(i like to think nie husiang’s entire existence is just a stream of continuous flustered internal screaming upon being Chosen™ by this really weird grumpy dog with abandonment issues,)
for the first time in years there is a reported sighting of the elusive fugitive, Wei Wuxian! having proven their worth, JC & NHS were able to convince the other captains to let 6th Division handle his “retrieval”…
they find him! he is… chill? doing groceries in flipflops & sweatpants? aunties in the neighborhood know him? he doesn’t look anything like the deadly criminal they were told about, who let his shinigami powers be corrupted to become a monster who devours innocent souls.
he is very happy to see them, and when they tell him they are actually there to apprehend him, his only answer is this:
(i like to think nie husiang’s entire existence is just a stream of continuous flustered internal screaming upon being Chosen™ by this really weird grumpy dog with abandonment issues,)
…and when he actually courts him some other plot shit happens, they become busy again & the engagement lasts like,, 80 yrs before some auntie reminds them that the point of getting engaged is to get married actually & they’re just like “oh yeah we were gonna do that yeah”
for the first time in years there is a reported sighting of the elusive fugitive, Wei Wuxian! having proven their worth, JC & NHS were able to convince the other captains to let 6th Division handle his “retrieval”…
they find him! he is… chill? doing groceries in flipflops & sweatpants? aunties in the neighborhood know him? he doesn’t look anything like the deadly criminal they were told about, who let his shinigami powers be corrupted to become a monster who devours innocent souls.
he is very happy to see them, and when they tell him they are actually there to apprehend him, his only answer is this:
this idea has been frying my brain for weeks now so!! here!! BLEACH AU ft. Captain Jiang Cheng, the youngest captain of the Gotei 13 + Lieutenant Nie Huaisang, who nobody knows how he got there but he’s there anyway ♀️
a twitter thread w/ the (sort of) plot & my ramblings: [here]
sharing these files. feel free to use/crop for icons/headers/lockscreens/wallpapers, just please don’t remove my watermark and don’t reprint/redistribute or sell ‘em. if u guys want a wallpaper version of one of my doodles too, feel free to DM me!
art by @angie-s-g (rebloggable original art post here, y’all)
M, 9k, sangcheng
Summary:“Come onnn, Cheng-Cheng,” Wei Wuxian whined. “It’s just swimming! Don’t you miss the water?”
Jiang Cheng hesitated. It was always the hardest part of coming to summer camp—the lack of a pool for him to spend all of his free time in. Gusu had gorgeous lakes and rivers, but no dedicated pool, and two months with only some occasional, extremely monitored recreational swimming was torture.
“Well…” And then he gave in, as Wei Wuxian had known he would. “All right. But only for a little bit! And we definitely have to be back in bed for bed check!”
Wei Wuxian whooped, letting go of Jiang Cheng’s shoulders to dance ahead of them, spinning in a circle with his arms raised. “Yes! It’s gonna be so much fun!”
-
Every summer, Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian attend the Gusu Academy summer camp for young cultivators. This summer, though, will be their first year in the senior camp. It’ll definitely be just the same as every other year, for Jiang Cheng; no awkward feelings or unexpected revelations will be discovered. Definitely not. I mean, it’s summer camp; soft confessions and sweet kisses never happen at summer camps, right?
This story is part of the MDZS RBB 2022 which is currently posting over on AO3. Y'all go read and love!
Summary: Lan Wangji tried to look around, but found that he was immobilized. Not panicking, because he was a powerful cultivator who did not need to panic, Lan Wangji attempted to break the immobilization with his golden core.
Only to realize that his core, while intact, was blocked.
He attempted to move his fingers.
Nothing.
No matter what part of himself Lan Wangji attempted to move or wiggle, he received no response from his body.
Still not panicking, really not at all, Lan Wangji tried to parse what he could see in front of him, without moving his eyes.
