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“A-Yuan! A-Yuan!”
Lan Sizhui sputters and nearly trips over the flat ground he’s walking on next to Lan Jingyi when he hears his name shouted from behind them. No one ever calls him A-Yuan anymore, not since he was a child, they must be talking to someone else.
“Sizhui! My darling, my child, my little radish, wait!”
Lan Jingyi looks between his best friend’s almost undetectably alarmed face and the young man yelling and stumbling as he runs up to them. He’s slight and handsome, and breaking multiple sect rules at the same time.
“Oh, Jingyi’s here too, good. I need your help, my array didn’t work right, but now your father’s acting so strange. I’m not really sure what I did, honestly, but I need to undo it.”
Lan Sizhui politely pulls his arm away when the loud man reaches out to grab him, and the man drops his own hand with a pout.
“What? I told you I’d wash my hands before trying to touch you, didn’t I? See, clean! I promise I won’t get blood on your robes again, so come on!”
Lan Jingyi silently mouths out “blood?” and Lan Sizhui dodges the man's grabby hands a second time. His pout gets deeper and he reaches out to run his fingers through Lan Sizhui’s ponytail.
“Did you cut your hair? What happened? Did it get burnt off? You know, that happened to me several times when I first started making talismans, nothing to be embarrassed about!”
Lan Sizhui jerks away so abruptly that he nearly trips. He’s not usually this rude, but he’s never had a stranger so persistently invading his personal space.
“Please, don’t touch me.”
The man pulls his hand back and he almost looks hurt before his expression turns to thinly veiled concern.
“Are you injured? Where does it hurt? Did something happen while I was working?”
His hands hover over Lan Sizhui’s shoulders as he visibly assesses his state.
“I’m not hurt.”
The man takes a step back to look at him fully, and Lan Sizhui feels uncomfortable being studied so thoroughly.
“What are you doing?! What makes you think you can just come over here and grab him and stare at him? What kind of person are you?” Lan Jingyi says in a volume as close to shouting as he can get without breaking the rules. The man’s face scrunches up in a mix of confusion and upset.
With the attention off of him, Lan Sizhui finally catches up with everything the loud man has said.
“Wait, something happened with my father? Is he alright?” Lan Sizhui doesn’t bother trying to hide the worry in his voice.
“Hanguang-Jun? What’d you do to him?!” Lan Jingyi adds on, not lowering his volume at all.
“Pfft, what did I do to him? more like what did he do to me! Tossed me out of the jingshi right on my rump! And when I’m already so sore, too…”
Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi share a confused—and mildly uncomfortable—look. Tossed him out of the jingshi? Why and how was he in there in the first place?!
The man huffs when they stay quiet too long for his liking, and grabs both boys by the wrist to drag them back in the direction he came from. He looks rightly offended when they both tear their hands away.
“Really? I would expect this behavior from A-Ling, but from my dear Jingyi and my own child? A-Yuan, you wound me,” the man says while dramatically putting a hand over his heart as though he is actually hurt.
“Child?!” Lan Jingyi shouts, seeming to forgo following the rules entirely.
“Yes, yes, I know he’s all grown up now, but let a mother be wistful, won’t you?”
“Mother?” Lan Jingyi squeaks, and Lan Sizhui would be more concerned about his loss of the ability to speak if he wasn’t so shaken himself.
The man pays no attention to their shock as he turns around to head back down the path.
“Where do you think we should go? I would say back to Lan Zhan, but he was so mean to me, I only want to go there when we’ve found a solution. I suppose we could go to the library? Uncle would kill me if he knew I went in the sect library by myself, though. We could always ask Zewu-Jun, but I would hate to make him break seclusion just because of one of my failed experiments,” the man muses as he walks, confident that the boys will follow him. They do.
“I’m sorry, did you say Zewu-Jun? Why would he be in seclusion?” Lan Sizhui asks, with no lack of concern. The man looks back at him over his shoulder with a perplexed expression.
“What do you mean, why? You know why, he hasn’t been out since—“ the man cuts himself off with wide eyes and whirls around to fully face both boys.
“Oh fuck, I’m so stupid.”
Lan Sizhui is almost successful in suppressing his gasp at the cursing, Lan Jingyi doesn’t even try to. The strange man’s features are infinitely more serious than they were only seconds ago, and he suddenly looks much older.
“Lan Sizhui, how old are you?” he asks with such weight that Lan Sizhui feels like there’s an incorrect answer.
