For SM-maybe after ripping our hearts out, we get a cute shirt fluffy one? I’m thinking after their wedding, there’s a scene like the end of Pride and Prejudice 2005? “What terms of endearment am I allowed, then?” LWJ to WWX. Just a thought. Delighted with everything you write.
Shattered Mirrors 72
[ set after #62 ]
Night has fallen by the time Lan Wangji is able to remove himself from the celebrations and return to his rooms, leaving the remaining guests in his cousin’s capable hands. Lan Guoyan even manages to dissuade some of the rowdier attendees from trying to storm the bedchamber—protectiveness flares in his chest at the thought of them in such a private space, not to mention seeing Wei Wuxian in his wedding finery—something for which Lan Wangji is immensely grateful. He resolves to thank him properly later, once everything has settled, but for now he hastens his stride through the winding pathways to his bedchamber.
He is relieved to find the candles within still lit when he arrives, half-fearing that the uncharacteristic lateness of his arrival would mean Wei Wuxian had already retired to bed.
It is your wedding night, he reminds himself, heat rising to his ears. Of course he would wait.
From inside, he hears the sound of laughter and recognises Wei Wuxian; the other voice he presumes to be Mo Xuanyu, who scarcely leaves Wei Wuxian’s side except to run errands. The third voice, however, is somewhat unexpected. He waves down the servants at the door before they can announce his arrival, and crosses the threshold when they open the doors, surprising the occupants inside.
“Wangye!”
Lan Jingyi scrambles to his feet, pulling Mo Xuanyu along with him, both of them seated on the floor at Wei Wuxian’s feet. Wei Wuxian himself is sitting at the edge of the bed in his wedding finery, red veil still obscuring his features from view, his hands folded neatly on his lap as the two boys bow low.
“Jingyi, Mo Xuanyu.” They flinch and keep their heads bowed. “The wedding chamber is off-limits at this hour.”
“Wangye,” they chorus, wearing matching expressions of guilt. “Forgive our intrusion. We will leave at once.”
“Wangye, don’t tease,” Wei Wuxian chides, lifting a corner of the veil to peek out at them with a smile. “They were keeping me company while you were out entertaining your guests.”
“Our guests,” Lan Wangji corrects him. He shoots the boys another look. “You are all dismissed. Take the rest of the night off.”
“Yes, Wangye.” Lan Jingyi grabs Mo Xuanyu by the arm and all but drags him to the door. He smiles at them, all cheek and humour, as they pull them closed. “Best wishes to Wangye and Wangfei for a happy, prosperous union.”
Embarrassment burns at Lan Wangji’s neck and ears and he is almost tempted to march out after them to dole out punishment for their impertinence. It seems he has been too indulgent with Lan Jingyi lately for him to speak so out of place. He will need to correct that first thing tomorrow—
“Your concubine greets Hanguang-wangye.”
He turns at the sound of rustling to find Wei Wuxian has slipped from the bed, sinking to his knees with his head bowed, the perfect picture of a docile, obedient wife greeting her new husband. The thought stirs something deep in his chest, something heated and possessive; he takes a step forward, careful and measured, as if treading too quickly would scare Wei Wuxian away. He reaches for him, sliding his hands under his elbows to help him to his feet, draws him close until the veil brushes against his chin and he can feel the Wei Wuxian tremble in his arms.
“Wei Ying,” he murmurs. A soft, shaky sigh stirs the edges of the veil. “You do not need to bow to me.”
Hands turn over to grasp his forearms in return, the wide sleeves of the wedding robes falling back to reveal pale, slender wrists. The golden bangles, from the Empress herself as a wedding gift, almost dwarf them in their size.
“Wangye is too kind,” Wei Wuxian murmurs. “Your concubine is only observing the proper customs expected of a spouse of the Imperial Family.”
Lan Wangji sighs. “Wei Ying, do not tease.”
The trembling turns into shaking as Wei Wuxian breaks out into soft laughter. It breaks the tension that has settled over the room since Lan Wangji entered; the breath rushes from his lungs and he, too, chuckles. He runs his hands up along Wei Wuxian’s upper arms, admiring the silky smoothness of the fabric, the way it drapes just so—even through the many layers of fabric, he can feel the curve of his shoulders, the jut of his collarbone, the rush of his pulse; Wei Wuxian’s breath hitches when his fingers brush against the sensitive skin of his neck and he draws back a fraction, uncertain.
“Is something wrong?” A shake of the head. “Then…will you allow me to lift your veil?”
