WangXian: The Arrangement ✔️ [Untamed Fanfic]

10- A Closet Romantic?

Wei Wuxian had been having strange dreams ever since Wen Ling's return. He tried to hold onto his one-time friend, but long, dark fingers pulled at the boy's other arm, threatening to rip him in half. In the end, Wei Wuxian could not hold on, and Wen Ling was sucked back into a dark, swirling mass. 

Wei Ying opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. Then he remembered - the inn. And Lan Zhan... still in bed beside him. Awake. Watching him.

He smiled up at his betrothed. "I like you without the forehead ribbon, Lan Zhan. You seem more human--"

Whatever he had been going to say was cut short by the crush of Lan Zhan's lips onto his, pressing him back into the thin mattress. "Ugh," he grunted. "What--"

But Lan Zhan's mouth was insistent, his tongue swiping at Wei Ying's lips, coaxing them open. Wei Ying was too shocked not to. But something felt didn't feel right. He turned away from Lan Zhan's mouth and shouted at him to stop.

Lan Zhan captured his mouth again and bit his bottom lip.

"Ow!" Wei Ying cried. " Why are you like this?"

"You don't know?" Lan Zhan asked.

"No! I just woke up and you... you attacked me. What did I--"

"You called out his name. Wen Ling."

Wei Ying gaped at him. "That's what this is about?" He shook his head, noticing at the same time that Lan Zhan was still wearing the thin robe the manageress had given them and that it was open to the waist, exposing the planes of his chest.

Heat started to pool below his belly as he let his eyes linger. He reached out and slipped his hand inside, feeling Lan Zhan's muscles jump in response. 

"What are you doing?" Lan Zhan's words tumbled out in a rush.

Wei Ying didn't know. "I don't mind you being jealous, Lan Zhan," he said. "But I don't feel that way about Wen Ling."

"What way?"

He pulled Lan Zhan's body down on top of his own. "This way."  

He kissed him on the chin and then down the side of his throat before stopping to suckle at the base of his neck. Lan Zhan grunted, and Wei Ying leaned back offering him his mouth once again. 

Lan Zhan claimed it, and this kiss was passionate. Wei Ying sucked Lan Zhan's tongue greedily and ran his hands over his smooth back.

Lan Zhan bent to kiss his neck, and Wei Ying arched into it. He knew it would leave a mark, but he didn't care. Lan Zhan's body next to his felt... really good. God, he was burning up. He wanted to untie the rope at Lan Zhan's waist, but when he looked down their bodies, he could see both their cores, bright and growing brighter. Lust had created a haze in his mind, but he knew enough to be afraid. 

"Stop," he groaned, hating the word. "We... we can't do this, Lan Zhan."

Lan Zhan's hands froze and he raised his head slowly, his eyes as glassy as they had been last night from the Emperor's Smile. "What's wrong?"

He looked hurt, Wei Ying thought. He shook his head. "Nothing," he said, scooting away from Lan Zhan's grip. "It's just too soon," he said, finally. 

It physically pained him to put space between their bodies. But he couldn't allow this to happen before he knew for sure what was going on. 

Lan Zhan nodded but didn't move, seeming to feel the same need to stay close.

A servant called out and then knocked at their door to announce the return of their laundered clothing. Wei Ying scurried to retrieve it.

 ***

He was relieved when they joined Sizhui and Jinling to begin their journey back. The other two boys didn't seem to notice the tension, and Wei Ying and Sizhui kept up a friendly banter.

"Did you ever know your parents?" Sizhui asked him. 

They were about halfway back and had stopped to get water at a spring. Wei Ying drank, then handed the ladle to Jinling. "They died when I was only four or five," he answered, "so I have only a few memories of them."

"He must have been good friends with the Jiang clan leader for him to take you in," Jinling commented.

Wei Ying nodded. "It was very gracious of him."

"What were they like?" Sizhui pressed. "Were they like you?"

Wei Ying laughed. "I think my mother must have been, at least a bit. I always remember her smiling. They adored each other. I do remember that. They were core-bound."

He glanced at Lan Zhan as he said it.

Jinling scoffed. "Core binding is a fairy tale."

"There are documented cases of core binding through incantation," Lan Zhan said. He was sitting on a rock some distance from them. "Though no one has done it for centuries."

"I thought the magic of core-binding was that it just happened if you found your true soul mate," Sizhui said. 

"That's why I said it was a fairy tale," Jinling repeated. "Soul mates don't exist."

"It was recorded that the power of the cultivators increased exponentially from joining," Lan Zhan said. "And one could use the power of the other. But it imposed limitations on their ability to be apart from each other and, in some cases, even to maintain a separate identity. Or for one to live after the other had passed on."

"Why do you know so much about it?" Wei Ying asked, surprised.

Lan Wangji shrugged and got to his feet. "There was a time when I thought it was... romantic."

His long legs carried him back to the road ahead of them, so he didn't see all three of his companions staring at him with wide eyes and open mouths.