Chapter Text
Lan Wangji looked down to find a child, a dirty child that too, who was clinging to his white—lightly shimmery robes, the one he wore to impress his Wei Ying, it was forbidden to show excess emotions or he would've actually have had a meltdown by now. Taking a deep breath he looked around, trying to find the person who's spawn this was, but all he saw was a crowd slowly gathering around him.
"Is he a first time dad?"
"Looks like it, he's horrible at patenting!"
"Don't say that! He looks quite young!"
Lan Wangji was in utter despair "I- I'm not-"
But before he could finish, he heard that smooth, silky and oh so sweet voice of his crush
"Lan Zhan?!" Wei Wuxian ran towards the person in white clothes he loves to call mourning robes, but why are they shiny today?
He quickly picked up the child, placing him on his hip and scolding him— "why do you keep running off?! Qing-jie would've killed me if you had actually disappear!!"
Qing-jie? Was that Wei Ying's girlfriend? Was he too late? And who's this child?
"Who?" One of the many reasons he likes Wei Ying so much is that he doesn't have to speak much, he could use as little words as he wanted and still get understood— well, except in a few matters that is, where even if he were to write a book about his feelings, tie his ribbon around his heart, put it all in a box and send it to him, he'd still end up thinking 'oh! Lan Zhan hates me so much he wants me to see the gore of my favourite human!'.
"Mine! I birthed him!" Lan Wangji's world fell apart, his heart shattered in a billion pieces, his hold on his sword loosened— slightly, not so much as to drop it, ofcourse he wouldn't do that to his poor Bichen. The whole day's efforts were in vain then? Was he a homewrecker? Could he steal him from his wife? Or-or he could kidnap him! But what about his child? He should take him too! But then he'd be seperated from his mother...
He was broken out of his lamenting trance by Wei Ying's laughter, he was clutching his stomach, laughing so hard he almost doubled over "it's the Wen's relative! Their niece, he lost his parents in the labour camps" his expression was pretty sad now, but he still looked like the most perfect being on Earth, and even though he was probably hearing about the death of a child's parents, he was still immensely happy, Wei Ying wasn't married, he doesn't have a kid, he's not going to become a homewrecker.
Wei Wuxian's mind on the other hand, was a total mess, he has never seen Lan Wangji in such a...state, his hair in a braid, earrings dangling from his ears, the shiny little pendant and did his waist looking smaller today? His cheeks were pink! And so were his lips! He could just eat him up, here and now. Lan Wangji looked so immensely pretty his mind stopped working, he was spouting absolute bullshit. Birthed that child? Was he a fucking idiot? Who even says that? But anyways, he has a guest here to attend to.
"Why are you here, Lan Zhan?" Was he here for a nighthunt? But he's pretty sure the only demon here he could find was the Yiling Laozu himself.
"... negotiation, with Wei Ying" oh so he was indeed here for the Yiling laozu afterall, but no matter how gently Lan Wangji said it, it still hurt, was it that he couldn't trust him?
"Wei Ying it's-"
"We should discuss it somewhere more private, not you think so, Lan Zhan?" He sounded mad and sad at the same time, the fact that even someone like Lan Wangji, who was supposed to not judge before listening was not able to trust him—hurt, alot, it hadn't hurt that much when it was others, but he didn't dwell on that, perhaps Lan Wangji was just the last person he'd have expected to come to 'negotiate' with him.
Wangji followed him, he was never good with words, but he tried, he tried his hardest always, he felt the resentment swirling around, the air thick and heavy with all the yin energy and resentment, he hadn't faced such thick resentment since after the war, how did he live here? He could barely breath!
Despite the heaviness, he pushes through, they weren't even at the centre of the burial mounds yet, he channels his spiritual energy, pushing away at the resentment clawing at his mind, trying break into his consciousness, he doesn't let it, ofcourse, his core is strong. But as he fights against the resentment, he forgets to control his outer demeanor, he's panting slightly.
"Lan Zhan? Are you alright?" Wei Ying's hand shoots towards him, holding him in place, trying to gauge our what might be the problem, his face is dusted pink.
"Wei Ying...I am fine" he said, looking at the hand holding his bicep, his mind coming to a screeching hault, Wei Ying is holding him...well, Wei Ying was holding him, since he has retrieved his hand now, after Lan Wangji looked at it, why did he have to look at it? He might be stupid.
Wei Ying's POV
When he saw Lan Wangji, it was as if his mind has blanked, his mind went completely blank, not even the screaming spirits were audible, Lan Zhan looked beautiful, his waist looked smaller, his cheeks were pink, his lips looked so full, his eyes...oh his eyes, were they always this beautiful? He was wearing jwellery, a lotus pendant, he wanted to kiss him right then and there and his hand—gods his hair, the loose braid coming undone slightly, his usual prim and proper attire gone, he looked so beautiful, so beautiful he wanted to eat him up, and he was with A-Yuan too.
Oh fuck he was with A-Yuan! He looks so confused, it's so cute, Lan Zhan is very cute, 'his wife would be so lucky, having Lan Zhan must feel like hitting the jackpot' he thought to himself as he took A-Yuan.
His mind was turned off, he was rambling nonsense, seriously! Who says that they have birth to a child? He noticed the expression on Lan Zhan's face, 'oh no, he must be thinking I had a child out of wedlock!' and he clarified himself.
Inviting Lan Zhan to the Burial mounds was a gamble, it's either that he starts to pity him, or that he starts distancing himself, both are bad, he didn't want his pity, he wanted to be seen by Lan Zhan as a strong man, but he'll cry if Lan Zhan leaves him too, it'd be too heartbreaking, but a part of him wished that maybe...just maybe there could be a third outcome, where Lan Zhan came to understand him, maybe where he could finally realise why Wei Ying was doing such things, so he took him back, to his home.
