Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

SECOND YEAR IN THE MODERN WORLD, SUZHOU

”No.”

”But they’re on sale! That’s, like, more than enough reason to buy them!”

Lan Zhan sighed. ”Wei Ying. I will cook for you.”

”But it’s not the same! What about when you’re teaching and I want to eat something easy and quick because my lovely husband is forcing his student to play it again from the start, but focus this time, and I’m dying of hunger? What then?”

”There are frozen, homemade meals in the freezer.”

”Do they come with fun little seasoning packages?”

”I can add them,” Lan Zhan said and unmercifully put the instant noodles back to the shelf, one by one. Their shopping cart looked like a miniature farmers' market. Tragically full of vegetables and fruits.

”You don’t love me,” Wei Ying whined miserably. ”My husband has grown tired of me. He wants me to wither away.”

Lan Zhan merely pushed the cart forward, stopping at the aisle with the spices. There, he very primly picked one bag of Sichuan pepper and placed it in the cart. A statement, if anything.

”Fine, maybe you love me a little,” Wei Ying admitted. ”Though your hate towards instant noodles is irrational. They were on sale!”

”We are financially stable,” the man replied.

And sure, it was true. Jiang Cheng paid an excessively high sum for the social media stuff Wei Ying did during the days, and since Lan Zhan had started giving private guqin lessons in their apartment, their standard of living in the modern world was on solid ground.

That didn’t mean a good sale wasn’t a good sale, though! Lan Zhan was just unreasonably intolerant when it came to the food they ate. The man could broaden his horizons any which way when it came to trying out new vegetables, but he drew the line at shrimp-flavored ramen.

Unfathomable.

”I’m not going to let you watch any more of those documents about health and nutrition,” Wei Ying declared.

”Mn. Wei Ying should reduce screen time as well.”

Wei Ying groaned. “Lan Zhan, that is so not the point!”

In Wei Ying’s humble opinion, Lan Zhan had adapted to modern world way too easily, once he got past the initial reaction of horrification and disgust. The first year had been a learning curve, with Lan Zhan getting progressively more tolerant of the more liberal culture around him.

Nowadays, Lan Zhan’s indignantly averted gaze from scantily dressed people had turned into something like weary acceptance and indifference. He didn’t like it, certainly, but he’d become desensitized.

Well, he did still glare if it was Wei Ying wearing little clothing in public. But that was because he had a possessive streak only proper for a man raised in ancient Chinese cultivation land! Back then you got your wife and you got your goat, and you better make sure nobody else even thinks about taking them away from you, because if you don’t, then you don’t have a wife and a goat anymore!

Wei Ying hadn’t really listened during history class in school, but he was pretty sure that’s how that went.

Anyway, it was probably easier to deal with the modern nonsense when he seemed to find many of the things the modern world could offer very useful in tormenting Wei Ying. Like, a century’s worth of scientific literature backing his ridiculous health rules.

”What do you think one bowl of instant noodles is going to do to me, anyway? Besides bring me happiness and joy in life,” Wei Ying asked.

Lan Zhan gave him a Look. This one was a special one with capital L, which the man had perfected after their last trip to the Cloud Recesses, where Wei Ying had drunk fifteen jars of Emperor’s Smile by burning the alcohol with his golden core.

The look meant something along the lines of ’I will make sure you are being kept healthy and safe even if I have to hear you whine about it’.

”Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan said very seriously. “What is this about?”

Wei Ying stopped, then, escaping the gaze of those pale eyes by turning to look towards the shelf next to them. Seaweed snacks. So many types of them.

”Ah, what do you mean, Lan Zhan?” Wei Ying asked though he was already grimacing inside.

Whatever Lan Zhan was going to say to that was prevented from being spoken aloud, as just then something made a sound behind them, a product hitting the floor with a loud clank.

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan turned to look, and once they found the source of the noise, they immediately froze.

Down the aisle, next to the spices, a man was staring at them with his mouth agape, hand still grasping air where it had let go of the jar of ginger that had thankfully not crashed and splattered all over when it had slipped past long fingers.

Wei Ying had never seen Lan Xichen look so undignified. Nor so – normal. Short hair. Lan Xichen had short hair. There was a Lan Xichen in this world who looked like he was taken straight from a ‘business casual’ photo shoot, and seemed like he was ten seconds away from fainting.

Next to Wei Ying, Lan Zhan had stiffened into a complete statue.

Lan Xichen was the first one to get his mouth in working order. “You – I’m sorry, but you –“

Lan Zhan said nothing, and Wei Ying had no clue what to say either. So they just stared at Lan Xichen as he visibly pulled himself together, clearing his throat and picking up the fallen ginger and putting it into his shopping basket.

Then, a little more collected, the man gave them a polite smile, albeit shaky. “Perhaps we should sit down for a cup of coffee? I live close by.”

Lan Zhan was still not saying anything, so Wei Ying quickly nodded, almost manic. “Sure! Sure, sounds great!”

With a dazed nod, Lan Zhan agreed as well.

-

This world’s Lan Xichen lived in a penthouse, like a rich person. Wei Ying couldn’t be overly surprised about it.

Everything was very neat, all smooth surfaces and minimalist design. It looked like a home that wasn’t very lived-in. Wei Ying guessed that this Lan Xichen probably didn’t spend a lot of time home, and instead just used all of it at his evidently well-paying job.

“Please, do get comfortable,” Lan Xichen said when they stood awkwardly there by the door, unsure of how to proceed when the man himself hadn’t talked to them the whole way there.

He’d just walked before them, that polite smile frozen on his face, only sometimes turning to check if they were following. And maybe to verify that he’d seen right. That there was a man there who looked exactly like him, but hotter and younger. In Wei Ying’s humble opinion.

Wei Ying had taken Lan Zhan’s hand, but it didn’t seem like Lan Zhan was actually that disturbed about this. He’d only looked very thoughtful, eyes on the back of his other-dimension brother, something deeply pondering in his gaze.

“I need to make a quick phone call,” Lan Xichen stated, absentmindedly digging his coat’s pocket for a phone. “Make yourself at home – there’s tea in the cabinet, I will just –“

“Sure thing,” Wei Ying replied. Like any of this was normal.

He dragged Lan Zhan with him to the shiny new kitchen that looked like it had never once been used as Lan Xichen left the two of them – complete strangers – to do as they wished while he had to apparently talk to someone other than the person who looked exactly like him.

Wei Ying immediately started going through the cabinets, while Lan Zhan, almost on autopilot, went to boil some water.

“Do you think he’s calling his therapist?” Wei Ying asked. The situation was so unreal he could help but make light of it.

“No,” Lan Zhan said. He stared at the buttons of the electric kettle, though for what, Wei Ying didn’t know. The guy had learned how to use modern kitchen appliances ridiculously fast. He’d never even had a freak-out about them.

Oh, right. “Lan Zhan, are you okay?”

Lan Zhan blinked, pressing one of the buttons to turn the thing on. Then, he turned to nod at Wei Ying. “Mn.”

“...Really? It was a bit of a mindfuck when I saw my siblings in the cultivation world for the first time,” Wei Ying said. “I wouldn’t blame you for being a little weird about it.”

His husband merely shook his head, turning back to another cabinet. He pulled out three mugs, bland and white and shiny like he’d lived here for ages and knew where everything was.

“Wei Ying’s situation was different,” Lan Zhan merely stated.

And Wei Ying couldn’t really refute that. After all, Lan Zhan had seen his brother just a few months ago, healthy and happy in the serenity of the Cloud Recesses. It was unreal to see him here, for sure, but not in the way it had been for Wei Ying to see Shijie.

He figured this didn’t pull at Lan Zhan’s heartstrings in quite the same way, even if it did feel a little fantastical.

He cleared his throat. “Well. He didn’t immediately call you ‘Wangji’, so I think it’s safe to say there’s no second Lan Zhan here.”

Lan Zhan glanced at him. “Second Lan Zhan?”

“Yeah. I always wondered if there was a Lan Zhan here, but didn’t think so. Why would the universe lead me to you, if there was a perfectly good Lan Zhan here for the taking already?” Wei Ying found the packages of tea, finally, squinting at the labels. “White or green?”

“Here for the taking,” Lan Zhan repeated dryly.

”Vinegar wasn’t one of the options, husband.”

Lan Zhan huffed, but just then, Lan Xichen was back in the room with them. They turned to him in tandem.

”Ah, sorry about that. I – this situation is highly unusual, as I’m sure you understand.”

Wei Ying was just a little bit proud of Lan Zhan for nodding. ”It is.”

”I have not introduced myself,” Lan Xichen said, sounding a little surprised himself. ”Ah, my manners. Lan Xichen. I am truly sorry, this is unbecoming of me.”

”It’s all good,” Wei Ying said, flashing a bright smile. ”You don’t stumble into people who look exactly like you every day.”

Lan Xichen’s answering smile looked more genuine this time. ”Indeed. Please, do sit down. I will serve.”

So they did. Soon, the three of them were sitting around a table, Lan Zhan still having said nothing at all, and Wei Ying kind of restless with the whole thing. Why was the whole Lan family so low-key about everything?

Personally, even if the situation with Shijie had not been what it was, he still would have absolutely lost his mind over seeing them in the cultivation world. He would’ve screamed, and, like, shaken Lan Zhan by his lapels, asking him ’Are you seeing this? Are you seeing this, Lan Zhan?’

Lan Xichen just calmly poured them tea – white, Lan Zhan had nodded towards it – and looked only mildly disturbed behind the polite veneer. Lan Zhan was acting kind of strange.

He kept looking at Lan Xichen with an unreadable expression, but it wasn’t one of those uncomfortable ones, or even the one hiding surprise.

”I did not catch your names,” Lan Xichen said, then, putting the kettle down.

”Oh, right,” Wei Ying replied. ”I’m Wei Ying.”

