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 Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2023 12:13 am
It ached, to be reminded of his failures. But Lianli pressed against him was a balm for that ache, a soothing reminder that he had not yet failed a second time. That Xingyi was lost to him, but Lianli--who was so like him, but distinctly his own person--was not.
That he would get to try again, because Cosmos was kind, and he had survived, and Xingyi had been reborn, and they had found each other again.
The people of Helene had always believed that some souls were bound together. That they would find each other, time and again, regardless of circumstance; that every time they were reborn, those two souls would connect again. His elder brother had believed that he and his husband were two such bonded souls.
Huanxi could not help but feel that he and Lianli were the same. That accounting for all the improbabilities of the universe, some force like fate had ensured a second chance.
"I am glad to have the chance to know you as well."
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
"And to enjoy this--and many more--meals with you."
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Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2023 1:10 am
Looking up at Huanxi as he spoke, Liánlí blushed to go along with his warm smile—which felt at best very silly, because there wasn’t really any reason for it. Nothing, except for the flush of Warm and Pink and Soft that bloomed all throughout Liánlí because his past life self’s not-exactly-husband was here with him, and happy to be here with him, and it felt exceptionally special indeed to have such a chance.
……Oh, Liánlí was going to have to change some things in his “Take Me To Church” video and in the “behind the scenes” accompaniment vid, wasn’t he. That thought struck him like lightning, an abrupt shock and a momentary flash of clarity, reminding him that he certainly had said some things about having “this friend of mine and his husband” in mind during his performance (a euphemism chosen because how the ******** else was he supposed to explain that he actually knew things about his past life self and that past life self had allegedly married a sexy magical alien). And ohhh, Liánlí would need to reassemble his outfit and his lighting from the actual recording day, and everything that he’d had laid out around him, and he’d need to invent an entirely new euphemism, and then shoot new things to splice in and try his absolute best to make the cuts as inconspicuous as possible. Oh, oh, there was going to be SO much work to do.
But for right now, it could be Future Liánlí’s problem.
Rather than another kiss—which, unfortunately, carried too much risk of Liánlí getting lost in it instead of making the damn food for his poor, starving magical alien boy—Liánlí shifted onto his toes. Craned his neck. Leaned up and gently nudged his forehead at Huanxi’s, then added the briefest of nuzzles.
Aside from this being a thing Liánlí had learned from cats, Hayden had told him about some video game where it was a thing, once? Something about a different sexy alien species—they were more like sexy lizards than Huan-ge appeared to be, with his qilin-looking antlers and cute swishy tail—and you could romance one of them, but they weren’t bedroom-compatible with humans? Or maybe you couldn’t kiss them because of their lizard mouths? Liánlí didn’t recall all the details, he’d spent most of the conversation getting upset that the male player character could not also have a sexy lizard boyfriend, but the sexy space lizards also did forehead-nuzzles, he thought? Maybe?
Whatever, he’d ask Hayden about it later. Maybe.
For now, Liánlí wriggled away and returned to the stove, where he finally clicked on the heat. Once it spread through the huò and got the oil going, making Huanxi’s dinner wasn’t a terribly complicated process, nor one that took very long. A bit delicate, in terms of adding the vegetables, sauces, noodles, eggs, and spices in at the correct times, so everything would be warm and thoroughly cooked, but nothing would get burned. Thickening the sauce with cornstarch and yogurt—the latter of which also helped balance out the spice, which was good, since Huanxi giving him permission meant that Liánlí liberally added the Sichuan peppercorns, traditional five-spice, white pepper, and his personally prepped diced chilis (because the chilis in the sweet chili sauce obviously were not enough).
When he finished, Liánlí brought the large bowl of noodles and vegetables over to Huanxi at the table, with both a fork and a pair of chopsticks for him to pick from (and a packet of peanut butter snack crackers for Liánlí himself).
“Don’t hesitate to point out what you like or don’t like about it,” Liánlí told him with a smile, fussing with trying to open his damn crackers. “I wanna know so I can make you things you’ll love, okay?”
