Work Text:
Wei Wuxian had overslept. He dressed himself in record time and headed out towards the classroom. He decided it was best to run than to be late and so he did that. It was just Wei Wuxian’s luck to bump into another disciple. The other teenager was shorter than Wei Wuxian and was wearing Lan robes.
The apology was on the tip of his tongue, but the other disciple beat him.
“Forgive my imprudence. I was in a hurry.” The boy was inclined in a perfect bow. His manners reminded Wei Wuxian of Lan Wangji. Though, this Lan disciple was definitely more talkative.
“It’s not your fault,” Wei Wuxian answered. “I didn’t see where I was going.”
Something in his words alerted the other and made him look up quickly. He dropped the bow and exclaimed: “Dad, you have returned!” As the boy got closer to him, his brow furrowed. He looked at Wei Wuxian’s robes. “Why are you . . .?” Realization dawned on his face. “Oh, no, it worked.”
After the initial shock wore off, Wei Wuxian accepted he was in front of his son: Lan Sizhui (and, oh boy, Wei Wuxian wasn’t ready to open that can of worms). Sizhui explained his time travel was the product of a new array Wei Wuxian's future self was working on. Lan Sizhui had the decency to look sheepish, which Wei Wuxian guessed it meant the boy shouldn’t have used it.
Wei Wuxian agreed on helping him to return to his time. He hoped Jiang Cheng wouldn’t yell at him so much for skipping classes, but he supposed this was far more urgent. His son needed him, sort of.
The walk back to Wei Wuxian’s room was a bit awkward. It was obvious neither of them were used to the silence, but both had a lot on their mind. For his part, Wei Wuxian had so many questions. He had the feeling that even if he asked, Lan Sizhui would not answer. Which was actually a good move, if he wanted to preserve the future. Except that by being here, the future was already altered.
“If you really think about,” Wei Wuxian began saying, “this is already a different timeline, so anything you say isn’t going to have any repercussions.”
Lan Sizhui shook his head. “It’s better if we don’t risk it, Dad.”
Wei Wuxian made a face. “Aiyaa, you’re hard to trick.” He laughed and then continued: “In that case you better not call me that.”
“Then how should I call you?
Wei Wuxian pretended to think carefully and then grinned: “Call me, Xian-ge.”
It had to be proof of their relationship that Lan Sizhui didn’t react at the cutesy address. Instead, with an almost blank face that rivaled Lan Zhan’s, he said: “Let’s hurry, Xian-ge.”
Yeap, the kid was definitely his. Wei Wuxian could see his hand in Lan Sizhui’s upbring. However, there was another person involved in it. Suddenly, Wei Wuxian was very interested in this. He hurried to follow Lan Sizhui, who apparently knew the place better than him.
Neither of them realized part of their conversation was overheard by Lan Wangji. The aforementioned had come to look for Wei Wuxian to inform him of his punishment for skipping class. He never imagined he would witness this kind of scene. His ears were still burning from hearing that boy call Wei Wuxian’s name so casually.
Lan Wangji was used to the shameless attitude of Wei Wuxian, but he didn’t think a Lan disciple would indulge him in it. He wanted to follow them and . . . And do what, exactly? Lan Wangji loosened his tight grip on Bichen and marched in the direction they had gone. He had a message to give.
Once they were inside his bedroom, Wei Wuxian took out paper and ink and let Lan Sizhui draw the design of the array. Wei Wuxian knew his cultivation level was high, but he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to pull this off. The fact that his future self had managed to do it gave him some sort of reassurance. Besides, he had Lan Sizhui with him, between them they could do it.
Wei Wuxian observed Lan Sizhui work. The boy was very concentrated on getting every line right. Once again, Wei Wuxian found his thoughts drifting towards another Lan disciple. He couldn’t help but compare them. It would be easy to say it was because both wore Lan robes, but that would be a lie. Wei Wuxian had observed the other disciples and none had the same grace as Lan Wangji. The only one who had it was Lan Xichen, and well, he was Wangji’s brother.
It was curious then that Lan Sizhui reminded Wei Wuxian of the Twin Jades. Not for the first time that evening, Wei Wuxian wondered how he, himself had married (will marry? This time travel was messing with his head) into the Lan Sect. And there was no doubt of that. Unless . . . No, there was no way Sizhui was playing around. Not only his robes were clearly Lan, but the forehead ribbon had the cloud pattern.
“Sizhui,” he called and aimed for nonchalance. “So, who did I marry, mmh?” When the boy didn’t answer, Wei Wuxian insisted. “Oh, come on, can you give me at least a clue?”
“Please Xian-Ge, we have more urgent things to solve right now,” the boy replied without lifting his head from the array.
In that moment, there was a tap on the door. This made Lan Sizhui pause. Wei Wuxian signaled to continue and walked towards the door. Probably it was Jiang Cheng who had come looking for him. Wei Wuxian was already coming up with an excuse to send Jian Cheng away. It was better to keep Sizhui’s presence a secret. Wei Wuxian didn’t want to lose face with him.
