Work Text:
The door closed with a loud thud behind Gu Mang, and he couldn't help but smile at how Mo Xi got so used to his presence, that he didn't even bother looking up from grading some assignments. Gu Mang has been a constant in his life for long enough that he finally got out of the habit of anxiously looking for him in every room, and being relieved when he finally appeared by his side. Now all he felt was an ever-present, quiet happiness, knowing that even if they had to spend some time apart, at the end of the day Gu Mang was going to go back to him.
"What are you doing?" Gu Mang asked with his brows slightly furrowed, his hand coming to rest on Mo Xi's shoulder.
"Just finishing up." Mo Xi finally tore his gaze from the paper in front of him and looked up at Gu Mang. "What's wrong?" He asked once he saw the frown on his face, and lifted a hand to smoothen the wrinkles on Gu Mang's forehead.
"You're the worst," Gu Mang sighed, and snatched the brush from Mo Xi's hand. Without even giving him chance to protest, Gu Mang plopped down on Mo Xi's lap, whose arms immediately circled around his waist. "It's the Shangyuan Festival today! I'm not allowing you to work."
Mo Xi just looked at him with the faintest smile on his lips, and Gu Mang was nothing but a weak, weak man when faced with such a beauty, so he leaned down to press their mouths together. Mo Xi's hold tightened around him, and Gu Mang completely melted into the kiss. In that moment only the two of them existed, until a shrill, I told you not to put that there! yell from Murong Lian coming from outside burst their bubble.
"Maybe we should give him back his ephemera, that would calm him down," Mo Xi mumbled onto Gu Mang's lips, and he couldn't help but laugh.
"Do you really think so?"
"No," Mo Xi groaned, leaning against Gu Mang with his forehead.
Gu Mang gently held Mo Xi's face in his hand and stroked his cheek with his thumb. A wide smile decorated his lips, his eyes overflowing with love. He never let himself hope when it came to his relationship with Mo Xi, he knew someone like him could have no future with someone like Mo Xi, but very rarely, in one of his weaker moments he couldn't stop his mind from wandering, from imagining a perfect world where the two of them could share a lifetime.
He never pictured anything grand, not a wedding, not strolling on the street with their arms linked, not going around telling everyone that they love each other. It was always just this. Just them being together without the crushing weight of society's expectations sitting heavily on them, without the deep-seated fear of being found out, without having to worry when it will all fall apart. And just when even that little part of Gu Mang that still, despite everything, dared to hope accepted that in this lifetime they won't ever get their happy end, the heavens smiled upon them, and granted them something that was so unattainable that Gu Mang never even dared to think of.
"What's on your mind?" Mo Xi murmured in his ear, turning his head slightly upwards so now his chin was resting on Gu Mang's shoulder.
Gu Mang just smiled at him, his gaze soft and filled with so much love. "We should sneak out," he whispered conspiratorially instead of confessing his undying love to Mo Xi for the dozenth time that week.
"Sneak out?" Mo Xi whispered back, and suddenly Gu Mang couldn't swallow back the words anymore.
"I love you."
The startled expression on Mo Xi's face quickly changed into one of fondness. "I love you, too."
"But, seriously. When the feast starts and Lian-di is busy with nitpicking everything and everyone, we could slip out and go to the market," Gu Mang elaborated on his initial question, almost entirely certain that Mo Xi will say yes.
"If you already know the answer why do you bother asking," Mo Xi sighed, and grabbed Gu Mang's neck to pull him closer and kiss his triumphant grin off.
Just when their kiss deepened, and Mo Xi's hands started to wander lower on Gu Mang's body, the door was pushed open rather violently, revealing a seething Murong Lian. They separated lazily, both feeling annoyed at the sudden interruption, but before either of them could voice their complaints, Murong Lian all but screamed at them.
"If you don't get your asses outside right now to help with the preparations, you won't have a roof over your heads by the evening, so the heavens help me!"
He didn't even wait for them to start moving or to answer, with a flick of his sleeve he was gone in a second; if not for the open door, Gu Mang would've thought he hallucinated the whole thing. "Don't say anything," Gu Mang chuckled at Mo Xi's stormy expression, and pressed a quick kiss to his forehead.
🏮
The chattering of the disciples got more and more quite the closer they got to the gates of the academy. They volunteered to get some more food from the kitchens, and since Murong Lian's attention was on a group of disciples who acted rather suspiciously, he didn't notice two of the Academy's Elders, namely his brother and brother-in-law, who the children was supposed to look up to and follow their good behaviour, being the most suspicious of them all.
"I won't ever understand why he's so keen on being in charge of the Shangyuan Festival, when he's just stressing himself and everyone around him out," Gu Mang sighed, and reached out to hold Mo Xi's hand.
"So he can brag about how much he does around here under the guise of complaining," Mo Xi rolled his eyes, his voice lacking any real annoyance.
