Work Text:
Oneirism: Dream-like experiences or qualities; dreaminess.
The snowflakes decorate the trees and little winter flowers with crystals which shine bright and magnificently as the sunlight caresses them. The soft breeze carries the wet scent of melting snow on the tree-tips. Snowfall has stopped completely now that the sun is out to start a brand new day.
Lan Wangji steps out of Jingshi, pristine white robes ruffling in the wind, long locks of silky hair flowing and creating a majestic picture that would have an artist crying at the sheer beauty of it all.
As serene as the atmosphere is, Lan Wangji doesn't feel calm on the inside. His heart sinks heavily, breaking a little more than it already was.
It has been long. In Lan Wangji's words, today marks the completion of 15 years; 15 years since he disappeared.
'My Wei Ying...' he thinks, a lone tear slipping past his wet eyelashes, making its way down his reddened cheek. He feels weird; to be exact, he feels heavy from the inside, about to fall down and finally explode with sadness. His eyes well up again as he struggles to control a loud cry that is trying to escape his parched throat. His left-hand grips Bichen tighter and he caresses Chenqing with his right.
It is Lan Wangji's daily ritual to visit this place every morning. It was the guest quarters where Jiang clan members had stayed years ago; where Wei Wuxian had resided. He stands by the door of the quarters and looks out at the scenery it offers as he tries to recall the bright smiles the other used to sport and the naughty voice that would tease him relentlessly. The place has plenty of memories of Wei Wuxian running around and playing so it mostly helps Lan Wangji calm down and strengthens his resolve to continue playing Inquiry every day. And then there are days like today, where the place would just make him cry. The thoughts of the other bringing more misery than relief to his heart and breaking him from the inside.
"Wei Ying... Come back..." Lan Wangji's voice trembles as he silently cries, wind picking up speed and biting at his skin.
One more year passes and Lan Wangji still counts every single minute since Wei Wuxian's disappearance.
He is again at the guest quarters, sitting by an old frail tree as he plays their song on his guqin. All the memories of them being with each other, walking around the Cloud Recesses for the evening walk after Wei Wuxian completes his punishment for the day plays in his mind, warming his broken heart and filling up his stomach with a bunch of butterflies. Today is one of those days when he oddly feels happy and light and the memories bring about a bunch of happy flutters.
Yet, tears well up in his amber eyes, the drops staining his cheeks and racing down to wet the neckline of his robes.
As it nears afternoon, Lan Wangji rubs at his face to clear the tear-tracks and walks away from the guest quarters to carry on with his daily tasks. He has students to train and a few households to visit along with them to set free some wandering spirits disrupting the peace.
When he returns, he is welcomed with a sight of his students lined up along the corridor and enduring the handstand as a punishment for returning an hour late the day before. He smiles softly as his eyes land on Lan Sizhui, his favourite disciple of all the time; the one he considers his son and the one who does not hesitate to call him 'father' in the confines of his room.
Lan Sizhui is the reason he is still holding up with his life. He is the only reason Lan Wangji does not give up and keeps playing Inquiry on every possible corner of the world every other day.
Wen Yuan, the only survivor of the tragedy, renamed as Lan Yuan with the courtesy name of Lan Sizhui. The little boy, now a young cultivator, has been his greatest support for the past 16 years and has supplied him with endless energy.
As he passes by them and enters the hall, they all stand upright and follow him hurriedly while making sure they have grabbed their swords and books.
"You all have 30 more minutes before your punishment ends." He speaks, looking up at the students who are frozen on the spot with mouths agape. When he does not comment anymore, Sizhui sighs aloud and stands up from his place to go back to handstanding. The others all groan in unison before following Sizhui's lead and going back to complete their punishment.
"Hanguang Jun, is it time yet?" Lan Jingyi whines after some time to let him know that it is turning out a bit too painful now.
"Mn."
And within seconds all of them drop their bodies down onto the floor and a few of them groan again at the abrupt change of position.
When the class is about to end for the day, Lan Wangji instructs the students to get ready to go out on a night hunt. "Today we have a house to visit in the evening. I will supervise." Lan Wangji addresses the students as they listen to his explanation of the situation with the utmost concentration, lest they miss out on details because everyone knows Hanguang Jun will not repeat. "Hanguang Jun, that will not be necessary. I will look after the process and make sure every step will be carried out carefully. Please stay back at the inn and rest up." Lan Sizhui speaks up, while the other students nod encouragingly.
