Thread by @caspheart, modern au in which wangxian divorced thirteen years ago. sizhui only has [...]

modern au in which wangxian divorced thirteen years ago. sizhui only has the vaguest memories of his baba, but he does have a picture that he keeps as his phone background

one day, he and his best friend jingyi go on a trip together - after high school graduation, they're free! - to meet up with their friends zizhen and jin ling, which they're going to university with

they go to stay with jin ling and his mom, who live in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by woods.

one day during the trip, sizhui goes on a walk through the woods and ends up? very very lost. his phone is dead, and it's almost as if the woods are changing around him, keeping him ensnared.

when he tries to head back, he walks in circles for what feels like days until he finds this ratty little cottage, nestled in the trees. he has just enough energy to walk into the cottage before he passes out.

when he wakes, there's a man who looks like his baba standing over him. "baba?" he asks sleepily. the man just smiles - a bright smile, like the one his baba is wearing in the picture on sizhui's lockscreen - and tells him to go back to sleep

the next time sizhui wakes, he's back in jin ling's house. jingyi and zizhen are fussing over him, while jin ling stands at the doorway, arms crossed petulantly

"where were you? you disappeared for hours and then we found you asleep outside!" jingyi frets

sizhui reluctantly explains his story. the woods that shifted around him. the cottage. the man who had looked so much like his baba.

jingyi and zizhen both would've laughed at him, but then jin ling mumbles about it being true. "the woods are weird," he says, wrinkling his nose, "i'm not allowed in them anymore. not since i was a kid."

well now that the woods are confirmed to be some sort of paranormal, jingyi insists that they all go and check it out. "nothing can go wrong if it's the four of us, right?"

sizhui isn't so sure, but he agrees anyways.

so they set out(with charged phones this time) one morning when jin ling's mom hasn't gotten out of bed yet. the woods still warp around them, but it leads them to the cottage immediately rather than letting the time pass.

outside the cottage there is a man tending the flowers. he could've been sizhui's uncle - a man he's never met but has seen pictures of - except for the white eyes and pale, cracked skin. the man tending the flowers looks dead, but he's humming under his breath

and then, sizhui's phone rings.

it's his a-die. a-die is probably very worried, but there's no way that sizhui can answer his phone right now and not reveal that he's in some weird woods investigating a possibly haunted cottage.

so sizhui doesn't answer. but the ringing of his phone draws attention to him anyways, and the man glances up and jumps, startled.

"who are you?" he asks, "why have the woods brought you here?"

sizhui opens his mouth to say - something. he's not sure what was about to come out. what he was going to tell this man who could be his uncle.

jingyi beats him to it, anyway. "who are /you/? what is this place?"

the man looks startled for a moment, and he frowns. "children shouldn't be here. it's not safe."

"not safe?" zizhen questions.

and then, jin ling shoulders his way forward, glowering at the man. "i know you," he says.

the man visibly shrinks back, stepping against the door. "do you?" he asks, weakly, timidly. a cornered mouse, white eyes crinkling at the edges.

"you look familiar," jin ling sneers, "i've seen you before, i just know it."

"ah-" the man glances between them, and his gaze settles on sizhui for the first time. he freezes up. "no, y-you must be mistaken. you don't know me. you should leave now, before the fog comes in."

"the fog?" jingyi questions.

the man opens the door and then closes it behind him, sharply. there's the click of a lock. they've been locked out.

the wind whistles in the woods behind them. sizhui shivers.

"you know him?" zizhen asks quietly, once they've left the cottage. there's no point in staying, after all, not when they're locked out.

"maybe," jin ling admits, "i don't know what i remember. but i looked at him and i just felt so angry."

"this forest is playing tricks on us," jingyi states, with a violent shudder, "i don't like it. let's go back now."

sizhui agrees with him. the forest is playing tricks on them. maybe that's why he felt so familiar there.

besides, a fog is starting to settle in over the trees, and they all remember the warning issued by the man. it could be a trick, but it also could not, and there's a silent agreement to hurry home, where jin ling's mother is waiting for them

"did you boys have fun today?" jiang yanli asks sweetly, unaware of where they had been and who they had seen. maybe they should've told her. maybe she would've known.

but they don't.

