Wen Reian

2004 years after The Long Night

Jingshén

Reian sighed... his fingers clutching weakly at the King's shoulders. Wrapped up in the moment, the two of them kissed slowly, deeply. Discovering each other's taste and lingering in the sweetness of it.

Reian could feel Xie Yi-jun holding his chin, tilting his head up...

Above them birds flew from branch to branch, calling out to their own loved-ones, and as every second passed Reian grew more and more at ease. A sense of warmth and comfort enveloping him until he felt just like a house cat napping in the sun. Everything was good, and everything was beautiful-

"Crunch!"

Reian felt his eyelids flutter...

"Hmm-"

Slipping away from the dream, he tried desperately to cling to it, but the feeling dissolved in an instant and then Wen Reian was left blinking up at the blue sky and the green trees, wondering why he'd been woken from the best sleep he'd had in ages!

Soon, he remembered...

Beside him, Yi-jun sat. They'd come to the orchard today to "study" but Wen Rei realised with a tired sigh that the King had probably invited him out here so that Reian could get a break from everything going on in Jingshén.

With the first of his three tests completed, he was getting closer and closer to being recognised as a true cultivator of the magic arts. An adult, at last...

Glancing sidelong at the King who was sitting with his knees up and reading a book, Reian noticed absentmindedly the apple in his hand, deciding that was probably what woke him up.

The boy stretched, closing his eyes momentarily and making a soft sighing noise. Xie Yi-jun spoke to him without even looking over.

"Sleep well?"

Nodding, Wen Rei glanced over the King's shoulder to see what he was reading. It was in a language he didn't understand and the pages looked old and faded...

"What's that?"

Yi-jun just smiled softly. It was a smile that was really a grimace, and Reian could see so in his eyes.

"Just a book of fairy-tales. I grew up reading them, but over the years they've changed a lot."

"Yeah?" Reian blinked, "What sort of fairy-tales?"

A light shone in Yi-jun's eyes as he answered; "Adventures of the bravest knight, magic spells gone awry... dragons, witches, selfish Kings-"

Reian smiled, "I'm surprised you enjoy that sort of thing."

The King looked at him curiously. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, you know." Reian blushed, muttering under his breath as his eyes lowered shyly...

"You're sort of like a fairy-tale. Isn't it like reading about your own life?"

When he looked back up at Xie Yi-jun, the man was watching him intently, eyes wide as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Before Reian could stammer an apology or something of the sort, the King suddenly smiled, his grin lighting up his whole face...

He didn't respond to Reian's comment, only saying;

"I read it every year on my birthday, a sort of tradition."

Nodding, it was far too long before Reian realised what he'd said.

"...wait. Your birthday?!"

Yi-jun chuckled at Reian's stunned expression.

"I know. I don't look a day over six hundred, right?"

After the King closed the book with a sigh, he leaned against the tree, placing a hand behind his head and smiling wistfully.

"When I was a child, the amount of posturing and work I had to do on my birthday always felt like a punishment. Eventually I realised it was my privilege; greeting the citizens, listening to their worries and hopes, dreams and congratulations. I'm grateful for the fact that my mother never let me turn into a selfish King. That day becoming something for everyone else but me was the right decision."

When he glanced over at Reian, Yi-jun's kind eyes softened even more.

"What do you do on your birthday?" He asked.

Reian just shrugged. "Probably the same thing I do everyday... I don't have a birthday."

Yi-jun immediately did a double-take.

"Wait, what?!"

Smiling at the King's face, the boy just nodded.

"Orphan, remember?"

"So you don't know what day you were born?"

Frowning, Reian thought...

"Master Hao said they found me here in the forest towards the end of Autumn, but I was already several months old. Not very many of us in Jingshén know our birthdays. We usually just mark it with the passing of the year-"

Suddenly Yi-jun huffed loudly, shaking his head.

"No, no you have to have a birthday!"

Then his eyes widened-

"Today is your birthday! We can share one!"

Before Reian could react; be it to laugh or just stare at him, Xie Yi-jun was jumping up, folding his book under his arm and reaching the other down.

Looking up, the light coming through the branches highlighting all of the King's features in the most handsome way, Wen Rei couldn't help but smile as Yi-jun helped him up.

"We can do anything you want," the King grinned at him. "Happy birthday, Wen Reian!"

Covering his mouth while he laughed, Reian held Yi-jun's hand. As they began walking, their arms started swinging until soon Reian was skipping, his laughs separated by playful gasps as Xie Yi-jun kept tugging on him.

"What shall we do? Hmm?!" The King said with a wide grin.

Going deeper into the forest, Reian was certain that this was all he could ever want on his birthday, or any other day...

Just this, he thought. Just to be here together, with you. To see your smile and the light in your eyes-

Laughing, the boy released Yi-jun's hand as the man suddenly bent down and picked up a long, brown and white speckled feather.

