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It had been a long, terrible week. He'd had to sit through another disastrous arranged date with one of the daughter's of his mom's friends and after that, Jiang Cheng had had to swallow his bitterness at his father's vacant-but-oh-so-disappointed expression that had been ever so full of 'you're not enough' and because of that, he'd ended up being his bitter, terrible self and had ended up fighting with Wei Wuxian.
So Jiang Cheng says 'fuck this' and he goes to the one place where he won't kill anyone.
He's been a long time patron of the dog shelter and the senior staff members know him by name. Jiang Cheng had started volunteering in High School, convincing his parents that it would look well for his college applications (and not really caring if it did, really). Once he'd realized the extent of the trauma Wei Wuxian had with dogs, Jiang Cheng had realized that as long as he wanted to have his brother in his life, he wasn't going to be able to actually own a dog, maybe ever.
So he walked dogs and played with them and sometimes he just went inside the cages to study while the dogs slept nearby and he was at peace. Even when his responsibilities have made it harder for him to be as present as he wanted, Jiang Cheng did his best to be at the shelter at leatst twice a month.
"I was hoping you'd come soon!" Mrs. Flores says, smiling at him. "We got a new dog a few weeks ago you're gonna love."
Peaches is a beautiful, energetic malinois puppy that had been found wandering around without a chip or a tag and she is extremely friendly, jumping at him and licking his hands and face immediately. According to Mrs. Flores, the vet had said that Peaches was around seven months old and they had just finished with her vaccinations.
When Mrs. Flores asks if he wants to take her for a walk, Jiang Cheng doesn't hesitate to say 'yes'.
Peaches demands his whole attention, so disappointed parents and annoying brothers have no place in his mind. She's unruly and energetic, pulling at her leash constantly and trying to give playful nips that were just a little too forceful, so Jiang Cheng starts teaching her some basic obedience, taking notes so he can discuss with Mrs. Flores what Peaches was going to need, to get her happily adopted soon.
She's smart as a wip, quickly learning his commands, filling Jiang Cheng with a quiet sense of pride which... it's probably his bad, since he relaxes and, being as smart as she is, he's certain that Peaches had notices he wasn't as attentive as before and thus, A Tragedy In Five Sentences Or Less happens.
1. A probably suicidal cat decided to run near Peaches.
2. Jiang Cheng, still with the high of having tought Peaches to sit down, hadn't been ready for that unexpected tug and he ends losing his balance and falling down hard.
3. He barely manages to hold on to Peaches' leash, but her forty pounds of puppy-excitement mean that she does manage to pull hard on him and even drag a little..
4. A familiar voice asks him. "Are you okay?"
Jiang Cheng curses, and then again inside his head.
"Define 'okay'," he manages, grumbling, standing up, even as Wen Qing comes closer. She's wearing her hospital scrubs, her hair twisted and held with a pen, the shadows under her eyes almost like bruises. They've talked a lot through text, since they had sex, but it's the first time they have seen each other since the party. He has come to learn that midterms, for Wen Qing, often mean 20 hours long days, something she had warned from the beginning and Jiang Cheng respects.
But she gives him a smile, even as Peaches keeps on trying to pull on the leash.
"I didn't know you had a dog," she offers.
"I don't," he says. "She's a rescue at the shelter. I'm just walking her to socialize her."
Wen Qing lifts an eyebrow at him before crouching down, and that means that Peaches stops pulling to instead do her favorite thing, slobber people's faces while she asks for scritches and Jiang Cheng sighs when Wen Qing just laughs.
"She's cute," Wen Qing says. "Send me her info, I'll pass it to the people in my class."
"Yeah, sure," but when he tries to take out his phone to do so, he winces, only then noticing the scratches.
Wen Qing frowns a little, reaching for his hand and holding it carefully, examining the cut.
"It's nothing," and it's stupid that they have had sex, he knows whow Wen Qing tastes and the face she makes as she comes, and Wen Qing holding his hand is making his stupid heart beat like crazy.
