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The mission starts normal enough for Hanguang-Jun, with a codded message left in a newspaper — an address, and the words “more details to follow”. So, he packs is belongings, as few as they are with his career, and makes his way to Qishan. To Nightless City to be precise, and waits in the prearrange apartment for the details.
The location alone makes him nervous. Qishan and Gusu had been at war for decades, and only recently settled into an uneasy peace. Gusu had very few operatives in Qishan, and even less in the capital. It was not for a lack of trying either. He was virtually alone for the mission. To add on that, more than just the mission would be in danger if he were to be caught. He went though, because he had sworn an oath. They never would have sent him if the mission was not of the utmost importance.
He is given three days to familiarize himself with the neighborhood before the details arrive.
The mark: Wen Ruohan
The mission: Infiltrate the inner circle and recover stolen classified documents on Gusu’s military movements.
Nothing about the mission is unusual at first glance. It is a standard mission: get in, get files, get out. Operatives all over the world frequently complete this type of mission. That Wen Ruohan, the current leader of Qishan, is collecting intelligence on Gusu does not come as a surprise either.
It is the how that is unusual. Wen Ruohan is known to isolate himself, rarely leaving the Scorching Sun Palace and only allow a few select people in. Visiting dignitaries meet with underlings at a secondary location. His family, the inner circle of Qishan’s elite, all of which are unfailingly loyal to the man are the only ones allowed. The family though, includes a cousin, Wen Qing.
Wen Qing is a young accomplished doctor, and the only one known to leave the palace unescorted to interact with the citizens on any type of regular basis. Of course, there is the fact that the interactions are primarily with her patients inside the highly secure hospital in the city’s center.
He follows her for two weeks, and discovers a way in.
Gusu has files on every member of the Wen family, except, apparently, one. Wen Qing has a younger brother previously unknown to anyone.
Hanguang-Jun learns the brother’s name is Wen Ning, and he is a kindergarten teacher at a local school. The quiet, unassuming man is escorted from the elite school by armed security, more often than not with his elder sister accompanying him.
It is at this point that the flaws of the mission begin to appear. Wen Qing is too guarded, and unless he injures himself, impossible to get near. Her brother on the other hand…
His handler is the one to make the suggestion, one Hanguang-Jun is skeptical of at first. Lacking any better ideas, he goes along with it. A wealthy man, with a child to enroll, would have a chance at getting close to the teacher. On the surface, the plan looks flawless.
So, Hanguang-Jun dusts of a name he has not used in years. Lan Wangji. Lan is a common name throughout the region, not just in Gusu, though it is most frequently found there. He was little more than a college student last time he used the name. It was not his original name, which had no been used since he was a child. Still, he had taken on a thousand identities in the years since, and shed them all. The only constant was being Hanguang-Jun.
First comes the orphan child. A-Yuan is too small for a five year old, with more energy than he can handle. The little boy had not been his first choice, but A-Yuan had latched onto his leg and refused to let go. So, Lan Wangji goes home, a proud new father to Lan Yuan.
“We’re going to have the best life ever!” A-Yuan tells him, as Lan Wangji settles the little boy into the apartment.
“You’re my gege now,” the little boy tells him.
Lan Wangji has to stop himself from reacting. The informality of the title feels unpleasant. Not to mention, he has to be the little boy’s father for this to work.
Before he can correct him though, A-Yuan gets a contemplative look on his face. One that is entirely out of place on a young child, then says, “not gege, A-Die! You’re my A-Die now.”
And Lan Wangji hates that he likes it. When this is over, he will leave Qishan and A-Yuan behind, there will be no other choice. But, it is unexplainable how much he liked hearing the boy call him that.
“You can’t ever leave me,” A-Yuan says as the thought passes through Lan Wangji’s head.
All he can do is stare at A-Yuan, and shake his head at the improbability of the next thought that passed through his head.
Building a life with A-Yuan, even if it is nothing more than a farce, is shockingly easy. For all the energy the little boy has, he is uncannily obedient. He follows the rules Lan Wangji sets for him without question, and corrects himself before Lan Wangji has the change to. Life with A-Yuan is easy.
What comes after A-Yuan is not.
Lan Wangji’s superiors think he needs a wife to complete the picture. On that front, he was no idea where to begin. Very little of his life has been his to decide, but the one thing he did know, was that he does not like women. At least, not in a way he could reasonably pretend to be married to one.
Luckily for him, A-Yuan somehow, once again, solves that problem.
Walking back from the market, the one nearer the school than their apartment, A-Yuan suddenly lets go of his hand. Before Lan Wangji even has time to react, the boy is running, weaving through the crowd of people.
“GEGE!” A-Yuan shouts as Lan Wangji rushes after him.
People everywhere stop what they are doing at the sound of the boy’s shouting, but A-Yuan ignores them all. He only stops when he flings himself at a leg and wraps around it like an octopus.
The person the leg is attached to bends down to scoop A-Yuan up into his arms. Long hair cascades around his face, but when he stands back up, Lan Wangji’s heart stops. He cannot look away.
