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The main reason why Chongyun had bought the book, he said, wasn’t just because the seller had heavily recommended it to him. The cover and name had caught his eyes as soon as it had been shown to him, a ‘best-selling book from Inazuma’, he explained to Xingqiu while they walked to the forest, which was one of the places Chongyun frequented most.
“The author has very elegant writing” The boy commented, “I’m only on chapter two, and there are roughly forty chapters, but up until now it’s about this boy named Neptune. His parents had considered something related to ‘Planet’ because they wished for him to be the world, or something of the sorts'' He further elaborated, “who comes from the very far land of Suunyria, which is a country best known by their god and how they work in negotiations.”
The description at first didn’t ring a bell, especially because the second son of the Feiyun Commerce Guild was distracted by the birds that flew past them, so he simply hummed in response. Then they finally found a place to sit down, or more so, let Xingqiu practice, and Chongyun cool down for a bit, before actually joining his friend in their training.
He took out his sword, his fingertips on the blade for a moment before he swung it forward, starting to practice different attacks with it. Arm straight, swinging it to the right, even doing a backflip as he moved with elegance. “So! What’s the name?”
“Ah, yeah, the book’s title is A Legend of Sword.” Chongyun replied, and Xingqiu almost got whiplash. His eyes widened while his back was (thankfully) facing Chongyun, did he hear him correctly? The name wasn’t simply recognizable.
He had written it.
“I-I’m sorry,” he chuckled lightly, to hide his nervousness, as he turned to look at his friend with the best act of nonchalance he could pull. Arching an eyebrow while giving him a confused smile. “Did you say The Legend of Sword?”
“A Legend of Sword,” Chongyun corrected, lifting a finger as he did, as if it was an insult to not say the name right, “It’s a best-selling book in Inazuma, I’m surprised you don’t know this! You literally breathe books, and I’m only in chapter two and this book is genuinely one of the best ones I’ve seen so far.”
Xingqiu simply stared dumbfounded, processing everything he had just been told. Best-seller, Inazuma, Chongyun, who barely even picks a book and can’t read for shit, thought it was one of the best he’s read so far? What the fuck? Was this actually happening, or was he just dreaming? He found it surreal enough that Chongyun was reading something, let alone his book out of all of the books in Liyue AND in Teyvat!
“Xingqiu? Is everything alright?” His friend asked, his eyebrows furrowed, a tone of worry in his voice.
“A-ah yes! Yes, everything is fine. I just remembered something, I have to go!” He replied quickly, sheathing his sword and starting to trot away to the path they had come from.
Chongyun, however, quickly followed “B-but wait! Was it something I said? Do you not like the book?” He asked as he tried to catch up to Xingqiu.
“N-no it’s nothing like that! I simply remembered I have to visit the Clan, y-youhuhu know,” more awkward laughter escaping as he began to run, “Guhua business! Anyways, see you!” And afterwards, he ran off before Chongyun was able to follow, weaving between trees, and eventually hopping off a waterfall, sliding down through it and into the lake so the other lost his tracks. He knew, otherwise, Chongyun would simply follow him all the way to wherever he stopped to question him further.
Some minutes later he would then swim out of the lake, walk into the forest, hop into Liyue Harbor, and then run into his room to avoid anyone seeing him with wet clothes. Finally, a quick chance to process what he had been told by Chongyun while laying down in his chair.
“Holy shit.” Was all he mumbled to himself, placing his hand on his forehead as he thought about the conversation. No, there was no way it was the same book. Absolutely impossible. Chongyun had, as payback, found his old writings and was mocking him. Yeah, that had to be it.
But he needed to confirm it by himself.
"Ms. Song!" he called out while sitting up from his position, as a lady gently opened the door, her head peeking through it.
"Yes, my Lord?" she replied, giving him a smile.
"I need you to search for a book, it's a best seller in Inazuma: A Legend of Sword." his words flowed calmly, without a single stutter, elegance in them as if notes were being played on a piano "If needed, search for each and every library in Liyue, in Mondstadt even."
"Yes, my Lord." Was all Ms. Song replied, and then after a moment, she added, "I'm sorry, my Lord, but did you bathe? Your hair is wet"
"A-ah." His finger ran through his hair, noticing how it was still damp. In fact, looking back at the armrest, the water had also spread there. "Yes, I was feeling in the mood to rest in a warm bath of roses. But nevermind that, and focus on the task I've given you. Make haste."
She nodded, added another quick 'Yes, my Lord!' and closed the door behind her.
Now all he had to do was wait, unless he found it himself first.
...Which he didn’t, considering the very next day, the worker had knocked into his room, holding out three different books to him. One, he already knew, considering it was one of his favorites. The second one, he had also read before, thus he had given it to her, so she could gift it to someone else.
The third, as in every story, was the one he needed. Same title Chongyun had said, a written part that indicated it was a bestseller, and ‘Anonymous’ as author. “Anonymous” he tuted, “I wrote this.”
He sat down on his bed and skimmed through the pages, his heart sinking further every time he recognized his own writing in it.
Gods, this really was his book.
