Why Not a House?

"Ow!" Su Yan didn't know what to rub first. His head? His elbows? His hip? His bottom? Everything hurt! "It's all your fault! Didn't I say you should pay attention to where you go?"

Nie Chang grimaced. He really wanted to retort that there was no way for him to concentrate on driving when Su Yan was suddenly saying things like that. And even if he hadn't turned around, Su Yan would have fallen anyway. After all, he had been the one to lose his balance first. Nie Chang still thoughtfully kept quiet about that and just propped himself up on his elbows to take a look at Su Yan's face. "Are you alright?"

Su Yan frowned and slapped his chest. "No! Get up! You're squishing me!"

Nie Chang sighed. He sat up and pulled Su Yan up with him. It seemed his little darling was completely well if he could bare his teeth already even if his expression said otherwise. He still reached out to brush his hair back and pat his head. "Yes, yes, you were right all along."

Su Yan slapped his hand away. "You're just saying that!" He crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked the other direction with pouted lips. 'Coax me already!' seemed to be written on his face.

Nie Chang hurriedly masked his laugh and grabbed Su Yan's shoulder, pulling him into his arms. "Ah, how could that be? I know you're always right. Even if I am unable to see the reason why for the moment. So … could we get back to what you said before? I seem to remember that you told me you wanted to look for a place where we could live together."

"Hmph. I reconsidered. You're not such a good boyfriend after all."

"Oh. That's a pity. I was actually really looking forward to this. You know like how we would wake up together Saturday morning and stay in bed since we don't have to work. Ah, it certainly would have been nice to cuddle for a while before I'll get you your notebook and go to make you breakfast. I guess Saturday would even be a good day for breakfast in bed, wouldn't it?

"And when we've finished we could have looked up some places online and maybe even called to see if we could make an appointment to visit the places next week. Eh, come to think of it, do you know already whether you'd want to find an apartment or a house?" He looked at Su Yan as if he was truly curious about that.

Su Yan frowned. "What house? As if we could pay the rent for a house! Can't you be realistic at all?"

"Alright, alright! You're right as always, darling." Nie Chang leaned over and kissed his cheek. "But actually, I thought it might be better if we buy one. Renting is good too but wouldn't it also be nice to own a place? One that'll be ours forever?"

Su Yan pursed his lips. Well, that did sound good … "And who's going to pay for that? I don't have saved much in the last few years and now I'm even working for you." He fell silent for a moment before excitedly tugging at Nie Chang's shirt.

Nie Chang looked down. Would he lose another button soon? If it went on like this, he might not be able to leave here with his shirt closed today. He hurriedly grabbed Su Yan's hand and patted it. "What is it?"

"My apartment is cheaper than yours. How about you move in with me first and terminate your lease? We could save a lot of money that way and we also won't have to buy everything twice. You can just go grocery shopping for the two of us every day."

Nie Chang's eyes curved. Ah, he could already see himself working hard when he moved in with Su Yan. But talking about this was fun. He liked to imagine how things would be when they really lived together. "Ah Yan, don't you think it would be better to go grocery shopping together? What if I buy a lot of things you don't even like?"

Su Yan grinned like a Cheshire cat and snuggled deeper into his boyfriend's arms. "How could that be? You know me so well! You probably know what I like better than I know it myself."

"Well, I guess that's true …" Nie Chang still happily hugged his little darling and rubbed his back, not caring at all that they were sitting in the middle of the road. "Actually, I don't think we'll need to wait so long. I do have some savings."

Su Yan snorted. "How could that little bit of money be enough to buy an apartment?"

"Oh? We're back to an apartment again? You don't want a house?"

Su Yan looked up and frowned with displeasure. "Why are you always talking about houses? They're super expensive. Don't think I wouldn't know. If we only save your rent, then it won't be enough even if we save up for a few years. I don't want to wait that long."

"Didn't I just say I had some savings?"

Su Yan looked at him as if he was an idiot. "Did you forget you brought that car already? Whatever savings you had there can't be much left of it. Honestly, you shouldn't have brought the car. I've said it the whole time."

Nie Chang sighed. Ah, how had it come back to this? Hadn't they already established that the car wasn't a problem when they went shopping on Monday? How come Su Yan brought it up again now?

"Ah Yan, didn't I show you the information on my bank account?"

It would have been better if he hadn't said anything. Su Yan straightened up and took his hand back from Nie Chang's grasp. "You probably cheated!"

"Cheated?"

"Yes! Don't think I wouldn't know you're some kind of nerd. You probably did something so that it looked like you had a lot of money. But I won't fall for that. I'm not dumb."

Nie Chang's lips twitched. Hadn't Su Yan believed in what he saw on Monday without problems? How come it sounded like a grave insult to his intelligence when the same thing was brought up on Thursday? Sometimes he really couldn't understand him.