Jian Lin left his capsule. He brushed his hands through his hair roughly, found some shoes to slip on and left his flat. He took the couple of steps to reach the next door, knocking on it loudly.
From inside, Xi Yang cursed.
He opened the door, annoyed and ready to cut off whoever was standing there, when he recognized the person.
“J-Jian Lin?!”
“I’m… your neighbor”, Jian Lin dropped the bombshell. He drew in a shaky breath, moving a hand through his hair again. “Can I… Can I come inside?”
The strangled sound that Xi Yang made was half assent, half utter confusion. Nonetheless, he stepped aside to let Jian Lin into his flat. A single hiccup escaped him.
“I mean what I said”, Jian Lin blurted out the moment the door fell shut. “I don’t know how this whole thing works, I have no idea at all, but I like you and you said-”
…He did say that, right? He had heard him correctly? Bloody had talked so quickly, Jian Lin was suddenly beginning to worry if he misunderstood.
“Wait! Wait, are we talking about the same like? You know, the… the romantic one?”
Infected by Jian Lin’s nervousness, Xi Yang also began to get riled up. The introverted man could only nod like a chicken to get his point across.
Xi Yang looked at him for a couple of seconds. “You’re serious?”
More nodding.
“But you… You never told me I was your neighbor! If you liked me, wouldn’t you want to spend more time with me?”
Jian Lin truly wanted to cry. He forced the words out in a croak. “But… But you thought I was my grandpa… And I’m… awkward… If you’d have gotten mad…”
“What’s going on?” Xi Yun stepped into the hallway, a sandwich in his hand, he chewed on it noisily, then paused when he saw Jian Lin. “Huh? Ice Emperor?”
“Yun”, Xi Yang said slowly, “your room. Now.”
“Wha? I-”
“Xi Yun. Go. Right. Now.”
The might of an older brother was amazing. Xi Yun swallowed heavily, retreated backwards and went into his room with a face full of injustice.
It had been a good thing for him to come out though. The few seconds were enough for Jian Lin to take a deep breath and stabilize himself a bit more. He knew he could do this, because the person across from him would never judge him, even if he stuttered or stumbled over his words.
“I…” The single word got Xi Yang’s attention again. “I love Haven. If there wasn’t a way for me to return, I don’t think I’d have agreed. I like the world, and I like playing it… and I like playing with you. I’m not good at conveying my feelings, I know that…”
He felt his voice getting a bit hoarse.
“But I’m not that dense. I wouldn’t misjudge my own thoughts. Being with you isn’t tiring like being with others. When others talk to me, it’s exhausting, but if you talk, it’s not. I’m not as scared that I’ll say something wrong. I’m not scared you’re secretly annoyed with me.” Jian Lin looked down at his hands. He was rubbing his thumb over his index fingers. “I really do like being close with you. I mean it.”
There were no huge fluctuations in Jian Lin’s voice. There was only his nervosity, but even then, Xi Yang didn’t try to interpret the other’s words in a different way. Xi Yang made a tiny squeak as he awkwardly raised a hand into the air.
“Can I come over to hug you or is that too much right now?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Instead of replying, Jian Lin spread his arms.
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“Mnn.”
“…Red Snow CP is real.” Xi Yang snickered, saying something Jian Lin didn’t understand. He leaned back a tiny bit, just enough that he could look Jian Lin into the eye. The other man’s face was a bit red. “I can officially call you my boyfriend now? We’re dating? …Am I allowed to boast about that?”
“Is that something to boast about?”
“Absolutely.”
“Well… I don’t mind people knowing.” Jian Lin was staring at the pretty dark eyes and that bright smile. He leaned a bit closer, brushing their noses against each other. Xi Yang’s smile widened. He didn’t truly plan to inform people of this, but getting Jian Lin’s agreement made everything feel more real.
“Don’t worry. I won’t let anyone say stupid stuff. I’ll protect you!” He paused momentarily. “Uhh… Is your family going to be fine with me? I know that some people are still a bit, ah, iffy about same-sex relationships, that’s why…”
Jian Lin’s family already loved Xi Yang before knowing him. There was hardly anything to worry about. “They won’t mind.”
“Awesome! My family knows I’m also into guys, so no issue here. YunYun might be a bit annoyed that I’m tainting his favourite Ice Emperor…” Xi Yang happily chirped away, but he quickly realized a peculiar expression on Jian Lin’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m exhausted”, Jian Lin croaked.
He had just gone through the stress of the conversation with Little Droplet, followed right away by a confession. He was mentally draining, and quickly.
“Oh!” Xi Yang nodded in understanding. “I mean, we’re still in the hallway. Come in! I think there are some Haven PvP streams running right now, do you want to watch them together?”
Jian Lin did.
Once more, Xi Yang proved to be a person who could read Jian Lin well. He didn’t continue the previous topic. The young man ran around to get Jian Lin something to drink, repeat his ban to his brother, and start up a stream before cuddling onto the sofa next to Jian Lin.
