“You’re the only one I want in my bed,” Wang Zhi ends up saying though, because he knows Ding Rong wasn’t only asking in jest.(This is technically Ding Rong’s bed, but anything that is Ding Rong’s at this point is certainly Wang Zhi’s as well. Ding Rong is finding a lot of things to be theirs now and isn’t that breathtaking?)
this is from the intricate brocade of this happiness ~~~
buahaha this short oneshot was my first attempt at writing “spicier” things (you can tell it’s my first attempt because it’s actually really fucking tame)
but i’m still proud of it! because i’ve said before that i don’t know how to write people making out and therefore i tend to dress up sexual tension in pretty metaphors and fade-to-blacks... think of me using a lot of lens flares if i ever directed a video or something
i want it to be pretty, i want it to be warm and gentle and soft. maybe one day i’ll write something that’s like actually explicit and without any Feelings but i don’t think it’s gonna be anytime soon ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (i literally made myself uncomfy just by thinking about it lol)
anyway this particular exchange is part of what i think rongzhi’s banter looks like: lots of teasing, and lots of insecurity carefully packaged behind very tentative teasing.
i said this in a previous ask that their love may not be “new” exactly, but it’s still a different chapter of their story so to speak. perhaps they’ve loved each other all along, but this the first time they’re taking a step back to realize: yes, i have chosen to love you, i have chosen to trust you.
loving each other, being at each other’s side—this surely is like breathing for them. but recognizing the weight of it, the burden and the freedom of it, that’s new. and that’s difficult.
so here is Ding Rong testing the boundaries, calling his Commander, his lover, his Wang Zhi impetuous and purposefully bringing up someone WZ was implied to have some sort of “relationship” with in “a string of paper cranes”. he wants to see how much he can push Wang Zhi’s buttons, how much Wang Zhi will indulge him and trust him. it’s the way they navigate this new dimension of their power dynamic.
Wang Zhi responds with some irritation, though it’s more just because he wants Ding Rong to focus on him, on them in this moment, drawn so close to each other that they could be tangled up with each other inextricably. (that could be a string pun if you stand far away enough and squint, right?)
and of course Wang Zhi doesn’t want his silly lieutenant thinking silly things. he wants this too be good for the both of them, he wants to be good for Ding Rong and make good memories for and with Ding Rong. he wants the rest of his life with Ding Rong to be good. so he assures the man: i want you, i want you. anyone else Wang Zhi might’ve invited into his bed, into his arms, against his mouth will never compare. anyone else would simply be business, whatever must be done for the Ming Dynasty. but Ding Rong, Ding Rong is because Wang Zhi wants to, because Wang Zhi loves him.
it’s another reminder that their budding “official” relationship is not because Wang Zhi feels like he owes Ding Rong anything. this isn’t gratitude. this is love, the two of them together and in love.
so of course whatever is Ding Rong’s is Wang Zhi’s. i talked a lot about in asopc that servants don’t get to “have” things, don’t get to “own” things. there was a lot of focus of Wang Zhi trying to understand whether or not his life truly belonged to him (or the Emperor).
but this love is theirs and theirs alone. no one can take that away from them.
i think every person who walks this earth has that at least, the choice and ability to love and be loved in turn. it’s a right we are all born with.
after all, what would humans be if we did not love?