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The soft lapping of the lake water against the sides of the boat is at first all that accompanies the sounds of Wen Ning’s rowing. The new leaves of the lotuses begin to whisper against the wood as they travel further from the pier, the small green buds having not yet sprouted from the mud.
Wei Wuxian shifts in Lan Wangji’s arms and Wen Ning stops rowing.
“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji whispers. He strokes his cheek with a finger, the touch so light it trembles.
“You love him,” Wen Ning says. He’s not sure what compels him to say it so plainly, or even to say it at all.
“As do you,” Lan Wangji says back. They staunchly refuse to look at each other, instead focusing on Wei Wuxian’s face.
“It’s not difficult.”
“Mn.” Lan Wangji glances up at Wen Ning and accidentally catches his eye. They both quickly look down once again. “How long?”
“How long have I loved him?”
“Yes.”
“A long time. I’m not sure if it was love when I first met him, but. . . well, he was very handsome.” Wen Ning would normally be embarrassed to the point of combustion talking about Wei Wuxian like this, but both he and Lan Wangji are in the same boat, in every sense of the phrase.
“When did you first meet?”
“The discussion conference in Qishan, just before the war.”
Lan Wangji doesn’t remember much from that conference, aside from being teased by Wei Wuxian. It was so long ago, back when he was so full of that hot, boiling something that threatened to overwhelm him. It’s mellowed over time, and not only that, it’s changed. It warms him now, gently, from the inside out. Still, he looks at Wen Ning and he feels that warm thing turn within him, not unlike how it used to when he was young. “Tell me about it.”
“A-Ah?” Wen Ning looks up at Lan Wangji again and is surprised to find something fond budding in his eyes. Lan Wangji nods at him reassuringly.
“He found me while I was practicing.”
Wen Ning speaks slowly. His voice bears the scars of death but still, Lan Wangji finds it soothing. He can’t recall any instance of having heard Wen Ning speak while he was alive but he can tell his voice must have had a lovely, warm resonance to it. He resolves to ask Wei Wuxian about it later.
“I was often sick as a child and I started my training much later. It took me a long time to work up to archery. I had only been practicing for a few years at that point but. . . I think my accuracy wasn’t too bad. Wei-Gongzi thought I was good?” Wen Ning looks down at his clasped hands and rubs at the spots on his fingers that were blistered when he first met Wei Wuxian. Of all the sensations he remembers from his life, the bite of the bowstring on his sore fingers is one that he remembers most vividly. He has nothing to show for it, though. He never had the chance to develop calluses. “He watched me shoot for a while and then jumped out and surprised me. He scared the shit out of me. . .”
Lan Wangji exhales from his nose lightly, an approximation of a laugh that sets Wen Ning’s still heart ablaze.
“He recommended me to participate in the competition but. . . Ah, you probably remember. It didn’t go well. He went and found me afterwards and gave me some advice. He was just so kind to me. And very charismatic. I watched him compete later and. . . I don’t think it was love yet, but I wanted to see him again. Of course, the next time. . .” Wen Ning trails off and Lan Wangji nods solemnly. "I watched you, too. Lan Er-Gongzi is very skilled."
"Lan Wangji," he corrects gently and considers his next words very carefully. "I wish I had been able to watch you shoot."
"It wasn't anything special."
"He thought so."
Wen Ning starts rowing again and they come upon another small lake and a big patch of flat lotus leaves. The fresh buds sway with the swell of the water as Wen Ning rows, the moonlight filtering lazily through the thin, new leaves and diffusing a jade-like glow. They turn their attention back to Wei Wuxian. He looks like he’s sleeping, comfortably nestled against Lan Wangji’s side, except for the transparent paleness of his face and his clammy skin.
“He used to talk about the night he met you,” Wen Ning muses as he rows. “Often when he was drunk.”
“Ah.”
“He loves you, too.”
Lan Wangji looks down at Wei Wuxian and then back at Wen Ning. Wen Ning is getting better at reading the other man's stoic face; he finds incredulity in his expression.
"He has for a long time," Wen Ning says. "It's not something he ever told me but. . . It's only a matter of time before the truth comes out."
"I see the way he looks at you," Lan Wangji says, electing not to respond to Wen Ning's words directly.
"Maybe back then. . . Things were different back then."
"The day you awoke, while he was playing Chenqing. I saw it then. Now, too.”
"He kissed me, once," Wen Ning blurts out before he can stop himself and almost drops an oar. Lan Wangji doesn't seem surprised to hear this. "A short time after. I brought him some food to his cave and he made me sit down next to him and he just. . . kissed me. We never talked about it after, I don’t think he was in his right mind when he did it. He probably doesn’t even remember now.”
Lan Wangji clears his throat delicately. “I kissed him once.”
Wen Ning manages to raise his eyebrows.
“He doesn’t know it was me,” Lan Wangji says and brings his eyes up to meet Wen Ning’s. “But it is only a matter of time.”
“Right. . .”
They sit in awkward silence for a while, cutting through small lakes and following the river towards Yunping. The night inches past and they chat idly just to pass the time and to mask their growing concern for Wei Wuxian’s condition.
“Thank you,” Lan Wangji says, almost out of nowhere.
“E-Eh?”
“For being there for him.”
“Ah. . .” Wen Ning doesn’t know what to say. It’s not something he ever expected to be thanked for. “I will be here for as long as he needs me.”
Lan Wangji looks like he’s about to say something but Wei Wuxian makes a little noise and starts to shiver.
“Wei Ying?” Lan Wangji leans over him and cups his face. He’s still unresponsive, perhaps deep in a dream. His hand clutches at Lan Wangji’s sleeve and he mumbles some unintelligible things. Wen Ning sets the oars down and clambers closer, carefully until he’s leaning over Wei Wuxian as well.
