Chapter Text
cover art by: @tattoosandtrinkets
Noisy. Lan Wangji thought as the automatic door WHOOSHED opened, and he gracefully wove in between hugging families and people on cellphones bustling past him. I hate the airport.
He looked around, trying to find the right signs as he sank deeper and deeper into the immense human traffic. When he finally found the baggage claim he sighed and pulled out his phone to read Wei Ying’s most recent message.
{I can’t believe you’re insisting on picking me up yourself. 😩 You’re so busy, Lan Zhan! It’s not too late to cancel on me and send your driver! 🤨 Also I just landed.}
He smiled to himself. After all these years, Wei Wuxian was still the most ridiculous person he’d ever met.
[I’m at baggage claim. Should I grab your bag for you?]
{How would you know which one it is?🤔 Don’t be silly, Lan Zhan. Am I not an adult?😤}
Lan Zhan glanced at the luggage carousel and spotted a deeply red, overstuffed suitcase with signatures scrawled all over it like it was a highschool yearbook. He almost took a picture of it and sent it to him, but thought better of it.
[Send me the baggage number.]
{I will not!!}
Lan Zhan almost chuckled out loud and considered grabbing the suitcase anyway, but he didn’t want Wei Ying to feel infatalized. Independence had always been something of a point of pride for him.
[Do you want me to order you coffee?]
{LAN ZHAN!!!! Are you my fiance or my butler?? 😡 I’m almost there!! What’s with all this special treatment? 😓}
Lan Zhan pressed his lips together firmly.
[ Wei Ying. It's been four years.]
The notification for ‘read’ popped up, but there were no immediate text bubbles following it. He felt his neck break out in a cold sweat. Was that the wrong thing to say? He stared intensely at the screen. Wei Ying?
“Lan Zhan? Hey! Did you forget you were waiting on an actual person? I don’t exist inside of your phone.”
Lan Wangji’s shoulders tensing was the only sign of his surprise as he raised his head— gaze tracing up the body of the man in front of him.
Wei Wuxian; dressed in black yoga-pants that clung to his legs like a second skin and a pale blue hoodie that pooled like water around the shape of him, making him appear smaller than he really was. Lan Zhan recognized it as one of his own, and his body temperature spiked at the sight of it.
“Wei Ying.”
The man in question rolled his neck tiredly and snorted a laugh. His messy black hair swooped and curled around the sun-kissed angles of his face, while the rest spilled haphazardly from the bun atop his head. “Ah, Lan Zhan, it’s been too long. Did you just notice me standing here? Have you forgotten my face already? I saw you from a mile away. You’re so tall!”
Lan Wangji felt a smile melt onto his face.“I haven’t forgotten you, Wei Ying,” he said, but part of him felt like he had. He’d forgotten what it felt like to have this man so close to him. To actually see him with his eyes.
Wei Wuxian looked up, his travel chapped lips already parted to continue talking, until he suddenly sputtered and shoved him away.
“Gah, Lan Zhan, It’s 7am! I just got off a red-eye flight! Can’t you have mercy on my sleepless eyes? You can’t just smile at me without any warning! Are you trying to kill me?” He covered his face with his hands, but his cheeks looked red from between his fingers. “I need coffee. Now. Immediately. Before I pass out and crack my head open on this floor.”
Lan Wangji wanted to laugh but forced it down. “Mn.” He produced his wallet from inside his jacket and then offered Wei Wuxian his card. “Go buy coffee. Give me your claim ticket. I’ll grab your things.”
Wei Wuxian froze and then peeked sideways at him, pouting. “You saw all this coming! My fiance is psychic now? Am I so predictable? Are you already getting bored of me?” He huffed. “You can’t give me back, Lan Zhan! Ten years is too long to wait before calling off an engagement. I’ve gotten my hopes up and everything!”
Lan Wangji wanted to kiss him. Four years of texting, phone calls, and video chats had been nothing compared to the real thing. There was no media strong enough to contain all of what Wei Wuxian was. He felt like he’d been squinting at a washed out image for nearly half a decade.
“I’ll never be bored of you” He promised sternly. “Wei Ying is underestimating himself.”
