Work Text:
“Oh,” Shen Yuan says, head half-raising from the pillow. “It’s you again.” The vague blur of the world without glasses doesn’t do much to dull the sharply cut beauty of Luo Binghe’s chiseled face. His curling hair is everywhere. Luo Binghe let him touch it the last time, when they… engaged in activities to summon Xin Mo, weeks ago. Shen Yuan’s fingertips still tingle with the sacrilegiousness of it all. It was very soft.
Luo Binghe’s eyes are not soft. They’re glaring at Shen Yuan. Is he upset to be back here? He had said that Shen Yuan could summon him again, hadn’t he? Though Shen Yuan had been too much of a self-preservationist to go through with it. The idea was overwhelming. What if Bingge came and they had to- uh- again, to summon Xin Mo? What if that happened?
The thought had, ironically, likely been what resulted in Luo Binghe’s arrival tonight. Shen Yuan’s brain might have been interested in self-preservation, but his other body parts apparently were not.
He needs to change his pants post-haste.
Luo Binghe is still glaring. His eyes are so beautiful- the eyelashes are so long and dark. His mouth was very warm and soft when he kissed Shen Yuan the last time. The awkward stickiness in Shen Yuan’s pants is starting to become more prominent.
“I was in the middle of something,” Luo Binghe says, with a- is that a pout? His lips are pursed in a slight moue, outrageous on such a handsome, masculine face. He’s wearing all of his clothes, this time. The lordly demonic outfit of the official art strains across his broad shoulders, his thick biceps. Shen Yuan swallows.
The pout… the gap moe...
“I didn’t mean to,” Shen Yuan replies. His bed is large, but it feels like there’s very little space in it. “Do you need to get back? We can-”
Oh no. Is that too forward? He wants to cover his face in his hands. He shouldn’t sound too invested in doing… that, right? He doesn’t only like Luo Binghe for his body! He likes him for his tragic backstory and cool powers and his extremely well-fitting outfit, which he’s just now realizing has clasps where he had assumed there were ties, and subtle patterning on the inside of the collar, and… and very soft-looking fabric…
Shen Yuan had, a few weeks earlier (immediately after Luo Binghe’s departure, in fact) printed out a few copies of the commissioned Xin Mo, just in case. They lie atop his desk, ready and waiting, which is good because Luo Binghe isn’t waiting. Shen Yuan makes a small “eep” noise as the powerful demon lord rolls on top of him and puts his hand right inside the pants that Shen Yuan still hasn’t changed, raising an eyebrow when he encounters what’s already in there. His face morphs into a smirk.
“Well,” Luo Binghe says. “I’m not in that much of a rush.”
---
The pattern continues. It’s been almost a year of on and off again inadvertent demonic booty calls when Airplane releases a new line of merchandise.
Shen Yuan needs these walls scrolls. Needs them like nothing else. He only has space in his apartment to hang two, so he orders all the ones available. This run only includes Luo Binghe and his most popular wives- Sha Hualing, Liu Mingyan, and Ning Yingying. He looks at them for a long time, when they arrive. Life size. The detailing on the costumes… amazing. That’s what Shui Se looks like! Qing Jing colors are canonically light green with undertones of yellow! Sha Hualing’s nails don’t appear to actually be razor-edged, just the tips!
Luo Binghe goes up on the wall first. After much thought, and with a mental apology to Luo Binghe’s first love Ning Yingying, Shen Yuan hangs up Liu Mingyan right next to him. Luo Binghe just showed up a few nights ago, so ideally he won’t be visiting for a while; Shen Yuan can take the scrolls down by then so that he doesn’t get caught.
He falls asleep holding his body pillow and gazing at the details on Luo Binghe’s armguards.
---
Shen Yuan wakes up. There are two people in his bed. This is less concerning than the blade pointed at his throat.
He sits up in alarm, almost decapitating himself. Luckily, the person holding the sword moves it away, leaving him unharmed; the pillow that he throws at the sword in instinct falls to a more dire fate. Cheap batting spills from the two halves of it as it drops, lifeless, to the bed. Shen Yuan scrambles to the other side of the bed as best he can, tangled in the sheets, and knees the third person in the side in the process.
