See, dragons are a thing of myth, of legend. So Wei Ying doesn’t really expect it one afternoon when he’s taking a detour walking back from school to avoid Wen Chao & his crew, ends up in a forest, and accidentally stumbles upon a dragon.

Notes:

Old threadfic; wip

see, dragons are a thing of myth, of legend.

so Wei Ying doesn’t really expect it one afternoon when he’s taking a detour walking back from school to avoid Wen Chao & his crew, ends up in a forest, and accidentally stumbles upon a dragon.

an injured dragon, at that. the dragon is winter white, scales gleaming almost silver, with ice blue ridges. if Wei Ying knew anything about dragons – which he totally does because he had a dragon phase when he was 9 – he’d think that this dragon looks kinda young. like, teenage equivalent it’s youngness must also be why it hasn’t yet noticed Wei Ying, from where he’s hiding in the shrubbery. Wei Ying is still pretty sure he’s seeing things, but each time he blinks, the dragon’s still there, licking its claw that looks angled kind of weird.

Wei Ying should – he takes a step back.

of course, it’s only his luck that behind him is a leaf that crunches under his sneakers.

the dragon’s head snaps up, staring in his direction, eyes narrowed

Wei Ying gulps. there’s no way he can run home and tell Jiang Cheng he found a dragon w/o getting caught. he can’t say w/ confidence that he can outrun an injured dragon. how fast do dragons run? Wei Ying doesn’t know, he wishes this was in the books he read religiously when he was 9.

so he’s pretty sure the dragon has noticed him, esp when it sniffs the air & looks straight at him. there’s no backing out now, so Wei Ying steels himself & makes his way into the clearing

the moment he steps out, the dragon is on him. he’s choking, Wei Ying realizes, a diamond hard claw wrapped around his neck. he’s too young to die at 17 but by dragon it’s a p cool way to go

(he’s deliriously aware no reasonable person is going to think a dragon killed him. Jiang Cheng can have his comic books.)

well, if he’s gonna die at least he found a mythical creature in the process. the dragon’s grip tightens, rearing its head back, & Wei Ying thinks, this is the end the dragon hesitates, though. Wei Ying still has his eyes closed, is very aware that after a minute or so, he’s still alive. when the grip around his neck slackens, he opens his eyes.

the dragon’s eyes are golden, pupil slits relaxing. dilating.

he releases Wei Ying & flees. Wei Ying doesn’t tell anyone, of course; who would believe him? after a couple of weeks trawling to the forest but not running into the dragon again, he’s starting to not believe it.

of course, that’s when he runs into the dragon again. the dragon is deeper in the forest, by a pond this sunlit afternoon. it’s the weekend again & Wei Ying is only exploring in the forest, not looking for the dragon again (he tells himself.)

this time the dragon notices him at the same time Wei Ying finds it again. the dragon doesn’t move, so Wei Ying’s pretty sure it won’t kill him; it didn’t last time. taking his chances, Wei Ying says, “hi”

of course, it doesn’t respond

Wei Ying’s pretty sure there are pheasants in this forest; he & Jiang Cheng liked to harass them when they were young. “i’ll be right back,” he says. it takes a bit for him to find a pheasant, and even then the dragon blinks at him when he presents it to him, like, what do you want me to do about this?

“kill it, of course!” Wei Ying says

the dragon gives him a disdainful look, then inclines his head to the pile of berries near its snout

“oh,” says Wei Ying, then runs off into the forest to scavenge as many berries as possible.

when he brings them back, the dragon eyes them distrustfully. he sniffs them – “cmon, do i have the face of a killer?” Wei Ying whines, when he does. but the dragon seems to sense its safe. it scarfs down the berries Wei Ying spent 20mins picking in a second.

“goddamn,” Wei Ying says.

he goes back to pick berries. the dragon swallows them all down again. they do this for the next couple hours, til the dragon lets Wei Ying’s offerings sit by his curled up body instead of eating

“this still feel crazy to me,” Wei Ying says. “i’m playing nicewitha dragon?? and now you must think i’m crazy bc i’m talking to you but you can’t respond”

the dragon blinks, like it’s agreeing with this assessment.

“i feel like i should name you,” says Wei Ying. Wei Ying is not Daoist, hardly religious, but he remembers a proverb – the dragon is the seagulls who like him, but Wei Ying knows he won’t be able to tame it. he shouldn’t. it took him weeks to find the dragon again, a blessing on its own

“i’ll call you Wangji,” he decides Wangji the dragon blinks in approval (or at least, that’s what Wei Ying tells himself.)

“where are you from?” Wei Ying wonders. “why are you here? why did i find you… and what happened to your claw?”

he moves close; as if by instinct, the dragon flinches. holding his hands out, Wei Ying goes “whoa, it’s okay, i just wanna take a look.” he keeps his hands stuck out though bc Wangji’s pupils are still slits.

slowly, tho, they dilate again. Wei Ying takes a look at Wangji’s claw w/o complaint. it’s crooked but doesn’t look too bad. however, something about the dragon still feels off. Wei Ying’s pretty sure dragons are supposed to fly, and even with a crooked claw, that shouldn’t impair it.

“what,” he mutters, and touches Wangji for the first time.

it’s on the scales by its claw; spiritual energy surges thru him it’s qi, but it feels off – he breaks away when he hears Wangji let out a small whimper of pain.

“there’s smth wrongwithur qi,” says Wei Ying, as if Wangji didn’t know already. “that’s keeping you from flying… you poor thing”

Wangji scoffs at this. Wei Ying didn’t know dragons could scoff. Wei Ying touches Wangji again, its cold hard scales that could probably pierce him open if he moved his hand the wrong way. closing his eyes, he concentrates on his dantian, what he remembers from pe/mandatory martial arts classes

under his palm, Wangji lets out a small trill

“did that work?” Wei Ying says, gleeful. “i can’t believe that worked! did i heal you? i found a dragon and i healed it, oh my god, no one’s gonna believe me.”

the dragon is ecstatic too, launching up in the air. Wei Ying laughs as it flies for a good few secs – then plummets back down. Wangji’s sharp cry of pain makes Wei Ying’s heart hurt. “oh no,” he says, running over. the claw doesn’t seem any more broken, but now Wangji is even more distraught than before, snapping when Wei Ying gets closer.

“hey, i’m trying to help,” Wei Ying says, & Wangji relents, disgruntled it seems that Wei Ying giving Wangji his qi for a short time allows Wangji to fly for just as long. Wei Ying wonders if Wangji is open to let him ride him to give him that continuous amount of qi – but they haven’t reached that stage of their rship yet.

he should try to pet him, actually. (btw – Wangji is a chinese dragon in this! the serpentine type w/ 4 legs – they don’t have wings, they just fly via magic. or, in this case, spiritual energy)

“can i pet you?” Wei Ying asks, then wants to hit himself in the face. “not like you can answer. haha! um.”

he makes eye contact; Wangji’s pupils are normal sized in his golden eyes, meeting his gaze. Wei Ying approaches him head-on.

slowly, he outstretched his hand. “i know you’ve got a bit of a temper, but please don’t bite me,” Wei Ying says, trying to keep his voice from getting too high-pitched. he inches closer and turns his face away, closes his eyes.

his palm meets the solidness of the cold, sharp scales.

exhaling, Wei Ying opens his eyes Wangji has his head tilted inquisitively, sort of looking cross-eyed at Wei Ying’s hand.

“wow,” Wei Ying breathes, running his hands over the hard scales. they ripple under his hand. “i’m-i’m petting a dragon now? what the fuck”

after a moment, Wangji closes his eyes. purrs. Wei Ying barks out a soft laugh. “you’re just a big cat, aren’t you?” Wangji cracks a disdainful eye open, but lets out another involuntary purr.

Wei Ying giggles. “maybe i’ll try to get you a big ball of yarn to play with.”

Wangji only presses his head harder into Wei Ying’s palm so – so Wei Ying has a dragon now. as a friend, not a pet, he has to remind himself. he’s pretty sure if he even remotely thinks in terms of “owning” Wangji, Wangji will make like the birds & never see him again.

he likes having this as a secret between them, too. just for them. the thing is, though.

dragons aren’t known to be good. sure, common people view them as a symbol of power and pride, but cultivators—modern day cultivators, like Wei Ying is raised to be, know the truth. dragons are terrible and ferocious and pillaging. there’s legends of the first two dragons who terrorized cultivators, so much so that Wei Ying still learns about the legend of lan an in school today. dragons aren’t real, but if they are, they’re a cultivator’s worst enemy Wei Ying’s never been one to care for what he’s taught in school, tho; he passes his history examwithflying colors and thinks of Wangji by the pond.

he’s not sure how long this’ll keep up; but he’s shouldn’t think about the future. this friendshipwithWangji, right now, is enough his daily ventures into the forest don’t go unnoticed, though.

“where the fuck were you?” jiang cheng asks as Wei Ying comes home near midnight again. “i can’t keep covering for you. mom’s pissed”

“i told you, just trust me,” Wei Ying mumbles. and after school –

“oh, is wei-mei going into the woods again?” laughs Wen Chao. “like a little hobo?”

“gendered and classist insults are overrated,” Wei Ying replies, and shoves past him into the woods.

he knows sooner or later he should probably tell – someone, though. but it only lurks in the back of his mind, so he dismisses it.

“it’s good, just you and me, Wangji, isn’t it?” he says, petting him one afternoon.

as usual, Wangji doesn’t reply, just allows his snout to be rubbed. “anyone else would try to capture or kill you, anyway,” Wei Ying murmurs, thinking of school. “Wen Chao would, definitely. but you’d eat him before he could do that, wouldn’t you?”

Wangji peers at him, like a reminder that he doesn’t eat meat. “okay, well! Wen Chao is a bully, he probably has no nutritional value anyway. but i don’t either since half of my diet is candy.”

Wangji’s eyes are closed again as Wei Ying continues petting him. but when they hear a sound in the bushes – his ears prick up. Wei Ying turns. emerging from the brambles is a fox, seemingly unaware of the threat that is the dragon. Wangji looks at it with interest, and sits up.

“you wanna make friends with the fox?” Wei Ying asks, and Wangji doesn’t answer but Wei Ying can see curiosity in his eyes. they both approach the fox. it’s noticed them now, just as inquisitive as Wangji. slowly, they get closer.

then–

Wangji makes a noisewithhis snout, like a sneeze. it is a sneeze, Wei Ying realizes when a small flame bursts out alongwitha sound that might be a dragon wheeze. the fox scurries off. Wangji looks disappointed.

“looks like you’re allergic to foxes!” Wei Ying laughs.

Wangji turns his face away in embarrassment.

“hey, it’s okay, allergies are normal,” says Wei Ying. “we’ll find you an animal friend you’re not allergic to, don’t worry.” so they try, even tho not a lot of animals come to this neck of the woods. Wangji sneezes at weasels & primates & martens, frightens them all off.

then comes the fateful afternoon when a bunny hops into a clearing. as usual, they approach it.

Wangji… doesn’t sneeze. “finally!” Wei Ying beams.

Wangji’s eyes are a little wide now – like he doesn’t know what to do now that his body hasn’t disappointed him. “well we can’t just come any closer to it,” Wei Ying says to him. “bunnies are pretty skittish creatures.” but when the bunny’s ears perk up at Wangji, it doesn’t run off. in fact, it hops closer.

another bunny appears.

“do the bunnies like you?” Wei Ying says in wonder as they observe Wangji. they don’t touch him, but as a few more pop out of the bushes, they sniff & chitter at him Wangji chitters back.

“do they think you’re one of them? oh my god.” Wei Ying doubles over laughing, but Wangji doesn’t seem to be bothered as the bunnies accept him as one of their own.

& so the bunnies become a staple of his visits to Wangji, too. not all the time but its not a surprise if Wei Ying comes back into the clearing & finds the bunnies gathered alongside the dragon. Wei Ying wants to draw the sight so he does. he gives the drawing to Wangji, who’s curls upwithit in his long serpentine body like he’s guarding it with his life the afternoons with Wangji are filled with moments of peace, of playfulness; one time Wei Ying lobs a berry at Wangji’s head and Wangji gives him one of his usual disdainful looks.

when Wei Ying goes back to his drawing, he feels something hit the side of his head. a berry rolls to the ground next to him.