The two figures were sitting closely together, warmth transmitting through their sleeves. There was no space between them at all, which resulted in a warm, affectionate mood around them even without words.
“What’s the Red Snow CP?”, Jian Lin ended up asking as he watched an assassin slaughter a warrior on screen. He remembered the phrase as something he had seen before.
“Oh, that. Hmm, let me sum it up for you… Lots of fans of Haven – especially female ones – are really hyping the thought of us dating. Some even think we’ve been dating for years.” Xi Yang was a bit distracted. Experimentally, he tried tugging at Jian Lin’s arm to pull it over his shoulder. The other let himself be maneuvered, so Xi Yang was happily cuddling closer.
“Why?”
“People love our interactions, I guess? Also they like how we look together, visually. Do you want to see?”
Jian Lin nodded.
Xi Yang switched away from the stream, opening up one of their shipping sites. Hundreds of gifs filled the screen, followed by videos, fanmade animations, fanart, fanfiction and even conspiracy- …uh, shipping theories.
Jian Lin tried to analyze where exactly people saw “dogfood being fed” in these gifs.
Xi Yang played a compilation of their interactions.
You had Bloody lean his head on Ice’s shoulder, or Ice rubbing Bloody’s ears, or Bloody wagging his tail and skipping over to Ice, or Ice smiling slightly at him…
It looked like normal interactions to Jian Lin, but then again, they were pretty close.
What he thought was weird was how Xi Yang sometimes quickly skipped over fanmade content. Under Jian Lin’s questioning gaze, Xi Yang could only smile sheepishly. “Some of this stuff is kind of explicit. I don’t think you want to see it.”
Curiosity killed the cat.
The first next image Xi Yang stumbled over, Jian Lin made him pause at. It was a rather violent piece that mixed blood and a very explicit pose together.
Jian Lin turned white, his expression terrified.
Xi Yang changed images and patted his now-boyfriend’s shoulder soothingly. “I said it’s not good! Ah? Now, don’t look so scared! I’m not an actual werewolf! Even if I bit you, it wouldn’t- …I won’t bite you, I won’t bite you! Jian Lin, look at me? I’m a cute little puppy, I’m not dangerous at all! Most of all, I wouldn’t do anything you don’t like!”
The young man wondered if he had shot himself into the foot with that. As expected, Jian Lin was a bit innocent, that kind of image… It was best not to show it.
Jian Lin rubbed a hand through Xi Yang’s soft hair. Sometime ago, the young man must have dyed it into a dark brown colour, away from jeans-blue. It felt soothing to pet, although it was a bit sad that there were no fluffy ears to rub.
One person’s thoughts were innocent and sweet, the other person’s… not so much, but they were surely affectionate nonetheless.
After half an hour, Xi Yang got a message on his phone – Xi Yun, whining inside his room if he was finally allowed to go out. Once he got permission, he stormed into the room, directly seeing his older brother in the embrace of his idol.
Xi Yun sucked in a breath, pointing at Xi Yang with a shaking hand. “…..NO!”
“Yes.” Xi Yang wrapped his arms around Jian Lin’s waist.
“NO!” Xi Yun howled, rushing over. “No! Hell, no! You-you-you… Don’t corrupt the Ice Emperor! Ice Emperor, don’t let yourself be cheated! This guy is wicked! He’s terrible! He… He’s a pervert!”
“Yun, I swear, if you make Jian Lin run away from me, I won’t forgive you!” This time, it was Xi Yang’s turn to howl back. “What kind of an idiot would I be to not treat him as a treasure?!”
Xi Yun turned quiet. “…Well, true. You’re not that stupid.”
“See? No need to worry. I know best how awesome and precious Jian Lin is. I like him the most.”
Even Xi Yun couldn’t argue against that.
Jian Lin sunk deeper into the sofa, awkwardly watching the animation on the screen and trying not to listen to the brothers’ conversation.
On the screen, two little chibis were hugging and rolling around like little puppies, giggling happily.
…Alright, that was more of his fandom corner, Jian Lin thought. Were you allowed to join your own CP’s following?
***
Jian Lin slept through the rest of the quest, but Xi Yang carried a camera around so that he could watch what happened whenever he was awake.
The delegation reached the palace… And found the Ice Emperor. Haven was shocked, including the royals, who had not expected the owner of the castle to be the assumed Foreigner they had met before.
With a bit of a logic adjustment, the Ice Emperor’s ability to revive was changed to it being a fake body, which was only possible due to a dragon’s blessings.
Lusanna Corp had a lot of work to do. Halwitt, who was in direct contact with the alien-technology Abzu, was forced to follow the AIs whims anyway. It was turned into a huge, long-planned marketing stunt that drew attention even overseas.
