Qi Zhou x Meng Yunfei
Tsundere sentinel who never says what he means gong x shamelessly affectionate guide shou
•Blurb•
Qi Zhou was a sentinel everyone hated.
Qi Zhou was good-looking, got good grades, and rose through the ranks quickly.
But he hated his spirit animal. He couldn't understand why other sentinels had fierce beasts and birds of prey, while his was a silly little stoat.
In a world that prized powerful spirit animals, people were bound to look down on him.
So Qi Zhou never let anyone see his spirit animal, which led to all kinds of misunderstandings.
Guide A: Qi Zhou, I want to help you stabilize your mental state. Please don't resist so much.
Qi Zhou: No.
Guide A: Why not?
Qi Zhou: I'm not good enough for you.
Sentinel B: Qi Zhou, let's team up for this mission and split the reward fifty-fifty.
Qi Zhou: No.
Sentinel B: Why not?
Qi Zhou: It wouldn't work.
His spirit animal made Qi Zhou deeply insecure, but everyone else thought he was an arrogant loner who looked down on everyone.
Gradually, sentinels and guides alike began avoiding him, and he became universally disliked.
Then one day, an S-rank guide appeared at the White Tower.
When the guide chose a sentinel to team up with, he specifically picked Qi Zhou.
Everyone was stunned and eagerly waited to see how Qi Zhou would react.
Qi Zhou's first reaction was to run.
Of course. When faced with his natural enemy, why wouldn't he run? Was he supposed to wait around to die?
The S-rank guide was named Meng Yunfei, and his spirit animal was a hulking golden eagle, the perfect natural predator of Qi Zhou's silly little stoat.
But in the end, Qi Zhou had to give in to reality and agree to team up.
He wanted to earn a bigger commission. He wanted to upgrade his spirit animal!
But no one expected that just six months later,
Qi Zhou and Guide Meng had formed a deep bond!?
Nor did anyone expect that Qi Zhou, whose strength was nothing to sneeze at, had a fluffy little stoat for a spirit animal!?
This adorable contrast turned the White Tower's prejudice on its head.
Guide A: Qi Zhou, can I see your stoat?
Sentinel B: Bro, how did you train it?
But Meng Yunfei kept everyone else at the door. He wasn't about to let other people have even a glance from his sentinel.
"Zhouzhou, only I get to see you."
Qi Zhou kept a straight face. In his head: Hey... get lost.
A few things to note:
1. The gong is terrible at expressing himself. What he means in his heart is completely different from what comes out of his mouth.
2. Both leads have very unusual thought processes, which is why they end up together.
3. There are plenty of personal worldbuilding details. At heart, this is a romance and a pet-cuddling story.
Theme: Don't judge by stereotypes.
