Chapter Text
Wei Wuxian hadn’t thought much about what being dead was like. If he had, he wouldn’t have guessed boring .
“Jiang Cheng didn’t the caretaker tell you there were whales?” He asked, staring out to sea from where he sat on the roof. “It’s been four weeks, and no whales. I think you should ask for a refund.”
Jiang Cheng grunted as he heaved a stack of shingles over the edge of the roof, then clambered up the last few rungs of the ladder.
“Do we know for sure they’re here in the spring?” Wei Ying waved his hand idly. “I know, I know that’s what the caretaker said. You don’t have to remind me. But he’s like... a million years old. Maybe we should look it up?”
Jiang Cheng didn’t reply as he hauled the shingles up the slope of the roof to the bare patch next to his toolbox.
Wei Ying sighed and went back to scanning the horizon.
“I’m just so bored! ” Wei Ying lay down on the roof and threw his arm over his eyes. “We’re stuck here at your grandparents falling-down beach house in the middle of nowhere and we don’t even have WiFi.”
Jiang Cheng muttered something as he laid down a shingle and hammered the nail in.
“What was that? We don’t have WiFi because you’re supposed to be resting but you’re a workaholic and you can’t be trusted to take care of yourself if you have regular email access?”
Jiang Cheng laid another shingle in the row, the banging of the hammer his only reply.
“You’re the only one who would think fixing a roof leak counts as ‘resting’”
“Fuck!” Jiang Cheng shook out his hand then stuck his thumb in his mouth. “Gods damn it.”
Wei Ying tilted his head back to squint up the slope at him a second, but from the continued string of cursing it didn’t sound that serious.
“That’s what you get for dragging me out here with no Netflix.” Wei Ying put his hands behind his head and watched the clouds. “If you keep hammering on stuff when you’re mad you’re not going to have any unhammered fingers left.”
Jiang Cheng sighed and laid down the last shingle on the row. “Where the hell is my...”
“It’s next to the toolbox.”
“For fucks sake. It was just here.” Jiang Cheng stood and looked around where he’d been kneeling.
“The utility knife? It’s right over there.” Wei Ying sat up and waved vaguely at the other side of the toolbox.
Jiang Cheng patted his jeans pockets and started pulling things out of them. Keys, cell phone, wallet...
Wei Ying rolled his eyes, pointed two fingers at the knife and gave a short whistle. It skittered out from behind the toolbox and bumped into Jiang Cheng’s hammer laying next to his feet.
“What would you do without me?” Wei Ying ignored the wave of dizziness that washed over him as he grinned.
But his brother wasn’t paying attention to the knife. He stared down at something in his hand and Wei Ying’s smile slipped off his face when he saw the end of a red tassel blowing in the sea breeze.
Jiang Cheng sat down on the ridge of the roof and Wei Ying went to join him. For a while they just sat there, Jiang Cheng with his fist clenched around the tassel, staring out past the beach at the waves rolling in.
“Do you remember the time we went out in that inflatable boat to try to find the sand bar?” Jiang Cheng asked.
“We were hunting sand dollars for shi jie.” Wei Ying gave him a small smile.
“It was so stupid. Couple of kids in a toy boat, headed out with those cheap plastic paddles.” Jiang Cheng shook his head and looked down at his clenched fist. “Your idea of course.”
“Hey! It’s not like I had to drag you with me! It was an excellent idea. How was I supposed to know-“
“A storm was rolling in, and the wind came up and blew us down the beach into the current. We paddled forever, I was so tired!” He opened his hand and looked at the tassel, brushed the carved jade lotus with his thumb. “I pretended I wasn’t scared. Told you when we got back I was going to break your legs.”
“You always say that.”
“You could tell though. You said ‘Don’t worry A-Cheng, you and me, we can do anything.’ You kept saying we just had to keep paddling and we’d make it.” Jiang Cheng ran his fingers over a rusty stain on the tassel.
“And we did. It took forever but we made it back just fine.” Wei Ying said.
“I’m paddling. But I’m alone in this boat and the beach isn’t getting any closer.” Jiang Cheng took a shaky breath, scrubbed his face with the sleeve of his sweater. “And I’m tired.”
“Jiang Cheng” Wei Ying reached for his shoulder but he shook his head and stood up.
“This is so stupid. Wherever you are, you probably think I’m nuts, talking to your stupid tassel.” He looked down at it and gave an angry laugh. “Maybe I am. I should get rid of it before it starts talking back.”
“Whatever,” He shoved it in his pocket, “it’s not like you can hear me anyways.”