Wangji’s pointedly not looking at him, but Wei Ying knows it was him.

“Wangji!” he exclaims. “i can’t believe you, bullying an innocent human like me like that-“

this time Wei Ying sees it when Wangji picks up a berry and pelts it at himwithhis claw. Wei Ying cackles and throws one back, but this time Wangji catches it neatly into his giant mouth (seriously, it’s like, the size of Wei Ying’s head)

“we’re doing that now, huh?” he tries to catch the next berry Wangji throws at him with his mouth, but misses. it hits his ear that becomes a thing now, too: every so often one of them will throw a berry at the other (usually Wei Ying at Wangji) and play this game of trying to catch berries in their mouths. (Wei Ying’s pretty sure these berries are edible for humans)

he knows he could also do homework here. but it’s more fun drawing, and soon his sketchbooks are filled with art of Wangji, curled up and asleep; or a close up of his face–and then, when one of Wangji’s large scales drop off, a study in color.

this, Wei Ying does remember from his dragon phase: they shed scales. it’s been several weeks now, and Wei Ying is sketching out ideas for a saddle this time. he hides his sketchbook from Wangji (bc he sometimes likes watching Wei Ying draw) as he does, so it’s a surprise when he hears a pinging, a rattling.

Wangji is undisturbed as he scratches one of his scales off. Wei Ying’s eyes widen.

“your scale!” he says, but Wangji ignores him. right, shedding. Wei Ying goes over and picks it up.

it’s roughly the side of his palm, maybe a little bigger, shimmering in the sunlight. even though Wangji appears white, the scale looks like it has all colors of the rainbow, a study in color before his eyes.

“i’m gonna draw this instead,” he declares, and Wangji looks inordinately pleased.

this time, Wei Ying does let him watch as he sketches and colors. he gives this drawing to Wangji too. he goes through sketchbooks, drawing at school when he’s not with Wangji, and when he’s with him. he tears out the saddle ideas, but gives the sketchbooks to Wangji, who treats each of them like a delicate treasure, curled up in his body, protecting with his life. eventually, though.

eventually one of the ideas for Wei Ying’s saddle settles.

Wei Ying likes to tinker with inventions, making fun booby traps for jiang cheng in their shared room when they were younger (and still does, occasionally.) cultivation, too, makes use of technology

& inventions; cultivation engineering is Wei Ying’s favorite subj in school (but not best, bc he’s equally good at all of them, to the ire of his teachers.)

so it’s not too much work to tell his engineering teacher that he’s interested in doing a side project. cangse sanren loves him he doesn’t tell Wangji beforehand because he’s pretty sure that Wangji will take one look at the sketch of Wei Ying riding him and burn it to ashes. but Wangji does need qi to fly again; he should fly again. also, Wei Ying kinda really wants to ride a dragon. css takes one look at his sketch & goes “that’s looks brilliant!” & doesn’t ask why he wants to make a dragon saddle. he kinda loves her too

so he helps himself to lab materials: laminated wood, rawhide, leather & the like. if he skips class, css doesn’t ask; he doesn’t tell her the saddle also comes with a harness to go around his lower dantian, so he can channel his qi into Wangji when riding him (go with me here). it’s a soft sky blue, and Wei Ying thinks an intricate white cloud pattern would fit so he adds it too

it’s not for him; it’s for Wangji evenwithhis hyperfocus it takes some time to make; it’s dec now, Jiang Cheng having long since stopped asking where Wei Ying keeps disappearing to (as long as Wei Ying’s not doing drugs)

when the saddle is finished, he’s too excited to wait: he brings it to Wangji after school, proud of his handiwork

“Wangji!” he says excitedly, broaching the clearing. “look what i made!”

Wangji from where he’d been napping – he really is catlike – blinks an eye open. then two, wide, when he sees the saddle in Wei Ying’s hands.

“do you like it?” Wei Ying asks he doesn’t expect Wangji to actually answer, but his whiskers do twitch, as if in approval. he seems particularly taken with the cloud pattern, by the way his eyes roam over the seat with appreciation.

“it’s for you!” Wei Ying thrusts it out. he doesn’t expect Wangji to take it with one of his front claws; but that’s what he does, talons gently sinking into the leather.

Wei Ying laughs. “no, no, not for your hoard,” gesturing to the small pile of sketchbooks that Wangji is perched on. “for you to wear! so i can ride you!” Wangji’s expression is dubious.

Wei Ying pets his snout and grins. “lemme show you.”

he makes his way to the middle of Wangji’s body, around where his neck might be. Wangji turns his head to watch. Wei Ying tosses the saddle onto his body. Wangji makes an unhappy growl. “it’s ok,” Wei Ying tells him. “i’m just putting it on.” he grabs the leather straps and nudges Wangji to lift himself up so he can loop it around his body. this time the noise Wangji lets out sounds like it’s coming from his chest, even more discomfited. “i know it’s tight, but it’ll be fine.” Wei Ying tries to soothe him by petting his scales. the fit is admittedly tight; he wishes he’d measured instead of trying to go off his memory. Wangji is no happier with the bridle but his golden eyes become guarded, like his trust in Wei Ying is slipping away. “it’s okay, i promise,” Wei Ying tries.

he finishes fastening the saddle together. “there we go, how does it feel?”

Wangji’s grunt does not sound happy. “well, fine, but let’s see how it works.” even though it’s admittedly small, it should be fine, right?

he puts his foot in the footholder and begins climbing on.

as soon as he swings his other leg around Wangji’s body, Wangji thrashes. “hey!!!” Wei Ying tries to yell, but Wangji is paying him no mind – he easily tosses Wei Ying off, who falls with a thump on the grass. his claws scrabble and tear at the saddle wound around his body, and Wei Ying watches as his hard work is destroyed before his eyes. “Wangji!” Wei Ying yells, but Wangji’s not listening; strips of sky blue leather and cloud patterns fall to the ground until the saddle is off of him, torn to pieces.

Wei Ying runs, gathers them up, watches them slip through his fingers. “why did you do that?” he shouts angrily at Wangji. “i need to give you my qi so you can fly again! and i need to ride you to do that! don’t you want your magic back? don’t you want to fly back to where you came from?”

Wangji looks bewildered at Wei Ying’s loud voice. but then he huffs and turns away, instead of doing whatever the dragon equivalent of apologizing is.

“don’t ignore me!” “don’t ignore me!” Wei Ying throws a shred of the saddle at him. Wangji doesn’t even look at him. “you even liked it, you hypocrite, until i put it on you– and i don’t know if you understand everything i’m saying, but don’t you want to feel this again?”

he goes to put a hand at the side of Wangji’s body – the moment they make contact, Wangji flinches away.

hurt, Wei Ying pulls back. Wangji does look at him now, something regretful in his eyes.

“i’m going home,” Wei Ying decides, and leaves Wangji, the ruined saddle, in the clearing. Wei Ying doesn’t return to the clearing for the next week. it’s begun to snow, surely gorgeous backdrop against Wangji’s silver scales–but then he thinks of the destroyed saddle, lying in pieces

his chest hurts & his stomach hurts & he tries to put Wangji out of his mind. of course, jiang cheng notices that he’s home on time now. still, it takes him a full week later to corner Wei Ying at home and go, “ok, smth about your secret made you upset. tell me what it is right now”

“i can’t,” Wei Ying says miserably. “you’ll call me stupid or smth”

“i already know you’re stupid,” even tho they both know that’s not true. Jiang Cheng crosses his arms. “at least tell me if there’s someone i need to beat up.”

“you wouldn’t be able–” Wei Ying cuts himself off & sighs. “no. it’s not a concern anymore.” Jiang Cheng eyes him. “u know i expect you to tell me at some point, right?”

“u wouldn’t believe me,” Wei Ying mutters, but they leave it at that.

after a bit, Wei Ying’s stomach hurts less when he thinks of the saddle. it hadn’t been right, he realizes, to just assume that Wangji is like any other animal, will submit if Wei Ying wants to ride him. dragons are prideful creatures; despite what he thinks of school, there’s probably still some truth in that. Wangji accepts gentle pets bc they’re affectionate, but sitting on someone w/o warning is something entirely different. plus, the way the saddle had been torn almost immediately has Wei Ying having 2nd thoughts. perhaps leather & wood isn’t the way to go; Wangji isn’t a horse.

& Wei Ying knows sooner or later he’ll be back in the clearing, apologizing. trying to find a way to give Wangji his qi again. so he swallows his pride and goes after school a couple of weeks later, ignoring Wen Chao’s jeers as he steps off the bus. remains of dead leaves crunch under his boots with the snow as he makes his way into the woods. as he walks, a thought occurs to him: what if Wangjis not there anymore? what if the trust btwn them is so irreparably shattered that Wangji’s just fucked off elsewhere, like the birds, never to see him again? Wei Ying’s pace quickens, feet still remembering the path to their clearing. but Wangji is still there. he’s a majestic sight, curdled up, sleeping. there’s snow caked onto his scales like he’s been sleeping for days; it hadn’t snowed yet today.

the pieces of the saddle are not there, likely buried under the snow. Wangji doesn’t stir as Wei Ying approaches; Wei Ying walks up to him, sure that the crunch of his boots will wake Wangji.

but he doesn’t; Wei Ying rests a hand on his scales, next to his face. “Wangji,” he whispers.

his body is warm – not hot enough to burn, but his scales certainly hadn’t been this warm before. there’s the deep exhale of his snout, puffs of white drifting through the air.

“Wangji,” Wei Ying tries again. “i’m sorry.”

he notices it when Wangji’s eyes tighten in his sleep, breathing get a little faster, warmth rippling in his scales. slowly, Wangji’s eyes blink open.

Wei Ying notices how they widen at the sight of him.

“if you wanna kill me i wouldn’t blame you,” Wei Ying says, but Wangji lets out a little purr and butts his large head against Wei Ying’s chest. it nearly knocks him over, but it’s worth it.

“i’m sorry for making you wear the saddle when you were clearly uncomfortable,” Wei Ying says, because he’s pretty sure Wangji is intelligent enough to get what he’s trying to say, even if he doesn’t know human speak. “and i’m sorry for sitting on you–that’s probably something i should’ve asked first, isn’t it?”

Wangji nudges his head against him again like he’s apologizing too. then reaching into the coil of his body, where he usually keeps Wei Ying’s sketchbooks, he pulls out–

–the tattered pieces of the saddle.

“oh god.” Wei Ying buries his head in his hands. “i know it was a mistake, i’m sorry. wood’s probably uncomfortable for you, isn’t it.” he allows Wangji to drop the shreds in his arms. “if you want to, like, burn these or have me trash them when i get home, i can do that, i don’t blame you.”

Wangji’s eyes widen again. he takes the pieces of the saddle back, places them delicately on the snow, before resting his body on it and giving Wei Ying a pointed look. “… or it can be part of your horde, i guess!” Wei Ying will not understand dragons. at least, Wangji. “i’m just embarrassed that i made something you clearly don’t like.”

Wangji huffs and lays his head on what used to be the saddle seat, as if saying, i still like it. “youre weird,” Wei Ying tells him with a grin. “but hey, thats why we work so well together.” he strokes Wangji’s snout, abt the size of a bicycle. he focuses on his dantian as he pets, & the small trill Wangji lets out—Wei Ying’s p sure he’ll never be able to stay mad at Wangji for long. “you know, my brother keeps asking about you,” he says. “well, not about you but it’s not normal for humans to stay outside as late as i do with you, you know?” Wangji is watching him as he talks and pets; Wei Ying is sure to gives him little bursts of qi,

& feels it as Wangji’s body trembles, heats a bit more as he takes it.

“yeah, Jiang Cheng goes to the private school for the kids of the major sects.” Wei Ying rolls his eyes. “not that everyone does, tho, i fuckin wish Wen Chao went. i’m pretty sure he only goes to the public school bc he knew he’d be heralded like a god.”

Wangji looks like his opinion of Wen Chao is not high, either.

