The following week lasted serene as Wei Wuxian took care of Lan Wangji. He was there with him as long as his eyes were open. He wouldn't know what Wei Wuxian did when he was asleep because he still hadn't retained a mind reading map to read Wuxian's movements. (guys, intended sarcasm please.)

It was only on the fifth day he was able to get up with no help. Although Wei Wuxian had estimated a maximum of three days, his careless action had weakened him considerably. The energy loomed over him some days more than the other, his body blooming with beads of sweat.

In the midst of a desert Wei Wuxian was his oasis, his only hope when he lost himself inside the dangerous groves of his mind, when the voices were too loud only the euphonic voice and words of the patriarch could bring him back to the shore safe from drowning.

More often than not, his mind headed in an entirely different direction; how Wei Wuxian dealt with this torment every day. How was Wei Wuxian not suffering like himself? How did he keep himself sane? Did he have some way to stop himself from going mad? Only Wei Wuxian would know.

Despite Wangji's curiosity to know more about this man donning black robes, now without the flirtatious red ribbon he knew the questions wouldn't be welcome. Although they spoke from time to time, they mostly spent their time together in silence.

Wei Wuxian scribbled notes furiously onto a parchment twirling the calligraphy brush in between his long, dainty fingers while he looked out the window just by his bed, which was a pleasant way to spend his days albeit the murky scenery. He had caught glimpses of uncle four who brought herbs in a cart thrice a week.

The man looked friendly and Wangji looked forward to meeting the man who could scare Wuxian enough to make him run around burial mounds, begging to be freed from a chameleon Wuxian didn't delight himself with. That was a day Wangji would treasure. Hours later, when Wuxian arrived at his bedside, he had asked if he didn't like chameleons and Wuxian moved away hastily, expecting Wangji to bring out the dreaded creature from beneath his sleeves.

Just as he had woken up today, Wei Wuxian who sat at the stool staring out at the tree right at the middle of the yard moving its branches in the wind, had left to bring him some flowers to decorate his room and Wangji was asked to stay still. Stay still, he did. It's been nine days since he's been here and he spent eight of them on a bed and now he was restless. He was desperate to move about.

He glanced around his room, seeing the minute changes from the first time he entered here. When he had first arrived, the room looked new, uninhibited, lonely, but now it looked homey and the walls had seen his worse days as much as his better ones.

The room was more comfortable, cozy and it held his personality along the shelves, the tables and the parchment paper and ink. The way he had changed the candles from different spaces over to one specific spot he had cleared in the middle of the room leaving them all in a circle, the big candles in the outer layer and the smaller ones in the middle.

Wei Wuxian had chuckled when he saw Wangji concentrating on getting it, just like he pictured it in his mind. He didn't help but found it pleasant to stare at Wangji's furrowed eyebrows and tongue slightly out at the corner of his lips. He remembers seeing a bead of sweat running down the middle of his forehead and onto his nose, playfully halting at the tip of his nose. Wangji had squinted, staring at it, earning a loud laughter from Wei Wuxian.

Lan Wangji had grumbled after that scowling at the man who was holding his sides whooping. It took a long while for him to calm down and Wangji had ignored Wei Wuxian that night glaring but the laughter only worsened. Overall, that day was one of his most pleasant ones he'd enjoyed even if he did nothing.

He already realized he was relieved and quite happy he could bring out a smile, a grin, a chuckle out of the man who he claims to hate so much. It was like an achievement of its own to see him light-hearted rather than the constant pensive mood he seems to sport on a daily basis. Sometimes he wished to know what was in his head, what kind of thoughts troubled him to the point where he would forget the existence of the world outside his head.

"Hunguangjun, you need to stop running your thoughts wild." Wuxian said, the moment he appeared right in front of Wangji with two buckets of flowers. He held them forward for Wangji to examine.

"They're beautiful, patriarch." Wangji said, a hint of a smile on his handsome features. Picturesque beauty as Wei Wuxian's mind always supplies.

