For the prompts please: "I needed you and you left me" or "why are you doing this?" For Jiang Cheng/whoever, or whatever pairing you want
This is really only getting posted cos Emily told me to post it XD so yell at her about the ending not me, thanks.
Jiang Cheng/Lan Xichen, Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji but mostly Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng angst tbh Lan Xichen pov.
OPEN UNRESOLVED ENDING, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
(AO3 LINK)
“I think it’s time you retired for the night, Wei-gongzi,” Lan Xichen said as gently as he could.
Wangji had long since begun hovering at Wei Wuxian’s shoulder in a more silent suggestion of the same, since Jiang Cheng’s face had first reddened from the wine and the tenuous peace of the dinner had begun to shatter from increasingly antagonistic comments.
Lan Xichen had warned Jiang Cheng off serving wine, knowing too well that he became increasingly emotional in proportion to how much he consumed. The addition of Wei Wuxian’s presence...it had been too easy to guess how dinner would turn out.
Things were better between the two brothers, but there were still so many things unsaid between them.
If the tremors in Jiang Cheng’s hand and the glisten to his eyes were any indication, some of those things might be voiced soon, very much against his wishes, as they had been said to Lan Xichen under the influence of too much wine far too early into their courtship, and then immediately regretted, almost shattering the growing bond between them.
If Lan Xichen could spare Jiang Cheng the pain of revealing too much of his deep hurt again, and to the one person he was so adamant never know of it, then he would do all he could.
In an act of desperation not to shame Jiang Cheng too much, he met Wangji’s eye and tried to express how serious he was in his suggestion.
“I agree,” Wangji said, finally breaking his silence on the matter and gripping Wei Wuxian’s upper arm firmly. He didn’t tug, but the touch was enough to convey his seriousness, and Wei Wuxian rose unsteadily to his feet.
Lan Xichen envied them sometimes, the ease with which they communicated. Things were not so easy between he and Jiang Cheng, though he would still have the man as he was rather than seek to change him just to make things a little easier between them.
“There you go again,” Jiang Cheng scoffed, gesturing roughly at the pair as they stepped back from the table.
Lan Xichen’s spirits sunk even lower as he realised which deep pain would be voiced.
“It is late, we should all retire,” he said, resting a hand on Jiang Cheng’s shoulder even knowing full well by the set of his jaw that he had gone too far in his thoughts and pain to turn back now.
It had long been Lan Xichen’s way to be looser with the rules of his sect, but it was times like these that he believed their abstinence from alcohol was not unreasonable.
“Again?” Wei Wuxian asked, turning unsteadily to face Jiang Cheng, his eyes narrowing, probably assuming something entirely incorrect about the meaning of his words.
“Wei Ying,” Wangji said softly, reproachfully.
Wangji was quick to speak rudely to Jiang Cheng himself, if masked by the politest of phrasings, but he was just as quick to try and stop Wei Wuxian doing the same.
Lan Xichen admired the respect he held for Wei Wuxian’s love for Jiang Cheng even while loathing the man himself. But it was not enough.
Jiang Cheng snorted loudly and gestured at Wangji. “Running off with him at the merest glance from him.”
Wei Wuxian’s expression darkened and Lan Xichen bit back a groan.
There would be no saving them from what was coming. Wei Wuxian was admirably tolerant of Jiang Cheng’s insults and slights, sometimes even appearing to enjoy them, but at the merest suggestion of criticism towards Wangji and he bit back with force and no trace of humour.
Wangji shared with Lan Xichen a concerned but resigned expression, knowing this well himself, while Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng became blind to all but each other.
“And what’s wrong with that?” Wei Wuxian snapped. “I should ignore my husband?”
Jiang Cheng slammed the table, rattling everything on it and casting the room in a purple light as Zidian sparked on his finger.
“Should you ignore the Jiang Sect? Should you abandon the sect that took you in and raised you the moment you get a glance from him? From the Wens?”
Lan Xichen winced. He’d heard this before, he knew what came next. Not just the words, but the tears, the clinging hands. Behaviour that would horrify Jiang Cheng come morning, and cause him to disappear for days from shame and anger.
A desire to intervene and save Jiang Cheng that pain still lingered within him, but perhaps it was time. Their every attempt to socialise, particularly with wine present, resulted in a fight, and even if he or Wangji separated them before it got to this point, it was inevitable they reached it one day.
Wei Wuxian strode forward to meet Jiang Cheng as he rose.
