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Underneath a wide tree in the middle of the busy orchard was a boy.

The boy was likely no more than five, short in his stature though he stood on the tips of his toes and was reaching his stubby arm up high, up toward where a thin branch drooped with the weight of the bright red apple that had grown at the tip of it. His fingers, though stretched out as much as possible, did not even get close to touching the apple. But it did not seem to deter the boy from trying.

Around his neck hung a yellow sunhat from its strap. It had likely once been on his head, but his efforts had pushed it down. The crown of the tree gave him shade, so the afternoon sun likely did not bother him. His hair was bound into two little pigtails that sat low on the back of his head, and his denim overalls were rolled up to make them shorts while the sleeves of the red shirt he wore underneath was rolled up to above his elbows.

His shoes had likely once been white, but they were worn by a child and had been dirtied a splotchy, muddy brown. Still, it did not cover the face of a bunny on the toes of each shoe, nor the heel strap shaped like a little, fluffy tail—though only on one shoe. On the other, loose string hung where a strap had once been.

The child swayed and stumbled before he fell forward. He was quick to catch himself, however, and even quicker to get himself back upright. Any other child would have given up then or perhaps gone to their parent or guardian for help. But not this child.

This boy looked up at the apple, his tiny face scrunched in determination.

And then he lifted himself back up on his tiptoes and reached up high again.

Still, his fingers did not even brush against the apple.

Not even close.

Lan Wangji watched him for a minute longer, but when no adult came to the child’s aide, he unrooted his feet from the ground and made his way over toward him.

The orchard was busy, even toward the end of the apple-picking season. A little more than a hundred visitors were roaming among the hundreds of fully grown trees that stretched out across the many acres of land. The people created a simmer of noise; children’s laughter and murmured conversations that blended together under the early fall sun.

Each group carried with them a net, which had been given to them at the entrance. Many were already near full, but apples were still being picked and attempted to get shoved in. Some walked with half-eaten apples in hand, and Lan Wangji had to step over several apple cores left behind.

He did not bother to stop and pick them up.

The chickens would eat them later.

He stepped over to the struggling child, though the boy did not seem to notice his approach. Quietly, Lan Wangji reached out to push the drooping branch down, just an inch and then another when one was not enough.

The boy’s fingers brushed against the apple, and Lan Wangji watched as the child’s face brightened instantly. He lifted himself impossibly higher onto his toes and wrapped his short, chubby fingers around the roundness of the apple. With a quick pull, he plucked it off its stem and then stood back on his heels with an exhale and a delighted giggle.

With the apple cradled in his hands, he lifted it up in the air as if it were a trophy and smiled a smile so bright, it nearly outshone the sun itself. And he laughed, loudly and proudly and happily.

He then hugged the apple to his chest and finally looked up at Lan Wangji.

“Gege!” he said brightly, stepping over to him with little hops. “You helped me! Thank you, nice gege!”

Lan Wangji smiled quietly down at him and dipped his chin in a brief nod.

“Mn,” he said. Then, he asked, “Would you like it cut up?”

The child’s eyes widened and brightened, and he nodded vigorously.

“Yes, please!” he said loudly, near yelled in his clear delight.

Lan Wangji crouched down and held out his hand.

Though the child clearly saw the apple as a precious treasure, he did not hesitate to put it in Lan Wangji’s outstretched hand. He did so carefully, as if afraid to drop it in the process. Lan Wangji was quick to carefully wrap his fingers around the roundness of it to show the child that he understood the treasure he had been handed and would be careful with it.

Once certain of his treasure’s safety, the child let go of the apple and swung his arms around himself. He did not step back and stayed put in front of Lan Wangji, wide eyes locked onto the apple.

With his free hand, Lan Wangji reached to his left where he kept a handkerchief tugged into the utility belt around his hips. He pulled it out and shook it loose, then rubbed it against the apple until its red color shone perfectly. He lifted it to show the child, turning it to show him each round side of it.

“Good?” he asked him.

The child nodded, bouncing where he stood. “Mm!”

“Mn,” Lan Wangji echoed and tugged the handkerchief back into its place.

Then, he reached to his right where a satchel sat clipped onto the belt. He popped the button open and pulled out the knife secured in its sheath within. It was a simple knife; blade short and not too sharp. Perfect for cutting apples and various other fruit.

The child shuffled a little closer, mouth dropping open slightly as Lan Wangji cut into the apple.

He cut out a simple wedge, then handed the rest of the apple back to the child, who did not hesitate to take it and hug it to his chest but did not look away. Lan Wangji let him watch.

He made a cut a third of the way along the rind on the wedge, a careful v sliced in the center and all the way down. Carefully, he tugged the blade of the knife underneath each side of the v to pull them up, then underneath the centerpiece which he cut paper-thin down to near the edge until he could fold it into a little, round tail.

The two center pieces were tugged up a little more, and then he held it out in his palm.

A little rabbit, bright and red.

He did not look at his own creation. Instead, he turned his attention to the child before him and watched, delighted as the child lit up like the brightest star in the sky. The child inhaled and seemed to nearly inflate like a balloon, as if he could not physically hold back his joy.

“A bunny!” he yelled, high-pitched in a near squeal.

He reached out to take the bunny wedge, staring at it with no shortage of joy.

“A bunny, a bunny!” he chanted, louder and louder as he bounced in place. “Gege! A bunny!”

“Mn,” Lan Wangji hummed quietly, a small smile on his lips.

The child continued to bounce in place, holding the bunny wedge up much like he had the apple, as if it too was a precious treasure. He laughed, joyously and loudly even among the noise of the other visitors.

Lan Wangji could feel eyes on them, but he did not look away.

Not until—

“A-Yuan!”

Lan Wangji blinked, then looked up and saw a man hurriedly approach from the crowd among the trees.

“Aiyah, silly boy! There you are!”

The man rushed closer, the net weighed down by only a few apples swinging in his grip.

And when he was close enough to see, Lan Wangji inhaled sharply and felt the world still with him.

Because before him was Wei Wuxian.

After more than a decade, there he was.

He was older, of course. It had been over a decade since Lan Wangji last saw him, and the passage of time had been kind to him. He appeared more effortlessly masculine than last he saw him. Wider jaw, broader shoulders, body still lean but he carried himself differently, more confidently and relaxed.

He looked different in many ways, yet still the same in all the ways that mattered.

There was no doubt in Lan Wangji’s mind that this was Wei Wuxian, despite the changes.

He would recognize him anywhere, any time.

Wei Ying.

The boy who had stolen his heart and run off.

Now a man, grown and before him but still undeniably Wei Ying.

His Wei Ying, who had stopped mid-step and was now staring at him, wide-eyed and familiar smile frozen on his slightly parted lips.

It was as if an eternity passed, in that moment as they stared at each other.

Lan Wangji could stay there forever, with those eyes on him.

In his chest, his heart broke free from its sorrows and started beating again, properly, for the first time in ages. It filled him with warmth, nerves, anxieties. Joy. At the mere sight of the man he never thought he would get to see again. Yet there he was; right in front of him.

The moment passed by too quick, however.

The child (A-Yuan, Wei Wuxian had called him) spun away from Lan Wangji and sprinted over toward Wei Wuxian as he loudly exclaimed, “Baba!”

Baba—?

Lan Wangji blinked, heart tripping and eyes going wide.

He stared as the child collided with Wei Wuxian’s leg and wrapped himself around it, though careful not to squash the apple nor the apple wedge still held securely in his hands. A-Yuan looked up at Wei Wuxian—his baba—with a wide smile and held up the wedge to show him.

Lan Wangji stared as Wei Wuxian blinked out of his frozen state and tore his eyes off him to look down at the child—his child—instead. He stared as Wei Wuxian’s smile went soft and then morphed into excitement, stared as Wei Wuxian bent down and picked up A-Yuan to settle him on his hip.

He stared as father and child both turned their gaze to the bunny wedge that A-Yuan held out in his palm, smile wide and pride brightening his round face.

Lan Wangji stared at them, looked at their faces.

Looked at A-Yuan’s face.

With his smile so big, the gap where a tooth had yet to fully grow in was clear as day. His round cheeks dimpled with the wideness of his smile, and his brown eyes shined with delight. The child could not be much older than five.

And Lan Wangji had not seen Wei Wuxian in over a decade.

An ugly feeling roared in his chest, but he pushed it away and forced himself to stand.

“Baba!” A-Yuan said, bouncing in his father’s arm. “Baba, look! It’s like my shoes!”

“I see that, baobei,” Wei Wuxian said with awe clear in his voice as he inspected the bunny wedge in his son’s hand with a smile, eyes sparkling with delight. Happy.

Lan Wangji felt a sudden embarrassment, a need to turn away.

But like the ugly feeling, he pushed it aside and stayed rooted to the ground.

“How did my little radish do that?” Wei Wuxian pondered playfully. “I thought we agreed no knives without adult supervision, eh? Or did you do that with your razor-sharp teeth, you little rascal?”

He leaned in and pretended to chew on his son’s round cheek. It made A-Yuan giggle and laugh, so loud and joyous among the distant murmurs of the other visitors. A-Yuan wriggled in Wei Wuxian’s hold and kicked his feet delightedly. But when he pushed at him, Wei Wuxian relented and leaned back.

And there was that smile again.

That smile, so soft and happy and content.

Lan Wangji had seen it on him before, when they were younger.

But it was different now.

It was happier and settled—and not directed at him.

In his chest, Lan Wangji’s heart ached.

Though it was not his place to be jealous, of all things.

“Nooo,” A-Yuan said in a giggle. “Not me, baba!”

“Ahh, I see,” Wei Wuxian said with a nod. “The bunny apples sprung late this year, huh? How lucky that you managed to find one!”

“Nooo!” A-Yuan repeated, shaking his head as he laughed. “Not that, baba!”

“Hmm…”

Wei Wuxian hummed and shifted to bring a hand up to tap at his chin in thought, his other staying underneath A-Yuan to hold him up against his cocked-out hip. It was so effortless, even though the child must be heavy for his lean frame, like he had done this plenty times before. Like he did it all the time.

For his child.

That he had had with his partner (?).

Someone else.

Lan Wangji clenched his fists and swallowed the ugly feeling whirling in his chest.

“Well,” Wei Wuxian said then. “I guess that means this nice gege cut it for you then, huh?”

He turned those bright eyes to Lan Wangji again then—finally, finally.

Lan Wangji held himself still, stared as those lips curled back into a blinding smile.

A teasing smile, mischievous—yet, somehow, so infinitely soft.

“Yeah!” A-Yuan exclaimed happily and looked at him too. “Gege helped me get the apple too! It was too high up, baba, but gege helped! And I picked it all by myself!”

And just like that, Wei Wuxian looked away again.

Lan Wangji let out a breath and forced himself to relax.

Or rather, he attempted to.

But when his feet moved and brought him closer to Wei Wuxian, it was difficult to keep his heart settled and calm. Especially when Wei Wuxian then hugged his son to his chest and cooed at him as he swayed them in place.

“Ahh, A-Yuan,” he cooed. “I’m so proud of my little radish! Picking apples all by himself!”

A-Yuan giggled and did not try to push his father away this time, his cheeks reddened as Wei Wuxian kissed the roundness of one of them, wetly and noisily. It only made A-Yuan giggle more, but the child did not lean away from it.

Lan Wangji stopped a few steps from them and exhaled quietly when Wei Wuxian turned his gaze toward him once more. The smile on his lips remained and though it was less wide, it was no less soft—and his eyes matched as they locked with Lan Wangji’s.

“Thank you, gege,” he said to him. After a beat, he added, quietly, “Lan Zhan.”

Lan Wangji nodded and said, “Mn. It was no trouble.” After a beat, he too added, quietly, “Wei Ying.”

Wei Wuxian’s smile widened ever so slightly the moment that name was whispered. He did not look away as he leaned his head against his son’s, but instead kept their eyes locked—as if he too could not find it within himself to look away.

Lan Wangji wanted to say something—tell him he looked good, tell him he looked like him.

But words always had a tendency to fail him, as they did now.

Too many words whirled around in his head and died on his tongue.

So instead, Lan Wangji merely looked at him.

Took in the sight of him like this, with a child on his hip.

Content. Happy.

And Lan Wangji reined back his jealousy.

“I’m Wei Yuan!” the child said then.

Lan Wangji blinked and turned his attention to the child.

A-Yuan shifted the apple from one hand to the other—or attempted to, but his other hand was busy holding the bunny wedge, no doubt already browning in his little hand though he did not seem keen to let it go. Wei Wuxian was quick to catch the apple before it fell though. A-Yuan did not seem to notice this, for he was busy holding out his now empty hand, fingers spread out wide as he smiled.

“I turned four six months ago!” he said proudly, beaming.

Lan Wangji blinked at him, while Wei Wuxian snorted.

“Weeks, buddy,” he said in a laugh, reaching out to tug in A-Yuan’s thumb. “Six weeks ago.”

“Oh.” A-Yuan brought his hand forward again and said, “I turned four six weeks ago, gege!”

Lan Wangji smiled at him quietly and said, “Happy belated birthday, Wei Yuan.”

The name was odd on his tongue, though he tried not to let any jealousy seep into it.

The child was, after all, not whom he was jealous of.

“Gege can call me A-Yuan,” A-Yuan said. “Baba says that means we’re friends.”

In his chest, Lan Wangji’s heart did a complicated thing.

It warmed and spun with delight, yet it felt like a hollow thing.

He dipped his chin in a nod and did not hold back his smile as he said, “Thank you, A-Yuan. It would be a pleasure to be your friend.”

A-Yuan’s smile was blinding, wide and toothy.

He leaned into his father and kicked his feet with a giggle.

“Baba,” he whispered. “Baba, I made a friend.”

“I saw, buddy,” Wei Wuxian, just as quietly, though neither were quiet enough for Lan Wangji to not hear them. And Lan Wangji doubted they tried too hard either. “Aren’t you lucky, huh? You get Lan Zhan as your friend.”

“Baba,” A-Yuan whispered again. “Is gege your friend too?”

Wei Wuxian hummed. He said, “A friend from a long time ago.”

There was something in his voice, something that Lan Wangji could not quite place.

In his own delusion, he wanted it to be longing. Something wistful.

But he would not place his own feelings onto Wei Wuxian.

Instead, he took a breath and asked, “Wei Ying. Is he—“

He could not finish the question. The jealousy came back before he could even utter the words.

Wei Wuxian turned to him with a blink, a slight tilt of his head.

“A-Yuan?” he asked, because of course he understood anyway. “Oh, I gave birth to him.”

Lan Wangji clenched his jaw, curled his hands into fists.

As the world turned quiet around him, his heart squeezed and shattered.

Someone else…

Someone else had—

And then Wei Wuxian snorted. Laughed.

Lan Wangji blinked back his anger and lifted his gaze (when had he looked down?).