”Lan Wangji, Lan Zhan.”

This made Lan Xichen’s eyes widen again. ”We do share a name, then, as well.”

”Mn.”

”I...I suppose you didn’t know about me,” Lan Xichen said then, almost unsure. ”I did not...I’m sorry. This is truly unbelievable. We clearly share relation, yet…”

”I did not know I had a brother here,” Lan Zhan said, and it was not a lie, technically. He’d probably guessed, but knowledge usually implied certainty.

”Color me surprised as well,” Wei Ying said, though the conversation neither invited nor needed his contribution. ”This is very funny. Lan Zhan, what do you think about his short hair? Doesn’t it suit him?”

Lan Zhan, very used to this, only nodded. Lan Xichen looked even more disturbed under the smile.

”Thank you, I suppose. I – ”

And then, again, the conversation was cut short, because there was a sound of the front door opening and closing, and then after a little while slow and controlled steps approached the room where they were having the wonderful tea conversation.

From the corner of his eyes, Wei Ying noted that Lan Zhan perked up just a little bit, eyes fixed on the doorway. A familiar face appeared, slight irritation apparent in the furrowed brows.

”What could possibly be so pressing as to warrant disturbing my – ” Lan Qiren started, then completely froze there, face going lax and maybe a little white.

Wei Ying couldn’t help the snort that escaped him, then. Oh, god, Lan Qiren was wearing a light blue old man sweater and slacks. He was an actual, rich-looking old man. He even had some gray hairs, though he was still something like fifty years old here.

The snort earned him an automatic glare, something familiar and comforting.

”Xichen, what is this?”

”I was hoping you would be able to answer this. Clearly, I am not my parents’ only child,” said Lan Xichen, and his smile was suddenly absolutely ruthless.

He was wearing the expression of a man who thought he’d been lied to his whole life, by their own uncle.

”This is impossible,” Lan Qiren said, absolutely shaken to the core. The man shook himself out of it almost just as fast, gathering the famous Lan control around him like a shield.

Lan Qiren turned to Lan Zhan, then, with a strict look. ”Your name?”

”Lan Wangji,” said Lan Zhan very politely. ”Lan Zhan.”

”Lan –? Who raised you?”

”My uncle,” Lan Zhan replied simply. Then, before Lan Qiren could continue the interrogation, he said: ”If I may ask – where are my parents?”

Oh. The tea felt hot on Wei Ying’s tongue, but the entire rest of his body had gone cold. Something twisted in the bottom of his stomach. Oh, Lan Zhan.

Lan Xichen’s lips were parted, something like sympathy flashing in his eyes, and Wei Ying wanted everyone to just stop for a moment. To take a breather. But Lan Qiren’s surprised pause was quickly over, the man straightening himself.

”If my brother is indeed your father, then I have to regrettably inform you he has passed,” Lan Qiren said, voice stilted.

Lan Zhan nodded. ”Mother –”

”As well,” Lan Xichen said. ”I’m sorry. She died when I was merely a child.”

”I see,” replied Lan Zhan, as his voice sounded strange to Wei Ying’s ears. There was a note off somewhere.

This left them all in a moment of absolute silence, almost awkward. Wei Ying wanted to reach out to Lan Zhan and – and do something, because clearly there had been some kind of hope there in him, and it was so quickly squashed.

How was this fair? Wei Ying had gotten to see Shijie, yet Lan Zhan…

”Thank you for the tea,” Lan Zhan said then as if he’d drunk even a drop of it, before standing up and pulling Wei Ying with him by the arm.

”Ah – but – you’re leaving?”

”Mn.” Lan Zhan started leading them towards the door, Wei Ying stumbling after with his mouth hanging.

”L-Lan Zhan! What do you think you’re doing?” he asked, tapping the other on the arm.

He did not get a response, and when he glanced back to the shocked faces of Lan Zhan’s alternate family, his stomach dropped further.

He put his weight really down, then, just after they’d walked out of the room and past the corner, hidden from the eyes of the others. Lan Zhan stopped, turning to him with a blank face.

“Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying frowned at him. “What are you doing?”

“Leaving.”

Wei Ying looked at him, speechless. Then –

“Is this any way to treat your family?” he demanded.

Lan Zhan cast his eyes down. “I already have an uncle and a brother.”

Sometimes, Wei Ying found it frustrating how stubborn his husband could be in some of his stances. Then, sometimes, he got reminded just how deeply Lan Zhan felt about things, and how much certain events must’ve hurt him.

Lan Zhan was a man who could carry old wounds like nothing, just letting them ache and ache because he felt it was the only respectful thing to do.

Wei Ying remembered his own parents hardly at all. But Lan Zhan, whose love was measureless, still had a place inside himself the shape of his mother, and Wei Ying knew he missed her. Missed her enough to truly hurt when there was a hint of a chance to see her, and that chance died.

But Wei Ying also knew that this man deeply loved his uncle and brother as well, and was not always thinking straight in his disappointment.

Wei Ying cupped one perfect cheek into his palm, felt the smooth skin under his fingers. He looked at Lan Zhan with stern eyes. “But this uncle and this brother do not have a Lan Zhan.”

Lan Zhan closed his eyes, leaning on Wei Ying’s palm as he exhaled slowly.

Then, “Mn.”

“Let’s be nice, yeah?”

“Mn.”

Wei Ying slid his hand from the cheek, down the arm to Lan Zhan’s hand, where he grasped it into his own.

Then, he turned the corner back to the kitchen, where the two Lans were still frozen in shock, looking at where they’d disappeared a second ago with unblinking eyes.

“Haha, sorry about that!” Wei Ying said. “We’ll definitely drink another few cups and chat some more if you wanted to!”

“Mn,” Lan Zhan agreed.

Lan Xichen nodded once, then another time with more enthusiasm. “Yes, please do. I’d love to get to know you, ah, Lan Wangji.”

“Wangji,” Lan Zhan corrected.

There was a slight, uncertain smile on Lan Xichen’s face again. “Then, Xichen is fine as well.”

Lan Zhan nodded, though Wei Ying had never once heard him call his brother anything but ‘brother’. He was pretty sure he would never hear that name from Lan Zhan’s mouth.

So they sat down again, and Wei Ying kept his hold in Lan Zhan’s hand under the table even as they continued the conversation.

-

It was fun to notice that, in the end, each version of Lan Xichen held a similar amount of empathy and politeness, as well as absolute adoration towards his little brother. The more Lan Xichen talked to Lan Zhan, the more delighted he seemed to be.

“You play the guqin? That is wonderful!” Lan Xichen said, during their third cup of tea. “I play the flute, though certainly not well enough to teach it.”

“I am sure brother is skilled as well,” Lan Zhan replied, and his natural honesty seemed to cut straight into the soft center of Lan Xichen’s heart because, for a second, the man looked like he was going to cry.

Also, the ‘brother’ probably did something.

They clearly avoided mentioning their relative childhoods; Lan Zhan, because he didn’t seem to be keen on blowing these people’s mind about dimension traveling, and Lan Xichen, because he was fundamentally a highly empathetic individual sensitive to other people’s hurts, and clearly did not want to remind Lan Zhan about a childhood without parents Lan Xichen thought he hadn’t known.

So they talked about casual life stuff, like jobs – Lan Xichen was a very successful lawyer in the family firm, though he’d recently started thinking about starting a family. Lan Qiren’s eyes brightened a little at the mention, which made Wei Ying a bit gleeful.

They’d been thinking about adoption with Lan Zhan. There were a bunch of war orphans still in the cultivation world, and if Lan Qiren was into having grandchildren, that would make Wei Ying’s life that much easier.

Though like his cultivation world counterpart, this Lan Qiren liked to look at Wei Ying like a stain on the floor as well. There was a clear growing fondness towards Lan Zhan, though, in the way the old man regarded him. This was, of course, only good and fair.

He nodded approvingly every time Lan Zhan shared something about his life. Lan Zhan’s vegetarianism, sleeping habits, and distaste for the rush of the modern world earned him a slight smile, even. Lan Qiren had known Lan Zhan for all of an hour and still looked so very proud of him.

It was honestly kind of cute.

Though when Lan Qiren referred to Wei Ying as his ‘friend’ with a slight downward turn of his mouth, Lan Zhan calmly corrected him with: “He is my husband.”

“Yeah, we’re a package deal,” Wei Ying said with a wide smile, almost starting to laugh when Lan Qiren’s expression soured. “I’m expecting an invite to family dinners from now on.”

“Of course,” Lan Qiren said, though it was obvious this was said through gritted teeth.

“We’d love to have you,” Lan Xichen said, eyes twinkling in amusement.

The more they talked, the more Wei Ying could see Lan Zhan easing up as well. The underlying sadness in his gaze started fading as he found comfort from the steady nature of his family. These were different people, of course, with perhaps more relaxed attitudes from the cultivator ones, but their base nature was definitely the same.

But Wei Ying knew the strange mix of familiar and unfamiliar and knew from experience that it leaned on positive overall. It was good in a strange way. Like finding a shirt that fit well and looked nice on you, but was very different from your normal style.

Lan Zhan fit in with this family, but this family was not the one that had created him. This century did not declare him its own, and indeed, when Lan Zhan offered to pour the tea, his impeccable traditional serving style had even the old man looking surprised.

Lan Xichen, of course, praised him for it, which made Lan Zhan look silently pleased. Then the topic turned to hobbies, and Lan Xichen traumatized his brother by mentioning his love for romantic dramas.

“Oh, oh, I watched that too! It was the one where the lady got shouted at by his ex at the train station, and the love interest showed up to defend her, right?” Wei Ying asked, enthusiastic.

“Yes, indeed! It was quite an eventful show.” Lan Xichen’s answering smile was wide. Then, he noticed Lan Zhan staring blankly at his own tea. “Oh, Wangji, do you now care for dramas?”