“Should I abandon what is right and good just to satisfy you, Jiang Wanyin?” Wei Wuxian snapped. “Should I abandon people in need just for your pride?”
Lan Xichen closed his eyes as if it could block out the expression on Jiang Cheng’s face, like he didn’t see it in his mind anyway. A rustle of fabric told him Wangji had moved closer to Wei Wuxian, as if to shield him, as he always did, even though it always made Jiang Cheng’s jealousy and pain worse. He opened his eyes to see Wangji had at least stayed behind Wei Wuxian and not placed himself between them.
“I needed you!” Jiang Cheng shouted, shoving Wei Wuxian only to drag him back by a fistful of his collar. “I needed you and you left me!”
There was a sharp intake of breath from Wei Wuxian, and then silence. It would soon be broken by sobs, if the overflowing wetness of Jiang Cheng’s eyes was any indication.
The brothers were locked in a matching gazes of pain and sorrow.
Lan Xichen moved silently to Wangji’s side and touched his shoulder. This was not a conversation for their ears, even if he knew all the things Jiang Cheng would say, and Wangji likely knew all that Wei Wuxian would say.
Wangji must have felt the same, though his movements as they left the room were stiff and full of hesitation, blatantly unwilling to leave Wei Wuxian alone with Jiang Cheng even though he did still leave.
As much as Lan Xichen wished to be there for Jiang Cheng as well, to see this one facet of his pain resolved, it was not his place.
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“You have never asked me to come to Gusu before,” Jiang Cheng said some time later, when Lan Xichen was on his third cup of tea and kneeling closer to the bath than he’d intended to.
The food was growing cold, but Jiang Cheng showed no signs of moving.
Lan Xichen studied him. He was still sitting with his eyes closed, but he was far from relaxed. There was tension in every line of his body. He was holding himself as if he was ready to leap out of the bath and run. It was difficult to look at his body in such readiness, so Lan Xichen abandoned is place kneeling beside the tub and moved behind him, picking up a comb and gently working it through his hair.
“You have never asked to come,” he replied carefully.
It was not the first time he had combed Jiang Cheng’s hair while he bathed and, for a moment, he wondered if Jiang Cheng had taken it down precisely in the hopes Lan Xichen would comb it. He had admitted once he found the gesture soothing, that he liked the feel of Lan Xichen’s hands in his hair. It had been a rare expression of want from him, but he had been drinking at the time.
Jiang Cheng made a dismissive sound that Lan Xichen could not begin to guess the meaning of. Was it that he did not wish to go to Gusu, or that he did and he expected Lan Xichen to already know?
How had they come to this point? How had Lan Xichen failed so completely to notice that they never talked about what they wanted? That they barely talked at all anymore?
“You never expressed any interest in anything more than me coming here to you,” Lan Xichen continued. The conversation was long overdue, even if he had not realised until just before dawn that very same day. “And you never ask for that either.”
Jiang Cheng didn’t speak, and the only sound in the room was the soft slide of the comb through his hair.
Lan Xichen breathed slowly, focused on the feel of the comb in one hand and the hair he was holding in the other. He didn’t want to ask, but he knew he had to, knew he should have asked it a long time ago. Even if the answer was as he had always assumed, the question still needed to be asked. It would lead them to everything else.
“Jiang Cheng, do you really want me here?”
The hair slipped from his hand as Jiang Cheng turned in the bath, gripping the edge and staring at him with an expression Lan Xichen didn’t understand.
He knew that Jiang Cheng wanted him, that was obvious whenever they were together, whenever Jiang Cheng whispered pleas for him to stay only to forget them by morning.
But Lan Xichen needed to hear it in the light of day. He needed to see if Jiang Cheng could say it. If he trusted Lan Xichen enough to say it to him.
He averted his eyes and lowered his hands to his lap, holding the comb tightly as he waited. The questions that would follow would be harder, he had to prepare.
“You know that I do,” Jiang Cheng finally said, his voice low, almost angry.
Lan Xichen closed his eyes. “In what capacity?”
“Capacity?”
The anger was more obvious. Lan Xichen opened his eyes to see it twisting Jiang Cheng’s features, but not his eyes. His eyes held nothing but fear.
micro-prompt: '______ felt they were being watched.' for nmj/jgy, 403 words
(Ooooooh, nieyao! 403 words exactly =) I win!)
