Work Text:
The stars twinkle sedately as a Kona Blue 2012 Ford Focus rolls into an empty gravel parking lot, its tires crunching as it turns into a parking spot. The engine cuts and the only sound that remains in the night is that of crickets. Inside the car sit three teenage boys who are breaking at least eight school rules simply by being in this parking lot at this hour. They’re planning to break at least eight more.
“Do you see any cops?” Wei Wuxian asks, pressing his forehead against the passenger side window as Jiang Cheng pulls the keys from the ignition.
“Nope,” Huaisang answers from the back seat. He’s turned around to look out the back window, surveying the night carefully, his dark green and grey windbreaker rustling as he twists at the waist. “Coast is clear.”
“Sweet,” Wei Wuxian says, and pulls a padded bong bag and a water bottle from the car floor.
He removes the bong (a simple beaker style piece that he bought for the express purpose of having a “car bong”) from its red cocoon and fills it with the water bottle. In the back seat, Huaisang sets about grinding weed in his gunmetal grey grinder and passes it forward to Wei Wuxian when he’s done. Wei Wuxian packs the bowl full and takes a hit, then passes the bong to Jiang Cheng. He holds his breath as Jiang Cheng takes his hit and passes it back to Huaisang. They pass it around their small circle two times, chatting about nothing in particular as the smoke hangs in the air.
When the bowl is totally cached and nothing remains but ashes, Wei Wuxian climbs out of the car and empties the bowl before dumping the water out of the bong. Jiang Cheng and Huaisang step out into the crisp night air and stretch as Wei Wuxian stoops to put the bong back in its bag.
He straightens from the car, slams the door, and excitedly asks, “Who’s ready for a night hike?”
“Meeee,” Huaisang chimes at the same time that Jiang Cheng says, “Let’s do this.”
The beams of their phone flashlights bounce along the gravel as the three teens set off towards the trailhead, the gate of which is locked, but it’s easy enough to hop it; it only goes as high as their hips. Wei Wuxian is the first over, placing one hand on the gate and jumping with his legs to the side, easily clearing the low barrier.
“Why do they even lock this?” Jiang Cheng asks as he climbs over by stepping up onto the gate and jumping down on the other side.
“Sometimes the illusion of security is enough to deter people,” Huaisang says. He holds Jiang Cheng’s shoulder for balance as he lifts one leg and then the other over the gate.
“Not us,” Wei Wuxian says with a fox-like grin, teeth flashing in the light from Jiang Cheng’s phone.
Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes and starts up the trail. “Not most people, probably.”
“True,” Wei Wuxian says. A cold breeze cuts through the trees and makes the dry grasses rattle and shudder. As he zips up his hoodie against the wind, Wei Wuxian remembers something. “ Oh , did I tell you guys about the Slenderman effigy I put out here?”
Huaisang stops dead in his tracks, barely ten feet from the entrance. “I’m sorry, the what?” He glances back at the gate, clearly considering fleeing.
“Yeah, I made a lifesize Slenderman effigy, like, a month ago? Hid it behind a tree, but when I came back last week, it was in a different spot than I left it.” As he speaks, the color drains from Huaisang’s face.
“No. You did not. Tell me that you did not do that,” Huaisang pleads in a flat, insistent voice.
“What? Of course I did. Why would I lie about that?”
Huaisang’s hands fly up to cup his own face as he begins to babble a stream of, “Oh my god . Oh my god , ohmygod .”
“What? What is happening?” Looking at Jiang Cheng (because Huaisang just keeps repeating ‘ oh my god ’ in an increasingly distressed manner), Wei Wuxian asks, “What’s wrong with him?”
Jiang Cheng holds his hand out to Huaisang, who immediately takes it, clinging to the proffered limb as he glances nervously around the trees. Tiredly, Jiang Cheng explains, "He's terrified of Slenderman."
“As you all should be !” Huaisang squeaks.
Wei Wuxian snorts, but at the sharp, terrified look Huaisang gives him, he realizes—“Oh, you’re serious ?” The realization should sober him (Huaisang is his friend, after all), but then, Wei Wuxian has never claimed to be a great person. He breaks into full-bodied laughter. Gasping for breath, he eventually manages to say, “Slenderman isn’t real!”
“You have no way of knowing that!”
“I mean, I do. You can read about how he was made up online.”
