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Title: Don't Stop Me Now ('cause I'm having a good time) Rating: T, no archive warnings apply Additional Tags: Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Katsuki Yuuri wins gold, romance, fluff, post-canon, married Victuuri Relationships/Characters: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Phichit Chulanont Summary: Yuuri Katsuki had been to three Olympic games now. In Sochi, he’d watched Victor Nikiforov take gold, while he finished an (in his opinion) underwhelming eighth. In Pyeongchang, Victor Nikiforov had watched him take gold; as his coach, as his husband. Now, in Beijing, he was surely at his last Olympics. He was twenty-nine, older than all but a couple of his competitors, and if it weren’t for sheer will, he’d probably have retired by now. Most expected he would.

But he was Yuuri Katsuki, and he’d made a career, since that fateful spring day Victor Nikiforov had come to coach him, of surpassing expectations; of being full of surprises. He came in as the reigning world champion; he’d been the reigning world champion since 2017. As had been the case for years, all eyes were on him.

Written for @opalescentlesbiian for the @yuri-on-ice-action event!!! You really gave me a prompt that was right up my alley. 😆

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Title: Strange Fire Rating: T Additional Tags: Romance, Fluff, Post-Canon, Oneshots, Humor Relationships/Characters: Dongfang Qingcang/Xiao Lanhua. Xunfeng Summary: Xunfeng and Dongfang Qingcang have a chat at dinner. Xiao Lanhua helps.

A family dinner with the royal family of Cangyan Sea

I said I was going to turn this into a fic collection. This second fic is an extended version of the WIP Wednesday I posted last week. ♥

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Title: Strange Fire Rating: General Audiences Additional Tags: Romance, Fluff, Post-Canon, Oneshot Relationship: Dongfang Qingcang/Xiao Lanhua Summary:

It only took a moment for the flame to burst into life. Scarlets and pinks and a touch of vivid purple. It was warm, so warm, and it felt as if his insides were filled with light; there was no pressure in his meridians, and his mind was clear, and he felt, for a moment, as if he were in his heart sea again, relaxed and content as he rested against his fully blossomed tree of emotions. “What is this?” he finally managed, his voice awed, barely above a whisper. (Post-Canon: Dongfang Qingcang discovers his Glazed Fire)

Good evening. I give you gratuitous fluff to soothe the soul.

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LBFAD Fic: What's Past is Prologue

Title: What's Past is Prologue Rating: General Audiences Additional Tags: Shippy Gen, Introspective, Character Study, Pre-Canon, Post-Canon, Oneshot Relationship: Dongfang Qingcang/Xiao Lanhua Summary: Dongfang Qingcang dreams, then and now.

(AKA Dongfang Qingcang of the past meets a present day version of himself.)

“YOU ARE NOT ME,” he spoke, his voice booming, as if amplified by magic, and blue flames burst out around his body, enveloping him as he stepped into a defensive stance. He was ready to fight this farce of himself; who spoke of peace, who spoke of love, who spoke as if he had accomplished impossible things, and who even spoke as if he had a heart.

His other self was stone faced, not afraid, and he sighed. “I am you. You are just not yet the person you are meant to be.”

READ ON AO3

For @clj-fanweek day one (themes: awakenings, pre-canon).

Thank you so much for reading. This is my first fic for the series.

Please check out this stunning art by @clj-art-blog featuring our two versions of DFQC meeting. 😍

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Art/sketch of LBFAD Fic: What's Past is Prologue Fanfiction is so wonderful, so thanks to the author @harocat for the inspiration🌙

For @clj-fanweek day two (themes: new + old).

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Return to the Silent Moon Palace

For @harocat 's fic Desert Moon (Light the Way) for the @lbfad-minibang !

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I can reveal my Yuletide fic now! This was my first time participating, and I had a lot of fun. Enjoy some Samurai Flamenco Goto/Masayoshi post-series hookup fluff.

I rewatched the last seven or so eps before writing, and it was SO delightful. Just as fun as ever. Seriously it is the BEST time you can have watching an anime.

Love in Between

Comments, shares, and kudos are adored. ❤️

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Title: Desert Moon (Light the Way) [4/8] Author: @harocat Rating: Teen Pairings: Dongfang Qingcang/Xiao Lanhua (Jieli/Shangque is mentioned) Warnings: character death (sort of; the story takes place in the extremely far future, the cast has passed away of old age by then, except DQFC and XLH). Tags: romance, drama, action, angst with a happy ending

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, when the Moon Tribe faced its greatest danger yet, the kingdom's most valuable resources, the Moon Supreme, Dongfang Qingcang, and the Moon Queen and Goddess of Xishan, Xiao Lanhua, were sealed away. As they slept, their powers, that of the glazed fire and the holy goddess, continued to protect and provide for the kingdom. It worked; while Cangyan Sea was ravaged, it survived and the people moved on and rebuilt.

Unfortunately, The Moon Supreme and the Moon Queen did not awaken. They were relegated to folklore and legend, though those who knew them knew that one day, when they were needed most, they would return.

In the present, in a mortal realm much like our own, two lost immortals find themselves awakening in a new world.

