Chapter Text
There was something poetic about shadows and light in the way those two contrasted and interacted with each other - if one was without the other then it would be unrecognizable.
It was in the way the candles and moonlight bathed Lan Wangji's skin, diffusing the formality and stern coldness so ingrained in him. It made him softer and sharper, made every shift of his bones under his skin, every sway of his hair, every movement an artwork that not even the finest brushes and hands could portray.
The day wore down and took with it Lan Wangji - no, Hanguang-jun's infamous uptight and strict formality. Hair unpinned and loose, the silver hair combs and hair pins tucked in a silver box Wei Wuxian gifted him from the treasury. Freed from the crest of his clan that Wei Wuxian made sure to have embroidered on any of his robes, his sword on the stand, Lan Wangji was rendered almost unrecognizable.
Deceptively soft, as if those arms didn't hold enough strength to crumble mountains into dust.
His.
It set Wei Wuxian's teeth on edge, even as the heady scent of Lan Wangji's favorite incense hung thick in the air and every exquisite note Lan Wangji plucked on his qin a mere hum as he stared at the man sitting primly atop him.
"So good for me, Lan Zhan," he whispered, his voice thick and raw, barely heard over the song Lan Wangji was playing.
It wasn't a Gusu Lan song as far as Wei Wuxian knew, the melody far too passionate for a sect that forbade too much emotion and there was no spiritual energy in each note played. Wei Wuxian wondered where Lan Wangji learned it, or if he himself composed it.
Wei Wuxian mouthed at a bare shoulder, pressing his teeth on Lan Wangji's skin, and running his tongue on the freshly bitten bruise. The red painting Lan Wangji's ears had long since strayed down his neck, faded vermillion upon a white silk.
He brushed Lan Wangji's hair away from his nape, pressing one, two wet kisses there, and inhaling the heady scent of sandalwood, sex, sweat and skin until it seared into his lungs.
He groaned softly as Lan Wangji tightened around him, his soft walls cradling his cock in its embrace. Liquid heat simmered in his belly. They had been like this for almost two hours now, with Wei Wuxian barely out of his ceremonial robes. His crown tossed carelessly on the floor.
His belt and pants had been lost somewhere, and Wei Wuxian took perverse satisfaction at the sight of Lan Wangji dressed in nothing but a flimsy lace under robe that could've sent the entire Clouds Recesses into collective comatose. It hid nothing.
Wei Wuxian saw the flex of Lan Wangji's muscles, the hint of his trim waist. Hidden beneath the curtain of his hair were the dimples on his lower back dipping down into a shapely ass which Wei Wuxian shamelessly touched underneath the lace pooling over his thighs.
Lan Wangji was silent, posture perfect despite straddling his lap with his back pressed flush against his chest, ass a soft and warm sheath around his cock. Wei Wuxian parted the front of that sorry excuse of a lace robe, as thin as gossamer, as white as snow until it pooled around Lan Wangji's elbows.
He spread both of his hands on Lan Wangji’s chest. He felt Lan Wangji’s heart thrumming against one splayed hand, so dear and alive, as another one drifted down to toy with one erect nipple. He pinched and rolled the nub in time with the song. "That's it, good boy. Play for me."
Perhaps it was from muscle memory or from dealing with Wei Wuxian's bullshit, but Lan Wangji never faltered despite Wei Wuxian's attentions. If it wasn't for the way he clenched around Wei Wuxian's cock, Wei Wuxian would have thought that he was forgotten, just a mere toy for the famous Hanguang-jun to use. As if Wei Wuxian was just his throne.
The song washed over them, interrupted by their heavy breathing and the rustling of robes.
"You like this, don't you?" Wei Wuxian chuckled and slipped the hand fondling Lan Wangji’s nipple down to pet where they were connected but not before petting Lan Wangji’s cock and his sac.
He traced the wide stretch of Lan Wangji's rim, writing unnamable characters with the traces of oil and Wei Wuxian’s previous come before settling his hand on Lan Wangji's hip at the sound of Lan Wangji's hitched breathing. He caressed the straining muscle and the bruise the shape of his hand there.
Wei Wuxian pulled back a bit and fucked in slow and deep, chuckling at the loud squelching sound as Lan Wangji sucked him in deeper. Lan Wangji fluttered around him, the muscles of his back tensing as Wei Wuxian rolled his hips up against his sweet spot. Still, Lan Wangji didn't miss a note.
