Work Text:
When Wei Wuxian showed up to his office on a Saturday afternoon unannounced, all wide eyes and innocent smiles, Jiang Cheng should’ve known better than to let him open his mouth.
It was uncharacteristically sunny for a November day, and Jiang Cheng should have drawn the blinds three hours ago, when the sun changed angles and spilled through the many glass windows of his top-floor office. However, he had been too lazy to get up, squinting at the report in his hands, which was how he hadn’t realized someone else had entered his workspace until a pair of elbows landed on his desk, supporting a beaming face.
“Missed me, Jiang Cheng?” Wei Wuxian had asked with a cheeky grin, invading his personal space without a care in the world.
Jiang Cheng had rolled his eyes and pushed Wei Wuxian’s head aside so he could read the report properly, not even thinking about the action.
And then he had frozen.
“Wait,” he had begun suspiciously, lowering the folder in his hands. “Why are you here?”
Wei Wuxian had pouted. “Wow, way to make your boyfriend feel welcome, Jiang Cheng.”
“No, I mean—” Jiang Cheng had gestured vaguely in his direction, “Aren’t you supposed to be in the States right now?”
As a mechanical engineer, Wei Wuxian had gone on a work-exchange program to California for two years, only visiting when he could. His program had ended recently, but his flight wasn’t due until the following Monday. Jiang Cheng knew. He had kept the date marked carefully on his calendar, though he’d sooner die than admit to it.
Wei Wuxian had shrugged carelessly. “I realized I could’ve booked an earlier flight, so I changed the date. Why are you here, working on a Saturday?”
Jiang Cheng had laid the report down on his desk with exaggerated care, before putting his elbows on the desk so he could prop his chin up on folded hands. “Now, Wei Wuxian, I know this might be a shock to you, but some people work overtime. Some people, like, I dunno, the CEO, have more work to do than the average employee,” he had said, slowly and patronizingly.
His boyfriend had laughed and smacked his shoulder, causing him to drop his act immediately. “You’re so full of shit, Jiang Cheng. Since when do you not do OT?”
Jiang Cheng had shrugged and resumed his reading. “Then you shouldn’t have asked.”
Not so easily dismissed, Wei Wuxian had leaned forward, sticking his face above the paper so that Jiang Cheng had had no choice but to look at him. Up close, Jiang Cheng had been caught off guard once again by how pretty he was. Sunlight had fallen across his face, striking his eyes and creating supernovas of blue and gold among swirling grey smoke.
Taking advantage of his temporary distraction, Wei Wuxian had tilted his head up so he could steal a quick kiss from Jiang Cheng’s grumbling lips, before giggling and pulling away.
Jiang Cheng had raised an eyebrow. So it would be like that, huh.
He pulled Wei Wuxian down by the collar before his boyfriend could get too far, pressing their lips together with all the intensity of a touch-starved man. Wei Wuxian had let out a noise of surprise before he had melted into the kiss, his eyes glazing over when they separated.
Jiang Cheng had turned back towards the folder afterward, but as if the kiss had given Wei Wuxian even more shamelessness (not that he needed help in that department), he had rounded the desk to sit right on Jiang Cheng’s lap, circling his neck with both arms.
“Ah, ah,” he had chided in a sing-song voice. “Stop working.”
Jiang Cheng had tried his best to ignore his boyfriend, but Wei Wuxian had plenty of practice with being persistent. With some grumbling compromise, he had finished reading the report, and Wei Wuxian had dragged him out of his office hours before the usual time he would leave, saying something about a movie.
Jiang Cheng hadn’t even agreed to go see a movie.
So yes, perhaps he should’ve known better than to let Wei Wuxian have his way, but this is in hindsight, and past Jiang Cheng hadn’t been very intelligent.
Not for the first time, he laments the fact that Wei Wuxian knows him so well, but he supposes that is reciprocal. After all, they had grown up together, so close they could practically be twins from different parents, always seen together no matter the circumstances.
However, just because they know each other well does not mean they agree on everything. Quite the contrary, in fact.
Case in point.
“For the thousandth time, we’re not watching ‘Paradise Bound’,” Jiang Cheng hisses, running a hand through his hair as his other hand keeps the steering wheel steady.
“But it’s got really good reviews online!” Wei Wuxian insists, not backing down. Without looking over, Jiang Cheng knows he is crossing his arms like a child.
“The last rom-com movie we watched together ‘got really good reviews online’, and it turned out to be utter trash,” Jiang Cheng points out.
“It wasn’t trash, you just have bad taste,” Wei Wuxian, who is indeed childish, sticks his tongue out at him.
