Work Text:
Wei Wuxian was up to something.
Despite his own claims of being a very good actor, when it came to Jiang Cheng (and Jiang Yanli for that matter) he was almost comically bad at hiding most things from them. Even if they couldn’t guess exactly what he was doing, they could at least tell that something was happening. And lately, Wei Wuxian has been spending an awful lot of time on his own. Much more than he usually would.
It wasn’t as though he was shirking his normal head disciple duties, he was still helping Jiang Cheng train their shidis and shimeis, and they were still going on nighthunts, but it always seemed that as soon as they had free time to spend he went off on his own. He’d never go out with Jiang Cheng and the others to eat in town or to go swimming, or even his usual mischief of stealing lotus pods or going pheasant hunting. On one of the off chances they did manage to convince him to go along with them into town, he seemed distracted. There was one odd moment where Jiang Cheng found him stopped in front of a stall selling children’s toys, examining a tiny straw butterfly with a thoughtful expression. When he realized that Jiang Cheng was giving him an odd look, Wei Wuxian just laughed and set the toy back down to run after them.
(He was certain before they left he saw Wei Wuxian stop at the stall again though, and he slipped something in his pocket afterwards.)
Jiang Cheng often found him in the sect library studying old looking scrolls and muttering to himself while scrawling out notes of his own. Despite what Lan Qiren might think of him, Wei Wuxian had always enjoyed studying, it just had to be things he was genuinely interested in. So on surface level, seeing Wei Wuxian reading something, tinkering, or writing wasn’t odd. But he was doing it to the point of excessiveness in a way he had never seen.
But the real oddity was when Jiang Cheng would find Wei Wuxian sneaking back in late at night with his robes conspicuously covered in dirt, as though he had been rolling around in it. In fact, the first time Jiang Cheng had confronted him while sneaking back in his excuse was that he had rolled in the dirt.
”Ah, this? Don’t mind this Jiang Cheng, I just fell over and rolled down a hill!”
Bullshit. As though the head disciple of Yunmeng Jiang would do something as clumsy and as foolish as trip and roll down a hill on accident.
Any further confrontations between the two of them were equally as ridiculous. Wei Wuxian’s excuses range from getting lost to earnestly claiming that becoming one with the soil did wonders on his meditation. It continued until Wei Wuxian finally wisened up to Jiang Cheng and either stopped going off on his own or started covering his tracks better. Jiang Cheng suspected it was the former, because slowly but surely Wei Wuxian began spending time with them again, running and swimming and getting into trouble just as everyone would expect him to. It was relieving in a way, seeing his shixiong stop holing himself up to study as much as he did.
But still, it seemed as though he were hiding things from them. Though Jiang Cheng rarely went into Wei Wuxian’s room (usually it was the other way around, with his shixiong deciding to sleep on his bed instead of his own.) he realized that Wei Wuxian has been locking it lately. He would still have dirt under his fingernails as well, and more often than not he’d see Wei Wuxian duck into his room before their evening meal to change into new robes. He suspected that if he were actually able to enter his room, he’d find them just as dirtied with soil as he had before.
For the most part, things had returned to normal though, and any thoughts of Wei Wuxian sneaking off dwindled in his mind.
Then against all odds, nearly two years after their initial study in the Cloud Recesses, the second Jade of Lan had taken his annoying shixiong’s invitation to visit Lotus Pier.
At first he had had no idea why Wei Wuxian had shot off so quickly towards the gates, so he stormed after him and nearly made a fool of himself. He snapped his mouth shut to stop himself from screaming an obscenity at his shixiong when he realized exactly who was standing by the gate. Looking pristine as always in his clean white robes that billowed slightly in the breeze, Lan Wangji met his gaze with his cold golden eyes and gave him a curt but customary bow. He turned to wholly focus his attention on Wei Wuxian, who was already bouncing on the balls of his feet near him.
