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It was nice to be laughing again, truly laughing, after so long, and nicer still for it to be in the company of Lan Xichen. Sometimes it still amazed Nie Huaisang that they had forgiven each other, and themselves.
Apparently it amazed others as well, hence the question Sect Leader Yao had dared to ask him during the conference today, a question he'd now repeated to Lan Xichen. Or tried to repeat. He was laughing so hard must have made him hard to understand, judging by Lan Xichen's patient but puzzled smile.
“He was so awkward!” Nie Huaisang cried, actual tears falling down his cheeks. “The poor man was clearly terrified for my virtue. Apparently, you Lan have a taste for twisted minds, and he thought someone should warn me of the danger, lest I be turned into a cutsleeve like Wei Wuxian.”
“Aren't you already?” Lan Xichen asked, putting his cup of tea down on the table between them.
“You'd think I'd made it obvious enough,” Nie Huaisang agreed, “but apparently that was still too subtle for some people. Ah, but Er-ge should have told me. It does no good to keep these things secret. Look at Wangji!”
“Huaisang,” Lan Xichen gently scolded.
“No, No, I understand! How long you must have carried that silent flame! I guess it runs in the family. I understand, your heart's been aching but you're too shy to say it! Er-ge, there's no need to hide anymore. I promise I won't mind at all, if you open your heart to me!”
“You mock my feelings,” Lan Xichen retorted with very affected sadness.
“I would never! Ah, my poor Er-ge, hiding so long... but no more. Take me, Xichen!” Nie Huaisang sighed, half collapsing over the table, pulling on his collar to expose his neck. “I think we are meant to be. Just please, be gentle with me.”
“I refuse to believe it'd be your first time,” Lan Xichen snorted.
“Rude. True, but rude. Can't you be gentle with me just because I am very handsome and very delicate and you love me so much, in spite of your brutal desire?”
Nie Huaisang batted his eyelashes at the other man, expecting him to laugh at the ridiculous display. Instead he found Lan Xichen observing with something that might have been hunger, in another man.
“Careful when playing with fire,” he advised. “You might get burned.”
Something changed in his tone of voice, catching Nie Huaisang's attention. It wasn't quite a warning, but it wasn't far from it either. A wiser man might have taken it as a cue to change the subject, but Nie Huaisang had never seen the value of wisdom.
He did, however, very much value the way Lan Xichen looked at him right then, and smirked.
“Is that a threat, Er-ge?”
Lan Xichen smiled. Instead of answering, he leaned over the table with slow movements, a tiger stalking its prey. Nie Huaisang shivered, but not from fear.
“It's a promise, Huaisang.”