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The heart monitor beeping is the first thing he became aware of. Then the sting of anticeptic in his nasal cavities, the blinding lights that forgave absolutely no one any flaw. Then came the pain.
He was in a hospital bed? Where's Lan Zhan? How did he get here? Why did his body hurt... Oh.
He looked down and became immediately queasy. He was hooked up to some machine. His blood was leaving him, cycling back in through large seeming tubes. There were needles in his arm. The beeping was steady and fast like his short, sharp breathing.
He hit the red button.
Within minutes a nurse came in, hit a button, asked if he knew his name, knew where he was. Yes he's Wei Ying. No he has no idea... A hospital maybe?
Then came the doctor. "You were found passed out drunk in a pile of your own vomit. There was were traces of drugs in your blood work. You had been beaten. The bruising looked superficial at first, but then you started crashing; your liver is failing. We will have to remove it soon. Between the alcohol and the assault, you've nearly ruptured a kidney as well. You've got bruised ribs. Dialysis works short term, but you'll need a partial transplant for the liver. We've contacted your next of kin. Your mother should be here within--"
"Mother? Dr. Wen, I don't have a Mother. I'm an orphan." he informs her.
Her face goes dark. She swears under her breath. "Jiang Fengmian and Yu Ziyuan are listed as your emergency contacts and next of kin. If you're not related, we likely won't be able to get a match for your liver. I spoke with Yu Ziyuan. She will be here soon."
He could feel the blood draining from him, and not just into the machine.
"Madam Yu can't... Please. Tell me you didn't call her. Isn't being here like this punishment enough?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Wei. But she's already been called. Is there any legal reason or safety concern as to why we should not have contacted your mother?"
"I already told you. I'm an orphan. She's dead. I don't have a mother." he insists.
"Isn't that exactly the rude greeting I should expect after coming all the way here to visit you?" Yu Ziyuan's voice calls from the door.
He can hear his heart monitor flatline.
Yu Ziyuan rolls her eyes, looks aggressively like A-Cheng for one moment, says "Oh don't be so dramatic, boy."
"Excuse me." Dr. Wen steps between them, shielding Wei Wuxian and giving him time to get his shit together, maybe get his one undamaged organ beating again. "Do you have the right to be in this room?"
"Of course I do. You people wouldn't have called me here if I didn't." Wei Wuxian braced. The woman who raised him wasn't exactly used to having someone literally stand in her way.
"Let me rephrase." the doctor tried again, "This patient is legally an adult and can consent to have visitors permitted or removed from his room at any time. And I am happy to personally remove anyone who causes distress to my patients." they stared at each other for a Moment . Madam Yu's face said she wasn't impressed but Wei Wuxian thought something in the set of her eyebrows could have passed for approval. Then again, he'd never experienced it to know what that could look like on her.
Eventually, Dr Wen Qing turned to him and asked, "Mr. Wei. Do you want her here?" he opened his mouth to answer, "Wei Wuxian. Will you be alright if I leave her here with you?"
He nodded. "I need to hear it." she said.
"It's fine." the words finally broke free of his throat.
She looked at him, "Press the call button at any time. I'll come in here personally, won't even need to bother security."
"Thank you, Dr. Wen." he smiled, still trying not to calm the bile climbing his throat, but grateful for her care. He watched her block Yu Ziyuan for a mother moment, thinks she might have said something he couldn't hear, and then they were alone for the first time since he left.
"Quite the mess you've gotten yourself into this time. Typical. Six years and you haven't changed, still causing trouble."
"Still have that way with words, don't you?" he gave a short hollow laugh. "Aren't you supposed to comfort me, here? Oh wait. You never could manage that. Where's Uncle Jiang? I'm sure he's always listed as my emergency contact. You always made it clear you wanted nothing to do with me."
"Fengmian was on a ten hour flight when the call came through. Knowing him, he'll be on another one as soon as it's landed."
"Ah. I see." He laughs and it sounds bitter to his own ears,"You're here to make sure the Jiang image isn't ruined. I'm awake. You can go back now. I can handle this. I've been taking care of myself, no further association with the Jiangs is necessary."
Madam Yu glowered, "Taking care of yourself by ending up in the hospital on life support. Just what exactly have you been doing all this time? You clearly can't keep yourself in line. Drinking, fighting. I raised you better than that."
"You raised me? You wanted nothing to do with me. Yu Ziyuan, why are you here?" He's shaking. He's so angry he'd get up and walk right out of this hospital bed were he able. "If you're only going to blame me, you can leave. I've already been beaten enough for one day." he said, motioned to the machine processing everything his battered organs refused to.
