Chapter Text
ASIA - Nanook Server [World]
[World] YanQingNo.1: I am here to formally apologize
[World] YanQingNo.1: I am sorry to have tarnished the name of my guild XIANZHOU LUOFU
[World] YanQingNo.1: and the entire NANOOK SERVER in my actions during the recent offline tournament
[World] xXSilverxWolfXx: deactiv8
[World] YanQingNo.1: copy and paste this to wc^^
[World] YanQingNo.1: wait
[World] YanQingNo.1: ignore the last part thts not included
[World] Kafkaesque: @xXSilverxWolfXx you should do a public apology too
[World] xXSilverxWolfXx: srry 4 being better thn every1 in nanook server
When Ren opens his eyes, the empty space right under his arms is still a warm mess of sheets. There’s a slight pang of early morning regret that gets to him, as just like last time, he doesn’t get the opportunity to wake up earlier than Dan Heng and indulge in a bit more time of looking at the other’s sleeping form. He resolves to fix that next time – surely there is a next time, and many more future next times – by either willingly waking up very early or tightening his physical grip on the other so he won’t be able to move away so easily. He’s not sure which one of the options is more possible to do.
He hears a soft noise from outside his room, of someone probably cautiously moving around so as to not wake him up from sleep. He moves quickly, rising from the bed and almost runs towards the open bedroom door.
“Good morning,” he greets, his voice hoarse from rest. Dan Heng, pacing around worriedly, stops and turns to him. He takes a glance at a nearby wall clock and notes that it’s not even 6 in the morning yet. “What’s wrong?”
“I have a paper to turn in,” Dan Heng answers quickly, eyes wide. “I completely forgot. Can I borrow your computer for a bit? I just need to edit it a little more.”
Ren shrugs, “Sure, I’ll go get us some breakfast.” He points to the PC set up inside his room, walking towards the kitchen. “Password is colddragon .”
“What?”
“ Colddragon , lowercase, no underscore, no space.”
“I mean, what? Why is that your password?” He pouts, and the half-awake half-asleep brain inside Ren’s head can not think of it as anything other than cute . He doesn’t even register the question. All he sees right now is a pair of slightly furrowed brows and soft downward curved lips; a messy mop of short black hair, wrinkles on his own worn-out t-shirt that usually fit him perfectly but somehow looks awkwardly oversized on the smaller boy. In that exact moment, it’s almost impossible to look away from the embodiment of adorable bedhead dishevelment that is a freshly woken up (and deadline-motivated) Dan Heng.
As if remembering he has a deadline to catch, Dan Heng doesn’t wait for the answer nor does he comment on Ren openly checking him out this early in the morning (he hasn’t even brushed his hair yet?) as he sprints towards the computer.
Dan Heng doesn’t stay longer than Ren would have liked as he claims to have a class in the afternoon and a few other things he needs to do for the day. He, too, has projects he needs to spend some time on, so he lets him go although reluctantly.
(“I’ll miss you,” Ren says, emphasizing the pout he’s faked on his face. They stand by the door of his apartment as Dan Heng prepares to leave.
Dan Heng looks at him weirdly, like he’s embarrassed for some reason. “Don’t do that,” he points towards his face. “It’s not cute.”
He changes his expression into a smile, and playfully grabs the hand Dan Heng used to point at him. He holds it on his own, his thumb initially brushing over the back of the other’s hand, and then interlocking their fingers together. This makes the other’s facial expression of minor annoyance turn into a sudden flush of red, and Ren is satisfied enough with this reaction.
“Say you’ll miss me too.”
“I won’t.”
“You can lie or something, I just want to hear you say it.”
“Ren, we’ve been together for a whole day. And we’ll probably meet again tomorrow, too. Or maybe even later in the game, don’t be dramatic.”
“Will it kill you to be a little sweet to your boyfriend?”
Dan Heng sighs, dropping his hand. Ren lets it go, frowning now.
“I’ll see you later.” He says, and proceeds to rise onto his tiptoes. Ignoring the heavy pounding in his chest, he closes the small gap between them as he reaches up and plants a chaste peck on the side of Ren’s mouth.
The taller man frowns ever deeper. “That’s not fair.”
Dan Heng supposes he should have turned around and walked out the door sooner, could have resisted the feeling of want and the urgency of need, before Ren could have grabbed him by his shoulders and pushed him against the closed door and chased his lips. He would have stopped himself from responding, when their mouths started moving together in a perfect sync, and when it deepened as he wraps one arm around the back of Ren’s neck with the other hand pressing against his hard chest and as he feels a pair of hands move down the sides of his body to end up placing themselves on top of his waist, pulling him closer. He sighs and then kisses him back, returning the same ardor of the other, losing himself, lost in each other.
