Close to You

The Hostage

"Speaking of rings, Uncle gave me something to give to you." Chen Yu kisses Gu Wei's forehead and slides out from beneath him, grinning at his whimper of displeasure. "It's... important lao gong, I'll be right back." He promises and hurries out of the bedroom.

When he returns with the small wooden box a minute later, Gu Wei is sitting up in bed giving him a curious look. Chen Yu rounds the bed and sits down beside him, sliding a blanket over their naked laps.

"Uncle said... he should have given this to us sooner. He was to nervous to give it to you himself." Chen Yu places the wooden box on Gu Wei's lap and opens the lid.

Gu Wei swallows hard seeing the ring boxes inside. Chen Yu watches his face, reaching in to open both boxes, revealing the rings inside. Gu Wei coughs and his hand trembles, running a finger over the woman's bridal set.

"Yu'er..." Gu Wei's voice is barely a whisper. "What is this?"

"Your parents wedding bands baobei. Uncle said you could do whatever you want with them, but I told him we'd never sell them." Chen Yu takes Gu Wei's trembling hand in his and kisses it softly.

"Of course not!" Tears fall down Gu Wei's cheeks and he smiles at Chen Yu. "Thank you."

"Uncle said you could have your mother's set made into something more appropriate, but I thought you might just want to keep them the way your parents wore them. We could get you a nice chain and you could wear them under your shirt, close to your heart. Where they belong." Chen Yu brushes tears from Gu Wei's cheeks and kisses his temple.

"That's... I'd like that." Gu Wei tries hard to swallow the lump of emotions in his throat. "That would be perfect." He snuggles into Chen Yu's arms, looking at his parents wedding rings. "They're beautiful, my father had good taste."

"They are. You should talk to Uncle soon, he... was afraid of losing you." Chen Yu smiles softly remembering the older man's words.

"Losing me?" Gu Wei asks confused.

"To me. But he said... he realized he's not losing you, he's gaining me." Chen Yu blushes and lowers his head.

"Of course! He did ask where his other nephew was the other day and called you his firecracker." Gu Wei chuckles, watching the blush spread down Chen Yu's neck.

"Aside from jiejie and ge, and of course you lao gong..." Chen Yu leans in to kiss Gu Wei's lips softly. "It's been a really long time since someone has treated me like... family." He ducks his head, grinning ear to ear.

"Let's go finish fixing dinner and talk about your plans for tomorrow." Gu Wei says, leaning over to gently set the rings back inside their boxes.

They're so relaxed and confident around one another, that they both exit the bedroom completely naked. Chen Yu smiles, watching Gu Wei turn the stove and the oven back on before he dons his red apron. Chen Yu bites his lip and perches atop a barstool, just lovingly watching his husband shuffle about their kitchen. Gu Wei turns his back to begin pulling items from the fridge to make a salad and he chuckles softly at the low groan he hears behind him.

"Now you decide to cook in nothing but the apron?" Chen Yu whines and squirms uncomfortably on his leather barstool.

"Oh!" Gu Wei exclaims, ignoring him. "That reminds me, someone is coming in the morning to pickup the barstools. They'll be here by 9am." He begins rinsing vegetables, glancing over his shoulder at the dark look in Chen Yu's eyes as he watches him. "Are you listening lao gong?"

"Honestly? Not really." Chen Yu smirks and watches Gu Wei wiggle his ass. "Ugh, something about the barstools?" He asks, trying to raise his eyesight to Gu Wei's eye level.