Wei Wuxian caressed his back and leaned against the pillows, a smile playing on his lips. "Sitting so pretty for me, servicing me. My dearest Concubine Lan."
Lan Wangji paused. He looked over his shoulder and glared at Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian grinned at him despite the well-worn bittersweet ache the reaction wrought. It reminded him of the early days of their strange relationship. When Lan Wangji never acknowledged him other than to fight or scold him about breaking the rules due to his mere existence. When he condemned Wei Wuxian's choice to cultivate the unrighteous path. Then it happened again when Wei Wuxian ascended to immortality and became what Wen Ruohan failed to be.
When Wei Wuxian rose above them all with nothing but a flute and an army of their dead, succeeding with nothing but blood and bone in the wake of a new and more hopeless war than the Sunshot Campaign as he stood between them and the new threat from the south.
Always, those golden eyes glaring at him with disappointment, with barely repressed anger. Wei Wuxian had mourned the times when he and Lan Wangji were friends. Closer than most. Oh how the world cried when it fell apart, but didn’t begrudge them this arrangement. This was enough for Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian ripped those thoughts away and crumbled them inside the deepest recesses of his mind. Lan Wangji was here to keep Wei Wuxian in line, this Wei Wuxian knew. He knelt before the steps of Wei Wuxian's new palace and refused to leave because of this. He accepted Wei Wuxian's joking proposal to be his advisor and personal qin player just to keep his clan and everyone else safe from Wei Wuxian's alleged wrath and greed.
Somewhere along the line, the tension that had been running between them since their youth cracked and Wei Wuxian found himself desperately writhing under Lan Wangji's passionate yet fumbling touches behind the bushes.
Lan Wangji was the willing sacrifice, the lamb thrown in a wolf's den with the flimsy hope that the wolf would be satisfied with one pretty sheep alone. The lovely distraction that won't hesitate to kill when needed.
Wei Wuxian was lucky enough that Lan Wangji tolerated him. That they still managed to get along together. The clans were lucky that Wei Wuxian hadn't set them on fire for daring to do that to Lan Wangji.
"What?" Wei Wuxian sat up again and gently caressed Lan Wangji's hips, his waist, his abdomen and purposefully avoided his straining cock. Lan Wangji's eyes narrowed. "Aren't you my beautiful concubine in all but name? Concubine Lan."
Well, in a way he was. Anyone who looked too closely knew Lan Wangji had Wei Wuxian's favor. From the refineries and lavish gifts Wei Wuxian showered upon him perhaps second only to A-Yuan, which Lan Wangji frowned at but accepted knowing it was rude to refuse an emperor’s gift.
From the trust given to him since he was the only outsider allowed to be close to the crown prince.
From the imperial orders which allowed him entrance to Wei Wuxian's rooms without seeking Wei Wuxian's permission first, and the field amassing an impressive number of rabbits. It came to no one's surprise when Wei Wuxian allowed Lan Wangji to move his things in his rooms.
It wasn't an odd sight to see Lan Wangji coming out of Wei Wuxian's doors early in the morning, nor to see him entering it at night. It wasn't an odd sight to see them together, Lan Wangji walking shoulder to shoulder when propriety dictated otherwise. But this was Wei Wuxian’s palace, his city, and everyone knew when to hold their tongue in front of him.
After all, Wei Wuxian shouldn’t show favor to a clan or sect, even for Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng, but this was Hanguang-jun and everyone knew of Hanguang-jun’s righteousness.
There were whispers of an illicit love affair. It was unavoidable given their shared history and how much time they spent with each other. Stories and ballads of a love story so moving Wei Wuxian wished it actually existed.
How Hanguang-jun was so in love with the Yiling Laozu he refused to leave his side even for a moment, even daring to turn his back on the world and his clan. How Hanguang-jun knelt on the steps of the newly built palace and begged for entry. How the Yiling Laozu eloped with him.
Wei Wuxian laughed himself sick after hearing them, but he didn't stop his favoritism, if only to watch the Lans' reaction every time Lan Wangji appeared subtly wearing one of Wei Wuxian's gifts during their visits.
Wei Wuxian didn't forget the look on Lan Wangji's brother and uncle's faces during the morning assembly, when they saw their beloved Second Jade sitting in the place meant for the empress, forehead bare and his forehead ribbon peeking out of Wei Wuxian's sleeves.
It was perhaps a rebellious streak that developed too late. Wei Wuxian wanted to applaud Lan Wangji for it.