"yeah sure," jin ling says, and he grumpily allows her to kiss his head

that night, sizhui stares at his phone lockscreen for longer than normal. in the picture, baba is smiling widely, his arm around some unknown person's shoulders. his hair is tied back, and his eyes are sparkling.

not for the first time, sizhui misses him with a fierce ache

why did he leave? a-die misses him still, sizhui knows. it's clear in the room that's been left locked and untouched, in the vibrant red and black dishes, in the paintings hung sporadically across the house that a-die refuses to take down.

a-die calls again. it's ten minutes before nine, and a-die is calling again. this time, sizhui answers.

"you missed my call earlier," a-die says as a greeting.

"i was busy," sizhui answers.

lying is forbidden, but this is no lie. he was busy.

"are you having a good time? with your friends?"

"i am."

short answers. sizhui has never been the one to give short answers, but he's missing baba and thinking about the man who could be his uncle, and it's not a-die's fault but there's nothing he can do about it

he ends the phone call with a curt "goodnight, a-die, love you" and then rolls onto his side. it's 9pm. he's normally in bed by 9pm, because he's a good child who follows the rules, even when jingyi laughs and calls him a do-goody.

but that night, it takes him longer than normal to fall asleep, and his sleep is not well. no, he sleeps restlessly, tossing and turning and dreaming of hands shoving through stomachs and of the sound of a dizi playing frantically in the wind.

in the morning, sizhui wakes with a resolve like steel. he needs to go back, but he needs to go back alone. he thinks about the shock he saw in the man that could be his uncle's eyes. about the man that looked like his baba. he needs to know.

he's woken at 5am, like normal. jingyi too should be awake at 5am, but he's always avoided the rules and now that he no longer has to abide by them, he's still snoring away in the bedroom that they are sharing.

jin ling and sizhui undoubtedly are asleep as well, so sizhui tucks his phone into his pocket, snags a few granola bars out of the pantry - jin ling's mom will understand, he thinks - and sets out.

while the woods had once turned him away, they now welcome him, clearing immediately and leading him straight to the cottage. they sense his resolve, he thinks to himself. he's not confused, he knows what he saw, what he has to do.

the cottage is not locked when he reaches it, but it feels rude to just barge in, so sizhui knocks. after a minute, it swings open, revealing the man who looks like his baba, the one straight out of the picture

"a-yuan," the man says, fondly, and sizhui inhales sharply. he hasn't gone by a-yuan in many years. not since a-die and baba adopted him and changed his name for him. "having your name is dangerous, my little rabbit," baba had said, one of the only things sizhui remembers

"baba," he answers, and he watches as the man - his baba, who should be living in the city like a-die has always said, who shouldn't be here, hiding away in a cottage in a shifting wood - smiles.

"my a-yuan," wei ying says, softly, still smiling, "all grown up. what are you doing here? how did you find me?"

"again," sizhui says without thinking, and when baba tilts his head, he clarifies, "i found you again. you were here when i was asleep, right?"

"ah, yes, I almost forgot." baba nods, and the smile turns slightly wistful. "again. but how? nobody is supposed to find this cottage. it was..." he trails off.

sizhui frowns. "a-die says you live in the city and that you don't want to see me."

baba gasps, "lan zhan? lying? ah, i've taught him so well!" and he laughs, like this is something to laugh at and not sizhui's entire life unraveling at the seams.

"baba," sizhui reproaches.

"right, right, sorry." baba sighs.

"i suppose he told you that to protect you. he didn't want you to know what mess i've gotten myself into," baba explains, a hand in his hair. "so kind, my lan zhan is. he knew and he married me anyways."

"knew what?"

"ah, nevermind." baba waves his hand.

"wei-xiong," and the man that could be his uncle steps forward, squinting at sizhui. that recognition settles in, and his blank eyes widen. "a-yuan. you're back."

"i'm back," sizhui agrees. he swallows. "i couldn't stay away."

"ah, but you should," baba says mournfully, "it's not safe here, not for you. i made a-jie promise to keep jin ling from exploring the forest. i don't know why she hasn't moved away yet."

