Chapter Text

It was the fourth day after his move, and Wei Wuxian was waiting for his roommate to move in. It was a nice 2-bedroom apartment; the landlord and landlady had wanted to move to another property of theirs, all the while renting out this apartment to people who might need them. After they sealed the deal with Wei Wuxian and before the date of his move, they informed him that they have gotten another tenant, and he will be moving four days after him.

The couple had moved the day after Wei Wuxian arrived, so he took it upon himself to show his new roommate around when he arrives. In the meantime, he was on his bed replying to messages from the Jiang family group chat.

Jiang Yanli, “A-Xian! ^^ how’s the new house?"
Jiang Cheng, “No surprise infestations or anything?”
Wei Wuxian, “It’s a good place! No pests, this place really was a good find.”
Yu Ziyuan, “It’s been three days, you have better organised your things by now. Think of your poor roommate.”
Wei Wuxian, “Hahahahahahah no worries! It’s all good now. Everything is right where they belong.”
Jiang Fengmian, “That’s good. Your roommate still hasn’t arrived?”
Wei Wuxian, “No, not yet. Still waiting for him. I cooked an omelette and some rice like a few hours ago so he can have something to eat after he arrives. Might need to reheat the omelette later though.”
Jiang Cheng, “oh my gods rip his taste buds, whoever he is”
Wei Wuxian, “JC pls I made a separate hot sauce for myself ok”
Jiang Cheng, “But did you still add chili in the eggs”
Wei Wuxian, “Well yeah, bc it’ll be plain otherwise”
Jiang Cheng, “rip his taste buds”
Yu Ziyuan, “Are you planning on killing your roommate?”
Wei Wuxian, “nO”
Jiang Fengmian responded with a few laughing emojis.
Jiang Yanli, “Have you bought milk, at least?”
Wei Wuxian, “Yeah.”
Jiang Cheng, “He’s gonna need it. I will pray for his poor soul. Let us know if he’s still alive tomorrow”
Jiang Yanli, “That aside, what do you plan to do? Correct me if I’m wrong, but you have like, 1 month before your new job starts right?”
Wei Wuxian, “Hmmmm, probably explore the city. I’ve never lived here, so by then I’d love to know the best routes to and from work, the good eats and supermarkets around here, important stuff like the post office, hospitals and stuff… basically.”
Jiang Yanli, “Are you going to show your roommate around tomorrow?”
Wei Wuxian, “That’s the plan, but it depends on how much stuff he has.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh”
Wei Wuxian, “I think he’s here ok see you guys ilysm bye”
Jiang Yanli, “Bye! Have fun!”
Jiang Cheng, “c u, rip ur roommate’s taste buds amituofo”
Both Yu Ziyuan and Jiang Fengmian responded with waving hand emojis.

Wei Wuxian raced to the door. He had heard the sound of keys turning in the middle of his chat and he got to the doorway just as the door opened to reveal… Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian’s “welcome!” was stuck in his throat and instead he just stared at his new roommate with shocked, wide eyes and a dropped jaw. Likewise, Lan Wangji was just as surprised to see him, if not more so. But of course; neither of them had seen nor had any way to contact the other ever since their high school graduation. It’s been almost 4 years…

Lan Wangji, “Wei Ying?”
Wei Wuxian, “Aha… haha… Lan Zhan! Hello!”
Lan Wangji, “I missed you.”

Upon hearing that, Wei Wuxian’s heart skipped a beat. Meanwhile, Lan Wangji himself let out a quiet gasp because oh my gods wo de tian holy shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii DID HE JUST SAY THAT??? He just freaking said that!!! Why!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The first time seeing Wei Ying again in FOUR YEARS and he somehow managed to ruin it. His self-control is so reliable, ah! It even breaks reliably! It has been proven™ that it falters around Wei Ying!!! Frick!!!!!!!

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian just stood there in silence, wondering if what he heard was… well. It was real. But he could hardly believe that Lan Zhan would miss him. He’s not one to pretend to like someone only to bitch about them behind their backs; he’s way too good for that. But they didn’t… get along too well in high school, if he recalled correctly. One vivid recollection of his is Lan Zhan smacking him with his folder in the first year of high school, telling him to get lost after leaving a huge white stuffed bunny almost as big as he was, on his desk…

Wei Wuxian, “Uh… I’m sorry?”

OK!!! WEI YING HEARD IT!!! NO TAKE BACKS!!! NO HIDING!!! Lan Wangji’s spent WAY too long not even being able to TALK to Wei Ying and all that time he always! Wanted to be more honest! Wish granted, right? RIGHT? So!!! He has to make the best out of it!!!

Lan Wangji, “I missed you, Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian, “Aha… ahahahahaha! It’s been like four years after all. Guess we’ll be sharing a place from now on, huh? Let’s get along this time!”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “Where’s your stuff?”

There was one suitcase and a few boxes and bags. As Wei Wuxian helped Lan Wangji move his things into the house, he found… the huge stuffed bunny. He could only laugh as he lifted it as if it was a toddler.

Wei Wuxian, “Oh my god, wo de tian holy shit! You kept it! Man, I thought you threw it away or gave it to someone else!”
Lan Wangji, “No.”
Wei Wuxian, “I guess you really like bunnies, huh?”
Lan Wangji, “Because Wei Ying gave it to me.”

Silence.

Well, okay, the apartment was silent, but Lan Wangji’s mind iS NOT!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! HE JUST SAID IT! AGAIN! HIS HEART SPILLED OVER! AGAIN!!!! BUT!!!! SCREW IT!!!!! TIME TO BE HONEST TO WEI YING! THIS TIME HE HAS TO KNOW!!!

Wei Wuxian, “Ahahahaha, I see! Um… I made omelettes! And there’s rice! Have you eaten?”
Lan Wangji, “Breakfast at 4:30AM.”
Wei Wuxian, “What the… it’s already 1PM! Let’s eat first, yeah?”
Lan Wangji, “Okay.”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK GOODNESS FOR THE EARLY TRIP!!!! Well, the entire household slept earlier yesterday and woke up earlier today so that they can avoid the morning rush on the long road trip to this city. Instead of the usual 5AM, everyone woke up at 4AM. ANYWAYS!!! Finally, he can eat together with Wei Ying!!! In their apartment!!! Like a married couple!!!

Wei Wuxian, “Do you need me to reheat the omelette? It’ll take about, like 5 minutes.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

As they waited for the omelette in the microwave, both of them sat together to catch up, and from there they found out that they moved to this city because they were accepted in the same graduate program. It was a prestigious one from a big company that only selects top students from top universities… for the elimination tests, where the students will then be whittled to a select few. For this year, both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were part of the successful few to go on the program, and that was why they had to move because the head office was in this city. So now they have one month off before the program starts…

Lan Wangji, “Which university did you go to?”
Wei Wuxian, “Lotus Pier, and you?”
Lan Wangji, “Cloud Recesses.”
Wei Wuxian, “Ooooh, I see, I see!”
Lan Wangji, “Can I ask you something?”
Wei Wuxian, “Sure.”
Lan Wangji, “I… called your number after high school graduation. Why didn’t you answer?”
Wei Wuxian, “You… did? Wait. How did you get my number?”
Lan Wangji, “School yearbook.”
Wei Wuxian, “I see. Uh…”

After a few moments of Wei Wuxian wracking his brain, he remembered… just in time for the microwave to go “ding!” Talk about good timing… Wei Wuxian just laughed as he took a cloth to help him take the steaming plate away from the microwave.

Wei Wuxian, “I went to visit my parents abroad with the Jiangs, but then I lost my SIM card! I had to get a new one. Sorry about that, Lan Zhan.”
Lan Wangji, “I… see.”

Relief pooled in Lan Wangji’s heart. During the first year of high school, Wei Ying reached out to him a lot, but he… didn’t respond favourably. His brother Jiang Wanyin told him to stop, and he eventually did at some point in the second year of high school. At first Lan Wangji was happy to return to the “good old days” but then it started to get lonely. By the third year of high school, Lan Wangji realized that he wanted Wei Ying back… only for Wei Ying to be very occupied with reviving the archery club in addition to his own schoolwork.

He thought that Wei Ying would not be busy anymore after high school graduation, what with having gotten a scholarship after winning first place in a national archery competition. But when he called Wei Ying’s number, there was no answer. For a few weeks he tried and tried, but there was no answer.

In the end, Lan Wangji could only store what little trinkets he had from their brief time in high school -- little notes Wei Ying would write for him, doodles, among other things -- into the blue folder he had used to hit Wei Ying with once. He always kept it with him, like with the plushie, and Lan Wangji is somewhat hoping that Wei Ying finds it. He has… no way… to tell Wei Ying… that he kept everything!!! He wants to, but it’s… it’s AAAAH TOO MUCH FOR HIS HEART (for now)!!!!!!!!

Wei Wuxian placed the omelette on the table, “Here you go! The bits of chili can be eaten, they’re not all that spicy.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

Since Wei Wuxian was the one who knew where everything was, he took out the plates and scooped the rice from the rice cooker. Meanwhile, Lan Wangji took a moment to look at the golden yellow omelette with leek pieces and chili pieces dotting it all over. Well, okay, not that much. This much spice, he can tolerate. He had taken up cooking sometime after high school and learned to make spicy dishes to cope with being disconnected from Wei Ying. Until now his spice tolerance is just as poor as the rest of his family, but… it should improve after all that, right?

Wei Wuxian placed a plate of rice on the table, “Here you go, just get more if it’s not enough and put it back if you think it’s too much.”
Lan Wangji, “Okay.”

It was just right, so he didn’t do anything as Wei Ying took out two glasses of water. At this point, it’s awkward to stay seated and wait. Sure, it kindoffeelslikeahusbandcominghomefromworkandbeingspoiledbyhiswife but it’s still…

Lan Wangji, “Where is the cutlery?”
Wei Wuxian pointed to a drawer before he started filling one glass, “Over there.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh, and can you get the hot sauce on the counter, please?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

By the time Wei Wuxian was done filling both glasses with water, the bowl of hot sauce and cutlery were already on the table.

Wei Wuxian, “Jiang Cheng said I’d kill someone with that omelette, can you believe him? It’s completely normal. Mom always uses about that much chili whenever she cooks omelettes. He’s just weak. Right?”
Lan Wangji said nothing, but simply carves out the omelette before taking a bite. It actually wasn’t so bad.
Wei Wuxian, “Well? How is it?”
Lan Wangji, “Good.”
Wei Wuxian laughed, “See! Jiang Cheng is just a weakshit, heheh!”
Lan Wangji, “No speaking while eating. We can… talk… more, later.”

Lunch was good, aside from the fact that Lan Wangji learned the hard way that the omelette’s spiciness… accumulates. It was not really there for the first few bites, but gradually… it... piled… up. For a few times, he had to go back and forth to get water. At least he didn’t need milk to survive!!! Wei Ying HAD offered it to him, but!!! He persevered!!!

The rest of the move was good too. Lan Wangji had imagined moving to be draggy and that he just needed to get it over with, but Wei Ying’s chatter really livened up the whole thing.

Wei Wuxian, “Oh, you brought your guqin!”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “It must be heavy, let me lift it for you.”
Lan Wangji, “It’s okay. I will do it.”
Wei Wuxian, “Really, I can do it. I used to help around clubs in high school, remember? Including the Chinese orchestra club. I’ve lifted guqins before--”

As he spoke, Wei Wuxian tried to lift the high-end, custom-made 9kg guqin. But it didn’t budge.

Wei Wuxian, “Wait… why is it…”
Lan Wangji wordlessly lifted it with one hand.
Wei Wuxian, “Wha...”
Lan Wangji, “The guqins that were provided in the club were about 3 kilos. This one is 9 kilos.”

Wei Wuxian’s jaw just dropped as he watched Lan Zhan take the guqin into his bedroom like it was a basketball. A chill ran down his spine. That strength is inhuman! Swallowing, he just turned to the other stuff. Among them he found a… silver sword??? It’s got to be decoration right? RIGHT?

Wei Wuxian, “Um, Lan Zhan?”
Lan Wangji walked back after placing his guqin, “Yes?”
Wei Wuxian, “This… sword you have here is really pretty. Is it like, a family heirloom or a decoration?”
Lan Wangji, “Not heirloom. Not decoration.”
Wei Wuxian, “What? Are you saying it’s real?”
Lan Wangji, “Real.”
Wei Wuxian, “Haha… ha… you sure changed a lot since high school, Lan Zhan, you can even… joke…”

In response, Lan Wangji took the sword and slowly drew it to reveal the very real blade. It was for just a short while, though. After drawing it all the way through a few distances away from Wei Ying, he sheathed it.

Wei Wuxian, “W… wo de tian holy shit… Lan Zhan. Why?”
Lan Wangji, “Self-defense. Our family practices swordplay.”
Wei Wuxian, “Haa… haha… I see…”

As Lan Wangji took Bichen and its stand to place it in his room, he just wails internally. Wei Ying must think he’s scary now!!! How is he supposed to defuse this???? HOW??????? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA………………..

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian looked for… other stuff, and found the old blue folder.

Wei Wuxian took it, “Lan Zhan ah, what are you taking this folder for? We’re already done with school. But then again you have to store your contracts and letters somewhere, huh?”
Lan Wangji, “You can look at it if you want.”
Wei Wuxian, “Okay, you said it…”

As he turned the plastic sheets inside the folder, however, Wei Wuxian’s smile disappeared upon seeing… every single note he had written to Lan Zhan. Even he’d forgotten them a long time ago. But that was… unmistakably his handwriting. By the time Lan Wangji had gotten back from positioning Bichen and its stand, Wei Wuxian was still staring and looking through the folder’s contents. But when he heard Lan Wangji walk towards him, he turned back to face the other with a smile. That was all he could do, though. His heart was so full it could burst, but he had no words to say, mostly because his brain was very occupied dealing with the sheer disbelief.

Lan Wangji, “Let’s spend… lots and lots of time together.”
Wei Wuxian’s smile turned into a grin, “Of course! You said it. Say, if we finish moving by today, want to go around the city tomorrow? I’ll show you around the places I already know, and we can take a look at other places too!”
Lan Wangji, “That would be wonderful.”
Wei Wuxian, “Great! So, tomorrow at 11?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

Soon enough the move was finished. By 8PM, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian had already showered and everything was all settled and cleaned up since Lan Wangji didn’t have a lot of things. He retreated to his bedroom, and texted his brother as he waited for his hair to dry.

Lan Wangji, “Wei Ying is my roommate.”
Lan Xichen, “Oh, is that so? You finally met him again, I’m so happy for you, Wangji.”
Lan Wangji, “Thank you. I am very happy.”
Lan Xichen, “Did you ask him why he never answered your calls, though?”
Lan Wangji, “He went on holiday abroad and lost his SIM card.”
Lan Xichen, “I see, I see. Well, I’m glad he didn’t deliberately cut you off. By the way, Mother and Father texted me, they said congrats on the new job and they want to see how your new apartment looks like.”
Lan Wangji, “Will take photos either later or tomorrow.”
Lan Xichen, “Tomorrow should be okay. It’s close to bedtime after all.”
Lan Wangji, “Not sure. Tomorrow I am going around this city with Wei Ying.”
Lan Xichen, “Is that so? I see! ^^ have fun! The photos can wait.”
Lan Wangji, “Okay. How is Uncle doing?”
Lan Xichen, “Good as usual. I’ll be off to bed soon, so see you tomorrow?”
Lan Wangji, “Okay. Good night, Brother.”
Lan Xichen, “Good night, Wangji.”

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian happily texted Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze who are working abroad about his new roommate. They will be replying later when the time is right, so after that he went to the Jiang family group chat.

Wei Wuxian, “JIANG CHENG!!! JIANG CHENG!!!”
Jiang Cheng, “what is it wwx”
Wei Wuxian, “MY ROOMMATE IS STILL ALIVE AFTER EATING THE OMELETTE UR JUST WEAK. HAH”
Jiang Cheng, “Wow. Remind me to give him an award when I see him. Who’s the guy?”
Wei Wuxian, “Here’s the plot twist. It’s Lan Zhan!”
Jiang Cheng, “WHAT?????????????”
Jiang Yanli, “oh my”
Jiang Fengmian, “If I remember correctly, wasn’t he your classmate from high school?”
Wei Wuxian, “Just for the first year, yeah.”
Yu Ziyuan, “And he hit you with his folder?”
Wei Wuxian, “Welllllll just that one time. Except now he’s… changed, a lot. Heck, now that folder, he used it to store all the little notes I used to write him.”
Jiang Fengmian, “( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”
Jiang Cheng, “Dad wat”
Yu Ziyuan, “What A-Cheng said. What is that?”
Jiang Fengmian, “I saw A-Cheng use this once, and I feel that this situation warrants a ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”
Jiang Cheng, “dad pls”
Wei Wuxian, “Too late JC, what has been seen cannot be unseen.”
Jiang Yanli, “Anyways, it sounds like Lan er-gongzi likes you.”
Wei Wuxian, “Yeah, I think we’ll be able to be great friends this time. We’re hanging out tomorrow! Going to go around the city. It’s much more fun with someone else than alone.”
Jiang Yanli, “That’s great. If you plan on taking photos, feel free to send them this way, so we know where’s where if we ever come to visit ^^”
Wei Wuxian, “Of course!”
Jiang Yanli, “I’ll be off for today, so I’ll be seeing you tomorrow. I promised Zixuan I’d call him when I’m free.”
Wei Wuxian, “See you! also wow he’s so lucky (and spoiled)”
Jiang Cheng, “i second that. very spoiled.”
Yu Ziyuan, “A-Cheng, Wei Ying. Shush. You’ll understand when you get your own girlfriend or boyfriend.”
Jiang Fengmian, “What My Lady said. :)”
Jiang Cheng’s only response was a barrage of crying emojis. After all, to this day, he’s single and, unlike Wei Wuxian, never got a single love confession or love letter…
Wei Wuxian, “Cheer up JC, the one will come into your life in time. No need to rush. Wanna play games?”
Jiang Cheng, “Sure”
Yu Ziyuan, “Don’t stay up late, boys.”
Jiang Fengmian, “Play responsibly. Good night!”

As Wei Wuxian booted up the game and waited for Jiang Cheng to connect, he felt his entire being overflowing with hope. Sure, this is a new city and this is his first “real” job, part-time aside. A lot of things are new to him, but he’s not alone, and will never be.

Chapter Text

That night, after a session of gaming with Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian slept at the usual 1AM. Before Lan Wangji had moved in, he had tested how soundproofed the rooms were, and found that even if he blared his music at full blast, it wouldn’t go through to the other bedroom. Lan Wangji, on the other hand, slept soundly at 9PM as usual. Well, it took him a while to fall asleep, because his mind was running around.

HE WAS SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was like he was given a gift from Heaven!!!!!!

When Lan Wangji had first gotten the job and was informed that he will need to move out, he was a bit… uncomfortable, mostly because he’s never actually moved before. But it soon passed. It was a bit hard having to leave his hometown and family home for who knows how long, but he knew he could manage.

He had to settle with renting this 2-bedroom apartment, though, because the landlord and landlady, both surnamed Jia, were connections of his family’s. Lan Wangji had initially decided to rent a studio apartment, but the rest of his family, even his mother and brother, convinced him to try looking among their connections. Relatives, friends, and friends of friends. Even if he can look out for himself, they would prefer for him to stay with someone they know.

After some time of looking, the Lans found out that none of their relatives live in the city Lan Wangji was to move in, so they looked a bit more, and got to the Jia family, who happened to: 1) want to move away, 2) intend to rent their apartment out, 3) just needed one more tenant to occupy the place. It was a nice, simple, old-fashioned apartment in a peaceful, quiet neighbourhood. The apartment was also nicely soundproofed, which would be ideal given that Lan Wangji plays the guqin. The monthly rent was a good deal, too, so all in all it was okay.

Since he didn’t go through with the plan of renting a studio, Lan Wangji had to deal with having to live with someone else, but given how the Jia family is, it’s unlikely that they’d choose someone who is a slob, extremely noisy, very impolite, or intolerably wild (for example: cooking meth in the apartment or something…). They’re a picture-perfect Asian husband-and-wife couple, with the “strict and domineering” husband and father coupled with the “gentle, demure” housewife and mother.

The picture was incomplete when the Lans visited them, however; during their small talk, Lan Qiren had inquired about their only daughter, but she had gone out with her friends at the time. Mr. Jia had continued on the small talk to praise how well-behaved and prodigious Lan Wangji is, and wished that his daughter could be more like him because “kids these days don’t work hard enough, they only care about having fun.” Lan Wangji didn’t like hearing that; perhaps this was why the Lans weren’t very close to the Jia family. It’s a good thing he won’t be living with them.

Regardless, everything went according to plan. It’s okay. Everything is going to be just fine. Until Lan Wangji unlocked the front door to the apartment to see WEI YING!!!!!!! WEI YING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHO HE HAD NOT SEEN!!!! SINCE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION!!!! AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For four years he had grudgingly accepted that he can’t ever have Wei Ying in his life again after pushing him away for nearly his whole high school years. Occasionally, he’d flash back to his old high school memories. Among them was the memories of Wei Ying on the same table as Jiang Wanyin and Nie Huaisang, calling out to Lan Wangji to sit with them -- with him -- only for him to refuse. Working on their group project after school only to be trapped inside by the pouring rain outside, forcing them to spend hours with each other… he wished he could go back to the past and appreciate Wei Ying more.

When he saw that dear, beloved face again, however, everything went from “okay” to “FREAKING FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Wei Ying is his roommate now!!! They are going to live together!!! And then!!! He found out that Wei Ying is in the exact same program as him!!! So they’re going to work together too!!! Together every day!!! It’s a dream come true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then!!! They ate together!!! In their apartment (like a married couple!!!!) instead of during lunch break at school!!! No pressure to finish their meals on time!!! And!!! Wei Ying cooked!!! At that moment, Lan Wangji really felt like a happy husband, ah. It’s just his imagination, but it was still a comforting thought.

Speaking of cooking.

Without an alarm, Lan Wangji opened his eyes at 5AM. The sun hasn’t risen yet, and Wei Ying was still fast asleep. While they were moving Lan Wangji’s things, they had a conversation regarding each other’s living habits (“Since we’re going to live together, let’s get to know each other better!” Wei Ying had said yesterday with a dazzling grin on his face. Lan Wangji’s heart neARLY STOPPED WODETIAN HOLYSHEET.), and he was aware that Wei Ying will not be awake until 9AM.

Since Wei Ying had gone through the trouble of cooking yesterday, it was Lan Wangji’s turn. He looked around the pantry. There was still rice, chopped leek, milk, a few eggs, and some chicken in the freezer. There were also basic seasonings like salt, pepper, sugar, garlic, soy sauce, chicken stock, and… tons of chili pepper. Wei Ying had just settled in here about four days ago, so it was only natural that he hadn’t stocked much. It also looked like he left plenty of room in the refrigerator and freezer so that whoever his roommate was, they could have space, too.

How considerate. Wei Ying was always like this. This is exactly why Lan Wangji wanted to bundle him up, protect him from the world, and give him hugs and cuddles like what he did (and still does) with the huge bunny plushie.

For now, Lan Wangji should start cooking some congee for their breakfast. Going out with an empty stomach is a bad, bad idea. He started out by washing the rice, filling the rice cooker pot with water, added the chicken in, and seasoned accordingly. After that, he turned the rice cooker on and set it up. He also intends to boil eggs, but it would be better when it’s close to 9AM so that it will be piping hot when Wei Ying wakes up.

Since there was nothing to do, Lan Wangji moved on to the next on his to-do-list: meditating. Why? Because his heart!!! Is racing!!! Faster than a speeding bullet!!! When preparing the congee, he moved like a normal person, if a bit sluggish from having just woken up, but his sPIRIT WAS RUNNING AROUND THE APARTMENT IN HAPPINESS BECAUSE HE’S GOING TO GO OUT WITH WEI YING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! IT’S LIKE A DATE!!! IT’S NOT BUT STILL!!! IT’S VERY MUCH LIKE A DATE!!!

Lan Wangji decided that he really, really needed to calm down before his fractured self-control ruins moments again like yesterday. Well, okay. It did kind of help him, but that was still an unwelcome surprise. What if he blurts out “I love Wei Ying” when it’s not the right time? What he already has now would be ruined. He was thankful that he brought some sandalwood incense with him, along with his incense holder from home.

The Lans are not very spiritual, but still traditional. The entire family still burns incense, particularly sandalwood incense. Sandalwood was the family favourite: it aids meditation and helps ground one’s thoughts. As a bonus, it is also used for protection and healing. Among the household, the ones who meditate the most often and have the most “alone time” were Lan Wangji and his father, so they use the incense more than every other member of the family. So when he moved, he took some incense for himself, but only one box.

The rest of his family tried to persuade him to get more, but he didn’t because 1) they used the incense too, 2) there’s likely a Chinatown in the city where he can just buy more if he runs out, 3) he might not be at home often once his new job started and thus may not need as many sticks as usual. And so he just took one box containing 20 sticks.

Carefully lighting the first stick, Lan Wangji started taking deep breaths. Moving in yesterday was overwhelming. A good kind of overwhelming, but his brain still went on overdrive, because Wei Ying. He had not expected to see him again. And now he’s right here and they’re going to be living together and working together and spending so much time with each other. Hnnnn. Amazing.

The existence of magic is debatable in this day and age, but Lan Wangji will not deny that sandalwood supposedly having magical grounding and mindfulness powers is not untrue. Even if it’s a placebo, it still works. The time for excitement is over (for now). Now is the time to just feel the moment and immerse himself in it, because he has been given the privilege to enjoy an everyday life with Wei Ying. It’s nothing short of a miracle, and now he has to maintain and nurture it.