Lan Wangji had wrapped it around Wei Wuxian's wrist while helping him prepare for the day earlier. Wei Wuxian didn't know what the significance of that act was since Lan Wangji only did it during their everyday activities.
Wei Wuxian only briefly remembered Lan Wangji's anger when they were caught stumbling out of Sect Leader Lan Yi’s cave because Lan Wangji had no choice but to protect him, when he accidentally pulled it off during the Wen's discussion conference and Lan Wangji's distress when he pulled it off in that cave to save Lan Wangji's leg.
Wei Wuxian hadn't asked, distracted by the sight of Lan Wangji falling to his knees, taking Wei Wuxian into his prim and proper mouth and nearly making them late.
Now, despite how composed Lan Wangji looked, there was no denying the redness of his ears, the sheen of sweat slicking his skin, how his pupils were blown wide, and his erratic heartbeat where it echoed inside Wei Wuxian's chest.
He was devastating. Lan Wangji had always been beautiful but there was something human about him in moments like this. Something unholy, as if Wei Wuxian plucked out the moon and turned it into this mortal creature then sequestered him away. Made him filthy and unmade despite the purity and divinity that should have crowned him from the start.
Like this, Lan Wangji barely resembled the cold and unyielding jade his skin was molded from.
Like this, it felt like Wei Wuxian could have him, keep him close in his heart. Like Wei Wuxian could be his.
It made heat burn under Wei Wuxian's skin. It made the empty yawning ache where Wei Wuxian's golden core used to rest fill with warmth even as immortality licked at his fingertips.
"Not your concubine." Lan Wangji bit out.
Wei Wuxian laughed. For some reason, Lan Wangji utterly loathed that word which was why Wei Wuxian teased him with it in the privacy of their rooms.
Lan Wangji grew colder whenever talks of beautiful ladies and even young masters being introduced into Wei Wuxian's non-existent harem reached his ears, and when talks of political marriages entered the discussion.
It must be in one of the Lan's rules embedded so tightly in him which strictly forbade taking more than one spouse.
Well, Wei Wuxian was as interested in them as he had he been interested in ruling until he was left without a choice.
How could Wei Wuxian look at these famed beauties with nothing more than a superficial appreciation of their looks when the most beautiful and important of them all, the subject of his confusing teenage fantasies graced his bed every single day?
Besides, Wei Wuxian already had an heir to his name.
"Perhaps er-gege would like to be Imperial Noble Consort Lan?" Wei Wuxian cooed, wrapping the hand with the forehead ribbon around Lan Wangji's cock. Wei Wuxian lazily stroked him from base to tip, rotating his wrist in the way he knew Lan Wangji liked.
Lan Wangji looked so good in Wei Wuxian’s colors. Red and black stark against his porcelain skin.
Lan Wangji looked away and resumed playing. Stubborn and unyielding despite how wet he was, squeezing Wei Wuxian's cock like he didn't want Wei Wuxian to move, how achingly hard he was in Wei Wuxian's hand.
Wei Wuxian crowded close against him, chin against Lan Wangji's shoulder and face tucked against his neck. He wrapped both arms around him and felt Lan Wangji relax against him. The momentary gentleness was Wei Wuxian's tender reckoning.
The last note of the song rang in the air.
“Amazing as always, er-gege.” Wei Wuxian kissed Lan Wangji's neck, right where his pulse was. A faint tremor ran through Lan Wangji’s body. He tilted his head, allowing Wei Wuxian more access.
Wei Wuxian muffled a groan, a burst of heat filling him at the action. He kissed Lan Wangji’s neck again, nipped the soft skin with too sharp teeth and sucked another mark. He soothed each mark with his tongue.
Lan Wangji started moving his hips, rocking against him, making small tight circles in Wei Wuxian’s lap, his breathing turning heavy. Lan Wangji could be impatient when it came to taking his pleasure. He still stopped when Wei Wuxian placed a hand on his hip and rubbed the jut of his hipbone.
Wei Wuxian ached to bend Lan Wangji and fuck him until Lan Wangji lost his composure. He wanted to tease Lan Wangji until the man snapped, pushed Wei Wuxian down, bound his wrists and rode him with fury and abandon, a cold imperious martial god until Wei Wuxian screamed his name for all the occupants of his palace to hear.
He wanted Lan Wangji to manhandle him and mount him, fuck him until Wei Wuxian forgot he was the emperor, until he was simply Wei Wuxian of Yunmeng and the Wei Ying Lan Wangji got along with in the lull between Wei Wuxian's worst moments. The Wei Ying Lan Wangji called for during these moments.
