Work Text:
Feng Xin is never betting against Hua Cheng again.
It was supposed to only be a simple bet! If He Xuan proposed to Shi Qingxuan at the latter’s birthday party, then Hua Cheng would win, and if he didn’t—Feng Xin would end up victorious.
Feng Xin should’ve known Hua Cheng had already created a despicable, evil plan in his head, and had simply been waiting to execute it.
So, as Feng Xin watches He Xuan propose—an action that results in a ton of happy screaming and tears from Shi Qingxuan—his heart is filled with both happiness and dread.
He’s happy for his dear friend, of course he is. But now that He Xuan has proposed, that only means one thing for Feng Xin…
Instantly, Hua Cheng appears next to him, seemingly out of thin air. His eyes are brimming with a quiet happiness, and his lips are curved into a small smile.
Feng Xin is going to die.
“It’s always entertaining to bet against you,” Hua Cheng says with amusement in his voice.
Clearly, he just enjoys watching Feng Xin suffer.
Feng Xin groans. “Dude, don’t make me do this.”
Hua Cheng raises an eyebrow. “You agreed to the bet, though. It’s too late to change your mind now.”
“But… I really can’t do it! I can’t just propose to Mu Qing!” he cries out.
That’s what they had agreed on—if Hua Cheng won, Feng Xin would finally have to gather up the courage to propose to Mu Qing; if Feng Xin won, Hua Cheng would stop convincing him to do it whenever they meet.
But now Feng Xin and Mu Qing are the only couple out of their friend group who aren’t engaged, and Hua Cheng thinks Feng Xin must change this immediately.
A smirk appears on Hua Cheng’s face. “You can’t propose to him even though he’s your boyfriend of 5 years?”
“Yeah, obviously! What would I even say?! How would I convince him to marry me?!”
Hua Cheng looks at Feng Xin like he’s the dumbest person alive.
“You think you need to convince your boyfriend to marry you?”
Mu Qing definitely wouldn’t just… agree to marry Feng Xin out of nowhere! It doesn’t matter that they’re already dating! Feng Xin needs a plan, and a good one at that.
“When I proposed to Gege, I simply booked a trip for the two of us and did it on the beach at his favorite holiday destination. It’s really not that complicated, Feng Xin.”
Feng Xin groans and hides his face in his hands. “It is that complicated! It’s Mu Qing, for crying out loud! He will hate me if the ring doesn’t fit his standards, and what if I start stuttering during the proposal? What if I say the wrong thing?”
Hua Cheng studies him for a long while.
What is he not understanding here?
“You think too much. If Mu Qing loves you, he will probably agree to marry you.”
If? Probably? Hua Cheng isn’t helping at all!
“I’m not sure about that… Can we just forget about the bet…?”
Hua Cheng lets out a small laugh. “In your dreams, dude. You have to propose to Mu Qing now. It’s been a long time coming.”
With that, he pats Feng Xin’s shoulder and gets ready to leave.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” he assures.
Feng Xin does, in fact, end up figuring it out.
He spends the next month leading up to Mu Qing’s birthday carefully planning every single thing—deciding where he’ll propose (at Mu Qing’s birthday party, during a quiet moment away from the other guests), what ring he will buy, what exactly he will say. He even buys extra tissues, just in case Mu Qing dumps him and leaves him with a broken heart.
Choosing the ring is the least of his problems, really. He’s had the perfect one in mind for quite some time, a silver one with celestial designs and a navy blue sapphire. If Mu Qing doesn’t want to marry Feng Xin, maybe he’ll at least keep the pretty ring? It’s non-refundable anyway.
It’s not the planning that’s the hard part—it’s the nervous anticipation, the growing anxiety Feng Xin feels with each passing day.
It doesn’t help that all of their mutual friends are already engaged or married; that Feng Xin and Mu Qing are the odd ones out, and that everyone is silently waiting for them to get engaged too. Feng Xin can practically feel the weight of their friends’ anticipation crushing him.
What will he tell them if Mu Qing doesn’t accept the ring?
Maybe it’s still too early to get married, and Mu Qing simply isn’t ready for it. Maybe he won’t be happy at all that he’s being proposed to.
If everything goes wrong, Feng Xin will definitely blame it on Hua Cheng.
Feng Xin tries to stop his body from shaking, but to no avail.
Each passing second brings him closer to the proposal—the moment that will alter his life forever, one way or another. He can barely focus on his surroundings when it’s the only thing on his mind, and he can almost hear his own heart thumping from his growing nerves.
