Backlash Part 1

Chapter 81: Early Morning

It was morning. It was early morning and Wei Wuxian was awake. Not because of a nightmare, but because he asked Lan Wangji to wake him up. Weirder still... Wei Wuxian kind of liked it. Wei Wuxian considered that word several times before he settled on it. It felt really weird to say that he liked being awake in the early morning. He was actually a little grumpy about it. Not that he was awake, but that he was enjoying being awake before seven in the morning.

Wei Wuxian had been a notorious night owl as a teenager and getting him out of bed before ten am usually required some sort of special occasion and at least one person stealing his blanket. No one in Lotus Pier would believe he would wake up this early without being forced. They wouldn't even bother to check if he was awake yet. Which was exactly why he was now finding himself enjoying waking up early. No one in Lotus Pier was looking for him. They didn't expect to see him. They left him alone.

Well, alone was a relative term, because Wei Wuxian had not bothered attempting to sleep alone in his room since his first night here. If someone happened to be around when he was heading to bed he would go to his room, and a few minutes later sneak out and make his way to Lan Wangji's guest room. Wei Wuxian had been getting some weird looks the last few days because of heading to bed at the same time as Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian was pretending he couldn't see them and throwing out the excuse that he was used to this sleep schedule after months at Cloud Recesses.

Wei Wuxian found he didn't care too much if people believed that excuse or not. They came to their own conclusions about what they thought he might be doing alone in his room at night. So far no one had been giving him any anxious or worried looks. Jiang Yanli seemed to have already guessed the truth of the situation. At least if the amount of breakfast food, half of it spicy enough to burn off a Lan's tongue, being delivered to Lan Wangji's guest room was any indication.

Jiang Wanyin was giving him weird looks, but honestly Wei Wuxian didn't have the energy to do anything about it. Wei Wuxian's first day had been kind of a terrible idea. Trying to slip into his old behaviour had been painful and it left Wei Wuxian too emotionally spent to make meaningful progress on his protective measures in Lotus Pier for the next two days. Although Lan Wangji had supported his decision, Wei Wuxian knew Lan Wangji had not agreed with it.

Lan Wangji's displeasure had been very clear. The little crease between his eyebrows, the way his lips were pressed together in a very firm line, and the emotions that churned in his unnaturally beautiful eyes. Wei Wuxian only realized after the fact that Lan Wangji had been right, and Wei Wuxian's plan of action for his first day back had been a terrible idea. Terrible, but it did kind of work.

Wei Wuxian had heard people talk about first impressions, but only now was he realizing what they meant about them being important. They were weirdly powerful. Wei Wuxian had managed on his first day to fake enthusiasm, cheerfulness, and a dozen loud and touchy behaviours that were expected of him. He had not put in even an eighth of that effort into his interactions since then, and no one seemed to notice.

Wei Wuxian knew with absolute certainty that he was not behaving like his old self. He was not enthusiastically running around, tackling people in hugs, or loudly teasing anyone and everyone. He had even visibly flinched when having his personal space violated by enthusiastic hugs and pats on his shoulder. There was the occasional confusion, but no one seemed to think anything of it. Even though Wei Wuxian felt like he was acting completely unlike his old self, no one seemed to be taking it to heart. It was weird how one day of acting could make days of behaviour afterwards ignorable.

Well, okay some people noticed. Jiang Yanli noticed, but seemed to actually be more comfortable seeing his behaviour shift this way. Wei Wuxian was very aware of how she seemed to have assigned herself a new role in his life. She had apparently decided it was her job to shield him from unwanted attention. Jiang Yanli was well loved within the YunmengJiang sect. If she asked for help with something, dozens of volunteers would drop everything and swarm her. If she brought snacks everyone forgot what they'd been discussing and were clamouring to get their share.