There was a shelf that appeared to be almost half the size of Koi Tower in front of him, but before he began not panicking about that, he realized that no. The shelf was not a gigantic piece of furniture. It was Lan Wangji who was abnormally sized.
He had, in fact, gone from standing over two bu high, to measuring perhaps a single chi in length.
He was tiny .
…
Lan Wangji began to panic. ** In which Lan Wangji is cursed to be marionette puppet and transported to a different universe, where he is picked up by an alluring and kind puppeteer with a mysterious past…
My comments: This was a gift for me ❤️!@therealfailwhale was my author for MDZS RBB @mdzsrbb this year, and look what they produced!!!
This one is a hoot from the very first sentence. It is fluffy and fun, and features a thirsty Lan Wangji who is so. FRUSTRATED. that his teeny size is preventing him from acting on his thoughts. Heh heh heh.
Lan Wangji is just happy he’s no longer wooden, okay; Wei Wuxian is entirely smitten; Jiang Cheng is shouty and confused; Nie Huaisang has secrets; and I am just along for the ride. Two world collide, herein, and the mashup is greater than the sum of its parts. (And. AND! This charming story was written for my art, for the MDZS RBB, and I’m so honored and delighted and happy about that. I want to share it with everyone.)
Excerpt: Wei Wuxian pulled Lan Wangji away from his chest and held him up to look into his tiny face.
“You hear that, you beautiful man? You’re coming home with me!” Wei Wuxian grinned widely, and glanced up at Jiang Cheng. “Didi! Meet my husband!”
“You can’t marry a puppet!” shouted Jiang Cheng, as Lan Wangji felt a desire to hide his face.
modern au, wingfic, tiny lan wangji, puppet lan wangji, POV lan wangji, parallel universes, curses, the power of consent and autonomy, Schrodinger’s nielan, sangcheng, size difference, so many innuendos about size differences, getting to know each other, falling in love, puppets, developing relationship, slow burn, crack taken seriously, angry grape jiang cheng, different first meeting, domestic, suppportive wei wuxian, protective wei wuxian, orphans jiang cheng & wei wuxian, thirsty lan wangji, family reunion, getting together, first kiss, fluff, happy ending, favorite
This story is part of the MDZS RBB 2022 which is currently posting over on AO3. Y'all go read and love!
art by @angie-s-g (rebloggable original art post here, y’all)
E, 34k, sangcheng
Summary: Wei Wuxian’s question echoed in his thoughts again.
Do you think he’s at all happy?
Nie Huaisang had wanted to be happy once. It was all he had wanted, really. A life with a loving partner filled with wine and art and music. He hadn’t wanted to lead the sect, hadn’t wanted to throw his life away to a cause—and yet here he was. He really was like da-ge in some ways. Ruthless to a fault.
But he was not dead.
Nie Huaisang set his fan down and picked up the letter from Jiang Wanyin, folding it back into its original shape and tapping it thoughtfully against his mouth.
He wondered if it was too late for happiness. Whether Jiang Wanyin might like to help him find it—help himself find it with Nie Huaisang. He hadn’t been mistaken in the desire he’d seen in Jiang Wanyin’s eyes.
He desperately wanted to see how far it could take them.
This story is part of the MDZS RBB 2022 which is currently posting over on AO3. Y'all go read and love!
*** i feel it with you now Characters: Nie Huaisang, Jiang Cheng I Jiang Wanyin, brief Jin Ling Word Count:585 Ratings/Warnings: General Audiences, sorry for writing quality Notes: written for sangcheng week 2021 day 4: family. this is basically newly-established sangcheng? i guess? we’re back to modern AU! also, writing is really, really hard. Alternative Reading Link: [Click here to read on AO3] ***
Huaisang must have fallen asleep at some point, because he wakes up when the light in the hallway flickers on. He blinks, bleary, the room coming into focus. The television is still running. Jin Ling is curled up next to him on the sofa, still knocked out.
Jiang Cheng is standing in the doorway, hip propped against the jamb – and he is just looking at them.
