Archive of Our Own

“Lan Zhan~“ Wei Wuxian called his roommate‘s name for what had to be the twentieth time that day, keeping his voice limited to a singsong sound drifting through the air, just enough to get a rise out of Lan Wangji but not enough to warrant the punishment for yelling in the dorms.

Lan Wangji tensed up, the tips of his ears coloring a light shade of pink. Wei Wuxian noticed that that had been happening more often lately: Lan Wangji always remained perfectly pale, except for the tips of his ears. Wei Wuxian liked it, it was almost cute, if it wasn‘t for the fact that Lan Wangji was undoubtedly pissed in those fleeting moments.

“Lan Zhan~~” Wei Wuxian called again, this time wearing a light pout as he shifted even closer to where Lan Wangji was sitting at his desk, bent over his studies. Wei Wuxian languidly stretched and went to sit on the edge of Lan Wangji‘s desk, crossing his bare legs as he sat on the table.

Then, something very odd happened: Lan Wangji lifted his eyes from his studies towards Wei Wuxian, wearing a vicious glare, until Lan Wangji‘s stare lingered on the border between the fabric of Wei Wuxian‘s oversized t-shirt and his bare skin. Almost immediately, Lan Wangji‘s previous hard glare morphed into a soft gaze, accompanied, only, by the now reddening color of his ears, his mouth hung open as if he wanted to say something, but couldn‘t.

"Lan Zhan?" This wasn't the reaction that Wei Wuxian was used to getting.

Lan Wangji's mouth snapped shut at that, and his gaze immediately turned cold, although his ears remained ever so pink, slightly hidden behind the locks of hair that had fallen out of Lan Wangji's man bun with the sudden upward tilt of his head.

"Leave." The word slipped past Lan Wangji's lips as if it had rolled across his tongue and pressed against his teeth until it was too late. Something in Lan Wangji's demeanor profoundly changed the second after the word had been said: his eyes turning wide and his hand inching toward his face as if he genuinely hadn't meant to speak, the damage, however, had undoubtedly already been done.

Wei Wuxian rose from his position on Lan Wangji's desk: his t-shirt falling past his kneecaps and all the while Lan Wangji‘s eyes were tracing the fabric with the strangest expression.

"Well," Wei Wuxian shrugged, his t-shirt moving up and down his legs with fluid movements, "If you really want me to, I'll leave. I have to go meet Jiang Cheng at the library anyways." Wei Wuxian didn‘t wait for an answer that probably would never hear the light of day, this was Lan Wangji after all and he didn‘t do talking, much less asking Wei Wuxian to stay after he already had told him to leave.

So, Wei Wuxian made sure that his departure was swift: putting on his favorite jeans, tucking his shirt into it and quickly putting his arms into the sleeves of his most fashionable but incredibly thin, frill jacket.

Wei Wuxian didn't stick around long enough to hear the muffled whisper of 'Wei Ying' on his way out.

**

The door clicked shut behind him quietly, the movement stirring a wake of cool air that made Lan Wangji shiver in the thin material of his pyjama shirt. Ignoring the feeling of worry churning his gut, he turned back to his desk and grabbed for his pen - knowing it was to no avail to get worked up now.

He of all people knew that his roommate could be rather petulant and immature at times. There was truly no way Wei Wuxian would come back to collect warmer clothes and share a civil conversation with him, for his ego was simply too large to withhold.

The image of Wei Wuxian stepping out of the door in naught but a thin jacket burned at the back of his mind, but he stubbornly blinked it away, choosing instead to hunch over his desk and pick up where he’d left off reading.

Unconsciously letting his eyes drift astray, he found himself lingering on the spot his roommate had been perched not mere minutes ago - oversized shirt ridden up to reveal his milky white thighs and perfectly sculpted legs.

Chiding himself for his inappropriate thoughts, he swallowed down the saliva pooling onto his tongue and willed the heat in his ears to dissipate.

Surely the snow storm wasn’t that bad and Wei Wuxian would return back home safely, preferably swaddled in a proper winter coat his brother lent him. He wasn’t a little kid; he could fend for himself.

Lan Wangji allowed the soft trickling of snowflakes against the window panes to lull him into a state of tranquility. With Christmas around the corner and the weather turning significantly cooler, flares of snow had sprinkled across the city in bounts and covered the landscape in a thick coat of ice.

To be frank, Lan Wangji wasn’t the biggest Christmas enthusiast, or moreso, he wasn’t a big fan of the cold in general. Unlike his roommate, who barged into the cold willingly and with all the enthusiasm of an overly ecstatic puppy, he preferred to spend the days inside, accompanied by his many books as he huddled under thick blankets.

That wasn’t to say he prohibited Wei Wuxian from indulging in the Christmas fest - he wasn’t that cruel. Their little apartment was filled to the brim with shiny ornaments and homely winter folderol, their overly accessorized Christmas tree standing tall and proud in the corner of the living room. Wei Wuxian had even gone so far as to hang pictures of the two of them from the curved branches, the whole of it making for an incredibly domestic sight that surely tricked the casual onlooker into thinking they were more than merely friends.

Lan Wangji found all of it utterly endearing, but he’d rather bite off his tongue than admit that out loud.

It was when he finished his reading and spared a glance at the clock, that he realized already two hours had gone by.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh, dimly aware of the anxiety clogging his throat. The wind outside had picked up its speed and thrashed against the dorm building relentlessly, the sound of its forlorn howling sending a tremor down his spine.

Wei Wuxian should’ve been back by now. He wasn’t in trouble, was he?

He emitted an incredulous scoff at his own paranoia and turned to grab his phone from the table. Against his better judgement, he pressed at the number on the top of his contact list.

When no answer came after the fifth ring, Lan Wangji decided to reach out to Jiang Cheng, who picked up almost as soon as he pressed the button.

“Is Wei Ying still with you?” he asked hesitantly, cringing at the unevenness of his voice, rough from disuse.

A beat passed before an answer resonated through the speaker, a little wheezy and rushed, as if Jiang Cheng himself was still out in the cold. “He’s not home yet?” . And that was all he had to hear before jumping from his chair as if burned and sprinting towards the door, the little sense he had left urging him to snatch his sneakers and coat just in time.

He cursed under his breath at the temperate difference between their dorm and the adjacent hall and made his way down the stairs, careful not to trip over his own feet in his haste.

A million different ways Wei Wuxian could be injured right now flashed through his mind, the one more horrifying than the other. He could’ve been kidnapped - taken away amongst the snowflakes, never to be seen ever again. Or he could be stuck under a big heap of snow, skin darkened with frostbite and his lips unnaturally blue.

With those thoughts in mind, Lan Wangji pushed open their building’s entrance.

Instantly, his vision became blurry with the onslaught of flakes falling from the sky. They whirled around him by the dozens, some clinging to the material of his coat and others gliding past him to stack with the ever growing layer of frost beneath his shoes.

Oh, the shit he’d do for this dumb roommate of his.

Fleering in self-pity, he bowed his head in retaliation against the strong winds pulling at his frame and headed towards the direction of their campus’ library in hopes of finding Wei Wuxian along the way.

Beijing was eerily quiet, the snow damping the little remnants of city noise around them nearly fully - and if it wasn’t for the apprehension eating him up from the inside and the numbness in his reddened fingertips - perhaps Lan Wangji would have allowed himself to enjoy the rare lull of peace in that what was his hectic life.

He chuckled miserably to himself. This whole Wei Wuxian escapade was taking a toll on him.