After his mind calmed down enough, Lan Wangji reached for his phone. Ever since his feelings for Wei Ying started to grow, he’d started writing in a diary. But as time passed and technology advanced, diary apps came to be. Writing on paper is therapeutic, yes, but that was only part of it. Having a digital diary with features including backup is more convenient.

Having gotten tired from the move, he didn’t get the chance to type out his feelings last night, and so he started filling in the diary entry, pouring his heart out. After about an hour, the incense was all burned, so Lan Wangji started cleaning it up, stopped typing, and left the room to check on the congee in the kitchen. It was mostly done and tasted fine, he just needed to cut the chicken.

By now, the sun has risen. He started separating the meat from the bones, put the chopped meat back into the rice cooker pot, discarded the bones, and let the congee simmer before washing the knife and cutting board. Once it was all done, he took out Wei Ying’s hot sauce from the refrigerator, and recalled his mother and father wanting to see how his apartment looked like. They weren’t present because they work abroad, just like Wei Ying’s parents.

Photographing various spots of the place with his phone camera, Lan Wangji went around the apartment. The first photo he took was of the kitchen, and then his room. After that was the entrance. The TV and couch was nearby -- there were no walls separating the living area, dining area, kitchen, and entrance.

Near the entrance was some kind of cabinet with a fake plant and an old radio on top of it. Around the empty walls were nails; the Jia family had taken away their paintings for their new place. Not that Lan Wangji’s complaining, though. If both he and Wei Ying can continue to live and work here, they can just keep on renting the apartment or even buy it. Then he can use the nails to hang photos of him and Wei Ying.

Before sending the photos, he first sent a message to the Lan family group chat. It was a long single message.

He tagged his mother and father first and foremost, before elaborating that yes, he is well, had arrived safely in the new apartment, and very very happy with his new roommate. It was Wei Ying -- by this point, the entire household knows of Lan Wangji’s feelings for him -- who welcomed him enthusiastically. They caught up where they left off, as if nothing bad had happened between them in the first place. Wei Ying had helped him move his things and even prepared food for him before his arrival. Yesterday was a very good day.

Today was shaping up to be a good day as well, since he and Wei Ying had planned to go out and explore the city at 11AM. Wei Ying is still asleep at the moment, so Lan Wangji had taken the initiative to make breakfast for the both of them for the time being. He then brought up that both parents had, through Lan Xichen, congratulated him on his new job and asked for photos of the apartment, which he had taken. He photographed every part of the apartment, except for Wei Ying’s room.

After he sent the message, he sent the photos. Once the photos were sent, Lan Wangji went off to shower. Once he left the shower and dried his hair, he returned to the kitchen and started boiling two eggs. Just as he was done peeling both eggs, it was about 9AM and Wei Ying left his room.

Lan Wangji, “Good morning, Wei Ying.”

The household scene before Wei Wuxian’s eyes was like a dream. Lan Zhan having just peeled two eggs (perfectly), going towards the rice cooker to open it… from which wafted a fragrant aroma of steaming hot chicken congee. Under the golden morning light, the usually otherworldly handsome Lan Zhan looked like an immortal from the heavens. And he’s here, just scooping out congee into one bowl, and then one more bowl, before sprinkling chopped leek into both bowls of congee--

Wei Wuxian, “Please be my wife.”

The apartment was silent save for the chirping of birds outside as both men froze.

After a few seconds, however, Lan Wangji calmly closed the container for the leek, put it back in the refrigerator, and took out two spoons.

Lan Wangji, “Husband.”

A minute of silence passed as Wei Wuxian just stood there, stunned.

Wei Wuxian, “Ahahahahaha! Ahh… yeah, right… you’re a guy. Ahahahahaha… sorry. Brain fart. I just woke up…”
Lan Wangji’s response was a small chuckle.

Knowing that Lan Zhan wasn’t mad at him (also that chuckle was super cute), Wei Wuxian heaved a sigh of relief as he sat down. He had wanted to get two glasses of water for them, but Lan Zhan beat him to it. Meanwhile, Lan Wangji felt happiness bubble up in his heart. Wei Ying may not have been serious, but the thought had crossed his mind. He’s doing good. Everything is going well.

Wei Wuxian, “You sure worked hard, Lan Zhan. Ahh… I should’ve told you yesterday, but I was actually thinking of taking you to this food court I found the other day. It was a nice place, but then again we shouldn’t be going out without eating anything. Are you okay with having lunch there?”
Lan Wangji sat down, “Mn.”

Even if he’s not living with his family, Lan Wangji couldn’t help but continue to follow his house rules, including “no speaking while eating.” He’d let Wei Ying speak, however. This is not the Lan family home, and he missed Wei Ying talking to him.

Wei Wuxian, “Lan Zhan, how did you make this?”
Lan Wangji only tilted his head quizzically. It’s just simple congee? He just listened.
Wei Wuxian, “Even without chili, it’s already very good, ah.”
Lan Wangji looked to the side, flustered.

As Wei Wuxian added the hot sauce into the congee, he could see Lan Zhan’s ears turning red. It’s cute. Really cute…

Wei Wuxian, “Please…”

A chill ran down his spine after the word left his mouth. Wei Wuxian NEARLY said “please be my wife” again wo de tian holy shit HOW??? HOW???????? WHY!!! Lan Zhan is just a friend, why do these thoughts invade his poor mind??? Either way, that was close!!! And Lan Zhan heard!!! And is looking expectantly at him!!! He has to patch this up!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wei Wuxian, “Teach me how to make it later or sometime?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

Chapter Text

After they were finished with their breakfast, Lan Wangji told Wei Wuxian that he can go ahead and shower while he washes the dishes. Wei Wuxian responded that he would wash the dishes then shower since Lan Wangji had gone through the trouble of making breakfast for the both of them while he was fast asleep.

Wei Wuxian didn’t say that it’s a shame because Lan Zhan already looks stunning first thing in the morning just from a simple shower. Long, silky, shiny black hair on a proper topknot, bright yellow eyes, clothes all neat and proper and suits him and oh my gods he smells so good. If Wei Wuxian didn’t know that Lan Zhan is a normal human just like him, he’d think that Lan Zhan is a celestial from the Jade Palace.

Either way, Lan Wangji was unable to argue and just sat down as Wei Wuxian washed the dishes before going to shower. He just browsed the web to look for directions. They had first planned to go to the head office of their employer-to-be, and then heading to the supermarket for grocery shopping before possibly having lunch. After that it would be “free time” for any last-minute plans or strolls around the city center. He’d like to go check out the Chinatown, but that isn’t a priority.

The public transport in this city is convenient, so it was easy for him to find the best route to the office. They just need to know how crowded it can get. At this point the morning rush is over, so there’s no real way to test it. Maybe sometime… or maybe Wei Ying can start changing his sleep schedule. He’ll need to bring it up to Wei Ying later.

Meanwhile, in the shower, Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but wonder why and how Lan Zhan changed so much. When he first saw Lan Zhan at the door, his first instinct was to brace himself for Lan Zhan furrowing his brows and frowning as a nonverbal gesture of “not you again, god damn it!” and not… not…

“Wei Ying? I missed you.”

Remembering that heartfelt declaration made Wei Wuxian’s face heat up to the point that the warm water from the shower felt cool in comparison. He noticed how Lan Zhan’s eyes started… shining? Sparkling? The moment they met his own, as if he was on the verge of bursting into tears. For a second, he couldn’t believe that this is the same person who, in high school, only responded to him with things like “no,” “ridiculous,” “pathetic,” “shameless,” and the occasional “get lost.”

The Lan Zhan he knew was like a mute swan. Graceful, beautiful, majestic, pristine… and also absolutely vicious and can and will wreck your shit without fear or restraint if they don’t like you. No matter who or what you are or how big you are, doesn’t matter. You will be attacked, bitten, and get hissed at without mercy. In short, best admired from a safe distance, which basically means far Far FAAAR away.

The Lan Zhan now, however, is more like a docile baby bunny who seems to want attention. Lots and lots of it. Wei Wuxian could tell that Lan Zhan is at the very least comfortable with his presence. He listened to everything he said, didn’t mind physical contact with him, and had even learned to joke. Even more unbelievable than all that, he kept everything Wei Wuxian gave him, including the huge rabbit plushie that made everyone in class giggle at him when Wei Wuxian left it on his desk. Last but not least, he’s also very domestic now.

But eh, age and growing up have their ways of mellowing out a person. Wei Wuxian himself had mellowed out by the time he graduated college, too. It still doesn’t explain the 180 degrees change from hate to… to… whatever this is. Even Wei Wuxian agreed that he was plenty annoying towards Lan Zhan when he was young and so never held Lan Zhan’s hatred(?) of him against him because of that.

Oh well, he’ll see later.

Once he left the shower, he put on his clothes and went back to his room to dry his hair. After he was done, he saw Lan Zhan sitting on the dining chair, waiting for him… wait, what is… that wasn’t there before...

Wei Wuxian, “Ah, Lan Zhan, pardon me, what’s that?”
Lan Wangji revealed the jade necklace he was wearing behind his shirt, “Protective charm.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh? I never saw that. Did you buy it somewhere?”
Lan Wangji, “Gift from Mother. She bought it a long time ago when Brother and I were still children. When Mother and Father found out I was to move away, she told Uncle to give it to me as a coming-of-age gift. Brother got the same thing too when he got his first job.”
Wei Wuxian, “I see. That’s very sweet.”
Lan Wangji, “Thank you.”

Neither his parents nor the Jiangs were very traditional, so no one in both families really pay attention to jade or incense. Well, okay, his grandmother Baoshan Sanren is still very traditional, but his mother Cangse Sanren didn’t carry on with it. They still get along well and keep in touch, it’s just a matter of different beliefs. Lan Zhan seems to be more… traditional. Back in high school, he smelled like sandalwood, and now he still smells like sandalwood. And now a jade pendant…

But instead of old-fashioned, Wei Wuxian couldn’t help but find it cute. Maybe it’s because it’s mixed in with the docile baby bunny image.

Lan Wangji, “Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian realized that he probably got caught staring, “Ah, um! Yeah! Should we go?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn. But we should go to the head office in the morning next time.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh… ohh, yeah. Right. If we go now, we’ll get there faster compared to in the morning. Gotta start getting used to the rush hours, huh? Maybe tomorrow or sometime.”
Lan Wangji nodded, “Yes. The route.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh!”

After leaving the apartment, Wei Wuxian followed Lan Wangji like a little duckling as the latter walked to the bus stop. It was already quiet in the afternoon, so they could sit beside each other. Soon they arrived at the head office. After reaching the head office, they surveyed its surroundings to see if there are any facilities: minimarkets, eateries, ATMs, the like. They found a minimarket, a few ATMs, a bank branch, and a few (expensive) restaurants inside the office building itself, but there was a food court a few distances away from the head office. They offer a nice selection of foods, so they can give it a try sometime.

Once they were done exploring their workplace-to-be, they sat down on a nearby bench and surveyed the supermarkets they could travel to. There’s a shopping center a few stops away from their apartment; that was where Wei Wuxian got his groceries shortly after moving in. But there is also a shopping center near the head office, and another shopping center they can stop by at in the route from the head office to the apartment.

Lan Wangji, “Where should we go next?”
Wei Wuxian, “I’m not… sure myself. Do you have any plans? I don’t have much of an idea of where to go, although it’s best if we save grocery shopping for last so we don’t have to lug bags everywhere, especially if we’re buying eggs.”
Lan Wangji, “Agreed. Do you have anything you need?”
Wei Wuxian, “Ahahahaha! Lan Zhan ah, I should be the one asking you that. When it comes to meals, I’m not really picky as long as it’s spiced appropriately. Do you have any dietary restrictions or anything?”
Lan Wangji, “No.”
Wei Wuxian, “Hmmmm… okay then. Is there still enough chicken in the freezer for like, two or three weeks from now?”
Lan Wangji, “It depends.”
Wei Wuxian, “True, we might eat out or cook other meat like fish, beef, or pork. Haaah… time to start practicing meal planning, huh? Oh wait, I don’t think there’s any vegetables in the fridge so far…”
Lan Wangji nodded without saying anything.
Wei Wuxian, “Any vegetables you like or dislike? You know, like carrots, bitter gourd, potatoes, radishes, any… preferences? I personally don’t like radishes. They’re bitter and weird and ugh, let’s not even talk about daikon farts…”
Lan Wangji, “You were the one who brought it up.”
Wei Wuxian, “Hahahahahahahahahaha! Ohh, Lan Zhan, you’re so sassy now. Now answer my question.”

Like Wei Ying, Lan Wangji is (mostly) not picky about eating, so he had to take a few minutes to think and recall. Just what does he not like? Oh, wait… maybe he can make the dishes he used to eat at home. Traditional Chinese dishes, basically. Wei Ying would probably like it… right?

Lan Wangji, “I have no particular dislikes, but I have a suggestion.”
Wei Wuxian, “What is it?”
Lan Wangji, “Our family cooks traditional Chinese dishes. I took up cooking shortly after high school. You said earlier you want me to teach you how to make the congee from this morning. If… if you want, maybe…”

The rest of Lan Wangji’s sentence was stuck in his throat. FORCE IT OUT!!! FORCE IT OUT!!! HE WAS ABLE TO COMPOSE THE WORDS PERFECTLY IN HIS MIND, NOW IT’S TIME! TO! LET! IT OUT!!! SAY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lan Wangji, “Maybe… we can… cook together.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh! Yeah, no problem, I’d be glad to! Really, I can cook a bit, but I can’t say I’m very good at it, so… yeah. What are we going to need?”

After going through recipes and lists of traditional Chinese dishes, they eventually came up with a meal plan and a shopping list. Since they already have some essentials (salt, pepper, garlic, chili pepper, oil, sugar, soy sauce, chicken stock), they only need a few more things such as oyster sauce, vinegar, rice wine, and so on. Wei Wuxian had suggested that they split the bill 50/50, but this time Lan Wangji argued that because Wei Wuxian had spent money on groceries for them first, it’s his turn to do it now, plus this was his idea. This time Wei Wuxian couldn’t really argue against it.

Wei Wuxian, “Phew… given the meal plan we have now, though, we’re better off looking for these in a Chinatown. We can probably get them cheaper, or get better brands. What do you think, Lan Zhan?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn. I also… wanted to visit this city’s Chinatown.”
Wei Wuxian, “Ohhh! In that case, let’s just zoom off to Chinatown. See if they have good stuff in stock.”
Lan Wangji, “What about you? Don’t you have any plans?”
Wei Wuxian shrugs, “Besides looking for the usual stuff like the post office, hospitals, or good places and shops, not really. Discovery is a big part of it, and we should take it easy. We have like, one month. There’s plenty of time. I’m also pretty sure that there’s a lot of things to see in Chinatown either. Finding the best shop to get this or that isn’t easy.”
Lan Wangji went silent for a while before responding, “Okay.”

As they walked to the bus stop to wait for the bus to Chinatown, Lan Wangji felt himself overflow with happiness. Just now!!! They were making meal plans and coming up with a shopping list! Like a married couple!!! And besides that!!! Wei Ying agreed for them to cook together! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Back in high school, for all three years, Lan Wangji was part of the peer tutor program. He tirelessly taught the other students no matter how hopeless they are. It earned him the nickname “Hanguang-jun” or “light bearer” because if one saw a classroom with its lights on way after school was over, 99% it’s Lan Wangji tutoring a hopeless student.

But Wei Ying was a bright student and so never needed to sign up to be taught. He busied himself with clubs, whether participating in the ones he’s joined or helping other clubs he wasn’t affiliated with. When Wei Ying stopped reaching out to Lan Wangji, and Lan Wangji started missing Wei Ying, a few times he’d fantasize about taking some time to tutor Wei Ying, just the two of them. But unfortunately, it never came to be.

It doesn’t matter now, though. Because what he has now is even better. Lan Wangji gets to teach Wei Ying how to cook. Instead of school lessons that end up practically useless, this is something that’s actually useful no matter who you are. And cooking together is more fun than cooking alone.

Soon enough, the bus to Chinatown arrived. Again, since it was still afternoon, it wasn’t crowded and they could sit beside each other.

Wei Wuxian, “Ahhh, I’m so excited! Lan Zhan, how about we spend the entire day just cooking in the apartment tomorrow? Plus it’s nice to just veg out and relax once in a while. In one month we won’t have this much time to ourselves.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn. Will start by teaching you how to make the congee from this morning.”
Wei Wuxian, “Yes, please! I can technically make congee, it’s just… not as good.”
Lan Wangji, “You need to start waking up early too.”
Wei Wuxian, “Eh? Oh… yeah. Work days start early. I gotta start changing my sleep schedule… but do I have to wake up at 5AM?”
Lan Wangji, “6AM is okay.”
Wei Wuxian, “Mmm, yeah, that makes sense… so, tomorrow we cook, and then the day after tomorrow, we go out again? Maybe we can like, go to the head office during rush hour and see how long it takes for us to get there then.”
Lan Wangji, “Good idea.”
Wei Wuxian, “But I wonder what we should do after we get there… a lot of shopping centres open at like, 10-11AM every day…”
Lan Wangji, “There’s a park we can visit. It opens in the early morning, so we can sightsee if you want to.”
Wei Wuxian, “Sounds nice, actually… oh!”
Lan Wangji, “Hm?”
Wei Wuxian, “I have an idea, what if… tomorrow, we practice cooking and make things we can use for lunch the day after? And before we go to the office, we prepare boxed lunches to bring to the office? Because it will save money if we bring our own lunch. We should make it a habit.”
Lan Wangji, “Good idea.”
Wei Wuxian just grinned in response.

As the bus moved, they cycled through their meal plans to see if there are days where the dishes can’t be recycled for the next day’s lunch. They were finished before the bus stopped at Chinatown. When they got off the bus, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji stared in amazement at the place.

Well, it’s not that it’s big or fancily-decorated, it’s just pure excitement from seeing a new place. There were plenty of shops selling various things: Chinese snacks and sweets, traditional Chinese ingredients, statues, jade accessories, trinkets, religious items…

Both of them agreed to look around the entire place before buying anything. Wei Wuxian browsed indiscriminately, but he noticed that Lan Zhan seemed to be paying special attention to religious-oriented stores. More observation made it obvious that he was looking around for sandalwood incense.

Wei Wuxian, “So that’s why you smell like sandalwood all the time.”
Lan Wangji looked away while holding a box of incense in his hand, not sure how to feel, before facing Wei Wuxian again, “Is… is it a bad thing?”
Wei Wuxian, “Nah, it’s not. It’s just something I noticed about you.”
Lan Wangji, “I see.”
Wei Wuxian, “Are you a practicing Buddhist or Taoist?”
Lan Wangji, “No. My family burns sandalwood incense at home. It’s good for meditation.”
Wei Wuxian, “If you need some, you can just buy it after we shop today.”
Lan Wangji, “I still have a box at home.”
Wei Wuxian, “It’s fine, really. It’s better to stock up.”
Lan Wangji, “After we start working, I’m not sure if I have the time to burn incense.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh… yeah, that’s right. It would be a waste to buy a lot of something, only to find out that you won’t be using it much…”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “But assuming you do have the time after we start the new job, you want to know where to buy it, is that right?”
Lan Wangji, “Correct.”

After moving, both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were given some money by their families to last them about two months; until their first payday, basically. Neither of them want to trouble their parents or embarrass themselves doing so, so they need to budget to make sure the cash can last until then. And so they continued roaming around Chinatown, looking around for the best shops. Besides shops, they also found other things like temples or fortune teller parlours.

A few hours of walking around passed, and they left Chinatown after getting the things they need. Thankfully, they were able to get the things from the shopping list for cheap. Both of them agreed to check out the supermarkets the day after tomorrow to see if they offer better deals so they can just shop there next time.

The timing wasn’t very good this time and they left Chinatown during the evening rush hour. The bus was crowded and it was impossible for them to sit. The shopping bags started to press down on Wei Wuxian’s hands too, and occasionally he’d need to switch hands; one hand grabbing the overhead handles in the bus, the other grabbing the bag. But then he felt long fingers trying to pry the bag away from him…

Wei Wuxian, “Lan Zhan??”
Lan Wangji, “I will help you carry.”
Wei Wuxian, “It’s fine, really! I can carry it myself.”
Lan Wangji, “Your arms are starting to get sore.”
Wei Wuxian, “Well… nothing I can’t deal with, honestly.”
Lan Wangji, “I will help.”
Wei Wuxian, “It’s fi--”

His protests died on his throat as Lan Zhan’s persistent fingers wormed their way into his closed fist. Somehow, Wei Wuxian couldn’t resist as those long, calloused fingers loosened his grip on the bag. Lan Zhan’s hand then slid into Wei Wuxian’s and took the bag away. Wei Wuxian was about to protest again, but this is the same guy who lifted a 9kg guqin as if it was just a volleyball…

Wei Wuxian, “Um… thanks.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

Both of them then got off near the food court Wei Wuxian was referring to. Thankfully, it was within walking distance to their apartment, so they don’t need to squeeze into a crowded bus again. The food court was starting to get crowded, but they were able to find a seat. They then took turns buying food.

Their table happened to be close to one of the TVs installed in the food court, which happened to display the news of two men being found dead in their residence in mysterious circumstances. The place -- which happened to be somewhere in this city -- was a mess, but none of their belongings were missing, so it isn’t likely to be a burglary. There doesn’t seem to be traces of a break-in or evidence of the culprit’s escape, however. Their faces were practically destroyed; the blur censor thankfully hid the gore, but the blurred parts were very, very red.

Wei Wuxian, “Holy shit.”
Lan Wangji didn’t say anything, but looked at Wei Wuxian, half waiting for him to say more, and half telling him, “relax, it won’t be happening to us anytime soon.”
Wei Wuxian continued to eat his very red spicy meal, unfazed, “Nah, it’s okay, Lan Zhan, murders happen all the time… I guess. It’s not a very good thing to think about, so let’s talk about something else. When I get home, I’m going to chat up my parents. What about you, Lan Zhan?”
Lan Wangji nodded without speaking as he continued eating his own meal.
Wei Wuxian, “Yes? You mean, you’ll talk to your parents too?”
Lan Wangji nodded again.
Wei Wuxian, “Ahhhh, I see, I see. Yeah, that sounds good… oh yeah, I gotta sleep early too so I can practice waking up early tomorrow. Lan Zhan… if I don’t leave the room by 6:30AM, just get in and wake me up.”
Lan Wangji tilted his head quizzically, as if to ask, “really? Is that really okay?”
Wei Wuxian, “Yes really, I won’t mind. As much as I like waking up at 9AM, I have to wake up early and get used to it so I don’t become a zombie at work. I have to give it my best shot.”
Lan Wangji just chuckled.

Soon, they arrived home and showered before retreating to their individual rooms. Wei Wuxian chatted with Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren, while Lan Wangji talked to his family about his trip with Wei Wuxian. Yesterday was a good day, today has been a good day, and tomorrow will be another good day.

Chapter Text

The previous night, Lan Wangji slept a bit later than 9PM, but so, so happily. After a day spent teaching Wei Ying how to cook (among other things…), Wei Ying had also asked him to help him fall asleep.

He remembered how Wei Ying groaned as he laid down, his eyes facing the ceiling. “I can’t sleep,” he said. Lan Wangji’s response was “try.” Wei Ying squeezed his eyes shut, and seeing that Lan Wangji told him not to force it. He tried closing his eyes normally, tossed and turned for a bit… only to end up lying on his side facing Lan Wangji, and complaining, “Still can’t sleep. And I’ve tried counting sheep. It doesn’t work. Can you like, sing me a song or something?”

Lan Wangji had no reason to refuse Wei Ying that request, so he hummed a tune for him and watched the frustrated expression turn blissful. Wei Ying fell asleep within minutes. After staying for about five to ten more minutes to make sure that he really had fallen asleep, Lan Wangji left Wei Ying’s room as quietly as he could. And then he laid on the bed to find out that it’s his turn to have trouble sleeping because AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WEI YING! WEIYING!!!!!!!!!!! WEI! YING!
CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahh… that, after a whole day of being domestic and hanging out with each other? Wow. Amazing. Is this allowed? Is this too much happiness for a human being in a single day??? Lan Wangji wanted to wake up and light some more of his incense to help calm down, but he really didn’t feel like cleaning the ashes up once it’s all burned. So he replayed the events of the day in his mind to calm down his heartbeats again and again until he finally fell asleep.

Thankful for his body clock, Lan Wangji woke up at 5AM, before the alarm he set at 5:30AM. He deactivated the alarm for the day, washed his face, and showered. After he showered and dried his hair, it’s 5:30AM. He decided to reheat the rice and the steamed chicken from yesterday. Both he and Wei Ying had brought a few empty lunch boxes from home, so he took one of his and one of Wei Ying’s from a cabinet and spooned in each of their portions after the food was reheated properly. After that, he packed in cutlery and a few tissues.

By the time he was done with that work, it was 6:04AM, and he turned around to check on Wei Ying. Yesterday he had told Lan Wangji that if he didn’t wake up by 6, Lan Wangji has his full permission to go into his room and shake him awake if he didn’t mind. But just as Lan Wangji arrived in front of Wei Ying’s door, it opened, revealing Wei Ying.

