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“Tell me how it is?” Pei Su asked, watching fondly as Ban Yue sighed with satisfaction around her mouthful of noodles.
Her cheeks were puffed up, eyes shut as if to better enjoy the taste that way. She chewed and swallowed her mouthful before fixing Pei Su across the table with her gaze, chopsticks pointing almost menacingly at him.
“They’re perfect,” she declared reverently. She looked down at the golden broth framing thick, handmade noodles, then back up at Pei Su, her eyes as big as the moon. A tiny smile pulled at her lips as she added, “This must be what a god’s favour tastes like. I don’t know how you did it, but they’re even better than last time.”
Pei Su hummed thoughtfully. He propped his elbow up on the table and leaned his head against his hand, watching the ghost in front of him with adoration etched into his expression. His free hand trailed past where his own chopsticks were still aligned next to his bowl and took hold of Ban Yue’s, fingers gently interlacing.
“I talked to the village chief’s wife yesterday. She gave me some pointers for adjustments,” he explained. His thumb trailed over the back of Ban Yue’s hand, tracing slow circles into the cool skin. He couldn’t help but feel a little forlorn remembering that her hands hadn’t always been this cold. “If you like it better this way, I’ll make it for you whenever you want. Just don’t tell the Rain Master that I tweaked her recipe.”
Laughing, Ban Yue squeezed his hand. With theatric sincerity, she replied, “I wouldn’t even dream of it. Your secret is safe with me, gege.”
Pei Su practically melted at the address. He finally picked his chopsticks up with his left hand — the right was very busy being held at the moment — and dug into his own meal, making a mental note to jot down the new recipe later.
The two of them ate their noodles slowly, held up by their own conversations about the weather, the village they had settled in, the little cottage they had finished building just last month. It was truly closer to a box than an actual house, but neither of them really minded; it was cozy and it made for a good enough excuse to stick even closer to the other’s side than usual.
“The smith’s wife is pregnant with her second child,” Pei Su said, clumsily picking up a slice of pork. He had been getting better at eating with his left lately, but there was still plenty of room for improvement. “Xing’er wants to throw her a small celebration party to surprise her. She was asking me if we could help her out with the decorations.”
“Mn, sure.” Ban Yue stealthily nicked a piece of egg from Pei Su’s bowl, flashing him a mischievous look as he smiled and rolled his eyes. It didn’t matter how many eggs he put in her noodles, she’d always steal at least one of his. “Xing’er is the one with the osmanthus cakes, right? How does she know the smith’s wife again?”
“They’re cousins, apparently. Or at least their parents are, I didn’t really catch the whole thing. Either way, I already told her I would help her out for sure.” His eyes meet Ban Yue’s across the table, friendly as they had always been and laced with a softness that was reserved exclusively for the woman with whom he shared a home and every meal of every day. “I’ll tell her you’re joining as well the next time I see her.”
They talked some more and when they finished eating, the food had gone lukewarm, not waiting for the two of them to finish their conversation.
(Not that one could really blame the poor noodles. If mortal necessities like food and rest did not hold Pei Su up, he would never have stopped talking to Ban Yue and listening to the melodious sound of her replies. Even with these human restrictions in place, it was close to a wonder that he could ever look away from her at all.)
“Let me do the dishes,” Ban Yue said when both their bowls were finally empty. It wasn’t an offer so much as a statement. She glared at Pei Su as if challenging him to refuse her as she fought to keep a smile off her face.
Pei Su grinned back and handed her the bowl, following right on her heel as she made her way outside. She fetched a clean rag and a bucket of water and got to work, brows creasing in comically exaggerated concentration.
“Ban Yue,” he called out as he leaned against the house wall and watched her scrub away diligently, his tone lulling with affection. “What do you want to eat tomorrow? Noodles again, or should I give dumplings another shot?”
“Ha! Your dumplings were on par with my stew,” she mocked, sticking out her tongue at him. “We should just ask the Lord Rain Master to show us again. You know I don’t trust myself to remember it right, but I’m pretty sure the dough should not have been crumbly.”
She paused her teasing to hold the first cleaned bowl out to Pei Su. When she continued, it was in a much more thoughtful tone than before, words heavy with nostalgia as she said, “Your noodles are amazing, but what I really miss is my mother’s cooking. I doubt you can find anyone to teach you anything about traditional Banyue cuisine, though.”
Frowning, she began scrubbing at the bowl in her grip even more furiously than before. The poor ceramic was quickly saved from any further misuse when a hand came to rest gently on top of Ban Yue’s.
Pei Su had moved from his spot against the wall to crouch in front of her, looking at her the way others looked at a clear night sky.
