Archive of Our Own

It might have been mildly dramatic, but Shen Yuan decided that after the day he’d had, it was more than fair to make it two steps into his apartment before all but collapsing face first on the floor.

“Bro, at least push your glasses up before floor time.”

Shen Yuan forgot that Shang Qinghua decided to work from home today. He also forgot that in the long list of stupid decisions he had made in his life, letting Shang Qinghua be his roommate was in the top ten.

“I’m wearing my contacts,” Shen Yuan said, muffled slightly by the runner rug he had laid down on.

“Ah, then carry on!”

Shen Yuan gave himself another ten minutes of ‘floor time’ while he listened to the ambient noise of whatever trash drama Shang Qinghua had put on while procrastinating on his editing. Shen Yuan pushed himself off the floor and made his way to his own room to change out of the rich douche cosplay he wore to the office and into his normal attire of internet gremlin. He felt almost human again once changed to his home uniform of gym shorts he’d never worn in an athletic fashion and his favorite ratty t-shirt. He rubbed the styling product out of his hair with a blissful scratch of his own fingers and left his contacts in out of laziness before padding back out into the living room.

Shang Qinghua looked up at his approach and there was a nasty quirk to his lips that made Shen Yuan want to smother him with a pillow. “This is why I work remotely when your brother visits the office.”

“Jiu-ge was fine—or you know fine for him,” Shen Yuan said, flopping onto the couch and kicking at Shang Qinghua until he moved enough that he could monopolize the space. It was true. His brother had been his usual sharp tongued self and scared several interns, but other than Shen Yuan having to dress more professionally today, it hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary.

“Binghe again?” Shang Qinghua asked, at least having the decency to look sympathetic.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with him lately,” Shen Yuan said, throwing his hands against his face and dropping into a contortionist move that put his shoulders perpendicular to the corner of the couch.

Cang Qiong Entertainment handled a variety of clients. Shen Yuan’s specialty happened to unfortunately be public relations management for ‘internet influencers’ because he was the youngest and ‘was never off his phone anyway’ — never taking into account that Shen Yuan’s personal social media algorithm was purely adorable pet videos and a few cooking vlogs.

He’d been managing Luo Binghe for years now and at the start it had been such a relief compared to some of Shen Yuan’s other clients. Luo Binghe was the sweetest little bun who only did wholesome cooking tutorials—a brand he had built himself when he was only fifteen.

(Shen Yuan had followed him even before he became a client—it was like a mini Master Chef Junior!)

Shen Yuan’s main focus was protecting the kid from the pariahs that clung to young influencers and tried to drain them dry for all they were worth—not caring they were minors (or close enough in Shen Yuan’s opinion) and deserved a childhood.

Then The Abyss happened. The same time Shen Yuan was taking a well needed (and forced) health break, Luo Binghe was hooked into a dumb fucking reality show that pretty much tortured the contestants for sport. And of course he’d won, because he was Luo Binghe, but by the time he’d come back to Cang Qiong Entertainment for representation, Shen Yuan’s job became basically putting out fires constantly.

Shen Yuan never usually would blame Binghe. Most of the things that happened were not his fault! But lately, it was like he had no sense whatsoever. Binghe, you know what you look like, stop dropping random nip-slips for on camera interviews! And no you cannot agree to that modeling contract, it’s practically obscene.

And that wasn’t even getting started with his endless stream of hot dates, which was now being referred to as #TheEmperorsHarem — that wasn't even good SEO!

“Woah,” Shang Qinghua said and when Shen Yuan dropped his hands, he saw his roommate scrolling on his phone. “Damn. That is… hah!” Shang Qinghua bit his lip and started furiously typing something.

Shen Yuan’s contortionist couch move made him too slow to grab Shang Qinghua’s phone before he posted whatever comment he’d made.

“Why?” Shen Yuan asked, drained of all life as he read the comment.

Beneath a picture of Luo Binghe in bike shorts, using his flimsy tank to wipe the sweat off his face after an exercise class with his latest ‘harem member’ that was zoomed in WAY TOO CLOSE, Shang Qinghua had written:

Airplane_Shots: That’s not a dick print. That’s a #HeavenlyPillar

“If that goes trending, I want credit,” Shang Qinghua said, snatching his phone back.

“I’m too tired to murder you right now,” Shen Yuan groaned and folded himself into a ball on the couch. It took fifteen minutes before his work phone started to have a seizure.

It did, in fact, start trending.

***

Luo Binghe was very attractive. Shen Yuan knew this and he was 100% straight. Shen Yuan knew this, because it was his job to know this. He had tables and charts on his computer right this moment that detailed the different ways Luo Binghe was attractive and what key demographics would be most aligned with them. Luo Binghe was too attractive and juggling how many demographics were interested in him was giving Shen Yuan an ulcer.

“What about Ning Yingying?” Shen Yuan suggested over milk tea, because having an excuse not to be in his office was always welcome. “You and Yingying were so wholesome.”

Luo Binghe’s lips quirked slightly. “I thought you said the problem was me dating too much.”

“Putting words in my mouth,” Shen Yuan grumbled.

He had said that, but it had been part of a very long rant which he felt bad about afterwards. It wasn’t really Luo Binghe’s fault that someone had taken a picture at that angle, that close, and that… his dick was that big. Apparently.

The back and forth forum posts about whether or not it was photoshopped had Shang Qinghua howling until Shen Yuan got enough to energy to actually try and smother him to death.

“Ning Yingying could teach you how to knit,” Shen Yuan suggested.

“She’s into felting right now,” Luo Binghe said, still looking way too amused. He shrugged. “If that’s what Yuan-ge wants.”

“Don’t start Yuan-ge-ing me,” Shen Yuan said, sourly. He took a long sip of his drink. “It’s for you. I’ve had to fend off brand sponsorship offers from three different adult entertainment venues in the last two and a half hours.”

Luo Binghe, post The Abyss had developed into a catch-all lifestyle content creator that could easily get brand deals from any possible category, but lately his ‘brand’ of content was blackening his image.

“Yuan-ge is so good at multitasking,” Luo Binghe said, brightly and then laughed when Shen Yuan smacked his arm.

“Take this seriously!”

“I am,” Luo Binghe said, still far too cheerful. Then again that was Binghe. He was brightness personified. It was why Shen Yuan didn’t want his image getting tainted like this. “Sha Hualing can dress me for The Disciple’s Regret movie premiere,” Luo Binghe suggested.

Sha Hualing had recently gotten into menswear design. Her fashion videos had a huge uptick with incels complaining that she had been insulting their lack of wardrobe and her infamous sharp tongue had eviscerated her way to more views, both hate watching and the normal kind. Luo Binghe in a video where he had more clothes applied would help the bike short incident without being too obvious about it and provide a legitimacy to her new expansion.

“Why do you even need me at this point?” Shen Yuan said, sighing. “Your ideas are so good you could do your own PR.”

Luo Binghe’s smile somehow widened even more. “But then who would keep me out of trouble?”

Shen Yuan didn’t think he was keeping Luo Binghe out of anything. He was playing catch-up and clean-up.

“I can’t seem to do that now as it is,” Shen Yuan said bitterly.

It immediately dropped the smile off Luo Binghe’s face and then he started weaponizing his pout. Shen Yuan’s milk tea meeting extended into his lunch break as he reassured Luo Binghe that it wasn’t actually his fault that he kept getting this kind of attention.

Luo Binghe couldn’t help how hot he was. That was nature’s curse.

***

Shen Yuan had to work the weekend trying to fix the fallout of Sha Hualing’s ‘wardrobe malfunction’ video. Luo Binghe, charming and distracting on and off camera, had been too good at flirting with Sha Hualing and she’d ended up turning at the same time as him and ripping his entire top off.

The almost see-through linen button-down he had been wearing was bad enough, but the strip of shredded fabric over perfectly formed pectorals and a set of abs that looked photoshopped—complete with that dip near his hips—well it just—it directed attention to that stupid fucking hashtag again.

Shen Yuan had spent an hour yelling at someone for trying to sell dildos with the ‘Heavenly Pillar’ epithet. Only due to having previously dealt with Shang Qinghua’s weirdly prophetic turns of phrase, had Shen Yuan preemptively putting a copyright on it. Which had been warranted. Because of dildos.

Dildos!

Shen Yuan ended up having to attend The Disciple’s Regret movie premiere with Luo Binghe mostly to ensure the cameras stayed angled upwards when he walked the red carpet. Luo Binghe did look good in the final outfit Sha Hualing had helped him pick out and customize. Then again Luo Binghe could probably look good walking down the red carpet in sweatpants and a plastic bag.

The only upside was that Shen Yuan got to attend the movie with Luo Binghe after he was done being bombarded by press. The actual screening was much less intense and there were no concerns with image damaging photo-ops.

The problem was the movie was terrible and they were surrounded by people who might have had a say in making the garbage.

“You can complain later, Yuan-ge,” Luo Binghe said, charitably whispered into Shen Yuan’s ear. He leaned closer and even took Shen Yuan’s hand to keep him from ripping the fabric of his chair in disgust.

Shen Yuan did complain later. At length. The plot was derivative, the special effects horrendously fake, and the production value on the sound editing was absolute insanity.