Just as he passed his and his roommate’s favorite bakery, a sound vaguely akin to a whimper caught onto the wind rushing past his ears. Instantly alarmed, he stopped dead in his tracks and turned to where the sound had originated from.

His heart positively dropped to his gut at the sight he was greeted with. There, half-hidden under the shadows of a grody alleyway, sat Wei Wuxian - his Wei Wuxian - curled in on himself like a frightened, stray kitten, quivering like a leaf in the wind.

“Wei Ying?”

Lan Wangji unceremoniously dropped to his knees in front of the boy and began shimmying out of his thick winter coat without preamble, pulling it around Wei Wuxian’s narrow frame instead.

He moved to cup his roommate’s freezing cheeks between his palms, forcing Wei Wuxian to look up at him. His heart shattered further when he finally did and he was faced with Wei Wuxian’s puffy, red-rimmed eyes and clattering teeth.

However, he wasn’t prepared for the way Wei Wuxian immediately shuffled closer to him and pressed his cold nose to the junction between his neck and collarbone, and he found himself surprised at himself when he instinctively brought his roommate closer to him, practically dragging him onto his lap.

The moment felt raw, like a tender needlepoint in a busted oak frame, and Lan Wangji allowed himself to hold Wei Wuxian for once - to revel in the silent warmth they shared for each other.

They stayed like that for what felt like hours but could have been mere minutes, clinging onto each other like a lifeline as the snow fell like a blanket around their shoulders.

He rather felt than heard the embarrassed chuckle that left Wei Wuxian’s lips, his warm breath fanning out across the expanse of his neck where the boy was nuzzled into his side. “Lan Zhan, you shouldn’t have to see me like this.” A pause. Lan Wangji tightened his grip around the boy in silent encouragement. “I’m sorry,” he ended, voice cracking pitifully on the second syllable.

“There’s no need to apologize. Gege will take you home, okay?” he supplied in a hushed voice, cracking a grin that he hoped soothed his roommate’s unease. “Surely if we wait longer both of us will turn to icicles and there will be no saving us.”

To his relief, the corners of the boy’s lips quirked up into a timid smile and Lan Wangji had to hold himself back from doing something as utterly preposterous as reaching out to pinch Wei Wuxian’s flushed cheeks.

It was strange; the sudden pause in their ancient routine of ceaseless bickering and unremitting teasing. In the mere spawn of a couple minutes, their usual dynamics had been completely tilted on its axis and it made Lan Wangji’s head spin. But it wasn’t necessarily a bad spin, moreso it was a spin that had his fingers itching to find purchase on Wei Wuxian’s slim waist and to card his fingers through his snow-laden fringe.

Ephemeral as the moment was, the aberrant tension between them seemed to remain present as Lan Wangji helped Wei Wuxian back up onto his feet, instantly sneaking his arm around his middle upon noticing his knees buckling.

He wasn’t sure what had happened to Wei Wuxian for him to be this dishevelled, but he wasn’t the type to poke and prod, especially not when he looked so fragile tucked into arms, so he decided to stay quiet as they made their trek back towards their little apartment.

As soon as the warmth of the rickety building engulfed them and they had entered the comfort of their dorm, Wei Wuxian began subtly nodding off. His head lay lolled over his shoulder and his eyes were desperately fluttering in a futile attempt to stay open - as if Lan Wangji wouldn’t pick up on it. Deciding that he mustn't let the poor boy fall asleep standing up, he gently guided Wei Wuxian to his own room, where he cautiously lowered him onto the duvet of his bed.

He was asleep before his spine hit the mattress.

Lan Wangji let out a fond sigh and stifled the impulse to crawl right up next to him. Like this, splashed out across the sheets with his messy, damp hair and rosy skin, the rigidity in his limbs became omnipresent and he possessed nothing of his usual sass or rebelliousness, appearing more like a wet puppy than anything else. The temptation to reach out to him was strong, but Lan Wangji resisted, knowing all too well that there were better times to do such things.

Right now the kid needed a proper night’s sleep, and Lan Wangji would be damned if he didn’t take proper care of his roommate, so he wrapped the boy up in his bedsheets and added an extra blanket he pulled from his own closet just to make sure Wei Wuxian wouldn’t get cold as the night progressed.

In hindsight, there was truly nothing he could do. Everything around him pulled him closer to Wei Wuxian, willingly or not. He’d been repressing the urge to admit to the foreign ache in his chest for months, but Wei Wuxian was like the oasis in the middle of a desert he’d never stepped out of, and he realized now that he was staring at the softly snoring lump of blankets across from him that perhaps tonight had been somewhat of an eye-opener.

Lan Wangji had developed a sort of numbness that surrounded him at all times in the period he’d gotten to know Wei Wuxian, like a hazmat suit, which now had a massive tear leaking toxic waste all over him. Perhaps his roommate had already gotten used to the faux facade of impassiveness Lan Wangji carried around and he’d grown to think of him as such, but he knew deep down that he could no longer withhold the burning sensation of affection threatening to simmer up to the surface. He’d have to show himself raw to Wei Wuxian in order to convey his feelings.

But now most surely wasn’t the right time.

Tearing his eyes away from his snoozing roommate, he left the door ajar and headed to his own room, where he proceeded to crawl under his covers and pulled the duvet up to his chin.

That night he dreamt of shiny doe-like eyes and tingling laughter, but he tried with all his might to forget about it the next morning.

**

Small, orange spots shifted behind Wei Wuxian‘s eyelids.

Pain seemed to trickle down the marrow of his bones when Wei Wuxian curled up and away from the light, trying to hide from the burning sun. He was vaguely aware that there wasn‘t supposed to be any pain, yet, there was, very much so.

Wei Wuxian cringed when the pain seemed to reach a crescendo, forcing his rigid body into a plank-like position, and then, when the blissful haze of sleep fully faded into the background, his teeth started chattering, shivers raking up and down his body in long winded, bristling tremors.

And just when the cold seemed to overtake him, shaking him to his very core, heat pooled behind his brows. At first it was slightly comfortable, driving away the shivering cold, but soon, all too soon, it was resolutely burning, almost as if the heat was trying to team up with the sunlight filtering through the bare window panes to drive Wei Wuxian absolutely mad.

Memories of the night before were vague: blended into an odd mold of too much snow, tears that had crystalized into ice and an odd mixture of white coats and comforting hands.

And then, suddenly, the heat was too overbearing: killing every thought in Wei Wuxian‘s pounding head, with only one single word cycling circles in his mind: water.

Wei Wuxian needed water, licking his chapped lips with a dry tongue.

So, with his tattered, blistering hands, he gripped the poles next to his bed and pulled himself upward with his last ounce of strength. He couldn't stop the long string of muttered curses that spilled out his mouth as he crawled out of bed, crinkling the white sheets with his vice-like hold.

Slowly, he was able to rise into a bent over position, holding his head with tightly pinched eyebrows, making him look more like the letter C than a human being.

Wei Wuxian tried to hold himself as steady as possible when he moved, forcing his feet to keep moving, setting one in front of the other in the smallest of baby steps. With every step he took, he had to grasp the wall in a futile attempt to not fall to the hardwood floor: the sway of Wei Wuxian‘s feet was detrimental, causing him to walk around like a drunk on a bad day.

Eventually, after what had felt like ages, he reached their tiny living room. Lan Wangji liked to keep it bathed in light, normally - when it wasn‘t christmas - the place was moderately decorated, only the things that were absolutely necessary present. However, that wasn‘t to say that Lan Wangji actively stopped Wei Wuxian from decorating, sometimes Wei Wuxian would get a disapproving look or the light tilt of an eyebrow as punishment for his antics but never more, not really.