Before him, Wei Wuxian was laughing quietly into his son’s cheek, his son who too was laughing though he seemed confused as to what he was laughing about.

“Aiyah, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said between laughing breaths. “You don’t have to look so traumatized! I’m kidding, I’m just kidding, haha.”

Quietly, Lan Wangji exhaled and eased his jealousy.

“I adopted him when he was one,” Wei Wuxian said. “His grandma was taking care of him, originally, but she’s gotten too old to do it properly, so she asked me to care for him instead, and then, well. I had to officially adopt this little radish, didn’t I?”

A-Yuan giggled and leaned into his father.

Lan Wangji stared at them. Wei Wuxian had not mentioned—

“Adopted,” he said quietly. “You and your… partner?”

He did not mean to bite the word out.

“M-mm,” Wei Wuxian said, a slight shake of his head. “Just me.”

Lan Wangji sighed a breath of near relief.

“And Wen Qing,” Wei Wuxian continued, “and Wen Ning.”

Lan Wangji wanted to punch something.

“They’re A-Yuan’s blood relatives,” Wei Wuxian continued. “If not for me, they would’ve had to adopt him. Wen Qing is a doctor and works too much, and Wen Ning just started university last year, so neither of them would’ve had the time to properly take care of him. They’d have to sacrifice a lot and it would’ve been worth it, of course. But I was there, with the time and ability to. How could I say no?”

He looked at A-Yuan then, that soft smile back on his lips as he kissed his head.

Lan Wangji stared at them and said, “And they are not—“

“My partners?” Wei Wuxian snorted, shook his head. He said, “Nah, we’re just family.”

Lan Wangji let out a breath that he did not mean to sound so relieved.

“No,” Wei Wuxian said in an exhaled sigh. “I fear no one has snatched me up yet, Lan Zhan. I am still hopelessly single. What a shame, huh?”

There was a glint in his eye as he said it—he was teasing.

Lan Wangji stared at him for a beat, then hummed quietly, “Mn.”

It was a shame, but he did not know what to say to it, could not admit to being relieved.

It had been over a decade. What right did he have to be relieved—or jealous, for that matter?

They stood there quietly for much too long, looking at one another.

Lan Wangji let his eyes wander over Wei Wuxian’s face in an attempt to memorize all the ways in which he had changed over these many years.

The sharpness of his jaw, the fullness of his brows, the lack of fat on his cheeks.

His smile, much the same.

Even when Wei Wuxian broke their quiet connection did Lan Wangji not look away and merely kept tracing his eyes over his face, over each little detail. Wei Wuxian, meanwhile, crouched down to put A-Yuan back on the ground. A-Yuan did not fuss as he was placed there, only stuck his feet out and nearly hopped out of his father’s arms.

“A-Yuan,” Wei Wuxian said then, still crouched. “Why don’t you go show your ayi what this nice gege here gave you, huh? She’s been waiting by the gate with our other net for soooo long, she misses you oh so terribly.”

“Mm! Okay!” A-Yuan spun around and ran off as he exclaimed, “Ayi! Ayi, look what I got!”

Wei Wuxian remained crouched for a minute, staring after his son until he was swallowed up by the buzzing crowd among the field of apples trees.

And Lan Wangji…

Lan Wangji kept staring at Wei Wuxian.

Still, as Wei Wuxian then stood with an exhaled chuckle and a shake of his head.

“That boy,” he said, hands on his hips as he sighed. “Aiyah, he has an endless amount of energy. One would think he would run out of stamina when he’s been running around for hours, but no. No, if I know my son right, he will be running around tiredlessly until we’re halfway home and then conk out for the rest of the drive.”

He laughed, an airy chuckle, and shook his head again.

Lan Wangji hummed noncommittally in response, too busy staring to respond.

Had he not been, perhaps he would have said A-Yuan took after his father.

But the words did not appear on his tongue until too late, for then Wei Wuxian turned and looked at him. Met his eyes again, and it sucked the breath out of Lan Wangji—and the words died on his tongue when Wei Wuxian smiled, crooked and soft.

A beat passed them by quietly.

Then, Wei Wuxian pointed at him and said, “You cut your hair.”

Lan Wangji had. Liked to keep it short now, as it was less maintenance.

Though seeing Wei Wuxian now, he suddenly missed the length and the nimble fingers that had once liked to braid it, play with it.

“Mn,” he said instead. “And you grew yours out.”

Wei Wuxian used to keep his hair short, much shorter than Lan Wangji’s was now. It had been neat, the first time he had chopped off his ponytail. His sister had given him his first haircut, Lan Wangji remembered. Wei Wuxian had said it had felt like a relief. And the cut had suited him, had framed his youthful face nicely—and his shoulders had gotten looser without the long hair weighing him down.

Lan Wangji remembered how free Wei Wuxian had been with his hair so short, even if it had come with trouble at home as well. Though, he knew, the hair had been the least of the issues.

Lan Wangji had liked the way it felt, even at the shortest, when it had been a near buzzcut. The way the shortest hairs were prickly against his palm as he would stroke his hand through them. Wei Wuxian had always leaned into his touch, as if he were a cat, humming in an attempt to purr.

Though perhaps it was not that Lan Wangji had liked the hair but rather that he had liked it because it was Wei Ying. Because of how he had reacted, how he had looked, how he had smiled at him oh so freely. Boyishly.

Wei Wuxian’s hair was longer now, reaching down to just below his shoulders and messily styled in its many soft layers. It was shaggy, but near purposely so. A wolf cut, Lan Wangji believed it was called. It suited him, framed his beautiful face, and he wore it with confidence.

He looked like himself.

“I did,” Wei Wuxian said with a blinding smile. He shook his head roughly then, tussling his hair. “Like it? Does it suit me, Lan Zhan?”

His hair became a mess after the shake; locks catching on his lashes and sticking to his forehead and dimpled cheeks. Without thought, Lan Wangji stepped closer and reached out to fix it, carefully peeling away the locks and resisting the urge to curl his fingers into them and yank—

It was not his place.

Instead, he focused on tidying Wei Wuxian’s hair, careful not to touch too long.

And when he finished, he met Wei Wuxian’s gaze again. And paused.

Wei Wuxian was staring at him, wide-eyed and cheeks flushed.

Smile gone.

… Right.

Too close. Too familiar.

Lan Wangji took half a step back and put his offending hands behind his back, curled into fists.

“Mn,” he said quietly. “It suits you, Wei Ying.”

Wei Wuxian blinked, then he exhaled and smiled again. “Thanks, Lan Zhan,” he said quietly—shyly, almost.

Lan Wangji nodded, then looked away.

Though words failed him, he did not like this awkward air, so he asked, “What are you doing here?”

Wei Wuxian hummed, then drawled, “Well…”

He threw his hands behind himself, clasping them around his back as he sidled a step closer to Lan Wangji, as if they were still young and not made strangers by the ruthless passage of time. His eyes wandered around them briefly before finding Lan Wangji’s again, and when they did, a crooked smile spread across his lips.

A boyish smile, much like he had smiled at him when they were younger.

“Why, picking apples, of course!” Wei Wuxian said, that smile quickly growing wider, straighter. “Lan Zhan, do you remember Nie Huaisang?”

Lan Wangji hummed with a nod, “Mn.”

Of course he did. Lan Xichen was still very close with Nie Mingjue, Nie Huaisang’s older brother, and though Lan Wangji had not had a single conversation with Nie Huaisang since their teens—and calling what they had had back then conversations might be too generous, even—he was still… aware of him. Not enough to care, but enough to know of him.

Had it not been for Nie Mingjue, Lan Wangji would likely have had a different answer.

“He told me about this place,” Wei Wuxian said, “a while ago, now. I’d been looking for places to bring A-Yuan, activities for him to do, just to get us both out of the house a little more, you know. And Nie-xiong mentioned this orchard, practically begged me to go pick apples. He said, ‘ple-eease, Wei-xiong!’”

He was suddenly much closer, leaning into his space so suddenly that Lan Wangji instinctively leaned back. But he stayed still when Wei Wuxian grabbed onto his arm with both hands and looked up at him, his eyes big and round and bottom lip poked out in a quivering pout. He blinked his eyes, doe-like and pleading.

Lan Wangji stared at him, dared not to breathe nor move.

“’Please, Wei-xiong!’” Wei Wuxian continued, voice now high-pitched. “’I need some apples! My life depends on it, Wei-xiong! Please bring me a bushel! Two, if you’re extra kind!’”

He laughed then, face transforming back to his own in a blink.

Then, he stepped back with a pat on Lan Wangji’s arms—and perhaps it was wishful thinking, but Lan Wangji could have sworn Wei Wuxian’s fingers lingered on his skin, just for a moment.

“Aiyaah,” Wei Wuxian exhaled, shaking his head. “Nie-xiong is a dramatic soul. I don’t know what he needs that many apples for, but I made him a promise, so I’m sorry, Lan Zhan, I fear I will be stealing a bushel or two of your apples.”

The apples were not his, but Lan Wangji did not say.

Instead, he gave Wei Wuxian a flat look and said, “Buying.”

Wei Wuxian laughed, a joyful chuckle. “Sure, sure,” he said, nodding. “Buying a bushel of your apples. But Lan Zhan is kind enough to give a family and friends discount, for old time’s sake, right?”

He blinked up at him, fluttering his lashes as he ducked his chin. His hands were behind his back again and when he swayed, slightly back and forth, it was into Lan Wangji’s space.

Lan Wangji inhaled quietly, exhaled a moment later.

Curled his fingers into his palms.

“Wei Ying,” he said tightly.

“Kidding, I’m kidding!” Wei Wuxian held up his hands with a laugh and said, “I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble with your, um—“

His smile fell then, eyes flickering over Lan Wangji’s shoulder.

He swayed, taking half a step and then a full back.

“—with your… um, your wife.”

Lan Wangji blinked at him, frowned.

Wife? He did not…

But Wei Wuxian was not looking at him anymore. He was looking at something over Lan Wangji’s shoulder. Though a smile had reappeared on his lips, it was tighter now, less real. More the kind of smile he would give a stranger.

Frowning, Lan Wangji turned and looked over his shoulder.

Behind him, Luo Qingyang was approaching with hurried steps. Even with the distance still between them, Lan Wangji could see the furrow in her brow and the tightness of her lips—she was stressed and perhaps a little bewildered, evident by the way her gaze flickered uncertainly between the two of them.

Her eyes lingered on Wei Wuxian for only a brief moment, however, before they settled on Lan Wangji. When their eyes locked, she sped up and jogged the rest of the way to them. Lan Wangji turned to her fully.

“Lan Wangji!” she called out in an exhale.

Lan Wangji asked, “What is it?”

“Do you still have the…”

She trailed off, feet slowing to a stop as her eyes wandered over to Wei Wuxian.

Lan Wangji followed her gaze, glanced over his shoulder.

Wei Wuxian had shuffled a step back and stood with his hands behind his back. He was chewing on his lip, a nervous habit he had evidently not grown out of. But even so, there was still a smile visible on his lips. It only grew when Luo Qingyang looked at him, and he nodded at her, though he said nothing and remained uncharacteristically quiet.

Luo Qingyang said nothing either, for just a moment.

And then, with a blink, her eyes grew wide and her mouth opened in a gape.

“Wei Wuxian?” she asked in a breath.

Wei Wuxian blinked at her, head tilting. “Yes?” he said, then chuckled. “Do we know each other?”

Lan Wangji frowned. Does he not remember?

Luo Qingyang scoffed and put her hands on her hips.

“You don’t remember me, huh?” she asked and huffed. “Well, I suppose you wouldn’t. I probably didn’t leave as much of an impression on you as you did me.”

Lan Wangji stared at Wei Wuxian, watched as he clearly racked his brain trying to remember her. But he could tell; Wei Wuxian did not remember. It was evident even before he spoke, with the way he chuckled awkwardly and scratched at his cheek as he lowered his chin in an abashed move.

“I’m sorry, fu ren,” he said, shuffling in place. “My memory really isn’t that good.”

Luo Qingyang hummed, then, with a crooked smile, she said, “But you clearly remember Lan Wangji.”

Ears warming, Lan Wangji shot her a narrowed glance that she pointedly ignored.

Now looking away, he did not see when a blush bloomed on Wei Wuxian’s cheeks.

“Ahaa,” Wei Wuxian said in an exhale. “He’s a hard man to forget, isn’t he?”

Lan Wangji looked back at him, couldn’t not. Saw the redness of his cheeks and believed it to be the fault of the sun, for he did not want to feed his own delusions.

Wei Wuxian shifted his gaze then, just to meet his.

And he smiled—small and near bashful, which was unlike him.

Lan Wangji wanted to take him, hold him. Tell him he was a hard man to forget too.

Wanted to let him know that Lan Wangji had thought of him every day since they had parted ways.

But the words were stuck in his heart, and he could not speak them.

He did not get to either, because then Luo Qingyang huffed out a little laugh.

“It’s alright,” she said. “I don’t expect to be more memorable than him anyway. You look well, Wei Wuxian. It’s nice to see you again.”

Wei Wuxian smiled at her, chuckling. “I would say you too, but ahh…”

“Okay, don’t rub it in.”

He laughed. “Sorry.”

Luo Qingyang huffed at him and waved him away with a smile on her lips.

Then, she turned to Lan Wangji and held out her hand.

“Let me borrow your handkerchief,” she said. “Mianmian has made a mess of herself, and Zuo Yun is busy at the gates.”

Lan Wangji hummed in affirmation and reached for his utility belt to grab the handkerchief that was still tugged into it. He paused, however, when he heard Wei Wuxian murmur, “Mianmian?” quietly to himself.

He glanced over and saw Wei Wuxian staring at the ground, brows furrowed in thought.

And he watched, quietly, as Wei Wuxian suddenly straightened and brightened, eyes going wide.

Lan Wangji could practically see the lightbulb turn on above his head.

“Oh!” Wei Wuxian exclaimed. “Mianmian! You’re Mianmian!”

Luo Qingyang looked at him with a huff and said, “I told you to stop calling me that.”

“Aiyaaah,” Wei Wuxian exhaled, ignoring her. “Of course I remember Mianmian! I was— well. That doesn’t matter, haha.”

Lan Wangji frowned at him, wondered why his cheeks were suddenly so red.

But he did not ask.

“How could I forget though!” Wei Wuxian said and stepped closer with a toothy smile stretched across his lips. “Didn’t that Wen bastard try to sweet talk his way into your pants to make his girl jealous, or something? Grossly, might I add, and way too loudly, if I remember right.”

“Yes,” Luo Qingyang said with a nod. “And you stopped him and got beat up for it.”

Wei Wuxian laughed. “Ahaha, yeah. I remember that.”

He laughed, like it was funny.

But Lan Wangji did not find it funny, had not then either.

