#liucest

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"I got you something." Liu Qingge almost rolled his eyes and Liu Mingyan almost smirked. "From faraway."

The present was passed between them, settling onto Liu Mingyan's lap as gently as dawnlight was falling onto the snow outside. Liu Mingyan took hold of the box, eyeing the festive sprig of ribbon decorating the top, no doubt placed there by an over-industrious salesperson without her brother's request.

Undoing the wrapping, Liu Mingyan reached forward and hung the ribbon from her brother's belt, right beside the jade she'd gotten him the year she came of age. Liu Qingge glanced at it once, arms not uncrossing.

"What are you doing?"

But his voice was gentle. Liu Mingyan smiled, an elegant little flick of the corner of her lips. Her bare face was faintly pink in the warm snow about the house.

"You're my present this year."

And Liu Qingge's gaze, of course, was drawn to motion, the seasoned warrior that he was. That meant he was watching his little sister's lips, the face that was so famously hidden from the rest of the world but to him, here at home, was just a face, dearly beloved. How oddly taboo, to see a face that so much resembled himself yet know it was supposed to somehow inspire world-reckoning love and lust and devotion and here he was, looking, and he was just fine. Well sure, he loved, and sure, he was devoted. That only left one thing that left his own lips dry, and the flick of his tongue too drew Liu Mingyan's attention, and eyes were on lips and the whole world was tilting as they leaned forward and forward and—

"Shen Qingqiu!"

Shen Qingqiu startled awake, pulling himself up straight just in time to avoid pitching forward flat on his face. The Liu siblings were both staring at him from either side of their weiqi board, Liu Mingyan with curiosity and Liu Qingge with a mixture of concern and annoyance.

"If it's so bad we should—"

"No," Shen Qingqiu interrupted, knowing immediately what Liu Qingge was going to suggest. Shen Qingqiu had been the one to insist he finished the game with his sister first. "It's not the poison. I was merely...enjoying the view, and got lost in my thoughts."

The window he was facing had nothing but a sprawl of clean white snow outside. As both siblings glanced doubtfully out at the vista, Shen Qingqiu took the opportunity to surreptitiously adjust his robes over his lap. Just to...make sure.

At Liu Qingge's suspicious glare, Shen Qingqiu just smiled, gesturing demurely back to the board.