rain rain days

Nie Huaisang brings it up one normal, peaceful afternoon – “Hey, so listen to this. Da-ge said I’m getting a new brother.”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t look up from the painted plastic part of his latest Gunpla build, too focused on the delicate task of panel lining, making sure to apply black ink to the fine lines of the piece for detail.

Because he’s distracted, it takes him a while to process what his boyfriend just said. “He’s… getting another cat?”

“No, silly.” Nie Huaisang chuckles, amused. “He’s getting married. And Huan-ge has a brother, so apparently that means I’m getting another brother.”

That makes Jiang Cheng look up from his task and across the table, where Nie Huaisang is also panel lining, lending his skilled artist’s hands to Jiang Cheng’s cause. Jiang Cheng had given him one of the more complicated pieces, knowing Huaisang’s love for fine detailing.

“Seriously? Congratulations. When was this?” he asked, wondering if he missed a big announcement or anything of the sort. Granted, Nie Mingjue is a pretty laid-back, private person, not one to share everything to the world, but Jiang Cheng thought surely at least Nie Huaisang would have told him something so momentous.

“Oh, just last night!” Nie Huaisang lifts his fine brush from the piece he’s working on before he looks back at Jiang Cheng with a grin. “Da-ge texted me to say Huan-ge proposed. He also said they’re keeping it low-key so don’t go blabbing to everyone just yet.”

Jiang Cheng raises an eyebrow. “You just told me.”

Nie Huaisang waves him off with a shrug. “Eh, you don’t count. We’re a set. Whatever. Da-ge sounded really happy though! Lots of fire emojis in his message. And he’s staying in Gusu for an extra day.”

“Huh. Good for Mingjue-ge. They’ve been together for a while, right? It’s just been… long distance?”

“Yep.” Nie Huaisang nods. “Can you imagine doing that? For sooooo long? They’re crazy.”

Jiang Cheng prefers to think that he’s mature and secure enough in their relationship to be able to handle some distance, too.

But then he thinks about how ever since meeting and being friends with Nie Huaisang in high school, then dating in their last year of university, and still being together now after years… the longest they had gone without seeing each other was that one summer month he had to spend with his mother’s side of the family in Meishan. How his first thought back then was to invite Nie Huaisang to come with him, but they’ve only been dating for two months then, and he didn’t want his army of aunts and nosy relatives to scare his then-new boyfriend away.

Now, they haven’t moved in together or anything, but he rarely spent a day without seeing or at least calling Nie Huaisang. And more times than not, they spend the night together at either the Nies’ house or at Jiang Cheng’s and Wei Ying’s apartment.

So. Yeah. Jiang Cheng is secure in their relationship, and he wasn’t very clingy. But saying that he can do long distance may be a bit… untested.

So he doesn’t answer Nie Huaisang’s question, only agrees with him. “Yeah. Crazy.” he says with an awkward chuckle that makes Nie Huaisang squint at him, because he’s sharp like that. At least, with Jiang Cheng. Just a side-effect of knowing him too long.

Before he can pry though, Jiang Cheng decides to steer the conversation back on track. “So how many new brothers are you getting?”

Nie Huaisang blinks, and then shrugs. “Just Huan-ge, because apparently his brother is younger than me so I’m rejecting that application. Nuh-uh.”

Jiang Cheng snorts. “Hate to break it to you, but that’s not how it works.”

“I don’t care. Rejected!” Nie Huaisang pouts, as he raises his panel lining brush again and brings it back down on the shiny plastic of their latest build. “Only big brothers are allowed in this family… I’m not giving up the role of baby of the house. It’s bad enough that the cats are more baby than me!”

Jiang Cheng looks at him. He’s ridiculous. Jiang Cheng decides that he is not cool with long distance at all. Who else
will be ridiculous while panel lining with him?

Jiang Cheng goes back to his own piece then. “Aren’t you always saying that you like Mingjue-ge’s boyfriend a lot? He’s sweet and nice and all that? Maybe his brother’s the same, maybe you’ll like him too.”

“Hm.” Nie Huaisang only hums, focused on his work. “Maybe.”

.

.

---

.

.

A few weeks later, on another normal, peaceful afternoon, Jiang Cheng is settled comfortably in the Nies’ couch with his laptop, going through his boyfriend’s and his brother’s latest batch of cosplay photos. He’s making notes on what touch-ups and edits they need when Nie Huaisang wordlessly walks up to him, carefully pries the device from his lap and replaces it with… himself.

Jiang Cheng frowns, but readily wraps an arm around his boyfriend’s waist to steady him. “I’m working.”

“I’m paying.” Nie Huaisang points out, as he settles the laptop on the nearby table, then takes Jiang Cheng’s free hand on his own and starts shifting their linked fingers and wrists in a very specific manner.

“No, you mean Wei Ying’s fans are paying.” Jiang Cheng counters, as he lets Nie Huaisang pose their hands. At least, that’s what he thinks is happening here…

Nie Huaisang then takes his phone out and snaps several photos of their joint hands from various angles. Yep. This is not the first time Nie Huaisang has done this.

“Just help me out, A-Cheng~ This is for our future…” he says as he takes more of what Jiang Cheng knows are drawing reference photos.

Jiang Cheng hums, simply securing his free arm around him and resting his head on the other’s shoulder as he resigns himself to a few more hand poses. “Is it a commission?”

“Yup.”

“That’s not for our future. You’re just gonna use that money to buy merch.”

“Like you use your money to buy model kits?”

Jiang Cheng retaliates to that comment by pinching his side, where he knows he’s ticklish, and Nie Huaisang lets out a yelp as he almost falls off Jiang Cheng’s lap if not for the arm around him.

“Ah! A-Cheng!” he whines, laughing. “Okay, I’m sorry to disturb your work, just help me out for a bit, please?”

Jiang Cheng just smirks at him, pressing a kiss to his shoulder before curling around him again and letting him continue taking photos.

After a moment, Nie Huaisang says, “Hey so, I’m getting a new brother.”

Jiang Cheng is close to dozing off so he had to wake himself up to process that this time. “You’re not talking about a cat this time, either, right?”

“No…” Nie Huaisang says, finally letting his hand go. He settles against Jiang Cheng as he swipes on his phone to preview the photos he just took. “Huan-ge’s brother. I’ve decided that I like him.”

“Huh.” Jiang Cheng lets out a curious huff.

Nie Huaisang had spent the past weekend in Gusu, tagging along with his brother to meet the rest of Lan Huan’s family. It had been a busy weekend, and Nie Huaisang said he spent the long trip back just recovering his energy, so Jiang Cheng hadn’t heard much from him about how things actually went.

“What changed?” he asks, as he wraps both arms around the other, now that his duty as hand pose reference model is done.

“He agreed to call me A-Sang. So I’m still the baby!”

“Sure.” Jiang Cheng shakes his head, because of course that’s all it took for Nie Huaisang to accept a new member to his family. Really, he’d adopted others for less. “You got along well then?”

Nie Huaisang pauses. “We got… along.” he trails off, uncertain.

Jiang Cheng huffs, this time amused. “You bullied him, didn’t you.”

Nie Huaisang gasps, scandalized. “Excuse you! I do not bully people!” He squirms, but Jiang Cheng is holding him too securely for him to really get anywhere. “Okay, so you said maybe he’ll be like Huan-ge, and I thought so too, like he might be suuuuper nice and a sweetie-pie. But he’s different! He’s very quiet and… didn’t talk to me much? Not like in a mean way, and he’s not exactly shy, just… more chill! Yeah, that’s it.”

Jiang Cheng nods, but doesn’t change his conclusion. “He’s an introvert and you bullied him.”

“I did not!” Nie Huaisang insists. He takes a breath before proceeding to explain, “Okay, he didn’t look very excited when Huan-ge stuck us together so we can like, bond. Or whatever. Then Huan-ge told him I model – very flattering, ‘cause I don’t model, not really, I just dress up in whatever character Wei Ying wants to be on top of for the season-”

Jiang Cheng grunts. “Never say it like that again.”