Luo Binghe makes a winded hooph sort of noise, and jerks upright, majestic hair falling everywhere. His robes are draping open; Shen Yuan is seized with the instinct to bury his head in that stacked chest like an ostrich in the sand. Maybe wrap the robes around his face so he can’t see what’s going on. Luo Binghe will protect him, right? He counts as a harem member now, he should have all the dubious privileges that entails!
“Mingyan,” Luo Binghe says, irate. Shen Yuan pauses before his face can meet Luo Binghe’s titties. “What are you doing here?”
Shen Yuan turns around, slowly. His second-favorite character in Proud Immortal Demon Way is sitting in his bed, veiled, fully clothed, and holding a sword that looks MUCH larger in real life than he imagined in the book. So does Liu Mingyan, in fact. Her biceps are bigger than Shen Yuan’s. Her biceps are bigger than Shen Yuan’s calves.
…Is this a homewrecker scenario? Is he going to get his ass beat by the head of the harem for infringing on her territory? It’s a harem, surely there can’t be that much competition, right? If palace dramas have taught him anything, it’s that!
Shen Yuan is so dead.
“Luo Binghe,” Liu Mingyan says coolly. Her voice is so low. Her eyes, over the veil, so piercing. This is the strangest lovestruck gaze Shen Yuan has ever seen! “What is this.”
“I can explain,” Shen Yuan says, with a gulp. Luo Binghe sits up behind him; his bed is big (he got a bigger one after the body pillow, so that he could still thrash around in his sleep) but with two larger than life characters in it towering over him with their giant muscles he’s starting to feel a little claustrophobic. “It’s not-”
“You stoop to kidnapping now?” Liu Mingyan says, voice cold. “Return me to my wife.”
Shen Yuan’s jaw drops. Luo Binghe’s face firms up into a pout. “Mingyan…” he says, as if attempting to wheedle. Shui Se flashes in the light coming in from the window as Liu Mingyan’s hand tightens on the hilt of her sword. Shen Yuan glances anxiously at the expired pillow, still lying at his feet on the bed, and attempts to defuse the situation.
“You’re married?!” he blurts out.
“Yes, to me,” Luo Binghe says.
“Not anymore,” Liu Mingyan corrects.
The temperature in the room plummets. If Shen Yuan is going to die, at least he got to see the embossing on Shui Se’s scabbard before he went.
Luo Binghe glares for a while, then turns away with a hmph.
“I can’t send you back yet,” he says, gesturing ambiguously at Shen Yuan. “He needs to give me my sword first.”
Liu Mingyan’s piercing gaze turns on Shen Yuan, who is seized with the need to scoot back towards Luo Binghe’s sheltering, muscular bulk. Bravely, he holds out for a full second before doing so.
“The sword,” Liu Mingyan says imperiously. Shen Yuan’s performance anxiety skyrockets.
“I, um,” he says. “I need to be alone with… Luo Binghe… to summon it…”
Liu Mingyan stares yet more coldly. Shen Yuan’s refractory period lengthens.
“I’ll wait outside,” she says. She stands, eyes the round handle to Shen Yuan’s room judgmentally, and simply pushes the door open without using it, splintering the cheap wood. It bounces against the frame behind her as she heels it closed, and creaks back a tiny bit, leaving a gap through which the echoing silence is perfectly audible. Shen Yuan hopes that she hasn’t found the kitchen- or that, at least, she’s not as adventurous as Luo Binghe when it comes to playing with dials and glowing things.
He clears his throat, turning to Luo Binghe, who’s staring mulishly at the poorly closed door.
“I don’t think I can do it,” he says guiltily.
“It’s fine,” Luo Binghe says without looking away from the door. His lips are pursed in a frown; at last, he turns his gaze to Shen Yuan’s computer.
“Show me more of those diagrams,” he says, ignoring Liu Mingyan’s demand for the sword.
---
A few hours later, Shen Yuan bites the bullet and finally sneaks out of his bedroom to pee and get a drink, leaving Luo Binghe to continue looking at engineering diagrams. He finds Liu Mingyan in the kitchen, sitting in front of the open fridge contemplatively.
