Glory Couture

by Quixari

Summary:

Yè Xiū is a man of many talents. Considering the fact he often looks like a walking fashion disaster, no one ever expected this to be one of them.

Chapter 1

Notes:

all I wanted was to write a crack fic.

why can't I write one without it going off the rails?

/sob

-- 00 --

It was an almost unknown fact that Ye Xiu's talent laid in hobbies outside of Glory.

He could play the piano, though admittedly only a couple songs in particular - they had been the best ones to practice his hand speed on, and therefor the only ones worth knowing.

He could draw, though aside from the odd piece and commission here and there, he often kept his work private.

Besides, most of what he drew tended to be related to clothing, multiple designs of various styles and types spanning many different pages.

That was another thing...

Ye Xiu had an eye for fashion, and combined with his skill in drawing?

He would most likely be one of the most sought after designers, if it weren't for the fact that he preferred Glory.



-- 01 --

When Ye Xiu left home, he did so with a letter that claimed he was seeking inspiration elsewhere and that he would be okay, don't look for him.

Included with the letter had been a few of his designs, the first he ever deemed to show to those aside from his own eyes.

Mother Ye's gaze was a speculative one as she stared at the thick papers before her, at both soft and sharp lines and muted watercolours bringing in needed colour.

"Dear?" Her husband murmured, and she glanced over at him, at the letter the male held within his hands.

"Let him go.  Xiu'er... He might be young, but he is not his brother.  Let us take this time to focus on Qiu'er instead, but perhaps with a slightly softer hand." She brushed a finger against the designs their eldest left them, "I want to bring these to life, perhaps dedicate a seperate fund for their sales in Xiu'er's name.

"When he turns eighteen, we'll let Qiu'er know about it, because I have a feeling that if he were to contact anyone before he contacted us, it would be his twin."



-- 02 --

Unknown to their creator, the clothing line created using his designs were far more popular than anyone could of anticipated, and left people clambering for more.

"I'm sorry," Mother Ye had stated at a press conference about such a matter, "Unfortunately, the one who designed the clothes is no longer with us, and has left no information on how we might contact them for a possible re-collaboration."

Her response did nothing to quell the fervor of the masses.



-- 03 --

Ye Qiu ran into his twin within the city of Hangzhou coincidentally on what would be their eighteenth birthday.

In this context, ran was meant to be taken literally, the elder of the pair falling back and hitting the pavement.

"I'm so sorry!" Ye Qiu sputtered as soon as he recovered himself, turning towards his victim and freezing when he saw just who it was, "Gege?"

"You need to better watch where you're going," Ye Xiu responded, seemingly unaffected by the fact that his twin found him.  He winced as he pushed himself up, "Wish we could of met again under less painful circumstances."



-- 04 --

"Happy birthday, Xiu-ge."

Ye Xiu stared at the wallet being offered to him, before turning a raised eyebrow onto his brother.

"Don't look at me like that!  Mother and Father gave that to me not too long ago, telling me that I was to hold onto it in case I ever heard from you."

"Ah, so this is more of a gift from them.  That makes me feel better because I hadn't gotten anything for you."

He ignored Ye Qiu's sputtered response and opened the wallet, blinking at its contents.  Setting it down on the table, he unfolded the letter that had been tucked within one of the slots behind what appeared to be financial cards of some sort.


(Xiu'er,

Mother misses you; you left home far too young, even if I knew that you would be all right.

Contained within this wallet is a card linked to the account I set up to receive money from the sales of the clothing you provided the designs for.  The second card is for your personal trust account... please use the funds from this one to help you out, wherever you are.

Everything is under your name.

Xiu'er... please think about contacting your Father and I, if only to let us know that you are well.

Love Always,
Mother)


Ye Xiu folded the letter back up, slipping it back where he originally obtained it from and snapping the wallet shut.

"Thanks, Qiu-di."