He remembered finding Wei Wuxian in the aftermath, beaten and bloody but still smiling and laughing and waving it off like it was all a joke—or perhaps unimportant. But Lan Wangji had not found it funny, rather found it of utmost importance. And he wished, still to this day, that he had broken Wen Chao’s nose a little more, until he was unrecognizable.

But he had never said, nor did he now.

And when Luo Qingyang laughed with Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji did not join.

“Ahaa,” Wei Wuxian exhaled, then looked between the two of them. “Ahh, so you two, uh…” He paused, cleared his throat, shuffled in place. Smiled a little stiffer. “Ah, I’m happy for you!”

Lan Wangji stared at him. Blinked, frowned.

Happy for them? Why—

Beside him, Luo Qingyang barked a laugh. “No,” she said harshly and shook her head.

She said nothing more, only laughed again. She was still laughing as she reached her hand forward and held it out toward Lan Wangji. She did not ask again, too busy laughing, though she did not need to ask either, because Lan Wangji understood.

Though he still frowned at her as he placed the clean handkerchief in her palm.

“Thank you,” Luo Qingyang said then, chuckling. “I will now go grab my daughter and bring her to my husband,” she paused, looked pointedly at Wei Wuxian, “who is working at the gate and not standing here. Goodbye, Wei Wuxian. Nice to see you again.”

Without another word, she turned and walked away.

Still chuckling and shaking her head.

Lan Wangji stared after her briefly, but he was quick to look away.

His eyes wandered to Wei Wuxian instead, once more. Wei Wuxian, unlike him, did stare after Luo Qingyang, mouth slightly agape and brows lifted up high. But it was only for a moment, before he too looked away. Not to look at Lan Wangji but instead to stare off to the side. There, he paused—Lan Wangji could practically hear the wheels spin in his head.

Seconds passed, then Wei Wuxian slumped forward and let out a whine.

“Aiyaaah,” he whined and turned to Lan Wangji with a pout. “Lan Zhan! Why didn’t you correct me? Now I made a fool of myself in front of an old classmate!”

Lan Wangji blinked at him, said nothing.

Wei Wuxian exhaled, complained, “And here I thought she was your wife, aiyohh… you could’ve stopped me!”

Lan Wangji wanted to laugh. Instead, he said, “Wei Ying. I am not interested in women.”

“Well, yes, you said that,” Wei Wuxian said, gesturing at him. “But then you— I mean… well, a lot can change in a decade, Lan Zhan!”

“Yes,” Lan Wangji agreed, “but not this.”

“So then…” Wei Wuxian glanced at him, looked away, and asked, “Do you just… live here? On this orchard? As a, uh… hand, or whatever?”

“Mn,” Lan Wangji said. “Only during picking season. They need an extra hand.”

“Ah. And at home…”

Lan Wangji tilted his head, ever so slightly. “At home?”

“Well.” Wei Wuxian fidgeted—he was nervous. “Your partner…”

Ah.

Lan Wangji huffed out a little breath. “There is no partner,” he said.

Not since you, he did not say.

Wei Wuxian nodded, again and again. Bopping his head as a red color dusted his cheeks.

“Cool,” he said. “Cool, cool, cool.”

Lan Wangji hesitated, words whirling in his mind.

It was so unlike Wei Wuxian to be this… awkward.

He opened his mouth to say something, anything.

But then Wei Wuxian exhaled heavily.

“Aiyah, Lan Zhan!” he exclaimed and shook his hands loose. “You took me by surprise! Had I known you would be here, I would’ve made sure our reunion would be better than… this, haha.”

Lan Wangji did not care that it was awkward.

That he was allowed a reunion at all was enough.

He wanted to tell Wei Wuxian this, but Wei Wuxian continued to speak.

“Ahh,” he exhaled. “Nie Huaisang, you little bastard… do you think he set it up?”

Lan Wangji doubted Nie Huaisang knew. He did not seem the type to care enough to know.

Or perhaps—

“I mean,” Wei Wuxian continued, “I did mention you recently, Lan Zhan, but it was in a drunken state, and I was sad and lonely! I can’t be blamed for the things I say in such a state. The least he could’ve done was give a guy a little warning, aiyah… now I’ve made a fool of myself…”

He slumped again, dropped his head with a whine.

Lan Wangji stared at him, ignored the way his heart pounded in his chest.

Wei Wuxian had mentioned him. Talked about him. Recently.

Because he was sad and lonely.

Hope was a dangerous thing, but—

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said. “Would you like to catch up, sometime?”

Please, he did not add. He did not beg.

But he wanted to.

Wei Wuxian lifted his head and looked at him.

Then, he smiled. It was small, at first, but quickly grew wide and blinding.

Happy.

“Yeah,” he said with a nod. “Yeah, Lan Zhan. I’d love that.”

Lan Wangji smiled as well, not quite as big but happy, nonetheless.

“Uh, do you—“

“Baba!”

The smile on Lan Wangji’s lips wavered at the sound of a child’s voice.

It pierced their private bubble. The world around them had seemed to still during their conversation but as their bubble burst, it came rushing back in like a demanding wave—the noise of the orchard visitors was suddenly much louder and hard to ignore, just like the child that came running over toward them, calling out for his baba.

Wei Wuxian spun around a mere second before A-Yuan came crashing into his legs. Though the child was small, Wei Wuxian still stumbled and exhaled an oomph as he struggled (pretended, clearly) to right himself. He did not fall, but was quick to bend down and grab A-Yuan, hoisting him up into his arms.

“Aarhh, A-Yuan!” he exclaimed, swaying while A-Yuan giggled. “You nearly toppled your baba!”

“Sorry, baba!” A-Yuan said in his giggling, though he did not sound sorry.

“Aiyohh.” Wei Wuxian tsked and shook his head. “What am I to do with you, silly radish?”

A-Yuan did not answer. He merely laughed and hugged his baba’s neck.

Wei Wuxian tutted and patted his back gently, then turned back to Lan Wangji.

But Lan Wangji’s gaze was drawn elsewhere then, over Wei Wuxian’s shoulder where two people were approaching; a woman with a blunt cut and a timid looking man carrying two nets full of heavy apples in each arm, near effortlessly. The woman stopped first, the man following shortly behind, not far from them. Her gaze met Lan Wangji’s, and it was as if that was enough for them not to approach further.

Lan Wangji did not know whether to be pleased or offended.

He did not care to be the latter.

Instead, he turned his attention back to Wei Wuxian just as Wei Wuxian turned and looked at the two of them. The woman shifted her gaze to him and raised her brows, almost pointedly.

Lan Wangji did not know her, yet even he could feel her impatience.

Wei Wuxian lifted a hand at them in a quick wave, an airy chuckle escaping him.

“Wen Qing and Wen Ning,” he said to Lan Wangji. “I think they wanna leave. What do you say, A-Yuan? You ready to get going, huh?”

A-Yuan hummed against his father’s neck and said, “Ayi says she wants to make an apple cake when we get home.”

“Wen Qing wants to bake?” Wei Wuxian sounded surprised, then he said, “Well, it was nice to have a kitchen, as long as it lasted.”

“Baba!” A-Yuan pushed himself back, stared at his father almost scoldingly.

But his cheeks were round and the scold came out as a pout.

It made Wei Wuxian laugh, though he clearly tried to bite it back.

“Ahh,” he said then, amusement in his voice. “Sorry, little radish. That was mean, huh? I promise I will be nice and let Wen Qing bake… and stand by with the fire extinguisher, just in case.”

Over his shoulder, the woman called out, “I heard that!”

Wei Wuxian winced and ducked, shuffling just half a step closer to Lan Wangji.

Instinctively, Lan Wangji wanted to step in front of him. Protect him.

But he did not move.

“Come on!” the woman continued, yelling across the orchard. “We’re ready to go!”

“Coming, coming!” Wei Wuxian called back.

But he did not move either. Not away, at least.

Instead, he turned to Lan Wangji and put on a smile, soft and easy.

Lan Wangji looked at him and forced the rest of the world away again.

None of it mattered, anyway.

Wei Wuxian was leaving. Lan Wangji did not want to let him, but he had no right to ask him to stay. Not when he had a family, a son, waiting for him to go. A son who sat in his arms and looked at him too, big eyes round and smile happy. There was no bunny wedge in his hand anymore, likely already eaten.

Privately, Lan Wangji hoped he had enjoyed it.

But he did not ask, for his eyes were on Wei Wuxian and did not move.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said then, quietly. “We’ll catch up later, yeah?”

Lan Wangji nodded. “Mn,” he said. “I would like that.”

Wei Wuxian nodded too, with a quiet hum. “I’ll be off then,” he said.

And yet, he still did not move.

Not until Lan Wangji bowed his head at him, several seconds later. Only then did he take a step back. And another and a third, eyes lingering, before he finally spun around and walked over toward his family.

Lan Wangji did not move from his spot. He stood there and watched as Wei Wuxian walked farther and farther away, down among the trees with his little family of four. He had not yet moved a muscle when Wei Wuxian looked over his shoulder, right at the edge of the trees. And he still did not move when Wei Wuxian smiled at him widely and lifted a hand in the air to wave at him.

He merely raised a hand and waved back.

And then Wei Wuxian disappeared, engulfed by the crowd.

Yet, it still took Lan Wangji another couple minutes to move at all.

Part of him wanted Wei Wuxian to come running back.

For him to jump into his waiting arms and kiss him.

Like he had dreamed of, many times over the past decade.

But five minutes passed, and no Wei Wuxian came.

Slowly, Lan Wangji unrooted his feet from the ground and turned away.

He spent the rest of the day in a daze. Most of his duties relied on muscle memory anyway. Rarely did he have to engage with the visitors and therefor, he did not need to speak either. He walked along the orchard and silently helped where he could, kicked aside abandoned apples so no one fell and hurt themselves. Nodded at passing visitors when they looked his way.

But his mind was elsewhere entirely.

Later, Wei Wuxian had said.

Later could mean many things. Wei Wuxian had not specified.

Later could mean later that same day, an hour or two or three from when they had parted. And later could mean in a day or two or a hundred. Later was not a set time, though it had sounded like a promise anyway. But without knowing when exactly he would get to see him again, Lan Wangji felt… wired. Restless.

He wanted to run after Wei Wuxian. Run after him and never leave his side again.

It had been over a decade since they had last seen each other. A decade where many things had happened and changed them both, good and bad and everything in between. And yet, Lan Wangji’s feelings were no less all-consuming, no less intense than they had been back then. Just the sight of him… it felt like a dream.

As night began to fall, Lan Wangji almost expected it to have been a dream.

But when the last visitor had left with their net of apples and Lan Wangji walked to the orchard gate to lock it for the night, he found just how real it had been.

Leaning against the fence was Wei Wuxian.

His back was turned, arms behind him and fingers curled around the fence as he swayed slightly, kicked at the ground with his booted feet. From behind, he could be anyone. But though he was wider and older and carried himself differently, Lan Wangji would still know him anywhere.

Lan Wangji approached slowly, the gravel loud underneath his feet. Wei Wuxian stilled though he did not turn, so Lan Wangji allowed his eyes to wander down his backside—taking him in shamelessly, for no one would see. And then he walked through the still open gate, around the fence, and toward him.

Wei Wuxian was staring up at the sky, eyes on the setting sun. There was a gentle smile on his lips that grew when, a moment later, he turned his head and met his gaze. In the hours apart, he had not changed and still looked much the same, as if he had not left at all or perhaps had gone home and come right back.

“You know, Lan Zhan,” he said then. “Part of me thought this was a dream. That I’d come back here and you wouldn’t actually be here, after all.”

Lan Wangji hummed. “Mn. Me too.” Then, after a beat, he asked, “Have you waited long?”

Wei Wuxian shook his head. “Nah,” he said. “Only an eternity.”

He grinned cheekily, and Lan Wangji leveled him a look—though he related to the feeling.

With a chuckle, Wei Wuxian pushed himself off the fence and stepped over toward him. Right into his space, like they had not spent a decade apart and this was still the easiest thing for him to do, without even the slightest trace of shame.

Lan Wangji wanted to open his arms and take him in.

Instead, he asked, “Have you eaten?”

Wei Wuxian shook his head again. “I came straight back here. And now I’m starving, Lan Zhan.”

He said it with a sigh and a pout, dipping his chin to flutter his lashes up at him.

Lan Wangji wanted to roll his eyes at him, and perhaps he did because Wei Wuxian laughed.

With one hand on the gate, he stepped aside and gestured with his other hand. Wei Wuxian bowed to him theatrically, then wandered into the orchard. Lan Wangji stepped in after him and closed the gate, locked it.

Pretended it did not thrill him to have Wei Wuxian trapped here, now.

Calmly, Lan Wangji turned around and put the keys back into the satchel on his belt. His eyes went straight back to Wei Wuxian, who had already started wandering farther into the orchard, walking with a little bounce in his step.

He was humming, quietly under his breath, as his fingers reached out to touch the leaves of the trees that he passed. The chickens had been let loose already and were clucking as they picked at abandoned apple cores on the ground. A couple fluttered away loudly when Wei Wuxian approached too quickly, his laughter ringing through the otherwise now quiet orchard.

Lan Wangji exhaled, smiled quietly to himself.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said then, reaching up to pull an apple from its branch. “How come you’re helping Mianmian on her orchard? I didn’t think you stayed in contact with anyone from back then.”

Why not me? Lan Wangji imagined he wanted to ask.

He wanted to ask much the same, though he knew the answer to that.

Lan Wangji inhaled shortly, then followed behind as Wei Wuxian continued walking.

“We shared a class in university,” he explained, “and became friends. She spent some time at Cloud Recesses after a falling out with her family.”

Wei Wuxian spun around to face him, his eyes wide with clear surprise. He did not stop walking, taking steps backwards in much the same pace. Lan Wangji hurried a step closer and reached out to pull him aside and out of the way of a tree he nearly stumbled into. Wei Wuxian let him but did not turn back around, as if trusting him to direct him—to protect him.

“She was at Cloud Recesses?” Wei Wuxian asked. “Your uncle let her stay there?”

“Mn,” Lan Wangji said. “He thought she and I…”

He trailed off, could not say it.

It was a ridiculous thought, because Lan Wangji had made it to clear to his uncle that he was not interested in women, many years before then. And yet, Lan Qiren had been delighted when he had brought home a girl, even though Lan Wangji had repeated, again and again, that she was but a friend in need.

Wei Wuxian tilted his head, then, after a beat, asked, “And you weren’t… not even then?”

Lan Wangji leveled him another look. “Wei Ying,” he said, almost scolding.

“Sorry, sorry,” Wei Wuxian said in a tight chuckle. “It’s just… well, you’re both attractive people, around the same age. One would assume that when you grew close, you’d maybe, I don’t know… try it out?”

Lan Wangji stared at him, dumbfounded.

