Work Text:
“...We should’ve asked for directions when I said so.”
“Shove your directions up your ass.”
Tapping a finger against the steering wheel, Shen Yuan used his free hand to roll down the window beside him as far as it would go—which was only about two-thirds of the way—and sighed into the breeze that hit his face, his hair rustling as fresh air filled the car.
The radio was turned down low—at some point during the trip they simply hadn’t bothered to increase the volume again after lowering it to bitch about something or other—and only the fuzzy hum of some nearly indistinguishable song could be heard from the speakers.
A glance at the neon green clock told him it was nearing 6:00 pm, but the sun still shone bright and stubborn from the blue, cloudless sky. The days had grown long in the summer months, and the heat was stifling even beneath the shade of the passing trees.
It didn’t help that the air-con was busted.
They were on a trip—Shen Yuan absolutely refused to consider it a vacation—driving in the middle of nowhere to some place Shang Qinghua had promised would be fun, relaxing, and ‘would definitely take his mind off things for a while’. Shen Yuan doubted the last and, as things were going, the first two didn’t seem terribly likely either.
“Can you admit now that you’ve gotten us lost?” he asked, taking his eyes off the road to glance sidelong Shang Qinghua.
“...I can admit that we are sort of maybe displaced from our originally intended location.”
An eye roll. “You got us lost.” He glanced at the crinkling map in his friend’s hands, the edges stained orange by cheese puff coated fingers. “Is that thing even the right side up?”
There was a notable pause and several more crinkles before he received an answer.
“Yes .”
“Unbelievable.”
Shang Qinghua sighed, folding the map completely now. “Look just. Turn left here. I think it’ll get us where we want to go.”
“You think?” Shen Yuan echoed, though he obediently turned at the next left. “Next time you’re driving.”
“Hah. Me and what license? Hey! Left, I said!”
“ This is left! ”
A pause.
“Ah. I meant right.”
“I’m going to murder you.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Just keep going. I’m sure it’ll—aaaand we’ve hit a dirt road.”
Gripping both hands on the wheel now as the vehicle jolted over the uneven earth, Shen Yuan snapped, “ Dude!”
“Can you turn around?”
“ Literally no.”
“Your car is kinda shit, bro—okay, okay! Ow! Don’t hit me! Both hands on the wheel! Look, just keep going, alright? There might be a better place to turn the further we go in.”
“Absolutely unbelievable .”
“Yeah, yeah.”
The car groaned and grunted in protest the further along the narrowing road they drove, and the overgrown greenery that surrounded them only seemed to grow closer.
“Bro, look! There’s little stone houses in the grass.”
“I am a bit busy trying to not get us killed, thanks .”
“No seriously you have to—LOOK OUT!”
“ Shit!”
The grinning oval statue flashed before his eyes and, before he could think, Shen Yuan stomped down on the breaks, causing the car to jolt and screech in protest. The tires squealed as they attempted to slow the vehicle, dragging across the dry, dirt road closer, closer, closer to the stone until—
Ding.
—it finally stopped.
“...”
“...”
“What the fuck dude,” Shang Qinghua gasped after a moment, turning to Shen Yuan. He was clutching a bag of licorice and the old, wrinkly map to his chest. “Are those things on your face only for decoration?”
Rolling his eyes, and pointedly adjusting the glasses on his face, Shen Yuan shifted the car into park and unbuckled his seatbelt.
“What? Where are you going?”
Shen Yuan opened the door and stepped out, squinting against the brightness that filtered through the gaps in the leaves. “I’m going to see if I dented my car,” he said. “Which would be your fault by the way.”
Shang Qinghua gasped, affronted, though he also unbuckled his seatbelt and crawled out of the car—leaving behind the map and the licorice. “How is it my fault?”
“You led us down this creepy road! I’m going to have to reverse the entire way back, because of you,” Shen Yuan snapped back, already rounding the front of the car and bending over to see the damage.
It wasn’t horrible at least. Only the front of the license plate seemed to be bent.
“Dude! Check this out.”
“If you’ve found another strange bruise on your ass, I don’t want to see it,” Shen Yuan grunted, rubbing at what he hoped was dirt on the front of the car and not a scrape.
“That was one—....two times.” A sigh. “Look, I’m serious! Get over here!”