“Creep,” Huaisang says, stretching. He winces when his neck pops. It seems he is getting too old for falling asleep like this. A shame, considering he is proud of his ability to sleep anytime, and anywhere. “Were you going to stand there all night?”
“Thank you for watching him,” Jiang Cheng says.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” Huaisang says, “we had fun. We made clay sculptures – Jin Ling is a budding artist, you know – video called his parents and played board games. There’s leftover stir-fry for you – don’t worry, I ordered in, I’m aware I’m awful at cooking, would hate to poison your nephew, thanks for the show of faith, you traitor.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Jiang Cheng says, in between lifting Jin Ling from the couch (Jin Ling, still asleep, starfishes, curling his arms and legs around his uncle’s neck and torso), “sounds like you spoiled him thoroughly. What sort of person is he going to grow up to be, having his every whim indulged by everyone around him?”
Huaisang follows him into the apartment’s second bedroom, which is a guest bedroom in theory but actually just Jin Ling’s, in practice. Watches as Jiang Cheng untangles Jin Ling from himself, tucks him into the bed. Presses a kiss to Jin Ling’s forehead.
Hypocrite, Huaisang thinks, no-one spoils him like you do.
Feeling a little like he is intruding, Huaisang makes a strategic retreat. Back in the living room, he collects his coat from where it is lying, crumpled on the floor, dusts it off.
“Leaving already?” Jiang Cheng says as he comes out of Jin Ling’s bedroom, drawing the door to a close behind him.
Huaisang, fastening the last button on his coat, looks up. “It’s pretty late, isn’t it?”
Jiang Cheng shrugs. “You could just stay the night,” he says, so casually Huaisang wonders if he knows this is the first time he has offered. See, staying the night? – isn’t something they do.
Then again, neither is babysitting nephews.
“Well,” Huaisang says, “this is shaping up to be a big day for us. You sure I won’t be outstaying my welcome?”
Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. “Huaisang,” he says, “You do know who I am? You really think I’d ask, if that were the case?”
Huaisang says, “ah, he has self-awareness,” before he’s thought it through, “you make a fair point, Jiang-xiansheng.”
Jiang Cheng bristles, pulls his cell phone from his pocket. “On second thought, let me call you a Didi.”
“Aww,” Huaisang pulls an exaggerated pout, “and here I thought you actually liked having me around.”
“Who likes having who around?” Jiang Cheng mutters, scrolling pointedly through his applications.
He stiffens, when Huaisang goes to slip his arms around him. It makes Huaisang’s heart hurt, and he considers pulling back – but a moment later Jiang Cheng relaxes, and even deigns to put an arm around Huaisang’s shoulders, presses his cheek to the top of Huaisang’s head.
Maybe it really is shaping up to be a big day for them.
“No take-backs, Cheng-er,” Huaisang says into Jiang Cheng’s shirt, “Call whoever, but I am not going anywhere.”
when all is done and settled //could there be something left for us after all? Characters: Nie Huaisang, Jin Ling I Jin Rulan, Jiang Cheng I Jiang Wanyin Word Count:1,170 Ratings/Warnings: General Audiences, this is really self-indulgent, please don’t judge me? (plot, what plot! can’t a fic just be a long conversation?) Notes: written for sangcheng week 2021 day 3: grief//revenge but i am horrible at angst so have this mildly hopeful post-canon thing instead? Alternative Reading Link: [AO3]
***
Cultivation conferences have been particularly tedious lately. Truthfully, Huaisang never really enjoyed cultivation conferences – his idea of enjoyable social events does not encompass sitting in on a bunch of stuffy old men arguing pointlessly for hours on end – but lately –
*** baby,you hit me like a tidal wave Characters: Nie Huaisang, Jiang Cheng I Jiang Wanyin Word Count:1,066 Ratings/Warnings: General Audiences, please don’t look too hard for mistakes because you will find them Notes: written for sangcheng week 2021 day 2: arranged marriage, still modern AU because apparently that’s how we roll Alternative Reading Link: [Click here to read on AO3]
***
“Most of the details are negotiable,” Jiang Cheng says, sliding a file across the restaurant table, “but basically it’s a two year contract – ”
Huaisang pulls the file closer, idly flips through the contents. He lets Jiang Cheng’s voice (it’s a beautiful voice, don’t misunderstand, but whatever he is saying sounds so pedantic) wash over him.
