The Husband

An Zeli x Tao Hengjun An Zeli was a monster. That wasn’t self-deprecation, but an objective statement. His grotesque, slick tentacles, hypersensitive body, face that often twisted out of shape, and even his incomplete, input-style memories… All of it constantly reminded him that he was different from his lover, who was an ordinary human being. An Zeli’s memories were incomplete. No matter how hard he tried to remember or what he did to stimulate his brain, his memories only went back to the age of twenty, the year he’d just married Tao Hengjun. But from what little he knew about the human world, society didn’t seem to allow same-sex couples to marry. So how had he married Tao Hengjun? Tao Hengjun gave him this answer: “We’ve been together since we were children. After your parents died in a car accident, they entrusted you to me. You lost your memory in that accident, but at least you survived. Marriage was the only way to guarantee you’d be the one person bound to me for life. We never registered it, but we had the wedding, and everyone accepted our relationship. Don’t worry. I’ll love you for the rest of my life.” But their life together came to an abrupt end. An Zeli died. A sudden, unexpected death. But he didn’t vanish after dying. Instead, he became a ghost no one else could see. Worried that Tao Hengjun might be devastated by his death, he returned home as a wandering spirit to check on his lover. But the first thing he saw when he entered the house was… A man with an unfamiliar face had taken his place, nestled in Tao Hengjun’s arms. The man’s tail, swishing incessantly with excitement, was proof enough that he wasn’t human either. An Zeli listened as Tao Hengjun repeated the very same vows he’d once made to him. The scene was so absurd that An Zeli wondered if he’d been having a nightmare all along. He desperately tried to wake himself up, but when he turned his head, he saw the living room crowded with countless wandering spirits. His husband had given every ghost in that house the status of “husband.” An Zeli’s memories collapsed completely. At that moment, he remembered that he wasn’t a husband Tao Hengjun had brought into the house. He was a child Tao Hengjun had created himself. Content warnings: 1. Includes nonhuman characters, a male ghost watching, and selfcest, among other themes. 2. Not a reverse harem. The romantic storyline is always between the two main characters, and they are absolutely devoted to each other. 3. If you don’t like the plot, please drop the story promptly. Theme: Freedom and equality