Chapter Text
Jingyi gazed up at the ceiling in his bedroom, laying next to Jin Ling on the soft carpet with two bottles between them- one of them a cheap vodka that Jin Ling’s uncle Xuanyu had bought them, the other was orange juice that Jingyi had found in the fridge earlier that day, and most definitely belonged to his mom.
“They’re so fu- * hic * fucking pretty Jingyi, you don’t understand!” Jin Ling slurred, sitting up so he could clumsily take another swig of the vodka. Definitely not a good idea considering how drunk he already was, but who was Jingyi to try and stop him when he was just as bad?
Jingyi took a moment to register his friend's words. The glow in the dark ocean themed stickers on his ceiling momentarily forgotten as Jingyi turned his head to stare curiously at Jin Ling, “Who?” He asked, raising a brow.
Jin Ling scoffed, “Sizhui, of course. Who else would it be, when they’re the most gor-… what’s the *hic* word again?” He frowned.
Jingyi stayed silent, processing what Jin Ling had just confessed to. While he agreed that Sizhui was really attractive in many ways, he wondered how someone as prickly as Jin Ling had managed to fall for them. Especially when they were such a gentle person- Jin Ling’s polar opposite.
“Since we’re *hic* revealing secrets…” Jingyi hummed, a small grin forming on his lips.
“We’re not, I wouldn’t tell you my secrets ever!” Jin Ling hissed, glaring at Jingyi like an angry kitten.
Jingyi only glared, he still needed to say his secret goddammit!
“Shut your face and listen, you idiot.”
“Hmph!”
A moment of silence after they both zoned out, staring at the ceiling stickers again.
“A-Ling, A-Ling guess what?”
“What do you want…” Jin Ling grumbled, not getting angry at the nickname for once.
“I have, like, the biggest crush on Zizhen.” He giggled, poking his tongue out at Jin Ling when a scowl covered the other's face.
Really, he would never have told anyone- let alone Jin Ling- about his crush on their other mutual best friend. However, alcohol had a funny way of working- of making your heart race and your nerves calm enough for you to feel like nothing truly mattered, and you could reveal your deepest and darkest secrets as if you were telling someone what you had for breakfast instead.
“Jingyi, that’s gay .” Jin Ling blanked, the both of them dissolving into a fit of laughter as soon as Jin Ling couldn’t hold his straight face anymore.
The sound of the front door opening snapped them back into reality and the two turned to stare at each other in shocked silence, eyes wide with terror.
“Jingyi? Is that you I hear?” His dad's voice echoed from the end of the hall. If the front door opening wasn’t enough, the sound of his mom and dad coming home was definitely more than enough to sober the two boys instantly.
“I thought you said your parents were away on business!” Jin Ling whisper-shouted, scrambling to his feet. He shoved the alcohol into his bag and zipped it up, sliding it onto his back as Jingyi opened the window as quietly as possible.
Jingyi’s panicked gaze landed on Jin Ling again, his hand motioning for the younger to go through first. “I wasn’t lying! They said they wouldn’t be back until Sunday!” He jumped out after Jin Ling, the two of them sprinting along the side of the house and then down the street.
At times it almost turned into a race, but they had no idea where they were even heading until Jingyi tripped on a twig and winded himself by flying forward and slamming his stomach onto the seat of a swing.
A pained yelp was forced from his lips as pain exploded in his gut, then he was forced to lay on the swing and gasp for air while Jin Ling almost fell over from laughing so hard. His arms were wrapped around his middle and his laughter rang out like bells chiming in the autumn afternoon.
“Oh fuucckk,” he rasped, “Jin Ling help me, I’m dying.”
“What do I get in return?” The youngest of their little quartet raised a brow and smirked, still letting out a few quiet giggles in between words.
Jingyi thought for a moment, “I’ll give my knight in shining armor the reward of a kiss if he carries this fair maiden over to the swinging bridge on the playground~” He cooed, batting his eyelashes at Jin Ling.
