Husband

Lover

Notes

I may add more of this. I am not too sure. Who can say. For now this is a oneshot.

He stared into the distance through the window just above the sink that views a shallow pond of Lotus Flowers. Smiling absently, he continued to wash the plate slowly. Reminiscing the days he and his siblings would play around Lotus Pier, how his brother, Wei Wuxian, would throw water at him, and he would lose his temper and attempt to push his brother into the lake only to be dragged down with him as well. His sister would cover her face with her silky sleeve and laugh. A sudden feeling of dread starts in the pit of his stomach. It slowly travels through his body. Jiang cheng begins to frown, eyebrows furrowing.

The daydream starts to warp into something darker. The water is starting to be diluted with blood. It slowly discolors the water like dirt disturbed in a river. Jiang cheng looks over to the right to see his brother walking away from the pier with his intolerable husband. Turning he sees his sister's dead body and his sweet little nephew, Jin Ling, clutching at her robes. His face turns blank. Eyes burn with unshed tears, yet none fall. He stands in that bloody water, body feeling heavy with the inability to move as if he has been buried in the sand. Jin Ling's cries grow louder. The need and want to cover his ears and pretend that nothing is happening grows stronger, but he can't bring himself to. He can't leave Jin Ling alone. He would be no better than Wei Wuxian. His body just can't seem to move. He can't help but think that he deserves this. That he is stuck in a special version of hell made just for him. Stuck in bloody water that continues to rise along with my nephew's cries.

Arms wrap around his waist breaking his slow descent. Jiang cheng blinks. Right, he has a husband. He has someone who cares for him. He who vowed on the day of their marriage that he would never leave him. A person who would take the both of them to death's door than separate and isn't that a scary thought? It brings him comfort. He knows why, the idea, no, the absolute fact, the truth that this man was willing to go to such lengths to spend eternity with him gives him complete comfort, security, and euphoria. He thinks that he could never live without this man. A part of Jiang cheng knows with certainty that his relationship with his husband is unhealthy, that the dependency on his partner isn't healthy. Another part of him, he knows, doesn't care. "What are you thinking of?", His husband mumbles into his hair breaking his inner monologue. He hesitates.

Smiling, he replies, "Thinking of you". The questioning eyes of his husband look at him from behind. His husband knows that Jiang cheng isn't saying the whole truth and so to pacify him, he continues, "Let's just leave it at that". He can tell that his husband is slightly irritated, but his lover doesn't push. This had to be one of the traits he loves the most about his husband. While his husband pushes sometimes, the man knows when to let things go. In some way, he always seems to know when Jiang cheng needs or wants to speak and that he needs that extra push or when he needs time to work things a bit before he is ready. Jiang cheng admits that he can't truly say he needs time alone to work on things because he isn't alone. His husband is always there. While it may seem overbearing to others, it fits his needs just fine.

Admittingly, having a constant presence can be on occasion, irritating, but he'd rather have that than loneliness. He has been alone for many years, and he isn't too keen on being alone any longer. On the day he and his husband took their vows, his husband made him promise that he would never lie to him. He could withhold information or give vague truths, but he could not lie to him. He would never break their vows. The man who is his husband chose him of all people. A man who could have chosen anyone he wanted and he choose him, Jiang Cheng, who was known for his terrible personality on good days and downright nasty on bad ones.

Jiang Cheng knows his husband is a powerful man. His lover has killed many and done terrible things. While his husband deals with shady business, he doesn't know what he does and he doesn't ask. Jiang cheng finds that he can't bring himself to care when his husband cares for him in a way no others do. His husband always finds the right things to say.

Even when Jiang cheng pushes him away and does the occasional slip-up in his words, his husband takes no offense. His lover often sits somewhere within Jiang cheng's presence. He never leaves and when Jiang cheng gets in his moods, his husband forgoes work and stays with him.

He feels his husband give a kiss to his temple before moving to sit at the dinner table waiting for him to finish his task. Jiang Cheng thinks that he could never love another the way he loves this man.

He and his husband had met thirteen years ago. They had quite the age difference. He had been fifteen years old when he had met his then twenty-year-old husband. They had happened to cross paths after he had bumped into him.

At the time, an old acquaintance of his, Nie Huaisang, had found a way to get into a nightclub. Of course, Wei Wuxian had been a part of it. The both of them were going to go and bullied him into going with them. While they had gotten in successfully, he had never been the type to go dancing. He had ended up hanging around the bar while the both of them had gone dancing. He had been sitting around when his brother in all but blood and dimension, Kakashi, snuck upon him.

As it had turned out, Kakashi had been following him since he had seen Jiang Cheng back at a grocery store 4 years back. Kakashi hadn't known how to get in contact without looking like a kidnaper or a pervy old man. Kakashi had become successful off of drugs and had wanted Jiang Cheng to become his mailman. He had nothing to do and nothing he wanted to do so he agreed.

He joked to Kakashi that he might as well go with him and run away. Kakashi grinned at him and said that he couldn't or he would be charged with grooming or kidnapping, but he told him there wouldn't be a problem if Jiang cheng decided to leave after graduation. Kakashi explained that Jiang Cheng would technically be an adult by then. His family couldn't do anything and his leaving would be of his free choice. Jiang Cheng agreed and had decided that they couldn't be seen too much together, or Kakashi would be tagged a pedo. Leaving the bar area, he had bumped into his then-husband.

His husband was and still is a handsome man. Hair as red as spider lilies with clear light blue diamonds for eyes. He wore a blue dress shirt that looked silky with a few buttons popped open. Jiang cheng's face had exploded red when he laid eyes on who had bumped into. He immediately could not believe how beautiful the stranger was. Eyes widened, he had spit out," The fuck are doing just standing there? Are you trying to be a wall?". From then on he was imprinted in the mind of his husband forever. Completely embarrassed, he had speed walked the other way.