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Everything is absolutely perfect, Nie Mingjue thinks when Jiang Cheng snuggles even further into him. They are sitting on the balcony of their hotel, warm and snuggled up under a blanket, gazing at the stars. It really couldn’t be any better than this, Nie Mingjue is sure of it.
“This is the absolute best holiday ever,” Jiang Cheng says in that moment, tilting his head up so he can kiss the hinge of Nie Mingjue’s jaw. “Thank you for taking me.”
“Thank you for coming with me,” Nie Mingjue replies and presses his lips to Jiang Cheng’s head.
It was a bit of a gamble, this short trip, because they have only been together for a few weeks, and Nie Huaisang told Nie Mingjue again and again that it’s too early for this kind of trip. He almost made Nie Mingjue doubt his decision to take Jiang Cheng to this five-star hotel, but in the end he decided to be stubborn and simply do it.
And it really was the best decision of his life.
Jiang Cheng is warm and relaxed in his arm and they have spent an absolutely amazing weekend at this hotel, enjoying all the perks that come with five stars. And not once did Nie Mingjue regret taking Jiang Cheng.
“Mh, always,” Jiang Cheng hums, sounding sleepy already and Nie Mingjue feels so incredibly fond of him in that moment that he simply has to pull him closer.
He’s loathe to let him go, even if only so they can go to bed, but eventually they have to. Their time in the hotel is coming to an end and work awaits them the next day. It’s not a fun prospect, for neither of them, because they are both incredibly busy all of the time lately, but now Nie Mingjue has a way out of that.
He’ll simply make sure to bring Jiang Cheng to this hotel often, so they get some time to relax.
“This was the best short holiday I ever had,” Jiang Cheng mumbles, curling into Nie Mingjue when they are finally in bed and Nie Mingjue has to agree.
And it only cements his decision to do it again.
~*~*~
“Da-ge, you know I don’t care about your expenses—if anything I’m happy you’re doing something with all that money—but what the fuck is this?” Nie Huaisang asks, waving a piece of paper as he enters Nie Mingjue’s apartment.
“Hello to you, too,” Nie Mingjue says without looking away from his TV.
Nie Huaisang doesn’t need the encouragement. He’ll say what he has to say and then he’ll leave again.
“No,” Nie Huaisang says, and comes closer to wave the piece of paper directly into Nie Mingjue’s face. “Explain.”
“You said you don’t care about my expenses. Then don’t care about them,” Nie Mingjue says with a sigh, because he knows what this is about already and he really doesn’t care.
It’s his money and he can do whatever the fuck he wants with it.
“But this is—“ Nie Huaisang seems to be struggling for words.
“My money, my decision,” Nie Mingjue helpfully chimes in and Nie Huaisang huffs and puffs in outrage.
It’s rather cute, not that Nie Mingjue would ever say that out loud.
“But you booked that hotel for ten years in advance,” he yells out and Nie Mingjue rolls his eyes.
“So?” he asks, damn well knowing that he went overboard, but he wants to do this for Jiang Cheng.
He repeatedly said how much he enjoyed their little stay in the hotel, and Nie Mingjue would book it for them every other weekend if he thought he could get away with this. But since he can’t, he thought this will have to do.
But apparently he can’t even get away with a yearly visit.
“Da-ge! You don’t even know if you’ll still be with Jiang Cheng ten years from now! No offense, he’s my best friend and all, but he’s not easy to be with, not even as a friend. It must be even worse as a boyfriend. What if you break up in three months?”
“First of all, Wanyin is perfectly easy to be around,” Nie Mingjue says, finally looking at Nie Huaisang, even thought it’s in outrage. “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“Clearly you didn’t fight yet,” Nie Huaisang grumbles and Nie Mingjue narrows his eyes at him.
“We did fight already, if you have to know.” They even fought in that hotel, not that Nie Mingjue is going to tell Nie Huaisang about that. “It’s not a reason to break up. We fought, we made up, it was forgotten. I don’t understand what the big deal about this is. You think I want a relationship like Xichen and Guangyao, who smile all the damn time even though they would rather scream at each other? I prefer a good, short fight. At least afterwards we can move on.”
