#ouyang/esen

[erisenyo]

For @radiantemperorweek Day 3, reincarnation AND stabbing! Thanks to you-know-who-you-are for the prompt!

Baoxiang takes a moment out of his usual nightly ritual to admire the shine of the embossed filigree of his favorite tea pot, the deep matte black of it seeming to suck in the low kitchen light and spit it back out in streaks of gold.  It’s almost a ceremony, now, loathe as he is to admit it: draw the water, sift and measure the leaves, contemplate the innumerable, unstoppably choices of his life that led him here as he waits for it to steep.

He holds back the sleeve of his house coat on the poor, admiring the elegant drape of fabric and angle of his and arch of water from the spout. He takes a moment to admire the curls of steam, too, breathing deep just as he hears the now-familiar single, sharp jerk of a body spasming against sheets followed by a too-deep, too-still silence.

Baoxiang takes a delicate sip—a new blend from Seyhan, perhaps more temperamental in it’s needs, he will have to be more careful of the water temperature next time—and mentally counts down, timing it perfectly to the moment when Ouyang’s bedroom door rips open and Ouyang himself stumbles out, striking in his tight-lipped fury a always even sweat-sticky and bedraggled.  

Ouyang’s gaze immediately snaps to him, delicate features twisted into a snarl.

Baoxiang cocks his eyebrow and give shim one of the arch, purposefully-blank-but-knowing looks he knows Ouyang loathes. “Bad dreams?”

Another silent snarl, and Ouyang slams his way into the bathroom, the cold draft from the door weeping in his wake.  

-*-

Ouyang moves about the bathroom with tightly restrained violence, only the reality of needing to endure Esen’s concern and questions stopping him from breaking his hand against a wall again.

His jaw is tight enough to ache as he avoids the mirror and his own body and the way his body feels as he splashes his face with water, squeezing his eyes shut a moment and trying to feel that before shoving off the sink with a snarl and clawing off his sweaty night clothes.

And of course there are fresh ones that Wang must have left, the asshole, Ouyang is never touching gin again. And he can’t even be ungrateful for it since he needs them, which only serves to make him even more angry, the idea of Wang knowing, of needing to owe him. Part off him wants to just stalk back to his room without them, but the idea of Wang seeing him that way is even worse, so Ouyang strangles back the impulse and forces himself to endure the indignity of putting on pajamas that Wang left out for him.

If only it were half as easy to strangle back the lingering dream, too. The memory of Esen’s familiar eyes, strangely beautiful in this rougher, dirtier face, looking at him through odd, straggling hair. The memory of Esen—disrobing. Looking at Ouyang and disrobing and then walking to him, and Ouyang—Ouyang meeting him. Staring at the trust and bravado on Esen’s face that he wants to strike away to not have to bear looking at, unable to tear his away anymore than he can ignore the hot twist in his gut at the sound Esen makes as Ouyang’s sword—because even here he doesn’t—even in this it’s a fucking length of metal, not—impales him. Esen’s hands clutching at his shoulders and Esen’s weight against his chest, his long sigh and parted lips and eyes and—

Ouyang smashes the lights off and slams back toward his room, ignoring Wang’s knowing eyes.

-*-

“Hm,” Baoxiang says just in case Ouyang is listening, considering his solidly closed door—he’s going to break another one, like this—before leaning to reach into the fridge to grab one of his brother’s disgusting blood orange grapefruit seltzers, because it is ritual by now and at this point—

-*-

Esen gasps awake around the intruding thrust into his body. This murderous, triumphant, furious, despairing Ouyang is still on the back of his eyelids and Esen’s hand is already fisted around his leaking cock and he isn’t even awake, basically still dreaming, practically still unconscious as he arches into the burn and clenches around the emptiness and whacks off in two quick strokes.

He gives his hand a bemused look, after, once he’s woken up a bit more, absently wiping off the stickiness on his t-shirt before hopping out of bed. He pads to the bathroom to clean off, giving his fading cock a bemused look for good measure, too.

