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Wei Wuxian shuffles through a stack of incident reports and assistance requests. Most are things that can wait until his coworkers come back from the holiday—dubious ghost sightings and slightly elevated levels of resentful energy—but he sets a few aside in case he gets really bored. Working the skeleton shift over the new year holiday is incredibly dull—everything is closed and all the fun coworkers have gone home. He can't even work from home—Cloud Recesses Cultivation is old-fashioned and insists on a physical presence in the office. He's going to be stuck here for a week with some random coworker. Ugh.

(A voice in the back of his head points out that he could have stayed in Hubei and taken a job with Lotus Pier, but it's a quiet voice. He made his choice five years ago and the only thing he regrets is not getting to see Jiang Cheng or Jiang Yanli in person anymore.)

He gets up to refill his thermos and almost walks straight into the random coworker. Except it's not a random coworker. It's his favorite coworker: stuffy, fussy, hilarious, incredibly gorgeous Lan Wangji. His teenage crush—now his adult crush—and one of the reasons he'd applied to Cloud Recesses after the whole…thing with the Wens had gone down and he'd had to leave home. 

He doesn't get to see him that often—they're in different departments—but there's at least a few days every week when Wei Wuxian will be eating lunch in the canteen or the garden and Lan Wangji will sit down next to him and silently eat while Wei Wuxian talks about whatever. Sometimes they even get sent out on cases together—not very often, but those are always Wei Wuxian's favorite assignments, even if the case itself is boring or unpleasant. They're more than just friendly coworkers, he's pretty sure. They're friends. And sometimes Wei Wuxian will catch something warm in Lan Wangji's eyes and wonder if something more might be possible.

Wei Wuxian likes his job just fine, and he's grateful to have it, but getting to see Lan Wangji is definitely the best part. So of course he's delighted to see him here. Even if it's just supposed to be Wei Wuxian and that other guy whose name he forgot ten minutes after checking the shift assignment.

"Lan Zhan! Why are you here?"

"Holiday shift," Lan Wangji says, stating the obvious. But it's not obvious, because:

"Since when does the sect leader's brother have to work over Spring Festival?"

"Policy 12.57."

Wei Wuxian blinks. "Uh…I know I'm supposed to have those memorized, but…"

"Every cultivator with field certification must cover a minimum of one holiday shift every two years."

"Yeah, but didn't you cover Mianmian's Mid-Autumn Festival shift?" She'd mentioned looking for someone, and before Wei Wuxian could volunteer, Lan Wangji had. 

Lan Wangji gives him an irritated look for some reason. "Luo Qingyang's grandmother was ill."

"Were you doing it as a favor for her? Wait, Lan Zhan, do you like Mianmian? You do know that she's seeing someone, right? Because—"

"Wei Ying!" 

"Isn't there a policy that forbids interrupting?"

"Policy 2.6," Lan Wangji says. Wei Wuxian laughs as he returns. With Lan Zhan around, maybe the skeleton shift won't be so bad after all.

Never mind, skeleton shift is horrible. It's not even 11 AM and he's so. Incredibly. Bored. None of the incident reports they've received are enough to justify leaving the office, and there hasn't been a single emergency call. Not that Wei Wuxian wants fierce corpses in the French Concession or another yao in Zhongshan Park. But would a haunted metro station really be too much to ask for? Or maybe some actual skeletons?

He hasn't had any chances to bother Lan Wangji, either. Wei Wuxian has spent all morning walking casually past his office for one reason or another, and every time the door has been shut. What's the point of being alone in an office building with Lan Wangji if he can't even look at that flawlessly beautiful face?

He returns from refilling his hot water thermos, glancing at Lan Wangji's office as he does so. (The water dispenser next to Lan Wangji's office is only a little further away than his usual one, it's not that weird that he's using it.) Closed door. Wei Wuxian is so caught up in pouting that he almost doesn't see Lan Wangji outside his own cubicle. 

"I have unplugged your space heater," Lan Wangji says. 

Wei Wuxian looks, and sure enough, the space heater is unplugged. "I was gone for three minutes," he complains.

"Policy 5.93. Space heaters are not to be left unattended."

"Three minutes! Don't you have anything better to do than police my space heater compliance?"

Lan Wangji's face is perfectly blank. "Fire safety is important."

"If the office wasn't so cold, I wouldn't even need a space heater," Wei Wuxian grumbles. "Fine."

He picks up his laptop and walks down the hall.

"Where are you going?"

"Somewhere warmer," he says, entering Lan Wangji's office. He's never been inside it, but it looks exactly like he's always imagined based on the glimpses he's snuck in the past: tastefully decorated and perfectly laid out to create a feeling of calm. It's also freezing.

"My office is not warmer than yours."

"I noticed." Wei Wuxian shivers. "Do you even have the heat on?"

He picks up the minisplit remote. "Five? You have your own office climate control and you set it to five degrees?"

"Low temperatures are good for cultivation." 

Wei Wuxian laughs. "Hanguang-jun is so committed to his cultivation! I really admire you—even though our office is sooooo cold all the time, you keep your office even colder! You've defeated me this time—I'll go back to my cubicle and plug my space heater back in."

Lan Wangji takes the remote from him and adjusts it until warm air is blowing into the room. "Stay," he says.

"Lan Zhan, I was just joking! I'm not going to invade your office." He'd wanted to annoy Lan Wangji for being fussy about the space heater, and now his bluff is being called. Lan Wangji used to be so easy to tease back in high school! Wei Wuxian had been unable to resist poking and prodding him to get a reaction. Now it takes much more effort. But he likes this Lan Wangji, who can sometimes beat him at his own game, even more.

