The festivities had already begun when the doorbell rang. Lan Wangji was the one closest to the door, so he went to open it. All the guests had already arrived so he wondered who else it could be.
He opened the door to greet the newcomers, but the moment his eyes locked with the now familiar figure, his breath hitched.

"You!" Wei Wuxian squeaked.

"You!" He said, astonished.

Yanli looked at them with eyes full of curiosity and then raised an eyebrow at Jiang Cheng who just shrugged. He didn't want to get involved in this strange shit that was going on between his brother and THE Lan Wangji. He would happily let them deal with it themselves.

Just then, Lan Xichen came to the door trying to find out why it was taking ages for his brother to let the guests in and then chuckled, seeing the situation.

"Li! You finally made it."

He then turned towards Zixuan with a barely there polite smile, "Zixuan. How nice of you to come. Oh, where are my manners, come on in you guys!" Xichen smiled at everyone, and ushered them inside his beautiful house.

Yanli entered the house with Zixuan and Jiang Cheng following her but Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are rooted to the spot, unable to move their eyes from each other, still very much surprised to find the other in this weird situation.

"You must be her beloved brothers, eh? I am Lan Xichen. Nice to meet you!" Jiang Cheng extended his hands to him, "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks!" Lan Xichen smiled. He looked over Jiang Cheng's shoulder to see his brother and Li's other brother still standing at the door. "Hey bro, you wanna make my guest stand at the door the whole day? Invite him in please!"

That brought Wangji back to reality. He stepped aside and motioned Wei Wuxian to enter the house.

While Wei Wuxian passed him, he quietly whispered, only for this man to hear, "You look beautiful, you know that?"

Wei Wuxian inadvertently blushed at the shameless compliment and shuffled inside the warm house, trying to suppress his mixed feelings inside.

He tried to rack his brain but couldn't remember his sister saying that it was Lan Wangji's brother's house they were going to.

Not once.

All she had said was it was one of her best friends.

Even the peacock didn't say anything. If he had known that it was Lan Wangji's house they were invited to, he would have made an excuse to not come.

But well.. it was too late now. He was here and Lan Wangji looked like he had won a lottery.

---

Lan Wangji had the biggest grin on his face. He went to his brother's side and covertly asked him if it was his ingenious plan to invite the object of his affection to their house so that he could check him out.

Lan Xichen only looked at him, smiled and said, "I see that you love the surprise, bro, you should thank me later. Now, go, enjoy yourself, and please don't do anything extreme, there are people here..." he winked at his brother's obvious shameless plan to get close to his friend's brother.

"Eh, I will try my best not to ruin your party ge, but really, thank you so much for inviting him." Wangji winked, squeezed Xichen's hand and left to find his bunny.
 
He entered the game room and saw Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, Nie Huaisang and Wen Ning standing near the pool table and talking animatedly. He was just about to walk forward but then he frowned.

Earlier when Qing had come in with the shy, freckled boy accompanying her, he thought that the guy looked somehow familiar, but then he dismissed the thought. Now however, that he saw him standing beside Wei Wuxian, it hit him.

It was this guy, who Wei Wuxian had hugged at the canteen, this guy who Wei Wuxian had brought to the race and this guy, who's hand he had held tightly when he was standing in front of him the night of the last race.

He clenched his hands into fists unknowingly.

"Why do you suddenly look like you're gonna beat someone up, Wangji?" Qing said from beside him, confused at htis sudden change of her friend's demeanor.

"I just remembered something," he said and forced himself to relax.

"Care to share?" She tugged his arms, and walked a bit far away from the other boys, after all, she did not know them as well as she knew Wangji.

"You remember the last race?" They sat on the other side of the room, far enough from the other boys to not hear them talk.

Qing rolled her eyes. "How could I forget? Apparently your idiot ass decided to kiss the friendly-neighbourhood whore. And before you ask me, I saw the pictures on twitter even though I reached late." She grabbed a cold can of soda and gave one to Wangji.

Wangji winced, and took the can, rolled it on his neck. "Well it was because of your brother that I ended up kissing her."

"My brother? My sweet innocent brother? What's that angel got to do with your fucked up drama?" She drank the soda in one big gulp.

"Angel? Uh no.. the only angel here is Wei Wuxian. Just look at him," he pointed at the said person, with his can, before drinking it, eyes not moving from his direction.

