Archive of Our Own

“I need to speak to Zewu-jun.” Wei Wuxian announces, as he sweeps into the tent without hesitation. He doesn’t look apologetic when half a dozen pairs of eyes swing in his direction.

There’s a flurry of raised voices and one can make out offended mutterings of “We are in the middle of a meeting!” “The audacity-” “How improper!”

Lan Xichen sighs internally. Of course Wei Wuxian would interrupt a war meeting as casually as if he was simply visiting a friend. That he seemed to have offended everyone present did not seem to register.

“Alone,” Wei Wuxian adds pointedly, and he’s smiling, but it’s so devoid of good humour that the protests die instantly. He is dressed in his usual black robes, leaning against the doorway casually, but there is clear tension in his shoulders and in the set of his jaw. Chenqing is still tucked into his belt, but it feels as if the temperature has dropped several degrees. The occupants of the tent shift uneasily.

“Why don’t we regroup in the morning,” Xichen cuts in before anyone can protest. “We’ve been at this for over two shichen and the hour is late.”

“Sect Leader Lan-”

“Have a good evening everyone,” he says, with a beatific smile. A clear dismissal. There are more disgruntled mutterings and a few disapproving looks at both of them, but everyone stands and files out of the tent with no further objections.

When everyone is gone, Lan Xichen looks at Wei Wuxian reproachfully. “Wei gongzi, stop making yourself more of a target.”

The younger man steps closer, less tense now that they are alone, but there’s a look in his eyes that stops Xichen from saying more on the matter.

“What has happened?” he asks instead. 

Wei Wuxian says nothing, closing the distance between them and placing something on the table with both hands. Xichen looks down and his breath catches in his throat and he tries to swallow through the sudden tightness. “How- where?”

Wei Wuxian’s eyes are softer now when he meets Xichen’s gaze, wide and wet. “I found it in the Caiyi Supervisory Office. I’m sorry.”

Xichen squeezes his eyes shut, hands reaching out to touch Bichen. He has not laid his hands on it since Wangji was a child. His brother never lets the sword out of his sight. “Did any of the Wen soldiers there know what happened?”

“An ambush,” Wei Wuxian responds, then hesitates. “They said Lan Zhan took down a large number of the Wens, but…Wen Zhuliu was there.”

Lan Xichen feels like throwing up. He nods, hands fisting in his robes to keep his voice calm. “How many did you take prisoner?”

Wei Wuxian fixes him with a hard, flat look. “None.”

He provides no further explanation or excuse of any kind. It goes against procedure. Capture if possible; exterminate only if there is danger. He doubts Wei Wuxian was in any danger. Xichen knows what he did to the other supervisory offices. Heard what had happened to Wen Chao and Wen Zhuliu. The soldiers could have had other information, should have been an opportunity to desert and renounce their Sect.

Xichen thinks of his brother’s guqin and forehead ribbon sent to his door two months ago, both splattered with blood and he only nods, ashes on his tongue. “Good.”

Wei Wuxian reappeared a month ago, too thin and ragged, cheeks hollow and eyes haunted. He’d looked frail, but somehow impossibly dangerous. He’d asked after his brother and sister, then of Lan Wangji.

When Xichen had told him about what he’d been sent by the Wens, Wei Wuxian had disappeared for a week without a word to him, Nie Mingjue or Jiang Wanyin.

He came back eventually, and stayed for when he was needed, but Lan Xichen knew he spent more time out of camp than in it. Wei Wuxian never said why, but Xichen knew.

Nie Mingjue had been furious when he was told the man was leaving without approval. “We are in the middle of a war! I can’t have soldiers disappearing whenever they want!”

“He’s looking for Wangji,” Xichen had confessed, and Mingjue had deflated instantly, expression pained.

“Xichen-”

“I know,” Xichen sharply cut the other off, breaking multiple Lan precepts at once. “I know Wangji is…probably gone, but Mingjue, I..I can’t fault him for doing what I want- what I should be out there doing, so please-”

Nie Mingjue is the commander of the Sunshot Campaign, but he is also Lan Xichen’s oldest friend. So instead of arguing his point, all he ended up doing was pulling Xichen into a hug. They both pretended to not feel the wetness of Xichen’s tears.

Lan Xichen finds himself watching Wei Wuxian. Even if he had never said it, Wangji had loved this man, and it might have frustrated and confused Wangji to no end, it also made him happy. Xichen feels a strange sense of responsibility over Wei Wuxian.

Especially because something awful obviously happened to him in the three months he was missing. Most chalked it up to the trauma from the burning of Lotus Pier, and their days on the run afterwards, but Jiang Wanyin who had gone through the same, was much better. Yes, angry and grieving and struggling under the burden of his loss and his new role, but healthier, stronger, more solid.

Wei Wuxian was more spectre than man, even if he had regained some weight and his smile was less fragile than when he had first returned. Still, he no longer carried his sword, only his new flute and the weight of something dark.

So he watches and he worries and he doesn’t say anything because they were not friends, nor family and Wei Wuxian never falters on the battlefield. Xichen has no reason to approach him.

“Xichen,” a Jin messenger butterfly bursts into his tent and he can hear the alarm in Nie Mingjue’s voice. “Come to my tent immediately.”

He runs. Lan rules had no place on the battlefield.

“What is it?” he asks even as steps into Nie Mingjue’s tent, expecting maybe an injury or an assassin or some horrible news. He freezes, because on Mingjue’s bed is Wei Wuxian, unconscious and his breathing shallow.

MIngjue looks up at him and then throws a talisman - one of Wei Wuxian’s improved ones - at the doorway. “I was checking up on the boundary wards when I stumbled on Wei Wuxian in the back woods, trying to patch up what looks like a torso wound. When did he even get this?!”

Xichen comes up to them and frowns down at Wei Wuxian’s prone form. He hadn’t noticed Wei Wuxian sustaining any injuries either. “Why is he unconscious?”

“I’m not sure,” Mingjue admits. “He was already pale and shaking and bleeding all over his robes, then when he saw me, it was like he saw a ghost. Just sprung up and must’ve torn something, because he went even paler, then just collapsed.”

“Why not call for a medic?” Xichen asks, puzzled. “Why bring him here?”

Mingjue hesitates. “I tried to give him some spiritual energy, but…it didn’t feel right.”

Xichen frowns. “What do you mean? It didn’t do anything?”

“I mean it wasn’t normal. It was like pouring energy into…a well. Too empty. He should not be this depleted. Something is wrong.”

