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#beetober 2020
bloody-bee-tea · 3 years
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BeeTober 2020 Day 31
Thunder - Wei Wuxian
Day 31 comes with some brotherly feels between Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian, who decide to let Jiang Fengmian know just who is the one securing deals in the company, with a bonus side of Mingcheng. This also marks the last day of BeeTober and I thank everyone who stuck with me through it! <3 
Jiang Cheng just settled down tackle the essay he still has to hand in, when Wei Wuxian barges into his room.
Jiang Cheng sends him a murderous glare, because Wei Wuxian promised to be out today—it’s the whole reason Jiang Cheng decided to get started on this today, after all—and Jiang Cheng is not liking this one bit.
Especially not when he sees the thunderous expression on Wei Wuxian’s face.
“What’s going on now?” Jiang Cheng asks with a sigh and turns around to Wei Wuxian.
He won’t get that essay done today, Jiang Cheng already knows it, and so he mentally says goodbye to it. He’ll have to buckle down on that tomorrow.
“I just talked to Uncle Fengmian,” Wei Wuxian says, and he immediately starts pacing Jiang Cheng’s room.
It wasn’t a nice talk, then, and Jiang Cheng can already guess what it was about.
His father informed him first, after all.
“What about?” Jiang Cheng still asks because he guesses that Wei Wuxian needs to get it all off his chest first before Jiang Cheng can tell him the good news.
“He congratulated me on a job well done,” Wei Wuxian seethes, “you know with the production of the new phone.”
Jiang Cheng nods, because of course his father did.
“So what?” Jiang Cheng wants to know because when Wei Wuxian is worked up like this, he usually needs a little prodding to spill it all and not just sit on it and let it fester.
“He congratulated me,” Wei Wuxian says and he sounds so angry about it that Jiang Cheng has to hide his smile.
It’s always good to know that at least his brother is on his side, even if his father—parent’s really, if Jiang Cheng is honest—is not.
“Me,” Wei Wuxian hisses and throws his hands up. “The audacity! As if I could have ever wrangled those deals for production. I’m good at inventing crazy shit and you’re the one doing all the important people work. And he wouldn’t even listen to me!”
“Oh, really,” Jiang Cheng replies, still so very calm, because his father has already gushed to him about Wei Wuxian’s achievement and how well he did, handling everything on his own.
Jiang Cheng had his time to be upset over this already, and he’s past it.
“Yes, really. Fuck, I really hate this. He didn’t listen to me when I tried to explain, and even when I showed him the deals that had your signature on them he was just like ‘Ah, I guess he had to sign them at the very least’ and then continued right on telling me how amazing I am.”
“So?” Jiang Cheng asks and watches as Wei Wuxian wrings his hands in front of his body.
“I wanted to strangle him so badly! How can he even say that? All of the important work was done by you! I had nothing to do with all the contract talk! I was just in my lab, inventing things that shouldn’t work, counting on you to make them presentable!”
“I see,” Jiang Cheng says, still entirely calm about this and by now he wonders just how long it will take Wei Wuxian to realize that.
It’s almost fun.
“And then!” Wei Wuxian yells on, clearly not picking up on the fact that Jiang Cheng is trying to hide his smile. “He offered me a raise. A raise! I’m an intern, or at least I should be until I have a degree. And he offered to pay me according to the things I did. Which really means he’s going to pay me for the things you did and what do you get?”
“I get paid like an intern,” Jiang Cheng mildly says and only seems to make Wei Wuxian more angry with that.
“Exactly,” he spits out. “How dare he? You’re the one who is doing all the important work and I’m just a crazy inventor. We would get nowhere if I am left to my own devices and Uncle Fengmian should know it!”
“He will,” Jiang Cheng says, absolutely certain about that, since he did just resign mere hours ago.
“Yes, he damn well will,” Wei Wuxian hisses and then plops down on Jiang Cheng’s bed. “I’m resigning. I already decided. I will resign and then I will change my major to something like—like—fuck, if I know, teaching or something and then Uncle Fengmian will see what amazing work you do.”
Jiang Cheng has half a mind just letting Wei Wuxian, just to show his father that he can’t treat them like this, but it would kind of take away from his own act of rebellion and Jiang Cheng is petty enough to admit that he wants his father to see that Wei Wuxian is not the perfect saint he seems to think he is.
Besides, Wei Wuxian loves inventing things and while he wouldn’t be entirely unhappy as a teacher, it wouldn’t make him as happy either.
“You’re remarkably calm about all of this,” Wei Wuxian suddenly says and he narrows his eyes at Jiang Cheng. “Why are you so calm about this?”
“Because father talked to me first,” Jiang Cheng says with a small shrug. “A few days ago, actually.”
“He did what?” Wei Wuxian yells again and Jiang Cheng sighs when he starts pacing again. “What did he say? How dare he? Tell me exactly what he said!” Wei Wuxian demands and Jiang Cheng sends him a pointed glance to sit the fuck back down again.
Thankfully, Wei Wuxian does.
“He came to me a few days ago, to gush about your achievements,” Jiang Cheng says, and he’s very proud of himself when there’s no hint of bitterness in his voice.
Wei Wuxian is brilliant and he deserves all the praise. Jiang Cheng simply wishes it wouldn’t come at the expense of his own praise, but he learned to accept that and he knows that it’s not Wei Wuxian’s fault.
He never tried to take this away from Jiang Cheng; it’s completely and utterly Jiang Fengmian’s fault for offering everything to Wei Wuxian and keeping nothing left for Jiang Cheng.
“He did not,” Wei Wuxian says in a horrified whisper, but Jiang Cheng only shrugs.
“Of course he did, you know him. He didn’t fail to mention my shortcomings though, so no worries. I’m slacking off and not living up to my full potential and I should take A-Xian as a good example and follow his lead,” Jiang Cheng recounts and watches as Wei Wuxian’s eyes get bigger and bigger. “And then he said how disappointed he is that I am not even trying to do my best and that I am instead unloading everything on your shoulders. Do I never think of the kind of stress that puts you under?” Jiang Cheng goes on and he almost has to laugh as he says it now.
Wei Wuxian couldn’t even function without stress and pressure and really, if anyone should think about anyone, it’s Wei Wuxian who should think about Jiang Cheng’s poor heart.
It’s not Jiang Cheng who comes barging in in the middle of the night, yelling about a new invention that’s most definitely too expensive to bring to the market and then begging Jiang Cheng who makes it work somehow.
Jiang Cheng kind of wonders if Wei Wuxian will barge into his parent’s room at night now, mostly because Jiang Cheng will not tolerate his shit anymore now that he resigned, but also just to show Jiang Fengmian what Jiang Cheng has been dealing with all the time.
Jiang Cheng can probably bribe Wei Wuxian to do that when Madam Yu is out of town.
“I am going to strangle him!” Wei Wuxian says again, and Jiang Cheng even believes him.
It’s not Wei Wuxian’s fault that they are in this position and he never asked for all this attention, either.
“You will do no such thing,” Jiang Cheng chastises him and Wei Wuxian pouts at him.
“But we have do to something!” he declares. “I cannot believe he would say that to you.”
“Please, Wei Wuxian, of course he would,” Jiang Cheng says and rolls his eyes. “You know that he never appreciated all the work I did for the company.”
“I know,” Wei Wuxian bitterly says. “And nothing I said or did helped with that either.”
“I know that you always had my back,” Jiang Cheng reassures him, because for all that he used to be horribly envious of Wei Wuxian and the ease with which he captured Jiang Fengmian’s attention, he also knows that Wei Wuxian did everything he could to praise Jiang Cheng as well.
“What are you going to do?” Wei Wuxian wants to know, before his eyes go wide in his panic. “You can’t change your major, you love business!”
And strange as that realization had been, Wei Wuxian is right about it. Jiang Cheng loves business. He is good at it, and he likes doing it, too. There is no way he’s going to change his major.
“You can’t change your major either,” Jiang Cheng says. “The poor kids don’t deserve a teacher like you,” he teases and laughs at the outraged huff Wei Wuxian lets out.
“They would be lucky to have me,” he argues and he is probably right.
But still.
“You love engineering,” Jiang Cheng says with a sigh. “If you don’t get to invent shit in a controlled environment, I don’t even want to image the damage you’ll do to every unsuspecting electrical device in your vicinity.”
“Rude,” Wei Wuxian says and then, after a moment of deliberation, “but probably true.”
“It’s why I’ll go on with business and you’ll go on with engineering. It’s just that I won’t be working for father anymore,” Jiang Cheng finally says and Wei Wuxian stares at him.
“You quit?”
“Yes. A few hours ago actually, not that he seems to have noticed yet. I gave my resignation to his assistant and I guess it got lost in the paperwork. But I have proof that I handed it in, and so it’s valid.”
“I can’t believe you did that! What are you going to do?” Wei Wuxian wants to know, but his eyes are shining and Jiang Cheng hates to admit that he blushes when he identifies the emotion on Wei Wuxian’s face as pride.
“I talked to Huaisang, who talked to his brother, who invited me for a meeting,” Jiang Cheng says, trying for nonchalant and failing miserably. “I’ll be working at Nie Corps starting Monday.”
“Mingjue-ge, huh?” Wei Wuxian says, a knowing smile on his face.
“Shut up,” Jiang Cheng snaps but he’s blushing, he just knows it. “It was a business meeting and I got in because I’m good at what I do.”
“Sure, sure,” Wei Wuxian says, clearly not believing Jiang Cheng at all. “And did that business meeting end with a heated kiss? Some office sex?” he asks, wriggling his eyebrows in a truly revolting and suggestive manner.
“Do your meetings with Lan Wangji usually end like that?” Jiang Cheng shoots back and then realizes his mistake a second too late. “Don’t! Don’t answer that! I don’t want to know!”
Wei Wuxian couldn’t answer him even if he tried though, because he’s laughing so hard he fell back onto the bed, clutching his sides.
“There was no kiss nor anything else,” Jiang Cheng finally just snaps out, and it’s enough to calm Wei Wuxian down again.
“And when will that finally change? We’re all tired of your pining.”
“Like all of us were tired of you pining after Lan Wangji? How long did you torture us again?”
“That was nothing like that,” Wei Wuxian protests and then shakes his head. “And even if it were, we’re not talking about me.”
“We’re always talking about you,” Jiang Cheng shoots back but he can’t help that he blushes slightly.
“Oooohhhh,” Wei Wuxian says. “Something did happen!”
“Mingjue made it very clear that I am not working under him, but under Nie Zonghui in a branch that Mingjue is not involved in at all.”
“Giving you some heavy hints there,” Wei Wuxian said with a nod. “I hope you picked up on them.”
“I���m not as dense as you are,” Jiang Cheng bites out and then sighs. “I did pick up on them. We’re going out for dinner tomorrow.”
“A date! I can’t believe my didi scored a date!”
“Shut up!” Jiang Cheng hisses and then buries his face in his hands.
He can’t believe he scored a date either, least of all with Nie Mingjue, but he’s not about to tell Wei Wuxian that.
“Well done,” Wei Wuxian says, suddenly serious again. “And I don’t just mean the date.”
Jiang Cheng dares to come out of hiding at that, and he goes warm all over, knowing that his brother is proud of him.
“Thank you.”
“Now I can’t wait for Uncle Fengmian to realize that you truly did quit—I bet he’s believing you will be back in no time—and that I’m useless without you.”
“You’re not useless,” Jiang Cheng immediately denies and then sighs. “You just need someone to reign you in.”
“Maybe I’ll go to Nie Corps, too. You think they have space for me?”
“I think Lan Wangji is going to kill Mingjue if he snatches you up and Lan Wangji doesn’t even get a chance. Besides, I kind of want father to see how much work I did do. If that’s okay with you?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Wei Wuxian nods enthusiastically. “I am so ready to make him see that it’s not me who’s the genius. And when he’s completely desperate I’ll offer to leave. And then do it, like you did. It will be perfect.”
“Family dinners are about to be a catastrophe,” Jiang Cheng groans.
“But you have other dinners to make up for that,” Wei Wuxian leers at him and then shrieks when Jiang Cheng tackles him into the bed.
Jiang Cheng is glad they still get to be like this even after all the bullshit his father puts them through and Jiang Cheng couldn’t wish for a better brother.
Link to my ko-fi on the sidebar!
He’ll have to warn Nie Mingjue so that he doesn’t fall victim to Lan Wangji’s wrath just to do Jiang Cheng a favour, though. It wouldn’t do to lose him just after they started dating after all.
Next part
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biggreenneatbox · 3 years
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I agree with you fully on your choice not to go down the Poker route @blake-belladonna-defence-force. How’d you like my take on the word?
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kaetien · 3 years
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@fytheuntamed prompts for their The Untamed Fall Fest 2020 and @bloody-bee-tea prompts for their The Untamed 2020 BeeTober fest.
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jacubesilvora · 3 years
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Day Thirty One of @blake-belladonna-defence-force Beetober! The last day! This was so much fun to work on and I can’t wait for the next one!
After settling down in Vale, Blake and Yang live their daily lives as immortal vampires.
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bloody-bee-tea · 3 years
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If you ever feel like it, I would love to see a fic for the scenario where wwx and jyl call jc after a family dinner only to find out that their parents didn't invite him. I loved all your bad parents + jc fics! My favourite so far was the mingxicheng one, where madame yu made jc leave them for 3yrs! And the series where lxc saves jc from zidian and takes him to cloud recesses has a special place in my heart (first cql fic ive ever read!)
BeeTober 2020 Day 15
Spite - Golden
Day 15 of BeeTober 2020 finally gives me an excuse to finish this wip that has been laying around for far too long now. Have some family feels between these three siblings!
Jiang Cheng is enjoying a rare, quiet evening at home, when his phone rings.
He put it on the table when he swaddled himself in a blanket, and it’s biting him in the ass now, because he not only has to unwrap himself, but he also has to stretch uncomfortably to reach the phone.
When he half slides off the couch in the process, Jiang Cheng figures it would have been easier to simply stand up, but by then the phone is in his hands.
Nuisance it says, and Jiang Cheng groans into the couch.
He was having a calm evening. He does not want to talk to Wei Wuxian, who will upend Jiang Cheng’s tranquillity.
Jiang Cheng is still debating weather he should mute his phone or not, when it suddenly lights up again, but this time it says A-jie.
There is no way in hell that Jiang Cheng wouldn’t pick up when Jiang Yanli is calling but seeing her name on the phone so shortly after Wei Wuxian’s makes Jiang Cheng panic.
“Is everyone alright?” Jiang Cheng asks as soon as he accepted the call and when Wei Wuxian huffs at the other end of the line, Jiang Cheng feels betrayed.
“So you have time to answer shi-jie, but not me?” Wei Wuxian asks and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.
“You know I love her more,” he gives back, laughing at Wei Wuxian’s indignant squeak. “What do you want?” Jiang Cheng asks once Wei Wuxian calmed down and he feels slightly betrayed when he realizes that his siblings are together and didn’t even ask him to join them.
Jiang Cheng tries to push that thought away, because they are allowed to spend time together without him—of course they are—but Jiang Cheng has a hard time fighting his insecurities.
“What are you doing?” Wei Wuxian asks and Jiang Cheng looks down at his blanket.
“Nothing?” he asks, because he doesn’t think it warrants being said that he is a slob tonight.
There is a very icy silence from Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng frowns.
“Why?” Jiang Cheng carefully asks, already on the defense.
“What do you mean ‘nothing’?” Wei Wuxian snaps and Jiang Cheng shrugs, even though Wei Wuxian can’t see him.
“I mean, I’m on the couch, about to start my second movie?” Jiang Cheng unsurely gives back.
“You stupid asshole,” Wei Wuxian seethes and before Jiang Cheng can react to that Wei Wuxian snaps out “Just stay where the fuck you are,” before he simply hangs up on Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng is left to stare at his phone, wondering what that was all about, before he remembers that Jiang Yanli must have been with Wei Wuxian.
He clicks into his conversation with her and quickly types out Is everything alright?
It doesn’t take her long to answer, but when Jiang Cheng gets the message, he feels as confused as before.
Yes. Stay where you are!
As if he was going to leave his blanket nest, Wei Wuxian’s mood be damned.
It takes them almost half an hour to get to Jiang Cheng’s apartment, and when they ring, Jiang Cheng stays on the couch.
They are being cryptic, and rude for no reason, and they interrupted Jiang Cheng’s relaxing evening; so just to spite them Jiang Cheng makes them search for their own keys instead of getting up and opening the door for them.
Jiang Cheng can hear Wei Wuxian curse before he even gets the door open, and Jiang Yanli’s calming murmur is not far behind, but still, Jiang Cheng is entirely unprepared for the way Wei Wuxian storms into his living-room.
“What the fuck,” Wei Wuxian says first thing when he sees Jiang Cheng all bundled up on the couch, and Jiang Cheng glares at him, because he told him that was what he was doing.
There really is no need to be this surprised by it.
“What?” Jiang Cheng asks, directing the question more to Jiang Yanli than Wei Wuxian, because she’s bound to be the more helpful one here, but Wei Wuxian steps between them.
“Have you been doing this all evening?” Wei Wuxian asks and his voice is so accusing that Jiang Cheng immediately bristles.
He’s allowed to take the evening off, thank you very much.
“Yes,” he bites out, not bothering to explain anything, as long as Wei Wuxian doesn’t tell him what has him worked up like that.
“And you think this was more important than coming to family dinner? Where Uncle Jiang announced that he’ll be stepping down soon? Really?” Wei Wuxian demands to know and Jiang Cheng goes ice cold all over.
“Family dinner,” Jiang Cheng repeats and he starts to tremble all over.
“Yes, for fucks sake. The one you couldn’t attend because you’re so ‘busy’,” Wei Wuxian bites out, but Jiang Yanli puts a calming hand to his arm.
“A-Cheng?” she asks, clearly picking up on Jiang Cheng’s mood, but Jiang Cheng is already untangling himself from his blanket.
“I need to be alone,” Jiang Cheng says, and he feels very removed from his own body.
He’s cold all over, and he thinks he’s still shaking faintly but he barely registers it. All he knows is that he needs to be alone right this moment.
So he gets up and walks past Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli without looking at them, and then he makes a beeline for his bedroom.
He feels like he’s frozen, rather than angry, and so he closes the door behind him with a soft click instead of throwing it shut and then he simply stands in the middle of his bedroom for a moment, before he walks over to the bed and crawls under the blanket there.
He pulls it up over his head, and then he simply stares into nothing.
A family dinner. Where his father made a very big announcement.
And Jiang Cheng wasn’t even invited.
That thought finally breaks through his shock and his eyes start to burn with tears.
He always knew that Wei Wuxian was his father’s golden boy and that Jiang Yanli would always be the most beloved by his parents, but to think that his parents didn’t even ask him to this family dinner cuts deeper than Jiang Cheng could have ever imagined.
Jiang Cheng curls up into a small ball and presses his face into the mattress, overly aware of the hot tears that slide out of his eyes.
When his door opens, Jiang Cheng startles. He forgot that Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli were still in his apartment and he wishes they would just leave him alone.
He doesn’t want them to see him fall apart.
“A-Cheng,” Jiang Yanli says, and her voice is soft and careful.
“Don’t fucking coddle him,” Wei Wuxian mutters, clearly still angry, but Jiang Yanli doesn’t pay him any attention.
“A-Cheng, did you not know about family dinner?” Jiang Yanli carefully asks and Jiang Cheng presses his eyes closed even harder than before.
“What?” Wei Wuxian gasps and Jiang Cheng can just imagine how he shakes his head. “But Uncle Jiang said Jiang Cheng couldn’t make it because he was busy!”
“A-Cheng?” Jiang Yanli carefully prods him again and Jiang Cheng feels how she sits down on the bed. “Did you know about it?”
“No,” Jiang Cheng croaks out and he hates how his voice breaks.
There’s a horrified gasp, most likely coming from Wei Wuxian, and Jiang Cheng curls up tighter.
“What do you mean ‘no’?” Wei Wuxian repeats and now the familiar anger bubbles up in Jiang Cheng.
He flings his blanket away as he sits up, not caring that the tears are still streaming down his face as he glares hard at Wei Wuxian.
“I mean that no one fucking told me about family dinner tonight,” he hisses out and he cannot stand to look at Jiang Yanli, because he can imagine the heart breaking look on her face and that is already bad enough.
“No one told you,” Wei Wuxian whispers, the disbelieve clear in his voice. “But Uncle Jiang said you couldn’t make it!”
“Right,” Jiang Cheng bitterly says. “And no one ever lies in this family,” he tacks on and looks down at his hands.
He’s still shaking, he notes, and that’s rather unfair, because shaking implies that he’s feeling something. But all Jiang Cheng can feel is a pitch black hole, right where his heart is supposed to be.
He knows that his parents don’t like him, knows that his father prefers Wei Wuxian and that his mother thinks him useless and worthless, but to have it thrown in his face like that still hurts more than Jiang Cheng could have ever imagined.
“We didn’t know,” Wei Wuxian says, just as Jiang Yanli pulls him into a hug.
Jiang Cheng doesn’t have the strength to fight her hands on him, and so he falls into her deceptively strong arms.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jiang Cheng mutters, because his parents were going to do whatever they fucking pleased.
“It does matter,” Jiang Yanli determinedly says and presses a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s head. “You’re family, and what they did was despicable.”
Jiang Cheng wants to cry and break down and agree, but all he does is ask “What were the big news again?”