Thus, naturally, Wei Wuxian had fully abused this flexibility that Lan Wangji gave him: buying bizarre (usually) small objects and putting them in the strangest of places; troll dolls on the kitchen counter, a spider plushy in Lan Wangji‘s underwear drawer (he had gotten a very disapproving look for that one), a supposedly haunted chucky doll placed next to the TV-remote, and a pirate flag hanging from their French balcony.

Now, around christmas time, Wei Wuxian had gone all out, putting up the largest tree he could possibly find and lighting the entire dorm with fairy-lights, casting their appartement in a golden glow. He didn‘t know if Lan Wangji actually liked the decorations, but he didn‘t seem to particularly dislike them, so Wei Wuxian took that as a victory.

At this moment, however, Wei Wuxian couldn‘t even muster the tiniest of smiles at the bright lights around him, quite the opposite really, it hurt them beyond belief, making him scrunch them closed into tiny slits.

The first thing that registered when he stumbled into the room was the light, frail melody of Lan Wangji‘s very distinct and very old zither drifting through the air. It was the only thing that wasn't too overbearing, or at least it had been, until the steady rhythm suddenly came to a halt.

"Wei Ying?" Lan Wangji‘s normally stoic voice was now drenched in barely contained concern. "Why are you awake?!"

Wei Wuxian licked his chapped lips again, searching for any potential, leftover moisture. "Water."

Lan Wangji lightly knit his brows together - a distinctive sign of distress for him - and immediately left for the kitchen, only to return a minute later with a glass filled with water. "Drink."

Wei Wuxian took the glass without any further hesitation and finished it in one go, weakly handing it back to Lan Wangji when his throat wasn't as dry as sandpaper anymore. Lan Wangji took the glass and gently placed it on the small coffee table next to him with a light 'clank'.

Wei Wuxian hadn't even realized he had fully closed his eyes until he suddenly felt a very, pleasant, albeit, cool, hand on his forehead, he subconsciously leaned into the touch, and not even in his current state did he fail to notice how Lan Wangji‘s hand lingered on his skin for just a bit longer than was necessary.

"You have a fever."

Wei Wuxian would've laughed at that if he wasn't in such a bad state: you really didn't need to be a doctor to have that one figured out.

"You should go back to bed."

Wei Wuxian let out a long grunt, that, to be fair, was teetering on the edge of being a full on whine. Bed was really not an option right now, he felt as if he'd been dragged through a pile of shit naked, but even though he was absolutely exhausted sleep wasn't a recourse.

“Wei Ying?”

“I don’t want to sleep, not anymore,” Wei Wuxian whined, forcing his mouth into a down tilt, pouting through the uncomfortable mind numbing daze that his fever provided.

“What would you like to do then?”

Wei Wuxian looked up at this, slightly rising to look Lan Wangji in the eye, wearing a mischievous smirk.

“What if we go out to build a snowman? I mean you’d do all the work naturally, but I think I can handle standing around.” Truth be told, Wei Wuxian wasn’t all too keen on doing anything, especially not now, however, the house seemed to be adamant on choking him in its heat, making him shiver in the faint traces of his earlier tremors.

“You can’t go outside,” Lan Wangji said, turning away, picking up the empty glass from the coffee table and moving to put it back in the kitchen.

“I can!” Wei Wuxian attempted to follow Lan Wangji back to the kitchen but immediately cringed when he tried to move. Lan Wangji turned around with one eyebrow raised: a silent question. “I promise I can! It’s just--”

“You don’t understand,” Lan Wangji interrupted, his voice hardly more than a whisper. He silently extended a hand to Wei Wuxian. “Let me take you so you can see, you can’t properly walk for yourself.”

Wei Wuxian mustered a wide smile to hide his surprise. “Oh, the great Lan Wangji is offering to carry me? Who would’ve thought?”

Lan Wangji looked as if he would‘ve rolled his eyes at that if he didn't have the decency that he had. Without saying anything else though, Lan Wangji carefully extended one of his arms towards Wei Wuxian and wrapped the chilly tips of his incredibly pale fingers around Wei Wuxian‘s shoulder, before flinging one of Wei Wuxian‘s arms around Lan Wangji‘s own broad shoulder. It was comfortable, and Lan Wangji’s hand was surprisingly gentle as if afraid that Wei Wuxian would effectively break if it pressed too hard.

Lan Wangji walked Wei Wuxian down to the front door, the light sound of his slippers clicking against the floor, echoing against Wei Wuxian‘s slightly too laboured breathing. It was quiet apart from that, and the silence that had settled amongst them was nice, not loaded with tension as it often was with Jiang Cheng, not fierce with admiration as it seemed to be with Wen Ning, but calm, almost like he was back home, spending his sick days with Yanli.

Once they reached the door, Lan Wangji unfurled his free hand and craned it to push aside the small curtain that hung loosely next to their front door. It revealed a small glass window, but instead of seeing the normal, snow covered, concrete jungle that was their city; there was nothing, just the turbid sheen of white snow smeared across glass, snowflakes so thick there was nothing to be seen on the other side.

“We‘re snowed in, the entrance below is blocked,“ Lan Wangji said matter of factly, no emotion attached to the sound of his voice. As always.

“Wow, so the snowstorm yesterday really was that bad wasn‘t it?“ Wei Wuxian leisurely ticked a finger against his chin before a small smile formed on his face. The kind of smile that usually went accompanied by playful teasing. “I guess I‘m lucky that I‘ve got Lan Zhan to protect me!“

The tips of Lan Wangji‘s ears turned pink again as the sheen of something - that Wei Wuxian almost could categorize as soft - appeared in Lan Wangji’s eyes. It was gone before Wei Wuxian could get a proper look, though, shaken away by Lan Wangji’s disapproving gesture, before he muttered something akin to ‘Ridiculous’ under his breath.

“So it looks like we‘re not going to be able to go outside any time soon, the remaining question is...“ Wei Wuxian looked at Lan Wangji from the corner of his eye, a vexatious glint accompanying a feverish blush. “What do we do now?”

“That is for you to decide, my studies await me.” And with that Lan Wangji turned, leaving Wei Wuxian at the window, cold remnants of the chilly winter‘s air seeping through the cracks of hardwood.

“Lan Zhan! Wait!“ There was a - not so subtle - undertone of desperation layered in Wei Wuxian’s clogged voice when he called out.

Lan Wangji stopped in the doorway, the only sign of him listening to Wei Wuxian being the slight turn of his head towards him.

“We still have that cookie baking mix right?”

At this, Lan Wangji fully turned toward Wei Wuxian, with just one singular eyebrow raised in a gesture of confusion, slightly inclining his head by a subtle way of a nod.

“Can we then, maybe, I don’t know um, bake them together?” Wei Wuxian’s voice wrestled its way out of his clogged up throat, sounding too vulnerable to his liking, uncharacteristically so.

Lan Wangji looked positively disturbed at this: his mouth opening in a slight gape and his eyes widening, taking Wei Wuxian’s slumped form in and giving him a sturdy once-over.

Wei Wuxian laughed openly and scrubbed the back of his neck, making his voice sound unbothered, he spoke again, “Don’t look at me like that, Lan Zhan! You don’t have to obviously!” Wei Wuxian forced his face to morph into a pout. “It’s just that your poor gege would fade into boredom if you wouldn’t!”

Lan Wangji's face smoothed into his usual calm features and he hummed: a strangely monotone and solid sound, the comfort almost tangible in the air. “Okay then, I’ll bake cookies with Wei Ying.”

