Xicheng Oneshots

(2) Betting on Love

A/N: No game this time, I'm pretty sure it's obvious.

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"Our brothers look happy together don't you think?" Lan Xichen asked as he approached the lone Jiang. Sitting at the edge of the Cloud Recesses they had the perfect view of the two love-struck cultivators as they played around in Gusu's flower-filled fields.

"Too happy, I want to puke just looking at them" sick to his core Jiang Cheng could not stand looking at them for even a second longer. Turning around he intended to leave, before Lan Xichen stopped with a single sentence.

"I guess that means I won the bet" he said with joyful glee.

"bet?" Wei Wuxian shouted as he rushed over, whatever his brother-in-law was talking about was far more intriguing than the flowers. Jiang Cheng couldn't remember making a bet with sect leader Lan. Thinking about it, were bets even allowed in Gusu?

"Yes, when we were younger I suspected that you two might have more than platonic feelings for each other but when I suggested it to sect leader Jiang at the time..." he'd burst into rage.

"Neither in this life or the next will our brothers ever do such a thing. I will happily bet anything on the fact that such a thing will never happen."

It was all coming back to him, those were the words he had angrily shouted in a moment of passion. He'd been so certain back then. Despite what he had thought their brothers' romance had indeed blossomed and bloomed just as the older cultivator had predicted.

"Really? Zewu-jun knew before we did!?" Wei Ying was impressed by this discovery.

His husband was not.

He'd known about his brother's scheming from the very beginning, how Lan Xichen had intentionally forced him to spend more time with young master Wei than necessary. At the time it had been infuriating, but as time passed the memories of those moments had become invaluable to him.

"So what did you bet? bragging rights? money? his firstborn child?" Wei Wuxian excitedly asked, hoping it was something worthy of teasing his brother with.

That's when Jiang Cheng remembered, what Lan Xichen had asked for was way worse than any of things his brother had guessed. He might as well have asked him to ruin his honor.

"Jiang Wanyin?" Sect leader Lan teasingly encouraged him to pay up.

"No" Not in front of their brothers.

"I believe you've already conceded that you lost the bet" Lan Xichen sounded determined for it to happen right here and now, before the Jiang managed to talk his way out of it. Jiang Cheng sighed.

"L.....e" he mumbled under his breath his face colored a deep red as he stared down at his feet.

"Hey, Jiang Cheng, you need to speak up. We can't hear you" His brother teased. It was clear that whatever Jiang Cheng needed to say was mortifying. Wei Ying assumed it had to do with admitting he had been wrong, something the Jiang was too prideful to ever do. And so he wanted to make sure that he too could hear the sweet words of 'I was wrong' leave his lips. "And it isn't polite to not look at the person you're talking to" he added as an additional jab. On the Wei's face was a blindingly bright grin as he enjoyed the entertainment his brother-in-law had created for all of them to enjoy.

Forcing his head upwards Jiang Cheng first sent a glare his brother's way before turning his eyes forward. And so his gaze met the Lan's sweet golden colored eyes. This punishment had sounded bad already back when they were still teens but now... it was far worse. Why would Lan Xichen want to enforce such a childish and stupid bet? Jiang Cheng had only agreed because he'd been so certain he was right.

Taking a deep breath, he spoke, it was still not particularly loud. But this time it was definitely audible.

"Lan-da-gege"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Everyone, including Lan Xichen who had known what was coming, were stunned into silence. Something which made Jiang Cheng want to sink into the floor even more. This was so embarrassing.

The first one to recover his ability to speak was unsurprisingly Wei Ying. "So you could ask for anything and that's what you chose?" Now it was Lan Xichen's turn to feel embarrassed. "Lan Zhan, I bet that those two also have more than platonic feelings for each other, are you willing to bet against me?" the Lan shook his head, he too was certain that the anxious fidgeting they were both doing meant more than they had ever admitted to in the past.

"But I will still give you anything" he said in an attempt to get his husband to give the two anxious sect leaders some much needed time to talk things over.

"You're willing to call me gege too?" Jiang Cheng flinched as 'gege' left his brother's mouth, reminded that he had voiced such a mortifying term not too long ago.

But 'anything' only went so far. Lan Wangji did not respond. However, where this line was drawn was anything but obvious and Wei Ying was very dedicated to find out not only where it was, but how far he could stretch it in the future. And thus Lan Wangji had successfully repaid his brother for acting as a wingman in their past as the two lovers walked off in the direction of Jingshi.

"Fuck, you looked so sexy when you said that" Lan Xichen let out the moment the only one within hearing distance was the Jiang, breaking the uncomfortable silence which had followed their brothers' exit.

"..."

Lan Xichen... swore?

"Hahahaha" Jiang Cheng couldn't help it. Having felt so much shame on top of all the tension going on, the out of nowhere curse word sent him into hysterical laughter. He'd never heard sect leader Lan swear before, didn't think he even knew how to, but here he was dropping an f-bomb. And it was so funny. Unable and unwilling to stop himself the younger cultivator held his stomach as the laughter escaping him was seemingly unending. Rolling around in the soft grass of the outskirts of the Cloud Recesses Jiang Cheng was having more fun than he had had in the past twenty years combined.

Lan Xichen however was less entertained. He'd put himself out there to make the Jiang feel less uncomfortable by putting them on the same level. But here he was getting absolutely ridiculed.

"You don't think I mean it?" he said as he pinned the Jiang to the ground. His voice was deep and carried with it an underlying message which could be interpreted as either a threat or a promise. No longer laughing, all that was left of the Jiang was a red-faced and breathless man, who was suddenly made to ponder the second part of what the Lan had said to him.

Gulping Jiang Cheng racked his brain for a response, finding that his entire mind was preoccupied elsewhere. Whether Lan Xichen thought he was sexy or not felt so unimportant. Because right now he could feel those usually soft and delicate fingers grip tightly onto his wrists to keep him in place. Jiang Cheng had been restrained before, but this time his first instinct wasn't to break free.

Thinking about it for a while his scattered mind only managed to come to one conclusion: Lan Xichen was hot and Jiang Cheng wanted him. Now.

In the realization of this Jiang Cheng temporarily lost any and all shame he'd previously held. Having this hunky man hovering above him lowered his inhibitions faster than alcohol ever had in the past.

"It doesn't matter whether I believe you or not. Words mean nothing unless they are backed up by action. So did you really mean what you said, Lan-da-gege?" he said to the man who was nothing if not honest. Honest words, honest actions. And so set of to prove just how sexy he believed the younger cultivator to be.

(Part 1/1)