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Lan Wangji woke up to muted noises. In his dragon form, he slept quite heavy, but his human form was weaker – making light sleeping somewhat more crucial. He gently pulled himself up to a sitting position, listening. A sound like someone walking carried from somewhere in the woods behind the Jingshi.

He grabbed Bichen and went to seek out the source. At this time of the night, no one belonging to their sect would be out. Furthermore, the members on a night guard knew to keep a polite distance to any houses. The one causing these noises was not of the Lan.

It was not a bright night outside. From the wetness of the grass and the fresh smell in the darkness, he could tell it had rained some time ago. Leaves swayed as drops of rainwater fell off of them. A stillness had fallen over the forest.

This was fine. Lan Wangji could sense him, behind a close-by pine tree. The intruder.

He moved fast enough to not give him a chance to run. Their sect forbid making assumptions, but Lan Wangji struggled to come up with innocuous motives this late at night.

To his surprise, the swing of his sword was met and parried. The intruder took a light jump back, the movement so effortless he seemed to weigh nothing at all. Dark robes fluttered around him, all too loose and showing too much skin around the neckline and the wrists. On the face of the intruder, a blinding smile with sharp little canines.

A fox spirit. His ears were sticking out from the mess of his dark hair, multiple tails behind him. Eyes bright and the corners of them crinkled.

Lan Wangji struck again and had to admit to himself that the first time had not been a streak of luck from the fox’s part. There was only the slightest delay with the way he dodged, and from the shocked little noise he let out, Lan Wangji could guess it had been a bit too close for comfort.

“Ah, honorable Lan, forgive this one for the offense, will you?” the fox said, clear humor in his tone as he kept evading Bichen, now more fluidly. “I certainly did not mean to wake you up!”

“How did you get inside?”

“Now wouldn’t it be a bit thoughtless of me to reveal that? What if I need to return someday?” he asked conversationally as if Lan Wangji was not fighting him with fervor. His eyes – dark, lined with long lashes – widened a bit as he danced around the blows. “Esteemed Lan fights too well! I’m impressed, I’m very impressed! The strength and accuracy in these attacks, I’m having a hard time!”

Lan Wangji knew he was one of the most skilled fighters of his generation. It did nothing to downplay this: it was a fact. Yet the fox was evidently matching him in speed and skill, finding new ways to parry and dodge whilst keeping up the infuriating chatter.

“No wonder people are in awe of the Lan sect’s cultivators,” the fox said, laughter to his voice. “I’d known you were handsome, but isn’t this a bit too much, huh? To be able to make me work for it, and look so unmoved while doing it!”

“Then yield,” Lan Wangji snapped.

“I will not!” the fox replied. “You see why I won’t, don’t you, ah? If I stop dodging even for a moment, then one of your hits will slice me in half, and then what will I do?”

Lan Wangji had no intention of slicing anyone in half. He was going to take this man and bring him to his uncle, who would decide on the appropriate punishment for breaking into their sect. Fox spirits were not well-liked, but Lan Wangji believed his uncle to be able to see past any prejudices.

This particular fox was only reinforcing everything Lan Wangji had heard of fox spirits. With the playful grin, shameless comments, and frankly inappropriate attire, he did nothing but make everything inside Lan Wangji want to protest.

“Nonsense!”

“How is it nonsense?” A swing. A dodge. “I was only trespassing anyway! Honorable Lan should’ve just continued sleeping soundly, and I would’ve been out of your hair before you’d noticed!”

Trespassing through a sect? Absolute nonsense. No one would be foolish enough for that, especially one seeming as sharp as this fox. Walking carelessly into a sect’s land was thoughtless – doing so to a dragon sect was a sure way to get caught.

Perhaps this little fox was too self-confident. Daring he was, at least. With the smile that made Lan Wangji attack all the more furiously.

“I’d never known you Lans could be this troublesome,” he whined. “Can’t you just let me go this one time? I haven’t even done anything! How about I bring you Emperor’s smile the next time as thanks, ah? What do you say?”

There was a lot there that Lan Wangji could’ve answered to. There would be no next time, trying to bribe a guard was forbidden, and their sect did not allow alcohol consumption in the Cloud Recesses.

“I cannot!” was what Lan Wangji said, and then swung again, putting true force behind the hit.

The fox managed to shift out of the way again, but his movements had started to seem a bit slower. The dodge was made too quick, and the fox’s steps were unsteady.

“Aha, ha, Master Lan is being entirely too harsh with me,” he said, and Lan Wangji could see him visibly wince at another swing barely missed.

It was with the next attack that the fox really stumbled – Lan Wangji’s sword clashed against his own, hard enough to send the other flying. The fox was pushed back as well, crashing onto his back, letting out a hiss.

Bichen’s sharp point was under his chin in a second, the man on the ground, throat bared. Lan Wangji was barely breathing harder than usual, but it felt like he’d expended all of his energy to get here.

The fox’s chest rose and fell with his breaths, chin up and the smile still there on his face.

“I yield, I yield,” he said, lifting his hands a bit in a sign of surrender. And then he hissed again, grin turning into a grimace.

Lan Wangji had no time but to frown when the fox’s eyes rolled back into his head, and he slumped into unconsciousness.

His first thought was immediate suspicion – was the fox trying to trick him into coming closer, and then attempt to get the upper hand? Though the more Lan Wangji stared at him, the less likely it seemed. And then he smelled the iron scent, faint but obviously there.

Bichen had not touched the man at any point in their spar, except at the very end, when he’d already yielded. Lan Wangji sheathed his sword and knelt swiftly by him. He was indeed not conscious, and only this close could Lan Wangji see the faint sheen of sweat on his face.

Gritting his teeth, he pulled the already shamelessly loose robes open. There it was, on his side – an open wound, gushing blood. Clearly deep enough to cause concern. Lan Wangji had no time to focus on his own embarrassment over seeing so much smooth skin on an attractive body.

Without further hesitation, he picked up the man’s sword, then the man himself, gently into his arms. He was lighter than he’d looked – seeming frailer. He made no sound as Lan Wangji brought him inside the Jingshi.

-

It was late afternoon the next day when the fox finally started stirring awake. He’d slept peacefully in the sheets until that moment, in Lan Wangji’s bed. Lan Wangji had taken the floor.

He had not told about the fox to anyone. He was not entirely sure of his own reasoning for it. He’d merely cleaned and bandaged the wound, and dressed the man in his own clean robes. They were slightly too big for him but still settled more properly around his frame than his own robes had.

Lan Wangji had washed those as well. There had been a clear rip he’d not noticed during the fight, but which should have been obvious. In one of the sleeves, he’d found talismans, expertly crafted, and a money pouch with a golden peony embroidered on it. Lan Wangji confiscated them for the moment.

The day Lan Wangji spent looking over the proposal letters in the Jingshi. He had been putting off this task in any case, firm in the knowledge that nothing would follow but much writing and his uncle’s disappointment. The original plan had been to join some juniors on a night hunt – he would not be leaving, now. No one asked to hear his reasoning for staying in the Cloud Recesses. He did not offer one.

The fox made it quite obvious when he finally woke up. There was rustling, yawning, stretching, and then a hiss, as he clearly got reminded of the wound on his side. Lan Wangji kept his eyes on the current letter. Some smaller clan, the sect leader’s daughter. Famed beauty. The fact was unimportant to Lan Wangji, but it was mentioned in the letter.

It was yet again obvious when the fox noticed his presence in the room. All sounds immediately stopped. Lan Wangji did not look up.

He had started on the polite rejection letter, before the fox spoke: “Ah, honored Lan. Have you imprisoned me?”

The fox shuffled more in his sheets, clearly about to sit up.

“Do not move. You will aggravate your injury.”

There was a short silence, during which the man clearly realized his wound had been tended to. A teasing note appeared in his voice again: “Did you strip me out of my clothes when I passed out, gege?”

An expected response. Lan Wangji loathed the way he felt his ears flush over it, mercifully hidden behind a curtain of hair.

“Hahaha, what’s with that expression? No need to get so angry, aiyo! I know Lans are like monks in that aspect,” the fox said. “I’m sure esteemed master Lan was very respectful!”

“Lan Wangji.”

“Huh?”

“My name,” Lan Wangji said. It sounded too much like a pet name, the way the fox called him.

“Lan Wangji?” the man replied, the name soft on his tongue. Then, like a firecracker lit up, he sat up and exclaimed: “The second jade of Lan! Hanguang-jun, Lan Wangji, Lan Zhan! Of course, I should’ve known! Who else is as renowned for his fighting skills?”

Lan Wangji finally turned to give him a stern look. “Lie down.”

The fox’s eyes widened a bit, but with a slight snicker, he did as he was told. “I can’t properly bow down to introduce myself like this, can I? Is this any way to make a first impression?”

The first impression had come and gone, with the fox breaking through the wards into Lan Wangji’s home. He did not say this: it was obvious. A waste of words.

“I’m Wei Wuxian,” the fox said, “but since Er-gege has been so kind to this little fox, he can call me Wei Ying.”

Lan Wangji suppressed a sigh.

“Did you bring me here when I fainted? Aah, how embarrassing! Did you look at me and see a fragile maiden in my place, Lan Zhan? I must’ve seemed so pitiful to move the infamously cold second jade’s heart!”

Not infamous enough, clearly. Lan Wangji finished writing the rejection. Both his uncle and brother wished he would go through the letters with thought, and truly consider them. Lan Wangji knew his own heart well enough to know that no matter how much focus he put into reading the characters, it would have little effect on his decision.

He said nothing for an answer. The overtly familiar way he was being addressed was enough reason to ignore all of it.

“I’ll have you know I’m usually much harder to take down,” Wei Ying stated, and Lan Wangji had no trouble believing him. “I’m actually really good at fighting! It might be tough for you to believe since you’ve only ever seen me in such a sorry state, but it’s true!”

“Mn,” Lan Wangji said, mainly because he thought it would speed up the end of this particular discussion.

“We could test it again once I’m healed. With how nicely you patched me up, that shouldn’t take too long,” the fox continued. “Hanguang-jun is truly gifted in all things. I’m wearing all white, and there’s no trace of red on me!”