Wei Wuxian perked up slightly. “Great! But I’m afraid Lan Zhan will have to carry me to the kitchen, I can’t do it on my own.” Wei Wuxian stumbled forward in a futile attempt to walk, almost crashing to the floor in the process. Lan Wangji immediately came closer, stretching his arms as if trying to catch Wei Wuxian’s weak body. “See?” The word came out choked, strangled by the pressure of a dry coughing fit.

Lan Wangji gently wrapped his hands around Wei Wuxian’s shoulders, soft worry on his face, keeping Wei Wuxian as steady as possible.

Once the worst of Wei Wuxian’s fit had passed he opened his mouth to speak again, refusing to keep his voice silent any longer, only to be interrupted by Lan Wangji’s wandering hands: softly, they went to hold Wei Wuxian like they had done previously, gently lifting his arm onto Lan Wangji’s shoulder.

With as few stumbles and half-falls as possible they made their trek back to the kitchen. The slim, white kitchen counter there for Wei Wuxian to grasp onto.

“Where is the baking mix?” Lan Wangji asked without turning, opening and closing a few cabinets in his wake.

“I'm pretty sure it was in one of the left side cabinets?” Wei Wuxian frowned in thought; the smooth skin between his brows wrinkling.

Lan Wangji moved to the left side of their tiny kitchen and began to look for the mix there, opening the cabinets with long, graceful, gestures. It was pretty, very pretty even, or maybe the fever was finally beginning to kill Wei Wuxian after all.

Wei Wuxian pinched the bridge of his nose and bowed his head in deep thought. “Or was it in the right side cabinets?” Lan Wangji turned sharply, his eyes set into a hard glare. “No, no, I’m sure it was the left side.” Wei Wuxian chuckled at the expression on his roommate’s face. “Do not fret my dear Lan Zhan, your search has not been in vain. You are looking in the right direction, the right direction indeed.”

“I’m beginning to think that Wei Ying’s fever is not as bad as he makes it seem if he can make such jokes.” Lan Wangji's voice was low and gravely, or at least more so than usual, and if Wei Wuxian hadn’t known any better; he would’ve thought that Lan Wangji was grumbling. But, alas, Lan Wangji didn’t grumble, or sulk, ever : his voice was back to normal a second later, accompanied by the man himself pulling a yellow box of baking mix out of a narrow cabinet. “Here it is.”

Wei Wuxian released a breathy laugh. “Ah, so it was in the left side cabinets. To be quite honest with you, I didn’t even know. Good that it was there after all, eh?”

Lan Wangji just answered him with another glare and began pulling a brown bag out of the yellow box. Lan Wangji simply spared the box one last look and immediately began grabbing all the necessities.

“Here,” Lan Wangji said, voice soft, sliding a mixing bowl in Wei Wuxian’s direction. “You pour the milk and baking mix in, I’ll grab the eggs and preheat the oven.”

And just like that the morning came and went, all accompanied by the simple realisation that the light was no longer stark and harsh, but, instead, a soft caress, tender and gentle, grazing its way through the blinds of their kitchen window.

The afternoon was announced by Lan Wangji getting up and opening the window with one sharp tug, letting a gush of fresh winter air in, and letting the warm smell of freshly baked cookies, Lan Wangji’s own mint tea, and Wei Wuxian’s strawberry tea drift out in the open. Their extractor hood hadn’t been working ever since Wei Wuxian had - in an honest accident, involving a tiny fire - managed to stuff it with soot and dust, and thus, they had been forced to open their window manually to let all the smoke out.

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian was blowing furiously at one of the cookies on his plate, trying to get it to cool down appropriately, only to have it still burn his tongue when he finally did bite into it.

“Be careful,” Lan Wangji deadpanned, not even bothering to look at Wei Wuxian, keeping his gaze trained on the view outside.

Wei Wuxian huffed, trying to get rid of the distinctly annoying feeling of burnt tongue. “Is the view interesting out there?”

Lan Wangji hummed in response and Wei Wuxian went to stand next to him, dragging himself upright with his tea still in hand: a warm beacon to protect him from the cold wind coming through the window.

There was not a single word to accurately describe what Wei Wuxian was seeing: the gray asphalt of the streets was nowhere to be seen, covered by a thick layer of snow, doors were gone too, the only things sticking out above the fresh snow being the city’s concrete jungle of skyscrapers and the occasional pine tree.

“Beijing really is even more beautiful like this,” Wei Wuxian said, before sniffing the air ceremoniously, looking for the stench of cars and gas that wasn’t there for a change. “smells better too.” Wei Wuxian shot a quick glance at his roommate standing beside him, only to see the tiniest of smiles on Lan Wangji’s lips.

It was gone before Wei Wuxian could say anything else, the window shutting softly as Lan Wangji swept it closed. Wei Wuxian stumbled back to the kitchen counter, leisurely taking a sip from his sugary tea. “You know what else we could do Lan Zhan?”

Lan Wangji silently quirked an eyebrow, raising his own mint tea to his lips to take a sip for himself.

“You know that anime that I’ve been talking about lately, right?” Lan Wangji nodded in response. “Well… a new season just dropped, and I know you probably don’t care much but--”

“I’ll watch it with Wei Ying.”

Wei Wuxian perked up, smiling widely at Lan Wangji, teeth on display and all. “Okay! Good!” Wei Wuxian grabbed Lan Wangji’s hand, temporarily forgetting that he was ill and attempting to drag Lan Wangji to the living room on his own, this caused Wei Wuxian to shift dangerously and almost plummet to the ground - if it hadn’t been for the hand holding him back that was.

“Careful.” Lan Wangji’s voice was a gentle breeze in Wei Wuxian’s neck, stabilizing him and grounding him to reality enough for him to be able to stand straight once again.

They started making their way to the living room in short steps, Lan Wangji’s hand a careful support to Wei Wuxian’s back.

When they finally reached the couch, Lan Wangji helped Wei Wuxian get into a comfortable position, before calmly grabbing his laptop and looking up Wei Wuxian’s favorite anime website. Wei Wuxian didn’t really know how Lan Wangji knew which site that was, but to be quite frank: he couldn’t really find it within himself to question it right now, for he was comfortably snuggled in the wooly blankets that their sofa provided, his head supported by a feathery pillow. Lan Wangji apparently had memorized the anime that Wei Wuxian had been watching, because it took him a surprisingly little amount of time to set everything up, putting the laptop on their coffee table once he was done.

Time passed quickly after that, the new season of the anime still being as good as its predecessors and holding up to the original plot. So it definitely wasn’t that he lacked interest when Wei Wuxian found himself slightly nodding off mid-season, instead it was the scent of sandalwood silently making its way into his heart, relaxing him so completely that the waft of freshness was the only sane part of Wei Wuxian’s consciousness.

That was also why Wei Wuxian wasn’t particularly surprised that when he opened his groggy eyes sometime later; he found that he had been soundly napping on Lan Wangji’s shoulder, the anime long paused with Lan Wangji himself carefully writing musical notes onto a sheet of paper, his handwriting dancing over the page much like the snowflakes outside were probably doing.

Wei Wuxian’s feverish mind decided that a little more sleep wouldn’t hurt.

**

“Will you sleep with me, Lan Zhan?”

Lan Wangji must have misheard that. Wei Wuxian was looking at him with all the innocence of a toddler asking for a bedtime story, his eyes wide and cheeks bunched up cutely, appearing to carry the opposite of intentions his previous question held.

