#minghui

Rules: Posting a list of current writing works in progress. Feel free to ask me for info on any of them, whether snippets of writing, plot details, main characters, etc. Send me a work listed below, and I’ll share something related to it.

Let's see:

Mirage (The Untamed, Nié Mingjue/Wen Ning, Ningjue, Lan Xichen/Nié Huaisang, Huaisang's wedding, past Nié Mingjue/Meng Yao|Jin GuangYao,) When Nie Mingjue needs a date for his brother' s wedding. He finds himself in the predicament that: he is very much single, married to his job and with no posible prospect in sight. Feeling desperate hires an escort, it will only be just for a night right? No one would care.

It all starts from pieces (The untamed, Nie Huaisang/Lan Xichen, modern Au, happy ending, blind dates, misunderstandings.) Complete

A heart like yours (The Untamed, Nie Huaisang/ Jiang Cheng, Angst with a happy ending, modern AU, accidental marriage.) The old trope married in Vegas except they both have feelings for each other, they are both too dumb to realize it. Complete

Absentia: In silence we yearn (The untamed, Nie Mingjue/ Nie Zonghui (main pairing) Lan Xichen/ Nie Huaisang (established relationship) Angst, cannon divergent, major character revive) With the help of unwanted magic Nie Mingjue comes back to live, great ha? But magic always comes with a price. Currently, working on chapter 4.

My Writing on AO3 @zaidnovi

Stray(The Untamed, The Lan Clan, Xisang for end game, Angst and fluff and everything in between.) complete

14. “Just please be my best friend right now, not the guy I just confessed my love to.”

Nie Mingjue didn’t have many friends. Having become a sect leader at such a young age, many of his childhood friends had been left behind for the sake of his sect. Leaving him with only his brother and Lan Xichen as people he really felt close to. It wasn’t that he didn’t try to become friends with anyone. It was just hard. There was always a distance between him and his disciples. Except for Lan Xichen, other sect leaders didn’t do friendship with other sects, the only friendships they knew were bound by contracts and easily broken. 

It wasn’t that Nie Mingjue felt lonely or anything. He didn’t really mind only having Nie Huaisang and Lan Xichen. But it would be nice to have someone who was always around and he could talk to about anything. That’s where Nie Zonghui comes into the equation. 

After Meng Yao left, Zonghui quickly stepped up as Mingjue’s right-hand man. Zonghui was one of Mingjue’s most loyal and talented disciples. He impressed Mingjue over and over again with his great tactical skills and swordsmanship. But it wasn’t just his skills that made Mingjue value Zonghui as much as he does. The distance between Mingjue and Zonghui didn’t feel as big as it did with other disciples. They could share laughs and stories without either of them feeling uncomfortable. Maybe it was because Zonghui was already close with Huaisang, or maybe Zonghui was just different. 

Zonghui would stay behind after meetings, listing off everything that was decided. At first Mingjue found it odd, not sure if Zonghui did it for himself or to make sure Mingjue remembers all that is said. But he also found that it didn’t matter, it soothed him. Mingjue had the habit of getting worked up during these meetings, and going over all that was discussed afterwards helped him get his thoughts in order again. Often these talks would even lead to a bit of mockery. Mingjue would usually start it, whenever something reminded him of something dumb that one of the elders had said. Zonghui easily joined in on it, with spot on impressions and reactions. It was hard not to call one of the few people that make you smile, a friend.

Mingjue might even dare to call Zonghui his best friend. Zonghui was that friend he had been looking for. Someone who lives nearby, someone who he can talk to about almost anything, someone who isn’t intimidated by him and respects Huaisang. 

Maybe Zonghui was even more than just a best friend, not that Mingjue was ready to admit that to himself. He could admit to himself thought, that Zonghui was definitely attractive. Very attractive. He could also admit that maybe, sometimes, Zonghui made him feel things. Especially when he proved once again that he paid attention to Mingjue in ways that others have never done. When he wordlessly brought Mingjue food, when Mingjue once again got lost in training or work. Or when he’d sit with Mingjue in silence whenever Mingjue seemed agitated, waiting for Mingjue to be ready to vent but never pushing him to. Maybe it even made Mingjue’s heart ache a bit whenever he saw Zonghui and Huaisang have a good time together.

Tonight was one of those evenings where Mingjue was agitated. Zonghui just sat at the table in Mingjue’s chambers, sipping his tea quietly while Mingjue put some things away.

