Work Text:
Tacky neon lights blink bright at a lonely street between a random fast food restaurant and a pretty dainty shoe store. It doesn't look quite right next to other stores. The owners should probably find a better location if they plan on being more successful, Wen Qing thinks as she opens the door to a 24/7 market. The one with the terrible– headache inducing (if you were to ask Wen Qing) horrible infuriating—
“You got back from your break and yet somehow you look even more pissed.”
—lights. “It's because of that sign, getting on my last nerve.” She sees that Wei Ying didn't even look up from the magazine he's flipping through. He doesn't need to really, this is a daily occurrence.
Wei Ying snorts a little, finally looks up and gives her one of his small comforting smiles. “No one is gonna come in anytime soon sweetcheeks. You can rest some more in the back, you know I don't mind.”
“You're going to scare the ladies away if you keep using those corny nicknames.”
“You still worry about other ladies? I know you have your sights on someone already.” He closes the magazine and rests his fist on it. “I already have my princess, you don't need to worry.”
Wen Qing scoffs before he could even fully finish the sentence. “Your princess is a grown man, with dick–”
“–and balls yada yada, are you seventy? So closed minded! Princess is a state, not a gender, we’re each other's princesses duh. God how are you gonna treat patients with that mindset?” Wei Ying throws his head back and sniffs. He lifts up one hand to wipe away his tears. He looks good in the shitty market light, somehow, Wen Qing notes. Despite that, she still catches onto the slight puffiness on his eyelids.
She shakes her head and looks outside to watch the mostly dead street. Few teenagers, she assumes, all in party clothes. She turns her gaze back to Wei Wuxian, who is still keeping up his dramatics. “Go to the back and take a nap. I know you can stay up, but don't.” He takes his arm, that was thrown over his face, away from it. “I should also revise my notes and you're just too funny to be here with me.”
“You know, I thought you were sincere for a moment there.”
“I am.”
“Hm.”
“You should spend less time with your boyfriend, you're turning into him.”
Wei Ying snorts while trying to keep a straight face, which works in his favor for all of three seconds. He gives Wen Qing a bright smile and his loud cackle engulfs the store. Wen Qing tries not to smile with him, but it's as possible as staring into the sun and not burning your eyes. The smile on his face stays bright and big as he looks at her with one of his eyebrows raised, and Wen Qing thinks she might turn blind from it. “Seriously, you're also tired I can tell. I will be completely fine here, not many people come in at this time anyway.” He gives her a small nod, blows her a kiss, opens a door to the backroom and disappears. As much as Wen Qing loves Wei Ying, she basks in the silence of the dull store.
Even with the big snack aisle that makes a crooked rainbow, with bags overlapping and falling over each other, the store looks dreary. Wen Qing is in front of it before she is even aware of it. Her body feels a tad bit heavier than it probably should, her headache is still a little too present and she realises that maybe it wasn't only because of those lights after all. She's coming down with a cold. She can feel it now that there is no one else to distract her. For a brief moment she entertains the idea of rearranging everything so it's color coded. Wen Qing picks up the first 2 bags closest to her and swaps them. She goes to reach for another one, before just resting her hand on one of the shelves. Her forehead meets her knuckles and she lets out a heavy sigh.
For a second she thinks she has finally gone crazy when she hears soft, flowery giggles in the quiet store. That's until it clicks whose giggle that actually is. Wen Qing hears a concerning crack as she whips her head around to face the person.
“You don't get paid enough to make the store prettier, hm?”
The only word Wen Qing can muster is a name .“Yanli.” She feels like an idiot, and probably looks like one, but she doesn't care. She doesn't care about anything else around Yanli. Wen Qing takes a big step, which makes her body feel like she's running a marathon, towards the woman before she collapses in her arms. God she's a mess. Here she is crumbling in the arms of the prettiest girl ever, just because she's a little sick and a lot tired. Her hair is messy and she can only imagine how her eye bags look, and fuck the bright yellow west they need to wear for work probably makes her look even more dead.