“Yes.”
His breath had caught in his throat when he’d first laid eyes on Wei Wuxian this morning at Jing Manor; even with the long silk veil completely covering his head and face from view, there is no masking the slope of his shoulders, the grace of his movements, the way the layers and layers of red silk fall and drape over his frame. His skin is paler now than it had been in his youth, his body less toned and muscular, less sharp angles and more gentle curves, but the shape of his mouth, the way his grey eyes dance with starlight and mischief as the veil slips from his shoulders with a sigh—all of that is uniquely Wei Ying.
In the intervening years since they had last seen each other, he had often pictured in his dreams how Wei Wuxian would look if they had been able to marry. He would wear his hair in the intricate style of an Imperial spouse, with braids and gold pins holding it all together; his robes would be a darker red, almost crimson, the hems embroidered with the flowing clouds of the Gusu Lan Imperial Family in golden thread.
He would be so beautiful, Lan Wangji would think upon waking, when the yearning would tear at his chest until he choked with it.
He is breathtaking.
“Wangye? Hanguang-wangye? Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian lowers his eyes, obedient and demure, but his voice anything but as he murmurs: “Fujun?”
A pleased rumble sounds from his throat before Lan Wangji can stop it; Wei Wuxian laughs in delight as Lan Wangji flushes, mortified. Cool hands reach up to cup his face, tracing the line of his jaw and coming to rest against the burning skin on the back of his neck.
“Fujun,” Wei Wuxian repeats, rolling the new title on his tongue with relish. “Allow your concubine to serve you tonight.”
“Wei Ying.” Lan Wangji’s voice is pained. “You do not need to address yourself thus.”
“Oh?” The hands at his neck trail down to his chest. “Then how shall we address each other, Fujun? If I address my husband by name in public, they will think our manners lacking.”
Lan Wangji takes both hands in his and gives them a gentle squeeze.
“Wangye, in public,” he allows. He runs his thumbs along the back of his hands as he thinks. “My name, at home.”
“And Fujun?” Wei Wuxian asks, teasing. Lan Wangji growls.
“Only in private,” he says roughly; one hand shifts so it covers both of Wei Wuxian’s while the other wraps around his waist to draw him close. Wei Wuxian laughs again, breathless and giddy.
“Then you must do the same for me,” he counters, his eyes dark and face flushed. His tongue comes out to wet his lips, and Lan Wangji suddenly cannot look away. “Although I cannot promise to always address you correctly in private.”
“You may address me however you wish, in private,” Lan Wangji tells him, lowering his head to brush their noses together. A thrill runs through him when Wei Wuxian does not pull away.
“Oh?” The word dances over his lips. “So you would not mind if I call you Lan-er-gege, as before?” Lan Wangji shakes his head with a smile. “How about…Er-lang?”
Lan Wangji closes his eyes, his grip tightening around Wei Wuxian’s waist as he tries to calm his pounding heart. When he opens them again, Wei Wuxian’s eyes are half-lidded and dark. His throat suddenly feels as dry as sand. He clears his throat.
“That is allowed,” he says, voice hoarse. He brushes their lips together, feather-light. “You may call me however you wish…A-Ying.”
He closes the scant distance between them and brings their lips together.
--
Notes:
fujun (夫君) - husband, more formal and old-fashioned (male version of furen 夫人)
er-lang (二郎) - previously used in Part #55, an affectionate address similar to er-gege, most often used between married couples
* WWX also refers to himself here as qieshen (妾身), which is an old-fashioned, humble form of address used by wives when speaking to their husbands; it translates to “this concubine”, but he is definitely the “wife” (main/legal spouse)
In general, married couples back then (especially those where the husband has a title) do not refer to each other by name in public (or even sometimes at home). They would refer to the other by their title or honorific when with other people (e.g. WWX would refer to LWJ as wangye when talking to others) or use a humble form of their relationship “title”, for lack of a better word (e.g. a husband would refer to their wife as neijian (内贱) - “humble wife”, nei literally meaning ‘interior, internal’ and thus referring to the wife as the one inside their home; jian meaning humble or lowly).
