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Jiang Cheng knows that today could go horribly wrong, but it’s his birthday and he at least wants to try. Nie Mingjue wasn’t too happy that he invited Wei Wuxian back into their home after kicking him out so spectacularly last time, but he didn’t fight Jiang Cheng on it, for which he’s grateful.
He knows that Nie Mingjue will keep a close eye on Wei Wuxian the entire day, but he trusts Nie Mingjue enough to not expect a fight or anything.
Wei Wuxian is there because Jiang Cheng invited him, so Nie Mingjue will accept it.
“I love you,” Nie Mingjue says, when it knocks at their door and Jiang Cheng gives him a quick kiss.
“Love you, too,” he whispers and then goes to let his siblings into their apartment.
Wei Wuxian hasn’t been there since Jiang Cheng took his key from him—they haven’t really talked all that much, to be honest—but he doesn’t act like anything is wrong at all when he comes in and Jiang Cheng can’t decide if he’s happy about that or if he’s upset.
“Happy birthday, A-Cheng,” Jiang Yanli says and pulls Jiang Cheng into a hug, which he readily reciprocates.
He didn’t tell Jiang Yanli about his fight with Wei Wuxian or their mother and he’s not sure if Wei Wuxian mentioned it to her either, but he’s not about to ask.
Today is for celebrating his birthday and not for fighting.
“Thank you,” he gives back and then he’s being pulled into a headlock by Wei Wuxian.
“Let me go, asshole,” Jiang Cheng wheezes but Wei Wuxian only tightens his grip.
“Happy birthday, old man!”
“You’re one to talk,” Jiang Cheng grumbles and pushes away from Wei Wuxian, rubbing his neck and throat. “You’re older than me.”
“Ah, doesn’t count. I’m young at heart. You on the other hand are rapidly approaching your true grandpa age,” Wei Wuxian shoots back and Jiang Cheng only rolls his eyes.
He invites his siblings in, and for all that Jiang Cheng feared today, it’s going decently well. Wei Wuxian and he banter like they used to do, Jiang Yanli mediates between them when it gets too much, and Nie Mingjue is a steady and comforting presence, who does his best to play nice with both of Jiang Cheng’s siblings.
All in all it’s going so much better than Jiang Cheng expected it to.
Still, he can’t help but to check his phone again and again, his gaze getting more forlorn the longer there is no message on it and eventually Wei Wuxian notices.
“Who are you waiting for?” he asks, trying to snatch Jiang Cheng’s phone out of his hands, but Nie Mingjue is faster and intercepts Wei Wuxian.
“Hey,” he grumbles, but he takes his hands back and Jiang Cheng sighs.
“I just—our parents,” he says and winces.
It’s not like this is the first time they forgot his birthday, but he is turning thirty this year and despite what happened with his mother, he thought they would at least write or call. But there’s nothing so far and it’s already dinner time.
“Oh, A-Cheng,” Jiang Yanli says and puts a hand to his arm, while Wei Wuxian only shrugs.
“So what? They are busy most of the time. I’m sure they will call you later or tomorrow or something.”
Jiang Cheng snorts at that, because like hell they are going to remember that it’s his birthday and Wei Wuxian frowns.
“What is that supposed to mean?” he demands to know, a challenging undertone to his voice and Jiang Cheng braces himself for the fight that’s no doubt coming now.
He knew he should have just celebrated his birthday with Nie Mingjue.
“Wanyin,” Nie Mingjue says, not warning him to stop talking but to remind him that he can still stop with this, but Jiang Cheng is fed up.
He will not stop.
“It means that they don’t even care to remember about me most of the time. They are not going to call or write to me at all, it seems, and it’s not the first time they forgot my birthday.”
“That’s bullshit,” Wei Wuxian says and Jiang Cheng wonders—not for the first time—just how bad his memory really is.
There is no way in hell that he forgot all the times their parents forgot about Jiang Cheng in their lives.
“It’s not,” Jiang Cheng shoots back and he feels bad when he sees Jiang Yanli wring her hands in her lap, but he’s not going to back down again.
He always does, because he doesn’t want to upset her and he doesn’t want to hear her come to Wei Wuxian’s defence again and again, but not today.
