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Xingqiu had spent what felt like most of his life on the ice, racking up many a medal throughout his illustrious and long career, and many had even watched him grow up on the ice, from a young boy to the young man he was now. Many knew the various strategies he would pull out and the stories he would weave, as he practically danced over the ice, as if practicing a ballet routine, curling and twisting as if writing calligraphy on ancient parchment. Storytelling had always been his topic when it came to his figure skating routines anyways, as even now, Xingqiu still dabbled in a different kind of storytelling whenever in his private life, and he’d always had a particular knack for it too.
Whether it be on the ice, or on paper, Xingqiu had certainly loved telling stories.
Though with both mediums, there was a different technique required when it came to storytelling. On paper, you only really needed your mind, and your creativity could really run away with you, if you weren’t too careful, and Xingqiu had a habit of doing that, whenever he would get lost in writing his novels, but it really was no matter, as no one would know it’d be him. You see, whenever Xingqiu would find himself creating stories on paper, anything published would go under a pen name, for no fault of anyone except his own. He just preferred to keep his two fanbases separate, as though he was quite well versed in the topic of conversation, encountering both at once would be too much for his creative brain to handle.
The works of Zhenyu, his pen name, spoke of far off lands and fantasy creatures, of action and adventure, not unlike the very same novels that Xingqiu would read in his spare time in his youth. The figure skating thing had always taken up more of his time, anyways, and he hadn’t been able to read all that much. And well, seeing as the Teyvat Grand Prix had recently ended, he’d had all the time in the world. So he’d begun working on his next novel, one involving two twins, a dark force, and two best friends that he hadn’t quite come up with a name for, and while he was already quite far along with it, he had bigger priorities.
On the ice, Xingqiu was known as the Author, simply because of how he managed to tell a story through his various movements, curls, and twisting. And well, sure, that was a succinct description of many of those routines of his. His most recent one, the one that had won him the useless medal lying simply in front of all the others, the medals that had once brought him pride, had told the story of a lonely man, searching for any kind of companionship, or a lover, put to the backing of a melancholy ballad, that Xingqiu was sure had compelled the audience to tears.
Though for Xingqiu, the only thing the performance had brought him was utter boredom.
It had been a startlingly sudden realization, that he simply felt nothing while on the very thing that had used to bring him joy. The performance had a sudden end as well, Xingqiu simply stopping while the music continued to play, but his body had refused to obey him to continue the performance, him no longer feeling the flow or energy of the music. He just felt…
Nothing.
Not one single thing.
It was as if the world’s worst writer’s block had hit him in the middle of a practiced routine. And he’d certainly never experienced writer’s block this bad before, in either of the ventures he partook in, and Zhenyu hadn’t been affected by the writer’s block at all. It had just been The Author affected. Somehow, he’d still managed to finish the performance with a gold medal, but when he had looked at it, the usual pride that would’ve overtaken him was nothing but a fizzled-out flame. He hadn’t been sure if the cameras would’ve caught it, but he’d just felt nothing. Since then, he had tried to force himself to feel something on the ice again, but it had been to no use, except making him feel more disillusioned.
“Maybe you just need a break? Or well, this break?” Xiangling said, after Xingqiu had told her this. “Anyways, did you hear about the upset at the Liyue Nationals?” Xingqiu blinked at her and raised an eyebrow. “Oh great! You don’t know! There’s this guy that attempted a difficult jump or something, or so I’ve heard, and though he didn’t land it, the fact that such a newbie even tried it is kinda amazing.”
“Oh really?” Xingqiu asked, a small smirk forming on his face, and Xiangling’s eyes lit up at Xingqiu seemingly back-to-normal. “I guess I’d have to look out for this guy, if he makes it to the next competition. I mean, I should probably know my enemy, shouldn’t I? Well, that’s saying he’ll be my enemy.” Xiangling looked at him.
“He’s from Liyue, so maybe we knew him at one point?” Xiangling asked almost curiously. Xingqiu let out a small chuckle at her. “Though Liyue is quite vast, so that’s probably not the case…”
“You’re just hoping that one of my fellow skaters would be someone we knew, aren’t you?”
