Timefall: A Thousand Years to Find You

A Quiet Evening

The photos went up on Monday. By Wednesday, Ren was calling twice a day.

Chenxi didnt fully understand the numbers being thrown around, followers, engagement, something called reach that people talked about like it was oxygen, but he understood the look on Rens face when he showed up at the apartment a second time, and he understood the offer that came with it, three more shoots this month alone, and a brand wanting to know if the new guy was available for a full campaign.

Theyre calling you an old soul, Ren said, sliding his phone across the table so Jinyan could see the caption under one of the photos. Something about mysterious eyes and old world elegance. Jinyan couldnt read most of the words, but he understood the shape of the attention well enough. He had been looked at like this before, once, in a different life, in a different set of clothes.

Is that good, he asked.

Thats very good, Ren said. Thats the kind of good that pays your rent for a year.

After Ren left, the apartment went quiet in a way it hadnt in weeks. Jinyan sat at the small table, looking at nothing, running his thumb along the edge of a folded bill Ren had left as an advance, actual currency, actual weight in his hand, the first thing in this world that felt like it truly belonged to him.

Chenxi came out of his room in worn sweatpants, hair still damp from a shower, and stopped in the doorway when he saw him sitting there.

You okay?

I have never earned coin with my face before, Jinyan said, turning the bill over once more. Only with a blade.

Chenxi huffed something that was almost a laugh. Welcome to capitalism. Its mostly your face now. He crossed to the small kitchen, pulled two bowls down from the cupboard without really thinking about it, a habit, Jinyan realized, that hadnt existed a month ago. Two bowls instead of one.

They ate on the floor that night, backs against the couch, because Chenxi said the table felt too formal for instant noodles, and Jinyan didnt argue, mostly because he had stopped minding where he sat as long as it was somewhere near this particular quiet.

Youve been here a month, Chenxi said eventually, staring at his bowl instead of at Jinyan. I keep thinking youre going to disappear. Wake up gone. Go back to wherever youre supposed to be.

Do you want me to?

The question came out plainer than Jinyan meant it to, and he watched Chenxis hands go still around his chopsticks.

I dont know, Chenxi admitted, which surprised them both, judging by the way he immediately looked like he regretted saying it out loud. Its weird. I spent so long just trying to survive on my own, work, school, rent, more work. And then you showed up covered in blood with a sword, and somehow thats less exhausting than being alone was.

Jinyan didnt have a court trained response for that. He only had the truth, which felt strange and unguarded coming out of his mouth. In my world, I commanded armies. Men followed me into fire because I told them to. And I have never once felt as unsure of what to do with myself as I do sitting here, on this floor, with you.

The silence that followed wasnt uncomfortable. It just sat there between them, honest and a little fragile, like something neither of them wanted to be the first to disturb.

Thats either really romantic or really concerning, Chenxi said finally, voice a little unsteady. I genuinely cant tell which.

Perhaps both.

Chenxi laughed for real this time, ducking his head, and Jinyan found himself watching the shape of that laugh a little too closely, cataloguing it the way he used to catalogue an opponents stance, except there was nothing to defend against here, nothing to plan for. Just a warmth he didnt have a name for yet, sitting low and steady in his chest.

We should sleep, Chenxi said, not moving. Early shoot tomorrow.

We should, Jinyan agreed, also not moving.

Neither of them did, for a long moment, the bowls going cold between them, the city humming quietly outside the window like it, too, was willing to wait.

It was Chenxi who finally broke it, standing, stretching, offering a hand down to pull Jinyan up from the floor, a small, ordinary gesture that Jinyan took anyway, and held maybe half a second longer than the moment required.

If Chenxi noticed, he didnt say anything.

But he didnt let go right away either.