Work Text:
Nie Mingjue knows that something has happened when his quiet afternoon is interrupted by the slamming of the front door.
Both Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng know better than to let their anger out on innocent furniture, so something must be wrong.
Nie Mingjue is proven right when Jiang Cheng storms past him without sparing him so much as a glance and Nie Mingjue is about to call after him when Nie Huaisang steps into the kitchen, his eyes brimming with tears.
It’s not a rare occurrence because Nie Huaisang cries easily and often and for various reasons, so Nie Mingjue learned early on to read his tears.
And these, these are tears of pure rage.
“What happened?” Nie Mingjue warily asks, but he already knows that he’s not going to like the answer.
“Wei Wuxian,” Nie Huaisang spits out and clenches his hands into fists. “He dared someone to ask A-Cheng out. In front of our entire class!” He lets out a bitter chuckle. “Gods, you should have seen his face. He was so–hopeful, and then before the person could even tell A-Cheng the truth, Wei Wuxian barged in, laughing his ass off. ‘You should have seen your face, Chengcheng! You really believed it for a second’. He thought his fucking prank was so goddamn funny,” Nie Huaisang rages, the tears now flowing down his face and Nie Mingjue understands his pain very well.
“You can imagine how A-Cheng reacted to that.”
“Yes, I can,” Nie Mingjue mutters and scrubs a hand down his face.
Jiang Cheng barely believes that he is worthy of love on a good day; the last time Nie Mingjue asked him if he is in love with anyone, Jiang Cheng had scoffed and bitterly muttered that even if he were, surely those feelings wouldn’t be reciprocated.
That he’s not worthy of anyone’s feelings but especially not those of love.
Nie Mingjue wants to put his hand through a wall just as much as he did back then, but the same rules apply to him; he’s not allowed to let his anger out on innocent furniture either.
“I’ll go talk to him,” Nie Mingjue says and pulls Nie Huaisang in for a hug.
Nie Huaisang resists at first, but soon enough he melts into Nie Mingjue’s embrace.
“Doesn’t he know how much this hurts A-Cheng?” Nie Huaisang sobs out and Nie Mingjue shrugs helplessly.
“I don’t think he does,” he gives back, because it’s better than to think that Wei Wuxian does but simply doesn’t care.
Both are bad, but at least one is more bearable.
“Please tell him we love him,” Nie Huaisang sniffles when they part and Nie Mingjue pats his head.
“Don’t I always,” he rhetorically asks because by now it’s almost a daily habit to remind Jiang Cheng that at least the Nie brothers love him. “Now you go and take a nap, when you wake up you’ll feel better.”
Nie Huaisang huffs, but he dutifully trots off to his room as if he’s still twelve and Nie Mingjue takes a few deep breaths before he walks over to Jiang Cheng’s room.
He wonders if his family even noticed that Jiang Cheng hasn’t been home in almost three months now, but he doubts it. Jiang Cheng hasn’t said anything and no one asked Nie Mingjue or Nie Huaisang about Jiang Cheng’s whereabouts, so he guesses that they are all too busy to notice his absence.
Nie Mingjue hates that his family is treating him like that, but at least Jiang Cheng had enough confidence to come to the Nie’s with this.
And they, at least, are treating him right.
Nie Mingjue knocks twice at Jiang Cheng’s door and impatiently waits for him to allow him inside.
“Come in,” he hears Jiang Cheng’s muffled answer and Nie Mingjue doesn’t waste a moment to go in.
Jiang Cheng is curled up on the bed, his back to the door, and it looks as if he’s trying to make himself as small as possible.
The sight hurts Nie Mingjue’s heart.
“Hey,” Nie Mingjue softly says as he sits down on the bed, his side pressed to Jiang Cheng’s back as he leans against the headboard. “How are you doing?” he asks, even though it’s a stupid question.
Everyone in this house knows how Jiang Cheng is doing right now.
“Just wonderful,” Jiang Cheng sarcastically says and Nie Mingjue sighs.
“What he did was wrong and mean,” Nie Mingjue tells him and Jiang Cheng shrugs as best as he can.
“It’s not really like he did something wrong. It was just a harmless prank.”
“To everyone else maybe,” Nie Mingjue allows, because he knows Jiang Cheng. He knows how this must have hit him right where it hurts. “But he should know better.”
“Should he? I’m just overreacting, and we all know it,” Jiang Cheng mutters, hiding his face in his pillow.
Nie Mingjue can guess that he’s trying to hide his tears, but he doesn’t comment on it.