“We’ll keep assets separate,” Jiang Cheng is saying, “and anything else that you want – ”
No exclusivity requirements, the contract stipulates in clear, bold font, but keep all side relationships quiet. Huaisang feels slightly sick.
Why didn’t you just ask Da-ge, he wants to say, if you were going to be this impersonal, if this was really going to be just a paper marriage. Why do you think I volunteered?
How foolish of him, Huaisang thinks, to have believed – however briefly – that he’d been chosen.
“A-sang?” Jiang Cheng says, rousing Huaisang from his reverie. “What’s the matter? Aren’t you listening?”
He looks genuinely concerned, almost like he cares about Huaisang as a person, instead of just a front to help prop up the failing family business he’s been forced to inherit too young.
Huaisang fiddles with the napkin in his lap, takes a sip from his too-cold drink, takes a deep breath. They were friends once, he reminds himself. Aren’t marriages – even those of convenience – built off of communication? He owes it to himself to speak now instead of waiting to be hurt, inevitably, later.
“Cheng-er,” he says, “do you like me?”
Confused is a beautiful expression on Jiang Cheng. If Huaisang is honest, most expressions are beautiful on Jiang Cheng, although that might be because he is absolutely whipped for Jiang Cheng, and has been since they were fifteen and meeting for the first time at boarding school (okay, Huaisang has a thing for grumpy pretty boys. Sue him). They’d been inseparable, then, the four of them: Huaisang and Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying and Lan Zhan. Their friends have been happily settled for years – it was probably just Huaisang’s imagination but he’d always felt Jiang Cheng had the slightest soft spot for him, which is why he had been hoping –
“Like you,” Jiang Cheng repeats, “of course I like you. We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“For someone as smart as you are you can be really stupid sometimes, Jiang Cheng,” Huaisang says, and steels himself for the inevitable pain at the end of this plunge. Let Da-ge call him a coward now, “because I like you. I like you a lot, and I don’t mean in a let’s get married for the sake of our respective family images and then part ways like it never happened because we’re friends way. So if this is just business to you let me know now so I can have the remittance for breaking my heart added to the terms and conditions.”
“Oh,” Jiang Cheng says, faintly. He looks like he’s going to add something else, probably something like I wasn’t expecting that, but then he keeps silent, still looking adorably bewildered. Huaisang wants to kiss him.
Instead, he stands up, tosses his napkin to the table. “Yeah,” he says, “if that’s all I’m going to be going now. You can reach me through my agent for any further communication about the contract.” He gives himself a mental pat on the head for keeping his voice steady.
Huaisang takes his coat from the maître d'on the way out of the restaurant, retrieves his keys from the valet with a I’ll get my car myself, thank you and is striding into the basement-level parking lot when a hand closes over his wrist.
Ah, cliches, how wonderful, the voice in his mind that sounds a lot like Jin Guangyao supplies. Shut up, he tells it.
“Wait,” Jiang Cheng sounds a little breathless – as if he’d run after Huaisang, as if he’d actually been afraid of missing him, “wait a minute, A-sang.”
Huaisang turns, schooling his face into a neutral expression. Jiang Cheng looks – nervous, Huaisang thinks. He isn’t sure, because he doesn’t think he’s ever seen Jiang Cheng nervous – he usually takes everything in stride – but this – his throat bobs, perceptibly, as he swallows, and is he biting his lip? He still hasn’t let go of Huaisang’s wrist.
“What?” Huaisang raises a pointed eyebrow at him.
