Mind blowing holidays (Dark clouds before sunny weather - Side story)

Chapter 5

Wei Wuxian opened his eyes and yawned wildly. It was Saturday morning and he was adamant to get up before any of the children to surprise them with preparing everything for baking the sugar cookies. Lan Zhan had been called to his family mansion late last evening as his uncle had apparently sprained his back and needed his younger nephew to come care for him. Wei Wuxian suspected that it was just a way for Lan Qiren to get to see Lan Zhan alone – the elder and Wei Wuxian have never been on good terms and –, without his nephew being able to find excuses. They usually only went to the Lan family manor for one day after Christmas all together; Wei Wuxian opted to avoid creating tension and would only send Lan Zhan and the kids over otherwise.

This situation being as it was, Wei Wuxian was actually happy that his husband had gone. He had always felt just a tiny bit guilty that every family reunion he participated in turned sour at some point. It was better if Lan Qiren was not provoked by him in any way and could spend some quality time with the nephew he had raised. No harm done; Wei Wuxian knew Lan Zhan would probably be back before they would get to finish baking the sugar cookies so he would not miss much of the fun.

A-Yuan and A-Yi had been looking forward to today very much, so much so in fact that Wei Wuxian had had a hard time putting them to bed last evening. He was determined to prepare everything in advance to give them a nice surprise and they could start baking soon after breakfast.

The only thing which worried him was that Mo Xuanyu had for some reason not seemed to participate in the omnipresent excitement. The boy had been on edge for some days already and Wei Wuxian did not know why exactly. It was concerning, especially in the light of how he must have spent all his previous Christmas with his abusive family. All of them wanted to make this year unforgettable for him, unfortunately it looked like the shadows of the past were still very dark in Mo Xuanyu's heart.

Wei Wuxian sighed to himself and got up. They had discussed this with Lan Zhan and Wen Qing – the school nurse and currently Mo Xuanyu's doctor until they registered him with another primary care provider – on more than one occasion. There was only so much they could do to sooth the boy's fears and insecurities. As he had been abused and neglected for years, it was not as if he would just turn a switch off and be able to act as any normal child from a loving family. They had to first show him what 'normal' meant.

And Wei Wuxian was determined to start with creating as many happy and safe memories as he could with the boy. He hoped that at some point, Mo Xuanyu would be able to start trusting him and his family and would stop expecting them to hurt him if he did not do all the house chores, or made the in his eyes unforgivable mistake of standing in an incorrect place, or having his stomach rumble.

Wei Wuxian shook his head to get himself rid of these kinds of negative thoughts. They were not helping Mo Xuanyu and certainly not him. It only reminded him of his own less than ideal childhood. Which was, at this moment, the last thing he needed. He had three children to entertain, he needed to have a clear head so he could show them all the fun he could.

Wei Wuxian's mind was still somewhat hazy with sleep, he needed his morning coffee to get him properly energized and functioning. He blamed it on his not fully awake state that he only noticed something was not right when he already made it to the doorsill of the kitchen.

"A-Yu...?" he asked surprised, shocked even.

The boy who had just been taking a baking tray of cookies out of the oven startled and he let go. There was a loud bang as the tray tumbled to the ground and the hot cookies broke into pieces on the tile floor, immediately covered by kitchen towel which he had used to hold it with. Mo Xuanyu whirled around and stared at him with a horrified expression for a second. Then, he started trembling all over and lowered his head, visibly guilty and scared.

That was enough to shake Wei Wuxian from his shocked stupor. "A-Yu!" he cried out worriedly and rushed over.

Mo Xuanyu was now trembling so badly that it was a miracle he was still being able to stand on his feet. His hands were clenched hard in front of his stomach and he was hyperventilating. It tugged at Wei Wuxian's heart strings. It was too pitiful.

"A-Yu, are you alright?" he fretted over the boy. "Have you burned yourself? Can you show me your hands? What were you..."

Wei Wuxian immediately stopped himself and fell silent. This was not going to work and he knew it. Mo Xuanyu was getting more and more distressed by the second and questioning him like this would only stress him out further. Wei Wuxian definitely did not want to sound like he was angry with the child. All that would accomplish would be to remind Mo Xuanyu about his previous family and that was the last thing he wanted.

Battling all his instincts, he took a deep breath and took a step away from where he had been ready to touch the possibly burned hands. The boy needed space so he could also calm down. Cornering him and towering over him would not do any good. What was needed was the opposite really.

Wei Wuxian crunched down on the ground so he would be at the same level of the boy. He could see how wide with fear the child's eyes were; no one should ever have such eyes, much less someone as young as Mo Xuanyu.

Wei Wuxian's heart was breaking knowing that it had been his impromptu entrance that had scared him this much. He should have been more careful. He should have expected that when Mo Xuanyu had said that he only knew how to make sugar cookies, he had meant it literally. He had been prepared to bake everything himself while the whole family had still been fast asleep, possibly in the same way his aunt and uncle expected him to do so any other year. How could have Wei Wuxian overlooked this? And he was calling himself a responsible guardian?

"A-Yu, can you breathe with me? I promise I am not mad at you at all. We will figure this out together. I just need you to breathe first, alright?" He whispered in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. He was still distressed himself but the boy needed to calm down first. Before this became a complete disaster.

Wei Wuxian wanted to facepalm himself. Who was he trying to convince? This was already a disaster. All the more that the boy was desperately trying to speak despite the fact that he continued to hyperventilate. Wei Wuxian could only discern a few words between the gasps for breath, but those were enough to break the rest of his heart.

"Sorry... not finished... my fault... will clean... Sorry... wasted... punish... Sorry... bad boy..."

At that point, he had heard enough. He could not take it anymore and tears were stinging in his eyes. He launched forward disregarding all the possible negative outcomes and hugged the boy tightly to his chest.

"It was not your fault, A-Yu, and no one will punish you for anything here."