“A prank should be tailored to the person,” Nie Mingjue carefully says. “It wouldn’t be all too funny to prank Wei Wuxian with something dog-related, just as it isn’t funny to prank you with something like this.”
Nie Mingjue keeps his hands in his lap, but all he really wants to do is reach out and tug Jiang Cheng into an embrace. He doesn’t, though, because he knows that Jiang Cheng can get a bit peculiar about touch when he’s already keyed up and so he simply leans a bit more to the side, offering Jiang Cheng comfort like that.
He knows it’s well-received when Jiang Cheng presses back.
“Why am I so unlovable?” Jiang Cheng breathes out, and Nie Mingjue wants to shake him and yell at him that he’s not, that he is perfectly lovable but he guesses it won’t help right now, not when Jiang Cheng is in one of his moods, however justified.
“You are not,” Nie Mingjue still says, because he can’t let this stand. “We love you,” he reminds Jiang Cheng, who only snorts.
They both know that is not quite the kind of love Jiang Cheng is talking about at the moment and Nie Mingjue would love to tell him that he is romantically loved as well, but it’s the worst moment to do that.
Jiang Cheng will barely believe that Nie Mingjue loves him on a good day, and today is a very bad day. He would probably think that Wei Wuxian set this up as well, no matter that Nie Mingjue would rather punch the other boy than participate in one of his tasteless pranks.
No, today is definitely not the right time to tell Jiang Cheng that he is in love with him.
“Right,” Jiang Cheng mutters and no matter what Nie Mingjue just thought about touching Jiang Cheng, he can’t let that stand.
He slides down until his head rests on the pillow as well and then he manhandles Jiang Cheng around until he can tuck him under his chin. Jiang Cheng doesn’t resist as much as Nie Mingjue expected him to so it’s unlikely that he completely overstepped his bounds.
“We do, though,” Nie Mingjue mutters and feels Jiang Cheng shudder in his arms.
“You’re an idiot for not believing us,” Nie Huaisang says from the door and before either Nie Mingjue or Jiang Cheng can react, he climbs over them into the bed, to settle behind Jiang Cheng, his arms slung around Jiang Cheng’s middle. “We do love you.”
Jiang Cheng doesn’t say anything to that but he continues to shake in their arms and Nie Mingjue can just hope that eventually they will make him believe that he is so very loved.
~*~*~
It’s been three months since the prank incident and keeping his feelings to himself gets harder with every day that passes. Nie Mingjue knows that soon enough he’s just going to blurt them out—if Nie Huaisang doesn’t tick Jiang Cheng off first—and he just hopes that the hurt and doubt Wei Wuxian has caused with his prank are far enough behind Jiang Cheng that he will believe him by then.
When Nie Mingjue finally confesses it’s brought on by the most mundane moments of all times.
He comes home after work only to find Jiang Cheng in the kitchen preparing their dinner, humming a song under his breath and moving with practiced ease, clearly knowing his way around in the kitchen.
It’s such a domestic picture that Nie Mingjue simply can’t help himself. He wants to keep this forever.
He takes a few moments to simply watch Jiang Cheng, not announcing his presence to him yet and he only moves further into the kitchen when Jiang Cheng spots him.
“Welcome home,” Jiang Cheng greets him with a smile and that’s it.
Nie Mingjue is only human and there is only so much he can take.
“I love you,” he tells Jiang Cheng who frowns, clearly not catching Nie Mingjue’s meaning. “I am in love with you,” he clarifies and he can pinpoint the exact moment Jiang Cheng understands him because his entire face closes off.
“Very funny,” Jiang Cheng bites out, abruptly turning away from Nie Mingjue. “Did you meet with Wei Wuxian? Did he set you up to this?” Jiang Cheng spits out and Nie Mingjue can see how Jiang Cheng’s hands shake even from across the room.
“No, he didn’t,” Nie Mingjue gives back, cursing Wei Wuxian all over again.
He thought enough time has passed by now, but clearly he was wrong.
“Right. Huaisang then? Is he going to jump around the corner and laugh at me?”
“You know damn well that Huaisang would never do that,” Nie Mingjue snaps, affronted on his brother’s behalf and Jiang Cheng flinches. Nie Mingjue takes a deep breath to calm himself down. “And neither would I. You should know that.”
“What then, huh? A bet? Or did you just decide to fuck with me for fun?” Jiang Cheng snaps, his back still to Nie Mingjue who doesn’t really know what he’s supposed to do now.
