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The Burial Mounds were cold.
Lan Wangji pulled his cloak tighter, his footsteps careful on the rocky path. He shouldn't be here. The Lan Clan would never approve. His brother would worry. But Wei Wuxian had been gone for months, and the letters had stopped coming.
He needed to see him just for once.
The settlement was smaller than he expected. A few huts built into the cliffs. A garden of withered vegetables. People in tattered clothes who stared at him with suspicious eyes.
Lan Wangji kept his head down.
Wei Wuxian stood near a cooking fire, his back to Lan Wangji. His robes were dirty. His hair was a mess. He was laughing at something an old woman said, but there was something hollow in the sound.
Lan Wangji's chest ached.
Before he could decide what to do, a small boy toddled out of one of the huts. He couldn't have been more than three years old, with round cheeks and big eyes.
"Baba!" the boy shrieked, running toward Wei Wuxian. "Baba, look! I found a bug!"
Wei Wuxian spun around, scooping the boy into his arms. "A-Yuan! Don't touch bugs! They could bite!"
"But it was a nice bug!"
"There are no nice bugs. Bugs are all evil. Remember what I told you?"
"Baba said bugs are spies!"
"Exactly! Spies! Don't trust them!"
A-Yuan giggled, patting Wei Wuxian's face with dirty hands.
Lan Wangji's omega instincts surged.
That pup is touching my alpha. That pup smells like my alpha. That pup is part of my alpha.
He stepped forward without thinking.
A-Yuan spotted him.
The boy's eyes went wide. He stared at the man in white, with the clean robes and the shiny headband and the beautiful face. Then his little face crumpled.
"Baba!" A-Yuan wailed. "Scary man!"
Wei Wuxian turned.
And froze.
"Lan Zhan?"
Lan Wangji's heart hammered. "Wei Ying."
A-Yuan squirmed out of Wei Wuxian's arms. He toddled toward Lan Wangji, his expression shifting from fear to curiosity. He stopped in front of him, tilting his head up.
"Pretty," A-Yuan announced.
Lan Wangji blinked.
"Pretty gege! Baba, pretty gege!" A-Yuan grabbed Lan Wangji's robes, tugging. "Pretty gege smells nice!"
Wei Wuxian's eyes widened. "A-Yuan! Don't—"
But A-Yuan had already thrown his arms around Lan Wangji's legs, hugging tight.
"Pretty gege stay!" the boy demanded. "Stay with A-Yuan! Stay with Baba!"
Lan Wangji's omega instincts roared.
This pup. This tiny pup. He needs me. He's my alpha's pup. I need to care for him.
He crouched down slowly, his hands hovering uncertainly. "Hello, little one."
A-Yuan looked up at him with tearful eyes. "Pretty gege smell sad. Why pretty gege smell sad?"
Lan Wangji's throat tightened. "I... I am not sad."
"Yes you are!" A-Yuan insisted. "A-Yuan knows sad smells! A-Yuan is very good at smells!"
Lan Wangji looked at Wei Wuxian, helpless.
Wei Wuxian was staring at them. His expression was unreadable.
"Baba," A-Yuan called, still clinging to Lan Wangji's legs. "Pretty gege needs a hug! Hug him, Baba!"
Lan Wangji's face went red. "That is not—"
But Wei Wuxian had already moved. He crossed the distance in three quick strides and crouched beside them.
"Lan Zhan," he said softly. "What are you doing here?"
"I..." Lan Wangji swallowed. "I wanted to see you."
The silence stretched between them.
A-Yuan tugged Lan Wangji's robes again. "Pretty gege, do you know my baba?"
"Yes," Lan Wangji said quietly. "I know your baba."
"Are you his friend?"
Lan Wangji's omega ached. Friend. He wanted to be so much more. But Wei Wuxian looked tired. Stressed. Like he had too much on his shoulders already.
"Yes," Lan Wangji said. "I am his friend."
Wei Wuxian's jaw tightened. Something flickered in his eyes. Disappointment? Relief? Lan Wangji couldn't tell.
A-Yuan, however, was delighted. "Pretty gege is Baba's friend! Then pretty gege is A-Yuan's friend too!"
He released Lan Wangji's legs and grabbed his hand instead. "Come! Come see my bug collection!"
"Bug collection?" Lan Wangji echoed.
"I have lots! All spies! Baba says I'm a spy hunter!"
Wei Wuxian rubbed the back of his neck. "I, uh. I may have told him bugs are Wen spies. To keep him from eating them."
Lan Wangji's lips twitched. "You told him to eat bugs?"
"No! I told him NOT to eat them! By convincing him they're spies!"
"That is not logical."
"Logical? Lan Zhan, I live in a mountain full of corpses. Nothing here is logical."
A-Yuan tugged harder. "Pretty gege! Come! Come!"
Lan Wangji looked at Wei Wuxian. "May I?"
Wei Wuxian's expression softened. "Yeah. Yeah, you can follow him. Just don't let him put any in your mouth."
