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“We have to tell my brother,” is what Nie Mingjue greets Jiang Cheng with when he opens the door.
“Hello, my soul,” Jiang Cheng mildly says and motions for Nie Mingjue to come in. “It’s nice to see you, too.”
“You know it’s always nice to see you, hello, my heart, how dearly I have missed you,” Nie Mingjue sighs out and pulls Jiang Cheng into a kiss.
“Better,” Jiang Cheng decides with a small laugh. “But don’t overdo it. Now, what was that about Huaisang?”
“We have to tell him. I can’t keep this a secret anymore,” Nie Mingjue tells him, not letting go of Jiang Cheng as they make their way to the living-room.
“Did something happen?” Jiang Cheng wants to know because they were in agreement over this.
Granted, they were in agreement over this when they were still testing out if they are compatible but it’s been months now. At this point, Jiang Cheng has to admit that he’s just keeping it a secret for the fun of it, to see just how oblivious their families are.
“Well.” Nie Mingjue makes a pained face. “He’s trying to set me up on blind dates. And I am running out of excuses.”
“Oh dear gods,” Jiang Cheng laughs out because he can imagine just how awkward these conversations are.
“Yeah, you laugh it up,” Nie Mingjue grumbles and Jiang Cheng presses a kiss in apology to his brow.
“I’m sorry, my soul. That must be so bad,” he corrects himself.
Jiang Cheng himself is lucky because Wei Wuxian is too busy with his new budding romance with Lan Wangji to nag Jiang Cheng about his love life and Jiang Yanli just had a baby so of course she has other things to worry about.
But of course Nie Huaisang’s only worry has always been his brother so it’s no wonder that he’s pestering him about his relationship status now.
“It is. And I feel bad about lying to him, too,” Nie Mingjue admits and Jiang Cheng pulls him into a hug.
“I know, I know,” he soothes him.
Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang have a very special bond—one that Jiang Cheng has with neither of his siblings—and he always knew that lying to Nie Huaisang was weighing on Nie Mingjue.
“We can tell him. I mean, we did what we wanted to do, right? We figured out that we are compatible and even more than that, so of course we can tell him. It’s not as if his nagging is going to ruin our relationship, right?” Jiang Cheng asks, a moment of doubt making itself known but Nie Mingjue is quick to give him a reassuring kiss.
“Nothing is going to ruin our relationship,” Nie Mingjue promises him. “Huaisang can nag all he wants, that won’t change anything for us, I promise you that, my heart.”
“Okay,” Jiang Cheng whispers and Nie Mingjue threads their fingers together. “We tell him then.”
It’s not actually that big of a decision because Jiang Cheng always knew that they would have to tell people eventually but he can’t deny that he enjoyed the time without people budging in on their relationship.
“Do you have a plan or are we just going to surprise him?”
“He’s definitely going to pester me about a blind date again when he comes home tonight so I thought we do it then?”
Jiang Cheng laughs at the barely hidden despair in Nie Mingjue’s voice.
“How often did he try to set you up?”
“Every day for the last week,” Nie Mingjue sighs out.
“And you didn’t tell me about this yet why exactly?” Jiang Cheng mildly asks but he’s not really angry.
Nie Mingjue shrugs at that.
“I don’t know, it was just—there’s not a real reason, I wasn’t trying to keep this from you.”
“I know, my soul,” Jiang Cheng soothingly says. “I don’t mind. I would if you went to any of these blind dates without telling me, though, just so you know.”
“I would never!” Nie Mingjue immediately says and Jiang Cheng laughs, because he knows that very well.
Nie Mingjue would never do anything like that to him, and especially not without telling him first.
“Good,” Jiang Cheng nods. “So I just accompany you home today then?”
“Yes. We just tell him. We can tell your family next week as well,” Nie Mingjue says but Jiang Cheng shakes his head.
It might be petty of him but as long as his siblings don’t notice that something is going on he’s not going to tell them.
“No. Not yet. I want to see how long it takes them to notice. It might be mean but—” the trails off with a shrug but Nie Mingjue nods with understanding.
“Fair enough. But Huaisang is so annoying these days.”
“You don’t have to justify yourself, I understand,” Jiang Cheng tells him with a smile because of course Nie Mingjue would fret over this now. “We are going to tell him today.”
~*~*~
Jiang Cheng starts to feel nervous the moment he hears Nie Huaisang’s key in the door.
“Here he comes,” Nie Mingjue whispers, briefly squeezing Jiang Cheng’s hand.
They don’t think that he’s going to disapprove of their relationship, but the nerves are still there. Nie Huaisang apparently never thought of Jiang Cheng as a possible partner for Nie Mingjue and they don’t know how he’s going to react to this at all.
“A-Cheng!” Nie Huaisang yells out the moment he sees him in the living-room and bounces over to hug him. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”
“Haha, surprise,” Jiang Cheng weakly says and of course Nie Huaisang immediately frowns.
“What is going on here? Are you here for me?”
“Not really?” Jiang Cheng says with a wince and looks over to Nie Mingjue for help.
“Are you here for my da-ge?” Nie Huaisang interjects before Nie Mingjue can say something. “Is something wrong? Is this work-related?”
“No,” Nie Mingjue says. “Take a seat Huaisang.”
