#the qzgs fandom is too strong

[syncogon]

[QZGS Fic] 0529

I haven’t cross-posted my works in a while, but figure I’d make an exception here. Happy birthday to Ye Xiu!

AO3 

summary: Some of Ye Xiu’s birthdays, throughout the years.

“Surprise!!! Happy birthday!”

Ye Xiu yelps at the sudden blast of noise and confetti in his face. It takes him a few seconds to realize what’s going on, and to see the two figures standing before him, each wearing a little party hat and triumphantly waving something in their hands.

Su Muqiu grins and high-fives his little sister. “You like these? Homemade… whatever they’re called! Confetti-blaster-noise-maker things just for this special occasion. Mucheng was a big help with these so make sure to thank her!”

Ye Xiu rubs his head. “You could give me some warning next time, sheesh…”

“That defeats the point! You should’ve seen your face!”

“It was great,” Su Mucheng giggles, eyes sparkling. Ye Xiu can’t get mad at her like this, so he just sighs and ruffles her hair.

“Anyway, happy 16th! This is a big year, you know why?” Su Muqiu doesn’t wait for an answer. “You’re two-thirds of the way to becoming the king’s avatar!”

“…What?”

“You know! Since there are 24 classes in Glory!” Su Muqiu throws an arm around Ye Xiu’s shoulders and gestures grandly before them. “So when you’re 24, you’ll be the master of all classes! The textbook of Glory! They’ll write novels about you!”

“Please.” Ye Xiu rolls his eyes. “Maybe you need a whole year to master a class, but I can do it much faster.”

“Oh yeah? Wanna go?” Su Muqiu gives him a light shove.

Ye Xiu grins. “You’re on.”

But Su Mucheng breaks in before they can rush off to the computers like they always do. “At least have some cake first! You have to make a wish, it’s your birthday!” She points to the table, where Ye Xiu finally sees the cupcake sitting peacefully, vanilla with orange-colored icing, a single candle stuck straight into the air.

“Oh right, almost forgot!” Su Muqiu slaps a hand to his forehead. “We got you a cupcake too, Mucheng picked it out just for you, so eat up! Enjoy! Make a wish to beat me, because we both know that’s the only way you’d win.”

“Whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep better at night,” Ye Xiu laughs. They sit down at the small table, and Su Muqiu strikes a match, lights the candle, and pushes the cupcake in front of him.

It’s really a lovely looking cupcake, the icing perfectly swirled atop the cake and dotted with colorful sprinkles. The sort of thing that they’d stare at through a display window, but never shell out the money to buy. But this is a special treat for a special occasion, and it warms Ye Xiu’s heart.

I wish… I wish that we can stay together like this, for a long time to come.

Ye Xiu closes his eyes and blows out the candle.

“I cannot believe,” sighs Wu Xuefeng, “that I’ve known you for this many years now, and I only just found out when your birthday was. And not even from you, but from Little Mucheng! You can tell me these sort of things, you know?”

“Sorry?” Ye Xiu offers a sheepish grin. “It just… never came up?”

Wu Xuefeng shakes his head. “You’re hopeless,” he says, but there’s a smile tugging at his lips nonetheless. “Anyway, now that I actually know, happy birthday! Got you something, not much since it was such short notice…”

“No, this is good.” Ye Xiu takes the profferred gift bag and, after a pause, reaches forward and pulls Wu Xuefeng into a hug. “Thanks, Brother Feng,” he says. “For saving my butt during matches, and covering for me outside of them.”

“That’s what I’m here for, right?” Wu Xuefeng laughs and pats him on the back. “I’ve always got your back, you know that.”

“I couldn’t ask for a better partner,” Ye Xiu smiles. “Ready to create a dynasty?”

“Always.”

Poor young defenseless Ye Xiu is on his way back to his room along the player passageways when suddenly out of the blue he is accosted by a terrifying mafia boss demanding his money or else suffer the consequences-

“What the fuck are you talking about.”

Ye Xiu smiles sweetly at said mafia boss. “Nothing, Old Han. What’s up?”

Han Wenqing gives him a dark look, but instead of saying more, just tosses him something. Ye Xiu fumbles a bit, but doesn’t drop it, which he considers a success. “Huh? What’s this?” he asks.

“I heard it was your birthday soon, Ye Qiu,” says Han Wenqing. “So, happy early birthday.”

“You got me a present?” There’s only the barest hint of incredulity in his voice, but Ye Xiu, behind his careless demeanor, is actually rather shocked. Is this a thing rivals do? Or… since when did Han Wenqing consider him a friend?

“Yes. Is there a problem?”

“…No,” says Ye Xiu. “That’s really nice of you, actually, I never thought you were such a softie behind that scary face of yours. Really,” he pretends to wipe away a tear, “it’s a present enough just to have someone like you as my rival.”

Han Wenqing glares.

