Work Text:
When Pei Ming hears the prayer, he nearly drives his car off a cliff.
It starts simple. General Ming Guang.
But then…
General Pei, please protect my brother Qingxuan the next four years while he is away at college. Please, um, make sure he doesn’t get too drunk at parties and also ensure that he puts effort into his academics. Thank you.
Truth be told, there shouldn’t be anything crazy about the prayer. But it’s the name, the diction, the content, that shocks Pei Ming—and maybe he’s delusional, but it just feels like too many coincidences.
Pei Ming makes a wild right turn into a gas station lot, parks his car, and hops out, forcing a smile at an older woman sitting in the passenger seat of the car parked next to him.
He isn’t delusional. Or so he tells himself.
He isn’t delusional, because if he was crazy, his heart wouldn’t be beating this fast.
And it’s happened before. Once, Pei Ming heard that Mu Qing met a girl called Xiao Ying in a parking lot who’d matched the exact appearance and personality of a girl he’d met while chasing Xuan Ji. It’s happened before.
It could happen to anyone. It could happen to Pei Ming.
Or maybe he is delusional, and he’s about to harass some poor sucker just because they dared to utter the words ‘protect my brother Qingxuan’.
It just sounds too much like him.
Pei Ming grabs his can of Pepsi from the backseat, and slides behind the gas station. With his finger, he traces an array on the brick wall behind the store. Once he’s done, he stares at it proudly, injects some spiritual power into the design, and steps through.
(All the while, Shi Wudu is watching from the back of Pei Ming’s mind.)
It’s been eight hundred years since the day Pei Ming lost him, and it’s a memory that just won’t fade. Over the years, so many memories have—the whole burning of the Heavens is now just one fiery blur. But Shi Wudu stubbornly refuses to be forgotten, to which Pei Ming is grateful.
Shi Wudu is long gone, but Pei Ming has lived on. So have many of the other gods from their era. Even if humans adapt, invent, and evolve, they still need gods to answer their prayers and keep them tethered to the world.
Pei Ming’s still around, of course. Feng Xin and Mu Qing are, too. People always need Ju Yang, and Mu Qing was thoughtful enough to also take on the mantle of a healing god. Having a specific focus helps keep their worshiping bases strong.
The Crown Prince of Xianle, of course, will live forever. No mortals bother to worship him anymore, but he has one particular believer that keeps him alive. Apparently, the two of them have absconded off the grid and left all authority of the Heavens in the hands of the two bickering gods of the South.
Other gods have faded. As soon as beating up one’s worshippers became a less acceptable practice, Quan Yizhen disappeared, and Lang Qianqiu shortly after that.
Ling Wen is still around, though, but for a much more entertaining reason—some foolish mortal decided to name a Wifi company after her, and as it’s become the most popular provider in the mortal realm, it’s unlikely she’ll fade away any time soon, either.
The array takes Pei Ming to a park in a small town, where the prayer came from. The sky is a decidedly boring gray. Looking around, Pei Ming sees mostly college students, and, upon further inspection, it seems to be the town of a well-known college.
Good for Shi Qingxuan, getting into such a good school when college applications are such a mess these days. If it even is Qingxuan.
Knowing Shuishi-xiong, he probably pulled some strings to get Qingxuan in here.. .
“Excuse me?”
Pei Ming turns around at the sound of the voice, and his heart drops out of his chest.
“Excuse me?” the man who looks and breathes exactly like Shi Wudu repeats. “Could you move? You’re in the way.”
Pei Ming just stares for a moment, wondering if he could pass out on the spot. It’s him. It’s got to be him.
The same eyes, nose, body, hair, mouth—even that same expression—indifference tinged with annoyance—who else could it be?
“You’re in the way,” Shi Wudu repeats, looking impatiently at the ground where Pei Ming is standing. “You’re in my way.”
“I… I am,” Pei Ming realizes, awkwardly shuffling around the sidewalk.
Shi Wudu stares at him. “Who are you?”
“Me?” Pei Ming asks, swallowing. “...Nobody. I’m not anybody.” He is lying. “I’m Pei Ming.” That, at least, is not a lie.
“I’m Shi Wudu.” Shi Wudu frowns. “I feel like I’ve seen you before.”
