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Nie Huaisang was determinate to pout until his lower lip fell off. The one and only time his brother agreed to let him skip the afternoon of a Conference something exiting had to happen. Huaisang was furious. With whom, he didn't know. That did nothing to alleviate his anger. If anything, it made it grow, since he couldn't just fight with someone and call it a day. Why was life so cruel? He didn't do anything wrong (well, he didn't do anything wrong, recently).
It all started when the Conference finished earlier than usual. Huaisang was expecting to eat dinner alone as his brother's presence was required elsewhere, so when he entered the dining room and found Mingjue there he did a double take. And then nearly jumped out of his skin at the hollow and blank expression his brother was sporting. Mingjue was never expressionless, Huaisang had seen the whole package of emotions passing his brother's face, but never, never in his whole life Huaisang had witnessed the blank look. That kind of scared him more than his angry expression, at least then he knew what to expect. Seeing him like this, no emotion and kind of lost, made something settle wrong in his stomach. He didn't like, not one bit. His brother was supposed to be strong and firm, always knowing and with a solution ready in record time.
Without saying a word, Huaisang sat down. Mingjue didn't give any kind of sign indicating he noticed his presence and Huaisang was sure snapping his brother out of his stupor would do more worse than good, so he stayed uncharacteristically quiet. He silently signed to a servant to bring two meals instead of one. Correctly reading the mood of the room the servant didn't open her mouth to confirm she understood, she just nodded and slipped out of the door.
Dinner was served twenty minutes later in the same kind of eerie silence. Mingjue did not react when his plates were put in front of him, his mind still far away. Huaisang started eating, trying his best to entertain himself without talking. He studied his brother, curiously analyzing his strange behavior. The man had both his elbows on the table, finger intertwined together and chin slotted in between his point fingers and thumbs. Had his expression been another and he would’ve looked relaxed, with this one, however he looked anxious and troubled.
“Huaisang...” at the sound of his name the younger startled so bad that his chopsticks went flying. At least he wasn't chewing, he was pretty sure he would've choked on the bite otherwise.
“Yes, brother?” he said as he retrieved his runaway chopsticks (now pretty much useless since one fell on the floor).
“How do you feel about time travel?” and that was what caused the aforementioned reaction.
After his brother explained what happened that afternoon, Huaisang was ready to either fawn over the fact that time travel was real or be pissed he missed it (the second won by a slight margin because the drama, Huaisang lived for it). He was also curious about what would happen now that they had proven information about the future (they were proven by the very real and very scary appearance of an adult Lan Wangji, which was both amazing and vaguely disturbing), but Mingjue didn't have any kind of answer to that question.
Huaisang then made the impromptu decision to seek out Wei Wuxian. He knew that this version of his friend had the same amount of knowledge he did about what he was desperate to know, but it was worth a shot. The next day he would curse past Huaisang all the way to the Moon, just not for the reasons he was expecting.
At the end of his speech Mingjue retired to his chambers and Huaisang followed his example. As he got ready to go to bed, he mentally made a short list of things he wanted to ask Wei Wuxian. He fell asleep grilling himself to wake up at a decent hour, a decent hour for Wei Wuxian at least.
§§§§
He opened his eyes with a startle, no unfocused transition between dead asleep and wide awake. The Sun was up, its light already yellow and bright but it was still early enough that people were still getting ready in their rooms. He made himself presentable for the day, had breakfast and took the door like he had a vengeful spirit at his heels. He power walked to the Jiang Section of the guest quarters, but found Wei Wuxian's room empty. The bed was perfectly made, not even a little wrinkle on the smooth surface of the covers. It looked unslept in, which complicated Huaisang's mission. Jiang Cheng was of no help, the only thing the other could tell him was that Wei Wuxian disappeared into thin air right after their visitors returned to their timeline the day before. Curiously Lan Wangji was reported missing as well, even though Jiang Cheng saw him entering the Lan Section around haishi, assuming he was retiring for the night like his uncle and brother. Brother who was as surprised as Huaisang was when he opened the doors of his room only to find it empty. It looked exactly like Wei Wuxian's had: unused and cold.
Huaisang exited the guest quarters with even more questions that when he had entered it. Something told him that the missing two were together, wherever they were. Which was exactly the problem, where were they? The Unclear Real was really big, searching all rooms they had access to would take all day. And Huaisang didn't have all day (more like he didn't want to waste a full day, he had an unfinished painting that called for his attention). He was starting to regret deciding to go talk to Wei Wuxian, but it was too late to change his mind anyway: once he fixated on something he didn't bulge. So with a sigh, he braced his fan – indispensable, essential, a must, he was pretty sure he was born with a fun clenched between his little fingers – and began his search for two of the most powerful cultivators of his generation (a necessary observation, since it could mean the couple was miles away, having a heart to heart conversation under the non-judgmental sky. Gods, Huaisang hoped that if they had had a heart to heart conversation under the non-judgmental sky they were already back).