‘Marriage,’ Mingjue muttered to himself, ‘an heir! I don’t have time for any of that.’

Zonghui laughed softly and poured Mingjue a drink as he sat down. Mingjue drowned his cup at once and poured himself another one immediately. 

‘You’d think they would know that Chifeng-zun has no interest in women by now’, Zonghui said.

Mingjue almost panicked for a moment, but of course it Zonghui didn’t mean it like that. It was the one thing everyone seemed to know about Nie Mingjue. Most people knew him as Chifeng-zun who had no interest in women or the fine arts, only saber work really interested him. Mingjue guesses it’s true… Women and fine arts do not interest him. He likes saberwork, that’s true too. But, Mingjue is interested in more things than that, he is interested in keeping his brother and sect safe and happy. He is interested in learning new things. He is interested in… Zonghui. 

Not knowing what to reply, Mingjue just huffed.

‘Mingjue-xiong, can I ask why?’ Zonghui asked.

‘Why what?’

‘Why are you not interested in love?’

‘Who says I’m not? I said I don’t have time for it’

Zonghui shook his head and laughed. They sat in silence for a while until Zonghui spoke up again.

‘Has there ever been anyone who caught your eye?’ He asked with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Mingjue wasn’t sure what to reply to this. Of course there have been. Mingjue cannot deny that he used to have a thing for Lan Xichen, nobody can blame him for it either. But saying it out loud to Zonghui didn’t feel right at this moment.

‘Why is that important?’ Mingjue asked, trying to evade the question. 

‘So there has been someone?’ Zonghui asked with a smirk. Mingjue knew that smirk better than anything. It was the same way Huaisang always looked when he was on to some juicy gossip. ‘Or… Is there someone right now?’ 

Mingjue almost regrets being having a friendship this close with Zonghui. Anxious, he drowns his cup another time without thinking about it but he soon realises he should stop drinking. What if he accidentally slips up? 

‘Zonghui’, Mingjue warns, ‘drop it.’ 

This only seems to ignite the fire in Zonghui’s eyes, but thankfully Zonghui changes the subject, knowing he won’t get anything from Mingjue like this. While Zonghui chattered about something the disciples did during training today, Mingjue’s brain wandered. Only with this conversation, Mingjue truly realised how close his relationship with Zonghui was. Had anyone else, except for maybe Huaisang or Xichen, tried to talk to him like this, he probably would’ve gotten angry and yeeted them out. With that his mind really started going places. Did this mean Zonghui feels as comfortable around Mingjue as he feels around Zonghui? Does this mean Zonghui might see Mingjue as his best friend too? And why was Zonghui so interested in who Mingjue likes? Is Zonghui interested in Mingjue, or has he just spent too much time with Huaisang to become as bratty as him? 

‘Mingjue-xiong’, Zonghui asked, startling Mingjue out of his thoughts. 

‘Excuse me for not paying attention, I got caught up in my thoughts’ 

‘Thinking about that person you like, huh?’ Zonghui joked. 

‘Why would I be thinking about the person I like when he’s right here!’ Mingjue growled.

Realising what he just said, Mingjue was mortified. He didn’t know why he said that. He could blame it on the alcohol but he knows he hasn’t drunk nearly enough for that. Zonghui looked just as shocked as he was. But his shocked expression quickly made place for something else Mingjue couldn’t quite place, and that scared him. 

‘Please, Zonghui’, Mingjue begged, ‘just please be my best friend right now, not the guy I just confessed my love to.’

‘I’m your best friend?’ Zonghui exclaimed, seemingly more shocked about that than Mingjue’s love confession. 

‘I didn’t think you thought of me that way, chifeng-zun’, he added in a playful tone that made Mingjue wonder what exactly he was referring to. 

Zonghui leaned forward and toying with the cup in his hands. Mingjue’s felt sick to his stomach, that’s how nervous this entire situation made him. Mingjue doesn’t even remember when was the last time he was this nervous. 

‘What if’, Zonghui said, ‘I want to be both?’ 

‘Why would you want that?’ 

‘So that as your best friend I can say to stop worrying about what you just said, and as the person you confessed your love to I could lean over the table right now and kiss you’, Zonghui said, staring at Mingjue intently. 

‘Oh’, Mingjue mumbled after just staring at him for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly Zonghui was telling him.

‘So?’, Zonghui asked, ‘what do you say? Can I be both?’