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Jiang Cheng is looking forward to having Nie Mingjue visit. He knows that he should be nervous—Nie Mingjue is visiting him on official business after all and in his capacity as a fellow Sect Leader—but Jiang Cheng can’t find it in him.
He and Nie Mingjue have been friends since the Sunshot Campaign and so to Jiang Cheng it feels more like receiving a friend than a fellow Sect Leader.
Jiang Cheng just hopes that Nie Mingjue doesn’t mind the less formal reception but when he comes into view and Jiang Cheng spots only four other people with him he guesses the answer is no.
Apparently Nie Mingjue is not treating this as an official visit himself.
“Wanyin!” Nie Mingjue greets him almost as soon as he doesn’t have to yell it anymore and Jiang Cheng finds himself smiling at him.
“Mingjue, it’s so good to have you. Welcome to Lotus Pier.”
There’s still a lot to do in Lotus Pier; the traces of destruction that the Wens left behind are still visible and reconstructing everything has been slow going. Normally Jiang Cheng would feel defensive over his progress or lack thereof but with Nie Mingjue he doesn’t mind so much.
“You’ve made so much progress,” Nie Mingjue praises him the moment they step into Lotus Pier and Jiang Cheng knows that he really means it.
“There’s still much to do though,” he replies and Nie Mingjue nods.
“Yeah, the work never ends, I can tell you that,” he says with a wink and Jiang Cheng finds himself smiling at Nie Mingjue.
Being with Nie Mingjue has always felt easy and comfortable and Jiang Cheng is glad for it.
“I feared as much,” Jiang Cheng sighs out, and Nie Mingjue bumps their shoulders together.
“You’ll manage it, no doubt about it,” he confidently says and with encouragement like that Jiang Cheng feels as if he really will manage it. “So what’s on the plan for today?” Nie Mingjue wants to know once Jiang Cheng has shown him to his rooms and it seems as if he’s brimming with energy.
“I thought a small hunt,” Jiang Cheng offers. “Just us. There are no dangerous being around Lotus Pier anymore, we made sure to clean those out, but there are of course a lot of water ghouls and such around. I thought it would be a good idea.”
“That sounds amazing,” Nie Mingjue says and it almost seems as if Baxia is vibrating on his back.
“Alright, let’s change and then we’ll meet at the front gate?”
“You have a deal.”
Jiang Cheng smiles at Nie Mingjue before he hurries off to get himself into more hunt appropriate clothes but it’s not long before he’s back at the front gate, Sandu in his hand, Zidian on his finger and his bow and quiver on his back.
Nie Mingjue is already waiting for him but when Jiang Cheng comes closer he starts to frown.
“What?” Nie Mingjue asks, clearly picking up on Jiang Cheng’s mood.
“Where’s your bow and quiver?” Jiang Cheng demands to know and Nie Mingjue blinks at him.
“I have Baxia.”
“That’s fine and all but you’ll need a bow as well,” Jiang Cheng tells him and he’s not prepared for the way Nie Mingjue suddenly nervously shuffles on his feet.
“What?” Jiang Cheng asks him.
“We don’t normally hunt with a bow,” Nie Mingjue admits. “I didn’t bring it.”
Something about the way he says it makes Jiang Cheng suspicious so he frowns even harder at Nie Mingjue, unwilling to let this go.
“I can lend you one, then. Come on, follow me to the armoury.”
Jiang Cheng has barely made a step when Nie Mingjue’s hand shoots out to wrap around his upper arm.
“Wait,” Nie Mingjue breathes out and now he’s a little bit red in the face.
It’s completely endearing, if Jiang Cheng is being honest.
“Yes?” Jiang Cheng asks when Nie Mingjue stays silent for too long.
“It’s just—you know—” he stammers and Jiang Cheng raises an eyebrow at him.
“Mingjue, do you know how to use a bow?” he asks, finally being merciful enough to put Nie Mingjue out of his misery.
“No,” Nie Mingjue whispers and even though Jiang Cheng expected that answer now it still floors him.
To him it sometimes feels as if he learned how to walk, swim and shoot a bow all in one go and it seems kind of inconceivable that another cultivator doesn’t know how to use one.
“We don’t hunt with bows in Qinghe,” Nie Mingjue rushes to explain himself. “The game there is too big for it and what a bow can do our sabers can do as well. There was just never any reason to learn.”
Nie Mingjue sounds completely defensive and Jiang Cheng almost feels bad when he bursts out laughing at his face.