Then, he looked away and shook his head—tugged on Wei Wuxian’s sleeve to turn him around.

Wei Wuxian spun smoothly and came to walk beside him instead. But still, his eyes were on him and not where he walked.

“Ridiculous,” Lan Wangji muttered quietly. Angrily, perhaps.

But what was there to be angry about?

Other than the assumption that he would try it out if a woman happened to be around him long enough. His uncle had said much the same, once upon a time, around the time Wei Wuxian had attached himself to Lan Wangji and Lan Wangji had, eventually, after much fighting, started to show interest.

But Wei Wuxian was not a woman, and Lan Wangji had been angry then too.

Angry that his own family so desperately wanted him to be “normal”.

Yet, more than anything, angry that Wei Wuxian was only somewhat acceptable if he was not him.

Lan Wangji had fought many battles over this, even long after Wei Wuxian had left.

And he would fight this too, if Wei Wuxian thought so little of himself too.

For the assumption that he had ever even thought about anyone else…

Wanted Wei Wuxian to be anything else…

“I am not interest in women,” Lan Wangji said, again. “And there was never another.”

“Another?” Wei Wuxian cocked his head, blinked at him. “Another who?”

Lan Wangji glanced at him, then looked away pointedly.

In the late evening air, his ears were warm.

He did not answer the question, did not feel the need to.

Instead, he continued walking and led Wei Wuxian through the orchard, past the main house. The lights were still on inside, much too early for either Luo Qingyang or her husband to have retired for the night yet. Their daughter, little Mianmian, was likely already asleep upstairs, the curtains drawn and only a faint, silver light visible through it; her stars, shining on the ceiling above her bed.

Lan Wangji did not pause there, merely continued walking.

And Wei Wuxian followed, but he did not do so quietly.

“Lan Zhaaan,” he said, poking at his arm. “Answer me, Lan Zhan. Another who?”

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji chided. “Do not tease.”

“Oh, come on! You can’t tell me that for thirteen years, you—“

He cut off then, when Lan Wangji swept his gaze over to him. He blinked, wide-eyed and cheeks flushed. And then he stopped walking, so Lan Wangji did too. Turned and looked at him.

Despite his ears burning, Lan Wangji was not ashamed of his feelings. He had spent too many years trying to shut them off, knowing it would be for the better since Wei Wuxian had left and would not return, according to his sister. But he had long since accepted that these feelings would never leave, that he would always find himself late at night thinking about the man he had let slip away.

Regardless of whether said man still felt the same or not.

Said man, who stood before him now and stared at him owlishly.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said in an exhale then. “You…”

He stopped again, as if he could not find the words—an uncharacteristic flaw.

Lan Wangji did not tell him. Instead, he turned and continued forward.

“Come,” he said, his pace slow. “I am staying down here.”

Lan Wangji took him to the guest cabin, a little ways from the main house. It laid among the trees, nestled below the full crowns and the red apples that hung from the strong branches. It was small, only meant to house one or two people. The main house was still visible from the windows, but it laid far enough away to give the inhabitant some privacy.

Lan Wangji pushed the unlocked door open and held it for Wei Wuxian, allowing him to step in first.

Wei Wuxian did, waltzed in with ease and a smile on his lips.

There was nothing much, inside. Lan Wangji would not stay long enough for any personal items to matter and so, he had done nothing to it and let the cabin remain the way it had been when he had arrived; a small living space that connected to the even smaller kitchen, one bathroom, and two bedrooms though only one in use—and only impersonal artwork on the walls, a half-full bookcase of books he had not touched.

It was nothing much, but it was cozy. Acceptable.

Inside, Wei Wuxian stopped briefly to step out of his boots. He kicked them to the side and left them there, haphazardly on the floor, before he wandered farther inside with a small hum and a sway in his steps. Lan Wangji watched him as he looked around and explored, dragging his nimble fingers over anything within reach.

Eyes loudly lingering on the bedroom door that stood open, just a crack.

Quietly, Lan Wangji stepped inside too and closed the door behind him. Without taking his eyes off Wei Wuxian, watching as he continued to explore with a lightness in his steps, Lan Wangji reached behind himself and locked the door.

Click.

In the quiet cabin, it sounded loud.

But Wei Wuxian did not react, only continued to wander around.

A sick sense of delight and thrill rushed over Lan Wangji, knowing he had him trapped here too, at his mercy. There was no one around, no one to hear him. And even if he left this cabin, there was a tall fence all around the property. He was trapped. In here, with Lan Wangji—

Lan Wangji forced the thought away.

Instead, he too stepped out of his boots and lined both his and Wei Wuxian’s up against the wall. Then, he stood up straight and reached down to unclip his utility belt. The snip of it coming undone was loud in the quiet cabin too, but Lan Wangji thought little of it as he turned and hung the belt onto its hook by the door.

Until, that was, he turned back around.

Wei Wuxian had stopped exploring. He stood still, now, and was turned to him, eyes on him—on where his hands had just been, so far down. They lingered there, for much longer than they had the bedroom door, before they slowly trailed up, up, up and found his face. Locked with Lan Wangji’s.

He smiled then, small and crooked as he bit his lip.

Then, he spun around to continue his exploring.

Lan Wangji exhaled quietly and ignored the heat that pooled low in his stomach.

By his sides, he flexed his hands, then forced himself to go to him—calmly.

“This is a nice place,” Wei Wuxian said, hands clasped behind him. “Cozy. Homey.”

Lan Wangji hummed noncommittally. “Practical,” he added for him.

Wei Wuxian chuckled and looked at him over his shoulder. The smile on his lips was soft, the look in his eyes so fond that Lan Wangji had to stop mid-step to catch his beating heart.

“How very Lan Zhan of you to say,” Wei Wuxian said, amused.

Lan Wangji did not know what that meant, so he said nothing.

Wei Wuxian did not continue, however. He too fell silent as he turned to face him.

He did not look away, and neither did Lan Wangji.

They stood there, in the quiet cabin and looked at each other.

Time seemed so infinite here, under Wei Wuxian’s fond gaze.

Lan Wangji wanted nothing more than to stay, right there.

But he was a host, a nagging voice reminded him. And Wei Wuxian had not eaten.

He tried to find the words, though there were so many whirling around in his head and none of them seemed cohesive or merely died too quick on his tongue. He wanted to offer Wei Wuxian something to eat, something to drink. A place to rest, ask him how he had been, all these years.

But none of the words left his lips.

Instead, Wei Wuxian broke the quiet as he heaved out a sigh.

“Aiyah, Lan Zhan,” he said in a near whine. “I had a plan, this time. It was going to be the perfect reunion, something right out of the movies and everything, and not the awkward mess from earlier. I had practiced, Lan Zhan. I had a vision. But ahh...”

He stopped, chuckled.

Shifted in place and scratched his nose, as if nervous.

Then, he exhaled heavily, dropped his arms, and looked at him.

“Lan Zhan,” he said, sounding almost… shy—but his gaze was steadfast. “Lan Zhan… hug me.”

Lan Wangji did not hesitate to move.

He crossed the space between them in a quick few steps and brought Wei Wuxian into his arms. Wrapped them around his middle and pulled him flush against him in a swift, daring move. Wei Wuxian leaned into him instantly and brought his own arms up to wind them around his neck as he hugged him back. Tightly, so Lan Wangji tightened his hold on him too, snaked his arms further around him, rested his hands firmly on his waist and closed his eyes.

Wei Wuxian still fit perfectly in his arms, Lan Wangji noted, though he was bigger now—wider, broader. Fuller. But he was still him, and he fit against him perfectly. Like two puzzle pieces, meant to be pressed together.

And he smelled the same, too.

Lan Wangji turned his head ever so slightly, just enough to brush the tip of his nose against those loose, layered locks. Quietly, as his fingers curled into Wei Wuxian’s low back, he inhaled and breathed him in. Let the scent of fresh spring wash over him, fill his nostrils.

He wanted to bathe in it, wrap himself up in it.

Bury himself in it, smell the rest of him too.

But the arms around his neck loosened, and it was so jarring that Lan Wangji opened his eyes.

Those hands on him shifted and moved, ran down his bare neck and across his loosened shoulders. One hand stayed there, while the other moved down to the side of his face and rested against his cheek. And when Wei Wuxian leaned back, Lan Wangji could do nothing but let him, though his arms were reluctant to let go.

He did not have to either, for Wei Wuxian did not go far. No more than a breath away.

Lan Wangji looked at him, but Wei Wuxian did not meet his eyes.

No, for his eyes were low.

Half-lidded and on his lips.

Wei Wuxian’s hand was on his cheek, a gentle touch. Shamelessly, his thumb brushed over Lan Wangji’s lips.

Lan Wangji let him.

He stopped breathing, stared at him.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian whispered quietly. “Er-gege… do you still…”

“Yes,” Lan Wangji answered, before he even finished the question.

Yes, he still.

Yes, always.

Wei Wuxian’s eyes shifted, ran up his face to meet his.

Lan Wangji looked at him, laid himself bare in the truth of that answer.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said again, quiet as before. “Kiss—“

Lan Wangji did not let him finish this sentence either.

He surged forward and kissed him, swallowing that second word.

Wei Wuxian made a startled sound against his lips, but it was only once and it was brief, before he exhaled a pleased moan and grabbed at his face as he kissed him back.

It was not a tentative kiss, not like their first had been, many years ago now.

It was firm and perhaps a little rough. But Lan Wangji could not find it within himself to care, for he wanted to bite his I missed yous into Wei Wuxian’s lips, breathe them into his mouth until he could taste his longing, his yearning, his hurt during all these years they had been apart.

And Wei Wuxian did not seem to mind, anyway.

He moaned against his lips and was the one to tilt his head and pry Lan Wangji’s lips open as he parted his own and licked at them. Lan Wangji allowed his lips to part, allowed Wei Wuxian’s tongue to slither forward. He met him halfway, between their mingling breaths, their tongues hugging much like they were too.

Wei Wuxian’s tongue hooked around his and beckoned it forward.

Into his mouth, and Lan Wangji did not hesitate to lick inside.

Did not hesitate to swallow up the moan that Wei Wuxian breathed between them.

He tasted the same, Lan Wangji noted.

Kissed the same; demanding yet easily letting go of control once Lan Wangji took over.

It sent a shivering thrill down Lan Wangji’s spine, down to his crotch where his cock twitched with interest. Against Wei Wuxian’s low back, his hands flexed with the desire to pull him closer. With the urge to touch, to grab, to ruin.

But he forced them to stay there, focused on the kiss instead.

Licked into his mouth, bit at his lip between kisses.

Memorized the slick way Wei Wuxian’s lips moved against his own, much the same as they had before.

Wei Wuxian moaned between them, breathing heavily in the brief millisecond between each kiss. Lan Wangji wanted to open his eyes and look at him, see if he was still as flushed as he used to get when he was kissed this way. But he did not want to stop the kiss, did not want to stop tasting him.

Though it was not long before Wei Wuxian suddenly whined and wobbled.

It broke the kiss, as he swayed and stumbled.

Lan Wangji grabbed at him tightly, kept him standing.

Wei Wuxian ducked his head and rested it against Lan Wangji’s shoulder where his hands too laid, clutching at him. Then, he breathed out an airy laugh.

“Aiyaaah,” he said in his laughter. “Er-gege… you still make my knees go all funny, Lan Zhan.”

An odd pride filled Lan Wangji’s chest.

With the way Wei Wuxian was leaning against him, he knew that only he was holding him up now. Wei Wuxian was trusting him to keep him standing. Lan Wangji held him, let him lean on him.

He hummed quietly, curled his fingers into the back of Wei Wuxian’s shirt.

“Would you like to sit down?” he asked.

Though it was a stupid question. He did not want to let go.

Did not want to part with him, not even for a second.

Against his shoulder, Wei Wuxian shook his head.

“No,” he said, then heaved out a dramatic breath. “Oh, Lan Zhan…”

He turned his head and leaned further against him, hands clutching him.

Lan Wangji tightened his hold on him, kept him standing.

“I am but a weak man,” Wei Wuxian continued, voice airy and whiny. “I fear my legs have stopped working. It won’t be long until the rest of my body follows suit, and then I will be completely at anyone’s mercy. Ohh, my poor, frail body… thank goodness a kind stranger came to my rescue.”

He shifted his head, turned it to look at Lan Wangji.

But he still rested on his shoulder, so when Lan Wangji looked at him, he could only see the mirth in his eyes and the slight grin that tugged at his lips for a mere moment before it was forced away again and replaced with a pout and pleading eyes.

“You are a kind stranger, aren’t you?” Wei Wuxian asked. “It would be a shame if I were to be locked up in here, with a man that wanted to ravage me…”

Lan Wangji stared at him, then glanced toward the front door.

The locked front door.

In his pants, his cock started to fill, so quick it nearly made him dizzy.

“Mm,” he hummed, low and quiet. “I will take care of you.”

“My herooo,” Wei Wuxian breathed out with a smile and a flutter of his lashes.

At the same time, he pressed against him. Firm and insistent, right against where Lan Wangji’s cock had started to ache. Despite the innocent look on his face, Lan Wangji knew him too well to think it an accident—even after all these years, Wei Wuxian still liked to tease. To play.

Lan Wangji wanted to lay him out on the floor and take him, right there.

Strip him naked and shove his cock mercilessly into that wet hole, the way he used to.

But he thought better of it when Wei Wuxian rocked against him with a little whine and then went lax in his arms.

“Ooohhh,” he breathed as he went noodle-boned. “Oh nooo, my body…”

Lan Wangji grabbed him instantly, lifted him off the floor entirely and into his arms. He carried him like one would a princess, his weight a welcoming heaviness. Though he had pretended to lose control of his body, Wei Wuxian still shifted to lay his head against Lan Wangji’s shoulder and tilted it up to look at him with his big, bright eyes.

“My hero,” he said in a sigh. “Ahh… where will you take me? To rest my poor, weak body?”

“Mm,” Lan Wangji hummed. “To bed.”

He turned and headed toward the bedroom.

“Ahh,” Wei Wuxian sighed against him. “Oh, my body needs it. I’m all… loose.”

He said it pointedly, quietly.

Lan Wangji did not stumble. He did not.

Not even when his cock throbbed between his legs.

Instead, he tightened his hold on Wei Wuxian and kicked the bedroom door fully open. The handle slammed into the wall on the other side, loud and damaging. It made Wei Wuxian bark out a laugh, but Lan Wangji ignored it and stepped inside toward the made bed.

“Eager, eager, er-gege!” Wei Wuxian laughed in his arms. “Aiyah, Lan Zhan. Hey, Lan Zhan.”

He patted Lan Wangji’s chest and Lan Wangji paused, a step from the bed.

With a blink, he looked at him. It was as if the sky cleared, his breath calming.

