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“Do I really need to be here?”
“No. Leave.” Lan Wangji calmly gestured to the edge of the mountain they were currently hiking upon. “Take that route as your exit.”
“You-!” Jiang Cheng silently debated whether or not he should push his brother-in-law off the mountain, but then decided against it because it would “make Lan Huan sad.” When he explained this to said brother-in-law in question, Lan Wangji looked baffled.
“What?” Jiang Cheng huffed. “He’s your brother. Of course, he’d be sad!”
Lan Wangji shook his head. “It’s not that...Jiang Wanyin, do you really think you have the upper-body strength to throw me?”
The esteemed Hanguang-jun was rewarded with a sharp punch to the shoulder, which made him momentarily stumble, dangerously near the edge of the cliff, and so he grabbed onto Jiang Cheng’s elbow to steady himself and they both dissolved into laughter, Lan Wangji’s quiet laughter contrasting against Jiang Cheng’s loud snickering.
They continued hiking up the mountain, footsteps falling in tandem with one another, and thankfully there were no disciples around to watch as the righteous Hanguang-jun, who always preached about the importance of safety, and the honorable Sandu Shengshou, who consistently hammered the importance of remaining disciplined while on hunts, push, and shove and elbow each other by the edge of the cliff like children-
“Ow!” Jiang Cheng hissed, clutching at the offending body part that Lan Wangji accidentally... accidentally? ...punched. “That was my-”
“It’s not broken.”
“...”
“It doesn’t look broken.”
“How would you be able to tell?! It’s my-”
“Intuition.” Lan Wangji answered, face displaying that same look of wisdom and serenity that Jiang Cheng had come to realize was all just a farce because apparently, out of the two brothers, Lan Xichen sadly hadn’t spared any brain cells for his little brother, and that was made clear to Jiang Cheng every time he spent time with Lan Wangji.
Jiang Cheng opened his mouth, presumably to ridicule Lan Wangji--it was one of his favorite pastimes--when suddenly the other was rapidly tapping on his shoulder and pointing before them. Jiang Cheng’s eyes brightened.
They’d finally made it to the top.
“Yes!” Jiang Cheng cried out, raising a fist to the air, and standing in the middle of the rocky terrain. Zidian sparked excitedly in the air, purple tendrils of lightning dancing around them. “Finally!”
“ Finally?” Lan Wangji almost scoffed. He almost did. “Jiang Wanyin, we hiked for less than an hour-“
“Can’t you just leave me alone and go back to being mean and quiet?” Jiang Cheng lamented, shooting him a dirty look. “Like the good old days?”
Lan Wangji rolled his eyes--Jiang Cheng tried not to let his pride show at the involuntary habit the Lan had picked up upon--and their focus went back to their mission: find the entity who’d been disrupting the village a few kilometers north.
Jiang Cheng had only agreed to come on this hunt because he was fascinated by the entity in question...and if he’d wanted to spend more time with his brother-in-law, well, he’d never admit that to Lan Wangji, he’d never admit that to himself.
And Lan Wangji had only asked Jiang Cheng to assist him because Zidian was a useful weapon when dealing with entities such as these...and, if he was glad to finally see his brother-in-law again after months of being too busy to communicate, well then, he hardly ever used his voice, and he certainly wouldn’t be using it to admit that aloud.
The entity in question, referred to as “The Entity of the Mind” had the unique ability to cause bouts of amnesia in her victims. From the books they’d studied prior to this hunt, they learned she wasn’t necessarily an evil entity--she was morally gray at best. She liked to study humans as much as they liked to study her.
She worked by removing key memories from her victims, and no one could ever predict which memories she’d remove.
She gave the memories back unpredictably too.
Some villagers who’d gotten their memories back held no ill will towards the creature and simply moved on, cherishing those they’d forgotten even more once they remembered. On the other hand, those who hadn’t received their memories back were beyond frustrated, feeling as though she’d slighted them.
At the end of the day, however, Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng were cultivators, and it was their duty to help those who’d been wronged by the entity and seek her out to banish her from this mountain themselves.
They got to work setting up their talismans and enchanting the ground around them, inviting the entity to make her presence known, but she didn’t appear…
At least not yet.
