Lan Jingyi was in trouble, and he knew it.
He had sneaked in a jar of Emperor's smile from a nearby tavern, and while he had been crossing the courtyard in front of the Library Pavilion, he had heard footsteps nearby. Now panicking, Jingyi looked around hurriedly. The closest place to hide his wine was the Library Pavilion itself, so he pried the door open. Slipping in, he shut the door and looked around.
Next day
Jin Ling was copying the Gusu Lan sect rules for the last time, his freedom just a few scrolls away. He had to copy the rules twenty times for having gotten into a fight. It hadn't been an actual fight, much more like being bullied the hundredth time for not having parents, like he had a say in that in the first place.
The only person in the library beside him Lan Sizhui, who was reading through some manuscripts with his head down in a far corner of the room. Jin Ling wished he could pluck up the courage and maybe go engage himself in a conversation with the other, but it was of no use whatsoever.
But his throat was dry, and even though he had been keeping it off for now, telling himself that he could always just complete his punishment and then go outside and even eat something from the Lan sect's kitchen, he couldn't hold back anymore.
Knowing he couldn't step out of the library till he was done, Jin Ling looked around himself. There was a set of drawers nearby, so he decided to look in them. The top three just held documents and papers, but the last one was locked. Getting desperate by the minute, Jin Ling used an opening talisman and, to his delight, the drawer fell open. It held a medium-size white jar covered with a red cloth.
Jin Ling eagerly picked it up and placed it on the floor, before shutting all the drawers and sitting cross-legged beside the jar. He picked it up, and opened it.
----
Lan Sizhui was having trouble concentrating.
He told himself he was studying the different ways of saving someone from corpse-poisoning, but in reality, he was just holding a book in front of his face, sneaking a glance at Jin Ling whenever the other wasn't looking.
Then, he saw the other get up from his table. Following the yellow-robed boy with his eyes, he saw him search a few drawers. He seemed to be looking for something.
It seemed he had found it, exclaiming lowly in joy, he picked something up from the last drawer, and set it on the floor. Sizhui couldn't see what it was, since Jin Ling's robes flowed in front of it, but when the other sat down and picked the object up, he finally saw what it was.
The jar of Emperor's Smile Jingyi had hidden there!
He could only watch in horror as the boy with the vermillion spot raised the jar to his mouth, and drank to his heart's content. Sizhui wanted to do something, maybe call out and stop the other, but he felt like he had lost his voice.
Jin Ling wiped his mouth in front of Sizhui's eyes, grimacing slightly as the liquid went down his throat.
For a long time the two of them just stayed the way they were. Jin Ling on the floor with his head down and frame limp. Sizhui with his book now hanging unnoticed from his grasp, his mouth open.
Then, Jin Ling moved. He stood up, swaying slightly. The jar in his hand fell to the floor, rolling away pitifully as the boy stumbled across the library and in Sizhui's direction.
Sizhui felt like running away, but the door of Library Pavilion was in the same direction as Jin Ling's table, so he was caught in a dead-end. Besides, there was no way he could leave the other in such a situation, not when alcohol was prohibited in Cloud Recesses.
Jin Ling tripped over his robes and fell, and Sizhui couldn't hold himself back anymore. Abandoning his pretence of studying already, he got up and rushed over to the other boy.
"Young Master Jin, are you okay?" He asked worriedly as he crouched down beside the boy.
Jin Ling slowly and unsteadily raised his head to look at him. His face was completely red, and his eyes were glossy, as if he were living in a bliss.
"Lan Sizhui." He said with some difficulty.
"It is me, You Master Jin." Sizhui comforted the other.
"No!" The other boy said suddenly. "Don't call me that!"
His voice was unsteady and his words were slurred.
Sizhui looked at him in confusion. "Then, what should I call you?"
"Call me 'A-Ling'." Jin Ling replied defiantly, a grin spreading across his face as he said that.
Sizhui blushed. "But... I would have to be really close to you before I can call you that."
"Then become closer!" The other argued, leaning his body against Sizhui's, who had no choice but to embrace the other to prevent him from falling.
Sizhui's heart was pounding inside his heart now. Being this close to the boy he liked was too much for his poor innocent heart. He tried his best to remain unaffected, but failed miserably.
"Young Master Jin-"
Jin Ling glared at him.
"Uhh.... A-Ling, you should get back to your room." Sizhui stated, blushing even more at what he had just called the other boy.
"I don't want to!" Jin Ling yelled, and Sizhui gestured for him to speak lower; shouting was prohibited in Cloud Recesses. Jin Ling pressed closer to Sizhui, so that he was almost in his lap. "I want to stay with you, A-Yuan."
If Sizhui had been blushing earlier, his face now looked like one drenched in tomato sauce. He turned the words over and over in his head.
'A-Yuan'. A-Ling just called me 'A-Yuan'. He thought gleefully.
And so they sat there, Jin Ling with half his weight supported by Sizhui, who was burning red from embarrassment. The white-robed boy silently hoped that the other would fall asleep, then he could carry him to his room and leave him there without any worries.
It wasn't working.
"A-Yuan..." The boy called after some minutes.
"Yes?"
"What do you feel about me?"
The question was shy and its asker had hidden his face deep inside Sizhui's shoulder.
Sizhui spluttered and stammered, not finding words or the courage to say them.
When he didn't answer for a long time, Jin Ling pulled away from their hug to look at him.
"Do you not like me?" He asked him
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Zhuiling Oneshots
RomanceA bunch of oneshots for my OTP! There might be smut in here somewhere, but I'll put warnings before that.