be somewhat of a stretch.

🦪

When Hua Cheng had finally clawed himself back into his form, gathering himself up from mere scraps on the edge of the abyss—finding himself panting, face down in the volcanic dust of Mount Tonglu—he had immediately realized a problem.

For the first time in centuries, he was weak.

Spiritual energy couldn't be siphoned up overnight; even infinite love wasn't infinite power. When Hua Cheng sat up, still shaky like a newborn animal, he'd immediately reached deep inside to see how much power he had left—and felt his heart sink.

All in all, it just wasn't very much. It was barely enough to keep such a complicated form steady; it wasn't nearly enough to reliably protect Xie Lian. What's more, it was worse than when he'd been stuck in his child form. After all, even when he'd been small enough to perch on Xie Lian's arm, there had still been a reserve of power waiting to be freed deep underneath. This was different.

It wasn't like he couldn't get it back. It would take time, that was all. But even as Hua Cheng told that to himself, tried to reassure himself, he still shook.

In a state like this, how could he not remember being a helpless little ghost fire?

If he'd been truly responsible, truly rational, he knew he should've stayed in Mount Tonglu longer after gathering his form. With another year of waiting and working hard, he might have recovered at least halfway to his old potential.

But he couldn't wait, not while someone was waiting for him too.

🦪

He managed to hide the weakness well enough for the first day.

It hadn't been all that difficult. After all, following that initial tackle from Xie Lian, Hua Cheng had spent the whole night getting embraced and cried onto, then stuffed with oddly-made food, then cried onto all over again, then fallen asleep onto, then stuffed with food all over again. In short—much like a lost cat getting found again by an overindulgent owner—Hua Cheng was smug as could be, coddled and showered with love. Who knew it would only take one day to spoil him absolutely rotten?