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“Psst… Zewu-jun?” Jiang Cheng called out. He didn’t want to enter another man’s tent without permission, not even when he felt the harsh and cold wind blow through his thin inner robes and biting at his skin like a ravenous dog who had yet to be fed. It certainly didn’t help that his only defense against this invisible enemy was made for the Yunmeng climate, not the Gusu one. The fabric hugging his body was far too thin and every second spent waiting for young master Lan to get to the tent door felt like torture.
“Young master Jiang? Why are you out of bed? Is there a problem?” Lan Xichen asked as he opened the tent door after which he looked the shivering man up and down. He must have looked terrible because the look on the Lan’s expression was nothing short of panic. “Please come inside. We can’t have you freezing to death.”
As if Jiang Cheng didn’t already have enough of an incentive to take shelter from the wind Lan Xichen placed a caring hand on the middle of his back guiding him inside. Once out of the cold Jiang Cheng was swiftly wrapped up in a set of snow-white outer robes that he assumed to be Zewu-jun’s. It protected him from their cold surroundings but with Jiang Cheng having already been frozen to his core it didn’t help much. He needed a heat source to thaw him out.
“What’s happened? Why are you out so late at night, and in only your inner robes at that?” Lan Xichen asked as he kept looking around for something else he could use to heat up his unexpected guest.
“Wei Ying threw me out of our tent” Jiang Wanyin replied through clattering teeth.
“I thought you and young master Wei were on good terms, it’s why I didn’t have an issue placing the two of you in the same tent after finding out there wasn’t enough tents for everyone. Was I mistaken?” Lan Xichen asked, his eyes wide with worry that he had incorrectly assessed the situation and caused the Jiang’s misery. Jiang Cheng was sure that if he said yes Zewu-jun would be willing to walk through a blizzard to find a solution to the sleeping arrangements.
“No we are. It’s just that…” Wanyin didn’t know how to say ‘My brother is trying to trick Lan Wangji into sharing a tent with him’ without getting Wei Ying in trouble. Even after getting thrown out of the tent that was rightfully his Jiang Cheng still didn’t want to tattle on his Shi-Xiong.
Having overheard that Lan Wangji would be the one on fire duty tonight, and would therefore arrive late at his tent, Wei Wuxian had devised a sneaky plan to get him into the wrong bed. On the outside of each tent was a small marker to symbolize whose tent it was. All he had to do was switch up the markers and Lan Wangji would walk into the wrong tent all on his own.
Wei Wuxian had explained this to his brother, not when he’d first come up with his plan, but when he had already gotten dressed for bed. Without a second thought about how cold it was outside Wei Wuxian had pushed him outside with a chuckle promising him that this would be the most fun ever.
But standing outside in the cold without as much as a set of outer robes to protect him was not “the most fun ever”, not even close. Freezing, Jiang Cheng had no other option other than to seek shelter in the only tent he knew had available space. Zewu-jun’s. With Lan Wangji still outside, making sure that the fire was properly extinguished before he headed to bed there would be an empty bed inside the Jade twin’s tent.
But even after being tossed outside Jiang Cheng didn’t like the idea of getting his brother into any more trouble than what he caused himself. There would no doubt be plenty of punishment already from Lan Wangji. No need to kick his older brother when he was down.
“Someone else stole my bed…” Jiang Cheng vaguely explained as to not give too much away.
“Oh… In that case how about you go sleep in young master Nie’s bed instead? I’m sure Meng Yao won’t mind.” Lan Xichen suggested, trying to help him out.
“A-Sang isn’t the one who took my bed…”
“He isn’t?” Lan Xichen furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Jiang Cheng didn’t tend to hang out with anyone other than Wei Ying or Nie Huaisang so if it was neither of them there wasn’t anyone else he could imagine taking the Jiang’s bed. “Then do you want me to go kick them out to get your bed back?”
“Well that might be a bit difficult…” since the man who was going to steal his bed wasn’t in his tent yet and didn’t even know he was going to steal another man’s bed.
“Then do you want me to find you somewhere else to sleep?” Having found a pair of gloves and a scarf Lan Xichen wrapped Jiang Cheng up in the soft fabric to keep him warm but as he did his hands grazed against Jiang Cheng’s. They were warm, so much warmer than the gloves he was trying to hand him.
Marveling at the Lan’s seemingly blazing hot hands Jiang Cheng pressed them up against his cold cheeks, leaning into the emanating warmth like a cat longing to be petted. Had Wanyin been a feline he was sure he would’ve purred in happiness, but as a human he had to settle for a murmured “Your hands are divine.”
“Us Lans tend to be quite warm-blooded, it is quite advantageous during Gusu’s cold winters, both for us and those around us. I don’t mind sharing my body warmth with you, but I thought young master Jiang didn’t like being touched?”
Too cold to care about what kind of help was appropriate to accept or not Jiang Cheng nuzzled his head into the crook of the Lan’s neck and wrapped his arms tightly around his back. Zewu-jun was nicer than the rays of a late autumn sun, emanating a soft yet warming heat that reached the deepest depths inside of him. “I’ve never had a problem with touch. What made you think that?” he asked as he tried to get his hands in under the Lan’s inner robes. Having his hands pressed up against the Lan’s bare skin sounded marvelous and with Zewu-jun not stopping him Jiang Cheng saw no reason in stopping his pursuit of warmth.
“You always shrug off young master Wei whenever he tries to get close to you.”
“Yeah, he’s annoying.” Obviously he wouldn’t appreciate his Shi-Xiong leaning on him all the time.
“And young master Nie…?”
