Chapter Text
“Young Madame Nie?”
Nie Huaisang looks up to Guo Liwei, the Jiang head disciple, and sees him standing in the entrance to his pavilion where he’d been answering letters throughout the afternoon.
“Yes?” He instinctively grabs a spare sheet of paper and covers the page he’d been working on--not necessary, considering Guo Liwei’s station and how much he and his husband both trust him, and the fact that’s it’s merely a letter to his sister-in-law, but it’s a habit he developed working behind the scenes of the Sunshot Campaign that he hasn’t yet shaken.
“Sect Leader Jiang requests your presence in his study.”
“Does he?” Nie Huaisang raises an eyebrow. They spend most of their days together, settled into a marriage routine of spending the mornings together before splitting so Nie Huaisang can handle the household manners and Jiang Cheng can train the disciples, and they spend afternoons apart as well, answering letters and taking care of their own business before meeting up again for dinner and enjoying each other’s company in the evenings.
This is… unconventional, to say the least. They’ve held onto their routine for so long now that to go out of it is strange, and Nie Huaisang feels a prick of worry in his chest.
“He didn’t say why?”
“No, Young Madame.”
Nie Huaisang takes a slow, deep breath to steady himself and stands. Jiang Cheng’s study is where he handles a lot of the official sect business, so to have a discussion there feels daunting.
“Very well, then. A-Mei,” he addresses one of his servants who’s stayed close throughout his work, “would you tidy these and take them inside?” He looks up at the sky and the sun. Considering how late in the afternoon it is, if this were a normal day, he’d be preparing to head back inside for dinner anyway.
Jiang Mei bows her head and comes forward, beginning to organize the papers. Another servant comes forward to take the tea set in, and Nie Qingshan comes forward and follows Nie Huaisang and Guo Liwei.
Nie Qingshan had been a wedding gift, of sorts, from Jiang Cheng. Not wanting his new husband to be alone and alienated in Lotus Pier, he’d told him to choose someone to accompany him. Nie Qingshan has been a confidant for much of Nie Huaisang’s life, and, when he told Nie Mingjue about Jiang Cheng’s offer and his choice of companion, his brother was happy with his cultivation level. Should worse come to worst, Nie Qingshan would be loyal to Nie Huaisang and only Nie Huaisang, able to protect him and take him away, take him back home, should the need arise.
There are a few other Nie servants around, some people Nie Mingjue was willing to lose from his household so Nie Huaisang would have other familiar faces (while paying his dowry to Jiang Cheng), but Nie Qingshan is his closest day-to-day companion.
Part of Nie Huaisang wonders if the need to leave will arise tonight. He and Jiang Cheng had been fairly happy in their union, as happy as could be in an arrangement, having grown up together and spent a lot of time around each other during their studies and then the war. Perhaps, though, he’d done something wrong. Something to anger his husband, which would explain why he’d been summoned when they’d be eating dinner together in just a little while.
Nie Huaisang gestures for Nie Qingshan to wait outside when they get to the study, and he takes a moment to straighten his appearance and take another breath before knocking at the door. He waits for Jiang Cheng to acknowledge his arrival before he walks into the room.
“Husband.” He bows respectfully.
Jiang Cheng does a double take when he sees him. “Huaisang! Sorry,” he clears his throat and shuffles a few papers, “I got caught up. I didn’t realize you’d be here so soon.”
He stands, and Nie Huaisang notices how Sandu is left in the stand by the desk. There’s no aggression in Jiang Cheng’s posture, either, and he smiles as his husband approaches him.
Jiang Cheng takes his hands and presses a kiss to the back of each one. “My husband,” he murmurs softly. Nie Huaisang smacks him lightly in the shoulder with his fan.
“What is that about?”
“I’m simply greeting my husband,” Jiang Cheng says again, and he takes a step forward and wraps an arm around Nie Huaisang’s waist to pull him close and kiss him.
Nie Huaisang flounders for a moment when he does, dropping his fan and grabbing the front of his robes to have something to hold on to. It might be a marriage of convenience, but it’s a very intimate level of convenience.
Nie Huaisang knows of some arranged marriages where the two can’t stand to even be in the same room as each other. The last master and mistress of Lotus Pier slept in different rooms for many years before their deaths, and Nie Huaisang is grateful that he and Jiang Cheng aren’t like that.
Jiang Cheng pulls away and presses another, reverent kiss to Nie Huaisang’s forehead before letting go and kneeling down to pick up the discarded fan.
