’til next weekend

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Nie Huaisang has had quite the busy week. As he settles in his new home and neighborhood, the project’s official calendar has begun, and he now has proper schedules and deadlines to follow. That’s what occupies his week, and so besides the occasional trips for groceries, or to buy yet another thing he forgot he needed for his apartment, he has only been going back and forth in between home and work.

He wanted to drop by Jiang Cheng’s clinic for a bit, just out of curiosity, and to see how his friend is at work, but the schedule didn’t allow for it. Maybe it’s for the best. As curious as he is, he also didn’t want to bother Jiang Cheng at work.

They did keep on messaging each other, though. Mostly it’s Nie Huaisang asking more questions, or commenting on a cute photo of a pet from the clinic’s social media, and then there’s Jiang Cheng asking him if there’s anywhere specific he wants to go for lunch on the weekend.

Nie Huaisang couldn’t for the life of him remember if they actually agreed to have lunch – all he can remember agreeing to is the arcade – but if Jiang Cheng has decided that they will have lunch before doing anything else, Nie Huaisang is not complaining.

So this time, he tells Jiang Cheng to pick somewhere new.

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They end up on a relatively new, western-aesthetic family diner.

Jiang Cheng tells him that it’s a favorite hangout place of the students from the nearby university, and true enough, there are many customers with their meals set aside, replaced by books, papers and laptops, by themselves or in groups. It’s far from a fancy place, but Nie Huaisang can tell from the menu that the restaurant’s priority is comfort food and quick meals for customers who may be in a hurry or just want something simple.

This time he arrives first, and Jiang Cheng apologizes, saying he had to drop by somewhere before their meeting and got held up for a while there.

When Nie Huaisang asks, between bites of their lunch, Jiang Cheng tells him about an upcoming event in the pet shelter, where they’ll try to promote adoption for the older rescues, and to give people a little incentive, he has offered to give a discount on check-ups for new adoptees.

“Oh, that’s so nice! When is it?”

“It’s a thing we’ve done regularly, every few months. Maybe twice, thrice a year. We’re still settling on dates, but it’ll probably be next month. There will be flyers all over, once it’s been decided. You’ll see.”

“Neat. I’ll see what I can do to spread the word, then.” Nie Huaisang grins. “It’s such a sweet thing to do…”

“Yeah… the older ones don’t get as much love, but they’re very worth it.” Jiang Cheng says, sparing a soft smile back. “We rarely hear any complaints from people who adopt them. They tend to be very affectionate, or at the least, very chill.”

“Ah, to work with cute pets all day…” Nie Huaisang says. “I like my job, but things are… going, and we’re at the part where we have all these things to do but no one’s in a hurry yet? Like, we know our deadlines, but everyone’s bit is dependent on someone else so we’re in a weird place… or being busy but also just… waiting… I know, it doesn’t make sense…”

“No, I think I get it.” Jiang Cheng shrugs, considering. “It’s taking time, project’s still finding its footing.”

“Yes, something like that! But auditions are starting this week, so casting is next, and that should give us a good kickstart. Many things depend on that.”

“Are you involved in that part? You’re in costumes and design stuff, right, but do you have… anything to do with picking the actors?”

“Oh, I don’t have any say, at all.” Nie Huaisang shakes his head, but he looks happy to answer the question. “But we do tend to sit in on auditions a bit, and our casting people sometimes ask us if there are any stand-outs for us. I doubt it affects the final decision, but it’s just good to have other people chiming in, I guess…”

Jiang Cheng simply listens, nodding. He looks genuinely interested, pleased to learn something new. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

It’s nice, Nie Huaisang thinks, that they can talk about work and current stuff. He enjoyed reminiscing about the past and catching up to everything he missed, but it’s also very interesting to just learn these new things, the more recent goings-on about each other’s life.

It’s a chance to get to know the other as who they are now, and not just as the person they knew many years ago.

Nie Huaisang urges Jiang Cheng to tell him something interesting that happened to the clinic for the past week – he’s sure there is, pets and their owners are always a story.

In turn, Jiang Cheng asks Nie Huaisang about how his new job is treating him, and what he’s been up to, since he just said that there were lots of things to do.

Nie Huaisang is enumerating the many designs he’s making preliminary sketches for, when Jiang Cheng interrupts.

“Sorry, this co-worker you mention? This Xuanyu, do you mean Mo Xuanyu?”

“Hm? Yeah! You know Xuanyu?” Nie Huaisang perks up. “He’s been a great help when I was just introducing myself to the team. He’s more on the makeup side though, not costumes… ”

Jiang Cheng nods. “Yeah, he’s…. I suppose, a relative too? He’s from Jin Zixuan’s side.”

Nie Huaisang blinks. “Like the girl from Granny Qin’s? Yanli-jie’s husband has a big family.”

“It is that, yes…” Jiang Cheng looks tentative, but quickly shakes it off. “I don’t know him that well, just met him a couple times over some family gatherings and such. Looked like a good kid. Last time I heard of him, Zixuan mentioned he was graduating.”

“Oh, yeah, he did say this is his first job.” Nie Huaisang recalls with a smile. “But he’s quite settled, I guess since he grew up here and he knows a lot of the new members with him, they’re all friends from college.”

Jiang Cheng couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought. “That sounds fun, getting to do your first job with people you studied it with.” He is done with his meal, and now he’s just absently stirring his iced tea. “You don’t get that a lot.”

“Yeah, now that you say it…” Nie Huaisang hums. “It wasn’t the case for you, I’m guessing?”

“I didn’t even keep contact with most of my batchmates, really…” Jiang Cheng shrugs. “Of course I stumble across them now and then. A lot of them like to have a network and I’m in it, apparently. So I get invites to conventions and meet-ups and stuff like that.”

