FIC: Tavern (Gan Shoucheng/Tan Qi, NC-17)
Title: Tavern Author: Snowgrouse Fandom: The Longest Day in Chang'an (2019) Pairing: Gan Shoucheng/Tan Qi, past Tan Qi/Zhang Xiaojing Rating: NC-17 Genre: PWP, Romance, AU Warnings: None, unless drunkenness or anal sex (very tender this time) shock you. The most shocking thing about this story is probably how much of an AU it is, character-wise. So, romance mush warning, I guess? Length: ~5400 words Summary: Gan joins the Peacekeepers and tries to become a better man, but gaining Tan Qi's trust is far more difficult. She's still wary of him, as she has every right to be, so how can he ever convince her he's no longer in sadistic lust with her, but hopelessly, madly in love with her?
Until, one drunken night at a tavern, she begins to sing...
A/N: A prequel to the third story in Sacrifice--basically, what happened that night in the tavern between Gan and Tan Qi. Only with an actual sex scene this time. Ok, two sex scenes. Tooth-rotting fluff ahead; book a date with your dentist! Also, I did leave at least one loose end in there, deliberately; feel free to ask me about it in the comments if you like.
A tipsy Tan Qi climbs on the table and clears her throat.
That does it, Gan thinks. This, I've got to see. He stomps over to the table and pulls up a stool to sit at its end, where he can get a good view.
Before she can disguise it, Tan Qi is startled by Gan's presence, startled by the fever in his eyes; she knows Gan has never stopped desiring her. But the next moment, she ignores him with the long-practiced skill of a woman used to working with men.
Jia Liang strums the melody once, short and simple; when he starts again from the top, Tan Qi joins in.
"The caravan goes east..." she sings, stretching out the words as Persian singers do, lacing each one with great emotion; she gestures for the Sogdians to finish the verse.
"Bearing wine and carpets and gold," they all sing with big smiles on their faces, Jia Liang accompanying them with energetic strums.
"The caravan goes west..." Tan Qi sings again, her voice clear and bright.
"Bearing silk and spices and bowls!" the men cheer.
"My love is a thousand mountains and rivers away..." she sings, her voice vibrant with longing.
In a state of drunken adoration, Gan watches, rapt, and probably with the most stupidly besotted of looks on his face; thankfully, no one dares needle him about it, too afraid of his infamous temper.
As Tan Qi closes her eyes and gives herself unto the song, Gan wonders if this is what she looks like when she gives herself unto a lover: if this is how her lips part, if this is how her brows furrow, if this is how her body bends in a man's embrace. She sways on her feet like a flower in the breeze, undulating her arms in wavelike movements; at once, Gan is reminded of the time she'd performed those movements for him, calm and perfectly concentrated despite the burning coals beneath her feet.
Immediately, he feels a flash of heat in his hips, a reflex of deep pleasure at the very thought of a beautiful woman in pain; that reflex is so deeply rooted in him that it's inseparable from who and what he is. But now, for the first time in his life, that reflex is followed by a deep shame in his heart; yet, that shame is followed by irritation, anger, frustration. Yes, he has begun to hate the reflex, but deep down inside, he hates the shame also, hates it for making him feel guilty about something at the very heart of his sexual desire: his sadism. His arousal, his pleasure, his ecstasy, his climax--all the stages of passion--are inextricable from a woman's pain: each stage accompanied by a different kind of agony, a different scent, a different noise from her as he--
But it's then that his thoughts are smashed to pieces by a Tan Qi stumbling, falling off the table thanks to a drunken misstep: before he even knows it, his arms come up to catch her, to hold her, to prevent her from getting hurt.
(Ao3)













