Welcome to the official Tumblr account for a fan week centered around the twins, Li Tianchen and Li Tianxi! The event will be held around mid-November; keep an eye out for prompts and event rules coming soon alongside Chinese and Japanese translations! You can also follow our Twitter account here.
Liu Xiao holds the match between his fingers with less delicate care than he holds his microphone onstage. Li Tianchen frowns, blurts out before he can ask, “you taking up smoking, or?”
The artificially-fake smile on Liu Xiao’s face would make anyone else think they’ve upset him, but Li Tianchen knows Liu Xiao well, knows his strangeness and odd intensity and pretentiousness the way knowing someone for a very long time settles into your bones. So, he doesn’t think Liu Xiao is mad, but he can tell Liu Xiao is judging him when he says, “it’s in bad form to adopt bad habits that drive the fans away.”
“Yeah, because the gambling isn’t a bad habit,” Li Tianchen mutters, but he keeps his eyes on the bright-orange flame.
or, liu xiao, li tianchen, and a stolen moment after the crushing high of performing.
In which Li Tianxi lays wounded by the gunshot, and reminisces her childhood, awaiting the eternal sleep she is bound to get. She finds that among the memories a promise lingers, staying true even as she dies.
There was a dog Li Tianxi and her mother would pass every time they returned from the odd man’s place. She remembers it would smell of different things all at once, pharmacist her mother used to say.
The smell was unbearable sometimes but she held it in. Anything for her mother. Even her own voice.
Li Tianxi didn’t understand the dog. He was big and mean when people were near but he always looked sad and lonely when there wasn’t anyone around. He reminds her of a wounded beast from the fairytales she’s read before. The beast had nobody. Li Tianchen told her that if you have nobody then you're alone. It's sad.
Li Tianxi and her mother make their way back home. They stop at a big colorful jar holding toys in it. Mama calls it a claw machine. She wants one. The pink fox plushie is cute. They bring it home. It didn't go well. If only she had known.
-::-
Li Tianchen says he made a new friend. Li Tianxi is happy for him but she has a bad feeling. She just hopes Li Tianchen will continue to shine the way he does now.
Her brother teaches her more sign language. It’s hard to learn but he’s always there guiding her through it. There’s a gentle feeling as he brings her hands together to form a triangle. He tells her that means home. She likes that sign. It’s one she remembers better than most.
-::-
She is reminded of the promise he made to her. Li Tianchen, with his softness reserved only for her, whispering as he combed through her hair.
“I’ll always be here Xixi. You’ll never be alone. I’m sure of it. We’ll be just fine.”
There was something in his eyes she noticed but couldn’t quite place. Later, all grown up, as she dreamed of her childhood again, she would think he looked pained. Haunted.
But the Li Tianxi back then didn’t quite understand what he meant, why his face held hurt. Only that he’d be there for her.
He’d say those words often. Like if he said it enough it’d be willed into existence. Destined. She hopes they’re destined for forever.
She remembers thinking it worked both ways. If he would be there for her, so would she. She wouldn’t allow him to be alone either. She was sure of it too.
-::-
The first time Li Tianchen went to school while she was held back home would stay on her mind forever.
She watched him go, wishing him a good day in the language only they shared. The one only he bothered to learn.
Her mother was there to keep her company but she felt panicked without Li Tianchen, like running blindfolded, disoriented.
Was this what it felt like to be alone?
No wonder Li Tianchen was so insistent on them being together. It was the first time she truly understood the meaning of being alone. It scared her. She wondered if it scared him too.
She thinks she can understand the dog a little. Maybe even her brother.
…
Li Tianchen still wasn’t back. She sits on his bed huddling up with his blanket and pillow in an attempt to comfort herself. It doesn’t work. So she waits, time passing slowly until he finally comes back home.
She cries and sobs into his shirt, arms latched tightly around him, unwilling to let him go.
Her brother, flustered and worried, shushed her gently, stroking his hands through her hair. The repeated action brought comfort to her and slowly her sobs shrunk and she calmed down. He asked her what was wrong, checking for any injuries. Still a mess, Li Tianxi conveyed her words the best she could.
Why did you leave me? You said I’d never be alone.
Her brother laughs. She felt a little like a petulant child upon seeing his dismissive reaction. “Oh, Xixi,” He says gentle as always, like it wasn’t in him to be anything but.
“Alone is when a person leaves and doesn’t come back. And I swore didn’t I ? That you’d never be alone.Trust your brother a little.”
He smiles and soon she feels herself smile too, comforted with his promise. They play together for the rest of the evening and Li Tianxi has never felt so loved.
-::-
He’d say those words often. Between quiet moments shared as she drifted off to sleep, between the scary ones where they’d crouch behind the bedroom door, him with his hands over her ears, trying to drown out the screams. It helped her, allowing her to focus solely on her brother’s words that sounded more like pleas as days passed.
She’d tried saying those words to herself once, when Li Tianchen had gone off to school leaving her behind again. It just didn’t have the same effect. When he’d say them her chest would feel warm and tingly. She’d know she was protected. Safe.
…
Until the last time she’d heard it. The dinner that was never finished. She’d cried and cried and cried.
They’d been swept into the embrace of the stranger and whisked off to somewhere new as he whispered softly, almost to himself — “It’s just us now Xixi. You’ll never be alone.”
And he was right. She doesn’t even need to look back; she knew she had never been alone. Li Tianchen has always been there. Just like he promised.
So she fights the pain in her chest and pushes his trembling hands away, watching as he heeds her words, running far, until he’s out of sight.
The kind girl from the police station keeps her company with tears streaming down her face, matching Tianxi’s. Really she has never been alone.
Her breaths stutter and her eyes start to close no matter the effort she puts into staring at the last person she’ll ever see. Eventually she succumbs to the light. It’s warm. Like the moment the afternoon sun softens its harsh gaze, the moment just before dusk arrives and everything turns quiet. She sees smoke billowing softly out of a chimney. A cottage, just like the one from mama’s story. She found her way home. She runs to it as she sincerely wishes that Li Tianchen is not alone and will not be, even if she isn’t there anymore.
OK I HAVENT POSTED RECENTLY ILL POST SOME OF THE OTHER ART IVE DONE SOON BUT AAA I JUST FOUND OUT TODAY THAT THIS PROMPT WEEK WAS A THING....... WHO WAS GONNA TELL ME.......................
i wasnt going to change her hairstyle originally but honestly if li tianchen can pretend to be his sister then i feel like li tianxi could 100% pretend to be him if she put her hair in a ponytail (i think this might've happened once in the show but i forget)
