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QZGS Secret Santa 2023
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Published:
2023-12-16
Words:
2,017
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
29
Kudos:
220
Bookmarks:
47
Hits:
1,174

first of many

Summary:

At least Ye Qiu won't be at All-Stars this time, Ol' Blue can get a break from him - Flying Brushstroke, winner of the annual Blue Brook Guild Joke of the Year Award.

Notes:

:DDD thanks for such a fun prompt!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Up until Chasing Haze appeared, Blue River had been having a great time.

He had screamed himself hoarse watching Glory’s new holographics bring Troubling Rain to life, the Sword Saint even more impressive up close. He’d gotten to watch some of the most impressive rookie challenges in recent memory. Most importantly, he had been doing all this without being haunted by the spectre of Lord Grim, who’d shown up in his dreams telling him Tiny Herb had bought all his guides outright and the rest of them had no choice but to give up on not only the tenth server’s records, but also the future eleventh and twelfth and thirteenth and - yeah. The point was, Blue River had been having a great time. His great time-o-meter had been entirely full.

Chasing Haze’s appearance didn’t actually change his great time-o-meter; after all, the account had handily thrashed Poplar Beach for him. But then Chasing Haze’s battle mage friend started walloping the sharpshooter with low-level skills, and an ominous feeling crept up Blue River’s spine.

See, Chasing Haze was the account Lord Grim had borrowed. Lord Grim had a battle mage on his team. The battle mage was new to Glory.

And also, Lord Grim was Ye Qiu, and the duo had been called to the stage by Su Mucheng, and she had spent a while dallying between Area C, Row 21’s Seat 19 and 23.

Blue River wasn’t particularly sure he liked where this train of thought was going. He was definitely regretting not buying a pair of binoculars outside the stadium to see if his suspicions were correct. Unfortunately, everyone in his row had had the same thought as him, namely, why need binoculars when I have front-row seats?

Would it be weird if he navigated his way from his seat in Area A all the way to Area C? Blue River dithered on the idea for so long that Changing Spring, sitting next to him, sent him a concerned look. With a jolt, Blue River realised Huang Shaotian had already stepped onto the stage, and he resolutely threw the thoughts of Area C Row 21 Seat 19 out of his head.

Like, it wasn’t as if Blue River wasn’t getting plenty of opportunities to talk to Ye Qiu. The guy was in his DMs demanding materials from Blue Brook Guild every other day. But watching Huang Shaotian and the holographic Troubling Rain sweep away clay pigeons, and their competition, with a flourish, from up close? That didn’t happen every day!

Then the person Blue River strongly suspected was Soft Mist defeated Samsara’s Du Ming.

Which, look. Blue River could accept that Lord Grim was Ye Qiu and he, Blue River, had gone dungeoning with a literal god of Glory a couple of times. He could even accept that Ye Qiu was the one emptying Blue Brook Guild’s warehouse. But, what the hell, even the total newbies Ye Qiu picked up could solo pro players after a month now?

Du Ming won the second round, which was good for Blue River’s sanity. He lost the third, which was not, because it sent Blue River’s thoughts spiralling straight back into Lord Grim and Area C Row 21 Seat 19. Wistfully, Blue River recalled Flying Brushstroke’s airy comment of, At least Ye Qiu won’t be at All-Stars this time, Ol’ Blue can get a break from him, back when Changing Spring had given Blue Brook Guild’s second ticket to All-Stars to Blue River.

Flying Brushstroke didn’t know it yet, but he was now a contender for the ‘Blue Brook Guild Joke of the Year’ award, and it was only January.

Then Blue River spotted an event organiser heading up the stairs of Area C.

Then a voice introduced themselves as the substitute for Soft Mist.

Then Rising Dragon Soars the Sky became - became - it became Dragon Raises Its Head, and the entire stadium, at first stunned, exploded into noise.

“I need some fresh air,” Blue River said blankly to Changing Spring, and staggered out of the stadium without waiting for a reply.

Outside, the cold air did help in freezing him back to normalcy - Blue Rain’s official team jackets, for all that they were the best in the world, were not particularly well-designed for winter conditions. Blue River dragged in huge lungfuls of cold air until it burned, then turned and walked straight into a man coming out of the stadium.

The two of them promptly crashed to the ground.

While Blue River blinked stars out of his eyes, he heard footsteps running over to them. “Are you all right?”

The speaker was a woman wearing so many layers she definitely wouldn’t feel cold in the chilly Shanghai evening. There were strands of orange hair falling out from under her hood. And even though her voice was muffled behind the scarf and face mask combination she wore and consequently very different from how she sounded in advertisements, Blue River had an uncanny feeling that he was looking at Su Mucheng.

Which meant the person he crashed into was…

“Lord Grim?” Blue River blurted out.

The man on the ground turned away from Su Mucheng to give him an appraising once-over. He looked utterly unremarkable, down to the ten-yuan parka from Taobao he was wearing. Blue River knew this because he had left the same parka at home, after deciding that team pride was more important than his own comfort.

Probably-Lord-Grim picked himself off the ground, then offered a hand to Blue River to pull him up. Blue River, returned to standing on his own feet, began seriously contemplating the hygiene behind never washing his right hand again.

“Nice to meet you in person,” said - oh heavens, Blue River really was looking at the Ye Qiu, in the flesh.  “Blue River.”

Somehow all this resulted in Blue River sitting on a plastic chair in a tiny ice cream shop in the middle of winter, watching Su Mucheng pick out flavours for her ice cream while Ye Qiu shook free a cigarette. It was the kind of thing that Blue River would never have dreamed of for a hundred thousand years before joining the tenth server, but which was now just one more thing that sure was happening - and he was getting a little tired of being astounded at the utterly ridiculous turns his life was taking. Yes, in the span of a few weeks, Ye Qiu had gone from being an unknowable, battle mage-shaped silhouette on the screen to the guy sitting opposite him in an ice cream parlour. That was a thing that could happen to anyone, right?