“Uncle Jiang is stepping down soon,” Wei Wuxian says, just as he plasters himself to Jiang Cheng’s back. “He wants to announce the next CEO soon.”
Jiang Cheng huffs out a humourless laugh, because with how today went, you don’t need to be a genius to realize that it will not be Jiang Cheng’s name he announces to the world soon.
“Congratulations,” Jiang Cheng bitterly says and he feels how Wei Wuxian shakes his head.
“No. I won’t take that position. He never asked me, and it’s not right. I won’t do it.”
“Well, I won’t do it either,” Jiang Cheng gives back, because he has no intention of accepting that position as a second choice.
Either his father wants him to lead the company or he can go look for an heir elsewhere.
“Good,” Jiang Yanli says, and it’s so surprising that Jiang Cheng moves out of her arms.
“What?” he asks, because usually Jiang Yanli is the one to mediate between all of them, and to keep the peace in their family.
But going by the dark look on her face, she’s over that now.
“This will be the last dinner we attend with them,” she says and pulls Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian back into her arms. “I’m tired of seeing them fight, and of hurting you two. We’re not going back there.”
“It won’t be quite that easy,” Jiang Cheng says, because he knows his parents. They have ways to make their life hell, if they don’t do as they say.
“It will be. I will not allow them to hurt you further,” Jiang Yanli decides and Wei Wuxian is quick to agree.
“We’ll make our own family dinners,” he decides and puts an arm around Jiang Cheng as well. “Once a week, and we will never invite them.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jiang Cheng chokes out, fighting with his tears again, but for completely different reasons now. “I don’t want to see you that often.”
“Hey,” Wei Wuxian yells and then topples them all over when he tries to tickle Jiang Cheng in retaliation.
Jiang Yanli moves out of the way, though she doesn’t do anything to stop them and simply watches on.
Wei Wuxian’s clever fingers find all of Jiang Cheng’s weak spots and soon enough he’s crying he’s laughing so hard and once the tears start, he can’t seem to stop, so it turns into pitiful sobs soon enough.
It seems like Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian simply waited for that, because they bracket him in on either side, and simply hold him while he cries and cries.
“We’re your family, A-Cheng,” Wei Wuxian whispers and Jiang Yanli presses a kiss to his head.
“And we don’t need them,” she agrees and Jiang Cheng clings desperately to both of them.
It still hurts, to know that his parents wouldn’t even think to ask him to come to a family dinner, but with his siblings at his side, it’s almost bearable.
“I love you,” Jiang Cheng chokes out when his sobs started to die down and Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian are quick to return the sentiment.
It’s not enough, not right now with the hurt so fresh, but Jiang Cheng knows that he can count on them, always.
And in a week he might also believe them when they say they love him, but right now he needs to wallow and be coddled.
And Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian seem more than ready to do whatever Jiang Cheng needs.
 Link to my ko-fi on the sidebar!
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bloody-bee-tea · 3 years
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BeeTober 2020 Day 29
Worm - Carving
Day 29 of BeeTober brings a Jiang Cheng who has quite the ability and is maybe not using it to do fun stuff. Instead he makes Nie Mingjue worry enough that he intervenes. 
Nie Mingjue just got comfortable on the couch—wrapped up in his blanket and his favourite movie queued up—when Nie Huaisang barges into his apartment.
“Da-ge,” he immediately yells and Nie Mingjue represses a sigh.
He told his brother to come by more often, encouraged him to use his key for it’s intended purpose, and so Nie Mingjue can’t even be mad at Nie Huaisang.
“Here,” he dutifully calls back and when Nie Huaisang’s eyes light up when he sees him on the couch, he knows that he won’t get any quiet and peace this evening.
“Move over,” Nie Huaisang immediately demands as he starts to worm his way under the blanket before he comes to a stop, resting entirely on Nie Mingjue.
“What do you want?” Nie Mingjue gruffly asks, but Nie Huaisang only sends him his most winning smile.
So something big then.
“Who says I have to want something?” Nie Huaisang tries, but going by how his eyes sparkle, he knows that Nie Mingjue already saw through him.
Nie Mingjue wriggles around just enough to get his hand free so that he can flick Nie Huaisang into the forehead.
“Try again,” he says and Nie Huaisang goes serious in an instant.
It’s not only big, but also important, apparently.
“I’m worried about Jiang Cheng,” Nie Huaisang admits and Nie Mingjue raises an eyebrow at him.
“Shouldn’t you be going with this to Wei Wuxian or Jiang Yanli? You know, his actual siblings?” Nie Mingjue wants to know but he can’t deny that a tiny spark of worry has already lodged inside his chest.
If Nie Huaisang is worried enough to bring it up to Nie Mingjue, then it must be serious.
“I don’t think Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian are speaking at the moment,” Nie Huaisang admits. “And Yanli is taking care of an infant. I doubt Jiang Cheng would be honest with her.”
“Okay?” Nie Mingjue says because he still isn’t sure why Nie Huaisang brings this to him of all people.
“I tried talking to Jiang Cheng, but he’s very secretive and it doesn’t seem like he wants to tell me.”
“What makes you think that he might tell me?” Nie Mingjue shoots back and Nie Huaisang gives him a slight smile.
“You’re da-ge,” Nie Huaisang and shrugs as best as he can with his chin still propped up on Nie Mingjue’s chest. “You have authority. If you ask him, he will answer out of pure reflex.”
“I wish that would still work on you,” Nie Mingjue says with a sigh and then scrubs a hand over his face.
“Plus, I have seen you look,” Nie Huaisang says and Nie Mingjue goes hot all over. “You have a special interest in keeping Jiang Cheng happy and healthy.”
“Huaisang,” Nie Mingjue starts, suddenly unsure, because Jiang Cheng is Nie Huaisang’s best friend and it’s mostly the reason he never did anything yet.
“I don’t mind,” Nie Huaisang says immediately. “If I had to approve of a boyfriend for him, who would I rather choose than you? And besides, don’t pretend that it’s a hard no that he’s my childhood friend. If it was you wouldn’t even have been looking.”
Nie Mingjue sighs, because Nie Huaisang is right of course, and he knows it too.
“What’s going on with Jiang Cheng?” he asks instead of delving deeper into the topic of his feelings for Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang sighs.
“I’m not sure. I’d say he’s overworking himself, but Wei Wuxian promises me that he gets at least seven hours a night. But he disappears into the library at all times, and when he comes out he looks like he has aged weeks,” Nie Huaisang mutters. “He looks so bad, like he could keel over at any time. If he should show up at Wei Wuxian’s Halloween party on the weekend, he wouldn’t even need any make up. He already looks like a zombie.”
“If he should show up? Isn’t it in his own apartment?” Nie Mingjue asks, but he can’t deny that he’s already worried.
It doesn’t sound like Jiang Cheng is taking a lot of care of himself at the moment.
“Yeah, but he might just vanish into the library instead,” Nie Huaisang sighs. “And I don’t know what to do. Every time I ask, Jiang Cheng promises me he sleeps enough, but something seems wrong.”
“You think he’s in trouble?” Nie Mingjue wants to know but Nie Huaisang starts to shake his head before he shrugs.
“I’m not sure. I doubt anyone could pressure him into something, or blackmail him or whatever, but something must be going on.”
Nie Huaisang sends him his best puppy look and Nie Mingjue groans before he even opens his mouth.
“Won’t you check it out? Won’t you make sure that Jiang Cheng is alright?” he begs him and even without the big eyes and wobbly voice Nie Mingjue would have agreed.
If Jiang Cheng is not doing well at the moment, of course he’s going to help.
~*~*~
Nie Mingjue decides not to tackle the issue immediately. He hasn’t seen Jiang Cheng in person for a while now and to simply march up to him and ask what is wrong is not going to bring the best results, Nie Mingjue simply knows that.
Jiang Cheng will be prickly and on the defensive and then Nie Mingjue will not get an answer.
So instead, he involves himself a little bit more in Nie Huaisang’s life, and therefore in Wei Wuxian’s and Jiang Cheng’s life.
He sees them on campus and after classes and he invites them over for dinner again and goes out drinking with Wei Wuxian when he asks.
And through all of that he keeps a close eye on Jiang Cheng and Nie Mingjue has to admit that Nie Huaisang might be right.
Jiang Cheng looks like shit and Nie Mingjue fears that a slight breeze could knock him over. Nie Mingjue is sure that he lost some weight, he’s pale and whenever his gaze looses focus, it seems almost like someone is carving out his very will to live.
It’s very worrisome.
But prodding Wei Wuxian had brought no result because he doesn’t seem to know either and he stopped asking, too, because the last time he did Jiang Cheng almost bit his head off and then didn’t speak to him for almost too weeks.
Wei Wuxian is not risking that again, and Nie Mingjue gets it.
But he also sees that Jiang Cheng desperately needs some help with whatever it is that he’s dealing with and he itches to bundle Jiang Cheng up and make him eat and sleep under supervision so that he can be sure that he actually does both of these things.
Instead of just ambushing Jiang Cheng with questions, though, Nie Mingjue invites him over for dinner.
Nie Mingjue hasn’t spend a lot of time in Jiang Cheng’s and Wei Wuxian’s dorm, and he doubts that asking Jiang Cheng a question he wants a truthful answer to in public is going to bring him the results he wants, so he figures this is his only option.
Jiang Cheng doesn’t seem suspicious though, and Nie Mingjue realizes that he missed spending time like this with Jiang Cheng.
He used to come over for dinner a lot more often—before Nie Mingjue realized his attraction to him and distanced himself because of it—and Nie Mingjue vows to invite him over more regularly.
They are friends first, after all, and Jiang Cheng shouldn’t have to suffer more than he clearly already does, for whatever reason.
Nie Mingjue waits until they are done with their food, before he puts his glass down and very seriously asks “Jiang Cheng, what’s wrong?”
He expected a lot of reactions; screaming, was one of them, as well as Jiang Cheng storming out. What Nie Mingjue did not expect was for Jiang Cheng do break down into tears immediately.
“Shit,” Nie Mingjue mutters, as he rounds the table and pulls Jiang Cheng into his arms.
He’s shaking, and Nie Mingjue suspects that he’s crying more out of pure exhaustion than anything else, and so he simply holds him while Jiang Cheng gets it all out of his system.
It takes him a long time to stop crying, but not long enough for Nie Mingjue to suggest they move to the couch.
In the end, Jiang Cheng pushes away from him and drags his sleeve over his face as if he wants to make Nie Mingjue believe that nothing at all is wrong.
Well, that’s not going to happen.
“Now tell me what’s wrong,” Nie Mingjue says as he cups Jiang Cheng’s face in his hand and tilts it slightly up, so that he has to look at Nie Mingjue.
Nie Mingjue has found that Nie Huaisang is unable to lie to him when he holds direct eye contact, and he hopes the same goes for Jiang Cheng.
“It’s not—gods, I’m so—it’s nothing,” Jiang Cheng tries, his voice still choked up and Nie Mingjue rolls his eyes at him.
“And now the truth, please,” he gently chides Jiang Cheng who deflates at his tone.
“I don’t know how to explain,” Jiang Cheng whispers and Nie Mingjue figures that’s a start.
“Come over here,” Nie Mingjue says and now he drags him over to the couch, because if it’s a hard conversation they are about to have then it will be better if they are sitting comfortably. “Start with something that’s easy,” Nie Mingjue suggests when the silence drags on between them even after Jiang Cheng swaddled himself with a blanket and he sighs.
“I get seven hours of sleep a night,” he starts with and Nie Mingjue finds that hard to believe with how exhausted Jiang Cheng looks. “It’s just that my days are a lot longer than twenty-four hours,” Jiang Cheng goes on and Nie Mingjue is admittedly confused.
“What?” he asks and Jiang Cheng sighs again.
“I need you to believe me on this, but also not to tell anyone,” Jiang Cheng says and Nie Mingjue nods before he even finished talking.
Jiang Cheng sends him a strange look but then he takes a deep breath.
“I can stop time,” Jiang Cheng tells him and it’s so far from anything Nie Mingjue expected that it takes him a good minute and a half to process it.
“You can what?” he then asks, because it does sound a bit implausible.
“Look at the table,” Jiang Cheng instructs and Nie Mingjue does, because Jiang Cheng is asking him to.
Their plates are still on there, and behind, Nie Mingjue sees the kitchen, where he only hastily put the pots and pans away before Jiang Cheng came over.
“When you next blink it will all be cleaned up,” Jiang Cheng says and then, when Nie Mingjue does blink it is cleaned up and the dishwasher gurgles to life too.
Jiang Cheng is sitting next to him on the couch, but the blanket is gone and tidily put over the arm rest, Jiang Cheng staring at him, the faintest blush on his cheeks.
“What the fuck,” Nie Mingjue whispers and then looks at his tidy kitchen again. “You just did all of that?” he demands to know and then immediately gentles his voice.
“Yes. I stopped the time and took my time tidying up, too.”
“But why would you?” Nie Mingjue asks, and he goes on before Jiang Cheng can object. “You’re my guest; you shouldn’t have to do these tasks.”
“It was the quickest way to show you, to make you believe,” Jiang Cheng says with a shrug and if he’s being honest Nie Mingjue is not yet sure he does believe him.
“I—can I have more proof?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng frowns.
“I’m not actually sure how to proof the absence of something like passing time to you with anything else,” he admits and Nie Mingjue gets out his phone.
“If I start writing a message can you stop time, take the phone from me and write something yourself?” he asks and when Jiang Cheng nods he immediately gets to it.
He starts writing This is all and then between one blink and the next the text on his phone says really unbelievable, but I would never accuse Jiang Cheng of lying and also I just loaded the washing machine.
Nie Mingjue throws a scathing look at Jiang Cheng before he gets up and walks over to the washing machine, only to find that it is in fact loaded and ready to go.
“What. The. Fuck,” Nie Mingjue says again, but this time he believes, even though it’s as unbelievable as it is, and then he is hit with a sudden realization.
“You’re using this to study more,” he accuses Jiang Cheng when he comes back into the living-room, and Jiang Cheng shrugs but he seems close to tears again.
“What else can I do?” he asks and he looks down at his hands. “Even with that it’s not enough. I study my ass off in a way I know Wei Wuxian isn’t and he still gets better grades. I’m not cheating directly, by looking at the notes a professor brings, but even fourteen or sixteen hours of studying do nothing. I can never be better than him,” Jiang Cheng says, and he’s this close to crying again, Nie Mingjue can tell.
“You don’t have to be better than Wei Wuxian,” Nie Mingjue tells him as he sits down next to him again. “You just have to be Jiang Cheng.”
“Yeah, because my mother is really liking who I am,” Jiang Cheng bites out and then scrubs a hand over his face.
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe your mother is wrong?” Nie Mingjue asks and he never wanted to strangle a person more.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jiang Cheng whispers. “I am simply not good enough.”
“You are,” Nie Mingjue softly says. “And it doesn’t matter how much you study if you don’t get enough sleep. If you spend ten hours instead of two studying, then you need at least fifteen hours of sleep. You can’t just extend your days however you want and still sleep the same as before,” Nie Mingjue gently chides him and Jiang Cheng shrugs.
“If I could stop time when I’m asleep, I would,” he admits. “But as soon as I drift off, time goes on. I have to be conscious for it.”
“Then you have to stop,” Nie Mingjue says. “Jiang Cheng, it doesn’t matter if Wei Wuxian is better than you are. You’re second in all of your classes, right? You’re already so good, and it’s okay that you’re not the best. You simply need to be happy and healthy, and it doesn’t matter what anyone else expects from you.”
Nie Mingjue expected Jiang Cheng to burst into tears at that, but it’s still not very easy to take.
“You’re already so good, A-Cheng,” Nie Mingjue mutters as he pulls Jiang Cheng close, but Jiang Cheng pushes him away.
“You shouldn’t say that,” he gets out, the tears still flowing and then he avoids Nie Mingjue’s eyes. “I stole a kiss the first time I stopped time,” he mumbles, barely audible and Nie Mingjue’s heart stumbles in his chest.
“You did what?” he asks, because he has to be sure that he heard this right.
“I stole a kiss, so how good can I really be?” Jiang Cheng repeats, louder this time, clearly daring Nie Mingjue to get angry and kick him out, but Nie Mingjue only holds his hand out to him.
“Don’t you know that all my kisses belong to you anyway?” Nie Mingjue asks and watches as Jiang Cheng blushes, even under his tears. “You can take them all you want. I’m just a tiny bit sad that I didn’t get to experience our first kiss.”
“You can’t just—can’t just say that! Why won’t you get angry?”
“Because there’s nothing to be angry about. I just want you to be happy and to take care of you,” Nie Mingjue gives back and Jiang Cheng slumps.
Nie Mingjue counts it as a victory.
“Come here,” he cajoles, and Jiang Cheng follows his plea.
Nie Mingjue doesn’t hesitate to pull him into his arms again, and this time Jiang Cheng melts against him.
“You need to stop with what you’re doing,” Nie Mingjue whispers into Jiang Cheng’s hair. “You can’t study for ten or more hours a day and hope to be alright. It’s not healthy and it won’t get you what you want.”
“I won’t get what I want anyway,” Jiang Cheng mutters, voice choked up again and Nie Mingjue sighs.
“It’s not Wei Wuxian’s fault he retains the material as fast and as easily as he does,” Nie Mingjue says. “And it’s not your fault that you don’t. But punishing yourself for it, by doing this is not helping either.”
“I know,” Jiang Cheng bitterly says and then curls up into himself. “But even if I promise you to stop doing it, you would never know. You could never trust my word, because there’s no way for you to know if I am telling the truth.”
“Jiang Cheng,” Nie Mingjue says and he waits until Jiang Cheng uncurled enough to look at him. “If you tell me you didn’t use that power then I will believe you. What would we become if I couldn’t even believe you?” he softly goes on and Jiang Cheng hides his face in Nie Mingjue’s shoulder.
“That’s so mean,” he complains, but he stays where he is when Nie Mingjue presses a kiss to his hair even though it makes Jiang Cheng tense. “I’m not—I don’t know—I’m all messed up right now,” Jiang Cheng finally whispers and if he can recognize that, he’s less messed up than he clearly believes.
“Yes, you are, just a little bit,” Nie Mingjue agrees with him anyway and still keeps him where he is. “That’s why we’re going to go on dates first. That’s why nothing is going to happen until you feel better,” he decides and Jiang Cheng nods.
“Thank you,” he whispers into Nie Mingjue’s shoulder and Nie Mingjue starts to move his hand up and down his back.
“Don’t thank me for that,” he whispers and then he moves them into a more comfortable position.
They are going to wait with furthering this relationship, but Jiang Cheng clearly needs some comfort right now and Nie Mingjue will damn well give it to him.
And he’s more than happy when Jiang Cheng nods off against him, because it means he is getting some proper rest. And that is all Nie Mingjue wants for him right now.
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bloody-bee-tea · 3 years
Text
BeeTober 2020 Day 17
Moon - Falling
Day 17 of BeeTober 2020 has some more Mingcheng in store, this time in a modern au where NHS and NMJ made a pact that comes back to bite them both in the ass now.
Nie Mingjue is acutely aware that he can’t tear his eyes away from Jiang Cheng.
It’s not a problem—at least at the moment—because Jiang Cheng is accepting an award for being the youngest, most successful CEO in the last ten or so years, and he’s giving a speech.
Everyone’s eyes are on him, so it’s not too noticeable that Nie Mingjue cannot look away.
But how is Nie Mingjue supposed to look away, when the gods gifted Jiang Cheng with a face structure like that, and piercing eyes, and a soothing voice and the most precious smile.
Not even to mention how his entire beauty only seems enhanced with how the light of the moon hits him just so.
No, Nie Mingjue never stood a chance, he realizes now.
Jiang Cheng isn’t completely done with his speech when Nie Mingjue forces himself to turn away and leaves in search of the bar. Maybe some alcohol will solve his problem.
He just ordered something strong, when Jiang Cheng appears next to him.
“Not enjoying my speech?” Jiang Cheng asks, putting his award on the bar as he motions for the bartender.
“No offense, but it’s all the same blah blah,” Nie Mingjue gives back and toasts Jiang Cheng when he smiles. “To your award.”
“I got this,” Jiang Cheng says with a frown and nods towards the statue, “because I brought the company to heights it has never been at before. It wasn’t that hard with how my father ran it into the ground before me.”
Nie Mingjue very forcefully puts his glass down again and fully turns towards Jiang Cheng.
He has known him for almost all of Jiang Cheng’s life, because he and Nie Huaisang are best friends, and it always rubbed Nie Mingjue the wrong way, how Jiang Cheng continues to put himself down, time and time again.
And maybe it’s time he says something about it.
“Bullshit,” Nie Mingjue says and Jiang Cheng turns wide eyes on him. “Even if your father managed to almost ruin the company, you still saved it. And even more than that; it’s one of the most successful in the city today. Not everyone could have done this and you deserve this award and so much more,” Nie Mingjue tells him and when Jiang Cheng slightly blushes at his words, Nie Mingjue turns back to his drink.
“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng says and gently brushes their shoulders together. “I don’t think anyone stated it this clearly before.”
“Yeah, well, they should have. You have done well, Wanyin, and you can be proud of what you achieved.”
“Are you?” Jiang Cheng asks and immediately afterwards he grimaces as if he didn’t mean to say it.
