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They don't discuss it the next day, because Lan Zhan has to go back to Suzhou for a couple days for some kind of fundraiser for Cloud Recesses. Wei Wuxian knew about this in advance, and has managed to schedule himself to be fairly busy those two days.
Which is good, because he misses Lan Zhan. They text (Lan Zhan is a very funny texter), but it's not the same.
He doesn't like being in their stupid little network-provided apartment without Lan Zhan, but he's not going back to Beijing for just one night. Luckily, everyone is housed in the same building—Mianmian and Wen Ning live on the same floor as Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan, while Xiao Xingchen, Song Lan, A-Qing, and Xue Yang are all on the floor above. The Group B contestants are all in another building, down the street. So he gets dinner with Wen Ning, Wen Qing, and Mianmian and then hangs out right down the hall at Wen Ning and Mianmian's place.
"Okay, I have a photoshoot super early tomorrow," Mianmian says, stretching as she gets up out of her armchair. "And I'm an old lady who needs a real night of sleep every night. You whippersnappers will understand when you hit 40."
Wei Wuxian throws a rolled-up pair of socks that are for some reason on their coffee table at her. "Old lady my ass, I think there's only one person in this room who can still do splits and it's not the guys in their 20s or 30s."
"I've never done splits in my life," Wen Ning says. He is a tiny bit drunk, or possibly mid-level drunk. This may be because Wei Wuxian and Mianmian made him drink for both of them once they'd each had a couple, because they are actually both old and if Wei Wuxian gets more than very slightly tipsy like he was last night (and is now tonight) he will barf. He would not repeat his early 20s for all the money in the world but there are downsides. "So maybe I can and I just don't know it."
He struggles up out of the beanbag chair he was sunk into, and Wei Wuxian grabs his arm.
"A-Ning, you're wearing jeans," he points out. "If you try to do the splits for the first time in your life in skinny jeans, you will regret it."
"And your sister will make us regret it," Mianmian adds.
Wen Ning makes a pouty face.
"You know I'm immune to your pouty faces," Wei Wuxian says.
"Are you going to bed, too, Lao Wei?" Wen Ning asks.
"What? I'm not tired ye—" His body betrays him, and Mianmian cackles while he yawns.
"Aw, I guess it's bedtime for Lao Wei, too," Wen Ning says, and Wei Wuxian kicks him.
"Fuck off. Anyhow, what if I just crashed here? These couches are comfy."
Wen Ning smiles, but Mianmian immediately looks suspicious. "We're how many weeks into this, you've hung out here a dozen times, and not once have you hesitated to go back to your own place at the end of the night. Did you and Lan Wangji blow up at each other or something?"
"What? No! Even if we had—which we didn't, we get along fine, thank you—Lan Zhan's in Suzhou tonight."
"Oh no!" Wen Ning says, and he looks actually upset because he's a precious bean. "Will you be lonely if you go back to an empty apartment?"
"What?" Wei Wuxian laughs unconvincingly. "A-Ning, I live alone 90% of the time. I won't be lonely because my roommate is gone for the night. Psh. Actually, it'll be quieter—you'd think Lan Zhan would be the quietest roommate you could ask for, but he plays his guqin before bed every night."
Mianmian slaps her hand over her mouth to muffle a squeal. "Sorry," she says, "that's just too cute. You can't get to sleep without your guqin lullaby! That's so sweet! Also, super valid, honestly, if I'd gotten used to relaxing music before bed I'd probably have trouble falling asleep without it."
"That's not—I didn't say that!" Wei Wuxian insists. "I meant that it'll be nice and quiet so I can get to sleep!"
"Does it keep you up at night?" Wen Ning asks, looking concerned. "You should talk to him about it, I'm sure he'd stop earlier."
"No, it doesn't—I sleep just fine, I—you know what, never mind, yes, I will go sleep in my own empty, quiet apartment just to prove I can because I hate you both."
He does not like the way Mianmian's eyebrow is raised as she watches him leave.
Once he gets back, Lan Zhan is actually the one to suggest they do one of Wei Wuxian's songs for the next episode.
"Perhaps even... an upbeat one," he suggests carefully. He does not sound confident in the suggestion.
