#12domc2021

[immacaria]

Joke - 12 Days of Mingcheng

  Hello! Happy Christmas for those who celebrate it and I’m so sorry that I’m posting this so late. Anyways, this is day 4 of @vassar177′s 12 Days of Mingcheng with the prompt Joke! So, I hope you enjoy this and remember to stay safe and sound! 

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  Nie Mingjue couldn't believe his eyes, nor he wanted to because if did, he would have to deal with the fact that, apparently, his husband, his beloved Wanyin, a twenty-eight years old man with whom he was married for four years now, had just painted his older brother's hair bright pink and was hiding behind their bookshelf while Wei Wuxian looked frantically around for him. 

  Wei Wuxian had slept over after he and Jiang Cheng spent the whole night talking shit about Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan and drinking. Now, it seemed like they had bet something and he had lost. Nie Mingjue stood on the door, watching as his husband giggled like a child while his brother opened and closed their cabinets with his bright pink hair flying behind him. 

  "Mingjue!" Wei Wuxian finally screamed, having finally gotten a glimpse of him by the door. "Have you seen A-Cheng today?" 

  "No, I haven't." He said, moving away from the door and closing it. It was, at some stance, true, if he didn't count the call they had earlier, minutes before he entered one of his unfindable meetings. "I had to go out early to do so. Lots of meetings." He moved to a point where he couldn't see his husband anymore, which meant that neither could Wei Wuxian.

  "Wait, not even a video call?" He asked, eyebrows furrowed in disbelief. 

  "No. I had a lot of meetings today, Wei Wuxian." He said slowly, lifting an eyebrow at him. Oh, my god. , he thought, Even his eyebrows are bright pink too. Whatever and however Jiang Cheng had done to make it reach that colour, he had done it well. 

  "Lan Zhan had too and he interrupted one of his meetings to answer me when I called to show him this." He said, putting his hands on his hips and looking at him strangely. 

  "Talking about that colour, that's a, uhm, good one." It wasn't, hell it wasn't, but it was preferable talking about it than about what was wrong with that statement. "When did you decide to paint it?"

  "Jiang Cheng decided to do it out of nowhere!" His hands flew in the air in outrage as he remembered what his brother had done. "We were drinking and I joked that I've always wanted to paint my hair and when I woke up my hair was like this!" He pulled at his hair, showing that yes, everything was bright pink, not a strand of hair missed and that Jiang Cheng had done a pretty good job at that. Maybe he would recommend him to Nie Huaisang next time his brother wanted to paint his hair again. "Now look at it! It's pink! Bright pink!"

  "I thought you liked exaggerated?" He tried slowly, unsure of how to proceed. Sincerely, he thought that Wei Wuxian would have liked it with the way that he was always joking about bright colours and about painting his hair. 

  "Yes, I do! But it's pink! If it was red or even blue, I wouldn't be so shocked, but it's pink and I teach middle-schoolers. Middle-schoolers!" He rubbed his face frantically, clearly frustrated. "I have to go, I have to see if I can wash at least half of it off." He ran away, grabbing his coat on the way and slamming the door. Nie Mingjue waited some seconds to be sure that he wouldn't be coming back before slowly turning to where he knew Jiang Cheng was probably still giggling like a child. 

  Taking off his coat, he walked over there, squatting down to look at his child-husband and smiling at him. Jiang Cheng had his hair let down in a way that he generally wouldn't and his eyes were shining with unshed tears of laughing too much, he was still in his pyjamas and Nie Mingjue thought that he was adorable like that. Usually, Jiang Cheng raised earlier than him to go for a run and when he came back, he had been awake for time enough for his usual morning grumpiness to be gone and for Mingjue to be awake enough to have made both of them tea. 

  "Is it washable?" Nie Mingjue asked, trying to hold back his laugh, but failed miserably when Jiang Cheng covered his mouth with both hands and shook his head with vigour, eyes shining with mirth as he remembered what he did to his brother. "You are evil. Remember me to not, ever make you my enemy."

  "He was so shocked." He guffawed, throwing his head back and reaching out for his shoulders. "He looked so, so shocked, A-Jue." 

  "What did you do?" He was starting to laugh too as tears threatened to fall on Jiang Cheng's eyes. 

  "He-- He was-- He was sleeping and I went on and started painting his hair." Tears were definitely falling now and Mingjue couldn't hold his laugh either, holding him up as he fell afterwards. They laughed for a good while until none of them were breathing anymore and they had to force themselves to stop and try to breathe. 

  "I'm so happy that I married you." Nie Mingjue said, laying on the ground and caressing Jiang Cheng's long hair. 

  "Don't think that just because we are married I can't prank you." Jiang Cheng lifted himself in one arm, staring down at him completely seriously. They kept staring at each other for long seconds before he finally broke up and started laughing, laying down on Mingjue's arm again and kissing his jaw lightly. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding, no need to make such a worried face." 

  "You are horrible. Now tell me how you painted Wei Wuxian's hair." He rolled his eyes, snuggling closer to him and, as he proceeded to tell the odyssey that it was to do that prank, he breathed in relief that he wasn't on his range of pranks. 

  Because the thing was both Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian - And even Jiang Yanli, if the stories they told were true - were masters of pranks and their pranks were never easy to compete with. Nie Huaisang once told him that in one of their "prank wars", even Lan Qiren got involved and not even it made it stop. So, yeah, he wasn't happy about the prospect of getting pulled on those prank wars they had even if it was accidently, he liked his limbs just fine. 

 Still, days after the first prank, Nie Mingjue was still jumpy and weary of his surroundings, checking everything before using and tasting all the spices before putting on his food and drinks. Jiang Cheng noticed that and would always chuckled to himself before kissing the corner of his mouth and reassuring him that no prank was being pulled on him. He was starting to believe it when it happened. 

  The fact was Nie Mingjue got scared easily, even more easily than Nie Huaisang, which meant that any "boo" would have him jumping five feet in the air, but what scared him the most was body horror for sure. Maybe that was why his reaction was so exaggerated when one day he opened his freezer and sas a severed head there, blood frozen on it's face and their hair falling beside them. He had just woken up and was preparing his and Jiang Cheng's tea when it happened, right after Jiang Cheng had arrived from his usual morning run. Jiang Cheng had been in their room when his scream reached him and he came running to the kitchen, only to start laughing when he saw what Nie Mingjue was screaming. 

  "It's for Mo Xuanyu's birthday." He had said between laughs, holding himself on the dining desk and hugging his stomach. "It's a cake, my soul. Not a real head." 

  "That boy has problems. You all have problems if you are indulging in this." He grumbled, closing the door with more force than necessary and staring at him. "You could have at least warned me." 

  "I'm sorry, it slipped off my mind with all the preparations for the boy's birthday, but I assure you that it was not my intention to scare." He walked over to him, hugging his neck and kissing his cheek before a wicked smile appeared on his face. "Though I can't complain. Your face was adorable, all wide eyes and hands over it." Nie Mingjue moaned in pain, letting his head hit his shoulder as he started to laugh again. He let him laugh and all, but he knew what it meant and it meant war. 

  He started to plan, thinking on how he could prank him back and even searched on the internet for some ideas. In the end, he decided to fill his car with balloons while he was at work. One of the many privileges of being his own boss was that he could make up his own schedule to fit on his desires and his desires right then were for revenge and payback.

  Jiang Cheng worked at a small and local veterinary clinic ever since he graduated from college after leaving his previous job on his father's company to pursue his dreams. Back then, they hadn't been dating yet, but it didn't affect how proud he felt of him when he arrived at their weekly dinner telling what he did that day with a smile so big and bright that it illuminated the whole room. Now, after he graduated and found a job in that small clinic, Mingjue feared that sometimes he would explode with pride whenever his husband came home telling stories about his patients with a smile so big as that day. 

  That being, he asked for one of the secretaries to warn him when Jiang Cheng was busy to begin his prank. Once she gave him a green signal, Nie Mingjue ran to the parking lot where he knew that the car would be along both Nie Huaisang and Mo Xuanyu with bags and more bags of balloons filled with helium and the spare key in his pockets. They had spent the whole previous day filling those, profiting from the fact that Jiang Cheng would pass the whole day taking care of his nephews. 

  Mo Xuanyu would be the one to stay back to film his reaction when he opened his car and the balloons started to float out. The kid had just gained a new car from Jin Zixuan and would be using the fact that Jiang Cheng didn't know his car yet to go undercover while Nie Huaisang borrowed Wen Ning's to film the other side of it. At that time, Nie Mingjue would be back at his work so as to not lift any suspicion, just waiting for the good results of his planning. 

  And, oh, what good results they were indeed. When Jiang Cheng opened his car and the balloons started to float around, his face was priceless with confusion surfacing on it as more and more balloons hit him. He had immediately gone in an attack position, hitting them left and right before finally stepping away to look at his car in total disbelief as the last ballons got out and a cardboard cutout of him appeared, sitting on the passenger seat and smiling up to him. 

  "Nie Mingjue!" He had screamed, throwing his hands into the air in anger and, even if he knew he was fucked, Nie Mingjue still laughed loudly at that. 

  After that, the pranks happened as quick as they could come up with and he found himself surprisingly enjoying himself. In retaliation, Jiang Cheng came up with that old prank of the spider so that when he pulled on his toolbox, a spider would jump at his hands. He still could hear the loud laugh that he let out when he heard him screaming in absolute terror at the sight of the small and fake insect. 

  "You are on." Jiang Cheng said, passing in front of the room with a devilish grin on his mouth. 

  "You are gonna regret this." He hissed, taking a look at the spider before groaning loudly. 

  He let him off for some days, not doing anything and acting at the peak of his good behaviour, before finally striking down on a Saturday. Ever since Nie Huaisang knew Jiang Cheng, the boy would go over to their house and take naps at their couch while Huaisang worked on whatever it was at time and he never actually lost that habit. More times than not, if he wasn't home or with his nephews, it was probably that he was at Huaisang's apartment, just napping or talking shit with his brother while scrolling down his phone. 

  "It's done. And we are fucking doomed." Nie Huaisang said, closing his bedroom door and looking at him with wide eyes. "He's napping right now and all his nails are done. Even his feet, but I didn't put any acrylics on it obviously." 

  "Ok, good. Now, we wait." Nie Mingjue said, patting the space beside him. 

  "Do you want to see them? They are purple and they have lotus on them too." He pulled his phone out, snuggling closer to him. They were long, very long and they were stiletto-shaped. Some of them were fully painted with a dark purple while the others were a lighter shade and the both ones on the middle fingers had a lotus flower painted on it. He thought that they suited him very much.

  "Oh, you painted those? So cool." He said, scrolling through the photos he had taken. "Wait, you didn't post those, did you?" 

  "Of course not! Do you think I have a death wish? I will wait until he's awake and screaming with you to post it." A heartbeat passed and he added. "And take the opportunity to go home." 

  "Now that's more like it." He nodded, settling down and focusing on the documentary he was watching. They watched it to the end, judging the director's choices of lighting and editing and just the way they told the story in general. The second one was in the middle when a scream reached their ears and both of them let out a chuckle, looking to the door in expectation. 

  "Nie Huaisang!" Jiang Cheng yanked the door open, holding a hand out to show the nails. Just like Nie Mingjue had predicted, they suited him very well. 

  "Yes, Jiang-xiong?" Nie Huaisang said, turning to him with a smile. 

  "What are those?" He hissed and narrowed his eyes at him. 

  "Acrylic nails." He beamed at him, fully going into his mood of adorableness that no one could resist. 

  "And what are they doing on my fingers?" He got closer to them, shoving the nails to his face. 

  "That's with Da-ge. I don't know anything." With that, the little shit slipped away, already scrolling on his phone. 

  "Well?" Jiang Cheng turned to him and Nie Mingjue smiled sheepishly at him. 

  "I dare you to spend the whole weekend with them?" Nie Mingjue said instead of acting like a normal person and explaining that it had been a prank and that he could take them off if he wanted. 

  "You are evil." He sighed as he dropped on the mattress beside him before curling up against him and huffing on his neck. "There's going to be payback." He whispered in an oversweetly voice, kissing the end of his jaw and tapping his new nails on his chest. 

  "I expect such." He chuckled, kissing the top of his head and pulling him closer. "I love you." 

  "I love you too." He said at the same time Nie Huaisang reappeared and gagged at them. 

  "And you two are gross." He shook his head, making a disgusted face at them just to jump between them and settle down, showing them the new update on his Weibo page. "Look, my last post already has three hundred likes!" 

  "The one with the birdhouse?" Jiang Cheng said, moving his head closer to see the screen. 

  "Yes!" He was smiling big now as he and Mingjue rolled his eyes. 

  As the weekend passed, Jiang Cheng didn't take off his new nails though he knew how to do so from all the times he helped Nie Huaisang do so and if Nie Mingjue waa crazy enough - And he was - he would even dare to say that he enjoyed them. Every time someone made a bad comment about them, he gave them a sharp look and asked if they didn't had anything better to do than look at other people's lives and, when they were good, he would smile and say who had done them, showing them to the little kids who always seemed mesmerised by it. That was the reason that he thought that his husband had forgotten about the payback. 

  But, oh, how wrong he had been, how wrong. It was late Sunday and Nie Mingjue was taking a nap at his bed after a whole day of cleaning the house when he felt something passing over his lips and heard giggles coming from above him. Slowly, he opened his eyes to look up at whoever it was and saw as the person's eyes widened and they rolled away, getting out of the bed and scooting away from them. 

  "Oh my god. You are awake." Jiang Cheng giggled, putting a hand over his mouth and Nie Mingjue found himself not caring at all to whatever it was that he had just done to him just because of the mirth on his eyes. "You are lovely, my soul." 

