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It's just too much pressure. Jiang Cheng changes jobs one more time in the same month, and his parents go all out on him.
"How could you?!" His mother ask, he can only remain silent, trying to feel anything. "We've supported you with your studies, with your necessities, and you do this? You leave this great opportunity to become a teacher and have a nice salary and everything, to work with him?! With Wei Wuxian?!"
His father is silent. For now. His mother keeps her ranting. She's the one who got him the job through one of her friends. And, yes, he has his studies, but not in preschool teaching. He never saw himself there. Never really wanted to be there. He was just too tired of his last provisional job. Then, the project he had been working on with Nie Huaisang on, had been put on hold for a lack of resources. Then this opportunity came up. Teaching English to preschool brats... He was willing to do it just for the money, but he wasn't really happy, and Wei Wuxian saw and understood that better than Jiang Cheng himself. So, he made the offer.
Jiang Cheng would help him for a while in his tattoo parlor, and Wei Wuxian would help him put up his coffee shop. It'd be hard work, but it'd be worth it. At least he thought so. He even talked it over with Huaisang, and he was pretty supportive about it. Jiang Cheng accepted without consulting anyone and told the people from the preschool that he wasn't going to work with them.
"Why didn't you think before acting?"
I did, he thinks, it was a no brainer.
"How did you end up with him? After all his done to us?!"
What has he done to us? He wonders. It's a family tradition not to talk about family problems, so what has Wei Ying ever done to them? He really has no idea.
"Why didn't you ask us before you made your decision?"
His father asks after his mother is done. He hadn't answered anything, and now that he feels obligated to answer, he doesn't know how.
"I don't know."
He answers, but he means I'm an adult, I don't need anyone's opinion to make my own decisions. He doesn't say it.
They eat dinner. His parents act as if nothing had happened. As usual. But when he gets up, washes his dish and tries to get out of there, his father intercepts him in a hug. He tenses. Why does he only get hugs when they've fought? Can't he get them on a daily basis? His father calls his mother to come hug him, too. She does. Jiang Cheng tenses even more. He's trapped between them, silently crying while they both tell him how proud they are of him and scold him at the same time.
Jiang Cheng breaks the hug, gently. He wishes them a good night, and walks to Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue's apartment. It's a thirty minute walk, and it's raining. He's soaking wet when he arrives. A battle raging inside himself. He doesn't regret accepting Wei Ying's proposal. He doesn't think it was a mistake. It's finally an opening to what he truly wants. But, his mother's words wreak havoc inside himself, and he's moments away from a panic attack. He's lost count of the times he's thought of dying in the way here.
Xichen opens the door, and runs for a towel to dry him up. Mingjue hugs him and kisses him regardless of the puddle he leaves at their entrance. Jiang Cheng finally breaks crying. He tells them everything, and asks for forgiveness for not asking even them before deciding.
"Oh, love! You don't have to consult anyone. We appreciate being asked our opinions, but at the end of the day, you'll be the one who's going to work there. They dont really matter."
Xichen whispers gently while he wipes his tears. Nie Mingjue offers him hot chocolate. Jiang Cheng accepts it gladly between unbound sobs and hiccups. His hands shake, though, and Mingjue ends up helping him hold the cup.
"We'll be with you, my lotus. It'll be alright."
They help him calm down and kiss his tear stained cheeks, his forehead, and his nose. They hold his face with so much care and gentleness that Jiang Cheng ends up tearing up once more.
Jiang Cheng falls asleep between the two of them. Xichen hugs him while facing him, and Mingjue hugs him from behind. There's no other place he'd rather be.