Brothel meme continued

[lastjinstanding]

Continued from here

Jin Ling had really hoped he'd have A-Yuan at his side for this, but he didn't blame the sweet man for being ill one bit. In fact, he really enjoyed holding him as they finished traveling up to Lotus Pier. He sends servants off the boat to arrange a discreet delivery of his ill and subdued guest to private chambers following Ling's disembark. He instructed only Fu Geming to carry A-Yuan with Liling.

Sadly, after that, he had to leave his pets in his servants care. Squaring his shoulders, he stepped onto the pier. He bowed humbly to all of his relatives and gave them each a proper greeting- or in Wei Wuxian's case, a cheeky one.

He was brought into the main hall and given the seat next to Jiang Cheng's throne. Wei Wuxian was seated beside him with Lan Wangji at the next seat. And yes, Wangji had been offered the throne but had chosen to stay at Wuxian's side. It was Jiang Cheng's wedding, after all.

Jin Ling is happy sitting to a nice cup of tea and some wine after a long day of travel with promise of dinner coming.

~~~

"Jin-Guniang, is the young master Zheng in this room?" A young, unfamiliar male voice asks. "I have some medicine I wish to offer if you'd announce me."

"Of course. Let me ask for you," Liling says in a warm tone. She knocks on Yuan's door and peeks in. She smiles when she sees him awake. She comes in and shuts the door behind her. "Zheng-gongzi? How are you feeling? A friend of Jin-zongzhu from the Lan Clan is here to offer you some medicine. Would you feel up to seeing him?"

Comments

[notaturnip]

A little help for his darling nephew? Wei Wuxian is happy to help - maybe a little too happy, and maybe not as helpfully as Jin Ling might be hoping for, but he's going to help nonetheless.

"Ah, young love!" He proclaims cheerfully, practically swooning "these things happen, you know, Jiang Cheng, sometimes you just know!" His gaze turns sappy, drifting to his husband.

"Why, Lan Zhan knew he loved me the moment we met, didn't you Lan Zhan?" He bats his eyelashes playfully, a grin on his face.

At least he's taking the attention away from Jin Ling?

~~~

"A little better for my rest, thank you Lan-gongzi," he replies politely, bowing as best he can from his bed "I apologise I must greet you so improperly."

Liling had described him as a friend of Jin Ling's, he wants to make sure he makes a good impression.

[lastjinstanding]

Love? Did he say love? Lust, absolutely! Infatuation, certainly. Affection, yes. But love? He can't really say no either. That was a scary thought, given Yuan's station. Either way, he was really thankful for Wuxian being completely obnoxious.

Wanyin stares at his relatives, ready to throw them all back in the river. His nephew not only brought a guest but is allowing Wuxian to declare it 'young love'. His nephew was a baby and way too young for that! Plus, a man won't help him fulfill his duties either!

Wangji really hadn't been interested in the exchange until his husband started talking. Suddenly he had Wuxian batting his eyelashes at him and grinning like a fool. He has no idea what's going on, but why was his husband so cute and stupid all in one?

"No," he answers. That hadn't been when he'd known. If you were asking him to answer personal questions, at least get them right. It wasn't the gate, it was the sword fight.

Even though the whole point of this was to get attention off of him, Jin Ling sputters a laugh into his winecup at Wangji's answer.

~~~

Jingyi shakes his head. "Don't worry about that." He sits down on the edge of the bed and reaches out to very lightly touch Yuan's forehead with the back of his hand. He nods, pleased that there isn't a fever.

He glances up at Liling. "Would you mind getting him some water?"

As soon as she's gone, he smirks and looks back at Yuan. "Alright dish. What are you really doing with Rulan?" He snickers, turning Yuan's wrist over similar to how Jin Ling had done earlier. "I love him to death, but he can be such a brat!"

[notaturnip]

"Aiya! You wound me!" Wuxian pouts dramatically - he should have expected that answer, of course, because Lans don't lie and he knows Lan Zhan liked him since the swordfight because he's pestered him about this exact thing before and Lan Zhan told him, but he's not going to let a little thing like the truth get in the way of his fun.

"What about you, Jiang Cheng?" He asks then, turning the attention on his brother - it is his wedding after all. It would be sweet if his grin weren't so wicked "was it love at first sight for you and your beautiful bride?"