So after discussing some more, it is decided that Sizhui will look after the whole ordeal while Lan Wangji enjoys some alone time at the inn.
***
As night falls, Lan Wangji sits by the window of his inn room and continues to play guqin. In recent years, he had added some more new notes to the song while reminiscing their old times. His hair is left open, his forehead ribbon a little loose and tilted in its position. He does not bother correcting any of them. All he wants at the moment is to play the song until sleep takes over his being.
The cold seeps in through the window, ruffling his already unruly hair and the wide sleeve of his robe flows with the wind too to cover the guqin and come in the way of playing. He pauses playing for a while, enjoying the bite of the chilled wind on his skin as he looks out at the silhouette of the mountains in the horizon. When it gets colder, he stands up from his seat to go to the window to close it. He is pulling it closed and stops midway on hearing a strangely familiar tune.
'Hallucinating?'
Lan Wangji inhales sharply and opens the window to listen to all the noise from the outside. He concentrates for a few minutes with closed eyes and he gasps suddenly when the faint tune reaches his ears once again. He concentrates once again to listen to it; to make sure he was not hallucinating and maybe find the direction of the tune and trace it back to the one playing it, but it never comes. He waits and waits for hours for the wind to carry that tune to him again, but it never does after the second time.
That night Lan Wangji dozes off on a chair, sitting beside the window while he continued to wait for the tune to be played again.
Lan Wangji groans a little as he stirs awake, head aching and neck paining as he tries to move it. Oddly, he feels very warm unlike he expected what with having slept by the open window and he also notes he is on the bed and not sitting on the chair where he should have been. Alarm sets in immediately as he registers how he is on the bed on the opposite end of the room and he sits upright, a hand extending to catch hold of Bichen. When he looks to his right as he grabs his sword, there is a person sleeping, covered in black robes and hair tied with red ribbon. His heart stutters in his chest and his lungs struggle to intake fresh air to keep him alive.
'Is this another one of those dreams?'
Lan Wangji wonders how cruel his fate is and how much the gods above detest him to make him suffer through these dreams. Do not get him wrong. The dreams are not terrors. Not even close. The dreams are so beautiful that his chest always fills up with so much warmth, uncontrollable flutters in his stomach, his entire being filled to the brim with so much love that when he finally wakes up from the said dream, it hurts him physically to accept that it was not real. It could never be real.
He wonders how unlucky he must be to dream over and over about such beautiful things, baseless hope bursting in his chest after waking up from each of them only to be crushed later.
"Please..." Lan Wangji sobs to his hands, staring at the person sleeping on his right side without a single clue as to what is going on. He sobs hard and lets go of his inhibitions of suppressing emotions as per the teachings of his sect. Principles be damned, he is human and for once would like to act like one because all of this is too much; way too much for his fragile heart and being subjected to the torture so often is taking a toll on him.
***
The sunlight is harsh on his tired eyelids. He does not want to open them and face the world yet. He wants a few more minutes to rest; few more minutes of being oblivious to the worldly affairs; few more minutes of blissful unconsciousness. As his senses come back to him, he frowns at the soft gasps from behind him. He sounds almost as if a person is gasping for breath after crying for hours. The soft voice is rough around the edges and trembles as it makes its way out of the person's throat and that finally wakes him up efficiently.
He pulls open his eyelids, forcing them to stay open against the brightness and swiftly turns around to face the presumably crying person sitting beside him.
When his eyes finally find the person, he feels as if his heart was ripped out of his body looking at how the person was curled about himself and shaking as he cries softly, gasping in between sobs.
He shuffles around hurriedly to sit up and the person looks up at him at the noise he made. His heart breaks at the redness of the other's eyes and wet cheeks. He moves forward with hands extended to hug the other and console him; ask him what is wrong.
"Lan Zhan!" He exclaims when Lan Wangji pushes him and gets up from the bed to stand away, eyes wide and frantic. He does not remember such an open expression on the other's face before this moment and his heart breaks more at the thought of being pushed away.