“Um,” he says. Liu Mingyan doesn’t look at him. “Please don’t leave that open.”
She holds her hand out, as if testing the now mostly warm air between his likely unsalvageable containers of leftover takeout. “Mm,” she says, and levers herself to her feet to shoulder the fridge closed.
“Do you want something to drink?” Shen Yuan tries, falling back on his limited grasp of hospitality. Without the bravery to walk past her to the fridge, he tentatively opens a room temperature can of nondescript carbonated beverage from the package on the messy kitchen table. He swears that he can see Liu Mingyan’s pupils contract as she levers a sharp look at the noise of the air escaping the can; he almost drops the soda.
“When will you give him the sword?” she asks, ignoring his attempt at small talk.
“It, uh,” Shen Yuan says, thinking quickly. Think quick! Think quick! “It’s not really… up to me,” he blurts out, stalling for time. Liu Mingyan’s eyes narrow. “I just can do it… sometimes.”
“That is how you brought me here?” Liu Mingyan asks, eyes cold. Shen Yuan nods vigorously. Liu Mingyan’s gaze becomes more… contemplative, for a moment. “Can you summon those that are not fully living?” she asks.
“Uh,” Shen Yuan says. What the fuck? Who would Liu Mingyan want to summon who- oh. Oh!
“You miss your brother?” he blurts, aiming for sympathetic and completely missing the mark, if the way that Liu Mingyan’s eyes narrow is any indication. She opens her mouth to bite out a response- then closes it, after a moment, face thoughtful.
“Could you summon him?” she asks.
“Uh,” Shen Yuan says. Could he? Summoning dead spirits sure seems like a bad idea, if the horror movies he’s watched are any indication; but Liu Qingge wouldn’t be actually dead or anything. He’s just a character from a book! Wouldn’t that just bring the alive version?
“Maybe?” he says, uncertainly. There’s definitely official art for him- he remembers seeing a tiny image back in the early chapters of the book; one of the reasons the fans were so into him, back when there was almost no visual content and everyone was desperate for scraps. Somehow, that 150x150 image doesn’t seem like it would be enough, though…
Liu Mingyan is watching him. The chill runs down Shen Yuan’s spine once more.
Half an hour later, Shen Yuan has reclaimed his computer from a disgruntled Luo Binghe and printed off the concept art from the early chapters of Proud Immortal Demon Way.
---
Liu Mingyan stays for two days of boner-killing, anxiety-inducing house guest status. Finally, he manages to ask her to wait in the dead end hallway outside his apartment while he and Luo Binghe… attempt to summon the sword. And her brother. She looks at him like she knows exactly what that is likely to entail, but goes easily enough into the hallway.
Shen Yuan manages to relax- now that he won’t be heard through the paper-thin walls- into Luo Binghe’s undeniably skillful touches. He’s so relaxed, in fact, that he’s forgotten about Liu Mingyan all together by the time that he’s coming his brains out on Luo Binghe’s cock, panting and squirming and gasping. Shen Yuan’s state of blissful ignorance lasts for about half a second more, over the course of which there’s a strange wyoop noise, a wave of displaced air, and a loud “what the-”
Shen Yuan screams. Luo Binghe (still hard) pulls out of him and throws a sheet over Shen Yuan’s naked body in a protagonist-worthy gesture of chivalry that leaves his own massive dick completely visible. The tall, white-clad man now standing in the middle of Shen Yuan’s room has one hand on a sword, and his eyes now glued to the bobbing ‘sword’ of Luo Binghe’s, an expression of offended disbelief on his face.
“What’s going on here?!” the man says, at a volume altogether too high for Shen Yuan’s elderly neighbor who likes to report him to the landlord for gaming-related noise violations. The man directs his scandalized look to Luo Binghe’s face, a flush of anger spreading across his own.
“Ge!” Liu Mingyan’s voice comes, and she pushes her way through Shen Yuan’s already-broken door- the opposite way that it opens, unfortunately, slapping it halfway out of the frame so that it hangs listlessly by the top hinge. She runs up and puts a hand on the white-clad man’s shoulder, in a gesture that seems barely affectionate enough for a reunion with a dead brother that you’ve missed for a decade. No hug, Mingyan?
