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“Wangji!”
His back is to the door, but he turns at the sound of his name being called to find his brother leaning in the doorway of the backroom, a small smile on his face.
“Someone’s here to see you,” Lan Xichen says and then he’s gone without waiting for an answer, back to the front of the coffee shop, presumably to tend to the counter.
Lan Wangji takes a moment to finish his task first, setting the last of the new coffee stock from his box onto the shelf where it goes and then putting the now empty container in the corner with the others before following. His scent grows a bit sweeter, peonies blossoming, as he walks because he knows who’s waiting for him, Wei Ying.
No one else ever really comes just to visit him; not that he minds at all that much. He likes the quiet and the routine of his life. He’s grateful, even, that he’s not like some other omegas his age – trailing more than a few alphas behind them. He doesn’t know how they stand it, really. All those heavy, overbearing scents surrounding them. It seems like it would be awful. And that wasn’t to say that some didn’t try to come around. He was the younger of the Twin Jades and that meant something to a lot of the people they knew, but it had been nearly a year or maybe more since the last alpha had tried to approach him and for that, he was grateful.
Sure enough, when he steps out into the counter area, he finds Wei Wuxian waiting with a grin on his face and chattering at Xichen while he works.
“There you are, Lan Zhan!” His face lights up when he sees Wangji, smile growing wide and eyes practically beaming, and that only furthers the sweetening of his own scent. “Took you long enough. I’ve been waiting here for hours.”
He doesn’t dignify the silly exaggeration with a response, but his silence only seems to make Wuxian’s grin grow wider.
“Can I borrow you for lunch?”
Wangji looks up at his brother, who gives a small nod before pushing two coffee cups and two small bags across the counter towards Wuxian.
“It’s a slow day. I don’t see why you can’t borrow him for a bit.” Xichen takes a moment to rub his cheek against Wangji’s hair, scenting him with familiar gentian, mandarin, and cinnamon before grabbing a broom to start the afternoon cleaning.
Most employees simply drape their aprons across the back counter, but Wangji takes the time to walk to the rack on the far wall and hang his up on the same hook he always does. He likes structure and order, and he respects Xichen’s shop and the hard work that had been put into it to be so careless with his things. Slender fingers smooth over the small rabbit charm hanging from his apron pocket once it’s up. It still looks brand new, save for a small spot behind pale lop ears that he always rubs when he’s stressed.
When Wangji finally steps out from behind the counter and joins him, Wuxian holds out one of the coffee cups. “Wasn’t sure what you were in the mood for, so I let Zewu-jun pick.”
“Thank you.” He says once, meaning it to be for both of them, before pulling the cup to his nose and inhaling the warm, rich scent. When he takes a sip, he finds that it’s a mild coffee sweetened with osmanthus and cream – his current favorite from the shop’s menu. Not that he gets long to appreciate it before he’s being tugged out the door, though he doesn’t mind that either.
He can smell the alpha’s scent better when he’s pulled close, heavy sandalwood and warm clove with just a hint of bergamot. It’s a scent that is almost always around him now, even present in his nest thanks to a few shirts he’d gotten from the alpha not long ago. It’s comfort and familiarity, a scent that mixes nicely with own sweeter, floral notes
The air outside is crisp. It’s almost fall now and some of the leaves are beginning to turn. Wangji is grateful for the heavy sweater he’d chosen this morning, the warm cup in his hands, and the arm that finds its way around his waist. Wuxian prattles away as they walk, talking about his day, what he’d gotten up to over the weekend, and any other random thoughts that cross his mind. Wangji is content to listen, quietly paying attention as they move from one subject to the next. He prefers it like this, actually; Wuxian filling the silence between them and allowing him to be his normally quiet self. He appreciates that he isn’t forced to make polite conversation like he is with most others.
The path they take is familiar. Two blocks from the coffee shop, then a left, one more block and then a right to get them to the park. The bench he likes best is open today – the one right under the tall tree just at the edge of the gate – and it’s here that he tugs on Wuxian and not the other way around, making it known in his own way, where he’d like to sit. The alpha gives a small chuckle at that but lets himself be pulled along.
Wangji doesn’t know what makes this bench so special. Maybe it’s because it gives him the best view to watch the people coming and going from the entrance, or because they can also watch the birds and squirrels as they play in the trees, or maybe even because it’s the bench they sat on the first time Wuxian had taken him here and he is, after all, a creature of habit.
When he’s handed his bag, Wangji opens it carefully, unfolding the edges and pulling them back. He pulls out his sandwich and then flattens the bag to lay on his lap. His sandwich is unwrapped just as carefully, revealing another one of his favorite’s from Xichen’s coffee shop. Wuxian already has half of his gone, much to Wangji’s amusement as he takes his first bite. The alpha continues to talk, and he continues to listen while they both eat. Their shoulders brush occasionally as Wuxian gesticulates in between bites, and those warm scents wash over him anew when that happens. His own scent has grown sweeter in response without him meaning it to, and he finds that he’s sitting just a bit closer, their shoulders touching near constantly by the time he’s finishing his sandwich.
