liu qingge x crane spirit!m reader
tags: fluff
It wasn't rare for the bamboo forest on Qing Jing Peak to occasionally have a few critters skitter about in it. Shen Qingqiu, who lived right in front of said bamboo forest, and had loved and lost and loved some more there, knew all too well of the precious little red pandas that made temporary homes there, and sometimes he'd catch the fat little body of a bamboo partridge making its way through the foliage.
That bamboo forest was one of the few things he missed when he left the peaks to go live with Binghe in the country. He came to visit on occasion, not too often but often enough that his disciples kept the hut and its surroundings tidy and in good condition. Because Shen Qingqiu visited so much, he was a bit of an expert on the wildlife in the bamboo forest.
That's why he was certain that a crane in a bamboo forest was not natural.
There were no bodies of water within the forest, merely a small table that Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe had used to take tea when Binghe was younger. There was nothing for the crane in the bamboo grove so Shen Qingqiu had no idea why it came here. At least he hadn't at first.
It didn't take him long to figure out that this crane wasn't a normal crane, especially when it came limping toward him in a human form. Crimson blood stained the front of their white robes, a bit trailing from the side of their mouth. So, definitely not a normal crane, and definitely injured.
Barely a few steps had the crane fainting and falling to the ground if Shen Qingqiu had not moved, cradling him in gentle green sleeved arms. For a second the Peak Lord wasn't sure what to do. Merely a brief lapse of judgment before he remembered that there were other peaks on this mountain. Setting the poor spirit on the bed in his own hut, he called for one of his disciples. Ming Fan, as dutiful as ever, appeared in the doorway with a breathless bow.
"Tell Mu Qingfang we have a wounded. Hurry." Ming Fan bowed once more and ran off again. Shen Yuan turned and looked down at the crane, their beautiful eyes curving gently with sleep. The poor thing had obviously been exhausted, and the Peak Lord wondered how anyone could've come to harm such a beautiful and pure creature. But, they did seem uncharacteristically gaunt, as if they hadn't eaten in days.
Mu Qingfang arrived with haste, never doubting the significance of a calling from Shen Qingqiu himself. And to see the ethereal creature placed on the bed in front of him, his breath caught in his throat. But, as a doctor, he naturally tended first and asked questions later. Undressing the crane from his beautifully feathered robes, both lords could finally see the bruises and cuts littering the poor bird spirit's body. Shen Yuan inhaled sharply - such disrespect for something as simple as a spirit, especially as kind and gentle as a crane, was almost disgusting. Mu Qingfang worked quick, cleaning and disinfecting all the cuts, Shen Qingqiu assisting with turning the crane over when Mu Qingfang needed to assess his back. Somehow, the crane's back was even worse.
The garden of black and blue bruises that blossomed against his translucent skin was almost sickening, not a single inch of skin unmarred. A shock of white rage ran up Shen Yuan's spine and burrowed in his brain. Who ... What could've done this? Shen Jiu naturally had a penchant for the visually appealing, and Shen Yuan couldn't help but agree that he was the same way in that regard. Mu Qingfang pursed his lips, palpitating the bruises to check for any internal bleeding. There were a few lumps indicating such, but nothing Mu Qingfang couldn't fix. At least the crane's core was intact and unharmed.
When Mu Qingfang finished working, Shen Qingqiu had Ning Yingying brew the medical Lord some restorative tea, seeing as the doctor had become quite frazzled from looking over somebody as important as a crane spirit. If Shen Yuan remembered correctly, crane spirits were not really mentioned in Proud Immortal Demon Way, although Shang Qinghua had informed him that they were very important (which usually meant he was making up lore on the spot). Should a crane spirit ever die at a mortal's hands, disastrous misfortune would fall upon the offender, usually leading in death. Cranes symbolized eternity, so Shen Yuan believed it made sense. Shen Jiu definitely would've encaptured and enslaved such a beneficial creature, but Shen Yuan didn't care for power - only for self preservation. Naturally, he'd treat this spirit with the utmost respect and care.
As Mu Qingfang sipped his tea, he discussed with Shen Qingqiu how to take care of the poor thing until it was ready to leave the peak on its own accord. Shen Qingqiu listened to every word, committing it to memory before agreeing that he'd contact Mu Qingfang if anything seemed to go wrong and seeing the medical Lord out of the humble hut. Shen Yuan sighed as soon as he came back into his office bedroom again, alone this time. The gentle breaths of the crane spirit were cool and fresh, like a mountain breeze against the back of Shen Qingqiu's snow white hand, and steady as well. Satisfied with the fact that the resident spirit was no longer about to keel over and curse Qing Jing Peak in a fit of despairing fury, he settled on the cushion placed before his desk, readying to do some paperwork that he'd been putting off.
