#drownedichor

as if betrayed by color itself, hades sits on the edge of the hotel room bed dressed in pure black with accented muted silvers. like a dark sky speckled with stars, his tailored suit jacket has slipped halfway down his arms to the elbow, pooling like a sea of shadow beneath his long frame.

hades gaze was not cold, nor empty, but impossibly deep. the darkest of browns, depths of an abyss that had been through too much. the edges of him had softened with a smile as he begins to undo his tie next. this was the dance, a slow removal of barriers and for him, a chance to connect. " i'm sorry i was late. " he speaks finally once the loose noose against his neck had been lost. the rings were next, one at a time to place on the bedside table. " there was back-to-back meetings all day. i didn't have a chance to do any real work until the end of the day, so i had to stay late. " hades spoke like velvet dragging across iron, a silky smooth tone, low from his throat, but a sharpness that cut through it with an intensity that was rivaled only his eyes. but he cut himself short, reminded how his wife would hate his boring little updates.

already he craved her warmth, shaped in a luminous glow. she threw sunshine to all his shadows. he wanted to bleed out the hounding thoughts of what lay beyond this room, a splendor of luxury and yet all he could see was her. " come here. i've missed you. " hades murmured, leaning back on his elbows with one of those rare, almost defiant smiles. like daring to pull his rusted features together in such a gesture under eyes so sad was in and of itself a rebellion.

@drownedichor said: “[ wound ] sender cleans receivers wounds with gentle and shaky hands. (From Yunchang)” {♚ x 𝐈𝐍𝐉𝐔𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐒 x}

 They'd been ambushed in the middle of the night, by what seemed to be a small army of highly trained assassins. Within a matter of moments the entire camp was in complete disarray with shouting, fighting and dead bodies everywhere.

 Long Zhi, who'd been by the Crown Prince's side, immediately woke from his light slumber, reaching for his blades. There was no doubt in his mind that whoever had invaded the camp was after Yun Chang. So he'd grabbed the other by the collar, pulling him along without giving him a chance to properly wake up first. Perhaps he should've stayed and fought by his fellow clan member's side, but... He knew if he didn't get Yun Chang out of there, he most likely wouldn't make it through the night.

 But someone must've spotted and followed them. They'd barely made it to the edge of the nearby forest, when someone jumped out in front of them. Had Long Zhi not stepped in front of Yun Chang just in time, it would've most likely been fatal for the other. The ensuing fight was fierce, but swift, and Long Zhi managed to emerge victorious, albeit badly wounded. There was no time to dwell on it, though, and he instead grabbed the Crown Prince by the hand, pulling him along relentlessly until they happened upon a partly-concealed cave.

 At first, Long Zhi had attempted to play it off. 'It's no big deal' and 'I'll survive, stop looking so worried' had been said multiple times—at least until he'd nearly passed out. Now he was lying on the ground, partly undressed as Yun Chang tended to his admittedly nasty wound. They had no supplies, no food, no water. Honestly? They were screwed, and that was putting it mildly.

 Turning his head, Long Zhi looked at the other and let out a quiet sigh. "I guess you were right in the end, huh?"

Jianyu had found that there was a lot of fun in pushing his wife's buttons. He grew more and more interested in seeing what her reactions would be, how her body reacted, her little micro-moves, twitches, the way her eyes widened when she heard him speak and then narrowed as he irritated her once more. He wasn't aware before just how interesting she could be sometimes. In fact, he made an internal bet with himself that he would explore all the reactions her body could have to him before she finally gave up on the divorce and accepted that she was his wife forever.

His lips curled up as she spoke, that little crinkle in the corner of her eye showing how much she was controlling herself. "Do not worry yourself too much about my untimely death." Slowly he reached forward and straightened out a stray lock of hair on her forehead. "I've made arrangements and will to make sure you are not burdened by anything. I did however allow you to choose which charity you will have to give all my funds away to." A quick wink followed his words. "I wouldn't want you to deal with too much, you are, after all, so neglected and unloved it would be unfair to force you to deal with the ordeal of managing my affairs."

The threat of her ordering his assassination crossed his mind but he thought her both too gentle and too much of an honest person to actually go through with it. Sure, she entertained the thought but he saw her businesses. She cut profit to make sure the employees got a living wage, something that felt counter-intuitive for him and most of the BoD. He knew she despised him but not to the point of believing he was evil and so her conscience wouldn't let her do it.

karma had been kind to them in this life, fate drawing close the red string between the doomed pairing. the stars aligned on the night they had met, unassuming in a market under lamplight. hui xian would never forget it, no matter how more decades nor lives were left. it was the most beautiful she'd ever been.

fingers tangled delicately in her hair, stroking the long locks and smoothing out any small tangles. " yueyang... " they whispered, all throaty and affectionate. her name was the structure that had formed the foundation for all of these centuries.

" yueyang. " they whispered again, leaning forward to whisper it and kiss her neck from where they held her against their chest from behind. hui xian's free hand stroked long trailing lines up her arm, a content sigh leaving them. " yueyang, my little yin. "

nuzzling deeper into her, they whined, intentionally putting as much power into her murmured name as possible. " yueyang? "

This was a new low, even for him. Xukun contemplated just making this his new home, become the weirdo who just lays on the dirty ground and groans in response to people asking him questions. He didn't want to be known as a dramatic person, his mom had said she got this side from him, but it was really starting to feel like the entire world was out to get him. And now he had faceplanted and had a meltdown in front of a neighbor, he may as well admit that he has become a total failure. The only solace he has gotten out of this is that the neighbor didn't outright laugh at him, if that had happened he might have just started crying onto the pavement.

"I fear my father is serious this time and intends to marry me far away. I never intended to disobey if he truly wished me to wed me because I am his daughter, but how is it he now wishes to send me far away for a political marriage? What use could this daughter of his possibly have for any of those high-ranked families?" Selfish for her to spill her feelings like that, but the other felt like the only person who could truly help her now.