“Don’t mind him, he’s repressed,” Wei Ying said, helpfully.

Lan Zhan gave him a look with a lowercase l this time. Wei Ying grinned at him. “Well, aren’t you?”

“Wei Ying’s standard for repression is quite low.”

Wei Ying turned back to Lan Xichen and said very seriously: “He can’t watch kissing scenes. He’ll rather leave the room than watch it.”

Lan Xichen blinked, though the man was definitely trying to hide his amusement. “Ah, I see. Well, we all do have our limits with these kinds of things.”

“He’s sometimes too embarrassed to watch a nature documentary where the animals –“

“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan said, though he only sounded exasperated and not truly irritated.

He then glanced at Lan Qiren, who looked like he wanted to drown himself in his teacup. Wei Ying snorted.

The conversation continued like that, with little hiccups here and there, but overall, Wei Ying could tell that the Lan family was really bonding in their own weird and muted way.

There was a huge elephant in the room the whole time, around which they danced with quite the skill. It would undoubtedly become a real problem at some point when the modern Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren would insist on finding out more about Lan Zhan.

How their parents managed to conceive him in secret, and why he was evidently given away. Messy things like that. They’d have to decide just how much it was wise to tell these people.

But in the meantime, Lan Zhan looked pretty pleased drinking tea with them, so that was something for their future selves to worry about.

Later, when they’d all exchanged phone numbers and Lan Xichen had made them promise to visit in a few days, Lan Zhan and Wei Ying left with their bag full of groceries.

It was around six, then, and the streets were still full of people, but they’d learned the calmest routes ages ago when they moved here the first time at the end of their first year. Lan Zhan’s mood was pensive again, so Wei Ying didn’t pester him and merely hummed as he pulled the man along by the hand.

-

The next morning, Wei Ying woke up to an empty bed. This wasn’t unusual at all – Lan Zhan’s natural rhythm was quite different from his, and most often his husband would let him sleep as long as he needed on the days when he didn’t have to work.

The door was left ajar, and the smell of spices wafted from the kitchen. Wei Ying couldn’t help but smile against the pillow as he stretched, his fondness for Lan Zhan almost overwhelming him.

With loose limbs, he dragged himself out of the sheets and threw on some pants. Lan Zhan wasn’t against him walking around unclothed nowadays when they were married and only shared the apartment with each other, but walking naked in front of Lan Zhan was guaranteed to end with Wei Ying spread out on the kitchen table.

Any other day that would’ve been an acceptable outcome, but right now Wei Ying was hungry.

“Good morning, lovely husband!” he greeted, stepping into the kitchen.

Lan Zhan had obviously just finished cooking, as there were two steaming bowls placed on the kitchen table, the man himself washing dishes at the sink. He turned to Wei Ying then, a slight upwards curve on his lips.

“Good morning,” Lan Zhan said. “Did Wei Ying sleep well?”

“In the arms of my Lan Zhan? Always.”

His heart felt painfully full as he sat down, peering at the bowl. “What do we have here?”

“Noodles,” Lan Zhan replied, and Wei Ying’s stomach dropped.

“Instant?”

“Mn.”

“When did you get them?”

“On my morning walk.” Lan Zhan put the rinsed pan away to dry and pulled the plug out to drain the sink before turning to Wei Ying. “I added shredded vegetables and chili.”

Wei Ying swallowed, unable to look at Lan Zhan. The food smelled so good. Perhaps looking at it was even worse than meeting his husband’s eyes.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan said, then, much closer now. The man sat in the seat next to him, before the other bowl, much less red. “Do you not like it?”

“I do, Lan Zhan,” he replied quickly, though his voice was thick. “I love it.”

Lan Zhan stared at him, then, for a long while. In complete silence, as he was wont to. Wei Ying took his chopsticks, though he did not yet taste it.

“I see,” Lan Zhan said after a while.

Wei Ying turned to him.

“Wei Ying,” his husband started. “What I do for you, I do willingly.”

Ah, the vulnerability of having been perceived for what he was. Yet the look in those golden eyes was nothing but loving, open.

Wei Ying hid behind his hands, then, pressing his palms against his eyes and sighing. Lan Zhan did so much for him. All the time. His life had not been only perfect and easy since meeting Lan Zhan, of course not. But with him by his side, it was like any hardship could be dealt with.

He didn’t feel alone, anymore. He’d gotten so much from that Fated Meeting: self-acceptance, a new set of siblings, a golden core, a whole husband. A soulmate.

And still, Lan Zhan did so much for him. Made him food, always paid for everything, kissed him and complimented him, and loved him in the exact way that made Wei Ying feel like he might die from the overdose of happiness, and it was all entirely too much.

What had Lan Zhan gotten? The meeting yesterday seemed to have only underlined this. Lan Zhan got him, a complete mess of a man, as a husband. Lan Zhan got to travel to a world that most of the time made him uncomfortable.

Wei Ying got to see his sister, but Lan Zhan would never see his mother again.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan said. He pried the hands from Wei Ying’s face gently. “Look at me.”

He did.

“Why do you think it is a bother?”

Ah, there was something in Wei Ying’s throat making it hard to speak. He pushed past the feeling.

“Isn’t it? Lan Zhan, I know that you love me and that doing things for the person you love is kind of expected, but…” he exhaled, shoulders slumping. “It doesn’t feel equal.”

“What of it is not equal?”

“Everything! I mean, you didn’t even get to – you didn’t –” Wei Ying swallowed the words.

Lan Zhan didn’t have to hear the rest of the sentence to immediately connect the dots. The frown on his face deepened, but not in an angry way. The man was quiet for a moment; this, Wei Ying knew, meant that he was gathering his words.

“When my mother died, I kept visiting her house,” Lan Zhan said, then. Quieter than normally. “At first, because I could not comprehend that she was gone. And later, to honor her memory.”

Lan Zhan held Wei Ying’s hands in his, softly stroking the back of them with his thumbs.

“That was then,” he said. “And this is now. I am at peace with her death.”

Wei Ying followed the motion of the moving fingers with his eyes, focusing on the feeling of it. “But you miss her.”

“Mn. She is gone all the same,” Lan Zhan stated.

“You were so disappointed yesterday. You almost left your brother and uncle without talking to them because of it.”

Lan Zhan looked a bit embarrassed at this. “Mn.”

“So, there. It’s unfair. That I get to have so much and then all you get is” – Wei Ying waved a hand over himself – “this.”

The sound of Lan Zhan’s huff was almost half-amused. “Who stopped me from leaving?”

“What’s that got to do with anything? You like your family, of course I couldn’t let you just walk off.”

Lan Zhan nodded, and his look this time was meaningful. “Of course.”

He sighed. “Lan Zhan.”

“I have many good things in my life,” the man stated then. “Many people who care about me. And who I care for.”

He pulled another one of Wei Ying’s hands up, placed it on his cheek, leaning against the warmth of it. Looked into Wei Ying’s eyes with his own with something like deep fondness.

“Do I need more, when I have Wei Ying?” Lan Zhan turned his head, placed a gentle kiss on the hand. “To love and cherish.”

There was a heat rising on Wei Ying’s face, but even worse than that was the choked-up feeling in his chest.

“Lan Zhan, aiyo, what do you think you’re doing, huh? You can’t say that,” he whined, though something in him was settling. He didn’t even pull his hand away.

Perhaps his own experiences were so fresh on his mind that he was projecting them onto his husband.

A Fated Meeting was supposed to leave people happier than they would’ve been otherwise. If Lan Zhan did not meet his mother here, then perhaps the universe deemed it was better to not go picking at a closed wound.

Wei Ying had not met his own parents in the cultivation world, either. It didn’t mean he didn’t miss them. It didn’t mean he’d rather lived without them. It just meant that the life he had now, even without them, was happy.

He heaved a sigh, uncertain still. ”Is it really fair, though?”

”Mn. Perhaps Wei Ying should have more good things,” Lan Zhan replied.

He couldn’t help the half-groan, half-laugh that escaped him. Wei Ying shook his head at his impossible, sappy man.

“I have all that I need,” Lan Zhan said then, and sounded like that was the final statement on the matter.

And who was he to argue that?

Wei Ying gave him half a smile. “I can cook for myself sometimes, too, you know. You don’t need to be so good husband all the time.”

“I want to.”

Lan Zhan gave him a kiss, then, soft and unhurried. Their first kiss of the morning – Wei Ying must’ve tasted awful, but still Lan Zhan did not pull away in haste. Because he loved Wei Ying and loved taking care of him.

When they parted, he let go of Wei Ying’s hands. Turned him by the chin towards the food.

“Eat.”

Wei Ying smiled, a full-on grin this time, and ate the food that Lan Zhan had cooked for him.

-

Chapter Text

So, Wei Ying had definitely fallen asleep in their shared bed in the Jingshi, wrapped around Lan Zhan’s terrifyingly corpse-like sleeping form in a very octopus way. He chose to believe it was cute, but since sometimes he woke up having made a circle of drool on Lan Zhan’s shoulder, this perhaps could be contested.

In any case, he’d absolutely gone to sleep in the Jingshi, so when he suddenly opened his eyes to a moonlit courtyard, he got immediately just a little bit suspicious.

Another thing – he was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, and there was a plastic bag in his hand which definitely should not have been there since they were very strict about bringing modern trash into the organic paradise that was the Cloud Recesses.

Somehow, having lived on-off in the cultivation world for three years, he felt like this kind of outfit in these surroundings made even himself a little embarrassed. He was only a human! Of course, he’d get conditioned at some point into viewing the clothing a little differently!

So he grimaced at his highly inappropriate bare knees.

And then his cultivator senses kind of tingled, which made him realize that he was definitely not alone. He raised his gaze and felt a disorienting sense of déjà-vu.