"Maybe," she agrees. "It still needs to be cleaned. I'm actually done for the day, if you want to come to my place?"
As if he would ever say no to that.
If he had been worried that things would get weird, Jiang Cheng is relieved when nothing like that happens. Instead they keep the conversation they had on WeChat and Wen Qing invites him an ice cream while they walk towards her apartment building.
"Jiejie?" Wen Ning asks, blinking his huge eyes towards them. "Jiang-xiong?"
"You're running late already, didi," Wen Qing doesn't answer whatever implied question Wen Ning had meant, taking off her shows and leaving her schoolbag and keys. "Jiang Cheng, there's plastic bowls you can use for water for Peaches under the sink. I'll be right back."
"... there's stew with potates for dinner," Wen Ning says, even as he picks up his own bag. "Um, c-cute dog."
"Thanks. It's not mine," Jiang Cheng answers, taking off his shoes as well.
Wen Ning seems about to ask what he means before he obviously decides not to, instead simply calling a 'goodbye, jiejie, Jiang-xiong!' before he leaves. So Jiang Cheng does what Wen Qing had said and he walks into the kitchen to search for a bowl to give some water to peaches. A quick glance around the living room-slash-kitchen lets him know that there is nothing a curious puppy might decide to chew on, so he puts the water down and takes of her leash, letting her roam through Wen Qing's apartment.
She comes back soon enough with a first aid kit, gesturing for him to sit down. Jiang Cheng should probably tell her that it's not really necessary, but he's weak to the idea of Wen Qing touching him in any possible way. When Wen Qing starts cleaning the scrapes, Jiang Cheng suddenly gets hit with the wildest feeling of deja vu and then he snorts a laugh, making Wen King glance at him.
"Sorry, sorry, I just... this is the second time we've done this." he says. At Wen Qing's obvious confussion, he elaborates. "You and a-jie were in cram school and Nie Huaisang, Wei Wuxian, Wen Ning and me were playing with our bikes, and I fell down--"
"... and you scrapped your knee." Wen Qing finishes, a smile blossoming on her face. "The more things changes, huh."
Jiang Cheng had been all of thirteen years old and his crush on Wen Qing had already been painfully, blatantly obvious, to the teasing of all of his friends, and he'd suddenly had her touching his leg, telling him to stay still and not move as she cleaned the rather large scrap he'd gotten and, once she had finished, Wen Qing had smiled at him and called him a good boy.
Jiang Cheng would never say that it had awakened something in him then... but he had been pretty much unable to look Wen Qing in the eye for weeks afterwards.
"Well, this one isn't as bad as that one," Wen Qing interrupts his daydreaming as she finishes with the dressing for it. "I'm covering to keep it clean, since you're with Peaches, but it shouldn't be giving you any trouble."
"Thanks," he smiles, only then a little awkward. "I should go. I have to take her back to the shelter."
"Sure," there's something a little off on Wen Qing's face, and Jiang Cheng would never say it out loud, but maybe she sunds awkward as well? "It's my first free day in a while. I was thinking of watching a movie..."
And it's not quite an invitation, but it also isn't.
So Wen Qing puts a wuxia film that she had wanted to see and Jiang Cheng won't ever say he had already seen, and they're not really sitting together as in a date: Wen Qing had pulled a few cushions to lean against one side, but her feet were on Jiang Cheng's lap and when he started rubbing them she had pretty much melted and for a while that was only that and the sound of fighting from the movie.
After a while, when Jiang Cheng turns to look at her, Wen Qing has fallen asleep but, to his surprise, at some point Peaches had jumped up unto the coach and had cuddled against Wen Qing and she is also sleeping, belly up, giving sleepy doggy snuffles.
Something in Jiang Cheng's chest just locks in.
**
"... if hypothetically I wanted to adopt a dog..." Jiang Cheng starts, when he takes Peaches back to the shelter.
Mrs. Flores grins.