Work Text:
Yue Qingyuan was a very dutiful daughter. She owed that much to her parents.
They’d given her a good life. Yue Qingyuan ate well, wore fine clothes, and went to good schools. When Yue Qingyuan had asked whether they could adopt another child, they had admonished her gently, not punishing her at all. When Yue Qingyuan had wanted to get a job to earn money for herself, they’d guided her to focus on her studies so she could have a better life.
When Yue Qingyuan had turned eighteen and stolen their money, going missing a day into her attempt to hitchhike back to where she was before, they searched for her unceasingly, and welcomed her back with open arms when she was found a year later, miraculously in one piece.
When she’d returned, and, for the first time in her life, couldn’t stop crying, her parents had gotten her a therapist. The therapist helped, Yue Qingyuan thought. Helped her put on a respectable face regardless of what she was feeling. Yue Qingyuan honed this skill, shoving herself down beneath a placid smile, letting herself be made into a useful doll.
Yue Qingyuan’s therapist taught her to focus on the present. She was here, and her little sister was not. It wouldn’t help anyone to dwell.
At present, she was celebrating her engagement. Her parents had found her a suitable match to a man who was perfectly pleasant; he was extremely polite to Yue Qingyuan, extremely respectful to her parents, and his family and her family would benefit in the extreme. The only thing Yue Qingyuan needed to do was be a doll for the rest of her life. It wasn’t a bad life.
Her engagement party didn’t seem to agree, though.
It wasn’t her official engagement party, of course; the formal one that her parents threw, where her plastic smile never faltered as she accepted compliments and well-wishes and the empty flattery of those who wanted her family’s good favor, had already come and gone. The group before her now may have been well-bred, but it wasn’t quite the same—they were currently loudly arguing over where to drag her next.
“She should get to do something wild!” Qi Qingqi crowed.
“How wild can she get? Yue-xuejie doesn’t even drink,” Wei Qingwei responded.
It was unusual for Yue Qingyuan to be in such rowdy company, but they were, ostensibly, her friends. Yue Qingyuan hadn’t been a very good friend back. It was difficult to be a good friend when you were a good doll, and it was far easier to be the doll.
“If we’re talking wild, she’d get a tattoo, or a piercing, or… you know, something like that.” Wei Qingwei hooked his arm with Qi Qingqi’s.
But Yue Qingyuan liked them, and she wanted them to be happy. She hadn’t convinced them she was happy about the marriage, so they weren’t happy for her, so the least she could do is go along with whatever they came up with, as long as it didn’t interfere with the plans that had been made around Yue Qingyuan.
“Actually…” Mu Qingfang looked at Yue Qingyuan consideringly. “Yue-xuejie, you don’t have your ears pierced, right?”
Yue Qingyuan nodded. “That’s right.” Her friends all turned towards her, attention suddenly turned to her bare earlobes.
Qi Qingqi bounced in place, unusually energetic. “Oh, that’s perfect! Come on, Yue-xuejie, you must get them pierced! Even your parents can’t complain about something so mild!”
She wasn’t wrong. It wouldn’t bother Yue Qingyuan’s parents as long as she took care not to let the piercings grow infected, and it would make her friends happy to be a “bad influence” on her. “Alright,” she said.
“Alright? Really, alright?”
“Don’t talk her out of it, now!” Wei Qingwei elbowed Qi Qingqi lightly.
“Wei-xuezhang, where do you get yours done?”
“The place near the tea shop Liu-xuedi’s sister really likes.”
“Oh, that’s close!”
Yue Qingyuan allowed herself to be pulled along as her friends chattered around her. It was nice to spend time with them like this. Yue Qingyuan wasn’t sure she could be any good for anyone, but somehow she could bring them a little joy from such simple things. She’d miss them when she was married.
“—oh, and we need to ask for Wei Wuxian, he’s good. The other piercer is— well, she’s also good, but she’s also a bitch, and like really scary, so I wouldn’t really trust her with sticking needles in me.”
“Don’t call her a bitch,” Qi Qingqi snapped.
“Huh? You don’t even know her!”
“I know you shouldn’t call her that!”
Wei Qingwei shook his head. “Qi-xuemei, you don’t understand— you haven’t met her, alright? I’m not calling her that because she’s a woman, I’m calling her that because it’s true.”
“I don’t care what she’s like, don’t call women bitches!”
“I’d call her a bitch if she was a guy, too!”
“But she isn’t a guy, is she?”