He had not even realized he was rushing.

Desperate.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said again, a smile on his lips. “Hey, put me down a second.”

Lan Wangji tightened his hold on him. He did not want to.

“It’s okay,” Wei Wuxian said. “Just for a second, I promise.”

Reluctantly, Lan Wangji loosened his grip and sat Wei Wuxian back down.

Wei Wuxian wobbled a little on his feet, but he was quick to find his balance. He turned to him then and stepped into his space again. With a smile resting gently on his lips, he reached up to touch his cheek. Gently, merely resting there.

Lan Wangji leaned into it, but did not look away.

Exhaled, when Wei Wuxian’s thumb caressed his cheekbone.

“Er-gege,” Wei Wuxian whispered as he stepped closer. “My er-gege…”

He leaned in then and kissed him, gently on the lips.

Lan Wangji closed his eyes and kissed him back, tried to keep it gentle though his cock screamed at him to take him.

He ignored it and instead let Wei Wuxian guide him backwards.

Back, until the backs of his legs touched the bed, and then he sat down.

He reached out to grab at Wei Wuxian, but Wei Wuxian was already shifting closer.

Climbing into his lap with ease and sitting down, right there.

Lan Wangji grabbed him by the hips, pulled him closer. Kissed him a little deeper.

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian wound his arms around his neck, tilted his head to let the kiss deepen.

“Mm,” he hummed against his mouth. “Mm, er-gege…”

It came out whispered, between their shared breath.

Wei Wuxian spread his legs and slid closer, closer, closer, until he was pressed against the growing bulge in Lan Wangji’s pants. Lan Wangji inhaled sharply at the pressure, at the same time Wei Wuxian moaned into his mouth and shifted against him, pointedly pushed against his straining cock.

On Wei Wuxian’s hips, Lan Wangji’s fingers curled, grabbed him tightly, held him, though he did not stop him when Wei Wuxian ground down. Instead, he encouraged it, his hands urging Wei Wuxian to move against him, tugged at him to do so.

And Wei Wuxian did.

He wound his arms a little further around Lan Wangji’s neck to press them flush against one another and lifted himself up a little, only to sit back down firmly against the bulge, his legs spread wide on either side of him. When he ground down, it was slow, testing, as if to refamiliarize himself with it.

Lan Wangji parted his lips, licked into his moaning mouth, and tugged at his hips.

Urged him to keep moving, though his cock ached.

There were too many layers of clothes between them. Lan Wangji wanted to tear them off.

Wanted to free his cock and slide into the hole that was so close, right there.

But he found it difficult to stop kissing Wei Wuxian long enough to act on this desire.

And besides, Wei Wuxian was grinding against him so eagerly now, and Lan Wangji did not want him to stop. It felt good, this pressure against his cock and the knowledge that Wei Wuxian was undoubtedly getting soaked in his own pants from it.

Lan Wangji wanted to inhale him.

His hands flexed around his hips as his grip loosened, before he slid them around to grab at Wei Wuxian’s bottom instead. There, his fingers curled into the clothed meat of it, his grip firm around the fullness. He tugged at him, urged him closer, and Wei Wuxian whimpered into his mouth, then broke the kiss to let out a breathy moan as well.

His hips did not stop moving, bucking against him desperately.

He did not go far either, only far enough to breathe.

Lan Wangji opened his eyes and looked at him.

Wei Wuxian’s face was flushed, eyes closed, brows furrowed.

His lips were parted, wet, a string of saliva hanging down to his chin.

Lan Wangji’s saliva, or perhaps both of theirs together.

A thrill ran through Lan Wangji. A sick thrill, a possessive thrill.

Without thought, he leaned forward and opened his mouth. His tongue fell out and ran from Wei Wuxian’s wet chin to his reddened lips. Wei Wuxian moaned when he licked across his bottom lip and sunk his teeth into it for just a brief moment, though he did not stay there long.

Only for a moment, then he leaned back to watch him.

Tugged at him, urged him to keep moving.

The movement of Wei Wuxian’s hips was near frantic, now. Searching, shuddering.

On Lan Wangji’s shoulders, his fingers were gripping him tightly.

And his face was scrunching up as he tensed.

He’s close, Lan Wangji thought to himself as he stared.

Briefly, he mourned the fact that he could not see him, could not feel the wetness gathered between his legs. With the way Wei Wuxian was twitching and moaning, whimpering, Lan Wangji knew he had to be soaked. Dripping, as he chased release.

“Ahh,” Wei Wuxian moaned, high-pitched and whiny. “Lan Zhan… er-gege, ah…”

Lan Wangji stared at him.

His cock throbbed with each desperate grind, and he wanted nothing more than to be inside him.

To give Wei Wuxian what his hole was searching for.

But—

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji breathed out hoarsely, staring. “Come like this.”

Wei Wuxian whimpered (pathetically, Lan Wangji’s mind provided and it thrilled him) and lowered his head to hide his flushed face against Lan Wangji’s shoulder. Lan Wangji could feel the heat of it against his cheek, hear the breathy moans he let out as his hips stuttered against him.

“Lan Zha-aahnn,” Wei Wuxian whined out in a breath. “You can’t talk like that, ahh...”

But his hips kept moving, somehow more frantic, more firmly against him.

Lan Wangji shifted his hands further underneath him, pulled him closer.

Though they were already so close, it was neigh impossible to be closer.

And yet, Lan Wangji tugged, urged his hips to keep moving.

Other than his urging hands, he sat completely still and let Wei Wuxian move against him however he pleased. Frantically, as he clearly could not contain his desperation. Wei Wuxian clung to him, fingers digging into him, while he ground firmly against him and moaned into his shoulder. He whimpered, spread his legs further, as if that would bring him closer.

As if that would bring Lan Wangji inside him, despite the layers between them.

Lan Wangji wanted to take him, wanted to lay him out and shove into him.

His cock screamed at him, begged him to do so.

But not yet. He wanted to see.

It did not take much longer before Wei Wuxian’s rutting came in short, twitchy bursts. He moaned, high-pitched and a near whine, and then he suddenly seized up in a gasp. He was still for a second, tense and clinging. Then, he exhaled heavily in a moan, whole body shaking as he ground down against him with clenched thrusts.

Lan Wangji held him through it, inhaled the slight musk now hanging in the air.

Wei Wuxian’s grinds were slow and getting slower.

Until, after a while, they stopped with a whimper.

Wei Wuxian slumped against him with a tired moan. Noodle-boned and loose.

His head remained hidden, pressed against Lan Wangji’s shoulder as he panted and breathed.

Lan Wangji let him stay there, rested his head against his.

But he did not move his hands away from his ass, even though Wei Wuxian no longer moved.

“Haa,” Wei Wuxian exhaled then, minutes later. “Ah-haa, that was, haha… that was embarrassing.”

He laughed, chuckled against his shoulder. He rubbed his forehead against Lan Wangji and stayed there another moment as he breathed out another laugh. Then, after a heavy exhale, his hands slid up, up from where they had gripped him so tightly until they found a place to rest against his neck.

Wei Wuxian lifted his head next, presented it; flushed, eyes bright and lips wet and smiling.

Lan Wangji stared at those lips, wanted to lean in and kiss them.

But they moved before he could.

“It’s been a, uh. A while,” Wei Wuxian said in an airy laugh. “Can’t believe you just made me come in my pants like a teenager. Can’t believe you made me dry hump you like that, er-gege!”

He sounded shocked, but that was far from the most humiliating thing he had been asked to do, and he knew it. They both did.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said, staring at him. “You have done worse.”

Wei Wuxian hummed and brought a hand to Lan Wangji’s cheek. He guided him closer, and Lan Wangji went willingly, until their lips met in a kiss. It was close-mouthed and firm, nonetheless, and Lan Wangji tightened his hold on him, pulled him closer, pointedly against his own aching cock.

It strained against the fabric of his pants, begging to be free.

Wei Wuxian circled his hips, ground against it with a little breath.

“Mm,” he hummed against him, voice low and lips brushing his as he spoke. “You once made me beg for it until I cried, didn’t you, er-gege? Made me lie there, wet and tied to the bed—with your very fancy, expensive tie, if I remember right. And you just sat there, cock out and watching, and let me beg and cry so pathetically, didn’t you?”

Lan Wangji hummed in response, cock twitching at the memory.

Wei Wuxian had been a picture, then.

And he wanted to see him like that again.

“But,” Wei Wuxian continued, “correct me if I’m wrong, er-gege… but you caved quickly, didn’t you? You were as desperate as me and you gave it to me.” He circled his hips, pressed against his cock. “Plugged my wet, little hole up with your big cock and fucked me while I cried and cried.”

He kissed him, light and easy.

Lan Wangji curled his fingers into his cheeks—his clothed cheeks.

In his own pants, his cock twitched and throbbed, yearning for the warmth rubbing against it.

“Mm,” Wei Wuxian breathed. “Ahh… er-gege… are you as desperate now, too?”

Yes, Lan Wangji wanted to say, his cock screaming it in its entrapment.

But the word stuck to his tongue and did not leave.

Instead, he nipped sharply at Wei Wuxian’s bottom lip, just to hear him inhale.

“Wei Ying,” he said then, voice tight. “Get undressed.”

Wei Wuxian dove in and kissed him again, this time hard.

Then, he shifted back and made to get up.

But his legs were shaky and he swayed and nearly stumbled, before he bent forward to steady himself on Lan Wangji’s knees. Lan Wangji instinctively reached out to catch him, to steady him, hands on his tense arms and miserable cock forgotten momentarily.

Though he calmed quick, because then Wei Wuxian laughed, so hard his shoulders shook.

“Aiyaah, Lan Zhan!” he said in his laughter. “You’ve made me go all noodle legged again! How will I ever survive more than this, huh? You’ll have me ruined by the end of this, won’t you, er-gege?”

He looked at him, laughing and eyes bright with humor.

Lan Wangji found the thought amusing, though not the laughing kind.

“Mm,” he said, looking at him seriously. “I will.”

The laughter did not die, but Wei Wuxian quieted and bit his lip.

Right where Lan Wangji’s teeth had been, not long ago.

“Good,” Wei Wuxian said, a little breathy. “I’ll hold you to that promise, er-gege.”

He stood up then and took an unsteady step back. Lan Wangji kept his hands on him, just in case, though he let them slide down along his arms as Wei Wuxian stepped back and back, until Lan Wangji held his hands. Wei Wuxian curled his fingers around them and lifted them to his lips to kiss each knuckle, softly, gently.

Then, he let them go, and Lan Wangji let them fall heavily into his lap.

Thumbs brushing over his knuckles, absentmindedly.

His eyes never left Wei Wuxian, however.

Because Wei Wuxian was reaching for the hem of his shirt. He seemed to hesitate there, for no more than a mere split second. Lan Wangji would have missed it, had he not been watching him so intently. Wei Wuxian looked away in the next breath, as if he were shy though Lan Wangji knew he was anything but.

And yet, in that second, there was a vulnerability to him that seemed too real to be play.

But it did not stop him, for that second passed, and Wei Wuxian pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside carelessly.

Lan Wangji stared at his face, waited for those eyes to find his again.

But his eyes could not stay there long, not with so much newly exposed skin presented to him.

So, once Wei Wuxian looked back at him, he allowed his eyes to wander down the span of that exposed torso; his flat chest, with a faded surgical scar running all the way across, and his flat stomach with a light trail of hair leading down into his pants that had not been there before.

He was still lean, but there was muscle on him now too.

It made him look strong. Healthy.

Sexy.

Lan Wangji stared, followed Wei Wuxian’s hands down as they reached for the red leather belt keeping his pants up. He watched as those nimble fingers undid the buckle and then unzipped his pants. And there, they paused.

“Lan Zhan.”

Lan Wangji blinked, then forced his eyes back up to Wei Wuxian’s face.

Wei Wuxian was looking at him, vulnerable and bare.

A heat, deep in those bright eyes.

“I don’t look the same,” he said, “down here.”

He did not sound ashamed, but rather… shy.

In a way that Lan Wangji could not tell was play or not.

And it bothered him, to not know. Though it mattered little, because—

“Show me,” he told him, tightly, roughly, around his excited arousal.

Excited, to relearn Wei Wuxian’s body and all the ways he had changed.

Wei Wuxian smiled, short and brief. He exhaled, then bent down to shimmy out of his pants. He tugged them down until they pooled around his ankles. There, he stepped out of them and tugged off his plain black socks as well, both tossed aside as carelessly as he had his shirt. And then he stood and presented himself—naked and bare and entirely vulnerable.

Lan Wangji looked at his face, met his eyes, for just a moment.

Then, slowly, his eyes wandered down to follow the trail of hair down his stomach.

Down, down, down…

Wei Wuxian still kept his dark pubic hair neat and tidy. He liked to keep it trimmed, Lan Wangji remembered. Not too short, though not too long either because it annoyed him. It made it easy to see the ways in which this part of his body had changed; his clit was bigger, more protruding among the short, wiry hair.

And he was wet, inner thighs glistening with it—though that was nothing new.

Lan Wangji’s mouth watered at the sight, his eyes honed in on that enlarged clit.

On the little cock that sat hard and presented to him.

Quietly, without looking away, he reached a hand out and beckoned him closer. Wei Wuxian slid his own hand back into his and allowed himself to be pulled closer. Closer, all the way until he stood before him, between his now spread legs. And still, Lan Wangji did not take his eyes off that little cock.

He wanted to bend down, to let his tongue fall out and taste him.

To take him into his mouth and relearn the shape of him.

Instead, however, he leaned forward and pressed his face against his lower stomach. His other hand came up to rest on the back of Wei Wuxian’s bare thigh, then slowly slid up along the faint hair that decorated his slim legs now. Up, until it went around and grabbed at his round, bare cheek.

With a tug, he pulled him closer and inhaled.

Wei Wuxian smelled much the same, though there was a different tint to it. But it was still him, and Lan Wangji wanted to commit this new version of him to memory—wanted to go even lower and inhale him between his legs too, to properly gather the musky scent of his arousal.

Between his own legs, his cock twitched and ached.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said above him—whined above.

Lan Wangji opened his eyes, had not realized he had closed them.

He blinked once, then kissed Wei Wuxian’s clenched stomach before he tilted his head back.

Wei Wuxian was looking down at him, cheeks flushed a beautiful red.

And his eyes were dark, begging, pleading.

Lan Wangji held that gaze as he tugged at him, guided him back into his lap. Wei Wuxian went with ease and settled himself right back where he had been, legs spread and his vulnerable arousal pressed so close to Lan Wangji’s bulge—his waiting hole so close to his cock, yet nowhere near close enough.

With Wei Wuxian now lower, Lan Wangji’s face was closer to his chest.

