Cultivator in a Zombie Apocalypse (Book 2)

Chapter Two - Harmonisation of Lovers

Two individuals embraced while sitting upright upon a firm mattress, their connection as intimate as two people could ever become. There was no swaying movement despite this, no vocal harmony, both had closed eyes and were calm and still. The one that welcomed the other into their body rested their forehead upon the shoulder of the other, eyelashes trembling and though there was no signs of embarrassment, shame or even lust upon their face, a pleasing flush stained their cheeks and long strands of silky brown hair stuck to damp skin along their forehead. The other's arms were curled slightly around their back as they sat upon his thighs, curling close until combined. With spine taut and the unmoving expression of calmness on his face, it would have seemed as if he were almost detached from the act, were it not for the sharply upward curved edges of his thin lips.

The bright moon outside of the window, illuminated their skins as it fully emerged from the thin cloud covering, painting both in an ethereal light, while also highlighting the increasing beads of sweat upon the receiver's temples. One slid down the clean, slightly reddened skin before its path ended and it could only fall upon the long, slender legs of the one embracing. The splattering sound really was almost inaudible, even in the hushed still of the dark bedroom, but it might as well have been chiming bell for the silent pair then opened their eyes in unison.

The light was too dim to see the colour of them, however while one pair seemed to darken as they connected with the other's once in line of sight, causing them to widen. A clear tinkling sound of joy escaped their lips as the man lowered them onto the bed and began to love them thoroughly.

The sun had already begun to rise when the pair had fallen asleep sometime later. The remnants of their exercise had been washed away as clean sheets now adorned their bed, but their bodies hummed a harmonising duet of contentedness.

Ren Zexian awoke first. His once fractured core had long since healed and stabilised; he no longer needed much sleep and also they had cultivated for much of the previous evening and night, meaning sleep was unnecessary. Would that he completely forgo the activity and cultivate with his beloved every night, but although Nathan was accommodating, he was also reluctant; cultivating was one thing, being dragged into the sometimes overwhelming throes of pleasure were something else. Ren Zexian understood well the quirks of his lover's sensitivities and would never push him beyond his ability to cope, thus this selfish want was thrust aside.

Nathan stirred within his arms. At first, Ren Zexian thought he might have disturbed his beloved, but it seemed that the other simple wished to nestle closer against him. The long-lived cultivator smiled; the youth who had once not allowed anyone close enough to touch him now rubbed his cheeks against his torso, the innocent friction stirring his lower body once more. He inwardly sighed, but otherwise did not move, only separated a small part of his consciousness in order to deal with it and suppress the desires, while he considered the other changes of these past three years within his lover.

For instance, Nathan could now lift his eyes to meet with others. For instance, he no longer huddled in corners when loud noises alarmed him. For instance, he could hold a conversation more easily with others; though the other he was talking to had to be someone he knew well or he still would become visibly uncomfortable and perhaps even walk away half-way through and without a word.

His beloved had been diagnosed with autism before the Apocalypse and long before Ren Zexian had met him. The Cultivator did not understand what this meant nor its relevance, he was not a man born of this world after all. In that world, he had met many with different mindscapes; individuals that thrived on being in social groups and wilted once alone, individuals that saw others as chess pieces, not as flesh and blood, individuals who were cold, stoic and with oppressive auras yet would move mountains for their loved one. There were people that would kill after interpreting a look, others that would fight for all manner of reasons until their last breaths, ones that rejected others and longed for the peace of complete solitude.  People who were selfish, selfless and the ones who would suddenly turn around to give the last drop of saved water to a wilting flower during a drought.

Cultivators were no less guilty than the common people for isolating, for bullying, for misunderstanding individuals who could only be called different, especially those youths newly accepted into sects and trying to both fit in and to stand out while finding their place and path upon the daunting endless staircase upward to the height of immortality. However, after a few hundred, few thousand years of tempering, they would come to learn that only cultivation matters, not whether a person sees things with eyes that are not like ones own or understands things in an alternative light or behaves with unfamiliar etiquette.

So Nathan was Nathan and this person who was guided and protected, who was taught and indulged into adulthood by the in-laws he had yet and may never meet, he loved unconditionally.

The sun crept further into the sky and when Ren Zexian judged it about the correct time, Nathan cooperatively opened his eyes and gazed upwards towards him. He drank in those pools of sapphire liquid for the brief moment that he knew Nathan would allow before placing a light kiss upon his forehead. Nathan's lips curled upwards, outside of his vision then abandoned him easily, tossing aside the blanket before pulling on underwear and other garments, completely blocking the majority of that expanse of ivory silk from his eyes. In a slightly more leisurely fashion, Ren Zexian pulled a fresh set of robes from his interspacial bag and put them on his own form, before seeking his beloved who had already vanished from the bedroom.

He found him not within the small kitchen, although the iron kettle was already beginning to steam upon the stove for their morning tea ritual, but in the second bedroom of their cottage home. This room did not contain a bed. Instead, there were shelves of different styles and materials and on each shelf there were multiple small seedlings, a mix of greens and varying reds, lively and vibrant in their small pots of moist soil. Their little leaves had begun to turn towards the bright window seeking the most light, would likely prefer to be growing upon the window's sill. However that place was already occupied by five terracotta pots, the size of coffee cups.

Nathan was starring into the pots, the top soil was still, unbroken and there was no apparent signs of life. This did not seem to make him frown however and he reached for a small jug beside them. The jug was empty one moment, full of crystal clear water the next of which a few drops were poured into each pot. A small smile escaped his lips and it came to Ren Zexian that those lips were on the dry side, needing their own refreshment. His beloved would neglect himself first rather than neglect his precious plants and although Ren Zexian would not change this, he would always stand beside him to remind him to take care of himself when necessary.

"Come, I will pour the tea," he called out to his lover, basking in the sudden light of the rewarding smile that came his way. Nathan placed down the jug in its specific position, stroked each pot gently, before following his lover towards the kitchen.

The soil within the fifth pot moved.