“But she is a—”
“Wei-xuezhang, don’t call women bitches,” Mu Qingfang interrupted with the air of someone who must have been a kindergarten teacher in another life. “Besides, you don’t want her overhearing you, right?” He gestured to the door of the shop they’d just arrived at. Wei Qingwei rolled his eyes but did not argue further.
The door opened.
Yue Qingyuan entered.
Shen Jiu stood at the counter.
Yue Qingyuan’s world shattered and became whole again in an instant. Her heart thudded harshly in her chest. She couldn’t possibly mistake that face, and that face certainly wasn’t mistaking her. It went slack in disbelief for a long moment, then hardened into cold fury.
“Good evening, Shen-xiaojie!” Wei Qingwei led the charge. Shen Jiu didn’t even spare him a glance. “We’re looking to get our Yue-xuejie here her first lobe piercings.”
Yue Qingyuan opened her mouth to say something, anything. No noise escaped her.
Shen Jiu’s gaze bore through her. “Is that so.”
A beat of confused silence filled the shop, her companions unsure what to make of the suddenly strange atmosphere.
“Is there a problem with that?” Mu Qingfang asked.
“None at all. I was only thinking how late it is for Yue-nushi to get her ears pierced. Most have them done younger. Shouldn’t Yue-nushi have come in much, much sooner?” The air felt like ice in Yue Qingyuan’s lungs.
“It’s not uncommon at all for adults to have unpierced ears,” Mu Qingfang pointed out, confused. “She just didn’t have them pierced earlier.”
“And yet, it would suit Yue-nushi so well. So, as to the reason she didn’t come sooner…” Shen Jiu’s neatly trimmed nails drummed rhythmically on the countertop. “Can I take it as a flaw in her character? Or did she just think it was beneath her?”
Yue Qingyuan flinched. “I’m—”
“Hey! Don’t talk that way about Yue-xuejie!” Liu Qingge snapped.
“Liu-xiansheng and his friends are welcome to find another piercing shop if they find this one’s manner unpalatable.”
“No, I—”
“Actually, we were looking for Wei-di anyways, no need to bother Shen-xiaojie…”
“Actually, I—”
“Wei Wuxian isn’t here today.”
“Ah. Sorry to bother you, then. We’ll find another—”
“No!” All eyes snapped to Yue Qingyuan, shocked by her outburst. “Please, let me stay. I…” Yue Qingyuan trailed off, not knowing how to complete the thought.
I thought you were dead.
I am so, so happy to see you again.
I will never be sorry enough.
Shen Jiu sneered. “Well, this is a piercing shop. If Yue-nushi wants a piercing, I’ll happily give her one.”
Qi Qingqi muttered under her breath, “Oh, she is a bitch.”
Wei Qingwei’s head snapped towards her. “I told you so! She’s in rare form today, though…”
“Shut up, you still don’t get to say it!” She hissed back.
“…Don’t call her that, either of you.”
Qi Qingqi must have seen something in Yue Qingyuan’s expression; her demeanor changed. “Yue-xuejie, we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. We can find another place if you want, or just go have a calm night somewhere else. It’s your engagement party.”
“Oh? Congratulations to the happy couple. It must be an incredible person that’s caught your eye.” Yue Qingyuan nearly flinched at the venom in Shen Jiu’s voice.
Even Liu Qingge couldn’t possibly miss it. “What is your problem with Yue-xuejie!?” He snapped.
“Who could have a problem with someone like her?” The cold anger in Shen Jiu’s gaze cut Yue Qingyuan more deeply than any knife.
Liu Qingge puffed up in offense.
“Liu-xuedi, please, stop!” He turned to her indignantly. “We’re guests in— in Shen-xiaojie’s place of work. Don’t make trouble for her.”
Liu Qingge looked at her with surprise and clear objection, but he nonetheless subsided under the firm look Yue Qingyuan gave him.
Shen Jiu snapped and pointed at a long reclinable chair further into the shop. “If you want me to pierce your ears, sit down. If you don’t, stop making me look at your miserable face and get lost already.”
“Excuse me!” Qi Qingqi objected, shocked at the apparently unprompted rudeness. She was even more surprised when Yue Qingyuan really went to sit in the piercing chair.
“It’s fine, really. I want to get them pierced by— I want them pierced here.” She couldn’t tear her eyes away from Shen Jiu, but she was gathering her materials and did not look at Yue Qingyuan more than necessary. Brusquely, she tilted Yue Qingyuan’s head this way and that with a firm hand on her jaw, using the other to mark where the piercing would sit. “Can we— can we talk?”
“No.” Shen Jiu’s voice was clipped. “The placement?” She held a mirror in front of Yue Qingyuan’s face.