The plan is to take Mu Qing to the garden behind the venue where his birthday party is taking place, so that it’s just the two of them. It’ll make it easier for him to be sincere and recite the speech he has spent many hours preparing, all the while trying to ignore the frantic beating of his heart.
He supposes their friends—especially Hua Cheng—will realize Feng Xin’s intentions straight away, and will be nervously anticipating the outcome of the proposal. Will Mu Qing and Feng Xin return to the venue holding hands and smiling, or will Mu Qing storm in with a sour expression on his face?
Needless to say, nothing in the world could calm Feng Xin down right now.
When the time finally comes to put his plan into motion, Feng Xin feels like he’s going to faint. Or simply die. Or both.
He waits until Mu Qing isn’t talking to anyone and walks up to him from behind, then gently takes his hand. Mu Qing gasps softly in surprise, but quickly relaxes when he turns around and sees Feng Xin.
“Can you come with me for a few minutes?” Feng Xin asks, trying his best to keep his voice level. He hopes Mu Qing doesn’t notice how much his hands are trembling.
“Uh, did something happen?” Mu Qing asks, confusion briefly flickering across his face.
Not yet, but I think I’m gonna die if you don’t just come with me, Feng Xin thinks.
“No, I just want to show you something.”
It probably sounds more ominous than it should, but it’s enough to convince Mu Qing to leave the venue with Feng Xin.
He’s revised the proposal script in front of the mirror over and over again, constantly adding little changes to make it perfect, yet now that he’s finally supposed to say it to Mu Qing, he can’t seem to remember any of the words. His mind is like a blank canvas, his throat so tight it feels impossible to choke anything out.
“So?” Mu Qing prompts once they’re in the garden, away from the prying eyes of the guests.
Feng Xin takes a deep breath.
Here goes nothing (only the fate of his relationship).
He thinks he can hear Mu Qing gasp as he gets down on one knee and takes out the red box from his pocket.
“Mu Qing… I love waking up next to you every morning and playing with your hair. I love planting kisses all over your infuriatingly beautiful face. I love the quiet mornings we spend together when neither of us are working that day, and the evenings when we cuddle on the couch and watch those historical documentaries you enjoy.”
Feng Xin looks up at Mu Qing to see his eyes widened and lips parted slightly in surprise.
“I would love to continue spending every day with you, for as long as you will let me. So… Mu Qing, will you marry me?”
Time seems to stand still.
Feng Xin’s heart is racing, and it feels like it’s going to fall out of his chest and shatter on the ground.
“Are you kidding me?” Mu Qing chokes out.
Oh.
This is it, Feng Xin thinks. Mu Qing is going to tell him how foolish he’s being, how ugly the ring is and how the very last thing he wants is to marry Feng Xin.
He closes his eyes in shame; he does not wish to see the disappointment and disgust written all over Mu Qing’s face.
Feng Xin never should’ve bought that ring.
He has only Hua Cheng and himself to blame for this.
“Feng Xin?”
He’s always been afraid that he’s not really good enough for Mu Qing, that Mu Qing deserves someone better and one day he’ll finally realize it.
“Feng Xin, you idiot, open your eyes!”
What?
He does as told, though very reluctantly.
But when he takes in the sight in front of him, he’s absolutely sure he must be dreaming. Or hallucinating. Or both.
Mu Qing has knelt down on one knee in front of Feng Xin, staring straight at him with an expression somewhere between abject horror and amusement. He’s holding a red, velvet box with the most mesmerizing ring Feng Xin has ever seen.
He’s holding a… box with a ring inside?
“What does this mean?” Feng Xin utters, eyes wide with shock.
Has Hua Cheng told Mu Qing about everything? Is all of this part of some inside joke, a prank they’re pulling on Feng Xin?
The corners of Mu Qing’s mouth twitch upwards. “Well, what does it look like to you, Feng Xin?”
“Uh… I’m proposing to you… and you’re proposing to me?”
Which means that… Mu Qing actually wants to be with Feng Xin? What’s more, he wants to be engaged to Feng Xin?
Feng Xin’s world almost tilts on its axis.
Mu Qing rolls his eyes. “If you keep acting like a fool, I might just call everything off.”
Wait, no! That definitely isn’t what Feng Xin wants!
“I… you… just go ahead,” he chokes out eventually.