“It’s true, though.”

“It is. Still don’t say it like that.” Jiang Cheng sighs. “Continue. Your new brother knows you do cosplay modeling? He didn’t think it was weird, didn’t he?”

“Not at all! Actually, Huan-ge brought it up because he knew Lan Zhan likes the same stuff! Like, games and anime and all that.”

“Oh. Good. One of us, then.”

“Right! So we got talking, or at least I did. He was mostly nodding. He’s seen some of my stuff before, and he also draws, he does fanart!”

“He’s also an artist?”

“Yup, but he’s like me, he says it’s also just his hobby. He’s a musician, mainly. He’s still studying. He’s taking his masters for like, traditional music or something like that.”

“That’s… nice.” Jiang Cheng nods, mentally filing that for later. He will no doubt meet the guy at some point, so it will be good to have some info stocked up.

“It really was too bad you couldn’t come with us! Gusu was really pretty!”

“Yeah, y’know I would’ve gone with you if I didn’t have work already scheduled then.” Jiang Cheng sighs against Nie Huaisang’s shoulder, giving the other’s waist a reassuring squeeze. “There’ll be a next time, I’m sure.”

“Definitely.” Nie Huaisang smiles, and turns his head to look at him. “He also mentioned that he’s going to travel soon, somewhere close by, for like a research thing? And da-ge made him swear to stop by here. So maybe you’ll meet him soon too!”

Jiang Cheng has no problem with that. He’s met pretty much all of the Nie brothers’ closest relatives, and he got along just fine with them. He’s definitely looking to have a good relationship with any new additions to that.

“Sure. That sounds good.”

Nie Huaisang finishes swiping through the dozens of hand photos, and nods in satisfaction. He raises his phone one more time, this time in selfie mode. Jiang Cheng doesn’t have to be asked, just lifts his head and lets out a small grin to match Nie Huaisang’s bright smile at the phone camera.

“Cute!” Nie Huaisang says with a delighted smile as he looks at their photo. “Okay, I gotta go back to that commission. Thank you for your service, A-Cheng.”

“Yeah, yeah.” is all Jiang Cheng says as he lets Nie Huaisang go.

Nie Huaisang gives him a quick kiss before getting off him and skipping back to his room.

Jiang Cheng picks his laptop up and settles back against the couch. That’s when one of the cats makes itself known – Jiji, he recognizes, hops on the space right next to him, turns in place a few times and then plops down to take a nap.

Jiang Cheng looks at the cat for a second, reaches out to give it a little scratch on the head, and then turns back to his laptop and continues his work.

.

.

---

.

.

Between his day job, some new model kits, a new cosplay project with his boyfriend and his brother, and the lack of any major changes in their lives even after Nie Mingjue’s engagement… Jiang Cheng has mostly forgotten all about Nie Huaisang’s supposed “new brother” some months later. It has simply been filed as “Thing I Know” in his head.

This time when he arrives at the Nies’ house, he finds Nie Huaisang on the couch, lying face down, all three of his brother’s cats sitting on top of him.

“Uh.” Jiang Cheng starts, raising an eyebrow as he sets his work bag on the unoccupied loveseat. “Hey. You good over there?”

“I’m great.” Nie Huaisang says, lifting his head only slightly, trying not to dislodge his feline passengers. He squints at Jiang Cheng. “Weddings are terrible. The most terrible. Please don’t hire me for yours.”

Jiang Cheng hums as he looks him over. Nie Huaisang is still dressed in his work clothes – a stylish but formal outfit that screams “event coordinator” – except his hair is a mess probably after one of the cats had its way with it, and his shoes were discarded ungracefully on the floor nearby. It’s clear he just collapsed here after the day he had.

“Well, I can’t really see you allowing anyone else be in charge of it.” Jiang Cheng points out as he gathers the shoes and heads off to put it away on the shoe rack near the door.

“Shit, you’re right.” Nie Huaisang sighs miserably. “Should we get married at all, then?”

“Don’t propose like this. I’ll probably say yes but it’s not instagram-worthy.” Jiang Cheng picks up one of the cats – Qiqi, because she’s the nicest to him – and sets her down on a nearby cat bed. “You’ll regret it.”

“Okay.” Nie Huaisang says.

Jiang Cheng picks up another cat – Mimi – and as soon as he does, the last cat springs off Nie Huaisang’s back on its own to follow its siblings.

Nie Huaisang grunts as he sits up, combing his hair back with his hands, cringing as he feels how messy it really is. “Yeah, I don’t wanna get engaged with bad hair.”

“Nobody wants to.” Jiang Cheng says, sitting down beside him now that there is finally free space on the couch. “So the event didn’t turn out well?”

“No, it was amazing! Duh. I was in charge, it was great.” Nie Huaisang pouts, almost offended. “But Miss Bride and her family were monsters. Awful people! So snobby even though everything was practically perfect! Mr. Groom was pretty nice, at least. Good luck to him for the rest of his life, I guess.”

Jiang Cheng chuckles and shakes his head as Nie Huaisang grumbles some more about difficult clients and monster brides and an incredibly hot but dumb groomsman who flirted with him. He eventually trails off as he gets distracted gathering his hair back to tie it up.

As Jiang Cheng lazily leans against the couch armrest, relaxing, he says, “Hey, I’m pissed, by the way.”

“Mm-hm?” is all Nie Huaisang gets out as he is holding a hair tie between his lips. He blinks at Jiang Cheng from his end of the couch.

“You know I was playing the ASTER1A sequel last night-”

“Kitty was so cute!” Nie Huaisang says, as soon as he is free to speak, while he ties his hair up.

“Kitty was very cute.” Jiang Cheng nods, because he agrees. Kitty is always cute. He might also be biased because the character is his favorite of Huaisang’s cosplays, and they’re working on Kitty’s updated sequel outfit at the moment. “Spec was being dumb.”

Nie Huaisang giggles. “You think so?”

“I get it he’s traumatized and shit and the game was just giving us choices that made sense about that, but. C’mon, man.” Jiang Cheng grumbles. “You’re ace. Not blind. You’re giving our team a bad rep.”

“Aw, I didn’t know you wanted Spec and Kitty to end up together that bad…” Nie Huaisang teases as he scoots closer to cuddle up to his disgruntled boyfriend.

Jiang Cheng shrugs, but does wrap an arm around the other. “Eh. Wei Ying was telling me that getting them together was the most difficult route so I thought ‘Great, challenge accepted’. Dammit, I didn’t think it’ll be that difficult. So difficult it’s annoying.”

“I gave up on that, y’know. Now my Spec is single and my Kitty’s with Edge. He’s so hot. And they’re so cute. And I’m about to write a fic. ‘Cause they’re so cute. Younger brothers are always cuter.”

“Edge is cool.” Jiang Cheng concedes, then looks down at Nie Huaisang and narrows his eyes, frowning, because of course he caught that last bit, too. “No, I will not cosplay him with you.”

“But he reminds me of you so much, A-Cheng~” Nie Huaisang pouts, leaning up slightly to drop a kiss to Jiang Cheng’s cheek.

“Sure, we both have black hair. That’s it. End of list. Just get Wei Ying do it too if you really want a photoshoot with that one.” Jiang Cheng says, scrunching his nose up as he gets more kisses to his face. “You two have done that before, double up on characters.”

Nie Huaisang draws back, still with a pout. “Ugh, okay.”

Jiang Cheng looks back at him and lets out a small triumphant grin, then moves to smooth over Nie Huaisang’s complaints with a soft kiss on the lips. Nie Huaisang gives one last quiet whine before giving in easily, kissing back just as softly, lazily.

When Jiang Cheng pulls back, he keeps close, their foreheads pressed together. “Hey, we’re both pretty wiped out today.” he says, voice soft and quiet, almost a whisper as his arm draped across Nie Huaisang’s shoulders slides down to squeeze his waist. “Let’s just do a movie tonight? Not really feeling up to anything else.”

