Work Text:
Dashixiong wet his brush again as he signed off on another form at the low desk. He had been asked by some of the sect elders to look over a few documents and forms for them to lighten their load while he visited.
Ever the faithful disciple, he readily agreed, unaware of the mountain of paperwork that would greet him.
“A-Han, I-” Xiao-Zhe’s low voice cut off into a groan as Dashixiong waited for the ink to dry.
He prided himself on his focus, especially in these trying times. He was also glad for having the foresight to close the library door and to get Xiao-Zhe and A-Han settled out of sight in a pile of cushions, just in case it was opened.
His lovers had been amiable about the change in plans for the first day of their visit. They declined having one of his shidis show them around the sect, wanting to be near Dashixiong even if he was too busy to properly pay attention to them. They would happily entertain themselves until he was able to join them.
He only wished that their entertainment did not test his resolve as they continued to mouth at each other’s necks and chests as their robes parted, pleasured sighs and whines coming from the cushions nearby.
“A-Zhe, oh,” A-Han’s soft whimper filtered through the air as Dashixiong tightened his grip on the brush before setting it back into its rest, reaching at the top of the pile for another document.
A quiet moan followed and Dashixiong bit his lip, shifting minutely in his chair.
He snuck a quick glance in their direction and found a flushed A-Han with his neck bared to Xiao-Zhe. Xiao-Zhe’s fingertips trapped a firm rosy bud between them as they rolled, drawing another whimper from A-Han. With the way the red robes were parted, Dashixiong was able to see the various marks the both of them had left on the pale skin the night before, which made his thoughts drift and…
“Xiao-Zhe, I think we’re being too distracting for a certain dragon over there.”
Shit.
A-Han’s eyes had opened at some point while he had been staring and meeting not just his eyes, but Xiao-Zhe’s too, he saw a mischievous glint in both.
“You’re fine,” Dashixiong cleared his throat and turned back to his papers, skimming them now. Maybe he could wrap up soon. Or take a break.
“I think you’re right, A-Han.”
They talked as though he hadn’t said anything, or like they did not hear him in the quiet library. So quiet he could hear their robes shifting.
He chanced another glance from the corner of his eye to find their robes had been put back on properly and they were now leaning against each other, their hands playing with the other’s; moving, tracing patterns, vaguely benign and yet extraordinarily intimate at the same time. Another glance and he noticed they were watching him with little smirks and he could feel his cheeks reddening as he turned back to his work.
“Oh,” Xiao-Zhe whispered suddenly in a very not quiet way. “I just remembered something our little dragon did a few weeks ago while you were out.”
“Really,” the equally indiscreet whisper A-Han replied with spelled doom for Dashixiong’s work ethic. He quickly looked over the paper in front of him, a request from a nearby village to be included in his sect’s patrols? Sure. He quickly signed off as he listened to what Xiao-Zhe had to say.
“He didn’t realize you left after your morning swim,” there was a lighthearted laugh to his lover’s voice. “So he was talking to your koi as though-”
“No!” A-Han’s attempt at a scandalized gasp made the tips of his ears grow warm.
He hadn’t known! He had been very tired from the night before and remembered hearing A-Han’s splash when he jumped in the water but couldn’t remember him getting out.
It wasn’t until he came back from the village that Dashixiong had realized his error from that morning, but he hadn’t thought Xiao-Zhe had seen it.
“Yeah, he was so worried that you were swimming for so long.”
Dashixiong bit back a groan and moved the paper to the side for another.
“You know how you told the little dragon that talking to plants helps them grow?” A-Han’s voice held barely constrained laughter.
Oh, no. He knew where this was going and cringed.
Xiao-Zhe, of course, egged A-Han on to continue.
“When you're away, our little dragon will go into your garden with story books; he reads to your flowers whenever you’re gone.”
“The little dragon is so sweet,” Xiao-Zhe actually sounded touched, which helped Dashixiong to feel a little less embarrassed about it. Though he found it hard to start reading the next document with what came out of the lotus’ mouth next. “Have you noticed?
At the other’s overly interested hum, Xiao-Zhe continued.
“Before he leaves, our little dragon likes to fix things up around the manor?”
“Mh,” a soft, almost sinful hum from A-Han. “He likes to carry stuff around too, gets his muscles all big and he gets all sweaty…”
Xiao-Zhe’s low laugh had Dashixiong shifting in his seat again.
“And after he fixes a few things, he goes into the pond and it’s like he’s just waiting for us to pounce on him,” he could hear the smirk in the lotus’ voice.
Maybe he did occasionally before he left on a trip. It wasn’t every time though, otherwise the two would leave him too exhausted to actually go.
And maybe Dashixiong didn’t really read that last form before signing off on it and dropping it on top of his ‘done’ pile to dry instead of waiting patiently for it. He needed to hurry up and get through these!
“Oh, what about when he comes back from his adventures?” A-Han’s voice was paired with a familiar jingling noise of a bracelet. One that he had been gifted recently. “He always brings back such lovely trinkets.”
Xiao-Zhe’s answering hum was paired with a quiet, “They are quite lovely,” that had Dashixiong glancing and seeing the gentle look on the spirit’s face as he touched the gold on his headpiece, also recently gifted.
