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Lan Wangji frowned as he entered Lanling High School with five underclassmen in tow behind him, all carrying food and drinks that were supposed to sustain them for the next two days.
He walked right into the crowd of people that were gathered in the cafeteria of Lanling High, all of them talking obscenely loud, and found two empty tables. The underclassmen set the food on one table and their personal belongings on another before scurrying off to find their friends from other schools.
Lan Wangji sighed and sat at the table with all the food, his laptop open to the Google doc of his debate case open in one window, along with tabs of evidence and another window with his speech.
He looked up and took a deep, settling breath and closed his eyes.
He hated debate tournaments. He’s been doing this for three years.
Lan Wangji joined debate at the advice of his older brother, Lan Xichen. It was suggested the summer before Lan Wangji’s sophomore year while he helped his brother pack for his freshman year of college.
“Wangji, why don’t you try the debate club? I did it— and look! I met Mingjue that way,” Lan Xichen tore the tape on a box and stood up with his hands on his hips. His long, black hair was tied up in a high ponytail and he was wearing casual clothes, a baby blue t-shirt with blue jeans.
“I don’t know…” Lan Wangji had told his brother how he was perfectly fine with just Nie Huaisang as his only friend during his freshman year. He didn’t tell him that he was very much popular but only because of his looks and not his personality.
“Well, why not give it a try? You can always drop the club if you don’t enjoy it!” Lan Xichen smiled at his brother, wide and soft. Lan Wangji nodded. “Okay! Let’s go get food with Mingjue and Huaisang.”
Lan Wangji trailed dutifully after his brother. He would try it.
Three years later and he was still doing it.
He didn’t hate it, per say. He hates the tournaments; the work and actual debates were enjoyable to him and he always got a rush after a good debate round.
“Lan Zhan! You’re here!” A voice called out across the cafeteria— which was massive— and Lan Wangji looked up with his eyebrows slightly raised as he made eye contact with a man across the cafeteria.
He watched Wei Wuxian walk, very fast he noted, towards him. He was carrying his laptop in his arms and cup holder in the other.
“You guys weren’t here when we arrived so I snuck into the judges lounge and put this in the mini-fridge in there. But, here,” Wei Wuxian handed him a takeaway cup filled with ice and what he assumed was tea. “It’s an iced green tea. I remembered you like this!” Lan Wangji felt his ears heat up slightly.
So, there was a silver lining to debate tournaments.
Wei Wuxian smiled widely at him before sipping on his own drink. A Chai Latte this time.
“Thank you,” Lan Wangji said. Wei Wuxian just continued to smile.
Wei Wuxian joined the debate circuit late into their sophomore year and he instantly had the whole place under some sort of spell. He was good looking, charming, and smart.
Wei Wuxian did the same two events as Lan Wangi— Lincoln-Douglas debate and Informative Speech— along with the occasional drama pieces when they needed a filler.
Lan Wangji detested him their first year together. Competing with Wei Wuxian made him want to rip his hair out— he’s never gone through so many sticky notes in one round than when he first went against Wei Wuxian’s case. He had found Wei Wuxian to be too animated and he spoke too fast, plus his cases and arguments were so out of left field. It pissed Lan Wangji off, suffice to say.
But, no matter how cold he was to the other man, Wei Wuxian stuck around. He would sit with Lan Wangji in the library between their rounds and fill the usual silence with nonsensical chatter, no single topic relating to one another, he was just there to speak while Lan Wangji did work. Sometimes he sat and worked, too, but it was rare.
The beginning of their junior year, Lan Wangji became accustomed to the company. He enjoyed Wei Wuxian’s presence and ended up looking forward to it. It was the only thing that kept him sane during the torturous and chaotic hours of debate tournaments— especially since he had so much free time between events.
“So… Let me see your case!” Wei Wuxian said as he made grabby hands for Lan Wangji’s laptop. Lan Wangji looked at him as if he’d grown a second head.