So they waited, and then they waited some more, and then a little longer-
~~
“Fuck this.” Jiang Cheng sent a rude hand gesture up towards the sky. “Can you just come out already? We’ve been here all day, I’m starving!”
Lan Wangji involuntarily rolled his eyes, retrieving a green apple from his robes and throwing it at Jiang Cheng’s face.
Jiang Cheng shrieked and ducked, falling off the rock he’d been sitting on, to Lan Wangji’s entertainment. A small smile came to his face as Jiang Cheng began cursing him out--he had to commend the other on such an extensive vocabulary.
“That could’ve killed me!” Jiang Cheng snapped, taking a vicious, almost vindictive, bite out of his apple.
“You’re welcome.” Lan Wangji gave back.
Jiang Cheng sneered at him, but mumbled a quiet “Thanks, jackass.” as he continued to eat.
But Lan Wangji did have to concede that his brother-in-law had had a point. They really had been out here for a while, waiting for an entity that didn’t seem keen on revealing herself to them any time soon.
And just as Lan Wangji was about to suggest they go back to Gusu, a sudden wind swept across the mountain, much colder than what it should’ve been. The talismans began fluttering about, and there was a sudden shift in the atmosphere as the blue sky above them slowly faded to a dark gray.
Nothing appeared before them, but a whispered voice made its way to their minds.
Hm. I see the history between you two is quite fascinating.
They froze, shooting each other a glance. Jiang Cheng made a fist, Zidian at the ready, and Lan Wangji’s hands went to the hilt of his sword.
It was her. The “Entity of the Mind.”
But I do wonder about your friendship now. Was it fate? Or a fluke?
I suppose I’ll just wait and see.
And with that, the voice along with the chill in the air and the gray in the sky vanished, leaving the two cultivators visibly uneased.
“...Lan Wangji. What did she mean?” Jiang Cheng didn’t try to suppress the worry in his tone.
And Lan Wangji was at a loss for words. I suppose I’ll just wait and see.
“I…” Lan Wangji trailed off, shaking his head. The words unnerved him greatly, but it was best not to dwell on them. They had talismans protecting them against amnesia, and they would work...right? He trusted Wei Ying’s craft. “We should collect the talismans, and wait for the juniors to meet us here.” He suggested instead. The junior quartet was off in conducting a hunt in a forest a few kilometers south of where they were. Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji had instructed them to meet them on the mountain so they could travel back to Gusu together during the night.
Jin Ling had had a few protests. “But Jiujiu, we’re almost adults! We don’t need chaperones.”
“A-Ling, this area is fueled with energy, and not all of it is good energy. It isn’t safe for four teens.”
“But-”
“Talkback to me one more time and you’ll be picking lotus seeds for the kitchen staff until you die .”
Lan Sizhui had also had a few protests. “Father, please excuse this disciple, but don’t you think we’re capable of traveling back alone? We’ll be careful and stay together, you have my word.”
“...”
“...”
“...No.”
“...May I ask why?”
“No.”
“Father-!”
“I will buy you dessert.”
“...Hey, A-Ling! There you are. Honestly, about earlier, I agree with Father and Uncle. We really should travel back in a group. It’s much safer-”
And so, Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji began gathering all of their belongings, and prepared to wait for the juniors atop the mountain.
Neither cultivator decided to mention to the other about the fogginess gradually clouding their minds, they blamed it on fatigue instead. And neither brought up the weird sensation each felt in their chest, opting to simply ignore it and hope it would go away.
And neither said a word when the voice whispered through their minds one last time.
I wonder what will happen when you forget...
~~
When the juniors arrived at the mountain, they were prepared for any sort of “chaotic” situation, they’d see Sect Leader Jiang and Hanguang-jun in. It was common knowledge at this point, that when you put someone as, externally, tacit and icy as Hanguang-jun with some as hot-headed and ill-tempered as Sect Leader Jiang, the result was chaos, in every sense of the word.
“But at least they get along now.” Lan Sizhui commented as they hiked up the mountain to meet the aforementioned duo.
Lan Jingyi nodded emphatically, “I’ll gladly take them raising small, feral, armies of animals over the relationship they had before...”
The group shuddered. To think that it’d only been a couple of years since Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji’s relationship had been so fractured…
So hostile.
So toxic.
“I always suspected they’d kill each other on the spot…” Ouyang Zizhen muttered, looking apologetically towards Lan Sihzui and Jin Ling, but neither could blame them.