"You need a liver." she said like it wasn't obvious. He simply lifted an eyebrow and looked at her. "Part of one, at least. I'm here to make sure you get that."
His eyes widened then narrowed. "You can't just pay the hospital to let me cut in front of the transplant list. That isn't how it works."
"Not from some donor we know nothing about. You want to trust this black market set up?" she demanded waving around at the hospital. "Of course not. You'll have part of mine."
Wei Wuxian's whole body jerked back then crumpled in. "EMNH", he grunted, not even sure where to hold his hands to alleviate the pain from the sudden movement. Did he pull out any tubing? He breathed hard for a few moments, willing the pain away. He hadn't noticed Madam Yu stepping closer until her feet were just inside his line of vision. She looked... Concerned? Uncertain? He tried to stay calm, not move again. "Why the hell would you do something like that? We both know I can't pay you back for it."
"You won't need to pay me back."
"What?" he asked again, "Is this some kind of recompense for the way you treated me? Can't give the poor orphan love but can give him an organ so he can think about how much you sacrificed just to keep him every day? No thanks. I'm not interested."
"This isn't---"
"You hate me." he cut in flatly and sticking to the facts. "You've always hated me. From the second Uncle Jiang brought me, you've hated me. I can't remember one time you were ever even nice to me that wasn't a fever dream of my own design." he said. "Why are you even here?"
"When you were ten, you fell out of a tree, broke your arm. You had a fever for three days. While you were out of it, I took care of you."
"A-jie took care of me." he says, not buying it.
"After you woke up."she sighs," I didn't want you to know I was there at all. When you were fifteen they tried to kick you out of school for punching Jin Zixuan and then for fighting with Wen Chao. Fengmian... Your father was going to let them. He's always run away from conflict."
"That was you?" he asked. She nodded. "Why?"
"Our family does not bow to those beneath us. Why should we fear a Wen dog?" she insisted. "And if I secretly agreed that A-Xuan needed to learn to value A-Li so she didn't end up in a marriage like mine, how could I let you be punished for it?"
"You made me run laps and kneel while holding water buckets, and didn't feed me for a week."
"You say that like I stopped A-Li and A-Cheng from sneaking food to you."she rolled her eyes.
"Okay. So I can count on one hand the times you helped me a little. You still hate me."
"I do." She agreed.
"So then---"
"But that isn't your fault." she admitted. "I've never liked you. Still. You are a brother to my son and my daughter. I raised you. For better or for worse, you are my child. So. Wei Wuxian, you are going to stop complaining and take a part of my liver so I don't have to worry about you. Then you're free to run off and never speak to me again. That's fine, you're a headache anyway. But send a fucking new years card once a year at least so we know you're alive. And call your sister and visit your brother when they let you out of here."
She walks over to him, presses the red call button before he can stop her. Dr. Wen runs in, swinging. Madam Yu holds up one hand, "Doctor, how long will it be before he's ready for the transplant? You can take part of my liver; we're the same blood type, though I'm sure you'll need to test us to confirm organ compatibility."
"How would you even know that?" Wei Ying asks her, still not quite believing what she was saying.
Madam Yu rolled her eyes, "It's on your birth certificate. You would know if you'd bothered reading it. After all the trouble Fengmian went through getting the hospital to reprint it."
Dr. Wen looks at them both, turns off the call light a moment before security runs through the door. Madam Yu simply raises an eyebrow but Wei Wuxian can't help the laughter that rips out of him even as his eyes water from the pain.
"Everything's fine, folks. Nothing to see here." he grins at them. He and Dr. Wen are going to get along like a dumpster on fire.
"Thanks Sam, Niki." the doctor says as the security team make their way out of the room and things slowly return to whatever boring looks like for security in a hospital.
"Usually I'm the one security gets called on." he adds, not helping anything. "So, Doc, as you can see I'm fine. Well" He shrugs as well as he can without jostling anything too much.
"Right." Dr. Wen sighs, returns something that looks suspiciously like a set of long silver needles into a case in her pocket. She smooths her hair and continues, "We can run some tests in a couple of hours; I'll need more quality time with this one first."
"Oi, this one? We've been through so much together and now I'm 'this one'?" he whines.
Dr. Wen rolls her eyes and he knows she's somehow resisting whacking him with a clipboard. "Can I discuss your condition with her here?" she asked him.
"Yeah. You can talk about it with any of my family, and Lan Zhan--we need to call him soon, he'll be worried-- just don't let them decide anything for me." he decided.