“I’m fifteen.”
“Fuck.”
-
The man has been completely silent since he asked for Lan Sizhui’s age, and it’s a disquieting contrast to his earlier lively disposition. Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi don’t know exactly what they should do, but the man is making his way through the Cloud Recesses like it’s his home, and neither of them can sense any malicious intent from him, so it can’t hurt to just.. follow him around for a little while.
“So, what are we supposed to call you?” Lan Jingyi asks after twenty minutes of silence. The man pauses in his step, thinks for a moment, shakes his head once, and says, “For now, you can call me Senior Mo.”
Lan Jingyi frowns and leans over to whisper to Lan Sizhui.
“That’s definitely not his name.”
Lan Sizhui can’t do much more than nod, he still hasn’t wrapped his head around a single bit of this. He thinks maybe he should go check on his father, but he can obviously take care of himself, and Senior Mo doesn’t seem like he wants to hurt anyone, so he should be fine. Though, there are still so many things that make no sense. Senior Mo says he was joking before, about his relation to them, but he seemed genuinely confused when Lan Sizhui didn’t understand why he was being called his son.
But Lan Sizhui doesn’t have a mother, and he certainly doesn’t have a male mother, so what would make this man believe himself to be that? And the way he spoke about his father, could it mean… No, that’s ridiculous.
Lan Sizhui was so lost in thought, he hadn’t even realized what direction they were walking in until they’ve reached the beginning of the path to his father’s home.
“I thought you didn’t want to see Hanguang-Jun. Why are we here?” Lan Jingyi asks with a raised eyebrow.
“You’re right, I don’t want to see Lan Zhan, but that doesn’t mean you can’t! New plan, you go in there, ask for some talisman paper, cinnabar, a brush, and Wei Wuxian’s journal that’s hidden in the floor.”
Both of the young Lans stare at the madman in front of them with dropped jaws.
“Did you just— Did you just say the Yiling Patriarch’s journal?!” Lan Jingyi asks incredulously. Senior Mo rolls his eyes.
“Yes, keep up. It’s under the floorboards near the incense stand in the corner. Well, it is if my charms worked. No time like the present to find out, right? Alright, off you go, I’ll be waiting right here.”
Senior Mo gently nudges them to the path, but they plant their heels in the dirt.
“Are you crazy?! Going into Hanguang-Jun’s home and asking about the Yiling Patriarch?! He’d kill us- well, me, on sight!” Jingyi hisses, and Senior Mo rolls his eyes again.
“Trust me, he doesn’t hate Wei Wuxian as much as you think he does. Plus, you won’t have to ask him anything! Just have A-Yu— Lan Sizhui distract him while you sneak into the floor. Easy enough, yeah?”
He nudges them a little more insistently, but he’s not exactly a match to two strong, young cultivators when it comes to physical strength.
“Senior Mo, I really don’t think this is a good idea. Hanguang-Jun gets.. Well, he gets upset when Wei Wuxian is brought up, and I can’t imagine him being too happy if he found out we took something of his.” Lan Sizhui says, almost pleadingly. Not to mention how much trouble they’d be in if caught with the Yiling Patriarch’s writing. Senior Mo huffs.
“Lan zha- Hanguang-Jun doesn’t even know it’s in there, promise. I didn’t sign it or anything, either, so it’s basically just a regular book, okay? Now go, I need to get home.”
Lan Jingyi goes completely stiff.
“You didn’t sign it?”
“What? No, I said it wasn’t signed.”
“No, you said that you didn’t sign it.”
“Of course I didn’t sign it, it’s not my journal.”
Lan Sizhui is getting uncomfortable. Not that he dislikes Senior Mo, no matter how suspicious he is, but because he feels too familiar. Lan Sizhui knows, without a doubt, that he’s never met this man before, but the way he talks… the way he acts…
“Oh! One more thing, there’s also a flute in the floor that I’d like, but the journal is what’s most important, I can just make a new flute if I need to.”
“A flute?! Is this some sort of game? Pretending to be the Yiling Patriarch?” Lan Jingyi asks with his arms crossed.
“What? No, why would I want to pretend to be Wei Wuxuan? Hahahahah,” Senior Mo laughs, a little too long, and a little too loud.
Lan Jingyi opens his mouth again, but Lan Sizhui speaks up before he can start.
“I’ll do it.”
