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12 Days of Mingcheng 2021 Day 1 - Deserve
Jiang Cheng feels like shit when he opens his eyes. His head feels like it could crack right open at any moment, his thoughts feel like they are all wrapped in cotton, his nose is stuffed and when a cough rattles his entire body, he knows that he’s fucked.
He hasn’t been this sick in ages.
Jiang Cheng still forces himself out of bed, because he guesses a tea could not hurt and he also has to call his father to let him know that he’s not going to come to work today.
Tea first though, because Jiang Cheng is not even sure if he can speak with how much his throat is hurting on top of everything else.
He carefully drinks his tea hoping that it will at least make it a little bit better, but when another coughing fit hits him he realizes that it’s futile. It doesn’t help at all that his whole body is hurting and Jiang Cheng desperately wants to go back to bed.
So he gets out his phone and dials his father’s number.
“What is it this early in the morning?” Jiang Fengmian snaps at him once he picks up and Jiang Cheng shrinks back in on himself.
“I’m sick,” he whispers, his voice barely more than a scratch. “I can’t come in today.”
There’s a telling silence on the other end of the line and Jiang Cheng closes his eyes.
He knows what’s coming.
“Is it bad enough to warrant a trip to the hospital?” Jiang Fengmian demands to know and Jiang Cheng shakes his head before he remembers that his father can’t see.
“No,” he admits, because he doesn’t quite feel shitty enough for that.
Not yet.
“Then I expect you at work in an hour,” his father tells him and before Jiang Cheng can say anything else he already hung up on him.
“Of course,” Jiang Cheng still bitterly whispers and tries his best not to think about that one time Wei Wuxian called in sick because of a hangover and his father did not only give him the day off but he also drove there to see how his precious A-Ying was doing.
Jiang Cheng really should have expected this, if he’s being honest, but it still hurts. It hurts even worse when he forces himself to get ready, because his body is barely even cooperating with him and Jiang Cheng thinks it might be better if he takes a didi to work instead of driving himself, because that simply doesn’t seem safe.
It’s one of the longest days he’s ever had.
~*~*~
Jiang Cheng is blowing his nose for the fifteenth time in ten minutes when Nie Mingjue comes into his office and immediately stops dead in his tracks.
“Are you sick?” he asks and there’s an accusing undertone to his voice that immediately makes Jiang Cheng straighten up.
“Of course not,” he wheezes out, his voice scratchy as hell and it probably doesn’t help his case that he’s wrecked by a coughing fit a second later.
“What the fuck are you doing here if you are sick?” Nie Mingjue wants to know, but Jiang Cheng is too busy not to die to answer him.
Once the coughing stopped he reaches for his mug of tea only to realize that it’s empty. It’s enough to bring tears to Jiang Cheng’s eyes.
“Drink this,” Nie Mingjue says and hands him a water bottle.
It’s not what Jiang Cheng wants but it’s better than nothing, he’s sure of it, so he takes it and gulps it all down.
“Wanyin, seriously, what are you doing here if you are this sick?” Nie Mingjue asks again and this time he sounds a little bit softer.
Soft enough that Jiang Cheng answers him.
“It’s not so bad, and I know—it’s not bad enough to go to the hospital.”
“So? It’s obviously bad enough to stay in bed,” Nie Mingjue shoots back and Jiang Cheng shrinks into himself.
“Right,” he scoffs and regrets it a second later when he has to cough again.
“What’s that supposed to mean? You do know that you have sick days, right?” Nie Mingjue says as he carefully puts one of his big, warm hands on Jiang Cheng’s back. “You really shouldn’t be here. Are you burning up?”
Before Jiang Cheng can answer him, Nie Mingjue already put the hand to Jiang Cheng’s forehead and going by the unhappy face Nie Mingjue makes, Jiang Cheng can guess the answer.
“Really, Wanyin, you should be at home.”
“Lan Qiren—” Jiang Cheng starts but Nie Mingjue doesn’t let him finish.
“Will drive you home personally, I’m sure of it.”
“Sure,” Jiang Cheng sarcastically says. “He won’t even allow me to take the day off, I know it. I’ve—made my mistakes in the past and I know better now.”
Nie Mingjue doesn’t seem at all happy with that statement and before Jiang Cheng can think to defend himself further, Nie Mingjue already reached for the phone.
Jiang Cheng wants to stop him, but Nie Mingjue gives him a look that makes him freeze in his motions and so it’s not long before Lan Qiren is on the line.
“Wanyin, what can I do for you?” Lan Qiren asks and Jiang Cheng wants to tell him that it’s nothing, Nie Mingjue speaks up.
“It’s Nie Mingjue,” he says and there’s a beat of silence on the other end of the line.
“Mingjue? Is everything alright? Where is Wanyin?”
“He’s right here, but he’s sick. I think he’s burning up on top of having the worst cough I have ever heard and he’s barely visible behind his stack of tissues,” Nie Mingjue tells him and Jiang Cheng channels his most accusing look to throw at him.
Nie Mingjue seems entirely unimpressed.
“What is he doing here then?” Lan Qiren wants to know and Nie Mingjue sighs.
“I’m guessing his father didn’t let him have sick days back when he was still working for him.”
Nie Mingjue is keeping eye contact with Jiang Cheng as he says it but it’s too much for him, so Jiang Cheng averts his eyes, probably only proving Nie Mingjue right.
“That—” Lan Qiren cuts himself off and Jiang Cheng wonders if this is as close as Lan Qiren ever gets to swearing. “Mingjue, be a good boy and take him home, okay? Don’t leave him alone until he feels better.”
“No problem,” Nie Mingjue gives back and promptly hangs up on Lan Qiren after saying his thanks. “You heard the man. We’re going home.”
“There’s no reason for you to miss work as well,” Jiang Cheng mutters, as he gets to his feet to gather his things.
Everything spins for a moment and when he can see clearly again, he’s back in his chair.
“Yeah, right, because leaving you alone seems like a good idea right now,” Nie Mingjue mutters and helps Jiang Cheng to gather his things.
“I’m not a burden,” Jiang Cheng presses out because the thought that Nie Mingjue would think of him as such makes him sick to his stomach.
“No, you are not,” Nie Mingjue immediately agrees. “But you deserve someone who takes care of you, so let me be that person, alright?” he adds, more softly this time and Jiang Cheng is helpless against that so he only nods.
“Okay. Come here then,” Nie Mingjue says and helps him up, keeping a steadying hand on his arm. “Can you walk?”
“Of course I can,” Jiang Cheng bites out and even manages something that doesn’t look like a drunk stagger.
Nie Mingjue very wisely keeps silent at that and Jiang Cheng is pretty sure he’s spacing out during the drive because suddenly the car is already coming to a stop.
Jiang Cheng blinks a few times as he stars outside the window and then he turns towards Nie Mingjue.
“That’s not my house.”
“No. It’s mine,” he says as if it’s the most normal thing in the world and before Jiang Cheng can protest, Nie Mingjue got out of the car.
“Come on, now,” he says as he opens the door for Jiang Cheng but when he gets out of it, everything goes dark around him.
Jiang Cheng comes back to as Nie Mingjue opens the door to his house and Jiang Cheng is ashamed to find that Nie Mingjue is carrying him bridal style.
“I’m sorry,” Jiang Cheng whispers and hides his face in Nie Mingjue’s shoulder. “I don’t mean to be a bother.”
“You are not,” Nie Mingjue promises him and Jiang Cheng is pretty sure that he feels how Nie Mingjue presses a kiss to his head.
He decides not to think about this for now, because it makes his head hurt and his chest feel tight and it really doesn’t help his overall condition right now.
Nie Mingjue brings him straight into the bedroom where he puts Jiang Cheng carefully down on the bed.
“I’ll get you some sleeping clothes and then you’ll take a nap while I make you soup,” he tells Jiang Cheng but before he can turn around to do just that, Jiang Cheng catches his hand.
“You really don’t have to do that,” he tells him. “I’m fine on my own, you just have to bring me home. I don’t want to steal your time.”
“Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue says and removes his hand from Jiang Cheng’s, only to cup his cheek with it. “You are not a bother. You’re not stealing my time. I want to take care of you, okay? You deserve it.”
Jiang Cheng wants to argue against that, because he really doesn’t deserve anything, but Nie Mingjue continues to look at him with this soft look on his face and Jiang Cheng is helpless against that.
“Why are you doing this?” Jiang Cheng eventually whispers, turning his face more into Nie Mingjue’s hand.
Nie Mingjue lets out a long sigh and shakes his head.
“I knew you didn’t notice my flirting, but ouch, Wanyin,” he says, a teasing note to his voice and going by how his headache intensifies, Jiang Cheng guesses that he’s turning bright red in the face.
“But I’m nothing special. You really shouldn’t be flirting with me.”
“You’re pretty special to me,” Nie Mingjue immediately gives back and there is no hesitation at all in his voice. “Now, are you going to continue to be difficult or can I get you some more comfortable clothes now?”
Jiang Cheng’s heart does something funny when he realizes that he’s going to wear Nie Mingjue’s clothes and going by the look on Nie Mingjue’s face, he knows it.
“Let me take care of you,” Nie Mingjue still says, as if Jiang Cheng has any reason left to argue against it.
“Okay,” he whispers and is rewarded by a smile for that.
“And once you feel better, let me take you out on a date, too,” Nie Mingjue says as he rummages around in his drawer for some clothes.
Jiang Cheng can still hardly wrap his mind around the fact that someone like Nie Mingjue would want to do that, would willingly spend time with him, but when Nie Mingjue turns towards him with a raised eyebrow, Jiang Cheng is quick to nod.
“I would like that.”
(Jiang Cheng is torn between healing as fast as possible so they can go on that date and healing as slow as possible so that Nie Mingjue dotes a bit longer on him. He’s very pleasantly surprised to find that Nie Mingjue never really stops doting on him, sick or not.)
Link to my ko-fi on the sidebar!
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'with you, all I know is i'm
coming home, coming
home.'
#this is for the 12 days of mingcheng over on twitter!!#check out the fics they're all incredible 🥺#12 days of mingcheng 2021#12domc21#mingcheng#i think that mingcheng deserve a vanessa carlton amv#but i am not talented enough to make one#so have this instead#jc#nmj#jiang cheng#nie mingjue#mdzs#the untamed#fanart#modern au#alternate universe#sketch#digital drawing
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That’s Not Funny.
Read on AO3.
~~~
Nie Mingjue does not like Wei Wuxian.
He sits with this feeling on the other man’s couch, waiting for the entire visit to be over as he listens to Wei Wuxian and his boyfriend bicker back and forth about what? He doesn’t know and he doesn’t care. Nie Mingjue sighs lightly in the hopes that his boyfriend won’t notice his discomfort, but to no avail. Jiang Cheng has always been too perceptive; his eyes flicker in his direction.
He gets up and excuses himself, knowing all the while that Jiang Cheng is watching him with equal parts concern and apprehension as he exits the living room. Nie Mingjue had told Jiang Cheng that he would remain civil no matter what, and he’s not looking to break that promise, so a quick bathroom break is in order.
It’s not that Nie Mingjue thinks that Wei Wuxian is a bad person or entirely intolerable even, there are plenty of people Nie Mingjue would rather not deal with than his boyfriend’s over-excited brother. And if that were truly the case, he wouldn’t be forcing himself to play nice and he definitely wouldn’t be dating Jiang Cheng. The other would have rejected him before he even managed to get the words “I like you” out.
It’s simply that Wei Wuxian’s style of communicating is so far beyond Nie Mingjue’s level of comprehension that he never knows if he should be taking the words that come out of the other’s mouth seriously or not. Which has become even more apparent leading up to, and throughout his relationship with Jiang Cheng.
Nie Mingjue isn’t one to pass judgment on how siblings interact with one another, there have been plenty of concerned remarks from people about how he treats Nie Huaisang, to which he told them to mind their fucking business. Despite cutting remarks and outward appearances, Nie Mingjue is certain that not once has Nie Huaisang had to question if he was loved by his older brother- let alone liked or even respected as another human being.
So no, Nie MIngjue doesn’t hate Wei Wuxian, he just doesn’t like how Wei Wuxian makes fun of things he knows (or damn well should know) Jiang Cheng is insecure about; he takes it too far too often and that’s something Nie Mingjue will never be able to fully get over.
Splashing water on his face, he contemplates how long he can stay in there before Jiang Cheng starts banging on the door in concern, like Nie Mingjue might actually drown himself in the toilet or something.
He huffs and decides another five minutes can’t hurt, opening up the little dog app Nie Huaisang insisted he download to ease his stress and worries. He feeds the kids, grooms the seniors, and spends time making sure all of the dogs’ needs are met and satisfied before his app timer goes off, telling him he’s spent way more than five minutes in the bathroom.
Although it’s a bit concerning that Jiang Cheng didn’t try and break the door down in a panic (a man passes out in the shower once from exhaustion and suddenly he needs floaties every time he’s within a meter of anything that could be construed as a “body of water”), it’s not too worrisome. Nie Mingjue wasn’t actively participating in the conversation so his presence wasn’t entirely necessary.
Or so he thought.
Walking back towards the living room, Nie Mingjue hears something that stops him cold; the blood rushes to his head almost instantly as his vision shakes and his fingers involuntarily curl in on themselves.
“Well, how can we expect Jiang Cheng to know, he’s practically a robot.”
The muttered response isn’t loud enough for Nie Mingjue to hear. Or maybe it is but Wei Wuxian’s annoying voice is the only thing that actually manages to break through the sound of his own heartbeat.
“Oh c’mon Chengcheng, you know your heart’s colder than my dorm room in college- and I couldn’t even feel my toes in that room!”
The silence from Jiang Cheng that follows that statement – actual silence this time – pierces louder than Wei Wuxian’s stupid cackling and Nie Mingjue decides right then and there that he’s tired of this shit.
“What the fuck is your problem?”
The shrieking laughter stops, finally, and he’s met with a wide-eyed stare from both brothers. Lan Wangji looks like he’s about to comment on Nie Mingjue’s choice of words, but he’s already gathering the no-longer-welcome couple’s things. Handing them over as he stands in front of Jiang Cheng.
Crossing his arms and straightening up, he uses his height and overall menacing presence to his advantage and watches them. He waits, begging them to even argue with him. They put their coats on mechanically instead, the shock of being called out still not registering for the loud-mouthed Wei Wuxian.
Throughout the entire process of them preparing to leave the apartment, Nie Mingjue is there, blocking Jiang Cheng from their line of vision to let Wei Wuxian know exactly how unwelcome he is at the moment.
“Think about exactly why that joke was fucked up, asshole.”
He closes the door before Wei Wuxian can respond and locks it for good measure. Happy for once that he was firm when he told Jiang Cheng he wasn’t comfortable with the other having a key to their apartment.
“I’m not going to apologize,” is what he says when he goes back to the living room and finds Jiang Cheng still sitting in the same position. That seems to shock the other out of whatever self-deprecating trance he found himself in, and Nie Mingjue is really not happy about the look in Jiang Cheng’s eyes.
They have worked for so long, so hard on mending this specific wound, and for Wei Wuxian to fuck it up with a single joke makes Nie Mingjue angrier than he’s been in a good while.
“You know what he said isn’t true, right?”
Jiang Cheng hesitates, and it’s the hesitation that breaks Nie Mingjue’s heart.
His anger flares once again. Wei Wuxian should know better; he should fucking know better.
Jiang Cheng has struggled so much coming to terms with his sexuality and recognizing that no, he isn’t broken. And Nie Mingjue knows Jiang Cheng has opened up about this specific insecurity to Wei Wuxian.
He’s not entirely sure how that conversation actually went, because Jiang Cheng had refused to come out of his room aside for select reasons for three days following, and wasn’t that an experience. But Jiang Cheng had assured Nie Mingjue that Wei Wuxian was better about understanding demisexuality– about understanding him.
What a load of shit.
There’s no excuse. Wei Wuxian should really fucking know how inappropriate that joke was, if you can even call it that, and Nie Mingjue thinks he’ll be pissed for the foreseeable future.
He spends the rest of the night reassuring Jiang Cheng once again that yes, he’s normal. And yes, Nie Mingjue knows just how much Jiang Cheng loves him and he loves him just as much back, don’t even question that.
His desire to rip the entire Jiang family to shreds pops up briefly when Jiang Cheng mentions that no one has ever stood up for him like that before, but he leaves that for the gym tomorrow because Jiang Cheng is more important and there is not a moment in time where he wouldn’t defend Jiang Cheng. Especially if it’s from his own family.
The next morning, Jiang Cheng is back to usual for the most part and Nie Mingjue breathes a sigh of relief. If it were a Jiang Cheng from two years ago, or even one year ago, that would have been a multi-day-long seclusion.
Nie Mingjue makes sure to tell his boyfriend just how proud he is of him and that he loves him as much as possible that day, his anger at the situation dying down just the slightest. At least Jiang Cheng is feeling okay.
Only it comes surging back just a week later when Wei Wei Wuxian shows up at his door with Lan Wangji, asking why Jiang Cheng is being so cold to him.
He gets a door in his face for his efforts.
The only parting Nie Mingjue offers is a scathing, “If you don’t even know why you fucked up, then there’s no way I’m letting you step foot in this house. Especially not with your knight in white standing off to the side glaring at everyone over there.”
Wei Wuxian’s shout bleeds through the door and Nie Mingjue could. Not. Care. Less. He packs his things up for the gym, adding his tape and gloves at the last minute because he could really use a spar right now.
It happens a few more times after that, Wei Wuxian stopping and obnoxiously demanding to know why he won’t be let in, or why Jiang Cheng is mad, or how he fucked up.
Nie Mingjue has never tolerated stupidity and he won’t start now.
The door stays closed after the third time it happens.
About a month after the initial incident, Wei Wuxian ambushes Nie Mingjue outside of the apartment, looking apprehensive and just the slightest bit guilty; Lan Wangji nowhere in sight.
This is when Nie Mingjue decides he can finally stretch out the olive branch, but not in their house. He brings Wei Wuxian to a nearby cafe to see what the idiot has to say.
They spend several hours there, going back and forth. Nie Mingjue threatens to get up and leave several times, along with a few other things that need not be repeated. Ultimately, he does stay until the end of the talk – a talk that he hopes finally knocked some sense into the other.
And from what Jiang Cheng tells him the next day, their own conversation goes well. There were a lot of tears and for the first time in his life, apparently, Wei Wuxian actually apologized to him.
The bar was on the floor- is what Nie Mingjue thinks unkindly, but it is a big step in the relationship between the brothers, so he can’t be too mad. Especially not when Jiang Cheng is cuddled up against his side, humming a little tune and happier than he’s seen him in the past month.
Wei Wuxian starts popping up again in his and Jiang Cheng’s apartment here and there; he still makes stupid jokes all the time that border on too much, but he hasn’t actually crossed the line since he left wide-eyed and scared from that cafe down the street.
Nie Mingjue can honestly admit that he doesn’t hate Wei Wuxian, and can even appreciate his company sometimes.
His laugh is still annoying though.
~~~
~~~
~~~
This is day 2 of Twelve days of Mingcheng, fulfilling the prompt Joke!
I haven't been posting the full prompts but I hope those who sent them in can figure it out. I tried not to alter them too much haha
On another note: WWX equally fears and respects NMJ after that "talk." He genuinely believed that JC knew he was joking because it's never been an issue before (or that's what he thinks/has been lead to believe- fuck you JFM). He tries to watch himself more, and if he ever slips, NMJ's menacing look serves as an excellent reminder.
Hope you enjoyed it!
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Revenge - 12 Days of Mingcheng
Hello! So this is day 3 of @vassar177‘s 12 days of Mingcheng and the prompt from today is Revenge and I hope you enjoy it! As always, stay safe and healthy!
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There were many things in life that Jiang Cheng didn't understand. For example, he didn't understand what was going on in his brother's head when he fell in love with Lan Wangji, he didn't understand why Wangji fell in love with him right back and he didn't understand why would ever target Nie Mingjue of all people. There were so many other people to be kidnapped and yet, they chose to kidnap Nie Mingjue and put a target on their backs like the idiots they were.
