For @mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess
I"m not convinced I nailed the 'comfort' or fluff on this one. But let me know, I'm open to criticism,
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"I'd be worried about these if you didn't say they were harmless."
Wen Qing held up the small blue and white gift box that had become the only regular occurrence in Wei Wuxian's life.
He sat up too fast, the heart monitor spiked, pain rushed from his stomach to his shoulder in a eye-blinding spike of pain. Clutching the well bandaged wound, he gasped for breath through the pain. White noise filled his ears for a solid minute before it faded back into Wen Qing' lecture, she wasn't talking to him but rather about his morphine drip, and the amount he was supposed to be on.
He fell into meditation breathing by habit, pushing the residual pain away and getting his breath and shaky limbs back under control.
"You good?" Wen Qing asked when he opened his eyes.
"Yeah. Shouldn't have done that "
She rolled her eyes, scoffing, “You’ve been awake for less than two hours following major surgery. You’re not used to it yet.” She handed him the box, “I’m gonna go find your doctor and talk to them.” She swept out of the room with all the fury of a patients rights violation behind her.
Wei Wuxian eased himself up slowly, crossing his legs and easing his posture until the strain of his stitches eased to a mild pain he could live with.
The box was smaller than the last one, he had to assume the contents would be smaller as well.
He smiled, running his hand over the plain blue box, and bow tied as neat and as perfect as every other box before it.
He wondered sometimes, the kind of man that pouty child in his blue overall shorts with the bunnies and carrots along the hem, and his pristine white shirt at the beach turned into. Besides a man that had found him and proceeded to mail back every single seashell Yu-furen told him he could not keep.
The kind of man that packed them all neatly into appropriate boxes and perfectly tied bows.
The kind of man that, no matter where Wei Wuxian went, from Lotus Pier, to Yi City, to Yiling, and finally to Gusu, found him and kept sending him seashells.
Wei Wuxian wasn’t sure he had actually gathered that many seashells, they’d been arriving one a week since he turned eighteen, no return address, no notes, nothing to give Wei Wuxian it was anything other than a creepy stalker.
But who else could it have been? Who else had Wei Wuxian ever dumped as many seashells and pretty rocks his ten-year-old arms could carry on? Who else had he met that wore blue and white? Someone from the Gusu Lan Sect? Sure, and that chubby cheeked child from thiriteen years ago maybe have been, or still was, a part of the Gusu Lan Sect. But if he knew Wei Wuxian had been living in Caiyi for two months, after taking all of the trouble to track him down through thirteen years and three moves, several upheavals, why would he not take the opportunity to come and see him?
The ribbon was silk, like all the others, sliding out of the perfect knot with ease, he wrapped it around his wrist, using his teeth to tie it off.
Nestled inside white silk lining was a gastropod seashell, a common turritella, mostly brown fading to white at the tip.
Yuan-er called them ‘unicorn horns’ and had glued several of them to the heads of his horse toys or the hoods of his cars, or two to a doll to make horns.
It felt more fragile now then it had when he was ten, he knew now how they were made, and how they washed up on the shore. But when he had been ten the world had been wide open. There was something new around every corner, if even exploring it came with bitter recriminations from behind him. The beach that one summer he was allowed to go had been once such place.
He’d never seen a body of water so big. The river in Yiling had been narrow, cold, and meandering, the water was always some form of green or gray, rotting piles of trash, bodies,, and waste the only smell for miles around the river. It took days to filter, and the poor people who lived around it were sick for weeks at a time if they had to drink before cleaning. The local government, despite years of effort, had done little to do anything about it by the time Jiang Fiengmen brought into the Jiang Sect as a ward.
In southern Gusu though, the water was a deep and brilliant blue, sparkling so bright it hurt his eyes to stare at the ocean stretching until it met the sky.
The sand was hot, rocks and shells biting into the touch callouses of his feet. Jiang Fiengmen showed little interest in his every discovery, and Yu-furen told him he could only take one home.
Not far from where they were, was another family, a woman and her two children, one of whom was politely reading while the other, with his chubby cheeks, and white-and-blue clothes, stared at Wei Wuxian like this was a private beach and he was intruding with his loud proclamations of every little new thing he found.
Ten-year-old Wei Ying didn’t understand why the boy was sitting under the umbrella, or why they weren’t dressed for the beach, and he hadn’t cared either. It’d only been a week since Jiang Fiengmen brought him in as a ward. Social skills would come later.
