Work Text:
It’s a cold winter evening. Snow is covering the ground around the farmhouse, the fairy lights in the trees giving the whole scenery an almost ethereal quality.
As if it’s a scene from a picture book, Sizhui thinks while looking back at the house. He has always loved this house that had become a home for him so quickly and has never ceased to be one, even if he now has his own house and his own family to return to.
His daughter yawns, snuggles closer to him, and Sizhui shifts her on his arm so that she’s easier to carry. She should be in bed by now, but she wanted to say goodbye to Uncle Jingyi, since it’s time for him to drive home.
"Will you stay for much longer?" Jingyi asks while he loads his suitcase into the trunk of his car.
"Only a few days, then I'll drive home too," Sizhui replies. "Before the snow gets too dense to drive."
Jingyi nods. “I wouldn’t wish to drive in this weather even if I got paid for it.”
He closes his trunk, looks back at the farmhouse, then frowns. "You sure you shouldn't stay for a while longer? I don't wanna be rude, but he kinda worries me."
He jerks his head over to the living room window, a soft glow painting shadows onto the snow-covered hedges outside.
Inside, there's Lan Wangji, his long braid streaked with grey, swaying to music that doesn't reach the outside of the house. His eyes are closed, his smile small but serene.
It's as if he was holding someone, but...he's alone.
Sizhui smiles at the sight, equally tender but with a sad edge.
"Don't worry about him," he tells Jingyi. "He's just dancing."
Jingyi raises an eyebrow. "Dancing? With whom?
"With Baba's ghost."
***
"Dance with me, Lan Zhan," Wei Ying makes him promise, "even after I'm gone."
"Wei Ying..." Lan Wangji begins, knowing very well in which direction this conversation is going and not willing to take that route just yet.
"Promise me.” Wei Wuxian insists. “I don't want you to get out of practise for when we meet again. Because we will, and when we do, I am never going to stop dancing with you."
So Lan Wangji promises. Wei Ying's heart has been giving them more grief the past few years, and while the prospect of waking up alone one day is terrifying Lan Wangji, both have lived a long happy life together, and have made peace with the inevitable.
***
In the end, Wei Ying asks for a fresh cup of tea while they are watching a movie, curled up against each other on the sofa. He steals a kiss from his husband as Lan Wangji gets up to fetch him a refill.
When he returns, Wei Ying is on the couch, wrapped in a blanket Lan Wangji has knitted himself, eyes closed, with a smile on his face.
He looks like a painting, Lan Wangji thinks, as if he could rouse him from sleep just by running his hand through his hair.
Lan Wangji knows he’s not sleeping. He calls the paramedics, sits down, and with tears in his eyes and a broken heart, holds his beloved's hand until they arrive. He’s loathe to let it go when the time comes, but he knows in his heart that he will hold it again, one day. That his love will be waiting for him, with open arms, a warm smile and sparkling eyes, and they will dance, joined in love until the end of time, or until life calls them once more.