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Lan Wangji only has to pout to be instantly forgiven anything by his sect. It’s a fact not everyone attending the lectures in the Cloud Recesses is aware of, but Lan Wangji has the potential to be the most coddled, doted upon and spoiled person in their generation.
Nie Huaisang is sure of this. Nie Huaisang is very aware of this situation and is highly envious of it, especially as the pout also works on Nie Mingjue, and the fact that Lan Wangji doesn’t take proper advantage of it is a disgrace.
Lan Wangji believes in the rules and in being a credit to his uncle, to his brother and to his sect. He’s demonstrated this time and time again over the years, to the point where Nie Huaisang has almost despaired of him.
If Nie Huaisang could stick out his lower lip a tiny bit and have the ever-generous Lan Xichen at his beck and call, he’d do it every day. He’d use such a power on Lan Qiren and never have to take a test again. He’d graciously allow every member of the sect to bring him gifts all day long.
Lan Wangji, an omega graced with exceptional beauty and a whole sect full of people willing to dote on him, instead devotes himself to study and to unyielding self-restraint.
Nie Huaisang would throw his hands up at the whole thing, if it wouldn’t be too close to physical exertion, and may run the risk of Nie Mingjue thinking he was trying to train.
Nie Huaisang is not privy to the storm of conflicting thoughts and feelings currently fighting each other beneath Lan Wangji’s stoic exterior, and if he were to spontaneously develop the ability to read Lan Wangji’s mind, Nie Huaisang would wonder why it’s such an issue.
So Lan Wangji is attracted to Wei Wuxian. So what?
Wei Wuxian is a handsome and charming alpha who excels at many things. Granted, he’s loud and can be irreverent, but it’s not as though Lan Wangji has to marry the boy. He should open his mind to the joys of harmless flirtation!
Not that Nie Huaisang is going to risk suggesting this to Lan Wangji. He doesn’t find being glared at improves his day.
This leaves Lan Wangji without Nie Huaisang’s valuable advice. Lan Wangji doesn’t consider flirtation to be harmless and he doesn’t consider himself to be the sort of person who should be drawn to such a disruptive alpha.
So he's conflicted over his attraction to Wei Wuxian, even though an alpha is a perfectly fine object of affection for him in society's eyes.
But he isn't huffy about it. He isn’t. No matter what anyone says.
There a fair bit of going to Lan Xichen to lean on his shoulder for comfort, and big eyes over having to be in class, because Lan Wangji is indeed the respected and upright second master of a righteous sect, but he’s also a much-loved younger omega brother and Lan Xichen has never once resisted a chance to indulge him.
Lan Xichen also refuses to miss a chance to get Lan Wangji some friends, however, and kindly but stubbornly insists his little brother continues to attend the lectures.
‘You never know, Wangji,’ he says warmly, as Lan Wangji looks sadly down at the sweet pastry Lan Xichen has pushed across the table to him, ‘you may come to find you appreciate being around some of your peers.’
He doesn’t laugh as Lan Wangji picks up the pastry and bites into it as though he would like to be setting his teeth to Lan Xichen’s arm – something that happened often when they were much younger – but he does allow himself a smile.
And Lan Wangji is left having to deal with Wei Wuxian and his maddening flitting about as well as be is able.
It will be fine, he tells himself as he finishes the pastry and watches his brother slide another one over to him. All he needs to do is ignore Wei Wuxian when he can, discipline him when it’s necessary, and he will be able to get to the other side of the lectures with nothing changed about his life.
The first time Lan Wangji takes a piece of Wei Wuxian's clothing is mostly an accident.
Wei Wuxian leaves his socks to dry over a rock beside the stream after play-fighting Jiang Cheng into the river, forgets which rock, and is grumbled back to their rooms sockless by Jiang Cheng.
When Lan Wangji finds them, as he makes his way around his patrol route later, he wrinkles his nose.
The socks reek. How has nobody else noticed them yet?
Then he realises it's a scent he's (irritatingly) particularly sensitive to - Wei Wuxian's.