“Not to mention,” Shen Yuan said, still going even after they’d gone to Luo Binghe’s apartment and he’d been (easily) convinced to let Luo Binghe make him a very late dinner. “There was no reason to have the actors actually whisper at whisper level volume so that he audience couldn’t hear what they were saying!” He threw his hands up into the air. “Audiences will suspend their disbelief! That was relevant information the audience was supposed to hear so it needed to be at a volume that was actually audible.”

Luo Binghe nodded and moved around in the kitchen. He’d rolled up the sleeves of the deep crimson silk top he’d worn to the premiere and more than a few buttons had come undone. The way the long fingers on each of his large hands were pinching closed the dumplings and the kitchen lighting hitting all the perfect angles would’ve been an effective thirst trap. Shen Yuan was glad he was the only one seeing it.

Even the way Luo Binghe flicked his eyes up towards Shen Yuan, glinting in amusement as his ranting continued, was unintentionally seductive. It was no wonder so many of photo-ops were coming out like that lately.

“The… uh music was good at least,” Shen Yuan said, realizing his mouth was starting to get dry from how long he’d gone on. Luo Binghe was an actual saint. He never interrupted him. “And I liked the main character—if he’d been dropped into any other movie he might’ve survived to a sequel.”

Shen Yuan cleared his throat and before he could even stand, Luo Binghe had handed him a glass of water. “Thanks,” he said, sheepishly taking a sip. “So. Uh what did you think?”

“The main character deserved to die,” Luo Binghe said, popping the last dumpling into his steamer. “He wasted his time with the useless maiden rather than protect his best friend.”

“A little harsh,” Shen Yuan said. Luo Binghe shot him a disbelieving look and Shen Yuan laughed. That was fair, he had been bitching for almost an hour about plot holes and production quirks. “His friend shouldn’t have put himself in those unbelievable situations to get out of in the first place. The MC was wasting so much time rescuing him. It’s no wonder he got tired of it.”

“If he truly loved him, he’d never get tired of it,” Luo Binghe said, firmly.

“Pfft, you’re such a romantic,” Shen Yuan said, fondly. “I don’t know how none of those quote-un-quote harem members haven’t started proposing marriage.”

As usual Luo Binghe was embarrassed when Shen Yuan brought up that topic. Even as popular as he was he was still so shy. It was half the reason Shen Yuan spent so much time trying to get his image back into place. They switched topics and Luo Binghe walked Shen Yuan through the meal he’d been making, even though Shen Yuan was going to have zero chance of replicating it even close to approaching Luo Binghe standards.

That was proven once Shen Yuan took the first bite and flavor exploded his mouth. He did not catch himself in time to resist the lewd mouth noises that escaped whenever he tried Luo Binghe’s food.

Luo Binghe was looking pleased, however, so Shen Yuan couldn’t feel too bad about it.

“I miss this,” Shen Yuan said with a sigh.

Luo Binghe straightened up in his seat. “This?”

“Yeah,” Shen Yuan said, pointing at the food. “Watching you cook. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not underselling eating what you cook, but remember when you had that tiny studio and busted kitchen so you had to film videos on a single burner?”

He’d only been a Micro-influencer at that point (which was still impressive for his age!), but Shen Yuan had loved watching those videos even before Cang Qiong reached out for representation.

Luo Binghe’s expression was tinged with something Shen Yuan couldn’t quite place, but it passed just as quickly as he noticed it. He rested his cheek on his palm and smiled at Shen Yuan. “Mn, I remember ‘Peerless Cucumber’ commenting on those videos.”

“We agreed never to discuss that name,” Shen Yuan said, trying to cover his embarrassment by shoving more food in his mouth. He’d picked it because he thought it was a good alias related to cooking before he’d realized the double entendre.

“Peerless Cucumber,” Luo Binghe said brightly. “Thank you so much for your instruction! You are so talented at your young age. I have been able to finally create something edible, which considering I have literally burnt water before, is very impressive! Keep it up, Binghe!”

Shen Yuan groaned. “How do you still remember that?” It couldn’t have been word for word but it sounded like it.

Luo Binghe’s smile was a little bashful. “Yuan-ge remembers I did not have any friends at the time? Most commenters were not as encouraging.”

“They were idiots,” Shen Yuan said, putting an entire wonton in his mouth to keep from saying anything else. The explosion of pork and ginger hit him hard and he barely kept from another lewd food noise. “Shit, Binghe. You really need to do more cooking videos. Or we could organize some kind of drop-in with another content creator? Something more domestic.”

The bashful smile curved into something more dangerous. “Should I wear a pink frilly apron and nothing else?”

Shen Yuan did not choke. He did however cough and punch his chest a few times before chugging down some more water. He glared at the unrepentant brat in front of him. “I think the feeds have had enough of that recently.”

“Yuan-ge works so hard to keep my image clean,” Luo Binghe said, beaming at him. He shoved the plate of wontons closer to Shen Yuan, like he even needed the invitation.

“Mn, Yuan-ge would like to work less hard,” Shen Yuan said, tiredly. He was going to grab another wonton when his work phone buzzed again. He sighed. The mute timer for the movie must’ve run down. “Speaking of which, I should get going.”

“This late?” Luo Binghe said, surprised. “You can stay over. You’ve done it before.”

“I know and I appreciate that,” Shen Yuan said. For however much it continued to cross the boundary between professional and friendly that they’d danced along since they were younger. “But I have a ton of work to catch-up on, so I need to lock in.”

That pout should not have been effective at his age. “What work?”

Shen Yuan snorted. “I have other clients, Binghe.” They weren’t as high maintenance, but they still had stuff he needed to tend to.

Before Luo Binghe could start fully turning his pout into a sulk, Shen Yuan thanked him profusely for dinner and took him up on stealing leftovers. He made sure to pat Luo Binghe’s head on the way out.

It was a shame the social media stream was so set on blackening Luo Binghe’s character. He was still the little white lotus that used to cook his late mother’s recipes! He was pure of heart!

***

Shen Yuan had a peaceful two weeks to catch up on work and then it became beach season.

#HeavenlyPillar had almost died out, except Luo Binghe had to go to to the Zhao Hua Shore with his ‘harem’ members that were too free with posting and now it was trending again because of too many different angles of him coming out of the water, dripping wet with his swim trunks—just—wet and clinging!

It was worse than the bike shorts.

Shen Yuan wanted to go back in time to when his biggest problem was Ming Fan’s gaming channel and not understanding that his fans had named themselves after a minor slur for a woman’s private area.

In an effort to bounce back from yet another ‘Luo Binghe was too hot to exist’ scandal, Shen Yuan reached out to a semi-popular book reviewer that had been gaining a lot of traction. Liu Mingyan was the sister to another of Shen Yuan’s personal clients, so he expected it’d be an easy working relationship.

He did not expect that her choice of book for Luo Binghe’s guest episode would be Swallowing the Deep End.

The only saving grace was that Shen Yuan was not there when they were recording and no one had to witness the steam coming out of his own ears while Luo Binghe spoke and gestured in the way that was instinctual to him but so easily interpreted as flirting while he enthusiastically recommended the book!

Shen Yuan wasn't sure if trying to balance the rush of requests and inquires related to #BiBing was worse than the fact that now he had to read that garbage himself. They were adapting it into a show and Luo Binghe was getting offers before they’d even started production. He never mentioned wanting to get into acting but Shen Yuan was sure he’d be good at it. Luo Binghe was pretty much good at anything he tried. It was why his content was so popular.

“Stop watching me read,” Shen Yuan said, not looking up from the chapter he was on.

He never should have let Luo Binghe have free privileges to swing into his office. Except Luo Binghe always brought lunch, so some light teasing was a decent trade off.

“Mm, have you gotten to the speedo scene yet?” Luo Binghe asked, sounding far too pleased with himself. “Your ears are a little red, so I assume.”

Shen Yuan slapped the book shut and glared at him. “You of all people should not be talking about speedos.”

“Why not?” Luo Binghe asked, innocently. And ugh. He probably didn’t even make the connection, of course. Why would he? He wasn’t the one darkening his own image.

“They might want to get you in one if you audition for the role,” Shen Yuan said, smoothly. “Do you want to?”

“Wear a speedo?” Luo Binghe asked, less innocently.

Shen Yuan sputtered indignantly and threw his paperback at him. Luo Binghe caught it easily and then flipped through the pages to see where Shen Yuan had left off with a catlike grin. “Ah, you’re on the mouth-to-mouth incident.”

“Contrived,” Shen Yuan said, knowing he was probably still blushing like an idiot.

It wasn’t his fault. Who wrote a medical technique so… so lewdly?! It was like those dramas Shang Qinghua always watched (and thereby Shen Yuan was forced to) where they kept practicing ‘dual cultivation’ as an excuse to bang rather than meditate!

Luo Binghe still had that look on his face that meant whatever he was planning on saying next was going to make Shen Yuan wish he still had a book to throw at him.

Fortunately (sort of), Shen Yuan’s work phone went off with a specific ringtone interrupting them. Shen Yuan sighed and stood up from his chair, apologizing to Luo Binghe already and regretting he hadn’t finished the lunch earlier.

Shen Yuan answered the phone and waved to Luo Binghe as he left, before thudding his head against the wall as his brother started hissing about another emergency that legal was dealing with because Shen Yuan hadn’t appropriately distracted the press.

***

Shen Yuan could smell blood in the water when a collab between Liu Qingge’s adventure series and Luo Binghe was agreed on by their agents. Their agents were morons. The migraine that was going to be haunting Shen Yuan for the next month proved it.