So, as Nie Huaisang entered the hospital with his brother, Jiang Cheng swore that whoever made this to his husband was going to suffer so much that death would be more appealing than life when he was finished with them. He took a deep breath and turned around, knowing that his men were going to protect both his husband and his brother-in-law from anyone that tried to harm them, because he needed a plan and he wasn't going to get one standing in the middle of the hospital. His brother, Wei Wuxian, was waiting for him at the entrance of the building and drove them to their older sister's house.
Their sister, Jiang Yanli, was the most dangerous person that had ever stepped on Earth, their mother included, and though she was retired, nobody dared to come at her and those she loved for fear of retaliation. Not only from her side, but from his clan and their brother's clan too. Everybody knew that messing with them ment trouble and, usually, death too.
That being, he wasn't surprised to find not only Yanli, but her husband too already waiting for them with fire in their eyes. Though their marriage had been arranged, they were the only relationship that he actually looked up to. With a kiss on her cheek and a shake of hand with him, they focused on business.
"Do we know who did this?" Wei Wuxian asked once while they were sitting in Jin Zixuan's office.
"The Wen Clan." Jin Zixuan said and Jiang Cheng ignored the snarky laugh that left his brother's lip. Their brother-in-law, though his face suggested otherwise, was no idiot and he could be as terrifying as his brother, Jin Guangyao, if he so wished. "They wanted to destabilize the Nie clan and given that you and Nie-zongzhu aren't married yet, they may have thought that the Jiang wasn't going to intervene."
"Fools." Jiang Cheng said, biting his back teeth with enough force to make them hurt. "Who, specifically, did this, Zixuan?" His voice was deep with anger and hatred for the person that had done all they did with his husband. Though they were not married yet, it was no secret that their clans protected each other more fiercely than with their own people. "Answer me, Zixuan." He growled when the man did nothing, but looked from him to his sister. Temperance and patience were not things he needed right now.
"Wen Chao." He said after a long sigh. "He ordered the kidnapping and, according to my informations, he was the main person to torture Nie-zongzhu."
"I'll never not be amazed by how you discover those things." Wei Wuxian said, blinking at him before smirking at the blush that spread on his cheeks. Jiang Cheng understood, he really did, because their brother-in-law had nothing to do with his father's illegal business, he had long stepped out of that position in favor of taking care of his family, and still knew more about the underground world than many of them. Still, right now, he needed the information and not Wei Wuxian's amazement about them.
"What else?" He took in a deep breath, hands clenching and unclenching over his thighs. "I need a plan and, if it was that fucker called Wen Chao that put Mingjue on that hospital bed, I want his bones crushing beneath my feet as quickly as possible."
" We need a plan, A-Cheng, we." Jiang Yanli said, stepping away from her husband's chair and kneeling in front of him. "But, first, we need to calm down, all of us, and focus on how to get our revenge without harming innocents and protect those who were already hurt." He knew that she was right, she was always right, but it hadn't been her to find Nie Mingjue hanging from that ceiling, beaten and bleeding as if he was nothing more than meat ready to be cut. It hadn't been Zixuan or Wuxian, though he was there with him, it had been him and that image wasn't going to leave his nightmares for long years.
"Jie..." He stared at her, trying to hold the anger burning inside him and not break down right there and then. "I want him broken, Jie. Broken to a point that not even the gods will recognize his soul when I'm finished with him."
"And we are going to give that to you, but first we need to calm down and think on our next steps. Do you understand that, didi?" She said, caressing his knees and staring deep in his eyes. He could see all the anger swirling under the surface, the desire to hurt those that had hurt Mingjue - and those, him - that way burning as brightly as it was on him too. It was that and the fact that both Zixuan and Wuxian shared the same desire that made him take a deep breath and unclench his fists. She was right, he needed to calm down.
After Nie Mingjue had disappeared, Nie Huaisang called him to ask if they were together as there were times that they would ditch their bodyguards to spend some time together. But that day both his nephews were spending time with him and, for more that he loved Mingjue, he would never ignore them for him. The call had scared him because his husband would never worry his younger brother like that.
By the time they found him, the fuckers that kidnapped him were already gone and had left him to bleed to death in a room of an abandoned building. Thinking now, it made sense why there was so little guards to guard Mingjue, if it was really Wen Chao that did it, then the idiot must have thought that nobody was going serarching for him and that he had time to keep torturing until he was dead. Jiang Cheng had been so afraid when he entered the room and saw him hanging from the ceiling, unresponsive to everything and covered in blood and bruises. Gods, there had been so much blood and he looked so small after they finally brought him down that, for a moment, he feared that he was going to break if they added too much pressure.
He was vaguely aware of a glass of water being pressed against his hands and how violently they were shaking, too lost in the memories from earlier. Nie Mingjue was no small man, but seeing him on that stretcher, looking so pale and fragile, had made his insides burn and maybe it hadn't been only anger that was eating him from the inside out. Of course it hadn't been only anger, it never was only anger, didn't he know that already? Didn't Mingjue tell him that already?
Still, he wanted revenge, he wanted to be able to sleep that night knowing that nobody else would ever again dare to touch those he loved. But Jie was right and he couldn't just go shooting left and right until everyone was dead and risk harming those that had nothing to do with the issue, as if the consequences didn't matter. There were so many things at risk, so many things that could go wrong and the only thing that Jiang Cheng wanted to do was return all the pain that Wen Chao caused.
At some point of the night, between imagining hurting Wen Chao in multiple ways and planning what they actually could do, his phone lit up with Nie Huaisang's photo and he ignored the way that his heart skipped a beat over the possibility of bad news. When they arrived at the hospital, the doctors had taken Nie Mingjue to the operating room immediately and he had no idea how long it would take for him to be okay again. That was the reason he answered so quickly when his phone lit up.
"How is he?" Jiang Cheng said the moment the line connected.
" He is fine, Jiang-xiong. The cirurgy just ended and they transferred him to a room. You can come visit him if you want to. "Nie Huaisang said and he sounded so tired. " Please, Jiang-xiong, come see him. I need to talk to you too."
"I'm already on my way. Don't worry." He said, getting up and reaching for his coat on the back of his seat. "Don't leave his side, please."
" Didn't even think about it." With that they hung up and Jiang Cheng turned to look at the others.
"Mingjue got out of the operation room. They transferred him to a room and Huaisang said that I could go there to see him." He took a deep breath, pocketing his phone and looking at each one of them. "Thank you for everything."
"Wait, A-Cheng, I will go with you." Wei Wuxian got up, too, reaching out for his coat.
"I don't think you can enter, Wei Wuxian." He stopped, looking as both Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan too stood.
"For as much as I care for Nie-zongzhu, I'm not going for him. I'm going there to support you." He said, stepping forward and opening his arms.
"We all are, A-Cheng." Jiang Yanli said, hugging him along Wei Wuxian in a tight grip. They all headed to the hospital and, if he was being honest, he was happy that they went with him because when he finally saw the state Nie Mingjue was in, he doubted that he would be able to go home in one piece.
Nie Mingjue was laid down in the hospital bed with a tube down his throat and mostly covered in white bandages, but it was the parts without the covering that truly scared him. There were purple bruises everywhere that he looked and the anger was coming back full force now. Carefully, he reached out for the hand without the IV and stroked it gently, looking at his face and taking deep breaths.
"You came." Nie Huaisang said, opening the room's door with a cup and his usual fan in one hand. His hair was up in a messy bun, his bangs all messed up from all the times they probably were pushed back in his anxiety and his robes were in disarray. "Have you even eaten anything, Jiang-xiong?"
"I'm not hungry, Huaisang." Jiang Cheng sighed, not daring to look away from Mingjue's face for a single moment, afraid that he might break if he did so.
"Funny that you seem to think that I care." He flicked his ear with his fan, dropping a box of dumplings on his lap. "I will eat with you, ok?" Pulling the other chair in the room, he sat by his side and opened the box. "Just one, alright? For Da-ge."
"What did you want to tell me, Huaisang?" He sighed, though he did grab a dumpling.
"After we eat." After that he didn't talk anymore and Jiang Cheng had to satisfy himself with the food he was given instead of the answers he wanted. "Do you know who did this?" Nie Huaisang said after they finished each one dumpling.
"Wen Chao." He said, fidgeting with the transparent wrapper.
"I was afraid you would say that." He said, looking at his own hands. "We have a deal."
"You and Wen Chao?" He said, eyes aflame and disbelief written all over his face. Nie Huaisang and Wen Chao? He couldn't believe it, he despised him as much as he and Wei Wuxian did. It made no sense!
"What? No. Hell, no! The Wens and the Nies as whole." He turned to him, eyebrows furrowed. "We made a deal, some months ago, but it's not revealed yet. So I can't tell the exact details."
"Does that mean that I can't go after Wen Chao?" His mouth was close with so much force that the grinding of his teeth could be heard.
"That means that I know why he did what he did and that the deal doesn't protect him by any means." The empty look that he had been carrying for all the time they had been eating was now replaced by a hateful and vindictive one. "He wanted to impress his father and once only Wen Ruohan and his oldest son knew about the deal, the grasshopper brain probably didn't know that harming anyone under the protection of the Nies would cause immediate break of the agreement, which means that the person affect by it can and should nominate someone to avenge them in the same measure and manner."
"What are you trying to say, Huaisang?" He sighed, putting his head between his hands. Hell, that night was going to be long, so, so, long.
"Da-ge is in no condition to nomeate someone to 'return the favor' Wen Chao did, so, as his little brother, I'm telling, Jiang Cheng and my future brother-in-law, the Wens will not touch you or anybody that helps you if you were to avenge my brother's torture." Nie Huaisang took a deep breath, biting another dumpling and not looking at him. "In the same measure and manner, obviously."
"I see. Thank you for your input." Jiang Cheng nodded, face impassive as he reclined back on his chair, the anger that had been sitting on the end of his stomach fully awakened now.
"Thank me by eating another dumpling." He nudged another one near him and this time he took it without much fight, if much he ate it with renewed force, already thinking of what he would do once he had his hands around Wen Chao's neck. Once he was finished with it, he stood up and held Nie Mingjue's hand once more, bending down to carefully kiss his forehead.
"Stay strong, my soul, I'll back in no time." Jiang Cheng whispered against it, taking a deep breath before turning around. "Thank you for everything, A-Sang. And, don't worry, my men will be working with yours to protect both you and Mingjue." Huaisang nodded, smiling at him in a way that he knew was grateful before urging him away, telling him that he had important businesses to deal with out of the hospital.
"And, remember, Jiang-xiong, I don't know anything." He winked before closing the door.
Jiang Cheng smiled at that, before straightening his coat and shaking his shoulders. Nie Huaisang may say that he doesn't know many things and maybe it was true, but there was one thing that he had said that was totally right. He had business out of the hospital and that business involved one Wen Chao and karma being a bitch.
#12domc21#mingcheng#hurt/comfort#jiang cheng#nie mingjue#nie huaisang#wei wuxian#jiang yanli#jin zixuan#mafia au#modern au#my fic#my writing#mdzs
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Overheard at the Stables of Koi Tower - 12 Days of Mingcheng
Prompt: Pure. Read on AO3 here.
The barest dusting of snow started to fall as Nie Mingjue crossed the yard, returning to the stables after dinner. It was a rare occasion, but they had no guests, no foreign dignitaries that night at Koi Tower, and so all he needed to do that night was do a final check on the horses, then he could actually prop up his feet and read for a while.
A puff of steam escaped the door to greet him as he entered - the smell too familiar to be bothersome anymore. He walked through the stables and checked each stall with an idle eye. At the end, he turned to slip out the back toward his own quarter – a simple servants’ house for the stablemaster, – when his ear caught on the sound of a voice.
Surprised, Nie Mingjue turned his head, angling his ear toward the sound, trying to make it out a little better. Definitely a voice. A deep murmur. He took a few steps in that direction.
His eye caught on a light then, out of place in the stables, which were almost cavernously dark after dinner on a winter night. The light flickered against a wooden door frame leading toward the dog pins. The dogs bedded down in a little area tucked away in the stables - Nie Mingjue likely wouldn’t have even noticed the bare flicker of light if he hadn’t heard the voice.
Nie Mingjue was not alarmed, he was more than capable of handling a run-of-the-mill rogue. Still, his pulse sped up in anticipation. His hand grasped instinctively for a sword that was not there. He stepped closer, making his steps quiet as the snow outside.
Who was the man speaking to?
“- it’s just, why did he have to go off and get into trouble anyway?” the man griped, tone surly. Dripping with exasperation. “He’s always making trouble! And then everyone else has to go around and clean up after him.”
Very slowly, Nie Mingjue poked his head around the open entryway to peek at the dog pins and the source of the voice. The man was turned away from him. He relaxed, releasing his breath. His hand lowered from where it had come to rest on his belt.
Then his lips twitched when he realized that the man was alone and talking to, well, the dogs.
“So now I have to - what? Drop everything and become a damn servant? Just to go chasing him down?” the man, in servant's robes like Nie Mingjue, huffed out a weary sigh and slumped against the wall.
He was sitting on a little mound of straw, right by the rails of the dog pin. The three dogs were watching him, comically enthralled by his diatribe. Their eyes did twitch over toward Nie Mingjue and his head in the entryway, but they showed him absolutely no interest otherwise. Usually the dogs liked him well enough - he might have been a little injured if he wasn’t so amused.
“I’m just - He just -” The kid seemed to work himself up, almost stuttering with frustration. “I - I’m worried about him, Princess!” In spite of his obvious fury, the kid set a hand down very gently on top of one of the dog’s heads and rubbed between her eyes. Her tongue lolled out in happiness. “I hate this. I’m worried about him! Damn it. Why is he such a fucking disaster?”
Nie Mingjue was bewildered. Had this kid… named the dog… Princess?
He had no idea what this kid was in his stables venting about, but it was almost unbearably endearing. Too pure for words. He wanted to laugh. But he also was loathe to disturb the moment. Something about it clenched painfully around his heart. He saw his brother before him, talking to his songbirds or making up whimsical stories for random people they passed on the road. It was difficult to tell the kid’s age, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the servant in front of him was around Huaisang’s age.
“He’s just - there’s no trace,” the kid’s voice tipped further toward despair. It was obvious now that his fury before had been fueled by concern. Whoever this missing disaster of a person was, he was clearly missed dearly. “We can’t find anything anywhere. Wen Qionglin and I have looked all over, talked to everyone.”
Now A-Ning was someone Nie Mingjue knew. The personal servant for First Young Master Jin Zixuan, a well-respected person among the servants himself, even if he was incurably shy and underconfident. Nie Mingjye didn’t know him very well, but he liked him well enough. To imagine him getting along with or assisting the fiery kid before him though, well, that was curious. Maybe A-Ning was a little less timid than Nie Mingjue had believed.
“Love, you won’t believe it.” The younger man took his hand off of his so-called Princess’ head and placed it under the chin of the next dog, giving a vigorous rub. Nie Mingjue clamped a hand over his mouth and ducked out of the doorframe, leaning back against the wall to ground himself as he tried to laugh silently into his hand. “Jin Zixun runs a whole secret fighting ring in Lanling City! And that utter dick caught us down there and forced Wen Qionglin to fight. I totally thought he was going to get his ass kicked. I was legitimately worried for his life. But Wen Qionglin destroyed that guy. You should have seen it. It was - it was - well, I’ve never felt more glad that a guy was on my side before that, not the other way around.”
Nie Mingjue couldn’t help it. He snorted, then clasped the hand around his mouth tighter.
“What was that?” the kid gasped.
Nie Mingjue tried to edge, quiet as a mouse, along the wall and away. Honestly, he didn’t even know why. He was the stablemaster. This was where he belonged, not that kid. But for some reason, he got a feeling that if he caught the kid in the act, he’d be embarrassed and wouldn’t come back. And for some reason, Nie Mingjue didn’t like the idea of depriving that kid of his nighttime debrief with Princess and Love.
“Oh, well, right, you all will know if someone else is around before I do. And you would tell me, right? Wouldn’t you, Jasmine?” he said, at last, and Nie Mingjue slumped back against the wall, blowing out a breath.
Jasmine, Princess and Love, then. Nie Mingjue grinned in the dark.
“Anyway, I’m glad you’re all here. I don’t know what I’d do without you, really,” the kid said, sounding a little melancholy, entirely too lonely. Nie Mingjue’s smile dimmed with sympathy. Loneliness - that was a thing he knew. Having no one’s company but your own to keep. “I - I mean, I know I sound like a crazy person. Maybe I am. You hear that, Wei Wuxian? You’ve finally fucking driven me crazy. Are you happy now?”
Wei Wuxian… now that sounded familiar. Another house servant, he guessed. Nie Mingjue couldn’t conjure an image in his head of the man.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what you all really want,” the kid griped, sounding falsely put-upon, teasing. Nie Mingjue heard a little shuffling around, and he crept closer again, poking his head around in time to spot the kid pulling scraps of bread out from his robes.
Dinner scraps.
Nie Mingjue scowled. He had half a mind to - no, damn. He wasn’t going to scare off this kid, was he? He made him think too much of Nie Huaisang, panged too much of his own loneliness, stirred up the desire in him to share his troubles with another, a desire he thought had burned out long ago. Nie Mingjue didn’t want to be the person to take this one comfort away from him.
Nie Mingjue rolled his eyes and ducked his head back out, realizing that he was going to have to monitor this kid’s visits now, see how often he was coming to talk to the dogs and determine if he needed to scale back on their food, all because Nie Mingjue was too damn tender-hearted to kick him out.
#12domc21#mingcheng#jiang cheng#nie mingjue#nie mingjue is a horse girl#servant verse#mdzs fanfiction
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12 Days of Mingcheng 2021 Day 3 - Honesty
Jiang Cheng is watching Nie Huaisang and Nie Mingjue very carefully. They move around each other like they always do—Nie Mingjue fretting about Nie Huaisang like usually—and Jiang Cheng supposes there is nothing unusual about it, at least not when it comes to those two.
It’s just that lately he gets the feeling that something is off, and he guesses it might be Nie Mingjue.
Jiang Cheng already grilled Nie Huaisang and he’s reasonably sure that he got truthful answers out of him, so the strangeness must come from Nie Mingjue.
Not that Jiang Cheng can pinpoint what exactly has changed or what makes him even think that something is off in the first place, but he’s willing to trust his instinct here.
He must have gotten lost in his thoughts because suddenly Nie Huaisang is about to leave and yelling over to him.
“Jiang Cheng, I’m gone now, you’ll be alright?”
“Of course I’ll be alright,” Jiang Cheng says, affronted on Nie Mingjue’s behalf and with another whirlwind of movement Nie Huaisang is out of the door.
Jiang Cheng cherishes the silence that settles over the apartment and he melts back into the couch.
“Are you okay?” Nie Mingjue asks, putting his hand to Jiang Cheng’s shoulder and looking very earnestly at him.
Jiang Cheng smiles at him, because he’s always okay when he’s alone with Nie Mingjue but then he remembers that strange feeling from before.
“I’m good,” he says and that is enough to make Nie Mingjue move away from him again. Except that this time Jiang Cheng calls him back. “Mingjue?”
“Mh? What is it?”
“Are you okay?” Jiang Cheng asks, his voice soft since he’s trying for unthreatening here, and he’s not at all prepared for the deer in headlights expression Nie Mingjue throws him.
“What?” he mutters and Jiang Cheng leans forward.
“I’m asking if you are okay.”
Nie Mingjue blinks a few times and he only answers Jiang Cheng after he turned away from him.
“Of course I’m okay, I’m good, I’m perfect, why wouldn’t I be,” he rambles and all kinds of alarm bells go off in Jiang Cheng’s brain. “I need to go—” he points towards the bedroom and before Jiang Cheng can even react to that, Nie Mingjue flees the living-room.
“What the fuck,” Jiang Cheng mutters, but he’s not about to let Nie Mingjue get away with this, so he gives him a minute to compose himself and then he follows.
