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"Shang Qinghua." Luo Binghe greets. He looks a little haggard, which is pretty funny and would be even funnier if the room didn't reek of an omega in distress.
"Lord Luo." Shang Qinghua manages. He shifts the blankets in his arms a little as a frankly alarming subvocal noise comes from Shen Yuan's voice; is that normal? That's definitely not normal. Shen Yuan didn't say he was prone to falling feral, but this is a special case. "Can I come in?"
Luo Binghe gives him an assessing look, then opens the door. Shang Qinghua doesn't even have time to shrink against the burning eyes of the most powerful creature in the world when he catches sight of Shen Yuan, curled in the saddest nest he has ever seen.
"Holy shit- bro?? Hey, can you hear me?" Shang Qinghua rushes over, more or less dumping the various nesting material he brought into a heap to hover over Shen Yuan's prone form. "Please don't go feral, come on, I have no idea how to explain that to Mu Qingfang."
Shen Yuan makes a soft chirp, something akin to a welcome home, and opens his eyes. The scent in the room softens to something much less unpleasant, kinda like overripe peaches. "Qinghua." He mumbles out. Shen Yuan raises his wrists and Shang Qinghua obligingly rubs his own, letting their scents mellow into fresh paper and peach tea.
Luo Binghe is giving them an incredulous look Shang Qinghua is opting to not think about.
"Thank you for coming." Shen Yuan says, empathetically. "And for the materials." He glances at them, and preens. Shang Qinghua feels a burst of pride for having provided for his pack omega. Instincts die hard.
"I have no idea what stupid flower this is." Shen Yuan starts pulling the blankets around them, tucking them into the folds with the familiarity of an omega raised in a pack of nagging alphas. "Or how long it'll last. My cultivation can't even suppress it, which is so stupid, airplane, why the hell would it not work??"
Shang Qinghua snaps his fingers. "Oh, I was wondering how you did that. Good to know!"
Shen Yuan rolls his eyes. "This is all your fault." He grumbles with no bite. Shang Qinghua feels the telltale feeling of the protagonist's eyes on his back. Ahaha, Cucumber bro, don't sic the protagonist on him already!
"How was I supposed to know!" Shang Qinghua tosses a pillow into where Shen Yuan normally puts it, and he doesn't even get snarled at for messing with the nest! See, he can learn! Shen Yuan rights it and then covers it with another blanket. It all smells a bit like Shen Yuan and Shang Qinghua, which is nice, but it's a little...
Shen Yuan seems unsatisfied too, but finally sighs and crumbles back into his much bigger nest. "Binghe?"
"How can this disciple help Shizun?" Luo Binghe fucking materializes next to the nest, and only Shen Yuan's death grip on his wrist stops Shang Qinghua from falling right off the bed.
"Lie down," Shen Yuan gestures to the conveniently Binghe-shaped space next to Shang Qinghua. Nice, lover position. Score for Binghe!
Not that Luo Binghe would know it.
Luo Binghe glares daggers at Shang Qinghua. "This husband would rather not share with Shang-sishu." Shen Yuan's scent sours. Abort, abort.
"Uh... Maybe just... entertain him?" Shang Qinghua suggests. Luo Binghe glares at him, then with very obvious reluctance, crawls into the nest. Shen Yuan makes a series of content subvocalizations, and Luo Binghe jumps, staring at him. Shen Yuan pauses, and they kind of just stare at each other.
There's not a lot of space between them. Shen Yuan's nests are always rather squeezed together, which Shang Qinghua is pretty sure stems partially from how cold he gets during winter and partially due to how his brothers always refused to be more then two inches away from him during his heat, forcing him to make smaller nests to keep them all warm.
It's be more awkward if it wasn't Shen Yuan's nest.
"... What is Shizun doing?" Luo Binghe finally manages. Shen Yuan makes a face.
"Ah..." He looks awkward. Shang Qinghua can relate, so he makes the soothing click that Shen Yuan likes, and the omega immediately relaxes, pumping out happy pheromones like a fast food machine.
"The flower is affecting your Shizun." Shang Qinghua offers. "You know. Weird pollen stuff! Nothing Lord Luo should worry about." Luo Binghe narrows his eyes at him.
Before he can threaten Shang Qinghua properly, Shen Yuan drags his wrists glands across Binghe's neck. Luo Binghe freezes, a delighted look spreading on his face before Shen Yuan makes a disgruntled look and tries again.
