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Wei Wuxian hates going to the dentist’s office. He absolutely despises it. 

“I could just get fake teeth,” he tells Wen Qing, who is driving him to his cleaning appointment at Cloud Dental. “George Washington had wooden teeth and he was the first king of America.”

“Wei Wuxian, you know we have presidents,” Wen Qing says as she pulls into the parking lot.

“Yeah but they wanted him to be a king at first,” Wei Wuxian claims.

“Even if that’s true,” Wen Qing replies as she puts the car into park, “back then they also believed women’s uteruses traveled throughout their bodies when they got upset. It was a whole medical diagnosis.”

“What?!” Cries Wei Ying, forgetting (momentarily) about his looming dentist-appointment predicament. “That’s just…misogyny!”

“You’re right,” agrees Wen Qing as she unbuckles her seatbelt and glares at Wei Wuxian. “They didn’t have sound medical views. So why would you take dental advice from them?”

Wei Wuxian grumbles unintelligibly, but unbuckles himself and reluctantly gets out of the car. 

“Text me when you’re done,” Wen Qing calls out, “and I’ll come get you. I’m just going to the coffee shop down the street.”

“Fine, fine,” Wei Wuxian replies, utterly defeated. “Get me an iced coffee please.”

Wen Qing rolls her eyes, but doesn’t say no, which means that Wei Wuxian is going to get a little treat-treat after his dentist appointment. That almost makes it worthwhile to go through with the examination. 

Almost.

It’s not that Wei Wuxian’s fear of dentists is super debilitating. It’s not like how he feels about dogs—in that he can’t really be in the same room as one.

He can be in the same room as dentists.

It’s just that there’s something incredibly vulnerable about being forced to lie back with all sorts of foreign instruments in your mouth. That is really what he hates—being powerless, stuck with your own thoughts, unable to vocalize easily when something was wrong.

Maybe he hates being forced to shut up. Maybe that is his real phobia.

Inside, Cloud Dental’s waiting room is bare and clinical. When Wei Wuxian was a child, he went to a dentist that his foster family, the Jiangs, knew well. That dentist was a nice man, his office was purple with lots of books and magazines. They even had game consoles set up in the cubicles—not that it was really possible to play a racing game with a dental burr in your mouth, whirring inside your head. For Wei Wuxian, the game consoles became part of the whole dentist-torture experience. Something to wish you could be doing, while a middle-aged man injected novocaine into your gums.

Cloud Dental has no art on the walls in the waiting area. The chairs are light blue leather, and the reception desk is behind a glass window that is currently shut. No one else, besides Wei Wuxian, is inside the waiting room. The space is boring—really boring, but at least it isn’t pretending to be fun. It’s not lying about its purpose.

Wei Wuxian walks to the reception desk, looks behind the glass, and finds no one present. He stands there momentarily, wondering if the office is even open. 

What if he’s breaking and entering? What if he triggered a silent alarm when he walked in, and the police are already on their way? What if he gets arrested and goes to jail and Wen Qing doesn’t answer her phone when he calls her with his one phone call so he has to spend the night—

Would he still have to have his teeth examined then? After all that?

“Probably,” he grumbles, and he knocks lightly on the glass pane, calling out, “uhhh hello?”

Wei Wuxian hears a door open, and suddenly a man is before him, wearing white scrubs, a face mask, some sort of scrub-like hair covering, and goggles. Wei Wuxian can’t actually make out any distinguishing features of this man with all the protective medical gear, other than his very tall height and his very muscular shoulders.

“Apologies, we are short-staffed today,” Tall Scrubs says with a deep voice that Wei Wuxian is not expecting to hear so early in the morning from someone so clinically attired. Tall Scrubs speaks with an after-hours voice. A flirt-behind-the-bar voice. A why-don’t-you-come-in-for-a-nightcap voice. 

What even is a nightcap, Wei Wuxian wonders. Is it a specific cocktail or a generic term for any kind of drink? Can tea be a nightcap? Why did they call it that in the first place?

Wei Wuxian is mulling over these very important questions while Tall Scrubs bends over to look at something on a computer screen. “Wei Ying— 9 am appointment. X-rays, cleaning and check up?”

“Uhh,” Wei Wuxian says, realizing that Wen Qing must not have used his courtesy name when making the appointment. Hearing that voice unexpectedly say “Wei Ying” is causing Wei Wuxian’s mind to short-circuit. 

Why is he here again?

“Yeah…” he answers hesitantly once the words Tall Scrubs says slowly reroute through the synapses of his poor stunned brain and become intelligible. “Actually, no to the x-rays.”

“The x-rays are required for all new patients,” Tall Scrubs states firmly. “We cannot do a checkup unless we have them.”

Cannot do a checkup, Wei Wuxian repeats internally and he suddenly feels torn. On the one hand, he’d use almost any excuse not to get a dental checkup. And truthfully, he actually probably can’t afford to do the x-rays. There was a discount Wen Qing found online that offered a cleaning and checkup, but said nothing about x-rays.

On the other hand, Tall Scrubs seems like he probably has nice lips behind that mask, and Wei Wuxian would really like to find that out somehow.

It seems pretty important, actually.

It’s your classic fear-of-dentist versus hot-dental-hygienist conundrum. Probably that’s the entire reason this guy has this job, to trap poor sufferers of dentalphobia like Wei Wuxian in this boring waiting room.

Wei Wuxian is definitely a victim here. Of what, he isn’t sure. False advertising? Surely they should warn potential patients of the hotness of their employees. 

What if he had a heart problem, and then heard that voice with those muscles say his name like that? He could have a heart attack. He could sue.

Maybe then he could afford x-rays, ironically. 

Tall Scrubs is staring at him—maybe glaring, but there’s light reflecting on the goggles so Wei Wuxian can’t see his eyes—and he realizes he hasn’t responded.

“Oh, uh, well…I can’t afford them,” Wei Wuxian admits. “My roommate found this discount online,” Wei Wuxian taps a few times on his phone and pulls up a screenshot to show Tall Scrubs, “so that’s…why I booked here.”

Wei Wuxian feels a little embarrassed at this admission, realizing that it is probably not hot to admit how broke you are. 

Oh well…

Tall Scrubs glances at Wei Wuxian’s phone and nods after a moment.

“Let me see what I can do,” he says. He then bends down, moves the mouse around, types something on the clicky-clacky keyboard, and before Wei Wuxian can give him an, oh no that’s alright, Tall Scrubs stands up and says, “alright, I’ve waved the x-ray fee. Please, come on through.”

Wei Wuxian’s jaw drops. That kind of thing never happens to him, just getting a fee waved like that. He’s tried to flirt his way out of parking tickets and late fines for bills, but he’s never been successful. 

Tall Scrubs then points to a door on Wei Wuxian’s left. While in a sort of fugue state, Wei Wuxian walks through the door, and follows Tall Scrubs to a dental chair.

