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Shi Wudu collapsed face down on their bed in the hotel room, groaning as his hand hit a stray makeup brush amongst the chaos and prop weapons strewn about. He could feel one of the fake fish his sibling's boyfriend used for his cosplay poking him in the forehead.
"I'm gonna kill He Xuan." He growled under his breath and heard the tired snort from behind him followed by the groan of relief and heavy slump of clothing as his own boyfriend let his heavy cosplay robes slide to the floor.
That brought him up sharply, glaring over his shoulder, "You better not have let all my hard work on your robes get crumpled on the floor, Ming'er."
Pei Ming glanced at him, already halfway through peeling the lace front wig off his face, his eyes bright with the ruby contacts. "Uh." He replied, looking like a child caught with a hand in the cookie jar. "Yeah. I was gonna hang those up."
"You better." Shi Wudu snapped, then sucked a deep breath, closing his eyes and counting to ten. He breathed out and tried again. "Sorry. Please hang the robes up before they get ruined or someone steps on them."
"Yeah, of course." Pei Ming finished peeling the adhesive off his face and leaned in, pecking Shi Wudu on the cheek softly. "We should get you food, yeah?" He suggested gently, and Shi Wudu nodded with a deep sigh. He got peeved when he was hangry.
"I don't know how QingXuan and the others do it." He grumbled, referring to their cosplay group's lack of proper meals at con.
Pei Ming shrugged, carefully setting his wig down on the nearest empty styrofoam head and carefully pinning it back in place before he bent to pick up the robe he'd shed. "Well, the Xuan's are kids. They have time to catch up with us." He laughed a little, careful hanging his robes. "And I think Xie Lian just lives in his costume all weekend."
"I'm 90% sure Hua Cheng is literally just his character." Shi Wudu grumbled, standing and starting to peel his own wig off.
"Dude is committed to the eyepatch thing." Pei Ming agreed, reaching over to untangle Shi Wudu's long wig from some of the beading on his robes. "Ling Wen called it quits hours ago though, so we did good."
"Did you see Quan Yi Zhen at all??" Shi Wudu winced as he finally lifted the heavy wig free, sighing in relief. "I thought he was supposed to be with us today??"
"Uh, he was around for a bit at the start, for the group photoshoot." Pei Ming handed him another wig head, "And then he started following that one kid - Hua Cheng's friend? The one with the braid - around and I haven't seen him since."
Shi Wudu groaned, shaking his head. "He's Xie Lian's responsibility, not mine." He started undressing, jerking his chin at the messy bed covered in makeup supplies, safety pins, a few rejected shoe choices and bags the Xuan's had dumped off in the room after running through the merch hall. "Can you clean that off?"
Pei Ming was pulling his wig cap off, shaking his long hair free. "Mn. Yeah." He agreed, tucking his bobby pins back in the case. "So you wanna order pizza from the place, or do you think the line at the sushi place would be short tonight?"
Shi Wudu shrugged. "Ask Feng Xin and Mu Qing. They were headed there."
Pei Ming bent over the bed to pull his phone out of the ita bag they'd been carrying all day as Shi Wudu started to peel off his layers.
"Qing says the line is out the door." Pei Ming reported, glancing up. "So, pizza?"
"Yeah, sounds good." Shi Wudu agreed and added, "Can you find out where my children went, please?"
Pei Ming laughed, "I should locate my nephew too." He agreed, and opened their room chat.
Shi Wudu laid out the last of his layers and grabbed for his loose after-con clothes - loose sweat pants and an old, too big shirt of Pei Ming's had he'd stolen years ago when they first started dating. He started hanging his own robes, glaring at the monstrosity that was QingXuan's costume for tomorrow as it hung neatly in the closet.
"Tomorrow's gonna be awful." He grumbled. "Why did we agree to group with the Xuans??"
"Because your your baby sib asked you with big crocodile tears." Pei Ming had cleared their bed and was lying stretched out on it, still topless, as he tapped on his phone. Shi Wudu could appreciate the view, even half dead after a day of trooping around in long robes and wigs.
"Pei Xu is with HuaLian because that girl he likes is there." He reported, glancing up to open one arm to his boyfriend as Shi Wudu settled down and nestled up next to him on the bed. "And He Xuan has left me on read."
