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“Lan Zhan”
“Lan Zhaaaaaan”
“Yes, Wei Ying?”
“Pay attention to me,” Wei Ying pouted.
Lan Wangji put down his sheet music and gave his boyfriend a pointed look before replying in earnest.
“I always pay attention to Wei Ying, but right now we need to focus on our piece”
Wei Wuxian dropped his head dramatically into his folded arms on the table in front of him.
“Lan Zhaaaaan, you know you can’t just say things like that, I’ll die!”
Lan Wangji frowned, reluctantly getting up from his seat and abandoning his papers to walk over to his pouty boyfriend.
“Don’t want Wei Ying to die; just want to make sure he knows how much I cherish him”
This only caused Wei Wuxian to curl in on himself more; this time burying his face in his palms and squealing like a wounded puppy.
“Stop being so sweet, I can’t handle it. I thought I could, but I can’t” his voice was muffled by his hands.
“Wei Ying, look at me” Lan Wangji coaxed, calmly but firmly; taking Wei Wuxian’s hands in his and pulling him up to stand at eye level with him.
“Does Wei Ying not like it when I express my feelings for him”
“No no no no no, I love it”
“Then why do you… squirm?”
As if on command, Wei Ying squirmed again.
“You ask for my affection but then won’t accept it, why?”
“Stop it! You’re making me blush, and in public too; I didn’t know you were so bold, Lan-er-gege.”
He was definitely doing it to get a rise out of him now.
Lan Wangji raised an eyebrow; they were in one of their high school’s private music practice rooms after hours, hardly in public at all.
“There is no one else here”
“We’re at school, that’s basically in public. Anyone could walk in”
Wei Wuxian pretended to act scandalised as if the idea of PDA with his boyfriend didn’t thrill him.
Lan Wangji remained unconvinced.
“Lan Zhan don’t look at me like that, I care about my reputation too you know”
“Mn”
“What, I do”
Lan Wangji gave him a look that let him know he was still unconvinced. They were clearly at a stalemate. Wei Wuxian decided to move into phase two of plan ‘ Distract Lan Zhan from making him do work.’
“You know Lan Zhan, there is one way you could make it up to me” he drawled in his most flirty voice, draping his arms over Lan Wangji’s shoulders and batting his eyelashes at him.
Lan Wangji still had his slightly disgruntled look of you’re full of shit and I know what you’re playing at, but he still asked sincerely and placed his hands on Wei Wuxian’s hips all the same; letting him know that he was playing along (as per usual).
“Mn, and what would that be, dear?”
Wei Wuxian only grinned in response before taking Lan Zhan’s face in his hands and pulling him in for a sickly sweet kiss.
----
Lan Huan made his way through the hallways of his old school in search of the music practice rooms, where he was scheduled to pick up his little brother.
Wangji and his best friend Wei Wuxian had been working diligently on a music duet for the upcoming school recital for weeks now; often staying long after the home time bell.
Xichen encouraged this of course; happy that Wangji was making friends, especially with someone with similar passions to him.
From the outside, the pair were polar opposites, but nonetheless, they had been brought together by music, with Wangji learning to let his guard down and let Wuxian get close to him after being paired up together by their teacher for a music project almost two years ago. Since then, they had been inseparable (much to the displeasure of the Lan’s Uncle who saw Wei Wuxian as a loud distraction, but he let it slide since the boy had managed to connect with Wangji in a way that none of his peers had).
After finding the correct room, Xichen turned the door handle gently, making sure not to let the latch click, in case they were recording their practice as they did often, (Xichen always cherished the occasions when Wangji could be convinced to shyly show him the songs he and his partner had been so diligently working on).
He had picked Wangji up from rehearsal many times before so he was expecting to be greeted by a similar sight; Wangji and Wei Wuxian stood side by side or maybe opposite each other practising the piece together; perhaps seated on the floor or at the table, huddled around a score, composing as a pair.
What he wasn’t expecting was to open the door just in time to witness Wei Wuxian cup Wangji’s face gently and pull him down into a long, soft kiss… and Wangji to… let him?
No. Even more than that, Wangji was responding to it, and eagerly as well. His hands (Xichen only just noticed) were already resting on Wei Wuxian’s waist but his grip seemed to tighten slightly as he pulled the boy in closer to his chest. Wei Wuxian stretched one arm up and draped it around Wangji’s neck, his other hand still softly cupping his face.
Xichen stood with his mouth hanging open. This was so far off what he had expected for this day. He had expected to follow his typical routine of finding Wangji in the practice rooms (or maybe the main music room), extend the offer of a lift home to Wei Wuxian who would always need convincing that it was fine and he wasn’t a burden and he didn’t have to take the bus (in the middle of winter nonetheless)
Instead, he had walked in on his baby (okay not so much a baby anymore) brother kissing his mischievous best friend in the middle of a school practice room of all places (Xichen was screaming internally at that fact); instruments long abandoned, sitting in their open cases on the other side of the room.
Wei Wuxian was half leaning against/half perched on the edge of the table. Wangji’s right hand slipped round to support the small of his back as he deepened the kiss and bent his lover backwards ever so slightly.
Cue more internal screaming on Xichen’s part.
Could this really be Wangji? His shy, socially reclusive, rule-abiding little brother who, up until this point, had shown zero romantic or sexual interest in anyone ? Xichen couldn’t help but feel slightly proud, even if he recognised the absurdity of that thought the moment it entered his head.
He had opened the door so quietly that the young couple seemed to not have even noticed his presence; far too occupied with each other to realise they’d been caught. He knew he ought to say something, or cough at least to break them out of whatever hormonal, lusty trance they were in, but he found himself unable to make any noise; still fascinated by this new behaviour from his brother.