But this was fine. A comfortable, unhurried pleasure, banked fires and cold nights under warm blankets. Wei Wuxian wished he could stay like this forever.
Of course he had to ruin it with his mouth.
"Your body is so honest despite your silence, my zhiyin." Wei Wuxian nipped his ear, kissing the flushed shell. "You look so beautiful taking my cock."
Wei Wuxian pushed Lan Wangji further into his lap, thrusting inside Lan Wangji's warmth shallowly. He removed his hand around Lan Wangji's cock to suck Lan Wangji's precome off his fingertips. The bitter and salty musk thick on his tongue. Wei Wuxian cocked his head and smirked, "You taste so good, baobei."
Lan Wangji inhaled sharply and pushed himself deeper against Wei Wuxian's cock before he stopped himself at the nickname. "Shameless!"
"But you like me shameless!" Wei Wuxian wrapped his hand around Lan Wangji's cock again.
He pumped him slowly, teasingly, smiling wider when Lan Wangji’s thick and heavy cock twitched. He teasingly ran a finger down one of the veins. "See, you got harder. Ah, Hanguang-jun, Hanguang-jun. Look at you, everyone would fall into qi deviation if they finally got confirmation about what the peerless Second Jade of Lan is really doing with the evil Yiling Laozu behind closed doors."
Wei Wuxian kissed the back of his head, whimpering when Lan Wangji rolled his hips. "But who would believe me when I say that you made me this way? I was so innocent until you ravished me so thoroughly. After all, they still think you are the untouched paragon of virtue and innocence-“
“Wei Ying-“
“But you're so great to me, my dearest Lan Zhan. Maybe this emperor should let his dearest musician rest, hm? After all, Lan Zhan did so good. Put your hands on the table for me, baobei."
Lan Wangji shuddered and the action sent rippling shivers down Wei Wuxian’s spine as Lan Wangji’s walls squeezed him tighter. "Wei Ying."
Wei Wuxian could plainly see the shivers coursing along the strong planes of his back. Wei Wuxian ripped the lace robe and let it pool next to their thighs. He pushed Lan Wangji's hair over one shoulder and caught sight of the faint red scratches Wei Wuxian left from last night which Lan Wangji refused to heal.
Wei Wuxian hungrily mouthed down Lan Wangji's spine, laving each scratch as Wei Wuxian pressed him down, encouraging Lan Wangji to brace himself against the table. Lan Wangji's thighs spread wider to accommodate him.
Wei Wuxian kneeled, admiring the portrait Lan Wangji made which shamed all the erotic novels he had in his youth and sent a sharp bolt of pleasure singing in his veins at the knowledge that he was the only one that ever made Lan Wangji like this.
Lan Wangji was so pliant and soft when Wei Wuxian told him to be good for him.
It was tempting to make Lan Wangji pose like this and paint him surrounded with magnolia blossoms. Another addition to Wei Wuxian's growing collection.
Mine, Wei Wuxian thought, spreading Lan Wangji’s ass. He pulled out slowly, mouth dry at the sight of Lan Wangji’s rim stretched around his cock, the slight resistance. He spread Lan Wangji’s ass wider, placed his thumbs in his hole, stretching him wide open. The flesh parted easily, loose and slick.
Wei Wuxian couldn’t help it. He leaned down and kissed dip of Lan Wangji’s spine. He licked a path to each dimple, tasting the salt of his sweat that was gathered there, then he peppered butterfly kisses towards the curve of Lan Wangji’s ass cheek. Over a slowly fading bite mark. Then to his hole. He felt Lan Wangji stiffen.
“Wei Ying.” It was nearly a low growl, a warning and it made Wei Wuxian’s cock jump. He gave that cute pink hole a mournful parting kiss before settling back on his heels.
Wei Wuxian took his cock in his hand and rubbed the tip against that pink and twitching rose bud, watching his precome smear white against Lan Wangji’s skin. He slipped the tip inside, letting Lan Wangji’s body suckle him before pulling out again, more amused and fascinated. He did it again and again.
“Wei Ying!” Lan Wangji snapped, arching his back, hips raised like an offering. His back was tense, a coil about to spring.
Wei Wuxian laughed, knowing that if he teased him more, Lan Wangji would take matters in his own hands. “Whatever my dearest concubine wishes.”