The dragon from their tales let a small smile grow on his face. He loved giving the two gifts and seeing his loves enjoying them made a deep feeling in his chest swell.
“Oh, have you heard the little noises he makes when he sneezes?” The swell turned into an embarrassed curl at A-Han’s question. Who could control that when sneezing?
“What about the face he makes when he does?” Biting his lip to hide a groan, he quickly signed another paper - he really needed to be reading these over…
“Mm, what about his face when he comes?” The quick and low dip of A-Han’s voice into a more sultry tone had Dashixiong pausing in his attempts to get the ink to dry faster.
They weren’t really going to talk about that and pretend he couldn’t hear them, right?
“Oh, especially when he gets overwhelmed or when we play with his hair,” Xiao-Zhe’s ready agreement had his face surpassing his hair in terms of color for sure now.
Apparently they were.
Dashixiong was torn between saying something and continuing to listen. Maybe they really thought he couldn’t hear them?
“We’ll have to pull at his hair again; the noise he made the other night,” he could practically hear the way A-Han bit at his lip in a poor attempt to muffle a moan.
“Maybe we can get him to bring out his second dick again too,” Dashixiong fought against the urge to bury his head in his hands. He glanced down and glared at his single erection that really should not be there. He did not get off on being talked about, damn it. “We’ll have to get him really worked up for that. We have so many more options then.”
He heard A-Han gasp from something Xiao-Zhe had done while he was talking.
Dashixiong wanted to whine at them, and for them to actually pay attention to him, not just talk about him. Glaring at the paperwork pile that seemed unending, he fought back a growl as he grabbed at another one.
For a few minutes, they were quieter again, little moans and quiet sighs were the only noises he could hear from the cushion pile as they teased and played with each other. He stopped waiting for the ink to properly dry as he quickly signed off on different requests. It was times like these when he couldn’t participate that he cursed his exceedingly good hearing.
“You know,” Xiao-Zhe’s voice was quiet as they separated again. “That little face our dragon makes when he’s kissed on the nose?”
“Yeah, it’s adorable, his eyes go all crossed and he gets really quiet.”
“What about his laugh?”
“The snort he does when he laughs too hard! Oh! The face he makes when he’s cooking!”
“He’s so serious.”
Dashixiong wondered briefly how many little stories he would have to hear. He also wondered whether the little stories were more distracting than the two of them making out without him.
“His purr!”
Their combined shout had him fumbling with the brush, splattering the paper in front of him with ink. To hide the mistake, he quickly signed off on it and moved it to the side.
“His little purr when he’s a really little dragon,” he could see A-Han from the corner of his eye, hands clasped together by the side of his face as he swayed in his spot.
“Especially with little under chin scratches,” Xiao-Zhe mused, sounding much too fond.
Dashixiong quickly signed off again.
He did not purr. He growled. Ferociously.
He had to hurry up with these forms before those two got any other ideas.
Admittedly, Dashixiong’s memories of the times he would turn into a miniature dragon were usually blurry. He trusted his beloved spirits to look out for him when he switched forms.
He spared a glance to the door and let out a brief sigh of relief at it still being closed. So long as A-Han and Xiao-Zhe continued to be relatively quiet, no one would hear them talking about him using his smaller form around them.
There was not anything wrong with it, per se. However if the elders found out, they would not be able to leave the sect without having a proper marriage.
And again, nothing wrong with that! Dashixiong very much wanted to marry A-Han and Xiao-Zhe. He just thought they should know about the traditions of his sect beforehand. Mostly traditional foods, and silly little ceremonies that were more sentimental than anything else.
But typically one did not change into their smaller, more vulnerable dragon form unless they were with their bonded. And Dashixiong was very bonded to these two.
“I love when our little little dragon dives into leaves in the fall,” A-Han cooed.
“Or snow piles in the winter,” Xiao-Zhe laughed and Dashixiong watched them as he blindly reached for another paper. He vaguely realized this one was bound together, and decided to quietly set the brush to the side as he listened to them, so that he could focus more on this packet later.
A-Han made a face at that.
“Yeah, but then he’s all cold, like freezing,” Xiao-Zhe continued to laugh at A-Han as he was gently shoved by the koi spirit. “Hey, he doesn’t go crawling into your robes after.”
“Oh, you love it once he warms up, you mope around in the summer when he doesn’t curl against you.”
“Well yeah, he’s always sunning himself on your head,” A-Han broke off into giggles that made the corner of Dashixiong’s lip curl up in a small smile.
“It’s like he has a personal vendetta against my hair ribbon.” Xiao-Zhe sounded a bit exasperated and Dashixiong just felt confused.
“Aw, the wittle dwagon just likes to hold your hair for you,” A-Han’s babytalk brought the steady blush back to Dashixiong’s cheeks. “It gets really warm from the sun.”
“Yeah,” Xiao-Zhe leaned against A-Han holding his hand out in front of him like he was dangling something. “The little dragon likes to attack the ribbon too. You’ve seen his face when he’s about to attack it?”
