Hybrid Rainbow

Seventh Division Captain Yao is known to be lax with his duties, but Nie Huaisang didn’t expect him to take so long before poking his nose on their business.

It really did take the man two whole years to finally question why Sixth Division Captain Jiang Wanyin goes on extended leaves once every few months, huh.

This is why no one takes the Seventh Division as auditors seriously.

Still, Nie Huaisang is quite miffed that the old man chose to show up while the Captain is away.

It could be so much easier if Jiang Cheng is here! He can just glare at the old man, scowl at him, and maybe scare him off.

But no, Old Captain Yao had to barge in the Captain’s office so rudely, startling poor Xiaoyu, and waking Lieutenant Nie from his nice nap on the couch.

“A-ah! Captain Yao, how may I help you?” Nie Huaisang asks, rubbing his eyes and yawning. He flips a paper fan open and fans himself. “Quite hot today, isn’t it? Summer really is upon us-”

“Where is your Captain?” the old man demands.

“Oh, he’s not here today, sir.” Nie Huaisang says, blinking up at their guest. “I’m afraid he didn’t say when he’ll be back. I can take a message, though.”

“And where is he, really? On the field again? I’ve never seen a Captain be so eager to go on patrols with unseated officers. What, can’t they do their jobs by themselves? Can’t guard a couple districts from low level Hollows?”

Captain Yao is impatient and arrogant… Nie Huaisang really doesn’t want to deal with him. He’s no fun. But oh, well. This is what Jiang Cheng makes him stay in the office for, anyway.

Nie Huaisang remains calm and takes his time walking across the room towards the captain’s desk. He makes a show of cluelessly rummaging through documents and notes left neatly on the table.

“I’m sure it’s not that serious, sir. Our Captain Jiang has a reputation for being meticulous and hands-on. He likes to go with our patrol officers every now and then just to make sure everything is being done properly, up to his standards.”

He makes sure that he sounds like he has merely memorized the answer, and is bored, and is not really paying attention.

”And you have no idea when he’ll be back?” Captain Yao sounds annoyed. Good.

“I really don’t know, sir.” Nie Huaisang shakes his head. “The Captain is very thorough, he doesn’t just assess our officers, he also talks to the citizens of Soul City. Makes sure to hear out their concerns and such. They’re who we protect, after all.”

The old man exchanges a look with his equally ridiculous lieutenant, then scoffs. “How long could that possibly take, just talking to peasants?”

“I don’t know either, sir… But I imagine it might take a while. Soul City has lots of districts…”

“Does he visit all of them?!”

“Oh, not all at once. But he didn’t tell us which ones he’s going to this time…” Nie Huaisang adds a shrug, for flavor. “You’re welcome to go yourself, Captain… Our stations will happily accommodate you.”

Captain Yao looks at him disbelievingly.

That, Nie Huaisang knows, is the last straw. Pompous, pampered rich old men like old Captain Yao would never stoop so low as to go to the ”slums”.

(Slums is such a demeaning description, anyway. Nie Huaisang had been there, and the streets were clean, the people were lovely and were living peaceful afterlives. It wasn’t the picture of luxury like the estates of the noble houses, but it’s nothing like what the old, out of touch part of the nobility think it is.)

Nie Huaisang throws in a couple more I-don’t-know’s, mentions some more inconveniences, and starts to happily feed berries to Xiaoyu, steadily wearing down their guest, until finally-

“This case isn’t closed.” Captain Yao grumbles, looking more tired than angry now. “Tell Captain Jiang to set a meeting with me as soon as he’s done with his… trip.”

Nie Huaisang bids him a perfectly polite goodbye, and even walks him and his retinue to the division gates.

Jiang Meifen catches up to him as he makes his way back through the halls.

“Where are we headed, Lieutenant?” the young woman asks as she follows one step behind him.

Nie Huaisang smiles. ”To the aviary. We need to send a message.”

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Two years in, Lieutenant Nie Huaisang has no more need to instruct the guards on night shift to let him know if the Captain returns. They know that he has to be told, regardless of how late it is.

This is why he isn’t surprised to wake up to someone knocking on his door. He sits up, eyelids heavy – looking to see what time it is. Past midnight, great, Jiang Cheng really should opt to travel during the day next time-

“It’s me.” – a familiar voice says, from outside the door. “Are you awake?”

