#than call or text Lan Wangji back and put him out of his misery

[lilapplesheadcannons]

Silence

Lan Wangji has been a quiet person since he was a baby. But he hates the silence.

Silence means soon there's going to be lots of angry noises and everything will fall apart. Silence means Mama's health is getting worse, and there's gonna be a blaring ambulance taking her away to a cold white room with lots of beeping machines. Silence means no story times at night. Silence means he can probably hear Papa quietly sobbing in the drawing room while uncle looks lost and exhausted. Silence means Mama won't be back for the new year either because doctors found something bad again. Silence means brother's room is empty and he is too busy at his college with his exams to call home. Silence means Wei Ying's family is moving away again, and no, his parents won't leave him behind, even though Wangji promises to share his room, his toys, everything he owns with Wei Ying. Silence means he has confessed his feelings over text like the coward he is, and Wei Ying has left it at seen, and now he has messed up, and he will never get a reply back. Silence means he will remember all 14 research papers he has read on SIDS, and now he can't go to sleep ever again because he can't put A-Yuan down in the crib.

Lan Wangji, despite being a very quiet person himself, likes noise. He likes listening to his husband laugh at him for being a 'fuddy-duddy'. He likes it when his son is squealing in delight while being buried in a fluffle of rabbits. He likes listening to his father reading to his mother in a soft voice because she doesn't like how her own reading glasses make her look. He likes it when his brother plays piano but likes it better when tiny, mischievous fingers sneak in to press the wrong keys before running away. He likes it when their friends drop by, and Wen Ning nervously clears his throat before speaking, and Nie MingJue booms in laughter and HuaiSang whines. Hell, he even likes Jiang Cheng's sharp retorts and Meng Yao's placating voice. He loves the way uncle yelled himself hoarse at the "ungodly din" that Wei Ying created on his attempt to serenade Wangji as a reply to his confession. He likes listening to his husband's tiny snores in bed. And the way his son tries to tell him bedtimes stories, except the stories get muddled, the story teller gets sleepy, and princes and dragons get lost amidst big yawns and mumbled goodnights to find their own happily ever after.

He is a very quiet man who likes to be surrounded by noise.

[ibijau]

Counterfeit AU pt6 / On AO3

Meng Yao makes himself useful after losing his job, and discovers something unexpected

Names are funny things, Meng Yao thinks as he stares at the sheet of paper in his hand. 

Funny things indeed.

-

After everything that went down in the Hanshi, it's Beastie that saves Meng Yao from himself.

Left to his own devices, he would have either wallowed in misery, or waste time proving to himself that everything that happened wasn't his fault, the way he knows he's done in other lives. But when he comes home after having his past lives thrown into his face and losing a job he loves, Beastie’s mother corners him just as he puts his key into his lock. Her daughter is on school holiday, she explains, and was supposed to be looked after by a friend with children of a similar age. But one of the children came down with something contagious, so the whole plan fell through, and the poor woman now desperately needs help finding someone to look after her daughter.

She’s not asking for Meng Yao to play the babysitter, but he knows so many people, he has so many connections, maybe he could pull a favour somewhere, help her out again.

“I can take care of her for a few days,” Meng Yao offers without thinking. “I’m jobless as of today.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry! What happened?”

“My employer died,” Meng Yao replies, which is close enough to the truth. He doesn’t think Nie Huaisang will continue using his Shanzi alias after this, and they’ll never meet again. He might as well be dead. “I don’t plan on looking for a new job right away, so I can babysit for a while, it’s no big deal.”

She tries to insist that he doesn’t need to be doing that, but quickly agrees after some reassurance that Meng Yao doesn’t mind. She looks so relieved she could cry as she says she’ll drop Beastie in the morning. Meng Yao smiles, certain that his mother would be proud of him for doing what’s right.