It was very doubtful they would ever meet again after this. Lan Wangji tried to take comfort in that when his budding headache worsened at the chatter.

“But you never answered my question, ah, Lan Zhan!”

He gave the fox a look. He had turned to lie on the side of him that wasn’t wounded, head propped up on his hand, leaning on his elbow. The casual way he was sprawled out on Lan Wangji’s bed was enough incentive for Lan Wangji to turn his attention back on the letters, jaw squared.

“Am I being imprisoned?” Wei Ying asked once it was obvious he wasn’t going to get an answer.

“No,” Lan Wangji replied.

“Really? Then what?”

“Once you have healed, you will be issued your punishment,” Lan Wangji stated. “You are free to leave after.”

The fox snorted. “What, just like that? Don’t you know I’m a fox spirit, Lan Zhan? I could’ve been up to all sorts of naughty things.”

“Do not make assumptions,” Lan Wangji stated.

This time, the burst of laughter was delighted. “You’re too good, Lan Zhan. Is that one of your ten thousand rules?”

“Three thousand,” Lan Wangji corrected. “It is.”

“Maybe that was very foolish of you,” Wei Ying stated, with all the showmanship of an entertainer who could not, at the time, move too much. “Not making assumptions, that is. I might be here to kill you! Or rob you – or seduce you.”

Lan Wangji glanced at him from the corner of his eye. Still in the same position, perhaps even more shamelessly relaxed.

“You are not.”

“How do you know?”

“The money pouch.” Lan Wangji moved to another letter. A son, this time, of a general. He glanced through it quickly. Nothing too outrageous – nothing to catch his interest, either.

Wei Ying sat up again, heedless of Lan Wangji’s advice against it. “Hm, I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“The one you stole,” Lan Wangji stated. From a Jin cultivator, judging from the embroidery. It was not difficult to draw conclusions. He’d gotten into a fight over it, and escaped. Hid himself in the Cloud Recesses.

The fox’s lips pursed into the slightest pout. “To be fair, they stole it first. Lan Zhan, do you know what they did? They scammed an old farmer! What was I supposed to do?”

Not steal had perhaps never once crossed Wei Ying’s mind, so Lan Wangji found it futile to mention this.

“They were supposed to kill a spirit for the old man, and they did nothing, and then got paid anyway,” Wei Ying continued. “See, I was going to go back to the farmer with the money and tell him to hire a competent bunch of cultivators the next time if he wanted to truly be rid of me –“

Lan Wangji’s pen stilled on the paper, the ink ruining the character. “He paid to have you dead?”

“Eh? Yes, he thought I was seducing his daughter!”

Lan Wangji gave him a cold look. “Were you?”

“Wha – bahaha! Lan Zhan, how suspicious! What if I was? Would that be reason enough to send fifteen Jin cultivators after me?”

He couldn’t help the frown. “Fifteen?”

“No need to look so worried, Er-gege,” Wei Ying said. “I would’ve easily taken care of them, but the one with the money pouch had put a bell inside it, so they woke up when I was right in the middle of it. One of them got a jump on me.”

Despite himself, Lan Wangji felt some amount of guilt for fighting the fox last night. If the story was indeed true, the biggest crime the fox had committed was to try and find a safe space from dishonest people hunting him.

And, of course, entering without permission, after nightfall.

“It’s no matter, though! This wound will heal fast,” Wei Ying stated, self-confident. “I’m not very easy to get rid of. Hanguang-jun should keep this in mind.”

“Hm,” he replied. He was certain of this. What he knew of the fox from their brief acquaintance so far, there was a distinct quality to him.

Like he was not at all concerned by the wound on his side, Wei Ying finally slid out of the bed and made his way to the table where Lan Zhan was working. He relaxed against the wood, his posture so improper Lan Wangji could not help the glare. It was answered with more amused laughter.

Nonsensical. Annoying. Impudent.

“What are you doing?” The fox leaned over the table to peer at the papers.

“…” Lan Wangji covered them with his sleeve, but it was evidently too late for such attempts. Wei Ying’s face had already brightened in recognition.

“Oh! Proposal letters.” He sounded excited. “So many! Aren’t we popular?”

Lan Wangji did not dignify that with an answer. It only seemed to amuse the man further.

“What’s with that expression? Are you embarrassed, hahaha? It’s that face of yours! Too beautiful!”

“A strong foundation for a relationship,” Lan Wangji replied dryly. “An appreciation for someone’s face.”

“Hahahahaha! Lan Zhan, there really is no reason to be so serious,” Wei Ying replied, playfully tugging his sleeve to move it from the letters. “You’re at that age, aren’t you? To get engaged! It’s very important for you dragons to get mated, isn’t it?”

He was right. While his sect was famously quite hesitant to share information of their practices, it was of course important for possible brides to know when their proposals were wanted. Lan Wangji was indeed at an age where mating was customary.

“You are as well,” Lan Wangji replied, ignoring the statement. “At that age.”

“Hm, but it’s different for me,” Wei Wuxian mused. “It’s like you said, isn’t it? A pretty face doesn’t make a good marriage. Who’d want to marry a fox spirit?”

Lan Wangji frowned. “Why should it be objectionable?”

Wei Ying looked a bit surprised at that, and then, with a slight, soft smile, looked away. “Didn’t you listen? Fox spirits are devious, disloyal, and not much good for anything but warming your bed.”

“Is that what you think?”

The mischievous glint was back in his dark eyes. “I would be exceptional in warming your bed, Hanguang-jun.”

It was not what he had meant. The impulse to throw the fox out was more difficult to suppress this time. He was injured. He was trying to get a rise of out him.

Lan Wangji would not succumb to this annoyance.

“Shameless,” he spat out, finally.

“Mm-hm, that’s right,” Wei Wuxian said easily. “Shameless and wicked.”

“No,” Lan Wangji denied immediately.

“No?”

There was no need to repeat what he’d said. Shameless – yes, undoubtedly. Using Lan Wangji’s given name, saying such flirtatious things to him, being so flippant and flighty. But wicked? He did not seem wicked. Lan Wangji thought he could recognize wicked, and this wasn’t it.

The fox was by no means harmless, no. He seemed strong, and entirely too willing to leave people in turmoil with his actions. But wicked was malicious, and Wei Ying seemed to have no bad intentions to speak of.

“Go rest,” Lan Wangji said. “You will reopen your wound.”

Wei Ying looked at him silently for a long while after that.

“As Lan Zhan wishes,” he said, finally.

He then stood up from the table and climbed back between the sheets. Lan Wangji kept his eyes on the letters.

“I do hope you find a good bride,” said Wei Ying, after a longer moment of silence. “Kindness should always be repaid.”

Lan Wangji inclined his head but did not reply.

-

That night, Lan Wangji was woken up again. The moment his consciousness returned, he could feel something amiss. A presence very close to him where he lay on the floor. He opened his eyes in time to catch the shadow leaning in, and in a move made of pure instinct, Lan Wangji caught the person and flipped their positions.

Under him, a fox spirit with wide eyes and parted lips. He’d clothed himself with the ripped robe that Lan Wangji washed for him, yet the borrowed white one still peeked from beneath the black fabric.

Lan Wangji had seized his wrists on both sides of his head. Looming over him like the villain from a much darker story. Wei Ying blinked his wide eyes once, twice, before a teasing smile softened his features.

“Er-gege, did you mean to pin me like this? Does it really bother you when I move so much?”

Lan Wangji did not answer. The sounds carried so much louder in the silence of the night. The moment felt unreal – a warm body under him. All of his muscles locked, unsure of what to do. How to proceed. None of this was mentioned in the three thousand rules of their sect.

Wei Ying flexed his hands in Lan Wangji’s grip. The pulse under his skin was thundering. In rhythm with Lan Wangji’s own.

A clever little tongue licked quickly over his lips. “Lan Zhan, when you look at me like that, do you know what I think you’re thinking?”

“Shameless,” said Lan Wangji. His voice was hoarse. His thigh was pressing between Wei Wuxian’s legs, keeping them open.

“I’m the shameless one? Isn’t it you who pressed me to the ground like this? What am I supposed to think, ah?”

Lan Wangji was burning under his skin. “Do not play.”

“Who’s playing? I was only trying to go get some fresh air,” Wei Ying said. His eyes, half-lidded, fell away from Lan Wangji and then back. “Are you so intent on making me stay put? Will you keep me under you like this?”

His ears were flushed. Chest aflame. His grip around the fox’s wrists tightened. Wei Ying’s breath hitched, and a shade of red bloomed on his cheeks.

“Or did you maybe want something else?” he asked, a suggestive note in the words. Wei Ying’s spread legs wrapped around his waist and pulled him down.

For a moment, all sense left Lan Wangji’s head. His instincts told him to bend down, to devour. He was a dragon, and this was something to conquer. He wanted to hold him down, force him to take everything Lan Wangji wanted to give, and not stop until he was satisfied.

It was a second of mindlessness, of insanity. Then, the reality: a trapped fox spirit under him. The wound on his side, the racing pulse. This was a distraction for Lan Wangji, to not pay attention to whatever reason Wei Ying was up and sneaking around.

Lan Wangji leaned forward, and the fox’s eyes widened, his parted lips took in a gasp of a breath. Unwilling. Counting on Lan Wangji’s asceticism.

He let go of Wei Ying’s wrists, and took a hold of the legs instead. It was easy to pull him off – he guessed it would not have been, had he really been intent on holding on. Lan Wangji took a steadying breath, noiseless, as he pulled away completely.

He had not done anything wrong. He still felt deeply ashamed.

Without giving the fox another glance, he moved to his own bed. If Wei Ying wanted to continue sleeping, he could stay where he was. Lan Wangji’s heartbeat did not steady, though he kept his eyes resolutely shut.

Come morning, he found the sheets on the floor empty, his house returned to its usual peace. The talismans and the money pouch were gone. And more importantly – alarmingly – so were the proposal letters from his desk.