  "What did you do?" He narrowed his eyes at him, trying to not let his smile out. 

  "Here, look." He gave him a small mirror and smirked. Then, as he looked at his reflection, he understood why he was laughing so hard. Jiang Cheng had shaved half of his moustache and was going to the second half when he woke up.

  "Fucking shit. You won." He whispered, moving his face up, down and to the sides to look at it properly. "Well, I think that you need to finish what you started, my love." 

  "Oh, do I?" His hands went down as he stepped further, climbing on the bed and straddling his hips. "Do you want me to shave everything?" 

  "Just not my eyebrows." He smiled, kissing his chin and putting his hands on his hips. 

  "I will try to not go that high." With that he started to shave the rest of his moustache and the beard that was growing up. Nie Mingjue let his face be manoeuvred around as his husband shaved him as he did many times in the past when he was too sleepy to do it himself. "There, all done." He smiled, kissing both his cheeks and the tip of his nose. "So, no more pranks?" 

  "Thank god, no. No more pranks." Nie Mingjue laughed, hugging his waist before looking at his reflection on the mirror and smiling. "I liked it. It has been a long time since I have seen myself without it." 

  "I know." And as an afterthought he added. "I like it too. It makes you look younger." He sat down at his ankles, analysing his new look. "Can I say something?" 

  "Of course, my heart." 

  "I loved the acrylic nails." He burst out in laughter, throwing his head back as his arms surrounded his neck. They laughed for a good while and all Nie Mingjue could think was that he wouldn't treat that over anything in the whole world. All because of those damned pranks they pulled on each other.

[vassar177]

Anyway I've decided to do 12 Days of Mingcheng again this year lmao

Prompt requests are open until Oct. 15

[immacaria]

Pure - 12 Days of Mingcheng

  Hii, so this for the 12 days of Mingcheng from the lovely @vassar177 who kindly let us all write something for it too. The prompt from today is pure and I hope you enjoy it! Have a good day and stay safe!

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  People called Jiang Cheng many thing. Stubborn, thick-headed, focused, brute, rude and generally angry, so, so angry. Yes, they said that some of it were good things, that he was admirable and inspirational, but nobody ever called him anything besides that. 

  So to say that he was surprised when he heard Nie Mingjue calling him 'pure' and 'cute' would be an understatement. He was at Qinghe local shelter, helping Mingjue take care of a dog who had just given birth when he heard those words and promptly freezed, slowly turning to look at him. He had the mom dog on his lap while he held one of the smallest puppies and cleaned him with a towel.  

  "What?" He said, not wanting to believe his own ears and blatantly ignoring the warm feeling on his chest. "What did you just call me?" 

  "What?" Nie Mingjue looked up and stopped petting the dog's head. His expression was morphed with confusion and happiness of having a dog on his lap - Jiang Cheng could relate - and he could already feel the back of his neck heating up. Oh god, what had he done? "Oh, I was talking with Liyan actually." He gestured to the sleeping, clearly tired dog on his lap. 

  "Of course you were." He grumbled, turning around to the other puppies. "Excuse me." He walked away, taking Junwei with him. They had put the puppies in another room, after Liyan had finished cleaning them and they needed to run a few exams on her. 

  He stayed there, watching them sleep and writing some things on his phone while it. When Mingjue called him earlier, he had seen no reason for him to do it since Jiang Cheng wasn't a veterinarian and knew almost nothing about dogs, though he did love them and always wanted to have one again ever since he had to let go of his own puppies when he was a kid. Still, he accepted the proposition and went to the local shelter to help. 

  Ever since he had got into college and started living closer to Qinghe than to Yunmeng, both Nie Huaisang and Nie Mingjue started to call him to dinners and movie nights. At first, he thought that it was nothing but pity because Nie Huaisang was Wei Wuxian's best friend, not his. But they kept doing it, no matter how many times he pushed them away and, sincerely, one could only refuse them so many times before giving up. 

  Usually, Jiang Cheng would stay in the living room with Nie Huaisang or in his room and take a nap or too while he made his artistic things before waking up and giving his feedback on whatever it was that he did at the time. Then, he began getting friends with Nie Mingjue and, like an idiot, he developed a crush on him. Nie Huaisang picked on it quickly and started on his quest to bring them both together, all while mocking him for crushing on his older brother. The bastard. 

  Since then, Jiang Cheng lived in constant fear of getting his secret revealed and yet, he couldn't deny Mingjue anything if it meant that he would get to see those little dimples just one more time. Now, here he was, in a dog nursery, looking at very cute puppies while writing a paper that was probably due next week and he would have to revise before submitting it back to his teacher. But he was happy to be there, he got to see dogs, helped bring some to the world and spent some time with his crush, though he wanted to delete that shame he endured earlier from his memory. 

  "Wanyin?" Nie Mingjue called, knocking on the door and putting his head inside the room. "Hi."

  "Oh, hi, Mingjue." Jiang Cheng said, saving his paper and turning his phone off. "How is Liyan?"

  "She will survive." He smiled, opening the door and stepping inside. "They were afraid that the fact that she was old would cause complications to her pregnancy and health, but nothing happened." 

  "Thank goodness." He let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, smiling at the playfulness in Mingjue's eyes. "I don't think I could be a single mother of one, let alone of five."

  "I see, I see. So how are the little ones? Did any of them give you trouble?" He said, looking over the crib where the puppies were sleeping. 

  "Nah, sleeping like rocks." He shrugged, looking at them too. "I put Junwei with them and they immediately climbed over to where he was."

  "Oh my god. It must have been so cute." Nie Mingjue was cooing at them, hand hovering over them as they whimpered and moved slightly in their sleep. That was a scene that not many get to see as much as it was a scene that not many could imagine happening. The big and scary Nie Mingjue, ex-UFC champion and current owner of a very cute cafe/flower shop, cooing at newly born puppies that didn't even know how to open their eyes yet. 

  "It was." He agreed, sneakily taking a photo of him and sending it to Huaisang as he started to laugh. Silence appeared between them when he stopped laughing and Jiang Cheng was starting to worry about the possibility of him trying to talk about their earlier conversation when he spoke up again.

  "So, what are you going to do now? Because I sure want a bath right now." Nie Mingjue said, turning to him and smiling widely. "We could take the chance and buy some mahua and youtiao on the way home."

  "Spicy mahua?" Jiang Cheng perked up in his seat, bringing his feet to the ground. 

  "Whatever you want." He smiled, moving to the door and opening it to him. They greet their goodbyes to the shelter workers, telling them to call any of them if anything happened to the puppies and to Liyan. 

  Nie Mingjue had given him a ride to the shelter after calling him and they had agreed that Jiang Cheng would be the one driving back to the Nie house after they were done, so he didn't hesitate to fish the car keys out of his back pocket and rush to the driver seat, cackling like a madman as he closed the door. As he started the car, Nie Mingjue got in the car, smiling at his childness and rolling his eyes at him. Though he knew how to drive, Jiang Cheng didn't get to do so usually because his parents still didn't want to buy him a car despite having given Wei Wuxian one on his last birthday. 

  So Nie Mingjue let him drive his car whenever he wanted because he knew that he liked to drive. He drove them straight to a little vendor in the street that sold the best youtiao he had ever eaten and waited in the car while Mingjue got out to buy some, pouting one of his playlist  to play while it. The vendor was a small woman from Yunmeng and she used a traditional recipe from there to make hers. 

  Ever since then, Jiang Cheng started to buy youtiao from her and ended up making both Nie Huaisang and Nie Mingjue addicted to it too. She was funny and liked to laugh loudly and, while she had strong opinions, she liked to hear other people's stories. According to her, when she was younger, her friends and family used to say that she would never find a husband because she was a brute and talked too loudly. 

  Now, her oldest granddaughter helped her and her two younger daughters were finishing college already. Jiang Cheng had been ecstatic when her granddaughter told him that, even if he knew her only for some months back then. So, he watched as Nie Mingjue pointed to where he was and the old woman waved animatedly at him, certainly putting more youtiao on their bags than what they had bought. 

  "That woman loves you, seriously. And she said that you were too thin." Nie Mingjue said, putting his seatbelt and the bags at his feet. 

  "I didn't even get out of the car!" Jiang Cheng turned to him, eyes wide. 

  "I know. She said that it's her mother's instinct kicking in." He chuckled, turning on the volume slightly. 

  "Gods." He groaned, rolling his eyes. 

  "She just loves you." He was smiling now and Jiang Cheng ignored the mirth in his eyes. "But, after all, how can she not when you are so cute?" His head whipped around so quickly that he feared a whiplash for a moment. 

  "What?!" His eyes narrowed in suspicion, checking if Mingjue was talking to anyone else than him. "There's no dog here and you aren't talking to anyone else, are you?" 

  "No, I am not." He smirked, turning to look at him properly.

  "And you just called me cute." He looked ahead, disbelief filling his veins like fire. Mingjue had just called him cute and there was no way he had been talking to someone else. Hell, he said he wasn't talking to anyone else. 

  "I did." He nodded, putting his chin on his right palm. 

  "Oh. My. Fucking. God." He said, eyes wide as he stopped under a red light. "You called me cute. Cute!"

  "And pure too." He added as Jiang Cheng turned to look at him. 

  "But you were talking with Liyan!" 

  "I got nervous! You looked so shocked when I said it that I panicked." 

  "Why? Why would you panic?" 

  "Because I like you, Wanyin." Nie Mingjue said, smiling at him as his mouth fell open. "I like you very much." Jiang Cheng didn't say anything, just stared at him as his words started to make sense. Nie Mingjue liked him, he liked him and had called him cute and pure earlier. He just panicked when he asked what he said because Jiang Cheng looked shocked. "Wanyin?"

  "You are such an idiot. I am such an idiot." He chuckled, eyes softening at the slightly afraid expression on his face. "I like you too, Mingjue." He lifted his hand and touched his cheek, laughing wetly at the relief on his eyes. 

  "Can I kiss you? Because I really want to kiss you right now." He said, his hands too coming up to hold his face. 

  "Yes." He smiled and kept smiling as Mingjue kissed him, slow and gentle, giving him space to step back if he wanted to. He did not, so, instead, he pressed forward, returning the kiss as gentle as him. They kissed for a while until someone behind them decided to blaster their ears with their horns.

  "Run over!" Jiang Cheng screamed, turning around to glare at the driver. "Asshole!" He snarled as he started the car again and took off, rolling his eyes. 

  Beside him, Nie Mingjue was laughing loudly, head thrown back and hand covering his eyes, and it didn't take long for him to start laughing too. Nie Mingjue liked him back and he had just kissed him. And because he called him cute and pure.

[immacaria]

Home - 12 Days of Mingcheng

  Hii, how are you all? So, I’m posting this a little bit later because I could only stop now. Anyways, this is day 3 of @vassar177‘s 12 Days of Mingcheng and the prompt is Home. So, enjoy this and remember to stay safe and healthy!

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  “You are not my son! You will never be my son!”   Those were the exact words that Jiang Fengmian screamed at him, tripping on his own feet and clearly drunk. Jiang Cheng knew that probably there was going to be an apology on his tongue the next morning - Sometimes, not even that, just dead silence - ready to blame it all on the alcohol, brushing it off like something that should be laughable instead of serious. Usually, he would do just that and go on with his life like his heart was made out of stone. 

  But this time, there was no reason for Fengmian to scream those things. In the past, he and Yu Ziyuan would argue about something - Likely the difference between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng - and he would scream that he would never be his son, that he would never look at him in such a way. Well, apparently, he didn’t need a reason to scream at the top of his lungs that Jiang Cheng was unworthy, that he was ashamed of having a son like him. 

  He had come home breaking everything that had Jiang Cheng’s face on and said everything he wanted to say, no matter who was listening or not. Jiang Cheng only heard the commotion, too scared to leave his room and see what was happening, before gaining the courage to finally break that last straw of hope that he stupidly still had. In less than thirty minutes, he gathered all of his things and tried to not think about what that meant.   As he waited for his father to go to the other side of the house, he didn’t have the courage to think about what he was going to do. He fantasized about it many times before, yes, but the actual doing was always pushed aside until that single moment, the anxiety that appeared on those previous moments always too big for him to deal with. So, as he heard Jiang Fengmian walking away, he ripped his door open and ran to the garage, climbing up on his bike as quickly as he could.   He kept pedaling as quickly and strongly as his legs would let him, the air like fire in his lungs everytime he inhaled and his visions fogged with unshed tears. His father’s words still rang in his ears. ‘Useless!’ ‘No good child!’ ‘Unfilial son!’ ‘Always the secondest!’ ‘Not my son!’ It was nothing that he hadn’t heard before, nothing new, but that time it hit differently and now he was running away like the coward he was. 

  At some point of the night, he arrived at the train station and with trembling hands and unwanted tears rolling down his face, he called one of the only two people he still trusted in this whole world. Nie Mingjue. They met each other because of his little gremlin of brother, Nie Huaisang, and slowly built up a friendship that was so much more stable than the one he had with his own sister. 

  “Can you come pick me up, please?” He said when Nie Mingjue answered on the third ring and his legs gave out, leaving him to sit on the flowerbed in the middle of the pavement. “Train station near my house. Please, be quick.” Putting a hand over his mouth to muffle a sob, he hung up before Mingjue could say anything. 

  It was no secret that he was openly crying now and looked as miserable as he felt inside, but he ignored it all and stayed there while trying to control his sobs once his tears were completely out of control now. But, then warm arms wrapped around him and the smell of lavender invaded his nose as someone caressed his hair, whispering things that he did not understand in a calm voice. Jiang Cheng didn’t know anyone who smelled like lavender but that didn’t stop him from clutching to them. 

