Come get your Beiguang crumbs!
Title: Is this.. Home?
Cross posted on Ao3, Link:
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Tags: Beiguang Fluff, Pining, canon compliant, they're both just idiots in love, enjoy.
Beidou was fiddling with an expensive looking pen, trying to get Ningguang’s attention. So far messing with her things or sitting half a foot away on her desk didn’t seem to be working.
The Tianquan sat in her luxurious chair with all her gold accessories, looking infuriatingly gorgeous and even more frustratingly focused. She had barely given Beidou a proper glance this whole conversation.
Eye narrowed and lips in a bitter pout, Beidou listened as Ningguang checked off her list of favours Beidou had fulfilled. “Efficient as always, Captain Beidou. Due payment will be delivered by the morning.” Ningguang collected the papers on her desk, moving them to the side, signalling an end to the conversation.
Beidou jumped off the desk with a huff. That’s it? If I wanted to report to a superior like this, I wouldn’t be a pirate captain, woman.. Then again what was I even expecting? Lost to her grumbling, Beidou missed Ningguang letting out a breath she had been holding for much too long.
“Pleasure doing business with you, Ningguang,” Beidou spat with an edge making her way out of the Jade Chamber. Ningguang stood at her desk about to make a move to stop the stomping pirate, when she realised Beidou was already gone. She stood there for a moment, hand raised mid-air, bewildered.
“Lady Ningguang, the dining room has been set as per your request.”
Ningguang returned to her seat, trying to seem unruffled, “Actually, you all can have dinner together, treat yourself to the spicy dishes I requested and store away a portion of crystal shrimp for me. I’ll have dinner after I get some work done.”
Aah, so her date fell through.. Baiwen thought to herself.
“As you wish, lady Ningguang, thank you.”
Ningguang returned to her work, suddenly in a horrible mood with no appetite.
Meanwhile, a certain peeved pirate who didn’t understand her own feelings, drowned away her agitation with a big bottle of liquor aboard the Alcor. Kazuha, her trusted crewmate, sat across from her, sipping sake and watching Beidou in amusement.
“So the issue here is that she was doing her job?” He teased, knowing the situation better than Beidou herself.
“Yes! Wait- no. Gah I don’t know! Would it hurt her to give me some attention when I went all the way there to see her? She's as insufferable as it gets! We couldn’t possibly be more at odds if we tried.”
At this point Kazuha was starting to consider her romantic obliviousness a true talent.
"Perhaps what you really need to look into is not Lady Ningguang's behaviour, but into your heart. What did you really want from her tonight?" Kazuha said as he refilled Beidou's cup.
"What could I possibly want from that uptight, cold, perfect.. woman?" An almost drunk Beidou muttered.
As intelligent and strong as our captain can be, she’s not the brightest in this area, Kazuha thought to himself. Though he decided she'd come to her own conclusions herself as he sat there listening to her vent.
After receiving payment from Ningguang’s secretary the next morning, the Alcor set out once again towards the sea. As it always did, unsuspecting of the storm awaiting them.
Two weeks passed, then a third week, until a month had passed and Ningguang was ready to tear her hair out with worry for the reckless pirate she loved. Every other day news would come of the storm beyond Liyue’s waters, along with the local boats and ships that were rescued by the Alcor out at sea and sent towards Liyue Harbour for refuge. Ningguang, with Ganyu’s assistance, took matters of the relief effort into her own hands, all the while gathering information regarding the situation and the Alcor’s location.
You could say Ningguang worried for naught. Beidou had defeated Haishan, she was fierce in battle and a skilled and experienced sea-fairing captain. But even the knowledge that Beidou’s strength exceeded her own was not enough to quell Ningguang’s anxiety. With Ningguang’s personality though, this nervousness was obvious to none; she performed her duties perfectly, while at the same time, coming up with contingency plans to bring home the Crux in her head. The only deterrent to realising those plans was the ships and boats that docked at the harbour, bringing news of the storm and the Crux’s strength bearing through it...
“Men! A toast, to us!” Beidou’s booming voice rang across the calm waves, answered by her crew’s cheers and yells. “We may be crooks and pirates but we stay true to our people and ourselves! After passing that storm we now drink to a successful voyage!” Deafening cheers followed; the sound of boisterous laughter and banging wooden mugs, highlighted by a zither in the background, rang out over the scenery of a grandiose fleet sailing through the night.
With a proud look over her celebrating crew, Beidou made her way towards the front deck of the Alcor. She found the sound of zither getting louder as she reached the top of the stairs. So that’s where the stray cat I took in is. A glance up revealed the source of music and kazuha acknowledged his captain with a nod. Beidou smiled and turned towards the open ocean and night sky, her mind drifting like the waves.
A speck of light floating in the sky upon the horizon caught Beidou’s gaze. “We’re almost home,” she muttered, before catching herself on that thought. Home? The Jade Chamber..?
Beidou never had anything to call her own from a young age. In that sense her home would be this ship and the Crux fleet; her first home and family. Yet why was it that, despite her devotion to the Alcor, images of a certain flying palace and its owner would flash in her mind with the thought of home.
