Chapter Text
Lan Wangji always relished the first game of the summer recreational soccer season -- it was a chance to stretch his tired muscles and actually use them, as opposed to standing over exam tables all day, sewing people back together.
The sun laid a warm hand on his back as he jogged to the side of the field where most of his team was scattered across the grass. They played on a collection of fields at the local community college for a ten game, two tournament season. It was a nice way to keep in touch with old friends, most of whom had stayed roughly in the same area after college.
When Lan Wangji reached the rest of the team, he folded himself onto the ground next to Lan Xichen. Nie Mingjue, Jin Zixuan, and Luo Qingyang were seated nearby, waving as he sat down.
“Hello,” said Lan Xichen pleasantly as he tossed a jersey to Lan Wangji. Looking around, he could see most of the team was already dressed to play. He quickly shrugged on the jersey and his cleats, gently placing his shoes and shirt back in his bag. He began to stretch, trying to loosen his stiff muscles that were slowly warming to the summer sun.
Nearby, Nie Mingjue began contemplating strategy out loud. He was easily the most athletic out of all of them, considering that he ran a martial arts gym, but he was only barely the most competitive. Lan Wangji listened absently, taking a look around the field at the other teams. There were groups of people arranged haphazardly between the fields, some clustered around the metal stands that were a sorry excuse for audience seating. A quiet murmur rose from the field and settled over them, giving the atmosphere the pleasant feeling of being surrounded by people determined to enjoy themselves.
“It’s nice to be back in the sunshine,” said Luo Qingyang from the ground next to Lan Wangji. She was right -- the spring had been a seemingly endless torrent of rain, and the winter had been one of the coldest they had had in years.
“Mn,” said Lan Wangji, agreeing.
“Want to take a lap?” she asked, standing and stretching her arms high. Lan Wangji nodded and they set off, their shadows stretching alongside them. It was only barely past the heat of the day and Lan Wangji was already starting to sweat.
They took the long way around the fields, daring each other to take a shortcut and step over the wide white line delineating the pitches. They were almost done with their second lap when Lan Wangji slowed, the sight of a once-familiar face stopping him in his tracks.
He and Wei Wuxian had been acquaintances at best before Wei Wuxian had left, abruptly cutting all ties when he had escaped to Europe. Lan Wangji had never figured out quite what had happened, nor had he pressed harder than asking Jiang Cheng and getting furious silence for an answer.
Despite thirteen years of separation, Wei Wuxian had apparently only grown more into himself. He was no longer all sharp edges, his face having turned from gaunt to chiseled. Smile lines graced the corners of his eyes. His hair was tied in a high ponytail and a purple jersey hung slightly lopsided on his slender yet clearly strong frame as he bounced a soccer ball from knee to knee.
In short, he was breathtaking.
“Are you okay?” asked Luo Qingyang, jogging back to where Lan Wangji stood.
He turned to her, his eyes wide. “Did you know Wei Wuxian would be here?”
Luo Qingyang looked over to where the other team was warming up and grinned. “Didn’t you check the roster?” she asked sweetly, glancing back at Lan Wangji.
“I did not exactly have time, Mianmian,” he bit out, glaring at her. In fact, he had fully intended to check the roster the day before, but had been so swamped with surgeries, routine and otherwise, that the thought had slipped his mind completely by the time he returned home.
Luo Qingyang was still grinning cheekily at him, fully aware of his taste in men, so Lan Wangji took the easy way out and ran back to the team, hoping against hope that she would drop the subject.
To Lan Wangji’s dismay, the purple team had seated themselves next to his own team, and Wei Wuxian was saying hello to all involved. Lan Wangji returned to his seat, carefully avoiding Luo Qingyang’s watchful eye, and tried not to pay attention as Wei Wuxian meandered through the teams.
Aside from Wei Wuxian, the other team was comprised of the same people as usual: Jiang Cheng, Nie Huaisang, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning, among others that Lan Wangji knew less well. Seated between them all was Jiang Yanli, who waved happily at Lan Wangji when he returned.
Lan Wangji nodded back. Jiang Yanli had always been exceedingly kind to him and had continually reached out over the years, checking in on how he was doing.
Lan Wangji went back to his bag and drank some water from his bottle, his throat already parched. He stood and stretched some more, his stiff muscles relishing the motions. He looked over to see Wei Wuxian patting Nie Mingjue on the shoulder as he moved through their team.
“It’s so good to see you again, Wei Wuxian,” said Luo Qingyang, who stood next to Lan Wangji, smiling brightly. Wei Wuxian beamed and hugged her, laughing.
“It’s wonderful to see you all! I missed everyone so much and meant to say hello earlier, but I only got back to the country two weeks ago and moving internationally is so stressful, especially with a kid, you know?”
Luo Qingyang laughed and nodded, looking down at the little shadow following Wei Wuxian.
Things clicked into place at that. Lan Wangji had noticed a young child with messy black hair and bright eyes holding Wei Wuxian’s hand. He had thought there was some other way to explain it -- maybe he was babysitting -- but Wei Wuxian had always been good with children, had always gone soft whenever the baby chain from the campus daycare had passed them by.
As Lan Wangji thought, he felt a small presence hugging his leg. He looked down to see the aforementioned child and sighed, picking him up and resting him against his hip as he waited for Wei Wuxian to look his way.
After a moment, he did, and the full force of those gray eyes was shocking.
“Lan Zhan!” called Wei Wuxian, his eyes bright and smile wide. “I didn’t know you were here, I would have come and said hello earlier.”
