Work Text:
It all started one day after Rusong's one month celebration. Or maybe it had happened before and Jin Guangyao never noticed it. But that morning when he woke up he couldn’t find Rusong in his crib. As a first time parent and one of a baby delicate because of his birth circonstance, Jin Guangyao was easily nervous even if he didn’t look like it.
Rusong was still too young to crawl around so the only way he could have disappeared was if someone took him. Even then he wouldn’t have been able to open the door. But the servants would’ve never dared to take him without his permission so the culprit could only be Nie Mingjue or Huaisang.
Jin Guangyao decided to look for his brother-in-law because he was easier to find than his husband. He doubted he would have Rusong but he might know where he is. When Jin Guangyao got there he knocked on the door.
‘’Enter!’’ Jin Guangyao entered the room.
Huaisang was sitting at his table, illicitly painting. There’s no baby in sight.
‘’Huaisang do you know were Ah-Song is?’’ He gently asked.
The boy looked confused at the question. ‘’No? He wasn’t in his crib?’’
‘’No I couldn’t find him there this morning.’’
‘’Mmmh... Then he’s probably with Da-ge.’’
Jin Guangyao is amused at the prospect; he last expected Nie Mingjue to be guilty.
‘’Thank you. I’ll see you at dinner.’’
‘’Yes!’’ Huaisang answered energetically.
Jin Guangyao must now find Nie Mingjue. Not an easy task for one who doesn’t like to stay still. He could be doing paperworks, talking with one of the commanders for a coming night hunt, working out in his private courtyard or training the disciples etc. His husband was a busy man.
Asking a servant nearby informed him that his mate was last seen in his office this morning but has already left. So Jin Guangyao left for the training yards.
[From afar, in the midst of the training ground, he finally saw Nie Mingjue standing proud and tall in front of his disciples; probably ordering them around but when he got closer, it was only then that he saw things differently.]
Nie Mingjue indeed had Rusong. The babe was wrapped in a blanket to keep the cold morning air away and laid in a reversed baby carrier tied around Nie Mingjue shoulders and waist; tucked snugly on his chest.
‘’What do you all think you're doing?! If your swings were that weak during night hunts you’d be the first one to die! Even Rusong has more enthusiasm than you all combined!’’ He stopped screaming for a moment and moved down his head. ‘’Look at them. You better not end up like that or I’ll make you practice till you drop. You’re a proud Nie cultivator; these poor lungs of yours are just a reason to prove them wrong for thinking you’ll be useless.’’
These weren’t the words you’d typically hear from a father but Rusong gurgled happily at him and when Nie Mingjue frowned at him he became even more excited. His father's puzzled face brought the same enjoyment and Jin Guangyao saw something click in Nie Mingjue’s brain.
‘’Your father is being serious and all you do is get amused by his face huh? Honestly what do I keep doing wrong if you act like Huaisang...’’ he wondered but he still ended up pulling different faces to make his son happy.
The disciples and Jin Guangyao were flabbergasted at the sight. But his heart warmed up afterward. Nie Mingjue was a serious man; one who wasn’t the type to pamper at all but surprisingly he decided to go along with Rusong’s mood. Jin Guangyao got closer to the father and son duo.
‘’There you are Ah-Song. You worried Ah-Niang when he didn’t find you.’’ he said in a slight nagging tone.
Nie Mingjue winced at that. ‘’He’s been cooped in since he was born so I took him on a walk.’’ he said with a defending voice.
‘’And here you are.’’
Nie Mingjue nodded.
Jin Guangyao smiled. He couldn’t stop himself from panicking but he should’ve known his baby would have been safe with his father. He rearranged the blanket around Rusong and watched the Nie cultivators training alongside his family.
Nie Mingjue may think himself as strict and serious but everyone in the Unclean Realm knew he was in fact a doting father, a softie, a papa-gâteau. It honestly didn’t change any disciples' opinions of their sect leader; they would worship the ground he walked anyway.
