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Wei Wuxian stood in front of a pile of boxes obscured by a sheet and grinned at the two men before him. Lan Wangji blinked slowly at the scene before him, clearly amused and waiting patiently to see what fresh bullshit Wei Wuxian was going to pull on them now. Lan Sizhui, his little a-Yuan all grown up, was smiling so sweetly at him as he pulled away from the hug he had graced Wei Wuxian with as soon as he’d seen him. It almost made Wei Wuxian’s eyes water a little, but that was probably because it was so bright in the office with those white walls and pale bamboo floors reflecting the sunlight streaming in the huge south-facing windows. Really, for someone who was supposed to embrace the austere, some things about Lan Wangji’s house were rather decadent.
“What’s all this, dad?” Sizhui asked, looking at the lumps under the sheet curiously, and Wei Wuxian’s heart stuttered at being called dad, as it did every time.
“I’m glad you asked, a-Yuan!” he cried, grinning even more. Lan Wangji’s eyes narrowed just slightly. Wei Wuxian only called Lan Sizhui a-Yuan when he was up to some sort of mischief again, after all. Or if he was feeling particularly nostalgic and sappy. Wei Wuxian grabbed the sheet and dramatically pulled it away, bundling it into his arms and tossing it aside. Lan Wangji moved forward to grab it and neatly folded it up. Hidden beneath it were a dozen Lego sets of varying size and complexity as well as a huge bucket of freeform building blocks, an Easy Bake Oven, and an eclectic collection of dolls and action figures of many different kinds, from knockoff Barbies to Transformers. “The police finally released all my stuff that they’d ‘confiscated,’” he explained, putting air quotes around the word and rolling his eyes. “Took them long enough. Six months to give me back my Legos? Rude. What was I going to do with them anyway, scatter them on the bedroom floor of my enemies?” He laughed at his own joke, imagining for a moment Wen Chao rolling out of bed and immediately stepping on a mountain of Legos. Even Sizhui had to smother a laugh. “Anyway, since the Lan family doesn’t know what fun is, I figured that since I got my stuff back I could finally teach you! Don’t give me that look, Lan Zhan,” he said a moment later, pouting at Lan Wangji’s blank expression, “I know you raised him and you did an amazing job, but did you ever play with one of these?” He picked up of the gaudier off-brand Barbies and waved it at him, making its multi-colored hair and jewel-toned dress swish. Lan Wangji did not respond, but Wei Wuxian wasn’t expecting him to. He grabbed his son by the arm and tugged him toward the pile of toys, encouraging him to pick something to play with.
Tentatively, and only because he knew how happy it would make his dad, Sizhui picked up one of the Lego sets that looked interesting and they sat on the floor together to build it. After a few minutes, Sizhui looked up at Wei Wuxian coyly and asked, “How many of these did you buy for me when I was little, and how many were just for you?”
A tiny huff from the desk where Lan Wangji was pretending to work on adult things while he actually watched them indulgently made Wei Wuxian pout in his direction. “Don’t laugh at me, Lan Zhan, you’ll make me cry! Anyway, can’t I buy things we’d both like?” He put his nose in the air, making Sizhui laugh again.
With a sudden grin, Sizhui reached into the pile of toys and pulled out two figures, one Barbie look-alike and an action figure that seemed to belong to a cartoon he’d never heard of. Both toys bore childish strokes of a marker on their legs spelling out a familiar name in shaky characters. He used the two obviously ancient and well-loved toys to point to a Lego set with a faded box in a clearly old style, the font and art on it distinctly different from most of the rest. “And how many did you actually buy, and how many were yours from when you were a kid?” Sizhui asked now, only to have the toys snatched out his hand. Wei Wuxian pouted forcefully while he straightened the action figure’s limbs and smoothed the doll’s hair and clothes.
“Don’t bully me so much, a-Yuan,” he whined, cradling the toys close to his chest. “I am a tender soul, and you’re being too mean.” He turned to where Lan Wangji had stopped even pretending to do other things and was watching with one of the softest expressions Sizhui had ever seen on his father’s face. “Lan Zhan, did you teach him this? How cruel, teaching our son to bully me!”
Lan Wangji’s lips twitched. “He clearly learned this behavior from you,” he said, and Wei Wuxian perked right up.
“You’re right! Only my own kid could bully so well!” he cried, and reached across the pile of Legos to ruffle Sizhui’s hair affectionately.
Hours later, after the Lego set had been completed, some dolls had been made to have imaginary conversations, Lan Wangji had been dragged over to help build a very rough approximation of a castle out of blocks, and Sizhui had thoroughly forgotten that he was supposed to be starting university when the summer was over and was, in fact, a legal adult, the three of them settled in front of the meal Lan Wangji had cooked for them. All three of them were relaxed and grinning - or, well, Lan Wangji was smiling gently - and it was probably the best any of them had felt since Wei Wuxian had finally be exonerated and allowed to come home.
“Father,” Sizhui began, smiling at Lan Wangji. “Would it be alright if I had some friends over this weekend? If dad doesn’t mind, I think that big pile of toys would be more fun with more people.”