“Ridiculous.”
“Aw, c’mon!” Wei Wuxian pouted and Heavens, he found it so endearing. “I’ll let you look at mine! Fair trade!”
Lan Wangji rolled his eyes. “You will see it when we go against each other.”
“That won’t be until tomorrow and you know it!” Wei Wuxian shoved at Lan Wangji’s shoulder playfully before backing off and opening his own laptop. “They always do that, the power matching on the last day, so we won’t go against each other for a while,” he didn’t look up from his laptop screen as he read through an article.
“We’ll probably have a room together for Informative.” Lan Wangji looked at the hand that Wei Wuxian had stuck out, like he was waiting for something. Lan Wangji blinked and grabbed the nearest food item he could— three carrots.
“You’re probably right, but still. Not as fun!” Wei Wuxian took a bite of the carrot, seemingly satisfied. “I think you’ll like my case this time. ‘Unorthodox’ is what Uncle Jiang called it when he looked it over.”
“Great,” Lan Wangji deadpanned. Wei Wuxian laughed, a small giggle that sounded like the tinkling of a bell.
“Don’t be so sarcastic, Lan Zhan! You’ll have fun with it.”
After that, they sat in silence for a bit. Both of them working on cases and speeches, eating carrots.
“What’s the first event?” Wei Wuxian asked suddenly, whipping his head up to look at Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji opened his phone and pulled up his camera roll to look at the picture of the tournament schedule he was sent.
“Debate.”
Wei Wuxian groaned and closed his laptop none too gently. He laid his head on Lan Wangji’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “Fuck, I am really tired.”
Lan Wangji made a noncommittal noise before going back to his laptop— the weight of Wei Wuxian’s head on his shoulder made him hyper aware of his surroundings and the way things felt as he tried to focus on editing his speech.
He can’t pinpoint exactly, maybe sometime during their junior year, Lan Wangji realised that he had developed feelings for Wei Wuxian. He thinks it was at the Yunmeng High tournament when Wei Wuxian had dragged Lan Wangji to the drama event he was helping a freshman with so they could qualify for state. It was cute and funny, Wei Wuxian giving it all for this freshman.
It could also be at the Qinghe High tournament when he and Wei Wuxian were in their last round together, the finals round, and they both went an hour over time heatedly arguing with one another but the moment they walked out the classroom, Wei Wuxian looped his arm through Lan Wangji’s and asked him if he wanted to grab dinner with him, Nie Huaisang, and his brother, Jiang Cheng.
He agreed.
It was sometime then— about a year ago.
Now, he sits with Wei Wuxian’s head on his shoulder, and realises it’s their senior year— their last year debating together. He feels a pit form in his stomach.
He ignores it and goes back to his speech.
An hour later, a crowd rushes past them and to a wall by the grand staircase. Postings were up. Postings were where they told the competitors which room they’d be in and who they would go against plus their judge for that round.
“Wei Ying. Postings are up.” Lan Wangji gently shook Wei Wuxian awake.
“Okay,” he pouted, “let’s go see our opponents.”
For the first round of debate, Lan Wangji would be going against Su She and Wei Wuxian was against Song Lan.
“Oh, got lucky! A worthy competitor,” he grinned evilly. “What about you, Lan Zhan?”
Lan Wangji sighed. He did a lot of that during tournaments. “Su She.”
Wei Wuxian bit his lip as he tried to keep his laugh in. “Oh, God, that is so funny. You’ll do great,” he said in between chuckles.
Lan Wangji sent him a withering glare which Wei Wuxian dutifully ignored.
“Oh! Our rooms are next to one another! Let’s walk together,” Wei Wuxian said and grabbed Lan Wangji’s wrist, pulling him back towards their laptops. Lan Wangji gathered his things and grabbed his water bottle.
“Wait for me! I need to grab my pens and sticky notes,” he said as he rushed back to his team table. It was currently occupied by Nie Huaisang and Jiang Wanyin who were sharing headphones and watching some sort of anime on Jiang Wanyin’s phone.
