Chapter Text
"Wei Ying," Lan Wangji's voice called from the door of the Jingshi. Wei Ying looked up from his work, his face splitting into a wide smile. He dropped the brush he held in his hand in favour of getting to his feet and running into the open arms of his husband.
"Welcome back!" he greeted, tightening his hold around Lan Wangji.
"How was the night hunt with the kids?" Wei Wuxian asked as he pulled away from the hug but not from his husband's hold around his waist. "You were gone for a week. I missed you so much."
Lan Wangji gave him a peck on the forehead to return the sentiments.
"No issues," was Lan Wangji's terse and taciturn reply. Despite the apathetic tone, the pinkness on the tips of Lan Wangji's ears told a different story. Wei Wuxian chuckled and then leaned closer to kiss Lan Wangji on the cheek.
"That's good," he said. Lan Wangji tightened his hold around Wei Wuxian as he pulled him closer.
"What are you working on?" Lan Wangji suddenly asked after they finally pulled apart. Wei Wuxian had settled back on the floor by the low desk.
"Oh, just something of an experimental talisman," Wei Wuxian replied. Lan Wangji joined him by the floor, sitting across the low desk from him. The normally pristine desk was full of drafts and drawings scattered haphazardly about. He recognizes a few of the characters that were prolific on his notes and drawings.
"You're experimenting with time manipulation?" Lan Wangji asked. Wei Wuxian grinned and nodded.
"I can't believe no one ever thought of trying to manipulate time before. It's such an interesting concept to pass up! I hardly found any notes on it in the Forbidden Library so I had to start my research from scratch," he explained.
It was quite amazing how much progress he had made in the week that Lan Wangji was away, thought Wei Wuxian idly. From the slight surprise in the golden irises of his husband, Lan Wangji thought the same too.
"It is late, however," Lan Wangji pointed out.
"It's not even nine yet!" Wei Wuxian exclaimed.
"Continue tomorrow," Lan Wangji said as he gets to his feet. "I will prepare a bath for you."
"What? You just got back! I'll prepare it for you," Wei Wuxian quickly got to his feet, setting the brush back down and then hurrying to catch up with Lan Wangji.
Later that night, after a round of heated touches and equally heated kisses (and another bath), they settle back into their bed in each other's arms, Wei Wuxian's work quickly forgotten.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
When Wei Wuxian opened his eyes again, he finds himself staring not at the familiar ceiling of the Jingshi. Instead, his eyes met the sight of a familiar secluded courtyard of Cloud Recesses late in the night. He looked down and saw that he was on the roof; a roof he was quite acquainted with seeing as how he used this very wall to escape to Caiyi and get-
He quickly realizes that he was holding two jars of Emperor's Smile in one hand.
Hold on, he thought. Didn't he do this already?
"Wei Ying?" he heard a familiar voice call out to him. Wei Wuxian whipped his head to the direction of where the voice was coming from and was greeted by the strange but familiar sight of Lan Wangji, a few decades younger and dressed in the robes of a junior disciple of the Gusu Lan Sect. Wei Wuxian stood there in disbelief for a few moments before his eyes narrow at Lan Wangji's hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Lan Zhan, my er-gege, you would draw your sword at your own husband?" he asked, feigning a look of utter hurt and betrayal.
Lan Wangji seemed to have realized this and quickly let go of his sword, a look of horror briefly etched across his face before he realized his husband's theatrics. Wei Wuxian's face broke into a wide grin and he quickly made his way to his husband. Lan Wangji met him halfway.
"This feels too real to be a dream cooked up by the incense burner," Wei Wuxian said. Lan Wangji agreed with a quiet "En."
Wei Wuxian set down the jars of Emperor's Smile and reached out to cup his husband's (wait, is he still my husband at this point in time, he thought) young face. Lan Wangji's arms found their way around his waist and pulled him close. Lan Wangji seemed to be drinking in the sight of him, memorizing every detail of him down to a single strand of his hair. Wei Wuxian recognized a muted look of pain in those golden irises that he loved so much.
"What's with that look, Lan Zhan? Am I pretty?" Wei Wuxian asked to lighten the mood.
"The prettiest," Lan Wangji answered easily. Wei Wuxian let out a hearty laugh.
"Oh my god, Lan Zhan! What did I say about you declaring stuff like that with a straight face?"
"No excessive noise in Cloud Recesses."
"You sure didn't say that when I was being loud last night," Wei Wuxian said shamelessly. Well, if it can still even be counted as "last night" seeing as how they were several decades into the past. Lan Wangji's eyes narrowed as the tips of his ears turned a bright shade of red. He can hear Lan Wangji's voice say 'shameless', even if it was left unspoken.
They did not linger for too long outside. Wei Wuxian followed Lan Wangji to the Jingshi, a slight bounce in his steps as they held hands on their way there. It was sort of an odd feeling to be like this with a younger Lan Wangji, thought Wei Wuxian. It wasn't unpleasant - like he'd pass the chance to be affectionate with his one and only husband! - but his memories of them as teenagers were of Lan Wangji pushing him away every time Wei Wuxian tried to befriend him.