-- 05 --

"Who are you?" "Who is this?"

Both of the taller males shot each other Looks upon seeing the other, and Ye Xiu sighed before stepping between them.

"Muqiu, this is my younger twin brother, Ye Qiu.  Qiu-di, this is Su Muqiu, my boyfriend."

Ye Qiu's head snapped over towards his twin at such a speed it was a wonder he didn't suffer whiplash, mouth opening before shutting.

"Your twin, hm?" The eldest of the trio murmured, before dismissing Ye Qiu in favour of his elder brother, leaning over to brush a kiss against Ye Xiu's lips, "Happy birthday, Little Leaf."

"Boyfriend?  Boyfriend?!  Hey, get off him!" With a show of strength that belied his stature, Ye Qiu stormed over and grabbed hold of Su Muqiu's arm, yanking him away from his twin, "You can't kiss him like that in front of me when I haven't even approved of your relationship!"

"... I'm eighteen, didi, I think I'm old enough to decide for myself -"

"Well, to be fair, I first kissed you when you were fifteen, though we didn't become official until your sixteenth birthday..."

Ye Xiu groaned at the sight of fire burning within his twin's eyes the more Su Muqiu spoke, and raised his eyes towards the ceiling.

Of the two of them, shouldn't he be the overbearing, overprotective one?



-- 06 --

Some time later, silence had fallen over the apartment, and with a sigh Ye Xiu brought the cup of tea to his lips, eyes closing as he sipped.

It had been such a good idea to kick the other two males out, he should of done so earlier.

His head tilted at the sound of the door opening, footsteps with a familiar lightness in their step, "Welcome home, Mucheng!  There's some tea here in the kitchen if you're interested."

"Thank you, Xiu-ge ~" Su Mucheng chirped as she entered, setting a small wrapped gift before the other, "Happy birthday!"

"You shouldn't have, Mucheng."

"I wanted to, though!" Pouring some of the prepared tea into a cup for herself, the female offered a brief, reassuring smile, "I made it."

"Oh, well, there's no way I couldn't accept it now," Ye Xiu set his cup down, picking the small package up, "Thank you, Mucheng."

His fingers deftly undid the wrapping, revealing two delicate-looking charms dangling from what appeared to be a dangler of sorts.

"I know you don't have a phone, Xiu-ge, but in case it ever happens... well..."

"You did very well, Mucheng," He replied, holding the charms up to the light, a small smile upon his lips, "I love them."



-- 07 --

"Qiu-di, wait a moment."

Ye Qiu paused, his hand on the door, glancing over in time to see his twin disappear down the hall and into what he could only assume was his room.

(He ignored the part of him that reminded that, yes, the room was a shared one with Su Muqiu.)

Thoughts of the boyfriend he still harbored a grudge against - no, he was not jealous, thank you! - pushed aside in favor of his twin's reappearance, he raised an eyebrow at what he held.

"What is that?"

"None of your business.  Just do your older brother a favor and give this to Mother for me."

"....."

"Thank you, didi, I appreciate it!"

He decided it was best to just nod, taking hold of the large, thick envelope he was handed, "I'll be going, then."

"Hey, Qiu-di, bruising and aching back aside, I'm glad you ran into me."

"....." He stared resolutely at the door before him, ignoring the flush beginning to heat his cheeks, "Just be sure to take care of that phone I got you.  You have no excuse for not keeping in touch from now on."

"Mm... speaking of which, one more thing.  Can you please give Mother my contact details?" There was a pause, "I think it's time I stopped avoiding the past."



-- 08 --

"Oh my," Mother Ye sorted through the papers before her, "Xiu'er, leaving really did help you find inspiration, hasn't it?"

The multiple designs were leagues better than the original set left to her those few years ago, all somehow tying in to a specific theme.  

Her son had even provided a name through form of a note in his familiar, elegant script.  It wasn't one she understood, but who was she to deny her son's wishes?