Wei Wuxian gasps. "Lan Zhan! Really? What's possessed you? Did someone slip you some mind-altering drugs at that charity dinner?"
Lan Zhan glares at him before answering. "Based on the patterns of previous contestants, I assume the audience is expecting us to do more of your music than we have so far. I do not want to make it seem like we're specifically avoiding your dance music, or that I'm afraid to attempt it. However, it makes strategic sense to do it now—as this episode is the top two pairs from Group A and the bottom two pairs from Group B, we are unlikely to fail so completely that we fall below both of the bottom-ranked pairs from Group B. If we wait until episode 11, the bottom two pairs will already be gone, and they will be removing one junior and one senior rather than a complete pair. I believe if we attempt to perform this kind of song then, I will be at greater risk of removal, though you would likely be safe."
"Wow." Wei Wuxian grins at him, chin propped in one hand. "You've really thought this through. Strategy and all! I'm so impressed!" Lan Zhan gives him a flat look and he sits up straight. "No, I'm not teasing, Lan Zhan! I am legitimately impressed! I sure haven't given it that much thought, and here you are, studying those lists jiejie gave us all Sun Tzu-style. But you're right, we don't want to do something that risky next time, especially something that's really outside of one of our comfort zones, since we'll be at risk of individual elimination. I don't want a new junior! I have to keep Lan Zhan!" Lan Zhan doesn't look at him, but his ears are bright pink.
"I spent the train ride going through your catalog," he says, looking at his phone instead of Wei Wuxian. "I will send you the list of songs I thought might be appropriate."
"Awesome," Wei Wuxian says. "I have an idea for our second song, here."
He sends Lan Zhan a link to 时候(Moment) by Su Yunying, and looks through Lan Zhan's list while Lan Zhan listens to it.
When it seems like Lan Zhan is done, he says, "There are tons of videos on Bilibili of people dancing to that, with all kinds of combinations of traditional and modern dance."
Lan Zhan is nodding thoughtfully before Wei Wuxian gets halfway through the sentence. "It would work well for many types of traditional dance," he says. "Sword dance, perhaps."
"Wait, you do sword dancing?" Wei Wuxian manages to stop himself before adding holy shit that's hot.
"Mn." He looks at Wei Wuxian curiously. "From the lyrics, I assume you are not intending this to be a... fan service performance?"
Wei Wuxian pauses. He could say no, but that would be an outright lie. He could just say yeah, actually, I think we could do something kind of sexy with it. That would be the truth, but safe enough. Innocent enough. It wouldn't cross any lines.
But the reckless part of his brain remembers the way Lan Zhan looked at him the other night.
"...Well." He sets his phone down on the table and leans forward very deliberately, arms crossed on the table in front of him, holding Lan Zhan's gaze. "That doesn't just have to mean romance and love songs," he says, letting his voice go a little husky. "There are other kinds of chemistry."
They sit there for long seconds, eyes locked one each other as electricity builds in the space between them and makes the hairs on Wei Wuxian's arms stand on end. This feels dangerous in a way their other conversation didn't. It feels like he's taunting Lan Zhan, daring him, and it occurs to him that if he purposely opens Lan Zhan up and bares this part of him, he doesn't know what he's going to get or whether he'll be able to control it. He pushes anyhow.
"Listen to it again," he says. Taking his eyes off of Lan Zhan as little as possible, he opens the song on his own phone. "Don't think about the lyrics."
With their eyes boring into each other, the moment the initial slow drumbeat kicks in he can feel it running down his spine. By the time it reaches the first chorus, Lan Zhan's eyes are dark, almost dangerous.
Lan Zhan finally reaches out and turns the song off, his eyes never leaving Wei Wuxian's. "You have made your point." His voice is half an octave lower than usual, and Wei Wuxian gets the distinct feeling that he's in danger of being thrown out of his chair and onto the ground.
He's not sure he realized how badly he wants that until this moment. Maybe he's the one who's just opened himself up and lost control of something.
But he leans back in his chair, grabbing his phone and looking down at it, breaking the hold they have on each other. "So what do you think?"
"I think we can work with that," Lan Zhan says. "It will make a good contrast with most of the songs of yours I've listed."