“Lan Zhan, so quick! Your letter only arrived so recently I’ve barely had any time to prepare! So punctual you Lans, I should have expected it!” Wei Wuxian was quick to drape himself over Lan Wangji within seconds of seeing him. “We have so much to get done, since I’m sure he’ll be just as punctual as you to arrive! But surely I should give you a tour of Lotus Pier just like I promised you before we--”
“Wei Wuxian, don’t go dragging off the second son of the Lan clan into your stupid shenanigans so easily. You and I both know he needs to greet my parents first, since it seems you didn’t bother to alert any of us that he was going to be visiting.” Jiang Cheng crossed his arms with a huff, narrowing his eyes at the two of them.
When had they gotten so chummy to be exchanging letters all of a sudden? Last he had known, Lan Wangji disliked his shixiong for being so disruptive and constantly breaking rules. When his shixiong had been kicked out of the Cloud Recesses, Lan Wangji had shown no reaction to his being gone. Though that wasn’t really saying much, as his face rarely showed any emotion. And Wei Wuxian...even though being sent home didn’t stop him from asking about Lan Wangji in nearly every letter he and a-jie sent him, as soon as Jiang Cheng arrived home Wei Wuxian had quieted down about the second Jade. He figured that after the single day of interrogation when he arrived home he had had his fill and been satisfied with pestering Lan Wangji. He rarely mentioned him again after that, was it because he had finally gotten into contact with him himself?
Lan Wangji was giving him a cold stare, one that almost made him flinch slightly. What was he so mad at Jiang Cheng for? It was customary to go and greet the Sect Leader when visiting, it wasn’t as though Jiang Cheng said anything off. But Lan Wangji extracted himself from Wei Wuxian’s grip to give Jiang Cheng another short bow, before turning his attention yet again to his shixiong.
“I will go greet Sect Leader Jiang and then return shortly.” He assured Wei Wuxian.
He had a strange expression on his face. Somehow he was still just as blank faced as ever as he and Wei Wuxian gazed at each other, and yet Jiang Cheng was filled with a strange discomfort like he was getting in the way of something, which made him grow more frustrated. The feeling was quickly broken though, when with a swish of his robes Lan Wangji left, and Wei Wuxian just...ran off somewhere else. With all that tension he had just witnessed, he had assumed his shixiong would follow after Lan Wangji, but it was probably best that he didn’t stay to feel any of his mother’s wrath on him for inviting Lan Wangji unannounced.
Now that Lan Wangji was visiting, it seemed as though Wei Wuxian’s disappearing act only grew worse. All pleasantries and politeness put aside, they seemed to now be glued at the hip, much to Jiang Cheng’s utter confusion. Anywhere Wei Wuxian was, Lan Wangji always seemed to be hovering nearby, if not standing right next to him in his personal space.
“How can Wei Wuxian handle being around him? He looks like a dead fish at his best and an ice statue at worst.” Jiang Cheng complained, accepting another cup of tea from his a-jie, who just smiled at him indulgently as they watched Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji sparring together.
“I think it’s sweet that A-Xian has found someone he likes so much. You know how often he asked about the second young master in your letters. He always said he didn’t seem to have any friends, so them being so close is good.” Her eyes sparkled at them, but Jiang Cheng only scoffed.
“He annoyed him into spending time with him more like it. I can’t imagine what they could even be doing together all the time. Maybe he threatened Lan Wangji with breaking into the Cloud Recesses again to get him to come visit.”
No, maybe that thought didn’t align exactly with what he saw, but the idea of his shixiong and second young master Lan being so close still sounded so outlandish that Jiang Cheng had trouble accepting that was the case. When Wei Wuxian teased someone like this he’d usually get bored after a while, but this was much too long for this to last, and Lan Wangji rarely ever reacted to him other than calling him shameless.
