After the morning Saga, Jiang Cheng had insisted that they have breakfast together as a family, and when Lan Wangji had asked him to leave he had sneered at him saying he was his brother-in-law and he was indeed family. And to Lan Wangji's utter surprise, his brother had slowly backed up the sect leader saying that he should maybe stay for today.
He could not say no to his brother especially since he was finally up and talking, and smiling like his normal self. To everyone's surprise, Jiang Wanyin had indeed dragged Lan Qiren to eat with them. And boy let me tell you, breakfast was something, that by the end of it Lan Qiren had reminded himself to stay calm and he repeated the Gusu Rules in his head like a mantra.
"Aiyo Chengcheng, I never expected you of all people to want to have family breakfast...especially here. Soooooo....?" Wei Wuxian cheekily smiled at Jiang Cheng who sat next to the Lan Sect leader and smoothed his robes out.
"Shu up and eat."
Jiang Cheng knew his brother was up to something. his face said it all. but he chose to forget it at the moment and grabbed a pair of chopsticks grabbing all sorts of food from the large table and stuffing them into Lan Xichen's bowl, giving the man a stern stare in the process.
Lan Xichen eyes widened at the amount of food on his platter. He was not that hungry....and he never ate this much in front of his family or outsiders. He had always ate according to his reputation which he recalled that Jiang Wanyin hated. During one of their private dinners they came onto the topic and Jiang Cheng had said it was 'pretentious'.
"A-Cheng...I--don't think I can eat this much food. Why don't you eat first." He muttered out and he noticed everyone's eyes widen at the 'A-Cheng'. This was the first time he had called Jiang Wanyin by his birth name in front of them or people in general. He looked over at jiang Cheng, preparing himself for a scolding but the younger didn't even care that the name slipped instead he looked up at him and gave him a glare indulging him to eat the food.
"You. Will. Eat. Do you hear me? You will not leave this seat until I make sure you have eaten every single bit of the food I gave you."
Lan Wangji was about to speak, hoping to cut up the man in front of him with words but he was stopped by his husband who had motioned him not to do anything. He knew his husband was intrigued by this situation. He was intrigued by any situation his brother was in. The amount of attention and care that his husband gave his brother sparked some type of jealousy in him but he pushed it away as it was utterly ridiculous. Instead he watched his brother nod and eat the food slowly under the hard stare of his brother-in-law.
Even Lan Qiren was surprised. He could never make his nephew do such things no matter how much he insisted. Noe seeing his nephew do whatever the purple robed man wished without a question made him question himself. He had never witnessed this before.
Once satisfied as he watched Lan Xichen eat his food he himself grabbed food before eating it. Jiang Cheng didn't realize how hungry he was. He was so caught up in making sure Lan Huan was fed he forgot about himself.
And Lan Xichen noticing Jiang Cheng had started eating picked up the tea pot in front of him and poured the content into Jiang Wanyins cup. But it wasn't tea. Wei Wuxian could smell the familiar scent of wine emitting from the cup. His mind burst at the thought.
Lan Xichen knew how much Jiang Cheng hated drinking tea while eating. He managed to replace the tea in the tea pot with wine for him before breakfast started. He just hoped that his uncle wouldn't notice and he didn't.
Jiang Cheng grabbed the cup and drank the contents, Wei Wuxian was surprised by the fact that his brother WASN'T surprised by the fact that it was wine and not tea. In the beginning of their friendship journey Lan Huan had noticed the wine-tea relationship and replaced the tea with wine then and there. Jiang Cheng was surprised but happy and wondered why the Sect leader would do such a thing as alchohal was forbidden in cloud recesses. But he shook the thought off. So it was no surprise that he wasn't surprised now.
And...as by habit Lan Huan instinctively held his hand under Jiang Cheng's chin and with his other hand, stuffed a piece of chicken into his mouth. When he saw the man had finished drinking he withdrew his hand and refilled the cup again. And in turn Jiang Wanyin noticed the empty platter and placed more food onto Lan Xichens plate who whined at him saying he didn't want anymore. But it took him one word from the Yunmeng Sect leader to continue eating.
Jiang Cheng smiled watching his crush eat. The food would do him better but once he had to rest.
The two were in their own world as Lan Qiren, Wei Wuxian, and Lan Wangji saw their interactions completely flabbergasted. They had definitely missed a big part of this story. Wei Wuxian poked his chopsticks into his rice bowl, slowly bringing the piece into his mouth and carefully watched what happened attempting put the pieces together. Since when where the two so fucking close? Did he miss anything cause he was always at Cloud recesses.
That's when it hit him. there were many times where Jiang Cheng would visit Cloud recesses and he always thought it was just some sect leader thing or just because his brother came to visit him. And some of his visits were coincidentally during the time Lan Xichen got injured. His brother ended up staying a few more days and left only when Lan Xichen got better. He never doubted any of that because he never noticed it. At that time him and Lan Wangji were figuring things out and he was too busy in his own events.