Lan Wangji intends to return the socks to Wei Wuxian and tell him to remain properly clothed whilst in the Cloud Recesses from now on. Perhaps a punishment must be assigned, something to encourage suitable respect for propriety and decorum and other things that Lan Wangji should really be focusing on.
Somehow, instead of dealing with Wei Wuxian, he ends up taking the socks back to his rooms and tucking them in amongst his bedding.
It’s… Well, even Lan Wangji can be forgetful. By the time his patrol ended, it was late and he was tired, so is it any wonder, really, that he carried the socks home rather than stopping by the guest rooms? Besides, it would be a breach of curfew to wake Wei Wuxian up just to hand him some socks. Wei Wuxian probably doesn’t even realise he’s lost them.
It doesn’t mean anything and it won’t happen again.
The next items are less of an accident.
Lan Wangji feels a hot, tight shame about it, but he still takes pieces of clothing he finds strewn over branches after a hot afternoon, or waiting to be washed in the laundry area. He just…feels something settle in him when he has a new piece, strong with Wei Wuxian’s scent, and he’s beginning to admit to himself that just one more item won’t ever be enough to eradicate that uncomfortable, jittery urge that drives him.
Eventually, Wei Wuxian becomes more careful about where his clothes end up. He even starts collecting the Jiang students' laundry himself.
Lan Wangji finds his habit cut off.
It's fine. He doesn't need more of Wei Wuxian's clothing. He doesn't even NEED the things he has.
Lan Wangji tells himself this for several days, until Lan Xichen asks him what's wrong.
Lan Wangji looks up at his brother, who is standing near the doorway to the Jingshi, waiting for Lan Wangji to join him so they can walk to breakfast.
'Is there a problem with your nest?' Lan Xichen asks, when Lan Wangji just keeps staring at him.
Lan Wangji realises he's been fussing with his bedding. Averting his eyes from Lan Xichen, Lan Wangji drops the cushion he's tried putting in three different places already. He really has made the bed into more of a nest, he thinks. He isn’t normally the sort of omega who spends much time with nesting.
'Wangji,' Lan Xichen says kindly, 'why don't you let me get you something new for your nest this time?'
This time. Ah, yes. Because Lan Wangji is due a heat and of course his older brother knows that.
It wouldn't surprise Lan Wangji if Lan Xichen has a stock of cushions and blankets just waiting to be gifted to Lan Wangji, because Lan Xichen is one of those alphas who wants to coddle any omega he cares for.
Lan Wangji is used to being doted upon, or at least to his brother’s attempts to do so, and he feels a bit embarrassed and kind of sad. For some reason he doesn’t care to examine. The thought of being spoiled a little is harder than usual to reject.
He nods, still not quite looking at Lan Xichen, and his lips do pout just a tiny bit.
Lan Xichen melts inside. Then he gets to work.
The way it works is like this:
Whenever Lan Xichen or Lan Qiren get Lan Wangji to accept some doting and coddling, the entire sect somehow knows about it overnight.
And they are ready.
Over the next few days, Lan Wangji receives numerous little gifts from older sect members.
There are sweets, incense sticks and trinkets that various people have picked up thinking of Lan Wangji, and then saved for the next time he's in a being doted on mood.
Lan Xichen gifts Lan Wangji two cushions, a blanket that's an especially lovely shade of blue, and a beautiful fur made from an animal Nie Mingjue hunted himself. Lan Qiren has a poetry book and a new musical score. Both pat him on the head.
Lan Wangji accepts it all and more, but he still seems distant and sad.
Watching Lan Wangji turn away from a woman who has just handed him an embroidered pouch and patted his cheek, and seeing that Lan Wangji’s eyes are lowered and his spirits seem dampened, Lan Xichen starts to worry this is more than pre-heat hormones.
There has been so much gift-giving that Wei Wuxian has noticed.
'That's another new hairpin,' he mutters to Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng as the trio sit under a tree one afternoon.
Lan Wangji is standing beside an elder whose long, silvery hair almost hides her head-ribbon, letting the woman pat his hand.