Cangyan Sea is different now; their friends have long passed, and the lush, deep forests are no more. The land is hot and barren, a sea of sand, a desert landscape of dunes and sparsely vegetated mountains, dotted with small rivers that fill and empty with the seasons. But the people still live and thrive, and Dongfang Qingcang and Xiao Lanhua's return will change everything.

Art by @sir-raina-art can be found here!

Holiday season kicked me in the rear, and then I got sick. Here's chapter four. Welcome to a very epistolary(? technically they're not letters) chapter.

We are halfway through our journey, and I can't wait to make it the rest of the way. There will be a couple more gorgeous art pieces near the end as well. Comments, feedbacks, and kudos are greatly loved. ❤️💕

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Number 36, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji

Hey, thanks! I've never written MDZS so here goes lol.

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Wei Wuxian is dead, and the pugilist world moves on; rebuilds, sweeps their actions under the rug, leaving the only echoes of them in their tales of the sinister Yiling Patriarch. The villain is defeated. The cultivators continue as they were before. They’ve buried their dead. The rot has been scraped out. 

If Lan Wangji could hate Wei Wuxian like they did, perhaps his life would be easier. 

But even if he hated him, the scars on his back would not hurt any less, and the child at his side would not need him any less. Though, perhaps if he’d always hated him, there would be no child, and there would be no scars. 

Becoming the kind of person who saw Wei Wuxian’s true self and still hated him, would be akin to trading his soul for comfort, for ease, for a life where the scales hadn’t fallen from his eyes and he hadn’t seen the world he lived in for what it truly was.

It was unacceptable, and no pain was too great, no responsibility too large to carry, for him to find that preferable. He would forge ahead, with the suffocating grief, with the nightmares, and with the love, because the alternative was unconscionable.

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41, Iroha/Sana (Magia Record)

Me not mentioning many specifics because I haven't read arc two yet, and it's been a while since I read arc one.

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If you asked Sana what her favorite type of cat would be, she might say it was a soft, gentle gray one like Miss Purrs had been, but in reality, she wasn’t exactly picky. She just loved cats.

Maybe it was that there was something about them that she saw in herself; they seemed at first shy, like they wanted to be alone, but when you reached out to them, when you offered them your companionship and were genuine about it, they loved intensely. 

If Sana could make those she cared for as happy as the affection of a cat made her, she’d consider it a job well done. It was hard though. Sometimes, she felt as if she took much more than she gave. Iroha and the other girls of Mikazuki Villa were always there for her; when she struggled, when she bled, when she just needed to cry. Iroha usually caught on when she was sad, sometimes even before Sana realized how upset she was herself. 

It didn’t necessarily take anything specific to make Sana sad. There were days she just woke up with a deep melancholy in her heart, and nothing could shake it. On those days she felt particularly useless. She knew she was welcome. She knew she was loved, but— had she earned that?

Yesterday had been one of those days. She woke up feeling as if her head was throbbing, but it wasn’t a physical ache; it was an imaginary pressure that seemed to almost overwhelm her. Things felt blurry and frustrating, sad yet numb. She wondered if this was common for other people. She didn’t think it was. If only she could have slept the day away. 

She went to bed early that night. 

Iroha had clearly noticed, as she dragged her to Kamihama’s newest cat cafe the next morning. One good thing about being invisible was that it meant she didn’t have to pay admission, so at the very least, she didn’t also have to be a financial burden on her friends. The cats were so cute, and all of them were up for adoption as well. Sana longed to adopt one of her own, but she refused to even bring up the possibility until she could pay for it herself. 

She sat next to Iroha on a small, soft bench that doubled as cat furniture. A fluffy orange cat was spread across both their laps. Its purrs were steady, calming. Iroha had rested her head on Sana’s shoulder, which caused a flush to rise up on the younger girl’s cheeks. 

“Iroha-san…” she finally said. 

“Hmm?” Iroha responded. She was tired. Unlike Sana, she’d stayed up late the night before. 

“Thank you for doing all of this for me,” she replied, and her voice wavered, but she tried to keep it steady. “I-I sometimes think I ask too much of you.” 

“Sana-chan, you didn’t even ask me to do this,” Iroha let out a light laugh. 

Sana waved her hands in front of her. “I know, I know! But you always notice when I’m sad and try to help me with that.” 

Iroha looked confused for a moment, then smiled and sat back up. She took Sana’s hands between hers. “That’s what friends do.” 

Sana shook her head. “But you do so much more for me than I do for you.”

Iroha went quiet for a few seconds. The orange cat took that chance to bat Sana’s arm, and she reached down and gave it a scratch behind the ears. At least cats could see her. 

“Do you know how when we fight witches and uwasa, we don’t just take turns attacking, but instead we attack based on what’s needed at that time?” Iroha asked. Sana nodded. “So sometimes, we’ll finish a battle and Tsuruno-chan will have done a lot more of the fighting than Felicia-chan, or you’ll have done more than me, but we still treat it like we won as a group.” 

Sana looked nonplussed, but nodded again.

