Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - BDSM, Biologically Determined Dom/sub Roles, BDSM, Bad BDSM etiquette, Sadism, Masochism, Past Sexual Abuse, Sexual Slavery, Self-Harm, BDSM as a Form of Self-Harm, Minor Character Death(s), Arson, Shades of Black Widow Wei Wuxian, Extremely Dubious Consent, Rape/Non-Con Elements, Normalized Homosexuality and Bisexuality, Normalized Polyamory, Nonsexual BDSM, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Pining Wei Wuxian, Jealous Wei Wuxian, Touch-Starved Wei Wuxian, Professional Dominant Wei Wuxian, Sex Worker Wei Wuxian, Gentle Dom Lan Wangji, Mean Dom Lan Wangji, Oblivious Lan Wangji, Past Wen Chao/Wei Wuxian, Minor Jin Guangyao/Wei Wuxian, Mentioned Wei Wuxian/Others, Emotional Infidelity, Angst with a Happy Ending, Endgame Wangxian, Mo Xuanyu Also Gets a Happy Ending, the tags are scary but i promise there's some lightheartedness too, wangxian love one another so much, wei wuxian is healed by the power of nonsexual bdsm and friendship, and then gets bdsm'd quite sexually and happily by the love of his life, Additional Warnings In Author's Note
- Nightless City flashback includes several brief mentions of physical abuse, but no sexual abuse
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Lan Zhan asks.
Myriad travelers stream around them, chatting and calling out to one another, taking and making phone calls, shooting video and photos of themselves and their surroundings. They wave. They cry. Lovers and families and friends reunite and depart from the trains that are constantly pulling in and leaving the station nearby. Compared to that, Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian might as well be strangers for how emotional they must appear to outsiders, stoic and quiet with one another.
Lan Zhan holds the neatly zipped portfolio he’s arranged, waiting patiently as Wei Wuxian checks his bag to ensure he has everything. When Wei Wuxian is ready, he takes it and opens it, finding even more than he expected. Not only is there a bank card, but there is a whole fleet of credit cards along with copies of every possible document he might need in addition to the permissions he’d asked for. Even a pen and a notepad are tucked into the little slots set aside for them. Wei Wuxian could disappear with these things if he wanted to.
“Lan Zhan…” He must have already had all these things on hand, otherwise there wouldn’t have been time to get them together. “How long ago did you arrange this?” Some of it should feel like a violation, or at the very least, odd, but Wei Wuxian can see that Lan Zhan is trying to be thoughtful, helpful, and Wei Wuxian chooses to see it from that angle. In fact, they are important documents, all things Wei Wuxian needs to be a functional member of society. Birth certificates, proof of education levels, household registrations from when he was younger and where he’ll be expected to return at the end of his contract, the full text of the contract as it was set back then, damning thing that it is.
It would have been a lot of work, all work that will make it even easier to sever their ties when his contract is up.
He shoves the portfolio into his duffel bag. Leave it to Lan Zhan to be so diligent.
Without anything to occupy his hands any longer, Lan Zhan folds them behind his back. “I wanted to make sure you had everything you needed when this was over with.”
Wei Wuxian’s eyes catch on a passing couple. The submissive is wearing a single cuff attached to a delicate chain their Dominant has weaved between their fingers before lacing them with the submissive’s. Though he feels a pang of longing so intense it could wind him, he isn’t brought low by the display. It does not shock or upset him, the way it might have when he first left the club and was afforded the chance to see such open displays. He wonders if Mo Xuanyu and Lan Zhan do anything like that when they go out. He wonders if they’re normal, like Mo Xuanyu, or if they’re like Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan. There’s no way to tell from this alone. He ignores Lan Zhan’s statement. “What will you do while I’m away?” he asks instead.
“My brother has always shouldered many of our family’s business responsibilities. It is by choice, but I will do what I can to assist him as I used to.”
“Oh.” He fusses with the strap of his bag and won’t meet Lan Zhan’s eyes. “What about Mo Xuanyu?”
“He will be visiting Nie Mingjue’s home in order to assist with wedding preparations.”
“And you’re going to let him?” The question blurts out without Wei Wuxian’s permission.
Lan Zhan sighs, presses his hand to the back of his neck and looks away. His ears take on a pinkish hue. “I would not demand he remain against his wishes.”
“But—” Stymied, Wei Wuxian cuts himself off. He doesn’t know how to end that statement, what he could possibly say. His expectations for them with regard to his absence were different than the reality, he realizes now.
“We decided it would be best to take some time. What did you think we would do?”
“I don’t know,” he answers, only half as truthful as he could be. Immediately, an image of them fucking over every surface of their residence and the guest residences and maybe even by the pond flickers through his mind. Apparently, that’s not in the plans for them. In truth, it feels bleak to imagine Mo Xuanyu might have tried and failed already. Then again, maybe he hasn’t had time to plan his approach. “Who will take care of the fish?”
