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Qi Yan loves these quiet moments the best, where her world is no bigger than this apartment amidst a city, a sea of lights. Where her world is in front of them, eating ice cream out of the tub it’s packaged in, swallowed up by a massive red hoodie. Her Jingnu, sprawled out on the sofa with no poise or elegance but beautiful all the same. Stunning.
Qi Yan leans over her, hand brushing over her cheek, swiping away at the ice at the corner of her lips. Jingnu’s eyes soften, setting down the tub on the coffee table and catching Qi Yan’s hand before they can slip away. She doesn’t say anything, just stares up at her with one of those adoring gazes, putting Qi Yan in a trance. Call it a cliche, but she can’t help but find herself lost in the deep browns, the everclear darkness of Jingnu’s eyes. There’s comfort in the eyes of her beloved.
“You had something on your face,” says Qi Yan eventually, words a breathless whisper.
Nangong Jingnu smiles, shifts to sit herself up properly. She seems dazed, as dazed as Qi Yan feels. With an expectant look, Jingnu beckons them forward, hands grabbing at the air. Come sit by me? Qi Yan would never dare deny her anything.
She fits herself, like a jigsaw puzzle, onto the sofa— their sofa. It’s worn down, a vivid red faded to something closer to brown, but just like the apartment, what makes it perfect is that it is for Qi Yan and for Jingnu. Though, the sofa is a little small, not the best for cuddling (Qi Yan will bring that up later). Clumsily they shift and shuffle until making themselves comfortable enough. Qi Yan is half on Jingnu’s lap, as she insisted that tonight, she would hold her in her arms.
(And who are they to refuse her? Not when they adore how Jingnu’s hands, always soft to the touch, plays with her hair and smooths down her sides, like a promise for later.)
“I almost can’t believe it,” says Jingnu. Up until that moment, she’s been singing a song to herself absentmindedly, handsy as always, smoothing over Qi Yan’s shirt. “We’re living here now. The two of us, together.”
Qi Yan hums, puts a hand over Jingnu’s wandering one (later, is what that means).
“Hopefully you don’t get sick of me,” she says teasingly, knowing that her girlfriend is creasing her brow and frowning.
Surely enough, Jingnu tuts, squeezing her hands resting on Qi Yan’s shoulders. “I’ll never get sick of you, Qi Yan.”
“Never?”
“You might get sick of me, though.”
“No, never.”
“I’m very needy, you know. You promise you’ll be able to deal with me?”
Qi Yan laughs. “I love you. Even when I might not be able to deal with you, Jingnu, I’ll love you and I’ll never stop.” They twist round, facing Nangong Jingnu. “I promise.”
“I love you too.”
When she leans in for the kiss, what they say is not later, but now.