"Lan Zhan... What -"
He is cut off by another wave of cries from the man standing before him and he rushes out of the bed to reattempt at consoling him.
He tightly winds his arms around the other, palms rubbing over the hunched back to coax him into sitting down. He continues to draw shapes over the other's back even after they sit back down on the bed and asking him to not cry and tell him what was going on.
"Lan Zhan... What is all this? Why are you crying? You have never been like this. Please tell me what is wrong..." He begs as he feels the other's hands coming up to encircle around his waist and tightening around him enough to feel his sides ache.
"Wei Ying..." The other breathes out to his neck, burying his head deep into his shoulder and making him more worried.
"Yes, it is Wei Ying. Wei Wuxian, Yiling Patriarch. I am here. What is wrong? Please -" He is cut off again as the other calls out his name, this time a little louder and tightens the embrace if that was possible.
***
"So, you played the song of inquiry for so long searching for me?" Lan Wangji continues to listen to the rhythmic beats of Wei Wuxian's heart, still processing that he is back.
'He is back. Wei Ying is back. My Wei Ying is here.'
Lan Wangji ignores the question to bury himself into the other's neck, inching his body closer to the others.
"Talk to me, Lan Zhan..." It is a soft whisper, muttered directly into his ear and he shudders at the breath ghosting around his own neck.
"You are back..." Lan Wangji whispers back, eyes meeting the soft gaze of the other's and holding the gaze to stare deep into the bright eyes that were filled with so many emotions.
Oh, how he missed getting lost in those deep oceans.
"Yes. Yes, I am back. Are you happy? Did you miss me?"
Lan Wangji continues to stare at the deep brown eyes, lost in the light reflecting from them; he takes his sweet time to process the question.
He nods and voices out a soft 'Mn.' as an answer for the question after a little while and offers a bright smile, eyes growing wet once again.
"Ah, Lan Zhan! You're crying again, argh! You are making me question if you really missed me during the past years. Are you so sad on my return? Should I go back? Not that I know where I was all these years, but yeah, if you tell me to get lost, I will. You know I don't have anyone here -"
He never gets to complete that sentence as Lan Wangji pulls him down towards himself and presses their lips together, finally shutting up his worried rants and surprising a squeak out of him.
Lan Wangji moves his lips slowly, pressing against the softness of the other's plump lips. He slowly kisses the other's lower lip, biting it and nibbling on it, coaxing a moan out of the other's mouth. He draws away to inhale a sharp breath before bringing Wei Wuxian's face close to resume kissing. He nibbles and bites a little too hard on the lower lip and when the other opens his mouth to let out a loud moan he slips in his tongue.
They both shiver at the sensation of tongues curling around and caressing corners inside their mouths. When their lungs can no longer hold up, they lean away from each other, only enough to breathe, chest heaving and lips swollen.
"Do you still question my feelings?" He whispers to a dazed-looking Wei Wuxian who remains speechless.
Wei Wuxian moves away and drops back to the bed, sprawling himself on half part of it like a starfish while his left hand intertwines with Lan Wangji's right.
"Ah, Lan Zhan! That was the best way to welcome someone who was coming back to the living realm after almost two decades! No more questions and no more doubts. At least for now..." He smirks and trails off as he turns to face Lan Wangji and continues, "you will erase all my doubts in a similar fashion if ever I happen to question your feelings, won't you? Promise me, you will!" He smirks again, eyes twinkling in their unique way to show that he is having naughty thoughts.
"Whatever Wei Ying wants."
Lan Wangji closes his eyes and smiles softly, arm circling around Wei Wuxian's back to pull him closer to himself and hug him tight. The other man does not resist and wraps himself around Lan Wangji, tangling their legs.
"I am sorry I made you cry, Lan Zhan..." The voice is full of guilt and he wants Wei Wuxian to know that he does not hold him responsible for all of this, but all that he can voice out is a small 'no' and a shake of his head.
***
"Hanguang Jun!" There are loud knocks on the locked door of the inn room and the duo curled around each other, wake up from their sleep. The knocking continues and Lan Wangji recognises the voices to be of the juniors who had been on their own for the day.