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian nearly had a heart attack. Part of it was because WOW LAN ZHAN IS LIKE INCHES IN FRONT OF HIM WO DE TIAN HOLY SHIT but also because the first thing he saw in the morning (barring the interior of his room and his phone screen) is well, Lan Zhan. Sweet, precious, beautiful Lan Zhan who just sang to him until he fell asleep last night and wow he looks so fresh at ass o’ clock in the morning, like he’s carved from the finest jade--

Lan Wangji, “Good morning, Wei Ying. I packed lunch already, go and shower.”

Oh gods, Wei Wuxian’s heart was melting, how come his new roommate is an angel? How is this even possible? How can someone be so good to him? This is just… just… urgh, Wei Wuxian felt as if his heart was going to burst…

As Wei Wuxian stood there just shocked into silence, Lan Wangji turned to make way for Wei Wuxian, who dazedly walked into the bathroom and started to shower.

It looks like Wei Ying was still not used to waking up early, his brain was probably still loading. He’ll get used to this soon, hopefully.

In 20-30 minutes, Wei Wuxian finished getting ready. When he left his room, Lan Wangji got up and handed Wei Wuxian’s lunchbox to him, prompting the latter to comment “Lan Zhan ah, you’re so good to me” before they left the apartment at about 6:40AM. Fortunately, the bus service was efficient; more buses were deployed in the morning to handle the morning rush, and both of them got to the head office in a little under an hour.

Wei Wuxian stretched after getting off the bus, “Ahhhhh… we made it!”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “Ugh, I still feel like a zombie though.”
Lan Wangji, “It’ll pass.”
Wei Wuxian, “Yeah, I should get used to this soon… where was the park again?”

The next bus didn’t take long to come, given that it was still the morning rush period. Lots of passengers poured in to get to the office buildings around the area, but there were still no available seats inside. But little by little the passengers started getting off, and after the bus passed by the major areas, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji could sit beside each other. The latter ushered the other man in first so he can take the window seat.

Lan Wangji, “Look at the scenery so you’re not sleepy.”
Wei Wuxian, “I’ll try…”

When they’re seated and the bus started moving again, Wei Wuxian looked out the window, taking in the morning view of the city. He’s missed this kind of thing for so long, having taken afternoon classes in university. By the time he was up, it was already about 9-10AM. The night view in cities are pretty, but there’s a certain beauty in the morning hours.

The gentle morning light, the soft blue of the sky… really, it’s beautiful. Heartwarmingly, breathtakingly beautiful, not in the way that makes your heart race, but in the way that makes one want to immerse themselves in it and stay with it, in it, forever. It reminded Wei Wuxian of Lan Zhan…

He turned to the side to look at the other who was looking forward, at the front window of the bus. And just like with the scenery of the morning light, Wei Wuxian found himself feeling happily captivated. Seriously, how can someone like this be a real human being, a normal(?) person? Pale white jade-like skin, straight, long black hair without a single strand out of place, clear golden eyes… really, even without a smile, Lan Zhan is very pleasant to look at. And either he doesn’t realize that Wei Wuxian is staring, or he knows and doesn’t mind. Either way is good. Looking at Lan Zhan is better for his eyes than the morning scenery anyway.

Meanwhile, Lan Wangji’s heart was on overdrive mode. The entire time, while Wei Ying was gazing at the morning view (CUTE!), Lan Wangji had been shamelessly using the opportunity to in turn gaze at him. But then suddenly. Well, okay, not so suddenly. Wei Ying started to turn to look at him. DID HE NOTICE THAT LAN WANGJI WAS STARING AT HIM??? NO RIGHT??? After all! He didn’t like, suddenly turn quickly, it was relatively slow so Lan Wangji had the time to quickly face the front so Wei Ying wouldn’t catch him staring!!!

And noW!!! WEI YING IS STARING AT HIM!!! THE SAME WAY HE WAS STARING AT THE SCENERY OUT THE WINDOW!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WEI YING!!! WEIYING!!! WEIYING!!!!!!!!! CUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE!!!! LAN WANGJI WANTS TO TAKE HIM HOME!!! Wait, no, they already live together… oh wAIT SHOOT…

With a quiet gasp, Lan Wangji turned to look at the window on the other side… before pressing the bell to get the bus driver to stop at the upcoming bus stop. Wei Wuxian just grinned contentedly. It was nice staring at Lan Zhan while it lasted. And now his ears are red??? Cute… but is it because he noticed Wei Wuxian staring? Just as Wei Wuxian was about to ask, the bus stopped and both of them got off.

Lan Wangji, “I’m sorry, Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian, “Huh? What for?”
Lan Wangji, “We--I missed one stop. We have to walk a bit to the park now.”
Wei Wuxian laughed, “Ahahahahahah! It’s fine, no biggie. Besides, my brain needs to wake up anyways. A little more exercise should do us good.”

Fortunately, the park wasn’t so far from the bus stop. The path they were walking on was next to a huge lake. The water was a bit murky, likely from algae and other micro-sized life. But there were waterbirds around the area, and when Wei Wuxian glanced to his side to look at the lake, he’d see a few fish swimming around.

Wei Wuxian, “Lan Zhan…”
Lan Wangji, “Yes?”
Wei Wuxian, “You Googled this park the other day, right? What’s the park called?”
Lan Wangji, “Caiyi Park.”
Wei Wuxian, “I see… and what about the lake?”
Lan Wangji, “Biling Lake.”
Wei Wuxian pulled out his phone to Google it himself, “I see… this place kind of reminds me of Yunmeng Lotus Garden back home, except there’s no lotuses.”
Lan Wangji, “Yunmeng Lotus Garden?”
Wei Wuxian, “Yeah. It’s our family’s go-to hang out spot. My parents, the Jiangs.”
Lan Wangji, “Did you go there often?”
Wei Wuxian, “These days, not really. University and social life kind of kept me busy. Everyone else was busy too. But we still really like that park.”
Lan Wangji, “I see.”

When they arrived at the park, it was nice and quiet. Most of the visitors were either joggers or people with pets. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had the misfortune to pass by someone who was walking their dog. It was a tiny puppy no bigger than Wei Wuxian’s own forearm, but he still screamed “LAN ZHAN SAVE ME” before leaping into the other man’s arms. Said other man caught him calmly and carried him away from there without even breaking a sweat…

Wei Wuxian started catching his breath, “Ohhh… ohhhhh gods… oh my god… ah. Lan Zhan… thanks a bunch. Oh my god, I was so fucking scared… wait, am I heavy? I’m sorry…”
Lan Wangji, “Not heavy.”

Upon hearing that and seeing Lan Zhan who was not sweating or catching his breath, like he carried Wei Wuxian the whole time as if the other was just a pillow, Wei Wuxian’s lips pressed into a thin line.

Lan Wangji slowly opened his arms again, “I can… carry you again… if you want.”

WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!! WHO GAVE HIM PERMISSION TO BE THIS CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY!!! HOW!!! IS THIS EVEN REAL? Wei Wuxian had to cover his mouth to suppress his laughter. How can someone be so sweet, cute, and adorable and… and… and HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN…

Wei Wuxian, “Pfft… hmf… Lan Zhan, you’re very sweet. But it’s okay. Let’s sit down and eat somewhere that doesn’t have dogs.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

Both of them walked around the park, and were very happy to find a garden where pets are prohibited from entering. It was a peony garden with benches in a few spots. They picked a nice spot and started eating their breakfast. It didn’t take long for them to finish their meals, and then they just sat together staring at the peonies. Wei Wuxian thought to himself, if they’re going to spend a lot of their mornings like this, waking up early won’t be so bad after all…

Lan Wangji, “Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian, “Hmm?”
Lan Wangji, “Do you usually skip breakfast?”
Wei Wuxian, “Yeah, kind of. And I’m guessing you don’t? But then again that explains why my portions are bigger than yours, and you eat like a bunny rabbit.”
Lan Wangji said nothing, but raised his eyebrows.
Wei Wuxian, “Sometimes I can’t believe how you ended up being bigger than me. But then again your family practices martial arts…”
Lan Wangji, “Only by 2cm.”
Wei Wuxian, “Doesn’t matter.”
Lan Wangji, “You shouldn’t skip breakfast anymore.”
Wei Wuxian, “Nnnngh, I don’t have the time, though… although if I need a quick breakfast, toast should do. But there are no toasters around… ah, I can just make egg in a hole! Cleanup will be a bit more heck, but it should do.”
Lan Wangji, “Egg… in… a hole?”
Wei Wuxian faced Lan Wangji and grinned, “Then I’ll show you tomorrow!”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

Both of them continued to sit together in comfortable silence. Lan Wangji’s heart welled up with happiness; he’d wanted something like this for a long, long time. Just spending time with each other, sitting beside each other like they’re close. And then Wei Ying yawned before leaning against Lan Wangji’s shoulder oh my gODS WO DE TIAN HOLY SHI--

Wei Wuxian, “What time is it?”
Lan Wangji took out his phone from his pocket, “9AM.”
Wei Wuxian, “Huh… hmm.”
Lan Wangji, “Wei Ying?”
Wei Wuxian, “I’m thinking about where to go next. Like… we’re going to be exploring the shopping centres around important places like our apartment and the head office, and the one in the bus route from the head office back home. Theoretically, we should go for the one that’s farthest from here first, which is the one between the office and the apartment, but then we will need to go back and forth…”
Lan Wangji, “You want to go?”

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes.

Wei Wuxian, “Not that much. Aren’t you bored, though?”
Lan Wangji, “No.”
Wei Wuxian grinned, “That’s good.”

how can lan wangji be bored. throughout the whole exchange until now wei ying is leaning against him with his head on lan wangji’s shoulder. how can he really be bored when both his heart and mind are screaming from happiness and his self-control is doing overtime to keep himself seated properly as if nothing happened instead of just freaking wrapping wei ying into a hug? how?

Wei Wuxian continued to sit beside Lan Wangji in bliss. It’s been a really long time since he sat like this, leaning his head against another person and just enjoying the company and peace. He didn’t remember who it was last time. His mother? His father? Jiang Yanli? Jiang Cheng? A random unfortunate person in public transit? Doesn’t matter. Either way he never expected to be able to do this with Lan Zhan, who was, in fact, the last person he’d expect to accept this.

He truly is happy that everything turned out to be this way. Sometime after the second year of high school started, he sadly accepted that he’s ruined his chances of having a good standing, let alone a friendship with Lan Zhan. Wei Wuxian didn’t know what happened to him when he wasn’t looking, but perhaps it comes later. For now, they need to be comfortable with each other first. It’s been four days (and they’re already very comfortable), but maybe they should take it slow.

They continued to sit with each other that way for an hour before getting up from the bench and leaving the park. In the end, their first destination was the shopping centre in the office, before proceeding to the one in between, and ending it with exploring the one near their apartment.

The shopping centre in the office is a high-end mall with more expensive stores, but it was also a big place. There were even small bank branches there. The standard low-cost stores were present in the mall too, but only a select few of them. In the end, when they were there, both Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian ended up window shopping, with the latter making “rich people” and “rich people shit” comments in jest.

Meanwhile, the shopping centre in the route between the office and their apartment is more community-oriented. The mall itself is a small place filled with mostly chain stores and restaurants. It was surrounded by a community market, which explains its size and lack of variation.

There is a bigger -- in fact huge -- variation of products in the market, and a lot of stores selling the same or similar things. Both of them could find the same or similar products they could get in Chinatown, but the religious-oriented stores here isn’t as complete. Both of them noted that if they need to buy ingredients, they can just stop by here, but if Lan Wangji needs incense, he’ll need to stop by at Chinatown, which meant either taking a detour or going there during his off days. Both of them ended up buying a loaf of bread from a small bakery in the market that makes all of their own bread on the spot.

After that, they went to the shopping centre located within walking distance from their apartment. It was a normal-ish mall. Not so small, but not so big either. It’s like a middle ground between the other two. Wei Wuxian had explored the place beforehand and showed Lan Wangji around while the latter happily took in the sights, the information, and Wei Ying’s excitement. The little tour was about to end when Wei Ying suddenly stopped, his expression changing to that of surprise. He turned to a young man with a loose bun that was about to walk past them--

Wei Wuxian, “Xuanyu?”
The young man looked up from his phone, “Huh?”

All three of them were silent for a few seconds.

The young man, “W… Wei-xiong?”
Wei Wuxian, “Xuanyu? Mo Xuanyu? Right?”
Mo Xuanyu, “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Wei Wuxian, “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Mo Xuanyu, “Wei-xiong!!!”
Wei Wuxian, “Xuanyu!!!”
Mo Xuanyu, “You have a boyfriend!!!”

At that moment, Lan Wangji’s soul was threatening to leave his body, while Wei Wuxian’s jaw dropped.

Wei Wuxian, “AHH... um!!! He’s just my roommate!!!”
Lan Wangji just pressed his lips into a thin line.
Mo Xuanyu, “Is that so? You two totally have that married couple aura.”
Wei Wuxian, “Blease. Oh! Lan Zhan! This is Mo Xuanyu. He’s my online friend. We met some time ago, he’s younger than us and is still in university. I just remembered that he is doing an internship as a compulsory assignment from his uni. The one he got happens to be in this city. Xuanyu, this is my roommate, Lan Wangji. We knew each other in high school.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Ahh! Wangji-xiong, nice to meet you!”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Mo Xuanyu, “So why are you two here?”
Wei Wuxian, “We got new jobs here. The same job from the same company! Hahah… and then we ended up renting the same place by coincidence… we found out about all that while chatting during moving day.”

For about a minute, Mo Xuanyu stared at them in pure unadulterated disbelief before smirking evilly.

Mo Xuanyu, “It’s fated.”
Wei Wuxian, “It’s a coincidence.”
Lan Wangji muttered, “Fated.”
Wei Wuxian, “What?”
Lan Wangji didn’t say anything else.
Wei Wuxian, “Anyways, where do you live around here? Do you come here often?”
Mo Xuanyu, “Not really… this place is pretty far away from my apartment. I’m just exploring this city during my off days. I mean, my internship is ending soon, might as well take in the sights before I yeet.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh shit, time flies so fast!”
Mo Xuanyu, “I know, right?”
Lan Wangji just watched as Wei Wuxian and Mo Xuanyu sighed at the same time.
Wei Wuxian, “So how’s it going? Sorry I couldn’t chat you up much. I was so busy with job hunting.”
Mo Xuanyu, “No worries, internship kept my busy as hell too. Soooo Da Ge… Jin Zixuan, he got in contact with me and Er Ge. He said he’s going to get us into Lanling Corp and is pulling strings behind his--our dad’s back. Although it doesn’t seem that the old man cares either way.”
Wei Wuxian, “Now I am debating on whether I should let you tell him that I approve of him more now, but then he might get cocky.”
Mo Xuanyu just laughed, “That’s up to you.”

All of a sudden, Wei Wuxian glanced at Lan Wangji before glancing back at Mo Xuanyu, as if he needed to make a choice at that moment.

Lan Wangji, “You want to catch up with Xuanyu.”
Wei Wuxian, “Ahh… well… yeah. But I kind of don’t want to thirdwheel you.”
Lan Wangji, “I am fine. Soon you will not be able to see him for a long time.”
Wei Wuxian, “I guess… I guess that’s true. What about you, though?”
Lan Wangji, “Will go back home and shower. When will you be home?”
Wei Wuxian, “I’m not sure. I might be out until past your bedtime. Not sure whether I’ll be home at 10, 11, or whatever.”
Lan Wangji, “Be careful. I will keep the lights on.”
Wei Wuxian, “No need, no need. Just turn them off to save power. I’ll be okay, really! Although I might need your help if I can’t wake up at 6 tomorrow…”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh, and can you put the bread in the fridge and take them out when you wake up at 5 tomorrow?”
Lan Wangji, “Will do.”
Wei Wuxian, “Okay then! Take care, Lan Zhan! See you tomorrow!”
Lan Wangji, “Mn. See you tomorrow, Wei Ying.”

As Lan Wangji turned around and left after a quick nod to Mo Xuanyu to excuse himself, Wei Wuxian walked away with the younger man.

Mo Xuanyu, “Okay, I am mistaken. He is not your boyfriend. He’s your husband.”
Wei Wuxian, “Ahahahahahahahah, Xuanyu, please.”
Mo Xuanyu, “He’s a keeper. Might as well marry him.”
Wei Wuxian, “What? Noooo…”
Mo Xuanyu, “You mean not yet.”
Wei Wuxian, “Blease.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Anyways, wanna get something to eat?”
Wei Wuxian, “Sure, although I might just get a drink or a snack. I already ate dinner with Lan Zhan earlier.”

Soon, Lan Wangji arrived at home at 8PM. As much as Lan Wangji wanted to, he didn’t light some incense. He figured that he can calm his heart down from today’s happiness; besides, he had already spent a good deal of them yesterday, so might as well stretch the supply. He put the bread into the fridge, showered, and then chatted with his brother about his outing with Wei Ying. As usual, he started the conversation with a big long message. After a brief chat, Lan Wangji wrote in his diary, then fell asleep at 9PM.

…

…

Lan Wangji groggily opened his eyes, but it was nearly pitch black. He instinctively reached for his phone to check what time it was: 11:59PM. Welp. As more of his brain booted up, he realized he needed to pee. Oh well. He got off from his bed, opened the door, and saw a long-haired figure in the dark apartment who seems to be wearing a skirt, and a puddle at their feet wait Wait WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT…

His remaining half-asleep braincells didn’t take long to connect the dots. It was Wei Ying! IN ONLY A TOWEL! AAAAH!

Bolting off to the bathroom and shutting the door quickly (thankfully he didn’t end up slamming the door AAAAAAAAAAAAH!), Lan Wangji started breathing in and out to calm down his heart as he did his business. When he left the bathroom, the figure was no longer there, and he could see that the light in Wei Ying’s room was on -- it was visible from the gap under the door.

Weeping internally, Lan Wangji took a few seconds to decide on whether he should apologize to Wei Ying, or to wait until tomorrow when he’s feeling less… mushy, embarrassed, the like. It was an accident! He wasn’t trying to look at Wei Ying without his shirt on or anything like that! He really wasn’t!

But neither of them can be blamed. Usually, after showering, they would leave the bathroom after putting some clothes on. However, it can honestly get the clothes wet from the water still in their hair, so it’s only natural for Wei Ying to just get out of the shower with only a towel when Lan Wangji is asleep. But Lan Wangji was just… leaving the room to pee and saw Wei Ying by accident! He didn’t even get to see anything! Ugh…

Oh well, he’ll deal with it when he wakes up in the morning…

…

…

Too late. The moment Lan Wangji’s head hit the pillow, he was invaded by flashbacks of changing in gym class. It was a school trip to the local pool back in the first year of high school, and he remembered… Lan Wangji VIVIDLY REMEMBERED Wei Ying telling him that he “had a nice figure.” Tossing to lie on his stomach and bury his face into his pillow, Lan Wangji could only let out a muffled whine and type the rules of the Lan family home into a hastily-created digital diary entry until he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

After meeting with Mo Xuanyu, Wei Wuxian arrived home at 10:30PM. The lights were off, and Lan Wangji was already asleep. It was fun catching up -- in addition to long talks about each other, Mo Xuanyu also told him about the important and good places to be in the city. Most of it were far away as it was located around where he lived, which is far away from Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s apartment, but he also got more info he and Lan Wangji could use, including the good shops in Chinatown.

After getting home, he didn’t turn the apartment lights on and went straight for his room. He then turned his room’s lights on and went to shower, leaving his pajamas in the room. Lan Zhan’s asleep anyways, so it’s fine to walk around with just a towel after leaving the bathroom. When he got back from showering, he dried his hair and checked his phone -- there were chat messages from his mother about five minutes ago.

Cangse Sanren, “A-Ying!!!”
Cangse Sanren, “How was your outing with your Lan Zhan?”
Wei Wuxian, “Hi Mom. Mom pls”
Wei Changze, “Did you have fun”
Wei Wuxian, “Hi Dad. Yeah, it was fun! We ran into a dog in the park though, but he helped me out.”
Cangse Sanren, “It’s really good that you two are getting along so well now! Although I kind of predicted that since Day 1.”
Wei Wuxian, “You could? I couldn’t.”
Wei Changze, “He told you to your face he missed you. Based on what we know about him up until then, that was supposed to be unrealistic, so there’s obviously an X factor in the equation”
Wei Wuxian, “I think he just mellowed out just like everyone does? Growing up can do a lot to a person”
Cangse Sanren, “Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. Anyways, how did today go? You went to the park?”
Wei Wuxian, “We did, but we went to the head office first to see how long we need to get to the office during morning rush. Since it was too early to go to the shopping centres right away, we stopped by the local park. It’s called Caiyi Park and it’s got a beautiful peony garden. Although uh it’s a hotspot for people to walk their pets, so I don’t think I’m coming back there alone”
Cangse Sanren, “Maybe you can check if there are other parks around?”
Wei Wuxian, “Xuanyu told me that there is another one, but it’s a bit far. I might talk to Lan Zhan about it tomorrow.”
Wei Changze, “Xuanyu? Mo Xuanyu?”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh, I forgot! It’s near the end. Like when we’re about to go home, I saw Xuanyu. I forgot that he’s having an internship program in this city. It’s almost ending though, so I don’t think I’ll be running into him anytime soon.”
Cangse Sanren, “I see… so after you went to the park, where did you go?”

As he laid down on the bed, Wei Wuxian continued to chat with his parents and telling them about the outing and him wanting to show egg-in-a-hole to Lan Wangji the next morning, along with his possible plans for tomorrow after breakfast. He chatted on, and without him realizing it, midnight had passed. After his hour-long chat with his parents, he turned off the lights and went to sleep at 0:14AM.

Meanwhile, when Lan Wangji woke up at 5AM, he woke up tired. He felt as if his brain was dropped from the apartment roof. He wanted to sleep in, but also didn’t want to. Frustrated, he left the room to take out the bread and Wei Ying’s hot sauce from the fridge and, after that, wash his face. When he was done, he didn’t go to shower right away. Instead, he went back into his room and lit some of his incense to meditate for a bit. He could still remember… last night, Wei Ying… urgh. How is he going to face Wei Ying? If Wei Ying doesn’t know it, shouldn’t he admit it regardless?

But even if… even so, it’s okay, right? First off, they’re both men, plus Wei Ying was wearing a towel anyway. After the incense was all burned at about 5:40AM, Lan Wangji finally went to shower. When he was done showering and drying his hair, Wei Ying still hasn’t woken up. But it was not surprising -- he had woken up early yesterday for their trip to the office and slept past midnight.

Suddenly, however, Wei Ying could be heard shrieking from his room. What could… what could be wrong? His heart racing, Lan Wangji opened the door to Wei Ying’s room--

Lan Wangji, “Wei Ying, are you okay??”
Wei Wuxian, “Lan Zhan!”

Seated on his bed wearing his pajamas, Wei Ying had one hand tangled in his hair and the other holding his phone.

Wei Wuxian, “I’m so sorry… I slept through my alarm…”
Lan Wangji, “Oh.”
Wei Wuxian, “You look worried… aheh. Sorry for the uh, false alarm. I just… haaaah… it’s never a good feeling to find out.”
Lan Wangji, “Do you want to sleep in?”
Wei Wuxian yawned, “No need… if this goes on, I’ll be back right where we started… I’m so sleepy though…”
Lan Wangji, “Wash your face.”
Wei Wuxian, “Sounds good. Might as well shower and get some coffee. Ohhhh! Dang, I gotta show you that egg-in-a-hole thing!”

When Wei Wuxian remembered his plan, he brightened up instantly and got off the bed quickly. He left the room after getting his clothes and towel, Lan Wangji following him and shutting the door. After Wei Wuxian washed his face, he took out two slices of bread and two eggs. Lan Wangji watched as he cut holes into each slice and then the name made sense. Wei Ying toasting the bread in the frying pan and cracking the eggs inside it did not come as a surprise; the real surprise was why Lan Wangji never thought of it. But then again his family doesn’t really eat bread. It’s more of an occasional thing.

Once breakfast was over, Wei Wuxian decided to wash the dishes again, but Lan Wangji offered to do it instead because Wei Wuxian had made breakfast. Technically, it wasn’t a lot of work for Wei Wuxian, but he didn’t really want to argue with Lan Zhan. Sweet, precious Lan Zhan. So he relented and went to shower. Really, he felt so blessed to have an angel as a roommate.

When Wei Wuxian was done with showering and drying his hair, he left his room to find that the cleanup had been finished. Lan Zhan was sitting on the dining chair, looking pristine as if he had not done any housework at all, waiting for him like a human Hachiko. Wei Wuxian then grinned before taking the other’s hand in his own and led him to sit together on the couch. What he didn’t know was that Lan Wangji had just freaking exploded because THEY JUST HELD HANDS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wei Wuxian, “So, we have another free day today. Xuanyu told me a lot about this city, so if you want to go out again, there are new places to check out. But if you want to just stay at home, it’s fine too.”
Lan Wangji, “What places?”
Wei Wuxian, “Well… a lot of them are quite far away from here, but there’s one electronic center we can go to. It’s a good place if you need computer stuff or anything like that. There’s also another park, called Qiongqi Park. I’ve never been there, but Xuanyu had been there recently. It’s got a no-pets area, so I kind of want to check it out.”
Lan Wangji, “Do you want to go now?”
Wei Wuxian, “I’m fine either way. Do you want to go now?”
Lan Wangji, “Either way is fine.”

Both of them went silent on the couch for a few seconds.

Wei Wuxian, “Actually, let’s do chores today.”
Lan Wangji, “Agreed.”