Silver eyes sparkling with laughter look at the little boy in his arms softly. Plush red lips, with a small mole beneath them, stretch into a wide smile. His skin is pale and flushes beautifully under the mid-afternoon sun. He is tall too, nearly as tall as Lan Wangji, but thin with a waist Lan Wangji is sure he will have no problem wrapping his hands around.
It is the laughter though, loud and bright, that really does him in. Lan Wangji has never heard anything like it, and never wants to stop now that he has.
Slowly, he approaches the laughing man.
“Little Radish,” the man says, “what are you doing here? All on your own? What if something gobbles you up?”
He feigns biting at A-Yuan’s limbs, and the little boy shrieks with laughter.
“But I’m not on my own!” A-Yuan says.
“Oh? Then who stole my Little Radish and brought him all the way out here?” the man asks.
“My new A-Die did!”
“A new A-Die? What did this happen? It can’t have been that long since I saw you! I think I’d know if you got a new A-Die!”
“But I did! You’ve been gone forever, gege. Look, he’s right there!” A-Yuan points back at Lan Wangji.
“Oh! Uh…hello?” the man says. “I guess this is yours now.” He holds A-Yuan tightly, and both of them look reluctant to let go. Then, he tries to pass A-Yuan back to Lan Wangji.
“Who is your friend, A-Yuan?” Lan Wangji asks. He lets the man continue to hold the boy, but does not take his eyes off the man.
“He’s my gege,” A-Yuan says.
Lan Wangji sighs. Children.
“Wei Y-Wei Wuxian,” the man says, sitting A-Yuan on the ground.
“Lan Wangji,” he says, giving his own name.
“It’s nice to meet you. How did you find yourself with my Little Radish? I’ve been trying to adopt him for forever!”
Words stream out of Wei Wuxian’s mouth ceaselessly. Questions are asked, but Lan Wangji is not given enough time to answer before the other man is speaking again. Part of him wonders if it is nerves, being forced into conversation with the man that stole the little boy he so clearly loved right out from underneath him.
The thirty minute shopping trip easily turns into a three hour outing without anyone realizing it. When the sun begins to dip below the horizon, Wei Wuxian seems realize he has derailed their entire day.
“I’m so sorry for keeping you! And I’m late,” he says. After pressing a kiss to A-Yuan’s temple, he rushes off, yelling “Bye Little Radish, Bye Gege!”
Finding more out about Wei Wuxian is surprisingly easy. A-Yuan supplies most of it. The man is also an orphan, a few months younger than Lan Wangji, and a Yunmeng native. He came to Qishan almost a year and a half ago, with nothing but the clothes on his back. Currently, Wei Wuxian works as a bartender in a questionable area of town, and lives in a run down apartment he is barely able to afford.
According to the man’s own words, Wei Wuxian has wanted a more permanent spot in A-Yuan’s life since the moment he met the little boy.
It is a few days after they first meet, when he presents his well thought out proposal: to backdate a marriage certificate between them, and for the two of them to present themselves as a married couple for appearance sake. In return, he gets to be A-Yuan’s primary caregiver with free housing and financial support. Lan Wangji is pleasantly surprised when Wei Wuxian accepts without even thinking about it.
In hindsight, Lan Wangji should have been more suspicious at the haste in which Wei Wuxian accepts, but he has, admittedly, been too blinded by the man’s beauty to question it farther.
Within hours of Wei Wuxian accepting his proposal, Lan Wangji is helping to move the other man’s meager belongings int the third bedroom. It takes no time at all for him to fit seamlessly into A-Yuan’s day, which should have been expected.
Unfortunately, he does not fit into Lan Wangji’s. When plans began to form, he knew a child would have moments where they are loud and messy. He was pleasantly surprised that, while having seemingly endless energy, A-Yuan is rarely loud or messy. The little boy is easy to be around, and he’s almost like a miniature Lan Wangji sometimes.
Wei Wuxian however. It should have been something he guessed just by the way Wei Wuxian speaks. It does not even take half a day for him to learn Wei Wuxian is an overlarge child with no sense of volume, boundaries, or anything else. It takes from moving him in until dinner for Lan Wangji to understand this fact.
“Gege’s so strong, carrying all these boxes like they weigh nothing. I bet you could carry your new wife all the way up the stairs without breaking a sweat! You should do it, Gege. Pick me up!” he says as they cart the twenty or so boxes from the rented car into the apartment. Wei Wuxian even makes “grabby hands” at him, before bursting into laughter.
“If we’re married, we should share a bed! Gege, what will people think if you exile your new wife to a cold room all by himself! I can’t bear being unloved,” flows from his mouth when Lan Wangji directs Wei Wuxian to his room.
With an eye roll and muttering, “Ridiculous,” he leaves Wei Wuxian to his unpacking, intent on passing the time with a book. Ten minutes later, the man is draped across his lap, saying, “Gege! You’re ignoring me! I’ll perish without your attention. What will poor A-Yuan do without his A-Die and his Baba to love him?”