But Yanli, her beautiful, sweet and soft Yanli doesn't seem to care. She only puts the bag she was carrying down, which Wen Qing didn't even notice, and wraps her own arms around Wen Qing’ shoulders. “I brought food for you. I figured you would be hungry, also Xian messaged me telling you look terrible at the start of your shift.” Wen Qing grumbles something underneath her breath. “What was that love?”
Wen Qings’ stomach does somersaults and she's once again reminded of how incredibly weak she is. She lifts her head up from Yanlis' neck. “I said he's a dickwad.” She takes a good look at Yanli and immediately feels on cloud nine. She took her sweet time to prepare food, drive or possibly walk to a shitty 7/11 and spend her time with Wen Qing. Yanli still has that beautiful smile on her face and wants to cry. “You're so… beautiful.” Wen Qing doesn't even care she's making a fool of herself, she's sick and her brain can barely think of 5 words to say, her mouth having a hard time pushing out even 2 of those and yet she doesn't care. All of her words and thoughts are for Yanli anyway.
Yanli laughs at her but it's not mean, it's sweet and wonderful, and so full of love that Wen Qing starts to doubt life is real. “I probably still would have come to see you, you know? He didn't need to say anything.”
“You can spend your time doing something better though.”
“Well I'm here with you aren't I?”
“Yeah… yeah you are.”
“I can't think of anything better than this.”
To truly understand Wen Qing you need to know her past, which many don't. She's hard around all of the wrong edges, soft where she should be firm, closed when she should be open. She pushes and pulls where she shouldn't and should. When she dances she steps on the whole foot instead of just the toes. She's never satisfied, she's too harsh, not gentle enough, too serious, too quiet, too loud, too much or too little. She's never what people want and expect. People assume she would become softer and more open over time, and when they realise she won't they get annoyed and uninterested. It's how it has always been, until Jiang Yanli managed to melt her whole being with something as simple as a smile.
They met a year ago, when Wen Qing first met Wei Wuxian. He claimed they were best friends after 2 minutes of working together, and Wen Qing was only mildly annoyed. He claimed she absolutely needs to, under all circumstances, meet his lovely shijie. And she did, that very same week. To say Wen Qings’ heart grew another head and a new flow to beat to, would be an understatement.
After the meeting Wei Wuxian pulled her away and smiled knowingly at her. She thought he would yell at her, maybe make fun of her a little bit. And he did, obviously, but not in a way Wen Qing thought he would. He screamed his head off about how he never saw romance so beautiful in his life, how he can't imagine anyone better for his sister than Wen Qing, how it's aligned in the stars how–
“You there, Qing-ah?”
Ten months later here they are. Could've been a full year had Wen Qing just admitted she wanted Yanlis' number and realised Wei Ying genuinely was happy for them both. Wen Qing shakes her head, she can think about Yanli later, now she would rather spend time with her. “I am, you're just, you know. Perfect.”
As soon as the words leave her mouth Yanli blushes and hits (taps) Wen Qing on her shoulder. It feels good to know Wen Qing isn't the only weak one in the relationship. “The exhaustion got to you.”
“I tell you this when I'm fully healthy too, you know that. I’ll start saying it more often just in case.” Another light hit on her shoulder. Wen Qing has not felt this alive in so long. Wen Qing nudges Yanlis' nose with her own before pressing their foreheads together.
Even with the buzzing sounds of the machines in the store and the night life humming at the door, Wen Qing only hears Yanlis breathing and soft giggles. If she ever loses her hearing those are the sounds she would mourn the most. Wen Qing doesn't know when this adoration for everything Yanli does and says will go away, she likes to believe it will stay there forever. Even when they're old and wrinkly, the flowers blooming in her chest, she knows will stay there forever. Her heartstrings give a little tug at the thought of growing old with Yanli.
