Work Text:
Jiang Cheng’s life wasn’t so bad.
Which was to say, it wasn’t bad at all. Particularly so at this moment, when he was lying with his back towards the ceiling, and pleasantly cool fingers were tracing the images of rabbits and flowers and the like onto his skin.
With his face pressed into a pillow, his voice came out with a good amount of stuffiness, “What’s so fun about that, anyway? You’ve been messing around for a bit; it’s unlike you.”
The finger paused in the middle of a cloud shape, and Lan Wangji replied, “… I like it.”
That much was clear. Jiang Cheng’s eyes were closed, else he would have rolled his eyes. Lan Wangji was often like this, answering very bluntly, but not understanding why the question had been posed in the first place. It wasn’t too much of a problem. He was used to it.
Seeing as he did not say anything in response, Lan Wangji took it as permission to continue doing as he wished. His finger continued moving lightly, finishing the cloud.
If Jiang Cheng were ticklish, this would have been torture. As it was, it was more of a study full of curiosity. As if he had never seen his bare back before, Lan Wangji traced and traced without faltering in interest. He kept the movement unobtrusive while Jiang Cheng rested his eyes wearily.
A little while later, when it seemed that he was finally cooling down, Lan Wangji asked, “Cold?”
“It’s fine. Stop mothering me.”
Despite this, Jiang Cheng felt a blanket falling over his lower back, and gave an irritated sigh. “Why do you ask if you’re just going to do it anyway?”
Seeing as he did not say no, Lan Wangji quietly pulled the blanket up entirely. Jiang Cheng was always the same too – if he didn’t disagree to it strongly, then he was probably fine with it.
After that, he clasped his hands together. His eyes slid downwards, towards Jiang Cheng’s prone form, then to his own kneeling position. Then it returned to Jiang Cheng, where his glasslike gaze focused and became unmoving.
He was so still, Jiang Cheng eventually realized he hadn’t moved at all. Knowing Lan Wangji, he was probably just silently watching, unwilling to bother him now that he had been covered, yet also unwilling to leave him.
He rolled over, opened one eye crankily, and sure enough, there was Lan Wangji, sitting obediently at the edge of the mattress.
“If you’re just going to do that, you can hurry up and leave,” Jiang Cheng said shortly. “Otherwise, get in.” He pulled up the blanket, gesturing for Lan Wangji to crawl in. “It drives me crazy when you just sit there and blink.”
Without further encouragement, Lan Wangji quickly pulled himself towards Jiang Cheng, grasping for him until he felt that something akin to a large octopus had managed to get ahold of his torso.
“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled as he was kissed on his right collarbone. “Give it a rest; I’m too tired for this.”
Lan Wangji did so, but not before reaching to his back once more. His fingers dexterously traced out one last thing – a sentence, to be more specific. Just three words.
[I like you.]
Jiang Cheng didn’t have anything to say this, and if their roles had been switched, Lan Wangji would also be lost for words. They were similar like that.
So instead of returning any sort of admission, Jiang Cheng let their noses bump, thought to himself that Lan Wangji was a jade-like beauty with an elegant and refined appearance, but he would trace rabbits onto someone’s skin for fun, he would coddle you and care for you, and his speaking skills were so bad he couldn’t even confess aloud.
Such was the nature of this person.
So as Lan Wangji squeezed him even tighter, to the point where he had to tell him he was going to choke out a lung at this rate, Jiang Cheng put his arms around someone very lovely and thought to himself, it wasn’t all so bad.