Two heads whip around to look at him.
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
Lan Sizhui takes a deep breath, he can’t explain exactly why he wants to do this, but he trusts Senior Mo, certainly more than he should, and he wants to help him. He refuses to address the quiet part of himself that says he also really wants to earn Senior Mo’s approval, because that makes absolutely no sense.
“Sizhui, are you serious? You really want to steal from your father to help some lunatic?”
“Hey! I’m not— Well, anyway, it isn’t stealing if it isn’t his! He doesn’t even know he has it, it just happens to be in his house, hidden in the floor, that’s all.”
Lan Sizhui nods. He’s going to feel sick with guilt after this, but Senior Mo seems really desperate, and Lan Sizhui doesn’t want to disappoint him wants to help him.
Lan Jingyi sighs.
“Fine, so what’s the plan?”
-
“See, that wasn’t too hard!” Senior Mo chirps from where he’s been sitting the entire time Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi retrieved the book.
Lan Jingyi is covered in grass stains and twigs, breathing heavily because he was so sure Hanguang-Jun was about to catch and kill him, scowling at Senior Mo, and holding a small black journal that has no right to cause him so much distress.
Lan Sizhui is biting his lip and looking at the ground, trying and failing not to show how awful he feels. It’s just, his father looked so worried when Lan Sizhui said he thought one of the bunnies was very ill. He feels even worse now, because he knows his father is currently tracking down each rabbit to check on them, even though Lan Sizhui told him the one he had been concerned about was alright.
Senior Mo pats them both on the head with a smile, and swipes the journal from Lan Jingyi’s hand.
“Alright then! Time to steal some talisman paper!”
Lan Jingyi groans, and Lan Sizhui feels a deep dread.
-
“Very nice, boys! I’m so proud of your delinquent ways,” Senior Mo says while wiping a fake tear.
The three of them sit around a low table in a private room of the library, with the materials for making talismans spread out in front of them, along with the journal. Lan Jingyi is long past irritated, and Lan Sizhui still feels like a walking ball of guilt. His father just looked so worried.
“Do we ever get to know why we risked our clean records to steal for you?” Lan Jingyi asks with his ever-growing pout. Senior Mo laughs.
“Oh, Jinyi, who are you trying to fool? Certainly not me, I know all about your so-called clean record, I’m married to- I mean, I can tell. Lan Sizhui though, I can believe he’s a star student. No one has a better father than him.”
Lan Jingyi practically squawks.
“You don’t even know my father! You don’t even know Sizhui’s father!”
Senior Mo waves him off dismissively.
“I’ve met him, though. Sometimes you can just tell.”
“You met him when he threw you on your ass!”
“Jinyi, please,” Lan Sizhui says quietly, hoping the other two will follow his lead and lower their voices. Lan Jingyi huffs and crosses his arms, but calms down for his friend’s sake.
“Though, Senior Mo, I do think that we’ve earned an explanation by now, no?”
Senior Mo sighs softly, but nods his head.
“Yes, yes, you have. Give me a moment, it isn’t easy to explain.”
Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi wait patiently in silence for nearly a full five minutes before Senior Mo frowns, and then shrugs.
“Well, I’m basically pretty sure I created an alternate timeline, or at least entered it.”
Lan Jingyi stares at him with an unimpressed look.
“So, time travel. You’re saying you time traveled.”
“Pretty much! Though, I was intending to go further back. There were many things I wanted to prevent, even if it wouldn’t change my own life, at least it would be something. A happier alternative, where my sister and her husband wouldn’t die, my brother wouldn’t hate me, my nephew wouldn’t grow up without parents, Lan Zhan wouldn’t get hurt, the Wens wouldn’t— Just a better place in general.”
Senior Mo’s demeanor has changed back to seriousness, and Lan Sizhui can’t help but notice how sad he looks.
“Wait, what happened to Hanguang-Jun?” Lan Jingyi asks. Lan Sizhui immediately thinks of the scars on his father’s back, but that can’t be what Senior Mo is talking about. Only the sect elders and close family know about those. Well, at least that’s what Lan Sizhui always thought.
“Ah, nothing, don’t listen to me. Nothing can be done about it now. In fact, I think I went back to the point in time where I can really do the least! Haha! How sad is that? Well, I could expose Meng Yao, I guess, but then I wouldn’t be summoned back, and Lan Zhan would die alone, or..” Senior Mo shivers.
