Work Text:
“A-Yuan! A-Yuan, slow down a bit, baobei.”
The little boy in question continued to dart up ahead, giggling. Wei Wuxian sighed, gathering up his robes to waddle after him more efficiently.
Watching his heavily pregnant wife chase after their first son was like a dream come true to Lan Wangji. When he first met Wei Wuxian he never would’ve imagined such a thing for him, or that he would be living it. Wei Wuxian had objected the idea personally before. And yet…
He managed to catch up to Lan Yuan, and scooped him up in his arms. Lan Wangji bit back the urge to call to him not to lift him, as it was a pointless fight. Wei Wuxian was stubborn to a fault.
He caught up to the pair at the top of the hill and set down his basket. He spread a blanket out over the grass, then held out his hand for Wei Wuxian to take as he lowered himself on top before taking a seat beside him.
It took some time, but they managed to team up against their excited son and get him to settle down long enough to eat his lunch. Lan Wangji worried too much about how much energy he had, Wei Wuxian always claimed. Lan Yuan was only five; there was plenty of time for him to quiet down a bit.
After lunch, Lan Yuan was buzzing with excitement once again. It had been a very long time since they’d done this - that, and he was Wei Wuxian’s blood and flesh. Of course he was the biggest ball of energy in existence. Upon the agreement that he stay within sight, Lan Yuan buzzed around the hilltop to play in the summer weather.
Summer in the mountains of Gusu was always comfortable. So high up, the weather was more like spring was everywhere else. Flowers of all kinds bloomed everywhere one looked and wildlife was teeming, moderately friendly with anyone who came across them, as the Lan Clan did not practice hunting.
Lan Wangji reclined on the blanket, his head resting on Wei Wuxian’s large and rounded belly. Fingers fell into his hair and a set of fluffy tails encased them in their own little world like a protective bubble.
He could easily fall asleep like this, he thought. With Wei Wuxian’s fingers carding through his hair and the sound of their first child giggling as he played in the tall grass, it was the most relaxed Lan Wangji had felt in a very long time.
“What are you thinking about so hard down there, Hanguang-jun?”
Lan Wangji’s eyes opened, and he found Wei Wuxian smiling down at him.
“You,” he answered. “And A-Yuan.”
Wei Wuxian made a melancholic sound. “He’s getting so big,” he said.
“He is.”
“Soon he’ll be old enough to go off on his own and get married and leave us behind.”
“That is still some time away,” Lan Wangji said. He turned around in Wei Wuxian’s lap to lay instead on his stomach. He cupped each side of his belly with his hands and pressed a kiss to the middle. “And we have more on the way if Wei Ying is worried about an empty nest.”
As if responding to his voice, Wei Wuxian’s belly jolted under his hands. “Aiya, you two are like peas in a pod. Already this one is responding to you talking about another child.”
“Mn,” Lan Wangji agreed. “There will always be plenty of foxes and dragons populating the Cloud Recesses. I will make sure of it.”
Wei Wuxian giggled at him - outright giggled - and his belly moved again as if their unborn child was responding to his laughter. “A-Yuan is more dragon than fox, much to my dismay.”
“Wei Ying does well with him,” he assured. “Just as he will any others.” Lan Wangji sat up, leaning in to press a kiss to his dear wife’s lips when hurried footsteps sounded at the bottom of the hill, growing closer and closer.
Before long, a junior disciple was standing before them, bowing. “Hanguang-jun, Wei-qianbei.” He offered a sealed letter to Lan Wangji. “Word from Lanling.”
He opened the letter meticulously, then his eyes scanned over the words. He could feel Wei Wuxian’s doing the same over his shoulder. Lan Wangji placed the letter in his lap. “Did the messenger make it seem urgent?” he asked.
“Yes, Hanguang-jun.”
When he turned, Wei Wuxian was already calling to Lan Yuan, urging him to return to his side. He changed his path easily, instead standing and offering his hand to assist Wei Wuxian in doing so as well. Lan Yuan copied the motion, offering his own hand to his mother and earning a grin and a ruffle of his hair.
The picnic was packed up and soon the three of them were returning to the Cloud Recesses to pack their bags.
❆
Jinlintai was a wide array of gold and bronze in all directions. Very heavy on the eyes, in Lan Wangji’s opinion. He much preferred the soft, cool tones of Gusu.