“You haven’t,” Pei Ming says. “I mean, you can’t have—because I’ve never seen you before, and I see a lot of things, so it would be impossible for you to see me without me seeing you…”
Great, now he’s rambling.
But what is he supposed to say? I love you . I miss you. I waited a century. I carried your corpse and it still feels like your blood is staining my skin.
Shi Wudu raises an eyebrow. “Did we go to high school together?”
“No,” Pei Ming says. “...I didn’t go to high school.”
Shi Wudu wrinkles his nose. “A drop out, then?”
“Something like that,” Pei Ming mutters. He can’t exactly explain that he was born over two thousand years ago, when high school had yet to be invented.
“I’ve seen you before, though,” Shi Wudu insists. Lifetimes later, and he is still just as stubborn.
“You haven’t,” Pei Ming repeats. “But you could… you could come with me?”
“Come where ?” Shi Wudu frowns.
Shit. Pei Ming doesn’t know where he’s even going. “...the beach.”
“The nearest beach is, like, an hour from here,” Shi Wudu says. “And I’ve got stuff to do still.”
“I’ll drive you,” Pei Ming offers.
“You’re crazy,” Shi Wudu says.
“Most likely, yes,” Pei Ming responds.
Shi Wudu sighs, dragging a hand along the side of his face. “...fine.”
“ Really ?”
“Don’t push your luck,” Shi Wudu says. “And I still have to do work in the car, but if you can drop me off at the bus depot after, then I’ll go to the damn beach with you.”
“Deal,” Pei Ming promises.
Pei Ming wills his car to appear down the block, and he leads Shi Wudu to where it’s parked. Shi Wudu raises an eyebrow at the flashy sports car, but slides into the passenger seat anyway.
“So,” Pei Ming says, as he turns on the car, “What brings you to this town anyway?”
“Dropping my brother off at college,” Shi Wudu says.
“What’s your brother like?” Pei Ming asks, even if he already knows the answer.
“An occasional dumbass,” Shi Wudu says, “but he’s mostly very sweet.”
Well, “sweet” isn’t exactly the word Pei Ming would use to describe Shi Qingxuan, but the “occasional dumbass” part certainly checks out.
“Do you have any siblings?” Shi Wudu asks.
Pei Ming did. He had two younger sisters, over a thousand years ago, but he supposes that doesn’t really count anymore. He pauses, thinking. “My best friend. She’s basically like a sister, anyway. At least, she bullies me like an older sister would.”
“Aeems like you deserve it,” Shi Wudu says, smirking.
“You’d like her,” Pei Ming promises. You did like her, all those years ago. Pei Ming supposes he’ll have to figure out how to tell Ling Wen that Shi Wudu is back, anyway.
Part of Pei Ming can’t believe that Shi Wudu is really here . Pei Ming has spent the last millenia trying to move on from his grief. He hasn’t been trying to forget Shi Wudu—that would be impossible, anyway—but he’s worked hard in order to to not let it consume his every waking moment.
He was just so used to Shi Wudu being gone—but he isn’t gone. He’s right here, in Pei Ming’s ugly car. (And the car is ugly. Pei Ming has come to terms with that.)
At some point, Shi Wudu pulls out his laptop and starts typing into it. Pei Ming is a little busy driving to see exactly what he’s doing, but he does note the little furrow in Shi Wudu’s brow that is still there, centuries later.
Most of their drive is silent. Pei Ming moves to turn on the radio, but a pointed look from Shi Wudu stops him from doing so. The drive is not actually an hour, it’s considerably less—and the traffic isn’t awful, either.
Pei Ming pulls off the highway at the right exit, then glances over at Shi Wudu. The former water god is leaning his head against the window glass, his eyes fluttering open and closed, like he can’t decide if he wants to be awake or asleep.
It’s cute. It’s really cute. But Pei Ming immediately turns his eyes back to the road, so he doesn’t kill them both. He’s still smiling to himself, though.
Eventually, Pei Ming pulls into the parking lot for the beach, gently tapping Shi Wudu on the shoulder. “We’re here.”
-
Shi Wudu begins to yawn, then immediately stops himself. He’s in a car with a guy he barely knows—falling asleep was an awful idea.
But it’s weird. Pei Ming feels so inexplicably familiar. Shi Wudu shouldn’t be trusting him, but he’s doing it anyway. It feels right , somehow.