A-Yuan, who is watching some show on the small television starts laughing then. Which, somehow leads Wei Wuxian into chasing the small boy around the living room. Shrieking laughter from the two echoes off the walls. It takes an hour for them to tire themselves out, where they proceed to lie on the floor watching cartoons at full volume.
When dinner time comes, Wei Wuxian ushers Lan Wangji out of the kitchen, saying, “No, no, gege should relax! Let his new wife do all the cooking and cleaning! I have to feed my boys!”
“Ridiculous,” is what comes out of Lan Wangji in response. It becomes his most frequently used word in the time that follows.
As Wei Wuxian cooks, A-Yuan stands at the edge of the kitchen, fascinated. Or so Lan Wangji thinks at first.
It is not fascination.
Dinner is a half-burnt inedible concoction of too much spice. Somehow, it is also cold. As Lan Wangji orders take out, he figures out it was horror A-Yuan had been watching Wei Wuxian with.
“Don’t let Baba cook, ever again,” A-Yuan whispers to him.
“I will not,” Lan Wangji promises, as he looks over the ruined pots scattered all around the messy kitchen.
At first, he does not know why Wei Wuxian behaves this way. The dramatic behavior, the unrepentant flirting, the constant touching, every time they are in a room together it drives Lan Wangji insane. He thinks Wei Wuxian is doing it to get a rise out of him.
Maybe he was, but one week passes, then two. A month goes by, and Wei Wuxian’s behavior continues to be outrageous. The other man stays up late, and wakes up even later, often not until after Lan Wangji has left for “work”. He quickly discovers that all of it, the chaotic energy and everything else, is simply Wei Wuxian.
His cover story is that he is a psychologist. Every day, Lan Wangji goes to work at a small, our of the way, medical practice. There he waits for the right time for the rest of the plan to fall in place.
It was late spring when he arrived in Qishan, and by the time the plan was settled, school had let out for the summer. While there is a sense of urgency to his mission, Lan Wangji is given a significant amount of freedom on the timeline.
Faster than he realizes, summer is coming to an end, and the next phase of the mission needs to start. A-Yuan will be starting school in a matter of days, in Wen Ning’s class.
It is not a coincidence. Lan Wangji broke into the school to edit the class lists, ensuring that “Lan Yuan” is placed in his mark’s class.
They day they are set to meet with Wen Ning dawns bright and early. Lan Wangji has both himself and A-Yuan fed and dressed before Wei Wuxian stirs. As the clock ticks closer to ten, Lan Wangji begins to grow nervous. Not a single sound has come from Wei Wuxian’s room.
Finally, at a quarter to nine, he opens the door he spent weeks pretending did not exist.
Wei Wuxian has turned the formerly empty room into a chaotic riot of color and mess. Drawing are tacked haphazardly around the walls, and the floor is littered in discarded art supplies and clothing. Lan Wangji shakes his head, thankful Wei Wuxian at least has enough respect to keep the mess mostly contained to his own room.
The man is question is sprawled across the bed with his blanket barely draping across the lower half of his body. The entire upper half of his body is on display, and Lan Wangji cannot stop himself from looking at Wei Wuxian’s bare skin. His skin seems even paler against the black of his sheets. Dark hair spills around his head like a halo, and those plush lips are parted ever so slightly. Never has Lan Wangji been tempted by anything the way he is by Lan Wangji’s sleeping form.
He suppresses the thoughts, locking them away in the back of his mind as he moves towards the bed. Wei Wuxian’s skin is warm and soft when Lan Wangji reaches out to shake the other man awake.
He does not stir.
“Wei Wuxian,” Lan Wangji says, shaking his shoulder again.
Nothing.
He adds a little more force to the shaking.
“Uh-uh,” Wei Wuxian mumbles, shifting away from Lan Wangji’s touch.
“Wei Wuxian, wake-up,” Lan Wangji says a bit louder.
Instead of waking up, Wei Wuxian rolls over, somehow trapping Lan Wangji’s arm between his body and the bed. Wei Wuxian’s other hand comes up and wraps around his wrist. For someone as lithe and delicate looking as Wei Wuxian, the man’s grip is surprisingly strong.
“Wei Wuxian!” he shouts, trying to pull his arm back.
Still, the other man does not wake. Well, he did not move, but Lan Wangji catches the edges of Wei Wuxian’s lips lift into a mischievous smirk.
“Shameless,” he says, yanking his hand back, with little care for the other man’s comfort.
Silver eyes spring open, and that smirk turns into a pout. “But Gege! Waking me up so early, I thought you finally decided to love me! But no, you’re just here to disturb my beauty rest,” Wei Wuxian says.
Nothing about the nonsense that flows from Wei Wuxian’s mouth makes the thoughts in Lan Wangji’s head any better. The man is nothing more than a means to and end, not the distraction Lan Wangji’s own body is turning Wei Wuxian into.
Of course, Wei Wuxian chooses that moment to stretch, arching his back off the bed as he tilts his dead back. Lan Wangji cannot stop his eyes from roaming across the long lines of his body.
“Hurry up, We have to be at the school in an hour,” Lan Wangji snaps while glaring at Wei Wuxian.
Laughter follows him as he storms from the room.