Oh, it makes sense now. I’m dreaming.

With a flash of white, Lan Zhan jumped from the ledge of the wall before him, hand on Bichen, face just as severe as it had been years ago during their first meeting. So handsome, his husband. Wei Ying could have blushed at the intimidating glare.

“No entry after sunset,” he said, and the voice definitely sent shivers down Wei Ying’s spine. “How did you get past the wards?”

So, there were two things Wei Ying knew. One, this was a dream. Specifically, a dream of their first meeting. Second, this was a lucid dream. He was aware he was dreaming, so technically he could do whatever.

He tried to test this by imagining Lan Zhan’s robes away, but unfortunately, there was a limit to his dream powers. He did not let it bring him down, however, since this was still an amazing opportunity.

“Ah, my apologies,” Wei Ying said, blinking very innocently at Lan Zhan’s unmoved face. “I seem to have gotten a little lost.”

This was the moment Lan Zhan seemed to notice just how little he was wearing, as the golden eyes widened slightly, face turning away on its own accord. The ramrod-straight back straightened further. Wei Ying wanted to laugh.

“Indecent!”

“What’s indecent, Er-gege?” Wei Ying asked, and for his prize caught a flash of bright red ears.

“You are undressed,” the man stated, jaw tight.

“Ah? No, I’m not, I have both a shirt and shorts.” Wei Ying acted up the fake confusion by glancing down at himself with wide eyes. “Anyway, Er-gege should know that this one is hopelessly lost.”

“Lost?”

Wei Ying nodded very seriously. “Lost. I was just making a late-night trip to the corner store – for energy drinks, you see – and then I think I walked a few blocks off because now I’m here and not home!”

Lan Zhan glanced at him with a frown, though quickly averted his gaze again. “Your vocabulary is strange.”

“Is Er-gege making fun of me?”

This was enough to deepen Lan Zhan’s frown, frustration clear on his face now that Wei Ying knew how to look. “Do not call me that.”

“Oh, Er-gege?” Wei Ying batted his lashes very innocently again. “What would Er-gege want me to call him, then?”

“…”

“I guess Er-gege it is,” Wei Ying said. “You may call this one Wei Ying.”

Finally, Lan Zhan seemed to have had enough. He turned fully to him, eyes staying carefully above Wei Ying’s shoulders, and the glare was so endearing Wei Ying just wanted to kiss it away.

“This is nonsense.” Lan Zhan shook his head slightly. “You have broken several rules of our sect.”

“What rules? Surely I can’t be held responsible if I accidentally stumble into a, uh, a monastery at night and unwittingly break a rule!”

“You can.” The tone of his voice was severe. “And will.”

Wei Ying hid the amusement bubbling inside of him with a pout. He had not remembered just how big of a stickler for rules Lan Zhan had once been. There was not a lot of difference in this appearance to the one Wei Ying was currently married to, but on the inside, Lan Zhan had definitely grown a lot.

It made Wei Ying feel a little bit giddy, knowing just what was going through Lan Zhan’s head right now. How big of an effect his shorts had on him. How, just like Wei Ying himself, Lan Zhan found the one he was talking to desperately attractive.

He’d had no idea the first time. All of Lan Zhan’s expressions were of the micro variety.

But right now, Wei Ying could see the slight tension in him, the way his gaze flickered just a bit down every now and then. The way his nostrils were only the tiniest bit flared.

This was Wei Ying’s dream, after all, so shouldn’t he get to enjoy it a little?

“Is Er-gege going to give this one a punishment?” he asked, exaggerating the pout.

Lan Zhan looked like he was swallowing air, ears turning even more red at the outrageously flirty display. Then the pale eyes hardened, narrowed.

“You are a yao,” he stated. “Fox spirit.”

Wei Ying couldn’t help the gleeful grin from spreading on his face then. “What makes you think that?”

“Your strange way of speaking. Your clothing.” Lan Zhan gritted his teeth. “Shameless.”

A burst of laughter escaped him. The corners of his eyes crinkled in mirth. “Fox spirit, ah? Shouldn’t I be a beautiful woman then?”

“Fox spirits may take any attractive form.”

Wei Ying hooded his eyes. “Am I attractive, Er-gege?”

He took a step forward, but Lan Zhan immediately backed one away, looking at him with a mix of outrage and wariness. Mouth resolutely shut.

“Not answering? Fine, then,” said Wei Ying. “But I am just a human. A humble little cultivator, you know. You can check if you want to. I have a golden core.”

Wei Ying reached his hand out, wrist up, still smiling at Lan Zhan. “Come on.”

This earned him a glare. After a moment of hesitation, Lan Zhan did indeed take a step closer, one hands still on Bichen’s hilt, the other one rising to meet Wei Ying’s. Two long fingers touched the skin of his wrist, then, gently.

A line appeared between Lan Zhan’s eyebrows, gaze flying up again. Like not being a fox demon was even more suspicious than being one.

Wei Ying grinned just before he widened his eyes, hands flying to his thigh as he collapsed to the ground, letting out a pained groan. Immediately, Lan Zhan followed him, eyes just as wide and surprised.

“What’s wrong?”

“M-my leg,” Wei Ying gasped, gripping his thigh madly.

Lan Zhan knelt before him – over him – and leaned in, eyes searching for the cause of the pain. His deft hands were quickly prying Wei Ying’s off of his own thigh, and Wei Ying easily allowed it.

Just as Lan Zhan’s hands made contact with the soft skin of his thigh, Wei Ying wrapped his arms around the other’s shoulders, grinning at the face that he yanked much closer in a quick movement.

“Er-gege, where are you touching me?”

Realizing he had been tricked, Lan Zhan’s expression twitched in humiliation and the man went to pull back with an impossible swiftness. However, Wei Ying could be tenacious as well, and just then, he’d managed to get a good grip of those shoulders.

Laughing, he attached himself to Lan Zhan entirely, legs wrapping around the man’s waist. He hung onto him like a koala. With Lan Zhan’s insane strength, the man had easily managed to stand up.

“Let go of me,” Lan Zhan demanded, both scandalized and angry.

“But it’s so nice being in Er-gege’s embrace!”

“Not an embrace,” the other snapped.

“Why are you not trying to pull me off?” Wei Ying asked then. “Afraid to touch me? We’re already touching so much.”

“Stop talking,” Lan Zhan said, and then, clearly provoked, took Wei Ying by the waist and attempted to do just what Wei Ying had demanded.

Unfortunately, Wei Ying was really in the better position. When Lan Zhan pulled, he merely yanked the man with him, and down they went again.

Lan Zhan, with his quick reflexes, managed to change the grip on Wei Ying’s waist to act as a cover for his head. The fall pushed all air out of him, but the good news was that he had Lan Zhan again just where he wanted him.

On top of Wei Ying, fully, from head to toe.

“You –!”

“Me!”

He spread his legs further with a grin, making Lan Zhan’s hips press harder against him. He couldn’t help the little gasp that escaped him then, as he felt the growing hardness between them, still only partly to its full glory but definitely getting there.

Lan Zhan’s face was pale as ever, but the expression on it was furious. His eyes were looking much like they did whenever Wei Ying provoked him too much, red-lined and ready to teach him a lesson.

“Er-gege, did you want to discipline me for entering without permission?” he asked, stifling his laughter. “Do you know what would be an ironically fitting punishment?”

“Stop talking,” Lan Zhan hissed, though this time the man did not even attempt to pull himself up.

“I’m helpless under you.” Wei Ying bit his lip. “You could do anything to me. I can’t do anything but take it.”

Lan Zhan’s hand found its way to cover his mouth. Wei Ying immediately put out his tongue to lick it, since this could only have one effect on already turned-on Lan Zhan. And indeed, the still-clothed hips were grinding down on him, the slightest sharp exhale passing Lan Zhan’s lips.

The final strand of his self-control seemed to snap with the obscene moan Wei Ying let out that got muffled behind the hand.

“You asked for it,” Lan Zhan stated, voice cold.

Oh, Lan Zhan was angry. In his excitement, Wei Ying squirmed, delighting in the fact that Lan Zhan’s entire body relaxed against him then to more heavily push him down. He was truly pinned against the ground.

The hand that had been covering his mouth went to shove fingers inside it. Wei Ying’s eyes were hooded as he held eye contact while starting to suck them. He loved Lan Zhan’s fingers, so pretty and long and good at what they did.

Which was Wei Ying, mostly.

Lan Zhan’s other hand went down to harshly yank the shorts off of Wei Ying, tearing them into pieces with a controlled amount of spiritual energy. And just as quickly as that was done, the fingers left his mouth, spit-slick, and disappeared between his legs.

“Ah, ah, Er-gege!” Wei Ying moaned once the fingers found his entrance and ruthlessly breached in.

Thankfully, Wei Ying had years of experience of this with his husband. He could keep himself relaxed in the most heated, rough sessions. Besides, he loved it when his Lan Zhan was angry with him.

Lan Zhan’s breathing came fast, though there was a clear attempt to control it. He pulled Wei Ying’s shirt up to his armpits, gaze roaming over the uncovered skin, all the while two of his fingers were fucking into him.

He was sensitive down there, yet Lan Zhan was in no mood to be gentle with him. The thought of it was so hot Wei Ying felt his own dick twitching with each push of the fingers.

“You are enjoying this,” Lan Zhan said, gaze now fixed on his face.

“Am I – ah! – not supposed to?”

“It is a punishment.”

Wei Ying snorted, though it quickly turned into another gasp as Lan Zhan pushed in a third finger, entirely too early, and for a moment he was blissfully overwhelmed by the stretch of it all. Lan Zhan didn’t give him a chance to get used to it either, and instead just continued on like nothing.

“B-bully me harder, then, ha.” Wei Ying bit his lip again at the feeling of Lan Zhan twisting one of his nipples.