Once he’s done, Wangji folds the wrapper just as neatly and puts it into his bag, but Wuxian doesn’t stand up like he usually does at this point of their lunch. When Wangji glances up, he finds the alpha staring at him. The constant chatter had grown quiet as often does by the end of his lunch break, Wuxian having told him much of everything that had happened since they’d last seen each other – which is never much because they see each other quite often. Wangji likes that about him too, knowing that had he not come over on his lunch, he would have stopped by when they were closing the shop, or come by the apartment they shared after that. But the way Wuxian is staring at him now, is making him wonder if maybe he’d missed something in their conversation.
Before he can even think to ask if something is wrong, the alpha leans in and places a small, chaste kiss to his lips. The kiss steals his breath and sets his heart racing, but his voice is as soft and quiet as it usually is when he asks, “why did you do that?”
“Lan Zhan…” Wuxian pouts and crosses his arms over his chest, but it’s clear that he’s not really upset at the question. “We’ve been courting all this time – almost a year now. Don’t you think we should have had at least one kiss by now?”
“Courting?” His calm voice doesn’t betray how stunned he is.
“Well, yeah. All the dates I’ve taken you on, and that little rabbit charm I bought that you keep on your apron. It wasn’t a big gift, but I know how much you like rabbits…”
Wangji listens as Wuxian explains, but his mind is racing. Sure, they ate lunch together fairly regularly, and he came by the apartment often. And there were other gifts too. A flower, now pressed in a book, small stuffed animals won at festivals, and even a traditional silk ribbon in his family’s colors that now lies draped over the mirror in his room. There were shirts and sweaters given for his nest. But the alpha was just being nice, wasn’t he?
“I guess I thought my intent was obvious.” Wuxian shrugs as if it’s alright, but burnt clove is beginning to seep into his scent. “I even asked Xichen for permission to be traditional because I thought you’d like that…”
“Oh, oh I see.” He doesn’t know what else to say to this revelation. Looking back on it now, he supposes that maybe it should have been obvious, but that doesn’t change the fact that he hadn’t realized it. Nor does it change the way Wuxian’s face has fallen.
Wangji stands when the alpha does and follows, but the walk home is too quiet. There’s none of the constant talk or playful nudges that usually happen on their walks back. Wuxian doesn’t point out the new flowers at the shop on the corner or suggest they try that new food cart at the end of the street tomorrow. He’s just… quiet.
It’s too easy for Wangji to get lost in his own thoughts when Wuxian isn’t filling the air around him with things to focus on. He thinks about that first date, how Wuxian had come into the shop just as he always had, and he can see it now – a small, but knowing, smile on Xichen’s face as he’d let them go out for their first lunch together. Their first date…
The rabbit charm had been given to him that day. When they’d gotten back, Wuxian had helped him put it on his apron and it had stayed there ever since. There was laughter as they sat close together on the couch and watched movies, playful teasing when he first called Wuxian Wei Ying, and cuddling whenever Wangji was upset. Ever present in his life had become the alpha’s warm scent and his happy smile, and he realizes that he never wants to go a day without those things.
“We’re here,” Wuxian announces as they stop in front of the coffee shop, his voice an attempt at being cheerful that fails miserably.
Wangji had been so lost, he hadn’t even realized they’d spent the entire walk back in silence. He glances at the window, seeing their sad reflections and beyond that, his brother tending to a customer, still oblivious to them for the moment. This part of their lunch would normally be filled with talk, mostly from Wuxian, about when he’d come over next and what they might do. Sometimes even leaning in the door of the shop to ask Xichen if he should bring anything for supper, but today it’s just more of that heavy silence as Wuxian stares off down the street. And Wangji hates that.
His instincts are screaming at him to fix this, to tell the alpha that he’s happy to be courted, wants it more than anything, but the words that come to him all seem to pale in comparison to how he truly feels. He waffles with indecision and propriety for a moment more before laying a kiss to Wuxian’s cheek.
The alpha’s scent lightens almost instantly, sandalwood and clove growing warm and full again as a hand comes to rest on Wangji’s waist. It holds him close even after lips have left skin and he finds himself leaning into the touch and letting Wuxian’s arms wrap around him fully.
It feels like home.
They stand like that for a moment, both quiet and unwilling to let the other go. Eventually though, he knows he needs to go back inside to help with the upcoming rush and so he pulls back. Wuxian is rumbling softly and, without thinking, Wangji leans in and presses a kiss not to the alpha’s cheeks, but to his lips this time.
There’s heat on his cheeks as he turns to go back inside. He catches the barest glimpse of a goofy, stunned grin on the alpha’s face in the reflection as he opens the door. The bell above him dings, but he heads straight to his apron, unaware of the quiet purr vibrating in his own chest. When Wangji looks towards Xichen, he finds his brother’s eyes already on him, a knowing smile on his face.
“Gonna tell me what that was about, didi?”