Nie Huaisang nods, knowing exactly what he’s saying. “Of course. That sounds nice.” he replies, settling comfortably against his boyfriend with a content sigh. “We’re having a guest over, anyway.”

He feels the fingers idly playing with his ponytail stop – “We are?”

“Yeah- Ah, shit!” Nie Huaisang springs up, alert.

Jiang Cheng recognizes his expression easily – that’s the ‘Da-ge Told Me to Take the Chicken Out of the Freezer to Defrost And I Totally Forgot’ face that he had seen all too many times since they’ve known each other.

“I was supposed to prepare stuff ‘cause da-ge will be home late!” Nie Huaisang says as he pulls aways from Jiang Cheng and gets to his feet. He turns toward his boyfriend. “Please help me tidy up the study?”

Jiang Cheng only shrugs. He’s already here half the time, he’s used to helping out with chores. “Yeah, sure. Who are we expecting, again?”

As if to answer his question, the doorbell rings.

Nie Huaisang huffs. “Aw, why are Lans always early?“

.

.

The “study” is also the Nies’ guest room. Half of it is an actual study – a small family library and a simple office desk that Nie Mingjue uses when he has to bring work home, and Nie Huaisang uses to receive or attend online meetings for his gigs. The other half of the room is the guest room part, with a mostly empty closet that only contained a few seasonal clothes, and a daybed that’s just the right size for one person.

Thankfully, since the room gets used fairly often, it also gets cleaned up on the regular, so Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng didn’t have to totally dust and mop the place down.

It’s not the fanciest accommodation, but according to Nie Huaisang, Lan Huan’s brother is in town to do some research, some part of his master’s degree thing, so Jiang Cheng thinks the study is quite a good deal for what he needs.

When Jiang Cheng comes back from fetching replacement sheets and pillows for the daybed, he sees that Nie Huaisang is gathering up a few of his brother’s leftover paperwork to clear the office table, while he bombard Lan Zhan with… well, hospitality.

“-so this desk is totally yours, don’t worry about anything, and the printer is connected to the Wi-Fi- Oh! The password, remind me later you give you that. Have you had dinner yet? A-Cheng and I were planning to just order somewhere ‘cause we’ve had a long loooong day… Got anything you want in particular?”

Jiang Cheng thinks Lan Zhan looks just like Lan Huan, just a bit younger, and somehow with the complete opposite vibe. His hair is longer as well, well past his shoulders, but it’s tied back neatly into a low ponytail. The guy is standing aside letting Nie Huaisang fuss over the room. His hand is still on the handle of his pristine light blue wheeled luggage, his travel backpack on his back, like he is ready to tell his hosts that he can go and stay at a hotel somewhere instead.

After an awkward moment of silence where the guy just looks like he’s trying to process everything Nie Huaisang had said, he arrives at “I can cook. Or pay for the food. It’s the least I can do for your hospitality-”

Nie Huaisang blinks at him, “What- No! No, it’s fine!”

“Yeah, you’re a guest, man.” Jiang Cheng points out as he walks past Lan Zhan and goes to strip the old sheets from the daybed. “We got it.”

While Jiang Cheng changes the sheets, Nie Huaisang opens the closet doors, gives it a once over, and shifts some coats, hangers and old boxes of clothes around to make good space for their guests’ things. “Really sorry we’re only doing this now, by the way. We both just got home from work.”

“You were napping.” Jiang Cheng says.

“For like five minutes!” Nie Huaisang shoots back, before beaming at Lan Zhan like the excellent host he is. “If you need more closet space, just take the boxes out and move ‘em on that corner over there, don’t worry about ‘em! And I’ll bring a hamper in later, ‘kay? Also, the cats hang out anywhere they want, including this room. So if you don’t want them in, just keep the door closed – it’s no big.”

Lan Zhan nods. “I apologize for the trouble.”

Jiang Cheng raises an eyebrow, and exchanges a look with Nie Huaisang, before turning to Lan Zhan, squinting slightly, “Did he bully you?”

Nie Huaisang gasps. “A-Cheng! I’m not a bully!”

“You’re being too nice to him.” Jiang Cheng tells Lan Zhan as he gathers the old sheets in his arms.

Nie Huaisang huffs. “A-Cheng has never seen anyone be nice to their brother before.”

Jiang Cheng looks at him unimpressed. Nie Huaisang gives him a mocking pout.

Lan Zhan watches this back and forth like watching a tennis match. He is only distracted when one of the cats hop up on top of his luggage and look up at him curiously.

“Oh! Should we call Wei Ying over? For dinner?” Nie Huaisang pipes up, suddenly excited. “He can totally make it, we haven’t ordered anything yet!”

Jiang Cheng shakes his head. “Nah. He’s got a scheduled stream tonight. Maybe next time.”

“Aww…”

Just because Lan Zhan has been standing still and awkward at the foot of the daybed right across from him, Jiang Cheng catches the moment the guy stops petting Mimi the cat and instead rushes to take his phone out from his pocket. He finds it surprising, that Lan Zhan has been so still and subdued this entire time, and this new movement is so sudden, almost panicked.

Then Jiang Cheng sees that Lan Zhan stops at his lockscreen – where the current time flashes in big numbers on the screen, along with a few blocks that he knows are notifications – then the man’s shoulder relaxes, and he slips the phone back to his pocket just as quietly.

Huh. Jiang Cheng gets it – he too has at times lost track of time and realized out of the blue that he might be about to miss a meeting, an appointment, a call…

Maybe it’s just weird that through that momentary panic, Lan Zhan just had the same blank expression. But what the hell, so the guy has a resting poker face. It’s none of Jiang Cheng’s business.

“So what do you guys want? I’ll order.” Nie Huaisang says, on his own phone now, checking his food delivery app.

Lan Zhan says “I am fine with anything.”

“No, you are not.” Nie Huaisang chuckles. “Okay, this place has non-spicy options. Let’s see…”

Of course Lan Zhan can’t do spicy. Like his brother. Jiang Cheng has met Lan Huan very sparingly over the years, but he does remember Nie Mingjue rubbing the poor guy’s back that one time they had dinner out and he said he was “happy to try” some chili fried rice.

“Get me the usual.” Jiang Cheng tells Nie Huaisang, then he nods at Lan Zhan before walking off to take the old sheets in his arms to the laundry room.

.

.

Dinner arrives. Nie Huaisang drags Lan Zhan from his unpacking so they can have their meal together at the dining table. Jiang Cheng is the last to join them with a freshly-made pitcher of orange juice.

Dinner starts off not as awkward as one would expect, but it was… quiet.

It’s Jiang Cheng who breaks the silence first.

“So how long will you be in town?” he asks Lan Zhan across the table. Not awkward, just… careful. Because he still doesn’t know the other man that well.

Jiang Cheng isn’t the shy type, he simply is fine with no small talk. This time he takes some effort to at least know a little more about their guest. He’s staying over at the house all the time, and he’s with Nie Huaisang, and it wouldn’t hurt to earn brownie points from Nie MIngjue for getting the man’s house guest and future brother-in-law to feel more welcome.

“Yeah, da-ge didn’t tell me either.” Nie Huaisang backs him up, as always sounding more natural and at ease.

“A month, maybe two.” Lan Zhan answers. “I’ll be visiting other towns as well, but this place is close by, and Mingjue-ge said it’s better than moving from hotel to hotel.”

“Good call.” Jiang Cheng says. “So you’re going to libraries? Museums?”

Lan Zhan nods. “Also meeting with some professors, other composers.”

Nie Huaisang lets out an impressed hum. “You’re meeting up with other smart people to talk about smart stuff… Amazing…” When he continues, his tone is now light, teasing, “You make us look bad, Zhan-ge! We’re here just playing video games!”

Jiang Cheng snorts. “Do you want to go back to school so you can talk about smart stuff with people again?”

“Hell no!” Nie Huaisang laughs. “I’m done with all that.”

“I,” Lan Zhan starts, and waits until his companions stop making faces at each other before he continues, “I play video games as well.”

Jiang Cheng blinks, then nods. “Oh, yeah, A-Sang told me about that.”

