Brothers and bunnies

                                    

                                          
"WangJi!" Lan XiChen exclaimed. "How...? When did you arrive in Cloud Recesses?"
                          
"Just now," Lan WangJi said and sat gracefully on the other side of the small table in front of his brother. "Wei Ying is taking Lil Apple to graze." The willful donkey was still their only beast of burden, and when in Cloud Recesses, only satisfied with the plants that grew in the rabbit cove.
                          
"Welcome back," Lan XiChen said, the way his fingers were drumming against his thigh the only thing that betrayed his nervousness.
                          
Lan WangJi smiled one of his rare smiles. "I came to get you to share midday meal with us. You spend too much time here alone."
                          
"..."
                          
"Lan Huan... Oh!" Xie XiYue stopped abruptly at the doorway.
                          
Lan Zhan eyebrows almost shot off his face. He turned to look. He saw a flustered young disciple, dewy eyed and with a healthy warm glow, standing at the doorway,  struck dumb. Lan Huan...?
                          
Lan XiChen gave a strangled cough. "Xie XiYue... This is my brother, Lan WangJi. Xie XiYue is... a recent disciple."
                          
"HanGuang-Jun took a group of us night hunting some time ago. Honored to see you again, HanGuang-Jun," Xie XiYue said and bowed deeply over the tray he still held in his hands.
                          
Lan WangJi returned the bow and turned to look at his brother. Lan XiChen tried to look his usual, collected self, but it had all happened so fast. 
                          
Xie XiYue set two bowls and spoons on the table, and the pot with their meal. "I just happened to cook enough... by happy accident...  there's enough for two."
                          
Lan WangJi eyed the two bowls on the table, then his brother, who couldn't meet his eye. "I am intruding." Lan WangJi rose. 
                          
His brother and Xie XiYue tripped over each others' words, from which Lan WangJi could only make out pleas for him to stay and eat. "Very well," he just said and sat back down.
                          
Xie XiYue left, sending a helpless, apologetic look over his shoulder at Lan XiChen.
                          
"Lan Huan?" Lan WangJi said expressionlessly.
                          
"..."
                          
"You take your meals together?"
                          
"..."
                          
"Brother..."
                          
"Xie XiYue... He brought me my meals when I was in seclusion. He..." Lan XiChen couldn't continue, but took off the lid of the pot and started to ladle the soup into their bowls.
                          
The fragrant scent of the food made Lan WangJi's eyebrows rise again, but he tasted a spoonful without a word. He put the spoon down. "The food in Cloud Recesses has changed. Wei Ying will be pleased."
                          
Lan XiChen couldn't look him in the eye. "No... Xie XiYue... he... I was not eating well... and he surprised me with a meal he cooked himself..."
                          
"When?"
                          
Lan XiChen looked like he wanted to sink into the ground, but he couldn't lie to his brother. "Three months ago."
                          
"I see," was all Lan WangJi said, and turned his attention back to the food. 
                          
Their conversation turned to matters of Cloud Recesses, and Lan WangJi observed his brother through it.  Lan XiChen looked better than he had when they had last visited, about six weeks earlier. Over a month ago... And Xie XiYue had been bringing him meals already for weeks by then. His brother had been keeping things from him. Lan WangJi grew thoughtful.
                          
"I will stay in my rooms while you and Wei WuXian are here," Lan XiChen said as Lan WangJi stood up to leave.
                          
"No need. It seems you need privacy more than we do."