Nie Huaisang is also pretty much done, and he leans forward on his elbows, setting his chin on his hands. “So what was your first job then? It wasn’t the clinic, wasn’t it?”

“I… was assistant to an older vet.” Jiang Cheng answers easily. “He had his own practice and a pretty busy clinic, but he was getting old so he needed someone to assist him, and he wanted more days off- What-… What are you doing?”

Nie Huaisang blinks, unmoving. “What? I’m doing nothing. I’m listening.” He sounds very perky, too perky-

“Your face.” Jiang Cheng says, eyes narrowing in suspicion. “You’re smiling.”

-and he is grinning too cheerfully for Jiang Cheng’s comfort.

“I’m happy to listen!” Nie Huaisang insists.

Jiang Cheng only scoffs.

“Noooo, continue!” Nie Huaisang whines. “I was finally getting you to talk about yourself!”

“Why?” Jiang Cheng looks genuinely confused. “I told you all this already.”

“Not the interesting bits!”

“Whatever.” He rolls his eyes. “Well, that’s it. I was an assistant, but I was left in charge of a lot of stuff so it was good practice. Saved up too, enough to start my own clinic.”

Nie Huaisang pouts, and makes a show of sighing very loudly and resignedly.

Jiang Cheng simply shakes his head as he moves to stand up. “C’mon, you said you wanted to go to the arcade.” He says, and doesn’t wait for his companion as he starts walking to the exit.

But he knows that the mention of their intended destination for the day gets Nie Huaisang to instantly perk up again. “Oh! Yes, let’s go!” Jiang Cheng holds back a smug grin as his friend hurries to stand and follow him out.

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The old arcade is only a few blocks away, but they don’t get there for at least another hour.

That’s because barely a minute on their way to the arcade, a very cheerful and energetic girl in a poofy dress with fluffy cat ears hands them a flyer advertising a newly-opened sweets and desserts place.

“You get a discount if you’re on a date!” she says, winking.

Before they could do anything else besides accept the brightly-colored piece of paper, she is gone and off to the next crowd on the sidewalk.

“Huh.” Jiang Cheng says, reading through the big, bold text on the ad. “It says 50% off for couples. That’s basically buy-one-get-one free.”

Nie Huaisang peers at the flyer, eyes going straight to the menu at the back. “Excellent! We haven’t had dessert yet!”

“This is so much sugar.” Jiang Cheng says, but he’s not throwing the flyer away just yet… “I do like matcha and red bean, though.”

“A-Cheng, they have ube ice cream! And ube crepe!” Nie Huaisang is practically bouncing. He only stops to look at Jiang Cheng and declare, in all seriousness – “That’s it, you’re my boyfriend. At least in the eyes of…” – a quick pause to check the flyer – “…Princess Kitty Crepes. Ohhh… that’s what the dress and cat ears are about…”

Despite himself, Jiang Cheng chuckles, and hands the flyer to Nie Huaisang before offering his arm. “Only if I get the free one.”

Nie Huaisang gasps, but is quick to relent. “Fine, because I still owe you for those cupcakes.”

He loops his arm through Jiang Cheng’s, and takes a quick look at the flyer before handing it back to his companion. “Yeah, I don’t know where that is, though.”

“Ah. Right.” Jiang Cheng sighs, and patiently turns them both around, leading the way.

‘Princess Kitty Crepes’ turns out to be a food truck, so they end up sitting on a nearby bench to eat their desserts. Jiang Cheng goes along as Nie Huaisang takes a nice photo of their food before they dig in, and he watches quietly as Nie Huaisang posts it while eating.

“So is that what you’re using your account for? Photos of food?” Jiang Cheng asks, again just pure curiosity.

“Only when they’re cute, or I’m on a date.” Nie Huaisang answers, then he quickly realizes what he just said and hurries to clarify, “Like, not date-dates. Friend dates! Group-… stuff- Outings! That’s what I meant to say, outings!”

“Hm…” Jiang Cheng hums, looking down at his matcha and red bean crepe. He didn’t seem to think anything of Nie Huaisang’s awkward stammering. “I never really got into it, the posting about my day and stuff. I think I mostly posted… scenery. When I’m on a trip or a new place. Back when I still had an account.”

“Aw, I would’ve loved to see those photos…” Nie Huaisang says, tone teasing as he bumped his shoulder against Jiang Cheng’s playfully. “Why’d you stop, then?”

Jiang Cheng takes a deep breath before answering the question.

“Well… you know how when other people post photos, and you’re in it, they can tag you, and those photos appear in your profile too?”

“Yeah?”

“My mother and my army of aunts were sending those photos to their respective matchmakers and their friends with… daughters.”

Nie Huaisang almost chokes on his own ube ice cream crepe. He dissolves into a coughing fit, and is trying not to laugh as he recovers.

“Wait, no! Nooooo…. You deleted your account because your mom and aunts were using them to refer you to potential dates???”

Jiang Cheng sighs again, deeper this time. “…Yep.”

“Jiang-xiong…” Nie Huaisang giggles. “Why didn’t you just go private?”

“They’ll still see it, they already follow me!”

“I don’t know, maybe block them…?”

“And what if they ask? You think I’ll tell my mother that I am trying to hide my photos from her? That I’m not letting her follow my account? I’m blocking her? And the aunties?”

Nie Huaisang is laughing now, but he is also finally conceding. “Okay, when you put it like that- Yeah, I get it. It’s not a good look. Sure.”

“So I just told them that social media is a distraction for me, and I wanna focus on the clinic and whatever. And then I just. Deleted the whole thing.”

