Chapter Text
Four bowls of flaming hot food had to be prepared on the table. They weren't expecting a ton of guests, but Jiaoqiu knew that four would suffice. It was just Jiaoqiu and Feixiao at home. Moze was invited for dinner, he would usually come alone but this time he planned to bring along his own girlfriend Lingsha.
At this point of their relationship, Jiaoqiu had turned into a feeble house husband. Every day, he was getting less and less work until he's conclusively achieved semi-retirement, only preferring to return to work when called upon.
Well, that's what happens when you're blind.. how are you going to be a healer when you can't look towards your patients? It's one of the five major senses for a reason.
The General had been simply doing some small leftover work when her attention wandered off to face him, alone in the kitchen.
He was taking his time slowly onions, when he suddenly recoiled in pain. A slow 'ah' was what alerted Feixiao immediately. She hurriedly makes her way to the kitchen and could alarmingly see the tip of Jiaoqiu's finger with a small cut on it.
"Are you okay? Need a bandage?"
He surprisingly licks the wound, "It looks like I don't need it. I'll be fine. Got plenty of cuts on my fingers anyways."
If only Jiaoqiu could see Feixiao's face right now.
"Listen, I'm no medical expert but infections are a thing. Besides, I need your fingers. Wait here, let me find a band-aid."
Needing my fingers? That could mean a lot of things, but.. he'll let the General treat him nicely for once. She always rants about the supposed fact that it's always him for her. Despite the fact that it's always the opposite.
Sooner enough, she approaches the kitchen with a band-aid. She steadily wraps the cut before pecking it lightly.
His ears shiver at the feeling, "Was that necessary?"
She wishes he could see her do a visible shrug. "Maybe."
"Can I help you cook?"
Feixiao is famous for her involvement of beating Hoolay, or perhaps her incredible offensive prowess, or maybe just simply her beautiful appearance. Not her cooking ability. She wasn't terrible, but it's pretty lacking.
"Sure."
---
His hand were practically glued to Feixiao's hand at this point. In the kitchen, safety always comes first. No house of hers was going to be on fire, not on his watch.
"The Okra goes here."
"Right sorry." She drops it in the hot bowl, sweeping her hands clean in the process. "What's the Okra even for? I've eaten plenty of Okra before, yet the flavour's never stuck out for me."
"Food is an art. You know that, right?" His face turns stern, tone like he'd been stepped on.
"What do you mean?"
"When you paint on a canvas you layer different parts on top of each other. Same goes for food, it's the taste of Okra layered with other things that make it so delicate."
He suddenly stands still, "Wait, hold on. Have you just been eating plain Okra as a snack? Is that why it's always gone from the cupboard, even after restocking?"
"Was.. am I not supposed to do that?" She laughs, nervously scratching her head desperate to switch the topic. "Whatever, it's always so methodical with you, Jiaoqiu. Y'know, I love that about you."
His face tries to restrain a laugh before turning warm, going for a slow kiss on her shoulder. "Thank you." He takes a quick breath of air, "I think the curry's done, can you please move it to the table?"
He picks it up with no gloves, his hand long adjusted to the heat, and puts it down somewhere on the countertop. "Careful, it's hot."
"I'm the General of the Xianzhou Yaoqing, no amount of heat, whether hot or cold, can affect m-" Talking big, she picks it up with no mittens, only to be met with an absolute scorcher of a pot. "Fuck, fuck!" Rapidly, she stumbles towards the dinner table and places it as fast as she picked it up.
Jiaoqiu slowly giggles, "Sorry, babe. The General should probably have his ego checked. I don't think she would want me telling this story to our guests~"
Feixiao tries to make her intimidating aura scare him, but it doesn't work; probably due to his lack of eyesight. In the end, she gives up and rinses his hands in the cold tap water.
...
The air suddenly becomes silent as Jiaoqiu cleans his kitchen equipment, taking all the time he could possibly need.
"I don't know why I'm talking big." His tone suddenly shifts, deeper and slower and perhaps more melancholic. "Do you think of me as a burden, Feixiao?"
Before Feixiao could wipe her hands clean, "No." Feixiao states loud and clear. "Don't ever say things like that, Jiaoqiu. You are scaring me."
"Why the sudden change in tone?! Did I upset you? Please don't tell me yes. I'd hate that."
Great, he thought. I got her all worked up, he thought again.
"I.. as much as I want to brave against it and try my absolute hardest to accept it.. I seemingly can't. I cannot for the life of me deal with being blind."
Truth lied in his words, as seemingly everything standard in his life, whether his occupation which he very much enjoyed, his residence which he was forced to move out of to live with Feixiao out of pure necessity and his love of basking in nature, all taken away harshly due to his light receptors being unfortunately stripped of its righteous rights.
And when you live a long life with these regulations in place and then suddenly these laws being taken away.. life gets hard and alienating fast.
"I cut my hand. Again. My hand is full of cuts, I just know. I haven't seen them in ages and I wish I had the validation of me patching them up by myself, and not you always using your valuable time to help me."
Truth, again. As the days go by, he went from having an extremely array of dishes to cook full of variety. But the more he kept injuring his fingers and hands, he simply can't afford to hurt them anymore and has been cooking simpler, plainer dishes.
"And you know yourself that our house is like my prison. I can't ever leave without your supervision. I can't take even a breath of air without bumping directly into a wall and getting a terrible nosebleed."
The final truth. Jiaoqiu's talked to Feixiao several times on when he leaves the house by himself, which also resulted in her getting a call from a random civilian citing that her partner had passed out on the street.
"So.. it aches me to know that I'm occupying your time when you have better things to do."
"You're right. Absolutely right. It's the most taxing to care and watch over you." She responds immediately, "What you're worried about is the problem however. You're worried about me, instead of yourself."
"It exhausts me to take care of you on the daily, but does it look like I care?"
"Uh.. I can't see- I'm blind-" he replies, with unintentional comedic timing.
"Exactly! I don't care at all. In fact, it's probably my favourite part of the day." She flicks her hair in dramatic fashion. "I love sitting with you- and looking at you- and watching you stumble when walking- and then I myself have to help you get up! I love doing that!" She subconsciously admits, probably unwillingly.
"What you should be worried about, Jiaoqiu," she nudges him in the chest with her pointy finger. "Is yourself! I can't help you get used to your blindness. Only you yourself can face your personal problems and overcome them!"
...
"It's going to be fine, babe."
...
"You certainly have your own way with words." He laughs, probably happy. He puts his arms wide, and leaves his torso open. "Let me be selfish, and allow me to be given a kiss. Especially after that stupid motivation speech."
"It's not stupid! It made sense for once!"
The implications, he thought. I should probably question her juniors, he thought more.
He leans in for a kiss, and is given his wish. It was short, sweet and probably washed away all his concerns.
"We should finish up with the food. Moze and the Cauldron Master is going to turn up soon, and we wouldn't want to give her a bad first impression."
She kisses him one more time, "I can't believe our little Moze is all grown up now. I didn't even know he had that charm in him, certainly not so much that he bagged that gorgeous woman!"
...
"You probably rubbed off some of yours to him."
Feixiao.. blushes. And Jiaoqiu definitely caught wind of this. "Let's hurry!"
I am so smooth, he thought. What if I rubbed off my so called charm on him? haha. A man can dream. Beloved likes to tell me good things sometimes. I bet they're all bull anyways. A man can dream.