You were sweating, tossing and turning every few moments and hardly able to sit still for even a moment; heat coursed through your veins as you tried everything from burying your face into the pillow through to stripping the bed of everything except a thin duvet cover to use as a blanket.

None of it worked.

You were at your very wit's end, and could not think of anything else, except the icy Grandmaster sleeping in the room next to yours; he always ran cold to the touch, and you knew that he would grumble and complain but let you get into the bed anyway.

He never liked to be soft or to show you that he valued your friendship, but even though he would grumble out complaints and scowl at you, he would still move over if you asked, and he would still let you cuddle into his side if you flashed him the puppy dog eyes.

So, with careful and quiet steps, you left your room, and checked the hallway to ensure that Tomas and Kuai Liang weren't awake, and crept into the room to your right; immediately, Bi-Han shot up in bed, his hair messy as he glared at you, waited for you to close the door, and huffed.

"What do you want?"

You smiled a little at the usual snarling growl in his voice, and cleared your throat. "Nothing, I just couldn't sleep because it's too hot... and... y'know. Usually, when I can't sleep, I come here."

He sank back down into the bed, grumbling as he moved over. "And you couldn't deal with it yourself?"

"Not really," you muttered, carefully slipping into the bed and snuggling into his side. The relief made all the complaints he could say worth it. "You're so fucking cold."

"I thought that's why you came here," Bi-Han growled, rolling his eyes. "Or is it now too cold?"

"It's actually just right," you hummed softly, pressing your face to the side of his neck and sighing with contentment. "It always is..."

He scowled, his lips turned into a frown, but he still put his arm around you to keep you close; ice radiated from him and caused a shiver to run down your back as you pressed yourself closer, unaware of the soft, dull, pink on the tips of his ears.

He said nothing, and tried to swallow it down for the sake of his own pride; he could never stoop so low as to entertain the thought of courting a man who was not even Lin Kuei. It was beneath him, it went against every single principal that he held dear and it... it was difficult to keep his head right.

For all of his many thoughts that he would never dream of admitting, Bi-Han did feel for you more than he would ever admit to; he often ensured that, whenever you hung around, there were those drinks you liked, and there were those stupid gory films he hated that you loved ready to go in your room.

He remembered the little things, like how you took your coffee and how you often paused to look at the yellow daffodils that grew by the gardens. He made sure to keep them around just for you.

He even knew that you liked to press your face to his neck, and often went without a shirt when he knew that you were staying over, just in case you couldn't sleep.

He hated that he knew those things. He hated that he would be so soft with you when he should have told you to get lost and deal with your sleeplessness yourself and find some other way of cooling off that didn't involve him.

But just like white winged doves sang, Bi-Han found himself having fallen for you, and he despised it endlessly and hated himself for it more than he would dare to admit even to himself. His brothers might not have fully embraced the principals of the Lin Kuei, and his brothers might have been content to settle down with a man like you, a man beneath themselves, but he was not them.

Even still, when you pressed yourself closer to him, your breath soft and steady against the sensitive skin of his neck, he did crack a small smile.

"I wouldn't mind being your boyfriend," you mumbled suddenly, half asleep and completely by accident, and he froze. "Even just for an excuse to be like this every night."

Bi-Han scoffed, but didn't say a word as he waited for you to fall asleep fully, knowing that he could whisper it into the shadows and they would keep it a secret for him so he would never be forced to admit it to himself or anyone else in the world.