"but i /couldn't/ stay away," sizhui says, insistently

"what do you mean?"

sizhui pauses. he doesn't know how to explain it. "the woods led me here," is what he says, "and i think i dreamt of them last night. something is calling me here, baba. i don't know what. but i can't complain, not when it led me to you."

baba looks almost conflicted at the words. "oh, sweetheart," he says, softly, with an anguish in his tone that sizhui's never heard before, "you can't... i can't keep you here. i can't ruin your life too."

"wei-xiong," the man who could be his uncle says softly, "the fog."

"right." baba steps forward, wrapping sizhui in a hug. he presses a kiss to sizhui's head, and then steps back again. "a-yuan, you have to go now. but tell your a-die and my a-jie that i love them!"

they love you too, sizhui wants to scream. but baba looks so afraid when he steps back, and he never said that sizhui couldn't come back.

"okay," he says, swallowing, "i will."

when he walks back home, through the woods, they shift around him once more. the fog is starting to settle in, high up on the trees, and sizhui quickens his pace. but the forest keeps changing, keeps moving him around. almost like it wants him to stay.

inevitably, the fog settles.

it's not that the fog itself is inherently dangerous. what's so dangerous about the fog is the way it completely obscures everything. if you couldn't get out of the forest before the fog settled, you weren't getting out at all.

after hours upon hours of wandering, sizhui admits defeat, slumping against a tree. he can't see a thing. he's stuck here. he's stuck here and he didn't tell anyone where he was going. he's stuck here and there's no way anyone is going to find him.

and that's when the woods start to whisper.

"a-yuan," they say, a low whistle, "a-yuan, a-yuan!"

sizhui closes his eyes, and he presses his hands against his ears. "that's not my name," he says, helplessly.

"a-yuan!" the woods insist, and the fog swirls around him.

"no," sizhui shakes his head, curls into himself further, "no, my name is sizhui now. a-die picked it out himself to tease baba, but baba agreed, so now it's my name."

"a-yuan!"

"a-yuan," a new voice says, and sizhui startles. he peeks through the cracks in his hand to see the man who might be his uncle hovering over him.

"ning-gege," he mumbles without thinking.

but the man who might be his uncle is his uncle, and wen ning bends down.

"the fog," he takes sizhui's forearms, gently helping him up to his feet, "you got lost in the fog?"

"i did tell you," sizhui says, "the woods don't want me to leave. i couldn't find my way out in time."

wen ning nods.

"ning-gege," sizhui starts, and then hesitates. "what... what's going on? why do you and baba live here? what happened?"

"it's a long story," his uncle says, "one that wei-xiong should tell you." his voice is quiet, shy. "but I can tell you some. walk with me."

"the woods have always been like this," he starts, as they walk through the fog that doesn't intend on releasing them anytime soon, "mystical. haunted. your baba was obsessed with them. he bought the house that your a-yi lives in now."

"back then, people had always thought that there was something a little supernatural about wei-xiong, too." he pauses. "nobody blamed him for his obsession, though they would sometimes mock him for it."

"why?"

"that's the way the world is," his uncle says. it sounds bitter.

"your a-die was one of the only that believed in him." another pause. "well, there was me and jiejie and his siblings, but he's not very good at noticing when people care about him.

"still, your a-die was the one who married him. for a time, they lived in that house, with you.

"but then there was the accident," and the fog clears just enough to reveal the cottage. his uncle sighs, and gestures towards it. "you should stay," he says, apologetically, "until we figure out why the woods won't let you go."

"okay," sizhui agrees.

baba looks surprised to see them when wen ning opens the door. "a-yuan," he blinks, "the fog?"

"the fog," his uncle confirms.

sizhui finally glances around the cottage for the first time. it's quaint, with a plain couch, a little kitchen area, and a bed off to the side.

it's small, but there's a quilted blanket that's red and black across the couch and a tea kettle on the counter and it feels cozy in a way that sizhui can't describe.

"can i sit down?" he asks.

"of course, of course!" baba steps aside, letting sizhui walk through the cottage.

"now, about the woods," baba glances at his uncle.

"i didn't tell him," wen ning says.

baba slumps, and he joins sizhui on the couch.

"you don't have to tell me," sizhui says, automatically.

"no, no, i owe this to you." baba sighs, "and to Lan Zhan."

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