Lan Zhan’s mouth twitches in what cannot quite be called a smile. Nothing about this situation could rouse such a thing. Of course he wouldn’t smile under these circumstances. But perhaps there is fondness still in his expression, and that is enough to soften his features. “I have a groundskeeper who will come in and handle that.”
“I see.”
“Wei Ying…” Lan Zhan reaches out, then pulls his hand back at the last second. Wei Wuxian wishes he wouldn’t flinch back and is glad for it at the same time. “You’ll let me know if something happens, right? If you need anything at all, I will do everything in my power to assist.”
“I know, Lan Zhan,” he replies. “I’ll keep in touch, okay?”
“Do you know how long you plan to be gone?”
“I don’t.” In truth, he doesn’t know what to expect out of himself when he reaches his destination. Maybe he’ll want to come back immediately, hoping to seek out familiar ground again. Maybe he won’t want to come back at all. He’s not sure of anything at this point and doesn’t want to disappoint Lan Zhan by making a promise he’s not sure he’ll be able to keep.
“Is there anything I can do to make the residence more comfortable before you return? Do you want me to have your remaining things moved to the residence you chose when you first arrived?” Lan Zhan’s tone, already sober, sobers further. “You needn’t move if you don’t wish to, of course, if you’d prefer to stay.”
“I’ll take care of it myself,” he says, noncommittal. Better, for now, to leave it. “Unless you need the space.”
“The space is yours.”
“Then… I’ll figure out what I want to do, okay? And I’ll take care of it once I have.”
“Okay,” Lan Zhan says. He lowers his eyes, then flicks his gaze toward the tracks. “Okay.”
*
After boarding, Wei Wuxian begins poking in earnest at the Wens’ recent past, scrolling through endless news articles online to pass the time. It hurts less than he expects, seeing these things that all skirt around the truth of what happened. He can only say he’s glad something has come of it.
Though the Wen’s holdings took a dive after the shocking loss of Wen Ruohan and both his heirs, something like the old company still exists. After the government picked apart the pieces that had rotted, what remained was Wen Medical Research, headed up by Wen Ning and driven by the work Wen Qing has done, primarily in research on submissive biology. From the handful of articles and interviews he reads, she is driven to decouple their bodies’ needs from the societal pressures placed upon them. Considering he never met her directly, he’s irrationally proud of her.
In turn, he finds myriad think pieces and social media posts stating she wants to undermine the natural order. He rather likes the thought of that.
By the time he’s reached Xi’an, several hours later, he’s excited to see them, if nervous. Though his various web searches tells him the Nightless City complex was demolished almost five years ago, it’s hard being here. The skyline is just like what he remembers, an entirely unwelcome sight to his eyes. It’s too oppressive to him, makes him feel small.
He calls for a driver and makes his way to the hotel he’s arranged for himself, making peace with his discomfort with the city. The driver is null and chatters Wei Wuxian’s ear off as he moves his car through traffic with the ease of long familiarity. He finds it soothing, the utter lack of effect the driver can have on him. Even if he were to shout at Wei Wuxian to listen, he couldn’t force it.
Wei Wuxian replies when politeness demands it, and otherwise lets the driver’s words wash over him.
After checking in to the hotel he’s chosen, he scrubs his travel-worn body in tepid water, brushes his teeth, dries his hair that’s only now starting to grow out properly. He considers calling Lan Zhan as he washes his face and dresses for bed and when he peeks through the curtains to look again at the place that one trapped him. He doesn’t look out again.
He orders delivery and still wants to call Lan Zhan.
He feels okay, if not good, about his decision, less excited than he was on the train and less impressed than he expected with the experience overall. A part of him thought something in him would have changed in the hours since he and Lan Zhan parted, a severing of ties or at least a weakening of them. Maybe it’s too soon to say, or maybe he’s bound to tightly to Lan Zhan to be freed from him easily or at all.
With a sigh, he flops back onto the bed and scrolls through his phone and falls asleep. He wakes in the middle of the night, momentarily panicked, like his body can feel the distance between himself and Lan Zhan. The worst of it resolves before he can do more than find his phone in the sheets and navigate to Lan Zhan’s name in his contacts. By then, he’s calm enough to get his head about him and tosses his phone onto the bed stand.
He can’t sleep, but he keeps his eyes closed until morning anyway.
Nightless City, Seven Years Ago
After Jiang Cheng’s visit to Inferno Palace, Wen Chao makes Wei Wuxian into his shadow, parading him around wherever he goes, as though to prove how well Wei Wuxian has been cowed. He hasn’t, not in any way that matters, but Wen Chao hardly notices the difference between broken and purposefully docile. Wen Ruohan, though, is harder to fool and seems determined to prove it. Twice, sometimes three times, a week, he is brought back, made to kneel through dinner with some of Wen Ruohan’s favored submissives arrayed around him, along with a large number of his extended family.