“I think friendship is like that,” Iroha said. “I’m… a little new to it myself, but it seems to me it’s not just trading off back and forth. Sometimes one person needs to help a little more.” She smiled brightly. “But I like you, so it makes me happy to do that. Plus, all the things we do together are fun. I’m not going to complain about going to a cat cafe!”

“I don’t know…”

“And also, I know that someday, it might be different.”

“What do you mean?” Sana asked, her mouth dropping open in surprise. 

“I mean that there will be times where someone else needs more help than you do, and during those times, I know that you’ll be there for them.” Iroha smiled and squeezed Sana’s hands. 

“Y-yes, yes of course I would be!” Sana nodded resolutely, firm and full of conviction. 

And Iroha leapt forward and wrapped her arms around Sana’s shoulders, careful not to disrupt the happy orange cat that shared their laps. Sana melted into the embrace; so warm, so fond, like a kitten kiss or cup of hot cocoa in her mug back at Mikazuki Villa. She would be there for Iroha and her friends when she was needed, no matter what was needed, and she held that promise in the deepest part of her heart. 

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5, Hualian

Hello. There is a cat AGAIN. CW for animal death I guess, because it's a ghost cat, but it is being loved and cherished and there's no details.

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Hua Cheng could never begrudge Xie Lian’s kindness. It was one of the things he adored about him, that he found so special. Among all the gods in the realm of heaven, in Hua Cheng’s opinion, only Xie Lian was good enough to deserve to watch over the prayers of the common people. 

But lately, and he’d never admit this to Xie Lian, lest the other man think he’d done something wrong, which he hadn't, Xie Lian’s kindness had come at a disadvantage. 

It had only been a couple weeks since Xie Lian had come back to Paradise Manor with the tiny black and white cat in his arms. It wasn’t a normal cat, but a ghost cat that had wandered to the entrance of Ghost City. Xie Lian had found him on the way back from a meeting with the heavenly court. Hua Cheng did not know what had befallen a friendly domestic cat that would cause it to return as a wandering soul, nor was he sure he wanted to know, but Xie Lian had not been able to resist its plaintive mews. 

And so now the cat, a little girl Xie Lian had named Jiahao, had free reign of Paradise Manor. The truth was, Hua Cheng was actually very happy Xie Lian had felt comfortable enough to bring the cat home without even asking beforehand. It showed he viewed Hua Cheng’s home as just as much his home, and that he fully understood, believed, and accepted that everything that belonged to Hua Cheng also belonged to him. He knew the Xie Lian he had met again years before would not have been able to do that. 

Xie Lian doted on the creature. She was a ghost cat, he reasoned, so she could eat whatever she wanted and it wouldn’t matter. This meant that if the cat asked for it, she got it. This was also fine. Hua Cheng wanted him to be happy. He would just get more food if they ran out. 

The bigger problem was that the cat clung to him like a particularly stubborn shadow. There was no time at which the cat wasn’t by Xie Lian’s side. He couldn’t even take a bath without Jiahao coming in and reaching in to playfully splash the surface. She slept with him, she ate with him, she bathed with him, she relaxed with him, and she even went out with him, walking alongside him dutifully. He imagined if E-ming had been a cat, it might act a little bit like Jiahao (though Jiahao, to her credit, was much quieter and mellower). 

In short, Hua Cheng missed Xie Lian. He missed having his full attention and cuddling with him and Xie Lian only having eyes for him, and he also missed sex, because it was hard to have sex when there was a cat in bed with you. And he was trying to be patient, because the cat made him happy, and Xie Lian’s happiness was tantamount to everything, but it was becoming difficult.

Was he jealous of a cat? Yes. A ghost cat, even, but as he himself was a ghost, he supposed that was irrelevant.

Xie Lian, to his credit, did finally notice. It had been Hua Cheng’s fault; he’d accidentally dropped his nonchalant front and scowled when Jiahao got with them one night. The cat licked both of them on the nose (she was sweet, he couldn’t deny), then nuzzled up to Xie Lian, coaxing him to open his arms so she could snuggle in them.

The scowl was, he imagined, quite dramatic. His brows were furrowed and his lips were drawn, and to anyone else, it might be frightening to have Crimson Rain Sought Flower looking at them that way (though to be fair, he was looking at the cat, not Xie Lian). 

Xie Lian froze, and concern crossed his features. “San Lang, what’s wrong?” he asked. He was still petting the cat, but he did reach over and press his other palm to Hua Cheng’s cheek. 

“Nothing, gege.” He shook his head. “I think I’m just tired.”

Xie Lian frowned. “San Lang, you rarely get tired. Please tell me what’s wrong.” 

“We haven’t had sex for two weeks,” Hua Cheng managed after a few moments of silence. That is not what he’d meant to say. 

The other man burst out into peals of laughter, and Hua Cheng thought, as always, that it was beautiful. “Why didn’t you just say something?”

He continued, despite his embarrassment. “Well, that cat is always here. I know you love that cat, but gege… it feels like you give her so much attention and…”

Xie Lian gasped. “Sang Lang, are you jealous of Jiahao?” There was a playful edge to his voice. 