“You didn’t let me speak,” Jiang Cheng says. His hand is burning a warm brand into Huaisang’s skin.
Huaisang tilts his chin. “So speak.”
There is a muscle twitching in Jiang Cheng’s flawless jaw. “You’ll tell me if I say something stupid,” he says, equal parts belligerent and anxious, so Huaisang nods, heart in his throat.
“Okay,” Jiang Cheng says, and then, “it was never just business for me. I care about you, A-sang, it’s just that I didn’t dare hope – ”
“You’re saying something stupid,” Huaisang tells him. “I’m not signing up to deal with your inferiority complex, A-cheng, you’ll have to do something about it if you really want to marry me.”
A beat, then –
“I’ll add it to the terms and conditions,” Jiang Cheng says, mock-serious.
Huaisang narrows his eyes. “Also – if I’m not misunderstanding – how truly ungentlemanly of you, Jiang Cheng,” with a playful whine, “to try to trap me in a contract marriage like this – were you just going to stay silent about your feelings – ”
He stops – Jiang Cheng has turned the wrist he is still holding and pressed a brief, open-mouthed kiss to Huaisang’s pulse point – gaze fixed steadily on Huaisang’s face.
“I promise to court you properly from now on, Nie-xiansheng,” he says, and there is a note in his voice that makes Huaisang’s toes curl in his shoes.
Huaisang has to remind himself it would not be the best idea to push Jiang Cheng against the wall and show him how he likes to be kissed – they are still in a public space, after all. If someone were to pass by – well, the internet rumor mill would have a field day with the headlines: idol-actor Nie Huaisang caught kissing Jiang Corp heir in underground parking lot, click for pictures! It would definitely throw a wrench into the whole image-rehabilitation aspect of this arrangement.
Instead, he reminds himself that some things are better taken slow – so in the meantime,
“Great,” Huaisang says, smiling widely, “you can start by taking me somewhere better than this place for dinner – the food here was awful.”
*** the rivers in your mouth come pouring out Characters: Nie Huaisang, Jiang Cheng I Jiang Wanyin Word Count:953 Ratings/Warnings: General Audiences, mild angst? Notes: written for sangcheng week 2021 day 1: heartbreak, modern AU, background established wangxian, brief allusion to one-sided unrequited chengxian on jiang cheng’s part Alternative Reading Link: [click here to read on AO3]
***
Huaisang finds Jiang Cheng in the apartment’s cramped kitchen, resolutely washing dishes. The whole place is quiet, in the aftermath of the party, but there is an especially oppressive sort of silence here in this room. The only sounds are the running water and the sing-song clink of china, punctuated with heavier clanging noises when Jiang Cheng unceremoniously jams clean dishware into the drying rack. Huaisang almost hates to disturb him, but there is a familiar tense line in his shoulders that is screaming for company – any sort of company – so maybe he’ll do with Huaisang’s, for once.
“Hey,” Huaisang says.
Jiang Cheng starts.
“Hey yourself,” he says, craning to look at Huaisang over his shoulder, “you’re still here? You didn’t go to get ice cream or coffee or whatever? You should’ve; my new brother-in-law,” – he grimaces – “is treating, and God knows he’s got bottomless pockets.”
“Neither did you,” Huaisang says, hefting himself onto the counter and crossing his legs at the ankles, “couldn’t this have waited till morning? Why does it have to be you, anyway?”
Jiang Cheng shrugs. He’s got his dress-shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows. His collar is damp, and there are stray soap suds smeared on his cheek.
“Cleanliness is next to godliness,” he says, matter-of-factly, and then, “Who else would do it?”, quieter, and mainly to himself.
There’s a beat of silence – then he gives Huaisang a wry half smile and says, “actually, you know what? The truth is – well, it’s just that I’m kind of sick of it all.”