She set those designs aside, picking up the last one that, unlike the others, featured the designed clothing upon an actual, recognizable person.

The smile that appeared on her face was a soft one, fingers brushing against the coarse surface as she read the attached note.


(Consider this my birthday present to didi.)



-- 09 --

"I don't get what the big deal is," Su Muqiu groused as he plopped down on the couch besides his boyfriend, "But there's no way we're going anywhere today.  Plus Glory is down for maintenance and ugh!"

"Mmm," Came the non-commital response from the dark-haired male, long fingers moving across his phone's screen, "Just for a few hours."

"How can you be so calm?  Of the two of us, I expected you to be the one more upset!"

"Oh, I am upset," Ye Xiu spared a glance towards the other before returning his eyes to his phone, "I also know there's nothing to do about it."

"......"

"Get off, Muqiu, I'm trying to do something here."

"Forget about it, Little Leaf!" Hands slipped beneath the shorter male's shirt, moving upwards, "There are better things to do." Leaning his head over, Su Muqiu pressed a kiss to Ye Xiu's ear, nipping at its lobe the same time his fingers tweaked sensitive nubs, "Like I, you."


The phone fell from Ye Xiu's hand, falling to the carpeted floor as its owner was pinned to the couch.

Light reflected off the iridescent-painted surface of a small umbrella and maple leaf charm amidst soft whispered words.



-- 10 --

The phone's screen before it auto-shut off was of a news article announcing the fashion show being held in downtown Hangzhou by Ye Group's fashion subdivision.

Featured within was the highly anticipated new lineup from the unknown designer that had taken the fashion world by storm three years earlier before disappearing.

"Everyone is looking forward to seeing what the Umbrella Collection contains, though many who have already had the privilege of viewing it proclaim it to being works of brilliance and innovation."

Chapter 2

Notes:

The whole concept introduced in this chapter is what held it up so long... as sad as that sounds, ha ha.

-- 11 --

Ye Xiu stared blearily at the screen before him, hands moving more on auto-pilot than conscious mind as he ran through the dungeon solo again in an attempt to farm for more of the materials his boyfriend needed for his latest project.

It was just a rather slow day overall in Glory.

“Huh, this is interesting.”

Perking up at the sound of the voice of his companion, Ye Xiu glanced over to the other, “What is?”

“This new update that the devs plan on releasing in the next week or so,” Su Muqiu responded, skimming the article, “Not sure how popular it’d be, though.”

“That’s not surprising, it’s hard to please everyone after all.” Turning his gaze back onto the screen before him, he had One Autumn Leaf finish off the last of the enemies in the current room he was in, “So what changes and fixes are we to be expecting?”

“Oh, it isn’t that sort of update.  It’s something along the lines of the Equipment Editor, but cosmetic, allowing players to create skins or something in order to provide a broader selection of appearance-enhancing differentiation.

“Details are still being finalised, but those who create such items will be allowed to sell and-or trade them to others for in-game currency and materials.”

That piqued Ye Xiu’s interest, though he showed no outward sign as he focused on clearing the dungeon’s BOSS.

“This update probably won’t go far, though… people don’t play Glory to have their avatars look good, after all.” Su Muqiu sighed, “There’s always next month’s update to look forward to, I suppose.  Maybe it’d be more interesting.”



-- 12 --

The aptly named Skin and Appearance Editor didn’t seem too difficult to figure out, which made sense.  Even if it seemed not many would be interested in it compared to the Equipment Editor, it wouldn’t help its appeal to make it more complicated than necessary.

For the occasion, he had even brought out his old graphics tablet, pen tapping against its surface as he looked over the provided instructions, mind already at work on figuring out how best to go about in taking advantage of this new aspect to the game.

In the end, he decided to start off small and choose one of the templates to work with - he was just ‘testing the water’, so to speak, after all.

