For sixteen long, bitter years Lan Xichen had been forced to watch his brother court death like he'd never had the chance to court Wei Wuxian. Wangji had been widowed before he'd ever been married, or even betrothed.
Now, thanks to the truly unpredictable twists and turns of fate, it was his privilege and joy to watch Wangji settle into married life with his one true love.
Seeing all that pain and sorrow transform into true contented tranquility was one of the few good things left amidst Lan Xichen's own pain and confusion, soothing the bitter sting of betrayal just the tiniest bit. There was still hope left in the world. Wangji and his beloved Wei Ying were the proof of that and he clung to that with all he had.
Wei Wuxian brought a much-needed breath of fresh air into the Cloud Recesses. He wasn't nearly as loud as he used to be, his boundless and restless energy had settled down considerably if compared to his youth, but still.
Wei Wuxian at his most exhausted and beaten down still projected and aura of energy and sheer life that was breathtaking to watch as well as infectious. Plus, he was far from beaten down these days and rediscovering his own joy of life under the gentle but insistent care of Wangji.
It was fun to watch his brother and his beloved interact. It had been fun when they both had been young, before everything had crumbled and burned to ash, and it was fun now, when everything had been rebuilt on a much stronger foundation. At first glance Wei Wuxian demanded, and Wangji fulfilled each and every one of his wishes before he'd even finished the first sentence, but closer inspection revealed that things weren't quite as simple between them.
Wangji tried to give Wei Wuxian everything he possibly could, yes, but Wei Wuxian, in turn, did everything in his power to make Wangji's life as comfortable as possible, all the while drawing him out of his shell in the most gentle and considerate way possible.
Turned out that Wangji liked noise and chatter when it came from the right person. It was so rewarding to see him truly become himself for the first time in his life - Lan Xichen had always known that, deep down, his brother was not only a loving, caring person but also someone who could be downright playful in his own, understated way. To see that potential finally fully realized was as wonderful as it was surprising for everyone but Lan Xichen.
Nobody, apart from Wei Wuxian and Lan Xichen, had ever truly understood Wangji. Not even their uncle, who had always refused to look beyond the carefully constructed mask Wangji had worn for decades before discarding it for good without a second thought the moment Wei Wuxian came back into his life.
Tiny smiles, gentle teasing, a blatant disregard of some of the more… abstruse rules of their clan and so many more small details that piled up to a massive amount of changes.
Lan Wangji was the Chief Cultivator, he had a lot of work to do, so how could anyone demand for him to not work deep into the night?
The memory of that particular argument between his brother and uncle still made him smile. He knew firsthand that work was only a small part of what was really going on during those long, dark hours of the night.
During the day Wangji lived for his position and his clan but the nights? Were for Wei Wuxian and him. Lan Xichen himself had had the pleasure of being invited to watch and listen to them play music together. Among the pieces he already knew there was a beautiful, haunting melody he'd never heard anywhere else. Both Wangji and Wei Wuxian refused to divulge its origin but they smiled at each other in shared secrecy whenever Lan Xichen brought it up.
"That's Lan Zhan's story to tell," Wei Wuxian had said with a laugh when Lan Xichen had asked but Wangji had simply shook his head with a serene half-smile on his face.
Oh well. Lan Xichen was content to let them have their secrets. They both deserved them and he was already privy to so many of them. Like seeing his brother relax and rest in the arms of his husband when a headache pained him, or watch him pour tea for himself and smuggled wine for Wei Wuxian.
He had always known that love and marriage wasn't for him but seeing Wangji's carefully concealed longing for the same getting brutally destroyed had hurt him deeply, just like seeing them together now allowed him to find hope again.
"Brother," Wangji said, taking him out of his idle contemplations, "it has gotten late. Do you want to spend the night here with us?"
His first instinct was to refuse. Wangji and Wei Wuxian deserved to be left alone and have whatever fun they had when they were alone. Even in that regard Lan Xichen knew more than was probably proper but, in lieu of anyone else while growing up, he and his brother had always shared their hopes and desires with each other.
He still remembered Wangji's quiet confession that, while not completely uninterested like Lan Xichen, he would never marry a woman and give the clan a heir this way, among others. Typically, he'd found a way to fulfill this duty as well and Sizhui couldn't be more his son if Wangji had fathered him himself.
He shook his head, suddenly tired of the melancholy, introspective mood he stumbled into unintentionally. He was about to refuse when Wei Wuxian put a hand on his arm.
"Stay," he said simply, gently. "This is not a night to be alone." A quick laugh. "Thanks to Lan Qiren's willful blindness we have more beds than we can ever use in this house!"
"Wei Ying." There was so reproach in Wangji's tone, only resigned amusement. "Please, brother. It will be our pleasure."
Of course the two had picked up on his strange mood. Misery and hope, despair and thankfulness, loneliness even while in good company, everything miserably tangled up together, making him feel unmoored.
Another soft touch on his shoulder. Wangji, pressing him down just as he was about to rise and between one breath and the next he didn't want to leave anymore.
The loneliness would still be there tomorrow and the day after that. He could take a break from it for one night, right?
He relaxed into the hold Wangji and Wei Wuxian had on him and lowered his head, hiding the slight smile that found its way onto his face.
"How can I refuse an invitation like that?"
Wangji squeezed his shoulder for a moment in silent understanding before refilling his tea cup and Wei Wuxian patted his arm with a sympathetic smile before he, too, withdrew. Back to Wangji's side, where he belonged.
"Thank you," he murmured, grateful for their love and support, and reached for his tea under the watchful eye of the two men who had made it their mission to keep him grounded in this life of his.