Chapter Text
Lan Wangji wasn’t nervous.
He was not. Even if his ears were red. Even if he’d spent an extra fifteen minutes brushing his hair that morning. Even if he’d straightened his robes four times since breakfast.
It was a normal day.
A perfectly normal day.
It had nothing to do with the fact that Wei Wuxian always waved and smiled at him, that he refused to use courtesy names, always saying "Lan Zhan" in that utterly insufferable voice, the one that made Lan Wangji's ears turn red and his chest go tight like he’d been struck by an arrow to the heart.
He was fine.
Completely fine. He’d only glanced at the door because the wind changed. It wasn’t like he was hoping to see Wei Wuxian walk in with that radiant grin on his face. That would be ridiculous. Attachment was forbidden.
He stayed composed.
Lan Wangji smoothed the folds of his robes. White, clean, pristine.
He was...
"LAN ZHAN!"
Wei Wuxian burst through the library doors, his head turning as he searched for him. The moment he spotted Lan Wangji, his face lit up with a bright smile. He dashed toward the low reading table, nearly crashing into it when he tripped over his own feet.
"Do you wanna see a rabbit?"
Lan Wangji looked at him, blinked and said, "...a rabbit?"
"Yeah! It followed me. Jiang Cheng is watching it for me. I don’t want to leave him alone for too long, because he got angry at me for lurin... uhm... for letting it follow me, but I think he’s just jealous. C’mon, you’re a Lan, you like rabbits, right?"
Wei Wuxian didn’t wait for an answer. He grabbed Lan Wangji’s sleeve and dragged him outside. The esteemed Hanguang-Jun would have liked to make a more galant exit, but let himself be pulled along with a soft noise that might have been a "hn" or could have been his soul trying to make an escape for it.
Only a few minutes later, after constant reminders of “running being forbidden in the Cloud Recesses”, an excited Wei Wuxian sat cross-legged in the grass with a rabbit on his lap, feeding it lotus root. Lan Wangji sat beside him, still as stone, his posture stiff and his expression unreadable, like he was quietly questioning every life choice that had led him here.
Lan Wangji wasn’t watching Wei Wuxian.
Of course he wasn’t.
He was just… looking. Somewhere. Into the distance. That Wei Wuxian happened to be occupying that exact patch of grass, barefoot, laughing, with a lotus root stuck between his teeth, was entirely incidental.
Lan Wangji had no opinion on the rabbit.
He definitely didn’t think it was the cutest rabbit he’d ever seen just because Wei Wuxian was holding it. That would be ridiculous.
Jiang Cheng stood nearby with his arms crossed, muttering, “Why are you like this.”
Wei Wuxian grinned up at him. "Like what?"
"You're...!" Jiang Cheng looked at Lan Wangji. Then back at Wei Wuxian. Then buried his face in his hands. "You’re hopeless. Haven’t you gotten in enough trouble already?"
"It’s fine. Lan Zhan has already forgiven me." Wei Wuxian whispered, or thought he did.
"Forgiven what, Wei Ying?" Nie Huaisang chimed in cheerfully as he wandered past, fan half-open and sketchbook tucked under one arm. He had the look of someone who’d seen it all, and was already deciding who to gossip to first.
"He heard you!" Jiang Cheng hissed, jabbing an angry finger at Lan Wangji. "He’s practically fuming. He followed you out here without a word. He’s just waiting for you to break a rule."
Wei Wuxian blinked. "Jiang Cheng, if Lan Zhan can hear me, he can hear you too."
Silence.
Lan Wangji stared at them.
His eyes were drawn at the way the sunlight caught in the loose strands of Wei Wuxian’s hair, turning the ends gold. The slight dimple that appeared when he smiled at the rabbit. The mud streak on his sleeve. The smear of lotus root on his cheek.
The rabbit sneezed.
Wei Wuxian laughed, light and unguarded, the sound drifting through the air like windchimes in a breeze.
Lan Wangji pressed his lips together.
The ever observant Nie Huaisang hid a smile behind his fan.
“Lan Zhaaan,” Wei Wuxian sing-songed. “Are rabbits allowed in the classroom?”
“No,” said Lan Wangji automatically, without looking at him.
Wei Wuxian grinned and poked the rabbit’s nose. It wiggled its whiskers, which made Wei Wuxian smile. “But it’s so cute!”
Lan Wangji’s fingers curled into his robe.
The rabbit twitched, then launched itself at Wei Wuxian’s shoulder like a divine punishment from Bunny Heaven. Wei Wuxian flailed and fell back laughing.
Lan Wangji moved without thinking... and stopped just before their fingers touched.
Somewhere behind them, Jiang Cheng, who noticed the tensing up of Hanguang-Jun’s shoulders, groaned into his palms. “I told you not to bring the damn rabbit, Wei Ying.”
“It followed me!”
“You lured it with pork buns!”
“Semantics.”
Lan Wangji closed his eyes and counted to ten.
It didn’t help.
The sun had begun its slow descent over the Cloud Recesses, painting the grass with long streaks of amber light. The rabbit twitched its ears and nosed at a fallen petal resting on Wei Wuxian’s lap.
“Maybe he wants a name,” Wei Wuxian said thoughtfully.
“He?” Nie Huaisang asked, peering over.
“She?” Wei Wuxian lifted the rabbit, paused, then winced. “Um. Unclear.”
The rabbit thumped its foot against his robes in protest. Wei Wuxian laughed again. “Alright, alright. You can be whatever you like.”
Wei Wuxian shot Lan Wangji a look, eyes glinting with mischief.
