"Welcome to Sugartop, a current work-in-progress indie game in development by Oxtail Studios, with a central emphasis on community and town building. You decide how well you want to be received by our enclave of mostly non-human townsfolk—barter and trade, make friends (or lovers 👀), or even become an outcast. Maybe you want to go off on your own and explore the world of Sugartop, seeking out its many secrets and mysteries. No matter what you do, one thing’s for sure in this world: only you can hold yourself accountable for your actions."
Can't wait to meet you all! - Your Favorite T.H. Interns
the former king of xiyan just trying to enjoy his little retirement hobby farm, but he can't because he keeps noticing his grandson going progressively off the rails:
At first, he does it because he can. Every time it’s just the both of them — because Heaven forfend Yuanzhi Didi and his territorial tendencies from catching wind of him doing it — Ziyu does not hesitate to drop the comforting lilt of a warm and honeyed, “Gege” just to see Shangjue’s eye flash with something fond and the corners of his tightly pursed lips twitch.
More than that, Ziyu thinks it is adorable how soft Shangjue gets after he calls him Gege.
Then, with time, it becomes something much more settled. The weight of respect and familiarity that builds with each open conversation coming through in the shape of the, “Gege” that he speaks into the air between them.
He takes pleasure in it, this little game of Gege. Takes no small measure of pride when Shangjue gets more and more comfortable with being called Gege, draws his triumphs when he starts being invited to meals and is fed only second to Yuanzhi Didi.
“Thank you, Gege,” He says, not a little stunned when Yuanzhi scoffs, but says nothing else about it.
It then blooms and blossoms into seeing him off at the gates when he has business in the jianghu with Yuanzhi next to him, silent and stoic, but unmistakably breaking on the inside.
“Be careful and take care of yourself,” Ziyu says.
“Is that an order, Zhiren?”
“I could never make our Gege do anything he doesn’t want to,” Ziyu replies sweetly, catching the almost smile that threatens to spill on Yuanzhi’s face.
Shangjue, for his part, merely ducks his head, nodding quickly with the tips of his ears turning a pretty shade of pink. “Good that you know that.”
Afterwards, in the quiet of a rainy afternoon, Yuanzhi and him hatch a plan to get Gege to turn that shade of pink more often.
👉👈 can i ask for more of the cheating au? whether it ends happy or not, it's soooo spicy
A/N: I'll be honest with you Nonnie I wasn't thinking of adding anything to this AU anytime soon but this scene popped into my brain, and I thought I would flesh it out a little and share it with you.
Read the previous bit here. Enjoy this fic!
Tags: Shangguan Qian POV, background Gong Shangjue x Gong Yuanzhi, Cheating, Modern AU, Marriage of Convenience
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To say that Shangguan Qian likes being married is an overstatement. Her friends keep telling her that she scored big with Gong Shangjue -- one of the most eligible bachelors in the country, the face of Gong Enterprises since his late 20s, he is handsome, accomplished, rich, and everything any woman would ever want in a spouse.
But to Shangguan Qian, it's just a business transaction and that's the way she wants to keep it.
Even if said business transaction came with sex.
She knows that she needs to pump out an heir and a spare. Once that's done, she'll be free to live her life however she wants to with a sizeable annual allowance to boot. Was this how those American heiresses in the 19th century felt when they found themselves hitched to the land-rich but cash-poor nobility of England? She thinks they must have been very steadfast about where they stood if that meant they would need to tolerate the various mistresses and dalliances their husbands had.
Shangguan Qian thinks it must feel a lot like how she feels now.
She's not blind. She knows her husband doesn't love her in the sense that a lover loves their lover. Respect for the connections and profits marrying her brings to him, yes. Admiration for how she herself is equally cutting and vicious in a boardroom of old fogeys, yes. But love? Love doesn't have space in their marriage.
Love is how Gong Shangjue looks at Gong Yuanzhi. It's how, when they think no one can tell, they gravitate into an instinctual orbit that exists only between the both of them. Love is in the way Yuanzhi didi looked like he was two breaths from breaking any time she saw him during their wedding. It is the gulf between her and Shangjue at their dinner table when Yuanzhi didi doesn't come for a meal.
Love, in her opinion, exists in the love nest Shangjue doesn't think she knows about. The one that Yuanzhi didi lives in and Shangjue goes to every single second he can.