"This is more energy efficient." Lan Wangji sits at his desk, flicking a glance at his spare chair to suggest Wei Wuxian do the same.

Shrugging, Wei Wuxian opens his laptop. If Lan Wangji really didn't want him, he'd kick him out, and the view is nicer here. And not just because the office has a window.

When the non-emergency line rings, Wei Wuxian picks it up before Lan Wangji can.

"Cloud Recesses Cultivation!" Technically, Wei Wuxian doesn't have to answer the phone right now—if it's an emergency, the police will call. They can let these go to voicemail. But even here in Lan Wangji's office, he's bored. 

"Hello? I need help! I just moved into a new apartment and it's haunted!" The guy on the other end doesn't sound like he's in immediate danger, so Wei Wuxian grabs a notepad and a pen off Lan Wangji's desk. 

"Can you describe the signs?"

"Um…there's this eerie sound sometimes, almost like humming? Or maybe a moaning?"

"Does it happen at specific times of day?"

"No…" Something in his voice tells Wei Wuxian that the man is hiding something.

"How about specific places?"

There's a long pause, and a quiet sigh. "The bathroom."

Wei Wuxian forces himself to not laugh. Bathroom hauntings can actually be very serious! One time he was almost drowned by a ghost that had taken over an entire building's plumbing system. And yet, it's still hilarious every time.

"Any visual manifestations?"

"Like, do I see anything? No, it's just the sound."

"So, there's an unusual sound coming from your bathroom at unpredictable times, and you're concerned that it may be related to a haunting?" Years of practice let him keep his voice light and professional.

"Yes. It's really creepy! Hang on, I recorded it, let me play it for you."

When Wei Wuxian hears it, he has to mute himself until he stops laughing. Lan Wangji looks at him. 

"Don't worry, Lan Zhan! I'm taking this seriously."

Lan Wangji raises an eyebrow.

"Hahaha, I promise." He unmutes. "Thank you for holding! I need you to do something for me."

"Okay…"

"Can you flush your toilet?"

"Uh, sure?" They hear footsteps, followed by a flushing sound. "Is that going to help get rid of the ghost?"

"We're monitoring the situation," Wei Wuxian says. It's technically true! "Please just stand quietly for a bit. I promise you're not in danger."

Less than a minute later, there's a loud hum. It does sound a little ghostly, actually, but when Wei Wuxian explains that the problem is actually with the toilet fill valve, the caller reluctantly accepts the explanation and agrees to call a plumber first, and only call the office back if that doesn't fix the problem. 

"How did you know?" Lan Wangji asks him.

"I'm thinking of quitting cultivation and becoming a plumber," Wei Wuxian tells him, just to see the look of shock on his face. He's able to keep a straight face for about three seconds before he cracks. "Hahaha, just kidding. Our toilet had a similar problem a few months ago, so I learned how to fix it."

"You learned?" Lan Wangji's flat tone makes it hard to tell whether he's judging Wei Wuxian for not calling a plumber.

"Plumbers are expensive. Online tutorials are free."

"Hm." Lan Wangji gives him a long assessing look, then returns to his computer.

They work like that for a few hours, Wei Wuxian alternating between focusing on his current side project and pestering Lan Wangji until the project ends up stealing his full concentration.

"Wei Ying," says Lan Wangji, loudly enough that it's probably not the first time he's said it. 

Wei Wuxian looks up from the screen. "Huh? Sorry, got distracted. Was there an alert?"

"Lunchtime."

"I was just going to have some snacks," he says. "The canteen is closed, and all the good street food vendors have gone home for the week."

"You did not bring food from home?" 

He shrugs. "I brought a bunch of instant noodles. I don't really cook much." Wen Ning usually does most of the cooking at home—Wei Wuxian is banned from the kitchen—but the Wens are back in Xi'an, visiting their family for the first time in five years, and Wei Wuxian isn't actually planning on going home this week. He lives too far outside the city to respond in time if he's on call, and there's a sofa in the breakroom that's reasonably comfortable.

Lan Wangji looks pained. "Wei Ying, we are here for a week."

"I can eat noodles for a week!"

"Come." Lan Wangji leads him to a conference room. Reaching into a qiankun pouch, he extracts two carefully-packed boxed lunches. He hands one to Wei Wuxian.

"Lan Zhan, did you make these? They look amazing! But I can't just eat your food. Shouldn't you save the second one? You could have it for dinner tonight, or lunch tomorrow. I can give you a stasis talisman for it, and it will be just as good tomorrow as it is now." Wei Wuxian is very proud of his new stasis talisman design. Right now they only work on containers below a certain size, but they preserve food perfectly. He's tried to pitch them to the R&D department, but they're still stuck in the safety review queue, and the Lan don't approve talismans for use until they've been tested for safety.  

"Eat."

He eats. It's nothing fancy, just some dougan and a few vegetable dishes, but it's still the best thing he's tasted since his sister got married and moved to Shandong. 

"I never knew you liked spicy food," he says. Lan Wangji does not respond, of course—he still follows the strict Lan rules around talking while eating, something that they fortunately do not enforce in their Shanghai branch. But he doesn't tell Wei Wuxian to shut up, the way he did when they were in high school, so Wei Wuxian cheerfully tells him all about the side project he's been working on.

