Chapter Text
Shen Qingqiu was…an enigma.
Or, well, he was now. Before, when Liu Qingge first met the man, it had been simple; Shen Qingqiu was an arrogant twat who was clever enough for his position but had none of the honor it required. Liu Qingge hated Shen Qingqiu, and Shen Qingqiu hated Liu Qingge in turn. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant situation, but at least the Bai Zhan Peak Lord knew where he stood and how to treat the man…namely, with utter disdain.
But then something had happened. No one was sure how, with theories running from qi deviation to amnesia to possession to who knows what. But overnight Shen Qingqiu became a different man, just as elegant and observant, but now with kindness and curiosity and sometimes even humor. By all accounts, it was a positive change that made everything in the sect run smoother than it ever had when the old version was around mucking things up out of spite. Liu Qingge should have been as pleased as the rest with the change. Hell, he could even call Shen Qingqiu a friend now.
And yet, sometimes, Liu Qingge had to admit that he missed being able to just ignore the man. Because if this new Shen Qingqiu wasn’t attracting trouble, he was looking for it, or even just straight up causing it.
And for some reason, the idea of leaving Shen Qingqiu to face whatever risk he ran into alone was absolutely out of the question.
Which led to his current situation. Shen Qingqiu had gone with his students to some small town not far from the sect to solve a problem with some kind of water ghoul. And solve it they did. However, he had apparently heard of some rare plant or whatever and decided to send his students home ahead of him while he went to try and find it. The students had agreed reluctantly, even the one that had been saved from the demon poison by his teacher and had been his shadow ever since.
So when the next day Shen Qingqiu had not returned, about half the students of Qing Jing Peak had to devote themselves to keeping said disciple from tearing off in search of him. The other half, meanwhile, had gone to the sect leader to ask him to send someone actually qualified to go hunt him down. That someone wound up being Liu Qingge.
Liu Qingge had a sour feeling about this situation that he interpreted as annoyance. While the effects of Without a Cure had been explained to him, and his meridians had been treated multiple times now, Shen Qingqiu just didn’t seem to accept that he had a handicap. Once or twice he had skipped out of the cleansing, followed by him sheepishly coming to request Liu Qingge’s aid shortly after when his qi inevitably became blocked. It was very likely, in Liu Qingge’s mind, that the poison had acted up again because he hadn’t bothered to see to it before leaving for the mission, and he was currently wandering in the woods because he couldn’t ride his sword or something stupid like that.
That Shen Qingqiu might be in some sort of legitimate danger was something that Liu Qingge was very pointedly not considering. Because it was stupid, right? Shen Qingqiu was stubborn, but he was smart enough to avoid walking into something objectively dangerous (most of the time). So there was no reason to follow that line of thought or deal with a sinking feeling in his stomach that came with it.
On the bright side, it’s not like Liu Qingge had to work hard to look for him. In fact, it was the exact opposite. He was flying relatively low over the area Shen Qingqiu had headed towards, considering what to do, when he heard his name called. There was no hesitation as he swooped down to the source; sure enough, it was a familiar figure in pale green and pure white, holding a fan to cover his expression save for his eyes, which were curved into pleased crescents.
Liu Qingge had no particular opinion on Shen Qingqiu’s expressions. He had no reason at all to care what Shen Qingqiu was feeling, and certainly no reason to try and be the one to please him. On a related note, the fact that this happy expression was turned his way meant absolutely nothing. He was not going to keep it in mind a second longer than he had to.
Really. He wasn’t.
“What the hell are you even doing?” Liu Qingge asked, frowning down at his fellow Peak Lord. Shen Qingqiu let out a little annoyed huff and snapped his fan closed. Apparently getting brusque words instead of some worried, relieved greeting annoyed him. If Liu Qingge was a lesser man, he’d have rolled his eyes.
“Really, Liu-shidi, there’s no need to be rude. And to an injured man no less! Nothing too serious,” Shen Qingqiu added hastily, seeing Liu Qingge’s frown immediately deepen. “Just a twisted ankle. Between that and my qi acting up, this lord felt it was better not to risk flight on my sword, so I was heading to the village we helped on foot...but it seems my reliable shidi came to save me.”