There’s a television mounted on the wall in front of the chair. Without asking, Tall Scrubs turns it on and pulls up Bob Ross, painting a happy little tree.

“Bob Ross!” Wei Wuxian exclaims as he sits down in the chair, forgetting where he is for a moment. He loved watching Bob Ross reruns as a kid, all the way into high school. It made him want to paint—which he still does, for fun, when he can. He works two jobs—bartender at night and nanny during the day for Wen Qing’s little cousin A-Yuan (the second one might not qualify as a job because it doesn’t actually pay, but Wei Wuxian considers it the most important thing he does). With this schedule Wei Wuxian doesn’t actually have a lot of time to paint. 

“Mn,” Tall Scrubs says in a way that pokes at Wei Wuxin’s mind—familiar though he can’t quite place it. Then Tall Scrubs adjusts the chair, lowering the back and lifting it up.

“I’m Dr. Lan,” Tall Scrubs—Dr. Lan—says. “Normally you’d be seen by our hygienist, but they did not come into work today, so I will be doing your cleaning and the checkup.”

Wei Wuxian’s heart skips a beat hearing the name. Lan…he had been friends with a boy named Lan Wangji—Lan Zhan—back when he was in middle school. Wei Wuxian’s memory was awful, especially when it came to his childhood, but he has fond memories of Lan Wangji. 

They lost touch mid-way through high school, when Wei Wuxian was emancipated at 16 and suddenly had to go to a public school on the other side of town. He had also been kicked out of his foster home and, subsequently, kicked off the family phone plan, so he had lost touch with almost everyone from his former life.

But that was a long time ago, in a different city, and well, Lan was a common enough name, wasn’t it?

This dentist couldn’t possibly be Lan Wangji. It is silly even to think of it.

“Oh, bummer,” says Wei Wuxian, replying to Dr. Lan’s point about being short-staffed. The dentist freezes for a moment, so Wei Wuxian clarifies, “I mean that they didn’t show up so you have to do everything. Glad you didn’t have to cancel appointments!”

“I…did…” Dr. Lan then says. 

“Oh!” Wei Wuxian suddenly worries he missed a call. He never actually answers calls from numbers he doesn’t recognize. “Did mine get canceled? Is this okay that I’m here?” 

“I did not forget to cancel yours,” answers Dr. Lan. “Yours was not canceled. This is no trouble.”

“Oh…okay.”

After setting up and putting a very unsexy bib on Wei Wuxian, the dentist asks him to open his mouth. Wei Wuxian does and Dr. Lan inspects inside with a little mirror and a flashlight that’s attached to his head. It kind of makes him look like a miner. Wei Wuxian imagines his mouth is a cave and Dr. Lan is exploring it, looking for precious metals. Maybe he’ll find gold? Would gold be a good metaphor for cavities?

Dr. Lan then trades the mirror for a poky thing and taps at Wei Wuxian’s molars, mining away. What is that poky thing called, Wei Wuxian wonders. He should google it after his appointment.

“Alright,” Dr. Lan says perfunctorily, and he adjusts the chair so that Wei Wuxian is sitting upright. “Let’s take your x-rays.”

“Do my teeth look pretty?” Wei Wuxian asks, and he might bat his eyes just a little—he’s a flirt, after all. Plus there’s something really hot about this dentist who shares the name of his long-lost childhood best friend. His voice is hot, yes, but there’s also just something about him. The way he moves with methodical efficiency. The way he takes his time. The way he'd ordered Wei Wuxian to open his mouth.

Dr. Lan pauses, and there’s a brief moment where Wei Wuxian wonders if his flirting is actually working (???). But Dr. Lan clears his throat and says, “we will know more after we take your x-rays.”

Wei Wuxian doesn’t remember the last time he had his teeth x-rayed. Maybe he’s never had it done? But he decides that with Dr. Lan it’s maybe his favorite new pastime. Dr. Lan puts on clean latex gloves and positions little tabs in all sorts of positions in Wei Wuxian’s mouth. Wei Wuxian feels a thrill at being ordered to “bite down hard” before the first few pictures are taken.

Next, Dr. Lan positions the tab so that it pokes Wei Wuxian’s cheek uncomfortably. He then orders Wei Wuxian to hold still, and Wei Wuxian does even though he kind of wants to test the limits. But the photo is taken and Dr. Lan says “good,” and Wei Wuxian’s head unhelpfully supplies “boy,” after good and oh—probably this is not a good place to get a boner.

It happens anyway. There’s just something about Dr. Lan’s long fingers inside his mouth, pressing down his tongue, sliding against his cheek, that just feels hot. It definitely shouldn’t feel hot. This man is just doing his job. These are just bulky x-ray tab things that he has to bite so that a weird camera shooting rays into his skull gets an image. It shouldn’t be hot.

But what if it was hot? What if instead of plastic tabs with sharp edges, it was something bigger, rounder, smoother. What if instead of “bite,” the dentist said “suck,” and then—

“That’s it,” says Dr. Lan, with a finality that leaves Wei Wuxian sad the experience is already over. “This will be a moment, please wait here.” 

The dentist then leaves the cubicle, and Wei Wuxian is left there, bib still on his chest, lips feeling overstretched, and dick pressing against his tight jeans.

Well, being horny is more fun than being scared, right? He’d been too caught up in the way Dr. Lan’s fingers felt in his mouth to remember he was at the dentist. 

When Dr. Lan returns, he’s donning a white doctor’s coat that he hadn’t been wearing earlier. Over his heart is blue embroidery that says “Dr. Lan DDS.”  Wei Wuxian decides the coat makes him look more official, so he files the image away for later, when he can jerk off to it after his shift at the bar tonight.

Who knew his fear of dentists would turn into a kink? 

“Wei Ying,” Dr. Lan says and Wei Wuxian swallows in some sort of Pavlovian reflex at hearing this particular dentist say his name. “Your x-rays look fine. I can see you’ve had multiple fillings in your back molars, but there doesn’t appear to be any major issues. Next I will take your gum measurements, and then we will clean. First, do you have any areas of pain?”

“Not in my mouth,” Wei Wuxian answers quickly, and he might actually be thinking of his dick when he says it—but Dr. Lan’s lingering pause makes him regret it. “No, uh, no pain,” he emends.

Dr. Lan nods, his eyes still obfuscated by goggles. 

Wei Wuxian doesn’t remember ever having his gum measured, and he grows a little wary when he learns it’s with an implement that probes between his gum and tooth. His face must reveal some of his discomfort, because Dr. Lan says words of reassurance in a soothing voice that does, actually, help.

The gum measuring thing isn’t so bad, Wei Wuxian decides in media res, but it does take a while. It probably would go faster if Wei Wuxian’s tongue stopped getting in the way—which may or may not be intentional. Eventually, Dr. Lan seems to get a little impatient (which is very thrilling for Wei Wuxian, actually). With an audible huff, Dr. Lan presses down on Wei Wuxian’s tongue with a long finger and measures the gums in the back of his mouth. 