Despite the rocky relationship between him and his husband, Rusong didn’t suffer from it. In fact he may have gained more from it than if Jin Guangyao and Nie Mingjue had been more unified. Nie Rusong was spoiled rotten and he wasn’t even 6 months old.
The man had commissioned a woodworker to make him a series of wooden figurines of peoples and animals. The work was exquisite and must have cost a small fortune that was almost wasted for Rusong was still too young to really play with them. At best he would chew and slobber all over them.
He bought him the softest blankets with patterns so intricate Jin Guangyao would have thought he was in Lanling from the extravagance of them.
He commissioned a seamstress to make a tiny Qinghe Nie uniform and each time the baby grew too big for them he would commission a new one.
When Rusong showed an interest in rattle and rattle drum Nie Mingjue brought back a dozen of them in different shape, sound and colour. And while Jin Guangyao questioned the need of so many he agreed this was his most practical purchase at the time.
And then one day…
Jin Guangyao found them in Nie Mingjue’s office and at the sight of the wooden saber in Rusong's hand he let out a screech.
‘’NIE MINGJUE! You did not do what I think you did!’’
He took the saber out of Rusong's hand, surprising the baby and making his lips wobbles, one second away from crying.
‘’Ahh Ah-Song, Ah-Niang didn’t mean to scare you. It’s Ah-Die fault for making bad decisions.’’ He wiped the fat tears running down the babe cheeks with his sleeve, kissing his little nose and petting his head to calm him down.
‘’He need to get used to have a saber with him at all time Meng Yao.’’
‘’Do NOT call me that! And what were you thinking?! Ah-Song is still too young for that he’ll hurt himself with it!’’
Nie Mingjue sigh. His husband looked tired and Jin Guangyao knew it wasn’t because of the baby or the shenanigans of his current pregnancy. The saber’s spirit must have weighed heavy on his shoulder if he was already trying to prepare his heir for his looming demise.
‘’Just… Wait till he’s older. Let him be a child before he needs to start training. In any case I’m confiscating this for the time being.’’
Nie Mingjue breathed out hard like the bull he proudly wore on his waist.
‘’I understand.’’
Jin Guangyao knew that sooner or later he would do something ridiculous again. He just had to keep an eyes on him; alphas tended to be stubborn.
And if a couple days later he found Rusong sleeping in his crib with a stuffed saber, all he could do was shake his head. Unfortunately for him it would become Rusong favorite toy for years to come.
One night his light sleep was stopped by the croaking of something.The sound was coming from Rusong’s room.
When Jin Guangyao got closer to the door he heard a scratchy singing voice: ‘’The moon is bright, the wind is quiet. The tree leaves hang over the window. My little baby, go to sleep quickly. Sleep, dreaming sweet dreams.’’
Nie Mingjue apparently sucked at singing, but he still followed his advice from the first time he caught him trying to calm Rusong.
Jin Guangyao peeked like he did every time he found Nie Mingjue with their son at night; he could see him cradling Rusong in his arms.
‘’The moon is bright, the wind is quiet. The cradle moves softly. My little one, close your eyes. Sleep, sleep, dreaming sweet dreams.’’ He’s silent for a moment and then, ‘’There, are you happy? No? Do I need to scare you to death for you to fall asleep?’’ Jin Guangyao hoped he wouldn’t; you could never be certain when it came from Nie Mingjue.
Rusong little hands grabbed his father’s hand and brought its smallest finger to his mouth. The babe began suckling the finger, gobsmacking Nie Mingjue for his audacity. Nie Mingjue proceeded to lift Rusong to his face and softly munched on the chubby baby cheek.
‘’Little monster.’’
With the improvised pacifier Rusong slowly fell asleep, his father awkwardly rocking him in his arms. Jin Guangyao silently closed the gap of the door when he saw Nie Mingjue laying the baby in his crib.