“Proud of you?” Nie Mingjue wants to know and he doesn’t wait until Jiang Cheng nods. “Of course I am. I still remember the too angry boy that would grumble on our couch when Huaisang was too enthusiastic about something and it’s a real joy to see you grow up into a too angry man that can whip even the worst company into shape,” Nie Mingjue tells him with a wink and Jiang Cheng blushes again.
“Childhood friends are the worst,” Jiang Cheng grumbles under his breath, only proving Nie Mingjue right and when warmth floods Nie Mingjue’s chest, he wonders how he never before noticed that he was falling in love with the young man.
“Nah, you love us all,” Nie Mingjue gives back and then promptly swallows the rest of his drink before he turns away. “I have to go, mingle some more, or Huaisang might actually kill me,” Nie Mingjue says with a groan and Jiang Cheng laughs.
Nie Mingjue never realized just how much he loved hearing that sound before.
“And he might just succeed, too,” Jiang Cheng playfully says and let’s Nie Mingjue go without another word.
Once he’s a very safe distance away, Nie Mingjue takes a deep breath. Normally, he’s a very straight forward kind of guy. If he’s interested in someone he tells them, and then they can figure out where to go from there.
But he can’t with Jiang Cheng, because he and Nie Huaisang made a pact when Nie Huaisang was still small, and Nie Mingjue promised to honour that pact.
And that means Jiang Cheng is off limits.
~*~*~
Nie Mingjue lets himself into Lan Xichen’s apartment and when he finds him on the couch, he promptly flops down there as well, neatly placing his head in Lan Xichen’s lap.
“Huaisang is going to kill me,” Nie Mingjue says even before Lan Xichen can ask what’s going on and he sighs when Lan Xichen starts to undo the braids in his hair.
“You’re redoing them,” Nie Mingjue grumbles, but he melts when Lan Xichen’s nails scratch his scalp.
“Of course I am,” Lan Xichen easily agrees. “Why is A-Sang going to kill you?”
“I’m in love with Jiang Cheng,” Nie Mingjue comes straight to the point and makes an unhappy noise when Lan Xichen’s fingers freeze.
“I don’t see why he’d kill you for that,” Lan Xichen eventually says as he picks up where he left off again. “They are best friends, right? Shouldn’t A-Sang be happy about this?”
“It’s because they are best friends that he’s going to kill me,” Nie Mingjue groans and then slightly shakes his head. “Fuck, I can’t believe I fell for Huaisang’s childhood friend.”
“Well, Jiang Cheng is a very admirable person,” Lan Xichen offers and Nie Mingjue looks up at him.
“Admirable? That’s the understatement of the year. He turned out so well, and I don’t just mean that in terms of looks. His family life is shit, we all know that with how his parents continue to drag everything into the spotlight, and yet he’s one of the best friends anyone could wish for their younger brothers.”
“He’s also the best brother anyone could wish for, if you believe Wei Wuxian and Jiang Yanli.”
“And have you seen him with his nephew?” Nie Mingjue asks and now in retrospect it’s really embarrassing that it took him so long to notice that he’s in love with Jiang Cheng.
“I did,” Lan Xichen says with a smile and flicks Nie Mingjue’s forehead. “You’re really in deep, huh?”
“Fuck,” Nie Mingjue says and presses the heels of his hands to his eyes. “And it’s not helping that he still comes over all the time. He spends almost as much time on my couch than he did when he was younger, even though I know he has his own apartment by now.”
“And that’s a problem?”
“It is, when he’s working from our couch, because I was not ready to hear him decimate old man Yao on the phone.”
“Uh, I sense a kink,” Lan Xichen teases him and Nie Mingjue can feel himself flush.
He’s normally not that shy, but it’s Jiang Cheng. It’s his baby brother’s best friend. This really is a goddamn problem.
“Never say that again,” Nie Mingjue begs, even though Lan Xichen is probably right and Lan Xichen laughs at him.
“Now, all of this still doesn’t tell me why A-Sang is going to kill you for this.”
“We made a pact when he was about seven, maybe?” Nie Mingjue starts and Lan Xichen makes an encouraging sound. “We promised each other that no matter what happens our friends are off limits for any romantic or sexual relationships,” Nie Mingjue explains and this time when Lan Xichen freezes Nie Mingjue frowns up at him.
“You think that’s strange, right?” Nie Mingjue asks, because of course he would.
Nie Huaisang was really small when they made that pact; small enough that he shouldn’t even worry about something like that at that age, but Nie Mingjue has never questioned it. Nie Huaisang has always been a bit odd to everyone. Only Nie Mingjue never minded his brother’s rather odd thoughts and requests.
“I—yeah,” Lan Xichen finally gets out, and he sounds strangled enough that Nie Mingjue sits up, his hair tumbling all over his chest.
“What’s wrong?” Nie Mingjue wants to know and Lan Xichen can’t meet his eyes before he starts to laugh.
“You really don’t have to worry about A-Sang killing you,” Lan Xichen says then and immediately sobers up. “But please promise me that you won’t kill me.”
“Why should I kill you?” Nie Mingjue asks, but he doesn’t like where this is going, not at all.
“Because maybe A-Sang and I have been seeing each other?” Lan Xichen asks as if he needs to test those words out first and Nie Mingjue springs up.
“What?” he roars because how dare Lan Xichen corrupt his precious younger brother.
“Mingjue, breathe,” Lan Xichen says and Nie Mingjue takes one gulping breath and then a second, and a third.
“I’m calm,” he finally says and it’s not even a lie.
Nie Huaisang is twenty-five now, Nie Mingjue reminds himself. He is old enough to make his own decisions, and really, if Nie Mingjue had to choose a boyfriend for him, Lan Xichen would not be a bad choice at all.
It’s just that—
“That little demon,” Nie Mingjue grumbles. “And here I worry about breaking our pact while he snogs face with my best friend.”
“Please, don’t call it that,” Lan Xichen says with a grimace. “We kissed twice. Really, we’re still seeing where this is going.”
“I do not want to hear that you kissed my baby brother,” Nie Mingjue says and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Unbelievable.”
“Actually, if you want to yell at him in person,” Lan Xichen starts and just at that moment, a key turns in the door.
“Is that him?” Nie Mingjue asks and Lan Xichen nods.
“Xichen!” Nie Huaisang calls out and he sounds way too happy for Nie Mingjue’s taste.
“Huaisang!” he bellows and feels a lot better when he’s met with a surprised squeak.
Time to show Nie Huaisang that Nie Mingjue is still his big brother.
~*~*~
Nie Mingjue refuses to be nervous as he knocks at Jiang Cheng’s door.
If Nie Huaisang managed to bag Lan Xichen who he knew since he was waddling around in pampers, then Nie Mingjue can damn well do the same with Jiang Cheng.
Especially since he is not the first to break their pact and therefore doesn’t have to feel guilty at all.
“Mingjue,” Jiang Cheng says, sounding surprised when he finally opens the door and Nie Mingjue realizes that he can count on one hand the times he has been to Jiang Cheng’s apartment, while Jiang Cheng has a key to his own.
“Is something wrong?” Jiang Cheng asks when Nie Mingjue simply continues to stare at him, but Nie Mingjue can’t help himself.
He’s allowed to stare without guilt now, at least regarding Nie Huaisang and their promise.
“No,” Nie Mingjue says. “Can I come in?”
“Of course,” Jiang Cheng immediately says and steps to the side to let Nie Mingjue in. “Do you want anything to drink?” Jiang Cheng asks him, leaving for the kitchen but Nie Mingjue shakes his head.
“No, thank you,” he politely says and immediately feels uncomfortable.
He should have waited until Jiang Cheng came over the next time; it would have felt much more natural than this.
“Okay, I’m not going to lie, you’re worrying me,” Jiang Cheng says, when he comes back from the kitchen empty handed. “You don’t usually come here.”
“But you usually come to my place,” Nie Mingjue says without thinking and he startles when he sees the hurt frown on Jiang Cheng’s face.
“Should I not?” he carefully asks and Nie Mingjue rubs a hand over his face.
Usually, this is so much easier. He wonders what it is about Jiang Cheng that turns him into a fumbling fool.
“You’re always welcome, you know that,” Nie Mingjue reassures him and then sits down on the couch without waiting for permission. “I’m here because of a pact I have with Huaisang.”
“Okay?” Jiang Cheng asks and sits down on the couch next to Nie Mingjue. “What pact?”
“We’re not allowed to date the friends of our brother,” Nie Mingjue explains and rolls his eyes when Jiang Cheng has to hide a smirk. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, I know he’s dating Xichen.”
“Good,” Jiang Cheng says, amusement colouring his voice. “I would have hated to be the one to break the news to you.”
“Whatever,” Nie Mingjue grumbles and then straightens up again. “But that’s the point actually. He already broke the pact, so there’s no reason for me to honour it anymore.”
“The pact of not dating your brother’s friends,” Jiang Cheng mutters and he blushes bright red when he connects the dots. “And you’re here,” he finishes weakly and Nie Mingjue can’t stop himself from reaching out and cupping his cheek in his hand.
“And I’m here,” Nie Mingjue agrees and his heart beats faster when Jiang Cheng nuzzles into his hand.
“Because you want to date your brother’s best friend.”
“Because I’ve realized I’ve been in love with my brother’s best friend for a while now,” Nie Mingjue agrees and watches fondly as a smile slowly overtakes Jiang Cheng’s face.
“And here I thought all of my flirting was for nothing,” he says and Nie Mingjue laughs.
“Oh no, believe me, your flirting has been received very well,” Nie Mingjue promises him and gently pulls him close. “So this is okay?” he asks, because for all that Jiang Cheng has been flirting, he might still find it weird to kiss his best friend’s older brother.
“More than,” Jiang Cheng promises and closes the distance between them.
Nie Mingjue never knew that broken promises could taste this sweet.
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bloody-bee-tea · 3 years
Text
BeeTober 2020 Day 6
Shards - Foliage
Day 6 of BeeTober brings me back to Xicheng and some simple fluff and misunderstandings. 
Jiang Cheng feels like he’s slowly losing his mind. His whole table is groaning under the weight of the letters—the proposals—and Jiang Cheng wants to get up and strangle every single member of his Sect who had a hand in this.
He doesn’t want to marry. He never wanted to marry, and he thought he had made that very clear.
Jiang Cheng puts his head in his hands when he remembers the exact words he uttered all those years ago, and belatedly he realizes that he shouldn’t have put a condition on his refusal.
‘I will not marry until Jin Ling ascends as Sect Leader’ he had said and it’s now biting him in the ass.
But Jiang Cheng counted on Jin Guangyao staying alive long beyond the reasonable age, simply because he seemed to be exactly that kind of petty bitch. Who would have thought that he would get violently murdered by none other than Lan Xichen and Nie Huaisang, after all.
“Damn it,” Jiang Cheng mutters, as his eyes yet again fall on the imposing mountain of letters.
Jiang Cheng knows about his reputation, knows what the other cultivators think of him, and so the sheer amount of letters is surprising.
Jiang Cheng had hoped that by now his reputation would work as a repellent to every willing person, but it seems like he can’t even rely on that anymore.
“Have you made a decision yet?” a voice carries inside his study and Jiang Cheng’s head snaps up.
“What do you think?” he yells back, and going by the telling silence his disciple is clever enough to flee at his sharp words.
Jiang Cheng cannot reasonably refuse each and every single proposal, he knows that. There’s not even a way to do it without angering any Sects, because if he chooses one, it will be an insult to the others.
But not choosing at all is also not an option, because then the proposals will just keep coming, and soon enough they will be hand-delivered in person.
Jiang Cheng would rather drown himself than have that happen.
Jiang Cheng puts his head in his hands again, trying to calm himself down with deep breaths, but it’s not working too well.
He only ever wanted to marry for love; wanted to avoid a marriage like his parents shared, but he knows that’s not in it for him anymore.
His heart—his stupid, stupid heart—is set on Lan Xichen after all, has been since the lectures at the Cloud Recesses, but Jiang Cheng has known for just as long that it’s futile.
Lan Xichen has never looked at him in that kind of way; instead he made it a point to stay away from Jiang Cheng for most of the years, not that Jiang Cheng can begrudge him that.
Their personalities do tend to clash and while Jiang Cheng always thought it exciting and invigorating the scarce times it happened, it’s not hard to imagine that Lan Xichen rather dislikes it.
Jiang Cheng mentally scolds himself—not for the first time that day—and forces himself to at least sift through the proposals.
He can form piles: I’d rather not and abso-fucking-lutely not.
The thought amuses Jiang Cheng so much, that he reaches for the next proposal, but as soon as his eyes fall on the seal—the personal sign of Sect Leader Yao—he loses it.
This is the third proposal from his Sect Jiang Cheng held in his hands in the last twenty minutes and it’s enough to drive everyone insane.
So instead of compiling piles like he just decided on, he sweeps his arms over the table, sending all the proposals flying through the room, until they are scattered around him like shards.
Jiang Cheng thinks he would prefer shards over this never-ending torture, and he has half a mind just burning his whole study to the ground, when his eyes fall on a blue proposal, sporting the somewhat familiar seal of the Cloud Recesses.
Jiang Cheng frowns but he can’t help but be intrigued by it. He wonders just whose hand in marriage Lan Qiren is offering to him, and before he even finishes the thought, Jiang Cheng has reached for the proposal.
He thumbs the seal a few times, before he finds the courage to break it, because he knows that no matter whose name he wishes to read in it, it won’t happen. Lan Xichen doesn’t feel that way about him after all.
Jiang Cheng scans the proposal and when his eyes fall on the name Lan Qiren proposes, Jiang Cheng is glad that he’s already sitting down.
This must be a mistake.
~*~*~
Jiang Cheng is pacing the pier, impatiently waiting for Lan Xichen to arrive, the outrageous proposal still tightly clutched in his hands.
Jiang Cheng has come to terms with the fact that Lan Xichen will never be the one for him a long time ago and so the spark of hurt that Lan Qiren would dangle something that he can’t have in front of him is tiny enough that it’s almost entirely buried under Jiang Cheng’s rage.
He feels outraged on Lan Xichen’s behalf, that Lan Qiren would offer him up like some live-stock and he’s going to inform Lan Xichen about his uncle’s improper proposal at once.
Jiang Cheng is on his seventeenth time pacing the pier when the boat with Lan Xichen finally comes into view.
Jiang Cheng lets out a relieved sigh because Lan Xichen seems to be alone, like Jiang Cheng requested in his letter to the other Sect Leader. He doesn’t want word to get out that Lan Qiren is trying to marry Lan Xichen off to Jiang Cheng.
“Jiang Wanyin,” Lan Xichen greets him as soon as he steps onto the pier but Jiang Cheng is too furious to bother with niceties.
“Your uncle has gone too far,” he says, proposal still tightly clenched in his hands and Lan Xichen looks at him in confusion.
“What could he possibly have done to make you think so?” Lan Xichen wants to know and Jiang Cheng shoves the proposal at him.
“He’s trying to marrying you off like you’re some—some cattle to be rid of,” Jiang Cheng seethes, and Lan Xichen carefully plucks the letter out of Jiang Cheng’s hands.
Lan Xichen reads it over carefully and Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes when Lan Xichen’s face falls.
He seems sad more than anything and Jiang Cheng doesn’t understand that. He should be seething with rage, like Jiang Cheng is.
“Ah, I see,” Lan Xichen says and then takes a step back to bow deeply to Jiang Cheng. “I apologize,” he goes on and now the anger makes way for confusion.
“What the hell are you apologizing for?” Jiang Cheng demands to know and Lan Xichen smiles sadly at him.
“I thought that since my previous proposals have all gone unanswered, I would try the official channels now. But I realize my mistake and I apologize to you for causing you distress.”
Jiang Cheng blinks, because those words in that configuration simply don’t make any sense at all and he slightly shakes his head when his confusion only grows with every second that Lan Xichen doesn’t laugh and tell him it’s all just a joke.
“Your what?” Jiang Cheng asks and his voice is fainter than he would like it to be, but his heart is hammering away in his chest, and butterflies are filling his stomach to an almost dangerous level.
“My previous proposals,” Lan Xichen repeats, and it makes as much sense as the first time he said it. “Of marriage and then later of a courtship.”
“I have no clue what you are talking about,” Jiang Cheng admits and now it’s Lan Xichen’s turn to blink in surprise at him.
“Oh,” he whispers and then Jiang Cheng has to watch as his ears turn red.
Jiang Cheng could die, he loves this man so much.
“Care to explain?” he snaps at Lan Xichen, much rougher than he intended in his need to overcompensate for his truly mushy thoughts and Lan Xichen is trying to kill him, surely, because the blush seeps into his cheeks.
“I have sent several marriage proposals to you, over the years. When they went unanswered but not refused, I thought I should start smaller with the offer of a proper courtship. You never replied to those either, and I am able to take a hint. It might take me longer than other people but I get there eventually,” Lan Xichen explains and there is so much self-deprecation in his voice that Jiang Cheng has to bite back his anger at every single person who ever made Lan Xichen believe that.
“So I kept my distance from you, since I didn’t wish to burden you further with my clearly unwanted feelings. But now your Elders announced that you’ll be looking for a spouse now, and I thought I would have more success if my uncle approved of this union.”
Jiang Cheng feels faint with everything that Lan Xichen has just said and when his silence drags on for so long that Lan Xichen attempts a bow again, Jiang Cheng’s hands reach out to grasp his forearm.
“I have never seen those proposals,” Jiang Cheng promises him, desperate to have Lan Xichen believe him. “I told my Elders that I wouldn’t marry before Jin Ling ascends as Sect Leader and that if I even so much as catch a glimpse of any proposals I would drown them all in the lakes.”
Lan Xichen’s eyes flit to the side, taking in the water, and when he looks back at Jiang Cheng, there’s a small smile playing around his mouth.
“I think the foliage is too thick for anyone to drown here,” he says, a playful note in his voice and Jiang Cheng dares to let out a relieved breath.
“I can throw them really far,” he gives back and it’s only when Lan Xichen laughs at that, that Jiang Cheng releases him.
“I truly didn’t know about that,” Jiang Cheng reiterates again and he thinks he doesn’t imagine the hopeful look on Lan Xichen’s face.
“Your reaction kind of gives me hope that my feelings are in fact not unreciprocated,” Lan Xichen says as he takes a tentative step forwards.
Jiang Cheng wants to do nothing more but to tell him that they are so reciprocated, but there is one thing he has to clear up first.
“I’m not going to leave my Sect,” he says, and he forces himself to sound firm. “If this is going to work, you’d have to come here.”
Jiang Cheng knows that it’s unlikely that Lan Xichen will agree to that, but Jiang Cheng did not rebuild his Sect from nothing only to leave it in the end. No matter if it’s for love or not.
“I know that,” Lan Xichen reassures him and takes Jiang Cheng’s hand in his. “Do you really think my uncle would have allowed this if he wouldn’t approve of it? Lan Jingyi will be Sect Leader; he’s too young now, but the Elder’s will guide him and I will be his advisor. He knows this and everything has already been arranged in case you should agree.”
There’s a heavy pause, during which Lan Xichen doesn’t meet his eyes.
“Do you agree?” he then dares to ask and there is so much naked hope in his voice that Jiang Cheng aches with it.
“Of course I do,” he rushes to reassure Lan Xichen. “Jin Ling was never the real reason I didn’t marry,” he confesses to Lan Xichen and threads their hands together. “I didn’t want to marry because the only one I could see myself marrying was you. And I thought that was highly unlikely to happen, so—,” he trails off with a shrug and Lan Xichen laughs.
“Not as unlikely as I thought it to be that you would answer one of my proposals one of these days.”
“Well, I am answering it now,” Jiang Cheng decides and tugs on Lan Xichen’s hand. “In fact, I’m going to write that letter to Lan Qiren right now,” he tells Lan Xichen, who doesn’t move a single inch.
“What?” Jiang Cheng asks, a tiny voice in his head telling him that of course this was too good to be true, but when Lan Xichen gives him a mischievous look that voice dies right out.
“I think before you write to my uncle we should seal this agreement,” Lan Xichen tells him and tugs Jiang Cheng closer to himself.
Jiang Cheng is embarrassed to admit that he almost stumbles into Lan Xichen’s chest, but when Lan Xichen puts a hand to his hip to stabilize him—and to keep him close—Jiang Cheng can’t find it in him to mind.
“And what kind of seal do you have in mind?” Jiang Cheng asks, now that he finally caught up to Lan Xichen’s words, and he itches to kiss the smirk right off Lan Xichen’s lips.
“I think you know,” Lan Xichen whispers, leaning almost close enough for their lips to brush and Jiang Cheng stops fighting his own wishes and simply leans in to kiss Lan Xichen.
He doubts there has ever been a sweeter acceptance of a marriage proposal.
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bloody-bee-tea · 3 years
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BeeTober 2020 Day 21
Brush - Rustle
Yet again I give you more sangcheng for Day 21 because these two deserve some love and also because they have the best siblings. 
Jiang Cheng waits until his siblings sat down to get up and start to pace.
“Why are we here?” Jiang Yanli finally carefully asks on Jiang Cheng’s fifteenth round through the living-room and he finally comes to a stop.
“I need your advice on something,” he tells them and a cold shudder runs down his back when Wei Wuxian starts to beam at him. “Actually, I mostly need your advice,” he then says to Jiang Yanli, mostly to spite Wei Wuxian and he allows himself a small smile when Wei Wuxian huffs in outrage.
