Continue of "well, someone is a glutton of punishment".

Author: mondergreenery

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"Have you heard? Lord Water Master refuses to speak to General Ming Guang after the incident with the Wei River dam."

"Well, are you surprised? He asks him to rendezvous in the middle of his busy schedule, and then pulls his usual nonsense. He's earned his ire, as far as this one's concerned. What audacity!"

"Hah, that's right. Good luck getting out of this one, General Pei."

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Shi Wudu only had a finite amount of patience for mortal politics. Spend enough time navigating the murky straits of heavenly courts and one develops a habitual disdain for the petty territory squabbles and the noble demand for his blessings and interference. These days, unless his effort yielded significant gains for him, he did not extend the courtesy of it any longer.

So when Pei Ming approached him through his private array to ask Shi Wudu's input on a matter in the northwest about a river and a dam, he chalked it up to idle curiosity when he agreed to take a look at the dispute with him.

If he took his time picking out the right tassel to add to his fan, lingering over the warmer tones more, then that was his concern only.

If he chose robes silky to the touch, flowing like water over his arms when he raised them to fan himself, expensive and glamorous, then that was also his business and his business alone.

And if he knew from personal experience how much Pei Ming liked all the things he'd dressed himself in... Hm.

Shi Wudu took a moment to admire himself in the bronze mirror in his bedroom hall, a self-assured smile on his lips softening his face with deceptive affability. He considered brushing his hair up, to let its waves fall over his shoulders and veil his nape like a secret to tempt wandering eyes to catch another glimpse. In the end, it was only a trek up north, and if it was in Pei Ming's territory, it was unlikely he would be able to take advantage of any attention he inspired.

So he let it all fall down his back, doing away with his crown today to instead fasten a hairpin with a pair of red and blue brocade carps embellishing its clasp. His bangs fell forward, slipping out of their frail hold to frame his face just right.

Yes — this was acceptable.

A distance-shortening array was already drawn on his door. Drawing a fur-lined cloak over his shoulders, Shi Wudu stepped through the door, out of his room and onto a grassy incline. Damp in the early hours of the morning, the verdant field was soft under his feet. To his right, the river in question the day's dispute centred around rushed along at its own speed, grand and loud and rather agreeable to Shi Wudu's ears.

He held no love for noise for the sake of it, but the sound of water had become the sound of his own thoughts to the ears of the Water Master. He followed its path up towards the military camp Pei Ming had mentioned to him, like old friends accompanying each other on a stroll.

It was unfortunate how, upon arrival, he found his fair mood was not meant to last as he took stock of the scene in front of him.

Spring had arrived in the north, thawing winter's freezing grasp on the greenery. They emerged despite the barest tease of sunlight at the appointed hour. Peach blossoms were in bloom, providing a picturesque frame for the backdrop of the horizon. It drew the eye to the centre where two figures faced each other, the sunrise colouring their edges in a gentle glow.

A vicious urge made Shi Wudu's knuckles crack as he drew close to the pair, the easy tranquillity he had been enjoying shrivelling up into an ugly thing.

Pei Ming's hand had settled on an unfamiliar woman's elbow, speaking to her in a honeyed voice that dripped sticky to Shi Wudu's ears. It carried to him, the words bleeding into each other. The woman, dressed in modest blue robes and carrying a horsetail whisk, was not someone Shi Wudu recognised. Holding the whisk in front of her mouth in a demure manner, tinkling laughter escaped her at Pei Ming's words. She looked at him with no small interest either, tilting her head as she returned quips.

Shi Wudu knew that smile Pei Ming wore on his face. He had seen it turned on him countless times, with that same voice he hadn't allowed himself to sucker into. He could trip anyone over their feet wherever he went, making them bustle to earn his regard for a moment longer.

Pei Ming extended his courtesy and consideration to everyone. His kindness, his charm; they were cheap things, spread out and saved for no one.

Shi Wudu knew this. Knew it even as he humoured warm lips on his cheek, when he allowed Pei Ming's hands to cup his face and murmur his name in dulcet tones that melted his resolve to not give him any quarter.

He knew this.

Was perfectly aware, and still a scalding bubble of anger burst in him, even as the proof of his folly slapped him in the face when he'd let his guard down a mite. Shame on himself, for expecting better — for assuming it would be the two of them working together.

Shi Wudu's fan snapped open with a sound so violent the peach blossoms trembled on their branches overhead of the two flirting in front of him. The moisture in the early morning air chilled as he announced his arrival, his face flattening into a blank nothing. It betrayed not a single thought of its owner.

The flirtatious cordiality on Pei Ming's face shuttered at the sight of Shi Wudu, his hand retreating back to his side. The woman flinched away as well, startled by the noise. Recognition coloured her features a beat later than Pei Ming, but she smiled to Shi Wudu readily. A smooth bow was delivered in greeting.

"My Lord Water Master," she said, and sounded sincere, no matter how thickly she lent her words to him. "It is an honour to finally greet you. This humble one is named Yang Liyuan. I owe you many thanks for your time. My Lord Water Master's presence here is appreciated in the current dispute."

Shi Wudu's fan came up to cover his mouth, but he didn't deign to cast her more than a fleeting glance. Instead, he turned his cold ire on the man shooting him a helpless smile to her left. He looked as charming as ever, but not nearly apologetic enough.

It took effort to suppress the urge to grip his fan handle tighter, and he gave himself a moment to school his voice to give away not a single hint of his mood. There was a task at hand and he was nothing if not focused.

"This Water Master was led here under the impression he would be overseeing a discussion about a dam."

The woman's smile wavered, but she kept her head down in deference. Shi Wudu's inborn sense of superiority was appeased a fraction more.

So... another heavenly official. He couldn't parse the measure of her spiritual power, so low it was to his standards, and that alone told him all he needed to know about this person. He recalled the healthy roar of the stream that'd kept him company on his way here. A river god, perhaps. Just about.

Unhurried, he fanned himself as Pei Ming interjected in what was rapidly devolving to a tense atmosphere.

It was General Ming Guang, the darling of womenfolk and infamous charmer of all three realms who stepped forward, arms open in welcoming him, bracing the full force of Shi Wudu's chilly manner to... what? Shield her from him? Shi Wudu had to settle the laugh that tickled his chest, his mouth a sharp sneer behind his fan.

As if anyone could escape Shi Wudu's hand if he wished to put them in their place. It would seem Pei Ming had forgotten his own in his haste to protect a maiden from the Water Tyrant.

"I asked you to come to give your insight on the matter, Shui-shixiong," Pei Ming said. There was that timbre that might have eased Shi Wudu's turbulent temper any other time. As it was, Shi Wudu watched him walk through quicksand the more he spoke. "Since you know best how the river fares downstream, I thought it prudent to rely on your expertise to ensure harmony along the trade routes."

An exceptional tactician, even here.

"How very clever of you, General," Shi Wudu droned, as dispassionate as he could be. "Your attempt at dressing your request for my benefit is admirable, of course, but transparent despite your best efforts. Any other deceptions you'd wish to add?"

"Of course not." Pei Ming frowned. "I would never dream of deceiving you."

"No?" Shi Wudu did laugh then, quiet and somehow, still as the deep-sea currents. "You would never try to deceive me? Never obscure your words to make use of my grace?" He tilted his head, expectant.

Pei Ming's lips thinned. Hand on his heart, he shook his head. The very image of sincerity.

"Never."

"Hm," was all Shi Wudu said to that, and then waved his fan to gesture for him to step aside. Pei Ming stood where he was at first, seeming reluctant to move as his handsome face became sullen. But then the woman stepped aside from behind him, her eyes to the ground as she gestured with her arm to lead Shi Wudu to the dam site. Shi Wudu bypassed Pei Ming without a second look, and the man fell into step behind him without another word between them.

Shi Wudu knew where every river intersected, where they each branched out. He knew which streams forked away to end in still lakes and which ones found their way to the mouth of great rivers meeting the ocean. The map of the land in his mind was made of roads of water; there was no part of the system that escaped Shi Wudu's notice.

This particular river was the Wei, the largest tributary breaking from the Huang River with the headwaters of the Luo and the Jing branching from it. Wei itself flowed past Weinan all the way through Tianshui — all home to clusters of settlements with a good number of Shi Wudu's worshippers. But more importantly, the Wei River glanced past Xi'an and Xianyang. Both cities with immense strategic value, in martial and economic disputes.

Xianyang's involvement must have been why Pei Ming was even interested in the matter. Its history of being the stage of many naval battles was not a factor to ignore, especially for a martial god. The potential for worshippers in times of war was a constant truth.

"If possible, we would like to preserve peaceful relations between the tributary settlements and the larger cities on the Wei River," Yang Liyuan said, pointing down the path of the Luo River. The three of them stood on an overhang overlooking the dam site. A cluster of buildings dotted the plains, sparse with vegetation and arid as far as he could tell.

The dam in question was already half-built and stood on a downward slope near the mouth of the Luo River. If realised in full, the flow downstream would effectively be stifled, but support for the route coursing from Weinan straight into Xi'an would be bolstered a considerable amount. To say nothing of the power it would give the warlords pushing for its completion over the region.

A quick survey through Shi Wudu's memory reminded him that Xi'an and Xianyang both populated greater numbers of his worshippers. More than any of those down the Jing and Luo rivers combined, at any rate.

He turned his gaze back on Yang Liyuan, standing between himself and Pei Ming — who he refused to reward with his attention — but held herself upright with a hard-won dignity Shi Wudu wanted to grind under his heel.

He lowered his fan and studied her. "And where is your base of worship?"