He leaves a groaning Wei Wuxian behind on the bed and proceeds towards the door, only to stop and correct his clothes and trying his best to detangle his hair and correct his forehead ribbon that was tilted. Once he is convinced that he is presentable enough, he opens the door and steps out.
Immediately he is bombarded with a bunch of worried voices asking him if he was okay or if he had eaten his dinner. Sizhui, who is a little too silent, suddenly speaks up and shushes them.
"Hanguang Jun, are you okay?"
Lan Wangji clears his throat and nods, "I am a little better now."
He goes down with them to have dinner, not risking them entering the room to find someone else sleeping on the bed.
They all look tired from the day's activity but all of them look cheery despite the exhaustion. He finishes the food on his plate as fast as he could and stands up to go back to his room. He grabs a flask of wine on his way up, successfully making Lan Jingyi drop his food back to his plate.
"Was that alcohol!" There are many more surprised exclamation from the juniors which he conveniently ignores and steps into the room, locking the door behind him.
"Lan Zhan, you had dinner without me!" He smiles and brings up his hand to present the flask of wine that brings a wide, toothy grin to the other's face.
"Ah, you know me so well, Lan Zhan! Wine first, food later..."
Not long after, there is a knock on the door, not as loud and not frantic like it was before. Lan Wangji definitely knows who it is behind that door and he pats on Wei Wuxian's back as he moves to open the door.
Wei Wuxian stares at his back, a little confused about the expression he just saw on Lan Wangji's face, but follows him nonetheless.
He almost trips on his own legs and breaks his neck when the door slides closed and hears a young voice, "Father..."
He coughs harshly, the wine having gone down the wrong pipe and then exclaims after catching his breath, "Father?"
Lan Sizhui stiffens for a second before drawing his sword, ready to stab him if he moved even a single muscle on his body.
"Sizhui, put your sword down." Lan Wangji orders, right hand folded behind his back while the left tightens its grip over Bichen.
"Sizhui, this is Wei Wuxian."
A simple statement of his identity and it is enough to make the younger boy's eyes go wide, his face changing expressions from confusion to shock as realisation draws on him.
Wei Wuxian, who had almost choked to his death, is still lost thinking about what the younger boy had addressed Lan Wangji as. He slowly moves towards Lan Wangji, keeping an eye out on the younger boy to make sure he is not stabbed, and then whisper yells, "Lan Zhan, you never told me you got married and have a kid now! What is going on, Lan Zhan?"
The entire ordeal is a complete mess, but Lan Wangji successfully explains everything to a very confused Wei Wuxian.
"You are telling me that he is Wen Yuan?"
He sees movement from the corner of his eyes but before he could understand what was going on, Sizhui is already squatting on the floor and holding his leg tightly and crying about how he missed him all these years.
"Oh my god, what is it with you all and crying today? I came back after so long and all you do is cry? Is that it?"
***
There is a distant call from the other end of the room, 'father,' and Wei Wuxian groans from his position.
"Lan Zhan! I can't get used to this! He calls you father!" He whines, hands going around Lan Wangji's waist as he buries his head into other's stomach. "We already have a kid! I mean, I raised him when he was a child and then you raised him and he calls you father and we are in this kind of relationship so that makes him my son too, you know. Yet, we are not even married, Lan Zhan!" He groans out loud, gasping after that because he is out of breath by speaking all of that in one breath.
"But, father told me you were already married sixteen years ago!" Sizhui exclaims confused out of his mind at his breakdown and slightly blushing at how domestic the two of them were at the moment; Wei Wuxian laid down on his father's lap, his face pressed into his father's stomach.
"Huh?"
"Did you forget about it, Wei Ying?"
"Huh?" Wei Wuxian is beyond confused at this moment and he blinks up at Lan Wangji, silently asking for an explanation.
"Wei Ying, do you remember the day we got sucked into a cave when we were in the cold spring?"
Wei Wuxian frowns as he thinks and recounts the happenings of that day, he can still feel the younger's eyes on his laid down form. When he remembers that exact moment that Lan Wangji is referring to, his eyes twinkle mischievously and he asks, "So, tying your forehead ribbon around our wrists... Is that it? Was that when we got married?"