They then started by chucking their clothes into the washing machine before proceeding to clean their own rooms. Of course, for Lan Wangji, cleaning his room wasn’t something that would take more than 15 minutes. So he quickly finished up cleaning his room and started sweeping the floor, including Wei Wuxian’s room with the latter’s permission. Kitchen waste such as bones, eggshells, and other food-related scraps were always taken out on the same day, so there was no trash to take out. When Lan Wangji put the broom away, Wei Wuxian was done cleaning his room and went out.

Wei Wuxian, “Lan Zhan? Where you at?”
Lan Wangji, “Putting the broom away.”
Wei Wuxian, “I’ll mop the floor, so can you get the cleaning liquid? I’ll go get the bucket.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

When Lan Wangji returned from the laundry room with cleaning liquid, the radio was on. It was nice to have a little background noise. Wei Ying had likely turned it on because of that. He doesn’t watch TV, nor does Lan Wangji. He knew that whatever Wei Ying wanted to watch is all online, and news are on sites all over the internet, too. Still, it was nice to have some noise while they’re doing housework.

Wei Wuxian then left the bathroom with a bucket of water, and then mixed in the cleaning liquid, “I hope you don’t mind me mopping your floor, Lan Zhan.”
Lan Wangji, “No problem.”

As Wei Wuxian mopped the floor, Lan Wangji sat on the couch to not interfere. Meanwhile, the radio continued making noise. At first, it was pop music, but then the announcer moved over to news.

“Police has been searching for a missing teenage girl. Michelle Jia, aged 16, disappeared following her leaving to attend a friend’s farewell party on…”

Hearing the news, Lan Wangji couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. First, the murders of the men, and now the disappearance of a teenage girl -- wait -- nevermind. Since the news report is in English, there’s no way for him to tell if this is the same Jia as in the Jia family.

“Michelle Jia has a thin build and is of Chinese descent with long black hair and brown eyes. She is about 160cm tall, and she was last sighted leaving the house in a sleeveless shirt and a knee-length skirt. If anyone sees her, contact the police immediately.”

Wei Wuxian’s voice rang out, “Aiyo.”
Lan Wangji, “Should I change the channel?”
Wei Wuxian, “No need, no need, they’ll go back to the music soon, I guess.”

It didn’t take long before Wei Wuxian was finished mopping the floor. After it was all done, he turns the radio off. Given that they had spent 4 consecutive days with each other, it was about time they give each other space and went off to their respective rooms. Lan Wangji took out his guqin and started playing. He didn’t feel like burning incense again, not after he burned a stick in the morning, swept the entire house, and cleaned his room prior to that.

On the other hand, Wei Wuxian opened the Jiang family group chat.

Wei Wuxian, “Hewwo”
Wei Wuxian, “Anyone online?”
Jiang Cheng, “wwx wtf”
Jiang Cheng, “*wth”
Yu Ziyuan, “A-Cheng.”
Jiang Cheng, “Sorry Mom the F and H keys are so close, it was a typo”
Jiang Fengmian, “It’s fine, My Lady. Hello, A-Cheng, A-Xian.”
Jiang Yanli, “I’m online! ^^ how are you doing, A-Xian?”
Wei Wuxian, “I’m good! I just cleaned the apartment with Lan Zhan.”
Jiang Cheng, “Whoa, look who’s married.”
Wei Wuxian, “JC, not you too pls”
Jiang Fengmian, “Too?”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh! I haven’t told you. Last night while I was out with Lan Zhan, I met Mo Xuanyu. He thought Lan Zhan was my boyfriend!”
Jiang Yanli, “Ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”
Jiang Cheng, “Sis pls”
Jiang Fengmian, “( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)”
Wei Wuxian, “ermahgerd”
Jiang Yanli, “Seriously though, Lan er-gongzi changed a lot. It’s really surprising. I wonder what’s going on.”
Wei Wuxian, “Pardon?”
Jiang Yanli, ”I mean… he went from hitting you to this. That’s a very big change.”
Wei Wuxian, “Eh, he probably mellowed out during his university years.”
Jiang Yanli, “I can’t help but think that there’s something more, though. Have you talked to him about it?”
Wei Wuxian, “Not really, I figured that I shouldn’t push him.”
Jiang Fengmian, “Communication is a really important part in a relationship. You should go for it.”
Yu Ziyuan, “Seconded.”
Wei Wuxian, “I know, it’s just that… when I first met him, when he said he missed me, he looked really sad”
Wei Wuxian, “Okay, maybe not exactly that”
Wei Wuxian, “It’s more like… how do I say it?”
Wei Wuxian, “I could just see him putting his heart out there for me to see, and how… pained he was”
Wei Wuxian, “I figured that it’s more likely than not a sensitive issue”
Wei Wuxian, “He kept everything I gave him, a lot of which I forgot ever giving to him. I was happy, but it’s also… kind of sad?”
Wei Wuxian, “There’s an air of melancholy about that folder”
Wei Wuxian, “I don’t know, it’s just something you have to feel when you’re right there”
Wei Wuxian, “And we’re already very comfortable with each other right now and I don’t want to tip that balance just yet”
Jiang Fengmian, “Hmmm”
Jiang Fengmian, “The way I see it though, you’re confused”
Jiang Fengmian, “Like the rest of us”
Jiang Yanli, “Sorry Dad, but you’ll need to count me out :D I’m sure Lan er-gongzi actually really really likes A-Xian.”
Yu Ziyuan, “A-Li has a point.”
Wei Wuxian, “What? How? I just think that he’s started socializing like the average person, honestly…”
Jiang Yanli, “I am just speaking from experience ;)”
Jiang Cheng, “Oh. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”
Wei Wuxian, “Hahahahahaha… you can’t say for sure. Anyways, enough about me. How are you all doing?”
Jiang Cheng, “The usual. Still job hunting, although I’ve made some progress. I’m just hoping it leads somewhere…”

Meanwhile, after he was done playing his guqin, Lan Wangji messaged his brother.

Lan Wangji, “Good afternoon, Brother. Are you well? Today Wei Ying and I are just staying home. He showed me how to make egg-in-a-hole this morning. It was so simple, but for some reason it’s somewhat amusing that I have never thought of something like that before. He cut a hole into a slice of bread, toasted it in a frying pan, and broke an egg into the hole.

It’s quite good, although I can’t shake off the feeling that there are better ideas for a quick breakfast. I haven’t found a solution for that yet, though. Perhaps I should look into it later. After breakfast, we did housework today. We just finished up. Right now we’re just having our own “alone time.” How are you doing?

Reply to me anytime. No need to rush.

Wangji”

While he waited for his brother to reply, he cycled through his photo gallery to browse the selfies he had taken with Wei Ying. Wei Ying was the one who was more used to doing this, so he was the one who took the photos and sent them to Lan Wangji. His heart swelled as he saw the photos -- he always, always wanted something like this. Perhaps, when they go out, they should look for a photo frame and get the photos printed. Or maybe that should be done once they get their first paycheck…

Lan Xichen, “Hello there, Wangji. ^^ it’s good to know that you’re getting along well with each other and you’re both giving the space the other needs. About egg-in-a-hole, I know Da Ge and A-Yao do it occasionally, especially A-Yao. But in the end, I prefer rice over bread, haha.”
Lan Xichen, “I’m doing well. I’m on lunch break right now.”
Lan Wangji, “Am I disturbing you?”
Lan Xichen, “No, not at all! ^^ it’s always good to talk to you.”

Soon, it was lunchtime. Both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji left their rooms, and they cooked together, with the latter teaching the former. As they ate, Wei Wuxian was silent. Usually, he would chatter and Lan Wangji would listen, but this time he’s thinking about Jiang Fengmian’s advice to talk to Lan Wangji regarding…

Lan Wangji, “Wei Ying?”
Wei Wuxian, “O-oh. Yeah? What is it? You don’t usually speak up while eating…”
Lan Wangji, “There is something on your mind.”
Wei Wuxian, “Ah.”
Lan Wangji, “If there’s anything bothering you, you can talk to me. I will listen.”
Wei Wuxian, “Aheheh… I know, I just… I don’t know how to go about it.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

Heaving a sigh of relief, Wei Wuxian felt his heart swell with affection. He couldn’t help but recall the patient Hanguang-jun from high school who would tutor students even way past school hours, even past club hours. From what little of the Lan Zhan from high school he could remember, Wei Wuxian could tell that behind the sharp icicles was a truly kind person. He was just annoying enough to earn his ire at the time. And now… now…

Even as they washed the dishes, Wei Wuxian continued being silent, all lost in thought. What should he say to Lan Zhan? Wouldn’t he be moving a little too fast? They’ve just known each other for about 4-5 days. A heart-to-heart would be way too early.

After they were done with the dishes, Wei Wuxian returned to his room and took out his tarot deck from his box of “magic stuff.” He didn’t really care about bringing it, but he didn’t want Jiang Cheng to have to deal with explaining its existence to Madam Yu. Uncle Jiang would be more tolerant of it. Madam Yu, not so much. But still, he’s thankful he brought that deck with him.

He then started shuffling the cards. He doesn’t usually read for himself, but now there’s not a lot he could do. He’d consult his parents, but he’d rather wait until they’re online later. Right now, he intended to use a 3-card spread to tackle the situation. The first card to assess his situation, the second card to assess Lan Zhan’s current state, and the last card for advice for Wei Wuxian himself.

After the three cards were drawn, he flipped them over, revealing the first card to be The Hermit reversed, the second card to be the Page of Cups upright, and the last card to be the… Four of Wands upright. Upon seeing the last card, Wei Wuxian damn near screamed. It’s a very domestic card that can either symbolize a happy household, or a wedding!

His head spun -- it’s way too vague! Right now they’re already LIVING the upright Four of Wands, what with having a harmonious home life and all. Is it a message to continue the way they are without making any changes or tipping the current balance? Or is it a message to… take things further? Is there even a “further” to take this to? Or is the card basically saying, “you’re living together with him not just because you happen to rent the same apartment, but both of you are basically more than just roommates and are companions that should be open and communicative with each other”???????

Unsure which message was the one, Wei Wuxian drew a clarifier for the advice card, and got The High Priestess. It was then that Wei Wuxian shrieked for real in annoyance. That card is a card of self-reflection and tuning in to one’s inner voice. His deck was sassing him! “Think about it yourself,” it said. Then what was the point of the clarifier card??? He needed advice, that was why he read…

Heaving a sigh, he looked at the spread and grudgingly admitted that the deck had a point in sassing him and telling him to think again. The reversed Hermit was right there, a glaring sign that he shouldn’t be keeping this issue to himself. Lan Zhan is doing good -- it was obvious that moving in with Wei Wuxian and reuniting with him was a happy, happy surprise, and the Page of Cups only confirmed it.

And he’s very attentive, listening to whatever Wei Wuxian said, paying attention to him, noticing everything that’s going on with him… really, how could he not trust Lan Zhan? More likely than not, it’s Lan Zhan who wanted to tell him how he felt and what was going on with him when they were separated. No, it was Wei Wuxian who was “hermit-ing” himself to his detriment. What is he afraid of?

Cleaning up the deck, he breathed in and tried to come up with how to start the conversation later...

Chapter Text

Once Wei Wuxian cleaned out the deck, he still couldn’t shake the weight off his throat. He couldn’t just… it’s not that easy. There’s this bad feeling he couldn’t shake off. Perhaps the advice cards were really just telling him to maintain the harmony (Four of Wands), and to listen to his heart (The High Priestess). And his heart is saying to not bring it up. At least not in a straightforward way. He’ll need to find out gradually.

The way he sees it, that… issue, is a weight buried deeply inside Lan Zhan’s heart. Wei Wuxian can’t just dig it out so easily. It’s not like digging something out of the ground, but more like removing something surgically. It has to be done carefully to not hurt the patient further. But he… needs to tell Lan Zhan that he’s fine now, somehow. He’d worried him earlier. He’d knock on his door and tell him everything’s fine, but it would be awkward…

Sighing, Wei Wuxian started playing music on his phone to calm his mind down. After a few songs, the shuffle hit Adele’s “Hello.” He listened to it like with all the previous songs, but the moment the vocal started, he felt as if something hit him like a brick. He listened on, and when the refrein played, his heart sank in realization. The song played on, and he started shedding tears.

When the song ended, he turned off the music player and buried his face into his pillow. He really should’ve realized. All this time Lan Zhan had thought that he had lost Wei Wuxian forever. As far as Lan Zhan knew, he just called Wei Wuxian’s number again and again, and his calls were never answered. And this is after Wei Wuxian stopped talking to him sometime in the second year of high school, where they weren’t in the same class.

They weren’t in the same class in the third year of high school either. But they met, once. It was after he fought Wen Chao. Wen Chao was harassing Mianmian after school; he wanted to follow her home, and Wei Wuxian refused to let it continue. Lan Zhan heard the commotion and called a teacher. By the time the fight was broken off, Wei Wuxian had gotten beat pretty badly and had to be taken to the infirmary.

He could still remember Lan Zhan visiting him after the nurse was done. He knocked on the door, and Wei Wuxian told him to come in, thinking it was Jiang Cheng. The door creaked as Lan Zhan opened it gently, and he peeked out from the opening before entering the room proper. Wei Wuxian remembered only being able to let out a soft, surprised, “Lan Zhan?” at the time as the other sat beside him.

Wei Wuxian could no longer remember the exact words said, but Lan Zhan had asked him if he was okay, and then asked if they could go home together. He remembered being surprised, and without thinking much about it, answered that there was no need, Jiang Cheng was there to walk him home. Soon after that, Jiang Cheng did arrive and told Lan Zhan not to worry about him, before they walked home together.

None of them could be blamed at the time. What happened was something… normal. No insults were thrown, veiled or not, there were no bad intentions. But in hindsight, Wei Wuxian felt that he should have accepted that offer. That was the last time they saw each other again before they graduated from high school. Hell, that was the last time they met and talked before they reunited in this apartment.

At this point, Wei Wuxian had no need to ask what happened. Just empathizing with how lonely Lan Zhan must have felt after that already crushed him. He was wracked with sobs on his bed, the pillow getting soaked with tears. After a few long minutes of crying into his pillow, Wei Wuxian got up from the bed with a sigh. He should really wash his face…

He then left the room to go to the bathroom. The radio was still on… wasn’t it turned off during lunch? He can’t really remember. Maybe he forgot to turn it off--

“Have you ever felt like you were trapped? Like you’re stuck in a situation that you can’t do anything about? Maybe it’s too late and the time for doing something was over a long time ago…”

Huh, probably some mindfulness program or something. Either way, they’re not using it anytime soon. Wei Wuxian then walked over to the radio and turned it off before washing his face in the bathroom. When Wei Wuxian was back in his room, he was not sure what to do. He didn’t feel like gaming. He’d already chatted with the Jiangs. His parents are offline, and he just talked to them last night…

Oh wait, he hadn’t traded numbers with Lan Zhan… it slipped his mind -- their minds, because they were almost always together all this time.

He left his room again to knock on Lan Zhan’s door.

Lan Wangji opened the door, “Wei Ying?”
Wei Wuxian, “Ahh, um. I just remembered we haven’t traded numbers.”
Lan Wangji, “Oh.”

As Lan Wangji went back into his room to take his phone, Wei Wuxian waited in the doorway. Two deliberate missed calls was all it took, and they easily got each other’s contacts.

Wei Wuxian, “I can’t believe it slipped my mind, hahah. Anyways, I’m… kind of bored. Are you free?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn. Are you feeling better?”
Wei Wuxian, “Yeah. It’s just a stray thought. It’s all good now. You play the guqin, right? Well… I play the dizi. I brought my flute with me. Wanna play together?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

Grinning, Wei Wuxian darted off to his room and fetched the flute before returning to Lan Wangji’s room. Both of them then started playing together. At some point, Wei Wuxian suggested that they record themselves playing and upload the resulting song to YouTube, to which Lan Wangji agreed. After a few hours of practicing, playing, and recording, they finished up a few minutes around dinnertime. Once dinner and cleanup was all done, they proceeded to check the final recording.

The melody of the guqin and dizi sounded just as beautiful as when they played it, but there were… crackles? Noise? It probably came from the wind, but… it sounded like creaking. Groaning. Either way, it was quiet when they played. There shouldn’t be any background noise. Both of them were confused, to say the least.

Wei Wuxian, “Strange… it never happened before.”
Lan Wangji, “When was the last time you recorded?”
Wei Wuxian, “A few weeks before I moved. And I didn’t drop my phone or anything. It wasn’t all that windy outside either. Or maybe we just didn’t realize it?”
Lan Wangji, “Maybe.”
Wei Wuxian, “I’ll try to remove the noise. If I can’t, I hope you’re fine with recording again…”
Lan Wangji, “It’s fine. I enjoyed playing with Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian just chuckled and smiled, “Okay then… anyways, what do you want to do tomorrow? Do you want to stay home or do you want to go out?”
Lan Wangji, “Either way is okay.”
Wei Wuxian laughed, “Same. I guess we’ll just decide on it after breakfast?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

The both of them then showered, with Lan Wangji going first since Wei Wuxian decided to fix the audio file on the computer. When the both of them were done, Lan Wangji browsed the web for places to visit in the city while Wei Wuxian continued to fix the audio file. Unfortunately, the distortions were impossible to remove. But still, Wei Wuxian decided against deleting it until he can get a new, better recording. It’s still worth a listen when he feels like it. Soon, he went to bed.

…

…

When Wei Wuxian was woken up before the alarm the next morning at 5:40AM, he groaned and shut it off. It was actually a very welcome awakening. He had the displeasure of seeing himself tied up in a game center prize display case. Behind the glass, struggling, bound and gagged in plain sight, yet nobody helped or even made a scene… assuming there was anyone in the first place. It was chilling, and he was thankful he woke up. Technically, he has 20 more minutes to sleep in, but Wei Wuxian didn’t want the nightmare to continue where it left off. He really, really wanted to shower…

Leaving his room with wobbly, sleepy steps, Wei Wuxian headed to the bathroom. Lan Zhan isn’t outside and there were no signs of him being outside. Maybe he had just showered and was drying his hair. The bathroom door was slightly ajar, and Wei Wuxian pulled the door handle… only for the door to slam shut from the inside.

Howling in surprise, he immediately turned to bolt to his room. Egads, Lan Zhan was inside??? Wo de tian holy shit! Ohhhh nooooo, how is he supposed to face him later??? He’ll just apologize. Whatever the reason why Lan Zhan didn’t keep the door closed, it’s for him to think about later. Maybe sleeping in is okay after all. Wei Wuxian turned the alarm back on again, and laid back down on the bed.

Unaware to Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji was in the middle of drying his hair when he heard Wei Wuxian howl. He opened the door to look, only to see Wei Wuxian returning to his room. Was something wrong? He approached the room and knocked on the door.

Lan Wangji, “Wei Ying?”
Wei Wuxian, “Ahh!”
Lan Wangji, “Is something wrong?”
Wei Wuxian, “I uh, give me a moment…”

His heart pounding, Wei Wuxian was clutching his pillow when he opened the door, hoping it would calm himself down a bit.

Wei Wuxian opened the door, “Ummmm…”
Lan Wangji stared at Wei Wuxian, waiting for him to say something.
Wei Wuxian, “I uh, sorry. I didn’t know you were in the bathroom just now…”
Lan Wangji raised his eyebrows, “I was not.”
Wei Wuxian, “What?”
Lan Wangji, “I was in my room drying my hair.”
Wei Wuxian, “Ahh… I see… ahahahahaha… probably the wind…”
Lan Wangji, “Maybe.”
Wei Wuxian, “I think… I think I’ll go shower now…”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

As Lan Wangji stepped aside and left, he wondered why Wei Ying woke up so early. He might ask him about it later. Wei Wuxian, on the other hand, turned the alarm off, grabbed his clothes, and went to shower. He opened the bathroom door without issues this time, and started showering.

Soon after Wei Wuxian was done drying his hair, he left his room, and smiled when he saw Lan Zhan sitting on the dining chair, waiting for him. He smelled of sandalwood -- he probably meditated or something while he was waiting for Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian, “So, what’s for breakfast?”
Lan Wangji got up from his chair, “Rice noodles.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh?”
Lan Wangji, “I had been thinking of ways of making a quick breakfast. Rice noodles only need to be steeped in hot broth for only a few minutes.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh yeah, that’s true. Good idea, and the cleanup is less troublesome too.”

Thankfully, they had bought rice noodles from Chinatown a few days ago, and there were other ingredients they could use. It was done quickly, and it wasn’t long before they washed the bowls and pot.

Wei Wuxian, “It really was fast!”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “Although I’m still kind of wondering whether I should still skip breakfast once we start working.”
Lan Wangji, “Shouldn’t.”
Wei Wuxian, “Probably… I guess we’ll see. For now it’s good to know and remember these things, heheh.”
Lan Wangji, “You woke up early today.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh… um. I did, yeah. I had a nightmare.”
Lan Wangji furrowed his brows. That wasn’t good…
Wei Wuxian, “It’s just a dream.”

After cleanup was done, both of them sat across from each other by the dining table.

Wei Wuxian, “So what are our plans for today? I uh, we can try recording again. The audio can’t be saved. The weird effects are still there. But if you want to go out somewhere, it’s okay too.”
Lan Wangji, “There is a park you want to visit.”
Wei Wuxian, “Well, yeah, but it’s not a pressing need or anything. Do you want to go there?”
Lan Wangji, “I have no preference.”

Both of them stayed silent for a few minutes as they thought more about what to do.

Wei Wuxian, “What do you usually do at home when there’s no homework or nothing to study?”
Lan Wangji, “Chores. Play guqin. Listening to music. Meditate. What about you?”
Wei Wuxian, “Hmmmmm… draw? Play the dizi? Play games? Chat? Everyone’s offline though. It’s still, what, 6:30?”
Lan Wangji, “6:24.”
Wei Wuxian, “Right. Still early. If we’re going anywhere, maybe we should go after the morning rush?”
Lan Wangji, “Agreed.”
Wei Wuxian, “By the way, have you ever watched movies or game playthroughs before?”
Lan Wangji, “Game play… throughs?”
Wei Wuxian, “People record themselves playing games. Like, if you don’t have the game or want to see this or that event in the game that you can’t trigger, you watch those videos.”
Lan Wangji, “I have not.”
Wei Wuxian, “I see… wanna try watching one?”
Lan Wangji, “You said you play games.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh. Oooohhhh. You want to watch me play?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “Aha, ha… okay. I gotta warn you, though, most of my games are horror games. I do have a few normal people games, but I mostly play horror.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

Both of them then went into Wei Wuxian’s room, where the latter booted up his computer. There was only one chair, so Lan Wangji took his chair to sit beside Wei Wuxian while the computer booted up. Soon the computer booted up and Wei Wuxian showed Lan Wangji his game library.

Wei Wuxian, “So, which one do you want me to play?”
Lan Wangji, “Whichever you enjoy playing the most.”

Wei Wuxian’s smile froze for a moment. His favourite game happened to be one of the scariest new games for the year…

Wei Wuxian, “Are you sure? It’s… very scary, though. I mean, I’m not scared. I’ll be fine. I’ve cleared it several times. But are you sure you’ll be okay?”
Lan Wangji, “Okay.”
Wei Wuxian laughed, “Okay then.”

The game was soon booted up and the title screen is visible. The game is titled “Scars on My Palms.” Lan Wangji couldn’t help but feel that it doesn’t sound like a scary title. Well, not so scary. The sinister feeling is still there. He watched silently as Wei Ying chose “New Game.” After that, the menu changed to the difficulty menu. There were four choices: “Easy,” “Normal,” “Hard,” and “Grandmaster.”

Wei Wuxian, “Which difficulty do you want?”
Lan Wangji, “Whichever you like the most.”
Wei Wuxian, “Hahaha, okay then.”

When Wei Ying chose “Grandmaster,” which was no doubt the “harder than hard” difficulty, Lan Wangji was not surprised. He then watched the opening cutscene: a first person view of the player character standing on the edge of a cliff, being grabbed by a young master from a cultivational sect wearing white and red sun-patterned robes. That young master, likely the antagonist, ranted on about how the place underneath -- called Yiling Burial Mounds -- is impossible to escape from whether you are human, animal, or spirit. After a few more words and threats, the player character was pushed inside.

After the cutscene, the tutorial commences. But Wei Ying paused the game to explain the mechanics to Lan Wangji.

Wei Wuxian, “See, this game has three endings: a bad ending, a normal ending, and a good ending. Which ending do you want me to get?”
Lan Wangji, “The good ending.”
Wei Wuxian, “Hahah! Easier said than done. See, this game is what can be called exploration horror. Yes, your implied goal is to escape Burial Mounds, but you are not told how to do it or where to go. You are taught a few game mechanics, but you’ll need to explore. Along the way, fierce corpses, hostile ghosts, and monsters will jump you. You can either run and hide, or fight. If you want the normal or good ending, you have to fight as little as possible. The more you fight, the closer you are to the bad ending.”
Lan Wangji raised his eyebrows, “How?”
Wei Wuxian, “Because if you fight, you basically control the enemies’ resentful energy and absorb it into yourself to grow stronger.”
Lan Wangji, “I understand.”
Wei Wuxian, “Basically, the good ending run is much scarier. Are you fine with it?”
Lan Wangji, “Yes.”
Wei Wuxian, “Okay, let’s do this!”

Technically, the game’s tutorial can be skipped, but Wei Wuxian played through it anyway so that Lan Wangji can understand the game mechanics. As Wei Wuxian cleared more objectives, the player character would make mental notes, which would then be accessible in the game’s “journal” menu. Sometimes memory flashback movies will be unlocked and placed there as well.
Lan Wangji watched as the player character’s backstory unfolded. The mental notes made in the monster-less portion of the tutorial stage already revealed that the player character is the head disciple of a big sect, but...

