’til next weekend

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Miss Liu Meilin has worked for Doctor Jiang Cheng for four years and counting.

She likes her job. It’s not the fanciest job, but she does love animals, and Dr. Jiang is a good boss and paid her well.

Actually, scratch that, Dr. Jiang is a wonderful boss. He’s older than her, but not too much that she’d feel a whole generation gap, so communication is pretty chill. He could be strict at times, so she makes sure never to be caught slacking off, but he is also very considerate. He usually lets her off early so she has an easier time going home, always makes sure to help close the clinic, doesn’t just leave her with nonsense tasks and he even lightens her load if he can help it. With any other boss, this could have easily made her feel patronized or coddled, but with Dr. Jiang it works, because he also never hesitates to trust her with important, even tough tasks when the situation calls for it. He delegates when he has to and never seems to doubt her ability to come through.

He’s just efficient like that, she supposes. He’s very good at his job. Very professional.

Sometimes, too professional. She swears the man isn’t interested in anything but his job. That, and helping out his sweet sister and her precious kids. He’s a family man. He’s just not a… romance man?

Yep, he’s just… not into it, she’s learned. She respects that. She knows that not all people are like her, though. Oh, the sheer number of DM’s and phonecalls from aunties and single people and even married ones(!) that she’d had to field… Her efforts are appreciated, she knows. She had taken pity once and diverted one of his mother’s calls about a matchmaker even before he asked, and he looked at her like she was sent from heaven, and then bought her a bunch of pastries from his sister’s bakery. He’s nice like that. Or has a complicated relationship his mother. Or both. Probably both.

Anyways, Miss Liu knows her boss is like, the most eligible bachelor in the market district or whatever. She also knows he’d rather dig through dog poop than go on one date.

But this past month’s been… different. She wonders what changed… because her boss, Doctor Jiang, decidedly single, has not been coming to work on Saturdays. Like, he’s actually having weekends.

Sure, they do have good old Dr. Yang for the weekends. Miss Liu likes the older man. She knows he’s Dr. Jiang’s former mentor, who retired and then realized that retirement was boring, and so got Dr. Jiang to book him to take over the clinic at least for weekends. But even then, Miss Liu had gotten used to Dr. Jiang coming to work, anyway. Just hanging out or whatever, after he’d done his housework and stuff, claiming he doesn’t mind being on standby at the clinic anyway. Only exceptions are when there’s a family thing or an event he has to go to, or if some of his chores ran long. Otherwise, he still goes to work even when he really doesn’t have to.

But for the past month, Dr. Jiang is actually taking his weekends off. Almost unheard of.

When Dr. Yang brought it up, Dr. Jiang only said that an old friend of his is in town, and they’d made plans. So that’s nice. Miss Liu is happy that Dr. Jiang is not just working and nothing else. He works so hard, and he deserves to have fun too.

Finally, today, she noticed an uptick of what she calls ‘Nosy Auntie Inquiries’ in their official social media account’s inbox. These messages do have seasons, but Miss Liu could swear there shouldn’t be any new wave of Dr. Jiang Admirers just yet… she expects that to come like, a few weeks later! After the shelter’s adoption day, which is expected to bring traffic to the clinic, introducing Dr. Jiang to a new batch of fans.

So she actually bothers to read some of the messages this time.

Oh. Huh. Okay, sure.

“Um, doc?” she calls out, during a slow afternoon, peering inside her boss’ office. “Personal question, so feel free to shut it down – are you dating someone right now?”

She knows it’s awfully direct. She also knows Dr. Jiang appreciates this about her.

Dr. Jiang looks up from the paperwork he’s been doing and raises an eyebrow. “Not that I’m aware of?”

“Okay. Cool.” Miss Liu nods, turns to leave – reconsiders – and turns back to her boss. “So why do nosy aunties think you’re dating someone right now, do you think?”

“Ah.” The man shrugs. “Yeah, that’s salon gossip, I guess. I’ve been hanging out with a friend, just around here. And you know how the aunties talk, Miss Liu.”

“Oh, I’m very familiar.” she chuckles. Then after a quick consideration, she asks, “This hanging out, is it like, just two dudes, like bros or something?”

“I… we’re not exactly… like that…?” This time Dr. Jiang looks confused. “What is the concern here again, Miss Liu?”

“Uh. I’m not sure, really. Your usual nosy aunties are being extra nosy on our DM’s. It’s fine, I’ll handle it.” she waves it off easily. “But you and this friend, are you… being…. cute? In the streets?”

Dr. Jiang just looks at her as if to ask ‘Miss Liu, do you hear yourself?’ – and she hasn’t worked with him for years for nothing. She knows she’s not getting an answer to that.

“No comment. Alright. Got it.” She nods, knowing a dismissal when she sees one. “If you’re dating, you’d tell me right?”

A sigh. “Yes, I suppose if anything becomes… official… yes, I would inform you.”

“Gotcha. Thanks, doc!”

“Anytime, Miss Liu.”

Miss Liu concludes that yes, her boss is sorta-maybe-totally being cute with his old friend in town. No doubt about it. He’s just being… Dr. Jiang… about it.

Ah, she can’t wait to meet this person, who has successfully made her boss take a weekend.

Going back to her desk, she cracks her knuckles and prepares to reply to the nosy DM’s, to tell all of them that they are entertaining clinic and pet care related questions only.

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Nie Huaisang is having a good day.

He’d finished a bunch of sketches the day before, had gotten very good feedback on them, and today was given free rein to go out to the fabric and tailoring shops in the market district, to scout for possible suppliers and for more inspiration.

He’d found plenty of lovely shopkeepers who were happy to listen to his inquiries, and managed to walk away with a bunch of amazing swatches and reasonable supplier quotations from most of them. He even found a few laces and patterned fabrics that were already so perfect for their planned designs, and he is thrilled when the clothiers agreed to reserve them for him.

So it’s been great, and then like a bonus, as he is already on his way back to the studio, he sees a familiar face across the street.

“Jiang-xiong!” he calls out to the man walking on the sidewalk, just a few meters away. Jiang Cheng isn’t wearing the clinic clothes that Nie Huaisang remembers from when he first bumped into him in the bakery, but he is carrying a medical bag, so he must still be on duty somehow.

