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gentil-minou · 1 year ago

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Wei Ying living on the street and still celebrates his birthday because it's a month after mid autumn festival and Mama taught him how to count the days before she and Baba left…

But little A-Ying still celebrates! He makes sure to prepare every year!

(Now an expanded oneshot on Ao3 here)

This year, A-Ying prepares by keeping the mantou a kind shopkeeper gave him a week ago! He wraps it up in the cleanest cloth he can find and tucks it away in his super secret hiding place.

(It's an abandoned shed on the outskirts of the village that A-Ying sometimes shelters in)

(He can't keep the mantou in his robes otherwise the dogs will find him…the shed is safer. There are even holes in the roof to let the moonlight in!)

(He can never stay for too long, though. Baba said they would meet him at the inn so he has to go back so they can find him!)

A-Ying likes birthdays! He likes the singing and clapping and smiling, the laughter that bounces off the walls.

He likes the feeling of celebrating one person, showing them how special they are! He likes that everyone has a day that's just for them!!

A-Ying is very good at singing, so even though he's the only one singing and clapping it's still a fun day! His laughter isn't as loud as Mama's, and there's no one to smile with him, but that's okay! A-Ying likes celebrating anyway!

It's a day just for him!

This year on his birthday, A-Ying finds a nice big tree not to far from the shed, a little bit a ways from the market in the village. From this far away he can still hear the street vendors cry out to each, and he can pretend they're calling to him too.

He's gotten reaaaaally good at climbing this year, so he goes up and up and up all the way to the second branch. He perches on his throne, watching the subjects of his domain move from one spot to the next, unaware of the child giggling at their antics.

Every one of those blobs has a story, and A-Ying likes to imagine them in his head.

That mother with her daughter is shopping for a new treasure to add to their collection.

Those two men whispering together are plotting a dastardly escape from the bad guys!

The stern, intimidating cultivator in glowing white robes is preparing to save them all.

The two brothers are sneaking off on their own, seeking adventures beyond his wildest dreams.

A-Ying smiles to himself at his game. It's fun, and he likes it.

He balances the cloth bundle gingerly on his lap, leaning as securely as he can on the tree whole trying to hook a leg around the branch for safety. He unwraps the dusty grey cloth, revealing the white dough of his prized mantou.

It's not as fresh and soft as he remembered it, and the steam is all gone, but it's still his mantou!!! He doesn't even know what's in the filling, but he bets it will be delicious!

He prepares to take a bite when A-Ying hears a soft rustling of leaves and quiet sniffles.

He hooks an arm around the tree, mantou secure in his other, and peers around to see who's managed to find his hiding spot.

It's one of the brothers from earlier, the little one with hair only up to his shoulders. His face is scrunched up and angry looking, but his eyes are sad.

The boy looks around, seeming confused and…lost? The long sleeves of his pure white robes catch on sharp brambles and thickets, and he exhales sharply when they pull him back and trapped him.

The boy sends the bush a withering glare, and is about to pull his arm free.

"Wait!" A-Ying calls out before he can think otherwise. "Don't just pull!"

The boy startles and jerks back, though he keeps his arm perfectly still. Sharp eyes dart around looking for the source of the sound, before glancing up and locking onto A-Ying.

Gold. Molten like the sun above them. For a second the tree no longer feels solid beneath A-Ying.

He shakes the feeling away and tucks his mantou back into his robes, and jumps down to land in front of the boy.

His knees scream, not used to such a tall height.

He hides a wince but the boy is too taken aback to even notice in the first place, reeling away from A-Ying, looking terrified and furious.

It's so fun, A-Ying can't help the giggles from escaping as he exclaims, "Hi!"

The boy says nothing but he doesn't move, arm still caught.

"If you tug your arm out like that, you're going to rip your pretty robes!" A-Ying tells the boy, his eyes drawn to the shiny pale blue thread that winds through the white fabric in the shape of misty clouds. He almost reaches out to touch it, stopping himself at the last second.

He lifts one of his tattered sleeves, gesturing to one of its many tears. "Look, see? This is what happens when you pull too hard! It makes a hole and sometimes it cuts skin and hurts a lot."

Sure enough, the hole reveals a tiny angry red scar from when A-Ying ripped it.

The boy lets out a quiet hiss, and his expression changes to one of commiseration. He lifts his hand, letting the sleeve drop to show A-Ying a small cut on the back of his hand.

"Ouch!" A-Ying exclaims, even though the cut looks like it's been healed for a long time. "That looks bad too! Did you get hurt already? Where? Anywhere else?"

A-Ying doesn't have any soothing salve, but he can maybe wrap the white cloth around the boy’s injuries? Or maybe find a nice adult?

Luckily the boy shakes his head and speaks for the first time. "No. Ge's sword…"

The boy trails off, staring at the ground as he draws lines in the dirt. The tips of his ears bloom pink where they peek from between ebony strands of hair.