"I'll get that in writing later." she informed him, "If you write down his contact information we can call him for you. You've got at least a week to heal up, and we need to get your body under control so your body's less likely to reject a new organ. In the meantime, bland soups, lots of fruits and vegetables. No solids, no spices, no coffee. Try not to move around too much. Baby your body."
"No spices? No meat? No moving? This is cruel and inhumane, how can you expect anyone to live like this? I'll die." he whined.
"You'll die if you don't get yourself under control."
"Him, under control? Good luck with that." Madam Yu huffs. Wei Wuxian is sure his face must look closer to disappointed than threatening compared to Dr. Wen's. "What? Wrong timing?"
***************************
The heart monitor beeping is the first thing he become aware of. Then the sting of antiseptic in his nasal cavities, the blinding lights that forgive absolutely no one any flaw. Then comes the pain, less now than the last time he did this; the lack of hangover and faded yellow bruising no longer aggressively tender certainly help. But he has still been cut open. Thinks he can feel the new organ floating there where his exploded.
Wei Wuxian shudders out a breath, settles into the sounds of Jiang Yanli murmuring something quietly. He can't see much of her; the curtain is half drawn. He can see Jiang Cheng's outline....is he in the same room as Madam Yu?
"About time you woke up." His brother grunts as he crosses the curtain.
"Good to see you, too, Jiang Cheng." he smiles.
"Then come visit more, moron." he grumbles.
"A-Xian, how are you feeling?"
"Better, Jiejie." he tells her honestly, "How's Madam Yu?"
"Resting." the woman herself says from behind the curtain. " Do keep quiet over there."
"Mother." Yanli scolded.
"How's the new liver?" Madam Yu asks like she hasn't said anything wrong.
"Feels weird." he admits. "I can kinda feel it wobbling around? Haha it's prey gross. At least I know it's in there."
"Try to keep it that way this time." the woman says.
"I will." he tells her. He looks around the shared room and asks "Where's Lan Zhan? And Uncle Jiang?"
"Typical." Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes, "You only know how to think about Lan Wangji."
"Hey! I said Uncle, too, didn't I?"
"Dad went to get coffee and A-Zhan received a call from his brother. I'm sure they'll both be back soon."
Uncle comes in with a bouquet of flowers and a small bowl of fruit. He places the flowers on Madam Yu's bedside table and the fruit next to Wei Wuxian. He passes his nephew a sketch pad and some pencils as well, all clearly purchased from the hospital gift store; over-priced novelties invaluable in staving off boredom in such places.
Uncle winks at him and then asks if he or Madam Yu are hungry before taking Jiang Cheng and Yanli to go eat. Lan Wangji appears shortly after, his own broad frame blurred by his own massive arrangement.
"Lan Zhan!" he coos, fussing over how is boyfriend settles the blooms around the room. "You didn't need to bring me flowers, just yourself. Ah! And maybe some emperors smile--"
"Not allowed." Lan Zhan says, finishing his placement and turning to hover beside Wei Wuxian.
"Fine, fine. Just yourself, then. This really is too thoughtful of you." he sighs, trying to lean into Lan zhan as much as his body will allow. "My Lan Zhan really is the best."
"Anything for Wei Ying." Lan Zhan murmers against his hair, pressing a kiss against it.
"Is that supposed to be a bouquet? It looks like you bought out a flower shop." Madam Yu comments.
Wei Wuxian can feel the way Lan Zhans eyes have gone hard, his face morphed from something secret revealed only to those closest to him into something so angry and frozen Wei Wuxian himself has only once managed to draw it to the surface. "Lan Zhan --" he tries soothing his fingers over his boyfriends knuckles, hoping to ease their white grip into themselves.
"I would purchase a flower shop if Wei Ying desired it." Lan Zhan tells her. "Wei Ying deserves to know without uncertainty that he is loved."
Madam Yu narrows her eyes in that well-practiced way that sends Wei Wuxian's adrenal system into overdrive."What's that supposed to mean?"
Lan Zhan glares at her. Madam Yu glowers back. "If you're so good to him, where were you when he ended up here? Why was he drunk and beaten half to death?"
"Wei Ying is free to do as he pleases." Lan Zhan says. Wei Wuxian hears the unspoken "Wei Ying is not a prisoner. I will not force him to be anything other than who he is. I only regret not coming with him to protect him."
"Lan Zhan, you filed a missing person's report and drove to every hospital until you found me. You have nothing to regret." Wei Wuxian says, not so loudly to be heard, but sure Madam Yu hears him all the same. "It's no one's fault our blood types don't match, either. Being careless?The rest of this is my fault."