“Not everyone was locked away like some prized possession, Xingqiu. Your parents are to blame for that.” Xingqiu blinked at that. That could be the reason why he was having such a hard time on the ice recently, if he thought about it. But then he thought that, no. That wasn’t the case, this was writer’s block, not some lonely desperation. And Xingqiu was quite experienced with that idea, as he’d read and written various scenes on the concept. Hell! He’d existed for at least twenty years at this point, he’d sure hope that he had some experience. Xiangling then turned her gaze on him. “Could you maybe tell me what your theme was for the performance before the one that gave you writer’s block? That might help with the whole writer’s block thing,” she asked, petting the head of the sleeping Guoba to the side of her, the Chow Chow taking up most of the space between her and Xingqiu.
“It was a love story, if I remember correctly,” Xingqiu responded. “A long and complicated one. About two friends. I was playing the part of the one friend, obviously, seeing as that’s the best way I can get into the music you know? This friend was in agony, secretly pining for the other, while picking up no other signs from the other whether or not they returned the feelings. It was… beautifully tragic, in a way. And well, I’ve always been a lover of the angsty pining that one might feel in that situation. If I’m not about to cry at my own performance, then what’s the point, huh? Anyways, during that performance, I started feeling myself in that person’s shoes, as if imagining a love I cannot have, you know?”
“So what I’m hearing is… we need to get you a boyfriend,” Xiangling joked, and Guoba snorted from where he was sleeping. This caused Xingqiu to burst out laughing. “I’m sure there are candidates we can discuss, if you’d so desire,” she murmured, cryptically, but Xingqiu only chuckled.
“Sure, we do that. But how is that meant to help with writer’s block?” He asked, chuckling.
“I don’t know, you’re the figure skater dealing with burn out,” Xiangling stated, smiling. “Though? It would make you a lot happier, in my opinion.” Xingqiu threw a pillow at her.
“I am offended! What kind of roommate are you?!”
“One who’s trying to make her roommate happy, that’s what.” Xiangling said this with a slight chuckle. “And that’s either through a boyfriend, or curing you of your writer’s block.” She then got out her laptop and placed it down on the bed. “Though hey, do you wanna see the contestants from those nationals? I don’t personally recognize any of the names, and I doubt you do either, but it’s worth a shot.” She opened her laptop and scrolled to the video showing the names of the contestants in the apparently eventful event. The first thing that was apparent was that most of the contestants weren’t even Liyuean, so Xingqiu couldn’t fathom why Xiangling had said that earlier, unless she knew something he didn’t.
The first contestant listed was someone by the name of Ajax, and the Szezhnayan flag was depicted along side him. He appeared to be older than most of the other contestants, but not by much, and Xingqiu tilted his head in slight confusion. Next was someone by the name of Venti, that Xingqiu actually knew. Venti was known for his frolicking movement in his routine, consisting of little jumps, that he somehow managed to land every time, complexing the entire figure skating community as a whole. Next up was a Mondstadter called Bennett, well known for his constant clumsiness, and frequent falls, and following him was someone named Yanqing. Xingqiu had heard of him before, but had never witnessed a routine of his, so he couldn’t really comment on it. Next was some guy called Luka, and lastly…
Was someone called Chongyun.
Xingqiu had heard the name before, but besides that, he’d heard nothing about this figure skater, and he’d certainly never seen the name this high up in the rankings before. Next to the mysterious Chongyun was the Liyuean flag, which intrigued him. (The flag had also been next to Yanqing’s name, but Xingqiu hadn’t cared to focus on it). The video showing the names hadn’t actually showed the skater’s faces or appearance really, but Xingqiu found himself staring at Chongyun’s name for some odd reason. “Damn,” Xiangling murmured, tearing Xingqiu’s gaze away from the name. “I really thought that video would’ve had images of the skaters themselves, I swear I saw a video of it where they showed the images.”
