Thank you knothim for the ko-fi donation! Since you donated for SVWL (already finished), I’m using that for fueling this series instead~
So, it’s 1 ko-fi away from a bonus update :3
“I said, I want to sleep with you tonight,” Jiang Wang lifted his arms, showing the nearly 1.8-meter-long quilt he was holding. “Is it possible?”
Ji Linqiu leaned against the doorframe, blocking the entrance with his shoulder. “Really scared? What did the child say to you?”
Jiang Wang took a step back, pretending to be hurt. “You’re actually guarding against me.”
“I’m heartbroken,” he muttered, hugging the quilt. “Forget it, I’ll just go back and sleep alone…”
Ji Linqiu sighed and stepped aside. “Come in, stop acting.”
Jiang Wang entered the room with satisfaction, still holding the quilt. “Should I sleep inside or outside?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Ji Linqiu was nearly done grading papers, so he quickly wrapped up, took a quick shower, and returned to find Jiang Wang lying on the outer side of the bed, playing with his phone under the soft glow of a nightlight.
“You’re surprisingly self-aware.” Ji Linqiu sighed, feeling helpless. “What’s going on today? Why the sudden urge to share a bed?”
“I wasn’t lying.” Jiang Wang glanced up at him. “Do I look like the kind of person who would lie?”
‘You definitely are.’
Half of Jiang Wang’s fear was real.
He knew exactly what terrified him most — he was no stranger to his own fears.
The other half, though, was because he had something on his mind he wanted to share.
However, Ji Linqiu maintained a composed expression. He tidied up his desk, turning off the main light, and lying down under his blanket without any emotional fluctuation. “Turn off the nightlight.”
Jiang Wang reached over, turned off the light, and settled back under his blanket.
Despite the two of them lying side by side with their blankets almost touching, there was a polite distance between them that created a sense of awkward detachment.
It dawned on Jiang Wang that Ji Linqiu had a tendency to avoid confronting issues head-on. He also would put up a defensive wall when he felt nervous.
Maybe it was his way of dealing with tension, as though nothing really affected him.
Strangely enough, Jiang Wang found this both timid and adorable, and couldn’t help but chuckle.
Hearing his laugh, Ji Linqiu turned over and faced away, exuding an air of cold indifference, so unlike the warmth and kindness he showed when caring for children.
Jiang Wang gazed at Ji Linqiu’s slender neck and softly said, “Teacher Ji, do you remember I told you there was something I wanted to talk to you about?”
He could catch the faint scent from the edge of Ji Linqiu’s blanket.
The bed was large, but maybe because they were each wrapped in their own blankets and afraid to get too close, their limbs felt restricted, leaving them oddly uncomfortable.
Ji Linqiu buried his face in his blanket, pretending to be asleep.
A little irritated, Jiang Wang called his name.
“Ji Linqiu.”
He couldn’t believe his own boldness, daring to call the teacher by name like this.
He turned the nightlight back on, determined to keep him awake.
The warm orange light spilled across Ji Linqiu’s pale neck, casting a soft, honeyed glow.
Ji Linqiu slowly opened his eyes, sat up beside Jiang Wang, and sighed quietly, as if finally giving in.
Until this moment, Jiang Wang had thought of Ji Linqiu as cold and distant. But with that sigh, it felt like all the defenses and resistance were nothing more than an empty shell.
Ji Linqiu looked down at a loose thread on his blanket, his voice hoarse.
“If you have anything to say, just say it now.”
Jiang Wang realized that Ji Linqiu embodied contradictions.
Cold yet fragile.
Mature, capable of handling everything – yet, he was like someone he should be held in his arms, protected and pampered.
After 3 months of reflection, Jiang Wang had carefully weighed this moment.
Now, finally saying it out loud, the vague and unsettling thoughts that had been lingering in his mind settled into place, taking root in his heart.
“Ji Linqiu, I want to pursue you.”
Ji Linqiu, as if he had anticipated this, didn’t lift his gaze and continued to stare at the loose thread.
After a few seconds, he softly replied, “Oh, so I need to be pursued?”
Jiang Wang reached over for a pair of scissors from the desk, clipped the thread right in front of him.
“Of course. Just because you’re gay doesn’t mean you have no value.”
Ji Linqiu finally reacted, letting out a soft grunt, his eyes still avoiding Jiang Wang’s.
He looked like a frustrated little rabbit, ears drooping in discomfort.
After a moment, he glanced sideways and said, “Turn off the light first.”
From the start, he had been carefully avoiding looking directly at Jiang Wang.
After confessing, Jiang Wang felt a sense of relief, as if a weight had been lifted. He casually tossed the scissors aside, turned off the light, and lay down quietly.
Ji Linqiu, still sitting upright in the darkness, spoke again. “I haven’t agreed yet.”
It seemed he didn’t want Jiang Wang to get the wrong idea.
“Doesn’t matter,” Jiang Wang said lazily. “I’m just giving you a heads-up.”
Ji Linqiu, suddenly irritated, snapped, “Believe me, I’ll kick you out of bed right now.”
Jiang Wang settled into a more comfortable position, his head resting on the pillow as he lazily explained, “Teacher Ji, I’m worried you think I’ve just been messing around.”
“Every time I get closer to you, I’m not playing games.”
He was very thoughtful about this matter.
He knew that if he were pursuing a woman, he would take a more subtle approach. But with Ji Linqiu, his same-sex friend, he had to be clear from the start.
