Work Text:
The night was calm. Only the bamboo could be heard outside, gently swaying in the light breeze. Inside, two people lay entangled. Yue Qingyuan’s arms around Shen Qingqiu’s waist, once covetously tight, had slackened with the promise of sleep. Shen Qingqiu listened to the breath in the chest beneath his head slow and even out. Sleep pulled at Shen Qingqiu’s senses as well, but he did not let it take him yet.
Shen Qingqiu reflected on their relationship.
Undoubtedly, the person who was most reliable in his life was Yue Qingyuan. He may not have often succeeded, but he always, always tried to help Shen Qingqiu. Yue Qingyuan had lied for him, covered up murder for him, nearly killed himself for him. Shen Qingqiu had never known something like the unconditional love of family, but he’d had Qi-ge. Qi-ge, who had never once truly turned away from him, no matter how rotten he was.
But still, the feeling in Shen Qingqiu’s heart could not be quelled. Over a decade he’d gone, believing himself to have been abandoned. Even now, knowing that Yue Qingyuan had almost destroyed himself out of desperation to get back to him, he couldn’t help but feel that someday, Yue Qingyuan would realize what an awful thing he was and cast him away. Oh, politely, of course; they were all peak lords, they had to be civil with each other. But Shen Qingqiu could not stand the thought of such civility. Polite distance, getting handled.
Shen Qingqiu knew he was a selfish person. The things that were his, he dug his claws deep into so they could never be taken without being shredded to pieces.
If Qi-ge was not his, he truly had no one in this world.
Mind made up, he slipped carefully out of bed.
An incense time later found Shen Qingqiu flying through the air. If he was going to go through with this, he’d need pressure. Shen Qingqiu himself was extremely competent at applying said pressure, but for something like this, he’d need more. He’d need help.
The best person would be…
Liu Qingge would be most offended and therefore the most easily stirred to action, but he wouldn’t know what to do. Shang Qinghua would undoubtedly be the best option from a sheer organizational standpoint, but there’s no guarantee he’d actually care enough to do anything. And Shen Qingqiu hasn’t forgotten that Shang Qinghua may well be a rat; if he does take interest, he may try to manipulate things to further his own goals, and there’s no telling what those are.
Besides, there’s no accounting for his taste.
Qi Qingqi would be enough of a busybody to care, and competent enough to do something about it. Shen Qingqiu could likely count on her to round others up to help as well. With this in mind, he alighted on Xian Su peak.
A nearby disciple startled at his sudden appearance. “Ah! Shen-shibo! What are you doing here at this hour?”
“This master must speak with your shizun immediately. Where might she be?”
“That’s… in her home, of course. This one will guide you!” The disciple seemed uncertain and suspicious of him, but projected an air of confidence despite it. No doubt she didn’t want to leave a man to wander unsupervised about their peak.
It was only a short walk before the disciple knocked gently on the door, then a little harder when the first received no response. An obviously just-awakened Qi Qingqi opened the door, only to choke upon seeing Shen Qingqiu standing there. She clutched her hastily thrown-on outer robe more tightly about herself.
“You! What are you doing here?” she snarled. The effect was somewhat dampened by the state of her hair.
“The sect leader and I are eloping first thing tomorrow morning.” Qi Qingqi’s eyes flew wide open. The disciple still at his side gasped. “I thought someone should like to know before it happened.”
Qi Qingqi gaped. “Now hold on just a moment! You can’t elope! He’s the sect leader, you’re going to let him go without a proper wedding?”
“A wedding isn’t needed to marry. There’s a lovely shrine down the mountain we intend to visit-”
“The one to the southwest, yeah, I can guess. You’re not even doing it at Cang Qiong?”
Shen Qingqiu hid his grin behind his fan. “Well, without any preparations, doing it here just feels a little sad, don’t you think, Qi-shimei?”