“It’s not a bet and I’m not fucking with you,” he tells Jiang Cheng. “I am in love with you. Have been for a while, really, but I never found the right time to confess.” Honesty is probably the way to go here, Nie Mingjue decides, even though he can tell that it’s futile.
He probably ruined everything just now.
“It seems like now isn’t the right time either, though,” he adds and drags his eyes away from Jiang Cheng. “I’m not going to mention it again and it doesn’t have to change anything. Just forget it,” he mutters, feeling more hurt than he could have ever imagined.
And it’s not even because Jiang Cheng clearly doesn’t reciprocate his feelings but because Jiang Cheng believes him capable of saying this as a joke, as a means to hurt him. Nie Mingjue thought Jiang Cheng trusted him more than that.
Nie Mingjue turns around, ready to flee the kitchen and go hide in his own room when Jiang Cheng’s arms encircle him from behind.
“Wait,” Jiang Cheng chokes out and Nie Mingjue freezes in his steps. “You can’t be serious,” Jiang Cheng says into Nie Mingjue’s back and Nie Mingjue huffs out a sigh even as he puts his hand on top of Jiang Cheng’s.
“I assure you, I am,” he honestly says. “I’m in love with you.”
He thinks repeating the sentiment can’t hurt right now.
“You’re not saying this because Wei Wuxian put you up to this?”
“No.”
“And you’re not saying this because Huaisang put you up to this?”
“Of course not.”
“And you’re not saying it because you pity me?”
Jiang Cheng’s voice goes thin and shaky at that question and Nie Mingjue turns around in his arms to hug him close.
“Absolutely not,” he tells him, his voice not allowing any room for doubt. “I am saying it because I feel it, right here,” he says and moves just enough to point at his heart. “And I have never pitied you a second in my life. In fact, I admire you. I admire and I love you.”
Jiang Cheng lets out a shuddering breath at that.
“So you really mean it?” he asks and Nie Mingjue takes a moment to hate everyone who ever made Jiang Cheng insecure like this.
“I really mean it. I wanted to confess to you so many times already.”
“Why didn’t you?” Jiang Cheng asks, hiding his face in Nie Mingjue’s chest.
“I didn’t want to pressure you or make you feel obligated or whatever. I didn’t want to ruin this home for you. And then Wei Wuxian did his stupid, hurtful, horrible prank and I thought you wouldn’t believe me anyway—” he trails off. “I still want to strangle him for that.”
Jiang Cheng laughs wetly.
“Me, too,” he whispers and Nie Mingjue nods.
“Maybe Huaisang can come up with something for that. I mean strangling him is clearly not an option but—”
“No, I mean,” Jiang Cheng hesitates briefly. “I love you, too.”
“Oh,” Nie Mingjue breathes out because this is absolutely not what he expected. “Oh, I see.”
“You sound—disappointed,” Jiang Cheng mutters, tensing in Nie Mingjue’s arms, so he tightens his hold on him.
“No, never!” he’s quick to reassure Jiang Cheng. “It’s just—I didn’t really expect that.”
“You confessed to me thinking I wouldn’t return those feelings?” Jiang Cheng asks, finally taking his face out of Nie Mingjue’s chest.
“Well, yes? I mean, I don’t expect anything and I definitely don’t want to pressure you, it’s just—I’ve been sitting on that for so long,” he awkwardly explains and melts completely when Jiang Cheng smiles up at him.
“I love you too, though,” Jiang Cheng says again and Nie Mingjue nods, still a bit taken aback by that. “I just always thought that you wouldn’t love me. I mean, I’m a mess and just that shy of being a charity case and I basically invaded your home and—”
“Stop right there,” Nie Mingjue orders him. “You are none of these things and I invited you into my home, so that doesn’t even count. It’s not like you took the key from me, I actively gave that one to you.”
“True,” Jiang Cheng admits. “I am a mess though.”
“You’re—a bit of a mess, maybe,” Nie Mingjue allows and softens his words with a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s forehead. “But it’s all justified with your horrible family.”
“Mh,” Jiang Cheng hums and tilts his head further up, clearly asking for another kiss.
Nie Mingjue is more than happy to give it to him. He peppers his entire face with kisses until Jiang Cheng is smiling, happy and loose in his arms and only then does Nie Mingjue bring their lips together.
“I love you,” Nie Mingjue whispers again, their lips brushing together, and he’s going to say it again and again, until Jiang Cheng definitely believes him.
Instead of answering him, Jiang Cheng burrows back into Nie Mingjue’s arms and that is good as well, he decides.
As long as he can always keep Jiang Cheng like this, Nie Mingjue is happy.