“I thought the same. It was always so tense between them...” And then Jin Ling scowled, “And now that they’re friends, look what their scheming has led to? If they hadn’t insisted on us traveling in a group together, we all could’ve been back in Caiyi by now!”
“The Young Mistress does raise a point.” Lan Jingyi sighed, stumbling over a rock and falling onto Zizhen’s shoulders, quickly removing his hands so as not to incur said Young Mistresses’ jealous wrath.
“Blame Sizhui.” Zizhen threw the blame upon his friend with ease.
Lan Sizhui looked adorably affronted.
“All of this for some sweets…” Jin Ling scoffed, thinking back to the reason why they were stuck in this mess in the first place. “You’re so easy A-Yuan.”
“In my defense-” Lan Sizhui began, but suddenly, the quartet heard shouting. They briefly looked at each other, before rushing up the mountain, as fast as they could without pushing or shoving one another, and when they arrived at the top, they were utterly confused.
“Umm.” Lan Jingyi coughed, awkwardly into his sleeve.
There stood Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji, but instead of bickering with one another or silently laughing over some inside joke, they were glaring fiercely at each other, as if they were trying to set the other on fire with their gaze alone.
“S-sect Leader Jiang?” Ouyang Zizhen tried, nervously looking back and forth between the two.. “Hanguang-jun?”
“Is everything alright?” Lan Sizhui tried. He was waiting for his Father and his Uncle to snap out of it, and resume as if everything were normal, but they were still looking at each other with pure disdain in their eyes.
“Yeah, what’s going on?” Jin Ling looked back and forth between his Uncles, a dreadful feeling rising in his stomach.
“How did we get here?” Jiang Cheng finally asked. He’d finally stopped glaring at Lan Wangji, but there was still a scowl set on his face, one that was sparked by the Lan’s presence.
“...What do you mean, Jiujiu?” Jin Ling was more than worried at this point.
“Sect Leader Jiang, you and Father went on a hunt together earlier today, do you not remember?” Lan Sizhui tried to search for any hint of recognition in either cultivator's eyes but found none. In fact, they both stiffened at his words
“...What?” Jiang Cheng shot the juniors an incredulous look. “Why on earth would I go on a hunt with Lan Wangji ?”
The juniors went rigid.
‘What the hell?’ Jin Ling mouthed to Lan Sizhui, to which his cousin responded with a helpless shrug.
“Do not flatter yourself.” Lan Wangji’s voice was colder than the mountain air. “I would never ask you to.”
Jiang Cheng’s scowl intensified, “I didn’t know you still went on hunts, Lan Wangji. I wonder if Lan Huan knows…”
Lan Wangji remained silent, but his knuckles were turning white.
“Because, after all, you do have a nasty habit of leaving him in the dark so, I can’t help but wonder...”
And as if a switch went off, Lan Wangji advanced upon Jiang Cheng, murderous intent written over his face, but Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi quickly blocked him off, whilst Jin Ling and Zizhen did the same for Jiang Cheng.
“Typical.” Jiang Cheng’s eyes shone derision. “You can’t even finish the battles you start. Your disciples have to curb them for you.”
If one listened closely, and Lan Sizhui did, then they’d be able to hear the harsh breaths Lan Wangji took in through his nose, so as to remain composed on the outside.
“Ah. Silent as usual. But I’d expect nothing less from- mmmph.” Jiang Cheng’s eyes widened and then his face became red with anger as he struggled against the silencing spell.
And the juniors were all shocked once more, because Lan Wangji hadn’t dared to use that on Jiang Cheng in years.
“You are not worth fighting.” As he spoke, Lan Wangji’s chin was slightly pointed in the air, subtle enough to go unnoticed, but evident enough to make Jiang Cheng furious.
Zidian sparked wildly as Jiang Cheng commanded his throat to work in his favor but in the end, it was futile.
“Father please…” Lan Sizhui sounded desperate. “This isn’t…” This isn’t you...Not anymore...
Jin Ling had silently witnessed enough. “Jiujiu, you have to stop. It’s not…” It’s not supposed to be this way anymore.
At Lan Sizhui’s request, Lan Wangji reluctantly took the silencing spell off Jiang Cheng, and the enraged Sect Leader stomped off the mountain, with Lan Wangji waiting for a few moments, before following, keeping at an immense distance as he followed behind.