Sighing, Shen Yuan pushed himself up using the odd statue he’d run into. Patting his hands on his shorts he wandered over to where Shang Qinghua was standing next to what looked to to be an old building, rubbing the rusty red of the exterior.
“Check this place out.”
Shen Yuan reached out to touch the wall, running his fingers down the chipped paint. Red flecks came off on his fingers.
“It’s plaster,” he said, dropping his hand and wiggling to get the flecks off. He turned to look down the dark passage in the centre of the building. “It’s made to look old. Weird place for something like this, though. I wonder what it was made for?”
“...Well. We’re here. How about we take a look?”
Shen Yuan turned to his friend, frowning. “What? You hate shit like this.”
“No. I love shit like this. It just freaks me out, is all. There’s a difference.”
“Really,” Shen Yuan responded dryly.
“Yes, really. Besides, you also love this shit. And it is technically your vacation.”
“Not a vacation.”
“Yeah, yeah. Come on! Don’t be boring. Let’s go in and take a look.”
---
The abandoned theme park was definitely creepy.
But…in a fun way.
And, strangely, in a familiar way.
The buildings were colourful and eye-catching, and lanterns of various shapes hung between the rows of buildings. It was eerie in a beautiful sort of way. Of course, the creepiest part was the fact that it didn’t seem abandoned. It was clean. Maintained.
And yet there was nobody around.
Also—
“It’s weird that I’m not getting any bars…we haven’t even walked that far. Hey, bro, can you check your—”
“Duuuude. For the last time, stop looking at your phone.”
“I just think it’s weird that—”
“Look around you!” Shang Qinghua said as he turned then to face Shen Yuan, walking backwards. He was gesturing grandly with his arms. “Look at the buildings! The decorations! We’re outside! Fresh air!”
Shen Yuan wrinkled his nose. “Like you’re in any position to tell me that,” he shot back, though he did pocket his phone. “You hardly ever leave your apartment.”
“Admit it. I found us a cool place!”
“It’s certainly something,” Shen Yuan allowed as he looked around. He frowned. “Though I wonder why they’re all restaurants.”
“Mm. Do you think any are open?” Shang Qinghua asked, perking up. They had both skipped lunch in lieu of several convenience store snacks. Which, in hindsight, had been a mistake.
“Do you see any people?” Shen Yuan shot back.
A weary sigh. “Shame. I swear I smelled something. God, I’m so hungry .”
“You’re the one who wanted to explore!”
“For you ! I’m a very selfless individual, you know.”
“...Sometimes the amount of bullshit that comes out your mouth actually astounds me—”
“FOOD!”
Shen Yuan barely had time to step out of the way as Shang Qinghua shoved past him, barrelling towards one of the nearby restaurants.
“I knew I smelled something!” he cried.
Confused, Shen Yuan followed him towards the stall. Sure enough, amazingly enough, the bar was filled with an arrangement of glistening, fragrant foods. Before Shen Yuan’s mind could puzzle through how this was even possible, Shang Qinghua was already scrambling up onto one of the stools.
Shen Yuan sputtered at the sight.
“ Dude !” he hissed, rushing over. He glanced quickly around to see if anyone had spotted them, but the park remained eerily vacant. “What are you doing!?”
“M’Eating,” Shang Qinghua said around a mouthful, already happily stuffing his face. He reached for a large, roundish dumpling. “It’s seriously good. What do you think this even is ?”
“It’s not yours.”
A snort. “Relax, I’ll just have my nepo-baby bestie pay the bill when they come back.”
Shen Yuan glared at the side of Shang Qinghua’s head.
Shang Qinghua continued to shove his face, content to ignore him.
“Ooh, mmf…mm…mushtard.”
Shen Yuan wrinkled his nose.
“…Ugh. Okay. Well. I’m going to look around. Just…don’t move, okay? I’m still not getting any bars on my phone.”
For his efforts, he received an absent wave from greasy fingers. Rolling his eyes, Shen Yuan sighed and turned away, continuing down towards the main path.
The air cleared once he got a good distance away from the food, and he found himself once more able to breathe in the clean air. It smelled delicious, it was true, but something about eating there made him pause.
That, and the fact that Shang Qinghua was one of the messiest eaters known to man.
A breeze blew by, smelling of grass as it rustled his hair, pushing it in front of his glasses. Absently, he tucked the stray lock behind his ear as he eyed the vacant stalls around him, the colour, the banners, the details of the signs.
