Chapter Text
Airplane came home around 5:00 this time. He arrived home with wobbly legs and was glad when he stepped on the solid stone of his building’s door. Last night was cold enough for the rainwater to freeze, creating a thin layer of black ice Airplane nearly slipped on 5 times. The relief that washed over him at not having to be careful with every step he took was like a small wave against a seashell.
Grabbing his jacket to look for his keys, he thought about the last few nights. Cucumber-bro was certainly someone. He treated others as if they were beneath him, but only to a certain extent. He knew where to get good coffee. He definitely didn’t know where to find good novels, or at least who to expect them from. That was another thing Airplane noted. Cucumber-bro was different than he seemed to be in the forums. He seemed a little less… cold? Not to say that he didn’t act just as bitchy as in the forums, or wasn’t as critical, but he seemed to be approachable about it. He reminded Airplane of a very particular wife he wanted to write for Luo Binghe once.
He never thought of a name for her, for she was just a fleeting idea in the dead of night. She didn’t even make it into his notes, but Airplane remembered her every time he saw Lord Cucumber. She was a vicious woman. Cold-hearted, stern, always biting and never letting go when she tasted blood. She would’ve been the perfect match for Luo Binghe, because all she needed was for someone to stay long enough to see her true self. Someone ambitious but misunderstood, who wanted to protect herself so she would be hurt by the people who did her family wrong.
Except Airplane didn’t think that somebody did Cucumber-bro’s family any wrong. But still, he probably just had a hard exterior. And Airplane will have a lot of fun cracking it!
He got onto the elevator, pressing his floor button and feeling the elevator under him. He really liked those as a kid, always being excited to leave the house just to feel the rush of the elevator under his feet. His fascination with elevators never went away, he just forgets about it sometimes when he is tired.
When he came to a stop and stepped off the elevator, he didn’t immediately notice anything wrong, but he did notice that his keys didn’t seem to work this time. Strange he thought. Did he use the wrong key? Must’ve. He rechecked the keys again, pulled out the same one he thinks he used previously, and inserted it again. Still, the door didn’t budge.
It did budge a moment later. Airplane’s head went through several different scenarios, all ending in the same conclusion. Either there was a burglar in his apartment – which would be pointless because what was the guy gonna steal? His mattress? – or his house was haunted and there was resentful ghost trying to kill him. The latter one seemed more likely, who knows how many people Airplane has pissed off in this or his other lifetimes. He’s sure he was just as much of an asshole to his neighbors as he was to-
“Get away you filthy burglar!” Lady Yōuyă yelled and rose a broom over her head, ready to strike. Airplane flinched and raised his hands protectively, yelling “Yōuyă-Ayi, it’s me! I’m sorry, please don’t hit me!” while mentally preparing himself to get hit again. The hit never came.
Instead, he heard a raspy voice calling him out. “Xiao-Hua?” Airplane carefully moved down his arms and let out a shaky breath. Lady Yōuyă was standing in her doorway, hair still messy (probably from sleep), a broom by her side and a hand on the door handle. Despite the darkness, Airplane could see the questioning annoyance in her face. He didn’t blame her.
“Xiao-Hua, it’s 5 in the morning. Why are you trying to get into my apartment?” She asked, and something clicked in Airplane’s brain. He looked at the floor number next to the elevator and indeed, he wasn’t on the 9th floor, but on the 8th. He turned back to Lady Yōuyă, guilty of waking her up. He looked down and silently said “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was on the wrong floor.” Lady Yōuyă looked up to him, frowning a little. She probably felt sorry for him but was contemplating whether or not to accept his apology. In the end, she sighed and tapped his chin with her broom. Airplane looked into her eyes. “It’s alright, Xiao-Hua. What were you doing up so late anyway?” she asked, directly looking into his soul. Airplane found her really scared about that. She had a talent of seeing if someone was lying or not. Airplane has tried multiple times of outsmarting her, but she knew every time. It didn’t stop him from trying his luck this time.
“I was at school. I had to get a project done before Monday.” Lady Yōuyă only “Pah!”-ed, taking his head aggressively in her hands this time. “I can tell when you lie, but even if I couldn’t, I wouldn’t believe you. Not only are you the worst student I know of, you are also the last person to willingly stay at school just to finish a project.” Airplane was speechless for a moment. She really was good. Everything she said was always true. Shockingly so. He sometimes though she was a fortune teller or had visions about the people in her life. Resigned, Airplane groaned and let his head fall a little more. “You’re right, Yōuyă-Ayi.“ She let go of his chin, crossing her arms and tapping her foot, waiting for her answer.
“I couldn’t sleep again. So I went out for coffee.” Lady Yōuyă didn’t say anything after that statement. She didn’t need to. After all, she was the one who heard the most of his sleepless nights. Too often did she bang against her cane or broom against the ceiling to tell him he’s being too loud. It was bad enough that Airplane didn’t get any sleep, but he dragged her down with her. By being out of the house, at least one of them got decent sleep.
