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The calamity could feel an unwanted presence disturb his domain as he leaned against the desk, the desperate energy and frantic motion behind him is unfortunately not enough to drown it out. Still he ignores it, there’s nothing important out there. The world could burn and it’d mean nothing to him. He has everything he needs in this room.
He hums as the man thrusting into him whimpers, muffled from the way he’s attempting to bury his face into his shoulder. The shorter reaches his hand into the raven locks and pets his lover's hair. The desperate grip around his body grows tighter and he can’t help the dark chuckle that escapes him. He adores the moan released from the other man as he tightens his grip in his hair and pulls. He forces the other to look up at the mirror before them, reflecting back his single red eye filled with tears.
“Goodness,” the calamity moans as his eyes lock with the ruby red, “you look so cute like this.” He receives a whimper in protest, “Do you not believe me? Just look,” he gestures with a nod to the mirror and the other obeys, “so pretty and desperate for me. It’s truly pathetic.” He turns his head so that he can speak right into his ear, “I just adore seeing how weak you are for me.”
It’s unfortunate that a familiar white mask appears behind them in the reflection.
“Stop.” The order is followed promptly by his lover despite the desperate gasps, as if stopping is the most demanding act one could do.
He takes pity on his little nameless ghost and releases the black hair in his grip, allowing him to once again bury his face into the safety of his neck and shoulder. He simply looks towards his teacher, the infamous White No Face, in the mirror.
“What do you want?” Though his tone is harsh he has no fear of insulting the white clothed calamity.
Sure enough the man only laughs, “I simply came to check on you as usual. Though it seems this time you have a guest already. The water master is out front again waiting to challenge you.”
“I know,” of course he did, “he’ll simply have to practice patience till I’m in the mood to deal with him.”
“You could always have your little pet deal with him instead.”
The calamity glares at the others teasing tone before responding in a dark voice.
“My HUSBAND has better things to do than waste his time worrying over the pests from the heavens. That ant doesn’t deserve to lay eyes on my beloved.”
“Naturally, I can see you’re both quite busy.” He took a brief pause tilting his head to the right, “I know better than to interrupt you like this so I’ll keep it brief. I’ve invited over your protege because you haven’t stepped foot outside this cave or said hi to either of us for a whole season. You know how I worry for you. I’d imagine he’d appreciate it if your heavenly guest was dealt with before she arrived. It doesn’t matter to me either way.”
They are once again alone as the white clothed man leaves. The calamity sighs before tapping his husband’s head.
“Pull out.”
A truly pathetic noise of pain leaves his lover but he obeys nonetheless, taking a step back. He turns to face his ever obedient devoted ghost before guiding him towards the bed. He lays the man down before climbing on top of him and lowering himself on to the taller man’s still aching member. The body below him is tense and only relaxes with a moan when he bottoms out.
So lost in bliss the man takes a moment to realize that he’s remained completely still above him. The calamity takes a moment to stare at his beloved before being faced with a pleading look. The agony in his husband’s eyes stirs him to rest his hand on his chest and begin to move slowly. The man below him sighs and before tensing again at his god's words.
“You will cum soon but only when I tell you to.”
A frantic nod.
“Good boy.”
His sweet ghost moans at the praise as the shorter man leans forward to pin his arms down by the wrist. He’s feeling especially possessive after his teacher's little jab earlier. He doesn’t like people suggesting he let his ghost out.
“Do you want to leave here?”
He’s met with a confused whine so he continues.
“Do you want to go out there? Deal with loathsome heavenly officials and do things outside of our home? Do you wish I’d let you go?”
Subconsciously he speeds up as each question leaves him more upset and desperate for an answer. The face below his scrunches up in pleasure, confusion and concern making him look pained.
“No.”
The calamity hums his disbelief, this is immediately met with rare protests from his devoted.
“There is nothing out there! No world or person exists outside your gaze. The only things that exist are the things that matter to you. I want for nothing out there, my entire existence is here.”
His sweet ghost's words caress him and bolster his resolve as he switches his wrists to one hand so he can hold his face.
“Then show me. Never leave me, never wander, give me all of you.”
The calamity's voice gets deeper and more assured with each command.
“Yes!”
Looking at his beloved’s sincere and vulnerable face, so desperate and exposed just for him, sends an intoxicating and addictive feeling through his body. He need not worry about reaching his peak now, his beloved would worship him any time he pleased. Now, is about his husband and the overwhelming love between them. He needs to lose himself in the ecstasy of his dear husband.
“Now, cum.”
The release is instantaneous. His sweet ghost, always so eager to obey and serve. Continuing to ride him through his release, the calamity basks in the radiant view of his lover lost underneath him. As things begin to cool down his gaze lands on the silver choker permanently adorning his beloved’s beautiful neck. The intricate designs of butterflies and maple leaves dancing along with the grace only achievable by the one true artist in this world. The very artist who now pants below him in radiance that he is happy to have caught with the shimmering butterflies always fluttering around the room and accompanying the calamity everywhere he goes. This is the only art he can make for himself, he is insistent on capturing every moment of it.