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Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2023 2:13 am
Huanxi felt a burst of warmth in his chest, when Lianli's forehead touched his. It was such a brief but comforting moment of affection, and he wanted to chase it, to keep holding and touching, but--he had to be practical. There was food on offer, and he had not eaten as well as Lianli's collection of ingredients suggested in.....
A very, very long time. Years. Centuries, perhaps.
So he let Lianli go, and settled in to watch him cook, enjoying the sight of someone with clear passion and experience at work. The smells, too, were wonderful, making Huanxi's stomach rumble in a deeply undignified and--he hoped--inaudible manner. It was a little embarrassing, to be caught out on how incredibly hungry he was.
When the food was delivered, he picked up the chopsticks without hesitation, and picked up a generous bite of noodles and vegetables.
It was an explosion of flavor.
After so long surviving on the bare minimum of what he could find, real, cooked food was a blessing. Heat and spice and the crispness of fresh vegetables and the warmth of the noodles--although Lianli had invited feedback, for a few minutes, all Huanxi could do was eat. He was more than halfway throguh the bowl when he paused, for a moment, to offer his thoughts.
"Delicious. Well cooked, flavors are finely balanced. Incredibly lucky that Lianli has such a talent for this."
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Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2023 3:15 am
Ignoring the sounds of Huanxi’s hunger had been easy enough, while Liánlí was cooking. Even being practical for the moment, he didn’t like ignoring such sounds of distress from someone whom he wanted to care for and keep in his life for as long as Huanxi wanted to stay there. But nevertheless, it had been easy to get into a meditative state of mind, to focus on the cooking because however upsetting it was that Huanxi hadn’t had the ability to eat decently for gods knew how long, cooking and feeding him would resolve the issue.
Significantly less easy to ignore, though, was how Huanxi ate. How, even without saying anything, the way he took to the bowl felt not simply like someone being offered food after so long without, but like Huanxi genuinely enjoyed what he was eating. At least, it seemed that way to Liánlí, who could admit that he was maybe possibly feeling things that he simply wanted to be true. Because……he wanted Huanxi to stay. Everything Huanxi had said and done so far indicated that he also wanted to stay, but……it was important, knowing that Liánlí could provide Huanxi with food that he would enjoy, not simply tolerate.
Hearing him confirm it, as well, made Liánlí’s heart feel like it would explode with joy and relief. By his standards, he felt he was keeping it together exceptionally well, only allowing himself to burst out in a bright, ecstatic smile. Internally, though, Liánlí felt as though he was screaming, and delightedly running all over this way and that, and doing the little flip-kick thing that he’d seen rabbits on Youtube and Tiktok do when they got excited.
“Lucky that Liánlí has had so many good teachers. Plus, time to experiment in the kitchen, figure things out.” Scooting closer, Liánlí moved to reach for Huanxi’s hand—then remembered that he’d probably rather use those for eating (one for the chopsticks and one for the bowl), and instead, decided to lean his calf against Huanxi’s. Leaning his own cheek in his palm, Liánlí added, “Happy to share that and so much more with Huan-ge.”
Was he being earnest? Was it meant flirtatiously? Yes. Both. Exactly. Liánlí contained multitudes and could even multitask when he really set his mind to it, thank you so much for noticing.
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Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2023 9:12 pm
It was correct to guess that Huanxi was not eager to give up a hand, even as much as he wanted to be touching Lianli, when the first real, proper, non-scrounged meal he'd had in longer than he cared to deduce was before him. A meal made for him by the very person sitting next to him, who he found himself leaning towards just a little, like a flower turning to sunlight.
It wasn't just the food, not really. It was the kindness and care inherent in the gesture that had Huanxi feeling a low ache in his chest. A good ache, he thought. The ache of something fitting back into place that had been missing for far, far too long.
"I look forward to discovering more of Lianli's talents, then," Huanxi said, and yes, it was definitely a little flirtatious. But Lianli seemed more than open to that, and he couldn't help but indulge just a little.
This place--the person by his side--already felt like home, and Huanxi felt lucky to have the chance to settle into it.
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