“Actually,” Jiang Wang’s voice softened as he snuggled deeper under the blanket, “this is my first time pursuing someone.”
“If I do anything that makes you uncomfortable, I hope you’ll tell me.”
Ji Linqiu slid down into the bed, staring at Jiang Wang’s face in the dim moonlight.
The distance between them had shrunk, and now they faced each other from opposite sides of their blankets, like two people peering from behind walls.
Jiang Wang’s face was the heroic type, and he was handsome enough that people tend to gloss over his eyes.
They were in amber color, gleaming with a faint light.
Ji Linqiu looked into those eyes, feeling his heart tighten inch by inch.
“Have you really thought it through?”
Before Jiang Wang could respond, Ji Linqiu pulled his blanket up as if to put a barrier between them.
“Jiang Wang, feelings can be… misleading.”
The taller man on the other side of the blanket spoke up.
“There was one Friday — I remember it clearly, it was a Friday. Back when we still lived in the old apartment block.”
“I went to pick up Xingwang from school.”
“Every Friday, I would take him to the bookstore for milk tea and chocolate waffles, then we’d watch a movie before heading home.”
“You happened to be standing at the classroom door, explaining something to a parent.”
“The sycamore leaves were swaying, casting shadows on you, making your buttons glint in the sunlight.”
“I think I stared at you for a long time.”
“When I got back, I automatically took Xingwang home with me. He thought I was going on a business trip again.”
Jiang Wang’s voice was slow, his words plain and simple.
“I always thought I could remember everything I needed to do every day.”
“But somehow, I missed it, over and over again.”
‘Because I was watching you.’
‘I couldn’t stop looking at you.’
Ji Linqiu lowered the blanket after a long silence and said, “Go to sleep.”
Jiang Wang smiled at him. “Are you embarrassed?”
Ji Linqiu, exasperated, pulled the blanket over Jiang Wang’s head.
“Hey!”
They both slept soundly through the night without any dreams.
Though the bed had felt cramped at first, the awkward distance between their blankets disappeared, leaving them feeling cozy and relaxed.
It made sleeping alone seem too spacious.
Jiang Wang’s biological clock woke him at 7 AM. He quietly slipped out, went to Peng Xingwang’s room to wake him up, helped him get ready, and saw him off.
Peng Xingwang, who had been too scared to sleep at first, had snored soundly through the night, blissfully unaware that his older brother had snuck off early on.
When he got up, he was still a bit reluctant.
“Just let me sleep a little longer, ten more minutes…”
Jiang Wang nearly dragged him, blanket and all, to brush his teeth and wash his face.
“Didn’t you forget to finish some homework at school? Hurry up and do it, or the teacher will scold you again!”
The little guy rushed out after putting on his school uniform but was stopped by Jiang Wang’s sharp eyes and quick hands. “Safety helmet! Red scarf!!”
“Oh oh oh! Got it!”
Jiang Wang watched the kid run off to school and felt like something was missing.
Wait, the teacher was still in bed.
Damn, he’s been acting like a parent and forgot the teacher’s still asleep.
He quickly went back to the room, climbed onto the bed, and poked at Ji Linqiu’s blanket.
“It’s 7:20!”
Ji Linqiu lazily kicked him, not very hard, with a soft, sleepy voice, “I’m taking a day off today, stop making trouble.”
Jiang Wang sighed in relief and crawled back into his bed for a nap. As soon as his eyes closed, he fell asleep.
Both of them had been exhausted these days, lacking sleep. They ended up sleeping until noon, only waking when the sun had heated their blankets to the point they couldn’t stay asleep any longer.
Jiang Wang, worried that Ji Linqiu would feel awkward seeing him still in bed in the middle of the day, woke up, grabbed his blanket, and snuck out, pretending his thoughts were entirely innocent.
Ji Linqiu woke up a little later, lazily lounging around before finally getting up to wash up.
They exchanged a few playful words and got dressed before heading out to lunch together.
Jiang Wang liked to listen to rock music while driving, though Ji Linqiu sometimes found it too loud and would change the station halfway through.
For lunch, as usual, they went to a restaurant near the elementary school. One dish of spicy chicken, one plate of cucumber salad.
Jiang Wang remembered that Ji Linqiu liked spicy food and made sure to push the small dish of chili powder towards him.
Ji Linqiu habitually sterilized their utensils with hot water before eating, even though it probably didn’t kill many germs. It had become a little pre-meal ritual for them.
Halfway through the meal, Jiang Wang spoke slowly.
“Teacher Ji.”
“Hm?”
“Do you have any plans for next weekend?”
“No, why?”
Jiang Wang gave a sly smile. “Let’s go on a date.”
Ji Linqiu blinked, finally catching on.
When Jiang Wang said this, his cheeks were hot, but he controlled his other small reactions, trying to maintain his composure.
He had spent a long time in front of the mirror before heading out, carefully choosing a brand-new collared coat that made him look radiant.
Ji Linqiu took a second to process what was said. After a while, he finished more than half of his yogurt, slowly and carefully.
It was like he needed time to digest the words.
“Mn… to where?” Ji Linqiu asked softly.
“The amusement park in the provincial capital?” Jiang Wang looked at him cautiously. “Or we could drive out to the mountains?”
“The amusement park,” Ji Linqiu replied, looking down at his food again. “If the weather’s good, we’ll go. If it rains, I’m staying home to sleep.”
Both of them realized something at the same time.
How wonderful~
They now have plenty of time for the passion to grow.
