Nielan, 21 for the prompt
21. “you’re not very intimidating.”
Nie Mingjue has no idea how he ended up here, but here he was having a tea party with his cat. Huaisang was visiting Lotus Pier and Zonghui had taken some of the disciples out on a nighthunt, so Mingjue was alone and he was bored. His work for the day was finished, it was too late to cram in another workout session so here he was, alone in his room, with the kitten he found somewhere in the woods.
At first Mingjue was just going to enjoy some tea on his own and then hopefully it would be late enough to get to bed. But then Daxia sat down on the pillow across the table from him with a soft meow. She was still sitting there, but with a small bowl of water in front of her and some food. And somehow, Mingjue had started talking to her. Telling her about his day, complaining about some stupid paperwork or about today’s training. Daxia always managed to meow back at him at the right moments, which made him feel understood. Gods, was he really that lonely?
He was in the middle of telling Daxia about how Huaisang had only decided to go visit Lotus Pier only so he wouldn’t have to go on a night hunt tonight when he heard the doors to his chambers open after a soft knock.
“Mingjue, my love, who are you talking to?” Xichen walked in slowly, looking around the room, looking for his beloved. When his eyes fell on Mingjue, sitting across Daxia, he could barely stop himself from laughing.
Mingjue jumped up, scaring Daxia with his sudden movement. She crawled up his robes, into his arms where she felt safe and happy.
“Were you having a conversation with Daxia?” Xichen asked, giggling softly. Daxia meowed, as if saying yes. What a traitor.
“No! No I wasn’t talking to Daxia, that’s ridiculous Xichen!” Mingjue sputtered. “How did you get here, it’s late Xichen, you should be in bed already.”
Xichen smiled and came closer to give Mingjue a kiss on his cheek and Daxia one on her head. “I wanted to surprise you, I missed you.” Xichen said, “Who were you talking to, though, if not to Daxia?” Then his eyes went to the table where he saw Mingjue’s tea across from the bowl of water and the plate with Daxia’s food. “Ah, I see. You weren’t just having a conversation, you were having a tea party!”
Mingjue already knew Xichen wouldn’t drop this unless he gave in, so he did. “Okay, maybe I was talking to Daxia”, Mingjue grumbled, “but I swear, Xichen, if you tell anyone-”
“You’ll do what?” Xichen laughed, cocking his eyebrow, “You’re not very intimidating with a kitten in your arms”
“Did you come here just to laugh at me, or are you actually going to keep me company?” Mingjue said, trying to still sound annoyed but he couldn’t. Not when Xichen was right there, eyes twinkling and a bright smile on his face.
Xichen turned around, grabbed another cup for himself and sat down right where Daxia was sitting earlier. “You’re right, I’m sorry. How about I just join your tea party, the more the merrier, right?”
Mingjue put Daxia down, who immediately crawled in Xichen’s lap, and sat down himself. He poured Xichen some tea and then grabbed his hand. “I missed you, too, Xichen”
Based on something @angelwenning drew for me.
Everyone go read more about Nielan and Daxia in Nori’s wonderful fic on ao3!
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