“I’m so sorry…” Nie Huaisang says, stifling his giggles. “It sounds terrible. But it is so funny.”

Jiang Cheng simply shakes his head, and keeps eating.

Then Nie Huaisang bumps their shoulders again, and with a wistful, dramatic voice, says, “Ah, it’s so sad… I can’t tag the matcha red bean in the photo as you…”

Jiang Cheng only snorts, unimpressed. “Good.”

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They make it to the old arcade at last, bellies full and in a bit of a sugar high.

Nie Huaisang looks around to take in everything that had changed, but on first glance, the place is still very much the very same place that he, Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying used to hang out in.

He also recognizes the old, familiar sounds of coins jingling and being slid into machines all around them.

“They’re still using coin tokens?” he whispers to Jiang Cheng in disbelief. “Every other place I know has those swipe card things.”

Jiang Cheng says, “Classic, right?”

“Too classic!”

The arcade did have a new, bright layer of paint, and there are indeed some newer games and machines in sight, but Nie Huaisang could swear that the older looking ones must be the same ones they used to play on, just obviously repaired and repainted several times over.

“Is Old Uncle Ouyang still around?” Nie Huaisang asks, remembering the old man who owned the arcade and manned the main counter – handling the tokens, accepting tickets and giving out prizes.

“You bet he is.” Jiang Cheng chuckles. “Why do you think the place looks the same? You remember how stubborn that old man is.”

Given it’s a weekend afternoon, there are many customers milling around, though not as many as there used to be. As they make their way through the arcade’s main counter, Nie Huaisang smiles as he sees families and groups of kids and teens still enjoying the games, both old and new.

The man behind the counter is both familiar and not. Old Uncle Ouyang had been old when Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng were teens. He is even older now, but he looks very spry and alert for his age, sitting up straight and reading some old magazine, too serenely and peacefully for someone surrounded by loud machines and rowdy children.

“Uncle,” Jiang Cheng starts, catching the old man’s attention. He lays a few bills in the counter – “We’d like some tokens, please.”

“Hm.” is all the old man lets out, accepting the money and taking out a bunch of tokens. He looks up at Jiang Cheng, and then at Nie Huaisang, and back again. “You kids look familiar.”

Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng look at each other, then at the old man who just called them – two adults in their 30’s – kids.

Jiang Cheng shrugs. “It’s, uh. Jiang Cheng? You might know A-Ling, he’s my nephew-”

“Ah!” Uncle Ouyang exclaims, eyes wide. “Miss Jiang’s kid brother! From the bakery!” He nods, then as he turns to Nie Huaisang, “And you are… from beside the bakery, I forget what it was back then.”

“It was a meat shop, uncle.” Nie Huaisang says, smiling sheepishly.

“Meat shop. Yes, yes. The Nie boy.” the old man nods again. He seems to think about something, squinting at them again. “Now… Ah. Yes. I remember there’s another one. Where’s your third piece?”

Jiang Cheng chuckles. “That third piece lives in Gusu now, uncle. With his husband and child.”

“I see… Congratulations.” More nods, this time of approval. “And you two? Where is the child?”

Ah.

Well, they can sort of see how the old man got there.

Old Uncle Ouyang is now leaning forward from the counter, as if expecting to see a small child accompanying them now that he had bothered to look.

“Oh, no, uncle.” Nie Huaisang laughs. “We’re here to hang out. Just us. No child!”

Jiang Cheng nods along with that. “Yeah. Uh. We’re the child. Children. For the day.”

“Hm. Fair.” is all Uncle Ouyang says as he picks his magazine back up. “Well, when you have a child, you bring them here, so I can tell them how unruly their parents used to be.”

Before they could say anything, the old man takes out another handful of coins and sets it down across the counter. “Here you go, my treat, for old times’ sake.” Then he waves them off. “Now, scram, there’s an actual child behind you.”

They both turn to look behind them, and sure enough, there’s a boy, no older than ten years old, with a fistful of tickets, tapping his foot impatiently and scowling at them.

Alright, then. Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang hurry to get out of the grumpy kid’s way.

They split up the coins between them, barely keeping from laughing to each other at the absurdity of that exchange. Before going off to see the rest of the arcade to play, Nie Huaisang does a quick once-over of the shelves of toys and snacks that they can win as ticket prizes.

“A-Cheng, look! A Kappa!”

Jiang Cheng looks up from counting the coins in his hand. “A what?”

Nie Huaisang points up at what Jiang Cheng could only describe as a big, chunky, green sort of monster thing on the top shelf.

“That turtle bird thing! It’s a kappa, so cute!”

Oh. It is cute. Jiang Cheng simply nods. “…I guess? You like that one?”

“I just think it’s adorable. It has a little scarf and everything.” Nie Huaisang shrugs. “So, let’s go play?”

“Yeah, let’s.”

“Which one first?”

Jiang Cheng takes a quick look around and then concludes, “Basketball.”

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So. Jiang Cheng is good at the basketball thing.

Nie Huaisang watches as his friend loads up the basketball machine with coin tokens and then as soon as the first ball rolls forward, he picks it up and starts throwing. Shooting. Basketball-ing…? Nie Huaisang is a theater kid.

Anyway, it turns out, Jiang Cheng is really good at the basketball thing.

“Um, Jiang-xiong, what are you not telling me? Were you in, like, varsity or something?” he asks, trying to be as unintrusive as possible, because Jiang Cheng is racking up those points, and he knows better than to distract a man in a mission.

“Not really.” Jiang Cheng says, shrugging before picking up another ball. “But I’m good at this game, so this is the best way for me to win tickets.”

Nie Huaisang nods. That makes sense. “Okay…”

Then Jiang Cheng glances at him. “You’re not helping. I thought you wanted the weird turtle guy.”

