Fluffy WangXian Oneshots

Just Desserts Extra

Jiang Cheng was baffled.

There really was no other word for it.

He stared at both Nie MingJue and Lan XiChen...and if his gaze lingered on the latter more than the other, well, it really couldn't be helped. Lan XiChen was incredibly good looking...not just good looking. Those words seemed lame in comparison to the real thing...Lan XiChen's features were unearthly, carved from the finest jade yet Jiang Cheng had never thought of him as cold.

Lan XiChen was as warm as the sun on his face in the middle of spring, and Nie MingJue was like sudden hail, unexpected and hard, cold, harsh and hurt if exposed to it.

How the two of them were in a relationship, it just...Jiang Cheng did not understand.

It didn't make sense to him at all, how two people so opposite in every way, could make it work.

And then his own confusion was debilitating.

For years, maybe two at least, Jiang Cheng had standards. Wei Ying had asked him once, when they had foolishly drunk enough beer to get tipsy, but not enough (sadly) to forget that conversation.

"Who do you see yourself with, five years from now?"

They had been sitting quite discreetly on the upper bleaches of the football field, watching Nie MingJue blast his way through the rival team's defence like water. Shallow water, at that.

XiChen had been waiting on the sidelines with a towel and a bottle of water, and Jiang Cheng's gaze had never faltered while he spoke.

"Someone with a great set of morals, someone beautiful to look at. Someone who would stand up in the face of injustice, but at the same time, someone who was kind, thoughtful and generous. Not just with money, I mean."

Wei Ying had eyed him over the rim of his illegal bottled beer.

"That's six different people. I swear...you better lower your standards, or you'll be waiting forevah!"

At the time, both of them had assumed he had been speaking about a girl, a mysterious woman who would come towards him when time parted like mist to reveal his one true love....yet all throughout that conversation, XiChen had been performing every act that Jiang Cheng had described: he was patiently waiting, he looked better than gorgeous, he was demonstrating kindness with the towel and compassion with the water, generously giving his time, when he did not actually enjoy football.

Six years had passed and Jiang Cheng had found his crushing had bloomed into something different, something far more powerful. When XiChen had walked into his sister's bakery, Jiang Cheng had felt faint....oh, come on!

He was going to get the chance in a lifetime to be able to finally, finally, speak to him...and he messed it up.

Jiang Cheng wanted the ground to open up and swallow him, not even take the time to chew...but XiChen had been nothing except kind. His soft words of encouragement had grounded Jiang Cheng and afterwards, everything was so much easier. Too soon, he had packed XiChen's order and worse, had to watch him walk away.

Jiang YanLi had noticed.

Of course she did....

Jiang Cheng sighed internally, preparing himself for the inevitable questions. But she had merely pulled up a stool and waited.

His A-Jie was the best...truly, she knew what he needed even before he did. And she had perfected the best ways to help when they were kids; she knew to ask Wei Ying plenty of questions to get him to talk, and for a chatterbox as manic as him, it was easy.