He found more restaurants.
He found signs with patterns he couldn’t identify, bright flags with colours and patterns that didn’t make sense.
He found alleys and pathways he decided to ignore.
He found steps, made of uneven stone, weaving through the stalls.
…It was an interesting place, to be sure.
And, the more he walked, wandering aimlessly through the park, one step in front of the other, the more his mind nagged at him that he was forgetting something. Something at the edge of his memory, waiting to take form.
Unfortunately, this led his thoughts to places he’d rather avoid.
Like the reason he was there in the first place.
And not at home.
Home with—
His foot hit a raised step, jolting him from his thoughts.
A bridge.
And beyond that…
“A bathhouse…?”
It was massive, ornate, imposing, stunning , with clouds of smoke rising up from the pipes poking out of the rafters. A sign, like a billowing sheet, hung from the building. It wasn’t ratty or old from decay or age.
A presumably working bathhouse, then.
Intrigued, Shen Yuan made to move closer, but his foot hit the raised step again, and he looked down to find a red painted bridge between himself and the bathhouse. Equally as ornate, equally as maintained.
Was this place actually running still?
But then where were all the—?
Shen Yuan froze.
A man stood in the centre of the bridge.
He was dressed simply in blue and white toned robes, clean and well fitted, his hair secured in a neat tie behind his head, long enough to fall behind him in waves. He had dark eyes, dark hair, and an ageless sort of face that meant he could’ve been anywhere from twenty to forty.
And he was also stunningly beautiful.
Like. Unfairly so.
It actually took Shen Yuan a fraction of a second longer than he’d ever admit for himself to believe the model-like, ethereal being before him wasn’t simply a figment of his imagination.
Damn.
Well.
Good thing he was straight.
Or else he might be in trouble.
So caught up in his own head, Shen Yuan almost missed the way this specimen of peak male perfection was looking at him.
He looked horrified.
Then he looked ecstatic.
Fearful?
Worried.
Wait, no.
…Now he was crying.
Without thought, Shen Yuan moved forward towards the man, as though he couldn’t quite help the action. He held up his hands to signal he meant no harm.
“Hey…are you alright—?”
“Yes. Sorry—I…sorry, I’m just…” sniffed the man as he hurriedly scrubbed at his cheek with his once pristine sleeve. Then, with one resolute sniff, his demeanor suddening changed, his tone growing serious. “You shouldn’t be here. You need to leave before it gets dark.”
“What?” Shen Yuan asked. “Is this private property? There wasn’t any—”
“You don’t understand,” the man said, moving across the bridge towards Shen Yuan. He grasped his arm. “It’s almost night. You shouldn’t be here. Not again .”
“Agai—? Ow! Okay! Okay, I can—hey! Easy!”
With the hand gripping his arm, the man continued to forcefully lead Shen Yuan off the bridge and away from the bathhouse.
“Hey—! Dude!”
“There’s no time,” he said, sounding frantic, sounding fearful. “They’re lighting the lamps. You need to get across the river, you need to get back to—”
He froze.
He turned back around, his dark eyes meeting Shen Yuan’s.
A beat.
Then—
“They know you’re here.”
Shen Yuan felt his heart pick up, and he licked his lips, licking over the man’s shoulder at the bathhouse.
“Who knows? What are you talking about?”
“Run,” the man breathed. Then, louder, “Run! I’ll hold them off!”
With those words, he shoved Shen Yuan off the end of the bridge, back towards the park. While he may have protested normally, Shen Yuan felt a strange urgency pulse through him after the interaction, and he found himself doing as instructed, his legs quickly picking up a run, the wind pushing at his back, urging him faster, faster, faster.
“What the fuck?” he panted as he ran, breathing faster than his run warranted. “ What the fuck?”
In the distant horizon, the sun fell swiftly, and the rapidly darkening sky felt strangely ominous.
Night was approaching.
…He got the feeling that he needed to find Shang Qinghua.
And quick.
At a run, Shen Yuan retraced his steps, hurrying through the park back to where he had left his friend at the food stall. As he went, a horrifying feeling began to curdle within him, coiling in his belly and clenching around his lungs.
He really needed to find Shang Qinghua.
And they both needed to get out of this place.
Fast.
