Title: Cold Hands, Warm Heart
Fandom: The Mystic Nine
Pairing: Qi Tiezui/Zhang Rishan
Rating: Teen
Notes: Post-series.
Summary: The weather had definitely turned towards winter now and it was cold. Rishan did not appreciate it and he appreciated it even less when his nice, warm husband got out of bed and let the cold air in.



The best mornings were the ones when they didn't have to be anywhere, days when Tiezui didn't have to open up his hall and when he didn't have to be on duty, or at least not on duty until later in the day. Tiezui was rarely awake before he was and Rishan enjoyed the time to just curl there, husband in his arms, making the most of it. After the war and everything else they'd earned this peace, but he was too much a soldier to expect things to remain that peaceful and so he hoarded the moments like this, a shield against any harder times yet to come. A sleepy kiss was pressed against the corner of his mouth and he smiled, tilting his head closer and was rewarded with another sleepy kiss landing properly this time. Tiezui muttered something that might have been 'stop thinking so much', but he was only half coherent so it could have been anything and Rishan chose to ignore the comment. Besides, he was much more interested in keeping the kisses going than talking, lazy morning kisses where they didn't even have to open their eyes but could twine around each other and not even have to think about getting out of bed.

It couldn't last, of course. Tiezui clambered out of bed, grumping something about the bathroom and abandoning him to a cruelly empty bed until his return. Rishan stretched, toes curling as he did so and he tugged the covers up higher while he was at it. The weather had definitely turned towards winter now and it was cold. He did not appreciate it and he appreciated it even less when his nice, warm husband got out of bed and let the cold air in.

The mattress dipped and cold air blew in under the covers as Tiezui got back into bed. Rishan grimaced but reached out for him anyway, sliding an arm around his husband's waist and tugging him closer. Fingers toyed with the hem of his pyjama shirt and he grinned, pressing a kiss against Tiezui's cheek, fully content in knowing where this was going.

Right up until cold, cold hands splayed out across his back and cold feet plastered themselves to his own.

"Hey!" he protested, jerking away. "Cold!"

"I know," was the unexpected-but-probably-shouldn't-have-been response. "It's cold when you get out of bed."

"Then why-"

"You're nice and warm," Tiezui wheedled. "Warm me up, Rishan."

"Warm you up," Rishan snorted, squirming away from the cold, cold hands. "If you were a solider I'd have you running laps to warm you up."

"Good thing I'm not a soldier then," was the complacent reply. "And stop squirming, it's not that bad."

"Your hands are freezing," he retorted. "And so are your feet, stop doing that!"

"Such an inconsiderate husband I have," Tiezui muttered, his breath warm, at least, against his skin. "So stingy with his affections."

"Just for that," Rishan told him, "you can make your own tea when you get up."

"You think I don't know how to make tea?" Tiezui countered. "I've been making tea since before you were born."

"Congratulations, you learned how to do it before you were ten. Good job."

The annoying thing? Tiezui's hands were warming up now - that or he was just getting used to the cold - and he was tracing gentle patterns over the small of his back which were kind of relaxing.

"Envy's not becoming, lieutenant," Tiezui teased and it had been long enough since they were still using titles instead of names that he was no longer used to it and the sound of it sent a rush of unexpected pleasure down his spine. Tiezui noticed, naturally, judging by the considering 'hmmm' that followed a moment later, but Rishan had no intention of rewarding cold hands with orgasms. Not yet, anyway. Tiezui had some work to do before he'd consider letting the lapse slide.

There was a low chuckle against his throat, followed by a brief nip at his earlobe and kisses being trailed down the side of his neck at an infuriatingly slow pace and no. No. They were not going with a slow burn right now, no testing of his endurance or any of that. He grabbed hold of Tiezui's nightshirt and yanked him fully on top of him.

"Impatient are we?"

"Yes, now get on with it."

"Such a romantic."

"You can have romance another time, just fucking kiss me properly, damn it."

"So bossy."

Rishan would have liked to sling that one right back at him, but since his husband did indeed start putting his back into kissing him properly, he decided it could wait. An opportunity would present itself soon enough, after all.