“W-what?” he sputtered, his voice coming out weak and wheezily, the steadiness he’d prepared dissolving meekly in the air between them.

“In my bed. I was lonely last night,” Wei Wuxian explained matter-of-factly, smirking when the innuendo dawned on him and he’d taken notice of the redness at Lan Wangji’s ears. He promptly placed a hand at his hip, the bracelet around his wrist shifting and drawing Lan Wangji's attention to the delicate joint. “What else were you thinking, gege?”

The little shit. Lan Wangji was beginning to think this day was too much for him.

Not feeling the need to grace the man with his response, he grabbed for Wei Wuxian’s narrow shoulders and began pushing him into the direction of his bedroom. The boy let him do so with ease, giggling all the while at Lan Wangji’s palpable embarrassment.

As soon as they entered the room, Wei Wuxian shot forward out of his grip and collapsed onto the bed with a huff, instantly crawling into the duvet to chase the warmth of his bed. Once he was properly settled, his eyes locked with Lan Wangji’s from where he was awkwardly leaning against the doorpost.

“I’m not going to eat you, fuddy-duddy,” the boy quipped, pulling his lips into a petulant pout over the brim of his blankets. “Get in here with me, will you.”

Lan Wangji’s answer was curt and held no room for arguing. “No.”

He was already turning to leave when Wei Wuxian let out a theatrical gasp, never the one to care for social cues. “But I’m cold, Lan Zhan,” he whined. “Allow me to lend your body heat for once. You don’t wish for my lips to turn blue again, do you?”

Memories of Wei Wuxian sitting curled up against the wall of a noisome alleyway flashed through his mind and his gut gave an involuntary twist. He made a decision then and there.

“I’ll only stay until you fall asleep,” he said, clenching his teeth. “Not a second longer.”

Wei Wuxian let out a bellow of victory and wiggled over to the other side of the bed, leaving an area perhaps still too small for Lan Wangji’s gangly stature. He crawled atop the mattress anyways, merely to appease his fussy roommate, who had an ear-to-ear grin plastered onto his face as he watched Lan Wangji stiffly situate himself under the duvet.

The space he was assigned to was at least half a meter too narrow, so in order to lay without his back exposed to the cold air, Lan Wangji was forced to shuffle closer, the distance between them dwindling until naught but a hair’s breath remained.

“Night, Lan Zhan.”

Not trusting his voice, Lan Wangji merely nodded. He tried not to think about the fact he suddenly had an eye-full of Wei Wuxian right up in his face and fixated his sight onto a spot just above Wei Wuxian’s shoulder instead, resolutely avoiding his gaze.

Fortunately, his roommate was sound asleep within minutes.

Lan Wangji wasn’t sure how long he just laid there, staring out into nothingness as he listened to his roommate’s steady in- and exhales, unable to fall asleep. His brain refused to shut off, a blaring alarm of Wei Wuxian going off in his head like a mantra ad infinitum.

He’d long ago given up on the idea of leaving once his roommate fell asleep, his limbs simply too heavy to uplift, but he should have realized earlier that sleeping next to Wei Wuxian was proving to be an impossible task.

He ripped his eyes away from the wall and let them fall to the menace in question, heart lurching in his chest when he realized again how close Wei Wuxian was to him. His mouth went dry, eyes widening as he watched the weak tendrils of moonlight fan across Wei Wuxian’s face.

For a split second, Lan Wangji forgot how to breathe, the room fading to blackness as his eyes traced the gentle slope of Wei Wuxian’s nose, the jut of his cheekbones. His lips were pink and pouted, slightly parted, and Lan Wangji looked away just as quickly as he had looked over, face flushing.

Kissable. His lips looked kissable.

The embarrassment lulled him to sleep, heart hammering uncomfortably in his chest.

As Lan Wangji lay there, heart in his throat, all he could think about - aside from Wei Wuxian’s pretty collarbones - was how much he despised the universe. It must’ve had a special bone to pick with him, because there he was, his legs tangled with another pair and an arm slung over Wei Wuxian’s slim waist, essentially pressing them both snug together.

Wei Wuxian lay with all his rosy-cheeked glory in his embrace, dead to the world. Lan Wangji contemplated pushing the boy away from him, but decided against it, something alarmingly akin to fondness holding him back.

He tried lifting his arm, but when Wei Wuxian let out a distressed whimper in his sleep at the loss of touch, he immediately placed it back, patting the boy’s side in silent apology.

There was truly nothing he could do except wait until his roommate returned to the conscious realm and try not to let his eyes linger on how Wei Wuxian’s fingers were unconsciously gripping his shirt or how Lan Wangji’s thigh was nestled between two of his, or how his messy hair framed his pretty face perfectly, like velvet curtains revealing an ancient renaissance painting, or how the outlined curve of his hip was rounded and smooth, simply begging to be cupped, or -

Shit.

Against his desperate attempts, something hot heat flared up in him, kindling between his hips before settling at the pit of his stomach. His heartbeat picked up, but he sucked his tongue and suppressed whatever feeling was threatening to boil up within him.

Needless to say, Lan Wangji did not fall back asleep that morning.

Lan Wangji had expected things to be different or awkward between them when Wei Wuxian woke up, seen as they’d been properly snuggeling not hours prior, but instead they just got dressed per usual and fixed up a decent breakfast. There had been a few instances where they had brushed past each other in the kitchen, accidentally or with intent - Lan Wangji wasn’t sure, for Wei Wuxian was quite clumsy and loose-limbed - and when they went to the sofa to continue watching Wei Wuxian’s admittedly somewhat entertaining anime show, Lan Wangji caught the boy staring at him from the corner of his eye a myriad of times, appearing like he was about to say something, but then it was “Oh, look, Lan Zhan! Don’t you think Levi looks hot in this shot?” and the moment for meaningful words had passed.

“-fight?”

Lan Wangji snapped back to reality, flitting his eyes over to Wei Wuxian, who had gotten up from his position on the couch and now stood looming above him, a cheeky grin curling his lips.

Befuddled, Lan Wangji tilted his head, feeling slightly off-kilter at the foreboding look on the boy’s face. Surely Wei Wuxian must want something from him if he stared at him with such intent. “Excuse me?”

His roommate chuckled lightly and turned to point towards their frost-laden window. “Let’s have a snowball fight!”

Lan Wangji huffed in lieu of a response and tried looking around Wei Wuxian's cocked hip for the TV, only to discover the boy had already turned it off. He leveled a glare onto the younger and scoffed, inwardly cursing the adorable bunny-toothed smile he was sporting in order to persuade him.

“Have I not been plentiful entertertainment to you for the past forty-eight hours?” he asked, voice coming out rougher than intended. He tried not to feel guilty at the way Wei Wuxian’s smile fell or how his shoulders sagged in disappointment, his ebullient mood shifting like the sudden downpour on an ether summer day. “Plus, it would probably be best if you refrained from going out into the cold for a couple more days. You don’t want to get sick again, do you?”

Wei Wuxian nodded weakly and went back to curl into the sofa, looking all too much like a kicked puppy for Lan Wangji’s liking. His heartstrings were wearing thin these days, and he wasn’t sure if he could take the broken look on his roommate’s face, his stomach pinching painfully in regret. “I guess you’re right, Lan Zhan. I apologize for asking.”

No, no, no, this had certainly not been Lan Wangji’s intentions. Pushing through his inner turmoil, he reached out for his roommate’s hand and laced their fingers, giving a gentle tug so that he boy looked his way.