Nie Huaisang forgets tying up his hair or wrapping himself in his usual shawl, and rushes to open his door.

Jiang Cheng is standing in the hallway, still in his uniform and Captain’s robe, save for his sword and sash that he had taken off and now carries on his side. He looks fine, rumpled from travel – but Nie Huaisang knew better than to fully trust on first look. The captain has been away for a full week, after all.

“C-Captain?” Nie Huaisang blinks. “One of the guards was supposed to wake me-”

“I know.” Jiang Cheng tells him. “I… knew that you’d get up just to check on me, so I…” He looks away, and Nie Huaisang catches how his hold on his sword tightens for a moment. “I said I’ll drop by to let you know myself.”

“Oh.” Nie Huaisang nods, understanding. Then he remembers the handful of times Jiang Cheng had pulled him aside after another one of his self-imposed field missions- “Are you okay? Do you need me to heal anything-”

“No, I’m fine.” Jiang Cheng quickly shakes his head. “I just… Well, you know I’m back.” he says. He’s wearing his usual serious expression, although Nie Huaisang can hear the awkwardness- no- hesitation, underneath. “So… Uh. You can go back to sleep now. See you tomorrow.”

He turns to leave, but Nie Huaisang is quick to step forward and tug at his sleeve, stopping him before he could take a step.

“Wait, A-Cheng.” Nie Huaisang smiles lightly as he opens his door wider. “Come on, I’m up already.”

Jiang Cheng’s shoulders relax just a bit, then he nods wordlessly and follows Nie Huaisang inside his room.

That’s when Nie Huaisang remembers the state he – and his room – is in. “Ah! Sorry for the mess, you really surprised me…” he laughs, rushing to his bed to straighten up the sheets.

Jiang Cheng just lets out a noncommittal grunt, busy looking around. This used to be his quarters, yet now it’s just… Nie Huaisang’s, fully. The trinkets, decorations, the sheets. Yep, his lieutenant has made himself right at home here.

When he looks back towards his companion, he sees Nie Huaisang hunched in front of his vanity mirror, struggling to hastily put his long hair up with a hairpin.

“Hey, you don’t have to-…” Jiang Cheng starts, realizes he will probably lose an argument against Nie Huaisang if it involves Nie Huaisang’s long beautiful hair, and simply sighs. “You look fine.”

“No, don’t worry, I can do this.” Nie Huaisang says as he continues to struggle. “I can’t be looking like a banshee in front of my senior officer…”

“Nie Huaisang, it is 3 AM.” Jiang Cheng deadpans. “I should be the one feeling bad for making someone put their hair up at 3 AM.”

Nie Huaisang looks at him for a full second before giving up. “Fine.” he says, putting the hair pin down. He settles with combing his hair with his fingers as he stands back up. “Hey, why are you just standing there? Come sit. Here, let me get your sword.”

Jiang Cheng only hesitates for a beat before relenting and handing his sword and sash over to Nie Huaisang, who sets the weapon aside carefully. After another moment of consideration, Jiang Cheng slips off his captain’s robe as well, and Nie Huaisang takes it wordlessly and places it with the other items on the table.

Feeling more relaxed now in just the standard officer’s uniform, he finally sits down on the bed and lets out a long breath. “So…”

“So?” Nie Huaisang asks, getting on the bed on a kneeling position beside his guest.

“Long story short, no sign of him. I think he really is in the living realm.” Jiang Cheng says, conclusively. “I’ll bother you with details tomorrow- What are you doing? I’m not injured.”

“Of course you aren’t.” Nie Huaisang agrees, but his hand, already glowing with a spell, moves to hover over Jiang Cheng’s chest. “But you’re tired. You’ve been tired for days.”

“I can sleep it off.” Jiang Cheng says – and he does look like he’s ready to doze off at any minute.

“That will help, sure.” Nie Huaisang says. “But this feels better, don’t you think?”

Jiang Cheng sighs, but he doesn’t stop Nie Huaisang. The spell feels good, specially good, to him who’s been tense and operating on high alert for the past week.

“You really like doing this, huh?” Jiang Cheng says, after a while. “This… energy massage thing you’re good at.”