'What is?' Jiang Cheng asks, barely looking up from a scroll on footwork he's borrowed from the library.
'Lan Zhan is wearing yet another new hairpin,' Wei Wuxian says. 'That's the third one this week. Did I miss his birthday? Should I have got him a hairpin?'
'Why would you be buying him anything?' Jiang Cheng asks, but the bite in it is half-hearted. It's a very useful scroll.
Nie Huaisang is quick to assure Wei Wuxian that Lan Wangji's birthday is in another part of the year.
'This just happens sometimes,' he says, a little sulkily. 'He's so spoiled.'
Wei Wuxian refuses to believe it. Lan Wangji is so dutiful and serious - no way is he a spoiled omega. Wei Wuxian has ideas about what a spoiled omega looks like, and how none of them are as deserving of being spoiled as Jiang Yanli - or Lan Wangji.
Huh. He's only just realised he's added Lan Wangji to that category.
Well. Now he knows it's open season on treating Lan Wangji to nice things, Wei Wuxian is not going to miss out.
'Got to go,' he tells Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang (who was in the middle of a litany of all the times Nie Mingjue has doted on Lan Wangji and neglected his own little brother). 'I'll see you later, yeah?'
Wei Wuxian scurries off to his room and digs about in his things for a suitable gift.
He picked up a few things the last time he was in town, but as he sets them out on his bed - the snacks and the wine and a book of hilarious poems - none of them seem right for Lan Wangji.
Not to worry! There's still some time before the shops and stalls shut up for the night. Wei Wuxian will just have to go and find a worthy gift for his stubborn, rulebound friend, who apparently does know how to accept affection in the form of presents. And then Lan Wangji can explain why he neglected to tell Wei Wuxian this very important information!
He dashes off at once.
When he returns just before curfew-
All right, when he returns slightly after curfew, slipping in through a gap in the wards he keeps meaning to tell Lan Wangji about, he finds Nie Huaisang in a proper sulk.
'What's wrong, Nie-xiong?' Wei Wuxian asks, as he lays the new gift options out on his bed.
'His brother turned up,' Jiang Cheng says. 'Apparently, this means the world is ending or something.'
Jiang Cheng has finished reading the scroll and is now slowly trying out some of the steps in a clear bit of the room.
Nie Huaisang makes a sound like a scalded cat.
'He's MY big brother,' he insists.
Nie Mingjue, it turns out, appeared in the Cloud Recesses as if by magic, bearing gifts for Lan Wangji, and has done no more than nod a greeting to Nie Huaisang on his way past.
'Don't I deserve to be spoiled, too?' Nie Huaisang demands. 'Just because I'm an alpha, why does that mean I don't get presents?'
'I don't think I've seen that fan before,' Wei Wuxian says, looking at the finely detailed painting on the fan Nie Huaisang holds.
'Fine!' Nie Huaisang snaps. 'So Da-ge did bring me this, but he hardly lingered to check that I liked it. He was too eager to show everyone how much he loves someone else.'
'Are you staying here all night?' Jiang Cheng asks pointedly, as Nie Huaisang looks set to really get into his stride.
Wei Wuxian doesn't say anything, because 'he loves someone' is going round and round in his head on repeat.
After Nie Huaisang has groused off to his own room, Jiang Cheng glances at Wei Wuxian and frowns.
'What's wrong with you? Didn't you find something to pester Lan Wangji with tomorrow? And did you leave yourself any money for the rest of our time here?'
When Wei Wuxian, too distracted to respond properly, gestures at the items on his bed, Jiang Cheng walks over and peers at them.
'That's a hairpin,' he says, pointing at a pretty piece of polished wood with lotuses carved into it. 'And that's a comb.'
'So perceptive, A-Cheng,' Wei Wuxian murmurs.
'Are you trying to court him without asking my parents first?' Jiang Cheng asks.
Wei Wuxian's brow creases.
'I don't think either of your parents wants me to court them,' he says, still not really paying attention.
Nie Mingjue loves someone, Nie Huaisang said. Is Nie Mingjue courting Lan Wangji?