Yang Liyuan's lashes lowered somewhat, a muscle in her jaw jumping by an imperceptible amount. The horsetail whisk shifted to her other arm. "I was raised upon the banks of the Jing River, my Lord. My base of worship is naturally stronger in my area of birth."

Shi Wudu hummed. A jagged warmth spread through his chest at his assumption bearing truth, and it thawed the tension in his body as he considered his options.

A water god, hm? Pei Ming had the privilege of knowing — and bedding — the cardinal Master of Water, and still he chased after other bluer skirts, charming lesser officials who held not even a fraction of Shi Wudu's power and influence. A pretty enough face had him risking Shi Wudu's offence, and for what? A tumble in some rundown temple in the middle of nowhere? The thought caused such heated indignation in him that he felt his face sour against his better judgement.

"Naturally you would be opposed to such a dam being built, then." Shi Wudu baited.

Waiting.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Pei Ming shift, noticed how his arms crossed across his chest. Perhaps he disapproved. Or perhaps he was waiting as well, but there would only be one victor walking from this matter today.

After all, Shi Wudu was an old hand at setting up foregone conclusions.

Yang Liyuan's eyes — a subdued, dirty teal that couldn't hope to match Shi Wudu's icy brilliance — met the Water Master's disdainful gaze. In the end, all she could do was smile. "Huang He is bountiful and gracious; its reach extends far and wide across the land. This humble one has the livelihoods of the people in mind, of course."

Shi Wudu's fan closed slowly, his fingers brushing down its shaft in thought until he reached the red tassel he'd come to favour of late. It had been a gift to him, from the early years of his ascension. One he'd been foolish enough to allow himself to become fond of.

"In that case, we must endeavour to minimise the loss to the people—" His sneer was too sharp to mistake as anything but scorn, he knew, "as we bolster the benefits of improved trade on the headwaters of the Wei."

His fan pointed straight down the river path, towards the handful of houses. "Shifting the dam down the Wei to block Jing River instead and providing guidance to the settlements downstream to move southward to the wetlands would resolve the matter tidily."

Yang Liyuan was pale as parchment as he went on, lips parted on a protest she did not dare voice no matter how she wanted to. Pei Ming, whose expression had darkened at Shi Wudu's declaration, spoke up instead, coming to her defence.

Of course he would.

"The foundations of the dam are already built. What sense is there to undo the work done only to start over on another strait?" His arms had uncrossed, easy confidence unwavering. He looked at Shi Wudu as though he faced a difficult roadblock he hadn't expected to emerge before him.

Shi Wudu's smile was full of contempt and mockery. "What sense is there for your protests at all in this matter? This works for you just as well. Xianyang remains untouched as a stronghold for your petitioners, and the losses of the peasantry have been pared down to an inconvenience of relocation."

Pei Ming — honourable, handsome, good-hearted General Pei — might not be a shrewd snake the likes of Shi Wudu, but he was no idiot to tactical underhandedness. He remained unconvinced, but made the grave error in reaching his hand for him. "Shui-shixiong–"

He slapped it away with the guard of his fan before he could touch his shoulder.

"You asked me for my personal input in the matter," he reminded him, knew the articulation on his face became brittle in savagery. "Rest assured, I will be affording every bit of my attention to this project."

"Shi Wudu." Pei Ming's voice was a warning this time, soft at its edges as though he thought he could placate him after this... this farce of a meeting!

To use him — Shi Wudu! — so he could curry favour with minor river gods? To summon him, to ask for his time that was more precious than gold, and then to shamelessly play his love games on a woman while he stood there as witness?

There was no man nor god alive in heaven or earth who would dare have such impudence, such gall.

When Pei Ming opened his mouth again to speak, a "Be reasonable, Shui-shixiong—" barely sounded out, Yang Liyuan's own hurried bow and plea for him to reconsider following on its tail, Shi Wudu had already cut their protests short with only a look. He levelled Pei Ming with the nastiest glare in his arsenal, and without hesitation grasped the red tassel hanging from his fan in his palm.

It only took one hard yank down, snapping the string connecting it to the handle. He tossed it down the tamed roll of the Luo River's waters, not even bothering to watch it drift away as he turned and left.

His name was half-formed on Pei Ming's tongue one last time before he left his voice and the man behind.

His reputation aside, Pei Ming knew the trouble he found himself in with women was one thing.

Now, the doghouse Shi Wudu was capable of exiling him to... was a vastly different beast. For weeks, his every advance was spurned. Every greeting was met with a turn of the cheek and a swift departure.

Even Shi Qingxuan had taken note, and then taken it upon herself to sneer victoriously when Shi Wudu had turned from him after a convention of the heavenly court, having avoided Pei Ming even there.

"Hmph! It's what you get," she'd said huffily when he'd stopped her to ask where her brother was. Fanning herself without even an ounce of the grace Shi Wudu displayed, she glowered at him with her nose in the air.

He was this close to pinching it right off her face for her bratty behaviour.

"Thought you could take advantage of my brother and you'd get away with it? These are your just desserts."

Nearly two months of this, and he was beginning to feel like a pest!

Shi Wudu didn't even extend the effort to finish the afternoon tea he'd been enjoying with Ling Wen when Pei Ming dropped by to visit her. He promptly excused himself with a countenance that could freeze hell over with a click of his tongue. Gone before Pei Ming could so much as utter a hello.

So he had stood in Ling Wen Palace's guest hall, staring at the door Shi Wudu had left through with an indescribable emotion weighing him down. Ling Wen had leaned back into her seat and was taking her time finishing her own cup off.

"I would offer you some, but I fear you may choke on a sip at this rate," she had drawled, a laugh hidden somewhere in her usual dry tone. "This is why you don't bed your best friends."

"It's not that simple." His protest was weak even to his own ears.

Ling Wen sighed. "No, nothing ever is with him, is it."

Pei Ming had turned to her, mood souring even further when he saw the knowing incline of her head. He couldn't say anything to that. The words Shi Wudu forbade him from uttering to him may as well strangle him the way they were going.

There was nothing to it but to wait this out.

Hope for absolution came in the form of a missive. Delivered straight to him in the hands of a jittery official from the Water Master's palace, upon his return from a coastal campaign.

A part of him had been optimistic to see... something, some sign that Shi Wudu had a stake in the skirmish on his territory. It had been why he'd even taken the cause under his consideration. But in the end, all he'd found were rocky shorelines and sand in inexplicable places by the time he was done with it. Not even the comely daughters of the allied camp's leader had been able to dispel the gloom hovering over his shoulders. He'd left without so much as a whisper on them, his mood much too foul to make any lovely maiden bear it.

He snatched the missive from the official's hands and swiftly read through. There were only a handful of words. Shi Wudu hadn't even bothered to address it properly. Pei Ming knew for a fact this wasn't his writing either. All that read on the missive were the words;

Make your way to my palace when you've returned.

Bring a jug of peach blossom wine.

Pei Ming's lips quirked, giddy amusement on his face like a simpleton.

About time, he thought.

The deputy official hadn't left, eyes on the ground at his feet, but Pei Ming knew the stringent instruction Shi Wudu's people had gone through to do his bidding. He gave him a friendly smile and tucked the missive into the folds of his robes.

"Let him know I'll be there shortly," he dismissed, only making a quick trip to his bedroom to dig around for the wine requested and a thin wooden box that had been sitting inconspicuously by his bedside for a fortnight now. When he stepped outside again, there was neither hair nor hide of the official.

Shi Wudu's palace was extravagant in a way that was befitting of his status, but cold and untouchable in a way that was much more in line with his personality.

Much to his surprise, when he stepped through its threshold not a soul was present to greet him. For the Water Master's palace to be so empty was an unheard-of thing. It was always busy, always answering some prayer or another. Running like a well-maintained water-wheel, it was an exceptional model for keeping up with the demands of worshippers that grew by the day. Shi Wudu and his palace handled not only the solitary temples worshipping the Water Master but the joint blessings of the temples he shared with the Wind Master as well.

Pei Ming had arrived in simple clothing, fit for a relaxed evening by the marble pools of Shi Wudu's private quarters. Fit for an intimate night sharing a drink with a peerless beauty and — if he was lucky — earning back a tyrant's good graces.

He ran his hand up the polished dark wood of the ungrooved handrail as he circled the empty inner courtyard. The panels on the sides were carved with a delicate touch. On it, raging waves crashed on shores, with dancing dragons playing on its sands. They followed a storyline, well-known amongst heavenly officials as Shi Wudu's second Heavenly Tribulation, but subtle in all its detailing. He never felt the need to overstate the obvious.

No signs of Shi Wudu's presence lingered; the palace was impeccable and neat wherever he went, seeming untouched by anyone living there.

He took his leisure making his way through the muted, elegant halls of the palace. Tapestries and scrolls bearing priceless works of art decorated its walls. Arranged by colour and theme, every single inch of Shi Wudu's home had been curated to his own taste. Never understated, always luxurious but with the class of a man at home with his fortune.

A tour around the palace ground halls to try and seek Shi Wudu out, but Pei Ming came up with nothing. Not even a single junior official to clue him in on where their palace master was hiding. Pei Ming made to backtrack to the inner courtyard again, when the sound of running water reached him.

Ah.

The meditation pool.

On the west wall of the inner court, hidden under the stairs that led up to the second floor, the garden gates were easy to miss if one were not paying attention. Though it had no doors to bar entry, only the master of the palace could walk through them, and only with his permission could a guest follow.

