Work Text:
Ever since Yin Yu had taken up his position in ghost city once again, he had also returned to the private room Hua Chengzu had previously let him live in. Once Quan Yizhen had found this private chamber of his he had picked up the habit of perching on the windowsill again. That boy could not be left alone or he would pick up old habits in an instant.
As fate would have it, Yin Yu had little trouble convincing Quan Yizhen to use the door instead of the window to get inside. One way or the other, all of it felt like ages ago. Now Yin Yu's only worry had to be how to properly sort all of the paperwork when half his desk was occupied by two curly haired children kicking their legs happily as they chattered with each other. When they were still younger it had been no issue at all, but with the passing of time they took up more and more space next to the paper he was working on.
His thoughts were quickly interrupted when the door opened. Before Yin Yu could even lift his head the two caramel haired heads before him turned, strands of flying curly hair filling half his vision in an instant. “Dad!”, Yi Rishi chimed, full of joy. Quan Yizhen lit up with a smile as he saw his children and trotted over.
He cupped the cheeks of Yin Rishi between his hands, squeezing the young squishy face as he kissed her forehead. She was beaming back at her father with bright violet eyes. The same process was repeated with Yin Yueshi sitting right next to her. Their son was more reserved than their daughter, but his eyes shone no less bright.
After both kids had received their ritual show of affection it was Yin Yu's turn. The way to deliver attention looked different for him of course. Quan Yizhen wordlessly trailed behind his chair and wrapped his arms around the backrest and Yin Yu's waist. His head leaned over one shoulder and from there he placed a kiss on his husband's cheek.
By this point Yin Yu only kept up the pretense of working, knowing fair well the miniscule chance of getting back to work. He turned his head slightly and whispered: “Welcome home.” Restraint was never Quan Yizhen's strongest suit, but the next kiss was a gentle one of lips meeting lips. Yin Yu tugged at his husband's collar to beckon him around. “You didn't get hurt this time around did you?”, he questioned. Once Quan Yizhen had walked to his front Yin Yu was able to quickly check him over. For once there was no blood clinging to him. A rare occasion.
“The beast was not strong.”, he elaborated as he let Yin Yu brush over his cheeks and tilt his head from one side to the other. Yin Yu's eyes scanned him over a second time. He had returned rather quickly, but that didn't always mean whatever he was fighting was weak. Some days Yizhen was simply too impatient and disregarded injury to be home faster.
The twins they had were good children, waiting even when Yin Rishi looked like she was about to explode with held back questions. Only once Yin Yu sighed: “You did well today.”, and they were sure their dad wouldn't be sent to grab medicine or clean his wounds did they burst out with their questions. Yin Yueshi slipped from the desk while Yin Rishi extended her arms outward. “What did you fight?”, she wanted to know.
“Was it big??”, Yin Yueshi added as he was picked up. Quan Yizhen was beaming as bright as the sun. It would be blinding how excited he still got when Yin Yu praised him, if it was not also so very endearing. “It was very big.”, with one child in either arm he began his retelling. “And it had hooves.”
Quan Yizhen's stories were far less dramatic than those one would hear in plays or from most gods themselves. Nonetheless Yin Yueshi and Yin Rishi were always enraptured by them, listening as if their lives were hanging by a thread. Likewise Yin Yu never failed to find himself enraptured in the sight of their twins in Yizhen's arms. The day when his heart did not fill with a familiar warm and prickly feeling, upon seeing Quan Yizhen answer every question that burst out of Yin Rishi, would never come.
Quan Yizhen was busy describing every detail of the creature he thought that he could remember and answering every question either of the twins had about it. Yin Yu was busy listening and watching their eyes grow wider with each word. His work was left rather abandoned now as he listened to a story about fierce kicks and horns that tried to pierce through its enemy. As he did it slowly dawned on him, the subtle realization why there was no exterior wound on Yizhen and no blood flowing. Not a conversation to enter between the twins' ferocious assault of questions. So he waited, an hour at least, until the hunger for knowledge was finally satiated and curiosity was overpowered by the heavy weight of sleepiness.
“Time for bed?”, Quan Yizhen asked when Yin Yueshi started to slump against his shoulder. It was met by immediate protest from two fronts. Yin Yueshi was weak and it was at most an unintelligible grumble. Yin Rishi, although fighting to keep her eyes open now, managed a clearly whined “Nooooo.”
To all the kids' complaints their father hadn't asked them and instead had his eyes fixed on Yin Yu as he asked. Yin Yu hummed a tone of agreement which prompted more whines from their daughter. “But we want to hear more of the fight.”, her words slurred slightly as the complaint was spoken and Yin Yu stood from his seat now. “Your father can tell you about it until you fall asleep," he offered in a soft voice. “Once you two are changed and in bed.”
“The more you argue the sooner you fall asleep and the less story you will be able to listen to.”, Quan Yizhen chimed in before Yin Rishi could think of another argument. Yueshi roused from his half asleep state and tugged at his sister. Soon they both squirmed out of Quan Yizhen's arms to run off and get changed in order to win the maximum available story time for themselves.
“Yizhen”, Yin Yu said as he watched the two scurry into a different room. “Did it kick you?”
He is too acquainted with the way his husband adverts his eyes from him. Too acquainted with the subtle shifts in Yizhen's posture. Quan Yizhen doesn't lie. He never did and neither was he very good at it when he tried. He does however hide things and he does avoids when he knows Yin Yu won't like an honest answer. Tragically Quan Yizhen also was not very good at hiding things from Yin Yu. Especially not when he was guiltyly quiet the moment Yin Yu spoke a correct suspicion.
“Yizhen.”, he repeated in a sigh. “Why won't you tell me these things? It must be hurting.”
“Shixiong would worry.”, he answered in a tiny voice.
“And I worry less if you don't tell me?”, Yin Yu noticed the mistake of framing that as if it were a question quick enough to add. “Don't answer that. I don't worry less if you hide things from me. We have been over this before.”
Of course, theoretically, Yin Yu would worry less. He couldn't worry about something he didn’t know about after all. Which was not the point he was trying to make at all. “Have you applied medicine to it yet?”
Quan Yizhen, looking as guilty as a wet dog left on the street, silently shook his head. Yin Yu could only sigh again as he fetched some medicine that was stored in the very topmost drawer of his work desk ever since this situation became too akin to routine for his liking.
“I will tuck the kids into bed.”, he declared as he pushed the medicine into Quan Yizhen's hand. “And you dont come in before you have treated your wound properly.”
It was not a question. Quan Yizhen needed rather stern reminders to take care of himself before he forgot he too could feel pain and his pain was no less important just because it was one that went unseen. Therefore Yin Yu did not wait for an answer before he followed the twins.
By the time Quan Yizhen had done as he was told and poked his head into the sleeping chambers, all three of them had managed to fall asleep. Piled on the bed as they were Yin Yu had wrapped his arms around their kids and Quan Yizhen could only think to quietly join him.
