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Shen Qingqiu did not make a habit of paying any particular attention to the disciples of other peaks. He had enough of his own brats to worry about, why should he bother taking on his martial siblings' problems?
(He also did not make a habit of saying this aloud. He was fairly certain his opinion on the matter was nonetheless clear, but referring to Cang Qiong disciples as 'problems' would likely result in Qi-ge scolding him.)
At any rate, there were only a few disciples outside of Qing Jing that Shen Qingqiu bothered to know by name unless it benefited him in some way. Mostly this included those disciples who had managed to make a name for themselves one way or another, those who it would be embarrassing for Shen Qingqiu not to recognize.
The exception to this—and he was certainly an exception in more than one way—was Shen Yuan.
He was a decade or so younger than Shen Qingqiu, one of the disciples that had been accepted right on the cusp of the previous generation's ascension and the Qing Generation's takeover. There had been a bit of a commotion at the time, considering that he and Shen Qingqiu shared a surname and looked somewhat alike, but for once those rumors had gone down eventually when Shen Qingqiu had ignored them for long enough. He'd been preparing to become the new Qing Jing Peak Lord; he hadn't had time to bother with some disciple of the Beast Peak. Frustratingly, part of the reason it'd blown over was that Shen Yuan was the third son of a rich merchant family, so his family, unlike Shen Qingqiu's, could be looked into.
Shen Qingqiu had largely forgotten about the matter by the time that he actually interacted with the boy, now a young man. Shen Yuan was a beta, waifish in a way that spoke of poor health in childhood that had improved through cultivation and Qian Cao's treatments. He was brought back to Shen Qingqiu's attention when he'd submitted a request to be granted access to Qing Jing Peak's library. Shen Qingqiu had considered saying no, mostly out of spite for having been reminded about the whole fiasco, but in the end he'd begrudgingly given his permission. He didn't have any real reason to say no, after all, and the small satisfaction it would bring him wouldn't be worth potentially alienating another one of his fellow Peak Lords so soon after their tenure had begun. Shen Yuan, for his part, had thanked Shen Qingqiu far more enthusiastically than the permission warranted and had then promptly ensconced himself in the library.
And that had been that. The most trouble he'd brought to Shen Qingqiu's peak was when it came time for the disciple to leave said peak. Shen Yuan had a bad habit of getting engrossed in a text long past the time when he should have returned to his own peak for a meal, and his cultivation wasn't far enough along to reliably depend on inedia in the early years. At first, Shen Qingqiu would simply throw Shen Yuan off of Qing Jing whenever this happened, but as the years passed he started having his own disciples drag his shizhi to dinner on Qing Jing when the boy couldn't be bothered to pause for something as mundane as dinner.
When Shen Yuan wrote his first treatise of his own, he formally offered a copy to Qing Jing Peak and somewhat informally offered a personal copy to Shen Qingqiu as well. He proceeded to offer this with every body of work he produced, and Shen Qingqiu begrudgingly admitted that the boy knew what he was talking about when it came to beasts and demons.
After a few years, Shen Yuan had cemented himself, intentionally or not, as the only disciple of another peak that Shen Qingqiu was particularly familiar with, with the possible exception of Qiong Ding's head disciple by virtue of him being Yue Qingyuan's right hand. The boy grew on him like the leopard-spotted fungus he'd written about in one of his books. Shen Qingqiu's eyes would catch on his face in a crowd. He found himself wondering whether the fool boy bothered to feed himself when he wasn't on Qing Jing Peak, of all the damn things.
He noticed when Shen Yuan appeared far too drunk far too quickly at a cultivation conference while the boy's shizun was busy speaking with their hosts.
And that was how, hours after that incident, Shen Qingqiu found himself lying next to Shen Yuan on the bed in his guest quarters as Yue Qingyuan opened the door to the room. The two of them were fully clothed, but the position was undeniably intimate. Shen Yuan was fast asleep.
"Qi-ge," Shen Qingqiu called urgently, and Yue Qingyuan quickly closed the door behind him as he realized that this was not a conversation that they'd want to have in public.
"What happened?" the sect leader asked in alarm as his eyes obviously traced the way that Shen Yuan was clinging to Shen Qingqiu like they'd have to pry him off to remove him. And then: "I was under the impression that Shen-shizhi was a beta."
"We were all under that impression," Shen Qingqiu said. "Including Shen Yuan. If we'd known he was an omega, he wouldn't have been allowed to come to this conference so close to his heat. No— this is a presentation heat, and not a natural one. Some bastard slipped something into his drink."
Yue Qingyuan's breath hitched for a moment in shock, and Shen Qingqiu scowled in agreement. It was beyond the pale that someone here—someone they were meant to cooperate with, as fellow righteous cultivators—had drugged a Cang Qiong sect cultivator with the intent of assaulting him, and then, most likely, poaching said cultivator away to their own sect while claiming that Shen Yuan had seduced them or some such bullshit. Unfortunately, it was the kind of calculated cruelty that was all too often successful, the kind of threat that Shen Qingqiu—or rather Shen Jiu—had constantly lived under even before he had fully presented.