"I was not planning to."
The pup dragged him to a corner of the settlement where a collection of jars sat on a wooden crate. Inside were various insects, all dead.
"See? Baba helped me catch them!" A-Yuan pointed proudly. "This one is a Wen general! And this one is a Wen spy master!"
Lan Wangji knelt beside him, examining the jars. "You have quite the collection."
"I know! I'm gonna catch them all! Then the bad Wens will be gone forever!"
Lan Wangji's heart ached. This child. This innocent child. He had no idea what the real Wens had done. What Wei Wuxian had done for him.
From behind, Wei Wuxian cleared his throat. "A-Yuan, why don't you go show Granny your new jar? She wanted to see it."
A-Yuan's eyes lit up. "Okay! Pretty gege, stay here! Don't go!"
And he ran off, clutching his jar.
Lan Wangji stood slowly, brushing dirt from his robes.
Wei Wuxian moved closer. "Lan Zhan. Seriously. Why are you here? This place is dangerous. The cultivation world already hates me. If they find out you visited—"
"I don't care."
Wei Wuxian froze. "What?"
"I don't care what they think." Lan Wangji's voice was steady. "I wanted to see you. So I came."
Wei Wuxian stared at him. His eyes were gray and exhausted, but something flickered in them. Surprise. Confusion.
"Lan Zhan," he said slowly. "You can't just... you can't do this. People will talk. Your reputation—"
"I don't care about my reputation."
"Your family—"
"I don't care."
Wei Wuxian's voice cracked. "Why? Why don't you care?"
Lan Wangji opened his mouth to answer. He wanted to say everything. That he missed him. That he thought about him every night. That his omega instincts screamed at him to stay close, to protect, to claim.
But the words wouldn't come.
A-Yuan came running back. "Pretty gege! Granny says I can keep the spy! She said you're pretty too!"
Lan Wangji crouched again, letting the pup grab his hand. "Your granny is kind."
"She's the best! Baba says she's the best!" A-Yuan tugged him toward a small fire pit. "Sit! Sit! A-Yuan will show you how to cook!"
Wei Wuxian watched them from a distance. His expression was unreadable, but his scent smoke, wildflowers, something warm flared every time Lan Wangji interacted with the pup.
Lan Wangji sat on a log, still holding A-Yuan's hand. "You know how to cook?"
"Yes! Baba taught me! You put things in water and then you wait!"
"That is... an oversimplification."
"Baba says it's all you need to know!"
Wei Wuxian finally walked over, sitting on the log beside him. Their shoulders almost touched. "I may have taught him the five-minute version of cooking."
Lan Wangji looked at him. "You taught him to cook at all."
"It's a survival skill."
"You could barely cook when we were teenagers."
"Exactly. I learned so he wouldn't suffer like I did."
A-Yuan scrambled onto Lan Wangji's lap like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Pretty gege smells like clouds! A-Yuan likes clouds!"
Lan Wangji's omega purred.
He froze.
The sound was low and involuntary, a rumble in his chest that he couldn't control. His omega instincts were soothed by the pup's warmth, by the pup's trust.
A-Yuan giggled. "Pretty gege made a funny noise!"
Wei Wuxian's eyes went wide. "Lan Zhan... did you just..."
"No."
"You did. You just purred."
"I did no such thing."
"You TOTALLY did. That was a purr!"
Lan Wangji's ears burned. He looked away. "I do not purr."
A-Yuan tugged his sleeve. "Do it again! A-Yuan liked it!"
"Absolutely not."
"Please? Pretty please?"
Lan Wangji shot Wei Wuxian a desperate look.
Wei Wuxian was grinning. That stupid, beautiful grin that made Lan Wangji's heart stutter. "Go on, Lan Zhan. Purr for the kid."
"I am going to leave."
"No, no, stay! A-Yuan, get off his lap, you're embarrassing him."
A-Yuan pouted. "But he smells nice!"
"Yeah, he does, doesn't he?" Wei Wuxian's voice was softer now. Almost tender. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair from Lan Wangji's face. "He always smells nice."
Lan Wangji's omega preened. His alpha was touching him. His alpha was close.
But Wei Wuxian pulled his hand back quickly, his expression shifting. Embarrassed. Uncertain.
"Sorry," he muttered. "I shouldn't have—"
"It's fine," Lan Wangji said quickly. "I didn't mind."
A-Yuan looked between them. "Baba, are you gonna marry pretty gege?"
Wei Wuxian choked. "A-Yuan! Where did you hear that word?"
"Granny said that when two people smell good together they should marry!"
"That's... that's not how—"
"Pretty gege and Baba smell good together! So you should marry!"
Lan Wangji's face was on fire. "Wei Ying—"
"Ignore him. He's three. He says random things."
"Granny is not random! Granny says lots of things!"
Wei Wuxian groaned. "I need to have a talk with Granny."