“Mingjue?” he calls out as he carefully knocks on the door. There’s no answer, so Jiang Cheng lets himself in.
He was not at all prepared to find Nie Mingjue sitting on the floor, his back to the bed and his head in his hands.
“Mingjue?” Jiang Cheng says again, though this time there’s a thread of panic in his voice.
He was just asking a question! He didn’t mean to make Nie Mingjue have a breakdown!
“What’s going on?” Jiang Cheng carefully asks as he kneels in front of Nie Mingjue, putting his hand to his knee.
“Nothing,” Nie Mingjue gives back, but his voice sounds choked up and Jiang Cheng is not at all surprised to see that he’s crying.
“This doesn’t look like nothing,” Jiang Cheng softly says and sits down more comfortably, keeping his hand on Nie Mingjue at all times. “Why don’t you tell me what’s happening right now.”
“I’m okay,” Nie Mingjue still tries and Jiang Cheng huffs out a laugh.
“That is so obviously a lie that I’m not even going to pretend to believe it. Tell me what’s going on or I’ll have to call Huaisang back.”
“No!” Nie Mingjue almost yells out, his head flying up. “Don’t—don’t do that. I already take up too much of his time. You don’t have to bother him.”
“Now that’s an interesting choice of words,” Jiang Cheng muses. “Why would you think it would be a bother to Huaisang to come home to take care of his brother, who he loves very much?”
Jiang Cheng’s heart clenches painfully in his chest when Nie Mingjue only scoffs bitterly at that.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jiang Cheng wants to know and he’s not as gentle as he probably should be about this, but the notion that Nie Huaisang doesn’t love his brother and wouldn’t do anything for him is really preposterous to Jiang Cheng.
“It’s alright,” Nie Mingjue tries but Jiang Cheng is not having it.
“Mingjue, it’s obviously not alright! Just tell me what’s going on, okay?”
Nie Mingjue works his jaw a few times before he lets out a long breath.
“How long have Huaisang and Mo Xuanyu been together now?” he asks and it comes so out of left field that it takes Jiang Cheng a while to answer.
“About half a year now?” he answers and Nie Mingjue nods.
“I haven’t met him yet,” he then admits, his voice barely audible. “Huaisang always comes up with excuses. And I mean I get it, I’m overbearing enough, it’s understandable that Huaisang wants to keep that for himself but I think maybe he’s afraid of bringing him home? Huaisang knows I’m gay, so this can’t be what he worries about so it has to be my temper, right? He probably doesn’t want to introduce us because he fears that Mo Xuanyu will get scared and then I would have ruined another good thing for him, but—”
“Alright, shut the fuck up,” Jiang Cheng snaps, absolutely fed up with the way Nie Mingjue is talking about himself at the moment.
Nie Mingjue blinks at him in surprise and Jiang Cheng shakes his head.
“What are you even talking about? You’re not overbearing, your temper is nothing to be feared of and you didn’t ruin a single thing for Huaisang!” he hotly tells Nie Mingjue who immediately shakes his head.
“Of course I have. Time and time again. I yelled so often at him, and I forced him to stay in university and I mean—he comes over less and less. Sometimes I don’t see him for weeks. Today was the first day in almost two months that he came over and he barely texts. I get that he’s taking this chance to get away from me but—”
“Mingjue, I swear to the gods, shut up. None of that is true,” Jiang Cheng says as he gets his phone out.
No one has ever loved Nie Mingjue more than Nie Huaisang does—and vice versa—and even though Jiang Cheng suspects that there might be some misunderstandings between them, he cannot fathom that Nie Mingjue might be right with what he’s saying.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling Huaisang to clear this up, what else,” Jiang Cheng snaps and it’s only a second before Nie Huaisang picks up.
“Jiang Cheng? Is everything alright?”
“Listen, Huaisang, I’m going to need an honest answer from you. Why did you not introduce Xuanyu to Mingjue yet?”
There’s a long silence on the other end of the line.
“Are you still at da-ge’s?”
“Yes. He’s having a little break-down because he thinks he ruined your life and that you are not introducing Xuanyu because you fear that Mingjue is going to run him off. So, honesty, Huaisang, please.”
“Hey,” Nie Mingjue says, his voice still choked up and it seems to startle Nie Huaisang out of his surprise.
“Da-ge, that’s not true!” he cries out.
“It’s okay if it is, Huaisang,” Nie Mingjue says and Jiang Cheng has never heard him sound this defeated. “It’s alright if you—resent me, or want nothing to do with me anymore. I know I haven’t been the best da-ge since our parents died and I’m sorry for that. I just—it’s okay.”
“It’s not okay, because it’s not even true,” Nie Huaisang says and just by his voice Jiang Cheng can tell that he’s already crying too. “You’re the best da-ge there is! It’s just—”
He hesitates and Jiang Cheng wants to reach through the phone and strangle him, because it seems like that pause is crushing Nie Mingjue’s heart.
“I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you,” Nie Huaisang whispers and Nie Mingjue closes his eyes.
“I never meant to put that much pressure on you,” he says and Jiang Cheng wants to shake him because he’s reasonably sure that that is not what Nie Huaisang meant, but they have to talk this out for themselves.
“No, that’s not—gods, da-ge, I know you love me, no matter what. You never made me feel like that would change, no matter what I do, but this is scary, okay? If I introduce Xuanyu to you and you don’t like him then I’ll have to break up with him and I don’t want to because I love him.”
“It doesn’t matter if I like him or not, he’s your boyfriend,” Nie Mingjue gives back, clearly confused now.
“Of course it matters! You’re the most important person to me, if you don’t like him, then he can’t be my boyfriend, that’s just how it is,” Nie Huaisang stubbornly gives back.
“Huaisang, if you love him, I’m going to like him just because of that,” Nie Mingjue softly says and Nie Huaisang sobs.
“Huaisang, why have you stopped coming over so often?” Jiang Cheng asks, trying to clear another thing up that’s certainly only a misunderstanding between them.
“I want da-ge to have his own life! He sacrificed so much for me when our parents died and he never did what he wanted, only ever did what was best for me and I want him to have hobbies and have friends over and live his own life and maybe go back to university or something. I just don’t want to keep him trapped anymore,” Nie Huaisang says, clearly still crying and Nie Mingjue takes the phone out of Jiang Cheng’s hand.
“Di-di, you never trapped me. I sacrificed a few things, yes, but I was never unhappy with my choices. And I like that you come over at all times of the day, I want you to still think of this apartment as your home!”
“Da-ge!” Nie Huaisang wails and fresh tears run down Nie Mingjue’s cheeks.
“Just come back home, alright? I miss you,” he admits and Jiang Cheng can almost imagine how Nie Huaisang’s hair flies with how hard he must be nodding.
“I’ll come over tomorrow and I’ll bring Xuanyu, I promise, I promise, da-ge, I want you two to meet!”
“Okay,” Nie Mingjue softly agrees and after a few more words he says goodbye to Nie Huaisang.
“There,” Jiang Cheng says with a nod, because even though it hurt to watch, he’s glad he made them talk about it.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Nie Mingjue says as he scrubs a hand over his face.
“I’m not,” Jiang Cheng says. “I’m just glad you could clear it up.”
“How did you know something was up?” Nie Mingjue wants to know after a moment and Jiang Cheng shrugs.
“I’ve known you both for years. Your dynamic got weird in the last few weeks and I was just concerned.”
“I’m sorry you had to get involved,” Nie Mingjue mutters but Jiang Cheng catches his hand in his and squeezes.
“I want to be involved,” he tells him and is not prepared for the intense look Nie Mingjue throws him.
“How involved?” he asks and Jiang Cheng goes red in the face.
“I mean, I have been flirting with you these past few weeks, but I guess it’s understandable that you didn’t notice,” he admits and he’s glad to see a smile back on Nie Mingjue’s face at that.
“Involved enough to meet Huaisang and Mo Xuanyu as my boyfriend tomorrow, then?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng lets out a surprised laugh.
“Sure, if you think that’s a good idea. Today was kinda emotionally charged, I don’t want you to do anything you might regret later.”
“Do you think I’m overbearing? Unnecessarily meddling in your stuff? Hovering too much?” Nie Mingjue asks and now that he mentions it, Jiang Cheng realizes that he pulled away from Jiang Cheng over the last few weeks as well.
“Is that what you think I think about you? Have you been worried about this as well?”
“Yeah,” Nie Mingjue nods and threads their fingers together. “It’s why I stopped my flirting.”
“You’re such an idiot,” Jiang Cheng affectionately says and rests their foreheads together. “You’re none of the things you just mentioned and I enjoy you being involved in my life.”
“So I’m meeting Huaisang’s boyfriend tomorrow and he’s meeting mine, yes?” Nie Mingjue clarifies and Jiang Cheng huffs out a laugh.
“Sure. Let’s do that,” he agrees.
(It’s unclear what Nie Huaisang is more surprised about; how much Nie Mingjue immediately likes Mo Xuanyu or to see Nie Mingjue and Jiang Cheng be grossly affectionate with each other. He’s happy about both, though.)
Link to my ko-fi on the sidebar!
#bt writes#mingcheng#12domc21#the untamed#mdzs#modern au#getting together#hurt/comfort#family issues#communication
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12 Days of Mingcheng 2021 Day 12 - Wait
We did it folks! With this fic, Mingcheng is now officially my most written for ship with 133 fics in total 🎉🎉🎉
Happy New Year('s Eve), for a better 2022 and even more Mingcheng events/fics!
Jiang Cheng sits in the waiting room of the hospital, his head in his hands and praying to all the gods he knows that Wei Wuxian is not actually that badly hurt.
“Fuck,” he mutters under his breath and leans back in the chair, staring at the ceiling and wondering if it’s a good thing that he didn’t hear anything yet, or if it’s a bad thing.
He isn’t even sure what happened. Wei Wuxian called him out of the ambulance and babbled something about a car crash. Jiang Cheng really hopes that it was due to the pain meds that he was nearly incoherent and not because of a headwound, but knowing Wei Wuxian it could be either.
The inactivity is getting to Jiang Cheng—he was never good at just sitting around and waiting—and so he gets up and starts to pace the waiting room, even though it changes exactly nothing.
It makes him feel a little bit better, though.
While he paces he lets his eyes wander through the room, taking note of all the other people that are waiting. There are not actually that many—Jiang Cheng guesses that’s because it’s the middle of the goddamn night and only emergencies are happening right now—but there are still a few people around.
Jiang Cheng’s eyes get caught on a guy who is just staring into nothing, his hands firmly clasped in front of him and tears running down his cheeks.
He doesn’t seem to be doing too well and Jiang Cheng walks over to him before he can change his mind.
“Hey there,” he awkwardly starts as he sits down next to the guy. “You doing okay?” he asks, though he can guess the answer.
The guy doesn’t even react to him until Jiang Cheng puts a hand to his tightly clasped hands. Jiang Cheng spots a little bit of blood on them and he urges the guy to let go.
“Did someone look at this?” he asks and finally the guy looks at him.
“It’s nothing,” he says with a rough voice, but the tears don’t stop falling and Jiang Cheng fights the urge to hug him.
“Let me see, okay?” he gently asks and the guy uncurls his hands enough for Jiang Cheng to see that he split his knuckle, but that it’s really nothing serious.
“Jiang Cheng,” Jiang Cheng introduces himself and the guy blinks at him a few moments before he responds.
“Nie Mingjue.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jiang Cheng says with a wry smile. “Though this is probably not the best of places to meet. Who are you waiting for?” he asks next and wishes he shut his big damn mouth when the tears on Nie Mingjue’s face come faster.
“My brother,” he whispers. “He was—someone attacked him.” He pauses for a moment. “A hate crime. He is gay and he looks the part too and someone apparently took offence,” Nie Mingjue says and Jiang Cheng curses under his breath.
“Fuck. Did you get this punching the guy?” he asks with a nod towards Nie Mingjue’s hand.
“Yeah,” he mutters and looks down at the small injury. “Knocked him right out. By the time the police came he was already yelling again, though. Don’t know where he is now. Probably here somewhere too.”
“That sucks. How’s your brother doing?” Jiang Cheng wants to know though he winces when he remembers where they are.
This is the emergency waiting room after all.
“They don’t tell. He’s in the OR right now. I think the knife grazed his lungs or something? I’m not sure.”
“Okay. Well, I can tell you he’s in good hands here.”
At that Nie Mingjue looks at him strangely and Jiang Cheng shrugs.
“My brother is very accident prone,” he tells him. “I’ve been here a lot. Most of the people working here know me and they are all doing a wonderful job.”
“Are you waiting for your brother, too?”
“Yeah. He had a car accident, apparently. Can’t say that it’s his first but it’s the first one that send him to the ER and I don’t know how he’s doing yet. I keep telling myself that no news is good news, right?”
“Probably,” Nie Mingjue agrees and then stares back at the door where the doctors normally come through to tell the waiting people how their loved ones are doing.
“The wait is always the worst,” Jiang Cheng mutters and settles in next to Nie Mingjue.
“It is,” he agrees and then they fall silent, though neither moves away.
Jiang Cheng might have dozed a little bit so he startles when Wen Qing comes out.
“Wanyin,” she snaps, clearly already over her night shift and he shoots up and fights the urge to salute.
“How is he doing?”
“Wei Wuxian is an idiot, that’s how he’s doing. Couldn’t safe his remaining braincell,” she mutters, rolling her eyes and Jiang Cheng slumps in relief.
If she jokes like this it can’t be too bad.
“Broken leg and a concussion, three broken ribs one of which did some internal damage and a sprained wrist. We’re keeping him for observation for now, because of the internal bleeding. Surprisingly enough the accident wasn’t his fault and the police will be back tomorrow to question him.”
“Okay,” Jiang Cheng whispers. “But he’s not in any danger right now?”
“Would I be talking to you if he were?” Wen Qing demands to know and Jiang Cheng shakes his head. “Exactly. Now go the fuck home, you look like shit.”
Jiang Cheng looks down on himself and notices for the first time that he’s still wearing his pyjamas.
“You don’t look better,” he gives back without thinking and shrinks back under her murderous glare.
“Fuck you, too,” she says and turns around to leave.
“Wait,” he calls after her, aware that she might just kill him for it, but she does stop and she does turn back around to him.
“He’s waiting for news of his brother. Nie—” Jiang Cheng trails off and expectantly looks at Nie Mingjue.
“Nie Huaisang,” he supplies and Jiang Cheng turns back to Wen Qing.
“He was attacked and is in the OR. Do you know anything?”
“No,” Wen Qing admits but her face softens a bit when she looks at Nie Mingjue. “I can check, though.”
“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng says, mostly to her back because she leaves almost immediately and then he sits back down next to Nie Mingjue.
“You can go home now,” Nie Mingjue says. “Your brother is fine.”
“My brother is a walking safety hazard,” Jiang Cheng shoots back. “And we don’t know how your brother is doing yet. I’m waiting with you.”
“Thank you,” Nie Mingjue whispers and leans close enough to press their shoulders together.
“Sure thing,” Jiang Cheng says and settles in for a long wait.
Despite their worries they are both fast asleep when Wen Qing comes back to them.
“Nie Mingjue,” Jiang Cheng says and pokes Nie Mingjue until he wakes up.
He does so with a start, and wildly looks around.
“What? What is it?” he frantically says but Wen Qing smiles at him and so Jiang Cheng knows that it can’t be that bad.
“Your brother is in his room now. The operation was a success and after a bit of physical therapy there will be no lasting damage. He’s fine,” she tells Nie Mingjue, more kindly than Jiang Cheng has ever seen her and Nie Mingjue starts to cry again.
“Thank the gods,” he whispers, his face buried in his hands and Jiang Cheng puts his arm around him.
“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng tells Wen Qing, who nods tiredly and then leaves them after a well meaning “Go home and get some rest now.”
Jiang Cheng lets Nie Mingjue cry out his relief a little bit longer before he nudges him.
“We should do what she said and go home now. We need some rest. We won’t be allowed to see them until tomorrow anyway.”
“You’re right,” Nie Mingjue says, his voice still rough from crying but he looks like a huge burden fell off him. “Thank you for staying with me.”
“Sure thing,” Jiang Cheng gives back and gets up, stretching until his joints crack.
Nie Mingjue is a bit slow to follow but soon enough they are out of the hospital and go their separate ways.
~*~*~
Jiang Cheng is embarrassed by his own stupidity, but he keeps a tight grip on the bouquet in his hand and walks up to the information.
“I’m here to see Nie Huaisang?” he asks Qin Su on the other side who raises an eyebrow at him.
“Visiting someone else before seeing your own brother? How very unlike of you,” she says as she puts her chin to her hand. “What’s going on here?”
It seems like she only notices the flowers then because suddenly she perks up.
“Oh?”
“Do not say a word,” Jiang Cheng hisses, the sleep-deprivation still making him cranky. “Just tell me where he is.”
“Of course, of course,” she agrees and pulls up his room number.
“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng says, hoping to all the gods that she won’t tell everyone immediately and then he’s off.
He doesn’t know why he’s bringing flowers for Nie Mingjue and he doesn’t know if the other man even wants to see him again, but Jiang Cheng thinks he has to try.
He’s not normally someone to enjoy the company of others—no matter the circumstances—but despite the worry and fear for their brother’s, yesterday was kind of nice.
Jiang Cheng just wants to see Nie Mingjue again and maybe ask him out too and he thinks if he doesn’t do it now, he probably never will. Mostly because he has no way of finding Nie Mingjue again.
When he reaches Nie Huaisang’s room, he timidly knocks and waits for the whispered “Come in” before he pushes the door open.
“You’re not my brother,” Nie Huaisang whispers, clearly still absolutely exhausted and Jiang Cheng cringes.
“No, I’m not. How are you doing?” he asks and Nie Huaisang frowns at him.
“Who are you?”
“Oh. Jiang Cheng. I—waited with your brother in the ER last night,” he tells him, fiddling with the flowers.
“And now you wanna do what?” Nie Huaisang asks, eyeing Jiang Cheng warily and he remembers what even got Nie Huaisang into the hospital in the first place.
“I’m not—I wanted to ask your brother out?” he unsurely says and then startles when his phone chimes with text notifications in quick succession.
There’s a guy in my room.
He’s huge.
And scary.
Help?
“Fuck,” Jiang Cheng whispers, remembering that Nie Mingjue said the guy who attacked Nie Huaisang is most likely also in this hospital.
“What?”
“I have to go,” Jiang Cheng frantically says. “My brother is here too and he says there’s someone in his room and he’s also very gay,” Jiang Cheng explains, all kinds of horror scenarios running through his head already.
He doesn’t wait for Nie Huaisang’s reply and simply runs off, skidding down halls, despite the outraged calls of the nurses.
Jiang Cheng almost misses Wei Wuxian’s door in his haste, but he makes it just before he hits the doorframe and when he bursts into the room he immediately points the flowers at the intruder as if they were a weapon.
“Who the fuck are you and what do you want?” he yells and freezes completely when he takes in Nie Mingjue’s surprised face. “Oh,” Jiang Cheng says and lowers the flowers. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Nie Mingjue awkwardly says and waves at him.
“You’re not here to hurt my brother,” Jiang Cheng dumbly says and Nie Mingjue shakes his head.
“No, I’m not.”
“What is going on here?” Wei Wuxian demands to know. “Who is this and why is he threatening me?”
“I wasn’t threatening you!” Nie Mingjue exclaims and Wei Wuxian flails in his bed.
“You come in here, all huge and scary and then you scowl at me. What about that doesn’t sound threatening to you? I’m just a poor boy, bound to this bed, there’s nothing I can do to you!”
“I was asking for your brother!” Nie Mingjue yells right back at him and Jiang Cheng is left staring at them.
“Well, what do you want from him? Chengcheng can kick your ass, so don’t even try anything!”
“Don’t call me Chengcheng,” Jiang Cheng says out of reflex and manages to get their attention back. “What are you doing here?” he asks Nie Mingjue, who looks bashful all of a sudden.
