WHO: Jiang Cheng & George Weasley WHAT: They talk about brothers and then run into creepy fuckers. Jiang Cheng gets bit. WHEN: First day of the plot WARNINGS: Monster bite & bleeding & monster killing STATUS: Complete
Jiang Cheng and George hadn't made a habit of patrolling together, but every once in a while, they went for a nature walk that turned into a long enough hike, it may as well have been a standard patrol. It wasn't even necessarily intentional. Jiang Cheng just found time with George to be equal parts peaceful and distracting. Before he knew it, they'd walked much further than planned.
In this instance, it was intentional however. Psychic Outlanders had reported a potential threat in the forest but had very little to go on. And Jiang Cheng was feeling restless. He'd asked George to join him and was considerably well-armed with his sword and zidian, and his totem on a chain under his shirt. He didn't know what to look for, of course, so he found his attention drifting as they walked. A part of him stayed resolutely watching the trees around them. The rest mulled over his brother and his own seemingly endless inability to make up for past mistakes.
He'd thought things were better. That he was better. He supposed that was naive. His edges were still sharp.
He sighed and ducked under a branch. "Have you and Fred ever been truly at odds?"
It wasn’t every day that he got to steal Jiang Cheng away all to himself. Between his own responsibilities to the shop, his brother, and his employees and JC’s work with the DOA and maintaining his own familial obligations, they had to actively carve out time for each other. And they did - lunches, dinners, the occasional breakfast before the chaos of the day descended on them. Sometimes they had weekends away, other times they spent the night together - oftentimes just sleeping. It was nice. Domestic even.
Comfortable.
But George tried not to think of it in those terms. Not yet. Not when every single “I love you” was still so precious and a surprise, not when they both were afraid of how they might be ripped away from this world where they had gotten a second chance with their brothers. So he took it day by day and when Jiang Cheng suggested they go out for a walk during one of their mutual free moments to see if they could catch sight of whatever the psychics were worried about, he jumped at the chance.
He wasn’t entirely surprised by the question, knowing in part that the screengrab he had posted the other day might have prompted some thoughts between the Yunmeng brothers. But before he could assume too much, he started off light in an attempt to to gauge what this was about exactly. “There was this one time back in school where we fought over the same woman. It was stupid, in hindsight, how jealous I got when he got her to go to the ball that the school was throwing with him,” George admitted, remembering the years he and Angelina had spent missing Fred after the war. Every anniversary of his death, they had gotten drunk and made bad decisions together. If he was still at home, there was a chance he would be doing that still. “It was petty and childish though. Something I don’t even remember until I really think about it.”
Thankfully, this place gave him a chance to do better. To be better.
“Hm.” Jiang Cheng was a little horrified at the thought of him and Wei Wuxian ever having the same taste in partners. Wen Qing had probably shuddered somewhere, just now. That thought at least made him smirk. “I suppose I should be glad Wei Wuxian locked onto to Lan Wangji so young. Though I would’ve prefer such a fight over the one we did have.”
He stepped delicately over a boulder and eyed their surroundings. It would probably be better to fly, but it was harder to talk in the air. He put it off a bit longer.
“He thinks I never say anything nice to him," he frowned. "I feel like I have but it’s not as if I’m any good at knowing. Kindness wasn’t a virtue under my mother’s tutelage.” It was about as close as he got to an insult about his mother. He respected her memory and his obligations too much to run her name through the mud.
“You don’t say anything nice to anyone,” George pointed out, before raising his hand and going, “No wait, let me explain myself. Your love language consists of acts of service and nonverbal cues.” It was why it took George so long to realize that maybe the attraction and affection he felt for the man he was with right now might have been returned. It had taken him a lot more time than it should have to realize that Jiang Cheng wasn’t as blunt with his affections as he was and, in record time honestly, he came to accept that and got on his level.
“Honestly, the worst thing you could be to someone is polite. I’ve found that you’re usually only polite because of your job or because you don’t like the person and would rather be somewhere else. It’s when you’re sniping at someone that I know at some level you like them,” George explained, scratching his chin with the grip of his wand. “You and your brother have always had a special kind of relationship though. You two have been through too much, though, so maybe you should sit down with him and talk it out?”
It was a little unnerving to have someone know him so well after only a year, but Jiang Cheng couldn't pretend it wasn't also wonderful. His chest felt warm and tender, even if the subject matter still made him tense. He sighed.
"He knows these things about me but he has always been one who prefers things be said out loud. I don't know why. He speaks enough for the whole family and married the most word-stingy of us all." He sounded fond and exasperated all at once. Talking it out wasn't his idea of a good time. But he couldn't argue that it was probably necessary. It was impractical to keep hoping his "acts of service and noverbal cues" would be enough to prove how much he loved his brother. He didn't want to make the same mistakes all over again.
"I--" A noise sounded from off in the bushes, drawing Jiang Cheng's sharp gaze. He lifted his hand to signal to George to be silent. Two horrifying creatures lumbered out from behind the trees, familiar even if he hadn't personally fought these types of monsters in the snowglobe. He cursed under his breath and drew his sword.
Had he been someone he didn’t care this much for, George might not have paid attention to Jiang Cheng and how he ticked. As it was, something about the grumpy combative man he had met back in Dark Vallo had drawn his attention and it had stuck.
But all those thoughts were dashed the second he saw Jiang Cheng go from the ease of their conversation to a stance of high alert to potential danger among them. What drew his attention made itself known quickly though, as the unforgettable creatures from Dark Vallo made an appearance.
“Oh fucking hell!” George hissed, flipping his wand back around and casting a spell to push the creatures back. “Aim for the heads! Cutting them off, stabbing them, incinerating them are the only things that will keep them down!” There wasn’t much time for talking after that, as more creatures joined in on the fight and they were forced to defend themselves.