Lan Wangji, “Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian, “Hmm?”
Lan Wangji, “Why does he not use spiritual energy?”
Wei Wuxian, “Hehe, that’s a huge spoiler. Do you want me to spoil it to you now?”
Lan Wangji, “No.”

The first monster soon appeared. It was very out of nowhere, and Lan Wangji tensed up before leaning closer towards Wei Wuxian, who realized it. It didn’t faze him because he’s played the game on Grandmaster difficulty a few times. In fact, it was so cute wo de tian holy shit. Lan Zhan is so cute…

Lan Wangji, on the other hand, was panicking inside. He never had much exposure to horror. He’s not used to the genre. And now… wow, that was… Wei Ying is the one playing yet he’s the one terrified! As the game continued on, Wei Ying kept finding signal flares -- likely from long-dead cultivators in the place -- and crafting it into spirit flares.

Lan Wangji, “What are those for?”
Wei Wuxian, “You have to fire a minimum of 33 of those things to get the good ending. If you don’t, then you will just get the normal ending. See, signal flares can be used to help you fight the monsters. Spirit flares have no practical use outside of plot stuff, so making these is a big sacrifice gameplay-wise. And we have to make at least 33 of them, which means that we have to find 33 signal flares and the other materials too.”
Lan Wangji, “Mmm…”

As Wei Wuxian progressed further into the game, the story unfolded. It was revealed that the player character was forced to defend himself with resentful energy because he had sacrificed his own golden core to be given to his younger disciple brother. Meanwhile, a lot of running, hiding, and item crafting ensued. Fortunately, Wei Wuxian is experienced with the game, so he knew where to go, where the scripted scares are, and the fastest ways to get an enemy lose interest in the player.

Wei Wuxian would chuckle and laugh whenever he saw or felt Lan Zhan reacting in fear. Lan Zhan would sometimes cling to his arm, hide his face, or whisper “run run run run,” or “turn left turn left,” or “hide hide hide,” or “ohhh no,” or “ohhh my gods,” “go away monster,” and the like. It’s so funny!

Lan Wangji, “Why are you laughing.”
Wei Wuxian, “Because you’re funny!”
Lan Wangji, “Mean.”
Wei Wuxian laughed, “It’s not mean! It’s normal! Later I’ll show you reactions on YouTube. It’s so funny watching other people lose their shit playing horror games, seriously.”

Eventually, Wei Wuxian made it into the final area of the game: the Blood Pool. The player character quickly got sucked into the blood pool, but before he was absorbed completely, another cultivator in white mounting a silver sword snatched him up. The first-person view made it clear that it was a character from the journal menu. Lan Wangji recalled that it was the “loner prodigy” from another sect, whom the player character “used to tease a lot, he would probably hate (the player character) by now.” And yet…

After that movie, Wei Wuxian leaned back and told Lan Wangji to just sit back and watch the good ending, and he did. The first person view had changed into third person view, and he can see the protagonist now. He was being taken by the cultivator in white to the latter’s sect, where he was looked after. It was implied through the flashback movies, but the good ending movie just confirmed that the cultivator in white never hated the protagonist and had in fact grown to love him.

Why did the 33 spirit flares needed to be lit to achieve the ending? Because the cultivator in white had been using his guqin to contact spirits to look for the protagonist, and the spirit flares signaled to said spirits, which were able to locate him. In the end, the protagonist and the cultivator in white became cultivation partners, and through that the protagonist was able to restore his golden core. The epilogue CG slideshow revealed that about 10 years later, they lived peacefully together in the cultivator in white’s sect, even adopting a son.

Wei Wuxian, “Well, that’s the good ending. You like it?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “I can show you the bad and normal endings if you want.”
Lan Wangji, “Are you going to play all over again?”
Wei Wuxian, “Nope, that’s what YouTube playthroughs are for. They’re unlocked in the Gallery section, but it’s not complete without the boss fights. The good ending route just now is the only one without a boss fight. Which one do you want to be played first?”
Lan Wangji, “Normal.”

Wei Wuxian then quit the game to open his web browser. A quick search helped them find a final boss + ending compilation video without commentary. It happened to show the ending in good → normal → bad order. Wei Wuxian skipped the good ending, and let the normal ending section play.

In the normal ending route, the blood from the pool pursued the protagonist, intent on consuming the living human. The protagonist then had to keep running. There were no monsters on his path, and he only stopped in front of a grove of black bamboo plants, where he broke off a piece of bamboo and made a makeshift flute out of it. The boss fight was the protagonist controlling the blood pool with the flute, with a similar mechanic to normally controlling the monsters’ resentful energy.

At the end of the boss fight, the protagonist, now shown in third person view, managed to leave the Burial Mounds, staggering all the way. He kept himself alive, traveling on foot, until he arrived to his sect, which was being rebuilt after it was nearly eradicated by the cultivators of the sun sect. After he stayed alive long enough to see his surviving disciple brother and disciple sister, he died after saying his last words. The strain of controlling so much resentful energy from the blood pool without building up his tolerance to it was what killed him.

The epilogue slideshow showed that 10 years later, the protagonist was reincarnated as the second son of his disciple sister. Being born in a more peaceful era since the tyrannical sun sect was defeated, the ending is a hopeful one for the protagonist. As the slideshow started fading to black, Lan Wangji couldn’t help but wonder what kind of “normal” ending this is. It’s so sad! Then what of the bad ending?

The video then got to the bad ending pre-boss fight cutscene. The blood pool absorbed the protagonist, but he refused to take it lying down. Determined to survive and avenge his sect, he started fighting from the inside, subduing monster after monster. It was an intense boss fight, and after it was over, the movie played. Like with the previous movies, the protagonist was shown in third person view.

He climbed out of the blood pool, and, being disheveled after the intense fight, his ponytail came undone. Instead of tying it back, he tied his hair in a half ponytail instead, and when he looked up, there was an evil smirk on his face, and his eyes glowed red. After a brief fade to black, the movie continued to depict the protagonist assisting his sect in the war against the sun sect. Instead of using normal cultivation, he used the demonic cultivation he learned throughout the game, accompanied by a black bamboo flute. His army of corpses devastated the sun sect. It was a very cathartic ending.  

The epilogue slideshow, however, overturned the catharsis and seemed to punish the player instead. It showed the protagonist losing control of his powers, becoming the new enemy of the entire cultivation world, and eventually getting killed by the disciple brother to whom he donated his golden core.

Wei Wuxian, “So, which ending do you like the most?”
Lan Wangji, “The good ending.”
Wei Wuxian, “I know, right? Me too. But can you believe that the bad ending is actually the most popular one because a lot of people think it’s “badass?” The game devs are even making a sequel out of it because of popular demand! So the bad ending is canon and the good ending isn’t. Argh.”
Lan Wangji, “Canon?”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh. Um. Canon basically means that it’s an official part of the story. If something is not canon, that means it’s not really considered part of the main storyline. Just a possibility or an alternate universe, basically.”

Feeling satisfied after all that, Lan Wangji took out his phone to look at the clock: It’s 11:30AM. Almost time for lunch. About 5 hours had passed since they played! And Wei Ying went through it and cleared the objectives so fast…

Wei Wuxian, “Say, do you want to have lunch and then go out?”
Lan Wangji, “Where to?”
Wei Wuxian, “The park, and then maybe the electronic center. Do you know any other places?”
Lan Wangji, “Nothing of interest.”
Wei Wuxian, “Okay then!”

Once they left the room to cook lunch, the telephone suddenly started ringing. Was it a neighbour? Were they being too noisy? Without hesitation, Wei Wuxian darted towards the phone.

Wei Wuxian, “Hello?”

There was no answer. The only sounds coming from the phone was static and something that sounded like agonized wheezing.

Wei Wuxian raised his eyebrows in confusion, “Hello? Hello?”

The sounds coming from the phone didn’t change. In fact, the wheezing seemed to get louder. Sighing, Wei Wuxian hung up.

Lan Wangji, “Who is that?”
Wei Wuxian, “I don’t know. Probably a wrong number call. Let’s go make lunch.”

Chapter Text

Lunch was a normal affair. It was as pleasant as usual, with both of them cooking together. Just now, watching Wei Ying play games, and then cooking together… and yesterday, doing chores together… yeah, this is a life that Lan Wangji feels he can get used to. He can see himself doing all this, living like this, for the next… 5? 10? 15? 20 years? Whatever.

After cleanup was done, both of them relaxed on the couch as Wei Ying showed Lan Wangji reaction videos for the game he had just watched Wei Ying play. Seeing familiar scares and many, many people screaming or jumping in the compilation videos was entertaining. Wei Wuxian could hear Lan Zhan softly snorting in amusement or holding back chuckles. Really, it was heartwarming to see Lan Zhan, who used to be a fuddy-duddy, emote this much.

Wei Wuxian, “See? I told you it’s funny.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “So please believe me, it really was funny when you got scared.”
Lan Wangji didn’t say anything, but turned to look at Wei Wuxian with a gaze that basically said “still not funny.”
Wei Wuxian cackled, “So, you wanna go out or do you want to watch videos and play games at home?”
Lan Wangji didn’t say anything, but took out his phone to look at the time.

It’s 12:04PM. It’s a good time to go outside. But it’s also an okay time to stay inside. They’ve spent 5 hours on video games, though, so it would be better to go outside…

Lan Wangji, “It’s better to go outside.”
Wei Wuxian, “Ahahah! That’s true, it was a long gaming session. I haven’t played games with anyone for that long for some time. You’re so fun to be around, heh heh.”
Lan Wangji, “You like watching me get scared.”
Wei Wuxian laughed, “Hahahahahaha… well, you’re not wrong… ehhh? What’s with that face? You want revenge, ah? Bring it on, it’s gonna take a lot to scare me. But please no dogs, just please no.”
Lan Wangji, “No dogs.”
Wei Wuxian, “Good Lan Zhan. Yes. No dogs. Ever since I got chased off by one as a kid, I can’t stand them at all. A stray dog chased me. It was so big and I was so small… I climbed up a tree and had to stay up there for hours until my parents got home.”
Lan Wangji was silent for a few moments before he responded, “I see.”
Wei Wuxian, “I hope you don’t… mind me freaking whenever I see a dog, though. I don’t know why. I tried, but it’s an instinctive thing I can’t seem to get over with. It’s gotten better, but… well, I still freak out.”
Lan Wangji, “Will protect.”
Wei Wuxian could only give Lan Wangji a wide smile.

Both of them then left the apartment, locking the doors behind them. Their first destination was Qiongqi Park, which was more convenient to get to from their apartment. All it takes is one long ride. Thankfully, while lunchtime is not very quiet, it’s not very crowded either, so Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji could sit beside each other.

Wei Wuxian, “Y’know, I’m pretty curious about this place. Xuanyu went there, but he couldn’t explore it much because he came when it was almost closing time.”
Lan Wangji, “When does the park close?”
Wei Wuxian, “5PM-ish. It’s still 12ish, so we should be getting there at 1:30PM at most.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “Although I don’t feel like going home at the same time as the evening rush… are you fine with having dinner in the electronic center?”
Lan Wangji, “We’ll see.”
Wei Wuxian, “You’re right. Rice noodles can also function as a quick dinner. Guess it depends on how tired we get when we reach home… hey, actually, do you want to play games after we get home?”

A chill ran down Lan Wangji’s spine. Playing horror games at night??? Watching Wei Ying play early in the morning was already really scary! Wei Ying!!! Please no!!! Lan Wangji might have trouble sleeping if… if…!!!

Lan Wangji, “The same game?”
Wei Wuxian, “Not necessarily. I uh, I take it you have never played video games?”
Lan Wangji, “Not… really.”
Wei Wuxian, “We can always play the normal people games. I’ll just get it installed in your laptop and then we’re all set.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “Or you can play normal people games and I watch.”
Lan Wangji, “Is… that okay?”
Wei Wuxian, “Sure is. Like, I’ve played the game. I know it inside out. So it’s gonna be fun watching someone play it blind.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn… what kind of game?”
Wei Wuxian, “Maybe you wanna start with a dating sim?”
Lan Wangji tilted his head slightly in questioning.
Wei Wuxian, “So it’s like… you play as yourself, and you try to win the affections of the girl or guy of your choice.”
Lan Wangji’s eyebrows twitched, as if in disapproval.
Wei Wuxian, “Aw, Lan Zhan, no need to be so serious, hahahah! Seriously, some of the stories can be really good!”
Lan Wangji, “Okay.”

Soon, Qiongqi Park could be seen from the bus window. Mo Xuanyu had shown Wei Wuxian photos of it, so he knew to press the bell to stop the bus. As they went near the entrance, they noticed that there were a lot of… families with babies and toddlers, young couples, and even old married couples. It seems that, compared to Caiyi Park, Qiongqi Park is a more popular recreation spot. But why… why this kind of audience?

At least the admission is free, like Caiyi Park. It’s likely part of the reason why. The bus had passed by a residential area on the way, and getting to Qiongqi Park was also convenient for Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji despite the long bus ride. Perhaps it’s more because of convenience?

But then the moment they stepped in, they found out why. There were a lot more attractions in the park. They noticed that Caiyi Park had a more low-key aesthetic, emphasizing the beauty of the flowers, the calm aura from the big lake surrounding it, and overall having a more serene feel to it. Qiongqi Park looks like a good spot to have fun in.

There were playgrounds, where the children are happily playing under their parents’ supervision. Even outside the playground sites, there were swings placed in a few areas around the park. Swings for one person, bench swings for two people, a set of two swings… the young couples mainly play around in the swings.

Besides toys, there was also a… koi wishing pond. Apparently, it’s a more environmentally friendly hybrid between a koi pond and a wishing well. How it works is that visitors buy fish food and make a wish before feeding the fish. It’s funny how it ended up working out, because the principle is the same: people spend money to make a wish, even if it’s just coins. But instead of coins being left all over the bottom of the “well,” it’s fish getting fed and the administrators actually making money. Koi fish have positive connotations as well, so it all works out.

Wei Wuxian, “This is actually pretty neat. You wanna try?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

Following the eco-friendly concept of the well, the food pellets weren’t sold in plastic packets, but rather there is a big container of it and there were smaller reusable plastic cup-like things to scatter the pellets with. A cup of pellets was quite cheap, so both of them bought one each. They waited for a bit to make their wishes before feeding the fish, although Lan Wangji was the one who fed the fish first.

Wei Wuxian, “Ehhh? You finished faster than me? That’s a surprise. Lan Zhan, what did you wish for?”
Lan Wangji opened his mouth to speak, but said nothing for a few seconds before responding, “Secret.”
Wei Wuxian, “Awwww, Lan Zhan ah. Come on, you can tell me. Aren’t we already so close?”
Lan Wangji, “Yes. Very close.”

He was… totally not expecting that response. Wei Wuxian’s grin disappeared, and was replaced by a shocked expression. His mouth formed an “O” shape not unlike the koi in the pond. Well, he should have been expecting it, given how much Lan Zhan had changed, but still…

Lan Wangji, “But still a secret.”
Wei Wuxian still couldn’t resist teasing Lan Wangji, “Aheheheheheh… shy? Awwww. Okay then. What about… I tell mine, and then you tell me yours?”
Lan Wangji was silent for a little while before he replied, “Deal.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh! Okay then. Hmm… I wished to be able to make my parents proud, make the Jiangs proud. I want to be independent and be able to give back to my family while thriving on my own. And…”

Oh, shit. He had not realized that he can’t cough out the last part of his wish -- in Wei Wuxian’s mind, he could recite the whole thing perfectly. But… a deal is a deal, right? After all, he pulled Lan Zhan out of his comfort zone. To stay in his would be… disgraceful!!! Aaaaah!

Wei Wuxian, “For the good relationship we have now to last this time.”

Okay… he did it. He did it. It was embarrassing, but he did it! And once he said it, it actually wasn’t so bad. Letting Lan Zhan know felt good. Wei Wuxian had looked to the side when he said the last part, so he turned to face Lan Zhan again… and, for a few seconds, enjoyed the privilege of watching his lips curve into a gentle smile.

In that moment, everything was silent. The pond and trees and grass in the background were reduced to blurred splotches of colours. His brain paused, and it felt like he forgot how to breathe, how to move, how to speak. And it’s all… it’s all so very warm, so soft and gentle…

Lan Wangji, “It’s a good wish.”
Wei Wuxian, “Ohh! Aha… ahahahahaha! Y-yeah, I mean, you always wish for good things, right? Although… if you uh, don’t want to tell me yours, it’s okay too. You don’t have to.”
Lan Wangji, “A deal is a deal.”
Wei Wuxian, “Heh heh… okay, then. I’m all ears.”
Lan Wangji, “I wished for the happiness in the present to last forever.”

One sentence. That was all. But still, Wei Wuxian felt his mind flash in understanding. He felt he understood, and that he didn’t need to question any further. He couldn’t put his finger on it… but it’s like his heart understood and his mind went with it.

Wei Wuxian, “Short and sweet, huh? That’s very much like you. I understand the sentiment, though.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

After a few minutes of gazing at the koi wishing pond, they moved on to explore the park a little more. As they walked, they would see statues and sculptures, and people taking photos around them. There were a few of them that people were allowed to interact with, so Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian had fun watching groups of friends pose around the sculptures freely. Some of them even asked the latter to help take photos, to which he happily agreed. Eventually, they get in on it and started taking photos around a few of them too.

Without them realizing it, it was already 4PM -- close to closing time and the after-work evening rush. They went off to the bus stop to head back home. Going to the electronic center can be for later. Neither of them felt like going there. When they got to the apartment, it was close to sundown, and it’s getting dark. When they unlocked the door and turned the lights on, the phone rang. Wei Wuxian picked up the phone, feeling cautious.

Wei Wuxian, “Hello? Wei Wuxian speaking.”
Madam Jia, “Oh! Wuxian, good evening!”
Wei Wuxian was relieved to get a response from a normal person this time, “Madam Jia! Good evening to you too! What is it?”
Madam Jia, “Well… it’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but we’re going to drop by on Sunday to pick up a few things we forgot in the storeroom. I hope you don’t mind.”
Wei Wuxian laughed, “Ahahahaha, it’s no problem, Ma’am. No need to worry. Do you need us to help, too?”
Madam Jia, “You’re too kind. It’s alright, we can manage. By the way, how are you settling in? Is everything going well?”
Wei Wuxian, “Yeah, everything’s good. Although if it’s okay for me to ask, why did you call the house phone instead of my phone or Lan Zhan’s?”
Madam Jia, “Ah, it’s just in case one of you aren’t at home or can’t answer the phone. I tried calling you earlier, but I couldn’t reach you or Wangji. Did you two go out?”
Wei Wuxian, “Yep, and we just got home.”
Madam Jia, “I see, I see. Well, I won’t keep you. Have a nice day, and tell Wangji I say hi. Goodbye!”
Wei Wuxian, “Bye, Ma’am!”

He then hung up, and Lan Wangji approached him, and looked at him questioningly as if to ask what Madam Jia had said.

Wei Wuxian, “Nah, she just wanted to say that they’ll be coming here on Sunday. They forgot a few things in the storeroom, so they’re picking it up.”
Lan Wangji, “Sunday… three days from now.”
Wei Wuxian, “Yeah, and that’s it. So, what’s for dinner?”

After putting their bags back in their rooms, Wei Wuxian cooked the rice while Lan Wangji sorted out the ingredients. He left the vegetables on the counter, and left the meat in the sink to thaw. As the rice cooked and the meat thawed, they both decided to shower. Lan Wangji told Wei Wuxian to go in and shower first while he waited in his own room to meditate.

He took out his box of incense and found that there were only enough sticks for one last meditation. At first, he contemplated stretching the supply, but… how much does he actually need it? He’ll be spending lots of time with Wei Ying, and they will be making new memories together. There will be a lot of ups and downs. Really, he’ll need to learn how to ground himself without it. Lan Wangji flashed back to that one moment in high school, when he lost control and hit Wei Ying with his folder. Incense will not, and cannot solve that problem.

They’re good for meditation and accompaniment to guqin playing, yes, but he can do without it. At the very least, he will need to learn to live without it until his first paycheck. Even then, he can’t guarantee if he’ll have enough time and energy to meditate after he starts work. One last time. One last time, and after that he’ll stop using it for now.

Today was nice!!! They spent so much time with each other!!!!!! Well, they already spend every day with each other, what with living together and all, but still!!! Watching Wei Ying play games, being able to cling to him and hide behind him was!!! Nice!!! Lan Wangji feels like he’s starting to become part of Wei Ying’s life now! And vice versa!!! It’s only 6 days, but they’re starting to get along! They’re starting to rebuild the bridge!

As with any long-term relationship, conflict is inevitable. If it hasn’t yet, it will be. But for now, they’re openly and smoothly communicating with each other. Even if it will happen, it won’t be a disaster. Lan Wangji is not sure what will happen at work; that one is another story. But they’ve been supporting each other well right now, so it shouldn’t be much of a problem in the end.

But to think that Wei Ying included him in his wish back in Qiongqi Park… it warms him to the core. It fills his heart with happiness. Back then, he couldn’t just say it outright that among the “happiness” he was referring to included being with Wei Ying and being close with him. It was too much for his heart. It was also too… quick. Maybe when they’ve been with each other for longer…

Lan Wangji then left the room after his meditation to check if Wei Ying was done. Since the bathroom door was ajar, it looks like Wei Ying was finished with his shower, but Lan Wangji didn’t realize it while he was meditating. He then went into the shower after making sure that the rice was finished.

After drying his hair, Wei Wuxian left his room, and heard static from the radio and the sound of splashing water inside the bathroom. Lan Zhan must have turned the radio on while he was waiting for Wei Wuxian to finish. He should wash the meat--

“Caiyi Park was built as a natural reserve that everyone can enjoy. Biling Lake in particular is a thriving ecosystem...”

Wait a minute. There seemed to be a muffled voice being played over the broadcast. Wei Wuxian approached the radio and leaned towards it to listen closer.

“Police has been searching for a missing teenage girl. Michelle Jia, aged 16, disappeared after she was locked out of her house for missing curfew…”

Heck, what is wrong with this radio? Or the channel? It’s weird. And he shouldn’t be making too much of a fuss over it anyways. Wei Wuxian turned the radio off, used his phone to play music, and went to the sink to wash the meat. He turned on the tap water to start washing. The meat’s thawed already. Might as well make it easier for Lan Zhan.

When Lan Wangji left the bathroom, he saw Wei Wuxian washing the ingredients. As soon as the latter heard the bathroom door open, he turned to the other man and grinned at him, as if to say “I got this.” Lan Wangji responded with a nod before returning to his own room. He proceeded to dry his hair while checking his phone for notifications he might have missed while in the shower.

There was one text message from an unknown number. The only thing written on it was “204863.” Without hesitation, Lan Wangji blocked the number and reported it as spam. He’s gotten way too many spam texts and wrong number texts to be bothered to respond to it. Once he was done with drying his hair, he left his room to cook dinner with Wei Ying.

Chapter Text

As usual, Lan Wangji woke up at 5AM. Yesterday was another pleasant, peaceful day. Going out has lost its appeal for them for now. They already know where to get the things they need, Wei Wuxian has known a lot about the city from Mo Xuanyu, too. Besides, they can always have fun at home. They’ll likely go out when they need groceries, or when they really, really need a change of scene.

He then left his room to shower. Last night, both him and Wei Ying had done laundry -- that is, putting their clothes into the washing machine before transferring it to the dryer. They then sorted out their individual clothes and separated them. Ironing would take a long time, so they had agreed to do it in the morning. They placed all the clothes in the laundry room to be ironed this morning instead.

After Lan Wangji was done showering and drying his hair, he started cooking the rice for today before going to the laundry room to start ironing the clothes. Soon after that, Wei Wuxian opened his door. Lan Wangji looked at the clock -- it was a little under 6AM.

Lan Wangji, “Wei Ying. Good morning.”
Wei Wuxian yawned, “Ahhhh… Lan Zhan… morning.”
Lan Wangji, “You’re early today.”
Wei Wuxian, “I had a nightmare, that’s why. It was horrible.”
Lan Wangji, “You can talk to me if you want.”
Wei Wuxian, “I… thanks, but I’ll shower first. Wait, are you already ironing clothes?”
Lan Wangji, “Yes.”
Wei Wuxian, “How about this… you iron the clothes and I cook breakfast?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn. Sounds good.”
Wei Wuxian grinned, “I’ll show you just how much I learned.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn. Looking forward to it.”

The memories of his nightmare overridden, Wei Wuxian happily marched off to shower. Really, Lan Zhan is very sweet, and this morning is off to a great start. A nightmare is just a nightmare -- he might not tell Lan Zhan about it. There’s no point telling Lan Zhan if Wei Wuxian had already felt better. It will only ruin the atmosphere. The nightmare was truly horrifying.

He dreamed of going off to shower, and passing by a man who made crude sexual remarks at him. In his dream, against his better judgement, he spat back at the man, who responded by attempting to stab him with a pair of scissors. Wei Wuxian caught the closed scissors by the blade and miraculously didn’t get cut. But the man followed up by trying to stab him with a nail clipper of all things. In the middle of the struggle, he woke up.

Neither of them played or watched anything scary last night, though. He watched Lan Zhan play a dating sim. It was a simple plot where the main character, a new transfer student, moved to a new school in a new city. They had just completed the introductory chapter where all the dateable girls (three main girls, and one secret girl whose route was tricky to access) were introduced.