Lan Wangji's cheeks turn bright red and he nods lightly, breaking the eye-contact with the other man lying on his lap. "I consider that as our marriage..." He trails off, biting down on his lower lip.
Wei Wuxian looks up at him with bright eyes and brings up his hand to stop him from biting on his lip and slowly caressing it.
Sizhui takes that as his sign to slowly slip out of the room, letting his fathers have their moment.
"Lan Zhan ah Lan Zhan... What will I do with you!" He giggles and pulls at the end of the forehead ribbon, eyes shining mischievously.
"Wei Ying." Lan Wangji reprimands, voice too soft for it to be effective though and Wei Wuxian pulls the ribbon harder and mumbles, "What, Lan Zhan? You told me we are married. Doesn't that mean I have the right to touch your forehead ribbon? Oh, come on! I get to do more than just touch your ribbon, to be honest!"
Lan Wangji caresses the contours of his face gently, fingers moving across his sharp jawline and slowly making their way to his soft black hair to pull off the red ribbon holding them together and letting them fall loose. Wei Wuxian brings his unoccupied hand to Lan Wangji's face and caresses him too; committing each sharp edges and soft surface to his memory.
Having waited for so long, Lan Wangji finally lets go of all his inhibitions when his Wei Ying has finally come back. Every day when he waited and looked for him, he regretted all those times when he had the opportunity to treat him and love him the way he deserved. So now when his Wei Ying is back, all he does is hold him tight and shover him with affection, give him all that he asks for and not let him out of his sight.
***
"Lan Zhan, I don't want to wake up. Let me sleep some more." Wei Wuxian whines as Lan Wangji carries him out of the bed to force him into cleaning up.
"Get ready. We are leaving in an hour." Lan Wangji tells him at which he wakes up at once.
"Uh um Lan Zhan, we are leaving?" When Lan Wangji nods, he asks, "to where?"
"Cloud Recesses."
"What? I am not coming there!" He flails his arms, defiantly. Lan Wangji looks at him silently for a long time before replying,
"As you wish. If you want to meet me, pay a visit then. I will wait for you, Wei Ying."
Wei Wuxian's face turns morose at that, losing all the colour at once and a gloominess takes over.
'Is he asking me to go on my own way, to leave him behind? Will Lan Zhan leave me behind? Is that what it is?'
His heart that had stopped for a second starts beating rapidly and he hears it thump in his ears at that thought. If he were to be separated from his light, he would rather go back to being dead. But he cannot accept the offer of going back to Gusu with Lan Wangji either. For once he knows, the grandmaster there - Lan Qiren, hates him with a passion and hence he is unwelcomed.
He fights his thoughts to the best of his ability but his throat is clogged with a large lump. With difficulty, he meekly asks, "What do you mean?"
There is hurt tinting his trembling voice at which Lan Wangji turns to face the door and says, "Alongside your appearance, there are a lot of other things that have occurred in the last two days. My brother has sent a letter, asking me to go back at the earliest. There are rumours that Yiling Patriarch is back and it is because of the stygian tiger amulet. We need to take care of it all before the tragedy repeats."
Wei Wuxian stands behind him, fingers grasping at one end of Lan Wangji's forehead ribbon and pulling at it lightly to make him turn around. He can never stand Lan Wangji turning away from him. His voice is soft when he speaks, "Lan Zhan, it doesn't matter. I have no one else to lose except you and Sizhui. I don't care who else suffers, I lost my family once. I don't want to get involved and lose you too. I sound very selfish here, but I don't want to lose you. I have no one but you..."
As he cries Lan Wangji runs his hand over his hair to make him feel better, "Wei Ying, I have no choice. There are thousands of innocents looking up to me and my brother. This is my responsibility and so is it yours. If you come with me, I promise that you won't lose me. If you come you can look after Sizhui too. You can protect us."
***
"Wei Ying, speech is prohibited while dining." Lan Wangji berates him when he continues to whine about how he does not get to sleep long enough after that night, given that they will be returning to Cloud Recesses.
"Ah Lan Zhan, you don't get it! I can't live without sleep. My body goes dysfunctional if I don't sleep..."
When Lan Wangji refuses to speak, he whines some more and pouts defiantly, "Lan Zhan! I am not waking up early tomorrow. No matter what you will do!"