Meng Yao felt eyes on them, even though a quick survey of the courtyard revealed nothing. Nie Mingjue’s hand was still warm, curled around his forearm, his body too, leaning too close.
“Clan Leader, it’s late,” he said, lowering his head. “I thought you had retired.”
As always, Nie Mingjue was blind to the possibility of being seen, or uncaring.
“Why are you still working?” he asked, tapping the back of his free hand against the scrolls Meng Yao had tucked close to his chest. “I asked you to join me for tea. It is late, I expected you long ago.”
Heat blossomed across Meng Yao’s face. It was perhaps the only subtlety Nie Mingjue knew, and everyone was well aware what it meant when he invited a man for a late pot of tea in his rooms. He had never publicly invited Meng Yao before, they were alone in his study often enough that all invitations were given there. To say it now...
The feeling of being watched persisted, and Meng Yao gently exerted pressure, as if pulling his arm from Nie Mingjue’s grasp. It was released at once, and he stepped back.
Nie Mingjue was blind to the rumours, but Meng Yao heard all. If he could prevent a fresh wave of slander, that was preferable. He knew, regardless of whether there was evidence or not, many would still believe he spread his legs for his position, as expected from the son of a whore.
The rumours never reached Nie Mingjue’s ears. With the feeling of eyes on them, Meng Yao was tempted, not of the first time, to inform him.
But if Nie Mingjue’s response to the earlier cruelty against him was to elevate him in position to prove his worth, what might his response be to such illicit rumours? What position might Nie Mingjue try to elevate him to next?
Meng Yao was not unaware that for many months now, only he had been invited for late pots of tea.
“I will put these away and come to you directly,” he said softly, too low for any observers to hear.
In a slow drag, Nie Mingjue’s gaze travelled the length of him, heavy and full of intent. He nodded once, then turned and left the courtyard for his rooms.
Meng Yao stayed a moment, then walked slowly and calmly to deposit the scrolls where they belonged before joining him.
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lsz and ljy playing w the rabbits as kids for the drabble prompts?
(First time trying to write after soooooooo long and while still very unwell...not so surprising it’s angst I guess hahaha good thing I know you love angst XD Unedited cos I don’t got the spoons for that, and if I waited it would probably never happen XD BUT I WROTE SOMETHING)
AO3 Link
Content Warning: Angst, Canonical Character Death (set during the time Wei Wuxian was dead), Open Ending
Time Heals Too Slow
Lan Xichen joined Wangji at the edge of the clearing. He tried not to feel apprehension at how swiftly Wangji’s expression closed off upon realising he was not alone, but failed.
His hope that Wangji would slowly open up to him again in time seemed increasingly beyond his reach. The damage that had been done was just too severe.
“When I heard you had finally left seclusion, I thought I’d find you here,” Lan Xichen said gently. “He told you about this spot when he visited you, didn’t he?”
“Mn.”
It was more difficult than ever before to understand Wangji’s frame of mind. His expression before he noticed Lan Xichen there had been one of open pain and yearning, but there was not even a hint of that in his voice.
Still, even if he could not see it now, he was sure Wangji’s mind lingered on Wei Wuxian. It would be impossible not to while looking upon the child Wangji had said was his.
A fresh burst of laughter broke out in the clearing, and Lan Xichen turned briefly to see that Lan Jingyi was trying to put a rabbit inside Lan Yuan’s robes. His efforts failed, but the usually quiet Lan Yuan now giggled as he tried to squirm away.
The sight made Lan Xichen smile, but as he turned to Wangji he caught, only for a moment, a flicker of immeasurable grief clouding his features. A second later, and Wangji was once again impassive, even while he gazing upon the child he had taken as his own.
The fracture that had marred Lan Xichen’s heart from the moment he’d known Wei Wuxian was going to be killed deepened once more, as it had many times since that moment.
“He is a little like him, isn’t he?” he asked softly, knowing it to be cruel but unable to restrain himself.
There was a long silence, but Lan Xichen accepted it. He moved a little closer, enough that their arms touched. Wangji was not one for physical contact, not even from him, but he allowed it.
The acceptance of his gesture wasn’t much, but it sparked that hope again, that Wangji would open to him once more, but perhaps only after much more time than he had initially thought.
“Mn.”
The sound was weaker, almost trembling. Lan Xichen leaned a little more into the contact of their arms, as they watched the two children play among the rabbits.
this is a xicheng thirst micro-prompt: any scenario you like, but it has to be between 200-250 words
(👀 is exactly 250 words okay? Also...does this count enough as thirst? Realised when I went to write this that...I not be knowing exactly what thirst is meant to be like 😅)
“Zewu-jun?”
