Work Text:
"Wait! Wangji-xiong! Your forehead ribbon is slanted! Let me fix it for you."
Wei Wuxian didn't expect that this small act of kindness from himself would earn him the nastiest glare he'd been given in his seventeen years of life.
And he'd received many and all of different kinds from Madame Yu.
But he only pulled Lan Zhan's forehead ribbon from his head. What did he do wrong?
Sometimes Jiang Cheng wondered if the young man he'd grown up with and treated like a dear friend and brother had any kind of self-preservation in a single bone of his body. Nobody should be this fucking clueless about such an important matter that almost everyone in the cultivator society knew and that he should have known a long time ago since he'd spent three fucking months in Cloud Recesses, studying and spending a whole month copying the rules there.
Sometimes he would even wonder if Wei Wuxian had hit his head several times in the streets before Jiang Fengmian found him. He hoped so because he was so close into beating his shixiong's head with a book of the 3,000 rules of Cloud Recesses.
"—and he was so mad like I've just murdered a bunny right in front of him! I was just trying to help! Why did he need to be so angry about it?" Wei Wuxian continued to rant to anyone who cared to listen to him, pouting and looking like he had been wronged. Besides him, their third, fourth and fifth shidis looked like they wanted to be in any other place and not right there.
Take deep breaths, Jiang Cheng told himself. Count to ten. Don't beat your Sect's Head Disciple no matter how much you want to. It wouldn't look good in front of the other Sect Leaders and—
"And he stood there glaring at me for a couple of minutes, looking like a maiden who lost her honor because of what I did—"
Oh for fucking fuck's sake.
"Maybe because that was precisely what happened back there?" Jiang Cheng snarled, feeling a vein ready to burst from his forehead. He turned his head to the direction where Lan Wangji stood, head bowed and talking silently with his older brother. Wei Wuxian followed his gaze, only to receive another nasty glare from the pretty Lan youth. The two of them quickly turned away.
"What do you mean?" Wei Wuxian asked, looking confused and a little unnerved thanks to having received another one of Lan Wangji's glares.
"What I mean to say is : You dishonored him in front of many people. There is a rule regarding the GusuLan sect and their forehead ribbon. The rules says that only the owner of the forehead ribbon can touch it. They aren't even allowed to remove it from their heads, only when they are bathing or sleeping. And nobody is allowed to touch it. The only one who can touch it is the owner's fated partner. Spouse. Husband. Wife. Cultivation partner. No one else." He was aware that his voice was getting louder to the point that their group was receiving curious looks from the people around them but he didn't care.
Wei Wuxian's face grew pale with dawning realization and horror. "You mean I—I—"
"Yes. You did. You ruined him. No one will marry Lan Wangji now because of you."
If Jiang Cheng were a better person, he would have taken back his words at the current look on his shixiong's face. But sadly for Wei Wuxian, the spiteful teenage side of his won and began to cackle madly inside.
Wei Wuxian looked like he didn't know whether to cry or pull out his hair first. "But I didn't know! I didn't mean to do it to Lan Zhan! I need to talk to Lan Zhan!" And with a cry he ran towards where the Twin Jades of Gusu stood with the other disciples that made up their delegation.
"Lan Zhan!" He called out in a voice loud enough to wake up the dead, causing the Twin Jades and the people around them to turn to look at him, confused. He didn't care if he was getting odd looks from the disciples in the whole area because this was important. He needed to make up to Lan Wangji. He needed to take responsibility. A good friend would and he and Lan Wangji were good friends.
"Lan Zhan!" he said, again, and stared straight to Lan Wangji's golden eyes that were a little less angry than before. Lan Wangji was gazing at him with a tiny puzzled frown that his hand itched to smooth out. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do it! I didn't know! I didn't mean to sully your honor in front of Jiang Cheng and the others! If I had known then I wouldn't dare!"
"Wei Ying, what—"
He shook his head. He took a deep breath and steeled himself. This needed to be done or else his conscience wouldn't let him sleep well for the nights to come. "Please, Lan Zhan, let me finish. Despite what you think of me and how much you hates me, I still consider the two of us to be friends. And as your friend, let me do this to save your reputation from being ran into the dirt because of my thoughtless action. Please forgive me for forcefully taking your chastity during the Archery Competition."
"You—!"
"Master Wei, I think that this isn't the right place to talk—"
"But don't worry! I will take responsibility for my own actions! And I promise you that I will be a faithful and responsible husband to you and provide you with everything that you would ever need. Lan Zhan, Lan Wangji, will you marry me?" He reached for Lan Wangji's left hand and kissed his slender knuckles.
A deafening silence followed his very sincere and very loud declaration.
Up in the Sect Leaders' seats, Jin Guangshan fanned himself, an amused smile spreading on his foxy face. "Oh dear, it seems that the youths of the new generation has grown brazen in regards to the matters of the heart. What do you think of your Head Disciple's passionate proposal, Fengmian-xiong?" He asked Jiang Fengmian who had his face on the palms of his hands. Jin Guangshan narrowed his eyes and saw the other Sect Leader's shoulders shaking. He must be very pleased, the golden-robed Sect Leader thought.
Nie Mingjue scoffed, as if thinking that romance, puppy love and such sappy matters were beneath him and his saber.
Jin Guangshan turned to look at Lan Qiren and flinched at what he saw. The acting Leader of GusuLan sect in lieu of his brother looked like he was about to have conniption. His face was red, his eyes bulged and he was pulling at his beard so hard Jin Guangshan was afraid that he would accidentally pull it off.
After what seemed to be an indefinite moment of time where his heart was in danger of collapsing, Lan Qiren opened his mouth and roared in a voice that would surely be heard as far as Yunmeng.
"WEI YING!!!!!!!!!!!!"
A year later, when Wei Wuxian finally learned that his shidi had duped him in regards to the matter of the forehead ribbon, he didn't have the energy to get revenge since his husband kept him busy all days and nights. And his cries of betrayal and indignation would surely be drowned under Jiang Cheng's mad cackles anyway.
Wei Wuxian's very memorable proposal to his true love became another legend for the next generation.