“He’s annoying too.” Besides, Huaisang was totally the kind of guy who’d wipe off his greasy hands on your robes. No thank you.
Hesitating for a second Lan Xichen asked “And what about me? Am I not annoying as well?”
Jiang Cheng leaned back for a second, letting his head leave the divine warmth of the Lan’s chest for a short moment to look into the Lan Xichen’s sun-golden eyes. “Are you seriously asking me that? Of course you’re not annoying. Zewu-jun is the opposite of annoying. You’re kind, and generous, and so so wonderfully warm…” As he spoke Jiang Cheng leaned in closer to the kind and generous heat source in front of him. At this point he had mostly warmed up from being outside, but he’d gotten greedy and wanted for more.
Jiang Cheng had heard that your first kiss will feel like fireworks, tiny little explosions that would undoubtedly rise his temperature even further, and with the rest of Lan Xichen being so delightfully warm wouldn’t his lips be too? He simply had to know.
It didn’t take long for Zewu-jun to catch on to what was about to happen, Jiang Wanyin wasn’t moving particularly quickly as he made sure to give ample amount of time for Lan Xichen to refuse. Too much time. Feeling impatient Lan Xichen gladly leaned forward and effortlessly started the display of colorful explosions inside Jiang Cheng’s stomach.
Delighted at the experience being even better than he’d imagined Wanyin leaned in even closer, getting greedier by the second. At first he simply met Zewu-jun’s lips with his own, carefully exploring the new territory that was kissing, growing bolder he tried sucking on the plump lower lip of the generous man who rewarded him with a breathless gasp. Taking the opportunity given to him Jiang Cheng delved deeper becoming one with Xichen in the matter of seconds.
Zewu-jun tasted a little bit bitter, like green peppers. Jiang Cheng had never liked green peppers but right now they might as well have been his favorite food with the way he tried to devour the other man whole – green pepper taste and all. Sadly, no matter how much they craved each other their lungs craved oxygen more. Gasping for air the two parted from each other, their eyes meeting with an unspoken understanding that their relationship had taken on a completely different form to before.
As soon as he had caught his breath Jiang Cheng leaned in for more. But even though Lan Xichen’s eyes were filled with want, a warm index finger was placed on top of Jiang Cheng’s lips to stop him from going further. Wanyin’s heart sank.
“Young master Jiang, for as much as I’ve enjoyed your… company I think it’s time we should stop for tonight. My brother will get here any minute and I don’t believe this is the way he should find out about… this” Whatever ‘this’ was.
A delighted smile formed on Jiang Cheng’s lips as he delivered the good news. “Lan Wangji won’t come here. Wei Ying has changed the tags of our tents.”
Lan Xichen’s eyes lit up. “How delightful, does that mean young master Jiang is planning on spending the night?”
“If Zewu-jun will allow me” Jiang Cheng spoke, to which the only reply he got was yet another extended kiss. Lan Xichen had seemingly no issues with his brother being subjected to yet another prank of Wei Wuxian’s as he continued to engage in what by Lan standards was very indecent behavior. Whilst nothing more explicit than kisses and the sharing of a single sleeping bag occurred that night, Jiang Cheng was sure doing so before marriage broke at least a couple dozen of the Lans’ rules. If he ever found out, Lan Qiren would surely be furious.
Wei Ying had been right, this experience really had been the most fun ever, Jiang Cheng thought as he drifted off to sleep feeling the reassuring warmth of Lan Xichen’s body pressed against his own. And he wasn’t the only Yunmeng brother to end up in the arms of a Jade twin that night.
Having waited until after nine pm, when Lan Wangji had fallen asleep like a rock, Wei Wuxian had completely transformed Lan Wangji’s appearance by gluing tiny clippings of his own hair to the Lan’s face. Lan Wangji who was usually clean-shaven was currently sporting a slightly crooked pencil mustache and a not so stylish goatee. If you squinted a little he looked like the spitting image of a young Lan Qiren. Snickering, Wei Wuxian had leaned in closer to admire his work which would surely be the talk of the cultivation world for months, if not years, to come. But this had been a grave mistake as he was soon trapped in the iron grip of the second Jade twin of Gusu.
“Wei Ying…” The Lan growled. But what would’ve otherwise sent a shiver down Wei Ying’s back now caused him to burst into laughter.
“Please, old man Lan, I promise I’ve completed all of my homework for this week” he pleaded when his giggling didn’t interrupt his speech.
Wei Wuxian had expected Lan Wangji to bark at him further, potentially assign him a punishment or two, but there was nothing following the initial growl. Lan Wangji was still soundly snoozing, his previous words being nothing but delirious sleep talking.
Thinking he might be able to escape and complete his plan of moving back the tags and accusing Lan Wangji of walking into the wrong tent on purpose Wei Ying found that he couldn’t get out of the Lan’s grip. The two arms weighed down on his back like two heavy boulders. Refusing to let him go.
After struggling a little longer he eventually gave up, determining that it would be impossible to escape. He’d have to spend the night in Lan Wangji’s arms. Not that it was all bad. Lan Zhan’s chest was by no means uncomfortable and Wei Ying was sure the look on his face when waking up tomorrow morning would be priceless.
“You know… it’s rather inappropriate for a teacher to sleep with one of his students like this… Old man Qiren better be ready to face the consequences tomorrow morning…” Wei Wuxian joked as he too drifted off to sleep. Both the Yunmeng brothers had found rest in the arms of their respective Jade twin, and though one would wake up to gentle good morning kisses and the other a long scolding they were both equally as happy as one another.