“Mingyan?” Liu Qingge says, not taking his hand off his sword. While he and Liu Mingyan exchange a conversation in the most clipped and wordless manner possible- is this some sort of magical sibling communication?- Shen Yuan finally has a chance to take in his whole appearance. Liu Qingge is…
Uh, tall. Shen Yuan is still sitting on the bed, clutching the sheet to himself like an offended maiden, but Liu Qingge is taller than Liu Mingyan, and she already towers over him. Liu Qingge is also, not to put too fine a point on it, boyband material. Shen Yuan knows the concept art was small enough that his features weren’t really clear, but he didn’t really expect… this. Where’s the war god’s threatening appearance and martial demeanor?! Why is he so pretty?!
“...And I’m waiting on Luo Binghe to send me home,” Liu Mingyan concludes. Oh- there’s the threatening appearance and martial demeanor, now directed at Luo Binghe. Shen Yuan draws the sheet up a little higher, wishing for a thicker blanket.
“What’s this?!” Liu Qingge half-shouts, gesturing in a way that encompasses Shen Yuan and the bed and also the numerous discarded soda cans that Luo Binghe neatly piled into a bag in wordless disgust when they figured out he’d be staying for a while.
“Put some clothes on,” Liu Mingyan says to Luo Binghe, staring completely unaffectedly at him despite his massive tool- still leaking and completely ready to perform- pointed at her and her brother.
“I’m not finished,” Luo Binghe says, beautiful face compelling in its moue of sadness. Have a heart, Liu Mingyan- Shen Yuan might be slightly terrified, but he could still jack him off! His dick is so big, Shen Yuan’s hands are ready!
“It always takes you forever,” Liu Mingyan says dismissively. Liu Qingge shoots her a startled look. “Just get dressed. Where’s your sword?”
The print-outs of Xin Mo are, in fact, crackling with energy on the table. Luo Binghe grabs one- still unclothed- and it bursts into flames, leaving Xin Mo in his hand. Liu Qingge’s eyes narrow, his knuckles whitening on the sword.
“Where is Shen Qingqiu?” he says, voice clipped.
“Shen Qingqiu?” Luo Binghe repeats, as if startled. “Isn’t he dead?”
Liu Qingge, for some reason, looks absolutely shocked. Oh, of course- Shen Qingqiu was the last thing he saw before he died of a qi deviation, right? Maybe he wanted to hunt him down?
“How?” Liu Qingge manages to get out, as if devastated. Liu Mingyan is watching him cautiously.
“He killed you,” Liu Mingyan says, quietly.
“He wouldn’t,” Liu Qingge refutes immediately, shaking his head. Shen Yuan’s mouth opens of his own accord, and he slaps a hand over it immediately to keep himself from blurting something out. Oh he absolutely would! “There’s a mistake.”
Luo Binghe makes a noncommittal disagreeing noise, and raises Xin Mo. He gazes at the blade for a moment, then glances at Liu Mingyan.
“I don’t think Xin Mo will send you to the same place,” he says. Liu Mingyan’s cold face hardens into a frown. She takes Liu Qingge’s sleeve in a slightly… cute, little sister-style movement completely incongruous with her murderous demeanor.
“Ge,” she says. “Let’s talk before we go back.”
---
Shen Yuan lays flat on his back- now, thankfully, clothed- as the quiet sounds of Liu Mingyan and Liu Qingge’s conversation come from the kitchen. He can hear every word of it. Luo Binghe lies on the bed next to him, pouting, both of them ignoring his still fully-hard dick tenting the fabric of the pants he borrowed from Shen Yuan in favor of eavesdropping.
“I remarried,” Liu Mingyan is explaining, the words dim through the walls and the haphazardly closed bedroom door. Liu Qingge must make some sort of face at that, because she continues: “Yes. Luo Binghe. No. His mother.”
Luo Binghe’s face changes slightly. Shen Yuan’s brow crinkles.
His mother? Is that Liu Mingyan’s mysterious wife?
Shen Yuan tries to picture the flashy, veil-clad, no-nonsense violent beauty of Liu Mingyan’s next to the old washerwoman that died all the way back in chapter 4. Is this some sort of opposites attract thing?
