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Wei Wuxian had always had lively wings that instantly reflected even the slightest change in his mood. If he was happy, his wings would flap around. Anger made them threateningly rise above his head and the rare moments of total calmness would result in the wings laying flat against his back. He would flutter and stretch out the wings, his expression and tone always matching the gesture like it was something he did not even need to think about. Just an intuitional response for whatever he was experiencing right at that moment. Some found this quirk lovely and adorable, some were rather annoyed and ordered him to behave. Wei Wuxian didn’t really want to restrict his wings. They were part of him so why should he pretend that somehow his wings knew how to be a calm and collected immortal master when he himself was far from that? Let’s not make him and his wings mismatched, okay?
The experience had also taught Wei Wuxian quite a lot about the wings all the cultivators grew when they gained their golden cores. For example, the wings did not disappear when the golden core was cut out, which had once been a great relief for Wei Wuxian. At least he got to keep the wings and could still fly a little even if his sword couldn’t carry him anymore. Of course that relief had been very short lived because only a few days later he had been captured, his wings snapped, and he got thrown down into Burial Mounds. Well, he did eventually learn that there were some demonic tricks that could make the dead wings look lively even when the tender bones had been torn. Good for him… Hah.
Recently, Wei Wuxian had also discovered that re-growning wings in a new body meant that he would get his old wings back! You see, when he returned from the dead he was given a wingless body. Mo Xuanyu had never developed a core good enough to give him a chance to grow wings of his own. Not even small lumps around the shoulder blades to indicate there was any potential growing happening. At that point, Wei Wuxian had already accepted that he would never see his lovely wings again and he had moved on, fully focusing on enjoying his husband’s wings instead. Like, those really were a great pair of big wings Lan Wangji had. Wei Wuxian had no complaints!
So years later, when Wei Wuxian was happily enjoying his life as a married man and cuddling in the bed as married people sometimes did during their freetime, he did not really think much about Lan Wangji’s hand suddenly stopping the wandering and moving back up to feel his bare skin between the shoulder blades. He hummed happily and nuzzled against the warm chest he was laying on. Lan Wangji petted his hair, the other hand still searching for the small, but hard lumps he had felt earlier.
“...Wings”, he muttered when he found the lumps again, tracing the familiar formation he had seen many times on the backs of younger sect disciples.
“...Huh?” Wei Wuxian asked sleepily, not really registering what the man serving as his pillow was saying.
“Wei Ying is growing wings.”
“Am I?” he asked, now completely awake and trying to reach his back, “where? Lan Zhan… Where?” Lan Wangji caught his wildly searching hand and guided it to the neat row of small lumps. Two rows, the lumps too big to be bug bites and too symmetrical to be mistaken for old wounds. The wings had not yet grown much so the skin around and on the lumps did not feel itchy or stretched. Wei Wuxian was unnaturally quiet as he ran his fingers over them and tried to recall if it had felt like this last time he grew wings. It had been literally a lifetime ago!
“My wings”, he finally said, grinning at the man who was carefully observing him, “I am getting my wings back! Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan… My wings!”
“Mn”, the other man nodded, his arm wrapping around Wei Wuxian’s waist in case the man was thinking about getting up and going somewhere. The proper time to turn in for the night had already passed after all and somebody had to make sure they both at least tried to follow the rules. Luckily Wei Wuxian did not feel like he wanted to celebrate by running off somewhere. He only snuggled closer and quickly relaxed again after the moment of excitement. He turned his head up, smiling at Lan Wangji.
“Jiang Cheng is gonna be so mad”, he said, snickering lightly, “I will go and drop feathers everywhere. He will never forget me ever again.”
“Has he ever?”
“No, and I will keep it that way!” Wei Wuxian laughed, “I wonder how my wings will look…”
“Pretty”, Lang Wangji said, getting a cooing sound and a gentle pat on cheek as a reward.