“A-Cheng is in the middle of playing ASTER1A 2!” Nie Huaisang pipes up, grinning. “You’ve played that too, right?”

Lan Zhan nods.

“He’s getting annoyed with Specter.” Nie Huaisang continues, sniggering. “But you like Specter, don’t you, Zhan-ge?”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t miss the way Lan Zhan’s careful resting bored face twitches just slightly.

“Specter is a good character, yes.” he says, voice completely flat and neutral, but Jiang Cheng knows his tell now, as he also doesn’t miss how the tips of the man’s ears go red.

And of course he sees how Nie Huaisang looks more pleased with himself that usual. Jiang Cheng is about to point his out, but then a soft tune plays from someone’s phone, and Lan Zhan takes his phone out to dismiss the alarm.

Like an agent activated, he picks up his now empty takeout box and bows his head. “Thank you for the meal.”

“All done?” Nie Huaisang asks, this time genuinely curious.

“Mn. I… have some papers to turn in. Please excuse me.”

He puts his trash away, and then walks off towards the guest room.

Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng watch him stop to eye Qiqi uncertainly, as the cat is hanging out right by the room’s doorway. Qiqi looks back at him, then enters the room. Lan Zhan looks like he contemplates something before he gives up and goes inside, gently shutting the door behind him.

It’s good that he gets along with the cats, Jiang Cheng thinks. That’s a requirement around here.

“Must be a strict deadline for those papers.” he mumbles as he continues his meal.

“Yeah.” Nie Huaisang grins. “Deadlines.”

Jiang Cheng looks at him. Nie Huaisang picks up one of the takeout crispy wontons with his chopsticks and offers it to Jiang Cheng with a sweet smile.

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes, but then eats the wonton. He can ask about the other thing next time.

.

.

“Wei Ying is freaking out in the group chat.” Jiang Cheng says later, while he and Nie Huaisang are curled up together on the couch, watching a movie and sharing a fluffy blanket.

“Mm? What’s up?” Nie Huaisang asks, voice mostly muffled against Jiang Cheng’s shirt.

“Apparently that artist he’s been obsessing over is in tonight’s stream. Sent some emojis in the chat or something.”

A giggle, then “Aw… Cute.”

Jiang Cheng just grunts in reply as he sets his phone aside and snuggles his boyfriend, going back to the movie.

Nie Mingjue finds them like this when he arrives home. He frowns slightly as he looks around, as if expecting another person. “Lan Zhan got here, right?”

“Yes, da-ge. He’s all settled in the study. We had dinner earlier.” Nie Huaisang answers lazily.

“And he’s not up for movie night?”

Nie Huaisang shrugs. “He has some papers to turn in, he said.”

Jiang Cheng follows that with “We didn’t wanna disturb him, he looked really serious about it.”

“Huh.” Nie Mingjue nods, processing that. “Maybe I’ll just check on him tomorrow if he’s busy tonight.”

“Don’t worry, he’s totally comfy in there, da-ge. We gave him extra pillows and all! You should get some rest.” Nie Huaisang says.

“Yeah, yeah.” Nie Mingjue waves him off as he makes his way towards his room. He looks over to check the spectacle playing out in the television screen. “Is that Godzilla?”

“Yeah.” both younger men answer.

“Which one?”

“King of Monsters.”

A few minutes later, Nie Mingjue, in sleepwear and with his own blanket, settles comfortably on the loveseat, three cats on his lap.

.

.

---

.

.

Jiang Cheng hates to say it.

Jiang Cheng really hates to say it like this, but. Fine. Lan Zhan’s presence in the Nie household just feels to him like Nie Mingjue simply got another cat.

Jiang Cheng is not complaining, he simply thought there would be more of an adjustment period now that there’s an extra person in the house.

But no – Lan Zhan was usually just… there. In the guest room. He is either typing away on his laptop or reading through thick books. One time when Jiang Cheng had to fetch the guy for dinner, he saw that he was drawing on his tablet. So that’s nice, Jiang Cheng thinks. He still has time for his hobby.

Otherwise, he was quiet and he kept to himself. Much like Qiqi when Nie Mingjue first got her. Except Jiang Cheng is assured that the guy won’t try to sit on him and kill him in his sleep when he got familiar enough.

Probably.

They all really only get together during dinnertime, and mostly that’s either Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang bickering, or Nie Mingjue checking in on Lan Zhan on behalf of his brother, or Nie Huaisang bullying Lan Zhan.

Jiang Cheng calls it bullying because it makes Nie Huaisang huffy. But really, it’s no different from whenever Nie Huaisang tries to charm and tease Wen Ning whenever their friend got anxious.

Sometimes when they were talking about a game or anime or just fandom things, Lan Zhan and Nie Huaisang would share a look and Nie Huaisang would giggle. So that’s weird.

Jiang Cheng brings it up one time, while he was hand-sewing a part of Kitty’s sequel outfit for Nie Huaisang’s new cosplay. “You and Lan Zhan.”

“Hm?” Nie Huaisang is hunched over his tablet, drawing. “Me and Zhan-ge?”

“You’re older that him.”

“Not relevant!”

“Okay. So. You guys have inside jokes, right?”

“Mm. We do, yes…”

“Wanna share a bit?”

“Maybe.” Nie Huaisang hums, then looks over at him with a slightly apologetic smile. “Not right now, though. He’s really shy about it, still.”

Jiang Cheng shrugs. Okay. That’s fair. He knows Lan Zhan draws stuff and posts them online, but he still doesn’t have the guy’s handle, and hasn’t seen his works. Lan Zhan feels shy about it, Nie Huaisang said, so Jiang Cheng dropped it there. He didn’t want to intrude on another person’s business. If Nie Huaisang is fine with it, Jiang Cheng is fine with it too.

.

.

And then, two weeks in, Nie Huaisang unleashes Wei Ying on the poor guy.

Jiang Cheng hates that he thinks of Lan Zhan as ‘the poor guy’. He doesn’t like him that much.

The poor guy, though.

It’s a weekend. They’re about to have game night. They usually do it at Wei Ying’s and Jiang Cheng’s, but Nie Huaisang said they should do it at the Nies’ tonight because da-ge is out of town anyway, and it’s more convenient for him and Wen Ning, who literally will just have to walk over from down the street. Also, this way, he wouldn’t have to coax Lan Zhan out the house and take him to a relative stranger’s apartment. It will be easier to get him to join in and play.

Jiang Cheng is cooking dinner, and also preparing to cook some snacks for later. From the kitchen, he can see Nie Huaisang setting down a stack of board game boxes, while Wen Ning is sitting cross-legged on the floor entertaining one of the cats with one of those stick-and-feather cat toys. Lan Zhan is on the couch, curiously reading the instruction booklet of one of the games.

That’s when the door opens up to the ball of energy that is Wei Ying.

“My friends! Booze and junk food is here!” – he declares, raising up two big plastic bags of the promised booze and junk food.

His greeting effectively scares off all the cats, and Lan Zhan who drops his reading material in surprise and then scrambles to pick it back up.

“Hello, Wei-xiong…”

Wen Ning really is the only one to greet him back normally, as Nie Huaisang just screams and launches himself at his best friend, who laughs, picks him up and twirls him around, even while he is holding the grocery bags.

“Oh! Someone is happy to see me!” Wei Ying says, setting Nie Huaisang down, and then the grocery bags. “Where’s my precious brother?”

“Here. Not precious.” Jiang Cheng calls back. “Making sure we eat some real food before we suffer from whatever that is you brought.”

“Hey, now, I brought stuff I’m sure you guys like…” Wei Ying pouts.

Nie Huaisang is still latched on to Wei Ying’s neck as he asks, “Um, did you remember to get non-alcoholic stuff? Lan Zhan doesn’t drink.”

“Of course! A-Cheng only repeated it in the chat like, 500 times.”

Jiang Cheng did, because he feels responsible somehow. Also he has the fear of Nie Mingjue in his heart. All sane people do. Lan Zhan said he doesn’t drink so Jiang Cheng is not gonna make him drink because if anything happens to him and Nie Mingjue caught wind of it, Jiang Cheng might die.