“I-?” Nie Huaisang blinks, then he processes what his friend just said- “Eh?! You’re trying to win the kappa?!”

Jiang Cheng looks like he’s being asked a trick question. “Yeah, what else? We’re in the arcade to play, try to win something.”

Nie Huaisang feels… touched. He’s had fun with Jiang Cheng in this little day trip they had so far – just talking about work and then eating crepes and seeing the arcade’s old uncle again… But this… This is… very nice of him. This is… sweet, even.

Why is Jiang Cheng being sweet? It’s… cute? And he’s not even trying! He’s just so cool for no reason! This is very unfair, Nie Huaisang thinks helplessly.

“Um, J-Jiang-xiong… you don’t really have to-…?”

Jiang Cheng seems to miss the point he’s trying to make, as he shrugs again. “It’s fine, I’m not into any of those prizes anyway. We can just go for the one you like.” He turns to Nie Huaisang again, and he must notice him fiddling with his sleeves, looking at a loss, though Nie Huaisang doubts he really knows why, because the next thing he suggests is, “You know, this will be faster with two of us.”

“A-ah, I don’t think that’s a good idea…?” Nie Huaisang laughs sheepishly. He is still reeling at how Jiang Cheng is just… being, but also he does know basketball is not his thing. “I am… not good at this game…”

Jiang Cheng is really being too nice at this point, because he says, “You can’t be that bad.”

Nie Huaisang picks up one ball and… makes an attempt.

Jiang Cheng nods, understanding. “Okay, yeah, maybe you can just watch.”

Nie Huaisang is quick to step aside, out of his way. “Thank you, I will be happy do that.”

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Jiang Cheng stops after his fourth run, mainly because they’re starting to attract an audience, and several kids have already gone to Nie Huaisang to ask how many tickets he’s now holding.

It was many tickets. If Nie Huaisang wasn’t a full adult, he would be lording it over the kids, how many tickets he has.

So he just laughs it off and tells them that he hasn’t counted yet, but isn’t gege so cool, and good at basketball?

And he is entertained with the look on Jiang Cheng’s face, caught off guard and trying to act chill in the face of a bunch of kids enthusiastically agreeing that he is, indeed, very cool and good at basketball, and can he teach them, please? A teenage girl is pink-cheeked, clapping her hands, and her boyfriend beside her grudgingly admits that yeah, sure, whatever, maybe it is kinda badass.

When the younger children begin asking Jiang Cheng how he got so good at the game, Jiang Cheng knows that it is perhaps time to move on to a different spot. He doesn’t hate children, not at all, and their enthusiasm is always endearing, but he didn’t sign up to hang out with them today. Nope.

He drops a few coins into the machine and presses the start button, then ushers the smallest kid forward. “Here, you kids have a go at it. My treat. Go, go!” And he steps around them smoothly, as the nearest kids rush forward and grab a ball to throw. Then to the random teenage boy – who is telling his girlfriend that no, of course, he can do that too, there must be some trick to it! – Jiang Cheng says, “You’re in charge, make sure they don’t fight over the balls.” and then hands him a bunch of coins.

“Wha-?!” The boy gapes, looking at him and then to the bunch of kids who are, to their credit, actually passing the balls around and not fighting over them… yet. Before he can really complain though, his girlfriend is already joining the fray and helping out one of the smaller kids.

And he must have siblings, Jiang Cheng thinks, because, as if flicking a switch, the boy steps forward and says, ”Hey, don’t push! You’ll all get a turn!”

“Gege, I got one!”

“Good, now go to the back!”

“Okay!”

“Nice job!” Nie Huaisang cheers, laughing, as Jiang Cheng nudges him and they quietly sneak off and away from the young crowd.

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They stop in front of the old but newly-repainted Whac-a-Mole machine. This time it’s a two-player game, and without really thinking about it, Nie Huaisang picks up one of the comically-sized toy hammers and Jiang Cheng slides in some tokens into the machine.

“So someone has fans…” Nie Huaisang teases, as Jiang Cheng picks up the other hammer.

Jiang Cheng tries his best to look annoyed, but Nie Huaisang can tell he’s holding back a grin. “They’re kids.”

“And that makes it more adorable!”

A shrug. “Whatever. Game’s starting. Focus.”

The first mole pops up. It’s as weird-looking as Nie Huaisang remembers. He hits it just fine.

“But you really were so cool back there! And we got so many tickets. I’ve never held this many tickets in my entire life. You deserve the fans.”

Jiang Cheng snorts. He is proud of the tickets, he supposes. A mole pops up in front of him and he whacks it. “You sound like Miss Liu.”

“Your assistant?” Nie Huaisang asks, holding up on his end, hitting the moles as they pop up. The game is on easy mode for now, and he can afford to be distracted for a while. ”Now why would she say– Oh! Ohhhh… Does Doctor Jiang have fans?”

“Ugh.” Jiang Cheng visibly bristles, to Nie Huaisang’s delight. “No. Don’t. I hate it.”

“No, noooo, you can’t expect me to let that go!” Nie Huaisang laughs. The game is speeding up now, but he can still keep up with it just fine. “Is that why you’re filling the clinic social media with cute photos of pets instead of… you? Your name is on the profile, but there’s not one single photo of you in there, from what I’ve seen.”

“Yes? It’s the clinic’s account, anyway.” Jiang Cheng answers, focused on whacking moles on his end. “I have enough trouble. Miss Liu says we still get DMs inquiring… about me… and most of them are… not for clinic-related things.”

“Ah! Jiang-xiong, you are a heartbreaker?” Nie Huaisang asks, complete with a fake gasp. He steps slightly closer, just so he can nudge his friend with his elbow.