Having Beastie around is definitely the best choice he could have made. She’s a good kid, but she’s also high energy and needs to be entertained, which means he doesn’t get to think too much about how much he misses Nie Huaisang and Lan Xichen. 

They watch movies together, as they’ve always done when he picked her up after school. They go for walks to a nearby park, and once to a museum to look at old armours and swords. He buys Beastie a fake sword, though they agree to keep it at his place, since her mother already despairs that she so strongly favours boy’s toys. In fact, Meng Yao ends up just spoiling that little girl, the way he would have loved someone to do for him when he was her age. He even has Nie Huaisang’s console repaired so she can play on it, instead of selling it as he’d intended.

The video games are a big hit with her. She’s particularly in love with the same game Nie Huaisang spent too many hours on, that weird little terraforming thing which Meng Yao can’t see the appeal of. He liked that it made Nie Huaisang happy. He likes that it also makes Beastie happy, and that she’s very careful not to ruin the work previously put into it, focused instead on maintaining it and planting flowers

“It looks like home,” she explains when Meng Yao asks about that, and lifts the console for him to see.

It doesn’t look like a homely place, he thinks, and more like a military fortress right out of a wuxia drama. But Meng Yao doesn’t get to make that remark, because his phone vibrates, demanding his attention. Beastie, sitting crossed legs on some cushion on the floor, goes back to watering virtual flowers, while Meng Yao checks some news from his bank account. A lump sum has been sent to him, a good deal more than his usual salary, coming from an account registered under a name he doesn’t recognise.

It has been a week since he was fired.

Nie Huaisang kept his promise.

It really is over.

Not that Meng Yao really doubted it. Nie Huaisang has many faults but indecision has never been one, though he’s always been good at pretending otherwise. Once his choice is made he toys with expectations but rarely ever changes his mind.

Rarely, of course, isn’t never. Meng Yao, foolishly, hoped to be one of those few exceptions. 

Those new zeroes on his bank account feel like a divorce, and he never even got a honeymoon. 

That night, Meng Yao allows himself a few hours to wallow in misery, after Beastie went back to her mother. He is only human, and it does feel good to eat take-away in front of a cheesy romance. The film's hero doesn't get the girl, who was dead all along. Meng Yao cries, even though he's seen that movie before. 

By morning, he's in control again, and takes Beastie to the park so she can run around in the sun, and scare pigeons with her sword.

Those holidays are all great fun, until Beastie’s mother reminds them that she has homework to do.

Beastie is a clever kid, there’s no doubt about it, but she doesn’t much like doing her homework, least of all when she feels she could be playing. It takes all of Meng Yao’s negotiation skills to get her to even look at her school books, and he almost resorts to bribery to make her pick up a pencil. But she works hard once she starts, and Meng Yao, wanting to encourage her, sits with her at the kitchen table to update his resume. Beastie will go back to class soon, and inactivity just isn’t in his temper.

When Beastie is done with her work, she gets permission to put on whatever movie she likes while Meng Yao checks what she’s done in case it needs correcting.

But when he picks up the sheet of simple maths she’s expected to give her teacher on monday, all Meng Yao sees is her name.

It’s really funny. He knows her name of course, though he hasn’t heard it in a while. Even her mother took up to calling her Beastie after he nicknamed her that. It just fits her so well, that active little girl who prefers trousers over dresses because they're easier to move in and always wants to play at fighting. She’s a real little monster, and Meng Yao loves her like that. She’s just Beastie.

But according to the homework she’s spent the afternoon on, she’s also Nie Mingjue.

It could just be a coincidence. Names are funny like that, they pop up in unexpected places, they get forgotten and reused. Perhaps in another life, Meng Yao would have just dismissed it as a random incident.

In another life, he wouldn’t have been called Meng Yao.

It’s the first time this happens since that first life they all shared. He’s Meng Yao again, Lan Xichen bears his old name too, and now he’s found a Nie Mingjue, hiding right under his nose. A Nie Mingjue who likes fighting, and claims that her toy sword is actually a sabre, and who always insists a lot on things being fair, even when Meng Yao tries to give her the biggest share of a food she likes.

