Work Text:
1.
“You idiot, ” Jiang Cheng scolds, using every inch of his gangly thirteen-year-old body to appear as menacing as possible. It works, and the younger disciple flinches at his words, seconds away from bursting into a stream of ugly tears. “ Why would you do that?”
Jiang Cheng’s last words seem to be the tipping point, and the disciple breaks into sobs. He’s crying so badly that Jiang Cheng can’t distinguish between what is a cry, what is an apology, and what is an explanation as to why he thought it would be a good idea to bring the stray dog he found earlier today into their evening cultivation training. All the disciples know of Wei Wuxian’s fear. Both himself and his father have made sure of it.
The other disciples are watching in a half-circle around them, facial expressions in horror but not daring to take a step away, lest Jiang Cheng turn his wrath onto them. Jiang Cheng quickly looks around, not surprised to see that Wei Wuxian isn’t with them. Granted, the dog isn’t anywhere around here either, but fear grips Wei Wuxian in irrational ways.
Dammit . This was supposed to be a productive training session, not one that ended in a chaotic disaster like this.
“Stop crying,” Jiang Cheng orders before puffing out his chest and walking away. He walks until he’s sure he’s not in the eyesight of his other disciples. Then he runs.
Wei Wuxian couldn’t have gone far. Well, he could have. But hopefully once the fresh air hit his face and he realized that the dog was no longer present, he slowed down.
Hopefully.
Jiang Cheng checks every place that he can think of, even circling back to their bedrooms to make sure his brother isn’t hiding in the dresser. But all that search does is stir up dust and make him sneeze several times in a row.
He’s still getting the last sneezes out of him when Jiang Cheng finds him.
“Really?” Jiang Cheng asks, peering up into the branches of a tree and spotting his brother swinging his legs with a restless sort of energy. If it weren’t for the redness of his eyes and the tear tracks on his cheeks, it would be a happy, jovial scene of Wei Wuxian without a care in the world.
Jiang Cheng walks to the trunk of the tree and kicks it. He tries to not wince at the pain. The tree is a sturdy one. “Really? This damn tree?”
Wei Wuxian shrugs and rubs at his nose. “I thought the nostalgia would help.”
“You’re insufferable.”
Wei Wuxian laughs. “Insufferable? Where did you learn that word? Is our dear Jiang Cheng finally paying attention to his lessons? Wait until Shijie hears about this, she’ll love it.”
Jiang Cheng scoffs. “I’m not the one who needs to pay attention in class.”
Wei Wuxian sticks his tongue out at his brother and makes an ugly face. They stare at each other for a second, two before Wei Wuxian deflates and leans his head against the rough bark of the tree. “Are they gone?”
Jiang Cheng knows what he’s talking about. But Wei Wuxian also made him look all over Lotus Pier for him. “What is gone?”
Wei Wuxian whines, “You know what I’m talking about. Stop being mean. The d-word.”
“Dinner? Is dinner gone? It’s past dinner time, so I would think so.” Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. “Come down from the tree. I want to go home already.”
Wei Wuxian wraps an arm around the trunk of the tree. The trunk is much too wide for his arm to go around it, but he’s stubborn in his actions and sticks with his failure of a half-hug. “I’m not leaving until you tell me those beasts are gone.”
Jiang Cheng sighs. “Fine, the dogs are gone. I promise. Now will you please come down before my mother yells at both of us?”
Wei Wuxian turns his nose up at the mention of Madam Yu. “You promise?”
“I promise.”
Satisfied, Wei Wuxian lets go of the tree trunk and jumps directly onto Jiang Cheng.
The two boys go tumbling to the ground. If it weren’t for the fact that Jiang Cheng is used to Wei Wuxian’s antics, it would have been an exponentially messier fall than it was. As it stands, they’re both lying in the dirt, their purple robes soiled from the dirt.
“Why would you do that,” Jiang Cheng asks, exasperated. He really just wants to leave Wei Wuxian and make his own way home, but he knows that if he did that he’d get disappointing looks from both his father and his sister. He pushes on Wei Wuxian’s shoulder and his brother rolls on his side, a smile on his face.