She glared daggers at him. “I won’t let this happen. I’m sure I can convince him to delay things, and frankly, you shouldn’t want this either! I’d have thought you’d want a grand wedding.”
“Shimei, it was his idea,” Shen Qingqiu lied, “of course, if it were up to me, we’d have a marvelous wedding indeed, but if he’d rather be married to me sooner, isn’t that romantic? If you insist on fighting about it, I’ll drag him down to the shrine now and we’ll be done with it in a shichen.”
“In the middle of the night?” she cried, aghast. “No, no no no. Fine, marry tomorrow. But do it on the mountain at least! I’ll make some arrangements. We’ll have a half decent wedding if it kills me, I swear.”
“Whatever preparations Qi-shimei can manage, of course this shixiong will not refuse. But we will marry as soon as Zhangmeng-shixiong is awake.” He saluted her politely. “Qi-shimei may leave the wedding robes to this shixiong.”
“Shixiong is so considerate,” Qi Qingqi said flatly. She brushed past him to hop on her sword.
The disciple from before was still standing gobsmacked. She’ll spread the news swiftly to the whole peak, no doubt. Shen Qingqiu’s lips tilted up briefly before he turned to leave himself. He had robes to embroider.
The loud bang of a door slamming open woke Shang Qinghua with a shriek. Heart pounding, he exited his bedroom half dressed with a chastisement already on his tongue. “Liu Qingge, what time is it! Wait until normal business hours, please-!” Shang Qinghua pulled up short.
The figure in the doorway was not Liu Qingge.
“Uh-? Qi-shimei? What’s going on?” Shang Qinghua shifted nervously. Qi Qingqi had a somewhat crazed energy about her.
“Shen Qingqiu and Zhangmen-shixiong are getting married,” she snapped.
“Huh?” It took a moment for the words to process. “Oh! Good for them!” Unexpected, too. Those two fated lovers were originally doomed, after all, but Shang Qinghua had been hoping-
“No. Wrong! Wrong answer,” Qi Qingqi said. What. “Shen Qingqiu and Zhangmen-shixiong are getting married tomorrow. Which means we’re planning a wedding tonight.” What.
“Nooooooo…” Shang Qinghua moaned.
“Yes. Or they’ll elope at some shrine.” Qi Qingqi moved further into his house towards his kitchen.
“Can’t we let them?” Shang Qinghua pleaded.
“No, we can’t! This is Zhangmen-shixiong! Think of the face Cang Qiong would lose if we couldn’t hold a wedding for our sect leader! Besides, this is Zhangmeng-shixiong. Don’t you think he deserves a nice wedding?”
“Honestly, I think Zhangmen-shixiong would be happy to marry Shen-shixiong in a ditch.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me. His groom is enough reason to want to rebalance the whole affair with some extravagance. We couldn’t save him from Shen-shixiong, so we should at least save him from himself.” Qi Qingqi set a tea service tray down on the table Shang Qinghua normally receives visitors at. “Ergo, a nice wedding. Sit. We need a plan.”
Shang Qinghua dropped into the seat across from her. He let his face fall forward into his hands. “Nooooooo…” Shang Qinghua moaned. Again.
Qi Qingqi watched this dispassionately. “Are you done?”
Shang Qinghua sighed heavily. The sound was muffled by his palms. Without moving, he said, “Fine. What’ve you got?”
It was nearing sunrise, and Shen Qingqiu had almost finished with their wedding robes. It wasn’t the most elaborate embroidery he’d ever done, but it was still quite breathtaking. Shen Qingqiu’s ability to wield several needles at once using qi made for efficient work. It would have been better if he’d had a few more days of working on it, but he’d already decided he wasn’t going to wait longer than he had to for his scheme to bear fruit.
Shen Qingqiu smoothed his thumb gently across an embroidered qingniao. Though not the most traditional choice, Shen Qingqiu thought it was fitting. If a Luan bird likes you, it will be loyal to you to the very end.
Shen Qingqiu swore loyalty to only one person. Is it so much to want it returned?