Wei Wuxian and Lan Yuan, on the other hand, seemed very enthralled with the bright architecture. They were both venturing off in their own directions and for a moment Lan Wangji wished it was socially acceptable to put leashes on them just to keep them from wandering too far.
Eventually he placed his son atop his shoulders, which in turn reeled Wei Wuxian back in. Lan Wangji did not set Lan Yuan down until they reached the palace itself and were greeted by Jin Guangshan personally at the doors.
Once the boy’s feet were back on the ground, the three of them bowed to one another. Then Jin Guangshan was taking Lan Wangji’s hands into his own. “It is a pleasure to see you again,” he said.
“You as well.”
“And with a wife and children, at that,” he mused, taking Wei Wuxian’s hand now and pressing a kiss to the back. “Wei-gongzi, it’s an honor.”
“The honor is mine, Sect Leader,” Wei Wuxian responded politely, although his ears flicked a bit irritably on his head. Jin Guangshan led them into the palace and Lan Wangji smiled, just a small tilt of the edges of his lips.
“Good behavior, Wei Ying,” he reminded.
“I am on good behavior.”
Lan Wangji tugged lightly on the ear nearest him, earning a swat to the invading hand. “Keep these in check.”
“Fine, fine,” Wei Wuxian sighed. He reached down to Lan Yuan and the boy wrapped his hand around two of his fingers.
They came to a stop in a sitting room, furnitured with plush divans. Jin Guangshan took his seat, and Lan Wangji followed after easing Wei Wuxian down first. Lan Yuan clung to his mother’s side, shyly avoiding the gaze of the man he had deemed strange and unfamiliar.
“I wish we could meet under better circumstances,” Jin Guangshan lamented. “Unfortunately, something has come up and I must make a difficult proposal to you.”
“What would that be?” Lan Wangji asked as he sipped the tea that was offered to him by a servant. Wei Wuxian declined his own cup.
Jin Guangshan folded his hands together on his lap. “My son also recently had a child. He is around the same age as your son, it appears.” Lan Yuan ducked further under Wei Wuxian’s arm once he realized he was being addressed. “I believe it would be beneficial to engage them, wouldn’t you agree? Your son is what both of your kind would call an omega, is he not?”
“We can’t be sure yet,” Wei Wuxian interrupted. “He is still too young to be classified.”
Jin Guangshan smiled. “Of course,” he said, then waved his hand. The doors opened again and a servant alongside a young boy stood in the threshold. “Perhaps we should allow them to get acquainted?”
Wei Wuxian stared over his shoulder at Jin Guangshan’s grandson, evaluating him, before he finally turned his gaze back to Lan Yuan and his expression softened. “You heard him, radish,” he murmured, pressing his lips over Lan Yuan’s temple. “Go play with that boy. Baba and I will come find you after we finish talking.”
Hesitantly, Lan Yuan crept away from Wei Wuxian’s side. Lan Wangji smoothed his hand over the back of his head as he went, and they both watched as he joined the servant and boy waiting in the doorway. The moment the door closed, Wei Wuxian turned back to Jin Guangshan, his silver eyes steely.
“What benefits would come from marrying my son into your clan?”
Lan Wangji sighed beside him as his tails flicked in a manner intended to appear threatening. More often than not it just came across as cute.
“Our clans need to unite more than ever these days. An engagement is the best way to ensure it,” Jin Guangshan explained.
Wei Wuxian scoffed. “Unite? Unite against what? There hasn’t been a major threat to the cultivation world since the Sunshot Campaign ended.”
Lan Wangji watched as the two met in a passive aggressive standoff, electricity practically building up between them. “Yes, you had a wonderful amount of contribution to the clean up afterwards, didn’t you, Wei-gongzi? We are all very familiar with the stories of the Yiling Laozu.”
Wei Wuxian stiffened against Lan Wangji’s arm. He ran his hand down his wife’s spine, attempting to soothe him. “I’ve set that part of myself aside.”
“And I am asking you to pick it back up,” Jin Guangshan said. He leaned back in his seat. “Recently a man has taken up residence in Nightless City. Ordinarily this wouldn’t be a problem, but it just so happens he claims to be Wen Chao.”
Lan Wangji’s ears picked up the exact moment Wei Wuxian stopped breathing. “That isn’t possible,” he said. “I burned Wen Chao’s body myself.”
“You burned a body, Hanguang-jun. Who is to say it was not an imposter claiming to be Wen Chao, while the real man ran off with his tail between his legs?”