Nothing happens, of course, because Shen Yuan and Shang Qinghua transmigrated into a non-abo world.
After a few more tries Shen Yuan makes a sad noise and Luo Binghe looks gutted in a way that reminds Shang Qinghua a lot of when he thought Shen Yuan was dead. This is going worse then when Shen Yuan's brothers had taken him to the side twice to give him the verbal beating of a lifetime. Both of them. Individually. The things Shang Qinghua does for Shen Yuan.
"C'mon bro, let me." Shang Qinghua intercepts the wrist with his own, and Shen Yuan makes an annoyed noise but doesn't protest as they scent each other a second time. "See? We can pick some nice things for your nest too, can't we? Some jasmine? Books?" Shang Qinghua tries to remember what Shen Yuan likes in his nest. "... Food?" Luo Binghe bristles.
Shen Yuan perks up. "Books." He agrees. His eyes have gone a little hazy. Shit, it's getting to him proper. "And I want scented clothes."
Shang Qinghua does not wince. "Ah... I can... try." A heat-addled omega's brain can rarely be reasoned with, and Shen Yuan is a particularly stubborn breed of omega. "Any requests?"
"Er-ge and Da-ge." Shen Yuan responds instantly. Shang Qinghua does wince, now. Fuck. He should have seen this one coming.
Luo Binghe leans over. "Shizun's the youngest brother?" He says, with the sparkle in his eyes reserved for all things Shen Yuan. "This husband has not met them."
Shen Yuan blinks a few times. He reaches for Binghe's neck again, and Shang Qinghua snatches it away, ignoring the distressed noise from Shen Yuan and the growl from Binghe. "I can get you their clothes." Shang Qinghua says. "But I think the scent is a lost cause."
Shen Yuan is staring at Binghe still. His mind must be working overtime to deal with the fact he can smell nothing when a person is clearly there. "They can scent it when they come." He says vacantly.
Wow, let's not unpack that at all! Shang Qinghua nods. "Yeah, sounds good." Maybe Shen Yuan will forget! Weirder things have happened.
Shen Yuan's scent is sweetening at an alarming rate. Shang Qinghua's own beta instincts are urging him to pull Shen Yuan into a hug, but he has a task to do. He turns to Binghe and tries to remind himself Binghe won't actually kill him.
Yet.
"Lord Luo..." How do you explain that you came from a different world with different biology and that biology followed them here? Better just make something up. "The pollen has... unforeseen side effects. It would be best for Lord Luo to stay and tend to Shen Qingqiu." Nailed it.
Luo Binghe smiles pleasantly. "Shang Qinghua seems very knowledgeable about this mysterious side effect." Terrifying! Shang Qinghua laughs nervously.
Shen Yuan turns to him, likely due to the spike of fear in his scent. The omega makes a soothing sound and nudges closer to him like an affectionate cat, while his eyes roam the room for a threat. Shang Qinghua takes a deep breath.
Shen Yuan isn't the kind of omega to immediately jump to threat display, but he would if he thought his pack was in danger and without his protectors. There's a very obvious gap where two older alphas should be, and it's honestly a miracle Shen Yuan didn't immediately fall into protection mode! Having a packmate is helping! Shang Qinghua pats himself on the back for the job well done.
Back on track.
"Hey hey, cucumber bro." Shen Yuan barely spares him a look. Shang Qinghua sighs.
"Omega." Shen Yuan's eyes dart to him like bullets, eyes glazing over even harder. "I'm going to get you more nesting material, okay. You'll be nice to Binghe, won't you?" Shen Yuan nods eagerly, and Shang Qinghua smiles a little. He's so getting bitten for this later. "He's like your er-ge, so wait for me to scent."
Shen Yuan's eyes widen in recognition. Shang Qinghua is a goddamn genius. Shen Jiu was a chronic abuser of scent blocker and though Shen Jiu normally eased off them before Shen Yuan's heats, there have been enough medically induced heats without Shen Jiu's scent that Shen Yuan apparently internalized it.
"Okay." Shen Yuan purrs. He's so out of it. "A-Hua is good."
Shang Qinghua can't help the happy croon he makes at that. Luo Binghe looks like he might actually strangle him. "Wait, okay?" Shang Qinghua should leave before Luo Binghe decides he doesn't actually need Shang Qinghua around.