“i know,” Wei Ying laughs. “but it’s ok, school is easy, anyway. and i don’t mind that madam yu wanted me to go to public school instead. my sister went, and she turned out fine.” given, yanli had spent 3 months working their parents to let her go to public school bc she thought the private academy was overrated & also, jin zixuan was there & in her year. “man, i miss my sister,” Wei Ying says. “but she’ll be home for winter break! and maybe i’ll bring her to meet you, who knows” yanli wouldn’t freak out if Wei Ying told her he befriended a dragon. probably.

Wei Ying runs his hands over Wangji’s scales again. his palm moves upwards and he hesitates; but Wangji notices, nods his head down, and lets Wei Ying stroke his horns.

“i missed you,” Wei Ying says, and Wangji lets out a small purr, deep in his chest, like he’s saying “i missed you too” Wei Ying’s fav season is not winter because he likes it when the sun beats down on his back as he lounges in the jiangs’ swimming pool; but it is a close thing, with the landscapes winter has to offer.

plus, as he’d imagined, Wangji is a vision against the bright glittering snow

“my sister’s coming home from university today,” he tells Wangji as he playswitha bunny in his lap. Wangji is watching him–the two of them, really. “so i’ll probably have to leave earlier than usual. hey, do dragons go to school? is there like a dragon equivalent of university?” as usual, Wangji blinks at him disdainfully.

Wei Ying laughs. “i know, i know. stupid question, & the answer’s probably no. probably”

he lets the bunny back down in the snow & goes back to his sketchbook. he’s abt to go back to his drawing, but eyes his flute case thoughtfully. “hey, you’d understand music though, right?”

Wei Ying pries his flute case open. Wangji is watching with interest as he takes it out.

“if we’re gonna be friends, you’re gonna have to understand human customs,” Wei Ying reasons. “& ok, music isn’t really a custom, but.” after he puts the flute together, he trills a few notes to test it out.

Wangji’s eyes widen at the sound.

“your face!” Wei Ying laughs. “don’t worry, music is–well it’s not completely harmless,” he thinks of his extracurricular music cultivation classes “–but it can be” he brings the flute to his lips and plays the first thing that comes to mind, some mozart piece that he learned about 5 years ago. he’s playing off of memory & definitely fucks up in a few places, but makes it to the end.

“so?” he says, grinning

Wangji–Wangji looks awestruck. “that good, huh?” Wei Ying says, pleased. “dragons should have smth like music i think. maybe you have like a hidden talent we haven’t tapped into. what do you think, Wangji? you should try doing something similar!”

Wangji opens his mouth & makes a noise. it sounds like a dying cat Wei Ying falls over laughing. “perfect!” he exclaims, even tho Wangji’s expression is embarrassed. “no, that’s – that’s exactly what i was going for.”

Wangji now looks unimpressed.

he butts his snout, hard into Wei Ying’s chest, making him roll over in the snow. “Wangji!” Wei Ying squawks, but he’s still laughing. Wangji nudges him again, & Wei Ying’s pretty sure there’s snow in his jeans & up his sweater. he doesn’t remember the last time he felt this happy.

“i’ll get you for this, you know,” he says, rolling a snowball behind his back

“one day… eventually… or–now!”

he flings the snowball at Wangji, dead between the eyes. Wangji blinks at him like he can’t believe Wei Ying just did that.

Wei Ying giggles again. “ever heard of a snowball fight Wangji?”

Wangji brings his head down. Wei Ying thinks he’s just gonna dismiss it as one of those human antics–

and then he’s met with a faceful of snow.

“hey!” he cries. his sides hurt from laughing. “i can’t–believe you–“

he pelts Wangji with another snowball & Wangji flings another pile of snow at him. and on and on they go–altho at one point Wangji’s ears prick up and he stops until Wei Ying throws another snowball at him–until Wangji gets fed up and pushes himwithhis snout again. Wei Ying yelps & laughs & Wangji takes his big ol snakelike tongue & licks the snow off of him

“did you just lick me!” Wei Ying asks indignantly, and Wangji replies with a full face lick to the face, which is ridiculous bc Wei Ying doesn’t even have any snow there anymore. “Wangji! you’re so gross” but he laughs as he wipes his face of the sticky dragon spit. Wangji looks pretty pleased with himself anyhow.

“now i look like a mess,” Wei Ying looks down at himself, thowiththe excitement of yanli returning today, it’s likely that hardly anyone will pay any attn.

he pets Wangji’s snout, and Wangji does one of his dragon purrs. concentrating, Wei Ying sends him some of his qi, palm on Wangji’s scales.

“i know you can’t fly, but we’ll figure it out,” he tells Wangji. “something else, since you don’t want to be ridden. it’s you & me, Wangji, ok? we’ll get you back home”

Wangji licks his nose in reply. Wei Ying wants to stay later, but the clouds in the pale sky are turning darkerwiththe promise of evening, and he wants to be home when yanli arrives.

“i gotta go, but i’ll see you soon, alright?” he says,

Wangji lets out a little growl of assent.

w one last pat, Wei Ying departs. yanli’s homecoming is accompanied by just as much fanfare as she deserves: the house gets cleaned from top to bottom, Wei Ying takes a fresh shower from being doused with Wangji’s spit, and jiang cheng actually seems to be in a good mood for once.

yanli laughs as her brothers tackle her into a hug. “with that kind of enthusiasm you’d think i’ve been gone to war,” she teases.

“you might as well, school is a battle anyway,” Jiang Cheng grumbles.

Wei Ying elbows him. “don’t tell me you got another 95% on an exam.”

“i didn’t!” Jiang Cheng protests, which means he did. “boys, boys, stop bickering.” yanli’s face glows as she looks at her brothers. “what have you been up to, a-cheng, a-ying? driving our parents crazy with your rivalry again?” jfm is at work, but yzy is up in yanli’s room, making sure the servants r putting yl’s stuff back properly even tho yanli insists it doesn’t matter, since she’s only back for 2 weeks
“we would,” Jiang Cheng starts, “except Wei Ying’s been–“
“busy!” Wei Ying interrupts.
yanli’s eyebrows fly up. “busywithwhat?”
“nothing interesting,” Wei Ying says, tho now both his siblings r watching him shrewdly. “must be pretty not interesting for the past two months” Jiang Cheng says skeptically

“it’s really nothing! it’s fine” Wei Ying laughs and scratches his cheek, where Wangji had licked him earlier. it’s just–he wants this to be his and Wangji’s secret; a little bit longer. “tell us how terrible uni’s been” he says to yanli, and yanli respects his change in subject, sits herself down in the living room, and starts, “so you’ll never guess who’s in my cultivation & philosophy class…”*

(*its jin zixuan) having yanli home is like summers when they were younger, the three of them getting up to mischief in the swimming pool and the forests, playing make believe. they’re older now and mostly venture to the malls & night markets, but Wei Ying likes it just as much–he’d almost forgotten what it was like, banteringwithJiang Cheng again

so if he skips a day or four of his afternoonswithWangji–especially since winter break begins–it’s probably no big deal. he’d been going every day, even on the weekends, since the saddle incident, so Wangji’s probs sick of him too. it’s good to take a break from each other, Wei Ying tells himself when his thoughts wander to Wangji, while he’s playing cardswithhis siblings.

(and maybe in the evenings he regrets it, tells himself he’ll go back tmrw–then the next day he gets distracted, forgets, again) but then it’s the day before his school’s winter break. jfm has taken the day off & he and yzy are treating yanli out to a day in the city while Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying are at school.

so Wei Ying takes his usual detour after school into the forest, into the clearing, to see Wangji again. he’s excited to tell him all about yanli–when Wei Ying eventually introduces his siblings to Wangji, he thinks Wangji will like her. he might not like Jiang Cheng, but Jiang Cheng’s totally not likable. Wei Ying clowns him about it all the time. but he hears a commotion as he approaches the clearing. sounds of people talking, metal scraping, and–is that Wen Chao’s ugly laugh?

heart racing, Wei Ying’s pace quickens into a run as his boots crunch on the snow, through the brambles and trees, to his & Wangji’s pond. his heart stops at the sight in the clearing.

Wangji is–Wangji is chained down to a large cart, approximately the size of a car, twisting, or at least trying to, in agony. he has a crude metal muzzle around his snout, attached to the chains, making small whining noises of pain there are men crowded around his cart, talking & laughing.

“Wangji” Wei Ying breathes, and Wangji’s pained golden eyes flicker to him

but it doesn’t matter, bc Wen Chao spots him too, smirking at the sight of Wei Ying with his backpack and winter jacket, feeling numb

“wei-mei, you’ve finally come back” Wen Chao gloats. “we were beginning to think you had forgotten about ur little pet dragon. isn’t that right–what did you call him again?–oh, right, Wangji?”

he smacks the side of Wangji’s body. Wei Ying flinches at the loud noise it makes

“of course, it’s not like it was easy getting your little pet monster in chains. gave us some trouble, didn’t you?” he glowers at Wangji, and despite the situation, Wei Ying feels proud that Wangji put up a fight.

“but we’ve got him all tied up now,” says Wen Chao. “unlike you, we’re actually going to do something worthwhile with the first dragon anyone’s seen in millenniums”

Wei Ying can’t breathe, can’t–his mind is racing, and it feels like the ground is falling from beneath his feet

“how–you followed me?” he says Wen Chao snorts. “of course. i wanted to see what you were doingwithyour little hobo life–and imagine this, wei-mei hiding a dragon, all to himself”

“he can fly away, you know” Wei Ying says desperately “just wait–wherever you’re taking him, he’s gonna burn you to ashes & escape–“

(animal abuse cw)

“do I look stupid?”

“yes” Wei Ying can’t help but say

Wen Chao scowls. then his eyes light up, and he tugs on one of Wangji’s whiskers, hard

Wangji howls. horrified, Wei Ying shouts “stop, you’re hurting him!”

“then shut the fuck up,” Wen Chao sneers “i heard you, you know say that your little dragon friend can’t fly. so don’t try that shit with me”

“what are you gonna dowithhim?” fear grapples Wei Ying’s chest, the reality of Wangji in the hands of cultivators, of Wen Chao, firing his mind offwithevery possibility. his hands r shaking, he realizes

(animal abuse cw)

Wen Chao’s smirk turns dangerous. he turns to Wangji, runs a palm down his side

then he finds a scale, grasps it, and tugs

dragon scales used to be–are one of the hardest materials in the world. but with days of whittling down Wangji’s spiritual energy, esp

(animal abuse cw)

w the qi draining chains, the scale pulls away cleanly, glimmering silver against the pale white snow

“this could sell for a pretty penny, don’t you think? & how majestic do you think ur Wangji would look, burning down troops in a battlefield”

“u can’t make him do anything!” Wei Ying shouts. “he’s harmless, he wouldn’t hurt anyone, no matter how high ranking ur father is–“

“oh yeah?” Wen Chao pulls out something from his jacket pocket, an ink black thing, gleaming under the dying sunlight. “do you know what this is? Wei Ying keeps quiet, too afraid to speak

Wen Chao continues “this is an old family heirloom, passed down for gens–what my ancestors used to control the dragons before they disappeared. it’s a little plain” he turns it over in his hands “but it does the job. want me to demonstrate?” and before Wei Ying can think, Wen Chao brings the thing–shaped like a horn–to his lips

immediately, from where he’s been staring at Wei Ying, Wangji’s pupils turn into thin slits. his thrashing on the cart turns more and more dangerous, making the metal whine in protest

“release him” Wen Chao tells the men, and they do, the chains unraveling from around Wangji

Wangji cannot fly, but he bounds off the cart, straight at Wei Ying. “Wangji, stop!” Wei Ying tries, but Wangji’s pupils stay the same as he howls, breathing fire as Wei Ying barely moves in time

(animal abuse/violence ce)

then he’s on Wei Ying, like the first time, clawing at him and burning him, no control over his body, like Wei Ying is just something for him to attack. like the saddle, like a stranger

his claws dig in and Wei Ying feels blood gush out; the weight of Wangji on him makes him feels like his ribs are breaking, and his clothes are surely burnt to hell and back. yet nothing hurts more than the knowledge that this is Wangji doing this to him, his friend, tearing him to pieces like he’s nothing, like they hadn’t spent days & weeks & months sitting and sketching and playing

Wei Ying doesn’t realizes he’s crying, that his mouth is saying “Wangji, Wangji, it’s me, Wei Ying, don’t you recognize me?” as Wangji’s claws and teeth and scales turn his body bruised & bloody. it isn’t until Wen Chao says “alright, alright, stop, we don’t want to kill him just yet, do we?” when the weight on his chest disappears, even tho Wei Ying’s heart has been shattered into more pieces than the saddle had ever been

his eyes and mouth are swollen; he can barely feel or see anything. he hears crunching in the snow.