-

“– of utmost importance! This carelessness – what were you thinking?” his uncle’s voice was harsher than he’d heard it in many years.

Lan Wangji kept his gaze cast, head inclined. He had managed to read only some of the letters. Now that the rest were missing, he would not be able to write rejections. The answer would not have to be immediate, of course. The recognition of Lan Wangji as a good marriage prospect for so many people awarded him some flexibility.

He had some time to get the letters back. He did not dare to think of the possibility of Wei Ying having just gotten rid of them. It did not seem likely – Wei Ying had not felt malicious. This, whatever it meant, had to be a type of game for him.

“Uncle,” his brother cut in, always with the understanding tone. “I am sure that Wangji regrets his thoughtlessness. His intentions were good.”

After Wei Ying had left, his first task had been to inform his uncle and brother of the lost letters. This involved mentioning Wei Ying. He would not lie for his own sake.

“A fox spirit! To keep him in your house, no matter how injured and pitiful – I did not expect this from you, Wangji!” His uncle was looking at him like he was truly disappointed. It gnawed at Lan Wangji’s insides.

“There is no excuse for my actions,” he stated. He had apologized already, head bowed. Uncle did not appreciate theatrics, so he refrained from doing it again. “After my punishment, I will get the letters back.”

Uncle nodded. “You will need to attend the conference in Lanling with your brother. After that, you will find the fox. And bring him back.”

This made Lan Wangji halt. “The letters –“

“Are important, but thieving comes with consequences.” His uncle looked at him sharply. “Bring him back. He will receive his punishment.”

“…” He bowed his head. “Yes, uncle.”

“Good.”

Lan Wangji kept his head lowered until he was left alone with his brother. He could feel his brother’s eyes on him.

“Wangji,” Lan Xichen said. “The fox spent the night in the Jingshi.”

“Mn,” Lan Wangji replied, uncertain of what his brother was after.

When he lifted his gaze, though, it came apparent. He felt the tips of his ears heat. He could not help but think back to the moment with the fox under him, the heat of his body so close to his own.

“I slept on the floor,” he stated stiffly.

“Ah,” replied his brother. “I see.”

He escaped swiftly after that.

-

They left for Lanling the following week. Lan Wangji was not one for politics; the gift for that in their family had firmly fallen to Lan Xichen with his warm smile, kindness, and diplomatic way of speech. Lan Wangji, while polite in company, could not find it in himself to pretend to like people he did not. His brother did not have this problem, as Lan Xichen liked most everyone.

But both as his duty as well as a point of solidarity, he joined his brother.

The Jin sect in particular often frustrated Lan Wangji. It was perhaps all about the posturing, and the many words they tended to speak without saying much at all. Flaunting their affluence while not having much else to offer.

Where some of the other disciples they’d taken with them seemed to stop and admire some of the ostentatious decoration of the Koi Tower, Lan Wangji’s eyes glazed over, barely minding anything around him.

It was only after catching a flash of black in his vision did he start paying attention to his surroundings again. His steps almost halted, but he managed to continue walking without alerting his brother, who was talking pleasantly about the upcoming discussions between the sects.

There was nothing on the ground level when Lan Wangji’s eyes swept over the scenery. He lifted his gaze a bit higher and found what he’d been looking for – on the roof of one of the buildings, a black fox. It had only one tail, completely innocuous and animal-like.

Lan Wangji suppressed a sigh and gave his brother one of the mandatory ‘mn’s to keep him going.

The fox followed their movements from where it was lazing against the tiles, head resting on crossed paws. Lan Wangji gave it a warning look and then did not look at it at all after.

The day passed in a strange mix of boredom and suspense that Lan Wangji found extremely tiring, if not a curious combination. They were welcomed and exchanged the usual greetings. In the edge of his vision, a fox slipped from one rooftop to another.

In the hallways, when they were stopped for small talk, the sound of steps and a passing shadow by the window. In their room, Lan Wangji’s bed had its sheets messed up. The servant who brought them there apologized profusely, but Lan Wangji told him it was of no importance.

In this case, it was not a sign of a lack of hospitality from the Jins. Lan Wangji had merely somehow gotten himself pestered by a bored fox spirit. That was what it had to be, certainly. There was no reason for him to follow Lan Wangji around, or steal his letters.

He wondered if he’d somehow managed to offend him. It felt unlikely – Wei Ying did not seem the type to take offense very easily. Perhaps Lan Wangji had still managed. It was not unusual for people to get frustrated over his perceived coldness, and he had, after all, fought him while injured, and then, when he’d tried to leave –

He half-expected Wei Ying to appear at night to bother him again, to wake him up in the middle of his sleep to say outrageous things, and make Lan Wangji’s heartbeat double. In the end, he slept soundly, without disruptions.

The time spent in the Koi Tower went much the same way from that moment on. Flashes and sounds of a fox, though never direct contact. Sometimes, when someone attempted a conversation with him with poor success, he could hear the muted sounds of laughter. It was often loud enough to alert the other person, though Lan Wangji kept his eyes firmly cast as to not immediately lead the other to look in the right direction.

In the meetings, there was no sight of the fox. Either he made sure to keep quiet, with the real risk of consequences should he get caught, or he simply didn’t appreciate the slow pace of trade talk and cultivation politics.

Lan Wangji could relate. He did listen attentively enough to be of use to his brother, should the need arise, but the part of him that was a bit more selfish wished to go on a night-hunt, or perhaps merely change into his dragon form and fly so far that the gleaming shine of the Koi Tower could not be seen in the distance.

This continued for two days, and it became almost a rhythm enough for Lan Wangji to truly feel out of sorts when suddenly on the third day, he saw the fox nowhere. No flashes of black, no loud steps. His laughter, both the human and the yelping and howling he did as a fox, were ringing in Lan Wangji’s ears, a phantom of the real thing.

The meeting that day seemed to drag, time moving in tandem with the dull pace of the sect leader speaking. Lan Wangji kept his eyes on the man out of politeness and nothing else.

The monologue was suddenly cut with the doors of the hall opening, and a cultivator of an affluent sect dragging with him a half-clothed man, a litany of ‘aish, aish, aish’ pouring from his mouth as he was first pulled and then thrown on the floor.

Lan Wangji was struck motionless, eyes slightly widened, then immediately suspicious. Wei Ying was looking exceptionally innocent, blinking at the confused, shocked looks thrown his way. His robes were hanging over his shoulders, chest bare, and Lan Wangji would’ve gotten stuck staring at the unblemished skin if he didn’t deem it much more important to address the fact that the robe was ripped to the point where no amount of adjusting would make it proper.

“What is the meaning of this?” asked Jin Guangshan, and the cultivator who had dragged Wei Ying in immediately countered.

“I was going to ask the same thing! Since when does the Jin sect allow fox spirits to roam around unchecked?”

“Ah, to be fair, they can’t throw out people they don’t know are there,” Wei Ying said very casually, and then grinned at Lan Wangji.

He had stood up before he had the time to think about it. He heard his brother ask a confused ‘Wangji?’ to which he paid no mind. Instead, he took off his outer robe, thankful for his decision to go with four layers for the day. It was of course unseemly, but not as unseemly as leaving Wei Ying there to get ogled by people undeserving of it, no matter how much the fox didn’t seem to mind being half-naked.

“Hanguang-jun?” asked the cultivator, but Lan Wangji paid him no attention.

He wrapped Wei Ying in the robe, barely containing the spike of something dangerous inside of himself when he looked at Lan Wangji in surprise. Then, once he was covered, Lan Wangji turned to the cultivator.

“What did he do?”

The cultivator seemed to halt for just a moment, as if not expecting the question – as if Wei Ying’s mere presence was a crime enough to cause such anger. He certainly was not supposed to be here inside the walls of the Koi Tower. Lan Wangji did not doubt he had not been keeping himself entirely out of trouble either.

Still, the state he was in made Lan Wangji want to turn into his dragon form. He did loom over the cultivator currently as well, but the effect was stronger with the added size.

“He’s a fox spirit,” the man stuttered, his indignation carrying the words. “Obviously he was up to no good! He attempted to seduce me with his – his –“

“Wanton ways?” Wei Ying suggested.

“Yes!”

Lan Wangji did not sigh this time either. He merely exhaled very, very slowly.

“Did you?” he asked Wei Ying.

“Does it matter?” was the reply, and Lan Wangji stared at him.

Wei Wuxian was here out of his own will, that much was clear. He had kept up with Lan Wangji while wounded – fighting was not a weak point of his. One cultivator would not be able to drag him out here if he didn’t want him to, no matter how much they might’ve believed in their own superiority. Besides, there was that amused glimmer in Wei Ying’s eye again.

But these ripped clothes, and the unbothered air… even if there were no clear signs of an attack, other than the robes, Lan Wangji was displeased. He could feel himself getting colder, his own expression shutting off even more from its usual neutrality.

“Do you have the letters?”

Wei Ying smiled quite innocuously again. “I have a letter.”

“I’m sorry, Hanguang-jun, do you know him?” the cultivator asked.

Lan Wangji turned his glare on him. “I will take him to the Cloud Recesses. We have unresolved matters with him.”

“Unresolved – wait just a moment, ah, Hanguang-jun,” the cultivator said, while Lan Wangji pulled Wei Wuxian up by his arm.

Lan Wangji did not reply. He did not meet his brother’s eyes, either, when he took Wei Wuxian out, and ignored all of the no doubt scandalized faces of the other cultivators in the meeting.

No one said anything, of course. Who would dare? Lan Wangji had never taken part in scenes such as this, so most of them must have been too shocked to even have the capacity to react. Lan Wangji found this an insignificant matter altogether. He did not care for what they thought, as far as it would not reflect poorly on his sect.

Thankfully, Wei Ying came as easily as he had with the other cultivator, though the whole time they walked, Lan Wangji could feel his eyes on him. He ignored this until they were in his room. Once they were in, he closed the door and let go of him.

“What did he do?” he asked.

“Aiyo, so rough with me, Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying replied, rubbing the arm Lan Wangji had held quite mindful of his own strength. “You’re going to leave fingerprints with the way you held me! How can you be this mad?”