“Beautiful,” the praise is the most natural thing in the world and is done without thought. Yet still his beloved looks struck as if he has never uttered the word before, “My beautiful Wu Ming.”
A sweet sigh escapes the beautiful figure below him as he moves to gently brush his face.
“I’m afraid I must leave to deal with our intruder now,” the face in his hand leans into it with a nuzzle, “Wait right here for me my love. I will come get you when I’ve dealt with the problem.”
Leaning down he brushes his lips to the delicate crystal flower attached to his beloved’s choker before sitting up and touching the ring hanging from his own neck.
They will always be together.
As he gets up gold vambraces adorned with peach blossoms appear on his forearms along with a gold half mask covering his eyes. White pants that bellow out before connecting to delicate gold jewelry on his ankles that jingle slightly as he takes each step. No top to hide the scars on his torso and chest, some cleaner and more deliberate than others. Lastly, Ruoye drapes over his neck and flows behind him like a cape as he walks followed quickly by E’ming affixing itself to a gold belt hanging off his waist.
He revels in the cum still dripping out of him even as he is forced out of his private home to confront the wasteland beyond.
The forest immediately outside his home is bountiful with foliage and animals. Aesthetically pleasing, devoid of other humans or ghosts, it is perfect. Unfortunately perfection is impossible to maintain and the occasional riffraff dare to disturb their peace. Only once has the riffraff turned out to be anything worth his time.
Today is nothing like that time and the visitor is a frequent nuisance. An insistent pest that comes around after licking their wounds from their previous encounter.
“You will not ignore me phoenix!”
“Unfortunately, in this you are correct.”
He appears before the other in a swirl of golden hot ash, completely uninterested in the man before him.
The water tyrant speaks with vigor and contempt, crazed after centuries of obsession.
“Golden Phoenix Risen From Ashes! Today you will fall! You will fall just as you felled your fellow calamities! You will fall as vengeance for daring to fell a god, for daring to fell my brother!”
There is no room for pity in his heart.
“The wind master is dead, young tyrant, there are better ways to waste your miserable existence.”
There is no feeling in his voice, only the certainty that comes with knowing that his life would be quieter without this nuisance coming around.
“I will not rest until I avenge my brother’s murder! Until I have slain the one who killed him!”
The golden calamity scoffs.
“Then you should turn your blade inward. Perhaps if they weren’t so ashamed of you they wouldn’t have gone seeking their death.”
“Lies!”
His voice breaks with the truth he refuses to choke down but the calamity has no patience for his theatrics. He strikes swiftly and begins a dull empty fight. A fight that likely could be over with sooner if he wasn’t so careful.
Still, he prevails and stares down at the unconscious form below him.
It is meaningless.
He simply waves his hand and sends the man back to the heavens. He’s their responsibility.
He doesn’t waste his time walking now. Eager to return to the beauty awaiting him in their bed. Reappearing in their room he is greeted to the sight of his dear Wu Ming dressed flimsily in seldom worn clothes. A crimson over robe with nothing underneath, silver vembraces belts and various other accessories adorning his perfect form. A dreaded eye patch now hiding the hole where a black eye once rested but now sits on the blade hung from his hip. The very blade surrendered to him so long ago. For what use would his dear husband ever have for weapons.
His husband chuckles at his disapproving face. While he lifts the hair off his neck to affix it in a high ponytail held up by one of his butterflies. The style shows his neck proudly and the choker marking him.
This the golden calamity approves of.
“You know you’d be even more upset if they saw me without the eye patch.”
His husband is of course correct but it does little to appease him.
“In my ideal world no one would ever disturb us.”
The face once feared by many, the face of the Crimson Rain Sought Flower himself, is soft and understanding. Knowing.
“If you truly wished it then they wouldn’t be able to come here at all.”
The soft voice is correct again but he will never admit it out loud. While he adores their solitude he does enjoy the close circle they have. If he wished them not to enter then they’d be stuck in the outer forest just like the heavenly trash.
He simply embraces his dear husband and enjoys his presence longer. Before long he is being turned to face the mirror, mask long gone, as his husband gently adorns his left ear with gold jewelry, never changing the red coral pearl on the right lobe but ensuring to lavish it with due praise and attention. His beloved takes down his hair to brush it and reaffix the bun gently with golden peach blossom branches.
Looking back at the mirror he sees the very man his husband sees. He sees Xie Lian, the cast out prince, the god, the martyr, the survivor, the ghost king, and of course, the god pleasing crown prince who was never meant to be in the ceremony to begin with. The very stowaway who saved a defeated young boy from certain doom and in doing so exposed his own transgressions before the kingdom.