Xichen moved so he was touching Wei Wuxian’s wrist, pushing his own spiritual energy into the other’s meridians, but just as Mingjue had said, it flows in, but it catches on nothing. Almost as if Wei Wuxian was running on empty.

Xichen’s heart leaps in his chest. He tries again and finds nothing to tether to. “He…”

“Why isn’t it working?” Mingjue asks. “You felt it too right? The emptiness.”

“Keep going, I think it’s still helping,” he directs as he peels back the haphazardly closed robes and exposes Wei Wuxian’s chest. He sucks in a breath at the scar across his abdomen, sluggishly bleeding from where some stitches had torn. Judging by the colouration and healing, it was not a new wound. On someone of Wei Wuxian’s cultivation level, it should have long healed.

He moves his hands to Wei Wuxian’s torso, fingers flitting over his abdomen, seeking-

“You won’t find anything,” a voice interrupts, pained and flat. Wei Wuxian pushes his hands away and looks at Xichen and then at Nie Mingjue. “Chifeng-zun, you can stop wasting your spiritual energy.”

“Wei Wuxian, you’re injured, this…when did this happen?” Nie Mingjue asked. “Why hasn’t it healed?”

Wei Wuxian looks away, pulling his robes close. He is so pale he looks bloodless. He does not meet their eyes. “I’ll be fine, it’ll heal. Now if you will excuse me-”

Xichen’s hand on his shoulder, gentle but firm, keeps him seated. “Was it Wen Zhuliu?”

Wei Wuxian goes still, breath hitching.

“What are you talking about?” Mingjue asks. “What do you mean?”

Xichen ignores him, eyes on Wei Wuxian. “Was it? At Lotus Pier?”

Wei Wuxian is silent for so long that Xichen thinks he won’t get an answer. Then, “No, it wasn’t Wen Zhuliu.”

“Tell us what happened, Wei Wuxian,” he pleads. “What happened to it? Your Golden Core.”

He hears Mingjue inhale with a hiss.

Wei Wuxian shrugs, weary and his tone is forcibly casual. “Does it matter? It’s gone. But you don’t need to worry, I can still fight.”

“That’s not the problem-” “That’s not the point!”

The younger man ignores them both, then looks up abruptly. “You can’t tell Jiang Cheng.”

Xichen exchanges a look with Mingjue. Of course Jiang Wanyin doesn’t even know. How on earth did Wei Wuxian hide this until now. “Fine, but you have to tell us the truth. Let us help.”

Wei Wuxian nods unhappily, but does not offer anything further, biting his lip. When Xichen and Nie Mingjue resume their energy transfer, Wei Wuxian doesn’t yank his arms back.

“This is why you don’t use your sword anymore.”

“Yes,” Wei Wuxian replied flatly. “Not much use for it now.”

“Did this happen when you went missing those three months?” he asks tentatively.

“Well I didn’t take a holiday.”

“Wei Wuxian.”

The younger man heaves a deep sigh. “I don’t know what to tell you. I lost my core. I got captured by Wen Chao and- huh,” Wei Wuxian pauses, pulling his robes back and running his hand over the now closed wound on his abdomen. “Looks like it just takes a lot of spiritual energy to heal. It would’ve been very handy to have had you two around after I got tossed in the Burial Mounds.”

Xichen reels. He had thought that maybe the man had been tortured, that perhaps that’s where he’s been all those months. Even then, it was truly a miracle he’d survived, that he was sane at all, and more so that he was able to fight at all. Xichen has seen what the Wens do to their enemies, and Wen Chao was particularly cruel.

But the Burial Mounds…

“How did you survive?” he asked, horrified. Mingjue looks equally stricken.

Wei Wuxian shrugs again. “Turns out resentful energy is great at mending broken bones.”

Indeed, Wei Wuxian had been tortured then, Xichen thinks. First by Wen Chao, then by the wrathful spirits of the Burial Mounds, all the while missing his Golden Core. He should have died a hundred times. Instead Wei Wuxian had survived, and invented a whole new cultivation technique and came back more powerful than ever.

Attempt the impossible indeed.

They don’t fully realise just how powerful until Wei Wuxian is single-handedly keeping their forces from being annihilated and going head to head with Wen Ruohan at the same time.

Xichen wonders how one man can wield such unimaginable power. He wonders if those who feared Wei Wuxian were right all along.

But Wei Wuxian was fighting for them, with them, and when Wen Ruohan wraps his hand around Wei Wuxian’s neck, Xichen moves without thinking. Xichen, who had tried to spare those he can even in war, carves his way through their enemies to get to Wei Wuxian, Shuoyue and his robes painted red by the time he reaches the top of the stairs.

Wei Wuxian keeps control over the crowd somehow even as his windpipe is being crushed and he doesn’t try to attack Wen Ruohan physically, making no move to defend himself. He’s grinning, eyes full of mirth. Xichen doesn’t understand and neither does Wen Ruohan, the lack of resistance seeming to make the man even more furious and unhinged.

“Who are you? What are you doing?” he screams in Wei Wuxian’s face, both hands coming up to wrap around the younger man’s throat and shakes him. “What is that?!”

He doesn’t even see Meng Yao coming until the man’s sword is through his chest. He drops Wei Wuxian, who is still grinning even as he coughs roughly.

“Wuxian!” Xichen helps him sit up, tilting the man’s chin back to examine the marks on his neck. “Are you okay?!”

The other nods, wincing at the movement and he clutches at Xichen’s arm, gesturing towards the palace. Xichen turns just in time to see Nie Mingjue slice Wen Ruohan’s head clean off.

The war is over.

The sun has set on the tyranny of Wen Ruohan’s rule and they are, against all odds, victorious.

Lan Xichen looks out at the crowd cheering and the look of relief on tired faces. He looks at Mingjue, bloody but grinning as he holds Wen Ruohan’s head in front of the crowd. Meng Yao is further back, looking shell shocked as he speaks to Jin Zixuan beside him. Jiang Wanyin in at the foot of the stairs, checking on his disciples, grim but fiercely proud.

Xichen feels like he’s drowning. The focus of the war had been a shield and an anchor. Surviving had been a luxury and that left no room for things like grief or guilt. Now that it was over, the reality of living in a world without his little brother threatened to yank him under. He has no energy to fight it.

The voices fade and become muffled, as if he really was underwater. He turns, feeling bone-achingly weary and his chest squeezing tight. Then he sees Wei Wuxian, standing off to the side, eyes too bright and brittle. Their eyes meet and Wei Wuxian smiles, teeth bloody. Xichen’s moving before the other man’s knees buckle and he catches Wei Wuxian before he hits the ground.