“Looking for you,” he admits and then his eyes fall on the flowers in Jiang Cheng’s hands. “How nice of you to bring flowers to your brother.”
“They are not for him,” Jiang Cheng says and sticks the bouquet out towards Nie Mingjue again.
“What? For me?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes, finding his footing again.
“No, they are for Miss Li next door. She’s pushing ninety, but I hear she’s going to be very spry after her hip replacement. I wanted to ask her out for a date,” he sarcastically says and while Wei Wuxian stares between them, his mouth hanging open, Nie Mingjue blushes.
“A date?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng shrugs.
“I mean, yesterday was nice. Well, except for the part where we were both out of our minds with worry for our brothers, but, you know,” Jiang Cheng rambles.
“I know,” Nie Mingjue agrees and takes a step closer to Jiang Cheng. “I did come here looking for you,” he then admits and takes the flowers out of Jiang Cheng’s hand. “I don’t have flowers for you, though.”
“Well, seems like you have to treat me to lunch then, to make up for it,” Jiang Cheng says, overly aware of Wei Wuxian furiously typing away on his phone.
“Seems like it,” Nie Mingjue agrees with a smile. “Give me your phone,” he then demands and holds out his hand. “You’re not getting away from me again.”
“What a horrible fate for me,” Jiang Cheng jokes and hands his phone to Nie Mingjue, decidedly not noticing the myriad of messages in their siblings group chat.
Nie Mingjue is quick to type in his number and hands the phone back to Jiang Cheng.
“I have to go back to my brother now, but come and find me before you leave?”
“Maybe you should tell your brother that it was a false alarm,” Jiang Cheng says with a wince, remembering what state he had left in. “Tell him my brother was not actually attacked.”
“Did you see him?”
“I was looking for you,” Jiang Cheng admits and now Wei Wuxian pouts.
“Bros before hoes, Chengcheng, what happened to bros before hoes?”
“That concept died with you calling me Chengcheng,” Jiang Cheng shoots back and Wei Wuxian makes a face at him, while Nie Mingjue moves towards the door.
“I already sent myself a message from your phone, so don’t think you can skip out on me,” Nie Mingjue says, right before he leaves to see how his brother is doing.
Jiang Cheng stares after him with a stupid smile on his face and he only comes out of it when Wei Wuxian throws his pillow at him.
“That’s gross,” he declares and Jiang Cheng sighs as he picks it up.
“Would it kill you to behave like an adult for once in your life?” he asks, but he can’t get the dopey smile out of his face.
Nie Mingjue wants to see him again as well.
Jiang Cheng barely listens to Wei Wuxian’s mindless chatter and complaints, his mind still firmly fixed on the fact that Nie Mingjue wants to treat him to lunch.
Jiang Cheng can’t wait for it.
(Wei Wuxian is discharged much earlier than Nie Huaisang, but Jiang Cheng keeps on visiting Nie Huaisang because he’s fun to be around as well. Nie Mingjue almost cries the first time he sees them shit talking a show together, because apparently it was important to him that they get along. Lunch—of course—turns into dinners and breakfasts and all kinds of meals and when Wei Wuxian lands himself in the ER again seven months later, Nie Mingjue is right there by Jiang Cheng’s side to wait with him.)
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12 Days of Mingcheng 2021 Day 11 - Heart
Jiang Cheng silently sighs into his glass as he looks around the table. His family still looks the same, and if he’s being honest, he probably shouldn’t be surprised by that. It’s only been five months since he was invited to family dinner—since he saw any of them—so of course they still look the same.
He just guesses he expected more change, since he change pretty significantly over the last year.
But even despite that no one so much as asked him how he’s doing lately, so Jiang Cheng suspects that they are pretty mad at him or that something big is going to happen as soon as the food arrives.
He’s not mistaken, because as soon as the first course is served his father levels him with a look.
“Jiang Wanyin,” he starts and Jiang Cheng hurries to take at least one bite of his food.
It is delicious after all.
“Can you imagine my surprise when HR called me this morning?” his father says and Jiang Cheng snorts into his plate.
“Not really,” he gives back. “Because they will have called you two months ago, when I quit. You only bring this up now for maximum drama potential,” he easily gives back and enjoys the surprised silence at the table.
“What is the meaning of this?” Yu Ziyuan hisses and even Wei Wuxian speaks up.
“Come on, Chengcheng, that’s bullshit. There’s no way you quit. What would you even do?”
“Something else,” he tells him. “I quit two months ago and I am working at a new place. But thank you for noticing,” he icily tells Wei Wuxian whose eyes go big.
“That is absolutely inacceptable. You are the heir of our company, of course you’re working with us. Who is even going to employ you?”
“Funny how you treat the heir then,” Jiang Cheng says with a sigh and Jiang Fengmian slams his hand on the table.
“Show some respect, boy. You will be grateful for the job you have at my company.”
“Had, father,” Jiang Cheng corrects him and moves his arm away when Jiang Yanli moves to pat it.
“Come on, A-Cheng, don’t be like this,” she softly says, clearly not wanting them to fight, but Jiang Cheng is so over this.
“What do they pay you? We’ll pay you more. There’s no way you’ll get the same position anywhere else,” Yu Ziyuan hisses, clearly set on getting Jiang Cheng back to their company and Jiang Cheng laughs in her face.
“For that you would have to pay me in the first place,” he tells them, much to everyone’s surprise it seems.
Everyone’s but his father’s, of course.
“What is that supposed to mean? They pay such good wages!” Wei Wuxian cries out and Jiang Cheng scoffs again.
“For you, maybe. And mother, even if I were employed as a janitor, I would have a better position than in your company, where father let’s me work as an intern. Still, I might add. I have been doing the same useless things there since summer vacations during school.”
“People have to work their way up, there will be no exception for you,” Jiang Fengmian loftily says and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.
“Sure. Those exceptions are only for Wei Wuxian who gets to work as head of invention straight off the bat. I, on the other hand, didn’t even get paid. Father covered my rent, and gave me the bare minimum for essentials such as food. For everything else—clothes, electronics—I had to come to him directly to beg for him to pay those things for me. Hell, I didn’t even have healthcare.”
Yu Ziyuan turns towards her husband who shrugs, clearly unrepentant.
“He’s a child. He doesn’t know how to handle money. It’s better if someone supervises him.”
“But Wei Wuxian gets to throw his money out of the window with both hands, since he gets a real wage, right?” Jiang Cheng asks with a shake of his head and he pulls out his phone.
“What are you doing? Dinner is not over yet,” Yu Ziyuan hisses and once upon a time Jiang Cheng would have cowered before her ire, but not anymore.
“It is for me,” he says and dials Nie Mingjue’s number.
“My heart,” he greets as he picks up. “Is it time?”
“My soul,” Jiang Cheng warmly gives back. “Yes. Can you come pick me up?”
“Of course. That bad?”
“Worse,” Jiang Cheng admits and pinches the bridge of his nose.
“I’ll be there as soon as possible,” Nie Mingjue promises him.
“Drive safely. I love you.”
“I love you, too. See you soon.”
Jiang Cheng packs his phone away with a small smile and when he looks back at the table everyone is staring at him.
“Now we’re getting to the heart of the issue,” his father says. “That girl is clearly putting the wrong ideas into your head.”
“Guy, father, seeing as I am gay and came out to all of you several years back,” Jiang Cheng tells them, so absolutely done with the entirety of this evening.
“Why didn’t you tell us you were dating?” Jiang Yanli asks and Jiang Cheng turns towards her.
“Because you don’t listen. I did tell you I’m dating. I even told you I’m engaged, not that it seems to have stuck with you,” he easily says, enjoying how everyone seems shocked.
“You don’t have our approval,” Yu Ziyuan hisses and Jiang Cheng smiles at her.
“Mother, I am long past needing your approval for anything.”
“Tell me where you work and what the conditions are,” she demands, clearly not caring about what he said.
“The hell I will,” he shoots back. “But as for the conditions; I have healthcare, they pay a pretty staggeringly amount of money and I get to be a supervisor.”
“And no doubt ruining the company in the process,” Jiang Fengmian whispers under his breath and Jiang Cheng laughs.
“Sure, if you want to believe that,” he tells him and is pretty proud of himself.
Once upon a time this would have crushed him, but these days, he can only laugh about his family and their absolute derision for him.
He found a better family anyway, and they love him in a way this family never did before.
“Anyway, I’ll get going then,” he says as he stands up.
“Jiang Cheng, you’re being really rude and selfish,” Wei Wuxian suddenly says, and it’s so surprising and so mindboggling insane coming from him that Jiang Cheng freezes.
“Excuse me?”
“You can’t just come in here and decide all these major things for yourself! You are so goddamn selfish and you don’t even care.”
“No, I don’t. Because for the first time in my life I am standing up for myself. And please, Wei Wuxian, tell me, where in my life have I been selfish?” he asks but of course he’s only met with silence.
“The only selfish one around here is you, because you throw a tantrum every time something doesn’t go your way.”
“Is this still about the dogs, Jiang Wanyin? When will you ever stop with that?” Jiang Fengmian asks and Jiang Cheng turns towards him.
“It is not, actually, about the dogs, but since we’re at that topic: I’m going to get one, later this month, so you might want to stop barging in unannounced,” he tells Wei Wuxian, who goes pale.
“Jiang Cheng, that’s selfish,” Jiang Yanli lowly says and Jiang Cheng shrugs.
“As selfish as it is of Wei Wuxian to have rabbits? You all remember that I’m allergic, right?”
“Please. A little sniffle can hardly be called allergic,” Yu Ziyuan sneers and Jiang Cheng shakes his head.
“I have a little sniffle right now, just because of all the rabbit hair on Wei Wuxian’s clothes. When he drapes himself all over me, despite me telling him not to do that anymore, my throat constricts, making it hard to breathe. Wei Wuxian broke into my apartment a few months back and slept in my bed—for whatever reasons—and when I went to bed that night I had an anaphylactic shock. I had to go to the hospital for emergency treatment and since then I carry an epi pen with me wherever I go.”
“I didn’t know that,” Jiang Yanli says and Jiang Cheng regards her with something akin to pity.
“Of course you don’t. You know nothing about me,” he says, pulling on his jacket.
Nie Mingjue should be there any minute now.
“None of you do. Father was too busy hating me to learn anything about me while mother is too busy comparing me to Wei Wuxian to even notice me. Wei Wuxian only thinks about his own amusement and doesn’t care about anything but a good laugh, no matter how hurtful his comments are, and of course, Lan Wangji. And you, Yanli, you’re too busy trying to keep the peace and taking Wei Wuxian’s side to even remember that I am your brother, too.”
“That’s not fair,” Wei Wuxian says. “You think my jokes are funny.”
“Of course that’s the only thing you care about. No matter that I told you numerous times that your jokes are in bad taste and hurtful.”
“You’re just being sensitive,” Wei Wuxian sniffs and Jiang Cheng really had enough of this now.
“I’ll be going now,” he says. “My ride should be here any minute now.”
“A-Cheng, I know you,” Jiang Yanli says, tears in her eyes. “Of course I know you.”
“Do you? What’s my favourite soup?” he asks, even though he damn well knows she won’t know the answer to that.
She opens her mouth but before she can answer he interjects.
“And it’s not the same one Wei Wuxian loves,” he tells her, which shuts her up immediately.
“Why did you never say that you don’t like that soup?” she whispers when she finds her voice again and Jiang Cheng laughs.
“I did. I do, every time I come over for dinner. You make his favourite soup and I ask you to make a different one. You pat my head or my arm and tell me you’ll make that next time, but for now we’ll eat this. Rinse and repeat. You never remember it. It’s as if I don’t even exist next to Wei Wuxian.”
“A-Cheng,” she breathes out, her tears spilling over, but even that doesn’t mean a lot to Jiang Cheng anymore.
“But it doesn’t matter. I found someone who sees me, who values me for who I am. He and his family and friends are better to me than you could ever be.”
“You don’t even have friends,” Wei Wuxian mutters, clearly pissed and Jiang Cheng only sadly shakes his head.
“If it makes you feel better to believe that,” he tells him and then smiles when the doorbell rings. “That’ll be my ride.”
“Let me see this person who poisoned you,” Yu Ziyuan declares and walks right past Jiang Cheng, who readily makes space for her.
She yanks the door open, only to completely freeze when she comes face to face with Nie Mingjue.
“My heart, ready to go?” Nie Mingjue asks, leaning to the side to look past her and everyone seems too shocked for words.
His family holds Nie Mingjue in high regards, and neither Jiang Fengmian nor Yu Ziyuan failed to bring him up as an example Jiang Cheng should follow.
Well, he did more than that.
“I’m absolutely done,” Jiang Cheng agrees and takes Nie Mingjue’s hand. “Thank you for coming to get me,” he says and Nie Mingjue smiles before he leans in to kiss his forehead.
“Always,” he promises and they leave the Jiang house without a look back.
It’s very freeing to leave his family behind like that.
“So, how bad was it? Truly?” Nie Mingjue asks once they are in the car and Jiang Cheng shrugs.
“For them? Pretty bad, I guess. For me? Not so much. It was surprisingly good to tell them what I really think.”
“I’m very proud of you for that.”
“I know you’re proud of me,” Jiang Cheng says, though the sentiment still makes him blush.
He’s only slowly getting used to someone being proud of him, and his personal accomplishments, no matter how small they might be.
“Xuanyu called and said he and Huaisang have dinner, if you need it,” Nie Mingjue tells him and Jiang Cheng laughs, happy and free.
“He’s a worry-wart,” he fondly says but nods. “Sure, I can eat. I didn’t get to before father dropped the first bomb of the evening.”
“Shame. You said the food is good.”
“Not as good as Xuanyu’s,” Jiang Cheng says and gets his phone out to tell Xuanyu that they are on the way.
“I love you,” Nie Mingjue says and it sparks the same warm feeling inside of Jiang Cheng like always.
He hopes he never gets used to that.
“I love you, too.”
(No matter how often Nie Mingjue says it, the feeling stays the same and Jiang Cheng likes it that way. They do get the dog and relish their suddenly Wei Wuxian free life. Jiang Cheng does inform his family of his wedding, but only afterwards and only by sending the newspaper article to them. Jiang Cheng rejects a promotion in Lan Qiren’s company, because working as a supervisor is exactly what Jiang Cheng always wanted to do and he thrives in that job. It’s a happy end for him all around.)
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12 Days of Mingcheng 2021 Day 9 - Pure
When Jiang Cheng comes to it’s to a splitting headache and the frantic yelling of his people.
“Shut up,” he grumbles, trying to sit up, but he feels so goddamn weak and panic immediately grips him.
The last time he felt this weak was when he lost his core and his hands fly to his stomach, as if he could physically feel the hole there again.
“It’s just sealed,” his second in command tells him almost immediately and Jiang Cheng fists his hands in his lapels.
“Undo it,” he hisses out but instead of getting on with that his second throws a look over his head.
“We can’t do that,” a new voice from behind Jiang Cheng says and Jiang Cheng turns around.
“Why not?” he presses out, but Jiang Sushan is not deterred by his glare.
“Because you were hit with a curse. It’s going to poison you whenever you use your qi.”
“Undo it. I will not use my qi,” he says, the panic still there and he really needs Jiang Sushan to undo this as soon as possible.
He will be fine not using his qi. What he is not fine with is this hollow feeling inside of him right now.
“If you use it you will die,” Jiang Sushan tells him seriously and Jiang Cheng nods. “Fine, let it be your death,” she mutters and quickly unseals his core.
Jiang Cheng fights the urge to circle his qi immediately, but just the feeling of his core is good enough for him.
“What happened?” he then asks and Jiang Sushan levels him with a look.
“You were stupid,” Jiang Sushan says and Jiang Cheng guesses that in her eyes everything he does is stupid.
“Would you like to clear it up?” he asks his disciple as he looks around.
The more he sees the clearer his memory gets and in the end he doesn’t need anyone else to tell him what’s going on. They found a hidden treasure room under the ruins of Lotus Pier and Jiang Cheng must have touched something that shouldn’t have been touched.
“Do we know how to undo it?” he asks with a sigh instead of insisting on an answer and he rubs his temple.
Headaches really are a bitch and he promises to be more grateful in the future when he uses his qi to handle them.
“The inscription is withered,” Jiang Sushan gives back and helps Jiang Cheng up. “We’re not sure yet.”
“It says something—about a kiss of pureness?” his disciple asks, poking an old tablet. “Or just something something pure? I’m not quite certain.”
“What kind of pureness?” Jiang Cheng asks and resolutely pushes the kissing part away. “Pure of heart? Of intention? Of body?” he demands to know but the disciple only helplessly shrugs.
“I don’t know.”
“I think with things like this it’s always good to go with pure of body,” Jiang Sushan says and it’s not actually like Jiang Cheng can argue with her.
She’s by far the oldest of all of his new disciples and as a healer she must have seen a great deal of things already.
So her guess is as good as any.
“A kiss with someone untouched then?” Jiang Cheng grits out between clenched teeth and Jiang Sushan pats his arm.
“Why don’t you go back to your room and make a list of people that could fit and I’ll come find you later.”
“What people? Let’s just ask a kid for a kiss on the cheek and let’s go on with our day.”
“I don’t think that’s how that works,” the disciple says. “There’s a mention of how something has to be equal to the cursed. So either equal in pureness or maybe equal in cultivational level?”
“Fuck my life,” Jiang Cheng mutters and Jiang Sushan pushes him out of the room.
“So maybe start looking for people with a high cultivational base that match your—experience in this,” she suggest and pushes Jiang Cheng towards his quarters.
Yeah, well, they are probably fresh out of luck there, Jiang Cheng guesses, seeing as he never even so much as kissed someone and everyone else probably has way more experience than him. Especially those with a decently high cultivational level.
“What’s wrong?” Nie Mingjue suddenly asks from his side and Jiang Cheng turns towards him.
“Is that blood?” Nie Mingjue asks and reaches up to clear a minor cut on Jiang Cheng’s temple.
That must have happened when he fell down, he guesses.
“It’s nothing.”
“Why are you not healing it?”
Jiang Cheng looks around before he tugs on Nie Mingjue’s robe to drag him towards his quarters.
“Is everything alright?” Nie Mingjue wants to know and Jiang Cheng briefly shakes his head, unwilling to say more about it before they are behind closed doors.
He trusts most of the people that decided to stand with him, but he’s still a young and unexperienced Sect Leader and if word of his curse would get out, he can imagine that the repercussions would be less than ideal.
Jiang Cheng would bet the entire treasure room on the fact that Jin Guangshan sends an assassin out before the day is over.
“There’s been a bit of an incident,” Jiang Cheng says once he closed the door behind himself and Nie Mingjue.
He trusts the other man—especially since he has been nothing but helpful since the war ended and he seems earnest in his help, too. If Jiang Cheng can’t trust him, then he can probably trust no one.
So he lays it all out and explains to Nie Mingjue what exactly has happened and what he needs to do.
“You want to make a list of people with decently high cultivational levels and who are maybe still untouched?”
“Yes,” Jiang Cheng says, thankfully only slightly blushing but he guesses with how his life has been going it’s no wonder he still didn’t so much as kiss anyone.
“I think my best bet would be someone from the Lan Sect?” Jiang Cheng unsurely says and is caught off guard by the frown on Nie Mingjue’s face.
“What about me?” he demands to know and now it’s Jiang Cheng’s turn to frown.
“But aren’t you and—I was under the impression that you and Lan Xichen had a thing during your Cloud Recesses days,” he admits but Nie Mingjue shakes his head.
“Does that rumor still persist? Well, I guess it’s better that than the truth,” he mutters and Jiang Cheng curiously leans forward.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that Xichen’s attention is easily caught but hard to keep,” Nie Mingjue says with a meaningful look and Jiang Cheng can’t help it, his mouth drops open.
“You’re kidding,” Jiang Cheng breathes out but Nie Mingjue shakes his head.
“He enjoys everything and everyone that makes him feel good and he’s not shy to take it.”