"So, my stasis talisman, the one I just mentioned? I designed it to keep food fresh for a few days, but then I showed it to Wen Qing, and she said it could have medical applications as well. You could use it to transport donor organs, or keep blood fresh for transfusions! Actually, she kind of yelled at me for inventing something that could save lives and then only using it to keep my noodles from getting soggy…"

Lan Wangji is a good listener—he never interrupts, and he asks intelligent questions. By the time Wei Wuxian is finished explaining, he's figured out a solution to the current issue he's been having with the design. He's also eaten an entire delicious lunch. There's a warm feeling in his chest, and it isn't just from all the mala spice.

"Hey, Lan Zhan? Thanks for this. It was really nice." He smiles.

Lan Wangji does not smile back. "No need."

"If you say so," Wei Wuxian says skeptically. Lan Wangji doesn't stop him from invading his office again, and they spend the rest of the afternoon in companionable silence. Well, Lan Wangji is silent. Wei Wuxian is not. But Lan Wangji doesn't seem to mind.

Wei Wuxian is just cleaning out the last of his inbox when Lan Wangji abruptly stands up. 

"It is time to leave."

After the boring morning, time had passed by surprisingly quickly. Wei Wuxian looks up from his screen. "See you tomorrow!"

Lan Wangji doesn't move. "Wei Ying. It is time to leave."

"Yeah, I know. Do you need me to get out of your office? I promise not to steal anything more expensive than your pens." Wei Wuxian grins. That's actually something of a high bar—Lan Wangji has nice pens.

"The office is closed. You should go home."

Ah. He considers lying, but decides that it's not worth it. "I was just going to crash in the break room."

A tiny furrow appears in Lan Wangji's forehead. "You have a phone. If there is an emergency, we will be contacted."

Wei Wuxian sighs. "Look, I live out in Qingpu. If there's an emergency, I won't get there in time." 

Lan Wangji gets a tiny furrow in his brow. Probably wondering why anyone would choose to commute all the way from Qingpu. Wei Wuxian doesn't feel like explaining that rent in Shanghai is expensive, and that for a while he was supporting five people on his entry-level salary. Now that he's been promoted to senior cultivator and Wen Qing has an actual hospital job instead of doing unlicensed acupuncture, they're hoping to move a little closer, maybe to somewhere with a metro station nearby. But in the meantime he either has to fly on Suibian or take the bus, and he doesn't have a private flight license, because those are also expensive. 

But Lan Wangji doesn't ask, so Wei Wuxian doesn't explain.  

"My apartment is close," Lan Wangji says instead.

"You don't live with your brother?" Wei Wuxian asks. He's seen them arrive and leave together, so he'd just assumed they shared an apartment.

"Same building and floor. Different units. Xiongzhang enjoys entertaining."

Wei Wuxian laughs at the weariness in his tone. "And you don't want to have guests over all the time?"

"Mn." Lan Wangji inexplicably picks up Wei Wuxian's laptop and places it in his own bag.

"Lan Zhan! Why are you stealing my work computer?"

"We are going home," Lan Wangji says, as though it were self-explanatory. 

Wei Wuxian's heart should absolutely not be beating faster at the idea. "What do you mean, 'we'? We're a little old for slumber parties, don't you think?"

"Policy 3.42 requires on-call staff to spend at least six hours off-premises for mandatory rest time." 

"That doesn't mean that you have to put me up! Lan Zhan!" Despite his protests, Wei Wuxian decides to follow. After all, the man does have his laptop. And he wants to see Lan Wangji's apartment. 

Unsurprisingly, Lan Wangji's place is quiet and tasteful, a mix of clean modern lines and traditional furniture. 

Surprisingly, a portion of the living area is cordoned off by some kind of movable baby gate, and inside are two rabbits. 

Wei Wuxian stares at them. "Lan Zhan…those rabbits look familiar. Are those…?"

Lan Wangji doesn't respond. Wei Wuxian laughs so hard he ends up sitting on the floor.

"They are! I can't believe you kept them! Hahahahaha!" 

Every summer, Lan Wangji's family hosted a two-month cultivation school for teenagers at their ancestral estate outside Suzhou. The Jiang children had attended every year from ages 15–18, and when Jiang Cheng went, Wei Wuxian of course accompanied him. Somehow, despite spending six out of the eight weeks in detention each summer, he never managed to get permanently expelled, and despite loudly complaining about how dull and boring and old-fashioned it was, Wei Wuxian had looked forward to it every year. After all, Lan Wangji was there, and Madam Yu wasn't.

Their last summer, just a few months before he turned eighteen, Wei Wuxian had rescued a pair of rabbits he'd found abandoned in a cardboard box in an alleyway in Suzhou. He'd been planning to just ask Lan Wangji to help him find homes for them, but something soft in the other boy's eyes had convinced Wei Wuxian to bully Lan Wangji into agreeing to take care of them. Still, he hadn't expected him to keep them for this long! And to bring them along when he moved out!

Unlike his teenage self, Lan Wangji doesn't bristle at the laughter. Instead, he opens the gate and sits on the floor next to Wei Wuxian. He places some Napa cabbage leaves in Wei Wuxian's hand.

"Sit still," Lan Wangji says. Wei Wuxian tries not to shiver at the deep voice in his ear and the gently firm hand still wrapped around his wrist. 

The white rabbit slowly hops towards them, and—once he reassures himself that Wei Wuxian won't make any sudden moves—starts chomping away at the cabbage. When he's done, Lan Wangji picks him up and puts him in Wei Wuxian's lap. "Pet him gently," he says.  

"I know, I know, 'gentle touches'. We've taught A-Yuan that for petting the neighbor's cat."