'oh i fucked up' Wei Ying finally noticed Lan Zhan's struggle, he was struggling to breath, he was panting and flushed, was it the resentment? His hand reacted faster than his mind could think, he was holding Lan Zhan.
"Lan Zhan, are you ok?" Well it was quite obvious that he was obviously not ok, since he was panting, and he should also stop ogling Lan Zhan, he was a man, what would he thinks if he realised what Wei Ying was thinking? But alas, he was also a man, a weak man, and Lan Zhan looked so beautiful like this, so lewd- what was he thinking? But he just had an itch to hold that waist of his, he withdrew his hand when Lan Zhan looked at him tho.
"Is it the resentment?" He asked, why did he ask again? It was quite obvious
"Mm" he was still flushed, though not panting anymore
"We'll be there in a bit, uh, come closer" he pulled him in, willing the resentment away from him, he held Lan Zhan close, leading him as he held his waist, there should be less resentment in the demon slaughtering cave, he should take him there.
He shooed A-Yuan away as soon as they entered the inner wards, no one could leave or enter without his permission unless it was an emergency, a-yuan was safe here, he led Lan Zhan to his cave next.
"Here, look! You know what I named it? Demon slaughtering cave hahahahaha, now- you might be thinking how ironic it is, a demonic cultivator's cave being named that, but it's just that I sleep here!" He laughed at his joke, he was pretty proud of his naming skills, but he was met with a frown.
"Wei Ying is not a demon" Lan Wangji said sternly, his face betraying his feelings, why would Wei Ying say such things about himself? "Wei Ying is kind" and oh...Wei Wuxian's heart *fluttered*, his throat went dry, he never expected to hear this from Lan Zhan, specifically Lan Zhan, shouldn't he hate him? After all that he has done? But Lan Zhan looked so serious...hmm...he'll think about that later, it's not like he has much brain anyways. So he just laughed about it "Ahahaha Lan Zhan don't say that! I might fall in love with you"
he failed to notice how Lan Wangji's ears went red at that
"Shameless" he looked down, he did want Wei Ying to fall for him, he looked around the cave, spotting a pond filled with...blood? "Wei Ying?"
"Oh! Don't mind that! That's just the blood pool, it's not actually blood tho—its just the yin energy, it keeps the resentment out, come come" he ushered him in, sitting down on the hay bed, it wasn't very comfortable, but it was there.
Now that the were seated, Wei Wuxian could think, Lan Zhan was so pretty, he was basically ogling him with how hard he was staring, Lan Zhan seemed to notice that, he looked like an angel in those white robes. He scooted his legs together, cursing his body for being so traitorous, his robes weren't too thick, working in the sun had him discard multiple layers of clothes, but now he regretted doing so, but what could he do? Lan Zhan was just so pretty.
Idle chatter was what Wei Ying was best at, he could even chat with the corpses for hours, neither of them had realised when the sun had went down, the silence of the cave was filled with Wei Ying's chatter and laughter, Lan Zhan has missed this. Their conversation about potatoes was interrupted by Wen Qings arrival, who had come to invite them to dinner.
Wei Wuxian gasped as he stepped into the dining hall, looking at him with wide eyes "Lan Zhan you don't eat meat! Oh no, I forgot to tell them!" Lan Wangji had forgotten about that too, but he was s cultivator, one missed meal will cause no harm...
"It's ok, you should eat" he nodded, assuring him that it was alright
"No! You won't go hungry! I won't let you, you know what—we should go to the market, I'll buy you some specialities!" It was hard to resist that stupidly beautiful smile, and Wei Ying looked so exited, who was he to decline him? So they went, with Wei Wuxian tugging Lan Wangji throught the crowd, running around various stalls, trying unfamiliar dishes that had more seasonings the Cloud Recesses used in a whole week, but it was fun, since he was with Wei Ying.
However, it all took a turn when they were lead into an inn, they didn't realise when they had stepped into Yunmeng, but they were concerned by some Jin disciples.
"You're Young master Lan, aren't you?" The Jin's breath reeked of alcohol, his words slurred and his steps messy, he tugged at Lan Wangji's sleeve "why don't you drink with us? You stick up" lan Wangji looked around, trying to find Wei Ying, but he couldn't locate him, his brother had told him not to cause a ruckus or get into any fights, it'd end up being blamed on Wei Ying, but he couldn't drink...
His jaw was forcibly turned as someone hit him on the back of his neck, catching him off guard, his knees bucked, his control over his body slipping, he almost slipped to the ground, still held up by the hand on his jaw "always so upright, you need us to teach you a lesson?" The Jin looked down at him, Wangji matched him with a glare of his own "unhand me" he spoke through gritted teeth, he looked around again as he spotted a familiar face "su she?"
Su She snorted at the confusion in his voice "what? Now you notice me? Are your eyes working now that you're on the floor?" His voice was filled with hatred, he had drank too, did he deflect from the Lans? That was uncommon, no one really deflected without any reason...his thoughts were interrupted by a rough pull at his hair "give me the cup" the Jin screamed at his minions, shoving the cup he acquired at his lips he screamed again "drink!"
Lan Wangji whipped his head to the side, trying to avoid, but his jaw was forced open by Su She as the Jin poured alcohol down his throat, his vision swimming. "Weren't you always so upright? What happened now Hanguang jun? Can't handle a little alcohol?"
His head was spinning, the words could not be processed, the last thing he saw before fainting was a blue of yellow and black as the Jin holding his head flew away from brutal force.