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“No no no no no no, I cannot get into trouble!” Nie Huaisang mutters as he drags Jiang Cheng behind him. He’s either not as drunk as he seemed in Wei Wuxian’s rooms, or he’s got a truly impressive tolerance because he sticks to the shadows and back paths, avoiding anyone who might catch them out past curfew. And Jiang Cheng is impressed, though he’d rather die than admit it. He thought he knew the layout of Cloud Recesses well, but he’s pretty sure if it were up to him to get them back to their own rooms, he’d end up taking them straight to Master Lan’s rooms.
“Then why’d you hang out with Wei Ying tonight?” Jiang Cheng asks, petulant and annoyed with himself for letting Wei Ying talk him into drinking tonight.
Huaisang stops at the corner of a building and peers around the corner, then looks back at Jiang Cheng. “Who says I was hanging out with him?” He flashes a grin and pulls Jiang Cheng along, darting across an open patch of neatly manicured courtyard and up a set of stairs to his rooms. He ushers Jiang Cheng inside and slides the door shut. A pair of birds in a wicker cage trill a greeting, and Huaisang whistles softly back.
“This is your room,” Jiang Cheng says as Huaisang lights a small lamp.
“Correct.” He strips off his outer robe, and Jiang Cheng turns to the door to hide the creeping blush rising in his cheeks.
“I should go back to my room.”
Huaisang grips Jiang Cheng’s shoulder. “It’s too risky,” he says. He tugs until Jiang Cheng turns around. Huaisang smiles at him. Jiang Cheng’s heart stutters, and he swallows hard.
“But I—“
Huaisang lays his ever-present fan across Jiang Cheng’s lips. “Just stay here. I’ve got an extra bed now that Meng Yao’s gone back to Qinghe.”
Jiang Cheng’s common sense makes a valiant effort to be noticed, but his mouth is quicker. “Who did you want to hang out with tonight?”
Huaisang smiles again, and Jiang Cheng thinks he might be addicted to them.
“You, of course.” He closes the gap between them and rises up on tiptoe, resting his hands on Jiang Cheng’s shoulders. “Always you.” He kisses Jiang Cheng. “Just don’t tell Wei Wuxian. It might hurt his feelings.”
Don’t tell…? Jiang Cheng reaches out, but Huaisang’s already moving away, toward the low bed along the wall. Don’t tell him about hanging out? Or the kiss?
Huaisang shakes out the blanket and folds it back. “Here you go. Nice and comfy.” He doesn’t wait for Jiang Cheng but instead, falls into his own bed without bothering to come out his hair. “Blow out the candle when you’re ready?”
Jiang Cheng rouses himself and walks toward the spare bed. “What about tomorrow?” he asks.
Huaisang sighs and sits up to look at him. “Tomorrow is tomorrow.”
Jiang Cheng extinguishes the candle in the lamp and lies down, turning so his back is to the room, to Huaisang. He hears Huaisang settle back down, hears his breathing slow down, even out.
“Does that mean tonight doesn’t count?” he whispers.
“Do you want it to count?”
Jiang Cheng squeezes his eyes shut, inwardly cursing. But Huaisang doesn’t sound upset, or amused. He sounds like he wants to know.
“Yes?”
Huaisang does laugh then, a delicate, breathy thing. “Alright. Then it counts. And tomorrow, if you want, we can count again.”
“Will you tell my brother?”
“Not unless you want to tell mine.”
Jiang Cheng shudders at the thought of having any conversation, let alone that conversation, with Chifeng-Zun, and his silence is answer enough for Huaisang.
“We won’t tell our brothers just yet.” He shifts, and Jiang Cheng feels Huaisang’s gaze on him. “I may have talked with your sister, though.”
Jiang Cheng rolls onto his back. “That explains the extremely uncomfortable conversation we had this afternoon.”
“Sorry,” Huaisang says, sounding not-at-all sorry.
“And you couldn’t have talked to me first?”
“Your sister thought it might be better to kiss, then tell. So to speak.”
“Mmm.” Jiang Cheng considers this and realizes he owes his jiejie an apology.
Tomorrow.
Jiang Cheng smiles to himself.
“Okay,” he says. “Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” Huaisang agrees, his voice soft with sleep.
For the first time in a very long time, Jiang Cheng looks forward to tomorrow.