Beautiful (Between a rock and a hard place 2)

Chapter 11

The next morning, after having the best dreams ever because of how far they had gone with Wei Ying earlier, Lan Wangji was sitting in the Lecture hall. It was almost time for them to start but his beloved was still nowhere to be seen. Nor was Jiang Wanyin. A feeling of dread was slowly overcoming Lan Wangji's whole being and he soon found himself drowning in it.

It was not all that unusual for Wei Ying to be late, but for Jiang Wanyin, that was another matter entirely. The Yunmeng Jiang sect heir had never missed a single day of lessons and he was unnecessary proud of this fact. So why start now? What had happened for him to not come this morning? And at the same time as Wei Ying was missing too.

Despite knowing the rules and being the best example of a Gusu Lan sect disciple, Lan Wangji stood up just minutes before Lan Qiren would come. He did not want to offend his uncle so he first went to find Nie Huisang, the only person he actually kind of got along due to the fact that he was here for the second year already and they had spent the last one in the same classroom as well. He would not call them friends, acquaintances at best, but still, the Qinghe Nie sect heir was his best bet to relay a message to Lan Qiren.

With this taken care of, Lan Wangji did not wait for another second and exited the Lecture hall to go search for Wei Ying. Just to be sure, he checked all the places that he could think of where his beloved could be hiding from the lectures, for whatever reason that was. But he knew fully well where he should be searching, it was just that he did not want to invade the other's privacy if it could be helped. After all, Wei Ying had all but begged him, several times at that, to not come to his room.

However, when there was no other option where the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple could be, Lan Wangji's steps turned towards the said room. As he was approaching the guest quarters, he was walking faster and faster, until he was almost running. The feeling of dread in his guts was now completely overwhelming and he could barely breathe or think straight anymore. He needed to see Wei Ying, now, and check that he was alright.

With horror, he realized that his loved one was actually sharing his room. He should have thought of that earlier, all the guest disciples lived in two person rooms, a curtesy of the Gusu Lan sect ancestors who dictated that they would learn to be more polite and considerate of others if they had to share their space with another. What made him get immediately covered in cold sweat was the fact that Wei Ying's roommate was no other than Jiang Wanyin.

Lan Wangji was now thinking back to all those times that his beloved claimed to go rest in his room. Now he knew better, he always went back to Jiang Wanyin's hand. Tears stung in the Second Jade's eyes, he could not believe that he had completely overlooked this possibility. He had tried to keep Wei Ying as far from the Yunmeng Jiang sect heir as he could but in fact, his loved one had been forced to stay in the same room during the night.

He did not even want to imagine what could have been happening behind the door he was now standing in front of during all those long hours when everyone else was sleeping. That must have been why Wei Ying had often looked worse and sadder in the mornings. Lan Wangji wanted to slap himself, he should have realized sooner.

His worries only grew when he knocked politely on the door and sensed that there were traces of silencing talismans all around. When no response came from the inside of the room, Lan Wangji threw away all propriety, rules be damned, he had to see that Wei Ying was unharmed.

Even though the door was locked, it was no obstacle to him at all. He threw it open with one hand and stepped inside the room. He took it in in a single glance and he completely froze in horror.

His eyes were drawn to the bed where two naked bodies laid. At first, he thought his heart would break because despite Wei Ying claiming he loved him, he was now sharing the bed with Jiang Wanyin; and their position did not leave to imagination what they had been doing. The Second Jade's anger flared bright red, he had never been this enraged in his whole life. Not even when he saw Jiang Wanyin touching Wei Ying in a way that made his beloved flinch.

However, then he spotted that the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple was in fact tied up to the bed and his brother was holding him possessively closer to himself as his eyes cracked open. It was like an ice cold shower that immediately extinguished the fire of Lan Wangji's rage targeted on Wei Ying only for it to change its recipient. Jiang Wanyin would pay for this. It was clear that the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple was not in this of his own free will if the bruises on his body and the blood on the bed were anything to go about.

Lan Wangji did not even think when he started towards the bed and grabbed Jiang Wanyin's shoulder, throwing him away so he could get to Wei Ying.

He fell down onto his knees by the bed and reached out his hand to touch his loved one. It froze mid-air; Lan Wangji was suddenly extremely afraid that he would hurt the younger boy even more than he visibly was. He would not be able to bear if he did. Wei Ying looked so fragile right now with his wrists raw and bloody from the ropes which were restraining him cutting into them, with his face red and blue on his cheeks where Jiang Wanyin must have slapped him hard. There were also bruises, most of them finger or mouth shaped, all around his body. And there was so much blood on the bed sheets too. Lan Wangji could barely breath because of his fear for the other.

And there was also another reason that demanded his attention even though he tried to ignore it. It was unnatural and very disturbing yet Lan Wangji knew that it was just the manifestation of his deep hidden and so long overlooked desires.

Wei Ying looked beautiful like this. His eyes were closed and despite the dire circumstances, he looked as if he was only sleeping peacefully. His lips were redder and more pronounced than ever, just begging to be kissed. The revealing position was also extremely appealing to him; this was the first time he could admire Wei Ying's naked body. Even the colourful bruises were only accentuating the beauty of the pale skin. Wei Ying was like a piece of art that Lan Wangji wanted to preserve for his personal pleasure, no one else should ever see him.

"Beautiful..." he whispered and felt his lower body catching fire as his long repressed and restrained desires finally took hold of him and his member was etching for attention.

He could not hold himself back. He rose from his kneeling position and sat on the bed, careful to not stir Wei Ying too much and wake him up. That would be less than ideal seeing the situation he was in. He leaned closer to his face and exceedingly gently brushed a stray strand of hair away from his face. His eyes were fixing those perfect crimson lips and he found himself drawn to them.

He leaned even closer and kissed them feather-light, completely enchanted by the sleeping beauty under him.