gekidasa

Jiang Cheng is everything Nie Huaisang is not.

He’s strong and tall. A skilled swordsman and an accomplished cultivator already at fifteen. Honest (so painfully honest!) and straightforward. Hard-working and responsible. So very studious.

Nie Huaisang suspects he’s Lan Qiren’s favorite student this year. Particularly once Wei Wuxian leaves the Cloud Recesses. His suspicions are confirmed when his brother visits at the beginning of the summer.

“Xichen says you’ve become close to Jiang Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue says when the two of them are alone.

Nie Huaisang freezes for a moment, wondering how much Lan Xichen has noticed. What his brother means by “close”.

“I suppose so,” he says finally, nonchalant. “We hang out.”

Nie Mingjue nods. “I’m glad. Xichen says he’s a good influence on you, that Lan Qiren speaks very highly of him. He’s sensible and capable. You should cultivate that friendship, learn from him.”

The thing is, if anyone had told Nie Huaisang half a year ago that he and his brother would be having this conversation about the young master of Yunmeng Jiang, Nie Huaisang would have rolled his eyes and he would have resolved to avoid him like the plague. “Sensible and capable” was never Nie Huaisang’s idea of a good time, and as for Lan Qiren’s endorsement… he’s given Lan Wangji a wide berth for three years for a reason.

And yet.

Nie Huaisang smiles brightly. “I’m glad you approve, Dage! I like him a lot.”

He means it. If Lan Xichen thinks Jiang Cheng is a good influence, if his brother approves of them spending time together… then that means they can go on as they have been, it means their closeness hasn’t aroused suspicions.

It means they can keep exchanging stolen kisses, holed away in one of their rooms, when they’re supposed to be studying.