When Jiang Cheng finally turns to check on Lan Zhan again, it’s to find the guy very strongly pretending to focus on reading the instructions booklet again.

He is not fooling Jiang Cheng. Nobody needs to read Flip 7 instructions that hard. The game is for kids ages 8 and up.

Then Lan Zhan stands up, so sudden, and of course that makes everyone else look towards him.

“I’m going to help with dinner.” he says, face straight, ears red, as he begins to head towards the kitchen-

“Ah, no, no, we’ve got that covered, Zhan-ge! You stay here, you’re a guest!” Nie Huaisang rushes to pull him back, and then sits him back down on the couch. “Here, here, Wei Ying will take care of you.” he says as he takes the grocery bags from Wei Ying and walks off.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t know how he can move so fast sometimes.

“Aren’t I… also a guest?” Wei Ying asks, dumbly looking at his now empty hands.

“No, you’re not.” both Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang says, because he’s not a guest. He’s family.

“And Wen Ning?”

“I don’t think I count.” Wen Ning says distractedly, already starting to coax the cats out of their hiding places using the cat toy.

Nie Huaisang laughs as he puts the newly-bought drinks in the fridge. “A-Ning is my ex-almost-brother-in-law, he’s family.”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t think it works like that, really. From what he can recall, Nie Mingjue only dated Wen Ning’s scary older sister for like, a few months back in high school, but Jiang Cheng has long given up on expecting anything conventional from this family. Nie Huaisang calls Wen Ning his long-lost twin just because they both wore glasses. That’s just what he does.

Given a task and nothing else to do but that task, Wei Ying takes off his jacket and plops down on the couch beside Lan Zhan, who is now pretending to be busy putting the game instruction booklet back in its box.

“Hi, you’re Lan Huan’s brother, right? Lan Zhan? A-Cheng told me about you!” Wei Ying says, beaming. He’s charming, friendly, until- “He really likes you.”

“Get my name out of your mouth, Wei Ying.” Jiang Cheng calls from the kitchen. Because. He never said that. All he told Wei Ying was ‘He’s okay. A-Sang likes him.’ and fine, maybe he shouldn’t have said it while Wei Ying was busy working on some engineering thing. Still.

Lan Zhan almost moves to look towards him in confusion, but is distracted again when Wei Ying continues talking.

“Y’know I only met your brother the one time, and I thought he’s really cool! He and Mingjue-ge are lovely together! And you’re here for a music study thing, right? What’s that about?”

There’s a pause, then – “Research.” Lan Zhan is looking straight back at Wei Ying at this point, and Jiang Cheng has to applaud the man’s ability to keep a straight face.

His ears are red though.

Huh.

Maybe nerves? Wei Ying can get overwhelming sometimes.

“Hey,” Jiang Cheng says, voice low, as soon as Nie Huaisang takes the spot beside him with his own knife and chopping board. “You really are a bully.”

“Mm?” Nie Huaisang blinks at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, A-Cheng.”

Jiang Cheng grabs a bundle of vegetables and hands it over, before gesturing towards the couch, where Wei Ying is practically talking a mile a minute while Lan Zhan stone-faced stares at him. “Your new brother’s about to run, or do a murder. I can’t tell.”

“Oh, I just figured, if anyone could get him to open up more, it’s Wei Ying, y’know?” Nie Huaisang chuckles as he takes a carrot from the bundle and starts chopping. “He’ll be fine. Look, they’re getting along!”

Jiang Cheng turns back to check, and sure thing, it’s Lan Zhan who is talking now, though his voice is still too quiet for Jiang Cheng to catch anything he was saying. Probably explaining his thesis or whatever. One of the cats has settled on his lap. Wei Ying is now sitting sideways on the couch so he can face his companion properly, his head propped up on his hand, eyes bright and big, nodding at whatever Lan Zhan was saying.

“They do get along. It’s nice.”

Jiang Cheng almost chops a finger off when he jumps at the sound of Wen Ning’s voice from his other side.

“What the fuck, man.” he hisses. “How long have you been standing there?”

“A while.” Wen Ning shrugs. “What can I help with?”

Jiang Cheng just sighs. “We’re making some dumplings. Can you make the dipping sauce?”

.

.

Jiang Cheng gets lost in dinner and snack preparations, and with two other people helping, they breeze through it. Soon Lan Zhan’s distant muffled voice and Wei Ying’s lively laughter become background noise.

Now they’re finishing up – Jiang Cheng cleaning and putting away the cooking utensils while Nie Huaisang sets the table and Wen Ning goes off to feed the cats their dinner.

Wei Ying sidles up to Jiang Cheng by the sink then. “Jiang Cheng, what the fuck.” he whispers, clinging to Jiang Cheng’s sleeve. “That guy. Lan Zhan?”

Jiang Cheng ignores the tugging and focuses on the knife he’s washing up. “What? You looked okay-”

Then Wei Ying whines, sounding like a kicked puppy. “Oh my God, A-Cheng. He’s so hot.”

Jiang Cheng stops, and just looks down at the knife in his hands.

“He’s like super handsome and intelligent and he smells so nice? What is up with that? Also, his voice-”

“Wei Ying, I am holding a knife…”

“His voice is so sexy, A-Cheng, what the hell, who talks like that? You talked about him like he was just some boring dude, why didn’t you tell me he’s like smart and interesting-”

“-I can stab you-”

“What? Whatever. Wait- Wait, I’m sleeping over tonight-… But he’s staying in the study, right? I always sleep in the study when I’m here-… Oh my God. A-Cheng, there is only one bed-”

“-or maybe I will stab myself. Either way sounds good.”

From his other side, a new voice says, “I’m done feeding the cats, Jiang-xiong.”

Jiang Cheng yelps. “Wen Ning. Stop doing that!”

.

.

At the end of game night, Jiang Cheng shoves blankets and pillows for Wei Ying to sleep on the couch.

Sure, it was funny to see Lan Zhan mentally stop working and physically back away when Wei Ying drunkenly, “innocently” asked if he and Lan Zhan would be sharing the bed in the study. But Jiang Cheng still has the fear of Nie Mingjue in him. Unless Lan Zhan pulls Wei Ying with him into that room himself, there will be no funny business in this house, and Jiang Cheng will… protect… Lan Zhan… even from his own brother…?

Gods, why is this job…?

Nie Huaisang just looks at him with shiny eyes filled with delight and amusement, wrapping his arms around Jiang Cheng’s neck and then kissing his cheek. “So responsible… This is why you’re da-ge’s favorite, y’know.”

Jiang Cheng pulls him close, in the quiet of the dark hallway. “I am?” he asks in a whisper, half confused, fully hopeful.

Wen Ning had gone home, Lan Zhan had retired to the study, and Wei Ying is snoring lightly on the couch.

“Well, there’s not really a lot of competition, but. Y’know.”

Jiang Cheng simply shakes his head, and hauls a giggling Nie Huaisang up over his shoulder and carries him off to his bedroom.

.

.

Jiang Cheng suffers from hearing Wei Ying giggling to his phone over the next few weeks. When he’s not giggling to his phone, he’s sighing dreamily at it. Because sometime during that game night, he did manage to get Lan Zhan’s number after all.

He also kept tagging along whenever Jiang Cheng came over the Nie house, so he can “ask Lan Zhan about his very interesting music study thingy” because “it’s really very interesting, Jiang Cheng!!!”.

Yeah, Jiang Cheng is very convinced he’s only interested in the study.

(“When did you ever care about music?”)

(Wei Ying looked offended. “I literally play the dizi.”)

(“Yeah, like in middle school.”)

(“Just leave me alone to hang out with the super nice super hot guy, A-Cheng…” Wei Ying sniffs. ”It’s been so long since I liked someone who didn’t turn out to be a jerk-”)

So Jiang Cheng lets him tag along and bug Lan Zhan in the study.