Noticing his thoughts spiraling again, he tried to snap out of it. It wouldn’t do him or her any good if he started with the self-pity. Luckily, Lady Yōuyă knew him well by now. She touched his shoulder and squeezed a little, grounding him. Airplane looked at the hand, then back at Lady Yōuyă, then back at the hand. She sighed and pulled him inside her apartment. “Come, Xiao-Hua, the cats have missed you.” She told him and Airplane went willingly.
The moment he stepped in her apartment, he always noticed how warm it was. Not to say that his own apartment was cold, but he always kept the heating down to a minimum when he was there and completely turned it down when he went out. But Lady Yōuyă was home most of the time, and not the youngest woman at that. It was only natural she kept her apartment warm most of the time, but it was always a relief for Airplane when he visited her, especially during wintertime.
The light was turned on and Airplane experienced another assault on his senses. Outside it was still very dark and the bright ceiling light felt like it was trying to burn his eyes out of his skull. He immediately clenched his eyes shut, pointedly looking at the floor. It took a while for Airplane to get used to the light and he didn’t notice how Lady Yōuyă walked past him and grabbed 2 cups from the kitchen shelve. What he did notice was the sound of water when his neighbor turned on the kitchen faucet and let it run for a little while. He noticed the sound of a kettle being turned on and the water starting to boil. After 2 minutes of the quiet noise of the water boiling, Airplane opened his eyes again. The light wasn’t as piercing anymore, and he looked towards Lady Yōuyă’s kitchen.
She was standing at the counter, her back turned towards him and preparing tea leaves. Her fingers moved gracefully over her favorite set of teacups and teapot, carefully measuring the Bi Luo Chun leaves. When the water was finally hot enough – Airplane didn’t really know that much about tea, nut Lady Yōuyă had explained the importance of the right temperature to him once – she carefully poured the hot liquid over the tealeaves and into the pot and let it steep for 1 minute. She turned back towards him and made a hand gesture, inviting him to sit.
Airplane gladly took the invite and, after remembering he still had his shoes on, he took of both his shoes and his jacket. The shoes were placed neatly against Lady Yōuyă’s own, and the jacket hung up. Her flat was the only place he ever put his shoes away willingly. He owed his very tidy neighbor at least so much. He crossed the living room and sat down on one end of the pink couch. Airplane almost sunk into the material, softly sighing as he felt himself relaxing. His own couch didn’t feel half as cozy as her’s.
Lady Yōuyă came over shortly after he sat down, a tablet of teapot and teacups in hands. She set it down on the small pastel pink coffee table and sat down next to Airplane. He watched as she leaned over to pour a bit of tea into the two cups, as the liquid silently flowed into its new vessel and steam rose up. Airplane thought it to be almost magical, even ethereal. Lady Yōuyă set down the pot again reached for both of the cups and offering him one. He took the teacup with both hands.
“Thank you.” He said quietly and felt the warmth migrating to his hands. He didn’t immediately drink the tea. “You’re too kind, Ayi.” Lady Yōuyă only shook her head, giving no explanation and taking a sip of her tea. Only then did Airplane also drink the tea. The liquid was piping hot, almost burning his tongue, but he managed. He found tea to be similar to coffee in that regard. Both drinks were nice, though they tasted more bitter the colder they got. It’s best to drink them fresh out of the pot. And it would be rude of him not to drink it. After all, the tea was milder than Airplane knew Lady Yōuyă liked it. It was exactly how he liked it. Airplane set down his cup at the same time was his neighbor and waited. He didn’t even know for what. Maybe for the woman to start talking first? Or until the sun rose and she had to go get groceries for next week? He was just wasting her time like this.
A small thud next to him pulled him back into reality. He looked towards his left side and stretched out his hand. It was instinct by now with how often Lady Yōuyă’s cats sought him out whenever he visited. It was always the same.
Lián always came first, taking his outstretched hand and rubbing her head against his hand. Her fur felt soft under Airplane’s touch, and he reveled in it. After petting herself enough, she would hover next to his hand, patiently awaiting to be spoiled by her second favorite human. Airplane didn’t immediately start petting her. He had always loved playing hard to get with her, but Lián was an impatient cat, and she will jump away if she doesn’t get what she wants. And Airplane loved spoiling her in that regard. He moved his hand from the top of her little head towards her left ear and started crawling just behind there and Lián mewled at the feeling. She flopped down beside him immediately after that and curled up against his thigh, warming herself on his leg (though Airplane thinks that she is warming him up).
He felt another thud on his other side and looked towards the other cat. He reached his other hand out as well, but Shuì was always more of a reserved cat. She only started purring when Airplane gave her most of his attention, pampering her with pats and caresses that most people never got in their entire life. Despite her stubbornness, though, Shuì soon found herself on his other thigh, sprawled over like she was leaning on the back of a couch. Airplane found it incredibly sweet.