It can’t be a coincidence.

Meng Yao needs to tell someone.

He needs to tell Nie Huaisang.

He tries, of course, and without surprise his former employer’s number has been terminated. He has the same luck trying to send an email. Nie Huaisang might as well never have existed. Meng Yao feels helpless, torn between tears and laughter. After spending centuries looking for his brother, Nie Huaisang just might have lost his chance due to being so damn dramatic. Serves him right, Meng Yao thinks, still bitter about being discarded so easily, and never getting a chance to see if things might work better in this life.

Bitterness doesn’t last. Meng Yao cares about Nie Huaisang, more than he should if he were a little smarter, and he knows how important finding his brother again would be for him. And if Nie Huaisang can’t be directly contacted, there’s always indirect ways.

It’s not that Meng Yao misses Lan Xichen, he tells himself that night, when Beastie is back with his mother and he starts writing a long text message on his phone. Well, it’s not just that, anyway. He does miss Lan Xichen, sweet and funny and so eager when talking about art. But more importantly, Lan Xichen probably has access to Lan Wangji, who clearly must know how to contact Nie Huaisang. 

Texting Lan Xichen is a strategic choice. 

The way Meng Yao's heart jumps inside his chest when Lan Xichen immediately replies is… it's strategic too. He's just glad that his plan is working. 

How have you been? :)

I could have been worse. I've just realised something and I think it concerns you. I've told you about that kid I babysit, haven't I? 

Little Beastie? Is she okay? D:

She's Nie Mingjue. 

This time, the answer isn't immediate. Meng Yao stares nervously at his phone, wondering if Lan Xichen thinks he's lying, or planning something. Considering their first life, who could blame him? 

But after a few minutes, his phone vibrates again. 

Sorry, I dropped my phone and couldn't get it back from under the couch. Are you sure?? (⊙ˍ⊙)

It all fits. You could come meet her if you want. But it's him, I'm sure. 

Did you tell Nie Huaisang???

I can't contact him. Are you in touch with Lan Wangji? Maybe he can warn him. 

I have his number, I just texted him! I'll keep you updated! It's so wonderful if it's da-ge!! Can I really meet him? ╰(*°▽°*)╯

Her*?

I'll send you my address. If you can come tomorrow, she'll be there.

Are you sure? I don't think da-ge would still want me around. (≧﹏ ≦)

Meng Yao gives that question the consideration it deserves. It's not an unfair worry to have, and he'd be wondering the same if he hadn't known Beastie for so long. 

I literally killed him, and he killed me. If she had to hate anyone it'd be me, but we get along great. We're no longer the same people we used to be. It's the same for her. 

If you're sure, then I'll come! (❁´w`❁)

-

Meng Yao is very sure indeed. 

So Lan Xichen comes. 

It's odd to invite someone to his flat. It's a small place, a bit messy, full of trinkets and DVDs that Meng Yao would never admit to owning, not with the image he wants to create. He's always avoided guests. But having Lan Xichen over is as rewarding as it is terrifying. Lan Xichen brought some charming little cakes, as if he's visiting someone important, and he smiles at the sight of a movie poster on the wall, confessing he watched it so often as a teenager that the tape broke one day. 

"It's my favourite too!" Beastie exclaims. "Meng-ge has it, you know! Can we watch it now?" 

Normally, Meng Yao would point out that it's a little rude to ask that when they have a guest. But he can see that Lan Xichen is nervous and unsure how to act around Nie Mingjue, and maybe a movie will let them all relax. 

In the end, they spend a pleasant afternoon, the three of them. Once Lan Xichen stops worrying that the Nie Mingjue of old will appear and shout at him for getting him killed, he starts chatting with Beastie about her favourite movies, what she's learning in school, what she wants to be when she grows up. She's very happy to answer, and very impressed when he explains he's a teacher, even though she's finding it hard to accept that most of his students are fully adult.