Nie Huaisang takes a moment to fix his hair, again, and straightens his belt from where it had gone askew when Jiang Cheng grabbed him. He gratefully takes the fan back and waves it open, fanning his no doubt red face.
“You wanted to speak with me?” He asks when his voice returns.
Something in Jiang Cheng’s face changes, and he no longer looks soft and open like he had a moment ago. “Yes. Would you fancy a walk, A-Sang?”
A-Sang . Nie Huaisang’s fan quickens. “Of course.”
Jiang Cheng takes Sandu from the holder and ties it to his waist before offering his arm to Nie Huaisang, who loops his own through it, and together they leave the room. Nie Huaisang shakes his head and Nie Qingshan doesn’t follow them, disappearing in the opposite direction.
Nie Huaisang wonders if he’s off to find Nie Luli, one of the young servants who made the journey to Lotus Pier with them. He’s certainly noticed the increased amount of time the two have spent together, no matter how Nie Qingshan brushes off the question when asked.
They walk in silence. Jiang Cheng leads him out of the main collection of buildings towards the back piers.
“I wanted to give you something,” Jiang Cheng tells him when they’re no doubt out of earshot of the lingering disciples and guards.
“Oh? A-Cheng, that’s very generous of you,” Nie Huaisang responds lightly. “You needn’t give me anything, I have everything I could possibly want or need.”
It’s not a lie. Jiang Cheng has proven himself an incredibly attentive husband. Contrary to popular belief, Nie Huaisang is not overly extravagant and doesn’t ask much of his husband or his new sect. When he’d first arrived he’d been nervous to ask for anything, afraid of rubbing anyone the wrong way and trying to play the perfect husband, and Jiang Cheng had broken the ice by having a small painting station set up for him in one of the rooms near his study.
“It’s not something trivial.” Jiang Cheng glances at him. Nie Huaisang tilts his head to the side.
“I didn’t mean-”
“No, no, I know you didn’t.” Jiang Cheng takes a deep breath. “I didn’t expect this to be so hard.”
“A-Cheng, is everything alright?” Nie Huaisang asks. They’ve come to a stop at the end of one of their private piers, just outside the entrance to their shared bedroom.
“Yes, yes, everything’s fine.” Jiang Cheng shakes his head. “It’s all fine.”
Jiang Cheng takes Nie Huaisang’s right hand in both of his and holds it delicately.
“Do you trust me?”
Do you trust me? He had asked when they were traveling back to Lotus Pier to prepare for the ceremony. Nie Huaisang had been scared, and nervous, and unsure what to expect, but he did trust him, and he’d told him so.
Jiang Cheng had never given him any reason to not trust him, providing for him and protecting him and indulging him.
“Of course I do,” Nie Huaisang answers after a moment, taken aback by the question. “Are you sure everything’s alright?”
Instead of answering, Jiang Cheng gently kisses the back of Nie Huaisang’s hand before slipping Zidian off his hand and slipping the ring onto Nie Huaisang’s fourth finger.
Nie Huaisang stifles a scream as Zidian crackles and changes shape, flickering between a true purple snake and a ring as it adjusts to his smaller finger. Jiang Cheng steps closer to him and wraps an arm around his back, holding him close while still holding his right hand.
“Relax,” he murmurs in Nie Huaisang’s ear, “give it a moment.”
Nie Huaisang nearly scoffs at the relax remark, but he forces himself to stay still and calm. Jiang Cheng would never willingly put him in danger. Jiang Cheng would never intentionally hurt him. Jiang Cheng would never …
“There.” Jiang Cheng smiles as Zidian settles back into the ring form, secure on Nie Huaisang’s finger. “Now it knows you.”
“It knows me,” Nie Huaisang echoes softly. He lifts his hand closer to his face and looks at Zidian. It looks strange on his finger, but not out of place. Jiang Cheng catches his hand and presses a kiss to Zidian, lips spilling over and against Nie Huaisang’s finger.
“Just in case,” Jiang Cheng whispers. His hand around Nie Huaisang tightens and he holds him tight. “Things happen. Shit happens. I know you have Qingshan, but I…” he swallows and leans his head against Nie Huaisang’s, “I wanted you to have this extra protection from me, just in case.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to you.” Nie Huaisang surprises himself with the conviction in his voice, as though if he says it securely enough then nothing will ever happen and he and Jiang Cheng will live happily through the rest of their long, long lives. He surprises himself with how badly he wants that to be true, with how badly he doesn’t want anything to happen to Jiang Cheng.
Not just as his friend. Not just as his partner, not just as the Sect Leader of Yunmeng-Jiang.
