Fluffy WangXian Oneshots Book Two

Music And Memories Part 16

Lan Zhan has messaged the band and told them bits and pieces of what happened with Jin GuangYao and Jiang WanYin, and while they're shocked at the turn of events, they're more concerned about Wei Ying getting his memory back. They're all cutting their trips away shorter and aiming to arrive in the Cloud Recesses as soon as they can.

So of course, Wei Ying wants to buy them presents. Lan Zhan makes him use his phone to do it, sneakily paying for everything before showing Wei Ying his bank balance.

Wei Ying's jaw drops, and he gives Lan Zhan a playful shove. "If I've got my own money, then why won't you let me pay for stuff?"

"You are paying," Lan Zhan tells him confidently, kissing the top of his head fondly as he moves away to finish wiping the dishes. There's an unmistakably smug aura about him.

"How so?" Wei Ying demands, not understanding.

"Everything that I have, everything that I am, it is all yours. My money is your money, ergo, you are still paying."

They're tidying up after breakfast, and Wei Ying isn't looking when he sticks his hand in the second cutlery drawer. So, at first, he doesn't register what ends up in his hand as he tries to figure out a way to argue Lan Zhan's point. But he sees the way Lan Zhan's face goes slack with shock, eyes wide full of alarm, and he looks down too, following the trajectory of his gaze.

Wei Ying starts off by saying, "I'm pretty sure that's not the way it wor-wait, what's this?" He ends in a whisper, looking at the pale blue velvet box.

He puts it on the counter in front of him and steps back, just staring at it. Lan Zhan comes and puts a black velvet box next to it and then retreats to stand by him. That one, Wei Ying recognises as the one he bought himself after saving up every penny. The ring inside that box, he can never forget what it looks like or what he had the goldsmith engrave on the inside where only the wearer would know. That black velvet box was hidden away for thirteen long years. His eyes drift over to the pale blue box. He can guess from Lan Zhan's reaction, what is inside.

"When did you buy that?" Wei Ying asks him, still whispering and looking straight ahead.

"The day after our debut supporting Hard Knot. Remember, the screaming band?"

"Yep. They were unforgettable, no?" Wei Ying giggles. Then it cuts off suddenly as he turns his glorious big eyes towards Lan Zhan with a hand on his arm. "Hang on?!! You mean-when I-"

"Mn. You accidentally said you loved me."

"Ahuh...accidentally only because I'd planned out our date night straight after the show, like, right down to the second because you, my love, deserve to be courted properly. And then, when we were helping the stagehands with our equipment, you took something from my hands because I was struggling-"

"That was a metal trunk of speakers. Definitely a two-person job. That guy shouldn't have left you to it, not when we were paying them to clear the stage for the main act." Lan Zhan is still annoyed about that.

"Yeah! And I just said it quietly, but I had forgotten the mic." He shakes his head, laughing. "Imagine announcing "I love you" in front of thousands like that? It was i-n-s-a-n-e!!"

"Easily disposed of." Lan Zhan remembers. "The mic."

"Didn't you just rip it off, though?" Wei Ying giggles again, lost in the recollection of those memories. "Flung into the crowd! Not that anyone needed to hear what we said because you sure gave them a show after that!"

Lan Zhan's ears are the same colour as the scarlet checks on the dish towel.

It wasn't his fault that he'd been taken completely off guard by Wei Ying's declaration, a confession that he, too, had planned on doing later on that same evening. But he'd turned around and seen the way Wei Ying's eyes darted around, shocked at the words that had fallen from his lips like confetti. At that moment, Lan Zhan hadn't stopped to think. He needed to show Wei Ying that it wasn't one-sided, that he also felt the love between them. It wasn't just a flash-in-the-pan attraction, here today, and gone tomorrow. Being near Wei Ying was like sticking his hand into a live socket, or freefalling into a waterfall.