He couldn’t help but thinking, ‘’Why is this man so cute…’’
Since times long forgotten, babies’ most lethal weapons has been one their cry and second their nails. As the sun approached midday Nie Mingjue recovered his son from the maid currently taking care of him. As the baby hand tightly gripped him he learned that despite his skin being tougher than steel the pain from being stabbed by Rusong was surprisingly sharp for how tiny his fingers and thus his nails were. It was almost his son feeding time and because Jin Guangyao was busy it was his turn to take care of their child so he went to the kitchen.
rusong stab nmj with tiny baby nails
He talks to the baby like normally But he tells the baby all about his day And asks him how his day was
Talking about cultivation since baby gotta learn
Nmj passes small amounts of qi to the baby when no one is looking. He thinks no one is looking Cause he wants him to grow up big and strong
daddy nmj feeding rusong and wont stop until he's finished with his porridge like he's blowing it so it's not too hot to eat and jiggy is like so amused and worried that rusong might throw up if fed a lot but nmj is like: no, he needs his strength! he's still growing and needs more nutrients!
One day, when Jin Guangyao was done with his duties as Madame Nie, he couldn’t find Rusong in his room. Again. He honestly thought it was becoming too frequent for his maternal instincts to still get stressed out by the disappearance; apparently the Nie brothers loved to steal the little boy from under his nose. Or maybe they just loved giving him a heart attack.
Like every instance since it began Jin Guangyao goes looking for Huaisang first. As he goes along the side of the wall he wondered in what state hell find his brother-in-law this time.
He knocked on the door and gently entered when he got an answer.
From his first look everything seemed normal, Huaisang was painting a beautiful scenery reminiscent of Gusu landscape.
‘’Huaisang is Ah-Song with y-’’ The soft sound of tapping against something break his attention.
In the corner of the room Jin Guangyao can see his son. He is laying on a large sheet of paper a low side dish in one of the corner, pattering his little arms all over it. He is. Covered. In. Ink.
‘’Huaisang! What have you done?!’’
Despite how unclean Rusong was, Jin Guangyao swooped him out of the mess he was currently the proud artist off. The baby face was freckled with ink and his salive had taken a grey tint.
‘’Ah Yao-ge! He looked interested in the painting so I set up a station for him while I was working.’’
Rusong slapped his hand on Jin Guangyao cheek leaving a tiny handprint. He sighed at the chaos currently happening.
‘’Huaisang he’s only 6 months old! You can’t leave him unsupervised; he'll put anything in his mouth!’’ He lifted his sleeve and rubbed Rusong’s face trying to at least erase some of the stain but the ink had already dried.
‘’I undressed him so he wouldn’t stain his clothes!’’
‘’This isn’t the point Huaisang!’’
Loud steps are heard from the hallway and the door opened briskly. Nie Mingjue appeared underneath the entrance, his face set in a deep frown. He opened his mouth and his loud voice boomed out.
‘’What is happening? I could hear you two from my office.’’ Then his eyes set sight on the two of them. Jin Guangyao hoped they made a pretty sight because the mess on his ruqun hanfu would never leave and he liked that outfit.
‘’Da-ge! Huaisang thought letting your son play with ink would be a good idea! You MUST punish him. Ugh, if I stay any longer I’ll vomit from the smell and it’ll be both your fault.’’
Nie Mingjue sent a furious glare at his brother, the indignant yell of ‘’Huaisang!’’ was music to Jin Guangyao ears.
‘’I better see you repenting later or else…’’
Jin Guangyao left the Nie brother duo arguing behind him, calling a servant nearby to prepare a bath and a set of new clothes for him and Rusong.
In the privacy of his room, he sat the baby on a towel, watching carefully for a tense moment if he’ll wobble and fall down. Jin Guangyao started undressing himself, untying the rope keeping his laying from falling and exposing himself, internally crying for the maid who would later try salvaging the dress. In the bronze mirror set on his makeup dresser, where all his powder, rouge, lotion and hair oils laid on, he saw his reflection.
Jin Guangyao thought he didn’t look that bad. Because of cultivation his stretch mark from his first pregnancy did not stay, but looking at the growing baby bump he knew they'd come back and he prayed it wouldn’t be permanent again this time . A scarless body would be easier to use when seducing his Da-ge, his husband, his alpha.