Wen Chao’s ugly face hovers over him

“of course, i was just giving you a taste of what we can do with your pet” he says, far too smug “but if you survive this, you’ll see what happens soon enough”

Wei Ying doesn’t get up as he hears Wangji being chained down again Wen Chao gives the orders to his men, and then the clacking of the cart’s wheels start and fade away with the men’s footsteps, leaving Wei Ying in the snow

Wei Ying’s not sure how he’s still alive. how he can breathe. the excitement for his sister, this break–it’s all gone now he feels empty and hopeless and doesn’t know what to do. for Wangji–what fate lies for him. he wishes that he didn’t stop coming, that maybe he and Wangji could’ve prevented this from happening if he’d come even a day earlier

but it’s too late. the sun is still setting. Wei Ying doesn’t know how much time passes, but he manages to get himself up. his arm is bent awkwardly & his ribs are definitely broken and it hurts, everywhere. but nowhere as bad as his heart

he drags himself, step by step, trudging home in the snow luckily, jfm’s car isn’t in the driveway yet. his brother is home, though, doing homework at the dinner table. Wei Ying is suddenly aware of the tearstains down his cheeks, even tho it’s nothing compared to the state of his body

Jiang Cheng looks up as he enters the room. “finally–” he starts then stops. his eyes widen in horror.

“what the fuck happened to you?”

“jiang cheng,” Wei Ying swallows. “i have something i need to tell you.”

* shorter (& late) update today bc work sucked /o\ also prefacing this updatewitha note that I’m hand waving a LOT of stuff wrt Wei Ying’s injuries as “he has a golden core he’ll be fine” even tho he was nearly murdered, bc I’m a weenie & don’t like to think abt injury/pain too much

“so let me get this straight.”

jiang cheng has stood up now; at a loss for anything else to do and to distract himself from pain everywhere, Wei Ying is actually doing jiang cheng’s homework

jiang cheng is pacing in disbelief.

“a dragon,” he says.

“a dragon.”

“is–was your friend,” jiang cheng says, and Wei Ying flinches at the tense change. “sorry.”

“it’s ok,” Wei Ying mumbles.

“and now Wen Chao has him,” jiang cheng says “to fucking–what, sell the scales? torture ppl for fun?”

“that’s what i got from it,” Wei Ying says miserably

“christ.” Jiang Cheng puts a hand to his forehead. “i fucking hate the wens.”

the wens aren’t harmless/harmful, so to say. since dynasties died out, where cultivators would assist with politics & war in exchange for power & protection, the wens have esteemed themselves as superior in the cultivation world, despite that every other family & sect has its own powerful ancestry. wen ruohan still has many men in the govt in his pockets in fact, as one of the advisors to china’s military. Wen Chao likes to brag about it all the time, even tho Wei Ying likes to remind him it has nothing to dowithhigh school.

but the idea of Wangji on the battlefield, used for political purposes of all things–makes Wei Ying angry, upset, and ultimately, tired.

“yeah,” he says. “me too.”

Jiang Cheng eyes him. “well first we need to get you to a fucking hospital,” he says. “no offense but you look like shit. he really sicced ur dragon on you.”

Wei Ying swallows a lump in his throat. “yeah.”

Jiang Cheng chews on his lip. then he says, “well he is a dragon–“

“Wangji wouldn’t have done that if he was in his right mind,” Wei Ying counters. “he wouldn’t. i know. it’s not–it’s not him.”

Jiang Cheng still looks skeptical, but doesn’t say anything else on the matter.

“ok,” he says. “what kind of hospital is gonna fucking treat dragon burns?”

Wei Ying looks down at Jiang Cheng’s homework. he does a calculus problem in his head but doesn’t write it down. “i don’t want to go to a hospital.”

Jiang Cheng starts. “are you kidding? look at you–“

“ppl will ask questions,” Wei Ying bites his lip. “but i think my engineering teacher–she mentioned that her husband used to go to cultivation med school. he could help.”

“ur teacher’s husband.”

“hey, she’s cool!” Wei Ying protests “not like ur private school tutors or whatever. she’s chill & she totally doesn’t ask questions.”

“fine.” jiang cheng picks up his car keys from the kitchen counter. “let’s go. & bring my homework.”

“it’s already done,” Wei Ying says, scribbling the answer to the last question before getting up.

after some quick searching in the school’s online directory, Wei Ying finds the address for cangse sanren’s place, a modest house deeper in the countryside, & a welcome relief from the huge sprawling properties that comewithmajor sects like the jiangs. cssr opens the doorwitha beatific grin & says “wei-xiansheng!” but then her expression quickly turns to horror when she takes in his appearance.

Wei Ying smiles weakly at her. “cangse-laoshi, i need your help.” she welcomes them in without asking questions. Wei Ying briefly introduces jiang cheng while she introduces her husband, who’s cooking dinner–“I’m hopeless in the kitchen,” she laughs–but he stops, too, when he sees Wei Ying. (as a note wei changze IS still cssr’s husband but they r not related to Wei Ying in this ‘verse for plot purposes, Wei Ying is just another orphan lol) he, too, doesn’t ask questions, as he puts the stove on low and says gently, “let’s get you into a bed.” the four of them move into a small bedroom off to the side, and Wei Ying lies himself down on the cozy-looking twin bed. wcz leaves and comes back with small, fancy but not scary looking devices. “I’m gonna run tests on u” he says as he scans them over his body. Wei Ying nods. in the corner, cssr’s eyes r filledwithremorse & questions, while Jiang Cheng is pointedly avoiding looking at anything in the room when he’s done, wcz tells him, “you’ve got an extremely strong golden core which i think is the only thing holding you up rn. whatever happened to you would’ve killed a normal person.” he looks at Wei Ying as he says this as if prompting Wei Ying to offer any additional info, but Wei Ying stays silent wcz continues, “its a good thing ur winter break is starting bc you’ll definitely need at least a week’s worth of rest, if not more. & lots of meditating, to help ur body heal faster.”

he pulls out a salve from his pockets and shows it to Wei Ying. “you’ll also need to apply these to ur scars and wounds–it’ll also replenish ur blood and help the process, tho it might be a lil painful.”

“do ur parents know?” cssr suddenly asks from the corner

Wei Ying shakes his head frantically. “please don’t tell them” he says

“and i–don’t tell jie, either,” he adds to Jiang Cheng.

“what!” Jiang Cheng scowls “why?”

“i just–this wasnt supposed to happen, none of this was supposed to happen.” Wei Ying doesn’t regret meeting Wangji but hates that he’s put him in danger, hates that because he was so thoughtless Wangji’s going to turn into smth he was never supposed to be. “just–please, not yet.”

reluctantly, wcz & cssr nod, while Jiang Cheng grumbles, “fine. but I’m gonna say i told you so when she eventually finds out & gets upset you were keeping a secret from her.”

there are so many questions in wcz & cssr’s eyes, but Wei Ying says, “thank you,” to them & to his brother. “i just–i’m sorry to barge into ur house and ask for help and not explain anything–“

“it’s fine,” cssr says, & wcz nods. “Wei Ying, you know, teachers aren’t supposed to have favorites, but.” she smiles at him. wcz adds, “& it’s understandable thatwithw/e happened you wouldn’t want to go to a hospital, but you do need to see a professional.”

“we’re here to help,” says cssr .

Wei Ying feels overwhelmed; and wishes he could show that same kind of love to Wangji. “thank you,” he says again. “if you need to stay the night–” wcz starts.

but this time it’s jiang cheng who shakes his head. “our parents will be home soon,” he says, checking his watch. “and i’ll need to come upwithsome sort of excuse why Wei Ying’s holed up in bed.”

“u can just say I was out again,” Wei Ying tries lightly.

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes even as cssr & wcz look more & more curious. “i don’t think that’s gonna work this time,” he says. & to cssr & wcz: “thank you for helping my brother & being a good teacher to him. lord knows he needs it.”

“hey now,withtalk like that and ppl r gonna think ur the older one,” Wei Ying teases.

Jiang Cheng bats at him–lightly, carefully avoiding his wounds. “ur only older by five days, asshole.”

they say their goodbyes, Wei Ying gratefully taking the salve from wcz, and head back to the car. on the drive home, jiang cheng breaks the silence. “what do you think is gonna happen?” he asks. “what do you think Wen Chao is gonna do?”

dread fills Wei Ying’s stomach, looms over him like the dark, clouded sky as evening approaches.

“i don’t know,” he says. in the end, Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying agree to tell their parents the excuse that Wei Ying got into a fight at school, which is pretty close to the truth anyway. it still doesn’t go over well, yzy complaining that she can’t go one day without Wei Ying causing some trouble, which is wild when he’d barely been home before yanli came back. but all in all, he figures, it could’ve gone over worse.

during break while he’s bedridden, he does his break homework for lack of better entertainment esp since his parents confiscated his video games. on the bright side, yanli makes his favorite pork and lotus soup and brings it to him every day that he actually might get sick of it if it wasn’t hers. her eyes are filledwithquestions & sadness but before Wei Ying can feel too guilty, Jiang Cheng usually makes some snide remark so her gaze doesn’t linger on his wounds for too long.

Jiang Cheng also sneaks in in the morning and evening, as wcz directed, to help Wei Ying put on the salve.

“there’s been some talk, yknow,” he says. “abt the wens. they say that Wen Chao is being more obnoxious than usual.”

“who’s ‘they,’ Jiang Cheng?” Wei Ying teases. “don’t tell me you actually have friends at private school.”

“fuck off,” Jiang Cheng says, but without heat. “huaisang just said Wen Chao has been throwing parties all week & can’t stop bragging all over the place how he’ll be coming into more money soon. not like he needs it.” Wei Ying thinks of wc ripping off Wangji’s scale. his stomach clenches.

“i bet,” he mutters. “i’m surprised he hasn’t already boasted abt it’s a dragon yet. what the hell’s he waiting for?”

“daddy’s approval?” Jiang Cheng guesses. “but there’s a whole acre of the wen estate that’s closed off. i didn’t tell huaisang abt ur dragon–Wangji, btw,” he adds when Wei Ying opens his mouth. “even tho idk why you want to keep it a secret still.”

“i just.” Wei Ying knows it’s gonna stop being a secret soon. he doesn’t have that power anymore. but he wants to keep the illusion up a little bit longer–for Wangji, for him. “I should’ve been able to take care of Wangji alone,” he says.

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. “you don’t have to do everything alone.”

and he says it like it’s obvious, but for 17y/o Wei Ying–he’d been thinking of Wangji as his friend, only, his secret to keep. & while he thinks the bond he haswithWangji is stronger than anything else in his life, Wen Chao does have more men than him, more power at his disposal.

& then there’s a night where Jiang Cheng says that he’s gonna check out one of Wen Chao’s parties, so he’s alone when yanli brings him his usual soup. when he shifts to sit up, he winces as usual–since the adrenaline wore off and despite his meditating, his body still aches all over, wounds & bruises not helping.

yanli notices, of course; she always does. “a-ying,” she says. “ik you’re probably not telling me for a reason, but may i ask how–how this happened to you? the fight at school?”

Wei Ying exhales thru his teeth. “so,” he says. “it wasn’t technically at school.”

yanli’s eyebrows furrow.

“it was Wen Chao, btw,” Wei Ying says. “he–it–he has a dragon.”

yanli’s eyes widen. “a dragon,” she repeats.

“a dragon who’s my friend,” Wei Ying says. then he laughs bitterly. “was my friend. i’m not sure if he–if he’ll want to look at me now, after all this–after how thoughtless i’ve been. but–“

what he’s about to say dies in his throat when the door bursts open. jiang cheng comes flying through, eyes wide, out of breath.

“wen ruohan just got home,” he says. “they’re showing off the dragon today.”

then he catches sight of yanli. if possible, his eyes get bigger.