“Huh,” Jiang Cheng mutters. “Good for him, I guess,” he then decides because he knows the kind of pressure that rests on the heir of a Sect, so he really cannot begrudge Lan Xichen his choices.
Though it does make this a little bit more difficult now.
“Wait, you said you—”
“I never slept with Xichen,” Nie Mingjue confirms. “I’m not quite as free with my affections and I’m not one for a short enjoyment. We just never clicked in that way.”
“Ah, I see,” Jiang Cheng mutters because he still doesn’t see how Nie Mingjue never did anything with anyone.
“You don’t believe me,” Nie Mingjue accurately guesses and Jiang Cheng awkwardly shrugs.
“I just—have you seen yourself? Surely there must have been someone else.”
“My looks have nothing to do with any of this,” Nie Mingjue denies. “And between the violent murder of my father, the subsequent early ascension as Sect Leader and the following war, there really wasn’t that much time for anything,” he then drily adds and Jiang Cheng turns red in embarrassment.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Nie Mingjue is not that much older than him and that he’s not the only one with a bad adolescence.
“I understand,” Jiang Cheng whispers and Nie Mingjue shrugs.
“It’s just not something I ever got around to and so far Huaisang doesn’t know it’s something he can meddle in, so it’s not a burning topic for me.”
Now that brings Jiang Cheng up short, because as far as he remembers Nie Huaisang did already meddle.
“Wait a moment,” he says. “But Huaisang already did meddle,” he tells Nie Mingjue, whose eyes go big.
But before he can ask what Jiang Cheng means, the door to his rooms fly open.
“Zongzhu!” his disciple yells and comes to a stop when he sees Nie Mingjue with him. “I apologize. But we have the correct cure for the curse now.”
“Then do tell it!” Jiang Cheng snaps and the disciple bows.
“Of course. It needs to be someone with pure intentions towards you. Intentions that match yours. It has nothing to do with the body.”
Well, the body certainly would be easier, Jiang Cheng bitterly thinks.
The only intentions people have towards him these days are ill ones and not even Nie Mingjue will be able to help with this now, not when Jiang Cheng’s stupid heart is set on him since the war and Nie Mingjue only sees him as a charity case.
“Great, thank you,” Jiang Cheng tells the disciple, who immediately excuses himself again.
“What does that mean now?” Nie Mingjue asks.
“It means I’m fucked,” Jiang Cheng mutters, already mentally preparing himself for the fact that he’ll never get to use his qi again.
It should probably shock him more, but right now he’s simply too numb.
“You could always ask Sect Leader Yao,” Nie Mingjue weakly jokes. “Your derision for each other matches.”
“Funny,” Jiang Cheng gives back but he doesn’t feel like laughing at all.
“Is there anything I can do?” Nie Mingjue asks and it seems like he wants to reach out for Jiang Cheng but he keeps his hands out of reach.
“Well,” Jiang Cheng starts and then decides to fuck it. If he can’t use his qi, he’s not fit to be a Sect Leader and if he cannot be a Sect Leader then Nie Mingjue’s opinion of him doesn’t matter. “As long as you don’t want to marry me, I guess there’s nothing anyone can do,” he admits and forces a smile on his face. “I guess I should go prepare my disciples for a new Sect Leader now.”
“Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue says and he doesn’t normally use Jiang Cheng’s courtesy name, so it makes Jiang Cheng stop.
“I sent you a courtship offer that you rejected. If anyone doesn’t want to marry, it’s you.”
“That’s not—wait, what?” Jiang Cheng asks because surely there must be a misunderstanding here.
“I sent you a courtship offer.”
“No, you didn’t. Huaisang did, in your name. That’s what I meant when I said he already meddled. He tried to set us up.”
“That’s not true! It was me!”
“Mingjue, I know Huaisang’s penmanship. I went to lectures with him for an entire year. He was the one to write it.”
“Because my penmanship is horrendous,” Nie Mingjue says and shrugs, clearly embarrassed. “I asked him to write what I dictate. He of course took some liberties with it, since clearly I am too crass and brash for him, but I thought they were all in good taste.”
Jiang Cheng blinks at the revelation that maybe Nie Mingjue wants him just as much as Jiang Cheng wants him.
“What are you saying?” Jiang Cheng asks, but Nie Mingjue only shakes his head and gets up.
“Come here,” he says leaning down and taking Jiang Cheng’s face between his hands.
Jiang Cheng swallows, because Nie Mingjue’s intent is unmistakable and he can’t help but to lean up, lean into Nie Mingjue.
When Nie Mingjue’s lips brush his, it’s not really a surprise but Jiang Cheng’s heart still misses a beat or two before it goes into overdrive.
“There,” Nie Mingjue says when he pulls back. “That should show you.”
Jiang Cheng is a bit slow on the uptake right now, but eventually Nie Mingjue’s words make it through the fog in his head and Jiang Cheng accesses his qi, trusting that Nie Mingjue does not actually want him dead.
But he can use it without any problems at all and once the implication of that hits Jiang Cheng his head flies up again.
“Are you serious right now?”
“Wanyin, will you finally allow me to court you?” Nie Mingjue asks with a smirk and Jiang Cheng laughs.
Who could have known that a curse would bring this wonderful thing into Jiang Cheng’s life.
(And the most wonderful thing it is. They only court for the minimum amount of time that is required to make it a real courtship, because they already know that they both want this. And they never regret it either.)
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#bt writes#the untamed#mdzs#mingcheng#12domc21#canon divergence#curses#getting together#hurt/comfort#courting
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12 Days of Mingcheng 2021 Day 7 - Revenge
Jiang Cheng feels second away from vomiting. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are on the couch, furiously making out and it looks like they are just seconds away from actual fucking.
All Jiang Cheng wanted was to get something to drink from the kitchen in his own home, and instead he’s assaulted by this.
“Disgusting,” he hisses as he walks past them and Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji break apart long enough for Lan Wangji to throw him an angry look while Wei Wuxian sighs.
“You wouldn’t say that if you had your own boyfriend, Chengcheng,” he gives back, moments before Lan Wangji claims his mouth again and Jiang Cheng hightails it out of there, even forgetting his drink in his haste to get away and definitely not bothering to correct Wei Wuxian yet again.
When he slams the door to his own room behind him, Nie Mingjue looks at him with a raised eyebrow.
“That bad?” he asks and holds out his hand for Jiang Cheng.
“Worse,” he spits out. “I didn’t even make it to the kitchen and I swear to the gods if they fuck on the couch I’m going to kill them both.”
He turns back around on his heels and sticks his head out of his door again.
“Do you hear that?” he yells into the apartment. “If you fuck anywhere else but your goddamn room I’m going to fucking kill you both!”
“Sure, Chengcheng,” Wei Wuxian’s breathless voice reaches him and Jiang Cheng’s stomach immediately turns.
“For fucks sake,” he mutters as he closes the door again and then locks it too, for good measure.
“That’s not going to stop them from fucking in the living-room,” Nie Mingjue mildly says and Jiang Cheng glares at him. “Just telling you how it is,” Nie Mingjue says with a laugh and Jiang Cheng sighs.
“Why are they like this?” he wants to know even though he’s sure that Nie Mingjue will not have an answer for him.
Jiang Cheng doubts that anyone could explain Wei Wuxian’s and Lan Wangji’s derangedness when it comes to each other.
“And then Wei Wuxian also insinuated again that I don’t have a boyfriend. I mean—you’re right here. What is not clicking for him?” Jiang Cheng says hotly and Nie Mingjue shrugs.
“I don’t know, to be honest. Even Huaisang tried to tell him that we are together, but Wei Wuxian is simply not listening when it comes to that,” Nie Mingjue gives back and pulls Jiang Cheng close to himself until he has no other choice but to sit on his lap.
Which gives Jiang Cheng an idea.
“Maybe we should try fucking on the couch, see if they believe that,” he grumbles as he kisses Nie Mingjue.
“Let’s not,” Nie Mingjue gives back and Jiang Cheng sighs against his lips.
“But if we really dial up the PDA they have to believe us, right? We could be all up in each other’s space, hold hands all the time, kiss after every sentence. Eventually they would have to believe us, right?” Jiang Cheng asks with not a little amount of desperation and Nie Mingjue laughs.
“My heart, you hate PDA. I get that you want revenge on them, but not like this, okay. Let’s not do something that would make you uncomfortable in the long run.”
“Ugh, why do you always have to be this considerate?” Jiang Cheng asks and rests his head on Nie Mingjue’s shoulder.
“One of us has to be,” he gives back but he says it in his thinker voice and Jiang Cheng pokes his chest.
“You’re thinking. What are you thinking?” he demands to know and Nie Mingjue looks intently at him.
“I might have an idea on how you can get back at them without resorting to their more—nausea-inducing methods,” he slowly says and Jiang Cheng sits up, absolutely ready to hear this solution.
“Tell me, tell me, tell me,” he rushes out, urging Nie Mingjue to speak just a little bit faster.
“They didn’t ask you if it was okay for Lan Wangji to move in, right? He just arrived one day and never left?” Nie Mingjue clarifies and Jiang Cheng goes angry just remembering it.
“Yes,” he hisses.
It was supposed to be just his brother and him, but not even three months after they moved in together Wei Wuxian brought Lan Wangji along and seemingly overnight all his things migrated too and suddenly they were three instead of just the two.
And it’s not like either of them ever asked Jiang Cheng if he was okay with it.
“So what are you thinking?” Jiang Cheng wants to know and is not prepared for the serious look Nie Mingjue gives him.
“Move in with me. We don’t tell them, we’re just going to steal all of your stuff away and they can see how it feels.”
Jiang Cheng blinks at that.
“Mingjue, are you seriously asking me to move in with you for a revenge scheme?” he demands to know, and he doesn’t know how to feel about that at all.
“Of course not,” Nie Mingjue says, giving Jiang Cheng a soft smile. “I’ve been meaning to ask you to move in with me for weeks now, but never found the right opportunity,” he admits and Jiang Cheng puffs up his cheeks in a pout.
“You could have just said ‘Hey, Wanyin, you wanna move in with me?’ at any given time and I would have said yes!”
“So—you’re going to say yes now as well?” Nie Mingjue asks, a cheeky grin now in place and Jiang Cheng laughs.
“I get to move in with you and stick it to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji that way. Of course I’m moving in with you!”
“I’m not sure I like your motivation,” Nie Mingjue teases and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.
“Please. I explicitly put Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji as the reason last, what’s there not to get?”
“Mh. Maybe say it again?” Nie Mingjue says and Jiang Cheng peppers his face with kisses first.
“I would love to move in with you.”
“Even more than sticking it to Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji?”
“Let’s not get ahead of yourself,” Jiang Cheng chides him and dissolves into laughter a second later.
Nie Mingjue’s offended face is just too good.
~*~*~
“Chengcheng?” Wei Wuxian unsurely asks from his position in the doorway. “What is all of this?”
“What does it look like?” Jiang Cheng gives back as he packs up another box, before he closes it and labels it ‘Bathroom’.
“It kinda looks like you’re moving out or something?” Wei Wuxian mutters and Jiang Cheng gives him a thumbs up.
“Good deduction skills right there,” he absentmindedly says as he pushes past Wei Wuxian to go into the kitchen, another box in his hands.
He starts to empty the kitchen of all the things that belong to him—which is apparently most of them because he’s the only one who makes good use of the kitchen—and packs all of that up as well.
“Are you stealing our stuff?” Lan Wangji suddenly asks and Jiang Cheng scoffs, not in the least deterred in his actions.
“Your stuff, right. Just because you moved in here without actually bringing any kitchen utensils doesn’t make any of them yours.”
“Chengcheng, seriously, what is going on?” Wei Wuxian cries out and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.
“It’s exactly what it looks like: I’m moving out. And I’m taking everything I paid for with my own money.”
“Hey, Wanyin?” Nie Mingjue calls out and Jiang Cheng smiles.
“Here!”
Nie Mingjue nods at Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian as he pushes past them and leans down for a quick kiss.
It’s the only PDA Jiang Cheng can get behind, but apparently even that is already enough to make Wei Wuxian splutter.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“Say, my soul, do I need to bring all of these dishes? And the cutlery?”
“I’m not a savage, as you damn well know,” Nie Mingjue huffs out. “You know my kitchen is stocked. Just take what you are personally attached to, and all of the actual utensils you want, because I know you’re picky about those and then let’s get going.”
“You’re right,” Jiang Cheng nods and moves to pack up all of the colourful bowls they have.
“Hey, those are mine!” Wei Wuxian yells and Jiang Cheng levels him with a look.
“Actually, since I paid for them, and I brought them with me when we moved together, they are mine. And I’m going to take them with me.”
“What is—are you getting revenge for something?” Wei Wuxian suddenly asks and Jiang Cheng slow claps at him.
“Finally you get it,” he says and closes the box up. “My soul, can you get this down to the truck?”
“Of course,” Nie Mingjue gives back, clearly biting back a laugh and Jiang Cheng slaps his forearm but that doesn’t stop Nie Mingjue.
“Don’t be petty,” Lan Wangji chides him and Jiang Cheng turns towards them.
“I am not,” he says. “I am simply taking what is mine to my new place.”
“But—you never mentioned that you were going to move! Where will you even live?”
“Did you not listen? I’m moving in with Mingjue.”
“But why?”
“Maybe because I love him and that’s what couples do? You and Lan Wangji did it.”
“Is that what this is? But you said you were alright with Lan Zhan moving in?”
“I never said anything because you didn’t actually ask me, Wei Wuxian. One day you simply brought him home and then he never left again. You didn’t ask me. You didn’t even tell me. If we’re being honest, you are actually scamming me, because I’m still paying half of all the bills, even though it should be a third now. And I’m tired of having someone in my apartment I don’t actually want here and I am tired of you desecrating all the available surfaces. So I’m moving in with my own boyfriend if you don’t mind.”
“I do! I do mind! How long have you even been together? You can’t just move in with someone you just got together with!”
At that Jiang Cheng only gives Wei Wuxian the most judging look he can manage, because if he remembers correctly Wei Wuxian knew Lan Wangji for about three weeks before he moved in.
It’s sadly not enough to make Wei Wuxian shut up.
“You can’t do that! I don’t know how to deal with things like rent and bills!”
“Then it’s time to learn. And since Lan Wangji so readily invited himself into this apartment I am sure he can help you figure it all out,” Jiang Cheng sweetly says.
“Is that everything?” Nie Mingjue asks from the hallway and Jiang Cheng moves past Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji.
“There are two more boxes in my room, but then that’s it,” he tells him and walks Nie Mingjue back to his room.
He packed up everything he wanted, dismantled most of the furniture and if he’s being honest, he’s kind of surprised how big his room looks like this.
“Huh,” Jiang Cheng says. “I never realized I had this much space.”
“This is your space to sleep, to live and to study. It’s tiny. You’ll get your own office in my house,” Nie Mingjue promises him and drops a kiss to the top of Jiang Cheng’s head.
“Very good incentive,” Jiang Cheng says. “Keep it coming.”
“Well, I’m there as well. Permanently. You won’t have to wait to see me at all, anymore.”
“Perfect,” Jiang Cheng nods. “That’s exactly how I like it.”
“Then let’s get going,” Nie Mingjue says as he picks up the two last boxes.
“Jiang Cheng,” Wei Wuxian says from the door, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. “Are you really moving out?”
“Yes. I am really moving out,” he gives back with a pointed look around the empty room. “You have fun with your boyfriend now,” he says and pats Wei Wuxian’s arm as he walks past him.
He puts the key down on the cupboard in the hallway and closes the door behind him when he leaves the apartment.
“Happy now?” Nie Mingjue wants to know and Jiang Cheng gives him a blinding smile.
“Fuck yes,” he breathes out and then leans in for a kiss, mindful of the boxes Nie Mingjue is still carrying. “Let’s get me moved in with my perfect boyfriend now,” he says when they part and now it’s Nie Mingjue’s time to smile.
“With pleasure,” he says and walks to the transporter.
Jiang Cheng can’t wait to live with him and have him around all day, every day. It’s going to be glorious.
(It is the most glorious thing as it turns out. And even though Jiang Cheng can’t help a few pointed barbs when Wei Wuxian calls him to ask about how to deal with various bills and rent, he does help him out and explains. It’s still the best revenge Jiang Cheng has ever gotten.)
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#bt writes#12domc21#mingcheng#the untamed#mdzs#modern au#established relationship#fluff#humor#revenge#background wangxian#moving in together
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12 Days of Mingcheng 2021 Day 6 - Home
Jiang Cheng’s eyes are burning but he keeps staring at his monitor. He’ll just do this one last thing and then he’ll leave, he promises himself, trying to ignore the fact that he said that like two hours ago as well.
But he has to hold out a while longer because it’s not like he can go back ho—to Nie Mingjue’s home whenever he wants. He should make sure to make himself as scarce as possible until he finds his own apartment just so that Nie Mingjue doesn’t start to resent him sooner than he’s already going to.
Jiang Cheng forces himself to turn his thoughts back to his work but his eyes are watering by now and the glare of the screen doesn’t make it better, no matter how dark he turns it.
“Just this one more thing,” he whispers to himself but he can’t bring himself to even move his mouse anymore.
Maybe he’ll just take a nap in his office before he’s going back. That sounds like a much better idea.
Jiang Cheng has just found a decently comfortable position with his head pillowed on his arms when his phone rings.
“Ugh,” he groans and debates simply letting it ring until it goes to voice mail but in the end, he can’t do that.
He doesn’t get that many calls, so this is probably something important which means he should take it. Maybe it’s one of the landlords calling him back even, and that thought makes Jiang Cheng scramble for his phone.
He picks up without checking the caller id and breathes out a “Hello?”
“Wanyin?” Nie Mingjue says and Jiang Cheng closes his burning eyes.
He really should have checked the id.
“Yeah,” he whispers covering his eyes with his hand. “What is it?”
Jiang Cheng longed to hear Nie Mingjue’s voice all day, but if he goes back for dinner he can’t afford to call him during the day. He doesn’t want to be any more overbearing than he already is, after all.
“Where are you?” Nie Mingjue asks and when Jiang Cheng glances out the window he realizes that it has gone dark already.
Maybe he did fall asleep at his desk after all, because it’s around two hours later than he expected it to be.
“Still at the office,” he gives back and now he feels bad about that too because it sounds like maybe Nie Mingjue worried and Jiang Cheng should have at least informed him of his plans to stay late.
“Are you going to come home any time soon?” Nie Mingjue asks him and normally Jiang Cheng would be able to brush that off, to no read anything into that, but he’s tired and cranky and most of all sad and terrified and so that question makes him burst out into tears.
“Oh no, my heart, what is it?” Nie Mingjue immediately asks but Jiang Cheng is crying too much to give him a coherent answer.
“Stay right where you are, I’m coming to get you,” Nie Mingjue says when Jiang Cheng can’t find his words even after a few minutes and promptly hangs up on Jiang Cheng.
It only prompts new tears from Jiang Cheng because he’s inconveniencing Nie Mingjue so much and he’s going to hate him for it just like everyone else starts to hate Jiang Cheng when he takes up too much of their time.
He shoots off a text, telling Nie Mingjue that he doesn’t have to bother, he’ll compose himself and then come back, but Nie Mingjue is not even deigning him with a reply so Jiang Cheng knows he should expect Nie Mingjue to barge into his office in less than ten minutes.
When Jiang Cheng had started at this company he had worried about the distance to Nie Mingjue’s home, because it’s so close and doesn’t even give him the excuse of traffic and missed busses but right now he’s grateful for it because at least like this it doesn’t make Nie Mingjue drive halfway through the city.
Just like Jiang Cheng expected Nie Mingjue is there in around ten minutes and Jiang Cheng is ashamed to admit that just the sight of him makes him burst into new tears.
Nie Mingjue is there a second later, gathering him up in his arms and simply holding Jiang Cheng until all of his tears are dried out.
“My heart, what’s going on?” Nie Mingjue whispers when Jiang Cheng stops sobbing.
“I am so tired,” Jiang Cheng says instead of really telling him what’s going on and it’s not even a lie, either.