Thankfully, it does not take long for a fully dressed Wei Wuxian to join him and A-Yuan, and they are on their way to meet with Lan Wangji’s latest mark.
Months of observation gave Lan Wangji very little information to draw from when meeting the man. The teacher is quiet. While meeting the other parents, he is nervous and stutters through every interaction. Even the presence of children does not seem to help, despite it being obvious to all that Wen Ning prefers the children to the adults.
Even Wei Wuxian’s relentless chatter does not put the man at ease. In fact, that seems to put Wen Ning even more on edge. Lan Wangji has to drag Wei Wuxian away after fifteen minutes of him just speaking at the man.
But, when the first day of school arrives, the moment the parents (including Wei Wuxian, he declares afterwards he would do pick-ups but not drop offs, because seven in the morning is “cruel and unusual punishment”) are out of the room, Wen Ning comes alive with the children.
Lan Wangji watches from the cameras he installed around the room for the first week. It is astonishing how different the man is. There are no traces of be found of the trembling, stuttering wreck.
Still, it is difficult to get near Wen Ning. He is in class during school hours, and is escorted either by security or Wen Qing when leaving the building. A month goes by with maybe two words exchanged, and Lan Wangji grows frustrated trying to find a way to connect with the teacher.
Despite the long years Lan Wangji has spent in his position, he has never been good at connecting with people. Words do not come easily to him. Typically, his assignments involve very little direct interaction with people He prefers it that way. Observation, covert infiltration, and brief interactions at formal events are more typical for him.
In the past, he could rely on a rigid script of how and interaction would go. Unfortunately, Wen Ning seems to be as bad at interacting with others as Lan Wangji, just in a different way.
“You could ask Baba about Teacher Wen,” A-Yuan says out of nowhere one evening when Lan Wangji is trying to work out the problem in his head.
“What?” he asks.
“You can ask Baba about Teacher Wen. He got him to actually talk without tripping over his words the other day,” A-Yuan says.
Lan Wangji writes it off. Sometimes, A-Yuan says things, as if he can read minds. The thought it ridiculous, so he writes it off, thinking he may have uncharacteristically mumbled something. A-Yuan goes back to his cartoons.
A-Yuan is correct though, somehow. Wei Wuxian, he discovers at parent teacher night, does not have the same problem getting Wen Ning to speak to him as Lan Wangji did. He has seen the way his “husband” interacts with people, at markets, cafes, everywhere they go. Wei Wuxian can connect with anyone regardless of the situation in a way Lan Wangji does not understand.
So, when they walk into the classroom, he should not have been surprised when Wei Wuxian bounces over to the teacher with an enthusiastic, “Wen Ning! Hello!”
“Mr. Wei, Hello,” Wen Ning says politely, the stutter barely there.
“How many times have I told you, none of that Mister stuff. We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“If you say so,” Wen Ning says.
“I do,” Wei Wuxian replies. Then, he reaches back and grabs Lan Wangji’s wrist to pull him closer. “And you remember my dear husband, Lan Wangji? Of course you do, he’s too perfect to forget!”
“Mr. Lan,” Wen Ning greets softly, the nervousness in his voice reappearing.
Lan Wangji inclines his head.
Silence reigns for less than a second before Wei Wuxian is speaking again.
“I know we’re supposed to be talking about how A-Yuan is doing, but my Little Radish is perfect, so I can’t imagine there would be anything to say.”
“Lan Yuan is a good student,” Wen Ning says.
“Exactly! We should make plans,” Wei Wuxian says.
And somehow, Wei Wuxian does what Lan Wangji has been trying to figure out for weeks, and manages to talk Wen Ning into meeting them for lunch. Of course, he does it by talking so much that Lan Wangji is sure Wen Ning only says yes to shut him up.
Since it furthers his goals, Lan Wangji lets an unsuspecting Wei Wuxian take the lead on establishing a relationship with the mark.
“Do we take him with us or find a babysitter?” Wei Wuxian asks as the two of them walked back home afterwards.
“What?”
“For A-Yuan, should we take him out with us or get a babysitter? I mean, our son is the most lovable little boy ever, but do you think Wen Ning wants to spend his off day entertaining a student or have a break and get, you know, adult conversation.”
“What?” Lan Wangji says.
“Adult conversation! Really, Gege, we have a child, and yeah, A-Yuan is a smart Little Radish, and thinks he’s grown up, but..” Wei Wuxian trails off.
“We should take him with us,” Lan Wangji says.
Despite his friendliness, Wei Wuxian seems to actually know very few people in town. His social circle appears to be limited to a handful of coworkers that Wei Wuxian complains endlessly about, and a couple of siblings that do not live in Qishan. Who, judging by the overheard phone calls, are not exactly happy with where Wei Wuxian is living. For someone that obviously craves socializing, Lan Wangji finds it odd
“I tend to annoy people, or at least, that’s what A-Cheng tells me,” Wei Wuxian tells him the one time Lan Wangji asks about it.