“Yes, my wings will be pretty”, Wei Wuxian decided. Easy thing to decide. After all, Lan Wangji himself said that so it had to be true. Lans can’t lie, you know. They might explode if they try.
Wei Wuxian murmured happily, moving a bit to find a perfect spot, and then closing his eyes as the sleep started to take over again. Warm lips touched his forehead gently and the great, white wings covered him, warmer and more comfortable than any blanket could be.
Wei Wuxian had already got accustomed to his new body and he had accepted it as his own long ago. However, he still felt relieved and joyful when he discovered that the wings he grew now were identical to those he had once had. These were his wings, truly and wholly. The colour, the size, the feeling of the familiar weight on his back… His wings had grown back. He wasn’t even disappointed about once again gaining wings that were too small for flying, because it was just so incredibly great to have them back just like they had been before. To have a part in this body that was completely his and not something Mo Xuanyu had forcefully given him.
Wei Wuxian’s wings were grey. A mundane colour that was often described as “dirty looking” and “fits you well”, whatever that even meant, because his wings were not actually solid grey and lacked any more refined, metallic tones. Instead of looking sleek or silverly, Wei Wuxian’s wings had several shades of grey, all mixed together without forming any clear patterns. It was just a splash here and another there, lacking any symmetry or natural design. The wings didn’t even match with the splashes of grey shades being placed differently on each of them and the feathers being noticeably different lengths. Wei Wuxian did not mind about that at all, because having wings like that saved him a lot of time in wingcare. They already naturally looked dirty and ill-kept so he could as well let them be that for real! A great win in his opinion, but for some reason many people found that annoying and uncultured. Especially so when coupled with his habit of using his wings lively without really thinking about that.
Sizewise his wings were average: too small to lift him up but big enough to use for flowing with the wind. He could wrap them around himself and knock things down from the high shelves if he was so wished or happened to have any strong emotions at the wrong place. Although he had first hoped for a bigger pair of wings, he wasn’t too upset. It was fun to soar up to the sky on a sword and then leap off, letting his wings carry him back to the ground. Smaller wings were an advantage in a fight too, although he had seen Lan Wangji fighting plenty of times and his sizable wings seemed to not be a disadvantage at all. Must be some secret Lan techniques, he thought, because Lan cultivators were the only ones never complaining about their wings. That or they just never complained about anything, which Wei Wuxian knew to not be true because the Lan elders for sure loved to complain about him.
To put it shortly, Wei Wuxian’s wings were perfectly fitting for Wei Wuxian. Lively, uncontrolled, and constantly driving others mad. That must be what people had meant when they described his wings as “fits you well” in a snarling voice.
Needless to say, Lan Wangji wholeheartedly believed that he had never seen another as a beautiful and perfect pair of wings.
Sometime after Wei Wuxian had finished growing his newly regained wings, the couple was sitting at an inn and having a late dinner in the room they had rented because neither of them felt like they wanted to mingle with the people gathering downstairs to drink and enjoy entertainment. The night hunt last night had been a long one and they had spent the following day tying up the loose ends. A long day like that was not enough to wear out two cultivators at the peak of their power, but it still made them long for some peace and quiet.
Because Wei Wuxian was not bound by the Lan clan’s complicated rules and meal time etiquette, he had finished his dinner already while Lan Wangji was still only half-way through it. Deciding to keep company with his husband, Wei Wuxian was still seated and seemed to have no hurry to leave. He had both of his elbows on the table, his head leaning on his hands as he looked at Lan Wangji and grinned seemingly for no reason at all. His wings, that were now fully grown once again and had already passed the highly critical testing Wei Wuxian had completed by jumping off the sword mid-flight and scaring Lan Wangji who had unfortunately not been informed about any wing quality testing taking place right then and there, were folded against his back but would no doubt not remain still for long.