"How is A-Yuan?" Lan Wangji asks, petting the rabbit on his own lap.

"He's great!" He launches into an update on A-Yuan, Wen Qing, and Wen Ning, interrupted by the notification on his phone. "Oh, speak of Cao Cao!"

He answers the video call. "Who is it? Is it…the radish farmer?"

"No! It's A-Yuan!" Giggles. "And Ning-gege!"

"Is this a good time?" Wen Ning asks hesitantly. "He wanted to call, and I didn't think you'd still be at work…" 

"Yeah, it's good. Hey A-Yuan, guess where I am!"

"Home?"

"Nope!"

"Work?"

"Nope!"

A-Yuan frowns, thinking hard. "The zoo?"

Wei Wuxian laughs, startling the rabbit off his lap. "I wouldn't go to the zoo without you!"

"Are…are you at Hanguang-jun's?" Wen Ning asks. 

Wei Wuxian's jaw drops. "How did you guess?" He angles the phone to capture Lan Wangji's perfect face. 

There's a gasp. "Rich-gege?!"

Oh no. "Sorry about that," he says, laughing. "It's because you bought him all that stuff when we ran into you at the park."

A-Yuan gives them both a long and somewhat incoherent description of his day, with occasional clarifications from Wen Ning, before his grandmother calls them both to dinner. "Bye, Xian-gege! I miss you! Talk to you tomorrow!"

As soon as they hang up, Wei Wuxian slaps his forehead. "I forgot to show him the rabbits!"

"Show him tomorrow," Lan Wangji says.

"Huh? Lan Zhan, are you really going to host me all week?"

Lan Wangji gives him the look he usually reserves for Wei Wuxian's dumber jokes. "The commute will not be shorter tomorrow."

Wei Wuxian has to admit that this holiday skeleton shift thing is going much better than he expected. Instead of cup noodles and the breakroom sofa, there is homemade food and Lan Wangji's very comfortable spare room. (He ignores the thought that it would be even better if he didn't have a spare room.) He still has to get up stupid early in the morning, but there's congee and fresh soy milk and a ten-minute walk instead of a long bus ride. And instead of sitting in his cubicle, he's occupying Lan Wangji's office for the second day in a row. 

He's not sure why Lan Wangji is being so nice to him. Yeah, they're friends, or at least Wei Wuxian likes to think they are, but friends don't necessarily volunteer to host you for a week. 

(Wei Wuxian would do that—it's sort of what kicked off the whole Thing with the Wens that resulted in him having to move to Shanghai with his friends, their grandmother, and their orphaned toddler cousin. But most people wouldn't.)

And feeding him! Lan Zhan has another box lunch for him today. Would he do that for any coworker, or is this pity for Wei Wuxian's proposed all-noodle holiday diet? Wei Wuxian wants to ask, but he isn't sure he wants to hear the answer, so in an unusual display of self-restraint, he keeps all the questions locked up and talks about anything and everything else. But even that is really nice. Lan Zhan listens, and adds the occasional well-chosen comment, and occasionally responds to one of Wei Wuxian's more outrageous comments with a deadpan look that has Wei Wuxian laughing so hard that he almost falls out of his chair.

Unfortunately, everything else about holiday shift still kinda sucks.

"I'm sorry, but we can't investigate unless there's been some sign of actual supernatural activity. No, your neighbor for 'giving you a weird look' doesn't count. Sorry."

Wei Wuxian gives the caller the number to report possible build-up of resentful energy and promises someone will do a drive-by reading within a few weeks. He's pretty sure they won't find anything, but you never know! He hadn't expected to find anything in Hongqiao last fall, and then it turned out that Xinjing Creek was full of water ghouls. 

He groans and puts his head on Lan Wangji's desk. "I'm so bored," he whines. "Lan Zhan, entertain me!"

There's a thump next to his ear. He looks up to see that Lan Wangji has dropped a paperback on the desk. 

"What's this?" he asks.

Lan Wangji, deadpan, replies: "Employee handbook."

"That's supposed to make me less bored?"

There is no reply, Lan Wangji having returned to his paperwork, and Wei Wuxian laughs. "This is your way of telling me to brush up on the rules? Are you going to make me copy them the way I had to copy the Lan precepts back at summer school?"

"I have no authority to do so," Lan Wangji says.

"You have plenty of authority," Wei Wuxian says.

"Not over you."

"You're the sect leader's brother and a department head, you really can't make me copy some rules?"

"Wei Ying." Lan Wangji is unexpectedly firm. "We do not have a supervisory relationship. I cannot order you to do anything."

"If you say so," he says, wondering why Lan Wangji is so emphatic about this. You'd think he'd want some authority over Wei Wuxian, if only to stop him from stealing his pens. (They're nice pens. He's absolutely going to steal one.)

"I do."

Wei Wuxian flips through the book. It's weirdly interesting, mostly in the way it tries to combine almost two millennia of Lan precepts with twenty-first century corporate speak. He remembers the precept against fighting without permission, but the handbook has to follow that with an extended "employee grievance procedure" with notification periods and reporting requirements. Since they're cultivators, there is still the option to have a proper sword duel if formal and informal resolution fails, which probably isn't allowed at most offices.

"Well, maybe you're the one who needs to brush up on the rules," Wei Wuxian says. "What's policy 8.3?"

Lan Wangji doesn't look up from his laptop. "Alcohol is prohibited on all Lan premises."

"22.16?" 

"Employees should not form cliques to exclude their colleagues."

Wei Wuxian laughs. "You really do have these memorized, don't you?"

"Mn."