However, Wei Wuxian was surprised when he found Lan Wangji on the other side of the door.
“Lan Zhan,” he greeted a bit more loudly than usual. Out of the corner of his eye, Wei Wuxian could see that Sizhui tensed. So he recognized the name.
“You didn’t come to class.”
“Yeah, I had something important to do.” Wei Wuxian smiled sheepishly and then, because he liked to see Wangji flustered, he asked: “Did you miss me, Lan Zhan?”
Lan Wangji didn’t rise to the bait. He simply limited himself to say: “Wei Ying has to copy the rules.”
“I’ll see you in the library then,” Wei Wuxian said and then closed the door. He didn’t want to involve Lan Wangji into this.
“You made him sad,” Lan Sizhui commented. Wei Wuxian was surprised by seeing the boy at his right.
“Lan Zhan? No, I think he’s actually happy to get rid of me.”
“Hanguang-jun would never-- Forget that.”
But it was too late. Wei Wuxian’s mind was already formulating wild theories. He guessed the best way to solve his doubts was to make Lan Sizhui interact with Lan Wangji and see what happened. Wei Wuxian yelled: “Lan Zhan, I think I need your help!”
Before Lan Sizhui could react, the door opened again and Lan Wangji was looking at them.
“Who are you?” Lan Wangji questioned. He had unsheathed Bichen and seemed ready to wield it. Maybe Wei Wuxian hadn’t thought this through. Lan Wangji knew every member of the Lan Clan and clearly he didn’t recognize Sizhui.
“He’s not a threat, it’s a bit difficult to explain though.” He was about to tell Lan Wangji the truth, but then another idea popped into Wei Wuxian’s head: he could use this opportunity to get his answers. He cleared his throat. “This is Lan Sizhui, he’s your son from the future.”
After Wei Wuxian said those words two things happened at the same time. Lan Sizhui became a stuttering mess and Lan Wangji’s face went completely blank. For his part, Wei Wuxian had to suppress his laugh. Oh, this was his best idea! This way Sizhui would have to reveal the name of his parents.
Lan Wangji was the first to recover. He looked directly at Sizhui and commanded: “Explain.”
For the second time, Lan Sizhui told how he ended up in the past. Wei Wuxian found it a bit odd that during his retelling he referred to him sometimes as Dad and others as Father. It wasn’t until the end, Wei Wuxian understood.
“Father, I shouldn’t have activated the array without your permission,” Sizhui apologized looking at Lan Wangji. Then he added: “Dad was helping me to return to my time.”
“See, Lan Zhan, we just-- Wait, Sizhui, you’re our son!?” Wei Wuxian squealed. This couldn’t be true, oh no, Sizhui had to be kidding. However, this kinda made sense. While Wei Wuxian continued having a meltdown, Lan Wangji stepped up and asked to see the array.
Wei Wuxian let the other two work. From time to time, he made a suggestion, but he was still wrapping his head around the new information he acquired. He wondered how Lan Wangji was managing to act so normal. In the end, this only caused more doubts.
“It’s complete,” Lan Sizhui announced. “It’s best if I go now.”
“Be careful.”
“Sizhui, we’ll see you soon.”
Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian stayed a bit longer after the light from the array had faded away. It had worked: Lan Sizhui was on his way home. Wei Wuxian stole a glance at Lan Wangji. As usual, Wangji’s face didn’t show his thoughts, but there was no doubt he must be thinking about Sizhui and the future. This had been a very weird day. Even Wei Wuxian had a hard time processing their encounter with . . . Their son.
Until that morning, Wei Wuxian was convinced Lan Wangji detested him. You can imagine his surprise when he found out that in the future the two not only had married, but also had a son. A very well behaved son.
Wei Wuxian wanted to tease Wangji. However, “You gotta admit, we make pretty good babies” was probably more than the younger Lan would accept. And even if Sizhui was proof that Wangji would come to like Wei Wuxian, he didn’t want to make the other angry. It was best not to sully the mood.
And so, he settled to say: “No doubt he’s a disciple of Hanguang-jun.” He borrowed the title their son used. Wei Wuxian had no idea how Wangji would earn it, but it really suited him.
“He is Wei Ying’s disciple too.” When Lan Wangji said the words the tips of his ears were red.
“Yeah, he is,” Wei Wuxian conceded. It made sense that Wei Wuxian could see so much of Lan Wangji in the kid. But, he also saw himself. Lan Sizhui was the best of them. “Or will be? Time travel is confusing, Lan Zhan. I can’t believe I’m going to be the one to invent it.”
“Mnh.”
Wei Wuxian smiled at Lan Wangji’s admission. This was the closest they would come to acknowledging Sizhui was their son and what that implied about them. It was enough for now. Wei Wuxian was sure of it. They had time to get to know each other better.