Lan Xichen forced his eyes back to Jiang Cheng’s face.
“Xichen,” he said, gesturing at himself. “Didn’t I tell you to call me Xichen?”
Jiang Cheng’s gaze tracked the wine jar in his hand as it moved, then snapped back to his face.
“I thought you could burn away alcohol with your golden core?” he asked, putting down his own jar and shuffling closer.
Closer was not good. Closer meant each clinging drop of water on that perfectly sculpted chest caught Lan Xichen’s eye, as movement caused them to trickle slowly down over muscle and scars.
He should have continued his evening walk upon finding Jiang Cheng swimming in nothing but trousers. He should not have sat down and then taken the wine he was offered. He should not have let those clinging and sliding droplets of water distract him from preventing inebriation.
The discussion conference continued at dawn, the sleeping hour was long past.
“Oh,” he muttered. “You distracted me.”
“Did I?” Jiang Cheng asked, his hand softly sliding over Lan Xichen’s, causing shivers to race over his skin. He gently tugged the wine jar away. “And how did I do that?”
Lan Xichen’s breath caught in his throat as too many words that should be withheld fought for a chance to be spoken.
“I think you should retire now, Zewu-jun,” Jiang Cheng said quietly.
“Yes,” Lan Xichen agreed, struggling to his feet.
As he stepped away, he could feel Jiang Cheng’s gaze follow him, heavy and warm.
"I don't regret it" or "I'd do it again in a heartbeat" for wei wuxian/wen ning if you like? Feel free to rephrase if you wanna 😊
(So...I totally thought I’d posted this ages ago but apparently I didn’t 😅 I think I was too anxious about it not being any good so I didn’t post it in the end buuuuuuuut in this dry spell of being unable to write due to poor health...IT’S A PRE-WRITTEN FIC I CAN POST SO HERE YOU GO)
AO3 Link
Content: Implied/Referenced Sexual Content, Morning After, Communication
An Offer of Comfort and Distraction
“I don’t regret it,” Wen Ning said, his voice as quiet as always, but firm in a way Wei Wuxian had never heard before.
Wei Wuxian inhaled sharply and forced back everything he had been planning to say. He had spent all morning trying to find the right words and was only partially successful. He’d expected to have much longer before this confrontation would occur.
It seemed he had once again underestimated Wen Ning.
“Last night,” Wen Ning clarified, as if there could be any confusion.
He set the tray down on the only clear space available on the table, and then knelt to begin pouring the tea. He didn’t look at Wei Wuxian again until he held out a cup of tea. His expression was almost as timid as it always was, but there was a steely glint to his eyes, like he was bracing for something. And he was wearing his hair differently, unfastened and hanging down over the front of his shoulders.
“Ah, thank you,” Wei Wuxian muttered uselessly, taking the cup from him and letting it warm his hands as he tried to think what to say, and tried not to think about the marks Wen Ning was probably hiding behind his hair.
In truth, he’d thought that he’d have to hunt Wen Ning down for this conversation. That Wen Ning would avoid him and try to pretend it hadn’t even happened.
He sipped at the tea and looked over Wen Ning. He seemed almost entirely his usual self, as if such a thing had not happened. Or as if such a thing was not unusual at all.
“If Wei-gongzi regrets it, then I apologise,” Wen Ning said, lowering his head, his fingers fisting his robes where they rested on his knees. “I only wanted to—”
“No,” Wei Wuxian said firmly, putting his cup down so quickly the tea splashed everywhere.
Regardless of how unexpected such a thing was, and how he could not have ever predicted doing so, he would not accept Wen Ning shouldering the blame. He would not let him feel as if he had done wrong when he had clearly only tried to help him. Tried to console him.
He shuffled around the table and laid his hand gently over one of Wen Ning’s clenched fists.
If anyone had been wronged, it was Wen Ning.
“I must beg your forgiveness,” Wei Wuxian said softly.
This close to him, he could smell the faint scent of medicinal herbs and woodsmoke, and had to close his eyes against a rush of heat. Mere hours ago, he had pressed his face to the skin of Wen Ning’s neck and not only inhaled his scent but tasted his skin.
What they had done was unexpected, but his reaction now, in the light of day, even more so.