Lan Wangji did not hesitate to lean in and press his lips to that faded scar in a gentle kiss, quietly thanking it for making Wei Wuxian comfortable. Above him, he heard a sharp inhale but kept his focus steady as he trailed kisses along the scar tissue. At the same time, he put both hands on Wei Wuxian’s bare thighs; one slid up and around to grab at his full cheek, while the other stayed.

Kneaded, dug his fingers into the meat of his thigh.

“Er-gege…” Wei Wuxian breathed above him, a near whine.

Lan Wangji hummed in response and trailed his kisses up. Up, up, until his lips found a nipple.

Slowly, he leaned back, just a little, just to look.

Lan Wangji remembered his nipples as rounder, more even, farther apart when they had sat on the mounds of his small breasts.

Back then, when they had been younger, Lan Wangji would often lean down and take one into his mouth, between his lips, while his fingers would play with the other. Wei Wuxian had liked it, he remembered, so he dipped forward to do the same now; wrapped his lips around the still perky nipple where a steady heart beat beneath.

Above him, Wei Wuxian did not whimper and moan and shudder the way he used to.

Instead, he exhaled and hummed pleasantly, a hand coming up to pet his head.

“Like that, er-gege?” he asked him, a teasing lilt to his voice.

Lan Wangji raised his gaze, then detached his lips reluctantly. But he did not lift his head. “Does Wei Ying?”

“Mmm,” Wei Wuxian hummed and ran a hand down to touch his cheek. His thumb brushed over his now parted lips, and Lan Wangji kissed it, licked at it. “I don’t have much feeling there anymore. But the view is very sexy, er-gege. Like sucking on my tits still, huh?”

Lan Wangji felt his ears warm. “Shameless,” he ground out and bit at the caressing thumb.

Wei Wuxian chuckled and shifted his hand away, only to rest it against the back of Lan Wangji’s head. He arched his back then, pushing his flat chest against his face, pointedly and invitingly.

“Says you, who were just sucking on them,” he said, grinning down at him teasingly. “Go on, er-gege. Lan Zhan. Zhan-er, my baobei. Get back to it.”

Lan Wangji glared at him, though halfheartedly, his ears burning.

(Cock twitching and aching, neglected in his pants.)

But he opened his mouth and took an uneven nipple back into his mouth anyway.

He stayed there, with his lips wrapped around the perky nub, while Wei Wuxian hummed and petted his head as if he were a babe. He sucked on the smooth flesh and, soon, gently sank his teeth into it and tugged, ever so slightly, just to see if Wei Wuxian could feel it. Above him, there was an inhale, but not much more.

Lan Wangji let go and ran the tip of his tongue around the nub instead, wetting it and tasting it. Whether Wei Wuxian could feel it or not, Lan Wangji liked being close like this regardless. Liked feeling Wei Wuxian’s heart beat steadily, excitedly, against him.

As he sucked and licked, his hand shifted—grabbed at Wei Wuxian’s bare cheek to pull it apart from the other. Just a little, just enough to let a finger slide between them and press against his hole, dry and needlessly clenched.

Unlike the biting, this made Wei Wuxian react.

Above him, Wei Wuxian inhaled sharply and arched his back. The movement pressed his chest even firmer against Lan Wangji’s face and his ass into his grabbing hand. It pressed his hole firmer against his searching finger.

Lan Wangji rubbed at it gently, pressed against it. But, though the rim started to loosen against his curious finger after a minute, he did not stay there long, did not wish to slip inside there—at least not tonight. Perhaps another time, when he was better prepared. He had done it once before, on Wei Wuxian’s needy request. And Wei Wuxian had come beautifully on his fingers, stuffed full.

Lan Wangji wished to see it again, but not tonight.

(He hoped, wished, there would be another…)

Instead, though the position made it awkward, his hand slipped further down, underneath him. Down, until he felt a warm wetness against his fingers. Above him, he heard Wei Wuxian’s stuttering breath and dug his teeth into his perky nipple again, biting down while his fingers slid forward, spreading those wet folds.

When his fingers brushed against Wei Wuxian’s hole, he was delighted to find it so wet, so loose that he knew his fingers would slip right in, if he wished. Lan Wangji wanted to taste—

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian whimpered above him, fingers curling into his short hair. “Er-gege…”

He arched his back, pushed back against those curious fingers.

Opened up for him, so nicely.

But though he ached, Lan Wangji did not slip inside.

Instead, he removed his hand entirely, and Wei Wuxian whined pitifully.

“Lan Zha-aaan,” he complained, pushing back to chase after his hand. “Don’t tease me like that, er-gege… don’t you feel how wet and loose I am for you? Get back there, put those fingers in me.”

Lan Wangji kissed his nipple, kissed his chest.

Then, he grabbed him tightly by the hips. In a quick move, he lifted them both up and spun around to throw Wei Wuxian onto the bed. He went with him, stayed between his spread legs and now came to hover above him, hands on either side of him. Caging him in.

Wei Wuxian gasped at the sudden change of position, but he did not complain.

Only blew away a strand of hair that had landed on his lashes.

He tutted, shifting underneath him. “Aiyah, Lan Zhan. Such a caveman, er-gege.”

Lan Wangji hummed noncommittally, then leaned down and kissed him.

Wei Wuxian kissed him back with a responding hum.

It was a delicate kiss for all of a second before Wei Wuxian parted his lips in silent invitation, and Lan Wangji could not deny it. He tilted his head, ever so slightly, and slipped his tongue in past those parted lips to meet Wei Wuxian’s welcoming tongue inside once again.

Meanwhile, as Lan Wangji sucked on his tongue, Wei Wuxian’s hands went to his shirt and started to tug at it, started to undo the buttons running down the middle. Lan Wangji let him, focused on kissing him as the buttons came undone, one by one.

Without thought, he lowered himself between Wei Wuxian’s spread legs and pressed down against him. Pressed his aching cock, still hidden away, against Wei Wuxian’s wet folds, his little cock, laid bare beneath him.

Wei Wuxian inhaled and then whimpered into his mouth, but his fingers only stilled for a breath before they resumed undoing the buttons until the shirt was fully open. He slipped his hands inside then and touched up along Lan Wangji’s chest. Lan Wangji had changed too, had gotten older, slightly hairier but not much.

He delighted in Wei Wuxian’s hands on him, exploring him so curiously.

He wished for them to go lower, to wrap around his aching cock.

But those hands went up instead. Up to his shoulders where they slipped the shirt off.

Lan Wangji broke the kiss and leaned back, only to slip the shirt all the way off and toss it aside as carelessly as Wei Wuxian had done his clothes. But he was quick to lean back down and capture Wei Wuxian’s lips in another kiss, tongue immediately out to lick into his mouth.

Wei Wuxian hummed against him again, hands on him—touching, touching, grabbing.

They kissed a while, exchanging saliva and tasting each other.

It was wet and noisy in the otherwise quiet room.

Lan Wangji wanted to soak in it.

But when Wei Wuxian’s curious hands dipped down to play with his pants, Lan Wangji shifted and broke the kiss. He kissed his cheek instead, his jaw, dragged his lips down his neck as he listened to the breath that came out in a stutter against his ear.

“Lan Zhan…” Wei Wuxian breathed out in a whisper.

Lan Wangji did not respond.

Instead, he shifted back and trailed open-mouthed kisses down his chest, down his stomach.

All the way down to his spread legs.

He stopped there and laid his hands on Wei Wuxian’s thighs, an insistent pressure to keep them parted. Then, he leaned back and looked down. Looked at that little cock that protruded between the wiry hairs, above the folds that shined with wetness.

Saliva gathered in Lan Wangji’s mouth, his cock throbbing.

And he did not hesitate to lean in, his mouth dropping open as his tongue lolled out to press against that hardened nub. Above him, Wei Wuxian sucked in a breath and scrambled to put a hand atop his head, fingers curling into his hair.

“L-Lan Zhan,” he said in an inhale. “Ahh, er-gege…”

Lan Wangji dragged his tongue up the short length of him, just once.

Then, he closed his lips around him, took him into his mouth, and just held him. Tasted him, doing his utmost to commit this to memory as his eyes slid closed. Wei Wuxian’s cock fit into his mouth so neatly, bigger than before but still just as perfect. A perfect little weight against his tongue.

He hummed around him, swirled his tongue around the hardness.

Further up, Wei Wuxian moaned and clenched his grip on him.

“A-Ah, er-gege,” he whined. “You still… still like to suck me off, huh?”

Lan Wangji hummed in confirmation, caressing his inner thigh with a thumb.

His tongue, round and around, flicking the tip of that little cock.

“Haa, ah,” Wei Wuxian moaned above him. “Hn… er-gege… ahh, you’ll… don’t make me come too fast…”

Lan Wangji pressed firmly against him and sucked, humming when Wei Wuxian gasped.

The fingers in his hair curled, tightened, held onto him.

Under his palms, the muscles in Wei Wuxian’s thigh clenched, begging to close around his head.

But Lan Wangji kept his hands there, pressing down firmly to keep his legs spread—though the thought of having Wei Wuxian’s thighs wrapped around his head made his cock twitch with excitement.

“Er-gege…” Wei Wuxian breathed above him, bucking against him. “Er-gege… more… please, ahh…”

Lan Wangji dug his fingers into the meat of one of Wei Wuxian’s thighs for another brief moment, before he shifted his hand and moved it further up. Up, toward where his tongue worked against him. His fingers inched closer and closer, until they found those wet folds and slid between them again.

He pulled off Wei Wuxian’s hardened cock then and left it in favor of dipping his head further down. There, he ran his tongue down between the spread folds and went down, down, down, until the tip of his tongue touched against his wet hole.

“Nnh,” Wei Wuxian whined and pressed against his head.

Begging him to get closer.

Lan Wangji tilted his head and pressed his tongue flat against his hole, licked and tasted. Then, when the hole stopped clenching and loosened for him again, he let his tongue slip inside. Just once and barely, to get a taste. And then again when Wei Wuxian moaned and trembled beneath him.

He dipped his hand underneath his own chin and let a couple fingers join his tongue against the slick hole. They slipped in with ease, replacing his tongue which retracted back into his own mouth, just so he could wrap his lips around Wei Wuxian’s wet folds and suck them too, taste him all around.

He pushed his fingers further inside, all the way to the knuckles. Wei Wuxian was so warm inside, wet walls hugging his fingers so neatly as he clenched around them. Lan Wangji caressed them gently in return, while he moved his fingers back and forth, back and forth. Gently, slowly fucking into him as he mouthed at his wet pussy.

Adding his saliva to his slickness.

It created such a wet, obscene sound, though he only had ears for Wei Wuxian’s moans.

Delicious and loud, and Lan Wangji could not help but moan in return.

He shifted his hips, rutted against the bed.

His cock was aching painfully, yearning to replace his fingers inside Wei Wuxian’s warm hole. But he had a goal, and he had not yet reached it—though with the way Wei Wuxian was clenching around his fingers, his hair, the way his moans got breathier and his thighs trembled, it would not take long.

With a third finger slipped inside, Lan Wangji returned his attention to that little cock. He took it back into his mouth and swirled his tongue around it. Tasted him, sucked him, let his slick wet his chin and mouth and fingers. It soaked him as he thrust his three fingers in and out, caressing his walls and rubbing against a spot deep inside, just to make him gasp.

Lan Wangji wanted more.

“A-Ahh,” Wei Wuxian moaned, shaking underneath him. “L-Lan Zhan… I’m haa… fuck, I’m gonna—gonna come… please… please, ahhh…”

Lan Wangji hummed around him, encouragingly.

He rubbed his pinky against him, just below his stretched hole. He did not insert it, but the tease of it made Wei Wuxian close his legs—or attempt to. Lan Wangji still had a bruising grip on one thigh, but the other was free and pressed against the side of his head, tight and warm and trembling.

The fingers in his hair pulled, shaking too.

Above him, Wei Wuxian gasped deliciously.

And then he came, tensing up and clenching all around him.

Lan Wangji sucked him through it, fucked him through it with his fingers.

Closed his eyes and breathed him in.

Several moments passed before Wei Wuxian eased up.

When he did, he let out a stuttering breath of a moan and shook underneath him, hips grinding aimlessly down against his teasing fingers. Lan Wangji pulled off his cock, gave it a gentle kiss (to which Wei Wuxian whimpered and moaned), and then lowered himself and replaced his fingers with his tongue, just to taste his release.

Just to keep him wet, though he was already so soaked.

Wei Wuxian panted above him, heavy and whiny—whimpering, as he shook.

Lan Wangji licked at him another while, and could have stayed a while longer.

But then Wei Wuxian tugged insistently at his hair. Lan Wangji allowed himself to be guided up, leaving wet kisses along Wei Wuxian’s clenched stomach. He kissed all the way up, past his scars and his uneven nipples, up to his panting, flushed face.

And he kissed him, open-mouthed and wet with slick.

Let him taste himself.

Wei Wuxian moaned into his mouth and finally, his grip on his hair loosened. His hand shifted and slid down to rest against his cheek, thumb brushing over his slick-wet chin. His other hand wandered down over his bare shoulder, along his chest, down his stomach, until those nimble fingers found the belt around his hips.

They played with it, tried to undo it—though it was difficult, in this position.

Lan Wangji let him struggle with it, just for a little while.

Just to kiss him, a little longer.

But when Wei Wuxian whined impatiently into his mouth and tugged pointedly at the belt, so close to his neglected cock, he could wait no more.

Lan Wangji kissed him hard, one more time.

Then, he tore himself away and sat back, uncaring of the string of saliva that followed him. He pushed away Wei Wuxian’s impatient hand to undo the belt himself. He unzipped his pants next and shoved both them and his underwear down, exhaling sharply at the relief when his aching cock slipped out.

Not wanting to be too far from Wei Wuxian, he maneuvered around in this spot on the bed until his pants were off entirely, then he carelessly tossed them elsewhere. He did not care where, he just wanted them off and away.

And then, because it had been neglected too long, he sat back and wrapped a hand around his cock.

He exhaled, closed his eyes as he stroked himself, just a couple times.

It felt like relief—but far from enough.

Slowly, hand still around himself, he opened his eyes and looked at the man laid out before him.

Wei Wuxian was watching him too, eyes dark and locked onto his cock. His kiss-red lips were parted, tongue running out to lick at them, and his cheeks were flushed prettily. Without looking away, he spread his legs invitingly, lifting them up to present his wet hole and his little cock that remained erect.

Lan Wangji had to clench his hand around himself, cock aching.

He wanted nothing more than to slip into that hole, knew the slide would be easy and beautiful.

But…

But.

Exhaling, he knee-walked back over between Wei Wuxian’s spread legs and positioned himself right there, cock hovering over him and hand stroking along the length of it. He watched Wei Wuxian watch him, watched him stare with those hungry eyes. He watched and waited, unmoving as he stroked himself.

It took an eternity for it to click for Wei Wuxian.