“So fierce,” A-Han nodded. “And the little butt wiggle he does!”
Dashixiong let out a quiet groan, closing his eyes to try to hide from his own embarrassment. He missed the way the two on the cushions looked over at him.
“He also hunts dust bunnies the same way.”
“They never stood a chance! Ah, there was the one time he got stuck in the watering can. That was pretty funny.”
“One time I dumped him in the wash bucket,” A-Han offered with a laugh. “I didn’t see him in a pile of our clothes.”
He slumped down against the desk, barely missing the still wet brush.
“I love when our little little dragon brings in gifts.” Xiao-Zhe’s voice grew soft.
A-Han hummed. “I love pressing the leaves and flowers he brings.”
“And he only brings in the shiniest and smoothest of pebbles.”
Dashixiong’s heart was in his throat. They really kept those little gifts? He could only remember a vague proudness when waking up after a form switch.
“He’s adorable when he goes into my jewelry boxes,” A-Han cooed.
“He does act a lot like you.” At A-Han’s offended scoff, Xiao-Zhe smirked and dodged a swat. “He likes to go around in all the pretty jewelry and preen, and be told what a pretty boy he is.”
“Well he-”
“Guys,” Dashixiong finally whined from his spot and the two fell silent. “I can hear you!”
“Oh my,” Xiao-Zhe could turn on the dramatics when he wanted to and that little gasp was on par with A-Han’s.
“You mean our little dragon heard everything we just said?” A-Han continued the shocked tone.
Dashixiong looked up and over at them glaring, not believing their surprise for a moment.
“Wow, A-Han, his face looks like your robes.”
“Yeah, or like your ass last nig-”
“Guys,” Dashixiong cried out again and this time his loves came over, wrapping themselves around him as they perched on the arms of his low chair.
“Our poor darling,” A-Han rubbed his cheek against Dashixiong’s pressing a kiss to his jaw.
“Our poor dragon,” Xiao-Zhe’s fingers were soothing in his hair, making his head feel fuzzy.
He was about to give himself over to the two spirits when the packet he had previously blindly grabbed at caught his eye.
A marriage proposal.
He made a quick shushing noise to A-Han and Xiao-Zhe as he opened the bundle: proposals were important and needed to be looked at in a timely manner. Who knew how long this had been sitting in the pile?
Dashixiong had to read the start of the letter twice.
‘Jin Li of Koi Manor would like to extend a proposal in the interest of both sects.
The marriage of Jin Li and Qing Lian to your Tian Zhao would bring great benefits…’
This was…
Koi Manor? Their home?
Jin Li? A-Han?
Qing Lian? Xiao-Zhe?
His breath stuttered as he saw his own name in full again on his second readthrough.
They really sent a proposal ahead of their arrival.
His sight grew blurry as he found his shifu’s signature at the bottom of the proposal, already approved.
Quick fingers caught the tears Dashixiong had not noticed before hands cupped his cheeks bringing A-Han and Xiao-Zhe into his blurry focus.
“You…” his brain was not focused on them for the moment, but on the different things that had happened since they arrived last night.
The different quarters they had been in rather than the typical guest ones.
The red bolts of fabric that had been set on tables in the halls.
The crates brought out from storage.
How his mouth had been watering that morning at breakfast from the variety of food he could smell but not see.
How he had heard someone asking about a wine delivery before they had been ushered into the library by one of the elders.
How distracting A-Han and Xiao-Zhe had been in the last hour.
His hands moved to grip at the fronts of their rumpled robes and bring them into his lap.
Dashixiong’s face was red as he buried it into where their shoulders bumped into each other.
“I think our little dragon likes his surprise,” A-Han sounded choked up as he squeezed at his back.
“I think so,” Xiao-Zhe sniffled before pressing a kiss to Dashixiong’s ear.
“I think you should kiss me,” Dashixiong mumbled as he sniffed, bringing his head up to meet their teary eyes too.
“Gladly,” A-Han dove in first, pressing his lips firmly to Dashixoing’s as Xiao-Zhe peppered kisses along his cheek, his hand sneaking into the folds of his robes.
There was a brief sigh in between kisses as they moved away from the low desk and managed to push him down into the cushions they had previously occupied.
Blinking up at them both, he wondered at how they would look in their wedding robes, if they would wear veils, if they would look down at him with the same soft smiles they wore currently.
Dashixiong felt so light. His chest felt a little funny, a little rumbly. He didn’t put much thought into it until he saw the wide smile grow across Xiao-Zhe’s face and the gleeful giggles from A-Han.
“You’re purring!” Xiao-Zhe’s hand was on his chest as he looked from it to Dashixiong’s somehow still reddening face.
“Our little dragon is so sweet,” A-Han crooned as he ducked down to nuzzle and nip at his neck.
“The sweetest,” Xiao-Zhe’s quick agreement was followed by wet kisses to his ear, which only partially masked the way he gasped as the purr stuttered.
Maybe someday he would get back at them with embarrassing stories of a little lotus and little koi. Until then, he settled himself with the knowledge that he would have plenty of time to gather those stories at another point when he wasn’t celebrating his engagement.