I want to protect you.

Chapter seventeen

It took a few days for them to finally reach Lotus Pier which of course had Wei Ying in a foul mood mostly because by the time they arrived A-Yuan was not having it. He was beyond hysterical by the time they walked through the door to the pier and Wei Ying barely registered the Lan disciple standing on the other side of the gates holding out a letter addressed to Lan Zhan along with a rather elaborate looking box with the seal of the Lan Sect.

He barely looked at Lan Zhan too tired to do much of anything besides a half-hearted bow towards the Lan Disciples with a screaming infant held in his arms before he headed to his chambers. By the time Lan Zhan had finally joined him, he had somehow managed to calm down A-Yuan who was curled up in his arms finally asleep holding tightly to the lapels of his robes. He looked up sleepily at Lan Zhan who held the box in his arms before he gave him a half-hearted smile only interrupted by a yawn, "I don't think I will be able to get A-Yuan to let go any time soon, it took forever to get him to sleep and the only way he would is if I was holding him close to my heart."

Lan Zhan carefully set the box on the small table before he came over to him and crouched at his feet removing his boots before placing them beside the bed, "He can sleep with us tonight." Wei Ying blinked at him owlishly before he was carefully scooting backward onto the bed and Lan Zhan quickly adjusted the pillow under his head when he nearly missed it when he went to lay down too tired to protest. Soon he was lying curled up with A-Yuan held tightly to his chest and was asleep just before Lan Zhan pulled the blanket over him while simultaneously covering A-Yuan who just snuggled deeper into Wei Ying's chest.

For a moment he contemplated laying down with them finding the look on Wei Ying's face far too irresistible even to the point that he sat down long enough to carefully remove Wei Ying's headdress and place it on the nightstand beside the bed then carefully pushed his hair out of his face so it wouldn't wake him up, then ever so gently he leaned down and kissed his temple and lightly ran a hand across A-Yuan's head finding his heart swelling to the point where it choked him when in his sleep A-Yuan tried to chase his hand, "Shh A-Yuan go back to sleep I won't be long."

A-Yuan seemed to whimper at his words but settled when Wei Ying tightened his grip slightly and mumbled, "Shh it's alright."

Both sights brought tears to his eyes making it more difficult to leave their sides but with an internal groan he stood up only once adjusting the blanket to cover A-Yuan who had wiggled just slightly and dislodged the blanket before he was sitting beside the box and carefully opening it up. Sighing he opened the first scroll and his heart plummeted he knew just by the contents of the first scroll it was going to be a long night. He looked at the bed longingly hearing Wei Ying move just slightly which got a disgruntled grunt from A-Yuan before they were both asleep again and he sighed, 'For them, I must endure.'

Of course, the way Wei Ying found him when he woke to the absence of Lan Zhan with A-Yuan finally letting him go and curling up away from him as he was weaving in his seat trying but failing to stay awake...the internal alarm clock at that point had been going off for about five minutes but he had tried forcing himself to keep his eyes open. Scattered across the table were scrolls some written by him the others by his brother.

Wei Ying fought the grin that threatened to overtake him and carefully he moved himself off the bed and with a little bit of protest from the stubborn Lan he got him up and carefully got him down to his inner robes and removed his headdress before with gentle coaxing he led him to the bed, "Come on Lan Zhan you don't have to force yourself past your own bedtime...It's not natural for you to be awake so long."

Lan Zhan's half-hearted glare was ruined by the rather un Lan Zhan yawn while he stumbled into him as his body tried shutting down. Wei Ying carefully maneuvered him onto the bed but when he tried putting him in the customary Lan Sect sleeping position Lan Zhan escaped his grip and curled up facing A-Yuan who upon sensing Lan Zhan briefly woke up long enough to crawl toward him and curl up clinging to the front of his inner robes. Wei Ying felt briefly like he was seeing something he shouldn't...Lan Zhan acting like a normal 'Father' that word had him stumbling where he stood as his eyes went as wide as saucers. He was once again a witness to one of Lan Zhan's firsts, normally it took Wei Ying several times of coaxing and whining to get Lan Zhan to move out of his customary sleeping habits or he had to pretty much drape himself over him like a limpet before he would hold him.