“It sure would be!” Wei Wuxian cried, grinning with eyes bright. “Invite Jin Ling, too! Need to show him, too. You know Jiang Cheng absolutely never sat on the floor with a pile of Legos with that kid, and I can’t imagine the Peacock doing it either.”
“Wei Ying, it has been nearly twenty years since high school,” Lan Wangji scolded, though the soft amusement on his face stole any bite from the words. “You could attempt to use Jin Zixuan’s name.”
Wei Wuxian humphed and tipped his nose up. “Don’t wanna,” he declared, crossing his arms like a child.
“I was think of Jin Ling, Jingyi, and Ouyang Zizhen, actually. If that’s alright,” Sizhui interjected before his parents could start making eyes at each other.
Both Sizhui and Wei Wuxian made matching faces of anticipation at Lan Wangji, making his eyes narrow in amusement. Before he answered he surreptitiously brought up the camera on his phone without looking at it and snapped a picture before either of them could realize what was happening. “Mn, that is fine. Inform us before they arrive.”
Both men grinned at once, and Lan Wangji took another picture. “Of course, father!” Sizhui cried, and whipped out his own phone.
Of course, all of them being legal adults, Sizhui’s friends were a little skeptical when they came over to hang out and found a proudly displayed pile of children’s toys instead of a gaming console. All except for Zizhen, anyway. The romantic in him immediately waxed poetic about some nostalgic memories about Legos and was happy enough to dig in. It took a little while and some coaxing from the pair of them to get Jingyi to play, and Jin Ling held out the longest. Oddly, what seemed to pique his interest was one of the rattier dolls at the bottom of the pile. After pulling it out, it was discovered that the name childishly written on the leg was not Wei Wuxian’s but rather Jiang Yanji’s. Jin Ling instantly claimed the doll and set about neatening its tired appearance.
Three hours later, Wei Wuxian walked into the office they’d claimed as a playroom and grinned. “I thought I smelled something burning, but clearly I didn’t since that lightbulb couldn’t burn tissue paper that was already on fire,” he said, looking at the Easy Bake Oven that was clearly being used by Jingyi to make something that was most likely to be atrocious.
Zizhen gasped at Wei Wuxian’s words and bolted to his feet, knocking over the tower of Legos he’d been working on. “The pizza rolls!” he cried, and bolted from the room.
Wei Wuxian laughed at his retreating back. “I already pulled them out of the oven, but let him panic for a moment. It’s a lesson.” He winked at the remaining boys and received two smiles and an eye roll. “Sizhui, where’s your father?”
“I thought you were with him?” Sizhui replied, blinking curiously.
Wei Wuxian shifted on his feet, a sly look overcoming his face. “I was, but I, uh, took a nap,” he told them, and everyone promptly decided they didn’t want to know. “It’s fine, he’ll turn up. He’s probably getting dinner ingredients, since I may have mentioned I was craving a certain soup. Anyway, I’m insulted you didn’t invite me to this little party!” he cried, as though he hadn’t been knowingly avoiding it to allow the kids time to settle into the idea of playing with “kids’ toys.” “Mind if I insert myself into this situation?” Jin Ling made a disgusted face.
“Why would you say it like that?” he demanded, still tugging the repaired dress onto the doll he’d been working on for hours.
“Just to annoy you!” Wei Wuxian crooned. “Oh, is that jiejie’s doll? Yeah, she gave that to me when I first came to live with them. I didn’t have any toys, obviously, so she gave me one of hers to play with. I held onto it really tightly and she didn’t have the heart to take it back. So I kept it! I’m so glad it’s still here.”
“You suck at taking care of your toys,” Jin Ling informed him with a scowl. Wei Wuxian just laughed.
“Hey, that doll was already old when your mom gave it to me,” he defended, raising his hands and then promptly lowering one to steal a pizza roll off the plate Zizhen was carrying past him into the room. Everyone descended on him at once, teenage stomach’s screaming for sustenance. “That and spending over a decade in the delicate care of a police evidence storeroom kind of accounts for why it was so messed up. I’m just glad it made it back at all.” He ventured nearer and smiled down at it. “You did a great job, it looks amazing,” he praised, taking the doll and turning it over in his hands, observing the changes. Brushed hair, repaired dressed, fully cleaned of all grime, faded features repainted. “Wow, you could make serious money doing this kind of thing, kid. Do you know what some people pay for custom or repaired dolls?” He patted Jin Ling on the shoulder and for once didn’t receive a scowl and a flinch for his efforts.
“It needed it,” he grumbled, but everyone could tell he’d been having fun fixing it up.
Wei Wuxian smiled gently at his nephew. “Keep it. It should stay in the family. Someday when you have kids - I mean, if you can ever get anyone to deal with your presence long enough to procreate or adopt - give it to them.” Jin Ling scoffed at the gentle insult, but his scowl was fond.
By the time all four boys were passed out in the living room on various pieces of furniture, full of lotus root and pork rib soup that wasn’t quite as good as Jiang Yanli’s, Wei Wuxian was feeling as light as a feather and more content than he could remember being since Lan Wangji had first kissed him.
“It was a good idea,” Lan Wangji whispered, wrapping an arm around Wei Wuxian and drawing him towards their bedroom.
“Yeah, it was fun,” Wei Wuxian agreed with a grin.