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Pei Ming stared at the human standing before him. He felt his jaw was slack but he couldn't bring himself to care.
Hundreds of years of hiding the broken ache in his heart behind a quick smile and quicker fucks, and here was the man he'd thought he'd lost forever, standing before him in the checkout line in a convenience store.
He knew the shine of the smooth dark hair, the way it crested and fell in the ponytail, like a running waterfall down the back of the man before him. He knew those shoulders, that ass encased in tight black jeans.
He knew, he knew...
He'd engraved every memory in his mind a thousand times over. Every touch, every rare smile. Every drunken night, every sober press of lips.
He knew…
He shifted the bag of um... condoms and lube.. that he'd dropped in to collect before making his nightly round of his temples in the area to answer prayers, and placed a hand on that familiar shoulder.
"Shi Wudu??" He almost couldn't say the name aloud.
The man turned, deep blue eyes frowning on his aloof face. Pei Ming knew every crease, every line where his scowl touched, the places his smile reached. He knew those flashing eyes, the swift down turn of lips...
He knew.
"Do I know you?" The man in front of him stared down his nose at him, impressive considering their height difference.
Pei Ming's breath caught in his throat. "No...I suppose you don't." He replied, the words tasting sour in his throat. Shi Wudu huffed and turned away from him. "But!" Pei Ming stepped up beside him, throwing his most charming smile. "Would you like to?" He was not about to let the man he had mourned for centuries escape him.
Shi Wudu's gaze shifted down to the shopping bag full of sex items in his hand and his lip curled in disgust, "I think you already have enough partners." He moved to step ahead of Pei Ming again and Pei Ming moved with him, shaking his head.
"No, no, most of these are for the Ming Guang temples around here." He explained, waving one hand, "I mean, half of the worshipers go there for sexual gratification, it's only right to leave them some things to use for safety, right?"
Shi Wudu had one fine eyebrow raised in his 'I'm intrigued but also bored' look. He knew that look too.
"That's an odd viewpoint." The man conceded after a moment, but he didn't try to step ahead of Pei Ming again. "Are you a priest at one of the temples then?"
"Uh." Pei Ming rubbed his nose and shrugged a little, "I have a little too much sex to be a priest. Call me a ... caretaker I guess."
Shi Wudu finally turned to actually look at him and Pei Ming couldn't tear his eyes away from the way the other man's gaze raked up and down his body, drinking him in as though starving for a very long time. His blue eyes lingered for a long moment on the gold tattoo around Pei Ming's left temple, and he finally took his eyes away with a scoff, "Doesn't a young man like you have better things to do than care for temples?"
Pei Ming felt like someone had ripped something from inside him when Shi Wudu took his eyes off him. He felt empty again. He readjusted the bag on his hands and tried to find a good answer without just blurting the truth.
"I have a lot of experience." He shrugged after a moment, "I've been doing this for a long time."
Shi Wudu scoffed again and Pei Ming impulsively caught his elbow, craving the attention of those eyes. "Why don't you come with me?" He blurted, surprising himself, "I can show you the temples and maybe you'll change your mind."
Shi Wudu looked genuinely amused for a moment before he covered it in a composed mask. "I warn you I'm not easily swayed in my opinions." He tapped the bag in Pei Ming's hand, "You'll have enough work harder than a few condoms to impress me."
Pei Ming felt himself grinning. "Yeah, ok." He agreed, and kicked himself mentally for how dopey he sounded. He couldn't help it.
He hurried through the check out process, tossing everything in a larger bag, and waited impatiently for Shi Wudu to finish checking out his items. Mostly hair care stuff, he noted, so he assumed that meant Shi QingXuan was also around. Maybe He Xuan would stop moping and sinking ships in mourning now. It was getting to be a full time job for a handful of people, making sure Black Water Sinking Ships didn’t sink too low in his own head.
He decided not to comment on the items as Shi Wudu loaded them into a slim backpack though. He supposed one weird encounter was enough for today. "Ready?" He asked instead, grinning brightly as Shi Wudu slung the backpack over his shoulders.
"I suppose." The man replied, sounding droll. Pei Ming could still read the underlying trill of his voice though. He was nervous. Pei Ming supposed he could understand that.
He refrained from offering Shi Wudu his arm, but he did stick close as they walked out together and took the route to the nearest Ming Guang Temple. "So you live around here?" He asked casually, trying not to sound like he was prying even if he wanted desperately to know everything about this new Shi Wudu.
'Mn." The man replied quietly. "Me and my brother." He added after a moment.
"Ah." Pei Ming agreed. "That's cool. I'm...not from around here but I travel through pretty often." Shi Wudu nodded. "What do you do?" Pei Ming asked after a moment of silence.