“You sure that wasn’t the women’s division right?” Xingqiu said with a teasing tone. “I mean, you may not skate, but I hear Lan Yan and Hu Tao are quite hot on the market, or so I’ve heard.” Delightfully, Xiangling went bright red. “I’m more focused in the men’s side of things, but if we ever do double gendered pairs, I’m sure I could put in a good word,” he teased. Xiangling huffed before turning her gaze on him.
“What? And you don’t find your fellow skaters attractive?”
“Not particularly.”
It was then that Xiangling’s eyes sparkled mischievously and she quickly turned to her phone. “Guinevere! Send the youknowwhat,” she mumbled cheekily into the phone. The phone beeped for a bit before Guinevere’s voice ran out through the tinny speakers.
“The ‘youknowwhat’? Sushang? What does Ling mean by ‘The Youknowwhat’?”
“The video, Gui. The video, you know the one!” Sushang’s next words were muffled because Xiangling had put her fingers on the speakers, as if hiding the content from Xingqiu and the phone speaker crackled a bit before Xiangling removed her fingers.
“Ah right! The video. Xiangling, I present the blackmail,” Guinevere stated, a smile on her voice, and a small beep sounded from the phone.
“Thanks Gui, I’ll be hanging up now!” Once the phone was turned off, Xiangling turned her gaze on Xingqiu and smirked. “Me, Gui, and Sushang, have been planning a bit of revenge for a while now, since you keep teasing me about things, and now it’s the perfect time to dispatch it. Trust me, you’ll thank us later. Now you were saying that you don’t particularly find anyone from your skating buddies attractive hm? What about an unknown one?” Xingqiu blinked at her.
“An unknown one?” Xingqiu asked curiously and Xiangling’s eyes sparkled. Suddenly, she shoved her phone in his face some kind of video was playing on it.
Three men around Xingqiu’s age were gathered together in a corner of an ice skating rink, the blonde one sitting on a bench not too far away from the other two, petting a tortoiseshell cat, and simply watching the other two. The brunet was on the outer edge of the rink, not too far away from the blonde one, and third one…
The third one was on the ice, leaning over the edge, strong legs were keeping him in place, and other strong muscles seemed to ripple under his small frame with every subtle movement he made, and scandalously, Xingqiu felt himself staring.
“Chongyun, I know you cannot handle spicy food,” the brunet suddenly said, and Xingqiu looked over at him. “But, dude, that… that was the worst display of heatiness I’ve ever seen! You become a different man! I’ve always known you to be like, fairly calm and normal but all of a sudden, you’re suddenly full of energy and stuff, that dude looked traumatized! Isn’t that right, Freminet? He looked traumatized?” The blonde one opened his eyes from where he’d been dozing, and he looked over at the brunet.
“Um… I don’t think he was… traumatized? Um…”
“He wasn’t traumatized?” The brunet responded, and Xingqiu immediately noticed his change in tone when he talked to this Freminet. “Then, what was he?”
“Uh… he seemed.. a little… turned on? I don’t know… he just seemed that way.”
“No way dude,” the brunet responded, whipping his head back toward Chongyun. “Hey! Imagine if you meet him one day, eh? You can say that’s how you met!” Chongyun groaned and facepalmed, and Xingqiu chuckled a little, completely oblivious to Xiangling’s downright evil expression.
“ Gaming … don’t remind me… I’m never eating Jueyun Chilies again…” Chongyun groaned. Xingqiu smiled a little at this. So this Chongyun can’t handle spicy food? How quaint. “I want to forget that ever happened.” Gaming merely chuckled.
“Whatever you say,” he responded, almost smirking. “And weren’t you going to do the practicing or whatever you were planning to do? I’d love to stay and watch, but I gotta go, I have Wushou dance practice now. Freminet? Are you going to join me?” Freminet looked up and shook his head.
“Lyney and Lynette still have business here, so I can’t leave anyways. Plus… I want to see Chongyun skate. Um… he’s in that upcoming competition, right?” Gaming nodded simply and Freminet smiled.