Beidou let out a nervous laugh, her mind muddled. “This is home though..”
“Is it bad to have two homes? A home is never a brick structure, it’s the people, and the traces of their being that make it so,” Kazuha, like a gentle breeze, jumped down from his ledge to stand next to Beidou on the deck.
“That is part of why I was able to leave my own home behind, there was no one left to make it a home..” As Beidou watched him, Kazuha covered up the sliver of sadness in his crimson eyes with a smile.
“Only to find a new home here, thank you Beidou. And you should probably cherish this new-found home of yours, you don’t wanna waste any more time do you?” A moment of genuine gratitude almost instantly changed into an easy smirk on the Ronin’s face. It made Beidou feel like he was playing at something, but before she could make sense of anything he had said, Kazuha was already returning to higher ground on the ship; stepping on air and wood alike, leaving maple leaves in his wake. Beidou’s hair and earrings blew in the sea breeze as she shook her head. This was going to be a long night of pondering and alcohol.
The Crux Fleet docked in its corner of the harbour within the next two days and its crew dispersed soon after; heading to their second homes or off to wander in search of one like Kazuha. Beidou on the other hand, was told to report to the Jade Chamber as soon as her boots touched solid ground. With the mush of feelings in her chest, the proud captain would rather have been anywhere but in Ningguang’s presence, but she was also no coward; and so she marched right up to the palace she wished to avoid.
Ningguang was pacing when Beidou walked in. Immediately the pirate was distracted from her whirling thoughts. Ningguang never paces, it just doesn’t suit her. Something must be happening again. An old and familiar instinct to protect had Beidou striding right into the study, “Ningguang, what’s wrong!”
Something about the frown on Ningguang’s face when she fully turned towards her, made Beidou stop in her tracks however. Steps purposeful, jaw set and elemental geo sparks flashing at her fingertips, Ningguang approached Beidou looking utterly enraged.
“What’s wrong?!” Beidou swallowed the urge to take a step back. Why does she have to be beautiful even in anger, I can barely focus.
“Oh brilliant captain Beidou, when will you ever learn to not be such a brute! As though walking off after giving me the cold shoulder wasn’t enough, you proceeded to disappear for a month amidst a literal storm with very real casualties, leaving me to wait for your dead body to wash ashore,” Ningguang knew she wasn’t making much sense, let alone being professional. She was at her limit with worry and anger and the tears she felt building up in her eyes, at the sight of Beidou healthy as ever, frustrated her even more. As if she’d ever cry in front of someone.
“Do you even understand your position. The Crux and you, its captain, are an asset to Liyue, as protectors of the sea and as our biggest resource for trade. Hence it is my duty to protect our assets, namely you,” Ningguang pointed an accessorised finger at Beidou, making her eye widen and eyebrows knit; trying to understand the situation and Ningguang’s thought process. They were now close enough for Beidou to look right into Ningguang’s shaky eyes.
“How exactly am I meant to protect you if you rush straight to your death without informing me? What was I to do if I really lost you? What do i-...”
Ningguang’s meaning hit Beidou like an arrow when her voice faltered, and instantly a big goofy smile spread across her face. The answer to all her questions, the one’s she had been agonising over for days out at sea, was right there, in her heart and on Ningguang’s face, it had been there all along.
“What are you smiling ab-”
Beidou cut her off by circling her arms right around Ningguang’s waist, “This isn’t about the city at all, is it?” She realised just how perfect their height difference was when she leaned in for a kiss. A hesitant one despite herself, tentative enough for Ningguang to pull away any moment she wished. But she didn’t.
Finally, she did something right, with a soft sigh Ningguang melted into Beidou’s arms and returned the kiss, setting Beidou’s whole body on fire. What was I even doing missing out on this? Wasted so much.. time..
Ningguang’s hands were in her hair when Beidou eventually pulled away, her accessories cold against her warm neck. The Tianquan herself stood in a daze, wondering how her life-long dream could be coming true at this moment.
“You absolute imbecile,” Ningguang never thought she was capable of swearing at someone with such an affectionate voice. Then again she barely ever recognised herself around Beidou anyway. Feeling giddy, Beidou laughed in response.
“Ning, I'm fine. I’m home.”
~ The End ~
A/N: This is the prequel to my longer fic that I am working on, it will be more centred around Kazuha among other characters, so look forward to that too! ;)
Hi! This is my first Beiguang one shot, I hope you like it!! <3 Timeline wise, this would be best placed just before the second Jade Chamber was built (before Shenhe's epic quest with Biesht) but since the Jade Chamber is a main element in the story and I couldn't remove it, I haven't added any timeline indicators. Sorry for the inconsistency, but the Jade Chamber is still there, yet the storm Beidou faces is the first indicator of Biesht that Beidou feels in Canon. However this was just my plan for the story that fell through so don't worry about it too much!
Follow me here on my Tumblr and Twt @sunshinemochis to hang out😋