  The person kept him secure in their arms, still whispering things he did not understand and starting to rock him back and forth in a way that he hadn’t been in a long time. That only made him cry harder, but the person didn’t stop and, at some point, they began humming a music that he vaguely recognized too. They kept doing it until he was calm enough to be trusted with an open bottle of water. 

  They made him drink almost half of it before pulling him against their chest again and coming back to the humming and rocking, not allowing him to move his head from their shoulder. It was only when the water bottle was gently taken from his hands and a warm coat placed over his shoulders that Jiang Cheng took note of the second person near him. He was a tall man with a serious face, black hair that reached his shoulders and was pulled back in a half bun and wearing a black coat over his clothes. 

  The man nodded at him, taking his hands in his and rubbing some warmth on them. Soon after, Nie Mingjue’s truck parked in front of them and Nie Mingjue climbed out of it while Nie Huaisang jumped out of the passenger seat, being quickly followed by Nie Zonghui. The first to reach him was Huaisang, who drew himself on his arms while the man with white hair and the person behind him got up to talk with the other two. Jiang Cheng would never admit that he already missed the warmth. 

  “I’m Song Lan and this is Xiao Xingchen.” The man in the black coat said, bowing to Nie Mingjue and Nie Zonghui. “Are you the people he called?”   “Yes, I’m Nie Mingjue and he is Nie Zonghui.” Nie Mingjue said, bowing along Nie Zonghui to them. 

  “Hello.” The other person, Xiao Xingchen, said. 

  “Jiang-xiong, what happened?” Nie Huaisang said, pulling back enough only to look at his face.   “What do you think?” Jiang Cheng sniffed, already knowing that his eyes would be swollen as hell the next morning.   “We found him crying here and decided to help.” Xiao Xingchen said when Nie Mingjue repeated his brother’s question to them.

  “I think he had a panic attack.” Song Lan said as Nie Huaisang helped him up, patting his jeans to clean them. He felt the back of his neck heating up when he noticed that he was still wearing someone’s white coat, probably Xiao Xingchen’s.

  “Wanyin, how are you?” Mingjue asked, walking up to him as Nie Huaisang took his position in the conversation. 

  “Shitty.” He breathed out, letting himself be hugged. 

  “Hmph, that’s the minimum, kid.” Song Lan said, shaking his head. 

  “Song Lan!” Xiao Xingchen interrupted his conversation and turned to him with wide eyes. “Be gentle.”

  “What? Listen, Wanyin, right? You had a panic attack, probably, or an anxiety crisis. Do you trust these people?” He said, turning to him. “Good. Then, don’t leave their side and be a fucking idiot that comes back to your abusers, okay? Stay with them.” He pointed to the bags beside his bike with his head. 

  “Yes, sir.” He nodded before shrugging the coat out. “Thank you for the coat and for the help earlier too.” 

  “No need to thank us. It was the bare minimum we could do.” Xiao Xingchen smiled, taking his coat back. “We have a son and a daughter that are a few years younger than you and I know that I would like someone to do the same for them.”   “I see. Thank you again and have a good night.” Jiang Cheng said, bowing deep to them as Nie Zonghui moved his things to Mingjue’s truck. The two of them bowed to him too before Xiao Xingchen stepped further and hugged him, smiling.   “Stay safe, kid.” Song Lan said, nodding at him before turning to leave with Xiao Xingchen hanging off his arm. As they went away, Jiang Cheng got in the car sitting between Nie Mingjue and Nie Huisang, who was sitting on Nie Zonghui’s knees. 

  None of them talked for a while, just looking to the road ahead, though he knew that Huaisang wanted to say something. He hadn’t given Nie Mingjue time to talk when he called and when they arrived two strangers were hugging him while he bawled his eyes out. So, yes, he knew that they all wanted to comment on whatever it was that was happening even if they were restraining themselves.

  At some point of the trip to the Nie’s house, he put his head against Mingjue’s shoulder and curled up around himself, slowly starting to tell them what happened. As the words left his mouth, it seemed like the dam had finally broken down and everything that ever happened in that house, between him and his parents, between him and his siblings were finally being told. All the fights, arguments and screams finally left the place where they had been staying for years at the bottom of his stomach.

  When he was finally done, tears were rolling down his face again and they had long stopped moving in favor of Mingjue hugging him tight against his chest. They had been like that many times before, Mingue hugging him and him crying like a baby, and, by now, he felt almost no shame in doing so. One time, he had told Huaisang that he was very lucky to have a brother like him and it was still true. 

  “We are here for you. You are not alone.” Nie Mingjue whispered against his hair as he moved aside, pulling him to his lap while letting Nie Zonghui take over the wheel and Nie Huaisang plastered himself against his back. “We are here.” He repeated as Jiang Cheng fell asleep. 

  When he woke up again, he was in his room in Nie’s house - It was the old guest room, but by now, it could be considered his room - and covered up by the horrendous blanket Nie Huaisang knitted him years ago. He fucking loved that blanket. It was one of the first things that started to identify that room as his, along numerous photos of him and the Nie brothers, all together or not, and some other things they bought along the years. Somehow, though it was not decorated to his likings, that room still felt more his than the one back in his parent’s house. He tried to not think much about it. 

  Slowly, he sat up, not wanting to be up yet, and looked around, seeing a cup of water and an aspirin sitting by the small table beside the bed. Jiang Cheng had spent a lot of time there ever since both Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian moved out to their own homes. This was the house where he hid after painting Jin Zixuan’s hair purple with Wei Wuxian and this was the house that sheltered him after every fight in his house. 

  “Yes?” Jiang Cheng said when someone knocked on his door. 

  “Jiang-xiong?” Nie Huaisang opened the door, putting his head inside the room with a small smile. “Feeling better?”

  “Feeling like I have been run over by a truck.” He massaged his eyes, taking a deep breath. “Don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Okay, it’s your choice.” He said, sitting at his feet and resting his chin on his hands. “Da-ge is finishing lunch, he wanted to know if you were already awake.”   “I am.” At least part of him was, the other one was still numb to the world. Silence fell between them as they stared at each other, Huaisang trying to find the right words and Jiang Cheng still too tired to speak. He saw his friend fidget with his nails, clicking them together and not looking at him. “Just spit it out, Huaisang.” 

  “So, me and Da-ge were thinking that since you already brought your things over here and already have this room, you could stay here, you know, for as long as you want. Like, no pressure, obviously, but, like, I already have so many ideas on how to decorate this room to your liking…” Huaisang kept going, hands flying around as he explained what plans he had for every centimeter of the room and Jiang Cheng processed what he had just heard. They were asking him to move in, to start living with them and even offered to decorate the room in a way that he liked. Involuntarily, tears appeared on his eyes again and he started blinking furiously to gather them away before they fell. “Jiang-xiong? Are you crying?” 

  “Of course not, idiot.” He sniffed before reaching out for him and hugging him. “Thank you.”

  “Hey, hey, no need for that.” Nie Huaisang hugged him back, clutching at him tightly. 

  “Ok, ok, let go. I need to brush my teeth and wash my face.” He pat his back, backing away from him and smiling. 

  “Okay, I’ll tell Da-ge you are staying.” He smiled too, standing up before giving him a quick hug and leaving. Jiang Cheng got up, sniffing a little before going to the bathroom and walking down to the kitchen where Nie Mingjue was just finishing lunch. They talked about what he wanted in a decoration and decided that they would go to Mingjue’s construction store for him to buy what he wanted. Then they agreed that they would start painting his room the next day and while they were doing it, he would sleep with either him or Huaisang. 

  After eating, he took a bath and got ready quickly, already imagining what he could do. Back in his old room, he used to think what he would do if he could decorate his own room in a way that made sense to him and not to the aesthetic of the house. Though he always joked with Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian that they would have free reign over his house, he actually had so many ideas to decorate it that probably didn’t align with theirs. 

  So, as they drove to Mingjue’s store, he let Huaisang show him his plans to the room, all of them in tones that Jiang Cheng usually wore or said he preferred. Some of the style choices were questionable, but he told him as much and then they started to redo them as he liked. All the time, Nie Mingjue was rolling his eyes and telling them that they could see that after buying what they wanted. 

  At that, Nie Huaisang turned to him with the most outraged eyes he ever saw his friend put on and practically screamed that they wouldn’t pay for anything in there. They started bickering and it was easy to pull the tablet from his hand to keep scrolling through the images. When they finally stopped in front of the store, he already had an idea of how he wanted his new room to be like. 

  The layout of the room was quite simple, when you entered the room the first thing he saw was the window on the other wall and the writing desk under it. In front of the desk there was the bed with a round pastel green rug under it, some shelves beside it and two paintings over the bed while the wardrobe stayed beside the bedroom’s door. In front of the bed, there was a TV and a dresser under it with a door on the left side that led to the bathroom. 

  When Nie Mingjue built that house, Nie Huaisang had designed that room to be the guest room though Jiang Cheng always thought that he had decorated it for him with all the questions he asked back in time. Now, they were going to actually decorate it for him and he should not be panicking like he was. Even though the store was not big, there was a lot of things for both decorations and constructions and many times in the past, Nie Huaisang, Wei Wuxian and him spent hours imagining a house where they would live. 

  “Please, don’t destroy the entire store.” Nie Mingjue said, opening the door for them. “And I’m talking only to you, A-Sang.” 

  “Why?! Jiang-xiong is hyperactive too!” Nie Huaisang stopped, turning around to stare at him. 

  “Yes, but I know how to put something back in place once I’m finished with it. Unlike you and Wei Wuxian.” Jiang Cheng said, making a face at him and feeling his face heating up at how Mingjue laughed loudly at that. 

  “Ehh, stop staying on Da-ge’s side, you traitor.” He pulled him away in the direction of the decor’s part of the shop. “Go, Da-ge. Off, shush. We have an important job now and you need to see your employees.” 

  “They know how to deal with clients just fine without me.” He grumbled at the same time that Huang Junjie appeared behind a shelf. 

  “Uhm, boss?” The employee said, lifting a hand to call his attention. “We have a problem.”

  “What is it, Junjie?” He sighed, turning to him and completely missing Nie Huaisang’s smug face. 

  “Byebye, Da-ge.” With that, he pulled him away from there, heading to his “area”. Just like that the rest of the day was wasted - No, not wasted. Used to - wandering around Unclean Realm’s shelves along with Huaisang and choosing what would be better in his new room. Somewhere along the way, Nie Mingjue joined them and it started feeling like home. 

[immacaria]

Surprise - 12 Days of Mingcheng

  Hi!! So this the second day of 12 Day of Mingcheng from @vassar177 and today the prompt is Surprise! So I hope you enjoy this one and have a nice day! Stay safe and healthy, dear ones!

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  Jiang Cheng was tired, though he knew that he really shouldn't. It was his birthday and he should be so much more animated than he currently was, should at least be pretending to be so much more excited if only for his siblings and their party's sake. After all, it was tradition for them to throw each other a party when it was their birthdays  and something good happened. 

  He was happy, don't take him wrong, and he loved his siblings' parties, but he was tired and all he wanted to do was go back home, take a bath, curl up around his boyfriend and eat as much ice cream as he could. This week had been hell and to worsen it even more, Mingjue was travelling for work and would only come back next week. Yes, he called earlier to give his wishes and talk for a while, but it wasn't the same as having him there, waking him up with kisses and breakfast in bed.

  Still, when he got home, he took a bath, got ready and waited until it was time for him to go to the party at Jiang Yanli's house. At least he would get to see Jin Ling and Lan Yuan, spend some time with A-Li and Wei Wuxian and eat cake while enjoying the way that Wei Wuxian choked on his piece whenever Wangji whispered something lewd to his ear. He had learned a long while ago to just ignore every time his brother started choking out of nowhere with Wangji beside him. 

  When the time came, Jiang Cheng took a deep breath and got up from his sofa, putting his keys in his pocket and heading to the building's front door. Nie Huaisang was going to give him a lift to his sister's house since Mingjue had travelled with their car and was about to arrive at any minute with Mo Xuanyu, Wen Ning and Wen Qing for them to go all together. He was texting Nie Mingjue about how his brother was a snail while behind the wheel when the snail parked beside him, putting half of his body out of the window and waving animatedly at him. 

  "Jiang-xiong! Happy birthday! Happy birthday!" Nie Huaisang said, putting an arm over the car roof. "Many years, laughs and smiles for you, Jiang-xiong!"

  "Thank you, Nie-xiong. Thank you." Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes, sending the message and putting his phone in his pocket. "Why the hell did you take so long to get here?" 

  "Don't blame me! It was Mo Xuanyu who took forever to get ready!" He said, going back to inside the car as he reached for the passenger door. 

  "That is a fucking lie, Jiang-xiong!" Mo Xuanyu said the moment he sat inside the car. "It was him who took three hours to get only his HAIR ready!" He pointed at him, eyebrows raised before flashing a bright smile to him. "Anyways, happy birthday, Jiang-xiong! Many happy years and success for you, I hope that everything you dream about comes true and that your life is filled with light and love. And money, let's not forget money!" 

  "Thank you, Xuanyu." He smiled at him, fistbumping him. "Hi, Wen Ning, Wen Qing." 

  "Jiang-xiong." Wen Ning waved to him, smiling too. 

  "Jiang Cheng." Wen Qing said, moving her head his way. "Happy birthday. I wish you many others after this, all of them happy, preferably." 

  "Me too, Wen-guniang, and thank you." He moved his head her way too. 