“Who is to say the man currently in Nightless City is not an imposter?”
“That,” Jin Guangshan began. “Is why Wei-gongzi is so valuable. As I understand it, he is the one among us most familiar with Wen Chao’s face, yes?”
Lan Wangji turned his head, finding Wei Wuxian pale in the face and near hyperventilating. “Wei Ying,” he called. He got no response. “What purpose could he possibly serve in this?”
“Huli jings are shape shifters, yes?” He took Lan Wangji’s silence as answer enough. “All he needs to do is get close enough to identify him.”
“We are not willing to take the risk of him changing forms during pregnancy.”
Jin Guangshan stood. “Take as much time as you need. Let the boys get to know each other. You may stay as long as you need, and give your answer once you decide.”
He opened his hand in a gesture to show them out. The moment he was able to get Wei Wuxian standing up and walking, they were out the door. It closed behind them and with the sound of the heavy doors closing, Wei Wuxian doubled over with a sob.
“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji grasped his elbow. “Wei Ying, you do not need to do anything you-”
“No,” Wei Wuxian grunted. He dropped his hand below the waistband of his pants. When he withdrew it, his palm and fingers were coated in a layer of blood. “The baby’s coming.”
❆
Wei Wuxian’s labor lasted three days, and was nearly two full months early.
Lan Wangji spent much of that time right at his side as he cursed and cried in their guest room, pacing up and down the short length. He kept clawing at his belly, screaming at the physicians and his own husband to get the child out. It got so bad at some points the Jin Clan’s physicians practically begged Lan Wangji to give permission to restrain Wei Wuxian, lest he harm them or himself.
When the babe finally came, it proved to indeed be a dreadful sight: a stillborn little girl, twisted and malformed, with a fuzzy, stubby tail and ears, white as the snow that topped the mountains of Gusu.
At first, Lan Wangji had refused to allow Wei Wuxian to hold her. But one look into his eyes told him he already knew, and so he handed her over into his wife’s waiting arms and dropped a placating kiss to his sweaty forehead.
They agreed not to allow Lan Yuan to see her. She was wrapped in thick layers of funerary bandages, and they left for Gusu before the week’s end. Their return to the Cloud Recesses was met with grim looks and cloudy skies, as though one look at the couple and the single child following behind them spoke volumes.
The funeral itself was the most difficult day of Lan Wangji’s life. He did not attend as himself, rather as a full dragon nearly four meters in length. As was Lan tradition, the father was meant to encase the child in ice, and so he did his duty with a heavy heart.
Wei Wuxian did not leave the side of the block of ice. He stayed there well into the night, clad in the white he so often refused to wear. Lan Wangji joined him, in his humanoid form, with an arm around his waist.
Wei Wuxian’s lip wobbled then. “Parents aren’t meant to bury their children,” he said, his first words to Lan Wangji since leaving Lanling.
“No,” he agreed. “They are not.”
Ears pressed towards the back of his head, Wei Wuxian leaned his head against Lan Wangji’s chest with a sob. With his jaw clenched against tears of his own, he encased his wife fully in his arms and began to ease him inside. By the time he finally managed to get him into the Jingshi and ready for bed, his tears had calmed to an eerie silence.
They stayed together, Lan Wangji’s back pressed against the wall and Wei Wuxian’s to his chest. Suddenly, quiet as a breeze, he spoke.. “He’s taken something from me again.”
“Who has?”
“Wen Chao,” Wei Wuxian said. “He took so much from me just like the rest of them, and now he took my child as well. She was my only daughter, and he killed her. He stole my life and murdered my daughter, and he shall answer for it.””
“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji began. “We don’t know if it is actually-”
“Then we find out.”
“You want to go to Nightless City?”
“I’ll go,” he confirmed. “And I will have his head if it turns out to be him.”
He fell asleep soon after his declaration. Lan Wangji kept him close, held to his chest. He was watching his sleeping form when the Jingshi door slid open, then closed again. He looked up, and found Lan Yuan standing near the doorway.
Lan Wangji opened his arm to invite him into bed. His little feet padded against the wooden floor and he thrust himself against him, right next to Wei Wuxian.
“Baba,” he began. “Baba, why does mama keep crying?”
He petted Lan Yuan’s hair, searching for the words to explain best to a five year old. “Do you remember how we told you that you would be a big brother soon?”
“Mhm!”