It doesn’t matter, he tells himself, that he’s surrounded on every side by enemies. The closer he gets to Wen Ruohan, the better his chances will be to obtain the vengeance he seeks. Playing obedient isn’t easy for him now that he knows that Wen Ruohan hasn’t honored their side of the contract, that all of second mother’s work to at least protect her own son and daughter have amounted to nothing.
It stings to consider the fact that his life has been thrown away for this purpose, amounting to an equal amount of nothing in the process, but he never focuses on that fact for very long, not when it’s so much easier to imagine shoving a chopstick in the neck of anyone who approaches him, who thinks this pathetic excuse for a family will end him.
In short, a cool outer shell develops around him, protective and perfect, shored up by the violent urges he suppresses. Wen Chao will be dead soon. His father will be dead. What happens to him here will be nothing at all. If he’s caught, he’s caught, and that will be the end of that. Or maybe he won’t get caught. He’ll go back home, put himself back together. All of this will be behind him, and he’ll never have to worry about being contracted again.
As these meals accumulate, Wei Wuxian becomes more familiar with Wen Ning, who always seems forced to attend these dinners, too, plied with alcohol he doesn’t want and submissives he doesn’t want and so many things he doesn’t want. Wei Wuxian pays a lot of attention to Wen Ning in these moments, and develops something akin to relieved affection for him every time he declines one of his cousins their fun. Though his voice trembles and he can’t meet their eyes, he remains strong in the face of their jokes and demands. He wants neither and nothing they can do or say will change that fact. Over time, he becomes the lynch pin of Wei Wuxian’s plan, one that will require luck and patience more than it will require anything else, and the cooperation of the most unlikely Dominant Wei Wuxian has ever seen.
In service to this end, Wei Wuxian does what any pathetic, vile person would do.
He targets the kindness he sees in Wen Ning.
When he kneels during meals, he glances in Wen Ning’s direction, throwing the most defeated expressions at Wen Ning that he can muster. It’s not hard, letting Wen Ning see his despair as long as it serves a purpose. It doesn’t take more than a few times before he finds Wen Ning’s eyes already on him whenever Wen Ruohan arranges these evenings. It’s difficult to let himself be seen when Wen Chao decides to show off, but he does that, too, letting his own pain be reflected in Wen Ning’s gaze.
Wen Ning never looks away, and never lets himself be pulled into it. Though he is fearful, timid, he has a stronger core within him than anyone else here.
Wei Wuxian admires him for his stubbornness, and finds himself inspired by Wen Ning’s resilience. If Wen Ning, gentle and caring and stuck though he is, can live in this family from birth without breaking, Wei Wuxian can stand it a little longer, too, can’t he?
And when he gets out of this one day, free of Wen Chao’s hold on him, he’ll make it up to Wen Ning somehow.
More weeks pass in which Wei Wuxian isn’t given any opportunity to get closer to Wen Ning, and though he behaves himself in the hopes he’ll be granted the modicum of freedom he needs to get what he wants, it’s not until an otherwise routine night that the opportunity presents itself. Wei Wuxian almost doesn’t even recognize it as such, thoughts turned glassy and distant before dinner has even begun. Wen Chao has been a little more brutal than usual, sharp with everyone, especially Wei Wuxian, striking him several times with a cane, almost enough to bring him to the edge of the surrender he’s never allowed Wei Wuxian to have, like it’s not obvious that Wen Ruohan sees how he handles Wei Wuxian and is planning to take him from Wen Chao if he doesn’t get his act together.
The bit of luck Wei Wuxian has been looking for finally arrives at one of these dinners. No matter how much he contemplates the reason for it, he’ll never find out why it happens.
“A-Ying should serve tonight,” Wen Chao says, drawing Wei Wuxian’s attention back to the present. He’s kneeling, as he always does, prepared to spend the evening going hungry since Wen Chao hates hand feeding his submissives. It’s fine enough. Eating when he’s around the Wens isn’t a very appetizing prospect anyway.
Wen Ruohan smirks and gestures magnanimously, as though to say fine.
Serving means his hands get to be free. He gets to walk around and leave the dining hall. From there, his options are severely limited still, of course, but it’s more freedom than he normally gets. He’s gagged currently, so he cannot offer the thanks to Wen Chao that Wen Chao no doubt feels is his due, but he bows forward until his forehead kisses the marble to convey it anyway. For once, he is somewhat grateful.
As Wen Chao leads him out, he undoes the cuffs around Wei Wuxian’s wrists. How arrogant Wen Chao has gotten, how complacent. What if Wei Wuxian were to wring his neck right here and now? The only thing that stays it is knowing his siblings wouldn’t be any safer for such an impulsive act. At the last possible moment, he throws a look over his shoulder, pleading for anyone, anyone at all, to help him.
Wen Ning is the only one interested in meeting his eyes.
Just like Wei Wuxian hoped he would be.