maybe the wife plot was the pneumonia we made along the way
Sat atop the short stone wall of a run down stable, sheltering from the pouring rain, ragged breathing breaks through the solemn rumbles of thunder.
The rapid rise and fall of his shixiong’s chest should truly be his only focus here. It’s his fault for being brash and fighting in the cold, as he always does when things concern Shen Qingqiu. All he should be concerned about is the burning heat ravaging his shixiong’s veins and the large sweat droplets rolling over his body.
And yet, he cannot help himself from burning up too at such close proximity with a man he thought he hated for so very long.
‘’This is all your fault.’’ His shixiong says before coughing once.
It is. And this is the price he pays for it.
‘’Mn… I’m sorry, shixiong…’’ he responds quietly. He feels shy after realising all this time he knew so little and behaved so arrogantly about it. Shen Qingqiu’s hair feels soft against his neck every time his shixiong moves, even minutely.
‘’What are you calling me shixiong for?!’’
Embarrassed, he doesn’t know how to explain. It just wouldn’t feel right after he learned so much, against Shen Qingqiu’s will, to continue disregarding propriety without a grudge.
‘’Shixiong got sick because of me, so I thought…’’ he trails off, doesn’t want to reveal any more.
At his lack of response, Shen Qingqiu glares from underneath his dark lashes. He is emaciated, empty handed and has the face of a ten year old but this look is one that has always made Liu Qingge’s heart stir in an incomprehensible way.
‘’That you’d finally learn to respect me?! Now?!—‘’ a violent coughing fit wracks his shixiong’s lungs and he topples over Liu Qingge’s chest, grasping his robes for support. Liu Qingge wraps his arms around the frail figure at a loss for what to do.
Without any cultivation, the best way to heal him would be medicine. But Liu Qingge has none and Shen Qingqiu refuses to try and find a doctor looking like this. He doesn’t understand why, but there are many things he doesn’t understand.
Instead, he rubs his shixiong’s back in what he hopes is a soothing way. Whether it be physically or emotionally.
‘’Shixiong shouldn’t scream. It’ll make it worse…’’
He decides, for now, that he will ignore the ridges and marks he feels under the thin fabric.