Work Text:
As soon as they all touch down in Lotus Pier and step off their swords, Jiang Cheng turns towards Lan Xichen.
“Listen,” he starts and winces when Lan Xichen looks at him with barely concealed fear.
The emotions are still running high this evening and Jiang Cheng is pretty sure he doesn’t want to know what’s going on in Lan Xichen’s head right now, so he hurries to speak again, reaching out to take Lan Xichen’s hand in his, for good measure, too.
“It’s nothing bad,” he promises. “But I have to tell Jin Ling,” Jiang Cheng says, and he can see the moment those words register with Lan Xichen, because he relaxes again. “You are both going to stay here permanently and he has to know. I know it’s your secret to keep—and yours to tell too—but I’m not going to keep this from him and I’m not going to lie to him about it either. And we have to explain why you two are here now,” Jiang Cheng goes on and is surprised to see Lan Xichen smile at him.
“Of course,” Lan Xichen gives back and tugs Jiang Cheng close for a sweet and short kiss. “I honestly thought you already told him.”
“I wouldn’t,” Jiang Cheng gives back, slightly affronted that Lan Xichen believes he would just go around and spill Lan Xichen’s secrets. “It’s your secret.”
“It’s ours now,” Lan Xichen says and also pulls Lan Jingyi closer to them. “You told Sizhui, right?” he asks the boy, who nods. “And Jin Ling should know, too.”
“Thank you,” Jiang Cheng breathes, because this has been nagging at him, ever since it became clear that Lan Xichen and Lan Jingyi would be a permanent fixture in Lotus Pier now.
“When do you want to do it?” Lan Jingyi asks and Jiang Cheng can tell that he’s nervous.
Jiang Cheng would really rather not put more strain on Lan Jingyi today, but Jin Ling should still be in Lotus Pier, and he’s not going to lie to him for even a second.
“If he’s still here, today,” Jiang Cheng gives back and notes with concern how Lan Jingyi pales at his words.
Lan Xichen must have noticed too, because he pulls Lan Jingyi to his side.
“It will be okay,” he tells him and while Jiang Cheng can tell that Lan Jingyi has a hard time believing that, he nods.
“You’ll—you’ll be there, right?” Lan Jingyi wants to know in a whisper and Lan Xichen immediately nods.
“Of course I will be there,” he reassures him and Jiang Cheng puts his hand on his shoulder.
“And I will be there, too. You’re not getting rid of us this easily. And Jin Ling will understand, you don’t have to worry about that.”
Lan Jingyi doesn’t look like he believes Jiang Cheng, but he doesn’t say anything.
But Jiang Cheng has faith in his nephew; Jin Ling might be prickly and it might be difficult for him to express his emotions, but he will accept Lan Xichen and Lan Jingyi just like they are, there is no doubt in Jiang Cheng’s mind about that.
“Let’s do it over dinner,” Jiang Cheng decides as he brings them into the heart of Lotus Pier and flags down a servant, to order a dinner for four and to tell Jin Ling where they will be waiting for him.
Jiang Cheng brings them into his private rooms, because he does not want to do this in a public setting, and it isn’t long before Jin Ling joins them.
He levels them all with a look and then sits down without saying anything, shoulders tense and chin raised high.
“Jin Ling,” Jiang Cheng starts and Jin Ling works his jaw a few times.
It’s a sure sign that he has something to say, so Jiang Cheng waits him out, glad that Lan Xichen and Lan Jingyi follow his lead.
“Is this how you’re telling me that you got married? Without me?” Jin Ling hisses eventually, and Jiang Cheng blinks at him.
It never even occurred to him that this must be what it looks like to Jin Ling, and he’s quick to shake his head.
“Of course not,” he reassures him. “I would never get married without you present.”
Jin Ling doesn’t look like he fully believes him; he crosses his arms in front of his chest and stares Jiang Cheng down.
“It does look a lot like that to me though,” Jin Ling says, his voice quivering with anger or maybe he’s just that upset. “Because you leave in a rush following Lan Xichen, and then you stay away for two whole weeks and when you come back, you bring him along,” he says with a nod towards Lan Jingyi though it’s not unkind. “And it just looks to me like you’re going to introduce them as your husband and adopted son, and you did that all without me.”
“A-Ling, I would never do something like that without you, and especially not without even talking to you first. Lan Xichen and I did not get married.”
“Well—,” Lan Xichen says from his side and Jiang Cheng goes completely and utterly still before he slowly turns towards Lan Xichen.
“Now is not the time to say ‘well’,” Jiang Cheng hisses at him and watches in horror as Lan Xichen goes red in the face. “Xichen, what the fuck?” Jiang Cheng almost yells at him and he is very aware that Lan Jingyi and Jin Ling are watching them with interest.
“So,” Lan Xichen starts and then has to clear his throat. “You know the story about the forehead ribbons?” Lan Xichen asks and Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes at him.