Blue River surreptitiously pinched his arm. It hurt.

“You don’t mind, do you,” said Ye Qiu, the unlit cigarette balanced between his - very nice fingers, Blue River was suddenly noticing. He gave a frantic shake of his head. Now was not the time to remember his celebrity crush on Ye Qiu - an entirely ordinary rite for practically every Glory player out there, barring Tyranny supporters maybe, but he was probably the first to be sitting opposite him. If he was alone he would have buried his face in his hands.

Ye Qiu, fortunately, seemed entirely ignorant of Blue River’s inner meltdown, having interpreted the head-shaking as Blue River not minding him smoking. In a sequence of clearly well-practised movements, the cigarette was lit and lifted to his lips, and a cloud of smoke was exhaled out. Blue River found himself staring.

Fuck.

Fortunately, at that moment Su Mucheng returned with her ice cream: four scoops in a single cup, impressive given the temperatures. “Ye Xiu, do you know each other?”

“Sure,” said Ye - Xiu?, easily. “Mucheng, this is Blue River. He and his materials are contributing significantly to the Myriad Manifestations Umbrella’s development.”

Su Mucheng’s eyes curved with amusement, while Blue River found himself attacked by a sudden coughing fit. Contributed. Contributed. He supposed it wasn’t technically wrong, but - did Lord Grim really have to put it that way? Why did it sound so voluntary? Blue River’s heart was bleeding every time he was shown a list of materials, okay?

In total silence, the rose-tinted glass from Blue River’s celebrity crush shattered into a million pieces. Which neither of them needed to know, so instead he asked, “Ye Xiu?”

“That’s me,” said Ye Xiu, lifting a hand in the world’s least-effort wave.

“But Captain Yu said you’re Ye Qiu,” said Blue River, confused.

“That’s also me,” agreed Ye Xiu. “Don’t tell Huang Shaotian, he’ll blow up my QQ.”

Blue River’s brain was experiencing technical difficulties. “Huh?”

“Let’s put it this way,” said Ye Xiu-who-was-also-Ye-Qiu. “Your main account in the Heavenly Domain, have you stopped being Blue Bridge Spring Snow because you picked up Blue River?”

But people don’t get two identities in real life, Blue River wanted to protest, except then he remembered that life was busy taking ridiculous turns. What was stopping this from happening, really? It wasn’t as if common sense existed around Lord Grim.

“Right,” he said. “Okay.”

Ye Xiu’s smile was surprisingly nice. Some part of Blue River’s brain had clearly tied Lord Grim with smirking, despite Glory’s impassive faces, if he was noticing this. “Easy to understand, right?” said Ye Xiu.

As if!

Su Mucheng paused in devouring her ice cream to say, “If it were that easy, you wouldn’t have needed to tell him not to tell Huang Shao.”

“That’s because Huang Shaotian spams your messages first and thinks later,” Ye Xiu said seriously. “Our friend Blue River isn’t like that, so it’s fine. He’s the type to think first and then spam your friend requests.”

Blue River’s palm met his forehead.

Quietness settled between them after that, both Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng clearly content to finish their cigarette and ice cream respectively without speaking. That was great, because Blue River was not good at being shameless, and he needed to muster up an extraordinary amount of courage before they left and his life returned just slightly back to normal.

“Canyousignthisformeplease!” he blurted out, choosing the moment when Ye Xiu extinguished his cigarette.

Crap. He’d said that too loudly. And also too quickly, and his notebook was the wrong way around, and—

Ye Xiu picked up the pen and spun the notebook into the correct orientation. “You know, Blue River, this should be the only copy on the planet of my signature on Blue Rain merchandise. How much is that worth? There’s a few hidden boss materials I need from Thousand Waves Lake—”

Why did he even care about embarrassing himself. Blue River made a snatch for the notebook, but Ye Xiu was faster. “Kidding, kidding,” he laughed, though knowing him if Blue River had agreed he wouldn’t have said no. “Who do I sign this to? Blue River? Your main? Or…”

“Xu Boyuan.” Blue River’s face felt like a witch had thrown the contents of a Lava Flask on him.

To Xu Boyuan, he watched Ye Xiu write, before signing his name in a fluid flourish.

“It’s still from Ye Qiu?” asked Su Mucheng, one eyebrow raised. Ye Xiu paused, considering it, then shrugged and wrote an extremely wobbly Xiu next to a perfect rendition of his surname.

“Now it really is priceless,” he said. “First edition! Wobbly with authenticity. Say, Little Xu,” and an electric tingle shot down Xu Boyuan’s spine at his name coming out of Ye Xiu’s mouth, “are you sure you can’t spare any materials? I’ll give you a huge discount, just two of Mermaid’s Pearl Necklace will do.”

On one hand, Mermaid’s Pearl Necklace was a hidden boss drop. On the other hand, if Ye Xiu said his name again Xu Boyuan was going to commit some kind of terribly unwise action that would leave him unable to show his face in front of Lord Grim ever again, and then where would the tenth server Blue Brook Guild be? “I’ll write you an IOU,” he mumbled.

“Deal!” said Ye Xiu cheerfully, the smile back on his face, and Xu Boyuan’s heart, ever the traitor, skipped a beat.

Notes:

a few days later - ye xiu, sliding into xu boyuan's dms:

lord grim: hey about that iou
lord grim: i have a better idea
lord grim: come babysit happy instead?