“Good luck, idiot,” Lan Wangji heard Jiang Wanyin say as Wei Wuxian walked away from the table. Wei Wuxian sent a kiss back.
They walked side-by-side to their rooms all the way at the other end of the school.
“You know, I prepared two cases,” Wei Wuxian spoke.
“Oh? Why?”
He smiled at Lan Wangji and Lan Wangji felt blinded. “One to surprise you with! I don’t wanna anyone spilling the deets on my special case for you!” He said it like it was the obvious thing in the world.
“You made a case just for me?” Lan Wangji couldn’t keep the adoration out of his voice, it dripped into his words like honey.
Wei Wuxian looked at him with those wide, grey eyes, that were full of joy and mirth. “Duh! I gotta keep you on your toes!”
They got to their rooms and Wei Wuxian wished Lan Wangji good luck before charging into his debate room like a storm.
—
An hour and a half later, Lan Wangji was leaving his debate round feeling mentally drained. Su She had run the messiest case he’s had all season— Lan Wangji felt himself getting truly impatient at some points. They were the most incredulous points anyone’s tried to make and they all fell apart with a couple questions.
At some point, Lan Wangji and the judge accidentally exchanged exasperated looks as Su She brought up China’s One Child Policy for the nth time. It didn’t even relate to the resolution.
It was only the first of so many rounds left in the day.
When he stepped out of the room, Wei Wuxian was leaning against the lockers and playing on his phone. Waiting.
“Were you waiting for me?” Lan Wangji asked. Wei Wuxian looked up from his phone and smiled. Lan Wangji felt some energy enter his body as if he was being charged by Wei Wuxian’s smile alone.
“Yeah! Uncle Jiang ordered takeout for the team and I asked him to get you something! So we have food waiting for us.”
Lan Wangji blinked. “You didn’t need to do that.”
Wei Wuxian laughed. “I know! I wanted to!”
Lan Wangji felt his ears heat up. “Thank you,” he said softly.
When they got back to the table, Wei Wuxian immediately found their food and opened everything up. He broke apart the wooden chopsticks and handed them to Lan Wangji without thinking about it as he answered Jiang Wanyin’s question about his first round.
Lan Wangji stared at the chopsticks in the other man’s hands— he just did it for him. Without thinking. Lan Wangji felt his ears warm up and he can’t even think of why it’s affecting him so much that Wei Wuxian would do that.
He picked up the offered chopsticks and dug into the takeout— fried tofu rice— and listened to Wei Wuxian talk about Song Lan’s case.
—
It was the last round of debate for the day and Lan Wangji couldn’t be happier. He really couldn’t— it was 9:45PM and it was about an hour drive back to Gusu so he wouldn’t be getting home until around 10:15PM and he despised that. He had started to feel drowsy at around 7:30PM, if it weren’t for the debate and speech rounds he knew he would be asleep in the library right now.
Long first day usually meant a short second day, which was good.
He sat in his current debate round and listened as Wei Wuxian’s voice echoed through the walls as his opponent— some freshman from Qinghe— took downtime to gather his thoughts for the last speech.
When the debate finally ended, he shook hands with his opponent and judge before hurriedly gathering his things and walking out of the classroom.
Wei Wuxian was waiting for him against the lockers like he had done their first time debating in neighboring classrooms.
“How was it?” He asked with a yawn, his eyes droopy and a sleepy smile on his face.
“It was fine. I feel I went fairly easy on him— he was a freshman.”
“Aww,” Wei Wuxian cooed as he looped his arm through Lan Wangji’s and leaned heavily against it.
“Lan Zhan is so kind to baby debaters!”
Lan Wangji rolled his eyes. “Ridiculous.”
They entered the cafeteria where half of the people were moving like they were walking in molasses and the other half bouncing off the walls.