To be fair, Lan Zhan never kicks him out, and he always looked flustered, but not really uncomfortable. Or at least, that’s what Jiang Cheng thinks that blank face means.

Jiang Cheng kinda hates that he can tell that now.

He comes home to the apartment one time to find Wei Ying and Nie Huaisang cozily cuddled up together on the couch, watching something on Nie Huaisang’s phone.

“Welcome home, A-Cheng~” they both greet him, not looking away from the phone.

Jiang Cheng just grunts curiously, taking his coat off as he heads to his room. On his way, he leans down to drop a kiss to the top of Nie Huaisang’s head.

“No kissy for me?” Wei Ying asks.

Jiang Cheng flicks his forehead instead.

“Ow! Really no love for his big brother, this one…”

That’s when Jiang Cheng catches what’s on Nie Huaisang’s screen – a familiar man on stage, dressed in traditional attire and playing the guqin, backed by several other traditional instruments.

“Wait, is that Lan Zhan?”

Nie Huaisang nods, the movement tickling Wei Ying’s shoulder. “Yeah, Huan-ge sent me a video of one of his performances…”

Jiang Cheng leans over the back of the couch to watch as well. He tilts his head, shrugging. “That’s impressive.”

“Right?” Wei Ying sighs dreamily as he squeezes Nie Huaisang like he would a plushie. “His hands look so strong… His fingers are so long…”

“Ew.” Jiang Cheng says.

“Please don’t thirst over my brother’s brother-in-law while holding me.” Nie Huaisang says very cheerfully. “It is a bit weird.”

That just makes Wei Ying whine more pathetically as he rubs his cheek against Nie Huaisang’s head. “A-Sang, he’s so fiiiiiine… He’s so nice to me too… A gentleman… with strong hands…”

Nie Huaisang chuckles, not complaining at all about being squished. “So do something about it, bestie.”

“How? What do I do? Is he gay?” – that last part, he whispers.

Jiang Cheng leans back, and runs a tired hand down his face as he sighs. “Wait. Wei Ying, you’ve been flirting with the man for a month and you don’t even know if he might be into guys at all?”

“How would I know? I can’t just ask!”

“Um. You totally can.” Nie Huaisang says.

Jiang Cheng groans. “Or you can at least infer something from your flirting with him.”

“Flirting-? I’m not-…? I haven’t been flirting?”

This time Jiang Cheng actually walks around the couch and perches on the armrest so he can actually be face to face with his brother. “Then what the hell have you been doing all this time?”

Wei Ying blinks. “Hanging out? Making a new friend?”

“Oh, A-Ying…” This time Nie Huaisang does shift so he can look at his best friend. He smiles sadly and raises a hand to stroke the other’s hair. Fondly, gently, he says, “You are quite stupid.”

Wei Ying gasps, drawing back. “A-Sang! No, my sweet little-! Jiang Cheng taught you that, didn’t he? That’s a rude thing to say to your best friend.”

“Nah, that’s a very best friend thing to say to your best friend, actually. And A-Cheng has been so nice about both of you.”

“Both of-… Me and Lan Zhan? What?”

He is about to look at Jiang Cheng, but Nie Huaisang grabs his face so he can look straight at him. “Okay, here’s what you’re gonna do…”

“You’re gonna ask him out, like a normal person.” Jiang Cheng says.

“That.” Nie Huaisang nods as he continues. “Keep it simple! Like a coffee or lunch, you can talk about the usual stuff, and see if it feels right to do it again. Then go from there.”

“Just tell him you like him.” Jiang Cheng follows seamlessly. “Talk about his smart brain or long hands or whatever.”

Wei Ying looks at Nie Huaisang, then at Jiang Cheng, then does it twice over, brows furrowed. They can practically hear the gears turning in his head, before it stops, and something clicks-

“Um.” he starts, tilting his head a bit. “When are you two getting married?”

Okay, they don’t know if something clicked or something broke, but oh well.

Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng share a look, then Jiang Cheng says, “How sure are you that we haven’t gotten married already and just didn’t tell you?”

Wei Ying’s eyes go wide, and he inhales-

He freezes when Nie Huaisang bursts out laughing. “Wei Ying, your face!”

Wei Ying sniffs as he pulls Nie Huaisang into his arms again, burrowing his face on his friend’s shoulder. He very miserably says, “You guys are so mean together. I love you. Okay. I’ll do it. I think.”

Jiang Cheng snorts, reaches over to ruffle his brother’s hair, and walks off.

.

.

Nie Huaisang always looked really good as Kitty, but the sequel outfit – though it’s a totally different vibe due to Kitty’s character arc – just made him twice cuter.

The cat ears are still there, but his green hair is short now (after a plot-relevant haircut), almost the same length as Nie Huaisang’s actual hair. He had traded the fanservice bodysuit for a “casual look”: an oversized army jacket, a torn graphic shirt and short shorts (also all plot-relevant) and though he’s more covered up, the look is a different kind of attractive. They kept the cyberpunk toolbelt on his waist and the blaster holster wrapped around his thigh. He still has the yellow ribbon on his tail, which swings wildly as Nie Huaisang spins and does some poses to show off his new look. All that’s missing is the shoes.

Jiang Cheng nods approvingly. “Yep. I think we nailed it.”

Nie Huaisang bounces on his heels with a giddy smile. “I feel so cutesy. Kitty is so cutesy in this arc, I can’t. And it’s so comfy, A-Cheng! I can walk around all day like this!”

“That’s good, then.” Jiang Cheng says, as Nie Huaisang launches himself at him to latch on to his neck and press a glittery kiss to his cheek. He chuckles, “Yeah, yeah, don’t ruin your makeup.”

“I don’t care, this is a test run anyway.” Nie Huaisang says, drawing back only slightly so he can beam at Jiang Cheng. “You’re so amazing, A-Cheng.”

“Well, you did half the work.” Jiang Cheng points out. “Wanna take sample photos? Send them to Wei Ying?”

“Absolutely- Oh! First we gotta show Lan Zhan!”

Jiang Cheng gets dragged out of Nie Huaisang’s bedroom and to the guest room down the hall. Nie Huaisang knocks on the door excitedly.

“Zhan-ge~ Let us in, we got something to show you!”

They hear a muffled “Come in” from inside the room and Nie Huaisang happily opens the door and lets himself in.

“Ta-da! Look who I am!”

Lan Zhan is at the desk as always, and he looks up from his sketchbook when Nie Huaisang bounds inside, arm spread wide to show off his look. Jiang Cheng just leans against the doorframe to assess the reaction.

“Kitty, from ASTER1A 2?” Lan Zhan asks, as he takes in the new costume.

Nie Huaisang spins happily. “What do you think?”

Lan Zhan looks him up and down before nodding. “Very impressive.” He also nods towards Jiang Cheng. “Great job.”

Jiang Cheng just gives him a thumbs up, because, yes, he made that and he made it well.

“Right? It’s so fun too, I love Kitty’s whole vibe in that arc…”

“Are you having another photoshoot?” Lan Zhan asks, curious – or at least, that’s what Jiang Cheng thinks that face is.

“Yep! Wei Ying agreed to be Edge, too!”

“Edge with Kitty?”

“It’s my ship, Zhan-ge…” Nie Huaisang grins, hugging the oversized jacket to himself.

He had told Jiang Cheng that the jacket is his favorite part of the new design, because it is plot-relevant to said ship. So of course Jiang Cheng spent the most time perfecting that piece.

“But Wei Ying is still a Spec truther – like you! – so we’ll still do Spec and Kitty. He worked too hard on that flashy glowy mech arm to not do Spec again, anyway.” Nie Huaisang shrugs. “Ah, Kitty is a lucky boy, having those two all over him…”

Jiang Cheng is not quite sure what that face Lan Zhan is currently making means. He looks constipated. Maybe.

