The Story Of Our Scars Is The Wonder In These Stars

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/44001058.

Rating: Explicit
Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandom: 山河令 | Word of Honor (TV 2021)
Relationship: Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu
Character: Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Anal Sex, Body Worship, Body
Image, Canon Divergence, Fluff, Smut, Top Wen Kexing/Bottom Zhou
Zishu, Wen Kexing is whipped, Anal Fingering, Romantic Soulmates,
Making Love, Love, Scars, Scar kisses
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2023-01-01 Words: 2283

The Story Of Our Scars Is The Wonder In These Stars

by TwoTeaspoonsOfSuga

Summary

Zhou Zishu is self-conscious of his scars in comparison to Wen Kexings flawless beauty.
When it comes time to be intimate, Zishu wants to turn away, but Kexing refuses to let him
sink back and instead seeks to make sure his senior is certain of his own beauty.

OR

"“When I tell you to inform me of your pain, I don’t just mean your bones, your muscles or
your meridians.” the younger chastised. “I mean for you to tell me all of your pain. Your
mind… and your heart to. I opened mine for you… terrified. All I ask if that you keep your
own open for me.”
“Okay…”
“As for you worries. You’re right, they are silly.”
“Ai!”
But as Zishu reach up to hit him, Kexing's hands closed around his forearms to push them
up above his head. For a moment they took it in, the crackle of sexual energy and the
earnest whisper of romance. “Ah-Xu. I have seen your body. Your true face. Your heart,
your mind, the very centre of your soul. All that was good, all that was sinister and human.
You are the most beautiful man of this Earth.”
“Lao Wen… I just-“
“Let me see them. Your scars.""

Notes

Ahhh my first WOH fic! It has been bubbling for a while know! Please let me know if you
 like!

See the end of the work for more notes

Zhou Zishu had never paid much mind to his body. For many years in fact, he had sought to torture
it instead. It was only when a Wen Kexing had re-entered his life, that he had appreciated the
beauty in being alive at all. And more specifically, it the curve of a waist, the bow of a smile, the
spark caught like starlight behind a man’s eyes.

Wen Kexing was beautiful. Complex, flawed and so irritatingly gorgeous. Many a night Zishu
would watch those eyes dance beneath the field of diamonds above. Many mornings he would
watch the sunrise across his cheeks . His body ripple as he sunk into the hot-springs. Pale and
without blemish.

Zishu had long forgone the rose tinted blush in his cheeks or the shame he might have once felt in
feeling those things. Now he looked at him openly, smiled willingly in adoration and it was Lao
Wen’s time to blush.

The former Chief of Ghost Valley perched on the stone before Zhou Zishu’s bench and the elder’s
foot pulled into his lap as his kneaded the taught muscles of his arch.

“You don’t need to do this…” Zishu whispered.

Kexing breathed a laugh, his hair fluttering in the breeze as the songs birds tittered in the maple
leaves to the south. “If I don’t do this your foot will be ruined by noon. Why did you not tell me
you’d pulled it?”

“I don’t know. It was silly really. I didn’t want to worry you.”

The tender warmth in Zishu’s tone had coaxed Kexing’s eyes from his lap. Behind him the sun was
still rising, the light a white gold that bleached the stone and hazed behind the morning fog. With
Chen Ling still sleeping across their grounds the Window of Heaven was particularly peaceful this
sunrise. And Zishu could not help but smile. “Why do you smile?” Kexing chuckled.

“You’re quite beautiful. More than I’d care to admit.”

The younger tilted his head. “Only ‘quite’?”

The elder smirked. “Lao Wen…”

“Mm?”

“Come here.”

Kexing’s eyes were glazing, like clouds passing the moon. He slid his palm into Zishu’s and the
elder pulled him to his feet, the periwinkle purple of his robes sparkling with iridescent swirls as
his sleeves brushed the hyacinth blue of Zishu’s.

And from their close proximity Zishu had to lift his gaze. There was something there like wonder.
As if he were seeing the younger once again for the first time. Wen Kexing reached out to cup the
elder’s cheek, bushing his hair behind his ear and letting his thumb trace his cheekbone.
“What is it?”

“Will you kiss me?”

His eyes wide, Kexing coughed a laugh. “Ah-Xu…” he teased, his lips pressed into an impish line.
“If you wanted me, all you had to do was tell me. You know I could never deny you a-”

“Then I want you.” He told him, his fingers blazing a path from his shoulders to his chest. “Hm,
now.”

Wen Kexing huffed a laugh. “You’ve come some way since we met by that bridge in Spring.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re shameless.”

Zishu smiled but rolled his eyes. “Shame is a wasted emotion. Remorse is much more useful.”

The younger played with the tie at his waist. “Mm. Does your foot still hurt?”