~~~

Yuan's eyes widen as Jingyi suddenly rounds on him and for a moment he splutters, flustered and blushing and unsure how to answer. He doesn't know how much Jingyi knows, but he suspects it's very little and he's not going to admit the truth unless he's absolutely sure.

"He's not a brat! He's very sweet." He protests "I- I'm not sure what you mean by really? I'm here to accompany him to the wedding..."

He gives Jingyi a look of polite confusion, though he knows he's still blushing a little.

[lastjinstanding]

There's the ever so slight shadow of a smirk as Wuxian pouts on Wangji's face before his husband turns away to be a brat to his brother. He's very glad Wuxian has perfected some talisman that block sound from leaving a particular room so they wouldn't disturb anyone later tonight..

Jiang Cheng's jaw falls open at being put on the spot. Now more than ever, he wishes his brother had just stayed dead! As a light blush touches his cheeks in a very non-Jiang Cheng fashion, he looks over at his intended briefly. "That's not anyone's business but mine and my fiancé's but.. of course! But we're talking about-"

"Really?" Ouyang Anju asks softly with big hopeful eyes, that visibly turn Wanyin into a cream puff.

He glances awkwardly at everyone looking at him and the blush gets worse, but he reluctantly nods.

~~~

Jingyi doesn't mean to laugh, but Jin Ling was so a brat and not sweet. However, he does feel bad for the guy as he seems so thrown off guard. He pats his hand reassuringly. He then moved his thumb and index finger till he found a particular pressure point and firmly pressed down. Any lingering nausea fades away within moments.

"No, no not that. I mean, it's just hard to believe Jin Ling is courting someone! I'm really happy for you two." He smiles sheepishly at him. "I didn't mean to upset you."

[notaturnip]

Wuxian smirks, job done - the attention is completely away from his nephew and he's bothered his brother. He's also done him a favour, even if Cheng doesn't realise it, since Wuxian knows how bad he can be at expressing affection, this gives him an excuse to do it without actually losing that much face (as embarrassed as it makes him, everybody knows it's Wei Wuxian's fault for putting him on the spot) - his bride to be looks delighted, which is the important part.

~~~

He breathes a little easier once Jingyi does whatever he does to remove the last of his nausea, glancing down at his wrist with obvious interest, wondering exactly what he did. He looks back up at those words, though, and smiles sweetly with a shake of his head.

"Oh, no, it's alright." He reassures "he's... I know he's very busy with his sect leader duties, but he's just so... he's still found time to take such good care of me, I'm.. very fond of him." He admits, cheeks colouring again.

He wishes he was just selling the act instead of speaking the absolute truth.

[lastjinstanding]

Jin Ling catches his uncle's gaze briefly and bows his head with a sincere look of gratitude. He knows what was just done for him. Once food is served, he'll be able to slip away without being seen as rude.

~~~

"Guess he's really changed." It was a really good thing too given what his duties were, but it was a little sad too. It meant Jin Ling wasn't the same 'Rulan' as he was before, the one who Jingyi had loved. He was sure he'd love this new Rulan too, but it'd be different.

Still, it is hard to focus on that when this pretty boy is blushing and being so cute about his friend. "Like what? I want to hear everything! How did you two meet?"

[notaturnip]

Wei Wuxian winks at his nephew as the conversation moves on, one of the other guests drawing attention to discuss some cultivation matter or other - and neatly cutting off sect leader Yao before he starts on another grumbling tirade about how terrible Wei Wuxian is.

Then of course he goes back to bothering his husband.

~~~

Oh no.

They hadn't agreed on a cover story, and with Jin Ling not there he doesn't want to say anything that the sect leader might be contradicting to someone else at this very moment. He thinks quickly.

"Well he's already done so much for me in such a short amount of time," he starts, deciding to just say so much about the first question he can neatly forget the second "I love music and I play qin, but I expressed an interest in learning pipa and he arranged for an instrument and a tutor for me while we're here. He's given me so many gifts - oh, but I don't mean to imply he's just being ostentatious, he's been so attentive as well."

[lastjinstanding]

Jingyi listens with a slightly mystified smile on his face. Why would Rulan just randomly agree to give someone music lessons like that? He has no idea, but he's also excited to hear Yuan plays the guqin!

