Jin woke up slowly with a huge yawn.
He glanced at the spot next to him and felt his face loosen. Mei wasn’t there but he could feel her outside. Rather than being worried, he was intensely relieved not to see her. How many times had he seen her there in that spot, barely breathing, motionless, and slowly growing colder? But now she was in their courtyard, awake and poison free.
For a moment he just lay there happily. Then memories of the day before began to filter into his mind and his brow furrowed.
He couldn’t remember how he got to bed. In fact, after Mei got all her ‘gifts’, the rest of last night was a giant blur. He could remember music, feeling happy, dancing— his brain came to an abrupt halt as his face went white. Even through the haze, he more or less understood he’d acted like a giant idiot for everyone to see.
He covered his face, terribly embarrassed by his own behavior. He couldn’t stop the trees from talking, and that Shuya woman would tease him mercilessly if he showed even the slightest reaction to last night. He couldn’t use violence against Tree Spirits to shut them up, not unless he planned on burning the entire forest, so word would definitely get out.
After some thought, he decided to pretend it didn’t happen. If mentioned, he’d act completely clueless while maintaining a straight face. Deny something long enough and even the eye witnesses will begin to doubt it happened.
En. That’s what he’d do.
But what happened after that? He really couldn’t remember. They’d headed to their bedroom, something felt great… then… then nothing? That couldn’t be right. In all these years, he’d never once had a time where he couldn’t remember something. His spirit suffered from insomnia due to overheating. Even if his body had to sleep, his spirit never did. It was always aware, always awake.
At that moment, he noticed the color of the sky. It was deep yellow, orange and red. He blinked several times in disbelief. It was evening. He’d blanked out all day? How was that possible? It was almost like he’d lost consciousness, like he’d—
With a jolt he sat upright.
HE HAD SLEPT!
He sat there for a few minutes in stunned awe. It’d been so long he’d almost forgotten what sleep felt like! His eyes watered and he sniffled slightly, feeling moved. When he went to wipe away the moisture in his eyes, he realized he’d been drooling while sleeping. Startled, he wiped his face with his sleeve.
To a spirit like him, a day’s sleep was nothing. It was like taking a short nap. But a nap was better than nothing after hundreds and hundreds of years of heat-induced insomnia. The burning sensations he’d grown to know far too well had lessen a little and he felt light because of it.
Had Mei… had Mei scrapped off a layer of the heat he always emitted? And the relief had made him pass out?
He thought about how he could barely control his inner inferno and worried. Was what she was doing really safe?
Even though she insisted his energy wouldn’t hurt her, he couldn’t help worrying. His Sister could deal with his heat because she was his equal and opposite. If he was fire, she was ice. They balanced each other, he kept her warm, she kept him cool. He never needed to worry about hurting her or being hurt by her, because she was just as strong as he was, if in a different way.
But Mei’s spirit wasn’t like his Sister’s soul. She was very like her namesake, a flower. So easy for him to crush and burn if he wasn’t careful. If it was him reaching out, him being close, that was fine. He was in control. But when she reached out, he no longer had the same control. In fact, he became absolutely stupid! Just by accident, he could seriously hurt her. It made him feel terribly afraid.
He moaned to himself and wished he didn’t become an idiot when her spirit did that—that very nice and extremely pleasant thing— that it did. He wouldn’t be so worried if he at least kept a clear head through the process. But the way things were going, that definitely wasn’t happening…
It would be better if she just didn’t touch him.
But how was that going to work? Wouldn’t he have to distance himself as well? He understood Mei very well. If he stepped away, she would rush forward and pounce him when he let his guard down. Thus the only way to really keep her from touching him was to stay physically apart. The moment he thought of having to stay away from her, his whole face cramped. There was no way it was going to happen. If he could have done that, he would have from the beginning. Even before he was human, he found himself gravitating toward her despite himself.
Seeing that he couldn’t think of a solution, he put the problem aside and did something easy: like get ready for the day. Or night, in this case. He swung his legs off the bed, stood up, and stiffly went about his morning routine (despite it being evening), stretching at random intervals to work out the kinks in his tall frame.
And there were many, many kinks.
After all, before yesterday he hadn’t moved in years. In his depression he’d neglected his body. Not to the point that anything had decayed severely, but he’d definitely lost some things… like being limber. All that dancing hadn’t been good on a body that had been immobile for years. He looked down at where he had been sleeping.
Whoever had put him to bed hadn’t tucked him in, but rudely left him sleeping on top of the blankets and in an odd position. Apparently he hadn’t moved once the entire night but stayed in that awkward position, so his muscles had tensed almost painfully. The tension plus the old wrinkled clothes that were covered in sweat from dancing made him feel out of sorts.
