#yamielsun

Jie shivered and his eyes fell to half mast. Even as his stomach gurgled, he turned his head away and hummed. "If I told you, would you destroy my ashes?"

Li Zhen’s eyes narrowed down sharply into a glare. His hand went from caressing to grabbing Jie's jaw roughly and he hissed, "Never. You are mine, Bone Eating Grey Famine, Jie."

Jie's ears twitched, his lips quivered for a moment, before they stretched into a wide grin. He leaned into Li Zhen, posture verging on seductive. "Mmm. Gege is so possessive. Makes a ghost go all a-quiver it does. " His expression quickly grew solemn, and the grin dropped. "What if I want you to?"

Li Zhen pursed his lips tightly, his fingers dug roughly into the ghost's face, his eyes searched the ghost’s expression tightly. Emotion threatened to choke him and he struggled to formulate the words he wanted. 

After a long moment, he bit out, "Why."

Jie closed his eyes and hummed. Shifted a little, then practically crawled into Li Zhen's lap like a great, oversized cat. Despite the seriousness of the topic, he snickered as he got comfortable, wrapping his long arms around the god's neck and nipping jokingly at an ear. "I'm always hungry. It's annoying."

He didn't say any more than that.

Li Zhen welcomed him into his lap, arms winding around his waist and holding him tightly, lips still pursed. He went almost boneless at the words, and buried his face against Jie's neck. 

"...I'm sorry," he murmurs, lips brushing against skin. "...if you really wish for me to, I will. I don't -" 

He took a deep, shuddering breath, closed his eyes, and buried his nose against Jie's neck. "I don't want to but - but I don't want you unhappy, A-Jie." 

Another moment passed, and when he spoke again, his voice cracked slightly, "If - If I do - know I will wait for you - for however long it takes - I will wait for you."

Jie froze in his lap, eyes a little wide. A shudder worked down his spine, and he pressed his face to Li Zhen's neck and let out a rough laugh. "Ah, gege, Li Zhen.... Ah, you're a prickly bitch on the surface but - but you really care about a crazy old ghost like me, don't ya? Ah, ah, sometimes you make me feel like I have a heart. I should hate it, but I don't."

Abruptly, he pulled away with a wide grin. "Of course, I have no fucking clue where my ashes are, so there's no need for it to come to that!"

A small affronted noise left the god's throat at being called a 'prickly bitch' - but let it slide for the moment. 

Then he stared at Jie's wide grin as the ghost’s words registered in his head and - his face immediately darkened. One eyebrow twitched, and his hands suddenly grabbed at Jie's waist bruisingly. "Jie..." he started slowly, eyes beginning to glow with power - and then abruptly pins the ghost to the ground, and snarled, "Are you fucking kidding me? What was that about then, huh?"

Jie cackled.

He couldn't help it. He laughed, loud and long until tears stung his eyes, and he reached up to pat Li Zhen's cheek as he wheezed for breath he didn't need. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! Didn't mean to make the situation all tense and shit. Sometimes it's just nice to know what could happen if the opportunity presented itself, you know?"

Li Zhen snarled, but the indignant anger flowed out of him at his partner's laughter. 

A low sigh left him, and he let his head fall and rest against Jie's thin chest, hiding the slight tremble of his fingers in his grip on the ghost's waist. He didn't like the thought of not having Jie by his side - didn't like the idea of having to burn his ashes and kill him - he didn't - 

He took in another shuddering breath. "Don't ... don't do that to me, A-Jie."

"Heh, sorry!" Jie let out one last breath that shivered with laughter, and then repeated a little more softly, "Sorry."

He brought a hand down to pat at Li Zhen's head, and turned his eyes back to the stars above them. They really were very bright. "I know you're old, gege, but I've been around a lot longer than you. Sometimes it gets to be a bit too much, you know?"

Li Zhen softened under the touch, and looked at Jie with a frighteningly vulnerable face - truly belying how much younger he was than the ghost, for all he acted much older. "...I know but I -" he started quietly, and then stopped, turning his face away and hiding it against Jie's chest again. 

He hated sometimes how weak he could get - how strongly he felt about things that it threatened to overwhelm him -

But Jie was - he meant practically everything to Li Zhen - and in the end he was a very selfish god.

Jie's very being softened. He let out a soft purr, wrapped his arms around Li Zhen's shoulders, and hugged him close. "Li Zhen. You bring great joy to this humble ghost. You know that, right?"