Shen Qingqiu was shaken from his musings by a sound coming from the bedroom. His eyes narrowed. Yue Qingyuan usually woke early, but not this early. Shen Qingqiu stalked towards the door, throwing it open in one smooth motion.
Shang Qinghua squawked and fell back onto his ass.
“What are you doing here?” Shen Qingqiu hissed as he took in the scene. Shang Qinghua had been hovering over Yue Qingyuan when Shen Qingqiu came in, and he had a dark blue flower still clutched in his palms. “What is that?”
Shang Qinghua looked alarmed. “Wa-wait, shixiong! I can explain!”
Shen Qingqiu looked on, expression carved from stone.
Shang Qinghua threw his hands out in front of him. “Qi-shimei said that the wedding is on as soon as Zhangmen-shixiong wakes up, but there are still some things that need to be arranged! So I just snagged this moon-scented lily from Mu Qingfang to, uh, help him sleep just a little longer! Just a few more shichen! We’re not ready yet!” he said shrilly.
Shen Qingqiu took a step forward. “You drugged my husband-to-be?” he said softly.
“Ah, Shen-shixiong, I wouldn’t say drugged! These are really harmless, no side-effects! They don’t even work longer than half a day, even at high doses!” Shang Qinghua shrank back further at Shen Qingqiu’s unchanging expression. “I really just gave him some… nasally-administered tea? Don’t… don’t you want to have a nice wedding…?”
“Out of my house.”
“Right! Yessir, right away!” Shang Qinghua scrambled for the window and was gone between one heartbeat and the next. Shen Qingqiu immediately moved to check Yue Qingyuan’s meridians. The flower Shang Qinghua had certainly looked like a moon-scented lily; Shen Qingqiu was familiar enough with them. Still, far better to check and be assured of his health. Thankfully, Yue Qingyuan’s meridians indeed seemed as clear as usual.
Shen Qingqiu sighed. He’d move his embroidery in here. Clearly, Yue Qingyuan needed to be watched over by him.
When Yue Qingyuan woke, it was to far different light in the room than he was used to. He blinked, then sat up to look around. His eyes landed first on Shen Qingqiu, then on the astonishing amount of red fabric held in his lap.
“Hmph, so you’ve finally decided to wake up. You sure took your time.” Shen Qingqiu set aside the (wedding?) robes in his lap to come urge him out of bed. “Come on, there’s no time to waste. We’re already late enough as it is.”
“Qingqiu, what…? What’s going on?” Though confused, he allowed Shen Qingqiu to ease his inner robe off his shoulders and usher him behind a folding screen into an already full bathtub.
“Clean yourself, but be quick about it. I need to let everyone know you’re awake.” Shen Qingqiu called over his shoulder as he left the room.
As Yue Qingyuan bemusedly did as instructed, he considered the situation.
Shen Qingqiu was clearly working on embroidering wedding robes before he woke up. Was that concerning what they were supposedly late for? Yue Qingyuan didn’t remember any event they had to go to today. Perhaps it was the wedding of someone he disliked, and therefore didn’t mind being late? But no, Shen Qingqiu wouldn’t have been the one embroidering the robes then. The reverse also holds true: if he liked the people marrying enough to embroider their robes, or respected them enough not to refuse if they requested his work, Shen Qingqiu would definitely not let him sleep late.
Shen Qingqiu said he needed to tell everyone he was awake.
It still didn’t make sense, but some absurd optimistic hope fluttered to life in his chest.
Perhaps… it could be… their wedding?
He could be dreaming. It could be some sort of demonic trap. Casting his mind to where he felt his painful connection to Xuan Su, though, he didn’t think this could be anything but reality.
Yue Qingyuan finished bathing and stepped out from behind the folding screen to find Shen Qingqiu already returned.
“Good, you’re done. Come help me into my robes,” Shen Qingqiu demanded. He was already in several inner layers, but the rest would require assistance.