And that is the true story of how Wei Wuxian realized he likes having his tongue forcefully pressed down by a hot, bossy dentist. 

Normally Wei Wuxian doesn’t get off on his mouth being manhandled. During sex he does not like giving over control at all, actually—and that was often a problem since he, apparently, gives off bratty, subby, bottom energy. He is a bottom, and okay he is a bit bratty, that is true, but he’s more of a power bottom. Once his hookups start to get too dominant, too controlling, he loses interest. And the thing is, most of the guys who want to fuck him are the brat-tamer type, and so while a good orgasm is always fun, it’s never really that satisfying. He’s never had a serious boyfriend, never agreed to a second date.

But there was just something about Dr. Lan that was having Wei Wuxian consider updating his Grindr profile.

The actual cleaning happens next and this part actually feels familiar. The grimy polish, the blast of cold water, the air suction tube dangling from his mouth all invoke an uncomfortable nostalgia. At first Wei Wuxian squirms, trying to will himself to settle—but then Dr. Lan says, “Wei Ying, relax,” and while that does cause him to stop moving, he definitely doesn’t relax. His cock, which had softened some time ago, begins to fill again, and his heart races. 

Fuck.

Wei Wuxian tries hard to get his mind out of the gutter. He really, honestly, does try. He thinks of baseball and dogs and drunk bar patrons.

Then Dr. Lan says, "now spit," and all that effort is rendered pointless. Wei Wuxian is super hard. 

It’s painful. It’s thrilling. It’s (hopefully) not noticeable.

Dr. Lan orders him to spit eight times in total during the cleaning. Wei Wuxian counts it. He memorizes the sound of it from the dentist’s mouth, another delicious snippet to add to his growing list of masterbation material.

Was there dentist porn? There must be, right? There’s probably a whole section of it on PornHub. But would it be any good if the actor didn’t have this voice? 

Probably not.

The cleaning ends eventually, and Dr. Lan tells Wei Wuxian to meet him at the front desk.

Wei Wuxian goes back into the waiting room, and turns to Dr. Lan on the other side of the open glass panel. The place is still empty—he must have canceled a number of appointments today, thinks Wei Wuxian.

“You had a large amount of plaque buildup, which is expected when one does not see a dentist regularly,” Dr. Lan says as he hands Wei Wuxian a little bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste and floss. “We should reschedule you for another appointment in six months.”

Wei Wuxian hadn’t been planning to schedule another dentist appointment for the rest of the decade, but that had been before the birth of his dentist kink, so they arrange it.

Next Wei Wuxian pays for the services, and the bill is surprisingly low. Lower than it should have been, even with the online discount.

“Are you sure this number is right?” Wei Wuxian asks.

“Mn. I gave you a family and friends discount.”

Wei Wuxian leans forward on the counter and waggles his eyebrows. “Ohhh, Dr. Lan, are we friends now?”

Dr. Lan says nothing to that, but after a moment asks, “would you like a sticker?”

Wei Wuxian’s eyes widen in surprise. “A sticker?”

“Mn. They’re for my young patients. I thought you might enjoy one.”

“I would!” Exclaims Wei Wuxian, and when he’s presented with a small bucket of stickers, he pulls out a little white cartoon rabbit. Immediately Wei Wuxian rips off the back and puts the sticker on his shirt. 

“How does it look?” Wei Wuxian asks with a broad smile. Dr. Lan doesn’t exactly answer, but he does nod, and that is enough approval for Wei Wuxian.

“Here is your receipt, and your appointment card reminder,” Dr. Lan says, handing them over to Wei Wuxian. 

“Thanks,” says Wei Wuxian as he grabs them. He doesn’t look away from Dr. Lan—he wants to try and make out some part of his face behind the mask and goggles, but it’s almost impossible.

Wei Wuxian thinks, for a moment, about asking Dr. Lan out. But that seems ridiculous, right? Why would a successful, hot dentist go out with a broke bartender? 

So Wei Wuxian doesn’t ask. He simply says “see you in six months,” and walks out the door.

Once in the parking lot he texts Wen Qing, who replies that she will be there in five minutes. 

Wei Wuxian then wonders if Dr. Lan is on any dating apps, so he changes his setting to 100 meters on Grindr and begins swiping.

It’s no use. Dr. Lan isn’t there. 

Wei Wuxian sighs and then looks at his receipt. It’s a printed sheet of paper that lists the services he’d had done, as well as the discounts. 

Then Wei Wuxian notices two things that make him do a double take.

First, partway down the sheet of paper, is his patient information. 

The name listed is Wei Wuxian, not Wei Ying.

Immediately his eyes dart up to the top of the paper, which contains the Cloud Dental logo. Underneath the logo is written: 

Lan Wangji, DDS.

That…no…that couldn’t be…

Wei Wuxian is already swinging Cloud Dental’s door open before his mind has fully processed any of this.

The dentist is still behind the counter, seated now, elbows on the desk, and he’s free of his goggles, mask, and cap. At the sound of the door opening, his face lifts up, like he’d been resting it in the cup of his now-empty hands. 

“Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian asks, striding forward. “Are you…are you Lan Zhan? From Gusu Academy in San Francisco?”

Dr. Lan—Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian confirms as nears the desk and recognizes the piercing gaze and pink lips—stares at Wei Wuxian for a moment. Lan Wangji’s mouth had dropped open when Wei Wuxian said his name, and now he nods slowly.

“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian squeals. “Lan Zhan, do you remember me? You must! You called me Wei Ying!”

“I..yes,” confirms Lan Wangji.

“You’re so funny, why didn’t you say anything?” asks Wei Ying, leaning as far forward on the counter as he can.

“I thought that perhaps you didn’t remember me.”

Wei Wuxian blows a raspberry, “Pfftt, like I could forget that pretty face. I didn’t recognize you with your mask and everything.”

“Ah,” says Lan Wangji. “I thought that when you booked you might have recognized my name, but it seemed clear during our appointment that you did not.”

“Well I didn’t book it, my roommate did.”

“Your…roommate?”

“Yeah Wen Qing she’s great, she’s…” Wei Wuxian glances over to the window facing the parking lot. “shit she’s outside! I have to go! Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, will you text me? You have my phone number, right? Please text me, we have to catch up!”

“Alright,” says Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian beams.

“Okay! Text me soon! Text me today, right now,” he calls out as he rushes to where Wen Qing is waiting in her red sedan.

In the car ride home Wei Wuxian sips his iced coffee treat-treat, and stares at his phone in wait. For a moment he worries the office has Wen Qing’s phone number, but then remembers he got a generic text appointment reminder last week, so yes, Lan Wangji does have Wei Wuxian’s number.