Shangguan Qian isn't blind. Not by a long shot. But she is smart. And this is a card she won't hesitate to play should she have to.
Tags: Modern!AU, Angst, Incest, Secret Relationship, Cheating, background Gong Shangjue x Shangguan Qian
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He can't remember the face of the man he kissed in the club, but he does remember how it felt to be pressed up against the wall and held like he meant something. Yuanzhi thinks the man might have left a hickey. That would be inconvenient.
The happy high that had carried him through the better part of the night has long since simmered down to a dull buzz in the back of his head. Pushing his hair out of his eyes, he blows out a lungful of air as he keys in the passcode to the front door of his flat.
Yuanzhi's going to forego a shower and head straight to bed. Maybe get a glass of water and some painkillers for the hangover in the morning. It's a sound plan and one that has worked before and would have worked now if it weren't for the single table lamp in his living room illuminating the figure sitting on his sofa.
Yuanzhi jolts a little at the sight of his big brother. Affecting a calm he does not feel, he locks the door behind him. Carefully setting his shoes next to his gege's.
"What are you doing here?" He asks, shuffling to the kitchen for his glass of water. Really, he's too tired for this. Shangjue gege isn't supposed to even visit for another week and if he is remembering the dates right, he's supposed to be in Tokyo.
"Where were you?"
Annoyance prickles in his throat. Seriously, where does he get the balls to ask him these questions? Yuanzhi is not in the mood tonight. He downs a glass of water before mustering enough nonchalance to say, "Why do you even care?"
Shangjue gege doesn't reply and Yuanzhi doesn't give a damn enough to wait around for one.
Filling his glass back up, he makes for his bedroom. He makes it halfway there before he finds himself grabbed and pinned up against the dining table with his glass shattering on the floor where it falls.
"What--"
"Who did this to you?" Shangjue gege seethes, hand on the base of his throat holding him in place. Yuanzhi panics a little because he knows that's where the man from the club has kissed a mark on his skin. He tries to break away, and push back, but it's quickly quelled by Shangjue pressing down hard enough so that he's pinned.
Like one of those butterflies pinned to a silken display case that they used to marvel over in the family home.
"Why?"
Yuanzhi pushes again and Shangjue lets go, stepping back far enough for Yuanzhi to right himself. Just when he thinks he can shake him off, Shangjue grips him hard by the hip.
"Why?" He growls out.
Properly ticked off at this point, Yuanzhi roars back, "Why not!"
This startles Shangjue enough to let him go. Punching him on the shoulder, Yuanzhi shoulders past him.
"Look around you, Ge! Look at where we are! This is your house, your clothes! I go to a school of your choosing and I study what you tell me to. I'm in a fucking dollhouse and I'm your fucking sex doll. You pick me up when you need a willing hole to fuck so that you don't break your pretty wife and you leave me here like an unwanted puppy when you don't need me."
"I can't have any friends because how do I even begin to tell them how fucked up my life is. I can't get close to anyone because I'll be risking you and your perfect cookie-cutter life." Yuanzhi furiously wipes at the tears that bleed down his face. Shaking his head, he gulps wetly. "My whole life, ever since we were kids, has been shaped by you. Why not? You have the audacity to ask me that?"
There's barely a trace of an emotion on Shangjue's face. When he reaches out to touch Yuanzhi, he slaps his hand away, but this doesn't deter him. He takes hold of his sweater sleeve, tugging once, twice, before Yuanzhi relents and falls into his arms with a sob.
Careful caresses card through the hair at the base of his skull and the warmth of his gege's hug feels a lot like how he would be comforted after a skinned knee, but the gentle kiss to the corner of his eyes is anything but innocent, childhood comfort.
The slow tilt of his face and the slide of gege's mouth against his is the furthest thing from familial.
"It wasn't supposed to get this far," Shangjue whispers. "I wasn't supposed to let it get this far."
Yuanzhi swallows down the rest of the bile that threatens to escape from the tip of his tongue. He's tired. He is drained and there's nothing left in him tonight for sharp edges and hurt. Yuanzhi just doesn't want to think anymore.
With a soft push against his gege's chest, he sniffles, pulling away.
Without a word, he walks to his bedroom door, opening it and stepping through. He leaves it open behind him, stripping out of his clothes until he's down to his underwear.
He hears the shuffling of socked feet on the floor. Then the snick of the door closing.