Step through, and the favoured guest would find themselves upon a path made of greystone set in artful patterns under a tunnel of blue wisteria twining through wooden arches. Their blue blossoms hung low through the openings in the pergolas, reaching down as if to caress the passerby walking below.

The Water Master's gardens were a sanctuary. A quiet place for him to come to when he needed space, where he could meditate in the pools at the end of the same path Pei Ming trod now. He had only ever been here once before, and it had not been to join Shi Wudu in silent contemplation.

Pei Ming thought it was beautiful enough. Lonely without company, but undeniably pleasing in its own right. At the end of the path was another gate, made of the same greystone that lined the way to it. Cross the threshold, and the scenery opened up to the meditation pools.

Well. To say they were simple pools would be an injustice. Shi Wudu had taken great pains to arrange an entire open courtyard in the image of mountain springs.

It was lined with handsome bluestone tiles to provide level ground to walk over, and bridges that formed paths over and through the pools. Opulence permeated every corner of Shi Wudu's palace. As such, even this private place with all its intimate seclusion was no exception. More subdued, meant only for the pleasure of its master but resplendent all the same. It emulated the natural formation of mortal realm springs without denying Shi Wudu a single creature comfort he could want.

By the entrance stood towel racks carved from expensive dogwood. There were wind chimes by the door, and they tinkled a sweet sound when Pei Ming stepped inside. Baskets of bathing equipment should he want for it to his right. The bench next to it was bare save for a clean, folded robe and a pair of plain sandals left behind to traverse the court with. On the stool beside it, a plate that held some fragrance bars with the scents Shi Wudu was especially fond of.

Pei Ming took a peek. Rows of crabapple, peach, jasmine and, surprisingly, clove scents lined the plate in neat order. The line of jasmine bars was short a stick, clueing the new arrival into the occupant's choice for the day. Giving the cloves another inquisitive look, he set about divesting himself of his clothes, taking care to tuck the small box in his sleeve between its layers. Shi Wudu had left all this out for a reason, and he wasn't so mannerless as to ignore the efforts of his host.

Closest to the entrance were the pools Shi Wudu preferred for bathing, but there were many others he could use at a whim. As far as Pei Ming knew — which, by his own admission... wasn't that much — the entire ground floor was for washing or relaxation. Clustered together but separated by rock linings and bridged to form a maze of steam and mystery.

He couldn't see further than a few zhang in front of him, but he knew for a fact this courtyard was big enough to house an army. Shi Wudu was nowhere in sight. Instinct honed in the fires of mortal peril reminded him this was likely an ambush waiting to happen.

Ah well.

Fortune favours the brave, so on and so forth.

Nothing to do except advance onward and hope that his Lord Water Master had a mind to be merciful.

He took the most straightforward path he could manage, listening to any movement of water. Any small sounds that could give away his hunter's location were absent until he'd moved all the way to the far end of the court, and then he heard it.

The muted sound of a body stirring in water, tiny droplets hitting the surface of a pool as though cupped from the bath and allowed an errant few to splash away. Pei Ming moved, pathfinding by ear alone when he finally caught sight of him.

At the very back of the courtyard where a waterfall flowed from the upper pools stood the Water Master.

In a bath bracketed by steps of stone that led away to the meditation level above, stood the lord of the palace.

Steam rising around him in a playful veil, with only a thin inner robe clinging to his lithe form, stood Shi Wudu.

His robe had taken on the fair tone of his heat-flushed skin and made a poor show of preserving its wearer's modesty. It clung to the line of Shi Wudu's back, hugging the slope of his waist as it tapered down his hips like it couldn't bear to part from his body.

With the water rising just up to his loins and how the wet cloth followed the curve of a perfect backside, Pei Ming was thrilled to note that the robe was indeed the only thing he was wearing.

His hair pulled over his shoulder, Shi Wudu gave no indication whatsoever that he had noticed the recent arrival. Instead, he went on brushing through his inky tresses with a wide-toothed comb, careful as he tended to it. Swept away as it was, Pei Ming could let his appreciative gaze wander over the tilt of his neck, drinking in the unobscured sight of him like a parched man granted an oasis.

Pei Ming's arms supported his weight on the wooden railing as he leaned on it. The wine jar in his hands hung from where he leaned over the side of the bridge leading to the poolside. Falling into an idle observance of the dream-like vision before him, he resolved to keep his quiet until Shi Wudu deigned to speak.

A fragrance bar and a block of soap sat on a shimmering silver plate, its sway gentle on the water. A bottle of oil, likely the one he'd used on his hair, balanced on a separate plate nearby within arms reach.

Every movement was deliberate, slow and sure. Setting his comb down, Shi Wudu took the soap and lathered it up between his hands. Clever fingers massaged the foam into his nape, a luxuriant sigh escaping him as he kneaded away the tension. His shoulders relaxed; lips Pei Ming knew to be soft as silk parted on a quiet whimper.

It was almost as if he hadn't noticed Pei Ming's presence at all, who'd by now settled comfortably into watching him with open relish. The jar of wine swung to and fro from his hand at a leisurely beat. Only when Shi Wudu hooked his fingers over his own shoulders to rest them there, did he finally address him.

"Enjoying yourself?"

Pei Ming's smile was his answer, his cheeks dimpling as he grinned. "You are ever a breathtaking sight to behold, Shui-ge."

Shi Wudu's brows arched in response, lighting up the subdued atmosphere around them. Like an abrupt brush of white paint on a blackened canvas, some of the tension diffused.

Pei Ming didn't stop his eyes from feasting on the Water Master, following the way Shi Wudu's hands slid down his chest as he turned to face him. The robe followed the movement, swimming around his waist to cover his front. Likely directed by the man himself to do so.

"It takes you less time to jump in to join me, normally."

When he spoke his voice carried a warm quality, as though he'd been woken up from a pleasant doze. With his lashes low on his cheeks, Shi Wudu took in Pei Ming's lax stride as he pushed off the railing and approached the pool.

"Well," Pei Ming chuckled. "Normally I don't have to worry as much if I'm at risk of being pulled under by you for my missteps if I do attempt to participate."

A flash of steel in that sedate gaze, gone as quick as it came. "So you know how you've upset me?"

"I do." Pei Ming knew he had to relent despite himself, against his instinct to tease and cajole Shi Wudu's cooperation. The ground under his feet would break into floes if he didn't tread with care, threatening to pull him under unforgiving tides.

At ease, General.

Knelt by the edge of the pool, he let his cheek rest in his hand as his elbow settled on his knee. Even like this, it was enough for him to admire Shi Wudu in his element. "I've tried to apologise. I'd like to make it up to you, if you'd allow me."

Shi Wudu scoffed at that, an ugly noise made unreasonably endearing just by having the fortune of coming from his lips. "You owe me more than a simple apology, General Pei."

He understood that. Pei Ming would apologise for hurting him, would do his utmost to rectify his mistake in how he handled the matter with the dam and explain the misunderstanding. But to imply anything on Shi Wudu's behalf would be nothing short of suicidal to his cause.

So he inclined his head, looking very proper and remorseful. "I am at your mercy, Shui-shixiong."

Pei Ming was studied from above a graceful nose, the Water Master imperious as ever as he raised his face to do so from where he'd rooted himself.

Shi Wudu never came to Pei Ming.

Pei Ming would be the one to deliver himself to the Water Master's cruel hands, or he would have no Water Master to give his affection to at all.

The silence stretched on until the thread between them pulled taut under the stress, and Shi Wudu finally opened his mouth to beckon him over. "We'll be having the wine later then, I suppose."

Pei Ming kicked off his sandals, setting the jar aside as he stripped without a single ounce of shame. The water didn't even cover him as much as it did Shi Wudu, warming him just above the top of his thighs.

It reached for him, urging him along as he made his way through the pool to meet Shi Wudu where he waited. Pei Ming spared a thought to wonder if it was on purpose, or if it had responded to its master's latent want.

Pei Ming came to stand before a god who commanded storms and cataclysmic tidal waves at a whim, who laid low any who opposed him, and who was petty enough to snatch worshippers from a minor river god because Pei Ming had been familiar with another in front of him.

All his pride, all his stubbornness and jealousy, and he'd shown it to Pei Ming in such a heavy-handed, dismissive way. How could Pei Ming be anything but captivated by Shi Wudu?

The same Shi Wudu who didn't avert his eyes for a moment, waiting for him to come close enough to touch, his head held high. Did he know how sweet his desire tasted, bared to Pei Ming like this? They sized each other up with characteristic appreciation from Pei Ming, and dissecting prudence from Shi Wudu.

Reaching for the silver plate, he picked up the fragrance bar and soap. Lathering up the foam and infusing it with the gentle scent of jasmine in the humid air around them, he held his hands up, waiting for permission. "May I?"

Whatever Shi Wudu was searching for, he had either found it, or he hadn't and it stopped bothering him. So he let his eyes close and tipped his head away. His permission granted.

Pei Ming brought his broad palms to Shi Wudu's flushed skin, starting by rubbing his thumb under his ears in circles, keeping the pressure even. Made his way down his nape, unhurried in his attentive care. A red flush followed the path his hands paved on his skin, rigid muscles surrendering in response to his experienced touch.

Shi Wudu sighed, a low moan escaping him as he was coaxed into enjoying this intimacy. Like this, it was easy for Pei Ming to see the exhaustion on him. His face slack, as much as he would allow it to be. Yet Pei Ming knew, with painful awareness, that he wasn't forgiven.

This wasn't a reward, not yet. This was a test, and only Shi Wudu decided when it was enough.