It was his own fault for thinking he could actually prevent a problem by being there ahead of time.

They’d gone to the beautiful jungle island of Bai Lu, filled with interesting flora and fauna that both Luo Binghe and Liu Qingge put up with Shen Yuan rambling about. Except for some reason they both didn’t like the tour guide (who was very informative! Shen Yuan learned a ton of about an entire subspecies of snake he didn’t know before). That brief interlude of mutual cooperation did not last.

They’d picked out an appropriately horrifyingly high cliff to dive off of and Shen Yuan had gone to the bottom of it because watching them jump off from the top was going to give him a heart attack. He listened absentmindedly to their live drone recordings while Liu Qingge and Luo Binghe continued to throw veiled digs at each other.

Shang Qinghua was going to have a field day trying to edit those out.

(He’d later done the opposite and said the ‘tension’ between them made the video hit hard with the danmei market. Shen Yuan had seriously considered evicting him.

Even more so when he ended up being right.)

It was windier than Shen Yuan felt really comfortable with for both of them to be diving, but he figured Liu Qingge and Luo Binghe’s combined body mass was probably not going to waft in the wind like Shen Yuan’s might attempting the same move. It meant he couldn’t perfectly hear their bitching but he’d mostly tuned out at that point anyway.

Then he heard his name, which caught his attention.

“Shen Yuan is overworking himself again because you can’t stop your shameless attempts to secure a future in pornography!”

Shen Yuan rubbed his temple and debated the merits of trying to climb back up there and throw things at them.

“I’m surprised you know words with that many syllables,” Luo Binghe replied, evenly.

The bickering escalated to grunts and swearing and Shen Yuan had a very bad feeling that was confirmed when he looked up and saw both of them throwing each other off the cliff. His heart felt like it had completely stopped beating as he watched the water below the cliff, still cascading outwards in waves from the two of them dropping into it.

Shen Yuan’s relief at both Liu Qingge and Luo Binghe breaking for air lasted all of the four seconds it took for them to see each other and then start wrestling in the water.

The worst part of all of this, was that Luo Binghe was once again wet and someone caught it on film in extreme detail—part of that detail also included Shen Yuan (who was also wet but resembled a soaked cat) because he was trying to keep Luo Binghe and Liu Qingge from going at each other a third time once they’d finally gotten to dry land.

By the time Shen Yuan was able to get them in separate rooms at the hotel and check his computer and phone, two familiar hashtags were trending along with one new one.

#HeavenlyPillar

#WarGodGe

#LoveTriTwink

***

“I swear I didn’t make that one up!” Shang Qinghua said later, while Shen Yuan fought off the migraine from hell and whatever bug he’d probably picked up at the airport. “I would’ve been a lot more creative. Something about diving or wet should’ve been involved. I think there’s a ‘between a rock in a hard place’ joke that could work as an article title.”

“Bucket,” Shen Yuan said.

Shang Qinghua did not seem to understand or follow instructions quickly enough so Shen Yuan threw up on him, which seemed very fair. It didn’t even get to be funny, however, because Shen Yuan couldn’t stop throwing up and then Shang Qinghua was panicking and Shen Yuan was at the hospital.

“I hate you,” Shen Yuan muttered later, already fine and sitting up in the medical cot, seeing the looming figure of his older brother, Shen Jiu striding towards him with murder in his eyes.

“Sorry!” Shang Qinghua said, backing up towards the wall like a coward. “You were freaking me out, I had to call someone and they were going to end up calling him anyway.”

The door was already open, but somehow Jiu-ge slammed it open even more. He advanced on Shen Yuan. “You were supposed to say something when you were this stressed!”

Jiu-ge never yelled, but he did manage to straddle the line so well that Shen Yuan’s head ached. Thankfully he wasn’t alone and Meimei was shooting him an unimpressed look. “How is that helping his stress levels?”

“I’m fine,” Shen Yuan said, which… okay he knew that was the wrong thing to say even before Jiu-ge rounded in on him again but he was tired and dehydrated and apparently at risk for an ulcer before he even hit thirty. “I’m fine now,” he clarified. “They gave me an IV.”

Jiu-ge glared at him and angrily took his chart out of the little pocket near his bed, flipping through it like he could understand a goddamn thing with his law degree.

Meimei rolled her eyes as she passed him but then looked very seriously at Shen Yuan. “When was the last time you took a vacation?”

“Last week,” Shen Yuan said, dryly.

“That was a work trip,” Jiu-ge snapped. “A very irresponsibly managed work trip.”

“Gee thanks,” Shen Yuan said. It wasn’t like he wasn’t feeling bad enough about it already. Now there were #RivalShip enthusiasts who were arguing over whether the ship name should be #LiuLuo or #LuoLiu. Shen Yuan had never been happier his personal social media footprint was so small.

“You shouldn’t have been handling that side of things,” Jiu-ge said. “We have people for it.”

“You hate the people we have for it,” Shen Yuan said, fighting against the urge to snort at Shang Qinghua crab walking his escape out of the door while everyone was distracted.

“He hates everyone,” Meimei added, helpfully.

“A month off,” Jiu-ge said, closing the clipboard like he’d gained some important medical information and could now make educated judgments. “You’re staying with me. I don’t trust you not to work at your apartment.”

“Jiu-ge come on, I got a little dehydrated. I didn’t pass out or anything.” Also! His brother was a hypocrite. He worked more hours than Shen Yuan did.

“It’s not a debate,” Jiu-ge said, shoving the chart back in its pocket before turning around and stomping out, probably to harass some poor nurse. Shen Yuan was glad he was getting released soon, because otherwise he was going to have to deal with the hospital equivalent of spitting in your food.

Meimei patted Shen Yuan’s arm. She peeked over to look at the chart herself and then smiled. “I think he was reading it upside down.”

“Well, that tracks,” Shen Yuan said. “Hey, can you check something on your phone for me?”

His little sister narrowed her eyes. “What?”

“I want to check my work email and cancel my meetings,” Shen Yuan said.

It was almost not a lie. He also wanted to make sure that the approved statements he’d managed to bullshit together about adrenaline and testosterone making it appear more heated of a fight than it actually was had been released without disparaging edits.

Meimei looked at him and then pursed her lips, looking a little scarily like Jiu-ge for a second. “I’m changing the password on your work phone.”

“Meimei!” Shen Yuan objected, but she had already turned around probably to go bully Shang Qinghua for it.

He was out gunned.

***

The only thing to do over the next month was basically read through what Shen Yuan was dubbing the Gay Swimmer series. He had no experience in how professional swimming worked, but he was pretty certain having that much sex in a locker room was going to cause some hygiene issues. If there was athlete’s foot for your dick, Shen Yuan assumed one of the leads was going to catch it. If Jiu-ge hadn’t locked down his interact access maybe Shen Yuan could've looked that up.

He wasn’t allowed to check on work but he did know that a couple of other managers took over for Shen Yuan in the meantime. And he was able to suck up to the CEO (considering he was dating Shen Yuan’s brother and at Jiu-ge’s place more than he wasn't, it wasn’t hard) and at least able to get an overview of how his clients were faring. It was definitely sugar-coated, but Shen Yuan had known Qi-ge long enough to read behind the politeness.

It was almost depressing how there seemed to be no issues with Luo Binghe. Considering Shen Yuan’s job was more of a clean up after the fact, he assumed there’d be even more mess—but whoever was managing him must’ve been better at predicting issues and suggesting changes to Luo Binghe’s agent than Shen Yuan had ever been.

Going completely without the internet for an entire month was against the Geneva Convention (as Shen Yuan argued daily), so after two weeks Jiu-ge finally at least let him have his personal phone and laptop back after he swore not to do any work on either.

(Jiu-ge probably had some kind of stalker software installed on it anyway. Shen Yuan was not a chump and also was going to go to a search engine to type in every horrible web novel and fan fiction he could remember to overload it.)

Shen Yuan did keep his promise, minus skimming some of the feeds to see any new posts purely for his own interest. He had a couple of his clients added in his personal feeds! He liked their content.

Luo Binghe’s feed was the same level of unintentional thirst trapping, especially when he was tagged in someone else’s post. There was usually a hot girl hanging off him in those too. Shen Yuan glanced through them with a sigh and then pulled up Luo Binghe’s old channel to watch unprofessionally filmed cooking videos.

Later Shen Yuan tried and almost didn’t fail at making congee and sent Luo Binghe a picture of it. The color was a little off, but he was pretty sure that was from the mushrooms he’d used for the stock because it tasted okay. Not as good as Luo Binghe’s but Shen Yuan was not expecting a miracle.

He didn’t get a response back, which wasn’t a surprise. Based on Luo Binghe’s tagged feed, he seemed like he was on another brand trip and probably wasn’t checking his phone much.

Besides, he didn’t seem interested in his own adorable cooking videos. Shen Yuan was the one who had always liked them and thought trips on expensive yachts with hot models were pointless. Luo Binghe wouldn’t have kept taking those trips if he didn’t get something out of them.

Shen Yuan sighed and realized maybe he was so stressed all the time because he was bad at his job. At the very least ill-suited. Who was he to have the social acumen to understand what the latest trends were going to contain? Even Shang Qinghua was better at predicting that shit.

Shen Yuan pulled up the company website and looked to see if they had any other departments hiring before he pulled out the nepotism card.