“Is it hard enough?”

“Ah, I don’t know, Er-gege, is it hard enough?”

Lan Zhan’s face got very close to him, his breath hot over his face. The look in those eyes was for a moment chillingly calculating.

Soft lips found the skin of his neck, then, first giving a gentle kiss on it, then immediately turning it into a bite, almost vicious. Lan Zhan could become a complete beast when he wished, and right now, he was nibbling a trail of marks from Wei Ying’s jaw to his shoulder that would definitely raise some eyebrows were this not a dream.

Lan Zhan wasn’t shy about leaving those, though, whether a dream or not.

The fingers disappeared from his hole, and the emptiness they left behind was devastating enough for Wei Ying to let out a disgruntled noise of protest. Lan Zhan didn’t seem too apologetic about it; just like that, those strong hands were taking a grip of his thighs, the blunt ends of Lan Zhan’s fingers digging into pale skin.

Ah, those would bruise. Then, Lan Zhan really wasn’t shy about leaving marks. The man wrenched his legs apart with a force unnecessary for how willing participant Wei Ying was in all of this. It felt like his whole body was aching for it.

It was quite obvious from the impressively sized tent in front of Lan Zhan’s robes that he really wasn’t the only one. With clearly fraying self-control, the man pushed the clothing aside to reveal the massive dick that Wei Ying had been intimate with for a while now.

A shiver of anticipation ran down his spine. It looked like he wasn’t going to get prepped much more.

“So well-endowed, Hanguang-jun! You’re going to break me,” Wei Ying breathed, trying to goat him further, as Lan Zhan lined himself up against his entrance, the wet tip of his dick poking his sensitive skin.

The words had the opposite effect, however. Lan Zhan went rigid. “You know who I am.”

“Haha, of course I know who you are,” Wei Ying replied, widening his flushed grin. “Who wouldn’t recognize the handsome, esteemed Hanguang-jun?”

In the low light of the moon, Lan Zhan’s ears still managed to show their redness, though there was something in his gaze that revealed conflicting emotions. Wei Ying immediately narrowed his eyes, moving his hips down so that the hard cock was pressed tighter against him.

Lan Zhan’s clasp on his thighs tensed.

“What, you would’ve loved to have me without me knowing who you were, ah?” Wei Ying squirmed in his hold. “Used my body in the safety of anonymity? Hanguang-jun, that is so filthy– ah!”

He was being ruthlessly penetrated, then, Lan Zhan’s patience with him having finally come to its end. Whatever hesitancy he’d had before had clearly evaporated. Lan Zhan’s whole weight was on him again, making him unable to do anything but spread his thighs further to make room for him.

Wei Ying loved this part, this moment where his body was capable of nothing but yielding under the strength of his husband. He couldn’t help the loud groan that passed his lips and got instantly muffled by Lan Zhan, who probably still somehow was able to be considerate of the other residents of the Cloud Recesses.

He could not think of anything but the way Lan Zhan felt as he bottomed out, grinding against him like he could somehow go deeper if he pushed forcefully enough. Lan Zhan’s tongue licked into his mouth, muting any moans that might follow.

And there would be more – this wasn’t his first First Time with Lan Zhan. While in real life his husband had long ago learned how to regulate himself in the bedroom, this dream Lan Zhan had only just now snapped like this.

There was no sense of gentleness when Lan Zhan started fucking him. He’d asked for a punishment, and it was now being handed to him, with the rough treatment of intense, fast thrusts and the inability to escape from it, to even try wiggling off.

He was absolutely ecstatic, there, between the cold ground and the warmth of his Hanguang-jun, held open and willing with Lan Zhan’s cock making an abused, swollen mess of his hole. Some part of him was delighted this was a dream. The other part was disappointed that he could sit just fine the next day.

And then Lan Zhan did something he rarely did so early during their usual sessions together – he slipped a hand between them, wrapping his long fingers snugly around Wei Ying’s cock, and started stroking it in rhythm with the thrusts.

Wei Ying’s eyes widened, though for a moment he could see nothing but stars. There was a reason he wasn’t usually stimulated on all sides like this at this point. Lan Zhan’s endurance was inhuman, and Wei Ying was very much still on the mortal side of things.

He felt way too good way too soon.

A protest could not be voiced with a tongue exploring his mouth, and when Wei Ying made a halfhearted attempt to push at Lan Zhan's chest, he only got screwed with more force. Which was not good for the situation with his rapidly building orgasm.

He wished the way Lan Zhan ignored his increasingly loud moaning and squirming wasn’t such a turn-on, but that, too, added to all the ways Wei Ying was being tormented. He couldn’t help the involuntary movement of his body against Lan Zhan’s hips and his hand, chasing after the feeling.

When it finally hit, unexpected despite the obvious crescendo to the outburst of blinding pleasure, Wei Ying’s scream couldn’t be muffled even by his husband’s mouth against his. He scrambled for a hold, and as Lan Zhan pulled back just far enough to look at him, he gasped a small, breathless ‘Er-Gege!’

He must’ve looked a sight. Eyes half-lidded, cheeks red, gasping for a breath. His lips tingled, surely some shade of crimson. Lan Zhan’s eyes were greedy taking him in.

The man pulled out then as he simultaneously moved his hand from Wei Ying’s cock. For a split second, Wei Ying managed to wonder what kind of punishment this was, where he was getting pleasured but Lan Zhan himself still was painfully hard –

And then the hand disappeared between his legs, smearing his spend between his cheeks, against his oversensitive hole, and finally pushed a few fingers inside as well. A second later, those were gone. With movements so fast Wei Ying had no time to react, Lan Zhan had pushed his dick back in, the slide smoother than before.

Faster, too. And slick. And entirely, entirely too much.

“Hanguang-jun! S-spare me!” he cried, hardly managing to make a coherent sentence at the handling that was no less rough than earlier, but now twice as fast.

Tears were welling up in his eyes, gasps and moans escaping his lips that Lan Zhan did not quieten this time. The man was basically jackrabbiting between his legs, and it was entirely too much, and Wei Ying was going to die.

Part of him was exhilarated: his Lan Zhan was being so mean to him, bullying him like this, making him feel like an exposed nerve. Touched and touched and touched without an escape.

Wriggling did nothing, trying to move even less. Begging only spurred Lan Zhan on, the wet sound of skin hitting skin getting so intense Wei Ying was sure, were this not a dream, other people would’ve already heard the commotion.

“Er-gege – Er-gege, please, mercy,” Wei Ying wailed.

It seemed Lan Zhan had none to spare, as he did not slow down even slightly. In fact, with every thrust forward, it felt like the speed increased, like Lan Zhan was trying to break some kind of an insane record he’d once set, and Wei Ying’s body was just a casualty.

A punishment, indeed – it finally did feel like a punishment, though Wei Ying had always been good at taking those when they came from his husband. Being held in place with so much strength, dominated without a care for his limits, Lan Zhan was truly granting Wei Ying’s wishes thoroughly.

Wei Ying’s head felt hazier and hazier as the fucking continued. His ass was both weirdly numb and oversensitive, and in a true non-reality fashion, his cock was almost immediately back in the game, hardening further the deeper Lan Zhan hit inside of him.

At some point, he realized he was crying. Or at least, he was pretty sure there were tears streaming down his face, though his head was too preoccupied with thoughts of please and no and yes, yes, yes to really get a real sense of anything else.

Lan Zhan’s gaze was burning, when he met it. Satisfied, clearly, of the mess he’d made of Wei Ying.

“H-Hanguang-jun, please,” he gasped, though he was not entirely sure what he was calling out for.

The overload on his senses had toed the line between pain and pleasure for the entire time, starting with much discomfort, but as he was falling further into the feeling the line itself seemed to disappear.

He just felt good, but the good was too much.

Lan Zhan’s lips found his again, too gentle in contrast to the way his hips were still taking intense advantage of the slick slide inside him. Wei Ying’s gasps and moans were broken by sobs, but the soft feel of Lan Zhan’s kiss grounded him.

Eventually, even Hanguang-jun’s insatiability met its ceiling. The rhythm became more unstable, slowing down bit by bit.

Wei Ying’s legs had long ago lost all their strength, loosely jostling around Lan Zhan’s waist in time of the thrusts. His head felt light, entire body strung so taut he could’ve been set off by the slightest of touches. And Lan Zhan’s touches, while having slowed down considerably, were not slight.

Another kiss against his lips in tandem with a painfully slow, deep drag of Lan Zhan’s cock inside of him, and Wei Ying felt himself falling into his second high. It wasn’t an increasing thing this time, just something that wasn’t there one moment and the next second pushed him over the edge.

He might’ve screamed. He wasn’t sure. All that he knew was the feeling of Lan Zhan’s gasp against his mouth, Lan Zhan’s hips grinding into him, Lan Zhan’s hands gripping him tighter and tighter against him. His own come spilling over the plane of his stomach, and Lan Zhan’s filling him with its warmth.

Wei Ying was breathing heavy, hardly even able to, tasting nothing but salt on his tongue from the sweat and the tears. Lan Zhan pulled back just enough for them to be able to gaze into each other’s eyes. Too bright, his Lan Zhan’s eyes. So golden.

The man took a shaky inhale, as he pulled out of Wei Ying with surprising amount of control. ”Are you…”

”Ah, what, am I fine? Only now you care to ask, Hanguang-jun?” Wei Ying narrowed his eyes, face falling into as proper fake pout as he could manage with his orgasm hazy brain.

And then, just like that, the brightness in Lan Zhan’s eyes dimmed. Wei Ying could still feel the thunderous beating of his heart, their chests held close to each other, but as something resembling guilt appeared there, the man pulled off entirely. Moved from on top of Wei Ying to the side.

