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Li Yu needed a break. Not a long one, but he still felt his body call for the long gone relaxation of being child-free for an hour or two. Since the Baos hatched almost a year ago, Li Yu had been by their side all day and all night. He spent most of his days in his carp form, entertaining and teaching his sons. When he found a moment to change into his human form, there was no time to play with Jing-wang. Besides his pervasive exhaustion, the Baos needed to be watched. As fish babies, only Li Yu and Jing-wang could look after the Baos. Thus, human form inevitably became Li Yu’s brief rest period; in other words, he took a nap while Jing-wang watched the Baos for a few hours.
After months of this routine, both parents were exhausted. Just as the system had said—Li Yu held doubt right up until the end—the Baos had turned into human infants. A part of Li Yu missed the closeness of living in the crystal tank with his four baby Baos. The louder and more prominent voice in Li Yu’s head was relieved to let Wang Xi and the wet nurse watch the Baos for a day while Li Yu and Jing-wang went on their first date in nearly a year.
Lost in his thoughts, Li Yu hadn’t realized the carriage had stopped until Jing-Wang took his hand and gently helped him out of the carriage. Even when we wasn’t pregnant (or pretending to be pregnant), Jing-Wang was so courteous. Li Yu was still lost on how this perfect human was captured by his fish-demon-but-not-actually charms.
“Where are we?” Li Yu asked, staring at the building that the carriage had brought them to. Li Yu realized they must have traveled quite a distance from Maple’s Landing. The entire street—filled with the clamor of merchants, shoppers, eaters, and chefs—was unfamiliar to Li Yu.
Jing-Wang nodded his head towards a wooden sign that hung over the building’s entrance. Li Yu squinted, trying to make out the faded shapes of each character. The board was in bad shape, beaten and battered from being subjected to the harsh elements for days on end. Even if the sign had been in pristine condition, Li Yu was fairly certain he wouldn’t have been able to read it. Jing-wang had taught him to read ancient characters, but most of the lessons had slipped from Li Yu’s mind. It definitely wasn’t because Li Yu was more focused on Jing-wang than on Jing-wang’s lesson.
Li Yu opened his mouth to ask again, but suddenly stopped. If he told Jing-wang he wasn’t able to read the characters… wasn’t that a reflection on Jing-wang’s teaching ability? Wasn’t he basically calling Jing-wang an inadequate teacher? Li Yu opted to distract Jing-wang instead. He grasped Jing wang’s hand in his, intertwining their fingers.
It was a date, right? It was probably some sort of restaurant or theater? They were on a busy street, so it definitely wasn’t anything shady. Not that Li Yu didn’t want to do anything shady. In fact, Li Yu was rather open to doing something shady. Their shady husband activities had halted almost completely once Li Yu had given birth to the Baos. Even their actual wedding night had almost been entirely family friendly; only an accident-induced change of location had allowed for anything more than peaceful resting .
Li Yu shook his head, stopping that train of thought before it went any further. His dignified husband definitely didn’t have Wang Xi watch their children just so they could make more Baos! Not to mention they already had their hands full with four Baos!
In a sheepish attempt to cover up his wandering train of thoughts and his illiteracy, Li Yu tightened his hold on Jing-Wang’s hand and hastily lead his husband towards the entrance to the mysterious building.
Jing-Wang held the door open, allowing Li Yu to enter first. Even with just a small gesture, Li Yu felt his heart beat a little faster than normal. The little fish in his head was smiling smugly, he hoped everybody on the street saw how much of a gentleman his husband was!
“Welcome to the Water Gardens. Your Highness. Wangfei.” A woman greeted Jing-Wang and Li Yu as they entered the building.
‘Water gardens? Sea food? Ao! Husband is supposed to only be eating one fish.’ Li Yu’s fish brain was already panicking. Had Jing-Wang started eating fish again? Did he want Li Yu to prove his loyalty to humans by eating fish? Completely shocked that Jing-Wang had taken him to a sea food restaurant, Li Yu didn’t even react to being called Wangfei.
