Chapter Text
Wei Wuxian strolled along the paths of Koi Tower, humming a familiar tune to himself. He couldn’t remember a time he was trusted to wander about by himself. He and Wangji had arrived a few days before the rest of the wedding guests, mainly to provide moral support to the two grooms. Despite the physical emptiness of the tower, the air around buzzed as if the guests had already arrived. Wuxian gazed up at the silver moon, which was peeking through the golden tops of the buildings. It was the middle of the night and most people were asleep, which meant that Wuxian could walk wherever he wished. Just as he was thinking to himself how good it was to be alone, he spotted another figure. Jinling sat on a bench in a small garden, one leg pulled up to his chest, the other hanging. It seemed like Wuxian wasn’t the only night owl…
“Hey!” he called as he approached.
Jinling jumped.
“What are you doing?” he exclaimed.
Wuxian paused.
“Same as you, probably. Can’t sleep?”
Jinling looked away.
“How could I sleep?”
With the wedding only days away, Jinling spent his days ordering people around and working on arrangements, and his nights lying awake anxiously, thinking about what more he had to do. His lack of rest was not doing very much for his complexion, and dark circles had begun to form under his eyes. Wuxian watched him as he tapped his foot on the ground.
“Well… I’ll leave you to it then,” He said, strolling past.
“Wait!” Jinling called.
Wuxian turned and gazed at him curiously. Jinling bit his lip and tapped his foot even faster.
“Could I talk to you about something?” he asked.
Wuxian raised an eyebrow.
“You want my advice?”
He had to admit, the fact that Jinling would come to him for advice made him excited. He sat down on the bench next to Jinling, who moved away to make some space between him. Wuxian waited patiently but Jinling didn’t meet his eyes.
“I can’t ask anyone else…” he muttered.
“Not even your uncle?” Wuxian asked.
Jinling’s eyes widened and his face flushed.
“Are you kidding? Especially not him! God, he would kill me if I tried asking him…” he didn’t finish.
Wuxian’s eyes narrowed.
“Jinling… what is it that you want to talk to me about?” he asked.
Jinlings face shone crimson and he looked down at his feet.
“I’m… I’m worried about our wedding night…” he whispered, barely audible.
Wuxian wondered if he understood correctly, but the look on Jinling’s face confirmed it. He exhaled sharply.
“Well… I don’t know what exactly there is to worry about… It would be just like any other time, right?” he said.
He wished he had some liquor right now. Jinling didn’t answer. He continued to stare down at his bouncing foot, refusing to meet Wuxian’s eyes. A feeling like dread rose inside Wuxian.
“Don’t tell me… You haven’t done it yet?”
Jinling panicked, eyes shooting up.
“Don’t say it so loud, oh my god! No, we haven’t yet, alright?”
Wuxian didn’t know whether to laugh.
“You mean to tell me you two have been sleeping in the same bed for close to two years, and you haven’t slept together yet?” he asked.
“Sizhui hasn’t told me he’s ready… and I didn’t want to ask…” Jinling admitted.
Wuxian shook his head, amazed.
“God, you must have some really strong restraint,” he sighed.
Jinling put his other leg down and placed his hands on his knees.
“What do I do?” he asked softly.
Wuxian sighed uncomfortably, unsure what to say to the boy.
“Well… what do you know already?” he asked.
“I don’t know… Like I’ve seen some stuff and I get the like, mechanics, and everything, but I don’t know how to do that…” Jinling replied.
He was trying not to die from embarrassment. Wuxian raised an eyebrow.
“Oh? You’ve seen some stuff have you?” he asked.
Jinling looked away.
“Yeah, I’ve seen some adult books, what of it?” he huffed.
Wuxian laughed.
“God, how did you get your hands on those?” he choked.
Jinling glared at him.
“The Cloud Recesses aren’t the only place with a forbidden library, okay?”
Wuxian wondered for a moment how he could get his hand on Koi Tower’s secret porn stash… He shook the thought from his mind.
“Well, okay, you understand how everything works, so why not just try it?” he replied.
Jinling frowned.
“What do you mean just try it? I can’t just…”
He pulled at his hair in frustration. Wuxian sighed.
“Do you learn sword fighting from reading books?” he asked.
Jinling paused.