“See if I care, then,” Wei Wuxian grumbles under his breath and Jiang Cheng presses his lips together.
“If you don’t want to know anymore, you can leave any time,” Jiang Cheng tells him, but Wei Wuxian stubbornly stays where he is, not that Jiang Cheng expected anything different.
“What do you need advice on, A-Cheng,” Jiang Yanli asks, always the calm voice of reason and Jiang Cheng sighs.
“You’re allowed to make fun of me for five minutes and then I need actual help,” he tells them and Wei Wuxian’s gleeful look at the promise of being able to make fun of Jiang Cheng without consequences makes Jiang Cheng regret his every life choice.
“I’m so ready,” Wei Wuxian whispers, scooting forwards until what he does can only barely be classified as sitting and Jiang Cheng decides to get this over with as soon as possible.
“I’m in love with Huaisang,” he says and watches as his siblings freeze.
“Dammit,” Wei Wuxian mutters after a good minute and moves to retrieve his wallet.
Jiang Cheng watches in confusion as he hands Jiang Yanli a not inconsiderable amount of money.
“What the fuck?” Jiang Cheng asks, as his sister packs the money away with a smug look on her face.
“We made a bet,” she then informs him.
That much Jiang Cheng already gathered himself, so he raises an eyebrow at her to prompt her to go on.
“Wei Wuxian was under the impression you weren’t aware of your feelings yet, while I said that you knew that you’re in love.”
“Since when have you known?” Wei Wuxian asks, clearly still lamenting the loss of his money and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.
“Since I fell in love with him,” he gives back and bares his teeth at Wei Wuxian.
“I didn’t know you were this aware of your feelings,” Wei Wuxian says, clearly unbothered by Jiang Cheng’s action and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.
He had to be aware of his emotions to curb his more violent and explosive reactions. He was an angry person by default and learning to recognize his emotions had been a hard lesson in his youth but he only profited from that now.
“My name is not Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng says and Jiang Yanli hides her laugh behind a hand.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Wei Wuxian demands to know, clearly outraged and Jiang Cheng smiles at him for real this time.
“It means that I’m not stupidly pining away after my best friend,” Jiang Cheng tells him and he vows to mark this day red in the calendar because Wei Wuxian is staring at him, clearly speechless.
“I’m not in love with Lan Zhan,” he yells when he finally finds his words again and Jiang Yanli puts a calming hand on his arm.
“It’s okay that you are,” she tells Wei Wuxian who turns big eyes on her.
“But I’m—Lan Zhan—what do you even mean?” Wei Wuxian sounds honestly despairing but Jiang Cheng does not have the time to tell his brother to stop making them all miserable and simply kiss Lan Wangji like he so clearly wants to do.
It would be greatly appreciated by everyone.
But still, this is not why Jiang Cheng called them here.
“Can we get back to my problem first?” he asks and at least Jiang Yanli gives him her full attention.
“Why do you think being in love with Huaisang is a problem?” she wants to know and Jiang Cheng wants to be mad at her, because it’s quiet obvious to himself, but she truly doesn’t seem to understand.
“He doesn’t like me back?” he tries and Jiang Yanli gives him her best ‘Oh, A-Cheng, don’t be stupid’-look.
“I mean, we’re best friends, what do I do if he doesn’t feel the same? What if I ruin the one good friendship I have?”
“Do you really think Huaisang would simply end your friendship over this?” Wei Wuxian wants to know, clearly having pushed his own issue with Lan Zhan to the back of his mind for now.
“Maybe?”
“Okay, no offense, or whatever, but Huaisang is an attention whore. At the very least he’ll be pleased to have your attention,” Wei Wuxian tells him and Jiang Cheng has to admit that he might just be right.
But there’s still an issue.
“I can actually see that,” he slowly starts but then shrugs helplessly. “But who would want my attention?” he then asks and Jiang Yanli’s face falls.
“A-Cheng, your attention is nothing bad,” she softly says and Jiang Cheng has to snort at that.
“Yeah, right,” he mutters and Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian get up from the couch and hug him at the same time.
“It’s not,” Wei Wuxian says with vehemence. “And if Huaisang says it is, I’m going to beat him up.”
“You’re scared of Nie Mingjue, you’re not going to do shit,” Jiang Cheng gives back, even though his eyes might burn the slightest bit.
“I’m going to distract him,” Jiang Yanli offers and Jiang Cheng loves them so much.
“Okay,” he agrees and then takes a deep breath. “So you’re voting for telling him.”
“We are,” Wei Wuxian says and Jiang Cheng pulls away enough to level Wei Wuxian with a glare.
“I’m voting for you telling Lan Wangji, too,” he says and Jiang Yanli nods her encouragement.
“Ugh, this is about you, so stop this,” Wei Wuxian complains and pulls Jiang Cheng close again. “One crisis per evening,” he decides and Jiang Cheng gives in.
“Fine,” he says, as Jiang Yanli giggles and he just enjoys having his siblings close like this.
He’ll need to remember this when Nie Huaisang inevitably rejects him.
~*~*~
It’s not unusual for Jiang Cheng to spend the afternoon at the Nie house. In fact, it’s so common, that Nie Mingjue plans for him to be there during dinner on three days out of the week.
He’s right to do so, too.
So Jiang Cheng shouldn’t feel so nervous, sitting on the couch he has been sitting on for almost as long as he can remember, Nie Mingjue working on some new form to torture the members of his gym, while Nie Huaisang is in his corner, swinging a brush and putting the most intricate paintings on a fan.
Jiang Cheng brought his own work with him, like he usually does, but he can’t concentrate today. Today, he can only think about the last talk he had with his siblings and how he decided to confess to Nie Huaisang today.
Maybe it was a stupid decision.
But Jiang Cheng can hear Jiang Yanli’s voice in his mind, telling him how he has nothing to fear, how his friendship with Nie Huaisang isn’t so fragile as to break over this, and Jiang Cheng squares his shoulders.
His sister is always right, after all.
Jiang Cheng spares half a thought to the fact that Nie Mingjue might pose a greater danger to Jiang Cheng than even Nie Huaisang, because if he disapproves of Jiang Cheng, he might simply kill him on the spot, but Jiang Cheng pushes that thought far away.
It’s something he can worry over when he knows how Nie Huaisang will react to his confession.
“Huaisang,” Jiang Cheng says, keeping his eyes on Nie Huaisang as he makes a distracted noise.
“Huaisang, listen,” Jiang Cheng says again, and this time Nie Huaisang drags his eyes away from his fan.
“What?” he asks, doesn’t quite snap, because he would never snap at Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Cheng powers through this.
“Let’s say I’m in love with you,” Jiang Cheng starts and panics when Nie Huaisang’s eyes go wide. “Hypothetically. Let’s hypothetically says I’m in love with you. How would you react?” he wants to know and watches as Nie Huaisang goes from pale to a fetching red.
Jiang Cheng wants to taste it with his lips.
“Da-ge is right there!” Nie Huaisang screeches once he finds his voice and there’s a rustle from Nie Mingjue’s corner of the living-room.
“No, he’s not,” Nie Mingjue says and then gets up, clearly intending to leave them to it.
He passes by the couch, and therefor Jiang Cheng, on his way out and he briefly puts his hand on Jiang Cheng’s shoulder.
“Good for you,” Nie Mingjue tells him and it makes Jiang Cheng flush, as he watches Nie Mingjue walk away and giving them their privacy.
Jiang Cheng wonders if there will still be a plate for him at dinner tonight.
“Jiang Cheng!” Nie Huaisang almost yells, and Jiang Cheng wonders if he said his name a few times before, so he is quick to turn all his attention back to Nie Huaisang.
“What?” Jiang Cheng innocently asks and Nie Huaisang points his brush at him as if he’s going to kill him with it, if Jiang Cheng says the wrong thing.
Jiang Cheng wouldn’t put it past him, either.
“You can’t just say something like that,” Nie Huaisang says and Jiang Cheng’s heart falls.
“It’s hypothetical, remember?” he tries, hopes to salvage this somehow, but Nie Huaisang is shaking his head so violently that he hits himself in the face with his ponytail.
“It better not be,” Nie Huaisang grumbles and then puts the brush away before he gets up and walks over to the couch.
Jiang Cheng is quite speechless when Nie Huaisang simply plops himself down in Jiang Cheng’s lap, but his hands automatically come up to settle on Nie Huaisang’s hips.
He thinks this is a rather good sign, but Jiang Cheng doesn’t dare trust it yet.
“So, let’s say I’m in love with you, hypothetically,” Jiang Cheng says again and Nie Huaisang rolls his eyes, but he goes soft and pliant under Jiang Cheng’s hands.
“Fine, let’s say it’s hypothetical,” he agrees and Jiang Cheng gets the distinct impression that he’s only indulging him.
“What would your reaction be?” Jiang Cheng dares to ask and blushes again when Nie Huaisang gives a very pointed look at Jiang Cheng’s lap.
The lap he’s currently sitting on.
“So, not bad?” Jiang Cheng asks and Nie Huaisang has the audacity to throw his head back as he laughs, which only puts his neck on beautiful display and Jiang Cheng itches to get his lips on that.
“Oh, A-Cheng,” Nie Huaisang says, and even though it’s a completely different tone than his sister usually uses it feels a lot like it’s the same.
“What?” Jiang Cheng defensively says and Nie Huaisang puts his arms around Jiang Cheng’s neck before he leans in close.
“My reaction to that sadly hypothetical question would be to kiss you,” he says and he is so close that Jiang Cheng can almost feel his lips brush against his own.
Almost.
“What if it’s not hypothetical?” Jiang Cheng manages to get out and Nie Huaisang beams at him.
“Isn’t it?” he demands to know and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes, which only makes Nie Huaisang chuckle. “You started with this hypothetical bullshit,” Nie Huaisang says. “Take responsibility for it.”
“Alright,” Jiang Cheng nods. “I’m in love with you,” he then says and he’s almost not at all scared, except for how fast his heart is beating.
But he likes to think that is because Nie Huaisang is in his lap and looking at him like that and leaning close again.
He doesn’t verbally answer, but with what Nie Huaisang said before Jiang Cheng didn’t expect him to. Instead, Nie Huaisang stops teasing him and finally brings their lips together.
“A good answer,” Jiang Cheng breathes out when they finally part and he enjoys the slightly dazed look on Nie Huaisang’s face.
“The best answer,” Nie Huaisang agrees and then they both startle when Nie Mingjue suddenly shows up in the living-room again.
“Kissing will be the only thing you do on the couch in the living-room, where everyone sits,” he tells them, and Jiang Cheng thinks he has never seen Nie Huaisang move so fast, because suddenly he’s sitting prim and proper to Jiang Cheng’s left.
“Better,” Nie Mingjue agrees and leaves them to it again.
Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng stay frozen for a few seconds longer, but then they start to laugh at the same time, and Jiang Cheng goes just a little bit soft when Nie Huaisang easily leans into his side.
“We could go to my room,” Nie Huaisang suggests but Jiang Cheng shakes his head.
“Absolutely not. He’s making dinner, and he will barge into your room without properly knocking first,” Jiang Cheng prophesises and Nie Huaisang sighs because he knows Jiang Cheng is right.
“Then we have to make good use of what we are allowed to do here,” Nie Huaisang decides and Jiang Cheng couldn’t agree more whole heartedly.
When Nie Mingjue fetches them for dinner, Nie Huaisang might not be sitting in Jiang Cheng’s lap, but Jiang Cheng doubts having Nie Huaisang draped all over him is any better.
Jiang Cheng couldn’t care less, because having Nie Huaisang in his arms like that is worth every glare from Nie Mingjue.
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bloody-bee-tea · 3 years
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BeeTober 2020 Day 5
Forgotten - Lantern
Day 5 of BeeTober hit me with some Mo Xuanyu feels and I figure NMJ is everyone’s da-ge so let him be MXY’s as well and maybe also more
Mo Xuanyu doesn’t know if he’s making the right decision, but he doesn’t have a choice anymore. He came too far already to turn back around.
He passed the border of Qinghe a few hours ago, and he can already see the light of the Unclean Realm on the horizon.
And besides, there is nowhere else to go for Mo Xuanyu.
He didn’t chose Qinghe lightly; by now it’s his only option. There is no way Mo Xuanyu can ever return to Lanling, not with how Jin Guangyao made sure to ruin his reputation like this. Mo Xuanyu would have loved to change out of the golden colours by now, but he didn’t dare to return home, so he doesn’t exactly have a spare set of clothes laying around.
His first instinct after Jin Guangyao kicked him down the stairs was to go to Gusu; Lan Xichen is said to be a kind and just leader, but Mo Xuanyu all too well remembers how fond Lan Xichen seems of Jin Guangyao.
There is no way he will believe Mo Xuanyu’s words over Jin Guangyao.
Mo Xuanyu’s second instinct told him to turn to Yunmeng; Sect Leader Jiang might be a rough and firm Sect Leader, but he is famous for accepting strays and bringing them into his Sect. Mo Xuanyu thinks he might have liked life at Lotus Pier, but he has seen how—despite his more than apparent dislike—Jiang Cheng stays friendly and accommodating to Jin Guangyao.
Mo Xuanyu understands that Jiang Cheng fears Jin Guangyao will take Jin Ling away from him—Jin Guangyao makes it look like he’s granting Jiang Cheng a favour by allowing him to take Jin Ling to Lotus Pier often enough after all—and so Mo Xuanyu can’t count on the fact that Jiang Cheng will protect him.
If Jin Guangyao wants him back—or worse dead—badly enough, he definitely has the means to force Jiang Cheng’s hand.
No, Lotus Pier is not the place to go.
That only leaves Qinghe as his last option, and despite of that Mo Xuanyu still thinks it might be sensible.
Nie Mingjue has no qualms letting everyone know just how little he trusts Jin Guangyao, how he abhors his methods.
If Jin Guangyao comes demanding Mo Xuanyu be returned to him, Nie Mingjue might refuse simply out of spite.
At this point, it’s the best Mo Xuanyu can hope for, since he doesn’t dare to return home. He can only imagine how he would be welcomed after the shame he brought to the Mo family, how disappointed his mother must be.
So he keeps dragging his feet along, despite the bruises and aches all over his body, and the light of the Unclean Realm is getting closer and closer.
Mo Xuanyu counts himself lucky that Qinghe and Lanling share a border, because he’s not sure he would have made it much further than this.
By the time Mo Xuanyu can see the great gate, the sun is setting and he had time enough to regret his every action.
He has only met Nie Mingjue a handful of times, but he’s an imposing man, and if he’s displeased by Mo Xuanyu’s appearance, there is nothing Mo Xuanyu will have to hold against him. Mo Xuanyu can simply hope that Nie Mingjue will make it quick, instead of dragging it out and making Mo Xuanyu suffer.
When the guards of the Unclean Realm spot him and immediately leave—presumably to call for Nie Mingjue or another high-ranking officer—Mo Xuanyu desperately wishes that he was in different clothes.
Not that it would help hide who he is, but at least then Nie Mingjue would maybe not pay that much attention to him at first.
Mo Xuanyu has half a mind just turning back around, when Nie Mingjue suddenly marches up to him.
He seems even bigger than in Mo Xuanyu’s memory, and Mo Xuanyu tries to make himself as small as he can, and he falls in a deep bow.
“Rise,” Nie Mingjue orders him, and Mo Xuanyu doesn’t dare to disobey him.
Nie Mingjue musters him for long moments before he speaks again.
“Mo Xuanyu, right?” he then asks and Mo Xuanyu is honestly surprised that Nie Mingjue seems to remember him.
He didn’t think he left such a lingering impression, but maybe word of his disgraceful behaviour—however made up it is—has already reached this far.
“You have not been forgotten,” Nie Mingjue tells him, almost sounding affronted, and Mo Xuanyu wonders if he can read the thoughts right off his face.
“I didn’t dare hope,” Mo Xuanyu whispers and he fights the urge to fall into a bow again.
“You are hurt,” Nie Mingjue observes. “What happened?”
“Surely you must have heard of it,” Mo Xuanyu replies, and he wonders just how long it will take Nie Mingjue to send him away.
Mo Xuanyu doesn’t know what he was thinking when he came here.
“I want to hear it from you,” Nie Mingjue says and Mo Xuanyu can see Baxia vibrate at Nie Mingjue’s back.
Mo Xuanyu closes his eyes and then trains them on the ground.
“I made advances on my brother,” Mo Xuanyu says, because this is what Nie Mingjue will have heard no matter how outrageously a lie it is. “He kicked me out.”
“I told you to tell me what happened,” Nie Mingjue repeats and Mo Xuanyu can’t help but to look in surprise at Nie Mingjue.
“You don’t believe it?” Mo Xuanyu asks and when his eyes start to burn he tries to convince himself it’s simply because he’s tired.
“It’s a rumour spread by Jin Guangyao. I wouldn’t believe it if he swore on his mother’s grave that it’s the truth,” Nie Mingjue scoffs out, and now Mo Xuanyu can’t help it anymore.
He let’s out a sob—more from relief than anything else—and when his knees buckle, Nie Mingjue catches him.
“What happened?” he asks again, but much softer this time and Mo Xuanyu dares to lean into his large hands.
“He made it up. I stumbled upon things I shouldn’t have seen, and he made it up to get rid of me,” he admits, for the first time since he ran into Xue Yang by chance and Mo Xuanyu hadn’t known how much this weighed on him.
“And he kicked you out,” Nie Mingjue finishes for him and Mo Xuanyu lets out a hysterical laugh.
“Kicked me down the stairs, more like it,” he gives back and Nie Mingjue’s hands tighten on him before he relaxes them.
“You’re hurt.”
It’s not a question and Nie Mingjue doesn’t give Mo Xuanyu time to answer, either. He simply puts him back on his own feet, though he makes sure to keep a steadying hand on his elbow, before he leads him inside the Unclean Realm.
“Zonghui, inform the healer,” Nie Mingjue orders the man who has been standing behind him all along and he nods, before he hurries away.
The trip to the healer is quick, thankfully. Despite the long tumble down the stairs, Mo Xuanyu got away without any serious injuries. His whole body is tender, and he will most likely bruise all over, but the worst of it is a sprained wrist, which quickly gets bandaged.
Nie Mingjue left sometime during the examination and Mo Xuanyu tries his best not to read too much into that.
Nie Mingjue must be busy. He cannot possibly attend to someone like Mo Xuanyu personally. But Mo Xuanyu is acutely aware of the fact that he knows no one here, and the grain of worry sits deep.
Nie Zonghui leads him to a room, once the healer deems him ready to go, and he tells Mo Xuanyu to wait there.
There’s a fresh set of robes on the bed, but they are in Nie colours and Mo Xuanyu doesn’t dare to touch them.
Surely, they must have been left by the previous owner of the room. Or maybe they have been left on accident. They cannot be for him, that much Mo Xuanyu is sure of.
His body screams for some rest, and the bed looks more than inviting, but Nie Zonghui has told him to wait; Mo Xuanyu doesn’t know for what but he doesn’t want to be caught unaware.
So instead of laying down on the bed like his entire being demands, he kneels in front of the bed.
He tries to meditate, but his thoughts keep drifting away; he’s too uncertain of the future to allow himself to fall deeply into mediation.
The night is well advanced by the time Mo Xuanyu hears footsteps approach his room and he sits up straighter. There are enough flaws and faults to find in Mo Xuanyu and he doesn’t want to give his hosts any more reason to find additional ones.
Mo Xuanyu lowers his head when someone knocks at his door and he expects the person to simply barge in. He’s beyond confused when nothing happens.
“Mo Xuanyu?” Nie Mingjue’s voice carries through the door and Mo Xuanyu takes in a deep breath.
“Yes?”
“Can I come in?” Nie Mingjue wants to know and it throws Mo Xuanyu for a loop if he’s being honest.
No one in Lanling respected his privacy.
“Of course,” Mo Xuanyu rushes to confirm and he shrinks in on himself when Nie Mingjue frowns as he sees him.
“Why didn’t you change yet?” he asks and it’s only then that he seems to notice the untouched bed. “Did you not rest?”
“I was told to wait,” Mo Xuanyu replies and he ducks his head when Nie Mingjue sighs. “And I figured the robes must have been a mistake,” Mo Xuanyu admits, hoping to not upset Nie Mingjue further, but his words seem to have the exact opposite effect.
“The robes are yours,” Nie Mingjue tells him and Mo Xuanyu’s stomach drops when he kneels in front of him. “This is your room, Xuanyu.”
Mo Xuanyu blinks at that, because he doesn’t understand.
“You came here for protection, didn’t you? For shelter? A new home?”
“I hoped to find those, yes,” Mo Xuanyu softly says, because he doesn’t dare hope that he might have found it already.
“And this is me offering it to you,” Nie Mingjue says with a nod at the bed and at the robes. “Will you accept it?”
Mo Xuanyu blinks against the tears that threaten to fall, but he can’t believe it, not yet. He allows his desperation to take the better of him, just for a moment, just for long enough to confirm that Nie Mingjue means it.
“You can’t hand me in to him,” he begs as he leans forward to fist his hands in Nie Mingjue’s robe. “You can’t let him claim me again, I will not survive if I have to go back there.”
“If you put on the robes, you’ll be one of my disciples,” Nie Mingjue says and puts one of his large hands on Mo Xuanyu’s neck. “I’d like to see him try to take you back.”
Mo Xuanyu slumps at those words and when Nie Mingjue squeezes his neck, he nods.