Huaisang shakes his head back and forth furiously, nearly shaking his soft, floppy beanie right off his head. His hair flies into Jiang Cheng’s face, who grimaces and tries to pull away. Huaisang has Jiang Cheng’s whole arm in a deathgrip, though, and he’s trapped. Huaisang seems to have been rendered incapable of speech, so Jiang Cheng levels a glare at Wei Wuxian that screams look-what-you’ve-done-now . Then he says it.
“Look what you’ve done now.”
Wei Wuxian feels no remorse; Huaisang gives as good as he gets. He honestly lost track a while ago just how many times Huaisang has managed to prank him. In his humble opinion, he absolutely has just cause to rib his terrified friend.
“He’ll be fine. There’s no actual Slenderman out here—only a fake one.”
Huaisang utters a terrified whimper, but he still shuffles after Wei Wuxian when he starts leading everyone up the trail again. As they make their way towards the more thickly forested area of the trail, Wei Wuxian decides to move on from the whole Slenderman thing, because he doesn’t really want Huaisang to spend their whole outing in a state of silent petrification.
That, and it’ll be so much funnier to let him relax and scare him again later.
“I’m so glad to be off that campus,” Wei Wuxian sighs, flashing his light upwards into the boughs for a moment, indicating his general appreciation for their surroundings. The light sweeps across the oak leaves that rattle quietly in the breeze. “The air somehow seems warmer away from those cold Lans.”
“Are you about to start talking about Lan Wangji again?” Huaisang asks. He’s let go of Jiang Cheng, but they still walk shoulder-to-shoulder. Wei Wuxian looks over at the pair of them and catches Jiang Cheng smiling and hiding a laugh behind his hand. (Wei Wuxian isn’t sure where the joke is. Whatever.)
“When I came out here last week,” he says, purposefully avoiding any mention of the Slenderman effigy, “he caught me on my way back to campus. When I told him I only came out here to go for a night hike, he didn’t believe me!”
“Shocking!” Huaisang says in a mocking falsetto that has Jiang Cheng fighting back another smile. He can't smile; he has some scolding to do. (Sure, Wei Wuxian typically ignores Jiang Cheng’s scolding, but grinning while he does it certainly won’t help.)
“What were you expecting? He can’t stand you. And you were lying.”
Wei Wuxian smiles in an impish ‘ who, me?’ way. “So what if I also come here to smoke weed? I am also going for night hikes. I can do two things at once.”
Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes, and Wei Wuxian decides to count how many times he’ll roll them on this hike. (That’s twice now.)
“Lan Zhan is so unfair. If he’d just relax for once—oh, I should ask him to come on our next night hike!”
“You should not do that,” Jiang Cheng snaps in immediate response. “Under no circumstances should you do that.”
“Yeah, if you tell him anything , we’re only going to be easier to catch!” Huaisang argues.
Wei Wuxian shrugs them off because he’s definitely going to invite Lan Zhan on their next night hike, and nothing they say is going to stop him. He needs something to distract them from the topic, and in an instant of inspiration he says, “Wait,” in an undertone, freezing in place and flaring his eyes wide in an imitation of panic. “Guys, I think I just saw something over there.”
Both Jiang Cheng and Huaisang freeze on instinct.
“ What ?” Huaisang whispers in a pitch that still manages to be shrilly despite the low volume.
“You did not ,” Jiang Cheng hisses, but Wei Wuxian notes that he still remains motionless and doesn’t raise his voice.
“No, I did, I swear. It was… it was really…” he swallows and looks right at Huaisang, “ tall .”
The whine that comes out of Huaisang’s lips (which he has pressed between his teeth in an attempt to keep quiet) sounds more like a scared dog than a human being. His eyes are absolutely massive as he jerks his flashlight across the area Wei Wuxian had been looking. Jiang Cheng puts an arm over Huaisang’s shoulders in a comforting gesture, then sends a glare in Wei Wuxian’s direction.
“You are such an ass,” he growls, which Wei Wuxian scoffs at. Jiang Cheng calling him an ass? Hello, kettle, my name is pot. To Huaisang, Jiang Cheng says, “He’s just fucking with you.”
“I know that,” Huaisang snaps, still scanning the edge of the trail with his flashlight and eyes. Wei Wuxian drops the act and laughs hysterically, finding it hard to stop as Huaisang still looks so scared despite knowing Wei Wuxian is just being a dick.