"En" Lan Zhan shakes his head.
"If I hadn't drank so much--"
"It is not Wei Ying's fault." Lan Zhan tells him.
"Like hell it isn't." Madam Yu snaps.
"It is not Wei Ying's fault that he is not always made to feel loved by the people who should love him without condition."
"I always know Lan Zhan loves me." Wei Wuxian rubs his face against Lan Zhan's sweatered stomach, pulls away and looks into Lan Zhan's eyes "But I am responsible for my own actions."
"Mn." Lan Zhan agrees, holds his boyfriend .
"That's it?" Madam Yu says. Wei Wuxian wishes silently that she would learn to keep her opinions to herself. "You're just going to tell him he's fine and hope for the best? He'll never learn that way."
"And what way should Wei Ying learn?" Lan Zhan says in a tone composed of razors and armor.
"You need to be strict with him or he won't remember."
"Strict." he repeats.
"Obviously."Madam Yu huffs.
"Strict enough to kick him out of his home without first ensuring he has someplace safe to stay?" Lan Zhan
"How dare you." Madam Yu spits.
"Precisely." Lan Zhan throws right back.
"I will not sit here and be insulted in my own hospital bed. I will not be judged by anyone, least of all by a child like you." Madam Yu demands.
"Wangji." Jiang Fengmian greets as he enters the room, comes close to the younger pair. "It is always a pleasure seeing you. I am greatful for all you've done to support A-Xian. But your presence seems to be upsetting my wife who is still recovering."
"You should leave."Yu Ziyuan says.
"Mn." Lan Zhan says. "We will leave. Wei Ying will be moved to a private room to recover."
"Excuse me?" Yu Ziyuan's head snaps over.
"Lan Zhan. You can't just move me--"
"Can." He insists.
"Okay you can but--"
"I will always do what is best for Wei Ying." Lan Zhan sweeps hair out of Wei Wuxian's face.
"Wangji--" Jiang Fengmian tries, gives up just as fast when he faces the younger man.
"You cannot remove that boy from this room." Yu Ziyuan declares. "Our family is paying for his medical care--"
"I will pay."
"I am just as capable of paying for him as I am giving him my organs. He will not be removed from this room." Madam Yu declares, not backing down from Lan Wangji one inch. Then adds much softer, looking at Wei Wuxian now which he hasn't expected, "Unless you want to leave. I did say I wouldn't keep you. You don't owe us anything. I just want.... It's not wrong to want to care for my child."
"If you cared for Wei Ying--"
"Lan Zhan." Wei Wuxian places a hand on his boyfriends arm.
"Wei Ying."
"Please?" Wei Wuxian asks him and Lan Zhan stares at him for several long moments, sighs, "Whatever Wei Ying wants."
"I'll stay, just for now." he decides. "Lan Zhan can have me all to himself in a private room then we go home in a day or two." he waggles his eyebrows and his beloved's ears tinge that sweet red he's so fond of.
"Shameless" Lan Zhan murmers so only they can hear. He breathes Wei Ying in and straightens.makes his voice louder when he tells Madam Yu, "I still do not like you. Nor do I approve of your continued contact with Wei Ying."
"I hadn't noticed." she drawls out, somehow both bored and biting.
"Thank you. For helping Wei Ying." he tells her.
"I don't need your thanks." she spits, looks away and says very quietly, "I would have done it regardless."
Wei Wuxian isn't sure he's heard right, but Uncle is beaming and Lan Zhan is quiet--not unusual, but no longer in danger of kidnapping or murder--and his siblings finally make their way back into the room from where they had been hovering in the hallway, and maybe things are going to be okay.
*************************
He visits A-Li and A-Cheng at least once every month now. Lan Zhan has enjoys the time the spend with Yanli-jie and lifts his ban on Jiang Cheng's presence in their home. He's cut back on drinking, pays more attention and never goes out alone because Lan Zhan and Wen Ning always insist on sticking with him and dragging him to Nie Mingjue's. Who could ask for better, more handsome body guards?
Turns out Dr. Wen is the sister A-Ning's always on about. They do get along like a dumpster fire and she's almost as much of a mother hen as Lan Zhan. Small world.
He sends a Christmas card. He's not sure how he feels about visiting... Uncle Jiang has called to check up on him a few times but despite everything he just isn't ready to reconstruct all the bridges that burnt when she threw his bags down the stairs and ordered him out of the house.
He's not ready to rebuild. But he feels like he's finally able to pull out old rebarb without impaling himself when he stamps and mails the thing, wonders what her face will look like when she reads "Your son, Wei Wuxian" at the end.