Jiang Cheng stops walking, blinks when he sees him, and lets out one of those small smiles of his.

Nie Huaisang crosses the street, and as soon as he catches up to his friend, he lets out a short laugh. “Ah, it’s so weird to see you on a weekday now.”

“It’s weird that you think that.” Jiang Cheng says with a light chuckle as he resumes walking. “What are up to today, just out and about?”

“Scouting. Canvassing. Talking to potential suppliers. Looking for more inspo.” Nie Huaisang answers easily, gesturing to his market bag filled with sketchbooks, cloth swatches and more, much like the first time they met.

He keeps in step with Jiang Cheng. He doesn’t really mind just going along with wherever his friend is headed, as long as it isn’t too far out of his way to the bus stop.

“What about you? Out of the clinic?”

“I… had a house call.” Jiang Cheng says, gesturing towards his own bag.

“Huh. I didn’t know you did those…” Nie Huaisang blinks.

“I don’t, not usually.” Jiang Cheng says. Nie Huaisang doesn’t miss the way he takes a deep breath before continuing. “But it’s this couple, they’re one of the clinic’s first regulars. The wife has had mobility issues recently, and they’re both quite old. They’d have a difficult time taking their pet to the clinic.”

“Oh, that’s nice of you to do that for them.” Nie Huaisang smiles as he looks up at his companion.

Jiang Cheng is looking straight ahead, and he still had a small smile on his face from when greeted Nie Huaisang, but there’s a furrow in his brow, a strain to his voice. He also seemed just a bit distracted…

That’s… new. And it’s not a good new, Nie Huaisang is starting to feel.

“A-Cheng?” he asks, taking on a more neutral voice. He knows he just seemed to pop up out of nowhere, bursting with cheer, and his friend doesn’t appear to be receptive to that at the moment, so it might be time to tone it down just a bit. “Are you… good?”

Jiang Cheng seems to linger on a thought just a moment longer than he usually would, and so his distraction is made more obvious as he looks at Nie Huaisang. “What? I’m-… Yeah, I’m good. What do you mean?”

Nie Huaisang looks back, hesitating for a moment before he continues, “I guess… How… how did it go? The house call? Did it go well?”

“Ah. It was-…” Jiang Cheng interrupts himself, and looks down. Nie Huaisang notes that he had to take another deep breath first before he can answer. “Yue was a very old dog. We’d known that-… Yeah. He didn’t seem to be in pain, and his family was with him the entire time. The owners took it well, too, considering.”

“Oh…” Nie Huaisang’s face falls, and he couldn’t help the slight crack in his voice as he says, “A-Cheng, I’m so sorry to hear that…”

Jiang Cheng blinks, perhaps surprised that Nie Huaisang sounded so affected. He sees the torn expression on his friend’s face, and how he is now fiddling glumly with his sleeves.

“Wha- No, no. Dammit, I-…“ Jiang Cheng stammers out. ”Didn’t mean to say it so depressing like that, just out of the blue-”

Nie Huaisang shakes his head. “It’s fine. I did ask you.” He studies Jiang Cheng again, and this time, he does see how conflicted the man’s expression is.

“Yeah, but-… Still. Ruined your day, too. Just forget about it-”

Jiang Cheng is having a bad, very terrible day, and he is obviously trying not to make a big deal out of it. Maybe just because he didn’t want to saddle a friend with something heavy, or maybe just so he can go about the rest of his day. Both would be a very Jiang Cheng thing to do.

Nie Huaisang isn’t sure what he can do about that, but… he can try, right?

“Hey.” He musters up a small smile, and then holds out his hand, palm up, much like Jiang Cheng had done for him not even a week- just days ago. If Jiang Cheng had thought it would help Nie Huaisang, then Nie Huaisang can assume that it would work the other way around too. Right?

The sad, stormy expression in Jiang Cheng’s face clears up for a second in surprise, before he lets out a barely-there chuckle and takes Nie Huaisang’s hand. “Thanks.”

Nie Huaisang gives his hand a squeeze, and then steps just a bit closer, so he can hold on to Jiang Cheng’s arm. He hopes it brings some comfort to his friend, even a little bit, to have company.

“You’d think I’d be used to this, huh.” Jiang Cheng says, smile spent and maybe a little bitter.

“Maybe.” Nie Huaisang answers. “That doesn’t mean you’d stop caring. Specially about those ones you’ve grown close to… You’d known them for years, right? It’s okay to feel sad about this.”

“Yeah, I-… I did have to tell them a few weeks ago that it may be best to prepare themselves. Then, when they called last night, they didn’t even really ask me to do a checkup anymore. They just said maybe I’d want to say goodbye.” Another tired sigh. “At least I managed to keep it together while I was there.”

Nie Huaisang smiles and pats his arm. “I’m sure their family was glad to have you.”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t answer, and just shrugs, lost to his thoughts, although his hand still holds Nie Huaisang’s firmly.

Nie Huaisang is aware of how close they’re walking together, out in the market district streets, in the open. It’s mid-afternoon, the slower hours of the day, where people were mostly having late lunch, or staying inside wanting to nap after lunch. So the streets are not as crowded, but there’s still plenty of people milling about on their own business. Nie Huaisang knows how much they’re standing out right now, too close and too comfortable like this.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t seem to mind though, distracted as he is, so Nie Huaisang tries his best to just… not think about how this looks like, too.

Ah, he will probably hear something from Xuanyu, anyway.

But that’s not important right now. What’s important right now is his friend.

“A-Cheng,” he starts, in the softest voice he can muster, “What will cheer you up?”

Jiang Cheng is slow to turn to him, but eventually he says, “What?”

“What will cheer you up? Let’s do something fun. Or just, less sad.”

“Aren’t you… working? Right now?”

“I mean, yeah, I guess…” Nie Huaisang shrugs. “But it’s fine, I can go back to those tomorrow. And I can text Xuanyu. I’ll go tell him I’m like, holding hands with this really handsome guy right now and he’ll cover for me, easy, no questions asked.”

Jiang Cheng stops walking, and looks at him.

And because they are holding hands, Nie Huaisang also stops, and just smiles innocently at him.

“So you’re skipping work.” Jiang Cheng says, looking unimpressed.