“But also,” Ye Xiu waves the rather wallet-shaped wrapped gift around, “if this is a wallet, Old Han, I will laugh.”

Han Wenqing glares some more, and Ye Xiu smirks.

“Ye Qiu Ye Qiu Ye Qiu Ye Qiu Ye Qiu Ye Qiu!!!”

The voice echoes down the passageway, compounding the noisiness, and Ye Xiu can already feel the headache forming. Resigned, he turns around. “What do you want?”

Huang Shaotian bounces up to him, Yu Wenzhou following sedately behind. “Hello, Senior,” the latter politely greets him.

“Hello, Captain Yu.”

“Ye Qiu you bastard stop ignoring me!” The mess of blond energy plants himself firmly in front of Ye Xiu’s view.

“Don’t worry, you’ve made that thoroughly impossible, unfortunately. What do you want?”

“So goddamn ungrateful. Here, happy birthday! Take this, it’s from me and Captain. And come on, let’s go PKPKPK everyone knows that’s the best way to celebrate a birthday!”

Yu Wenzhou continues to smile calmly. “Happy birthday, Senior. I wish you the best in the year to come.”

Ye Xiu takes the gift and snorts. “The best birthday gift you could have gotten me was shutting him up, you know?”

“I know, but it was unfortunately impossible. Perhaps he’d quiet down if you played a match with him?”

“Nice try,” laughs Ye Xiu.

“Oi I’m right here you know! Ye Qiu I’m going to drag your ass to the Arena right now right this instant-”

“Oh would you look at the time, I have to go feed my dog. See you guys around, and thanks for the birthday wishes!”

“YE QIU GET BACK HERE-!”

“Ye… Xiu.”

“Hm? Oh hey, Big-Eye, how’s it going? Raising your team well? Your successor get any braver?”

Wang Jiexi nods curtly. “We’re doing well, thanks. I don’t know when I’ll see you next, so I wanted to give you this now.”

“This is…?” The box that Wang Jiexi gives him is cubical, heavier than it appears. Wang Jiexi had been carrying it rather carefully, so Ye Xiu does the same.

“Just a gift. It’s a little fragile, so be careful. Happy early birthday, Senior. I…” Wang Jiexi hesitates, then continues, “You were never gone for long, and I know we still had contact during the period of your retirement. But regardless, it’s good to have you back. I’ve enjoyed seeing the growth of your team and its players… Yours is an unconventional team, but one to look up to.”

“I…” What to say to that? Ye Xiu isn’t the type to get embarrassed, but after something like that? In the end, although it’s nowhere near what he’d like to express, he can only say, “Thanks, Captain Wang.”

“Though I hope you haven’t been working yourself too hard? Building a new team from scratch, and with so many rookies…”

Wang Jiexi would know, probably better than almost anyone, how difficult it can be. Ye Xiu smiles ruefully. “It’s been alright. Maybe… maybe if I’d been able to transfer to an already existing team, I’d be in good enough condition to play for several years longer.

“But… I wouldn’t trade Team Happy for anything. I’m sure you can understand, no?”

“Here!” Sun Xiang thrusts a wrapped box at him out of nowhere. This catches Ye Xiu off guard, to say the least.

“Uh…” Ye Xiu takes it, of course, but handles it rather gingerly. This kid doesn’t hate him enough to give him a bomb or something, right? “Thanks…?”

“Congrats on being a year closer to your death, old man,” grumbles Sun Xiang, stuffing his hands in his pockets and looking away. “I won’t go easy on you because you’re old though! I’m still gonna kick your ass onstage!”

Ye Xiu snorts. “In your dreams, Little Xiang.” He absently inspects the…birthday gift?… which is wrapped in a cheery yellow paper patterned with little white sheep. “Did you wrap this? I like the paper, it suits you. Though it’s a neater job than I expected, I’m impressed.”

The trashtalk is automatic and natural, but his brain is elsewhere. Honestly, he’s more impressed that Sun Xiang – Sun Xiang! – is giving him anything at all. Since when did this kid not-hate him enough to make such a gesture? It’s… kind of touching, actually?

“Fuck off,” replies Sun Xiang with an angry scowl, which only makes Ye Xiu’s grin widen.

“Um…” It’s at this moment that Sun Xiang’s companion speaks up, hesitantly extending another wrapped box to Ye Xiu. “Happy birthday… Senior…”

Ye Xiu accepts the present from Zhou Zekai as well, with less trepidation. “Thank you, Little Zhou.”

“Senior is… really… amazing,” says Zhou Zekai, ducking his head, and Ye Xiu’s smile softens at the sight.

“So are you,” he replies, “you’ve both played very well this season, especially with your coordination. I look forward to seeing you onstage.” And he means it, really. It would be Happy’s most difficult battle yet, but a good one no matter what.

