bubble // zhuiling

two

lan sizhui

         the plan in the boy's mind was only half formed when they found the cave.

"are you sure this is where you want the pretty princess to stay?" jingyi looked at sizhui as if he was crazy. was he?

he nodded. "it's perfect." everything was unfolding now. he'd leave the beautiful surfacer in the cave and fetch a headband for him. he'd nurse him back to health and bring him to the surface. that much was doable, right?

sizhui told jingyi all of this as he settled the boy down in a bed of seaweed.

"you want to keep her here?!" jingyi exclaimed.

"him," sizhui corrected.

"you've actually gone insane. was it how you're incapable of having a bit of fun, or the fact that you were raised by a cut-sleeve and a surfacer?!"

jingyi regretted it as soon as the bitter words tumbled out of his mouth. "sizhui... i didn't mean that," he apologised. he had been doing that a lot today. "i love your dads, you know i do."

sizhui mustered a smile. "it's okay. can we get going with this crazy plan now?"

"yeah."

•

lan jingyi

         stealing a headband was new territory in rule-breaking for jingyi. he'd never paid as much attention to the gusu rules as his best friend, sizhui had.

sizhui and him had been close since they first met as little kids. people used to think they were twins, but now they'd both formed their own reputations. sizhui was sweet, kind and constantly volunteering for the grunt work that no one respected. jingyi, on the other hand, was an endearing mischief-maker.

at the end of the day, the two were polar opposites, but jingyi loved sizhui for his stiff, rule-following yet caring personality, and sizhui loved jingyi for his playfulness. there had even been a time where they'd thought of each other as more.

he'd never expected sizhui to ask him to break the rules for him.

i swear, if sizhui gets attached to this surfacer princess...

hanguang jun had faced severe punishment for loving wei wuxian. not only was he another man, but one from above the water. their love had been forbidden and unheard of.

as if that had bothered the stone-faced young master, one of the twin jades of gusu.

jingyi wrote the idea off as unthinkable, but not totally outrageous. his head had started hurting at all the possibilities. sizhui getting banished from their clan? that would be so unbearable, he'd have to fall in love with a surfacer too, just to be with him.

        anyways, he needed to focus in order to steal this headband.

        the sacred headbands of the gusulan were cut from a special fabric that the village elders prepared. apparently they used to be made with cotton, but that was before they went underwater. after the battle between them and the wen clan and they were forced into the lake, they had started using fabric made from water hyacinths. the plants were enchanted, and so the headbands were what allowed the clan to breathe underwater.

        they were kept in an underwater garden, an especially scenic part in the beautiful sect. only family and significant others were allowed to touch the headbands, but jingyi supposed that they had been made by the elders of the village, uniting the young and the old. it was the little things like these that made him love his home. however, that could never satisfy his curiosity.