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It all began in the sweet, rosy afterglow of a tooth achingly lovey-dovey date night together, as Baiheng and Jing Liu were cuddled together under the blankets, looking at the moon and stars.
Baiheng, giggling while peppering kisses on her girlfriend’s face, had casually said, “Ah, I hope A-Feng gets it together soon, so they can also experience such joy as I get to with you!”
Jing Liu had snorted, and replied, “No way. They’re too stupid. Besides, there’s five of us. Once they get together, won’t there be a fifth wheel all the time?”
“Ah, I suppose you’re right,” Baiheng had sighed, “I would hate to make him feel left out…Poor-“
“-Jing Yuan”
“-Yingxing”
The two spoke simultaneously, and the names hung in the air like morning mist, as they each processed what their lover had said.
Baiheng shot up from under the blankets. “Hold on! What do you mean ‘Poor Yingxing?’ Are you…” she gasped dramatically, “Jing Liu, my love, surely you aren’t implying Jing Yuan will get together with Dan Feng?”
Jing Liu also sat up, back straight and face frowning. “Of course I’m talking about Jing Yuan and Dan Feng, have you not seen those two together? They’re basically married!”
“Absolutely not! Have you not seen A-Xing and A-Feng? The tension is always so heavy it could sink a ship!” Baiheng snapped.
“My dearest. I fear you may be blinded by your love for Yingxing. Clearly Dan Feng’s soulmate is Jing Yuan.”
“On the contrary, my love, it is you who is blinded by your bias towards Jing Yuan!”
“It’s Jing Yuan”
“It’ll be Yingxing!”
And, due to the natural competitiveness of both ladies, a competition was born, to see who was Dan Feng’s soulmate and future lover.
- Yingxing: Princess Carry
The two ladies had been invited, then immediately forgotten about, by Yingxing for lunch, so they took the opportunity to hide behind some boxes and do some investigating.
“Look, look! Dan Feng is clearly eyeing Yingxing’s muscles as he’s working right now!”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure Dan Feng is asleep. How are his eyes still open?”
Baiheng squinted, and pouted in dismay. It looked like the heroine of the romance novel really had fallen asleep with his eyes open and book in hand, all while a veritable feast of muscles and sweat was hammering away at something three feet in front of him!
Jing Liu smirked triumphantly, and got up from behind the boxes. “Look’s like I was right, come on, I’m getting hungry-“
Before she could finish, she was tugged to the floor by Baiheng, who pressed a finger to her lips and whispered, “Wait wait look something’s happening!”
Yingxing had seemed to suddenly recall he had guests, and set his tools down to turn towards the sleeping Dan Feng.
Baiheng squealed under her breath. “Look, look! Look at how tenderly he gazes at him. And look at how he’s gentling lifting Dan Feng in a princess carry! And how sweetly he’s moving things around so he has a better place to sleep! If that’s not true love then I don’t know what is!”
Jing Liu tsked, and admitted defeat. “Just this time though!” Then they finally went to lunch.
In reality, though, Yingxing had only lifted Dan Feng to get to the box he was sitting on. Once he had kicked the necessary boxes out from under his seat, he placed Dan Feng back down wherever it was stable. But the two ladies never knew this.
- Jing Yuan: Sharing an Indirect Kiss
Partway through lunch with their boys, Jing Liu had kicked Baiheng’s ankle under the table, and pointed her chin towards a whining Jing Yuan and an exasperated Dan Feng.
“Look at those two right now! That little brat thinks he’s subtle, sharing his lunch with Dan Feng! Isn’t that a blatant excuse for indirect kisses? And look at how Dan Feng spoils him and feeds him by hand!” she muttered into Baiheng’s ear.
Baiheng glanced over, and sure enough, Jing Yuan was splayed over the table, whining about something as Dan Feng held a mouthful of stir-fried vegetables between Jing Yuan’s chopsticks and shoved it towards the younger boy’s mouth.
“I suppose sharing lunch is a bit romantic…” Baiheng admitted.
What the ladies didn’t hear was the content of Jing Yuan’s complaints. If they did, then they would have known Dan Feng was forcibly feeding Jing Yuan his new mandatory diet of vegetables, after the latter had gotten in trouble with the doctor for eating too many sweets lately. But, they didn’t hear, so they never found out.
- Yingxing: Healing a Wound
The two ladies were once again observing their favorite shoujo heroine as they sat on a bench spectating Dan Feng and Yingxing, who were standing at the water fountain in front of them. Dan Feng’s back was facing them, while Yingxing’s sheepish expression was facing towards them.
“Okay, this time I win for sure! Look at the love in his eyes as Dan Feng treats his wounds! They’re just like the main character gently caressing the injuries of the gallant knight who protected them!” Baiheng crowed.
“Oh please. Dan Feng fusses like that over any one of us who gets injured.” Jing Liu scoffed.
Just as she said that, Dan Feng grabbed Yingxing’s face, and pulled him down towards his own face. From their angle, it looked just like Dan Feng’s lips were aiming towards Yingxing’s forehead, as his left hand slid into Yingxing’s hair, and his right hand cupped his jaw.
Baiheng squealed, “Was that a kiss?!”
Even Jing Liu was shocked into silence, as she mentally counted another tally mark for her girlfriend.
From a different angle, they would have seen Dan Feng had tugged Yingxing’s head down to take a look at a small wound along his hairline. All the while, he was chiding his friend for being reckless and arrogant in a fight.
- Jing Yuan: Accidental Adoption?
“Jing Liu! That’s cheating! You’re cheating!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Said cheating involved two children who were currently playing a strange hybrid of tag and swords with Jing Yuan and Dan Feng at the park, while the two ladies relaxed on a picnic blanket in the shade.
Baiheng puffed up her cheeks and pouted angrily. “You can’t just borrow your nephew and my niece for this! It’s external influences!”
Jing Liu rolled her eyes, while internally gushing at how cute her girlfriend was. “Why not? It’s fair. I got one kid as a representative for each of us. You just think it’s unfair because they’re clearly acting like a married couple with two kids right in front of us. It’s ultra domestic. Just look at how sickeningly sweet Dan Feng looks at Jing Yuan right now.”
Baiheng turned her glare from her girlfriend’s face towards the playground, watching as Jing Yuan turned to battle Yanqing with some sticks, and Dan Feng had lifted Bailu up into his arms. It was an admittedly cute scene, and it was exceedingly domestic, she admitted to herself.
But outside of their shoujo romance sparkle vision, the real scenario at the playground was Dan Feng glaring at Jing Yuan and Yanqing as Bailu sniffed tears in his arms. The two had accidentally hit the little girl while play fighting, and were now about to be lectured by Dan Feng for being childish.
- Dan Feng
“So it’s currently a tie!”
“Hm.”
Jing Liu and Baiheng had their heads bent together, looking over their point tallies for their competition in a boba shop. Today was supposed to be the last day of their bet, but they had yet to reach a proper conclusion, and the three boys were also supposed to meet them soon. They needed a tie breaker quickly, but how?
Unfortunately for the couple, the three men of the hour arrived before they could come up with any ideas. The group of friends proceeded to hang out for a while, but even with their eyes peeled, neither Baiheng nor Jing Liu could spot any interesting tidbits that were strong enough to argue for either side solidly. They deemed the day a loss, and telepathically agreed to set the tiebreaker for later.
However, just before the five were parting for the day, a stroke of luck occurred.
A stranger tried to ask Dan Feng out on a date.
“This is it!” they both thought, sharing excited looks with each other.
“-I saw you from across the store, and think you’re really, really handsome! So, here’s my number if you’d consider going out with me!”
Dan Feng was still as stone in his seat, staring blankly at the stranger, who held a piece of paper out to the man with their head bowed and both hands shaking. He didn’t need to respond, as before he had even blinked once, an arm had snaked around his waist and another had wrapped around his shoulders.
“Thank you for complementing our dear A-Feng here,” Jing Yuan coldly said, “But he has no need for a date from a stranger who’s interests have no substance.”
He was smiling like usual, but his golden eyes were sharp and cold.
Just as the stranger was busy trembling at the look in Jing Yuan’s eye’s, Yingxing reached out a scarred hand to pluck the phone number from their hands, crumpling it up in an instance.
The stranger was visibly sweating as they shifted their eyes from a pair of chilly golden glares to burning fury. In a low growl, Yingxing grumbled, “He’s busy.”
At that, the stranger turned tail and fled, clearly traumatized. Both Yingxing and Jing Yuan were radiating smugness, identical smirks on their faces.
Jing Liu and Baiheng clutched each other’s hands under the table as they stared in shock. Dan Feng had finally begun to move, smacking each boy’s head and complaining about politeness.
“Oh,” the two ladies thought, “so it’s like that.”
And so, the competition was closed, and both ladies felt their relationship grow even stronger, now that they had proven both were correct in their own ways.
“It’s a blessing! We won’t have to worry about anyone fifth wheeling!” Baiheng cheered once during another date night.
Jing Liu hummed in agreement, “Yes. But…do you get the strange feeling that somehow…we’re both third-wheeling them now?”
“…”