He at first had thought that Chongyun had, somehow, found the writings in his room and decided to play a prank on him. But no, it was legitimately his book, being sold in another country. How did it even make it to Inazuma? He recalled having snuck some copies into the Bookhouse in the harbor, but not Inazuma, of all places. How had he not heard about this? He was a best-selling author? When did this even happen? But the most important question in his brain:
How, in the name of Rex Lapis, did Chongyun NOT realize this was his book?
No, there was no way he didn’t know. Xingqiu was fully aware of how reckless he had been when writing his story, and even more reckless when it came to Chongyun’s counterpart. He had even given it the congenital positivity issue his friend had! He knew once Chongyun reached Chapter 5, the other would instantly know this book was about them.
Goodness, he was done for.
Another day passed before he met up with Chongyun, having agreed on visiting Xiangling while taking a meal from the Wanmin Restaurant. Today, he planned on interrogating his friend, asking trivial questions about the book as if to see if he'd react obliviously or not.
Xiangling had delivered the first food, which was Chongyun's, to wait for it to cool off. While that passed, the three were having some casual chit chat with, mentioning how "Chongyun's fiasco when he chased me is still so, so funny!" and the other had gone red from embarrassment.
Nevertheless, once Xiangling went back into the kitchen, and the two were alone, Xingqiu coughed, to clear his throat. "Anyways, dear Chongyun, about the book you've been reading."
"A legend of Sword?"
"Yes, exactly… so, is it good? What do you think of it?" The navy haired boy rested his arms on the table, leaning in to hear Chongyun.
"Well, I've actually been… speed-reading"
"Why?", he grimaced, "Is it that bad?"
"No, nono! Quite the opposite, actually. It's… very good." A surprise to hear, in his opinion. "I'm currently on, what, page 95 I think? I just passed the moment where Neptune meets his friend, Cloud." Oh god.
Xingqiu pretended to perk up, asking with a smile, “Oh? And who’s Cloud? How did they meet?”
“Cloud’s an exorcist that Neptune met an evening when he was reading. Apparently, Neptune had forgotten his book, and Cloud seemed to have notice it, and being the heroic, generous character that he was, ran after Neptune to catch up with him. Then he slipped and fell on the fountain that lay in the middle of the plaza, but the book was safe, because he had lifted his arm up to stop it from getting wet.” Yeah, that was exactly how he met Chongyun alright. It was probably the moment that, thinking back now, should’ve signalled that he was there to stay. “And well, the narrator, that being Neptune, I guess, said that ‘and that was how, even if unbeknownst to the two, their fates were connected’ or something.”
“Huh… Sounds cheesy.”
“If you ask me, yeah, but there’s something about this writing that just… drags me in, I guess” Chongyun moved his hand in circles, searching for the right words, “I guess it.. Reminds me of your writing, and I love your writing, so that’s why I love this book too.”
Xingqiu felt his heart skip a beat. He wasn’t only flattered, he was excited, euphoric, whatever word could describe the feeling of ‘your best friend saying they love your book, but you can’t tell them you wrote it out of shame’, “I-am glad you enjoy it that much!” He said with a smile.
“Yeah, Cloud sucks though.”
What?
Xingqiu stared, both speechless and absolutely dumbfounded at Chongyun’s random statement. Not because he agreed, but because he couldn’t fathom how Chongyun did not recognize himself, and proceeded to insult the character based on himself in the same breath.
“W-what do you mean? From what you said, he seems like a pretty cool guy, with the whole ‘I’ll sacrifice myself for the book!’ you said!” He knew he couldn’t fully defend Cloud, as he had to feign ignorance to what the book contained, and pretend that he had never touched a single page of it.
“The manner in which he speaks… he just sounds like a pompous bastard.”
He felt his breath leave his lungs (and probably his soul, for that matter), as he wheezed. Once he managed to gasp some air, Xingqiu suddenly burst into laughter in front of Chongyun, hugging his sides and resting his forehead against the table.
“What?! Did I say something funny?” Chongyun asked, seemingly offended by the sudden outburst.
“N-no, no! It’s just… the way you said it-” Xingqiu’s lungs didn’t have enough air in them to continue the sentence.
“But it’s true! On Rex Lapis, everyone in that book talks in an extremely elegant mannered way!”
Ah man, he assumed that, for Chongyun, his writing would be read as such.
Few more days, Xingqiu had re-read his entire book, cringing at some lines, laughing at others, and still feeling baffled by Chongyun’s unawareness. Was he this much of an idiot? Did he have pebbles for a brain? This entire experience was enough to tag Chongyun within the airhead category, alongside Xiangling’s everlasting lack of common sense when it came to food, and Bennett’s entire existence.
Xingqiu had not even attempted to hide that the story had them in it, the only ‘attempt’ - if it could be called that - was him changing the names to something close to their meanings. What was his past self thinking?! These are definitely the after effects of reading Moonlight.
But alas, he was once again in the forest with Chongyun, Xingqiu laying down on the grass while the older one was literally reading in front of him while laying on a log. The absolute audacity.