He tosses his come-stained one into the laundry, pausing a moment to admire his entirely whole torso in the mirror, flexing a little—should he focus on chest day more? Maybe grow a bit of scruff? Grow out his hair?—before making his way to the kitchen where Baoxiang is awake like he always is at this time of night.

“Still being a gremlin, Baobao?” Esen says in cheerful greeting, reaching out for a noogie and laughing when Baoxiang evades with a sharp wrinkle of his nose.

“Ge away from me with that,” Baoxiang says, giving his right hand a wary look—ha, his brother doesn’t know everything, Esen uses his left—and shoving a still-cold can of seltzer across the island, giving Esen one of his pointedly, exaggerated disgusted looks as Esen enthusiastically chugs it down—these dreams always make him so thirsty!

“You’ll way Ouyang,” Baoxiang says when Esen lets out a belch, his voice prickly and sharp.  

Esen pauses with the can halfway to his lips, shrugging but doing his best to…drink more quietly this time as he glances to Ouyang’s door, absently patting at his sternum with his free hand. “He sleeps through anything, anyway.”

“Hn.” Baoxiang takes a prissy sip of that barely flavored grass-water he likes. Then, “Bad dreams?”

Esen polishes off the last of his seltzer, enjoying the fizz on his tongue that matches the fizz in his blood. Baobao’s already heard his drunken rambles one.

His brother gives him a knowing look. “Good dreams.”

Esen shrugs, focusing on crushing his empty can down into a neat little disk. “Hey.”

Baoxiang gives him a questioning arch of his eyebrow.

“You ever think—Ouyang—”

Baobao actually pauses, straightening a little. “Oh?” holding back the bitchy comment Esen knows is on the tip of his tongue. “You ever…” Hm. He isn’t quite sure where he’s going with this. “You’re a fashion guy, right?”

Baoxiang blinks, then glances pointed down at the…embroidered, layered…outfit he’s wearing.

“Right,” Esen needs. “Do you think Ouyang would like a set of like—” he gestures vaguely toward his own chest. “—armor?”

“Oh, thousand fucking hells—why not ask about a sword while you’re at it,” Baoxiang snaps.

“Is that a thing people do?” Esen asks eagerly, giving himself his third bemused look of the night as he takes in the tea—thankfully warm, not hot—now dripping down his bare chest as Baoxiang stalks away toward his bedroom.

Hm. Esen didn’t see any of his spare tshirts in the bathroom to wipe off with.

But since Baobao got him dirty, Esen decides with a grin, his brother can’t mind if Esen uses one of his pristine white towels to get clean.

[deaddove]

kinghunters on ao3—

zhu/ma, ouyang/esen, baoxiang is just there

rated T

mecha/iron widow au verse. no knowledge of canon needed. no iron widow spoilers

a bit of friendly competition between huaxia’s top-ranking pilots

no gay sex this time but there are giant robot battles which is kind of the same thing if you think about it

[sketchy-fey]

Oct 2021

[ash-and-starlight]

one day, in a thousand years

[3cosmicfrogs]

Spring hunt.

[bleuarte]

Lord Esen in she who became the sun

And General Ouyang in he who drowned the world

[eleni-anz]

hitting you with swbts tiktok meme

[video caption under cut]

Esen: wow! the cat is very cute Esen: i like the cat Esen: do you like the cat? Chaghan&Wang Baoxiang: pls kill it Esen: WHY DO YOU DO THIS Esen: i am very angry Esen: you are a crazy person Chaghan&Wang Baoxiang: because it will kill..USSS Esen: b-but he doesn't seem like..a bad guy Esen: guchi guchi guchi guchi Ouyang: meow! :3 meow meow meow >:3 ....... [screaming]

[mispatchedgreens]

welcome to another installment of 'what if the radiant emperor was a whole nother thing', vol. shounen manga

this was fueled by a completely normal post wondering abt ouyang's blade, and then me trying to figure out a universe where he'd wield the zhanmadao

[escyn]

Radiant Emperor Week Day 2: Haunted

Wang Baoxiang’s Dreams - wip (id in alt)

[spiderthread]

The contrast between his exquisite exterior and the horror within put Ma in mind of a pearlescent cocoon of silk thread: a coffin for the worm that had been boiled alive.