It's well known that Nie Mingjue and Lan Xichen are close friends, that they respect one another. Who else would Lan Xichen be willing to trust his precious and, apparently, doted upon little omega brother to, if not to the man he holds in the highest regard?
And Sect Leader Nie is a good match.
He agrees vaguely with whatever else Jiang Cheng says as they get ready for bed and settle down for the night.
It takes him a long time to get to sleep, and when he does so, he dreams of Lan Wangji dressed in red and gold, with Nie Mingjue beside him.
He wakes feeling jittery and wrong.
This is perhaps why, when he decides to gift Lan Wangji the wooden box of sweets he picked up rather than the pricier things, he actually grabs the slightly different wooden box holding spicy snacks for himself.
Lan Wangji reminds himself to be grateful for the attention and comfort of Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue, not to mention the many smaller but genuine signs of care from his sect as a whole.
It isn't their fault he still feels sad and sort of lonely, like he's been left alone in a corner.
The evening before, Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue sat with Lan Wangji in the Hanshi and let him just exist in between them, with their warm and familiar scents washing over him.
They each gifted him a robe, of the sort made to be worn only enough to impart an alpha's scent before being handed on. These are thoughtful and caring gifts. Lan Wangji wove them into his nest as soon as he got back to the Jingshi, and he did sleep a little better.
Nie Mingjue is almost as much of a big brother to him as Lan Xichen is, after all. His scent means safety, reassurance, deep affection.
But none of the gifts he's been given are what he needs.
Though he's tried to deny it, it's only one alpha's scent he wants, and the clothing he acquired of Wei Wuxian's has lost much of its odour.
He's a couple of days from his heat, at best, and is feeling very sorry for himself.
Which is when Wei Wuxian slinks into view, looking subdued and earnest in a way that makes Lan Wangji want to take him inside the Jingshi and wrap him up in the softest fabrics from his nest.
They're near the classroom, the lesson due to start soon, but Lan Wangji pauses when Wei Wuxian looks at him.
'Wei Ying?' he says, working up to asking what is troubling this annoying, beautiful boy.
But Wei Wuxian laughs in a way that makes no sense, as though reacting to something Lan Wangji didn't say, and thrusts something at him. A box.
'Here,' Wei Wuxian blurts, sounding suddenly manic in sharp contrast to his demeanour a moment before. 'Nie-xiong said everyone was getting you gifts, so here's something from me. You can...you can share with Sect Leader Nie. If you want. Um. You probably want to. I get it. So. Yeah.'
With that, Wei Wuxian turns and bolts into the classroom, leaving Lan Wangji clutching the box with no idea what Nie Mingjue has to do with this.
After the lesson, Wei Wuxian slips away without Lan Wangji even seeing him go.
This is after an entire class where Wei Wuxian hasn't stared at Lan Wangji, thrown anything at him or done anything to call attention to himself.
Lan Wangji feels dejected.
His uncle calls him over to the front of the room and spends some time fussing at him, asking if there is anything special Lan Wangji would like to eat this evening and suggesting maybe Lan Wangji should not worry about coming to class for a bit.
'You already know the material,' he praises. ‘There is no need for you to put strain on yourself unduly, Wangji.’
Lan Qiren is no doubt worrying about Lan Wangji going into heat in public.
There is absolutely no chance anyone in the Lan Sect would allow an alpha to take advantage of Lan Wangji, but Lan Qiren once confessed to a cousin that he had nightmares about it, and Lan Wangji overheard.
So he endures the fussing.
His uncle is probably right that Lan Wangji's heat is imminent, anyway.
Lan Wangji doesn't usually feel so sad in the runup, but he does suffer from intensified emotions, and today the sadness is wrapped about him more snugly than any blanket could be.
Best to stay home until it's done. He’ll just have to resign himself to not seeing or hearing or smelling Wei Wuxian until after.
He stops by Lan Xichen's place on the way back and lets himself be talked into staying for tea and snacks.
Then he stays for lunch.
This is followed by more tea and listening to Lan Xichen play for him.