Jin Guangyao would do anything to secure his position and honestly despite how insensitive his partner can be toward his feelings, Mingjue isn’t bad-looking and Jin Guangyao wouldn’t mind gaining his affection. Little by little he’d get back his trust, spreading like sickness inside his mind until there was nothing but him to think off, drowning him in toxic affection till they both suffocated, gnawing at his heart until he’s satiated.He wouldn’t be rejected ever again.
Jin Guangyao crouched to grab Rusong and lifted him in his arms to lay against his breasts. He lifted his leg to go over the side of the bath and sat, making sure the babe head was above the water. He took a sponge laying on the side table and dipped it in the water. Tenderly he cleaned Rusong from the ink; because he couldn’t scrub too hard the baby stayed a lil black in some spots. Jin Guangyao quickly got rid of the ink on himself, seething at Huaisang for the stains underneath his manicured nails.
The warmth of the bath water relaxed Rusong and he started dozing off. Jin Guangyao gently toweled him and clothed his pliant body to finally lay him in his crib to sleep.
When Jin Guangyao went back to his room he was approached by Baobei. The dog was circling around him trying to get some affection. Jin Guangyao crawled up his bed and patted the empty spot beside him for Baobei to join him. He cuddled the dog to sleep; today’s event had drained him of any energy he had left after working.
Lay on his back with baby sleeping on his chest as he purrs
Mingjue just going about his daily business with a baby crawling all over him and when Rusong starts babbling at him, you bet the baby gets more attention than anything else
WOODEN BLOCKS
jgy and nmj are in nmj office working together. rusong is with them bc hes teething and is being fussy and he cry if he isnt with either jgy or nmj. Rusong chew on dage fingers bc hes teething but you can see hes still uncomfortable bc the skin is rough and calloused. jgy see his tiny nails digging into dage hand and he know this must be painful for him bc baby nails are sharp af but his face is cool and serious like nothing is wrong bc hes enduring it for the bby. jgy offers to switch bc his hands are softer than dages and the bby would be more comfortable. dage attempt at conversation but like hes awkward af bc their relationship is currently weird. cue nhs barging in and cutting the tension like a hot knife on butter and crying at nmj and jgy feets/knees.maybe someone's being mean to him again? or maybe someone visited the unclean realm and because nmj is away, he's forced to interact with the visitor and he doesn't want to interact with the visitor anymore so he's rushing to get his brother so he'll deal with them instead of him? jgy gives nhs the bby bc bby usually calm down nhs acting up but bby start crying in nhs arms and nhs panic bc he doesnt know what to do bc he doesnt know he really doesnt know. nmj is exasperated at the sight and goes to take back the bby but jgy stop him a smile on his face bc hes evil and want nhs to suffer a little bc of the ink incident and when nmj show him a questioning face jgy whisper to him its good for him to learn duty/obligation/independence/etc may add more to the scene
imagine him just painting in his room when a disciple comes in for him to entertain guests because the sect leader is busy entertaining his family ahahahaha
nhs just "NO THANK YOU"
him? doing things? not in this economy
and he's whining about it like, "i was about to finish this intricate painting let me finish it while i still have the inspo juice still flowing"
not unless he gets something out of it
except he need to go bc nmj advisors finally convinced him to take a break/vacation so hes in charge
"dage what if my INK DRIES"
So he can playfully growl at the kid baby imitates dada
Steal him while jgy's not looking and have him go on a walk
Help him start walking
flower shower bby rusong trying to grab the petals
Do they do that thing where they set out like, money, a toy, and something else in front of a baby to see what the baby will grow up to value in the future
Zhuazhou: A full year after birth - the child will be asked to randomly pick up an item of its own volition from an array of symbolic items placed in front within a reach to predict the child's future destiny.
showing off the birb
I just imagine baby rusong gurgling and grabbing into nmj's braid
And he TUGS, like, he's got jgy tenacity, and the nie strength
And nmj claims that is why there are tears in his eyes not bc his son is so adorable and he is all puddle of mush about it no sir