Work Text:
Feng Xin never had a problem with emotions. In fact, he took them for granted most of his life. But one thing or should he say person didn’t catch the drift and created his own whirlpool and feelings inside of Feng Xin.
At first, he just valued his somewhat odd relationship he had with the ever-annoying Mu Qing. They would fight all the time, just a way to release anger and pent-up feelings so that they didn’t lash out at others. Not to mention the fact that he was just so easy to annoy.
But over time instead of it being an emotional release it turned into more of an emotion build-up. Feng Xin himself admitted he had feelings for his rival Martial God Mu Qing, and the only person who saw it coming was Pei Ming.
Which is not helpful in the situation Feng Xin is in right now, that whirlpool was just minding its own business and Feng Xin came tumbling in, drowning in it.
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Xie Lian sent Mu Qing and Feng Xin out to gather fruit for the Puqi Shrine, no doubt a cover to spend more alone time with Hua Cheng, which they made sure to thoroughly yell about.
Of course, Mu Qing being the dumb ass he is, couldn't just pick from any random tree, it had to be the best of the best, which is what led them to be out in the middle of nowhere.
But they would at least make the most of this and collect the fruit. Apples, pears, oranges etc. The only problem was they didn’t exactly bring much to store these fruits except a single basket, so they had to take turns handing them back and forth.
“I finished with the pears on this tree!” Mu Qing shouted, to which Feng Xin responded by going over to him and waiting for him to pass the basket. Mu Qing turned around to pass over the basket Feng Xin realized the flaw in this all too late.
They were WAY too close, there wasn’t even enough room for a hand in between them let alone a basket handoff.
With his face almost touching Mu Qing’s he shuddered at the thought of what one little step forward would do. He couldn’t really read Mu Qing’s face so he could only assume that he was probably thinking about shoving him to the ground and yelling at him.
But no, as a few seconds passed he just found himself staring into Mu Qing’s beautiful eyes, and they were staring right back at him. Fuck it, if Mu Qing wasn’t going to push him to the ground he would have to do the work himself. With a shove, he pushed Mu Qing and consequently the fruit basket to the ground.
“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR MORRON” Mu Qing yelled.
“SOMEONE HAD TO DO IT” he spat back.
“NOW ALL THE FRUIT IS WASTED, WE HAVE TO START OVER. GREAT THANKS GENIUS” he did have a point there. So in silence, they picked up the fruit that could be saved and put it back in the bin and took turns silently.
Feng Xin shouldn’t have done that, he knew that. Then why did he do it? He knew, deep down (deep deep) he didn’t have the right to be mean to Mu Qing just because of some stupid feelings. As they picked in silence for a couple more minutes that seemed like hours. If someone had a sword on them you could cut the tension with it, they were both so deep in thought, so deep in regret.
Finally, Mu Qing said in a calm hushed tone that was barely audible “So what was that about?”.
Leaving Feng Xin to think even harder about his feelings, but this time he couldn’t sit and ponder on them, as much as he wanted too. Think long and hard about what Mu Qing meant to him, that oblivious idiot.
The more Feng Xin got thinking the more Mu Qing got worried. So he calmly walked up to him and swatted down next to him so that he could look at his face. Which right now, looked quite like he was constipated.
As Feng Xin turned to look at Mu Qing he breathed out “Holy shit” this was really happening, Mu Qing was really asking him about his feelings, sure maybe he didn’t mean it like that but oh well.
“Got just a bit too close I guess” He stumbled over his words trying not to ruin their relationship beyond repair.
“Hmmmmmmm…” Mu Qing said as he turned over these words in his mind. Feng Xin felt like he was being examined under a microscope and that his lie could be seen through but he let out a sigh when mu Qing’s smirk returned.
“Did my back look nice?” Mu Qing asked slyly, and without even thinking for a second Feng Xin responded “Yes, very nice” after realizing what he said he also realized he just made a big mistake.
Welp no backing out now, he had to go all in, and from the looks of things he still had time, Mu Qing was speechless and shocked and seemed like he would be for a little bit. After calming down just enough so that he didn’t explode he took his hands and placed them on Mu Qing’s back and said “Ah yes, it is confirmed, you have a wonderful back… and a pretty face too”
With that line the same “pretty face” he mentioned turned to beat red and had to hide behind hands, only to be uncovered a moment later.
Mu Qing asked another question “ What does it mean?”
Ah the lovable idiot.
“It means you're cute!” Feng Xin said being half embarrassed and half prideful he got that off his chest. But of course, that didn’t do it.
“So wait, does that mean…. You like me??!?!” Mu Qing asked, blushing like someone slaughtered an army on his face.
“GOD COULD YOU GET ANYMORE OBLIVIOUS, YES YES I LIKE YOU” Feng Xin shouted.
With this Mu Qing could no longer sit straight and leaned over onto Feng Xin’s shoulder to process the confession, but it didn’t seem like he needed too much time.
Mu Qing lifted his head up to be on eye level with Feng Xin made sure Feng Xin was looking at him too and held the back of his neck and put their foreheads together looking in his eyes. And Feng Xin responded by draping his arms over Mu Qing’s shoulders and kissing him.
The kiss wasn’t rough like all the other things they did. It was soft and warm, it almost had a nice glow to it. They both felt warm and safe in each other's arms so much so they never wanted it to end but alas, they weren’t ghosts and didn’t have infinite air.
Once they broke the kiss they smiled and for the first time it was quiet. Only to be broken by Mu Qing’s voice.
“So, are we together now?”
“Yes, yes idiot” Feng Xin giggled.
“And just for the record, how long have you felt this way? I need bragging rights”
“Wow, and let ‘the records’ show that you kept obviously flirting with me, how was I supposed to not!”
“Didn’t answer the question”.
“Stupid”.
They were both giggling and laughing at each others stupidity”
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From that Feng Xin learned that not everyone knows how they feel right away and has their feelings set in stone, they can change like a tide pool, or sometimes like a tsunami.