There is also the fact that Lan Wangji does not want a stranger in his apartment. Wei Wuxian pushes at physical and emotional boundaries as though he was born to. He constantly invades Lan Wangji’s space, touching him regardless of if he wants to be or not. He is, however, respectful of Lan Wangji’s private space. He always knocks on Lan Wangji’s door, and from the camera feed in the apartment, has never entered Lan Wangji’s room. It is not something he could guarantee of a stranger, especially a teenager. It will raise far too many questions if someone goes snooping, and finds all the incriminating things Lan Wangji has tucked away in his room. And the kitchen, which Wei Wuxian has been banned from after the that disastrous first dinner.
So, Saturday afternoon, the three of them walk to a restaurant, A-Yuan holding each of their hands.
“I’m so happy,” A-Yuan says.
“About what?” Wei Wuxian asks him.
“We’re doing things, like a real family! And Teacher Wen is really cool, he just doesn’t know how to show it. Kind of like A-Die,” A-Yuan says. The little boy glances over at Lan Wangji then says, “And he likes you a lot, Baba, kind of like A-Die too. Just…not in the same way. I think.”
Lan Wangji takes a moment to catch what he said, the rush of words coming out so quickly, but when he des, he freezes completely. The tips of his ears began to heat up. A-Yuan cannot possibly know the things Lan Wangji thinks about Wei Wuxian, but that does not matter.
“A-Yuan!” Wei Wuxian screeches. A deep blush spreading across his cheeks, and he stares at the little boy in horror.
“What?” A-Yuan says, and had he been any older, even by just a couple of years, Lan Wangji would have thought the word came out falsely innocent.
“You…I…” Wei Wuxian stutters out, seemingly unable to find the words.
Never before has Lan Wangji seen the other man so speechless, and he feels the occasion needs to be marked, remembered forever. If it is not for the fact that he too is absolutely mortified at the words.
“You can’t just say thing’s like that!” Wei Wuxian says.
“Why not?” A-Yuan asks.
“Because….because…well…”
“It’s impolite,” Lan Wangji says.
“How?” A-Yuan asks.
“Aiya! It just is! Someone save me from little boys asking impossible to answer questions!” Wei Wuxian cries. He snatches A-Yuan up and begins to nip at the little boys arms and cheeks. “I guess I’ll just have to eat you to make it stop!”
“Baba no!” A-Yuan shrieks with laughter.
Distraction is, apparently, a good way to redirect the little boy, because A-Yuan seems to forget the entire question by the time they reach the restaurant.
Which, suspiciously, the only patrons there are a handful of men in dark suits. Along with the Wen siblings. He is both surprised and not to see the woman there, as it is not something they discussed. However, Wen Qing appears to always accompany him when in public, so really, he should have expected her presence.
“That’s odd. This place is usually packed,” Wei Wuxian says. “Works for me, mean’s we won’t have to wait half as long for food.”
Lan Wangji shruggs, and follows as Wei Wuxian leads them to the table, practically yelling, “Wen Ning! You really did come!”
“I-I said I would,” he says, but he does not sound pleased to be there.
“And who is this lovely lady?” Wei Wuxian asks, looking at Wen Qing.
“My sister, Wen Qing.”
Introductions go well, if one could call them that. While her brother’s disposition is quite meek, Wen Qing is anything but. She is acerbic and refreshingly frank. Every word out of he mouth is probing, looking for ulterior motives to Wei Wuxian’s attempts at friendship. She seems especially wart about Wei Wuxian’s ignorance as to who they are, beyond A-Yuan’s teacher.
Of course, this is where his husband’s social abilities work in Lan Wangji’s favor. He speaks so much, playing off Wen Qing’s biting words as if they are nothing more than harmless jokes. Any time there is a lull in conversation, he entices A-Yuan into doing something cute, earning what Lan Wangji guesses is a rare smile out of the woman. His infectious laughter even has the woman softening to his as lunch wears on. The best part is, other than nodding in agreement, Lan Wangji barely has to open his mouth.
He really did choose well, picking Wei Wuxian to play his spouse, because the other man is doing all the work for him. By the time they are standing up to leave, Wei Wuxian has wrangled another promise for lunch the following week.
Very quickly, that second lunch turns to four, then they are meeting up for drinks twice a week, in addition to what became standing lunch plans every Saturday.
This means, that when Lan Wangji has to check in with his superiors, he actually has something to give beyond a short “working on it while conducting surveillance”. Despite the increasing urgency, as they did not know what Wen Ruohan planned to do with those documents nor when, things are progressing nicely.
Six months after arriving in Nightless City, the next part of the plan is put into action. A hand delivered invitation is given to Wei Wuxian, inviting the two of them to a dinner at Scorching Sun Palace.
“This is so exciting!” Wei Wuxian tells him as Lan Wangji looks over the invitation. “But I have nothing to wear! What does someone where to this kind of thing? Do you know?”
“No,” Lan Wangji says.
He did. He remembers a childhood of similar parties, of being observed and judged as he grew older. That is another life though. “Lan Wangji” has never been to a anything quite like this.
“No matter! Jiejie will know. She goes to fancy parties all the time,” Wei Wuxian says, then disappears to call his sister.
