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Xie Lian’s favorite night of the year is the Mid-Autumn Banquet, when the glimmer of three thousand golden lanterns brightens the sky — a nebulous cluster of warmth and bliss hanging against an inky background, each one carefully crafted from Hua Cheng’s tender and loving hands.
They’re visible even through the ethereal green haze of the Ghost City, so Xie Lian can tilt his head up, cheek pressed against Hua Cheng’s chest as they slow dance in the teeming garden Hua Cheng keeps behind Paradise Manor for Xie Lian, and stare at them. Three thousand lanterns. Three thousand glittering points of light floating in the sky. Three thousand I love you’s from Hua Cheng to Xie Lian.
“San Lang,” Xie Lian says, half-muffled against Hua Cheng’s dark red tunic, “I love you. So much. You know that, right?”
“Mm,” Hua Cheng hums against his hair. They sway together, gentle like the whisper of wind through tall grass. “San Lang knows.”
“And you know you don’t have to do this every year, right, San Lang?”
There’s a soft huff of laughter. “Yes, gege. I do it because I want to.”
Xie Lian pulls back so he can look up at Hua Cheng, at the endless love reflected in his eye, at the soft smile that graces his face only for Xie Lian. He cups Hua Cheng’s face with both of his hands, thumbs stroking against high cheekbones with reverence and care, then tugs him in for a soft kiss.
“Then I hope you know I did this because I want to, as well,” Xie Lian says when they part. There’s a pretty pink tinge across the tops of Hua Cheng’s cheeks and the tips of his ears and there are stars in his eye.
Xie Lian tilts his head up towards the sky, and Hua Cheng’s gaze follows.
A sea of brilliant red lanterns rises on the horizon.
Hua Cheng’s arms tighten around Xie Lian in surprise, holding him closer, and Xie Lian can feel him beginning to tremble as he stares, awestruck, up at the ocean of red and gold above them.
“Red has always been your color,” Xie Lian says with a smile.
Hua Cheng’s eye darts between the lanterns and Xie Lian, unable to focus, as if he can’t choose where to look, and Xie Lian can’t help but laugh, heart tender.
“Gege,” Hua Cheng breathes, voice soft with wonder. “Gege, you… did this? For me?”
“Mm.” He tugs Hua Cheng down for another kiss, this time to Hua Cheng’s nose. Ruoye halfway unwraps himself from Xie Lian’s wrist and caresses Hua Cheng’s cheek, sweet and gentle, and there’s a glimmer in Hua Cheng’s eye, wet and on the verge of falling. “Each one was made for you. By me. Because you deserve it.”
Hua Cheng blinks, eyelashes trembling, wet, and then buries his face in Xie Lian’s hair, arms wrapped securely around him, and if he shakes, well, that’s okay because Xie Lian’s arms are around him as well, holding him close, safe and tight and he’s not planning on letting go anytime soon.