#dark!lanzhan

[funkyshoes]

Wedding

The lock clicked. Wei Ying shot up on the bed. His hands clenched at the blanket as the door opened. It had to be Lan Wangji. No one else had visited since the day the fists had flown and there’d been a body on the floor and Lan Wangji’s voice, so cold, saying “Leave him.” No, don’t think about that. Never think about that.

The figure in the doorway dripped blood, so much blood, clotting and dripping. Wei Ying choked back a scream. But no, that wasn’t blood, or was it? No, not blood, cloth, red cloth, the color of blood, but not blood. Red. Red with silver embroidery. Lan Wangji was wearing red. Why was Lan Wangji wearing red?

Courtship Rite

[funkyshoes]

When he’d been a small child, Lan Wangji had found an injured rabbit. Mother had arranged for a veterinarian to come and heal the rabbit, but they’d had to release it back into the wild once it was better. Mother had told him that rabbits want to be free. In some ways, Wei Ying was wild like the rabbit. Did Wei Ying want to be free? No, that did not make sense. Wei Ying had never been injured. Wei Ying was trusting and, like the rabbit, could not defend himself. Lan Wangji remembered when Wei Ying had worked in the coffee shop. He’d always been too friendly with the customers. He had no idea that people could hurt him, but Lan Wangji had brought Wei Ying home where he would be safe.

Courtship Rite

[funkyshoes]

Huaisang came around behind Meng Yao’s chair to whisper in his ear. “Wei Ying tried to tell me he’s a prisoner.” He sounded delighted. “I laughed and asked him to tell me more about his and Wangji’s kinky sex, but he kept harping on about being imprisoned against his will. Not too bright, is he? I told him all newlyweds feel as if they’d given up their freedom and that’s why I’ll never marry, but he still didn’t realize I was trying to shut him down.”

Courtship Rite

[funkyshoes]

“You just woke. I thought you would prefer breakfast. I can arrange lunch.”

And have you just standing there, all creepy and disturbing, while we wait for lunch? No, thank you. “No, no, breakfast’s fine.” Breakfast wasn’t fine. Congee so bland he could barely choke it down. Ugh, but he sure as hell wasn’t asking Lan Wangji to spice it up. They didn’t speak. At all. Wei Ying didn’t have anything to say. He knew he was supposed to apologize for hurting Lan Wangji’s feelings after the man had him kidnapped. As if.

Courtship Rite