Maybe he didn't know how he looked now. That he appeared every bit the nineteen-year-old he'd stayed as when he had first ascended. That once the furrow in his brow was smoothed away and the line of his cunning mouth relaxed, he looked every bit as vulnerable as he strived every waking moment not to be.

Pei Ming forgot sometimes Shi Wudu had barely been a man before he'd become a god. How he'd barely been a child before he became a parent to his little brother. Would there ever be anyone else to see him the way he was right this moment? It felt impossible to even consider.

He was more than a man now — far above the threshold of what made someone an adult. Shi Wudu had taken the responsibility of growing up earlier than anyone should have had to, with no one to break his fall if he stumbled. If Pei Ming knew him at all, he knew that Shi Wudu wouldn't have looked back to mourn his lost youth, not once.

Nor would he ever, he thought to himself, committing the sight of Shi Wudu at ease to memory.

The body under his hands was not the well-honed body of a warlord, but Shi Wudu's temper could rival any conqueror without even trying. Pei Ming's palms followed the way down those shoulders, taking care when he rubbed his thumbs into the vulnerable crook of his elbows. Guiding Shi Wudu by his forearms, he drew delicate wrists above water to work the sensitive tendons into loosening up. When he advanced with deliberation to massage his knuckles, each finger was given due attention.

All this Shi Wudu allowed without protest. Not a word was said between them. So Pei Ming could only keep going, left to his own introspection.

If someone were to ask Pei Ming to choose a part of his bedmates he loved the most, it might surprise a good few to learn how fond he was of soft, slender hands.

Shi Wudu's were long and elegant, shrewd and quick on his Water Master fan, and much stronger than they looked. Whether they held onto his shoulders or dragged down his back to leave furious red welts in their wake, Pei Ming's nerves had attuned to the trails they blazed wherever Shi Wudu touched him.

Holding them like this was a privilege afforded to no one else, he knew. When Shi Wudu allowed him to kiss the back of his palm, to brush his lips over knuckles flushed a tender red from their exposure to the heat, Pei Ming knew without a doubt there wasn't another who'd ever been allowed to do as much. The Water Master had cultivated his way to his station. If he'd earned scars and calluses in his mortal life, they had not survived upon the perfect, unblemished slate of godhood.

His own stayed; they told stories of his valour, decorating him in tales of both his victories and his losses. Pei Ming had never known the scars Shi Wudu's body bore, and so he couldn't mourn them, but he adored his hands all the same.

He turned them both over, bowing his head to kiss the insides of his wrists. "The smell of jasmine has spread," he said, drawing one up to his face to nuzzle into a palm as soft as dew on flower petals greeting the morn.

Shi Wudu had kept his silence until then, but Pei Ming wanted to hear him now. He never knew to leave well-enough alone, to not push his luck when he already danced on thin ice.

His fingers did not curl on his cheek, but he didn't pull his hand away either. "I'm disappointed if this is all you plan to do to show me your sincerity," Shi Wudu said, his voice impassive.

Speaking as if he were unaffected, but when Pei Ming looked up and caught the slight pout of his lip, he saw the impatience colouring the calm he'd been enjoying.

"I wouldn't dare disappoint you, Shui-shixiong," he murmured into the delicate skin of his wrist, tracing over blue-green veins with a smile.

Slowly drawn forward by his arms, Shi Wudu was guided to rest his arms on his shoulders by Pei Ming's direction. They hung there, obedient in a way they usually wouldn't be, leaving his sides unguarded against Pei Ming's hands. They pressed into the dip of his waist, still slippery with foaming bubbles as they made their way up Shi Wudu's body.

A soft exhale escaped Shi Wudu when his thumb brushed over a nipple, blushing the colour of a plum blossom. Pei Ming wanted so very badly to take it between his teeth, to roll it until he made him sing. But the soapy residue stopped him, and he had yet to even taste Shi Wudu's lips since they'd begun this dance towards reconciliation.

So he pinched it between his fingers instead, tugging as his other hand smoothed down his side over the thin skin covering his ribs, coaxing another keen from him. Shi Wudu's thigh came up as soon as Pei Ming's hand slipped over the swell of his ass, settling into their harmonic rhythm with ease.

The Water Master jumped a little when he got squeezed, an undignified yelp escaping him, but he still made it easy for Pei Ming to reach more of his body, clasping his thigh over his waist. And because Pei Ming wasn't an ingrate, he made sure to mark his thanks on his skin with a bruising kiss and let his hands go exploring, mapping the body he'd been refused until now.

At a questing feel over his perineum, Shi Wudu's breath caught and a shiver sent him trembling in Pei Ming's arms. His own response had sent his hips forward, his arousal evident where it brushed Pei Ming's hip. A quiet moan muffled by a stubborn mouth, and Shi Wudu finally let his forehead rest on the broad shoulder in front of him.

His breathing grew heavy and damp on Pei Ming's skin. It might have even tickled if he wasn't wholly occupied with feeling the Water Master's body up after being denied the very sight of him for months. Supple, milky thighs stained red from both his hands and the rising heat in the bath gave in wherever he cupped them in his palms. Muscles twitching where he stood, Shi Wudu had leaned most of his weight on Pei Ming as he struggled to keep his balance with how he was held up.

Shi Wudu was no shrinking violet when it came to enjoying himself in pleasure, uninhibited and free in a way he wasn't anywhere else in his life.

It was a testament of trust, Pei Ming used to think, but he knew now it wasn't nearly as simple as that.

Then, while he was still preoccupied groping him, Pei Ming heard him speak again. Closer now after he'd been brought into the circle of his arms, their chests brushed when they breathed in. Shi Wudu's voice, easy on his ear where he'd squished his cheek to Pei Ming's, had a disgruntled plea woven under the lust muddying it.

"Lift me up."

Pei Ming couldn't disobey if he wanted to, so sweetly Shi Wudu had asked him. He bent his knees, hooking his hand on the back of his other thigh and hoisted him up in one effortless motion.

Shi Wudu's arms clasped around him proper, gripping his own elbows for an anchor, their chests pressed flush as Pei Ming took up all his weight in his arms. The jostling tipping him into that broad chest had his cock grinding against Pei Ming's stomach and his groan reverberated between them as he canted into it a little more. Delighted, Pei Ming bounced him higher, catching a surprised hiss when it had the temperamental thing in his arms rubbing on him yet again, and laughing despite the kick it earned him on his rear.

"Don't—" Mean fingers dug in his shoulders as Shi Wudu shifted in his arms, trying to reorient himself from where he was held. When he emerged from where he'd retreated in Pei Ming's shoulder, General Ming Guang was struck stupid by the sight of him.

Shi Wudu, with his flushed cheeks and that same pursing of his lip evidence for his displeasure, glowed with warmth before his very eyes. His jaw was tight with restraint, his bottomless blue eyes shining with the striking brightness of a thousand storms raging all at once.

Pei Ming knew for a fact he could adjust the heat of the water at will, and the steam alone could never make him dizzy if he didn't want it to. Knowing it only stoked the infernal want in his gut brighter. He nearly threw caution to the wind and Shi Wudu into the closest flat surface to have his way with him.

He did not, knew he wasn't allowed to until Shi Wudu said so, and one of the Water Master's beautiful, beautiful hands slipped back to touch his chin as the other cupped his cheek of his own volition. The haze in the room fogged Pei Ming's thoughts to a slow droll, and he could only hold Shi Wudu up as he looked down at him mildly.

Fingers dragging over Pei Ming's bottom lip with the idle curiosity of a child drawing lost shapes. He stayed perfectly still, waiting as a feeling too big for his chest filled him, overflowing the more he was made to stay still. After a while of studying his mouth, Shi Wudu's head tilted to the side, the minute droplets of water yet clinging to his lashes flickering with the light reflecting off the pool as he closed his eyes.

Another bout of tension diffused between them.

It seemed as good as permission as anything, and Pei Ming kissed the pads of his fingers before he set his palm on the small of his back and lowered him into the water. Shi Wudu never pruned no matter how long he was submerged, which was fitting given his domain, but Pei Ming was always charmed by the quirk.

He domed over him now and spun them in the water with the playful enthusiasm of a teenager in love for the first time. Shi Wudu's hair followed them as it spread behind him, an inky veil cut from the fabric of summer twilight.

"You're in an unexpectedly generous mood," Pei Ming said, amusement crinkling the edges of his eyes.

Shi Wudu had allowed all the playing around without fuss, only deigning to raise a brow when Pei Ming spoke. With his other hand poised on his shoulder to stay steady, he endured being in the water like a toy. He'd shifted his legs, wrapping them around Pei Ming's waist properly and putting them both in full contact with each other.

Pei Ming felt how hard he still was as he drew their hips flush together, but Shi Wudu's expression didn't so much as twitch now that he was on full display. Contrary to the end.

"What were you expecting — Jealousy? A fit?" Shi Wudu rolled his eyes, then rolled his neck to let the back of his head touch the water all the way up to his hairline. The water rose to cover his shoulders and wash away what suds and lather still clung to his chest. "How childish. I came as you asked, and advised accordingly. Enlighten me, General. What part of my counsel bore fault?"

You handwaved away a middle heaven official's core base of worship, then told her to guide them down to another's territory to survive, Pei Ming did not say, because he knew the question was not the one Shi Wudu wanted answers for. It was a near thing, but he bit the inside of his cheek instead, and touched his lips to Shi Wudu's skin that was steaming from the heat of the pool, asking for forgiveness. Shi Wudu shivered imperceptibly under the gentle kisses Pei Ming laid upon the expanse of his chest.