***

“You should do voice overs for your edits,” Shang Qinghua suggested, holed up on the couch with his own laptop while they did some work. “I’m like ninety percent sure there’s a market for people being read to filth and your muttering before you clip stuff would be perfect.”

“If I’m going to start content creating, it’s going to be about how bad the shit you watch is,” Shen Yuan said, splicing some more personal views of Liu Qingge amongst the scenery for his latest video. He was too pretty not to be on screen, but until they’d started making him use drones they could barely get any shots of him.

Shang Qinghua mock gasped and then started the episode over, right where the Dragon Priestess was crying into her pillow about the curse put on her that was going to be cured by the very obviously lost Prince banging her into the same pillow.

“I hate you,” Shen Yuan said. It was too terrible to not be distracting.

Shen Yuan’s work phone buzzed a whole lot less than it used to, but he still got the occasional message from either the managers that had taken over for him or people that wanted to try and ask around them for whatever reason (usually that they didn’t like change).

Luo Binghe kept trying to set up meetings about some kind of disaster or another, but Shen Yuan kept reassuring him that the new guy was great—and given how his reputation had been flying steady and his follower numbers climbing, that had been the right call.

He did kind of miss the excuse to hang out with Luo Binghe. There wasn’t even a reason for him to come to Shen Yuan’s new office since he’d always done his own edits. It was probably for the best. Shen Yuan had been lectured more than once that he was too personal with his clients—and he had visual proof on every social media feed that Luo Binghe had better things to do than listen to Shen Yuan rant and eat his food.

“You sound like a forlorn maiden when you sigh like that,” Shang Qinghua said.

Shen Yuan kicked him but wasn’t able to follow it up, because the buzzer for the apartment went off. He hadn’t fixed the camera yet (i.e. hired someone to do it) so had to drag himself to standing. It had to be the food they just ordered anyway.

“Damn that was quick,” Shang Qinghua said. “Didn’t we order like a minute ago?”

Shen Yuan shrugged, unsure if he could see it, and opened the door.

Luo Binghe was standing outside, holding his phone tightly and looking more than a little panicked. “Binghe?” Shen Yuan asked. “What—what are you doing here?”

“Yuan-ge, I need to talk to you,” Luo Binghe said.

“Okay,” Shen Yuan said—clearly he needed to reassure him better before he hoisted him off on the new guy again but… “Wait, how did you know where I lived?”

It wasn’t like Shen Yuan wouldn’t have told him if he asked, but he was certain he hadn’t since they always went to Luo Binghe’s place when he scammed food from him after an event. Binghe had a better kitchen and Shen Yuan didn’t want to subject the guy to Shang Qinghua’s natural habitat.

“My agent,” Luo Binghe said, gesturing behind.

Shen Yuan did a double take. The looming figure of Luo Binghe’s agent was almost invisible until he took a single step forward out of the shadows. Like he transported out of nowhere. “Why does Mobei-jun have my address?” Shen Yuan asked. Because that actually was weirder.

There was a loud thunk by the couch and Shen Yuan glanced over to see Shang Qinghua scrambling off the floor, one leg still on the couch, trying to sneak off with his laptop without anyone noticing.

Shen Yuan must’ve stepped aside to give the impression his visitors were welcomed in when he looked at his roommate, because Mobei-jun strolled into the apartment and sorta just stared at Shang Qinghua on the floor with that impenetrable gaze that got Luo Binghe insane rates for ad bookings.

“King!” Shang Qinghua squeaked. “I—I didn’t know you—please don’t look at me in sweatpants. Give me four minutes—maybe even less!” he said and scrambled up quickly to flee to his room.

Mobei-jun looked irritated but also walked to the couch and sat down, crossing his arms over his chest and disinterestedly eyeing the shitty drama that had started to roll credits.

“Why don’t… we go to my room?” Shen Yuan suggested, trying not to process any of that until later.

Luo Binghe nodded, still looking a little frazzled—and followed Shen Yuan to his room. His room which was an absolute mess. He tried at least gathering the clothes off the floor and tossing them into the hamper. There was nothing to be done about his figurine collection. He briefly considered trying to block Luo Binghe from coming in and making him wait outside while he cleared out… everything in his room, but couldn’t leave him hanging like that.

Luo Binghe must’ve been frazzled because all he did was look around briefly and then take a seat on Shen Yuan’s bed.

Shen Yuan took the desk chair, landing at an awkward angle when it spun around. He rested his arm against the backrest like that had been intentionally planned. “So. You needed to talk? What’s going on?”

“I—do you remember Qin Wanyue?” Luo Binghe asked. His lower lip was almost wobbling.

Qin Wanyue was his ‘love interest’ (that had shoe-horned herself in) during some of the roughest survival ‘tasks’ the contestants were assigned when Luo Binghe was on The Abyss (notably the only winning Emperor, since the trash was never able to secure the insurance for a second season after all the safety issues). Luo Binghe had built up a lot of early popularity by his unlikely tendency to assist other contestants. At one point a very nasty looking blade had come off the Tian Chui Wheel of Spikes destined to give someone a bad case of tetanus at the very least and Qin Wanyue had been directly in its way.

The clip of Luo Binghe bodily throwing himself at her and then rolling past the dangerous blade, which artfully landed into the sand near them, holding himself up so as not to crush her, but faces so close together, asking if she was okay, had been played ad nauseam afterwards. He’d seen plenty of different versions, so the fluttering eyelashes and stars in her eyes weren’t entirely doctored.

Either way they’d skyrocketed as a hit couple and the narrative of the reality show changed gears. Qin Wanyue ‘helping’ (aka following along) as Luo Binghe competed and then stepping aside at the last challenge (as if she could have beaten him) so he could take the throne.

They'd dated for six months after the show finished airing. Shen Yuan at that point had to deal with avoiding pregnancy and marriage rumors. He was selfishly relieved when they broke up and Luo Binghe had the occasional free afternoon again to bother Shen Yuan at lunch.

“Yes, I remember her. What does Qin Wanyue have to do with why you’re upset?” Shen Yuan asked. He really, really hoped she wasn’t like getting married and Luo Binghe was jealous or something. That would… that would suck. But also, he could easily get her back. If anything he looked better now than he had during The Abyss.

Luo Binghe looked down at his phone and then back up at Shen Yuan again. There were tears glistening in his eyes and making his eyelashes wet.

Shen Yuan almost tripped over his chair trying to get to the bed and put an arm around him. “Hey, hey—what are you crying over her for? You’re Luo Binghe. You’ve…. you can do anything. It’ll be okay.”

Luo Binghe had accepted the comfort and shoved his face into Shen Yuan’s chest and shoulder, awkwardly bending forward to do so. Shen Yuan patted the back of his head and back and let him get it out for a minute.

Luo Binghe wanted help with a PR issue clearly, or he wouldn't have tried to make so many meetings, but if it was about his… first love then it was probably too personal for the new guy.

As much as Shen Yuan did not want to help with whatever this was, he couldn’t in good conscience throw Luo Binghe to the wolves. He was still a sheep, even if he wasn’t so little anymore.

“Binghe,” he murmured, petting his hair. “Tell me what’s going on. How can I help?”

“It’s humiliating,” Luo Binghe said, miserably.

“It’s me,” Shen Yuan said, unable to help a self-deprecating laugh. “I’m not going to judge you.” He took Luo Binghe’s face into his hands so he could pull him back from where he’d burrowed into his chest and actually see his eyes. They weren’t even red. He was even a pretty crier!

Shen Yuan wiped Luo Binghe’s tears with his thumbs and gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Whatever it is, we can fix it okay?”

“Okay,” Luo Binghe said, wetly. He sniffed and then raised his phone again, it shook in his hands a little. “Um. Well. We… back then we sort of recorded ourselves.”

“You’re both content creators, that’s pretty normal,” Shen Yuan said. He couldn’t think of anything too embarrassing. Shit. He hoped there weren’t some risqué pictures. Luo Binghe was barely 18 when they dated!

Luo Binghe sighed and pressed something on his phone, tipping it towards Shen Yuan to see. It was a grainy video that was clearly recorded at least ten versions of latest model ago, but it was definitely Luo Binghe and Qin Wanyue and they were—

Shen Yuan slapped the phone away from himself automatically. It felt like his face was going melt off. “Binghe. You recorded a sex tape?” He hissed. Then looked at how vulnerable and sad Luo Binghe was and decided it was probably Qin Wanyue’s fault. Shen Yuan grabbed Luo Binghe’s shoulder. “Okay, all right. So did someone—did she threaten to release it? Or…”

Shen Yuan had to drop Luo Binghe’s shoulder so he could grip his fists tightly. He was overcome for the first time in his life with the urge to punch a wall. “What the hell. That is private. That’s horrible! Who would dare ruin your privacy like that?” Shen Yuan stood up, already pacing the room. He had never been so pissed in his life.

“We’ll take care of it, okay?” Shen Yuan said. “There’s… there’s a way to track down any recordings and we will figure out what she—or was it her?” He asked, pacing back towards Luo Binghe who shook his head. “Okay, well don’t worry! We will fix this. I’ll hire someone to trace IPs or however they contacted you and pay off whatever we need to stall them. I will not let someone ruin your privacy like this.”