Jiang Cheng gets up and dusts himself off. Wei Wuxian smiles and holds his hands out like a baby grabbing for the nearest toy. “Carry me.”
“No,” Jiang Cheng says, but he reaches down to grab Wei Wuxian’s arms and help him up. Once up, Wei Wuxian wraps his arms around Jiang Cheng’s neck and hangs there.
“Carry me,” he whines. “I’ve had a stressful day.”
“No,” Jiang Cheng says but yet again he complies with Wei Wuxian’s wishes. He wraps his arms around Wei Wuxian and hoists him up. Wei Wuxian’s legs go around his waist and then they’re walking back to the Lotus Pier.
Wei Wuxian rests his head on Jiang Cheng’s shoulder. Wei Wuxian is really too big to be wrapped around Jiang Cheng like this, and even if Jiang Cheng were to carry him, it should be by the back. But Jiang Cheng knows that if he were to say something, Wei Wuxian would just complain and make it a bigger, more dramatic deal than it already is.
If there’s anything that Jiang Cheng has learned through having Wei Wuxian as a brother, is that you really need to pick your battles. And this battle is not worth fighting.
“This is more like a hug than you carrying me,” Wei Wuxian teases. Jiang Cheng pinches his leg and Wei Wuxian yelps. “Hey! I’m just pointing out the obvious. Who knew Jiang Cheng gave out hugs.”
“This is the only hug that you’re ever getting,” Jiang Cheng declares and Wei Wuxian laughs as if he knew that Jiang Cheng couldn’t have been more wrong.
(In fact, he does know.)
2.
It’s the Mid Autumn Festival and for the first time in his life, Jiang Cheng sees the appeal of alcohol. It tastes absolutely horrid and burns his throat when going down, but that’s only for the first few sips. After that, with his brother egging him on, the wine actually starts to taste good. And most importantly, it’s making him feel good.
Jiang Cheng hands the mostly empty bottle to Wei Wuxian, who greedily gulps the last bit of the wine, tapping the bottom of the bottle as it get every single drop of it. He loudly sighs when he sets the bottle aside, his cheeks flushed.
“This is the best,” Wei Wuxian exclaims. He and Jiang Cheng lock eyes for two seconds before dissolving into laughter. There is really nothing to laugh about, but the alcohol in his system has made the world seem warm and fuzzy. There are still concerns, like the training that’s to be early tomorrow morning to make sure all the disciples work off the extra food they’re sure to down today. But all those worldly concerns are at the back of his mind.
The two boys rush into the dizzying lights of the Mid Autumn Festival. They stand in line for mooncakes, buy as many as they can (and then some, because the vendor is a young girl that Wei Wuxian makes blush) and wander around, eating their fill. Jiang Cheng thought the wine had already hit them: it had made their faces red and their moods lighter, airier. Had made him feel like his mind was a blank, pliable slate, with the world in front of him to explore.
He was wrong.
The wine truly hits as he finishes the last of his mooncakes, licking his fingers to get the last of the lotus seed paste off his fingers. He takes a step forward and the world tilts as if he’s in swaying boat that’s in the middle of a tumultuous storm. He takes another step, knowing rationally that he’s just putting one foot in front of the other but it’s so hard .
It’s too hard, and so Jiang Cheng sits down. Wei Wuxian doesn’t notice that Jiang Cheng isn’t following him for a few good minutes. By the time he retraces his steps, Jiang Cheng’s stomach is showing off its aerobatic skills and making him wheeze. His stomach is truly a talented gymnast.
“Your face is green,” Wei Wuxian comments, bending down so they can look face-to-face at each. “Really green. Was it the mooncakes? Shije always said that we shouldn’t accept the freebies the vendors give us, no matter how pretty the sisters are.”
Jiang Cheng shakes his head. He’s afraid that if he speaks, something more unpleasant than a stream of expletives will come out. He holds out his hand for Wei Wuxian to pull him up by. Back on his feet, the world is still twisting around him, but he uses Wei Wuxian as a grounding point. They walk a ways, Wuxian obviously leading them away from the festival and to a more secluded area.
They’re still walking (slowly, as if they’re in a three-legged race that isn’t about speed at all), when Jiang Cheng opens his mouth and everything from the past few hours comes back up.