Wei Wuxian flinched upon the contact and turned to him wide-eyed, seemingly utterly dumbfounded at Lan Wangji’s initiated skinship. He couldn’t blame him, for he himself wasn’t quite sure what had gotten into him for him to reach out like this, to act so blatantly out of his comfort zone.

“We mustn't stay out for too long,” he found himself saying before his brain had the chance to catch up. He caressed his thumb soothingly across Wei Wuxian’s tight-strung knuckles, rubbing away the tension in his hand without a single thought, as if it was second nature. “We should be cautious of your health.”

Wei Wuxian nodded rather dumbly and glanced down to where their fingers were laying entwined on the pillow between them, not saying anything, merely admiring the public display of affection that was more often than not solely one-sided. He took a couple seconds to stare at it with child-like wonder before directing his gaze back to Lan Wangji, doe-eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

“So we can go?” he asked, as if the affirmation had only now sunken in. He gently hooked his pinky finger over Lan Wangji’s, curling until they were locked into a proper pinky promise. “I solemnly swear I won’t shove snow down your shirt like last year! And I won’t throw snowballs into your face ever again!”

Only now taking notice of the fact he was smiling, Lan Wangji contorted his face back to its passive form and coughed, withdrawing his hand and awkwardly clasping it with the other in his lap. But Lan Wangji was naught but a weak man and he couldn’t help the feeling of giddiness that bloomed up in him upon seeing his roommate so happy.

“Rascal.”

Wei Wuxian had lied. Of course he had. In hindsight, Lan Wangji should have realized that as soon as they had dug themselves out of the confinement of their building and set foot in the pristine white snow, the first thing the kid would do was reach down and grab a fistfull of snow before chucking it against Lan Wangji’s poor, unsuspecting back.

Lan Wangji cursed under his breath and spun on his heel, prepared to make a beeline straight back into their dorm if necessary. Wei Wuxian’s gaze was unwavering in the face of Lan Wangji’s wrath, a cheshire grin appearing on his lips as he leisurely balled up another lump of flakes. “You’re treading on thin ice here, kid.”

“I’ll give you a headstart, Lan Zhan,” he practically purred, eyes mischievously hooded under the brim of his beanie. He had collected a stack of snowballs before Lan Wangji had processed his words. He slung one in the air and quirked a brow in challenge. “You better run.”

Lan Wangji didn’t need to be told twice. With the little field in front of their building being next to miniscule, he couldn't create much actual distance, but Lan Wangji certainly tried. He huffed as he skidded across the frozen ground, all the while trying to out-tune the tragic opera playing through his mind upon his own misfortune.

Eventually, Wei Wuxian caught up to him, seeing as it was inevitable, but when he got within reach, Lan Wangji turned and tackled them both to the snow with a swift flip that served as a slightly painful reminder that he had once practiced taekwondo. The momentum sent them both rolling across the ground, ending up in a heap of snow-covered limbs, Lan Wangji half on top of the younger. Wei Wuxian still had at least half a snowball’s worth of snow left in his fist, but instead of seizing the opportunity to slap it square in Lan Wangji’s face, he let his arm fall to the side, breathing heavily as he grinned back up at him.

His smile faded as the silence stretched on for longer than necessary, limbs going abruptly stiff under Lan Wangji’s intentful eyes. For a split second, the world around them fell silent, the distant sounds of Beijing fading to the background, both of them staring at each other. Lan Wangji remained stiff as a board as he watched Wei Wuxian’s eyes flicker down to his lips and back up again, pupils blown wide. Something hot winded its way between Lan Wangji’s ribs, pulsing and all-consuming, and he blinked a few times before snatching a measly handful of snow from his side and dumping it on Wei Wuxian’s flushed cheek with a non-committal smack.

He clambered off of the boy, taking a few steps back as Wei Wuxian sat up, wiping his face clean of the frost. He remained uncharacteristically quiet as he got back up to his feet, a few stubborn flakes of snow still clinging to his brow, and sauntered off to an untouched patch of snow before proceeding to make a snow angel, all the while avoiding Lan Wangji’s unyielding gaze.

He didn’t mean to stare, but Wei Wuxian was simply entrancing, captivating; his sun-kissed skin a stark contrast against the pale snow and his frost-dusted fringe hanging low over his brows, enhancing the sharp structure of his face.

Perhaps it was solely the remnants of adrenaline coursing through his veins that prompted him into walking over to the boy, but his behind was planted in the snow before dubiety could settle in.

"Wei Ying," he said, voice soft so as to not disturb the tranquil vibe pulsing through the sliver of space between them. Wei Wuxian turned to meet his gaze, something indecipherable swimming in eyes. "You'll get sick again if you stay like this."

"Mh." A pause. Wei Wuxian fixated his eyes onto the gray sky again. Lan Wangji was pretty sure he hadn't even heard him. "Lan Zhan?"

Lan Wangji moved to lay down beside him, limbs adjusting to accompany the thick layer of snow around them. He lifted his chin in a silent enquiry. "Yes?"

"I still haven't told you about what happened that evening when you found me outside. Wouldn't you like to know?"

Lan Wangji hummed lowly, considering the notion before shaking his head. "I'm not going to force you into telling me. You are most certainly not indebted to me in any way, Wei Ying, nor do you owe me an explanation."

"But I want to," Wei Wuxian countered instantly, something desperate laced into his words. Lan Wangji felt fingers curling into his gloved hands and he looked down to find their hands entwined on the patch of frost between them. Something content settled within him upon the sight, as if a missing puzzle piece had finally slid into its designated location.

Wei Wuxian let out a wobbly sigh, his breath bleeding out into the cold air. "Someone was following me after I left the library.” Lan Wangji swallowed down the lump that settled in his throat loud enough for the both of them to hear. Wei Wuxian turned to offer him a comforting smile, tightening the grip on his fingers until he was practically squeezing, holding onto him like an anchor set for a storm at sea. “I wasn’t sure at first - thought it was coincidental that the guy turned into the same streets as I did. As I began to near our street, I realized he was still trailing closely behind me and he began yelling things at me. He was incoherent for the most part, so I figured he must be drunk off his arse and had just latched onto the first guy that walked past him to bother. But I was a wuss, got scared, and hid in that alley you found me in.”

Lan Wangji blinked the crimson from his vision. He was almost afraid to ask, scared the answer would upset him even further. “How long did you sit there?”

“Probably about half an hour.” He pushed against Lan Wangji’s chest when he went to sit up, not knowing what exactly to do, but just knowing that he was enraged at the situation and the fact he couldn’t do anything about it.

He would hunt down the prick if he could, exchange some...words.

“There’s no need to get upset now, Lan Zhan. Only the last couple minutes before you reached me were bad. My limbs were so frozen that I couldn’t manage to get up by myself.” He chucked and reached out to boop Lan Wangji’s cold nose, the act so strangely intimate that Lan Wangji found his fists unfurling and the tension in his muscles dissolving like snow for the sun. “You were my knight in shining armor, gege.”

“There’s no need to think so heroic of me.” He lowered his voice into a whisper. “I just want you to be safe.” A surge of determination shot through him and he met Wei Wuxian’s eyes. “I want to be able to protect you, always.”

A silence stretched between them. Wei Wuxian scraped his throat and pushed himself into a sitting position, careful to not jostle their entwined hands. Lan Wangji followed, gauging the younger’s emotion from the corner of his eye.

He noticed only now that it had begun snowing again, thick flakes floating down the dreary sky and falling upon them.

“Lan Zhan, I like you.”

Lan Wangji wondered if Wei Wuxian could hear the way his brain record scratched, everything coming to an abrupt, screeching halt. He turned to the boy wide-eyed, flabbergasted and unable to translate the burning sensation in his chest into comprehensible words.

