beloved, your face has cast some magic on me
'Every weekday at 1:15 p.m. precisely, Lan Wangji drives 52 feet from the Sylvia Blvd-Johnson St intersection and turns right into the entrance of Red Lotus Diner.'
In which Wei Wuxian is a hot carhop and Lan Wangji simps.
_
Every weekday at 1:15 p.m. precisely, Lan Wangji drives 52 feet from the Sylvia Blvd-Johnson St intersection and turns right into the entrance of Red Lotus Diner. He places his order - one yogurt parfait and a large cookie, every time - and waits quietly. To passersby, he looks stoic and distant, which is just as well. It wouldn’t do to have them know that his bones are trying to vibrate out of his skin.
After only a few minutes, he catches the sound of wheels rolling on gravel. Rolling towards him, closer and closer, a pattern of sounds that make his heart race faster as it gets louder. He turns his head slightly, and his eyes catch a red ribbon. It’s the same shade as the glossy lips grinning at him.
“Lan Zhan!” exclaims Wei Wuxian, and they do the little spin - oh heavens, thinks Lan Wangji dazedly, despite the fact that they do this every time - that makes their skirt twirl around them as they rest against his car door. “A-Zhan, Zhanzhan, Lan-er-gege, hello! Here’s your usual!”
“Wei Ying. Good afternoon,” says Lan Wangji softly, a stark contrast to the chaos in his head. It’s worse than the Fourth of July in there - louder and brighter and sharper and so very explosive. He applauds himself for keeping his cool and not crying at the sight of Wei Wuxian’s ethereal self.
They start regaling the happenings of their day and the latest news - “I bugged Qing-jie until she spilled and guess what, she and Cang Liqiu finally got together, it’s been forever I swear” and “You should’ve heard Jiang Cheng’s scream this morning, it was hilarious, this makes me first in our prank war” - as they hand over the tray, but Lan Wangji is only partly paying attention. Wei Wuxian’s fingers brush against his, a brief touch, and his mind completely shatters. Electricity sparks and zips ups his hand, travels along his nerves and spears through every inch of his body, and it takes every ounce of his focus to clamp down on a shudder. He curls his toes in his shoes and grinds his teeth together.
Wei Wuxian tosses their head, hair in their signature ponytail, and huffs to get their bangs out of their eyes. Lan Wangji wants to kiss them.
“Anyway,” they laugh, “How’s Jingyi doing? You said last time he had just about mastered Chopsticks.”
It is Lan Jingyi who Lan Wangji is on his way to meet. A distant relative of his, and close friend to Wei Wuxian’s son and nephew, whom he was teaching the piano. His lessons begin at 2:00 p.m. precisely every weekday. Lan Wangji is fond of him, and glad to speak of him. He tries not to look at Wei Wuxian directly, lest he combust.
“Jingyi is progressing well. He performed The Celebrated Chop Waltz for his school talent show. They did not give awards. However, should they have, he would have likely placed.” Having excessive pride is forbidden, but Lan Wangji does not. Whatever one may say of his personality, Jingyi is an excellent and dedicated student with much skill and potential.
Wei Wuxian smiles bright and delighted, as they always do when they hear about children. If they don’t stop doing that right this instance, Lan Wangji might do something ridiculous, like consider taking a chance and kissing them right in this parking lot.
“Aye, Lan Zhan, so proud of your student! And just as well, huh? Jingyi’s a brilliant little thing, it’s no wonder A-Yuan loves him,” they say. “That actually reminds me, A-Yuan’s been mentioning this for a while but I-”
Lan Wangji does not hear what A-Yuan was mentioning because his 1:30 p.m. alarm goes off. He is irritated enough that he nearly scowls, but thankfully Wei Wuxian’s vibrant presence makes it difficult to be very upset.
“Oh, I’ve kept you too long! You better get going! I’ll tell you later, after shift. Give Jingyi my love, and tell him A-Yuan and his Baba are very proud of him!”
“Mn,” replies Lan Wangji, and refrains from asking if they have some love to spare for him too. “I can pick you up from the university after your last class.”
Wei Wuxian brightens further at this. “Sure, sure, thanks Lan Zhan! You can come and visit A-Yuan if you want, he always wants to see you.” They glance at the clock and their eyes widen. “Wow, yea, ok, you really need to go, and I need to get back to work. I’ll see you later, ok?”
They turn around and skate forward, towards the lot-side entrance of their family’s diner, and Lan Wangji takes a deep breath. He is about to internally lament the loss of Wei Wuxian’s proximity, except they abruptly halt and hesitate, before quickly spinning around and rolling back to his car. He arches a brow slightly in confusion and wonders if telepathy is real. He’s about to open his mouth and ask what’s wrong, because for all that he loves Wei Wuxian, they both really do need to go to work.
And then Wei Wuxian darts forward and kisses his cheek, and his mind completely blanks. His conscience has been reduced to a white void. He has no thoughts, only radio static.
“Um, bye Lan Zhan,” they say quietly, face flushed - Lan Wangji’s thoughts briefly come back online to wonder if that blush spreads further - and skate away so quickly one would think Jiang Wanyin was chasing his down.
It takes Lan Wangji a moment to be acceptably functional, and another to be functional enough to drive. Typically, he arrives at Jingyi’s house 10 minutes before the lesson is to begin, giving him time to set up as Jingyi works through the cookie from the diner. Today, he is only on time, not early, so Jingyi has to wait until after the lesson. Lan Wangji has to hurry a bit setting up so that he wastes no more time.
Later that day, when he goes to pick up Wei Wuxian, he makes them take responsibility for their actions by pressing them against his car and kissing them hard and slow.
[ main . ao3 ]