“I guess me and Man Chai will be off then!” Gaming decided, prying the cat from Freminet’s hands. “I wouldn’t have brought him if you weren’t such a cat magnet,” he laughed. Xingqiu watched as Freminet blushed and then Gaming grinned. “Also don’t forget this Friday,” Gaming murmured, kissing Freminet’s cheek and making his blush deepen. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow, or the next day or the day after that! Or whenever you’re free, I guess. Or I suppose whenever we decide to meet up again.”
“Um… Gaming, we get it.” Gaming blinked and then laughed awkwardly. Freminet let out a small sigh and smiled at him, Xingqiu watching with vague interest. “Je t’aime, Gaming.” Gaming’s grin grew blinding and it caused Xingqiu to let out a small chuckle. He supposed that these three were good friends with each other. Well, were good friends with Chongyun, as Gaming and Freminet were clearly something more than friends, but he didn’t want to assume. Gaming then left for real and Freminet repositioned slightly on the bench, causing Chongyun to gaze at him.
“You want to watch me? Why? I won’t be doing anything special, just practicing.” Freminet glanced over at him.
“I have nothing better to do while I… uh.. wait here. So…” Chongyun only nodded at him and turned around, skating over towards the middle of the rink, as if he was light as air, and stopped in the middle. Xingqiu wasn’t quite sure who the cameraman was, or why the video was even being recorded in the first place, as now that he’d watched the whole conversation between the three men, he felt like he’d been intruding on a private moment, and yet, there was still quite a bit of time left in the video, so he continued watching it.
The ice-blue haired skater, Chongyun, was currently just standing in the middle of the rink, as if psyching himself up. The camera had followed Chongyun, so Freminet was no longer visible, though Xingqiu decided to blame the music starting on the blonde haired man. The music was familiar, almost as if Xingqiu had used it before, and this intrigued him. Why was Chongyun using the same music that he had?
Xingqiu got his answer almost immediately
Chongyun had started moving, and Xingqiu found himself transfixed on him. His sways and turns were slow, yet powerful, as if meticulously carving words into the ice. Movements resembling those of a ballet dancer, only highlighted the musculature of Chongyun’s legs as he moved effortlessly along the ice, though the movements were familiar, and Xingqiu felt himself rise, still holding Xiangling’s phone. Chongyun’s leaps were near perfected and practiced, yet he still wobbled on some movements. As if opening a novel, the familiar story unfolded in front of Xingqiu’s eyes. Friendship on the verge of breaking due to unspoken feelings, angsty pining, and everything he recognized. No signs of a love reciprocated, pain and agony and torment.
It was the same routine as the last routine that Xingqiu had felt actually proud of, being near perfectly replicated, by this otherwise unknown skater.
Chongyun showed no indication of slowing down as he neared what was, in Xingqiu’s opinion at least, the hardest part of the routine. The jump that he’d struggled to perfect even in his own training. Xingqiu also couldn’t help but notice just how gracefully Chongyun was doing it all. That wasn’t to say that Xingqiu wasn’t graceful himself, he sure liked to think he was, but there was something different about Chongyun’s grace as he skated across the ice. Also, there was something familiar about him, though Xingqiu couldn’t quite recall wh-
“Dance with me, Xingqiu!” Blue eyes, almost seeming intoxicated, but the man had been the furthest thing from intoxicated. It had almost been like he’d suddenly been injected with a sugar high or as if he was having a manic episode. The man had basically been climbing on him at that point, to the point the two of them had fallen onto the floor in a somewhat suspicious position, the man giggling as if high on helium. This had been to the amusement of most of the gathered parties, though to Xingqiu, it had been most… affecting.
The memory of that celebration came rushing back, just as Chongyun failed the jump, landing hard on the ice, and causing Xingqiu’s heart to leap into his throat, causing him to tighten his grip on the phone. Chongyun picked himself up off the ice, swaying slightly as he rebalanced himself, and although he’d seemed quite into it at first, after the fall, it seemed like he’d lost anything motive he had. Stiffly, the ice-blue haired skater, skated over to whether the camera was and switched it off, ending the video, and leaving Xingqiu with more questions than answers.