"You know my clan is known for the guqin, right? If you want to impress Jin Ling's family showing off how well you play is a great way to do that. Do you have yours here? I'm no where near as skilled at it as HanGuang-Jun or Lan Li, but we should play together!"

Yuan, mission accomplished.

[notaturnip]

"I don't have mine with me unfortunately, it's at home," he admits apologetically, but he's interested to hear that about the Lan clan - it's nice to know he has something in common with such a prestigious and noble clan. "But it would have been nice to play together!"

Yuan has friends, sort of, but there's always an edge to it - the other boys and girls at the Golden Hare have a certain amount of solidarity and understanding amongst themselves, but there's an element of competition between them too, it makes it hard to totally trust them. He wishes he could just sit here and make friends with Jingyi with the ease he's pretending to have, he wishes he didn't have to second guess everything he was saying, he seems like such a nice guy.

"What's it like growing up in the Lan clan?" He asks curiously

[lastjinstanding]

"No problem! I'll let you use mine. It's not a spirit tool like Wangji is. I can see if Lan Li or Bao have theirs.. then we might be able to play together." Hmm.

"Boring!" Jin Ling's voice says behind them. He's standing in the doorway watching them with his arms crossed and a slightly forced smirk on his face. He came back in time to find these two bonding over music. He wasn't jealous. Nope. Not him.

Jingyi looks up and sticks his tongue out at the sect leader. "It was not!"

"All those rules? It sounds dreadful to me," Ling says in a particularly haughty tone.

Jingyi looks back at Yuan with a sassy grin. "See what I mean about him being a brat, Yuan?"

"Hey!" They were on first names basis already?! What the hell?

[notaturnip]

Yuan is about to say that would be lovely when Jin Ling's voice catches his attention and he immediately brightens, looking over at the other with a smile.

He hides a giggle behind his hand at their interaction - it's clear from their bickering that they're actually very fond of one another. He barely even notices the familiarity of Jingyi using his name so he doesn't look surprised or offended by it.

"He's not a brat," he says fondly, feeling as though he ought to be on Jin Ling's side (not enough people seem to be on his side, he thinks)

"I'm so sorry I was too unwell to join you, Jin-zongzhu," he says politely, unsure about being too familiar with him in front of someone else, even a friend "I hope it didn't cause you any problems?"

[lastjinstanding]

Ling gets a smug look on his face when Yuan defends him. It feels nice to have someone on his side. He pushes away from the door and saunters over. He moves behind Jingyi and with a not-so gentle shove, takes his friend's spot on the bed. "You get the floor!"

Jingyi yelps and lands on the dais the bed was set up on. "He's right, you're not a brat. You're an ass, Rulan!"

Ling scowls at being called that name but holds out his hand for Yuan. "Don't worry about it. Everyone understood, A-Yuan." He finds he wants to lift the hand in his to his lips to kiss, but he refrains given who else was there. "And you don't have to stand on ceremony with Jingyi."

The Lan disciple looks from one man to the other a bit amazed at what he was seeing. He'd been tossed on the floor not because Jin Ling wanted to be lazy and sit, but because he wanted to sit with his beau. That was so cute! (In a very Rulan way).

"You know, Yuan's too good for you, right?"

[notaturnip]

Yuan can't hide his giggles that time, though it takes all his willpower not to lean against Jin Ling as he sits. He does take his hand, squeezing lightly and giving him an affectionate smile.

He blushes at the comment - if only Jingyi knew how wrong he was! Jin Ling was far, far too good for him. He shakes his head.

"Not at all. I'm lucky to have the honour of A-Ling's attention," he did say he didn't need to stand on ceremony after all. "Anybody would be."

[lastjinstanding]

It is very strange being told by your best friend that a prostitute is too good for you. However, he isn't nearly as mad about it as he might normally be- especially not when Yuan uses his birth name like that. He finds himself wanting to pull the man against him again to kiss him.

Since when did he get so affectionate? He really likes it.

"Okay, like that. How did you fool poor Yuan like this?" Jingyi asks. "He thinks you're sweet."

"I can be sweet!" Ling defends, cheeks going a little red.

Jingyi looks at him like he's grown another head. "Are you blushing? Holy shit, I need to go find Zizhen."