“You’ve pretty much already said what I wanted to say,” Mu Qing admits. “But… unfortunately it turns out that I like you, and that spending time with you isn’t really so bad, and perhaps I want to continue experiencing life together until we’re both old and wrinkly,” he lets out a small, soft laugh. “So, Feng Xin, will you marry me?”
Feng Xin can’t believe this is really happening. He doesn’t have to think about his answer whatsoever, because this is something he’s dreamed about for years, and there’s only one thing left to say—
“I… uh… I have to think about it.”
Wait, what?!
Feng Xin wants to take the words back immediately, he really does, but then Mu Qing’s face falls, his smile replaced by a deep frown, and Feng Xin realizes it may already be too late.
“You have to think about it?! Are you being serious right now?” Mu Qing asks incredulously, the volume of his voice rising with every word.
Feng Xin tries to say something, anything, but the words seem to be stuck in his throat.
He’s already ruined everything, hasn’t he? He only got one chance to propose to Mu Qing and it’s gone now.
Feng Xin’s ring will go to waste, and so will Mu Qing’s.
He suddenly realizes he didn’t even get a proper look at the ring that Mu Qing’s picked out for him—all he saw was a faint golden glow. Their rings would’ve probably looked beautiful together, especially when holding hands, but that probably doesn’t matter anymore.
“Mu Qing, wait, I…” Feng Xin starts, and it startles him how absolutely weak his voice sounds.
Mu Qing isn’t even looking at him anymore, though—he’s already standing up again and hiding the red box back in his pocket. Feng Xin is pretty sure he can see tears welling up in his eyes, and before he knows it Mu Qing is already crying, the tears now trailing down his cheeks and smudging his mascara.
This isn’t fair. Today was supposed to be Mu Qing’s special day, the celebration of his birthday spent with his loved ones, and Feng Xin’s just ruined everything with his stupid plan and his stupid ring and his stupid words that he didn’t even mean.
How the hell can he fix this now?
He tries taking a step towards Mu Qing, but Mu Qing immediately recoils as if he’s been burned.
“Don’t you dare come closer!”
Fixing this is definitely not going to be easy.
And yet, Feng Xin knows he must try.
“Just–just listen to me, please! I didn’t mean to say that! It just slipped out!” Feng Xin cries out, exasperated.
His words seem to anger Mu Qing even more.
“It slipped out? Seriously, Feng Xin? Did you pretend-propose to me just to ridicule me?” Mu Qing crosses his arms over his chest defensively, but Feng Xin can see even from a few feet away that his entire body is trembling; it only makes him feel more guilty.
What was he even thinking?!
“I would never do something like that!” He desperately tries to convey his sincerity through his tone. “It wasn’t a joke or a prank; I’m being serious about this, Mu Qing. Just listen to me for a few seconds, please,” he says, pleads.
Mu Qing rolls his eyes. “What else is there for you to say, Feng Xin? That you don’t really like me, let alone love me? That you don’t want to date me anymore?”
It hurts more than anything to hear these words coming from Mu Qing, especially knowing how far away from the truth they are.
Feng Xin loves Mu Qing with all of his being, and that will never change. They’ve overcome plenty of problems throughout their relationship, and this cannot be an exception.
“I just… freaked out. I didn’t expect you to propose right back to me. I’m really, really sorry,” he says, and it takes everything in him not to fall to his knees and beg Mu Qing for mercy.
“You were literally the one who proposed to me first!”
“But I didn’t expect you to propose back and I panicked!”
“I had already been planning to do it, so was I just supposed to suddenly throw the ring away? Give it to Pei Ming?” Mu Qing jokes bitterly. “I’ve been waiting for years, Feng Xin. I figured I would just pull my own ring out when I realized what you were doing.”
Mu Qing… has been waiting years for Feng Xin to propose?
Feng Xin has been such a fucking coward.
“I do want to marry you, Mu Qing, I swear. I mean, I just proposed to you! That must mean something, right?”
Mu Qing does not answer him.
Tears begin to blur Feng Xin’s vision. “It took me months to plan everything. I’ve always been serious about this, and I’m sorry it took me so long to ask you. I just thought… maybe you’d realize that you don’t love me after all, and you don’t actually want to spend the rest of your life with me,” he pauses to take a deep breath.
“Hua Cheng actually convinced me to do this after Shi Qingxuan and He Xuan got engaged. I kept telling him I couldn’t do it, that I was just too afraid, but he promised everything would be fine… and the entire time I was convinced you would say “no”, so I never would’ve guessed that you’d end up proposing too.”