“It feels nice for me too.” Nie Huaisang muses, focusing on his work. “You know I’m good at like, just feeling spiritual energy and stuff? Well, when it’s all tight and… rumpled? Right. That’s actually… that’s how it feels to me? Like a blanket, when it’s all rumpled on the bed. So it feels… wrong, messy. And when I do this, it’s like smoothing out the blanket, like making the bed. It feels better, to me-”

He stops when Jiang Cheng’s head falls on his shoulder, and Nie Huaisang has to wrap his free arm around him so they don’t fall over.

Now, this feels familiar.

“Captain, don’t you sleep on me, not yet.”

Jiang Cheng grunts. “I’m not asleep. You’re just, uh, doing the blanket thing.”

“Right.” Nie Huaisang chuckles. “Are you feeling better?”

He feels Jiang Cheng’s nod against his neck, and sitting together so close like this, Nie Huaisang can feel his warmth through his thin sleeping robes.

Then Jiang Cheng’s arm moves and reaches around him, to settle on the small of his back. Nie Huaisang knows it’s probably so they can be in a more comfortable position, fitting better together, but he can’t help but let out a small gasp because for a heartbeat, it did feel like Jiang Cheng was… pulling him closer?

“I got your message, from the other day.” Jiang Cheng says in a whisper. “Did Old Yao give you a hard time?”

Nie Huaisang shrugs. “He tried, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“Hm.” Jiang Cheng hums. “Thanks for taking care of that.”

“Anytime.” Nie Huaisang says with a smile. Then, as the glow of his spell fades, he pats Jiang Cheng’s chest. “There, I’m done. You’re all good to go. You should sleep better now.”

To his surprise, instead of untangling from him, Jiang Cheng’s hand on his waist squeezes lightly, and he is drawn closer.

Nie Huaisang lets out a soft, amused chuckle. “C’mon, you can’t be that sleepy-tired. I stopped early so you won’t pass out here-”

“I know, I know.” Jiang Cheng says, voice unbelievably quiet, almost a whisper. “Just-… Let me stay for a bit?”

“Oh.” Nie Huaisang whispers back. “Of course.” He hears his voice crack almost as quietly. Then Jiang Cheng tilts his head, almost nuzzling Nie Huaisang’s neck, and Nie Huaisang finally dares to fully wrap his arms around his friend, holding him close.

He doesn’t know what exactly happened out there, that Jiang Cheng came home needing a hug.

Nie Huaisang can hazard a guess. It’s been two – almost three – years, and in all that time, Jiang Cheng has never failed to follow even the smallest lead to try to find Wei Wuxian. Nie Huaisang never stops him, only makes him promise to be careful, and himself promises to stay in Sixth and hold the fort. This latest trip has been the longest he’s been away – a whole week. And if, as he said earlier, signs do point to his brother having left Soul Society altogether and escaping to the living realm, well…

That couldn’t have been easy to just accept. Soul reapers may have no problem traveling between realms, but Wei Wuxian is not a soul reaper anymore, not entirely, if they go by the last time they saw him. If he did escape to the living realm, then he wouldn’t be able to just go back, not as he is. He must have left without any certainty of returning.

Nie Huaisang wonders if this is it – if Jiang Cheng will finally call it quits. It made him hold on to Jiang Cheng tighter – the brothers had been his closest friends for a long time. It breaks his heart that things had come to this.

Soon enough, Nie Huaisang feels Jiang Cheng’s arms around him loosen as he awkwardly draws back, not used to being so vulnerable.

“Feeling better?” Nie Huaisang asks, reaching out and tucking stray strands of hair behind the other’s ear.

“Yeah. Sorry for. Uh. If I made it weird.” Jiang Cheng says, and after a full second of consideration, he takes Nie Huaisang’s hand that had been fixing his hair and doesn’t let go as he settles it between them. “And, uhhh… don’t freak out-”

Nie Huaisang shakes his head, starting to smile. “Hey, no, it’s totally fine-”

“I want to kiss you.”

Oh.

Wait.

What?

“Where did that come from?” Nie Huaisang blurts out, before he can help himself. He blinks up at Jiang Cheng, wondering if he heard it right.

Jiang Cheng, cheeks tinted pink, takes a second to breathe in, then breathe out. Then he looks down, at Nie Huaisang’s hand in his.

“It’s just… my day. No, my week. It sucked. It was just, so shitty. And I was about to just… I guess, snap, and then I got your message. And you were saying to come back as soon as I can because of stupid Old Yao. And at that point, I’ve been out a whole week, nothing has happened in all that time. In all of two years. And all I could think about is… well, fuck it. What am I doing out there? Fuck it, I want to go home. I have work here. You’re here. And I want to kiss you.”