Mingjue and Jiang Wanyin are both shouting questions near him, but Xichen ignores them, fingers scrambling to find a pulse. When he feels the weak thrum beneath his hands, he lets out a shaky breath. The sounds of the world come crashing back.

Xichen cycles through the entire catalogue of calming and cleansing songs he remembers from the Cloud Recesses library three times before Wei Wuxian wakes.

“Wuxian,” he stumbles, but does not stop playing. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got strangled by a madman,” Wei Wuxian croaks out, joking even in this state.

Xichen pauses and pours a cup of tea for the other, bringing it to the bed. “Drink.”

Wei Wuxian takes the cup and drinks slowly. His throat was clearly still bothering him. No wonder; the purpling handprint was still vivid on his slender neck. Xichen pours him another cup, then goes back to playing.

“We must really be at peace,” Wei Wuxian says hoarsely after a few moments. “If Sect Leader Lan has time to nurse me back to health.”

Ridiculous, Wangji would undoubtedly say if he was here. He’d be relieved that Wei Wuxian was awake. Xichen smiles, bittersweet. “We won.”

“We won,” Wei Wuxian repeats, almost disbelieving. Then more firmly, “We won.”

They don’t speak until Xichen finishes Clarity.

“Should I send word to Jiang zongzhu? Or Jiang guniang?” he offers.

Wei Wuxian hesitates, but then shakes his head. “Not yet. Xichen-ge, will you play me a song?”

“What song?” He had expected Wei Wuxian to turn him away, not ask for another song.

“Hmm, I don’t know the name, Lan Zhan played it for me once. Something from Gusu maybe, it’s quite beautiful, ah let me show you,” Wei Wuxian says and then plays a portion on his flute. It was startling to see Chenqing used as a normal instrument, rather than the powerful weapon it is. Last time Wei Wuxian had played, he was the master of thousands.

The music is unknown to him, but beautiful, so full of longing and hope that Xichen feels like he’s intruding somehow listening to it. It’s undoubtedly by his brother’s hand, and it’s irrevocably a love song.

“It’s not a Gusu song,” Xichen says, throat tight. “I believe Wangji might have composed it himself. If I had to guess, he wrote it for you.”

“Oh,” Wei Wuxian mutters, blinking slowly. “I thought he found me annoying.”

Xichen laughs, even as his hand shakes. He sets his xiao down in his lap. “My brother held you in the highest regard. I understand why you couldn’t tell, but he loved you ardently.”

“Oh, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian whispers, pained. He picks up Chenqing and by the time he finishes the whole song, both of them are blinking back tears. “I think I could have loved him back. If only we had more time.”

Xichen closes his eyes and lays a hand on Wei Wuxian’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

When Wei Wuxian blows into the Golden Pavilion at Koi Tower, vibrating with anger, Xichen exchanges a concerned look with Mingjue. When Wei Wuxian sweeps out of the hall, Xichen makes his excuses to Jin Guangshan and follows.

Xichen flies as fast as he can and catches up to Wei Wuxian on horseback before the man reaches the camp. There is a hooded woman behind him.

“Are you here to stop me?” Wei Wuxian asks, eyes wary and tone cool.

“No,” Xichen answers truthfully. “I’m going with you.”

Wei Wuxian looks relieved, exchanging a quick look with the woman behind him then back at him. “Good. They’re more likely to believe you than me. If I’m right, it won’t be pretty.”

Xichen nods, and pauses before bowing to the hooded figure. “Wen guniang.”

Wen Qing startles, and then pushes her hood back, revealing her face. She looked haggard, too thin and her eyes heavy with worry. She looked nothing like the calm, intimidating young women he had met at Cloud Recesses. He wondered what happened to her.

A war happened, his mind supplies. And her people lost. He follows without any further words.

By the time they arrive, it is dark and raining.

It’s worse than he imagined, worse than what Wei Wuxian’s accusations had painted in his mind. He had braced himself for poor conditions, prisoners of war given undue allocations of labour. What they’d found…

The valley was lined with rows of temporary, barely held together shacks. The rain was coming down heavily, making the ground a muddy mess and drenching all the prisoners. Torches illuminated hundreds of heavy silhouettes carrying tools, and ghastly pale in the moonlight. Over a dozen Jin guards watched, bearing umbrellas and cracking whips and shouting at the prisoners.

An old, bent-over figure walked slowly, carrying a large flag. As she drew closer, they saw it was a wobbly old woman, and on her back, she carried a young toddler, dressed only in rags.

Wei Wuxian walks up to her and she flinches, but her eyes widen in recognition at Wen Qing.

“Popo,” Wen Qing greets in quiet horror. Wei Wuxian gently removes the flag from her stiff fingers and Xichen shivers to see it is a Spirit Attraction Flag. Was she being used as bait? What on earth were they doing here?

“Popo, we’re here to help,” Wen Qing asks in a hurry. “Where is A-Ning?”

The old lady cries as she clutches at Wen Qing’s hands. “I don’t know. A-Ning tried to protect us, but they dragged him off-”

“Where to?” Wei Wuxian asks and her voice quivered as she pointed to the east. “The back hills. There’s a house on that side. They use it to lock people inside and beat them. Only a few of them return.”

Wei Wuxian is already moving before she finishes and Xichen follows quickly. They hear the pained cries before they turn the bend and Wei Wuxian sends a talisman flying, freezing a Jin soldier mid-air as he was about to slam a Spirit Attraction Flag down into the chest of a Wen prisoner. Xichen feels bile and fury rising in his throat.

“A-Ning!” Wen Qing screams, running towards the beaten figure on the ground. Xichen reaches for his sword, but the half a dozen Jin soldiers moving to stop her all jerk backwards and upwards, black tendrils wrapped around their neck as they dangle in the air. Wei Wuxian is staring at them with eerie calm and Xichen lays a hand on the other’s arm. “Leave them to me.”

Wei Wuxian glances at him, then nods. The men drop to the ground heavily. Xichen quickly ties them up with spiritual rope and sends off two messenger butterflies. He turns to see Wei Wuxian and Wen Qing lifting Wen Ning off the ground. The man was bleeding and likely had broken ribs from the way he winced. His face was bruised all over, and his right eyes swollen shut. Pale and shaking, he was a sorry sight, but he was also alive. Xichen lets out a shaky breath. One more moment and he would have died horrifically.

They move to the closest shack, even more decrepit and Wei Wuxian kicks the door open. In the dimly lit room were over a dozen people, all of them bloody and bruised. They shout in fright and scoot back into the shadows, but when they see the Wen siblings, they quickly get up to help.

