Thread by @undeadbiscuit

#sangyao for @micchikureshima
The Whump Wheel chose... Drugged!

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Nie Huaisang was not in his guest room.

While the Nie sect heir was just as prone to chasing birds and finding interesting spots to paint in Koi Tower as he was at home, Jin Guangyao was... concerned.

There had been *certain things* said during dinner that had his well-honed instincts on alert.

Pressing his mouth into a thin line, he set off to check the usual places.

When he spotted familiar green and gold robes near the lotus pond his brother had built for Jiang-guaniang,

he almost let out a sigh of relief-

-and then he realized something was very off.

Nie Huaisang was slumped against the back of the bench, his arms folded against his stomach and his knees drawn up. As Jin Guangyao got closer, he could see the other young man was shivering

*violently* despite the warm weather and he was so pale that his mouth was almost blue.

Swearing vividly in the back of his head and biting the inside of his cheek to keep those thoughts from escaping, Jin Guangyao quickened his pace.

"Huaisang!"

Nie Huaisang tried to

lift his head, but it only lolled in a different direction like that of a cloth doll whose stuffing had worn out. "Ssaa- san- ssann- g- ge?" he slurred, sounding like it was taking all his strength just to force the words out. "'ss- go- goinn' on?"

He should be asking Huaisang

that, but it was evident he wouldn't get much of an answer, especially with the way his eyes were refusing to focus.

Still- "What are you doing here so late, Huaisang?" he asked as he sat down and quickly adjusted their positions so Nie Huaisang could lean on him.

Gods, Huaisang's skin was like ice. An idea of what he might have been slipped was beginning to form in Jin Guangyao's head, and he didn't like it at all.

"Got... g-got... got a... nnnote," Nie Huaisang mumbled into his shoulder.

"Do you have it with you?"

Nie Huaisang lifted

an unsteady hand and pointed to a shadowed spot close enough to the bench that Jin Guangyao could simply lean over to grab it without having to jostle the other man too much.

Even so, it was enough that Nie Huaisang made a quiet, wheezy little whimper, which Jin Guangyao quickly

shushed with gentle reassurance and hair stroking.

The note further confirmed his suspicious feelings. The wording alone was deceptively innocent, but he knew his father's tricks all too well.

A scowl crossed his face as he burned the paper, then he smoothed it away as he

wrapped his arms around Huaisang to help him to his feet. Almost immediately, he had to hold Huaisang tighter to keep him from collapsing in a boneless heap, but it didn't bother him.

Or, it *did,* but not because of the weight.

"Shh, I've got you," he crooned soothingly

when Nie Huaisang gave another soft whimper. "Off to bed with you, then I'll help you get better."

And *guard* him until Father learned not to touch what wasn't his.