Lan Wangji only waited. The other looked a bit ridiculous in the white of their clan, the robe too big and the shreds of his own robe hanging under it. It seemed that Wei Ying had turned ruining his clothes into an art form.

“Alright, alright, don’t look so angry!” The corners of his eyes crinkled with the smile. “So, what did I do? Well – “

“No,” Lan Wangji stopped him. “What did he do?”

Wei Ying blinked at him, and then down at himself. “ Oh . Oh, ahaha, I can see why you’re so pissed. Ah, it really isn’t what you’re thinking. I was doing an impression of a beggar! They have very worn-out clothes!”

The pounding headache from the first night they’d met was back with vengeance. Lan Wangji wanted to close his eyes for a while. Perhaps meditate. He fought the impulse.

So it was Wei Ying himself who got his clothes into that state. The next question, then, would be, “Why?”

With another winning grin, Wei Ying started explaining: “Well, I thought I would help you out a bit! You know, Lan Zhan, you are just too popular! And there were so many letters, so I thought, you couldn’t possibly know all the people who sent them very well, and it is a big decision, after all!”

“The...marriage?” Lan Wangji asked.

“Yes! Exactly, and you deserve the very best bride, so,” Wei Ying continued, “I will help you choose! You won’t have to do much at all, Lan Zhan.”

He took in a steady breath again, thinking back to the three thousand rules of their sect. There was no rule explicitly forbidding interaction with fox spirits. Nor was there one forbidding nonsense, though Lan Wangji would suggest adding that the moment he got back home.

“No need,” he said, though Wei Ying was already continuing on with his explanation.

“Do you know who the cultivator was just then? The one that dragged me in by the neck?”

It had been an heir of one of the smaller sects, someone Lan Wangji had not paid any extra attention before. After this, he was sure to pay just enough attention to avoid him entirely.

“Young master Han,” Lan Wangji said.

“Young master Han!” Wei Ying agreed, pulling out a letter all too familiar to Lan Wangji. One of the ones he had not opened, though it seemed the fox had done it for him. “His proposal really was one of the promising ones! He talked very beautifully about you, I was impressed! Though now a bit less so. Hanguang-jun, do you know, he treated me very nicely at first.”

“…”

A possibility was forming in Lan Wangji’s head, something entirely ridiculous yet expected, coming from this fox. A beggar, he’d said. Had it been a test of character? Helping Lan Wangji decide on a bride by gauging out their morals?

“What do you think I did?” Wei Ying asked, eyes narrowing with his grin. Like he could read Lan Wangji’s thoughts.

“Deception,” Lan Wangji replied.

“Ahah, Hanguang-jun is so sharp.” Wei Ying nodded. “I was hopeful at first, you know! I thought, this man is not so bad. He really talked to me very politely.”

“I see.”

“He became a bit handsy there at the end of the conversation, though, which I found a bit disagreeable from a man possibly about to get engaged. Don’t you agree, Lan Zhan?” Wei Ying pursed his lips. “He was very bad at following directions as well. It took me twisting his thumb for him to let go of my–“

He looked at the expression on Lan Wangji’s face, and stopped whatever he was going to say.

“Why let him take you to the hall?” Lan Wangji asked.

“What, were you going to take my word for it?” Wei Ying laughed. “I think actions speak louder than words, Hanguang-jun. Don’t you think so too?”

Lan Wangji only stared at him. He did not know whether he would’ve believed Wei Ying. He was inclined to say ‘yes’, though the trust was largely based on intuition.

“Mn,” he replied, in the end. Wei Ying only smiled at him.

“Well, in any case, you can reject him now,” he said, and then promptly started ripping the letter apart.

Blankly, Lan Wangji watched the pieces of the paper fall around them and then land softly on the ground. Wei Ying only stood there in the middle of the mess in a manner that conveyed ‘a job well done’.

“The rest of the letters,” he asked, though already feeling dread.

“I noticed something back in the Cloud Recesses,” Wei Ying stated. “You only read them through and then immediately rejected them! Don’t you know that’s not the way to find you a good little wife, Lan Zhan? You need to meet them! And only then you can decide.”

The dread kept growing inside Lan Wangji.

“The letters, Wei Ying,” he said.

“Hm,” Wei Ying replied, picking up a piece of paper, then put it between his teeth and tore it. “I ate them.”

Ah. The headache jabbed at his skull. Lan Wangji closed his eyes, only for a moment. So, his proposal letters were eaten, no doubt for nothing but the fox’s personal amusement. There was nothing to be done about it, now. He wished the anger to flush through him and then flow out of him with the next breath.

The attempt was unsuccessful.

He opened his eyes when Wei Ying next spoke: “Now, don’t look so dejected, Lan Zhan! Didn’t I say I was here to help you? Of course I memorized them before I ate them!”

Another breath, measured and slow.

“All that needs to be done now is to go and meet them personally,” Wei Ying stated. “It’s a bit more work like this, but Hanguang-jun seems like a diligent man!”

If he were taught to be less mindful of manners, Lan Wangji might have pinched himself just then, to make sure it was not a nightmare he was experiencing. The fox seemed so proud of himself, a wide grin still on his face, bright and devastatingly handsome.

What choice was he left, then, but reluctant acceptance? He could not leave the proposals unaddressed. He did not recall the senders. The only thing standing between him disrespecting various important people in the cultivation world was this fox, who had put him in this situation in the first place.

So, in the end, he merely nodded his acceptance. And while Wei Ying’s smile was teasing, Lan Wangji did not succumb to the desire to wipe it off of his face.

-

His brother, if anything, seemed more amused than outraged over the whole ordeal. He only told Lan Wangji to write him, should anything happen during his travels. Lan Wangji did not care for the strange, knowing look in his eyes, so he did not prolong the conversation.

The next thing to be done before their departure was rejecting the Han cultivator, which Lan Wangji found both unpleasant and immensely satisfying. The man bowed jerkily at him, clearly having some mixed reactions to being personally told Lan Wangji did not find them a suitable match.

A fox was stretching its back on the nearby rooftop and yowled a laugh at the scene. Lan Wangji ignored him all the way down the stairs of the Koi Tower, and then a long way out of Lanling, when Wei Ying had already changed his form from a fox to a man, flying his sword next to him.

He’d told him the next person was from another sect near Lanling. A gifted head disciple, a renowned beauty again. Lan Wangji would not be making her his bride. Whether he liked her or not had little to do with it, as his tastes leaned heavily on the male side. And even then, he’d not felt a spark of interest towards anyone since he could remember.

Casting a glance to his side, where the fox was chattering and laughing, he suppressed the shiver of something running down his spine.

It did not take them long to get to the sect. They were of course welcomed properly. Or rather, Lan Wangji was. Wei Ying had shifted into his fox form before he’d noticed, once again leaving Lan Wangji to tend to this problem on his own.

He got welcomed instantly both with surprise and delight. It was not often that high-ranking cultivators from bigger sects visited smaller ones. Their excitement vanished quite quickly, when Lan Wangji told them he would not be staying. It took him less than fifteen minutes to politely reject the head disciple, who thankfully did not seem overly disappointed.

“Fine, okay, that was my mistake,” Wei Ying said once they started flying towards their next destination. “I forgot how reluctant you are to accept the possibility of true love!”

Lan Wangji felt the accusation entirely too ridiculous to warrant an answer.

“We’re setting some ground rules,” Wei Ying stated. “First, you have to spend at least a night there, alright? And you have to have a conversation with the possible wife! Understand, Lan Zhan?”

There really was not much to argue. Not without the letters. “Mn.”

“Good boy,” Wei Ying said, flashing his canines with a smile.

Lan Wangji stopped listening, after that.

-

They stayed at an inn the next night. Lan Wangji took the precaution of paying for another room for Wei Ying, to keep him from doing something outrageous, like stealing Lan Wangji’s bed. It seemed like enough of a possibility to completely disregard.

This was, of course, entirely useless. Wei Ying walked into his room after him, and when told he had his own, only stated he was going to keep Lan Wangji company while he ate. This sounded like a situation where one allowance led to multiple ones later, but there was little to do when Wei Ying had decided on something. Tenacious, he was, if nothing else.

They sat by the table, Wei Ying having acquired a bottle of wine somewhere. Lan Wangji had not bought it for him. Neither had, he suspected, Wei Ying himself.

“Don’t look so disapproving, Hanguang-jun,” Wei Ying said, even when Lan Wangji was focusing on his own food. “Foxes get thirsty!”

Lan Wangji did not reply. Having a conversation while eating was not only expressly forbidden, but also something he had never learned to do, nor enjoy. Wei Ying seemed to realize this, though his eyes only crinkled further.

“You seem very insulted,” Wei Ying said. “Don’t tell me you’re very mad at me for the letters? Don’t you know I’m only looking out for you?”

He gave Wei Ying a look, which caused the man to snort.

“You see, marriage is an important thing.” Wei Ying took a big gulp of his wine, then wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his robe. Lan Wangji thought about buying him a handkerchief. “Once you’ve decided on someone, you can’t go back on it. You’re stuck!”

He was right, of course. Though what made him think Lan Wangji would ever marry someone he could not tolerate, he did not know. Lan Wangji had been doing nothing but giving rejections, after all.

“I’ve heard about you Lans before as well! All very romantic things, Lan Zhan, don’t worry. I know that when your heart starts singing for someone, it’s no use trying to change it!”

Ridiculous hearsay. The Lans consisted of individuals, much like every other sect. He attempted to convey this with a look. It did not seem to work – Wei Ying seemed all the more amused.

“All I’m saying is, Hanguang-jun should take care of his heart,” he stated.

Lan Wangji chewed on the piece of tofu, unwilling to entertain the conversation further. He had of course grown to expect nothing but ridiculousness from this fox, but it somehow still got under his skin. This careless flirting, the words said while drinking, a playful smile.

Wei Ying kept talking after that. This he excelled in, keeping up a one-sided conversation. Needing only one look from Lan Wangji to keep himself going. It was not wholly unpleasant. Lan Wangji could not imply this in any way, however, lest he be encouraged to continue.