He just accepts he’ll be late for that one afternoon class.)
It’s late when Dan Heng finally finishes up on all his responsibilities for the day and reaches home. He rests for a while as he eats dinner and checks his phone.
March has sent links to a cloud folder of all the pictures she took in the recent convention, and he genuinely wonders how it is possible that she took 813 photos in a span of that few hours.
Astral Express Family
March: [Image]
March: this is my fave!!
Caelus: thats a pic of u stelle and himeko
Caelus: what abt us
March: this aint abt u
March: but i have a looot of pics in the folder anyway just look for it urself!
Dan Heng: [Image]
Dan Heng: Theres a pic of us Cae
Caelus: Hhehe
March: cute
March: not cuter than my selfies though!
Himeko: Thank you for taking pictures March :)
Dan Heng: Are you all going online tonight?
Caelus: we r all in game rn actually
March: yep we’re waiting for u! we have weekly guild bounties to do!
Dan Heng: Oh, going online in a bit.
He’s somehow nervous while opening the game launcher. When it loads, his character is placed in the middle of the town where he last left it after the tournament. He does a quick move on his usual routine: daily mission board quests, checking his inventory and restocking his potion supply, clearing out and rejecting all the friend requests that somehow increased to 99+ again after the tournament live stream, and plays solo on the easy daily dungeons. There’s still the daily battle pass missions he has to do, but he’s suddenly interrupted by a party invite from Ren.
He accepts it, and continues on doing his daily BP mission of killing a small number of a specific overworld monster.
刃_REN’s Adventurer Party
[Party][System] <User 丹恒_DH has joined the Party>
[Party] 刃_REN: baby
[Party] 丹恒_DH: Stop.
[Party] 刃_REN: ok
He sees Ren’s name enter the mini map, and in a few seconds he’s already next to his own character. Together they almost wipe out all the poor monsters available in that area, with other players having the same daily mission frustratingly trying to kill steal and complaining on world chat.
Dan Heng stops once he sees the notification of completing daily BP missions, but Ren is still following his character around as he travels from the monster camp to the safer Town map.
[Party] 刃_REN: tell me when you’re done with your dailies
[Party] 丹恒_DH: done
[Party] 刃_REN: alright
[Party] 刃_REN: follow me
He follows his boyfriend-slash-in-game-husband around Town but he thinks he knows where they’re going already. This is a familiar path towards the game church with the Priest NPC where marriages are held. There are multiple other players in the area as well, probably also getting married, or praying for their next upgrade rolls to be successful, as it is a pretty common RNG ritual to pray at the town church for good luck.
[Party] 刃_REN: marry me again
[Party] 丹恒_DH: im gonna be honest
[Party] 丹恒_DH: i knew this was gonna happen
[Party] 丹恒_DH: but i thought it will be a little more romantic
[Party] 丹恒_DH: voice chat?
[Party] 刃_REN: i can’t rn
[Party] 刃_REN: i’m smiling too wide i don’t think i can speak
[Party] 丹恒_DH: LOL
Very rarely does Dan Heng actually type LOL , but this time he’s actually laughing hard in front of his computer screen. He understands what Ren means though, as he himself is finding this situation both funny, embarrassing, and exciting all at the same time. He probably won’t be able to say anything either.
He receives a mail of their wedding event invite, attached in it is a pair of cosmetic ring accessories that he can equip, as well as a special white wedding tuxedo costume for his character that matches Ren’s as well. It’s a limited costume that’s only available to players who pay for the wedding event premium feature, and very few players actually have it as it’s way too expensive for something that is purely cosmetic, with no additional buffs. He reads the cheesy wedding invite carefully with a smile on his face, and he accepts it with certainty.
ASIA - Nanook Server [World]
[World][System] <The wedding event of couple 刃_REN and 丹恒_DH will start in 15 minutes. Everyone is welcome to join the celebration and receive limited-time blessings from the newly-weds. Head over to Town Channel 1 in front of the Church >
[World] march_7th: OMG1///???
[World] ☆☆ Asta ☆☆: wow!!! congratulationss
[World] T1N6YUN: wedding events are like 10k diamonds right????
[World] GeneralJY: i was waiting for this
[World] ☆Stelle: dam ren has money money
[World] xXSilverxWolfXx: 10k dias 4 a generic wedding cutscene of ur vgly charas LMAOOO
[World] xXSilverxWolfXx: use tht for ur equipz we4k n00bs
[World] xXSilverxWolfXx: wait thats my guildm8 i didnt read
[World] 刃_REN: @xXSilverxWolfXx we’re banning you from attending