Lan Wangji swallowed. “I was warming up,” he said, shifting the child.
“Oh, here, let me take him from you,” Wei Wuxian said, darting forward and gently taking the boy back. “Sorry, he thinks he can ask just anyone to pick him up. This is A-Yuan, by the way.” He tucked his chin to look at A-Yuan, pointing at Lan Wangji. “Can you say hi to Lan Wangji?”
“Hiii,” said the boy, smiling and waving. Wei Wuxian beamed at Lan Wangji, his joy evident.
“Hello,” said Lan Wangji to the child, quite unsure of what to do.
Perhaps sensing his discomfort, Wei Wuxian cleared his throat. “All right, I’ve gotta go back, I can hear Jiang Cheng rolling his eyes from here, but it was really good to see you again, Lan Zhan,” said Wei Wuxian, his smile softening.
“It is nice to see you as well,” intoned Lan Wangji.
Lan Wangji sat down and watched as Wei Wuxian walked back to the other team, setting A-Yuan down before he practically dove into Wen Ning’s lap.
Next to him, Luo Qingyang laughed. “He grew up hot, didn’t he,” she said, smirk evident in her voice. Lan Wangji chose not to glare at her and instead continued watching Wei Wuxian.
“I did not know he had a child.”
“Neither did I,” she said, standing. “No ring on his finger, though.”
Lan Wangji exhaled and closed his eyes, shaking his head at himself.
Before Lan Wangji could dwell on Wei Wuxian’s existence in his life for at least the next eleven weeks, the referee blew a whistle, signalling ten minutes before the start of the first game. Lan Wangji jogged forward and onto the field, greeting the referee and other team captain with a nod.
They were not playing Wei Wuxian’s team that night, which was just as well. Despite his focus on the game -- freeing, to only focus on one thing, to let his body run and pass and simply exist as it should, muscles moving and stretching and pushing -- he was aware of Wei Wuxian’s presence on the next field over.
At halftime, he drank half of his water bottle and checked in on the rest of his team. He ascertained that they were doing well and that he was subbing them in and out enough to let those who wished to rest. There was a slight breeze, stirring the branches on the trees at the edges of the field, and it carried two distinctive voices to his ears.
“Would you please just guard the goddamn goal,” said Wei Wuxian, gesturing towards their goal.
“This is rec soccer, I don’t see why you think we actually need a goalie,” said Jiang Cheng, clearly frustrated.
“Because we keep getting scored on, or did you not notice?”
“You keep letting the strikers waltz past you like it’s nothing! Don’t think I didn’t see how distracted you are today.”
Wei Wuxian coughed, affronted. “I’m sorry I haven’t seen most of the people here in thirteen years! And if you’re so sure that I’m the problem, why don’t you take your massive head and just put that in front of the goal, hm?”
Jiang Cheng spluttered with rage. Thankfully, before he could hear anything else, Lan Wangji was called back onto the field, their halftime over.
The sun was still in the sky when their game ended, their shadows long on the field. Lan Wangji was covered in sweat, his hair that had come loose from his bun sticking to the back of his neck. He sat with relief next to the rest of his team and guzzled the last of his water. His team chatted amicably, going over the high points of the game while Lan Wangji sat and stretched, listening passively.
It was nice, hearing his team -- his friends -- talking together and laughing, occasionally throwing the little black rubber nubs that made up the underbelly of the turf field at each other. He changed back into his athletic shoes and other shirt, throwing his jersey at Lan Xichen.
They had once had a schedule of who would take the jerseys home and wash them, but after the team was left without jerseys more than once due to someone’s forgetfulness, the duty had fallen solely to Lan Xichen, who was viewed as the one most likely to actually wash the jerseys between games. Normally, Lan Wangji would have volunteered himself, but his washing machine was a delicate beast and he ended up hang drying almost everything he owned.
Eventually, Lan Wangji stood, wiping his hands on his shorts and picking up his bag. Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue stood as well, waving goodbyes to the team. Luo Qingyang and Jin Zixuan remained on the ground, chatting animatedly about work and waving absently at Lan Wangji as he left.
As he began to walk towards the parking lot, he saw someone jog towards him out of the corner of his eye.
“Lan Wangji,” called Jiang Yanli, waving and smiling as she caught up to him. “It’s so good to see you!”
“It is good to see you as well, Jiang Yanli,” said Lan Wangji, adjusting the strap of his bag.
“Sorry I couldn’t say hello before the game. You played really well though!”
“Thank you,” said Lan Wangji. As a rule, Jiang Yanli did not play with them, for reasons unknown to him. It did not matter, although he thought it was sweet that she showed up to every game anyways. “How are you?” he asked.
“I’m great,” she replied. “Really, I’m so happy that A-Xian is back in the country so that I don’t have to fly to meet him. And now I can babysit A-Yuan all the time! He’s the sweetest child I’ve ever met. I understand now why he was all A-Xian could talk about for months after adopting him,” she said, laughing. “He was so happy!”
She turned towards Lan Wangji as she stepped over the barrier from the field to the parking lot. “In short, I’m doing really well,” she said.
“I am glad,” said Lan Wangji. He meant it. Jiang Yanli had always been kind to him and his brother, and she clearly loved her own brothers.
“Well, I’ll let you get going,” she said, smiling. “See you next week!” She waved and jogged back to the field, leaving Lan Wangji to slide into his car and drive home, resolutely not thinking about Wei Wuxian.