There’s nothing more Feng Xin can say to explain himself; he’s laid out his deepest doubts and fears right in front of Mu Qing, ready to be ridiculed at any moment. He thinks it’s fine; he deserves it anyway.
His fate lays in Mu Qing’s hands now.
A drop of sweat trails down Feng Xin’s back. He refuses to meet Mu Qing’s gaze; he’s afraid he would only find contempt in it.
“You’re a fool,” Mu Qing says after what feels like an eternity.
Feng Xin hunches in on himself in shame. “I really am”
“And an impulsive idiot.”
Feng Xin nods. He deserves all of this, really.
“Too bad I love you despite that,” Mu Qing adds bitterly.
Feng Xin’s eyes snap back to Mu Qing, wide.
“You… love me? Despite what I’ve just done?” he asks incredulously.
This cannot be real. Feng Xin’s mind must be conjuring up hallucinations in a desperate attempt to keep Mu Qing by his side.
“Unfortunately, I do love you,” Mu Qing mumbles.
Feng Xin is pretty sure there are tears streaming down his own face at this point.
He swallows down the lump in his throat. “Then… let me try again? Please? I promise I’ll make it right this time.”
It would be a miracle if Mu Qing even considered it, let alone if he actually agreed and gave Feng Xin another chance to propose.
Maybe there’s still something Feng Xin can do to make this easier for himself and more pleasant for Mu Qing; maybe it’s not too late to run to the store and exchange the ring for something better, even more beautiful and expensive—
“Okay, go ahead” Mu Qing says, catching Feng Xin off guard.
Okay? He’s agreeing, just like that? Even though Feng Xin is literally the biggest idiot on the planet and the last person to deserve a second chance?
Feng Xin cannot believe how lucky he is.
He won’t screw this up, he won’t allow himself to do anything wrong this time. It doesn’t matter that the element of surprise is gone, that both of them already know they’re about to be proposed to.
He takes a deep breath before getting down on one knee for the second time today; it feels like his stomach has suddenly tied itself into a knot.
Mu Qing kneels down as well, and Feng Xin is sure they must look absolutely ridiculous right now. He’s so glad none of the guests can see them.
“So… I really did mean everything I said, before. You are my entire world, and I cannot imagine my life without you, even if we sometimes argue and you piss me off immensely. I think you’re the smartest, kindest, most hard-working person I’ve ever met, and you’ll always be an inspiration for me,” he pauses to gather his thoughts.
“And I’m sorry I fucked everything up the first time. I… wasn’t thinking straight. You could probably expect as much from someone who isn’t actually straight.”
Mu Qing lets out a small laugh. It eases the panic surging through Feng Xin’s body a bit.
“I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life by your side,” Feng Xin continues, “so will you do me the honor of being my husband?”
He waits for the reply, feeling like he might burst.
“Again, you’re an idiot,” Mu Qing says. “But I love you, and I don’t ever want to live without you by my side. So… of course I want to be your husband.”
“That doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you, though,” he adds, but Feng Xin can barely hear the words through the wave of happiness that washes over him, drowning out his senses.
With shaking hands, he carefully takes the ring out of the box and slips it on Mu Qing’s finger.
Finally, the ring is right where it’s supposed to be.
Feng Xin is just about to say how grateful he is for his second chance at making everything right when Mu Qing speaks up again.
“I suppose this time you don’t have to think about whether you want to marry me?”
The trace of ridicule in his voice is unmissable.
Feng Xin shakes his head vehemently. “It would be the greatest honor of my life to marry you.”
And he means that, he really does.
Mu Qing only smiles before slides the ring onto Feng Xin’s finger—a golden one that Feng Xin later learns is supposed to match the color of his eyes.
The kiss they share after that is the sweetest one of Feng Xin’s entire life, and his heart swells up with joy when he realizes how many more kisses are yet to come. He wants to hold Mu Qing—his fiancé!—and never let him go.
At the end of the day, Feng Xin is beyond glad that he finally managed to propose to Mu Qing, even if they encountered some… difficulties along the way. Even if he temporarily let his doubts get the best of him.
Now they have an entire wedding to plan, but at least this time they can do it together.
When Feng Xin and Mu Qing return to the venue, everyone’s just staring at them with a knowing look.
Feng Xin is the first one to break the silence.
“What’s the matter…?”
Hua Cheng answers him with a smirk. “We saw everything through the windows.”
Oh.