"Agriculture." Shi Wudu replied, "I work with irrigation planning and innovation to get better systems in place for farming and transport."
Pei Ming couldn't help the little smile on his face. He was so alike his first self.
"And QingXuan - that's my brother, though they’re considering they might be genderfluid, so I guess I should say sibling?" Shi Wudu mused aloud, “Anyway, they're a social media influencer but they want to ascend to be a beauty god."
"Oh ho!" That somehow suited the flighty, adorable, party-centric Wind Master Pei Ming had known. "That's cool." He added after a moment. "I wish them luck.”
Shi Wudu hummed, and they fell into comfortable silence for a moment until the temple rose before them and Pei Ming realized belatedly he probably should have done a better job of disguising himself. He really didn't bother too much any more. Like, most people didn't expect to see a god walking among them, so why bother?
And honestly the ones that recognized him were either really excited or reassured.. or sometimes hot. He didn't mind that either.
Most of the statues and paintings didn't really resemble him any more anyway. He figured that was due to the couple thousand years of art telephone everyone was playing. It wasn't like anyone who had seen him back when he was alive was still around to consult for accuracy. Not all of the gods had their own personal Ghost King turned husband to immortalize their image like certain people.
But...he still shot a quick anxious glance at Shi Wudu as they entered the temple states and were confronted with a rather large statue of himself in martial pose almost immediately. The once Water Master showed no signs of recognition though and Pei Ming wasn't sure if he was disappointed or relieved.
"This way." He led Shi Wudu around the statue and into the temple itself, toward the larger statue where the worshipers sometimes left offerings.
It was a cute tradition, he didn't mind it. Recently though, he'd been overseeing adding a small section to the area where people could receive things from him. Mainly the stuff he had in the bag on his arm.
Some of the prayers had changed over the years. People prayed for success in business and sports now...but a lot of the uh... sensual ones stayed the same.
He dumped the bag of condoms and stuff on the table and turned to find Shi Wudu closer to the far wall of the temple, gazing up at a painting there. Pei Ming wandered over and looked over his shoulder.
It was one of the better ones. No beard, not a sexual pose for once, and his hair and eyes were almost the right color. They'd even included his tattoo.
He felt Shi Wudu's eyes on him again and looked over with a grin. "Wouldn't you want his job? Being handsome, dashing, winning battles, answering prayers?"
Shi Wudu just stared at him, his dark eyes unreadable. "You have the same tattoo."
Pei Ming's fingers unconsciously fluttered up to trace the familiar edges of his tattoo. "Yeah..." he admitted after considering all his options. "I do."
Shi Wudu stared at him again, something off in his gaze.
Pei Ming tried to laugh, but it sounded fake to his own ears. Had he really fucked up this badly already?? Was he gonna lose Shi Wudu again??
He...he might not survive another lifetime without the man he'd loved.
The former water master's touch brought him out of his panicked downspiral and he blinked at the other man as long slim fingers traced his jaw slowly, up the curve of his cheekbone and gently circled the edges of his tattoo.
"I know your face." Shi Wudu swallowed.
Pei Ming couldn't move, his throat bobbing as he swallowed in turn, ruby eyes fixated on the blue pair before him as Shi Wudu stepped closer, other hand reaching up to cup the other cheek. "You look good in denim." Shi Wudu's breath danced across his face as the man leaned in. "It suits you."
Pei Ming's breath caught in his throat.
"Pei Ming." Shi Wudu breathed out, his feet settling between Pei Ming's own.
It felt like he broke in two, every emotion and shed tear dredged up again from where he had buried them deep in his heart as Shi Wudu leaned in and closed the distance between their lips. It was softer than he remembered, their lips struggling to find rhythm lost over centuries for a moment, tinged with the taste of salt from whichever one of them was crying - Pei Ming couldn't be sure who. But he cupped the back of Shi Wudu's head and held him close, pressing their foreheads together as they pulled apart, breathing the same air.
Shi Wudu's hands settled on his chest, long fingers twinning into his shirt as the man leaned against him. "I remember you." He breathed, eyes fixed on Pei Ming's as they stood there together, in their own little world in the Ming Guang temple. "I remember you." He repeated, " I remember us."
Pei Ming could feel more tears pressing against his eyelids and just smiled crookedly at his lover. A broken, honest smile. "I missed you." He confessed, " I missed you so much."
Shi Wudu pressed closer to him, like he wanted to wrap every inch of himself in Pei Ming's arms. "I missed you too." He whispered.
Pei Ming leaned down to capture his lips again. He didn't know how much of their former life together Shi Wudu remembered. He didn't entirely know who this new Shi Wudu was, what parts of his old lover he still carried, what stories had shaped the new one.
But he swore to himself as he pulled the other man closer, he would find out.