“A-Cheng, what poses do you think we can do for Edge and Kitty?” Nie Huaisang asks then, thoughtful. “If we go for the official art poses, then Wei Ying will just have his hands on my butt the whole time and that’ll be repetitive. We should think of other stuff. Huh. I’m only just realizing that Edge does nothing but grope Kitty-”

Jiang Cheng is sure that Nie Huaisang is talking about something important – maybe – but he is very distracted just observing Lan Zhan’s face through all this.

Because Lan Zhan now looks like the life has left his eyes. Or like all thoughts flew from his head. Or he’s contemplating the meaning of life. But also like he wants to cry. Somehow a mix of all those, yet his face actually hadn’t moved.

It’s very fascinating.

Also maybe concerning?

Jiang Cheng tilts his head as he interrupts Nie Huaisang’s near-academic rambling about all the smutty fanfic potential of Edge and Kitty. To Lan Zhan he asks, “You good over there?”

Lan Zhan snaps out from looking into oblivion to look blankly at him instead. He nods. “Mn.”

Nie Huaisang must have locked on to whatever Jiang Cheng noticed as well. “Ah, Zhan-ge, were you busy? Did we interrupt your work?”

He shakes his head. “I was only sketching.”

“Oh.” Nie Huaisang looks towards Jiang Cheng, and Jiang Cheng shrugs. “Okay, well, we’ll stop disturbing you now-”

“Actually-…” Lan Zhan interrupts – a rare thing for him in the time Jiang Cheng has known him – and he picks up his tablet, unlocks it, taps and swipes a few times, and then offers it to Nie Huaisang.

Nie Huaisang takes the tablet as Jiang Cheng steps forward to also take a look. It’s a beautiful digital art portrait of Specter – or not Specter, not really… Then it clicks that it’s Wei Ying, redrawn from a screenshot from one of his livestreams. He looked like Specter at first glance because it was from that one stream where he wore Specter’s jacket and blue-and-gray contacts. Wei Ying did that sometimes, dress up in “casual” cosplay when streaming, just to switch up his usual look, or to promote a new or upcoming photoshoot.

“Huh.” Jiang Cheng nods. He’d never seen any of the guy’s art before but this is a good first showing. “That’s really cool.”

Nie Huaisang, of course, is delighted- “Ahhhhh-! You drew him so handsome here! Amazing!”

“It’s a gift.” Lan Zhan says, red ears absolutely giving him away. “For Wei Ying.” he continues as if he even had to clarify.

“He’ll love it!” Nie Huaisang says, all encouragement. “Right, A-Cheng?”

To be clear – Jiang Cheng is not rooting for this. Jiang Cheng has sworn to stay out of his brother’s love life. Permanently. Forever. That’s Wei Ying’s business. At most, Jiang Cheng is neutral about this whole thing. He’s happy to just sit back and watch how it all goes.

Jiang Cheng is just stating a fact as he nods and says, “Yeah, he’ll be over the moon.”

Lan Zhan looks back down at his sketch – were those comic panels? – as he replies, “Thank you.”

Jiang Cheng looks at the art again. It’s really good. Looks professional, even. He really likes it, and there’s something familiar about it… the art style-

That’s when Kitty’s oversized very anime jacket presents a glaring issue when Nie Huaisang starts to fumble with the tablet as it almost slips from his hands that were mostly covered by the jacket sleeves.

Thankfully, it doesn’t fall, but he does end up swiping across the screen and away from the initial artwork that Lan Zhan meant to show them.

Now it’s a different artwork. A very very different artwork that had Jiang Cheng raising an eyebrow.

But he didn’t get to take a very long look as Nie Huaisang hands the tablet back to Lan Zhan. “Ah, sorry, Zhan-ge, it went away…”

“No problem.” Lan Zhan says, taking the tablet and swiping back to the Wei Ying fanart before setting it back down on the desk.

Jiang Cheng stares at the screen, wanting to rub his eyes to confirm what he just saw.

He is pretty sure that for a moment there, he was looking at a fancomic page with a very sexually explicit scene between a popular ship from a popular BL game, fully-rendered and colored.

And. See, Jiang Cheng isn’t an artist. But his boyfriend is, and also he’d been in online communities exposed to different artists’ works long enough to recognize signature art styles from artists he liked.

One artist comes to mind after seeing that page, and Jiang Cheng didn’t particularly like that artist, nope, he doesn’t even follow them… but Nie Huaisang and Wei Ying both do, and they retweet and reblog every art that person posts, and Jiang Cheng does follow his brother and his boyfriend, so that meant Jiang Cheng sees the art, the fancomics, the smut-

“Uh. Man, what’s your handle again? I forgot if you mentioned it before.”

Lan Zhan looks at him with a straight face and says, “It’s @_wangji. Starts with an underscore.”

Ah.

His next question, he directs towards Nie Huaisang. “As in…?”

“Yeah.” Nie Huaisang nods at him, even before he can ask an actual question.

“That one?” he asks. That one. That one whose fancomics Wei Ying lines up for to get signed everytime he has the opportunity to. That one who told Wei Ying he is also a fan of his work and looks to his cosplay photos for inspiration on his art. His very consistent, beautiful, but haunting (to Jiang Cheng, personally) explicitly smutty art-

“Yeah, that one. Isn’t he super impressive? He’s working on his masters music thingy and he’s also releasing fancomics! I could never!” Nie Huaisang laughs, then he turns towards Lan Zhan, whose ears might be permanently red at this point. “You have a new fancomic you’re working on too, right, Zhan-ge?”

“Mm.” Lan Zhan nods, looking down at his sketchbook.

“What’s it about?”

“Edge and Specter. Sex pollen.”

Nie Huaisang gasps, involuntarily latching on to Jiang Cheng like he’s clutching his pearls. “Zhan-ge! That’s so spicy!” Then he giggles. “Is Kitty in it?”

Jiang Cheng takes a breath. Jiang Cheng almost prays. Jiang Cheng actually glares at Lan Zhan as if daring him.

Lan Zhan looks back at him, seemingly unfazed, and then shakes his head at Nie Huaisang.

“Aww, but-”

“Good.” Jiang Cheng says.

He’d rather not think of Huaisang- ahem, of Kitty– getting involved anywhere in Lan Zhan’s smutty AU. Nope. Not his baby. Sure, Kitty the character will probably be into it. No, Jiang Cheng the person will forbid it, at least while his boyfriend is in the Kitty costume, and while Lan Zhan is very obviously using Jiang Cheng’s brother as inspo for the two other characters- Nope nope nope abort cancel cancel-

He places his hands on Nie Huaisang’s shoulders and turns him around to usher him out the room. “It’s not Kitty’s vibe anyway, I don’t think.”

Nie Huaisang pouts, but lets himself be led out. “I actually think it is-”

“It isn’t.” Lan Zhan agrees with Jiang Cheng, which is good, because Jiang Cheng will probably resort to violence if he didn’t.

“But Kitty will be sooooo into it, remember-”

“Sure, you can write about it. Lan Zhan is busy drawing other things, let’s leave him alone.” Jiang Cheng says, and as soon as they’re outside, he closes the door behind them.

He sighs, very very deeply.

Nie Huaisang turns and blinks at him. “A-Cheng? You good?”

Jiang Cheng just asks, “You’ve known about it since when, again?”

“Oh, Lan Zhan showed me his art when we first met.”

“You’re evil.”

“Hey, he did actually tell me to keep it lowkey! Remember he even masks up when he goes to cons?”

“Still very diabolical of you.”

“Is it a deal breaker? Will you not wanna marry me anymore?” Nie Huaisang asks, his big eyes extra disarming because he is wearing Kitty’s bright gold cat eye contacts.

Jiang Cheng shrugs, like he doesn’t know how they got here either, and simply nudges him back on their way. “C’mon, let’s just take those sample pics.”

.

.

Later, Nie Huaisang tries to annoy Lan Zhan into drawing Kitty, and Lan Zhan only says he cannot draw Kitty in any provocative way because Kitty reminds him too much of Nie Huaisang. And Nie Huaisang is his brother. Maybe he can draw a cute chibi.

Nie Huaisang almost cries – because he is upset or because he is touched, Jiang Cheng doesn’t know. But the answer does give him a bit of peace.