“Or he would marry someone else. No he wouldn’t, he’s a Lan. Plus, whose life would I even be saving, anyway? Oh, right, the Mo family. But is that really worth it if it means Lan Zhan will be sad forever? What a selfish thought… but yes, I choose Lan Zhan’s happiness over the Mos.”
Senior Mo nods once at his decision, and goes back to flipping through the journal. Lan Jingyi gives Lan Sizhui a look that displays as much bewilderment as a single expression can.
“Uhm, Senior Mo?”
“Huh? Oh!” Senior Mo straightens up quickly as if he’d forgotten he wasn’t alone.
“Sorry, sorry. I guess I forgot the most important part! I’m not Mo Xuanyu, that’s the body that I’m in, but he sacrificed himself to summon me, it’s a long story. Anyway, I’m Wei Wuxian, and I would like to get home as soon as possible.”
Lan Jingyi chokes on nothing and Lan Sizhui stares blankly at the man in front of him while his brain tries to process what the hell is going on.
“But- But you- You can’t be, you aren’t-“ Lan Jingyi struggles to speak between coughs.
“I can’t be, but I am. I wish I had the time to tell you all about my own timeline, but I’d much rather work on getting back to it. Lan Zhan is probably so worried…” Wei Wuxian mutters his last sentence while flipping through his journal again, before starting to draw his array directly on the floor.
“Why would Hanguang-Jun be worried?”
“Hm? Oh, well, he’s my husband, and he’s very protective.” Wei Wuxian smiles, visibly smitten. Lan Jingyi begins choking again.
“Senior M- Wei, is that what you mean by alternate timeline? Here, Hanguang-Jun and the Yi- you, never got along very well, and you certainly aren’t married.”
“Not yet we aren’t! Didn’t you hear me? I get summoned into this body about a year or two from where we are right now, I meet Lan Zhan again, I find out he’s in love with me, I realize I’ve been in love with him, then we kiss and get married. Oh! And then you find out that you’re Wen Yuan, the child who lived in the burial mounds with me and was raised by me for a little while until I died and Lan Zhan found you and saved you and became the best father ever. Other things happen but they’re less important. Is this the only cinnabar we have?”
Lan Sizhui can only blink owlishly and wait for the explanation Wei Wuxian is apparently not going to finish.
“You’re insane! That’s what it is, this man is insane. Sizhui, we should get Hanguang-Jun.”
“Yes! Get Lan Zhan! Wait, actually, let me finish this array first so I can go home right after we talk to him.”
Wei Wuxian starts to write faster, and bites his own thumb to use his blood to write most of the array. Lan Jingyi and Lan Sizhui are still too baffled to do anything besides stare.
Maybe they’d have less trouble choosing a plan of action if Wei Wuxian didn’t seem so… calm? Happy? Not planning to kill anyone?
They’re still sitting in silence, trading looks when Wei Wuxian sits up with a satisfied huff and nods once before slipping his notebook into his sleeve, getting up, and walking to the door. He pauses in the doorway and turns back to them.
“Are you two coming or do I have to walk to the jingshi by myself?”
-
“Senior Wei, I don’t know if this is a good idea. Like I said, our realities are different, and I really don’t think Hanguang-Jun will react well to a stranger claiming to be the... Yiling Patriarch,” Lan Sizhui says with a gentle hand on Wei Wuxian’s arm as they stand in front of his father’s door. Lan Jingyi is standing twenty feet back, with no desire to get any closer.
Lan Sizhui holds his breath when the door begins to open, and he can see Wei Wuxian grinning next to him. He, unfortunately, overestimated Wei Wuxian’s level of common sense, and is unprepared when he throws himself into Lan Wangji’s arms the second he sees him. Lan Sizhui hears Lan Jingyi’s shout of alarm, and braces himself for whatever is about to happen. He honestly doesn’t know, no one’s ever been so overly familiar with his father, this situation is unprecedented.
“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, don’t drop me this time! I know what’s going on now. I was so sad when you didn’t remember me earlier, you said you’d never make me sad,” Wei Wuxian says with a rather dramatic fake pout.
Lan Wangji’s arms are at his sides, and he looks to Lan Sizhui with a shocked and slightly panicked expression that would be indiscernible from his regular blank expression to anyone who didn’t know him very, very well. Lan Sizhui can only shake his head with wide eyes.