Shen Yuan moved over to Luo Binghe who was still sitting there so quietly. He was reminded of all the times he’d looked vulnerable in his first videos, eager to share but worried he wouldn’t measure up. “This is not your fault? Okay?” Shen Yuan said softly and knelt down on the floor, reaching up and brushing his hand against Luo Binghe’s face. “I promise we’ll fix it. You didn’t do anything wrong, nothing can justify that someone thought it was okay to hurt you like this and I’m going to do anything I can to make sure they don’t get away with it. Jiu-ge can deal with it, I don’t care if it puts me in the hospital again—we’re not letting this happen.”

Luo Binghe stared at him silently for a long time. “You…” He sighed and then wiped the tears from his face. “Fuck.”

“Binghe?”

“Yuan-ge is so good and I’m… a terrible person,” Luo Binghe said, staring somewhere around Shen Yuan’s forehead.

“No,” Shen Yuan said, firmly. “You were young and someone took advantage you’re not—”

“No one is blackmailing me,” Luo Binghe said, flatly. The emotion from earlier had all but disappeared. Now he looked blank. “Qin Wanyue doesn’t even have a copy of it. I’m the only one.”

“I don’t understand,” Shen Yuan said.

Luo Binghe laughed, it was brittle. “Of course you don’t. You’re—I wanted you to think I was in trouble so you’d spend time with me. I made it up.”

Shen Yuan leaned back a little. “What? Why?”

“Because I’m selfish!” Luo Binghe said, gesturing a little too wildly. “I can’t stand you spending time with anyone else so I keep—making up a crisis you have to take care of to the point where it put you in the hospital and instead of stopping. I… I came over to monopolize your time—” He made a face like he was nauseated. “Ugh Liu Qingge was right. I am a monster.”

“You’re not a monster,” Shen Yuan said automatically, though he was still reeling from what Luo Binghe said and trying to understand it. “Why would you—Binghe, you—why did you want that?”

Luo Binghe looked at him, tiredly. “You get so involved and hover when something happens to taint my image. You’re the only one who is blind enough to think I’m better than a beast and I wanted more of it. I don’t want anyone else to have a fraction of your time—I don’t want you working with other clients or even spending time with your friends. I hate it.”

He dropped his hands to his thighs with a loud slap and then stood up from the bed, while Shen Yuan stared up at him. “The worst part is… I still barely regret it. I’d rather have my entire dick broadcast around the world than have you look at me like everyone else.”

“Binghe,” Shen Yuan said, carefully. He needed to find the right words but… “I still don’t understand.”

Luo Binghe exhaled. “I know.”

Then he lifted his phone and swept a few gestures—the sound of a message being sent chimed and Shen Yuan felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Luo Binghe left his room before Shen Yuan could decide to reach for his phone or ask any follow-up questions.

Shen Yuan pulled up his messages and saw an encrypted link and the password to… oh. He put his phone back down. He was… no.

Shen Yuan left his room. Shang Qinghua looked harried and was wearing nicer clothes, minus the fact that—

“Your shirt is on backwards,” Shen Yuan said, numbly. He looked over at the front door, ignoring Shang Qinghua’s panicked rambling wondering how long it had looked like that. “They both left?”

“Yeah,” Shang Qinghua said, still adjusting his shirt. “About a minute ago. Bro! I cannot believe he came over. Sure I said, come by any time, but he lives in a minimalist fucking palace. Why the hell would he want to see our nightmare nerd museum?” Shang Qinghua pulled his hands down his face dramatically. “Fuck. He saw the donghua shrine! What if he’d seen my Avatar Prince figures? I am never going to climb that tree again.”

Shen Yuan rubbed his forehead and sighed. “Put your garbage on. I think I’m done editing today.”

Shang Qinghua perked up a little at that. His existential crisis appeared to dim immediately. Lucky him.

Shen Yuan sat down on the couch again, completely zoning out to another episode of the horrendous drama they were watching. It was particularly bad and he couldn’t bring himself to even critique the fact that ten episodes ago the Lotus of Hope was already established as a cure for the disease the Dragon Priestess caught—so it made no sense that they were spending multiple episodes trying to figure out the cure.

“What was up with Binghe?” Shang Qinghua asked after a couple of episodes, their food delivered, eaten, and piled in a mess on the coffee table.

“Work stuff,” Shen Yuan lied. He lasted one more episode before he started getting ready for bed. A shower and a change into pajamas later and he was staring at the link on his phone with wet hair.

Shen Yuan clicked it and entered the password. The image quality was better than the small preview Luo Binghe had shown. The camera angles were clearly someone experienced in making videos but probably not these kinds.

It was… so uncomfortable to watch. Qin Wanyue was giggling too much and moving around so they could be better seen by the camera. He grimaced as they started to…get into the deed. Shen Yuan wasn’t a prude. He’d seen porn before. He was also straight so he’d seen… this kind of porn before.

There was something very different about seeing someone you knew doing it. Worst of all, he could tell Luo Binghe looked uncomfortable. He couldn’t see how Qin Wanyue wasn’t picking up on it. There were about ten glances towards the camera, like he was considering turning it off.

“Baobei,” Qin Wanyue said, making a noise that maybe was meant to sound like purring. “I know you’re nervous, but think about how we’re going to have a preserved memory of our first time.”

“What the fuck,” Shen Yuan said, leaning over so his elbows were shoved into his thighs. He moved his free hand up to his forehead and grimaced again as Luo Binghe nodded and gave a tight, definitely fake smile while they kept going.

Ugh. It was awful. Not that…it looked like it was bad. Qin Wanyue seemed like she having a good time and he’d seen her reel—she wasn’t a great actress. Luo Binghe was being attentive (based on her yelling, “I’m coming—I’m coming, baobei, I’m coommmming” — he was pretty sure she’d had a least one orgasm) and if she hadn’t said anything Shen Yuan would have assumed it wasn’t the first time they were doing this.

Then—ah… there was a shift. Shen Yuan leaned back from the screen, wondering why Binghe wanted him to watch this. Now the Luo Binghe on the screen was enjoying himself. There were… noises and heavy breathing. Shen Yuan felt like squirming as it continued to escalate and lifted his finger to shut the video off, feeling like a huge pervert when Luo Binghe continued to thrust and grunt and then—

“Yuan-ge,” he said in a tortured groan that went straight to Shen Yuan’s dick in the worst way.

So.

Okay.

That was why.

(Shen Yuan slumped against the counter the next morning while Shang Qinghua made coffee “Bro?”

“Mm?

“How’d you know you were attracted to men?”

Shang Qinghua dropped the coffee grounds onto the counter and started fumbling in his robe. He took his phone out and held it up. “Hold on—I swore to your sister I’d record this if it ever happened.”)

***

Luo Binghe did what it took to survive. He had given up the part of himself that was constantly naive and foolish and believed in the world his mother wanted him to live in. He wished the world had been like that, but after she died the only person he’d ever met that had even come close was Shen Yuan.

He still remembered, scrapping away in the rat box of an apartment he could barely afford after he’d dropped out of school, to try and make cooking videos. Everyone was doing videos those days and he had a bad camera and an internet cafe nearby where he could edit and upload his own between working two other jobs. He put so much effort into them. Luo Binghe thought if people could taste his mother’s cooking then there would be people that missed her too.

It was lonely being the only one. They hadn’t had any cherished items he could drag around and he’d lost the small pendant she’d given him when he’d gotten mugged outside the social services office. Her cooking was all he had left.

Day after day Luo Binghe made those videos and day after day he got mean or pointless comments. He had barely enough followers to make the money needed to eventually get a secondhand laptop and some editing software. At one point it didn’t really feel reason enough to keep going.

Then he started to get comments from Peerless Cucumber. On every video. Even his back catalog which were fucking terrible and he’d only forgotten to private them once he understood how to clip videos and actually balance the sound.

(Peerless Cucumber: This is really well done, especially with what limited resources you had! I’m glad you kept these videos up so we can see the improvement!

Peerless Cucumber: If you keep getting better equipment I am going to try and eat the screen. Why aren’t you a professional chef? We need a cookbook!

Peerless Cucumber: I tried this recipe and it came out much better than the last one! Adding your extra tips at the end of the video was really smart! Keep it up, Binghe!)

Soon enough Luo Binghe’s channel started to get too big for him to handle on his own. His comments and DMs started to be flooded by people giving him praise and accolades. He couldn’t keep up with them. It was overwhelming in the best way and went to his head. That was when Cang Qiong Entertainment reached out.

He’d been pitched by several different representation options at that point and was skeptical when Shen Yuan called himself ‘a fan’ — until he’d said his username. They’d only had less than a year of brainstorming and Luo Binghe letting him try his food before Luo Binghe was pressured into The Abyss.

The show had been a fucking disaster. His social media numbers skyrocketed and everyone got off on his pain. He’d almost lost an arm at one point and still had nightmares about some of the ‘challenges’ that were definitely not safety rated.

But the more popular he got, the more problems he had and the more Shen Yuan had to meet with him to help out. It had become addicting having his fully focused attention.

He’d noticed Shen Yuan getting maybe jealous whenever Luo Binghe had any photos coming out with models, actors, or other influencers he spent time with. Shen Yuan had almost thrown his glasses when the feeds started calling it Luo Binghe’s ‘harem.’ It was really cute.

Only Shen Yuan’s attention wasn’t quite enough. Luo Binghe was greedy and he started flirting a little to see where the line was. Shen Yuan never seemed to notice or if he did he’d go red and flustered and usually throw something, assuming Luo Binghe was only teasing him. And he was doing that too. Shen Yuan was so cute when Luo Binghe wound him up.