“You know, I honestly like Chestnut’s wit.” Chestnut, he meant Xiangling, “Her cooking sounds amazing, she literally grabs this monster that is like… the equivalent of slime, and makes it into food! How the fuck can Cloud not like it?!” What the fuck.
Having officially -officially- discarded Chongyun’s brain in its entirety---, How, just how? He simply sighed while listening to his friend. No intelligence, none at all! Hopeless! Just...why.
Chongyun ABSOLUTELY disliked Slime Stew, how did ‘Chestnut’ make it different?!
“A-ha, slime, you say? But isn’t that the same that Xiangling makes?” he said, arching an eyebrow to stop his eye from twitching, and sitting up to look at his friend. “Don’t you dislike that?”
“Well, yeah, but Cloud shouldn’t disrespect Chestnut’s cooking like that, you know? She went through all the trouble…” Chongyun it’s a fucking book based off you! He can’t be that dense, there’s no way in Teyvat that he is this stupid.
“Chongyun… you’re joking, right?” He was close to simply losing all sanity and faith he had in his friend.
“Joking?” the other repeated, “Whatever do you mean?”
“Chongyun, your name literally means 'Heavy Cloud' — Cloud... CLOUD. I- My name, the bloody untoned pinyin can be literally read "Planet", Neptune– Is a WATER. PLANET. I-" he intensely motioned at himself, and he wasn't even that aware that his voice was increasing in volume. " -AM A HYDRO USER. Xiangling literally means something something Chestnut and has a bear like the cook! Please just- tell me you're joking, you have to be kidding me." He was already growing desperate.
But Chongyun just looked at him with a look that made him seem like a goddamn puppy. Like he didn't know what was wrong. And then, he turned to the book again "...Oh, what a funny coincidence, I hadn't really noticed!" He replied, as if that made the book better. "Now we can relate further to the characters, huh?"
"I wrote the book, you pea-brained exorcist. You-- Chongyun are you really this dense?" Xingqiu had finally admitted it, and didn't even realize it at first, until Chongyun rested the book in his lap and turned to Xingqiu.
"So you DID write it!"
...Say what now?
His entire fit of anger was washed away like the waves from the beaches of Liyue. "Wait, you knew?"
"I had my suspicions"
"What do you mean you had your suspicions?! The book literally mentions how we met, and it mentioned your condition!"
"What I mean is, I didn't really believe it at first" He explained, "Look, I actually finished the book on the first three to five days, I've just been saying scenes from it in order to see if you'd slip and confess, because I didn't want to believe it was you unless you said it was you."
That… oddly made sense. That was the most sense Chongyun had made in this entire week.
"...Oh you, absolute buffoon!" Xingqiu's rage, which had vanished, had now begun to turn into embarrassment, "Why didn't you just downright ask me? I was genuinely having a crisis with all of this! I was ready to hear you say you hated it, and then have to pretend I agreed, and pretend I wasn't the writer, and-"
"Xingqiu, your writing's amazing, though?" Chongyun was grinning at the situation, probably because that bastard had managed to play his cards so flawlessly that Xingqiu had believed them to a full. He coughed to clear his throat, and looked at the book, searching for the quote he needed. "Like this part:"
"And in every fight they had, it felt like a perfect dance. Neptune's strikes from his sword against the fire monster, at the same time that Cloud continuously swung his claymore. When Neptune was doing his signature move, doing a backflip with his water sword, Cloud would spin and create a circle of frost around them, their synergy perfect, just as their movements were. Just as they were. Two peas from different pods, different rivers if you may, but fitting for each other."
Xingqiu absolutely felt his face go red. He had absolutely forgotten about that. Had he read with such speed that he skipped it?
"U-uh, yeah." He played with his longer side bang, his fingers running through it. "About… that. Blame that on reading Moonlight right before writing the book."
"Does that mean you no longer feel like that?"
"I- no? I mean- It's that" His words for once didn't seem to come out right. He hadn't really expected himself to be in this situation, at least not today.
"Because, uh, I do feel like that."
Xingqiu finally looked at Chongyun, eyes a bit widened at the statement. "Wait, are you for real?"
"I mean, why else would I sacrifice my clothes for your book?" Chongyun shrugged "I knew from the very first time that we'd be stuck with each other.".
Xingqiu slowly began to smile, a gentle one, calmer in comparison to his previous outburst, and his grin widened.
"Yeah, maybe you're right. I guess I felt that way too."
Surprisingly, the book he had written after having realized that he was in love with Chongyun, turned out to be the one to get them to confess to each other.
Truly, a romance book indeed.
"Anyways," the blue haired boy sighed, his amber eyes connecting again with Chongyun's. "I guess all of this demands a part two, doesn't it? Maybe I'll write a sequel."
The two simply held their stare for a moment, before the exorcist leaned in to cup his face in his hand and Xingqiu placed his lips on the other's in a rather awkward first kiss. No movement, no hugging, just two lips against each other.
Chongyun then moved away, whispering to his (maybe now lover's) ear.
"Your favorite fan is looking forward to it."