Sixteen whole minutes pass and they are just pulling into their apartment’s parking lot when Lan Wangji finally texts: 

Unknown Number: Hello Wei Ying. This is Lan Zhan.

Wei Ying squeals and almost spits out coffee all over Wen Qing’s dashboard, which would have been a real catastrophe. He immediately adds Lan Wangji to his phone contact list and replies.

Wei Ying: Lan Zhan!!🤩 you texted!!😸 when can we hang out???

Two whole minutes pass, then,

Lan Zhan: Are you free tonight?

Wei Ying: tonite????? i have to work 😿 but you can stop by my bar? its monday so itll be dead 😴 my next day off is thurs

Lan Zhan: Which bar?

Wei Ying texts him the bar and the time he’ll be on shift—The Graveyard is what the establishment is called, and the name kind of fits its dive-bar vibe. It’s a family business, owned by Wen Qing’s grandmother, and Wei Wuxian has worked there for years. Business isn’t bustling, but they get enough patrons to keep things running (mostly) smoothly, especially since Wei Wuxian works overtime for free, and a couple Wen cousins do the same. 

Wen Qing was actually the only person from Gusu Academy with whom Wei Wuxian has kept in constant contact. This is because around the same time he was emancipated (and thus couldn’t afford the tuition and had to leave), Wen Qing’s family fell into hardship (something about her rich uncle embezzling?). She and her brother Wen Ning also had to transfer to the public high school on the other side of the tracks. There the three of them developed a special bond, and after graduation Wen Qing and Wen Ning invited Wei Wuxian to move to Sacramento with them to help out in their grandma’s bar.

They’ve basically been living in the apartment above the bar ever since. Wen Qing is now working on her MD at UC Davis, and really only has about one day a week when she can help out at the bar or around the apartment (which is why she could drive Wei Wuxian to his dentist appointment today—Wei Wuxian refuses to get his driver’s license). Wen Ning is working on earning his teaching credential at Sacramento State, while still working full time at the bar. 

That evening, Wei Wuxian is surprised to see Lan Wangji enter the bar right as his shift starts. As predicted, the bar is not full. Uncle Wen and a Wen cousin are watching some game on the bar’s TV. There’s a grumpy regular who ignores everyone and reads something on his phone while nursing a beer. A group of four who look like they just got off work and googled “nearest dive bar” sit huddled in a booth with a pitcher. And that’s it, that’s everyone in the establishment at 6:30 pm on a Monday.

Wei Wuxian smiles at Lan Wangji as he crosses the threshold and enters The Graveyard. He’s wearing jeans and a white button down that looks a little fancy. It has white embroidery on it, Wei Wuxian realizes on closer inspection, and Wei Wuxian wonders how much it cost. Is it designer? It kind of looks designer. Wei Wuxian is wearing the same ratty t-shirt and torn up jeans he had on during the dentist appointment. He even still has the rabbit sticker on, though it’s curling around the edges.

Maybe he should have changed? 

“Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian calls out, and gestures to a stool in front of him. “You came! Can I get you anything? On the house!”

“Hello Wei Ying,” he says while gracefully sidling onto the barstool. “I…can I have a ginger ale?”

“Of course!” Wei Wuxian says brightly, pouring him a glass. He casually slides it over to him across the bar, where it stops perfectly in front of him. It’s a little trick he’s perfected over the years.

“Thank you,” Lan Wangji says, but he doesn’t touch his drink. “How are you?”

“I’m good, Lan Zhan, I’m so good,” Wei Wuxian answers. “Got this sweet gig, live upstairs too, it’s awesome. But you! Tell me about you! When did you move here?”

“Six months ago,” says Lan Wangji. “The office used to belong to a friend of mine, but she moved with her husband out of state. I bought it from them, and renamed it.”

Wei Wuxian whistles. “That’s a big step, huh? What were you doing before?”

“I worked as a dental surgeon. In San Francisco.”

“Wow,” says Wei Wuxian. “Why come out here?”

Lan Wangji pauses, and takes a sip of his ginger ale. “My uncle was hoping I would more closely follow in his footsteps. I did not want to. The move has made it easier for me to reach independence.”

Wei Wuxian furrows his eyebrows. “Wasn’t he like a professor or something?”

“He was the Dean of the School of Dentistry at UCSF.”

Wei Wuxian’s eyes go wide, and he mutters a tight-lipped oh.

“He retired a few years ago,” Lan Wangji continues. “My brother works there as a professor now. Currently he’s doing research on laser treatments. He’s more committed to following in our uncle’s footsteps than I am.” 

Wei Wuxian is leaning on the bar, nodding along to Lan Wangji’s story. “So…this opportunity came up to move here and you just took it!”

“Mn,” answers Lan Wangji. “I also enjoy the hiking.”

Wei Wuxian laughs. “Don’t like hiking up Lombard Street?”

Lan Wangji just barely crinkles his nose. “I do not.”

Wei Wuxian laughs again. “Ahh you’re so funny Lan Zhan.”

Someone at the table of four waves at Wei Wuxian, so he excuses himself. They order another pitcher of beer, and after dropping it off, he plops down on the stool next to Lan Wangji.

“So, Lan Zhan. Are you married with twelve kids? You seem like the kind of guy who could be married with twelve kids.”

Lan Wangji’s microexpression looks mildly affronted. “I am not.”

“Oh, was that number too high? Six kids? Four?”

“Wei Ying, I do not have kids. I am not married.”

Wei Wuxian tsks and does his best Granny Wen impression, “Lan Zhan, what are you doing? A nice boy like you with a sensible job? Haven’t you found the right girl yet?”

“I…have not.”

Wei Wuxian nods in understanding. “Because your standards are high, right? As they should be.”

“Because I am gay.”

Wei Wuxian looks at him with mild surprise and perhaps more than mild interest. “Oh! That’s uh…yeah I guess I should have realized, come to think of it.”

“What about you?” asks Lan Wangji.

“Oh yeah, well I’m bisexual actually, but tend to prefer men—“

“I mean are you married,” Lan Wangji interrupts.

“Oh! Haha, Lan Zhan, look at me, who would want to marry this chaos demon. I’m still a total wreck, after all these years. I mean I have a stable home, don’t get me wrong—“

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji interrupts (wow, thinks Wei Wuxian, he’s really gotten into that as a habit hasn’t he? He never used to interrupt, did he?).

“You are not a…chaos demon,” Lan Wangji seems like he has trouble getting the last two words out.

“Lan Zhan, you say that like I don’t take pride in my chaotic demonry.”

Lan Wangji holds his gaze, his face serious. Slowly he shakes his head, “I never saw you that way.”

Wei Wuxian suddenly can’t think of anything to say. Those words do something to his insides, making them squirm uncomfortably. He hates it, it’s too close to a compliment, and Wei Wuxian can’t stand it when someone says something nice to him.