“Lan Zhan, pay attention to me! I missed you, I’ve barely seen you all day! Didn’t you miss your Wei Ying?”
The atmosphere goes from almost jovial surprise, to ice cold anger in the time it takes Wei Wuxian to say the name “Wei Ying”. Even he freezes up after he’s said it, and Lan Sizhui knows that if a man shameless enough to jump on Hanguang-Jun is regretting something he’s said, it must have been a particularly awful thing to say.
“Get off.”
“Lan Zhan—“
Lan Sizhui watches Lan Wangji shove Wei Wuxian off of himself with enough force to have him falling on the ground. He hisses when he lands, but doesn’t seem seriously hurt.
“Ow, ow, ow, right on the— Okay, I deserved that. A-Yuan, help me up.”
Lan Sizhui is reaching for him before he even thinks about it, but Lan Wangji puts an arm out to hold him back. He shakes his head a single time, and Lan Sizhui is absolutely certain he’s never seen his father look at someone with such visible hatred before.
Lan Jingyi (wisely) took his leave some time around when Lan Wangji actually shoved someone, and Lan Sizhui almost wishes he could’ve left too. Though, with the look in his father’s eye, he’s not sure he’d be comfortable leaving him to his own devices with the unarmed man who put it there.
“Lan Zhan, you’re so mean. First, you drop me on my sore ass twice when you’re the one who messed it up to begin with, and now you’re keeping our son from me? So cruel.”
Lan Sizhui stares in horror as his father gets more and more upset. He’s starting to think this man came here solely to commit suicide by Hanguang-Jun. Wei Wuxian puts his hands up in mock surrender.
“Okay, I’m being mean, I keep forgetting you’re still- I’m sorry, I promise I’ll be nice now.”
He picks himself up off the ground with a wince and walks right back into Lan Wangji’s space. Lan Sizhui doesn’t know why he even tried to warn him.
“Do not step any closer.”
“Don’t come any closer? But I’m already here, and how would you be able to hear my beautiful singing from far away?”
Wei Wuxian grins like he isn’t staring death in the face, and Lan Sizhui wonders when his self preservation instincts will kick in, if he even has any. Wei Wuxian leans forward until his nose is an inch away from Lan Wangji’s, and Lan Sizhui decides he definitely does not have any self preservation instincts.
“I told you to stay back.”
“Nuh-uh. You told me not to step any closer, I haven’t taken a single step.”
“Leave,” Lan Wangji forces out through gritted teeth.
Lan Sizhui watches Wei Wuxian’s eyes take in his father’s expression, and he looks almost regretful.
“I’m sorry.”
The apology catches both of the Lans off guard, and Wei Wuxian uses that moment to rest his head on Lan Wangji’s shoulder and start humming.
Lan Sizhui is prepared for his father to push him away again, or to actually hurt the man, but he certainly isn’t prepared for him to go completely still and listen intently to whatever Wei Wuxian is humming.
The arm that had been held out in front of Lan Sizhui falls slowly down to Lan Wangji’s side, before hesitantly reaching up to grab Wei Wuxian’s waist.
“Wei Ying.”
Lan Wangji’s voice is shaky and wet, and Lan Sizhui is mildly terrified. He watches his father hug Wei Wuxian so tightly it looks like he might break him, and Lan Sizhui suddenly feels like he’s intruding on something very private.
That feeling increases tenfold when Wei Wuxian pulls back and kisses his father.
Lan Sizhui stands frozen in shock until he has the displeasure of seeing his own father’s tongue as he passionately kisses someone Lan Sizhui had thought he hated, and he quickly makes his way down the path back to central Cloud Recesses. What the actual fuck was that?
He runs into Lan Jingyi halfway up the path, who is squinting at the jingshi.
“What are they doing over there?”
“Something we do not want to witness. We should go, uhm.. protect Senior Wei’s array! Yes, that. Let’s go.”
-
Every second that Wei Wuxian doesn’t return to the library, is a second of discomfort for Lan Sizhui. He doesn’t know if he should be happy for his father or absolutely horrified. Currently, he is both.
“Maybe they’re just, uh, catching up?”
“Jingyi, people usually do that before what they were doing. I think they may have skipped that part completely.”
Lan Jingyi seems to be searching for some other comforting lie, when Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji enter, holding hands. Wei Wuxian laughs loudly when he looks at the boy’s faces.
“Don’t worry, I haven’t deflowered your Hanguang-Jun, that would be too mean to my other self.”