Yue Qingyuan barely glanced at it. “It’s fine. Xiao Jiu— nh—!” Shen Jiu twisted her upper ear harshly at the nickname, cutting her off with a warning look. “Shen-xiaojie, please, I really need to—”
“You’ll want to brace in a moment. Deep breaths.” Shen Jiu didn’t acknowledge her words at all, lining up the needle with no further ado. “Breathe out now.”
The needle went through. A small prick—nothing significant. Shen Jiu pulled the starter earring through.
The other side was just the same—quick breath, a little pain, and then she was done. Yue Qingyuan sat there, at a loss.
What could she do? Shen Jiu didn’t want to talk, and she was out of reasons to stall. Helplessly, she could only accept the sheet of aftercare instructions Shen Jiu handed to her before turning back towards the entrance.
Yue Qingyuan’s friends were still standing there, where they’d been observing the proceedings with no small amount of stifled outrage and sheer befuddlement. Shen Jiu walked over to them. “Well? Who’s paying?”
After a beat, Qi Qingqi stepped forward. “I’ll do it,” she said, voice tight. “Where do I tap?”
Yue Qingyuan rejoined everyone while the transaction took place. She looked at Shen Jiu. Shen Jiu did not look at her.
“Thank you for your patronage. Have a nice day.” Shen Jiu’s voice was very flat. Some unconvincing platitudinous noises were produced in kind from her more polite friends.
Yue Qingyuan’s ears still tingled with the phantom touch of Shen Jiu’s fingers. “I’ll come back,” she promised.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Shen Jiu said.
Yue Qingyuan bit her tongue. She’d earned no less. She let herself be led away, but her gaze didn’t stray from Shen Jiu until the door slammed shut between them.
Yue Qingyuan had promised, and she would not renege again. So, she had returned to the piercing shop.
Truthfully, she didn’t really have a plan. Shen Jiu obviously didn’t want to talk to her, but what could Yue Qingyuan do? She couldn’t bear never seeing Shen Jiu again, not now that she knew she was alive. Yue Qingyuan would just have to be here on business. Maybe that way, Shen Jiu would allow her some professionally appropriate small talk.
How was she?
Was she well?
Did she like her job?
Was she eating enough?
Was she safe?
Did she have anyone taking care of her?
Could she ever forgive Yue Qingyuan?
Could she—
Hm. Perhaps those were not all acceptable small talk questions. Still, she would manage more than just a few stumbling sentences this time.
With more than a few breaths to steel herself, she pushed open the door to the shop.
And was met with a brightly smiling face. Yue Qingyuan blinked in surprise.
“Oh, good afternoon! I didn’t think we had an appointment lined up; are you a walk-in?” The man had an energetic cheeriness to him that Yue Qingyuan found herself utterly unprepared for.
This must be Wei Wuxian. Of course Wei Qingwei got along with him. “Ah, I am. But I was actually looking for Shen-xiaojie. Is she working today?”
“She sure is! Give me one second, I’ll get her.” Wei Wuxian threw another bright grin at her before bouncing through a door on her right. After a moment, the face she’d intended to see appeared in the doorway. Shen Jiu did not look happy to see her.
“So, you really came back. I suppose you think that makes up for last time?”
“Of course not.” Yue Qingyuan frowned, trying to find the right words to say. In the end, she simply said, “Xiao Jiu, I’m so sorry.”
“Shut up,” Shen Jiu hissed. “I don’t want to hear it, and if I ever hear you call me by that name again, I’ll ban you from the shop. If you’re not here for another piercing, then get—”
“I’m here for another piercing,” Yue Qingyuan blurted, interrupting.
Shen Jiu glared. “Well, that’s what we do here.”
“Yes,” Yue Qingyuan said.
Shen Jiu raised one skeptical eyebrow when Yue Qingyuan didn’t elaborate. “What kind of piercing?”
“Um,” Yue Qingyuan said.
She didn’t really know. She’d only agreed to get her ears pierced because it was a very appropriate place that no one would look twice at. Anything else would trouble her parents.
But then, she wasn’t exactly supposed to be here, regardless. She was expected to be helping with the wedding preparations, and the bride’s absence could hardly be missed.
“Don’t waste my time. If you’re not a customer, get lost!” Shen Jiu turned away from her, heading back towards the side room.
“Wait, I— ah— another ear piercing! The cartilage— a helix?” That wasn’t… too scandalous, right? And she needed more time with Shen Jiu.
Shen Jiu stopped. Without turning back towards Yue Qingyuan, she said, “Fine. Get on the chair.”
Yue Qingyuan did. In no time at all, Shen Jiu was again approaching her with the marker. “Where do you want it?”