Ah, this man. Wei Ying ignored the miserable show of Hanguang-jun’s sense of righteousness catching up, and turned to cling onto him, worming his way under his arm, and placed his head over the now stiffened man’s chest.

“Aiyo, Lan Zhan, what do you think you’re doing, huh? First you do that to me, then you get distant! It’s cold if you’re not close to me,” he whined.

Lan Zhan, despite the newly found frigidness, did pull him closer at the words. The rapid thumping in his chest had not quieted at all, making Wei Ying’s lips curl upwards at the corners. Oh, knowing these tells was a blessing.

There was a long moment of silence, Wei Ying catching his breath, trying to gather some strength to his limbs again. The night air felt even cooler against his sticky skin. Lan Zhan’s quiet was ringing, however, until it finally got broken with a: “I will take responsibility.”

Wei Ying, not at all surprised over this development, only snorted. “No need, I’m already married.”

The reaction to this was expected. Lan Zhan froze up even further, the hand that had tentatively started stroking Wei Ying’s back stilling in place. In the serenity of the Cloud Recesses, one could’ve heard a pin dropping.

Then, with a voice terribly void of emotion: “You are already married.”

“Yes,” replied Wei Ying. “To a very handsome man, who fucks me like this every night.”

Lan Zhan’s hand twitched against him. Clearly only barely stifling his anger, he started: “Why did you…”

“Why did I cheat on my husband? I didn’t! Not at all,” Wei Ying stated, tapping Lan Zhan’s chest twice. He felt some come dripping out of him as he moved closer against the other. “In fact, I think my husband quite enjoys it when I do this with you.”

“Enjoys it.”

Wei Ying nodded very seriously. “Enjoys it.”

For a while, Lan Zhan did not answer anything. Then, all of a sudden, Wei Ying was being pushed down again as Lan Zhan turned to loom over him, face severe, eyes blazing.

“He will not let go of you, should he find out about this?”

“No, I don’t think he would.”

“Then I will fight him for your hand,” Lan Zhan declared.

There was a flush dusting Wei Ying’s cheekbones again, the thought of Lan Zhan being this ready to go after an imaginary husband for his attentions. Was it only about propriety, after all? Lan Zhan had told him once he’d fallen in love with him instantly.

“But Hanguang-jun, my husband is a very skilled fighter,” Wei Ying said, stifling a smile. “I don’t think he would let go of me so easily, either.”

“I will win.”

“Not to mention, he’s been quite a good husband to me so far.”

Lan Zhan’s brows furrowed deeper, his gaze cold. “He lets you dress in this way. Lets other men touch you. He does not deserve to have you.”

“Lets me? Is he my keeper?” Wei Ying asked, eyes twinkling. “Er-gege, do you know, I think he really treats me quite well. Are you sure I'd be better off with you?”

The answering nod was very serious. Wei Ying batted his lashes at him.

“What if I don’t want to leave him? I love him quite a lot.”

For this, it seemed, Lan Zhan didn’t have an argument. The expression on the handsome face got complicated, his gaze lowered. Wei Ying’s heart really couldn’t take it, then, and he reached out to take Lan Zhan by his chin.

“Ah, Lan Zhan, I’ll let you in on a secret, okay?” he said, holding that gaze. “This is a dream, and my husband is you. When I wake up, you’ll be right there next to me, you know? And you’ll do again what you did to me just now.”

The dream Lan Zhan blinked at him, face going lax, and Wei Ying could not read the expression on his face for once. So he decided not to dwell on it, and instead of closed his eyes, ready to let the dream be over and done with.

And so it was.

-

Wei Ying woke up in the arms of his husband, who was very much awake and very much giving him a half-amused, half-exasperated look. Nothing ached in Wei Ying in the way it had only a few moments ago in the dream, save for the phantom feeling of their daily activities in their mildest version.

Wei Ying grinned up at his husband, bleary-eyed but still satisfied. “Lan Zhan! Were you sharing the dream with me? Is this a cultivation thing?”

“Mn,” Lan Zhan replied. “I believe it is the incense burner.”

“What, the one we found yesterday?” Wei Ying turning to look over his shoulder towards the shelf a little away, where they’d placed the item. “It did have strange energy about it.”

“Mn.”

“Well! We got a fun experience out of it, didn’t we?” Wei Ying smiled mischievously at his man, who gazed back at him with not-at-all hidden fondness. “Lan Zhan, who would’ve known you were this kind of a man? To ravish a stranger during a first meeting! And you were ready to fight my ‘husband’ too, haha, what did you think – “

Lan Zhan did not wait for him to babble on, and instead cut him off by flipping them over and quieting him with a deep kiss to the mouth.

And again they went at it.

-

Chapter Text

FIRST YEAR IN THE MODERN WORLD, SHANGHAI

There were many things Lan Wangji considered a mystery in their shared apartment in the modern world.

The ease of making yourself a meal with the appliances in the kitchen was unprecedented, yet Wei Ying still reached for the phone to order in whenever he was hungry. He would often whine and groan when Lan Wangji gently pried the item from his hand. Wei Ying still ate the food Lan Wangji made with a smile on his face.

He did not like the way the walls were built thin enough that sometimes during their lovemaking, Lan Wangji had to kiss Wei Ying to muffle the sounds he made, lest it disturb the neighbors. He could hear music being played in the evenings, not loud enough to truly bother him, but enough that Wei Ying would hum and mouth the words without noticing.

He did not understand the number of useless things Wei Ying collected to their home, ranging from broken machines that ‘looked cool’ to unread books Wei Ying was certain he would read one day so they could not give them away just yet. Perhaps it was the availability of them.

He was mystified over the system of electricity, how clicking a switch on one side of the room would light up the lamp on the other side. How the fridge kept their food cold. How Wei Ying’s phone would become alive and die with the help of it.

Wei Ying tried to explain it to him, once. He spoke about electromagnetism and charged particles, and while Lan Wangji could barely understand half of it, he got to enjoy the way Wei Ying’s eyes lit up (like the lamps in the room, sudden and bright) and his hands circled the air in the rhythm of the explanation, weaving an incomprehensible picture for Lan Wangji to enjoy.

It sounded like a form of spiritual energy to him. Wei Ying decidedly told him it was not.

Their bedroom, as the place that held most of Wei Ying’s personal possessions, was the den of mystery to Lan Wangji.

“Don’t touch that!” Wei Ying told him more often than not, and Lan Wangji would pull his hand from the object he had been about to inspect.

Electricity was dangerous, he’d learned. Small things in the house could hurt him, should he touch them in the wrong manner. He had gotten to know of Wei Ying’s bad habit of leaving half-built electric machines lying around.

He did not want to restrict Wei Ying’s brilliance, but he softly chastised him for things that seemed quite obvious in their danger. Fire risks and such. Wei Ying often joked about his carefulness, but still always quietly made the machines harmless and put them away in the boxes he kept in the closet.

The biggest mystery, however, was one of those boxes. The one that Wei Ying had once told him not to open, that had not been touched since.

Lan Wangji was not overly curious a person. It did not bother him that there were things in the world he did not know, nor was it a difficulty for him to restrain himself from prying. Wei Ying deserved to have his secrets.

It was, then, a mystery Lan Wangji could live with. Much like the one of electricity.

So it was most definitely not his intention for it to happen when he finally uncovered that particular mystery.

He was meditating by the window, Wei Ying to his side on the living room floor with his laptop. His love was lying on his stomach, fingers tapping a beat against the palm rest, legs crossed in the air. Lost in thought.

Too beautiful to look at. Lan Wangji’s meditation was a show of restraint nowadays.

Then something flashed on the screen, the laptop started whirring, and all of a sudden the whole thing shut down. The screen went black. Wei Ying groaned.

“No, no, what? Are you kidding me?” He pressed the button to try and turn the thing on again, but to no avail. “It’s plugged in! What do you mean the battery’s empty?”

“What is it?” Lan Wangji asked, willing to help yet desperately aware of the limits to his own knowledge here.

“This piece of trash is acting up is what it is!” Wei Ying pressed the button again, multiple times, but nothing happened.

Lan Wangji did not mention that inanimate objects rarely did anything out of their own will, as lacking a will altogether mostly prevented that. Instead, he stood up. “Which part of it is not working?”

Wei Ying sighed, then gave him a pitiful look over his shoulder. “I think it’s the charger. Ah, Lan Zhan, I was in the middle of an important work thing!”

He was not. Lan Wangji had seen the screen over his shoulder and believed the Jiang company did not pay Wei Ying for playing online card games.

He nodded. “I will get you the box with the spare ones.”

The pitiful, wide-eyed look on Wei Ying’s face only intensified. “Lan Zhan! My savior!”

Lan Wangji huffed at the theatrics, fondness flaring warm and pleasant in his chest. He stepped carefully over Wei Ying’s lying body and headed to the bedroom.

The closet had not been neat when they’d first come here. Wei Ying had, thankfully, let Lan Wangji declutter it afterward, so now the boxes were all in a neat pile in their own places, only ever getting mixed up when Wei Ying went to put something back there in a rush.

Wei Ying was often careless about such things. Another surge of affection warmed Lan Wangji as he bent down to the lower shelf and picked up the box of spare cords. It was a little out of its place, clearly hastily thrown in.

“I can’t wait until we’re back in the cultivation world, honestly,” Wei Ying groaned, inspecting the charger still attached to the laptop with a sour face. “No laptops. No work. I can leech off of your vast wealth like I’m supposed to.”

He gave Wei Ying an amused look. He had started taking guqin students, so technically Wei Ying did not need to do the amount of work that he did here either.

“You do not want to quit working,” was his reply. “You would get restless.”

“I’m sure Er-gege would find a way to entertain me somehow,” Wei Ying said, the sad look turning mischievous in a blink of an eye. “Or is he not willing anymore? Has the relationship gone stale already? Is my nubile body no longer desirable to him, now that he’s had me every night for months?”