“As if! Which sane person on this earth would even want to kiss you?” Jin Ling scowled at Jingyi. Despite that, he still stepped closer and held out an arm for Jingyi, which the boy gratefully accepted.
The two walked- or hobbled, in Jingyi’s case- over to the children's playground and sat down in the center of the swinging bridge made from spaced out planks of wood and iron chains.
The late afternoon sky was slowly darkening as night came closer, the clouds going from a snowy white to a dark pink which melded into the purples and gold- Jingyi was almost tempted to take a photo and post it on Instagram, but he wouldn’t since Jin Ling would tease him relentlessly for it.
The swirl of thoughts swam around in his mind as Jin Ling grabbed the vodka from his bag along with an energy drink that had probably been sitting there for a few days. They passed them back and forth, silently praying that no cops drove past and arrested them for underage drinking- his parents would murder him. Jin Ling would be even more screwed though if his JiuJiu found out, not to mention the look of disappointment his mom would give him.
Those looks from Jiang Yanli could send a man to an early grave just from the guilt you felt when she gave it.
Another look up at the sunset had Jingyi back on his earlier train of thought.
Ouyang Zizhen, aka the most stunning man to exist.
Also the only person Jingyi knew who took sunset photos and wasn’t even a little ashamed.
Cringey sunset photos.
Those gross couples who took sunset photos…
Couple.
Negative feelings from one-sided attraction…
“Jin Ling, I just had the best idea.”
“Oh please, any idea from you is just a disaster waiting to happen, Jingyi.” Jin Ling huffed a laugh.
“Hey! Zizhen says my ideas are great, so shut up!”
“They’re not, but fine- what’s this idea of yours?”
Jingyi puffed his chest out and sent a smug grin to his drinking buddy. “We should pretend to date, I wanna see if Sizhui or Zizhen get jealous.”
Jin Ling returned his smirk with another blank stare, “you can’t be serious… That’s the most idiotic idea you’ve had, congrats.”
“But-”
“Who would even believe we were dating? Sizhui and Zizhen are way too smart, and they know us too well.”
“Jin Ling please!” Jingyi pleaded, almost desperate. “I need to know if I have a chance with him, so… Please, please do this for me?” He tilted his head and gave Jin Ling a look, hoping the other understood how serious he was.
A heavy sigh penetrated the tense air after a few too many minutes of silence before Jin Ling finally spoke, “since when am I the responsible one? Fine. I’ll do it, but if we’re doing this then we’re making it so damn believable that they won’t question a single thing. Alright?”
“I take back every bad thing I ever said about you to Zizhen and Sizhui behind your back! I love you so much A-Ling, you’re the best friend a guy could ask for!” Jingyi beamed, wrapping his arms around Jin Ling, who tried to throw him off but failed- damn that Lan arm strength.
“Get off me, asshole!” Jin Ling decided not to get caught up on the whole 'talking behind his back' thing, because truthfully... He'd done the same.
“Nope! Boyfriend rights, I get to hug you now~”
“ Fake . Boyfriend.” Jin Ling hissed out from between clenched teeth. “I still like Sizhui.”
Realistically, he knew Jingyi was just doing it to piss him off, but of course he’d still rise to the bait, it was too ingrained into his nature at this point. “And I’m still deeply in love with Zizhen, don’t be dramatic A-Ling~”
Jin Ling raised a brow, unimpressed.
“Oh please, it’s not like we’re in some cheesy romantic comedy. I sincerely swear I won’t fall in love with you, Mistress Jin.” Jingyi jumped onto his feet on the bridge, and after balancing himself he gave Jin Ling a dramatic bow.
“I hate you.”
“Lies! Anyways, we need a game plan or whatever but we can’t go back to mine since my mother can sniff out alcohol like a bloodhound.” Jingyi gave a thoughtful hum and stumbled when he tried to stand still, the alcohol really getting to him.