“Wherever Xiao— that is, wherever Shen-xiaojie likes.”
Shen Jiu clicked her tongue. “It’s not my ear,” she said, but still set about marking the piercing spot as she liked.
“So,” Yue Qingyuan said, attempting to be casual, “is Shen-xiaojie well?”
Shen Jiu’s face darkened. “No talking while I work.”
“But isn’t it common to need to distract the patient during the needling?”
“You’re not a patient, and you’re distracting me.” She picked up the needle.
“Please, I just want to—“
“Breathe out.”
“Know if you— ah!” Yue Qingyuan yelped. She stiffened. That… was not a noise Yue Qingyuan had intended to make. She tried to gauge Shen Jiu’s reaction out of the corner of her eye, but with her head still tilted, she couldn’t—
Yue Qingyuan squeaked as an unexpected second puncture got her. She flushed red, embarrassed at her lack of control.
“You said you wanted a double helix, right?” Shen Jiu said innocently.
Yue Qingyuan swallowed hard. “I did,” she lied.
“…And the other ear?”
“Mhm.”
Shen Jiu firmly tilted Yue Qingyuan’s head the other way. Her eyes, when Yue Qingyuqn got a glimpse of them, were oddly intense.
Yue Qingyuan breathed unsteadily as Shen Jiu prepped the other side. The pain from piercing through the cartilage was much greater than it had been for her lobes. It wasn’t at all too painful to bear, though; in fact, from Shen Jiu, it actually felt kind of…
“Breathe out,” Shen Jiu said, and Yue Qingyuan gasped instead. The pain was— for some reason, it was making her feel like she was melting, gut hot and tight, the world seeming both overbright and very calm at once. Shen Jiu stroked her neck gently when it was done, and Yue Qingyuan squeezed her eyes shut, falling into the sensation.
“So, what is your fiancé like?” Shen Jiu asked innocently.
Yue Qingyuan blinked languidly. Her brain wasn’t quite working. “My… what?”
“Hm. Never mind.” Shen Jiu’s voice was almost soft. “Breathe out.”
Pain shot through her ear again, catching her off guard, and Yue Qingyuan outright moaned. Her eyelids fluttered, and she leaned into Shen Jiu’s grip, still holding her head in place.
Right. Two doubles.
Shen Jiu’s other hand dropped to Yue Qingyuan’s outer thigh, stroking almost soothingly. Yue Qingyuan trembled minutely, overwhelmed for reasons she could not comprehend. For several long moments, Shen Jiu let her sit there and breathe.
“Are you going to come back for another?”
Yue Qingyuan nodded.
Shen Jiu seemed to consider something. “Good,” she said. Then, testingly, “Good girl.”
Yue Qingyuan flushed. Her thighs squeezed together without her consent. She started to nod. Stopped. Said, “I’ll come back.” No, idiot, she’d already said that. She rose from the chair, nearly stumbling as she went, then tripped over nothing on her way to the counter.
Yue Qingyuan’s face felt hot. She needed to get out of here before she made a fool of herself further.
At least Shen Jiu was looking almost amused. Yue Qingyuan paid quickly, then left, slightly unsteady for some reason, but nonetheless with a sense of victory.
Shen Jiu hadn’t seemed nearly as displeased with her this time. Maybe… maybe this really was recoverable?
The following days were… distracting. Her ears throbbed around the new invaders, pulsing with her heartbeat. She found herself constantly thinking about it, Shen Jiu’s firm hands tilting her this way and that, holding her still to better pierce Yue Qingyuan through, and finding herself squeezing her thighs together in time with the pain.
Shen Jiu had grown up very well. Very, very well. It was hard not to think about it, especially at night, lying in bed alone with nothing to distract her from imagining Shen Jiu’s piercing eyes, long legs, and elegant, skilled fingers.
Unfortunately, the new piercings didn’t last long. Her parents were furious about them, and after a few days of demanding she take them out and her continuous refusal, they had simply resorted to removing them while Yue Qingyuan slept. The holes were closed over by the time she woke.
She might have seen it coming. She hated that the flesh that Shen Jiu had so intentionally split open would so easily come back together again, but the faster it healed, the faster Yue Qingyuan might be able to return to have them re-pierced. And there were many more places to pierce in the meantime. Thus, the moment her parents lowered their guard around her, Yue Qingyuan once again snuck out to see Shen Jiu.
Today, Shen Jiu was once again manning the shop alone. Today, she did not greet Yue Qingyuan with the harsh glare she had the past two visits.
She did, however, raise an eyebrow when she noticed the missing piercings. “Were they rejected?”
