#i know this au messes canon up big time but consider this. nhs sexy

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

...if one of them is dead

Nie Huaisang knows. Jin Guangyao has no idea how, but he knows, and that's the one liability he cannot afford.

Because if there's anything he knows about the Nie, is that they can be vicious.

And though Huaisang has always been uninterested in cultivation, Jin Guangyao has been around him enough to know his intellect is unmatched, and he's manipulative enough for Jin Guangyao himself to fall for it.

He always does.

But this isn't something he can afford falling for.

"You look deep in thought, San-ge." He says, pouring Jin Guangyao some tea as they overlook the lavish gardens of Jinlintai. "Everything okay?"

The hairs on the back of Jin Guangyao's neck raise. He gives nothing away, though, smiling pleasantly as he sips at the tea. "I am fine, A-Sang. I just have a lot on my mind."

"Wanna talk about it? That usually helps. Or you can cry, like I do!"

"I'd...rather not." And he hopes he looks as fond as ever, despite the way every single muscle in his body tenses. He is no longer feeling at all safe around Nie Huaisang and is desperately trying to think of a way out of this meeting.

And of a way to get rid of him.

"You know, San-ge, there is something I've been thinking a lot about lately, too."

Jin Guangyao hopes he's imagining the shadows behind Nie Huaisang's smile, or the glint in his eye that looks so much like his brother's.

"It's really lonely back home in Qinghe. It always is, but this time of the year... it almost feels like it's being haunted."

"A-Sang-"

"I've been thinking a lot about Da-ge these days. The anniversary of his death is coming up..."

Jin Guangyao's heartrate picks up so fast, so suddenly, that it hurts. His fingers clench around his tea cup, sweat beads at his temples, underneath his hat.

"I've brought you this tea because it was his favorite."

Jin Guangyao masks his unease - no, panic - with grief that isn't there. "Indeed, I remember he used to love it..."

"San-ge, you don't really miss Da-ge, do you?"

"W-what do you mean, Huaisang? Of course I-"

Nie Huaisang is smiling still, easy and pleasant as always. "What a silly question! Of course you don't miss him, it's because of you that he's gone."

Jin Guangyao drops the teacup onto the marble floors, and it shatters loudly, into tens of little, sharp pieces, at his feet.

"Jin Guangyao, did you think I wouldn't find out? Even you, so appreciative of my ingenuity, have been looking down on me all this time?"

He wants to draw his sword and end this, quickly, he'll find a way to dispose of Nie Huaisang and weave a story later, just-

"I hope you are ready to face him." Huaisang flips his fan open, and walks away. "And I do hope you've enjoyed your tea. It took me forever to mask the taste of the poison." A smile over his shoulder, "I know how sensitive you are to it."