Work Text:
There were no rules about sitting on the roofs in Cloud Recesses. At least there hadn’t been when Wei Wuxian had written them all out. He couldn’t be bothered to check the updates. He tried to be quiet about it, though; it was always after twilight when he found his perch, letting him pretend to be just another shadow against the dark tiles. Lan Zhan would join him, occasionally. What he thought about Wei Wuxian’s loitering he made very clear by what he wore. His white robes acted as a beacon for anyone who glanced up and the attention would ultimately chase Wei Wuxian back to the Jingshi. Sometimes he would get up as soon as Lan Zhan landed beside him. Sometimes he would wait for people to notice glowing Hanguang-jun on the rooftops, partially to extend the anticipation but mostly to make Lan Zhan suffer the questioning looks for not simply asking him to come home!
But Lan Zhan had another robe of midnight blue, which he wore when he joined Wei Wuxian on the roof simply to be with him. He never wore that robe anywhere else, which was a bit of a shame; it was beautiful, shot through with silver thread, and when the light was right, it made Lan Zhan sparkle like the night sky. Not that Wei Wuxian minded having sparkly Lan Zhan all to himself, particularly when he realized that Lan Zhan always borrowed Wei Wuxian’s dark underclothes to better match the robe.
There was a soft sound behind him, and when Wei Wuxian glanced over his shoulder, he caught sight of a pale flash, but not the swirling beacon of Hanguang-jun’s robes. He realized what he had seen as Lan Zhan settled beside him.
“Bare feet, Lan Zhan! It’s cold.”
Lan Zhan didn’t answer, but pulled a pair of thick, dark socks out of his sparkly sleeves with a hint of a flourish. He could be such a smartass. “Who are you spying on tonight?” Case in point.
“Our son.”
Lan Zhan’s silence was very loud, so Wei Wuxian explained, “It hasn’t been as long for me, so I have a very clear recollection of what teenagers can get up to behind closed doors in Cloud Recesses after hai hour.”
“It isn’t after hai hour. And Sizhui would not get anyone drunk.”
“Not after hai hour yet. And I apologized for that.”
“Mn.”
It was a very non-committal ‘Mn’. “You can’t still be mad, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian pouted.
“I could.” There was an anticipatory note to the words, urging Wei Wuxian to meet Lan Zhan’s warm gaze, and he watched one corner of Lan Zhan’s mouth pull up a little higher than the other, before Lan Zhan continued, “But I’m not.”
The ‘because I love you’ went unsaid but Wei Wuxian heard it anyway, and wriggled closer to share the heat from Lan Zhan’s thigh. “I’m not trying to catch him at anything,” Wei Wuxian said. “I’m just curious about—”
A rectangle of light poured out into the soft darkness and a figure stepped out onto the covered porch, closing the door quickly to leave them cloaked in shadows. They hadn’t reached the stairs when they paused, as if called, and someone else came out, leaving the door open this time. The kiss was silhouetted perfectly in the doorway, making it clear that one of the people was Sizhui and the other was—
“Your nephew,” Lan Zhan said darkly.
“Is very brave, kissing out in the open air of the Cloud Recesses like that,” Wei Wuxian said, not bothering to hide his admiration. “I couldn’t do it.”
“You could,” Lan Zhan said, surprising Wei Wuxian by dropping the subject of the observed indiscretion. “Although practice may be required to get used to it.”
“You know this from experience, Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian asked teasingly as he watched Jin Ling scurry from shadow to shadow, making a poor attempt at stealth. Still, a small piece of his heart dreaded the answer.
Lan Zhan waited until Wei Wuxian could no longer resist turning his head to meet Lan Zhan’s soft gaze. “Only theory,” Lan Zhan said, then his eyes focused on Wei Wuxian’s mouth. “We should test it.”
“That sounds like a challenge,” Wei Wuxian said, tipping his face up. He loved Lan Zhan’s challenges.
“Mn,” Lan Zhan agreed, lowering his head.
Their lips met lightly, softly, it was barely a kiss at all when they heard, “You’ve got to be kidding me! On the roof! Shameless!” from the Jin clan leader, sounding far too much like his other uncle.
“Hypocrite!” Wei Wuxian shot back, pointing directly at Sizhui’s door. Jin Ling’s jaw dropped and even in the scant light, Wei Wuxian could see his cheeks darken as he glanced back toward Sizhui’s room. When Jin Ling shifted his gaze back to the roof, his eyes widened, his mouth snapped shut, then he took off directly for the guest quarters at barely not a run.
When Wei Wuxian looked over at Lan Zhan, he instantly understood Jin Ling’s reaction. “Lan Zhan! Put away that glare. You’ve terrified the poor boy.”
“A little terror is healthy at that age,” Lan Zhan practically growled, then he blinked slowly and his mouth softened into his version of a pout. “He interrupted us.”
Who was Wei Wuxian to question the judgement and priorities of the illustrious Chief Cultivator. “Should we go find someplace where we are less likely to be interrupted?” he suggested, with a waggle of his eyebrows and his most shameless grin.
“Mn. We’ve already tested this roof.”
Wei Wuxian was going to like this challenge.