So, not only was it surprising that the boy that glared at Wei Wuxian like he was everything wrong with the world at that particlular moment, had not only kept all the shells, and rocks Wei Wuxian had dumped in his lap, and kept giving him as the day wore on until Jiang Yanli called him back for sunscreen where he passed out and woke up to find the boy and his mother gone, but now he was giving them back to him. Having gone through the trouble of tracking Wei Wuxian down and returning each shell one-by-one.
“This is why I don’t trust your care to anyone.” Wen Qing dropped into the chair beside his bed, flipping through his medical chart.
At least, Wei Wuxian assumed it was his medical chart, it’d be odd if she had someone else's.
She snorted, “They brought someone down from the Lan sect to play Cleansing for you to purge your system of your guidao cultivation. Not bothering to check your golden core first. It’s no wonder your wounds became infected.”
He did wonder why they hurt so much when he woke up two days ago.
“That explains so much. How bad is my core?”
“Bad. The damage has spread to seventy percent now because it overcompensated trying to keep you alive during the Cleansing.” She looked at him, eyes flat and hard. He never liked that look on her. That banked anger, she was holding back for him, but she would be talking to doctors, nurses, and the board of directors and if any of them came out with their medical licenses, reputations, and egos intact, Wen Qing had lost her touch.
“You flatlined twice. The Cultivator should have stopped there, and the doctors did try to stop him. But he insisted on getting it all out.”
Wei Wuxian’s stomach turned, it felt like ice had ben poured down his back, he shivered, pulling the thin medical sweater tighter around him.
She put a hand on his arm without even looking, “You took care of your will last year, they’ll pass into mine and A-Ning’s custody.” She squeezed his arm.
“Oh good, they did list the cultivator here, now I know who we’re suing.”
“Wuxian. There is a advanced directive in your medical file. Commanding any doctors that unless your life is in immeadite danger, you are to be treated by me or any of the Dafen Wen. Needless to say, while your injuries from the-” She waved her hand around, brows scrunching in thought.
“Yes, that. It wasn’t in danger until Su Minshin thought he knew better. They should have treated your injuries, stopped the bleeding and called me before anything else was done or medical decisions. Violating that, the hospital has made itself liable, and the Gusu Lan Sect for not ensuring they had the medical right to continue treatment after their ‘client’ flatlined twice in their cultivators care.” She snapped the file shut, squeezing his arm again, “I’m going to go talk to the board of directors, and the Gusu Sect leader. A-Ning is downstairs getting food with Yuan-er and Yu-er, they’ll be up here shortly.”
Wei Wuxian caught her hand before she left.
Family didn’t say thank you.
Jiang Yanli and Wen Qing taught him that. There was no need, they were family. Saying thank you was for strangers.
“Wear your white suit with the red flowers, you look like you could kill and not get it bloody.”
She smiled at him, “I’ll have A-Ning run home and grab it.”
Wei Wuxian held the shell in his free hand, watching her go. He reached under the medical gown to pull out the small blue pearl he’d threaded onto a leather cord.
The little boy with eyes as gold as every sunset Wei Wuxian had seen, had given it to him the last time he delivered an armful of shells.
It was the one thing he took home.
The hospital where he stayed had also been owned and operated by the Gusu Lan Sect. He wasn’t sure if they wanted to sweep the situation under the rug or were actually trying to make amends for his botched medical care, either way they were offered an extended stay at the Caiyi Cultivation Rehab Resort, also owned and run by the Lan Sect, but this one was owned by the main family, Zewu-jun and his relations.
A sprawling resort on the eastern shore overlooking expansive ornamental gardens, meditation gazebos, outdoor areas for relaxation and recovery, a private gym, indoor pool, heated jaccuzzi, and even a kids area though he had no intention of living his sons in anyone's care but Wen Qing or Wen Ning.
The receptionist was a polite young man, he had similar refined beauty as all the other Gusu Lan Sect Cultivators he encountered had. Fine, sharp, features with either wide or fine eyes, either dark or slightly lighter. They wore pristine white robes, and their sacred ribbons. None of them had the eyes of a sunset, or the magnetic pull of a child hiding from the sun.
They got the honeymoon suite, three bedrooms, a main room and a large balcony over looking one of the ornamental gardens and the ocean.
Wei Wuxian, Yuan-er and Yu-er would get the room with the biggest bed, Wen Ning and Wen Qing each got their own.
“I am supposed to tell you that Zewu-jun’s younger brother, Hanguang-jun, is also within the resort.” The Sect member that walked them up said, Wei Wuxian hadn’t caught his name, too busy trying to stop Yuan-er from pulling the fish out of the fountian in the foyer, “He is the only other guest at the moment, he is to be left alone.”
