Work Text:
He was going to do it. Wei Wuxian knew the moment he caught Lan Wangji glancing at his shidi. A ripple of jealousy going through him. Wei Wuxian despised how the others sought after Jiang Cheng. He was sure that they were friends but then the gossip started about how they make the most perfect couple. From that moment, he’d not been able to stop the dark hungry monster that was rolling in his chest and mind.
“Wei Ying stop!” Jiang Cheng ordered just before he heard the crunch of Lan Wangji’s left tibia snapping. Wei Wuxian was almost sorry, if not for the look on Lan Wangji’s face. All sense of apologizing left him. There was no way he was going to apologize to other man now. He'd rather face a thousand lashes with zidian before he'd utter any sort of sorries.
“Jiang Cheng..I.” Wei Wuxian did immediately detach himself from Lan Wangji the moment he saw Jiang Cheng's face. He stood up and backed away from Lan Wangji. The two of them had decided to show their disciples some hand to hand sparing. Something that Lan Wangji didn’t do often but had done so several times with Jiang Cheng. Wei Wuxian hated it. He hated how it seemed so easy for Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng to get along. It was this hate for that relationship that he’d interrupted where Jiang Cheng had offered so that he could take his place.
“Go to our quarters now. ” Jiang Cheng commanded in a voice that reminded of Madam Yu. A shiver of dread ran down his spine. He jumped at the glare that Jiang Cheng sent his way. Wei Wuxian sputtered as he tried to find the words to explain what happened. But they stayed stuck in his throat and he didn’t want to embarrass Jiang Cheng further. He looked around seeing the wide eyed looks and the whispers were starting. To keep from hearing all the things they’d say he followed his shidi’s instructions and headed towards their rooms. However he couldn’t help but want to look back. Jiang Cheng didn’t spare him a glance as he went immediately to Lan Wangji, and didn’t that just hurt even more?
The pain was still in the forefront of his mind as he laid there on Jiang Cheng’s bed instead of his own. The younger man’s pillow wrapped in his arms as he tried to keep himself from crying. He was sixteen and he shouldn’t be crying over being told to go to his room. How many times had he been told that living in Lotus Pier? However the order to leave without being acknowledged from Jiang Cheng made his heart ache as if his shidi had just rejected him. It was a miserable seed taking form in the pit of his stomach. The bloom was working its way to blossom if he wasn’t careful. Yet, how could he be? This was so new to him. He’d only just realized that he had a rather deep crush on Jiang Cheng. And it’s like ever since he’d tried to figure more out about those feelings Jiang Cheng was becoming more distant.
“Wei Wuxian?” Jiang Cheng’s voice stirred him from his rather depressing thoughts. He couldn’t focus on losing Jiang Cheng. It made all sorts of deeply hidden fears try to rise to the surface of his mind.
When Wei Wuxian didn’t answer, he slid the door open to their room. For all intensive purposes Wei Wuxian should be using the smaller attached bedroom but they’d shared quarters since they were children. “Wei Wuxian?” he said in a much softer tone as he saw the other curled up on the bed with his pillow. His back was facing Jiang Cheng but he could tell by the other’s breathing that he wasn’t asleep. Jiang Cheng quietly shut the door and tapped the seal for silence. Just in case there were some eavesdroppers that loved to report things back to his parents.
Jiang Cheng slipped his boots off then stepped closer to the bed. He was able to see Wei Wuxian stiffen as he realized that Jiang Cheng wasn’t going to leave him. “We need to talk about this Wei Wuxian. What happened today shouldn’t have.” He carefully moved onto the bed and forced Wei Wuxian to accommodate his arms wrapping around him. Once he had a good hold he pulled him to his chest mirroring the same affectionate hug that Wei Wuxian has always given him when he needed it.
“Please talk to me.” Jiang Cheng waited patiently till he felt the other finally cave and melt into the hug.
“I have this…ChengCheng I have this need for you to need me but you don’t. You can just go your own way and get help from others .” He grit his teeth thinking of Lan Wangji. “Aren’t I supposed to be your shixiong? Don’t you realize that for me to be me I need you to need me?”
Jiang Cheng listened and felt the sorrow in Wei Wuxian’s tone, as low and upset as it was. He swallowed, recognizing between the words what wasn’t saying out loud. For all of Wei Wuxian’s famed intelligence he had a way of hiding his true feelings in what he said instead of coming out with it. “I do need you, Wei Ying, and I hear you. I will do better to make sure you know that.” he made the promise and pressed his face into the back of Wei Wuxian’s neck.
Wei Wuxian shivered and he couldn’t help but want to see his shidi’s face. He turned around so that they were pressing noses. A soft warm smile on his lips. “Promise?” His hand moved to mess with a silky strand of hair.
Jiang Cheng’s lips parted as he felt his heart begin to race. The memory of their night at the family’s private pier after the festival last year came rushing back. They’d tasted his mother’s special wine from Madam Jin and had gone swimming. That night they’d made drunken promises of how they’d better Lotus Pier like fools. Wei Wuxian had done this very thing, whispering promises are sealed with kisses right before kissing him. He was sure that Wei Wuxian had forgotten but he hadn’t.
“Promise.” Jiang Cheng breathed out and feeling brave as Wei Wuxian’s smile brightened, he kissed him. He could feel that Wei Wuxian was stunned by his action but before he could pull back the hand that’d been messing with his hair slid down to cup his neck to keep him in place as Wei Wuxian blissfully responded back. This kiss was different from the peer; there was more warmth and determination, and if Jiang Cheng wasn’t careful he’d get addicted to these kisses just like his mother does to her special wine.