A-Ying blinks before catching on, the mirth filling him with warmth. He throws his head back in joyous laughter that grows at the boy's pretty pout.

He wipes the tears from his eyes as he asks, "You played with your brother's sword didn't you, without asking first."

The boy nods once brusquely, still stubbornly pouting at the ground. It makes A-Ying want to laugh again and he bounces with the feeling.

"Where is your brother? I saw you two earlier when I…" This time, A-Ying trails off his words catching in his throat. Heat floods his cheeks for some reason, and he suddenly feels too shy to let the boy know he'd been watching him earlier.

How odd.

The boy, however, doesn't seem to pay attention as his head darts up and devastation spreads across his face. "Ge…" he starts, his lower lip wobbling. "I can not find Ge."

His voice comes out a bit hoarse, like he's been crying. And now that A-Ying has a better angle, he can see the tears resting in the corner of the boy's eyes where he must have cried earlier.

The boy is lost…away from his family. Unsure of where they went and when he'll see them.

The thought sits heavy and hard im A-Ying's head, and his face goes blank.

But not for too long, as he lets the feeling pass over him like a wave the way Baba showed him when he was little. He takes a deep breath, and takes another step closer to the boy.

The boy gives him a wary look, but with his arm still caught there's no way for him to escape.

A-Ying gently takes his arm, keeping his movements light and easy to shake off. He gets a better look at where a branch as snagged on the boy's robes, a sharp pointy end of the stick caught on a loose thread. Then, A-Ying grabs the stick and slowly pulls it out, taking care not to loosen and more threads.

When the boy's robes are finally free, with only a few easy to fix loose threads, A-Ying hops back and presents the boy's arm with a flourish.

"There! All fixed! See, isn't that better than a nasty hole?"

The boy inspects the damage, a judicial eye moving up and down the length of his sleeve, clinical in its assessment. A-Ying has to bite his tongue to keep from laughing at the boy's serious expression.

Finally satisfied, the boy drops his arm and regards A-Ying with the same serious expression.

Again, the ground feels a little less solid beneath A-Ying's feet, like he's about to float away.

"Thank you," the boy says, gaze intense and making A-Ying twitch.

"It's not problem at all, no need for thanks! I'm happy to help! Now, let's find your brother."

He grabs the boys hand and begins to walk, when the boy pulls him back, as if still caught in the brambles. "You wish to help?" he asks, that same confused expression from earlier on his face.

"Of course! Everyone needs to find their family! It's a given!"

This time when he tugs on the boys hand, warm where his palm sildes against A-Ying's cool skin, the boy follows.

"Besides," A-Ying continues, focusing on the path ahead of them for anymore wayward branches, "When you help someone on your birthday, you get extra blessings!"

"It is your birthday?" the boy asks from wear he walks behind A-Ying.

"Yup! And my mama says we have to share our blessings with everyone on our birthday, so we can live well!"

"…Where is your mama?"

The boy's voice is quiet, like he almost regrets asking.

But that's not why A-Ying stops walking, frozen on the path.

He's tried very hard not to think about it too much this past year…but where is his mama?

Usually when he feels a gloomy cloud anchor itself to him, A-Ying ignores it and finds something fun or interesting to do. And right now, the fun and interesting thing is the pretty boy at his side with ears that turn pink and a huffy, pouty mouth.

So A-Ying focuses on that. He's very good at changing the subject.

The village market isn't too far away, but A-Ying fills the time with boisterous chatter, asking the boy about his pretty forehead ribbon and showing him the red ribbon Mama gave him ears ago, tied securely to his wrist.

He asks the boy a lot of things, but he doesn't seem like to like talking all that much.

But! He's a wonderful listener! He makes all these cute head movements and his eyes give away his feelings even when he tries so hard to keep them off the rest of his face. He nods at the right times and doesn't become bored ever!

It's been a long time since A-Ying had someone so fun to talk to, and he gets distracted telling the boy a scary story about once when he hid in a tree away from fierce and angry dogs.

In what must be uncharacteristic for the boy, he tugs on A-Ying's hand and interrupts him.

"Your birthday," he says, in that soft voice of his. A-Ying likes it a lot. "How are you celebrating it?"

A-Ying tilts his head, confused. He'd thought the answer was obvious.

"Like this, of course!" He waves their joined hands then let's them swing back and forth.

The boy frowns, deep lines forming between his brows where all his secrets must hide.

A-Ying presses the tip of his finger against those line, smoothing them out.

"No frowning on my birthday!!! It's not allowed! Only smiles!"

The boy's face turns neutral again, but the intensity in his gaze remains.

A-Ying puts on an affected pout and bends a little bit so he can peer up at the boy, though he's a bit shorter than A-Ying "Come on… give me a smile. Please? As my gift?"