“I finished early!” Nie Huaisang pouts.

“Did you? Seriously?”

“Yeah. I was already on my way back when I saw you.”

“And you don’t have anything else to do?”

“I do, but they can be done tomorrow. Seriously.” Nie Huaisang answers, nonchalant. “C’mon, I hate seeing you so sad. Let’s do something to cheer you up a little. Then I’ll go back to the studio, I promise.”

Jiang Cheng just stares for a moment. Nie Huaisang waits, swinging their linked hands back and forth. And then finally, Jiang Cheng sighs.

Nie Huaisang almost worries when he feels the hand holding his let go, but before he could say or do anything, Jiang Cheng’s arm is around his shoulders, and he is pulled closer into a loose, sideways hug.

“Fine. Let’s go.” Jiang Cheng mumbles, starting to walk again, Nie Huaisang tucked to his side.

“O-Oh. Okay…” Nie Huaisang blinks, finding himself clinging to Jiang Cheng’s shirt, just so he can keep up with their sudden change of direction. “So, uh, where are we going?”

“I want that matcha red bean ice cream we had the other day.”

That answer is not what Nie Huaisang expected, and it took him some effort not to giggle. He settles for a bemused smile, peering at his friend’s serious, resolute face. “So Doctor Jiang eats ice cream when he’s sad?”

Jiang Cheng nods. “Yeah, I know, like a normal person.”

“Hey, I support you.” is all Nie Huaisang says. “Do you think they still have that couple discount?”

“Let’s hope so.”

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The couple discount at Princess Kitty Crepes is for weekends only. Fine. Jiang Cheng doesn’t really care.

They order two of the matcha with red bean ice cream crepes, and then sit down on a nearby bench by the sidewalk, eating in silence.

After a while, Nie Huaisang says, “You’re right. This is really good.”

“Told you.” Jiang Cheng replies. “I’ll try that ube thing you like next time.”

The silence returns. Jiang Cheng watches the people across the street, his thoughts a mile away. Nie Huaisang watches Jiang Cheng.

On the other times they went out to eat, Jiang Cheng always finished his food first, since Nie Huaisang usually ate slowly and talked a lot. Today, Nie Huaisang finishes first. He doesn’t say anything as he puts his trash aside and then sits back, content to keep Jiang Cheng company, as the man ate slowly and thought a lot.

After a while, he scoots closer, and cozies in to Jiang Cheng’s side again.

Jiang Cheng is quiet, still, but he does rest his head against Nie Huaisang’s. They stay like that until he’s done with his crepe, and for a few more moments after.

“Thanks for this.” Jiang Cheng says, eventually, as they just sit on the bench together, leaning on each other. “I’m not usually this miserable, don’t worry.”

“I know.” Nie Huaisang chuckles. “Do you feel better though? Even just a bit?”

“Yeah.” Jiang Cheng says. “I was going to… just go straight back to the clinic. Back to work. I think I’ll just tell Miss Liu to reschedule the ones coming in this afternoon. Day’s almost over, anyway.”

“Mm. That’s fair.” Nie Huaisang pulls back, smiling. “Ah, I gotta update A-Yu, too! I got good offers from the tailor shops earlier, and some nice swatches. We’ll go over them tomorrow…”

Jiang Cheng excuses himself, standing up and walking just a few steps away to make a call.

On Nie Huaisang’s side, he doesn’t need to call, but he does also take out his phone to send a quick update to his team. There are several messages and other updates he’d missed during the past several hours, but there’s nothing urgent, and no one seemed to be looking for him specifically.

He is in the middle of typing in his message to his boss when he sees Jiang Cheng returning in his peripheral vision.

Then, he feels fingers on the side of his head, gently… stroking? His hair?

He looks up. “A-Cheng?”

Jiang Cheng quickly draws his hand away. He squints. “Uh-… I thought there was something in your hair.”

He reaches out again, this time tilting his head as he tucks stray strands of hair behind Nie Huaisang’s ear.

“No, yeah, there is something in your hair.”

“O-Oh…” Nie Huaisang lets out an awkward laugh. “That.”

He knows what Jiang Cheng is talking about. His friend must have noticed the shiny strips of glittery gold and green woven in between strands of his hair, braided on the side of his head.

“Umm… our Hair Department happened to me this morning.”

“This is for the show?” Jiang Cheng asks, curious, as he sits back down, eyes still fixed on the side of his companion’s head. “What is it? It looks like… tinsel?”

“It is tinsel.” Nie Huaisang says. “But for hair. It’s completely safe.” His fingers hover over the braids, and he tries not to mind too much as Jiang Cheng continues to look at him – well, his hair – but at him, nonetheless. “They wanted to test out how it will look? It’s going to go on the actors’ wigs, but the wigs they ordered haven’t arrived yet, and they said one of the wigs is the same color as my hair, so… I got roped in as a test dummy? I’m not the only one, everyone was kinda into it.”

Jiang Cheng nods, accepting the explanation easily.

“What do you think? Does it look weird? I asked them not to make it too shiny because I’m going out today-”

“It’s pretty.” Jiang Cheng says, and this time he does have a small smile as he reaches out and runs his fingers through the few loose strands of Nie Huaisang’s shoulder-length hair that had the golds and greens on them. Contrary to what he expected, the tinsel wasn’t rough to the touch, it was soft and blended well with Nie Huaisang’s hair. “It looks good. Suits you.”

Nie Huaisang looks down, all of a sudden self-conscious. “Thanks…”

He is surprised by the next question that he gets – “Did you ever cut it short? Your hair?”

Nie Huaisang blinks, and he couldn’t help but smile a bit as he answers, “I… yeah… Once. Then I immediately thought, nope, we’re growing this out again!”

“You actually did, huh?” Jiang Cheng chuckles. “What happened? Did you just… wanna try something new, then you didn’t like it?”

“Kinda like that.” Nie Huaisang shrugs. He leans back on the bench and looks out into the distance as he continues, “I was on my first job. I finally had enough saved for top surgery. The people I’ve met who’ve gotten it were pretty positive about it, and everyone else around me was very supportive, so I got it. Then I was like, okay, what if I change up my hair too? So I cut it short. Da-ge said I looked like a baby.”