Wei Wuxian laughs a little. "You're not wrong about that."
Wei Wuxian was right. About the setting something loose inside of Lan Zhan part. After that conversation, he immediately becomes the one being openly taunted.
The very next morning, he comes out of his room to find Lan Zhan shirtless, in a clingy pair of yoga pants, drying his wet hair in the living room.
Lan Zhan has a perfectly good bathroom and bedroom to dry his hair in. He has perfectly good shirts. This is, in fact, the first time Wei Wuxian has glimpsed him shirtless outside of his own bedroom.
It's so blatant and purposeful that Wei Wuxian doesn't even feel bad about standing there, staring, because that's clearly what Lan Zhan wants him to do.
The pants, while straight-legged and not tight at all, are made of such a light, thin material that they cling anyhow, highlighting every curve underneath them. The curve underneath them is... substantial. It's all Wei Wuxian can do not to drop to his knees right there.
Lan Zhan must have noticed the movement of him coming out of his room, must have heard his door open, but he doesn't look at him until Wei Wuxian takes a deep, calming breath and manages to say "Good morning" while continuing on his way to the kitchen.
The look Lan Zhan throws him while returning his greeting does not help the not-dropping-to-his-knees effort, but he makes it into the kitchen and out of Lan Zhan's line of sight.
They find a story for their 时候 performance that's superficially devoid of homoerotic tension, so when the cameras come to film them discussing it in their living room they can lay the whole thing out: Lan Zhan in an elegant hanfu, on a raised platform that takes up most of the back half of the stage, gets to show off his sword dancing skills during the first verse. He is an immortal practicing his sword forms, and Wei Wuxian, in a modern three-piece suit, is the mortal seeking enlightenment. Wei Wuxian sings the first verse while making his way to Lan Zhan's "mountaintop."
When he reaches the top, Lan Zhan takes over on the chorus, reproving him for thinking he can find enlightenment so easily. The second verse has them circling each other, Wei Wuxian begging this master to teach him, insisting that he is Lan Zhan's zhiji, while Lan Zhan taunts him that his efforts are futile. In the short musical interval before the second chorus, Wei Wuxian steals his sword, making Lan Zhan chase him to get it back, though it winds up clattering to the ground.
They don't really talk on camera about the rest, just writing it off as more fighting.
Actually, they work with the choreographer to create a back-and-forth in the second chorus that contains more tango than any traditional Chinese dance. But they don't touch each other until the last line—on 磕叩求打赏(Kowtow to beg for a reward) Lan Zhan grabs Wei Wuxian's hair and pulls him down so that Wei Wuxian winds up on his knees. (But, uh, not right in front of Lan Zhan. They do manage to not choreograph it to look like he is literally about to give him a blow job, tempting though it may be. He winds up next to Lan Zhan, both of them facing the audience.)
Then in the third repetition of the chorus, Wei Wuxian picks up the sword and goes on the offensive, furious at Lan Zhan for rejecting him, the lead in the tango this time with a lot more grabbing and touching, ending on the last 磕叩求打赏(Kowtow to beg for a reward) with his hand gripping Lan Zhan's hair, holding Lan Zhan's own sword to his throat.
It may be the single most sexually-charged performance Wei Wuxian has ever given, and yet basically all of it (other than maybe the tango) can be explained away as aggression instead of attraction.
Vocally, it's their most challenging performance so far. Lan Zhan can handle the trilling "ah ah" of the chorus, but some of the rest is out of his range without some adjustments. And by the end, the "ah ah" goes from his ethereal rebuke of Wei Wuxian to both of them shouting (y'know, musically, though) at each other. Wei Wuxian cannot sing that high with as much control as Lan Zhan, and they wind up working out a melody and harmony that both of them can do so that they can trade depending on who is the aggressor at any given moment. It's still not an easy part, though, and the last two choruses they're singing through fairly involved choreography. It's nothing either of them can't handle, but it's a significant step up from even their Mirage performance, and they're both often exhausted at the end of a rehearsal.