“Okay, seriously? What the fuck just happened?” Lan Jingyi blurted once the two were far enough, gaping after them in shock.
“I feel like we just went back in time.” Ouyang Zizhen shuddered.
And then it clicked.
The hostility, the tension between the two...it was like they’d forgotten everything they’d been through for the past few years. They’d forgotten every good moment between them, every amend made, every moment of laughter, chaos, tears and-
It was like they’d forgotten the entire friendship they’d forged together...
Precisely.
At the voice, Jin Ling’s hands immediately went to his bow. Zizhen and Sizhui had their arms reaching for their swords. And Jingyi was seeking a physical source for the voice.
“You guys heard that too right?”
“Yeah. Definitely. Was that-?”
“A demon? A spirit?”
“But it didn’t seem demonic…”
But if whatever had reached out to them was telling the truth, they suddenly realized that they should get off this mountain as soon as possible and catch up with Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji. Because if this pair could only remember their relationship up until sometime after Wei Wuxian’s resurrection...there was a very good chance one of them might “accidentally” push the other off the mountain...
~~
To say Wei Wuxian and Lan Xichen were distressed over the situation at the moment, would’ve been a vast understatement.
Seeing two people you love so blatantly hate and antagonize each other...it’d been heartbreaking the first time around, and this time was no different.
Lan Xichen watched with a frown as Lan Wangji tried to pretend that Jiang Cheng didn’t exist, going so far as to avoid looking in the other’s general direction. Whereas, on the other hand, Wei Wuxian was worried Jiang Cheng was going to pass out from anger, murderous glares never leaving Lan Wangji’s face.
The juniors had quickly briefed everyone on the current situation--
“We don’t know how or why…” Lan Sizhui had begun with a frown.
“But Jiujiu and Hanguang-jun don’t seem to remember their friendship.” Jin Ling had finished, twitching nervously at the look of disbelief Jiang Cheng had sent him. Even Lan Wangji’s eyes had flickered with surprise.
“Are you sure you don’t remember?” Lan Xichen was asking for probably the fifth time that evening. The juniors had left, unable to stand the hostile atmosphere in the library any longer.
Lan Wangji curtly shook his head, once more.
“But you two were best friends!” Wei Wuxian threw his hands up in the air, frustration written plainly across his face.
“Give me a break, Wei Wuxian.” Jiang Cheng scoffed.
“I do not have friends.” Lan Wangji calmly reminded his husband.
“Oh?” Jiang Cheng’s eyes widened in mock-surprise. “Is the great Hanguang-jun siding against Wei Wuxian for a change? What a surprise…”
Lan Wangji finally turned to look at Jiang Cheng, and met his gaze with venom in his eyes.
“It’s no surprise from you.”
Jiang Cheng flinched as if slapped.
Wei Wuxian and Lan Xichen were too stunned to react. It’s not as if they hadn’t witnessed anything like this from these two before. It’s just that it had been so long ago, and frankly everyone had forgotten just how cruel they could be to each other.
There’d been a time when Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji had brought out the worst in one another. This was emphasized by what Jiang Cheng said next-
“Ah yes. Unlike you, I chose my family and my disciples over a known demonic cultivator, and I didn’t betray nor abandon them. I didn’t leave them to wolves during a war. My mistake. I should be more like you then, shouldn’t I?”
“I will not listen to a lecture about abandonment from you of all people .”
“At least I put my family first!” Jiang Cheng seethed.
“And just what would you know about family?” Lan Wangji gave back just as cruelly.
“Wangji don’t-”
“What would you ?!” Jiang Cheng was yelling now.
“A-Cheng…”
Their back and forth had become quick, so intense, that Wei Wuxian and Lan Xichen were unable to get a word in and stop this disaster from escalating.
“You think you’re so righteous. So honorable. ” Jiang Cheng spat. “Well honor comes with loyalty, Lan Wangji, and I don’t think that word’s part of your vocabulary!”
“Are you implying that you’re honorable, Jiang Wanyin? You? ” Lan Wangji’s usually low, quiet voice was now well above normal speaking volume. “Do not forget lying is forbidden in Gusu.”
“And since when do you follow the rules Lan Wangji? Stop pretending as if they matter to you. They only matter when they’re useful to you.”
