Chapter Text
“I don’t have time, and I don’t want to.”
Nie Mingjue elbows the refrigerator closed with two beers in hand, and tosses one to Nie Huaisang, who barely catches it with a squawk.
“Oh, but I’m worried !”
“If you’re so worried, do it yourself!”
Nie Huaisang huffs and almost breaks his nail trying to open his can.
“I told you, I can’t next month! It’s not even that much; just go in and check on him once a day!”
Nie Mingjue rolls his eyes so hard this time around, he thinks he can almost see stars.
“Huaisang, are you hearing yourself? Once a day during lunchtime -”
“Well it’s actually once every weekday except for Friday, so-”
“I can’t even find time for my own lunch, what makes you think I can go all the way to Tsinghua-”
“Da-ge it’s like a seven minute drive, and you’re self-employ-”
“And I don’t even know him-”
“He’s not so bad!”
“ Huaisang! ” Nie Mingjue finally bellows, and Nie Huaisang squeaks in reply.
The elder sighs and takes a seat on the couch next to his brother, passing a hand over his face tiredly.
“Listen, A-Sang. This just isn’t my forte, I’m not some kind of...caretaker.”
Though, Nie Mingjue can’t say that with full confidence when he’s raised Nie Huaisang since he was a child. But that was out of unconditional love and sheer determination, because Huaisang is his family. Besides, Nie Mingjue tried his very best to take care of Nie Huaisang, but look where that got him: a lazy, melodramatic little brother, who picks friends as fragile as glass. (Nie Mingjue will never say he’s proud of A-Sang, that he’s honored to be his big brother, because Nie Mingjue needs to push him more, and more -)
“Listen, Da-ge, I’ve done this for almost two semesters now. All you have to do is go see if he’s alive, and tell him to get food. You don’t even need to buy him anything, and Jiang Cheng is working on the same paper all next month, so he’ll be in the same lab every Monday through Thursday. He’s sad, and mean, and beautiful, and you can’t miss him.”
Nie Mingjue raises an eyebrow at the description.
“You seem to be really invested in this friend , huh?”
“Oh please,” Nie Huaisang rolls his eyes, as if his brother doesn’t know he’s currently got his eyes on Mo Xuanyu like a hawk. “He’s just...complicated. I feel like if I take my eyes off him for one second, he’ll wither away.”
Nie Mingjue scoffs at that.
“No, really, Da-ge,” Nie Huaisang looks up with genuine worry and conflict in his gaze. “I can’t say too much, but he really needs someone to be there for him right now. No matter how superficial or temporary it is.”
Nie Mingjue falters at the sincerity. If Nie Huaisang is telling the truth, if he’s right…
Nie Mingjue makes a decision right there, because if his flippant little brother is right in being so concerned for his friend, then Nie Mingjue’s decision could help someone dear to his little brother.
“I’ll push around my schedule and see what I can do.”
“Woo-hoo, Da-ge!”
“Whatever,” Nie Mingjue mutters, and finally pops open his can. “Let’s just relax now.”
“Alright! I’m leaving in two days.”
“ Two -”
“Come on, I said next month! It’s already the 28th.”
The best thing about driving to Tsinghua is the traffic, because he gets all his day’s aggression out on the road. Nie Mingjue swears up and down that they’re just handing licenses out at the DMV like Costco samples, and the man who runs a red light right in front of him is proof of the claim.
Nie Mingjue hopes to god that Huaisang’s friend won’t take too badly to his midday mood, even though he’s learned to almost entirely manage his anger throughout the years. But honestly, any annoyance with Nie Mingjue would be justified. After all, Nie Huaisang’s friend— Jiang Cheng, Nie Mingjue remembers— wasn’t the one who asked Nie Mingjue to check on him. In fact, according to Nie Huaisang, Jiang Cheng is usually less than willing to greet any visitors. Jiang Cheng didn’t ask for a stranger to interrogate him about his eating habits.
The drive turns out to be ten minutes instead of seven, take that Huaisang, and Nie Mingjue begins the daunting task of finding his way to the science department in the sweltering heat of May.
Hopefully, Jiang Cheng didn’t get his hopes up about no one bothering him today, since Nie Mingjue is an hour late. He slowly walks up the steps of the eerie and foreboding science building.
Finding the lab isn’t a difficult task; it’s the very last room on the very last floor. It’s mostly about the vague description that Nie Huaisang gave him about Jiang Cheng’s appearance. He repeats it like a mantra as he opens the door to the lab, and squints at the three people dispersed throughout it. Sad, mean, beautiful. Sad, mean, beautiful.