Twirling it between his fingers a few times, the man stared at it fondly, clearly remembering something. Before he glanced back at Reian, Yi-jun stuck the feather behind his ear. Reian had seen him do it once before, it seemed to only happen when the King was in a good mood.

The absurdity and childishness of it made warmth swell in Reian's chest, and when Xie Yi-jun returned to holding his hand as if it was already a habit, he swore he could feel that warmth flow both ways through their skin. It lit Wen Reian from the inside like a lantern in his heart. All the light he'd ever need.

Yi-jun continued rambling aimlessly-

"... we could find a river to swim in. Or I'm sure I could figure out some fun trick to show you-"

When he saw Reian was watching him with a big smile, Xie Yi-jun stopped, eyebrows raising slightly.

"What?! What is it?"

"Nothing," Reian laughed. "It's just... it's really your birthday, but you want to do all this for me? Why?"

When Yi-jun suddenly frowned, Wen Rei was sure he'd upset him. The King came over, and Reian held his breath when the man raised his other hand and ever-so-lightly stroked Reian's cheek. He felt his blush deepening as Yi-jun sighed again and said;

"Because everyone deserves at least one day a year where they do things solely for the purpose of their own happiness. Everyone... but especially you."

Xie Yi-jun's eyes were soft and kind, the dark chestnut color of them made more vibrant by the greenery around them. Reian couldn't help but smile at his words. And then a thought struck him...

If everyone deserves that, but Xie Yi-jun has always had birthdays that centered around giving to others, when does he get to have his day?

"What about you?"

"Me?!"

Reian nodded, "When is your day to be happy, if it's not on your birthday?"

Yi-jun seemed to think about this for a moment or two, then, chuckling as if he'd come up with a fantastic joke, he looked at Reian and said;

"It can be on yours!"

Before Reian was able to point out the obvious, Xie Yi-jun was laughing, pulling him along again-

"I told you! We'll share... that way, we can be selfishly happy on the same day!"

Reian smiled...

Yi-jun held a finger up in warning.

"Promise not to do even a single thing for someone else, Wen Reian. Not today... you can be anything on your birthday! Anything at all..."

A brave, hidden part of Reian's consciousness made him blurt out what he said next.

"Okay, I think I'll be King."

The dumbfounded look on Xie Yi-jun's face was met only with Reian's forced sternness, and the telltale twitch of his lips.

"...blasphemy-" Yi-jun hissed.

Raising his chin high, as if he was above everything and everyone else, Wen Rei barely held back his laughter as he tried to frown.

"That is no way to speak to your Ki- ah!"

Gasping in surprise and giggling loudly as Yi-jun suddenly tore away from him and ducked behind a tree, Reian approached slowly, walking as if he had books piled high upon his head.

When Yi-jun peaked out, his eyes were wide and he seemed to be pretending to hide from him! Reian had to bite his lip to keep from laughing-

"My lord! Please, spare me!" Yi-jun's voice trembled.

The silliness of his voice made Reian giggle but he tried to bury it and glare menacingly at the frightened one behind the tree, calling;

"I may find tolerance for you yet! Step out and show yourself-"

Xie Yi-jun made a show of running from one tree to another, then another, and Reian could hardly see by the end of it with all the tears in his eyes from laughing. His stomach ached-

Finally, from behind him he felt Yi-jun tap his shoulder.

Immediately when Reian turned around, the real King was bowing, seeming to quiver with every word as he stammered;

"My Lord, could you find it in your h-heart to be lenient to a p-poor fool such as I?"

Impressed by Yi-jun's acting and ability to change his voice like that, Wen Reian was so caught up in the moment, tears of joy drying on his face, that he actually reached out and touched the King's chin, bringing his face up and meeting the man's eyes slowly.

Trying with his last bit of sense to hold onto his King-like expression and stance, Reian ended up turning Yi-jun's face and gazing at every inch of it intensely, his eyes narrowing... left... right... he's staring at me too-

Reian swallowed, his hand falling away to be followed by hesitant, uneven words-

"Mercy for the poor fool, for he and I share a birthday."

He watched Xie Yi-jun's curious expression gradually brighten, smile returning to light his eyes. Wen Rei's hand was still tingling from touching him, and his heartbeat had grown steadily louder at the way Yi-jun's breath had visibly caught when he'd examined his features.

All his life it seemed, Reian had to be different versions of himself around different people...

He was a playful, loving older brother to the little kids and to Jin Yu. He was Xie De's somewhat reluctant partner in crime. Master Hao's adopted son and devoted student. To the world he was an orphan, a disciple, and a young man.

And all of these versions were who he was, and who he was always becoming...

And yet after meeting Xie Yi-jun, Reian had discovered even more versions of himself. More than he could have ever dreamed of. And the person he was when he was with Yi-jun, the person he was because of Yi-jun... that was the person Reian liked being the most in the world.

I am a healer. Someone who speaks their mind, but can keep precious secrets. I'm a boy, finding out that love is much more than what I already knew. With Yi-jun I am more.

With him, I am me!