Wei Wuxian’s laughter shatters the almost-silence of the unceasing and ever-present sound of crickets. The darkness is deep this far from the city, complete in a way it doesn’t get when there’s a streetlamp a block or two away. Out here, with only pinpricks of stars visible overhead, the sole source of light is their phones, the blue-white beams of which cast everything they touch in a drained, uncanny pallor.
Jiang Cheng’s flashlight throws Huaisang’s bobbing Adam’s apple and lined, fearful expression into sharp relief, and Wei Wuxian idly thinks that this almost seems like the beginning of a horror movie. Three teens making jokes about/being afraid of a supernatural being in the woods? Classic horror movie setup. Maybe they really are all going to die tonight; the atmosphere is right for it.
“Hey, if we were in a horror movie, who do you think would be the first to die?” Wei Wuxian asks, laughter still in his voice.
Both Huaisang and Jiang Cheng glare at him. Jiang Cheng spits out a pissed-off, “Are you serious?” and Huaisang mournfully moans, “ Me , because you’d leave me to die .”
“I think I could survive a horror movie,” Wei Wuxian says, like he isn’t currently riling up both of his friends. “I bet Lan Zhan could survive a horror movie, too.”
Jiang Cheng shakes his head and rolls his eyes. ( Hello number three!)
“Can we just keep moving?” Jiang Cheng asks flatly. “The longer we’re gone, the more likely someone’ll notice.”
So they continue their trek upwards, Huaisang occasionally flicking his flashlight beam out into the trees. Wei Wuxian thinks he might be trying to be subtle about it, but there’s nothing subtle about a flashlight in the black night of the hiking trail. Wei Wuxian doesn’t comment, because Huaisang has earned a break from his antics.
(For now.)
The trail in this park is wide and paved, and the incline only gets steep every now and then, so it’s an easy hike despite the significant elevation gain. All the same, it’s a long way to the top. They’re not quite to the viewpoint yet (which at this time of night, in this area, doesn’t amount to much more than a few scattered dots of light) when Wei Wuxian decides it’s time to pounce again.
Walking next to Huaisang, Wei Wuxian suddenly lashes out and grabs his wrist, freezing in place and staring wide-eyed and fearful at a spot just ahead of them.
“Guys I—”
“ Nooooo ,” Huaisang whines in that same dog-like sound Wei Wuxian heard earlier. It almost breaks his composure. Can’t break yet , he tells himself as he schools his features, keeping up the terrified facade.
“No, I’m serious this time, I really saw something!” he hisses urgently.
“No, no no nononononono,” Huaisang whimpers, taking a step back into Jiang Cheng.
“Wei Wuxian!” Jiang Cheng admonishes, bringing a hand up to rest on Huaisang’s shoulder. “Cut it out! It's not funny any—no, actually, it was never funny."
“Jiang Cheng, look at me. I swear I’m not fucking around this time.”
Wei Wuxian says this with such utter solemnity that Jiang Cheng seems to take a moment to reassess. He glances out into the sweeping oaks and tall, golden grasses and frowns, turning his flashlight to illuminate the gloom. He shines it over the area cautiously, the piercing light scanning over the grass and between the trees, painting the scene in an unearthly pale glow. His frown deepens into a glare as he fails to notice anything out of the ordinary. Realizing he's been had, Jiang Cheng points the flashlight into Wei Wuxian’s face in retribution for the deceit. Wei Wuxian careens bodily away from the beam, covering his eyes, but laughing all the same.
“Asshole,” Jiang Cheng mutters.
Huaisang smacks Wei Wuxian’s arm with his phone. “You are so mean . What have I done to deserve this?”
“Do you want me to start with the stuff you’ve done just in the last week? Two days ago—”
“ Utterly without cause! I can’t believe you!” Huaisang interrupts, marching off up the trail, dragging Jiang Cheng along by the arm.
Wei Wuxian grins. Payback is so sweet.
They make it to the top of the trail without further incident. There aren’t as many trees up here to provide shelter from the wind, and it sweeps across the hilltop, turning the tall grass into an ocean of movement. Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian are both dressed for the weather (Jiang Cheng in jeans and grape-colored jacket that stretches to his thighs, Wei Wuxian in runner’s sweatpants and a thick hoodie), but Huaisang is wearing tiny jean shorts, and his windbreaker and hat do little to keep him warm. The wind raises gooseflesh all along his legs, and he stands close to Jiang Cheng for warmth.