He truly is tired to the bone.
“Then why are you still here and not at home with me?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng pushes away from him.
“I just—I can’t—it’s your home,” he finally gets out and Nie Mingjue freezes up completely.
“Wanyin,” he says and Jiang Cheng is loathe to hear the desperation in his voice.
This is why he never wanted to talk about this. Now Nie Mingjue has to explain to him that he’s truly not that welcome and that Nie Mingjue expects him to move out sooner rather than later and Jiang Cheng knows that Nie Mingjue would never want to rush him with that even though it’s kinda obvious that this is where it’s going.
“I was kinda under the impression that it turned into our home when you moved in,” Nie Mingjue finally says and Jiang Cheng flinches with his words.
“What?” he breathes out because this cannot be.
Nie Mingjue took him in because they are together and he felt obligated, but that wasn’t like—like a move-in.
“I—understand if you don’t want that, it was a little bit rushed after all, but—please don’t stay here just because you don’t want to be at ho—my place. I can make myself scarce too, if it’s all too much,” Nie Mingjue says and he doesn’t meet Jiang Cheng’s eyes.
Which is all kinds of wrong.
“No,” Jiang Cheng says and grabs Nie Mingjue’s forearm. “Do you not—expect me to move out as soon as possible?” he dares to ask, for the first time since his parents kicked him out because maybe assuming is what got him into this mess in the first place.
“Of course not!” Nie Mingjue exclaims and moves his arm so he can take Jiang Cheng’s hand in his. “Is that what you’ve been thinking all this time?”
All of a sudden Jiang Cheng feels a little bit unsteady on his feet and he needs to sit down, like right now. He staggers back until he reaches his office chair, Nie Mingjue keeping him tethered with his grip on Jiang Cheng’s hand and Jiang Cheng simply falls into the chair.
“Wanyin, I think it’s time we have a serious talk,” Nie Mingjue says as he crouches before Jiang Cheng.
“I think so, too,” Jiang Cheng mumbles even though just the word ‘serious talk’ make his heart beat faster in his chest in fear.
“Why don’t you tell me what you think,” Nie Mingjue gently says and Jiang Cheng opens his mouth, but he can’t find the words.
Maybe everything he feared will come true when he speaks it into existence and the fear chokes him up.
“Alright, I’m going to tell you what I expected, then,” Nie Mingjue says when it becomes clear that Jiang Cheng is not going to say anything.
“Okay,” he whispers with a short nod and Nie Mingjue reaches to take both of Jiang Cheng’s hands into his.
“I thought I was moving in with my boyfriend. Sure, the circumstances were less than ideal and you would have ended up on the streets for a little while if we didn’t, but to me it was never a temporary thing. I thought we would make our own little home, just for us, where we both can be happy and safe. I thought that was something we both wanted and your circumstances simply pushed us into doing it sooner rather than later.”
The words bring fresh tears to Jiang Cheng’s eyes and Nie Mingjue reaches up to brush them away.
“I thought you were pitying me and only giving me a place to stay until I found my own apartment and move out,” Jiang Cheng chokes out and Nie Mingjue tugs him down and into his arms, which only makes Jiang Cheng sob yet again.
“I love you,” Nie Mingjue whispers into his hair. “I do not expect you to move out, and I don’t want you to find your own apartment if it means I’m no longer living with you. If you want us to move to a new apartment together, I’m down for that, but otherwise I am not going to let you move anytime soon. At least if this is what you want, of course,” he rushes to add and Jiang Cheng slings his arms around Nie Mingjue to cling to him.
“I am so scared,” he admits into Nie Mingjue’s shoulder and Nie Mingjue moves a comforting hand up and down his back.
“Of what, my heart?” he wants to know and Jiang Cheng thinks like this, he might be able to say it.
“That you grow to hate me. That I will turn into nothing but a bother the more time I spend with you and that you will tire of me, just like my family did. That I will overstay my welcome and you start to resent me.”
“Oh, my heart, that are so many worries to have,” Nie Mingjue mumbles and turns his head so he can kiss the top of Jiang Cheng’s head. “I want you to spend time with me. I want to have you around and be comfortable with me. And your family—they are wrong. It’s something that’s inherently wrong with them, not with you. I am not going to tire of you or start to resent you and I won’t think you a bother just because there are things you rely on me for or that you need me for. I need you as well, Wanyin, it’s a mutual thing, okay? Are you going to resent me if I spend too much time with you?”
“Of course not,” Jiang Cheng immediately protests, because how can anyone ever hate Nie Mingjue, who is perfect and kind and so much better than Jiang Cheng.
“Then trust that the same goes for me. I’m not going to resent you.”
“You can’t know that,” Jiang Cheng whispers and Nie Mingjue shrugs.
“Well, and you can’t know that you won’t start to resent me, so I would say we’re quit in that regard,” he easily says and Jiang Cheng shakes in his arms. “My heart, won’t you come home with me?” Nie Mingjue asks him finally and Jiang Cheng nods before he can consciously decide to do so.
“Please,” he sobs out and Nie Mingjue squeezes him one more time before he gets them up to their feet.
“This is why you’ve spent so many hours in this office, right? Not because of work, but because you thought you would bother me at our home.”
“Yes,” Jiang Cheng admits.
“And this is also why you still keep most of your things in your suitcase instead of unpacking properly, correct?” Nie Mingjue goes on and Jiang Cheng nods miserably.
“Okay,” Nie Mingjue says and threads his fingers with Jiang Cheng’s. “Then why don’t we go home and unpack all of your things. So it’s more our home, alright?”
“Can I—” Jiang Cheng starts but he trails off, because he doesn’t want to immediately demand things, not when he can barely wrap his head around the fact that maybe, eventually, he can.
“What, my heart?”
Jiang Cheng worries his lower lip, pondering if he should really push already or not, but when Nie Mingjue moves his hand up and puts his thumb to Jiang Cheng’s mouth to free his lower lip he decides he’s going to risk it.
“Your towels are way too scratchy,” Jiang Cheng says. “Either we get new detergent or new towels,” he decides and he wasn’t prepared for how good it would feel to say ‘we’.
“New towels it is,” Nie Mingjue says with a laugh, and he doesn’t seem mad at all. “There’s a store on the way home, we can stop by real quick and see if they have any that would fit your taste.”
“Okay,” Jiang Cheng agrees.
When Nie Mingjue looks at him his face goes all soft and he leans in for a gentle brush of their lips.
“Let’s go home, my heart,” he says and Jiang Cheng nods.
“Let’s go home.”
(They do get new towels and Jiang Cheng properly unpacks that same evening. By the time three months passed the apartment really feels like theirs and whenever Jiang Cheng picks out something new for it, Nie Mingjue watches him with pride.)
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#bt writes#mingcheng#12domc21#the untamed#mdzs#modern au#established relationship#hurt/comfort#misunderstandings#insecurity#fluff
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12 Days of Mingcheng 2021 Day 5 - Cryptid
Jiang Cheng frowns when his disciple doesn’t leave immediately after getting the updated patrol schedule.
“What?” Jiang Cheng snaps and is surprised to see that the disciple won’t even meet his eyes.
“It’s—” he trails off after that one word and Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.
“Speak firmly or don’t speak at all,” he tells him, not entirely unkind and he watches with pride how the disciple straightens up and lifts his head to look straight at him.
“I don’t want to take the night shift,” he says, very firmly—which makes Jiang Cheng proud—but the words make his frown deepen.
“And what makes you think that this is up for discussion?” he wants to know but of course the disciple doesn’t answer him. “Why not?” Jiang Cheng asks instead, because if something is going on, if something is happening at night, then he needs to know about that.
“There’s been—sightings,” the disciple starts and just the memory makes him go pale which worries Jiang Cheng even more.
“Sightings of what? A ghost? A demon?” he prods, needing the disciple to clarify.
“A cryptid?” the disciple unsurely gives back and Jiang Cheng blinks.
“A cryptid,” he repeats, his tone flat and the disciple nods.
“It’s only at night. It makes these horrible noises and it vanishes before we can get a good look at it, but it doesn’t feel dangerous and it never actually hurts someone. There isn’t even that much resentment coming from him, so we didn’t think to mention it yet, but—”
“You’re scared,” Jiang Cheng sums up and he can’t even begrudge him that.
Cryptids are incredibly rare even in their profession and until they make themselves known no one really knows that they want. There certainly isn’t a set way to deal with them, so of course his disciples would worry.
“How long has this been going on?” Jiang Cheng wants to know and his disciple rushes to tell him.
“For about two weeks now?”
“Why did you wait so long to bring this to my attention?”
“It’s not actually harming anyone yet and we didn’t want to disturb you more than necessary with—you know—”
“I see,” Jiang Cheng says, because he does know.
His people are almost more excited about his courtship with Nie Mingjue than Jiang Cheng himself is and they have shouldered almost all of the work for the past two weeks now, just to give Jiang Cheng as much time with Nie Mingjue as possible.
“I will take the night shift then,” Jiang Cheng decides, because he has to see this supposed cryptid with his own eyes.
“But, zongzhu, what about Nie-zongzhu?”
“Maybe he wants to keep me company. A night stroll should be in all your interests, should it not?” Jiang Cheng asks with a smirk and the disciple blushes.
Good. Let them know that their efforts have not gone unnoticed, if it be for good or bad.
“Thank you, zongzhu,” the disciple says with a deep bow when Jiang Cheng raises an eyebrow at him and then hurries off.
Well, time to inform Nie Mingjue of their changed plans for this evening, then.
He finds Nie Mingjue on one of the piers that he took a liking to and Jiang Cheng cannot put into words how happy it makes him feel that Nie Mingjue already has favourite places in Lotus Pier.
“So, change of plans,” he says as he sits next to Nie Mingjue and briefly leans into his shoulder.
There are no chaperones around because both Jiang Cheng and Nie Mingjue vetoed that, but they are still in the early stages of courting and affection is not yet as easy between them as Jiang Cheng would want it to be, so simply dropping a kiss to Nie Mingjue’s head is out of the question.
For now, at least.
Nie Mingjue doesn’t answer him but his raised eyebrow says it all and Jiang Cheng sighs.
“Apparently there’s a cryptid running around Lotus Pier and my disciples failed to mention it to me until now. I offered to take the night shift to check it out, wanna come?”
He looks over to Nie Mingjue and is not prepared to see the panicked look on his face.
“Mingjue?” he asks and watches with worry as Nie Mingjue scrambles to his feet.
“I have to go,” he rushes out and then simply does just that and Jiang Cheng is left staring after him, completely unsure what just happened.
“What the fuck,” he mutters and rubs his arm, that has gone very cold with Nie Mingjue’s absence.
He hopes he didn’t fuck anything up but Nie Mingjue keeps evading him for the rest of the day and Jiang Cheng can read the signs, even if he does so with rising bitterness.
When he gets ready for the patrol, his movements are sharper than they usually are and his disciples scramble out of his way, like they have done all evening. It’s just fitting Jiang Cheng’s mood really.
He’s just about to leave, almost certain that Nie Mingjue will be gone by the morning for reasons unknown, when he runs into the man in question just as he opens his door.
“Mingjue,” Jiang Cheng breathes out but he doesn’t yet dare to trust the spark of hope inside of him.
Maybe Nie Mingjue is just here to tell him he’s going to leave. It would be the right thing to do after all, and Nie Mingjue is a very righteous man. Jiang Cheng wouldn’t even be surprised.
“I—can we talk? There’s something I need to tell you.”
“I have to go on patrol,” Jiang Cheng snaps but Nie Mingjue stands firm.
“Ask one of your disciples. Tell them the cryptid won’t show up tonight, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes in suspicion at Nie Mingjue but he does as Nie Mingjue told him to do. He flags down a disciple, tells her he has other things to do and not to worry about the cryptid for tonight and then he closes the door behind himself and Nie Mingjue.
“So,” he demands, crossing his arms in front of his chest to let Nie Mingjue know exactly what he thinks about being so rudely left alone for the entire afternoon and evening.
“I’m sorry for simply vanishing like that,” Nie Mingjue starts with and Jiang Cheng guesses it’s a step in the right direction. “I know how it must have seemed to you but you caught me off guard with the cryptid thing and I handled it badly.”
“Is it you?” Jiang Cheng wants to know because that’s the only explanation he can come up with right now that would explain Nie Mingjue’s strange behaviour.
“No,” Nie Mingjue says with a shake off his head. “It’s Baxia.”
Jiang Cheng did not expect that, because Baxia is a sabre and not some strange creature, and he throws a pointed glance at the blade that is visible over Nie Mingjue’s shoulder.
“Please don’t freak out. She’s not—particularly nice to look at, especially at first.”
“I’m not going to freak out over a little strangeness. Mingjue, we fought literal demons, a cryptid is not going to make me run for the hills.”
“I hope so,” Nie Mingjue says and takes Baxia off his back, removing some sort of seal from her hilt and suddenly a creature straight from hell is looking up at Jiang Cheng.
“Oh, dear,” he says, because Baxia is bigger than expected.
Her head almost reaches his stomach, her eyes are a pale yellow and there are way too many limbs to really tell what’s going on, not even to mention the—tentacles that come out of her mouth when she pants and her sickeningly grey flesh makes Jiang Cheng afraid to look too closely in case that there are maggots in there.
But despite all of that there’s only one thing Jiang Cheng can really think of and the thought makes it past his mouth unfiltered.
“She’s a little puppy,” he exclaims, absolutely delighted, and falls to his knees in front of her, before he scratches under what he hopes to be her chin. “Whose a good girl? Whose a good girl?” he asks her and she pants her disgusting animal breath right into his face.
“What the hell,” Nie Mingjue breathes out and Jiang Cheng looks up to him, which apparently gives Baxia the go to slobber all over his face.
“Mingjue, why did you never tell me?” he accusingly asks and gives Baxia even more scratches and pats.
“Maybe because every normal person would have gone running?” Nie Mingjue exasperatedly says and sits down next to Jiang Cheng as Baxia tries to climb into his lap.
“But she’s adorable!”
“She’s a hellhound,” Nie Mingjue gives back, which doesn’t negate Jiang Cheng’s previous comment.
“You’ve been letting her running around at night, right?”
“She’s still young and needs some exercise,” Nie Mingjue agrees and then sighs. “I’ll try to limit it, though.”
“No! She needs her runs. Don’t take that away from her.”
“But your disciples—”
“Will carry treats for her if they know what she is,” Jiang Cheng promises him and Nie Mingjue rolls his eyes.
“If you fatten her up, you take over her exercise plan,” he tells him and Jiang Cheng immediately nods.
He would love nothing more than having his own dog, hellhound or not, so this is really not a bother at all.
“Wait,” he says after long minutes of playing with Baxia. “You said you suffer qi deviations because of Baxia. Is it because she’s a hellhound?”
“Not really, I guess?” Nie Mingjue says with a shrug. “She takes my qi to change forms at will and it seems like that is what’s hurting me. But I can’t simply keep her in one form for too long, even with the talismans, so—” he trails off with a shrug, but Jiang Cheng frowns.
“But her changes don’t always hurt you,” he slowly says, stopping his ministrations on Baxia, who lets out a mournful whine.
“No. I don’t know what it is,” Nie Mingjue admits but Jiang Cheng damn well knows.
“You have not been training her properly,” he accuses Nie Mingjue and fixes him with a glare.
“Wanyin, she’s a hellhound!
“She’s a puppy, hellhound or no! She needs proper training! How old is she even?”
“Well, I had her since Baxia was forged, but every text we have on hellhounds suggests that they can reach ages up to several hundred years.”
“So she really is just a puppy. Mingjue, seriously, did you even train her properly at all?”
“No?” Nie Mingjue gives back, clearly unsure and Jiang Cheng glares at him.
“You’re an idiot,” he hisses and then turns to Baxia.
“Sit,” he says but of course she only blinks at him. “We two have our work cut out for us, with a master that stupid,” he tells her and Baxia pants at him.
“Rude,” Nie Mingjue mutters but Jiang Cheng spares him not even a glance.
If he thinks he can just leave a hellhound—or any dog really—untrained then he’s the one being rude.
“Are you not renowned for your hunting dogs?” Jiang Cheng asks as he contemplates how to best go at this. “Why did you neglect Baxia this much?”
“Maybe because she’s a hellhound?”
“That’s just a different breed of dog. All dogs need training. Hell, even the little pests at Jinlingtai are better trained then her,” Jiang Cheng scoffs and Nie Mingjue looks honestly affronted. “Do you really want Jin Guangshan’s lapdogs to be better trained than Baxia?” Jiang Cheng challenges Nie Mingjue, who of course raises to the bait.
“Of course not!”
“Then let’s train her properly.”
“You—want to be involved?” Nie Mingjue hesitantly asks and Jiang Cheng frowns.
“Mingjue, she’s a dog. I love dogs.”
“More than me?” Nie Mingjue cheekily says and Jiang Cheng blushes.
“Shameless,” he hisses, but then he adds “No.”
“Good to know, my heart,” Nie Mingjue says and takes his hand to press a kiss to the back of it. “Then let’s train our dog.”
“And what a well behaved sweetheart you’re going to be. No more hurting your master, do you hear me?” Jiang Cheng says to Baxia, mostly to compose himself again but Nie Mingjue’s laugh lets him know that Nie Mingjue is well aware of what he’s doing.
Jiang Cheng doesn’t mind too much because he’s much to busy being absolutely enamoured with Baxia and her troublesome master.
(They do train Baxia properly, until she knows not to hurt Nie Mingjue anymore. She grows to be almost as tall as Jiang Cheng and yet he still calls her his little pupper. Every single disciple at Lotus Pier loves her to bits and they dote on her almost more than they dote on Jiang Cheng. Nie Mingjue wouldn’t want to have it any other way.)
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12 Days of Mingcheng 2021 Day 10 - Transform
Jiang Cheng is scowling into his breakfast, his mind still on the problem one of his co-workers brought to him late yesterday afternoon. The solution to it should be obvious, Jiang Cheng thinks, but he can’t quite put his finger to it and it kept him awake for a good portion of the night.
“Fucking hell,” he mutters, reading through the mail yet again, drinking his coffee on the side.
“If you keep frowning like that, your face will get stuck that way,” Wei Wuxian says and pokes Jiang Cheng’s brow before he can move away.
“Stop that,” Jiang Cheng snaps and slaps Wei Wuxian’s hand away when he moves in to do it again.
“Aw, Chengcheng, you shouldn’t always be this angry,” Wei Wuxian laughs and Jiang Cheng throws him a glare.
“I’ll be as angry as I want to be,” he tells him before he thrusts his phone into Wei Wuxian’s face. “Look at this. Is this something you fucked up?” he demands to know then and finds amusement in the way Wei Wuxian goes cross-eyed, trying to read the mail.
“I might?” he unsurely asks once he’s done and Jiang Cheng raises an eyebrow at him.
“You better think about this again, because if you fucked it up, it’s your duty to clean up your mess,” Jiang Cheng says, going back to drinking his coffee, feeling a lot better now that he might have hoisted the problem off to someone else.
“But solving problems is your duty,” Wei Wuxian whines and Jiang Cheng almost chokes on his coffee.
“No. Solving problems anyone but you caused is my duty. Solving your problems is no longer my duty and I refuse to do it.”
Wei Wuxian just looks at him for a long moment, and his silence unnerves Jiang Cheng almost more than anything else so far.
“When did you get so bitter and angry?” Wei Wuxian finally asks lowly and Jiang Cheng shrugs.
“Maybe when you kept unloading all of your bullshit onto me and expected me to somehow deal with it. I dealt with it, now you deal with this,” he says with a pointed look towards the phone.
“Jiang Cheng, if you keep going like this, no one will ever—” Wei Wuxian trails off with a wince.
“What, love me?” Jiang Cheng bitterly asks because doesn’t he know it.
And it’s not like this is the first time Wei Wuxian said that to him either, so he doesn’t know why he even hesitated now.