It’s not really surprising. Huaisang has always been of the opinion that a day – a ceremony followed by a reception – is more than enough for a wedding. This last week has been a blur, and there’s still the religious ceremony tomorrow evening. He can’t imagine how it must feel to be part of the wedding party, and unlike Jiang Cheng, he actually likes social events. Usually. He hopes that when – if – the time comes, Da-ge won’t be as anal about all of these traditions as old man Lan is. Even Lan Zhan, ever-composed, has started looking frazzled, for all that he’s over the moon to finally be marrying his beloved Wei Ying.
“Sucks to be the odd one out, doesn’t it?” Huaisang says. “Especially at times like this.”
Jiang Cheng snorts. “Not if you’re used to it,” he says, casual, nonchalant. He puts the last of the china in the drying rack, then washes his hands, as if they aren’t clean enough already. Huaisang’s heart squeezes, in his chest.
Before he can overthink, Huaisang reaches out, crosses the couple of inches of space between them, closes his fingers on Jiang Cheng’s shirtsleeve. Tugs.
“Hey,” he says, “Jiang Cheng.”
Jiang Cheng looks from Huaisang’s hand to Huaisang’s face, quirks an eyebrow. “What?”
Huaisang tilts his chin. “Come here.” He pulls Jiang Cheng into the bracket of his knees – the advantage of sitting on the counter is he’s no longer subject to the whim of their height difference – cups his face with his hands. Wipes the soapsuds away with his thumb.
“You want to tell me what the hell you’re doing?” Jiang Cheng says, but there is no bite to it.
“You’re not stupid,” Huaisang says, against his mouth, “you know what I’m doing.”
Jiang Cheng’s lips are dry and slightly chapped, but warm all the same, and the fingers he slides into Huaisang’s hair scrape pleasantly against Huaisang’s scalp. He smells like lotus flowers and the lemon from the dish soap, tastes like sesame sweets and celebration champagne.
“Ever heard of lipbalm, Jiang-xiansheng?” Huaisang asks in the space between their mouths.
“Shut up, Huaisang,” Jiang Cheng murmurs, nose knocking into Huaisang’s. He kisses with his eyes scrunched shut, an endearing furrow between his eyebrows. Huaisang loops his arms around his neck, presses his thumbs into his nape, locks his knees around his waist.
“Ya, Jiang Cheng,” Huaisang says.
“Hey, do you always talk this much when you’re kissing people?”
“This is important,” Huaisang says, “I want – you know I’ve thought about this – ”
Jiang Cheng’s eyes widen, minutely. “Oh,” he says, sucks in a breath.
“Yeah,” Huaisang bites his lip. “You know I’ve had this – ”
Jiang Cheng breathes out, shoulders slumping. “A-sang, I’m sorry,” he says, extricating himself from Huaisang’s grip, “I – I can’t.”
He’s got a half-dazed look in his eyes – pupils blown out – and his mouth is kiss-swollen, wet with saliva. Huaisang wants – needs – to pull him back in, kiss him till he’s breathless and out of protests.
Instead –
“Why?” Huaisang says, proud he is able to keep the bitterness to a minimum, “because you’re still in love with your adopted brother? You’ll kiss me but you won’t even consider being with me? Why can’t you ever let yourself be happy, Cheng-er?”
Almost immediately, Huaisang wishes he could take the words back. Regret coils in his throat, like nausea.
“Leave,” Jiang Cheng says, and there’s a quiet fury in his voice that makes Huaisang wish he’d just hit him and be over with it.
“Jiang Cheng, I’m – ”
“Please,” Jiang Cheng says, hands curled into fists, “I’ll forget you said it. Just – please just go.”
Huaisang slides off the counter, legs like jelly. Presses past Jiang Cheng, turned away from him, unwavering. Leans against the hallway outside the apartment, unlocking his phone with shaking fingers.
It rings, tinny in his ear, till it is picked up. “A-sang?” his Da-ge says, voice hoarse with sleep, “the party over already? Weren’t you going to stay the night at the Jiangs’?”
“Da-ge,” Huaisang says, forcing the words past the lump in his throat, “please come get me. I want to go home.”