The instructions were appreciated. As sharp as Jiang Cheng's mind was, it had been a year since the snowglobe and without the personal experience, he'd have to remember hearsay. Still, he didn't get as much time in the field now as he should. It left him feeling a little rusty as they were suddenly fighting a handful more of the creatures. He beheaded one, and stuck one to a tree with his sword through its head, but in the time it took to free his weapon, a third jumped at his back and sank teeth into his shoulder.
He cried out. It was a rare sound from him, one of surprise and pain, where he would often just grit his teeth. He tugged fruitlessly at his sword and looked over his other shoulder for George. Looking for help was also rare. Love apparently made him needy but the creature chewing on him felt like a good enough reason to plead.
"George," he called out. The pain made him fumble as he tried to let go of his sword and unwind zidian instead. "I need you!"
Merlin's left tit, exploding heads was messy business, but someone had to do it. George firmly kept his mouth shut as another of those creatures lost its head and the splatter from the resulting explosion coated him with blood and brain matter. He was never going to feel clean again.
But his mental musings about how gross this whole ordeal was took a backseat when he heard Jiang Cheng cry out. Whipping around to see where he had ended up, George spotted him pinned between the dead body of one of the creatures lodged against a tree with his sword and another one from behind, very much alive and trying to take a chunk out of his shoulder.
A rage overtook him and he cast out incantation after incantation at the creatures between where he had been standing and where Jiang Cheng was struggling to get his weapon back. Clearing the area of the other creatures that had followed after the first two, George swiftly grabbed the one that wouldn't let his grip go on the other man and forced his wand through its head.
Summoning up the memory of the first time Jiang Cheng told him he loved him, he snarled out, "Expecto Patronum!" A bright and shining silver snake shot out through his wand and through the creature's head, the creature finally unlatching itself from Jiang Cheng's shoulder as it unleashed an unholy death knell before collapsing.
Ripping his wand out of its head, George rushed forward to grab his lover. Thoughts about how this was the first time he had been capable of casting the Patronus Charm after Fred's death would have to wait until later. Right now, he was only concerned over Jiang Cheng and how he was. "Are you okay?" He asked, face pinched in worry as he wiped his wand down against his jeans, before putting the tip of it to the other man's shoulder and muttering cleaning and healing spells.
George's magic was often more visual than Jiang Cheng's own and he was almost sad he was facing the tree and not the glow of magic he could see from the corner of his eyes. He turned as the creature fell and he reached for his bleeding shoulder. He was already pale but he looked even more ashen now. Nodding actually hurt and he hissed.
"It hurts but I'll live." Healing wasn't anywhere near his strongest skill but he was able to redirect the energy of his core to slow the bleeding and help with George's healing attempt. His hands shook as they dropped to his sides. There were still two monsters left, but they scattered blindly away into the trees. Jiang Cheng frowned, knowing they should follow. He took a step closer to George rather than the trees. "Remind me to ask you about that spell later. It felt powerful. I don't think I've ever seen you do it."
To have survived a war, George had picked up just enough healing spells that he could patch someone up to get them out of immediate danger. And that's what he did now, slowing the bleeding enough that they could probably teleport out of there without Jiang Cheng passing out or risking an infection.
Probably.
Nothing was for certain, but George knew he couldn't keep pushing forward with his love this injured. Even if the right move had been to chase after those creatures, he wasn't risking putting them in more danger when they weren't 100%. Because even with Jiang Cheng assisting him with the healing, the man looked too pale for comfort.
"I don't think I've ever been able to cast it that strongly before," George admitted. "It may be the wand. It feels right in a way that my old one hadn't in a long time." Casting a look around to make sure they weren't going to get ambushed again, he ducked around to Jiang Cheng's uninjured side and studied him against his side. "Come on. I'm getting you to the Chakrabarti Clinic so you can get looked at."
"Oh?" It gave Jiang Cheng a significant thrill to know George had succeeded at strong magic in an effort to protect him. Strong magic thrilled him period, but strong magic used for his benefit was better. His face would have heated if he wasn't a little dizzy with blood loss.
"That pleases me," he admitted plainly. That too could probably be blamed on shock. He scowled, but it was a childish thing.
"I have fought with worse injuries, you know." As if to prove it, he moved back to his sword and ripped it out of the dead monster. The effect was unfortunately ruined by the fact that he swayed and had to catch himself on the tree. His gaze dropped to his shoulder. "But I suppose this mess might track more to us. Can you apparate us there? I don't trust my balance on a sword."
Despite the seriousness of the situation and the implications of what it meant for a creature from Dark Vallo to be there, George gave an amused chuckle and reached out to steady Jiang Cheng before he ate the forest's floor. "You're going to be even more pleased when you find out that it's the first time I've been able to cast it since Fred died and that's because I need to be able to focus on a truly happy moment to be able to cast that. And that moment centered squarely on you."
It had always been easier for George to show affection and the depths of it than it had been for Jiang Cheng. Maybe someone else would have minded that, but not George because he could pick up on the reciprocation in other ways. The very fact that Jiang Cheng wasn't being stubborn and was trusting him to get them home meant a lot.
"I'll get us there safely," the ginger confirmed, reaching out once again to steady himself at the other man's side. "Brace yourself," he warned, before expertly Apparating the two of them away.
Jiang Cheng had barely enough time to turn a shocked expression towards George and to whisper, "Really?" Emotions were ricocheting wildly through him but then George was reaching for him and he knew time was short. There would be a healer fussing with him and no privacy for the next little while, so he made sure to squeeze George's forearm as he closed his eyes.
"Don't think we're done talking about this, George Weasley," he murmured fondly, just before the side-along apparation swept him away.