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Jin Ling wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he’d sent off his message, but it certainly wasn’t a messenger butterfly in return. Okay, he wouldn’t have been surprised at that, but not this one, deep pink with wings the size of his HAND! What the fuck, Zizhen?!
And it wouldn’t let him catch it. It flitted around just out of reach until Jin Ling finally figured out that it was leading him. Through Cloud Recesses. It had better be somewhere with alcohol because his uncle had left him with a horrendous headache and this wasn’t helping. Where had Zizhen learned to make the ridiculous thing?
A possible answer appeared in the form of Wei Wuxian lounging on the steps to the courtyard near the library. Possible became probable when his eyes lit up as he caught sight of them—Jin Ling and the LARGE pink butterfly.
“Did you have anything to do with this?” Jin Ling snarled. The butterfly reacted to the pause by circling lazily above his head, still just out of reach, and started to shed sparkles like gently falling rain. At least those were gold.
“It turned out so well!” Wei Wuxian said, sitting up straighter. “I didn’t really do anything other than a double check that nothing would explode or catch fire before they tested it. Ouyang-gongzi has a good head on his shoulders. It was just a simple—”
“I don’t care,” Jin Ling cut off the explanation. “And I hate you. I hate you both.” He stomped off in the direction the butterfly had been leading him, and it gave him a stupid amount of satisfaction to see it hurry to get in front of him again.
“I also gave him a couple of bottles of Emperor’s Smile, because I know what dealing with a worried Jiang Cheng is like,” Wei Wuxian yelled. In the middle of Cloud Recesses. “And tell him I love the colour!” Idiot.
He wasn’t wrong, though. Jiujiu had wanted to meet before he left to “clarify” a few things about the trade agreement they’d come to during the conference. They tried to confine sect leader business to these formal gatherings, which left Jin Ling’s increasingly rare trips to Lotus Pier as purely family visits. Wei fucking Wuxian almost turning himself inside out, or whatever happened this morning, had transformed a one hour chat into a four hour lecture. Jiujiu hadn’t lost the knack for it, that was for sure. The only thing that saved Jin Ling was Nie-zongzhu reminding Jiujiu that the two of them were spending the night in Caiyi town before starting for home.
“Some proper food, some good wine, some excellent conversation,” Nie Huaisang gestured to himself, “and you’ll feel much better. I guarantee it.” Nie Huaisang said the last while screening his expression with his fan, but whatever was conveyed there made Jiujiu narrow his eyes and press his lips together. He stayed that way, barely even acknowledging Nie Huaisang’s polite farewells, until he dragged Jin Ling to his rooms. But he also made sure to take leave of Cloud Recesses before dinner.
That was so fucking weird. And Jin Ling did not want to think about it.
The butterfly finally led him out of Cloud Recesses proper and onto the path to the rabbit meadow. He breathed a small sigh when it turned him onto a smaller trail—another thing to be annoyed at Zizhen for, an unreasonable distrust of rabbits—which led him to a smaller clearing containing a pavilion with a table large enough to seat four. The table was set, the food was out, but Jin Ling could see the shimmer of the talisman keeping everything warm.
They’d waited for him.
Jin Ling was not going to cry about that because he had been a sect leader for over a year and sect leaders don’t cry whenever someone does something thoughtful. (Except when they do and then threaten to break the legs of anyone who mentions it.) While he was taking a deep, controlled breath, he spotted Zizhen and Sizhui sitting with their backs against a tree on the other side of the clearing.
“Oh wow, that’s really pink!” Jingyi said, sitting up. From where he had his head in Zizhen’s lap. What the fuck?! “I thought you were going to make it peach.”
“I thought you were going to make it smaller,” Sizhui said, because he had proper priorities.
“I didn’t want him to lose sight of it,” Zizhen said, then started to flush. “There’s nothing wrong with pink.”
Oh, there was absolutely something wrong with pink, and Jin Ling was going to figure out what.
“I was promised Emperor’s Smile,” he grumbled, narrowing his eyes at Zizhen and watching the blush darken. He could see Sizhui’s even better smile at the edge of his vision while he continued to torture Zizhen with silence. He’d just spent four days watching the master of the technique and was starting to see the appeal.
Then Sizhui pushed himself to his feet and added, “I’ve acquired two bottles as well, so there is more than enough for a proper end of discussion conference party.”
“Might not be. Our young mistress has obviously had a rough day,” Jingyi said. He’d developed the annoying habit of touching Jin Ling whenever he tossed out an insult—a kick under the table, an elbow into his ribs—today, it was an arm tossed around Jin Ling’s shoulders.