Nie Huaisang stares at him. “Um, that last part?” he asks, voice small, almost scared.

“I know, it’s stupid, I should have said that nicer.” Jiang Cheng cradles his head as if nursing a headache, which Nie Huaisang knows he doesn’t have. He just fixed that part. “Now it’s weird-”

“Uh…” Nie Huaisang starts, looking down at his hand in Jiang Cheng’s too. He’s obviously in a crisis right now, yet he is still holding Nie Huaisang’s hand so gently. “A-Cheng, I-”

Jiang Cheng nods without even letting him finish. “You don’t- Yeah. It’s fine, I understand-”

“No, no, I just-…” Nie Huaisang scoots closer, just a little bit. He bites his lip, and can’t quite look at Jiang Cheng as he asks, “Are you talking about this in like, a friend way, or…?”

Jiang Cheng looks up, blinking. “A friend-… No?”

“Okay. Good.” Nie Huaisang nods, peering at his face, letting out a small, shy smile. He shifts his hand in Jiang Cheng’s, and squeezes. “I think I would have been quite upset if you were.”

Jiang Cheng lets out a relieved breath, looking at him, like he’s trying to memorize the other’s features. Hesitantly, he raises a hand to stroke Nie Huaisang’s hair, drawing dark strands away from blushing cheeks.

He cups Nie Huaisang’s chin, their eyes meeting. His eyes are stormy, as if afraid that this could end at any moment.

“May I?” he asks, just to make sure this is real.

Nie Huaisang’s answer is to close the distance, lips meeting his.

It feels new but familiar, hungry and unsure at the same time. One short kiss, and after hardly a breath Jiang Cheng surges forward for another.

Nie Huaisang lets Jiang Cheng pull him in with gentle hands on his waist and on the small of his back. He reaches up, cupping the other’s cheeks, as he returns kiss after kiss, setting a gentle pace to hold them both steady, as he always does.

When they part to breathe, they stay almost as close, Jiang Cheng’s nose in Nie Huaisang’s hair, his hands settling on the other’s waist. Nie Huaisang practically falls into his arms, leaning into him fully, tucking his head against Jiang Cheng’s shoulder, hands clutching dark robes.

Nie Huaisang takes a deep breath, and his voice is muffled against Jiang Cheng’s shoulder as he says, “Yeah, that didn’t feel like a friend thing.”

“Friend thing.” Jiang Cheng snorts, and he couldn’t quite recover fast enough as he ends up laughing under his breath. “Stupid.”

“I don’t know why I said it!” Nie Huaisang says, shaking slightly, trying not to laugh so much. “I had to make sure!”

Jiang Cheng leans back to look at him. Nie Huaisang is blushing, laughing, hair messy after… everything.

“Are you sure now?” he asks.

Nie Huaisang looks down, smiling, sheepish. “Jury’s still out. I could just be dreaming.”

“Yeah, I get why you’d think that.” Jiang Cheng nods, feeling self conscious now, but refusing to give in to the flight instinct to just let go, to run. This means too much for him to run away from it. “I did kinda just spring that on you. Could’ve done better. Sorry.”

“I mean,” Nie Huaisang shrugs. “I’m not complaining. This is really nice. You’re really nice. I hope we do it again.”

He tries not to yawn. He fails. It is, after all, past 3 AM.

“I’m sorry this is not very romantic.” Jiang Cheng says. He cups Nie Huaisang’s cheek, and lets out a small smile when Nie Huaisang leans into it. “I do want to do this properly, though.”

Nie Huaisang hums, blinking up at him. “Which means…?”

“Which means I’ll say good night, and let you go back to bed. Then I’ll ask you again tomorrow, so you can finally be sure that this isn’t a dream.”

“But A-Cheng,” Nie Huaisang says softly, eyelids dropping. “It’s tomorrow already.”

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes, and his gentle hand caressing Nie Huaisang’s cheek moves to pinch it instead.

That wakes him up. “Ow! That is not very nice!”

Jiang Cheng drops a kiss on his forehead and says, “Good night, Lieutenant.”

Nie Huaisang watches him go. “Good night, Captain.”

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For the record, Nie Huaisang did try to sleep. And maybe he got an hour or two in. But really, how does one sleep after that?