Li Yu’s panic was interrupted as Jing-Wang gently tugged his hand, following the woman and leading Li Yu deeper into the building. The woman pushed open a door to a room, gesturing for Jing-Wang and Li Yu to continue inwards without her.
“Please feel free to wander around the Gardens, Your Highness, Wangfei.”
Li Yu, again, was too distracted to react to being called Wangfei. This room was filled with crystal tanks, each populated by robust, beautiful fish. Not only was he going to be forced to eat fish, he had to pick out his fish! He thought he had left eating fish in the modern world! Li Yu was not about to take up cannibalism, even if he was in his human form.
Jing-wang led Li Yu by the hand, gently swimming their connected hands. They walked to the first crystal tank together. Each tank in the room held several fish, anywhere from beautiful koi to strange looking catfish. Jing-wang looked closely at the fish while Li Yu quietly lost his mind next to his husband.
From tank to tank, the couple drifted around the room. Each crystal tank was even set up to mimic the fish’s natural habitat. Fish darted in and out of tall plants, other lightly swam across the bottom, and others navigated hollow rock formations. Jing-wang hadn’t studied fish keeping too much before meeting Li Yu, but after months of building and buying fish necessities, Jing-wang was indeed interested in how each crystal tank had been set up. He even took mental notes on how to improve Li Yu’s crystal tank.
Li Yu felt sweat begin to form on his forehead. His husband was staring so intently at the fish! Was he really that interested in eating fish? Maybe his husband had developed a serious craving after not eating fish for several years. Li Yu shuddered a bit, had he unintentionally created this? With each tank they looked at, Li Yu felt his panic increase. He steadily became more and more horrified about how particular his husband was about the fish he ate. They had spent the time of several incense sticks just staring at crystal tanks. Maybe Jing-wang was even waiting for Li Yu to pick a fish to eat.
After examining each crystal tank in the room, Li Yu let a breath out, thinking that it was finally over. Much to his horror, Jing-wang led him to outside to a courtyard situated in the middle of the building. Structured much like the waterways of the Jing Estate, this building had several large pools decorated with plants and fish. Jing-wang smiled at Li Yu, he knew that the waterways he had constructed at the Jing Estate were much more impressive.
His husband was smiling at him! Was this the end? Was he being forced to choose a fish now? Even in the deep water, Li Yu could see the red and gold flashes of koi. How could he eat one of his brothers! Scanning the water, Li Yu’s eyes fell on a small, black carp surrounded by several smaller fish babies. It almost looked like he did when Jing-wang found him, and the surrounding fish babies inevitably reminded Li Yu of his precious children.
He couldn’t do it! He couldn’t eat the fish! He couldn’t pass this test from his husband!
Li Yu sadly turned to his husband, already imagining the heart wrenching, destroyed face Tianchi would give him once Li Yu admitted that he wouldn’t be able to participate in their first date since they become parents. “Husband,” Li Yu started.
To Li Yu’s surprise, Tianchi was also wanting to say something. In his hand, he had a scrap of paper, adorned with the familiar scrawl of Jing-Wang’s neat handwriting. Li Yu, gulped, afraid of what his husband could’ve written down. What if Jing-wang was really testing his loyalty? Something like ‘You can’t be the father of my children if you wont eat a fish! Pledge your loyalty to the human race!’
“You first, Your Highness” Li Yu said, his eyes focused on his feet. The small trembling in Li Yu’s voice did not escape Jing-Wang’s well-trained ears. Mu Tianchi immediately put away his notes and grabbed Li Yu by the shoulders.
Startled, Li Yu looked up into his husband’s eyes. Jing-Wang’s eyes were large and filled with worry. His eyebrows were knit together and his nose a little scrunched. Li Yu watched Jing-Wang, who spent several moments looking his fish husband over and patting him down. Li Yu realized, with a blush creeping up his neck towards his ears, that his weird behavior had caused Mu Tianchi to think that he was sick or injured.