Liu Qingge says a few words, too low to hear; there’s a long pause.
“I wanted to get your blessing,” Liu Mingyan says. There’s no more talking for a long time; just a slight clinking, as of vambraces touching, or maybe even a hug. Maybe. Shen Yuan doubts it.
Though he and Luo Binghe listen carefully, there are no more noises, until the door to Shen Yuan’s room is pushed open, startling him. Luo Binghe doesn’t move at all.
“Send us home,” Liu Mingyan says; and Luo Binghe does.
---
Luo Binghe, on the other hand, does not leave immediately. Instead, he finally finishes the unfinished business from before- thoroughly, and repeatedly, leaving Shen Yuan slightly drunk on orgasms and a mess on the bedsheets. Instead of taking off right after, though- as has mostly been his wont- Luo Binghe slings one rock-hard bicep across Shen Yuan’s chest, and before Shen Yuan knows it, the bright light of morning is levering his eyes open.
Xin Mo stares from the wall, next to the empty space where Liu Mingyan’s wall scroll used to hang. Shen Yuan, sticky and bleary-eyed, briefly mourns her relegation to the closet, but his sorrow is soon mitigated by the coaxing hand on his dick that morphs into thorough morning sex.
When Luo Binghe stands up after, riotous curls spilling down his shoulders, to take Xin Mo in hand, robes half-shrugged on, Shen Yuan just watches from the bed, too blissed out to move. Luo Binghe moves around the room, tidying away a few things, pocketing a few others. Shen Yuan couldn’t give less of a fuck. Take what you like, Bingge! All I own is yours!
“I’ll see you soon,” Luo Binghe says- correctly, no doubt- with a beautiful smile, and in a flash of light and a smell of irony metal and flame, he’s gone.
Shen Yuan goes back to sleep.
---
The next few times that Luo Binghe visits, he also doesn’t leave right away. Shen Yuan’s booty calls become lingering multi-session orgasmic experiences. He feels like he’s joined a gym, from how much his muscles ache afterwards, but he thinks he might be able to see a single ab on himself now when the lighting’s just right.
He’s a little into it. His mood is much better than it used to be.
Luo Binghe has a little section of the room to himself now; a corner of Shen Yuan’s desk to put things that he likes, printouts of steam engines and the like. Shen Yuan isn’t quite sure if he should be concerned about polluting the Proud Immortal Demon Way universe with steampunk aesthetics because of an off-handed comment about alternatives to electricity, but honestly it would be kind of cool so he leaves it be. He never goes through Luo Binghe’s pile of stuff, but he realizes that maybe he should have, when he wakes up to two people in his bed again.
Luo Binghe is there, as has become somewhat standard. The other man is…
Long, black hair. Neatly folded white under robes. An absolutely frigid expression as he awakens- then he glances over at Shen Yuan and the look morphs into outraged astonishment.
Luo Binghe awakens. The man’s eyes slide to him.
“Shizun,” Luo Binghe says, voice silky and threatening like Shen Yuan hasn’t heard since the first time he came here.
WELP.
...Is that why he saw Luo Binghe fiddling with the printer the other day?!
---
After a lot of barbed remarks and snide comments and sneering glares, no violence has yet erupted and no limbs have been removed, which leaves Shen Yuan feeling not at all reassured about the state of his apartment’s status as a non-murder scene a few hours from now. He sits in the kitchen, watching that castration-ready fucker Shen Qingqiu majestically open and close Shen Yuan’s cabinets like he owns the place. With the eerie know-it-all aura of a good villain, he seems to figure out the niceties of electric and water bills, and doesn’t leave the fridge open or the sink on- just finds a glass and drinks water straight from the tap. Shen Yuan hopes it tastes like chlorine to his no doubt refined mountain palate.
Shen Qingqiu doesn’t deign to speak to either of them; Luo Binghe’s eyes haven’t left his bright white back. Shen Yuan isn’t sure when the murder is going to happen, but at least the kitchen floor is tile. The blood will be easier to clean. Luo Binghe is silent for a long while, before he finally speaks.