“Stay here,” Wei Wuxian orders and Wen Qing nods, hands flitting over her brother’s torso, checking for more injuries.

“Don’t kill anyone, Wei Wuxian,” she says, voice tight. “Not for us.”

Wei Wuxian says nothing, but his jaw relaxes minutely. “No promises.”

She looks stricken, but Xichen shakes his head at her, and lays a hand on Wei Wuxian’s arm once more. “Let me handle this. Please.”

The other man throws him a look, shaking with fury. “So you can help the Jins sweep this under the table?

He frowns, stung. “So I can help make this right.”

They make their way to the main camp and the guards shout at them until they realise who they were, falling into deep bows and looking bewildered at the sudden appearance of the First Jade of Lan and Yunmeng’s First Disciple.

Xichen orders them to gather all the soldiers and guards, which they quickly obey, looking at him in confusion. He takes a steadying breath, before asking. “What exactly are you doing here at this camp? Who is in charge?”

The guards shift nervously, but one man steps forward with a bow. “That would be me, my lord.”

“This is a camp for the Wen remnants. They are here to work, they are not here to be…abused, or used as bait or to be-”

“Murdered for sport,” Wei Wuxian cuts in, stepping up to next to Xichen and all the guards cower.

“Young Master Wei, you mustn’t say such things. We would not murder a single person here. There have been some…accidents, people not being careful when working and falling down the valley, but that’s not our fault!”

Wei Wuxian nods. “Nobody would kill a single person? Is that true?”

The guards swore in unison, “Absolutely!”

“I understand.” A smile from Wei Wuxian, with teeth, and the shiver that snakes down Xichen’s spine has nothing to do with the frigid rain. Wei Wuxian continued calmly, “It’s because they’re Wen-dogs, and Wen-dogs aren’t people, right?. So even if you killed them, it doesn’t count as having killed people. That’s what you mean, isn’t it?”

The lead guard paled immediately. Wei Wuxian sneers. “Did you really think I of all people wouldn’t know how someone died? Perhaps you would like a demonstration on the difference?”

The ruse up, the lead guard rushes at Wei Wuxian, brandishing an iron brand at them. The brand was the same as what Wang Lingjiao used to use, but instead of the sun crest, there was now a peony.

Wei Wuxian twists elegantly and yanks the iron brand out of a guard’s hand, backhanding the man with it. The guard goes down with a cry and Xichen pins the rest of the guards with a cold stare. A few of the guards fall to their knees, pleading, but another guard shouts. “We’re screwed if they tell everyone, kill them!”

Wei Wuxian exchanges an incredulous look with Xichen. A dozen of the guards pull out their swords and Xichen moves in front of Wei Wuxian, Shuoyue glinting in the moonlight. Wei Wuxian leisurely raises Chenqing to his lips. Dark smoke gathers around them, yanking at the guards who all start shouting and slashing uselessly. Seeing that the other does not need Xichen’s assistance, he quickly heads towards the shacks and starts ushering the Wen prisoners into the gathering. All of them looks miserable, and fearful, even as Xichen helps the older and more frail members.

“What on earth is going on here?” booms Nie Mingjue as he lands, Jiang Wanyin beside him. Good, they’d received his messages then.

“Something that should never have been allowed,” Xichen replies wearily. “This happened under our watch.”

“They’re Wens,” Nie Mingjue snaps. “So what if they are living it a bit rough?” But he looks around, frowning as he takes in the state of things. Nie Mingjue hated the Wens, but he was a just man.

“Even if they’re being tortured and killed?” Xichen retorts. “There are elderly people here, children too.”

Mingjue clenches his jaw so hard that his teeth grind audibly even through the downpour. Jiang Wanyin goes even paler.

“Forcing people to be bait and torturing them up when they refused to obey,” Xichen says brokenly. “Wei Wuxian is right, this is indeed no different to what the Qishan Wen Sect did.”

It moves quickly after that. There’s an explosive confrontation in Koi Tower, and with Lan Xichen, Nie Mingjue and Jiang Wanyin backing him, Wei Wuxian had laid the crimes of the guards at the feet of all the sect leaders present. His account is cold, clinical, bitter. He does not mince his words, or shy away from the horrors. He also does not accuse Jin Guangshan directly, but the blame is clear.

Some of the other sect leaders had tried to minimise the issue; a few even defended the Jin Sect, but none had anything to say when finally, Nie Mingjue had snapped, and hollered, “There’s no one who hates Wen-dogs more than me, but that does not mean I can tolerate the killing the old, the weak, women and children! This is a disgrace!”

Jin Guangshan weasels his way out of taking responsibility by pinning it all on Jin Zixun, but they all know the truth. Jin Zixun had tried to turn it on Wei Wuxian, accusing him of being a traitor and working with the Wens to destroy the cultivation world.

“The Sunshot Campaign would have failed if not for Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Wanyin snaps, Zidian crackling on his finger. Xichen nods, adding. “Indeed. And if Wei Wuxian wanted to do us harm, all he had to do was not save us at Nightless City.”

Jin Zixuan looks incredibly disgusted at his father and appropriately horrified at the whole camp situation. Xichen hopes this means he will finally step out from underneath his father’s influence. The young man had proven to be loyal and righteous during the war, at times even against his father’s orders. Perhaps now, with this, the tides at Lanling will turn earlier than expected.

Once the dust settled, resettling the Wen remnants was not difficult. There were only fifty or so Wen remnants left. Gusu Lan had plenty of land, especially after their losses during the Wen attack and the war. The Wens were given an area in Caiyi Town, with the exception of Wen Qing and Wen Ning, who were required to be under the Lan Sect’s watch directly for the near future. Wei Wuxian had protested, but Wen Qing had simply thanked the Sect Leaders for their consideration. The siblings were given a small isolated house in the Cloud Recesses and if they were unhappy, they made no complaints with the new arrangement.

Wei Wuxian lays protective arrays around the settlement personally. It takes him three days before he is fully satisfied and the wards are a thing of beauty. They had all seen Wei Wuxian’s skills with talismans and arrays throughout the war, but Xichen is still amazed. The Cloud Recesses wards were centuries old and had nothing on this. Truly the brightest mind of their generation, he thinks, strangely proud and awed at the same time.