"Get to the point, lover boy! How was my brother involved? I did save him from the police that night, because his stupid friends decided to go to the races." She looked at the direction of the others and thought for a minute. Then it hit her, and her eyes widened. "Are those boys the same friends who took advantage of my innocent brother?" She looked at the boys in question. "Oh, I am going to throw hands" Qing looked pissed now, ready to throw a punch on whoever tried to harm her brother.

"Now now, Q. From what I gathered, they had gone that night because Nie Huaisang, Nie Mingjue's brother was in trouble" Wangji tried to defuse the situation, because Qing in normal circumstances was explosive, but Qing with a temper? He did not want to find out.

"And they had to take my brother along with them?" She was still pissed.

"He's not a kid, Q. And he's friends with them. It was you who said, he needed friends and now when he has, you are being over-protective" he shrugged and drank more from the can.

"He's my brother!" Qing huffed, but she went back to the couch, although pouting.

"So?" Wangji raised his eyebrows at her.

She merely rolled her eyes at him again.

"Anyway, back to the topic. I kissed Qin Su that night because your brother and Wei Wuxian were holding hands. It pissed me off, I almost saw red."

"More like jealous.." Qing smacked his head lightly. "Idiot!"

"Hey! What was that for?" Wangji yelped at her.

The loud yelp made everyone in the room look at them, including one Wei Wuxian. Wangji just grinned and waved at them all, acting innocent, and slapped Qing's thigh. "I need to get closer to him, stop making me look bad!" He hissed between his teeth, which earned one more slap on his back.

"I'm outta here, need to get food, where's the food? I'm starving!" She stood up and walked to the direction of the kitchen.

Thankfully, Lan Xichen came to save the day by shouting, "Food's ready!" from the general direction of the living room.

Everyone cheered and then gathered around the dining table, picking up the food, eating, and chatting amongst themselves. Old friends and new ones. They mingled quite nicely.

But Xichen noticed that Yanli wasn't talking to anyone as such, and Zixuan was hovering near her, preventing her from having a decent conversation with anyone who came across them. Thankfully after some time, Zixuan had to leave the party. "Work emergency," he told them.

Xichen and his besties breathed a sigh of relief when he left, of course after leaving a string of instructions to Yanli, such as don't be too long, don't drink too much, watch your speech, and so on and so forth. That was a very controlling man Yanli had. Every one of them was very much pissed on her behalf.

"I thought he would never leave!" Mingjue complained as soon as Zixuan was out of their sight and hearing.

"Ming.." Xichen sighed exasperatedly. He knew his boyfriend hated Yanli's, but they should not interfere unless asked.

"Fine, I will shut-up for now. But I will never like him" he huffed, and went straight to Yanli, hugging her.

"Boys! Behave..." she chuckled at her best friend's childish behaviour. She knew they loved her and would do anything for her if she just asked.

"Yes, Li," both the men grinned at her simultaneously which made Yanli giggle.

Everyone looked at her fondly, hearing her giggle. There was something about her that made everyone want to cherish her and protect her. She was such a beautiful soul that any person could see it even on their first meeting.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Xichen noticed that Qing, his brother's best friend, kept glancing at her, not quite discreetly, from time to time. So Xichen decided right there and then, to play cupid again. Who knew what fate had in store for them? He gestured to Yanli and walked over to where QIng was standing.

"Hey there, Qing," Xichen tapped Wen Qing on her shoulders lightly. "Enjoying the view?"

She turned around and saw Xichen and Yanli standing in front of her, all smiles. "Oh hey Xichen-ge."

"Since you two are the only females in this party, I thought, I would introduce you both. This is Jiang Yanli. She has been my bestie since college." He turned towards Yanli and pointed towards Qing, "And this is Wen Qing. She is Wangji's best friend but she acts more like an elder sister." After he was done, he excused himself to look for Mingjue who was conversing quietly with Jin Guangyao in the kitchen.

"Playing cupid are we Er-ge?" Guangyao commented with a smile that brought out cute dimples on his cheeks.

"Sorry Yao, I know Zixuan is your half-brother but he's not a good influence to Li and I can't see her suffer like this anymore."

"Don't worry about it Er-ge. You know I never gelled well with those Jins. I am already in the process of changing my name back to Meng Yao." He raised his glass, saluting them.

"And we are proud of you for taking that step, Yao" Mingjue smiled at the man.

"Oh da-ge you will make me emotional now," Yao whined.

All three men burst into laughter.