As if Wei Wuxian could hear his inner turmoil, he shuffled closer until every inch of their clothing-clad skins were touching and hesitantly placed their linked hands on his lap.

“I’ve liked you for a while now. I’m aware of the fact this is merely a one-sided thing.” He giggled nervously and bit at his bottom lip until it was raw, nearly drawing blood. Lan Wangji continued to stare at him, gaze unblinking as the cogwheels in his head began turning. A flake of snow caught onto the curve of Wei Wuxian’s cheek and he felt the strong urge to reach out and wipe it off, but he held the impulse at bay. “I thought I'd let you know anyway. You deserve as much. P-please don’t think you have any obligations with this information. I just…” his voice tapered off into silence and he shifted anxiously, wiggling his feet.

It was seldom that Lan Wangji cursed out loud, usually the one to stick to his ancient, yet reliable, level of decorum, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say except, “Fuck, you’re adorable”, followed by a “May I kiss you, Wei Ying?” and as soon as the question left his mouth, he was reaching out, fingers caressing the boy’s curved jaw.

Wei Wuxian appeared too shocked to speak, merely nodding, and then Lan Wangji was leaning forward, so close he could feel the boy’s warm breath fan out across his lips. He was just about to tilt his head and slot their lips together when Wei Wuxian seized his arm, stopping him.

Horrified realization crashed over Lan Wangji like a bucket of ice cold water.

Had he done something wrong? Had he imagined Wei Wuxian’s consent and blindly crossed a border, selfishly following his own desire?

“W-we can’t kiss,” Wei Wuxian stuttered, cheeks red as his eyes flitted between Lan Wangji’s eyes and lips. “Not here. I inconspicuously hung up mistletoe in our dorm a couple weeks ago - never in my wildest dream assumed you would actually kiss me. So,” he got up onto his feet, his smile blinding as he pulled a bewildered Lan Wangji up with him. “We’re going to kiss under the mistletoe like some sickeningly cliche couple in those obnoxious Christmas movies you always despise.”

Lan Wangji laughed - actually laughed, cackling openly and without holding himself back, not even bothering to cover up his smile with the palm of his hand. Wei Wuxian’s eyes widened before he began laughing as well, the sound lovely and full of warmth.

Lan Wangji wanted to snatch it from the frozen air and store it in a jar for keepsies so he could take it out and listen to it whenever he pleased - perhaps use it as a sample for a stupid love song he had yet to write because he was ridiciously enamoured like that.

He was still thinking of the various things he could do with Wei Wuxian’s pretty laugh when suddenly they were in their dorm, the other boy dragging him in by his hand and leading him down the hall.

There, hanging from the ceiling by a neatly tied red bow, hung a small bunch of mistletoe. Somehow Lan Wangji hadn’t noticed the plant before, too caught up in his own head to acknowledge the splash of green amidst their dorm.

Wei Wuxian settled them right under it and glanced up, fiddling nervously with the cuff of his sleeve as his eyes darted from the plant to Lan Wangji. He was reminded of the fact he was a couple inches taller than his roommate, his forehead the perfect kissable height, and he smiled sheepishly to himself.

“Are you going to kiss me or not?” Wei Wuxian asked, more out of insecurity than demandingness, if his unusually high-pitched voice was anything to go by.

Lan Wangji licked his lips in poorly concealed jittery before closing the distance between them anew, slowly, savoring the sensation of his hand slipping into the tousled locks at Wei Wuxian’s nape.

When their lips finally met it wasn’t grandiose or extravagant, didn’t come with fireworks - instead it felt like coming home after a long day of tedious labour, and Lan Wangji sighed into the kiss.

And wow. Wow, okay. Kissing Wei Wuxian was truly something he could get used to.

The first thing he noticed was that Wei Wuxian’s lips were soft and warm as they slotted around his. He reached up to cup the boy’s law, tilting it to a new angle so he could carefully deepen the kiss just the tiniest bit. Wei Wuxian let him, kissing him back clumsily but oh so delicately, and something heavy and meaningful settled in Lan Wangji’s belly. Then he pulled back, mind hazy with whatever warm feeling had begun bubbling up in his chest, the kiss merely a couple presses of lips.

Wei Wuxian did not let him move back far however, curling a finger into the collar of his shirt with a huff before they were kissing again, harder this time - more desperate, and Lan Wangji swallowed down Wei Wuxian’s surprised gasp.

They kissed a couple seconds more before they were both forced to get up for air, breathing heavily.

“Could we perhaps do that more often?” Wei Wuxian asked, eyes blown wide as he reached out for Lan Wangji’s arm, squeezing his bicep as if it was the only thing keeping him grounded to reality. Lan Wangji curled his fingers around his hand and chuckled.

“As often as you’d like.” He paused to wipe the sweat off on his jeans and couched awkwardly, suddenly realizing he had yet to officially confess. He felt dumb as he placed his hand on Wei Wuxian’s hip and looked up to meet his heated gaze. “I like you too...if you hadn’t noticed yet.”

Wei Wuxian burst out in a fit of giggles and pointed at his face. “Never thought I’d live to see Lan Zhan - the Lan Zhan - properly blush. This must be a fever dream.”

“Do not kid with me, Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji warned, although he couldn’t really muster any form of defiance in his voice, too entranced by the way Wei Wuxian nuzzled into him, seeking his embrace as he rode out his laughter.

If Christmas meant that he could snuggle up with Wei Wuxian under some ludicrous plant, he no longer minded the holiday that much.

**

It was inexplicably warm in Wei Wuxian’s dream: not in the uncomfortable feverish way that he’d previously experienced, but nice, incredibly nice.

Wei Wuxian reached for the unidentified, warm subject of his dream, clinging onto it, his fingertips pressing into something unexpectedly soft. Then, gently, something slightly cooler started tracing his back in circles, relaying pastel patterns of a hundred, yet to be named, colors to Wei Wuxian in subtle, light strokes.

The cool touch faded from Wei Wuxian’s back and instead started swiping away loose strands of Wei Wuxian’s hair, touching his forehead lightly whenever it did.

“Wei Ying,” a voice whispered: reverent and so incredibly soft.

Wei Wuxian just let out a grunt in response, not yet wanting to leave the pastel gentleness of his dream.

A faint chuckle sounded in the hazy distance, far beyond the borders of any dream. “You have to wake up.”

Wei Wuxian coiled even farther into the warmth of his dream, murmuring a dazed, “Five more minutes,” to whoever it was trying to get him to wake up.

“That’s what you said two hours ago.”

Wei Wuxian didn’t bother to respond to that, instead he leaned into the cool touch on his forehead, sighing softly as he did so, seeking refuge from the real world in the colors that his dream provided.

“It’s christmas morning, you know?”

And the voice should’ve just said that sooner because at this, Wei Wuxian’s eyes shot open, effectively waking him, only for him to see… absolutely nothing.

“I can’t see anything!”

Again a soft chuckle, as the darkness that had previously been cast over Wei Wuxian’s eyes retreated to form a very solid looking shoulder.

“Oh,” Wei Wuxian breathed, realizing that he had burrowed himself into Lan Wangji’s shoulder (that was surprisingly soft for how sturdy it looked), “it was you.”

Lan Wangji hummed and pulled his cool fingertips out of Wei Wuxian’s hair, placing them back on Wei Wuxian’s back, drawing him closer, and resuming the calm tracing of circles against Wei Wuxian’s skin.