Wei Wuxian is about to quiz him again when the phone rings. Not the non-emergency line—this time it's the police with the news that Wei Wuxian's wish has been granted. There really is a haunted metro station!

"Why would a ghost come out now?" Officer Liu asks. She frowns at the phantom blood seeping out of the ticket machines. "Also, what would happen if I refilled my transit card on that?"

Wei Wuxian grins at her, appreciating her curiosity. "Let's find out!"

"Wei Ying," Lan Wangji says.

"No, no, I'm going somewhere with this, Lan Zhan!" He turns expectantly to Officer Liu, who puts a protective hand over her pocket. 

"I just refilled mine," she says.

Wei Wuxian pouts. "Fine…" It's his idea, and he does have a spare card he keeps for taking A-Yuan on outings. And Cloud Recesses will reimburse him.

He takes out his spare tapcard and scrawls some characters with his cinnabar pencil. Normally he would use blood, but the card is so small that he needs the finer tip of the pencil, so he just draws the final stroke in blood. Even that is enough to freak out the police officer, but that's fine. It'll be a story to impress her coworkers with.

Humming to himself, he sticks the card in the recharge slot and watches in satisfaction as the resentful energy gets sucked out of the machine. He looks over at Officer Liu, who's gone a little pale. "It worked! Let's see if we can do it on all the machines." Twenty minutes later, he clears the last fare machine and drops a very haunted tapcard into the spirit-sealing pouch.

Officer Liu clears her throat. "This isn't a suggestion, but…what would happen if you tried to pay a fare with that?" 

Wei Wuxian grins at her. "I'll try it next time I run out of credit and let you know."

"Please don't," she says. "I'd hate to have to arrest you for fare violations."

He laughs and steps back so that Lan Wangji can finish the job by playing Cleansing on his guqin, letting the beautiful melody wash over him. When the song is finished, the entire station seems a little brighter and cleaner, with the faint fragrance of yulan magnolia wafting through. Lan Zhan is showing off.

"That went well!" he says as they fly back to the office. "Thanks for letting me experiment." When they were younger, Lan Wangji had been constantly annoyed at him for his various unorthodox methods, but the handful of times that they've taken cases together since Wei Wuxian came to Shanghai, Lan Wangji has never even blinked at whatever new thing he wants to try. 

"It was a good idea. Note it in the report."

"I will." He grins. "I'll also note how much you impressed Officer Liu with your guqin playing. Who knew she was a fan of classical music?"

One of the many things he appreciates about Lan Wangji is his devastating sideeye. "Do not put irrelevant information in your reports."

"It's not irrelevant. It has bearing on our public image. Think about it from her perspective. All I did was bleed on the transit card and wave it around a bit. Who's to say whether I'm doing anything real. But then you pull an entire guqin out of thin air and send glowing light everywhere, leaving the station feeling brighter and more welcoming than it probably has in months. Now she thinks of cultivation as something magical."

"You could have done the same with your dizi," Lan Wangji notes.

Wei Wuxian shrugs. "Yeah, but I wanted to listen to you play."

There's a warmth in Lan Wangji's pale eyes that makes Wei Wuxian's heart flutter, just a little, and he finds himself adding, "It's too bad we almost never get assigned together. We make a good team, don't you think?"

"Mn." Lan Wangji doesn't say anything else, but just that syllable is enough to banish the chill of the winter air. 

This isn't such a bad way to spend New Year's Day, Wei Wuxian thinks that evening, lounging on Lan Wangji's couch. He's idly doodling with his stolen pen while Lan Wangji feeds his rabbits. It's the sort of relaxed companionable evening that Wei Wuxian sometimes daydreams about when he's feeling self-indulgent. He just…really likes Lan Wangji's company. And he's beginning to wonder whether Lan Wangji might feel the same. But that's not something he can just say out of the blue, so instead he asks, "What would you be doing today if you didn't have to work?"

"Meditating. Training. Attending the clan banquet."

Wei Wuxian makes a face, imagining a silent dinner with terrible Lan food. "That doesn't sound very celebratory."

Lan Wangji looks at him. "What would you be doing?" 

"Pretty much what everyone else does. Make a big meal, play with A-Yuan, watch the Chunwan special. Set off some fireworks." Back when he was with the Jiangs, he had gone to the big clan celebration and banquet every year and eaten his weight in lotus root and pork rib soup. He misses it—especially Jiang Cheng and shijie—but spending holidays with the Wens is also good. Popo's special Qishan pork is delicious, and even though money has been tight, they've always made sure that A-Yuan has fun and that Wei Wuxian is included in their celebrations. 

The Wens had invited him to Xi'an with them—now that Wen Qing's terrible uncle was in prison, it was safe for them to at least visit—but he hadn't wanted to intrude on their first family reunion in five years, and getting assigned to work this week meant he already had a convenient excuse. 

"What is the Chunwan special?" Lan Wangji asks.

Wei Wuxian shakes his head. "The CCTV Spring Gala? The tv show? You've never seen it?"

"I have never owned a television," Lan Wangji says. Of course he hasn't.

"The Gusu Lan really have managed to stay out of the modern world, haven't they? We can watch some of it on the laptop, if you like. I'm not sure you'd enjoy it much, though." Wei Wuxian tries to imagine Lan Wangji watching the plastic surgery comedy sketch he'd seen last year, and shakes his head. "Probably not."

His phone rings, and Wei Wuxian lights up. "Shijie!"

"A-Xian!" She smiles at him through the phone screen. "Happy new year! Are you at Lan Wangji's?"