Lan Sizhui and Lan Jingyi each let out a breath they didn’t know they were holding. Lan Sizhui frowns slightly when he takes in his father’s expression. He looks.. upset. His grip doesn’t loosen when Wei Wuxian tries to release his hand to step into his array.
“Lan Zhan?”
“Don’t go. Please.”
Wei Wuxian is visibly pained when he looks away, but Lan Sizhui can see that his father’s grief is infinitely stronger.
“Lan Zhan, I told you, your Wei Ying will be back in a year or two. You’ve already waited so long.. I’m sorry I’m making you wait even more.”
Lan Wangji’s hand tightens around Wei Wuxian’s. Lan Jinyi and Lan Sizhui both look away. This conversation is obviously very, very personal, even if they’re both speaking as if the boys aren’t there.
“Wei Ying, please.”
“Oh, Lan Zhan, you’re making it so hard to go, but you know I have to. Was it cruel of me to tell you I’ll come back if it means you’ll have to watch me leave now?”
“Don’t leave.”
“What about my Lan Zhan? And your Wei Ying? He’ll be so sad if he wakes up and you’re with me. I’m not your Wei Ying, we’re different. You’ve loved him, and you should wait for him. I can’t be a replacement for myself.”
Wei Wuxian leans forward and rests his head on Lan Wangji’s shoulder.
“I hate myself for asking this of you,” he whispers, but it’s loud enough for everyone in the room.
Lan Wangji is silent for a long moment before taking in a shaky breath and letting it back out.
“I will wait for you.”
Wei Wuxian pulls back to kiss his cheek and step away with a sad smile. Lan Wangji has to force himself to let go of his hand.
“Less than two years, I promise. I love you, he loves you, and I’m sorry.”
“There is no need for apologies between us.”
Wei Wuxian lets out a laugh full of fondness.
“Of course, how could I forget. A-Yuan, get over here and let your mother give you a kiss before I go.”
Lan Sizhui blushes at the request, but stands up and goes over to him regardless. Wei Wuxian gives him a long kiss on the crown of his head, then nudges him back from the array.
Lan Jingyi is well aware this is a family moment, but that doesn’t make him dislike being left out any less. He walks over a bit too quickly when Wei Wuxian tells him he wants to kiss his head too.
Wei Wuxian makes the three of them stand as far from the array as possible, and crouches down to finish and activate it. He looks up with a wide grin.
“Less than two years!”, Wei Wuxian shouts, and with a final wave and a burst of red energy, he’s gone.
Neither Lan Sizhui or Lan Jingyi pay any attention to the silent tears on Hanguang-Jun’s face.
-
Wei Wuxian is scooped up into strong and comforting arms the second his feet touch the ground back in his reality, and he lets out a wheezing laugh.
“Lan Zhan! So strong!”
Lan Wangji loosens his grip only enough to pull his face from his shoulder to kiss him, deep and unashamed. Wei Wuxian was already struggling to breathe with the iron grip around him, but that and his husband’s kisses that always leave him breathless? He may need to tap out soon.
Lan Wangji gives him a reprieve when he’s starting to think he might pass out, and rests their foreheads together. Wei Wuxian basks in his presence for a moment before leaning forward to give him little pecks all over his face.
“Not that I’m complaining, but what is all this? I was only gone a day!”
“Not a day. Two weeks.”
“Oh Lan Zhan, no wonder you’re squeezing the life out of me.”
Lan Wangji holds him tighter for a moment before relaxing enough for Wei Wuxian to breathe comfortably.
“Did it work?” Lan Wangji asks, but his mind is very obviously still on the fact he just got his husband back. Wei Wuxian frowns and shakes his head.
“I only went back four years, and I think I might have made things worse for that you. I thought it’d be nice to let you know that I loved you and would be back soon, but I think I only hurt him more by leaving again.”
Lan Wangji tilts Wei Wuxian’s head up to look in his eyes.
“Not worse. Knowing would have helped. Two years of hope instead of grief. You made the correct choice.”
Wei Wuxian grins up at him and fights down the tears in his eyes.
“I love you so much, you’re so perfect, my Lan Zhan. I love you so, so much. How did I ever get so lucky?”
-
Wei Wuxian has been awake in a new body for a grand total of half a day, and he’s already been recognized by two teenagers he has never met. Is it his acting, or is his luck really just that bad?