"I called you because I overheard talk of diverting the rivers to disrupt commercial lines." Pei Ming rubbed his cheek over his heart, felt Shi Wudu's hand slide up and his fingers dug into the back of his neck with the barest pressure.

Pei Ming preened under the feather-light circles being drawn on him. "It would have caused both of us a headache downstream Xianyang if we turned a blind eye to it. They're our shared cities, after all."

He eased his palm down Shi Wudu's flank, stroking him as he spoke like he wanted to soothe his heckles before they could rise. Gentle motions he hoped conveyed his penitent feelings. Shi Wudu's chest rose and fell with his gentle breathing as he listened, his fingers never once stopping their absent looping on his scruff.

When Pei Ming finally chanced a glance at him, he found Shi Wudu watching him right back with a faraway gaze, contemplating something Pei Ming couldn't even begin to guess; so distant it seemed from where he stood.

Racking his brain over it was a bootless errand. Better to make his way back up and leave more lovebites over his skin, letting his teeth rake and his tongue flick out to taste him.

The faint scent of jasmine still lingered on his skin, but there was no bitterness in his mouth when he sucked on a tender nub and felt the hand on his shoulder twitch. Brought back from wherever he'd gone, Shi Wudu's moan laced itself through a sigh and his chest rose to follow Pei Ming when he made his way up to his face.

Their breathing, out of sync and heavy with the tension, filled the space between them. Pei Ming's lips hovered over Shi Wudu's, a hair's breadth away, but did not advance. Knew to wait, for this wasn't his step to take when he'd already come halfway. So he stood stock-still; Shi Wudu's eyes flickered down to his mouth. Watched as pride warred with the end goal, and saw the moment Shi Wudu finished weighing the benefits and detriments of making a move.

The hand behind his neck applied the barest pressure to draw Pei Ming in, and when satin-soft lips pressed to his all thoughts beyond the Water Master fled his mind. Shi Wudu exhaled gently through his nose, his tongue wet as he had a taste for himself like he'd longed for this for just as long.

Shi Wudu kissed as though he imparted divine favour upon the fortunate recipient, with his hands following the contours of Pei Ming's shoulders, the perfectly maintained nails dragging over his skin as he explored a familiar landscape like it was uncharted territory.

Held on the water like an offering, Shi Wudu didn't feel like a quarry finally caught. He didn't feel like a boon rewarded for his patience, the chase he might have enjoyed playing with another didn't apply here. Pei Ming held a predator in his arms, but the moment made him soften, his claws drawn back enough to let them both enjoy this. His teeth weren't sharp, but the softest scrapes, the faintest tug when he caught a bottom lip were enough to make Pei Ming's fingers twitch where they held him.

The push back from Pei Ming made them sink back in the cloying weight of the water, nearly submerging Shi Wudu who didn't even react as he went down, kissing him with indolent patience. How could he be bothered, when the water was home to him? No, Shi Wudu made the water pull him down instead, and they went under together.

If he expected the water to scald, he was pleasantly surprised to find it was a comfortable temperature on the skin of his face and neck. The rest of his body still felt the heat of a spring, but where he kissed Shi Wudu he only felt the lukewarm weight of the water around them, and kissed him until it was his lungs that burned.

thump thump

Shi Wudu's grip on him went tight, the stroke of his hair against his face gentle in glaring contrast as Pei Ming was held down. Even when he opened his eyes he couldn't see much, blurred and obscured as his sight was by the Water Tyrant's hair swimming around them.

thump thump—

The air they shared between them was rapidly running out, his heart pounded against his ribcage in screaming protest. A hand pressed down over his breast, pushing on him firmly to feel how it drummed. Weighed under the water rising to cover his back, he endured as the beast in his arms kissed him like he wanted to drink him down like wine.

thump thump thump thump—

He stayed in that deadly embrace, relying on every ounce of self-control in his body, trained to persevere under duress until the dizziness began to muddle his senses. Stayed until his arms trembled around the body he held, his strength going unchecked where it circled Shi Wudu's waist tighter and tighter. Stayed until finally the pressure on his heart lifted and two gentle hands cradled his face.

Inseparable even when Pei Ming dragged them back up to the surface, Shi Wudu kissed him harder, dragging him past the limit of his endurance for another beat, before he pulled away and let him gasp for his first breath in what felt like an eternity.

"Shui..." he wheezed, turning his face away as he coughed violently. His voice had turned to a sharp rasping and his ribs shook as he panted, still holding Shi Wudu upright without dropping him by the skin of his teeth. His insides quivered at every blessed gulp of air he took. "Shui...ge—"

Shi Wudu's hands held him a willing captive, but his thumbs brushed his cheeks with a tenderness that felt like mercy. His breathing was unperturbed, tasting sweet between them where they grazed Pei Ming's open mouth when he drew his face back to him. Letting their foreheads touch for a spell, Pei Ming took a much needed moment to gather his wits where Shi Wudu had smashed them to pieces by nearly drowning them.

Well, Pei Ming would have drowned, if that was the intent of the exercise. He was fairly certain water was about the same as air to Shi Wudu.

Good boy, Pei Ming heard him whisper through the white noise in his ears, and didn't stop the breathless laugh that left him between every deep breath. What a brat. Inexplicable even to himself how fond he felt of the tyrant soothing him after taking away the air he breathed in his demand for repentance.

Pei Ming must have gone mad for the excitement that still coursed through his veins. His desire unabated, nudging Shi Wudu from where he'd slid down on his torso. Maybe nearly suffocating had awakened an instinct to wage war in him; except when he felt the urge to push Shi Wudu down, what he really wanted to do was the furthest thing from a fight.

Now that he'd thoroughly strung Pei Ming along, Shi Wudu's touch on him was light. He sealed the incident off with a chaste kiss to the corner of his mouth, like a signature bidding farewell at the end of a long and intimate letter between the two of them.

When he parted from Pei Ming, Shi Wudu took in whatever wretched state he'd left his supposed lover in with open, perhaps even vindictive satisfaction. His face, fully revealed to Pei Ming's appreciation after the dip in the pool, had every strand pulled away from it to display every contour, every gentle curve, and the delicious way his flush reached the tips of his ears on its way back up those high cheekbones.

Only a man like Shi Wudu could keep such an imperious and dominating bearing on a seat made of Pei Ming's arms, as comfortable with his place as he would have been on a proper throne made of gilded stone and glittering jewels. A smile emerged from the image, thinking it was so very like Shi Wudu to be at ease with his own eminence wherever he was.

"Are you waiting for an invitation?" was all he had to say to turn the grin on General Ming Guang's face wolfish. The dream-like haze keeping them hostage plunged into icy clarity.

Ravaging Shi Wudu's neck, he drew breathless gasps and stifled whines out of him while his hands pinched and squeezed. Pei Ming carried them both to the very back wall of the pools where a thin curtain of water fell in a tranquil stream, the floor around them lit by precious jewels fit to decorate the hands of blue-blooded royalty, charmed to emit a soft glow and add to the ambience of the room. A sight one might consider elegant and picturesque, and one neither of them cared to notice now.

Gentle shivers ghosted on Shi Wudu's skin as his shoulders pushed against the smooth stone face of the waterfall, warmed by the heat of the pool. The water lavished his body with its veneration on its way down, his hands clasped on Pei Ming's biceps as he accepted another kiss.

Deeper this time, with a skilful tongue making quick work to address his pleasure. Shi Wudu's hips jerked, his legs crossing behind Pei Ming at some point on their way to the edge. When Pei Ming's fingers prodded between his legs, he found them slip in with unexpected ease. Muscle memory took over immediately; his fingers curled and caressed the place that made the Water Master keen quietly, his back arching, head tipped back to expose his pale throat to Pei Ming's questing mouth. His eyes never left the flush on Shi Wudu's cheeks, or how the water flowing down his perfect face didn't even seem to register.

For a moment Pei Ming truly was speechless in surprise, all thoughts leaving him as his blood rushed southward so suddenly he actually would have felt a bit embarrassed had he the faculty to feel anything but a wild rush of craven lust.

Bashful wasn't a word he'd ever use with Shi Wudu, who was the sort to take all he was given between them and reward Pei Ming's efforts to please him with his voice, his face, the way he allowed him to do as he wished as long it meant he himself would be satisfied. Not once had he shied away from showing the way his expression matched his pleasure, and it was intoxicating to know this was Pei Ming's to bask under.

Feeling around the tight, slick heat of his body now, knowing he had prepared for this affair even more than Pei Ming would have dared to assume, visions of his unassailable Lord Water Master stretching himself open on the edge of this very same pool struck his imagination with ruthless vividness. Of Shi Wudu bent over with his robes clinging to him, his brow furrowed in concentration as he worked himself open. Pei Ming saw with alarming ease the way his spine would dip, how his waist would tremble with every searching reach of his fingers inside his own body.

He would have had to take breaks to roll his wrist out of a nearing cramp before getting back to task. Saw the way he would drop down on an elbow after a while all too clearly, how he'd be tired from supporting his weight and find relief in letting his forehead rest on the cool stone.

Heavens knew no pity because Pei Ming could nearly hear how he would huff and sigh between his moans — some frustrated, some pleasured, but never finding it quite enough. Never enough, not without—

... Fuck.

Distracted with those images, he almost didn't notice when Shi Wudu made a noise of frustration, nipping at the shell of Pei Ming's ear. His agitation bled through the dig of his nails on Pei Ming's muscles, mean and vindictive.

"Hurry up."

Too breathy to sound as vicious as his grip was.