Shen Yuan nods and turns to Binghe. Now that his brain has an explanation he understands, he starts to fret, arranging Binghe's limbs so he is better curled up around Shen Yuan and protected by the nest walls. Binghe's eyes are wide and adoring. Gross.
Shang Qinghua slips out to go to Qiong Ding.
The thing that gave away that Shen Yuan was a transmigrator was the fact that he walked into the peak lord meeting reeking of distress. The thing that gave away that Shen Yuan was Shen Yuan and not some random guy in Shen Qingqiu's body was the fact that Shang Qinghua nearly gave himself a heart attack in his need to soothe his pack omega.
See, Shen Yuan had been his best friend in high school, and since Shang Qinghua's pack was... lacking, the Third Young Master of the Shen Family oh so graciously offered him a place in his pack.
By aggressively shoving him into the nest and attempting to drown him in his scent, of course.
He didn't know Shen Yuan read PIDW, or that he was Peerless Cucumber, but he kind of doesn't care. Shen Yuan's always been a critic of Shang Qinghua in general, and he still gets in his nest every heat cycle. Maybe there's something wrong with him.
Anyways, Shang Qinghua was apparently not subtle about who he modelled some of his characters after, because Shen Yuan glares at him openly whenever Yue Qingyuan is in the area, and complains constantly that he's stuck in the body of his er-ge's lookalike. Haha. Don't think about why Yue Qingyuan and Shen Qingqiu look like your brothers, Cucumber Bro! At least he didn't use Shen Yuan as inspiration; then he's really be dead! Plus, what kind of author doesn't draw on the real world for their writing, huh?!
Long story short, now Shang Qinghua has to steal clothes from the sect leader to convince Shen Yuan's inner omega that his da-ge is alive and just mysteriously scentless. Easy peasy!
The Qiong Ding disciples don’t spare him a second glance, but Shang Qinghua knows the sect of soon to be politicians are certainly already spreading some kind of rumours around. Luckily for Shang Qinghua, the only way to curry favour from their righteous sect leader is from currying favour from Shen Qingqiu, and to everyone’s baffled understanding, Shang Qinghua has the latter in buckets. He could make a pool out of the thing. And a second pool out of vehement deniance of the existence of the first pool.
It kinda reminds him of entering the Shen Corp building. Everyone caters to him even when he’s dressed in ugly stained t-shirts and cheap shorts because he’s pack-mates with their beloved third young master. Wow, Shen Yuan really has it good in both lifetimes, huh.
The Sect Leader’s house is big and ostentatious and unfortunately cool as fuck. Shang Qinghua sneaks into the side door Yue Qingyuan uses when he wants to spy of Shen Qingqiu - creepy!- to enter without having to talk to the sect leader directly.
The house would be startlingly empty if Shang Qinghua didn’t write the thing. As it stands, he directs himself to Yue Qingyuan’s bedroom, not even bothering to not disturb the dust. If Yue Qingyuan has a complaint, he can tell Shang Qinghua, and Shang Qinghua can tell him it was for Shen Qingqiu and get an immediate free pass. There’s a single blanket on the bed with no pillow, and most of Yue Qingyuan’s clothes are either formal clothes or slightly less formal clothes. Well. He grabs the softest looking robes he sees and stuffs it in the qiankun pouch. The less saturated it gets with Shang Qinghua’s scent, the better.
Can he fake the scent of Shen Yuan’s da-ge? Probably not with emotion, but he’s pretty sure it was black tea, metal and some sort of wood undertone. Shang Qinghua walks over to rifle through Yue Qingyuan’s desk, narrowing his eyes.
Hidden in the back is a compartment that flips out when pressed. In it are all the gifts Shen Qingqiu has ever given the sect leader. Most are kinda disparaging, but somewhere in there is Shen Yuan’s box of black tea. An omega’s habitual gifting to their pack, and a habit Shen Yuan seems unable to break. Shang Qinghua dumps a bit into the qiankun pouch with a kinda old dagger he keeps around and wood shaving from an instrument Shen Qingqiu must have carved. Yue Qingyuan is such a sad guy, what the fuck. Creepy as hell, but clearly desperate! Shen Yuan’s da-ge was pretty overbearing too, but not to this extent!