And when Beastie is back with her mother, Lan Xichen lingers for a while, tempted by the offer of Meng Yao's favourite takeaway.

“It’s amazing how much like him she is,” Lan Xichen says as they sit on the sofa to wait for the food to arrive. “It’s the first time he reincarnates, you know. At least, Wangji told me they’d never found any trace of him before.”

Guilt shoots through Meng Yao. It’s his fault if Nie Mingjue’s soul was so fractured it took him this long to be reborn. Or at least, it’s the fault of someone he was, once, which is nearly the same, and yet completely different. Meng Yao has learned from living and dying several times, and he’s lucky enough to live in a kinder world than Jin Guangyao did. It helps.

“She’s also different from him, though,” Lan Xichen continues, moving just a little closer, until they’re almost touching.

“We’ll, for starters she’s a kid,” Meng Yao points out, wondering if he should take the other man’s hand. If this had happened before the Hanshi, he would have, but he’s not sure where they stand now.

“It’s not just that. In that first life, I knew da-ge as a child too and he was…” Lan Xichen sighs and makes a vague hand gesture. “He was a lot. Way too serious sometimes. We all were, I suppose, but him most of all. The Nie tended to grow fast, to compensate for dying young. I’m… I’m glad that he gets to properly be a child this time. That she gets to be a child.”

“The world has changed,” Meng Yao says, finding the courage at last to brush his fingers against Lan Xichen’s. “Things aren’t always easy but they’re… easier, I suppose.”

Lan Xichen’s returns that touch, gentle and careful as always. This, too, is easier now than it was back then. It’s not easy, but there’s less pressure to conform, less demands to be good dutiful sons, and just a little more space to be their own people, to make their own choices.

Maybe in their next life they’ll meet again and it’ll be even easier to be like this. But even now, Meng Yao is ready to take the chances that his past self wouldn’t have dared to dream of. He leans toward Lan Xichen, hoping to kiss him, but a knock on the door interrupts them and he jumps to his feet to go get their food. The delivery man looks at him a little funny, but makes no comment. If Meng Yao is half as red as Lan Xichen, he deserves those odd looks.

Nothing happens again that night. The moment has passed, and after eating, Lan Xichen has to go home because he has engagements the day after that he can’t cancel.

It's not a date that night, no more than any of their previous encounters were. 

It's not a date then, but next time, when Lan Xichen invites him to a restaurant, Meng Yao is informed in no unclear terms that this is, in fact, a date. They go see a movie after, and Meng Yao gets to kiss one of the two most handsome men in the world.

Life is good. 

Life is really good, and yet Meng Yao wants more. 

In spite of their efforts, Lan Xichen and him can't get in touch with Nie Huaisang to inform him that his brother has finally reincarnated. Even Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are getting worried. From what they told Lan Xichen they haven't had any contact with him since the day they picked him up at the Hanshi. 

"They say he's done that before," Lan Xichen tells him. "They think he'll return in a decade or two, maybe a little longer. Time is hard for immortals, they lose track easily." 

That's all very well for them, but Meng Yao doesn't have a few decades to waste, and neither does Nie Mingjue. They're not immortals. One bad illness, a reckless driver, just tripping in the stairs, and it's all over until they reincarnate again, and Meng Yao is done with missed chances. 

If he can't directly get in touch with Nie Huaisang, Meng Yao can make a few discreet calls to former buyers, and advise them to get their purchase asserted again, just in case. He makes sure to only contact people who bought legitimate artworks of course. He wants to make a wave, not get in trouble. If Meng Yao knows Nie Huaisang even half as well as he thinks he does, then even in hiding Nie Huaisang will be checking what’s happening in the world of art collectors, and he’ll hear about some of his buyers suddenly becoming fearful of fakes.