He blinked, frowned, then lifted his gaze to meet his.

Lan Wangji kept stroking himself, staring at his beautiful face.

Beautiful, pouty—brat.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian whined and pointedly lifted his legs. “Get in me, er-gege.”

Lan Wangji hummed, exhaled as he rubbed over his head. “No,” he told him.

Beneath him, Wei Wuxian whined again and reached out to him. “Lan Zhaaaan. Why not?”

Lan Wangji let him reach, let him grab his wrist to tug at him. Tug his cock closer.

But Lan Wangji did not move, though he kept stroking himself.

It was impossible not to, with how much he ached.

How much he wanted to come, to spill over Wei Wuxian and see him sticky, not just sweaty and flushed. He wanted to paint him beautifully, milky white, wanted him to be marked with his seed, wanted to push it into his mouth, his hole too, perhaps—

“I do not have a condom,” he told him, voice a little tight.

In his hand, his cock throbbed as his eyes wandered down Wei Wuxian’s naked body.

Imagining it painted sticky; his little cock, his pussy, his stomach, chest. All of him.

His hand sped up, just a little.

But Wei Wuxian’s grip on his wrist tightened, stilling him.

“Er-gege,” he said in a whine. “Who cares! Just stick it in me already.”

Lan Wangji leveled him a look and scolded, “Wei Ying.”

They had had a conversation much like this, once before.

Where Wei Wuxian had tried to go without a condom, and Lan Wangji had refused.

Though he had wanted nothing more than to slip into him then too.

“Lan Zhaaan,” Wei Wuxain retaliated, poking out his bottom lip in a playful pout.

He moved his hand from around his wrist down to wrap around his cock, right above where Lan Wangji’s own hand rested at the base of it. His grip was light, teasingly so, clever fingers running along the length and then circled around the head. Beneath their hands, he spread his legs, tilted his hips, gently tugged on his cock in a silent invite.

“Er-gege,” he said, low and quiet. “I know you want to.”

And he did.

Lan Wangji did, as much as he had wanted to then too.

Wanted nothing more than to take him.

But he had not completely lost his mind, still retained some form of thought.

Still, he shifted a little closer and leaned over him, empty hand coming to rest beside his head. Slowly, slow enough to make Wei Wuxian look back up at him and lose that teasing grin, he leaned down and kissed him. A firm press on the lips, then he slipped his tongue inside, just because he couldn’t not.

But the kiss did not last long before he pulled back, only far enough to speak.

Against his lips, Lan Wangji whispered, “No.”

Wei Wuxian blinked, then groaned at him. Lan Wangji nearly laughed at his annoyance.

It felt only right to be mean, here, considering their beginning.

Wei Wuxian shoved at him then, and Lan Wangji let himself be pushed back. Wei Wuxian slipped out from underneath him and left the bed on shaky legs as he muttered unintelligible words. He stomped over to where he had discarded his clothes and crouched down, digging through his pants.

Lan Wangji watched him—well.

His eyes shamelessly traveled down the length of his bare back until they found Wei Wuxian’s round bottom. There, they stayed and his hand, still wrapped around himself, stroked slowly.

And when Wei Wuxian stood and turned to him, Lan Wangji was slow to lift his gaze from his lower region. He only did because Wei Wuxian stepped back over to him while fiddling with something in his hands.

Lan Wangji looked up, stared at the condom that Wei Wuxian was ripping open.

His hand stilled. He blinked at the condom.

Something ugly unfurled in his chest, something akin to jealousy.

Anger, unrightful possessiveness.

“Do you carry that with you?” he found himself asking.

“Huh?” Wei Wuxian paused, blinked at him, then he grinned and said, “Well, it’s always good to be prepared.”

He winked at him, and Lan Wangji clenched his jaw, suppressed the urge to throw something.

It was not his place—

Wei Wuxian laughed, then.

“Kidding!” he said in his chuckle. “I’m kidding, er-gege. I haven’t bought condoms in, oh. A decade, I’d say. But, well. I was foolish and hopeful, so after I’d dropped everyone off back home, I bought a pack on the way back here. There are more in my car, if we need it.”

He paused, grinned, then added, “When we need it.”

Lan Wangji rolled his eyes, shook his head.

But he could not hide the smile on his lips, nor the breath of relief he exhaled.

He shifted and sat himself down properly as Wei Wuxian stepped up to him, let go of himself when Wei Wuxian swatted at his hand. Wei Wuxian pulled the condom out of the pack (which he discarded, carelessly over his shoulder) and reached out toward his cock. But he paused, hand hovering just above.

“You didn’t grow in size, did you?” he asked him.

Lan Wangji shook his head. “No.”

“Oh, good,” Wei Wuxian said with a smile. “Then I remembered right.” He paused, wrapping his other hand around the base of Lan Wangji’s cock while he placed the condom against the tip. Then, lightly, he said, “Well, of course I did. I have a dildo the same size as you, after all.”

Lan Wangji’s breath caught in his throat. He barely paid attention as Wei Wuxian rolled the condom down over the length of his cock, stroking him as he went. Instead, he stared at him, eyes wide and ears flaming.

Quietly, he asked, “What?”

“What?” Wei Wuxian echoed, grinning at him. “I missed you, you know. After we parted ways, how else was I supposed to fill the ache in me, when my hole was missing you as much as my heart? My fingers aren’t as thick as yours, er-gege, and your cock wasn’t there to fill me either. So, a guy had to make do somehow.”

Lan Wangji stared at him, wide-eyed.

An image of Wei Wuxian fucking himself with a toy flashed in his mind, stuffing himself so full as he moaned and whined and called his name. His name, against the empty bed.

Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan…

All the while Lan Wangji had been on the other side of the country, none the wiser.

Something unfurled in his chest, something desperate and ugly and silly.

He was jealous, he realized. Impossibly turned on, yes, but jealous.

Of a fake cock, just because it got to stuff Wei Wuxian when he had not been able to.

He imagined, for just a flash of a second, running over to Wei Wuxian’s place, finding the dildo, and throwing it out. Laying himself on his bed with his cock out, hard and ready, for Wei Wuxian to use instead. And Wei Wuxian would, he knew. Happily.

Another part of him wanted to tackle Wei Wuxian to the bed and fuck him, right away.

And he was about to move, but a hand on his chest stopped him.

“But,” Wei Wuxian said as he pushed against him, “I have the real thing right here, so there is no need for that anymore. Isn’t that right, er-gege?”

Lan Wangji let himself get pushed back against the bed, hands coming up to rest on Wei Wuxian’s thighs when he crawled back onto the bed. Wei Wuxian moved over him and settled himself in his lap, a leg on either side of him. Wet hole so close to his aching cock, yet not close enough—for he was not yet inside him, only just hovering above.

Belatedly, Lan Wangji said, “Mn.”

“Mm,” Wei Wuxian hummed in return, then spread his legs and pressed down against him.

Pressed his wet folds against Lan Wangji’s shaft that laid up against his stomach.

Hard and yearning.

Lan Wangji inhaled sharply, hands flexing on Wei Wuxian’s thighs.

Wei Wuxian moaned, rubbed against him in a slow slide, and asked, “Aahhh, er-gege… have you thought of me too? When you touched yourself… did you think about being inside me again? Even after all these years… did you think of me?”

“Yes,” Lan Wangji did not hesitate to say. “Wei Ying. Yes. Always.”

And it was not a lie, nor an exaggeration. There had never been anyone but Wei Wuxian.

His Wei Ying.

Wei Wuxian tilted his hips, ground down against Lan Wangji’s length. He placed his hands on Lan Wangji’s stomach for leverage, and Lan Wangji could feel eyes on him. But he did not meet them. Instead, his own eyes were drawn to where their bodies touched—where Wei Wuxian was rubbing himself against his wrapped cock, where his enlarged clit poked against the head.

A cock, so little and pretty against his own.

Lan Wangji unwound his hands and moved them, delighting when he left behind reddened skin marked by his fingers. He ran them up along those meaty thighs until he found Wei Wuxian’s hips. There, he grabbed him, stilled him. Kept him pressed against himself, warm and throbbing.

“Wei Ying,” he said, voice rough and tight. “Do not tease.”

“Mm,” Wei Wuxian hummed, circling his hips anyway. “Is Lan Zhan impatient, huh? Jealous, perhaps… you have given me two already, and you haven’t gotten anything yet after all.”

It was not true. Lan Wangji had gotten plenty pleasure, eating him out.

Even though his cock ached in disagreement.

“It’s only fair,” Wei Wuxian continued as he rose on his knees, “for you to get some too, then.”

He reached beneath himself and took Lan Wangji’s cock in hand, the other staying on his stomach to keep himself steady. He raised his cock and lined him up, rubbed the head against his wet folds until they spread for him and the head nudged against his loose hole instead.

He moaned with it, and Lan Wangji inhaled, watched as he began to sink down slowly.

The head slipped inside with ease, and Wei Wuxian let out a shaky moan.

Lan Wangji gripped his hips tightly, tried not to push him down too quick.

But Wei Wuxian went down so easy, with no resistance. It was like he swallowed him up, right into his warm hole, the walls hugging him so tightly as if they too missed his cock.

“Aahhh, fuck,” Wei Wuxian moaned, high-pitched and whiny, and not even halfway down. “Fuu-uuckk… Lan Zhan… aahhh… I’m gonna come again already…”

His stomach was clenching, legs trembling.

Lan Wangji lifted his gaze to look at his face.

Wei Wuxian was flushed, so brightly red and beautiful. His mouth hang open as he breathed and moaned and whined, all noise. And his eyes, dark and half-lidded. Shining with unshed tears.

Lan Wangji grabbed his hips tightly, guided him further down on his cock.

“Ahhh!” Wei Wuxian gasped in a moan, but let himself sink down.

He sank down, down, down—all the way, until he sat flush against Lan Wangji.

With his cock stuffed fully, deeply inside him.

Only then did Lan Wangji exhale, and it came out as a moan.

Wei Wuxian was so utterly warm, wrapped tightly and neatly around him.

Against his hips, Lan Wangji’s fingers gripped tight as Wei Wuxian clenched around him.

“Haa, fuck…” Wei Wuxian breathed out and moved his hips in slow, shallow circles. “Ahh, Lan Zhan… you feel so good in me… haa, I’ve missed this… your cock… do I feel good, er-gege? Does it feel good, being inside my wet, little pussy again?”

Lan Wangji tightened his grip on him.

“Ah!” Wei Wuxian stilled, stared down at him. “Did you just twitch?”

Lan Wangji did not answer, mouth in a thin line.

Inside Wei Wuxian, his cock throbbed and ached.

And he knew, without having to feel, that his ears were burning.

“Er-gege,” Wei Wuxian said and oh, there was that grin, that smirk. He circled his hips, teasingly, clenched around him pointedly. Moaned, hands spread out on his stomach as he ground down against him. “Do you like when I talk like that?”

It was a silly question.

Wei Wuxian knew Lan Wangji liked it, always had.

Though he glared at him, wished him to stop.

Only because talk like that whispered to parts of him, the unrestrained and rough parts—the mean ones that wanted to make Wei Wuxian cry, to fuck him until he begged him to stop and then keep fucking him long after even then. The cruel parts that wanted to ruin Wei Wuxian, unkindly. Take him apart, until he was a sobbing mess.

And Wei Wuxian knew this. Had found out, plenty times in the past.

Yet, it had never stopped him, just as it did not stop him now.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said, voice breathy, hips moving teasingly. “You like when I tell you how wet you make me, don’t you… how my pussy drips at the thought of your cock in me… ahh, I get so wet, when I play with myself… ohh, look how hard my dick is too.”

He lifted a hand from Lan Wangji’s stomach and put it against himself as he shifted his hips forward. He spread out his fingers, encircled his little cock between two, and pushed the skin around it up to make it stand taller, hard and erect.

Lan Wangji stared at it, his mouth watering, his cock twitching.

Wei Wuxian gasped, moaned, clenched around him in return.

“Ahh, Lan Zhan,” he breathed out. “Did you just get harder?”

Impossible, Lan Wangji wanted to say. But he did not reply.

Instead, he surged up and shoved Wei Wuxian out of his lap and onto the bed.

Wei Wuxian bounced slightly when he landed on the mattress behind him with an oomph, all loose limbs. Before he could utter a single noise of complaint, however, Lan Wangji settled himself between his still spread legs, took himself in hand, and guided his cock back inside Wei Wuxian’s loose hole.

Wei Wuxian inhaled sharply when he did, but took him so beautifully.

So easily, without restraint—walls hugging his length like a hungry beast.

An ugly, silly jealousy furled within Lan Wangji’s chest. He tried to swallow it, but words spilled from his lips anyway, as he pushed deep inside of him; “Does your dildo feel like this?”

“N-No!” Wei Wuxian gasped beneath him, taking him so well. “This—haa—this is… L-Lan Zhaa—ahh! You’re bigger! Bigger!”

Lan Wangji pushed all the way in, until his hips were flush with Wei Wuxian’s plush bottom.

Cock nestled deep inside him, once more.

“Better,” he ground out.

“B-Better!” Wei Wuxian agreed easily, arching up.

He shifted against him, ground back against him—or perhaps he was merely trying to get comfortable.

The angle was not quite right, Lan Wangji knew. He could feel it too.

While Wei Wuxian gasped and cried out beneath him as he squirmed, Lan Wangji was quick to grab a pillow from the other end of the bed and shove it under Wei Wuxian’s arching back. He grabbed him by the hips and shifted them both, until the pillow was properly underneath him.

When he settled him there and thrust shallowly against him, it was better.

And Wei Wuxian sighed in content, though his hips kept moving.

Urging him on.

Lan Wangji held his hips in his hands and ground against him, just to make him gasp.

And gasp Wei Wuxian did, fingers curling into the ruined sheet beneath him.

Lan Wangji kept his hips moving in a lazy grind, cock rubbing against those warm walls and sack heavy on his bottom. As he moved, teasing them both, he lifted one hand from Wei Wuxian’s hip to move it down between Wei Wuxian’s spread legs, down to where they were connected. His fingers easily found Wei Wuxian’s little cock and brushed against where it still stood hard in its short length.

Beneath him, Wei Wuxian gasped loudly and immediately reached down to shove his hand away.

“D-Don’t!” he cried out, stomach contracting. “I’m sensitive, er-gege!”

Overstimulated, Lan Wangji thought.

He held his gaze daringly and touched him again, insistent.

“L-Lan Zha-aah!”

Wei Wuxian slapped at his hand again, but Lan Wangji slapped back and kept his hand right there.

Wei Wuxian let out a sob and kept trying to shove him away as he squirmed beneath him, against him, clenched around him so tightly that Lan Wangji had to breathe out a moan too, his cock throbbing deep inside.

Finally, after no more than a few seconds, Lan Wangji had enough.