“I mean… no, you practice of course, but-”
“Right, and practising by yourself doesn’t prepare you for sparring with a partner, does it?” Wuxian continued.
“No, but… what does that have anything do with it?” Jinling frowned.
Wuxian sighed.
“What I’m saying is, you need to just go in and read the moves of your opponent. I can tell you now, you won’t be thinking of mechanics in the moment, alright.”
Finally getting the picture, Jinling blushed.
“I guess I understand… but I still don’t know…”
Wuxian sighed even louder.
“Look, Jinling, those porn books aren’t going to tell you what Sizhui likes, you’re going to have to figure it out by yourself.”
He stood to leave.
“Wait!” Jinling spoke.
Wuxian reluctantly sat back down.
“I have another question…”
Wuxian tilted his head curiously, waiting for Jinling to continue.
“How do you go about… tying people up and things?” he asked.
He smiled sheepishly. This kid…
“Jinling! Oh my god, you haven’t even done it normally yet! Stop getting ahead of yourself!”
He didn’t need to be knowing about this kid’s kinky desires.
“But- it seems quite exciting!” Jinling complained.
“Just a second ago you were worried about having sex for the first time and now you’re wondering how to spice it up… do you realise how ridiculous that is?”
Wuxian pinched between his eyebrows. Jinling pouted.
“Any more questions, young maiden?” Wuxian asked, teeth clenching.
Jinling clasped his hands together.
“Um… well… How was your first time with Hanguang Jun?”
Wuxian stood up from his seat, blood rushing to his face.
“Oh fuck no! There’s no way I’m telling you that!” he exclaimed.
Jinling stood as well.
“Well… Who’s the ‘top’ and who’s the ‘bottom’? How do we tell?”
Wuxian shook his head.
“Nope, no more questions,” he huffed, walking away swiftly.
“But-”
“Goodnight, Jinling, have fun!” he interrupted, raising a hand as he walked away.
He returned to the room he was staying in and crawled into bed next to Wangji, wishing that he didn’t just have that conversation with Jinling.
He woke at noon the next day pleasantly surprised to see that Wangji was still hanging about. Wuxian supposed that because they weren’t at Gusu, Wangji had less important things to do. He grinned to himself. That meant this was the perfect opportunity.
“Hey, Lanzhan, what are you doing?” he croaked sleepily.
Wangji didn’t look up from the paper he was pouring over.
“Lanzhan… come here!” he flirted.
Wangji glanced up at him briefly, then returned to what he was studying. It seemed to be some sort of arrangement for the wedding. Although Jinling thought he had control of everything, Wangji had been secretly trailing behind fixing things that were missed. Wuxian pouted.
“You’re no fun!” he huffed.
Again, Wangji ignored him. Wuxian rolled from the bed and pulled on his robes.
“I guess I’ll just go somewhere else then!” he threatened.
“Mn,” Wangji replied, not really listening.
Wuxian rolled his eyes and stepped out of the room. The spring sun was warm and bright, and as it hung high in the sky it shone off the golden accents of the buildings in an almost blinding way. Squinting in the light, Wuxian brought a hand up to shade his eyes. As he did so, he spotted a white-clad figure just down the path. He sighed.
“Sizhui, you really have to stop doing this,” he said, walking towards him.
Sizhui turned and smiled at him brightly. Behind this smile, however, his aura was tense.
“Master Wei, fancy seeing you here,” he said, quite forced.
Wuxian stared at him blankly.
“A-Yuan, you know very well me and Lanzhan are staying here. Which one of us do you want to see?”
Sizhui blushed a little at the use of his name. Although his face had thinned out over the last few years, he still had a youthful appearance.
“I wanted to speak with you, master Wei,” he replied.
Wuxian raised an eyebrow.
“You sure? Cos, Lanzhan gives much better advice than me,” Wuxian asked.
Sizhui smiled softly, averting his gaze.
“I… I don’t feel like this is something I could ask Hanguang Jun…”
Oh no…
“Master Wei, could we go somewhere else?” Sizhui asked.
Wuxian sighed and silently prayed that this wasn’t going where he thought it was. When the two were seated in a private courtyard, Sizhui took a moment to gain his composure.
“Well, as you know, Jinling and I are getting married in a few days…” he stared.