As he would soon find out, if soon meant two hours and twenty three minutes later, they were already back. He was so glad that Lan Wangji was playing his guqin, albeit so softly the music was almost inaudible even to Huaisang's hearing (which was better than common people, but not as good as a motivated cultivator. His core was too weak to give that much of a boost to his senses), because that was the only way he actually found them. Following the music he arrived in a little private patio, in one of the most secluded quarters the Unclear Realm had. The couple was on the roof of the main bedroom. Wei Wuxian was lying down, arms crossed behind his head, one knee bent and the other propped on it. He seemed relaxed, the sweet music lulling him to sleep. Huaisang, however, knew very well that he would be up and running in a blink of an eye if he sensed danger nearby. Lan Wangji was on his right, seated in a proper position with a straight back and crossed legs. His guqin was on his lap, fingers skillfully playing a song Huaisang didn't recognise. They didn't give any sign that indicated that they had noticed him, but Huaisang didn't cross the hypothesis that they were simply ignoring his presence and giving him the chance to reveal himself (or simply ignoring his presence, something that Wei Wuxian had no problem doing, the gremlin, and while Lan Wangji was a good, proper Lan Huaisang was sure that one word from Wei Wuxian could hold him back for a little longer than he normally would).
So, maybe trying to get answers from Wei Wuxian was not a good idea. But now it was too late to flee. Huaisang took a breath and changed his plan. The one he had (that was so simple the little disciples who were still working on forming their core could do better) probably won't work anymore, Huaisang was doubtful of its efficiency even if he managed to find Wei Wuxian alone, now that he was in Lan Wangji's company it was as good as a holed fan.
The song he didn't recognise stopped abruptly and not because it reached its end. Lan Wangji started a new song immediately after, like nothing had happened. That told Huaisang that they were aware of his presence and even Lan Wangji infinite patience was beginning to thin (he was steadily pushing back the thought that he invaded something private and personal that he had no business in, since, well, he needed answers. Huaisang also very skillfully ignored the fact that he didn't need to know anything and he was just a sucker for gossip). Huaisang had to play his cards right if he didn't want their sword mere millimeters away from his throat (actually, maybe not literally, but their stares had hit a new level of threat recently and Huaisang was not inclined to find himself at the end of them). When he peaked again from behind the wall Wei Wuxian wasn't laying down anymore, instead he was sitting up in a ball, knees up and arms snaked around his bent legs. His head was on his knees, neck turned to watch Lan Wangji. He looked less relaxed that before, but Huaisang had no idea of what could have possibly caused such a wide breach in the barriers he constantly kept up, so he couldn't find a reason he was relaxed in first place.
With a half-baked plan in his head, he gathered the slivers of courage that still stuck with him and walked out of his hiding place, right into Lan Wangji's line of sight. And apparently Wei Wuxian's, even if Huaisang had no idea of how the other had seen him with his head bent like that (not that adding another mystery to the ginormous question mark that was Wei Wuxian changed something. It changed absolutely nothing, like at all. Huaisang was starting to resent his ridiculous ass).
“Ah, it's just you”
“Wei-xiong! What do you mean 'just you', you meanie!”
“There's no need to ruffle your feathers Huaisang, I was expecting someone worse”
“Should I take that as a compliment?”
“You can turn anything into a compliment so I don't know how useful my answer will be”
“That's even meaner that the thing you said before”
“So... what do you need?” at another time Huaisang would have been ridiculously offended that Wei Wuxian completely ignored him, but now he was a man on a mission.
A suicide one, his traitorous mind supplied. Of course he ignored it, he was pretty good at toeing the line between safe and dangerous; a skill he developed growing up with a brother like his. He opened his mouth, question half formed on his tongue, when he made the mistake of shifting his gaze from Wei Wuxian's curled up form to Lan Wangji's ice cold face. And he promptly chocked on said half formed question.
He raised his fan to cover his face, in a hurried attempt to hide his reaction. He was still mostly sure that both of them knew the real reason for his snooping around, they were smart enough to figure it out (and, would you look at that, they even had two very different types of intelligence that worked unfairly well together. One provided where the other was lacking, a foolproof kind of deal. Though they were both missing common sense and were dense as hell).
Fanning his face slightly, very very slightly since there was no need for extra cold air, Huaisang pursed his still hidden lips. Wei Wuxian was looking at him now, no visible emotions on his face apart from curiosity. He still had that faint aura of something that always seemed to surround him; only it wasn't so faint anymore and it made him look super friendly, but unapproachable at the same time, which was a rather strange combination. The half-backed plan wilted in his head, there was no way it could end well for him. His always working mind started to fire excuse after excuse to tell the couple. After a minute of pure panic he had the illumination: why lie when he could say the truth? Even if it wasn't the same truth he originally went for.
“Ehrm, your brothers, and Sect Leaders I guess, are searching for you, they both request your presence in the Conference Hall”
To Huaisang utter joy and relief they bought it and stopped looking at him, no really it was getting creepy, to look at each other. Something had to pass between them because not ten seconds later Wei Wuxian turned back at him to say:
“Thank you, Nie-Xiong. We will be there at dinner” it was a clear dismissal and Huaisang noted that this time he didn't use his name.
Not one to dive in face first into dangerous situations, usually if he sniffed one he fled at the first possible moment, he took the opportunity to do exactly that. He turned on his heels and escaped as fast as he could to make it look natural. Which meant that he calmly walked out of the private patio and then started power walking to the main area of the Unclean Realm.
When he arrived near the building that housed the Conference Hall, he skillfully wormed his way inside, scared the shits out of dage and silently informed Lan Xichen and Jiang Wanyin that their wayward brothers would deign them worthy of their presence around lunch. Then he all but shoved his face into his trusted fan and prepared himself for a session of information gahtering (that he will not use for blackmail purposes, of course). as he delighted himself in watching people chewing each other out he decided that he will have his answers, all of them. No matter how.
Needless to say, Huaisang never skipped a Conference again.