Especially if said person is the hottest man he’s ever seen. It’s actually very unfair. Wei Wuxian feels disarmed.

Wei Wuxian kicks the ground. “Ah, Lan Zhan. It’s been a long time.”

Lan Wangji looks like he’s about to say something else, but a rather large group of twenty-somethings stumble inside and loudly make their way to the bar, and Wei Wuxian is forced to return to his post. 

The large group is some sort of college pub crawl, Wei Wuxian realizes as he makes cheap well drinks and pours pints of beer. At least all of their ID’s are real—real enough to pass inspection, anyways. 

By the time Wei Wuxian makes it back to Lan Wangji, Lan Wangji is standing up. “I should let you work,” Lan Wangji says, and Wei Wuxian feels a pang of disappointment. 

“Yeah sorry, groups like this are usually only here at the end of the week. Wasn’t expecting it.”

Lan Wangji nods. “You are off Thursday?”

Wei Wuxian’s disappointment is suddenly replaced by intrigue. “I am,” he answers demurely.

“Would you like to have dinner?”

“Well I was planning on having dinner at some point on Thursday,” teases Wei Wuxian.

“With me. Would you like to have dinner with me?”

Wei Wuxian smiles. “I’d love to! Text me the details!”

Lan Wangji nods and lifts his hand in a casual, parting wave before turning and walking to the exit. Right at that moment (because he can’t stop himself) Wei Wuxian loudly and saccharinely yells “Bye Lan Zhaaaann. It was so good to see the handsomest dentist in alllll of Sacramentoooo.” 

Stifled giggles erupt around the bar, and a few patrons crane their necks to see this allegedly handsome dentist.

Lan Wangji doesn’t turn around, but he shakes his head disapprovingly as he exits, and Wei Wuxian can definitely tell his ears are flushed pink—just the way they’d flush pink when Wei Wuxian complimented his looks in grade school. 

Wei Wuxian smiles self-satisfactorily. It was a fun power to wield, making Lan Wangji’s ears blush. He’s glad he still has a knack for it.

That night, when Wei Wuxian finally crashes into his bed, he remembers his plan to jerk off to the hot dentist. He’s tired, but not so tired that his dick can’t come out to play for a little while—but that plan was made before Dr. Lan turned out to be his old childhood friend.

Who is hot.

And single.

And gay.

Hmm.

Wei Wuxian has never jerked off to a friend before, and he begins idly touching himself to the memory of Lan Wangji telling him to bite. To spit. To hold his tongue still. 

But it’s his friend. It’s not some vague, faceless voice, some idea made flesh. It’s his Lan Zhan, his very proper, probably-only-fucked-in-missionary friend, who definitely reacted poorly that one time Wei Wuxian DM’d him porn back when they were teens. It doesn’t matter that his voice alone could likely make Wei Wuxian come untouched. He isn’t, as far as Wei Wuxian knows, a sexual person.

Maybe if Wei Wuxian pretends it’s a different dentist, he can still get off?

Wei Wuxian peruses porn on his phone while his hand rests on the base of his semi-hard cock. He finds dentist porn easily enough—he was right, it is a kink—but nothing hits right. If anything, it’s all awkward. Really fake acting. Uncomfortable scenarios. Weird stuff with the dental equipment (ugh, he would never want to kink shame, but that’s definitely an ick for Wei Wuxian).

So okay, maybe he doesn’t have a dentist kink after all. Maybe he just has a very specific kink for a very specific dentist.

By the time he’s given up, he’s soft again. With a frustrated huff, he rolls over and falls into a dreamless sleep.

Thursday takes forever to arrive. Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji text frequently throughout the week, reminiscing and catching up, and Wei Wuxian feels sharply how much he has missed his childhood friend. His subtle humor. The way he gets directly to the point but lets Wei Wuxian ramble endlessly. There was this sort of equality, this shared give-and-take that Wei Wuxian has never found with anyone else. It’s nice to have it back.

The two of them work out the details of their plans for Thursday over text, and when that evening arrives, Lan Wangji picks up Wei Wuxian at the bar. Wei Wuxian is wearing his nicest jeans—faded black ones that only have a couple of holes in the knee, and also hug his ass very well. He is aware he has a nice ass to begin with, but these particular jeans fit him just right. He’s picked up a number of men in these jeans, and he very much wants to find out if they’ll work on Lan Wangji.

Wei Wuxian sees Lan Wangji pull up in a nice silver sedan, and runs out to the curb before he can even fully park. Lan Wangji sees him and unlocks the car, and Wei Wuxian swings the passenger door open with a little too much gusto—it swings back and hits him as he clambers into the seat.

“Lan Zhan you look nice,” Wei Wuxian immediately says aloud as he takes in the gray suit and light blue shirt Lan Wangji is wearing. “Are we going somewhere fancy? Do I need to change?”

Wei Wuxian really hopes the answer is no—he doesn’t have a suit. Also Lan Wangji hasn’t actually seen Wei Wuxian’s ass in these jeans, which is really a pity since he put them on specifically for that purpose.

Lan Wangji then glances towards Wei Wuxian, his eyes raking over Wei Wuxian’s figure. Wei Wuxian feels both a little uncomfortable and a little thrilled at the way he’s being thoroughly examined.

“Wei Ying does not need to change,” says Lan Zhan, “but he does need to buckle.”

“Ah, ha right, right Lan Zhan,” says Wei Ying and he fastens his seatbelt while Lan Wangji drives away from the bar.

“Where are we headed?” Wei Wuxian asks. Lan Zhan said in text that he would take care of all the dinner details, confirming that Wei Wuxian still enjoyed spicy food.

“The restaurant I booked canceled just before I left to pick you up,” says Lan Zhan. “If you do not mind, I could cook dinner for us at my house. We just need to head to the store first.”

Wei Wuxian likes this idea very much, and so he can’t hide a heated grin when he answers that this plan was, “fine.”

They stop at a bougie grocery store in an upscale neighborhood because of course Lan Wangji lives in this part of town and buys organic-vegan whatever at three times the market rate. Lan Wangji’s family is old money—like Wei Wuxian’s foster family—and probably being a dentist meant he had a secure income on top of a trust fund.

Wei Wuxian sighs in a must-be-nice kind of way, thinking about the number of meals he’s had to skip over the years in order to afford his bills.

He doesn’t blame Lan Wangji though. Sure Wei Wuxian might scribble “eat the rich” on a bathroom stall whenever he’s bored, but he doesn’t mean Lan Wangji, or his sister Yanli, or even his brother really. 

Those are the rich he’ll save in the impending proletariat revolution. The remaining one percent is on their own.

Wei Wuxian then imagines rescuing Lan Wangji from the pitchfork-wielding masses as he enters the store, and it takes a moment for him to realize that he no longer hears Lan Wangji’s footsteps directly behind him.

He stops and glances back, only to catch Lan Wangji’s eyes snapping up, looking somewhat guilty, his ears practically glowing with a pink flush.