---

In the other corner of the room, Lan Wangji had made sure to take up a seat beside Wei Wuxian. His hands kept hovering close to Wuxian's thigh, which made him really jumpy, like a cornered rabbit.

And if his friends saw anything, they pretended that they didn't.

The traitors.

Wei Wuxian sighed.

He was getting frustrated as each minute passed, and there was no sign that the other would back off. He looked at the devil beside him and whispered, "Will you stop doing that?"

"Doing what?" Wangji tried to look innocent.

"This.. whatever this is that you're doing right now" he hissed.

"I haven't even started touching you and you're already this turned on?" Wangji smirked.

"I am not turned on"

"You are"

"Am not"

"You are"

"Am not"

"Liar," Wangji looked pointedly at Wei Wuxian's crotch.

Wei Wuxian's breath hitched, then he got up and tried to inconspicuously walk towards the bathroom. Wangji was quick to follow.
As he was going to duck into the bathroom downstairs, Wangji got hold of his arm and dragged him upstairs.

"Use my bathroom," Wangji said.

"W-what?" He stammered.

"Use mine." Wangji said. "With me you never have to hide anything, ever." He gave him a look full of sincerity.

Even though he loved teasing Wuxian relentlessly, he didn't want anyone to look at Wuxian when he was looking this mouth-watering. He felt immensely possessive of this man whom he had only met a handful of times, and now couldn't wait to date.

Wuxian looked flustered as he went into the bathroom.

"Don't you dare follow me or I will hit you..."

"Wasn't planning to, bunny. Take your time to calm down, I will be here"

Wuxian closed the door of the ensuite and slumped against it.

That man was driving him crazy!

He had never, ever felt this desperate, to want to jump someone in a room full of people. But God, that man was hot and he kept touching him. Light touches, sure, but every single one made him shiver in delight.

Although he would be damned if he admitted that out loud.
 
After around 10 minutes in the bathroom, he finally managed to calm himself and his raging erection down. He washed his face and looked for a towel to wipe his now wet face. Finding none, he opened the door to find Wangji lounging on his bed.

"Do you have a towel?"

Wangji looked up the moment the door opened.

"Sure.." He walked inside the bathroom and took out a soft black towel from a cupboard under the sink. "Here," he said before he went to wipe Wuxian's face gently himself.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why am I doing what?" Wangji asked, visibly confused.

"Stop answering a question with a question", Wei Wuxian said. "This. Being this... gentle human being of sort. Please revert back to the rough bad boy persona that you are. I ... really can't handle this... you." He walked away and sat on the other's bed, noticing the firm bounce of expensive beddings.

"So you were saying that I am acting out of character?" Wangji moved closer, as he lifted his brow in question. "But how would you know, about how I act in private? Do you think you really know me? This... bad boy persona?" He waved at himself. "That was kind of... presumptuous, don't you think?"

That statement left Wei Wuxian flustered.

True, he didn't know what Wangji was actually like. He had only met the guy a few times and every time he acted like a certified bad boy. Is that all an act? Wei Wuxian thought to himself. Am I really judging him when I don't really know him?

"A penny for your thoughts, bunny?"

Wei Wuxian shook his head and finally looked around him.

So this was what the mighty Second Prince of Gusu Lan's room looked like. It was nothing like what he had imagined.

Sure it had a few posters of bikes and some rock bands but no skimpily dressed girls. It was also very well organized and neat, which surprised him.

"You seem surprised," Wangji tilted his head, observing the man as he took in his surroundings.

"I am"

"Not what you expected, did you?" He chuckled lightly.

Wei Wuxian just nodded. "Nothing like what I expected." He looked at Wangji and a new realization dawned on him. "You do seem to surprise me a lot lately."

"I like surprising you," came the reply. "And I am looking forward to our date that you promised me." He grinned, back to his usual teasing self.

"Under extreme duress!" Wuxian stated hotly, eyes ablazed, but he could not lie to himself that he started to look forward to the date.

Wangji just smiled in response.

When they came back downstairs, the party was in full swing. The boys were wailing along off-key to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody that was playing on the vintage style jukebox, that must cost the owner a fortune.

Xichen, Ming and Yao had joined them in their endeavour, while the girls, Yanli and Qing, sat on the sofa talking animatedly, so rare an expression for Yanli nowadays.

Wangji took a look at Qing's expression and smiled. He knew that look, he only ever saw that one other time. She was in awe of the Jiang sister. But then, he remembered something that made him frown.

"Why are you frowning like that while looking at my sister?" Wei Wuxian enquired, tilting his head.