Pei Ming, laughing low into where he was nuzzled into his jaw, dragged his fingers out slowly, testing once more for the stretch. Adjusting his grip, his arms slipped under Shi Wudu's knees, until he was held up in the air with his thighs wide open, suspended by the weight of his own body. Shi Wudu's arms wrapped around his shoulders as he sank against the wall behind him. There was a spark in his gaze that dared Pei Ming to ignite, to set them both ablaze.

And who was Pei Ming to ever deny Lord Water Master his challenge?

When he finally pushed past the tight rim, moving from the warmth of the bath to the incomparable heat inside Shi Wudu, Pei Ming took a moment to gather his control to keep from pounding the Water Master straight into his pretty waterfall in his meditation pool and risk breaking it. His forehead, damp with sweat, pressed to Shi Wudu's, who'd never once averted his eyes from him, and he saw how his mouth curved in satisfaction.

Pei Ming really was slipping today.

There were days he could take him hard and fast, days he made him so weak on his knees that the only thing holding him up would be Pei Ming's hands on his hips. But right now he fought against the pull of the undertow, his own desires warring with his composure.

As if determined to drive the nail home, the same Shi Wudu who so rarely spoke during their couplings, let his palm slide down Pei Ming's front until it pushed flat on his abdomen, and cooed something to him with such coy sweetness he nearly lost his footing.

"Pei-xiong, does it feel good inside?"

Fuck, what—

"I— h-huh?" Pei Ming nearly came right then and there from the shock of his own reaction to being asked that. Shi Wudu's smile glowed under the gentle lights around them.

Hair sticking to the side of his face, his lips flushed red and flustered from being kissed so thoroughly, he was a vision impossible to describe. It was an insurmountable venture to even parse what exactly it awakened in Pei Ming that he had neither the time nor the brain capacity to undertake, so his fingers dug into his thighs hard enough to bruise instead to temper his impulses.

"You...—" He groused, and pulled out to the tip only to snap his hips back flush to Shi Wudu's, holding him in place against the rock face of the waterfall. Pei Ming's teeth found his pulse and bit down, a snarl climbing up his throat.

You owe me more than a simple apology.

He knew what Shi Wudu wanted.

"Fuck, you're perfect." Words spilt from him, his filter crushed under the avalanche of his own desire. He bit and sucked bruises all over Shi Wudu's fair skin, fucking him until the Water Master could only cling to his shoulders for dear life and grit his teeth just to be able to hear what Pei Ming snarled into the space between them. "So hot, so tight around me, how are you so— fucking— good—"

Every word punctuated with a thrust of his hips, the echoing sound of their union obscene enough to make the entire heavenly court collapse on the spot. An endless stream of consciousness left Pei Ming's mouth; filthy and debauched, ruinous and downright detrimental to his safety had he been uttering them anywhere but here.

Murmuring praises into Shi Wudu's hair, lips brushing his temple as he rambled on end how good he felt around him, how tightly he clung to him, Pei Ming felt something uncoil in his abdomen to the birdsong of Shi Wudu's quiet moans.

In a rare moment of self-reflection amidst all the chaotic movement, Shi Wudu felt he might be a little in over his head, pinned to a wall and getting every cohesive thought nearly fucked out of his mind, but he'd be damned before he let something like a big cock throw him off his course.

Bracing himself, he took advantage of Pei Ming moderating his pace to adjust his hold on his legs, and raised himself up against the wall he'd slipped down on, hissing when sore muscles protested. The praises he'd been serenaded with, outrageously lewd as they were, had made him pliant, satisfying his ego the way he wanted them to until his waist gave in entirely to Pei Ming's manoeuvring.

A moment to breathe. Just a moment to think was all he needed so he could gather his wits from the rattling pace he'd been railed to. Fingers dug in Pei Ming's hair, but he couldn't untie the ribbon holding it up unless he let go of his other hand, and he felt their position was precarious enough not to risk it.

Frustration bubbled up in his chest, where Pei Ming lavished his skin with the thorough attention of his lips and teeth, and his fingers curled, a broken whine leaving him as another thrust sent him to dizzying heights. He muffled his voice in Pei Ming's hair, willing some more control into his fingers as they buried into the base of a ponytail that just wouldn't give.

Shi Wudu wasn't done yet.

He hadn't gotten what he'd done all this for.

Spiritual energy warmed the underside of his thighs, startling him into a yelp when it ventured a bit too close to the place where they were connected. His head snapped up, and he levelled an incredulous glare at a Pei Ming who grinned lazily. His hair loose as it clung to his face in strands, they framed it handsomely and aroused only more of Shi Wudu's desire, as well as his irritation.

The water that clung to him would respond to his command if Shi Wudu wanted them to, but like this... Dripping in Shi Wudu's element, surrounded by his bounty and his weapon in the den of a lion, Pei Ming was still so dauntless.

Shi Wudu wanted to kiss him stupid.

He'd slowed down to a purposeful pace, holding them both over the edge. Shi Wudu felt pulsing inside where Pei Ming nudged him, and his shudders raged at the walls of ice in his chest that upheld his control until the cracks began to show. If they broke under the pressure, he would see how Shi Wudu was aflush, wild with the need to take that much more from him.

"What– Nn, what are you looking at?" His voice broke on a whine he only held back with a sharp breath, nails digging into Pei Ming's scalp in scathing rebuke. The shift of his hips rubbed the tip of him over the spot he'd found and insufferably kept pressing on. Shi Wudu could barely hold his ground like this.

Pei Ming had drawn himself closer, his nose brushing under Shi Wudu's jaw with endearing affection. "You're stunning like this," he murmured, his voice barely loud enough to let Shi Wudu hear it over the fall of water on his shoulders.

His hips rolled forward and Shi Wudu gasped, his muscles clenching involuntarily as a burst of pleasure nearly deafened him to the rest of his words. "Every time you let me have you, it's all new again, all different, but it's still..." His trembling sigh brushed over Shi Wudu's pulse, drawing a shaky exhale out of him to match. "It's still you, every time."

Honestly.

Shi Wudu's head rolled back to rest on the wall as he took a moment to stare up at his gilded ceilings, the flow of the waterfall doing nothing to cool his fever-hot face. Pei Ming went back to peppering kisses over his skin with adoring attention, and Shi Wudu felt only just tethered to his conviction by a few strands, trying to hold to reason.

The more Pei Ming moved, resuming an indulgent back and forth, the more Shi Wudu felt it slip away from him. A spot hidden behind his ribs was warm with something he couldn't even think of giving a name to, and it drove him to pull on the hair in his grasp and yank the man to him.

Their lips crushed together from the force of his pull, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Shi Wudu worked his muscles over him, his grip relentless as he returned the favour as a conqueror coming back for stolen glory. His teeth grazed Pei Ming's jaw as he pulled back, his parted lips letting all kinds of pleasured sounds escape. Arching his chest towards him, Shi Wudu ensured their full contact, rubbing his cock on a rock-hard abdomen and tittering through the shivers bounding up his spine.

"Old Pei, are you slowing down on me?" he asked, words slurred together as he pushed back, taking what was left of him even further inside. Shi Wudu was at face level with his collarbone and lunged, sinking his teeth into his nape.

In an apology he didn't mean, then dragged his tongue over Pei Ming's pulse, blunt nails raking red lines down his chest, scraping over a nipple as it went. Pei Ming flinched, his cockhead pulsing against the place he so desperately wanted him to pound on already.

Pei Ming's words branded on Shi Wudu's skin with every hot breath, resisting the chill wet on their skin. "I haven't even started making it up to you, Shui-shixiong."

With nary a warning and all the upper body strength expected of a martial god, Pei Ming lifted Shi Wudu from the wall to carry him over to the edge with careful steps. The cock stretching him forced him to hold on as it pulled and dragged inside him, every minute shift cracking his knuckles from the uncanny feeling of something knocking about inside him without Pei Ming's usual finesse of movement.

Sleek porcelain tiles were cold to the touch where he was set down, a hand on the back of Shi Wudu's head to cushion it as he was forced to recline on his back. His thighs were pushed up to his chest, Pei Ming pulled out enough for him to instinctively close them, his knees knocking a little. Momentary relief was cut through sharp with an emptiness that bothered him more than he was willing to admit. To Pei Ming's face at least.

Shi Wudu's breathing whistled weakly as his quivering thighs were parted again, broad palms were gentle as they caressed him, coaxing them into falling open for Pei Ming to slide back in with ease. The familiar stretch made Shi Wudu's back arch upwards, his knees drawing to clasp around Pei Ming's hips. Arms crossed above his head in the image of surrender, he painted a picture of himself for the eyes of only one man who would ever have him like this, and saw the fire in Pei Ming shift.

Gaze gone from appreciative to starved, following the lines of his body as his fingers dug into the soft flesh, with near bruising strength. Shi Wudu inhaled sharply, and was brought to vivid focus with the ruthless snap of Pei Ming's hips against his. A trembling keen left him, but before he could grasp for his partner for leverage, Pei Ming caught Shi Wudu's wrists in the palm of his hand and pinned them above his head.

"Mmnh—"

Shameful noises escaped him despite his best efforts, his teeth close to drawing blood as Pei Ming set a deep, feverish pace. Shi Wudu could hardly form a lucid thought as he was pulled under the clutches of a cresting high.

So close it almost hurt to hold on, but Pei Ming still hadn't—

Spurred on by the quiet sounds Shi Wudu sobbed into the space between their mouths, Pei Ming hovered inches away from him, his smile too fond for Shi Wudu's lust-fogged mind to convince his gaze to turn away. Pre dribbled from his untouched tip, smearing over his abdomen with every ruthless thrust grinding Pei Ming's stomach over his, a torrent building in his veins.