"Do you need me to call for Mu-shidi?" Yue Qingyuan asked.
Shen Qingqiu shook his head. "He's already examined the boy." And really, it wasn't quite fair of Shen Qingqiu to continue referring to a man of what must be nearly thirty now as a boy, but also he didn't give a shit. "Since the presentation heat was forcibly triggered rather than having occurred naturally, it would be extremely risky for him to undergo it on his own."
Yue Qingyuan smiled fondly. "I know you care for the boy, Xiao Jiu, and it's obvious that care is reciprocated. If you need to help him pass his heat, this alpha understands."
"This alpha does not understand," Shen Qingqiu shot back, admittedly flustered by the support that Yue Qingyuan had already offered even as he knew he needed to ask for more. Needed to ask for something that his Qi-ge may not want to give. "He needs to be knotted, Qi-ge. He needs an alpha."
"And you think that alpha should be me?" Yue Qingyuan asked. There were several other questions he wasn't asking, at least not yet, but Shen Qingqiu could guess what they were.
"You're the only alpha I trust," Shen Qingqiu said casually, like that wasn't as significant of a statement as it was. His Qi-ge wasn't a fool; he already knew how Shen Qingqiu felt about alphas. "And besides, he's as sticky as a leech, and I will not be subjecting myself to the presence of any other alpha brute."
Yue Qingyuan did not reply right away, but his silence didn't unnerve Shen Qingqiu in the way it might have in the past, before they had bonded and—to be honest—learned how the fuck to talk to each other now that they weren't children any longer. Silence was good, as long as it didn't tip too far into brooding. Silence meant that Qi-ge was taking the matter seriously, not just agreeing to whatever it was he believed Shen Qingqiu wanted.
When he finally spoke, Shen Qingqiu knew that his alpha would agree. "Is Xiao Jiu sure that Shen Yuan would accept this one into his bed?"
"He doesn't have much of a choice, at this point," Shen Qingqiu admitted. "It's either sleep with an alpha or have Mu Qingfang hover over him in order to treat whatever qi deviation inevitably occurred."
He wouldn't have been so frank about the situation if Yue Qingyuan hadn't already implicitly agreed to dual cultivate with Shen Yuan. Shen Qingqiu wouldn't guilt Yue Qingyuan into sexual activities that he found abhorrent; he may have begrudgingly developed a sort of fondness for Shen Yuan, but Qi-ge was Qi-ge. He was Shen Qingqiu's alpha. But as it was…
Shen Qingqiu sighed and continued speaking. "I already asked him, back when he was a little more lucid. He turned quite the shade of red, but after the situation was explained to him, he agreed. As long as I stayed in the room." He smirked. "I suppose Yue-zhangmen is too intimidating of a figure otherwise."
"Xiao Jiu..." Yue Qingyuan complained, but there was a hint of laughter in his voice.
"At any rate," Shen Qingqiu said. "He's slept long enough for now, if you're ready to begin. Mu-shidi said it was good for him to get as much rest as he could, but he also warned against putting the matter off for long."
"As Xiao Jiu says, then," Yue Qingyuan agreed.
Under the observant gaze of his alpha, Shen Qingqiu reached over to nudge the younger omega who was doing his level best to burrow himself into Shen Qingqiu's side like he was trying to recreate his sect entrance exam. "Shen Yuan," he called softly but firmly.
Shen Yuan made a noise that could be generously interpreted as an attempt at communication and tried to snuggle even closer without much luck. Then a moment later he froze, his slowly awakening brain processing the presence of an alpha in the room. He pulled his face away from Shen Qingqiu's side just far enough to squint at Yue Qingyuan through one uncovered eye. "Alpha?" he called.
Shen Qingqiu felt as though a bolt of lightning had traveled down his spine; he couldn't imagine what Yue Qingyuan was feeling. This mating was only taking place because Shen Yuan could literally die without it, but for a moment Shen Qingqiu imagined what it might have been like for this to have happened in less fraught circumstances. He imagined Shen Yuan in their bed—in his nest, back in the Bamboo House on Qing Jing—not because he needed to be there, but because he wanted to be there. Because he wanted to be theirs. It was a heady fantasy. And maybe he would regret it later, but for now he couldn't resist playing into it.
"Yes," he told Shen Yuan, "this is your Shen-shibo's alpha, and yours too if you let him help you. Don't you want to be good for your shibos, A-Yuan?"
"It hurts," Shen Yuan complained plaintively, like he didn't quite remember in his current state what to do about that but still trusted Shen Qingqiu to be able to fix it.
