Chapter Text
Yuning got home that night, slightly exhausted from his work that day, and opened the door expecting to see Xiao Gui already asleep. However, waking in, noticing all the lights were on, he spotted the younger sitting on the couch in the main space, his head in his hands and his fingers pulling at his hair.
Worried, Yuning washed off his fatigue and rushed towards Xiao Gui, bending down by his side to check if he was okay. Before he could touch him however, Xiao Gui pulled back immediately and stood up, walking almost as if he was intentionally avoiding the elder.
“A-Lin…” Yuning started, trying to get a response. Seeing that Linkai was not planning on facing him any time soon, he sighed, retreating to sit at the spot the younger was at. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Surprisingly, he got an answer. “Yes.”
Xiao Gui went to sit next to Yuning on the couch – close enough that if one of them were to reach their hand out they could touch the other, but far enough that the slightly too long strands of hair on Linkai’s face obscured his expression.
“I’m jealous,” he said.
Yuning looked at him with a soft gaze, almost as if Xiao Gui was the most fragile thing to him in the world.
And he is.
“Why are you jealous?”
Then the tears came.
“I don’t know,” Xiao Gui said, his voice cracking slightly, and his hands trembling as he lifted them up to cover his face. Yuning shuffled across, moving slightly to hold Xiao Gui’s hand as reassurance. “Talk to me, please.”
And for the first time that evening, Linkai looked at Yuning. Even though his eyes were slightly red, his cheeks painted with tear stains, and his hair messily pressed against his skin, Yuning felt like the world was shining a light.
“A-Lin,” he said, his voice nearly as gentle as a breeze, “you can talk to me.”
Xiao Gui gave a low chuckle, a sad smile forming on his lips. “I’m embarrassed to talk about it.”
And so, half the night was spent with the two of them holding hands, sitting on the couch as they stared into each other’s eyes, almost suffocating in the eerie atmosphere.
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When Yuning woke up, he found Linkai already awake, staring at their intertwined hands as if he was trying to reassure himself of something. Yuning tightened his grip, making Linkai look at him with a very careful expression. Yet, just before Yuning could get into a better position, Xiao Gui initiated their morning kiss, with the younger leaning in quicker than an eagle, and giving Yuning a soft, filled-with-love kiss.
Which made Yuning slightly worried.
Then it clicked in his head. “I’m jealous.”
Almost as if afraid that when Xiao Gui pulls back, they won’t be that close anymore, Yuning wrapped his arm around the younger, pulling him closer and making him fall into his arms, using his hand to keep Linkai there. After securing the position for a while, Yuning let go gently, moving his head to rest on Xiao Gui’s shoulder. “我爱你,” he mumbled, making it loud enough so that Xiao Gui could hear it – even if Yuning had stuffed his face in Xiao Gui’s shoulder.
And if reassured him just a little more.
Bringing his face to look at Xiao Gui in the eyes, Yuning lifted his head from the younger’s shoulder, and gave him an expression so passionate it screamed love.
“Last night you said you were jealous…”
Xiao Gui looked down a bit, biting his lip as his eyes moved everywhere but to the other person in the room. Yuning, sensing his distress, used one hand to ruffle his hair, and the other to lift his chin up.
“Thank you, for telling me something like that,” he said.
Yuning leaned it, giving a light peck on Xiao Gui’s forehead, before smiling at him. “Now I know. It’s okay, bao bei, I’m yours.”
And they hugged, Linkai feeling small in Yuning’s arms, yet feeling warm in the fact that he was there. Yuning didn’t poke at that sensitive part, he stood by and told him things that assured him “Yes, he loves me.”
Because Xiao Gui loves him.
“The things I do with my co-stars are all for the sake of acting,” said Yuning. “But the things I do with you – that’s because I want to, and I love to.”
He felt so warm, snuggled up in the arms of his boyfriend, his love. Someone who loved him as well.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have felt that way,” said Xiao Gui. Yuning shushed him playfully, pulling back from the embrace to give Linkai a stern remark. “There’s nothing for you to apologise for.”
Chuckling, Xiao Gui realised that Yuning was still wearing his coat, and all the other clothes he wore home that day. “You giant,” he said, unbuttoning Yuning’s coat and swiftly removing it, using it as a blanket that he proceeded to cover his back with.
Yuning gave him a smile, before pulling the coat over the two of them – and pulling Xiao Gui into a kiss as well.