This is clearly making Nie Huaisang nervous now and it does a lot to alleviate Jiang Cheng’s own nervousness.
“Are you sick?” Nie Huaisang asks, his voice trembling and he only relaxes when Nie Mingjue shakes his head. “Okay, what then?”
“I want you to stop setting Mingjue up on blind dates,” Jiang Cheng interjects.
They didn’t really talk about how they are going to break the news to Nie Huaisang but this is as good a starting point as any.
“Why?” Nie Huaisang asks as he narrows his eyes at Jiang Cheng. “What is going on here?”
“Didi,” Nie Mingjue says and reaches over to take Jiang Cheng’s hand. “Wanyin and I have been dating for a few months now. I don’t need any blind dates.”
Nie Huaisang blinks at them.
And then he blinks some more.
“Huaisang? Are you okay?” Jiang Cheng wants to know when a whole minute has passed.
“This is very unforeseen,” Nie Huaisang finally breathes out. “Entirely unforeseen. I didn’t even—wait, what?”
He’s clearly incredibly confused and Jiang Cheng can’t help himself, he just bursts out laughing.
“Your face,” he wheezes out and even Nie Mingjue has to smile.
“This is so rude,” Nie Huaisang complaints. “Why did I never think of this? Of course you’re perfect for da-ge. Why did that never occur to me?” Nie Huaisang mutters and Jiang Cheng has to admit that the last bit of worry falls off him at those words.
So Nie Huaisang didn’t try to set them up because he thought Jiang Cheng is not suited for Nie Mingjue but because the thought never really occurred to him.
“So you’re okay with this?” Nie Mingjue carefully asks and Jiang Cheng tenses again.
They didn’t really talk about this but should Nie Huaisang disapprove of this Jiang Cheng is sure that Nie Mingjue is going to break it off. There is no one more important in his life than his brother and even though it would kill Jiang Cheng he would understand.
“Okay with this?” Nie Huaisang hisses out and Jiang Cheng and Nie Mingjue flinch. “You’re seriously asking me if I am okay with my brother dating my best friend?”
“Well, yeah?” Jiang Cheng answers.
“I mean it could be a problem for you,” Nie Mingjue chimes in.
“And then what? It’s a problem for me and you’re going to break up? How long have you two even been dating?”
“If it truly is a problem for you, we would have to talk about it,” Jiang Cheng says with a glance at Nie Mingjue because he knows Nie Mingjue feels too bad to ever say it.
“Five months now,” Nie Mingjue answers the second half of the question and Nie Huaisang slams his hands on his thighs.
“Five months,” he angrily says. “Five months,” he then repeats again, clearly going over the last few months but then his head snaps up. “Wait, you would talk about it? Are you stupid? You can’t just break up just because I disapprove.”
Jiang Cheng looks over at Nie Mingjue who is working his jaw and it doesn’t look as if he’s going to answer. He’s probably trying to spare Jiang Cheng’s feelings but it’s entirely unnecessary.
“Huaisang, you’re the most important person in Mingjue’s life. Of course we would have to talk about it. Not just between us but with you, too, to figure out why you’re so against it.”
“And you would be okay with it?”
“You’re the most important person in his life. I knew that from the start,” Jiang Cheng diplomatically says because of course it wouldn’t be okay but he would understand.
“Are you against it?” Nie Mingjue chimes in and Nie Huaisang levels him with a look.
“Am I against my brother and my best friend dating? Are you stupid?”
“No. We’re just very confused and you’re not giving us clear signs,” Jiang Cheng says and groans when a moment later Nie Huaisang smiles broadly at them. “You did that on purpose.”
“You’ve been dating for five months without telling me. This is the least revenge I deserve,” he huffs out. “Of course I’m not against it.”
Nie Huaisang gets up at his words and bounces over to hug both of them.
“In fact, I’m really very happy about this.”
“Thank the gods,” Nie Mingjue breathes out and looks over at Jiang Cheng who is just as relieved.
“To think that you would even consider my feelings in this,” Nie Huaisang says and suddenly his voice sounds a little bit wet. “That’s so sweet of you.”
“Yeah, well,” Jiang Cheng awkwardly says and pats Nie Huaisang’s back.
“Now you’re going to treat me to dinner because you kept a secret from me and then I’m going to plan a weekend away for you to show you how happy I am,” Nie Huaisang decides and immediately Jiang Cheng is suspicious.
“Huaisang were you trying to set Mingjue up because you want the house to yourself more often?” he asks, narrowing his eyes at him. “Did you finally get somewhere with Mo Xuanyu?”
“Mo Xuanyu?” Nie Mingjue asks and pushes Nie Huaisang away. “Why is this the first I’m hearing this name?”
“Ahaha, how funny,” Nie Huaisang says with a forced laugh. “I’ve been dating him for two months now. Surprise?”
“Huaisang!” Nie Mingjue yells out but they all know he can’t really say anything, not after he kept his own relationship to himself for five months.
“What an entirely unforeseen day,” Jiang Cheng says to disperse the tension and it’s enough to make all of them laugh.
This turned better out than expected and Jiang Cheng wouldn’t be surprised if there are some double dates in their future as well.
Not that he would mind spending more time with his boyfriend and his best friend at all.