Then, Nie Mingjue’s eyes land on the person to the very left of the room. Nie Mingjue has to say, Nie Huaisang’s description is spot on: the man seems to be wilting just from a quick glance at his body, and the bitter expression on his face is only overshadowed by the quick rage in which he types at his keyboard. Jiang Cheng, he realizes as he walks closer, is also the most beautiful man Nie Mingjue has ever seen.
Jiang Cheng’s hair is tied in a small ponytail at the base of his delicate neck, two thin locks of hair neatly framing his sharp and elegant face. His full brows are drawn together over the biggest, stormiest eyes, and a nose straight as an arrow sits above small, full lips.
Nie Mingjue thinks it would all be rather graceful, if it wasn’t so obvious how scrawny Jiang Cheng is, how sallowness and sorrow mar his face.
Jiang Cheng doesn’t even notice when Nie Mingjue stands directly in front of the island, so Nie Mingjue clears his throat. Jiang Cheng still doesn’t respond.
“Uh, Jiang Cheng?”
The typing stops abruptly and Jiang Cheng blinks up at him, seemingly unseeing at first.
“Oh. Can I help you?”
Nie Mingjue startles at the unexpectedly deep voice.
“I’m Huaisang’s brother. He asked me to come get you to eat, since he’s overseas this month.”
“Huaisang…ah, it’s already May.”
“Yeah,” Mingjue uncharacteristically shifts his weight from foot to foot. “Have you, well, eaten?”
At this, Jiang Cheng casts his gaze downwards, and begins typing again, albeit slower.
“I take that as a no,” Nie Mingjue folds his arms over his chest. “You have to go eat.”
Nie Mingjue is firm, and he’s using his big-brother-voice, so he hopes Jiang Cheng won’t make too much of a fuss.
Jiang Cheng keeps typing, maintaining his glare on the screen, “Thank you for your concern. I’ll go soon.”
“I doubt that. It’s already over an hour past your usual lunchtime according to Huaisang, and you don’t seem to be stopping anytime soon.”
Nie Mingjue is surprised at his own response. Jiang Cheng said he would eat, so isn’t Nie Mingjue’s job done? But he’s certain Jiang Cheng won’t eat, and he’s Huaisang’s age and still needs plenty of food and rest to focus on school. Nie Mingjue attributes it to his worrying nature.
Jiang Cheng stops again and pins Nie Mingjue with a look he can’t discern. After a few seconds, Jiang Cheng gets up with a sigh, and Nie Mingjue is once again surprised, this time by his height, only a couple inches shorter than Nie Mingjue.
“Fine. We can go eat.”
Jiang Cheng was easier to convince than Nie Mingjue initially thought.
Wait, we ?
Jiang Cheng is already pulling open the door to the lab when Nie Mingjue registers what he said. Jiang Cheng doesn’t seem like the type to invite a stranger to come eat with him, unless...
Huaisang, that little brat , Nie Mingjue seethes, following after Jiang Cheng. He didn’t tell me that he eats with him!
The walk to the cafeteria is brisk, and Nie Mingjue cannot understand how Jiang Cheng can stand the weather with a turtleneck and a lab coat on. But Jiang Cheng seems to be in a perpetual winter, as even the brightest of Beijing summers don’t seem to do anything for his wan complexion.
Jiang Cheng grabs a canned coffee as well as a plain croissant once they enter the cafeteria, and Nie Mingjue settles on an apple. Nie Mingjue lets the coffee pass, and in return convinces Jiang Cheng to get an orange.
Jiang Cheng is unexpectedly obedient in finishing his food, eating swiftly and single-mindedly, and even taking a sip of Nie Mingjue’s water. Once they’re done, Jiang Cheng gets up, and bows shallowly to Nie Mingjue.
“Thank you for today. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some work to do.”
And with that, Jiang Cheng is gone. He’s a bit impolite and incredibly reserved, but he doesn’t seem like a bad kid. He’s at least definitely not as difficult to deal with as Nie Huaisang made him out to be (frantically at the airport, like warning him about a feral animal).
Nie Mingjue wonders how he’ll deal with Jiang Cheng for the rest of the month. For now, the goal is just to get him to eat a little more.
When Nie Mingjue shows up at the same time the next day, Jiang Cheng is for, some reason, bewildered.
“Are you...are you going to do this every day ?”
That catches Nie Mingjue off-guard.
“Yes?”
“I thought- I just thought-”
“You were completely fine yesterday.”
“That’s because I thought it would be a one-time thing!”
“What would be the point of doing this only once? Do you only have to eat once a month?”
Jiang Cheng’s ears redden.
He grinds his teeth together and manages to utter a name though his clenched jaw: “ Nie. Huai. Sang! ”