“i–i mean–“

“it’s ok, Jiang Cheng, i just told her,” Wei Ying says. “is that nie huaisang in the hallwaywithu? come in! it’s been a hot minute since i last saw you.”

“wei-xiong,” huaisang says, stepping into the room. his eyes rake over Wei Ying. “you look horrible.”

“hello to you too,” Wei Ying says drily.

Jiang Cheng is still looking between his 2 sibs. “you really told jie?” he asks Wei Ying. “already?”

“well, it’s like you said,” Wei Ying shrugs. “i don’t have to do everything alone.”

if Wei Ying didn’t know better, he’d think that Jiang Cheng actually looks proud. best not to point it out, tho.

plus huaisang says, “so Wen Chao–he’s not full of shit when he said it–he really has a dragon?”

“yeah.” Wei Ying turns to Jiang Cheng. “and right now? this late at night? wen ruohan comes home and they’re gonna show off the fucking dragon?”

“no time like the present,” Jiang Cheng says, tho he looks disgusted too.

“a-ying.” yanli rests a hand on Wei Ying’s shoulder. “you should rest. if the dragon was really your friend, it wouldn’t have–” she looks pointedly at a wound near Wei Ying’s neck.

Wei Ying sighs, remembers Wen Chao’s stupid little whistle. “it’s a little bit more complicated than that,” he tells her, getting out of bed. “we should go, but now we need to figure out how to sneak past our parents–“

“you don’t have to sneak out if i’m with you,” yanli points out, which is true; their parents kind of inherently trust her ten times more than either of their sons.

Wei Ying beams. “jie, you’re the best.”

“i just can’t believe it,” huaisang says as Wei Ying finds smth in his closet to wear. “a real life dragon… in the 21st century? didn’t they die out?”

“supposedly,” Jiang Cheng agrees. “i believe Wei Ying, but it’s also kinda hard to believe it w/o seeing it.”

“well, we’re abt to see it,” Wei Ying says, tugging off his t-shirt. “now everyone leave the room so i can change my clothes in peace.”

“finish your soup, too,” yanli reminds him, and Wei Ying throws a thumbs up at her as they leave his room. the soreness that has been overtaking Wei Ying’s body is nothing compared to the idea that he’s going to see Wangji again, in Wen Chao’s possession. their parents don’t ask questions & Jiang Cheng drives back to the wen estate. Wei Ying feels sicker as they get closer & closer, afraid of what he might see.

the wens own at least several acres of land–a waste, in Wei Ying’s opinion–dedicated to their sprawling grounds from ancient times, when sect armies were a thing. nowadays the sects–including the wens–have blended their teaching styles into the public & private schools. still, that doesn’t stop the wens from having large parts of their estate for things like martial arts & private army training, plus things like bowling alleys and a movie theater. according to Wen Chao’s bragging at school, anyway.

so it doesn’t come as much of a surprise as after Jiang Cheng parks on the side of the road & they approach, there’s a huge sign near the entrance that says ONCE IN A LIFETIME CHANCE TO SEE A DRAGON HERE! glowing neon. wrh probably commissioned it.

Wei Ying crinkles his nose in disgust. “what is this, a fucking carnival?”

“is their tastelessness much of a surprise?” Jiang Cheng asks.

there’s only one man guarding the front, not paying much attention, so it’s easy to sneak past him & head into the display. & Wei Ying can hear Wangji growling, whining–

like a magnet he goes to where ppl are crowded around a cage. poking his head over the crowd, he sees a glimmer of scales–Wangji with his head bowed, fear clear in his golden eyes as the attendants of Wen Chao’s party gawk at him.

he doesn’t think Wangji would notice he’s there–but then the slightest twitch of his whiskers, eyes flickering to Wei Ying’s direction, and Wangji shrinks in himself more.

Wei Ying’s heart crawls up his throat.

“wow,” he hears a voice next to him. huaisang & his siblings have caught up to him. “it is a real dragon.”

“he looks scared,” yanli says sympathetically. “he is.” Wei Ying turns away, can’t face Wangji looking anywhere but at him.

it’s at that moment when Wen Chao’s loud, obnoxious voice says, “now that you’ve seen my dragon, perhaps you’ll want a souvenir!”

Wei Ying winces. he turns away, looking up at the distant night sky, stars glittering like Wangji did, in the snow.

“well, luckily for you, i’ve got some scales from our beautiful dragon.” Wen Chao holds up three shimmering scales, flashing rainbow under the moonlight. “starting our limited, low price purchase at a thousand ¥ apiece!”

a low murmur stirs over the crowd. still, a several people disperse over to where Wen Chao is gleefully standing over more dragon scales.

Wei Ying looks at Wangji now, sees where some patches of his scales are missing, exposing his hide.

“he really made a fucking circus, huh,” Jiang Cheng sayswithdisgust from beside Wei Ying.

“i think they’re gonna do this until wrh gets full approval from the military,” Nie Huaisang says. “to hype him up, yknow.”

“he should be protected & preserved, not put on display.” yanli’s eyes are filledwithsorrow.

with the crowd thinning & Wen Chao distracted in selling the scales, Wei Ying makes his way to the front, to Wangji’s face.

Wangji shies away as Wei Ying gets closer. it hurts, but it’s been so long that Wei Ying can’t help but wrap his fingers around one of the metal bars of the cage. not just metal–qi draining steel. “Wangji,” Wei Ying says quietly.

Wangji flinches, eyes scanning over Wei Ying’s body.

unable to help himself, Wei Ying reaches through the bars to touch Wangji’s snout. Wangji’s eyes are precarious, but a small croon escapes from his throat anyway.

“whoa,” Nie Huaisang breathes. but then Wangji shifts–the cage is barely big enough for him, but there’s enough room for him to move his head away from Wei Ying. his golden gaze turns to the ground.

Wei Ying’s chest hurts. no one’s noticed the small interaction, still marveling at the sight of a real dragon. but the glory and awe has long washed away from Wei Ying now, only helplessness overtaking his heart.

“i can’t do this,” he says to himself. “i–” he turns away, swallowing the lump in his throat.

Nie Huaisang is still staring in awe at the dragon, but yanli and Jiang Cheng watch Wei Ying worriedly. “i can’t believe Wen Chao had the nerve to say it was his dragon,” Jiang Cheng says.

“it’s wrong.” yanli bites her lip. “anyone can see that it–he’s in pain.” she glances at Wangji, then back to Wei Ying.

Wei Ying feels too tired to speak.

Jiang Cheng says, “so. what’s the plan?”

Wei Ying blinks. “plan?” Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. “to break him out. we’re doing that, right?”

“i-i hadn’t thought about it,” Wei Ying admits. “what can we do, even? all this material is qi draining, and they’ve got men everywhere.”

“you’ve got to get him back tho, a-ying,” yanli says. “u actually care for him. it’s what the both of you deserve.”

“well I don’t have any ideas,” Wei Ying says fiercely, then feels bad at the soft stricken look on yanli’s face. “sorry i just–it’s out of my hands now.”

“but it isn’t,” Jiang Cheng argues. “Wangji–ur dragon is right there, there must be something–“

“didn’t you see the way he moved away from me? even if he wanted to break out, i don’t even know if he’d want that from me if all people.” Wei Ying glances at Wangji again, wants to pet his scales & tell him it’ll be okay. but he can’t bring himself to lie to him–or himself. “well, he hurt you,” yanli points out. “he probably feels bad.”

Wei Ying glances at Wangji again, somehow looking so small in a cage he barely fits in.

“maybe,” he says.

the wens’ dragon becomes the talk of not just the town, but the cultivation world. word spreads quickly & the wens start people charging people to just see the dragon. Wei Ying doesn’t want to keep up with updates but he does, in case he lashes out, in case someone hurts him. cultivation socmed is kinda brain deadwithhow ppl brag about how they killed a guai on the way to work; but now everyone’s asking if they’ve gone to see the wens’ dragon yet.

and against his will, Wei Ying discovers that not only are Wangji’s scales being sold for a thousand ¥ a piece, but also that the wens are charging more for customers to pluck off the scale they want themselves. (animal abuse cw)

and then–to impress the government and military, Wei Ying supposes–in a show of Wangji’s strength, they have him fight other animals.

Wei Ying is visiting–sneaking in, he refuses to give the wens a single cent–the first time Wen Chao bellows, “have you

(animal abuse cw)

ever wanted to see how strong a dragon is?” the crowd cheers in response, and Wei Ying’s heart sinks as Wangji & his cage are dragged to another sectioned off part of the property.

in another cage is a bear, looking just as frightened as Wangji. (animal abuse cw)

when Wen Chao releases Wangji, Wangji paws at the sides of the arena, trying to escape.

one of the men is holding a long whip–more qi draining material, Wei Ying recognizes–and he brings it down on Wangji. Wangji crows in pain, & Wen Chao snickers.

“now now,

(animal abuse cw)

none of that,” he says to Wangji. and to his men: “release the other one!”

they let the bear out into the arena as well. it cowers at Wangji’s majestic presence.

but Wangji stays away from it, looking out to the crowd like he wants to escape–he sees Wei Ying and his eyes widen, in a minuscule amount that no one else notices except for Wei Ying.

Wen Chao chuckles at Wangji. “not feeling up to it, are you?” he says, & the crowd boos. “i think we can fix that.”

& he pulls out the black whistle again–shaped like a western dragon head,

(animal abuse cw)

Wei Ying realizes.

& he shouts, “no!” when he realizes what’s about to happen. Wangji’s golden eyes turn fearful too, and then Wen Chao’s lips are around the whistle, and his pupils turn to slits.

immediately he growls, pounces on the bear. the audience

(animal abuse/death cw)

cheers & Wei Ying feels sick. when he turns away, glances at Wen Chao again, he sees that Wen Chao is looking directly at him–gaze smug and cruel.

Wei Ying can’t watch as the bear gets torn to shreds, as it’s much later than when Wen Chao called Wangji

(animal abuse/death, emetophobia cw)

off of him. when the whistle gets blown, Wei Ying finally looks–and it’s not pretty.

he runs to the nearest waste bin to throw up as the crowd cheers. Wangji looks exhausted himself, now normal golden eyes growing heavy until he collapses. the crowd doesn’t care; Wen Chao doesn’t care as he exclaims, “there you have it! the power and strength of a dragon, of the wen clan, of China.”

& he smirks at Wei Ying & adds, “this is what dragons are for. to show off the power we have over them.”

Wei Ying doesn’t think of himself as a spiteful person, but he’s pretty sure if Wen Chao dropped dead he would’ve celebrated.

he leaves; break is about to end, but even the new year doesn’t stop the awful feeling that now lives in his throat. as the days pass, the reminder that Wangji is in Wen Chao’s cage like a fucking carnival feature hangs over his head.

on the bright side, his parents have absolutely no interest in the wens’ dragon. “so what?” yzy says when it comes up at dinner. “did anyone rly think dragons went extinct? of course they went into hiding when men like wen ruohan exist.”

“the dragon might not last, either,” jfm adds. “dragons run on their golden core & qi–if the wens are restraining it & not treating it properly, then they’ll just end up slowly killing it.”

Wei Ying has barely touched his dinner. “can we talk abt smth else,” he mumbles. & in an astonishing display of thoughtfulness, yzy says to Jiang Cheng, “have you studied for ur midterms? we can’t have you bringing back a 95% again.”

but as much as he tries to avoid it, guilt gnaws at Wei Ying’s chest, esp when school starts up again. ppl can’t stop talking abt how cool the dragon is, showing off the scales they blew their money on (Wen Chao’s upped the price to 1200yuan per scale.) Wei Ying keeps his head down, avoiding Wen Chao, bc he’s pretty sure he’d punch him otherwise and he doesn’t think his body is ready for that yet.

his scars heal but his heart doesn’t. and the clearing after school looks emptier than usual, more snow having covered where Wangji used to rest, where he and Wei Ying used to play. Wei Ying looks across the pond, comes back every day for a week. & when he comes home late and Jiang Cheng asks him where he’s been, Wei Ying doesn’t answer and trudges up to his room.

there are a few days where the bunnies are there too, looking for Wangji. “do you miss him?” Wei Ying asks, bringing a bunny into his lap.

it noses his hand.