Wei Wuxian gasps in surprise, but doesn’t let go of Jiang Cheng. Jiang Cheng hates being sick, has always hated it since he was a kid and his father had told him the medicine would taste sweet when it really tasted like how the back end of a donkey smelled, and throwing up is the worst part of it all.
Luckily, Jiang Cheng’s stomach empties itself rather quickly. Jiang Cheng rubs his mouth with the back of his hand and grimaces. He feels disgusting, but the alcohol is still coursing through his system, so he doesn’t mind it as much as he knows he should.
“Why are you okay?” Jiang Cheng asks. The world isn’t spinning as much as it was, but he still leans against Wei Wuxian for support. He glares at his brother. The alcohol doesn’t even seem be affecting him, even though Jiang Cheng knows he drank an entire by himself before Jiang Cheng even joined him.
(It makes sense, a little voice in the back of his head tells him. Wei Wuxian is effortlessly good at everything: at sword-fighting, at cultivating, at winning over his father’s attention. It makes sense that he has a good tolerance for alcohol as well.)
“Because I’m not an idiot and ate before drinking,” Wei Wuxian snarks, but there’s a smile on his face that tells that his words are all meant to be taken as lightly as air. “Next time you drink, try eating mooncakes before, not just after.”
Jiang Cheng groans. How was he supposed to know that? A few hours ago, didn’t even know how alcohol tasted, let alone the rules surrounding it. Jiang Cheng groans again and wiggles himself out of Wei Wuxian’s grasp. He sits down on the ground, well away from the gross wet spot and curses his past self for ever thinking that it was a good idea to go along with Wei Wuxian’s antics.
“C’mon,” Wei Wuxian whines. “Stop being like that. We need to get home before the festival ends. I don’t want to get in trouble again. ”
Jiang Cheng scoffs. “You’re going to get in trouble anyway.”
Wei Wuxian is quick to kneel down and scoop Jiang Cheng into his arms, as if Jiang Cheng was a baby and not a 14-year-old who weighed nearly as much as Wei Wuxian did himself. He puts his arms around Jiang Cheng and holds him close to his chest before walking towards home.
“I’m not a child,” Jiang Cheng whines, pushing against Wei Wuxian’s chest. He feels very much like a child and it’s infuriating. His head still feels fuzzy, but it’s clear enough to know that he doesn’t want to be carried around like this. “You don’t need to hug me the entire way home. I can walk.”
“If I let you go, do you actually think you’ll be able to walk in a straight line?”
“Of course! Now let me prove it, you asshole.”
Wei Wuxian laughs, that bastard, and lets him down.
(Jiang Cheng gets through a grand total of 5 steps before losing his balance and crashing to the ground. Wei Wuxian loses himself to laughter and after some yelling and some laughing, they make their way home. Jiang Cheng swears off alcohol and that declaration sends Wei Wuxian into another fit of laughter.)
3.
"What do you mean you didn't do your homework?" Jiang Cheng whisper-yells, grabbing onto Wei Wuxian's hand as he tries to sneak away and squeezing it with almost enough force to break it. Almost. He's not that cruel.
"Ow. Ow. Ow." Wei Wuxian complains, his face twisted into pain. Jiang Cheng lets his hand go and Wei Wuxian immediately cradles it against his chest with the tenderness with what you would hold a newborn child with. Jiang Cheng scoffs. He is used to his brother's theatrical antics, but ever since they've started studying at the Cloud Recesses, it's as if someone has turned up Wei Wuxian's trouble-making dial up to fifteen.
And it's a dial that only goes up to ten.
"I mean what I said!" Wei Wuxian tries to school his facial expressions into something serious but Wei Wuxian being serious is a rarer sight than a Gusu Lan Disciple talking during a meal. In short: it doesn't ever happen.
"I was busy last night!" Wei Wuxian insists.
Jiang Cheng knows that busy means everything but what the word actually means. "You mean you were playing around with Nie Huaisang? Or skipping off to go flirt with the local merchant girls."
"I was busy ," Wei Wuxian insists. He drops his gaze to the floor and then peers up at Jiang Cheng through his lashes. "Jiang Cheng, please. I've already written out the rules more than 10 times. I don't think my hand will be able to last through another punishment. Plus, Lan Zhan always gives me weird looks when I'm writing them out. I'm sure he doesn't want me to be punished again either. I'll do my homework next time, I promise!"