“Okay,” Mo Xuanyu softly agrees and gets up. He turns around, hands already loosening the belt around his middle and Nie Mingjue makes a strangled sound behind his back.
“I’ll be waiting outside,” Nie Mingjue rushes out as he hurriedly leaves the room and Mo Xuanyu stares after him.
He got used to people always watching him in Lanling; some more obvious than others. Mo Xuanyu has forgotten what it feels like to change in privacy.
He quickly sheds his old robes, distantly wondering if Nie Mingjue will allow him to burn them, and when he shrugs on the new ones, Mo Xuanyu finds that they are almost a perfect fit.
“I’m done,” Mo Xuanyu calls out once the sash is fastened and Nie Mingjue steps back into the room, looking him over once.
“They fit, good. I had to guess your size. I’ll have more brought to you, but now, come with me,” Nie Mingjue orders and then simply leaves the room, clearly accustomed to being followed without question.
Mo Xuanyu finds himself thinking that it might be one of the easier things he has ever done in his life.
Nie Mingjue leads him into a courtyard, where Nie Zonghui is waiting for them, two lanterns at his side.
Mo Xuanyu is burning with questions, but he keeps silent, still too afraid to upset Nie Mingjue to the point of him sending Mo Xuanyu away again, and he startles slightly when Nie Mingjue turns around to him.
“You’re going to let them fly,” Nie Mingjue says, and despite phrasing it like that, Mo Xuanyu thinks he could refuse. “One, to let go of your past,” Nie Mingjue explains, “and one with your wishes for your stay here in my Sect. After this, you’re one of my disciples.”
It’s one of the stranger initiation rituals Mo Xuanyu has heard of, but he can probably count himself lucky that new disciples don’t have to fight for their place in the Sect. He would have been dead before he even lifted his sword.
“That is all?” Mo Xuanyu dares to ask and Nie Mingjue smiles at him.
“That is all. After that you’ll be a Nie, no matter if you decide to take the name or not.”
Mo Xuanyu eyes the lanterns, still waiting for a catch, but when Nie Zonghui simply offers the first one to him, he takes it.
Mo Xuanyu closes his eyes and he tries to imagine everything that has defined his stay at Lanling; the humiliation, the constant fear, the threads, the abuse, his hate and resentment for everyone named Jin and he imagines how he pushes all of those feelings and memories into the lantern.
It should be heavy—too heavy to fly—but when Mo Xuanyu lets go of it, it rises into the sky almost instantly. Mo Xuanyu feels like he’s going to fly right after it, that’s how light he feels all of a sudden.
“And now the other,” Nie Mingjue commands and this time he hands him the lantern himself.
Mo Xuanyu takes that one as well and imagines his life in Qinghe. He never before dared to hope for a good life, but this time he decides to go all out. He imagines himself happy and carefree, his golden core growing beyond the point of being too weak to even be called a golden core, and when Mo Xuanyu remembers how Nie Mingjue has smiled at him, he also dares to hope for love in this Sect.
This lantern should be just as burdened at the other one with how many good things Mo Xuanyu wishes for himself, but it goes up in the air just as easily as the one before.
Mo Xuanyu keeps following it with his eyes, and Nie Mingjue stays silent until it’s too far gone to see it anymore.
“Welcome to Qinghe Nie,” Nie Mingjue says and the words settle like a cloak of protection around Mo Xuanyu.
It seems like coming here was the only sensible choice Mo Xuanyu has ever made in his life.
Next part
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bloody-bee-tea · 3 years
Text
BeeTober 2020 Day 20
Known - Spice
Day 20 practically begged me to write some Yunmeng shuangjie reconciliation, and who am I to deny that. 
Jiang Cheng is waiting at the main entrance of Lotus Pier, his hands clasped behind his back, standing straighter than he has in a long time.
He burned Wei Wuxian’s letter shortly after he read it, because he couldn’t stand to look at it for even one more second. 
It was formal—too formal—like a stranger respectfully requesting a place for the night instead of like it should have been.
His brother informing him that he was dropping by and only expecting the best accommodations.
Jiang Cheng has less formal correspondence with Lan Qiren of all people and that thought nearly made him refuse Wei Wuxian’s request on principle.
But Jiang Cheng never did learn how to refuse Wei Wuxian, even though he loves to complain about whatever idiotic idea Wei Wuxian comes up with. In the end Jiang Cheng always followed him after all.
Wei Wuxian is late, but Jiang Cheng isn’t surprised by that. Wei Wuxian has never arrived to anything on time, and Jiang Cheng figures this shouldn’t be any different.
He waited sixteen years for him. A few more minutes won’t hurt.
When Wei Wuxian finally does come into sight, Jiang Cheng can tell immediately that he’s hesitant about approaching Lotus Pier. Jiang Cheng wonders what the reason for that is; is it because he doesn’t actually want to meet with Jiang Cheng and only does out it out of a sense of obligation or is it because Lotus Pier doesn’t look like what he remembers from before?
Well, if it’s the last one, Wei Wuxian can turn right back around, because he does not get to complain about something Jiang Cheng had to rebuild all on his own because Wei Wuxian was gone. He could have come back earlier, then he wouldn’t need to complain.
“Sect Leader Jiang,” Wei Wuxian greets him with when he’s finally in reach and Jiang Cheng flinches.
So this is how they are going to play it. Jiang Cheng probably was a fool for hoping for anything else.
“If you decide on doing that, then you should bow as well,” Jiang Cheng snaps at him, almost dares him to laugh at Jiang Cheng’s audacity, but when Wei Wuxian falls into the obedient bow, Jiang Cheng feels sick.
It’s some kind of victory, he’s sure of that, but it tastes like ash and Jiang Cheng would happily trade it for his brother’s insubordination.
“Better,” Jiang Cheng still bites out and then abruptly turns around from Wei Wuxian.
He takes a few steps before he realizes that Wei Wuxian is not following him, and so Jiang Cheng looks over his shoulder.
Wei Wuxian is unsurely shuffling his feet and Jiang Cheng wants to break something. This is Lotus Pier, this is their home, but it doesn’t seem like Wei Wuxian feels like that at all.
“You’re late, so dinner is probably cold by now,” Jiang Cheng tells him, before he starts to walk again, and this time Wei Wuxian follows him.
Jiang Cheng feels like raging—or crying, but he’s not going to think too hard on that—at the fact that his brother needs an invitation to come into Lotus Pier and Jiang Cheng wonders why they are even doing this.
It’s clear that Wei Wuxian doesn’t want to be here, and with how they parted in the temple, Jiang Cheng didn’t expect anything else. This is just painful for the both of them and Jiang Cheng wishes he could simply send him away.
But he doesn’t think he could survive that, after all.
Jiang Cheng is already sitting when Wei Wuxian finally sits down as well, because he took his sweet time in following after Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng tries to hide it, but he does kind of enjoy the way Wei Wuxian’s face falls when he sees the decidedly too bland food that Jiang Cheng had prepared for them.
It’s petty, Jiang Cheng is aware of that, but he is so beyond caring about that.
Wei Wuxian doesn’t see Lotus Pier as his home and he doesn’t regard Jiang Cheng as his family, so he doesn’t get to enjoy the familiar and comfortable food of Lotus Pier.
“What—is this?” Wei Wuxian asks, pushing the vegetables on his plate around and Jiang Cheng bites out a smile at him.
“Dinner,” he simply replies and when Wei Wuxian sends him an accusatory glare, it almost feels like before.
“But where is the spice?” Wei Wuxian whines and looks around for some chili oil.
Jiang Cheng did not put any on the table.
“You’re a Lan by marriage now,” Jiang Cheng says, and he is surprised at the bitterness in his own voice. “The Lans enjoy their food bland and flavourless.”
Wei Wuxian gapes at him, something like hurt flashing over his face, but it’s too fast gone for Jiang Cheng to place it correctly.
It doesn’t help that Wei Wuxian no longer wears a face Jiang Cheng is familiar with. Jiang Cheng didn’t have time to learn his expressions again.
“Even Lan Zhan indulges me,” Wei Wuxian complains and slumps almost over the entire table, but Jiang Cheng keeps eating his way too bland food.
“He is your husband. As far as I understand we are mere strangers, so I don’t dare to take such liberties,” Jiang Cheng says, way too formally, and Wei Wuxian flinches with his words.
“Well, at least Lan Zhan makes sure I still have someone left who I can call family,” Wei Wuxian says almost flippantly and Jiang Cheng hurts so much, he doesn’t even know how to take this.
Jiang Cheng doesn’t crash the cup in his hands at hearing those words, but it’s a near thing. He can tell by the audible cracks and with how Wei Wuxian flinches again.
Jiang Cheng forces himself to put the cup down—softly and carefully—and then he takes a deep breath before he speaks.
“You must have had a beautiful wedding then, with all your family around,” he bitterly says and he’s ashamed to find that his eyes burn with unshed tears and he can’t meet Wei Wuxian’s eyes.
He knew he wouldn’t get invited to anything official that concerned Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji—Wei Wuxian made that more than clear in the temple—but it still had hurt to hear from Jin Ling that they were married now.
No one even spared a thought for Jiang Cheng; he had to learn about that through a third person and if he decimated a dozen training dummies that day, well that’s between him and his weapons, isn’t it.
It was a very effective way of telling Jiang Cheng that he didn’t mean anything to Wei Wuxian, not any longer.
“Jiang Cheng,” Wei Wuxian whispers and it hurts more than when he had called him by his title.
“Eat your food and stop complaining,” Jiang Cheng snaps at him before Wei Wuxian can say anything else that threatens to break Jiang Cheng and for a few short minutes there is blessed silence.
Jiang Cheng can tell that Wei Wuxian is itching with his need to say something, but he’s not in a mood to hear it, and in a move of pure self-preservation Jiang Cheng puts his bowl down before he’s finished.
“There are matters I still have to attend to,” he tells Wei Wuxian and simply talks over him when Wei Wuxian opens his mouth. “A room has been prepared for you,” he says and then gets up and walks away.
Jiang Cheng tries to tell himself that it doesn’t hurt when Wei Wuxian doesn’t call after him, when he doesn’t come after him, but it’s no use. It cuts him deep and only drives the point home of how estranged they are by now.
His feet carry him to one of the more private piers, one he goes to when everything gets just a little bit too much for him, and he sits down with a heavy sigh.
He knew not to expect too much of this visit, knew that it was likely just going to make things worse, but he wasn’t prepared for the truth of it.
There is nothing left to make worse. He and Wei Wuxian truly have nothing left between them. They could be strangers and they would have more of a relationship with each other than they do right now.
“Fuck,” Jiang Cheng mutters and buries his face in his hands, desperately trying to keep the tears at bay.
It was what he feared, there is no reason to break over it now, he reminds himself again and again, but it doesn’t lessen the hurt.
Jiang Cheng doesn’t know how long he sits there, but he doesn’t really notice when dusk settles over the lake and he only comes out of his dark thoughts when he hears feet on the pier.
He is about to snap at whoever comes here to disturb him, but when his eyes fall on Wei Wuxian he bites his tongue.
“I knew you’d be here,” Wei Wuxian lightly says and then he has the audacity to sit down next to Jiang Cheng. “You always enjoyed staring out over the water instead of confronting what’s bothering you.”
Jiang Cheng goes hot at his words, because he hasn’t felt known like this in way too long, but then the anger sets in again.
“How dare you,” he hisses at Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng is in the process of getting up and walking away from him when Wei Wuxian’s hands shoot out to grab his forearm.
“Jiang Cheng, stay,” he pleads and Jiang Cheng sinks down again.
He has always been helpless against that tone of voice.
“I didn’t mean to—,” Wei Wuxian starts but then falters. “Well, I meant to marry Lan Zhan, that wasn’t an accident, but I never thought that you’d be interested in our marriage. I would have loved to have you there, but I was too afraid you’ll say no,” Wei Wuxian lowly admits and Jiang Cheng tries to shove the hurt far away, because this is his own fault, he knows.
He never managed to make Wei Wuxian understand that he would support him with that, so of course Wei Wuxian wouldn’t want his stupid, judging face at his wedding.
He gets that. But the other thing—
“You never visit,” Jiang Cheng forces himself to say, because if he can’t be honest right now, then he might as well stop hoping for any kind of reconciliation between them. “I know you’re busy with your husband and kid and whatever you do in the Cloud Recesses to make Lan Qiren pop a vein, but you go on night hunts in Yunmeng,” Jiang Cheng says and determinedly keeps his gaze on the water in front of him, Wei Wuxian’s hands burning hot on his arm. “And you never even think to visit,” he finishes in a whisper.
“Oh,” Wei Wuxian breathes out and Jiang Cheng does not look at him. “I didn’t think I’d be welcome here,” Wei Wuxian finally lowly admits. “I didn’t think you’d want me to come back.”
“I didn’t rebuild Yunmeng Jiang only for you to say there is no place left for you to return to,” Jiang Cheng bitterly says and then immediately afterwards bites his tongue, because he never wanted to say that.
It’s too revealing, exposes too much of Jiang Cheng that he never wanted anyone to see and he wishes he could take the words back.
Especially when Wei Wuxian stays silent at his side and doesn’t say anything.
Fuck, Jiang Cheng knew that Wei Wuxian never had any intentions of coming back, knew that he only regarded Yunmeng Jiang as another Great Sect and no longer as his home now—he made that abundantly clear in the temple and then when he married Lan Wangji without inviting Jiang Cheng—but his silence still hurts worse than Jiang Cheng could have imagined.
“You know what, forget about it,” Jiang Cheng presses out and starts to get up, because Wei Wuxian is still silent but before he can even rise, Wei Wuxian tightens his grip on Jiang Cheng’s arm.
Jiang Cheng wants to throw him off, wants to push him away, but even though Wei Wuxian is in Mo Xuanyu’s weaker body, his grip is almost painful and unshakable.
“No, Jiang Cheng,” Wei Wuxian says, and Jiang Cheng’s eyes go wide when he realizes that Wei Wuxian is crying.
“What the fuck,” Jiang Cheng says, startled to see his brother cry and Wei Wuxian sniffles pathetically.
“I never thought—I mean—I didn’t dare—,” Wei Wuxian almost sobs out and Jiang Cheng wants to snap at him to get a grip, to state what he wants to say clearly, but he feels strangely choked up himself.
“Can I still come home?” Wei Wuxian finally asks and he sounds so small, his voice thin and close to breaking and Jiang Cheng snaps.
He shoves Wei Wuxian off the pier and into the lake.
When Wei Wuxian falls, Jiang Cheng blinks a few times, surprised by his own actions but then a smile passes over his face at the surprised yell his brother lets out right before he hits the water.
Jiang Cheng patiently waits for Wei Wuxian to resurface.
“Jiang Cheng!” his brother yells and inhales a mouthful of water for his troubles. “What was that for?” Wei Wuxian demands to know, once he almost coughed a lung up and Jiang Cheng scowls at him as best as he can when all he wants to really do is laugh like he hasn’t in a long time.
“That was for daring to think that this is no longer your home and that you don’t have a place here,” he tells him and enjoys how wide Wei Wuxian’s eyes get. “You idiot,” Jiang Cheng then tacks on and when Wei Wuxian breaks out into a smile, Jiang Cheng’s eyes start to burn.
Before he can find out how best to hide the tears in his eyes, Wei Wuxian’s eyes start to twinkle and Jiang Cheng knows that that is never a good sign.
But before he can brace himself for whatever it is that Wei Wuxian is planning, he already paddled closer and then his hands shoot out of the water, to latch on to Jiang Cheng’s leg.
There’s a moment where they both freeze in anticipation and then Wei Wuxian tugs and Jiang Cheng slides off the pier with a very ungraceful yelp.
The water is freezing and it steals his breath when he hits it. 
“Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Cheng yells as soon as he resurfaces, but Wei Wuxian is already a safe distance away and laughing so hard he has trouble keeping himself over water.
Jiang Cheng starts after him, and a look of pure panic flashes over Wei Wuxian’s face, before he turns around and swims away as fast as he can.
Jiang Cheng isn’t worried, though, because for all that Wei Wuxian used to be better in everything he could never beat Jiang Cheng in swimming. 
The water is Jiang Cheng’s territory, and he is immensely looking forward to dunking Wei Wuxian repeatedly once he catches him. 
Jiang Cheng knows that there is still so much they have to talk about, but if they can still be silly together like this, then maybe their talks are nothing to fear.
Maybe it will all work out and Jiang Cheng gets his brother back.
He would really like that.
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bloody-bee-tea · 3 years
Text
BeeTober 2020 Day 23
Pyjama - Letter
Letter already was a prompt this month, but luckily this word has two meanings and now it gets to be the thing that gets Mingcheng together. 
Jiang Cheng isn’t sure how he suddenly ends up being alone with Nie Mingjue but he would certainly like to change that fact. Because Nie Mingjue makes him nervous and Jiang Cheng isn’t even sure why.
“So,” Jiang Cheng awkwardly starts when it’s clear that no one will be coming back any time soon and Jiang Cheng curses his brother. And Nie Huaisang. And Lan Wangji. And Lan Xichen.
Because all of them just abandoned Jiang Cheng with the most imposing man he knows and Jiang Cheng has no idea how to handle that.
“I wonder if Huaisang and Lan Xichen are going to regret joining Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji soon,” Jiang Cheng muses, desperately fishing for anything to say.
“Why would they?” Nie Mingjue asks, still seated on the couch as if he’s not at all bothered to be left alone with Jiang Cheng.
“With how Lan Wangji can’t seem to keep his hands to himself when it comes to my brother?” Jiang Cheng asks and is surprised when Nie Mingjue laughs at him.
“Have you seen Huaisang and Xichen together?” he asks and Jiang Cheng has to admit that he hasn’t.
He knows they are a thing—however recently it may be—but he didn’t need to know that.
“And I really wish I will never,” Jiang Cheng says with a frown when the full meaning of Nie Mingjue hits him and Nie Mingjue laughs again.
Jiang Cheng can’t seem to drag his eyes away from him.
“You don’t mind it?” he asks, once Nie Mingjue calmed down again and Jiang Cheng sits back down on the couch next to him.
If two pairs have split off, then Jiang Cheng knows better than to hope for any kind of rescue. He’ll just have to push through the fluttering feeling in his stomach and be a good host to Nie Mingjue.
He probably didn’t mean to be left alone with Jiang Cheng either.
“Xichen is my best friend. I’ve known him for almost all of my life. If I can’t trust him with my little brother’s heart, then who else?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng can see his logic.
They spend a few minutes of almost comfortable silence together, before Jiang Cheng sighs.
“You’ll probably have to sleep here, tonight,” he then says to Nie Mingjue who shrugs like it’s no big deal to him.
Nie Huaisang was supposed to room with Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue were supposed to stay together, but Jiang Cheng guesses that’s off the table now.
“I don’t mind,” Nie Mingjue says, even though he eyes Jiang Cheng critically. “As long as you don’t mind it, either,” he adds and Jiang Cheng manages a smile for him.
“I don’t,” he gives back, and the fluttering in his stomach wants to proof him a liar, but Jiang Cheng pushes it away.
Nie Mingjue is not so scary as to warrant that kind of reaction from Jiang Cheng. He might not know Nie Mingjue for as long as he knows Lan Xichen or Nie Huaisang—or at least he doesn’t know him as well as he does the other two—but he knows enough about him to at least not to be afraid of him.
Nie Huaisang always calls Nie Mingjue a big softie, and neither Lan Xichen nor Nie Mingjue himself contradict his words so there must be some truth to them.
“Okay, then,” Nie Mingjue shrugs, clearly done with that topic and then gets up before he freezes.
“What?” Jiang Cheng wants to know and Nie Mingjue grimaces at him.
“My bag is still in the other room,” Nie Mingjue says, and he sounds pained.
It takes Jiang Cheng a moment to understand why, but when he does, he grimaces, too.
“You better not go back there,” he says and he shivers with just the thought of what Nie Huaisang and Lan Xichen might be getting up to in there.
“Yeah,” Nie Mingjue says and eyes his clothes critically. “Guess I’ll have to sleep like this then,” he sighs and he seems fully resigned to that fact.
“Don’t be stupid,” Jiang Cheng snaps out and flushes slightly when Nie Mingjue raises an eyebrow at him.
Jiang Cheng doesn’t know if they are at that acquaintance level where he can just be his usual rude self around Nie Mingjue, but he guesses that ship has sailed now anyway. Might as well embrace it, Jiang Cheng thinks.
“As if I’m going to let you sleep in this,” Jiang Cheng grumbles and turns around from Nie Mingjue. “I think I might have a spare toothbrush laying around as well,” Jiang Cheng muses, and he goes looking for that first.
“Aha!” he yells in triumph when he unearths it from a drawer and he throws it over to Nie Mingjue who catches it easily.
“Might as well get started with that, I will have to search for something that might fit you,” Jiang Cheng says, and he eyes Nie Mingjue critically.
He really does pack a lot of muscles. Jiang Cheng isn’t sure he even has anything in his size, but he will look for it.
As soon as he manages to drag his eyes away from the way Nie Mingjue’s biceps moves as he crosses his arms over his chest.
“See something you like?” Nie Mingjue asks him, one eyebrow raised and Jiang Cheng jerks his eyes away from him.
“Sorry,” he rambles out and almost throws himself head-first into the wardrobe.
He could swear he hears Nie Mingjue chuckle at him, but when Jiang Cheng feels composed enough to turn back around to him Nie Mingjue has left for the bathroom already.