“Don’t bother with flattery,” Liu Qingge replied. “And your qi wouldn’t be acting up if you’d come and get your meridians cleared like you’re supposed to.”
“I don’t want to be a bother to Liu-shidi,” Shen Qingqiu said calmly, like having to come and pick him up in the middle of the woods wasn’t an ever bigger bother. “And nothing bad has happened, so all’s well that ends well. Liu-shidi worries too much.”
Liu Qingge huffed. “You should worry more,” was his retort, as he glanced at Shen Qingqiu’s legs. The robes blocked them from sight, but when he looked, he could see that the man was indeed favoring one foot over the other. Withholding a sigh, Liu Qingge hopped off the sword and motioned for Shen Qingqiu to sit so he could tend to his leg for him. Thankfully, Shen Qingqiu chose for once not to be stubborn and did as requested.
Liu Qingge kneeled and took the injured ankle in his hand. He would have expected some comment about the indecency of that, which he would have then had to give a rebuttal against in order to get on with the treatment, but Shen Qingqiu seemed unbothered. Good, one less annoyance to deal with. If only Shen Qingqiu was this amenable to treating the poison. He sent some qi into the injured area and let it circulate a bit to reduce the swelling and soreness. Shen Qingqiu let out a relieved sigh. It...wasn’t an unpleasant sound.
Not that Liu Qingge paid much attention to the sounds Shen Qingqiu made. That would be weird.
“For the record, you should know your students are losing their minds over you being gone for a day,” Liu Qingge commented as he put down Shen Qingqiu’s leg and took his hand instead. He pressed his fingers onto the pulse point and sent more qi through the spiritual pathways. There was some resistance at first, but he kept the energy at a steady push to clear it out. “That one who follows you around all the time looked like he might cry like a baby.”
“Don’t make fun of my Binghe, or any of my other students,” Shen Qingqiu grumbled. “It’s perfectly natural for them to be concerned and I'm touchd by their care. I’ll have to make sure I give them proper reassurances later.”
“You spoil them too much. Especially the clingy one.”
“I do not!” Shen Qingqiu lightly jabbed the closed fan in Liu Qingge’s direction as emphasis. “I only show them the care and affection they deserve. Liu-shidi could learn from this shixiong’s example, instead of letting his own students run wild breaking things.”
“They have swords, of course they’re going to break things,” was the retort. “And if they can’t take care of themselves, they’re not worth my time or effort.”
“They need direction and care, they’re still children!”
“Only barely. And they’ll stay children longer if I treat them as such.”
Shen Qingqiu huffed, flicking the fan open to cover his expression, but not before Liu Qingge caught his expression for just a second. The warrior blinked, processing what he’d seen. A bunched up lip, puffed up cheeks...
“...are you pouting ?” he asked incredulously.
Shen Qingqiu immediately tensed up and made a show of looking very offended despite his face being covered. “Pouting!? Liu-shidi is being silly. This one is a respected and noble peak lord. Making a face like that would be unbecoming of the position. Honestly, pouting. If I didn’t know better, I would think I was being insulted.” And he very deliberately pulled his hand away from Liu Qingge and turned away from him, his nose in the air.
“...you were definitely pouting. I saw it.” And for some reason, the fact that he’d caught that expression made Liu Qingge...feel rather smug. What’s more, seeing Shen Qingqiu get all riled up and actually express some emotions besides calm indifference or “I know more than you” type satisfaction...that was rare. Rare and appreciated.
Shen Qingqiu didn’t dignify Liu Qingge with a response this time. Instead, he swiftly rose to his feet. Liu Qingge followed his lead, waiting as Shen Qingqiu carefully tested his healed leg. He winced; the treatment was for the pain, but he’d still need to give it some time to fully heal. After staring at his own foot in contemplation for a few moments, he slowly turned back to Liu Qingge and looked at him, clearly waiting for him to say something.
Liu Qingge sighed, knowing what Shen Qingqiu was looking for. Reluctantly, Liu Qingge pulled his sword back out, stepped upon it, and held out his hand for Shen Qingqiu to take.
Shen Qingqiu snapped his fan closed again, looking satisfied. He took the offered hand and stepped up, standing behind Liu Qingge and wrapping an arm around his waist to hold himself steady.