“Our bus is here, so I’m going to go.” Lan Wangji said once they walked to the Yunmeng table. “I will see you tomorrow, Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian nodded. “Okay! I’ll see you tomorrow, Lan Zhan!”
“I will buy you a coffee tomorrow when I go to get mine.” Lan Wangji spoke before he could think. It was the drowsiness.
Wei Wuxian’s face lit up— every trace of sleepiness gone. “Lan Zhan! You don’t need to do that!”
“Want to. For Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji felt like his ears were melting.
“If you say so. I’ll see you tomorrow, Lan Zhan!”
Lan Wangji walked off, his ears still warm even as the late winter wind whipped at his face.
He forgot a scarf today.
——
It was day two, the last day, of the Lanling High tournament. Lan Wangji looked at the schedule he was sent for the second day.
He wouldn’t be debating until noon. It still wasn’t power matching for another two more rounds.
He sighed as he sat at his team's table and opened his laptop. He drank from his tea and waited for his laptop to boot up. He had gone and done some research at one of the holes an opponent had picked at during a round yesterday, added more evidence cards to his folder— so many opponents were asking for evidence during the tournament? Was this a new tactic?— and waited for the postings to go up.
He even managed to start on an essay that wasn’t due for about four days but it was a long one so he wanted to get a headstart. When his head started to hurt from looking at the screen for too long, he closed his laptop and pulled out one of his books.
He sat in silence for 15 minutes, enjoying the novel and his tea, when he heard a voice loud and clear in the early morning air.
“Lan Zhan!”
He looked up slowly to see Wei Wuxian walking towards him with all of his belongings, not even stopping at the Yunmeng table.
He sat everything down with Lan Wangji’s stuff and dropped on the chair in a heap, almost like a ragdoll.
Wei Wuxian laid his head on the table and sighed dramatically. “It’s too early, Lan Zhan,” he whined.
Lan Wangji pushed an iced chai latte towards Wei Wuxian. “Here. I got your drink.”
Wei Wuxian picked up his head. “You even got it iced!” His whole face lit up as he snatched up the 24oz takeaway cup. He took a big sip.
“And the vanilla! Thank you, Lan Zhan!” He smiled so brightly at Lan Wangji that it made him shut his eyes.
Blinded again.
Wei Wuxian drank his tea and stared into space, his eyes droopy and his cheeks pink.
Lan Zhan couldn’t help but stare. Wei Wuxian’s hair was messy as always— pulled back into a sloppy ponytail on his head with flyaway hairs. He wore his nice grey suit pants (that Lan Wangji secretly loved because they hugged his thighs so well) with a red button down (another one of Lan Wangji’s secret loves. Wei Wuxian’s arms were so toned from being on the swimming team and it showed when he wore the red button down.)
“Lan Zhan! Please don’t tell me that the first event is debate,” Wei Wuxian said in complete horror, eyes wide as he looked at Lan Wangji. He had scared Lan Wangji out of his stupor.
“No. It’s extemps,” and Wei Wuxian sighed.
“Good.”
Neither of them did any extemp events so Wei Wuxian scooted close to Lan Wangji for his body heat and fell asleep on his soldier.
Lan Wangji spent the next hour being as quiet as possible and glaring at anyone who tried to come near and be obnoxious.
When it was time for informative speeches, Lan Wangji woke Wei Wuxian up and they checked postings. They weren't in the same room— or even the same hall— so they went their separate ways and Wei Wuxian promised to see him at lunch.
It was back to back speeches, so Lan Wangji was occupied for a good hour and a half before he finally worked his way through the crowd towards his own table. He felt drained from his speech— he was starting to hate the idea of music therapy the more he gave his speech.
When he got to his table, Wei Wuxian was already there and he was buzzing.
“Lan Zhan! Debate postings are up! I texted you the pictures,” Lan Wangji nodded and pulled out his phone, “I’m going against Song Lan again! I love arguing with him.”
Lan Wangji nodded as he tried to find his spot.