During the day, a person can see almost the entirety of the city from here, the sloping mountains curving down and away, cupping the city limits like a cradle. Currently, all the trio can see is a smattering of lights like stars dotting the quiet, slumbering city below. A bench perches on a gentle downwards slope facing the “view”, and Wei Wuxian steps up onto it like a boost in altitude will somehow improve his night vision.
“I can’t believe that everyone goes to bed so early here,” Wei Wuxian complains. “These Lans manage to make even impressive views boring.”
“I know,” Huaisang grumbles. “We don’t exactly party much back home, but people get a little more lively than this .” He gestures to the empty black of the mostly-unlit city.
“It is past midnight,” Jiang Cheng points out, and both Huaisang and Wei Wuxian ignore him.
“Do you think Lan Zhan has hiked this trail?” Wei Wuxian asks.
“Probably. He lives around here and this town doesn't offer much to keep a person busy,” Huaisang reasons.
“He probably hasn’t done it at night, though.”
“Why would he?” Jiang Cheng grouses. Huaisang shivers beside him and Jiang Cheng pulls off his coat, handing it over wordlessly. “There’s nothing to see at night.”
“No view,” Wei Wuxian admits, “but at least there’s also no one yelling at us.”
“ Yet ,” Jiang Cheng says. “We should go back. There isn’t even anything to do up here.”
“Aww,” Huaisang intones, frowning up at Jiang Cheng and batting his eyelashes. Jiang Cheng's face morphs into an uncommon expression for him (something like softness? weird), but then Wei Wuxian decides to speak.
“Yeah, come on, Jiang Cheng!” Wei Wuxian says, jumping down from the bench to clap his brother’s arm. “Live a little.”
Jiang Cheng slaps Wei Wuxian’s hand off his arm. “I’m trying . Lan Wangji will probably kill us if he catches us.”
“Jiang Cheng, if you don’t learn how to have fun, you’re going to stay single forever.”
Jiang Cheng and Huaisang look at each other with expressions like they’re about to break into laughter and are trying very hard not to. Huaisang hides the lower half of his face with the collar of Jiang Cheng’s coat, which he is now wearing. (Wei Wuxian doesn’t get what they’re finding so funny. Does Jiang Cheng want to stay single forever?)
Jiang Cheng schools his features back into a surly glare and refocuses. "We did what we came here to do, so we should go,” he insists. “Weed has been smoked, trail has been hiked. Let’s go.”
“Yeah, yeah, ye—” Wei Wuxian knows that maybe a third attempt at this joke might be crossing a line, but he just can’t help himself. He pulls the same move as he has before, staring off at nothing with a frightened expression and stilling like a deer that has smelled a cougar.
“Let me guess,” Jiang Cheng begins dully, eyes rolling ( four! four! four! Will they get to five?) and visibly fed up with Wei Wuxian’s antics, “you just saw something out in the trees.”
“Hm?” Wei Wuxian asks distractedly. He glances at Jiang Cheng, then back to where he’d been looking, and stifles a gasp.
“What? What ?” Huaisang sounds utterly horrified, and it’s only at this moment that Wei Wuxian remembers that pot can cause paranoia.
Whoops?
Well... he’s in it now.
Aaaand he still thinks it’s really funny.
“N-no, there’s nothing there.” Wei Wuxian gives his friends his best ‘ trying to be brave ’ smile. Then under his breath (but still loudly enough that he knows he’ll be heard), adds, “Nothing there anymore.”
Huaisang makes a noise so high pitched and horrified that it sounds like neither man nor dog. It sounds alien . Jiang Cheng’s eyes flare wide in alarm and he whirls on his brother.
“Wei Wuxian!”
Wei Wuxian loses it. He laughs so hard that he folds over, hands on his knees and gasping for breath. Jiang Cheng kicks his shin really hard (he actually falls to the ground, and he’s gonna have a huge bruise), but you know what? Worth it.
“Wait, wait, I think I saw something! Jiang Cheng , I think I saw something move in the grass!” Huaisang blubbers hysterically. Jiang Cheng stalks away from Wei Wuxian, leaving him lying on the ground, clutching his shin and grinning that infuriating shit-eating grin. Jiang Cheng exchanges some soft words with Huaisang that Wei Wuxian doesn’t catch, too caught up in both his pain and his divertment to listen.
Once Huaisang has calmed down and Wei Wuxian’s leg feels okay enough to walk on again, the group begins their way back to the car. Huaisang harangues Wei Wuxian most of the way down the trail. It’s rare for Huaisang to go off on someone like this, so he must be really mad, Wei Wuxian decides with great amusement. Eventually, Huaisang runs out of creative ways to call Wei Wuxian an asshole, and ends his tirade with a promise:
“You will regret this.”
