Work Text:
When the front door slams shut, Jiang Cheng knows that something is wrong.
Lan Xichen rarely ever gets angry; he’s hard to rile up and even then he still tries to smile and make the best of the situation, so for him to be truly angered by something is kind of a miracle. It takes a lot to get him there, and Jiang Cheng has only seen him angry three or four times in all the years they have known each other. Irritated yes, but Lan Xichen being this angry doesn’t happen often.
And so far it was always because someone was mean or rude or condescending to his family.
“Babe, is everyone alright?” Jiang Cheng calls out, because a small pool of dread is settling in his stomach and if there are bad news, he wants to hear them as soon as possible.
“Yes,” Lan Xichen bites out and wow.
He is really angry. Jiang Cheng has never seen him like that.
“Did your company burn down?” Jiang Cheng asks next, though he knows it can’t be. He would have heard that in the news, and Lan Xichen would be more concerned with the fact that his employees don’t have a place to be employed at anymore.
No, it must be something different.
“I don’t want to talk,” Lan Xichen presses out between clenched teeth and Jiang Cheng sinks back into the couch.
He has wanted to get up and maybe drop a peck on Lan Xichen’s lips, but it seems like it’s not going to happen.
“Alright,” Jiang Cheng gives back and while he sits down he tracks Lan Xichen’s angry pacing through the house.
Jiang Cheng knows Lan Xichen will settle down somewhere eventually, and since Lan Xichen is not unlike an angry cat it will be in the living-room, where Jiang Cheng is. He will absolutely refuse any kind of interaction, but he will be around.
“I’ll make dinner,” Jiang Cheng says before Lan Xichen can sit somewhere, and it doesn’t take him even five minutes to join Jiang Cheng in the kitchen, though he sits with his back to him, not looking at him, and generally pretending that it’s just a huge fucking coincident that he’s in the same tiny kitchen as Jiang Cheng, even though their house has more than enough space to not see each other all day.
Jiang Cheng loves him so much it’s ridiculous sometimes.
He gets Lan Xichen’s tea from the shelf and brews him a cup. Jiang Cheng knows better than to directly hand it to him, so he just puts it down on the counter, before he turns back to their dinner.
It takes Lan Xichen almost ten minutes and a lot of angry paper shuffling before he gets up to retrieve the tea.
It must be serious then.
Jiang Cheng itches to go over to him and just drape himself all over Lan Xichen’s back, kiss his cheek and nuzzle him until he calms down, but he knows right now Lan Xichen would simply shrug him off and walk away.
Being in the same space still beats that.
So Jiang Cheng stays at the stove and keeps cooking, and when it’s time for dinner, he puts a plate down for Lan Xichen too.
He gets a glare for his efforts, but Lan Xichen pulls the plate close and angrily picks up his chopsticks before he digs in. Jiang Cheng has never seen someone chew their favourite food with so much visible anger.
It would be funny, if it wasn’t worrying Jiang Cheng so much.
“Seriously, I know you’re not ready, but is your family okay? Is someone dying?” he asks halfway through the meal and his concern must show on his face, because Lan Xichen pauses for a second.
“They are all fine and healthy,” he eventually gives back and Jiang Cheng lets out a sigh before he continues eating himself.
He’ll have to wait this out then.
When Lan Xichen gathers the dishes, almost slamming them down on the counter, Jiang Cheng is tempted to tell him to just leave the clean up to him, but this is not how their household chores work, so he bites his tongue.
The one who cooked doesn’t have to do the clean-up. And it seems like Lan Xichen is determined to see this through even if that might mean they don’t have any dishes left tomorrow.
Miraculously he doesn’t break anything, though Jiang Cheng is sure he heard one of the plates crack. He’ll have to check it over later.
When Lan Xichen is done, Jiang Cheng flees back to the living-room, settling down on the couch and getting Lan Xichen’s favourite blanket in preparation for when his anger will have blown over. It shouldn’t take much longer now.