He thinks.
Actually didn’t Shen Yuan’s da-ge keep his hair clippings? Eh, Shen Yuan was terminally ill. The family can be forgiven for keeping mementos.
“Shang-shidi.” Oh fuck. “I hope I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing.” Yue Qingyuan has a mild smile on his face. If this were the real world, he’d probably be sending out so many aggressive pheromones Shang Qinghua would pass out. His qi is doing a stellar job at conveying the same feeling though!
“Ahaha…” Shang Qinghua inches toward the window; Yue Qingyuan blocks it with a neat side step. “Well, Zhangmen-shixiong… Shen-shixiong needed some things.”
The reaction is instantaneous. Shang Qinghua has to use this excuse more. “Mu-shidi said he didn’t seem to be in any pain.” Yue Qingyuan is assessing him. Shang Qinghua raises his hand. Shen Yuan’s pre-heats are mild, of course no one would recognize something was wrong without smelling the scent of pre-heat! Don’t stare at him like he did something personally!
“Well.” Shang Qinghua shifts. “Uh… Zhangmen-shixiong can come look?” He winces. Great! Now the pack omega is going to have two people he recognizes mentally as pack but can’t physically scent and pack bond with! Nice going Qinghua!
“Much obliged.” Yue Qingyuan says. Cool! Okay! This is happening now! Shang Qinghua can get murdered by the strongest character ever when Yue Qingyuan decides Shang Qinghua is acting too suspiciously to not know something about Shen Qingqiu’s "mysterious affliction”, and then brought back to life and murdered again when Luo Binghe decides he’s too chummy with his husband! All while his pack omega is in a heat induced distress fever! This is what transmigration is all about!
The sword ride back is awkward and kinda hellish. Shang Qinghua keeps glancing back to see Yue Qingyuan’s perfectly placid face and rapidly looking away. At least the bamboo house is close to Qiong Ding.
He opens the door and is somehow not shocked to smell how much worse it got without him.
If earlier it was overripe fruit, that fruit has been left to rot in the sun for two days, and then doused in burnt sugar. Shen Yuan is making desperate, despairing chirps from his nest, and from where he’s curled up around Binghe, Shang Qinghua can see the flush high on his cheeks, a telltale sign that his inner omega is firmly behind the wheel.
Shen Yuan doesn’t even react when Yue Qingyuan enters. Luo Binghe glances up, glares at Yue Qingyuan, then looks helplessly at Shang Qinghua.
Is this the expression that he always gives Shen Yuan?! No wonder Shen Yuan calls him a little bun! “Shang-sishu, I don’t know what to do…” Luo Binghe says helplessly. Shang Qinghua rushes over, gently prying Shen Yuan’s hands away to rub their scent glands together.
“Fuck.” Shang Qinghua watches as Shen Yuan barely responds, tilting his neck to bare his throat. Shang Qinghua switches to rubbing his wrists over the glands there, and Shen Yuan slumps down but keeps making sad subvocalizations. “Fuck, okay. Omega, c’mon.” He makes a few soothing croons, which Shen Yuan reciprocates with hiccuping purrs of his own. Is he crying?? Oh shit he’s crying.
Shang Qinghua more or less tosses himself in the bed, uncaring of the two eyes on them. He gathers Shen Yuan in his arms and tries to mimic the soothing purrs Shen Yuan’s er-ge does whenever he needs to placate their pack omega. Shen Yuan whines openly, but settles down into his own purrs. His scent barely mellows to something better than burnt sugar.
“Shang-shidi.” Yue Qingyuan looks murderous. “What sort of flower is this, and why was Mu-shidi so convinced it was harmless?”
Shang Qinghua jolts, but before he can get scared again Shen Yuan is burrowing into his neck, rubbing their throats together. Luo Binghe is glaring at him in conjunction too. Maybe they’ll just kill each other and Shang Qinghua can stay here. “Uh. I read it in a book?” That’s the excuse Shen Yuan uses and everyone in the room knows it. Ha, Shang Qinghua will totally leverage your love of Shen Qingqiu against you!
“Why is only Shang-sishu calming him down?” Luo Binghe questions. There’s a wet patch on his shoulder. Shang Qinghua shrugs helplessly.
“Da-ge?” Shen Yuan questions. Yue Qingyuan full-body flinches. “Xiao Jiu?”