Shi Wudu huffed an annoyed little sigh. "I'm gonna murder QingXuan." He grumbled. "He knows the con rules."
"They're probably fine. Maybe they're with HuaLian too." Pei Ming closed the messager and opened the pizza app, handing the phone to his boyfriend.
"Am I buying?" Shi Wudu inquired dryly, and Pei Ming laughed, leaning in to kiss his cheek again.
"Please, Daddy." He teased, and Shi Wudu whacked him with a pillow before he started the order. "Ling Wen want to come over?" He asked and Pei Ming shook his head.
"Nah, she tapped out. She's gonna spa tonight, remember? I think Jun Wu and his bf are going too."
Shi Wudu hummed softly and finished adding things to their pizza, heading to the pay screen. "We're not missing anyone, right?" He inquired as he typed in his card number.
Pei Ming nuzzled into his side, humming as he considered. "Yushi Huang was also with HuaLian, I think they were going to the place that does vegetarian dishes. I guess just Qian Qiu, but he's got his own room."
"Please." Shi Wudu rolled his eyes and finished paying, handing the phone back to his boyfriend. "Everyone saw him and Qi Rong practically biting each other at lunch. I bet you a ten they're fucking."
"God, Qi Rong?? Really??" Pei Ming seemed to consider that for a moment and then started laughing, "You know that explains the bite marks on his arms lately. I thought it was the kid he fosters."
Shi Wudu idly ran a finger along his boyfriend's defined abs, smirking. "Some people have no taste."
Pei Ming's breath caught. "Babe. Don't. The kids could be back any minute." He hissed between his teeth as Shi Wudu deftly tucked a hand in his underwear.
"I'll be quick..." Shi Wudu promised. "We deserve a little adult fun for taking care of the kids all weekend, don't you think??"
He could feel Pei Ming stiffening in response and his boyfriend let out a soft moan as he ran his finger over the head.
👗 🥻 👚 👔 🕺 👗
They were showering off when someone knocked on the hotel room door, and Pei Ming dropped a kiss on Shi Wudu's shoulder before he wrapped a towel around his waist and went to answer.
Shi Wudu rinsed his hair one more time before turning off the water and listening to the voices of his sibling and their boyfriend.
"Why are you naked??" QingXuan had no concept of an inside voice, "Were you doing it with my brother???"
Pei Ming's voice was much lower. "We were showering." There was a pause. "He Xuan, that's our pizza."
Shi Wudu finished drying himself off and pulled on his sweatpants again, stepping out of the bathroom. "I got them a pizza too."
Pei Ming rolled his eyes and snatched the other box back from Shi QingXuan's boyfriend, who didn't even look up from inhaling the other pizza. He was a bottomless black hole sometimes.
QingXuan looked mortified. "GE!! WHY ARE YOU NAKED?!"
Shi Wudu joined Pei Ming on their newly cleaned bed and reached for a slice as his boyfriend opened the pizza box. "We showered." He replied, watching Pei Ming reach for the TV remote.
QingXuan's face twitched but they just huffed and started pulling off their robes. "Leave me a slice." They told He Xuan, who glanced up with like, his fifth piece hanging from his lips and grunted.
Pei Ming found the terrible Bigfoot hunting show they'd been watching last night before they all collapsed, and set down the remote, sneering at something the actors said on the TV.
He Xuan looked up indignantly in response to the next line. "Fish don't behave like that." He grumbled.
"This is so fake." QingXuan agreed, flopping down next to him in their pastel colored PJ's and reaching for a slice of pizza. "Like if you wanted us to believe you were actually hunting Bigfoot, maybe have someone familiar with real animal behaviors write your script."
Their hand dipped into the box and they sighed sadly, looking at He Xuan who just stared blankly back at them. "A-Xuan....I wanted some..."
Pei Ming laughed under his breath and held out their box to Shi QingXuan across the narrow space between their beds. The younger cosplayer took the extra slices with a disdainful sniff and a grumbled, "I still don't like you."
Pei Ming rolled his eyes and leaned to place a big wet kiss on Shi Wudu's cheek as QingXuan fake gagged.