And yet, it wasn’t exactly the truth that he could say he had couldn’t imagine what they were doing. He wasn’t still quite sure what it was, but that evening he had walked into the sect library and saw the two of them huddled around a table with their back towards him, Wei Wuxian bouncing slightly with an uncharacteristic nervous energy about him. They were hunched over what he assumed to be another one of his old scrolls that he’d always be looking at. He could only hear the soft murmurs of their voices, and he strained slightly to hear.
”It won’t fail because it’s you, Wei Ying. You have worked hard on this, I only assisted for a small portion."
Jiang Cheng cringed slightly at the soft whine that came from his shixiong at Lan Wangji’s apparently gentle comment, and he was now truly wondering what the fuck those two were up to. Wei Wuxian was truly pining like a lovesick maiden! Though now that he thought about it, he always sounded like a lovesick maiden when it came to Lan Wangji. It was always enough that it made a-jie sigh in delight at the two of them, but annoyed Jiang Cheng greatly. How long was Lan Wangji going to stay here? It’s been nearly two weeks now, and surely he’d have to return home soon. The Lans were probably waiting for him to come back. But at this point he had had enough of not knowing what was going on between the two of them, and he had seen them both sneak out so often that the next time they’d leave, he was going to follow after.
How odd that sounds. The second jade of Lan breaking his own curfew to frolic in the forest with Wei Wuxian of all people.
Thankfully, it only took two more nights for him to catch the two of them sneaking out again.
...Was that a shovel on Lan Wangji’s back? And why the fuck was Wei Wuxian carrying a basket?
He followed behind them at a distance, making sure they wouldn’t disappear from his sight as they made their way out past the lotus ponds and towards a small patch of forest that ran adjacent to the waters. He nearly lost them in that moment, suddenly hidden among the foliage, but it was quick to find them again when he came upon a clearing. He scrambled up a tree to get a better vantage point, and was able to more clearly see what looked like a carefully cared for garden. There were a few types of flowers scattered about, but the crowning piece was clearly the large leafy plant with a shimmering white flower blooming right at the center, looking as though it was covered in dew that sparkled in the light of the moon.
Is that what Wei Wuxian was hiding this whole time? A garden?
Jiang Cheng had to stop himself from gagging suddenly, when he took in the sight of Lan Wangji leaning down to press his lips against Wei Wuxian’s, both of them clearly lost in each other’s presence that they hadn’t even realized they were being watched by someone having the breakdown of the century. Lan Wangji pulled the shovel off his back, and carefully began scooping out the soil surrounding the large plant in the center of the garden.
Now that Jiang Cheng was focusing more on the strange flower, he realized there was a strong spiritual energy coming from it. What was it exactly? Had his brother been studying spiritual plants this whole time? But why on earth would he need Lan Wangji’s help with this, and why would it need to be something to be kept secret from them? A-jie always liked gardening and flowers as well, and though Jiang Cheng had no interest its not as though he could have stopped Wei Wuxian anyways.
Unless, he was growing something that he was not supposed to be growing.
But that still didn’t explain the second jade’s involvement in this. Lan Wangji was a stickler for rules, and in Jiang Cheng’s mind he would be the one expressly stopping Wei Wuxian from doing something reckless and dragging him back to Lotus Pier for punishment. Instead, he had kissed his shixiong and was now kneeling in the soil with Wei Wuxian and getting his own robes just as dirty as the two of them pawed at the roots beneath the spiritual flower, which seemed to now be glowing all the more brightly and pulsing with spiritual energy.
Then it was quiet for a moment, the three of them with baited breath. Until a high pitched cry broke the silence.
What.
The.
Fuck.
“Ah, A-Cheng, were you really so impatient to meet your new nephew that you had to follow us all the way out here to see him?” Wei Wuxian called out mirthfully to him, because of course he had known the whole time he was there.
“What the fuck do you mean? Nephew? What the shit are you doing Wei Wuxian?” Jiang Cheng spluttered, landing gracelessly out of the tree and marching all the way over to the dug up garden, barely registering the now dead plant.