Wei Wuixian grinned and snatched the offered credit card from his palm before bouncing up on the balls of his feet to kiss him on the cheek. “Mark your words, future husband. Didn’t Lan Qiren say the date would be set once I got back?” He wiggled his eyebrows at him. “All this time and finally a wedding date. Shijie finished planning the ceremony when we were 15!”
“Mm,” a blush spread to his ears. “She gave you no say? Or did you have no opinion?”
Wei Wuxian smirked and tilted his head coyly. “So long as Lan Zhan is the groom, nothing else matters to me. Besides, Shijie has great taste.”
Lan Wangji felt like the sun had risen inside his chest. “I feel the same.”
Wei Wuxian beamed, “Thank you for picking me up at the airport, Lan Zhan.”
The two of them leaned in together, almost like instinct, and kissed softly on the lips.
“Welcome home, Wei Ying.”
—
“I have to go back to Lotus Pier tonight.” Wei Wuxian insisted with a miserable whine, kicking his feet up on the dashboard. “My siblings will kill me if I don’t. Besides, all my stuff is in storage in the basement.”
“What about the rest of your things from America?” Lan Wangji asked. He eyed his legs with a frown, but said nothing. “You couldn’t have fit everything in one suitcase and a backpack.”
Wei Wuxian clicked his tongue, “Why not? Are you calling me materialistic, Lan Zhan? I’m a very simple man!” He elbowed him in the arm.
Lan Wangji silently kept his eyes on the road and waited.
Finally, Wei Wuxian sighed.
“Fine. I smuggled it all home with Nie Huaisang weeks ago. His brother doesn’t search his boxes anymore— not after that one time— but Madam Yu would absolutely search mine.”
“Mn,” Lan Wangji allowed, ignoring the part about Nie Mingjue. He was sure Wei Wuxian told him the story, but he couldn’t remember what Nie Huaisang had been hiding. Maybe he’d left that part out on purpose. “Why not send it home?”
Wei Wuxian’s expression turned soft and he smiled fondly. “I felt bad taking up so much space when I wasn’t even back yet. You hadn't seen me in four years, Lan Zhan! Your first impression could not be a bunch of messy boxes.” He turned up his nose at the thought.
Lan Wangji sighed, mostly to himself. “You’re allowed to take up space, Wei Ying.”
He laughed. “Mark your words, Lan Zhan.”
“I have.” He insisted firmly. “This is not the first time I’ve said them.”
“You haven’t lived with me yet!” Wei Wuxian wagged a finger at him, as if he were catching him in a lie. “It'll be different once it's real.”
“Mm.” Lan Wangji agreed. “I’ll mean it even more then.”
Wei Wuxian’s laugh was like music, like a melody on his flute. It was a sound Lan Wangji hadn’t heard in person for so long that he felt nostalgic at hearing it now. “You’re incredible, Lan Zhan. So good to me. Are you sure you’ve got the right fiance? I think I must have hoodwinked you.”
You could have. Lan Wangji thought with certainty. If you’d needed to.
“I’m very sure,” was all he said.
Wei Wuxian was surprisingly quiet in response. He simply tucked his head down against Lan Wangji’s shoulder and murmured. “Me too.”
Maybe he was more tired than he seemed.
“Do you want me to take you to Lotus Pier?”
Wei Wuxian’s head popped back up. “Aiya! Are you crazy? I said tonight. It’s like 8:00am! Take me home. I already told A-Cheng and A-Li I’m going straight to bed and I’ll be there for dinner.”
Lan Wangji snorted quietly. “Of course.” He turned the car in the direction of the Jingshi.
Wei Wuxian seemed much more awake all of the sudden. “I can’t believe it. I knew we’d live together one day, but I always thought it would be after the wedding. How’d you get Old-man Lan to agree to let me move in now?”
Lan Wangji hummed for a moment. Stalling.
“It was not his decision.” He said primly, after a moment. “He gave the house to me, so the deed is in my name. He has no say in who lives there.”
Wei Wuxian stiffened. “Which means he didn’t say it was okay? Lan Zhan!” He sat forward to stare at him. “He’ll have an aneurysm! Are you trying to kill your uncle? He made me sleep in a guest room every time I visited you. He would have locked me in if he could have!”
“It’s not improper.” Lan Wangji argued stubbornly, raising his chin. “We’ll be married soon. We’re both adults. It's not as though any children are being born out of wedlock, so what harm is being done?”