Wen Qing rolled her eyes, “Be sure he knows that we’re to be left alone as well. Don’t need anymore Lan hand’s fucking up my patient.”
The poor boy looked scandalized for a moment before he saluted them, leaving so fast he forgot to shut the door.
“Will I ever not be your patient when we’re in company?” Wei Wuxian asked, pushing the door shut behind the poor Lan.
“Yes, when people stop trying to kill you, and other people stop making it easy. You and A-Ning take the boys out for a walk, let them run off some energy after the car ride. I’ll order us some dinner.”
“Yuan-er, Yu-er, lets get out of Qing-ayi’s hair for a bit.” He called to the boys on the balcony with Wen Ning, “A-Ning you better come too, Qingqing is in a mood.”
He felt Wen Qing roll her eyes, he knew she was going to make him pay for that, probably ‘forget’ to order the chili oil, or something similar.
“Diedie, did you see the ocean? It’s so big. Can we go? Please can we go” Yu-er grabbed his pant leg with wide eyes. Xuanyu had the biggest doe eyes Wei Wuxian had ever seen on a child, he drank the sight of everything in like he wasn’t going to see it twice.”
“Not today little sunflower.” Folding his legs, he sat on the floor, holding both of Yu-er’s hands, “Its late, and during this time of the year the water gets cold at night. When you have your first impression of the ocean I want you to love it. We’ll go tomorrow, as soon as the sun warms the water, okay?”
Yu-er considered that with all the gravitas a nine-year-old was capable of. He nodded, said, “Okay!” Before running off to find his brother.
During the adoption proceedings, Wei Xuanyu, at that time Mo Xuanyu, hadn’t wanted anything to do with Wei Wuxian, the idea of adoption, or a younger brother. Until Yuan-er, and his perfectly timed flu, threw up all over Xuanyu’s atrocious aunt. They’d practically been inseparable ever since, forcing Wei Wuxian to move Yu-er’s bed into Yuan-er’s room so he could watch over his brother.
“Take it easy.” Wen Qing said as they stood at the door, “Nothing extraneous, no running, no lifting the boys up, and definitely no holding them. You still have two-hundred and fifty stitches in your chest. The last thing your core needs right now is more damage to try and fix.”
Wei Wuxian smiled at her, “I’ll be careful, I promise.”
“I’ll watch over him jiejie.” Wen Ning said.
“See, I have the boys to keep me distracted, and A-Ning to babysit me. I’m all set.” He kissed her cheek, then ducked out of the room before she could threw something at him.
“Gross! Wei Wuxian!” He heard her all but scream before the door swung shut.
The ornamental gardens was manicured lawns and hedges with some purple leafed trees Wei Wuxian hoped were native to the area. Well-maintained moss grew artfully over recreations of historical gates, obelisks, or guardian dragons. a pavilion was built in the middle of the large lake with no walkway, only narrow stepping stones. The boys wanted to attempt the crossing, but he was pretty sure Wen Qing’s ‘nothing extraneous’ included fishing a nine-year-old and a four-year-old out of the lake. And it was occupied. Too far away to make out details, but he could see pristine white robes, a long curtain of black hair, and skin as white as mutton fat jade.
Remembering that the Second Jade of Gusu Lan was also at the resort, Wei Wuxian quickly herded the boys towards the Chang’e courtyard, tempting them with the idea of jade rabbits and a history lesson.
The Moon Courtyard was everything he expected. A monument to Chang’e on one side of the courtyard holding two jars of the famed elixer of immortality, and her husband Houyi on the other looking up at his wife, between them a moon of gentian blossoms sat in the center with four rabbits around the moon.
The boys fell silent upon enter the courtyard. Wei Wuxian couldn’t blame them, there was something about this place that felt more reverent that the rest of the garden. More…personal. It felt like an homage. an honoring. Similar to how he felt in family shrines, or at funerals.
Keeping the boys respectful as they saluted to both Houyi and Chang’e before they crossed the courtyard and into the hedgemaze on the other side.
“Tag.” Yuan-er shouted, breaking whatever spell had fallen over them in the Moon Courtyard. He slapped Yu-er’s shoulder, “You’re it.” He took off running before Wei Wuxian could even found the words to stop him.
“No, wait. We shouldn’t play that game.” A-Ning said, catching Yu-er's shoulder, “Your die is still hurt. Go, I’ve got him.”