“yeah, me too,” Wei Ying says. there are tear stains down his cheeks. but things don’t become that simple when Wen Chao swaggers up to him one day after school. he’s alone & Wei Ying could beat him up, he thinks.

but he tamps that urge down.

“wei-mei, ur dragon fucking sucks,” Wen Chao sayswitha sneer. “it won’t eat any of the food we give it. what the fuck does ur dragon even eat?”

“ur asking me for dragon care advice now?” Wei Ying says, raising an eyebrow. “fuck off.”

“saying shit like that & i’ll sic the dragon on you again.”

“i survived once, i think i can handle it,” Wei Ying says drily.

Wen Chao makes a frustrated noise. “well if

(discussion of animal abuse/death cw)

u don’t want ur stupid dragon to starve to death, then you should tell me what it eats,” he says. “it won’t eat the animals it kills–tho a wolf took a nice bite of him the other day–” & he grins in glee when Wei Ying flinches “–but it refuses to eat meat. what kind of dragon doesn’t eat meat?” he grouses.

Wei Ying doesn’t want to tell him. he really doesn’t want to tell him. but then he thinks of Wangji starving in the cage, cold and drained and alone; of the bunnies in the clearing, of the afternoons they spent tossing berries into each other’s mouths.

Wei Ying says, “he eats fruit. now fuck off.”

“fruit. what a lame dragon.” Wen Chao rolls his eyes. then he adds, “oh btw, ur stupid little sketchbooks that ur dragon had? we made him burn those.”

Wei Ying has never wanted to hurt anyone more in his life. “i rlly hate you, you know,” he says to Wen Chao.

Wen Chao puts a hand to his chest. “me? what did i ever do? i just used my common sense and captured that dragon as my own.” his grin has never looked smugger.

Wei Ying can’t stop the fury rising in his veins & he lunges at Wen Chao. Wen Chao cowers.

Wei Ying’s fist is raised, and he’s breathing heavily. his golden core usually sits in the back of his mind, but right now it feels stronger than ever.

“i get it, ok?” he says, still in his threatening stance. “you win. now leave me the fuck alone.”

Wen Chao glances at Wei Ying’s fist. “you can’t touch me, i’m a wen.”

“being a wen will only get you so far,” Wei Ying sneers. “& i don’t give a shit. so leave me alone.”

he stomps back home, not botheringwiththe clearing today. he and jiang cheng have a dragon’s cage to inspect. *

the rest of the school year goes by like a flash; a blink, and it’s summer vacation. Wei Ying passes his gaokao with so many flying colors that cssr says that he should apply for the top school in the country–but he doesn’t.

he doesn’t want to, even though with his exam scores he wouldn’t even need the leg up from nepotism to get in, the way most of the kids from the private cultivation academy do. jfm is disappointed, & yzy pretends to be disappointed even tho Wei Ying’s pretty sure she’s secretly pleased bc Jiang Cheng, who does apply, gets in—and won’t have that kind of competition from his shixiong.

despite defying expectations, yzy and jfm are surprisingly lenient when Wei Ying says he wants to take a break before attending school again. over the summer he gets a job with cssr, who had told him during the last weeks of school that she was looking for someone to help her organize her garage of array inventions over the summer and help her decide on a curriculum. Wei Ying doesn’t know if she told anyone else, but it seemed like a job made specifically for him–so a few days later, he told her he was interested, and she beamed and asked him how much he wanted to get paid.

(he definitely undershot it at first, tossing out such a low salary that cssr said, “well I’d have to pay you triple that at least.” in the end they compromised a modest amount, altho cssr insists on paying for his lunches, too)

so now he’s at home helping Jiang Cheng get ready for uni while working technically full time, his parents content that he’s actually doing something with his days.

so life goes on.

but Wangji, and Wei Ying’s thoughts about Wangji, do not. the cage has increased in security, Wei Ying knows–some scandal about another sect trying to steal the dragon for themselves. it was the gossip all over social media, that the perpetrators got caught and punished–that no one can find them anymore. Wei Ying wouldn’t doubt that it was all untrue and started by the wens just to hype up Wangji more, especially since the additional money they put into higher security is barely pocket change from the wens.

but he can’t take his chances on that.

the earlier days, the shorter time when it was just him and Wangji in the clearing, feels like a lifetime ago. now Wei Ying is used to flinching when he hears stray talk about “the wen’s dragon” even though it still hurts his heart, every time. now he’s used to taking the long way back from cssr’s garage to pass by the wen estate, in hopes that he’ll hear Wangji at least, know that he’s alive. despite life moving on, Wei Ying feels like he’s walking through a haze; things felt realer with Wangji’s scales making rough indents on his palm. now there’s emptiness, and guilt.

when he and Jiang Cheng had inspected the cage in the early spring, there had been a sliver of hope–the metal is definitely qi draining so it’s not like they could use their spiritual energy to break it open, but with some fiddling and some time to concentrate Wei Ying thought he might be able to get it open manually, qi be damned.

then Wen Chao had caught them and laughed in their faces, dragged Jiang Cheng to get tortured by Wangji–or at least meant to, until one of the workers, a timid young man who looked about Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng’s age if not younger, stumbled over & said that he was pretty sure he saw some men cracking out the expensive baijiu from the wine cellar.

Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng didn’t know who this boy was, but they weren’t gonna hesitate to take this out while they could. they fled while Wen Chao was distracted, and while Wei Ying knew he could probably get back in, sneak past the guards no matter how tight security is–he remembers the look in Wangji’s eyes, the hurt that burned whenever he saw Wei Ying, and–

it’s just best if he thinks about Wangji from afar, is all.

Wangji hadn’t really been responsive anyhow, when Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying had been looking all over the cage. he’d been asleep–or passed out from exhaustion, if there’s a difference. Wei Ying is pretty sure he blinked his eyes open once to see the whispered commotion, but then there was no recognition in Wangji’s eyes–and that had hurt more, than Wangji flinching at the sight of him. either way, as summer breezes in, Wei Ying doesn’t try to visit Wangji bc it’s easier, less painful to just catch snippets of gossip abt him, as much as it hurts. Wangji is alive, even if not doing well, & that’s what matters for now.

until he hears that the wen’s dragon is dying. it’s not–Wei Ying doesn’t believe it at first. doesn’t want to believe it. people say shit all the time, aside from cssr and wcz (who don’t bring up the wen’s dragon once, while Wei Ying is over.) but then it’s hard to deny, hard to ignore when it’s all people are saying.

“the dragon lost against a wolf last week,” one cultivator snorts, when Wei Ying is doing Very Important Work for cssr (getting groceries.) “can you believe it? it should be eating wolves like that for breakfast.”

“i heard that it hasn’t been eating at all,” says another. “all it eats r plants but now it’s just stopped. it’s like it’s given up.”

“are we really surprised tho? with the way the wens treat the dragon, you’d have expected this to happen sooner.”

“but it’s a dragon, it’s supposed to have the strongest golden core of any creature.”

“i heard this one doesn’t have a golden core at all. can you believe it? the first sighting of dragons in millennia and of course it’s a broken one.”

“it’s not broken,” Wei Ying can’t help himself to say, but the other cultivators ignore him, sneer at him bc it’s not like he’s a sect heir.

Wei Ying leaveswithhis lizi, mind swimming, in a daze so he doesn’t panic.

he doesn’t say anything to cssr or wcz, but he does to Jiang Cheng and yanli (who’s home for summer break.) “they say Wangji is dying,” Wei Ying’s mouth says, tho he can’t really think it. doesn’t register as real.

and Jiang Cheng confirms the rumors

–or rather, that he’s heard the same things among the sect heirs in their pretentious little group chat.

“wrh is worried,” Jiang Cheng says, then rolls his eyes. “not like wc outright says it. but it’s p obvious.”

“we think wrh is still gonna take him to war,” says Nie Huaisang, who’s over to hang outwithJiang Cheng for some reason (altho Jiang Cheng insists that there’s a reason and they’re not just “hanging out.”) “give him a glorious death on the battlefield or smth. to show off china’s power.”

“that’s lame,” Wei Ying says, as distant as he feels from the situation. “isn’t it more of a sign of weakness if we have a dragon that still dies at war?”

“who fucking understands the military anyway,” Jiang Cheng grouses, & Wei Ying and Nie Huaisang nod in agreement. “the point is–Wei Ying, you’re gonna do smth, right? you have to do smth.”

Wei Ying had been ready to go thru it again, just–let it happen. but Jiang Cheng is right. despite the heightened security, Wangji’s reluctance to see Wei Ying, the stillness of summer that makes a day feel like a season and a season feel like a day–there has to be smth. Wei Ying does have to do smth.

and who knows, maybewiththe dragon dying, the security will loosen up.

and another thought occurs to him. “do you remember,” he says slowly, “that wen–the guard who said that there were men breaking in the baijiu that one time?”

Jiang Cheng scrunches his nose in thought. “vaguely?”

“he’s like our age,” Wei Ying tells Nie Huaisang. “actually, he’s pretty small. might be smaller than you.”

“don’t go exaggerating now,” Jiang Cheng says, and Nie Huaisang says, “hey!”

“i think we could take him, tho,” Wei Ying says. “in a fight? if we figure out whenever his shift is, it shouldn’t be too hard. and anyone else?” he thinks of the arrays he and cssr have been working on, combined with technology–really cool stuff, like low level guai repellent smartphone apps, things for cars and bicycles.

and some immobilizing talismans cssr just has lying around, for whatever reason. (Wei Ying doesn’t want to think abt his teacher’s sex life.)

“and anyone else,” Wei Ying says, “& i can take care of them.”

Jiang Cheng nods grimly.

Nie Huaisang is reluctant to go until Jiang Cheng casually says that the more manpower they have, the better. they tell yanli of the plan but don’t intend to bring her until she threatens to both hide the car keys & tell their parents they plan on breaking out a dragon–in which case, Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng hastily agree to at least let her drive them there.

& while there’s a lot of land on the jiang estate, Wei Ying doesn’t really think that keeping the wens’ broken dragon is gonna flywithyzy and jfm, as much as they don’t care for the sect politics of it all. he should–tell cssr probably, she doesn’t have as much land but she’d probably be accommodating. but also Wei Ying is just her student/mentee, and also she still might narc on them having a stolen dragon, so Wei Ying doesn’t–not for now. especially if he doesn’t know if he’s gonna get Wangji out alive.

so it’s Nie Huaisang who figures out the wen’s security schedule–he refuses to explain how, but comes back early august with detailed reports of every single one of the wen’s men, alongwiththe security shifts.

“this one?” Nie Huaisang asks, pulling out a file.

the top has a b&w profile photo of a young man who can’t be any older than 13–taken a few years ago, likely. similar to the boy Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng bad seen. the name says WEN NING at the top.

“yup, that’s him.” Wei Ying cross references the schedule. “wen ning, wen ning… he’s not scheduled much, just late at night. and it looks like they have less security at night.” he snorts. “which is stupid. don’t they know that ppl r more likely to break in & do illegal shit at night?”

“he looks so young,” yanli says, taking his file from Jiang Cheng. “don’t hurt him too badly, a-cheng, a-ying.”

“we’re gonna do what we have to do,” Wei Ying says grimly.

“if he’s smart, he’ll stay out of our way,” says Jiang Cheng.

Nie Huaisang and yanli exchange a worried look, but don’t argue.

they pick wn’s next shift, a 3am the next week. in the meantime, Wei Ying bounces between being jaded & worried–what if by then Wangji’s already dead? but it doesn’t matter bc that’s their only opportunity. but what if he gets taken away to the military training grounds beforehand? well, each day is gonna pass & there’s only one way they can find out. but thankfully, nothing new comes, according to Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang. the summer days go along as they do, and soon enough it’s the night of wen ning’s shift.

the night they break Wangji out.

Wei Ying insists that they wear all black like proper thieves to blend inwiththe night; it’s easy for him when most of his wardrobe is black, anyway. Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes but wears a black shirt and dark jeans, and Nie Huaisang pulls out a black leotard that Wei Ying is pretty sure makes Jiang Cheng’s brain short circuit.

he decides not to mention it tho.

yanli even wears a black sheer dress even tho she’s pretty much just the equivalent of being their getaway driver. “i’m helping the mood, aren’t i?” she says when Jiang Cheng points it out.