(His personal favorite had been the time Shen Yuan had lectured Luo Binghe in his office and then muttered that he felt like the principle yelling at a truant kid—so Luo Binghe had fluttered his eyes and asked if ‘Yuan-ge thought he should spank him for being a bad student.’

He was fairly certain Shen Yuan almost had a stroke. A tomato wasn’t as red as his face.)

Even better was when Luo Binghe’s content continued to shift and he noticed how closely Shen Yuan watched videos where he felt Luo Binghe was ‘exploited.’ He was very much a righteous immortal warrior when it came to defending Luo Binghe’s reputation.

So… Luo Binghe started to do it on purpose.

He didn’t think a hashtag would start about his dick, but Shen Yuan’s reaction to it and the fact that they then had to talk about his dick for work conversations… if he went swimming more often and asked his current hookup to crop a picture a certain way, well it didn’t seem too bad.

Then that stupid collaboration with Liu Qingge happened. The man obviously wanted Shen Yuan but was clueless as to how to go about it. His jealousy was insipid. Luo Binghe had been so angry when he’d acted like the occasional thirst trap was personally damaging to Shen Yuan.

He hadn’t even gotten to enjoy the viral takeoff of the pictures of a very wet Shen Yuan with a hand gripping Luo Binghe’s wet tank (Liu Qingge was also in those pictures but Luo Binghe cropped him out or covered that portion with his hand when he admired them).

Luo Binghe had panicked when Shen Yuan switched departments after his medical leave. He’d been assigned some boring straitlaced suit to deal with PR fallout, but the guy had no interest in ‘preserving’ Luo Binghe’s image and merely wanted to move it along the direction it had been going.

Luo Binghe tried to get into contact with Shen Yuan, assuming he could turn it around again. So he’d gotten a little desperate and showed up at his place. And then Luo Binghe found out why Shen Yuan had been in the hospital and had medical leave in the first place beyond his throwaway assurances when Luo Binghe texted.

He’d assumed that Shen Yuan had gotten sick on the plane like Shen Yuan told him. He didn’t know he’d put himself into the hospital from stress.

And even after that, faced with yet another fake crisis—a video that made Luo Binghe’s gut roil—Shen Yuan offered to sacrifice his health for Luo Binghe again.

Luo Binghe’s mother would not have liked the person he became. Even knowing that, Luo Binghe still wished he’d merely thought of another way around it all rather than admitting everything.

Especially since three weeks had passed since he’d shared that video with Shen Yuan and he still hadn’t heard from him.

He had sponsorships and collaborations already scheduled, so Luo Binghe did not plot Mobei-jun’s murder too often when he was made to record himself pretending to be charming and cheerful. He didn't even glance at his metrics or see if people were still creating photo-manipulations of part of that one queer swimmer couple they were making a series about.

(He’d considered auditioning for it when he saw Shen Yuan reading the books, but ended up passing. Luo Binghe faked enough of his normal life he didn’t need to make it more of a career.

And Shen Yuan hadn’t seemed to like the books much, so he figured there were easier ways to get Shen Yuan to look at pictures of him in tight swimwear.)

He was miserable but still contractually obligated to film content, so Luo Binghe took himself to Qian Cao Yoga Studio for ‘Puppy Yoga’ with the Little Palace Mistress (who had been doing very angry spin videos and needed to lighten her image before the lawsuits came out) and finally saw Shen Yuan again.

“Oh,” Shen Yuan said, holding a pair of squirming puppies. “Hey, Binghe. I didn’t know you were booked for this.”

“Is that a problem?” Luo Binghe asked, voice flatter and angrier than he meant it to be. He kind of wanted to growl at the stupid dogs Shen Yuan was holding onto. He only put the one with a flatter face down as it squirmed stupidly before swaddling the other one like a baby. This one was more fur than dog and could easily resemble an oversized rat in an ugly wig.

“No, no, no of course not! I—” Shen Yuan looked away and then down at the whelp in his arms. “I know I haven’t… reached out I’ve been um, thinking a lot and it’s been a lot and… so yoga is supposed to be good for stress. And puppies.”

Luo Binghe exhaled. He should have known that it would end up like this. Of course Shen Yuan knew what he was like now and wanted nothing to do with him. That had always been what he knew would happen. He badly wanted to be that little kid cooking for his favorite commenter again, but Luo Binghe had killed him to survive.

“Its fine, we’ll set up on the other side of the room,” Luo Binghe said, and turned. The Little Palace Mistress was doing pre-stretches to check her angles in the camera. There was a very round puppy with an underbite trying to eat her leggings.

He watched as she snapped her fingers at it and then it went into a sit. Then she started cooing at it. “Oh, what a good obedient boy!”

If Luo Binghe were not in such a terrible mood he might have laughed at how that made her assistant fumble his camera in his hands.

Luo Binghe briefly glanced at the angles she was planning and set up his own mat, shooing away the mutts so they wouldn’t pee on the expensive material.

The dog-spawn were everywhere. There was no feasible way to do any sort of yoga routine with them running around or jumping on faces and licking them with slobbering tongues. They jumped into crotches and caused more than one person to fall.

Everyone loved them.

Even the Little Palace Mistress gave up on any sort of attempt at crane pose to show off her to viewership, rather she sunk into a cross legged meditation so that the overly round underbite whelp could sleep.

It took every ounce of willpower that Luo Binghe had not to seem like he was scowling at puppies on camera—then he saw the small black overly hairy dog-spawn that kept running in and around Shen Yuan’s legs. Shen Yuan who was still attempting the poses the instructor was showing and could have injured himself!

The instructor, with a grating laugh, told everyone to go into downward facing dog. The tittering spread through the classroom. The result of this was that Luo Binge had to look through his own legs to see Shen Yuan perfectly bent over, his hair dangling towards the ground, laughing as the black furred beast tried to eat it.

Luo Binghe was having extremely dark thoughts about a small puppy, viciously jealous of the attention it was getting.

Each time he looked over his shoulder, Shen Yuan was coddling the thing even more. At one point Luo Binghe glanced over to see Shen Yuan abandon his (fairly flexible—Luo Binghe noted) cobra pose to kiss the tiny monster on the forehead.

Luo Binghe almost tore his yoga mat in half.

He was unable to keep his characteristic sunny brilliance on as the Little Palace Mistress finished her video collaboration—he managed aloof and not homicidal at best. She was adopting the puppy and naming it ‘Whip’ and the soft, fond look on her assistant’s face (who Luo Binghe now realized was Gongyi Xiao, the boyfriend she claimed she was on a break with when they hooked up) was making him ill.

Luo Binghe rolled up his mat into its carrier, slung it over his back, and resisted the urge to get caught on camera actually kicking a puppy before he left the studio. He made his way to the elevator when he felt the familiar creeping sensation of someone approaching him from behind.

Luo Binghe did not have time to pretend to be cheerful with a fan. He gritted his teeth and tried to ignore them.

“Binghe?” Shen Yuan’s voice said. “Look… I — can we talk for a minute?”

Luo Binghe wanted to say no, but instead he turned without looking directly at Shen Yuan and nodded. He was silent as Shen Yuan directed them across the way to where there were a few smaller rooms clearly made for private sessions. They stepped into one and Luo Binghe stared at the wall, waiting for the final nail in the coffin he’d built himself.

“I’m sorry,” Shen Yuan said. “I didn’t mean to go silent this long. I had to think about some… um, things. That weren’t even—I mean they were to do with you, but they’re—it’s not very smart to have big identity crises when you’re trying to avoid stress. Absolutely crazy that the prescribe treatment is ‘avoid stress’ — that’s what everyone is trying to do anyway!”

Luo Binghe couldn’t help but look down. His lips twitched automatically as he watched a familiar annoyed wrinkle in Shen Yuan’s nose as he dug into a topic he was irritated by.

Shen Yuan cut himself off as he noticed Luo Binghe looking and flicked his eyes away. He couldn't have gotten a strenuous workout with how much attention he was giving the fluffy rat that was sucking up to him, but Shen Yuan was a little flushed and there was a glisten of sweat around the rim of his collar.

“I still don’t know what to do with… some of the things I still need to think about, but I do know that I’m not mad at you or anything.” He frowned and then looked back at Luo Binghe. “Actually, no. I am mad at you, Binghe. Why the hell did you think you needed to go through all those hoops to get me to think you’re a good person? You are good. Nothing you told me changes that.”

Luo Binghe felt a small rip directly in the center of his chest. He could very easily reach his hand in and tear his own heart out to give to Shen Yuan on a platter right now and he would not think twice about it.

“I’m not your PR rep anymore,” Shen Yuan said. “But I’d very much like to still be your friend.”

“Really?” Luo Binghe said, uncaring about the crack in his voice. Especially as it made Shen Yuan step closer and put a reassuring hand on his arm.

“Of course, Binghe—I’m sorry I gave you the impression you couldn’t… change or I’d stop believing in you.” Shen Yuan swallowed and then dropped his arm. He shifted back a step and then adjusted his glasses. “And I… I mean I’ll figure out the other stuff. It’s just… been hard with… well…”

“Other stuff,” Luo Binghe repeated. He may as well have ripped his heart out and offered it to Shen Yuan, with how empty the inside of his chest now felt. “You aren’t interested in me like that.”