"I know it hurts," Shen Qingqiu said. Normally he wasn't the kind of person to coddle someone else over something as insignificant as pain, but he knew about the sort of pain that accompanied a heat-gone-wrong, and Shen Yuan had somehow wormed his way onto the (extremely short) list of people whose well being Shen Qingqiu gave a shit about. "Alpha will help. Won't he?" He directed the question towards Yue Qingyuan, who had remained hovering awkwardly in the doorway, uncertain about his welcome if he tried to come any closer to the omegas.
"Of course," Yue Qingyuan said, eager to reassure Shen Yuan. "This alpha will make it all better for Shen-shizhi."
Shen Yuan appeared to mull that offer over for a few moments before he made a decision. Instead of clutching at Shen Qingqiu's arm as they laid next to each other on the bed, Shen Yuan let go with one hand and climbed on top of Shen Qingqiu, pressing the older omega into the mattress and nuzzling into his chest. His right hand was still grasping hold of Shen QIngqiu's left arm, the Peak Lord noted, but mostly Shen Qingqiu’s mind was occupied by the creature plastered against his front.
Apparently satisfied with his new position and apparently unaware of the simultaneous crises he'd caused in both other occupants of the room, Shen Yuan looked back over his shoulder and addressed Yue Qingyuan again. "Alpha, please," he whined. And really, the self control that Yue Qingyuan exhibited in order to gently remove Shen Yuan's pants instead of tearing them away was truly impressive. Shen Qingqiu would have to reward him for that later.
But when enough clothes had been moved out of the way, Yue Qingyuan wasted no time in fishing his cock out of the many layers of his own robes—which he hadn't bothered to remove—and sinking into the dripping hole of the omega laid out so prettily in front of him. Normally Shen Qingqiu would scold his Qi-ge for being so eager, but he'd felt himself how loose and wet Shen Yuan was with heat; he'd tried his best to take the edge off for the newly presented omega earlier, before Shen Yuan had passed out and Yue Qingyuan had been sent for. Shen Qingqiu had only used his fingers, but the sensation had been unreal, and Shen Yuan’s expressions had grown steadily less guarded as the heat removed his inhibitions and embarrassment.
Fuck.
Shen Qingqiu hadn't ever thought of himself as someone who liked to watch other people fuck. Frankly, he found the idea in general rather disgusting, and even when he would sleep at the brothel he would avert his eyes from anyone getting too excited in public areas. People could do whatever they wanted to, more or less, but Shen Qingqiu didn't want to see them do it.
And he certainly hadn't ever been fond of sharing. Not anything, but especially not his Qi-ge's attention. Even when they'd merely been fellow street kids and not a mated pair, Xiao Jiu had always chased away the other children that Qi-ge had tried to look after.
But here— Shen Qingqiu had been the one to offer his mate's knot to another omega, and as he watched the two of them together, he was actually enjoying himself. He held no illusions that he would have felt the same way if the other omega in their bed had been anyone other than Shen Yuan. But it wasn't anyone else. And he wasn't exactly just watching the two of them.
Every one of Yue Qingyuan’s thrusts rocked Shen Yuan against Shen Qingqiu. His cock had been half-hard earlier, but it'd softened when Shen Qingqiu had ignored it in favor of watching Shen Yuan sleep. Now the friction through his robes was bringing him back to hardness. His hips bucked up without thought, but Shen Yuan didn't seem to notice. Too overwhelmed by the sensation of taking his first alpha cock to pay mind to anything else, Shen Qingqiu assumed.
It was quite the cock for such an introduction, as well. Shen Qingqiu was intimately familiar with the length and girth of it, with the way it felt when it split you open for the first time, how impossibly full it made you feel— At the thought, a wave of arousal ran through him, and he ground upwards again, this time purposefully. And Shen Yuan seemed to notice that movement, moaning into Shen Qingqiu's chest and catching the fabric of his collar between his teeth. The garment would likely be ruined, but Shen Qingqiu couldn't bring himself to care. He kept rutting against Shen Yuan until he fell apart, spilling into his pants.
Above him, Yue Qingyuan continued fucking into Shen Yuan with a steady, unrelenting pace; Qi-ge had always had exceptional stamina and patience in the bedroom. It was obvious when his knot started catching, because his thrusts became shorter and less even before stuttering and stopping all at once as the knot swelled. Shen Yuan keened at the unfamiliar pressure and came across the front of his and Shen Qingqiu’s robes.
Well, they're certainly ruined now, Shen Qingqiu thought absently, but his attention was fixed on the sights above him.