“W-What? That’s not-”

“And you told me you’re boring!” Nie Huaisang shakes his head, amused. “It makes sense, you know? You’re young, single, handsome, and best of all, you heal puppies…”

“No, don’t you start.” Jiang Cheng turns his head to give the other a look, only to miss one of the moles that are now popping up in a very challenging pace. “Ah, fuck-”

Nie Huaisang also misses one. “Shit-”

“Language!”

“I know! Language!”

For the final leg of the game, they just focus on whacking as many weird old moles as they can.

They get a decent amount of tickets out of it. Nie Huaisang is happy to add them to their sizeable haul.

“Okay, seriously, all the pet parents who’ve tried to shoot their shot? None of them caught your eye, then? Or are you one of those Super Strictly Professional types?”

“I’m not-… That’s-…” Jiang Cheng waves the toy hammer around vaguely. “I’m not interested, is all.”

Nie Huaisang looks up from counting their new batch of tickets, blinking. “With the… women?”

Jiang Cheng puts his hammer away, shrugging. “With the whole thing. I’m busy.”

Nie Huaisang stares at him, an eyebrow raised. “Earlier, I asked if you have the time to go here, and you said you have nothing else to do.” He points out, looking very unconvinced. “You’re literally spending a weekend afternoon in an arcade right now. Trying to win me a plushie.”

Of course, Jiang Cheng ignores all the other incriminating statements and sticks to the easiest one to make a case for – “You said you liked it.”

Nie Huaisang doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry. “It’s so big! We grew up in this place, you know it will take forever to win something like that. Even with your cool basketball skills!”

Jiang Cheng looks towards the wall of prizes again. He looks unaffected, but that slight twitch in his brow tells Nie Huaisang that he is realizing yes, maybe he is being overly ambitious about this.

But he has never been one to back down.

“Look, there’s a tiny one. Of your weird turtle guy. We can manage that.”

Nie Huaisang lets out a withering sigh. “Okay. Sure. I would love if we can get the tiny one.” He just takes his friend’s arm and starts walking to another spot of the arcade. “Let’s go, I wanna play Crossy Road.”

“See, that’s the spirit.” Jiang Cheng simply lets himself be dragged. “What’s Crossy Road?”

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Jiang Cheng discovers that he is bad at Crossy Road.

Nie Huaisang, on the other hand, is really good at Crossy Road. So after their first round, Jiang Cheng bows out and takes the role of Emotional-Support-Ticket-Holder to the side, and lets Nie Huaisang have his solo run.

Jiang Cheng watches as his friend expertly maneuvers the blocky chicken on the giant screen across another road, past rushing cars, and to safety. “Do you play this a lot?”

“Yep.” Nie Huaisang grins, eyes on the screen. “On my phone.”

“Ah. It’s a phone game.”

At that, Nie Huaisang does spare him a withering look. “Oh, A-Cheng…”

“What? I don’t play games on my phone!” Jiang Cheng says in his defense, then stops abruptly. “Does Wordle count?”

Nie Huaisang sighs, turning back to his game. “So, yeah, I had a Crossy Road phase, but it’s not just me! Da-ge and I had a competition going! He always won. He’s weirdly really good at this. Somehow.”

“Huh.”

“Don’t worry, he sucks at Wordle.”

“Sure.” Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes, and just watches for a while. “He’s doing well, then? You said you call him often.”

“Oh, he’s doing great! Keeps telling me I don’t need to call so much, like once a week is okay…” Nie Huaisang gives a nonchalant shrug. “He says that, but everyday he sends me pictures of my chickens – actual chickens – to make me homesick.”

That makes Jiang Cheng chuckle. “Is it working?”

“It wasn’t, not really… I haven’t been away that long…” Nie Huaisang muses, then his wistful smile turns into a scowl. “And then this morning he asked me to pick which one he should cook for me when I go back home! What a jerk.”

“Did you pick?”

“No!” Nie Huaisang answers, shaky from trying not to laugh. “He’s just fucking with me. Like, I told him we’ve been meeting up, and he keeps saying we’re on a date.”

Okay. Pause. Jiang Cheng takes his eyes off the game to look at his companion. “What- This… today?”

“Yeah. I told him we’re just hanging out to catch up and stuff, but he couldn’t be convinced otherwise-”

“He thinks we’re dating?” Jiang Cheng asks, and before Nie Huaisang can worry that this would make him uncomfortable, he chuckles. “That fast? You just got here.”

“Hey, that’s what he said, too!” This time, assured that the other isn’t completely bristling from the topic, Nie Huaisang laughs an easy laugh. “Anyways, he’ll probably keep at it just to tease me, like with the chickens.”

It’s at this point that the game finishes, and Nie Huaisang grins proudly at his high score.

As Jiang Cheng reaches down to collect their tickets, Nie Huaisang continues, “Oh, and apparently he- Err. Well, it’s not like it’s a big deal, but… he knew, I guess?”

Jiang Cheng straightens back up, folding the tickets neatly with the rest of the others. “Knew about what?”

“Err… about… us?” Nie Huaisang squeaks out, sheepishly. “Y’know, back then?”

“What back then-” Jiang Cheng looks genuinely confused for a second, before his memory catches up. It is impressive that he caught up right away, Nie Huaisang has to admit, watching as the man blinks and then looks at him with a suspicious but awkward expression. “W-Wait. You mean…?”

Nie Huaisang shrugs, shakes his head, nods – a combination of everything because yeah, this is awkward. “He knew that we were… kindasortamakingoutinthebackroomoftheshop, yeah.“

“He did?!” Jiang Cheng gapes. “He never said anything about it…?”