He understands that his husband just didn't really understand the feelings borne from love at first sight, but still.
So forgive him a little bit for being disoriented at the fact that a young Lan Wangji was leading him back to the Jingshi with their fingers intertwined and him refusing to even let go even as they entered through the threshold.
The jars of Emperor's smile were kept in the hidden compartment, Wei Wuxian forgoing the chance to consume them in favour of talking with his husband about what had just happened to them. They had stripped down to their thin inner robes and had settled on the bed, with Wei Wuxian settling between Lan Wangji's legs and had his back pressed against his chest. Lan Wangji's arms were wrapped around his torso, his head comfortably resting on Wei Wuxian's shoulder.
A few hours ago, they were forty-five years old, in partial seclusion from the cultivation world with their own home in the mountains. They had gone to Cloud Recesses to visit the others and Lan Wangji followed through with some of his sect duties and took the juniors out to a night hunt. Wei Wuxian was tinkering with a talisman that was working with an impossible concept of time manipulation when Lan Wangji returned.
Now, they were fifteen and junior disciples of their respective sects. Wei Wuxian could still feel the warmth of his powerful golden core in his abdomen; something that Lan Wangji definitely found to be reassuring. They just had their first meeting (though this time, it didn't end with Lan Wangji drawing out his blade to discipline him).
They were in a time before the Wens had tried to destroy everything they hold near and dear to them.
They were in a time when everyone they cared for was still safe and alive.
"I want to make sure nothing happens this time around," Wei Wuxian declared quietly.
"En," Lan Wangji replied easily.
"Will you help me?"
"En." It should go without saying, thought Wei Wuxian. He was sure that Lan Wangji thought the same but it didn't hurt to ask.
"I don't want to go stay at the guest disciples' quarters," Wei Wuxian said with a pout.
"Stay here," Lan Wangji said firmly.
Wei Wuxian laughed. "I was only saying it. I don't mean to make it sound like it was a complaint but they'll find it suspicious if I'm not there. Jiang Cheng would throw a fit if I cause trouble since I'm carrying the sect name after all."
In the other time, while Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng have repaired their relationship to the point that they could be civil with one another, the strain of their friendship not being the same as before still lingered. Wei Wuxian vowed that this time around, he'd want to stay as Jiang Cheng's brother and not give the man any reason for him to think otherwise.
Wei Wuxian turned his head slightly to see the slight frown on Lan Wangji's face. He couldn't help but kiss him on the cheek. He turned his body slightly so that he was facing Lan Wangji and cupped his face in his hands gently.
"It's not that I don't want to stay with you," he explained. "I could barely sleep with you away for the entire week so you can imagine how hard it would be for me to not be by your side but I want to do things right."
"...Stay with me here," Lan Wangji said quietly.
"... You're breaking my resolve quick, Lan er-gege," Wei Wuxian muttered.
A few moments of still silence later and Wei Wuxian made his final decision, letting out a defeated sigh. "Okay, okay. You're lucky I love you so much, Lan Zhan. I just hope Jiang Cheng doesn't-"
"Don't talk about him here," Lan Wangji said, his tone ever so slightly petulant.
Wei Wuxian snorted and then let out a laugh, pressing his forehead against Lan Wangji's. "Yes, yes. I won't talk about him anymore."
He really ought not to worry, now that Wei Wuxian thinks about it. Jiang Cheng may be insecure but he still sees Wei Wuxian as his brother, his confidant. So what if he's not in his room? It isn't that big of a deal since Jiang Cheng didn't make a big deal out of his sneaking out in the other time (though it will be if they find out that he's really at the Jingshi with Lan Wangji... but he'll cross that bridge when he gets to it).
"I wonder if they'll let us get married properly this time around..." Wei Wuxian muttered all of a sudden. Lan Wangji's eyes widened slightly.
They did their three kneelings and it was only with great, great reluctance did the elders of Gusu Lan allow for a proper ceremony in red to register Wei Wuxian as Lan Wangji's lawful husband into the family records but maybe this time around, they won't be as stiff about a union between them since for one; Wei Wuxian was not the Yiling Patriarch or the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation. He was but the prodigious head disciple of the Yunmeng Jiang Sect.
Yes, there was the glaring problem of them being both men but Lan Wangji's position as the second son gave him a bit of leeway with his choice of partner... at least, to Wei Wuxian's understanding.
"Wait, maybe my status as a servant's son might-" Wei Wuxian began.
"They will accept," Lan Wangji interrupted him, his hold around Wei Wuxian suddenly tightening. Lan Wangji never cared about Wei Wuxian's status in the social hierarchy. It didn't matter to Wei Wuxian that he was the second son of a prominent family; he never made a fuss about it.
To him, Wei Wuxian was Wei Wuxian, his place in the social hierarchy based on his parentage be damned.
"And if they don't?" Wei Wuxian challenged.
Instead of a verbal reply, Wei Wuxian found Lan Wangji pressing a bruising kiss against his lips. Smiling into the kiss, Wei Wuxian wrapped his arms around his husband's shoulders and leans into the kiss.
'We will elope' is left unsaid.