  "Here, from me and A-Jie." Wen Ning said, giving him a box. "It's not much, but it's from our whole hearts." 

  "And you better use it." She pointed a finger at him, but there was a smile threatening to break. 

  "I swear." He held a hand up, after taking the present from Wen Ning's hands. "And thank you." 

  "Now, mine." Mo Xuanyu said, holding a paper bag out for him. "Hope you like it." 

  "Thanks, Xuanyu." He fistbumped him again, turning to face the road and adjusting the presents on his lap. "I will open them when I get home again, ok?" 

  "Ok!" He said as Wen Ning nodded beside him. 

  "You better." Wen Qing said, on the other side of Mo Xuanyu. 

  "My present didn't arrive in time for me to give it to you now, but I swear that by the end of the night it's going to be in your hands." Nie Huaisang said, making a turn to the right.

  "And why didn't you make sure that it would be here in time? Aren't you and Meng Yao so good at planning?" Jiang Cheng said, narrowing his eyes at him.

  "I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! I don't know anything, ok? Please don't ask me anything." He shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment before looking around. "Which one of those is Yanli's house?" 

  "That one, right there." He pointed to a big house with beige walls and a lot of cars parked in the front. "A lot of people came, ahm?" 

  "For your birthday. See how loved you are?" He smiled at him, parking a little away from where the entrance was. "So, put on a happy face, idiot." 

  "Look who's talking." They made faces at each other before smiling and Jiang Cheng taking a deep breath. "Ok, let's do this." 

  "Think about all the cake you will get to eat." Mo Xuanyu hit his shoulder weakly, smiling at him. 

  "That's actually a good reason to look forward to the party. Jiejie's cake is always a good reason to look forward to things." He said, looking over the car as they stepped out. Soon, they were at the house's door and Jiang Yanli was hugging his neck with all the strength she had, wishing him a happy birthday and many, many years of happiness and love. She kissed his cheek, booped his nose and laughed loudly just like when they were kids and Jiang Cheng smiled at her. They had talked earlier too, right before he had woken up, Jiang Yanli called him to give her wishes, talk about the last details of the party and tell Jin Ling's latest shenanigans along with his friends. 

  "Happy birthday, A-Cheng. Many happy years and much love to you." Jiang Yanli said, smiling brightly at him while still holding his face. "Twenty-eight years already. Oh my gosh, I'm getting old." 

  "A-Jie, you literally have an eight years old kid." Jiang Cheng said, fondly rolling his eyes.

  "Yes, yes, but you and A-Xian will always be my first children no matter what happens." She pressed his cheek before letting go and stepping to the side at the same moment Wei Wuxian appeared in his line of vision, excitement clear on his face as he prepared to leap at him. 

  "Chengcheng! Happy birthday!" Wei Wuxian screamed, running straight to him like a mad man. 

  "Wei Wuxian, NO!" He screamed back as he threw the presents he was holding to Yanli and braced himself for the impact.

  "Happy birthday, A-Cheng! I wish you laughs, love and luck for you along with many, many lazy days and freedom!" He screamed the moment he jumped at him and put his legs around his waist. They tipped back dangerously and he felt both Wen Ning and Mo Xuanyu reaching forward to hold them as Wei Wuxian kept screaming at his ear, giving his wishes in the most exaggerated way that existed. "I love you! I love you! I love you!" 

  "I love you too, you idiot." He snorted, adjusting his grip on his brother. "We are too old to do this type of thing."

  "No, we are not." He laughed, pulling back to smile down at him. "As long as you can hold me without falling, I will do this every single birthday even when we are very, very old."

  "And I'm going to film it even when I'm very, very old too." Jiang Yanli said and both their heads snapped to her, who was laughing quietly behind her phone.

  "A-Jie!" They shrieked, both their faces getting red. 

  "Oh my god. That's why I don't like my birthdays." Jiang Cheng groaned, hiding his face on Wei Wuxian's shoulder while the asshole laughed with his head thrown back. "You two are impossible." He let go of him, furrowing his eyebrows. "I hate you." 

  "Oh, you do not." He draped an arm over his neck as Yanli plastered herself against his other side, stopping filming and switching to the front camera to take a selfie. 

  "Smile!" She said and Jiang Cheng pretended to not see her taking a photo before him and Wei Wuxian smiled too. "Thanks!" She kissed their cheeks before pulling away again and, instinctively, Jiang Cheng braced himself to whoever it was that was running at him again. 

  "Jiujiu!" Jin Ling screamed, kicking at his father's arms until he reached the ground and bolted at him. "Yuan-ge, Jiujiu is here." He said as he jumped at his neck. 

  "Goodnight, A-Ling." He laughed as he nudged his cheek with his nose, delighting himself with the laugh that erupted from the younger's mouth. 

  "Jiujiu!" The kid giggled, putting his hands over his face as A-Yuan appeared along Lan Wangji. "C'mon, A-Yuan, quick, quick." He kicked his little legs as if to hurry the other. "Cmon, c'mon." 

  "I'm here, I'm here." Lan Yuan said, smiling to him and Jiang Cheng nodded to Lan Wangji before kneeling down and lifting him too. "Wow, you can lift me too, Shushu?" 

  "Yes. I think that until you are thirteen years old I will be able to." His face lit up at that before Jin Ling pulled on his sleeve. 

  "Oh, yes, yes. Ok, A-Ling, three, two, one!" He said, nodding to his cousin before they screamed at the same time. "Happy birthday!" They kissed his cheeks, making a smacking sound when they departed and giggling. 

  "Thank you!" He kissed their cheeks back before putting them back to the ground and hugging them. "This kiss is better than any presents that your parents may give me."

  "I can't even argue with that." Wei Wuxian said, shrugging before lifting Lan Yuan and putting him on his shoulders. "Now, let's see the other guests. They are all waiting for you." He put a hand on his shoulders, slightly pushing him ahead. They smiled at each other as they walked in the living room where almost all of his friends and family were, smiling and waving at him.

  All of them walked up to him, surrounding him and patting his back while wishing him many years of life, love and all the good that came in his way because he deserved it. They showed him their presents and, in a blink, he was sitting on the couch with Jin Ling and Lan Yuan by his sides and Lan Jingyi, Lan Xichen and Meng Yao's son, was sitting in the same coffee table in front of him, teaching him how to play a new game that their parents had bought for them. It was a good birthday and he was happy, but he was still missing Nie Mingjue and, though they were going to call each other later that night to talk, he still wanted his boyfriend to be there with him. 

  "A-Ling, dear, why don't you take your Jiujiu to your room and show him the new videogame your father brought for you?" Jiang Yanli said, joining them on the couch and fixing Jin Ling's hair. 

  "A-Niang!" Jin Ling said, pulling away from her hands and passing his own hands over his hair. "My hair is fine. C'mon, Jiujiu, let me show you the new game." He got up and Jiang Cheng hit him upside the head, glaring at him. "Sorry, A-Niang, I didn't want to sound so rude." 

  "It's okay, A-Ling, now get your Jiujiu out of this living room because we have to finish his surprise and with him here, we simply can't do it." She said, caressing Jiang Cheng's head when he looked up at her with furrowed eyebrows. 

  "Surprise What surprise?" He said as Jin Ling grabbed one of his hands and Lan Yuan grabbed the other, pulling him towards the room. "A-Li?" 

  "Bye, A-Cheng." She waved at him as the kids pulled him away to Jin Ling's room.

  "Betrayed by my own sister." He huffed, rolling his eyes as Jingyi's small hands pushed him. Once in there, they sat in Jin Ling's bed while said boy went to start up his video game and Lan Yuan searched for the new game, Jingyi sitting beside him on the bed and munching on some chicken wings he stole from the kitchen. 

  "Want some?" He offered the pot and a napkin to him. 

  "Yeah, sure." He shrugged, taking the napkin and a chicken wing. "So, what's this game about?" He asked as a heated conversation came from the living room. Whatever this surprise was, they clearly couldn't decide on how they were going to give it to him or what it was going to be given Wei Wuxian's screams of It can't be like THIS, for sure! and Nie Huaisang's of But it's the only way that FITS! Sincerely, whatever it was that they wanted to give him, he was starting to feel apprehensive towards it. Greatly apprehensive.  

  "War." Jin Ling said, letting out a maniacal laugh and Jiang Cheng smiled at the weird look that Jingyi gave him.

  "No offence, but your nephew is crazy." His nose scrunched up as he bit another wing.

  "Which one of them?" He too took a bite of his chicken wing, lifting an eyebrow at him. 

  "The young psycho mistress right there." The boy's ears got all red once he noticed Jiang Cheng looking down at him. 

  "Hey!" Jin Ling's head whipped so quickly that for a moment he was sure that he had suffered a whiplash. "Fuck off!" He threw a pillow at him as Lan Yuan turned to him. 

  "Jin Ling!" He scolded, holding himself on one of the shelves near him.

  "The surprise is ready!" Wei Wuxian screamed, opening the door with more force than necessary. "Wait, were you going to fight?" He stopped for a moment, looking as Jingyi held a pillow up, ready to launch it right back at Jin Ling. "Eh, you finish that fight after the surprise. Now, c'mon, c'mon!" He waved his hand at them, calling them back to the living room. "C'mon, don't you all want to see your Uncle's surprised face?" They went back to the living room where nothing was waiting for them, though the coffee table had been put aside to give space to something else. 

  "Well, I'm going to be sincere, I'm a bit disappointed with whatever it was that was going on here." Lan Jingyi said, pointing to all directions at once. 

  "Jingyi!" Meng Yao screamed from the other side of the room, laughs erupting around them as Jingyi startled at it. 

  "C'mon, A-Cheng, sit here." Jiang Yanli said, patting a spot on the couch "Excuse me." She said as she wrapped a black blindfold around his eyes. Hushed whispers surged around him, asking to bring the surprise again and again and he heard the kids' gasps as someone entered the room bringing the so-called surprise. He knew that someone was kneeling in front of him and putting a box on his lap, but he knew that perfume and no way in hell he was here. "Wait, wait, wait. Don't take it off." Yanli reached for his wrist when he lifted his arm. 

  "But..." He started before Nie Huaisang interrupted him. 

  "It's part of the surprise, Jiang-xiong." He said, earning a huff and a begrudgingly 'fine' from him. Slowly, he reached for the box and felt around until he found a ribbon, starting to pull on it until it was free and he could pull the lid off. The moment it came off, something jumped at him and it almost escaped from his hands when a shriek left Wei Wuxian's mouth, yet he managed to hold it. 

  "Fuck, is this a dog?" He whispered as the little puppy moved it's head to meet his cheek and oh, god, it really was a dog. "Oh, fuck!" He ripped the blindfold off and there was another surprise waiting for him. 

  "Hi, my heart." Nie Mingjue smiled at him, his eyes almost closing with the force of it. 

  "Idiot!" He punched his shoulder before throwing himself at him. "Was this your idea?" 

  "No, it was Wei Wuxian's, actually." He said, hugging him. "I'm just here to give you this little cutie." 

  "Really?" He turned to his brother, who was giving him a forced smile while hiding behind Lan Wangji. 

  "Did you like it?" Wei Wuxian said, looking over Wangji's shoulder. "A-Jie sent me the photos and we chose it together." 

  "I loved them. Thank you, Wei Wuxian. Thank you, A-Jie." He bowed to them, holding the little puppy against his chest. They were a small, brown dog and were wearing a purple ribbon around their neck. "You are the cutest thing ever." 

  "How are you going to name her?" Jin Zixuan asked, an arm around Yanli's shoulder and holding Jin Ling's hand, and Jiang Cheng already had the perfect name to give her.

  "Xiao Ai." He cooed at the puppy and laughed when she licked his nose. Mingjue hugged him, kissing his temple and pulling him closer, and he waved for the kids to come closer to see Xiao Ai. The kids kneeled around him, petting the little puppy and he put it on Lan Yuan's lap before getting up to go where Wei Wuxian was still hiding behind Wangji. "Come here, you asshole. He pulled him closer, hugging him tight. "Thank you for the surprise."

  "You're welcome, A-Cheng. I'm happy that you are happy. " Wei Wuxian hugged him back, making him smile to himself. 

  Maybe later in life, something would overcome that surprise and Jiang Cheng wouldn't be so emotional over it. But, until then, that would be the best moment of his life and he would forever cherish it.  

[immacaria]

Deserve - 12 Days of Mingcheng

 Hii! So another fic for @vassar177‘s 12 Days of Mingcheng and the prompt is Deserve! There a some OCs, but what’s new with my fics? So, I hope you enjoy it and remember to stay safe and sound!

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  Jiang Cheng knew that something was wrong because if it wasn't, Nie Liang wouldn't be there hogging his training fields and learning fighting styles that the Nie Sect definitely didn't use. The young girl was angry, he could see that, but anything could have got her worked up like that, let it be her father refusing to buy her sweets or throwing knives or something serious as a night hunt gone wrong. Usually it was just because Nie Mingjue refused to buy her sweets and she wanted to antagonise him. 

  Still, as her godfather, he had to endure her tantrums every single time she ran to Lotus Pier to complain. Seriously, sometimes he thought that she was Nie Huaisang's daughter rather than Nie Mingjue's. Yet, this time he knew that there was something truly troubling her because she was training with her sabre instead of her throwing knives.

  When she was younger and visiting Lotus Pier with Nie Huaisang, she had seen some of his cousins on his mother's side training with their knives and fell in love with it. Ever since then, Nie Liang chose knives as her favourite weapon rather than the traditional Nie sabre. Jiang Cheng watched as his goddaughter repeated the fight stances again and again until she threw it away, letting out a scream that scared the birds around as much as the impact of her sabre against the trees. 