The Ice Emperor became an NPC, a part of the game, and according to his character, he accepted the minor arming the capital had done. Most players had ultimately chosen to believe that the other side was non-hostile.
Those that knew Jian Lin were of course informed differently. It was a sort of half-truth; Jian Lin had handed over his character, as his involvement with the royals had resulted in him integrating too much into the story. Lusanna Corp wanted to keep that character, they were told, so Jian Lin would get a new one.
The people of the Red Snow CP wailed. They wailed and wailed, then half of them started writing about an AI-Human relationship. It was lively for sure.
Little Droplet vanished. They wanted to focus on their family, Xi Yang told the others. It wasn’t completely wrong, either. As they had promised, the AI was watching its creations now, still in disbelief that they might gain the level of awareness they wished for. At their side, the Ice Emperor kept on cheering them up.
It took a month for everything to be settled, after all. It was a long period of time, but Jian Lin enjoyed it as a break. When he wasn’t sleeping in the capsule for copying, he was with Xi Yang, watching the replays as the other commented.
Finally, after the month was over and everything, everything truly settled, he got the notification that he could create his new character again.
Xi Yang had waited for him to enter the capsule before rushing over to his own, getting ready to wait at the newbie’s village.
Jian Lin took one more deep breath before starting the game.
[Loading…]
[Welcome to Haven. Please wait.]
[Biometric scan finished. Retina scan finished. Fingerprint scan finished. Recognizing new user.]
[Do you wish to register?]
[Starting registration process… Saving biometric information… Saving retina information… Saving fingerprint information…]
[…]
[Registration completed.]
Author’s Note
Oh boy. And with that, the first arc is done.
For those interested, you can read me rambling over the first arc
here under the hidden note.
I kind of like sharing my “development process” with my readers, so here it is.
LG was based on two small prompts – “A lively player with a messy playstyle getting attached to an icy-looking player who tolerates him sticking around” and a single sentence. “The Ice Emperor is mine.” Yes, you’re reading that right. That sentence existed as one of the very first things, with no context at all. The context came quickly, though. The Ice Emperor is a player character, and, originally, he was stolen by another player. The player character then went crazy, growing independent and attacking inside the game. The original player joined the game again, talking to the thief, and declaring that the character was his.
The concept of the lonely alien AI is another idea that was integrated into this story.
Personally, I have a hard time imagining us humans creating a perfectly sentient AI, but I love the thought experiment of it. If there was such a thing, what would it be like? Could you consider it its own race?
To tell the truth, I hadn’t planned on making the situation so sad, it just turned out that way. From the start of actually writing this though, Jian Lin was going to hand over the Ice Emperor.
As a character, Jian Lin is a dreamer. He’s the type to lose himself in a story, which is why he can integrate himself inside Haven so well. Reality is scarier than fiction, so he yearns for the safe freedom of fiction. Xi Yang, on the other hand, is just a very adaptive guy. He can survive in any situation, like a cockroach. His interest in Jian Lin was random, but he’s a stubborn guy and kind of impossible to get rid off, so Jian Lin did get used to him. Xi Yang doesn’t judge Jian Lin, so they clicked.
Ah, about what comes now… Little Droplet’s story is finished. We will be back to actually having a normal quest for once, and playing the game as it should be played.
There will be some in-between extras following this with no particular length, then a lil break. Following that…. See you in the second arc?
Thank you for the chpt! I binge read this over the weekend and felt so impatient for what would happen next, now I’m still impatient wondering what JL’s new character will be like lol.
Aww so cute <(￣︶￣)>
Thank you for the chapter!! ❤️❤️
Ahh thank you for the chapter!! I really love how this arc was neatly wrapped up💕💞💖 cant wait for the next one ah
Have a nice time on your break, Owl~
It’s cute that Xi Yang is still hiccuping a bit hahaha
!!! HUG!!! THE HUGG!!! YESS RED SNOW CP is real indeed!!
(poor little brother hahahahahaha)
hahahah Xi Yang is a cute puppy XD so sweet
but also… ;P werewolf AU I see!
Thank you for your rambly notes~
The original sentence in that image description was about it being an ABO AU but then I thought. That would scar Jian Lin for life so. No.
HAHAHAHA, maybe a slow introduction for Jian Lin XD
Hahaha, he really just went over to knock on the door :3 Buuut they are together now and a lot of cuddling already >3
I guess the Red Snow CP needs a new CP name and with that I’m curious what JL’s new character will be.
Thx for the ch ٩( >ヮ<)۶
What a sweet way to end the arc, and with a nice little hook until we can see what Jian Lin’s next PC.
Looking forward to the next arc. Thanks for the chapter!
ahhh they are so cute! and the little brother is also adorable!
if he is no longer the Ice Emperor, what will he be now?
thanks for the chapter <3
Hahahahaha! What fun! Onward to the next arc! Thanks for writing!!!!
Curious about his new character~
Thank you for the chapter 💜