He himself thrived at all the attention he was getting from the cats. He closes his eyes in enjoyment and took in everything around him. The room still smelt strongly of the Bi Luo Chun, but it didn’t bother Airplane at all. He could hear and feel the cats purring against his legs, and he could finally feel his eyelids starting to get a little heavier than a few hours ago. The relief of that realization was greater than he must’ve noticed.
He opened his eyes when Lady Yōuyă touched his arm. She has moved a little closer and started inspecting him again. Airplane started to feel like more and more of a human experiment the more often he came to visit her. She moved her hand away from it’s previous placement on his arm and touched his cheek. The touch of her warm hand was welcoming, caring, and Airplane didn’t really register how her thumb caressed the very dark circles under his eyes. She let out a breath and tried sounding annoyed if Airplane had to guess, but she simply wasn’t that good at it. Airplane couldn’t help but chuckle a little at that. Lady Yōuyă withdraw her hand faster than Shuì when she smelled something to eat and crossed both her arms in front of her chest. The only thing that could make this more cliché like would be if she suddenly started to pointedly not look at him. She still did.
“What’s so funny, Xiao-Hua? Should I kick you out again?” she asked outraged, but Airplane couldn’t stop himself. He made a gesture telling her to wait a moment and tried to gain his composure. The cats weren’t all that pleased about the earthquake of a man they were laying on, so they hurried away and laid next to the couch on the pink carpet. Airplane has almost forgotten how much Lady Yōuyă liked that particular color. Wasn’t there also this one character in Harry Potter that liked everything pink? What was her name again? Umbitch or something like that?
“I don’t mean to offend you, Ayi, but you really are bad at playing annoyed by me.” He answered her, still clutching his stomach in laughter and trying to catch his breathing. His neighbor only huffed and continued speaking.
“I am annoyed! How many times had Xiao-Hua not slept this week?” Frankly, aside from the last 2 nights he spent wide awake and arguing with Cucumber-bro, he really couldn’t say. “Because I can remember at least 4.” She continued and Airplane really had no idea what to do with that information. “This is not healthy, Qinghua, we’ve had this conversation too many times already and yet you still never take anything I tell you seriously!” Airplane couldn’t bring himself to be angry at her (for long) and started admiring the pattern of the sofa. They’ve indeed had this conversation one too many times, but whatever she suggests works for maybe 1 or 2 times and then it just stops working and the cycle continued anew. And Airplane was so fucking tired.
“I know, Yōuyă-Ayi, but it just doesn’t help long term.” He says and awaits her answer. When nothing comes, Airplane takes the risk of looking up to her. She is staring directly at him, pity in her eyes and some other emotion Airplane can’t really place. She looks like his mother, how she once looked at him before the divorce.
Lady Yōuyă simply let out another long breath and reached out her arms. Those long and now slightly more frail arms wrapped around Airplane, and he felt himself relaxing. The tension he held in his whole body disappeared in less than a second and he slumped like a pupped cut from its masters stings, right into her shoulder. He has long stopped smiling. The arms around him clutched him tighter and Airplane felt almost home. He couldn’t remember when he had been hugged like this the last time, though he thinks it must’ve been some time. Airplane thinks he could stay like this forever.
But just as quickly as he had been hugged, the arms drew away and left him cold and aching for more. He didn’t voice those thoughts, though. “Come, Xiao-Hua, drink your tea and off to bed with you.” He obliged willingly.
He drank his tea and Airplane and Lady Yōuyă talked about whatnot. A bit about the weather, a bit about the newest gossip in the neighborhood – apparently the son of her next-door neighbor has been seen cheating on his girlfriend and after dumping her, his affair cheated on him just a day after – and a little bit about his novel. Of course, Airplane would never fully show Lady Yōuyă what he has been feeding his readers, but with all the support he was getting from her in its early days, he felt wrong by not including her. When the clock read 5:37am, all their tea had been drunk and Airplane said goodbye to his neighbor.
“Thank you, Yōuyă-Ayi, for the tea.” Airplane said to her, pressing the elevator button and hearing the whirring of the metal box rising.
“There is no need to thank me.” She answered. Airplane smiled back at her. The doors to the elevator opened and he stepped in, “Just-“ Airplane stopped in his step, careful to keep his foot between the sliding doors and looked back at Lady Yōuyă. She had this worry full look in her eyes again. “Promise me you at least try to sleep.”
“I will.” Airplane answered and stepped into the elevator, pressing the 9 and finally arriving on the right floor.
Again, he discarded most of his belongings on the floor, only stopped to put on an oversized shirt and immediately went to his bedroom, collapsing on the mattress and curling up like the cat did not even an hour ago.
And after a full hour of tossing and turning, he actually managed to fall asleep somewhat.