The buildings around him began to light from within, seemingly all on their own, and the sound of ovens coming to life resounded, followed swiftly by the scent of smoke and charring meat, fragrant and overwhelming.
And, from nothing, bodies appeared.
Dark and opaque, the bodies were just transparent enough to see what lay beyond them, with white eyes that shone with a terrifying curiosity.
“What the fuck?” Shen Yuan gasped out again as he nearly ran into one such being as it emerged from the cobblestones below. He quickly backpedalled before darting to the left and around the figure, ignoring the way its eyes followed him as he continued, tripping over his feet as he went.
“Shang Qinghua!” he called, running through the lights of orange and red and yellow, lit amongst the darkness.
Had this place always been so fucking big?
He stopped running, looking around, panting.
Desperate.
Alone.
“Shang Qinghua! ” he shouted.
Fuck.
Fuck.
He started running again, growing more and more desperate the longer he searched. And, the longer he searched, the more creatures appeared. The thicker smell. The thicker the smoke.
When he finally spotted the edge of the familiar stall in the distance he could have cried.
He was close.
He was so close.
He heard the squealing long before he ever saw the pig.
---
The man from the bridge found him shortly after that, hiding in the darkness behind a building near the river that had appeared out of nowhere.
Shen Yuan was clutching his hair as he ignored his disappearing limbs in fear and defeat, hiding behind a rock from the reality he was currently living, eyes squeezed shut, lips pressed tightly together as he wordlessly prayed for something, anything, anyone—
He jumped as a gentle hand touched his shoulder, breath hitching in fear as he shied away from the touch. When he followed the length of the hand upward, Shen Yuan found that it was attached to the man from the bridge, who was kneeling beside him.
His expression was kind, cautious, and sad.
“It’s okay!” the man rushed to say. “I’m here to help you. I promise.”
“What’s happening to me?” Shen Yuan cried, he looked down at his hands, the appendages transparent before his eyes. He curled them, watching as they continued to fade. “I can’t— I can’t —”
The man hushed him gently. “It’s alright, Shen Yuan,” he said, holding a small berry towards Shen Yuan’s mouth. “Here. You have to eat the food from this world or else you’ll disappear.”
Shen Yuan clamped his mouth shut, turning away.
The man smiled, and proceeded to shove the berry into Shen Yuan’s mouth.
“Mmff—ackK!!”
“There you go. Good boy,” the man softly praised, as though Shen Yuan had had any say in the way that food had forcefully been jammed into his mouth. With his free hand he gently rubbed down Shen Yuan’s back in soothing motions. “Don’t worry. It won’t turn you into a pig.”
On principle, Shen Yuan made to spit the piece out, but a hand clasped over his face.
“Chew,” the voice beside him instructed.
Shen Yuan chewed.
“And swallow.”
Shen Yuan swallowed.
“Good,” the man said again, pleased. Then, he held up a hand. “There. You’re all better. See for yourself.”
Hesitant, Shen Yuan eyed the man for several moments, before finally looking towards the hand held up between them. Swallowing thickly, Shen Yuan lifted his own hand shakily. His fingers trembled as they moved through the air, until finally they pressed against the warm palm of the man beside him.
He let out a breath, feeling shaky with relief.
The man tangled their fingers together, his hand warm against Shen Yaun’s.
“See?” he said, smiling.
“Did you have to shove it down my throat?” Shen Yuan asked weakly when he was able, glancing back at the man.
The man’s smile widened.
And he promptly ignored his question.
“Come with me,” he said instead, beginning to rise to his feet. “We have to—”
“Wait!” Shen Yuan shouted. “My friend. Was that—did he really turn into a pig?”
“Shh,” the man hushed. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. I’ll take you to see him soon, and then—”
The man froze then, his head tilting as though listening for something.
A moment later he looked to the sky.
A moment after that he suddenly lunged forward, pushing Shen Yuan against the building and pressing close. Shen Yuan’s eyes widened as he felt the man’s hair brush against his cheek, soft and smelling faintly of some sort of herbal soap. They were so close that if Shen Yuan breathed, he knew they would touch.
Shen Yuan’s eyes bulged.
And he held his breath.
……Kabedon.
“They’re looking for you,” said the man, his breath warm against Shen Yuan’s cheek. After a moment he stepped away, but kept an arm firmly around Shen Yuan’s shoulders.
“Wha—Looking for me?”