Shang Qinghua kinda forgot the original Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan had that nickname thing. Shen Yuan too, because he blinks, uncomprehending. Shang Qinghua puts his hand over his mouth in case he questions why his da-ge is calling him by his er-ge’s name.
“If Zhangmen-shixiong will dress in this–” He pulls out the artificially scented clothes, and Shen Yuan’s eyes dilate. Cool, good enough. When he’s more aware he’ll probably be able to realize there’s no emotional undertones to the scent and therefore not real, but he’s so clearly in need of comfort that it’ll do, apparently, “and return to the bed, Shen-shixiong will certainly appreciate it.”
And the mention of Shen Qingqiu appreciating something, Yue Qingyuan springs into action, grabbing the clothes and slipping into the side room. He doesn’t question the smell of it, which is amazing because Shang Qinghua is pretty sure people here can’t smell pheromones at all, and he has no idea how to say ‘oh yeah me and Shen Qingqiu are constantly emitting hormones that let people know how we’re feeling unless we suppress it, but you can’t smell it because we come from a different world, and Shen Yuan sees you as his da-ge so I’m trying to fake it. Don’t fire us?’
Shen Yuan is trying to grab Luo Binghe again. Luo Binghe follows with a despairing smile, and Shen Yuan curls his wrist around his neck. Shen Yuan makes the smallest unhappy sound, but it seems Shang Qinghua’s scent is working. He only tries once more before whimpering and slumping back against Shang Qinghua’s chest. You probably could have stabbed Luo Binghe in the chest and elicit a less pained smile from him.
Yue Qingyuan returns, smelling exactly like an artificial replication of Shen Yuan’s da-ge. Shang Qinghua instincts roar against having an unknown, fake scent in the nest, in his pack, but he stifles it with the ease of practice. He pats the spot that Shen Yuan always dedicates to his brothers, to Luo Binghe’s left, and Yue Qingyuan cautiously gets in, watching Shen Yuan watch him.
As soon as he’s seated Shen Yuan flings himself at him, making high pitches welcoming chirps as he scents across Yue Qingyuan non-existent scent glands. Yue Qingyuan makes a strangled noise.
Their scents don’t mingle correctly. It should meld, honey peach tea and wood and paper, kind of like a cozy library nook. Shang Qinghua and Shen Yuan’s scents are creating its paper peach candy scent, but the wood is kind of just overlapping, not really mixing in. Shen Yuan clearly doesn’t care, though, and he settles nicely in the center of the nest, purring up a storm. Shang Qinghua’s heart feels warm.
“Binghe, can you look in your Shizun’s closet? Find a dark underrobe.” Luo Binghe gives him a questioning look, but surprisingly listens to Shang Qinghua’s request and darts to the side to rummage through. After a few seconds he pulls out a dark green underrobe; the original Shen Qingqiu’s favourite.
And, totally coincidentally, Shen Yuan’s er-ge’s favourite colour.
Shen Yuan perks up and pats next to Yue Qingyuan, and Luo Binghe, the dutiful husband, places the underrobes there with the reverence of a prophet given scripture. It doesn’t smell like anything, but Shen Yuan’s omega seems to see his da-ge and his er-ge’s clothes and decides it’s as good as he’s gonna get, because his scent explodes with contented sweetness.
Shang Qinghua sighs in relief and collapses in the bed, haphazardly turning so Shen Yuan still has access to his neck if he needs. Shen Yuan beams and makes an encouraging chirp. “I’m beat.” Shang Qinghua says, even though the only person in this world who understands the saying is incoherent. “I’m gonna sleep. I think it’ll be out of him by tomorrow.” Shen Yuan’s system could only sustain multi-day heats when medically forced, so Shang Qinghua feels pretty accurate in his assessment.
“If he starts crying, wake me up. Either of you can feed him, but if you don’t do it by hand he probably won’t take it.” Shang Qinghua glances at Luo Binghe. “And if he tries to feed you, just accept it. It’s probably safe.” The two most powerful people in the world are giving him dumbfounded expressions.
Shen Yuan can explain on his own when he’s back. Without Shang Qinghua.
Shen Yuan makes another coaxing noise, and Shang Qinghua lets himself melt into a boneless heap in the nest to his pack omega’s soothing.
Maybe he should figure out the name of the flower... Eh, it's probably fine.