“Sexy jeans you’ve done it again,” Wei Wuxian thinks smugly as he waits for Lan Wangji to catch up.

Dentist kink, here I come. 

They pick out tofu and rice and vegetables. Lan Wangji asks Wei Wuxian to grab his favorite hot sauce—and of course Wei Wuxian doesn’t recognize any of the expensive hot sauces in the fancy store, but he selects one that looks particularly spicy. When he meets Lan Wangji at the checkout counter, he notices a couple of bottles of Emperor’s Smile wine on the conveyer belt.

“Lan Zhan! Emperor’s Smile? Do you remember?” Asks Wei Wuxian. As teens, Wei Wuxian once got both of them in trouble for sneaking a couple of bottles of Emperor’s Smile to an event at Lan Wangji’s home. Lan Wangji had, at first, chastised Wei Wuxian, but eventually Wei Wuxian convinced him to try some, and it wasn’t long before the drunken boys were caught and thoroughly punished.

Lan Wangji nods, “Mn,” and it makes Wei Wuxian grin fiercely while they leave the store. 

As they pull into a driveway, Wei Wuxian notices that Lan Wangji’s house is not the biggest in the neighborhood. One might almost call it modest in comparison to several McMansions on the block. Lan Wangji’s house is small and white and looks mid-century. The interior is sparsely but comfortably decorated—light, neutral colors giving it an airy feeling.

“You have a nice place here,” says Wei Wuxian as Lan Wangji begins preparing the food.

“It…was my mother’s, from before she married my father,” says Lan Wangji without looking up from cutting vegetables, and Wei Wuxian is hit with the memory of why they first bonded all those years ago.

They were—are—both orphans.

“Oh,” says Wei Wuxian softly, and he takes a step closer to Lan Wangji, wanting to reach out and touch him. 

He doesn’t, though. 

“It looks like you’ve taken good care of it,” says Wei Wuxian instead.

At that, Lan Wangji stops chopping vegetables and looks at Wei Wuxian.

“I searched for you,” he says, and Wei Wuxian’s brain doesn’t process what that means.

“What?” Wei Wuxian asks.

Lan Wangji sets the knife down and wipes his hands with a tablecloth before turning to face Wei Wuxian directly.

“In high school. When you left. I…tried to find you.”

Wei Wuxian’s eyebrows raise in surprise. “You did?”

Lan Wangji nods. “No one would tell me where you had gone, and Uncle didn’t allow me access to social media, so…” his voice trails off, and he glances down. “I’m sorry.”

Wei Wuxian’s heart is beating rapidly, and without thinking he grabs Lan Wangji’s hands. “Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan—why are you apologizing? That was years ago—we were kids.”

Lan Wangji lets Wei Wuxian grab his hands, but still does not lift his gaze. “I would have kept looking but Uncle…Uncle sent me away. To boarding school.”

Wei Wuxian can’t help himself now. He raises a hand to cup Lan Wangji’s cheek, and then finally Lan Wangji’s eyes meet his. “Lan Zhan, none of that was your fault! My foster mother…she just needed me out of the house.”

Lan Wangji’s eyes look stormy at the mention of Wei Wuxian’s foster mother. “It wasn’t right, kicking you out,” he says, his voice low and stern and, oh yeah, that tone does something to Wei Wuxian—specifically Wei Wuxian’s cock.

“If I had been able,” Lan Wangji continues, “I would have brought you home with me.”

Wei Wuxian blinks slowly at this, and he slowly begins to remove his hand from Lan Wangji’s face. “Well, you’ve brought me to your home now,” he murmurs coyly, flirtatiously, hoping he’s read the situation correctly. Wei Wuxian is ready to continue laying it on thick until Lan Wangji either gets the hint or kicks him out.

What he’s not ready for is Lan Wangji saying, “Wei Ying,” in a desperate rasp, grabbing Wei Wuxian's wrist, and then leaning down to kiss him with such fervor that Wei Wuxian loses balance before he can register what is happening.

Lan Wangji immediately wraps his free arm around Wei Wuxian, holding him in place, as their warm lips press together. Wei Wuxian makes a surprised, guttural noise that turns into something like a moan when he opens his mouth and feels Lan Wangji’s tongue slide inside almost forcefully. Wei Wuxian is overwhelmed with the intensity of it all, the sandalwood scent of Lan Wangji stirring up teenage memories of late nights, fleeting touches that never went anywhere. The vision of the clueless boy Wei Wuxian once was now changes in his mind with the realization that he had loved Lan Wangji. He had loved him deeply, profoundly, and he’d forgotten it. Why had he forgotten? How? Did he even realize how much in love with his best friend he was, before he was kicked out of his home?

He must have forced himself to forget to protect himself, protect his heart from ruining him completely. Now, with Lan Wangji’s tongue licking into his mouth, it’s all rushing back to him. Teenage feelings flutter to the surface, tangling with the heat flowing through his veins until he feels like he’s drowning.

Lan Wangji then retracts his tongue and pulls away. Wei Wuxian opens his eyes—not realizing they were shut—to see Lan Wangji looking wrecked—his lips wet and red, his pupils blown, his chest heaving with heavy breath.

“I..” Lan Wangji begins as he releases Wei Wuxian’s wrist and drops his arm. The wild, heated look on his face slowly shifts into something almost apologetic, and Wei Wuxian realizes with a start that Lan Wangji might now know just how much Wei Wuxian wants this, wants him. 

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Wuxian pants and he reaches his arms up to wind them around Lan Wangji’s neck, pulling him back down. “Do that again.”

And so Lan Wangji does, this time wrapping both arms around Wei Wuxian's waist as their lips meet. Wei Wuxian’s tongue takes the lead this time, slipping in past the seam of Lan Wangji’s mouth and the taciturn Lan Wangji moans—actually moans—as their tongues meet. The sound drives Wei Wuxian feral and he can’t help but grind his hips, ever so slightly, against Lan Wangji.

Lan Wangji then pushes Wei Wuxian backwards until he lands against a wall with a thud. 

“Mmff,” Wei Wuxian moans, and a beat later, Lan Wangji’s mouth leaves Wei Wuxian’s to press heated kisses down Wei Wuxian’s jaw and to his neck.

“Oh fuck yes Lan Zhan, so good, so good,” babbles Wei Wuxian, and he instinctively raises a leg to wrap it around Lan Wangji’s waist. Lan Wangji grabs underneath Wei Wuxian’s thigh, and grinds his hips against Wei Wuxian—who can distinctly feel how hard (and big!) Lan Wangji is. 