“How ironic.” Lan Wangji hummed. “I suppose you hold a similar sentiment in regards to people, I suppose people only matter when they’re useful to you. If not, then you’d simply leave them to the wolves ,no? ’”
Jiang Cheng’s hands balled into fists. “Well, at least I wouldn’t be the one bringing the wolves to my front doorstep. I wouldn’t endanger the people I’m supposed to love-”
“And what would you know about love?”
“What would you ?”
And in an instant, Lan Wangji had unsheathed Bichen, but Zidian was already powered up in Jiang Cheng’s hands, but as soon as either of them tried to make a move on one another-
“Enough!” Lan Xichen commanded, projecting his voice as if he were in a Discussion Conference or even a battlefield. “Enough.” His voice hitched on the last syllable.
There was silence.
Nobody dared to move.
And then-
Jiang Cheng lowered his weapon, looking guilty at the severe expression on his fiance’s face. Lan Wangji reluctantly stored Bichen back in her sheath.
“It’s been a long day.” Wei Wuxian began, with a sullen expression on his face. He sounded exhausted and hearing all of that ...it just made him even more fatigued. “We should all just go to sleep now, and deal with this tomorrow.” It was phrased as a suggestion but it clearly wasn’t.
With a tired wave, Wei Wuxian bid Jiang Cheng and Lan Xichen a good evening, and quickly ushered Lan Wangji away before he or Jiang Cheng could find some way to antagonize each other once more.
~~
“...You really don’t remember?” Lan Xichen whispered once they were back alone in the Hanshi together.
Jiang Cheng looked a bit ill at the prospect of being friends with Lan Wangji but shook his head. “I...I’ll admit, something is off. I can remember reconciling with Wei Wuxian during these past years. And courting you…” That brought a soft smile to Lan Xichen’s face. “But with him, my mind draws a blank. I can’t remember any of what you all claim we were like.”
Lan Xichen nodded, trying not to let too much sadness seep into his expression.
“It’s okay Wanyin. We’ll figure this out somehow.” And then he wished Jiang Cheng goodnight and blew out the candles, leaving Jiang Cheng to mull over the past events of the day.
It was bugging him, like an itching sensation in his mind. It didn’t make any sense.
“Who could get along with that asshole?” He muttered to himself.
And suddenly, a foreign memory rushed through his mind.
“You’re such an asshole, Lan Wangji!”
“...Apologies.”
“You’re grinning.”
“...No.”
“You are.”
“I do not ‘grin’.”
“You’re not clumsy! You spilled that soup down my robes on purpose...”
“I will buy you more soup.”
“Piss off.”
“It was an accident, Jiang Wanyin…”
“You were an accident.”
“...”
“...”
“...Was I?”
“Oh no. Wait- I was just joking! Now’s not the time for one of your existential crises, please Lan Wangji-”
In present time, Jiang Cheng blinked, wholly unnerved by the scene that just played out in his head, but decided to ignore it and try to fall asleep.
Little did he know, something similar was occurring in the Jingshi, a few ways away.
~~
“Lan Zhan?”
“Mn.”
“Please...don’t antagonize my brother-”
“Wei Ying-”
Wei Wuxian sighed, running a thumb against his husband’s forehead ribbon placatingly as he undid it while they got ready for bed.
“I don’t care who usually starts it, but just please? Try not to lose it? For me?”
At Wei Wuxian’s puppy-dog eyes, Lan Wangji quietly sighed and nodded once in agreement. He was rewarded with a kiss and an enthusiastic, “Goodnight Lan Zhan!”, and perhaps if he was able to do as Wei Ying asked, then maybe they could have another round of... everyday ...in the morning just as they had that morning.
But in truth, Lan Wangji wasn’t completely sure if he’d be able to reel it in. For some reason, everything Jiang Cheng did irritated him, and he couldn’t imagine not being angered by the Sect Leader. The prospect of them being friends, as the juniors had explained, seemed impossible.
He couldn’t imagine tolerating Jiang Cheng under any circumstances.
But then suddenly, a scene, one he’d never seen before came to mind.
“You’ve betrayed me.”
“Lan Wangji-”
“Piss off.”
“...I didn’t know you’d be this sensitive about it.”
“...‘Sensitive?’”