He grabbed both those offending hands and roughly shoved them onto the bed, above Wei Wuxian’s head.

Pinned there by the wrists with one hand, he leaned over him, stared at him.

Wei Wuxian stared back, eyes wide and pupils blown.

Mouth open in silent gasps.

“L-Lan Zhan,” he whispered in a breath. “D-Don’t— Don’t be cruel…”

In any other situation, he might sound scared.

But Lan Wangji could see the flush on his cheeks, the way he clenched deliciously around him.

He was turned on, and Lan Wangji wanted to touch him, so he would.

Without looking away, Lan Wangji lifted his other hand to his own face. He opened his mouth and let his tongue loll out, wet with gathered saliva. He twirled it around a couple fingers, coating them until they were wet enough, then he reached down between them and pushed his wet fingers against Wei Wuxian’s sensitive little dick.

Wei Wuxian inhaled sharply, back arching.

He tried to shift away, but there was nowhere for him to go.

Lan Wangji rubbed at him, ran his wet fingers on either side of that sensitive nub.

Without thinking, his hips started moving again too—slow, shallow grinds as the walls clenched around him. As Wei Wuxian squirmed and shook, tightened deliciously around him. His fingers curled where they were pinned to the bed, his thighs tight on either side of Lan Wangji’s waist, begging to close.

Wei Wuxian was the one to break their eye contact.

With a whimper, his eyes rolled into the back of his head before they closed as his brows lifted and scrunched, mouth dropping open in broken gasps and sobs. That was fine, his eyes would open again. But when he turned his head and hid his face against his own bicep, Lan Wangji let go of his little cock only to reach up and grab his chin.

He forced his head back to him, made him gasp and open his eyes.

“Do not turn away from me,” he told him, wet fingers gripping his chin tightly.

Wei Wuxian stared up at him, wide-eyed and flushed prettily.

“Lan Zhan,” he said—sobbed. His eyes were oh so wet. “L-Lan Zhan… er-gege… no… no more… I can’t—“

“You can,” Lan Wangji interrupted and reached back down.

Wei Wuxian hiccuped on a sob and squirmed when Lan Wangji took his cock between his fingers again. But he did not look away, did not turn his head. He kept their eyes locked even as he gasped and his stomach tightened, another orgasm undoubtedly moments away.

Lan Wangji kept stroking him as he fucked into him, relentlessly slow but pointedly.

His cock dragged over those tight, warm walls, head rubbing against a certain spot.

Wei Wuxian sobbed, tears falling down his cheeks, and he cried, “L-Lan… ahh, Lan Zhan… s-stop… stop, I’m gonna— I can’t—can’t take any more, please… please… er-gege…”

“One more,” Lan Wangji whispered above him.

He pushed his fingers a little firmer around his sensitive cock, held his wrists a little tighter.

Fucked into him a little rougher, though his thrusts remained shallow.

Beneath them, the bed groaned and rocked with them.

It did not take long before Wei Wuxian arched his back and bucked his hips—pushed his little dick against his fingers.

“Ahh!” he cried out, stomached clenched along with his thighs. “L-Lan Zha-aah!”

And he came, clenched tightly around his cock.

When his eyes closed and he threw his head back, Lan Wangji let him.

He merely sat back and watched him, fingers stroking him through it.

Wei Wuxian shook and trembled and cried through it, moaning so deliciously in his ears.

Several moments passed before he seemed to come back to himself. He exhaled a heavy moan as his limbs loosened, though it took him another few seconds before his eyes blinked open blearily.

Lan Wangji had let go of his cock by then and only when those eyes found his own did he loosen his grip on his wrists too. He slid his hand down along one arm, touching him all the way down until his hand found his hip again, the other joining on the other side.

He shifted them then, lifted Wei Wuxian’s hips a little further into his lap.

And then he sat back and did not wait a beat before he fucked into him.

Wei Wuxian inhaled sharply beneath him, but his legs remained spread and his hands reached out to grab his arms. Not to stop him, but just to hold on as he arched his back and let him move.

“Yeah…” he breathed out, legs lifting to wrap around him. “Fuck me, Lan Zhan… fuck me…”

He sounded so out of breath, so distant still.

Tired, overstimulated—but still wanting to be taken.

Lan Wangji knew he would not last long, himself. He had been on the edge for what felt like an eternity, ever since Wei Wuxian sat in his lap and rutted against him. He could have come then, but had not. He could have come while on his front, with his mouth on Wei Wuxian, but he had not. He could have come when Wei Wuxian had sunk down on him, easily.

But he had not.

And he was about ready to burst, his cock screaming for release.

He was desperate, and it made his thrusts uncoordinated. Sloppy.

Not that he cared, nor did Wei Wuxian seem to, for he moaned beneath him and welcomed his cock all the way in each time Lan Wangji thrust forward, walls hugging him so tightly, urging him on. And those hands wandered up his flexed arms, touched him wherever they could reach.

Lan Wangji exhaled a grunt, leaned over him, gripped his hips tighter as he fucked into him.

Roughly, harshly, desperately.

Pace faster and faster, the closer he got to his prolonged release.

Skin slapped against skin, wet and filthy—his full and heavy sack slapped against his wet bottom, undoubtedly leaving it red as his fingers would his hips where they dug into the meat of them. Wei Wuxian always marked so prettily, Lan Wangji wanted to leave many more on him.

But he could not think, could not form a coherent thought.

He wanted—

He wanted—

“Give it to me,” Wei Wuxian breathed beneath him. “Lan Zhan, come on. Fill me up.”

Lan Wangji bent over slightly, grunted as he fucked into him.

“Come in me,” Wei Wuxian urged. “Lan Zhan, er-gege… please… please, ahh…”

And how could Lan Wangji deny him anything?

With a guttural moan, Lan Wangji pushed deeply, roughly into him and came.

Filled the condom with his seed, though he wished it were Wei Wuxian’s hole instead.

He came and came, hips twitching as he did.

And when he finished, he exhaled heavily and let himself fall onto Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian hummed as he wrapped his arms and legs around him, hands going to his hair where they pet him gently, brushed away the strands sticking to his sweaty forehead. Lan Wangji closed his eyes and rested against Wei Wuxian’s chest, exhaling when he felt soft lips press against his forehead in a kiss.

“Good boy,” Wei Wuxian whispered against his skin.

Lan Wangji hummed, tugged his arms around his love.

They stayed there a while, breathing as they both came down from their highs.

Lan Wangji was softening, but he kept his cock inside Wei Wuxian anyway. Not that Wei Wuxian seemed keen on letting him pull out either, with the way his legs were wrapped tightly around him, locked at the ankles, not letting him move. Keeping him buried within him.

Lan Wangji did not mind.

He stayed there, ear pressed against Wei Wuxian’s steady heart.

Though, after a while, when Lan Wangji could breathe again and his heart did not stutter wildly in his chest, he turned his head a little just to press a kiss to Wei Wuxian’s flat, sweaty chest. He kissed his damp skin, one hand sliding up along his side to touch the scar that ran across his chest. He kissed that too, kissed along it until his lips found a nipple to latch onto.

Above him, Wei Wuxian hummed and continued to pet his hair.

He said nothing, just kept humming. A familiar melody.

Lan Wangji swirled his tongue around his nipple, once, twice. Then, he detached himself and kissed his way up his body. All the way, until he found Wei Wuxian’s lips. He kissed him, swallowing up that hummed melody.

It was a lazy kiss and did not stop Wei Wuxian’s humming.

Lan Wangji reveled in it, his heart soaring.

Slowly, he shifted his hips back and let his soft cock slip out of Wei Wuxian’s wet hole. Wei Wuxian made a soft noise against his lips as he did, but he did not argue or complain when Lan Wangji shifted further back. He merely let his legs fall from either side of him as Lan Wangji sat back, breaking their kiss.

Lan Wangji looked down at him, spread out beneath him so beautifully.

Wei Wuxian was so flushed, skin shiny with a sheen of sweat.

Not sticky, not covered with Lan Wangji’s seed.

Lan Wangji took his own soft cock in hand, slowly pulled off the filled condom.

A brief thought passed him; of dumping his load onto Wei Wuxian’s stomach and coating him with it. Wei Wuxian would let him, he did not doubt it. Wei Wuxian would like it, even. He had always liked to be marked by him, to soak in his seed.

Lan Wangji pictured it, felt his cock twitch back to life.

But he tied a knot on the condom and tossed it aside to discard later.

Then, he laid down next to Wei Wuxian and opened his arms when Wei Wuxian shifted over to snuggle up against his side. Wei Wuxian rested his head on his chest with a quiet, non-harmonious hum and placed a hand flat on his stomach, one leg flipping over his middle and his wet, sensitive lower region pressed against his hip. Just to stay there, nothing more.

Lan Wangji wrapped an arm around him, rested a hand over the one on his chest.

He turned his head, kissed his forehead, and held him close.

In all the years they had spent apart, he did not think he would get to have this again. To have him in his arms, his bed, his life—but would he have him? Would he see him again, or was this a belated goodbye? The thought made him pause, made him tighten his grip on him a little more.

He did not want to let him go, not again.

He could not, it would be too difficult.

A multitude of ways to stay with him was running through his mind, when—

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian said into the quiet.

“Mn,” Lan Wangji hummed, to show he was listening. Always listening.

“Do you still play piano?”

“Mn.”

“Mm. I’ve been looking for a teacher for A-Yuan. He wants to play.”

Hope bloomed in his chest.

“Wei Ying,” he said against his forehead. “Let me teach him.”

Wei Wuxian shifted, tilted his head up to look at him. “Would you?” he asked him, searching his eyes. “I’ll pay you, of course—“

“No,” Lan Wangji interrupted. “No pay.”

Wei Wuxian stared at him, then he grinned and shifted a little closer. “Not even with my body, er-gege?” he asked, voice sultry and low as he ground his hips against him.

Lan Wangji held him close, let him grind.

Against his thigh, his cock filled a little more.

“Wei Ying,” he told him, serious anyway. “If I get to see you, that is payment enough.”

Wei Wuxian stilled, paused. Blinked at him.

“Aiyaah, Lan Zhan,” he said then and hid his face against Lan Wangji’s chest with a giggle. “You can’t just say things like that!” He wiggled against him, hugging him close. Then, he laughed and looked back up at him, cheeks flushed and a grin on his lips as he said, “I was trying to be sexy, and you had to go be romantic and ruin it.”

Lan Wangji hummed, smiled too.

But he was not sorry, for he had only spoken the truth.

“Wei Ying,” he said, quietly, leaning into him. “Do not leave me again.”

Wei Wuxian was quiet for a beat, then he grabbed his face and kissed him. “Never,” he whispered against his lips. “Never, Lan Zhan. You’ll never get rid of me again.”

He had made the same threat in their teens, just to be annoying.

Lan Wangji reveled in it now, knowing it would be true this time.

Because he would make it so.

He leaned in and kissed him, hard and deep, telling him I love you, I love you, never leave.

Wei Wuxian kissed him back with the same ferocity, the same hunger. The same love.

He hummed into his mouth and pressed firmer against him, against his hip. Lan Wangji rolled them over and shifted, ran a hand down the length of his sweaty, flushed body. He reached down between Wei Wuxian’s legs and touched at his wetness—touched his sensitive little dick.

It no longer stood erect, but Lan Wangji rubbed at it anyway.

Wei Wuxian pulled back from his lips to hiss, then whined as he kissed him again, grabbed at him. Spread his legs, despite it.

“I’m sore, er-gege,” he whined, pathetically.

“I will be gentle,” Lan Wangji told him against his lips.

He slipped his hand farther down, let two fingers slip into his loose hole.

Wei Wuxian whined again, pointedly, bucked against him.

Lan Wangji leaned back a little, just to look at him.

Wei Wuxian’s cheeks were still flushed, his bottom lip out in a pout as his chin dipped and eyes grew big and wide—pleading, blinking up at him.

Lan Wangji slipped his fingers all the way in, pressed his thumb against the underside of his clit, delighted when Wei Wuxian’s mouth opened and that pleading expression washed away into one of pleasure as he gasped breathlessly.

“Mm,” Lan Wangji hummed, rubbing against him. “But Wei Ying does not want gentle.”

“Haa,” Wei Wuxian exhaled in a moan. “Y-Yes—Yes, I do…”

Lan Wangji spread his fingers, opened his loose hole. “No,” he said.

Wei Wuxian whimpered and pawed at him desperately. When he tugged at him, Lan Wangji went with ease and kissed him, open-mouthed and hungrily licking into his mouth to swallow up his soft moans.

They kissed a while, tongues twirling while Lan Wangji fingered him.

Wei Wuxian was so wet still, soaking his fingers and growing hard against his rubbing thumb. Between his own legs, Lan Wangji knew he too was getting hard again—not quite yet, but almost.

Soon.

It would not take much.

After all, it had been deprived of this hole for far too long and wanted more, more, more.

Until neither could stand, preferably.

Until Wei Wuxian was marked and his again.

After a while, Lan Wangji pulled his tongue back and broke the kiss.

Just to whisper against his lips, “Keys.”

“Mm,” Wei Wuxian hummed, breathy in a moan. “Huh?”

He was dazed, not quite present.

Lan Wangji did not stop moving his fingers, rubbing against his little cock.

“Your car keys,” he said anyway. “I will get another condom.”

“Nooo,” Wei Wuxian said in a whine and grabbed at him, refusing to let him go. “No condom, not this time. I wanna be filled by you, er-gege.”

Lan Wangji’s cock twitched. He sighed. “Wei Ying, you—“

“Aiyoh, Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian interrupted and tutted. “We don’t have to worry about the same things we used to, you know. I don’t have certain equipment anymore—a shame, I know, I know. You would love nothing more than to baby-trap me, ahahha…”

“Wei Ying—“

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian retaliated, smiling up at him. “I’m serious. I don’t have the equipment, so you can go nuts.” He paused, then he snickered and added, “And nut in me, er-gege.”

Lan Wangji paused, fingers stilling.

He blinked and stared down at him, while Wei Wuxian burst out in laughter.

He kept laughing, laughing, laughing—and Lan Wangji wanted to hear it forever.

But soon, it got interrupted by a gasp and then a moan, and Lan Wangji was fine with listening to that too, especially when it came with Wei Wuxian digging his nails into his shoulders and telling him yes, yes, yes, fuck me, Lan Zhan—!

Yeah. Lan Wangji did not mind this either.

Later, while Wei Wuxian slept soundly beside him, Lan Wangji took out his phone and unearthed the page he had bookmarked, all those years ago. With his fingers absentmindedly carding through his love’s unruly hair, he stared at the ring on the screen and felt an ease settle over him—an ease about the future, for the first time in over a decade.

But for now, he put it aside and wrapped himself around Wei Wuxian.

Fell asleep with a quiet smile on his lips, warm and settled.