MingYu stirred as the first rays of the rising sun streamed through the open window, casting streaks of light over the two sleeping figures. MingYu blinked his eyes open lazily. For the first time in a while, MingYu had a good night's sleep, no sudden wakes in the middle of the night, and no memories of the past had come to haunt his dreams.
The weight of ZhiYi's arm still rested on his waist. His steady breath brushed over MingYu's cheeks. So, this was what bliss felt like, MingYu thought to himself as he lifted his gaze, studying ZhiYi from under his lashes.
ZhiYi was still asleep, his lips slightly parted, but his brows were pulled into a pained frown.
Did he have a nightmare instead? MingYu thought with a smile and reached up to massage the tight frown with his fingertips. Groaning softly, ZhiYi woke up, his brows twitching under MingYu's gentle touch.
To MingYu, ZhiYi had always been breathtakingly beautiful, but during those brief moments where he lingered between the realm of sleep and wake, he was the most adorable, and MingYu couldn't help but grin at the sleepy, disoriented ZhiYi.
"Did you have a bad dream?" MingYu teased as he pulled his hand away, letting it rest over the man's chest.
ZhiYi flickered his eyes open, crinkling them as he got used to the light.
"No, I just can't feel my arm."
His scruffy words worked like a whip, and MingYu jerked up, letting the blood finally rush through ZhiYi's arm. The demon hissed as the first stabbing pains spread through his fingertips, all the way up to his shoulder.
"Why didn't you move it, if it was uncomfortable?" MingYu said as he watched ZhiYi rub his face to wake himself up.
ZhiYi's hand stopped, and he peeked from between his fingers. A grin was quivering on his lips when he raised his numb arm and brushed over MingYu's pouty, puffed-out cheek with the back of his knuckles.
"You looked so peaceful, cradled between my arms, I didn't want to disturb you."
A sense of guilt stabbed MingYu in the gut, as he thought of his little lie to sleep in the man's arms. Thinking back on it, the position must have been terrible on ZhiYi's part, but he had pulled through the entire night.
Maybe he was being a little selfish, MingYu thought to himself and decided to sleep on his side of the bed from tonight onwards, no matter how much the thought pained him.
"Hey, what are you thinking so hard about?" ZhiYi said as he nudged MingYu's chin upwards playfully.
"You are too thoughtful," MingYu said as he fumbled over ZhiYi with one working arm and climbed off the bed.
ZhiYi rolled over, following MingYu's every movement with his gaze.
"You think too highly of me. I'm only thoughtful to the people I care about."
MingYu wasn't paying attention to his words as he struggled to pull on his robes. After a moment of trial and error, the robes were on, but when it came to the sash, it was impossible to wrap it with one arm. They certainly were easier to take off then put on. He shot a coy look over to ZhiYi, and without a word, ZhiYi sat up and motioned him to move over.
"Were you listening to me?" ZhiYi said as he wrapped the sash around MingYu, folding it in neatly. He let his hands rest on either side of MingYu's waist as he peered up at the man, waiting for his answer. But MingYu was frowning down at him, puzzled.
"Where are the robes?"
ZhiYi blinked at the question, unsure of what he was talking about.
"What robes?"
MingYu motioned towards the door.
"The robes you and YueQin went to retrieve yesterday. You weren't carrying them when we walked back to the inn."
ZhiYi let his hand fall back down on his lap as he gave up on hinting at the dense man in front of him that he cared about him, a lot. The most. The idiot had to go and change the subject. Instead, ZhiYi turned to rack his brain over the not-so-important-fact of why they didn't have their new robes.
The tailor shop had been in chaos. The madam owner had been terribly sorry for not having their robes ready. Every tailor shop in the city was packed full of orders, which were to be done by the end of the week for the upcoming banquet. Their robes would have to wait for a few more days due to the sudden influx of customers.
"A banquet? For what?" MingYu said as he moved over the chair and tossed ZhiYi's robes to him.
ZhiYi turned away to pull on his clothes. He hadn't cared enough to ask the madam, as he had been more occupied in hurrying back to MingYu's side to be curious about such things.
"They didn't say." ZhiYi shrugged as he straightened his sleeves and tied his hair up. After washing up at the basin in the corner of the room, he turned back to MingYu, and the man looked visibly displeased with him.
"You didn't ask?" MingYu said, arching his brow.
"AhXin was restless, so we hurried back."
ZhiYi moved over to the basket and dug the boy out. They had never taken a family walk before, not after Wu TianLan had died, ZhiYi thought as he turned his gaze over MingYu once more and smiled at the possibility. The two of them, carrying AhXin and strolling through the busy streets, shopping for trinkets. Very much like the old times.
"We could go and see what this banquet is about. Ask around." ZhiYi offered nonchalantly.
MingYu scratched his unevenly grown head of hair and nodded.
"Sounds good, it's a great weather for a stroll."
ZhiYi didn't hesitate as he moved over with long strides, taking hold of a surprised MingYu and guided him towards the door. It was still early morning. They could take the whole day to see Wupei. He had heard there are some beautiful sceneries on the outskirts of the city. They could probably watch the sunset-
A sharp knocking came at the door, cutting ZhiYi's plans for their family date short.
MingYu reached out and pulled the door open.
YueQin was standing on the other side, beaming at them.
"Morning! See? I didn't break the door this time!"
ZhiYi gave her a stiff smile. He wasn't in the mood for third wheelers, not as he had already planned everything out in his mind, and YueQin was in no way, shape or form part of his plans, not for today.
"Are you going for a walk, brother MingYu?" YueQin asked, taking hold of MingYu's healthy arm. ZhiYi's smile twitched as he sensed where this was heading.
"I was just about to ask you for a walk myself! Let's all go together."
MingYu smiled at her brightly, nodding in agreement.
YueQin might not have broken the door, but ZhiYi sure wanted to at the moment. She must have sensed his thoughts as she slowly let go of MingYu's arm and shot the two men an unsure look.
"Or, maybe you two should go," YueQin said, taking a cautious glance at ZhiYi to confirm it. ZhiYi gave her a slight nod.
MingYu frowned at her sudden change of heart.
"Why? You're here already, aren't you?"
ZhiYi wanted to reach out and strangle the love of his life. This guy was as dense as a woodblock!
"Er, I don't want to barge in on your little family time, I'll just go back to sleep or something," YueQin said as she stepped back, smiling apologetically at the two.
MingYu gaped at her words.
"Wait, what-"
"Have fun on your date!" YueQin said and disappeared from the door.
YueQin's words hammered over him like a hail of ice and MingYu's mouth hung open as he flushed the colour of a ripe tomato.
ZhiYi was losing his patience at the same rate as the day was losing its brightness. He reached out to close MingYu's lips and nudged him to move out the door.
"You heard what she said. We don't have all day."
"But, I, we-" MingYu's words became all jumbled up as he struggled to make sense of the world around him.
"You don't want to?" ZhiYi said as he pulled MingYu into a halt in the hallway and waited for the man to decide on the matter.
"I didn't say I don't want to go." MingYu hurried to say.
"Then what are you fidgeting about?"
MingYu's flush deepened, as he stuttered, "It's just the way she said it."
"Aren't we going to take a walk?" ZhiYi probed, a teasing smile creeping over his features.
"Yes," MingYu said, frowning.
"The three of us?"
"Uh, yes?"
"It's a date then, now let's go, or our date will be over before it even started."
MingYu opened and closed his mouth like a fish stuck on dry land as ZhiYi took hold of his hand and pulled him down the stairs, out of the inn. He wouldn't wait for MingYu to change his mind.
Came hell or high water, no one was going to interrupt their family date, period!