“No!” Shen Yuan said quickly, holding up his hands.

“No?” Luo Binghe’s heart returned and started to beat like crazy.

“I mean—I don’t know,” Shen Yuan threw his arms up high and glared at the ceiling before taking another few steps in what seemed a random direction. “I thought I was 100% straight! And I can’t even talk to anyone about it, because the reason I think otherwise was—well I don’t want to completely ruin your privacy.”

“You—” Luo Binghe thought he understood, but if he was wrong he might burn down the entire building out of spite. “Yuan-ge… you liked the video?”

“No,” Shen Yuan hissed, truly flushed now and biting his lip. “It’s—you looked so uncomfortable, but then the part where you didn’t and then you—did you really?” He looked directly at Luo Binghe and there was an unsureness behind his eyes. “Me? Really?”

Luo Binghe was kissing Shen Yuan before he had even processed moving. There was a small moment where Shen Yuan startled and stiffened, but then he gave and his hands fluttered at his sides and then nervously rested on Luo Binghe’s shoulders. If Luo Binghe had been thinking clearly he would have gently licked the seam of Shen Yuan’s lips instead of pillaging his mouth with his tongue and swallowing the delicious noise Shen Yuan made when he thrust in.

He was angry at the need for air after a few minutes of furiously responding to Shen Yuan’s ridiculous question and bit at Shen Yuan’s lip before he released him to breathe again.

Shen Yuan moved his hands to Luo Binghe’s chest to keep him from surging forward again, but did not press out of his hold. “I… um… okay. Definitely not straight. That clears that up.”

Luo Binghe laughed, feeling the awful weight of the last few weeks shatter around him. “Yuan-ge, you’ve been thinking about that for three weeks?”

Shen Yuan was blushing furiously. The tips of his adorable ears were pink and Luo Binghe wanted to bite them. Luo Binghe took a moment to run his hands down Shen Yuan’s sides, canting at his waist for a moment before resting on his hips. Shen Yuan was wearing athletic pants that were a little too loose on his waist and a very old and faded t-shirt which was so thin, Luo Binghe could see the flush of his nipples through the fabric.

He wanted to bite those too.

“Um… maybe we could go back to your place before doing that—” Shen Yuan said, in a squeak.

Ah. Luo Binghe had said that out loud then.

His first time with Shen Yuan probably shouldn’t be in a yoga studio with open windows. Even if the mirrors were tempting.

“My place,” Luo Binghe agreed and pulled him out the door.

***

Luo Binghe was not sure how he survived the ride share back to his apartment and cursed how many floors they had to wait through as the elevator rose disastrously slow. Shen Yuan had started squeaking and slapping at him when he tried to get his hands into the gap in his joggers. Now Shen Yuan wouldn’t even let him kiss him until they were in the apartment.

“Let me put my phone on do not disturb,” Shen Yuan muttered as the numbers on the floors went up agonizingly slow.

Luo Binghe glanced at the phone screen and felt needlessly irritated to see the stupid puppy again—already his lock screen. He consoled himself that the fur-covered whelp was still being shoved back into some kennel in the shelter and Shen Yuan was here with him.

The second the door to Luo Binghe’s apartment was closed, he threw his yoga mat across the entryway and pounced on Shen Yuan. His hands sank into the short silky strands of his hair as he nipped and licked his way back into Shen Yuan’s mouth.

Shen Yuan’s hands fisted at the edge of Luo Binghe’s tank, while he clearly tried to mirror Luo Binghe’s movements tilting his head and perfectly following Luo Binghe’s lead.

Luo Binghe needed more hands. He could not touch enough of Shen Yuan at once. He settled for sliding them both down Shen Yuan’s back and pulling him closer at the small of it so their hips pressed together. Shen Yuan gave a breathy, “Ah!” that made Luo Binghe want to devour him.

He finally worked his way into the gap of Shen Yuan’s joggers, cupping the cheeks of his ass and kneading the skin there. Luo Binghe nosed against the shell of Shen Yuan’s ear, and lowered his voice to a husk. “Did you get yourself off to the video?”

“Fuck! Binghe!” Shen Yuan objected, twisting in his grip which only served to grind his hardness against Luo Binghe’s hip.

“What did you do about while you were,” he nipped at Shen Yuan’s earlobe, “thinking about things?”

“Ah,” Shen Yuan’s grip on Luo Binghe’s tank tightened and he pulled hard enough to drag the collar painfully against the back of Luo Binghe’s neck. “That’s not—” Shen Yuan made a frustrated groan and bit Luo Binghe’s chin.

Luo Binghe laughed and smoothed his hands over Shen Yuan’s ass, before squeezing them again. “Yuan-ge, how am I supposed to help you figure it out if you don’t tell me?”

Shen Yuan muttered something and huffed.

Luo Binghe ground his hips forward as he drew Shen Yuan in by the hold on his ass. “What was that?”

“I…” Shen Yuan started and Luo Binghe leaned back slightly to take in his face. He was blushing furiously and looked mortified. “I had to—about it… so… the um…” He gave Luo Binghe a helpless look. “Don’t make me say it.”

Luo Binghe laughed, breathlessly.

“Should I give Yuan-ge my heavenly pillar?” he teased.

Shen Yuan bit his lip. “I mean… if that’s what you wanted.”

Much like how he’d first kissed him without even processing moving, Luo Binghe had Shen Yuan lifted up in his arms before he registered it. Shen Yuan yelped and clung to him, but he weighed less than Luo Binghe’s deadlifts so he easily took him to his bedroom.

From there it was a matter of getting him out of those clothes while still capturing Shen Yuan’s mouth whenever possible. He did end up ripping Shen Yuan’s too thin shirt and the future promise of Shen Yuan having to wear one of Luo Binghe’s later was enough to make him feral.

Nothing about his thoughts at the moment were good for however much Shen Yuan still said he believed that Luo Binghe was. He did however want to make this very good for Shen Yuan. Luo Binghe held back the urge to throw Shen Yuan on the bed and pounce on him again and rather softly held and kissed him until he was more comfortable.

After taking Shen Yuan’s glasses and placing them on the nightstand Luo Binghe kissed his nose. Then he grabbed a pillow and positioned it so Shen Yuan’s hips were lifted, noting the furrow of Shen Yuan’s eyebrows.

“Shouldn’t I be the other way?”

Luo Binghe wondered how much gay porn Shen Yuan watched in the last three weeks as research and felt a surge of both jealousy and fondness. “I want to see your face,” Luo Binghe said, and reached over to his bedside table for the lube he kept there.

“Try and relax,” Luo Binghe added as he moved down the bed so he could place himself between Shen Yuan’s legs. He could not count how many times he had wanted to be in this exact position and was overwhelmed at the feel and look of Shen Yuan’s pale and jade smooth thighs. He took a bite of one and smiled as Shen Yuan squeaked again and then slapped a hand over his mouth.

“I’m not a snack,” Shen Yuan huffed, already looking ravished with the way his hair was mussed up and his lips were swelled and bruised.

“I disagree,” Luo Binghe said, taking another taste of the skin there. He slid Shen Yuan’s thighs onto his shoulders and ignored Shen Yuan’s questioning objections for laving his tongue down the thin skin between his sack and his entrance.

“Ahhhh! Fuck—what are you—”

A better person. A good person would have taken a moment to ask how Shen Yuan was doing and if he wanted to stop. Luo Binghe was not a good person. He thrust his tongue inside Shen Yuan’s hole, mimicking the way he’d dominated his mouth earlier.

“Oh that’s weird—but it’s nnghh—” Shen Yuan’s thighs squeezed hard against Luo Binghe’s ears, causing a thrumming like he was underwater. “Fuck, sorry!”

Luo Binghe merely pat Shen Yuan’s thigh lightly in an encouraging manner and pressed his tongue back in harder, flicking it around the rim in a figure eight that had Shen Yuan’s thighs squeezing him again.

Luo Binghe thought that if he died right now, right between Shen Yuan’s legs, he would go happy.

“Binghe,” Shen Yuan said, one of his hands pulling on Luo Binghe’s hair to try and move him. Luo Binghe groaned at the sharp pull on his scalp and considering where his mouth was, it seemed to have an effect on Shen Yuan who panted little gasping noises in return.

Luo Binghe could have spent all day and night there, but he was also starting to rut against the bed covers and needed to fulfill Shen Yuan’s curiosity. Since his dick had started trending, he’d gotten a lot of specific interest in it when he hooked up with someone. It had started to be more annoying than anything else. Most of them hadn't even wanted foreplay and didn’t realize how it actually took time to get someone comfortable enough to take his size.

He pulled back, leaning his cheek against one of Shen Yuan’s thighs as he popped the cap on the lube and spread it over his fingers, rubbing them together to warm it up.

Shen Yuan looked down at him, dizzyingly disheveled and biting his lip raw. It took effort not to kiss him again, but Luo Binghe settled for pressing his lips against the thigh he was leaning against and focusing on sliding his finger inside Shen Yuan. He took his time, working in each finger slowly and carefully stretching out Shen Yuan’s inner walls. By the time he was at three fingers, he’d found and was rubbing high and steady against Shen Yuan’s prostate.

Luo Binghe twisted and spread his fingers, ensuring to brush against that spot each time, until Shen Yuan was practically sobbing. He had his head tilted back, fully flushed chest on display and the view was better than any thirst trap Luo Binghe had ever seen or posted himself.