Lan Wangji’s wings, however, would stay still and neat no matter what. Like proper Lan wings did, which probably was a good thing because Lans were known to have large wings. If they were even nearly as chaotic in wing behaviour as Wei Wuxian was, other clans would have stopped taking them seriously a long ago and there would have been awfully a lot of stuff constantly knocked down from tables and shelves. Wei Wuxian often wondered if Lans could even fly for real, but apparently there was a rule or two that forbade any flying around so he had sadly not yet managed to tempt anybody showing him. Even Lan Wangji hesitated, citing that flying without a sword was not proper, but Wei Wuxian was sure he would soon or later get what he wanted. Just wait and see… He would seduce that husband of his to show him if he could fly with that nice, big pair of wings he had.
And speaking of Lan wings, Lan Wangji really was a perfect example of how a good Lan should look like. His wings were of a colour of cream with silvery highlights and a wave like pattern on the tips in very faint light blue. Lans utilized their wings in the fight, meaning that their training routines gave quite a lot of attention to the upper body and wing movements. That had resulted in strong and flexible wings that were perfect for wrapping around somebody and holding them hostage as Wei Wuxian had discovered when he for the first time had tried to sneak out the bed to work on whatever idea he had suddenly got in the middle of the night.
Now that he was thinking about Lan wings, his thoughts naturally moved on to the most adorable kind of wings: the baby Lan wings! Those juniors, who were all currently experiencing the tender age between childhood and adulthood, had only recently started to grow their wings. How adorable they were! Walking around, acting so serious and trying to impress others by pretending to be adults… With a little pair of fluffy wings on their backs! Naturally all the juniors did their best to keep the wings down and were quite displeased to hear that small wings should not be hidden under robes. The feathers needed fresh air and space to grow after all, so hiding them would only lead to a slower growing period. Lans were serious about their rules so even the juniors obeyed and let their fluffy baby wings be out, tightly holding them against their backs to tone down the fluffiness.
Naturally, Wei Wuxian greatly enjoyed teasing the juniors. He had also quickly discovered that a sneaky and well placed little scare would make even the serious junior Lans to react instinctively, raising their wings up for everybody to see.
The fluffy baby wings!
Ah, maybe there was a reason why the juniors had been mad at him lately… They should thank him, actually. He was only teaching them how to not react when something sudden and unexpected happened. What if it was an actual monster jumping on them? Wouldn’t that be damn awkward and ego bruising if they showed their fluffy baby wings then? Honestly, Wei Wuxian was doing them a favor.
“What Wei Ying is thinking?” Lan Wangji asked after he finished his meal and was allowed to speak again.
“Baby Lans and their fluffy baby Lan wings”, Wei Wuxian replied. He didn’t bother with filtering his thoughts-to-words process when he was with Lan Wangji. That man already knew him better than anybody else and still had married him despite the Lan elders doing everything they could to change his mind.
Lan Wangji nodded and glanced at his own wings that he had kept tightly folded during the dinner and only relaxed once he had finished eating, allowing the wings to fall on his sides in their natural resting position. He could still recall the time when he had been young and still growing his wings. His brother had been delighted by his soft, fluffy wings paired with the always serious expression. Just like Wei Wuxian now found the younger sect members’ wings adorable.
But that had been long ago and Lan Wangji now had adult Lan wings. Strong and powerful. Disappointly, not fluffy.
“Although, I like one specific pair of Lan wings the most”, Wei Wuxian said, grinning and winking at Lan Wangji. Just like how Lan Wangji knew him, Wei Wuxian also could now understand even the smallest gesture and change, noting even the sliver of disappointment that was barely present when Lan Wangji glanced at his wings. Wei Wuxian reached over and stroked the white flying feathers that were longer than his arm. “So handsome… And much tamer than mine. I don’t even have patterns.”
“Wei Ying has pattern”, Lan Wangji argued.
“...Huh?”
“Your wings. There is a pattern.” Wei Wuxian’s hand stopped and he tilted his head slightly, wondering what his husband was talking about. Had he not been showcasing his wings enough for him to notice how mismatching and unsymmetrical the splashes of grey on his wings were? That would be rather weird considering that Wei Wuxian was very generous with showing his wings around and Lan Wangji just happened to be his primary audience.