Btw, I still haven’t received an email notification that ch14 of EHW was posted. In case anyone else is having this problem. Maybe it’ll happen when maintenance is done? Or maybe just me? Thank god I follow authors on tumblr.
ugh, bother bother bother... thanks for letting me know, though!! :’) this is also why i follow everyone i can on tumblr lol i’ve been getting emails from ao3 pretty ok so far, but then again i don’t know if any got lost and i’m only getting a couple or whatever lol
so! in case anyone’s followed me because of emergency help wanted, YES chapter 14 is up and it was just my bad timing with posting that got in the way of proper email deliveries :’D
For the no sleep prompts: “...what was I doing?” Perhaps Lan Xichen as the one who can’t sleep, with Mingxicheng? Can’t get enough of how you write those three. Thank you for all the writing you do.
Aww, I love those three, so thank you for requesting this! For this I borrowed yet again from @nikudons modern Mingxicheng AU.
Jiang Cheng wakes up when the warmth behind him pulls away.
“No,” he grumbles and throws his arm behind him to get Nie Mingjue back to where he belongs, which is plastered to his back.
“My heart,” Nie Mingjue says and leans back in to kiss his bare shoulder, “our light is missing.”
“What?” Jiang Cheng demands to know, but he’s already blinking awake, craning his neck to look at the very empty space in their bed.
Space that should be filled with a sleeping Lan Xichen, especially given that it’s still dark outside. Lan Xichen never wakes up in the middle of the night.
“You think he had a nightmare again?” Jiang Cheng asks Nie Mingjue, but he’s already locating a shirt.
“Maybe,” Nie Mingjue thoughtfully says and sits up, the blanket sliding down to his lap. “I thought he just went to the bathroom or something, but it’s been fifteen minutes now. Maybe longer.”
“Fuck,” Jiang Cheng mutters under his breath.
Lan Xichen doesn’t seem to dream about the sad man as he titled him as often as he used to, but when he does it still leaves him shaken.
If he has really been gone from the bed for as long as Nie Mingjue says then it was probably a bad one.
“Come on,” Nie Mingjue says, somehow out of the bed before Jiang Cheng, and offers him a hand.
Nie Mingjue didn’t bother to put on a shirt, and Jiang Cheng narrows his eyes at him. If only he would run that hot.
They silently make their way through the apartment, but they can’t find Lan Xichen in the bathroom nor in the living-room or kitchen, and that only leaves one real alternative.
They make their way over to Lan Xichen’s studio, moving on unspoken agreement and when Jiang Cheng peers into the room he finds Lan Xichen in it.
Jiang Cheng motions with his head for Nie Mingjue to follow him and they make their way into the room, now purposefully dragging their feet so that Lan Xichen can hear them approaching.
He is always easily startled after one of the dreams, and Jiang Cheng would hate to make his emotional state worse by scaring him.
They both look at Lan Xichen for a long moment; he’s standing in front of his canvas stand, empty canvas propped up on it, a brush forgotten in his hand as he simply stares at the white surface. He’s in his sleeping clothes, but he didn’t put on any socks or even shoes and Jiang Cheng thinks that he must be horribly cold by now.
“Xichen?” he carefully asks, but it’s Nie Mingjue who reaches out for him, to lightly touch his arm.
“My light?” he asks just as carefully as Jiang Cheng had, voice pitched low so that he doesn’t jerk Lan Xichen out of whatever place he retreated to.
It must have been a bad one if Lan Xichen is this unresponsive.
“My light, what are you doing?” Jiang Cheng asks him next, and moves to take the brush from his fingers.
There is no paint in sight, so he didn’t actually get that far before he lost himself in his thoughts and so the brush is easily discarded to the side.
Lan Xichen finally blinks at them, jerking slightly when he notices them, and then he stares at his empty hands, before he looks back at the canvas.
“...what was I doing?” he asks them, his voice rough and Jiang Cheng worries that he has been crying before.
“I think you were going to draw,” Nie Mingjue softly says and it must jolt something lose in Lan Xichen, because his eyes water and he starts to cry again.
“Oh no,” Jiang Cheng breathes out, his heart heavy, because he hates seeing Lan Xichen like this, hates that he can’t protect him from whatever his brain comes up with.
Nie Mingjue doesn’t seem to fare much better, if the pained noise he lets out is any indication, and it’s enough to finally make Lan Xichen look at him.
“Mingjue,” he breathes out and suddenly he’s scrambling at Nie Mingjue, moving his hands over Nie Mingjue’s neck over and over again.
“You’re alright, you’re okay,” Lan Xichen sobs out and then just falls against Nie Mingjue’s chest.
“Our soul is perfectly healthy,” Jiang Cheng lowly tells Lan Xichen as he moves closer to stroke his hand up and down Lan Xichen’s back. “It wasn’t real.”