"Hunguangjun, I have to trouble you today. Can you get busy with this? I have some work to do that has been drying on my table for a while now. Would you do a day without my presence?"

Wangji immediately felt at fault. He stood up, a little unsteady as his feet had no exertion at all unless a few steps here and there in the past few days. He bowed, courteously.

"I apologize if I have been of any inconvenience to the patriarch due to my injury. I can take care of myself and wouldn't need any assistance further. Thank you for taking care of me."

Although his voice was leveled at first the last few words were strangled in his throat. It has been so long since someone had genuinely given so much time for him, taking care of his every need without letting him feel at a loss. He remembers it was his mother who had taken care of him to such an expansive extent and these days this man had stopped every other work on behalf of him and he felt guilty, a burden.

"Do not be a burden, Wangji. Learn to control yourself." The words said to him by his own uncle rang in his head and he bowed further.

Wei Wuxian stood as if lightning had struck through the entire course of his body. Just when he assumed he knew Lan Wangji better, he proved him wrong time and again. The anger he had banked for so long burned violently once again.

"Hunguangjun." He said, voice cold and distant. At this moment, he was no longer Wei Wuxian; he was a different entity altogether.

Lan Wangji's skin prickled as he felt an unfamiliar air floating around Wei Wuxian, scaring him out of his wits.

"Hunguangjun. I dislike it when you disobey me." The voice growled and Lan Wangji straightened, his legs involuntarily moving back and he gasped when he saw the once silver eyes flaring a scorching vermillion. Lan Wangji gulped down the non-existent saliva in his mouth.

"Patriarch." He stuttered the word as his eyes filled with unshed tears.

Wei Wuxian closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and opening his eyes once again. They were silver once again. So beautifully silver Lan Wangji's eyes twinkled with its familiarity.

Wei Wuxian moved closer, too close to be comfortable, and stared deep into the golden abyss. Long moments, contemplating. "Lan Wangji, I want to throw you out and I never thought twice earlier with others, but with you, something, something is stopping me. You're lucky I don't want you to be a corpse following my commands."

With one last swish he was out the door and teleported to god knows where. Lan Wangji trembled, his knees collapsing beneath him. He didn't know what he should and shouldn't do, not anymore. He wished he could start anew or if he could erase his memories from a day before his mother's death so that he wouldn't prove to be as useless as he is now.

Resolving his inner turmoil, he picked his sword and went into the yard. He practiced his moves he'd learnt since he was really young. Over and over again, he practiced pushing his limits, using his core in short bursts to preserve his energy for a longer duration, ultimately straining his own bodily strength. He went on and on for so long he didn't realize the morning turn to day and then noon and finally late in the evening, later than his usual sleeping schedule.

His left foot skidded, falling, but before he could tumble, a cool pair of arms wrapped itself around his waist, pulling him against the other's chest. Lan Wangji panted, barely breathing with the strenuous practice, even for a cultivator as good as him.

"That's enough. Come on, you haven't had food the whole day." Wuxian said calmly.

"I don't want to. Let me be." He said, voice cold as cold as he was on the first day at burial mounds. The hands around him unwound themselves and stepped back and Lan Wangji missed that familiar cool against his body. He missed the faint whiff of sugar and spice in his robes. It was unfair how much he wanted. He wanted so much and he hated it.

He whimpered, falling onto the rough ground balancing his body with a hand on the hilt of his sword. "I hate you. I hate you so much. I hate you. Let me be."

Anyone would accuse him for throwing tantrums similar to a child but it wasn't his fault if his childish instincts haven't left him since his mother left him at the age of nine. He probably hadn't grown at all after that. He was only taught the discipline of Gusu, the poems and the useless history. he was never taught with what he should with his pent up emotions. Although one of his rules was to practice restraint. How long was he to suffer without letting go? 

He had felt the same feeling for the past thirteen years and he hadn't let it out. He had never dared to do so, afraid of the repercussions. But now, at a dusty corner of his mind he felt this man with a ferocity of a beast will let him scream and cry. He wouldn't ask him to hide himself unlike how everyone had trained him since he was young.