“Are you trying to convince me? ” Wei Wuxian scoffed, “Or were you hoping I’d put that on your gravestone for you? I’m too young to be a windower, Lan Zhan!”
Lan Wangji humphed quietly, looking petulant. “Uncle will not kill me. He knows all this already. He respects that I am an adult who makes my own decisions.”
Wei Wuxian blinked at him. “Ha! Did he get kidnapped by a bodysnatcher while I was away? Or are you lying right to my face?”
Lan Wangji frowned at him through the rear-view mirror. “Wei Ying.”
His fiance sighed loudly. “Geez, you know how to play with fire, Lan Zhan. Fine, fine. I won’t say anything else. What would I do about it anyway? Go back to America?”
Lan Wangji’s hands tightened around the steering wheel and he decided to change the subject. “Are you hungry?”
“Hmm? Oh. Yeah?” He raised a puzzled eyebrow. “I know you already ate, though.”
“Oh?”
Wei Wuxian rolled his eyes. “You think I’m predictable? I haven’t set an alarm in four years because you always call me while you eat breakfast. I set my clock by you, Lan Zhan!”
Lan Wangji’s stomach fluttered at that. He liked being reminded he had an impact on Wei Wuxian’s life, even from far away. “I’m happy to eat with Wei Ying.”
His fiance snickered and shook his head. “Don’t you have to work?”
“I’m not working today.” Lan Wangji was almost offended he’d had to ask. “Of course.”
Wei Wuxian met his gaze through the mirror again. “You—,” a blush rose on his cheeks and he sputtered a laugh. “‘Of course’, he says. Lan Zhan! I’m going to be a zombie half the day! I don’t want to waste all your time with sleeping.”
“I took tomorrow off too. To help you move in.” He shrugged. “I wanted to be available to you. Moving homes can be very intensive.”
Wei Wuxian blew out a breath. “You’re not wrong, but that shouldn't make it your problem. It's all my stuff.”
Lan Wangji wanted to shake him. “Wei Ying, we’re about to be married.”
“Right, right, what’s mine is yours.” He nodded along. “That would need to go both ways, though, and you never need anything.”
Lan Wangji was struck dumb by those words. “That’s… not true.”
Wei Wuxian turned to look at him with a frown. “Oh! I’m sorry, Lan Zhan. I didn’t mean that how it sounded. You just never ask me for things. You’re so put together. Anything I can do, you do better on your own. I’d just be in the way.”
“That’s not true. ” He repeated, feeling suddenly stressed by the thought. “I need you, Wei Ying. I always need you.”
Wei Wuxian smiled at the words, but there wasn’t an ounce of belief behind his eyes. “You’re right. Who else keeps your uncle from shoving a stick up your ass, huh?” He snickered. “I’m indispensable.”
Lan Wangji’s laugh felt like it’d been punched out of his lungs “ Wei Ying .”
Wei Wuxian cracked up— in that loopy way where he was barely breathing. “Ah! You should have seen your face, Lan Zhan.” He turned his head and kissed him softly on the edge of his jaw. “Just take me home, okay? I’m getting sleepy.” He rested his head back down on Lan Wangji’s shoulder. “Do you mind if I close my eyes for a bit? I feel like I haven’t slept in days.”
Knowing Wei Ying, he probably hasn’t.
“Mm.” He wished he could wrap his arm around him. He suddenly loathed his decision to drive himself. “I’ll wake you when we’ve arrived.”
“You’re an angel.” He reached over and squeezed Lan Wangji’s thigh— towing the line between affectionate and flirtatious. “You can play music. I don’t mind.”
So he did. Something instrumental, because he preferred it that way. Words distracted him almost as much as Wei Wuxian seemed desperately lost without them.
From here, he could smell Wei Wuxian’s shampoo. It was different than he remembered. It must have been something he’d picked up in America, but somehow it still smelled exactly like him. Wei Wuxian’s personality was the type to show itself in everything he touched, and it made him smile.
He certainly rubbed off on me. He thought, even as he tried to refocus on driving. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, his mind kept drifting back to the warmth of Wei Wuxian’s cheek, sinking through his clothing and all the way down to his bones.
He smiled, and decided to just enjoy it.
Wei Ying is home.
—