Unsurprisingly, all of this does absolutely nothing to de-escalate the situation when they're alone together. Soon Wei Wuxian is going shirtless half the time himself—hey, it is August, after all, and while their apartment has perfectly functional air conditioning it's hard to really be cool enough in Shanghai in August. The concept of personal space is slowly squeezed out as well—now when Wei Wuxian is waiting blearily by the coffee pot and Lan Zhan wants a mug out of the cabinet in front of him, he doesn't ask Wei Wuxian to grab it for him like a normal person, no, he has to reach around Wei Wuxian while crowding up as close to him as possible. But Wei Wuxian is just as bad. He takes to tucking his toes under Lan Zhan's legs when they're sitting on the couch together, and touching Lan Zhan—his arm, the small of his back—every time he brushes past him.
When he enters the apartment one day after getting dinner with the Wens (he'd invited Lan Zhan, he always does, but Lan Zhan's social battery is often on empty after a full day of planning and rehearsing on set) to find Lan Zhan in the living room, going over his sword choreography in nothing but those yoga pants (and yes, Wei Wuxian is quite sure he's not even wearing anything under them), Wei Wuxian has to rush straight to his room because he gets way too aroused way too quickly.
Once there, he flops down in the chair that's as far from the door as possible and calls Jiang Yanli.
"Jiejie?" He says pathetically as soon as she picks up. "Would it be a problem for the show if I, uh. If I maybe... slept with another contestant?"
"...did you?"
"No, but... I'm just telling you right now that I don't know if I'm gonna be able to hold off another month. I'm being responsible here and giving you a heads up."
She sighs. "Are we talking about Mianmian or Lan Wangji?"
"Jiejie!" he yelps. "You have got to let this go! You are not getting Mianmian as a sister-in-law, that's not happening, okay? Go try to get Jiang Cheng to give up on Wen Qing, you've got a better shot there. I am not and will not be sleeping with Mianmian at any point in the future."
She hums disappointedly. This has been a running thing ever since he and Mianmian broke up; he knows she's not serious about it, but also that she would kill a cute forest animal for one of her brothers to grant her wish.
"Well, I notice you're only vehemently denying one of those options."
"Well... yeah." There's a pause. "Is it that obvious?"
"A-Xian," she says gently. "You don't have that kind of onstage chemistry with many people. And I've seen you offstage together—I don't know what anyone who doesn't know you quite as well thinks, but I can tell it's not a performance."
"Well, uh, yeah. Obviously there's something there, not just onstage. And I really don't want to wait if I don't have to."
"As your sister... I think the two of you could be good for each other, actually. He comes out of his shell with you. And, well... I think he could be a very grounding presence for you, y'know?"
"I know," he whispers, realizing the things she's saying don't really have anything to do with them sleeping together.
"As your producer... hm. On the one hand, you'll definitely have a CP supertopic after that last episode airs and that will be nothing but good for the show"
"Haha, yeah, I had to explain that whole thing to him."
"But a CP and real life are two different things," she says carefully. "I'll have to feel out the network on this. Obviously I won't use names, maybe I can even make it sound like I'm talking about a hypothetical show, you know? But bringing on Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan was a big deal. Luckily, we're getting a good audience response for it, but I don't know if they're ready for two men falling in love in real time on their show."
Wei Wuxian laughs weakly. "Who said anything about falling in love? I said sleeping together."
"A-Xian," she says, exasperated, "why would you call me about that? You know how to keep your sex life private. That wouldn't be an issue for the show."
He opens his mouth but can't think of a single thing to say to that. His heart is in his throat as he realizes... she's right. It's only an issue for the show if the public finds out about it, and the public would only find out if he wants them to, and he'd only want them to if... well. If it mattered.
And he must have known that before he called. But he called anyhow.
"Oh," is all he can think of to say.
She sighs. "You didn't even realize that's what you were asking about, did you?"
"Maybe sort of a little," he says in a small voice.
"Okay, look," she says, "I'll feel out the network. In the meantime, you do what you want, A-Xian—I'm serious, do what makes you happy. All I ask is that you don't go public with anything until a few weeks after the show ends, unless I can get the network's blessing, okay? And I will do everything I can to keep your name out of it until and unless you decide that you do want to go public with it. If I get to a point where I'm not sure I can do that, I'll talk to you before doing anything that would out you, I promise. Sister before producer, you know that."