“How do you expect me to stay awake if you treat me like this Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian laughed, looking up from Lan Wangji’s shoulder, his tone gently teasing.

“I don’t expect you to,” Lan Wangji replied, pressing a soft kiss to Wei Wuxian’s forehead. “I’ll just keep waking you up if you fall asleep again.”

Wei Wuxian laughed freely, burrowing his head into the crook of Lan Wangji’s neck as he did so. “You really are something Lan Zhan!”

In the end Wei Wuxian did , in fact, fall asleep again, and again, and again, until another two hours had come and passed. Time, however, didn’t seem quite real here, in this room, in this bed with Lang Wangji: the blinds weren’t opened and Lan Wangji’s heat was constant and radiant, yet soft, and only for Wei Wuxian to feel.

“Wei Ying?” Lan Wangji whispered when he had woken Wei Wuxian up for the umpteenth time.

Wei Wuxian hummed in recognition and wrapped his arms around Lan Wangji’s neck, keeping him close.

“I have to show you something still.”

“Oh?” Wei Wuxian smiled up at Lan Wangji, his insides melting at the sight of Lan Wangji’s vulnerable gaze. “What would that be?”

A strange glint came to life in Lan Wangji’s eyes when he looked down at Wei Wuxian, a glint that, in retrospect, would’ve fitted Wei Wuxian’s naturally mischievous looks much better. “I could take you to see, but that would require you to get up from the bed.”

Wei Wuxian moaned in lazy dread, throwing his head back with a whine and untangling himself from Lan Wangji. “Fine, you win, I wanna see.”

Lan Wangji looked victorious, his ears carrying the everlasting light shade of pink, when Lan Wangji swiftly stood up from the bed and wrapped his arms around Wei Wuxian, lifting him from the bed bridal style. “Let me carry you then.”

“I’m pretty sure I can walk again, you don’t have to carry me,” Wei Wuxian mumbled from where he had his face snuggled into Lan Wangji’s shoulder. It was true though, he didn’t feel like he had a fever anymore, just the bare remnants of a headache contained behind the walls of his skull still present.

“But I want to,” Lan Wangji said, his tone determined as ever, looking straight ahead as he started walking towards the living room, pushing the bedroom door open with his foot in a manner very unlike the great and adored Lan Wangji.

And, so, Wei Wuxian didn’t really put up a struggle, letting himself be carried to the living room, the only sound being Lan Wangji walking across the creaky floorboards.

Upon entering the room; the first thing Wei Wuxian saw was the warm light of the fairy lights he himself had decorated the place with, and although they were rather blinding, they weren’t at all unpleasant, not any more, not when he felt so safe in Lan Wangji’s arms. When Wei Wuxian craned his head to look around though, his eyes immediately were drawn to the big christmas tree in the corner of the room, or, to be more specific, the neatly packed presents underneath the gigantic tree.

“What the--” Wei Wuxian’s eyes widened in genuine surprise, his body wriggling in Lan Wangji’s arms to get out and take a closer look at the presents.

Lan Wangji put him down carefully, releasing him onto the floor with the soft thump of Wei Wuxian’s feet hitting the hardwood.

Wei Wuxian felt the excitement course through his body in waves as he crouched next to the tree: there were in fact three small presents, all packed with obvious care in soft blue paper and lined with a crisp white ribbon. If it wasn’t clear who they were from before, it definitely was now.

Wei Wuxian beamed and turned his head to look up at Lan Wangji. “You did this, didn’t you Lan Zhan?”

Lan Wangji simply shrugged, looking extremely satisfied, and mumbling a soft ‘Yes’ under his breath.

Wei Wuxian jumped to his feet, running towards Lan Wangji as fast as he could and wrapping him in the tightest hug he could possibly muster with his recovering limbs. Kissing Lan Wangji everywhere he could reach, Wei Wuxian was sure that he heard Lan Wangji laugh, actually laugh. The sound made him lean back to take a proper look at Lan Wangji’s face and contrary to what Wei Wuxian had expected, the laughing didn’t stop, instead it only got louder, sounding like the clear ringing of bells on a crisp winter’s day.

Lan Wangji’s eyes were crinkled to a close and his hair had fallen out of his man bun entirely, fanning his face as if framing a piece of art. But what was most striking of all: Lan Wangji’s smile, it was so incredibly bright, brighter than any of Wei Wuxian’s laughs had ever been. It forever solidified what Wei Wuxian had already known: Lan Wangji was made for the light of day, made for brightening up any room, like the sun on a tingling spring’s day, and Wei Wuxian, well Wei Wuxian was made for the night’s eye, not to be seen again.

This, however, couldn’t matter, not now, not when Wei Wuxian was suddenly struck with yet another realisation. “Holy shit, Lan Zhan! I haven’t gotten you anything!”

Lan Wangji’s laughing only continued, making him bend over while holding his stomach and gasping for air, hiccuping softly as he did so.

“No, Lan Zhan! Don’t laugh! This is serious business!” Wei Wuxian was positively panicking now: they hadn’t gotten each other presents in any year before this, so, naturally, Wei Wuxian of the past hadn’t thought about getting anything. Yet, here they were, with Lan Wangji being ever so prepared and Wei Wuxian very much not.

Lan Wangji’s laughter only increased with sharp tugs, until eventually, he managed to calm down, wiping the tears from his eyes, while still trying to properly contain himself.

“Are you mad? Is that why you were laughing?” Wei Wuxian looked down, feeling particularly vulnerable for some reason.

Two cool fingertips sneaked their way under Wei Wuxian’s chin, softly urging his face to look upward, at Lan Wangji. There he was met with the most beautiful, open look he had ever seen Lan Wangji wear: his eyes still red rimmed from laughing until he had cried and so, so, so wonderfully gentle. “I could never be mad at you Wei Ying, not really,” one of Lan Wangji’s hands had found Wei Wuxian’s cheek, softly cupping it while Wei Wuxian leaned into the touch, “you see, there isn’t much that you could actually gift me, not now, not anymore, not now I’ve got you, so it’s okay Wei Ying, it’ll always be okay as long as you’re here.”

At this Wei Wuxian finally found the will to smile, pushing his guilt for not having anything for Lan Wangji to the sidelines of his already too crowded mind. “I never knew you could be so sappy Lan Zhan.” The scathing tease Wei Wuxian usually wore in his voice wasn’t there for once, replaced by gentle comfort as he snuggled into Lan Wangji’s hand.

Lan Wangji hummed, pulling Wei Wuxian closer and kissing him ever so softly on his forehead. “I might be, but it’s also how I feel.”

They eventually did get to unpacking the presents (after a lot of kisses of course, Wei Wuxian had made it his mission to kiss every single fibre of Lan Wangji’s skin, after all) and the presents were so incredibly thoughtful that Wei Wuxian could cry - and maybe he did, just a little, nobody had to know. In the three boxes were: a black flute, decorated by the red string attached to it , making it a much more adequate version of Wei Wuxian’s old and - admittedly quite - tattered bamboo flute, a blue piece of fabric with white clouds on it (when Wei Wuxian would later inevitably ask what exactly it meant, Lan Wangji would simply smile and say that he would explain later), and lastly a prim piece of paper with musical notes on it, all of them written in Lan Wangji’s elegant handwriting, it was a piece Lan Wangji would play every single day for the rest of their lives, and of course Wei Wuxian would always ask what the name was and Lan Wangji would never answer, until he would.

And maybe it was true that Wei Wuxian was the night to Lan Wangji’s day, but in their case, Wei Wuxian was fairly sure that it would work itself out.