Lan Xichen sits down in the armchair first, but he only stays there for about then minutes before he gets up and starts pacing. Jiang Cheng watches that for another ten minutes, before finally, all the tension leaves Lan Xichen and he almost slumps over where he’s standing.
Jiang Cheng is about to call out to him, when Lan Xichen starts shuffling over to the couch. Jiang Cheng lifts the blanket and Lan Xichen crawls under it, almost crushes Jiang Cheng in the process and then he just hugs Jiang Cheng close for long minutes.
“My love, what happened?” Jiang Cheng softly asks, and Lan Xichen sighs into his chest.
“I don’t want you to be upset,” Lan Xichen mumbles and snuggles closer.
“You have been upset for the last two hours,” Jiang Cheng gives back. “Don’t you think I’d want to share whatever it is that got you into that state?”
“You shouldn’t,” Lan Xichen replies and then rests his chin on Jiang Cheng’s sternum. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Being like this today.”
“Just tell me what happened,” Jiang Cheng pleads and smoothes some stray strands back. “Share it with me.”
Lan Xichen looks at him for a moment longer, before he finally nods.
“I had a meeting with my uncle today,” Lan Xichen starts and Jiang Cheng already doesn’t like it.
Lan Xichen only uses the word meeting if it really was a scheduled appointment at work.
“Why?”
“He said he had some concerns about the company and my work he wanted to present in the appropriate setting.”
“He criticised your work?” Jiang Cheng asks incredulously, because Lan Xichen is one of the most hard-working people he knows and he’s also incredibly fair to his employees.
“He criticised you,” Lan Xichen mutters and he tries to pull away, but Jiang Cheng keeps him where he is.
“Me,” he repeats. “I don’t even work for you.”
“And he criticised that, before he changed course and started to rage about how you make me drop my work ethics and that I have been putting in a lot less hours ever since we got together.”
“So, he’s really criticising me for showing you that there is a life outside of the company,” Jiang Cheng sums up and Lan Xichen finally settles down on top of him again.
“When that didn’t work, he got really personal.”
“Oh, that I have to hear,” Jiang Cheng says even though he doesn’t want to know what Lan Xichen’s family thinks about him but Lan Xichen shakes his head.
“No, I don’t want to repeat that. It just—it made me so angry, because who does he even think he is. He met you three times since we moved together two years ago, and he knows nothing about you. How dare he say these things about you!”
Jiang Cheng can tell that Lan Xichen is talking himself into another rage fit again and he cups Lan Xichen’s face in his hands.
“You got angry because of me,” Jiang Cheng says, because so far Lan Xichen has only ever been angry for his family. “You got angry for me.”
“Of course I did,” Lan Xichen says, as if that is the most normal thing in the world, when so far it hasn’t been for Jiang Cheng. “You’re my love, my entire heart. He doesn’t get to attack you like that.”
“I love you, too,” Jiang Cheng gives back with a small smile and then, finally, leans forward to capture Lan Xichen’s lips in a soft kiss.
“Now tell me what you need,” he whispers against his lips and Lan Xichen drags himself upwards, so he can press his face into the crook of Jiang Cheng’s neck.
“Just you,” he whispers and Jiang Cheng kisses his forehead. “I want to forget that meeting.”
“Okay,” Jiang Cheng agrees and starts to card his fingers through Lan Xichen’s hair.
If Lan Xichen were even just a little bit more like a cat, he would start purring right about now, Jiang Cheng knows, but all he does is hum a little bit and lean into every touch of Jiang Cheng.
It’s enough for now, but later Lan Xichen will crave a bath to get rid of the last lingering tension and then he’ll want to curl up in bed and just whisper under the covers like the huge goddamn romantic sap that he is, before they drift off to sleep, intertwined with each other and warm.
Jiang Cheng can’t say he likes it when something riles Lan Xichen up like this, but the aftermath isn’t so bad and Jiang Cheng can’t deny that he’s looking forward to it.