Wei Ying swings an arm around her and Jiang Cheng shoulders. “u guys rock. this is actually kinda exciting!”

“we’re breaking the law, it’s not that exciting,” Jiang Cheng sayswitha roll of his eyes.

but he pulls on his black jacket too.

everyone going alongwithhis black clothing suggestion almost makes him feel better that this night is bc they’re rescuing an abused dragon–Wangji, the abused dragon. almost, but not quite as Wei Ying runs over their plan again mentally in the backseat of the car. there’s only three guards tonight instead of the usual seven, wn one of them. Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying can do hand to hand stuff if necessary, but they’re gonna see what they can get awaywithw the immobilization talismans. and, of course, when breaking Wangji out–counter measurements against qi draining devices are pretty common but work in small doses, as most qi draining material are laced in mL in things like handcuffs, things meant for humans, not much. metal and cages and devices designed for a dragon are a million times stronger–but cssr had some qi strengthening and anti-qi draining talismans and instructions lying around, and if she’s noticed that Wei Ying’s been nicking one every so often and modifying them into anti-qi draining pliers at home, she hasn’t said anything yet.

it’s 3:30a. Nie Huaisang yawns. “we’re nearly there,” Wei Ying whispers.

“why r you whispering?” Jiang Cheng asks. “we’re still in the car.”

“vibes, a-cheng!” Wei Ying says as yanli parks at the side of the road.

the headlights have been shut off. Wei Ying creaks a door open.

“be safe,” yanli says.

“don’t worry jie,” says Jiang Cheng. “we’ll be back before you know it.”

Wei Ying sure hopes he’s right.

in the dark, it’s easy to slip into the wen estate. watching the dragon’s “entertainment” has long started getting shorter hours; they close as early as the late afternoon, now.

as they approach Wangji’s cage, they see 3 figures. two of them are standing next to each other and laughing near the entrance; the third is closer to the shadowed cage.

Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng glance at each other, and Wei Ying nods. slowly he creeps around the two guards at the front–large men, but fall away immediately when Wei Ying slaps the talismans on their backs.

they fall forward with a small yelp–but before they can scream or cry for help, Nie Huaisang suddenly presses two fingers around their neck.

their bodies relax and they fall limp.

“qi points,” Nie Huaisang whispers when Wei Ying stares at him.

Wei Ying gawks. “did you learn that from naruto?”

but the small thump of their bodies on the ground alerts the third figure–harder to avoid, visible in one of the few security lights around the area. “hello?” calls a young voice. “is someone there?”

Jiang Cheng looks at Wei Ying. Wei Ying looks back and shrugs.

Jiang Cheng pulls out his mom’s zidian. “back away slowly, and we won’t hurt you.”

“jiang cheng!” Wei Ying says in surprise.

Jiang Cheng whips around. “don’t just tell him my name like that!”

“what are you here for?” the third figure steps out–older than the picture in the file, and definitely the young man from before. “are you here to kill the dragon? because–“

“no!” Wei Ying rushes. “we would never do such a thing, but we do need to–we’re going to–” well it’s not like he can just tell this guard. “step aside & you won’t get hurt.”

“i have no intention of stopping you.” wen ning’s eyes are wide, tho when he steps forward, Jiang Cheng’s grip tightens around the zidian. Jiang Cheng must’ve snuck it out when no one was looking.

eyeing Jiang Cheng warily, wn says, “i’m sure ur intentions are much better than wen ruohan’s. even killing him would be putting him out of his misery.”

fear grapples at Wei Ying’s chest. “is he alright? is he not eating? what’s–“

but he’s cut off when wen ning’s eyes fall closed suddenly, and he falls forward to the ground. Nie Huaisang is standing behind him, a small pile of Wei Ying’s talismans in one hand, fingers stuck out.

“you’re taking too long!” he hisses.

right, right, Wangji. even tho yanli is right–wen ning isn’t that bad, if he’s bad at all.

smth must show on his face, bc Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. “you can’t rescue everyone,” he says to Wei Ying, and nudges him. “now let’s go get your dragon.”

with the path to Wangji’s cage clear, they approach. Wei Ying grows worried at the lack of sound, the shadows too dark to see how bad Wangji must look right now, asleep, unconscious. the silence worries him more as they get closer, peering thru the dark.

the cage is massive, and so is Wangji, the darkness easily mistaken for his silhouette. it should be the mass of his body, dark and restrained in the cage as he barely breathes through his snout, whiskers twitching, eyes tightened in pain.

but what they see in the cage is not an unconscious dragon.

what they see is an unconscious boy. “where the fuck is Wangji?” Jiang Cheng hisses.

Wei Ying doesn’t know what to say. what to think. the boy is–not small, likely their age. maybe even a bit older. but he’s small in the cage, small compared to the dragon, trembling and bruised and unconscious.

Wei Ying’s heart aches. he doesn’t know where the dragon is, but something–something is telling him that seeing who this boy is, where he came from, is the right thing to do.

“hey,” he says, putting his hands on the bar of the cage.

the boy trembles again, shying away from him.

“Wei Ying,” Nie Huaisang says nervously. “where’s your dragon?”

Wei Ying ignores him. “hey,” he says to the boy again, this time a bit louder. “hey, are you alright?”

the boy flinches at the noise–but then his eyes shoot open.

in the dim lighting of the grounds, his eyes are golden.

but–it can’t be. Wei Ying stares at him, and when the boy sees Wei Ying, he scrambles up. stares back.

“Wangji?” Wei Ying says.

the boy’s eyes get big.

he doesn’t–say anything, doesn’t nod, but Wei Ying knows in his heart that he’s right. that somehow, this boy is his dragon, esp if he recognized his name. well, the name Wei Ying gave him, but nonetheless. he wonders if Wangji has his own name, like, in dragon, but–

“we don’t have a lot of time!” Nie Huaisang hisses. “we have to get him out!”

“oh, yeah,” Wei Ying says, and he and Jiang Cheng get to work.

as they work on the metal around the cage’s lock, Wei Ying asks, “so you were a human this whole time? like, can you turn into both of them at will? why didn’t you ever tell me? you probably could’ve escaped if you did.”

Jiang Cheng says, “i don’t think he can understand you.”

“i think he can,” Wei Ying says, as Wangji

–or whatever he’d prefer to be called, watches them draw the arrays. he’s going between that and looking at Wei Ying’s face, the sounds coming out of his mouth. he looks unsteady, like he’s not used to this. standing on two feet.

“i think he doesn’t know how to reply,” Wei Ying says. Jiang Cheng scoffs. “how does he not know how to reply?”

“well I’d like to see /you/, Jiang Cheng, suddenly turn into a dragon one day and figure out how to communicate that way.” the pieces are all falling together in Wei Ying’s head–he can see it now. “no, he probably didn’t even know he had a human form. did you?” he asks, but Wangji stares at him blankly. “I thought so. but what triggered this?” he wonders, drawing another array. “what made you turn into a human?” he scowls. “was it Wen Chao?”

Wangji doesn’t respond, but he does flinch at the sound of the name. “isn’t there that poem?” Nie Huaisang asks.

Jiang Cheng and Wei Ying stare at him.

“does it look like we know poems?” Wei Ying says.

Nie Huaisang waves him off. “by qi and clouds and sky,” he recites, “will beckon the wings of a dragon.”

“the cage,” Jiang Cheng says suddenly.

“the everything!” it’s like the final piece has clicked into place–the talk around town, on social media, the welts and bruises on Wangji’s body. “he was dying–his body wasn’t producing enough qi to keep up his dragon form! but–“

the lock finally clicks, swinging open the door to the cage. Wangji might not know how to human yet, as evidenced by the way he carefully puts one foot in front of the other, like he’s afraid at any moment one of them will fail him–but expressions, apparently, are cross species, as there’s no other word for the look on his face other than /shocked./

“Wangji!” Wei Ying says happily, even tho Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang are looking around nervously. “we did it! you’re free!”

“quiet down,” Jiang Cheng demands in a whisper. “you’re being so fucking loud.”

Wei Ying ignores him. “how do you feel?” he asks, despite that Wangji can’t respond. doesn’t know how to, yet. Wei Ying’s chest bubbles in excitement. it’s just like talking to him as a dragon again, although now Wangji looks like a hot naked college student, not a massive fucking dragon. “do you want something to eat? food? drink? oh and you need clothes–” he hands Wangji his leather jacket.

Wangji stares at it.

“oh right right, new human.” Wei Ying wraps it around his shoulders–it’s probably too early to explain arms to Wangji. “there! now you’re not cold.”

Wangji’s eyes are shining–Wei Ying can read him anywhere, they’re shining with gratefulness.

Wangji leans in and covers Wei Ying’s mouth with his own.

Wei Ying flails. “ah!” he sort of shouts, in Wangji’s mouth, but it doesn’t make Wangji move away. he looks as pleased as before, while Wei Ying processes–

“uh,” Nie Huaisang says. he and Jiang Cheng look shocked too. “was that your first kiss?”

“haha!” Wei Ying is suddenly very aware of where they are now. how loud they’re being, how long they’ve been standing here. “uh. we should go!”

but before they can, they hear some commotion coming from the main estate–someone shouting “there they are!” and “the cage!” and running footsteps along the concrete.

and okay. Wei Ying will forgive Wangji for stealing his first kiss. especially since they have some wen bastards to run from.

“let’s go!” he says (and behind him, Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang complain, “that’s what we’ve been telling you.”) he grabs Wangji’s hand, & the four of them sprint off the grounds, through the gate, finding yanli and the car in the darkness. Wei Ying pushes Wangji after Nie Huaisang in the backseat–and Wangji, apparently a quick learner, mimics how Nie Huaisang crawled into the car. the last thing Wei Ying sees before he gets in himself is the fury on Wen Chao’s face.

he tosses a smug grin back in response.

* the car ride back is quiet, which isn’t much of a surprise, considering they now have the addition of a naked, former dragon boy, squashed between Wei Ying and huaisang. Wei Ying keeps catching huaisang and Jiang Cheng glancing at each other through the rear view window. he kind of wants to say smth about it’d except then he’d practically be yelling in Wangji’s ear and he doesn’t really want to do that.

eventually, it’s yanli who speaks first. “we’re being followed,” she says, serene voice breaking through the silence.

Wei Ying looks behind them. there is a vehicle, headlights off but unmistakable shadow, trailing as yanli makes the way through the winding wooded streets. it’s narrower here, single lane late at night. yanli weaves a particular sharp curve. the car effortlessly follows.

“well, i don’t know where we’re going anyway,” yanli says calmly, even though Wei Ying’s heart rate is spiking. “what should i do?”

Wangji has turned around too, though mostly a strange movement with his neck and head. probably because he’s so used to being a dragon, Wei Ying thinks. not like Wangji really knows what a car is. or maybe he does, from all the time he spent on the wen grounds.

Jiang Cheng sounds agitated when he says, “can you lose him?”

yanli creaks on the radio. “i can try.”

then before any of them knows it, she veers off the street–into a path, bare clear in the wood. Wei Ying and Nie Huaisang shout from the back, & Wei Ying feels a grip on his shirt. Wangji is looking up at him with wide, fearful eyes.

“don’t worry,” Wei Ying says as the ground beneath them is bumpy, as they make their way through the dark, liable to crash into a tree at any second. “jie’s a careful driver. better than me & Jiang Cheng, at least.”

“that’s not saying much!” huaisang cries as the car jerks sharply to the side.

yanli’s fingers flex determinedly on the wheel. “i’ll lose them,” she says, “but i need to know where we’re going after this. where are we going, a-ying?”

Wei Ying thinks of the first safe place, the only place where they can crash in at the dead of night and not get asked any questions.

“Jiang Cheng,” he says, “can you pull up directions for my work?”

“your work? you mean your engineering teacher–“

“yes, her!” Wei Ying shouts, and they all yelp as the car practically flies in the air, crashing over a fallen tree trunk.