Jiang Cheng lets out a sigh, scolds himself for acting this disrespectful and then almost overhauls his whole wardrobe in search of something that could fit Nie Mingjue.
The only thing he finds that could, maybe, fit him is one of the pyjamas Jiang Cheng gets from some distant relative every Christmas, because they are always at least two sizes to big on him. So maybe they are just big enough to not cut off any circulation on Nie Mingjue.
At least Jiang Cheng hopes it fits, because if not, then Nie Mingjue will have to sleep in some boxers and not much else and Jiang Cheng doesn’t even want to think about why that thought makes him flush.
When Nie Mingjue comes back, Jiang Cheng presents the pyjama to him.
“This is all I could find,” he tells Nie Mingjue who shrugs and takes the offered clothes.
He’s just about to shed his clothes, Jiang Cheng can tell, and he has half a mind simply running away because that thought makes some heat pool low in his belly but then Nie Mingjue hesitates.
Jiang Cheng frowns, but it takes him a while to see what stilled Nie Mingjue.
“Ah, that,” Jiang Cheng says, when he sees how Nie Mingjue moves his thumb over a letter that was stitched onto the pyjama.
“Is that a W or an M?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng sighs.
“It’s a W,” he admits and Nie Mingjue looks questioningly at him.
“What does it stand for?” he wants to know and Jiang Cheng clicks his tongue.
He doesn’t like telling people about his courtesy name, mostly because no one ever uses it anyway, and by now it almost feels unfamiliar to Jiang Cheng. He doesn’t even know if he would react to it, if someone would be calling him Jiang Wanyin. It just doesn’t feel like his name.
But Nie Mingjue keeps looking questioningly at him and in the end Jiang Cheng folds under that curious stare.
“It’s for my courtesy name, not that anyone is using it,” he finally says.
“What is it?” Nie Mingjue asks, clearly not satisfied by that answer and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.
“Wanyin,” he says. “Don’t bother remembering it,” he then tacks on, but Nie Mingjue is not paying him any attention anymore.
“Jiang Wanyin,” he whispers and moves his thumb over the letter again. “Wanyin,” he says then, just as softly, and Jiang Cheng’s heart beats heavily in his chest.
Oh, he thinks with sudden panic, because there are butterflies in his belly and a warmth in his chest and he is entirely unprepared for how his name sounds from Nie Mingjue’s lips like that.
“Oh,” he breathes out when the feelings don’t stop assaulting him and when Nie Mingjue’s gaze snaps towards his at that, Jiang Cheng finally realizes that he has a crush on Nie Mingjue.
Might even be in love with him, going by his visceral reaction.
“Fuck,” Jiang Cheng furiously whispers and turns around to leave.
He doesn’t deal well with emotions, and especially not ones he was entirely unprepared for, and he would like to freak out over this on his own, thank you very much.
Once safely locked into the bathroom, Jiang Cheng sinks to the floor, a groan making it past his lips, and he scrambles for his phone.
He can suddenly guess why the other two pairs have vanished like that.
You fuckers, he types out into the chat he has with Wei Wuxian and Nie Huaisang, and it’s not long at all, before they answer.
Did it work? Nie Huaisang asks.
I don’t want to know any details, but did it? Wei Wuxian types out next and Jiang Cheng almost crushes the phone in his hand.
Fuck you both, he types back and is met with a string of emojis from Wei Wuxian.
My brother would rather have you fuck him, I’m sure, Nie Huaisang tells him and Jiang Cheng’s face goes hot in an instant.
That’s—a thought he didn’t have yet and he’s not at all equipped to handle that.
Jiang Cheng drops the phone, not willing to read any more lewd comments and puts his head into his hands. He doesn’t know what to do now, doesn’t know how to face Nie Mingjue now that he realized his feelings and maybe Jiang Cheng can just spend the night on the floor here.
It would surely be the safer option.
“Wanyin?” Nie Mingjue carefully asks as he knocks at the door a good five minutes later. “Is everything alright?”
“Fuck,” Jiang Cheng mutters, because Nie Mingjue does sound concerned and that name still makes a shiver go down Jiang Cheng’s back.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Jiang Cheng calls back once he took a few deep breathes and then he forces himself to stand up.
It’s not like he can hide in here forever, he decides. And going by what Nie Huaisang wrote, he might not have to fear a gentle let-down when he steps back outside.
Jiang Cheng’s hands are just shaking the slightest bit when he unlocks the door and Nie Mingjue is still waiting for him right there and Jiang Cheng’s breath catches in his throat.
Fuck, he really is handsome.
“Are you sure that you’re okay?” Nie Mingjue asks with a small frown and Jiang Cheng itches to smooth it out with his thumb.
“I am,” Jiang Cheng gives back, putting his hands into his pockets, lest he does something stupid with them, and he gives Nie Mingjue something that he hopes counts as a winning smile.
Going by Nie Mingjue’s look it’s not all that effective.
“My brother said something, didn’t he?” Nie Mingjue says and he scrubs a hand over his face. “I told him not to, I’m sorry.”
“No, I said something first,” Jiang Cheng says without thinking and Nie Mingjue freezes.
“What do you mean ‘first’?”
Jiang Cheng would really rather hide and his heart beating as fast as it does is no help to him either, but if Jiang Cheng reads all of these signs correctly then Nie Mingjue is very much interested in him.
And Jiang Cheng can’t let an opportunity like that pass.
“I mean that I might have realized that I’m in love with you when you said my name like that,” he bravely pushes on and is not at all prepared for the wicked look in Nie Mingjue’s eyes at his words.
“Wanyin?” he says, his voice deliberately soft, and a new shiver works its way down Jiang Cheng’s back.
“Yeah,” he weakly says and Nie Mingjue chuckles.
“If I had known that would be all it takes, I would have done it a lot sooner,” he casually says, as if he’s not blowing Jiang Cheng’s mind completely by implying that he’s been in love with him for a while now.
“Now is also good,” Jiang Cheng gives back, though it almost comes out like a question, and Nie Mingjue goes serious almost in an instant.
“It’s more than good,” he says and cups Jiang Cheng’s cheek with one of his large hands. “This okay, Wanyin?” he whispers as he leans forward and Jiang Cheng can’t help the small gasp he lets out.
Nie Mingjue’s lips twitch up in a smile, but before he can laugh at Jiang Cheng’s reaction, Jiang Cheng brings their lips together.
It’s a very gratifying feeling when Nie Mingjue makes a surprised sound against his lips as well and it only prompts Jiang Cheng to press closer.
He’s not at all prepared for the soft look on Nie Mingjue’s face when they part, and so instead he buries his face in Nie Mingjue’s neck.
“Still okay?” Nie Mingjue carefully asks him and Jiang Cheng is quick to nod.
“More than,” he mutters and presses a fluttering kiss to Nie Mingjue’s pulse point.
Jiang Cheng vows to still yell at Nie Huaisang and Wei Wuxian for this, but he probably has to do it over thank-you-drinks, not that he minds that much.
Especially not when Nie Mingjue buries his face in Jiang Cheng’s hair and puts one of his hands on his hips.
Oh no; that Jiang Cheng doesn’t mind at all.
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bloody-bee-tea · 3 years
Text
BeeTober 2020 Day 22
Abandoned - Warmth
I said I would write a coffee shop au and this is barely that. Twitter decided that it would be Xicheng, but NMJ was in the lead for a while so he gets a supportive role ;) 
Jiang Cheng is going to kill Wei Wuxian the next time he sees him. He definitely will kill him, at least assuming he survives this rain without catching pneumonia and dying.
Jiang Cheng hurries along the sidewalk, grumbling under his breath and cursing his brother, because Wei Wuxian was supposed to meet him here like half an hour ago. Instead Jiang Cheng got a message telling him that Wei Wuxian got hold up at Lan Wangji’s—and Jiang Cheng is not so naïve to think that it could be anything but the promise of sex that kept Wei Wuxian from meeting him—and Wei Wuxian abandoned him in an unknown part of the city without a second thought.
And as if that wasn’t enough, it started to pour almost at the same time as Jiang Cheng read the message, because clearly that’s just his luck.
He is going to kill Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng thinks again when he steps into a puddle and cold water runs into his shoe. He definitely will this time, no matter what his sister says to Wei Wuxian’s defence.
Jiang Cheng continues to hurry along the sidewalk, hoping to find any open store or restaurant where he can take shelter, but luck is clearly not on his side.
Everything is dark and cold and Jiang Cheng shivers in his drenched clothes.
If he’s going to die because of this he’s going to haunt the shit out of Wei Wuxian. He better enjoy his evening with Lan Wangji, because it might just be the last he gets with him. Jiang Cheng will make sure that Wei Wuxian will never even think of sex again if he turns into a ghost.
The thoughts are not enough to warm Jiang Cheng, but they do keep him occupied and that’s all Jiang Cheng needs right now.
He looks up when he passes by a lit window and he’s stunned to see the cosiest coffee shop he ever came across. The light is yellow and warm, the smell from it sweet and even without the rain it looks so inviting that Jiang Cheng’s feet move on their own accord.
Not that he would have walked past this opportunity to get out of the freezing rain.
There’s a little bell announcing his arrival and it’s not long before a man comes out from the back. The coffee shop is empty—probably due to the time and the weather—and so his gaze unerringly falls onto Jiang Cheng.
Who came to a stop right behind the door, because he didn’t want to track water through the entire shop.
Right now Jiang Cheng is happy about his decision, because he’s not sure he could have survived looking at the other man from up close.
Even through the shop it’s apparent that the other is gorgeous and Jiang Cheng never did deal well with beautiful people.
“Hi,” Jiang Cheng says awkwardly when the man behind the counter doesn’t say anything and instead stares at him with wide eyes.
“You’re drenched!” comes the startled reply and Jiang Cheng looks down at himself and the small puddle he is standing in.
He winces.
“Yeah, sorry about that,” he says and points at the nearest chair. “I’ll just sit here and not make a further mess out of your shop, okay?” he asks and is in the process of moving towards the chair, when the man almost yells at him.
“No!”
Jiang Cheng freezes, just one step away from his puddle and he turns big eyes on the man.
“I mean, you’ll catch a cold like that. I have some spare clothes and a towel,” the man offers him and Jiang Cheng blinks at him in confusion.
“Do we know each other?” Jiang Cheng then asks and the man shakes his head, making his beautiful long hair swing with the motion.
“No, I don’t think we do.”
“Why the hell would you offer me this, then?” Jiang Cheng demands to know and now it’s his turn of being stared at.
“You’ll catch a cold if you don’t change out of those clothes,” the man finally says again and Jiang Cheng looks down at himself yet again.
He’s still dripping all over the floor, probably making a miserable picture, and he has to admit, a change of clothes sounds heavenly right now.
“Fine,” Jiang Cheng agrees and he is entirely unprepared for the way the other man’s face lights up with his smile.
“Come here, then,” he says, waving Jiang Cheng closer and Jiang Cheng sighs before he quickly makes his way over to him.
If he walks fast, he’ll make less of a mess of the shop, right?
“Come into the office,” the man says and now Jiang Cheng is close enough to read the name tag he’s wearing.
Lan Xichen, it says and Jiang Cheng spares half a thought to wonder if there’s any relation to Lan Wangji.
It would be plausible because they do share similar features, but Lan Xichen’s personality seems to be the exact opposite of Lan Wangji’s and so Jiang Cheng shakes that thought away.
“What’s your name?” Lan Xichen asks him and Jiang Cheng startles out of his musings.
“Jiang Cheng,” he introduces himself and goes slightly hot when Lan Xichen smiles at him again.
“Ah, nice to meet you, Jiang Cheng,” he says. “I’m Lan Xichen.”
“I know,” Jiang Cheng blurts out and then feels a traitorous warmth creep up his cheeks when Lan Xichen frowns at him. “Your nametag,” he quickly explains, because he does not want to come off as creepy and Lan Xichen chuckles.
“Right, I forgot about that,” he mutters and then pushes Jiang Cheng down on a chair.
“Wait here, I’ll get the clothes and towel,” Lan Xichen instructs him and then leaves Jiang Cheng alone.
Jiang Cheng is too stunned to do anything but sit and wait for Lan Xichen’s return and so he startles when someone else steps into the room.
“Who are you?” the man demands to know and Jiang Cheng shrinks on the chair, because this man looks like he might be able to break Jiang Cheng in half if he wants to.
And going by the glower on his face, he definitely wants to.
“I’m—,” Jiang Cheng starts but he doesn’t get further than that, because Lan Xichen returns.
“Ah, Mingjue, he came in all dripping wet, please don’t be angry. He’s not a burglar,” Lan Xichen says and smiles at Mingjue.
“Jiang Cheng, in case that makes you feel more reassured,” Jiang Cheng offers and then simply has to endure how Mingjue looks from him to Lan Xichen and back.
“You’re going to mop up the mess you tracked in,” Mingjue finally decides and Jiang Cheng let’s out a relieved breath.
He already saw his life flash before his eyes, this is a rather good outcome, if anyone were to ask him.
“Sure,” he easily agrees, and he sees the way Mingjue eyes his suit pants and the dress shirt.
Jiang Cheng might look like the business man he is, but he is no stranger to all kinds of work, and mopping a floor is hardly the worst thing he’s ever done.
“Just point me towards the cleaning stuff, and I’ll get right on that,” he tacks on and Mingjue narrows his eyes at him.
“I will,” he promises and then looks back at Lan Xichen, an eyebrow raised.
“You should change first,” Lan Xichen says with a nod to Mingjue—and Jiang Cheng can identify unspoken communication when he sees it—and hands Jiang Cheng some clothes and a towel.
“I probably should,” Jiang Cheng grimaces and tugs on his drenched shirt.
Lan Xichen nods again, and then he just stands there, looking at Jiang Cheng without making any move to leave and give Jiang Cheng some privacy to change.
“Do you—have a bathroom?” Jiang Cheng finally asks and it’s only when Lan Xichen drags his eyes away from his chest, that Jiang Cheng realizes that his shirt is almost see through thanks to the rain.
“Yeah, oh, sure,” Lan Xichen rambles and points behind him. “But you can totally change here, I’ll leave you to it,” he then quickly goes on, turns around on his heels and leaves.
He closes the door behind him with a soft click and Jiang Cheng is left to blink after him. He doesn’t think he imagined the red tips of his ears, but Jiang Cheng pushes that thought far away.
Instead, he concentrates on changing out of his ruined clothes. He quickly dries himself off as best as he can, taking extra care to rubble his hair dry, and then he changes into the offered clothes.
They are all just a little bit big on him and Jiang Cheng wonders if they might belong to Lan Xichen himself.
That thought sets off a dangerous warmth in his belly and Jiang Cheng scoffs at himself.
No need to get ahead of himself. Those are probably the only clothes that were around.
Before Jiang Cheng can fret over this any longer, he bundles his wet clothes up in the towel and then steps out of the office.
“Do you have a bag?” he calls out into the shop, and he takes a reflexive step back when Mingjue comes up to him, mop already in his hand.
Damn, he really is one imposingly tall man, Jiang Cheng thinks and he almost has to crane his neck to look up at him.
“Sure,” Mingjue says and pushes the mop at Jiang Cheng just as he takes the clothes out of his hand.
“Xichen is out there,” he then says and walks away without further instructions.
Jiang Cheng frowns but he makes his way into the shop and he does find Lan Xichen there.
“Oh,” Lan Xichen whispers when his eyes fall on Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Cheng feels strangely self-conscious.
“Something wrong?” he asks and tries to smooth his hair down.
He knows it must look like a mess, but there wasn’t a brush and so there’s nothing Jiang Cheng can do about that.
“Not at all,” Lan Xichen gives back, a little bit breathless and Jiang Cheng groans.
“Okay,” he unsurely agrees and then decides to concentrate on the job he has. “I’m gonna start with this then,” he says, lifting the mop and Lan Xichen shakes his head.
“Oh, no, don’t bother, Mingjue was joking about that.”
Jiang Cheng doubts that Mingjue has joked about anything in his life so far, and so he keeps a deadly grip on the mop when Lan Xichen tries to take it from him.
“I said I would clean up my own mess, and I will!” he says and Lan Xichen seems like he wants to fight him on that, but when Mingjue comes out from wherever he hid he let’s go of the mop.
“Good,” Mingjue says with a nod, and Jiang Cheng has no idea why that approval makes Lan Xichen flush.
Jiang Cheng gets to work and since he didn’t leave that big of a mess, he is done rather quickly and then decides to simply keep going. Surely they must be preparing to close by now and he interrupted their whole routine.
The least he can do is help.
Lan Xichen tries to object when he realizes what Jiang Cheng is doing, but Jiang Cheng distracts him with a little bit of small talk and before Lan Xichen can blink, the whole floor is done.
“There,” Jiang Cheng says, weirdly proud of himself and smiles at Lan Xichen, who simply blinks at him.
“You really didn’t have to,” Lan Xichen tries once he jolted himself out of whatever stupor he was in and Jiang Cheng shrugs.
“It’s the least I can do, after you gave me these clothes. It was very lucky that you had some spares around here.”
“We didn’t,” Mingjue suddenly says from behind Jiang Cheng. “Those are Xichen’s, and he usually guards them like a dragon his hoard. He doesn’t like it if other people wear his clothes.”
Jiang Cheng frowns, as he plays with the hem of the soft shirt, while Lan Xichen makes a strangled noise and when Jiang Cheng looks at him, he sees the flush on the tip of his ears again.
“Do you give them to many drenched customers, then?” Jiang Cheng asks, though he can barely be classified as a customer, since he didn’t even buy anything.
All he did was make a mess.
“Nope,” Mingjue cheerfully says, and from the corner of his eyes Jiang Cheng can see how Lan Xichen makes some frantic gestures. “Only to cute, grumpy ones, apparently,” Mingjue says and Jiang Cheng presses his lips together.
“A-Jue!” Lan Xichen yells out in outrage and Jiang Cheng watches in delight as the flush travels all the way down to his neck.
“Alright, my work here is done,” Mingjue says, smug as anything and drops a set of keys into Jiang Cheng’s hands. “You seem like the reasonable type, so make sure Xichen doesn’t forget to lock up after you are done with whatever,” he says with a wink and now it’s on Jiang Cheng to blush while Lan Xichen splutters in the back.
“Mingjue!” he yells again, but Mingjue doesn’t pay him any mind and simply walks out on them.
“Uhm,” Jiang Cheng says eloquently and eyes the keys in his hand. “I’m sorry?” he then offers, because clearly Lan Xichen is more than embarrassed and that finally gets Lan Xichen to look at him.
There’s a strange look on his face and Jiang Cheng can’t deny that his heart beats a little bit faster in his chest.
“Do you have anywhere to be?” Lan Xichen asks him, clearly powering through his embarrassment and Jiang Cheng shakes his head.
“My brother stood me up,” Jiang Cheng offers and is not prepared for the smile that breaks out on Lan Xichen’s face.
“Lucky me, then,” Lan Xichen says and walks past Jiang Cheng to get behind the counter. “Stay for a drink then?” Lan Xichen offers and Jiang Cheng finds himself nodding before he can give this anymore thought.
“I’d stay for more than that, too,” Jiang Cheng finds himself saying and while he wishes the ground would open itself up to swallow him whole, Lan Xichen beams at him.
“We do have the shop to ourselves,” Lan Xichen says with a wink, even though the red on his cheeks turns a colour darker and Jiang Cheng itches to taste his flush.
Maybe he’ll get to, once they finished their drinks.
(He gets to do that and so much more, though they do have to clean the shop again afterwards. And Jiang Cheng does have to remind Lan Xichen to lock up behind him before they leave to continue what they started at Lan Xichen’s place. Nie Mingjue has the audacity to high five both of them when he sees them the next time.)
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bloody-bee-tea · 3 years
Note
Hi! I love every one of your xicheng that I could read, and if I could ask for a continuation of "Stream" I'd love it So Much. Pleaseee?
BeeTober 2020 Day 14
Umbrella - Savor
So, fun fact, I never intended to write a second part of Stream, but here you go anyway <3 !
They are taking it slow. They are taking it so slow that Jiang Cheng isn’t even sure he can call Lan Xichen his boyfriend yet, even though they go on dates two or more times a week.
But Lan Xichen is incredibly understanding and accepting of Jiang Cheng’s slow pace and always gives him a choice, especially when it comes to physical contact.
He always offers; a hand on the table, a lifted arm for Jiang Cheng to slide under, his face for a greeting kiss, but he always makes sure that it’s Jiang Cheng’s decision.
Jiang Cheng would mind it, would think that Lan Xichen doesn’t actually want to do any of those things with Jiang Cheng, if it weren’t for the entirely adorable way his entire being seems to light up whenever Jiang Cheng accepts the offered contact.
The first time Jiang Cheng has kissed him on the lips in greeting, he feared Lan Xichen would set something on fire, he was beaming that much.
“You’re thinking,” Lan Xichen suddenly says and reaches over the table to flick Jiang Cheng’s forehead. “Good or bad?”
It’s something else Jiang Cheng has noticed; Lan Xichen likes to check in on him like that in regular intervals, always makes sure that this is still what Jiang Cheng wants and sometimes Jiang Cheng really has to fight the urge to straight up jump Lan Xichen.
He knows that Lan Xichen wouldn’t mind, would actually welcome it, but Jiang Cheng isn’t yet ready to propel their relationship forward like that.
