Work Text:
Nie Huaisang knows within five minutes of meeting Jiang Wanyin that he could love the sharp-edged cultivator. He is also acutely aware of his own reputation, cultivated with the same precision that the Jiang heir cultivates his golden core.
Huaisang has plans to see through, and even casual affections are dangerous distractions. Friendship, he can use, and for the rest? Well, he has books, an imagination, and two perfectly good hands.
It is enough.
It has to be enough. Until one day it isn’t. Until one day he finds himself keeping Jiang Yanli company, and oh, she may not be a strong cultivator, but there are far too many of those about and not nearly enough people who understand a person’s heart the way Jiang Yanli does. Huaisang thinks he might give her a little push toward her own power.
It takes him an embarrassingly long time to realize she’s pushed him as well. Until the moment he takes Jiang Wanyin’s hand and drags him along, ostensibly to escape Lan Wangji’s cold glare and the inevitable doom of punishment. Still, Huaisang thinks he has everything under control. He can allow himself this treat.
He is perfectly calm when he teases a kiss from Wanyin, but he surprises himself when he offers a choice — this kiss can be the start of something or nothing at all. He’s inordinately proud of himself for keeping his voice steady and light when he offers, proud that Wanyin cannot hear the thudding heartbeat that crowds out every other sound until he hears that tentative yes from the boy in the other bed. Until he hears the promise for tomorrow.
Until the crashing realization that all the tomorrows in the world will never be enough.