The Nine-tailed Fox admires a pair of lips

The first thing Wu Yun feels is the gentle lapping of warm water against his chilled skin.

His heavy eyelids lift under great strain, and he sees Lan Tian's white inner robe, made translucent by the water, pressed against his cheek. 

Wu Yun can almost see the definition of his chest muscles under the flimsy fabric. Suddenly, his skin doesn't feel so cold anymore.

Lan Tian notices him stirring and supports his neck to help him sit up. "Are you feeling, alright? How's your head?"

Wu Yun raises one hand to his throbbing head, and feels a coarse bandage wrapped around the back of his head, hidden beneath his loose hair. He flinches in pain when his fingertip brushes against the sore patch of skin on his scalp.

"What happened?" he asks, burrowing closer against Lan Tian's hot skin.

Lan Tian helps Wu Yun get comfortable against his chest, and Wu Yun drapes one arm around his shoulders. 

After the dream he just had, and after experiencing Ling Yan's pain at having Shu Luan ripped from his arms, he's relieved to find himself in Lan Tian's safe embrace.

"We were attacked, you probably remember that." Wu Yun nods. "An Immortal Mountain disciple hit you on the back of the head with his sword, and another threw a talisman at you that made you deathly cold."

"That explains the hot spring, and the goose egg." Wu Yun chuckles and extends a bare foot out of the water's surface.

"Wan Mi and Lu Meng arrived shortly after, to help us, but eventually Wan Mi had to switch into her phoenix form, so that we could get out of there."

Wu Yun wishes he could remember that. "That must have caused a commotion."

"Lian Feng almost lost her mind, when everyone in the boat just crowded around Wan Mi in awe, which is what allowed us to escape."

"Lu Jiao must be furious with us. I guess the alliance between Kunlun and Immortal Mountain no longer stands." Wu Yun should probably feel some measure of guilt about that, but he's having a hard time working up to it.

Lan Tian chuckles softly, and runs his fingers over the wet ends of Wu Yun's hair, being mindful of his bandage. "I don't think so, she was furious when I told her what happened in the pleasure boat, and she wanted to talk with the fox girl alone. It's safe to assume she's happy to see the alliance dissolved."

Wu Yun taps his chin, thinking. "That will mean that we've brought trouble straight to Kunlun's door. Lian Feng isn't going to be quiet about this." 

Lan Tian nods. "Definetly. But when are you not trouble?"

Wu Yun dips his fingers in the water and flicks them straight at Lan Tian's face, who doges out of the way of the water droplets and grabs Wu Yun's wrist.

"Are you upset about missing out on the fight?" he asks, smirking down at Wu Yun's look of concentration while trying to break free of his grip.

"Why? Are you going to give me one?" he asks with a smirk.

He doesn't give Lan Tian the time to answer. He wraps his calf high on his waist and tries to unbalance him to throw him into the water.

Lan Tian catches himself on the edge of the pool and runs his fingers softly over the underside of Wu Yun's knee, bare where his inner robe has ridden up, and tries to make him ticklish.

Wu Yun squirms away from his fingers, biting his lips raw against the urge to laugh. 

He wraps his other leg around Lan Tian's waist, and tries to topple him backwards.

Lan Tian is caught off guard, and almost falls into the water, before catching himself with one arm under the water for support. 

He grips Wu Yun's waist tightly, to steady himself.

Wu Yun grins, victorious, at having come up on top. "I won."

Lan Tian says nothing, but his face turns an appealing shade of crimson.

That's when Wu Yun realizes the position he's in. Sitting directly on Lan Tian's lap, while he holds on to his waist.

It brings to mind the dream where Ling Yan and Shu Luan were in very similar positions, but with no wet clothes between them.

Lan Tian tries to move, and Wu Yun feels something hard between his thighs. 

He gasps, and an electric thrill runs down his spine, making him grind down against Lan Tian.

Lan Tian sits up in the pool and looks up into Ling Yan's eyes. "Don't do that."

Wu Yun knows exactly what he means. But he wraps his arms around Lan Tian's neck, bringing their chests together, and decides to play the fool. "Do what?"

When Lan Tian closes his eyes on a pained sigh Wu Yun can see his eyelids trembling. "You must know this is torture."

"Why?" 

Their faces are so close, when Lan Tian opens his eyes again Wu Yun can see every curling stream of amber in his irises, flowing around the dark pupils like a river of honey.

He wishes he had bridged the short distance between them in the tunnels, and found out if Lan Tian's lips are as soft as they look. 

Suddenly he understands that there's nothing stopping him. He might have been Ling Yan once, and that dark-eyed Crane might even be Shu Luan.

But right now he's Wu Yun, and he wants to kiss Lan Tian.

Lan Tian, who is the person closest to him, who makes him laugh, who makes him feel safe, fills his heart with joy, and makes it race with the barest of smiles.

Lan Tian who helps him without having to be asked, and in turn accepts Wu Yun's help with grace.