“Yeah. I know that Mingjue-ge has been coming around a lot but he won’t for much longer if you don’t change. You think he likes getting scowled at all the time? You think he likes how you snap at him and everyone around you whenever you open your mouth? He might tolerate it for now but if you don’t change then he’ll leave you alone sooner than you can imagine,” Wei Wuxian says and Jiang Cheng has to clench his teeth he’s so angry with him.
“Well, then maybe you should leave me alone as well, if you find it so hard to be around me,” he hisses at Wei Wuxian and stands up, his coffee now forgotten.
“You make it hard to be around you,” Wei Wuxian argues and shakes his head, apparently truly saddened. “I don’t want to fight with you every time we talk and yet here we are.”
“Oh, that’s rich coming from you,” Jiang Cheng spits out. “You just think it should be fair for you to say whatever you fucking want with no regards to the repercussions and for everyone else to simply accept it. Well, I’m not about to do that and I am not Yanli, who indulges you to the point of insanity. If you say stupid shit, you have to bear the consequences.”
“Don’t try to push this on me now,” Wei Wuxian says, still the same sad look on his face and Jiang Cheng’s skin crawls when he realizes that Wei Wuxian is pitying him.
The audacity.
“Do not talk to me for the rest of the week,” Jiang Cheng tells him, dipping into that endless anger inside of him and before Wei Wuxian can react to that, he turns around and leaves him, coffee, problem and all.
Jiang Cheng is tired of dealing with his bullshit and if Wei Wuxian thinks that Jiang Cheng is going to change for him then he’s thoroughly mistaken.
Jiang Cheng is not going to change for anyone, and especially not only so that Wei Wuxian can get away with every hurtful comment he makes.
He hides himself away in his office, forwarding the mail to Wei Wuxian so he remembers to deal with it and for proof that Jiang Cheng took actions on the matter and then he buries himself in his other work.
Despite all of that, somehow Wei Wuxian managed to get under his skin anyway, because Jiang Cheng can still hear him whisper in the back of his head how no one is going to love him, how even Nie Mingjue is going to walk away from him and at that Jiang Cheng’s mouth twists bitterly.
It’s not like there’s anything Nie Mingjue could walk away from to start with because they are friends and nothing more, Jiang Cheng reminds himself.
No matter how much he would like for things to be different.
Jiang Cheng resolutely pushes those thoughts away and gets back to his work, because it’s not like pondering over this is going to change anything. And since there is nothing he can do about the Nie Mingjue situation, he might as well get back to his real work.
So Jiang Cheng does just that, right until someone drops some food onto his table, right in front of him.
It startles Jiang Cheng out of his concentration and when he glares at whoever it is who dare to interrupt him, his heart skips a beat when he sees Nie Mingjue.
“No need to look at me like you’re going to skin me alive,” Nie Mingjue says and simply sits down in front if Jiang Cheng, without waiting to be invited, clearly unbothered by Jiang Cheng’s ire. “I brought you lunch.”
“It’s not yet—” Jiang Cheng trails off when his eyes fall on the clock.
“Do go on,” Nie Mingjue says with a shit-eating grin and Jiang Cheng grumbles, but he does minimize all of his windows.
“What did you bring me this time?” Jiang Cheng snaps, still a little bit startled and mostly annoyed that Nie Mingjue managed to sneak up on him like that.
“Your favourite, of course,” Nie Mingjue says, and unpacks the food. “Like always.”
That brings Jiang Cheng up short, because Nie Mingjue has been coming over a lot lately, and he has been feeding Jiang Cheng and generally been taking care of him.
“What are you doing?” Jiang Cheng asks, and it makes Nie Mingjue freeze in his motions.
For a split second Jiang Cheng thinks that Nie Mingjue is going to say something stupid, like ‘distributing food’ or something, but in the end he only sighs and sits back down, the food only partially unpacked.
“Well,” he starts with a little chuckle. “Saying I’m courting you is too out-dated, so let’s not call it that,” Nie Mingjue then says and Jiang Cheng’s heart skips a beat. “But saying I’m only flirting is also stupid, because we’ve long passed that stage and you didn’t pick up on it. Seducing you would imply I’m only in it for the sex, which is also not true, though of course I want that as well.”
Jiang Cheng is pretty sure he blushes furiously at that, but he tries to hide it with a scowl, which only makes Nie Mingjue smile.
“I guess we could say I’m trying to date you. Not that I’m having much success, it seems, if you have to ask,” he finishes with a little wink and Jiang Cheng grinds his teeth, Wei Wuxian’s voice still in his head, as unwelcome as ever.
“I’m not going to change,” he presses out, unable to meet Nie Mingjue’s eyes over this. “I’m not going to magically transform into a nicer person even if you manage to date me. What you see is what you get and if you think that I’m going to change for you, you’re thoroughly mistaken.”
It’s hard saying it, because dating Nie Mingjue is the only thing Jiang Cheng really wants to do, but it needs to be said. Jiang Cheng thinks having this for however short and then losing it because he failed to change like Nie Mingjue expects might be worse, so it’s probably better to manage his expectations before that happens.
“Why would I want you to change?” Nie Mingjue asks and puts his hand on the table, his intention clear, but Jiang Cheng can’t bring himself to take it.
Not yet.
“I was informed I’m too angry and too snappish to ever be loved,” he manages to get out and is surprised at the immediate anger that is visible on Nie Mingjue’s face.
“Who dares to say that?” he demands to know but he deflates when the answer comes to him. “Wei Wuxian,” he breathes out and Jiang Cheng shrugs.
“Well, is he wrong, though?” he asks, even though it hurts and Nie Mingjue balls his hand into a fist.
“Yes, he’s fucking wrong. Your anger is not something to change. It’s part of you. If someone likes you then they also like your anger. There is not one thing without the other. It’s who you are, and that is perfectly alright with me.”
“Yeah, right,” Jiang Cheng scoffs out but Nie Mingjue shakes his head.
“It’s like with Wei Wuxian’s stupidly, obnoxious laugh. It’s a part of him. If you don’t like his laugh, you don’t like him. But if you like him, then you also like—or at least tolerate—his laugh.”
“You hate his laugh,” Jiang Cheng says, a small smile on his face.
“Yes. And I—well, hate is a strong word but I don’t like Wei Wuxian. For numerous reasons, actually, but that laugh of his is certainly one of them. But still, it’s a part of him.”
“So my anger—”
“Is just something that belongs to you. I actually enjoy how short and rude you are to people, especially those you don’t like. I think it’s hot. And if we’re going to complain about temper—who am I to say anything about that, really?”
“Your temper isn’t that bad,” Jiang Cheng immediately complains and Nie Mingjue smiles at him.
“And your anger isn’t either,” he shoots back, effectively shutting Jiang Cheng up. “Is this—do you have any more concerns?” Nie Mingjue then asks and Jiang Cheng sighs.
“You’re not playing with me, right? This is not just some game to you?” he wants to know, even though he almost feels sick with anticipation.
“It would have to be a pretty long game, seeing as I’ve been flirting with you for at last a couple of years now,” Nie Mingjue gives back, and puts his open hand back on the table.
“I’m not very good at picking up on that,” Jiang Cheng admits and Nie Mingjue snorts.
“No shit. It’s why I changed to a more direct approach,” he gives back with a meaningful glance at the food between them. “Now the only question is if it’s working.”
“It is,” Jiang Cheng decides and puts his hand into Nie Mingjue’s, who immediately threads their fingers together. “As long as you are aware of what you’re getting.”
“You,” Nie Mingjue says without missing a beat. “Anger, scowl, fierce temper and all. And I wouldn’t want to change a single thing about that.”
“You’re a goddamn sap,” Jiang Cheng hisses, but he’s pretty sure he can’t hide how pleased he is by Nie Mingjue’s words.
“If it makes you blush like this, then always,” Nie Mingjue gives back, and kisses Jiang Cheng’s knuckles. “Now let’s eat or it will go even colder than it no doubt already has.”
Jiang Cheng nods and helps Nie Mingjue unpack before they both dig into their respective lunches.
They are almost done when Jiang Cheng hesitates over a bite, the doubt still somehow niggling away at his brain.
“Just—mean it, okay?” he whispers, keeping his eyes on his food but he still notices how Nie Mingjue looks up at him.
“With all my heart,” Nie Mingjue promises and Jiang Cheng nods.
That’s enough to take a chance, he decides.
(And it’s so much more than that. Nie Mingjue’s honest appreciation of everything Jiang Cheng—including his anger—goes a long, long way to make Jiang Cheng that much more comfortable in his own skin and by the time they marry, Jiang Cheng managed to be honest with both his siblings and stand his ground about his own feelings and how their behaviour makes him feel most of the time. Nie Mingjue couldn’t love his proud, fierce, angry heart any more than he already does.)
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12 Days of Mingcheng 2021 Day 2 - Confidence
Nie Mingjue is just getting himself another drink when his eyes fall on Jiang Cheng. He barely even sees him if he’s being honest, because Wei Wuxian is draped over his back and he’s pushing a drink into Jiang Cheng’s hand.
Nie Mingjue frowns when Jiang Cheng takes it, because he doesn’t seem too happy about drinking—anymore or at all—but he doesn’t protest too much.
He doesn’t take a drink though and Nie Mingjue watches him dodging that until Wei Wuxian flits off to someone else. It’s only then that Jiang Cheng puts the drink down, a sigh so clearly leaving his body that Nie Mingjue can tell it’s happening even from across the room.
Nie Mingjue goes to finally get that drink for himself and he also takes one for Jiang Cheng before he walks over to him.
“You know, if you really don’t want to drink then you should just tells him,” Nie Mingjue says as he hands Jiang Cheng the drink.
Jiang Cheng eyes it distrustfully and he doesn’t actually take it.
“It’s alcohol-free,” Nie Mingjue promises him. “You didn’t seem too happy with Wei Wuxian’s choice so I thought this would be a safer road.”
“Thank you then,” Jiang Cheng whispers, barely audible over the music, and he takes the drink out of Nie Mingjue’s hands but he doesn’t take a sip either.
“If you don’t like being handed drinks or don’t want to drink at all, you should just say so.”
“Right,” Jiang Cheng bitterly mutters. “As if Wei Wuxian ever cares when I tell him no.”
Nie Mingjue is not comfortable enough with either of them to really comment on that but he raises an eyebrow at Jiang Cheng anyway.
“You can definitely tell me no, though?”
At that, Jiang Cheng gets this deer in headlights look and Nie Mingjue regrets ever saying anything at all.
“I’m not going to bite if you tell me no,” Nie Mingjue mutters, taking a sip from his own cup even though it’s non-alcoholic as well.
“Not going to take that chance,” Jiang Cheng whispers and Nie Mingjue has a whole lot to say to that but before he can Jiang Cheng goes on, louder this time. “Thanks for the drink, I have to go now,” he rushes out and leaves Nie Mingjue standing, the cup abandoned on a cupboard behind him.
Nie Mingjue watches after him—watches him run away essentially—and he really wishes Jiang Cheng would stand up for himself once in a while.
It’s not like he needs to grow a back-bone in general because Nie Mingjue has seen him tear down people who were mean to Jiang Yanli or Wei Wuxian, but he never really thinks to do it for himself and Nie Mingjue wishes that would change.
“I take it your flirting hasn’t been going well?” Nie Huaisang says as he materializes at Nie Mingjue’s side and Nie Mingjue sighs.
“I’m not even flirting with him anymore,” Nie Mingjue lowly admits and takes another huge gulp from his drink, desperately wishing it was alcoholic right now.
“Why not?” Nie Huaisang asks, a furrow between his brows and Nie Mingjue sighs.
“Because I fear he’s not going to tell me no if he doesn’t want me to be flirting with him,” Nie Mingjue tells him. “He’s not—“
“Speaking up for himself. Ever,” Nie Huaisang finishes for him and Nie Mingjue nods.
“Wei Wuxian is taking enough advantage of that as it is, I don’t want to add to that and do something he doesn’t actually like.”
“So you think he doesn’t like you back?”
Nie Mingjue mulls that over for a few moments.
“I think he doesn’t think highly enough of himself to even believe that I could be in love with him,” he finally says and Nie Huaisang nods, even though it’s reluctant.
“You—might be right, actually,” he admits. “Jiang Cheng thinks he’s not worth shit and it doesn’t matter how often I tell him differently.”
“Yeah, that will have to come from himself. You can’t just tell him to be more confident,” Nie Mingjue agrees, even though he wishes it would work like that.
He would make sure Jiang Cheng knows exactly how much he’s worth in Nie Mingjue’s eyes then, but like this, he can only gently encourage him and hope he’ll figure it out for himself.
And until that Nie Mingjue will wait for him.
~*~*~
When Nie Mingjue comes home to find Nie Huaisang sobbing his eyes out on the couch, he already expects the worst.
“What happened?” he rushes out, hurrying over to hug his brother tight. “Is someone hurt?”
“No,” Nie Huaisang sobs out. “It’s Jiang Cheng,” he then says and Nie Mingjue’s heart drops straight to the floor.
“What happened?” he asks, but now he’s scared of the answer.
“He just left,” Nie Huaisang cries. “He just left me this message saying that he needs to get out, do something for himself and then he just left. He left me all alone,” Nie Huaisang sobs and it takes a while for Nie Mingjue’s rapidly beating heart to calm down.
“He left?”
“To another country,” Nie Huaisang confirms, his tears still running down his cheeks. “I think he changed his major and he just fucked off and I don’t know if he’ll be alright all on his own.”
Nie Mingjue frowns at that.
“He simply left? And changed his major? What did his family say to that?” he cautiously asks because he can’t imagine that his parents are too happy about that.
“They are furious, but apparently Jiang Cheng didn’t tell them either.”
“That’s good,” Nie Mingjue mutters and nods when Nie Huaisang looks at him, pure outrage on his face. “It is! Think about it. He’s finally doing something for himself. That’s so good for him.”
“But he left me behind,” Nie Huaisang wails and throws himself into Nie Mingjue’s arms again.
“You little idiot,” Nie Mingjue says fondly. “Don’t you two message daily? I doubt that’s going to change.”
“But I’m not there to drag him in and out of trouble,” Nie Huaisang forlornly says.
“Yeah, but Wei Wuxian isn’t there to drag him into trouble either, which his probably the point. Huaisang, he’s going to write you,” Nie Mingjue reassures him. “Let him get settled and then you can spam him, just like before.”
“Aren’t you going to miss him?” Nie Huaisang sniffles but he seems more composed already.
“I am going to miss him terribly,” Nie Mingjue admits. “But I think this will be good for him. It will allow him to grow into his own person. We wanted that for him, remember?”
“I know,” Nie Huaisang sighs and then reaches for his phone. “Oh, he wrote me!”
He furiously clicks on the screen, Nie Mingjue clearly already forgotten, just like his tears from only a minute ago and Nie Mingjue smiles.
Seems like not that much will change after all.
~*~*~
Nie Mingjue is tired of finding himself at yet another party because he promised to drive Nie Huaisang home, but it is what it is now and so he sips away at his non-alcoholic drink.
He sees the same usual crowd as always and he doesn’t know if it’s good or bad that he recognizes most of the people here. It’s probably a good thing that he knows for who he has to keep an eye out, though, because some of these people spell trouble.
Like Wei Wuxian.
He almost always turns into trouble during a party, and even more so since Jiang Cheng left four years ago. It’s like even though Jiang Cheng could barely say no to him, he still kept him somewhat in check and by now Nie Mingjue is really appreciating all the work Jiang Cheng did back then.
Wei Wuxian is a handful and Nie Mingjue is tired of dealing with him.
Which makes him look around in the desperate hope that he’ll not see Wei Wuxian do something stupid already—it’s way too early for that—but when he finally finds him Nie Mingjue freezes completely.
Standing next to him is Jiang Cheng and dear gods. Is he a sight for sore eyes.
Nie Mingjue can’t help but to roam his eyes over his form and he wonders if his cheekbones were always this sharp and if that jawline always looked like it could cut right through Nie Mingjue and not even to mention the way his shoulders look in that shirt.
Fuck. Jiang Cheng really grew up in his time away.
Nie Mingjue is still debating if he should go over and say hello when Wei Wuxian turns towards Jiang Cheng who simply raises an eyebrow at him and says “No”.
Nie Mingjue watches in wonder how Wei Wuxian deflates, nods and then puts the fresh cup back down.
Oh heavens, Nie Mingjue thinks again, going just a little bit hot under the collar.
It’s that moment that Jiang Cheng catches his eyes and Nie Mingjue is not prepared for the way his eyes light up at seeing him.
“Mingjue,” Jiang Cheng says as he walks over and even his stride is different.
“Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue greets and is absolutely taken aback by the smile that hits him. “It’s good to see you,” he still somehow gets out and the smile only gets deeper.
“Likewise,” Jiang Cheng says and stands very casually next to Nie Mingjue. “I hope you’re doing well?”
“I am,” Nie Mingjue agrees as if Nie Huaisang is not talking to Jiang Cheng every other day and doesn’t keep him updated to boot. “How are you?”
“Oh, I’m perfectly happy right now, right here,” Jiang Cheng says with a teasing smile and Nie Mingjue almost chokes on his drink.
“What the hell, Wanyin,” he coughs out and Jiang Cheng looks torn between being worried and laughing right in his face.
“Are we over the flirting stage? Am I too late? Huaisang promised I wasn’t,” Jiang Cheng says and he doesn’t even have the grace to turn red in the face as he says it.
Nie Mingjue is completely taken off guard though and he blinks a few times at Jiang Cheng.
“Where does all this confidence come from? You wouldn’t even acknowledge my flirting back then!”
“Because I felt I wasn’t worth it,” Jiang Cheng confirms what Nie Mingjue has always suspected. “But being away from my family and all their expectations for four years has really helped me find out who I really am. I would say I have found my footing in life, I’ve found out what I want to do. And flirting with you is just one thing I want.”
“That’s so fucking hot,” Nie Mingjue whispers and he’s almost not at all ashamed to just blurt it out like that.
“Is it now?”
“Hell yes,” Nie Mingjue agrees. “And we’re not over the flirting stage, though if you keep going like that we might skip a few stages that normally come after and jump straight to this,” Nie Mingjue says and then pulls Jiang Cheng in for a kiss.
It’s a pretty daring move, even with what Jiang Cheng has said so far, but Nie Mingjue simply can’t help himself. He has missed Jiang Cheng and he was not prepared for this version of him; he’s pretty damn weak for his everything right now and he thinks Jiang Cheng deserves to know that.
“I can get behind that,” Jiang Cheng breathes out when they part but when Nie Mingjue wants to lean in again, he puts a finger to his mouth. “Though I like the idea of dinner with you almost a bit better. There’s always time for this afterwards after all.”
At that Nie Mingjue pulls down his finger and presses a lingering kiss to Jiang Cheng’s cheek, which apparently catches Jiang Cheng off guard for the first time that evening.
“With pleasure, Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue lowly says and he feels very accomplished when a shudder runs through Jiang Cheng.
“You did tone it down back then,” he mutters and Nie Mingjue smiles.
“You didn’t seem ready. I didn’t want to overwhelm you,” he admits and Jiang Cheng turns his head in for another fleeting kiss.
“Good thinking,” he agrees but then smiles a very wicked smile at Nie Mingjue. “But things are different now.”
“Oh, believe me, I have noticed,” Nie Mingjue laughs out and then moves his hand down until he can catch Jiang Cheng’s in his. “Let’s get dinner.”
“I’m the designated driver,” Jiang Cheng regretfully tells him but Nie Mingjue only shrugs.
“So am I. Do you know our brothers to end a party early?”
A beat of silence.
“Point taken,” Jiang Cheng finally huffs out and threads their fingers together. “Dinner it is.”
(It’s not just dinner. And it’s not just once. When Jiang Cheng finally decides to come back permanently and not only for visits, he moves in directly with Nie Mingjue, much to Wei Wuxian’s apparent surprise and Nie Huaisang’s visible glee.)
