Chapter Text
After the absolute disaster that was Hoolay and the borisin crisis, Yanqing thought he’d at least be able to get a single day of rest, but no-
Not even a day after they successfully exterminated Hoolay, Yanqing opened his door to find Yunli standing there, sword in hand and looking perfectly fine, as though yesterday didn’t happen.
“How did you know where I li-“
“Never mind that! Let’s spar!” Yunli abruptly declared.
“You- it’s 6 in the morning for Aeons sake!” The young swordsman sighed, his hand rubbing his eyes,“And plus, aren’t you tired from yesterday?” Then, he muttered a bit quieter,” I know I am…”
“Haaah?” The tiny girl raised her eyebrows and made the best mocking grin she could, “I didn’t know the youngest lieutenant of the cloud knights had so little stamina!”
“Or….” Yunli’s grin turned coy and her tone changed to teasing,“Are you afraid you’d lose to me?”
“As if!” Yanqing halfway shouted, “You already lost to me once at Scalegorge Waterscape, remember?”
“Hmph! That didn’t count and you know it!” She pouted, “Anyways, are we sparring or not?”
“Fine!” Yanqing nearly growled out, “Meet me at the training grounds in 30 minutes.”
“Finally! You better be prepared to los-“
Yanqing slammed the door shut.
The first duel ended in a draw, a single flying sword at her throat and Old Mettle an inch away from his head.
“Again!” Both of them said simultaneously.
The 10th duel ended in Yanqing’s victory, with Yunli having been distracted long enough dealing with his flying swords that he could get a clean hit off.
“That’s 5-4 to me!” He shouted.
“Shut up!” The young girl shouted from across the training grounds while picking herself up. “Again!”
The 50th duel was a narrow victory for the swordmaster of the Zhuming, having weaved between Yanqing’s flying swords and overpowering him when they crossed swords , throwing him across the fighting grounds.
“You’re getting predictable!" She taunted, pausing to catch her breath,“25-24 to me!”
The youngest lieutenant of the Luofu panted, trying to catch his breath also,“ You’re-cough- joking right?!” He got off the ground and picked up his sword once more, “Again!”
The 100th duel was a draw once more, with Old Mettle less than an inch away from slamming into his side and his sword just a hair away from cutting her head.
Knowing it was a draw, both of them simultaneously fell to the ground, their swords clanging to the ground besides them.
“You’re-hah-pretty-hah-good.” Yanqing barely managed to get out between his panting.
“I could-hah-say-hah-the same for you.” Yunli was much the same.
As they both sat on the ground next to each other beneath the setting sun, Yanqing closed his eyes, slowly trying to get his breath under control before he heard the person next to him say something.
“-core?”
“Did you say something?”
“I asked if you remembered the score.”
“Ah!” The thought had slipped his tired mind, “No, I don't.” He turned his head to look at her pretty(wait huh?) face and asked, “Do you?”
“Mmmmm, I don’t.” She grinned, “But I think it’s pretty safe to assume it was my win yeah?”
Yanqing barked out a small laugh “Pfft, yeah right.” He punched her shoulder -“Ow”- and said,” I think we can just call it a draw.”
Yunli made a small humming sound, “I can live with that.” She thought for a moment before saying, “Hey, let me borrow your back.”
“Huh? What do you-“
Before he could finish his sentence, he felt a weight settle on his back, “Oomph- couldn’t you have given me a warning first?
“I did, it’s not my fault you didn’t know what it meant.”
Yanqing deigned to not answer, simply giving a grunt in response.
They stayed there for a good while, simply sitting in silence and enjoying the others company (at least that’s what he thought they were doing).Eventually though, Yanqing decided to speak up.
"We should get going, it's getting late" Yanqing got up from the ground, stretching his arms and legs as he did so, "Do you wanna grab dinner- hey are you listening?"
Turning around, he found her still sitting on the ground, "I know you're tired but we have to..." As he said that, he moved so he could see her face and realised- "A-are you asleep?
Sure enough, Yunli was fast asleep, "Zzzzzzz..." Her chest rose and fell, her snores like the gentle purring of a kitten.
The boy sighed in disbelief, "I can't believe you managed to fall asleep here of all places."
Kneeling down, Yanqing tried to shake her awake, “Hey, come on wake up!” He spent a few more minutes trying to wake her up, but to no avail.
Shaking his head, Yanqing mumbled to himself, “Guess I have no choice.”
Resigning himself, the boy put one arm under her legs and the other on her back and gently lifted her off the ground, careful not to wake her up.
“Huh.” He muttered to himself, “Yknow, you look surprisingly cute when you’re asleep.”
‘Wait what am I saying? Did I really just think that Yunli was cute? Maybe I’m more tired than I thought.’ Shaking his head at the thought, Yanqing started walking only to pause as he realised something.
‘Wait a second, I don’t know where Yunli is staying on the Luofu!’ Having just now registered something he probably should’ve figured out before he picked up Yunli, the boy started making other plans in a mild panic.
‘Should I just bring her to my apartment? Nonono that’s a horrible idea, think of the rumours if anyone sees us. Maybe I should-‘
Before he could work himself up even more, he heard a familiar voice laugh behind him.
“Ohohoho, who do we have here?” Turning around, the young swordsman saw a short old man that looked like-
“General Huaiyan!” He exclaimed in surprise,”What are you doing here,sir?”
“No need to be so formal with me, young lad.” The old man said jovially,”And to answer your question, I was just taking a late evening stroll.”
“Now then,” General Huaiyans face turned serious, “Where are you going with my granddaughter?”
“Ah-I-um,” Yanqing stuttered, trying to get out an explanation, “I know how bad this looks but we were just sparring and she fell asleep and she didn’t wake up so I decided to carry her and then-“
General Huaiyan decided to hold up his hand before Yanqing could dig himself into a deeper hole, “Now now, it’s alright I was just joking.” The expression on his face turned friendlier, “If you don’t mind however, I would take her off your hands.”
“Ah! No, of course I don’t mind.” Yanqing agreed instantly, handing the -admittedly light- burden to the old man,”If you’ll excuse me, I’ll take my leave now. Good evening sir.”
And with that, Yanqing walked (read ran) away, leaving General Huaiyan holding an asleep Yunli in his arms.
“Yunli, he’s gone, you can stop pretending now.” General Huaiyan watched as the girl got off his hands and stood up, his expression amused all the while.
“So, how was your date?”
“It wasn’t a date! Y-Yanqings just- really annoying and stupid and-it was just a spar!“ Yunlis beet red face however, betrayed her argument.
“Mhmmm” General Huaiyan hummed, unconvinced, “You’re lucky he didn’t notice your red face when he was holding you in his arms.”
“Don’t remind me of that, gramps!” Yunli grumbled, then muttered something under her breath with an embarrassed face, “-ute.”
“Could you repeat that?”
“He called me cute.” She said shyly, twirling her hair as she did so.
“Ohhh? Well then, when can I expect grandchildren?”
“GRAMPS!”