He doesn't go to the afternoon lessons.
Lan Xichen is visibly torn between worry at Lan Wangji's mood and delight at being able to dote on his didi so thoroughly. He's so caught up in it that he forgets Nie Mingjue is joining him for the evening meal, and smiles sheepishly to be found with Lan Wangji lying on the floor with his head in Lan Xichen's lap.
Nie Mingjue shakes his head, but his eyes spark with affection and he lowers himself to the ground not far from the Lan brothers with a chuckle.
'Huaisang said I was trying to sneak in a wrestling match the last time I offered to stroke his hair,' Nie Mingjue says, a little wistfully.
It's a quiet, gentle sort of evening, and by the time Lan Xichen gets around to sending for food, it's fairly late by Lan standards.
Feeling a little bashful at how he's let his brother indulge him, Lan Wangji offers the snacks Wei Wuxian gave him. After all, Wei Wuxian told him to share them with Nie Mingjue.
He doesn't really get why, and he's kind of sad about it. If he's honest with himself, he wants this gift to be special. He wants Wei Wuxian to want it to be for Lan Wangji only. But Wei Wuxian said to share.
Lan Wangji isn't paying attention to the expression on Nie Mingjue or Lan Xichen's faces as they each eat one of the offered snacks.
He certainly isn't paying enough attention to the sensation of burning that arrives in his nose and the back of his throat even before he bites into one himself.
He wasn't paying attention when Lan Xichen poured Nie Mingjue a cup of the wine he's somehow talked their uncle into allowing for certain guests.
Lan Wangji does hear the bitten off shout of his name as he downs the liquid, but that's about the last thing he remembers that night.
Wei Wuxian has only really stared morosely into the jar of wine so far.
Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng have drunk most of a jar each, but they aren't mourning the loss of the prettiest, cleverest, most perfect omega (other than Jiang Yanli, but that's different) in the entire world.
'No, really,' Jiang Cheng is saying, and he nudges Wei Wuxian with a little too much force. 'Go on. Show him.'
'Show him what?' Wei Wuxian asks, shoving Jiang Cheng back just to show willing, though it's a pathetic effort and Jiang Cheng barely moves.
'All the things you bought for Lan Wangji,' Jiang Cheng says.
Wei Wuxian refuses.
He doesn't want to be reminded that he can't give those things to Lan Wangji, and he doesn't want to let Nie Huaisang know he had thoughts of gifting hairpins and combs to Nie Mingjue's intended.
Even if the idea of Nie Mingjue and Lan Wangji together makes Wei Wuxian feel ill.
But this is one of those things Jiang Cheng inexplicably won't drop.
When Nie Huaisang joins in nagging about it, Wei Wuxian takes the pouch he's stored the gifts in out of his robes and drops it on the table.
'Go ahead and look, then,' he says.
Nie Huaisang examines each piece, uttering admiring comments and assuring Wei Wuxian that Lan Wangji will love these.
'I'm not going to give them to him!' Wei Wuxian exclaims.
Nie Huaisang, who is inexplicably not sulking at Wei Wuxian having bought gifts for Lan Wangji, frowns at him.
'Why not?'
One of Nie Huaisang's cheeks is puffed out, so his words come out muffled.
'What are you eating?' Wei Wuxian asks, looking down at the table to see the box of treats is open. 'Hey! Those aren't for you. They're far too spicy for you, Nie-xiong!'
Nie Huaisang swallows and tilts his head, looking puzzled. He even licks his lips before taking another treat, popping it in his mouth, and pulling a face.
'These aren't the least bit spicy, Wei-xiong,' he says.
Which is when the doors to Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng's room is shoved open and Lan Wangji glides in.
'Ah! Lan Zhan!' Wei Wuxian cries out, stumbling to his feet with his hands out in what he hopes is a placating fashion. 'About that gift I gave you...'
But Lan Wangji pays no attention to his words.
He drifts into the room and heads for a pile of clothing, a hazy look on his face that stays in place as he lifts a robe from the pile and sniffs at it.
'Hey, that's my-' Jiang Cheng protests.