“You wanna bet on that?” he asked, a playful smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.
His hand moved from her wrists upwards to cup her cheek oh so tenderly. He shot her lips a glance, then leaned forward to peck them, sweet as honey and light as a feather. Ban Yue exhaled softly through her nose and kissed back, feeling Pei Su smile against her mouth. A moment later, she pulled away and held the wet bowl up between them.
“Don’t bite off more than you can chew,” she chided good-naturedly, turning her face against his hand to press her lips against the callouses of his palm.
Pei Su hummed watching her, his heart fluttering.
“Ban Yue,” he mumbled, pushing the bowl to the side and kissing her again. “I’ll keep searching until I find some old ghost or cookbook to tell me. Or I’ll keep trying new recipes until I figure something out, something that comes close enough. I will get it right one day, just give me time.”
“Hm, alright.” Ban Yue raised the bowl again and pressed it again Pei Su’s chest, pushing him away gently, a tiny grin on her lips. “We have all the time in the world for that. Now let me do the dishes already.”
Pei Su let himself be pushed away but not without pulling on a pout as a petty counterattack. It earned him a laugh and a light slap over the shoulder. He blew another kiss in Ban Yue’s direction from an arm’s length away, then finally sat down next to her and watched her work, head resting on her bony shoulder.
In the west, the setting sun was red ink bleeding slowly across the sky, dyeing the world beneath it a warm ember. The sounds of songbirds chanting their last odes before nightfall were clear in the quiet lulling hills of the village.
With the late summer breeze caressing his face and Ban Yue’s soft hair tickling his forehead, Pei Su could feel his eyelids beginning to droop. His breaths slowed and his fingers tightened into the fabric of Ban Yue’s wide robes.
“Don’t fall asleep just yet, Pei Su-gege” came from above him the voice of his oldest friend and only love. The words held no reproach, spoken kindly just because she cared for him. “I’m almost done here; wait just a little so we can go to bed together.”
Pei Su nuzzled closer against her, nose brushing against the thin line of her neck, mumbling drowsily, “Mn, alright, since you asked so nicely. Will you carry me inside? I’m so tired after all.”
Ban Yue huffed a laugh and shoved him off her shoulder, standing up to gather the cleaned dishes. She glanced down at the pitiful pile of whiny martial god sitting by her feet and faking a betrayed expression that made him look eerily much like a kicked puppy.
“I might have to if gege keeps acting like such a baby,” she laughed, playfully poking him in the ribs with her foot, right where she knew he was obscenely ticklish. Her tone turned thoughtful as she pretended to ignore Pei Su’s surprised yelp and continued, “But then I’ll be so exhausted tomorrow morning. After carrying around such a big and mighty god, I doubt I’ll even be able to drag myself to the river to bathe in the morning.”
Pei Su gathered his bearings swiftly and sat up a little straighter. He looked up at her with serious eyes and said, “In that case, I won’t have any choice but to carry you there myself.”
“And help me bathe?” Ban Yue asked coyly.
“And help you bathe, of course,” Pei Su agreed, tone befitting of the most professional heavenly official, entirely infallible in the face of earthly distractions.
“Alright, consider it a deal then. Wait here for a moment, gege.”
Ban Yue brought the dishes into the kitchen, then returned outside to pick up a beaming Pei Su and carry him into the house bridal style just as she had so many times before. If there was anything she truly loved about being a ghost, it was this: In life, she could not have lifted her childhood best friend even an inch above the ground with her weak arms; now, she was strong enough to protect Pei Su from most things that could harm him, especially while he was stuck in this near-mortal form during his banishment.
She stepped carefully over the threshold into their house. Xie Lian — in her mind still General Hua — had helped them with building it, his husband in tow. It seemed that Hua Cheng had tagged along only because Xie Lian asked him, but he was skilled at crafting, so Ban Yue and Pei Su could hardly complain. The only things they had to put up with were the constant flirting (not that the two of them were any better, honestly) and the liking that Hua Cheng had taken towards calling Pei Su his “future son-in-law”.
Pei Su had chocked on his soup at the time and flushed a shade of red as bright as the ghost king’s robes. Ban Yue had giggled at him, then turned to shoot Xie Lian a despairing look that was returned with a confused shrug and a flustered smile.
Now, held carefully up in Ban Yue’s arms, Pei Su peppered countless kisses against her collarbones, disarmingly sweet and with all shyness thrown carelessly to the wind. If Ban Yue wanted to, she could tease him — about what Hua Cheng had said, or about anything, really — and watch him twist around as he tried to hide the pretty blush crawling up his face. One of her favourite things was seeing that godly composure of his melt away in an instant and leave only the kind, soft-spoken boy of her childhood behind.
