Chapter Text
Wei Wuxian lowers his dizi from his lips, the red-and-black patterning familiar in his periphery. The notes of Cleansing fade, and the akuma - no, it’s a butterfly now, with Hu Die’s taint purged from its wings - flutters away. “Bye-bye, little butterfly,” he murmurs. He’s not sure why. It’s not the kind of thing he’d usually say, but he’s been repeating it every time since Stoneheart; it’s the respectful thing to do, maybe. Or he just likes having a little catchphrase to ground himself with. He turns to Hei Mao, who’s hovering as always by his side, a steady certainty in the way he looms in Wei Wuxian’s periphery. “You hear that, Hei Mao? We did it!”
“Mn,” Hei Mao agrees. There’s the slightest quirk to his lips, and Wei Wuxian would take just that as a win - it’s not quite a smile, but it’s close enough that he’s fighting back a blush - but then Hei Mao continues , voice deep and soft and reverent. “You did well, Piao Chong.”
“I,” Wei Wuxian says, and then stops. It’s not like him to be speechless. Fuck . Time for evasive maneuvers. “You’re not so bad yourself, Hei Mao! Keep fighting like that and I might just start thinking you’re competent !”
“I am more than competent,” Hei Mao says quietly, sheathing the black-and-gold sword at his side. “But thank you.”
“I was joking ,” Wei Wuxian whines, and lets himself fall ungracefully into Hei Mao’s arms - his fellow vigilante, partner-in-heroism, catches him with more bemusement than anything else - before his earrings bleep at him, almost irritated. “Ah, fuck, Tikki, could you not give me five more minutes?”
“Doesn’t work like that,” Hei Mao says, stiffening. He gives Wei Wuxian a gentle shove. “Leave, Piao Chong.”
“I don’t wanna ,” Wei Wuxian grouses, already turning away to leap off the edge of the rooftop. “See you, Hei Mao. I keep telling you, we really should exchange phone numbers -”
“ Go ,” Hei Mao commands. His tone brooks no argument.
Wei Wuxian sighs, pulls his Lucky Charm - a pair of scissors that he only barely avoided just fucking stabbing the akuma with - from where he’s stuck them into his belt, and tosses them into the sky with a shout of “Miraculous Piao Chong!”. Honestly, the appalling safety standards his Miraculous forces him to adhere to! Tossing scissors into the sky! What’s next, he wonders? Carrying a knife with the blade facing -
“ Piao Chong .”
“Al right ,” he huffs, and leaps off the roof into the alley below. To be fair, Hei Mao was probably right to pester him. He barely makes it round the corner out of sight before his transformation drops. Tikki appears by his right ear before floating around to hover in front of him, arms crossed. She’s visibly worn out, but also very, very good at the “I’m not mad, just disappointed” stare.
“I’m sorry ,” he tries. “I know I shouldn’t leave it to the last minute, I just -”
“Wei Ying,” Tikki says firmly. “You know the rules.”
“Yeah,” he mutters, and tugs a cookie from his bag - thank God it transforms with him. You’d think a whole messenger bag would be a little difficult for Tikki to magic away into his Piao Chong suit, but it doesn’t seem to be an issue. “Here you go.”
She nibbles on it, wide blue eyes very big and very earnest. “Wei Ying, I know you’re very fond of Hei Mao -”
“ Everyone’s fond of Hei Mao, it’s not just me,” Wei Wuxian protests. “Have you seen him?”
“No, I’ve been in your bag every time,” Tikki harrumphs, and quells him with a stare. “You need to leave as soon as you can after using your Lucky Charm, Wei Ying -”
“I know the rules,” he snaps, and turns to leave the alley. “I just forgot. Come on, let’s go.”
Tikki sighs but swoops obediently into his bag, and Wei Wuxian strolls out of the alleyway as purposefully as he can - only to collide, head-on, with -
“I am supposed,” Wei Wuxian says before he can think, “to have good luck .”
Hei Mao stares at him, somewhat bemused. The graceful arcs of his dark hair - Wei Wuxian would be sure it was gelled if his own Miraculous didn’t also do weird things to his hair - obscure the majority of his face, but Wei Wuxian thinks he might have flushed pink, just a little. “Wei -” Hei Mao begins, and Wei Wuxian narrows his eyes ‘cause what the fuck .
“You know my name?” he interrupts, torn between bemusement and anxiety. He needs Hei Mao to not notice anything about Wei Wuxian, needs to be able to fade into the background and hide from him, because otherwise he’s going to say something too obvious and then Hei Mao is going to know and everything is going to go wrong -
Hei Mao is stammering , and there’s a very familiar determined set to his lips - he’s trying to hold back a smile , oh God oh fuck. “Wei Y -” he begins, and then visibly changes his mind about what he’s going to say. “Wei Wuxian, you - Were you caught in the attack, the akuma -”
“ Oh ,” Wei Wuxian realises, and then, “uh, yeah - I got hit by one of the akuma’s bolts, I was a zombie thing for a while, I think. Piao Chong saved me!” And in his defense, his crush (he says ‘crush’ to minimise it but really it’s more like ‘I’ve been hopelessly in love since the moment he fell out of the sky in a black-and-gold superhero costume and told me he had the power of destruction”) is standing right in front of him, off-guard and with time to spare, since he didn’t use his Cataclysm today (which Wei Wuxian is not supposed to know, but it’s fine, probably). So can he be blamed if he takes this very glaring opportunity to prod, very gently, “Piao Chong’s pretty cool, isn’t he?”
“Hm,” Hei Mao says, and the burgeoning blush disappears. “He is irresponsible.”
Well, there goes Wei Wuxian’s heart. That’s fine. “I should probably,” he mumbles, “go. It was, uh - cool seeing you, Hei Mao, thank you for stopping to chat, I know you as a superhero must be very busy anyway see you bye !”
He sprints away almost faster than he did as Piao Chong, and doesn’t stop until he’s home and can lean against his bedroom wall and breathe and not have to think about Hei Mao.