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji chastened mildly. The thought of him ever growing tired of Wei Ying was laughable.

He sat on the couch, placing the box in his lap. Wei Ying had turned to his side, stretching his legs out and holding his head against his hand. Lan Wangji refused to let his eyes linger on him – he knew what that would inevitably lead to, and he was still attempting to not take too many liberties.

They were not yet married still. He’d been searching for a ring for a while now, ever since Wen Qing had explained to him the customs of this modern world. He found the idea of Wei Ying wearing his ring quite pleasing.

“That didn’t answer my question, Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying said, eyes narrowing in accusation. The underlying tease in them made Lan Wangji shake his head.

He would demonstrate his affection come night, should Wei Ying still be angling for it.

Lan Wangji opened the box, then, already focused on finding a matching charger to the one next to Wei Ying’s laptop. But to his surprise, the box was not filled with black cords.

He did not recognize the objects inside. They were oblong, in different sizes and colors, ranging from a round blue cork-like thing to a bigger black item with slight bumps on it. And...handcuffs? These Lan Wangji could recognize, although they were padded with some sort of fur.

He stared for a moment, uncomprehending, until he saw it. In the color of a peach, shaped like the thing it was clearly trying to imitate. Smaller than his own, most definitely, but still undeniably the same thing. He took it in his hand. The material was firm yet bendy.

Lan Wangji raised his gaze to Wei Ying, whose eyes had widened, mouth opened, and face turned that same color as the fur in the handcuffs.

A confirmation, if anything. Lan Wangji’s grip on the object tightened almost by reflex.

“What—“

“Lan Zhan! Don’t touch that!” Wei Ying squeaked, trying to stumble up in haste, but Lan Wangji only straightened his leg over him, keeping him down.

“Wei Ying,” he said, lifting the object. “What is this?”

The blush over Wei Ying’s cheeks deepened. “You know what that is! Put it away, Lan Zhan, aiyo! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Why do you have this?” Lan Wangji asked, gaze dropping back down to the false member he was holding in his hand. Under it, in the box, the objects were starting to form meaning.

“I – ah, L-Lan Zhan! You know why! Put it down, it’s filthy!”

“Filthy,” Lan Wangji repeated, his belief of the situation confirmed.

Most of the time here, Lan Wangji did not miss having a golden core. Unlike what he’d expected, the feeling of being without one here was not something empty and aching, the feeling of a phantom limb. It wasn’t a presence of something that should’ve been there: rather, it felt like nothing at all, like there had never been a place for it inside of him anyway.

Currently, Lan Wangji wished nothing more than to have his golden core – to be able to obliterate the offending item into dust. As per Wei Ying’s wish, though, he let it drop back into the box.

“Lan Zhan–“

“You pleasure yourself with these?” Lan Wangji cut in, against the rules of his sect.

He might have gotten lost in the delight of seeing Wei Ying so flustered, had the topic at hand not been so critical. His love opened his mouth, half-starting a sentence many times yet not voicing anything.

Then, like giving up, his shoulders slumped and he whined: “Lan Zhan!”

“You said I was your first,” Lan Wangji said then, almost petulant. “Inside of you.”

Wei Ying’s eyes widened further. “Wha – that doesn’t count! It’s silicone, not a human being!”

It did not seem relevant. Lan Wangji had thought himself the first to make Wei Ying sweaty, blissed-out, mindless in this specific way, yet it seemed he had been beaten by an inanimate object. The disappointment of it burned.

The place Wei Ying came from truly wanted to strip him of every privilege, didn’t it?

“Did you make these?”

Another incredulous squeak. “Did I –? Did I make my own sex toys? I bought them!”

Lan Wangji felt the corner of his mouth curl down in displeasure. Of course. Everything and everyone here was shameless. Did it not make sense that the world that would demand they dress in only one layer would also sell them things like these?

A drop of vinegar to his tongue once again. What of the merchant that sold these to Wei Ying? He had known what they would be used for, surely. Had he imagined Wei Ying in throes of pleasure, writhing and moaning as he used one of these?

He despised this modern world for its lack of tolerance towards sword fighting as means of conflict resolution. Lan Wangji wanted to see that man take responsibility for his unrighteous motives.

“Who?” he asked.

“What?”

“Who sold these to you?”

Wei Ying squinted at him, then, but almost immediately his face relaxed back and he groaned. “Lan Zhan! They are mass-produced! I’ve not been making any salacious dealings with some shady man in an alleyway! I bought them through the internet!”

This knowledge made Lan Wangji feel only barely less slighted. Mass-produced. These things were normal here. Part of life. It was Lan Wangji who yet again did not belong, whose mind could not bypass the obscenity of it.

He let his eyes scan the toys again. Another realization sunk in. The box was hastily stuffed back into the closet as if taken out of it recently.

“Wei Ying has touched himself with these,” he stated.

“Wha – yes! We already established that!”

“Recently,” Lan Wangji clarified, and as his eyes landed back on Wei Ying, he witnessed the mortification on that face renew itself.

“I – well, I, uh, it’s – Lan Zhan! Won’t you stop looking at me like that?” He threw his hand out, pointing at Lan Wangji’s face. “It’s like you’ve caught me cheating!”

“Have I not pleased you well enough?” he asked, the thought gnawing at him. Wei Ying, displeased with his performance, stealing a moment away to touch himself in the way he wished, trusting the...silicone…rather than the man who was supposed to love him.

“What? What! Stop, whatever you’re thinking,” Wei Ying said immediately. “You’re wrong and it’s stupid! I just – Lan Zhan, I just wanted to, ah, try it out, to– to compare, if it’s the same–“

“Did it?” Lan Wangji asked.

Wei Ying blinked. “Huh?”

“Did it compare?”

Another moment of spluttering. Lan Wangji did not know how Wei Ying could so drastically shift between complete shamelessness and embarrassment. He knew his own ears had been flaming from the moment he’d realized the meaning of the objects.

“Of course it didn’t! Obviously it didn’t!” Wei Ying insisted then. “Lan Zhan, I was just curious! You’re so much bigger!”

He glanced at the box. Wei Ying’s assessment seemed correct. Still, the sourness in him did not subside.

“And if you…” He squinted at the peach-colored one, the largest of the toys. “...bought yourself a bigger one?”

“That’s not what I meant!” Wei Ying rushed to say. “You think I could replace you with a toy? Lan Zhan, give me some credit!”

“When?” Lan Wangji asked next, still unable to let go.

“When what? When did I, ah, do the comparison?” Wei Ying rubbed his neck, avoiding his gaze. “Haha, it was, um, it was a few weeks ago? You went to the store during rush hour. I knew it’d take at least forty minutes for you to come back.”

“Which one did you use?”

“What is this, an interrogation, ah? Can’t a man have his secrets?” Wei Ying asked, resorting to dramatics. Though when he glanced at Lan Wangji again, he continued with a sigh: “The one you held just then.”

It rested there, on top of the toys, mocking him. Lan Wangji despised it. “How did it feel?”

“Wh – Lan Zhan! When have you become this shameless?”

Lan Wangji gave him a look, and Wei Ying’s blush spread. “It – well, it was – it just – the thing is, I, it wasn’t – enough?”

“Enough?”

“Well, I was obviously thinking about you when I did that, and you’re much more, you know, intense,” he explained, the words coming out almost in one breath. “It’s not the same, Lan Zhan, so you shouldn’t worry about it!”

“I see,” Lan Wangji said. He closed the box then. Placed it on the couch next to him. “You still kept them.”

“They’re expensive,” Wei Ying defended. “I definitely wouldn’t get rid of them just because they can’t reach the impossible standard you have set!”

“You are planning to use them again, then?”

“I – uh, well.” There was a moment Wei Ying looked like he might escape the room. He seemed to abandon the idea just as quickly. “Yes? Look, what will I do the next time you’re gone?”

“For forty minutes?”

“No! But – Lan Zhan, there will absolutely be a time in the future where we’re not together for a few days, and what if I really miss you, and I need to, ah, I need to make myself miss you a little less, so I –“

“Touch yourself with something that is not enough?” Lan Wangji asked, dry.

“Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying said. Then, “...Yes?”

“I will not leave,” he stated resolutely.

Wei Ying would never have to miss him, then, and to use those despicable pieces of silicone in replacement of what he needed.

He did not seem impressed with Lan Wangji’s declaration, though, as he rubbed his hands over his face, muffling something into his palms. Then he sighed loudly, dramatically, and gave Lan Wangji a look.

“No, Lan Zhan, let’s be realistic. You will not stay next to me every day for the rest of our lives just because you are jealous of some stupid dildos.”

Lan Wangji exhaled. Some part of him realized he was being petty and intolerant, exhibiting the worst parts of his own personality over a thing that must have been, to Wei Ying, incredibly minor. Wei Ying did not view sexuality and its different expressions in the same way as him.

Perhaps Lan Wangji should have guessed this. Wei Ying had always been more knowledgeable than him when it came to matters like these.

Once again, Lan Wangji felt out of his element. Unsure of how to proceed without giving offense, unsure of how to not be offended.

“Oh, stop looking so miserable,” Wei Ying said, standing up then, and promptly landing himself in Lan Wangji’s lap, facing him, thighs to either side of his own. “What do you think you’re doing, getting so worked up over such a small thing? Don’t tell me you have never jerked one off back in the Cloud Recesses?”

Lan Wangji could not lie, so he merely circled his arms around Wei Ying’s waist and pulled him closer.

“See? You totally have. So how’s it any different when I use toys while doing it?” He flicked Lan Wangji’s nose with a finger, and Lan Wangji caught his hand in his own.

“Wei Ying,” he sighed.

“What, now he doesn’t have anything to say to defend himself? Typical! You’re not even thinking far enough to get fun about it.”

