I will take care of you, I promise (Between a rock and a hard place 3)

Chapter 13

It took Wei Wuxian two more hours before he finally regained consciousness. During those two hours, Lan Xichen had plenty of time to think everything through. Now he was ready to let the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple forget everything about Lan Wangji and his terrible conduct. In the end, with a little bit of luck, he would not want to press any charges or demand any retribution and he would be able to go back to Lotus Pier blissfully ignorant.

If the positive motivation would not work, he also had a fall back plan. He could always threaten Wei Wuxian to not say anything to preserve his own reputation. Because it would not be good for him at all if other sects came to learn that he had been humiliated like this by Lan Wangji. He would be gossiped about and the Yunmeng Jiang sect would also suffer a blow because their head disciple was too weak to protect himself.

He however did not want to resort to this option. He had promised Wei Wuxian to take care of him and he was not about to go back on his word if not absolutely necessary. He had also come to like the bright and slightly mischievous boy with so much energy it would last others several days. He did not want to see him broken down by any rumours. Wei Wuxian was such a fine young man, there were surely many who wanted to marry him and it would be bad for him if his reputation was not pristine.

It was settled then, he had a plan and he was going to carry it through. It was just the matter of waiting for the boy to wake up.

Finally, he noticed that Wei Wuxian's eyelids were fluttering and he was giving out adorable small grumpy noises as if he did not want to get up yet. His body however had other plans and when his eyes opened at last, Lan Xichen had the medicinal herbal tea already prepared. He had to make Wei Wuxian drink it so it would be easier to convince him to forget everything.

The boy was confused and he was looking all around. After all, they had taken him away from the Jingshi while he had been still unconscious, he probably did not recognize his surroundings. He looked very sweet like that, a new-born kitten which had opened its eyes for the very first time and had been blinded by the sun before starting to inspect its home.

He still looked somewhat sleepy and it was without any doubt adorable. He sat up slowly and yawned, stretching his limbs in the process. Then he seemed to have finally realized that Lan Xichen was in the room with him. His eyes positively lit up and his whole face brightened.

"Lan Zhan?" he asked innocently with a lot of excitement and relief.

Lan Xichen did not hold it against him, he looked a lot like his brother and people often confused the two of them. But in this case, he could not let him think even for a second about Lan Wangji. He could not remember what had happened. So he smiled sweetly and corrected him: "No, Young Master Wei, I am Lan Xichen."

"Oh, Zewu-Jun," Wei Wuxian now seemed dejected and looked around once more, probably searching for Lan Wangji. Lan Xichen had to distract him immediately or his whole plan would come to ruins before it could even start.

"Young Master Wei, you can call me Lan Xichen, or Big Brother if you would prefer. I surely would. I will take care of you from now on. Here, drink this medicinal tea."

Lan Xichen held out the cup of steaming tea he had just prepared. He had been told by the healers that it was a quickly acting variety and he glad for that. Wei Wuxian was for some reason much more lively and less traumatized than Lan Xichen had expected. This was good and not good at the same time. It could be beneficial to his plan if the boy had not yet remembered what had happened but it could also ruin everything if he had recalled this morning and just accepted it. Or perhaps was he already preparing himself to complain to his family?

"I am not thirsty..." Wei Wuxian was watching him with something akin to suspicion in his eyes. "I want to see Lan Zhan." He demanded with the same breath.

If not for the Gusu Lan sect rules, Lan Xichen would have cursed. It seemed like the boy was not one who wanted to let himself be distracted from his goal. Nor was Lan Xichen however. He pushed the cup of tea closer to the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple and prompted again, more urgently and with more authority this time: "Drink!"

He had not actually meant to shout, it just somehow happened. It however seemed to have served the intended purpose.

Wei Wuxian flinched a little and obediently took the cup. He drowned it in one go. When he was giving it back with a small nod of his head he whispered, not actually looking at Lan Xichen: "Thank you, Big Brother."

The First Jade was satisfied now even though he had not expected to see such a subdued and polite Wei Wuxian this soon. He nodded and took the cup back. While he waited for the medicine to kick in, he busied himself with putting away the rest of the tea blend for later and cleaning the cup and the utensils he had used to prepare the tea. For that moment, Wei Wuxian remained silent.

After a while, he finally seemed to have found his voice again: "Big Brother, what happened? Where is Lan Zhan?"

Lan Xichen sighed inaudibly, Wei Wuxian was like a broken record, repeating the same thing over and over again. A little irritated, he scoffed: "We will not talk about this."

Once again, his voice was sharper than he had intended but he did not mind this time. He remembered how docile Wei Wuxian had become before and he was sure that the result would be the same. He had been right because silence filled the room yet again.

After another long while, Lan Xichen heard a supressed curse and a rustling of fabric. He had to suppress a chuckle, Wei Wuxian had apparently only now realized that he was still stark naked under the blankets. Lan Xichen had not wanted to wake him so he had just tugged him inside the bed as he had been. He had of course prepared new robes in the meantime but he had not attempted to put them on himself, it would have surely disturbed Wei Wuxian's sleep.

He picked up the prepared clothes and turned around. He made sure to not stare too much as he approached the bed and presented the robes to a blushing Wei Wuxian. The boy made an effort to reach for them but he suddenly took his head in his hands. Lan Xichen was celebrating internally, the medicine had started working. When Wei Wuxian took his hands away, there was a hazed look in his eyes and they were unfocused.

He tried to take the robes again but failed miserably. Lan Xichen made sure he was smiling and that his voice was pleasant to the ear when he proposed: "You are tired, Little, Brother, let Big Brother take care of you. I will help you put on your robes."

Wei Wuxian nodded weakly his acknowledgment and got out of the bed with Lan Xichen's help. His legs were unsteady so Lan Xichen immediately realized he would not be able to put the pants on for him. It would not be much of a problem, Wei Wuxian would not need them for the foreseeable future anyway. He contented himself with wrapping the boy in an inner robe.

It had proven to be quite a challenge as the Yunmeng Jiang sect head disciple could not keep his balance well because of the medicine, his eyes were also closing on their own. He was holding onto Lan Xichen's shoulders for more stability but even so, the First Jade needed to keep him steady himself as well. He could not help but to enjoy touching the smooth skin underneath and caressing it every so often.

While he was fastening the belt, his hand brushed over Wei Wuxian's manhood purely by accident. A repressed 'ah' left the boy's lips, he was hard again.