After months together, Lan Wangji still barely knows anything about them other than the names Wei Wuxian calls them. No Wei Li or Wei Cheng exists anywhere. Even his contacts are unable to find anything, which should have been suspicious, except Wei Wuxian is unable to keep a secret about anything.
Wei Wuxian, of course, spends the entire time leading up to the event talking nonstop about it. The suit, which iss supposed to be a surprise has been shown to Lan Wangji at least four times, and every time they met up with the Wen siblings, Wei Wuxian talks about nothing but how excited he is to see inside the famous palace.
“You do realize, you’ll only see four rooms, at most,” Wen Qing snaps at him over drinks the night before.
“Come on, Qing-jie. You’ll give me a tour of the whole palace,” he whines, putting on his best pout.
“Absolutely not. You’ll stay exactly where you’re supposed to,” she snaps.
“Wen Ning will then, won’t you?” he begs.
“He will not. Now stop asking,” she finally demands.
Finding a babysitter for A-Yuan is uncommonly easy. There is another little boy in his class, Ouyang Zizhen, and the two boys have been begging to do a sleepover. It comes with the added benefit of not having a stranger in the apartment, and Lan Wangji is incredibly thankful for that. And, not that anyone knows, but the background he ran on the family before allowing it is extremely thorough. For his cover, obviously, it has nothing to do with not trusting someone else with the little boy
Wei Wuxian was the one to take A-Yuan to his friends house, and since Lan Wangji had gone out to meet with a contact, he did not see Wei Wuxian until they were getting ready to walk out the door. And he looked…
Well…
He looked…
Lan Wangji’s ears burn hotly as he stares at Wei Wuxian. He has seen the suit, has imagined Wei Wuxian wearing it. The reality of seeing it though is incomparable. He cannot breathe. He needs a cold shower. And air. The apartment feels far too small as he stares at Wei Wuxian dumbfounded.
“Let’s go,” Lan Wangji says, trying to look anywhere except at Wei Wuxian. He cannot afford to.
“You’re not even going to compliment me, Gege? It’s like my husband doesn’t love me!” We Ying says, as he wraps himself around Lan Wangji’s arm.
How he manages not to flinch at the touch, he will never know. Perhaps it is because he is too busy coming to realize it is not just lust he feels towards Wei Wuxian. He is beginning to fall in love with the man, and that is something that cannot happen.
It is though.
A shivver runs through him as Wei Wuxian, says, far too close to La Wangji’s ear, “Come one, Gege, don’t you like my outfit? I worked hard on it.”
“You look lovely,” he rasps out, meaning every word.
“Of course I do!” Wei Wuxian says happily.
And somehow, that makes it easy for him to let the other man hang off of him, even as they climb into the car waiting for them.
True to his word, Wei Wuxian hardly leaves Lan Wangji’s side the entire night. The only time he does is to use the restroom, and even then, he is hardly gone long enough for Lan Wangji to even notice. On the one hand, it keeps him from having to participate in the conversations around them. On the other, it makes it nearly impossible for Lan Wangji to do any reconnaissance. Wei Wuxian is just that distracting.
Wen Ruohan makes a brief appearance, only for the dinner portion itself, before vanishing. Even then, he does not venture farther than the head of the table, only speaking to the men nearest him. From the information Lan Wangji has gathered, they are his closest advisers and his bodyguard.
His sons however, stay the entire night. Once again, without Wei Wuxian as a buffer between him and the two men, then Lan Wangji is sure he would have lost his mind.
While there is nothing particularly notable about Wen Xu, rumor says the elder son is vicious and cruel. From the way he treats the servers throughout the course of the night, Lan Wangji has little doubt those rumors are true. A brief handshake and minimal introduction is the extent of contact he has with the man, who immediately turns back to the Qishan Military personnel he is surrounded by.
If Wen Xu is what people say, then Wen Chao is nothing short of a monster in human form. Snide comments are made throughout the evening, directed at anyone outside of the sycophants surrounding him. While the Wen siblings make polite talk to the elder son when they have to, they outright avoid getting close to the younger one. Smoother than Lan Wangji believed possible, both he and Wei Wuxian are steered far from Wen Chao any time his loud group moves to a new area
Not that the attempts to avoid him are entirely successful. The man manages to corner Wei Wuxian at least twice, and the anger radiating from him is so out of character from everything Lan Wangji has seen that he is left stunned. He honestly did not think Wei Wuxian could get angry about anything.
The woman hanging off Wen Chao’s arm is just as bad. She is wearing an ill fitting dress that is more appropriate an a disreputable club as opposed to a state dinner, and she spends the entire evening egging on Wen Chao’s behavior. At times, she corners other women that seem to catch her dates eye, reducing several to tears.
Still, the night os not entirely unsuccessful. Lan Wangji locates several potential ways to infiltrate the palace, and has the opportunity to watch which areas are guarded and which are not. Considering it is an event, and security is likely heightened, he manages to identify several gaps that would make accessing the building on a less active night quite easy.
Getting inside the palace should be easy. He already has the blueprints. Wei Wuxian even plans to meet up with former coworkers for a night out the following weekend, and A-Yuan wants another sleepover with his friend. Lan Wangji should have no problem gaining access and locating the files.