“mom is going to kill me,” yanli says thoughtfully.

but then she looks in the mirror and brings the car to a sudden halt, quiet in the forest. they all hold their breath as the wait in the car, as if whoever was chasing them is inwiththem. it’s a few minutes and Wei Ying is getting fidgety, when suddenly two beams of light flicker on in the forest. they’re hidden in a thicket of trees, peering between as the headlights, the other car rumbles through the forest, looking for them.

none of them make a sound, a single movement. Wei Ying’s already far back in his head trying to think of an escape plan if they get caught. maybe he can trade in himself for Wangji. whatever happens to him, it’s ok as long as Wangji is safe.

Wangji still has is hands awkwardly fitted in Wei Ying’s shirt. Wei Ying’s aware of how close they’re pressed together, wangj’s bare thigh digging into the side of his jeans. he’s warm, warmer than any human should be, breathing raggled like he’s still trying to get used to his lungs. Wei Ying wraps a hand around the one in his shirt, tangles their fingers together, squeezes Wangji’s in comfort.

Wangji’s golden eyes look at him again. he hesitantly, gently, squeezes back.

the headlights flash in their direction a few times, but never close, car invisible in the tangle of bushes. eventually the other car’s lights dim down, and Wei Ying strains his eyes to see it in the dark. but it’s going back out, away from them; to the entrance of the forest, not even noticing the awkward zig zag path yanli had carved out for them.

they all wait as the car retreats, dimming, out of sight. Wei Ying can practically feel everyone let out a sigh of relief.

yanli turns to Jiang Cheng, then Wei Ying in the dark. “so i’m going to your work, a-ying?”

“don’t you work for cangse-qianbei?” Nie Huaisang asks. “what’s she gonna do with a dying dragon-human thing?”

Wei Ying and Wangji’s fingers are still threaded together. Jiang Cheng meets Wei Ying’s eyes in the dark.

they’re thinking of the same thing, Wei Ying knows. remembers, with the scorch marks permanently etched on his chest.

“she can’t do much,” he tells Nie Huaisang and yanli. “but her husband can.” it is not the easiest feat to find cssr’s place in the dark, especially as yanli keeps the headlights off, just in case. she is the better driver of the three of them, as Jiang Cheng has perpetual road rage & Wei Ying doesn’t even have his license yet, getting everywhere by bike.

still, as they make their way across the vast expanse of the rural road, Wangji doesn’t let go of Wei Ying’s hand. he keeps staring at itwithmystification, his fingers threaded through Wei Ying’s own. Wei Ying glances at him once or twice, then raises them.

Wangji’s eyes get bigger.

“these are hands,” Wei Ying says, shaking their joined hands. “see? hands.”

Jiang Cheng glances back. “i don’t think he understands you.”

“don’t be a player hater, he totally recognizes me.” Wei Ying rolls his eyes, then unravels their hands. Wangji watches as his fingers slip through Wei Ying’s, away. his own fingers are pale and long, longer than Wei Ying’s. they kind of remind him of the horns that once adorned the top of the dragon’s head.

Wei Ying shakes the memory away. “and these are fingers!” he says, wriggling his own. “you can bend them and stuff!”

“i feel like i’m watching pinnochio,” Nie Huaisang says.

“a real boy,” Jiang Cheng comments.

“boys,” yanli admonishes.

Wangji seems unconcerned with them, though, transfixed on Wei Ying’s fingers. he stares at his own–then, slowly, bends the fourth finger on his right finger.

“you did it!” Wei Ying says, jubilant. he threads their fingers again, because–well, bc it feels right. it’s him and Wangji now, against the world. well, also his shijie and Jiang Cheng. and Nie Huaisang bc he’s here.

but he’s back with Wangji, and that’s all that matters.

when they get to cssr’s place, it’s nearly 5am. they all get out of the car, and Wei Ying maybe feels a little weird showing up on his mentor’s doorstep with a naked boy in tow. Jiang Cheng knocks on the door and Wei Ying steels himself.

on the other side, there’s voices. the porch light turns on.

Wangji makes a wounded noise suddenly, tucking himself into Wei Ying’s side like he’s trying to hide, which would be hilarious since he’s definitely taller and bigger than Wei Ying, even in this form. except it’s not bc now Wei Ying is thinking about the wen’s, how they probably shined a light into Wangji’s eyes to make him stir, what it must mean for him. his hand, still wound with Wangji’s, tightens.

the others notice but don’t say anything, tho yanli bites her lip in worry. the door opens.

“wei-laoshi!” cssr enthuses, covered in a big robe. “and–you’ve got friends! what are you doing? it’s nearly dawn.”

“hi,” Wei Ying says sheepishly. “I–there was an emergency.”

“do you mind turning off the porch lights?” yanli asks kindly.

the expression on cssr’s face is growing with interest, but she says, “alright,” and shuts off the light.

drenched back in the darkness, Wangji’s death grip on Wei Ying’s hand loosens.

“thanks,” Wei Ying says.

cssr shoves the rest of the door open. “come in, come in! it’s not that nice out.” they follow her into her house, Wei Ying and Wangji trailing at the end, Wangji bundled up still in Wei Ying’s jacket.

cssr notices his nakedness once they’re in the parlor. “and you’ve got a,” she says, then smiles and shakes her head. “what kind of life do you live, wei-laoshi? it must be way more interesting than when i was your age.”

“trust me, it’s been catching me off guard too,” Wei Ying says dryly.

“well ok! let’s get some clothes on you first,” cssr says kindly to Wangji. “what’s your name?”

“uh,” Wei Ying says, and Wangji gets a deer in headlights look. his gaze darts to Wei Ying’s, anxious, and he opens his mouth.

a weird, screeching, dying sound comes out.

Wei Ying giggles. with the craziness of tonight, it feels a little bit like relief, even though Wangji is frowning, touching his mouth like he hadn’t expected that noise to come from his throat.

“his name is Wangji,” Wei Ying answers.

cssr eyes him. “Wangji, huh,” she says. “well, i might have some clothes that might fit you, or my husband might. you’re lucky he married an early riser like me,” she continues, as she leads them upstairs. “otherwise he would’ve left you on our doorstep till noon.”

they wait in the hall as cssr goes back into her bedroom.

“i like her,” yanli says.

Wei Ying beams. “i knew you would! she’s the best. she & her husband helped me when,” he glances at Wangji. “you know. last winter.”

“i remember,” yanli says carefully.

Wangji’s expression is a bit confused, a bit–maybe sad, now. though it’s likely he doesn’t understand Wei Ying, but maybe it’s just in the air. the light in the hallway is dim and yellow enough that it’s not blaring in their eyes, especially Wangji’s. and now that they’re in some light, Wei Ying can see him clearly. bruises and scratch marks litter his body, scars and burns he’s unsure if they’ll be able to heal. he looks mostly to be in one piece, except for a large chunk missing from his toe. when Wei Ying reaches outwithsome spiritual energy, though, looks for it in this human body–it’s faint. dying.

Wei Ying swallows. he doesn’t know if they’ll have found Wangji like this if they’d come only a few weeks later.

no one comments on it, though, and Wangji seems more distracted by the sensations–moving his feet experimentally, looking at Wei Ying in his skinny jeans and black t-shirt. he’s definitely not checking him out bc Wangji probably doesn’t even know what checking out means, but he can’t help feel like he is.

cssr comes back out with a flowery looking white blouse and loose, beige lounge pants. “this should fit you,” she says, measuring it up against Wangji’s body. “yeah. you’ve got a long torso like me but longer legs like my husband. does he have clothes you can bring for him eventually?”

“er,” Wei Ying says.

“yes,” yanli says.

Wei Ying turns to her. “shijie! what are you–?”

“well he’s in this form for the foreseeable future,” yanli says. cssr mouths ‘form?’ to herself. “& i’m a part of this now, so i’ll help. my job pays well.”

“my job pays well,” Wei Ying grumbles.

“your job could pay better,” cssr points out, “if you’d accept it–“

“not this again,” Wei Ying complains. he takes the clothes from her, though, since Wangji seems to be taken with the concept of feeling the carpet beneath his feet.

they make their generic introductions, and cssr steers Nie Huaisang, Jiang Cheng, and yanli into a couple of spare rooms with couches and futons upstairs. “ik you want to know what’s happeningwithur friend,” she says, which isn’t inaccurate, “but all of you honestly look dead tired on your feet. we’ll discuss everything in the morning if you get some rest.”

then she brings Wei Ying and Wangji into the same guest room she stuck Wei Ying in before.

Wei Ying starts, “thank you, laoshi–“

“don’t thank me yet,” cssr warns. “i know ur going to ask more of me, and bc i like you i’m going to say yes. but i need to know what’s going on.”

“okay,” Wei Ying says meekly.

cssr glances at the bed.?”tomorrow morning,” she adds. “but bc i respect you, i think you know that you respect me too to not keep me in the dark.”

she’s right. “yeah,” Wei Ying says reluctantly. “tomorrow i–will.”

“and ask me whatever else you want to ask then, too,” cssr adds. “get some rest, the both of you. i’ll be in the garage if you need me.”

she leaves. Wangji looks hesitantly at her retreating back, but Wei Ying squeezes his hand in reassurance. “it’s fine,” he assures Wangji. “she’s nice, i just. if we want you to stay here with her, she’ll have to know what’s up.”

Wangji blinks slowly at him. understanding. Wei Ying recognizes it from his dragonish behavior.

he giggles. “let’s get you into these clothes, shall we?”

it’s a bit of a mess of limbs and charades, Wei Ying moving his arms around and running around Wangji’s body to make sure all the right body parts are going into the right holes. Wangji doesn’t like sleeves, he quickly finds out, by the strain on his biceps and shoulders– even tho his torso’s about as big as cssr’s she’s still slimmer than him. the blouse practically tears over his shoulders.

Wangji looks unhappy, but keeps still with the blouse as Wei Ying gets his pants on, too. at least this is easier, just dragging them up Wangji’s endless legs–bypassing his dick, which Wei Ying tries very hard not to notice is massive despite being soft. Wangji probably doesn’t even know what a dick is. do dragons even have sex drives? he shakes the thought off, cheeks burning as he gets the trousers up to Wangji’s waist.

then he looks at his handiwork with his hands on his hips. “there you are! now you look acceptable.”

Wangji squirms in the blouse.

“yeah, ik clothes are restrictive. life really might be easier if we could be naked all the time,” Wei Ying says thoughtfully. “but ig you were alr doing that as a dragon. which–i dunno what we’re doing about that. god, i don’t know what we’re doing about anything.”

Wangji opens his mouth. a soft rumble comes from his throat.

Wei Ying laughs in surprise. “are you trying to say smth to me?”

Wangji looks into his arms pointedly. Wei Ying’s holding onto the jacket he’d leant him.

“oh, you want this?” Wei Ying says. Wangji doesn’t give any cues, but Wei Ying knows the answer, passing it over to Wangji.

Wangji watches his own arm carefully as he extends his hand, like he’s tracking every one of his own movements. his hand grasps onto the jacket.

he makes a little pleased noise and clutches it to his chest. Wei Ying giggles, and Wangji looks at him for that, too. his gaze is soft and golden, like it had been those days that they’d spend in the clearing.

“the bed’s made for you,” Wei Ying says, nodding toward it. “let’s get you to sleep.”

he shows Wangji how to get into bed, how to pull the covers off and over him, how to recline horizontally that’s not just curling up in a cage. Wangji settles in eventually, still clutching Wei Ying’s jacket, his warmth, his back flat against the bed. Wei Ying smiles at him. “you’re so cute,” he says, bc it’s safe and he is. Wangji really is cute, even as a 188cm human. which is nothing compared to his usual dragon self, approximately the size of two small cars.

he watches as Wangji closes his eyes, drifts asleep. it’s weird seeing him as a human now, when he’s just been–a dragon, up to tonight, in Wei Ying’s mind’s eye. and yet, as Wei Ying looks at him, it just. kind of makes sense. he doesn’t think it’ll matter what form Wangji takes, bc who he is is still there underneath. quiet and beautiful. curious and–Wei Ying knows inevitably, teasing. Wangji never fails to surprise him, whether in the smallest, gentlest ways of catching a berry in his mouth, or showing up in a cage as a human boy.

Wei Ying falls asleep next to the bed, next to Wangji, exhausted & happier than he’s been in months.

This work is incomplete and stops here. It may remain unfinished indefinitely.

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this fierce and beautiful world

by aroceu

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© 2009-2026 aroceu