Shi Wudu rolled his eyes at their antics and settled himself into Pei Ming's side, humming softly as his boyfriend started running fingers through his hair. "What time do we have to be up tomorrow?" He asked after a moment.
"Mn, my panel's at ten thirty. We have a couple photoshoots before that, so um...." Shi QingXuan glanced at He Xuan.
The goth boy had stripped off his long robes and wig and was combing the snarls out of his Mohawk. "Six. For the makeup." He replied without looking. "First shoot is at nine, second one with the videographer is at nine forty-five and then the actual show's press agent wanted a few shots after that."
"Right, because the season just aired and we're the first to cosplay this group!" QingXuan was bouncing slightly, their face flushed with excitement, "Isn't that cool, Ge??"
Shi Wudu hummed. "Yeah, sure." He agreed, wrapping one arm around Pei Ming's waist. "I still think Ming'er would have made a better god general then the villain."
"Yeah but." QingXuan scowled a little bit, "We needed the villain. The gods don't make any sense with the group."
"It's fine." Pei Ming soothed between the brothers, settling his hand on Shi Wudu's back. "We're gonna change after lunch, remember? We'll be gods then."
He Xuan flopped down into the other bed with another glare at the TV. "What the fuck. Water doesn't work like that, you absolute morons."
That was probably the most Shi Wudu had heard the angsty goth boy talk all weekend and he snorted to himself. "It does in mythical TV land." He prodded, a little curious at the goth's response.
He Xuan's hand waved above his head almost violently. "WATER. DOES. NOT. WORK. LIKE THAT." He growled, and then rolled himself into a ball in the blankets of their bed and stuffed his face into the pillows.
Pei Ming was laughing silently, trying not to offend either of the two Xuans, but managed to get a glare from QingXuan anyway before the younger cosplayer flopped down next to their bundled boyfriend and turned their back on the other couple.
Shi Wudu reached across Pei Ming to turn out the bedside lamps. Pei Ming caught his chin when he pulled back and kissed him, slow and soft and sweet.
"Hey." He smiled, the light of the TV reflecting in his eyes, "Thanks for letting me come."
Shi Wudu rolled his eyes. "I wasn't going to let you room with Qian Qiu and get an earful of his fucking the ghost boy every night."
"Yeah, but still. Pei Xu and I appreciate you letting us room with you."
"Please. If anything, I was gonna kick the Xuans to their own room." Shi Wudu pulled his boyfriend down into the bed and snuggled into his arms, playing with the long bangs Pei Ming usually kept pinned up. "What's con without my favorite cosplay partner?"
Pei Ming laughed softly. "It is our anniversary con, after all. Remember? You were wearing the first season water master outfit."
"And you were dressed in that gaudy first season outfit for the sex god. I thought you were a douche." Shi Wudu started snickering, and Pei Ming's cheeks flushed.
"I admit, season one look was... douchey. But I'm glad you gave me a chance anyway." He grinned, the sincerity in his smile warming Shi Wudu's chest. "And look at us now, season seven costumes and five years strong."
"Still showing your abs in every costume." Shi Wudu snorted as Pei Ming settled them closer together in the bed.
"It's a trademark!!" Pei Ming protested, laughing, "You're just pissed my abs get more followers on Instagram then you."
"I also have abs, thank you very much!" Shi Wudu hissed, but let his head rest on Pei Ming's shoulder. "They're just...small abs."
Pei Ming snickered and kissed his forehead again. "Mn. My water master."
Shi Wudu hummed in return and let his fingers curl into his boyfriend's long hair. "Do we need to stay up until your cousin comes back?" He asked.
Pei Ming shrugged, "He's an adult and he had a key." He replied, muffing a yawn as he reached to turn off the TV. "We got an early date with makeup tomorrow. Gotta get me all bloody and evil looking."
"At least you have a head." Shi Wudu rolled his eyes with a quiet sigh. "I dunno how QingXuan talked me into this."
"Because you love them. It'll be fun, you'll see. And we'll do water master and sexy god after lunch." Pei Ming nuzzled into his cheek, his breath brushing softly as Shi Wudu's cheek. "I love you, babe."
Shi Wudu let his eyes close, finally feeling the fatigue of the day catching up with him. "I love you too, A-Ming." He agreed quietly.