Today he’s going to speak his mind.
He reaches out for Nie Mingjue’s hand, seeking that support from him and Nie Mingjue readily gives it to him. Jiang Cheng manages a small smile for him, before he turns back to Wei Wuxian.
“What is that even supposed to mean? You’ve always been their favourite!”
At that Jiang Cheng openly laughs into his face, because nothing has ever been further from the truth.
“They barely remember my existence, how the fuck does that equate to being their favourite?”
“A-Cheng, that’s not true. They do remember you. You got the car for your birthday, remember?” Jiang Yanli chimes in and Jiang Cheng is filled with so much bitterness it feels like he’s going to burst.
“Yeah, you got the car and I didn’t!” Wei Wuxian also agrees and Jiang Cheng shakes his head.
“I got a car because you couldn’t get your driver’s license. When father gave me the keys, he reiterated that it’s a present for both of us and that it’s my duty to make sure that you get to wherever you want. ‘Don’t be selfish with the car, Wanyin, if A-Xian wants to go somewhere you’ll drive him without complaint, understood?’,” Jiang Cheng repeats what his father said to him that day.
“That doesn’t sound right,” Jiang Yanli mutters but Jiang Cheng is not done yet.
“Hell, they paid for all three of your failed attempts at getting the license. When I failed the first time, I had to pay the second time out of my own pocket.”
“No way,” Wei Wuxian says with a frown. “They wouldn’t do that.”
“Please, Wei Wuxian, you have always been father’s favourite, so of course he would give you whatever you want. Mother only cares about me when I’m better than you, which never happens, and when I’m not better than you she’s just as bad as father.”
It looks like Wei Wuxian wants to argue about that as well, but Jiang Cheng is on a roll right now.
“Remember how you changed your major two times and then took two semesters off for traveling? Father paid for everything, right?”
“Yes?”
Jiang Cheng nods, because he didn’t expect anything else. There is no way in hell Wei Wuxian could have been that carefree all the time if someone didn’t pay for his bills.
“I failed one exam—exam, not even a class or a semester—and mother stopped paying the tuition fees. I had to go to Lan Qiren to strike a deal with him, so I wouldn’t be kicked out. I am still paying him back, even though he gave me a very generous discount.”
“I don’t think—” Jiang Yanli starts, but Jiang Cheng silences her with a look.
“Our internship at father’s company?” he goes on and squeezes Nie Mingjue’s hand for support. “Wei Wuxian got to develop things; he did real work during that internship and as far as I know he even got paid for it. You want to know what I did during that time? I sorted files and had to get coffee for the other employees. And I didn’t see a single cent for that.”
“Father said you were being introduced to administrative work,” Jiang Yanli says with a frown and Jiang Cheng laughs.
“I mean, I guess you could call it that. But in reality I cleared the archive and filed all the paperwork the other employees dumped with me. I sure as hell didn’t have any executive power and I didn’t accompany father to any meetings at all. Unlike someone else,” he says with a pointed look at Wei Wuxian.
“Maybe you just didn’t have any good ideas,” he grumbles and Jiang Cheng slams his hand on the table.
“It’s not about having good ideas!” he yells. “I wasn’t given a chance. You have no goddamn clue if I have any good ideas, because I was kept in the archives far away from where I could have actually come up with anything or where I could have learned something about the company.”
“A-Cheng, calm yourself,” Jiang Yanli says and Jiang Cheng has had enough.
“No. I will not calm myself. I am so sick of calming myself,” he bites out. “Even now I can’t do anything right. You fuck off with Lan Wangji and fuck on every available surface, no matter who is able to see, but my relationship with Mingjue gets called frivolous because we live together? I am so goddamn tired of the hypocrisy in this family.”
“Well, you never properly introduced Nie Mingjue to them,” Jiang Yanli reminds him and Jiang Cheng sees red.
“Because I wasn’t given a chance to! Father told him to run while he still could when he asked for my hand in marriage and mother refused to meet him at all! You barely even believed me when I told you I was moving in with him!”
“Because it happened so sudden!” Jiang Yanli tries to defend herself but now even Nie Mingjue snorts.