“We’re here,” she announced, stopping in front of the bed and deciding to take mercy on Pei Su just this once. “Get changed quickly if you’re so tired.”
Ban Yue put the man in her arms down and marvelled, as she often did, at the distance she had to look up when he straightened up to his full height. Pei Su had always been taller than her, ever since they spent their days playing in the streets and hanging off General Hua’s sleeves; but Pei Su had shot up considerably when he’d turned sixteen and ever since, Ban Yue had never stopped complaining about the pain in the neck that looking up at him had become.
Not that she minded it that much when it was Pei Su’s smile shining back down at her whenever she looked up.
“If I went to visit General Pei one of these days,” Pei Su asked, tugging open his sash, still only a hair’s width away from her, “would you care to come along? He’s been asking about you a lot recently, which may well be my fault for talking about you so much. But you needn’t feel obliged, of course. I was just… just wondering, because—“
“I’ll come with you,” Ban Yue interrupted him, sparing him the explanation. She pushed open the lapels of his loose robe, much easier to remove now that he wasn’t running around in full armour every day, and settled her hands down on his shoulder, squeezing playfully at well-trained muscles. “I want to see his face fall when he finds out how much time you’ve been spending in Yushi Country.”
“Ah, trying to embarrass me in front of my uncle? That’s low of you, Ban Yue. Real low. The poor man even sent us housewarming gifts.”
Pei Su grinned at Ban Yue as he spoke and let her pull his outer robe off all the way, eyes not leaving her once as she threw the clothing over the back of a chair.
“His ‘housewarming gifts’,” Ban Yue said pointedly, eyes trailing downwards as Pei Su shrugged off his inner robes as well, “were an essay about why snakes don’t make good pets, a book about how to be a good housewife, and something called ‘The Dictionary of Good Sex’. Gege, I think your General Uncle was trying to send some messages.”
Pei Su sighed and reached up his arms to unpin his hair. He deliberately flexed his muscles for Ban Yue to see like the asshole he was.
“I said it before and I’ll say it again,” he responded solemnly, his hair falling in long, dark waves around his face, “the housewife book is really good. I’ve learned a lot from it.”
“What about the snakes then, huh? I swear they’re really not that bad! You know how cute they can be, gege, I’ve shown you the little cute ones before.”
“I love how you’re not even complaining about the sex book anymore,” Pei Su remarked, bending down to press a kiss onto the tip of her nose.
Ban Yue let out a huff somewhere between a laugh and fake annoyance, turning away to take off her own clothes and change into her thin nightgown, feeling Pei Su’s gaze on her back.
“That’s because the last time I complained about it, you ended up spending almost two whole hours unloading about all the times General Pei has tried to teach you about the nitty gritty details of ‘making love like a real god’,” she explained, pitching her voice in a bad but amusing imitation of Pei Ming towards the end. “You looked like you were getting the life sapped out of you from the memory alone. No wonder you always kept such a straight face in front of all the other heavenly officials — anything is possible if you can survive that torture.”
Pei Su laughed but did not disagree with her.
Soon enough, the two of them finished changing and promptly fell into the bed together. Outside, the final rays of sunlight were gracing green and golden lands with their warmth, stars beginning to shimmer on the darkening sky.
“Lie down properly, it’s my turn tonight,” Ban Yue scolded, pushing Pei Su down against the bed with a cold hand against the hot skin of his chest.
“Hm, is it really?” he asked, already pulling her towards him. He let her pillow her head right over the spot where his heartbeat sounded the loudest, carefully hooking his chin over the crown of her head.
Ban Yue’s answer was hardly above the level of a whisper, muffled into Pei Su’s sternum and blowing a cool breeze over his chest as she said, “Mn, it is. You’re getting a little forgetful, gege. Yesterday, you slept on my chest, so today, I sleep on yours. The fate of the world rests in our upkeep of this balance.”
A thoughtful hum drifted down from above her, followed quickly by a slight shift in position and then a kiss into her hair.
“And tomorrow we spoon?” asked Pei Su, voice rumbling comfortingly in his chest and against Ban Yue’s ear.
“Tomorrow, we spoon,” she agreed, shutting her eyes and curling an arm around Pei Su’s waist.
She listened carefully to his heartbeat, a steady rhythm she could no longer match, relishing in the safety of his arms and warmth his body poured into hers. She waited quietly for his breaths to even out, then, finally, fell asleep herself.
Before the waters of sleep submerged her, the last thought to cross her mind was a quiet, ‘I love you.’
She knew he felt it too.