“Wei Gongzi?”
“Lan Zhan. . .” he mumbles. “Wen Ning. . .?”
Wen Ning reaches out and covers Wei Wuxian’s hand with his own. “We’re here.”
Even with Lan Wangji passing him spiritual energy and Wen Ning’s soothing touches, Wei Wuxian sleeps fitfully. Tears trickle down his face at one point and they don’t stop for some time, not until the nightmare has passed. Wei Wuxian settles back into a deep sleep and doesn’t stir, even while Lan Wangji dries his cheeks with the edge of his sleeve. They finally untense, Lan Wangji exhaling a miniscule sigh of relief. Wen Ning realizes how close their faces are now, leaning over this man that they both love. Close enough that Wen Ning could probably feel Lan Wangji’s breath on his skin, and Lan Wangji his. He scans Lan Wangji’s face, roaming from his long eyelashes down to his elegant lips and high cheekbones. Lan Wangji has always been compared to jade, skin smooth and clear to the point of translucency, but looking at him from such close proximity proves this to be untrue. His face is dusted with tiny freckles and marks, proof of having been lived in. It’s slowly been turning a bit darker, which Wen Ning realizes belatedly as being a flush rising to his cheeks. He turns away and studies the lotus flowers rising out of the water, delicate petals unfurled before the moon, blooming secretly in the night. He can feel Lan Wangji looking at him, though.
“Wen Ning,” he says, voice warm with something that Wen Ning is too scared to analyze. He turns back to Lan Wangji and watches with wide eyes as he leans in marginally closer. “Can I kiss you?”
Wen Ning panics. “Wh. . . Why would you want to do that?”
“Because you’re beautiful,” comes a drowsy voice from below them and they spring apart. The boat rocks.
“Wei Ying.” Lan Wangji sounds like he could cry. He scrambles to check his pulse and his meridians and all of that again and Wen Ning can only watch.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” he waves his hand lethargically but does not attempt to sit up yet. “Well? Are you going to kiss him?”
“I- wait,” Wen Ning says weakly.
“What’s stopping you?”
“Y-You.”
“I can turn around,” he says and starts to wiggle around, sliding off of Lan Wangji’s lap and onto the floor of the boat.
“No- Wei Gongzi,” Wen Ning pleads with him and takes a moment to compose himself. “You said I’m beautiful?”
“Of course you are. There’s no one else like you, Wen Ning.”
“Mn.”
Wen Ning shoots Lan Wangji a look that seems to be asking him not to encourage Wei Wuxian. Lan Wangji’s lips twitch.
“It’s. . . I want to kiss you, too.”
“Me?!”
“I would also like to kiss Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji interjects.
“Am I still dreaming?” Wei Wuxian closes his eyes and thumps his head back against the wood, heart beating painfully fast. “Yes, someone kiss me now before I wake up.”
Lan Wangji is closer so he bends and kisses him first, much quicker than any of them were hoping for, but still just as thorough. Wei Wuxian makes a happy noise and then tugs on Wen Ning’s sleeve, guiding him down to meet him on the floor of the boat. Wen Ning is surprised at the enthusiasm with which he is able to kiss Wei Wuxian, despite all his nervousness about being unable to feel it.
“You’re not dreaming,” Wen Ning whispers to him when he pulls away and sits back up.
“Yeah, I guess not!” Wei Wuxian laughs and tilts his head back again to rest on the bottom of the boat, his breaths coming quicker than before, giddy. “You guys can kiss now.”
“Mn.” Lan Wangji smiles softly, lifts Wen Ning’s chin with a finger, and presses their lips together. They linger there for a moment, somehow feeling like a weight has been lifted off their shoulders. He looks at them for a long time, against the backdrop of his hometown moon and the sea of new lotus seed pods, still fresh and full of life.
“What. . . What is this?” Wei Wuxian asks. He looks so tired and so vulnerable and they had hoped when he woke up he wouldn’t ask any hard questions.
“I don’t know,” Lan Wangji says.
“Are you in love with me?”
“We are.”
Wei Wuxian goes quiet, scarily quiet. “I don’t know what to do with that.”
“That’s okay. We don’t have to do anything with it yet,” Wen Ning says.
He studies the sky. “I think- No, I know that I love you. . . You’re so good to me. I just wasn’t prepared to be loved back.”
“Take your time.” Wen Ning picks the oars back up.
“You two have already waited so long for me.”
“And now we have you,” Lan Zhan says. “The rest will wait.”
“Okay. Okay, we can wait a little longer.” Wei Ying sits up slowly and leans his head on Lan Wangji’s shoulder. Wen Ning rows them out of the lake and onto the river.
The current is fast; it’ll take them to Yunping without so much work from Wen Ning, not that he minds it. Wei Wuxian conspires to steal some lotus pods as they drift past and Lan Wangji can’t help but let him, a decision that surprises all three of them. He shows Wen Ning how to peel them efficiently and off he goes, piling the seeds up on a leaf to give to them. They start to talk again, about inconsequential things, like getting lost in Yunmeng as a child or falling out of trees.
“Gongzi,” Wen Ning tries to say, and Wei Wuxian stops him.
“We’ve kissed already, you can call me Wei Ying.”
Wen Ning covers his face with his hands. “Wei Wuxian?”
He laughs. “We’ll work on it.”
They arrive in Yunping after daybreak, leaving behind the watery fields of leaves and pods but keeping some flowers for themselves. The taste of the fresh seeds lingers in their mouths, even Wen Ning’s.