#binghe sees their apartment for the first time and almost faints

[gideonnavsenormousbiceps]

shang qinghua and shen qingqiu would be so funny as college roommates. because here's the thing, they would definitely both blame each other for basically everything and be like "he's the worst roommate ever!" to their respective boyfriends and then it turns out they're both actually just awful roommates. Like shen qingqiu probably sucks at domestic chores like loading the dishwasher and always does it wrong no matter how many times he's corrected, but shang qinghua is probably up all night typing abd playing music obnoxiously loud (he has one of those really clicky keyboards and also gets way too enthusiastic about typing) and leaves empty energy cans/Ramen cups everywhere. Will either of them move out, or learn communication skills? No, of course not they prefer to complain

[satonthelotuspier]

Day / Chapter 5 of Liushen week!

part 1 and part 2 and part 3 and part 4 can be found at the links, or it’s all on AO3 here

How To Catch An Aloof And Untouchable Immortal

Attempt 5 - Coffee

Liu Qingge woke up suddenly, with a feeling that something wasn’t right. He appeared to be in his residence on Bai Zhan Peak. But it didn’t quite feel like it.

And what was that faint noise he could hear from outside?

He rose, pulled on his outer robes and boots, and picked up Cheng Luan.

He walked through the door, expecting to see the small garden Yang Yixuan had decided he needed, but instead it was like walking into a blinding white light, that faded slowly, leaving flashing marks in his vision.

The sounds, which had been almost on the edge of hearing, indistinct and unrecognisable, resolved, and he looked around him like some wild, startled animal as he realised he didn’t recognise where he was. What was more, it was completely alien to him. The sounds where the hissing of steam and the clinking of cups, underlined by the chatter of human voices.

His eyes, darting around like a cornered beast, finally landed on someone who looked a little like Shen Qingqiu, sat at some kind of table, sipping at a drink in an overlarge cup.

He sat with a man who did have something of their shidi Shang Qinghua about him.

He wanted to rush over, for someone to explain what this place was, and why he was here, and how he could go back.

Perhaps he was dreaming?

And it did have that dreamlike feeling, but it wasn’t that exactly. At least he didn’t think so.

This room was odd, like a kind of tearoom, but strewn with decorations and equipment he’d never seen before. There were other figures around him, but their faces were indistinct, or blurry, the only people clearly defined were the two at the table.

He decided he would watch and listen for a while, to see if he could find out more about what was happening, as, so far, no one had acknowledged his presence.

“Does this taste like coffee to you, Cucumber-bro? Or am I just making it up because I want it to taste like coffee so much? Can you actually taste things in dreams?” the one who resembled Shang Qinghua questioned. They both wore unfamiliar clothing, and had cut their hair short. Why would they do such a barbaric thing if this wasn’t a dream? Or some hallucination?

The other, ‘Cucumber-bro’, nodded. “Being an aloof immortal is a bonus, mainly because the alternative is being dead of course, but I do miss coffee, and food delivery. Especially now Binghe is taking care of his demon kingdom.” He spoke as if he were Shen Qingqiu, but he wasn’t exactly like him. Liu Qingge was confused.

“You can thank me for making him such a good cook, if you want.” Shang Qinghua had taught Luo Binghe to cook?

“Airplane-bro, why would I thank you for that dogfood, plot-hole filled trash-pile of a reformed black lotus stallion novel? I wrote most of the plot for you! Well, I changed it for the better,” Cucumber-bro snapped at his companion.

“You ruined a perfectly good stallion protagonist, is what you did.” Airplane-bro retorted, “Turning him into a soft little white lotus, bleating around his Shizun like a sheep. And it wasn’t originally meant to be such a trash-fire, I had aspirations, Cucumber-bro, but do you know what having aspirations doesn’t do? Put food on the table. Trust fund babies like you just don’t understand…”

Liu Qingge took it back, he would get no information from listening to these two bicker, he understood less than half of what they referred to, except that the stallion protagonist, and white lotus, (whatever they were) referred to Luo Binghe.

