A Blade and an Arrow

Shorts 2

The silverette huffs an annoyed breath, crossing his arms. "You act and speak as though you're better in everything than me!" He yells back, almost throwing the table infront of him if it weren't for his arms folded.

"Because I AM better than you!" The archer scowls, hands clenched tightly on his sides as he meets the deathly glare with his own.

Mu Qing makes a humorless and sarcastic chortle, rolling his eyes again as he tilts his head in a mocking way. "Then why were you so easy to hurt?!"

The whole Upper Court went silent.

⸙

"Mu Qing, just-" Feng Xin grabs at his loose sleeve, stopping the silverette from running away as he sighed heavily. "I know I said goodbye but don't forget that you did too."

"What, putting the blame on me again, Nan Yang?" Mu Qing spat, not even having the energy - or sanity - to glance or snatch his sleeve away.

The archer shook his head tediously. "Everytime.. -everytime I touch or even speak to her, I feel like I was cheating on you." He confessed with a cracked voice as he averts his gaze away. Chewing on his lip he sighed again. "I just thought it'd be better if one of us found someone new at that time.. it was a dire situation, you know that."

"To an extent you even impregnated her?" The silverette finally cocks his head back, eyes glaring yet glistening with unshed tears. "Fine then! Is this a dire situation for you?! Then go and find her and.. and be a happy family again!" He glowers, pushing the other with such force he almost stumbled as he marched outside the palace with clenched fists.

"Mu Qing! She was nothing compared to you! You've always been the one in my heart, you know that!"

⸙

They were a literal night and day. Oil and water. Desert and sea. Fire and ice.

They were the destructive Gods of the South who seemed to can't even get along despite having the same territory, can't stand each other in the same room, couldn't stand each other's existence to an extent they even managed to destroy the main avenue along with their own palaces in uncontrollable rage.

They are a walking disaster.

So when Xie Lian saw them smiling at each other and even having the archer hook his arm around the silverette in a loving manner the moment he stepped into the Great Martial Hall for the 3rd Mid-Autumn Banquet after the dethroned Emperor.

He was flabbergasted.

"WHAT - WHAT IS THIS?! A SORCERY?! A SPELL?!"

⸙

Mu Qing sucks in a sharp breath - feeling a bit odd since he didn't really need air to survive - as the air slaps every part of his body that stings as his silver hair flew everywhere along with the seconds of his fall from the cliff.

He was a God in a mortal's body.

And this was an extremely tall mountain that if he were to land, he'd immediately be squashed from the impact.

Reminding him that, he closes his eyes, already knowing he wasn't going to survive this fall as there was nothing around his reach to clutch on to or even something he could use with his saber. His spiritual power was no more, he couldn't command his zhanmadao to lift him up.

He opens his eyes, almost bulging from its pockets as he watched a familiar archer fall from the same cliff, bow in hand as he shifts his body to turn his back from the ground. "Feng Xin, what the fuck are you-" He paused from his yelling. Eyebrows raising up as the martial deity paid him no mind, shooting the arrow back on the top along with an immortal binding rope he seemed to have tied it with before he fell, circling an arm around the silverette's waist as the other tugged on the rope.

Their fall came to a crashing halt. The breath Mu Qing had sucked in earlier felt like a suffocating smoke in his lungs as he coughed it out harshly.

"You can't just die on me like that, Xuan Zhen."

⸙

"I know we're just f-f-friends but.." He smiles at the glare thrown at him at how he said the term, mocking the way the silverette said it the first time on the brink death at Mt. Tonglu. "For you, I will give my lanterns to."

"Oh really? Or is it just another empty offering?" Mu Qing huffs, folding his arms over his chest with an arched brow.

The archer shakes his head with a soft laugh. "My lanterns are nothing if it means I can have you in my arms."

"Shut up."

Feng Xin laughed again. This time, he tests the waters, stepping closer until the latter was just an arm's length. He watches in amusement how those pale cheeks grow even redder than cherries as the silverette desperately tries to hide it casually from him but only ending up turning around. "What, you thought that was a joke?"

"You take pride in the amount of lanterns you recieve at the beginning of the year. Of course it'll sound like a joke if it's from you." Mu Qing remarks, rolling his eyes with a faint smile the other couldn't see before huffing again.

Yet to his utter surprise.

The moment his name was announced as second place just under the three thousand lanterns of Xie Lian with over five hundred more lanterns than he normally receives throughout his existence as a the God of the Southwest making it a total of one thousand lanterns in one sitting.

He glances at the smirking archer.

⸙

"You are an absolute idiot." The silverette scowls. Gently removing the twigs and leaves the other had gotten after he rolled down from a small hill. "Absolute idiot!"

"But you love this idiot." Feng Xin grins dopely, letting the man do as he pleases as he just sits on the ground. He cocks his head back to meet the gaze of the latter who stood behind him. "Don't you?"

"Unfortunately, I do." Mu Qing sighed, rolling his eyes before pulling another leaf from his hair. He yelps in surprise once that same hand gets pulled down in a blink of an eye as he was forced to sit on his lover's lap. "What the fuck are you doing? Someone might see us!" He exclaims, trying to pry away the arms helplessly.

"And if someone did see us?" Feng Xin questions with a frown. "Are you not happy to be seen with me?"

The silverette sighed, lifting a hand as he taps on his tanned cheek softly in comfort. "It's not that. You know how gossiping works around the three realms, utterly disgusting." He starts, giving the other a small smile. "Is it bad I just wanted to keep you for myself? I don't want thoughtless people talking about our relationship."

The archer's frown soon turned into a sly smirk. "You want to keep me for yourself?"

"Don't get cocky you idiot."