  "Nie Liang!" Jiang Cheng screamed, crossing his arms and walking up to her.

  "Jiang-shushu!" The girl turned around with wide eyes. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail and she was wearing simple robes appropriate for training. "I thought you were visiting your sister in Lanling? Jiang-shijie said you were visiting her." 

  "I was. I just arrived from there, but it doesn't explain why you are bringing trees down on my sect's territory." He said, watching as the tree she hit dipped aside before falling with a loud crash and making her jump. "What happened, A-Liang?" A sigh left his lips as her eyes lit up again, anger clear on her face. 

  "That, that, that husband of yours that is driving me insane!" She screamed, throwing her hands in the air and starting pacing around. 

  "Husband?" He was not married to Nie Mingjue. 

  "He thinks that he is immortal, Jiang-shushu, when he clearly is not! That or then he has accepted his death and doesn't care about me, you or San-shushu as much as he says he does!" She ignored him, opting to keep on her pacing and wait, had she said 'death'? "I tried to convince him to listen to anyone, anyone that could help him but, no, Liang'er, I know when my time has arrived and if it has to be this way, it shall be this way." The way she was acting was exactly like Jiang Cheng when he was complaining about Wei Wuxian to Nie Mingjue, though he didn't sound like that at all. 

  "What is happening, A-Liang?" He sighed again, rolling his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. 

  "BABA IS DYING AND I CAN'T DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT!" There were tears rolling down her face now and she was sobbing in a way that Jiang Cheng never saw her do, but he was too shocked with what she had just said to do anything besides stand there and listen to what she was saying. 

  Nie Mingjue was dying from qi deviations and he didn't even think of telling him about it, didn't even think about what would happen to his loved ones after his death. Yes, it was his option to tell him or not, Jiang Cheng had nothing to do with him after all, but hide it from Nie Liang? No, that he couldn't accept, not when Nie Mingjue said numerous times that the girl was the most precious thing in his life.

  So he flew to Qinghe as quickly as he could, anger and despair filling him up with the prospect of being too late. Nie Mingjue had suffered another qi deviation and Nie Liang had witnessed everything and, despite only being fourteen years old, she helped calm him and protect the other ones. After that she went to talk with Nie Huaisang and when he didn't answer her thoroughly she ran to Lotus Pier, maybe  thinking that he would have answers. 

  He did not and he didn't like that one bit. The moment he arrived at the Unclean Realm nobody tried to stop him, maybe too afraid to cross his way - As they should, one voice said in his mind. Once, Nie Mingjue had said to him that his face was as scary as his mother's and he had been offended at that, though now, he thought it was good because if nobody dared to cross his mother's path, they wouldn't dare to cross his. Except, of course, for the one and only Nie Huaisang. 

  "Jiang-xiong, please, he is in no condition to see anyone now." His friend said, trying to match his steps. "Jiang-xiong." 

  "See if I care, Nie-xiong." He hissed, not turning around. "He should have thought about it before hiding it from A-Liang. You two should have." And then Nie Huaisang made the mistake of saying it had been for her own good. "Her own good? Her own good? What good there is in the fact her father is dying and she doesn't even know why? Where good is in the fact that apparently her father has accepted her death? What good there is in the fact she can't do anything to help?!"

  "Jiang-xiong!" Nie Huaisang screamed back at him, fan closed and raised in the air as if ready to strike down at his head. "I can't deal with another person I love suffering from a qi deviation, so you better start controlling yourself before I hit you over the head with my fan!" He waved that thing in the air menacingly, narrowing his eyes at him in challenge. "Good. Now tell me, where is A-Liang?" He said when Jiang Cheng showed no sign of moving, but did take a few breaths to calm himself. 

  "Back on Lotus Pier, where else?" Jiang Cheng scoffed before taking another breath. "I managed to calm her down before she brought any more trees down or successfully scared all the birds away. I left her sleeping in her usual guest chambers." 

  "Thank gods." Nie Huaisang breathed out, putting a hand on his chest and breathing out in relief. "I was worried after she ran away and even sent some disciples after her, but someone taught her way too well how to evade and make others get lost." 

  "I have nothing to say about that." He huffed, rolling his eyes and turning around to go to Nie Mingjue's chambers. 

  "Wait! Jiang-xiong!" He called out, but Jiang Cheng ignored him in favour of walking faster. In mere minutes he saw himself in front of Mingjue's chamber, taking deep breaths and trying to gather courage for what he was about to see. Nie Liang hadn't been able to give much details to her father's condition, too taken by grief to actually talk about it more, and Jiang Cheng hadn't pushed. Now, he was starting to think he really should have. "C'mon, Jiang Cheng, what are you afraid of? It's just Nie Mingjue." He whispered to himself as his mind said Yes. Only Nie Mingjue, recently out of a qi deviation and prone to another that can possibly kill him. 

  Jiang Cheng was not stupid, despite what other people usually thought, and he knew how dangerous a qi deviation could be, even more after one so recently. His intentions were never to put Mingjue in danger, but then he remembered Nie Liang's tears and heart-wrenching sobs and the anger appeared on him again and all he wanted to do was scream at him until the next reincarnation. That was why he practically ripped the door from it's holders and marched into the room until he reached the bed where Nie Mingjue was laying and nothing in the world would ever prepare him for what he saw there. 

  Nie Mingjue was a big guy, everyone knew that, but seeing him there, laying down on his bed and looking so fragile and pale, he asked himself how the hell he ever thought he was unbreakable. His eyes were deep and there were dark circles under there while his breath came out ragged and weak, as if he was still fighting for life but deciding it wasn't worth it. Immediately, his thoughts jumped to the young girl sleeping back in Lotus Pier and how terrifying it must have been to watch her father, her only parent, end up like that. 

  He must have gotten too deep in his thoughts because the next time he looked at Mingjue, his eyes were open and looking at him and his hand - Still too weak and too cold - was holding on to him. They stared at each other for some minutes before Mingjue pulled him down, forcing Jiang Cheng to move around until they found a comfortable position for both. He took a deep breath, body relaxing beside him, and looked like he had gotten older. 

  "Liang'er told you." Nie Mingjue said and it was not a question, it was just a statement of the facts. 

  "Yes. Yes, she told me you are dying and decided to not tell me." He didn't mean for his voice to come as sharp as it had, but Jiang Cheng had never been a soft one, had never known how to show something that was not sharp and dangerous, had never known how to love another way. "Why didn't you let her tell me? Or even Huaisang?" 

  "Liang'er didn't know until my last one and I made Nie Huaisang promise me that he wouldn't tell you because I wanted to be the one to do so." Nie Mingjue sighed, running his fingers through his hair and, in other circumstances, Jiang Cheng could have fallen asleep right then and there. "I wanted to find the right words to tell you but I guess that there are no right words for something like this." 

  "No, there are not." He said, just because he didn't know what else to say.

  When Nie Mingjue asked him to choose a name for his cousin's daughter, Jiang Cheng thought he had been joking or had some second intentions about it. But then it turned out that no, he had not, and slowly he started to make an effort to have him participate in Nie Ruoyu's life. Somewhere along the way, they found their way to each other and started a relationship.

  "What are you thinking about, my heart?" Nie Mingjue whispered after minutes of silence from Jiang Cheng. 

  "What can we still do?" Jiang Cheng got up on one shoulder, looking down at him as he sighed again. "Don't make that face at me, Nie Mingjue, or do you think I will let another person I love die?" 

  "My heart..." He started, but he was having none of it. 

  "None of 'my heart' now. Let me talk." Now he was fully set up. "I will not lose another loved one if I can stop it. I don't fucking know why you aren't accepting any more help, Mingjue, but I will not give up so easily." 

  "We tried everything, A-Cheng. Every cure we had in our books and every cure the Lan sect had in theirs, none of them worked. None." 

  "Fuck the Lan Sect! You haven't tried the Yunmeng Jiang way yet and I know that we lost much of our knowledgement in the war and don't have as much knowledge about qi deviations as your sect, but we damn well know how to work together and we have a genius with us too. Believe me, Wei Wuxian can create anything possible in this world and make it work." He took a deep breath, blinking the tears away. "If you don't do this for me or A-Liang, do it for yourself. You deserve to have a good life, filled with people that love you and annoy you to no end. You deserve to be loved, Mingjue, and I won't let that not happen. There is a reason why my sect motto is attempt the impossible." 

  "Alright." Nie Mingjue nodded, eyes wide and shining with something that Jiang Cheng did not want to decipher just yet. "Alright, yeah, we will do it your way."

  "Good." He nodded too, laying down again and curling up against him. "Also, A-Liang called you my husband." 

  "Oh, gods." Nie Mingjue groaned and turned around to pull him in a hug. "I have to get better, she is spending too much time with Huaisang." And as an afterthought, he added. "Not that she is so wrong, though." He giggled, hiding his face in Jiang Cheng's hair. 

  "I hate you so much." He rolled his eyes, trying to not laugh too. It was going to be alright, they were going to find a way to heal Nie Mingjue and give him all the love and affection he deserved.

[immacaria]

Wait - 12 Days of Mingcheng

 Hello! This is day 5 of @vassar177‘s 12 Days of Mingcheng and the prompt is Wait. So I hope you enjoy this and stay safe and sound!

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  Meeting the Jiang side of Jiang Cheng's family was calm, easy even, Nie Mingjue already knew most of them - Even if he disliked most of them - and meeting them as Jiang Cheng's boyfriend hadn't been any news. But the fact was, though he cared for the Jiang side, the real ones that his boyfriend was close to was his mother's, the scary family Yu. He had heard stories and he wasn't exactly anxious to meet them. 

  Yet, when Jiang Cheng asked if he wanted to meet his popo, Nie Mingjue couldn't say no. After all, it had been that old lady that took care of Jiang Cheng whenever the Jiangs were too "wild" as Wei Wuxian said. Jiang Yanli told him stories about the parties they gave and, though they weren't as crazy as the Jiangs, somehow they came off scarier than those. 

  Differently from their counterparts, the Yu could be even considered too posh and too upscale, always dressing to the highest of the trends and using clothes as expensive as Nie Mingjue's car. Their matriarch was Yu Taifeng, Yu Ziyuan's mother, and the scariest old lady Nie Mingjue had ever heard of. Still, they managed to be more open and caring, according to Jiang Cheng. 

  On the other side, most people he knew always talked about the Yu family like those person that always looked people down, as if everybody was there only to serve them and Nie Mingjue understood, he really did, because after meeting Yu Ziyuan the only possible outcome was that they must be, even if a little bit, arrogant. But then Jiang Cheng would start to talk about his Da-gumu and how she had ripped her older sister's bicycle tire once because she was jealous of her with another girl and this big smile would appear on his face and Nie Mingjue doubted they were so bad like that.

  So, yes, if you asked him how he was with the idea of meeting the Yu side of the family, he would say that he was excited for it, but he was mostly terrified. Not because he thought that Jiang Cheng would leave him if his aunties didn't approve of him, but because he didn't want to put him in a bad position. Now, while they were travelling to Meishan for the "Monthly Yu Reunion".

  "Mingjue, you getting nervous is making me nervous." Jiang Cheng said from his seat behind the wheel without looking at him. "It's going to be fine, my heart. They are going to love you, I know they are."

  "Why are you so sure about that?" Nie Mingjue said, stretching his hand out for him and smiling when he held his. 

  "Because I love you and if they love me as much as they say, they will love you too." He kissed his hands, smiling too. "Now, for all that is sacred, calm down or else they will eat your liver." 

  "That's so soothing, dear." He groaned, letting his head fall back and enjoying the way that he laughed loudly at that. After that, he tried to calm himself, thinking of the best scenarios that could happen and thinking of what he could do if something bad happened. 

  Besides him, Jiang Cheng was drumming his fingers against the weel, humming the music playing on the radio, but he seemed nervous too, his shoulders tensed up as the time passed and they got nearer Meishan. So, Nie Mingjue did the only thing he could that would both relax him and Jiang Cheng at the same time and took his phone out, connecting it to the bluetooth of the car. Though they didn't have the same tastes in music, most of the time they were close enough to both of them to hear, but the important thing was if they could sing together.

  "Oh. My. God. You idiot." Jiang Cheng laughed as Nie Mingjue sartd to sing A Whole New World from Aladdin in a very, very exaggerated way. "Why are you like this?" He smiled at him, shaking his head before starting to sing Jasmine's part. At some point in the music, they were laughing too much to actually sing, but that had to be the intention, to just relax him. 

  "Better?" He asked, turning to him and putting his head against the seat. 

  "Yes." Even if he was rolling his eyes, there was an easy smile on his face and Nie Mingjue knew that his mission had been accomplished. "Now, really, you don't have to fear not being well-received by them, they are going to love you." 

  "Ok, ok, if you say so. But, please, tell me who I have to latch on to if you leave me alone." It was a joke, yes, but at least it brought another laugh to Jiang Cheng's lips. 

  "Definitely Er-gumu or Yu Xiuzhen for you. If not her, my cousin, Youwei, served too. She is a bit crazy, but has a good heart and will help you survive the others." And after a heartbeat he added darkly. "For the right prize." 

  "I think I will stick with Yu Xiuzhen, thank you." He nodded, rapidly making a resigned face. Jiang Cheng laughed at that again and they fell in a comfortable silence, just enjoying the music and each other's presence.

  Nie Mingjue knew that Jiang Cheng liked to drive in silence, just hearing some music and having a good company by his side, but almost couldn't do it because there was always someone blabbering near him, usually Nie Huaisang or Wei Wuxian or even both. So, he liked to stay in silence when they were travelling around. 