Seriously- how did his alcoholic mother manage to give birth to such a lightweight? Sometimes he felt like he’d shamed her with this failure, but then he remembered that his father had never touched alcohol in his life and felt a bit better.
Really, his mother finding out about the underage drinking wouldn’t be that big of a deal. His father on the other hand… He’d rather not have to be there to witness it.
Ah! He was getting sidetracked again! His stupid medication- he wasn’t meant to drink alcohol after taking it since it could null the effects, but he’d thought it would be fine. Apparently he was wrong about that.
It seemed Jin Ling had caught onto Jingyi’s switch in demeanor, “we’ll go to the Venerated Throuple’s place, since Lan Xichen is away for work and the other two won’t snitch on us for drinking.”
Jingyi was honestly surprised at how fast his friend- now fake boyfriend, he supposed- had come up with that idea. Though, out of the two of them, Jingyi had to admit that Jin Ling got better grades (except for science! Science was Jingyi’s jam , and he’d forever hold his spot as top of the class!).
“Do you think Nie Mingjue will get mad if I call them the Venerated Throuple to his face? I know uncle Xichen thinks it funny, but I’m a *hic* little bit worried that Meng Yao will poison me the next *hic* time we stay there.” Jingyi giggled, jumping down from the bridge and almost falling flat on his face in the process.
An absolutely flabbergasted expression overtook Jin Ling’s face, and Jingyi found it to be the most hilarious thing ever.
“Uncle A-Yao would never!” He gaped, slugging Jingyi’s back when he jumped off the bridge after him.
Jingyi let out a weird, almost pained noise when he was hit, “did you forget how the three of them got together in the first place?” He fired back.
Jin Ling flushed a bright red, lips pursed into a frown that said he really wanted to argue but knew he’d lost this one. “Shut up. Let’s go.”
“Of course, my young mistress Jin~” Jingyi purred, taking the younger boy’s hand in his before he could protest.
Something in that action made Jin Ling’s heart flutter and gave him a short burst of butterflies deep in his gut. However, if anyone questioned him he’d deny such an outrageous thing and claim that the alcohol had made him want to throw up.
Yeah. That was it- he just needed to hurl! So they should hurry up and get to his uncle A-Yao’s place before he did it on the sidewalk (or Jingyi’s shoes, purely out of spite).
Jingyi swung their hands as they walked side by side, humming a random pop song he’d heard on the radio when Sizhui drove them to school the day before. It was peaceful like this- barely, if any, people around to bother the two drunk teens stumbling down the street, and the streetlights illuminating their path for them as they struggled to remember the address they were meant to be going to.
“A-Ling?”
“What d’you want?”
“I think we’d make a pretty convincing couple, if we both didn’t already love other people.”
Jin Ling’s face lit up in five different shades of red, growing even worse when Jingyi squeezed his hand and turned that million watt smile in his direction.
“Shut the fuck up! Cheesy motherfucker!”
“Ooh~ Do you kiss your mother with that mouth, A-Ling?” Jingyi cackled like a mad man, dropping his hand to sprint off down the street. “Will you kiss me with it, too?” He turned around and begun running backwards… Promptly falling backwards onto his ass in the process.
“Serves you right, dumbass…” Jin Ling huffed, but helped him up nonetheless after jogging to catch up.
“You didn’t answer my questions.”
“They’re so stupid they don’t deserve an answer.” Jin Ling wrinkled his nose and turned away.
“That’s fine, you don’t deserve to kiss these perfect lips.” The older boy answered before a dreamy smile pulled his lips up. “They’re reserved for one Ouyang Zizhen, anyways, not some bratty mistress.”
“Maybe I’ll personally request that uncle A-Yao poisons your food.”
“No! A-Ling my darling I’m sorry! I won’t do it again, he genuinely scares me so please don’t!”
Jin Ling didn’t grace that with an answer either, instead he crossed his arms and walked away with a smug grin on his lips.
Serves that idiot Lan Jingyi right, for trying to mess with him like that.
.