He gets no further because Lan Wangji grimaces, pivots, and hurls the robe at Jiang Cheng's head.
Jiang Cheng becomes a dome of fabric. Lan Wangji picks up another robe.
'What are you looking for?' Wei Wuxian asks, curiosity overcoming his other impulses for the moment.
Lan Wangji doesn't answer that, either.
He wrinkles his nose at the pile he's in front of, drops that robe, too, and turns to Wei Wuxian's side of the room.
Wei Wuxian follows him around, not quite daring to reach out and stop him, but very much not feeling he should just leave this dazed looking Lan Wangji to pilfer every bit of Wei Wuxian's clothing he can pick up.
Because it becomes evident that is what Lan Wangji is doing.
At some point, Nie Huaisang has vanished, and Jiang Cheng finally fights his way out from his robe, scowls at Wei Wuxian (as though it's HIS fault) and announces he isn't involved in this mess. Jiang Cheng instead puts away the wine and snacks before getting into bed fully clothed and pulling the covers up.
It's possible Jiang Cheng is more drunk than Wei Wuxian realised. Also, he is apparently in a mood.
Great.
Wei Wuxian will have to sort that out later, because Lan Wangji has just dumped the clothing he's collected on top of Wei Wuxian's blanket and is tugging the corners up to make a bundle.
'Lan Zhan, you don't want that!' Wei Wuxian says, darting forward and almost - almost - wrapping a hand around Lan Wangji's nearest wrist.
Lan Wangji continues wrapping up his finds in the blanket. He exudes an aura of satisfaction. And haziness. But mainly satisfaction.
The doors have been left open since Lan Wangji wandered in, so when he glides away from Wei Wuxian's bed, his arms full of fabric that Wei Wuxian is really pretty sure is all Wei Wuxian's, there's nothing to hinder him from drifting right out into the night.
Apart from Lan Xichen, who is suddenly there.
'Wangji,' Lan Xichen says, sounding faintly bemused, 'what do you have there?'
Lan Wangji stops in front of Lan Xichen and holds out his arms, as if to display his finds.
Wei Wuxian notes Lan Wangji is listing a little to the side, but that isn't stopping him from keeping hold of everything.
Lan Xichen's eyebrows wander upwards. He glances from the bundle, to Lan Wangji's eyes, to Wei Wuxian, and back to Lan Wangji, where his gaze turns softer.
'If you need more material for your nest, you only have to ask,' Lan Xichen says gently. 'I have three whole chests full of things I've been saving for you.'
Lan Wangji shakes his head slowly. He takes a step closer to his older brother and leans.
For a terrifying moment it looks as though he's going to miss Lan Xichen and hit the floor. But Lan Xichen moves in and gets an arm around Lan Wangji, so Lan Wangji ends up with his head on his brother's shoulder.
From there, Lan Wangji is turned back enough that his gaze falls, heavy and dark and warm, on Wei Wuxian. He blinks almost lazily and nuzzles at the fabric beneath his cheek.
He still has a firm hold on all of Wei Wuxian's clothing and bedding.
Lan Xichen begins to apologise, and Wei Wuxian burns with embarrassment.
When Lan Xichen explains that Lan Wangji ate something that didn't agree with him (though he is not clear as to why that has made Lan Wangji act quite like this), Wei Wuxian jumps in to apologise himself.
'I promise, it wasn't a prank,' he says, once he's admitted he gave Lan Wangji the spicy treats, which he has just taken for granted are the food item Lan Xichen means. 'And...and it wasn't... That is, it wasn't a courting gift.'
He isn't sure if that is enough, but kowtowing may be too much.
'I promise you I do not have designs on Lan Zhan,' Wei Wuxian adds, wondering if he should also offer to apologise to Nie Mingjue.
Lan Xichen's look of confusion returns and deepens.
Lan Wangji makes a small, wounded noise and turns his head so his face is hidden in his brother's robes, his arms tightening around the bundle of every bit of fabric Wei Wuxian has ever touched in his life, he's pretty sure.
