Wei Wuxian entered the door to his shared apartment in a very bad mood. 

He walked straight to the fridge to get some cold drinks to soothe his nerves, and when he closed the fridge door, he yelped seeing Wen Ning stood silently behind it.

"Where have you been?" He asked Wei Wuxian in a strangely cold voice, unlike his usual cheery self.

"What? Are you my mom now?" He tried to ignore the uneasy feeling that had started to creep in his gut. 

Damn those warnings about the Wens and the fake vault. It seemed that Lan Wangji's presence started to take a bigger influence in his life, although he would not ever admit it, ever.

"I was looking for you after the concert, yet I couldn't find you anywhere, I was worried, you know." Wen Ning's expression softened, although his eyes were not. The previous Wei Wuxian would have not noticed this if he hadn't been alerted by Lan Wangji.

"No need to worry Ning," Wei Wuxian deliberately squeezed Wen Ning's upper arm, "I'm perfectly capable of defending myself, you know that." He noticed the imperceptible wince, which was quickly hidden by the forced smile. 

"Of course I know that, Wei-xiong. I'm just worried that something happened since you didn't call me at all."

Right. 

How could he explain that he was tumbling around in someone's bed; the one that was supposed to be his enemy; and having the best time of his life? Although at the end, that beast became such an ass that he had to hurry to go back home, otherwise who knew if he was gonna spend the night having another round of endorphins-releasing marathon. 

Who knew that that particular forbidden extracurricular activity was so addictive, especially with someone who he never-in-a-billion-year-would-ever-thought-that-he-would-dance-the-tango-with, the one and only almighty Lan Wangji, the gentleman on the public, the beast between the sheets.

He sighed heavily while remembering the pleasure he derived just from touching Lan Wangji's god-like body.

That fucking beast.

"Well, I'm here now and I'm tired and sweaty, so I'm gonna take a quick shower before I'm going to sleep." Wei Wuxian patted Wen Ning's arm lightly then he went and locked himself in the bathroom.

After he made sure that the bathroom was locked properly, he slid down on the floor, hugging himself, trembling.

He remembered that he hurt Xiao Hei's kidnapper in the exact place that he squeezed Wen Ning, and he knew that Wen Ning wasn't hurt before. 

He also noticed the faint zip tie mark on Wen Ning's wrists.

So, what was this supposed to mean?

Wen Ning was the kidnapper? 

But why?

In the light of this unfolding event, Wei Wuxian now wished that he was with Lan Wangji right now to discuss… things.

He knew that although Lan Wangji was as stubborn as a mule and an asshole on top of that, but he was very smart and maybe he could shed some light to whatever happened in his life.

If Wen Ning truly could not be trusted so did it mean that what Lan Wangji said was true? That the vault was fake?

Wei Wuxian clutched his almost exploding head.

In a short time since he had known Lan Wangji, his life had been turned upside down he barely recognized himself now. 

But strangely… he didn't mind.

Although it's true that he was adopted by the Jiangs and taken under the wings of the Wens; the benefactor of The Forsaken; he didn't feel a close tie between them, only gratefulness. And even then, he already paid them by doing his job perfectly. 

Wei Wuxian didn't like to owe anyone anything.

And yet, for the last few months, he owed Lan Wangji more and more every time they met.

True he paid him, with his body nonetheless. 

The one thing that the Jiangs and the Wens always drilled into his mind was that he should not sully his body by random act of copulation, because his body was holier than a temple, whatever that meant. He found it quite strange, since he was an adult male, who was supposed to make decisions for himself about who he wanted to kiss or sleep with, and until now he didn't give a second thought about how they exerted their manipulation even in his private lives. Was he really that blind?

And he didn't even realize it until he met Lan Wangji.

Every rule in his life went flying out of the window if it had something to do with Lan Wangji and his merry band of… mythical beasts.

That sounded strange even for him, who ate strange for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday.

That reminded him to do some secret research about the supposedly fake vault.

