Past

When Wang YiJun was around five, his mother had taken ill. 

"Father, why does mother not leave her room anymore? Father, talk to mother, please. Father, what is wrong with her?" YiJun had asked many questions to not only his father, but to many people all over the palace. In the end, however, he had not received any answers.

Then one day, when YiJun had finished his lessons for the day, he had come to visit his mother in her room at dusk. His eyes had fallen on a woman dressed in simple, yet neat clothing. She was roughly his mother's age and was talking to the queen. 

'Mother is smiling.' YiJun had observed. 

Then he had walked in and stood in front of his mother's bed. Though he had not interrupted the two women, they had stopped talking when they had seen YiJun arrive. 

The woman had smiled and walked towards YiJun, "You must be Prince YiJun."

"Mn."

"Nice to meet you, Prince, I was your mother's assistant before she married your father." The lady had said, looking affectionately at YiJun's mother.

"Xi Xi, you know I always thought of you as my sister." The queen had said, before beckoning YiJun to come closer.

She had held YiJun's hands and spoken softly, "Son, your mother is not well, aunty Xi Xi is here to keep me company and to help me take care of you."

"I don't need anyone to take care of me." YiJun had said confidently.

"I know, but since I am unable to spend time with you like I did before... "

"She can not replace you." YiJun had said, getting agitated.

The queen had realized that she had hurt her son's pride. So she had changed her approach. "Of course, of course... You see, my friend has a son too, he is a little younger than you. And since Aunty Xi Xi will be busy taking care of me, her son will be left all alone. Son, could you please do me a favor and take care of Xian."

"Xian?" YiJun had repeated the name.

Slowly a cute boy with the most beautiful smile the little prince had ever seen had peeked from behind Xi Xi. 

"Xian, come here." The queen had beckoned the other boy to her bedside as well. 

The boy had come and stood next to YiJun.

"Xian, will it be ok if YiJun took care of you since you won't be able to see your mother as often as you do now?" The queen had asked the smaller boy.

"EJun?" The small boy had tried to say the prince's name.

"YiJun. It's YiJun." the prince had tried to clarify. 

 "Jun.. Jun. Hehe." The younger boy had laughed, finding the way the prince had said his name, hilarious. 

"Don't call me like that!" YiJun had said, sounding highly offended.

"Jun... Jun- Jun." The child had repeated before holding YiJun's wrist and dragging him out of his mother's room.

YiJun had thrown a very disappointed look at his mother and found her smiling. He had then begrudgingly let himself be dragged outside by Xian.

Once outside, Xian had let go of YiJun's hand. He had started picking up flowers and collecting them in his shirt.

Even after minutes, when Xian had continued to pick up flowers, curiosity had gotten the best of YiJun. He had finally asked, "What are you doing, Xian?"

Xian had smiled brightly and showed off his collection, "Jun, look."

YiJun had walked towards the smaller boy and sat next to him.

"Jun, which is pretty?"

YiJun had picked up the prettiest ones from the lot and handed it over to Xian.

"Pretty!" Xian had exclaimed, before taking the red rose from YiJun. Then, he had stood on his knees and placed the flower in YiJun's hair.

"Mn?" Surprised, the little prince had felt a strange warmth creep inside his chest.

"For Jun. Jun looks pretty." Xian had announced.

Then, before YiJun could react, Xian had thrown his arms around the prince and kissed the young prince's cheek sweetly.

 "Mine." Little Xian declared before smiling sweetly.

YiJun had been too surprised at the time. He had said nothing. He had just blinked a few times and stared at Xian, till the time the little boy had gotten up and found something else that he had wanted to show or give to YiJun.

That was the first time that Xian, an ordinary peasant boy with nothing special about him, had called and taken the Prince as HIS. 

That was also the day, YiJun had fallen in love for the first and last time.

The Present

Wei Xian reaches home to find Yanli still sleeping on the couch. He looks at the time; it's half-past twelve. 

He goes upstairs and changes. While changing, he remembers being punched and pulls up his shirt to check the damage, but to his surprise, he finds nothing out of the ordinary.

'It hurt freaking bad when I got punched. I was sure it would bruise. I have bruised with lesser in the past. Maybe, I didn't get hit that bad. Maybe, I was in shock.' Xian reasons with himself before going downstairs.

He tiptoes towards Yanli and picks her up in his arms. 

Yanli stirs in her sleep, "A Chen?"

"It's me, Shijie. You fell asleep on the couch."

"Am." Yanli murmurs.

Xian puts Yanli in bed and retires to his room.

Like always, he looks out the window to check if he has closed the gate and gasps when he notices a pair of red eyes stare back at him. Freaking out, he closes the curtains and counts to ten in his mind. 

 'I am too riled up...I must be imagining things.' He tells himself and opens the curtains to look at the same spot where he had spotted the red eyes. 

'There is nothing there. Of course, there is nothing there. I probably imagined it.' 

Xian reasons and closes the curtains before falling asleep. 

 *

 *

 *

It's almost 1.30 am when Lan Wangji returns home.

He goes to the washroom and discards his black garments in the laundry basket.

"Who was he?" Wangji wonders, standing in front of the mirror.

 His hand moves to his neck. 

'The locket!' Wangji panics and looks for it in his pocket.

He empties the laundry basket and checks his jacket pocket. 

 'It's not here either...I remember I was wearing it when.... '

Wangji's mind wanders around to the boy he had saved. The boy who had kissed him and the one he had willing and enthusiastically kissed back.

"Damnit! I should not have done that. Maybe I am being punished for betraying Xian. Maybe I don't deserve that locket anymore."

Wangji punches the mirror hard, and it shatters, 'Isssss!' Wangji winces, looking at his bleeding hand. He washes his hand and watches as the cut starts healing; within seconds, all that is left to tell the tale are the broken pieces of mirror on the floor and the bloodstains on the washroom countertop. After cleaning the mess, he changes into his white nightwear and joins Xian on their bed.

"See you at dawn, my love," Wangji whispers in Xian's ears before taking him into his arms and falling asleep.

{Note:- Word count 1188

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