“No, there isn’t”, he said and stretched out his wings to show, “see? Just random splashes. No pattern and no solid colour.” Lan Wangji glanced over, quietly admiring the view for a moment before he replied.
“There is”, he said and sounded very sure of himself despite the evidence being right there in front of him.
“Ah, Lan Zhan…”
“How does Wei Ying wash his wings?” Lan Zhan asked without really making it a real question. Wei Wuxian snorted and shook his head.
“You are not supposed to wash your wings”, he claimed and pulled one of his in front of him, “just a good whack will do the job!” He slammed the wing a few times with his hand, a small cloud of dust releasing to the air and crumbs of dried mud dropping on the table. Satisfied with this presentation, Wei Wuxian let go of the wing and nodded a few times. Lan Wangji looked at him and then glanced at the mud and dust on the table, his eyes showing nothing but calm acceptance. He nodded once and got up.
“I will call for a bath”, he informed the husband of his.
“...Why?”
“Mn.”
“Lan Zhan…”
The innkeeper was not too happy to have a guest requesting a bath that late during the busiest time and even less happy he was when that same guest requested the bath water to be refilled thrice, but the generous reward Lan Wangji paid him was enough for him to not complain. The first bath had not been too bad and Wei Wuxian had even been feeling smug when the wings had emerged from the water with only slightly dirty water left behind. Everybody knew it was unnecessary to wash the wings! Just dust them now and then!
But then Lan Wangji pulled out some special wingcare products and started to scrub and pull, working on Wei Wuxian’s wings like that was his new favourite hobby. He got so bossy too, Wei Wuxian thought after being ordered to sit still and let his wings soak in soap water. Soak! Soaking would ruin the protective layer! Next time they were caught in rain, he would demand to be protected under Lan Wangji’s wings because his own will not hold water after these treatments. Not that he needed to demand for anything, but he would make sure to remind his husband of this moment.
It took a while to soak the wings enough to make the feather softer and the stubborn dirt to wash away. Too long for Wei Wuxian to sit still for, but luckily Lan Wangji knew how to distract his husband. All it took was some pinning down with deep kissing to make Wei Wuxian become much more willing to keep his wings in the bath tube.
After the third wash, Lan Wangji pulled out a collection of tools used for wing grooming. Wei Wuxian had no idea what most of those were called and he recognised only a few for sure. He picked up one of the combs, snickering a little when he noticed the thin spikes sitting right next to each other with almost no space between. The comb was small, suitable for brushing between the feathers, and even if Wei Wuxian had never used one of these himself, he knew what it was designed for.
“Lan Zhan”, he complained with a laugh in his voice as his wings fluttered and dripped water everywhere, “you think I have fleas?” Lan Wangji, who was in the middle of organizing the tools, glanced up briefly before focusing back on his task. Wei Wuxian waited for a moment but did not receive any reply. “I don’t have fleas.”
“Mn.” Lan Wangji glanced at him again, pointedly looking at the hand Wei Wuxian was using to scratch his wing that just happened to feel itchy now that the soap had dried the sensitive skin under his feathers. He quickly dropped his hand.
“You would know by now if I had fleas. We sleep in the same bed and that means you should have fleas too”, Wei Wuxian said, crossing his arms as he frowned, “you would have told me… Unless you think it is awkward to talk about it so you are just suffering in silence in order to save my face… You would do that, wouldn’t you? Get fleas from me and not say anything because I would feel bad if I gave you fleas… Oh… I have fleas… Where did I get those? …I guess marriage is all about sharing, but I am pretty sure people mean sharing joy and sorrow and bed. Your coin purse too, because I am broke, I assume. And your fame. Mine gets us chased out of villages by pitchfork holding gangs… But not fleas! That is too much! Lan Zhan!” At that point Wei Wuxian had managed to rile up himself and his wings were moving wildly, nearly knocking things down and making it a proper challenge for Lan Wangji to avoid being hit when he went to place a drying charm on Wei Wuxian’s back. Still, all the movements suddenly stopped when Wei Wuxian called his husband’s name and happened to turn to look at him. He held his tongue, swallowing the words he had been about to say, and his eyes narrowed. “You are making fun of me!”
