Work Text:
It wasn’t until their third year of marriage that Wei Wuxian realized just how much work went into Wangji’s upkeep.
And by that, he meant the guqin, not his husband.
He had been traveling back with the juniors on a night hunt. When he got home, he found his husband deconstructing the instrument.
“Oh no, what’s happened to Wangji? Were you attacked?” Wei Wuxian asked, quickly going to his husband’s side.
“Wei Ying. Welcome home.” Lan Wangji greeted, rising to his feet. Wei Wuxian was distracted from his distress by the sight of his husband opening his arms. With a happy giggle, he tossed himself into Lan Wangji’s arms.
“I’m home, Lan Zhan.” He murmured before wrapping his arms around Lan Wangji’s neck. His husband pressed their lips together, a huff of laughter escaping him when Wei Wuxian eagerly parted his own.
There was no greater feeling like home to him than the feel of Lan Wangji’s tongue tangling with his.
“Ahem. Baba, I brought the strings you asked for.” They looked up to find Sizhui standing in the doorway. Wei Wuxian parted from his husband’s mouth, but didn’t remove himself from his arms.
“Sorry, A’Yuan. I’ve just missed your Baba.” He said with a content sigh. Lan Wangji tightened his grip on Wei Wuxian’s waist, a hum of agreement leaving him.
“Thank you, Sizhui.” He said to his Sizhui.
“What strings?” Wei Wuxian asked, watching as his son passed his husband the package.
“Wangji needs it’s strings replaced. I only had three replacement strings at home.” Lan Wangji explained. He pressed a tender kiss to Wei Wuxian’s lips before releasing him to sit in front of Wangji again.
“Why do you need to replace the strings?” Wei Wuxian asked, sitting down next to him. He cuddled against his side, smiling at the affectionate kiss that was pressed to the top of his head.
“Stringed instruments need to have their strings replaced every few years, A-die.” Sizhui explained.
“Mn.” Wangji agreed.
“You know, that makes a lot of sense.” Wei Wuxian laughed. “All I have to do for Chenqing is thoroughly clean it on the outside, and make sure that there isn’t any build up on the inside.”
“We have some special tools you can use as well, A-die.” His son said as he began to look for something under their table.
“Are you familiar with how to clean both types of instruments, Sizhui? Did Lan Xichen make you help him clean Liebing?” Wei Wuxian asked. His son shook his head.
“While I did occasionally assist with cleaning Liebing, it wasn’t a chore. Some of our initial training lessons are in instrument maintenance.” Sizhui explained. As Lan Wangji began to unwind the strings from around the goose feet, Sizhui pulled out a polishing kit from beneath the table.
“Was it hard to learn how to make a knot that’s the correct size?” Wei Wuxian asked, leaning in to watch as his husband began to knot the strings of the instrument.
“At first. But practice makes it easier.” Lan Wangji admitted. Wei Wuxian nodded, watching in fasciation as he quickly finished the knots. He then began to wrap the strings over the dragon’s gum and back to the goose feet. His husband didn’t even flip over the instrument as he flawlessly managed to secure them to the goose feet.
“Sometimes I make my strings too short.” Sizhui admitted with a sheepish grin.
“Practice makes it easier.” Lan Wangji repeated, smiling a bit when it caused his husband and son to laugh. From the fond look on Sizhui’s face, Wei Wuxian guessed that this wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation.
When Lan Wangji began to tune the instrument, he and Sizhui winced.
“This is where I would end up breaking the strings. How do you know the tension is just right?” Wei Wuxian asked. His husband plucked at the string, tightened it a bit more, and then plucked again. He got it right the second time. “Whoa! Great job, baobei!” Wei Wuxian leaned up and pressed a congratulatory kiss to his husband’s cheek.
“Mn.” Lan Wangji said, even though the pink tips of his ears gave away his how pleased he was by the praise.
“Here, Baba.” Sizhui passed over a set of tools and a container of polish. “A-die, you have to be very careful as you apply the polish. Wangji’s strings are made of silk, and it would affect the sound if the too much polish touched them.”
“Ah, thank you, A-Yuan.” Wei Wuxian watched with rapt attention as Lan Wangji dipped the tip of a brush into the polish. His husband leaned forward, carefully leaning into to apply the polish. Wei Wuxian was absolutely fascinated by the attention to detail his husband put into this, and the moment Lan Wangji pulled back, Wei Wuxian grabbed his face and pulled him into a searing kiss, tongue first. “God that was so hot, Lan Zhan.” Wei Wuxian moaned when he pulled back.
“A-die!” Sizhui protested. Lan Wangji smirked, pressing a gentle kiss to Wei Wuxian’s mouth before going back to working on his instrument.
Overall the process took about an hour. When Lan Wangji did this alone, or with company that wasn’t commenting at every next step, it took him about 20 minutes. But he didn’t mind going a little slower to appease his husband’s curiosity.
Now it was another thing they could share.
After he was done, Wei Wuxian climbed into his lap, another content sigh leaving him.
“I have the most wonderful, talented husband in the entire world.” Wei Wuxian said, smiling up at his husband.
“No. I do.” Lan Wangji replied, leaning down to kiss him softly.
“And I’m gonna go.” Sizhui said with an awkward laugh.
“Oh, I’m sorry, A’Yuan! We’ll wait until you need to leave.” Wei Wuxian said, quickly sitting up properly in his husband’s lap. Sizhui shook his head, sending them a fond, if not exasperated smile.
“No, I need to go anyway. I had a lot of fun tonight.” He said as he walked over to hug them. Wei Wuxian nodded, releasing his son to cup his face.
“Me too, A’Yuan, me too. You’ll have to teach me more of these Lan secrets.” He said with a wink.
“Wei Ying, there are no secrets in Cloud Recesses.” Lan Wangji patiently repeated.
“A-die, this wasn’t a secret.”
Father and son chimed together, which just had Wei Wuxian bursting into laughter all over again.