It’s a little mean perhaps, when Nie Huaisang is so proud of his counterfeits, but kindness has never been Meng Yao’s greatest quality.

Besides, it works.

One afternoon, when Meng Yao is alone at home, checking a job offer that he’s probably going to reject because he deserves better, there’s a knock on the door. Meng Yao considers ignoring it, but some of his elderly neighbours have been coming to ask for help with their phones or whatever new fancy blender their kids got them to make life easier. Usually, five minutes of easy work means free homemade food for his next meal, which is always a great deal.

When he opens the door, there’s a very old man waiting in the corridor alright, but free food is probably out of the question.

“Well, I’m here,” Nie Huaisang says. “Whatever is going on, it’d better be important.”

[mattiander]

Jiang Cheng / Nie Mingjue fakedating

modern au where jiang cheng needs a date to a wedding he doesn’t even want to go to and nie mingjue is a sucker for his little brother. i don’t even know.

In hindsight, Jiang Cheng would blame everything on Nie Huisang because of course, who else would he blame this on? 

It wasn’t his fault that he’s still trying desperately for his parents approval, it’s not his fault that when his father talks approvingly about how Wei Wuxian is coming back from his travels and is bringing Lan Wangji, and then his mother turns on him and pointedly asks him about who he’s bringing to Jin Zixun’s wedding that Jiang Cheng states quickly ‘I have a boyfriend too. He’s coming.’ Because of course, he loves Wei Wuxian like his own brother but he doesn’t want to forever remain under his shadow.

And when his mother actually smiles at him, he doesn’t want to take back the lie.

So two weeks before Jin Zixun’s wedding, he’s sitting at his desk at work thinking Shit. And because misery loves company, he goes drinking with Nie Huisang who visibly brightens at this idea, and offers to get him a fake boyfriend.

And Jiang Cheng, drunk and miserable and wishing that he had maybe been open to the idea of romance at some point in his life, agrees. What else does he have to lose?

When Nie Huisang texts him two days later with a barrage of texts, exclamation marks and emojis about ‘i have someone for you to take!!!! call me! when do you finish work???? can you meet us after????’ Jiang Cheng almost has a panic attack out of sheer embarrassment.

When he goes to the restaurant and sees Nie Huisang sitting at a booth with Nie Mingjue next to him, face blank and bored, Jiang Cheng almost has another panic attack out of pure humiliation. He wants to turn right back around and hide in his home until all of this goes away but - Nie Huisang has already seen him and is waving at him. 

Jiang Cheng has a lot of flaws but cowardice has never been one of them, so he walks up and slides into the chair with as much grace as he can manage. (It’s not enough).

Nie Huisang doesn’t even give him a chance to speak before he’s speaking a mile a minute, locking his arm around Nie Mingjue’s. “-and I know da-ge was going to the wedding anyway, so it’s not like you need a extra invite for him and he was going to be so bored because Xichen-ge can’t make it and I thought this is perfect! Isn’t it perfect, da-ge?”

Jiang Cheng can barely even get himself to look at Nie Mingjue but he hears him make a non-commital grunt.

“Isn’t this great? Of course, we have to come up with a story of how you guys started dating and why you hid it but this is so fun!”

Nie Huisang’s in one of his excited moods where nobody can get a word in edgewise. Jiang Cheng fiddles with the glass, his hands, anything to keep himself from looking at Nie Mingjue. 

“- and let me just go to the bathroom, I’ll be right back. Da-ge, order for me, please!” Nie Huisang says before bustling out of the booth

“Why are you even helping me?” Jiang Cheng asks because he has to know - people don’t just help him or make his life easier without some other hidden reason.

Nie Mingjue just shrugs, “I owed A-Sang a favour. I also just don’t want to be there so decent company helps.”

Which - it makes sense. It makes sense but Jiang Cheng has to tamper down the little thrill that tries to unfurl itself at the idea that he’s not bad company. He may not be great company but at least he’s not scraping rock bottom in Nie Mingjue’s eyes.

