#i love the cowherd and weavergirl legend pls check it out yall

[monohart]

cow.

ft. huang renjun, qixi festivities, and an unforgettable love.

my first non-bullet fic! how exciting... am i successfully coherent for once? :)

anyway please enjoy, this was legit inspired an hour ago by a picture of renjun’s hand.

festivals really weren’t your thing, but when renjun wanted to meet you there, you caved in. it wasn’t like you never got to spend time with him – people complain you spend too much time with him, but to you, it was always in the context of school. or work. or projects. assignments. repeat.

romance really wasn’t your thing either, but renjun put in one hell of an effort to make it work. you didn’t want to upset him. in fact, you were happy with him. very, very happy. he really liked holding hands with you. his hands, soft and very often cool to touch, fitted around yours like a jigsaw. he liked running his thumb against the back of your hand. he knew it would always make you smile.

“renjun, where the hell are we going, the festival is in the other direction??”

with a secret smile on his lips, he continued guiding you against the current, through the crowd of people. the qixi festival was well underway. people crowded into the square to see the bedazzling light shows, music performers, dancers, food stalls, craft stalls... there was so much to see, yet renjun had other plans.

he knew you hated crowds. he knew how much you wanted to go home to catch up on another episode of your favourite show while cuddling under the blankets. but there was a side to you he knew, a side you yourself, haven’t yet come to realise.

he led you past the carpark, down the main street and toward the motorway. as soon as you broke free from the crowd at the festival, renjun tightened his hold on your hand and broke into a run. he ran and ran, with you sprinting to keep up.

“honey, this is wild. why are we? doing this?”

he laughed as he watched you bend over to catch your breath. he brought you to the pedestrian bridge that looked over the motorway. cars sped to and from where you were standing. it was somewhere you passed by so many times, but never would’ve thought of coming to.

streetlights and street signs and street life. you didn’t even know how much you needed to come here. you feel a familiar pair of arms hug you from behind.

“renjun?”

“hmm?”

“who are you... where did my pure boy go?”

his laugh was soft but you heard it over the roar of the motorway.

“do you like it?”

“running? no.”

“dummy, i meant this.”

did you like it? seeing the world from a different perspective?

“yeah. yeah i think i do.”

if this was a movie, renjun would be grabbing your hand and asking you to run away with him. if this was a movie, you’d be running away. you’d be stealing a car to drive into the night. you’d be turning up to an all time low album on the stereo. you’d be, and only ever be, with huang renjun, the love of your life.

“do you know how to knit?”

“what?”

“knit? knitting? y’know, the weaving thing grannies like to do.”

“okay first of all, if it’s a weaving thing grannies like to do, why would i know how to do it?”

you turned your head slightly to glance at him, who bit his lip to stifle a grin he tried to shrug off nonchalantly.

“i was just thinking... uh, cheesy things.”

“do share.”

“you’d hit me though.”

“i don’t care, tell me, boyfriend.”

he tells, in stammered sentences, how you were the first and only person he’s ever loved. he tells you how much he cherish every second spent with you. he tells you how sometimes, when you weren’t spending every second of the day together, he feels like he’s the lonely cowherd, and you, the weaver girl, in the qixi love story.

you break free from his arms to hit his shoulder and he winces, squeezing his eyes shut.

“i knew it.”

“that’s what you get for being so cheesy, wow, renjun, your mind.”

“i love you, though.”

he opens his eyes only to meet yours. you mirror the wide grin that spread across his face, and suddenly, there was nobody else that existed in the world except for you, and him. the sounds from the motorway diminished in the background and the only thing audible to you was your heartbeat that got loud and louder, the longer renjun stared at you.

“if you don’t kiss me now i might go crazy.”

and that was all it took.

his soft, tender hands cupped your cold cheeks like they were made of glass, and then he kissed you, like nothing else mattered in the world. when you pulled away for a break, he moved his hands to your waist and held you as close to him as he could.

“so... i’m your weaver girl, huh?”

“and i’m your c...cow...”

you laughed into his face as he rolled his eyes.

“you’re my cheesy little pure cow and i love you.”

his eyes curved into mini crescents and rested his forehead against yours, studying every detail about you, for the nth time. when he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from your lips, you knew he wanted to kiss you again.

and so you let him.

he wasn’t your first love, and you weren’t sure if he was going to be your last. you hoped he would be, but you could never know for sure. what you did know was that even if you did grow old and move on, you would never forget him. you would never forget the happiness and joy that tumbled into your life like he did. you would never forget his love.