Work Text:
The light had just started peeping through the gauzy curtains when He Xuan was woken up by his phone buzzing on the nightstand. He already knew what the notification would be but he still looked anyway. He swipes the lock screen and taps the butterfly icon.
Paradise City Entertainment Co. Billing Statement: Account number - 00000000001
Dear Black Water,
We hope that you have enjoyed your debt forbearance period. Interest will start to accrue effective immediately and repayment will begin again in 30 days. Please see your itemized statement below.
Reimbursements: Wedding gift
Expenses: Groundskeeping/Maintenance, Pet Care, Catering, Private Investigation Services, Moving Services, Administrative fees
Total Owed….
He tossed the phone across the room and groaned, wishing that just for once the one-eyed bane of his existence would forget about him for a while longer. However, that would be impossible, as their spouses were best friends.
Speaking of which, he could hear the bouncy humming of his spouse coming from down the hall accompanied by a delightful smell of breakfast cooking. Though his face didn’t manage to quite form a smile as he sauntered out of the bedroom, he was happy to have this back in his existence again.
Though he never showed it, it hurt every time Shi Qingxuan passed into the reincarnation cycle and once again he’d begin his search to find him anew. Though they had lived many lifetimes together by now, fell in love, and became a unit in cycle after cycle; the partings always stung. He shook that thought away along with the bed head in his inky locks. He wouldn’t need to think about that for at least another 80 or so years, this modern health care was truly a marvel.
He Xuan rounded the corner into the kitchen area to find a full table of food already laid out for him. “Good morning sleepy head!” a voice chimed out as slender arms encircled his waist. Shi Qingxuan spun him around before continuing, “I have to run off to practice with the new choreographer, but I can meet at our usual spot for a coffee break at 2. See ya then!” The bright young person planted a firm kiss straight on his lips before grabbing a gym bag and bounding out the door like the wind.
He sighed, somethings never change. Always sunny and lighthearted, a constant contrast to his dark and gloom. Still persistent as always in their plans. In this life, he found Shi Qingxuan as an upstart dancer on Broadway. He Xuan has seen the former wind master in so many different bodies and genders, but this iteration reminded him the most of the individual that grew on him so, so long ago.
He sighed once again, pushing away the nostalgia as he ate every single morsel of breakfast on the table. He Xuan had a rare day off from his human job as an ancient Chinese history lecturer/researcher, so he decided to spend some time at his Nether water manor. Only a few steps through a mirror portal took him from his Brooklyn loft into the array chamber of his mostly neglected dark palace.
He was relieved that it was still so quiet and calm here, the perfect place for him to recharge in his true form. He Xuan found it often taxing to pretend he was a living human these days, he couldn’t comprehend how Hua Cheng does it. He shook his wandering mind once again back into submission and turned his thoughts to reading some scrolls, tending his various bonefish ponds, and meditating in the quiet.
In his meditation, he thought of his debt predicament. He so wanted to be out from under the thumb of that smug red bastard. What else could he do at this point!
He already helps Xie Lian on all his little rescue missions and he even gave up part of his island for one of Paradise City Entertainment’s resorts. At least Xie Lian convinced Hua Cheng to essentially put the rent of the island towards his debts, though it didn’t seem to matter. At least his manor was essentially in another dimension, so even though mortals were curious about the “haunted” Black Water Lake, no one could accidentally enter.
He Xuan’s mind began to wander again, when he felt his phone go off.
“Hey babe, don’t tell me you’re going to be late again! >_<”
He doesn’t bother typing back and just a few steps takes him from the array room through the doors of the cafe. It doesn’t take long for him to spot the spunky brunette flagging him down from the corner.
……..
“Woah, so you do owe this guy a lot He - xiong.” Shi Qingxuan looks in slight awe as they scrolled through the message on He Xuan’s phone. “That’s no problem though, plenty of starving artists like us can get out of it!” they beamed as they slid the phone back across the table.
“Well, it's never been easy, when all your memories return you’ll understand.” He Xuan huffed.
“Ha! We’ll see about that! I know lots of people who use crowdfunding, for example, to start new projects, get equipment, or pay for medical bills when things are tight. See? Look here!”
A phone covered in stickers was pushed into He Xuan’s face. He could see lots of heart-wrenching headlines and eye-catching pictures, but what caught his attention was that these people were getting donations.
“I’ll think about it” he replied his usual deadpan, before softening again to change subjects. “What’s planned for your afternoon practice?”
Shi Qingxuan smiled and jumped back into their previous bubbly rant. He used to despise the sounds of this constant drabble, but these days he didn’t want it to stop.
……..
He Xuan stared at his computer, blankly. Was he really about to do this? Essentially beg mortals for help?! He was an ancient, supreme ghost king! Well, he already had lowered himself to Hua Cheng’s whims, so really how much lower could his dignity go?
He thought about all the things that really made people excited or all the sob stories that made them want to help. He really did have a lot in common with the sufferings of the humans of today, but he was not willing to dig up his ancient past though it is what fuels his entire existence.
“Huph, I can’t think here. Too noisy.” He thought to himself as he once again wandered through his mirror into the dark depths of Nether Water Manor. His robes fluttered as he walked through the halls, trailing in waves behind him. Eventually, he found one of his usual seats next to one of his ponds. “Better” he muttered.