Wei Wuxian suddenly feels a little trepidation at the size, but the fear of it somehow only makes him impossibly hornier. He continues his semi-incoherent babbling, “Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan! You’re so big—fuck you’re huge, Lan Zhan, Lan-er-gege—“

Suddenly two long fingers slip inside Wei Wuxian’s mouth, muffling anything else he wanted to say. Wei Wuxian’s eyes roll back at the feeling of it and he moans. He tries to lap at the fingers with his tongue, sliding around each digit, each knuckle before Lan Wangji firmly presses his tongue down—similar to the way he had at the dentist appointment.

“Suck,” Lan Wangji gruffly whispers in Wei Wuxian’s ear, and it makes Wei Wuxian weak in his knees so he obeys, hallowing his cheeks. Lan Wangji’s thumb is pressed against the soft underside of Wei Wuxian’s jaw while Wei Wuxian sucks his fingers dutifully. Then Lan Wangji begins to fuck Wei Wuxian’s mouth with those fingers, still pressing down on the tongue, but thrusting them in and out to the rhythm of his hips grinding against Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian might actually die from this, some errant voice in his head echoes. Lan Wangji might actually fuck him to death, and to his surprise, Wei Wuxian might actually beg for it. 

After thoroughly fucking his mouth, Lan Wangji pulls his fingers away. Wei Wuxian's mouth and chin feel wet and sloppy as he blinks up at Lan Wangji's face.

Lan Wangi then slips the two wet fingers into his own mouth, eyes closed as though savoring the taste of Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian’s mind is blank at the scene, his tongue already feeling tired, but without even thinking he whispers a strained, pleading, “fuck me…”

Lan Wangji’s eyes shoot open and his nostrils flare. Without saying a word he grabs Wei Wuxian’s wrist and leads him to a bedroom in the back of the house, with a comfortable and large bed. 

“Lan Zhan, I can’t believe you’re going to fuck me on our first date, like I’m some kind of slut,” Wei Wuxian says as he enters the room, feeling deliciously slutty.

Lan Wangji has begun to take off his own clothes and Wei Wuxian does the same, only for Lan Wangji to pause and say, “this is not our first date.”

Wei Wuxian is caught off guard and stops disrobing. “You’re not…counting when you came to the bar as our first date?” 

Lan Wangji is now completely naked and he walks over to help Wei Wuxian finish stripping. “That was not a date,” he says as he pulls Wei Wuxian’s boxers down over his thighs and knees.

Wei Wuxian is truly flummoxed now, almost entirely distracted from the fact that the most beautiful man in the entire planet is in front of him, naked, bent over, and pulling Wei Wuxian’s foot free from his boxers. 

“You can’t be counting the dentist appointment,” says Wei Wuxian, and Lan Wangji stands up and somewhat aggressively pushes Wei Wuxian towards the bed. 

Wei Wuxian falls onto it as Lan Wangji practically growls, “think about it,” and kisses Wei Wuxian with such passionate ferocity that, well, Wei Wuxian can’t think of anything else at all, actually.

They work their way up the bed as they make out, groping hands sliding over skin. Lan Wangji is incredibly fit, his muscles hard against Wei Wuxian’s palms. Once they have reached the pillows, Lan Wangji goes to his nightstand drawer, pulling out lube and a condom. 

Wei Wuxian eyes the condom—normally this would be welcome. In all his partners past, he preferred the condom not just because it was safe but because it also helped maintain a sort of emotional boundary. There had always been something unappealing— too intimate and vulnerable—about letting someone come inside of him, fill him, and then leak out of him. 

It is different with Lan Wangji. He wants to feel Lan Wangji’s skin inside of him. He wants to be bred, to overflow with the mess of Lan Wangji’s warm spend—evidence of his pleasure.

But that, Wei Wuxian supposes, could wait for next time.

Because Wei Wuxian will make sure that there is a next time.

Lan Wangji wastes no time preparing Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian gasps as long, lubed fingers penetrate him. They were the same fingers that fucked his mouth, the same fingers that teased him at the dentist appointment. They slide into him deeper and deeper, and then curve and brush against his prostate. 

Wei Wuxian splutters and jerks with the zing of pleasure, almost too intense to handle.

“Is it…am I going too fast?” Lan Wangji asks, stilling his hand. “I’m sorry, I—“

Wei Wuxian reaches down and grabs Lan Wangji’s wrist and pushes his fingers in deeper, feeling pleasure alongside the slight pain of the stretch. “You can take me right now like this and I’d love it. Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan. Fuck. Use me, take me, stretch me open with your cock, your huge fucking—“

Lan Wangji adds another finger and Wei Wuxian squeals, hips writhing helplessly at the full feeling. 

Lan Wangji’s fingers deftly work him open, brushing against his prostate in even intervals, and Wei Wuxian turns into a mewling mess on the bed.

“Like that, yes, yes, just like that, feel so good, ah--it's too much! No, don't stop, more Lan Zhan, I need more.”

Lan Wangji adds a fourth finger, stretching Wei Wuxian impossibly wide, and Wei Wuxian cries out in the feeling of it, of being opened and filled. In the back of his mind he wonders if it will be enough for Lan Wangji’s large member, but he doesn’t shy away from it, doesn’t worry over it.

Instead he welcomes it. “Please Lan Zhan. Need you. Need your cock. Please.”

Lan Wangji slides his fingers from Wei Wuxian, but Wei Wuxian didn’t have to mourn the loss for long. 

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji murmurs, his breath a little shaky, as he presses his latex-covered head against Wei Ying’s open and well-lubricated entrance. 

Wei Wuxian smiles up at Lan Wangji, and rolls his hips invitingly. “Please,” he says, and Lan Wangji slowly pushes himself inside, eventually falling forward so that their noses are practically touching.

The stretch is intense—Wei Wuxian had been right, four fingers wasn’t enough to fully prepare himself for the size of Lan Wangji. 

“Lan Zhan, gege, have mercy,” he babbles, scratching Lan Wangji’s back as Lan Wangji slowly presses in deeper.

“Do you need to stop?” asks Lan Wangji, and Wei Wuxian’s arms pull Lan Wangji closer.

“Don’t stop, don’t you dare stop,” Wei Wuxian groans, and with that Lan Wangji pulls back and thrusts in a little deeper, this time pressing into Wei Wuxian at just the right angle.

“Yes, yes, god just like that, right there” Wei Wuxian cries, and Lan Wangji repeats the same motion once, twice, three times, and then picks up the pace.

“Lan Zhan you’re good, you’re so good, ah, never would have, ah, never would have guessed,” Wei Wuxian is barely in control of what he’s saying now.

“Guessed what?” Huffs Lan Zhan in between thrusts.

“That you were like this,” Wei Wuxian blurts. “That you’d be good at it, so good at it.”

Lan Wangji responds to this by scooping Wei Wuxian up as though he weighed nothing—“god those muscles aren’t just for show,” Wei Wuxian manages to think as Lan Wangji holds him tightly on his lap and thrusts up. From this position Wei Wuxian manages to rest some of his weight upon Lan Wangji’s shoulders and grind down to meet his thrusts.