“What did you think?” Xiangling’s voice shattered the dome of the spell that Xingqiu had found himself under, and he gazed at her.
“He’s…” Xingqiu felt himself heat up, the recently remembered memory still fresh in his memory, much to Xiangling’s apparent amusement. “…good.”
“‘Good’? Is that all you can come up with? What happened to the oh-so eloquent, Xingqiu?” … “Xingqiu?”
Xingqiu couldn’t really hear her, as he was going over the memory of the celebration. The banquet held after some competition that he couldn’t remember the name was. There’d been something else that Chongyun had said on that fateful day, and for the first time since developing the writer’s block, Xingqiu felt inspired. Though, not for anything on the ice itself, but regarding the storyline of the routine that Chongyun had been replicating. Namely the jumps, but besides that, his mind was also conjuring up ideas for new routines that Chongyun could be utilizing. Plus, while he himself needed a break, why not spend it helping a fellow skater? That way he’s still somehow involved, until inspiration will strike him in his own career. Plus, it would help with the writing novels thing as well. Mind made up, Xingqiu turned towards Xiangling. “When’s the next flight to Liyue?” He asked, causing Xiangling to blink
“What?”
~
Xingqiu hadn’t been back to his home region in a while, as he’d always travel to other regions for the various skating events that he’d had to do, so it felt kind of strange to just be showing up like this. Never mind that, however, most of his fellow Liyueans probably wouldn’t recognize him being there anyways. Moving forward, Xingqiu walked throughout the once familiar streets, searching for any sign of Chongyun, or his home rink, where Xingqiu had once trained himself. There was a light drizzle in the air leading to puddles sloshing to the side of him, and his cape was quickly becoming useless. Scurrying for cover, Xingqiu eventually reached the ice rink near the end of the Harbour and entered it.
The ice rink was the exact same inside as it had been in the video, with pale yellow walls, and a stripe of amber-yellow adorning the rink’s wall, ending in a depiction of a gem on either side. Fontaine’s rink was much the same. Only with blue walls, and a blue stripe ending in a wave. Most of the rinks in Teyvat were like that, a simple line of colour with an elemental symbol at the ends. Xingqiu had even brought some skates himself, in case it was necessary, and then situated himself on a bench, to put his his drenched cape on it, and then he took a sniff of the rink. It smelt like every other rink he’d been in, and also smelt like home. He sighed in nostalgia. Though he was only here for the specific job he’d made for himself, it still felt good to be back.
If he were to bring in a fictional analogy, he felt like a warrior returning home from war.
It wasn’t long however, before he heard voices on the other side of the rink, and his interest was piqued. He lifted his head and then looked over. A brunet and an ice-blue haired man were talking amongst each other and Xingqiu got up and walked closer. Soon enough, he could start hearing their voices. “…Yun, what are you going to do today? Is it another practice session? Oh! Can I join in this time?”
“Ming, you don’t even know how to ice skate. Besides you already Wush-“ Xingqiu had walked closer and Chongyun caught him, causing him to gaze at him. “Wha-“
“Greetings, dear Chongyun,” Xingqiu began, and Gaming rushed over when he realized as well, grinning. “As per your pending request, that you so lovingly asked me, upon a fateful day, I’m here to give you my answer.” Xingqiu bowed in front of him. “I will be honoured to become your coach.” He threw Chongyun a smirk, and Chongyun gaped.
“Oh my Archons, dude,” Gaming said grinning. “He actually did it!” Chongyun simply gazed at him.
“What in Morax’s name?!” Chongyun shouted, before looking at Xingqiu. “Uh, sorry. I’ll… get back to you in a minute.” Chongyun suddenly raced off, but Xingqiu could only really chuckle. Gaming looked over at him.
“He’s just a bit shocked at the moment.”
Xingqiu could only really smile