Yue Qingyuan caught his breath for a moment as he rode out his orgasm, resting his forehead on Shen Yuan’s shoulder blade. Shen Qingqiu could feel both of their weight on top of him as Yue Qingyuan dropped down from where he'd propped himself up on his arms. It was a comforting weight rather than a smothering one, and Shen Qingqiu missed it when Yue Qingyuan rolled himself and Shen Yuan, still knotted, onto their sides. Shen Qingqiu followed, holding himself just far enough away from the other omega to look at him while he gently brushed hair away from his face and then took ahold of his wrist, monitoring his condition as well as he could without in depth medical training.
On the other side of the boy, Qi-ge began mouthing along the side of Shen Yuan's neck, nipping lightly but never coming close to truly biting. That was good; it was possible for an alpha to mark multiple omegas, and any marking that came out of an unexpected heat created an incredible mess of hormones, emotions, and complicated interpersonal situations. This was going to be complicated enough in the aftermath as it was without that additional factor.
By the time the knot went down and Yue Qingyuan pulled out of the omega, Shen Yuan was out cold, having passed out from exhaustion and the relief of his hormones and qi stabilizing. Future heats wouldn't break so quickly, but whatever drug had sparked this unnatural presentation heat hadn't been concerned with the longevity of symptoms, just the initial debilitating effect.
Shen Qingqiu fussed over both of them, bringing over a basin of water and a cloth that he'd been using earlier to try to ease Shen Yuan’s fever. Together, he and Yue Qingyuan cleaned up each other and Shen Yuan, putting the omega's pants back on him and straightening his robes. With as thin-faced as Shen Yuan was, he'd certainly appreciate not being so exposed when he woke up, even if they had both already seen him in such a state.
Afterwards the two of them lay back down on either side of him. While there would likely be some inevitable awkwardness when Shen Yuan finally awoke, it was still better than risking any spiraling anxiety if the new omega awoke without his heat partners present.
—-
The morning after–actually more like early afternoon–was just as awkward as expected. As soon as Shen Yuan woke up enough to realize that he was in bed with Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan, he froze, panicked, and said a lot of nonsense that honestly didn't bear repeating.
Shen Qingqiu raised an eyebrow at him while Yue Qingyuan smiled serenely and stared at the wall. "The sect leader saw you through your heat. Do you remember agreeing to that?"
"I... I think so," Shen Yuan said. "It's all a little unclear, but I think I remember you asking me. Ah— thank you, shibo?" Then he colored in embarrassment as his brain caught up with his mouth and he remembered exactly what he was thanking Yue Qingyuan for. His eyes kept darting around the room, jumping between the two Peak Lords, the door, and the floor in front of him.
Yue Qingyuan had already agreed to let Shen Qingqiu handle this conversation, and Shen Qingqiu quickly and clearly laid out the basics of the situation. He wasn’t completely sure that Shen Yuan was processing what he was saying, but most of it could be repeated again later when he’d had time to get used to the idea. In fact, Mu Qingfang would likely cover much of the same material. There was just one more thing that Shen Qingqiu needed to discuss with Shen Yuan personally.
"Can you feel that?" Shen Qingqiu asked and mentally tugged on his bond with Yue Qingyuan..
With a mating bond, even a less intense temporary one, the people involved should be able to sense each other’s presence as well as particularly strong emotions. Qi-ge, Shen Qingqiu knew, would have felt his rage at the situation earlier but had let Shen Qingqiu handle the matter until his help was requested.
"Can I feel what?" Shen Yuan asked, but then a moment later he gasped. The sensation was muted because while Shen Yuan and Yue Qingyuan shared a temporary heat bond and Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan were fully mated, no bond existed between Shen Yuan and Shen Qingqiu. All sensation shared between the two of them was filtered through Yue Qingyuan first. Shen Yuan still looked gobsmacked. As an assumed beta, he would never have expected to participate in a mating bond. “Is that… is that you??”
“Yes,” Shen Qingqiu said. “You should also be able to feel your Zhangmen-shibo in a similar fashion.”
"How long does a bond like this last?" Shen Yuan asked several minutes later once they were all three sitting at a table with a fresh pot of tea.
Shen Qingqiu raised an eyebrow. "Did you not pay attention when you were taught about secondary dynamics?"
Shen Yuan smiled sheepishly. "I was always more interested in cool plants and creatures than with my own body. Or anyone else's for that matter."
"It will last until your next heat passes, unless you were to renew it," Shen Qingqiu informed him. “Although the strength of it will fade over that period.”
He could feel Yue Qingyuan’s eyes on him as he said it. Shen Yuan didn't seem to have picked up on the implication that Shen Qingqiu felt renewing the bond during Shen Yuan’s next heat was a possibility, but Qi-ge knew damn well that Shen Qingqiu wouldn't have even mentioned renewal unless he had considered it.
That was something the two of them would have to speak of in private before they even considered approaching Shen Yuan about it. But first, Mu Qingfang needed to give Shen Yuan a clean bill of health, and Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan needed to track down and eviscerate whoever dared prey upon one of their own.
And Shen Qingqiu would thoroughly enjoy it.