“Yes,” the man said, frowning, as though this thought greatly displeased him. When his expression cleared, he turned back to Shen Yaun. “Listen to me very carefully. You can’t stay here or they’ll find you. If they do, you’ll never be free.”
“And my friend?” Shen Yuan said. “Did he really turn into a pig? He did, didn’t he? This isn’t some sick dream. This is actually happening. Fuck, I can’t— fuck—”
“Shen Yuan,” the man said, reaching up to cup his face in both hands. “Shen Yuan look at me.”
Shen Yuan’s eyes, damp from tears he hadn’t known he’d shed, looked up into beautiful, inky black eyes, ones he found to be strangely familiar.
“Everything is going to be okay,” he said, smiling. His fingers brushed the hills of Shen Yuan’s cheeks. “I am on your side . You aren’t alone right now. But you have to be strong for me, okay? Because I need your help.”
“...My help?”
The man nodded, shifting in place so Shen Yuan was tucked against him closer. “I need you to do something for me. Something hard, something only you can do. What I need…what I want most desperately right now is for you to be safe. But I can’t do that alone.”
Shen Yuan nodded, squeezing his eyes shut before blinking fast. He nodded again.
“Okay.”
A smile. “Good. Now. While I distract them, you need to escape into the bathhouse.”
“Wait into the bath—?”
“Yes. You need to get a job. I’m going to enter your mind to send you the path. Once you arrive, find the boilerman and beg him for a job. He’ll try and turn you away, but you have to persist. This is the only way you’ll save yourself.”
“And my friend?”
“...Sure,” the man said eventually. “Him too, I guess.”
“Wha—?” Shen Yuan was cut off as two fingers pressed against his forehead and a path lit in his mind. It lasted only a few moments, but the trail felt ingrained in his mind regardless. He blinked as the sensation faded, shaking his head.
When he opened his eyes, the man was staring at him seriously.
“Are you ready, Shen Yuan?”
“Yes, but. How did you know my name? I don’t think I know you.”
The man smiled sadly. “My name is Luo Binghe,” he said. “And I’ve known you for a very long time.”
“...What?”
“It’s time. You have to go.”
“But—”
“Shh. We’ll talk later.”
“No, I really think we should talk now—”
“Remember. I’m your friend.”
“I’m starting to doubt that—”
Before he could air his rather legitimate stalking concerns, Shen Yuan was shoved towards the bathhouse.
---
As Shen Yuan lay under the blanket, curled up in a ball as he listened to the men around him snore and snort and shuffle underneath their own blankets, he felt a distinct hollowness in his chest.
He felt tired.
He felt weary.
He felt alone.
Shen Yuan, in the wanderings of his mind—the kind that seemed to happen frequently to people who were a touch too creative and a bit too lacking in the social department—always hoped that if he’d ever transmigrated or got isekai’d into another world, that he would be poised and crafty about it.
And for the most part, that’s what had happened.
Shen Qingqiu, while certainly a prickly character, wasn’t as bad as Shen Yuan had originally thought. The so-called master of the bathhouse and his odd assortment of henchmen had allowed Shen Yuan a job fairly quickly.
He hadn’t even insisted on a contract, which was a bit weird.
Though, mind you, this might’ve had something to do with the ‘give anyone a job who asks’ oath he’d been muttering about the whole time.
Another odd thing about it—well, okay, another of many odd things. There were a myriad of odd things going on with his current situation, but one that stood out to him as a distinctly unexpected oddity was that he’d seemed to be…confused as to why Shen Yuan was even there in the first place.
Which didn’t make sense.
Wasn’t he the witch that had cursed Shang Qinghua?
The one that had been looking for him?
And what was with Luo Binghe’s behaviour when he had come to collect him from Shen Qingqiu’s office?
He’d been…different.
Standoffish.
Not that Shen Yuan minded terribly…he didn’t even know the guy.
…
Okay, maybe he minded a little.
But come on!
After that earnest speech about how he cared and wanted him safe! Besides, Luo Binghe was his only ally in this bathhouse.
Okay. Yes, the boilerman had been kind, and Liu Qingge had reluctantly shown him to Shen Qinggiu and then grudgingly offered him a half-assed congratulations after.
But…
It was somehow different with Luo Binghe.
He didn’t know why.
But it was.
Shen Yuan squeezed his eyes shut and curled up tighter.