“That will not be happening anymore.”
“Oh,” Lan Yuan looked disappointed, but it only lasted for a moment before he grew hopeful again. “Will it ever happen?”
“It may. It depends on your mama,” he answered as honestly as he could.
With a little giggle, Lan Yuan settled down between his body and Wei Wuxian’s, scenting each of them thoroughly before finally deciding to sleep for the night. Lan Wangji traced the backs of his fingers down his cheek, still soft with baby flesh, then turned his attention to Wei Wuxian again.
He kissed each of his temples, then the top of his head. If Wei Wuxian wished to go to Qishan, Lan Wangji would follow him to the end.
❆
It was not often members of the Lan Clan visited Jinlintai, let alone twice in less than a month. Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian returned to drop Lan Yuan to the care of Jin Zixuan and his wife, Jiang Yanli of the Jiang Clan of Yunmeng.
Wei Wuxian almost refused to leave him, clinging to their confused son with tear filled eyes. Lan Wangji began to comfort him, but it was Jiang Yanli who reached him first. A flare of protective jealousy flared in his chest and he began to instruct her to step back when Wei Wuxian relaxed into her arms, releasing Lan Yuan.
Lan Yuan kissed his mother’s cheek one final time before darting to where Jin Zixuan stood with his son, Jin Ling. Apparently the boys had gotten along well enough the last time they visited, and that gave less room to continue avoiding an engagement.
More than he was amazed by how easily Lan Yuan acquainted himself with a new person, Lan Wangji was surprised by how Wei Wuxian fell into Jiang Yanli’s hold. She petted his hair, whispered soothing words into his ear and refused to let him go until he moved away first. He nodded his thanks to her, wiped his teary eyes, and joined Lan Wangji’s side. He had a feeling they would be seeing more of Jiang Yanli, if that was anything to go by.
They then left for Qishan, Lan Wangji armed with Bichen, and Wei Wuxian with his dizi that had been confiscated after his confession as well as a dagger of his own. It was not a spiritual blade, as all attempts to recultivate a golden core had failed, but it was sharp and Wei Wuxian had learned to use it well.
They only needed to hope they could finish this infiltration and get back to Gusu for his uncle noticed the flute was missing.
Seeing Nightless City again after so many years made Lan Wangji’s blood run cold. He could tell Wei Wuxian was no better off. His hand was trembling and his scent spiked sourly.
Someone had indeed taken up residence once again, however. Whether it was Wen Chao was yet to be determined. The only inhabitants they had yet seen was a small number of guards at the main entrance. Every other area was left unguarded, making getting inside the city fairly easy.
The pair of them watched the palace from behind a bush, searching either for a servant that Wei Wuxian could pose as and sneak inside on his own or Wen Chao himself.
It was the former that they received. A woman, busty and carrying a vase of what seemed to be wine, stepped out of the palace and walked right past their bush. A silencing spell and binding charm later, the real servant was put out of commission.
Wei Wuxian studied her, critically and raking his eyes over her every detail. He even paid attention to the tone of her displeased grunts, judging by the twitching of his ears. Soon, his features began to morph before Lan Wangji’s very eyes, and an exact copy of the woman was knelt beside him.
Seeing this, the real woman began to grunt and fight against her paralyzed state in fear. “Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji called, just before he stood up. “Remember, if it is him, make it clean and get out. No dawdling.”
Wei Wuxian regarded him with what appeared to be mirth, but he nodded and waltzed right up the palace stairs like he owned the place.
Lan Wangi sat in waiting, alone aside from the fidgeting woman by his hip. He warned her multiple times not to try breaking the silencing spell by force unless she wished to lose her pretty lips. By the third warning, she settled down in defeat.
Just when it began to feel as if it was taking too long and he was contemplating going in after him, the clone Wei Wuxian returned, changing back into his wife as he came. Lan Wangji stood to join him.
“Well?”
“We’re done here,” was all he said, walking to leave the way they came.
Lan Wangji turned to the servant still in the dirt. “The spell and binding will break on their own. Try not to prolong it.” He then followed after Wei Wuxian, and the lingering coppery tang of blood on his body.
The scent left him wondering what exactly happened inside the palace to cause him to become so short with his own husband.
❆
The palace halls were exactly the same as he remembered from the last time he had been inside them.
He could still remember which hall led to the sty that had been called a room he was kept prisoner in. He remembered which one led from the prison cell to the grand chambers.