After his mother died and he had apologized to his father, the sect leader at the time of his mistake for not acting sooner, his father had run wild with rage. His father had asked him to train to stop feeling so much. He was asked not to be so sensitive but to be the perfect Lan clan disciple who would act promptly unlike Wangji.

And he had enough of everyone saying 'no,' a single word that had made him who he was now. A mess of a man with no way to understand and manage his emotions. He didn't even know what to do with it. He was glad he wasn't wearing his clan robes or he would have stripped them and burned them with the overflowing emotions stirring inside him.

Wei Wuxian had held Lan Wangji in his arms as he sobbed pitifully, his head bent over, sword aside and his robes in his iron-clad fists. When Wangji came back to his senses or rather after his unsuccessful attempt at handling his manners his surroundings became clearer.

He was halfway on Wuxian's lap. This presence was comforting. He was quiet until Wangji found his footing. No interruptions or judgments against his actions, just an everlasting presence next to him and around him, a veil of protection from his own bleak thoughts.

"I'm sorry." Wangji said when he finally found his voice, he'd lost crying.

"Not your fault." He said instantly, with no hesitation.

Wangji's chest cleared. The sound of acceptance was an embrace he hadn't witnessed in his life. Clan rules had always trained all disciples to be an exact prototype with no difference, and here he was accepted for being the exact opposite of any ancestor of his clan would want him to be.

He turned over, peering deep into Wei Wuxian's eyes. There was anything but hate and distaste. A few stray tears streamed down his temples. Wuxian wiped them with his fingertips and pulled Wangji closer. Lan Wangji blinked once, twice, then yawned wide unashamedly, dropping his head onto Wuxian's shoulder, dipping his nose into Wuxian's neck.

Wei Wuxian chuckled, staring above at the clouds, amused at Wangji's behaviour. "Lan Wangji, come on. We need to get you to eat and then bathe. There's a lot of dirt on your body. Come on, let's get up. Lan Wangji, you still have medicine to drink."

Wangji ignored him, perfectly content in his current position. When Wuxian attempted to lift him, he whined, wrapping an arm around Wuxian's arm.

"Ah Lan Wangji, don't you want to see what I did with your room?" He asked and Wangji's head immediately lifted and he looked curiously at Wei Wuxian. Wangji tilted his head and stared at Wuxian.

"I want to see."

"Then you'll have to get off my lap, Lan Wangji." Wangji frowned. His legs were aching, and he really didn't want to get up from where he sat. Couldn't Wei Wuxian teleport them? He wanted to ask but kept quiet, thinking otherwise.

"I'll carry you, okay?" Wei Wuxian asked, lifting Wangji off him and standing up, dusting off his robes. It startled Lan Wangji when Wuxian picked him off the ground horizontally and walked into the room and set him on his feet.

Wangji held his hand close to his chest, disbelief clear in his child-like eyes. The flowers from the morning were at different locations in his room. Vases of jasmines and lavender and bluebells were stunning. It was like a splash of color on his blank canvas.

So beautifully arranged against the tables and on them, against the shelves and on the floors. There were petals in the bath as well and he squeaked before spinning around, launching himself into Wei Wuxian's unsuspecting arms, tumbling them both onto the floor with a thud.

Lan Wangji stared at Wuxian in wonder before letting out a faint giggle. "Lan Wangji, did you plan to break my spine and neck?"

Wangji's happiness died a quick death, but before he could remove himself from Wei Wuxian's arms, the other pulled him closer. Wangji looked appalled, cheeks rosy. Wei Wuxian chuckled. "Ah Lan Wangji, you're quite heavy like this, you know."

Wangji got off quickly and held his hand to Wuxian who gladly held on and stood up. "So you like it?"

Lan Wangji nodded. "When?"

"I had forgotten you only had your tea in the morning and I came to give you lunch then I saw you in a war with yourself and the flowers were left untouched. I had already completed my work so I thought I might as well give you something beautiful to look at."

"Thank you. I mean it."