Xie Lian would do it again no matter what. Not his kingdom nor his father loved and accepted him. How easy it was for them to cast him out and disown him. He ascended without their help and he thrived without them. The ruined remnants of a long gone kingdom left way for the landscape around his home with his beloved. The single flower Wu Ming once left behind was the start of a beautiful secluded land.
As they go out to the common area together Xie Lian is quickly jumped by the excitable and majestic ghost he grew so fond for centuries ago.
“Shizuuuuun~!!!”
Finally released he looks to see the androgynous form before him waving their intricate feathered fan as their elegant green, white and black robes swirl with their movement.
“My goodness shizun! What beautiful theatrics today! I’m always so moved by the way you care for me!”
Looking at their protege batting their eyelashes, feathered tips flittering along, as they move to sit on their gloomy companions lap he finds the smallest laugh in himself.
Here they were, Black Water Sinking Ships and their jeweled lover, Emerald Swan Soaring Through Skies. The most feared couple known to the world, dark and brooding one moment and reeking havoc the next. Sailors dedicated to the water master would find themselves breathless at the sight of their beauty. There was no rhyme or reason to their pettiness. No ship ever knew if they were safe, to not plead to the tyrant would near guarantee capsize but in doing so you risk enraging the calamitous duo.
"You know you needn't hold back on him for my account."
The windmaster was certainly long dead and in their pace a calamity was born.
But Xie Lian knows his student is lying.
Xie Lian moves to sit at the table across from them with his husband. Said husband doesn’t spend a word or glance to acknowledge their company, simply begins pouring the two of them tea and putting food on their plates.
"It would be quite uncouth for me to kill my promising pupils older brother. I'm sure the two of you will manage him just fine on your own when you are ready."
The deadly duo across them seem to light up upon seeing the food being brought out by butterflies. Shi Qingxuan had developed a sizable appetite during the second stage of their depression after nearly starving them self to death. In turn before their official rise as the Emerald Swan they had gained a lovely full figure encouraged by Black Waters fixation on ensuring they were both well fed. The two have been inseparable since they bonded over their shared anger and betrayal.
Now they feed each other happily with little care for anything else.
“Oh good, everyone is here.”
The gentle presence is shifted at the arrival of the white clothed calamity but it fazes no one.
“Oh good,” Shi Qingxuan begins, “You’re wearing your mask today.”
This earns a chuckle from White No Face.
“Your protege is as delightful as ever Xianle.”
He only hums in response as he sips his tea.
“It sounds like you have ulterior motives than just a friendly catch up for bringing us all here.”
“Perhaps, I simply wished to keep you updated on the goings ons in heaven.”
His brow lifts, “Why would I care to know that?”
“Normally I’d never bother you with their trivial games but I’m afraid this one may be worth your attention.”
Shi Qingxuan leans forward, “Do tell!”
The masked calamity nods, “I once again propose that we take our rightful place in the heavens.”
Xie Lian groans as his head ache forms, “I have no desire to deal with the heavens bureaucratic bullshit.”
“I’m well aware, however it has become increasingly clear that keeping them in check on my own is risky. They’ve begun pushing for new creative ideas of ridding the world of calamities.”
Playing with a lock of their hair the Emerald Swan responds lazily, “And why do we care about their futile delusions of grandeur?”
“Because,” there is always much patience in the eldest calamities voice, “This time they are onto something. It’s not a fully fleshed out plan yet but it seems their goal is to target Mt. Tonglu at its source. They’ve uncovered many new truths as of late and I fear they will only grow closer to a viable solution if left unchecked. This will be a threat to all of us but one.”
There’s only one calamity completely untethered to Mt. Tonglu though the heavens know not of his true origin. Said calamity feels his stomach roll at what this means for his husband. Even if it takes a millennia they still pose a threat to the only person who matters. Regardless of his unwillingness he cannot allow a potential threat to fester against his husband and risk harming him in any way.
“So what exactly do you propose?”
“Simple, every one of us has a right to the heavens and for most of us we have ascended already and chose to leave of our own will. We must start by reintegrating some old players to the heavens and then begin enforcing our new hierarchy.”
“And how do we do that?”
“Oh come now Xianle,” there’s a slight laugh to his voice, “Everyone knows the emperor favored the once glorious martial god of truth and virtue above any else. If said god once thought lost were to appear after sheltering and caring for another god thought long dead then surely they would receive only praise and adoration from Jun Wu and be welcomed with open arms.”
“Eeeuuugh!”
“Tsk!”
The once lost gods in question are quick to voice there displeasure.
“Fine, but the fire master will also be joining us.”
His voice offers no argument, though none would be offered. Xie Lian feels a call to action he hasn’t experienced in so very long. A goal and purpose arising anew. He loathes this feeling and refuses to let his husband out of his sight ever again.
“I would hope for nothing less.”