Chapter Text
Yin Yu and Quan Yizhen hadn’t been walking together through the festival for very long before some rowdy ghosts ran past, tossing large pieces of red fabric (heavily embroidered with gold phoenixes and dragons) over both their heads. They were gone in an instant, leaving them both stumbling blindly.
“What is this,” Yin Yu laughed, knowing it was best not to think about where they had gotten it. “Do they think we’re married?”
He was already in the process of lifting the material away when Quan Yizhen threw out both hands to hold it in place over his head and shoulders. One bright eye peeked out from under his own makeshift veil. “What if we really were married?” he asked, voice filled with excitement.
In mock indignation, unable to keep the grin from his face, Yin Yu said, “That’s not how you’re going to propose to me, is it?” He reached out to adjust Quan Yizhen’s fabric so he could see his face properly.
A sincere, intense, vulnerable expression greeted him. “…Shixiong,” Quan Yizhen whispered, taking Yin Yu’s hands in a desperate grip, “could we be wed…?”
The smile slid from Yin Yu’s face as he stared at Quan Yizhen. Pulling his shaking hands away, he instead embraced him tightly and nodded against the fabric draped over Quan Yizhen’s curls. “Yes,” he managed despite the tightness in his throat, “let’s be wed.”
And maybe there were excited whispers circling around them and cries of congratulations, but the only thing that reached Yin Yu’s ears was Quan Yizhen’s joyful laughter.