My first real-time update! Exciting! To me!

Title: baby loves to dance in the dark
Fandom: Tian Guan Ci Fu
Subject: Ling Wen/Shi Qingxuan/Yushi Huang
Length: 1,900 words
Rating: E
Themes & tags: PWP, tit torture, semi-public sex, sleazy lesbianism

Content warnings:

mildly dubious consent

Summary: "Shh, shh, I know. It's alright. I can keep a secret. Female gods ought to look out for one another." Ling Wen didn't put much stock in this sentiment herself—she didn't owe anyone anything, just because they happened to be women in the male-dominated world of Heaven—but she figured Shi Qingxuan might, and sure enough, Shi Qingxuan relaxed a little, nodding quickly. She really was tremendously easy to sway.

This was a fic exchange gift for Koschei_B (ao3 link).

---

"You need to be careful, Qingxuan. You're lucky it was me."

Shi Qingxuan's face was bright red. She stuttered, "I—I guess I am, Ling Wen, just don't tell Ge please—"

"No, no, of course not," Ling Wen reassured her. She held the front of Shi Qingxuan's qun up where she'd caught it slipping, giving her some semblance of modesty, but one of her thumbs brushed the curve of her breast, and she saw Shi Qingxuan swallow, her eyes flicker wide.

She had been quite loose this evening: hair spilling wildly and invitingly over her shoulders, spinning as she flitted around the room, free as the breeze. She had wine on her breath and adventure in her eyes.

They had a pact between the three of them—Ling Wen, Old Pei, and Shui-xiong—not to go after any of each other's conquests. It was in the spirit of sportsmanship. Younger siblings had never been factored into the agreement, though Ling Wen knew that Shi Qingxuan was beyond off-limits, but in her own defense, she hadn't engineered any of this. She'd just happened to be the one to notice that Shi Qingxuan's dress was slipping dangerously, and, thoughtful woman that Ling Wen was, she'd pulled her into a discreet corner in order to give her some gentle admonishment and help her make herself presentable.

It wasn't Ling Wen's doing that, the moment she'd brought her hands to Shi Qingxuan's chest (with only, or at least largely, pure intentions in mind), Shi Qingxuan exhaled a shaky gasp that Ling Wen had never once heard before, in all Shi Qingxuan's repertoire of boisterous expressions.

Upon consideration, it wasn't truly surprising. Shi Qingxuan loved to flaunt her female form. She'd earned the nickname of Lady Wind Master through honest effort.

Ling Wen respected the brotherly code of honour she held with the other tumours, but she wasn't one to neglect an opportunity when it presented itself to her so pleasingly.

She reached behind Shi Qingxuan's back to pull her sash free. Shi Qingxuan's shoulders rose in surprise; Ling Wen let the sash fall into her hand, and held the qun's band up just below Shi Qingxuan's chest.

"We'll need to tie this again, more smugly this time."

"R—right."

"It might take a few tries. It seems as though you might need to practice."

Shi Qingxuan's tongue darted out to lick her bottom lip. "I promise this has never happened before, Ling Wen!"

"Shh, shh, I know. It's alright. I can keep a secret. Female gods ought to look out for one another." Ling Wen didn't put much stock in this sentiment herself—she didn't owe anyone anything, just because they happened to be women in the male-dominated world of Heaven—but she figured Shi Qingxuan might, and sure enough, Shi Qingxuan relaxed a little, nodding quickly. She really was tremendously easy to sway.

She ought to begin reassembling Shi Qingxuan's clothing, but now that her breasts were fully exposed to the air, Ling Wen had to admire the sight. They were elegant and well-shaped, with a satisfying weight visible in the way the flesh moved as Shi Qingxuan breathed.

Her nipples were dusky-brown and perky. Drawn taut, even in a warm room.

Ling Wen said a solemn apology to the Shui-xiong inside of her head, and then plucked one of Shi Qingxuan's areolas between finger and thumb. She squeezed, just lightly, and watched Shi Qingxuan's mouth fall open.

"Ling Wen..."

Ling Wen tweaked her left nipple a little more harshly, and said, "Don't you think you've been a little naughty tonight, Qingxuan?"

"I didn't mean to," Shi Qingxuan panted. Her eyes were dark and pleading.

Ling Wen lifted her other hand to Shi Qingxuan's right breast, and she dragged her fingernails lightly around its circumference. "I know you like to play. It's only natural someone might wonder if you wanted something like that to happen."

"It was an accident, I swear," Shi Qingxuan protested, her face going blotchy with shame and increasingly obvious desire.

"Of course," Ling Wen soothed, in her most reasonable and dull tone of voice. "You're a good girl. Or you try to be, at any rate."

It was then that Ling Wen heard an even footstep and the brush of a curtain being pulled aside.

She looked behind her just in time to meet the even gaze of the Rain Master.

"Ling Wen-zhenjun. Lord Wind Master. I hope I'm not intruding—" Yushi Huang's eyes flicked down to the sliver of Shi Qingxuan's exposed torso she could see past Ling Wen's shoulder and sleeve. Lord Rain Master was, in Ling Wen's experience, rather unflappable, or rather she was always gracefully retiring regardless of the circumstance; she paused for a moment, recalibrated, and then inclined her head solemnly. "I was in search of a quiet place to think. It was not my intention to interrupt an... intimate moment."

Why was she even here? She never went to these things!

Ling Wen forced a smile onto her face, and stroked her palm soothingly down Shi Qingxuan's side. "No apologies necessary, Your Highness. I was merely assisting Lord Wind Master with a slipped bit of clothing. You know how it is."