  At some point of the trip, he must have dozed off because in one moment he was blinking and yawning and in the other, Jiang Cheng was shaking his shoulder and telling him they arrived. Nie Mingjue stared at the mansion before them, taking in all the details in them and thinking that his house could fit in there three times and there was still going to have some space left. If he knew more about different architectural styles, maybe he would have been able to appreciate the beauty of it more, but at least he knew that it was beautiful as fuck as Jiang Cheng would say.  

  They were parked right in front of the mansion and there was already a young girl and an old man climbing down the stairs to meet them at the bottom of them. The young girl had pastel blue and green hair and was using the highest platform tennis Mingjue had ever seen and her smile was so big that it was taking her whole face. Meanwhile, the man had a serious, almost sober expression on his face and, though taller than the girl, he was obviously smaller than Jiang Cheng, wearing the telltale clothes of a butler.

  "Chengcheng!" The girl said and Nie Mingjue did not laugh at how similar the grimaces on both Jiang Cheng and the butler are. 

  "Youwei, would you stop calling me that?" Jiang Cheng hissed as the girl - Probably his she-devil of a cousin, the infamous Yu Youwei. "I'm almost twenty-eight."

  "Only at the end of the year, dear cousin!" She said in a singsong manner as she turned around to look at him, an arm still around her cousin's neck. "So, this is the man, uhm? Pretty tall and muscular."

  "Waigong, please kill me now." He turned to the man and Nie Mingjue felt his cheeks hitting up at the realisation he thought that the man was the butler. "Why are you dressed as the butler?"

  "A-Mei has him wrapped in her little finger, that's why." Yu Youwei said, making a face when her grandfather hit her upside the head. 

  "We have a guest, A-Wei, behave." He said before turning to Nie Mingjue and doing the same thing his granddaughter did seconds before. "My name is Zhang Ling and it's a pleasure to meet you, Mister..."

  "Nie, Nie Mingjue, and it's a pleasure to meet you too, Mister Zhang." He bowed to him and when he got up again Zhang Ling was looking at him approvingly. "Yu-meimei."

  "Just A-Wei is fine, big guy." She said, moving away from Jiang Cheng to link their arms together. "Now tell me, are you doing this for my dear little cousin's money or because you are one of the last people on earth who does not care about that?"

  "Yu Youwei!" Zhang Ling scolded as Jiang Cheng pulled her away from him. "Have you been drinking your mother's cocktails again?"

  "Ignore her, please, Youwei doesn't have that thing called a filter!" He held his hand and it was just then that Nie Mingjue noticed how his hands were shaking. 

  "No and he didn't answer my question." She pointed an accusatory finger to him and he squeezed Jiang Cheng's hand to calm down. 

  "Because it's an absurd question. If I was after money, I would have went after Lan Xichen, the heir of the Lan Company, and believe me that would be easy for he's my best friend since we were kids." His voice was so sharp that it could easily cut stone. "If you don't believe me, that's on you, but the only reason I'm with Wanyin today is because I love him and all I want is to see him happy, even if it means that I have to not be in the picture." Agonising seconds passed before Yu Youwei started to laugh loudly and Zhang Ling nodded approvingly at him while Jiang Cheng only stared at him with wide eyes. 

  "If my grandson trusts you enough to tell him his Yu name, then I trust you too. So, please from now on, call me waigong or Zhang-waigong." Zhang Ling patted his shoulder before turning around and walking up the stairs again. 

  "Popo is so going to love you." A big, bright smile appeared on his face before he pushed in for a quick peck on his lips. "Now, let's get inside before someone else appears." He rolled his eyes, pulling him up the stairs. 

  As it turned out, the someone else was all waiting for them in the living room with all kinds of expectations, even more after Youwei eagerly told them what he had said at the entrance of the house. Then he was parading around, meeting all of Jiang Cheng's aunties, cousins and uncles - Most of them were by marriage and didn't share the same surnames of their wives - and getting bombarded by similar questions and assumptions. He really hoped that his answers were satisfactory enough for them to stop some time soon because otherwise, they were going to have a problem very soon.

  "I'm sorry for them. I don't know why they were so insufferable today." Jiang Cheng said, falling back at the bed of the guest room they would be staying in before dragging himself up to fall against him. "They are not like this usually." 

  "It's okay, my heart. They are just making sure that you will be treated well." Nie Mingjue sighed, pulling him closer and kissing the top of his head. They had finally got a moment of peace ever since they arrived and all because Zhang-waigong told them to get ready for dinner, though he thought he did it to give his grandson some time alone with his boyfriend. "And it's already an improvement from the Jiang side." He joked, even if there was some truth beneath it. 

  When he met that side of Jiang Cheng's family last year, it was at the New Year's Party and the only thing that left their mouth was that he should not worry so much about Jiang Cheng and should take care of himself too, like Jiang Cheng was some kind of burden that he had to bear. He had been very, very close to beating someone up at that party and, in the end, he did. Had it been his highest moment? No, but it certainly had been his proudest, especially after Jiang Fengmian hit the ground cold out. 

  "You know, if you told them how you punched my father dead cold, they would certainly adopt you." Jiang Cheng said after some time of just playing with the hem of Nie Mingjue's shirt. 

  "Not happening. I want to make a good first expression." He said, shaking his head and running his fingers through the other's head. "Even if I'm damn sure they would laugh as hard as your mother and you." 

  "More." He got up, stretching his arm above his head. "I'm going to take a bath, care do join?"

  "You know I don't." They smiled at each other as he got up, already taking his shirt off. They didn't take long in the bath, but it was enough time for someone to sneak in their room because the moment they stepped out of the bathroom, they saw a little girl wearing pigtails and a pink and purple twirly dress and he thanked the god above  that made them get out of the bathroom already dressed. He certainly didn't want to traumatise the youngest of the Yu in his first hours there.

  "So it is true." The little girl said, amazement shining on her eyes as she stared at Nie Mingjue. "You are big. And tall. And beautiful. Is that a tattoo? A-Niang likes tattoos, she has a lot of them, but my Mama says I can't do any of them because I'm only six." Nie Mingjue turned to Jiang Cheng slowly, lifting one eyebrow while it. "Oh, hi, Biaoge. Nice to see you."

  "Biaoge?" He mouthed as Jiang Cheng sighed and walked up to his cousin. 

  "Only grandson, remember?" He hissed before picking up the girl. "A-Mei, what did Er-ayi say about talking non-stop and entering other people's rooms without permission?" 

  "That it's bad and I shouldn't do it because people will think that I have no education and I'm a savage though I am not a savage." She said, looking too sober to a kid and probably copying what someone else said to her. 

  "That's right. Now, introduce yourself, okay?" He turned to him with the little girl on his hips, looking unbearably soft, and Nie Mingjue ignored the way his heart beat a little bit faster at that.

  "I'm Yu Limei, it's a pleasure to meet you, sir." The little girl, Yu Limei, said, bowing the best she could while being holded up by her cousin. 

  "I'm Nie Mingjue, it's a pleasure to meet you too." He bowed too, smiling at her. "You can call me Jue-ge if you want."

  "Can I really? So cool! You can call me A-Mei, then!" She clapped her hands together before seeming to remember something. "Oh, also, A-Niang told me to tell you that you two should get it on with whatever it was you were doing because dinner is ready." 

  "Oh, A-Mei." Jiang Cheng groaned, turning around to leave. "You should have said that first." He shook his head as Nie Mingjue started to laugh. 

  The first person he saw the moment he stepped in the dining room was Zhang Ling and, on his right, there was Yu Taifeng as the head of the table and looking at him unimpressed. On her right there was her older daughter, Yu Lihong, with her husband and Nie Mingjue guessed that if You Ziyuan was there too, she would be right after her sister. After her there was Yu Meili alone, Yu Xiuzhen - Yu Limei's mother - with her wife  and then there was Yu Zihan with her evil twins according to Jiang Cheng. There was a space between Yu Lihong and Yu Meili and he guessed correctly that it was there for them to sit in. 

  "So you are the famous Nie Mingjue, the one that finally convinced my first and only grandson to bring someone home." Yu Taifeng said, eyes scrutinising him as if searching for any flaw he had and then maybe she liked what she saw because a small smile appeared on her face. "I have just one question for you, though. If given the choice would you leave your everything for him? Your family, friends and everything else?" Nie Mingjue stopped, staring at her for a moment as he thought about what he should answer. 

  "Yes. Yes, I would because he is my everything." He said, nodding once and matching her in her seriousness.

  There was tension around all of them as Yu Taifeng seemed to reevaluate him once again and he didn't look away from her staring. Besides him, Jiang Cheng was too looking at his grandmother, shoulders tensed as he waited for her answer or any sign that he had been approved by her. Nie Mingjue was the first partner Jiang Cheng brought for them to meet officially and, really, he understood why he was so nervous. 

  "Popo, please, the wait is killing me!" One of the twins, Yu Xuanyue, said, throwing herself over the table in a dramatic manner. Mingjue would have done the same if he could.  

  "You are so dramatic." Yu Minfan said, rolling her eyes before looking back at her grandmother again. "What do you think, Popo?" She asked and, after some too long seconds, Yu Taifeng smiled at him, her eyes softening as everyone around them breathed in relief. 

  "You have my blessing, but if you break his heart, I'll break your head personally." She pointed a finger at him, suddenly looking as menacing as her daughter and Nie Mingjue could see from who they all had inherited being scary. "Let's eat." Then the dinner continued and more questions were thrown in his directions, though this time they were more laid back and relaxed. At some point, people stopped paying attention to them and he took the opportunity to lean near Jiang Cheng and whisper. 

  "Does this mean that we don't have to wait for their blessing to get married?" 

  "Nie Mingjue!" Jiang Cheng screeched while he laughed loudly. And, as Yu Xuanyue would say, it was worth the wait.

[immacaria]

Cryptid - 12 Days of Mingcheng

 Hii, so this is another fic for @vassar177‘s 12 Days of Mingcheng with the prompt Cryptid. So I hope you enjoy it and have a good day! Please remember to stay safe and sound!

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  There was a legend going on in the cultivation world about the Yu sect and certain powers that they had, about how they could turn into monsters, getting so strong that no man or animal could beat them. Legends and stories appeared around the sect, but none of them could be proved, even though they were widely believed by the other sects. They watched the disciples of that sect from afar, waiting and hoping for them to do something wrong that would let them attack, but it never happened and, slowly, the stories were forgotten and left aside, though the fear and mistrust remained. 

  Not that Nie Mingjue believed those rumors and tales to begin with. He had to deal with the Yu sect before and, sincerely, despite the stubbornness and scary faces when they were angry, there was nothing there to indicate that they were monsters like everyone said. If anything, only the fact that sometimes their younger disciples appeared in places where they weren't before and nobody listened to them getting near, but that was easily explained with the type of training the disciples passed through. 

  So, maybe, that was the reason why he was so shocked when Jiang Cheng transformed himself into a giant panther in one of their nighthunts. They were trying to supress an evil spirit that the Jin disciples angered early when they discovered that it was too strong for them to suppress alone and it hit Nie Mingjue across the chest, sending it flying back and leaving him alone to deal with the spirit. But the spirit was no longer interested in him after tasting Nie Mingjue's blood and went after him, doing just enough to keep Jiang Cheng at bay. 

  When he noticed that something strange happened on his face as his eyes turned all back and fangs grew on his mouth before he jumped at the creature's back, transforming on a giant panther and sinking his teeth on its neck to drag it away from Nie Mingjue. Between all of that, Nie Mingjue, who had been trying to get up, fell back to the ground, staring ahead of him as the other ripped the monster apart with his claws and fangs. Though it was clear that he was winning, the beast still managed to hit Jiang Cheng a few times before it was laying on the ground, bleeding and unmoving. 

  Once he determined that it was no longer a threat, he turned around to check on Nie Mingjue, getting closer to him and shrinking to the size of an almost normal panther while sniffing at his chest. He tried to stay as still as he could as the panther checked for other injuries, sniffing and pushing him to the sides gently. After seeing that there was none, Jiang Cheng was back by his side in a blink, applying pressure to the wound on his chest after sending a fire talisman to warn where they were. 

  "You are hurt too." Nie Mingjue said, trying to lift one of his arms to press the gushing wound on his arm. "What?" He said when he noticed Jiang Cheng staring at him with wide and confused eyes. 

  "Nothing. And stop talking, you have to save energy." Jiang Cheng shook his head, batting his hand away and turning back to the injury. While they waited for the others and he transferred spiritual energy to the wound, Nie Mingjue stared at him and tried to imagine how he could turn from that human body to that giant panther he saw minutes ago. It was certainly impressive and frightening, but he would be lying if he ever said that he didn't find it kinda hot. 

  In less than seconds, Jiang Cheng destroyed the beast with his claws and fangs alone and the damages to him were almost none. Right now, he didn't show any signs of injury though he could see some on his arms and torso where the beast had been able to reach while they were fighting. He wanted to ask what he was, how he could do that and so much more, but he knew that the Jiang disciples were almost arriving and possibly bringing Lan Wangji with them, so he didn't have the time for that.

  Yet, he didn't have to wait much to get to talk with Jiang Cheng alone. After that day, the younger Sect Leader seemed to be committed to the idea of avoiding Nie Mingjue for the rest of his life and he would be able to if he had just remembered to tell Nie Huaisang that they weren't talking, not that it would have mattered anyway. Two days later from that encounter, Nie Huaisang sent a letter asking for his presence in the Unclean Realm and though Nie Mingjue had a fair idea of why he called him, he was still curious to see it. 