“I’d almost forgotten how shizun looked,” he says, contemplatively. Shen Yuan can hear the unspoken ‘with his legs still attached;’ Shen Qingqiu’s back goes stiff, as if the hidden meaning has come through in Luo Binghe’s mild tone alone.
“Nor have I forgotten my disciple’s appearance,” Shen Qingqiu says, tone clipped and measured. What is this, a dig? A justification for not turning around to look at him? This shizun is too scummy!
“Let me see your face,” Luo Binghe says; when Shen Qingqiu doesn’t move, Luo Binghe strides over to him, taking his elbow in a grip that looks gentle but must be irresistible, and forcibly turns him.
Shen Qingqiu stares, cooly, for a moment, and then opens his mouth. “LET GO OF ME,” he suddenly projects- at a volume high enough to get Shen Yuan evicted- face completely expressionless. “TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF ME RIGHT THIS INSTANT.”
“Quiet!” Shen Yuan hisses, glancing up at the ceiling of his apartment. His tenant senses are telling him that the judgmental bang, bang of a broom handle above is coming; and after a few seconds, he’s proved right. It’s barely audible over the volume of Shen Qingqiu’s… can it be called yelling, when his face is so cold and emotionless?
“REMOVE YOUR HANDS FROM MY PERSON,” Shen Qingqiu’s voice continues. Shen Yuan waves his hand frantically at Luo Binghe, who frowns and finally drops Shen Qingqiu’s elbow. The man’s cold eyes glare without even any petty sheen of victory; he just turns away and continues drinking his water, as if above it all.
Truly the scum of the earth!
---
While Shen Yuan and Luo Binghe discuss strategy in his bedroom, Shen Qingqiu does whatever nefarious things he might in the kitchen. There’s the sound of cabinet doors opening and closing; the contents of his kitchen counter being rummaged with; the bathroom door opening and closing; the door to the hall opening and closing, as if he’s investigating all the potential exits. By the time that Luo Binghe and Shen Yuan have decided on a plan of action, the villain has finally stopped messing with Shen Yuan’s stuff; the house is quiet.
Too quiet, Shen Yuan discovers, when they come out to an empty kitchen.
It’s empty.
Shen Qingqiu has escaped into the modern world. Unsupervised. One of Shen Yuan’s jackets is missing from the hanger.
Luo Binghe is gone from the apartment in a flash; when Shen Yuan follows him down to the street, he’s staring, gaze icy, down the crowded street. No six foot tall men with jet black waist-length hair in puffy blue coats are in sight- they’ve lost him.
---
Luo Binghe is staring icily at the wall, 15 minutes later, while Shen Yuan wracks his brains to figure out where an immortal cultivator would want to go, when the door opens. Luo Binghe is on his feet and in the other room before Shen Yuan has even pushed his glasses up his face- but when he manages to scramble to his feet to follow him, he finds more than one man in his doorway.
There stands Shen Qingqiu, cold and aloof as ever.
There also stands Luo Binghe, staring at Shen Qingqiu as if a single limb removal will not suffice.
There also stands… Luo… Binghe? Next to Shen Qingqiu? Glaring at… himself? With the same expression? Holding Xin Mo?
Shen Yuan’s foot is caught in an unavoidable descent. His weight is already committed; there’s no backing out now.
The sole of his socked foot hits the floor.
All three of the 6’+, long-haired, supermodel-type martial artists with cheekbones you could crack an egg on turn their glares on him. Shen Yuan picks his foot right back up and retreats back into the bedroom.
“This is my apartment, you know!” he yells through the irregular gap between his bedroom door and the doorframe. Peeking his head out after a few moments of echoing silence, he sees Shen Qingqiu swanning around his kitchen like he owns the place, still in Shen Yuan’s coat, while the two Luo Binghes stare at each other in complete stillness, energy crackling between them like metaphorical lightning.
“We’ll leave, then,” Shen Qingqiu says haughtily, and he sweeps right back out the doorway. The second Luo Binghe, never taking his eyes off Shen Yuan’s Luo Binghe, follows him out, closing the door behind them.
“Let’s go,” Luo Binghe says, not looking back at Shen Yuan before opening the door to stare at them walking down the hallway. “They’re getting away.”