That prompts a snort out of Jiang Cheng, and he tries not to laugh. “I’m sure he… meant it nicely?”

“He did, actually. For once.” Nie Huaisang laughs. “But on day two I immediately was like… Yeah, I do look like a baby. And not in a way that I liked? And also, I missed my braids. And all the stuff I can do with longer hair. So I grew it out again.”

Jiang Cheng looks up, thoughtful. “I’m trying to imagine you with short hair.”

There’s a gasp, and Nie Huaisang tugs at his sleeve, shaking his head. “Ah, no! Don’t!”

“Wait, you did have short hair back in high school before-”

“No, don’t remember that! Not when I wasn’t pretty yet-!”

“What? You’ve always been-” Jiang Cheng starts, and he looks like he’s about to say something else, but he stops, lips barely restraining a grin.

Nie Huaisang squints. “W-What? What are you thinking?”

“Sorry. I just remembered something.” Jiang Cheng says, shaking his head.

“What? What something? You’ve never seen me with short hair, and stop imagining-”

“No. I-” Jiang Cheng does grin this time. “That time. Very long ago. After you came out to Mingjue-ge, and you went to me and Wei Ying…”

Nie Huaisang blinks, surprised but curious. “What… about it?”

“I think… that was the day you were showing off that you got a binder, and-”

“Oh…” Nie Huaisang nods, catching up slowly-

“You were saying, ‘Look, I’m flat now’-”

-then it clicks, and Nie Huaisang bows his head forward, hiding his face in Jiang Cheng’s sleeve. “A-Cheng, noooo…”

“And Wei Ying said-”

They get to it at the same time – “You weren’t flat before?”

Jiang Cheng laughs, and Nie Huaisang groans miserably into his arm, shoulders shaking.

“That was so rude, Wei-xiong!” Nie Huaisang whines, and even as he is hiding his face, Jiang Cheng can tell that he’s laughing and blushing.

“You know he was kidding.” Jiang Cheng says, tone much lighter this time. He peers at Nie Huaisang still hiding on his sleeve, and lifts a hand, lightly brushing his knuckles against a pink cheek. A little nudge.

“I know.” Nie Huaisang says, finally sitting back. He is still blushing slightly as he sighs. “I remember… I almost threw a bag of trash at him…?”

“You should’ve.” Jiang nods, chuckling. “But you know he was happy for you. We both were.”

“I know.” This time Nie Huaisang’s voice is soft, almost a whisper. “I was very lucky to have you two.”

Jiang Cheng watches as Nie Huaisang looks down, smile shy, combing his hair with his fingers in an obvious lack of anything else to do. That’s when he notices the shiny hoops and studs in the other’s ear – he’d known Nie Huaisang had them pierced, but he’s now realizing how many earrings he is wearing, today in particular. It’s a lot, compared to the previous times Jiang Cheng had noticed them.

Jiang Cheng had been distracted, internally grieving, busy compartmentalizing during the past hour. He is only now noticing that there’s something different about his companion today, besides the tinsel in his hair.

On the times that they met up for lunch, or for the movie, Nie Huaisang had been dressed in… simple, cozy clothes, either a bit oversized, or flowy. Today is the first time Jiang Cheng is seeing him in something form-fitting, and it’s not a simple shirt, either – it’s see-through, mesh, with a cropped tank top underneath, all in bold, vibrant colors. His jeans were ripped, and had beads and patterned patches in them.

And he’s now realizing too, this is a closer to look to the one he could remember Nie Huaisang having on that day they first bumped into each other at thee bakery. He specifically remembers the shiny clips and pins in Nie Huaisang’s hair then.

“Hey,” he starts, and Nie Huaisang looks at him, expectant. “Uh. I hope you don’t take this the wrong way… ”

Nie Huaisang blinks. “Hm?”

“When we go out, do you…” Jiang Cheng thinks twice, considers if this is an appropriate thing to ask, then decides to hell with it. “I’m not sure how to say it exactly – do you… dress down? Or something?”

“Dress down…?”

“It’s just… you’re…” He tries to find a word, looks at Nie Huaisang again, and fails to find one. Ultimately, he lands on – “Colorful.”

“Oh…” Nie Huaisang blinks again, then looks down at his clothes. He looks like he is slowly realizing what Jiang Cheng is trying to say. “I guess… I am. Colorful. Today.”

There’s an extended silence, and between the two of them, Jiang Cheng is the first to give in.

“Sorry. It’s stupid. Forget I asked. You can dress how you want, I don’t really-”

“Ah, I… Yes? Okay- Wait.” Nie Huaisang stammers. “I hope you don’t take it the wrong way too. I did try… to dress… a bit less… flashy? I dunno, yeah, it’s just- Argh.”

Great, Jiang Cheng thinks, now it’s awkward. Why did he have to ruin it? They had a good thing going. Jiang Cheng was sad, and Nie Huaisang was sweet, and Jiang Cheng was feeling a bit better, and they were both laughing-

Nie Huaisang sighs. “Okay, the first time, we were having lunch, I was worried you might think I’m too… I dunno. Out. Out there? I know some people think it’s too much, sometimes! And we haven’t seen each other for so long, right? So… I tried to… be safe. Something like that.”

Jiang Cheng is quiet, as he processes that information. It makes sense, as he thinks about it.

“I didn’t know what you’d think… or how you’d think? And maybe even if you were okay with me, we’re still… you know, outside, and… and there’s people.”

“There’s people.” Jiang Cheng repeats, raising an eyebrow.

“Other people. A-Cheng, you’re a doctor. I was… a bit worried we might run into people you know and they’ll think you’re with this weirdo artsy person all of a sudden.”

Ah.

Jiang Cheng can see where that concern could come from. Even with the mostly accepting community in the market district, he still would occasionally hear off-handed comments about the more… colorful (yes, that word) personalities now and again, mostly from older people.

But Jiang Cheng would never tolerate such shallow judgements, specially when it involves someone he cares about.

“What do they care?” he scoffs. “Besides, you don’t look weird. You look good, you always do.”

Nie Huaisang looks at him, relieved, smiling slightly. “…You think so?”