But where should he start?

Surely he could not use the shadow guards' resources since it would send a red alert to his supposedly guardians. Wen Ning was also out of the equation since Wen Qing, his own sister, even warned him about her brother.

Then he suddenly remembered his old hacker friend from the school day, the one who was always there for him when they planned their mischievous deeds. Sadly they drifted apart when he was recruited by the shadow guard, all those restrictions and training and all.

But could he really trust him after all this time?

Guess he could only rely on his gut feeling after all.

Wei Wuxian then finished his shower and went outside under the scrutiny of Wen Ning's sharp gaze and questions, but he swiftly answered that he needed to go to replenish his favourite snacks. 

He really needed to go outside if he wanted to contact Nie Huaisang, since the old bastard didn't have any conventional way to contact him unless he did some series of peculiar and  crazy sequences that would lead Nie Huaisang to be the one to contact him. And as far as he remembered, there were few things that quite… embarrassing, it was eye opening for him.

Later he would force Nie fucking Huaisang to just give him his phone number in case he needed to contact him again. After all, his phone had the god level encryption in it, courtesy of Lan Wangji.

Now all he had to do was wait.

Wei Wuxian woke up in a daze and hurriedly clutched his vibrating phone, before he looked at the clock on the wall.

Three thirty five fucking a.m. 

Who was up in this godforsaken hour? This had better be someone's dying… or else.

"Wei-xiong! It's been a while, whatcha doing?" 

Nie Huaisang's chirpy tone, even at three thirty five in the fucking a.m, didn't show any significant change since high school, which was almost ten years ago. And strangely he didn't seem that surprised that Wei Wuxian contacted him after all this time.

What was more strange was the time in which he called Wei Wuxian back.

Three thirty five fucking a.m. on the dot. 

Was he even human or what?

Truthfully he would not be surprised if somehow Nie Huaisang was a vampire, with his luck, meeting all kinds of mythical beasts and their friends and family.

Wait, was vampire also a branch of mythical beasts too? A mutated bat? Fuck he was getting delusional now.

"Nie Huaisang, I wondered if you're still alive, you bastard, I had to endure your fucking freaking fetish on making people suffered, just to contact an old friend, Jesus! And what's with this time to call back? Are you a ghost or something?"

Wei Wuxian tried to sober up quickly and he was actually very happy that his old friend still remembered him after such a long time just by calling him back, showing him that he still kept their line of communication alive.

"Well, I just got your message and I want to hear your voice so bad I called you right away, Wei-xiong. Anyway, I always know that you have a streak of masochism inside of you, thus, the challenge." Nie Huaisang laughed. "So, what do I have the honor of having my oldest and bestest friend contact me after... ten years? If I didn't know better, I thought you're already six feet under. "

"No thanks for the jinx, Nie Huaisang, but since you're asking, can we meet? Soon? And please give me your fucking phone number so that I don't have to do those shameless shit anymore."

"Hey, I called you didn't I? You can save this number, I'll be keeping this one just for you. Just set the time and the place and send me the coordinate, I'll meet you there."

"Today?"

"Well, you said it was urgent? Luckily my schedules are open today, so see you soon."

"Right. I'll send you the location right now. Thanks by the way."

"Hey, that's what an old friend is for."

Wei Wuxian hung up the phone and sent the safe location he prepared to Nie Huaisang, which happened to be in a public park a little far away from his apartment, but it was out of the perimeter, safe enough to conduct a private talk without anyone eavesdropping. He set the time to six a.m, just in time for a light exercise if anyone was curious enough to ask. 

For example, his roommate slash spy.

Not long after his conversation with Wei Wuxian, Nie Huaisang received the coordinate, which showed a park not far from his residence. Then he called someone on his safe line.

"Boss, it's just as you predicted, he asked for a meeting. So, what should I do now?"

"Just do whatever he wants you to do, but don't let him know about me, at least not now."

"Understood."