He strode forward, “Shen Qingqiu. Shang Qinghua.” He snapped, and they both jumped guiltily, turning to face him with identical looks of horror on their faces.

‘Airplane-bro’ got to his feet to walk around Liu Qingge, and poked him in the shoulder. He yelped and scampered behind Shen ‘Cucumber-bro’’ Qingqiu as Liu Qingge scowled at him.

“Liu Qingge?” Shen Qingqiu questioned, “Is that really you?”

“Who else would it be? What do mean is it really me? Where are we? What is this place? And is that really you, Shen Qingqiu?”

“This is the dream realm. Of Luo Binghe’s making. He must be ill, he tends to lose control sometimes, when he’s feverish for example. I wish he’d speak to Meng Mo about that.” Shen Qingqiu said.

“Why does Liu-shidi look like that, and we look like this?” Shang Qinghua asked, meaning the fact Liu Qingge still wore his cultivators robes, and Cheng Luan on his waist, while the other’s were dressed completely differently.

“This is a dream built from my memory. This coffee shop isn’t far from my apartment. Or wasn’t. That’s why, I think, I’m Shen Yuan again. So you’re Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky. But Liu Qingge doesn’t have an alternative identity in our original world, if that’s what you want to call it.” He turned to face Liu Qingge then. “And you wouldn’t understand if I did explain this to you, Liu-shidi.”

“Try me.” Did Shen Qingqiu think him stupid?

Shen Qingqiu blinked at him with those enormous doe-eyes. The expression in them was familiar, even though the shape wasn’t exactly that of those he was used to looking into. Then the other automatically reached a hand out for a fan that wasn’t there. Finding he came up empty he ran it through his hair instead.

“My name is Shen Yuan. Though for the past decade and more I’ve been living as Shen Qingqiu, Peak Lord of Qing Jing Peak. I died, in my previous existence, and transmigrated into the original goods’ body. The same happened to Shang Qinghua, although Shang Qinghua is Airplane-bro, to all intents and purposes, as he was transmigrated from birth.”

Shen Qingqiu flashed a quick look at the other, something passed between them, and Shang Qinghua nodded very slightly. He had enough to process without chasing something they thought he couldn’t deal with knowing.

While what Shen Qingqiu said to him was outlandish, and almost unbelievable, hadn’t he himself always known the soul behind those eyes had changed from the Shen Jiu he had first known? Hadn’t they all thought it could be possession, or some other form of body snatching?

How right they had been.

‘Shen Yuan’ watched him carefully, assessing his reaction.

He wasn’t sure what that was. Or should be.

“When did you...transmigrate?” he questioned, but he knew the answer, at least the period, if not the exact time.

“Shen Qingqiu suffered a fever. It was then. Before the Skinner incident, before the spirit caves and Sha Hualing’s invasion of Qiong Ding Peak.”

Of course it had been then. He would have known it without being told, wouldn’t he? It had been ‘Shen Yuan’ who saved his life in the spirit caves. He had known, deep down, if it had been Shen Jiu, the other would have struck him down without second thought.

And it had always been Shen Yuan. Shen Yuan who had pulled him into friendship, and comradeship, Shen Yuan who had fought by his side for years, Shen Yuan who had taken his virginity, Shen Yuan who avoided him since that night, with everything he had. And Shen Yuan who had taken his heart.

He would like to have said the realisation hit him hard, but it was another thing he had always known, but never allowed himself to acknowledge.

“Liu-shidi,” that familiar address from an unfamiliar tongue made him turn away a little. There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere around them, and the other figures in the dream became indistinct and wavered. He was relieved to hear Shen Yuan say, “Binghe must be waking up. We’ll be free of the dream in a few moments.” He looked at Liu Qingge then, “Liu-shidi, I’ll come and speak with you when we wake.”

The dream faded, as Shen Yuan had promised, and Liu Qingge woke up in what was, this time, definitely his own bed.

Shen Qingqiu had said he would come and find him, to talk. He couldn’t bear the idea at the moment, however; Liu Qingge didn’t intend to be here when he arrived.