"Thanks," he says. "That's all I can ask."
"As your producer, I don't need to know any further details unless something is going to be made public. As your sister, you had damn well better keep me updated, okay? If you refuse to marry Mianmian the least you can do is keep me in your personal gossip loop."
"Of course," he says, smiling again. "Jiejie, you know you're the hub of my personal gossip loop."
The next day they don't have the stage for rehearsal until the afternoon, with a meeting with the costumer immediately before that. They don't have to be anywhere until 1pm at the earliest, and as far as Wei Wuxian knows, neither of them has any non-show business scheduled.
He wanders into the kitchen (Lan Zhan is apparently still in his room, even though he's probably been awake for hours by now) and tosses some noodles into a pot of broth for breakfast. He's standing at the stove, yawning and stretching after having cracked an egg into the pot, when he hears the soft padding of footsteps behind him.
He's about to turn around to greet Lan Zhan, but instead, he can suddenly feel the warmth of Lan Zhan's body directly behind his. (They are both, of course, shirtless. He can tell without turning around, that's how close Lan Zhan is—but not quite touching.)
"That smells good," Lan Zhan says, his morning voice a low rumble just inches above Wei Wuxian's left ear.
Wei Wuxian grits his teeth, and realizes that he has reached his limit on this game of gay chicken.
"Okay, that's it," he says as he slams the knob to turn off the stove and shoves his pot of noodles onto a back burner. "Lan Zhan, I am going to need you to either fuck me already or back the fuck off—"
His words cut off into a guttural groan as teeth dig viciously into his shoulder. That was not on his list of expected responses, so it takes a little while for him to come to his senses—his eyes roll back, his knees give out a little but thankfully Lan Zhan has wrapped an arm around his waist already and pulled him in tight so his back is flush against Lan Zhan's torso.
When the initial shock of the bite fades into a deep throbbing where Lan Zhan's teeth are still sunk into him, he reaches back to grab Lan Zhan's hair—not to pull him away, fuck no, but to make it clear that he should stay right where he is.
"Thank fuck," Wei Wuxian moans, "I don't know what I would've done if you'd chosen back the fuck off."
Lan Zhan finally releases his hold, only to run his tongue over the bite marks, making Wei Wuxian whimper.
"Why would I ever choose to do that," Lan Zhan growls directly into his ear, and Wei Wuxian finally spins around to kiss him.
If Lan Zhan fucks the way he kisses, Wei Wuxian is in more trouble than he realized. While on his end Wei Wuxian is guessing the kiss can best be described as "scrambling" and "desperate," Lan Zhan is thorough. He kisses like he intends to kiss Wei Wuxian many more times and wants to make sure he'll be able to do it perfectly every time.
They fumble their way out of the kitchen and across the entryway to Wei Wuxian's bedroom. As soon as the door is closed, Wei Wuxian finally gets to fall to his knees in front of those stupid clingy pants, now clinging to an entirely new shape. He nuzzles and mouths around the bulge, never quite touching it. While he does, he takes the opportunity to grope at muscular thighs and a tight ass.
Until finally Lan Zhan grabs his messy ponytail and jerks his head back so Wei Wuxian is staring up at him, panting.
"Do not tease," Lan Zhan growls, and shoves his pants down with his other hand.
Wei Wuxian is more than happy to stop teasing. He hasn't given a blow job in nearly 15 years, and Lan Zhan is, uh, quite a bit larger than Wang Jiutang was, so he doesn't rush it. He takes his time figuring out what Lan Zhan likes and how to keep his jaw from getting sore too quickly.
Soon enough, Lan Zhan is grabbing his hair again and pulling him off and then coming all over his face holy shit it's the hottest thing that has happened to Wei Wuxian in years.
They both take a moment to catch their breath, Lan Zhan leaning his head back against Wei Wuxian's door. Wei Wuxian is just starting to think maybe he should wipe his face off when Lan Zhan motions to the bed, eyes still closed, and says, "Take your pants off and lie down," and all thought of doing anything other than what Lan Zhan has told him to do leaves Wei Wuxian's head.
