Work Text:
Shen Qingqiu realized that she was a woman the same way she realized she had feelings for Luo Binghe: long past when she should have, after multiple deaths, through outside interference, and very nearly against her will. But she had realized it eventually, which is what mattered in the end. And she was happy, both as a woman and with her husband. Considering all of this, it really shouldn't have taken her as long as it did to realize what her Binghe was trying to tell her!! But in Shen Qingqiu's defense, it hadn't been the clearest confession in the world.
Binghe had sat down across from her at the table in the Bamboo House, which in itself made Shen Qingqiu frown in concern, because why wasn't her sticky husband sitting as close to her as physically possible? Was something wrong? Shen Qingqiu hadn't asked at first, but she'd tried to leave openings in the conversation for Luo Binghe to unburden himself, and eventually he'd taken advantage of one of them.
"Shizun," he'd said, looking up at her from beneath his beautiful eyelashes, "this disciple-- this Binghe has been thinking, these last several months."
Shen Qingqiu nodded at him encouragingly, concern furrowing her brow.
"This Binghe would like to be Qingqiu's wife," Luo Binghe said, with all the weight of a confession.
Shen Qingqiu didn't speak at first, not quite sure what to say. Hadn't they spoken of this when they'd married? Binghe had expressed his willingness to marry her or for her to marry him, as long as they'd be married in the end. But Luo Binghe was the Demon Emperor and the Protagonist, so of course it had made more sense for Shen Qingqiu to marry him. Could you even change who had married into whose family after the fact? And they'd both been men when they'd originally married, but Shen Qingqiu was a woman now. Did that make a difference when marriage roles weren't necessarily a matter of gender in this world?
Oh. Shen Qingqiu's mental rant came to a sudden and complete stop. Marriage roles weren't necessarily a gendered construct here, but they could be, couldn't they? Was that what Binghe was trying to tell her?
"Is... is my Binghe a woman as well?" Shen Qingqiu asked delicately. Inwardly her mind was reeling. She was past the point of justifying her own gender through the lens of 'of course it made sense for her to be a woman if she was the Protagonist's wife,' but it had honestly never occurred to her that the Luo Binghe she knew, who was so much more than a character in a book, might not be a man either.
Across from her, Binghe burst into tears. Startled, Shen Qingqiu shuffled around the table on her knees and met Luo Binghe halfway around. The second they were close enough, Binghe threw himself—herself, herself—into Shen Qingqiu's arms and burrowed her face into her chest. Murmuring comfort under her breath, Shen Qingqiu ran her hand over Binghe's curls.
Shen Qingqiu knew Luo Binghe often used crocodile tears to gain comfort from her; they'd never discussed it out loud, but it was a game they were both happy to play. These tears, however, were very real and obviously much needed. And Shen Qingqiu, apparently, had a wife. She could freak out about it in Shang Qinghua's direction later, but for now she needed to make sure that Binghe knew how incredibly loved she was.