That was much less important, because currently in his shixiong’s arms was a wriggling, crying, baby. And Wei Wuxian, without a single care in the world, was just rocking the infant in his arms and cooing at him while Lan Wangji brought out a towel from the basket to carefully clean the dirt off the baby’s tiny flailing limbs. All of this was being done as though it was entirely normal to have dug up a child from the ground and coddling it.
“Wei Wuxian, you better explain yourself, why the fuck have you dug out a baby from the dirt? I’m not even going to ask how, just WHY.” Jiang Cheng kneeled down next to the happy...parent? Parents?
“Well, I just kept seeing mothers with their little ones and got so jealous. You know how much I like teaching our littlest shidis and shimeis. I wanted one of my own! I was reading in the library when I saw a story of a plant that could grow a body called the Sun and Moon Dew Flower, and I thought if I could figure out a way to modify it to grow a child I could have one of my own!” Wei Wuxian was very chipper about this, the baby now calm in his arms and swaddled in a blanket. “And look at him! Yuan’er is all happy and healthy, all ten fingers and toes present.” He nuzzled the baby’s soft cheek, pressing kisses all over.
...Nevermind that there was an infinitely easier way to make a baby that didn’t involve a rare spiritual flower, it was now getting to the point where he couldn’t deny what exactly Lan Wangji’s involvement was, especially when small golden eyes were blinking up at him. And the look on Lan Wangji’s face, it was the most emotion he’d ever seen on him, staring down at the baby that he and Wei Wuxian…made together.
“How are you going to explain this to my parents, exactly? Do you really think mother and father are just going to accept you coming home with a baby in tow like it was nothing?”
Don’t acknowledge Lan Wangji, I am begging you.
“It’s not as though I’m going to be a single father though! It takes two to make a baby after all, and Lan Zhan has been nothing but helpful and supportive!” Wei Wuxian nudged Lan Wangji’s shoulder, and he nodded gravely.
“Yuan’er is our son. I will take my duty as father very seriously.”
There were so many things Jiang Cheng currently wanted to say to the two of them.
Who said you could just make a child with his shixiong? You two are barely seventeen why on earth are you pulling this shit already? What the fuck? (He wanted to say this last one at least four more times. Five, even.)
“You really had a child before marriage like this? Mother is going to be furious. Not even a letter asking for betrothal? No courting?” is what Jiang Cheng ended up asking instead.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. We already had our three bows awhile ago.” Wei Wuxian brushed off with a shrug, more focused on settling down a now sleeping Yuan’er (Wei Yuan? Lan Yuan?) into the basket he had brought along with him.
...Wait a moment.
“What do you MEAN you’ve had your three bows already? When did you two have time to meet and wed without even informing any of us?” Jiang Cheng nearly screeched, only holding back because he knew the baby (the baby. What the fuck.) was asleep. But he still stood up, flailing his arms at them in utter anger.
“Have you never heard of eloping, A-Cheng?” Wei Wuxian tilted his head.
“Of course I have, dumbass, I’m asking when did you two have time to elope? Doesn’t...doesn’t Lan Wangji hate you? Now you’re telling me you’re eloped and you’ve...grown a child like a radish?”
“Yes.” Lan Wangji answered, Wei Wuxian nodding along beside him.
Jiang Cheng sighed, letting himself slide back onto the ground and staring at the basket where his nephew lay asleep, tiny chest rising and falling. Okay. Maybe he did look pretty cute, for a dirt baby. It was then a thought entered his head, and he looked up at Wei Wuxian with his own grave expression.
“You do realize...you’ve technically just given mother her first grandchild, right? You.”
Jiang Cheng knew that they were now going to be well and truly fucked when they returned, but as of right now he could bask in the look of dawning horror in Wei Wuxian’s face and Lan Wangji quickly trying to calm him down before they had to face the incoming storm of his mother’s wrath when they arrived back at Lotus Pier with a child in tow.