Perhaps it had something to do with his longplay of the horror game yesterday morning? But it can’t be. It wasn’t that scary, and he was immensely entertained by Lan Zhan, who was right next to him, watching him play. And Wei Wuxian never got any nightmares from that game. But then again, dreams are dreams. Unpredictable things that may or may not mean anything.

Wei Wuxian soon got done with his shower and drying his hair. He then went to the kitchen. From there he could see that Lan Zhan was still ironing their clothes in the laundry room. The rice cooker was already turned on, so since Lan Zhan had already cooked the rice for them, it’s up to Wei Wuxian to do the rest of the cooking. He made a mental note that he should minimize the dish’s spice level and let his hot sauce do it for him later. He still hasn’t forgotten how Lan Zhan went back and forth to get water when eating the omelette on their first day.

They were soon done with their own individual chores. After Lan Wangji was finished putting his clothes back into his wardrobe, he went to the kitchen to scoop his portion of rice while Wei Wuxian took his clothes back into his room. Breakfast proceeded smoothly (“Is it good?” “Mn. Good.”) without anyone needing to get water due to excessive spice.

It was about 6:45AM by the time they were done with breakfast and cleanup, so they went to Wei Wuxian’s room so that he can watch Lan Wangji continue on with the dating sim.

The first main girl is the tsundere class president. She is a competitive student with a boy cut and a purple jacket. The second girl is a shy brunette with green eyes, who is also part of the archery club. The third girl has short, shoulder-length black hair. She is clumsy and while her usual answer to most questions is “I don’t know, I don’t know, I really don’t know!” she actually gets good grades.

However, Lan Wangji ignored them all and instead spent a lot of in-game time talking to the girl from the tutorial in the introductory chapter. Wei Wuxian hadn’t told him about the existence of a “secret” girl so he can stumble across the route and feel the surprise himself. The girl from the tutorial met the protagonist after the orientation and took him around the city. The segment had served to explain a few mechanisms and in-game locations to the player.

The tutorial girl has her long black hair tied into a ponytail with a red ribbon, and cheerfully answers the protagonist’s questions, including questions regarding his standing with the three girls. However, Lan Wangji never asked the tutorial girl about his relationship with the three other girls, instead asking her about… herself.

Wei Wuxian laughed, “Lan Zhan… she’s only part of the game mechanics. Why does it seem like you’re pursuing her instead?”
Lan Wangji, “She was there for me when no one else was.”

Well, that’s not wrong. After the orientation, the new students all dispersed. Only the tutorial girl approached him and took him around the city. And every day after school, this girl checks on the player character. She asks them how he’s doing and gives him advice, without expecting anything in return whatsoever.

As the game progressed and Lan Wangji continued to approach the tutorial girl, the player character and the tutorial girl started talking about events that take place before the main plot. Eventually it was revealed that both of them were from the same elementary school, but went to different schools in middle school. The tutorial girl had a crush on the player character but the player character didn’t reciprocate. She was trying to move on from it by helping him date someone he actually loves, but the protagonist pursuing her is something she did not expect.

When they were close to the end of the tutorial girl’s route, it turns out that the protagonist had also missed her when they parted after graduating elementary school.

Wei Wuxian cackled, “Wow, you actually got the secret route in your first playthrough!”
Lan Wangji turned to Wei Wuxian and looked at him questioningly.
Wei Wuxian, “I didn’t tell you so you can find out for yourself. I was really not expecting you to get it so fast! Some people consider it the true route because it fleshes out the protagonist a lot more than the others.”
Lan Wangji, “I see.”

Once the secret route was concluded with the protagonist dating the tutorial girl and rebuilding their relationship, the game returned to the main menu.

Wei Wuxian, “So, which route are you playing next?”
Lan Wangji, “None.”
Wei Wuxian, “Ehhh? Ahaha, it’s alright. You don’t need to be like, ‘loyal’ to the characters. You can explore the other routes if you want to.”
Lan Wangji, “Not interested.”
Wei Wuxian, “Ohhh.”

Yeah, it’s definitely understandable. After the wholesome, secret route, the other routes pale in comparison. The gaming session is ending earlier than expected…

Wei Wuxian, “Wanna record the song again?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

A few hours had passed since they started the gaming session. It’s not so early anymore, so they could play without worrying about bothering people. This time, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji used both of their phones to record. The new version of the duet sounded beautiful, just like the last one. Both of them played the recordings on their phone. Wei Wuxian’s recording sounded normal, but Lan Wangji’s recording is the one with static, croaking… wheezing? Background noise, basically.

Wei Wuxian, “Well, at least there’s nothing wrong with my phone… but now it’s yours.”
Lan Wangji just listened to his recording with furrowed brows and nodded.
Wei Wuxian, “Have you tried recording before?”
Lan Wangji, “No.”
Wei Wuxian, “Have you ever uh, dropped your phone or something?”
Lan Wangji, “No.”
Wei Wuxian sighed, “I hope it’s a temporary problem like with mine. For now we can use my phone to record.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

As Lan Wangji deleted the botched recording on his phone, Wei Wuxian returned to his room to edit the audio file. There were a few hours left before lunch, so Lan Wangji replied to his brother’s message, which had been sent to his phone while they were recording and it was put on silent.

Lan Xichen, “Good afternoon, Wangji. ^^ how are you doing?”
Lan Wangji, “Good afternoon, Brother.

I am doing very well. Today and yesterday, I played games with Wei Ying. I have never watched someone play video games and it is unexpectedly entertaining. Although this might be bias on my part because it’s Wei Ying playing.

Yesterday morning after breakfast, I watched Wei Ying play a horror game. He had cleared it numerous times and had no problems playing on its hardest difficulty. He wasn’t scared at all, but I was. It sounds ridiculous to get scared watching someone else play horror games in the early hours of the morning while the sun is still up, but it’s really what had happened.

There is no need to worry about me, however. After watching Wei Ying play the game from start to finish, he showed me videos of other people playing the game and reacting in fear. I found it quite amusing. I felt bad at first for laughing at their suffering, but it’s all light-hearted and in good fun. Some players even deliberately upload it so that viewers can enjoy their reactions. This is new to me.

After watching the reaction videos, we went out to another park. It’s called Qiongqi Park, and unlike Caiyi Park, it has a lot more facilities. There was a playground area and swings around the park. There were also a lot of statues and sculptures. There was a koi wishing pond there too. It’s a creative spin on the wishing well idea, which I appreciate. Wei Ying and I made wishes there and he got us to share our wishes to each other.

He wished to be able to be independent and give back to his family, but also for our good relationship to last. I was so happy. It’s only been a week and we’re getting along so well now. To this day I still feel so blessed that I got to see him again, let alone live with him. After we got home from Qiongqi Park, we had dinner at home and Wei Ying watched me play something called a dating sim.

I couldn’t finish it last night, but I was able to finish it this morning. I could tell that Wei Ying had fun watching me play, and I am happy for it. After that, we recorded a song together. Just to be safe, we recorded with both my phone and his, which was why I couldn’t reply to you right away.

Wei Ying’s phone is back to normal. There is no more static on his phone. But my recording is the staticky one this time and none of us know why. Perhaps my phone is not optimized for recording. I’m not too surprised, however. I never cared for cameras until now. Perhaps once I’ve saved enough, I’ll get a new phone. I’m not sure if it will ever be necessary, though.

I hope you are doing well. Tomorrow is the weekend, and I hope your plans with your friends go well. Keep me posted.

Wangji”
Lan Xichen, “I’m glad you’ve been having fun, Wangji. :)”
Lan Xichen, “Your phone is quite old already, so it should be fine to replace it.”
Lan Xichen, “And no need to feel bad about laughing at people getting scared, really! ^^ whenever I watch horror movies, I always sit between Da Ge and A-Yao. A-Yao is more vocal about reacting. Da Ge always tries to be strong, but he ends up holding my hand a lot. They both know I enjoy them reacting in fear. It’s more fun to watch them than the movie itself haha.”
Lan Xichen, “So no worries! ^^ it’s completely normal.”
Lan Wangji, “I see. Thank you, Brother. Are you going to meet up in the Nie household again?”
Lan Xichen, “Yeah. Huaisang is going to a con to sell his doujinshi, and their parents are going on an overseas business trip. We can go crazy without disturbing anyone. Perhaps Da Ge will be more free to scream like A-Yao this time, but I won’t keep my hopes up.”
Lan Wangji, “Brother…”

Soon it was lunchtime. Lan Wangji finished chatting with his brother while Wei Wuxian was finished processing the audio and uploading the video to YouTube. Wei Wuxian was determined to show Lan Wangji how much he learned, so he did most of the cooking while Lan Wangji watched and helped with the cleaning. The resulting dish was good for both of them, and after lunch they started planning meals for the next week.

Once they were done with their business, both of them went back to their rooms for some space. Wei Wuxian checked his phone, and found that there were new messages in the Jiang family group chat while he was having lunch.

Jiang Yanli, “TGIF! How is everyone today?”
Yu Ziyuan, “Work is going good, A-Li. What about you?”
Jiang Yanli, “Same for me. :) Zixuan invited me to go out to Yunmeng Lotus Garden after work later. I’m so psyched up for it!”
Jiang Fengmian, “I’m so happy for you, A-Li. Please let us know how it goes.”
Jiang Cheng, “Yeah. If he hurts you, I’ll kick his ass.”
Yu Ziyuan, “A-Cheng, you know it’s better for A-Li to just tell me, right? I can tell his mother.”
Wei Wuxian, “Heeeeyyyy! I’m here I’m here! All the best for the date!!! That Jin Peacock better treat you well hahah”
Yu Ziyuan, “Wei Ying, not you too.”
Jiang Fengmian, “It’s okay, My Lady. I don’t think they actually intend to hurt Zixuan”
Jiang Yanli, “A-Xian! ^^ how are you doing?”
Wei Wuxian, “Today’s been good. I made breakfast and lunch today and Lan Zhan said I did good!”
Jiang Cheng, “He’s biased and besotted, that’s why.”
Wei Wuxian, “I don’t think so???”
Jiang Yanli, “Biased, maybe. Besotted, yes.”
Jiang Fengmian, “I agree with A-Li.”
Yu Ziyuan, “I agree with A-Cheng.”
Wei Wuxian, “How come you all think Lan Zhan is in love with me”
Wei Wuxian, “We’re just friends smh”
Jiang Cheng, “Because he is???????? Don’t boo me I’m right.”
Jiang Fengmian, “No one’s booing you, A-Cheng.”
Jiang Yanli, “Dad, it’s a meme.”
Jiang Fengmian, “I see”
Yu Ziyuan, “Anyways @A-Cheng and A-Li, the dim sum restaurant in the office building is having a discount today. Do you want anything?”

The conversation topic having shifted away, Wei Wuxian closed the chat application and sat down on his desk. The koi wishing pond in Qiongqi Park had inspired him, and he really wanted to draw something based on it. At first the sketch depicted a simple koi pond, but then he added… more to it. By dinnertime, the sketch had transformed into a half-finished picture of the main character of the Scars in My Palms game riding a boat with the cultivator in white -- his love interest -- and their adopted son, feeding koi fish in a lotus pond.

Dinner was mostly handled by Lan Zhan this time -- at his insistence -- with Wei Wuxian doing the cleanup while cooking. After the meal (which was really very good!) Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji returned to his rooms, and the former continued his picture until bedtime.

…

…

…

Wei Wuxian woke up with a start. His heart was pounding after having just been awakened from a nightmare. In it, he was hiding in a bathroom stall-sized closet from the grim reaper. It was honestly chilling, but no more chilling than the banging of the apartment front door and the frantic ringing of the doorbell. Wei Wuxian cautiously took out his keys and his phone, which showed the time: It was 11:54PM.

He really didn’t know who the fuck would be making so much noise at this hour, but he didn’t want to find out alone. Wei Wuxian left the room and saw… Lan Zhan, who was holding his ringing mobile phone. The ringing of the doorbell and the banging on the door continue.

Wei Wuxian, “Lan Zhan… what the fuck is going on here? Who’s calling you? Can I see that?”
Lan Wangji showed the screen to Wei Wuxian, “Don’t pick up the phone.”

It was a call from “204863.” It looked normal enough, but it kept ringing and ringing and ringing… and Lan Zhan looked scared out of his mind. His expression wasn’t so different from his usual poker face, but Wei Wuxian can see it in his eyes.

Wei Wuxian, “What’s with that number?”
Lan Wangji, “Yesterday night I got a text from an unknown number with only 204863 written on it. I thought it was spam, so I blocked it. But...”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh no. Oh no no no no no. Everything makes sense now, but why? Oh gods...”
Lan Wangji, “Don’t open the door.”
Wei Wuxian, “I won’t, I won’t… and have you tried hanging up?”
Lan Wangji, “What if it angers the spirit?”

Before Wei Wuxian could open his mouth to respond, Lan Wangji’s phone picked up the call without its owner’s input. A chill ran down their spines, and Lan Wangji dropped his phone in shock. They watched as the phone -- which showed the time as 00:00 -- changed up to loudspeaker mode without anyone touching the screen, and the voice of a woman’s low cackle sounded from the phone. The cackling lasted for a few seconds, and then all the windows of the apartment slammed open on their own before also closing with a slam.

Lan Wangji, “We have to get out of here.”

Dashing towards the front door, Wei Wuxian grabbed Lan Wangji’s hand, and the other squeezed his hand back. In Wei Wuxian’s panic, there was a bit of relief from having taken his keys before he left his room. But just as the door opened and Wei Wuxian took his keys out, a strong force pushed Wei Wuxian out of the apartment. Somehow, their hold on each other’s hands broke. While Wei Wuxian’s back was slammed against the wall of the apartment’s open hallway, the door closed and locked on its own, trapping Lan Wangji inside.

Wei Wuxian desperately tried to unlock the door, “Lan Zhan! Hey! Lan Zhan!”

Meanwhile, trapped inside the house, Lan Wangji watched as Wei Ying tried and failed to unlock the door from the outside.

Lan Wangji, “Go. Get help.”
Wei Wuxian continued trying to unlock the door, “No! Are you crazy? I’m not leaving without you!”
Lan Wangji, “I’ll be fine. Trust me. Go!”

For a few seconds, Wei Ying was silent. But then, he seemed to sob before dashing away, the sound of his footsteps audible through the locked door. Lan Wangji stayed frozen in his tracks, facing the door, when the radio started up on its own.

“After returning from her friend’s farewell party, Michelle Jia arrived home to find that… krrrssch... 204, 8... 6… 3. The front door of her house had been locked by her parents, who had refused to give her the keys… krsssch… sssshhhh… look behind you. I said, look… behind you.”

The radio broadcast devolved into static with the occasional “look behind you.” Taking a few deep breaths, Lan Wangji hung his head to look at the floor and his feet, refusing to look behind him.

Lan Wangji, “I don’t know what you want. But neither of us want to hurt you. If there’s anything we can do for you, please, just tell us. There is no need for violence.”

Still taking deep breaths as he waited for the spirit’s response, Lan Wangji continued to look downwards, but then his hair was yanked violently, and he was thrown back, across the apartment, landing a few centimeters away from the dining table. Just as he was about to get up, his head turned to his front and Lan Wangji was then face to face with a broken, bloodied face with long, messy hair. It was hard to even register it as a face -- it was more like a mush of gore and blood.

His survival instincts kick in and he pushed the ghost girl off. But before he could even figure out where to run, the ghost girl lunged at him--

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian was scaling the side of the apartment building to break in through the window. Their apartment is in a corner of the building, so all the windows lead outside. He then came across a rattling window -- it slid up and down, as if it was struggling to stay closed or stay open, whatever. When he saw that it was the window to Lan Zhan’s room, Wei Wuxian took advantage of the rattling window immediately and pushed it open before going inside from there. A greenish white glow captured his attention immediately, and he took the object in his hands -- it was Lan Zhan’s jade charm!

Just as he felt the reassuring cold of the jade in his hand, Wei Wuxian heard a thump outside the door, and what seemed to be Lan Zhan grunting. Without wasting any time, Wei Wuxian opened the door, revealing the ghost girl straddling a struggling Lan Zhan while trying to strangle him!

Wei Wuxian dashed to the ghost girl, jade charm in hand, “Get your dirty hands off him, you bitch!”

The glow of the jade was too much for the ghost, who let go of Lan Wangji’s neck to cover her face before letting out an inhuman scream. Wei Wuxian held the jade up to her, and she soon lost her human form, turning into an amorphous cloud of resentful energy before leaving the apartment through the window.

As Lan Wangji coughed, Wei Wuxian helped him sit up, the jade charm still in his hand.

Wei Wuxian, “Oh god… ohhh my god… you okay? Holy shit…”
Lan Wangji, “I’m fine…”
Wei Wuxian pulled Lan Wangji into a hug, “Ohh, thank goodness… thank goodness… she’s gone, for now...”
Lan Wangji returned the hug without saying anything.

They parted after a few seconds. Lan Wangji stood up and walked towards the lights to turn it on. The lights didn’t flicker, and turned on normally. The bright white light brought relief to both of them. They sat together on the couch, their hands clasped together and the jade charm inside their joined hands.

Wei Wuxian, “What do we do now? This fucking house is haunted.”
Lan Wangji, “I think… I think I know who that girl is.”
Wei Wuxian, “What?”
Lan Wangji, “The Jia family, our landlords, are friends with my parents. They have… had... a teenage daughter. I just remembered… her name is Michelle. Michelle Jia.”
Wei Wuxian, “What the fuck? So that ghost was…”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “Wha… what even… what the actual fuck? God damn… so that fucking report on the radio, that was her?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh god… what could she possibly want? What is going on?”
Lan Wangji stood up all of a sudden.
Wei Wuxian, “Lan Zhan?”
Lan Wangji, “It turned on on its own when I was trapped.”
Wei Wuxian, “Clues.”

Without any more words between them, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji went to the cupboard near the entrance, where the radio sits. Their hands still joined and the jade pendant still clutched tightly, they tried turning the radio on. But no matter how many times they flicked the on/off switch or tinkered with the frequency, it would not turn on. Wei Wuxian took it to check if there’s something (even more) wrong with it. Maybe it ran out of battery power?

It had a cable, it turns out. Which didn’t put up any kind of resistance whatsoever when Wei Wuxian held the radio up and inspected it. Lan Wangji moved the cupboard to reveal the electrical outlet behind the cupboard, and the rest of the radio’s cable, which dangled down freely, its plug not attached to anything at all. The electrical outlet itself was dusty and surrounded by cobwebs. It looked like it hadn’t been used for a long, long time.

Chapter Text

The house phone was connected, yes, but the radio never was. The realization hit both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji like a punch to the gut.

Wei Wuxian, “No. No. No. No, no no no no no no no. Fuck!”
Lan Wangji, “We need to get out of here.”
Wei Wuxian nodded after wiping his tired eyes with one hand, “Yeah. It’s her house. It’s not safe here. Hold on…”

When Wei Wuxian was thrown out of the house, he had dropped his phone, which landed a few distances away from the doorway in the apartment. The phone case thankfully prevented it from getting cracked or dented. As Wei Wuxian contacted Mo Xuanyu, who was thankfully still online, Lan Wangji went to pick up his own phone which was thankfully intact and looked normal for the time being.

Wei Wuxian, “Xuanyu? I need help. Super urgent help.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Wei-xiong? Wassup?”
Wei Wuxian, “Our place is fucking haunted. Lan Zhan and I will need to crash at your place. Is that okay?”
Mo Xuanyu, “Holy fuck! Yeah, come here anytime. I’m staying up late anyways. Ring the doorbell once you’re there.”

Lan Wangji, “Wei Ying, what are you doing?”
Wei Wuxian, “Pack some clothes. We’re crashing at Xuanyu’s place.”
Lan Wangji, “Does he know…?”
Wei Wuxian, “Yeah, I told him. And he knows this stuff. Just pack up, I’ll tell you the details later.”

Still in their pajamas, both men hurriedly took one set of clothes each, their wallets, their keys, and packed them into one backpack. They put on coats, took their phones with them, and left the apartment after excusing themselves to not risk angering Michelle’s ghost further. Both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji left the apartment holding hands as if to reassure the other of their presence, except without the jade necklace, which was being worn by Lan Wangji at Wei Wuxian’s insistence.

Grateful for the buses that were still operational at ungodly hours, they sat beside each other as they waited for the next stop.

Wei Wuxian, “I met Xuanyu in an online divination and magic community. I helped him around when he was new. I’m semi-retired and so is he, but he’s more active than I am now.”
Lan Wangji, “Magic?”
Wei Wuxian, “Remember when I used to give tarot readings in high school?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian laughed, “I still do them now. Let me know if you ever want one.”
Lan Wangji, “What are those for?”
Wei Wuxian, “Primarily for advice on stuff that you can’t get a concrete answer to. Like you can’t ask for medical or legal advice or anything like that, but if you have problems you don’t know how to deal with, you can get a reading for that. When everything’s okay again, I can show you if you want to.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “The people who asked were mostly girls and boys asking for love readings, hahah. Good times…”

The bus soon stopped, and they got off to change buses. They had to wait a bit until the bus arrived, but it was almost empty, and, again, they were able to sit beside each other.

Wei Wuxian sighed, “When I first heard the ghost broadcast, I wasn’t really sure if the ‘Jia’ is really the ‘Jia’ as in our landlords. But maybe I just didn’t want to believe it.”
Lan Wangji, “Same.”
Wei Wuxian, “When I met them with the Jiangs, I didn’t see the daughter at all. What about you?”
Lan Wangji, “No. They said she was out with her friends at the time. Maybe…”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh, gods. Either she disappeared on the day you came to see the apartment, or after. But at this point I’m not so sure anymore.”

It was a long bus ride, but they eventually arrived at Mo Xuanyu’s apartment complex. They went up the elevator to the seventh floor before stopping at room 77. Wei Wuxian pressed the doorbell, and soon the door was opened by Mo Xuanyu.

Wei Wuxian, “Hey.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Hey. Wei-xiong. Wangji-xiong.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn. Apologies for the intrusion.”
Mo Xuanyu, “It’s fine, really. Come in.”

The small studio apartment was sparsely decorated, but cozy. There was a big couch in front of a TV, where the three of them sat together with Wei Wuxian in the middle.

Mo Xuanyu, “So, what’s up?”
Wei Wuxian, “Okay, so we were woken up by this ghost girl in the middle of the night, like 11:50 something PM. I woke up because of a nightmare, and Lan Zhan got woken up by a ghost call. Right, Lan Zhan? Was it the call that woke you up?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “He didn’t pick it up. Either way, when we woke up there’s this banging on the door and the doorbell kept ringing and ringing and ringing. Like someone was tapping on it. We got out of our rooms, but we didn’t open the door. None of us picked up the call from Lan Zhan’s phone, but the call picked itself up without anyone touching the screen.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Holy shit…”
Wei Wuxian, “And then things got crazy. The windows opened and then closed, and that was when we decided to get the fuck out. I had my keys, so I unlocked the door, but the ghost threw me out and trapped Lan Zhan inside the house. I scaled the building to go in through the window. I wanted to break in, but then the window to Lan Zhan’s room started… opening and closing like it didn’t know if it wanted to be open or closed. I open it and crawl in, and his jade necklace started glowing. And then the ghost girl attacked Lan Zhan. She fucking tried to choke him, but the jade warded her off.”
Mo Xuanyu looked at Wei Wuxian, and then at Lan Wangji, “There doesn’t seem to be any curse marks on you, nor do I feel any bad energy from you, so I think it’s the house she’s attached to.”
Wei Wuxian, “That’s what I think too, because the ghost girl is actually our landlords’ teenage daughter.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Wait… what? Holy hell, this just got even more fucked up!”
Wei Wuxian, “I know, right? Oh, wait! Lan Zhan said the radio turned on by itself while he was locked in.”
Lan Wangji, “Yes. It said that her parents locked her out after missing curfew. I tried asking her what she wanted and that we could try to help her. But she didn’t… listen to me.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Maybe she mistook you for her parents?”
Wei Wuxian, “I find it hard to believe…”
Lan Wangji, “It’s possible.”
Wei Wuxian, “What?”
Lan Wangji, “I saw her face. It was… completely destroyed.”

All three of them were silent for a few minutes.

Wei Wuxian, “Oh, gods… that’s not all, though. We tried looking at the radio for clues. We tried turning it on, but it wouldn’t turn on no matter what we did. Turns out it was never plugged in. The thing is, before this, the radio was… it was goddamned working. She’s been haunting us for some time, like almost a week ago, and only decided to attack now.”
Mo Xuanyu, “How come you guys didn’t notice that the radio turned on on its own?”
Wei Wuxian, “I thought Lan Zhan turned it on.”
Lan Wangji, “I thought… Wei Ying turned it on.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Talk about awful timing… anyways, it’s strange that she only attacked now when she’s been haunting the house for a few days. Something must be limiting her.”

The three of them were silent for a while, in thought, until…

Lan Wangji, “The incense.”
Mo Xuanyu, “What?”
Wei Wuxian, “Your sandalwood incense?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn. Besides for meditation, it is useful for protection and as an offering to spirits. I used it up after we got home from Qiongqi Park.”
Wei Wuxian sighed, “Then we’ll need to go to Chinatown tomorrow and buy some.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Well, that’s one thing, but what else are you planning to do?”
Wei Wuxian, “Communicate with the spirit, and then see if there’s anything we can do for her. It just so happens that her parents are coming over on Sunday to get some shit from the storeroom, so we can confront them when they come. We just need to crash here. I still want to wake up tomorrow morning.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Yeah, totally understandable. You guys wanna borrow the bed? I can sleep on the couch.”
Wei Wuxian, “No need. We’ll figure it out.”
Mo Xuanyu, “You sure?”
Wei Wuxian, “Sure.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Wangji-xiong?”
Lan Wangji, “No need to trouble yourself.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Okay then, if you say so… but is there anything else you need?”
Wei Wuxian, “Ummm… a spare pillow and a spare blanket, I guess?”
Mo Xuanyu, “Sure thing.”

