Thread by @westiectweets

"Zichen, I saw this in the market and thought of you!"

Xiao Xingchen brings him things sometimes, things that Song Lan wouldn't buy for himself. Usually a sweet of some kind or a piece of fruit, always with that bright smile. Song Lan holds out his hands to receive today's find.

It's a comb. Dark wood, polished to a smooth finish, carved and painted with decorations of snowy mountains under a crescent moon. It is beautifully crafted, finer than any Song Lan has ever owned, and utterly inappropriate for him to accept.

Perhaps this is merely one of the customs Xiao Xingchen is unfamiliar with, growing up on Baoshan Sanren’s mountain. It would not be the first. "Xingchen," he says, "this is lovely, and I thank you, but such a gift is not appropriate between us."

Xiao Xingchen's face falls.

"Oh, but— Does it mean something else now? You know I am sometimes behind on these things."

"白头偕老," Song Lan says, slowly — til the white hairs of old age. "It would be a courting gift, usually."

Xiao Xingchen nods. "Yes, so I thought. Have I misjudged, then?

If such an overture is unwelcome, Zichen, please think no more of it, my friend."

If he knew, then... "Xingchen, we are both men."

This, for some reason, seems to confuse Xiao Xingchen more than anything yet in this conversation. "Technically, I suppose. But what has that to do

with anything?"

Song Lan is losing the trail of this conversation. He's also still holding the comb, which Xiao Xingchen has made no move to take back. Song Lan runs his fingers over the mountains again, their tiny peaks of snow in the bright moonlight. They have already gained

a reputation as a pair, pledged to walk side by side, to found a sect someday on their common ideals. Why not this sort of promise, too?

"I have never been courted before," Song Lan says.

"And I have never courted," Xiao Xingchen replies. "Shall we do this together as well?"