By the time he's managed to stand up (a little unsteadily), get his pants off, and climb onto the bed, Lan Zhan has kicked away his own pants and is right behind him. Wei Wuxian lies down, and the moment his back hits the bed Lan Zhan is grabbing his legs in order to spread them and kneel between them. He crawls up over Wei Wuxian's body and kisses him, while Wei Wuxian's legs automatically come up to wrap around his waist.
When he breaks the kiss, Lan Zhan then proceeds to lick his own come off of Wei Wuxian's face.
"Holy fuck," Wei Wuxian breathes. "Lan Zhan how are you exactly the right kind of freak? It's like you were made in a test tube to be precisely the kind of weird in bed that I need."
Unfortunately, that causes Lan Zhan to pause in his come-licking. Luckily, he pauses in order to press his face into Wei Wuxian's throat and laugh. It's the best sound Wei Wuxian has ever heard, and he's definitely maybe a little bit in love.
Eventually Lan Zhan does manage to kiss and lick and bite his way back down Wei Wuxian's body, and Wei Wuxian discovers that at the very least Lan Zhan absolutely does suck dick as thoroughly as he kisses. He works a finger inside of Wei Wuxian as he does so, and fuck, just Lan Zhan's fingers are so big, Wei Wuxian might actually cry when it's his dick in there.
He tries to warn Lan Zhan when he's about to come, which only makes Lan Zhan suck him down farther, so that Wei Wuxian is pretty sure he basically winds up coming down Lan Zhan's throat.
He confirms it a moment later—he tugs on Lan Zhan's hair to get him to come back up where Wei Wuxian can kiss him, and he doesn't taste nearly as much of his own come as he'd expected, which is both a little disappointing and also hot.
They lie on their sides making out languidly for a while, while Wei Wuxian's brain starts to boot back up. Then Lan Zhan grunts and pokes and prods at Wei Wuxian until Wei Wuxian turns around so that Lan Zhan can wrap himself around him from behind, and Lan Zhan is so warm and it's so comfy that within minutes Wei Wuxian has dozed off.
He's woken up some amount of time later by Lan Zhan alternately saying his name and dropping kisses along his shoulder and neck. It's a very lovely way to wake up.
"Mm?" he manages.
"We have a costume fitting in an hour," Lan Zhan says, his voice hushed like he doesn't actually want to wake Wei Wuxian up at all.
"Ugh," Wei Wuxian says. "We should call in all fucked out. I'll call my sister, I'll say jie, we can't possibly rehearse this afternoon, Lan Zhan sucked me dry and I might be able to walk next Saturday if I'm lucky."
Lan Zhan snorts into this shoulder.
Wei Wuxian sighs and rolls onto his back, snuggling into Lan Zhan, who is still on his side. Lan Zhan kisses his forehead, making him smile, and plays with the wisps of hair falling around his face.
"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan says quietly after a moment. "Do you want this to be... just sex? Between us?"
Wei Wuxian's eyes flutter open. He had definitely not been expecting to have this conversation immediately, and his therapist would probably smack his brain with a rolled-up newspaper for the way it instinctually goes oh yeah, no, totally, this is just hooking up, no reason to make it more than it is, amirite? But the fact that Lan Zhan is asking at all means that he must be open to the answer being no, and something vulnerable in his voice gives Wei Wuxian the courage to look up into his eyes.
"No," he murmurs. "I actually really, really don't want that."
Lan Zhan immediately kisses him, and maybe he's imagining it but he can feel Lan Zhan's relief in the kiss.
The costume fitting is not easy to get through. Mostly because they both look really fucking hot in their 时候 costumes and Wei Wuxian can tell that Lan Zhan is struggling not to jump him as much as he's struggling not to jump Lan Zhan.
They're waiting for Mianmian and Wen Ning to finish with the stage so they can do their first rehearsal with full dress and tech, when Lan Zhan looks around to make sure they're alone.
"You should take the jacket off," he says.
Wei Wuxian smirks. "Just the jacket?"
Lan Zhan nods, so he does. He can feel Lan Zhan's eyes tracking his every movement.
"Roll up the sleeves."
Wei Wuxian does as he's told, and can't help posing a little once he's done. Lan Zhan seems to appreciate it.
Unfortunately, the costumer happens to walk by then.