"Mn."
A different mattress is arranged for Wei Wuxian in Lan Wangji's room, covered in white sheets and soft pillows, but when the duo finally go to sleep at nine, Wei Wuxian slides into Lan Wangji's side, pulling the sheets over to cover both of them and pressing himself close to the other.
"Wei Ying." It's a warning and he sighs out loud, a pout taking over his features and he looks up at Lan Wangji with his puppy eyes.
"Lan Zhan~ it's cold. Let me just cuddle you to keep myself warm! And what married couple sleep on separate beds?" He whines, his hands clasping the other's wrists tightly and holding it close to his chest.
He doesn't hear another protest. Thus he arranges Lan Wangji's arms around himself; one arm around his waist and the other behind his neck and he drags himself on top of the other, face nuzzling under Lan Wangji's chin and arms tucked to his chest. When he finally stops moving and settles on Lan Wangji's body, he feels the arms around him dragging him up by a little and settling him perfectly into the right spots, fitting in as if they were little puzzle pieces.
***
That night Lan Wangji's thoughts linger not around how his Wei Ying is back and now pressed against him warmly, but around how the returned person is very unlike himself when it comes to one important aspect - standing up for justice and helping the innocent lives to thrive unselfishly. The words of Wei Wuxian from the morning before they left the Mo village rings in his ears; 'Lan Zhan, it doesn't matter.' Wei Wuxian had told. It was for the very first time Lan Wangji had heard such a selfish statement from the other. It is so unlike him. It IS not him.
He wonders what made his Wei Ying turn so selfish. He no longer cared about others; at least, that is what the other had said. His chest hurts as he recalls how Wei Wuxian's voice had trembled with fear as he spoke those words.
'I don't want to lose you.'
He sighs out, trying to clear his mind and stop the tears that are about to spill and tightens his arms around the sleeping form of Wei Wuxian. He turns his face and strains a little to drop a soft kiss to the other's forehead before slowly drifting off to sleep.
The next morning he is woken up a few minutes before five by soft raps on the door. He slips out of the bed as quietly as possible and fixes his robes before opening the door and slowly closing it behind him when stepping out to face a worried-looking Sizhui.
"Lan Sizhui, did you not sleep?" His voice is strict, masking his obvious worry.
"Forgive me, father, but I could not rest my mind enough to get sleep." Lan Wangji is now more than just worried. Unless it was dire, Sizhui never addressed him like that.
"What is it?" He questions.
Sizhui is not meeting his eyes, very unlike a Lan disciple and this worries him some more.
"I feel like it is all a dream. He is back, but, I cannot find it in myself to believe it. I have dreamed so much about his return and now I cannot convince my heart that this is not one of those dreams and -" Sizhui is cut off in the middle when a strong pair of arms circle around him and hug him.
"Trust me, I know it all." Lan Wangji mutters, running his hands on the back of the crying boy and consoling him.
"May I - may I meet him?"
"He is still asleep, A-Yuan..."
"But... It is past five..." Lan Wangji's lips curl up slightly at the remark and he replies, "He is not a Lan disciple, A-Yuan. He has hours before he finally stirs awake."
After a few more minutes of hugging and speaking in whispers, Sizhui returns to his room agreeing to visit later in the noon.
He steps inside the room and closes the door, eyes boring into the sleeping form sprawled over his bed. He walks towards the bed, leaning in and clearing the mess of a hair from the beautiful face, hands cupping the soft cheek, he thinks. 'I barely believe it myself.'
"Lan Zhan, if you're not going to kiss me, don't bother waking me up at this hour..." Wei Wuxian drawls out sleepily and Lan Wangji's heart races at the thought.
'Ah, we kissed yesterday...' he thinks to himself, cheeks flaring up and ears turning red. As lost as he is in his monologue, he only notices the movements at the last minute and lets out a loud umph, as he is pulled down to a passionate kiss.