Hua Cheng sighed. Jiahao meowed. 

“I just miss spending time with you alone.”

“You miss having my eyes on just you.” Xie Lian smiled, and he placed his other hand on Hua Cheng’s cheek as well, then squeezed. “I’m sorry. You give me so much, and in return I made my San Lang feel unloved.” 

“You’ve given me more than enough.”

Xie Lian shook his head. “Poor Jiahao. She’s a lonely ghost who has clearly been through so much, and she just wants to stay by the side of someone who loves her.” He glanced down at the cat, who had already dozed off. “Maybe I like her so much because she reminds me of someone else.” 

Hua Cheng’s mouth dropped open, and then he pursed his lips. “Gege…” 

“But I hate that you’ve felt neglected, San Lang,” he continued. “I’ll try to be more conscious of this so I can take proper care of both of you.” 

The other man shook his head. “Jiahao makes you happy. I’m glad you brought her back, gege.” 

“Mhmmm,” Xie Lian replied, “but I don’t want any of my happiness to come at my San Lang’s expense. We’re married. We exist to make each other happy. It goes both ways.”

Hua Cheng nodded, then after a few seconds, spoke up again. “Can we have Yin Yu take her some nights?” 

Xie Lian laughed again, beautiful. “Yes, and we can do whatever San Lang wants on those nights.” 

“What about tonight?” he asked, and he leaned forward, attempting to ignore the cat between them so he could whisper in his husband’s ear. Xie Lian pressed a playful kiss to Hua Cheng’s cheek, interrupting his attempt at seduction.

“Not tonight. I’m not moving Jiahao when she’s already fallen asleep.” 

Hua Cheng would have to look forward to tomorrow, but, he thought, that was fine. They had endless tomorrows. 

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most of those prompt happens in canon, a couple of them several times. for the ask game 8 tantai jin/susu

Sorry this took a bit, but on the upside it ended up almost 3k words?

This story is canon up to the point of Tantai Jin’s death, which I have decided to ignore. Li Susu also does not know she's pregnant yet in this fic. Who knows how long it takes for a magical pregnancy to appear. ;)

This is about a trans character, so on that note, there is some mild internalized transphobia. I think it's fair to warn for that.

Thanks to @redpearlearring, @chef-manardee, and @abarero for reading over this.

AO3 LINK: Cherry Lips

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It had started with an innocuous comment. Li Susu and Tantai Jin were dressed in their mortal realm finery and were heading into the capital of Jing for a night out together, when, after surveying him, dressed up and ready to go, she’d quipped that he looked ‘even prettier than her.’ 

He’d preened a bit, puffing up his chest and adjusting his outer robe, then smiled and assured her that was not the case, to which she laughed, but the comment stuck with him the rest of the night. 

In bed that night, with Li Susu’s head pressed against his chest, he’d mulled on it even more. She was mumbling, still a bit tipsy from their night out, and he rubbed her back and sighed. 

Before he’d become emperor, Tantai Jin had never had any choice in the way he presented himself. He wore what he was given, which wasn’t much, and he barely had the chance to think about who he was beyond the need to survive. When he’d become emperor, he’d started braiding his hair like his mother had. Nian Baiyu had once mentioned only women of the Yiyue tribe braided their hair like he did, but Tantai Jin did not care. In fact, he’d rather liked hearing that. 

He’d had some freedom to dress the way he did as an emperor, but it was still a necessity that his clothing fit a certain idea of what a Jing royal should look like. Not only did the braids honor the one person from his past that had genuinely loved him, but they were also a way to assert that being the emperor did not mean he wasn’t still Tantai Jin, his own person with his own identity. No other emperor would have braided his hair the way Tantai Jin did. 

In the Xiaoyao sect, he’d dressed along with his sect brothers. As the Devil God well… he did suppose he could wear what he wanted. It’s not as if anyone could or would try to stop him. The Devil God wearing a brown cloth sack was no less powerful, after all. 

And then, after he and Li Susu had moved into their new home, outside of Jing, he’d taken to dressing similar to the nicest clothing he had in Sheng, whereas Li Susu favored the styles she’d worn in her sect. 

When Li Susu had said he was ‘prettier than her’, he’d first been happy to hear it. She’d called him handsome before, but this was the first time she’d said pretty, and even if she was joking, he’d… felt a thrill go down his spine at it. And then, when complimenting her in return and raking his eyes down the beautiful, gold and violet hanfu she’d put on for the evening, he’d felt, strangely enough, a pang of jealousy. 

Her face was made up, her lips a red-pink and her eyes shaded with a rosy hue. Her hair was pulled up in two small twisted buns, leaving most of it hanging down in a style she often wore.  

She'd looked beautiful in a way that Tantai Jin was not only attracted to, but envied. He was content with who he was, he truly was, but maybe… maybe he could be more? 

What a strange thought to have. Perhaps he had too much time on his hands now. Maybe he should take an even more proactive stance in administering the Barren Abyss, if he had time to fantasize about what he’d look like in his wife’s clothing. 