Anyway, breakfast went of without a hitch for Lan Xichen and Jiang Wanyin the rest were left lost in their own thoughts.
"Huan Gege, go get some rest." Jiang Cheng said without hesitation setting his tea cup down on the table, completely forgetting there were other people there. And for a second he saw a small tiny particle of shock on Lan Huan's face and he wondered why.
But then he realized he had called him 'Huang Gege' in front of everyone else. Even disciples passing by just stopped dead in their tracks overwhelmed with shock. No one had EVER called their sect leader by his birth name, 'Lan Huan', no one dared. not even old Lan Qiren did and he was their uncle. And now hearing someone, not even related to him by blood say "Huan Gege" was just unbelievable.
Jiang Cheng slowly turned to find the visible shock on everyone's faces. Even Lan Wangji for the first time in his life was left flabbergasted. He himself had never called his brother Huan Gege. The name was EVER SO intimate and gentle that when it left Jiang Wanyins mouth his voice was barely recognizable. Wei Wuxian himself for a second thought that his brother got possessed by a ghost. Out of all the people there he was undoubtedly the most shocked.
The cool room now turned hot tension filled the air. Damage control was needed at the moment but sadly all failed.
"I-uh I think I will help Huan Gege to sleep--" And again the name effortlessly rolled of his tongue. Biting his lips Jiang Cheng pulled Lan Xichen up, who's face was tinted red and pushed the huge figure out the doorway. Why the fuck is this man so big?!
once they were out of the door way Jiang Cheng now dragged the bigger man towards Hanshi not even attempting to tell people in front of them to move out of their way, occasionally bumping into people and Lan Xichen throwing them an apology as he got dragged by Jiang Cheng.
Once they reached the safety of Hanshi. The two let out a sigh of relief and Lan Xichen took a moment to catch his breath and Jiang Cheng without a moment of hesitation pulled Lan Xichen yet again but this time to the man's bed. Jiang Cheng then sat the figure on the bed and settled his hands on his hips. Looking down at Lan Xichen a stern yet gentle look on his face.
"Go to sleep."
Lan Xichen chuckled. Oh his Wanyin was so adorable.
"A-Cheng. I do not need sleep. I will be fine." He gently said and Jiang Cheng scoffed.
"Do no--Lan Huan! Have you seen yourself? You look like you haven't slept for months, which knowing you....you probably haven't."
And again Jiang Wanyin was right. He couldn't remember the last time he had a proper night of sleep. Even before the Guanyin temple incident sleep was hard to achieve. It sounded insane, even to Lan Xichen himself but it was undeniably true. His only comfort was knowing Jiang Cheng had visited him and that he was safe. On the days he did visit sleep was easy. And the days he stayed over he would fall asleep in a matter of minutes.
If he didn't go to sleep right now or at best pretend to sleep he would be up all day listening to Jiang Wanyin lecturing him on what to do and what no to.
The blue robed man hesitated but Jiang Wanyin didn't, he pushed the man down onto the bed by his shoulders, Lan Xichen's head hitting the pillow. Their eyes met and time seemed to freeze. Tension filled the air but unlike breakfast, this was different, there was something...erotic--something domineering about it.
Jian Wanyin held his reach, not daring to move an inch. There was something so magical and enchanting int he olders eyes that he couldn't grasp, something that allured him into those dark eyes, like a siren's call in a vast blue ocean. The room was quite and his heart was beating, the sound so loud he thought the other could probably hear it.
Lan Huan on the other hand was fighting his urges and restraining his inner demon to the best. His gaze would slip to the youngers lips once in a while but eventually returned to his eyes, afraid of being found out. It took him everything to not push his lips against the youngers, to feel him, to touch him, to love him, and to caress him in places that were no one else could.
Lan Xichen cleared his throat and Jiang Cheng immediately pulled back straightening his non existent wrinkled robe, and mumbled a little "go to sleep Huan Gege." and was about to leave when a hand grasped his. Jiang Wanyin let out a small gasp turning to meet the eyes of a desperate man. Eyes filled with emotions he could not possibly perceive. Eyes of a man that he would willingly fall into and never return.
"Stay...by my side...just for a while until I fall asleep." Lan Xichen whispered and pulled Jiang Cheng to sit by his bed and the younger complied gracefully sitting down, never letting go of the olders hand.
And in a moment of extreme tenderness and longing he couldn't help but ask,
"Will you be there when I wake up Wanyin?"
"I will."
And Lan Xichen closed his eyes sinking into a deep dark hole of sleep, and for the first time in years he felt reassured. A small vision of Jiang Wanyin reaching his hand to him was the last thing he saw before fully submerging into the vast sea of sleep. Sinking into the depths of the never ending ocean.