Lotus Pier rebuilds at an incredible speed and Xichen doesn’t see the other man for nearly a year as Wei Wuxian takes over teaching and training the new disciples. He still makes time to visit the Wens, much closer to the Wen siblings than Xichen had realised. He is also particularly taken with the child, Wen Yuan. The first time he had introduced the child to Xichen, he had shamelessly declared that he had birthed the child himself, as if Xichen wasn’t right beside him when they rescued the child. Xichen had flushed, and feeling remarkably like his brother, had stuttered out a ‘Shameless’. Wei Wuxian only laughed harder and Xichen had imagined fondly how Wangji would have reacted. Even though thinking of Wangji still brought with it a pang of loss, it was a joy to be able to think of his brother like this, soft and devoid of the edges of guilt and grief.

Each time he visits the Wens, Wei Wuxian takes the time to stop by the Cloud Recesses, bringing Xichen gossip, suggestions for rebuilding and some snacks from Yunmeng. Xichen is particularly partial to the lotus seeds and the soft honey rice cakes.

When Xichen ropes Wei Wuxian into teaching the juniors a class on talismans - not even Lan Qiren could deny his expertise in the area - he displays an equal talent in teaching. Wei Wuxian balances complex, abstract theoretical discussions with creative experimentation and his lessons are as exciting as they are unorthodox.

His prodigious talent is on full display when he wrangles Nie Huaisang to study. He keeps Huaisang engaged through the Lan texts, firm through long, gruelling sessions of music practice, but is indulgent with him as well, changing up the lesson and at times, cutting practice short to go browse Huaisang’s new fan collection. He does not allow Huaisang to hide behind his usual excuses, and he waves off both Xichen and Mingjue’s questions on whether Huaisang is skilled enough to attempt something like this.

“Huaisang can do so much more than this,” he reassures them with a confidence that is startling.

Nie Huaisang masters the Song of Clarity after a week and a half. Mingjue threatens to steal Wei Wuxian away to Qinghe.

Peace brings with it its own challenges.

Xichen is having tea in a pavilion surrounded by peonies, with A-Yao, Jin Zixuan and a lovely maiden named Qin Su. She is the only daughter of Qin Cangye, the leader of the Laoling Qin Clan and very beautiful.

A suitable bride for any fine sect, A-Yao had suggested, none too subtle. She is kind, and well-mannered, a noble lady with a pleasing temperament.

Jin Zixuan coughs into his tea, awkward about such things even now that he is Sect Leader - a power shift that occurred quite quickly after the fiasco of the Wen camps, and orchestrated by the intimidating duo of Madam Jin and A-Yao.

She is as lovely as A-Yao says, and also a great conversationalist, though proper and demure as can be expected. Xichen smiles politely at her and finds his eyes straying to the other side of the pond, where Jiang guniang - now Jin furen - was laughing as Wei Wuxian lifts Jin Rulan in wide circles. Jiang Wanyin is scowling and telling him to be careful, but his tone is indulgent.

Jin Rulan pulls at Wei Wuxian’s hair ribbon and Wei Wuxian laughs, bright and carefree, like when Xichen had first met him all those years ago.

“More tea, Lan zongzhu?” Qin Su asks sweetly.

“Yes, thank you, Qin guniang,” he answers, tearing his eyes away. “Apologies for my manners.”

She shakes her head with a smile and turns to look at the Jiang siblings across the water. “Wei gongzi is a very bright person, isn’t he? He’s always very kind.”

“Yes, yes he is indeed.” Xichen agrees, smiling warmly at her. This was not the common view people took with Wei Wuxian, even after the war. He is glad to see that some people did not judge on rumours and gossip alone.

“He’s very loud, is what he is,” Jin Zixuan mutters, keeping a close eye on his son laughing in Wei Wuxian’s arms. Qin Su laughs quietly into her sleeve.

Xichen catches A-Yao’s too-knowing look across the table and drops his eyes quickly, busying himself with a persimmon cake.

Lan Xichen sits in the Jingshi and it’s filled with more sound than he ever remembers. The Jingshi was always quiet, as per its name. During both his mother and his brother’s time, it was a serene and contemplative space, minimal to the point of feeling bare and ideal for meditation and study.

Right now, Wei Wuxian is playing with A-Yuan and Wen Ning was beside them, participating occasionally, but also still too reserved to really get involved. Wei Wuxian is snacking on sunflower seeds and talking to them about plans to improve the Jin messenger butterflies. There’s a paper man zipping through the air and A-Yuan chases after it happily, breaking into peals of bright laughter each time he is close to catching the talisman. There are other children’s toys scattered on the floor and countless pieces of papers stuck on the walls. There’s one on the lid of the teapot.

No running in the Cloud Recesses. No loud noises. No mess. No talking during meals.

Xichen says nothing and lets Wei Wuxian pour some seeds into his palm. Wen Ning refills both their teacups.

Wei Wuxian has been staying in the Jingshi for the last month or so and there’s a tangible energy in the air. It may not be appropriate for a guest to stay in the rooms of a late sect heir, but it had felt right. He knows Wangji would have wanted it this way.

Wangji, he thinks with a familiarly violent pang. It should be you, here in your house, with this beautiful boy you love.

This beautiful boy that I-

The seasons pass by in a flurry of paperwork, conferences and visits from Wei Wuxian. The rebuilding of Cloud Recesses winds down. The buildings once blackened and broken stand whole again.

Wen Qing and Wen Ning help restore the medical buildings and lost texts, working with the Lan healers to replenish missing supplies and herbs. It is not long before she impresses even the oldest of Lan healers and she is given near free rein to work as she needs. Xichen has seen her work and she truly is gifted beyond her years.

“She’s relieved to be able to focus on healing and researching,” Wei Wuxian tells Xichen as they walk through the growing Wen settlement. “Wen Ruohan forced her to do things that she still feels guilty over.”

Xichen nods, glad once more that Wei Wuxian had stood firm on protecting the Dafan Wens. Over time, he had gotten to know all of them, and they were good people.

They wander into the back of the settlement, where the houses are and as Wei Wuxian surveys the buildings for areas of further improvement, Xichen takes the opportunity to look him over. The other had arrived this morning, tanned and glowing from his summer in Yunmeng and with a qiankun pouch full of toys for A-Yuan. Xichen himself had been presented with a beautiful new brush, the oak smooth and polished; carved with care.

“Wen Qing will never admit that of course,” Wei Wuxian laughs. “Stubborn as an ox, that one!”

“Don’t let A-Qing hear you say that,” Granny pipes up from where she is spreading out dried cod. “And you’re one to talk, A-Xian. Welcome, Lan zongzhu.” Xichen is glad she is finally comfortable enough in his presence to stop bowing.

“Granny!” Wei Wuxian exclaims, sounding wounded. “I’m much better tempered than Wen Qing!”

“You two are as bad as each other,” the old lady scolds, laughing. “Neither of you will ever find anyone to marry you!”

