#another part

“Wei Ying.”

Wei Wuxian blinked and turned his head away from Biling Lake, tilting his head slightly as the white-clad cultivator approached. “Lan Zhan.” He smiled, turning his shoulder slightly as if showing off the stained robe on his shoulders. It was the one Lan Wangji had given him during the war.

“What are you doing here?” Lan Wangji folded his arms behind his back, watching the other kick his legs off of the wall of the waterway. He felt a light ache not seeing the smile he loved still, even now that the war had been over for some time.

“Just because. Jiang Cheng told me to get lost for a while~” Wei Wuxian hopped up, joining the other at his side. “He didn’t say how far or how long.”

“But the hunt is soon.”

“Oh that.” Wei Wuxian sighed and lifted his arms above his head, stretching out his arms. “I’ve been told it’s best for me not to go.” His shoulders popped from the stretching, but Lan Wangji didn’t have time to mention that he should be working his body more, instead he paused in his step, looking a bit lost for a second before correcting his expression.

“Why?”

“I’m too scary or something.” Wei Wuxian grinned, “I think you know the full reason though, right Lan Zhan?”

“Wei Ying…” Lan Wangji moved around to stand in front of him, conflict in his expression. “Will you tell me what’s happened now?”

Wei Wuxian’s face darkened briefly, face calculating for a moment but eventually took a deep breath and smiled again. “Lan Zhan, there is only one reason why I wouldn't be able to wield a sword, right?” He holds out his hand. “I have no qualms about you knowing.”

As Lan Wangji moved to take the hand and check his meridian however, an instinctual jerk of Wei Wuxian’s arm surprised the both of them. “Ah…sorry about that.”

Lan Wangji just seemed confused. “You offered your hand to me…are you alright?”

“Mm yes, I’m just a little bit…” He wiggled his fingers next to his head, smiling in that usual eerie way he’d picked up as he wasn’t sure how to explain himself. “Let’s try that again.”

This time he kept his hand held out, but it did start shaking as Lan Wangji took hold of his arm this time. Only when Lan Wangji finally pressed his fingers into the meridian did the shaking stop. Wei Wuxian’s face was dark once more, but for a reason he said nothing of, until Lan Wangji lifted his head. Then he smiled again, despite the heartbreaking expression on his old friend’s face. “Do you understand?”

Lan Wangji dragged Wei Wuxian away from the public eye as quickly as he could manage without it looking suspicious. “Wei Ying…” He took the other’s shoulders as soon as they were out of sight, frown deeply set into his brow. “So this…this is why you haven’t qi deviated. There’s nothing to deviate anymore.”

Wei Wuxian hummed and waved a hand dismissively. “I’d like to think there’s multiple reasons, but that would be one of them.” He froze up however when the man suddenly had him wrapped up in those white robes of his.

Lan Wangji had pulled away from the hug before Wei Wuxian even realized what happened, pupils blown and eyes wide. “L…Lan Zhan?” The man held his face and he stared back, wildly curious but shocked at the same time. This did not equate to what he knew of the other.

“Wei Ying…Come to Gusu with me.” Then Wei Wuxian’s expression returned to that ever eerie look once more, and Lan Wangji regretted it.

“You still want me to go to Gusu?”

Lan Wangji’s eyes flitted over the other’s face and he slowly withdrew his hands.

“Why?” Wei Wuxian asked once more, as usual. “You can’t expect me to do something like abandon my shixiong without an explanation.”

Lan Wangji was quiet for a long time, and so Wei Wuxian sighed, “You have to tell me why. If it’s not to bring me to healers or make me mend my ways, Protect me where I don't need it or whatever else, I need to know the reason. Not that I think it's entirely possible.”

“I just…”

“What?”

“I want to be by your side…” His voice came out meeker than usual, unsure of himself. “My reason is you.”

Wei Wuxian tilted his head slightly, eyes widening a fraction again. “Me?” Something stirred in him, seeing Lan Wangji’s expression shift into something like a frightened bunny. “Hey, don’t run away.” He held onto the other’s sleeve tightly when the other attempted to turn away, unwilling to let him back out now. “Start talking, bunny.”

The tips of Lan Wangji’s ears turned a dark pink. “Bunny?” He frowned slightly, avoiding the question and the other’s eyes despite not moving past the other’s grip.

“You look like a frightened bunny. So I'm calling you bunny.” He grinned, a hint of the sun within that Lan Wangji once loved to bask in silently hidden amongst the night. “If my handsome Lan er-gege doesn’t start talking, i’ll sta-”

Lan Wangji claps his hand over the other’s mouth, the demonic cultivator’s eyes lifting with mirth at the prize he’d won seeing the crown of the other’s cheeks also dust in rosy hues. “Wei Ying!”

Despite his body’s immediate urge to quell his next move, his bright red tongue darting out to wet the other’s palm in retaliation. Lan Wangji suddenly retracted his hand, cradling it to his chest like it’d been burned and stared at the other with somewhat wide eyes.