(So, he may still not be over his apparent schoolboy crush on Nie Huisang’s cool older brother. He was 15 when he had a spiritual awakening when he was at their house after school and Nie Mingjue had walked past him without a shirt and that - that had been an interesting revelation.

Being Nie Huisang’s friend means that Jiang Cheng’s life has circled around Nie Mingjue’s - they had sat next to each other at Nie Huisang’s graduation, ignoring Wei Wuxian loudly whooping next to them. When Nie Huisang had drunk called Jiang Cheng at 3am crying and asking to be picked up and Jiang Cheng went to the bar, it was mere seconds after Nie Mingjue, who nodded at Jiang Cheng and muttered ‘thanks and sorry’ while hauling his brother to the car. When Jiang Cheng moved and it turned out that Nie Mingjue went to the gym near his house and had offered to spot him, he had accepted and very carefully not looked too long at Nie Mingjue’s arms and broad shoulders and thighs.

So. He may not be over that crush yet.

He figures he’s always been stupidly loyal about things, why would this be any different?)

“You know you don’t have to do this? It was just a stupid statement - it’s not like anyone’s going to hold me to it,” Jiang Cheng offers. He knows he’s not the most social or charming and he can barely handle himself, let alone asking someone like Nie Mingjue to tolerate that.

Nie Mingjue just snorts. “I know your mother. She’s going to hold you to that.”

Which...is true. Shit.

“It’s fine. A-Sang owes me a favour from this. I might convince him to actually get a real job after all of this,” Nie Mingjue states, and then something like a grin curves at the edges of his mouth. “Really - I’d rather talk to you than have to put up with anymore of those Jin assholes. I’m only going because I’m expected to”

Which makes sense but before Jiang Cheng can think of anything witty or funny or remotely decent to say, Nie Huisang’s back and taking a seat.

“We have to come up with a story, so how about this-”

-

And that’s how Jiang Cheng is standing at his parent’s door with Nie Mingjue just behind him. It’s a family dinner, mere days before the wedding and his mother had insisted that she bring his mystery boyfriend around, to get to know him. It’s his parents and A-Jie and her husband and it should be fine, easy, they’ve rehearsed this story with Nie Huisang and how they should address each other but -

He cannot knock on the door because they’ll know. No matter what he’s done, whenever his parents look at him, he feels guilt and shame and the deep sense of lacking well up in him and they’ll look at him and they’ll know that he’s lying and he’s so useless he can’t even get a single person outside his family who will willingly spend more than 10 minutes in his presence and then there’ll be the comparisons to Wei Wuxian and his perfect fucking boyfriend and A-Jie and her fucking peacock and -

“Breathe,” says Nie Mingjue’s voice behind him, soft and deep. Jiang Cheng wasn’t aware he was so close and that is distracting enough to stop him from his train of thoughts (also distracting enough that he forgets to breathe for a second but he puts that aside to deal with it at a later time.)

“They’re going to figure it out,” he says quietly, staring at the doorbell. 

“Not if we do what we said we were going to, A-Cheng,” Nie Mingjue says and then he rings the doorbell.

Jiang Cheng takes several quick breaths and digs his nails into his palms. He’s not a coward.

When A-Jie opens the door and she almost softens and smiles brightly at both him and Nie Mingjue, he thinks it might be okay. It could be okay. 

“Nie Mingjue, I didn’t expect to see you here,” she says, her voice soft and gentle. “I hadn’t - Jiang Cheng is always so private about his happiness that I had no idea!”

And that’s A-Jie down, which is good. He can do this.

They follow her to the dining room where his parents are talking to Jin Zixuan and the conversation screeches to a grinding halt when they spot Nie Mingjue. The peacock looks like he’s choked on his own tongue and that gives Jiang Cheng at least a little bit of joy.

“Nie Mingjue?” his father says. “What are you doing here?”