“I think good?” Jiang Cheng tries, even though he’s hesitant to voice his thoughts.
“Want to share?” Lan Xichen asks and puts his hand on the table, a clear offer for Jiang Cheng to take it.
Lan Xichen has picked up on the fact that Jiang Cheng sometimes does better when he can hold Lan Xichen’s hand, or when he can snuggle into his side, and he never hesitates to offer that comfort to Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng reaches out to take Lan Xichen’s hand without hesitation and threads their fingers together.
He takes a moment to simply breathe before he looks at Lan Xichen again.
“You’re my—I mean, when I talk about you, I can say that you’re my boyfriend, right?” Jiang Cheng asks, mostly to confirm it for himself, and not because he is still doubting everything he has with Lan Xichen, and Lan Xichen seems to know it, because he smiles softly at him.
“Of course I am, my heart. I hoped that was clear.”
Jiang Cheng blushes with the use of that endearment, like he always does, and then nods.
“It was. It is. I just wanted to be sure,” he agrees and Lan Xichen lifts their hands to press a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s knuckles.
There are still days where Jiang Cheng spirals; where he’s convinced that he’s the worst thing to ever happen to Lan Xichen, but Lan Xichen never gives him that feeling, and Wei Wuxian is always there to catch him when it happens, too.
Jiang Cheng has to admit that being open with his thoughts and feelings has been a great help.
“Then be very sure of this,” Lan Xichen tells him and Jiang Cheng smiles at him and nods.
They enjoy the rest of their date, right until Jiang Cheng’s phone rings.
“It’s Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng says, right before he accepts the call and when his brother doesn’t immediately start to yell into his ear, he knows that something is wrong.
“What is it?” Jiang Cheng asks, and immediately a frown appears on Lan Xichen’s face.
He must be worried that something happened to Lan Wangji.
“I’m really sorry,” Wei Wuxian starts with and Jiang Cheng’s stomach drops.
“For what?” Jiang Cheng presses out, but he knows that voice.
It’s Wei Wuxian’s ‘your mother was here and now I feel worthless again’-voice and Jiang Cheng would be content with his life if he never had to hear it again.
Lan Xichen seems to realize that something is definitely wrong, because he abandons his own seat to come over to Jiang Cheng’s side, so he can press close into Lan Xichen’s side.
“Madam Yu was here,” Wei Wuxian confirms Jiang Cheng’s fears and he closes his eyes.
“What did she say?” Jiang Cheng asks and transfers the phone to his other ear, so Lan Xichen can listen as well.
Wei Wuxian knows that Jiang Cheng keeps nothing from Lan Xichen, not anymore, and he also knows that they are on a date right now.
“I think she just stopped by to remind me that I am the disgrace of the family,” Wei Wuxian starts, but Jiang Cheng knows that that isn’t all, because otherwise Wei Wuxian wouldn’t have called and instead waited until Jiang Cheng comes home.
“You’re not,” Jiang Cheng says, almost on reflex, and Wei Wuxian lets out a humorless laugh.
“Yeah, doesn’t matter,” he mumbles. “She saw the picture,” he then says, and Jiang Cheng immediately knows which picture.
He just recently put it up, of him and Lan Xichen on their date to the amusement park, and of course his mother would immediately see it.
“Fuck,” Jiang Cheng mutters and Lan Xichen squeezes him.
He knows which picture, because he was the one who chose it.
“She’s furious that you weren’t the one to tell her and you and Lan Xichen are ordered to come to dinner tonight. I’m really sorry,” Wei Wuxian says again, as if it was his fault that Jiang Cheng’s mother completely steamrolled him.
“Ordered,” Lan Xichen repeats, and Jiang Cheng grimaces at him.
“I’m really sorry, Xichen-ge, but there was nothing I could do,” Wei Wuxian says and Lan Xichen carefully plucks the phone out of Jiang Cheng’s hand.
“It’s not your fault,” Lan Xichen says, but his eyes are on Jiang Cheng. “I had to meet the family at some point.”
“You met the important part,” Jiang Cheng immediately says, because Lan Xichen has met Jiang Yanli, and really, that is the only family Jiang Cheng cares about. Besides Wei Wuxian of course, but Lan Xichen knew him already.
“You met my uncle,” Lan Xichen reminds him, and Jiang Cheng flushes with just the memory.
He will never understand how Lan Qiren can actually hold him in high regards and that he’s proud of Lan Xichen for having ‘such an amazing boyfriend’. It almost felt like an out of body experience to Jiang Cheng.
“Your uncle was easy,” Jiang Cheng grumbles and takes his phone back from Lan Xichen. “Do you want me to come home?” he asks Wei Wuxian, because he knows he is still shaken and Lan Wangji is out of town at the moment.
There’s a very long silence on the other end, one that tells Jiang Cheng that the answer is yes, but then Wei Wuxian says “No”.
“Bullshit,” Jiang Cheng snaps and sends an apologetic look at Lan Xichen, who is already reaching for his porte-monnaie.
“I’ll be home in twenty,” Jiang Cheng informs him.
“You don’t have to cut your date with Xichen-ge short,” Wei Wuxian whines, but it’s half heartedly at best and Jiang Cheng isn’t even listening to him anymore.
“You better be on the couch when I get home,” Jiang Cheng says, as Lan Xichen hands him his coat.
“You’re so mean to me,” Wei Wuxian complains, but Jiang Cheng knows that he has won. “I love you,” Wei Wuxian tacks on, voice quiet and Jiang Cheng smiles slightly.
“I love you, too. Now let me go, so Xichen can drive me home.”
“Fine,” Wei Wuxian sighs and then hangs up without another word.
“I’m really sorry about this. About all of this,” Jiang Cheng says to Lan Xichen, who lifts his arm, to invite Jiang Cheng into a hug.
Jiang Cheng steps into his space without hesitation.
“You don’t have to be sorry. Family first.”
“Not the one you’re meeting tonight,” Jiang Cheng grumbles and then buries his face in Lan Xichen’s sweater.
“Please don’t think less of me after tonight,” he mutters, and he squeezes his eyes shut when Lan Xichen presses a kiss to the top of his head.
“I could never, my heart,” Lan Xichen says confidently.
Jiang Cheng doubts that; he knows his mother alone is very hard to take, but when his father is there as well, it’s likely to be an absolute shit show. And Jiang Cheng fears that it will be too much for Lan Xichen; that he will hear things about Jiang Cheng he can’ stomach, which will only end in him leaving.
Jiang Cheng isn’t sure if he could still take that.
“You don’t have to ask for hugs, or when you want to hold my hand. Or when you want to kiss me. You can just do those things,” Jiang Cheng says apropos of nothing, because he wants Lan Xichen to take the physical contact he wants as well, at least for today.
Jiang Cheng is not sure there will be much more after this.
“Okay,” Lan Xichen agrees and immediately tilts Jiang Cheng’s head up to press a kiss to his lips. “But only as long as you are really comfortable with that.”
“I am,” Jiang Cheng agrees and presses up to get another kiss.
They get lost in that for a few moments, before the thought of Wei Wuxian alone on their couch gets too much for Jiang Cheng and he drags Lan Xichen away.
~*~*~
Jing Cheng really wishes that Lan Xichen would be less perfect, because then he could have had the afternoon to convince himself that maybe this dinner will work out.
But instead Lan Xichen stayed the whole afternoon with Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian—unobtrusively in the back, occupying himself in Jiang Cheng’s room while he and Wei Wuxian were watching a movie, cuddling on the couch—and never complained even once.
It makes Jiang Cheng’s heart beat fast to think about how right it had felt that Lan Xichen was there with them, but he tries to push that thought away.
He’s still convinced that after this evening there won’t be many more of those moments, because Lan Xichen will realize what a grave mistake he made in dating Jiang Cheng and he will leave him.
Not in a mean way—Jiang Cheng doubts Lan Xichen can even be mean—but it will hurt nonetheless.
“You’re thinking again, and this time it’s bad thoughts,” Lan Xichen accuses him and Jiang Cheng sends him a small smile.
Lan Xichen is right, but he’s not going to admit to that. Instead, Jiang Cheng keeps his eyes trained on him, tries to savour the fact that for now he’s allowed to look. And when he remembers that he’s also allowed to touch, he reaches out to take Lan Xichen’s hand in his.
“I’m driving, my heart,” Lan Xichen gently reminds him but Jiang Cheng pouts at him.
“You don’t need your hand right now. I’ll give it back if you need to shift.”
“You better,” Lan Xichen replies, not turning his eyes away from the road and Jiang Cheng wonders if he imagines what dinner will be like.
Jiang Cheng knows from experience that no amount of imagination could prepare him for what is about to happen.
They spend the rest of the drive in silence and they arrive at Jiang Cheng’s parent’s house sooner than he would have liked, if he’s being honest.
He wouldn’t have minded driving with Lan Xichen for eternity.
“I am really sorry for what is about to happen,” Jiang Cheng says, just as he’s about to take his hand back, but Lan Xichen presses a kiss to the back of it before he allows Jiang Cheng to have it back.
“It can’t be that bad, and besides. It’s not your fault, no matter what happens. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Jiang Cheng says, voice already choked up, because he knows that won’t be true for much longer.
His mother especially has a way to hit where it hurts, and she knows all of Jiang Cheng’s soft spots. And she has never been afraid of using them.
Lan Xichen sends him an encouraging smile and then they are already ringing at the door. Jiang Cheng might have lost some time to his panic, because next thing he knows they are already sitting at the table; his parents, Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng himself.
Jiang Cheng knows what will happen before Jiang Fengmian even opens his mouth.
“Did you not bring Wei Wuxian?” he asks and Jiang Cheng attempts a smile for him.
“He was busy, this evening,” he says, and tries very hard not to think about the still shaken form he left bundled up in a blanket on the couch.
“What could he possibly have to do,” Madam Yu scoffs and Jiang Cheng closes his eyes, because he hoped to get at least past the first course before his parents started with this.
He tries to tune them out as best as he can; he knows his input is neither required nor wished for and so he listlessly moves the food around on his plate.
Sometime around the five minute marks of his parents fighting about Wei Wuxian Lan Xichen moves his hand to Jiang Cheng’s thigh to lightly squeeze it and while Jiang Cheng knows it’s only meant to show his support, the shame burns hot in his gut.
He hates that Lan Xichen has to see how worthless Jiang Cheng is in his parent’s eyes.
The longer the fight takes, the more tense Lan Xichen gets and Jiang Cheng has to swallow hard to keep his composure.
He wonders what Lan Xichen must think of him, now that he sees that Wei Wuxian is so much more important to either of his parents, be it in a good or bad way.
“Mom, dad,” Jiang Cheng finally tries when it all becomes too much for him. “Please,” he reminds them with a look at Lan Xichen, and he realizes his mistake just a second too late.
He hates that particular glint in his mother’s eyes.
“So, Lan Xichen,” she starts, her voice suddenly saccharine sweet as if she hadn’t viciously ripped into her husband just a minute ago. “Tell me, what do you want with Jiang Cheng?”
“I—love him,” Lan Xichen hesitantly says, clearly taken aback by the wording of that question and it almost sounds more like a question than anything else.
Madam Yu’s eyes go hard at that, and Jiang Cheng can only duck his head, before she starts in on him.
Maybe she shouldn’t have reminded her that Lan Xichen is there. It would have been better, probably, because next thing he knows she’s listing all of his inadequacies. Every last single one of Jiang Cheng’s faults are being flung around, dragged into the open and his mother remembers some things even Jiang Cheng already forgot.
It was probably time she reminds him of those again, Jiang Cheng bitterly thinks.
Once his mother is done, once she said almost exactly what Jiang Cheng has said to Wei Wuxian all those months ago, she expectantly looks at Lan Xichen, as if she expects him to get up and walk away.
Jiang Cheng is honestly more surprised when it doesn’t immediately happen.
“How dare you,” Lan Xichen hisses and Jiang Cheng closes his eyes. “How dare you speak about your son like this? At least now I understand why he has all these insecurities that keep him from accepting happiness,” Lan Xichen says, and he sounds angry.
Jiang Cheng has never seen him angry before; even when he’s mad he keeps a tight smile on his lips and tries to solve it diplomatically, but right now Lan Xichen seems furious.
“Happiness,” Madam Yu scoffs. “He can be happy if he gets a good match at all. Content is what he should aim for, and he probably has to settle for less.”
“He will not have to settle for less,” Lan Xichen seethes. “I will make sure that he is as happy as he can be, and I will not allow you to further undermine his happiness.”
“Oh, right,” Madam Yu says. “And how are you going to make him happy? You’re just using him for his connections, better admit to that now, so we can all settle on an agreement.”
“I am here because I love him, and I will do anything to make him happy.”
“As if,” Madam Yu mutters and eyes Jiang Cheng as if she wants to figure out how he—the worthless, never good enough, too angry son—managed to snatch someone like Lan Xichen.
Jiang Cheng would like to know that as well.
“I would marry him tomorrow if it would make him happy,” Lan Xichen presses out and Jiang Cheng stands up so abruptly that his chair topples over.
“Don’t,” he says to Lan Xichen, avoiding his eyes, because he knows they are already brimming with tears, and then he simply leaves.
He can’t believe Lan Xichen would lie like that, can’t believe Lan Xichen would lie like that to Madam Yu, who is worse than a shark that smelled blood when it comes to lies.
She would have called Lan Xichen on his bluff in just a second, and Jiang Cheng is absolutely not ready to hear Lan Xichen explain that yes, it all was just one big lie.
Fuck, Jiang Cheng can’t believe Lan Xichen would say that, that he would lower himself so far after everything he heard about Jiang Cheng this evening.
Really, he should have realized halfway through dinner that Jiang Cheng is definitely the wrong person for him.
For anyone, really.
Jiang Cheng flees the house, doesn’t even stop to check if Lan Xichen is coming after him or not, and he also doesn’t waste a moment to figure out how he will get home.
He’ll walk, if he has to, or call Wei Wuxian. He’s probably sitting next to his phone anyway.
Jiang Cheng realizes his mistake when he steps out into the pouring rain, but by then he’s already soaked, so it doesn’t matter anyway.
He keeps on walking.
Jiang Cheng is glad for the rain, because at least that way he can pretend that he’s not crying as he wonders if Lan Xichen will bother to break up with him personally, if he told his parents to convey the message or if he’ll just vanish from Jiang Cheng’s life.
This has always been what Jiang Cheng was most afraid of, and he should have known better than to try for some form of happiness with Lan Xichen. It never works out for Jiang Cheng after all.
Jiang Cheng isn’t very far from the house, when suddenly an umbrella is being held over him.
“What are you doing?” Lan Xichen softly asks and tugs on Jiang Cheng’s arm to stop him and the tears immediately flow faster.
“Why would you say something like that?” Jiang Cheng chokes out and Lan Xichen’s face goes soft.
“Because it’s the truth.”
“Don’t say that,” Jiang Cheng whispers and he fists his hands in Lan Xichen’s jacket. “Don’t say that,” he repeats again, stronger this time. “You deserve so much better!”
“I don’t care if I deserve better or not,” Lan Xichen says, and covers Jiang Cheng’s hands with his. “I only want you. You and no one else. It has to be you,” he says and then he leans down to kiss the tears right from Jiang Cheng’s face.
Jiang Cheng closes his eyes and he’s so, so scared that he is ruining Lan Xichen’s life by allowing this to continue but he can’t help himself.
He got a taste of it, and now he’s insatiable.
“So when you said you’d marry me—,” he starts and Lan Xichen hums softly.
“I meant it. I would if I thought it would finally put you at ease, make you believe that you are good, that I love you, and that you are good for me as well.”
“What if I never think that?” Jiang Cheng lowly asks and Lan Xichen nuzzles his cheek.
“Then I will still someday ask you to marry me. I realize that it’s too early now, don’t worry about that, but one day it won’t be. And then I will ask you.”
Jiang Cheng cups Lan Xichen’s face with his hands, and brings their foreheads together before he answers.
“What if I can’t say yes?” Jiang Cheng wants to know and Lan Xichen shrugs.
“Then we’ll stay boyfriends,” he says, as if it’s the easiest thing in the world.
“You’re insane,” Jiang Cheng accuses him, because Lan Xichen must be, if even a refused marriage proposal couldn’t chase him from Jiang Cheng’s side, but Lan Xichen only smiles.
“Okay,” he easily agrees and kisses Jiang Cheng. “And I’m also insanely in love with you. And no matter what your mother or your father have to say about you, that won’t change.”
“Not at all?” Jiang Cheng wants to know, and his voice is small, because he knows what his parents think of him is right.
“No. Because they clearly don’t know you like I do. They don’t know that you’re the most hardworking and diligent person I know. That you care more than you should and that you love so much, that you try your very best every day and that you are an amazing man. And if they don’t know that, then that’s on them. Their loss. I know who I have right here with me, and I love you so much.”
Jiang Cheng has to fight new tears at that, and he falls forward right into Lan Xichen. He wishes Lan Xichen could hug him right now, but he’s still holding the umbrella and so a one-armed hug is the best he can do.
“I love you, too,” Jiang Cheng says and he knows that he still has a long, long way to go, but if he has Lan Xichen by his side, he might even believe all of the things he just said.
One day, Jiang Cheng hopes.
And on that day, he will find his true happiness with Lan Xichen as well.
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bloody-bee-tea · 3 years
Text
BeeTober 2020 Day 27
Rice - Fright
Day 27 of BeeTober brings some arachnophobia for poor Jiang Cheng, but luckily he has the best neighbours because NMJ is simply the best da-ge to everyone and NHS knows exactly how JC feels.
When Jiang Cheng’s rice cooker goes out with a bang—or rather a very small twitch—Jiang Cheng takes a moment to simply stare at his ceiling.
Of course the rice cooker would decide to give out today, when Jiang Cheng is alone at home and no one is bound to come over either.
And that means, he has to go into the basement on his own.
Jiang Cheng knows that there’s a new rice cooker just waiting for him—Jiang Yanli has prophesised that his would die on him sooner or later and she wanted him to be prepared—but what’s also waiting for him down there are spiders.
Lots and lots of spiders.
The last time Jiang Cheng went into the basement he couldn’t finish repotting his plants because a rather huge spider came crawling out of the depth of hell, giving Jiang Cheng the fright of his life, and he had fled his own cellar without a second thought, abandoning his plants in the process as well.
In the end Wei Wuxian had repotted his plants, but he had made quite the mess of it, as he very willingly admitted, and Jiang Cheng still did not muster up the courage to clean up after him.
Now he has two reasons to go into the basement—three, he realizes as he eyes the empty cartons he’s been collecting, always putting it off to bring them down into the basement—so at least it would be worth it, and Jiang Cheng retrieves his hand-held vacuum cleaner. He just hopes that Jiang Yanli did not bury the rice cooker under boxes of other stuff, because Jiang Cheng is not going to overhaul his whole basement in search for it.
The chance to encounter a spider is way too high after all, and he wants to come out of this as unscathed as he can.
Jiang Cheng takes a few deep breaths to steel himself before he even leaves his own apartment, and of course he immediately runs into Nie Huaisang.
“What are you doing?” he wants to know and Jiang Cheng looks down at himself.
He’s wearing a hooded sweater, hood already pulled up, so that nothing can touch his hair, and he wears the thickest boots he owns, vacuum cleaner in one hand and balancing boxes on the other.
Jiang Cheng is aware that he’s going overboard, but there are spiders in the basement. He thinks he can be excused, even though he’s certain he makes quite the picture.
“I have to get a new rice cooker,” Jiang Cheng says and Nie Huaisang frowns.
“Like this? I’m not sure they will let you into a shop like this.”
“Oh no, I’m going into the basement,” Jiang Cheng clarifies, though he doubts that makes it better. “I have a second one, because Yanli is a worrywart,” he explains and Nie Huaisang nods, because clearly that makes a lot more sense.
“Well, I hope you survive then,” Nie Huaisang says and Jiang Cheng sees him shudder.
Nie Huaisang hates spiders just as much as Jiang Cheng does, and he always sends Nie Mingjue into the basement, because Nie Mingjue has never encountered anything that frightened him.
“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng grits out and then steels himself again.
He’s really damn hungry and he will get that stupid rice cooker.
Jiang Cheng hesitates in front of the stairs that lead down into the basement but he knows that he has to do it eventually. He will not simply turn back and admit defeat, especially not with how hungry he is.
So he makes his way down the stairs, deliberately keeping his gaze on the stairs instead of looking around, because he does not want to see any spiders before he even enters his own cellar.
When he reaches the door to his cellar, he puts the empty boxes down to get out his keys and then he’s in the cellar.
He freezes in the door, because when Wei Wuxian said he made a bit of a mess, he did not mention that half the plant earth is on the ground instead of inside of the bag where it should be.
“Fuck me,” Jiang Cheng groans because it looks like this won’t be a quick in-and-out like he hoped. “I’m going to kill him,” Jiang Cheng decides, but then he steps into the cellar.
He still keeps his eyes on the ground, surveying the mess there, as he ponders the best course of action.
It’s probably smarter to vacuum first before he moves all the stuff on the shelves, because he’s bound to disturb a lot more spiders there.
Mind made up, Jiang Cheng puts the boxes down and gets ready with the vacuum cleaner.
Everything is fine, at least for like two minutes, before Jiang Cheng realizes that not all black spots on the ground is dirt. And he realizes that because one of the black spots starts to move towards him.