Designing around existing guidelines wasn’t difficult to do, especially considering the general lack of aesthetics Glory’s equipment had to begin with - oh, it wasn’t as though they weren’t nice to look at, but it had always been left feeling a bit… lacking.

Once finished and satisfied with the outcome after using the provided tools to view the completed skin from different angles to make certain it all seamlessly flowed together, Ye Xiu found himself faced with a new dilemma.



-- 13 --

To participate in the actual selling and trading aspect of the Skin and Appearance Editor, a separate ‘Designer Account’ had to be created and verified, one that could later be linked to the game accounts one wished to associate it with.

Ye Xiu shrugged to himself upon reading that - he supposed it made things more convenient when it came to distributing earnings, especially if one had multiple accounts to split them among.

“What to name you?” He stared at the waiting input box, knowing that whatever he chose to go with would end up becoming his ‘brand’ within the Glory’s virtual world of fashion, “... I suppose that would do,”

The smile on his lips was one of bemusement as he typed in his choice, hitting enter.

[ Congratulations, Glory Couture ! ]
   [ You are now able to start sharing your creations within the world of Glory ! ]

-- 14 --

“Ha, have you seen some of these things people are trying to sell, Ye Xiu?” Su Muqiu couldn’t help but laugh as he browsed through the new forum created for users to advertise and attempt to sell their creations from the new Skin and Appearance Editor, “I’m no art expert, but even I can tell that some of these are… horrendous, and definitely not worth the price they’re asking for.”

“Mm,” Came his companion’s non-committal response, the dark-haired teenager once more working on clearing a dungeon, “Thought you were going to be joining me on these runs, Muqiu?”

“You don’t need me, though,” Light brown eyes glanced over to the other, an eyebrow raising, “Do you?”

“Not really.  Truth be told, you’d probably slow me down.”

“Hey! Oh, wait -” Su Muqiu leaned forward in his chair, staring intently at his screen, “Okay, maybe not everyone is bad.  There’s a thread dedicated to this one Designer that everyone seems to clamoring over.”

His mouse moved, clicking away, “Huh, their stuff is nice - this one looks like it’d be perfect for Autumn Tree, actually.” There was another pause, more clicking before he frowned and returned to the original forum thread, “No wonder people seem upset…”

“What’s wrong now?” Ye Xiu finally pulled his attention away from his own screen after he finished dealing the final blow to the dungeon’s BOSS.

“This Designer!  They made some amazing skins, but only stocked a certain amount and apparently haven’t been online since a few days after the Skin and Appearance Editor released.” His boyfriend huffed, “There’s a ton of people interested, but it seems only way to possibly obtain anything now is to potentially purchase from other users who managed to get them from the Designer’s stock… and, of course, they’re asking for an exorbitant amount.”

“Ha ha, sounds like real life to me.”

“It’s not funny, Ye Xiu!  Especially since I really kind of want that one skin they had for the Sharpshooter, but the one person willing to sell theirs is asking for an insane amount of gold and materials.”

“Didn’t you say that no one plays Glory to have their avatars look good?”

“....”

“Who is this Designer anyways?”

“Uh, some fancy sounding name.  I suppose it’s fitting considering the quality of their stuff…hold on a second.”



-- 15 --

Ye Xiu idly thought back to his own Designer Account.

Truth be told, after he’d finished a number of skins, he had stocked them in quantities of three available for each before setting them for sale at some high-end price point before logging out.

His original intent was to research what others were selling their items at to better gauge a reasonable price, but Su Muqiu had returned home and he ended up forgetting about the whole thing as the two got caught up in stealing a wild BOSS.

Perhaps he should take some time to look into that, now that his boyfriend reminded him of it.

This apparently popular Designer?  He could take a look at what they had been selling, and perhaps alter his own pricing around dependent on their quality?

“Oh!  Here we go.”

“Huh?”

“The Designer, I found their name!”

“So what is it?”

“Glory Couture.”