“No, they seemed like they were healing well.”
“Not to your taste, then?”
“No, I liked them very much.”
“Then, your fiancé had a problem with them?”
“I wouldn’t know. He never saw them.”
Yue Qingyuan wasn’t sure if she was imagining a hint of satisfaction emanating from Shen Jiu at the last response. Still, she followed up, “Why, then, are they gone now?”
Yue Qingyuan sighed. “My parents weren’t very happy about them.”
The corners of Shen Jiu’s mouth ticked down. “What an obedient daughter. Why are you back now, then? You already have the only piercings people like that will accept. That is,” her eyes traced down Yue Qingyuan’s body, “unless you want something… less visible.”
Yue Qingyuan flushed. Was she talking about genital piercings? Shen Jiu knocking her thighs apart, spreading her folds ruthlessly as she prepped the needle to pierce Yue Qingyuan through in her most intimate—
Or, wait, no. Her nipples, probably? That would be more casual, right.
That was. That was something Yue Qingyuan could do. Her nipples tightened as she considered it.
Taking a breath to steel herself, she asked, “Then, would you… would you pierce my nipples?” Yue Qingyuan’s face flared with heat. Even in a piercing shop, the question felt positively shameless.
The feeling didn’t lessen when Shen Jiu’s eyes snapped to hers, surprised. Was she not suggesting that after all? Yue Qingyuan immediately backpedaled. “Never mind, don’t worry about it! I’ll think of something else.”
But Shen Jiu only gestured her forwards, inviting her to her usual seat. The look in her eyes sent shivers down Yue Qingyuan’s spine. “If Yue-xuejie wants her nipples pierced, of course I’ll pierce them for her. Get on the chair.”
Yue Qingyuan went, hands hovering hesitantly above her shirt buttons. Shen Jiu nodded at her, though, so there was nothing else to do but proceed. Nerves stole over her as she revealed the plain bra she wore underneath.
Shen Jiu sat in the rolling stool next to the piercing chair this time, bringing her much closer to Yue Qingyuan’s level. Of course, since she needed access to Yue Qingyuan’s chest. Yue Qingyuan could feel her flush spreading down her newly revealed skin.
With barely steady hands, she slipped her bra off as well, fully exposing her front to Shen Jiu.
Shen Jiu’s gaze was scorching. This was Shen Jiu’s job, Yue Qingyuan reminded herself. This was her job, but even so, Yue Qingyuan wasn’t imagining the heat there, was she? Shen Jiu’s hands were warm as they skated up Yue Qingyuan’s ribcage to gently cup a breast.
“Which way did you want it?” Shen Jiu asked, idly thumbing a nipple as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Which way did she want it? That was… Yue Qingyuan was too busy trying not to arch her back for firmer contact to comprehend the question properly. It sounded dirtier than it was, probably, so she just said, “Whichever way Shen-xiaojie likes it.”
Shen Jiu’s eyes grew somehow more intense, and she briefly pinched the nipple she was playing with hard enough to make Yue Qingyuan squirm. But then she let go and reached for the marker instead.
That focused expression, directed so intensely at her chest as Shen Jiu carefully marked her… It was really, really too— why was her cunt throbbing? She found herself breathing hard just out of anticipation.
Shen Jiu grabbed the mirror and held it up to Yue Qingyuan. “Look,” she said, tone commanding.
Unable to do anything but obey, Yue Qingyuan looked at herself in the mirror, flushed all the way down her chest, nipples peaked and marked, eyes hazy with lust. She looked like she was about to be fucked.
She bit her lip at the thought, which did not counter the image.
“Do you like it?” Shen Jiu asked, voice low. Yue Qingyuan shivered; Shen Jiu had leaned in to speak closer to her ear. She nodded.
Shen Jiu set the mirror to the side and threw one leg over the other side of the chair, leaving her almost straddling Yue Qingyuan. She swept her hands gently up and down Yue Qingyuan’s sides in a manner that would have been soothing if Yue Qingyuan hadn’t already been more worked up than she’d ever been in her life. Her touches while prepping the puncture sites were far less professional than they had been previously, fully groping Yue Qingyuan as she sterilized the area around where she’d marked.
Surely Shen Jiu didn’t do this with all her clients, right? But Yue Qingyuan couldn’t imagine anyone objecting to such treatment from Shen Jiu. Yue Qingyuan really hoped she didn’t do this with any other clients.
“Take a deep breath.” Yue Qingyuan inhaled, feeling Shen Jiu pinch and pull her first nipple up, lining the needle up with the other hand. “And breathe out.”