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But the thoughts didn’t leave him. Often, he found himself intently watching her when she put her makeup on in the morning. He’d help her with her eyebrows, of course, as any husband would his wife, but she’d go over to her mirror and do the rest and he would relax on the closest seat, his eyes bright and focused on the process. Li Susu didn’t really say anything. He imagined she was used to his eccentricities and just assumed watching her put on her makeup was the latest of them. 

One day though, a bright spring morning, she did finally turn around, hands on her hips, and sighed. “Tantai Jin, why have you been watching me do this every single day?”

“Can a husband not watch his wife?”

She rolled her eyes. “Come on…”

“Maybe I just want to learn how to do it,” he answered with a shrug. 

She let out a short laugh. “What? I can do it myself, but thanks for the offer.”

Tantai Jin stood up and walked over to the vanity next to her. He glanced into the mirror and frowned. “Well then why don’t you do mine?” 

He’d said it as a joke, surely. His tone had been silly and playful. He knew she would take it that way. After all, why would he make such a preposterous suggestion. Many men wore powder, although Tantai Jin did not; his complexion was already very fair and clear, but it was not the norm to wear a full face of bright makeup like his wife tended to prefer, unless one were performing.  

Li Susu just shrugged. “Well why not.”

Tantai Jin’s eyes went wide, and his mouth dropped open in shock. “Ahh I was just—” 

“You’ve been watching me put my makeup on every day,” she said with a grin. “Come on, it will be fun.”

“I’ll look ridiculous Susu…” he murmured. 

She laughed. “You will not. Now, sit down.” 

He frowned, but sat in the vanity chair, fidgeting awkwardly. The Devil God himself, embarrassed and flustered as his wife hovered above him with rouge and lipstick.

 “Fine.”

And Li Susu got to work. It turned out, she was rather chatty while she was doing this. He heard gossip about her sect that she’d learned via a visit from Fuya recently. She rambled about how their vegetables were growing in the courtyard (not well, Susu did not have a green thumb). 

Tantai Jin remarked that she could just use magic, and she explained that she was trying to do it the mortal way, but she was about to give in. “What’s the point in being a goddess if you aren’t going to use your power to make your life easier?” he’d asked. Li Susu remarked that there were indeed many other points to being a goddess, and that using your abilities to grow vegetables was low on the list. 

She wouldn’t let him look in the mirror, but Tantai Jin thought she was getting way too much enjoyment out of this. He half expected to see his reflection at the end and discover that she’d indeed taken his comment entirely as a joke and made him look as silly as she could. 

But Susu wasn’t snickering or giggling during the process. She was calm and concentrated, and although she did smile, it was a small, satisfied one. It was almost like she was taking it seriously. 

He felt as if it took forever, and he spent half the time berating himself and trying to talk himself out of just standing up and leaving. Didn’t he ask so much already? She was the sole goddess of the three realms, and he was, though also a god, the arbiter of evil. She could live with her sect, perhaps, if not for him. Not only was his presence no longer welcome there according to many, despite what good he’d done, but he’d forced her into godhood, alienating her from them. 

Now, instead of being where he knew she’d dreamed of being, with the family and sect that she loved, they’d decided to stay in a nice, though not extravagant house outside of the capital of Jing. No one knew who they were there. 

He’d taken so much from her, and all she’d gotten was him in return. The least he could do was be a normal, good husband; like the ones in the capital that he always felt a little bit out of place among. He hadn't even expected to live, but here he was, asking for more; for his wife to fulfill the unusual desires he’d been experiencing the past few months. 

Li Susu let out a hmmmm and flicked next to his eye with the bamboo brush once more, before pulling away. 

She exhaled deeply and surveyed her work, and a smile crept across her face. It was wide, and she bit her lip to stop it from becoming even wider. 

“Does it look that ridiculous?” he asked, jokingly, of course, because he was embarrassed of being sincere. 

She shook her head. “Tantai Jin, it looks great.” 

“Li Susu, you are a terrible liar,” he replied, a sardonic smile crossing his lips. 

“I’m not lying!” she huffed. “Wanna bet?” 

He shot her a deadpan stare. 

Her brows furrowed and she crossed her arms. “You look really good.” 

He closed his eyes, then breathed out through his nose. “Fine, then let’s see it.”

Li Susu turned the chair around while he still had his eyes closed, and he could swear she was almost skipping as she did it. “Okay, look now.”

And Tantai Jin opened his eyes. 

He was almost overwhelmed by what he saw. She had taken it seriously, putting just as much, if not more, work into it than she did her own face. The rouge below and beside his eyes, his eyelids edged in black, his eyebrows thin and dark, and his lips a cherry cupid’s bow. She’d painted a delicate, red phoenix flame huadian on his forehead, which amused him. It was like she was signing her work.  

It didn’t look strange, it didn’t look funny, it looked right; like he was meant to see himself this way all along. It’s not as if Tantai Jin disliked the way he looked and dressed normally, but he liked this too. This felt just as much like it belonged, like it should be part of him. His lips parted and his mouth dropped open, and then slowly, he smiled. 

