Dearly Detested: Grooms in Hate

A long, long marriage!

After returning to the Burial Mounds, Wen Qing came to check up on Wei Wuxian.

"Good! You seem completely stable now. Your energy is flowing regularly, as it should. How do you feel?"

"I feel great! I think I haven't felt that energetic for a while… "

Wei Wuxian smiled broadly, looking proud of himself. He preened to Lan Wangji, snuggling up in his arms.

"I did good, no?"

Lan Wangji nodded. "Mn."

Wen Qing sensed she was intruding on something and left hastily, saying that A-Yuan needed a check up too.

"She's quick to catch on, that one."

Wei Wuxian sighed happily, stretching his arms over his head and slightly breaking the hug. Then catching Lan Wangji unaware, who was focused on a bit of Wei Wuxian's skin, exposed by his stretching, he moved fast and pushed him onto the bed. Before Lan Wangji could react he climbed on top of him, his smile twisting to one side.

"Lan Er Gege. Now that I feel so strong,  we should get some… exercise!"

***

Now, you must be wondering, how did two people who love each other so much become enemies in the eyes of the Cultivation World?

Simple!

Ever played a game of Chinese Whispers? People sit in a group around a table and the first person whispers something to the person that sits next to them. That person repeats what they  heard from the first person to the person sitting next to them. This goes on until the last person in the group.

When the last person is asked to repeat what the first person said, more often than not it is a complete distortion of what was actually said. The bigger the group, the bigger the discrepancy between the original telling and the final result.

This is exactly what happened in the case of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji.

For, when Wei Wuxian killed Xue Yang, rumours began to spread. Rumours that the Yiling Patriarch has no control of his powers, that the Lan Clan is trying to restrain him, because he also intends to take over the Jin Clan.

There were also rumours about how Xue Yang learnt demonic cultivation in the first place, young as he was. Since the Yiling Patriarch was the only one with such infamy in the field as the founder of this path, he was the only possible teacher. Especially since Xue Yang called the Yiling Patriarch his idol, the suspicions rose even more.

It also didn't help that the few public outings of both Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were prone to bad luck, but mostly were misrepresented everytime.

One of these events happened on a work day for Lan Wangji. He had invited Wei Wuxian over to his new office, situated near Yiling, to show him his Head Cultivator seat. He would have his ceremony soon to be appointed Chief Cultivator, but he wanted Wei Wuxian to see his future workplace and also take his advice on it. It seemed Wei Wuxian approved.

"Lan Zhan! It's so you!"

And it was. The place was decorated in a minimal manner, but with trinkets all over. The trinkets were, remarkably, little gifts from Wei Wuxian and some of his unfinished projects which Lan Wangji had borrowed (read: stolen).

As Wei Wuxian went closer to a specific part of these trinkets, he found them to be familiar, but they were not things given by him. He could barely stop his laughter, when he finally realised what they were.

"Hanguang Jun! You're the worst man ever! How could you??!" he exclaimed scandalized.

The Jade bangles. The alcohol. The toys. The ribbon. Everything was from that night fair in Yiling, the one which Wei Wuxian had dragged him to. Just things he looked at, liked but never bought himself and now they were here in Lan Wangji's new office.