Wei Wuxian does. Not. Care. He’s still buzzed and having a fucking blast , so he can’t be assed to worry about the eventuality of revenge. That is a problem for future Wei Wuxian.
They’re a little over halfway down the trail when Huaisang stops walking. On one side of the pavement, the hill rises up and away towards the peak, and his eyes rapidly scan upwards through the grass. Both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng turn to him, the latter looking concerned and the former looking amused. Wei Wuxian didn’t think the revenge attempt would come so quickly, or be so boring .
“You’re really trying the trick I’ve been pulling all night?”
“No, I…” Huaisang swallows.
“There’s nothing there,” Jiang Cheng reassures him. “You’re just paranoid because Wei Wuxian has been a dick all night.”
“Yeah.” Huaisang nods, looking spooked. He tears his eyes away from the unmoving grass to flash a less-than-reassuring smile at Jiang Cheng. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Huaisang’s tight, anxious smile makes Wei Wuxian wonder. Either Huaisang is a better actor than Wei Wuxian thought, or he really does think he saw something out there. Whatever the case, Wei Wuxian isn’t going to fall for the same joke he’s been making for the past two hours. Huaisang isn’t going to get him that easily.
They barely make it the length of a city block before Huaisang grabs onto Jiang Cheng’s arm and smacks his shoulder repeatedly, pointing shakily up the side of the hill. The trees are more scant on the incline, but the dry grass is at least a foot high.
“I saw something,” Huaisang whispers.
At normal volume (perhaps a bit louder than normal volume), Wei Wuxian says, “ Suuure you did.” Jiang Cheng makes sure Wei Wuxian can see his eye roll. (Yes! Five!)
“No, I did. I’m serious.” Huaisang’s voice is low, grave, and urgent. His knuckles turn white on Jiang Cheng’s arm, and Jiang Cheng winces as the fingers dig in.
“Slenderman isn’t out here,” Jiang Cheng reassures, attempting to pry Huaisang’s fingernails out of his bicep.
“I don’t think it’s fucking Slenderman!” Huaisang whispers fiercely. “There is. Something. In the grass.”
Both Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian turn slowly to look at the grass, which sways gently in the breeze. The moon is but a sliver in the sky, and the stars don’t provide enough light to illuminate much more than the general idea of motion. Tentatively, they pan their flashlights slowly up the hill. The lights shine through the long, bending blades, casting jagged shadows up the face of the hill. The grass sways and ripples in the wind, making the shadows dance haphazardly. If there is something out there , Wei Wuxian thinks, would we be able to see it?
“I don’t see anything,” Jiang Cheng says.
Huaisang takes a deep breath, then crouches down, feeling around on the ground without taking his eyes off the side of the hill. His fingers find a palm-sized loose stone that he takes up, and then he rises. “Ohhhh, I hope this doesn’t get us killed,” he says, voice shaky.
He chucks the rock into the foliage.
The grass explodes into movement that races up the hill, and whatever it is—it’s big. None of them can make out more than a vague shape that takes off up towards the summit, the grass rippling around it like a ship’s wake. All three boys shriek and immediately start sprinting at top speed down the trail, yelling and swearing as they flee.
Wei Wuxian, “Holy fuck! Fuck fuck fuck!”
Huaisang, “I don’t want to die I don’t want to die oh my god I don’t want to die!”
Jiang Cheng, “AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH MY FUCKING GOD!”
With the help of both gravity and their fear-fueled speed, the trio makes it back to the trailhead in record time. They race to the car, their momentum slamming them into it with bruising force as they scramble to get the doors open. Someone screeches, “Unlock it unlock it! ” as Jiang Cheng fumbles for the keys. The moment the locks pop, they clamber into the car in a flurry of flailing limbs and terrified wails. As they tear out of the parking lot, gravel flying out behind them, all three teenagers fail to notice the yellow sign posted at the gate that reads:
WARNING HIKERS
YOU ARE IN MOUNTAIN LION COUNTRY; NIGHT HIKES CAN BE DEADLY
HIKE IN GROUPS AND MAKE NOISE SO LIONS WILL NOT BE SURPRISED
If a mountain lion is encountered
- Do not run
- Do not stare into their eyes
- Spread your arms to appear large
- Keep children close
- Do not run