Jiang Cheng raises an eyebrow. “I have bad taste,” he repeats, deadpan. “If I had bad taste…” He trails off, quickly shooting a pointed look at Wei Wuxian.
As always, Wei Wuxian knows what he means, and he splutters for a second before smacking Jiang Cheng’s arm. “I leave you for two years and all of a sudden you learn to talk sweet, huh?”
Jiang Cheng carefully keeps the corner of his lips from twitching upwards, secretly pleased at being able to render his normally talkative boyfriend speechless. “I literally didn’t even say anything.”
Wei Wuxian huffs. “Don’t think it’ll be so easy to distract me, Jiang Cheng. I still think we should watch ‘Paradise Bound’.”
“What’s with you and shitty rom-coms? Why can’t we watch something else?” Jiang Cheng sighs despairingly.
“Oh yeah? Like you have a better suggestion?” Wei Wuxian retorts.
“‘Song of the East’.”
“The budget was low for that one, the CGI won’t be well done.”
“‘Vanish in Darkness’.”
“Horror? The mood isn’t right.”
“…’Moonlight Letters’?”
“I thought you didn’t like animation.”
Needless to say, they end up watching the rom-com.
To Jiang Cheng’s surprise, the movie isn’t as bad as he had expected, though that was likely because his expectations had been through the floor to begin with. Besides the tropes typical of romantic comedies, the plot isn’t awful, if generic. He even laughs a few times, though it is mostly because the jokes are so badly delivered, they are amusing in their failures.
At one point, however, the movie takes an unexpectedly steamy turn, when the main characters resolve the misunderstanding between them and tumble to bed to ‘celebrate’ the resolution.
Feeling him tense, Wei Wuxian leans over to whisper in his ear, hot breath sending shivers down his spine. “Are you getting shy, my Cheng-cheng?”
“Fuck you,” Jiang Cheng retorts equally quietly. If they aren’t in a public setting, he would’ve smacked his boyfriend already.
“Maybe later,” Wei Wuxian says with a laugh, leaning away as best as he can to avoid Jiang Cheng’s wrath.
After the movies end, they exit with Wei Wuxian clinging incessantly to Jiang Cheng, looking at him expectantly all the way back to the car.
“Fine,” Jiang Cheng sighs, giving in. “It wasn’t as bad as I expected.”
“I told you!” Wei Wuxian crows victoriously, running ahead with a delighted peal of laughter.
“Just because it wasn’t as bad doesn’t mean it wasn’t bad!” Jiang Cheng yells, chasing after him.
He ends up cornering Wei Wuxian by the driver’s side of the car, both of them panting to catch their breaths.
“God, you’re so repressed, Jiang Cheng,” Wei Wuxian says breathlessly, a teasing glint in his eyes. “A little skin got you all worked up like that?”
Jiang Cheng is about to protest defensively when a better idea flashes across his mind.
“I dunno,” he says, moving closer so he can press Wei Wuxian against the car door with both hands. “You’re my first boyfriend, so shouldn’t you take responsibility for that?”
Twilight has fallen, but they’re close enough that he can see Wei Wuxian’s pupils blown wide with desire. “You can’t just go around saying things like that, A-Cheng,” Wei Wuxian says, breathless for another reason altogether.
Jiang Cheng simply grins, finally gaining the upper hand. He traces Wei Wuxian’s jaw lightly, pulling him into a kiss, but he pulls away again before it can get too heated.
“Get in the car,” he laughs, pushing Wei Wuxian away heedless of his boyfriend’s pout.
“So why today of all days?” Jiang Cheng asks when they’re both settled. “Your program ended last Friday, right? I thought you wanted an extra week as a break.”
“It’s November 14 today,” Wei Wuxian says, and when Jiang Cheng doesn’t react, he explains, “It’s Movie Day!”
Jiang Cheng laughs. “Literally no one keeps track of the fourteenths besides Valentine’s Day.” Of course, leave it to his boyfriend to know all of these cheesy dates, even when Jiang Cheng himself is only concerned with the fourteenth of February and Qixi.
“Okay, okay, that’s only half the reason,” Wei Wuxian acquiesces, pouting. “You’re always working…I figured I had a better chance dragging you out of the office on a weekend.”
Jiang Cheng feels a twinge of guilt shoot through him at the words, and he reaches over to take Wei Wuxian’s hand, squeezing gently. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to take some time off in the future.”
This seems to please Wei Wuxian greatly. “Ah, and even if you don’t, I’m back now! So I’ll be here to take care of you, since you’re so adamant on not taking care of yourself.”
Jiang Cheng doesn’t point out the hypocrisy in that statement. Instead, he repeats softly, “That’s right, you’re back now.”