The two walked hand in hand towards the night market, their appearances unremarkable to the people around them. They cast the spells on each other, so while their faces looked plain and forgettable to everyone else, when they looked at each other they saw the other's real face. Long enough has passed that even if they were to abandon the spell and wear their faces without concealment again, other than some rumours starting nothing would've happened, but they weren't willing to risk giving up living their life in the comfort of not being known, in case they were wrong and there was something lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce on them.
The closer they got to the night market, the brighter their environment got. The street was so crowded Gu Mang and Mo Xi at first had to press together by their shoulders, and then to avoid running into people, Mo Xi fell behind by half a step, letting Gu Mang drag him in whatever direction he wanted to go.
Gu Mang suddenly turned around, making Mo Xi run into him, and if it wasn't for his martial arts training, they would've fallen onto the cold ground. "Mo Xi!" Gu Mang said excitedly, not even giving a spare thought of having to hold up Mo Xi's entire body weight for a second. "Look!" He pointed towards a stall full of candied haw.
"You want some?" Mo Xi asked with a knowing smile.
Gu Mang's eyes sparkled as he nodded, and this time it was Mo Xi who pulled Gu Mang after himself. As they waited in line, Gu Mang swung back and forth their intertwined hands, while he looked at the sweets with childish joy on his face. Mo Xi wished he could trap this moment in a little box, and revisit it whenever he wanted to.
Once it was their turn, Mo Xi let Gu Mang pick out as many as he wanted, and he handed over the cowrie shells to the seller. They barely took one step from the stall, Gu Mang was already chewing on the candied haw. After doing some logistics he stuffed two sticks into Mo Xi's hand and one into his mouth.
"This one's enough for me," Mo Xi said with a warm smile, taking the stick out of his mouth, and giving the other two back to Gu Mang.
"Your loss," Gu Mang mumbled with his mouth full, already on his second stick. Mo Xi opened his mouth to tell him to slow down, but Gu Mang pressed a sticky finger to his lips. "You can't nag at me tonight! We're here to have fun!"
"You're like a child," Mo Xi shook his head a little, and bit into his own stick of candied haw.
Instead of answering, Gu Mang, very maturely, stuck his tongue out at Mo Xi, and started on his third stick.
"Your stomach's going to hurt later." Mo Xi still didn't give up, even though he was aware Gu Mang tuned out his pestering words.
"Let's wish for something!" Gu Mang pointed at a lantern filled stall with a now empty stick, and made his way through the dense crowd with Mo Xi in tow. Since his hands were as sticky as if he stuck them into glue, Mo Xi held him close by his waist.
Once again, Gu Mang picked out the two lanterns, and Mo Xi paid for them, then they stepped aside from the road to write their wishes on the sides. Gu Mang felt Mo Xi's gaze on him as he chewed on his last stick of candied haw, trying to come up with his wishes. He reached out towards Mo Xi, his hand stopping right in front of his face.
"Don't look at me, think of your wishes," Gu Mang said, and smiled softly when Mo Xi grabbed his wrist and, ignoring the stickiness, pressed a kiss into his palm.
After a while Gu Mang reached for the brush, but Mo Xi was faster and snatched it first, alongside with Gu Mang's lantern. "I'll write it for you," Mo Xi said before Gu Mang could protest.
"That's not the same," Gu Mang pouted.
"You should've thought of that before you decided buying the lanterns takes priority over washing your hands," Mo Xi smiled teasingly, finding Gu Mang feigning sulking adorable.
"Alright," Gu Mang pressed his lips into a thin line, and his expression turned sentimental. "I wish for everything to stay the same. Us, the Academy, the Kingdom. I don't…" Gu Mang took a deep breath and smiled faintly. "I don't want anything to change. I like how everything is now, so I wish for it to stay the same."
As Mo Xi looked at him he could feel tears pricking at his eyes, but he blinked them back before Gu Mang could notice. He was right. The heavens have granted them too many miracles already, their lives were already as perfect as it would get. Mo Xi, too, didn't wish for anything to change. It was Hell on earth to get there, but he could finally call Gu Mang his for the rest of their lives, and that was enough for him. As long as they were together, nothing else mattered.
"Aren't you going to write?" Gu Mang asked softly, as if he was scared to speak louder, not wanting to disrupt the moment.
Mo Xi first finished Gu Mang's lantern, and then put the brush to his own. Gu Mang didn't ask what he was writing, and Mo Xi didn't have to say it; apart from the two sticky fingerprints on one of them, the two lanterns looked identical.
They both stood up after lighting the lanterns, watching them float up with their heads tilted back. Mo Xi came behind Gu Mang to hug his waist, and Gu Mang leaned back into his embrace with a content smile. They continued looking at the sky until their lanterns became two little dots, lost among all the others.
"It's getting cold, we should go back," Mo Xi murmured into Gu Mang's ear.