Yue Qingyuan’s breath escaped her in a pained groan. The needle crept through her flesh, taking longer and hurting far worse than the ear had, but Yue Qingyuan’s eyes stayed locked on Shen Jiu the whole way through, trying to decipher the way she was staring not-exactly-dispassionately down at Yue Qingyuan’s tits even as the world grew a little fuzzy at the edges.
“First one done,” Shen Jiu cooed, voice a little sweet and condescending. Was Yue Qingyuan imagining things, or was it also a little breathy? Yue Qingyuan shifted restlessly as Shen Jiu prepared to pierce the other nipple, feeling the lingering sting of the new wound.
She froze at the sound she made as she moved, thighs slick as they slid against each other. She looked at Shen Jiu in panic, but it seemed like she hadn’t heard it, only stroking Yue Qingyuan’s hair gently, like she was soothing a spooked horse.
Shen Jiu repeated the process on the other side—pinch, pull, “Breathe out.” Yue Qingyuan whimpered.
It hurt even more than the first one had, her body primed for the pain, but, ah, it— it really felt good. Yue Qingyuan wanted to cry. She felt like she might, body overwhelmed with a flood of unfamiliar sensations.
“Has your fiancé seen you like this?” Shen Jiu murmured. Yue Qingyuan shook her head mutely, panting for breath. “No? Just me, then.”
Yue Qingyuan shivered all over as Shen Jiu traced the curve of her breast with her fingertips. “You’re not allowed to touch these at all while they heal, you know. Is that going to be a problem, do you think? Does Yue-xiaojie play with herself here?” Again, Yue Qingyuan shook her head. “Oh, really? And what about… here?” Her hand traced heat down Yue Qingyuan’s bare front, stopping just shy of her low waistband. Yue Qingyuan gasped, arching into the touch.
“Should I take that as a yes?” Shen Jiu’s eyes gleamed. But Yue Qingyuan again shook her head no. “Ah, Yue Qingyuan is so pure, so unsullied, she’d never do anything so perverse, even when her body is begging for it.” Shen Jiu’s hand slipped down and under the bottom hem of Yue Qingyuan’s skirt, palm sliding warmly up her thighs. Oh, oh no, she—
Slender fingers froze as they made contact with the absolute mess Yue Qingyuan had made of herself.
Shen Jiu’s eyes were wide. Yue Qingyuan watched her expression anxiously, breath stopped in her chest. It didn’t change as the fingers slowly withdrew from under Yue Qingyuan’s skirt. Shen Jiu looked down on her now gleaming fingers. They twitched. Shen Jiu wasn’t blinking.
“Yue Qingyuan, put your hands on the headrest, I want to show you something fun.” Shen Jiu’s voice was unreadable. Yue Qingyuan did as she asked without a word.
Shen Jiu walked behind her chair with a measuredly casual air. Yue Qingyuan heard a belt unbuckling, followed by a few seconds of silence. Then, her hands were yanked backwards, caught and tied to something strong in just a few swift movements. Yue Qingyuan tested her sudden bondage, pulling hard even without strong leverage, but the restraint held fast. The back of the chair dropped down, leaving her lying almost completely flat with her hands trapped above her head.
Shen Jiu rounded the chair with a decidedly more dangerous air than she’d had, boots clicking smartly as she walked. Yue Qingyuan’s heart pounded in her chest. She was dizzy with arousal.
“You know, high-class men like your fiancé only like unspoiled women. That’s nothing Yue-xiaojie needs to worry about, since she’d never be so loose as to sleep around.” Shen Jiu hoisted herself onto the chair, knee slotting between Yue Qingyuan’s as she hovered over her. “The world would never be so vulgar to someone like Yue-xiaojie, to let her be touched by filthy hands, dragged down and ruined. It would be too cruel a fate! No man would marry her.” Shen Jiu pulled Yue Qingyuan’s hips up, rocking her against her thigh. Yue Qingyuan gasped, the firm pressure scrambling her senses. Her hips twitched reflexively into the movement.
“And yet,” Shen Jiu’s voice was viciously satisfied, eyes hungrily taking in Yue Qingyuan’s helpless writhing below her, “Somehow, doesn’t it seem like Yue-xiaojie wants to be ruined?”
Yue Qingyuan felt lightheaded. “Does Xiao Jiu want to ruin me?”
Shen Jiu went dangerously still. Then she snarled and lunged downwards to bite Yue Qingyuan’s neck with a fervor that would surely leave a gruesome mark. One hand roughly groped Yue Qingyuan’s breast, carefully avoiding the tender open wounds of her nipple, while the other hand was reaching under— wait, reaching under the chair?
