Wei Ying felt as if he should be asleep, given that when he opened a silver eye, it was still dark outside. He also felt tired as if the sleep he must have had, had forgotten to do its job, leaving him in the same state as when he got into bed.

And Lan Zhan, his dear, dear husband was fast asleep. Happily fast asleep. It wasn't fair, he thought, carefully crawling over him, sparing him a mildly jealous glance, before leaving the Jingshi.

His gradual insomnia had been getting worse, but he didn't want to tell Lan Zhan yet. These things normally sorted themselves out in good time; it was just a case of relaxing before sleeping. On the other hand, tiring himself out through other activities was also a wonderful option.

He could easily seduce his husband tonight.

Meanwhile, he could visit the stables. He hadn't seen Lil' Apple in a long time, though SiZhui kept him informed. Lil' Apple had a rebellious streak like himself and loved breaking out of his stall to go and terrorize the bunnies.

The sky was slowly brightening; he calculated that gave him approximately an hour before Lan Zhan would wake, and he would have to be fast to sneak back into bed. Honestly, it was getting to be exhausting pretending not to be.

A slight twinge in his chest had him stopping on the path, but it was gone so quickly, he convinced himself it hadn't happened. Maybe it hadn't happened yesterday, either.

Either way, Lil' Apple would be glad to see him, he thought, tossing an apple in one hand. Lil' Apple was reliable like that.

*****

The bunnies were warm. That was his excuse when Lan Zhan found him buried under white fluffy balls of cuteness. Lan Zhan had almost missed him; Wei Ying had picked up the first set of robes which happened to be his white ones, so he was basically camouflaged.

"When did you come out here?" He had asked.

"Just now." Of course, Wei Ying was lying, and Lan Zhan knew this because his side of the bed was cold, but he didn't call him out on it.

"Breakfast time." He held out a hand, not expecting Wei Ying to pull him down amidst panicking rabbits.

"Good morning to you too," a slightly miffed husband had kissed him senseless. But then Wei Ying always had that effect on him. Looking back on this time, Lan Zhan would regret not asking.

****

Wei Ying was sitting with Wen Ning in his garden, admiring the new flowers that the welcome heat of summer had forced above the ground.

"Are you superstitious, at all?" Wei Ying asked suddenly.

"I'm dead, so no, not really."

Wei Ying laughed. Sometimes, Wen Ning could be funny on purpose.

"Why?"

"No reason. I just...." But he stopped speaking, because what could he say? In his travels, he had heard a lot of old wives' tales, from the normal (and completely baseless) black cat crossing your path, to the howling of night creatures prophesying something terrible would happen. At the time, he had ignored, laughed at and completely dismissed such fantasies.

But if it kept happening, then wasn't it true? It was the littlest things that his brain would blow out of proportion, so he tried to put it all out of his mind.

He flexed his wrists, turning them in a circular motion, first one way and then the other. It was writing all those letters. Who would've thought that little girl was so...so persistent? A regular flux of an average ten letters a day arrived, and each had to be answered. He'd made the mistake of procrastinating to deeply regretting it very quickly. If he attempted to wait and reply to all the letters just once, Li XiWang was sincerely vocal about her displeasure at his delayed response. It seemed that she was a fan of receiving letters just as much as sending them.

He felt another twinge, this one slightly sharper than the ones before, and he grimaced, but Wen Ning, who had been watching him, noticed.

"What was that?"

"Indigestion." He replied, without missing a beat.

"Milk will sort that out."

Wei Ying nodded, distracted. He couldn't really ignore the slight fracturing pain that happened at least twice a day, at the most inopportune moments, when he wasn't expecting it.

*****

Days passed and a peacefulness enveloped him, allowing him to put aside those small worries, pretending they were just a figment of his imagination.  Sleep continued to elude him, many nights spent watching his husband sleeping instead. He thought no one had noticed until one evening,  Lan Zhan put a tall glass of an unappetising liquid in front of him, expecting him to actually drink it.

"There's nothing wrong with me," he protested, shoving it back. It smelled terrible, and Wei Ying would not be drinking that without a fight.

"It's to help you sleep," Lan Zhan explained, gently stroking his silky hair.

The action alone put him in a relaxed state and before he knew it, the glass was empty.

"Good boy."

He received a long kiss for easily accepting the cure. To be fair, it only worked for a few nights, but Wei Ying was not above hiding the truth.

All in all, Wei Ying was happy with his life. Things had finally settled down and he was content to spend his days waking up to the best man ever.

*****

A/N

So this is the end of the first book. Please don't worry my beautiful, big hearted, fabulous readers, for my pen or single finger typing won't stop for a second!

Thank you all for this weird but crazy good experience.  I have made the most wonderful supportive friends so far and my heart is ready to explode with happiness. Let's keep going!!!