Securing Sect Leader Jin

Before securing Sect Leader Jin, you must first secure your shidi/shixiong.

Apologies in advance but this chapter and the next will be more hurt/comfort than humour (it was alllll supposed to be humour 😥 but the angst train caught up with me)

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"What the hell are you doing now?"

"Uh, getting ready for bed?"

"On the floor?"

"....yes?"

Jiang Cheng slowly raised an eyebrow.

"...no?"

Jiang Cheng didn't even bother to dignify that with a response. He just rolled his eyes and told Wei Wuxian to hurry up and get on the bed because if he caught his death from a cold he'd personally bring one of those Lan kids to do Inquiry so he could chew out Wei Wuxian's spirit for being so foolish.

"And besides, you can sleep next to Lan Wangji just fine so it's obvious you can deal with sharing. Unless of course, it's somehow different with Lan Wangji," Jiang Cheng grumbled.

"Jiang Cheeeng, not this again!" he groaned, foregoing shame and clambering in beside him. A bed would always beat the floor.

The bed was narrow and they had to squeeze together to fit, but at least it was now warm and cozy and he felt inexplicably safe which he was trying not to think about because he felt brittle at the moment and if he thought on it too much he might cry.

"You didn't answer my question by the way," Jiang Cheng said.

"Huh, what question? About Lan Zhan? Don't be so jealous. I told you, nothing's going on between me and Lan Zhan. He's just a good person and an even better friend."

"Ugh no! I meant about The Ghost General. What could Wen Ning have going on that he had to ask you to take over guard duty?" Jiang Cheng didn't really care about Wen Ning's whereabouts but he was curious because, well, he wasn't stupid. Wen Ning clearly felt guilty over Jin Zixuan's death even though it wasn't entirely his fault (yes, Jiang Cheng could finally admit that, if only to himself. Growth people. It happens.) For him to leave when Jin Ling might be facing possible danger was unusual.

Wei Wuxian was silent for a moment. The truth was that Wen Ning and A-Yuan had gone to Qishan to give their family a proper send off and lay their souls to rest. If Wen Ning had gone on his own he would not have hesitated to tell Jiang Cheng, but as it was, he'd taken A-Yuan with him. It was an opportunity for them to make up for lost time with each other. Wei Wuxian wasn't sure how many of the Lans actually knew A-Yuan's identity aside from Lan Xichen, Lan Zhan, and possibly Lan Qiren. It was also possible that A-Yuan might tell Lan Jingyi given that they seemed to be close and Lan Jingyi was the open minded sort. Suffice to say, the people who were aware of Wen Yuan's identity could probably be counted on one hand. The problem was that Jiang Cheng was not an idiot. Jiang Cheng always felt like he was less because he couldn't beat Wei Wuxian, however, the truth is that Wei Wuxian was widely considered a genius before his ignominy arose and Jiang Cheng was right behind him in capability. So, as he had told Lan Zhan long ago in the Xuanwu cave (and man, wasn't it the weirdest details that he remembered given his crappy memory?) Jiang Cheng was smart. And he could put two and two together just fine, especially when he didn't have a million other concerns to be dealing with like he did back when they were young and fresh out of war. So Wei Wuxian hesitated. Because telling Jiang Cheng was a risk.

Of course, he didn't think that Jiang Cheng would go into a murderous rage. Not anymore at least. A-Yuan had been a baby, and as much as Jiang Cheng had disliked the Wens, he wouldn't go out of his way to hurt a child. Besides, his anger at the remnants in particular was specifically because he felt Wei Wuxian had abandoned him for them. He was practically cordial to Wen Ning these days after he'd helped save Jin Ling in the temple (or what counted as cordial from Jiang Cheng, at least, after the first time they bumped into one another while following the juniors according to A-Yuan). So no, anger wasn't what Wei Wuxian feared, though it was most often the form that hurt took with Jiang Cheng. And that was what he didn't want: to bring up painful memories. There was a reason he'd asked to leave everything in the past after all. Their relationship was... complicated. But... being with Jiang Cheng again was welcomed, even with their current awkwardness. He didn't want to ruin the tentative truce they seemed to have reached.