"What are you doing," she says, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "You'd better not do that before you actually have to go out onstage, it'll take too long to get your cuffs buttoned back up."
"Sorry, sorry," Wei Wuxian says, hastily unrolling his sleeves. "But come on, auntie." He gives her a charming smile that she is probably immune to, since she spends all her time working with performers with charming smiles. "You know a waistcoat and half-rolled sleeves is a classic look. You can't tell me I look bad like that."
Sure enough, she is not impressed. "Mr. Wei, you are well aware that it would take a more talented seamstress than me to make you look bad. Put your jacket back on."
As soon as she's gone, he kicks Lan Zhan's foot. "Trying to get me in trouble with the costume auntie! Lan Zhan! Shameless!"
Lan Zhan says nothing, amusement dancing in his eyes.
Because it's their first rehearsal with full tech, it takes twenty minutes to get through the three-minute song, as they have to stop every few seconds to adjust lighting or cameras or whatever. Then they get to run through it again, only now everything is set so it's their first real runthrough with everything just like it will be for the taping the next day, and wow.
It's all he can do to push aside the impulse to just stand there stupidly and watch the way Lan Zhan moves in the flowing robes. Their back-and-forth on the "mountaintop" feels entirely new, the freshness of this new thing between them heightening everything. Assuming neither of them gets eliminated, they have two more episodes to go after this and he's not sure they'll be able to top this performance.
Their other performance, Wei Wuxian's own song 加紧(Step It Up), is an afterthought by comparison. It's definitely not bad, but it's a fairly straightforward performance, a standard variety show duet—they enter from opposite sides of the stage, and mostly just stand there singing, other than walking downstage for the last chorus. It's an upbeat dance tune that sure, is not what Lan Zhan would normally want to do, but 时候 has taken up all of their energy and time so they never actually bothered to add any choreography or anything to 加紧. It's fine, and it'll definitely be better than their first performance back in episode 2, but feels like a letdown to rehearse after 时候. He's very glad they're doing it first; the audience would definitely be let down, too.
It's also strategic—whichever pair gets the most votes is safe and doesn't have to do a second song. They've seen what Mianmian and Wen Ning have planned, and while neither of them think it should be able to beat 时候 (and, in fact, Mianmian and Wen Ning agree), it's the kind of thing where it might come down to audience taste. And if they do 时候 first and then still have to do a second song, it's very possible that 加紧 would be such a letdown that it could lose them the final vote.
As much as he loves Wen Qing, he doesn't think they need to worry about her and Qin Su as competition. They've been doing nothing but very standard, traditional performances that appeal mostly to the older side of the audience. He's pretty sure they'll beat out Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao, but one wrong song choice and they could be in trouble. With 时候 last they should have it in the bag, though.
After all their rehearsals are done, the costumer needs to see Lan Zhan again because she needed to adjust some hems based on the last fitting. Wei Wuxian is about to head to the green room to chill out for a little while when he sees Jiang Yanli talking to a cameraman.
As soon as she's done, he grabs her and pulls her into a side hallway.
"Oh!" she yelps. "A-Xian!" She looks around, seeming to check on what a couple of people are doing. "I can give you five minutes."
"Sorry, I know you're super busy," he says, but he's vibrating out of his skin wanting to talk to her about this. He lowers his voice even though there's nobody else in the hallway. "I think I have a boyfriend!" She reacts exactly like he'd hoped she would, gasping and bouncing and quietly clapping her hands. "I mean, we haven't used that word yet, but we haven't exactly had a lot of time to talk about it. We, ah. Had a busy morning." He peeks out of the hallway to make sure there's really nobody in line of sight, and pulls the collar of his shirt over to show the now-bruising bite mark on his shoulder.
Her eyebrows fly up. "Very impressive, but if you make me look at anything like that again I will start explaining exactly what knots I use to tie up Zixuan."
He returns his collar to where it belongs at lightning speed. "Sorry, jiejie!"
"But you did talk a little bit at least?"
"Yeah," he says. "Enough that I don't think he'd mind me throwing that word around." Actually, he has the distinct feeling that the first time he says the word boyfriend directly to Lan Zhan he might get fucked through the mattress about it.
