Sword & Spear - A Sushang Fanfic

10: Date construction - Reader's side

It appeared after that night that we had become a couple, we had begun to garner quite a bit of attention, and many of the Cloud Knights, both male and female, cheered us on, jokingly chasing us away and teasing us when we became too chummy with one another in front of them. Someone had spotted our argument in the open field and stayed to watch its resolution from afar, causing the news of us becoming a couple to spread through the camp like wildfire. Even some who had not heard the news managed to infer as such, saying Sushang and I seemed happier and even had a different vibe when we were together.

A minority stared at us with envy, but they did not try to go between us, after seeing one daring soul get the lights beaten out of him by Sushang when he insulted me in public in front of her, or at least that's what I heard.

Sure, we held hands once in a while, becoming shy as we became conscious of the sensation of the other's hand. But outside of the occasional innocent touch, things appeared to have reverted to what they were. Today was no different, the two of us spending some time alone at a quiet corner I had found within the camp, away from others who would otherwise begin teasing us once more.

"So what exactly is a couple?" Sushang casually remarked as she took a bite out of a steamed bun she had bought from the canteen, her other hand holding a book. Not expecting such a question from her, I choked on my tea. She was right, we might have confessed our feelings to one another and had become a pair of lovers by definition, but it felt nothing between us had really changed.

"First of all, where did you get that book from?" I commented. "Also don't talk with your mouth full."

"Oh, this? I got this from Spare Time bookshop." She began to think out loud, stating the things that she was reading in her book. "Spending time together, sharing drinks, going on dates... we've already done all of these before, though right? You literally held me for an entire night, we've been to the Golden Willow Woods together - that counts as a date, I guess, and we were already sharing drinks during our first outing together the Sleepless Earl..."

Indeed, we had already done many of the basics that were written in that book of hers, which made me wonder how we looked like to outsiders before we became a couple.

Sushang sighed in frustration as she flipped further to the back of the book where the things for couples who had already progressed beyond the basics, trying to get inspiration for something that we had not already done, when her eyes suddenly widened and a cute blush began to form on her face.

Having an inkling of what she had read, I decided to tease her about it. "So, what else did that book say?"

She pretended not to know, and when I shot her a teasing look, she became even redder.

"Well... there's this part about kissing... with tongue... and the following chapters about s-s-s-" Her voice trailed off, her ears turning red from embarrassment. Hearing her get so embarrassed, I soon managed to put two and two together and felt my face begin to burn up as well. We had just become a couple - sure, we did have a few occasions where we kissed each other on the forehead or the cheek, but we had not gone so far as to exchange a kiss on the lips, let alone take the other's first time in bed.

Although, after becoming a couple, I did find myself having more frequent thoughts of how her lips would feel on mine, and along with those came more invasive thoughts that made my eyes wander to ogle at her body, which usually resulted in her gently slapping me and calling me a pervert, though I was sure she too had her own fair share of invasive thoughts.

Composing myself, I decided to change the topic. "Well, we could always go for more dates. It'd be our first date as a couple, after all." As we struggled to think of what we could do next that could serve as a memorable 'first date' as a couple, an idea struck me as I remembered that the upcoming week was the week of the Xianzhou Festival.

The Xianzhou Festival, otherwise formally known as the Week of Commemoration. Records tell of how the Xianzhou had almost ceased to exist after receiving the curse of the Plague's Author, enduring thousands of years of turmoil - be it by internal conflict resulting in civil unrest almost causing their self-destruction by civil war or by external hostility from the Denizens of Abundance which almost wiped the Xianzhou out, causing the Xianzhou to pay very dearly with blood and tears.

The Xianzhou Alliance, swearing to never fall into the dark times of the past ever again, declared the Week of Commemoration, which was split into three phases - Three days of celebration where the Xianzhou engaged in festivities, two days of reflection, where the Xianzhou residents paid respects and prayed for those who had died to rest in peace, followed by the last two days of remembrance, where the Xianzhou people would renew their pledge to the Reignbow arbiter and their oath to eradicate the Abundance.

All residents of the Xianzhou were required by law to be given time to experience all three parts of the Xianzhou Festival. Checking our schedules, we found out we had the third day of celebration together. Unfortunately, the days we were assigned time to commemorate the periods of reflection and remembrance were on different days.

Making plans to meet up on the third day of celebration, our first date as a couple was constructed. As we headed separate ways for our next shift, my heart pounded with excitement.