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Lan Zhan is so beautiful, sometimes it hurts to look at him. He's naked, lying chest down on the bed they share, skin glowing warm and golden in the candle light. It's after nine and that means he's near to falling asleep and Wei Wuxian can feel himself smile. "Let me take care of you," he'd said earlier, and Lan Zhan had looked at him with a kind of innocent awe. It's true that in their relationship, Lan Zhan thrives on spoiling the hell out of Wei Wuxian and they're both happy with that arrangement.
But sometimes, sometimes Wei Wuxian wants to worship at the altar of Lan Zhan without interruption. "You look good like this," he says, taking one of the bottles of lightly scented oils and uncapping it with his teeth. Lan Zhan watches him, head pillowed on his arms. He doesn't speak, simply smiles a small, private smile. The oil has a different purpose most nights and Wei Ying is infinitely familiar with the feel of it in all sorts of places. Tonight, it gets to be a soothing balm.
"I think about this a lot," Wei Wuxian says as he pours a bit of the oil directly on Lan Zhan's back, just cool enough to elicit a small hiss of surprise. He sets the bottle aside and straddles Lan Zhan's hips. Wei Wuxian is barely clothed himself, just a pair of flimsy pants to keep them both from getting distracted. He braces his hands on Lan Zhan's back, slowly distributing the oil among the web of scars. They hurt Lan Zhan, sometimes, when the winter is particularly chilly or he's been working too hard.
It's been hurting him the last couple of days, enough that he sometimes flinched when being touched. Wei Wuxian can not let that stand. He begins to trace the muscles near Lan Zhan's spine, feeling for a knot or hardened mass. Lan Zhan makes a small, satisfied sound, similar to the purr of a cat. Wei Ying kisses Lan Zhan's neck, where the spine meets the skull. "You've been working too hard, my love."
Lan Zhan sighs. The sound is an entire argument they've had too many times to count, with either of them being on the receiving end. They're both too stubborn to take care of themselves while people need saving and a world needs changing. But that's why they have each other. If there is one thing they're both good at, it's making sure the other one gets a break when they need it.
Wei Wuxian lightly traces a scar with his finger, watches the skin around it twitch involuntarily. Lan Zhan's back is a whole ecosystem of entangled nerves, a jigsaw puzzle of muscles torn and stitched back together. His spiritual energy makes it all work fine, until it doesn't. Wei Wuxian's fingers tread softly, gently, never digging too deep or pulling too hard.
Lan Zhan breathes shallow and soft, perched on the edge of wakefulness. "Wei Ying," he says, and there's a question in it that Wei Wuxian doesn't want to answer. What about you? Aren't you tired, too? Don't you want to be touched? Yes, of course. Yes, he does.
He smiles, presses a kiss to Lan Zhan's shoulder, the edge of Lan Zhan's mouth, his temple. "Tomorrow," he says, knowing that Lan Zhan will always take care of him.
Lan Zhan smiles, his eyes closed, his breath slowing. He's about to fall asleep and he's so very beautiful. Wei Wuxian keeps running his fingers across his back. After a few moments, when he's sure Lan Zhan is asleep, he covers them both with the heavy blanket and covers himself with Lan Zhan's arm, curling into the space that creates. He snaps his fingers and the candles go out, leaving them in the comfort of the dark.