“Ah—Binghe—ngh. Fuck, I’m—stop,” Shen Yuan groaned and his hips twisted in place, “Please that… that has to be enough.”

“I think you could use some more,” Luo Binghe said, pressing a fourth finger against his rim—mesmerized by how the skin stretched around to accommodate it.

“No—fuck, I’m—Binghe,” Shen Yuan whined.

Luo Binghe drew deep from the shallow well of self-control he had left. “Do you want me to stop?”

“No!” Shen Yuan said, empathetically. “I don’t—I want you to fuck me before I come on your fingers.”

He looked horrified after he said it. It was difficult for Shen Yuan’s face to get more red, but he somehow managed. Luo Binghe gripped Shen Yuan’s thigh a little too hard as he tried to steady himself. He slowly pulled his fingers out, almost losing his mind when Shen Yuan clenched around them like he wanted to suck them back in.

Keeping Shen Yuan’s thighs over his shoulders, Luo Binghe rose up to his knees so he could angle his cock at Shen Yuan’s entrance. He wanted to stay focused on how his head slid thickly past the rim, but all he could do was look at Shen Yuan looking as it did so. His mouth was slightly open and his eyes wide.

He was tight as Luo Binghe entered. It was… more difficult than normal to hold back but he did so, going a few centimeters at a time and rubbing his fingers soothingly against Shen Yuan’s stomach and thighs.

“How does that fit?” Shen Yuan said, gasping as Luo Binghe slid in a little further.

“Like you were made for me,” Luo Binghe said and smiled as Shen Yuan threw his arm over his face and groaned in embarrassment. “What does Yuan-ge want?” he asked, trying to distract himself from only being halfway inside him.

Shen Yuan squirmed, a very small movement of his hips that took Luo Binghe in a little deeper. “Ahh, I…”

“Yuan-ge,” Luo Binghe said, very close to begging again. The closer he got to being fully inside Shen Yuan, the more it felt like holding back was a harder challenge than anything he’d encountered on The Abyss.

Shen Yuan dropped his arm and looked at Luo Binghe, almost shy. “Can you do it the way you were thinking of in the video?”

Luo Binghe automatically thrust forward almost the rest of the way in, startling both of them. “Ah, shit—sorry,” Luo Binghe said, gently rubbing circles against Shen Yuan’s hip.

“It’s—fuck it’s fine, shit, you’re not even fully in yet.” Shen Yuan leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling. “I know I looked at enough close up shots. You’d think I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Luo Binghe’s last shred of control disappeared and he snapped his hips forward, thrusting the rest of the way in and punching the breath out of both of them. Shen Yuan cried out and his hands went back in Luo Binghe’s hair, tugging in that dull perfect pain that had him groaning.

Luo Binghe closed his eyes, trying to remember that first awkward time. He’d had a difficult time staying hard, finding all of Qin Wanyue’s performative noises to be off-putting in a way he hadn’t felt with her before that. It reminded him too much of being on the show. Of being on display where every action he made would be dissected and used against him later. The sink or swim of the challenges extended past the danger during filming. He had to be liked. He had to be used.

Then he’d thought about Shen Yuan. He’d thought about what it would have been like to have him underneath him—like he was now. Luo Binghe thought how there wouldn’t be cameras and he wouldn’t be performing. He would be sinking into the hot, tight heat of Shen Yuan, surrounded entirely by him.

His hips rolled and he opened his eyes again, memorizing every single gasp, moan, and cry that Shen Yuan let out when Luo Binghe got the right angle. It was perfect. It was not worrying about being watched and how they’d judge him, but watching Shen Yuan and using every reaction to inform his movements.

Luo Binghe pounded into Shen Yuan, pressing his thighs against his chest and testing the limits of the flexibility he’d seen during their yoga class. He murmured nonsense and grunted with each roll of his hips, until finally Shen Yuan yelled and clenched around him as he came, spurting all over both their torsos.

Luo Binghe fucked him through that and then lost himself in it. The sweet, hot demanding heat and Shen Yuan’s hands now stroking his hair—he sobbed as he finally came, saying Shen Yuan’s name over and over again.

It took him a while to come down after. He was still breathing hard and only Shen Yuan’s wince when he pulled out got Luo Binghe’s brain back in working order. He got a washcloth to clean up and tossed the ruined pillow onto the floor to deal with later. Once they were both cleaned, he wrapped his arms around Shen Yuan, nuzzling into his neck.

“I’m not sure I’m even bi after that,” Shen Yuan said after a while.

Luo Binghe laughed into his neck and then lifted up, littering kisses on Shen Yuan’s jaw and cheek. “Whatever you are is perfect.”

Shen Yuan made a face at that but allowed Luo Binghe to kiss him properly again which was all that mattered. After another few minutes of lazy kissing, Shen Yuan blinked and then drew his head back. “Shit. I should’ve thought about condoms.”

Luo Binghe had them. He had to order them special online. They were next to the lube, which he’d seen and probably should have thought to grab. He would have missed the feeling of his dick pressed against the tight inside of Shen Yuan with no barrier though, so he did not regret it. “I had a clean test last month and haven’t been with anyone since.”

“Oh,” Shen Yuan said, carefully. Luo Binghe wondered if he was upset about not using one or that Luo Binghe had enough sex to need regular testing. Before Luo Binghe could ask, Shen Yuan squirmed in his arms and looked away. “I don’t… need to uh… test.”

The only reason for that would be if he’d never been with anyone else. The only reason for that was if Shen Yuan was—

Luo Binghe’s brain had stopped processing.

“It’s not a big deal!” Shen Yuan said, panicked.

Luo Binghe threw himself on top of Shen Yuan and claimed his mouth again. They did not get out of bed for a while.

***

Shen Yuan yawned, finally waking. Every part of him was sore and stiff. He cracked his eyes open to not see Luo Binghe in bed next to him. The door was open and ambient noises and smells determined he was probably in the kitchen.

Shen Yuan felt sated and lazy enough he wondered if he could demand breakfast in bed. He should for many times they’d test driven the heavenly pillar.

This definitely wasn’t a one-night stand so Shen Yuan might have to look up some more things online specifically for recovering from taking the biggest dick he’d ever seen. If he hadn’t been almost wrecked from being eaten out and fingered for at least twenty minutes, Shen Yuan might not have had the guts to actually go through with it. He still wasn’t sure how the hell it had fit.

This was too much focus on Luo Binghe’s dick first thing in the morning. His dick. Which Shen Yuan had taken. Multiple times.

Shen Yuan buried his face in the pillow. That smelled like Luo Binghe. Fuck.

“Are you awake now?” Luo Binghe asked, softly.

“Mmm,” Shen Yuan said, refusing to lift his head from the pillow.

Luo Binghe chuckled. “All right. Do you want me to bring you an espresso?”

“Yes, please,” Shen Yuan said, lifting his head. The soft smile he received in return made his heart do a happy flip.

Luo Binghe leaned over and kissed Shen Yuan briefly and then went out the door again, presumably to use his fancy espresso machine that Shen Yuan was still unconvinced wasn’t a Decepticon. He groaned and pushed himself up to sitting. Luo Binghe had some clothes laid out on his nightstand which was good because Shen Yuan wasn’t sure his legs weren’t going to wobble off his body if he stood too quickly. He pulled on one of Luo Binghe’s shirts, which swamped him and then a pair of Luo Binghe’s shorts, which he pulled the string on as much as possible and still felt like they might slide off if he shifted wrong.

“I need to work out more,” Shen Yuan muttered to himself as he grabbed his glasses. A few moments later Luo Binghe delivered to him a latte, complete with a foam pattern that you’d usually get at a fancy cafe. He looked like he wanted to sit watching Shen Yuan sip his caffeine, but had to disappear back to the kitchen. It was starting to smell really good even from the bedroom.

“Binghe?” Shen Yuan called out. “Do you remember where I put my phone? Or my pants that had my phone in it?”

Luo Binghe laughed. It was a warm and happy noise. “I plugged it in last night. It’s next to the lamp.”

“Thanks!”

Shen Yuan shifted on the bed, getting closer to the other nightstand with a lamp and grabbed his phone. The picture of the perfect little puppy he’d put in an adoption application for greeted him on the screen. He smiled and then unlocked it.

Then Shen Yuan let out a noise he’d never made before, like his throat had strangled itself while screaming.

“Yuan-ge?” Luo Binghe said, rushing into the room. “What’s wrong?”

Shen Yuan miserably held up his phone for him. Luo Binghe looked it over. And then the asshole grinned. “Don’t smile about it!”

“I guess I win the #RivalShip,” Luo Binghe said, with a cheerful and unapologetic shrug.

“Unacceptable!” Shen Yuan said. He debated throwing the fucking phone at him. Which buzzed with a new message to add to the sixty he’d gotten since last night.

He almost wished for the #LoveTriTwink again. It was better than his real name being a hashtag paired with #BiBing and accompanied by a picture of Luo Binghe mauling him against a glass wall in the yoga studio yesterday.

The literal only upside was that for once you couldn't see Luo Binghe’s heavenly pillar—which Shen Yuan only knew because from the angle it was at, he’d been grinding against it with his own.

Shen Yuan tossed his phone aside and thunked his head back onto one of the pillows. He was going to move with Luo Binghe to a remote island with no wifi.