"Huh? Yeah, how did you know? Oh, did his brother mention it to Jin Guangyao?"

"Is that him?" Jiang Cheng peers over his sister's shoulder. "Happy new year, asshole!"

They cheerfully trade insults until Jiang Yanli breaks back in. "A-Xian, do you want to see Jin Ling?"

"Yes! I always want to see Jin Ling!" Jin Ling is still at the stage where he communicates mostly via drool and crying, but Wei Wuxian happily makes all the cooing noises at him until Jiang Cheng gets impatient and takes over the conversation again. They don't talk about anything important, but it's the first time in five years that Wei Wuxian has been able to chat with his foster-siblings together like this. They've only been back in touch for a few months, and it's mostly been texts or quick calls. 

"A-Xian, I wanted to ask you…A-Xuan has a business trip in Shanghai next month, and I was thinking about going with him."

The hope is almost painful. "Do you mean…?"

"I know you're very busy," she says. "But I thought, if you have the time, maybe you could meet Jin Ling." 

"Yes! Of course I want to meet Jin Ling! And I want to see you! I'll even be polite to your husband! Shijie, of course I have time for that." 

She beams at him. "Oh, I'm so glad! I've missed you so much! Would you like it if I brought you some soup?" 

To someone who didn't know their family, the suggestion that she would bring a bunch of soup from home on the train or plane would sound ridiculous. But this has always been the way that Jiang Yanli lets her brothers know that they are loved.

"I would get on the train right now if it meant I could have your pork rib and lotus root soup," he tells her. "I can barely wait until next month for it."

"I'm sure the wait won't be so bad," she says, smiling. "Maybe someone else will make you some soup to tide you over."

"Who, Wen Qing?" he asks, laughing. "Maybe A-Yuan?"

Not long after that call wraps up, Wen Ning calls, and Wei Wuxian gets to chat with the Wen siblings and show A-Yuan the rabbits. 

"I want to meet the bunnies!" A-Yuan demands.

Wei Wuxian laughs. "You're meeting them right now!"

"No! I want to meet them! For real!"

"You may," says Lan Wangji. 

"Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian whispers. "You don't have to let the kid invite himself over to your apartment."

Lan Wangji ignores him. "A-Yuan, you may come visit the bunnies when you return to Shanghai."

"Can popo and Ning-gege come too?"

"Yes."

"And Qing-jiejie?"

"Mn."

"And Xian-gege?"

"Hey, why am I last?" asks Wei Wuxian, laughing. "He's my friend, you know."

He teases A-Yuan until Wen Ning makes him stop, and then makes the Wen siblings tell him all about their visit so far. "It's good to see everyone," Wen Qing says, "but it doesn't really feel like home anymore, not the way Shanghai does."

"I never thought I'd hear you say something so sentimental," Wei Wuxian teases. "Is this because you're too far away to threaten me with acupuncture? It's making you soft?"

"Jiejie is trying to say that we miss you," Wen Ning says softly, his sincerity even more paralyzing than Wen QIng's needles. To make things worse, Wen Qing is nodding agreement. Fortunately, A-Yuan comes to the rescue. 

"Yeah! I miss you, Xian-gege! Why aren't you here?"

"I told you, I have to work. Otherwise Lan Zhan would be all alone and lonely in the office. Wouldn't that be sad?" 

"Oh…" A-Yuan frowns.

"But you'll see me in a few days! I'll come meet you at the train station, okay? You can bring me lots of yummy snacks from home."

There's the sound of shouting from the other room. "We've got to go to dinner," Wen Qing says.

Wei Wuxian nods. "Of course. Send me a picture of your feast!"

"We will!" Wen Ning promises. "You…you too."

"Sure? It's probably just going to be takeout or something, but if you want to make your dinner look even better by comparison…"

The Wen siblings exchange an odd look, and then Wen Qing says goodbye with an expression that's almost a smirk.

After they hang up, Wei Wuxian stares into space, feeling an excess of emotion. "You will see them soon," Lan Wangji says softly.

Wei Wuxian laughs at him. "I'm not A-Yuan. I don't need to be cheered up. He's going to remember that offer to meet your rabbits, by the way, so I hope you were serious."

"I was."

"And here I thought you didn't like entertaining!" Wei Wuxian teases.

"You are always welcome here," Lan Wangji says, sending a shock all through Wei Wuxian's body. "And I would enjoy seeing A-Yuan again."

Wei Wuxian sighs. "If you're trying to win him over, don't bother. You already succeeded months ago. He keeps asking after you, ever since the park. You outrank me now."

"Unlikely." Lan Wangji hesitates, then adds, "Wei Ying. I regret not helping you and the Wen siblings before."

"What?" Wei Wuxian laughs to cover his shock. "Lan Zhan, you did help. You helped me get this job so we could get out of Yichang." They'd been stuck, unable to find legitimate work locally and unwilling to risk moving somewhere without at least the prospect of a job, especially when the entire northeast and much of the west was unsafe for the Wen siblings. Wei Wuxian had been taking increasingly sketchy unlicensed cultivation jobs when he'd run into Lan Wangji in Yichang. Over lunch, Lan Wangji had mentioned that his family's Shanghai branch office had openings and stubbornly insisted that Wei Wuxian apply.

"I did not help."

Wei Wuxian has trouble believing that. "There's no way your uncle would have hired me."

"My uncle is not involved with the Shanghai branch. You were hired based on qualifications and promoted based on merit."

"Yeah, sure. Even so, you bought me lunch and told me about a job opening. That's more than anyone else did."