Wei Wuxian squawks and turns to Xichen. “Can you believe it, Xichen ge, the bullying I get!”

“You and Wen Qing will end up having to marry each other,” Uncle Four pipes in with a cackle as he comes out with a tray of wine jars balanced carefully. “Wouldn’t that be funny!”

Wei Wuxian splutters and steals a jar from the tray in retaliation. “That’s not funny at all!”

Xichen watches Uncle Four kick out a leg at Wei Wuxian and the two of them arguing animatedly. Wen Qing? She would make a fitting wife for Wei Wuxian. The two of them both so brilliant, so powerful; a handsome couple indeed. Wei Wuxian would look so beautiful in wedding red-

His stomach flips.

Wei Wuxian had intended to visit Gusu for autumn, but he was still around as the first snow fell.

“Your wards are still too weak,” he chides, unaware or uncaring he is telling off the Leader of one of the Great Sects, and Xichen smiles, unreasonably fond.

He gives Wei Wuxian free rein to strengthen the wards, to tinker with the arrays despite protests from the Elders.

And so he had stayed through winter.

“Wen Qing is making me stay for longer. She wants to run some more tests,” Wei Wuxian grumbles. “She has so many needles, I’m going to turn into a porcupine.”

“Why is she running tests on you?” Xichen broaches carefully. This has been something tugging at him for months. Wei Wuxian would visit, get sequestered away by Wen Qing and Wen Ning for days.

“Ah,” Wei Wuxian’s smile becomes strained. “You know, she’s trying to make sure I don’t qi deviate.”

“Is that a risk?” he asks, alarmed. “We should talk to Da-ge, the Nies are experts in-”

Wei Wuxian waves his hand dismissively. “No, no, she’s just overly cautious. All that resentful energy use during the war, you know.”

It’s not a lie, but it’s not the full truth either, but Xichen won’t force the issue. He only hopes one day, Wei Wuxian will feel comfortable enough to tell him the truth. “A-Ying, you are well?”

“Yes, I promise,” Wei Wuxian answers. His smile is soft and genuine enough that the knot in Xichen’s stomach loosens.

“Then all is well.”

He dreams of Wangji that night.

They are in the Jingshi, and Wangji sits at his quqin, his hair down and more relaxed than Xichen remembers seeing him in adulthood.

“Wangji,” he gasps. It’s been so long since he’s dreamed of Wangji like this, and not bathed in blood, alone and dying.

His brother looks up, and smiles, tiny but sure. Xichen’s heart leaps.

“Wangji, I’m sorry,” he says, mournfully. “I’m sorry. I should have been there-”

A firm shake of his head and a censoring look. Xichen doesn’t know why Wangji won’t speak, but it’s a clear message. Unnecessary. Xichen can almost hear the words in Wangji’s voice.

He swallows, and then inhales sharply, as the music switches to something new. Wangji is playing the song he has composed for Wei Wuxian. Hearing it on the guqin, played in Wangji’s own hand, it sounds even more full of love. Xichen doesn’t interrupt, but his hands shake as Wangji plays. His brother had loved Wei Wuxian, and he’d died before he could be loved back by him. And now-

“I’m sorry,” he repeats, for an entirely different reason. “Forgive me, Wangji.”

Wangji shakes his head again, and this time his gaze is sad. Xichen tears his eyes away.

Another song starts, a familiar tune, one their uncle played to them when they were children: Letting go.

“Wangji…”

His brother doesn’t answer, only continuing to play as the sky begins to lighten outside. The next song is one of Xichen’s own creations. The song fills the Jingshi and Xichen is crying by the time it ends. He had composed the song for Wangji after their mother died.

It was titled: New dawn.

He wakes up abruptly to see Wei Wuxian shaking him gently, hovering over him with a frown. “Sorry, but I was on the roof dr- watching the stars and I heard you. You were crying. And…calling for Lan Zhan.”

Xichen shakes his head, and wipes away his tears. “Thank you.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes,” he answers honestly. “I think I finally am.”

Wei Wuxian has to leave in the morning - Jiang Yanli asked him to visit as soon as he could - and Xichen is sorry to see him go, but also glad for the opportunity to gather his thoughts.

The other man doesn’t return for nearly half a year, spending time in Lanling and Yunmeng and even a visit to Qinghe. Xichen aches with the absence of him.

When Wei Wuxian finally returns to Gusu, climbing through the windows of the Hanshi, the first thing Xichen says is “I have missed you, A-Ying.”

Wei Wuxian stumbles and blushes, “Xichen-ge! If you’re going to go around saying things like that, you’re going to have to take responsibility,” he scolds, eyes warm and fond.

The moonlight is bright in the sky and it’s long past hai shi. Summer is edging into autumn, but tonight, it’s still warm at this hour, even with the window open. There’s a pleasant breeze that flows through the room and it picks at Wei Wuxian’s hair ribbon.

Bathed in the glow of the moonlight and the flame of the candle both, Wei Wuxian looks bewitching.

Xichen catches the ends of Wei Wuxian’s ribbon between his fingers and the other stills, eyes widening when Xichen brings his hand up to press a kiss to the fabric. There’s a moment when neither of them moves, then Xichen reaches out and takes the other’s cold hands in his own. He presses an equally soft kiss to Wei Wuxian’s knuckles.

Wei Wuxian’s lips part as he stares, eyes widening. Still holding his hand, Xichen tugs him close and Wei Wuxian gasps softly as their mouths meet.

It’s soft, until it’s not. Wei Wuxian has always been a force of nature everywhere he goes, and it’s no exception now. He climbs into Xichen’s lap without breaking their kiss, and Xichen feels like he’s caught in a hurricane.

He tightens his hold, breathless and arms coming around Wei Wuxian’s waist and back, holding him close. Wei Wuxian makes a sound low in his throat and pulls back.

It takes a moment for Xichen to notice the uncertainty and fear in the other’s eyes and his heart plummets so fast he feels dizzy.

“My apologies,” he chokes out, mortified and horrified in equal measure. He tries to scoot back, but Wei Wuxian is still in his lap and he can’t move. He drops his hands like they have been burnt and he can’t meet the other’s eyes. Wei Wuxian pulls away and Xichen feels dangerously close to tears. He waits for the inevitable. “That was unacceptable.”

“Why did you do that?”

Xichen swallows, bile in his throat. This was a mistake, he was out of line and he has ruined everything. “I should never have done that.”

He waits for Wei Wuxian to shove him, to yell at him. To tell Xichen that he could never want that with Xichen.

“I don’t want you to do this because you feel obligated to.”