Shen Jiu withdrew from Yue Qingyuan’s neck as she withdrew her hand from below Yue Qingyuan, now holding a bag. From the bag, she produced… oh.
Yue Qingyuan froze, suddenly paralyzed with want. She felt herself clench around nothing as she looked at the large green dildo Shen Jiu was now strapping to her hips.
“You’ve been asking for it, you’ve been begging for it, so you can't be surprised that someone would take advantage! Not when all you want is for someone to fuck all the thoughts out of your pretty little head, isn't that right?” Shen Jiu rubbed her tip against Yue Qingyuan's entrance, teasing her with not nearly enough pressure. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
Yue Qingyuan made an inarticulate noise of desire and spread her legs.
Shen Jiu’s eyes flashed with victory. “Here I come, then,” she said, and sheathed herself in Yue Qingyuan with one brutal thrust.
It was far too fast. It hurt, it burned, but Yue Qingyuan only threw her head back and moaned, grinding on it as best she could. This was just another way Shen Jiu was piercing her, and Yue Qingyuan would accept it all.
Shen Jiu thrust deeply into Yue Qingyuan, pulling almost entirely out each time so she could stuff Yue Qingyuan full anew. She panted above Yue Qingyuan, face turning red, hair coming undone. She fucked like she could find everything she wanted in life if only she reached deep enough inside of Yue Qingyuan. Yue Qingyuan arched her back and encouraged her to try.
It only took one brush to Yue Qingyuan's clit to shove her violently over the edge. Shen Jiu nudged relentlessly against a spot inside of her, drawing her orgasm out into a devastating wave of heat. She might have screamed. She wouldn’t have heard it over the ringing in her ears. When she came back down to earth, Shen Jiu was staring at her ravenously, grinding herself against the base of the strap like she just couldn’t help herself in short little movements that were driving Yue Qingyuan a little crazy. She reeled Shen Jiu in closer with her legs, wrapping firmly around her waist, and begged for more.
Shen Jiu gripped Yue Qingyuan hard by the waist, surely leaving bruises. “Qi-jie, Qi-jie, they won’t want you anymore,” Shen Jiu leaned in, eyes crazed, crooning poison in her ear. “They won’t want you like this, Qi-jie, you’ve taken your shining new future and spent it all on a little bit of pleasure. You’ve already dirtied yourself, so why don’t you come down and play with me in the mud? I’ll accept you. I’m the only one who really knows you and still accepts you. Everyone else will leave you behind as soon as they figure out how filthy you really are, but I won’t. You can marry me instead, so how about it?”
Yue Qingyuan’s heart raced. “Yes,” she gasped out. “Yes, yes.” She imagined it, Shen Jiu and her, together. Truly inseparable this time, Yue Qingyuan wouldn’t let anything keep her from a Shen Jiu that wanted her. Yue Qingyuan’s torso arched up, struggling desperately against her restraints for more contact. “Xiao Jiu, kiss me, please.”
Shen Jiu made a guttural noise and obliged. Yue Qingyuan immediately arched fully off the chair and came again.
She’d never felt this good in her life. Yue Qingyuan reeled, heaving for breath as her body rocked with aftershocks, and only belatedly realized that she had entirely soaked the chair.
She didn’t have time to be embarrassed, though, as she registered Shen Jiu on the tail end of her own convulsions. She let out a harsh breath and relaxed all over.
…Had she missed Shen Jiu coming? Yue Qingyuan cursed her lack of self control!
Surely Shen Jiu would show her again? “Xiao Jiu,” she said, pleading.
Shen Jiu twitched. “I told you not to call me that.”
The words were like a bucket of ice water over Yue Qingyuan.
Hadn't she been alright with it—?
...
Oh.
Of course she… of course.
Yue Qingyuan had been too hasty. She’d thought, if Shen Jiu liked her like this, if she called her Qi-jie, then maybe she wasn’t really as angry as she’d seemed, that first time she’d visited. Shen Jiu touched her gently, touched her hungrily, spoke to her intimately…
But sex was just sex. Yue Qingyuan was the one taking things too seriously, thinking things said in the heat of the moment meant anything at all.
She unwrapped her legs from Shen Jiu’s waist and waited to be released.
Shen Jiu picked up on the change and frowned down at her. She pulled out, leaving Yue Qingyuan feeling strangely empty, as though Shen Jiu has remolded Yue Qingyuan’s body around her.
“What’s the matter now?”