A-Yuan hugged Lan Wangji's neck. "Pretty man, if you marry Baba, you can live here! And smell nice forever!"
Lan Wangji looked at Wei Wuxian. The alpha was staring at him with wide eyes, his scent flaring with something raw and desperate.
"Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian said quietly. "You don't have to... you don't have to answer him. He's just a kid."
"I know."
"But if you wanted to..." Wei Wuxian swallowed. "If you ever wanted to stay... you could. I mean, this place is a dump. And I'm a mess. And everyone hates me. But—"
"I know," Lan Wangji said again.
Wei Wuxian's voice cracked. "What do you know?"
Lan Wangji looked at him. At his messy hair. His tired eyes. The pup in his lap who smelled like him.
"I know I want to stay."
Wei Wuxian went still. His alpha scent exploded..surprise, disbelief, hope..?
"You... you do?"
"Yes."
"But why? Why would you want to stay in this nightmare?"
Lan Wangji looked down at A-Yuan, who was dozing against his chest. Then he looked back at Wei Wuxian.
"Because you're here."
Wei Wuxian's breath caught. His eyes glistened.
"Lan Zhan," he whispered. "You can't just say things like that."
"I can say whatever I want."
"But you—I thought—I thought you hated me. After everything I did. After Nightless City. After—"
"I never hated you," Lan Wangji said firmly. "I was angry. I was hurt. But I never hated you."
Wei Wuxian's whole body sagged with relief. "Oh. Oh, Lan Zhan..."
A-Yuan stirred. "Baba... pretty gege... cuddles..."
And he fell back asleep.
Wei Wuxian let out a wet laugh. "He's ridiculous. Completely ridiculous."
"He is your pup."
"Yeah. He is." Wei Wuxian looked at Lan Wangji. "And you're... you're okay with that? With him?"
Lan Wangji adjusted the sleeping boy in his arms. "He is a good pup. He deserves a good life."
"He deserves a good mother."
Lan Wangji's omega fluttered. "Wei Ying—"
"I mean..." Wei Wuxian rubbed the back of his neck. "I know we can't—I know it's not—you have your life, your family, your rules. I don't expect—"
"Wei Ying."
"What?"
Lan Wangji reached out and took his hand. The one that held the red thread, though Wei Wuxian couldn't see it.
"I am not going anywhere."
Wei Wuxian stared at their joined hands. His fingers trembled.
"Lan Zhan... what are you saying?"
Lan Wangji squeezed his hand. "I am saying I will come back. Tomorrow. Next week. Always. I will always come back."
Wei Wuxian looked like he was about to cry. "You really mean that?"
"Yes."
A-Yuan chose that moment to mumble in his sleep. "Mama..."
Wei Wuxian let out a shocked laugh. "Did he just...?"
Lan Wangji's ears went red. "He is asleep. He doesn't know what he is saying."
"He called you mama."
"He did not."
"He TOTALLY did! A-Yuan! Wake up! Tell pretty man you called him mama!"
"Don't wake him."
"But he called you MAMA!"
"The pup is dreaming."
"He's never dreamed about anyone else! He's never called anyone else mama! Lan Zhan, he—"
"Sleep," A-Yuan murmured, clutching Lan Wangji's robe. "Pretty mama sleep..."
Wei Wuxian burst out laughing. "PRETTY MAMA! A-Yuan is my favorite person in the world! PRETTY MAMA!"
Lan Wangji wanted to sink into the ground. "Wei Ying. Stop."
"Never! I'm never stopping! Pretty. Mama. Lan. Zhan."
"I will leave."
"You promised you'd always come back!"
"I said ALWAYS. Not immediately!"
Wei Wuxian grinned at him. That terrible, beautiful grin that made Lan Wangji's omega melt.
"I love it," Wei Wuxian said softly. "I love you. I love that you came. I love that you held him. I love that he loves you."
Lan Wangji's heart stopped. "You... you love me?"
Wei Wuxian's expression faltered. "I... yeah. I do. Is that... is that okay?"
Lan Wangji stared at him.
His alpha. The father of this pup. The man who had destroyed himself for everyone else. The man who smelled like smoke and flowers and exhaustion.
"Yes," Lan Wangji said. "It is very okay."
Wei Wuxian's whole face lit up. "Really?"
"Really."
"I'm not dreaming?"
"No."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
A-Yuan stirred again. "Mama... Baba... stop talking... sleepy..."
Wei Wuxian laughed. "A-Yuan, I'm going to tell everyone you said that."
"Nooooo..." A-Yuan buried his face in Lan Wangji's chest. "Mama smells nice. Leave A-Yuan alone."
Wei Wuxian's eyes were warm. He reached out and brushed his fingers over A-Yuan's hair, then Lan Wangji's cheek.
"Thank you," he murmured. "For this. For everything. For giving me something I didn't even know I needed."
Lan Wangji leaned into his touch. "What did I give you?"
Wei Wuxian smiled.
"Hope."
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