“Yes, I do. Only family and spouses are allowed to touch it. And I know for a fact that I did not touch it!” Jiang Cheng almost yells, but he can’t bring himself to care.
He and Lan Xichen did not get married without his knowledge!
“I know, you didn’t,” Lan Xichen reassures him, but Jiang Cheng knows him well enough to not relax yet.
Something else is coming.
“But you see, there’s—,” Lan Xichen briefly looks over at Jin Ling and then very visibly shrugs, “there is a model for the forehead ribbon.”
“A model,” Jiang Cheng repeats flatly and catches Lan Jingyi bite down on a laugh.
Jiang Cheng is not going to like what’s coming, he already knows it.
“There is this special tentacle we have,” Lan Xichen explains and that’s as far as he gets before Jin Ling slams his hands over his ears.
“I do not want to hear this,” he shouts at them, and Lan Jingyi doubles over with laughter at his reaction.
“It’s not like that,” Lan Xichen quickly says, but he’s even redder now, and Jiang Cheng fights the urge to facepalm.
He cannot understand how this conversation got derailed like this so quickly.
“What special tentacle?” Jiang Cheng bites out when it becomes apparent that Jin Ling won’t lower his hands and that Lan Jingyi won’t stop laughing at them.
“It’s a very small, thin one?” Lan Xichen tries and Jiang Cheng knows exactly which tentacle he’s speaking about because it’s the one that’s always wrapped around his hand when he drifts off to sleep.
“The tendril?” Jiang Cheng presses out through clenched teeth and Lan Xichen nods, his face now bright red.
“It doesn’t really count for you,” Lan Xichen quickly tries to reassure him, “but that you touched it means I’m bound to you for life. Mine, not yours,” he adds. “It’s how my kind binds each other. I don’t know if it can even be replicated with humans, but. Yeah. For me, for my kind, we got married. And I apologize for not telling you sooner.”
Jiang Cheng gapes at Lan Xichen, because how dare he just marry him without even letting Jiang Cheng know about that—and how dare he do it every night without letting Jiang Cheng know about that—but before he can actually say anything like that, Jin Ling speaks up.
“For your kind?” he demands to know and all eyes turn back to him.
Lan Jingyi immediately stops laughing.
“So here’s the actual reason we wanted to talk to you,” Jiang Cheng says with a side-glare at Lan Xichen—promising him that they will talk about this later—who ducks his head. “There’s something you don’t know about the Lans yet.”
“They are not—human?” Jin Ling carefully asks and itches slightly away from Lan Jingyi, but stops when he sees how his face falls.
“Jin Ling, you can never tell anyone else about this. This is a secret and it has to stay like that, do you understand?” Jiang Cheng asks and looks very seriously at Jin Ling who straightens up under his gaze.
“Are they dangerous?” he asks, avoiding looking at Lan Xichen and Lan Jingyi in favour of keeping his eyes trained on Jiang Cheng.
“They can be,” Jiang Cheng tells him, because he still remembers how Lan Xichen went on a rampage in the clearing. “But they are not to us,” he then states firmly, because he knows they would never hurt anyone without provocation.
Besides, they are also still cultivators; that makes them dangerous on their own, just like every other cultivator out there.
“You trust them,” Jin Ling whispers and looks away. “You trust them and you didn’t tell me because you don’t trust me,” he lowly adds and Jiang Cheng stands up to walk over to Jin Ling.
“It’s not that I didn’t trust you,” Jiang Cheng immediately tells him. “But I only found out a little while ago. And it wasn’t my secret to tell. But they are going to live here now, and apparently someone married me without telling me so they are family now, too,” Jiang Cheng says very pointedly and glares at Lan Xichen.
“What are you?” Jin Ling asks, now looking directly at Lan Xichen who scoots a little bit away from the table.
“It would be better just to show you,” he says, but he’s clearly waiting for Jiang Cheng’s permission.
“Jin Ling, when he changes, I need you to remember that he’s not dangerous. He would never harm you.”
“Okay,” Jin Ling whispers, but he’s clearly nervous and so Jiang Cheng hugs him to his side.
“Don’t watch the transformation, it will hurt your head,” Jiang Cheng mumbles and gently puts his hand over Jin Ling’s eyes before he nods to Lan Xichen, who immediately lets go of his human form.
He doesn’t bring out many of his eyes, and he even keeps a few tentacles to himself, but Jiang Cheng guesses it’s good enough.
“I felt that,” Jin Ling says and Jiang Cheng nods.
“He’s a lot bigger now,” he tells Jin Ling and then simply takes his hand away.
Jin Ling jerks when his eyes fall on Lan Xichen, but he doesn’t run away screaming and he doesn’t draw Suihua so Jiang Cheng counts it as a win.
“It’s—it’s still Lan Xichen?” Jin Ling carefully asks and Jiang Cheng sighs.
He had hoped to spare Jin Ling the pain of the transformation.
“He is,” Jiang Cheng gives back and Lan Xichen changes back.
