BingJiu AU where soulmates can hear each other’s thoughts 💭💕 When...

When Xiao Jiu first heard about the legend, he spent days staring at Qi-ge, alternating between trying to read his thoughts and projecting his own at him. It didn’t work. Xiao Jiu sulked for weeks:
Once a bit older he changed tactics: he would occasionally yell out in his thoughts “I’m here! Come pick me up!” hoping that one of the passersby would be his soulmate and take him away—along with Qi-ge, of course.
After the Qius, after WYZ, after Qi-ge’s broken promise he gave up on ever finding his soulmate. A rotten gutter rat like him most likely didn’t have one anyway. And if he did? As soon as the poor fool heard his thoughts, they would turn tail and run,
*
When LBH goes to try his luck at the disciple selection of CQM, he’s been searching for his soulmate for seven years—more than half of his life.
As LBH climbs the steps of Qing Jing Peak he realizes he can hear SQQ’s voice even though his lips aren’t moving!
In the next few days LBH slowly comes to the awful, terrible conclusion that his Shizun cannot hear him at all, no matter how much he projects his thoughts at him. Is their connection somehow broken? 💔
First, he needs to get Shizun to at least like him. So LBH listens to SQQ’s thoughts carefully and adjusts his actions accordingly.
So LBH appoints himself SQQ’s unofficial shittalk-buster. While he cannot touch the Peak Lords, their disciples are fair game:
Then the demon invasion happens. It’s a hazy and painful memory in his mind, but LBH does clearly recall Shizun being worried for him. It warms his heart. What fill him with dread is the arrival of Meng Mo.
But even if they are not mutually fated, a hopeful part of Binghe thinks, there can still be love between them, right? He will make it so.
“Shizun, I need advice about Ning-shijie.”
SQQ's thoughts churn with dismay.
LBH goes on, “I think she might have feelings for this disciple.”
“You dare to presume??” SQQ snaps.
SQQ's mind fills with images of LBH begging for mercy as he is whipped to death.
“Is she not good enough for you?” he asks acidly.
“She is wonderful!” LBH reassures. “It’s just... she is not my soulmate.”
“I already found him.”
LBH nearly stumbles as he is hit with an explosion of jealous fury. SQQ’s face remains impassive, but in his thoughts he rages at LBH for being naturally talented,
Binghe struggles to keep a straight face and has to blink back his tears. He wants to grab Shizun by his shoulders and shake him, tell him that his soulmate is right here,
But he is too afraid.
“How lucky for you,” SQQ bites out. “And why haven’t I seen you two frolicking around and scattering dogfood?”
LBH takes a deep breath. “Because he doesn’t know.”
“Because…” LBH hesitates, “I’m not the soulmate of my soulmate.”
He expects SQQ to laugh and mock him in his thoughts: finally the beast is getting a taste of well-deserved misery!
In the end all SQQ offers is a quiet, almost timid “The fates are cruel in the most unexpected ways.”
LBH takes it as the clumsy consolation it’s intended as, and changes the subject to something brighter:
"What am I, a love counselor?" SQQ flusters. "Figure it out on your own! Now shoo!"
LBH leaves, his heart lighter, filled with hope again.
After their talk SQQ keeps an eye out for the little beast’s soulmate, but he cannot determine who it could be. LBH acts like always, playing around with NYY (with SQQ’s approval, now that he knows the boy is a cut sleeve),
SQQ sighs. If he was in the beast’s shoes, he would keep his distance as well. He imagines finding his soulmate only to find out they don’t need him at all.
“Shizun looked so gloomy sitting here all by himself, this disciple decided to bring over some snacks,” LBH announces.
SQQ gives him a disapproving look.
Instead, SQQ silently reaches for the still steaming red bean buns—no use in letting good food go to waste. He determinedly ignores the beast’s answering smug grin.
*
SQQ puts MF in charge of his traumatized martial siblings and flies back into the arena. Where could that foolish beast be straggling behind?
The headache sounds like screaming
The screaming abruptly stops.
“Shizun?” SQQ hears. The voice is coming from inside his own head.
He whirls around and spots a dark silhouette on the other side of the chasm. He almost doesn’t recognize the little beast.
SQQ’s temples pulse with a headache he now recognizes as not his own, but belonging to his… he swallows, and cannot finish the thought.
“That fool is going to fall!” SQQ thinks and the boy halts immediately.
Their eyes meet over the endless chasm separating them.
“How symbolic,” SQQ thinks with wry amusement, overwhelmed by the implications.
“Shizun can’t see me like this!” SQQ hears the panicked thought. “He will hate me! He will hate me and then I will die!”
“So dramatic,” SQQ scoffs.
Silence.
Then a fragile whisper, more a wish than a thought:
But all he can choke out through the tightness in his throat is:
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
The admission tears itself out from the deepest recesses of his soul and sounds too much like the pathetic child that foolishly believed in fairy tales.
SQQ takes a ragged breath and unhooks Xiu Ya from his belt.
“Shizun?” the boy asks, dazed with pain and exhilaration.
Shen Qingqiu swallows, and with a precise throw, tosses his sword to Luo Binghe.
Luo Binghe hesitates, his grip on Xiu Ya trembling with suppressed emotion. He nods, understanding.
Five minutes after finding him, Shen Qingqiu watches his soulmate plunge himself into hell.
*
“I’m not the soulmate of my soulmate,” LBH once told him, looking infinitely sad. Resigned.
SQQ pushes down his insecurities. No, the reason LBH kept his silence was because he believed their bond to be one-sided.
SQQ tries not to think too hard about the fact that though he promised to wait for LBH, the boy never actually made a promise back to come back for him.
It’s fine, Shen Qingqiu thinks. Promises never worked out for him anyway.
*
Approaching carefully, he cannot detect any obvious tampering.
He opens it.
There is tanghulu inside.
A bit of sugar flakes off the treat and falls to the ground.
“I want to bite those peaches~” The voice, dreamy and longing, comes out of nowhere.
Alarmed, SQQ spins around, brandishing his half-eaten tanghulu as a weapon.
“Shizun!” the disciple whines, clutching his nose. The corners of his eyes curl up in mirth.
SQQ bristles with indignation.
The disciple moves his hand away, revealing a tentative smile. “Shizun, I’m back.”
“He is real,” SQQ thinks, blinking in shock.
“I am real,” LBH assures, stepping closer. “I missed you, Shizun. I missed you so much.”
SQQ’s eyes shift up and he notices the smear of sugar his tanghulu-attack left on the tip of LBH’s nose.
“Don’t worry Shizun, this disciple doesn’t mind!”
“But I do!” SQQ snaps aloud.
“Shizun is so cute~” croons Luo Binghe’s voice in his head.
LBH reaches up and tucks a strand of hair behind SQQ’s flushed ear.
Of course. LBH had years to spy on SQQ’s thoughts. He most likely already heard the worst of what SQQ has to offer. And still came back.
It’s fine.
It’s fine.
“All is fine,” LBH agrees. More than his words, it's the look in his eyes that convince SQQ to believe him.
Blindly grasping for a change in topics, SQQ holds up the candied fruit still in his hand: “You said you wanted some?”
“Something about biting peaches?” SQQ reminds him. He looks down at the stick with a frown. “But there is only hawthorn.”
LBH clears his throat, eyes shifting to the side. Aloud he says, “Never mind then.” But his thoughts betray him:
SQQ stares at him, lost for words.
LBH bites his lower lip with an embarrassed grin. “Ah, you heard that.”
SQQ raises the tanghulu. And makes a decisive strike.
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