The crane didn't wake up for weeks. It was making the whole of Qing Jing Peak a bit nervous, Yue Qingyuan even stopping by to see the fallen spirit. The crane simply refused to wake up. Although, the longer the spirit stayed, the more the Qing Jing disciples felt that he was a part of their little cultivational family. They'd even started calling the spirit Crane Spirit gege (mostly Ning Yingying but it caught on in popularity very fast, especially with the younger disciples). The disciples were so adamant on calling the crane spirit Crane Spirit gege that Shen Qingqiu caught himself almost addressing the spirit that way himself. Although Shen Yuan was finding himself nervous with how long the crane was resting, he also regularly checked up on the comatose spirit and noted that he was healing very fast. The bruises were almost all gone and the cuts barely left a scar, delicate skin returning to its natural, creamy complexion.
In fact, because the crane was taking Shen Qingqiu's bed, the Peak Lord had to move around this veritable corpse in his own space. It had been strange at first, Shen Qingqiu anxiously looking over at the unconscious spirit in fear that the spirit would sit up and stare at him while his back was turned. Shen Yuan had watched enough horror movies when he was alive to know the horrors of dead people. But, he reminded himself, the crane wasn't dead. Simply taking a very long and very shameless nap. Nevertheless with a spirit in his bed, Shen Qingqiu slept in a cot that Binghe had visited with and provided, worrying endlessly about his lovely shizun. He'd had to scold Binghe though, who wouldn't stop glaring at the spirit for kicking his poor shizun out of his own bed. Shen Qingqiu had to remind him that the crane had come to them injured and exhausted - he didn't really have any choice where any of the Peak Lords put him. That led to Binghe pouting because Shizun never let him rest in his bed when they were studying at Qing Jing Peak. Consequently, Shen Qingqiu had sentenced Binghe to cleaning the entire outer courtyard for bad behavior (so he didn't fill the room with loud whines and disrupt the spirit's rest).
It had been exactly after this scolding that Shen Qingqiu sighed to himself, smoothed out the covering of his cot, and turned around to find wide bright eyes staring directly at him.
Shen Qingqiu couldn't help the yelp that fell from his lips, the spirit jolting at the sudden noise. The sudden noise had scared it - him - and the crane spirit lifted the thin sheet to cower under it a little. Childish, and faintly like Binghe had been in his early teens. Shen Qingqiu schooled his expression and cleared his throat, unfolding his fan to hide the embarrassed downturn of his lips.
"Good evening." The crane spirit blinked slowly, as if trying to study Shen Qingqiu. Shen Yuan knew he shouldn't, but he could feel a cold sweat starting to cover his back. He wished Shang Qinghua had informed him on the attitudes of crane spirits in Proud Immortal Demon Way. Shen Qingqiu's nervousness was whisked away, however, when the spirit let loose a little gasp of recognition.
"Oh! I do know who you are. Thank you so much Peak Lord Shen. I'm so sorry for the intrusion." Shen Qingqiu perked up at that. Dammit, if that Qinghua had just told him about all the relations Shen Jiu had, keeping his own ass alive would be much easier. Luckily, this spirit seemed to be fairly young (an awful lot like Binghe) and spoke too much.
"I doubt you personally know me since I rarely visit Qing Jing Peak, but I assure you, I have no bad intentions." Ah, great. Fantastic. This gave Shen Yuan an in to gain context. He folded his fan again and smacked it into his palm strictly.
"Regardless of your intentions, your human presence has caused disruption on this peak, as well as others. The entire mountain has worried over you. The least you could do is tell us the reason for your visit." That thoroughly spooked the crane and the young man guiltily hung his head.
"This humble one is very sorry for the worry and shameful intrusion. Truthfully, I wasn't even heading for Qing Jing Peak. I was ... "The crane glanced down at his fidgeting hands, a sheepish look on his handsome face. What a naive boy. "I was heading for Bai Zhan Peak, Lord Shen. I was ... I was looking for Peak Lord Liu Qingge!" The spirit had shouted it like it was something too heavy to say. Shen Qingqiu just stood there, fan in hand, wondering if this was what he and Binghe had looked like confessing to each other. Embarrassingly juvenile.
"Well ... " Shen Yuan supposed all lovestruck young cutsleeves of the not fully human variety were the same. Especially cranes. "It is not my business to meddle in juvenile affairs." The crane pouted, looking like Binghe when Shen Yuan denied him smoochies. "However ... " The crane perked up once more, eyes sparkling.
"The subject of my shidi's lovelife ... is extremely important."
That was how Shen Qingqiu became the unofficial matchmaker between this crane spirit named (L/n) (Y/n) and his shidi, Liu Qingge. Not only did it give Shen Qingqiu a reason not to kick the crane spirit out of Qing Jing Peak, but it also helped him learn about Liu Qingge as well. For example, he knew his shidi wasn't exactly open about his interest in relationships, but for him to be so adamantly against the idea ... Shen Yuan could only nod sagely. Truely a tsundere for the ages. Shen Qingqiu had thought it would be a good idea to gauge his shidi's attitude towards relationships in the first place before introducing the spirit to him at all. But at the rate that this shidi research was going, Liu Qingge would never get a romantic interest, much less a partner. He'd hate to have to break it to the crane spirit, but if his shidi wasn't ready for a partner, he wasn't ready.