All traces of a frown vanish completely and the boy wears a resolute look while his ears turn pink.

His face scrunches in concentration and slowly changes

He lifts one corner of his mouth higher than the other, a lopsided forced smile that shows a little bit of teeth. It's stiff and doesn't quite reach his eyes, but it's the cutest smile A-Ying's ever seen!

He bursts into laughter that rings around in a song, squeezing the boys hand for stability even as he almost falls over.

He can't remember the last time he was so happy.

"That's the best gift I've ever gotten! A perfect birthday smile!"

The edges of the boy's smile softens even more beautifully..

Drums beat against A-Ying's ribcage and he lifts his free hand to rest against his chest, willing the heat to dissipate from his cheeks.

He's on a mission after all, and with this gift to spurn him on he continues searching around the crowded market in search of white robes.

A-Ying hears a rumbling sound behind him. It's so similar to a dog's growl his shoulders stiffen automatically as he tenses and whimpers.

The rumbling continues and he squeezes the boy's hand preparing to run away, when the boy speaks softly to him.

"…Sorry…I did not eat.."

The fear exits A-Ying's body in a long deep exhale and he turns around to see the boy's cheeks have pinked as his hands clutch his stomach, where the grumbling sound continues.

He gives the boy a friendly smile and drags him to an alleyway just off the side street.

There, A-Ying removes his prize mantou and presents it the way a street performer might, holding his prize high in the sky.

"Ta-da! My birthday mantou! We can share!"

The mantou is difficult to split in half when it's this stale, but he manages and holds half out to the boy.

The boy hesitates before he takes the mantou, glancing between it and A-Ying as if looking for some reassurance.

A-Ying nods eagerly, gesturing for him to take a bite and lifts his half up to his lips in preparation.

The boy bites down. He stops. He chews. He stops.

His face takes on an entirely new expression that A-Ying finds utterly fascinating. He looks like he's both grateful and also wants to cry.

Strange. Maybe A-Ying's birthday mantou is extra delicious!

A-Ying takes a bite.

Immediately, he spits the morsel out onto the dusty path, trying to get rid of what must have been rotting filling encased in a dough that was too stale and hard enough to break teeth.

He looks up at the boy in horror. "No! Quick, spit it out! Spit it out before you get sick!"

Though alarmed, the boy follows, somehow showing it's possible to daintily spit into the palm in his hand and tossing the remains away.

A-Ying grimaces at the taste still lingering in his mouth. He's eaten a lot of questionable things in the past year, but he's used to it.

He'll wash his mouth out in the stream and then hope he'll find something to wash out the taste.

But he feels horrible that the boy had to eat that...He doesn't seem like the type to ever eat something so gross.

"Sorry," he whispers. He tugs on messy strands of his hair, wishing they could hide him from view.

The boy gives him a searching look, golden eyes wide.

"…No need for sorry," he replies simply. His face shifts into one of determination and this time the boy is the one to take A-Ying's hand and guide him through the market streets.

The boy stops in front of one of the bigger food stalls. The ones that sell skewered meat along with mantou and pancakes and all sorts of yummy treats. A-Ying knows this stall well because it's always very busy and sometimes people will order too much and toss their food out.

Keeping a firm hold of A-Ying's with one hand, the boy uses his other to reach into his pocket and pull out a cloth purse. The money inside clinks together and A-Ying can't help but be stunned. It's the most money A-Ying has ever seen!

He watches the boys fist close tight around his hands and follows as the boy marches towards the stall with stiff upright shoulders. He stands before the market stall, it's kind elderly proprietress smiling gently at him.

And he freezes.

A-Ying blinks and waits, wondering if the boy made a mistake perhaps.

He squeezes his hand, hoping to reassure him.

It does the trick, rousing the boy from his shock as he points at various items, gathering an assortment of meat, fresh mantou, and even sugary youtiao!

The stall's owner gives him a bemused look as she hands over everything as the boy pays for it. It's a lot, more than the boy is able to carry as he tries to pay at the same time.

A-Ying didn't think he seemed like that big of an eater, but maybe he was wrong!

The smell of warm, fresh food right in front of him makes his mouth water, and he smacks his lips together.

Finished with paying, the boy turns away with his haul. He looks behind him, as if to make sure A-Ying is following.

A-Ying runs after him, happy to follow him anywhere.

They stop at a bench a little ways away from the main thoroughfare where it's less crowded and market fades into background noise.

The boy pulls a clean white cloth from his sleeves and places it on the bench between him and A-Ying, then arranges the food with care.

One of A-Ying's legs bounces up and down uncontrollably, but he waits as patiently as he can manage.

At last, the boy nods, satisfied, and sends A-Ying a pointed look.

A-Ying blinks and points at himself. "Wait. Me first?" he asks.