If Wen Chao was inside, he would surely have taken up roost in there.
He followed the path, grimacing at the manner in which his chest bounced as he walked. The gold plated doors were just in front of him. With a deep, steadying breath, he knocked. To his horror, a familiar, grating voice bid him entry.
Subconsciously, his hand flew to the hilt of the blade hidden beneath his flowing sleeves. He pushed the doors open and stepped inside.
The air left in his lungs felt as if it had been punched from him, leaving him winded and unable to breathe properly. Reclined in the plush divan was Wen Chao. He would never be able to forget such a face, not when it still haunted so many of his nightmares.
Wen Chao lifted his head, regarding him with a raised brow. “Didn’t I just send you for more wine? Why have you come back empty handed?”
He remembered his role here. He was only to get close enough to end the Wen line for good and leave. With great effort, he put on a coy act, twirling a strand of hair hanging from his shoulders. “Those guards outside put their hands on me, gege,” he whimpered. “Their filthy hands, touching without my permission.”
As he spoke, he took steady steps forward. Once he was within reach, he wrapped dainty fingers around Wen Chao’s wrist and pulled his hand until it rested firmly over one of his breasts. “They touched me here,” he said, then guided the same hand down between his legs, biting around the quiver in his lip and voice. “And here. I told them to get lost and came right back here so fast I dropped the vase.”
Wen Chao was awestruck. He was always a sucker for pretty things. Once he overcame his shock, a horrid grin spread over his lips. He stood, resting his hands on each of his hips. “Well, we can’t have that. I will personally amend that.”
His head dipped low, his lips pressing against where his scent and mating glands should have been. Panic surged in his chest, having those lips back on him, and in a flash he had drawn his little dagger and jammed it into Wen Chao’s throat. He could hear bone crunching as it embedded in his trachea.
Wen Chao gurgled, then sprawled out on the floor. Blood dripped from between his lips as he grasped at his throat, staring up with wide eyes. He bent down, grasping the hilt of the dagger with his pretty little fingers. A quick adjustment to his vocal cords had his own voice spilling from his painted lips.
“Do you remember me?” he asked, twisting the dagger clockwise. A garbled scream followed. Recognition lit in the pleading eyes staring up at him. A wide, hysterical grin spread across his lips. “Of course you do. How could anyone forget the ‘fearsome’ huli jing they ‘tamed’?”
He pulled the dagger free, blood spilling from the open wound with no more intrusions in it. He twirled it between his fingers. “I was not particularly fearsome before you,” he confessed. “In fact, I liked humans. I thought they were interesting and that I could become friends with them, perhaps.”
He angled the dagger just above Wen Chao’s left eye. “I can be fearsome now, since that is what you claimed me to be. A monster that only you were able to bitch, before you drug me before your father’s feet and handed me off.” As he spoke, he drove the dagger close until it was embedded in Wen Chao’s eye, before pulling it free again, eyeball coming with it. Wen Chao’s whimpers of fear and pain were not nearly as satisfying as he thought they would be.
“No dawdling,” a voice in his head reminded him.
With a sigh, he leaned down to whisper lowly in Wen Chao’s ear. “I cannot explain to you how happy it makes me to know my face will be the last one you ever see.”
He straightened back up and drove the dagger right between Wen Chao’s eyes, and the man beneath him finally went still. He stood, pulling his blade with him. It was a gift, and he did not intend to lose it to the likes of Wen Chao.
He swiped the flat edges of the dagger over his tongue. If Wen Chao had wanted a monster, he could play that part.
He then returned the way he came.
❆
Lan Wangji awoke with a start. He took in his surroundings, and found he was in the Jingshi.
Wei Wuxian stirred beside him, a soft groan slipping from his lips. He looked in horror as his wife blinked blearily at him. “Lan Zhan?” he muttered. “What time is it?”
Wei Wuxian stretched, and the blanket slipped below his belly. His still very round belly, heavy with an unborn child.
It had been a dream. All of it, it never happened. They were still home, in the Cloud Recesses, with a second child on the way and where they were always meant to be. Lan Wangji relaxed, snaking his arm around the warm body beside him.
“Go back to sleep, baobei,” he whispered. “I only had a nightmare.”
Wei Wuxian yawned, but leaned up and pressed a kiss to his chin.
He settled back into sleep, but it was a while longer before Lan Wangji was able to will himself to as well.