“It’s nothing, I just… It’s nothing.” Shen Jiu didn’t need to know what a burden Yue Qingyuan longed to make of herself. She shifted, wrists aching from being held in a straining position so long. Shen Jiu caught the movement and freed her. Yue Qingyuan reached for her bra; she suddenly felt very exposed.
“Don’t put that on!” Shen Jiu snapped. “You just got new piercings, idiot!”
Yue Qingyuan winced. She reached for the shirt instead, and did not think of how painfully familiar Shen Jiu’s scolding felt.
Yue Qingyuan really missed her so much. She felt her face try to crumple; with great effort, she smoothed it out.
“Seriously, what’s the matter with you?” Shen Jiu was back to glaring at her. That was really very fast.
Yue Qingyuan didn’t say anything. Now technically dressed, she rose from the chair and stumbled towards the front counter.
She heard a snapping sound behind her, and turned to see Shen Jiu incandescent with anger behind her.
“Right. Of course! Yue-xiaojie is still all talk! She’ll beg for it like a slut, then pretend she’s above it all as soon as she’s satisfied.” Shen Jiu snarled. She righted her clothes, aggressively making herself presentable as quickly as possible. “After today, don’t you dare come back to this place. I don’t want to see your face ever again!”
Yue Qingyuan’s heart dropped. “What? Shen-xiaojie, what did I do?” It was Shen Jiu who had said things she didn’t mean this time. …Right?
“Nothing I shouldn’t have expected. What can come out of a liar’s mouth except for lies?” Shen Jiu’s motions were violent as she made vague efforts to tidy the ruined workstation.
“I meant everything I said, though,” Yue Qingyuan’s voice was desperate.
“Well, certainly not everything, unless Yue-xiaojie really claims she wants to marry me?” Shen Jiu scoffed. “You—”
“Yes,” Yue Qingyuan interrupted, blunt with the need to be understood.
Shen Jiu stopped, caught off guard. Then she scoffed again. “So if I dragged you off to marry right now, you’d come along willingly?”
“Yes, I would. Do you want to marry me?”
“You’re promised to someone else,” Shen Jiu pointed out.
“The first person I was promised to was you. The only person I promised myself to was you.” Yue Qingyuan took a hesitant step towards Shen Jiu. Shen Jiu did not retreat. “Shen Jiu, do you want to marry me?”
A complicated mix of emotions paraded across her face—hurt, vulnerability, doubt, resolve. She tilted her chin up challengingly. “I already said so, didn’t I?”
Yue Qingyuan took a sharp breath in.
It didn’t seem right for Yue Qingyuan to get what she wanted.
That wasn’t the kind of life she was allowed to live. Her mistakes were too great, causing too much harm to the people around her for her to take anything more for herself. And no one was a greater victim of Yue Qingyuan’s failures than Shen Jiu. She’d been haunted by what Shen Jiu might be going through every single day since she was adopted, and the fact that she’d miraculously lived after all didn’t erase any of the pain she’d suffered because of Yue Qingyuan.
But Shen Jiu wanted this, too.
Maybe Yue Qingyuan could do it right, this time.
She could wake up every day with Shen Jiu lying next to her, spend every night in her arms. See how all the expressions she used to make looked on this older face, learn the ways she’d changed until Yue Qingyuan once again knew her better than she knew herself. Entangle their lives so severely that they couldn’t even be buried separately. Yue Qingyuan considered her entire life spread out before her, and for the very first time, felt that it might belong to her.
“Okay, then let’s do it. Let’s get married.” A beaming smile spread across her face, impossible to resist. Shen Jiu stared, eyes a little wide. Yue Qingyuan started towards the door, looking back over her shoulder to make sure Shen Jiu was following. After a shocked moment, she did. “Do you know where we’re heading?”
Shen Jiu looked like a chair had been broken over her head. “There’s... there’s a place. I can show you.”
Yue Qingyuan felt giddy. Her fiancé didn’t deserve this, her parents would be furious. She didn’t have any other means. Looking into Shen Jiu’s eyes, she didn’t care about any of that.
She reached for the door handle. Shen Jiu harshly seized her wrist. “You might think you can play around again, but you should know: I won’t let you go,” she said, eyes crazed. “This is how things were supposed to be. You were supposed to come back.”
…She’d really hurt Shen Jiu so much. “I was. I’m sorry.” Shen Jiu’s mouth twisted, and Yue Qingyuan laid her hand over hers. “I won’t leave again.”
Jerkily, then forcefully, Shen Jiu nodded. “No. You won’t,” she said, even though she still didn’t seem to believe it.
Yue Qingyuan would convince her of her sincerity eventually. They’d have plenty of time for it.
Cheerfully, she dragged Shen Jiu out the door to be married.