The absolutely mind melting puppy eyes Shen Yuan was met with when he returned to his room where the crane had decided to continue to stay almost made him turn back around and shake some sense into Liu Qingge. But Shen Yuan feared that if he mentioned relationships in the presence of Liu Qingge one more time, his head would be separated from his neck. The peak lord didn't want to tell this doe eyed young spirit that his fated person was someone who wanted nothing more than to hermit himself away at Bai Zhan Peak and teach his disciples, undistracted and unbothered. So instead he urged the spirit to talk to Qingge himself. What was the worst that could happen?
(Y/n), that silly little crane, ushered himself outside and turned into his crane form, elegantly white and black and a hint of red, soaring into the sky as if he'd longed to feel the wind through his feathers again. He flew to Bai Zhan Peak at an enthusiastic pace, not being able to wait to see Liu Qingge. Landing at the edge of a sparkling pond on Bai Zhan, which paled in comparison to the vast lake at Qiong Ding Peak, (Y/n) was wondering if he ought to shift back into human form or stay in crane form just to scope out his future husband's mood. Just as he opted to switch in his human form, one of the disciples stormed out of the estate gates.
"YOU AGAIN?!" (Y/n) yelped and spun around, booted feet stumbling further into the pond water. The disciple kept on stomping towards the poor crane spirit, every step forward meant a step backward for (Y/n) until the poor spirit was up to his thighs in warm pond water, trying his best not to slip on the wet rocks and little creatures underneath his feet. The disciple stopped at the edge of the pond, brows furrowed and lips curled. "I thought we ran you out of here for good, harrassing our shishu so shamelessly!" (Y/n) shook his head frantically.
"I - I wasn't -!" The disciple scoffed, holding out a wooden training sword in what would've been comical if (Y/n) wasn't terrified out of his wits.
"Come around here again and I'll - !"
"You'll what?" The disciple spun around, coming face to face with their shishu, Liu Qingge. They hurriedly gave a salute and greeting.
"Shizun! Look, it's the ruffian I was telling you about!" Liu Qingge looked at the pitiful young spirit, soaked and covered in small water reeds. The Peak Lord scoffed.
"That's what you call a ruffian? Might as well call every heavenly maiden a ruffian as well." The disciple looked at Liu Qingge in confusion. The Peak Lord glanced at his disciple and scowled.
"That's a crane spirit." The disciple's face paled and turned to look at the teary eyes of (Y/n), who looked at them with just as much questioning. The disciple bowed hurriedly.
"I - I'm so sorry, my lord! I just thought - since you were looking in shishu's bedroom window - !" (Y/n)'s face turned a glowing red as he waved his arms around, trying to get the disciple to be quiet. Liu Qingge raised an eyebrow, trying his damndest not to blush in front of a disciple.
"Nevermind. No matter how elegant, peeking in someone's bedroom window is ruffian behavior." (Y/n) turned his gaze to his future husband, an indignant whine leaving his lips.
"I - It wasn't what it looked like!"
"So you weren't peeking in shishu's window?" The disciple tested. (Y/n) winced, picking a slimy reed off his cheek.
"Well, I was - " The disciple huffed, crossing their arms across their chest.
"A ruffian is a ruffian." (Y/n) pouted, curling into himself sheepishly.
"I swear, I wasn't going to do anything unsavory! It's just ... I saw Peak Lord Liu Qingge doing training with his disciples ... with such a beautiful form and such passion and strength! How could even I not be bewitched?" The tips of Liu Qingge's ears were a flaming red, eyebrows scrunching together as he calmed himself.
"Ah," he made a show of sighing. "Couldn't you set your sights on someone else? Surely even Shang Qinghua would make a better husband than I. He even does taxes." (Y/n) pouted, eyes filling with tears.
"Then ... does A - Ge not want me? Not even enough to keep me for himself instead of pawning me off to some stranger?" Liu Qingge felt the back of his neck get hot - this silly little spirit surely was spoiled rotten just by the thought of Liu Qingge. And cranes mated for life. Aiyaaah ...
"Well, uhm -"
"A - (Y/n)!"
"A - (Y/n) - would you please ... give me some time to arrange a room for you here at Bai Zhan Peak?" (Y/n) perked up, smile cutely birdlike.
"Oh, that won't be necessary, A - Ge! I can live here, in the pond!" The disciple tilted their head, trying to think how a person like (Y/n) would eat and sleep in a pond. Liu Qingge shook his head, forcing his tongue (that felt thick and rubbery with flustered nerves) to move.
"What kind of husband would I be to leave my darling to live outside?" (Y/n)'s face turned a sweet pink as he squealed to himself before picking himself out of the pond and practically skipping over to Liu Qingge. The drenched little crane instantly grabbed onto Liu Qingge's arm, nestling his face into the toned bicep.
"I'll be the best wife ever! You won't have to lift another finger for anything again!" Liu Qingge quite liked lifting his fingers, thank you, but he didn't have the sound mind to protest, not when dusky nipples peeked through translucent white robes. First things first, the wife must get changed, and what not.