It sounded stupid even to her own ears, but Ling Wen had not lasted this long as Jun Wu's right hand without knowing how to put on a face of serenity while dispensing blatant lies.

Shi Qingxuan, however, had no such sense. She stepped past Ling Wen, seemingly oblivious to the fact her whole chest was exposed—and she'd had the gall to act bashful before!—and grabbed Yushi Huang by the forearm before beseeching her, "Lord Rain Master, please don't tell anyone you saw—"

Yushi Huang regarded her quizzically. "I would not violate your privacy. I understand why the two of you would want to keep your affair discreet—"

"We're not having an affair," Shi Qingxuan and Ling Wen said in unison. Ling Wen hoped that their respective looks of horror were genuine enough to persuade Yushi Huang.

Yushi Huang blinked, and then said, "Yes. Of course."

It was then that Ling Wen noted that Yushi Huang's face, too, had darkened since the sight of Shi Qingxuan's breasts was presented to her at such close range. They were quite... potent, it had to be said.

An idea came to Ling Wen then; one of the classics in her arsenal. Nothing keeps someone from spilling blackmail like making them complicit to the crime.

Ling Wen stepped behind Shi Qingxuan, reached out around her on either side, and took Yushi Huang's hands in her own. She guided them to Shi Qingxuan's breasts—Shi Qingxuan shivered and gasped, "Oh my goodness—" and Ling Wen watched the sharp intake of breath Yushi Huang took into her slit throat.

"You see, Your Highness. This isn't an affair. Qingxuan is just having some fun. Isn't she?"

Lady Wind Master, bless her heart, was too far gone then to even protest, and as Ling Wen watched Yushi Huang's eyes flicker down to where her hands were enclosing Shi Qingxuan's breasts, letting her fingers be guided by Ling Wen into pinching Shi Qingxuan's sensitive skin in a manner verging on cruel, she felt the professional satisfaction of another sticky situation well handled.

---

Lord Rain Master was, it turned out, a romantic. Ling Wen ought to have anticipated this, she thought.

(She spared a moment to consider whether or not whatever it was that Yushi Huang was to Pei Ming fell within the purview of their agreement, and said an apology to the Old Pei in her head, just to be safe.)

Wary of another intrusion, which she suspected would be more difficult to divert the second time, Ling Wen had fastened Shi Qingxuan's qun back into acceptability and led the three of them to a secluded room that had, among other features to recommend itself, a real door. She hoped that the rest of the guests could do without her expertise for at least an incense's time; the rest of the officials in attendance may be frolicking, but Ling Wen knew better than to think such luxuries as a night off were within her grasp.

The thing was, by the time Ling Wen had finished setting a simple ward on the door to prevent intrusion, the Wind and Rain Masters were whipping themselves up into a little tempest on the sofa. Shi Qingxuan had wasted no time getting topless again—indeed, the gall of her to act likeLing Wen was the lecher for picking up on her very clear signals—and Yushi Huang was weighing her breasts in her own sun-bronzed palms. More than that, though, they were kissing.

Ling Wen could not have been said to have a particularly romantic spirit, but even she was not unaffected by the sight. Yushi Huang carried her otherwise unassuming form with the quiet confidence of one who relied on it day-in and day-out to practice her chosen trade, and Shi Qingxuan was just so alive; she moved with simple joy at being a material being. They swayed together in an embrace that stirred up Ling Wen's simmering arousal while also filling her with a strange, quiet melancholy.

That would not do, so she approached the two of them, placing a gentle hand on Shi Qingxuan's bare back. The Wind Master broke away from the kiss, and looked back over her shoulder at Ling Wen. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to get left out—"

"Nonsense," said Ling Wen smoothly. "I couldn't possibly have interrupted."

Her eyes met Yushi Huang's, and Ling Wen reflected, not for the first time, that the Rain Master unnerved her, just a little. It was so much easier to deal with people who were just as corrupt as everyone else. She couldn't have even said that she felt judged by her; it was simply that Ling Wen didn't know what Yushi Huang thought of her, besides knowing that it was likely not all favourable, and even stranger than that, Ling Wen found herself unable to simply not care.

That would not do at all.

Ling Wen bent her head to Shi Qingxuan's shoulder, and gently laid her lips on the exposed skin.

The Wind and Rain Masters resumed their slow, mesmerizing kiss. Ling Wen was not unhappy to be left out of it; she really wasn't that sort of person. But she found her hands encompassing the backs of Yushi Huang's callused ones, cupping Shi Qingxuan's breasts, and surprised herself by how enjoyable it was to touch them through another person. It was if she was exploring them for the first time again.

Before long, she had Yushi Huang pinching and twisting at the nipples in the way that sent Shi Qingxuan swooning; this time, her body was between two others, embraced in two sets of arms, and this seemed to bring Shi Qingxuan some kind of comfort, as she had released herself fully into abandon. Ling Wen had one of her thighs between Shi Qingxuan's legs, and as she writhed towards and away from their cruelty, moaning all the while into Yushi Huang's mouth, she wound herself into a climax so eager and sweet that Ling Wen felt her own cynic's heart flicker at the sight.

Shi Qingxuan tipped her head back to rest on Ling Wen's shoulder as she panted her way back to consciousness. Ling Wen met Yushi Huang's eyes once again, and found it easier to meet that even gaze, though maybe it was just their joint complicity. No—complicity was hardly the word. Shi Qingxuan's half-lidded eyes were sparkling.