  "Da-ge, what's better? This or this?" Nie Huaisang said, appearing in the throne room with a robe on each hand. "Or should I mix them?" 

  "I don't think any of them really suits you, A-Sang." Nie Mingjue said back, sighing as Nie HUaisang looked at him outraged. The boy had been asking that kind of question since the sun had risen and didn't show any signs of stopping. "Why are you asking me this, anyways? It's not like there is any festival coming any time soon." 

  "It's not for me, Da-ge! Have you ever been listening?!" He screeched, stomping his feet on the ground petulantly. "It's for Jiang-xiong. Why do you even think I asked him to come here? This is one of the very rare opportunities where he isn't so busy with Sect matters and can spare some time for me, his best friend." 

  "What was the excuse you used for him to come here?" He sighed again - That was happening a lot that day - and rubbed his temple, feeling a headache coming. 

  "That you wanted to talk with him about some Sect business." He waved him off, turning back to his robes. "Really, Da-ge, which one is better?"

  "The one on the left." The blue details on that one would really bring out Jiang Cheng's eyes prettily and match the fur of his animal form.

  "Alright, Da-ge. Thank you!" He said, walking away while still looking at the robes and comparing them while Nie Mingjue shook his head at him and turned back to the papers on the desk.

  He tried to focus back on those, knowing that he was already behind with most of those due having spent the last two days in bed recovering from the injury on his chest. Apparently, Jiang Cheng's ones had been more superficial than his and he was back to his feet in mere hours while he had to spend two whole days resting. However his mind kept wandering back to that night where all the tales about the Yu revealed themselves true to him. 

  The last two days had been spent on that task of pushing those thoughts as far away as he could, trying to not think about how the beast was ripped away from him in one swift motion and in less than seconds was torn to pieces, laying dead in front of him while the panther hovered over it. He remembered the way that he had come closer to him, sniffing at him and looking so worried that Nie Mingjue's heart ached for him. Shaking his head, he forced himself to focus on the papers in front of him getting at least something done and, in the end, he did got some work done before Jiang Cheng appeared on the throne room, looking as if he was ready to fight a war and win if it meant that they wouldn't talk about that night. 

  "Hello, Jiang-zongzhu. I believe you are here because my brother sent a letter to you." Nie Mingjue said, putting his brush down. 

  "Yes. He said you wanted to talk with me." Jiang Cheng bowed down to him before sitting in front of him and staring at him with furrowed eyebrows. "What is it?" 

  "Do you like kung pao?" He said, putting his hands on his thighs and lifting an eyebrow while trying to not smile at the confused look on his face.

  "Yes." He said, though it sounded more like a question than an affirmation. "Why?" 

  "Because I think we will have that for dinner." He shrugged and he could almost see the vein popping on his forehead. 

  "Would you just..." He began, voice loud as thunder before stopping and taking a deep breath. "Just say what you have to say about that night and let's move on from it." 

  "What is there to say about that night, Jiang-zongzhu?" He asked, lifting an eyebrow at him. 

  "Nie Mingjue, for the love of..." He got up, glaring at him before sitting down again and putting his head in his hands. 

  "Jiang Wanyin, I don't know what you are talking about. The only night I recall was the one where you saved me fro that angered beast and from that I'm forever grateful to you." He got up and bowed deeply to him, staring down at him while the younger Sect Leader's face morphed from anger to confusion and then, finally, understandment. It was good that he finally understood it because as Nie Mingjue got up from his bow, Nie Huaisang entered the room and stopped at the scene. 

  "Da-ge, you aren't scaring Jiang-xiong away, are you?" Nie Huaisang said, narrowing his eyes at him while getting closer to his friend. 

  "You better start treating with respect before I break your legs." He waved a finger at him as he pulled Jiang Cheng to his feet, pushing him in the direction of the door while showing Mingjue his tongue. "Get back here!" He screamed as his brother quickened his pace, closing the door after him with too much strength. With a chuckle, he fell back to his seat, shaking his head and focusing on the rest of papers in front of him. 

  Later that day, he finally discovered why his brother called Jiang Cheng there. Apparently, he was painting something new and wanted Jiang Cheng to pose for him, being so excited about it that he decided to skip dinner to keep painting though he did release his model to eat. Now, it was just Nie Mingjue and him eating while Nie Huaisang did whatever it was that he did while he was painting. 

  "Did you know that your brother paints more of his own face than the painting itself?" Jiang Cheng said, fanning himself with one of Huaisang's fans. Nie Huaisang had in fact used the robe that Nie Mingjue suggested and, damn, wasn't he right? Jiang Cheng was perfect on those and, though he hadn't an artistic eye like his brother, Nie Mingjue could appreciate real beauty when he saw it. 

  "I do, actually. I've seen him painting before and it's a mess." Nie Mignjue said, chuckling at the agreeing hum he did. "But I understand the exaggeration he does everytime he sees you all dressed up like that." 

  "What?" His head snapped up at the commentary and just then Nie Mingjue noticed what he had just said. 

  "Well, I mean, you're handsome, but you know that already, and when you use robes that pretty you only get more handsome, like as handsome as when you transformed into that panther that day." He said, only stopping when he noticed what he had just said. "That was pretty impressive, actually."

  "You really weren't afraid of me that day? Disgusted? Horrified?" He said, putting his chopsticks down and staring at him. 

  "No, I thought that was amazing. Especially the way you ended that beast so quickly." He nodded, too, putting his chopsticks down. "I don't know from whom you inherited that from, but I know that it's amazing and, with honesty, I would like to know more if you would let me." For several minutes, Jiang Cheng stared at him like he was crazy and couldn't believe him before shaking his head in disbelief and letting out a small laugh. 

  "Don't you know about the gossip people spread about the Yu sect?" He asked and there was something akin to amusement in his eyes. "About how they are monsters and how they are cursed? Well, that is true, at least to some instance." 

  "Alright." Nie Mingjue nodded as he seemed to gain more courage to keep speaking. 

  "Everyone on the Yu Sect can shift into leopards like me and, though everyone is different from one another, we all look alike..." He started before Nie Mingjue interrupted him and asked who he looked more alike with. "My grandmother. Shijie looks more like A-Niang." 

  "Really? Then I think she is scary like her, right?" He smiled, thriving when a small smile appeared on Jiang Cheng's lips. 

  "You haven't seen even half of it." And as an afterthought, he added carefully. "If you would like to." 

  "I would." He joined his hands, bowing to him.   “Careful, Nie-zongzhu, or I’ll assume that you are trying to court me.” Jiang Cheng joked, bringing his tea cup up and hiding behind it.   “Then I promise I won’t be.” He smirked, lifting his chopsticks and nodding in his way once more before starting eating again. 

  Nie Mingjue didn't know what exactly he had just agreed to, but he knew that he didn't care for as long as it let him get closer to Jiang Cheng.

[immacaria]

Confidence - 12 Days of Mingcheng

  Hello! So, this is the second fic I post today for @vassar177‘s 12 Days of Mingcheng and the prompt is Confidence! So I hope you enjoy it and have a good day!

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 Nie Mingjue watched as Jiang Wanyin stood beside his disciples, lifting an eyebrow at the Jin disciples that kept talking besides having one of the most scaring Sect leaders staring down at them. He didn't know what they were talking about, but what he did know was that the Jiang disciples were two seconds away from breaking down and jumping at their necks and if he knew Jiang Wanyin - And he did - he wasn't going to stop them. Which, fair. 

  Those new Jin disciples were being insufferable lately and it would be good if someone just put them in their places. Everyone had thought that now that Jin Zixuan was the new Sect Leader along with his wife Jiang Yanli and had his brother, Jin Guangyao, by his side, the usual arrogance that the Jins usually portrayed would disappear. They were, obviously, wrong and it was a matter of time before one of the other Sects' disciples snapped. 

  They just got unlucky that those disciples were the Jiangs. 

  So, he watched as Jiang Xiaosheng, one of the oldest disciples since the war, stopped a fish vendor, pulling him aside to ask how much the fish was costing. They were out at the market and Nie Mingjue was at the tea shop alone and watching the streets, that was how he found the Jiang-Jin dilemma happening on the street. Drinking from his cup, he watched as Jiang Xiaosheng got one of the fishes by its mouth after dropping some money on the merchant's hand. 

  The boy turned to another disciple, Jiang Weili, one of the "middle child" as Jiang Wanyin said, tapping her on the shoulder before putting the fish on her hands at the same time one of the Jin disciples started on their rambles again. She turned to him, eyes aflame, as she aimed at him and threw the fish at him, hitting right into his mouth the moment he opened it. He stopped at once, looking shocked and outraged as he turned to her. 

  When he started to talk again, another fish hit his face and Xiaosheng dropped more coins at the merchant's hand. From his seat, Nie Mingjue tried to hold his laugh - And tea - inside his mouth as Jiang Wanyin looked at them. He had his eyebrows raised up in a way that could be either disbelief or amusement, it was hard to tell from that afar.

  Then, from that moment on, every time one of them tried to talk, Jiang Weili threw a fish at them and, most of the time, it hit them right in the mouth, bringing disgust to their faces. Every time that happened, the other Jiang disciples had to hold their laughs and so did he. It ended up happening so much that Nie Mingjue was sure that was the merchant's happiest day and Jiang Cheng's most dreadful one. The Jin disciples got tired of having their mouths shut for a fish every time they opened it and finally stormed away, leaving the Jiangs to hold their laughs until they were very, very away from them. 

  He smiled against his cup too, watching as Jiang Cheng sighed and ordered his disciples to collect the fish from the ground and wrap them up while he paid the poor merchant who just had his products vandalized by them. The disciples faked loud groans as they kneeled down to do as ordered and hid their smiles while it. Nie Mingjue got up, paying for his tea and heading back to Cloud Recess, where all the Sects were staying in for the conference. 

  When the Nie delegation arrived, the Jiangs were already there and one of his disciples, Nie Liwen, discovered that they had arrived early because Jiang-zonzhu wanted to spend some time with his brother. Though they had agreed to arrive at the same time earlier, he understood why he had done it and even encouraged it. He had to after so many times of he saying that he should try to get in touch with his brother again.

  Ever since they started courting, Jiang Cheng had gotten more confident on his steps and opinions, but Nie Mingjue hardly doubted it was his doing. The younger man changed from someone that wouldn't speak up against his elders and take everyone's opinion to someone that said what he thought when it was needed and didn't take people's opinion as seriously as before. It had been so good, to watch him gain more confidence as time passed and he realized that he didn't own them anything.

  As he returned back to his quarters on Cloud Recess, Nie Mingjue smiled to himself and remembered the scene from earlier, recalling something his father said to him. Remember, Jue'er, he had said while patting his head, The loyal disciples go where their leaders go, but only if they respect and look to them. and that never left his mind. He tried to be someone that his people could trust and respect, someone they would follow even to war, but Jiang Wanyin was on a whole other level. 

  When the war started and both Jiang Wanyin, Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian disappeared, everyone thought that the Jiang sect had been lost forever, but then one night, they found Jiang Cheng wandering around, almost dead and without a core. Everyone was shocked that he was still alive and Nie Mingjue had put his best healers to make sure he would be fine. Then, he shocked everyone when he insisted on participating in the war, having a core or not. 

  He had been able to bring so many more people to the war, cultivators or not, and managed to make them follow him in battle. After the end of the war, he rebuilt Lotus Pier and his clan, even if he always said he had no intentions of becoming Sect Leader. Not that his disciples would let him off so easily. 

  When the clan was rebuilt and he tried to go away, his disciples too wrapped their things up and followed him, claiming that wherever he went they would go because there was only a clan if he was the Sect Leader. In face of that, Jiang Cheng had no option but to become the next Sect Leader and suffer with his disciples' though heads and egos. Nie Mingjue guessed that the disciples learned their leaders' stubbornness as well. 

  Late at night when he was brushing his hair to go off to sleep, he heard his door slipping aside and turned around to see Jiang Wanyin stepping inside the room. His hair was half up in a bun and his robes were more simple than the ones he used daily. Nie Mingjue smiled as he hugged him from behind and kissed the top of his head, taking the brush out of his hand. 

  "Didn't we agree that I would be the one to brush your hair every night?" He said, brushing through his hair with the utmost care. 

  "And didn't we agree that every time your disciples were little pests, you would tell me the tale?" He retorted, looking at him over the mirror. 

  "How did you know?" He sighed, stopping for a moment on his brushing. "A-Li threw fishes at some Jin disciples earlier." 

  "The fish merchant must have been very happy then." He turned around to let him see his smile. 

  "You are insufferable." He rolled his eyes, shoving his shoulder away weakly. "I hate you so much." 

  "Yet here we are." A chuckle left his mouth as Wanyin leaned down to give him a quick peck on the lip and turned him around again to keep brushing his hair. After he did that, it was his time to have his hair brushed before they went to bed, curling up around each other. "My heart, what were those Jin disciples saying earlier?" He said, running his fingers through his hair and taking a deep breath when he stiffened against his side. That was answer enough already. "You didn't believe in them, did you, my heart?"

  "There's nothing to believe in, Mingjue." Jiang Wanyin said, curling up further and hiding his face on his chest, hand closing around his robes. "They spoke what they thought was the truth."

  "Wanyin, my heart, my soul, my light." He sat up, pulling him to his lap and kissing his temple. "Don't care about what those disciples said about you, alright?"