Wei Wuxian walked faster then Wen Qing would have probably been happier with, and walked faster still when he heard tiny sniffles, and a quiet voice.
Rounding the corner he saw a Lan Sect member kneeling in front of Yuan-er, holding a handkerchief to his chin.
Wei Wuxian never minded blood, he could shake off his own injuries as fast as anything, a strong golden core and guidao cultivation ensure, was his delicate balance not screwed up, he could heal from most injuries within hours or days.
Seeing blood on his son however, twisted his stomach unpleasantly. Squeezing his heart, filling his head with white noise.
“Yuan-er?” he was patting his son down, looking for the stab wound, the gunshot, the yao injury, anything that would make the blood on the white silk and Yuan-er’s tears make sense.
“I’m okay diedie.” Yuan-er said, he didn’t look okay. His eyes were wide, red and puffy, fat tears trailed down his cheeks.
Wei Wuxian pulled him into his arms, squeezing him tight, “Are you sure? We can go back to gugu.”
“He fell.” The voice beside him rumbled, polite yet oddly strained, “Scrapped his chin. I believe he is just in shock.”
Eyes. As gold as at the sunset. Set in a face as beautiful as every lotus blooming, mountain range covered in snow, or one his son's laughter of pure delight. Skin as pure as mutton fat jade.
He knew him, all at once, from seashells returned in ornately wrapped boxes, and caring so gently for a child that was not his.
His face lightened as if Wei Wuxian had said a password only the two of them knew, easing from guarded wariness to calm, warm and accepting.
There was so much warmth in that simple address. The way his eyes roamed across Wei Wuxian’s face like it had been something he had been wanting to see for decades.
His gaze locked onto something at the base of his throat.
Wei Wuxian smiled, touching the pearl, “You kept mine as well…well kind of, you have been giving them back.”
“You said your Furen would not allow you to have them. I believed when you became an adult she could no longer tell you what you were and were not allowed.”
He wasn’t wrong, mostly because when he turned fifteen, an adult by cultivation standerds, she kicked him out of the sect. Something she’d been promising to do since Jiang Fiengmen’s death.
The tiniest sniffle brought both of their attention to Yuan-er.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I should take him back to his aunt, get him looked over. Make sure he’s fine.”
He found a hand on his elbow, gently helping him stand,
“I want to see you again.” His cheeks warmed at the sudden, bold, declaration, he buried his face in Yuan-er’s hair, letting out a mortified groan.
A huff, something like a chuckle, or a gentle laugh, “I want to see you again as well.”
He jerked his head up, noting adorably pink ears, smiling at the still beautiful face in front of him.
“Don’t laugh, we’re in the honeymoon suite, I came with my…sister and brother, and my sons, so we needed the extra room.”
It was unfair that he even frowned beautifully,
Wei Wuxian scoffed, “Would I be flirting with the second-most eligible bachelor if I were married? Not to mention I am the fourth eligible bachelor on that list. If I were married, you’d have known.” He bent closer, sandalwood drifted across his nose, it was a fitting fragrance for someone so refined and otherworldly beautiful,
“And here I thought were you paying attention to me. You knew when and where I moved within weeks of me getting there, and yet you thought I was married.”
In the cinamatic history of perfect timings, Yu-er and Wen Ning came around the corner, clamping onto Wei Wuxian’s leg, tugging at them so he could see his brother.
“What happened? Is he okay? Does he need the hosptial like you did?”
“No, no, nothing like that.” Wei Wuxian stroked his head slowly, “He just fell and is a little shaken up.”
“I will walk you back.” Lan Zhan said, folding his arms in his voluminous sleeves, “I am staying a few rooms down from yours.”
The warning about not disturbing Zewu-jun’s younger brother now made sense.
“Oh, I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” He added a teasing lilt so Lan Zhan knew not to take him seriously, “You see, we were warned not to disturb Zewu-jun’s younger brother. And if you come up to my room well…” he let his eyes drift up and down Lan Zhan, “...we’d disturb the whole floor I feel like.”
Wei Wuxian smiled, unable to stop the urge to tease even if he had better control over himself.
Really, if Lan Zhan didn’t want to be teased, he shouldn’t have been so pretty and refined and understanding and kind.
It’s his own fault really.
“Shameless.” Lan Zhan retorted, his ears darkening.
Wei Wuxian laughed, long and loud, like he hadn’t since the Chang Clan and Xue Yang disaster.
“I can’t yet anyways. I’m here to recover and I feel like you would be the ‘extraneous’ activity jiejie warned me to avoid.”