Wei Wuxian slowly entered him and watched that winking hole swallow his cock greedily. So hot and tight. He fucked Lan Wangji hard and fast, patience lost. He made sure to hit Lan Wangji's prostate with every thrust. The sound of their fucking filled the room, Lan Wangji's quiet panting and moans of Wei Wuxian's name barely heard. Always so quiet until Wei Wuxian ripped his sounds out of his lips.
In this moment, Lan Wangji was his and Wei Wuxian loved him even though Lan Wangji would never feel the same.
"Who would have thought that you could be this insatiable?" Wei Wuxian draped himself over Lan Wangji's back. Lan Wangji clenched around him harder at the new angle. Wei Wuxian reached out and turned Lan Wangji's face, capturing his mouth.
Lan Wangji kissed like hunger, deep and unrelenting. Their mouths moved messily, sloppily, swallowing each other's moans until their lungs screamed at them for air. Wei Wuxian would never get tired of it. He already memorized Lan Wangji's mouth, his taste.
Wei Wuxian pulled back, licking the string of saliva connecting their lips away and continued, snapping his hips faster as pleasure built in his belly in steady starbursts, pulsed in his heartbeat, made his toes curl against the mats.
"You're really shameless, er-gege. Biting me until couldn't wear my normal robes anymore. Sucking my nipples until they're sore. Fucking me awake almost every morning. Riding me or just waiting for me to take you. Playing for me while warming my cock. Crawling into my bed every night, tying me up and not even stopping when I beg you to." Wei Wuxian whined when Lan Wangji tilted his hips higher and grinded against him. Pleasure threatened to tear itself out of his skin. He had to force them to stop before he could come.
He playfully pinched Lan Wangji's waist for all the times he had been Lan Wangji's victim of waist-pinching. "Why are four days a week not enough for you? This poor emperor will end up breaking his hips. Have mercy, Second Young Master Lan."
"Wei Ying, please." Lan Wangji panted, eyes fluttering close as his red, puffy mouth went slack.
Wei Wuxian reached under them and started stroking Lan Wangji faster, while murmuring, "But you like it, don't you? Marking me. Fucking me so hard until I could barely move, until I get pregnant with how much you come inside me. Do you really want to give me another heir? Another bun to look after? Ah, but you force me to wake so early in the morning. How will I ever cope? So mean, Lan er-gege."
Wei Wuxian punctuated each word with a thrust. Nine shallows and one deep. Then he whispered against Lan Wangji's ear, "But what if I put a baby in you, Lan Zhan?"
He placed a hand on Lan Wangji’s abdomen.
Lan Wangji let out a sound that could've been a whimper or a soft keen, and it burned at Wei Wuxian, added to the fire. Lan Wangji's fingers scrabbled against the desk. There was a faint crack. Lan Wangji spoke, in a strained voice that wracked through Wei Wuxian's control. "Wei Ying, come in me. Now."
"Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian rasped, losing his patience and fucking him faster and harder. Lan Wangji gasped his name. “You’re amazing. So good for me, so beautiful, so perfect. Lan Zhan-“
He wasn't going to last long. White heat curled in his veins and exploded behind his eyes. Wei Wuxian muffled his cry against Lan Wangji's back as he came, hips jerking uncontrollably as he filled Lan Wangji with his come until it dripped down to the mat and floor cushions under them.
With his last remaining strength, Wei Wuxian pressed the spot under the tip of Lan Wangji's cock and grinded his softening cock against Lan Wangji's prostate. Hearing the soft noise from the other man, he laughed breathlessly.
Lan Wangji trembled in his release, squeezing him to the point of painful overstimulation.
Wei Wuxian pulled out quickly as they slumped on the floor, curling towards each other. Lan Wangji pulled him into his arms, and Wei Wuxian tried not to flinch as Lan Wangji kissed his forehead. Wei Wuxian shuddered at the overwhelming sensation clawing out of his ribcage.
"Wei Ying," Lan Wangji said his name in the way Wei Wuxian dreamed of. As if Wei Wuxian was truly wanted, as if he was something precious, as if he was worth it in the first place.
Lan Wangji pushed a sweaty strand of hair away from his face, tucked it behind his ear before cupping his cheek, thumb stroking under his eye. Something dark and achingly vulnerable bled into Lan Wangji's expression. The shadows and candlelights didn't help the illusion.
Wei Wuxian turned his face away and closed his eyes. He was far too terrified to even let himself hope and see something that wasn't there in the first place.
Outside a magnolia blossom fell from its branch and joined its rotting brethren on the ground, obscured by the tree's shadow.