“Yeah, you look pretty and shiny and all that.” Jiang Cheng says with an easy shrug. “I actually think this looks more like you. That’s why I noticed, in the first place.”

He means it, too. He didn’t mind Nie Huaisang’s soft, cozy vibes whenever they meet up, but today he is seeing Nie Huaisang who is at work, and Nie Huaisang works with people who are his community, who share the same interests and sensibilities, who he wouldn’t have to dress differently for – so this look is more him, in a sense. And it suits him well.

“I see…” Nie Huaisang’s smile grows, and then he pouts, blushing again. He’s been doing that a lot today, Jiang Cheng observes. “Wait, A-Cheng, you are too nice to me. I’m supposed to be comforting you!”

As always, Jiang Cheng matches his pout with a scowl. “I’m always nice to you-”

“Wrong.”

“I’m mostly nice to you.”

A beat, as Nie Huaisang considers. Then, he nods. “Okay, that works.”

“And it’s fine, I think I’m okay now.”

“Really?”

Jiang Cheng takes a deep breath – his go-to for settling himself, Nie Huaisang is learning. “No, I’m still sad as hell. But I’m… feeling. Again. Which is good enough, better than whatever was going on through my head earlier.”

Nie Huaisang smiles, reassured. “That’s good to hear-”

“Ah, shit. I forgot.” Jiang Cheng suddenly curses, sitting up straight. “I was supposed tell you something.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“We were planning to go see that other movie this weekend, right?” Jiang Cheng asks, to which his companion nods. He continues, “Sorry, I’d have to take a rain check. Some appointments just came in for that day, and they couldn’t be rescheduled.”

“Oh.” Nie Huaisang looks slightly disappointed, but he brushes it off easily. “That’s totally fine! We can always go another time.”

“We will.”

“It’s a good thing we ran into each other today, then.”

Jiang Cheng looks at his friend again. Nie Huaisang is smiling an easy smile, looking ahead, watching a pair of teens busy taking a selfie with the desserts they’d just gotten from the same food truck.

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been a month since they first “ran into each other”, and yet they already have this makeshift routine – arrangement – whatever else it can be called. It seems too fast, if Jiang Cheng really thinks about it – yet it also feels like the most natural course of things. It’s almost easy, and Jiang Cheng almost never experienced easy.

“It is.” is all he says, softly. He’s not sure if Nie Huaisang hears it or not, because there’s a chime from the man’s phone, and he takes the device out to check.

Nie Huaisang hums as he reads the message. “Aw… Looks like I need to go back to the studio today after all…”

It’s easy, Jiang Cheng thinks, to just decide what to do, where to head to next.

“You take the bus for that, right?” Jiang Cheng asks as he gets on his feet, and picks up his bag. “C’mon. I’ll walk you to the stop.”

Nie Huaisang blinks up at him, and then at the hand he offers.

Nie Huaisang smiles again, takes Jiang Cheng’s hand, and lets him pull him up.

Neither of them let go until they get to the bus stop.

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Jiang Cheng has had an exhausting week – between his usual clinic duties, that depressing house call and then his busy Saturday – he is ready to just… spend his Sunday resting.

But on Sunday noon, he gets a text from his sister asking if he wants to come over for dinner, and maybe lend her a hand on something she’s working on. It’s early dinner, she says, so hopefully he won’t have to stay out too late.

Jiang Cheng hesitates – that’s how tired he is – but it’s jiejie. He gets off his couch and drags himself to her place.

Dinner goes well. Jiejie’s cooking is amazing as usual, and it’s nice to catch up with her and the kids. Fairy is as sweet as always and fine, Jin Zixuan is… not as insufferable as he used to be, these days.

After dinner, Zixuan takes the kids and Fairy with him to the game room to watch a movie, mostly to give his wife some time and space to work. Jiang Cheng knows the drill, and he follows his sister to the kitchen.

He had guessed right – Jiang Yanli is making a cake. A custom one, for a wedding, one of those cakes that the customer has paid a lot for to have intricate, personalized details.

Jiang Cheng is not new to this – he’s one of his sister’s oldest assistants, after all. He takes one look at the beautiful sketch his sister has made, notes the scribbles and labels written around it, and immediately knows which parts she may have called on him for help with.

“You need help with the fondant?”

Jiang Yanli smiles, watching as her brother slips his apron on before scanning the kitchen area and grabbing the tools and ingredients he would need.

“Yes, I want to make this draped fabric effect, but only on half of the cake? Then we’ll need to pipe in some details…”

Jiang Cheng nods, checking the sketch again. “Okay. You want me to get started on the buttercream too?”

“Oh, I’ll do that, I’m mixing some colors for it. You take the fondant.”

“Got it.”

They used to do this all the time, from way back when Yanli was just baking cakes at home, until they were making them for the bakery. Then as the business expanded, Yanli also began to learn and create bigger, more intricate designs. That means Jiang Cheng had to level up too, and he did, in time.

Jiang Cheng likes to think he’d picked up these skills simply because he’d worked with her so much. He wouldn’t be able to come up with the designs himself – he didn’t have her creative streak like that – but he can pretty much do whatever his sister needs him to do.

There was a time when he thought this might be good enough. He’s good enough for this, and he knows he can learn new stuff well. He can do just this, just continue to work at the bakery, to help out his sister in whatever way she needed him.

He’s grateful that she pushed him to find his own path, though. This is all very nice and he’ll always be glad to support her, but he finds more purpose in what he does now in the clinic.

Still, there are times that he does miss working on the cakes, so whenever his sister calls him to ask if he might want to help her out, his answer is almost always a yes. It’s a good way to spend time with her, and also to do something other than work and house chores.

And Jiang Cheng is not dumb – he knows his sister has employees and can very easily get someone else willing to assist her for projects like this. He is well aware that this is her own way of saying she misses him, and would like to see him and check in.

As they work together, Jiang Yanli carefully mixing drops of food color for her pastel buttercream, she asks, “So how did your week go, A-Cheng?”

“I told you earlier, jiejie,” Jiang Cheng answers, starting to knead the fondant. “It was busy, but it was fine.”

“Mm… is it really?” she hums, prodding in that gentle way of hers. “I can tell you’re quieter than usual, didi. You didn’t insult A-Xuan as much during dinner.”