She throws her arms around him and pulls him in for a hug. "A-Xian, I'm so happy for you! I really do think you two will be good together."
"Yeah," he says quietly into her hair. "Me, too." The hug goes on a bit longer than it usually would, Yanli seeming to know instinctively that Wei Wuxian has more to say and just needs a moment to get it out. She's great like that.
"I don't think I've ever been this into someone this quickly, y'know?" he finally says. "Like, with Jiutang, it was kind of a slow ramp up at first. Then it got super intense super fast, but like... not in a good way. Our whole lives were too intense, and our relationship was just another side of that. Then with most other people, it's been more like with Mianmian. I'm into them, but not crazy about them or anything, and it kinda fizzles out after a few months. They get sick of me, and I don't even try to stop them from going. This is... really intense, really fast, but it doesn't feel terrifying and overwhelming like it did with Jiutang. Maybe it's just because I'm older. But it seems... like a really good thing."
She finally pulls back from the hug and puts her hands on his cheeks. "I'm so glad Xianxian is growing up," she says in her cutesy Xianxian voice. "But really. You know you should be telling him this, not me, right?"
He whines. "But what if it's not as intense to him and he just thinks I'm weird?"
She raises an eyebrow. "Do you really think that's what will happen?"
He thinks about the way Lan Zhan looks at him. It's possible that what he's feeling is somewhat different from what Wei Wuxian is feeling, but it seems very unlikely that it's less intense. "Not really."
"Good," she says. She takes her hands off his cheeks and pats his shoulders. "You should talk to him, but no rush. You don't have to talk about all your feelings on the first day. Maybe get through this taping tomorrow first, you guys have a lot to focus on with this 时候 performance. God, it's going to be so amazing! I can't believe some the things the two of you have put together—if nothing else, he brings out something in you creatively that I don't think I've ever seen before!"
"Yeah," Wei Wuxian says. He's been trying not to think about it, because it's very tied up with those super intense feelings he's not quite sure what to do with, but it's true. "It's pretty cool."
"Okay, I've got to get back to running around like a chicken with my head cut off," Yanli says. She gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Keep me updated!"
Wei Wuxian passes up the invitation to go out with the Wens, Mianmian, and Qin Su that evening so that he can get back to the apartment with Lan Zhan. He is immediately rewarded with Lan Zhan shoving him up against the door the moment they're inside.
They wind up on the couch this time, clothes strewn all over the living room. Wei Wuxian straddles Lan Zhan as they stroke each other, and afterward he collapses onto Lan Zhan and lets Lan Zhan hold him there. It's something new, to be the smaller person in the relationship—Jiutang was shorter than him and just as skinny, the girls he's dated even smaller. Lan Zhan is two inches taller and a bit broader.
"You told your sister," Lan Zhan murmurs, stroking his fingers lightly up and down Wei Wuxian's sweaty spine.
"Ah, yeah. I hope you don't mind," Wei Wuxian says, a little nervous even though Lan Zhan doesn't sound at all upset about it. "I kinda tell her everything."
Lan Zhan hums. "She can be a frightening woman when she wants to be."
Wei Wuxian groans. "Oh my god, she did not threaten you."
"Not directly," Lan Zhan assures him. It's not very reassuring. "She cares very much about your happiness. I assured her that I share her priorities."
Wei Wuxian grins into Lan Zhan's shoulder.
They order dinner in, and curl up on the couch together to watch some mindless TV. It's relaxing and domestic and Wei Wuxian is deliriously happy. Lan Zhan seems to be, too—every time he looks at Wei Wuxian his eyes are soft, and he's even smiling actual smiles far more often than usual.
Part of Wei Wuxian actually wants to have a Real Relationship Talk; he's becoming confident enough that they're on the same page that he thinks he'd feel more settled if they just actually get it all out.
But his sister is right. They have a big day tomorrow, best to just relax tonight. And somehow, even though he wants to talk about it, which is new for him, he also doesn't feel like they have to immediately. He doesn't feel like this will slip through his fingers if he doesn't do everything just right, at the right time and in the right order. He thinks maybe, for once, it won't actually be that hard to not screw this up.
Chapter 12 End Notes:
Music in this chapter: