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Shen Yuan did his best not to squirm or feel nauseous as his eyes glanced around all the children around him. His parents had brought him to a slave auction to find him an “friend”. He honestly stared in horror at the living conditions of the other children and he kept the contents of his lunch in his stomach. Seeing his reaction his parents sighed and gave up. He was softer than other demons, even if he was the son of a high ranking demon noble. He had many siblings so he didn’t understand him needing anyone else.
On the way out however they came upon a scene. Some human nobleman, if you could call someone that young a man, threatening some children. It seems in order to prevent a boy from being trampled, an older boy jumped in like a hero. It seemed that in order for both of them not to be trampled the scrappy looking child threw a rock at the horse injuring it. It was a mess and now the man was going to purchase the scrappy child.
Shen Yuan had a feeling, this whole scenario was going to end badly. The demon boy had such a high intuition that it was basically fortune telling, according to his siblings. It wouldn’t take much to alter this path.
“That one needs to come with us,” Shen Yuan said as he tugged on his father’s sleeve.
The older demonic man arched a brow at his youngest son before looking at the boy and speaking, “are you sure? You need an attendant not trouble”
Shen Yuan vigorously nodded before pleading with his eyes at his mother. She was the weak link between the two. He could practically feel his father roll his eyes behind him. His mother reacted as expected and pulled out her wallet as his father left to go collect the child.
Later that day he was standing in front of a freshly cleaned A-Jiu, he had done his best to clean him as gently as possible. It seemed they named all the kids after numbers, again the sick feeling twisted his stomach up at the thought. His parents insisted A-Jiu was cleaned properly before he was allowed to spend time with their Yuan-er. The other boy still looked angry, seething almost. It reminded him of a feral kitten Shen Yuan picked up once.
Just like with the kitten, food and space seemed to be the best first step. Shen Yuan brought food to the boy and eventually the boy ate it, albeit reluctantly. After a few weeks of watching the boy and giving him food, he was allowed to just spend time in the boy's presence.
Eventually A-Jiu spent all his time with Shen Yuan, you couldn’t separate them for anything. They even shared a bed. The demon boy was delighted to share his time and lifestyle with this human boy. Clearly this wasn’t what A-Jiu expected since he often stared at Shen Yuan like he was expecting the other shoe to drop.
Years went by and A-Jiu came out of his shell. He was without a doubt Shen Yuan’s best friend. So it hurt when A-Jiu mentioned he wanted to leave him to become a cultivator. It had been his dream to become cultivators with his friend from before. It stung in weird places in his heart. It took some time but Shen Yuan had managed to find all the books on cultivation he could get his hands on. They were immediately given to A-Jiu.
They were 15 when they had to part. A-Jiu couldn’t become a cultivator there and he was getting too old to start cultivation. It was sad, he was sure despite his best efforts he cried. They part with a hug and a large pack with his belongings and essentials for the road.
Even more years went by and there was no letter or any news of A-Jiu. He had hoped there would be something by now. The worrying feeling gnawed at his insides. Eventually Shen Yuan grew restless enough to venture into the human world for answers. His excuse to his parents was he wanted to see the world and study its flora and fauna.
So Shen Yuan searched, he started with the cultivation sects closest to the borderlands then outwards from there. He searched high and low but nothing about A-Jiu. The demon did however write several beastaries on his travels, hoping his A-Jiu would find one of them one day.
Shen Yuan sighed from behind the bars of his cage. He could not have anticipated this turn of events. He thought he could be sneaky and get close to one of the larger sects to see if he could hear anything. And he got caught. It was stupid really, he wasn’t even that close to the Cang Qiong. He was only in the town near the base, it was rather rude to say demons could even enter a nearby town. But low and behold he got caught and caged, now he was waiting for the esteemed cultivators to grace him with their presence.
It took hours until he heard voices arguing. Then he saw a man in blue and gray robes with a beauty mark arguing with a tall handsome man whose green eyes could be mistaken for no one else. His A-Jiu now was so much taller than him, he looked every bit the immortal cultivator in his green robes and painted fan. Shen Yuan shyed from the cage bars to keep his A-Jiu from seeing him like this. He only wanted to see if he was doing alright, he didn’t need to be seen. Especially like this, he was a messy, filthy, and very demon.
Shen Yuan was in the process of hiding in his own clothes when the cultivator with the beauty mark grabbed the back of neck and yanked him toward the door. The demon lord squealed as he struggled to not just fall out ungracefully on his face. But he did get tangled up in his own clothes and fell out. At least it was on his rear and not his face, small wins.
The demon lord gulped as he looked at the widening eye of A-Jiu. He knew he shouldn’t have come there, there was no way the other would be pleased to see him. He was a full grown cultivator, beautiful and flawless and Shen Yuan was just a fragment of his past.
“Well Shen Qingqiu, is this the demon we are looking for?” The man with the beauty mark demanded.
“That is a demon but not the one we are looking for, let it go and let’s continue checking the traps” A-Jiu, or Shen Qingqiu as he was just called, said behind his fan.
Shen Yuan was promptly dropped and scurried off away from the cultivators while they were still being forgiving. He felt the weight of a gift he had picked up in his bag though. So he went to the nearest brothel. He had collected a number of gifts and trickers for his A-Jiu over the years. Now he had a place to send them. He had left money to the girls at the brothel and told them where to send the gifts, they were kind enough to help make sure they were received before he left.
He found what he was looking for, A-Jiu had a bright future. Though an odd feeling occurred when he heard A-Jiu’s new name had shared a surname. It made him sad their friendship couldn’t go on but knowing his dearest was living his best life was reassuring. He sent A-Jiu a number of gifts and books after that, all in secret of course. He tried to leave little notes of encouragement inside the books, hoping he could make A-Jiu’s just a tad better. He also sometimes sent sweets, A-Jiu always had a sweet tooth.
Eventually Shen Yuan had to reluctantly settle down and do his duties as a Demon Lord, albeit they were less than his older brothers. At least they let him still send gifts and trinkets to his A-Jiu. The latest was a crystal incense burner that was the same shade of green as his favorite cultivator's eyes. He never got any responses but it was nice to imagine A-Jiu’s face. His sister would tease him about how if he spent half his time working as he does courting a Peak Lord he would be a lord fitting of Tianlang-Jun’s inner court. He would disagree but he had long since gotten over the news of him being in love with A-Jiu a long time ago.
Shortly after his sister said that an attack hit his home and he was gravely injured protecting his mother and sister. He wasn’t even fit to stand let alone look or send new courtship gifts. His lack of correspondences must have alerted A-Jiu because not even a full month later the Peak Lord was banging outside their gates. He looked haggard and not at all as put together and the rumors claimed he was. Before he could comment on this he was brought into a deep hug and kissed.
“I thought I lost you” Shen Qingqiu said as he kissed Shen Yuan’s lips, cheeks, and forehead.
Shen Qingqiu and Shen Yuan were wed the very next day. They spent a few months rebuilding before Shen Yuan followed his new husband back to his mountain. He had been nervous but his lover assured him that they were a set now and if the other’s didn’t like it, that it’s on them. They were hand in hand as they climbed the mountain to their new future together.