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#bt writes#12domc21#mingcheng#the untamed#mdzs#getting together#modern au#flirting#first kiss#self confidence issues#until they are not
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12 Days of Mingcheng 2021 Day 4 - Joke
Jiang Cheng can’t deny that he’s nervous. He put it off for so long to introduce Nie Mingjue to Wei Wuxian and he would honestly love to do it for another year or so, but it seems like matters were taken out of his hands when Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji crashed their dinner night.
“We can send them away,” Nie Mingjue says as he takes Jiang Cheng aside for a little bit of privacy. “Just say the words and I’m going to throw them out. No problem at all.”
Jiang Cheng would love to say yes—he would enjoy nothing more, really—but he knows that this is inevitable and that Nie Mingjue has to meet them eventually.
He just wished he got to prepare for this more.
“It’s fine,” he whispers back, overly aware of Wei Wuxian staring at them from the living-room. “I can deal.”
“But you don’t have to. If you don’t want to deal with this then you don’t have to deal with it, it’s as easy as that. I promise.”
“You’d have to meet eventually,” Jiang Cheng says with a weak smile, though his heart is beating fast in his chest with his fear.
Wei Wuxian has a habit of saying the wrong things at the wrong time and things between Nie Mingjue and Jiang Cheng are still new-ish enough that he fears one wrong thing will make Nie Mingjue walk away.
They have only been together for four months by now, but Jiang Cheng is already reasonably sure that he couldn’t stand it if Nie Mingjue did just leave him.
So he’s in no rush to have Wei Wuxian blurt something absolutely horrendous at Nie Mingjue and ruin the one good thing Jiang Cheng has in his life right now. The best thing Jiang Cheng has ever had, if he’s being honest and he presses his lips together.
“Let’s just get this over with and then we can go back to a relaxing evening, right?”
“Sure,” Nie Mingjue says with a frown and Jiang Cheng’s worry deepens.
He tried to explain to Nie Mingjue that he didn’t introduce them yet because Wei Wuxian is overbearing and rude and Nie Mingjue admitted to coming to his own conclusions about Jiang Cheng’s insecurity and when he said it, it hadn’t even hurt that much.
Nie Mingjue is right after all. Jiang Cheng is insecure all around and he guesses it’s a good thing that Nie Mingjue sees it, because then it’s a thing less he will leave him for.
“We can do this and it will be over in a flash, I promise,” Nie Mingjue says and drags him in for a quick kiss.
It’s of course met with a wolf whistle from Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng can feel himself blush, especially when he notices that Nie Mingjue only has eyes for him.
“Okay,” Jiang Cheng agrees and it’s only then that Nie Mingjue turns towards their not so welcome guests.
Jiang Cheng is honestly not sure how they keep Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian entertained for two hours but before he knows it, the time has passed in a blink.
And so far everything is going well, if Jiang Cheng dares to say it. Wei Wuxian has only put his foot in his mouth a few times and it seems like Nie Mingjue is not particularly upset over anything Wei Wuxian said so far, so that’s good as well.
Jiang Cheng should have known that he sets himself up for failure the moment he thinks about this, because one moment everything is fine and the next he comes out of the kitchen to see Wei Wuxian and Nie Mingjue shake hands and all of his worries and insecurities come crashing back in.
Nie Mingjue catches his eyes just as he lets go of Wei Wuxian’s hand and comes over, but Jiang Cheng doesn’t want to talk to him, doesn’t want to know what he just agreed to with Wei Wuxian and he definitely doesn’t want to hear how Nie Mingjue is going to mock their relationship right now.
Jiang Cheng hides away in his bedroom, but of course Nie Mingjue has no qualms about following him and it’s only a moment later that the door opens again to let Nie Mingjue in.
“I don’t want to talk,” Jiang Cheng snaps out, but Nie Mingjue has never been especially deterred by his temper and he isn’t so now either.
“I think we should, though, because you seem upset.”
“Of course I’m upset,” Jiang Cheng hisses and whirls around to him. “I saw you and Wei Wuxian shake hands. What was it about, huh? Is this all just a joke to you? Am I? Did you agree to date me for a while and Wei Wuxian just thanked you for your service so you’re going to fuck off now?” Jiang Cheng spits out and he can’t stand how Nie Mingjue’s face goes all soft.
“It’s not like that at all,” he promises him, but Jiang Cheng is not inclined to believe him this easily, even though he knows that it’s just his insecurities speaking.
“Then how is it?” Jiang Cheng snaps but he only struggles a bit when Nie Mingjue comes closer to take him into his arms.
“He dared me for a bet,” Nie Mingjue says. “Well—he made a fucking stupid, rude, insensitive remark and I took the bait and bet with him,” he explains and Jiang Cheng frowns as he pushes away from Nie Mingjue.
“What comment?” he asks, even though he can guess the direction it went into.
Wei Wuxian never did believe him when he said that he had a boyfriend.
“He insinuated that we were only playing the part of loving boyfriends,” Nie Mingjue very predictably says and Jiang Cheng sags against him. “When I told him that that is not true, he went on to say that he bets our relationship falls through before the month ends.”
Because no one could stay a prolonged time with Jiang Cheng. It’s just unfathomable to Wei Wuxian, despite the fact that he’s the most annoying person ever and Lan Wangji seems to be dealing just fine with him.
“What did you do?”
“I took him up on that bet, of course,” Nie Mingjue gives back. “I told him that I’m going to marry you and that we’re going to stay together until we die of old age, but since that is a pretty hard bet to keep I changed it a bit around. I told him we’d stay together until the end of the year at the very least and he took it.”
Jiang Cheng is barely aware of the words Nie Mingjue uttered after Nie Mingjue said he would marry him, and Nie Mingjue must read the surprise and disbelief right off his face.
“My heart, I love you. I know we haven’t been together that long, but I’ve been in love with you forever and we’re going to stay together. Of course I’m going to marry you.”
“You can’t know that,” Jiang Cheng gets out, his eyes already glistening with tears and Nie Mingjue kisses the high arch of his cheekbone.
“Of course I can know that,” Nie Mingjue says, completely assured and he brushes Jiang Cheng’s tears away when they fall.
“What did you bet?” Jiang Cheng asks, mostly to distract himself and here Nie Mingjue cringes.
“I wanted to make the bet something stupid, but he wouldn’t let me. So I said that he has to leave you alone for a month and cannot call or message you until you do it first, but he had to take it a step further.”
“Of course,” Jiang Cheng mutters, because it’s Wei Wuxian.
He always goes overboard.
“He bet his inheritance,” Nie Mingjue rushes out and Jiang Cheng freezes.
“He what?”
“I tried to make him reconsider, but he bet his entire inheritance on the fact that we’re going to break up this month.”
At hearing that Jiang Cheng moves away from Nie Mingjue and turns his back towards him.
Nie Mingjue knows of course that this is a very sore topic for Jiang Cheng so it wouldn’t actually matter if he saw or not, but Jiang Cheng honestly needs a moment to digest that.
Jiang Fengmian has left Wei Wuxian with quite a sizeable inheritance while Jiang Cheng only got the trust fund his grandma set up for him way back when, because he claimed that it wouldn’t do for Jiang Cheng to simply get some money. He has to earn it, unlike Wei Wuxian, apparently.
It was a hard lesson—and it still is—but Jiang Cheng thinks he’s doing reasonably well with the little he has and Nie Mingjue is teaching him a thing or two as well, so Jiang Cheng doesn’t feel as lost and as helpless as before.
But for Wei Wuxian to simply gamble it all away like that—
“I thought we could take sixty percent of it in the end and you get to decide what to do with it,” Nie Mingjue softly says as he comes up behind Jiang Cheng and hugs him to his chest. “I know you wouldn’t actually ever spend it all, but—I mean—he’s not going to notice if we have a dinner or two on his expense.
“He really wouldn’t,” Jiang Cheng chokes out and turns around in Nie Mingjue’s arms to hide his face away.
“But we’re not going to do that?” Nie Mingjue guesses and Jiang Cheng nods.
“We’re not going to do that. We’re going to properly invest it, put it in funds and stuff. And when he asks for it back, or asks for help, we’ll give it back to him.”
“Okay,” Nie Mingjue agrees without arguing even though Jiang Cheng can tell that he wants to.
Hell, he’s tempted to take a small percentage for handling it as well—even banks take interest after all—but honestly, this last year has shown Jiang Cheng that he doesn’t need these obscene amounts of money.
He can manage his life with the trust fund he has and his own income and that’s going to stay that way.
“So you’re not going to break up with me for the next one and a half month, huh?” Jiang Cheng then asks to shake himself out of this mood and Nie Mingjue huffs, clearly affronted.
“I said I’m going to marry you and grow old with you and this is what you take away from that whole conversation?”
“Maybe I just wanted to hear it again,” Jiang Cheng says with a smile as he looks up at Nie Mingjue and he immediately gets a kiss for his troubles.
“So no objections on either of those plans?” Nie Mingjue asks and Jiang Cheng realizes that he hasn’t actually said anything to that.
“Of course not. You’re it for me, too, you know. You’re my soul, I’m not going to give you up this easily, especially if you don’t want to be given up.”
“So never then,” Nie Mingjue immediately replies and kisses Jiang Cheng again.
By the time they remember that they have actual guests, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian have long gone and honestly, Jiang Cheng prefers it that way, alone with Nie Mingjue.
There’s nothing better in the world.
(Wei Wuxian does lose the bet and sixty percent of his inheritance. Jiang Cheng and Nie Mingjue do the responsible thing and properly invest it. Lan Wangji develops a huge grudge against them, especially when Wei Wuxian burns through the rest of his inheritance in less than a year. He never does ask Jiang Cheng for help even though Jiang Cheng outright tells him to do so at several points in his life, so he keeps the money for now. That only changes when Lan Sizhui comes along. Jiang Cheng has absolutely no qualms about giving the inheritance money—that did accumulate some interest over time—to him for his sixteenth birthday. Lan Wangji is—strangely enough—a lot nicer to them afterwards. Not that Jiang Cheng or Nie Mingjue care.)
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#bt writes#mingcheng#12domc21#the untamed#mdzs#modern au#established relationship#hurt/comfort#fluff#insecurities#background wangxian
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12 Days of Mingcheng 2021 Day 8 - Surprise
This also plays in the Magical, miracolous snake baby series and follows after Part 1 and Part 2, which you should probably read before this.
Jiang Cheng hasn’t seen Jiang Yanlei all day and by the time midday comes around he’s getting seriously worried.
“Mingjue, have you seen A-Lei?” he asks when he comes across his husband at the training field but Nie Mingjue only shakes his head.
“I mean she was there for breakfast but after that I haven’t,” Nie Mingjue tells him.
“At least she had breakfast, then,” Jiang Cheng mutters and Nie Mingjue motions for the disciples to keep on training while he comes over to Jiang Cheng.
“What’s wrong?” he wants to know and Jiang Cheng sighs.
“I’m not sure. I haven’t seen her all day and she didn’t come around for lunch either. And I can’t find her.”
“You’re worried,” Nie Mingjue sums up and puts a hand to the small of Jiang Cheng’s back before he leans in to kiss his temple. “You want me to help you look for her?”
“I’m not worried—” Jiang Cheng starts but falls silent when Nie Mingjue throws him a look. “Fine. I am. You know how she gets when she misses meals and usually she drops by to tell me about her day. But since I had to leave before breakfast today I simply haven’t seen her at all and I can’t find her at her usual hiding spots, either.”
“She didn’t leave Lotus Pier, someone would have notified us,” Nie Mingjue says with a frown and Jiang Cheng feels a little bit bad about worrying him too when he doesn’t have to, but there’s the niggling worry in Jiang Cheng’s head that maybe something happened to Jiang Yanlei.
“You know the disciples keep an eye out for her, always, right? Did you ask around? Maybe someone saw her.”
Jiang Cheng didn’t think about that yet if he’s being honest, and he’s glad he has Nie Mingjue around to keep a level head right now.
“Let’s do that,” he decides and Nie Mingjue immediately turns around to find someone to take over training for the day.
After that they move from the kitchens to the infirmary to Jiang Yanlei’s favourite swimming spots, but she’s nowhere to be found and no one has seen her either.
Jiang Cheng gets more worried the longer it takes them to find her and he can tell that Nie Mingjue is not faring much better.
“This never happened before,” Nie Mingjue mutters and Jiang Cheng sees how he clenches his fists.
“No, it didn’t,” Jiang Cheng agrees and reaches out to uncurl Nie Mingjue’s fingers and to thread them with his own. “But I am sure we’re going to find her.”
“What if someone took her?”
“You really think someone could simply march into Lotus Pier and take our precious baby? First of all, she is venomous and second, I do believe that our disciples are better than that,” Jiang Cheng says, trying to keep a calm head about all of this and Nie Mingjue nods.
“You’re right. Of course you’re right, I’m just—”
“Worried,” Jiang Cheng finishes for him because he himself is worried out of his mind.
“Zongzhu!” a disciple suddenly yells and comes up to them. “I head you’re looking for A-Lei?” he asks and bows but Jiang Cheng can’t be bothered with formalities right now.
“What do you know?” he demands, his grip on Nie Mingjue’s hand tightening.
“I am not trying to insinuate anything here,” the disciple starts and that alone makes Jiang Cheng go cold, “but Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji have been seen in the market this morning.”
“What?” Nie Mingjue breathes out, because technically neither of them are allowed into Lotus Pier at the moment, not that they seemed very eager to come back after Lan Wangji got bit and poisoned by Jiang Yanlei.
“You think they did something?” Jiang Cheng demands to know but the disciple shakes his head.
“They were turned away almost immediately, since we know A-Lei doesn’t like them and they are not—quite welcome at the moment,” he says and Jiang Cheng can’t help but to feel proud that his disciples are looking out for Jiang Yanlei like that. “But maybe she saw and their presence upset her?”
It’s as good a guess as any, Jiang Cheng thinks, but it still doesn’t help him figure out where Jiang Yanlei might be.
“I have an idea,” Nie Mingjue says and nods at the disciple. “Thank you,” he says before he’s dragging Jiang Cheng away, towards Jiang Yanlei’s room.
“She hates staying inside,” Jiang Cheng protests and it’s not like he didn’t look into the room to see if she’s there anyway.
“But maybe she hates seeing them more,” Nie Mingjue gives back and pushes the door to her room open.
“A-Lei?” he calls out, looking around the room, but Jiang Cheng immediately hones in on an inconspicuous lump under the blanket.
“There you are,” he breathes out, all the worry falling off him.
Nie Mingjue frowns at him, clearly not having noticed their daughter on the bed and Jiang Cheng points at the lump.
“How the hell do you always find her so quickly,” he mutters and now it’s Jiang Cheng’s time to frown, because how can anyone not see her immediately.
“Baobei,” Jiang Cheng says instead of commenting on Nie Mingjue’s comment and walks to the bed.
He carefully pulls the blanket away and just like he thought, Jiang Yanlei is under it, curled up in her snake form so she takes up as little space as possible.
Clearly she’s upset.
“Baobei, what’s wrong?” Jiang Cheng asks her and smoothes a finger over her little head.
“What has you this upset, huh?” Nie Mingjue also asks and Jiang Yanlei blinks up at them before she turns into her human form.
Jiang Cheng’s heart constricts in his chest when he sees that clearly she’s been crying.
“Oh, baobei,” he whispers and climbs into bed to pull her close, Nie Mingjue following right along, so she is sheltered between them.
“Tell us what’s wrong, okay?” Nie Mingjue mutters, his hand wiping away her tears that are still falling now and Jiang Cheng pushes her hair out of her face.
But Jiang Yanlei vehemently shakes her head and even struggles a little bit against Jiang Cheng and Nie Mingjue and Jiang Cheng is not going to admit it, but it’s breaking his heart.
They give her a little bit of space but don’t move away completely at all and eventually she glares at them.
“If you don’t leave, I’m going to bite you,” she threatens Jiang Cheng who simply shrugs.
“Fine, do it then,” he dares her, because he’s not going to leave his baby crying in her own bed without doing his hardest to figure out what upset her this much.
Besides, they managed to save Lan Wangji, so healing him should be no problem at all.
Jiang Yanlei honest to god hisses at him and Jiang Cheng bares his teeth at her in return.
“You truly are way too alike,” Nie Mingjue says and pulls Jiang Yanlei into his chest. “Baobei, no biting, especially not your baba, okay?”
“It’s not like it would work anyway,” she mutters and Nie Mingjue throws a questioning glance at Jiang Cheng over her head.
“What is that supposed to mean?” he whispers but Jiang Cheng has no answer for him, so he shrugs.
“No clue,” he gives back and then turns his attention back to their clearly still upset daughter. “Are you ready to tell us now what’s wrong?”
“Why do you care?” she wails and hides her face in Nie Mingjue’s chest. “You don’t want me!”
“Who the fuck told you that lie?” Jiang Cheng blurts out and apparently Jiang Yanlei is not upset enough to simply let that slide.
“No bad words,” she tells him under her tears and Jiang Cheng loves her so much that he simply has to lean in and pepper her face with kisses.
“Well, you said something really stupid, so bad words are allowed,” he decides. “Of course we want you. You’re our daughter and we love you.”
“You just have to say that cause I’m here now, but you didn’t want me,” she insists and Nie Mingjue sighs.
“Baobei, where did you hear that?”
“I was at the market today,” she lowly says. “And bobo and that stupid man were there as well, so I wanted to go over and give them a piece of my mind but then I heard them talking,” she admits and fresh tears spill over. “They said you didn’t even want me and that I was an accident!”
“Oh, my precious baby,” Jiang Cheng sighs out and gently turns her around, wiping her tears away. “First of all, we love you. You are our whole world, okay?” he asks her and Nie Mingjue nods.
“You’re our baby, there is no one we love more,” he agrees but Jiang Yanlei turns into her snake form and curls into a tight ball, clearly still upset.
“Listen, baby,” Jiang Cheng says and cups his hand around her body. “I don’t know if we ever told you how we got you, but Wei Wuxian is right when he says that you were an accident. Not a bad one, though!” he rushes to clarify. “Because you’re the best thing that ever happened to us. It’s just—”
“You know that you’re different from other kids, right?” Nie Mingjue jumps in. “Not everyone can turn into a snake, and that makes you very special. But that also means that the way we got you was very special. There was a lot of qi involved and a loud, flashy bang and probably a considerable amount of magic.”
“And when that was over and we could see again beyond the light there was a little egg waiting for us.”
At that Jiang Yanlei turns back into her human form.
“Was it me?”
“Of course it was you, silly,” Jiang Cheng says and boops her nose. “But what we are trying to say here is that we didn’t quite expect you and the process that made you was an accident. But it wasn’t bad and we love you so much that we wouldn’t trade you for anything. You were the best surprise of our lives.”
“So you’re not going to give me away when I misbehave?” she asks, her voice still quiet and scared.
“Of course not,” Nie Mingjue immediately says. “We love you no matter what. No one can take you away from us and we’re certainly not going to give you away on our own accord. You’re stuck with your baba and a-die for life now.”
“Do you promise?” she asks, clearly still not convinced that they are being honest with her and Jiang Cheng takes her hands in his.
“We promise, by our lives. You were the luckiest accident that ever happened to us, and we wouldn’t trade you or give you away for anything in the world. Not for anything, do you hear?”
Jiang Yanlei looks to Nie Mingjue as if she needs to hear him say it as well and Nie Mingjue kisses her head.
“Not for anything in the entire world,” Nie Mingjue confirms and when it brings new tears to Jiang Yanlei’s eyes they hurt Jiang Cheng just as much as before, even though now they are happy tears.
“I don’t ever want to leave you,” she sobs out and Jiang Cheng and Nie Mingjue move closer so that she’s all cuddled up between them.
“Then you won’t,” they say in unison and without leaving any doubt in their voices.
If their miraculous, wonderful baby doesn’t want to leave them then she will stay with them for as long as she wants.
(And she wants to stay forever. She throws a tantrum when she’s supposed to marry out. She doesn’t like going on night hunts if her a-die or her baba are not with her. And even when she does leave for extended periods of time—to visit Jin Ling, Nie Huaisang or her yeye—she always, always comes back home.)
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