“Let's sit you down and get something in your stomach, before you pass out on me.” It's Yanli who breaks the silence and pulls away first. She picks up the plastic bag off the floor and goes behind the counter, setting the bag on it. She pats the chair, a signal for Wen Qing to sit down. Wen Qing is on the chair at the speed of light. Or well. Exhausted, person with a cold maximum speed. Yanli smiles at her either way, because she’s lovely like that. She takes out her container filled with delicious food, and the smell hits Wen Qing straight in the stomach. It's simple egg fried rice, char siu and tang yuan. “Lan Zhan made the tang yuan today, said to make sure I share some with you.” She gathers the first bite for Wen Qing, and holds the spoon out to her.
“You know I can eat by myself right?” Still Wen Qing leans a little forward to take the spoon into her mouth. Maybe heaven is real, because she feels like she just ascended to it. She never doubts Yanlis' cooking, but sometimes she forgets how good it truly is.
“Don't you know I love to take care of you, right?” She takes out a napkin and dabs away at the corner of Wen Qings’ mouth. “I know you enjoy it too.”
“I enjoy everything you do to me.” Wen Qing brings her arms around Yanli once again, as if not touching her will kill them both. Being this close together will make feeding Wen Qing just a tad bit harder, but neither of them mind.
“Behave, Qing-ah.” Another spoonful.
Wen Qing swallows before she says, “do I get to eat you out if I finish everything?”
A soft laugh is heard above Wen Qing. “I'm sure Wei Ying would love to hear that.” Another bite. “Also you're at work and sick.” Wen Qing grumbles a little, her mouth full with food but makes no further comments.
It's nice. Very nice. Eating food with the woman she loves, their bodies so close, their souls touching shyly. It's intimate, not in a sexual way, but in a way that would make anyone seeing it feel like an intruder.
When Wen Qing finishes the fried rice and char siu, she barely takes a break before reaching for the tang yuan. She can eat them in one bite, honestly how they should be eaten, but she still bites only half of it, while the other half she feeds to Yanli. As they finish Wen Qing rests her forehead on Yanlis' stomach, the soft material of her shirt bringing her immense comfort. Or maybe that's just Yanlis' whole being, Wen Qing finds herself not really caring. A hand rests on top of her head, petting lightly. “I could fall asleep like this.”
“You can, I'm not going anywhere.’’
“Work is unfortunately still a thing.” Wen Qing starts kissing up Yanlis stomach, up to her sternum, her neck, paying special attention to the moles there. Again it's not exactly sexual, just Wen Qings’ need to feel her girlfriend closer. They're chest to chest now, and she's softly kissing Yanlis cheeks that have puffed up like bread in the oven, due to smiling like a fool.
Wen Qing pulls away, just to see that smile, but almost instantly she's pulled back and her lips land on Yanlis.
It's a slow kiss, and their faces are so close Yanli can feel Wen Qings’ lashes brush against her own. It's perfect, even in the drab store, yet Yanli doesn't want it happening anywhere else. Soft huffs of breath, noses lightly touching, their arms enveloping each other. Neither of them have other intentions than just wanting that closeness. They pull away and just stare at each other. The corners of Wen Qings’ mouth twitch and Yanli can't help the smile that's overtaking her face. Soon they’re giggling into each other like drunk teenagers. And Wen Qing feels like she's floating.
“I honestly would have rather walked into you two making out than this, this is horrible.”
Wen Qing rolls her eyes, but the smile is still very much present on her face, so everyone knows she’s not actually annoyed. Nothing could ruin her mood now, she thinks.
Even when Wei Wuxain pulls Yanli away from Wen Qing and hugs the life out of her. Even as he whines and complains about how terrible Wen Qing is for stealing his shijie, and as Yanli pets him and comforts him, taking out another container full of food just for him. As Wei Yings’ too loud of a voice carries through the shop, Wen Qing feels at peace.
Her eyes meet Yanlis and she smiles. Suddenly she doesn't mind the bright flashy lights.