Damn this man and his stamina!

Drums pounded in his ears, but Shi Wudu stood fast until tears blurred his vision and the metallic taste of blood where his teeth cut his lip assaulted his overstimulated thoughts. The heel of one foot kicked out, half in petulance and half in an indignant retaliation. He wasn't the talker in bed, but Pei Ming seemed to have grasped his urgency, and brushed his lips over fevered cheeks, the hand on Shi Wudu's hip moving up to curl around his waist, holding him up in the perfect angle to hit right— right there—

"Come," Pei Ming's smooth voice cajoled in Shi Wudu's, coaxing him like a beloved, like this was theirs alone, like— "Come for me, my treasure, just like that, just for me. You're perfect, so good, so tight and warm around me, the absolute best—"

there—

Shi Wudu's hips jerked, and a sob ripped from his throat as his spine went taut, the air around them not nearly enough to fill his lungs, the steam suddenly too heavy that it robbed him of all his control as he came— Untouched, delirious as his head thrashed away from Pei Ming's awful, dizzying words.

"Ah–! h-hah, oh, oh, mngh—"

Turning his face away to bury in his own arm as he gasped and fell apart, he refused to accept his own loss of composure in the end. Fought against the wild beat of his heart, even as every nerve in his body felt raw, with Shi Wudu's senses splintering from him as Pei Ming slowed to a gentle rocking. Lips cool on a burning forehead, he was eased down from his orgasm to some stability.

"There you go, you're fine," he said, somewhere over his head, cradling Shi Wudu close. "Shui-ge, you're alright. I've got you. Easy now."

A warm pressure on his stomach and Shi Wudu noticed his wrists were held captive no longer, the hand on his waist stroking up and down his side in soothing motions as a palm settled heavy on his navel. He peered down to watch it through his wet lashes, counting each exhale until it had slowed to an acceptable, non-frantic beat.

Though Pei Ming's wrist was wider than his own, he still got his fingers around it as he let his head fall back on the porcelain tiles lining the edges of the pool. "Wh..." A hoarse cough cleared his throat. "Wh-Why did you stop. You're still..."

For a long moment, Pei Ming's thumb only caressed slow circles on his skin, his back hunched over as he stayed rooted in Shi Wudu's body, unwilling to part. His voice carried a smile Shi Wudu couldn't quite see from his vantage point.

"I have all night to make it up to you, Shui-ge. There's no rush."

Pei Ming's wrist rolled in Shi Wudu's grip, turning to take hold of his and raise it to his lips. Shi Wudu studied him, his lungs filling with air steeped in Pei Ming's scent, infused in the jasmine of the fragrance bar they'd used on his body.

What to make of this?

Experimentally he shifted a fraction, feeling the prod of his length as it touched a place that verged on sending him into overstimulation, but none of the satisfying feeling of being dripping with proof of their fucking to settle the restlessness brewing in Shi Wudu's core.

"Tch."

Shi Wudu wrenched his wrist from Pei Ming's hold and smacked his arm a few times to get him to move. "Pull out. Let me move."

Reluctant but obedient to his wishes, Pei Ming did move, but not before casting a sorry look at an unaffected Shi Wudu. It took him a moment, but he managed to sit on the edge without flinching, clenching around that which wasn't even there yet. Pei Ming earned himself a nasty look for that, but Shi Wudu turned then, pivoting on his hip as his hands held him up. His legs wobbled like a newborn fawn's as they barely managed to support him on his feet.

But then... A tiny, nearly inaudible gasp reached his ears, and Shi Wudu caught the scent of opportunity.

Not even a thought was spared to consider it in full as he reached back to draw his hair over his shoulder and bent at the waist. His robe had barely stayed on, bundled around his elbows as he set them down over the edge of the pool and looked back over his shoulder.

His waist fell just enough to emphasise what was already a very generous offer. Shi Wudu knew for certain he looked utterly wrecked as it was, but he'd be damned if he'd be the only one losing his grip tonight.

Pei Ming had always liked his hands, hadn't he?

It seemed only fair to let him watch as his fingers plucked the edge of his robe to drag it along his skin until it bunched around his waist. Only fair to show him how they slipped over the curve of his backside.

Only fair to make him endure the spectacle he'd made of Shi Wudu when they curled, pressing back inside himself, to see how stretched and loose he'd become from how hard they'd both worked him open that night. They parted inside him, opening him up under a heated gaze fixed on where they slowly, torturously pulled out, dragging over the tender, swollen rim as they held it open. Just enough to show him.

They were not done yet.

"We haven't even started on the wine yet, Pei-xiong," he drawled, heady and ragged as his voice dropped an octave, mirroring Pei Ming's earlier coquetry. "This much isn't enough to satisfy me."

It was only fair.

A fey gleam came to life in Pei Ming amidst the stunned surprise, but when his hands took hold of Shi Wudu's hips and he thrust back in with a guttural snarl, neither the punishing pace he set upon nor the spine-tingling ache of being filled on the edge of overstimulation made the Water Master regret poking the hornet's nest of General Ming Guang's passion.

"Ah–!"

The sudden burn of being filled again made him dizzy, but he was too worn down to bother being quiet as Pei Ming made a ruin of him. He felt an iron grip at the base of his head, holding him in place by his hair as Shi Wudu was pounded into a euphoric stupor. His fingers scrambled for some purchase where none could be found on the smooth stone he was held over, no pity to be found in the man taking him by storm.

By the time Pei Ming reached his first climax, the indomitable Water Master had screamed himself hoarse on the relentless siege of his body. Still holding him by his hair, he'd curled over Shi Wudu's back and bit down to mark him savagely, pinning him down as his body fell apart in shudders on his name.

Shi Wudu felt his release drip out of him, the pulsing inside combined with the overfull feeling he'd craved so badly finally let him collapse in a sated heap over the lip of the pool. The hand in his hair rubbed his nape, smoothing him down before he was flipped onto his back.

Shi Wudu met his grin with his own before Pei Ming kissed him. His fingers curled over the back of his neck, uncaring in the moment how disgusting a mess he'd made of himself. From the way Pei Ming looked ready to glut himself on the state of him, Shi Wudu ventured a fair assumption that it was doing it for him anyway.

Shi Wudu was taken once more over the edge of the pool, then twice again after he'd been pushed down on his back on their way to his bed-chamber, made filthy and inseparable.

By the time Pei Ming was through with him, Shi Wudu was barely responsive where he'd collapsed on his mattress, finally too drained to keep up. Cum painted ribbons all over his front, some even caught on his jaw when Pei Ming had promised him he would be clean, and kept his word by folding him nearly in half with his hips in the air and his mouth on his...

His fingers twitched on the sheets at the hazy memories of the past few hours. Turning to find Pei Ming on the bed took energy he didn't have to spare, but he caught sight of him wiping himself down an arm's distance from him. Fucked out of coherent thoughts, all Shi Wudu felt was triumph and bone-deep repletion.

The cool touch of the damp towel on his face roused him somewhat, and he remained pliant as he was cleaned up — with a different towel, and properly this time. From the tips of his fingers to the mess between his legs, Shi Wudu basked in the attention that was his due. Batted away Pei Ming's hand weakly when it slipped between his thighs.

With a lazy swipe of his hand up the length of his abdomen, he'd already drawn everything he'd been given back inside, where Shi Wudu had every intention of keeping until he regained his senses come morning.

"Enough," he tried to say, but his voice had deserted him, torn up after the lost hours of fucking like beasts. All that came out was a rasping murmur. Pei Ming stroked his cheek and Shi Wudu caught his little finger, giving an insistent tug to make his point.

"Mn, let me put these away," he murmured from where he'd leaned over him to press a feather-light kiss to his brow. Displeasure coloured Shi Wudu's restful countenance, and the same hand that held his finger moved to pull on Pei Ming's hair and keep him where he was as he tipped his head back and managed to graze his jaw.

"I have something for you," Pei Ming added. After a second considering it, Shi Wudu's interest was piqued enough through his exhaustion that he let him go and let his hand flop back on the bed.

Sprawled in languid repose he watched Pei Ming throw a dark blue robe over his shoulders, and disappear through the door that led from the room back to the garden path. He'd picked up the robe Shi Wudu had left out for him. Bought for himself at a whim, it had been far too loose when he'd brought it home. Though ill-fitting it was on him, he couldn't very well throw out such a high-quality piece.

It looked good on Pei Ming. He was quite pleased.

He was even more pleased when he came back, and with a small box fit in his palm. An incense stick was lit by the door, tossing the clothes he'd arrived in over a chair on his way back to the bed, he slipped back under the sheets next to Shi Wudu with a bright smile. Laying on his side, his cheek squished into his palm in an absurdly winsome way for a man of his age and station, Pei Ming offered him the box.

"For you."

Shi Wudu had been resting on his back by now and reached up lazily to tuck his hair behind his ear, trying to settle its unruly appearance. To no avail, when he saw the strands resist his efforts and simply fell back over Pei Ming's brow rakishly. He took the box and pushed up to his elbows. An arm curled over his stomach as he flipped the lid up to take a look.

It was his old fan tassel.

No, no. It was... a new one?

Same material, same braiding around the cinch, same colour; a deep, rich crimson. But something was off about this one.

He took it out and set the box aside to inspect the uncannily familiar item. It looked the same, and it wasn't until he tested it with a spark of spiritual energy that he saw. Every strand glowed a vivid gold in Shi Wudu's hand in response to his slight prod, brimming with power as much as it could contain. When he reached out to identify it, General Ming Guang's signature met his own, strong and steady.