….Whatever.
He’d gotten the job.
The first job he’d ever had.
Wouldn’t his parents be—
A hand touched his shoulder over the blanket.
“Meet me at the bridge. I’ll take you to your friend.”
---
“Was that really him?” Shen Yuan asked quietly, hugging his knees to his chest as he sat amidst the flowering bushes and rows of abundantly growing vegetables.
Luo Binghe, who stood silently beside him, didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.
Shen Yuan sighed, taking off his glasses to rub at his eyes. “This wasn’t supposed to happen,” he said, finding his voice hoarse with emotion. He cleared it. “ None of this was supposed to happen.”
He blinked out at the fuzziness of the world surrounding him before putting his glasses back on, pushing them up his nose. He sighed again.
“I didn’t even want to go on this stupid trip, but Shang Qinghua, he—” Shen Yuan sniffed “—he insisted on getting me away from my money hungry relatives after my parents…died.”
A breath—shaky, cautious.
“My parents died.”
“My parents died.”
“My parents… died.”
Shen Yuan looked down at his hands, clasped together on his knees so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.
“It doesn’t get easier the more you say it…you know. If you were wondering,” he said. “Actually…I think it might make it worse.”
A hand touched his shoulder, and Shen Yuan felt his throat tighten. He took another trembling breath.
“And now, the only person in the world who ever gave a shit about me is…is a pig.”
Shen Yuan laughed then, a dry, weak sound.
“And I don’t know how to fix it.” He blinked, feeling a tear fall fast down his cheek. Several more followed, dropping down from his chin to land against his clasped hands. “I don’t know if I even can .”
The hand on his shoulder tightened. “I meant what I said when we met. I’m on your side, Shen Yuan.”
Scrubbing his cheeks, Shen Yuan looked up at the man beside him, still so heart wrenchingly beautiful.
And still so familiar.
He frowned.
“How do I know you?”
Luo Binghe smiled and, instead of answering, he pulled out two neatly wrapped rice balls. “Here,” he said, unfolding the cloth. “I put a spell on them to help you get your strength back.”
Shen Yuan sniffed, looking between the rice calls and Luo Binghe. After a moment, he took one from the napkin, biting into it carefully. Of course, it was delicious.
And, surprisingly, he did begin to feel better.
…Maybe things would work out after all.
---
Shen Yuan screamed as he clutched tightly to Luo Binghe—who was currently in his dragon form and coated in a layer of warm, sticky blood that had by now also seeped onto every part of Shen Yuan—as they fell through the pitch black shaft down, down, down into darkness.
“Binghe!” Shen Yuan cried, the words torn from the air as soon as he shouted them. “Binghe, wake up! ”
They continued to fall.
“Binghe, please!”
As the inky darkness coating the bottom of the shaft rapidly approached, the dancing whites of haunted eyes staring up at them, Shen Yuan clutched Luo Binghe tighter, wrapping his legs around his body and squeezing.
Luo Binghe jolted to life.
With a snarl he slammed his tail against the inky swirls that grew up from the depths of the bathhouse before twisting up and away from the living darkness. Shen Yuan screamed as they climbed higher and higher, his heart pounding in his chest as his clammy, blood coated hands did their best to hang on.
Their path, however, wasn’t straight.
Clearly still suffering from his injuries, Luo Binghe sent them careening into the walls several times, slamming against the sides and skidding up the metal.
And, if Shen Yuan wasn’t so busy struggling to hang on, he definitely would’ve thrown up.
Thankfully, for both of them, the light above them soon became visible.
“Come on, Binghe,” Shen Yuan shouted. “We’re almost out! Just a little more!”
Sure enough, they soon broke free from the shaft, climbing from whence they came back into Shen Qingqiu’s office. Luo Binghe didn’t give Shen Yuan a chance to dismount, however, and, without pause, crashed through the window in an explosion of shimmering glass.
“What the fuuuuuuuuck!!!” Shen Yuan shrieked as Luo Binghe writhed through the hair, coughing and hacking up blood as he struggled to keep them afloat.
Moments later they landed together with a large splash into the waters below, submerging through the rain water and sinking down to the bottom.
This was not, of course, how Shen Yuan had planned his day.
He had not, for instance, expected to spot Luo Binghe’s dragon form flying, bloody and broken, into the upper window of the bathhouse.