Lan Xichen's arm tightens around Lan Wangji's shoulders. His expression remains genial.
Wei Wuxian shivers.
'May I ask why you are telling me this?' Lan Xichen asks.
'Because I respect Lan Zhan and wouldn't want to cause any problems for his future marriage?' Wei Wuxian asks.
He enunciates each word carefully, as though reading out a textbook answer to Lan Qiren, but he can't help the doubt in his tone.
'Marriage?' Lan Xichen asks. 'Wei-gongzi, to my knowledge, my brother is not betrothed. You understand that I would know, as his elder brother and as his sect leader, were there any such union planned.'
'But...' Wei Wuxian says.
Nie Mingjue wouldn't court Lan Wangji without Lan Xichen's blessing, right?
Apparently deciding Wei Wuxian should be quiet on that subject now, Lan Xichen asks what Wei Wuxian had meant to give to Lan Wangji, if not the spicy treats.
Lan Wangji must want to know, as well, because one eyes reappears in view, partly hidden behind hair that has got loose.
Completely out of his depth by this point, Wei Wuxian points at the table.
'There,' he says. 'Those.'
Jiang Cheng has helpfully left out every item Wei Wuxian bought, despite having cleared everything else away.
This time, Lan Wangji makes a noise of interest, a tiny 'mmmn' that somehow conveys curiosity and, maybe, excitement.
He lifts his head from Lan Xichen's shoulders, steps back, holds out the bundle, and lets go.
Lan Xichen catches it, but it's a near thing.
Lan Wangji floats over to the table and kneels, his eyes gleaming despite still not being properly focused, and his lips part on a tiny gasp.
(Yes, I am using 'tiny' a lot - drunk Lan Wangji does a lot of things in tiny, ok?)
'For me,' he says, his voice hushed, almost as though he's speaking to himself and doesn't know anybody else is listening.
One by one, he picks up each potential gift, turning them around to look at them carefully, before setting them back down.
'A comb?' Lan Xichen notes.
By this point, Lan Wangji is eating one of the not-spicy treats with a look on contentment on his face. He has all of the other gifts arranged in front of him and is swaying ever so slightly.
He looks half asleep.
'Wei-gongzi,' Lan Xichen says, glancing down at the bundle in his arms - a bundle he has made no attempt to give back, 'am I right in thinking these are all yours?'
Wei Wuxian nods.
'And you bought all of those with Wangji in mind?' Lan Xichen continues, looking at the table.
Wei Wuxian nods again.
Lan Xichen smiles. This time, it doesn't chill Wei Wuxian.
'I see,' he says.
With that, Lan Xichen finally crosses to Wei Wuxian and hands him his bundle.
'When I said no marriage is imminent for my brother, I perhaps spoke a little hastily,' Lan Xichen confides. 'Would you be opposed to giving Wangji one piece of clothing for his nest?'
When Lan Wangji wakes from his heat later that week, a heat that has been more intense and less painful than any before it, he finds his nose is buried in one of Wei Wuxian's robes.
Once he's bathed and is dressed properly, he sends word to Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren that he is ready to resume his duties.
Not long afterwards, Lan Xichen arrives in the Jingshi with that look in his eyes, the look that says he intends to spoil Lan Wangji and nothing will stop him.
Lan Wangji sighs.
'Xiongzhang,' he tries, only for Lan Xichen to hold up a hand.
'Wangji,' he says, 'indulge your older brother. I have finally found the perfect gift.'
'I don't need any gifts,' Lan Wangji says, thinking back on all the spoiling that was done in the lead up to his heat with embarrassment.
'But I have worked very hard to secure this one for you,' Lan Xichen says, in the tone that means he's teasing but also is not. 'Trust me, this will be just the right addition to your nest.'
And, well, once Lan Xichen explains the correspondence he's had with Jiang Fengmian, and Wei Wuxian's enthusiastic agreement, Lan Wangji decides to let Lan Xichen spoil him.
'Everyone will be so excited to help plan your wedding,' Lan Xichen adds, and looks very much as though he's been given a gift, as well.
THE END