He doesn’t know what exactly Lan Xichen dreamed about, but if this is how he reacts to it, then Jiang Cheng doesn’t even want to know.
“Are you truly?” Lan Xichen asks, his voice small and Nie Mingjue lets him smooth his hands over his arms and torso, even down to his legs.
“I am fine, my light. I’m not hurt and everything is where it’s supposed to be,” Nie Mingjue reassures him and Lan Xichen blinks up at him.
“But it wasn’t. Your head it wasn’t--,” he trails off here but Jiang Cheng can piece it together himself.
His head wasn’t where it was supposed to be and Jiang Cheng feels sick just thinking about it.
“My stubborn head is right where it belongs,” Nie Mingjue promises him and it startles Lan Xichen into a laugh.
“Okay, okay,” he mutters, but it seems like he can’t help himself as he checks Nie Mingjue’s neck over and over again.
Nie Mingjue allows it, even as Jiang Cheng steps closer and catches one of Lan Xichen’s hands in his.
It’s ice cold, like he feared.
“My light, come back to bed,” he coaxes him and Nie Mingjue takes Lan Xichen’s other hand.
“My heart,” Lan Xichen suddenly sighs as if he hadn’t even noticed Jiang Cheng at first, and Jiang Cheng leans in to brush a kiss over his cheek.
“I’m right here,” he promises and Lan Xichen nods.
“Don’t--don’t let go,” he asks of them and both Jiang Cheng and Nie Mingjue squeeze his hands.
“We won’t,” Nie Mingjue promises him, even as he pulls him towards their bedroom.
Lan Xichen follows them easily enough, even though he can’t seem to take his eyes off Nie Mingjue.
They lead him towards their bed, and Lan Xichen doesn’t seem to be ready to let go of Nie Mingjue yet, so Jiang Cheng gently untangles his hand and slides into it first.
“Come here, my light,” he says as he holds the blanket up for Lan Xichen to slide right under and he does so, even though he doesn’t let go of Nie Mingjue even once.
“I’m sorry, I have to--,” Lan Xichen starts and turns around, clearly not comfortable with leaving Nie Mingjue out of his eyes.
“That’s fine,” Nie Mingjue reassures him as he meets Jiang Cheng’s eyes over his head.
Jiang Cheng dislikes being the big spoon, but of course he’ll do it if it helps Lan Xichen.
So instead of answering Nie Mingjue’s unvoiced question, he simply snuggles up to Lan Xichen until they are pressed flush together.
“He’s still right there,” Jiang Cheng reassures Lan Xichen lowly, and then takes Lan Xichen’s empty hand in his again.
“And I’m not going anywhere,” Nie Mingjue promises as well, and then lays down close enough that his and Lan Xichen’s foreheads can rest against each other.
“Okay,” Lan Xichen breathes out and moves the hand that is still grabbing Nie Mingjue’s tightly until he can rest his fingertips against his pulse.
It seems to relax him, because he goes slack in Jiang Cheng’s arms and when he meets Nie Mingjue’s eyes he whispers “He fell asleep.”
“Good,” Jiang Cheng mumbles back and presses a kiss to the nape of Lan Xichen’s neck.
He hopes Lan Xichen gets a few more restful hours and he wishes he could just fight Lan Xichen’s nightmares.
It’s unfair that their light should suffer so, but at least Nie Mingjue and Jiang Cheng will be there to reassure him that whatever horrible things he sees, they are not real. They will love him until he forgets about them.
Jiang Cheng presses himself closer to Lan Xichen just as Nie Mingjue does the same, and they drift off like this, Lan Xichen secure and warm in their middle.
Maybe letter writing Jiang Yanli? How’s my son’s cousin doing? Oh, maybe A-Yuan can send a drawing to his aunt? A bit fluffier than what has been written, but there’s potential for hurt. Lol
fuck! yes, I forgot about that! it was planned (mentally, I gotta start writing the ideas down, damnit). yes. will do. thank you.
also, totally had a giggle at ‘a bit fluffier’ ’cause that’s something I’ve been so good at lately.........
New episode of 2gether! Eek. It’s already a minute in and I can’t handle Sarawat looking that cute. Ready for Tine to be extra stupid this episode. Hope you are well!
for ONCE!! tine wasn’t being too stupid!!! “you have to leave me alone, but i don’t have to leave you alone”???????? TINE??????? god, that was the sweetest thing he could’ve done, i am so proud of my boy