He had not expected to climb said bathhouse in order to find Shen Qingqiu screaming at Luo Binghe’s bleeding body before stomping away to deal with some ‘frozen bastard messing up his bathhouse’.
And he certainly hadn’t expected to fall with Luo Binghe down the shaft in Shen Qingqiu’s office after his pickled looking minions pushed him down there.
Now, as Shen Yuan pushed through the surface of the water, gasping against the sensation of having water go up his nose, he spun his head around frantically looking for Luo Binghe.
“Binghe?” he gasped, spitting and choking as water sloshed in his face. “Binghe!”
He spotted him a moment later, laying prone along the line of the tracks.
“Shit,” he cursed. He stumbled through the water, wading and tripping and lunging towards the dragon. “Binghe, are you—”
“Don’t touch him.”
Shen Yuan whirled around to find Shen Qingqiu, regal as ever, staring down his nose at him from behind a golden fan.
Well. Almost as regal as ever.
Half his clothes were frozen, and the left side of his head was coated in a layer of frost.
And boy, did he look pissed. More than normal, even.
“You little beast ,” Shen Qingqiu hissed, glaring at Luo Binghe. “You’re an idiot and a fool .”
Luo Binghe snarled. He attempted to stand, only to crumble back into the water, coughing up a mouthful of blood. His form shifted then, shuttering, before he seemed to disintegrate in place, the scales on his skin falling away like shimmering coins.
Leaving only the bloodied remains of a wounded man.
“Tell your little guard dog to stand down and stop freezing my bathhouse!”
Luo Binghe pushed himself up on trembling arms and glared at Shen Qingqiu, baring his teeth. The water he was submerged in dripped from his face and hair, mixing with the blood on his skin—it ran clean for a moment, only to bleed red once more. The water made his lashes look spikey, like they did when he cried.
The thought made Shen Yuan’s heart ache.
“How long have you been planning this, I wonder?” Shen Qingqiu continued. “How long have you been hiding like a rat in my home? Really, I should’ve known it was you. Even if you wear a glamour to look like Ming Fan.” A sniff. “Your food was far too well seasoned.”
“Uh,” said Shen Yuan intelligently.
Shen Qingqiu leveled him with a look. Then he scoffed, looking back at Luo Binghe. “Did you think I wouldn’t recognize him? No matter how old he gets or how many spells you place on him. After all, he nearly cost me the bathhouse the last time he got lost here!”
Luo Binghe made to stand again, growling, only to fall back to his knees, coughing blood.
“Binghe!” Shen Yuan shouted, finally running over to kneel in the water beside him. He placed a hand over his curled frame, rubbing soothing circles into his back. He looked at Shen Qingqiu. “What’s wrong with him?”
“He tried to eat my contract with you,” the witch said blandly. “It has strong magic. It’s killing him.”
“What?” Shen Yuan asked, thinking back to when he received his job from Shen Qingqiu. “But I didn’t make a contract with you.”
Shen Qingqiu fanned himself leisurely, eyeing Shen Yuan. “Not this time you didn’t.”
Shen Yuan frowned, feeling something odd twist and coil in his stomach. At the same time, he felt a niggling memory in his brain, barely there, a whisper of a thought.
“What are you saying?” he asked. “Are you implying I’ve been here before?”
Shen Qingqiu hummed. “A few times, by my count. You seem to keep finding your way back. Though you’ve always forgotten by the time you return. Sticky thing, aren’t you?”
Luo Binghe made a pained noise, followed by the tell-tale splash of a face hitting water.
Shen Yuan immediately turned towards him. “Binghe!”
“It’s pointless,” Shen Qingqiu said boredly as he sauntered closer, watching Shen Yuan pull the dragon-man from the water and into his lap. “No matter what you do, he’s going to die here and I will finally be…what—what are you doing…”
“The water spirit I saved gave me medicine.”
“...Of course he did.”
Luo Binghe, upon consuming the ball of medicine, proceeded to start heaving copious amounts of blood into the water beside them.
Shen Yuan wrinkled his nose, though obediently held his hair back for him.
He did begin to grow increasingly worried as the blood continued to pour out of the poor bastard, though.
“I think you’ve killed him f aster ,” Shen Qingqiu mused from behind his fan, actually sounding fascinated by this fact. “Do you have any more of that medicine?”