He Xuan reached into his sleeve, pulled out a pouch, and emptied its dusty contents into the water. The bone fish swarmed to gobble up the particles, the ashes of ghosts that had been recently dispersed for disrespecting him. A few of the fish leap to snuggle the hand that fed them, and he let them.
Then the idea struck him! Yes, certainly he could acquire donations for that! He Xuan gave his fish a pat in return and rushed back to his computer.
……..
“Campaign - Help Feed the Fish by Black Water Aquatic Rescue”
Hello, please consider donating to our cause. We are a small rescue operation helping to save aquatic life in the South Seas from the damage caused by fishing, plastic, climate change, and various acts of gods. We need funds for new transportation, as most of our boats sink, and food, as many of these poor fish are starved to death. Peanut and Walnut are just two of our rescues that need your help. *Insert picture of adorably horrific bone fish here* Every dollar can help save a life, any donation would be greatly appreciated.
Campaign Organizer - Ming Yi, Head of Maintenance/Construction for BWAR
………
Over the next week or so, He Xuan went about his days as normal. Sending a double to wow the mortals at the college with his intellect, so he could watch Shi Qingxuan practice in the studio. Clearing petty ghosts as he continued to establish territory in NYC’s waterways and so on.
“Oh, XuanXuan?! How’s your GoFundMe going?” Shi Qingxuan said, trying out yet another pet name. “I really think the story will do well, you are so creative! It’s not like you lied either, those fish of yours could indeed use some meat on their bones.”
“Well someone once said, I am a great actor so this was nothing. I don’t really feel like checking on it, what’s the point? Whatever funds are gathered will just transfer straight to my debt anyway, so there’s no use of me putting in any extra energy.” He Xuan replied, mindlessly stirring the tea in front of him.
Shi Qingxuan, puffed his cheeks, “You are no fun! Aren’t you even a little bit curious? That’s half the excitement of these types of social campaigns, seeing what people say and watching the results. I’ll even bring it up for you.”
He Xuan watches and scans Shi Qingxuan as he scurries around looking for their phone. Their brown hair was pulled up into a messy bun but left bangs framing their youthful face. The outfit of choice today was a crop top and joggers, showing off an athletic body just enough. He Xuan even felt a smile coming on at the sight before a bright screen was thrust into his vision.
“See, see! Look! People have already donated like a $1000, isn’t that exciting! You need to make an update post, people love that. Oh and thank them too!” Shi Qingxuan beamed as he squeezed into the little space left next to He Xuan in the armchair. “Here let’s look at the comments together!”
He Xuan rolled his eyes and relented as usual to his lover’s whims. The first couple of comments were all fairly tame and expected; well wishes to the fish, curses to habitat destruction by humans, promises of donating more when their next paycheck got in. Then he saw them, some familiar names decided to “contribute” to the discourse.
“This is a total scam, don’t fall for it! You are an absolute moron, if you do!” - Nan Feng
“Wow, don’t you think this description sounds desperate?! Cry about somewhere else” - Fu Yao
“Well, I need some place to get rid of this money. You can have it.” - Qi Ying
“If you ever need help building boats or have any female employees that need assistance, hit me up” - Ming Guang
“HA! I never thought you could stoop lower than being that Crimson chump’s doormat! This ancestor knew he was superior to you, you washed-up, whipped fuck! - Qi Rong
“Creative messaging, I hope that you can feed your fish. I look forward to seeing your success, keep me posted.” - Anonymous
He Xuan swatted the phone out of Shi Qingxuan’s hands as he feigned a stretch. He pulled the dancer onto his lap before they could retrieve their phone. “Enough about them and all that, I’m much more interested in you.” He purred into the ear before him.
…….
It finally reached the end of the month, the GoFundMe was ending soon and He Xuan was already being hounded by Yin Yu on the daily to pay up something. Thankfully, he’d been able to keep Hua Cheng off his ass by keeping Xie Lian happy with books and artifacts the college was getting rid of.
He decided to close the campaign and pay up something at least, but he was shocked when he opened up the webpage to find it was over his goal! How could this be? People were only throwing in a couple of dollars at time.
Then he saw the top donation, and if his heart could stop it would. He fell out of his chair like a lead anchor, causing Shi Qingxuan to come running into the office.
“Babe, what happened?! Why are you on the floor?... Oh hey! You made your goal, how exciting! Let’s see who this big supporter of yours is, hmm? It says, ‘A little butterfly told me that your fish need help so here is a big gift from me to thank you for all your hard work. Sincerely, your friend Xian Le’ How lovely! You need to introduce me to this rich friend of yours, maybe they can be a patron of our dance company. Hey, why are you looking paler than usual?”
“Just kill me now” He Xuan muttered.
“Dream on, babe” Shi Qingxuan laughed in response. “Hey, you have a notification from someone called Crimson Rain. It says ‘Expect that Danxia’s gift will come out of your bill’ Huh, what a weird text. Well anyway, I’ll go grab some groceries and we can celebrate with a special dinner! BRB!”, they bounded out of the room.
He Xuan wished he could melt into a puddle and then dry up. He didn’t even need to look at his phone to know the next notification ping was a memo from Paradise City Entertainment Co. informing him his debt had doubled.
He really would spend an eternity indebted to that Crimson Rain Sought Flower.