He blames Jiang Cheng. It is Jiang Cheng’s fault, all of it.

He is yawning as he shows up to work that morning, pausing to take in the sight of Captain Jiang Wanyin back in his office. The man is standing by Xiaoyu’s cage, drinking tea while he watches the bird preening.

“Good morning, Captain.” Nie Huaisang says, flipping his paper fan open – ah, Jiang Cheng had it custom painted with lotuses, and that gives it a whole new meaning now, oh no – and hiding behind it. “It’s good to see you back in here, your paperwork is a dreadful task. Not fun.”

“That is the welcome I get.” Jiang Cheng nods, resigned as he goes to his desk. He finds documents stacked neatly on the table and eyes Nie Huaisang with a raised brow. “You did them anyway, though.”

“I can’t have poor Meifen do everything…” Nie Huaisang says airily, walking forward to check up on Xiaoyu as well. He smiles when the bird chirps happily at him. “By the way, Captain, I had the most interesting dream last night.”

“Very funny.” Jiang Cheng sets his teacup down on the desk and sits at the edge of the table. He watches Nie Huaisang fuss over Xiaoyu for a moment before he says, “Hey, come here.”

Nie Huaisang goes to him. He still keeps his face half-hidden behind his fan, but he lets Jiang Cheng take his free hand.

Jiang Cheng asks, “Do I have to clear up the friend thing again?”

Nie Huaisang lets out a surprised laugh, cheeks blushing in embarrassment as he pokes Jiang Cheng’s chest with his fan. “Stop with that already! I was sleepy and you surprised me!”

Jiang Cheng is really thankful that he gave Nie Huaisang a safer fan to hit people with. This one is much easier to grab, so he can pull Nie Huaisang closer – which is just what he does.

He steadies Nie Huaisang when he stumbles forward, hand settling on the small of his back as he captures the other’s lips in a kiss.

Nie Huaisang’s surprise last only for a second, then he returns the kiss, wrapping his arms around Jiang Cheng’s shoulders.

He couldn’t quite hide behind his fan afterwards, realizing Jiang Cheng had somehow taken it. “Is this a thing now?” Nie Huaisang asks, fiddling with the purple sash across Jiang Cheng’s chest. “My Captain just taking my fan?”

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. “I know you have another one in there.”

“Wrong.” Nie Huaisang say, this time the one to steal a kiss. “I have three. Most of them harmless.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Jiang Cheng looking bewildered and impressed as he draws back slightly to look him up and down, trying to see if he can find the mystery fans in Nie Huaisang’s person. “Where the hell do you put them?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Nie Huaisang giggles, then he gasps when Jiang Cheng pokes at a fan tucked by his waist. “Captain, you went away for a week and you’ve become like this? All handsy and stealing kisses? What has happened to you?”

“I think I just missed you, that’s all.” Jiang Cheng admits, reaching from behind him and retrieving Nie Huaisang’s missing fan. When Nie Huaisang goes to take it, he moves it away again with a smug grin.

It’s Nie Huaisang’s turn to roll his eyes. Then, he goes in for another kiss, a longer one, and this time Jiang Cheng lets him take his fan back.

Nie Huaisang pouts, afterwards. “This is how I get you to be fun?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jiang Cheng shrugs. “I’m always fun.”

“I believe that you believe that.”

It’s then that they hear the sounds of approaching footsteps and muffled conversation from outside the room. They recognize Jiang Meifen’s voice, distant as it is.

They look at each other. Nie Huaisang smiles. “Back to work?”

Jiang Cheng nods, letting him go. He moves to sit back on his chair as Nie Huaisang walks around the table and watches him pick up and skim the first of the documents waiting for him.

“So Old Yao actually asked me to meet with him so he can… what, interrogate me?”

“Yes.” Nie Huaisang chuckles. “Just answer the usual. I bet you can scare him off right away. I also annoyed him, like, a lot – so if he complains about me, that’s an intended effect.”

“Sure. What did you do?”

“I started feeding Xiaoyu while he talked to me.”

A chuckle. “Yeah, that’ll do it.”

There’s a knock on the door, and Jiang Meifen enters, accompanied by another officer, a young man who had recently started shadowing her, helping with her duties.

They welcome their Captain back, and greet their Lieutenant a good morning.

Jiang Cheng simply nods, and looks up from his paperwork with a small, light smile. “It’s good to be back.”