“Aren’t you glad for that?”

“Oh, I am. But that’s a worrying sign.” she says with a knowing smile. “Is everything really alright?”

Jiang Cheng sighs, and finally relents. “Yeah. Yeah, there was just… a rough day. We had some unfortunate news about one of the pets we were close to. But that happens on the job, we deal with it. Then things just got a little too busy so I didn’t get to rest yesterday either, but. It’s okay. This next week should be fine, less busy. Hopefully.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, didi.” His sister looks at him, and he only sends her a resigned smile before going back to work. “I hope things look up this week. And thank you for still coming tonight, you should’ve told me you need the rest.”

“It’s okay, jiejie.” he assures her. “This is me resting.”

“Kneading fondant?”

“Yeah, it’s calming.”

It’s something he has done many times over, something he’s used to, something he knows how to do properly without messing up. That brings him some peace.

Jiang Yanli only lets out an amused laugh, then goes back to her buttercream colors. “Didn’t you mention earlier this week that you were going to see another movie with A-Sang, though?”

“Ah. That.” Jiang Cheng shrugs. “Had to take a rain check. He understands.”

“So things are going well, then? The two of you?”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t miss the subtle nudge of implication in his sister’s question. Still, he knows she’s only asking from a place of care, and will always accept an honest answer. “If you mean we’re getting along fine, then yes.” he answers. “If you’re trying to imply… something else… I don’t think it’s like that at the moment, jiejie.”

“Hm… I see…” Out of the corner of his vision, he sees her simply nod. She is also focused on her task. “I still think it’s sweet that you’re spending time together, after all these years, date or no.”

“I guess. It is nice.” he admits. “He’s… fun.”

“Oh, you do need that.”

He groans. “Jiejie…”

“I’m teasing, sorry.” She giggles. “But be honest with me, didi – really no sparks right now? I remember you two were… fond of each other, when you were younger. So I can’t help but think in that direction, you know?”

“Fond-… you mean when we were sixteen? When we were stupid and were trying stuff out?”

“Sure, you were kids, but you still managed to be good friends while… as you said, ‘trying stuff out’. That was very mature.” she says. “Do you two ever talk about that?”

Jiang Cheng feels safe enough with his sister to not brush that off, to think about it for a moment. “Uh. We found out that Nie Mingjue knew about that this whole time and that’s why he always looked like he wanted to kill me?”

Yanli laughs. “Oh, you didn’t know that he knew?” She looks at him with a delighted smile. “He totally did, he used to complain to me, whenever we went out drinking! I always assured him that you were a good, respectful boy.”

Jiang Cheng looks back at her, horrified. “No. Seriously?”

“Of course. I always vouched for you!”

“Wait, you were going out drinking with Mingjue-ge?”

“We were neighbors, A-Cheng. And we’re the only ones in that street who were close to each other’s age. So yes, we did go out for drinks a couple of times.” she says, recalling fond memories. “And I didn’t have to worry so much, he was a gentleman! He always made sure I made it safe home because he knew I lived alone, and he never took advantage… I remember one time I got drunk and he tucked me to bed and I told him ‘Thank you, I would like to marry you…’”

Jiang Cheng looks up. “Jiejie?!”

But his sister is nothing but focused on her work, even as she laughs, “Then he said ‘Meimei, you are so drunk right now’ and laughed. He wasn’t mean about it, but how heartbreaking was that! And I was so embarrassed, the next day I told him I didn’t remember anything.”

Jiang Cheng shakes his head, tries to process that information and goes back to kneading. “Unbelievable.”

“Oh, didi… There are things you didn’t know about us adults, when you were kids.”

“Alright…” Jiang Cheng says, in a rare moment of rolling his eyes at his sister, who just laughs teasingly at him.

Finally, he says, “Well, I still got to meet up with A-Sang this week, anyway, if you’re concerned about that. We ran into each other the other day, I was out the clinic and he was on an errand for work.”

“Oh?”

“It was a bad day for me. He stuck around trying to cheer me up. We got crepes.”

“A-Cheng, that is so sweet.”

“I guess. He’s like that.” he says. To himself, he thinks, ‘He’s always been like that.’ – and it scares him for a moment that he may have said it out loud because of what his sister says next-

“It’s nice to know that he hasn’t changed so much!”

Jiang Cheng has to shake his surprise off for a moment, and scramble for another thing to say. He ends up blurting out, “He had this like, tinsel. On his hair.”

“Um- Tinsel?”

“Made it colorful and shiny. Something about someone experimenting on his hair. For work. He looked nice with it, though.”

He hears a hum of approval. “I’m sure he did! And did you tell him he looked nice?”

Jiang Cheng thinks about it, tries to recall that particular conversation – “I think-… Yeah? He likes being called pretty.”

“You… tell him he’s pretty?”

“Eh. He knows I think he’s pretty.” he shrugs. “I’m trying to get back at him, though. He keeps saying I’m handsome for no reason, just to mess with me. It’s ridiculous.”

When he doesn’t get a reply, he looks up, and realizes that his sister is just looking at him.

“What?”

Yanli looks amused. “Didi, are you and A-Sang maybe flirting with each other?”

Jiang Cheng looks back down at the fondant.

What is jiejie even talking about? Flirting. Jiang Cheng doesn’t do flirting. Sure, he compliments Nie Huaisang sometimes, but that’s just him being honest. It’s not like Jiang Cheng does it just to make Nie Huaisang blush, although it does do that too. Sometimes. More often recently. Which is fun, kinda. So it’s just natural that Jiang Cheng keeps a mental list of things he could just say that gets Nie Huaisang pink-cheeked and tugging at his sleeve and telling him to stop because, according to him, such things are too much to hear from someone as cool and handsome as Jiang Cheng- Huh.

“Shit.” Jiang Cheng says to the fondant.

“What’s shit?” – comes from a voice from the kitchen doorway. Jin Ling joins them, heading straight for his mother’s sketchbook when he sees it on the countertop. “Mama, are you going to pipe these flowers?”

“Oh! Yes, A-Ling?” Yanli smiles, all her attention on her son as he asks her a question. Because she’s the best mom like that.

“Can I help?” Jin Ling asks. “I’m not that good at piping yet. I wanna practice.”