“You don’t know that.”
“Don’t.” Nie Huaisang’s hand wraps around the back of Jiang Cheng’s neck and he turns his head so their foreheads are pressed together. “Please, don’t.”
Jiang Cheng closes the distance between them and presses a soft kiss to Nie Huaisang’s lips. They linger in it, together, Zidian cool on his finger while Jiang Cheng’s neck is warm against his palm.
“Jiang Cheng,” Nie Huaisang whispers, eyes remaining closed, “Jiang Cheng, I have to tell you something.”
“Anything,” Jiang Cheng says back, quietly, like they’re the only two people in the world. Out here, on the pier, it really feels like it. “You know I’ll always listen to you.”
It’s true. Jiang Cheng may be the Sect Leader, with final say on any and every decision involving Lotus Pier and its disciples, but whenever Nie Huaisang could offer advice or insight or ideas Jiang Cheng never shut him down, never pushed him away. He always listened.
“Don’t hate me,” Nie Huaisang feels himself start to unravel. “Don’t push me away. Don’t let this change us, I couldn’t stand it if-”
“A-Sang,” Jiang Cheng squeezes him again. “It won’t. I could never hate you, my husband.” He kisses his forehead again, and it calms Nie Huaisang in a way he can’t even begin to put into words. He feels so safe here, alone with Jiang Cheng, with Zidian on his finger and the breeze carrying the smell of the lake and the lotuses surrounding them. “What is it?”
“I love you,” he says before he can lose his nerve. His voice can barely be considered a whisper but Jiang Cheng hears it, Nie Huaisang knows he does, because he feels his husband stiffen.
After that, they stand in silence for so long Nie Huaisang can’t stand it.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry , I didn’t mean--I told you, I-” He tries to pull out of Jiang Cheng’s hold but he isn't allowed, the hand on his waist tightens and Jiang Cheng’s other hand catches his jaw and makes Nie Huaisang face him again before kissing him.
“You don’t have to feel the same,” Nie Huaisang says softly when they part. “I just wanted you to know.”
“I never thought I would be so lucky,” Jiang Cheng says before kissing him again. Nie Huaisang turns so that they’re facing each other completely, and his hands both find their way behind Jiang Cheng’s neck for an anchor. He lets himself be held, hands secure around his waist.
Eventually they just stand together, arms around each other, Jiang Cheng’s chin propped on Nie Huaisang’s head.
“What did you mean?” Nie Huaisang asks, eyes on the lake. He rubs small circles along Jiang Cheng’s back. “Lucky?”
“I never thought I’d be so lucky,” Jiang Cheng squeezes him, “as to find someone who feels about me the way I feel about them.”
Nie Huaisang smiles and leans into Jiang Cheng’s hold, and hears how his husband whispers “I love you” into his hair. His hand runs along Nie Huaisang’s back, up and down as they stand there together, basking in their love.
Their love .
“And here I thought you were going to send me back to my brother.”
Jiang Cheng snorts and looks down at him, incredulous. “What? Why?”
“Because you asked me to meet you in your study , A-Cheng!” Nie Huaisang’s voice takes on his signature whiny tone. It doesn’t show up as often now as it used to, now that he’s older, but it still happens. Mostly around his brother, or Wei Wuxian, but occasionally around his husband, too. “Can you blame me?”
“I would never.” Jiang Cheng takes his hands and looks into his eyes. “I need you here. With me. Lotus Pier needs you. The only time I’d send you away is if you asked to leave yourself.”
“I won’t,” Nie Huaisang tells him. “Never.”
“Good.” Jiang Cheng kisses Zidian again, and Nie Huaisang carefully slides it off his finger and back home onto Jiang Cheng’s.
“I’m serious, you know,” he says as they link arms and begin the walk back to their quarters. “Nothing is allowed to happen to you. Nothing will ever happen to you.”
Jiang Cheng sighs. “Huaisang…”
“Enlighten me,” Nie Huaisang says. He grips Jiang Cheng’s arm. “Please.”
Jiang Cheng pauses at the foot of the pier. “I promise to always do my best to come home to you,” he says after a moment.
Nie Huaisang knows it’s better than getting an untrue promise when both of them know full well Jiang Cheng can’t promise that, not with so many unknowns in their world, but he can’t help being a little upset still.
Jiang Cheng remedies it by kissing him again, though, softly in the fading sunlight. “All I want is to come home to you every day for the rest of forever,” he murmurs.
“I’ll always be here to welcome you home,” Nie Huaisang responds. With a final kiss, Jiang Cheng leads them inside.