Jiang Cheng shakes his head, his stomach twisting in on itself at the sight of Wei Wuxian's puppy eyes. He knows what his brother is trying to do and he won't fall for it, not this time at least. Wei Wuxian has a special ability to get underneath everyone's skin and burrow there until he gets what he wants out of them. It's a horrid skill, really, and even though Jiang Cheng has been in his close proximity for a long, long time he has yet to build up any type of real immunity for it.
(As it stands, his immunity only lasts for a few minutes. And more often than not, Wei Wuxian is willing to wait to get what he wants.)
"You are insufferable," Jiang Cheng says after a long minute of Wei Wuxian staring at him with his big, pleading eyes that look so innocent that they have no right belonging to the face of a boy that insists on bringing chaos with him everywhere he walks. "But I suppose I'll cover for you. Just this one time."
Wei Wuxian's face lights up and his downcast eyes open wide with amusement and fondness. He springs himself towards Jiang Cheng, wrapping his arms around him. "You are the best best best thing to come out of Yunnmeng Jiang."
"You're just saying that because I agreed to your outrageous plan."
Wei Wuxian squeezes his arms around Jiang Cheng's waist, causing Jiang Cheng it heave with the sudden exhale of air he is forced to take. Wei Wuxian lets go and smiles. "Of course! We all know Shijie is the real pearl amongst all of us."
Jiang Cheng shakes his head. He'll never get how Wei Wuxian thinks, and he's given up a long time ago trying to figure it out. "I swear, if I have to get punishments because of this, you're going to die."
Wei Wuxian laughs just as the group of boys they study with walk by. Wei Wuxian grabs a hold of Jiang Cheng's wrist and drags him to join the others. "Please, you say that every day. It's starting to lose its sincerity."
Jiang Cheng starts to scoff when he sees Lan Wangji looking at him with his always cold, hard stare. Jiang Cheng shakes his head and turns his scoff into a cough. Lan Wangji looks away. Given the Cloud Recesses strictness, scoffing probably isn't even allowed here. Given his rule-breaking nature, it's a wonder that Wei Wuxian actually hasn't gotten into more trouble than he already has.
"Remember, you promised," Wei Wuxian says to him before walking across the classroom to take his seat. Jiang Cheng nods his head and when Lan Qiren asks for them to turn in their essays, Jiang Cheng gives a smooth, quick contestation in Wei Wuxian's favor.
Lan Qiren stares at Jiang Cheng for a second, two. And Jiang Cheng feels the edges of soul starting to escape his body. But eventually Lan Qiren looks away with a disapproving, sour look on his face and tells Wei Wuxian that he has until their next class to finish it.
(Of course, even with the extended deadline, Wei Wuxian doesn't get anything done. But at least this time, he doesn't drag Jiang Cheng into his plan to get another extension. He drags Nie Huaisang into it instead.
It doesn't work. Jiang Cheng laughs at his brother, watching him and Nie Huaisang get dragged off by a stone-faced Lan Wangji to complete their punishments.)
4.
Wei Wuxian leaves Yunmeng Jiang (Officially; he had left in all but name when he was pushed over the edge and landed in the Burial Mounds.) on a cold day.
Jiang Cheng limps away with a broken arm, Wei Wuxian with a bleeding wound in his stomach. But before this fallout, Wei Wuxian wraps his arms around Jiang Cheng and doesn’t say anything. As if words would be enough to fill the hole regret has left in his heart.
Jiang Cheng told the rest of the world that Wei Wuxian, the one he had grown up with and loved as if they were actually blood, had defected. That he had nothing to do with Yunmeng Jiang.
And that was that.
+1.
Time has a weird way of flowing, where the days can seem to drag into infinity but at the same time years go by so fast that it makes Jiang Cheng's stomach twist with the force. He's not the same kid he was when he studied at the Cloud Recesses, not the same almost-adult he was when the title of Sect Leader was thrust upon him.
Not the same person he was when he mourned Wei Wuxian's death, half in sadness and half in utter rage.
