A Blade and an Arrow

Cold

It was a sunny day. A good sunny day. The sun's angry glares on earth made it too warm for anyone's favour. It's like it wants to deep fry who dares oppose it with its beams.

Fu Yao was prepared for it.

But when that same angry sun slowly and teasingly lowered down the horizon with its last wink to the people it didn't just try to annihilate in which the moon finally shine brightly above the dark sky, cold air settling around them.

Fu Yao wasn't prepared for it.

"Who in goddamn's mind doesn't get extra layers no matter how hot it is."

"Shut the fuck up." Fu Yao sneers, walking further away from Nan Feng who glared at him as he glared back. "Me apparently. What? You giving me a cloak or something?"

Nan Feng scoffed, "I'd rather you freeze to death."

"Then shut the fuck up and leave me alone."

The two, along with Xie Lian who was already immune to both harsh weathers walked miles after miles, reserving the two "junior officials"' spiritual energy if a monster ever tries to attack so they can't just create a distance shortening array, besides, where would they even draw it to? Orange dark sand is what all can be seen for miles.

"Why is there even cold weather?" Nan Feng hears Fu Yao ask himself. He watches from the corner of his eye as Fu Yao shake slighty, obviously refusing to show some sort of weakness to a natural thing. "It's rude to stare, Nan Feng."

"Then stop talking to yourself like some kind of a crazy man."

"Would you just mind your goddamn business and shut the fuck up?"

"So you do admit you're crazy."

Fu Yao glares at him in disbelief, "I did no-"

"You didn't deny it." Nan Feng smirks, seeing Fu Yao's face go red from anger in the midst of the dark. Good, you got colour on your skin now.

"That doesn't mean I did admit it!"

"Admit it or not, you act crazy when things doesn't go your way."

Fu Yao huffs, kicked the sand and then huffed again as Nan Feng watches him in amusement. What a petulant child. He didn't comment any further, feeling smug that he had somehow managed to give Fu Yao some heat even if it means he had to anger him.

Fu Yao, however, hated it. He was grateful even if he didn't think that, that was Nan Feng's goal and he had just succeeded, grateful, but hated it. He rolled his eyes out of habit and let out a breath, watching the fog that it had created before lighting up a palm torch almost immediately when Xie Lian almost tripped. Oh how he'd wish he did it sooner. The heat from his palm torch relieved him from the cold greatly, but still felt irritated that he did indeed, feel cold.

"Your highness?" Nan Feng asks, he let worry slip in his tone as he watches Xie Lian who smiled awkwardly and nodded. And for some reason, Fu Yao felt a hint of jealousy from how Nan Feng worried for His Highness.

He rolled his eyes and huffed in exasperation. Still keeping the palm torch on-mostly to heat himself up and not actually to light their way-, they continued their journey. "Are we there yet."

"Fu Yao, as you can see, we're still in the middle of nowhere." Xie Lian answers from infront.

Not a minute later, Fu Yao asked again, "Are we there now?"

"No."

"How about now?"

"Not yet, Fu Yao."

"Now..?"

"Can you shut the fuck up?" Satisfied that he got his attention, Fu Yao rolled his eyes.

"Can you shut up? Because it seems that you can't even keep your opinions to yourself for a minute." He snaps back, glaring at the man who paused in his steps.

"What's wrong with you?"

Fu Yao grits his teeth in annoyance, feeling the harsh air seeping back to him, "Besides being cold and annoyed with your whole existence, nothing in particular." When he didn't hear any stupid comments back, he looked back at him only for his eyes to widen in surprise when he saw their distance was no more than one step. He frowned, "Give so-" His words caught in his throat when Nan Feng pulled him by his collar, letting their chests crash roughly as he was about to shove him off out of annoyance. "Nan Feng, I swear to hell-"

Nan Feng didn't let him finish, pulling out another extra cloak he got from who knows where and flapped it over Fu Yao's shoulders, almost covering him from head to toe, grabbing the strings that locks it, he tied it impatiently before taking its hood and roughly pulling it over Fu Yao's head before leaning close just to his ear, "Now shut the fuck up, alright?" He shoved a surprised Fu Yao away and rushed back to Xie Lian who seemingly didn't notice the two.

Fu Yao felt hot. Probably even more hot than when the sun was frying him as he pulled the hood off his head, casting a surprised and confused glance at Nan Feng who didn't look back. He hid a faint smile to himself, relishing on Nan Feng's scent that covered him everywhere along with the warmth the cloak considerably gave.

In Nan Feng's favour, Fu Yao had indeed shut up. He thought it was probably because that he was too surprised or embarrassed to say anything. Either way, shutting him up was as good as he could get.

They passed by an abandoned hut and Xie Lian thought it would be a good idea to camp here for the night as he saw some sticks that could hold up fire for the night. The two reluctantly agreed, they didn't want to keep walking in the cold anyway, seeing that even with their cloaks, the air was too icy.

The three sat around the fire inside the hut, thankful that the walls wasn't wood or else it would've burned down easily. Xie Lian had managed to pass out despite the cold, leaning against the wall as he used his bamboo hat to cover his face. Upon seeing this, Fu Yao sneakily shrugged the cloak Nan Feng had given him and gently placed it around Xie Lian like a blanket. He carefully watched to see if he had waken up and quietly sighed in relief when he didn't, casually sitting back down on his spot as he stared at the fire.

Nan Feng once again watched as Fu Yao shivered subconsciously, a small smile on his lips. Fu Yao was a selfless man indeed, starving himself just so the children could have something to bite when they were still mortals, and constantly fighting harsh colds just as this so people around him can feel warm and not get sick from the cold. He had admired that until now, but he wasn't going to voice that out. He quietly stood up, walking towards Fu Yao who snapped his head towards him.

"What are you doing." It was more of a threat than a question, a glare in his eyes as he observed Nan Fengs movements. He didn't move or struggle against him when he sat behind him, sprawling his legs and pulling Fu Yao to sit in between before tugging on the cloak and wrapping his arms around Fu Yao, covering him with it.

Fu Yao let out a tired and irritated sigh but didn't protest, despite himself, he leaned on Nan Feng's chest and even tilted his head so he can rest it against his shoulder. "Took you long enough."

Nan Feng scoffed, tightening his embrace, "It wouldn't take this long if only you told me what you wanted in the first place." He nuzzled his nose against Fu Yao's exposed neck, sighing in content. Fu Yao huffed out angrily but didn't comment, closing his eyes and let himself relax against his partner's embrace, his hand creeping down on the other's hand and intertwined their fingers together under the cloak.