“Sorry, sorry,” he wheezes out when Nie Mingjue crosses his arms in front of his chest. “It’s just—we can practice, if you want to,” he then offers, hoping to make up for his laps right now.
“I wouldn’t want to trouble you,” Nie Mingjue says but Jiang Cheng waves him off.
“You wouldn’t. I offered. So, what about it?”
“I—think I would like that,” Nie Mingjue agrees and Jiang Cheng smiles at him.
“Alright, to the armoury it is then, we have to see if we have a bow for you.”
He leads them to the armoury where they do in fact find a bow for Nie Mingjue and barely half an hour later Jiang Cheng leads them to the usual practice field. He made sure to inform his people about it, so that they would stay clear; it’s nice to see that Nie Mingjue is not against learning something new but Jiang Cheng does not want to test him by inviting any spectators for it as well.
“You have shot a bow before?” Jiang Cheng asks when they find a good spot to shoot from.
“It’s been years, though,” Nie Mingjue confirms with a nod and Jiang Cheng motions for him to take position.
Nie Mingjue does and it looks just as clumsy as Jiang Cheng expected it to be.
“You want me to shoot?” Nie Mingjue asks, he arrow poised and ready and he lets it fly when Jiang Cheng nods.
They did put up a target, because it’s easier to shoot at something specific from the start but the arrow flies wide.
“Sorry,” Nie Mingjue sheepishly says and lowers the bow.
“No, no,” Jiang Cheng interjects and steps close to push his arm back up. “Here,” he then says and slightly pushes at Nie Mingjue’s shoulder while lightly tapping his foot against Nie Mingjue’s to make him widen his stance. “A bit more back,” he then instructs and pulls on Nie Mingjue’s other shoulder to make him open his chest.
“Stand straight, chin up. Look along the length of your arm,” he tells him and watches Nie Mingjue follow his instructions. “Good. Now knock your arrow and pull but don’t release it yet.”
Nie Mingjue does that as well and Jiang Cheng tries his best not to think about the play of muscles in Nie Mingjue’s back as he does it.
“Good,” he praises even as he adjusts the raised arm. “A little bit more back, and make sure your elbow doesn’t drop.”
Nie Mingjue adjusts his stance according to Jiang Cheng’s words.
“Now twist your bow arm slightly, like this,” Jiang Cheng demonstrates with his own arm and once Nie Mingjue has done that Jiang Cheng steps back.
“Now shoot.”
Nie Mingjue lets the arrow fly and while it still doesn’t hit the target, it gets much, much closer to it.
“See, that’s better,” Jiang Cheng says with a satisfied nod and startles badly when Nie Mingjue spins around to him.
“Let me court you,” he rushes out and for the first time Jiang Cheng notices how red Nie Mingjue is.
“What?”
“You can’t just do all of that,” Nie Mingjue vaguely gestures at the bow before he points at Jiang Cheng, “and look like that and be like that and then think I wouldn’t want to court you.”
“Is that—a spur of the moment thing?” Jiang Cheng wants to know because he wouldn’t be opposed to a courtship with Nie Mingjue but if it’s a spontaneous thing then Jiang Cheng doesn’t know how he feels about that.
“No. Fuck no, I wouldn’t do that. I have an official proposal and a first courtship gift with me. It’s the reason for my visit, actually,” Nie Mingjue admits. “It’s just—you were pressed up to me and with your hands all over me—I lost my head,” he sheepishly says and it makes Jiang Cheng laugh.
He’s completely flattered that someone like Nie Mingjue would even consider courting him and this whole thing is just so endearing that Jiang Cheng doubts anyone could say no to him. Not that Jiang Cheng even wants to.
“Yes.”
“Yes what?” Nie Mingjue asks for clarification.
“Yes, you may court me,” Jiang Cheng tells him and is not prepared for the huge smile Nie Mingjue gives him.
“Lucky me,” Nie Mingjue breathes out and leans in to press a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s temple.
“Lucky me,” Jiang Cheng shoots back, because with everything that happened to him and his Sect recently he didn’t think anyone would want to court him.
“Lucky us,” Nie Mingjue decides and then assumes position one more time. “You want to show me again how it’s done?” he asks over his shoulder and Jiang Cheng laughs once more.
“Sure,” he agrees but this time he steps up closer than before, so that his chest touches Nie Mingjue’s back. “I can’t guarantee you’ll get better like this though.”
“Who even cares,” Nie Mingjue decides and briefly leans into Jiang Cheng’s chest before he nocks another arrow.
By the time night rolls around Nie Mingjue manages to hit the target once but only because Jiang Cheng promised him a kiss for it.