[erisenyo]

okay i hope it doesn't come out weird but i'm still thinking abt that Esen/Ouyang mini-fic of yours bc holy shit. this impaling-but-orgasm moment lives in my mind rent free now. i'm soooo glad you took this metaphor and made it more explicit in every sense of the term. wonderful job 👍💖

(Another thing i loved was the contrast between Ouyang & Esen in regards to the mirror: Ouyang not wanting to look at it as per usual and Esen flexing his muscles to it. And poor Baoxiang having to deal with the worst flatmates ever... RIP).

Not weird at ALL!! I love to hear that you're still thinking about it, and especially the impaling-but-orgasm moment! I have a *lot* of impaling/penetrating/thrusting language and imagery that I cut for length to maintain Esen's whole oblivious deniability thing, so I'm definitely still thinking about this one too haha

I'm so happy you enjoyed the contrast with the mirrors as well!! Ouyang trying to push away acknowledging his body (what it is and what it wants) and Esen just soaking in the sensations, vibing, flexing, just feeling good in his skin and not thinking a single thought about it definitely not no siree.

And Baoxiang just Enduring, while also being a full member of the "lying to himself" roommate trio. Not that he'd admit it, of course :P

[deaddove]

silk coffin on ao3—

ouyang/esen (+baoxiang)

rated M

mecha/iron widow au verse. no iw spoilers

sequel to kinghunters

let's see what the boys over in yuan province are up to~

oh. oh dear...

[gatoraid]

She Who Became the Sun illustrations by Przemysław "Trust" Truściński

Okay I did some digging around and managed to find an ebook version of the illustrated Polish edition (Ta, która stała się słońcem) of She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan!! I got my copy from swiatksiazki.pl with the help of automatic translation.

Here are the illustrations I thought would be the most interesting to show here.

Chapters 1–4, Zhu at the monastery

Chapter 7, Ouyang

Chapter 10 - Ouyang and Esen

Chapter  16 - Zhu and Ma’s wedding

Chapter 19 - Zhu and Ma figuring out the business of rain and clouds

Had to censor this one OTL

Chapter 22 - Esen and Ouyang

Chapter 23, Zhu at the end of the book

[3cosmicfrogs]

oh 12.65 litres of blood clinging to the outside of my body, we're really in it now

[dustteller]

I am fully convinced that in a modern AU Esen and Ouyang would be absolutely insufferable. Esen refuses to shut up about how his boyfriend is the coolest, most capable, bestest man ever. Ouyang will get constantly distracted looking at Esen's biceps and will ditch on anything to go make out with him. They fuck like rabbits but it's exclusively really shitty 3 minute sex bc neither of them have heard of the concept of foreplay before. Esen thinks he's very good at sex and Ouyang knows he's not, but he's got a massive fetish for Esen's dumb bullshit which apparently also applies to the mediocre intercourse bc he's a freak.

Ma hates having to hear them and is desperately trying to evict them from her gf's apartment bc she never wants to see Ouyang's crappy face again. Baoxiang refuses to hang out with his brother bc he's so tired of every conversation turning into talking about Ouyang. Xu Da is grimacing bc he's pretty sure their whole deal probably isn't healthy, but like, at least they're happy? That's good, right? He's trying very hard to remain optimistic. And Zhu is incredibly disappointed bc THIS is the choice Ouyang makes once he gets past all his repressed bullshit? All that effort, and he decides to shack up with the most mediocre frat boy business major she has ever met? She should have let him remain homophobic. The two of them are known on campus for being that annoying couple that is way too extra and slobers all over each other in public, and everyone just averts their eyes in second-hand embarrassment. Esen doesn't even go here. When they graduate, the whole campus lets out a sigh of relief bc no one wants to deal with them. They're public menaces of the highest degree and no one can stand them and they literally Do Not Care bc they're just basking in the bliss of a relationship that's the queer equivalent of your straight friend and her awful tinder dates she's obsessed with.

[eleni-anz]

nooo dont say it haha