LW1– AFF VS JW4– NEG
“Oh! You’re going against Jiang Cheng!” Wei Wuxian said as he looked at Lan Wangji’s phone. “Don’t tell him I told you but I’m secretly rooting for you!” He whispered.
Lan Wangji’s neck was feeling very warm.
“Good luck! My round started like five minutes ago!” Wei Wuxian called as he ran through the cafeteria. Lan Wangji watched his receding back before going to collect his own materials.
He could win this.
—
He left the debate feeling like the decision was up in the air. This was a power matching round so Jiang Wanyin was obviously doing good. His case was good, if slightly overused and mediocre but he defended his points well, poked holes in Lan Wangji’s case, and was a very efficient speaker. Lan Wangji enjoyed it.
They spoke with one another as they made their way to the cafeteria about the state tournament topic. This year, they were going with a new one instead of doing the usual where they stick with the one from last month. They both hated it.
Jiang Wanyin went to the Yunmeng table and Lan Wangji went to his team table where Wei Wuxian was waiting for him.
“Lan Zhan, finally! I’m starving!” Wei Wuxian pulls out a Marvel’s Avengers child’s lunchbox and takes out a sandwich. He starts eating and talking about his rounds.
“No talking during meals.” Lan Wangji said as he took out his own food.
“You’re a bummer, Lan Zhan, you know that?” But Wei Wuxian obliged anyway.
——
Quarter finals was Wei Wuxian against Xiao Xingchen while Lan Wangji went against Jiang Wanyin.
It was just like any other round.
——
Finals came.
LW1 VS WW4– FLIP FOR SIDES.
Lan Wangji felt his skin alight at the words. They ended every tournament like this, going against one another. It felt almost like a tradition. But this time, Wei Wuxian had a case he hasn’t run all season. A complete curveball.
They set up in the respective spots, the resolution written on the board in Lan Wangji’s neat penmanship.
They had flipped for sides and ended with Lan Wangji on affirmative and Wei Wuxian on negative.
Lan Wangji spoke first. He used up all seven minutes and then sat when they had cross examination. Like always, Wei Wuxian fired off rapid questions, listening intently to each one while his finger swiped the tip of his nose over and over.
Then, Wei Wuxian spoke. He used up all his time plus his fifteen second grace period.
Lan Wangji fired off questions with coolness. Wei Wuxian answers; Lan Wangji had no qualms about cutting him off when he got too winded.
This went on for an hour and a half. It ended as Lan Wangji gave his 3 minute summary speech on today’s round— reiterating his points, pointing out the major faults in Wei Wuxian’s, and wrapping it all up with a neat conclusion on why his plan is best with a nice bow.
On the way out, Wei Wuxian laughed at all the parts of the round he found funny, bumping shoulders with Lan Wangji all the way down the hall. Lan Wangji gave a soft ghost smile at the other man.
——
They tied for first place. In both events.
Wei Wuxian asked him if he wanted to grab dinner. Just the two of them.
Lan Wangji agreed readily. Yunmeng has driven in their own cars since Lanling wasn’t far.
On the way to the restaurant, Wei Wuxian talked excitedly about state, how he knew the competition was going to be good—especially between them.
They went out to eat at an all night diner. They shared a chocolate milkshake.
——
By the time the state tournament at Gusu High came around, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had spent more time together than they usually did.
It was really just then going to coffee shops or sitting in the park while they did schoolwork and fixed up debate cases and speeches. Occasionally, they would go out to dinner—just the two of them.
The state tournament was three days long and took place at her prestigious Gusu High School. Each team got their own team room and there was an app everyone could download to see the postings. It was the most smoothly run tournament of the whole season— Lan Xichen and his fiancé, Nie Mingjue, running it all.
Power matching wasn’t until the third day so Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji only saw each other during their small breaks for fresh air before going back to help time an event or run things around for judges and coaches.
The first two days passed by in a blur and before he knew it, Lan Wangji was looking at the postings for the last Lincoln-Douglas debate he would ever do.