The boy nods and hands a steaming mantou filled with savory meat filling whose smell nearly forms a cloud around them.

"It's your birthday," the boy says, like it should be obvious that this stranger bought A-Ying food without any thought. "This is for you."

A-Ying gasps, all the air in his lungs leaving him as he surveys the spread around him. Blood rushes to his cheeks, and he lifts his cold hands to press against them.

"This is all…for me?"

"Mn. Happy Birthday."

A-Ying beams his biggest, brightest toothy grin, watching the boy blink back at him as his ear turn that adorable pink again.

He happily takes the proffered mantou and bites down, savoring the burst of warmth and flavor that skitters across his tongue. He moans, and eats with zealous.

He hasn't had anything like this in so long! It's even better than he imagined!

Once he finishes the mantou, he takes a skewer of meat in one hand and a small pancake in the other and eats them in turn, alternating between bites. His body wiggles back and forth in a happy dance.

He's halfway through his second skewer when he notices the boy hasn't taken a bite of anything at all, even though he was the one who was hungry in the first place.

A cry of dismay escapes his throat. He hands the boy a bun filled with sweet red bean paste, waiting for the boy to start eating before resuming himself. Once the boy has taken a few small bites, A-Ying smiles once more and move on to the youtiao.

He tries to tell the boy about the time he found an entire bin filled with leftover dough and how he'd tried to eat it, but the boy gives him a reprimanding look.

"No talking while eat."

"Pfft, that's no fun. And besides, it's my birthday! Surely there are special rules for birthdays!"

The boy's expression turns skeptical, but A-Ying takes it to mean he's right after all and carries on.

By the time they've finished his birthday feast, the sun is begin its descent beneath the horizon, pinks and oranges mingling with blue skies above. The blue reminds A-Ying of the boy's robes, and he wonders if it always will. If even years later, he'll look up and think of him.

He hopes it will.

For now, he plops down from the bench, dusting his hands clean of crumbs as the boy carefully folds the cloth napkin and tucks it into his sleeves. A-Ying spares a moment to wonder what else he hides in those sleeves, before he gets back to the task at hand.

He needs to get this boy back to his family.

Surprisingly, no one has been shouting or racing around looking for him. A-Ying had assumed sticking by the market would be their best, but now he's feeling less so.

Sure enough, when he asks the boy, he tells him actually his family had been all the way on the other side of the town, far away from the market!

"Why didn't you say that earlier!?" A-Ying exclaims, already tugging the boy away.

The boy doesn't answer, his ears pink as he watches the ground. But the corner of his lips quirk up in a sly smile.

He hears that drumming noise against his chest again at the sight, and he almost feels dizzy with it. He ignores the feeling, and together the race across town before darkness falls.

Almost as soon as they turn the corner, A-Ying spots them. The mean looking cultivator from earlier, and next to him the white robed brother A-Ying had seen earlier.

The older brother looks close to tears, while the cultivator paces back and forth pulling on his beard like he's about to rip it out.

But it's all okay, because A-Ying did it. He helped find the boy's home.

He whirls around, hoping to see the relief on the boy's face, but instead the boy is watching A-Ying, something sad and even more lost pooling in that serious stare of his.

"Look, see," A-Ying says, though his tone isn't as cheery as he'd hoped. "We found them."

The boy nods, but he doesn't look at his family at all. His eyes are fixed on A-Ying.

Of all the things he could say, A-Ying doesn't expect the boy to ask him, "...Did you have a good birthday?"

A-Ying grins, warm and bright and cheeks straining to keep all the joy inside.

"Yes! It was the best birthday ever!" He pulls the boy into a hug, uncaring of his dirty robes now that he has such a wonderful friend! "Now go, your family is probably worried sick!"

The boy slowly withdraws with one hand still holding A-Ying's tattered sleeve.

"You too. Birthdays should be spent with family," the boy intones.

A-Ying doesn't answer, but he gives the boy a small, reassuring smile and sends him off. The boy walks briskly to his family at first, then breaks out into a run when his brother notices him.

He watches the tearful, happy reunion for a bit, a feeling full from more than just a filling meal. It settles happily in his chest, warm and content.

Then he turns around and heads back to his shed. By the time the boy looks back, searching for him, A-Ying is long gone.

Halfway back, as A-Ying pats his tummy and watches the lights in the houses turn on one by one giving the town a lovely glow, he realizes he never got the boy's name.

It's okay, he thinks. He has a strange feeling one day he will get to spend another birthday with the boy.

fin.

(link to threadfic here)

#happy birthday to the bestest boy #me: just something short and sweet for a-xian's bday #also me: writes 4k instead #how does this keep happening #i might just post this on ao3 as it is #it's still oct 31st where i live soooooo #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #wangxian #wei wuxian #wei ying #lan wangji #bushy writing #mdzs musings #xiantober

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