Wuxian nodded.
“Yeah, that’s kind of why we’re here, but go on,” he replied.
Sizhui swallowed and tried his hardest not to lose his mind. The fake calm he was presenting was quite unnerving.
“Master Wei, you probably know this… but it’s a tradition for newly married couples to… uh… consummate their marriage…”
His face remained relatively calm, but his voice shook and sweat had begun to form on his forehead. Wuxian didn’t answer.
“I think… I would like to engage in that tradition… but… I don’t know how…”
The words, formal and round-about, came out stilted and forced. Sizhui couldn’t believe he was asking this. Wuxian squinted at him.
“You don’t know how?” He asked.
Sizhui smiled shyly at the ground.
“Not exactly, no…”
Wuxian exhaled through his teeth.
“Well… god, I shouldn’t ask you this… but how far have you and Jinling gone?”
Sizhui blushed.
“Well… We kiss quite often… and sometimes it gets quite heated, and I feel Jinling getting excited… and then I get too hot and my mind can’t focus and I… I pull away,”
Wuxian nodded to himself.
“Uh, yeah, that feeling Sizhui? That’s the whole point.”
He didn’t know what to say to the boy at this point. Sizhui sighed.
“I know that Jinling goes to… uh… take care of himself afterwards… even if he won’t admit it,” he said.
Wuxian frowned.
“Wait, how do you, y'know, cool down then?” he asked, confused.
Sizhui glanced at him, unsure of what to say.
“I, uh, usually just meditate or something…” he admitted.
Wuxian’s eyes widened. This kid was like, what, nineteen at this point?
“Wait, are you trying to tell me that you’ve never even…”
He made an obscene gesture and Sizhui’s face flushed crimson.
“No! I didn’t think… it’s not proper…”
Not proper… Wei Wuxian couldn’t believe it.
“You poor thing… god, you must be so frustrated…” he muttered.
Sizhui shrugged his right shoulder.
“I… I think I’m fine. Though I do find myself thinking about things a lot and I…”
Wuxian shook his head in pity. The poor, poor, boy.
“Look, if I was to give you some advice, it would be to get some of that frustration out of you first. That way you at least know kind of what to expect, and you won’t absolutely lose it when the time comes,” Wuxian huffed.
Sizhui nodded to himself. Although the thought was absolutely mortifying and it seemed almost sinful, Wuxian did have a point.
“You know, there’s something else…” Sizhui said, biting his lip.
Wuxian blinked at him. The boy had suddenly turned serious.
“Yes?” Wuxian asked.
Sizhui met his eyes.
“Master Wei… I’m worried I may not be able to… perform… like other people, you know, because of…”
He tilted his head towards his left arm, which had been left paralysed after an altercation with Jiangcheng around 2 years ago. Wuxian nodded, understanding.
“Look, I know you’re worried… but it’ll be okay. You don’t need 2 arms to do a lot of things, and at the end of the day it’s about you and Jinling figuring out what’s good for you,” he replied.
Sizhui smiled at him gratefully.
“I suppose that’s true… thank you,” he spoke.
Wuxian looked forward and crossed his arms.
“Besides, you probably won’t need any hands, with the ideas Jinling has…” he said, mostly to himself.
Sizhui’s eyes widened and he leaned forward.
“Jinling? You’ve been talking to Jinling?”
Wuxian froze. Fuck.
“What did Jinling say to you?” Sizhui asked.
“Nope, not telling you that, sorry.”
“Master Wei!” Sizhui complained.
Wuxian sealed his lips tight and shook his head.
“Why did he come to talk to you? Please tell me!”
“Because APPARENTLY, I am everyone’s dedicated sex coach! God, if one more kid comes to me asking how gay sex works, I swear I’m going to pull my teeth out.”
He stood. Sizhui looked up at him guiltily.
“I’m sorry… I really appreciate your advice,” he said.
Wuxian sighed. He couldn’t stay mad at him.
“Just… don’t overthink things, okay? It will happen how it happens.”
Sizhui nodded and also stood.
“Thank you,” he said again.
“It’s no issue,” Wuxian replied.
He left Sizhui to think about what he said. As he returned to the room he shared with Wangji, he thought about his own messy first time. He sighed to himself. These kids would be alright.