“Do you flirt with everyone like this?” Lan Zhan asked, turning to offer a hand to help Wei Wuxian down the stairs into the Moon Courtyard.
“Only the really pretty Lan’s that return seashells.”
Lan Zhan hummed. He didn’t let go as they crossed the courtyard, pausing long enough for Lan Zhan to make his own bows to Chang’e and Houyi before wondering back through the winding paths they took before.
The pavilion was empty now, of course it was. Wei Wuxian if Lan Zhan had seized the opportunity to arrange a meeting in the hedge maze when he heard them talking the boys out of going to the pavilion.
Wen Qing was waiting for them by the door, she stubbed the cigarette out before Wen Ning saw, her eyes darting between Wei Wuxian, Lan Zhan and their joined hands and immediately decided she didn’t want to know a single thing about it.
“Yuan-er fell, I think he just scraped his chin, but could you look at him for me?”
Yuan-er was reluctant to be released, and he settled for leaning against Wei Wuxian while Wen Qing looked over his chin and hands.
“I’ll apply some antiseptic when we get back to the room.” She frowned at him, “You should have put sunscreen on before you went out. I don’t care that it’s spring, the sun is still cancerous.”
“Yes Jiejie.” Wei Wuxian suffered under her care, he really did. No spicy foods, no alcohol, no sex-she didn’t specifically say ‘no sex’ just nothing strenuous. Which is the same thing really-no fun.
Aside from Jiang Yanli, she was the best sister anyone could ask for.
“I am beside you, I will walk you to your rooms. Please disregard the staffs instructions not to disturb me.” Lan Zhan offered Wen Qing the appropriate salute, “I would like the opportunity to know you all further in the coming days.”
“He’s one of the good Lan’s” Wei Wuxian said, putting a hand on Wen Qing’s arm when he saw her stiffen and frown, “I doubt seriously he knows what Su Minshin did, or the Lan sects participation.”
“Su Minshin?” Lan Zhan brows furrowed, he looked at Wei Wuxian sharply “What has happened?” It was a question, but it felt like a demand.
Wen Qing sighed, “Why don’t you…come around for dinner. I can explain everything then. Does the Lan sect still eat at six?”
Lan Zhan nodded, “We do.”
“We’ll see you in an hour. Come one Yu-er, didi, Wuxian.”
Wei Wuxian stood, holding Yuan-er.
He stared at Lan Zhan, pristine features staring after Wen Qing.
“She’s making it sound far worse than what it was, really.” He kissed Lan Zhan’s cheek, he wished he flushed as subtly as Lan Zhan, cause right now he was sure his face was as red as tomato, and he couldn’t blame it on the sun.
He got two steps before he was pulled to a stop. Lan Zhan hadn’t let go of his hand yet.
Lan Zhan stepped up to meet him, his free hand drifting to Wei Wuxian’s cheek. His eyes searching his.
“I…have wanted to give you this for a long time.” He pulled a white envelope out of his sleeve.
Like the boxes it was plain envelope and no fancy seal. Even in its simplicity there was a subtle extravagance in the embossed paper and textured cloud design.
“Do not open it now. And you do not have to answer now, or soon. Just to know it is an option.”
It took every ounce of Wei Wuxian’s self control to not rip open the envelope until after Lan Zhan-apparently forgetting he was walking him back to the room-vanished around the corner.
Wei Wuxian walked over to the stone bench beside the door, slid his nail under the seal and opened it.
The paper was light blue, with a subtle pattern of seashells in hues of cream and blue.
If you remember me, I am a friend you once made thirteen years ago. I am Lan Wangji of Gusu Lan. I am a friend still.
If you want, would you join me in Gusu?
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That concludes the final three emoji prompt.
thanks to everyone that participated and sent in requests.
A special thanks to Moma (Mdzs-owns-my-ass) for waiting two days longer.
While doing research for this prompt, I noticed the similarities between Chang'e and Wei Wuxian.
Legends vary about when, and why Chang'e ascended to the moon, but there was always the constant theme of rabbits and two bottles of immortality elixer and her husband was an archer.
Wei Wuxian climbed "ascended" the Gusu Sect walls at night, during a full moon with two bottles of Emperor's Smile, later he gave Lan Wangji two rabbits and the Lan Sect uses jade entrace tokens. The Archer is represented both in Wen Ning and Lan Wangji.
MXTX is Chinese, it makes sense that similarities from Mythology and Lore would be in her books, I just thought it was fun to notice it.
Anyway, I'm off to practice writing short oneshots.