“Of course!” She looks delighted, as her son grabs his own apron. “But what about your movie?”

Jin Ling groans. “Ma, we’ve watched that movie five times. If I have to listen to that one song one more time, I will move to Gusu. Zizhen’s obsessed with it too! He’s trying to make me dance it with him! Yan-Yan can have him and Baba for this one.”

Yanli laughs, and simply waves the teen over. “Alright, honey, come here and help me with this buttercream, then.”

Then she turns to Jiang Cheng, who is maybe backtracking everything that has happened to him for the past month or so. “As for you, didi-”

Jiang Cheng blinks at her, for once at a loss. “Jie-”

“You are going to tell A-Sang that he is invited to the party next week.”

“F-For your birthday?”

His sister lets out a hopeless but fond and patient sigh. “Yes, A-Cheng, my birthday party. Do you have any other parties scheduled next week?”

“Yeah. I mean- No. No other parties. Why-… Why don’t you invite him yourself? He told me you’ve messaged each other-”

She shrugs, as she hands off various items to her son for him to work with. “I can do that, sure. But I want you to do it.”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t whine, but this is close – “Why?”

“Just do it, please, A-Cheng? For me? It’s my birthday!” Jiang Yanli pouts – oh, she knows what she’s doing. “I missed A-Sang too, you know. And it will be nice for him to meet the family. He was going to be your plus one anyway, right?”

Jin Ling looks up from the bowl of ingredients in his arms. “So it’s true? You’re dating that guy, jiujiu?”

Now Jiang Cheng turns to his nephew with a bewildered frown. “Who’s been telling you that?”

Jin Ling shrugs. “Zizhen. Qing-jiejie. Uncle Xuanyu? He was at the bakery the other day.”

Jiang Cheng lets out a heavy sigh. The usual suspects, then. “A-Ling, it’s not good to listen to gossip.”

Jiang Yanli smiles. “Huh… That reminds me, I haven’t talked to A-Yu lately… Maybe I’ll ask him to help me with my hair and makeup-”

“Jiejie.”

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---

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Jiang Cheng is tired when he gets back to his flat. It’s not the exhaustion from his terrible, tiring week, however – it’s more the pleasant kind of tired. It’s the satisfied kind, as he knows he just came home from helping his sister make an incredibly beautiful masterpiece of a cake.

It’s a good note to end his week on, if he thinks about it. The familiar, almost mindless focus he had during the past few hours were enough to drown out the negative parts of the past week, and refresh his mind.

Then there’s also one other request from his sister – and dammit, does Jiang Cheng hate leaving a to-do list unaccomplished.

So he does as he was instructed. Because Jiang Cheng is a good brother like that, and also because he has a feeling he won’t be able to sleep anyway, until he’s done with this.

There’s a pause, Jiang Cheng notices. He notes the little dots at the corner of the screen moving, then disappearing, then moving again.

Jiang Cheng considers for a minute. It’s late, and he is tired, and he wants to sleep. But he has a nagging question at the back of his head, and he can’t sleep until it’s answered.

He tries to think of how Nie Huaisang might respond to it – he would freak out, maybe, probably – but.

Jiang Cheng has to know, and really, what is the point of overthinking about it when he can just ask?

There it goes, Jiang Cheng notes. The quiet and the maddening little dots, and how he just knows that Nie Huaisang is typing, and deleting, and typing-

.

Nie Huaisang has written and rewritten his reply a total of five times, all of them gibberish with random emojis, when he gets a call.

He almost drops his phone. Because it’s an audio call.

From Jiang Cheng.

What the hell is happening. Is Jiang Cheng messing with him again? What did Nie Huaisang do this time? Is this serious? Is this an emergency? No, of course not. But why is he calling? Nie Huaisang should hang up. Yeah, maybe he shouldn’t answer. Keep his peace and everything. Right? Right??? Except maybe he is joking! What if he’s just joking and Nie Huaisang is being an idiot falling for- No, wait, but Jiang Cheng hates joking about these things. So maybe he does mean it. He’s asking-

Nie Huaisang taps the Answer button with his eyes closed.

“H-Hello???” He hates that he sounds less like a person and more like a squeaky toy.

There is silence on the other line, and then he hears a cough, and finally Jiang Cheng’s voice. “Hey.”

“A-Cheng, what is this.” Nie Huaisang blurts out. “Why is this a call. I’m freaking out. It’s like you’re gonna tell me there’s been an accident or something-”

“Sorry. I dunno. You said you can’t tell if I’m kidding or not. And yeah, that’s-… What I asked. That shouldn’t be a text, I think.”

Nie Huaisang takes a moment to consider that, and his voice is less squeaky, more shaky, when he asks, “So we’re serious?”

There’s a moment where he almost sees Jiang Cheng opening his mouth to answer, and then stopping himself to rethink what he should say. Nie Huaisang isn’t sure why, but that’s what he thinks happens for a good minute there.

“Y’know, you can just say ‘no’ if that’s your answer. Easy.”

“I… Yeah, I know.” Nie Huaisang sighs. “I was gonna say that.”

“You were gonna say no?”

“No! I- Wait-”

“Okay. Waiting.”

“Ah, A-Cheng, you can’t just spring this on someone! It’s-… It’s 12:30 AM, on a Monday! My brain is tired! Why are you even awake? Didn’t you have a really busy week? You should be resting, not bullying me… You have to open up the clinic in the morning!”

“I just. I guess I… can’t rest until I know?”

“Okay…”

“Jiejie brought it up and I was gonna brush it off, and then… I thought about it, and maybe she has a point, but I also-… just don’t wanna assume things, so. Is this okay? That I just… asked?”

“Uh, you freaked me out, yeah. Not cool! Next time, build up to it? You know what I mean?”

“…Yeah, kinda. My bad. I haven’t done this before.”

“Done what before?”

“Asked someone if they’re… uh.”

“See? You can’t say it! Maybe texts are better.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“Sure.” Nie Huaisang pouts, but drops it just as quickly. “Um… what are you doing right now? Are you home, or…?”

“I’m home. In my bed. Staring at the ceiling. Because I can’t sleep. Because of this. It’s terrible. Why is this a thing.”