That night, both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji slept on the couch, with the former lying on the latter. Both of them clutched each other protectively until Lan Wangji’s daily 5:30AM alarm woke them up. They scrambled to shut it off before it woke up Mo Xuanyu too before sleeping in. When Wei Wuxian woke up again, it was 8:30 AM. Lan Wangji was already awake, because Wei Wuxian could feel him stroking his hair.

Wei Wuxian, “Mmmm… morning.”
Lan Wangji, “Morning. Did you sleep well?”
Wei Wuxian, “Yeah. No nightmares. You?”
Lan Wangji, “No.”
Wei Wuxian chuckled, “That’s good.”

Technically, if they go now, by the time they arrive, the shops in Chinatown will already be open. But they need to at least say goodbye to Mo Xuanyu, who still hasn’t woken up. So they stayed like that, cuddled up to each other, for a little longer.

Lan Wangji, “You put yourself in danger to save me.”
Wei Wuxian, “It’s nothing, really.”
Lan Wangji said nothing, but pressed their bodies closer together.
Wei Wuxian, “You’re the reckless one, telling me to just go… I couldn’t just leave you like that.”
Lan Wangji, “As long as you’re safe.”
Wei Wuxian just laughed and buried his face in the crook of Lan Wangji’s neck.

The door of Mo Xuanyu’s room opened, and both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji sat up as Mo Xuanyu left the room, yawning.

Mo Xuanyu, “Morning…”
Wei Wuxian, “G’morning.”
Lan Wangji, “Good morning.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Are you guys leaving? You want breakfast?”
Wei Wuxian, “Yes, and no, thanks. Unless… Lan Zhan, are you hungry?”
Lan Wangji, “No, thank you.”
Mo Xuanyu, “Mmmm… ‘kay then. Stay safe. See ya.”
Wei Wuxian, “Thanks, you’re a lifesaver.”
Lan Wangji, “Thank you for having us.”

After Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji changed out of their pajamas, they left Mo Xuanyu’s apartment for Chinatown. They bought two boxes of sandalwood incense and had breakfast in a food court in Chinatown before returning home. When they arrived, it was 12PM and the sun was high up in the sky. They knocked on the door and asked for permission before coming in. Thankfully, they were able to get in without any problems, and the apartment was just like how they left it.

Lan Wangji told Wei Wuxian to shower first while he lit the incense. He took out the incense holder from his room, and placed it on the coffee table in the common area before lighting the incense. Since this is to protect themselves from a spirit, he lit more than usual. He knows that they will also need to offer food to the spirit to calm her down more, so Lan Wangji started cooking rice. They’re starting to run out, but it should be enough for 3 days from now.

Once the rice cooker started doing its job, Lan Wangji started washing some meat and vegetables. They’ll need to have late lunch and dinner no matter what later on, plus the leftovers can be set aside to be offered to the spirit. Soon, Wei Wuxian left the shower and went to dry his hair. When he was done, he took out his pendulum and his pendulum board from his “magic stuff” box before leaving the room. He then continued the cooking while Lan Wangji went to shower.

For the rest of the day, both of them stayed in the common area, sitting together on the couch holding hands, their heads leaning against each other’s shoulders. The silence became unbearable after a while, though, so for the first time in a long while, both of them watched TV together. The trashy telenovelas, silly cartoons, and boring news were surprisingly entertaining. Either it’s because they’re watching it together, or because it’s a relief after dealing with the haunted radio.

Lan Wangji looked at the pendulum board on the coffee table questioningly. It was a simple board with only “YES,” “NO,” “NOT SURE,” and “ASK AGAIN” written on it.
Wei Wuxian, “It’s a pendulum board. It’s a simple one I made myself ages ago. There are more elaborate variations that allow the spirit to spell letters like a ouija board, but I wasn’t really into pendulums, so I didn’t feel like buying it.”

They left the couch only to go to the bathroom, eat their meals, shower in the evening, and to replace the incense. The TV stayed on until the entire power went off at 11:59PM. The apartment was pitch black, and there was a knock on the door. It was an improvement compared to the banging and bell ringing yesterday night, but still. Both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji cautiously approached the door. The former took his pendulum and the pendulum board before sitting in front of the door.

Wei Wuxian, “Your name is Michelle Jia, right? And this is your house?”

The knocking stopped, and the pendulum swung to “YES.”

Wei Wuxian, “Your parents don’t live here anymore. I don’t know what happened to you, but I know you must be unhappy with them after they locked you out.”

The pendulum swung to “YES” again.

Wei Wuxian, “But we might be able to help you. They rented the apartment to us. If there’s anything we can do to help you, please let us know. Talk to us. Don’t attack us, or we won’t be able to help you. Do you understand?”

Again, the pendulum swung to “YES.” Satisfied with the response, Wei Wuxian opened the door and took his pendulum and pendulum board away before sitting beside Lan Wangji. Lan Wangji watched warily, ready to take off his jade necklace if the ghost tries to harm Wei Wuxian. There were offerings in front of the spot where they sat on the floor: rice, incense, along with some other food.

The ghost girl entered the house and closed the door behind her, looking just like how she was yesterday. Messy long hair, a battered face, and wet clothing. She was dripping water and blood. But she didn’t exude a violent aura, and sat in front of the offerings, which were placed between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. She then started eating, shedding tears of blood all the while. She ate slowly, because her jaws were damaged.

A few text messages were then sent to Lan Wangji’s phone. Both him and Wei Wuxian warily checked it, and found that it was sent by “204863.”

“It’s good. It’s so good.”
“I missed eating home cooking”
“Did you cook this?”
“Thank you so much”
“I’m sorry for attacking you”

Wei Wuxian turned to the ghost girl, “You can’t speak?”
The ghost girl shook her head, and continued eating.
Wei Wuxian, “Okay. I understand. But don’t haunt Lan Zhan’s phone anymore, okay? It’s not for spirit communication. Stay here, okay? I’m going to get my tarot cards. You can use that to communicate, and let me know if I got your message right. Just don’t use his phone or my phone. Okay?”
The ghost girl nodded, and went back to eating her food.

While Wei Wuxian went to his room to get his tarot deck, Lan Wangji watched as Michelle’s ghost ate the food. He was trying to see if her throat was slit and that was why she couldn’t speak, but then he saw strangulation bruises on her neck.

Lan Wangji, “Wait here. I’ll make you some ginger tea.”

The ghost paused before looking at Lan Wangji, and didn’t continue eating as she watched him calmly walk to the refrigerator, open it to take some ginger, cut it up and boiled some water. Wei Wuxian then returned with his tarot deck, and saw the ghost looking at Lan Wangji who was watching the pot boil.

Wei Wuxian, “Lan Zhan? What are you doing?”
Lan Wangji, “She was strangled. I don’t know how much it’ll help, but ginger tea might soothe her throat.”
Wei Wuxian, “Good idea.”

Lan Wangji took off his jade necklace and gave it to Wei Wuxian, who accepted it and wore it around his neck before sitting in front of the ghost girl with his tarot deck. When Wei Wuxian sat in front of her, he noticed that the food was still not finished, and she was gazing at Lan Wangji.

Wei Wuxian, “What’s wrong? Do you want me to wait until you’re done eating? Or are you waiting for the ginger tea?”
As if snapped from a trance, the ghost girl shook her head and started finishing her food.
Wei Wuxian, “Okay. Are you ready now?”
The ghost girl nodded.
Wei Wuxian, “So you told us your story already through the radio. You went to your friend’s farewell party, but you missed curfew, so your parents locked you out.”
The ghost girl nodded again.
Wei Wuxian, “I… I don’t know what happened to you, and I’m not sure if you want to tell me. But at the very least, I hope you can tell me what we can do to help you, or if there’s something you want us to know. I’m going to shuffle this deck. You can tell me when to stop and pick the cards. Okay?”
The ghost girl nodded, and Wei Wuxian shuffled his cards.

After a few seconds of shuffling, the ghost girl held up her hand as a sign for Wei Wuxian to stop before picking a card out of the pile. She then placed it on the floor in front of them, and Wei Wuxian flipped it over to reveal that it was the reversed Four of Cups. The Four of Cups is a card of apathy, disconnection, and boredom. If it was reversed, it might mean…

Wei Wuxian, “Do you want your parents to know what happened to you?”
The ghost girl nodded.
Wei Wuxian, “I see… they’re coming over tomorrow. You can tell them if you want to.”

After that, the ghost girl picked four cards: the Three of Swords, the Eight of Swords, the Nine of Swords, and then the Devil. All of them are upright. Wei Wuxian was quite shocked by the… overwhelming response. Meanwhile, the water had boiled and Lan Wangji steeped the ginger pieces in the hot water.

This combination of cards did not look good. The Three of Swords is a card of heartbreak. The Eight of Swords is a card that means feeling trapped or helpless. The Nine of Swords is a card of anxiety and feeling tormented. And the Devil… it usually means indulgence or limitations, but something tells Wei Wuxian that in this reading, he can’t just rely on the correspondence of the cards.

Every diviner is different, and each reading is different as well. In some situations, the correspondences are enough, but in others, sometimes the vibe the cards are giving off should also be taken into account. There are also cases when it’s the images that’s important, regardless of the cards’ actual correspondence.

Three of the four cards were from the suit of Swords, all of them with negative connotations, and then ending it with the Devil…

Wei Wuxian, “You… want to torture your parents?”
The ghost girl shook her head.

Wei Wuxian looked at the cards again, and tried to think. He can try concluding that the ghost girl wanted her parents to feel sad because of what happened to her, but that doesn’t exactly explain the Eight of Swords and the Devil. But before he could come up with something, Lan Wangji had gotten back with the ginger tea, which he gave to the ghost girl.

Lan Wangji, “Be careful, it’s still hot.”

The ghost girl nodded, gently taking the cup and saucer before blowing on the liquid, and started drinking. Wei Wuxian continued to look at the cards, but then the ghost girl cleared her throat and started crying. Again, blood dripped out of her eye sockets instead of tears.

“I’m scared… I’m so fucking scared!”

Her voice was hoarse, but at least she can speak this time. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji remained silent, waiting for the ghost to continue.

“I don’t know what to do… I fought with my parents… and then… and then I killed… I killed the men who… killed me. I couldn’t help it. I was so angry. I wanted to kill them like how they killed me. I was satisfied. I was happy with myself at first. I was so satisfied that I could only want to kill more. I wanted to do the same to my parents. I wanted it so bad, I felt like I lost my mind...”

The ghost girl stopped speaking to cry some more for a little while. But this time, she was crying much louder than before.

“I’m scared now! I don’t know what to do! I haven’t been a good girl… I killed people! I don’t want to go to hell… I don’t want to be tortured… I just… I was so angry, I wasn’t thinking properly… but I… I killed people. And I… I hurt you, I wanted to kill you, even though you never did anything to hurt me… and I thought about killing my parents… I don’t want to go to hell! I don’t wanna! Please, someone tell me what to do… please… I’m scared… I’m so scared… I don’t wanna go to hell… I don’t wanna be tortured forever and ever and ever… I don’t wanna… I don’t wanna!”

The ghost girl then looked at Lan Wangji, tears of blood still dripping from her eye sockets.

“Wangji-gege, help me… please help me… I don’t know what to do… I don’t want to go to hell… please help me… I’m so scared… I’m scared… I don’t want to go to hell… I don’t want to be tortured… I don’t need to go to heaven, I just want the pain to end already...”

Chapter Text

“None of us know where you are headed after death. But one thing is for certain; if you are not given a proper burial, you will likely wander the Earth like this forever. Your parents are coming tomorrow. You can tell them where to find your body.”

Lan Wangji may not be able to give Michelle a real answer to her question, but he was not without knowledge and was at least to give her a good enough response. She took some time to sob some more while whimpering thank yous to him before excusing herself and leaving through the door. The moment she left, the lights in the apartment turned back on, along with the TV.

Both he and Wei Wuxian then cleaned up the empty bowls and plates and used chopsticks from the food offering. Once it was done, they didn’t go to sleep right away. They lit incense to not only cleanse the apartment, but also Wei Wuxian’s divination tools: the tarot deck, the pendulum, and the pendulum board. After the cleansing was finished, they tidied up the incense holder and the divination tools.

Once all that work was done and they could go to sleep, however, they didn’t feel secure sleeping on their own. And so they slept in Lan Wangji’s room, cuddled up the same way as when they slept over at Mo Xuanyu’s place. Lan Wangji woke up at 5AM, but all he did was shut off his daily 5:30 alarm before sleeping in. Both of them then got up at about 8AM before showering and making breakfast.

Breakfast and cleanup was done about 40 minutes later, after which Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji just sat beside each other on the couch with the TV on. They didn’t intend to actually pay attention to it, though. Instead, they talked as they waited for Mr. Jia and Madam Jia to arrive.

Wei Wuxian, “Oh god, what am I supposed to tell them?”
Lan Wangji, “The truth.”
Wei Wuxian, “I know, I just… where do I even start? I can’t just drop the bomb right away.”
Lan Wangji, “Bringing news like that is never easy.”
Wei Wuxian, “Yeah. There is no right way to transition to ‘your daughter died and she is now a ghost that haunted us and nearly killed you.’”
Lan Wangji could only cough.
Wei Wuxian sighed, leaning closer towards Lan Wangji, “Guess I’ll just drop the bomb straight away. Not literally, but basically yeah. Whatever’s in the storeroom can wait. I’m just afraid I might not be able to convince them to stay the night.”
Lan Wangji, “We know what we are not supposed to know.”
Wei Wuxian, “True.”

With the matter settled, neither of them spoke for a while.

Lan Wangji, “Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian, “Mmm?”
Lan Wangji, “How are you feeling?”
Wei Wuxian, “Shook.”
Lan Wangji, “Pardon?”
Wei Wuxian chuckled, “Shook. It’s slang for shocked.”
Lan Wangji, “I see.”
Wei Wuxian, “Just… who the hell still locks their child outside at night in the 21st century? The world’s gotten way more dangerous, and… god, poor girl. I still can’t get her face out of my head. Just what in the world happened to her?”
Lan Wangji couldn’t say anything.
Wei Wuxian, “And you say that, on top of that, she was strangled?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn. There were bruises.”
Wei Wuxian groaned, “Oh, god…”

For a few minutes, both of them remained silent.

Wei Wuxian, “And you? How are you feeling, Lan Zhan?”
Lan Wangji answered after a few seconds, “Numb.”
Wei Wuxian, “You don’t feel sick or anything, do you? Does your neck still hurt?”
Lan Wangji, “It’s not that.”
Wei Wuxian, “Then?”
Lan Wangji, “There’s… a complex mix of different feelings.”
Wei Wuxian, “You can tell me if you want, but if you don’t, it’s okay too.”
Lan Wangji, “Will tell you later after the issue is resolved. I have so many questions and I am not sure how to feel or think of certain things.”
Wei Wuxian, “Sure.”

They continued to sit beside each other with the TV making noise in the background. At about 11AM, the doorbell rang.

Mr. Jia, “Wuxian, Wangji, we’re coming in.”
Wei Wuxian, “Oh, okay! I’ll get the keys!”
Mr. Jia, “No need to, we have it right here.”

The door was unlocked from the outside as Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian got up from the couch to greet Mr. Jia and Madam Jia.

Mr. Jia, “Good to see you boys are doing well.”
Lan Wangji, “Mr. Jia. Madam Jia.”
Wei Wuxian didn’t say anything and half-forced a smile.
Madam Jia, “We’re just going to get something from the storeroom for a bit, so this shouldn’t take long.”

Just as Madam Jia finished speaking, there was a sound of a door unlocking. Without any words exchanged, they already know which door it was. Prior to moving, the Jia family had locked the storeroom and took the keys. They told Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji not to use it because they wanted to use it to keep the things they weren’t bringing to their new place. Neither tenant minded because they didn’t have that much stuff. And so, the storeroom was always locked…

Before any of the four walked a single step, there were sounds of banging, the clanging of something like metal falling and hitting something… like a lot of things were falling.

Sighing in relief, Wei Wuxian followed Mr. Jia and Madam Jia along with Lan Wangji. The assistance was really appreciated! But still, nothing prepared him nor Lan Wangji for what they saw once they arrived in the storeroom.

What had fallen to the point of spilling over to the doorway were old family photo albums, some of them having gotten opened during the fall, revealing photos of baby Michelle and her parents. Besides photo albums, there were also trophies from competitions, and certificates awarded to “Michelle Jia.”

None of them said a word as Mr. Jia bent over to pick up a photo album, but once his hand touched it, there was blood where his hand had touched, as if he had “stamped” the album with blood. The hand he used to touch the album got bloody as well.

Mr. Jia, “What in the world is going on…?”

Wei Wuxian was about to open his mouth to speak, but then Madam Jia picked up a nearby trophy and the same thing happened to her -- the moment her hand touched the trophy, her hand was bloody, and the trophy was also bloody where her hand had touched. She shrieked in fear, dropped the trophy, and while it didn’t break, blood started spilling from the cup.

Meanwhile, Mr. Jia tried to wipe the blood off his hand with his other hand that was still clean, but the blood wouldn’t come off, and his other hand got blood on it too. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji just stared at them, surprised and not surprised at the same time.

Wei Wuxian, “Mr. Jia, Madam Jia.”
Upon hearing Wei Wuxian call them, in that state, both Mr. Jia and Madam Jia could do nothing but turn to him.
Wei Wuxian, “The day after you called, we found out the hard way that this house is haunted. We communicated with the ghost yesterday, and the ghost told us that they have something to tell the both of you.”
Mr. Jia stuttered out, “So? W-what is it?”
Wei Wuxian, “They didn’t tell us what it was. The ghost can only do… things like this during the day, but they will only truly appear at night. So can you sleep over here? In this house?”
Mr. Jia, “I have work tomorrow… can’t it be in our new home?”
Wei Wuxian, “No. It can only be here. The ghost is attached to this place. We’ll stay awake tonight and will make sure nothing dangerous happens.”
Mr. Jia, “I’m not going to risk my life just to listen to some ghost. What happens if we are killed in our sleep? Are you going to take responsibility for that?”
Wei Wuxian, “Don’t worry. We were able to ward off the ghost when they attacked us the first time. Lan Zhan has a jade pendant. It saved him -- us -- from getting killed two nights ago.”
Without saying a word, Lan Wangji took off his jade necklace and held it up for Mr. Jia and Madam Jia to see.

Both Mr. Jia and Madam Jia went silent, not knowing what else to say. There is no doubt that this house is certainly haunted, and whoever the ghost was, they had a message to convey to them. And judging from the look on Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s faces, they could swear on their lives that they knew how to ward off the ghost. But--

Mr. Jia, “Is this such an important matter that we can’t just call a priest or exorcist and be done with it instead of having us stay the night?”
Wei Wuxian smiled sadly, “Think about it. Why would the dead linger in this world instead of just moving on if they don’t have something important to say?”

For a few minutes, everyone was silent.

Mr. Jia, “Okay, fine. But if this turns out to be bullshit, you two will need to take responsibility.”
Wei Wuxian, “Sure.”
Lan Wangji, “You can use my room.”
Madam Jia, “Thank you.”

After Madam Jia thanked him, Lan Wangji wasted no time walking to his room. He then left carrying his incense holder and the two boxes of sandalwood incense. They were then placed on the coffee table. After that, Lan Wangji went back into his room again, and the other three watched as he left his room for the second time, carrying a huge white bunny plushie almost as big as he is to Wei Wuxian’s room.

The bunny plushie was left alone on Wei Wuxian’s bed at night, however. When both Mr. Jia and Madam Jia had gone to sleep at 10PM, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji sat together on the couch in the common area. They lit some incense to help calm Michelle’s spirit once she does come. In the meantime, they’ll need to stay awake until at least midnight. It’s easy only for Wei Wuxian, however, so Lan Wangji found himself getting his first taste of coffee.

Wei Wuxian watched as Lan Wangji took a sip of the instant coffee, “How is it?”
Lan Wangji put his mug down with a thousand-yard stare, “It tastes like a husband and wife fighting.”

Hearing that, Wei Wuxian burst into laughter. What the fuck was that description??? That was weird and unexpected but also incredibly adorable.

Wei Wuxian wheezed, “Ahahahaha… ohh, I’m afraid… pfft, I’m afraid you’ll need to give me more details on that.”
Lan Wangji, “It’s sweet and bitter at the same time, but not in a good way. Both flavours clashed, as if fighting for dominance. It was surreal.”
Wei Wuxian, “You don’t like it?”
Lan Wangji, “No.”
Wei Wuxian, “Too bad, you’ll have to finish it if you want to stay awake. You can try finishing it all in one go, though, so you don’t have to bear it for long.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

Ignoring his own cup of coffee, Wei Wuxian watched, open-mouthed in shock, as Lan Wangji downed the rest of his coffee in one sitting. He wanted to cheer, but he was too captivated to say a word. Lan Zhan is too precious! He believed him so much and just… did it right away without even flinching, without any hesitation whatsoever.

And when he was done, he put down his mug elegantly, the action contrasting the sour expression on his face. Most people would look ugly with a sour face, but Lan Zhan looked downright cute. It’s like he just got bullied! Wei Wuxian had to resist the urge to tease him. Lan Zhan looked like a child that had just drank bitter medicine, but Wei Wuxian could swear that his expression screamed “I would rather drink bitter Chinese medicine than this. Never again.”

Wei Wuxian laughed, “Want me to get you some water?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

After Wei Wuxian came back with a glass of water, Lan Wangji took a sip and once he did, he felt much better. Water really is the best. The feeling of it washing away the taste of coffee from his tongue was so good… there was a bit of an unpleasant aftertaste, however, but it’s fine. He’s already feeling better.

Wei Wuxian leaned back against the couch, sipped his coffee, and watched the incense smoke, “At this rate, I’m going to smell like sandalwood too.”
Lan Wangji, “Do you not like it?”
Wei Wuxian, “Nah, I’m just commenting, hahah. It’s just funny that we’re going to end up smelling the same.”
Lan Wangji, “Hm.”

For a few minutes, neither of them said anything as Wei Wuxian sipped his coffee.

Wei Wuxian sighed, “I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t drop the bomb.”
Lan Wangji remained silent, waiting for Wei Wuxian to say more.
Wei Wuxian, “I can’t just… tell them that their missing daughter is dead. Either way I was really relieved that Michelle did most of the explaining for us.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “Although it kind of confuses me, though. She seems to see you as reliable, how come she tried to kill you and not me?”
Lan Wangji, “The resentment probably clouded her mind.”
Wei Wuxian, “True. She felt so feral that night, but once we lit a lot of incense, she’s a lot more lucid. And I think those broadcasts were her way to reach out to us. Too bad we didn’t know what was going on until, well.”

Neither of them spoke again, content with just sitting beside each other, shoulder to shoulder. Occasionally they would check the time on their phones or check their notifications. Their families had sent them chat messages. Lan Wangji, who usually replied with long messages, was only able to reply to Lan Xichen with “Brother, I will get back to you later. Wangji” while Wei Wuxian hasn’t even replied to his parents nor the Jiangs.

-----

That afternoon, Michelle was all dressed up, ready to attend her friend’s farewell party. While she would be moving away to another city with her family about a month later, her friend was going to move to another country next week. For the past few days, she and her friend had gone around the city with the rest of their friend group to make the most of their time together. This party was meant to be the sendoff.

Michelle, “Mom, Dad, I’m going!”
Mr. Jia, “Where are you going now? You keep going out, haven’t you spent enough time with your friends?”
Michelle, “This is the last time, really!”
Mr. Jia, “Fine. When are you going home?”
Michelle, “Um… the party will be ending at 10PM, so I should be here by 11 or something.”
Mr. Jia, “What? Are you crazy? Or do you not remember that your curfew is at 8PM?”
Michelle, “I know, Dad, but please, just this once? Besides, I never came home that late before.”
Mr. Jia, “No means no. We are not going to stay awake until 11PM waiting for you to come home.”
Michelle, “Then can I have the house keys? I promise I’ll be quiet once I reach home.”
Mr. Jia, “You can’t have the keys until you get your first job. Either you come home by 8, or you don’t come home at all!”
Michelle, “What? You can’t be serious!”

Madam Jia, “Michelle, listen to us. This is for your safety. Your father is right, you’ve spent a lot of time with your friends already. This is still the afternoon. By about 6 or 7 PM, you will have spent a lot of time today with them already. Isn’t that enough?”
Michelle, “Mom, this is different. This is the last time! After this, we can’t see each other again…”
Madam Jia, “I know, and I understand, but you already have your phones and the internet, right?”
Michelle, “It’s not the same…”
Madam Jia, “It isn’t, but it’s better than nothing.”
Michelle, “I know, but she’s my friend. Besides, most people around my age can come home at about 9 or 10…”

Without any warning, Mr. Jia slammed his fist on the dining table.