That pit that he felt at Lanling High settled heavy in his stomach— not even a pit but more of an anvil. Wei Wuxian was thinking of going to college somewhere far, like Qishan Wen University, for premed. He told Lan Wangji this as he submitted his application one sunny afternoon in the park.
Lan Wangji was going to Gusu Lan University to study music and psychology.
They weren’t near each other at all.
As he walked towards the room by himself, he felt like throwing up.
Would he ever see Wei Ying again? Was this it? He never even… God, he never even told Wei Ying how he felt! He had to do it soon.
Entering the room, Wei Wuxian was chatting excitedly with the judges. He stopped to look at Lan Wangji and smile at him so bright and wide, it looked like it might hurt. Knowing Wei Wuxian, it didn’t.
Lan Wangji wrote the resolution on the board, they flipped for sides; Wei Wuxian asked if both judges were ready, Lan Wangji clicked his pen and the debate started.
It turned out to be a pretty heated debate on both sides. Judges wrote down notes frantically as both participants tore down each other's cases, point by point.
When it ended, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji shook the judge’s hands and left. Once they closed the door to the room, they let out giant sighs.
“That was… intense.”
“Mn.”
They walked in silence.
“Do you wanna get dinner after this? Like a…. date?” Wei Wuxian asked. It made Lan Wangji stop in his tracks.
“Excuse me?”
Wei Wuxian’s cheeks burned red and he started to fidget. “It’s totally cool if you don’t want to or you’re not into me like that but I- I was watching you debate and it just hit me! I really, really like you, Lan Zhan.”
Wei Wuxian’s eyes were kind and his smile was small but genuine.
“Oh.” Lan Wangji felt his brain shutting down.
“I know you don’t like me back but I just… I couldn’t end our last debate tournament together without telling you.” Wei Wuxian looked so vulnerable standing in front of Lan Wangji.
Lan Wangji couldn’t seem to get his mouth to move or for his brain to work.
“I have to go! I’ll see you at awards? Okay!” Wei Wuxian was gone in a rush, his words hitting Lan Wangji’s ears moments after he turned the corner.
Oh, fuck.
At awards, Lan Wangji couldn’t find Wei Wuxian anywhere. He looked for him tirelessly, even asking Jiang Wanyin who just sneered at him.
“Okay! And on to Lincoln-Douglas! Can I have semi-finalists and finalists, come up to the stage?” Lan Xichen’s voice rang through the auditorium speaker.
Lan Wangji walked up to the stage, Wei Wuxian coming in from another side. It was them plus Jiang Wanyin and Xiao Xingchen on the stage.
Xiao Xingchen got fourth, Jiang Wanyin got third.
“This decision was very hard on judges— it took the judges from the round plus all the coaches who were helping figure out this winner. It came down to speaker points.” Everyone in the audience seemed to lean forward.
“In second place…” You could hear a pin drop in the auditorium. “Lan Wangji from Gusu High.”
A soft “Oh.” came from Lan Wangji’s side. He turned to look at Wei Wuxian who was staring out into space with wide eyes.
“That means that first place goes to Wei Wuxian from Yunmeng High.” The crowd erupted into cheers (Jiang Wanyin being the loudest of them.) “Wei Wuxian won by two more speaker points than Lan Wangji.”
The two turned to face each other. “No way. Lan Zhan you should’ve won!” Wei Wuxian seemed lost and confused.
Lan Wangji felt a small smile creep onto his face.
“Wei Ying works very hard. Wei Ying deserves this win. I am so proud of you,” Lan Wangji felt like his throat was closing— like there was a hook pulling him forward by the navel towards Wei Wuxian.
Lan Wangji felt out of his body as his hands reached up to cup Wei Wuxian’s jaw, Lan Wangji’s thumb moving back and forth on the smooth skin of his cheek. Lan Zhan let himself get close, their mouths touching just barely.