Li Susu grinned. “I told you.” She pulled him up to his feet. “Do you think I haven’t noticed how weird you’ve been lately?” She shook her head. “The way you’ve been looking at me… it’s different.”

“Has it been?”

She nodded. “So when you asked me to do your makeup earlier, I think I finally understood.” 

Li Susu walked over to the bed with him, and sat down. Tantai Jin joined her, hands still clasped in hers. 

“Tantai Jin,” she said, “you can tell me anything, you know that?” 

He frowned. “I know, no more secrets.” He sighed. “But I’m not even sure I understand this myself.”

“Hmmm…” Li Susu tapped her chin. “Do you want to try on one of my hanfu?”

“Yes,” he answered, without hesitation, and he hoped she didn’t notice the longing in his voice.

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Tantai Jin was lucky he was rather small, because it meant that he could easily try on his wife’s clothes. He picked up a pink gown, one he remembered Li Susu wearing during one of their first meetings post them reuniting, and with her assistance, he pulled it on. It would have been a little too short, but the fact that he couldn’t fill it out in the bust added enough length to where it didn’t look ill fitting. Her shoes were much too small for him, but he shrugged that off. She pulled his hair up in a simple updo, allowing two wavy tendrils to hang down by his face, and then she finished it off with a floral hairpin.

“Ha, I told you that you were prettier than me,” Susu said, a cheeky, yet satisfied grin on her face as she admired her handiwork. She dragged him over to the mirror and watched as he surveyed his reflection. “What do you think?”

He let out a shaky breath, almost a shudder, and stood in front of the mirror stiffly. Why was he nervous? Seeing himself like this, it felt good, it felt right. He was worried he’d look ridiculous, every bit as clownish as the makeup he’d imagined when anxious about what Li Susu had been up to earlier. But he didn’t. At least in his own eyes; he looked like he belonged. And maybe that made him more apprehensive than anything else. If he’d seen himself and laughed, thought it was absurd, perhaps he would have realized this to be nothing more than a whim and moved on. 

“Do you like it?” she asked, and her voice was wavering as well, as if worried about what he’d think of her hard work. 

He nodded. 

“Do you want to dress like this?” 

Tantai Jin pushed a strand of hair behind his ear and gulped, staring straight forward into the mirror. “Maybe… sometimes.”

Susu sighed and took his hands. “You’ve never really had a chance to form an identity of your own, have you?” she asked, and he was surprised at her perceptiveness. He loved her dearly, but Susu had never been the best at reading people. 

“All of my life I’ve been defined by a role,” he answered, his voice soft. “Even before I was born, one was decided for me.” He frowned, and a bitter expression crossed his features. “And eventually I was forced to accept that role as well, but—” and he looked up at her, his lined eyes wide, “I want to do it my way, and now that I finally have a chance, I want to get to know who Tantai Jin really is.”

Li Susu reached up and pressed a hand to his cheek, and her expression was so tender, and Tantai Jin felt breathless for a moment. “I want to get to know that as well.”

“You’re really all right with this?” he asked, quiet, cautious. 

She let out a laugh, almost a snort, and god she had a ridiculous laugh, but at the moment, he wouldn’t tease her about it. “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

He tilted his head slightly downward and ventured further, “You would… be seen with me like this?” 

“Of course,” she said, and he could hear an edge of exasperation in her voice. Was it so simple to her? She loved him and she found this that inconsequential? He wished it could weigh on him as little as it seemed to her. Li Susu reached around his shoulders with both arms and pulled herself up so they were face to face. “Hey, after everything we’ve been through, you should know by now that I’m not letting you go.” 

And at those words, he felt a weight lift off his chest. They’d been through so much, and he was worried about something as small as this? The fact that he didn’t fully know yet who he was made sense, and Li Susu understood this as well. And maybe he couldn’t be the same kind of husband as the majority of those in Jing, but— she’d known this already. Even if he weren’t the Devil God, he could never be exactly like them. He had never been the kind of person who could fit in wherever he went. 

But neither was she, and perhaps that’s part of the reason they fit together; like two, strange puzzle pieces. 

This? Of course she wouldn’t have a problem with it, would she? 

He smiled wryly, then leaned down to kiss her, and the lipstick he was wearing smudged against her lips and hers did the same to his, and oh he liked that so much. When they pulled apart, her eyes were sparkling, and he thought his must be the same. 

“I like the way I dress,” he began, and they were still mere centimeters apart. He could feel her hot breath flush against his rouged cheeks. “But I also like this. Both feel right to me. Maybe even some other ways as well. I don’t know yet…”

She squeezed one of his hands. “You seem really happy in this, and you look so good.”

“So it’s okay if I dress like this some days?” 

Li Susu pressed into his arms and nodded against his chest. “Yes, and even I’ll help you with the makeup whenever you need it.” 

“Good,” he whispered, and he returned her embrace. This was them, Li Susu and Tantai Jin; whatever it was now and whatever it may be in the future, he didn’t have a name for, but it nestled in his heart deeper than any devil bone or any soul slaying nails ever could. Them was who and what he was, and everything else he'd discover along the way. 