And it’s fast.
“Aaaaaahhhhhh,” Jiang Cheng yells, stumbling backwards and pointing the vacuum cleaner at the spider.
He manages to suck it up with the vacuum, but Jiang Cheng curses the design of his vacuum because the container is see-through and Jiang Cheng can tell very well that the spider did not die.
Jiang Cheng drops the vacuum in his shock and stumbles back, right into the shelve behind him. A few boxes tumble out and hit Jiang Cheng, but he barely notices it, his eyes glued to the vacuum, his heart racing in his chest, and he feels a bit faint.
The spider crawls around in the container and Jiang Cheng knows he can never pick it up again, because who knows when the spider will find a way out of there.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Jiang Cheng mutters again and again, unsure what he should do now.
He’s trembling slightly, the tremors spreading out over his whole body, and he’s frozen to the spot.
Jiang Cheng is just as afraid of spiders as Wei Wuxian is of dogs—even though he did not go through any traumatic incident with them—and just like Wei Wuxian he never learned to overcome his fear.
It’s usually not a problem, since he avoids the basement as best as he can, but of course the one time he ventures down here it all goes to hell.
The spider is still crawling in the container, clearly looking for a way out and Jiang Cheng feels close to tears.
If he has to touch the vacuum cleaner to get rid of the spider, then he will—eventually—but he will scream inside his head the whole time and he’ll probably cry too, just for good measure.
Jiang Cheng is getting ready to take a step towards the vacuum cleaner when he hears a noise outside. He’s not thinking clearly, but the first thought that comes into his mind is that it’s another spider, before he realizes how stupid that is and he recognizes the sounds as someone coming down the stairs.
“Huaisang?” he calls out, because Nie Huaisang is at least home, Jiang Cheng knows that much.
He also knows that Nie Huaisang will be of absolutely no help to him, because they are both equally scared, but Jiang Cheng finds himself thinking that this whole horrible situation would be easier to deal with if someone else was there.
“Wanyin?” a voice calls back and that is most definitely not Nie Huaisang.
Jiang Cheng has half a mind diving behind the shelves just to hide from Nie Mingjue, but when he twitches his eyes fall on the spider in the vacuum cleaner again and he freezes in fear.
Diving behind the shelves would be a bad move as well, after all, because it’s bound to be infested with spiders.
“Fuck,” Jiang Cheng mutters yet again because he does not want Nie Mingjue to see him like this, but he also very much needs help.
“Mingjue, help,” Jiang Cheng gets out and it’s not long before Nie Mingjue steps into the cellar, surveying everything with a critical eye.
“What’s wrong?” he asks and Jiang Cheng has to bite back a sob, because Nie Mingjue’s voice is very steady and very calm and Jiang Cheng feels anything but.
“There’s—,” Jiang Cheng starts and it’s enough to make the tears flow. “There’s a spider in the vacuum,” he finally gets out, beyond mortified, but Nie Mingjue keeps calm.
“I see,” Nie Mingjue says, and steps even closer. “What did you need from down here?”
“Rice cooker,” Jiang Cheng presses out and jumps when the spider in the container suddenly moves quickly.
“Alright,” Nie Mingjue nods and pats Jiang Cheng’s head, before he makes a strange movement with the same hand. ��I’ll get it for you.”
Nie Mingjue is not usually someone to pet someone’s head and just as that thought crosses his mind Jiang Cheng goes ice cold as the implication of what Nie Mingjue just did hit him, and he’s almost too scared to ask, but he needs to know.
“There was a spider on my head, right?” he asks, his voice very small and very shaky and Nie Mingjue nods reluctantly.
Disgust and fear roll in waves over Jiang Cheng and he has to get out of the basement right this second.
“I have to—I can’t—,” he stumbles over his words, but he can’t manage to form a complete sentence and in the end he simply runs away.
He almost falls a few times on his way up the stairs, and instead of running back into his own spider-free apartment he runs outside.
And the first thing he does there is to take off his sweater, because clearly after his stumble into the shelves it’s no longer free of spiders.
As soon as he gets it off he throws it onto the ground, not daring to look to closely if anything comes crawling out of it, because that’s a nightmare he doesn’t need on top of everything else that happened today.
Jiang Cheng takes a few steps back from the sweater and then simply stands in the cold, with nothing more than his shirt, and he almost prefers the shivers caused from the cold to those out of fear.
He slings his arms around his middle, trying to hide just how badly his hands shake, and then he takes a few deep breaths, though they hardly do anything to calm him down.
Jiang Cheng knows that he’ll think about this for days to come, and he already knows that he won’t get much sleep this night.
By the time there’s a sound behind him, he mostly stopped crying, but he still startles badly when Nie Mingjue comes out of the house, the vacuum cleaner in his hand.
“Turn around,” he gently instructs Jiang Cheng, who obeys him before he can catch a sight of the spider still trapped inside.
Normally Jiang Cheng would freak out even more now, because he can’t see the spider anymore, but he trusts Nie Mingjue to have this handled in a way that does the least harm to Jiang Cheng’s very frail mental health right now.
Jiang Cheng hears him working on the vacuum cleaner, presumably throwing the contents and the spider into the garbage bin, and then Nie Mingjue steps up next to him.
“It’s all dealt with,” Nie Mingjue reassures him. “I cleaned up, stacked the boxes again and got your rice cooker.”
Jiang Cheng is entirely beyond feeling embarrassed when a sob breaks free at that.
“Thank you,” he gets out and his heart races for entirely different reasons when Nie Mingjue smiles at him.
Jiang Cheng is in no way equipped to deal with this onslaught of emotions and he sways slightly on his feet.
“Anything else you need?” Nie Mingjue asks him, his voice still low and clearly concerned and it’s enough to make Jiang Cheng blurt out the first thing that comes to mind.
“A hug would be nice,” he says and Nie Mingjue is very quick to open his arms for him.
It’s not difficult at all to step forward and Jiang Cheng doubts there’s a better feeling than being embraced by Nie Mingjue. His smell is very comforting and his arms are secure and strong around him and for just a moment Jiang Cheng can forget this horrible, no good afternoon.
“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng says again and Nie Mingjue starts to stroke his hands up and down Jiang Cheng’s back, making him almost melt into the embrace.
“No problem,” Nie Mingjue says and his voice makes a very nice rumbling sound. “I’m quite used to dealing with something like this,” he goes on and Jiang Cheng feels a little less mortified by the whole ordeal when he remembers that he heard Nie Huaisang scream for Nie Mingjue more than once already.
“In fact, why don’t you join us for dinner tonight?” Nie Mingjue suddenly asks and cups the back of Jiang Cheng’s head when he wants to pull away.
It seems like the hug is not yet over.
“Huaisang doesn’t like being alone after there was an incident and I’m sure he’d be thrilled to have you over. You can even sleep at our place, since Wei Wuxian is not coming home today, right?”
Jiang Cheng goes hot all over when those kind words bring tears to his eyes again and he doesn’t trust his voice to hold out, so he simply nods.
“Alright,” Nie Mingjue says. “We’ll grab your things and then get started on dinner. You must be hungry.”
“Starved,” Jiang Cheng admits and this time when he tries to pull away, Nie Mingjue lets him. “My rice cooker died on me, that started this whole mess.”
“Then we’ll have to whip up something quickly,” Nie Mingjue tells him and then seems to hesitate. “Will you be alright if I hand you the vacuum?”
“You promise there’s no spider in there anymore?” Jiang Cheng asks, the first tendrils of fear already setting in again, but Nie Mingjue nods.
“I checked it over and cleaned it out personally, there’s nothing in there at all.”
He sounds completely sure, and Jiang Cheng has no reason not to trust him, so he takes one last deep breath and then holds out his hand.
“Okay.”
He still startles slightly when Nie Mingjue puts the vacuum in his hand, but it’s not as bad as it would have been if Jiang Cheng had to deal with it on his own.
Nie Mingjue picks the rice cooker and Jiang Cheng’s discarded sweater up and then he follows Jiang Cheng to his own apartment.
Jiang Cheng would feel coddled, but he’s actually really grateful that he doesn’t have to do this alone, because after a scare like this he sees spiders everywhere, even though he logically knows that it’s unlikely that there are spiders all over his apartment.
Still, he’s quick to gather his things and before he can so much as blink, they are inside Nie Mingjue’s apartment.
“Da-ge?” Nie Huaisang calls out. “What took you so long?”
“We have a guest tonight,” Nie Mingjue calls back and winks at Jiang Cheng. “There was an incident in the basement.”
“An inci—oh,” Nie Huaisang says when he comes out into the living room and his gaze falls on Jiang Cheng. “Fuck, one of those incidents, huh?”
Jiang Cheng is aware that he must still look like a wreck; he couldn’t bring himself to pick up his sweater, even though Nie Mingjue promised him he shook it out as well, and his eyes must still be red-rimmed from the tears earlier.
“One of those incidents,” Nie Mingjue agrees and shoos Nie Huaisang into the kitchen. “He’s going to take a shower, and he’ll room with you tonight.”
“Pushy,” Nie Huaisang says with a wrinkled nose at his brother, but before Jiang Cheng can offer to simply go back to his own apartment, Nie Huaisang already bounded over to him.
“Of course you’re rooming with me, tonight,” he tells Jiang Cheng. “Incidents are the worst and it’s not good to be alone afterwards.”
Jiang Cheng feels choked up all over again at his words and his eyes burn.
“Come on, a good shower will help and da-ge makes the best comfort food,” Nie Huaisang says as he drags Jiang Cheng over to the bathroom.
“Want me to check it with you?” Nie Huaisang asks, because clearly he understands that Jiang Cheng will see spiders everywhere right now, and Jiang Cheng can only nod.
They do a check of the bathroom—completely spider-free, much to Jiang Cheng’s relief—and then Nie Huaisang leaves him to shower.
Jiang Cheng still feels unsettled, and he still jumps at every dark spot he sees, but with the delicious smell wafting into the bathroom, and Nie Huaisang’s and Nie Mingjue’s voices filling the silence, he finds that it’s not as bad as it usually is.
Maybe this day won’t be a complete disaster after all.
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bloody-bee-tea · 3 years
Text
BeeTober 2020 Day 13
Flesh - Fruit
I know I just did a sick fic, but let's be real here, you an never have enough of those, so have another one ;) 
Jiang Cheng wakes up to a blinding headache, a stuffed nose and a scratchy throat.
He groans into his pillow before he’s even really awake and then he blindly reaches for his phone. He pulls up his last conversation with Lan Xichen and then types out a message with just one eye open.
I don’t want to see you today, do NOT come over.
As soon as he sends it he realizes that it sounds entirely too mean without context, so he quickly types out a I’m sick and don’t want to infect you, too but before he’s even halfway through that message his phone lights up with an incoming call.
It’s Lan Xichen, of course.
“It’s too early for me to have done anything to make you mad,” is what Lan Xichen greets him with, clearly trying for a light tone, but Jiang Cheng can hear the underlining worry in his voice.
“I’m not,” Jiang Cheng rasps out, and his throat is not liking his attempts to speak, because a coughing fit wrecks him.
“You’re sick,” Lan Xichen says with understanding once Jiang Cheng caught his breath and Jiang Cheng doesn’t dare to speak again, so he carefully hums.
“Is it very bad?” Lan Xichen asks and Jiang Cheng opens his mouth, before his eyes fall onto the bottle of water next to his bed.
“Wait,” he gets out, and reaches for the bottle, taking big gulps and soothing his throat—however temporary—before he gets back on the line with Lan Xichen.
“Very,” Jiang Cheng agrees. “I feel like my head is going to explode.”
“You sound horrible,” Lan Xichen notes and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes—because duh—but even that turns out to be a bad idea, because it only intensifies his headache.
“I feel horrible,” he admits and Lan Xichen softly sighs at the other end of the line.
“Do you really not want me to come over? I could take care of you.”
“If you set foot in here, I’m going to sneeze on you and then you’ll be sick, too. And then who is going to take care of who?”
“Well, not you of me, because you’ll still be sick,” Lan Xichen teases, but then he gets serious again. “Promise me to at least call Wei Wuxian? Someone should check in on you.”
“You really don’t care about my brother, huh?” Jiang Cheng gets out before a new coughing fit hits him and Lan Xichen makes a concerned noise.
“I just don’t know him to get sick,” Lan Xichen corrects him. “I haven’t seen him sick in all the years he’s been with Wangji.”
“That’s because he gets sick exactly once a year, and conveniently always during the family retreat. I still maintain my position that he somehow does it on purpose.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Lan Xichen agrees and then sighs again. “Fine, I won’t come to visit you. But you’ll keep in touch when you’re awake, okay, or otherwise I’ll worry. And as soon as the worst has passed, I’m right there by your side.”
Jiang Cheng closes his eyes at that, unable to help the soft smile on his face, because he loves this man so damn much, it’s ridiculous sometimes.
“Of course,” he promises easily. “You can even call once a day to make sure I haven’t died.”
“At least once a day,” Lan Xichen corrects him. “But now go write Wei Wuxian and then go back to sleep, alright, my heart?”
“Mh, okay,” Jiang Cheng whispers, already more tired than he had been when he woke up, and it’s a struggle to keep his eyes open.
“Text your brother,” Lan Xichen reminds him again and Jiang Cheng gets to it right that moment, because he knows otherwise he’ll forget it and fall asleep.
I’m sick, don’t bother coming over, he types, even though he’s not very optimistic that Wei Wuxian will listen to him.
He’s almost a worse mother-hen than Jiang Yanli.
“Done,” Jiang Cheng mumbles, eyes already more closed than open and Lan Xichen chuckles softly.
“Good, my heart. I love you. Now sleep,” he instructs him.
Jiang Cheng has just enough awareness left to mumble “Love you, too,” before everything goes dark again.
~*~*~
Jiang Cheng startles awake when the door to his bedroom is flung open with enough force that it bounces back from the wall.
“What the fuck,” Jiang Cheng gets out, his voice grating and not much more than a harsh whisper and it’s a real struggle to open his eyes fully, even though the adrenaline is coursing through his veins right now.
“Surprise,” Wei Wuxian’s obnoxiously bright voice yells out and it feels like he personally hammered a nail right between Jiang Cheng’s eyes.
“Fuck off,” Jiang Cheng groans and flops back into bed.
He really cannot deal with this right now.
“Won’t, can’t, shan’t,” Wei Wuxian brightly says and flings himself onto the bed.
“Go away,” Jiang Cheng begs as he tucks the blanket over his head, but Wei Wuxian doesn’t move.
“Still, won’t, can’t shan’t,” Wei Wuxian repeats and Jiang Cheng knows that he’s doomed.
If Wei Wuxian is in one of those moods, then it’s easier to make an elephant move. At least those can be lured away by food.
“What did I ever do to deserve this?” Jiang Cheng laments and peeks out from under the blanket, only to be hit by a blinding smile from Wei Wuxian.
“You’ll never know hoy you deserve to be this lucky in life,” Wei Wuxian solemnly says, but then he gets serious. “You really do look sick.”
“I am,” Jiang Cheng says, and as if to underline his point a cough wrecks his whole frame.
“You really are sick,” Wei Wuxian says again, as if Jiang Cheng would lie over text like that.
Jiang Cheng doesn’t deign to answer him and instead pitifully sneezes into his pillow.
“Gross,” Wei Wuxian mutters and then wrangles the pillow away from him.
“Hey,” Jiang Cheng protests, but Wei Wuxian isn’t deterred and simply takes the pillow away from him.
“It’s full of bacteria now, you’re not going to sleep on that anymore, I’ll get you a new one,” he rambles and dashes off to find a new one for Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng watches him run around in his room, a horrifying thought forming in his mind. He waits until Wei Wuxian comes back to the bed to shove the pillow at him, before he confirms it.
“You told A-jie,” Jiang Cheng says, and Wei Wuxian doesn’t even have to answer, the guilty look on his face tells Jiang Cheng all he needs to know.
“Why would you do that?” Jiang Cheng demands to know but Wei Wuxian only shrugs.
“You know how shijie is. If she finds out that you were sick and no one told her about it, she’s going to kill us both.”
“You didn’t even believe I was sick, why would you tell her?” Jiang Cheng incredulously asks but Wei Wuxian shakes his head.
“I didn’t tell her, though!” Wei Wuxian exclaims and Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes at him.
“Then who did?” he wants to know, but he can already guess what Wei Wuxian’s answer will be.
“Xichen-ge did,” Wei Wuxian says, and of course he did.
Of course.
“He’s such a worry-wat,” Jiang Cheng grumbles, but secretly he is pleased that Lan Xichen wanted to make sure that someone is looking after Jiang Cheng. “He already forced me to tell you, he really shouldn’t have dragged A-jie into this.”
“Nah, don’t complain, you love that he worries like that,” Wei Wuxian tosses over his shoulder, as he leaves the bedroom.
“What are you doing?” Jiang Cheng calls after him, completely ignoring how right Wei Wuxian is, and promptly starts to cough again.
“I come bearing gifts,” Wei Wuxian triumphantly says as he comes back into the room, burdened with two heavy looking bags.
“What is happening?” Jiang Cheng dumbly asks, because why the fuck is Wei Wuxian bringing him things.
“This one,” Wei Wuxian says and lifts the left bag, “is from shijie. It’s full of medicine and soup, so you get better quickly.”
“Of course it is,” Jiang Cheng mutters, but he holds out his hands to accept the bag.
Jiang Yanli really does worry too much about his health all the time, and it looks like she put all the medicine in her house into the bag. Jiang Cheng only has eyes for the containers of soup, though. The medicine can wait.
“Medicine first,” Wei Wuxian says just at that moment, as if he’s able to read Jiang Cheng’s mind and expertly steals the soup away from Jiang Cheng.
“Do not even think about eating that,” Jiang Cheng threatens him and Wei Wuxian looks at him with wide eyes.
“I won’t! Shi-jie will now and she will kill me. The soup is for you. But I am under very strict instructions to feed you medicine first, so open up!” Wei Wuxian cheerfully says and holds a pill to Jiang Cheng’s lips.
“I’m going to bite you,” Jiang Cheng threatens, but Wei Wuxian only takes that opportunity to drop the pill into his mouth.
Jiang Cheng swallows it on reflex, but he would prefer to spit it out at Wei Wuxian again.
“Okay, and now something for your stuffed nose,” Wei Wuxian says and holds out a spoon with some syrup on it.
Jiang Cheng eyes it suspiciously.
“I don’t think so,” he finally says and Wei Wuxian pouts at him.
“Do you want me to do the airplane thing?” he asks and Jiang Cheng glares so hard at him that his headache flares up again.
“I will sneeze on you,” Jiang Cheng warns him.
“Gross,” Wei Wuxian cheerfully says and then simply stuffs the spoon into Jiang Cheng’s mouth.
He almost chokes on it, but in the end he survives. He wishes he didn’t, though, with how foul it tastes.
“Better tell me what’s in the other bag,” Jiang Cheng says, once he’s sure he doesn’t have to throw up anymore and Wei Wuxian smiles at him.
“This,” he says and lifts the bag, momentarily forgetting about the medicine, “comes from your boyfriend.”
“Oh, really?” Jiang Cheng asks, curiosity piqued and he makes grabby hands at the bag. “What did he pack?”
“Fruits,” Wei Wuxian says with a shudder. “Lots and lots of fruits.”
Jiang Cheng smiles at that and looks into the bag when Wei Wuxian finally hands it over.
“He said he trusts that shi-jie had the medicine and soup part down and he’s adding the vitamin c you need to get healthy again,” Wei Wuxian explains and makes a gagging sound as if he and Lan Wangji aren’t just as sickeningly sweet to each other.
“And he packed all my favourites,” Jiang Cheng mutters, and blindly reaches into the bag and pulls out one of the fruits.
“Ew, wipe that love sick look off your face, I don’t want to see that,” Wei Wuxian gags, and Jiang Cheng sticks his tongue out at him.
“Go find your boyfriend and be disgusting with him then,” Jiang Cheng says and Wei Wuxian nods as if that is the best idea ever, and promptly leaves without a word of goodbye.
Jiang Cheng knows that he will be back in the evening to check if he ate the soup and to pester him with more medicine again, but for now he revels in the blessed silence.
Jiang Cheng bites into the fruit in his hand, his teeth sinking into the ripe flesh, and he hums when the flavour hits his tongue, thought he’s barely able to taste it with how sick he is.
He continues nibbling on the fruit as he reaches for his phone and calls Lan Xichen again.
“Did my package reach you?” is the first thing Lan Xichen asks and Jiang Cheng bites into the fruit again, trusting that the sound will carry over the phone.
“Ah, I see,” Lan Xichen says, and he must say it with a smile, because Jiang Cheng knows that particular voice.
It’s the voice he loves best, after all.
“I thought your sister had the rest covered, but I know you get a craving for fruits every now and then and I didn’t want to risk you not having any.”
“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng whispers and quickly swallows the rest of the fruit, before he lays back down in bed.
“How are you feeling?” Lan Xichen asks, his voice low and gentle and Jiang Cheng’s eyes are already going heavy again.
“Better, now that I’m talking to you,” he mutters and Lan Xichen huffs out a laugh.
“You sap,” Lan Xichen accuses him, but Jiang Cheng doesn’t mind, because after that Lan Xichen stays on the phone and talks to him until he falls asleep.
And it’s a very sweet sleep for Jiang Cheng, with the voice of his light in his ears.
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