“HOW DO I FIX THIS!?” Shen Yuan shrieked.
“I’m fine! I’m f—huuuuuuuuublghhgkr.”
“BINGHE!!”
“Shen Yuan, I will always lov—huuuuuurugbhg.”
And then Luo Binghe proceeded to pass out in Shen Yuan’s arms.
“Right,” said Shen Qingqiu as Shen Yuan stared down in mortification at the prone form in his lap. “Well. You can have your pig friend back. You can go home. You can forget again. Just leave me the fuck out of it. You all exhaust me.”
“...”
“......Shen Yuan? Shen Yuan….don’t……huuuuuuuuuuuuuur—”
---
By the time Luo Binghe finally woke, two days had passed.
It was in the morning, just after Shen Yuan had finished eating the bowl of congee Liu Qingge had shoved in his hands with a ‘just eat it already!’. Most everyone had left to do their chores, and the futons and blankets had all been folded and put away save for one.
The light filtered through the windows. The glass was slightly smudged, but still clear enough for the blue of the water and sky to be seen through it.
And beside Luo Binghe, Shen Yuan sat and waited.
A hand touched his knee.
Shen Yuan startled, looking down at Luo Binghe, who stared up at him with wide, reverent, damp eyes.
“Binghe!” he cried, shuffling closer. He waved his hands about uselessly, unsure where it was safe to touch. “Are you alright?”
“I am. Thank you. Never feed me that again.”
Shen Yuan laughed weakly, though he could have just as easily cried. “Okay but seriously, please don’t joke about that, I honestly thought I almost killed you for a second.”
“You could never,” Luo Binghe breathed, smiling, like an idiot. “And if you did I wouldn’t care.”
Shen Yuan snorted. But he was smiling too.
Then, after a moment, he sobered somewhat. He cleared his throat. “Listen,” he said. “I know you just woke up but…I need you to be honest with me.”
“Of course,” said Luo Binghe seriously.
“This…isn’t my first time in this world. Is it?”
Luo Binghe smiled again, though this time it was a sad expression. “It’s your fourth, actually.”
Shen Yuan nodded, feeling suddenly nauseous. “Can you tell me about it?”
And so Luo Binghe did. He explained about adventures, time and time again, that sounded heroic and magical, with fear and bravery and love. And it sounded so effortlessly real in a way that touched at Shen Yuan’s memory and made him feel like he could almost remember.
“Why did I forget?” Shen Yuan asked when Luo Binghe was finished.
Luo Binghe watched him for several moments. Then, quietly. “It’s the way of things here. When you leave, some things like to stay.”
“I want to remember though,” Shen Yuan said desperately. “I feel like I almost have it, but it slips away every time.”
“Hmm,” Luo Binghe hummed, smiling, effortlessly fond. “Is that so?”
“...What?”
Luo Binghe reached up with a hand to gently tuck a strand of hair behind Shen Yuan’s ear. “Once you meet someone, you never really forget them. It just takes a while for your memory to come back to you. It’ll return. Be patient.”
“And why do I keep coming back here?”
The dragon-man looked pained at this. “The fault for that liles with Shen Qingqiu’s contract. It was never canceled. It took me too long to find it and destroy it. I’m sorry.”
“But…now that it’s gone, what happens if I leave?”
Lue Binghe looked down at his lap. “You will not return a fifth time.”
“Is that what you want?” Shen Yuan asked quietly, ducking his head to try and catch Luo Binghe’s eye.
Luo Binghe didn’t answer.
Shen Yuan sighed, smiling.
Then, quietly, he reached over to take Luo Binghe’s hand.
“You already know that there’s nothing left for me out there. And, I don’t know, if someone were to ask me to stay ,” he began conversationally, “ perhaps I might be convinced to—”
Shen Yuan was cut off by the loud wailing coming from Luo Binghe.
“Binghe— ooof! ”
“SHEN YUUUUAN!!!”
-
-
-
-
-
-
Shang Qinghua, who had up until that point been a pig (which was, admittedly, a rather humbling experience) sat quietly against a sliding door beside a cold, busty, giant hunk of a man, hugging his knees as he listened to the loud clatter of someone being tackled in the room behind him.
His stomach grumbled.
Busty hot dude looked over, eyebrow raised.
Shang Qinghua cleared his throat.
“So. Uh. Wanna get some food?”