When he thought of who would do that, a baby faced man with green hair came to his mind. Yes, it was probably Ye. The fairy would probably gleefully admit to it too. He could see Ye’s eyes glittering maliciously.
It’s not like he could blame Ye for being sour at him. After abandoning his duties as Emperor for so many years, it wouldn’t be surprising if Ye was angry. The fairy likely got forced into doing all the work, which at this point was substantial. Jin himself hated doing all that paperwork, so how could he begrudge Ye for being bitter about having to do his and Jin’s share?
Jin gave a deep sigh and wondered how many more indignities he’d suffer until Ye was satisfied.
Once he’d washed his face, combed out his knotted hair and brushed his teeth, he felt better and slightly more optimistic. Even if Ye put centipedes in his shoes or cut his hair, it was all fine as long as Mei was safe and awake.
As he was thinking this, he walked over to the large mirror that sat in the corner of their room and examined himself closely. It was always important to make sure he looked presentable to Mei. Her standards were high and oddly specific about what made a man attractive.
The only reason he hadn’t worried about his appearance yesterday was because too many things had happened at once and he’d been too happy that she was well again to think of his own appearance. Now that he was somewhat rested and put back together, his old paranoia about his looks resurfaced.
He flexed his muscles slightly and grimaced. Why had he been so short sighted? Even if he’d been upset, he should have considered that when Mei finally woke up, his body needed to be ready for her. But instead he’d let his muscle mass deteriorate from years of inactivity. Even if it wasn’t as bad as it could be, it was still noticeable.
No matter how his sons would tease him, losing his bulk was absolutely no good. Did they think they came into existence without any effort!? Seducing their Mother hadn’t happened in a day! His body didn’t naturally favor this bulky muscle bound shape, so he had to work far more than the average man to maintain it.
He clucked his tongue slightly at himself. She wouldn’t notice, would she? His reflection looked back at him doubtfully. She was weirdly perceptive about his body. Usually he didn’t mind, since it meant she paid close attention to him, but just then it left him feeling anxious. He hurriedly went into their room sized wardrobe closet and found a formal outfit that covered him from neck to toe and put it on.
No, no… it should be fine, he assured himself anxiously as he pulled on his long sleeves, going back to the mirror one last time to check. It’s not like he’d lost all his muscle and returned to that wimpy thin stick of a man he’d started out as when they’d met. And all she’d noticed yesterday was that his hair had turned white.
After reassuring himself a few times, he straightened his back, and went outside to find his wife.
He was a little surprised to see her standing in the courtyard, barefoot, in the grass. She was wearing the same long thin rob from yesterday, her hair still touching the ground and covered in blue petals. Her eyes were closed and her hands were intertwined behind her back. Around her feet were a hundred or so white foxes of various sizes. With the setting sun casting a red orange glow across her white robed figure, she looked very picturesque and beautiful.
He wanted to watch for a few minutes to admire what he was seeing, but the foxes noticed his presence immediately. The fox kits looked at him as though he’d snuck up on them. Their eyes were wide and panicked. With some yipping and arguing, they stood up and—despite bumping into each other and falling over—got into something resembling a line and bowed their little heads respectfully in his direction.
“Good evening Fairy Emperor!” They all attempted to say at the same time, and failed spectacularly. Some couldn’t even speak properly and just yipped.
His lips twitched. Were they a small army that was standing at attention for their Commander?
“Oh, you’re awake?” With all the baby foxes making so much noise, naturally Mei had noticed him. Eyes twinkling, she gave a brilliant smile and asked, “Did you sleep well?”
Seeing her smile, he felt all the knots in his heart loosen.
“En.”
She noticed what he was wearing and looked down at herself, then tilted her head.
“I suddenly feel very underdressed.”
He cleared his throat, not quite meeting her eyes.
“Aren’t you wearing the same thing from yesterday?” He motioned toward their room. “Wouldn’t it be better to change? You have all your old outfits, even some new ones the Fairy Seamstress made over the years.”
Her face brightened.
“Is that so? Then I should definitely try them on.. Ah, I suppose I should bath first though.” She reached behind her and dragged her hair forward and said somewhat helplessly. “Maybe get my hair cut while I’m at it. This much hair is ridiculous!”
He walked over to her and reached forward. Plucking out a blue petal, his lips quirked upward.
“Whatever the Imperial Queen Consort wants.”
She smacked him, half playful and half serious, for referring to her ‘official’ title.