It did not take long for Lan Wangji to finish his food, and Wei Ying to finish his own, as well as the alcohol. Before he could clear the table, however, Wei Ying had made his next improper move, and climbed his way into Lan Wangji’s lap. In his surprise, he only stiffened into a statue, yet again at a loss for a plan of action.

Wei Ying felt warm, there. In his lap.

“Get off,” Lan Wangji snapped, once his mouth finally started working.

“But this seat is yet vacant,” Wei Ying stated, still with the smile, still with the shamelessness. “Don’t you think I should try it out now, since it’s still free, hm?”

“Ridiculous,” Lan Wangji replied. He would’ve pushed him off, but putting his hands on Wei Ying seemed like poor judgment. He only kept himself still, unmoving. Wei Ying would grow bored this way.

“You keep saying that.” Wei Ying laughed. “I think it’ll do you good to have a little bit of ridiculous in your life!”

As his only word to express his opinion on the situation was being mocked, Lan Wangji could merely breathe out slowly and glare. This did not seem to work, as the fox only seemed to relax more against him.

“You know, I used to dream about having a nice spouse,” Wei Ying whispered, like a secret, “traveling around the world, helping people. Maybe have a couple of kids. Spend a lot of time making them.”

Lan Wangji frowned. Used to.

“Hm. Now I think maybe I’m better suited for other things,” he said, wriggling a little. Lan Wangji kept his hands carefully still. “Lan Zhan, do you know what I just realized?”

“What?”

“Here in your lap, if I had to hold onto something, your horns would be perfect for that.” Before Lan Wangji had the time to stop him, Wei Ying’s swift hands had taken a strong grip on his horns.

“Let go.”

Wei Ying only laughed. “You can’t say it so angrily. I get excited!”

At this point, Lan Wangji had had enough. He did not lay a hand on Wei Ying, but instead, only stood up without paying attention to the still-laughing fox who tumbled out of his lap with the movement. It only seemed to make Wei Ying laugh more.

Lan Wangji left Wei Ying in this room, and took the other for himself.

-

The following day, they reached their next destination.

“It is an honor to welcome Hanguang-jun,” the sect leader said, the tone of voice almost too delighted. Next to him, his son was blushing, unable to meet Lan Wangji’s eyes. Perhaps it was better this way.

“The honor is mine,” Lan Wangji replied.

“Hanguang-jun is too kind,” the sect leader said. Then, with an awkward little wince, he asked: “And the fox…?”

At his feet, Wei Ying was on his back, tongue lolled out like dead. He had attempted to stick his snout under Lan Wangji’s robes, which was reason enough for Lan Wangji to softly kick him away with the side of his foot. These theatrics were only for the sake of their audience.

“Ignore it.”

“Of course, of course!”

The sect leader did as he was told, and soon, Lan Wangji was seated at the dinner with the sect leader’s family, politely listening to them go through the history of the sect and all of its notable deeds. The son of the sect leader kept blushing and not making eye contact.

Wei Ying was staring at him from behind one of the pillars by the side of the room, obvious enough that Lan Wangji was certain all of the people there had chosen to ignore him rather than bring attention to the fact that the famed Hanguang-jun was being followed by a fox.

“– though our sect is certainly not quite the level of the Jins, we have had fortune with trade,” the sect leader stated. “In fact, A-Tian is especially gifted in this field. He might not be a great fighter, but he has a head for figures.”

The sect leader’s son turned a shade redder. Lan Wangji replied with a polite, “Mn.”

“If it is not too forward to ask,” the sect leader said then, “what kind of a character would Hanguang-jun prefer in a spouse?”

From the corner of his eyes, he could tell Wei Ying’s ears had perked up. Lan Wangji pondered the question for a moment, before saying, “My equal.”

“A-ah?” the sect leader let out a nervous burst of laughter. “Surely this is quite impossible to achieve! There are not many people who fight at the level of Hanguang-jun.”

“Not only in fighting,” Lan Wangji said. “In everything.”

The important parts. Drive to help people. Ability to keep up. The surface need not be the same, but on the inside – where it counted – they would have to be similar. He wanted to understand, and be understood in return.

The sect leader’s son was the color of wedding robes. His father laughed again, as if Lan Wangji had just joked. Lan Wangji did not jest with strangers.

“A fair wish, certainly,” said the sect leader, and then quickly changed the topic.

Lan Wangji said little for the rest of the conversation, though at the end, he asked the son whether he enjoyed cultivation. The response was as expected: he preferred the trade talk. Having carried out his part of the deal, Lan Wangji turned in with the intention to give rejection in the morning.

-

Wei Ying was already resting in his bed when he got back to his room. Burrowed in the blankets, silk sheets turned into a fine nest for a fox with nine tails. In a blink, he was a man again. Black hair loose around his shoulder, the red ribbon keeping them in the usual ponytail now thrown on the floor in a spot of color against the wood.

This, Lan Wangji could not find in himself to get aggravated over. He was tired; of the socialization, of the travel. Of having to share his thoughts on marriage to complete strangers. He wanted to do his nightly routine, and there was no reason to kick Wei Ying out quite yet, so he needed not pay him attention.

Lan Wangji paid enough mind to block the view into the room when he called for a servant to bring him bathwater, and then steadfastly ignored Wei Ying while stripping behind the privacy screen. This, at least, seemed to be something Wei Ying respected. His shadow did not move from the bed.

It was improper, of course. Yet, the list of improper occurrences between them was already long enough – ever-growing – for him to have just as impressive mental list of punishments he would have to receive when he got back home.

He did not expect to spend the time bathing in silence, and when Wei Ying indeed opened his mouth, Lan Wangji found himself not entirely too displeased with the sound.

“You’re going to reject him in the morning, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Aiyah! He was such a good candidate, too! So pure and innocent! You’d want your bride to be innocent, wouldn’t you? So that on the wedding night, you could –“

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji warned.

“Hahaha, such a prude, Lan Zhan! Fine, fine, I won’t be teasing you,” Wei Ying said. “It’s just that you make it very easy.”

Lan Wangji believed it had more to do with Wei Ying’s ability to make light of everything and everyone he came across.

“But Lan Zhan, really. What was it that made you not even consider him? There must be something you like,” Wei Ying continued.

There were many things Lan Wangji liked. But what would listing his preferred qualities accomplish? People were the sum of their parts, not the parts themselves, detached. Lan Wangji could say he found the ring of certain laugh attractive. He could say he let his eyes linger longer on certain features. This both meant something and meant nothing at all.

Lan Wangji slid deeper into the water.

“Lan Zhaan,” Wei Ying whined.

“I would like them to be lively,” Lan Wangji said, surprising himself. Perhaps he’d only wanted Wei Ying to stop saying his name in such a way.

Though he was not lying, either. He thought about an energetic way of speaking, a joy of life apparent in the way one smiled, and could not deny he found these qualities pleasing.

“Oh? Lively, lively...hm, I suppose we can work with that,” Wei Ying mused. “I would not have expected this from you! I was sure you would like someone stiff and cold and as boring as you!”

At the sound of Wei Ying’s laughter, Lan Wangji felt himself grow irritated. Stiff, cold, and boring. Of course. Lan Wangji took to washing his hair, as to drown out the noise.

When after a while Lan Zhan hadn’t replied, Wei Ying’s laughter died down.

“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, did you get mad? Aaah, don’t be like that! You know I like you, don’t you?”

Like. How did someone express their like? Was it through constant teasing, laughing, poking, and harassment? Was it by stealing property and destroying it? Was it by forced help, unwanted?

Lan Wangji rinsed his hair. Then, was it by giving a cold shoulder, by chastisement? Was it by silent tolerance cut with curt words; sometimes harsh, sometimes exasperated?

“Hm, very well, then. If Lan Zhan wants to pout like a child, it is his right,” Wei Ying declared. “Though you could tell me one last thing!”

Despite himself, he responded, “Hm?”

“Is there any reason that would make you instantly marry someone?”

The ripple on the surface of the water kept Lan Wangji’s gaze from moving towards the privacy screen, to follow Wei Ying’s shadow. Under the water, his own body, clean and relaxed.

“Love,” Lan Wangji replied.

Like he had not expected the answer, Wei Ying did not immediately start teasing him. In fact, the silence that followed was long enough for Lan Wangji to turn to check whether Wei Ying had left the room entirely.

But there his silhouette was still, on the bed, wrapped in sheets.

“Ah,” said Wei Ying finally. Then, after clearing his throat, a playful note to his voice, “So romantic, Er-gege.”

Lan Wangji put his head underwater.

-

The next few places were much the same. Lan Wangji would eat dinner with the hosts, keeping up polite conversation, all the while Wei Ying terrorized the poor people by running by their feet, making them stumble, and sometimes, completely on purpose, falling from the roof beams in the middle of the hall, to make the madam of the sect scream.

Sometimes the people who were offered to Lan Wangji in marriage would engage him in a conversation. Some were perfectly pleasant people, while some seemed entirely too willing to boast about things Lan Wangji did not find exactly worth flaunting. Those times, Wei Ying did not protest much when Lan Wangji gave a rejection.

Some were too shy to talk to him at all. Lan Wangji sympathized, but did not go out of his way to make conversation after what little he’d promised to Wei Ying.

“I feel like you’re not even trying,” Wei Ying told him after one especially quiet dinner, during which he had stolen some of Lan Wangji’s food from his plate and then ran back to the window he’d jumped in from.

“Hm,” Lan Wangji replied, and poured them some more tea.

It was not an entirely false accusation, he knew. Lan Wangji did not make great attempts at getting to know the people, nor was he especially open to anyone else getting closer to him.

The day his uncle had first brought it up, he’d spent the evening meditating in the Jingshi. It was important for him to marry. It was important to uncle, and it was important to his brother. Lan Wangji had known this from his childhood, yet accepting it still brought with it some amount of discomfort.

Lan Wangji did not open up (until pried). Lan Wangji did not enjoy sharing his space (until invaded). Lan Wangji did not look at other people and feel things spoken in poems of old (until he was looking at the playful curve of lips that were created to smile, and his chest felt both carved out and hollow and entirely too full).