Beneath his usual deadpan face, Lan Wangji looks faintly dissatisfied, but he just stands and says, "It is time for dinner."

Wei Wuxian is expecting that dinner will be like the meals Lan Wangji has been sharing with him over the past day and a half: simple, mostly vegetarian, surprisingly edible despite that. Nothing fancy, even though it's the new year dinner. Neither of them have had a chance to cook anything. 

Instead, Wei Wuxian watches Lan Wangji retrieve container after container from a large box, each with a talisman on it. 

"Are those my stasis talismans?" Wei Wuxian asks.

"Mn." Lan Wangji takes one off and hands it to him for inspection. "They are very useful."

"I wasn't even aware that anyone had bothered reading the report I'd made about them."

"I always read your design submissions," Lan Wangji tells him.

Wei Wuxian makes a face. "Then why does it take so long to get them approved?"

"As I said, I have no authority over you, Wei Ying." Lan Wangji says. "However, I agree with Wen Qing that they might have medical applications as well, which may explain the slow approval process."

"Yeah, Wen Qing says you need all kinds of review before testing things on humans. This is why I just test them on myself." He bursts into laughter at Lan Wangji's expression. "I'm kidding! Mostly. Anyway, what are you using these for?" 

Lan Wangji quirks an eyebrow, as though to say wait and see.

Before Wei Wuxian's eyes, he unpacks everything. Each container holds a different dish, steaming hot as though fresh off the stove, perfectly preserved at the moment the talisman was placed on it.

Soon, the table is piled with a dizzying assortment of meat and vegetable dishes, three different kinds of dumplings—including xiaolong bao!—eight-treasure rice, spicy boiled fish, even something that looks and smells exactly like the Qishan pork that Wen-popo makes for special occasions.

“Lan Zhan, where did you get this? Did you order it? You didn’t make these, did you?" He studies Lan Wangji's face. "You did? But why? Did you make this for whoever you were stuck working the shift with?”

“Shift assignments have been available for two months,” Lan Wangji says, as though that answers the question.

"But you did make these? All of them?"

"Mn." He starts to put food into Wei Wuxian's bowl, until Wei Wuxian laughingly deflects his chopsticks. "I'm eating, I'm eating!"

Everything is delicious, and he praises everything as he eats. "Lan Zhan, have you always been such a good cook?"

Lan Wangji is silent until he finishes his bite and lays his chopsticks down. "I learned recently," he says.

"If you ever get bored of cultivation, you could open a restaurant. Oh, or you could be a calligraphy artist and get your work hanging in galleries. No, wait, you should become a musician and release a guqin album." Wei Wuxian smiles across the table. "You're just good at everything, I guess."

Lan Wangji shakes his head. "I do not know how to fix a toilet."

While Wei Wuxian laughs,  Lan Wangji unpacks one final container, a covered tureen. He removes the lid and stasis talisman to reveal a familiar sight and fragrance that brings tears to Wei Wuxian's eyes.

”Lan Zhan, is that pork rib and lotus root soup?”

“Mn.”

“You…how…?”

“Jiang Yanli shared the recipe with me.”

Shijie… "Wait, is that how she knew I was staying with you? When did you ask her?"

“Shift assignments have been available for two months,” Lan Wangji repeats his earlier non-answer. He ladles soup into a bowl for Wei Wuxian. "Drink."

It isn't quite as good as his shijie's, but it's close, and it's the best thing he's had in five years. "I could just have this and it would be enough of a feast."

"A feast requires multiple dishes," says Lan Wangji. 

"When you're hungry enough, even a single baozi can be a banquet," Wei Wuxian says cheerfully. "But this is a feast by anyone's definition."   

Despite having already eaten his fill, Wei Wuxian drinks two bowls of soup. “Ahhh…the only thing that would make this better is a drink. I know, I know, alcohol isn't permitted on Lan premises, I'm just saying.”

Lan Wangji reaches into his qiankun bag and pulls out a bottle of Emperor’s Smile. Wei Wuxian recognizes the label as the original recipe, the kind they only sell at one shop in Suzhou and refuse to distribute more widely. He hasn't had it since he was eighteen and sneaking out of summer school. Lan Wangji couldn't have gotten it in Shanghai—he must have picked it up on his last visit home. And Wei Wuxian knows—thanks to a disastrous staff party a year ago—that Lan Wangji has good reasons for why he doesn't drink.

His head is spinning, even though he hasn't even opened the alcohol. “Why are you being so nice to me?” It's not quite the question he really wants to ask—what are your feelings towards me?—but Wei Wuxian doesn't quite have the courage to ask that one yet. 

It doesn't matter, because Lan Wangji just pours him a cup of wine and doesn't answer. Maybe he'll try again after a few drinks.

A few drinks later, Wei Wuxian is still trying to work up the courage when he gets a different idea. "Lan Zhan, let's set off fireworks!"

"Fireworks are prohibited in this area." 

With almost perfect timing, a firework goes off outside the window.

"That hasn't stopped people," Wei Wuxian notes.

"Nonetheless."

"Maybe there's an exception for this block? Come on, no one will even know that it's us." This does not appear effective, so Wei Wuxian switches tactics. "Let's ask at the local police station, they'll tell us it's fine." He's pretty sure they'll back him up, since he dispelled a minor but annoying curse for them off the books last month.

"Will they say so if I am the one to ask?" Lan Wangji asks dryly. Wei Wuxian laughs.

"Okay, you got me. But it's Spring Festival! Seriously, just this once?"