“Mn.”
“Lan Zhan!” he said, but the scolding tone was immediately overdriven by a loud laugh, “ha, that was a good one! Well done! So… No fleas?”
“Wei Ying does not have fleas”, Lan Wangji confirmed and gestured to him to sit down and stretch out his wings. Wei Wuxian snorted and followed the guidance, obediently sitting on the chair Lan Wangji had prepared. He waved the offending comb and smirked at his husband.
“So what are you going to use this one for then?” he asked and then looked at other various tools laid on the table, “and those too…”
“Brushing and rearranging feathers”, Lan Wangji told him, “applying oils, cutting damaged parts and removing…”
“You are going to pluck me bald?”
“Wei Ying…”
“Hah ha, sorry… Sorry. I know my Lan Zhan is not going to steal my feathers.” Wei Wuxian stopped talking then and did his best to stay still. It was actually not that difficult. They had spent the previous night running outside from the sunset to sunrise, and then continued the work after just a short rest. Although neither of them was yet completely exhausted, thanks to their cultivation, the calming silence and gentle touch on his back and wings was enough to lull Wei Wuxian into some kind of half-sleep. He leaned against the table, humming happily now and then when Lan Wangji paused the grooming for a moment just to rest his hand on the warm skin and caress the now very clean wings.
Wei Wuxian was not really questioning what his husband was doing, although he was quite impressed to learn that this was something Lan Wangji deemed important enough to ignore the sacred Lan sect’s sleep time rule for. He didn’t really mind about receiving wingcare. Not at all. In fact, he loved it. It felt wonderful and soothing, and he had already decided that they would make this a new routine even if he still wasn’t sure if he wanted to have his wings so thoroughly washed every time. Surely a good brushing and some whacking would be sufficient in the long run. Maybe a wash or two in a month or so. The oils Lan Wangji was using smelled good, he thought and idly watched through his lashes how the various tools got picked up from the table and then set back when they had done whatever they were supposed to be used for.
After a blissfully calm and lovely moment, with Lan Wangji working attentively and Wei Wuxian half-asleep with his upper body bare and wings hanging on side completely relaxed, the work was done. Lan Wangji placed the last brush, a soft one used to remove remaining pieces of dust and give the feathers a nice shine, back on the table and admired the results. “Wei Ying?”
“Mh?” Wei Wuxian raised his head, blinking a few times to get rid of the sleepiness, “are you done? And no fleas found, right? Oh, it is very late already. You have missed your curfew for this, Lan Zhan, what will the elders say if they…” He yawned, stretching his arms and wings as he prepared to get up. First back, a few sharp flaps to sort the feathers, and then stretch forward. Huh? Has his wings always looked like this?
The movement paused, his wings almost comically stretched forward in front of him as he stared at them. His feathers were still gray and the different shades run along the wings just like supposed, but whatever Lan Wangji had done had created a clear pattern. Instead of having unsymmetrical and jaggedlined splashes of grey here and there, his wings now had clear lines of round spots. The spots were still not perfect circles, but the patterning was still easy to see and appeared on both of the wings. Confused, Wei Wuxian turned to look at his husband, “did you dye my feathers?”
“No”, Lan Wangji, “always been like this.”
“But…”
“I rearranged them”, the man explained, “sometimes they grow misaligned. Usually only one or two, but Wei Ying has… Quite many.”
“You mean none of my feathers were growing correctly?”
“Mn”, Lan Wangji confirmed with a nod, “not an issue. Will have to soak to make them soft and then rearrange, but there is no harm in having them like they have always been before.”