Except.
Under the cover of darkness, he approaches the palace, only to find chaos. The guard is more than tripled. Flashing lights bounce off the palace courtyard as dozens of emergency vehicles fill the space.
Lan Wangji somehow gets away without being noticed.
He barely manages to hide any evidence of what he had been up to and change into his night clothes before Wei Wuxian tumbles through the door.
“Gege, you’re still awake!” Wei Wuxian says, loudly.
“Mn,” he says.
Wei Wuxian drapes himself around Lan Wangji, and the smell of alcohol on his skin was strong enough to make Lan Wangji wrinkle his nose. It does not make his heart stutter any less at it though.
“You missed me,” Wei Wuxian says.
“It is…quiet without you or A-Yuan,” he says.
Now that he thinks about it, it is true. Lan Wangji always valued his silence, but somehow, he has grown used to the constant chattering of his companions. So much so, that the their absence seems to leave a void.
“Gege, don’t. I might start to think you actually do like me,” Wei Wuxian says.
“Untrue,” Lan Wangji says, sending Wei Wuxian into loud laughter.
The next morning, it is not the headlines that answer the question of what happened at the palace. It is Wen Ruohan’s guards knocking on his door at six in the morning. Wen Chao and his girlfriend are dead.
They have been brutally murdered inside the man’s rooms at the palace, and the only clue is a blurry image of a tall figure dressed all in black. Everyone that had contact with the family is being investigated.
He knows his identity is good, but the only thing Lan Wangji can do was pray it holds up under the scrutiny. Nerves eat at him, but time passes and no one ever comes knocking on the door again.
Security around the Wen siblings increases as well. Wen Ning is absent from the school for over two weeks before he finally returns, much to A-Yuan’s pleasure. The little boy has missed his teacher more than Lan Wangji thought he would.
In the aftermath, Wei Wuxian is, somehow, even more present in the apartment, as well. Before, he seemed to find reasons to be out, claiming being inside all the time was stifling.
When Lan Wangji asks about it, Wei Wuxian says, “It’s scary, imagine, we could have been in the same room as the killer!”
That, somehow, makes A-Yuan laugh harder than Lan Wangji had ever heard
“Baba, you’re silly,” the little boy says.
“I’ll show you silly,” Wei Wuxian says, and then the two of them are off, chasing one another around the room again.
Lan Wangji cannot help but smile at their antics.
The setback is frustrating though. For all the time and effort it has taken to get close, it feels as though completing his mission is farther away than it has ever been.
His superiors are growing impatient. Every delay is another chance Qishan has to use those documents.
Eventually, the news comes out that the person known only as “The Yilling Laozu” is the culprit. The assassin has been linked to several high profile and unsolved murders in several different countries over the last few years. Very little is known about him. His start came by executing several criminals in Yilling, which earned him the tittle. Shortly after that, he moved to political figures, and other than leaving a crow’s feather at the scene, there was never any evidence.
Lan Wangji’s own government has spent countless man hours investigating the assassin, only to turn up nothing. The man is a ghost. One that constantly has every agency and political figure on edge, wondering who would be next. Including the two new murders, only Qinghe and Yunmeng have yet to be targeted. It is only a matter of time. According to the news reports, the number of victims in Qishan attributed to the figure are quickly catching up to Lanling’s.
And yet, other than gender, there is still nothing. Not even the Nie’s, who are famous for intelligence gathering, have been able to solve the mystery.
After a few weeks, it seems as though The Yilling Laozu is done. Or has at least gone back underground, and things return to normal with the Wen siblings.
And finally, six weeks after his initial try, Lan Wangji is able to get inside of the palace. Despite memorizing the layout, it is a mess of maze-like hallways that all look exactly the same. There is no way to tell which direction he is going, and while he is sure he is in the correct wing, he has no idea where he is.
The sun is coming up by the time he locates the files, and Lan Wangji is unable to cover his tracks as well as he hopes. The theft will be noticed immediately, but now that he has them in hand, the extraction will be swift.
Or should have been, if A-Yuan hadn’t gone into hysterics the moment Wei Wuxian brings the boy home from the Ouyang’s. Neither of them are able to calm the boy down, he just keeps screaming, “Don’t leave me! I want us to be together forever.”
Every reassurance is met with “But you’re lying!”
Children, he had learned, are more perceptive than they are given credit for. Lan Wangji thought he was behaving normally. There is barely anything to pack, the few items that always went with him had never been seen by A-Yuan or Wei Wuxian.
Perhaps it is something on his face that gives it away.
Lan Wangji believed leaving would be easy. He had never cared for the company of others, but, like everything else with this mission, nothing has gone the way he planned. Part of him cannot bare the thought of leaving the little boy he is growing to truly see as his own son. Taking the child with him though, is a complication he can ill afford.
And Wei Wuxian. Well, the infuriating, maddening man has somehow managed to wheedle his way past Lan Wangji’s icy interior. He can hardly imagine going about his day without hearing the sound of Wei Wuxian’s laughter or seeing that blinding smile.
