Work Text:
Lan Wangji was tidying up when he had found the ornately decorated box in Wei Wuxian’s side of their closet. His husband was gone for the day, visiting his adoptive sister and his nephew a few hours drive from where they lived. As Lan Wangji had the day off, he decided to do some cleaning and organizing while he was away in hopes of surprising him.
The box was made of a dark wood, painted with detailed light blue clouds and red flowers and lacquered to a smooth finish. It wasn’t small, about the size of a shoebox and bore an almost hefty weight to it.
He had never seen it before, which was a marvelous feat given that he had known Wei Wuxian for going on ten years and they had been living with each other for the past three. Lan Wangji didn’t want to cross any boundaries with his husband, but his curiosity was rising the longer he stared at the beautiful box in his hands. After a long moment of contemplation, he carried the box to their bed. He thought about waiting for Wei Wuxian to return and asking him directly what was inside, but he didn’t know when he would be back.
With a deep breath of resolve, Lan Wangji gently slid the clasp free and opened the box. Inside was a cluttered mess that he couldn’t begin to understand from the first glance, tiny trinkets it seemed buried amongst pieces of paper of varying sizes. Setting the box down on the bed, he picked up what looked to be a ticket stub and inspected it.
It was a ticket for a sports game, one Lan Wangji distinctly remembered because he played in it. It was for one of his lacrosse games, as he played throughout high school, the date telling him that it was when he and Wei Wuxian were 13.
Shortly after they met.
In the beginning, they were not close. Lan Wangji was—and he now admitted it easily—a little bit of a goody-two-shoes. He obliged every single school rule, followed them religiously, and with his expressionless face, he did not have many friends. In fact, he really had none. Wei Wuxian, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. Rules couldn’t contain his spirit and he openly disobeyed them, sneaking out of classes and speaking loudly and passing notes in class. When he first met Lan Wangji, he wouldn’t leave him alone. He always teased him and talked his ear off trying to get him to react to something he said. Wei Wuxian admitted years into their relationship that he wanted Lan Wangji’s attention most of all, for his eyes to only look at him and him alone.
Wei Wuxian attended every one of his lacrosse games, cheering him on as only his voice reached Lan Wangji on the field. Sometimes he would even join with the school’s cheerleaders, much to Lan Wangji’s embarrassment and secret enjoyment.
That he had kept one of the game tickets—and not just one it seemed, as another look in the box found another—after so long made him feel warm.
Setting it aside, he reached for the next item: a movie ticket from their first date. They were sixteen, Lan Wangji’s annoyance of Wei Wuxian’s antics having shifted to fondness and Wei Wuxian’s teasing becoming more sincere. It was Wei Wuxian who asked him out first, wringing his hands together in that way he does when he’s super nervous and looking at him with worry in his eyes that Lan Wangji would say no. He said yes, of course. The glow that appeared in Wei Wuxian’s eyes when he did made his heart squeeze with love. They had gone to see a fantasy movie that Wei Wuxian had wanted to see and had been talking about often, excited by sword fights and magic. Lan Wangji can’t really say he remembered the movie much; his eyes were on his date almost the whole time, watching the way his face expressed his every change in feeling as it happened.
The sparkle in his eyes at the characters doing something particularly cool, the scrunch of his nose when an annoying character did something foolish and the soft smile at a loving moment between the main pairing.
Watching Wei Wuxian was much more fascinating than the movie. His hand had slipped into Lan Wangji’s halfway through and they hadn’t let go the rest of the night.
There were more movie tickets in the box, all sorts of different kinds from different dates over the years.
Tickets to art museums that they both loved to go to and concerts for artists they liked.
Plane tickets from their honeymoon.
A collection of drawings that Wei Wuxian had drawn of him, ranging from high school to a couple months ago.
A pressed flower preserved in a bookmark that Lan Wangji remembered giving to Wei Wuxian while they strolled through one of the traditional gardens outside of the city.
Tiny trinkets that Wei Wuxian collected from their many adventures.
Then he found the pictures. Wrapped in a very familiar ribbon that he had gifted Wei Wuxian after their first date, clouds embroidered into the white silk with precision. It was a Lan tradition; his uncle told him long ago, that their ancestors wore these ribbons around their foreheads, never to be touched by anyone else except when they found their true love. Only their lover could touch the forehead ribbon and it became a symbol of union.
For years after, his boyfriend-now-husband wore it tied around his wrist, only taking it off to shower or when they slept.
Wei Wuxian didn’t know the meaning behind it until years after Lan Wangji had given it to him, but when he found out, he had run his fingers over the fabric and cried. He hugged him as tightly as he could, pressed kisses all over his face and told him he loved him with each one. It was that moment that Lan Wangji had decided to propose.
With trembling fingers, he pulled the knot on the ribbon and set it carefully on his lap as he looked at the pictures. There were so many, making a thick stack almost the height of the box.
The top one was of a young Lan Wangji alone, reading a book in the library. It was obvious that it was taken without his knowledge.
The next was of the two of them, talking together with Wei Wuxian’s thousand-watt smile.
Wei Wuxian dressed up in a cheerleader’s uniform with his arms around Lan Wangji after the team won a big game.
A stealth picture taken of the two of them, hand in hand as they walked down the street with ice cream. (It was probably Nie Huaisang who took this picture, as Lan Wangji vaguely remembered that this was a double date with him and Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian’s adoptive brother. His focus was wholly on Wei Wuxian to notice anyone else with them.)
The pair of them dressed for their school formal, his arm around Wei Wuxian’s waist as their eyes locked on each other’s.
Their graduation pictures, holding up their diplomas as Wei Wuxian kissed his cheek.
Lan Wangji holding his rabbits in their new apartment, an exasperated but happy look on his face as he stared back at the camera.
A selfie of them on a winter date, Lan Wangji’s eyes on his boyfriend as he smiled.
Their wedding pictures. So many captured moments of the happiest day of his life, easily a hundred at least, of the two of them dressed in their finest. The exchanging of their vows where the redness of tears in both of their eyes showed clearly in the pictures. Wei Wuxian’s sunny smile warmed his heart through the image in his hands and Lan Wangji found himself smiling back.
More and more milestones that they’ve reached together, all captured in this lovely box. Countless memories kept like priceless treasure pieces for all this time and it suddenly became difficult for him to swallow.
His eyes were burning with tears; how did he deserve to be married to the most perfect man in the world?
“Lan Zhan?” His head snapped up to see just the person he wanted to see, more than anything, standing in the doorway. “You didn’t answer when I came in, so I thought—“ Wei Wuxian trailed off when he saw the box on the bed. His face suddenly flushed, “You found it! I-I know, it’s pretty sentimental but I’m bad at tossing anything. Especially stuff that means so much to me!”
Lan Wangji didn’t answer, setting down the pictures as if they were made of glass and standing up.
“Lan Zhan?”
In two large steps, Lan Wangji reached his husband and pulled him into his arms. He buried his face in the soft hair, hugging him as tightly as he could. “Lan Zhan, are you okay?” Wei Wuxian whispered, returning his embrace.
“Love you. Love you so much,” Lan Wangji breathed, his voice catching a little as he tried not to cry. Wei Wuxian heard loud and clear, rubbing his back as he pressed gentle kisses to everywhere he could reach.
“I love you, too, Lan Zhan. More than anything.”
That little box with all of its mementos held treasured pieces of their relationship and would continue to gather more and more beautiful treasured memories for years to come.