“Oh, so they will not stay like this forever now?” Wei Wuxian said, still inspecting his wings curiously. He held a special kind of adoration toward his mismatched and chaotic wings, but having them neatly arranged was not too bad either. Honestly, this revelation did grant some interesting possibilities like having Lan Wangji give him even more attention and showing up at parties uninvited with his nice looking wings just to surprise people. Juniors would be so jealous too. They had already got mad when it turned out that Wei Wuxian’s new wings were growing much faster and he passed the fluffy period too quickly for them to make any fun of it. Not that they would have been successful anyway. Wei Wuxian had embraced his own fluffiness wholeheartedly and felt no shame for it! Those juniors really should learn from him.
“But how did you know?” Wei Wuxian asked, “I had no idea and I have been looking at these wings for years.” Technically he had only had this exact pair for a few months now, but it was identical to the pair he had grown in his original body so he had no reason to doubt that the hidden pattern had existed already then.
“...Watching”, Lan Wangji said, suddenly looking slightly embarrassed. Wei Wuxian caught on it immediately, his eyes narrowing and brows lowering as he thought about that. Watching… Watching… Wouldn’t it take a lot of watching for somebody to figure out hidden patterns? Now then… Exactly when would Lan Wangji have had enough idle time on his hands to just watch and no other Wei Wuxian related things to distract him from watching?
“So long ago?” he asked after he finished the train of his thoughts, “all those hours spent copying the texts… You figured out my wings then, didn’t you?”
“Mn.”
“Huh…”, Wei Wuxian said and then grinned, “I see, I see… So there I was, punished and suffering, and you were leering at my wings? Lan Zhan, how bold of you! I was innocent!”
“I was told to watch you”, Lan Wangji reminded him.
“Yeah, in case I would cheat. Not for figuring out how my wings would look after all that fancy washing and brushing”, Wei Wuxian countered and got up, taking a step closer to his husband. Wings raised and a sly smile on his lips. “Really captured your eye already back then, didn’t I? My wings were not even fully grown, if I remember right. We were so young.”
“Mn”, Lan Wangji nodded, waiting to see what his husband was going to do. There was a glint in Wei Wuxian’s eyes and his smirk had turned mischievous, telling Lan Wangji that he had got some ideas that potentially could become something very pleasant.
“Too bad you did not dare to touch”, Wei Wuxian said, sighing dramatically, “you were stronger than I. I couldn’t have refused, but… I wonder…”. He took another step closer, standing now right in front of Lan Wangji. His wings were raised beautifully above his head, showing the newly found patterns in all their glory. Lan Wangji watched those pretty wings move right in front of him, almost sheltering him in as Wei Wuxian imitated movements he had seen birds showing for their desired partners as part of the mating ritual. Cultivators, despite the wings, were not actually birds, but Lan Wangji’s attention was captured anyway. Wei Wuxian grinned, moving his wings faster and fluttering the feathers that softly touched the man. His voice lowered to a whisper, “what would have happened if I was just a little bolder and used these wings of mine instead of just sharing borrowed drawings? Lan Zhan, what would you have done?”
In response, the white wings were opened and raised to embrace Wei Wuxian. His last whispered words had made the owner of those wings shiver and blood ran hotter. Lan Wangji’s attention was always on Wei Wuxian, but now his stare was more intensive and Wei Wuxian smiled, knowing that he had pushed his husband over the edge with just such a little show. He too felt the excitement rising and he eagerly grabbed the front Lan Wangji’s robes, tugging the cloth impatiently as Lan Wangji copied his little stunt and moved his wings rhythmically. Because his wings were bigger, not only was he showing off but also encasing the other man with soft, white walls of feathers.
“Yes, yes, I will mate with you!” Wei Wuxian gasped and immediately accepted the request, “such great wings. I will be yours!” He was promptly swept off his feet and carried to the bed, his laugh filling the room until it turned into enticing moans and rustling of feathers accompanied by other distinct sounds.
Next morning Wei Wuxian’s wings would be just as messy and chaotic as they had always been, but Lan Wangji’s work had not been wasted.