“Ah, calm down, Husband! I’m fine!” Li Yu said, moving his hands to cover his blushing face. “I… just… I just wanted to tell you that I cant eat fish no matter how much you want me do.” Li Yu felt tears well in his eyes. He sniffed away a sob. He was not afraid to give anything to his husband, or do anything his husband asked of him. He just couldn’t bring himself—a fish—to eat fish.
Li Yu felt Jing-Wang’s hands begin trembling. Li Yu’s mind began to panic, was his husband that mad that Li Yu wouldn’t eat fish? Had it actually been a test of loyalty?!
“Husband, I—” Before Li Yu could get the rest of his sentence out, his was promptly silenced. Mu Tianchi’s lips were a familiar presence on Li Y’s, and Li Yu couldn’t help but become a little bit thirsty. He couldn’t help it! His husband was just too damn skilled and too damn handsome! Jing-wang slipped his tongue into Li Yu’s mouth, just as he had done several times before. Li Yu moaned, muffled by Jing-wang’s lips and tongue. Jing-wang shifted, slotting his leg in-between Li Yu’s thighs.
Li Yu broke apart from his husband and rested his forehead on his husband’s, who seemed very content leaning over Li Yu. Jing-wang, panting just a little bit, gazed into Li Yu’s watery eyes. Jing-wang was not afraid to admit that he openly and completely mesmerized by his little fish. Li Yu, who was panting more than just a little bit, was bewildered by his current predicament. Why was his husband so thirsty in the middle of the afternoon? In public?!
“Husband,” Li Yu started once again. Like the last time, Li Yu was immediately silenced. The second kiss was much gentler, suffused with a tender emotion. Jing-wang’s heart ached; he knew he had to explain away this misunderstanding, but he just had to reassure his husband first.
After delivering a sufficient amount of kisses, Jing-wang broke away from Li Yu. His hands had wandered to Li Yu’s waist, where one remained and the other went back to digging in his sleeves. Jing-wang pulled out several notes, more than just the original two. He passed the first of the strips of paper to Li Yu, who was comfortably leaning against his husband’s chest.
Li Yu took the piece of paper from Jing-wang, ‘You’ve misunderstood.’ Li Yu did his best to ignore the fact that Jing-wang had at least one (probably more) of this note prepared, ready for use. Li Yu’s heart was pounding, but not like before. He was calm and sated, and his mind had stopped jumping to conclusions.
“Ah, I seem to do that a lot,” Li Yu said. Jing-wang let out a silent laugh and kissed the top of Li Yu’s head. Jing-wang ran his hands through Li Yu’s hair, gently combing it. Li Yu could feel the heat in his face; if his blush had faded at all, it had already returned full force.
Jing-wang took the slip back (probably for future use, Li Yu noted) and handed another strip of paper to his red husband. Li Yu sniffled, bringing the paper closer.
‘This is like the “Aquarium” you described to me. Let’s look at the fish together.’
Li Yu began laughing, his tears of embarrassment quickly replaced by tears of laughter. “It seems I really had misunderstood,” Li Yu said, looking up at his husband. “I thought you had brought me to a restaurant to eat fish! I thought you were going to have me pledge my loyalty to humans,” Li Yu sheepishly admitted.
Jing-wang rolled his eyes, signaling that he would never. Li Yu giggled again, “I know you would never. But what can I say, Husband, you may me nervous! When I’m around you, my heart begins to race, my palms get a little sweaty, and my thoughts begin to go wild.”
Jing-wang let out another silent laugh. He kissed Li Yu’s forehead; his fish never failed to make him laugh. Li Yu, offended that his husband missed his target, stood on his tiptoes to get a proper kiss from his husband.
“Let’s go look at the fish, husband,” Li Yu said. As if he had just remembered something, he hastily continued, “But, remember, you’re only allowed to admire this fish!”