Nie Huaisang lets out another helpless shrug. “Right?! He just told me, like last week, when he was teasing me.”

Jiang Cheng looks at him, and he looks like he has a lot of things to say, but eventually he lands on – “No wonder he always looked like he wanted to murder me.”

That makes Nie Huaisang snort. “What?”

Jiang Cheng shakes his head, crossing his arms around his chest. “So does he still hate me?”

“No-… What? Hate you?”

“Mingjue-ge. I’m pretty sure he hated me.” Jiang Cheng sighs, and if Nie Huaisang didn’t know him better, he’d think that the man was upset, but he could hear the faint notes of amusement in his voice.

Nie Huaisang smiles, just as amused. “No, he didn’t. He thinks you’re okay! That’s just his face, you see-”

“No, no, he was always like, glaring at us, me and Wei Ying. I mean, with Wei Ying, I get it, he was loud and it was probably annoying. But with me, I was just… there… I was always polite, because he was so scary, and yet he still always gave me the worse look. Now I… know why, I guess.”

At this, Nie Huaisang nods, considering that. He doesn’t remember his da-ge being specially mean or rude to his friends back then, no, but he did always go Scary Big Brother when they were around. Maybe Nie Huaisang missed the terrifying looks because he was used to it.

“Well, I’m sorry if he scared you guys.” Nie Huaisang says with another sheepish chuckle.

It’s Jiang Cheng’s turn to shrug. “I mean, I get it?” Jiang Cheng says. “And it didn’t work, clearly, ‘cause we still did end up fooling around in the back room.”

Of all the possible responses to that reveal, that is the one Nie Huaisang expected the least. He looks at Jiang Cheng with wide eyes, blinking and indignant, trying to fight a laugh because he at least had to be indignant, right? He did think that Jiang Cheng, after all these years, could brush these things off. Easy. But not this much! He’s smug about it! Nie Huaisang should be mad – at least grumpy – in behalf of da-ge! Because if he doesn’t pretend to be grumpy, he might end up blushing and stammering-

“Jiang Cheng!” is all he manages. That, and a weak shove. “Don’t just say that!”

“It’s true though.” Jiang Cheng says, now the one obviously delighted at his friend’s embarrassment. Finally. He is holding back a laugh as he swings an arm around Nie Huaisang’s shoulders to lead him to their next game. “Whatever. Let’s go kill zombies.”

That distracts Nie Huaisang easily, as he tugs on Jiang Cheng’s shirt, though there’s no real effort to fight him off. “Noooo, I’m bad at that one!”

“Just shoot. I’ll cover you.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’ll find out.”

.

.

Nie Huaisang discovers the joy of killing zombies.

However, that doesn’t mean he’s any good at actually playing the game, so he loses early, and just spends the rest of it propped up against the Player 2 platform and watching Jiang Cheng play.

Well. He might have been staring at Jiang Cheng playing instead of paying attention to how the game was going.

Of course – of course – when Jiang Cheng notices this, he assumes wrong – “If you’re bored, go play a different game.”

Nie Huaisang shrugs easily. “Nah, I think I’m still all gamed out from Crossy Road. I’ll just wait for you to finish this one.”

Jiang Cheng nods, eyes focused on the screen as he effortlessly shoots down an impressive number of zombies. “I thought you said you weren’t old.”

“Hey!”

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.

After some more enthusiastic zombie killing, Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng head off to the arcade counter to get their tickets counted.

Nie Huaisang gets the cute, travel-sized Kappa plushie. It has a little scarf. He is in love with it.

Jiang Cheng gets… a chocolate bar. He’s quite happy with it, too.

“You’re right, the big one is impossible to get.” he admits, watching Nie Huaisang dote on his little brand new arcade prize plushie.

Nie Huaisang shakes his head. “Totally fine! I like this one better. I can hang him in my bag.”

Jiang Cheng simply nods as he finishes his snack. “We still have some tokens left…”

“Do you still wanna play?” Nie Huaisang asks, absently clutching his plushie to his chest. “I think I’m done for the day. Maybe we pay it forward? Give it to the next kid we see?”

That suggestion quickly gets an answer, in the form of a tiny, high-pitched voice suddenly screaming ”JIUJIU!!!” from across the arcade.

As if Nie Huaisang needed to be impressed by Jiang Cheng some more today, he watches as, like a sleeper agent activated, the man leans down with arms ready, just in time to scoop up the little girl who comes barreling towards him at full speed.

The child squeals in delight as she is lifted and propped up on her uncle’s hip. “Jiujiu!!! You’re here!!!”

“So are you, young lady.” Jiang Cheng smiles, nodding patiently. “But maybe next time, we slow down, yeah? You could’ve tripped and fallen over.”

“Okay. I didn’t though!” says the cutest little girl that Nie Huaisang has ever seen.

She looks just like how Nie Huaisang imagines Jiang Yanli did when she was a child, twin buns and all – save for her eyes which are warm hazel. She is wearing a cute yellow sundress with a giant bow on the back, and shiny glittery sneakers. She isn’t exactly a tiny kid, as she looks like she’s at the age where she’s about to grow out of being carried, but Jiang Cheng is obviously Best Uncle so of course he has no trouble with this.

“Who are you here with, A-Yan?” Jiang Cheng asks, looking around. He didn’t have to look for too long, as there are already two teenage boys walking towards them.

“Gege!!!” the girl screams, and Jiang Cheng puts her back down on her feet if only to save his poor ears. “Jiujiu’s here!!!”

“Yeah, I see him, meimei. No need to shout.” Jin Ling says, as his sister runs to him and grabs his hand to drag him back to their uncle. As nonchalant as he is trying to be, he can’t help but blink curiously at Jiang Cheng. This isn’t the usual place he’d find his uncle at. “Hi, uh, jiujiu?”