He's not the same person, and he knows that Wei Wuxian is nowhere near the same person he once was either. Time has not been kind to either of them, and they both carry with them their burdens of their actions. Yet despite the years, despite the fact that Wei Wuxian isn't in the same body that Jiang Cheng remembers him being in, despite the fact their worlds have been thoroughly shaken and despite the fact that they barely made it out of the turmoil, progress is made.
Jiang Cheng is the first one to admit his rage and knows that he let his anger over Wei Wuxian's actions and death fester until it was close to exploding. But (after a long, long time and a little help from his nephew, whose too big of a heart is oftentimes shoved under his sleeve) he admits the longing that's deep in his chest. The longing for the scattered pieces of his family to be whole again.
Wei Wuxian is visiting the Lotus Piers. Visiting, meaning he's here for only a short period of time and has no plans on staying. Because this is no longer his home. As if to prove this point, Wei Wuxian has chosen to wear the white robes of Gusu Lan instead of his usual black and red. Lan Wangji is suspiciously absent and Jiang Cheng knows that it's for both of their benefits.
Jiang Cheng has no idea how to start this conversation, so he doesn't. He lets the conversation remain unspoken until it's Wei Wuxian's last day.
"You know," Jiang Cheng starts and he hates how awkward this is. Hates how his throat runs dry and the words have to be forced out of his mouth. Not for the first time, he wishes for the days of their youth and the belief that the world was right, just. He wishes they didn't have to go through so much when they were young. That they had more time to grow into the people they were supposed to be.
Jiang Cheng clears his throat. "You are always welcome back at the Lotus Piers. This is your home, too. Not just the Cloud Recesses."
Wei Wuxian narrows his eyes. "Here I was, thinking that you called me over just to ignore me for the entire week."
Jiang Cheng doesn't have a reply to that, so he stays silent. He wonders what he looks like now: the great, fierce Yunmeng Jiang Sect leader with his tail between his legs and his mouth zipped shut.
Wei Wuxian sighs. "There's a lot more to be done than just declaring that Yunmeng Jiang is my home again. It's not, you know that. I know that."
Jiang Cheng ruffles through his pockets, looking for the bell that's been in there since Wei Wuxian first arrived. It's not the original, but it's all Jiang Cheng has to give. He finds it, wraps his hand around the cold metal and gives it to Wei Wuxian. "The Lotus Piers is your home, please don't forget that."
Wei Wuxian takes the bell into the palm of his, but doesn't say anything. He gapes, just slightly, and is quick to close his mouth. He closes his fist around the bell and meets Jiang Cheng's eyes. "Jiang Cheng-"
"Just accept it, please," Jiang Cheng and in a rare moment of physical affection, he wraps his arms around his brother and hugs him. It's a tight hug, really too tight to be anything but suffocating. Yet Jiang Cheng hopes that the physical action is enough to say everything that he can't with his words.
Wei Wuxian is stiff in the hug, but when he realizes that Jiang Cheng isn't going to let go, he softens. He hugs Jiang Cheng back and the two stand there holding each other.
Wei Wuxian laughs, a soft sound. This Wei Wuxian has had his edges sanded down by time, but deep down it’s still the same brother Jiang Cheng has always known. "I never knew the years would turn Jiang Cheng into an affectionate softie."
"Shut up," Jiang Cheng bites, letting go of Wei Wuxian. He takes a step back, brushing down his robes to make them slightly less wrinkly. It doesn't really work.
Wei Wuxian grips the bell tightly. "Were you serious?"
"Of course, dumbass. Why wouldn't I be serious. You're… my brother. We're family."
Wei Wuxian smiles, but it's not the brilliant, overwhelming smile that he gives to everyone. It's a smaller, softer one. "That means you have to visit Gusu Lan more often as well, okay?"
Jiang Cheng nods his head. "As long as you promise me that I don't have to eat their horridly bland food."
"It's a promise."
The two brothers laugh and before leaving, Wei Wuxian loops the bell through his belt. It's an odd sight, the white of the Gusu Lan robes with a distinctly Yunmeng Jiang Sect emblem, but it's Wei Wuxian through and through. It works. And everything may not be perfectly okay, but it's getting there.