“Better. Aching, but no real pain.”

Like my heart, he wanted to whisper, ever since you saved me.

“Ahh that won’t do. Then I’ll have to carry you there.”

His head whipped up. “Don’t you da- AH! Wen Kexing! Let me down!”

The taller giggled as Zishu flailed in his arms. “Never.”

“Lao Wen…” Zishu breathed as a heaving chest and strong thighs were exposed and the younger’s
inner robe was pooled on the varnished maple wood. The taller man strolled closer, bare and pale,
his hair brushing the base of his spine.

He sank down with the familiar darkness of the Ghost Valley Chief and with none of the menace
that title once held. He urged the elder and his ruffled robes into the pillows with the light
cornflower gauze fluttering about the bed frame. Light streaming in from the round windows to the
west. “Yes?”

He’s too beautiful… too beautiful to bear.

In his silence, in parted lip and visible awe, Lao Wen chuckled, pressing a gentle kiss to his mouth
with his hands skimming Zishu’s tiny waist. “Cute.”

As his fingers found the bow of his under garment, Zishu gasped and caught his wrist. “Let me turn
around first.”

“Huh, why?”

Zishu’s eyes scanned Wen Kexing’s smooth, porcelain skin. “It will be easier for you… to have me
that way…”

Kexing pushed his lips out into a pout. “But I want to see this handsome face.”
“You see my face every day.” Zishu chuckled, breathless, a furrow in his brow he just couldn’t
hide.

Kexing frowned. “Not like this.” Zishu laughed soft and pulled him down for a pretty little kiss, the
water lapping from the pond beyond their windows. “Why so shy? We’ve done this before three
times now.”

“I’m not. Shy.”

“Then why can’t you look at me… do-do I look strange when I…”

“No!” Zishu snorted.

But Lao Wen would not laugh this time. “Ah Xu….” He breathed his thumb kissing his jaw and
moving up to his ear lobe. “What is it.”

The elder’s smile fade and his eyes mellowed. He shook his head. “It’s stupid… and insecure. It’s
ridiculous.”

“Tell me.”

He faltered, his soft lips pressed into a line before he decided to speak. Curling a lock of Kexing’s
stygian hair around his finger he finally let his guard down a little. “Your body is beautiful…” he
sighed. “Pure, and unscathed. Mine is… not so nice to look at. There are scars on my back too. But
those on my front are… much more grotesque. The nails… they… it isn’t that I’m vain. It’s just I
don’t want you to look at it. And feel anything... negative.”

As he spoke, a sorrow dawned upon Lao Wen’s countenance. His fingers tracing the contours of
Zishu’s face and his lower body settled against his. Warm and half hard. “Stop…”

“Lao Wen.”

“How long have you felt this way?”

“I don’t know… a few months? Maybe.”

“When I tell you to inform me of your pain, I don’t just mean your bones, your muscles or your
meridians.” He chastised. “I mean for you to tell me all of your pain. Your mind… and your heart
to. I opened mine for you… terrified. All I ask if that you keep your own open for me.”

“Okay…”

“As for you worries. You’re right, they are silly.”

“Ai!”

But as Zishu reach up to hit him, Kexings hands closed around his forearms to push them up above
his head. For a moment they took it in, the crackle of sexual energy and the earnest whisper of
romance. “Ah-Xu. I have seen your body. Your true face. Your heart, your mind, the very centre of
your soul. All that was good, all that was sinister and human. You are the most beautiful man of
this Earth.”

“Lao Wen… I just-“

“Let me see them. Can I see them?”

Ah Xu let his eyes pass the younger’s expression and found naught but a quiet adoration and
penetrating sincerity. “Yes.”

After he pulled the ribbon loose the white undergarment fell open. Zishu’s torso was lean,
muscled, snowy in hue. The slashes a pearly shift and the six nails in two uniform rows look nastier
than the rest. Lao Wen was undeterred. “Would it hurt… if I touched them.”

A lump in his throat, Zishu shook his head. “Not if you were careful.” He croaked. “Gently...”

Lao Wen dipped down to gather those lovely lips in a kiss, his finger’s splayed at his side as
Zishu’s jaw moved along with his. A sweet little whine left between Kexing’s lips. And the
younger’s finger’s took off brushed the second nail down on the right.

The elder shivered instantly, his toes curling against the sheets as Kexing pulled back up to watch
him. “Does it feel nice?”

“It’s so soothing.” He croaked, eyes screwed shut. “Like cool water on a fresh burn.”

“Ahh. You’re so pretty.” The younger hummed. “Open your eyes. Look at me.”

“Lao Wen… Lao Wen.”

“Look at me.”

But as soon as his lids parted the tears escaped. Sparkling upon his cheeks like the most precious of
diamonds. “Lao Wen… It feels good.”