---
Shen Yuan has never felt more like a cartoon villain than he does right now. He and Luo Binghe are all but lurking behind the bushes stalking the two cultivators- something that he didn’t feel weird about at the beginning, convinced that they were likely to cause some sort of scene or wreak some sort of havoc that Bingge would then have to step in to solve- especially strapped up with that giant, canon-approved Xin Mo as the mysterious second Luo Binghe is. The only scene they’ve caused, though, has been the long looks and whispered commentary from people on the streets, pointing at the second Luo Binghe’s elaborate cosplay.
Plebs. Shen Yuan has seen better.
Confusingly, though, Shen Qingqiu has just been walking this second Luo Binghe around to various touristy types of places, as if they’re a shizun-disciple pair on a filial walk together with absolutely zero desire to murder each other. They just stand at the edge of the local pond, looking at the ducks; walk along the paths past the flowering trees; now, stop at a food stall to get street food.
Shen Qingqiu is paying. He’s paying, with-
“That’s my phone!” Shen Yuan hisses, slapping his hands over his pockets in a delayed nervous reaction to being without his lifeline. How did he leave the house without it? How did that scum Shen Qingqiu get his hands on it?!
Luo Binghe lays a strong, calming hand on Shen Yuan’s arm, who seethes as they watch Shen Qingqiu lead the other Luo Binghe to a bench overlooking the water to eat. Shen Yuan has camped out for days waiting for new merch releases; he won’t quit, no matter how long they have to watch these two for a slip in their bullshit performance. But damned if he isn’t getting hungry. Give him back his phone!
After a cool 15 minutes of torture, Shen Yuan and Luo Binghe leave the shelter of the crowd to follow the other two on another lingering, leisurely walk. They’re headed towards another park- no, to a playground? No- to a school next to the playground. Like a couple of giant sketchballs, they look at the high school’s sign, and take a seat on a bench across the street from it, within eyesight of the front gate.
Too creepy… this is where Shen Yuan’s little sister goes to school. There’s no way they could know that though, right? Have they noticed Shen Yuan following them? Is this some sort of threat?!
Tugging at Luo Binghe’s sleeve, Shen Yuan hisses his hypotheses at him; but the protagonist’s usually steely gaze has slowly faded over the course of their stakeout, and now he’s just looking at the bench with a frown of confusion. Shen Yuan looks over. Shen Qingqiu and the other Luo Binghe are sitting close enough to touch, though they don’t. Shen Qingqiu hands Luo Binghe the last bite of his snack; the demon eats it.
This is so OOC Shen Yuan can’t stand it. Bingge could absolutely pretend to get along with Shen Qingqiu long enough to lull him into a false sense of security, but that nasty villain Shen Qingqiu would never let the charming protagonist so close! Shen Yuan is mentally composing the response he would leave if someone tried to post this to the forums. Ridiculous!
Within a few minutes his attention is drawn back by the school doors opening; the students start to leave, and with a chill Shen Yuan recognizes his little sister, wearing the same cringey hairpin he gave her years ago when she was still in middle school. He snaps his gaze to Shen Qingqiu and the other Luo Binghe, but he can’t tell which student their gazes rest on; and they don’t make any moves to approach any of them. After a while, all of the high schoolers have dispersed, and a few minutes later Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe also stand. With no particular intent, they just start wandering around again.
Shen Yuan tags along behind them, sticking close to Luo Binghe’s side, until the sky is darkening and every inch of his legs and hips are crying in pain. Why is he the only one who’s not an immortal cultivator? Does their cultivation even work here, or is it just their long legs making them apparently immune to walking fatigue?!
Just like that, they’ve circled back around to Shen Yuan’s neighborhood; he’s about to ditch Luo Binghe to go back inside and cry over his poor feet when the pair lets themself into his apartment building with no aplomb.
…
What is this entitlement?!
A dark cloud following him, Shen Yuan drags himself up the staircase after Luo Binghe, who makes waiting for him at the top of each landing somehow look elegant and purposeful, instead of condescending and impatient. At last, they arrive at the door of Shen Yuan’s apartment.
It’s locked.