“Jiang Cheng wanted me to meet his family formally - I apologise for the time it took for me to do this,” Nie Mingjue says, half-bowing gracefully. Jiang Cheng would like to look at him but his eyes are focused upon his parents, who seem to have been frozen in shock.

“A-Cheng?” his father says, mildly, after a beat too long. “We hadn’t known. You’re welcome to our home, please sit.”

Jiang Cheng’s hands are not shaking. He sits heavily on the closest chair, only half-aware of Nie Mingjue sitting beside him.

And - it’s fine. His parents are polite and A-Jie is always so kind and friendly and even the peacock tries his best to hold a conversation. Nie Mingjue is more than fine, he speaks confidently and even gets his father to laugh at a story.

It’s all fine, until his mother tilts his head and says, “How did you - this - how did this happen?”

And they have practiced and Jiang Cheng may not be naturally talented but he’s good with practice so he speaks up - “We were at a dinner party Nie Huisang was hosting and started talking and - well. We like each other.”

His face flushes as he says it. He deliberately doesn’t look at Nie Mingjue or his parents, and instead looks at A-Jie. She smiles at him sweetly.

“That’s hardly the details,” his father says. “There must be more to it? I know our A-Cheng isn’t very good in those situations.”

Which is correct. He’s not but he doesn’t appreciate his father saying it out loud in company. And it’s not like he’s any worse than others, like Jin Zixuan or even Lan Wangji. His ears heat with the embarrassment and he’s ready to speak, eyes still fixed on A-Jie when-

“I’ve liked A-Cheng for a while. It was very nice of him to give me a chance,” Nie Mingjue says. “I think things happened at the right time for us.”

“Surely, you don’t think you’re suited to each other?” his father says and - oh. It had been going too well, of course he should have expected this.

“You’re very different from each other,” his father continues. “Do you think this will last?”

Oh. 

Jiang Cheng swallows down the humiliation and the hollow feeling in his gut, finally looking at his father. He opens his mouth but once again, Nie Mingjue is answering for him. “As much as anyone knows they will last. I like A-Cheng a lot - is that not enough for now?” Nie Mingjue even reaches and squeezes Jiang Cheng’s hand under the table.

(Jiang Cheng is not going to combust. He’s not.)

His father blanches and Jin Zixuan, who occasionally has moments where Jiang Cheng can understand why A-Jie tolerates him, asks how they plan on getting to the wedding.

Nie Mingjue keeps his hand on Jiang Cheng’s for a few moments longer before he lets go.

-

“I,” Nie Mingjue says softly when they’re in the elevator, “do not like your parents.”

Jiang Cheng snorts. “They’re fine, they’re just. Expressive. About their opinions.”

“Don’t defend them. Who even talks like that?”

While the idea of Nie Mingjue defending his honor stirs up something small in him that he can't name, he can’t let this go further. Logically, he knows his parents haven’t necessarily been what he’s needed growing up but he’s an adult now, with a job and his own apartment and a life outside of his parent’s expectations and requirements. He’s doing fine. He will be fine. “They’re my parents. They want what’s best for me.”

Nie Mingjue glowers at him, his voice low and mutinous. “Wrong is wrong, Jiang Wanyin.”

Annoyance flares in his gut. “Don’t.”

Nie Mingjue actually rolls his eyes. “At least the actual wedding weekend will be easier. And there’ll be alcohol.”

Jiang Cheng is used to his parent’s disapproval and disappointment. He’s not ready for Nie Mingjue’s on top of that, especially not when he’s been so nice and not even made fun of him once for this stupid lie that is his life. He feels bad and he hyper focuses on his guilt, as he always does. “You don’t - you know you don’t have to do this, still? We can just pretend we broke up now -”

“I am not a quitter.”

And that is the end of that conversation. They’re silent for the rest of the elevator ride.

---

i’m just a big fan of jiang cheng.