“For fuck's sake, stop looking at me like I stabbed you. I’ll buy you a new rabbit figurine! I needed that one for target practice-”
“Asshole.”
“That’s my line, you prick! And hey-! Where the hell are you dragging me off to?’
“Caiyi. We’re buying a new one.”
“Right now?!”
“Mn.”
“...Let me get my coins.”
It made no sense to Lan Wangji, but then again, he didn’t actively try and make it make sense. Instead, he fell asleep with a million questions racing through his mind, none of which he was going to try and find an answer to.
~~
“Xichen-ge?”
“Yes, Wei Ying?”
“Are you sure having them go back to the mountain alone is a good idea?”
“Well, I can only assume that whatever this was caused by is linked to their latest hunt. I’m planning to look into it later today.”
“I’ll help you, of course. But...you don’t think one of them will try and push the other over the edge right?”
“They won’t…?”
“Are you...are you asking me?”
“No…?”
“...”
“...”
“...I have some more green tea from the market-”
“Oh! Shall we drink while researching?”
“I’ll heat up the water!”
~~
The entire time the pair silently trekked up the mountain, flashes of strange memories came and went through their minds.
From a body swap to a telepathic bond, one failed discussion conference to the next, hugs and tears, so much laughter and chaos, and it made no sense. Absolutely no sense at all. They hated each other.
And yet, distracted by the memories shooting across their minds, neither cultivator realized that they had fallen in step with one another, walking up the mountain side-by-side.
When they finally reached the top after a long and quiet journey, there was a tense silence for a few more moments until...
“What-?”
“Where-?”
Jiang Cheng snapped his mouth shut, and Lan Wangji did the same.
But suddenly, a strange idea came to Jiang Cheng’s mind, or rather an idea came from one of his confusing memories. And he wasn’t entirely sure if it would work, especially since they were currently enemies...but he had to at least try.
So Jiang Cheng met Lan Wangji’s gaze, and then he blinked once.
What are we looking for?
A small flash of surprise crossed over Lan Wangji’s face, but he schooled his face, and blinked back.
Anything capable of altering perception or the mind.
And Jiang Cheng froze because, what the hell? How on earth was he able to understand any of what Lan Wangji had just conveyed to him through a mere blink. And better yet, how had Lan Wangji read his face so easily? But he decided not to go down that path and instead tilted his head to the side.
What was your question?
Lan Wangji blinked twice. Where do we start?
Jiang Cheng scanned the mountain, searching for anything that would give them answers, when noticed the edge of a paper talisman trapped under a rock. It would seem that any of the others had subsequently flown off the mountain due to the wind.
But this one had remained.
He nodded towards it, and both he and Lan Wangji made their way over to examine it.
“Amnesia…” Lan Wangji mumbled to himself. And then louder, “It’s to ward off against memory-loss.”
“Well, obviously, it didn’t work.” Jiang Cheng hissed on instinct.
Lan Wangji bit his tongue, remembering his promise to Wei Wuxian…but-
“I do not like you, Jiang Wanyin. In fact, I despise you.”
Jiang Cheng bristled at that, “The feeling is more than mutual Lan Wangji.”
Lan Wangji nodded, eye twitching, but he continued on. “If I’m correct, however, there’s a time when somehow, something between us changed. We simply cannot remember it at the moment.”
Jiang Cheng opened his mouth to say something biting, but for some reason, the words never left his tongue. Instead, “So you’ve been getting flashbacks too...”
“Mn.” Though it was strained as if the memories of seeing them being “amicable” towards one another physically pained him. But again, the feeling was mutual.
“I’ll always think you’re an egotistical self-righteous prick who only functions on the basis of getting what he wants.”
Lan Wangji’s eyes narrowed. “And I will continue to believe you are a brash, temperamental hypocrite with loyalties that change with the seasons.”
Jiang Cheng scowled at him.
But then, as the mountain wind swept over them, their hostile expressions mellowed. And suddenly, for the first time, the two were in sync.
“I don’t think I’ll ever understand you.”
“I will never want to.”
“Me either.”
“Mn.”
“But maybe-”
“For Wei Ying and Brother’s sake…”
“We should try to get along…?”
“Mn.” And then Lan Wangji did the unthinkable. He held his hand out for Jiang Cheng. “Truce?”
