it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth

[fennu]

Who: Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen
Where: Hire carriage
When: Tribulation 4
What: Flute practice!
Warnings: N/A

It has been a long time since Jiang Cheng heard Lan Xichen play Liebing.

He remembers it being a soothing sound, something that could bring comfort and settle the spirit - especially if he was playing some of the music most familiar with the Lan Sect. When the music is not taken out of its proper context, when it is not twisted and misused, of course, and his mind flicks back to the understanding of just what Jin Guangyao had done with Nie Mingjue so many years before. The knowledge that Lan Xichen might have learned this and mourned it stings him somewhere deep in his heart, but he manages himself all the same.

It hurts him to remember it, to think about the grief that was laid bare on Lan Xichen's face when Jin Guangyao had died, to think about what that might mean for the man's heart in the future. He does not often feel jealousy for his own romantic inclinations (if only because they have been so far and few) but the idea that the man he has developed such an affection for might develop the same for another makes him uncomfortable to say the least.

Perhaps that is what inspired him to take Lan Xichen away from the rest of the train for as long as he might be able to steal him without causing undue questioning, to pluck him to privacy with the idea of the sharing of music as part of some rumoured talent evening. He has little musical talent himself so it is not as though he has much to prepare nor show, but he can at least be a proper witness for his newly christened partner and cheer him on as he relearns the movement of fingers, or refreshes his mind.

If it has truly been so long.

Almost antsy, Jiang Cheng waits in the hired space with a scowl on his features, arms crossed and tense. He doesn't expect to be stood up, of course, but all the same... It is embarrassing, to do something like this without knowing how it will be received.

Comments

[calmness]

It is not Lan Xichen's intention to be late. He never wishes to keep Wanyin waiting, not since they have delved into a new phase of their relationship. Or rather, since they have put to words that they wished to have a relationship with one another.

Xichen's heart still flutters pleasantly in his chest when he sees the other man and he knows that his smile softens, the mask of pleasant warmth fades into something more genuine.

That is less important now than the fact he is late. It is a precept broken and the reason is not one he can truly justify. Recently, strangely, he has not been sleeping well; at his age there is no reason to nap and yet he had dozed off in the garden car while meditating and lost track of the time.

He does not run to the hire car with Leibing in hand, he does not, but he walks briskly. No further precepts are broken as he fixes his clothes, runs fingers through his hair and then knocks on the hire car door before slipping inside. "Wanyin? I apologize to have kept you waiting," he says with a dip of his head. He is flushed still, he knows, but he hopes that he is not teased for it. Unlikely, he has learned, as he is the one teasing most often.

[fennu]

Jiang Cheng doesn't expect Lan Xichen to be one way or the other, to be anything but the person he has begun to know and feel affectionate toward. It doesn't even register on his mind that the other man might be late, so caught up in his own thoughts and questions when it comes to the music, and Lan Xichen's thoughts on playing it, and how much he actually knows about playing that music in the future. He barely pays attention to the clock.

There's a knock, the door opens, and Jiang Cheng turns his head. The expression on his face immediately relaxes and something soft settles in his eyes as he moves forward, at first offering a bow before realising how silly that is. They're not two Sect Leaders together in this room: they are people trying to be more than that, to find some way of reaching out for one another and building on the warmth and affection there.

It makes his cheeks go just a little bit red, especially with Wanyin being the first word out of Xichen's mouth. He doesn't know what to say in response for the briefest of moments.

"It was no trouble. I didn't even notice." Looking up and down, he drinks Xichen in for a moment before he steps forward, reaching out to touch his hand. That should be alright, shouldn't it? The briefest of affections? "I was here early making sure we had the room anyway."