Lan Wangji stands. "Just this once."

Wei Wuxian leaps up and dashes outside to the balcony before he can change his mind. "Great! Because I designed these fireworks talismans and I've been waiting all day to try them."

The talismans work even better than he'd hoped, turning his sketches into bright sparkles in the night sky. Mostly he draws flowers: lotuses, plum blossoms, chrysanthemums, camelias. A balcony, the night sky, fireworks…the mood is pretty good right now. He shivers, playing it up just a little, and Lan Wangji turns to look at him. "Are you cold?"

Shamelessly, Wei Wuxian steps closer and leans—just a little—against him. "Just a bit," he says.

To his delight, Lan Wangji gets the hint and puts an arm around his shoulders. For someone who looks like an ice-old jade statue, he's wonderfully warm. 

"Mm, that's much better. Lan Zhan, what's your favorite flower?"

"Gentian," Lan Wangji says softly. The next talisman produces a cluster of gentians in Lan blue. Lan Wangji watches it with a rapt gaze, but somehow there's a sense of melancholy. That doesn't suit the mood Wei Wuxian is going for at all, so he quickly sketches some more and sets off two talismans at once, a pair of rabbits in red and blue. That is much more effective—there's the tiniest twitch at the corners of Lan Wangji's mouth, as though he's suppressing a smile. I'm not going to find a better time than now.

"Lan Zhan, I wanted to ask you—" he cuts himself off.

Lan Wangji goes still. "Ask."

He should just get it out. If he doesn't get the answer he's hoping for, it will be fine. They'll still be coworkers, still be friends. Lan Wangji will still silently join him for lunch when their schedules link up, and they'll still get sent out on cases every few months.

"Wei Ying?"

"How do you feel about me?" There's a long silence. Wei Wuxian is already regretting asking. He's about to backpeddle and say something about being friends, when he remembers something. Shift assignments have been available for two months. And Lan Wangji definitely wasn't due for a holiday shift.

He turns to meet Lan Wangji's eyes. "Lan Zhan, did you volunteer to work over Spring Festival because I had to?"

Slowly, Lan Wangji nods. 

Wei Wuxian can't help making a joke of it. "To keep me out of trouble? Worried I'd burn down the office? Steal all of your pens?"

"I wanted," Lan Wangji says, holding his gaze, "to spend the holiday together."

That is an answer all by itself. They haven't just been hanging out today, the way Wei Wuxian might have done if he were working this shift with Mianmian or one of his other friendly coworkers. Lan Wangji had made this an actual celebration, somehow even getting and making the recipes for Jiang Yanli's soup and popo's Qishan pork. He invited the Wens to visit his home after the holiday even though he doesn't like entertaining. He's let Wei Wuxian invade his office and even his apartment. It's not exactly an answer to his question, but it's a hint. Maybe Wei Wuxian should give a hint in return. An extremely unsubtle one.

"Lan Zhan? I'm asking because…I really like you. I like you so much. That's why." Hoping that he's reading this right, Wei Wuxian leans forward and brushes his lips against Lan Wangji's. "So, how do you feel about me?"

Before he can even finish the question, he finds himself being very thoroughly kissed. It's even better than he'd imagined, and he's spent quite a few years imagining it. "You really are good at everything," he gasps, just before Lan Wangji pushes him against the sliding door and kisses him again, slipping a hand under Wei Wuxian's shirt. He has his answer.

The next morning, he is awoken by a kiss on the forehead. "Wei Ying, time to get up."

"Noooo," he whines. "You should come back to bed instead." He pulls Lan Wangji down for more kisses. Lan Wangji retaliates by lifting him up and carrying him to the dining room.

"There is breakfast."

Lan Wangji has even provided him chili crisp to dip his youtiao in. Wei Wuxian, still only half awake, thinks that if he hadn't already been in love, this might have done it. "I have the best boyfriend," he mumbles. Lan Wangji pauses for a moment, then presses a kiss to the top of Wei Wuxian's head as he clears the breakfast dishes.

It takes an hour for the oh shit moment to sink in.

"Wei Ying, is something wrong?" Lan Wangji asks, looking up from his laptop.

Wei Wuxian shakes his head. "I'm fine, I just…I called you my boyfriend this morning." 

He waits for Lan Wangji to say something, but all he gets is a pleased-sounding "mn."

Smiling gleefully, Wei Wuxian picks up the employee handbook. "Does this say anything about dating at work?"

"It is permitted under policy 7.2, provided there is no supervisory relationship."

Wei Wuxian bursts out laughing. "So that's why you were so insistent about that."

Lan Wangji doesn't say anything, but his ears turn redder. 

"What about fieldwork? Are you allowed to go out on cases with your boyfriend? Because I really like working with you."

"Policy 7.9," says Lan Wangji. He refuses to elaborate, so Wei Wuxian picks up the handbook and flips to the relevant section.

"Cultivation partners get sent out together when possible? Wow, that's just like the olden days." He imagines himself and Lan Wangji wandering the jianghu like cultivators did back in imperial times, righting wrongs in public and dual-cultivating every day. They would have been great at it. They could still be great at it, or at least at the modern equivalent. "Wait…Lan Zhan, did you just suggest that we get married?"

"A marriage ceremony is not required to be cultivation partners," says Lan Wangji. It's the sane and sensible answer. Wei Wuxian isn't surprised, and it's silly to be disappointed. But then Lan Wangji continues. "However, I would not be opposed."

The kiss Wei Wuxian gives him probably violates several policies in the employee handbook, but Lan Wangji does not cite a single one.