Fluffy WangXian Oneshots

The Language of Flowers Part 1

London smelled alive.

There was the smoke of tobacco, recently exhaled, the crisp scent of morning dew and the lingering perfume of a woman as she passed by. But Lan Zhan had caught the scent of stocks, purple and vibrant and real.

He was standing on the platform of the underground, waiting for their train with his brother, Lan XiChen. They travelled to work every day in the same, choosing the same route, however Lan Zhan had noticed that not one single trip was the same as any other.

It was a beautiful morning and they had arrived a little bit earlier than normal, and for once, Lan Zhan was excited about the day.

There was a mysterious, magical essence about it, even while he was waiting, just a something he couldn't put his finger on, but it was making his skin tingle, and excitement flutter in his stomach, anticipation growing in his gut.

Their train pulled in, all sleek and red and silver, the smell of grinding steel hot in the air, and then they were inside, and it smelled of yesterday's takeaway, stale pizza and sweat.

To Lan Zhan, it was comforting.

As a young boy, he had been diagnosed as having particularly sensitive olfactory senses. If normal human beings were a six or a seven, Lan Zhan ranked fifteen. This compared to a dog at one hundred, was still remarkable. Strong scents, especially powerful ones may not affect ordinary people, but Lan Zhan was special. As a result, he tried to stay away from any such stimulation.

Doctors had hoped to lessen the condition by trying to treat his problem via diet, so Lan Zhan ate the most blandest food, specially made for him daily by their in house chef.

They had several expensive cars parked in their underground garage, but he and XiChen had long ago decided to try and reduce their carbon footprint, hence travelling by public transport as much as they could.

They had just sat down, because the trains were always mostly empty this early in the morning, when the train jolted.

Ordinarily, this would not have been a problem, but a young man had been trying to get to his seat just then, and the sharpness of the movement caused him to lose his balance.

Thus, he landed right on Lan Zhan's lap.

Startled, Lan Zhan found himself looking into the most beautiful pair of silver eyes he had ever seen. In fact, the word beautiful did them no justice, but it would have to do. Set amongst an attractive face, Lan Zhan was just trying to recover, when the young man smiled.

Lan Zhan couldn't breathe.

His blood started pounding in his ears, heart racing and in all that excitement, he smelled the most beautiful smell in the world. It was a mix of chocolate, stock flowers, lotus flowers and orange blossom.

He had to blink twice, before realising that the young man was in fact, talking to him.

"You can let me go now."

His voice was like melted chocolate slowly going down his throat, sweet, warm and comforting.

"Didi, he's alright, you can let go of him."

Xichen’s voice managed to bring him back from his momentary stupor, and he let go. The young man smiled at him again, and plonked himself in the seat opposite them. He held his hand out in a friendly gesture.

"My name is Wei WuXian, but you can call me Wei Ying."

The voice, the still present scent of the vibrant purple blooms, and the way he was smiling, it was all too much for Lan Zhan.