----

In my mind, TTJ uses he/him pronouns and his gender is basically 'lesbian', but in the absence of modern terminology, and because he's still very much near the beginning of trying to figure himself out in this fic, it's left a bit ambiguous.

Also we all know LYX is wearing a full face of makeup in TTEOTM, and he has the best eyeliner game in the Cdrama world after Dongfang Qingcang, but for the sake of the story, let's pretend he's not.

[cosmic-dare]

hello, hi!! I'd like to request a DFQC and XLH drabble for the prompt: "please, don't leave"

Hello! Once again, longer than a drabble. Warning for very cutesy fluff. Takes place almost directly post-canon, shortly after Dongfang Qingcang's return.

AO3: Shades of Pink and Red

----------------

In the quiet of late morning, with the sun shining down on the meadows of Xilan, the green grass soft, now dry of morning dew, Xiao Lanhua wished that she could stop time 

Dongfang Qingcang rested in her lap, eyes closed, but conscious, and he had a lazy, content smile on his face. It was an expression that was somewhat new to him; he was still getting used to smiling, let alone one as casual as this. He was so warm. He reminded her of a cat. If she could grasp a moment and put it in a pouch, to carry with her everywhere, it would be a moment like this. 

It had only been about a week since he’d returned, since he’d come back to life from that tiny piece of his soul she’d nurtured for five centuries, and there was still an ache in her chest every time she looked at him. Was it possible for an ache to be good? Because this was. It was like her heart was pressing against her chest at every moment, overwhelmed, overfull. He was really back, and he was in her arms, and he wasn’t going anywhere. 

But she was.

Xiao Lanhua sighed and grumbled under her breath. Dongfang Qingcang had not come back to her one hundred percent healthy. It made sense, considering what he’d put his primordial spirit through, but he was, for lack of a better word, convalescing now.

He got tired and winded easily, ached in places he’d never recalled aching beforehand, and he was hungry all the time. The latter made Xiao Lanhua laugh, considering that in the past, he’d teased her for how much she could eat. She was certain he’d mostly recover in time, that any long term effects would be minimized, but she still spent a shichen or so each day channeling her power into him to expedite the healing. 

She didn’t want to leave him. If he'd been well, she wouldn’t have wanted to, but he wasn’t even that. Sure, she knew he could handle himself fine on his own for a while, but that hardly changed her feelings. 

“Daqiang,” she finally said, her voice gentle. “I need to get ready to go.”

He responded to this by shifting further into her lap and pretending he did not hear her. 

“I know you’re not asleep,” Xiao Lanhua sighed. 

“I am,” he answered. 

She was trying, and somewhat failing, to stop herself from giggling. “Come on, I’ll be back by later tonight, I promise.”

“No,” he said, and he opened his eyes and stared up at her. “You are too busy.” 

And at this she finally broke down and laughed. “I haven’t left your side since you came back.” 

He reached up and grabbed her hand. holding it against his chest. “Xiaohuayao, what is it you have to go do again?”

She bit her lip and exhaled. “I agreed to bless the new garden at Fountain Palace.” 

He frowned. “You are going to spend the day with the worst man in the three realms, for something that isn’t even important.” 

“I promised to do it weeks ago.” She puffed up her cheeks, indignant.

“Hmph,” he replied, unconvinced. “You are the goddess of Xishan, you are the Moon Queen of Cangyan Sea. There are more important things for you to be doing with your time than blessing a garden in Shuiyuntian.” 

She smiled and lifted up his hand, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. “Like spending the day with you?” 

“Yes.” 

He said this as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

And he was not wrong. Of course he was more important to her than a meaningless ceremony, but the three realms were living in a time of peace now, and decorum such as this was important to maintaining that. Once he’d recovered and returned to his role as acting Moon Supreme, she knew that Dongfang Qingcang himself would have to get used to events that felt pointless, but were important to continued diplomacy. He had never lived in a time of peace before. This would be new to him, but she was confident he’d be able to thrive now. 

Xunfeng had been to and even hosted many, and though he’d loathed every single one of them, he had managed. Xiao Lanhua thought that Dongfang Qingcang, though he wouldn’t enjoy them, would be a bit more tolerant. He had a better head for public facing politics, and— well, for better or worse, he really liked to show off. He may need some instruction in the benefits of using ‘soft power’, but she’d be there for him. 

Having been in two diplomatic roles for the entirety of the past five hundred years, she’d learned a lot more about politics than she’d ever thought possible. It turned out, even blessing a garden was part of it. 

She shook her head, but her happy expression remained. “Dongfang Qingcang, not every battle is a war. Sometimes a battle is going to Shuiyuntian and trying not to tell Lord Yunzhong that the way he planted his perennials is all wrong.” 

Dongfang Qingcang’s lips quirked up in a half smile at that. “So the fairy king can’t even plant a flower garden correctly? Such a thing would never happen at Silent Moon Palace.” 

“Yes, because I’m there,” Xiao Lanhua retorted. She tapped his nose, which crinkled a bit in surprise. “Now let me get up and get ready.” 

“What if you get hungry?”

“There will be food there, I’m sure.”

“What if I get hungry?”

“There is plenty of food here.”

