Chapter Text
You know, he really should have thought this through more. Shen Qingqiu can’t help but find himself wondering exactly why it’s come to this, is he cursed? Did some old god hate him enough to rear its ugly head only every once in a while, often enough to make him hate his life but not often enough for anyone else to truly notice past a ‘Wow, you’re really unlucky’. He can’t even bring himself to be surprised anymore!
He knew he was weak sometimes, easily fatigued. Some people found it charming and thought him a dainty little thing. Some people - cough, Liu Qingge cough - found it absolutely stressful . Binghe, somehow, was a bit of both. If they were in the comfort of the palace, it was a good sign that Binghe would simply pick him up and be on their way, but anywhere else? Shen Qingqiu didn’t know what to expect. If he was counting correctly, it was a completely even split of his Luo Binghe looking vaguely alarmed, charmed, completely neutral or downright sad. It was usually just him sitting down while they were talking! Binghe, your master is fine!!
“Hm… Perhaps this lord should order more daybeds…” Binghe murmured as he watched his master sit (quite happily) in one of the multitudes of chairs littered around the peak. If he didn’t know better, Shen Qingqiu would have assumed his husband had already ordered more chairs because he knows quite well that neither he nor Shang Qinghua did!
“That isn’t needed, Binghe.” was the only response that didn’t sound either completely exasperated (which Binghe always seemed to think was him being tired) or just plain annoyed. His husband was trying to take care of him! He could at least be polite about it.
“Shizun has been sitting around more, recently.” his disciple slides into the seat next to him and gives him a look that was hard and unreadable before it melted into his usual teary eyed facade; “Is this husband not doing enough?”
“Binghe! You do more than enough!” This master is offended! Binghe! Put away the tears! “This master simply wanted to sit and relax with his husband, is that so bad?” Ah, there, good, the look is gone. His husband blinks owlishly then grins widely, leaning in closer when the peak lord snaps open his fan to hide his face. Shameless!
“Shizun wants to spend time with his disciple….” Binghe don’t sound so smug, we’re married, of course I want to spend time with you ! A moment of eye contact later, the demon blinks at him a few times and leans back more comfortably on the chair. Strange . He thinks before said demon pulls him over to lean on his shoulder. “Rest, Shizun…”
“What has gotten into you today?!” Why is Binghe treating his shizun like a delicate flower!?
“Shizun’s breathing got shallow earlier… Does this disciple need to share spiritual energy?” Binghe asks while pointedly already pouring spiritual energy into him with a hand on his back. Clearly , he thinks, I’ve been too permissive. With my own husband!! Had his breathing changed earlier? If anyone would notice, it would be Binghe…. Ugh, if it did, he wouldn’t have an excuse! And Binghe wouldn’t lie about something like that!!
“I’m fine, I promise.” another wasted reassurance, he knows Binghe exceedingly worries about him at all hours of the day; “Husband should trust this master to take care of himself.” He… didn’t pull the ‘husband’ card a lot. It was still strange to conceive of, much less to hear come from his own mouth. Normally it made Binghe either smile so brightly he’d put the sun to shame or cry. This time, the other man simply watched him for a moment with the same neutral stare he usually reserved for beautiful views.
“This disciple begs your pardon, but Shizun has given him no reason to believe that Shizun can gauge his own health.” Binghe, you’re really fucking pushing it. You’re really pushing it from ‘reluctant cuddles’ to ‘sleeping in separate bedrooms’. So what if he’s right! All those times he ignored his own health, he was either running from what he thought was certain death (Binghe) or helping someone (Binghe)!! Binghe was the reason this master abandoned his health so often! “Shizun looks angry….”
“ Shizun is sleeping in his own bedroom tonight.” Shen Qingqiu huffs and snaps his fan closed. Yep, and there are the tears. Binghe immediately starts crying before he even finishes the sentence, brows furrowed together as tears run down his cheeks.
“This husband just wants to take care of shizun…. Shizun has always needed time to rest…” No, you’re not weaseling your way out of this one, Bingh- What! You knew !? He seems to take his master’s silence and distant stare as permission to continue. “Binghe doesn’t think his shizun is weak, he just thinks his shizun needs to take more time to himself! He does so much all the time…” No, I lay around like a cat in the garden and read books…. Binghe thinks this is stress or being overworked, then. Well, that was his state when Binghe was a disciple, he was always busy… This argument is stupid. It makes him angry and cautious, but stupid.
“.... It’s okay, I know my Binghe will take care of me.” And I throw all my pride away into the Endless Abyss itself to face my own husband and say such a thing. Informally too!! Binghe, you better appreciate it!