“We don’t need your stupid comments!” Sun Xiang humphs, but Ye Xiu sees that the tips of his ears have gone pink. “I already know my One Autumn Leaf is better than yours! Let’s head back, Captain, we gotta train and annilhate this guy once and for all.”

Zhou Zekai opens his mouth, as though about to say something more, but he shakes his head. He offers Ye Xiu a shy smile, and turns to follow his teammate.

Ye Xiu watches the two of them depart, and then he glances at Jiang Botao, who’s casually standing to the side, feigning disinterest in the whole scene.

“So,” says Ye Xiu, walking over, “what did you say to convince them to do that? Are you trying to bribe me to go easy on you guys or something? Your heart’s really as black as a Master Tactician’s…” Because although the two were very different in personality and disposition, neither Zhou Zekai nor Sun Xiang were exactly the types to just…

Jiang Botao only smiles. “They themselves wanted to give you presents, they just needed a push to actually go through with it. Someone on Samsara has to be the socially competent one, after all. Happy birthday, Senior.”

That earns a chuckle from Ye Xiu. “Thanks. Hope we have a good fight.”

“And the same to you.”

“Okay everyone!” Chen Guo claps her hands together to get everyone’s attention. “It’s almost Ye Xiu’s birthday! We need to get him something.”

“Boss Lady, that’s what you called us all here for?” Wei Chen drawls, leaning back on his chair and puffing a cigarette at the corner of the room. “I thought this was some important strategy meeting or something…”

“Shut your mouth, this is important,” says Chen Guo. “He’s done so much for us, literally none of us would be here if not for him, so this is the least we can do. Any ideas?”

Su Mucheng is currently out with Ye Xiu, distracting him so that they could have this secret planning meeting right now. Aside from those two, everyone on Team Happy is here.

“The only thing Captain really cares about is Glory, and winning the championship,” An Wenyi points out. “And we’re all already putting in our full effort on that end.”

“But I’m sure we can still think of something nice to do for him outside of that,” says Tang Rou. “He would still appreciate it.”

“He’s a Gemini!” says Steamed Bun excitedly. “So we can get him a twin-”

“He already has a twin,” Luo Ji deadpans.

“-oh great even better, we can find his twin and-”

“Anyone have any other ideas?” Chen Guo firmly cuts off Steamed Bun before he can continue on his strange paths of thought.

“A mug that says #1 Dad on it,” says Fang Rui. “Appeals to both his ego and his role in this team.” At the looks he gets, he raises his hands defensively. “What? It’s totally accurate. He took in all you rookies and raised you into an actual fighting force. Look into my honest eyes, and see the truth of this statement.”

“Yifan did call him Dad once,” Steamed Bun pipes up. Qiao Yifan flushes, but he can’t deny the truth.

“See, exactly!”

“Get him a fancy ashtray or lighter or something,” suggests Wei Chen.

“We’re not going to encourage his unhealthy habits!”

“A whole pack of instant ramen.”

“Or McDonalds, doesn’t he really like their fries?”

“What kind of gift is that?”

An Wenyi wasn’t entirely wrong when he said that all Ye Xiu cared about was Glory. If they excluded the Glory-related accomplishments that they would strive to achieve anyway, then what else was there? What would Ye Xiu like? Something he could use, something that would mean something to him?

As a result, the ideas steadily become more and more outlandish.

“A body pillow of himself.”

“Buy an ad on the Citibank tower and slap his face on it.”

“Oh oh, Tang Rou can buy out the company that makes Glory and give it to him!”

“We get him a concentrated vial of liquid shamelessness.”

Suddenly, there’s a quiet cough. Normally, such a quiet noise would never catch any attention, but given the source of the cough, the room suddenly goes quiet as though a switch were pulled.

Mo Fan looks alarmed at suddenly having a dozen pairs of eyes upon him. His gaze darts around the room, and the others wonder if he’s just going to swallow his words back down again.

But in the end, the words do come out. Quiet, as per usual, but perfectly understandable. “What about a model Myriad Manifestation Umbrella?”

Such a simple idea. Chen Guo opens her mouth to shoot it down like all the others, but then stops, and thinks.

A simple idea, but a good one. And, unbidden, she remembers flowers on a gravestone, and a quiet voice, and a story. Even if it were just a model, even if it didn’t have practical use… it had significance. He would like it.

“There are some good ones that have been made,” Tang Rou says. “I remember seeing some that even had shapeshifting capabilities.”

“…Okay,” says Chen Guo, nodding slowly. “We can definitely look into that. We have time, we could do this. Make a nice card, too…” Murmurs and nods of agreement from all around the table.

“But also I still think we should throw in the mug,” grins Fang Rui. “He’d love it, I’m telling you.”

Ye Xiu V

29 May 2025 22:03

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Team Happy - team of champions, master of kings, the best goddamn team in the entire universe.

Glory isn’t a single-player game - thank you all <3 :)