"He's here too?" Ling groans.

"Duh, that's his cousin your uncle's marrying." Jingyi remembers then that they're leaving Yuan out and turns to him. "Ouyang Zizhen is heir to the Baling Ouyang Clan. The three of us have been friends for years. He and his father are here but don't worry, you can just call him Zizhen, just like you can call me Jingyi. You'll probably like him the best if you like people who are actually sweet."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ling frowns, just shy of a pout. It was true and he couldn't really deny it. Everyone liked Zizhen. Although.. "Aren't you in love with him though?"

It's Jingyi's turn to flush red and he swats the sect leader's arm. "Shhh! What's wrong with you?! He doesn't know." He focuses back on Yuan's wrist. Over his head Ling mouths 'he knows'.

[notaturnip]

Yuan just watches them, letting the conversation flow over him - he wants to join in, but he doesn't know the people they're talking about and he's scared of saying something wrong. He appreciates it, though, when Jingyi takes the time to draw him into the conversation, though he notices it's at the expense of Jin Ling again - clearly they have the kind of relationship where they're just constantly teasing each other.

When Ling mouths over Jingyi's head, he can't help himself, he snorts with laughter - and he can't put a hand over his mouth to stop it because Jin Ling is still holding one hand and Jingyi is currently holding his other wrist. Instead he leans forward to rest his head on Jin Ling's shoulder in helpless giggles.

"I'm sorry," he straightens up, getting control of himself "You can't make me laugh like this in front of all A-Ling's family! I want to make a good impression on them."

[lastjinstanding]

Ling laughs and presses a kiss to the top of A-Yuan's head when he rests it briefly on his shoulder. He loves his laugh and he decides he doesn't really care if everyone in the other room hears it. In fact, he quickly hooks his arm around A-Yuan when he starts to straighten up, to keep him against his side.

"You'll make a great first impression. Don't worry, A-Yuan. They already started grilling me about you," he reassures his pet. Although somehow the word was no longer feeling as appropriate as it used to.

"Hey, off topic but, Yuan, are you still feeling bad at all? I have some medicine if you are or maybe you just needed the rest?" Jingyi cuts in. He hates to do it when the other two were being so cute but treating the poor boy was the reason he was there.

[notaturnip]

Yuan leans against him comfortably when that arm curls around his side, almost sighing into it. This kind of easy affection wasn't often given, at least not without expecting anything more, so it was nice to indulge and enjoy the comfortable camaraderie of their presence at the same time.

"Oh dear, what did they ask?" He says softly - a perfectly normal question, but a subtle way of asking what Jin Ling's told them, so he doesn't get anything wrong.

He glances over at Jingyi with a smile when he asks how he's feeling and shakes his head.

"No, I'm feeling much better now, thank you."

[lastjinstanding]

"They were surprised it's only been three days since we've met," he answers, his smile turning into a smirk. Yuan was impressively good at being subtle. He wonders what in the future they'll be able to get away with talking about in the presence of others without anyone realizing what they're truly saying.

"Three days?" Jingyi asks shocked. "Oh, yeah, Yuan! You didn't finish telling me how you two met."

They're both relieved to hear Yuan is feeling better. Jingyi gently lets go of Yuan's wrist and sits back more comfortably. He does glance at the door wondering what was taking Liling so long though.

Jin Ling hesitates at the question, realizing he doesn't have a cover story for how they met. However, it isn't too hard to make one up. "We met while I was nighthunting. He was traveling to Yanling to visit and on his way his party got attacked by a couple dire bears. Lucky for him, Fairy and I were traveling nearby."

Jingyi was starting to think that was a sweet 'meet cute' when he thinks.. a couple dire bears? Jin Ling expects him to believe he took on monstrous sized bears with just Fairy? Either his friend's skill has gotten significantly better or he's full of shit.

[notaturnip]

Three days. Yuan commits that to memory with a slight nod. When Jingyi asks how they met, he glances at Jin Ling with an encouraging little nudge, as though he was suggesting he be the one to tell the story - mostly, of course, because he's the one in charge here, Yuan wants to be sure the story is one he approves of, and the best way is to let him make it up.

So, of course, when Jin Ling tells a (slightly unbelievable) tale of daring and bravery, he's absolutely going to back him up.