“No offense, but it didn’t. By the time we moved in together we’d been together for almost a year, not that either of you noticed,” he tells them.
“I brought him to siblings dinner, for heaven’s sake,” Jiang Cheng adds and Jiang Yanli winces.
“I thought he was a friend.”
“Did I bring Huaisang to siblings dinner? No! No one ever brought friends to siblings dinner, it’s only ever partners or no one! Gods, just admit that it’s unfathomable to you that anyone would date me, and we can move on.”
“Well, who can blame us? With a temper like yours it’s no wonder no one wants to date you,” Wei Wuxian mutters. “I still have a bet with Wen Ning going on when you will tell us that this is all just an elaborate hoax and Mingjue leaves you.”
At that, all the fight leaves Jiang Cheng.
“You don’t think anyone could love me,” he whispers and he suddenly feels close to tears. “Do you even love me?”
It takes both Jiang Yanli and Wei Wuxian a beat too long to answer and Jiang Cheng guesses he has his answer right there.
“I see,” he mutters as he gets up and simply leaves the kitchen to go hide in the bedroom.
He hears how Nie Mingjue throws them out, not allowing any more arguments or letting either of them come after him and when the front door shuts, it feels like someone sucker-punched him.
Jiang Cheng starts to hyperventilate the moment Nie Mingjue steps into the bedroom and he’s there a second later, pulling him into a hug.
“I love you,” Nie Mingjue tells him and it makes Jiang Cheng burst into tears.
He cries and cries, and wonders when everything got so incredibly fucked up but there are too many instances to really pinpoint it down.
“I’ve got you, it’s alright,” Nie Mingjue mutters, between pressing kiss after kiss to Jiang Cheng’s head but it still takes him a long while to calm down.
“I don’t ever want to see them again,” he hoarsely tells him once there are no more tears left to cry and he feels Nie Mingjue nod.
“Alright,” he agrees and Jiang Cheng knows that he will make it happen.
“Thank you for not fighting with them today,” Jiang Cheng says as he moves out of Nie Mingjue’s arms and Nie Mingjue huffs out a laugh, even though he still seems pained to see Jiang Cheng like this.
“Well, you were already doing a decent job with it, I thought one of us should keep a level head,” he says, his voice teasing and it brings a small smile to Jiang Cheng’s face.
“Thank you for not holding me back, then,” he amends and Nie Mingjue cups his face in his hand.
“It needed to be said, especially after what happened with Wei Wuxian last time,” Nie Mingjue softly says and then pulls Jiang Cheng in for a kiss. “I’m just sorry it had to happen on your birthday.”
“Huaisang is planning a party, right? We can pretend that it’s my birthday on that day,” Jiang Cheng tells him and enjoys the frown on Nie Mingjue’s face.
“You’re not supposed to know about the party,” he grumbles and Jiang Cheng laughs wetly.
“Well, tell Huaisang to keep a better poker face then,” he gives back and he has to admit he already feels a little bit better.
It still hurts to know that his siblings don’t understand or believe him at all, but Jiang Cheng feels lighter for finally having said all these things.
“Feeling better?” Nie Mingjue asks, as always way too in tune with Jiang Cheng’s thoughts and feelings and Jiang Cheng nods as he threads their fingers together.
“Yes. And I do believe there’s still some cake left. That and a movie, maybe?” he hopefully asks, because cuddling his fiancé on the couch sounds like a good end to this day.
“Of course,” Nie Mingjue agrees and kisses Jiang Cheng’s forehead. “Whatever the birthday boy wants.”
“I want you to never let me go,” Jiang Cheng tells him and Nie Mingjue shakes his head.
“Sorry, that’s already a given. You’re settled with me for life. You said yes to my proposal after all. You’ll have to wish for something else.”
“But there’s nothing else I want,” Jiang Cheng says with a smile. “Except cake. Come on now.”
He drags Nie Mingjue out of the bedroom and back to where the cake is.
Jiang Cheng is sure that he’ll crash again very soon, and there will be more drama in the future, but for now he gets to enjoy the rest of the day. And no matter what happens in the future, as long as Nie Mingjue is there by his side, Jiang Cheng is pretty sure he can do anything.