A clean break, that is all he wanted. If he leaves while they are both asleep, there will be no goodbye to hurt. It will take time to reacclimate himself to a life of solitude, but he can do it.
The reality of their situation hits him once he returns to the apartment, after he makes the call. Leaving has not felt real until then.
It had to have been his face, it is the only explanation for how A-Yuan had reacts.
But.
The crying starts before A-Yuan is even in the same room as him. And, while he is an affectionate child, he had been clinging to Wei Wuxian a lot more than he normally did the last few weeks
By the time the screams turn to pitiful sobs, the three of them are sitting, tangled together on the floor of the living room. A-Yuan is in Wei Wuxian’s lap, and Wei Wuxian has somehow folded his limber body into Lan Wangji’s. Lan Wangji’s arms are wrapped around both of them.
Wei Wuxian hums a song, an old folk tune that Lan Wangji does not recognize. The soft sweet tune eventually lulls the boy to sleep though.
After they put him to bed, Wei Wuxian gives an exhausted sigh and pours a himself a drink. Then he turns to Lan Wangji and asks, “What made him think you’re leaving?”
There is a look on the other man’s face he has never seen before. It is something between weary and guilty.
“I do not know,” Lan Wangji says, truthfully.
“You do,” A-Yuan says.
They both whip around to see the little boy standing in the doorway, the stuffed rabbit Lan Wangji bought him is clutched in his hands like a lifeline. Neither of them heard his bedroom door open.
“A-Yuan,” he says softly.
“Stop lying! You’re leaving, in the morning, A-Die! And Baba, plans to leave too! And I’ll be all alone again because you both want to go home.”
Lan Wangji is speechless. He has no idea where to start with what is said. There are just too many questions.
“I..” Wei Wuxian says. “How do you even know that
“I know everything! I know your real name is Wei Ying, and you came here to kill someone who hurt you. That they call you the Yilling Laozu, whatever that is, and you think it’s stupid and funny. And I know A-Die is a spy for Gusu, and came here to steal something back. And now you both want to leave.” A-Yuan’s words come out in a rush.
For the first time ever, Wei Wuxian is speechless, but Lan Wangji is too stunned to notice. His mind is reeling. Wei Wuxian, no Wei Ying, is the Yilling Laozu. It does not fit. He is too loud, too noticeable to pull something like that off.
But, he also has an incomplete history, impossible to track down. If he thinks about it for more than a moment, though, it makes sense. Wei Wuxian is as much of a ghost as the Yilling Laozu. He arrived in town only a couple of years ago, around the same time officials began turning up dead.
“How do you know that?” Wei Wu- Wei Ying stutters out, staring at the little boy in horror.
“Because I know everything! Just like I know you’re in love with A-Die and he’s in love with you, and neither of you will say anything.”
“A-Yuan!” Wei Ying yells, moving to cover the boy’s mouth before he could spill anymore secrets.
But, almost a year of playing around with the man makes it easy for A-Yuan to avoid his grasp.
“And I know you both planned on leaving, and were said, but thought the other would stay with me! But no one is!” A-Yuan yells.
“No one is leaving you, A-Yuan,” Wei Ying says.
“Yes you are!”
“How do you know these things?” Lan Wangji asks. Nothing makes any sense. Everything he says about Lan Wangji is true, including that he is in love with Wei Ying.
“I can read minds,” A-Yuan whispers.
“You what?” Wei Ying says.
“I can read minds,” A-Yuan sys, “I’ve always been able to, for as long as I can remember.”
“Wei Wuxian,” Lan Wangji says.
“What?” Wei Ying says.
“Is it true?”
“Is what true?” he asks.
“That you’re the Yilling Laozu. Is it true,”
“I… yes,” he says the last part barely louder than a whisper. “So wait, you’re a spy!”
“Yes.”
“For Gusu?”
“Yes.”
Wei Ying looks at him, looks back to A-Yuan, then smirks. It is the same smirk he always has before he does something devious that is bound to give Lan Wangji a headache.
“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji warns.
“Gege,” he drawls.
“Do not.”
“But, Gege,” Wei Ying says. He draws the nickname out.
Really, there is only one way Lan Wangji can think of to stop him from spouting something ridiculous. He reaches out and pulls Wei Ying closer. Then he presses their lips together.
His mouth tastes exactly the way Lan Wangji imagined it would, sweet like candy with a hint of liquor.
Wei Ying moans into the kiss as he wraps his arms around Lan Wangji’s neck.
“Does this mean we can be a real family now?” A-Yuan asks.
They brake apart. Lan Wangji has somehow, forgotten the little boy for just a moment.
Wei Ying laughs. It is loud and free, and perfect.
“Well, Gege,” Wei Ying says.
“Yes.”
A-Yuan throws himself at them for a hug, his smile as wide as Wei Ying’s.
“Gege, you never answered one question,” Wei Ying says.
“Hm?” Lan Wangji said.
“What’s your real name?”
“Lan Zhan.”
“Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan. I like it,” Wei Ying says, and kisses him again, with a laughing A-Yuan held between them