Jiang Cheng is already too used to it but Jin Ling makes a noise like he’s going to be sick and he keeps quiet for a long time afterwards.
Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng share a worried glance, while Lan Jingyi seems to try his best to just fade into the background.
Jiang Cheng knows he’s scared Jin Ling will ask him to transform as well, but Jiang Cheng is certain that Lan Jingyi has nothing to fear from Jin Ling.
“You—you look like that, too?” Jin Ling eventually asks Lan Jingyi, voice stumbling over the words and Lan Jingyi looks down at his hands.
“Jingyi has a different form,” Lan Xichen gently tells him, and tugs Lan Jingyi closer to himself. “He’s very special.”
Lan Jingyi scoffs at that, and Jiang Cheng wants to tell him that he is but then Jin Ling speaks up again.
“Can I see?” he asks and Lan Jingyi works his jaw a few times.
Jiang Cheng is reminded that for all that Jin Ling only really has three friends—Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi and Ouyang Zizhen—the same goes for Lan Jingyi as well.
Thanks to his different form he was never able to make friends in the Cloud Recesses. Not even amongst the human disciples, because they picked up on the Lans behaviours towards Lan Jingyi.
“Fine,” Lan Jingyi bites out eventually and moves away from Lan Xichen. “But don’t say no one warned you.”
Jin Ling flinches at how bitter Lan Jingyi sounds but he watches as he too, changes his form quickly. Unlike Lan Xichen, Lan Jingyi does not hide even a single jaw.
Jin Ling’s jaw drops when he sees Lan Jingyi’s form and Jiang Cheng squeezes him warningly, tries to remind him to be gentle with Lan Jingyi.
“No wonder you eat like you do,” is the first thing Jin Ling blurts out and then he slaps a hand over his mouth.
“I’m so sorry,” he adds, but Lan Xichen is laughing and Lan Jingyi lost a lot of his hard edges, so Jiang Cheng knows he wants to laugh as well.
And he does, as soon as he changes back. Jiang Cheng can hear the faint edge of hysteria to his voice though, and Lan Xichen is quick to engulf him in a hug.
“Is he alright?” Jin Ling quietly asks Jiang Cheng, watching the scene in front of them.
“He will be,” Jiang Cheng determinedly says. “We’ll tell you about what happened over dinner,” he promises Jin Ling.
“But you really need to keep this secret,” Lan Xichen suddenly speaks up and Jin Ling’s head snaps around to him. “You cannot tell anyone.”
“Does no one know about you?” Jin Ling asks and Lan Xichen smiles sadly at him.
“No. There hasn’t been a human in the known for—two generations now, maybe,” Lan Xichen says. “You two, Wei Wuxian and Sizhui are the only one who know, and it must stay like that.”
“What about Zizhen?” Lan Jingyi asks, wringing his hands in front of his chest. “I get that I was only allowed to tell Sizhui because of our relationship, and that Jin Ling gets to know because he’s family, but Zizhen—he’s—,” Lan Jingyi says and then trails off.
“He’s our friend and can be trusted,” Jin Ling chimes in as well.
“I don’t know,” Lan Xichen admits. “It’s not just our secret, it concerns the whole Sect,” he tells them. “But I’ll think about it. Maybe you can invite him over? I don’t know him well enough to decide on his character,” Lan Xichen decides and Jiang Cheng nods.
“Sure. He can come visit any time.”
“Okay, now that that’s all over, can we please eat?” Lan Jingyi whines all of a sudden and Jin Ling narrows his eyes at him.
“I don’t think we have enough food for you and your numerous maws,” he tells him with a sweet smile and Lan Jingyi gasps at him.
“And don’t you think the marriage conversation is over,” Jiang Cheng says to Lan Xichen, who ducks his head, but also reaches out for Jiang Cheng with a tentacle.
It’s not the tendril, Jiang Cheng will make sure to stay away from that one until this is all cleared up, and so he welcomes the touch readily.
When the tentacle makes contact with his skin he can tell that Lan Xichen is genuinely sorry, but that he also doesn’t regret it. But most of all, Jiang Cheng can tell just how much Lan Xichen loves him.
“Is this going to be a thing now?” Jin Ling warily asks, leaning over to Lan Jingyi who heaves out a sigh.
“Regrettably, yes,” he answer and Jin Ling makes a gagging sound.
“Disgusting,” he whispers, to which Lan Jingyi furiously agrees.
Jiang Cheng laughs at that, because he couldn’t care less about it, and he even allows the tentacle to wrap further around his arm.
“I said disgusting,” Jin Ling says again, louder this time, and stands up to stalk away.
“And I don’t care, brat!” Jiang Cheng calls after him, much to Lan Xichen’s and Lan Jingyi’s apparent delight and while Jiang Cheng had worried about Jin Ling’s reaction, this went a lot better than he had hoped for.
And now he knows that there is nothing standing in the way of them becoming a family.