Nie Huaisang can’t help the laugh that escapes him, and he also hears Jiang Cheng chuckle on his end.

“What are you doing?”

“I was rummaging through my arts and crafts materials for birthday gift ideas because you sprung that on me too. Then you called. Now I’m just… um. Sitting. On my window. Staring at my plant baby.”

Nie Huaisang smiles at the aforementioned plant baby. It’s a little pot with a beautifully arranged mix of succulents. A housewarming gift from Song Lan. He’d shown Jiang Cheng a photo of it before.

There is no reply from Jiang Cheng on the other end. Nie Huaisang almost wishes the man had fallen sleep.

But he knows Jiang Cheng is waiting. He’s just waiting. He’s patient with Nie Huaisang like that.

“A-Cheng?” he calls, soft, voice steadier.

“Hm.”

“I think…” Nie Huaisang starts and steadies himself before he continues, “So. Bear with me, I’m a mess…?”

“Sure.”

“Maybe I have a crush on you.”

A quick pause. “…Crush.” Jiang Cheng sounds like he has never said the word before, and Nie Huaisang can almost guess what he’ll say next – “Like what kids have.”

“Don’t be mean about it.” Nie Huaisang sighs, almost whining. “It’s the best word I have right now. And I’m not alone! A-Cheng, the whole town and their grandmas have a crush on you. You have a whole assistant helping you deal with that, even.”

“Oh. You mean it like that.” Jiang Cheng sounds… calm, which Nie Huaisang is thankful for. “I… don’t really get that whole thing.”

“That’s fine. But also… it’s different, I think, for me.” Nie Huaisang lets out a chuckle. “Because you’re my friend. And you’re a great, amazing friend. So I’m freaking out. Because… I really… really like us being friends. I might even prefer it, over the stupid crush.”

“…Oh.”

“Also, the answer to the flirting question is… I guess, kinda?”

“Kinda?”

“I kinda flirt with you… because you’re letting me?” Nie Huaisang admits, with a sheepish laugh. “You see, sometimes you do something that punches through the friend part and goes straight to the crush part. And flirting beats being awkward and looking stupid. And you never seem to mind – or maybe you don’t notice – or you just think I’m joking, and you’d be right, whatever, it’s a mix of all of those, I dunno. I’m not-… It’s not that serious, I still really like hanging out with you – I mean it. But if it’s bothering you, I’ll stop. You’re my friend and I don’t wanna fuck that up. No matter how big my silly crush gets.”

Nie Huaisang takes a deep breath and leans his head on his window, looking out into the city’s starless night sky.

“Sorry for rambling. There you go, I hope you can sleep now.”

“Not yet.” Jiang Cheng’s reply sounded like he thinks Nie Huaisang might hang up, and so he had to speak up quickly. “I… thanks, for… telling me all that?”

“You asked.” Nie Huaisang shrugs, even though he knows the other can’t see. “A-Cheng, we’re like, a billion years old-”

“Thirty-five-”

“-we should be done doing the whole dancing around feelings thing. So I told you because you asked. It is what it is.”

There’s another pause, but not as long this time. “Yeah, okay.” Jiang Cheng says. “Hey… I really like that we’re friends too. And, you have been pretty great too.”

Nie Huaisang smiles, and stays silent, knowing it’s his turn to listen.

“The kinda flirting doesn’t bother me, I guess. Even now that I know that’s what it is.” – a breath – “I think because it’s you.”

“Hm… Me?”

“I don’t get crushes. Not really. Never did.” This time, Jiang Cheng’s voice is softer, “So maybe I just like you, maybe it’s that simple.”

Nie Huaisang blinks, and straightens up a bit. “E-Eh? Wait, do you mean like-… Like-like, or-?”

“Calm down. I’m… also processing. I’m not… sure. Yet. Check back in 7 to 15 business days.”

There’s a yawn, and Nie Huaisang can’t help but snort. “Business days. No weekends, then?”

“Well, I’m with you every weekend lately, and it’ll be weird to still be thinking about you while you’re right there. So.”

Nie Huaisang takes that in, and after a moment, he just groans, running a hand down his face. He feels like screaming. “Ahhh… A-Cheng, what the hell -”

Jiang Cheng lets out a questioning noise. “What? What did I say?”

“See, this is why people crush on you, that was so smooth!”

“What. No? Smooth? I don’t go having weird conversations like this with other people, you know. Just you.”

Oh- Oh, he is not being helpful at all. Nie Huaisang feels his cheeks heat up. “Okay, no, stop. Put it back.”

“Put what back?”

“Please go to sleep…” Nie Huaisang begs. “Do you want me to sing to you? Send you a white noise app? I’ll do anything! Stop bullying me like this!”

“I’m not bullying you?”

“It feels like you are! You know I like you so you’re teasing me! That is mean.”

“I-” Jiang Cheng falls quiet for a beat, and then he chuckles. “Wait. Is this the kinda flirting bit. Is that what’s happening?”

“Good call. But actually, no, it isn’t. Not this time. I am genuinely mortified! Can I say good night now? Good night, A-Cheng?”

“Alright. Fine. Thanks for picking up.”

“Noooo, no. Don’t be nice now. I won’t be able to cope!”

“Okay, I don’t know what I’m doing to stress you out so I’ll just stop. You stop freaking out about the birthday gift, too. And go to bed.”

“Sure. Yeah, going to bed now! Good night!”

“Night.”

Nie Huaisang stares at his phone. He stares at the ‘Call ended’ screen, at the duration of their conversation, at Jiang Cheng’s contact name (A-Cheng 🐶💜) and his contact photo (a selfie they took at the lobby of Vintage Glamour before they ran to catch their screening of the Godzilla movie).

He contemplates blocking Jiang Cheng.

Then he thinks that’s really stupid, laughs a bit about it, and decides that he really needs to go to bed.

So Nie Huaisang just swipes the screen away, and scrolls down his contact list to call another number. He only waits for about half a minute before it’s picked up and he hears a familiar, albeit groggy voice-

“What the fuck, Nie Huaisang. Someone better be dead.”

Taking a deep breath, Nie Huaisang whines in his most pathetic, helpless voice, “Da-geeeeee… Hey, listen~”

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to be continued!

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next time:
chapter six – a ride home