“My angel.” Kexing doted. “So divine. Look at you.”

And his lips met the first of the nails, drawing a stuttered breath. He paid attention to each, blessed
each with a kiss before moving on to the slashes on his shoulder and his side.

“Each one of these scars…” Kexing murmured into his goose-pimpled skin. “Is a line… a passage
or a chapter of your story. To me, even if they were borne of pain, they will always serve as proof,
that you are the bravest and most beautiful man this world has to offer. When I see them… all I
want is to kiss you… to hold you… to fuck you. To make love. Because I realise how lucky I was
to find you. Twice.”

He lifted his lips and moved up, his forehead pressed the elder’s as his palm hooked under his knee
to push it toward his chest. The oil they had long kept under their pillows was retrieved and the
younger was covering his fingers as Zishu’s heart beat like a drum in his ears. He was dizzy… with
the heady intoxicating quell in atmosphere. And despite the bright light the world felt womb like
and intimate.

A gasp and the slick fingers brushed his twitching hole. “You can’t tease me now.” The elder
lamented.

“Patience…” was the wry reply.

The first finger had Zishu choking on a low moan. “My god…”

“Perfect… you’re so perfect.” Lao Wen promised him, Zishu’s heart swelling with every brush on
a nail or breath of angelic reassurance to his ear.

He was blessed. Truly. Dying by the hour but blessed with such a priceless gift. He had been given
Wen Kexing. Wen Kexing had given himself. All for him. It was only fair that Zhou Zishu could
return the favour.

His body was arching as three fingers curled up and rubbed at just the right spot with the most
ardent devotion. And Zishu kept his legs spread, Lao Wen thick and hard as he licked his palm and
wrapped it around his girth.

“Don’t.” the younger bit. “I’ll come. I’m too riled, I’m too-“

“Then fuck me…” he pleaded, his voice rough and ruined as his other hand came up to caress his
neck. “Before I roll over and force you see what you’ve done to me…”

“Fuck…”

“Lao Wen…”

Their lips came together, as Zishu guided his cock to the intended target. Lao Wen pushed his hips
down, and the elder’s nails pressed crescent indents into his lover’s back. He cried out, a breathy
little ‘Ah!’ of great relief.

His eyes rolled back and Wen Kexing peppered kisses to his lips, his jaw and his neck, thumbs
rolling his nipples before the moved down to brush the bottom two nails much softer. “Ah… look
how lovely you are. My miracle, Ah-Xu. ”

His brow crumpled, his lips trembled and Zhou Zishu found the tears falling as Lao Wen rocked
into him. Such pleasure, such a sheer and unconditional love bestowed upon him. Lao Wen kept
kissing him. Kept speaking though his voice cracked and his own eyes welled. ‘Is it okay’ he told
him ‘I love you’ ‘You’re so beautiful’.

“Zhen Yan.” The younger’s eyes fluttered. “I love you…”

Zishu felt like he was begging and for what he didn’t know… until Wen Kexing gave it to him.
The bed shifting, the mattress creaking and the two clung to each other like rocks in a storm tossed
sea.

The pinnacle. The peak. The sweet fall thereafter. It was what he had wordlessly asked for.

It wracked Zishu’s body, leaving him gasping and trembling in the taller’s arms and Lao Wen was
misty eyed… almost catatonic in the shock of sheer force that overwhelmed them.

When he was finally able to gather his senses his lips took off again to sooth those pretty scars and
speak into his skin. “Do you need it again?”

“Mmph, too soon.”

“Not for my benefit. I mean… if you still don’t feel like your body is pretty, I can keep doing it
until you-“

“I love you, Lao Wen. ” The younger lifted his head. Bright eyed and so very pleased and peering
down, Zishu cupped his jaw. “My greatest love… the wonder in the stars.”

Wen Kexing smiled a sheepish smile. “You speak so prettily after sex.”

“Ai...”

“I mean it. For a long while I was convinced I loved you more. Considerably more. But when you
 talk like this I…”

“You have no idea.” Ah Xu mumbled, his palms either side of the younger’s skull. “If I were to
lose you… the thought that you could lose me…”

“Let’s not talk of that now.” Lao Wen insisted burrowing his forehead into the crook of his
collarbone.. “Not in a moment like this.”

“Mm. Chengling will be wondering where we are.”

“Will he?”

Ah Xu frowned. “What do you mean?”

“He is young, but he’s not as stupid as he looks sometimes. I very much doubt he will walk into an
adult’s room at dawn and not expect to find something like this.”

“Ai…”

“Shh lay with me until the fog lifts, you so smell good.”

“I smell like sex.”

“Exactly.”

End Notes

Eeeee comment and kudo would be much appriciated!

HAPPY 2023

Liv <3

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