And Jiang Cheng did the unthinkable as well.
He took Lan Wangji’s hand within his own and shook it.
“Truce.”
So it was fate.
Not a fluke.
Interesting. I’ll be back in a few centuries then…
Enjoy your memories...
The sky went gray. The air turned chilly. And then as quickly as everything changed, everything returned back to normal.
Everything did. Including-
“...”
“...”
“What the fuck?” Jiang Cheng stared down at their joined hands, one of the worst headaches of his life ravaging his head.
“Your hands are sweaty.” Lan Wangji’s ears were buzzing as the inner mechanisms of his mind fell back into place.
“And yours are dry, asshole.” Jiang Cheng snapped, and they finally let their hands go.
Lan Wangji rolled his eyes, and then asked. “...What happened?” He wasn’t entirely sure if the past day and a half had been a dream--or nightmare--or not.
“Can we talk about it later?” Jiang Cheng all-but whined, and then felt his knees give out, as he landed on the ground with a soft thud. “...I feel hungover.”
Lan Wangji did not snort..
“Hey-!” Jiang Cheng sent him a weak glare. “You’re telling me you don’t feel like shit right now?”
“I think you’re being dramatic.”
“You-!”
“Can you walk?” Lan Wangji was pretty sure he already knew the answer.
“ Yes.”
“No.” With ease, he reached over, and then scooped Jiang Cheng in his arms and then carried him over his back like a sack of wheat.
“Did you just answer for me?!- Hey! Put me down you little-!”
Lan Wangji carefully made his way off the mountain, ignoring his brother-in-law’s loud protests.
“Why are you like this?!”
“Strength-training is important.”
Jiang Cheng opened his mouth to yell, but it ended up with him snorting and then just sighing in resignation. “Fine. When we get back to Gusu, can you carry me to the kitchens? I’m hungry-”
“You’re always hungry.”
“...What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re not exactly light Jiang Wanyin-” And then Lan Wangji hissed , like a cat--like Jiang Cheng even--because his nuisance of a brother-in-law stuck a finger in his ear.
Jiang Cheng’s cackles echoed through the air as Lan Wangji’s light footsteps became passive-aggressive stomps.
“I could drop you.” He mumbled dangerously.
“You wouldn’t let me fall.” The words had a deeper meaning.
“Mn.”
“Neither would I.”
Lan Wangji’s footsteps became light once more.
“Mn.” And then, “Jiang Wanyin?”
“What? Are you seriously tired already?” Jiang Cheng maneuvered a hand to tap the top of his head, patronizingly, like a puppy or something. “You can do it. Just a few more kilometers.”
“Piss off.” But the mirth in Lan Wangji’s eyes remained, but then his expression sobered.
“You and I were forced to be family.”
Jiang Cheng winced, but hummed. He wasn’t wrong . They hadn’t had a say in regards to being in-laws.
“But we weren’t forced to become friends.” And then Lan Wangji offered him one of his rare smiles, so subtle yet blinding, “So thank you for becoming my closest friend.”
And suddenly Jiang Cheng’s eyes felt suspiciously wet.
“...Back when we forgot, and I was having flashbacks, I couldn’t fathom I’d ever stop hating you. But now, I can’t fathom hating you…” Jiang Cheng smiled, softly--it was quite a rare sight as well. “You’re my closest friend too.”
And there was certainly more to be discussed--about the entity, about what had happened between the two of them--and they’d certainly have to issue some apologies to the juniors and their older brothers for causing such duress-
“I’d never seen Lan Huan look so pissed before!”
“Mn. Even Wei Ying looked troubled...”
“...We’re so screwed-”
“We could pretend we didn’t get our memories back.”
“You’re a shit liar. And our brothers are dangerously perceptive when combined.”
“...You are not wrong.”
But for now, the two were content to just forgive each other, just as they had back at the beginning of their friendship all those years ago. Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji were frankly very petty people that could hold grudges for lifetimes if they wanted to.
They didn’t stop being enemies because people forced them to.
They didn’t stop being enemies because they “let it go”.
They did it because they wanted to, they did it because along the line they realized they had more in common than their shared family.
“Hey, Lan Wangji?”
“Mn?”
“Do you think it was a fluke?” Us deciding to stop our rivalry?
“No.”
It was fate.
~~