Nie Huaisang had seen a photo of Jin Ling in one of the bakery’s social media posts – he is part of the staff – but up close now he can see the boy’s slight resemblance to his uncle. Mostly in his furrowed brows while he’s confused. He is trailed by another teen his age.

“Afternoon, Jiang-shushu!” the other boy greets with a bright smile. “I didn’t think we’d see you here!”

“Me neither.” Jiang Cheng says, then turns to Nie Huaisang as he gestures towards the boys. “This is Jin Ling, jiejie’s eldest. And his friend Zizhen. Uncle Ouyang’s grandkid.”

“I see.” Nie Huaisang nods, and smiles as the boys. “Hello!”

Jiang Cheng then looks down towards his niece. “A-Yan, you wanna introduce yourself?”

The girl nods dutifully, letting go of her brother’s hands and patting her dress down first before she beams at Nie Huaisang. “My name is Jin Xiaoyan. Nice to meet you! Who are you?”

Nie Huaisang can’t help but chuckle, and he makes sure to crouch down so he can talk to the girl. “Hello, Miss Xiaoyan. My name is Nie Huaisang. I’m your jiujiu’s friend.”

The child blinks, looks up towards her uncle, then back at her new acquaintance. “You’re here to play with jiujiu?”

“Yep. We’ve played lots of games already.” Nie Huaisang smiles.

She points at the plush that Nie Huaisang is holding. “What’s that?”

“Oh, it’s a Kappa. Your jiujiu and I won it playing games today. Wanna see?”

“Yes, please!”

“Here, he’s cute, isn’t he?”

“Yeah…”

While Nie Huaisang entertains the girl, Jiang Cheng hands their leftover tokens and tickets to Jin Ling and Ouyang Zizhen. “Here you go, a headstart.”

“Jiujiu-” Jin Ling starts, reconsiders, then looks at the coin tokens in his hands. “Uh. You were… playing? For real?”

“It’s an arcade, A-Ling. That’s what people go here for.” Jiang Cheng says with an easy shrug. Then he looks at where his niece is giggling at something Nie Huaisang said, probably about the plushie. “So you’re looking after your sister today?”

Jin Ling shrugs. “Mom and dad are out of town for the weekend. Yan-yan did really good on her last exams, and I promised we’d do anything she wants, and she wanted to tag along with me and Zizhen.”

“Hm. That’s good.” Jiang Cheng nods. “You have fun today.”

“Yeah…” Jin Ling looks at his sister and this new alleged friend of his uncle. “Um, so-…“

He is promptly interrupted when Zizhen swings an arm around his shoulder, in an obvious attempt to get closer to Jiang Cheng. “Shushu!” his friend starts, then perhaps realizes that he is too loud, and lowers his voice into a whisper- “Shushu- Sorry. Are you on a date? Are we interrupting?”

Jiang Cheng snorts, and shakes his head. “No. We’re friends from school. We’re hanging out.”

Jin Ling blinks. “In the arcade?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?” Jin Ling looks genuinely intrigued.

“Why not?” Jiang Cheng asks back, used to fielding questions from his family, including his siblings’ children. “We wanted to say hello to Old Uncle Ouyang.”

“Oh-! Oh, did grandpa recognize you?” Zizhen asks, grinning. “I swear, he knows everyone.”

“That’s because he does.” Jiang Cheng says. “And yes, of course he recognized us.”

That’s when Xiaoyan turns towards them. She latches on to her brother’s shirt with one hand, and with the other she lifts up the Kappa plush to show it off. “Gege, look! Jiujiu and Sang-gege won this! It’s cute!”

Jiang Cheng turns to Nie Huaisang with a raised eyebrow, mouthing “Sang-gege?”

Nie Huaisang pats his pants as he stands back up, and only grins proudly at him.

“Oh, that is- Yeah, it’s cute…?” Jin Ling agrees, blinking down at the weird plushie.

Xiaoyan grins. “I want it!”

Jin Ling lets out an awkward but patient chuckle. “Yan-yan, that’s not yours, you have to give it back-”

“Ah, no, she can have it!” Nie Huaisang interjects quickly. “Do you like it, A-Yan? You can have it if you promise to take care of it.”

“No, I don’t mean this one.” the girl says, confusing her older companions. “It’s yours. Jiujiu won it.” She turns to her brother again. “Gege, if we play, we can win one too!”

“Oh, you mean you want- Yeah, sure. We can play and get you something like that.”

“Yay!” Xiaoyan cheers, and happily returns the plush back to Nie Huaisang, not forgetting to thank him for letting her borrow. The man tells her to turn around, and when she does, he crouches back down and starts fixing the lopsided bow on her back.

Jin Ling sighs, glad that he’s not gonna have to convince his kid sister not to take his uncle’s friend’s precious arcade prize. However-

He turns to his uncle. “How many tickets did you need for that?”

Jiang Cheng looks back at his nephew, smug. “A lot.”

“And you got it just playing today?”

“What, like it’s hard?”

“Jiujiu…”

“Ah, why don’t we just try our best?” Zizhen chimes in, patting his friend’s back. “I can get us a discount, too.”

Jin Ling frowns. “Zizhen, you are not haggling with your grandpa.”

“Ling-Ling, that’s what grandpas are for.” Zizhen laughs. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just play. Hey, Yan-yan, wanna catch fish?”

“Fish?” Xiaoyan’s head shoots up, eyes big and sparkling.

Zizhen sticks his hand out. The girl thanks Nie Huaisang for fixing her dress, says bye to Jiang Cheng, and then latches on to her brother’s best friend. They run off together, chanting “Fish! Fish! Fish!” as they went.