He found himself enjoying the time spent in-between sects. Traveling was something he’d always relished, and Wei Ying was not a bad travel companion. He talked a lot, about most things, keeping a tone of lightness and mischief that almost attempted to hide the genuine moments of creativity and intellect. His good nature.

“– and it was so cold that the touching iron with a wet hand would make it stuck, and when the poor bastard saw me, he thought I was there to seduce him! Lan Zhan, you must know I was only there to get water for the granny! Anyway, he grabbed his sword – did I mention it was adorned with iron? Well, it was adorned with iron, so of course it got stuck, so he wrenched it off and it probably hurt like a bitch, and –“

Lan Wangji handed him half of the bun they had packed with them before leaving the last sect. Wei Ying accepted it without stopping his story.

“– then he stumbled on the bucket of laundry, and with his bloody palm took a grab of my lapel, which immediately tore, because he was a heavy guy – no matter! The granny came to check what all the fuss was about, and she found me there, half-naked with his bleeding son-in-law, and got really mad!”

“You explained to her it was an accident,” Lan Wangji stated, though he already had a hunch of the answer.

“What? No, of course not! She saw my ears and tails as well, and was sure that I was there to actually seduce his son-in-law,” Wei Ying stated. “So after that, I came up with the masking talisman! People are way more willing to accept help when they think you’re not seducing them.”

Lan Wangji watched him chew on the bun while writing something on talisman paper, after which he slapped it on Lan Wangji’s chest.

“Ah, it works with you too! No horns.” He squinted at Lan Zhan’s head. It did not feel any different, but he was certain the talisman was working. “No, this won’t do. How will anyone know you are a noble and courageous dragon if we let you hide the horns? Your suitors will all disappear!”

“Will they,” Lan Wangji asked dryly, while Wei Ying snatched the talisman back.

“Oh, you’d be so happy about that, wouldn’t you? Well, no dice! We’re almost at the next place,” Wei Ying stated. “I have high hopes for this one! She’s very lively, I’ve heard.”

“Hm,” Lan Wangji said. Then, almost without thinking, he continued, “Wei Ying.”

“Hm? What is it?”

He was scribbling a new talisman, something else he’d most likely come up himself. Lan Wangji had not known the scale of talent Wei Ying possessed until recently, when they’d spent a night at an inn where Lan Wangji had been annoyed by the loud sounds coming from the room next to them.

The first surprise had been when Wei Ying had noticed his annoyance – almost immediately, just by glancing at his face. The next one when he’d pulled out talisman paper, then immediately come up with a reversed silencing talisman. No sounds coming in. Lan Wangji had stared at him, and Wei Wuxian had grinned with a slight flush over his cheekbones.

It turned out that when left to his own devices for a moment, Wei Ying either came up with something unexpectedly brilliant or caused general mischief, like tricking some poor village person into buying him alcohol.

Unfortunately often it was the latter one.

“You are at the age for marriage as well,” Lan Wangji started, though Wei Ying immediately cut in with a groan.

“Lan Zhan, didn’t we already have this conversation? Cute little foxes like me don’t get married! That’s for noble dragons and such,” he said.

“You do not want to?”

The smile that spread on Wei Ying’s face came a moment too late to be an authentic one. “I’m having a splendid time by myself.”

“I see,” Lan Wangji replied. “And you do not have any preferences?”

Wei Ying tapped his chin, as if in deep ponder. “Well, let’s see. Doesn’t every strong man need a good little wife?”

Good little wife. Lan Wangji felt something sour inside him.

“Mm-mh, I’d be a very good little wife,” Wei Ying continued, as Lan Wangji opened his mouth.

And immediately shut it. His mind was blank. Something in his brain did not know how to connect for a moment. Not even the sudden burst of bright laughter could immediately bring him back from it, but when it did, he gave Wei Ying a glare.

“Ridiculous,” he said.

“You don’t think I would? Lan Zhan, I’m wounded!” he said, and after a while of not getting any kind of an answer, his teasing smile melted into something more real. “Ah, Lan Zhan, isn’t it like you said? I would only marry out of love, too.”

Lan Zhan nodded, the sourness dissipating.

They didn’t talk about it after that.

-

Sometimes, when Wei Ying was focused on something, eyebrows furrowed and teeth digging into his plush lower lip, Lan Wangji would forget himself and study him. The little motions, flashing expressions, the half-silent muttering. Mannerisms that had grown more familiar by each day they spent together. Carefully cataloging every moment to think about later, in the secrecy of his heart.

Sometimes, when he himself was occupied, he felt Wei Ying’s eyes on him, and something in him wondered whether he was doing the same.

-

To Lan Wangji’s surprise, the daughter of the leader in the next sect they visited was indeed lively, in a way that he found himself enjoying. She was quick to smile, didn’t appear intimidated by Lan Wangji at all, and seemed to not take the engagement talk very seriously.

“Don’t worry, Hanguang-jun,” she said under her breath at the dinner, whilst her father droned on about her marriage prospects or something alike. “I will not be devastated when you tell me you are not interested tomorrow morning.”

Lan Wangji blinked in surprise, and she seemed all the more amused by it.

“People talk. I know I’m not the only one on the long list to gain esteemed Second Master Lan’s favor,” she said. “Truth be told, it is quite shocking to find myself here sitting next to you at all.”

“Mn,” Lan Wangji replied. Somewhere in the corner of the room, Wei Ying wagged his tail.

“But since you are here, could I interest you in a fight later? I am a cultivator, after all.”

Lan Wangji, growing more surprised by the second, gave her another look, which was met by bright laughter.

“I know, I know, it is very audacious of me to ask,” she said. “But it’s not every day that we get such highly skilled cultivators visiting! I’d be a fool to miss the opportunity!”

It was not an impossible ask. With a slight feeling of amusement, Lan Wangji nodded, and her entire being turned brighter with excitement.

“After dinner?”

“Mn.”

In no time, they were at the practice field. Lan Wangji knew his skills far surpassed hers, but she was by no means a bad cultivator. Besides, there was a certain humility to her. Often it was impossible to find anyone willing to challenge Lan Wangji to a duel. The cultivation world suffered fragile egos.

She did not seem to mind getting beaten at all. Her footwork was skilled enough, and she seemed to have fun. Out of all the people Lan Wangji had visited so far, she felt the most likable. Enough, at least, that Lan Wangji felt a rare moment of relaxation in the company of people other than his family.

He was aware of the eyes on him, watching carefully from the rooftop nearby. It was strange to find Wei Ying a comfort, after all this time being tormented by him, but somehow Lan Wangji felt more at ease with him there.

“Is it your pet?” she said, suddenly, in the middle of the fight.

Lan Wangji blinked.

“The fox! It follows you around.” She seemed amused.

“No,” Lan Wangji replied, truthfully. Wei Ying was as free to come and go as always. There was nothing Lan Wangji could do, should he wish to move on. There was little he could do now, when he wished to stay.

“Well, it definitely seems to like you,” she stated.

To this, Lan Wangji had not much to say.

-

Later, in their room, Wei Ying was unusually quiet. His little sheet nest was there in the middle of the bed, as it often was during this time of the evening. Later, when Lan Wangji straightened the sheets, Wei Ying would appear at some point in the night to sleep beside his feet at the end of the bed in his fox form, curled into a round shape, all nine tails tucked around himself.

Now he was in his human form, looking at Lan Wangji with a strangely serious look. His voice, though, when he spoke, was light.

“She was nice,” he said.

“Mn.”

“And you seemed to like her.”

“Mn.” Lan Wangji had. There was an authenticity to her. A bit embarrassingly, she reminded him of some of the junior disciples in their sect. Earnest.

“Not the strongest fighter, but I liked her spirit,” Wei Ying continued. “She could become really great, if she really practiced her cultivation, right?”

“Mn.”

“Haha, Lan Zhan, did you know, dual cultivation can grow your golden core really fast,” Wei Ying said then, and Lan Wangji felt his own ears flush.

“Wei Ying,” he warned.

“What, it’s true! I’m not saying it to tease, Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying defended. “Anyway, that’s what I heard. If you were planning to marry her, her cultivation could become really powerful!”

Lan Wangji did not reply. Such useless speculation did not warrant it.

“Are you?” Wei Ying asked after a moment of silence.

“What?”

“Are you going to marry her?” Wei Ying asked, and the words came out very fast.

Lan Wangji stared. There was a slight pout on Wei Ying’s lips, his eyes a tiny bit widened. Like he was serious in asking this.

Suddenly feeling irritated, Lan Wangji turned away with a huff.

“Lan Zhan? What does that mean?”

“Think for yourself,” he replied, and when Wei Ying continued wheedling the answer out of him, Lan Wangji did not entertain it.

-

The next morning, at breakfast, Lan Wangji found himself with a lap full of a fox. Last night Wei Ying had not slept at the end of his bed, and somehow Lan Wangji was feeling quite sore-footed about it. He did not know where Wei Ying had been.

He was not going to give him the satisfaction of a reaction now, so Lan Wangji continued eating in silence, unbothered by the squirming animal kneading his lap.

Next to him, the sect leader’s daughter looked extremely amused.

“It really does like you.”

Lan Wangji did not comment. Wei Ying seemed to stop to look at her for a moment, before continuing the squirming. He pawed at Lan Wangji’s chest, then flopped onto his back, then wrapped his tail around Lan Wangji’s waist.

On the other side of the room, the sect leader and his wife politely pretended like Hanguang-jun didn’t have a wild animal trashing in his lap.

“I think it wants your attention,” she added after a moment.

Lan Wangji agreed. Wei Ying did these things for attention and entertainment. It had been clear from the start.

When he did not give any reaction this time, either, he suddenly felt a wet tongue grazing his jawline. Wei Ying had – he had –

“Wei Ying, enough,” Lan Wangji snapped.

And like saying his name was a summon, suddenly the weight in his lap grew, and a second later he had a man in black robes pouting at him, face very close to his own.