“Wait, Zhan-ge, but how about when you draw Spec?”

Lan Zhan does not answer that one. Or more like, he is busy choking over his dinner to reply.

“Get it together, kid.” Nie Mingjue tells him. Jiang Cheng doesn’t know how much context Nie Mingjue really has about the whole thing, but as always, the man gives the correct advice.

And Jiang Cheng hates to admit it – but all this time he was kinda… looking out… for Lan Zhan. A bit. Just a tiny bit! Because he was so quiet. And he was always focused on his work. And he was away from home. And Nie Huaisang and Wei Ying could be so nosy and outgoing at times they forget some boundaries. And Jiang Cheng is always up for earning brownie points from Nie Mingjue because it can’t hurt to have a good standing when he proposes to the man’s brother someday-not-so-soon-but-maybe-definitely.

(They’ve been joking a lot about that lately, just because it was funny after Nie Mingjue got engaged. But genuinely, Jiang Cheng is grateful that they are able to so easily talk about it. Like it’s just an eventuality at this point. That’s… a promising sign.)

Anyway, the point is, Jiang Cheng understands Lan Zhan a lot better now – and all he can say is alright, fuck all that shit with being nice to this guy and treating him like he’s fragile. Lan Zhan is insane and he is into Jiang Cheng’s brother. Or maybe he is into Jiang Cheng’s brother because he’s insane.

Jiang Cheng can be mean to him now. Jiang Cheng is much better at that.

.

.

---

.

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Not even a week later, Wei Ying finally decides to be a normal person and ask out the guy he likes.

Or, that’s what Jiang Cheng thought he was gonna do. Because he sent a text about it.

It’s a beautiful afternoon. Jiang Cheng is online window shopping for gift ideas for Jin Ling’s upcoming birthday. Nie Huaisang is sitting on the floor humming while combing Mimi’s hair, the other two cats already pawing lazily at him to do them next.

Wen Ning comes in like he lives in the house (he sometimes does, really) and smiles his little quiet smile when he sees that Lan Zhan is also right there on the couch, reading some thick history book.

“Lan-xiong, hi?” he starts, and waits until Lan Zhan looks up at him. He sounds like his usual subdued but optimistic self as he continues, “I just have a question, or rather, an invitation? Would you be interested in going out with me for coffee? Like in a date way?”

Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng stop their respective afternoon activities to turn sharply towards their friend. What the- Since when- Where the hell is this coming from-

“I…” Lan Zhan blinks. Good. Jiang Cheng would be worried if he didn’t at least blink at that. Then he looks down. “I am flattered, Wen-xiong. You have been a good friend. But… I am not… interested… in you, in that way-”

Oh, good, a very nice and reasonable answer, even though it was a rejection. Jiang Cheng is surprised but he hopes Wen Ning doesn’t take it too hard-

His friend just smiles, though. “Alright. What about if Wei-xiong asked you?”

Oh. Okay.

Lan Zhan looks back up at him sharply. “I-… Wei YIng?”

“Yeah, him.”

“…Yes, I accept?”

And then the front door opens again and Wei Ying barges inside- “FOR REAL?! YOU DO?!”

Lan Zhan looks at him with wide eyes and red ears, and fails to do anything but nod mutely.

“Cool!” Wei Ying says, eyes shining, smile blinding. “Can we- Um. Can we do tomorrow? Is that okay?”

Another nod. Then Lan Zhan stands, all stiff and proper, and actually bows. “I will see you tomorrow.” he says, and then walks off.

Like a weirdo, Jiang Cheng thinks. Is that too mean? No, it isn’t. Jiang Cheng is tired.

Wei Ying whispers ‘Yessss!’ as he high-fives Wen Ning, who then just nonchalantly goes to sit on the floor to grab one of the cats. Like he wasn’t in on that truly baffling and unhinged plan.

Nie Huaisang is laughing, promptly annoying the cat in his arms.

Wei Ying looks at his brother. He looks the happiest Jiang Cheng has seen him in years as he says, “A-Cheng, did you see that? He said yes!”

Jiang Cheng’s head hurts. “Yeah, you deserve each other.”

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When Jiang Cheng arrives at the Nies’, he finds Nie Mingjue on the couch watching a very loud action-packed movie, surrounded by his cat children.

Jiang Cheng lifts up a heavy grocery bag. “Mingjue-ge, I bought cat food. A-Sang said we’re out.”

Nie Mingjue looks over at him and nods approvingly. “That’s why you’re my favorite, kid. Just put it out back, I’ll take care of it later.”

Jiang Cheng nods, and tries not to smile so obviously. Hah. He is Nie Mingjue’s favorite. He’s not sure who the other candidates are, but whatever.

He goes to put the cat food away, and leaves his coat and bags in Nie Huaisang’s room. Then he sits on the opposite end of the couch to join Nie Mingjue in watching his movie.

There are people shooting at each other. There are explosions. There are cars crashing-

Nie Mingjue notices when one of the cats transfers from his side to climb onto Jiang Cheng’s lap. “You’re a bit early today, no?”

Jiang Cheng doesn’t take his eyes off the screen as he pets the cat now on his lap. “Didn’t go home. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan are having sex in our apartment.”

Nie Mingjue almost spills the canned soda he was about to drink. “Shit, really?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow.” Nie Mingjue leans back against the couch, clearly trying to process that. “Okay.”

“Happy for them.” Wen Ning says.

Jiang Cheng jolts in surprise just a bit this time. “Dude.” he sighs as he looks at Wen Ning curled up in the loveseat, munching on a bag of chips. “You’ve just been there?”

Wen Ning turns away from the screen to blink at him. “Yeah, I like this movie.”

“Wen Qing cooked too much food again so she sent him to bring some over.” Nie Mingjue provides. “She probably doesn’t think it will take him two hours to come back though.”

Wen Ning shrugs happily. “It’s okay, she said I should go out more.”

“A-Ning, you just went into another house, I don’t think this counts.” Nie Mingjue points out, but otherwise just accepts the fact that the younger is here now.

Wen Ning holds his bag of chips out to Jiang Cheng, who accepts the snack, takes a bit for himself, and then passes it back.

Nie Huaisang arrives then, and beams when he sees them. “Ah, all my favorite people are here…”

He is answered by different kinds of grunts, as all three men are now distracted by the very intense one-on-one fight on the screen.

After a few minutes, he plops down on the free space on the couch between his brother and his boyfriend, and is all too happy to cuddle up with Jiang Cheng, who absently pulls him in.

“Have we heard back from the lovebirds yet?” Nie Huaisang asks no one in particular, eyes closed, not particularly interested in the movie.

“No, don’t remind me of that.” Jiang Cheng says.

Nie Huaisang laughs. Nie Mingjue huffs. “Should I text A-Huan? Is that gossip? I don’t like gossip.”

“I can text him so you can save your street cred, da-ge.”

“Sure.”

“I don’t even wanna go back there at this point.” Jiang Cheng sighs. “A-Sang, maybe we should just get our own place. Far away from both of them.”

Nie Huaisang whines. “Noooo, just move in with me and da-ge~”

“You don’t get to just bring in new residents to my house on your own, Nie Huaisang.” Nie Mingjue scoffs. “And your boyfriend is right, go move out. Then your room can go to the baby.”

All three of his companions turn to look at him then, but Nie Mingjue is just focused on the movie still.

“Like a new cat?” they all ask, at the same time.

Nie Mingjue actually raises an eyebrow at the very in-sync replies, before he shrugs and his eyes go back to the screen.

“I mean like a human child. Maybe. We’re still thinking about it.”

His companions have nothing to say to that, then, only exchanging looks between the three of them.

Wen Ning turns back to the movie with a small smile. He’ll have some news to bring to his sister later.

Nie Huaisang laughs quietly as he feels his boyfriend pull him closer and press a kiss to his temple.

Jiang Cheng takes a deep breath. He was planning to buy a car, but what the hell. Sure. That can wait. It’s about time they get a place of their own, anyway.

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fin.