JC x LXC one-shots

I Think We Can Do It If We Tried

Jiang Cheng abhorred the monthly cultivation meetings. If he had a choice at all, he wouldn't be attending any of them. He had better things to do than to sit idly in a corner and listen to mindless gossip and bickering between sect leaders, especially now more than ever since it seemed that the only topic of discussion was Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji's relationship status. He could understand why, after all, the Chief Cultivator has just recently gotten married to the renounced Yiling Patriarch, but it didn't mean that he enjoyed listening to everyone talk shit about them.

He took in a deep breath and crossed his arms over his chest as he watched other sect leaders make their way into the meeting room. The air was cold in the Cloud Recesses, announcing the early winter snow that was to come soon. Jiang Cheng hated it. He was used to warmth and humidity and easy winters without much snowfall. He wasn't used to this kind of cold, he didn't even know how Wei Wuxian had gotten used to it all. Or how he got used to living in the Cloud Recesses at all. An ache slowly for, ed inside his chest, and he tasted a hint of bitterness on his tongue. Jiang Cheng swallowed hard, trying to ignore the feelings of anger and old bitter melancholy that he'd worked over the years to bury deep inside him. He didn't need them to come back up right now.

But the fact that he wasn't happy that Wei Wuxian had decided to stay in Gusu Lan instead of coming back to Yunmeng Jiang was true enough.

He just hated to acknowledge it.

So he wouldn't.

He looked back around the room, ignoring the boisterous laughter that came from his brother from where he sat with his husband and noticed that the host of the meeting, Lan Xichen had yet to arrive. Jiang Cheng raised an eyebrow and wondered if anything had happened. After all, it had only been three months since the man had come out of his seclusion, and this would be the first meeting he'd be hosting after three very long years and the first time he'd be seeing everyone else, besides him, his uncle, and his brother, of course.

It was a little-known fact that he'd gone to the Hanshi now and then to visit Lan Xichen, and he'd bring him gifts as well. It was also a little-known fact that Cheng had also been writing letters to him and receiving quite a few from the other Sect Leader, as well, ever since he went into seclusion.

It was nothing, though.

Worry started rising in Jiang Cheng, noticing that time kept passing by and people were now wondering where Lan Xichen was. He glanced around the room, and met eyes with Lan Wangji, noticing he seemed just as worried as he did. As if by an impulse of jealousy, and need to be the first one to find out about Lan Xichen's whereabouts and if he was okay, Jiang Cheng bolted up from where he sat and stormed out of the room. "Jiang Cheng?" he heard Nie Huaisang exclaim as he got up abruptly, but Jiang Cheng paid him or anyone else who called after him any mind as he made his way through the Cloud Recesses, looking for the Lan Sect Leader.

Jiang Cheng cursed under his breath at how large the place was, and how difficult it seemed to maneuver through it. He was lucky that he knew most of the outline, and made his way to the first place that came to mind: the Hanshi, Lan Xichen's quarters. Once he arrived, he stepped up onto the dock and knocked on the door. "Lan Xichen? Xichen, are you in there?" When no response came, Jiang Cheng groaned and opened the door hastily, walking in. "Sorry for the intrusion", he muttered and began looking around for the older man. "Lan Xichen?" As he searched for him, he found out that the place was way too cold to have anyone inside at the moment, and in the end, found out that Lan Xichen was, in fact, not there.

For some reason, panic started bubbling up inside Jiang Cheng, his mind ringing up the worst-case scenarios it could think of.

He rushed out of the Hanshi, sliding the door closed with such force that it reverberated against the walls, and he ran out of the secluded area, not caring if he was breaking the rules anymore.