Shi Wudu has never been one to rely much on fate, but if fate does exist, this must be what it feels like, because Pei Ming has a magnetic pull to him, and Shi Wudu is not going to let go.
They may have met for the first time only an hour ago, but it feels like Shi Wudu’s known him forever.
Pei Ming turns off the ignition, and Shi Wudu gets out of the car. The sky above them is grey, and the parking lot is nearly empty. It’s not exactly the ideal day for the beach, to say the least.
Shi Wudu pulls off his shoes and socks so they don’t get sand in them. Pei Ming does the same, then the two of them walk down the little path to the beach.
“Seagull,” Pei Ming says, pointing to a seagull.
“Brilliant,” Shi Wudu scoffs.
Pei Ming smirks back at him, and pulls a blanket out of seemingly nowhere, spreading it out on the ground. He doesn’t do a great job of it, though—the edges are all messed up, so Shi Wudu nudges at the blanket with his foot until it’s truly smooth.
Pei Ming sits down, patting the space next to him. Shi Wudu obliges, letting out a breath as he sits down on the blanket. Yes, it’s a little weird that he absconded to the beach in the middle of the day with a random stranger, but Pei Ming seems less random by the minute.
“You haven’t told me anything about yourself,” Shi Wudu notices, glancing at Pei Ming.
“There isn’t much to tell,” Pei Ming says, in a way that lets Shi Wudu know that he’s lying.
“All I know about you is that you have a best friend.”
“Well, do you have a best friend?” Pei Ming asks, clearly avoiding any further discussion about himself.
“I don’t, and—”
“You should meet mine,” Pei Ming says. “We can share. You’ll like her, just like I said earlier.”
“Not yet, though,” Shi Wudu says, staring out into the waves. “Just you is enough for now.”
“What does that mean?” Pei Ming asks.
“What do you want it to mean?” Shi Wudu asks, pulling the same thing Pei Ming’s been doing all afternoon—flipping the question back on him.
“It can mean whatever you want.”
“You’re insufferable,” Shi Wudu decides. Then, the wind decides to launch a personal attack against his hair, and he sputters, coughing as he tried to brush it out of his face. “Fuck—”
Pei Ming reaches over to tuck some of the stray strands of hair behind Shi Wudu’s ear, and as his hand brushes against Shi Wudu’s cheekbone, he freezes.
Suddenly, Shi Wudu presses his fingers to his temples as a splitting pain pierces through his skull. What the—
“Shit, are you okay?” Pei Ming asks.
But Shi Wudu can’t really hear him, because there’s something else rushing through his brain: memories.
In second place, the Palace of the Water Master, with 718 lanterns!
“Remorse? I’ll tell you, there is no such thing!”
Wretched beginning, wretched end.
Shuishi-xiong, be careful! This is He Xuan’s territory!
“I will change fortune if fate denies me—”
Ge, what are you saying ?
“—my fate is up to me and not the heavens!”
“...Shi Wudu?”
Shi Wudu blinks back to conciousness as the flood of memories slowly recedes. And the first thing he sees…
“Pei Ming.”
“That is my name, yes—”
“No,” Shi Wudu says, struggling to explain. “It’s you. I remember you .”
Pei Ming freezes, his eyes widening. “...you remember?”
“I remember you, and me, and,” Shi Wudu waves a hand weakly, “everything.” Ling Wen. The heavens. Black Water Manor. He Xuan. Shi Qingxuan .
Shi Wudu can see Pei Ming’s disbelief in his eyes, so he sits up slowly, shakily. “I remember everything ,” he repeats.
…maybe Pei Ming doesn’t remember? Maybe they’ve both been born into this new life with no recollection of their shared past, and maybe Shi Wudu is cursed to be the one who remembers. Shi Wudu doesn’t think he’ll be able to stand it, being the only one who remembers.
“Shi Wudu,” Pei Ming says, meeting Shi Wudu’s eyes, and something inside of him leaps at his name, because Pei Ming is saying it so differently than how he’d said it before.
“It’s me,” he whispers.
And all at once, a millenia of hurt fades into the background, nothing more than background noise like the crashing of the waves on their shore—and Pei Ming holds him close, because that is how it was always fated to be.