Wangji looked at him, as if trying to consider something, but finally relented.

"Can I ask you something personal? It's fine if you don't want to answer, but I HAVE to ask."

Wei Wuxian saw Wangji's brow knitted together, and since he looked like he was being sincere, he nodded.

"It's about your sister. She... you guys came in with another guy, Zixuan, right?"

Hearing that name, Wei Wuxian made a face, which Wangji took as a positive sign, since what he was about to say might put him in hot water, but he had to ask, for the sake of his best friend.

"Uh.. so, is he dating your sister?"

Wei Wuxian sighed.

He was biting his lower lip nervously, which Wangji found very adorable. He wanted to lean in and bite it, but then he mentally kicked himself.

Focus, Wangji, focus!

"Well it's not like it's a secret anyway, so I will tell you. They have been in a relationship for 2 years now. But it's anything but happy." He looked at his sister then, a fond loving expression on his face. "She is the strongest person that I have known, but she forgets that everytime she is with that peacock."

"Peacock?" Wangji's brow lifted questioningly.

"Yeah peacock. In the two years they have been together, he has never appreciated her. He always finds a way to... underestimate her." He sighed, remembering every single time that Zixuan prevented her sister from doing something that she seemed to enjoy. "She's a cook, you know.. but he always finds faults in her food." Wei Wuxian felt a hand cover his, and only then did he realize that he had clenched them into fists.

He slowly relaxed only when Wangji started drawing circles repeatedly on his wrist.

"Why doesn't she break up with him?"

"I don't know. We, Cheng and I, tried to ask her to end it, but she just says, she loves him."

He then turned towards Wangji abruptly, and with his glazed eyes, he asked him, "Tell me, what kind of love does that?" He was trembling, "What kind of love is that, that makes you feel unworthy? Restrains you? Not let you be your own self? If that is love, I never, ever want to be in love." He lowered his head, trying to hide the single tear that escaped from his eyes.

Wangji suddenly felt a weird squeeze around his heart with those painful words.

"It's not love," he said quietly, squeezing the other's hand to let him know that he was there with him.

Wei Wuxian just kept looking down, before he pulled himself up, and looked straight into Wangji's eyes. His eyes still glazed from the unshed tears.

Wangji swallowed, and continued, "I don't know what love is, because I've never been in love, but even I understand that that's surely not how you treat your significant other."

With the mention of the significant other, Wei Wuxian's body tensed again. Wangji seemed to understand the underlying anxiety that seeped out from his pores.

"She's not my girlfriend, Xian. Can I call you Xian?"

Wei Wuxian didn't know what to say, so he shrugged.

"As I have said many times before, she isn't my girlfriend. She is just someone I- uhm, she's-"

"Your fuck buddy," Wei Wuxian finished the sentence for him.

Wangji looked at him incredulously. "You- "

He chuckled at that look. "I may be inexperienced in the field of relationships, but I am not an idiot."

"Oh well, that went better than expected." Wangji shrugged nonchalantly. "Anyway, about you sister. I think Q likes her."

"Q?"

"Qing, my best friend. Ning's sister, she's lesbian."

"Oh," was all Wei Wuxian said.

"Yeah, oh. Which was why I asked. She looks elated, your sister and so does Q."

"Well, I don't know if jie is into girls, no offense to your friend."

"None taken, and I was never into boys," Wangji paused for a second before he said, "until I met you."

Wei Wuxian cleared his throat and was about to say something when Yanli interrupted them, "Hey, Xian, sorry to interrupt, but I really need to leave now. You know how Zixuan doesn't like it if I stay out late."

"Why are you-" Wuxian stopped mid sentence when he felt a hand on the small of his back. He bit down on his anger and just said, "Sure jie, I will go get Cheng."

Yanli smiled nervously and turned to Qing who was standing beside her. "Thanks so much for the company tonight, Q. I really enjoyed our conversations."

"We should do it again then, Li. How about I come by your cafe sometime this week?"

Yanli's face brightened as she smiled at Qing. "Of course! I would love it."

At that time Wei Wuxian came back with Cheng. "We're ready to leave," Cheng said.

With that they bid goodbye to everyone and left, but not before Wangji whispered something into Wei Wuxian's ears which made him blush.

---

"Nicely done, Q. Nicely done." Wangji had a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Not bad yourself," Qing smiled.

They had identical grins on their faces when then returned to the living room, both happy to have spent some time with the ones they were interested in.