And today, Jin Ling finally reached his limit. He swung around, shrugging off the touch, and had to tilt his chin up to look Jingyi straight in the eye. Jingyi had grown again in the few months since they last saw each other, and that was the absolute limit. “You looking to lose that arm?” Jin Ling snarled.
Jingyi took a small step back—gratifying—but then he smiled, and Jin Ling really wanted to… Punch him. Yes, punch him in the mouth is what Jin Ling wanted to do. But the problem with looking at Jingyi’s mouth was that it was in proximity to his shoulders and they were very good shoulders just as Zizhen had said. Which reminded him of the initial source of his anger. “What were you doing with Zizhen?”
“Nothing!” Jingyi said, stepping back again and the smile dropping away.
“Yet,” Zizhen said.
Jin Ling spun around and found Sizhui pulling Zizhen to his feet. “We were waiting for you,” Sizhui said, smiling at Jin Ling.
“Sort of,” Zizhen muttered, and turned very pink again. Sizhui kissed his cheek. So that’s what the blushing was about. When Sizhui turned back to face Jin Ling, his cheeks were also tinted pink but his lips even more so. Jin Ling could never not look at Sizhui’s mouth. Sizhui must have noticed because he smiled a little wider, nodded his head as if answering a question Jin Ling didn’t know he’d asked, then he glanced deliberately behind Jin Ling, at Jingyi, and tilted his head in his own question.
Wait. Fuck.
Was Sizhui asking…?
Were they all…?
Jin Ling quickly did the calculations about what he knew about who was kissing, or wanted to kiss, who. The only pair still in question was… Shit. The more he thought about the idea of the four of them—together—the more he...didn’t mind. He sure as hell wasn’t going to be left out! The problem was he had lots of feelings about Jingyi, most of them conflicting, but he didn’t need to sort them all out right now. He just needed to know if he wanted to kiss Jingyi. There was only one way to find out.
He spun back around, took Jingyi’s face in his hands, and pulled Jingyi in for a kiss.
Jingyi’s squeak of surprise almost made Jin Ling smile, which would have ruined the kiss so he definitely did not. He was going to do an outstanding job of giving this kiss; it might not have been the kiss he’d practiced for, but the work was not going to be wasted. He waited until Jingyi relaxed before doing more than pressing their lips together and then he backed off to brush over the soft skin. Jingyi’s lips were very soft and very warm, and he made quiet sounds every time Jin Ling eased away to vary the pressure. Jin Ling wanted to chase them. He did a little bit, brushing his tongue over Jingyi’s bottom lip, and Jingyi fisted his hands in Jin Ling’s robes, not pressing against his skin, not pulling him closer, just gripping handfuls of the silk at his hips. Jin Ling decided he’d had enough of dealing with ridiculous Lan restraint. He followed the brush of his tongue with a deliberate push, and Jingyi opened up for him so easily that Jin Ling knew he was going to want to do it again. The unmistakable groan which rumbled at the back of Jingyi’s throat as Jin Ling licked in a second time confirmed it.
As soon as Jin Ling pulled back, satisfied with the result, Jingyi started a breathless babble. “How did…That was...“ Then he frowned. “Damn it! I’ll never get better at this if I don’t get to do the kissing at least some of the time,” he complained. Jin Ling rolled his eyes, and Sizhui’s laughter rang through the clearing as Zizhen sighed dramatically.
“I shall sacrifice myself for the greater good,” Zizhen said, stepping toward Jingyi, then putting on a pose Jin Ling had seen Zizhen’s youngest sister use, hands clasped behind his back as he twisted at the waist a little bit and looked at Jingyi through his eyelashes. He was the tallest of all of them; it looked ridiculous.
“You’re adorable,” Jingyi said, because he obviously had no experience with the concept.
He clearly did have experience with kissing, though, despite his protests. He drew Zizhen in, one hand on his neck, another on his hip, and Zizhen stepped into the kiss as sweetly as he always did. He let Jingyi take the lead, as he said he would, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t teach Jingyi a thing or two. Jin Ling quickly amended that idea; he could see the quick, whispered phrases Zizhen was uttering in the pauses for breath. When Zizhen talked, he was looking for more than just kisses. He got it when Jingyi wrapped both arms around Zizhen's body, pulling his hips close and pushing his spine into an arch as Jingyi devoured his mouth.
Sizhui laughed again, his voice getting closer. “Jingyi, we still want to eat some food tonight,” he said, ever the responsible leader.
Jin Ling turned from the increasingly lewd sight in front of him; he didn’t need any additional inspiration. Sizhui was right there, close enough to touch, and he smiled, the beautiful gentle one which Jin Ling could never turn away from. Jin Ling slid a careful hand around Sizhui’s waist, and when the smile brightened—for him—he leaned into the kiss he’d been practicing for.