Yue Qingyuan reached to pick up the first, but hesitated. “Qingqiu, are we… who is getting married today?” It felt unbelievably foolish to ask with that warm hope in his chest. Moreso than the idea that a wedding could be secretly set up for them overnight, it seemed impossible for this audacious dream of his to come true so easily. It would almost make more sense for Shen Qingqiu to suddenly announce that he was marrying Liu Qingge.
Shen Qingqiu’s expression wavered subtly. “We are.” His tone brooked no argument, but Yue Qingyuan couldn’t help but think he looked a little fragile. This… this was…
They were getting married!
“Xiao Jiu,” He cried, grasping Shen Qingqiu’s hands tightly.
“Everyone has made a great fuss, working tirelessly on the preparations, so don’t think about backing out,” Shen Qingqiu warned. “We’d all lose a great deal of face if you got cold feet.”
“No, no, I’d never dare. I can’t wait to marry you.” Yue Qingyuan laughed, helpless with joy. He brought Shen Qingqiu’s hands up and pressed his lips gently against them. Shen Qingqiu’s breath hitched.
He cleared his throat and turned his face away, a dusting of pink across his cheeks. “Well. Good, then.” He swallowed, then gestured. “The robes.”
“Of course, my love,” Yue Qingyuan said. Shen Qingqiu flushed darker.
Once Shen Qingqiu was fully dressed and helping Yue Qingyuan into the last of his robes, there came a knock at the front door.
Without moving away, Shen Qingqiu dragged the door open with qi. “In the bedroom!” he called.
Qi Qingqi and Liu Qingge entered the doorway. Both of them looked harried, and Liu Qingge was wearing a confused scowl.
“Aiyah, you’re already dressed?” Qi Qingqi hurried into the room.
Shen Qingqiu tied the last knot and stepped away. “If you wanted to help, you-”
Qi Qingqi tsked. “Don’t even bother. I’m going to do your makeup. Where’s a good place for us to go while Liu-shidi helps Zhangmen-shixiong with his hair?”
“Excuse me, Liu-shidi is here to help with hair?”
“I can do it!” Liu Qingge barked, “It’s not that complicated.”
Shen Qingqiu looked less than reassured. “Qi-shimei…”
“…He used to do his sister’s. If it’s bad, I’ll redo it.”
“Regardless, there’s no need to leave. We can do it here.”
Qi Qingqi sighed. “Are you trying to do things as non-traditionally as possible? What about the moment when he lifts your veil and sees you all made up for the first time?”
“We don’t have veils. We’re both men.” Shen Qingqiu said.
“I want to see him the whole time,” Yue Qingyuan said. Shen Qingqiu flushed.
Qi Qingqi stared at them. “You’re both terrible. Fine,” she sighed, “we’ll do it here.”
The rest of the preparations sped by in a blur. Yue Qingyuan couldn’t stop staring at Shen Qingqiu, resplendent in wedding reds.
Soon enough, they were making their bows.
Yue Qingyuan eyes felt hot. As they came up from their final bow, he felt true tears well up and run down his face.
Shen Qingqiu looked shocked. “What are you crying for?” he hissed.
“I’m just so happy. I love you.”
That eye-catching flush once again took over Shen Qingqiu’s face. “…I love you too.”
Yue Qingyuan laughed with delight. “Xiao Jiu… Ah!”
Shen Qingqiu had pinched him harshly. “You’re still calling me that? Address your husband properly,” he ordered.
Yue Qingyuan’s eyes lit up. “Husband,” he called. His face warmed to match his wedding robes.
Seeming embarrassed, though quite pleased, Shen Qingqiu turned his head away. “…Not bad, right?”
“Mn, my husband is very wise,” Yue Qingyuan said, before sweeping Shen Qingqiu into a kiss.
Clutching back at Yue Qingyuan just as hard, Shen Qingqiu returned, “Mn. I’m your husband, now and forever. As you are mine.”