“So proud of you, Wei Ying,” he whispered against Wei Wuxian’s lips before connecting them.
Wei Wuxian’s lips were warm and slightly chapped and he tasted of Dr. Pepper. He didn’t kiss back for quite a while and just as Lan Wangji was pulling back, feeling like he made a huge mistake, Wei Wuxian pulls him forward by the front of his button down and smashes their lips together. It’s fevered and passionate— exactly like Wei Wuxian himself.
The crowd went completely silent when Lan Wangji caressed Wei Wuxian’s face but when their lips connected for a second time, the roar of everyone cheering felt deafening.
Realistically, this happened in a matter of seconds but Lan Wangji felt like the whole ordeal happened in slow motion.
The kiss lasted about 10 seconds before they realised they were on stage in front of all their peers.
Lan Wangji, frankly, didn’t care. All that mattered to him was Wei Wuxian.
“Oh,” Lan Xichen chuckled softly into the mic, “well! Congratulations!” he stepped in front of the two who had yet to let one another go. He was giving them that patient smile of his.
“These are for you two,” he held up medals for them both. They broke apart and accepted them with red faces and were ushered off the stage gently by Lan Xichen.
After everyone had left the auditorium, they all hung around in the main area to say goodbye to one another. Lots of people were crying, mostly the seniors, as they hugged each other and made empty promises to hang out with one another someday soon.
Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian stood attached at the hip the whole time. They accepted congratulations and watery smiles from graduating friends.
At some point, Wei Wuxian had left to help Jiang Wanyin pack his car for the trip back to Yunmeng. Lan Wangji waited for him by their personal belongings in the Gusu team room where Wei Wuxian had migrated at some point.
Wei Wuxian came back 30 minutes later, looking at Lan Wangji with the softest smile.
He walked up to Lan Wangji, wrapped his arms around the other boy’s neck. Lan Wangji’s hands went instantly to his hips and he pulled him close until they were flush against each other.
Lan Wangji leaned his face close, like he was going to kiss him again, and Wei Wuxian puckered up— expecting to be kissed.
“Dinner?” Lan Wangji asked against his lips and Wei Wuxian laughed— a laugh that seemed as if it was bubbling deep in his gut for a long time and was waiting to be let out.
“Yes! Yes, please,” he said between laughs.
Lan Wangji smiled and kissed him again, soft but firm. Cementing the feeling of their lips together to be forever ingrained in his mind.
Wei Wuxian kissed back with fervor, playing with the hairs on the back of Lan Wangji’s neck that had, at some point, escaped their ponytail.
“Wei Ying,” he said breathlessly, “I like you. I have for a long time.”
Wei Wuxian pulled away slightly with a huge smile on his face.
“Oh, Lan Zhan,” his eyes were filled with nothing but love and fondness. “Lan Wangji. Lan Zhan. Hanguang Jun. I adore you. I love you. I whatever you.”
Lan Zhan felt everything in the world lift off his shoulder.
“It can only be Wei Ying.”
——
It was at their senior graduation dinner they went to— Nie Huaisang, Jiang Wanyin plus Wen Qing and Wen Ning, two friends Wei Wuxian made at some point during the debate season, where Wei Wuxian learned that Lans only had one love in their life.
“I am your one love?” Wei Wuxian had quietly asked Lan Wangji.
Lan Wangji looked into Wei Wuxian’s eyes. “Mn. I have only ever loved Wei Ying.” There was no room for doubt or argument in his voice.
Wei Wuxian placed his hands on Lan Wangji’s cheeks to bring him face level as he pressed a firm kiss to Lan Wangji’s mouth.
The group made gagging noises— sick of their PDA.
“Whatever. You guys are haters ‘cus you’re not the only love in a Lan’s life.”
The table started to argue with Wei Wuxian.
Lan Wangji just sat there and held Wei Wuxian’s hand in his own as their friends threw fake insults at his boyfriend.
It will always be you, Wei Ying.