XIchen’s head snaps up. “What?”

“I know you said Lan Zhan…loved me. And I know you’ve been looking out for me because of him,” We Wuxian says, so soft it’s almost a whisper. Xichen can’t stop staring. “I don’t want you to do this because you feel some sort of responsibility, or if you’re honouring some obligation to your brother-”

“No,” Xichen cuts in. “It’s…Wangji has nothing to do with this.”

“I liked Lan Zhan a lot. When you told me he loved me, I felt like that meant I should love him back, he was so amazing! And I miss him, all the time,” Wei Wuxian confesses, voice small. “But I can’t help it, I…I only see you.”

Xichen sucks in a breath and his heart burns. “I only see you too. I shouldn’t. I tried not to. But I do. Not because of Wangji, but despite of Wangji, I see you, I want you. I-”

Wei Wuxian stares at him and then breaks out into a smile so radiant that Xichen is suddenly staring into the sun. Then he’s climbing back into Xichen’s lap, pressed closer than before and they don’t move apart for a very long time.

Xichen walks into the Hanshi and smiles when he sees Wei Wuxian in his room, scribbling on a piece of paper. The table is covered. No doubt the other man was coming up with another new talisman. There’s ink on his hands and a streak on his cheek when he smiles up at Xichen.

“Sweetheart, remember to take breaks,” he chides lightly, taking a seat and reaching out to wipe at the smudge. He lets his hand linger and caress softly against the other’s cheekbone.

Wei Wuxian leans into his hand with a non-committal hum. “When I figure this out.”

“A-Ying.”

“It’s almost done, I’m so close, I just need to figure out why the effect isn’t holding for more than half a shichen.” Wei Wuxian’s got that tiny crease between his brows that he gets whenever there’s a problem bothering him and the answer is just out of reach.

Xichen sighs and stands so he can rub at Wei Wuxian’s shoulders, kneading into tense muscles and the sound the other makes is near indecent. He keeps working though so Xichen doesn’t interrupt, keeping up his massage until Wei Wuxian puts his brush down and drops his head back against Xichen’s stomach. “Gege is so mean to me.”

“Mean?” he asks pleasantly, fingers digging into a particular knot and Wei Wuxian groans deep.

“So mean!” He looks up at Xichen with mischief in his eyes. “You’re impeding an important invention for the cultivation world!”

“Oh we can’t have that then,” Xichen responds smoothly, drawing his hands away and stepping back obediently.

Wei Wuxian whines and catches him by the sash of his outer robe and tugs innocently until it falls open. “I guess gege will just have to make amends some other way.”

Xichen lets himself be tugged down into the kiss easily, cupping Wei Wuxian’s face with both hands and kissing him deeply.

“I think a break might be a good idea,” Wei Wuxian gasps breathlessly when they part. “Yes, a splendid idea, Zewu-jun is so wise.”

They kiss until Wei Wuxian is practically bent backwards over the table. Xichen lifts him onto the table itself and Wei Wuxian carelessly swipes his notes off the surface. He pushes Xichen’s outer robes off his shoulders and tugs his own open. He is wearing fewer layers than Xichen and it leaves him in his stunning red under-robes.

“A-Ying,” he interrupts reluctantly when Wei Wuxian hand drops to the band of Xichen’s pants. “Are you sure?” They have yet to go all the way, though not for a lack of wanting on either of their parts. Still, it was new, this thing between them, and he would not risk ruining it by rushing into anything.

“Yes, I’m sure,” Wei Wuxian replies easily, hands still fumbling with laces and layers of fabric. “Why are you wearing so many layers!”

Xichen pushes his hands away and quickly sheds his outer layers so they are both only in their under-robes. He then slides a hand along Wei Wuxian’s ribcage, before tugging open the red robes as well.

The younger man makes an approving noise and goes for his pants.

Xichen wrestles with himself for a moment, before reaching out to still the other’s hands. “A-Ying,” he starts tentatively. “You never told me what happened.”

His hand trails carefully to lay over the scar on Wei Wuxian’s abdomen and the other freezes.

“Are you really doing this now?” Wei Wuxian bites out.

“If we…if we do this, I want you to know, there is no turning back for me. So if you want to step back, then…” There already isn’t, but Xichen doesn’t say that out loud. If Wei Wuxian wants to step back, he would let him.

Wei Wuxian’s eyes soften a fraction, but he is still tense. “I don’t want to.”

Xichen exhales in relief, but pushes on. “Then I don’t want any secrets between us. I…I used to sleep with Nie Mingjue.”

Wei Wuxian blinks, then smiles. “I know.” Then at the look on Xichen’s face, he confesses. “Mingjue-ge actually told me by accident. Don’t be mad at him, he didn’t mean to! I told him that Wen Qing and I had figured out a solution for his qi issue, and that he needs to dual cultivate - remind me to talk to you about that later by the way - and he offhandedly mentioned that if that worked, you two would have figured it out when you were sixteen.”

Xichen doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Accident or not, he is going to have some choice words with Nie Mingjue the next time he sees the man. Maybe he’ll leave the man to fend for himself with Sect Leader Yao at the next cultivation conference.

Wei Wuxian bites back his laugh at the dark look on Xichen’s face, then he sombers. “It happened after Lotus Pier.”

“You said it wasn’t Wen Zhuliu,” he prompted gently, rubbing a hand soothingly along Wei Wuxian’s leg.

“Well…no, not directly anyway. You have to promise me not to tell Jiang Cheng.”

Xichen nods, confused, but ready to agree to almost anything if it gets Wei Wuxian to open up. “I swear.”

The other man hums grimly, but continues. “I gave it away.”

Xichen frowns, a chill going through him at the words. “What? How? To who?”

Wei Wuxian curls in on himself, arms wrapping around his torso. “Wen Zhuliu had gotten to him you see, and he can’t - he would’ve died rather than live like that, do you understand? I couldn’t let him be that way when I could do something- So I begged Wen Qing and…she helped me.”

Xichen sways, wounded and he bites the inside of his mouth so hard he tastes copper. “Jiang Wanyin.”

Wei Wuxian nods faintly. “I had to.”

Pieces fall into place, horrible and irrefutable. It explains everything. Jiang Wanyin’s extraordinary cultivation growth during the war. How Wen Chao captured Wei Wuxian. The closeness between Wei Wuxian and Wen Qing; a bond forged by shared secrets.

“I understand,” he says, even as his mind whirled. Had it been Wangji, would he have been able to do it? To willingly give up what made him extraordinary? He liked to think he would, but who could truly say.

