The two of them shot until their quivers were empty.
Wen Ning still grew jittery from time to time, seemingly unable to stop noticing the other disciples around them, but at least in reaction to Wei Wuxian's voice he soon didn't startle anymore, and even though he didn't stop stuttering when he spoke, Wei Wuxian thought that it was maybe just the way he talked since he gradually seemed a little more confident and smiled more.
Wei Wuxian greatly enjoyed shooting some targets himself, unsuccessfully trying to bring Wen Qing to admit that she was impressed with his skill.
When the sky had started to darken, their training session should come to an end as another person arrived.
Lan Wangji had silently appeared at the edge of the archery field, red competition robes gently fluttering in the warm evening breeze as he calmly walked towards them, a subtle frown on his face.
A shout of pure delight escaped Wei Wuxian—he immediately tossed his training bow onto its stand and began sprinting in Lan Wangji's direction, flinging himself into the air a few paces in front of the other.
Lan Wangji's arms came up immediately to catch him as he came careening into him, grabbing Wei Wuxian under his thighs to hold him up.
"Lan Zhan, you're here!" Wei Wuxian gushed, proceeding to cling to the other like a barnacle, lovingly smushing his face into soft black hair.
"Wei Ying," Lan Wangji returned calmly, hoisting Wei Wuxian a little higher by the thighs so his legs could wrap around his middle more securely.
The remaining disciples on the training field were all staring at them with scandalized looks on their faces.
Wen Ning too had turned completely red in the face while his sister simply seemed disbelieving.
She huffed and said, "A-Ning, we'll leave now. Don't look at them, don't copy their lack of shame."
Wei Wuxian laughed, happily squirming in Lan Wangji's hands. "You're still so mean to me, Wen-guniang! What did I ever do to deserve such cold treatment!"
Wen Qing sniffed and turned around to stalk away, Wen Ning apologetically bowing in her wake.
"Bye, Wen Ning, thanks for training with me!" Wei Wuxian added loudly, beaming at him.
Wen Ning turned even redder and bowed a few times more before he quickly turned to scurry after his sister.
Lan Wangji seemed to have decided that it was time to leave for them as well as he promptly turned himself to carry Wei Wuxian away from the archery field, completely ignoring the other junior disciples who were still staring at them as though they weren't sure they weren't hallucinating.
"Lan Zhan, will you really carry me around like this?" Wei Wuxian asked, crossing his arms and legs behind the other's back. "Did you miss me so much, er-gege, you can't bear to be parted from your Wei Ying at all now? How far will you carry me?"
Lan Wangji merely hoisted him higher once again.
Giggling, Wei Wuxian pressed a kiss to his cheek.
They entered a near empty hallway as Lan Wangji said, "We were instructed to be wary of the Wen."
Wei Wuxian hummed in agreement. "Wen Qing and Wen Ning are good people though," he argued. "I like them."
Lan Wangji's eyebrows furrowed.
A slow smirk spread on Wei Wuxian's face and he leaned closer to the other's sulky face. "Lan-er-gongzi. Is that vinegar I smell?"
Lan Wangji averted his head slightly, not looking him in the eyes.
Wei Wuxian pressed another kiss to his cheek and then another against his temple because his mouth was basically right there already anyways.
Giggling quietly, he added, "You really get jealous too easily, sweetheart." And then, pressing a third kiss to the bow of Lan Wangji's upper lip he whispered, "You think I would want to be carried around like this by anyone else? Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, you held me like this last night as well, do you like it when I can't escape?"
Pale eyes narrowed and regarded him for a short moment.
Then suddenly, there was a hand cruelly pinching Wei Wuxian's behind.
Wei Wuxian yelped and, never one to let himself be outmatched, he instinctively grabbed Lan Wangji's forehead ribbon, twisting his body simultaneously so that the hands holding him lost their grip in surprise.
Successfully having liberated both himself and Lan Wangji's forehead ribbon, he then promptly began sprinting down the empty hallway, loudly cackling.
It took Lan Wangji only the fraction of a heartbeat to realize what had happened and Wei Wuxian squealed loudly as the other boy immediately took up pursuit with dangerous speed.
He hastened his own step, swerving around the next corner and into a courtyard, almost crashing into a few cultivators who had been trying to enter the hallway and jumped out of his way with startled shouts.
"Sorry!" Wei Wuxian laughingly called over his shoulder, already leaping over the fence parting the main path of the courtyard from the pond next to it, managing to swing himself up onto a small ornamental bridge that led across it in the process, making sure to tightly hold onto his stolen treasure.
The sound of Lan Wangji's footsteps was a steady threat behind him and Wei Wuxian couldn't help the laughter bubbling out of him as he sprinted towards the other end of the courtyard.
He was laughing so much that he miscalculated the gap between the end of the path and the stairs leading into another hallway just slightly and so he tripped a little on his way inside, stumbling for just a heartbeat.
This small misstep was all the advantage Lan Wangji needed.
Strong arms clamped around Wei Wuxian's middle from behind, trapping his arms against his torso as he was hauled upwards and he screeched in delight, wildly kicking his legs through the air in an attempt to escape again.