Fuming at the injustice, Shen Yuan bangs at his own apartment door. After a few seconds it swings open to reveal Shen Qingqiu, Luo Binghe standing a few feet behind him with Xin Mo’s naked blade drawn and dripping with fire.
Shen Yuan immediately slams the door back closed- but before it can latch, it’s blocked by Luo Binghe’s hand reaching past him.
“You’re leaving?” Luo Binghe says, voice ice cold, eyes fixed on the portal hanging in the air of Shen Yuan’s apartment, flashing with red-black light.
“Yes,” Shen Qingqiu says, voice equally cold. He looks down at Shen Yuan, who bravely fights down the urge to duck behind Luo Binghe; his arm is blocking his path anyway. After a moment, Shen Qingqiu speaks.
“Take care of him,” he says to Shen Yuan, whose brain screeches to a halt. Shen Qingqiu looks at the Luo Binghe behind Shen Yuan, and nods once. “He’s a good man.”
Shen Yuan hears a sharp inhale from behind him; before either he or Luo Binghe can react, Shen Qingqiu has turned and stepped through the portal, followed by the other Luo Binghe.
The portal closes, leaving them both standing in the hallway, looking into the empty apartment.
---
Luo Binghe paces around the kitchen like a tiger in a cage too small for it, until he opens the fridge and starts rummaging through it. Letting him be, Shen Yuan checks his phone; he sees a slight dip in his bank account, but no other damage has been done. There’s one new message in WeChat; he opens it.
“You’re so cringe lol,” says his little sister. Shen Yuan scrolls up to the message before, and it’s just a single sentence. “Ge is proud of you.”
For some reason, Shen Yuan thinks of Liu Mingyan’s expression when she saw Liu Qingge. His chest feels tight a little, for a moment.
His phone buzzes, almost making him jump. “The girls wanted me to say hi,” says the new message, and the picture attached is a selfie of his little sister with two girls he recognizes from when she was in elementary school. They’re waving at the camera, all three of them looking way too excited about taking a picture for a boring, nerdy older brother who spends most of his time on the internet.
Shen Yuan stares at the screen, and after a moment he saves the photo.
---
“I should get back,” Luo Binghe says, distractedly, 30 minutes later. He hands Shen Yuan an extremely elaborate plate of food, decorative garnishes and all. Shen Yuan is getting the feeling that he might be some breed of what the internet refers to as a “stress baker.”
Shen Yuan takes a bite. “This is very good,” he says nonchalantly, as his tastebuds orgasm. He knew that buying a vegetable for his fridge would pay off eventually! The protagonist halo definitely works in the real world!
They eat in silence for a while, until Luo Binghe, at last, speaks.
“Do you think I’m a good man?” he asks Shen Yuan.
Shen Yuan is decidedly unqualified to answer this question; he doesn’t know why Luo Binghe is asking him. Maybe because they’re so far removed from Luo Binghe’s world? Maybe Shen Yuan’s opinion feels like it has less weight than those 51 other harem members’ would?
Shen Yuan reviews everything he knows about Luo Binghe’s motivations, and actions, and past.
He knows… a lot.
“Um,” he says, trying to tactfully avoid the question. “Why wouldn’t you be?”
Luo Binghe fixes him with a look, and idly pushes some food around on his plate. “My wife left me,” he says, neutrally. Shen Yuan has no response. “My shizun tried to kill me,” he continues. Shen Yuan tries to make what he hopes is an appropriate combination of real sympathy and faked surprise.
Well. Of all the things that happened in Proud Immortal Demon Way, those two seem the least reflective of Luo Binghe’s innate character, since neither of them involve him killing or torturing anyone. “I think that you are a man who has made many hard decisions,” Shen Yuan says diplomatically. Luo Binghe frowns, and stares down at his food. “...But neither of those were because you were bad,” Shen Yuan hurriedly adds, decisively.
Hey… he can afford to be a little biased. What did he pay for so many VIP chapters for, if not to earn a little bias?
The small smile that Luo Binghe gives him is enough to make the breath catch in Shen Yuan’s chest; then the breath catches the food going down and he almost dies coughing on a grain of rice. But luckily, Luo Binghe is there to rub his back through it.
A good man… Luo Binghe.
Shen Yuan thinks he could be.