“Did it hurt?” he asks, praying for one small mercy.

“Would you believe me if I said no?”

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, raw. “You’re extraordinary.”

Wei Wuxian huffs a laugh, eyes red. “Only you would say something so sappy to something so macabre.”

“I mean it, you’re the best of us.”

“‘I’m not,” Wei Wuxian says furiously. “Sometimes I don’t feel like I belong here, that I’m here at all. That…maybe I’m still in the Burial Mounds and this is all a momentary reprieve.” He’s shaking.

Xichen pulls him close, tucking his chin against Wei Wuxian’s neck and palms running soothing circles along the other’s back. “You are. You’re here with me and I won’t let anything hurt you again.”

A shudder runs through Wei Wuxian’s slim frame. “Prove it. Show me that I belong here.”

He blinks, then when it clicks, he shakes his head. “A-Ying, we shouldn’t right now.”

Wei Wuxian pulls back and his hands bracket Xichen’s face. His eyes are liquid fire. “Lan Huan, show me.”

And so he does, kisses the other until Wei Wuxian is sighing into his mouth and fisting his fingers in Xichen’s hair. They stumble to the bed without breaking the kiss, hands wandering and hungry. Xichen presses a kiss to the scar on Wei Wuxian’s abdomen and touches him with reverence, trailing kisses along the other’s hip and the inside of his thighs.

“You’re here,” he murmurs into Wei Wuxian’s collarbone when he finally sinks in. He drinks in the sweet sounds the other makes as he starts to move. “You’re alive and you’re beautiful and you’re safe.”

Wei Wuxian keens, shuddering around him and time loses meaning as they move with each other and it feels like only a moment and several shichen all at once before they’re tumbling over the edge together. Xichen’s fingertips are tingling and his blood sings. Wei Wuxian is panting and boneless underneath him, flushed and iridescent.

“I’m here,” Wei Wuxian whispers, disbelieving and joyful.

Xichen’s heart remakes itself anew.

Xichen feels like a teenager again. Even though he’s a Lan, he had still been a boy growing into his own body, and full of new feelings and desires. Mingjue had been as well and the two of them had fumbled through the experience together, all messy exploration and led by pleasure above all else.

Then they had grown up, Sect Heirs and now Sect Leaders. They had long stopped that arrangement, before feelings made it too complicated, but at times when he felt more Zewu-jun than Lan Xichen, he thinks fondly of the old days. The wild freedom of youth.

The chaotic grasp of desire is not so endearing now that he’s an adult. He’s a Sect Leader for heaven’s sake. He fought a war. He should not be so consumed by his base desires that he’s now forced to hide from his own disciples to avoid getting caught with Wei Wuxian in the Library Pavilion.

He definitely should not continue kissing Wei Wuxian against a book shelf in the Room of Forbidden Books where they’ve retreated to.

Even putting the sanctity of the place aside, it was filled with some of the most volatile and dangerous books and scrolls in the cultivation world. He knows even his uncle avoids spending any unnecessary time down here.

Wei Wuxian pushes his thigh between Xichen’s legs and Xichen groans into the kiss, grip tightening around slender wrists. It’s been weeks since they’ve started this and the thrill of being allowed to touch is still too much to fight.

His hands slide downwards, rucking up black robes carelessly and finding hot skin. Wei Wuxian whimpers as Xichen turns his attention to his neck, sucking deep marks into the soft skin. His hands fist in Xichen’s hair, body arching prettily.

“We can’t,” he groans even as his hands squeeze the other’s behind. “I don’t have any oil with me.”

Wei Wuxian pulls him closer, grinding their hips together. “I don’t need it. You only took me one shichen ago, I’m still so wet.”

It’s so filthy that Xichen’s hip bucks unintentionally and he bites down. Wei Wuxian keens and then gasps when Xichen tugs his pants down and flips him over, pressing at his entrance. He’s right, Xichen thinks wildly, he is still wet, and so he pushes in without further preparation.

Wei Wuxian moans so loud Xichen considers silencing him, but then Wuxian's biting back his cries himself as Xichen starts to move. Good boy, he thinks approvingly and rewards him accordingly.

Wei Wuxian fumbles behind himself for something to hold onto and comes dangerously close to knocking a pile of scrolls off the shelf. Xichen tries to remember if these are the cursed ones.

He manoeuvres them away anyway, and flattens Wei Wuxian against the wall, barely pausing and it isn’t long before Wei Wuxian is whimpering breathlessly, the one that means he’s overwhelmed but not overwhelmed enough. The one that is a 'I can’t' and a 'more, please' all in one. Xichen is still floored that he gets to know things like this now. That he’s able to hear Wei Wuxian in this way - in all the ways - and catalogue the sounds he makes, the way he looks, what the tightening of his grip means.

He presses the other further into the wall, taking advantage of the solid surface, wringing a delightful cry out of his lover and Xichen wildly thinks about whether he should keep some oils down here.

“My heart belongs to Wei Wuxian,” Xichen tells his uncle over tea one evening, bracing himself for the fallout.

Lan Qiren frowns severely, then sighs deeply as he places his teacup down. “I can’t say I didn’t see this coming.”

Xichen had planned a whole speech, and a back-up speech, with counter arguments, a sprinkle of guilt and some flat-out threats. He blinks at his uncle's easy acceptance. Even though the man had thawed towards Wei Wuxian in recent times, he was still a disapproving presence whenever the younger man was mentioned. He had certainly not held back his displeasure when Xichen had first invited Wei Wuxian to visit after the war.

“Just at least try to keep him in line please,” his uncle instructs, huffing. “I’m too old for any more antics.”

Then he goes back to sipping his tea and Xichen just sits there, jaw slack.

Jiang Wanyin, Jiang Yanli and Wen Qing all separately congratulate him for somehow getting through Wei Wuxian’s obliviousness. All three threaten to do him bodily harm if he hurts Wei Wuxian.

He tells Wei Wuxian later, out on the water in Lotus Pier and the other laughs and laughs, until he breaks into choking cries and Xichen peels him lotus seeds until he stops.

“Sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” Wei Wuxian apologises, hiccuping. “You must think I’m insane crying like this over such-”

“Wei Wuxian,” he interrupts, taking the other’s hand, as the other startles. It’s been a long time since Xichen called him like this. Xichen smiles, kissing the knuckles softly. “Marry me?”

Wei Wuxian’s mouth snaps shut and he drops the lotus pod in his hand. After a long moment of silence, he scrambles across the boat to kiss Xichen. The boat rocks dangerously, but they hold only onto each other.

The lotus flowers are in full bloom.