  "What are you talking about, Mingjue? I don't care about what they say about me. My disciples do, I don't." A smile was appearing on his face and, for a moment, Nie Mingjue stopped to look back down at him. "Oh, gods, my heart, listen. Yes, they did talk about the fact that I don't have a core and they didn't get one single fact right. Yes, my disciples got so irritated with them that they started throwing fish at them which was downright hilarious and yes, the fishmonger had the time of his life." He was now straddling his hips, both of his hands around Mingjue's face. "But, no, I didn't care about what they said. They are kids, they are children and they haven't been through half of what we have, my heart. Now, I'm confident enough to not care about what they say about me, understand? You taught me that."

  "I didn't teach you anything, Wanyin. You learned it all by yourself." He whispered before a sweet kiss was placed on his lips. "I'm so proud of you." 

  "Oh, you besotted fool. C'mon, let's go to sleep." He rolled to the side, pulling Mingjue down with him. Before, when he was younger, Wanyin wouldn't have acted that way, he wouldn't have spoken that way and would have believed in what those kids had said, but Nie Mingjue was right, he was so much more confident now. 

[immacaria]

Transform - 12 Days of Mingcheng

  Hii! So, this fic fills the prompt Transform of @vassar177‘s 12 Days of Mingcheng. I hope you enjoy it and remember to stay safe and healthy!

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  Nie Mingjue loved Jiang Cheng for many reasons. The younger Sect Leader had rebuilt his home with almost no resources and in such a young age with almost no resources and managed to thrive once again, he was determined and knew when to stand his ground, when he loved, he did it with his whole heart and cared deeply. Still, Mingjue knew that he didn't trust easily and, often, it took a long time for him to believe that someone cared back for him. 

  So, maybe, that was the reason he was surprised when a letter arrived for him and Nie Huaisang, asking if they wanted to participate in the festival they would be having at the end of the harvest season. The festival happened every year after everything was done and, while it was open for everyone to participate, it was known that it was organized especially from the Yunmeng people to the Yunmeng people. There was music, food and dances that anyone could join if wanted and it lasted, at least, three days.

  It had been one of the things that Jiang Cheng was more adamant about and even though the rebuilding wasn't finished yet, he insisted on doing it in the first year and never stopped after that. The disciples still talked about that first time and often said that nothing else could ever compare to it, they talked about the music, the food and all the laughs and jokes that occurred that day. And how they talked. It was no secret that the Jiang disciples loved their sect and their leader with their whole heart, but when the topic changed to festivals and music, they always said that nothing would ever compare to the first edition of the Harvest Festival. 

  That year's harvest had just ended and they all were around a fire, tired and sweaty, but still laughing at the stories of the past and joking about what the future reserved for them while passing food around. At some point, someone brought out a pipa, another one went home to bring a tanggu back and slowly more instruments were brought until there was music and everyone was dancing and playing around. To add to the surprise, not much time later, Jiang Cheng started to sing and the bravest ones joined him, too drunk in the euphoria of still being alive after a war to care if they were out of tune or not. 

  Jiang Cheng said once that it was important to them because that was their way of saying We are still here. We are alive, we survived and that is reason enough to celebrate. After it, the festival had only grown and nowadays, many people come to Lotus Pier to prove their food, see them dancing and joking around. It was a big event in their routine and Nie Mingjue was honored that Jiang Cheng had asked if he wanted to go. 

  So, he talked to Nie Huaisang and they agreed that it would be a good idea to take some of their older disciples there as well. In their haste to get there, they ended up arriving a day earlier than they should and were quickly eloped on the lotus picking. The only one who escaped getting knees deep in the mud was Nie Huaisang and only because the grandmas pulled him into one of the boats to help give the others water and sweet dumplings while trasportanting the lotus flowers already picked. 

  "Thank you." Jiang Cheng said, skin dark from being under the sun for the whole day and a drop of sweat running down the side of his face. "Though I don't know if I should be happy or angry because your people helped." He joked, grinning at the blush that appeared on his cheeks. Indeed, the Nies disciples had gotten quite competitive with the Jiang disciples and decided to do a game to see who could crop more lotus flowers till the end of the day. They chose an unbiased judge in the form of one Wang Yijin, an old woman who loved both the Jiang and the Nie disciples. "Next time, come earlier, I bet that we will be done in no time with your disciples competing against mine." 

  "We will see about that. Even more now that they know that they can beat your disciples in that." Nie Mingjue grinned back, approaching him slowly. 

  "That's debatable." He whispered, smiling up at him and putting his hands on his hips. "We all know that Wang Yijin loves you. No doubt she counted more crops on your side than in ours." He said against his lips as they got closer.

  "Lovely woman." He said before diving in for a kiss and ignoring the "Gross!", "Ew!" and "Get a room!" screams coming from their disciples. They kissed slowly, just savoring the fact that they were still there, alive and well, that things were good once again. It was more just a press of lips than anything and it filled Nie Mingjue with happiness to still be able to do that. 

  "Baieyu!" Jiang Cheng screamed when a wall of water fell over them and the disciples started to laugh.

  "Baieyu, I love you!" One of the Jiang disciples, Wang Yin, screamed while being held back by the Zhou twins, who too were laughing. Nie Mingjue saw the white crocodile swimming away, growling in a way that sounded like a laugh, while Jiang Cheng glared down at him. 

  "I didn't teach him that. I swear." He said, trying his hardest to not let his smile break out. 

  "Yeah, sure. I believe you." He said, too laughing and they finally moved to get out of the water. Once out, they went to take a bath and Jiang Cheng told him about the plans for the festival on the next day while washing Nie Mingjue's hair.

  Apparently, he had lost a bet to the Zhou twins - Mingjue called it karma for laughing at him when he fell on their pranks, Jiang Cheng called it being sleep-deprived at the time - and now he would have to dance at the festival along with some other disciples. After the first time, where he sang with the others, he didn't participate in any of the activities they did, mostly just watching from afar and helping with the organization of the event. But Nie Mingjue knew that every year, all his disciples always tried to make him take part in those activities and he never did. 

  One time, the twins had asked him what he thought that would be able to make Jiang Cheng do something that he refused to do, but that would be good for him and he said that a bet would probably have that result. Their faces had light up at that, instantly making plans and talking too quickly for him to keep track of what they were saying before they walked away. Now it made sense why they had asked that, albeit he still thought that it would have been more productive if they had asked Wei Wuxian or even Jiang Yanli. 

  Even though they lived a little bit away from Lotus Pier - Jiang Yanli in Lanling and Wei Wuxian in Yiling City with the Wens - they visited often enough that they would be able to ask them and receive good answers too. Anyways, now the twins had already asked and made good use of that new knowledgement and he couldn't really say that he was angry at that. So, after Jiang Cheng finished washing his hair and he began washing his, he asked when he would be dancing and discovered that it would be the next day at the opening of the festival "because the twins are evil like that." 

  That night they slept together in Jiang Cheng's chambers instead of kissing goodnight and Mingjue going to his own chambers like usually, wrapped around each other and feeling safe. The next morning, he got to watch Jiang Cheng sleepily getting ready for the day before getting ready himself and kissing him good morning as they walked out the room. Almost instantly, he noticed that the atmosphere on Lotus Pier was different than usual, feeling more electric and full of energy than before. 

  Wherever he looked, there were people laughing and joking, clearly excited about what was going to happen at night and it would be a lie if he said that he too wasn't excited about it. At some point of the day, the twins came looking for Jiang Cheng and took him away, probably to get him ready for the night. After that, the Jiang juniors kept him busy with having him to play judge to one of their games that he understood nothing about, no matter how many times they explained it to him.

  When the time came for them to go to Yunmeng's market, where the festival was traditionally held, the Jiang disciples made a point of dressing him up in new robes that he didn't even know that Jiang Cheng had ordered. They were beautiful, adorned with golden accents and little green beads forming designs, and were a type of comfort rarely seen in robes so elaborate. Nie Mingjue loved them and he didn't hide that fact. 

  "I feel like your ego has grown like six times just in the small time you took from the entrance to here." Nie Huaisang said, hiding a well-known grin behind his fan. 

  "Maybe that's why you are looking so small from up here." Nie Mingjue said, narrowing his eyes at him. 

  "Da-ge!" He shrieked, snapping his fan close while he laughed loudly. "C'mon, you besotted fool, let's go before we are late." 

  "Hmmph, who is the one between us that takes forever to get ready when they haven't already selected a set of robes beforehand?" He looked at him by the corner of his eyes, seeing the way that he puffed his cheek in outrage. 

  "I have no idea what you are talking about." He pouted, making Mingjue laugh even more. They walked to Yunmeng's market, talking and joking on their way there. Once there, the Jiang disciples said that there was going to be a stage where the opening dance was going to be performed and that their sect leader was going to be on the front. It was clear that they were excited to see Jiang Cheng on stage again and that the Nie disciples weren't losing to them on that matter either, talking animatedly about how they wanted to see him dancing. 

  And, oh, how he danced! They arrived right on time when the first notes were being played and the dancers were already on stage. The dancers were wearing light robes with bright makeup, only half of their hair pulled up, and Nie Mingjue couldn't say that Jiang Cheng wasn't beautiful there, smiling wide as if he belonged there. As the singers began to sing, they opened their arms as if they were greeting the people there and it was noticeable that most of them were singing along too. 

  Around then, the people from Yunmeng chorused the song at the top of their lungs while clapping along, the small kids and juniors disciples imitating the dance and giggling. Besides him, his disciples too were clapping and trying to sing along with the Jiang disciples, and he smiled at the silliness of it all. There were people from the other sects there as well, enjoying the show and he couldn't help but think about how much it had changed since the first time celebrating it. 

  At some point of the presentation, they started to swirl around and everyone gasped as their robes started to glow, creating the illusion of them flying and having small lights around them. The dance lasted for more four minutes and, when it ended, the cheers and applause drowned the music when the dancers made their final bow. Behind him, some Jiang disciples were explaining the meaning of it to the Nie ones. 

  "This is a traditional greeting dance from Yunmeng. Jiang-zongzhu taught us." One of the Jiang disciples, maybe Liu Min, said, a grin so big on his mouth that Nie Mingjue feared that it was going to rip his cheeks apart. "But this is the first time he dances with us since that time. It took the Twins tricking him to get him to do so." 

  "Wow, really? How did they do it?" One of his disciples, Zhang Nuoting, said, eyes wide as he looked at the other girl. 

  "They involved Nie-zongzhu, obviously." She whispered, trying to not let him hear. "They bet that he would be able to come to this year's festival opening and if he did, Jiang-zongzhu would have to dance in the presentation, but if he didn't, the Twins would stop pestering him for the rest of the year."

  "That's a good bet, actually." She whistled and Nie Mingjue knew that she was nodding knowingly. 

  "Yeah, but like, Nie-zongzhu never came to the festival opening before and Jiang-zongzhu thought he was safe. But, as you see, the Twins are never wrong." Giggles came from behind him as the dancers left the stage and he watched as all the bystanders went away talking about the performance and how it had been something akin to magic. 

  He stayed there, waiting for the dancers to appear in the front of the stage again though he dispatched his disciples to get to the fair. Ever since he and Nie Huaisang had told them that they would pass the week in Yunmeng, for the harvest festival, they had been so excited to see the fair they had that it was the only thing that they talked about all the way there. The disciples had just disappeared in the crowd when he felt someone hugging him from behind. 

  "Who the hell gave you these robes?" Jiang Cheng whispered, his hands coming to a stop over his chest, his face pressed against his shoulders. 

  "Your disciples." Nie Mingjue said, his own hands going up to cover his. "You were amazing up in there, my heart." 

  "Just up in there?" He said, patting his chest and Mingjue could imagine the presumptuous smile on his face. 

  "Oh, now, you are fishing." He turned around, wrapping him in his arms and smiling. 

  "And who spoiled me on that?" He retorted, scrunching his nose up to him. The make-up had been removed, though there was still some reminiscent, like the red eyeliner and sparks of gold on his eyelids. Most of the white had already been taken out, but there were still some traces of it. 

  "I have no idea, but I can tell that you are amazing, both up in there and down here up close." He started, kissing the tip of his nose. "You have achieved so many things that I actually envy you for thinking about half of them. You have not only rebuild your clan, you have transformed it and everyone knows it. All your disciples would kill for you and your people, common and not, love you with their whole hearts." At every word, Jiang Cheng got redder and Nie Mingjue's desire to kiss every freckle on his nose and cheeks. "All of your doings are amazing because you are amazing, my heart. You are kind, you are compassionate, you are strong-hearted and you always fight for justice and for what is right. And that's only some of the infinite reasons why I love you."

  "Alright, I think that's enough." He said, hiding his face on his chest. "Enough with your compliments." 

  "No, no. It's never enough with you." He chuckled, kissing the top of his head and tightening his grip around him until he grunted. 

  "Asshole." He pinched his side before looking up at him. "Say it one more time?" 

  "What? That you transformed the Jiang Sect to something million times better? That you are kind, compassionate and strong-hearted? That those are only some of the infinite reasons why I love you? That I love you? Because they are all true!" His eyes were shining at that and, oh, how Nie Mingjue loved to see that big smile on his face. 

  "All of that." He said, giving him a little peck on the lips before stepping away. "C'mon, I want to buy some tanghulu from Huang-nainai." He pulled on his hand like an over-excited child and he could only admire how much he changed since they started courting. 

  Jiang Cheng had learned so much through those past years, learning how to trust again, how to relax and joke around like he did when he was a teen. The whole sect had seen the change and they had credited it to Nie Mingjue, but he knew the truth and the truth was that all he needed was to have someone there for him, no questions asked. And he would be there for, right by his side, as long as he let him.

[vassar177]

Reminder that I'm accepting prompts for Twelve Days of Mingcheng 2021 until October 15!

[vassar177]

Since today is Oct 1, I wanna remind everyone that I'm still accepting prompts for 12domc until Oct 15!