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╰┈➤ You happily braid Yanqing's hair while he rambles to you about whatever is on his mind.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
The familiar sound of Yanqing's voice filled your senses. Nestled deep within the Seat of Divine Foresight, the two young lovers escaped to bask in one another's presence. All the while, your eyes surveyed Yanqing's hair, although he seemed oblivious. Seated on the cold floor, your heart pumped warmth just by looking upon Yanqing's smiling face. His golden eyes shimmered when he spoke to you. His words drowned your senses with immense happiness. Your cheeks grew hot at the sight of Yanqing beaming happily at you. You couldn't convince yourself not to smile back. Everything that you and Yanqing had experienced together seemed to lead you right up to this moment, spending your youth with locked eyes and smitten laughter, just the way you always wanted. Your heart had previously ached and yearned for Yanqing. Although now he's right before you, you almost couldn't bring yourself to even get close.
Yanqing, sheepish with his actions, scooted across the cold floor, ending up directly beside you. He lowered his chin into the palm of his hand, hiding his giddy grin, those mischievous eyelashes batting up at you. You let out a deep laugh, "So, do you have any updates about March 7th?" Your question immediately perked Yanqing's head. You seized the opportunity, swiftly pulling his hair from its previous ponytail, earning you a brief glare and a snort from Yanqing. You apologized under your breath. As your fingers began to dutifully comb through Yanqing's shining threads of gold, he happily began his duty of ranting to you. "Her swordplay is getting better," he commented with evident pride. "As expected of my apprentice." He added with an even more proud huff, puffing his chest a bit.
You snickered at his confident antics, batting his shoulder. "Don't move," you playfully commanded. "Really? Wow, she learned fast." "Hehe," Yanqing snickered, his cheeks flushing red. "She's good at what she does. One day, I'm sure she'll surpass even me." His words made you laugh. That didn't seem possible to you. Sectioning his hair tenderly, you corrected him. "Impossible," your gentle voice answered. "You're far more than just good at swordplay. You're also a trained martial artist— wait for her to try to best you at that." Your response was laced with a massive grin. An even more giddy giggle left Yanqing's lips. He leaned against your chest, causing his long hair to fall free of the braid you were busy working on, though you couldn't be irritated. As soon as Yanqing laid his head against your collarbone, you kissed the top of hair muted blond hair, snickering through your nostrils all the while.
"Goodness, you're such a sap." You playfully commented. Yanqing huffed audibly, batting at your shoulder as if to scold you. "I'll just start ignoring you, then." He replied, puffing out his cheeks in a mocking pout. Two smiles reflected back to one another before you tackled Yanqing's entire body, aggressively beginning to wrestle him between spouts of laughter, though Yanqing seemed eager to best you. The playful attitude between you and Yanqing was truly what made such a youthful love worth the while. Being so close to someone like this just seemed impossible, yet there you were, laughing all the while as Yanqing playfully battled against you, refusing to allow you to finish even one braid.
The Seat of Divine Foresight must have been the noisiest it's ever been since its construction many Amber Era ago. Echoes of giddy and sweet laughter reverberated off of the walls, disturbing a normally professional atmosphere, but also introducing much needed positivity to an otherwise bleak workplace. Laughing and almost threatening to kiss one another, you and Yanqing continued playfully battling, though no braiding ever finished, no matter how hard you fought to tie one up, Yanqing would always find a way to shake it right out.
You huffed, defeated as you laid back on the floor. Yanqing laid down directly beside you. Occasional beats of laughter rose between you and he. "..man, you're strong." You commented playfully. Yanqing nudged you with his elbow, "All thanks to the general." His expression was almost sly, as if he was happily taking the credit in spite of his words. "Pfft," you inched closer to him. "Can I actually braid your hair now?" Your question summoned a knowing look from Yanqing. His half-lidded eyes and mischievous expression told you that he was about to fend you off at every turn, but he certainly did dare you to try. You rolled onto your side. Your hands went back to work, braiding Yanqing's hair as he laid there, content in every way.
"Hey, I'm thinking about challenging someone at the Wardance," said he. "Wanna come with me? Please?" You eyed him with a soft grin. "Sure thing! Am I the opponent?" Your question seemed a bit nervous, though you weren't afraid to duel against Yanqing. A playful spar between you and him would never escalate, that you could always put faith in. "What—? Are you crazy?" Yanqing playfully asked in mock surprise. He pushed your face ever so gently. "No way! I'm not taking you down!" You snorted aloud, "You know you'd win?" You shot back, earning you a brief and coarse 'hey' from Yanqing, his only protest towards your teasing.
"Alright. I'll go!" You happily replied, beaming as you spoke. Yanqing's cheeks flushed red as he surveyed your expression, almost in disbelief, but before he could ask you to repeat, you spoke again. "I want to spar against you. It'd be such an honor to lose to you!" You gawked almost embarrassingly, but Yanqing looked overjoyed, his eyes shining like pure gold. "Yeah—! Please do! Let's start training now!" He hollered, shooting upwards, unfortunately losing his braid yet again. You huffed, quickly hurrying to complete one thick, slightly messy braid. You nodded, "Swords or wrestling first?" You asked with a content grin, almost competitive about it.
Yanqing leapt to his feet, hurrying to tug you up by your arm in tow with him, his excitement very apparent. His happiness was stained all over his visage. It was absolutely adorable, to say the least. "Put the swords aside for now," he clasped your hands in his, his face mere inches from yours as he excitedly spewed about his ideas. "Let's wrestle! I want to see just how strong you really are!" You laughed, "Please don't get your hopes up," you murmured before nodding. "Alright, bring it on!" Your challenge revved Yanqing so much more, perhaps for worse for you.
He's terrifyingly strong to you. If you were to get murked by him, you'd never recover, really. Even if it's all in good fun, you couldn't imagine getting absolutely destroyed in a wrestling match— embarrassing. But for Yanqing, you'd happily do it. You'd want him to defeat you. It'd be an honor, even, and you'd happily chase after it.
In that courtyard, you'd soon be wrestling Yanqing with very close strength, but ultimately, you'd get defeated each time. You got up and promised him you'd win, but you did the exact same thing, maybe even worse, each passing time. Yanqing seemed to thoroughly enjoy himself, however. That was all that ever mattered to you. So you got up, time and time again, until you finally struck a single victory out of all fifty of so matches. Congratudolences, truly.