“Hey. Lan Zhan. Can rabbits be sect disciples?”
Lan Wangji blinked. “What.”
“Like, hypothetically. Say this little guy wanted to take the oath. Would you let him? Could he carry a sword? Could he...”
“No.”
“What if he was really dedicated? What if he learned the rules better than I did? That’s not hard. I haven’t memorised half of them.”
“Not surprising,” Lan Wangji muttered.
Wei Wuxian let out a dramatic gasp and pressed a hand to his chest. “Lan Zhan insulted me! I’m reporting you to Lan Qiren for sass.”
“You can’t report Hanguang-Jun,” Jiang Cheng snapped, “he lives here.”
“I live here too, temporarily. And if Lan Zhan’s going to start throwing verbal knives, I have a right to defend myself.”
“He said one thing.”
“Which was very hurtful.”
“Please drown in a pond,” Jiang Cheng said, rubbing his temples.
“I almost did! Yesterday. Lan Zhan caught me, though.” Wei Wuxian turned toward Lan Wangji again, grinning. “Didn’t you, Lan Zhan?”
Lan Wangji stared at the grass. “I was nearby.”
“He caught me by the back of the robes. Like a cat. Just...” Wei Wuxian mimed dangling from a fist. “I was fully prepared to die nobly, and he saved me. Not my fault if his ribbon came undone. I had to hang on to something, right?”
Lan Wangji’s ears turned red. He didn’t move.
Nie Huaisang, lying on his stomach nearby and sketching “calligraphy practice,” coughed delicately. Lan Wangji glared at him, with a don’t-you-dare-say-a-word look.
“I thought he’d let me fall, honestly,” Wei Wuxian admitted. “That would’ve been fair. But no, hero mode. Right in front of Lan Qiren, too. He scolded both of us anyway.... You know, this isn’t the first time Lan Zhan saved me.”
Jiang Cheng gave him a sidelong glare. “Don’t start.”
“No really! Remember that time I climbed onto the roof of the Cold Springs Hall to catch the moonflowers?”
“And cracked a tile and fell through it.”
“Yes, that time.”
“Lan Qiren gave you a week of chores.”
“Yeah, but Lan Zhan patched the tile before anyone saw it.” Wei Wuxian grinned. “Didn’t say a word. Just did it. Like a very serious, stern little knight.”
Nie Huaisang cooed softly behind his fan.
"You're all being ridiculous," Lan Wangji said, immediately standing up so quickly the rabbit nearly jumped off Wei Wuxian’s lap in fright. "I am going to the library."
“Weren’t you already at the library earlier?” Jiang Cheng asked.
“I forgot something,” Lan Wangji said, and fled.
"No, no, no, wait!" Wei Wuxian stood up too, cradling the rabbit. "It is true? You really did forgive me, right?"
He reached out to stop Lan Wangji from leaving and grabbed the loose ends of the Lan family ribbon. Lan Wangji froze and turned his head slowly to glare daggers at him.
Wei Wuxian paused.
Lan Wangji’s ears had turned red again. His expression was blank, but his posture screamed restrained barely held back.
"...Oh," said Wei Wuxian.
Jiang Cheng groaned. Nie Huaisang started drawing faster.
“Sorry, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said with a sheepish grin. “Looks like I did it again, huh?”
He released Lan Wangji’s ribbon and stepped back.
Lan Wangji felt the blood pounding in his ears. It was almost unbearable how everything seemed to grow louder whenever Wei Wuxian was close. Every rule he’d ever memorised seemed to crumble in his mind like ash.
Don’t stare. Don’t speak out of turn. Don’t feel.
Wei Wuxian touched the ribbon again.
Lan Wangji’s breath caught. He doesn’t understand what that means.
“I need to go,” Lan Wangji muttered, already moving down the path.
"Wait! Lan Zhan, it’s okay! I didn’t mean to..." Wei Wuxian said after him.
Lan Wangji ran.
Wei Wuxian shouted after him, “Running is prohibited in the Cloud Recesses!”
He stared after Lan Wangji, baffled. “…Did I offend him?”
“Yes,” Jiang Cheng said. “By existing.”
Wei Wuxian scratched his head. “He’s always like that though. Maybe it was the rabbit?”
“He didn’t even look at the rabbit.”
“He’s usually very pro-rabbit. Maybe he’s sick?”
Nie Huaisang hummed lightly and adjusted his sleeve over his sketchbook.
“What about you, Huaisang?” Wei Wuxian said, finally turning. “Do you think Lan Zhan’s mad at me?”
Nie Huaisang smiled like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. “No, no. I think he’s deeply affected by your presence.”
Wei Wuxian beamed. “Aww. You think we’re becoming friends?”
“I think something’s becoming something.”
Jiang Cheng threw a twig at him.
Nie Huaisang waved from the grass. "It’s always the quiet ones," he said, and drew another heart around Lan Wangji’s blushing face.
Jiang Cheng sat down next to the abandoned rabbit and looked up at the sky.
“Why am I even here,” he asked the clouds. “Why do I have to live like this.”
Later that night, Nie Huaisang added the final details to his illustration.
“Let’s see…” Nie Huaisang whispered, turning the page. “Lan Zhan: blushing, smitten. Wei Wuxian: in full chaos mode. Jiang Cheng: tearing his hair out. Rabbit: sword at the ready.”
He doodled a few squiggly lines to show the drama, then titled the piece:
Emotional Damage: A Study in White Robes and Poor Life Choices.
Smiling to himself, he closed the sketchbook and drifted off to sleep.