This... was no mere accessory for his fan.

His eyes rounded wide, but he didn't dare turn away to see what kind of expression Pei Ming was making. All he could see was the way the arm around his waist shifted, restless. Impatient for his reaction.

"Does it please you?" Pei Ming asked after a while, long after the shimmer of energy abated from the tassel, and Shi Wudu still hadn't thought of a suitable thing to say.

Eventually, he held out his hand towards the display where the illustrious Water Master fan was set. It heeded his call and came to heel on his open palm.

Without giving Pei Ming so much as a glance, and calming his heartbeat from rabbiting off on its own, he willed the heat on his ears away and began carefully tying the tassel to the handle that had been bare ever since their fallout over the Jing River business.

"How serendipitous," he said, and made sure he sounded perfectly composed when he did. "I've been wanting for a new tassel."

Pei Ming muffled his laugh into Shi Wudu's shoulder, his mirth burning its shape on his skin. He wasn't embarrassed — what had he to be embarrassed about? An elbow still jammed into Pei Ming's chest because he deserved it, and Shi Wudu made a show of chasing him away fruitlessly before settling back down.

I'm glad you like it, he heard whispered into his hair as sleep finally guided Shi Wudu to fall into the most restful sleep he'd had in weeks, to the smell of General Ming Guang's temple wafting around him.

The next time Pei Ming heard anything about Yang Liyuan and the matter of the dam on the Jing River, it was to find out that she had descended of her own volition and disappeared without a trace.

Rumours flew, of course, about the Water Tyrant overextending his reach, of not knowing his place to interfere so openly with another heavenly official's domain. Those he sort of saw coming, but the most unexpected outcome of the entire incident came in the adamant refusal of a paramour of his own when they'd settled to share wine and catch up.

Something had changed in his nightly endeavours of late.

Not only had Shi Wudu taken the initiative to let Pei Ming warm his bed more frequently than before, but his usual partners had increasingly begun to avoid him. None had given him a proper reason, even when he'd asked if he had done something to offend them.

Pei Ming had never in his life attempted to convince a woman against her will to spend time with him — perish the thought — but as far as he was aware, it couldn't have been anything he'd done. The most he could assume was that spring had arrived for many of his lovers at once, and they'd truly found their other halves, or they'd become too busy to join him. That was fair.

His assumptions crumbled to dust one fine evening when he'd settled down to share a drink with one of the few that still welcomed his approach. He wasn't an animal, he took pleasure in spending time with his partners just as much as he enjoyed sleeping with them.

"One would have to be a madwoman to even glance at you sideways, let alone invite you into her bed, General Pei," she laughed after draining her cup, her face flushed in a jovial glow.

Li Jiayi was a good and upright woman who took to her station with appropriate gravity; a god of fertility who'd gone from being an agricultural deity to one leaning more towards the childbirth side of the concept. Her performance was not at all lacking despite the shift in prayer focus.

It came with some perks to enjoy an evening with her. She had a few tricks up her sleeve for him to take with when he took mortal women in his arms, to avoid any unexpected surprises down the line, and an adept at some of the most taxing positions he'd ever had the pleasure of trying out in all his years.

Her words stunned him momentarily, and she took the chance to snatch the jar of wine from him and pour herself another cup. "Well, in the Heavenly Court, at least. I'm quite certain your mortal lovers are safe."

"Hold on a moment," he said, feeling confusion war with a sense of foreboding in his gut. He had a feeling he wasn't about to like the answer he was going to get, and yet he asked anyway. "Why exactly am I being avoided?"

Li Jiayi shook her head, wagging her finger at him. Her amusement was peaking it would seem, if she was using her matronly admonishments on him.

"Silly, silly," she slurred and Pei Ming surreptitiously pushed the jar out of sight and hid it under the table; she was enough of a light-weight as it was. "After what happened to Yang Liyuan, how could any heavenly official dare step on the Water Tyrant's toes by tumbling his lover right before his eyes?"

Understanding dawned, the pieces fell together. Shock coloured it all before he could react properly to what she was saying. How the hell had that gotten out, Shi Wudu would be out for blood if it ever reached Shi Qingxuan's ears—

"We're not–"

"You haven't announced you're sleeping with him, no," Li Jiayi said, holding her cup out towards him to make a point as she snickered in mischief. "Honestly, it had been baseless rumours before but now... " She tutted. "Tsk, you've really picked a nasty one, General Pei. What friend is so close and intimate that he would take such heavy offence at you bringing a lover to some covert politicking? Someone who certainly is no mere sworn brother."

Pei Ming grimaced. Li Jiayi cackled and accidentally kicked the jar of wine under the table. The noise alerted her and she darted down to whisk it back up again. He was too distracted in trying to school his expression to behave to stop her.

"Speaking of, how is he in the sack? I had heard he wasn't interested in women, but to think you'd be able to put your greedy paws on that cold beauty... Hah, your renown as the God of Love is truly earned!"

He rather wanted to finish a jar off himself.

He meant to bring it up. They met later the same evening, and Pei Ming had every intention to bring it up. They had a meal together, sat down for tea to wash it down.

But then Pei Ming had taken Shi Wudu's hand in his own, and he'd arched his perfectly manicured brow at him so endearingly. He'd meant to speak after arranging the words in his head, but Shi Wudu's teasing laugh had soothed his grievances when he asked Pei Ming why he looked so restless.

The unease he'd felt since he'd escorted Li Jiayi back to her palace drained from him at the sight of that smile, all his displeasure washed away by the light press of his lips on his temple, chaste but full of warmth.

It wasn't worth it.

His desire for independence couldn't factor into this when he'd been here, willingly, every night he'd been called to visit and stay since they'd made up.

And his other lovers were beautiful, undoubtedly so, but Shi Wudu was one of the most important people to him; Pei Ming's regard for him was so high that another occasional lover couldn't possibly compare.

It just wasn't worth it.

Not when the Palace of the Water Master had become a second home to him, his every morning waking next to its sovereign all the brighter for seeing him as he roused.

Not when Shi Wudu sat with him on his bed now, nestled into Pei Ming's side as he brought a small box to his lap to show him something the joint palace of Wind and Water had been gifted as a tribute.

He couldn't bear the thought of ruining the moment for his pride. Not when he'd hurt Shi Wudu first, when it was his thoughtless mistake that had him so upset he couldn't even bear to be in the same room as Pei Ming for weeks.

"Come, tell me what you think," Shi Wudu nudged him, lifting a headband spun with gold chains and a fiery garnet in the centre for Pei Ming to look at. A second sat in the box still, its chain silver with a teal-coloured gemstone in the middle. Simple, elegant. An accessory meant to be balanced with a crown, Pei Ming assumed. "Which would suit Qingxuan best?"

Pei Ming leaned forward, made a show of considering them both equally before pointing to the second. "That one."

Shi Wudu set the one he held down and picked up the other, turning it over in his hand. Inspecting it, looking for the smallest fault. Only the best would be worthy of his brother, no matter how good it looked upon first impression. He studied the hair accessory, and Pei Ming took the moment to study him.

He saw what he hoped was contentment. No, he wasn't smiling right now, but his brow was smooth from any knitting and the line of his mouth had relaxed. A dark bloom of colour, gifts from Pei Ming's lips and teeth, adorned his collarbones like a necklace of blood pearls, peeking out from the folds of the robe he wore.

Loose and light on his shoulders, it was weaved of a deep maroon and burgundy silk, cherry blossoms of brilliant red embroidered on their branches with expert goldwork.

He recognised it, because it was his.

The first time they'd ever crossed the line into becoming lovers, Shi Wudu had picked it up after looking through his clothes and claimed it for himself after declaring it the only thing he had that was of worthy quality. That it made its way to his own home was no surprise with how much he liked wearing it after they made love, and Pei Ming hadn't missed it or anything, but looking at him now...

Shi Wudu sat in his bed, having tucked himself under Pei Ming's arm and covered himself from head to toe in Pei Ming's colours. He still wore all the bruises and lovebites he'd left on him. His spiritual device sat on the bedside table, the new tassel Pei Ming had made for him with his own hands a permanent fixture on the fan handle months after it had been gifted to Shi Wudu when they'd reconciled.

Even this bedroom, Shi Wudu's most private sanctuary, was perfused with the scent of the clove incense General Ming Guang's worshippers lit in his temples.

"Hm. The workmanship is acceptable." Shi Wudu muttered haughtily, then very carefully set it back down, arranging it as it had been before he'd touched it. The garnet headband was picked back up, and he held it out to Pei Ming. "Help me put this one on, then. I want to see if it looks good."

A buoyant mood took hold of Pei Ming, and he eagerly took the accessory from him. Shi Wudu turned around and picked up a small bronze hand mirror, directing him to position it right over his forehead.

After a few minutes of back and forth between them, Shi Wudu was finally satisfied, waving Pei Ming's hands away as he fidgeted with his hair to arrange their fall under the chains on his own. The smile he turned to Pei Ming once he was done nearly took his breath away.

"Not bad, hm?"

He looked...

Pei Ming swallowed back a lump in his throat, something dangerously potent that threatened to spring out if he didn't yank its reigns back with all his might.

An undoing. The chink in his armour. His soft underbelly.

Something he suddenly wanted to entrust to the tender mercies of Shi Wudu's cruel hands, and what he barely managed to stuff back down where it had no business seeing the light of day.

"As long as you're happy," he said instead, feeling weak, wanting desperately, and leaned forward to kiss the surprise from Shi Wudu's lips.