In perfect sync, Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling call after them, “Hey, no running!”

“My, she’s a little hurricane…” Nie Huaisang says, going back to Jiang Cheng’s side. He smiles at Jin Ling. “It’s nice to meet you, Jin Ling. I knew your mom and your uncles from way back. We’re like old neighbors.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Jin Ling says, with an almost shy, polite bow. “You’re an… old neighbor…?”

“He and his brother owned the shop next door before Song Lan bought it.” Jiang Cheng provides. “They were already there when the bakery opened.”

“Oh.” Jin Ling nods, taking mental notes. “That’s… neat…”

“Gege!!! We need the coin things!!!”

Jin Ling blinks, and looks off to where his sister and best friend ran off to before he turns back to the two adults. “Uh, I need to- Err-”

“Go.” Jiang Cheng nods at his nephew. “They need the coin things.”

“Good luck getting her something.” Nie Huaisang says, looking amused. “And say hi to your mom for me. I’ll try to visit the bakery when she’s there too.”

“Sure.” Jin Ling nods. “Jiujiu, you’re leaving then?”

“Yeah. I’m helping close the clinic. And we’re done here, anyway.” Jiang Cheng says. He fixes the teen’s collar first, before nudging him off. “You call me if you need anything while your parents are gone, alright?”

Jin Ling nods again, thanks them for the tokens and the tickets, then walks off.

“Gegeeee!!!”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it!”

.

.

.

After the arcade, before they part ways for the day, they decide to grab a coffee. Instead of sitting down inside the cafe, they settle on a bench right outside, just watching people passing by. It’s late afternoon, and the crowds are now only starting to gather. It’s a weekend, so there are less people coming from work and school, and instead more of them are out on errands, hanging out or simply taking pets for walks.

“When Jin Ling was growing up…” Nie Huaisang starts, “You were around a lot, weren’t you?”

Jiang Cheng glances at his companion for a bit before nodding. “As much as I could, yeah. Why do you ask?”

Nie Huaisang smiles down at his cup of iced coffee. “He’s like a mini you.”

“What?”

“Grumpy but really sweet, and loves his sister a lot.”

Jiang Cheng is quiet, and this time it’s Nie Huaisang who risks a quick glance and doesn’t miss the light blush to his cheeks, and of course the familiar furrowed brows.

Jiang Cheng opens his mouth, probably to say something brash, then he stop himself and decides otherwise. He ends up with a mumbled, “Don’t go all sappy.” before he takes a sip of his coffee.

Nie Huaisang laughs, and bumps his shoulder into the other’s teasingly. “Awww, admit it! It’s adorable!”

Jiang Cheng shakes his head, but does let out a chuckle.

After a moment of quiet, he is the first one to talk. “A-Ling was… a market kid.”

“Mm?”

“When jiejie had him, the bakery wasn’t… in the best place. It was growing stable, yeah, but back then it still required close attention. You know how businesses are.”

Nie Huaisang just nods quietly to that, recalling his own brother, who had just turned 20 when he had to take over and make their business work.

“Jin Zixuan had money to help, of course, offered it many times over, but jiejie really wanted to make it on her own, you know? They were both really busy, Zixuan had a whole other thing with his family going on, and then they had Jin Ling. And jiejie… well, she just took Jin Ling to work, with her. So Jin Ling grew up in the bakery. Literally.

“He was never neglected, though. He was always looked after, and Zixuan is there to pick him up everyday so jiejie can close. But the kid grew up hanging out with the bakery employees and regulars, running errands with Zizhen around the district, helping out Granny Fang across the street for snack money, that sorta stuff.”

“That’s sweet.” Nie Huaisang says.

He gets it. Back in the day, there used to be a lot of people who had their living spaces right above their shops. So he did live right here, in the market district. He spent his early childhood hanging out in the meat shop, watching da-ge help out their baba, running errands for him, and then later, helping da-ge out. He was a market kid, like Jin Ling and his friend Zizhen.

“And he’s a good big brother.” he adds.

“He is.” Jiang Cheng nods, voice soft. “I couldn’t be around A-Yan as much as I was for Jin Ling because I have the clinic now, but he is looking after her well. The bakery is quite successful now, too, so jiejie has more time to just be with A-Yan. I think that’s why she’s that spoiled.”

”She’s adorable, though.”

“Of course she is.”

Nie Huaisang grins, and peers at his companion’s face. “Ah… You’re the favorite uncle, aren’t you? Jiujiu?”

Another shrug, and this time Nie Huaisang catches the grin that Jiang Cheng tries to hide by drinking coffee. “Maybe.”

“And you’re smug about it! Amazing.”

“Those kids have so many uncles.” Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.

“I bet they do.”

That’s when Jiang Cheng’s phone chimes, and they are both reminded of the time.

“Clinic’s closing soon.” Jiang Cheng says, turning to his friend.

Nie Huaisang nods easily. “Don’t let me hold you up, Doctor Jiang. Go and close your lovely little clinic.”

“What about you?” Jiang Cheng asks as he stands up. “Not going home yet?”

“I think I’ll stay a bit. I’ll finish this, and then go home after.” Nie Huaisang says, shaking his half-empty cup of iced coffee.

“Alright. You take care on your way.” A nod, then Jiang Cheng turns towards the direction of his office.

Nie Huaisang just smiles, waving goodbye. “Always! Don’t worry, I have my knife with me.”

Jiang Cheng is a couple of steps away when he stops to look back. “Your what?”

Nie Huaisang simply keeps on waving at him. “Nothing. See you!”

Jiang Cheng shakes his head in exasperation, but he is smiling lightly as he walks off.

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to be continued!

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next time:
chapter four – two tickets to godzilla