Wen Ning looked up, eyes wide. He shook his head vigorously. “No, no! I wanted to, I instigated,” he said, his voice both weak and firm at the same time. A dizzying contradiction.
“Instigated?” Wei Wuxian muttered. A strangely formal way to put it.
Given the way Wen Ning had known what to do more than Wei Wuxian had, he had a sudden suspicion that perhaps Wen Ning really had done such a thing before, and perhaps unsavoury accusations had been made. It would not surprise him, at first glance Wen Ning seemed almost child-like, but any amount of time spent with him revealed a surprising intelligence behind his meek appearance.
Wei Wuxian had discovered this at the Cloud Recesses, as he’d spent increasing time with Wen Ning before parting at the conclusion of their time there.
“I only wanted to make you feel something good,” Wen Ning said quietly. “You've been so...”
Wei Wuxian closed his eyes. Heat pulsed through him again as his mind helpfully supplied him with just how good it had felt. And he couldn’t deny it had turned his mind away from the oppressive fear and guilt as he failed to find a way to help Jiang Cheng. Even upon waking, it had been a distraction, Wen Ning already gone and nothing left but agonising worry over whether he had ruined everything in that moment of weakness with him.
And still, there was a lingering fear that Wen Qing would storm in and murder him at any moment for daring to lay his hands on her brother.
He couldn’t forget his pressing need to read every medical text Wen Qing had, he couldn’t forget his own brother, lying in an induced comatose state while he regained what little strength he could regain. But his mind strayed surprisingly easily to memories of what he and Wen Ning had done. And the realisation that he had leapt at the chance for a distraction, despite himself, unthinking of the consequences and unthinking of whether it was even right to do such a thing.
“And I took advantage of you only trying to—”
“No!” Wen Ning said, his voice louder and firmer than Wei Wuxian had ever heard it.
He covered Wei Wuxian’s hand atop his own, holding tight. He leaned closer into Wei Wuxian’s space, bringing with him more of that scent that sent Wei Wuxian’s mind back to the tangle of their bodies.
“Wei-gongzi, no!” Wen Ning repeated. “I wanted to. It was I who...but knowing that you didn’t...I still...I have always wanted...” He lowered his head and closed his eyes, making a low sound of distress. “I just wanted...and I thought...but I should not have. I didn’t...I didn’t really think you would...but then you did and I...”
Wen Ning’s expression became more and more distressed, his difficulty with words returned, and the grip he had on Wei Wuxian’s hand tightened until it was almost painful. The sight of his distress woke in Wei Wuxian, as it always had, a desire to reach out and comfort him, an arm over his shoulder, perhaps even a proper hug, but now...now he had held his body close in other ways and couldn’t trust himself not to press his lips again to Wen Ning’s throat to prompt another kind of embrace.
He couldn’t help but wonder if Wen Ning would melt into such an embrace even now in his distress.
He closed his eyes against another surge of arousal. He had never considered such a thing with Wen Ning, or any man, except one dream he’d had of Lan Wangji that he’d tried not to examine too closely. But regardless, his body woke from Wen Ning’s mere presence alone now, and it was becoming more difficult to even remember why he was so concerned.
“Wen Ning, are you—”
“A cutsleeve? Yes,” Wen Ning admitted, and Wei Wuxian opened his eyes to see he was flushed pink and still looking down at his lap.
He felt a flush rise on his own face as he considered whether he might be as well, with how easily he had found desire in Wen Ning’s embrace.
“No, I meant...are you sure you don’t regret it?” he asked. “There are other ways to comfort me, you didn’t need to do that.”
“I know,” Wen Ning said quietly, peeking up at him. “I wanted to.”
Wei Wuxian recalled his earlier words and inhaled slowly. It had been his intention to apologise and try to mend whatever damage he had wrought with his poor self-control and surprising actions, but now he found himself turned around and facing an unknown direction.
Even if he had never imagined he might do such a thing, with Wen Ning of all people, he could not deny he had enjoyed it, and it had provided a blessed distraction even if he couldn’t help but feel guilty for taking his mind off Jiang Cheng’s plight for even one moment.
“You have wanted to...always, with me?” he asked, his face aflame at the presumption, but his mind filled with the feel of Wen Ning pressing into his every touch. At no point had Wen Ning seemed like he was enduring something just so Wei Wuxian would feel better. But in his haze of grief and guilt, Wei Wuxian couldn’t trust his own judgment. His decisions had already caused so much pain.