Mr. Jia raised his voice, “You think your friend is so important that you dare talk back to your parents like this?”
Michelle, “Dad, please! This is just one time!”
Madam Jia, “Please understand, Michelle. You’re a girl. The world is more dangerous to girls and women than it is to boys. That’s why you need to come home early. If you were a boy, we’d have allowed you to come home by 10 or 11, but you’re a girl, so you have to come home early.”
Michelle, “A lot of my friends come home at 11 and 12 and nothing ever happens to them!”
Mr. Jia, “No, I don’t want to hear A WORD about your friends again! Are they really important to you? Will they really help you in the future? You spend so much time and energy on them, and what did it get you, huh? Just a few hours of fun? Is it worth it?”
Michelle, “It’s more than just that!”
Mr. Jia, “Then what? Then what are you getting? You tell me!”
Michelle, “I… I…”
Madam Jia, “Your father has a point, Michelle. We understand that making friends is important, but in the end, they come second. And you will also come second, or third, or fourth to them. What’s really important is your education. You used to win so many competitions and get first, second, or third place in your classes. But ever since you started hanging out with your friends like this, your grades have started slipping.”
Michelle, “I still get As and Bs!”
Madam Jia, “Yes, it is fine for now, but if this goes on, who is to say that your grades won’t get any worse? You need to stop spending too much time on your friends. There’s no knowing what’s going to happen in the future. What if they leave you or forget you? What if one day you fight and then you’re not friends anymore?
Even if not, they may not always be there for you. They can just say ‘sorry, I’m busy’ if you ask them for help. All this time you spend with them will be for nothing. Be a good girl and come home by 8, okay?”
Michelle gasped, “Mom! How could you say that?”

Madam Jia saw red upon hearing her daughter’s shrill response, “What’s your problem?? Why do you have to be so difficult and unreasonable? How come you behave worse than two boys combined? Let’s not talk about Lan Xichen, he’s a working adult and a manager now, but look at Lan Wangji! He’s a boy, but his curfew is also at 8PM because the family bedtime is at 9PM!
Their family rules are much stricter, and look where it got them! Lan Wangji had just gotten a job at a very, very big company fresh out of university! Why? Because he listened to his parents! Because he worked hard at school and graduated university as the best of his class!”
Michelle was on the verge of tears, “Mom! Stop comparing me to him! Why do you have to do this all the time?”
Madam Jia, “Because he is a good example! Even when he has his parents, his uncle, and his brother to spoil him, he still turns out well! Why? Because of family discipline! You know how strict the Lans are, don’t you? You hated it so much there that you never want to visit anymore, but you should’ve tried to learn from them instead!
We are already generous to you, we’re not as strict as they are, but how come you don’t appreciate it? We’re not asking you to be like him, we’re just asking you to respect our rules!”
Michelle started sobbing, “Can I at least please have the house keys just for today?”
Mr. Jia yelled, “Enough! If your friends are more important than your family, then just go and stay up late to have fun with them!
In this house, you obey the rules and respect your parents! If you don’t want to do that, then don’t live here! If your friends are so important, then just go to them and see if they will let you stay with them!”

After shooting a hurt, defiant glare at her angry parents for one last time, Michelle stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. She was thankful that the transit took a long time, and used the time to calm down. When she arrived at the meeting spot, she was a bit late, but her friends were fine with it and comforted her.

At 10PM, the friend group dispersed, and Michelle went back home. She arrived at 11PM and found that the front door really was locked. Hoping that what her father said was just an empty threat, she called the house phone. But there was no answer. She rang the doorbell. Once, twice, thrice… but there was no response either. She then called her mother and father’s phone a few times. Neither of them picked up. At this point, desperation filled her mind and she started banging on the door, screaming apologies, begging for her parents to open the door. But there was still no response.

Tired, shocked, and fearful of the prospect of sleeping outside, Michelle sat down and leaned against the wall of the floor’s open hallway, just staring at the front door, waiting and waiting for a response. Even if it was her father or mother throwing her pillow and blanket at her, it would be better than sleeping on plain concrete. But there was no response; and so, she was stuck watching the time on her phone anxiously, hoping for a response by 12AM.

Her phone battery was running low and she was hugging her knees crying when a man approached her.

The man, “Hey… what’s wrong? Did you forget your keys and get locked out?”
Michelle shook her head, “No. My parents locked me out because I didn’t come home in time for curfew.”
The man gasped, “Oh my god, that’s not right.”
Michelle wiped her tears, “No. It fucking isn’t.”
The man, “There, there, it’s okay. I’m going to drive you to a big police station so you can have somewhere to stay. Are you 18 years old?”
Michelle, “No, 16.”
The man, “That’s even worse. You should really tell the police what’s going on. Your parents can’t just get away with this. Do you know that they can be charged for child neglect and endangerment of a minor?”
Michelle, “No…”
The man, “I came here to get something, but that can wait. Come with me. My friend is waiting in his car and we’re going to get you to a police station, and you’re going to be safe there. Sound good?”
Michelle, “Yes… yes, please help me…”

Her mind all mushed-up from the emotional turmoil after being locked out, Michelle followed the stranger without question. Once they got to the car, where another man was waiting, both men gagged and bound Michelle’s wrists and ankles with tape. She struggled helplessly, but the tape was wrapped tightly and she couldn’t even loosen them no matter how hard she tried.

Once the car stopped in the garage of a house, she was taken to the house’s basement, where her shirt and skirt were lifted up. Her underwear was cut and thrown aside. The tape binding her legs were cut, but only because one of the men intended to spread her legs.

Throughout the night, both men had their way with her, treating her as nothing more than a toy. At some point, the tape covering her mouth was removed, but it was only because the men saw it as yet another hole. No matter how much she screamed for help, help never came. The only ones who heard it were the two men violating her, who grinned gleefully, disgustingly, as she screamed for help and begged for them to stop.

Both men took a break after a while, and Michelle struggled to get up despite the pain. She tried to get to her feet to attempt to leave from the basement door, which was left ajar. But one of the men saw her and lunged at her, pinning her to the ground. His big hands were tightly wrapped around her neck, and Michelle struggled to breathe. And then, everything went black.

When Michelle opened her eyes again, she was able to see her ravaged lifeless body. Being bound to it, she helplessly watched as her assaulters smashed her face in with a sledgehammer to prevent identification. Her eyes popped like grapes, and her teeth were destroyed. The men destroyed her face, effectively turning it into paste.

“Hey, what’s the lock number for this thing again?”
“302.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“What do we do with the girl’s phone, though? Do we lock it in with her?”
“Nah, just factory-reset it and sell it off somewhere. It’s a recent model and it’s still smooth, so it should sell pretty good.”

One of the men opened up a locked old suitcase before he folded Michelle’s body and stuffed it into the suitcase. He then ran over his fingers over the lock sliders after locking the suitcase, shuffling the numbers.

And then, Mr. Jia and Madam Jia woke up with a start as the lights in the entire apartment went off precisely at midnight. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji raced to the latter’s room, phone in hand, and opened the door. The lights from their phone screens revealed to Mr. Jia and Madam Jia that Michelle’s ghost was standing right by the bed, facing them. Blood dripped from the mangled remains of her face, and if it were not for her clothes, she would’ve been unrecognizable. Both Mr. Jia and Madam Jia remembered that they bought her that outfit for her 15th birthday. She loved it so much and reserved it for extra special occasions. And now her clothes were dripping with water and blood--

Madam Jia’s ear-piercing wail tore through the silence of the night, but Michelle turned away from her shocked parents, walking out the doorway, phasing through Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. Mr. Jia helped his wife get up to follow their daughter’s ghost, walking behind Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji who had followed her first. Locking the door behind them, Mr. Jia and Madam Jia followed their tenants, who were still following Michelle’s spirit.

All four of them walked on and on. None of them knew where the ghost was leading them to, until they passed by Caiyi Park. Michelle’s ghost then stopped to a certain spot in front of Biling Lake, and pointed at the lake surface in front of her before disappearing.

For the rest of the night, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji slept like logs on the former's bed while their landlords called -- begged -- for police to come and help them retrieve their daughter’s body from Biling Lake. The police didn’t question the supernatural explanation, but instead asked why they only called now, because Mr. Jia and Madam Jia could and should have called them when they didn’t find Michelle in front of their door the next morning.

Mr. Jia and Madam Jia could only confess that they assumed that she was throwing a rebellious tantrum. They had heard of stories of teenagers running away from home to stay with their friends or other relatives for about a few months at most before returning home again. Their relatives were also living in the city, so Michelle could stay with them even if her friends weren’t willing to let her stay with them.

Both Mr. Jia and Madam Jia had also called her phone and messaged her, but there was always no response. They simply assumed that she was purposefully ignoring them, and would call them soon enough. And if she did, they would drive over to pick her up. After the police listened to their explanation, they drove off to Biling Lake, retrieved the suitcase, and smashed the lock on it. Once the suitcase was opened, both Mr. Jia and Madam Jia’s hearts sank at the sight of their dead body of their one and only child. All they could do was cry and scream.

Chapter Text

It was a quiet and peaceful Tuesday afternoon in Qiongqi Park. Sitting beside each other on a bench swing, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji silently gazed at the clear sky, their hands clasped together and their fingers interlacing. It started when they were first attacked by Michelle’s ghost, but over time it had become a habit that they don’t feel like breaking. Next week, both of them will be starting their new jobs, and they figured that they might as well use the time they have left to de-stress. 

The last two weeks had been chaotic.

The news of the incident had spread like wildfire. Neither Mr. Jia nor Madam Jia mentioned Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian, to their relief. But still, Michelle’s murder and death became a media sensation, and the now childless couple were harshly criticized. 

The Lans were the first to find out, followed by the Jiangs, and then Wei Changze and Cangse Sanren. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s parents, who all worked abroad, took days off from their jobs to fly back home. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji had no choice but to tell the truth to their families about the haunted apartment and both of them (especially Lan Wangji) nearly getting killed. 

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s parents then helped find a new place to live for them, which fortunately didn’t take too long. By the end of their third week off, they had already settled in their new apartment. Mr. Jia and Madam Jia agreed to waive the costs of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s rent and returned their deposit in full. Neither Wei Wuxian nor Lan Wangji found out what became of them after that, and frankly, that was the last thing on their minds. 

Well, mostly. Both of them still had trouble forgetting the direct aftermath of the childless couple finding Michelle’s body. The first time Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji saw their then-landlords again after following Michelle’s spirit, they begged them to contact Michelle again, to summon her spirit. 

Wei Wuxian could only look at them sadly and say that he’s just a diviner, not a spirit medium; he can’t actually summon spirits -- it was Michelle’s ghost that came to them, not the other way around. Lan Wangji told them of Michelle’s fear of ending up in hell for killing her assaulters and fighting with her parents, but, like Wei Wuxian, was unable to do anything more. 

And some time before their parents arrived, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji saw Mr. Jia and Madam Jia sitting beside each other on the couch, looking through the photo albums. On the same day, Madam Jia also cooked her late daughter’s favourite dish and shared it with Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, and they (somewhat reluctantly) accepted.

Those memories were haunting; instead, they chose to recall what had happened when their families came to visit.

Wei Wuxian, “You know, to this day I still think it’s funny how our mothers are alike. And our fathers… aren’t that much different either.”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”

No more words needed to be said. When Cangse Sanren and Madam Lan met each other, both of them had proceeded to have the time of their lives gushing over their children and teasing Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. Their fathers mostly watched in silent amusement, later noting that both pairs of parents seem to have… similar dynamics. 

One highlight in particular was when Madam Lan hid behind the massive bunny plushie while wearing her husband’s clothes. While Lan Wangji was asked by his father to sit with him prior, Wei Changze asked Wei Wuxian to “talk to Lan Wangji” while pointing to the person hiding behind the bunny plushie. What Wei Wuxian ended up doing was spamming teasing, coquettish, and flirty remarks, peppered with affectionate nicknames like “Lan er-gongzi” and “Lan er-gege.” Eventually Madam Lan couldn’t hold in her laughter anymore and revealed her face to Wei Wuxian, who screamed so loud. 

His scream attracted Lan Wangji’s attention, and he stormed out towards Wei Wuxian like his life depended on it (“Wei Ying! Are you okay?”). That was when Cangse Sanren came out of her hiding place and revealed that she had been recording the entire thing from start to finish. As their mothers laughed, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji ran away to hide… while holding hands. Unbeknownst to them, Jiang Cheng, who had tagged along on behalf of the rest of his family, had the pleasure of watching it all. He’ll probably never let Wei Wuxian live it down. 

Hours passed. Soon the evening rush hour will come, and they would very much like to be home before then.

Wei Wuxian, “Wanna head back?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.” 

It’s nowhere close to 5PM, so both of them had no problems finding seats. And as always, they sat next to each other. Soon they arrived to their new apartment. Like with their previous agreement with Mr. Jia and Madam Jia, both of them have the place all to themselves instead of sharing it with a host family, and they were very happy about it. 

Their new apartment was about the same size as the old one, except they can now use the storeroom and there are no radios in there. The bedrooms were both soundproofed too, so it was all good. In addition, the rent wasn’t so different from the old apartment. And last but not least, before they signed the agreement, Cangse Sanren had checked the place for ghosts. She had been taught by Baoshan Sanren, but haven’t gotten around to pass on the knowledge to Wei Wuxian. But given what had happened, she decided to slowly go about it. 

At least for the time being, she (along with Madam Lan) was able to help Wei Wuxian get a jade necklace of his own in the city’s Chinatown. Both of them helped Wei Wuxian choose, and also taught him how to tell fake jade and real jade apart. However, Madam Lan was the one who paid for the jade piece in full, because “it’s the least (she) could do for saving (her) son’s life.” She continued by saying “please take good care of him from now on,” and Wei Wuxian’s response was “Don’t worry, Auntie! I’ll definitely make him happy!”

Both his mother and Madam Lan giggled like schoolgirls at that, although Wei Wuxian didn’t understand why. 

And prior to that, the reason why all three families banded together to look for one apartment for Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji was because the latter insisted that they stay under the same roof. One day when Lan Wangji, his father, and Wei Changze were on the way to look at an apartment, Wei Changze had asked the reason for his insistence. Without hesitation, Lan Wangji’s responded with “I want to be with Wei Ying for the rest of my life.” To which Wei Changze replied with “I leave my son in your care.” 

It was a very satisfying and fulfilling moment for Lan Wangji, and he will never forget it. Until now, as he waited for Wei Ying to finish showering, he recalled that moment over and over again. Judging from the shenanigans during their parents’ visit, it is likely that Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze had approved of him as a future son-in-law. Right? Right? Please let him be right. But even if he isn’t, he will make it right anyways. 

After they were done showering and drying their hair, Wei Wuxian invited Lan Wangji over to come to his room. 

“I never got to show you what tarot readings are like.” 

Both of them sat on the bed, and Wei Wuxian took out his box of “magic stuff.” Inside were the familiar deck of tarot cards, the pendulum, and the handmade board. Wei Wuxian took out the tarot deck, and placed it between him and Lan Wangji, who was sitting in front of him. 

Wei Wuxian, “So, do you have any particular questions you want to ask?”
Lan Wangji, “What kind of questions?”
Wei Wuxian, “Questions without a factual answer, usually advice. Like for example, we’re going to start work next week. What kind of mindset should we have? What should we watch out for? That kind of thing.”
Lan Wangji, “You mentioned love readings before.”
Wei Wuxian, “Yeah, that too, heh heh. Although I’ll need specific questions. Like, do you like someone and are not sure how to express your feelings in a way that’s favourable to them? I’m going to need to know what your concerns are.”
Lan Wangji, “I see.”

Both of them were silent. Lan Wangji took his time thinking, while Wei Wuxian waited patiently for him. 

Lan Wangji, “Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian, “Yes?”
Lan Wangji, “Right now, I’m happy. Very happy. I just want to know how to protect this happiness.”
Wei Wuxian appeared shocked for a second, but then smiled, “Sure. How many cards do you want?”
Lan Wangji, “Up to you.”
Wei Wuxian, “Okay. Let me come up with a spread.” 

This case is fairly straightforward. When reading for one case, that case can be divided into multiple questions. But given how simple it was, Wei Wuxian could only divide it into two questions: Current state and advice. While what is going on now is good, it might not be the best, and so he will use one card to address Lan Zhan’s current state. Two cards will be used for advice. 

The “current state” card will be placed below the “advice” cards, which will be side by side against each other. As a result, the spread looks like a reversed triangle, but it can also somewhat look like a heart. But it’s okay, as long as it answers the querent’s question and the reading itself resonates to said querent. 

Wei Wuxian, “I’m going to draw 3 cards for you: one to describe your current state, and the other two for advice. Is that okay?”
Lan Wangji, “Mn.”
Wei Wuxian, “Okay. I’m going to shuffle and pick out the cards. You just wait for me.”

As Wei Wuxian shuffled the deck and drew the cards, Lan Wangji watched and waited. And then, all three cards were flipped over. The current state card is Six of Swords upright, and the two advice cards are the Knight of Pentacles upright, and the Star reversed.

Wei Wuxian, “Okay… so, let me explain. For your current state, it’s the Six of Swords. It’s a card of moving on, but with a positive connotation to it. It’s like, you’ve had a lot of issues and problems in the past, but it’s all over now and you’re now moving on.
The way I see it, things are looking up from here because at the moment, you are in the process of moving on to something better.
As for advice, the Knight of Pentacles is a card that describes a loyal, practical, and hardworking figure. Which… I think sounds like you already, haha. I guess it’s telling you to continue being yourself, continue doing your best like you always have. Don’t, like, slack off just because things are good now. Continue as you always have.
But one advice from me, though, card aside; keep an eye out for opportunities and don’t be afraid of taking reasonable risks.
The second advice card is the Star, reversed. I think this card is suggesting that you are doubting yourself in some way and that you should stop it. Coupled with the Knight of Pentacles, I think the cards are saying that you are better than you think you are and that you should have a little more confidence in yourself.
Overall, things are getting better and you have the power and resources to deal with whatever comes your way, so just keep up the good work, and chin up.
Do you have any more questions or concerns?”

As he took in the reading he was given, Lan Wangji’s heartbeats quickened and his eyes widened, as if in surprise. After a few minutes, he chuckled and smiled at Wei Wuxian. 

“No.” 

His brain turning itself off at the sight of the gorgeous smile in front of him, Wei Wuxian sucked in a breath. Until now, he could remember Lan Zhan’s small smile back when they first visited Qiongqi Park. But this smile felt… happier, more heartwarming. Captivated by the sight, Wei Wuxian dropped his tarot deck. The cards scattered all over the bed, and one card landed on top of the three-card spread he had drawn for Lan Wangji. It was The Lovers, and it was upright.

Chapter Text

First and foremost I'd like to congratulate all of you for getting this far. ahue 

This is my first time writing horror and honestly, since I had a certain nightmare, I started wanting to write horror. But it was a challenge because I personally find it hard to be scared by prose alone. In addition to that, it's hard to scare cultivators. I initially wanted canon horror, but because of the second challenge, I decided to go for modern AU instead because I am not very well-versed in xianxia and Chinese myth. 

So yeah, I wanted to scare the shiet out of you guys. Heh heh heh. 
At first I did want to jump to the action right away, but at the moment, I don't think I am well-suited to fast-paced horror, so I had to opt for slow burn horror, which presented another challenge, namely tagging. I can't just tag horror but dish out like 4-5 chapters of pure(?) fluff. People will ask "where tf is the horror" and drop it midway. So I had to opt to present it like the way Madoka Magica (and to a lesser extent Doki Doki Literature Club) was presented. But hey, I didn't lie. The fluff is still there, and even after Michelle's ghost showed up, the fluff doesn't stop. e u e

Since this is my first horror story, I decided not to reach too far and venture into unknown territory. The bulk of the horror in the story (well, the buildup) is based on my own spiritual experiences. I do not have a strong sixth sense, so 99.9% of the time things happen and I am left wondering whether it's mundane or magical. Having poked my head into magic, I learned that it's wise to look at the mundane before magic. Like, if something falls on its own, you don't assume it's a ghost right away. But even with the existence of violent ghosts, the mundane threats are arguably more dangerous. 

What brought this story together was when I was watching Silent Hill 4: The Room playthroughs for inspiration. I got to a scene where the antagonist's younger self knocked into the titular room saying "Mom, let me in..." and I remembered one of my worst fears: being locked in or locked out with no way to free myself. So I came up with a plot where the story's ghost was a child who was locked out by their parents and then kidnapped. Once I got my plot, I started doing research... and found out that it happened in real life, more than 20 years ago. I won't name names, but it's a very famous case. I did end up taking notes from the case, but ultimately what helped me more was discussing the ideas with my friends, who pointed out plot holes and more reasonable/logical alternatives to achieve X or Y. 

I never meant for this story to be deep or anything. All I want is to scare the shit out of people (and Wangxian lel). But there's no denying that I am expressing my dislike for conservative parenting, Asian or no. I know it's prominent in Asia, but this can also apply wherever else. My stepmother told me that her mother locked her out for missing curfew. And let's not go too deep into comparing children; that happens everywhere, including in Asia. 

I am keeping the setting ambiguous, although I based the city off Singapore (bless SBS Transit!) and I have HDB buildings in mind when I imagine the old apartment building. But one thing is for sure, I am setting it in the modern world as we know it (for the most part); a world where the existence of the supernatural is debatable and where a lot of people have set their folk beliefs aside. I upped the magic a bit and kept the long canon hairdos, though. The former because it's what the plot is based on, and the second because that's how I like it (for the most part heh heh). 

A good part of why the scares work is because WWX and LWJ are very chill with each other and their living habits. They don't nitpick at each other. In a ghost-less setting, this would've been ideal, but in this fic, it gives a lot of room for the ghost to do her thing until the attack. A lot of you noticed the scares, but until now no one has gotten this one until I explained it to them. Excerpt from the end of ch4 and the beginning of ch5: 

Lan Wangji groggily opened his eyes, but it was nearly pitch black. He instinctively reached for his phone to check what time it was: 11:59PM. Welp. As more of his brain booted up, he realized he needed to pee. Oh well. He got off from his bed, opened the door, and saw a long-haired figure in the dark apartment who seems to be wearing a skirt, and a puddle at their feet wait Wait WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT…

His remaining half-asleep braincells didn’t take long to connect the dots. It was Wei Ying! IN ONLY A TOWEL! AAAAH!

Bolting off to the bathroom and shutting the door quickly (thankfully he didn’t end up slamming the door AAAAAAAAAAAAH!), Lan Wangji started breathing in and out to calm down his heart as he did his business. When he left the bathroom, the figure was no longer there, and he could see that the light in Wei Ying’s room was on -- it was visible from the gap under the door.

 

...........................

 

After meeting with Mo Xuanyu, Wei Wuxian arrived home at 10:30PM. The lights were off, and Lan Wangji was already asleep. It was fun catching up -- in addition to long talks about each other, Mo Xuanyu also told him about the important and good places to be in the city. Most of it were far away as it was located around where he lived, which is far away from Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji’s apartment, but he also got more info he and Lan Wangji could use, including the good shops in Chinatown.

After getting home, he didn’t turn the apartment lights on and went straight for his room. He then turned his room’s lights on and went to shower, leaving his pajamas in the room. Lan Zhan’s asleep anyways, so it’s fine to walk around with just a towel after leaving the bathroom. When he got back from showering, he dried his hair and checked his phone -- there were chat messages from his mother about five minutes ago.

....

As he laid down on the bed, Wei Wuxian continued to chat with his parents and telling them about the outing and him wanting to show egg-in-a-hole to Lan Wangji the next morning, along with his possible plans for tomorrow after breakfast. He chatted on, and without him realizing it, midnight had passed. After his hour-long chat with his parents, he turned off the lights and went to sleep at 0:14AM.

WWX spent one hour chatting with his parents after showering before going to bed at 12:14AM. LWJ left his room to pee at 11:59PM and saw what he thought was WWX outside. But WWX was in his room, he was done showering a long time ago. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH...
Even if I don't keep the boys' canon haircuts, this scare can still work, because I can just write Michelle as having short hair. 

Anyways, it's time for credits and special thanks. 

• Big big thank you to Xue Yang of the MDZS Network and MXTX Writers server (Joythea) for helping me out with the plot ideas! With her help I can figure out a better way to have Michelle's ghost NOT haunt Wangxian right away, and her body being stuffed into a suitcase before being chucked in the lake was Xue Yang's idea.
  Mo Xuanyu's room number, 77, was a reference to her ongoing MXY-centric fic, Make the Feathers Fly. 77 was based on a tidbit that she discussed with me, though, so I won't elaborate just in case she doesn't want it spoiled. 
• Thank you so much to Shijie of the MDZS Network (KazeZakura) for teaching me about Asian spirituality stuff! ovo 
• Thanks so much Da Jie/Chifeng-zun of the MDZS Network and MXTX Writers server (Keysmashed) for livetweeting the fic! I really enjoyed seeing how you progressed as you go.
• And many many thanks to you, who have read the fic from beginning to end and sticking to me through this wild ride. Thanks for being here and giving me feedback and concrit!

I might write a sequel to this, but I'm not sure. But I know for sure that writing horror and scaring people with my writing has been a satisfying experience and I'd like to do this again sometime. I deliberately left the ending open because, well, WWX and LWJ had just been reunited for like 3 weeks -- they wouldn't be dating just yet. But if I do write a sequel to this fic, I'd like them to make a cameo or something, hopefully already dating, hahah! 

If you guys have any suggestions for a possible sequel or spinoff of this fic, pls let me know 8D! 

Also, I'm not changing the tags, so if you guys wanna go and mess with your friends so they can feel your suffering, you can link them to this fic and watch them piss and/or shit their pants HAHAHAHAHAHAH! 

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