Lan Wangji would not make the same mistake twice however—he simply tightened his arms, wordlessly beginning to carry Wei Wuxian through the hallways like this as though he was a disobedient child.
"Lan Zhan, let me walk!" Wei Wuxian protested, trying to liberate at least one arm, but he couldn't do much of anything with the way his body was dangling around, his back leaning against Lan Wangji's shoulder and his feet unable to get any leverage since they were not touching the floor.
"Er-gege, Wei Ying will give you your forehead ribbon back if you let him down! We probably look way too silly like this, Lan Zhan, and it's hard to talk, my back will break! Er-gege, you don't want my poor back to break, do you?"
"Body tension," Lan Wangji advised.
"That is not the issue right now!" Wei Wuxian protested, laughing. "Lan Zhan, come on, you were cruel to me first!"
"Wei Ying must be punished."
"Ahhh?" Wei Wuxian exclaimed. "I've touched your ribbon so many times already, though. Why are you angry now?" He tried squirming again, but Lan Wangji's arms around him were as unforgiving as an iron shackle.
Lan Wangji remained suspiciously silent.
Wei Wuxian tried to twist his head enough to catch a glimpse of his expression. "Wait, Lan Zhan. Are you hiding something?"
There came no answer.
Wei Wuxian smelled blood.
"Lan Zhan, am I not supposed to touch your ribbon?" he prodded, trying to remember whether there was anything more to the Lan sect's sacred headband. Lan Wangji had by now tied him up with it so many times that Wei Wuxian was sure he would have noticed anything unusual about it.
"Wei Ying knows the rules," Lan Wangji said, sounding a little disbelieving.
"The rules?" Wei Wuxian wondered, surprised.
Lan Wangji carried him towards the visiting sects' guest quarters, calmly walking past some staring cultivators while Wei Wuxian was busy thinking.
They had almost reached the guest rooms of the Gusu Lan sect when Wei Wuxian suddenly had a realization.
"Wait!" he called, squinting. "Isn't there…"
He felt tempted to use his fingers to count but since that wasn't possible at the moment, he contented himself with tilting his head back and forth.
"Change your clothes after taking a bath, your forehead ribbon reminds you of self-restraint, you are not allowed to use other people's ribbons without authorization," he recounted from memory. "You cannot use your headband in any other ways, ah, Lan Zhan, I think you've broken that one quite often already, hm, er-gege?"
"Continue," Lan Wangji just said.
"Continue? You mean the next rule? Next was… was it that rule about not more than three belt ornaments…? Ah! No wait, your forehead ribbon can only be touched by your parents, children and your fated person…"
A few moments of silence passed during which Lan Wangji continuing to steadily carry Wei Wuxian towards their rooms.
"Lan Zhan!" Wei Wuxian finally cackled. "You're so sly! Why did you never say?"
"I assumed you knew," Lan Wangji replied.
Wei Wuxian felt himself happily flushing.
Fated person.
Gripped by a sudden overwhelming desire he turned his head and said, "Hey, Lan Zhan. Do you think we should just elope?"
Lan Wangji froze in his steps.
Then he started walking again, twice as fast as before.
Wei Wuxian burst out laughing.
The two of them at last rounded the bend before their rooms would appear, when Lan Qiren's indignant voice suddenly rang from further down the hallway.
"Wangji! What are you doing!"
Ah, dang.
Lan Wangji finally let Wei Wuxian back to the floor.
"Shufu."
Turning to look over the other's shoulder, Wei Wuxian saw the old man and Lan Xichen walking towards them, both of them looking strangely relieved.
That was until Lan Qiren noticed his youngest nephew's bare forehead. "Wangji, where is—" he began to scold only for his eyes to fall towards Wei Wuxian's hand.
"You—tie that back where it belongs right this instant! You are in public!"
Lan Wangji nodded obediently, calmly taking the ribbon from Wei Wuxian who was trying hard to suppress his giggles.
As soon as all forehead ribbons were back in their rightful place Lan Qiren sighed, holding the bridge of his nose. "This is no time for games. Let's go inside."
Wei Wuxian curiously looked at the old man's tight expression before glancing at Lan Xichen's matching one, growing slightly concerned as he saw the latter's uncharacteristically furrowed eyebrows.
They entered Lan Qiren's guest room and Lan Wangji busied himself with preparing tea while the old man walked towards the table to take a seat, eyes still strangely solemn as he motioned for them to sit down too.
"Is something the matter?" Wei Wuxian asked after he and Lan Xichen had lowered themselves across from Lan Qiren.
"Shufu has news to report from the sect leaders' meeting," Lan Xichen answered, looking at Wei Wuxian with startling worry.
Lan Wangji paused where he had just placed a tea cup in front of his uncle.
"News?" he asked.
Lan Qiren cleared his throat.
Then he lifted his eyes and tensely looked at Wei Wuxian himself. "Wen Ruohan has requested that you accompany me to sit with the sect leaders during tomorrow's archery competition, Wuxian."
Wei Wuxian blinked.
Huh?