Wen Ning’s lips twitched into a smile, and he nodded bashfully, loosening his grip on Wei Wuxian’s hand and then releasing it entirely.
“Wei-gongzi has always been kind to me, never...never treating me like...like I’m stupid and...” He averted his eyes as his face flushed even darker. “Wei-gongzi is very attractive also.”
Head flooded Wei Wuxian’s cheeks, but spread further down also, creeping down his neck and chest and then pooling in his abdomen and between his legs. Wen Ning’s skin had flushed that way in the night too. It had stoked a flame in Wei Wuxian, the way he had bitten his lip and closed his eyes and bared his throat for Wei Wuxian’s lips, whispered his name and guided his hands.
He turned and picked up his discarded cup, draining what was left and fighting to control the sudden surge of arousal pulsing through him. It was not the time for such things. He had many more texts still to read, every lost moment was another Jiang Cheng remained in such a state.
“I don’t regret it,” Wen Ning said again, his voice firm. “I would do it again if you also desired it.”
Wei Wuxian clutched at the cup as his mouth went dry imagining such a thing.
“It was good to see...see you resting after,” Wen Ning added, his stutter returning. “You...you need more...more rest.”
With a slow inhale to calm the well of pain that rose up at the reminder, Wei Wuxian closed his eyes and shook his head.
“There’s no time. Jiang Cheng needs me.”
“A-Jie always says, a sick physician can...can help no one but...but only cause more harm,” Wen Ning said. “You will study better when well...well rested.”
Wei Wuxian looked at the texts he had spread out over the table. It was true that even though his mind had drifted to his worries about Wen Ning often over the morning, he had found it easier to read and follow the texts after a night of sleep. Perhaps even because he had woken feeling more relaxed and rested than he had in a long time.
“I will leave you to it then.”
Wen Ning rose smoothly to his feet, and Wei Wuxian found himself scrambling to do the same. He earned an expectant look from Wen Ning, as he waited to hear what Wei Wuxian had to say, but Wei Wuxian found himself speechless.
He truly did not know how things were meant to be done...after what they had done.
“Are you...are you well?” he asked, his face burning with embarrassment, and perhaps a little shame. He should have asked that from the start. He should have hunted Wen Ning down the moment he woke to make sure he was alright.
Wen Ning nodded, smiling again. “There was only pleasure, no pain.”
His ease in discussing such a thing put Wei Wuxian to shame. It was truly not what he would have expected, had he ever thought about it.
Instead of speaking further, and not knowing what to say, in any case, Wei Wuxian stepped closer and reached out. When he shifted Wen Ning’s hair behind his shoulders, his breath caught at the sight of bruising on his pale neck. He gently brushed his fingers over one of the marks. He could still recall the feel of Wen Ning’s pulse racing, and the sounds he had made vibrating beneath his lips.
Wen Ning’s eyes slipped closed and he sighed softly as Wei Wuxian touched his neck. The sound sent a shiver down Wei Wuxian’s spine, chased by another rush of heat and the urge to follow his fingertips with his lips.
“I bruised you,” he said instead, pulling his hand back and trying to rein himself back under control.
It was one thing to lose control and give in to passion and distraction in the night, but the day had barely begun, there was still so much to do, so many medical texts still to read.
Wen Ning reached for his hand but aborted the motion. He searched Wei Wuxian’s expression then lowered his gaze to the ground. A pink flush rose on his cheeks, and then he peeked back up.
“It felt very nice. If Wei-gongzi likes, I could...I could return tonight and...demonstrate,” he said, his voice a little shaky, but his gaze like it had been in the night, warm and knowing.
“Wen Ning!” Wei Wuxian whispered, scandalised at the ease in which he offered and undeniably aroused by the idea of another night with him, even if he was still coming to grips with the passionate night they had already shared.
Wen Ning smiled slightly and gestured to the tray he had brought in. Wei Wuxian glanced at it and noticed for the first time a plate of food.
“Please remember to...to eat while you work,” Wen Ning said, shifting his hair back to hide his neck.
He turned to leave, and Wei Wuxian said nothing as he rapidly thought over their conversation. With a growing sense of distress, he realised he had never said perhaps the most important thing. For all his confusion and need to process what they’d done, one thing was clear, now that he had heard how Wen Ning felt about it.
“I don’t regret it,” he called out after him, his heart racing. “And I would...I would do it again.”
Wen Ning turned in the doorway, and then his face split into a brilliant smile.