He cleared his throat and furrowed his brows.  “I wanted to take a bath today. I am not sure I’m strong enough to do it all on my own…” He pushed himself up, then made a hissing noise, as if he were in pain, and plopped back down right in her lap. By this point, she knew he was just teasing her, but— it was hard to get too irritated. Not when she was still not even used to hearing his voice again. 

“We’ll take a bath tomorrow. We can go to the warm spring behind the hill,” Xiao Lanhua offered, a sing-song tone to her voice. 

“Together?” he asked, and it was quiet. Was he worried he’d read her wrong? He had not. 

“Yes, if you’d like that.” 

And then, something divine happened; a light flush spread across his cheeks. Xiao Lanhua committed this to memory, painting every detail of it in her mind. She knew she’d seen many aspects of the Moon Supreme no one else had seen before, but this one? She was certain it was hers alone. No one but Xiao Lanhua had been allowed to see Dongfang Qingcang blush. 

To be fair to Dongfang Qingcang, he was at a disadvantage on this front. Xiao Lanhua had had the last five hundred years to imagine being intimate with him. It’s not that she didn’t think she’d be a bit embarrassed when the time came; she knew she would be, but she was ready. And besides, this was just a bath together, in a rather roomy spring. 

That did not, however, mean she wasn’t going to try to get him to blush again. She wondered how red she could get him. This had only been a sweet pink. What would happen when they finally– she grinned inwardly and made it a personal challenge to find out. 

“I would like that,” he finally managed, with a curt nod. He cleared his throat. “I’ll um– get up now. The sooner you leave, the sooner you can return.” 

Dongfang Qingcang pushed himself up and brushed the front of his robes off, and Xiao Lanhua joined him, taking his hand in hers. She stood at his side, allowing him to lean some of his body weight on her, something she’d noticed he appreciated during his recovery, as they walked back to Xilan’s Arbiter Hall. 

She pecked a quick kiss to his cheek, and he started in surprise, but then squeezed her hand tighter. At least she had something delightful to think about during the ceremony today; all of her favorite shades of red and pink, and how cute each would look coloring the cheeks of one Moon Supreme. 

----

Like and subscribe if you remember that DFQC is canonically a 38,000 year old virgin who never even thought about romance, let alone sex before he met XLH, and who literally says 'let alone marry, I won't even look at another woman [who isn't the one I love]'. Peak baby boy.

[cosmic-dare]

Title: Piece of the Dream

Rating: T

Additional Tags: romance, drama, fix-it fic

Relationship: Li Susu/Tantai Jin, minor Ye Qingyu/Pian Ran and Ming Ye/Sang Jiu

Summary: If Tantai Jin had searched for her for five hundred years, maybe fate would have her do the same for him.

But she would find him.

LINK TO AO3

Till the End of the Moon fic for the prompt ‘Tantai Jin and Li Susu Happy Ending/Fix it fic’ at Cdrama Gotcha For Gaza.

This is for Mimi! Mimi if you have a social media you’d like tagged, let me know. Thank you so much for donating to Palestinian aid through @cdrama-action. I hope you enjoy. 🍉 🍉

[cosmic-dare]

Till the End of the Moon Fic: Like the Birds Do

Title: Like the Birds Do Rating: T Additional Tags: Romance, Humor, Drama, Canon Divergence, Li Susu is afraid of birds, too bad she's a Phoenix Goddess. Relationship: Li Susu/Tantai Jin Summary: It all started with an egg.

When Li Susu discovers she's pregnant, she and Tantai Jin are eager to welcome their child into the world. Things, however, don't go exactly as they'd imagined.

[“Susu, you are a Phoenix Goddess,” he said plainly.

“Yes?”

“And that’s a bird.”

She sighed, her shoulders dropping as she deflated. “...Yes.”

“Didn’t you hatch from an egg?”

Li Susu pouted. “Yeah, yeah I get it.”

“Did you never consider—-”

“Did *you* ever consider?”

He had the decency to look apologetic. “No, I didn’t either.”

“How do we raise an egg?” she finally asked, her voice flat and resigned. ]

A one-shot about how a happy ending plays out for a very unusual couple; a Phoenix, a Devil God, and the egg they hatch together.

READ ON AO3

This story is also serves as a fix-it fic, so it's canon... up to the last ten minutes or so of the series.

This was originally just supposed to be a fun short fic about Li Susu laying an egg and Tantai Jin doting on the egg like a Papa Penguin, but it turned into a fairly hefty oneshot that serves as a vehicle for me to address everything I thought was left undone and unsaid. There's still plenty of silliness though.

Thank you to @abarero for the beta, and to @2014federalbudget for looking over this to make sure everything is accurate to canon.

Thank you so much for reading!

[cosmic-dare]

commission for @accioharo !

[cosmic-dare]

I received my beautiful Yuuri commission from @iruutciv the other day! 

This is from his Pyeongchang Olympic season short program in my story, Pictures at an Exhibition. The music is here if you want to capture the mood. 

Thank you so, so much @iruutciv for creating this piece of my best boy. He’s so gorgeous! 💙💙💙