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"They'll be fine. Sit," Jiang Cheng ordered. Zewu-jun obeyed and sunk down, letting his injured wing relax. The two had taken shelter in a small run-down abandoned house on the outskirts of a tiny village. Jiang Cheng had volunteered to stay behind and tend to Zewu-jun while Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji, Jin Ling and the other juniors continued the night hunt.
Jiang Cheng didn't mind. It was his fault Zewu-jun had taken a hit from a fierce corpse anyways, and on his first night hunt after coming out of seclusion too. He was slightly worried for Jin Ling's safety, but he would never not be worried for him. Still, he should have been paying more attention to his surroundings rather than focusing so much on his nephew. Perhaps then the accident wouldn't have occurred.
"This will sting a bit," he warned. Zewu-jun nodded silently and Jiang Cheng dipped his fingers in the jar to apply the salve to the bloody scratches on the other's white wings. As his fingers brushed over the first cut, Zewu-jun's feathers trembled, so Jiang Cheng tried to be more gentle and lightened his touch. Still, the wings shivered every time he spread the salve, and the trembles became even more pronounced when Jiang Cheng moved on to running his fingers through the feathers to remove the dirt and blood from them.
"Is this hurting you? Am I being too rough? Too gentle?" he asked, frowning. He couldn't see the other's face to judge and had no idea if the First Jade was ticklish or not. Jiang Cheng's own wings were rather sensitive and it could be the same for Zewu-jun.
"Ah, not really," Zewu-jun replied. "I must apologize, Sect Leader Jiang. I'm- I am just unused to being... touched," he admitted in a quiet voice.
Jiang Cheng blinked. Well, that was contrary to some rumors he had heard. "So you and- you never... uh- you've always been single, then?" he awkwardly questioned, cursing his own words as he stumbled over them. A shameful flush spread across his cheeks. He should have just kept his mouth shut!
He could have sworn he heard Zewu-jun stifle a chuckle just now, but there was no hint of laughter in his voice when he said, "I've never been, well... interested in anyone. Man or woman. While I can appreciate beauty I don't feel attraction to anyone in an intimate way."
"Ah," Jiang Cheng said. So it was like that. So the number one eligible bachelor in the cultivation world would remain a bachelor. Ha! If only the multitudes of women, and probably some men, knew they had no chance to begin with.
Silenced reigned for a moment after that as both of them were lost in thought. Jiang Cheng continued to run his hands through the trembling wings and finally finished removing the grime. As his hands dropped, Zewu-jun folded his wings, then turned around and asked, "Does it surprise you?"
Jiang Cheng met his gaze as he cleaned off his fingers and hummed. "Not at all. I'm the same way."
A look of shock flashed across Zewu-jun's face. "Truly?"
"Why do you think I got myself blacklisted by the matchmakers?" Jiang Cheng replied with a chuckle. And thank the gods for that! It had saved him from countless headaches.
"Oh! I see," Zewu-jun said. A smile slowly spread across his face, "I am glad I'm not alone in my preferences." At Jiang Cheng's sharp nod, he continued in a shy voice, "If you are amicable, perhaps we could come to an arrangement?"
"An arrangement?" Jiang Cheng questioned, confused. Surely, he couldn't mean-
"I did quite enjoy your touch and would like to offer the same to you. Nothing further than that and nothing inappropriate," Zewu-jun explained, his cheeks and ears flushing red.
Ah! So it wasn't because of pain or sensitivity that Zewu-jun's wings had been trembling.
"So you want to be cuddle buddies?" Jiang Cheng teased, laughing at the embarrassed flush on Zewu-jun's face. Thinking about it, the offer wasn't a bad one. Zewu-jun was always pleasant to be around and on top of that, he was trustworthy. "Well, come on then," Jiang Cheng said, opening his arms.
The surprise on Zewu-jun's face quickly melted into a grateful smile, and he came forward and sunk into Jiang Cheng's arms in a warm hug. Jiang Cheng's eyes slowly drifted shut and his body relaxed under Lan Xichen's gentle touches stroking down his back and wings.
Not a bad arrangement at all.