AFTER WEN NING met Wen Yuan again, he cried all night. As his friend, you were concerned for him, so you went to his room to see what was wrong. To your surprise, A-Yuan was already there trying to comfort him as he sat in a corner with his knees pulled up to his face, shaking vigorously with sobs.
"I'm sorry," he sobbed. "I-I-It's all my f-fault..."
"What's wrong, Mr. Wen?" A-Yuan asked, forced formality destroying any loving or concerning meaning he might have had in that question.
"It's all because of me that the Wen family died," Wen Ning wailed. "Y-young Master Wei and... j-jie-jiejie, t-t-they..."
"Shush. Wen Ning, hush. It's okay. Take a few minutes to breathe so we can understand you better," you said.
"Miss L/N, please tell me how I can help calm Mr. Wen down," A-Yuan asked, in his usual innocent and cute way.
"Hug his thigh," you said. "Just like you did when you were a baby. Everyone loves that."
A-Yuan obliged, wrapping his arms around Wen Ning's thighs. Wen Ning gasped when he felt the honorable, respectful, and overall perfect Lan Sizhui lay his head down on his lap and whisper, "Mr. Wen, don't be sad."
"A-A-Yuan, you..." he whispered, not knowing what to say to the young boy he had loved like an older brother for so long.
"He loves you, Wen Ning. We all love you. Please, don't cry," you said, stroking Wen Ning's hair gently.
"Y-you... I-I... I can't, I... you're too kind," Wen Ning said, stumbling over his words once again in his usual cute way.
"You're the most precious thing to me, A-Ning. Please, don't ever feel like anything you did when you were being controlled was your fault. You didn't have free will, it wasn't you. It wasn't you, A-Ning. Do you understand that?"
"J-jiejie..." Wen Ning whimpered. "A-Ning- jiejie-"
"Did my calling you A-Ning remind you of Wen Qing?" you asked him.
"Yes," Wen Ning responded, tears running down his pale cheeks.
"Oh baby... oh, my precious one..." you whispered, burying your head in his shoulder and continuously stroking his hair. "Your jiejie is so proud of you. You know that, right?"
"B-but she... but s-she..." Wen Ning stammered.
"Wen Qing loved you very much," A-Yuan said, being the good child he was. "She would most definitely be proud of your accomplishments. And I'm proud of you too, A-Ning."
"A-Yuan," Wen Ning sobbed, holding Sizhui close to him. "Don't leave me again, A-Yuan."
"If you stay in Cloud Recesses, I'll never leave you," A-Yuan responded.
"Are you good now?" you asked Wen Ning.
He reached out and held your hands with his constantly trembling ones. His grip was tight, but his skin was cold, a reminder that he was dead, and without Wei Wuxian's intervention, would be a rotten, desiccated corpse by now.
"I love you," he said. "Stay here."
So you stayed with Wen Ning and Wen Yuan, late until the night. And you could say with confidence, you had never had a more wholesome night.