This ended up tying in my poll last week, so here's a little snippet of the arranged marriage AU.
“No, it had been altered. Quite honestly, the small changes, the deft hand and mind that needed to create this seemed to point to one particular person.” Lan Xichen lifted his eyes to Wei Wuxian.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“But you don’t think it was me?”
Lan Xichen paused to drink more tea, and then finally stood, his blue and silver robes falling softly around him. “I do not.”
“But why? You would have every reason to believe it was me. Whoever did this clearly went to the trouble of making it appear like I was the culprit. Cursing an ally, someone from my childhood. Someone…someone I was around a lot.”
Lan Xichen tucked a small smile into the corner of his mouth. “I know because you would not harm my brother.”
Wei Wuxian scoffed. He turned away, crossing his arms. “You don’t know that.”
“Be that as it may, the entire affair has concerned me to the point that very few people know about this event. And no one knows that I have come to see you.”
Wei Wuxian spun back around. “Not even Lan Zhan?”
“No. Not even my brother.” They stared at one another, the sounds of the street outside muffled, and Wei Wuxian could nearly feel the weight of something unspoken.
Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. “So, what could I possibly do to help?”
“I want you to marry my brother.”
Wei Wuxian opened his mouth to retort but an embarrassing squawk came out instead. When he tried to swallow the noise, it turned into a strange, breathy laugh. Heat crawled up his sternum, over his neck, threatening to overtake his face. He blurted the first thing that he could grasp onto. “Ridiculous.” And then he slapped a hand over his mouth.