When he thinks about what Ling Yan and Shu Luan had, there's no one else he can imagine having that same easy intimacy with other than Lan Tian.

He wonders if Lan Tian's heaving chest, and iron grip on his waist means he wants the same.

"Why is this torture?" Wu Yun asks, while trailing a fingertip down Lan Tian's neck, and over his exposed collarbone.

"I want to-"

There's a knock at door, and the sound of it swinging open on its hinges soon after.

"Fuck!" Wu Yun hisses.

Lan Tian moves to lift Wu Yun off of him, and Wu Yun pins his hands in place.

"No, stay where you are. I want whoever is coming in to think twice before doing it again."

He stares defiantly at the stairs, while Lan Tian remains frozen in place.

Shu Luan makes his way down the stairs, carrying a tray with two steaming bowls. He almost stumbles and drops the tray when he sees the position they're in.

Lan Tian was initially ambivalent about being caught in such a compromising position, but seeing Shu Luan's dumbstruck face, he tightens his hands reflexively around Wu Yun's slim waist.

"I'm sorry, I-, that is, Master Cang made some medicine for the two of you," Shu Luan says, lifting up the tray in front of his chest as if its contents weren't obvious.

"Why didn't he bring it?" Lan Tian asks, his sharp eyebrows almost meet over his elegant nose, such is the angle of his displeasure.

"I offered to come here." Shu Luan places the tray on the edge of the pool, and offers one bowl to Wu Yun.

Wu Yun sighs despondently, getting out of Lan Tian's lap before sparing him a remorseful twist of his lips.

He raises one arm to accept the bowl Shu Luan offers him, but Lan Tian takes it out of his hand.

Lan Tian stares directly into Shu Luan's eyes as he says, "The medicine is the same, so I can have this one."

He doesn't break eye contact as he downs the entire bowl in one swallow.

Shu Luan looks antsy, but he accepts the empty bowl from Lan Tian's hands and places it back in the tray, before offering the remaining one to Wu Yun.

Wu Yun drinks it, frowning at the bitter taste. 

"I should also let you know, Master Lu Jiao wants to speak with both of you." Shu Luan looks down at his feet while he speaks. His timidity grates on Wu Yun's nerves.

He gets out of the pool leaving a trail of water in his wake. He pulls his hair into a messy tail, and looks over the shoulder at Shu Luan. "She'll have to wait."

Lan Tian's eyes are glued to the drape of Wu Yun's flimsy, soaked, inner robe around every curve and angle of his slender figure. 

Shu Luan's eyes are fixed on Lan Tian.

"Are you going to stay here and watch him change?" Lan Tian asks, almost making Shu Luan drop the tray again.

He disappears up the stairs leading into the room's second level without another word.

---

Wu Yun holds out hope that maybe Lan Tian will watch him change, but he turns politely around when he starts undressing, and changes into a fresh pair of robes out of Wu Yun's sight.

He isn't in a particularly good mood, having been so rudely interrupted seconds before kissing Lan Tian. Again.

Lu Jiao's thunderous expression is almost a match for his own when they meet her in the Phoenix's Perch.

"Ever since the two of you showed up, more problems have fallen on my shoulders than I can count," she says, staring at both Wu Yun and Lan Tian from behind a long oak desk.

"I hear an abacus can help with that," Wu Yun says.

Lan Tian shoots Wu Yun an exasperated, albeit fond, glare. To Lu Jiao he says, "We're sorry to inconvenience you."

Lu Jiao ignores Wu Yun's quip and addresses Lan Tian directly. "The two of you have now brought an unidentified Crane, who doesn't know which clan he comes from, and who Cang Chuxi assured me, shouldn't even exist. And now, a nine-tailed fox who claims her parents were regular humans, until Immortal Mountain showed up and took her."

"How is that even possible?" Wu Yun asks. "Can a human give birth to a Beast?"

Lu Jiao scoffs. "Don't be ridiculous, she must have been taken somehow, and raised by the humans she called parents. Of course she has no memory of that."

"Was she taken from here?" Lan Tian asks, his amber eyes boring into Lu Jiao.

She falters under his intense scrutiny, and some of the anger drains out of her. "That's an upsetting possibility, but a possibility nonetheless. If that's what happened we have to accept that someone from Kunlun took one of our own, as soon as she was born, before anyone could notice."

Wu Yun crosses his arms. "It seems to me that the problems were already here, we just unearthed them." 

Lu Jiao glares at him. "It seems you're right, but it's much better for my mental state to blame you than admit that."

Wu Yun smirks. "That, we can both agree on."

The relative peace, of the Phoenix's nest is broken when a flustered girl with drooping rabbit ears hurries through the double doors, looking frantically behind her shoulder as if she expects someone to be following her. 

"Mast Lu, there's someone here, calling herself, uh, The Scourge of the Wild Plains, saying we have stolen from her."