A shocked hush fell over the room, though Lan Wangji could not pay it much mind, with Wei Ying’s arms suddenly wrapped around his neck.

“You’re not paying attention to me,” Wei Ying said, very sorrowful. “Is it my fault that I had to resort to underhanded tactics?”

“You have my attention,” Lan Wangji replied, extremely flat.

Wei Ying pursed his lips. This close, Lan Wangji could see the little spots of silver in his irises. He could count his long lashes, one by one.

“I didn’t eat the letters,” Wei Ying said.

Lan Wangji’s brain, at first, could not register the words. Then, once they sunk in, he stiffened. Before he had the time to react, Wei Ying had already turned back into his fox form and skittered away.

The hall was left in awkward silence. Hanguang-jun had just had a fox spirit in his lap. Hanguang-jun had called him by name.

He continued on eating as if nothing had happened. And no one dared comment on it.

-

In his room, on the bed, Lan Wangji found a pile of letters. The proposals. Most he had already rejected in person. There were a few Lan Wangji would only write to, now.

Wei Ying was nowhere to be seen.

-

The Cloud Recesses felt quiet after his travels. He’d been away for long enough to feel slight surprise at the routine he’d grown up with. How the world around him followed the same schedule. The silence wrapped around him like a blanket, and Lan Wangji did not know if it was comforting or suffocating.

His uncle seemed entirely neutral, when he told him about getting the letters back. He did not comment on Lan Wangji having given nothing but rejections, nor did he remark on the rumors that no doubt had already reached Gusu as well.

Hanguang-jun, traveling with a fox spirit. A dragon such as himself, in the company of someone so unconventional.

He hoped the story about the scene they’d made at the last sect had not spread out. Realistically, there was not a chance it had not. Lan Wangji, while wanting to stay optimistic, could not delude himself.

His rejection tour had one positive effect, at least. The proposals stopped almost entirely. He did not know whether it was the questionable company he kept, or that he’d given enough rejections to discourage anyone from trying. It did not matter, in the end.

Lan Wangji noted that both his uncle and his brother gave him long, searching looks every now and then. He knew this was out of concern – their wish for his marriage had been most likely made out of fear. They did not want him to be lonely.

He wondered if they realized how lonely it could be in marriage as well. Being tied to one you did not love.

When Lan Wangji was a child, still young enough to believe that in normal marriage the parties lived in separate buildings, never contacting each other, he’d asked his mother how one knew they liked a person. He could not recall what had prompted such a question, but he remembered the way his mother had smiled, the corners of her eyes crinkling.

“A-Zhan, you will know,” she’d said. “As sure as you know when you do not like someone, you will know when you do.”

She had been right, of course. Much of what she had said, back then, was right. Lan Wangji knew, and the knowledge came with ease. It felt comfortable to settle into the feelings, as easy as breathing. That was the feeling of dislike, and then there was the feeling of longing.

He wondered if constant exasperation was a side effect of falling in this way, and why it now felt so hollow when he could not experience it.

Could a presence be addictive? Lan Wangji found himself staring at the neatly made bed of the Jingshi multiple nights, expecting to find the sheets messed up into a nice little nest. No matter how he stared, the bed stayed undisturbed.

-

A few weeks after returning home, Lan Wangji woke up in the middle of the night again. At first, there was the familiar confusion. As his eyes settled, instincts sharpened, he could note the presence next to him.

Leaning against his bed from the floor, chin tucked against crossed arms on the mattress, two dark eyes blinking up at him. Wei Ying’s ears twitched when Lan Wangji did nothing but stare at him.

It felt a bit like a dream – something Lan Wangji’s mind came up with, to perhaps delight himself. But in his mind, he would have certainly made Wei Ying smile, and laugh, and tease Lan Wangji like he was wont to.

This Wei Ying only looked at him, eyes bright in the darkness of the room.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said, voice rough from sleep.

“Hi, Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying replied. “I trespassed again. Will you forgive me?”

An inane question. Still, “Mn.”

A silence fell between them again, for a moment. Lan Wangji met Wei Ying’s gaze, searching for answers for questions he did not know how to express out loud. Wei Ying broke the silence first this time.

“You didn’t marry her,” Wei Ying said.

Lan Wangji knew what he meant, of course. Did not understand the implications, though, or perhaps was too confused to try and interpret. “Did you believe I would?”

“...No,” Wei Ying said, after a moment. “I don’t know. What if you had?”

“What if I had?” Lan Wangji turned the question back on him.

Wei Ying’s shoulders rose and fell with a breath. “I would’ve told everyone that Hanguang-jun had slept with me and ruined me and refused to marry me.”

He would not have. Lan Wangji only looked at him.

“It would’ve been a real scandal,” Wei Ying stated. “Bigger than any of Jin Guangshan’s. It’s not difficult to fall when you’re not very high to begin with. Hanguang-jun, though, is above everyone else.”

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji said, soft.

“I would’ve made it really messy. Cried real tears and so on and so forth! It would’ve been really humiliating for us both,” Wei Ying continued with his mock-serious voice. “How lucky I didn’t have to do that.”

“Mn,” Lan Wangji replied. “How lucky.”

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying said then.

“Wei Ying.”

“You really do deserve the best wife there is,” Wei Ying said. “Lan Zhan, I really mean that.”

Something was carving a space inside Lan Wangji’s chest again, digging into the soft meat. He reached out and pushed a wayward strand of hair off of Wei Ying’s face.

“But could you settle for a little less?” Wei Ying asked, in one breath.

A little less. A strange thing to say. To Lan Wangji, there was no ‘a little less’. There was either everything, or nothing at all. This feeling, all-consuming, or the complete lack of it.

Finally, Lan Wangji pushed himself into a sitting position, if only to look at Wei Ying better. His tails were wagging behind his back, revealing restlessness. One of his canines peeked from between pink lips.

Head up, Wei Ying continued, “Lan Zhan, you know how shameless I am. I wouldn’t have dared to appear in your room like this, after dark, if I didn’t think I’d get away with it. You let me get away with a lot, Lan Zhan, don’t you?”

Like making a case, Wei Ying kept going, “You let me sleep in your bed, and you let me steal your food, and you listen to my stories, and you are always so kind, even when you are mean to me – ah! Lan Zhan is just too good!”

His hands moved with the words, ears twitching. Lan Wangji did not know what else to do but listen to it, the sound of Wei Ying’s voice after a long time of not hearing it. He wanted to pinch the ears. He wanted to ask Wei Ying to climb into the bed with him.

“Lan Zhan, do you know that sometimes I think about that first time I was here,” Wei Ying said then. “I was really upset that night. I don’t get caught like that, I don’t get hurt, but then I did – and I woke up in the bed of the famed Second Master Lan, and he gets angry at me for moving around too much, hahaha!”

Lan Wangji did not find humor in the memory. Wei Ying was entirely too careless with his health.

“All I mean to say is, really, that ah…” Wei Ying licked his lips. “If you wanted me in your bed, you could have me there. And if you wanted to stop me from moving around, you could tie me up.”

The stillness in the room felt tangible. Wei Ying, looking up at him from the floor, tails finally unmoving and down. Lan Wangji felt the hollow cave of his chest fill, fill, fill, until he was going to overflow.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji rasped.

“I think you’d like to,” Wei Ying said. “Or I hope you would.”

Lan Wangji parsed the words said to him, analyzed them. “Is it...gratitude?”

The pretty mouth turned at the corners. “Do you really think so little of me?”

“Then you…”

Wei Ying averted his gaze, his cheeks darkening. “Aiyo, Lan Zhan, is it any surprise? I can’t get enough of you. Sometimes I think back to when you almost had me, over there on the floor. What a missed opportunity! If you had gone through with it, at least then I’d have some claim to you!”

Lan Wangji closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. He felt the mattress dipping, and then something slid into his lap, roughly the size of a fox spirit. Lan Wangji opened his eyes, and Wei Ying’s face was very close to him again.

“You said fox spirits don’t marry,” Lan Wangji said.

“They could,” Wei Ying replied, and there was a note of hesitancy in there, something resembling uncertainty. “But – but don’t need to.”

Don’t need to. Lan Wangji wanted to be furious at the suggestion, wanted to go back to any moment that might have given Wei Ying such an outrageous idea, but felt it was more important to make it clear that whatever Wei Ying was offering, Lan Wangji would take it all.

Gliding his hand to cup Wei Ying’s cheek, Lan Wangji leaned closer. “I will marry you. Should you have me, I will marry you.”

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying breathed, his own hand against Lan Wangji’s, leaning into the palm.

Lan Wangji kissed him. Deep, and long, and in the way he’d wanted from the first moment he’d heard him open his mouth and say insolent things with no shame at all. Wei Ying felt hot against him, melting into it with a sound of delight.

His body fit in Lan Wangji’s lap so well, it felt wrong to pull back in the end. Wei Ying’s swift hands were fast at work pulling at his robes, and Lan Wangji could not do such disrespect to him.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji warned.

“Ah, what, Lan Zhan?” came the breathless answer. “Are you backing out? Don’t you want me?”

“After the wedding,” Lan Wangji said, barely containing himself. His veins were on fire again, his entire body ready to bounce Wei Ying at a moment’s notice.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying whined, as Lan Wangji caught his hands in his own grip. “Is it not the same? I trust your word. You can have me, now and then.”

“Wei Ying deserves respect,” Lan Wangji stated firmly, and at the slack-jawed look, he only gave another kiss on the pink lips.

“Wei Ying deserves a husband who fucks him,” Wei Ying stated, and Lan Wangji had to suppress a shiver. He had something molten circling in him.

“After the wedding,” Lan Wangji promised. “Every day.”

Wei Ying let out a shaky breath against Lan Wangji’s lips, and then groaned, letting his forehead fall against Lan Wangji’s shoulder. “Every day.”

-

Wei Ying looked beautiful in red. He looked beautiful in all colors, but red was the one that made his complexion brighter, and his smile seem more brilliant. In the whiteness of the Cloud Recesses, he was the sun. He made everything circle him, just by existing.