Lan Wangji bites at Wei Wuxian’s neck, grunting each time Wei Wuxian slams down, and before long Wei Wuxian realizes that Lan Wangji is giving him a hickey.

“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, are you marking me? Are you marking me up? On my neck? Where anyone can see? Lan Zhan that’s so undignified, what will I do when customers ask about it?”

“You’ll tell them you’re mine,” Lan Wangji grunts in reply, and before Wei Wuxian can wrap his mind around how shameless Lan Wangji has become in his adult years, he finds himself on his back again, one leg over Lan Wangji’s shoulder, and Lan Wangji is pounding mercilessly into him.

Wei Wuxian had assumed Lan Wangji would be a careful, slow, one-position only kind of lover, and now he’s lost in pleasure over how wrong he had been.

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian’s poor, neglected cock is rock hard and bobbing in between the two of them, and Wei Wuxian realizes he can’t hold out for much longer.

“Lan Zhan, Zhan-Ge, I’m getting close,” he pants, pleasure building up rapidly.

Lan Wangji places his palm over Wei Wuxian’s mouth, which takes Wei Wuxian by surprise.

“Spit,” Lan Wangji orders, in exactly that same tone he used at the dentist office. It brings Wei Wuxian to the precipice. After Wei Wuxian spits, Lan Zhan wraps his wetted hand around Wei Wuxian’s aching cock. Wei Wuxian comes, hot and messy, pleasure pulsing through him as he cries out something that might be Lan Wangji’s name.

Lan Wangji’s hand works him through it as his own cock remains buried deep inside of Wei Wuxian. As soon as the last spurt of come is drained from Wei Wuxian, Lan Wangji speeds his hips, thrusting only a few more times before he finds release as well. Wei Wuxian murmurs encouraging words into Lan Wangji’s hair as he shivers through the final throes of his orgasm.

“When was our first date?” Wei Wuxian asked later that evening, curled up in Lan Wangji’s arms.

“Homecoming,” murmured Lan Wangji, and a memory that was long hidden away suddenly became clear. Sophomore year. Homecoming. Wei Wuxian had asked Lan Wangji to the dance. 

It hadn’t started out as a date—not really. Wei Wuxian had been bugging Lan Wangji about attending homecoming since Lan Wangji had never been to any of the school dances. Wei Wuxian thought it was a shame that “the best looking guy in our grade won’t even give girls a chance to dance with them.” Somehow he’d been able to convince Lan Wangji to go with him.

After they had arrived  Wei Wuxian danced with a couple of girls, waiting for Lan Wangji to do the same, but in the middle of a slow song Lan Wangji scowled at Wei Wuxian and walked away.

Wei Wuxian was with another sophomore—Mian Mian, he remembers—and immediately stopped dancing with her to chase after Lan Wangji.

He followed Lan Wangji, calling his name, until the two of them were in an empty room—the band room, Wei Wuxian realized as he saw the music stands. It was dark, the music from the gym still audible, thumping though the walls.

“What’s wrong?” Asked Wei Wuxian.

“Don’t follow me,” Lan Wangji spit back, clearly angry, so of course Wei Wuxian wouldn’t leave.

“Is it…” Wei Wuxian began, only for an idea to hit him with dawning horror. “Is it Mian Mian? Lan Zhan, were you mad I was dancing with her? Do you like her?”

Lan Wangji glared at Wei Wuxian, saying nothing. 

“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan I’m sorry I didn’t know.” He stepped closer to Lan Wangji, smiling sheepishly. “Why don’t you…why don’t you ask her to dance.”

“I…don’t dance,” said Lan Zhan after a moment.

“You don’t? But Lan Zhan, it’s easy.”

Lan Wangji huffed, and Wei Wuxian laughed, taking a step closer. The beat of music in the gym had slowed, and Wei Wuxian grabbed for Lan Wangji’s hands.

“Here, I’ll show you,” said Wei Wuxian, placing Lan Wangji’s hands around his waist, and wrapping his own arms around Lan Wangji’s neck. “I’ll even take the girl part so that you’ll know what to do.”

Lan Wangji looked down at Wei Wuxian with an affronted expression that Wei Wuxian ignored. He began to sway to the music, pulling Lan Wangji with him until finally Lan Wangji began to move as well.

“There! See it’s not hard,” said Wei Wuxian as they slowly moved in a circle. Eventually Wei Wuxian felt Lan Wangji relax his shoulders, and his hands and arms were no longer rigid but molding around Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian shifted closer, until they were nearly chest-to-chest. 

“And then,” Wei Wuxian said as they looked at one another. “If she…if she really likes you, she might rest her head on you, like this.” 

Wei Wuxian then placed his cheek against Lan Wangji’s collarbone, inhaling the scent of sandalwood as Lan Wangji’s arms wound around Wei Wuxian just a little more tightly.

“There…like that…” said Wei Wuxian, but he did not move away. They continued to sway together like that in a slow circle, even after the song in the gym changed tempo and changed again. They danced together until voices in the hall made it clear that a security guard or chaperone was checking the school for misbehaving students, and so they crept out a back door and furtively rejoined the dance.

“That was our first date?” Wei Wuxian asks, startled. That had been over 15 years ago. It wasn’t long after that dance that Wei Wuxian turned 16 and was forced out of his foster home.

“Mn,” Lan Wangji hums in affirmation.

“That was…our first date…” Wei Wuxian says again, this time in realization. “Huh. So you liked me back then?”

“Wei Ying, I loved you back then.”

Earlier that evening Wei Wuxian thought he might get fucked to death. Now he wonders if he might die from sweet words, and he buries his face in Lan Wangji’s chest.

“You can’t just say stuff like that Lan Zhan,” he says, voice muffled. “That was so long ago. I’m a…completely different person now.”

“Not completely,” Lan Wangji replies, his hands gently stroking Wei Wuxian’s back. “But I would still like to get to know Wei Ying now, if…if you…”

“I would,” Wei Wuxian says, lifting his face and pressing a kiss against Lan Wangji’s lips. “I really would.”

Lan Wangji smiles and kisses him back.

Wei Wuxian’s mind whirls with excitement for the future, and as he begins to fall asleep he murmurs, “Lan Zhan, do you have any scrubs here?”

“No, they’re at the office, why?”

“Mm no reason,” says Wei Wuxian with a yawn. 

“Mn. If Wei Ying wants, tomorrow we can go to my office,” Lan Wangji murmurs, his voice betraying a little heat, and Wei Wuxian’s eyes bulge open realizing that Lan Wangji knows what he wants, had somehow figured out in those sleepy questions that Wei Wuxian has a bit of a dentist kink.

Wei Wuxian almost says something, to defend himself if nothing else, but Lan Wangji kisses his forehead. “Sleep, Wei Ying.”

So Wei Wuxian shuts his eyes, thinking that tomorrow he really, really wants to go to the dentist’s office.