Wuxian shook it off and dragged Wangji to the table to eat. He sat until Wangji finished his portion, but when Wangji refused to eat more than a few spoonful's of the soup he had taken long to cook, Wuxian frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"You're not eating." Wangji moved the chopsticks lazily, ignoring the scalding look given by Wei Wuxian.

"Will you eat if I do?"

"Mn."

Thus, they both ate. The only sounds on the table were the clatter of the utensils. Wei Wuxian tugged Wangji to the bath. He stripped him off his clothes as Wangji did with his ribbon and set it aside. Wuxian dropped him into the tub of heated and fragrant water, washing him ever so delicately.

After the bath, he dressed him in night robes and fed him medicine and some fresh jasmine tea. Wangji sat at the table sipping his tea when Wuxian distracted him.

"Lan Wangji, would you like to go somewhere?"

Lan Wangji set his tea cup aside. "Why?"

"I thought you might need it after what happened earlier in the yard."

There was a minute of silence. Wei Wuxian cleared his throat to speak, but before he could say anything, Lan Wangji answered, "I would like to go."

Wei Wuxian's eyes sparkled, a mixture of joy and affection. "Come on."

"Now?"

"Yeah, would I ask you now about something I want to do tomorrow?" He asked, laughing.

Wei Wuxian held out his hand and Lan Wangji accepted it, and they teleported. The winds changed and Wangji immediately knew they were out of the burial mounds. When he opened his eyes and looked around, swaying, he saw a field of flowers.

It had all kinds of flowers, in different colors, and they were in bloom. The air was scented with a mess of different fragrances and the air was thick with the falling dew. It was a world outside reality, a different world of sorts. The grass was green, and the fireflies lit the night, making it prettier than ever. A destination to treasure.

"Lan Wangji?"

Wangji hummed. "Lan Zhan."

"Huh?"

"My birth name is Lan Zhan. Only my mother called me that. You too can use it."

Wei Wuxian was quiet, processing what he was told. He broke into a smile so beautiful Lan Wangji's heart skipped a strange beat, the feeling he had suppressed, blooming once more with the sunlight smile into his barren ground of a heart.

They were in the middle of a field of flowers, and it was magical. Wei Wuxian stepped forward, there were unshed tears in his eyes. A hand reached his neck, and a thumb grazed his jaw.

"Lan Zhan, your trust is- it's so much for someone like me. I cannot promise you anything, but I can tell you one truth I want you to know. If I ever lose this trust you have in me, it wasn't intended. I wouldn't mean to break it but if I do break this unsurmountable trust one day, I'm sorry because you- you deserve the best." He said and stepped away, blinking fast to stop the tears.

Lan Wangji watched the figure walk far away from himself and suddenly there was a newfound goal in his heart; to make sure Wei Ying wouldn't break his trust because he knew, he knew this man wasn't as bad as he led himself to believe.

"Wei Ying!"

Wei Wuxian stopped in his tracks hearing his birth name from Lan Zhan sent a tingle through his body. He turned around to see Wangji sauntering towards him, his jaw set in determination, something he hadn't seen since the first day they met.

"Lan Zhan?" He asked, hesitating. He wasn't as good as Wangji had seen him in the past week or so, and he knew that better than anyone else.

"I believe in you." He said firmly. There were only positive emotions about him and Wei Wuxian couldn't help but grin widely. Lan Wangji, the most respected and honored cultivator of the cultivational world, the spectacle of the Gusu clan, the rigid anchor of the Gusu rules, believed in him.

What's more, Lan Zhan mirrored his grin with one of his own. 

Yaay... We finally finished Lan Wangji's arc there is only some loose ends to tie which will most probably be in the following chapters. Now it's turn for Wei Wuxian's arc still most probably in the limited perspective of  Lan Wangji. 

How did you like the chapter, weird human likes to know. Don't worry there is a teeny bit more to make Lan Zhan's characters flawless (You know what I mean). A little past here and there. 

Couldn't be bothered to proofread. Was a little excited so I'll correct it later.

~Rovena.