The spell was eventually broken when Wei Wuxian pulled back from the kiss, and with a dazed and lovestruck look in his eyes, mouth poised to no doubt make some teasing, flirty retort, spotted Xichen out of the corner of his eye.
“Lan Xichen!” he exclaimed with wide eyes.
Wangji’s head snapped to the door so quickly that Xichen worried he might have hurt his neck in the process.
“Xiong-zhang!” he gasped as he and Wei Ying jumped away from each other.
“Wangji, Wuxian” Xichen greeted tensely.
“Uh… how long were you standing there,” Wei Wuxian asked. The: how much did you see? went unasked.
“Long enough” Xichen replied, he tried to keep his expression impassive but he found himself unable to hold back a smirk.
Whatever his face was doing, it mustn’t have looked supportive, as Wei Ying immediately starting babbling as he always did when anxious.
“Haha, I… it’s not what you think - we were just… um… we lost track of time and forgot you were coming” his eyes widened at his own words, “um not that we do that all the time , I swear we’re usually just practising in here” his eyes flickered back to Wangji, begging for assistance, but Wangji’s gaze was pointed firmly at the carpet.
“It’s not… what it looks like?” he finally mumbled hesitantly, knowing full well that none of his explanations were working. Xichen supposed he had found the one situation that Wei Wuxian was incapable of talking his way out of.
“Really? Because it looks like the pair of you were making out in a school music room when you were meant to be practising,” he said in his most teasing tone.
Wei Wuxian let out a nervous laugh, “haha, yeah I guess you could say that’s what was happening . On the bright side though, s’probably not the worst thing you could have walked in on”
He was rambling again. His eyes widened at the implications of his own words.
“Not that we’d… in public… not that we’ve already…”
He had a look on his face that screamed oh god, my boyfriend’s older brother is gonna kill me for despoiling his little brother, aghhh.
Xichen couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle. “You know, you two could have told me you were dating”
Wangji’s head shot up to look his brother in the eye.
“Unless you’re not dating, in which case whatever I just walked in on is extra scandalous,” he said with a wicked glint in his eye.
“Xichen!” Wei Ying exclaimed, finally catching onto his teasing and delighted to play along, “of course we’re dating! Do you really think I’d let Lan Zhan kiss me like that if we weren’t?” he huffed, feigning offence.
“Well, technically I think you were the one kissing him” Xichen replied with a pointed look in Wei Wuxian’s direction. Despite being right that Wei Ying was indeed the initial instigator of the kiss, he couldn’t help but think back to the sight of Wangji passionately dipping him back and pursuing his lips.
“I- yeah but- Lan Zhan, defend me!” he whined to his boyfriend, grabbing his arm and pulling him close for emphasis.
With his ears turning a burning red colour, Wangji managed to mumble out some words of defence, “we were both… active participants…”
“Yes, I noticed. I had no idea you were such an enthusiastic lover, didi” Xichen rarely called Wangji that anymore, saving it mainly for teasing him.
Wei Wuxian tried and failed to stifle a laugh in his arm, as Lan Zhan’s lips pulled into a tight straight line, his face flushed red with mortification.
“Wangji, you can relax; I’m not mad at all”
“You’re not?”
“Of course not, I’m happy for you. Will you tell me how long this has been going on for?”
“What, us kissing in school practice rooms?” Wei Wuxian blurted out.
Xichen chuckled.
“Wei Ying, I think he means how long have we been a couple” Wangji answered with an exasperated sigh.
“Oh yeah, of course,” Wei Ying laughed nervously, “We started dating officially about four or five months back, but we liked each other for a long time before that.”
“Does anyone else know about your relationship, or was it just me and Uncle you were hiding from?”
“My siblings and most of our friends know, we tried to keep it from them for a little bit but apparently we’re far too obvious; you probably would have noticed too if you saw us together more!”
“Can I ask why you were scared to tell me? I’m sorry if I ever did or said anything that made you think that I’d be unsupportive, it’s just you’ve never really mentioned liking… well anyone Wangji; boys, girls...”
“I thought that brother would probably be supportive about…” he paused momentarily but one glance at Wei Ying seemed to restore his confidence, “about me liking boys. I just didn’t know how to say it. And I was wary that our family have certain… traditions.”
Lan Huan sighed sadly.
“Wangji, you know you don’t have to hide anything from me, right? I’ll always support you”
“Thank you brother," Wangji looked a little misty eyed at this point.
Wei Wuxian grinned at his boyfriend “you hear that, Lan Zhan? This means we don’t have to sneak around so much anymore”
“And just how much sneaking around were you doing previously?” Xichen asked with a quirked eyebrow.
Wei Wuxian’s eyes widened.
“I- uh… Ahaha I just mean in general…”
Wei Wuxian made a valiant attempt to cover his mistake, but it was too late, the damage was done. Lan Xichen got the distinct impression that, had this secret love affair gone on behind his back for much longer, he was definitely going to have caught a certain Wei Wuxian sneaking out of his brother’s bedroom in the early hours of the morning. Or something else to that effect.
Wangji was hiding his face in shame in his boyfriend’s shoulder at this point.
Putting on his best concerned-but-caring older brother voice, Xichen decided to get in just a little more teasing.
“Hm, don’t worry I won’t demand the sordid details. As long as you’re being safe, that’s all I care about”
“ Brother!”
Wei Wuxian’s cough (more of a choking noise really) was just as loud, if not louder than Wangji’s uncharacteristic outburst.
“Anyway, I’m ready to go if you two are. I’ll go wait in the car while you pack your stuff up,”
He retreated through the door. Not before getting one last jab in though:
“Just don’t keep me waiting too long,” he said with a wink and left, leaving the young couple to stew in their own mortification.