Thinking about my concubine!Shen Yuan AU again. Consider:
- Bingge's formulaic way of interacting with his wives means that he'd have little time/imperative/perception to genuinely connect with Shen Yuan, especially if he transmigrates after he's already married in. There's probably a schedule and many of the additional wives barely ever show up on it, especially if they don't additionally fulfill some administrative or nostalgic role (so, NYY, LMY, SHL and LPM are probably the few to show up regularly).
- Shen Yuan perceives the wives, beyond the first few with genuine presence, as dullards just meant to pad the smut runtime. If he's forced into playing that role himself, he would absolutely mental gymnastics himself about enjoying the potential sex. It's not about attraction for him, of course, because he is a wife in this world and all women would adore having sex with Luo Binghe. Forget all the other things about Binghe that endear him and he cares about. None of his own feelings can ever really be 'him'.
Thus, I think even after Bingge notices Shen Yuan's worth and decides to favour him for his rescue/raising the crown prince, they would absolutely fail to communicate anything to each other for a long while. Binghe would default to his usual tactics, and Shen Yuan would KNOW they're insincere. Shen Yuan would actively enjoy spending time with Binghe, sexually or not, and be unable to separate his role in the story (as a female lead) from his own personal attachment and attraction. Both of them would be married and together and really kind of ignoring everyone else, for years, and be completely inconsolable about how their love for each other can never be returned (in different ways of course):
Binghe would sense that Shen Yuan is always holding something back from him. He gets to see that SY is capable of loving unconditionally (as with the crown prince) and of having relationships with others that are wholly genuine (once SY befriends the other wives) but there is always something between them, and SY's declarations of love always ring a little hollow. Binghe has never experienced this, and it itches, reminds him too much of a teacher he once did everything to please.
Shen Yuan, meanwhile, finds himself falling ever more desperately into jealousy. All too aware that he will never be the singular wife, and why would he even want that?? Internal combat between want and his own disbelief at that want. It's so much easier with crown prince and his new friends, surely this is more evidence that whatever he 'feels' for Binghe is just the system and the story projecting certain feelings onto him.
What this eventually results in is both of them spinning an elaborate dream world where they meet each other outside of the confines of their role. Binghe pulls on the strands of Shen Yuan's memories of some strange, dull but almost fantastical world and shows up in every role he can fill. The first time Shen Yuan ever admits his love, it goes like this: A warm body beside his on his plush living room couch, some vague video game in the background as Binghe frets over the controller, face warmly lit by the nearby lamp. SY can't help it. He knows its all a dream. He knows this version of Binghe cannot exist (but aren't all Binghe's equally real? Or rather, equally fictional?) But he loves him. His Binghe. "I wish I could always be dreaming," he confesses, "So that Binghe would never leave my side."
The dream snaps abruptly. Shen Yuan is jolted in the real world, blinking awake where he was lying curled up on his husband's chest in the palace. Tears drip from the Demonic Emperor's eyes but he's smiling, fond and hopeful in a way that is so dream Binghe it doesn't seem real. "I'll never go, A-Yuan. There's no where else."