"I'm not even cold!" Gu Mang protested immediately, but now that it was pointed out, he felt the freezing cold seep deep into his bones.
"Shixiong, your whole body is shaking, and your nose is so red, it looks like someone punched you. We really should go back, or you'll get sick" Mo Xi said in a non negotiable tone.
Gu Mang squirmed in his hold until he was face to face with Mo Xi, and blinked up at him with the most pitiful expression he could muster. "Then, instead of going back yet, let's eat something warm? Please?" Seeing that Mo Xi"s determination seemed to crack, Gu Mang turned up the pathetic act. "Would you deny even a warm bowl of wontons from your Gu Mang-gege, princess?"
Mo Xi just blinked at him for a while, trying to get his emotions under control, and then shook his head defeatedly. Gu Mang smiled at him widely, and they once again found themselves pushing through the crowd. Once they finally stopped at a food stall, before Gu Mang could order anything, Mo Xi asked for some water, and pushed it towards Gu Mang so he could wash his hands. He did so with a grimace on his face, but soon a smile made it's way back to his lips, because, while ordering, Mo Xi reached over to rub his hands, that were ice cold to the touch, thanks to the water poured on them.
While they were waiting for their wontons, fireworks went off above their heads. Gu Mang leaned onto Mo Xi, his head coming to rest on his shoulder. "Would you have ever thought that one day we'll be like this? Married, sneaking away from Lian-di for some wontons."
"The latter not so much, but I was very hopeful about the marriage," Mo Xi answered truthfully, and turned his head to press a quick kiss into Gu Mang's hair.
"I'm glad I didn't let you down," Gu Mang chuckled somewhat bitterly.
Mo Xi seemed to have want to say something, but decided against it, and only held Gu Mang closer. It proved to be the right choice, because Gu Mang smiled up at him without a hint of bitterness in his expression. The fireworks reflected back in his wide, black eyes, and for the millionth time since they've known each other it hit Mo Xi again just how pretty his shixiong, his husband really is.
🏮
By the time they made their way back to the Academy, the streets were almost empty. The few stall owners that still hadn't gone home started to pack up too, after seeing the last handful of people leaving. Gu Mang was holding Mo Xi's hand tightly, the cold and the wine they drank earlier dusting his cheeks red.
"Do you think we were locked out?" Gu Mang asked in a low voice, leaning onto Mo Xi.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Mo Xi sighed, letting go of Gu Mang's hand so he could wrap an arm around his waist to steady him. "What's with you? You didn't even drink that much."
"I just want to be close to you," Gu Mang tilted his head back so he could grin up at Mo Xi, and hugged him tightly.
Mo Xi pressed a kiss into his hair, and they continued their walk home glued to each other much slower than how they started out. They spent that short distance in idyllic silence, which was only disrupted when they reached the Academy's gates and found themselves face to face with a fuming Murong Lian.
"Lian-di!" Gu Mang yelled in a cheery voice, and let go of Mo Xi so he could throw himself at Murong Lian.
Despite the deep scowl on his face he caught Gu Mang and didn't let him fall face first on the ground, but peeled his brother off him, once he seemed like he was standing steadily.
"Is he drunk?" Murong Lian asked Mo Xi, watching with disdain as Gu Mang found his way back to his husband.
"Not that I know of," Mo Xi answered, holding Gu Mang close to himself once again.
Murong Lian stared at them with a frenzied, I'm gonna rip you to shreds glint in his eyes, which could only mean that some of the disciples got up to no good in their absence, and he had to deal with it alone. Their suspicion proved to be right, because Murong Lian started complaining in a raised voice about how even those Elders who appeared to take their position seriously and stayed on the grounds of the Academy —here he threw the nastiest glance at the hugging couple— either got too drunk to take care of the issue, or made up some stupid excuses and went to sleep after showing their faces.
"But isn't it great that we have a Headmaster like you, who can solve everything so efficiently?" Gu Mang grinned at him, and Mo Xi snorted at how Murong Lian's left eye started twitching.
"I hate you both!" He yelled exasperatedly, and turned around to leave, mumbling curses under his breath.
"We haven't been thrown out!" Gu Mang exclaimed with a laugh.
"Which we should use, and get you inside because you look seconds away from freezing to death." Mo Xi ushered a still laughing Gu Mang in the gates, holding his wrist so he couldn't run after Murong Lian to pester him.
Gu Mang came down with a fever the next day, just like Mo Xi said he would, but he insisted that he wasn't even that sick, which was hard to believe with his red nose, and glassy eyes, and a sneeze interrupting his every second word. He wanted to fulfil his duties as an Elder, especially after neglecting them the day before, but Mo Xi all but locked him in their room, so he couldn't do much other than waiting for him to return and feed him bitter medicine. The only reason he was willing to drink it was because he knew that Mo Xi would stay with him for the rest of the day and take care of him.