Prompt: Soulmate

Everyone knew about the existence of soulmates, thought not all believed they were real. It was hard to find one's soulmate, and not everyone had one, after all. It wasn't like people had marks upon their skin indicating the person they would love the most. Soulmates were found through different methods. The Gusu Lan had many of those methods readily available, though it was not well known information outside their sect.

The forehead ribbon was one such method. Only family and soulmates could remove the ribbons. No one else could do so, no matter how hard they tried.

Lan Wangji was very surprised at the archery competition when Wei Wuxian managed to remove his forehead ribbon. So were all other members of the Gusu Lan who witnessed the event.

Wei Wuxian didn't know the meaning of the ribbon. Lan Wangji did not tell him. He thought about that moment a lot, though.

Cut-sleeves weren't unheard of, but no one believed that Hanguang-jun would be one, so many members of the Gusu Lan sect told him that perhaps this meant that Wei Wuxian was his platonic soulmate. There were many different kinds of soulmates, after all. It didn't mean he and Wei Wuxian had to be romantic.

But… Lan Wangji hoped that maybe they could be.

But after he died, he thought that whatever they were meant to be, they could be that no longer.

When Wei Wuxian learned the meaning of the forehead ribbon, he was still pretending to be Mo Xuanyu. Lan Wangji knew of his true identity, of course, and so did some others. But the juniors who told him this information didn't know that. They would probably be horrified to learn that the Yiling Patriarch had touched Hanguang-jun's forehead ribbon.

"Well, I didn't remove it," Wei Wuxian protested. "Huanguang-jun did!"

"He brings up a good point," murmured a junior whose name Wei Wuxian hadn't bothered to learn.

The juniors were chattering, but Wei Wuxian couldn't pay attention. All he could think about was how he was, apparently, Lan Wangji's soulmate. And Lan Wangji must have known that for all those years…

"It's possible that you're meant to be family," a voice said from beside Wei Wuxian, and he almost jolted. He hadn't noticed Lan Sizhui approach him. "Maybe his uncle will adopt you and you'll be cousins…"

Wei Wuxian shuddered. "No thank you."

Lan Sizhui smiled faintly. "Platonic soulmates, then?"

Remembering that he was supposed to be an unashamed cut-sleeve named Mo Xuanyu, Wei Wuxian said, "Nope! In fact, this is my chance to elope with him!"

Lan Sizhui chuckled a bit. "I see." He didn't say anything else.

Maybe they're all messing with me, Wei Wuxian thought. I swear I've seen Lan Zhan manage to loosen Sizhui's forehead ribbon before, and they clearly aren't soulmates. Unless- "Are you family?"

"He's my father," Lan Sizhui responded.

Aha! So we aren't soulmates after all, since he had a child!

"Adopted," Lan Sizhui added upon seeing Wei Wuxian's expression.

…ah.

Thankfully, the conversation didn't have to continue, as the corpse reassembled itself and began to attack. It lingered on Wei Wuxian's mind heavily, though.

Were they truly soulmates?

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