"It was terrifying," he admits, eyes a little wide as though he's still shaken (after all it's only been three days) "I don't know what we would have done if A-Ling and his men hadn't been there."

(Sorrry, Jin Ling, you're getting some back up here, because Yuan can see that scepticism in Jingyi's look)

"A-Ling saved my life," he says breathlessly "one of them was almost upon me when he stopped it."

[lastjinstanding]

He is a 100000% keeping this man. He just backed up Jin Ling's ridiculous story in the most amazing way possible. How soon can he make Jingyi leave and get Yuan out of that robe? His gaze trails down Yuan's neck where he can almost imagine his pulse quickening. It was especially naughty to think about doing any of this at his jiujiu's house.

Reluctantly, his focus returns to Yuan's face. "I've never seen a prettier damsel in distress."

Jingyi is successfully back to thinking they're adorable. Although he still thinks he needs to try and practice swords with Jin Ling before the trip was over to see these new skills in action. "Yuan, you'll have to come with us to this year's tournament to see him there too. He was almost impressive there last year."

[notaturnip]

Yuan is more than familiar with the look of a man who wants him, so he can absolutely see that look in Jin Ling's eyes - but he's playing a part here, so he lowers his eyes demurely and smiles, blush colouring his cheeks.

"Flattery, A-Ling, I must have looked a terrible mess."

He looks up at Jingyi's suggestion and it's really only a lot of practice that keeps the easy smile on his face.

"I do hope I'll be able to," he says non-committally, mindful of the way Jin Ling hadn't responded when he'd offered himself for other events. His heart aches to be able to say yes, he'll be there.

[lastjinstanding]

"You'd better invite him!" Jingyi says, smacking Jin Ling in the arm like before.

"Hey!" Ling snaps out of his leering and sputters at his friend putting him on the spot. His cheeks color slightly, but he answers truthfully. "Of course, we'll be there! I just- I hadn't gotten around to inviting him yet!" Be cool, man, damn! He swings a hand back at the Lan disciple which only gets a laugh.

"And now you have, aren't you glad I'm around?" Jingyi snickers. "It's settled. We'll all go together. My work here is done." He gets up and dusts off his robes. "And before you get carried away, Rulan, he has refreshments coming so either act really fast or hold off."

"Get out!" Ling kicks at him and the young, snickering, man in white scurries out the door, giving Yuan a quick wave and grin before shutting it.

[notaturnip]

Yuan laughs at their antics but he's not really thinking about it, he's thinking about Jin Ling saying we'll be there. He's probably only saying it because Jingyi put him on the spot, because if this was a real relationship he'd have no reason to say no, he'll be able to come up with an excuse for him not being there when he needs to. He can't let himself get his hopes up.

He waves back at Jingyi as he leaves, though as soon as he's gone the friendly smile drops into a worried expression as he looks at Jin Ling.

"I hope I didn't say anything wrong," he says hesitantly "and I'm really so sorry for missing the greetings, I never would have gone to sleep if I'd realised I would sleep so heavily!"

[lastjinstanding]

He turns and is a half a second away from simply ignoring whatever Yuan is about to say in favor of kissing him breathless. However, the concern and then the words stop him. The fact that he even thinks of keeping up his lie is what convinces him to confess. He doesn't want to be like the rest of his family and if he starts to deceive people, particularly those he cares about, he's doing just that. Never mind this whole experience is one big rouse.

"Yuan.. none of that was your fault. I'm sorry. I didn't want you to suffer and my spiritual energy was so low.." His gaze drops to one of the golden deer embroidered on Yuan's robes. "I made you fall asleep. I give you my word, I didn't let anything happen to you. You went straight from the boat to here and you've had Geming and Liling.. well, and I guess Jingyi, around you since. When it comes to healing magic, I'm not like the Lan clan. I'm not that strong."

[notaturnip]

"Oh!" Yuan looks surprised, and then, against all logic, he looks relieved. "I was so worried I'd messed up. Thank you, A-Ling, for taking such good care of me. I trust you, I know you'd never let anything happen to me, and it was much better sleeping through the journey than trying not to be sick through it."

It's clear that Jin Ling is worried about it, which is just impossibly sweet. Ruined, he's completely ruined, no other man is ever going to compare.