Emperors Smile

31

During the car ride home Xichen kept glancing over to his younger brother. Every time he slightly turned his head he could see that Wangji tightened his grip on the stearin wheel. Other than that he didn't give any reaction. Even though his younger brother never said much the silence never felt as suffocating as this one. He sighed deeply and finally said something while staring out of the window. "That was Wen Ning, right?" After waiting for a while Wangji still hadn't given his older brother a response, so Xichen turned his head to look at him. And once again, Wangji tightened his grip on the wheel. Xichen eyes filled with a painful expression. He knew that it still hurt his brother, but it also hurt him that Wangji didn't trust him with his emotions. Maybe trust isn't the right word but you get the idea.

Xichen turned his head around and felt like he was getting drowned by his own thoughts. He just didn't know how he could make Wangji talk about this. He knew what happened between the two, but not why Wangji still held this big of a grudge against him. It was in the past and everyone involved has moved on, but not him. Xichen turned his head once again, "Do you mind that I gave him my card?" Wangji clenched his jaw. Xichen slightly shook his head and looked back out of the window. They finally rolled into the garage and Xichen quickly unbuckled the seatbelt to leave the car. But before he could step out Wangji calmly said, "I don't care what you do." He got out of the car, locked it and walked into the building. Xichen just watched his younger brother walk away from him. When Wangji disappeared from his eyesight he got out of the car and slammed the door shut. Then he suddenly heard a voice he recognized. "What did that door do to you?" He swiftly turned around and all his dark thoughts left his mind. "Guangyao", he smiled as he said his name. Jin Guangyao smiled and walked closer to him, "Is everything okay? Between you and Wangji?" Another heartfelt sigh left his mouth. Guangyao's smile dropped and his expression turned into a worried one. "Did you two have a fight?" Xichen shrugged, "I don't know if you can call it that." Jin frowned his eyebrows and rubbed Xichen's arm. Xichen's smile returned on to his face. Guangyao moved his hand down his arm to hold his hand. "Well, let's go up to your place." Xichen held his hand, "Did you just come to eat my food again?" Guangyao laughed, "No- not this time. It's just that Gege's had a really hard time at work and I wanted to plan something fun for him. They walked together to Xichen's penthouse. Xichen laughed, "Awh that's so sweet. Mingjue would like that."

When they were about to enter Xichen's penthouse he turned his head to look at Wangji's door. He never expected to feel like he wasn't welcome into his little brothers space, but it felt like there were thorns on the doorknob preventing him from even trying to reach out. Guangyao gently tugged his arm, "Let's go inside." Xichen sheepishly smiled at him and followed him inside.

When Wangji moved towards the front door of the building a feeling of guilt washed over his whole body. Why was he angry at his brother? He didn't do anything wrong. He was just trying to help, he's always trying to help.

He just didn't like the thought of burdening someone else with his feelings. He appreciated his brother for trying to understand him, but sometimes he was just unable to understand Wangji. Just like everyone else. Even the creator of those emotions couldn't understand them.

As soon as he got inside of his house he headed straight for the showers. It was getting later by the minute and he had hoped that this worn-out feeling made his act like this.

He turned on the shower and the cold water immediately hit his naked body. His whole body tensed up, but after a while that emotionless feeling turned into something else. His mind brought a memory of Wei forward.

Wei brought a bowl of cold water into his room he placed in on the nightstand next to his bed. He gently pushed the blankets to the side, it wasn't that hard since Wangji had kicked them off himself. He placed his cold hands on Wangji's sweaty body and gently rolled him on his back. Wangji frowned his eyebrows as he felt a shiver go down his spine. Wei sat next to him and dunked a cloth into the bowl of cold water. A slight tint of red showed up onto his hands. He took the cloth out of the bowl and started to wipe his body. After another chill went down his spine Wangji slightly opened his eyes and looked at who was touching him. Wei said something to him, but he couldn't make sense of it. He just kept his eyes locked onto his face. He was so close but he was to sick to touch him. Wei moved the cloth up to wash his face. And as Wangji kept looking at him the red tint moved up towards his face. After Wei was done cleaning him he folded the cloth and placed it on to Wangji's forehead. Then he tucked him in with the blankets and again he said something but Wangji couldn't make sense of it. After he left.

After the water had warmed up Wangji opened his eyes. He let out a deep sigh and turned the shower off. He dried most of his body off before he left the bathroom. He put on his pyjamas and sat on his bed. After working at the bar he formed a habit of looking at all the emails before he went to bed. As he was reading a few emails from their suppliers something in him told him to look at the normal text chat. He didn't really go on there that much, he only had a few people on there. Such as his uncle, brother, two friends of his brother and Wei.

Once he opened Wei's chatroom he noticed that he send his message five hours ago. Wangji's mind went blank for a few seconds. Should he even text him back? If he didn't would Wei think he was ignoring him? Did he already thought that he was ignoring him!? At the end he decided to send a quick and simple message.

Don't worry I'm not that fragile.

We'll see.

Right after he hit send he saw that Wei came online. He freaked out and threw the phone away from him. Surprisingly it didn't hit the wall, but it landed right onto one of his pillows. After calming himself down he slowly picked up the phone.

Is that a threat?

Wangji frowned his eyebrows. Why would he think that was a threat?

no

Okaayy, just checking.

Checking what?

Ow. I meant is as a joke.

Ok

Wangji's poor heart finally returned to his normal state, but then Wei decided to ruin it by calling him. Wangji stared down at the object in his hand, that was practically screaming for him to press the green button. After a few loud rings he picked up the phone. And a silence filled the room.

"...Lan?" Wei asked not knowing why he didn't say hello after he picked up.

"Yes" Wangji replied blandly. Another silence felt between the two of them. But then suddenly Wei laughed. "Sorry- sorry that I called you out of nowhere. I just felt a little...lonely?" Wangji didn't know how to respond so he just used an old tactic his older brother thought him – Ask deep questions so that the person keeps talking about themselves. "Why did you feel lonely?" He could hear as sigh coming through from the other side. "I'm not sure if lonely is the right word. I had dinner with A-Cheng, Shi-Jie and that boyfriend of hers. But it didn't feel as comforting as it used to be?" Wangji could hear something rustling in the background. "What did it feel like?" Wei let out a little chuckle, "I don't even know. It just felt forced I guess. I don't really know how to say it- I don't want to talk about it- How was your day?"

OW NO