“Fun?”

A wide smile spread on that beloved face slowly. “Who says I only have to use them alone, huh? I have all kinds of neat stuff in that box, Lan Zhan. You could make me lose my mind with them.”

Lan Wangji glanced at the box, doubt most likely evident on his face. Wei Ying snorted.

“Fine, fine. You’ll come around to it,” he said. “The vibrating ones are nice. And if it’s just the dildo thing bothering you, we can order some stuff together too!”

“Wei Ying.”

His laughter was still the sweetest sound in the world, even when the cause was Lan Wangji’s exasperation. Wei Ying slid his hands over Lan Wangji’s shoulders, to his neck and the side of his face.

“Stop looking at me so disapprovingly, Hanguang-jun. You knew what you got into when I first stumbled into your world with those tiny shorts.”

“Mn.” He did. This too was a continuation of the inevitable realizations that came with falling in love with someone from a different world.

Lan Wangji sighed silently, letting his forehead fall against Wei Ying’s shoulder, the man’s hands falling easily off his face and to his hair.

Another difference in propriety. Lan Wangji had been through this multiple times now, first with the clothing, then with the attitude towards premarital sex. Was this not only another way Wei Ying’s mind was heedless of conventionality?

Wei Ying was good. In so many ways. And the things Wei Ying did and believed were, while not always wise nor healthy for himself, not morally objectionable.

Lan Wangji sighed again. He still hated the box and its fillings.

“Also, I refuse to believe there isn’t any kind of old-timey dildos in the cultivation world,” Wei Ying added. “You’re just being very Lan about it.”

Despite himself, Lan Wangji felt a flash of amusement. “Hm?”

“Yes, very proper and prudish,” Wei Ying stated. “You know, I bet there’s a fisherman in Gusu who has carved one out of jade for his wife as a gift!”

A wealthy fisherman, to be able to gift his wife a piece of jade that big. Lan Wangji did not say this, only took Wei Ying by the hips and squeezed. The man squirmed against him.

“A thoughtless gift.” He rubbed his thumbs against Wei Ying’s hipbones. “Not enough.”

“...Are you going to be a caveman about this?” Wei Ying asked nonsensically, then immediately clarified, a grin in his voice: “I mean, go all primal on me. Show me what I’m missing when I misbehave and use toys instead of the real deal.”

“Is that what Wei Ying wants?” Lan Wangji asked, moving his head so that his lips were against the soft skin of Wei Ying’s throat.

He felt it move under him, swallow. “Ha, well, if you happened to be like that, there’s not much I could do, right?”

“Mn,” Lan Wangji agreed. “Right.”

He placed a kiss against that skin, then, pulling Wei Ying tighter to himself. The pants Wei Ying was wearing were loose, stretchy material – sweatpants, he called them, though Lan Wangji had yet to see Wei Ying sweating in them.

Some day, perhaps.

Lan Wangji held Wei Ying close to himself with one hand while sliding the other one between them, pressing it against what was clearly a growing hardness under the soft cotton. Wei Ying bucked immediately against him, impatient as always. Or perhaps trying to goad Lan Wangji further.

Like that was ever needed. Was it not primal that Wei Ying wanted? That Lan Wangji could provide him. He lifted Wei Ying up by the hips – the show of strength was always met with an exaggerated amount of gasping as if Wei Ying had forgotten from the last time he lifted him.

“Off,” he demanded, and Wei Ying scrambled to pull the pants off, revealing a tantalizing amount of pale skin.

Soon the pants were on the floor, Wei Ying flushed, eager, and half-hard in his lap. Lan Wangji did not wait, could not wait. Seeing Wei Ying like this and knowing he wanted him was enough to make him lose his sense of propriety.

It did not matter that they were not married and it did not matter that it was half-past three pm on a weekday. Wei Ying wanted him, and Wei Ying was his. What could Lan Wangji do but give him exactly what he asked for?

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying said, flushed and pretty. “There’s lube in the box.”

He turned the box over with one hand, then, letting the dildos roll on the couch. The bottle of lubricant was small and innocuous. And almost empty.

Another flash of irritation went through him, irrational yet burning all the same. He did not waste time on playing gentle, instead merely coating his fingers with a proper amount of lubricant before sliding them between Wei Ying’s cheeks, over his hole. It twitched under his finger as he started rubbing it, taking delight in the way Wei Ying groaned.

“Easy,” he stated, pressing against the opening and feeling it give way.

Wei Ying gasped in faux indignation, though only spread his legs wider as Lan Wangji worked his finger in completely. It did not take long for him to be able to add another one. Wei Ying squirmed against him, letting out small noises, driving Lan Wangji insane.

It was always like this with Wei Ying. The way he looked, the way he touched, the sounds he made. Everything specifically designed to drive Lan Wangji out of his mind.

He felt greedy, always, while having Wei Ying. Like he would never get enough.

The babbling did not help it. The way Wei Ying said things – shameless things, deprived things – had him digging fingers into the meat of his ass, only barely restraining himself from throwing Wei Ying onto the carpet and taking him without preparation.

“Just like that, just like that La – ah – n Zhan,” he moaned, working his hips back against Lan Wangji’s fingers. Wantonly, without shame. Lan Wangji was already hard, had been from the moment Wei Ying decided this was the appropriate way to handle the situation.

“You know what I was thinking about back then,” Wei Ying asked, voice breathless, already fucked-out. “When I was fucking myself with that toy?”

Lan Wangji ignored the question, merely inserting another finger in. So tight. No matter how many times they did it at night.

“I thought about you coming back early,” Wei Ying said, never caring whether Lan Wangji gave him an answer. “I, ah, I thought about you coming in and seeing me – catching me d-doing it, and getting mad. Fucking me.”

Of course. Lan Wangji’s grip on Wei Ying tightened almost painfully. He knew he would leave prints again on Wei Ying’s skin, light bruises to match the earlier ones.

Was it not always primal, when they had each other like this? Lan Wangji, at least, always felt like there was no higher thought inside his head during their lovemaking. Only skin, touch, the sweet noises Wei Ying made.

Lan Wangji pulled his own cock out, almost pained in touching it, and poured the last of the lube over it. Wei Ying’s hips rouse easily, the man helping to lift himself with shaky thighs.

He aligned himself to the entrance, sliding the tip in with only slight resistance – Wei Ying’s heat welcomed him with the same eagerness as always, making way for him to fuck his way inside with little effort. In this position, gravity did most of the work for them.

The sound Wei Ying made, being split open, had Lan Wangji almost tipping over the edge. He gritted his teeth and slammed Wei Ying further down by the hips, and the next moan was even more beautiful than the one before.

He bit the side of Wei Ying’s neck, lifting him up again and then pushing him down, setting a frantic pace from the start. The heat was always too good, the sounds of Wei Ying’s bliss always too lovely. Lan Wangji felt lost in the feeling of sinking into him, over and over again.

Wei Ying yielded so beautifully, like he was made to be there, in Lan Wangji’s arms, taking him inside and sharing pleasure with him.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying whined against his ear. “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, I don’t need anything but you, I’ll never have anything but you –!”

He bucked his hips up, thrusting inside with hardly any finesse, his hold iron tight. Usually, Lan Wangji lasted hours. Today, it seemed, he could not help himself from chasing after the high, rutting into Wei Ying like an animal.

That’s what he’d wished, was it not? Something other than a toy. Other than an inanimate piece of silicone. Lan Wangji was warm, living, and moving, as much as Wei Ying liked to compare him to a marble statue.

Wei Ying begged for mercy again, as he was wont to. Mercy from what? He did not want Lan Wangji to stop. He did not want Lan Wangji to slow down. If anything, it was an encouragement to go harder.

So he did.

It did not take long for them to come. Wei Ying, gasping for a breath, working himself into completion with his beautiful, swift hands. The tightness around him contracted, and Lan Wangji followed almost immediately, pulling Wei Ying closer to himself, as close as he could manage.

Catching their breaths was another thing entirely. Wei Ying felt loose in his arms. Relaxed, lazy. He pulled himself out and tucked himself back inside his pants. They both needed a shower.

At the frown on his face, Wei Ying snorted softly.

“Ah, Lan Zhan, you really should’ve let me do some of the work,” he said, petting Lan Wangji’s sweaty hair off of his forehead. “Moving me like that in your lap! Do you know, I almost felt like I was the to–“

Lan Wangji took his beloved by the neck and kissed him to shut him up.

He’d wished to do it many times in the year they had not yet been together. It was a privilege to quieten the outpouring of absurdity in this way. Quickly, efficiently, in the way that distracted both of them.

Wei Ying laughed against his lips but melted into it anyway. When he pulled back, the gleam of amusement was still there.

“Do you know, I really could not have anyone but you, Lan Zhan,” he said, and the tone of voice was gentle, sincere.

Lan Wangji exhaled through his nose slowly, letting his eyes roam over that face. The gray of his eyes, the pink of his cheeks. Messy hair that stuck to his damp skin.

“Mn. I know.”

“Good! That being said, I will be very cross with you if you throw away my sex toys,” Wei Ying declared, poking his chest with his forefinger in a severe manner.

“Mn.”

“So don’t,” Wei Ying clarified.

Lan Wangji kissed him again.

In truth, while his initial reaction had been strong, Lan Wangji’s feelings had already settled. It had been like this most of his time here, had it not? New thoughts to adjust to, new points of view to consider.

The pettiness and indignation had always been something to overcome, rather than to wallow in. After coming here, in the modern world with Wei Ying, he had gained a new understanding of what he had been through in the cultivation world for the year.

Things did not make sense. Some things even less than others. This world, this apartment of theirs, both full of things that mystified him.

Yet the most important thing – the one looking at him with a crooked smile on his face, eyes bright and narrowed – was something he understood. And was that not enough?

-