Chapter Text
Shen Qingqiu kissed Luo Binghe! Right on the mouth! On purpose! With romantic intent!
All things considered, it wasn't actually the most shocking thing that had happened lately, a tiny, still functional part of Luo Binghe's screaming brain remarked. Between the unfortunately public revelation of Shen Qingqiu's tragic past, the old Huan Hua Palace Master's dirty laundry being aired quite spectacularly, Luo Binghe's own father and cousin being revealed, introduced, and subsequently released from their decades of torment, it had been an unquestionably busy few months.
Whenever Luo Binghe had managed to spend time with his shizun, they'd developed an almost shockingly easy casual intimacy. Ever since his return from the Endless Abyss and subsequent breakdown upon his shizun's own shoulder, Shen Qingqiu had been much freer with his touches. Maybe it was partly because they didn't manage to spend as much time together as they had pre-Abyss, but Luo Binghe had been starting to think it might be something else, until he'd been distracted by aforementioned extremely busy months.
But now the distractions were over, for the time being, Shen Qingqiu looked like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and they'd decided to steal some time shut away in the bamboo house together. Luo Binghe had made tea for them both, and Shen Qingqiu had sat much closer than he normally did and even left his fan untouched on the table. As though it were the most natural thing to be all but pressed against his disciple's side, Luo Binghe thought as he watched his shizun closely.
"This master promised you his secrets," Shen Qingqiu said out of nowhere, when the tea was finished and the light conversation had dwindled. "There are many, and most of them are difficult to articulate. This master will need to think about how best to share them. For now, Binghe may have this: my name, the one my parents gave me, is Shen Yuan."
Though Luo Binghe had not forgotten that his shizun had promised that he would one day hold all the secrets that had been hidden behind paper fans and a serene face, he truly hadn't given much thought to what further secrets might still be kept from him. There was the mystery of the foreknowledge that had forced his shizun to ask him to go to the Endless Abyss, but after the revelation of so much misery by Qiu Haitang he hadn't been all that eager to learn more. Well, that was absolutely a lie; Luo Binghe would eagerly drink up every drop of information about his master he could get. However, he'd been prepared to wait, not to pry, not to dig up things that might hurt.
To be fed little tidbits at a time might have been the last thing he'd expected. Still, it was treasured.
"Shen Yuan," he tried, tasting it on his tongue, rolling it across his palate and appreciating how it sounded. All of his thoughts were immediately cut off by the press of Shen Yuan's lips against his own.
The kiss was fairly chaste, as such things go. Just lips moving against lips, the gentle touch of slender fingers against Luo Binghe's jaw to tilt his head to the proper angle, but it felt like heaven. In the two years since his return, Luo Binghe had dreamed of this more than once. Actually, he'd dreamed of this and more on a near constant basis, and also quite a bit before the Abyss. A little bit during, when he'd had space for such pleasant thoughts. Despite that, he'd truly never once thought his shizun would be so bold as to take the initiative. In every dream and every fantasy, it had been Luo Binghe leaning in first, while Shen Qingqiu blushed and tried to hide behind his fan. Not that Luo Binghe was complaining! He absolutely wasn't! He was just surprised, and pleasantly so.
When Shen Yuan broke the kiss, the light dusting of pink on his sharp cheekbones remained unhidden, and Luo Binghe looked his fill. Shen Yuan looked so touchable like this, still leaning in and flushed, breathing just a touch harder and lips just a little darker. Something dark and needy swirled in Luo Binghe's gut, dreams of all the horrible, wonderful, disrespectful things he had ever wanted to do to his shizun crowding for space in his brain, each begging to be the one he acted on first.
"S-shizun?" Luo Binghe asked, awestruck.
Shen Yuan looked away at last, flushing a little deeper yet still making no effort to hide it. "Apologies, Binghe," he said to the surface of the table. "It has been… a very long time since this master heard that name outside of his own rare thoughts. Perhaps it affects me more than I thought."
"Shizun likes that name?" Luo Binghe asked, a smile growing on his face. Daring, hoping that it would be welcome, he carefully pulled Shen Yuan closer by the waist, closer still until the slender man was actually in his lap. Shen Yuan made no protest, no attempt to remove himself, and even shifted his legs to make it more comfortable, all the while blushing in the direction of the table. Too cute! "Shall this disciple call you a-Yuan in private, then?" Luo Binghe dared to suggest, and thrilled at the little shiver that raced through the man he was holding on his lap. On his lap! Shizun was on his lap! And let himself be put there! After kissing his disciple!
Oh.
Did that mean Luo Binghe could kiss Shen Yuan? Hmm, but what if shizun wanted to be the only one to instigate such touches? He was, after all, still very particular about when and how he touched Luo Binghe, despite their growing closeness and the fact that apparently lap sitting was allowed. Well, there was an easy way to find out.
"May this disciple kiss you, a-Yuan?" he asked lowly against the warm shell of his teacher's ear. The slight hitch in breath that rewarded him set his blood on fire.
"Yes," Shen Yuan whispered back, and Luo Binghe was almost sure that the roughness of his voice was not imagined.
Permission granted, Luo Binghe cupped Shen Yuan's jaw, let his thumb trace the color high on his cheek, and leaned in to press their lips together. It was only Luo Binghe's second ever kiss, and he'd been a little too shocked to participate much in the first one. Determined to make up for his inexperience, he tilted his head until the angle felt delicious and let his tongue run across the seam of Shen Yuan's lips. The gentle sigh he was gifted as those lips parted for him at once could have carried him to heaven, and he pressed the advantage greedily. Whenever he began to become overeager, Shen Yuan steadied him. Whenever he was unsure of technique or pace, Shen Yuan patiently showed him the way. Luo Binghe felt a surge of red-hot jealousy when he realized that Shen Yuan was
good
at kissing and must have experience, but he pushed it away in favor of running his hands up and down Shen Yuan's sides as he kissed him. Shizun was allowed to have a past, as long as none of his lovers were in the present. Or in the sect…