“Huh,” Nie Huaisang says but then he shakes his head. “Don’t distract me! That’s not even the point!”
“Then what is the goddamn point?” Nie Mingjue asks and rolls his eyes.
“That is so much like Wanyin, it’s disturbing,” Nie Huaisang whispers and then shakes his head. “The point is that you can’t book this hotel ten years in advance!”
“Of course I can,” Nie Mingjue says with a frown. “I did, didn’t I?”
“Da-ge! What if you break up? This hotel has a ninety percent cancellation fee!”
“So I’m not going to cancel, I don’t see what the big deal is.”
“You could break up!” Nie Huaisang yells at him and Nie Mingjue shakes his head.
“Only if he wants to. I’m in. This is it. I’m going to marry him, there will be no break-up at all,” Nie Mingjue confidently says and clearly takes all the wind out of Nie Huaisang’s sails.
“You’re going to marry him? Did you propose already?”
“Don’t be stupid, we’ve only been together for a few months,” Nie Mingjue says and he thoroughly enjoys the scandalized look on Nie Huaisang’s face.
“I hate you. Don’t come crying to me if you have to cancel all of these bookings and you lose a ton of money,” he tells him and prompts walks out of the apartment again.
Nie Mingjue is not worried. They will still be together ten years from now, and he’ll still want to make Jiang Cheng happy and relaxed. It will be fine.
~*~*~
“Mingjue,” Jiang Cheng says, staring up at the same hotel they’ve been staying in for the last three years now.
“My heart?” Nie Mingjue gives back, taking Jiang Cheng’s hand in his and pulling him inside the building.
Jiang Cheng doesn’t get to say what he wants to say for a while longer, though, because they are busy checking in and soon enough they are standing in the same room they are always staying in.
“Mingjue,” Jiang Cheng says again with a sigh and now that catches Nie Mingjue’s attention.
“What?” he asks, worried that something is wrong.
“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Jiang Cheng says with a wince, “but why are we always staying here during our vacations?” he wants to know and Nie Mingjue frowns.
“Because you like it,” he says, confused as to why Jiang Cheng would even ask that question.
“Okay, but maybe I would like other places, too? Maybe you would like to see other places as well?” he asks, and it only makes Nie Mingjue more confused.
“But you said it the first time we were here. That you loved it here. I booked this hotel in advance for years, so we could always come back on our anniversary.”
“Mingjue!” Jiang Cheng yells out, but soon enough his shock morphs into laughter and he almost doubles over with how much he laughs.
“What is going on?” Nie Mingjue asks, crossing his arms in front of his chest, suddenly self-conscious about this.
“My soul,” Jiang Cheng wheezes out and comes closer so he can clutch to Nie Mingjue’s arm while he still gathers himself together. “My soul,” he says again once he’s a little bit composed. “I love you, but you can be so stupid.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Nie Mingjue sniffs out and Jiang Cheng leans up to kiss him.
“You’re a little dummy,” he fondly says. “I loved that first vacation so much because I was with you. Because you were there and we were together. It barely had anything to do with this hotel. I would love it anywhere with you. Even camping in the woods would be great with you, because you are there,” he explains and Nie Mingjue can feel himself flush a little bit.
“Oh, I see,” he whispers and Jiang Cheng shakes his head with a smile.
“I would actually love to see some other cities, every now and then. Change it up a little bit, you know? How long have you booked this in advance?”
“Years, maybe?” Nie Mingjue says, no longer counting how many years in advance he has been doing this.
He doesn’t really understand why Jiang Cheng’s face goes all soft at that.
“You were really sure about us, huh?”
“Of course,” Nie Mingjue immediately says. “You’re it for me. I’m going to marry you and then we’ll grow old together,” Nie Mingjue says with absolute confidence, because there is no other future out there he even wants to contemplate.
“I see,” Jiang Cheng whispers and hugs Nie Mingjue close. “I want to marry you, too. But only if we get to see something else during our holidays,” he then adds and Nie Mingjue laughs.
“Whatever you want, my heart,” he agrees and he doesn’t even think about the stupid cancellation fee.
If Jiang Cheng wants to see something else, then Nie Mingjue will make it happen, no matter what. And besides. Nie Huaisang could do with a holiday every now and then again as well.