Not sure if this counts as prompt or headcanon but imagine if Byn, with her canonical crush on Lu Yao, doesn't take his gentle but firm rejection of her very well? All hell breaks loose when she finds out that the object of Lu Yao's affections is none other than the oblivious Qiao Chusheng (and I think he would be oblivious or atleast not read too much into Lu Yao's actions xD). I feel like the dynamics would be so much interesting with each person having to make some tough choices ahead (LY learning not to be a coward, QCS choosing loyalties coz he would care for BQ if not BYN etc.) 🙈 Hope you have fun with this one xD
Turtle! I hope you enjoy this little headcanon...it's my first one for MRIAD so I hope I did good!
Bai Youning does not take “No” for an answer. Since she’s an only child, she’s a rather spoiled brat who gets whatever and whoever she wants. “No” is not in her vocabulary. She never uses it and she’s never had it said to her before
So, when she admits her feelings to Lu Yao and he gently but firmly rejects her…she does not take it well. She throws a fit, as a spoiled brat does, and screams and cries, demanding that Lu Yao accept her affections but Lu Yao still tells her no, saying that he already likes someone else
Bai Youning, of course, the nosy busybody that she is, demands to know who the person of Lu Yao’s affection is and lets out an angry shriek when she finds out that it’s Qiao Chusheng
She tells Lu Yao that he can’t be in love with Qiao Chusheng, he should be in love with her, he can only love her, and that’s sort of the last straw for Lu Yao, he just…packs up his shit and leaves
When Qiao Chusheng comes to call on him for a case, he’s surprised to see Lu Yao sitting outside the apartment with all of his things
“Youning kick you out?”
Lu Yao looks up at him and shakes his head
“No, I left. I don’t think I can live with her anymore”
Qiao Chusheng hums
“Lovers spat?”
Lu Yao shudders
“We are not lovers, Chusheng. Not even in the slightest. I could never be in love with someone like her”
Qiao Chusheng hums
“Don’t let Bai Qili hear you say that or he’ll have your head”
Lu Yao scoffs
“I’m not scared of that man or his threats”
Qiao Chusheng frowns
“You know his threats are very real, yes?”
Lu Yao huffs
“Why should I be afraid of him when I have you?”
Qiao Chusheng looks at him in surprise as Lu Yao sighs
“Can I stay with you?”
Qiao Chusheng frowns before he shrugs
“My apartment is small and not fancy…hope you don’t mind”
Lu Yao shakes his head as he grabs his suitcase full of stuff and stands to his feet
“As long as it’s away from here, I don’t care what size it is”
Qiao Chusheng shrugs but motions for Lu Yao to follow him to his car, which was parked nearby. They then get inside and drive to Qiao Chusheng’s apartment, which was much smaller compared to that of Bai Youning and Lu Yao’s old apartment but Lu Yao just smiles at it
He then promptly moves in with Qiao Chusheng and they find it actually to be a lot more pragmatic because Qiao Chusheng never has to drive to Lu Yao’s apartment to pick him up which means they never have to tell Bai Youning about their cases (which is great for both of them)
With Lu Yao living there now, Qiao Chusheng always gets fed probably some of the best meals he’s ever had because Lu Yao is a gourmet and has a rather refined palette so whatever Lu Yao eats, Chusheng eats. Now, he doesn’t like a lot of what Lu Yao cooks (because some of it is just not his taste) but he enjoys majority of it because Lu Yao is a great cook
They had always been domestic but now that they were living together, they were even more domestic
They both claimed that it was because of the small apartment that their clothes ended up in the same closet and that they ended up sharing a bed but really, they just enjoyed being with each other
Everyone at the police station noticed a difference in their demeanor as well; Qiao Chusheng was much more pleasant nowadays thanks to good food in his stomach and a happy Lu Yao and Lu Yao was happy because he wasn’t constantly fighting with Youning every time they made eye contact
Bai Qili, of course, wasn’t exactly happy with what was happening and demanded Qiao Chusheng to do something about it but Qiao Chusheng basically tells Bai Qing to stuff it because Bai Youning is a grown woman and if she wants to do something about it, then she can but he’s done being the middle man with everything
Bai Qili isn’t happy with that statement and goes into a tirade about how he put Qiao Chusheng in the position he’s in and blah blah blah and Qiao Chusheng explains that while he’s grateful for everything Bai Qing’s done, he doesn’t have to keep helping Qiao Chusheng because he’s no longer going to be Bai Youning’s protection because again, she’s a grown woman, if she gets into a mess, it’s her damn fault and she can get herself out of it
Bai Qili does not like that and basically gets Qiao Chusheng fired but Qiao Chusheng’s not that bothered by it because now he and Lu Yao can open up a detective agency because lets be honest, they’re probably the two smartest people in Shanghai, if they didn’t open a detective agency, they’d be stupid
A few of the loyal officers from the police station come and join their agency as officers/detectives, like A-Dou and Salim and a couple of others
Majority of the cases now go to Lu Yao and Qiao Chusheng and since Qiao Chusheng isn’t bound by the police anymore, he can use his triad connections to get the information he needs. Lu Yao uses whatever means necessary to find clues
Bai Youning, still bitter about Lu Yao rejecting her, tries to write a smear piece about both of them but since they’ve helped so many people in Shanghai, the smear piece is pulled from the newspaper because of all the complaints that come in
Bai Youning loses her job at some point because of her smear piece and because she gets caught one day being at a crime scene that she’s not supposed to be at and her photos that she’s definitely not supposed to take are found in the papers
Lu Yao and Qiao Chusheng, meanwhile, are quite happy with their domestic lives and Lu Yao one day musters up the courage to tell Qiao Chusheng that he likes him. Qiao Chusheng just looks at him in confusion
“I like you too”
Lu Yao huffs and rolls his eyes
“No, you idiot. I have feelings for you. Romantic feelings”
Qiao Chusheng looks at him in surprise
“What, really?”
Lu Yao laughs and nods
“I don’t do half the things I do for you for most people. That means you’re special”
Qiao Chusheng looks at Lu Yao and smiles before he laughs
“Guess I’ve never noticed”
Lu Yao rolls his eyes again as Qiao Chusheng steps forward and wraps an arm around him, pulling him close
“So, what you’re saying is…you love me?”
Lu Yao huffs before he kisses Qiao Chusheng solidly on the lips before pulling away
“I thought I made that pretty obvious”
Qiao Chusheng laughs and kisses Lu Yao again
“Guess I wasn’t paying attention”
Lu Yao groans and knocks his head against Qiao Chusheng’s
“Why do I love you?”
Qiao Chusheng shrugs
“One of life’s greatest mysteries”
Both men laugh and just sort of enjoy being in each other’s arms while Bai Youning is angry, bitter, and lonely in her apartment. She should really learn to get used to the word “no”…she’s going to be hearing it a lot more often now