Lan Wangji could not look away from him the whole time, and Wei Ying teased him about it. It was fine – there was not much else to look at, in any case. Nothing as worth his attention, no matter how much effort had been put into the decoration. And there had been effort.

Uncle had been catatonic since Wei Ying had appeared at their gates after the night Lan Wangji had told him he’d marry him, a proposal letter in tow he personally handed to Lan Wangji. He, of course, had not opened it before saying yes.

His brother, in clear amusement, had congratulated him. Uncle had gotten close to a qi deviation.

Now, at their wedding, Lan Wangji could feel nothing but pleased, a warm feeling in the bottom of his stomach that refused to die down, and simmered until he caught the sight of Wei Ying’s wrists, his neckline, his mischievous grin, and then was ablaze.

The moment they were let go to consummate the marriage came just in time for Lan Wangji’s patience to snap. He took his laughing Wei Ying into his arms and wasted no time in getting them to the Jingshi, to the bed.

“Lan Zhan, my beautiful robes,” Wei Ying wailed, when Lan Wangji stripped them off of him, uncaring of whether any piece of silk ripped. Wei Ying was always wearing ripped clothes, was he not?

Lan Wangji would buy him as many robes as he would like. And then he would destroy them to see the body underneath.

Each teasing comment Wei Ying had ever said, each moment he’d come audaciously close to touching, played in Lan Wangji’s mind. He wanted to do everything to Wei Ying. Tie him up, tie him on the bed. Fuck his smooth thighs, his clever mouth, his plump ass. Finger him until he begged for release, and then give it to him. Finger him, and then not.

He felt half out of his mind already, ready to make Wei Ying realize just what kind of torment he’d put Lan Wangji through. Just how much Lan Wangji had been affected by him.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying said, breathless laughter in his voice, “You look at me so darkly that if we weren’t on your bed, I would think you might do something bad to me.”

“No,” Lan Wangji replied, giving the unblemished skin on Wei Ying’s neck a sharp bite, earning a gasp. “Only good things.”

“Good things?” Wei Ying writhed when Lan Wangji’s hands glided on his skin. “Lan Zhan, you need to be more specific. I don’t know anything! Don’t you know I’m your innocent little bride?”

Lan Wangji huffed against Wei Ying’s jawline, then gave a kiss to the mouth that was still smiling, always smiling. “Innocent?”

“Pure and virginal! Lan Zhan, I might talk a lot, and say shameless things, but don’t you know that you were the one to take my first kiss?”

The pool of heat in Lan Wangji felt like overflowing. It was ridiculous how Wei Ying saying these things could take him so close to losing his mind. It kept happening, over and over.

“There was no one before you, and there will be no one after you,” Wei Ying continued. “I’m yours, only yours – agh! Stop it, are you a beast, Lan Zhan? Are you trying to maim me? How could you treat your frail little wife like this?”

Frail. There was not a part of Wei Ying that was frail. Under Lan Wangji’s hands, the body was lean and athletic, a fighter’s body, and the soul underneath nothing if not tenacious.

His skin felt hot under Lan Wangji’s touch.

“Lan Zhan, husband, you need to keep in mind that I have never had anything inside – so you certainly can’t just hold me down and push them in, I will break!”

Lan Wangji was certain Wei Ying said these things only to watch Lan Wangji lose the little control he had.

“Them?”

“A-ah, ahah, that’s just something I’ve heard! Lan Zhan, you should take off your robes so that I can verify!”

“Where?”

“What?”

“Where did my pure and virginal wife hear this?”

Wei Ying’s skin flushed pretty pink. Lan Wangji watched the color spread. “Well, people talk…”

“What people tell such things to my wife?”

“Aiyo, Lan Zhan, I give up,” Wei Ying whined. “I peeked when you bathed! I saw them!”

The thought was just enough to tip Lan Wangji over the edge to the side where his touch became rougher, his bites deeper. He tore away the last of Wei Ying’s robes, watched as his body was revealed. Drank in the sight. His cocks – both of them – throbbed.

Wei Ying squirmed, not in self-consciousness but rather with arousal. His tails framed the lithe body.

He relished in opening Wei Ying up, savored every moment of it. Listened to the shameless babble that did not stop one, two, or three fingers in, and only muffled slightly when Lan Wangji placed two fingers flat against his tongue, something to keep it occupied when Lan Wangji was busy with his other hole.

It did not take too long for Wei Ying to be ready. Lan Wangji still thought he was too tight, but Wei Ying would not stop pleading for him to just put it in, and Lan Wangji was just a man, in the end.

When Wei Ying asked, what could he do but give?

“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, I thought I’d imagined it,” Wei Ying gasped, when Lan Wangji shrugged his robes off and placed them aside. “How can you be this big, twice over? Is there nothing about you that isn’t perfect?”

Complete nonsense. When Lan Wangji took him by the thighs, bent him in half, and pushed into him with one go, harder than he should have, he could not help but take pleasure in the way Wei Ying moaned, mouth open and throat bared.

He had to stop, to take a breath when he bottomed out. It was too good – he could not let it end so soon. He’d thought about this heat enveloping him too many times to count. He’d felt ashamed about it. Guilty. Now, with the clear sounds of pleasure falling from Wei Ying’s lips, he could not recall why.

Carefully, mindful of his own strength, he started thrusting. Wei Ying was so – tight. Sucking him in. Like his body needed him there. He kissed him, tightening his grip on those thighs that only spread wider for him.

Wei Ying’s keening noises soon turned back to the shameless flood of words, intent on driving Lan Wangji out of his mind, lips against the shell of his ear: “Ah, Lan Zhan, why didn’t we do this all the time when we traveled? Why didn’t you drag me into a shadowy corner and give it to me for hours? You could’ve made me cry out for you like this! I would’ve been helpless to stop you – ah, ah, Lan Zhan, slow down, won’t you?”

Slow down, when Wei Ying’s hips moved back to meet his own with every push? Slow down, when Wei Ying, eyes so bright, talked filth to him like this? Lan Wangji needed to make him lose the words. He needed to make him feel so full there would be no coherency or reason, only weak moaning, because otherwise Lan Wangji would be the one losing it.

“Where was I, ah? From that first night, you could’ve done anything to me, in every position, against all surfaces of the Jingshi!” Wei Ying continued, either unaware or uncaring of the line he was treading. “Haha, are you blushing? What’s there to be ashamed of now?”

Nothing, of course. Nothing to be ashamed of, no shame at all, yet even someone hardened would’ve found this too much. It was a blessing and a curse that Wei Ying expressed himself so openly – the way his eyes shut every now and then, when Lan Wangji pushed into him just right, and the way he groaned and shook and begged for more, got Lan Wangji closer and closer to a point of lost control.

“When I saw your cocks the first time, Lan Zhan, I was sure I was going to die. I was so turned on. I’d never seen anything so impressive, I wanted to get my hands on them immediately. And my mouth!”

The cock that was inside Wei Ying was pulsing, close to an orgasm, ready to spill inside. The one above was rubbing against Wei Ying’s own, both of them red. Messing them on spurts of precome. Lan Wangji gave a punishing thrust, deep enough to perhaps make Wei Ying consider his next words –

“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan – ah! Ah, ah, Er-gege,” Wei Ying whined. “I wanted to take them both at the same time! I wanted you to force them inside, so that I’d be so full of you that – AH! Lan Zhan? AAH!”

With a swift movement, his other cock’s tip was against his entrance as well, applying pressure. The wetness around Wei Ying’s hole awarded him enough lubricant to make pushing in that much easier. The fit was tight – painfully tight – but not impossible. His grip on Wei Ying was tighter, to stop him from trashing.

“N-no, Lan Zhan, they won’t fit! Hanguang-jun, are you listening to me?” Wei Ying wailed. “Lan Zhan! Mercy, show some mercy! I’ll break! Ah! AH!”

Once breached, he bottomed out easier than he could’ve imagined, Wei Ying’s ass making room for him. His little wife was moaning still, legs shaking, his cock leaking where it rested against his stomach. His hole, stretched to accommodate his husband’s cocks, was puffy and red.

“They are in,” Lan Zhan said, in awe.

Wei Ying batted his lashes at him, blinking away tears. His swollen lips moved into a pout. “Lan Zhan, ah, how could you? Such a cruel husband, treating me like this! Do you think you can do anything you want to me?”

“Yes.”

And he pulled back, only to thrust in with force. Another beautiful moan from Wei Ying, so loud the noise was sure to carry. It only turned him on further. Most of the things about Wei Ying did.

“Lan Zhan, a-ah,” Wei Ying cried, but then after that, most of the things he said were unintelligible. Not quiet – never quiet, not with Wei Ying, but the words were half enunciated, half moaned, and despite it his voice was the sweetest thing Lan Wangji could hear.

He forgot himself there, fucking Wei Ying, listening to the sounds he made. Impossibly tight, hot, beautiful, writhing under him, sometimes coherent enough to plead for mercy he did not want and was not going to get. He marked Wei Ying’s skin with his teeth, painting a trail of purple and pink down his beautiful neck to his collarbones, bit his lower lip, and kissed his cheeks.

When Wei Ying came, it was with a hitch in his breath, and a drawn-out, nasally “Lan Zhan!”

His hole tightened around his cock with the orgasm, enough to push Lan Wangji over the edge as well. When he came in Wei Ying, for a moment, he could not think about anything. His mind was empty of any thought, any reason, and all he could do was feel, smell, taste Wei Ying.

Coming back from that high was gentle experience. The sweat on his skin made the air in the room feel cool. Such as with their first meeting, Wei Ying’s breathing was heavy, his chest rising and falling. Lan Wangji’s heart was beating loud against his chest, a rhythm he’d not known before Wei Ying.

“Husband, look what you’ve done,” Wei Ying sighed, eyelashes fluttering. “Now there’s really no getting rid of me. You’re stuck.”

Lan Wangji’s chest felt light, warm. He smiled. “Mn.”

Eyes widening, Wei Ying’s lips parted, breath hitched again. He pulled Lan Zhan into a kiss, laughter bubbling from his lips. Lan Wangji let himself fall into the sound.

-