Wei Wuxian stirs awake when he feels cold air brushing past his exposed legs and he shudders when the air hits his body upfront. He frowns. It feels as if he was stripped off of a jewel that kept him warm. He opens his eyes and realizes indeed his jewel, his Lan Zhan was not under him anymore and that is where the lack of warmth resulted from. He tries to wrap the blankets around him as snugly as possible but freezes in his spot when there is a small noise of the door sliding closed. He can feel the eyes on himself and he immediately knows it is his favourite person. He continues to act, to wait and see what Lan Wangji would do next and he almost blows his cover when a warm finger moves his messy hair and a palm is pressed against his cheek tenderly.
He fights the urge to open his eyes, hold the hand close to himself and maybe worship that warm hand with some soft kisses. As that last word registers in his mind, he gives up acting and drawls out something about waking him up too early and not giving kisses.
"Mmm... Lan Zhan..." He moans under his breath as the kiss turns deeper. There are hands pressed to his sides, arching him up from the bed to hold him pressed against the lithe body leaning over him. He snakes his right hand up around Lan Wangji's neck bringing him down and his left-hand moves into Lan Wangji's hair, running his hand through the long locks and his hand fists the long soft ribbon between the locks and tugs it.
Lan Wangji moves away a little at the tug and eyes his fist, but he does not make an effort to let go of it. "Lan Zhan, stop glaring. I have the right to touch your ribbon!" When Lan Wangji opens his mouth, he presses a soft kiss to shut him up and continues, "If you tell me that I can't touch it after all of this -" he points between them and drops another kiss "- I will let everyone know how naughty mighty Hanguang Jun has been and how you violated a powerless person like me!"
His breath hitches in his throat when he spots a small smile taking over Lan Wangji's face. But he loses his breath completely when Lan Wangji mumbles, "You do have the right, Wei Ying."
It's mumbled so softly that it takes a long time for him to take control of his heart that is racing out of hand. A bout of breath rushes out if his mouth as Lan Wangji leans in and kisses his neck, alternating between nipping and sucking, rendering him useless.
He whimpers at a particularly sharp nip and his hands tighten their grip on the ribbon as well as the hair at the other's nape. He feels shudders after shudders running down his spine like shockwaves and his toes curl at the feeling of being ravished.
Lan Wangji drags his slick lips up to his ear and whispers, "you are mine and I, yours..." Before quickly pushing him and pressing him to the bed, hands pinned up beside his head. They stare into the eyes of each other, Lan Wangji adoring the beautiful eyes while Wei Wuxian tries to regain his sense of the world, trying to process the words, so simple yet so damn powerful thrown upon his frail heart.
He opens his mouth and closes it again and again like a fish out of water, but no words come out. A sudden bout of fresh tears lineup his pretty eyes and he bursts out crying, "Lan Zhan!" hugging Lan Wangji with a death grip around his neck and hiding his face in the long neck of the other, breathing in the sandalwood that calms him down little by little.
"My Wei Ying..." Lan Wangji mumbles, voice laced with so much love and adoration that he cries some more thinking about how lucky he must have been to earn the trust and love of such a person.
***
Lan Wangji is already an hour late but for once in his life, he does not care about his sect's principles or rules. He wants to stay back until his being finally accepts the fact that Wei Wuxian is back. The love of his life, his Wei Ying, is back.
They spend a few more minutes like this, hugging each other tightly, limbs wound around each other, sharing soft kisses here and there.
"Wei Ying, you should eat." Lan Wangji mumbles softly, pulling himself away from Wei Wuxian and getting off the bed to start with his morning routine quickly so that he can fix breakfast for his beloved.
They spend the day with each other; Lan Wangji dragging Wei Wuxian to everywhere he went and Wei Wuxian choosing to not oppose it. They don't let each other out of their sight for even a second.
This goes on for quite some time. From time to time, Lan Sizhui joins them for meals and sticking by Wei Wuxian's side.
The first time Sizhui calls Wei Wuxian 'father', he breaks down on the spot and makes Sizhui cry too.
Wei Wuxian and Lan Sizhui spend that day crying; Wei Wuxian clinging to Lan Wangji's arm and wailing loudly about how proud he is of his son and the latter hiding in the library and locking himself up to prevent anyone from witnessing his breakdown with a worried Lan Jingyi waiting for him outside the library.
He insists that Sizhui addressed him as a father even in public, that - 'unlike Hanguang Jun, I don't have pride and quite enjoy when my family addresses me with proper titles!'
***