Liu Qingge felt an impulse, for the moment, to put one of his own hands on top of Shen Qingqiu’s. He resisted, because there was no reason for such a thing. Why had it even come to mind? Maybe a reflex to keep Shen Qingqiu safe. If anyone was going to get so distracted they’d fall off a sword mid-flight, well, Shen Qingqiu was more likely to be that anyone than he should be.
Because that was another one of those strange changes. The old Shen Qingqiu had treated riding on a sword the same as everyone else: a convenience for long distance compared to walking, but a pain to deal with at times. It was simply an everyday occurrence for a cultivator, especially one who had reached immortality as they all had.
But this new Shen Qingqiu seemed to have a different view of it. It wasn’t like he got super excited like a newly trained student, or showed some new phobia of heights, or anything like that. He just...seemed to always be very cheerful about taking a trip through the sky. There was almost a sense of whimsy to him when he was in the air, a feeling that he was enjoying it as something special. Which, arguably it was, it wasn’t like anyone could just hop on a sword and zoom off, but it wasn’t a rare thing either. Even after taking who knows how many rides in his lifetime, Shen Qingqiu still had almost a sense of wonder about flying. Sometimes he’d even just stop mid flight to admire the scenery from this new vantage point, to marvel at how things changed so much from what was really only a small change in position.
Honestly, the stopping mid flight had caused some problems. And yet, in the end, the way Shen Qingqiu’s mood improved when he flew, the way he got such genuine enjoyment out of it…
...even Liu Qingge had to admit it; it was kinda sorta a little bit cute as hell.
Sure enough, once they were up and on their way, he could feel Shen Qingqiu shift every now and then, turning his head this way and that to look at the world passing by. Thankfully he never loosened his grip on Liu Qingge, so he didn’t have to worry about losing his passenger. Still, Liu Qingge was a bit exasperated. Getting injured in a stupid way, making his disciples worry and forcing his martial brother to come pick him up, and Shen Qingqiu didn’t have an ounce of shame in him about it. How someone could care about appearance as much as Shen Qingqiu while still being so carefree, Liu Qingge would likely never know.
About halfway back, a flock of birds flew by them. It was no big deal, it was a big sky, there was plenty of space in between the animals and the cultivators. Liu Qingge would have ignored them completely under normal circumstances.
Normal circumstances didn’t include Shen Qingqiu letting out a thoughtful hum and extending the arm not holding onto Liu Qingge towards the birds. And they certainly didn’t include one of the birds actually leaving the flock and, for no discernible reason, landing right on Shen Qingqiu’s outstretched fingers.
Liu Qingge actually stopped his sword still. What the hell was this. He turned back as best as he could to see Shen Qingqiu’s expression. The Qing Jing peak lord was just as surprised. With both hands occupied, there was no fan held up to cover his face. Liu Qingge got a good clear look at Shen Qingqiu...his mouth slightly open with surprise, his eyes wide and his eyebrows almost at his hairline, a couple pieces of his hair in his face from being windblown but somehow not making him look any less refined.
And then Shen Qingqiu’s lips slowly curled into a smile...a blindingly bright one at that. His eyes sparkled with delight as he examined the little creature contentedly settled on his hand. Looking at Liu Qingge, he let out a small laugh and announced, jokingly, “Aw, it likes me!”
...Okay there was no way to deny that this was the most adorable thing Liu Qingge had witnessed in ages.
So he didn’t deny it, and instead just didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he made a sound of frustration. “I thought we were going home, not playing around.”
“Ah, Liu-shidi is annoyed with me,” Shen Qingqiu said, apparently to the bird, still smiling sincerely even as he joked. “The Bai Zhan war god truly is easy to rile up!”
“Shen Qingqiu,” Liu Qingge said in the most deadpan voice he could muster up. The man behind him simply chuckled, and gently shooed the bird away before motioning for Liu Qingge to continue.
Liu Qingge couldn’t resist rolling his eyes this time. Shen Qingqiu didn’t acknowledge it. He simply went back to enjoying the journey home.
He was blissfully unaware of how the sides of him Liu Qingge had seen today were going to be on his mind for quite a while.