Chapter Text
Lan Zhan stands in front of the full-length mirror staring at himself in the mirror, calloused hands running along the skirt of the royal blue, floor-length mermaid dress with a leg slit. He feels his ears warm as he looks at himself in the mirror, fidgeting as he turns to see how the backless dress shows off his scarred, muscular back. It had taken a long while for his partners’ love and support for him to feel comfortable with his scars, let alone not covering them up with clothing.
In celebration of their polycule’s three-year anniversary he wanted to surprise them when they go out for dinner tonight, though he is a little hesitant to show them as Lan Zhan isn’t used to wearing such form-fitting clothing, he usually wore loose sweaters and while he still chose to go with a dress with a long skirt, he’s never had a leg slit before.
After spending who knows how long deciding on whether he should show them the dress, he hears knocking on the door, Nie Huaisang calling out from the other side,
“Sweetheart?” Lan Zhan scrambles to put on his bathrobe, “Can we come in? Me and A-Ning still need to do your hair and makeup.”
“You may come in.” As Lan Zhan walks over to grab a chair to place in front of the mirror, Wen Ning with Nie Huaisang follows behind with a makeup kit and hair styling supplies, already dressed for the night. Nie Huaisang takes a look at the robe Lan Zhan is wearing and gives an assessing look. “You haven’t gotten ready yet? That's surprising since usually, you’re the first one to be ready when we go out!”
Lan Wangji doesn’t meet either of their eyes. Wen Ning exchanging a worried look with Huaisang “what’s wrong? Are you not feeling well?”
Lan Zhan tenses when he answers the question. “No, it’s just that I’m a little nervous wearing this outfit, as it differs greatly from what I usually wear”
“Do you wanna wear something else?” Wen Ning offers
“No, I think I need to get used to wearing different types of clothes”
“No, you don’t,” Nie Huaisang rushes to say, “You shouldn’t wear clothes that make you feel uncomfortable, you can wear what you want, hell you could show up to Dinner with a T-shirt and jeans and none of us would bat an eye”
“I don’t wear jeans” Nie Huaisang rolls his eyes. “I know it’s just an example”
“It’s not a matter of it being uncomfortable, it’s…” He goes silent for a little and they wait patiently for him to gather his thoughts
“I’m not quite sure that this dress is my style”
Wen Ning pipes in, “I know when I first transitioned, it took me forever to figure out what clothes and what styles fit me best. To this day, I still won’t wear bell-bottoms.” Lan Zhan huffs a chuckle and gives Wen Ning a small smile in the mirror
Huaisang turns to Wen Ning with a shit-eating grin, “Well now I have to see you in them!”
“No you don’t” Nie Huaisang pouts
“Anyway, my point is that you can just try out different outfits and see if they work for you. If they don’t, then just don’t wear the clothing again,” Wen Ning concludes. Lan Wangji looks contemplative and then gives a resounding nod. Wen Ning smiles at him and kisses his temple.
“So, are you ready for us to do your hair and makeup now? I’m sure A-Xuan and A-Ying are wondering what we are doing in here, probably making out,” Huaisang laughs out.
“Mn”
Wen Ning and Huaisang put his hair up in an elegant bun on the crown on the head securing it with a silver hairpin, leaving two pieces of hair to frame his face, and giving him a simple makeup look giving him eyeliner and rouge lip tint.
He could’ve done it himself really, but he enjoys being pampered from time to time and he knows his boyfriends are willing to provide him the service.
“Wow, I don’t think I can ever get used to how beautiful you are.” Wen Ning blurts out. Lan Wangji feels his ear warming from the compliment. He ducks his head down to avoid their stares, a small smile on his lips.
“Don’t be shy now, you are so pretty,” Nie Huaisang teased. “So do we finally get to see this dress?”
“Not now. I want to show you all at the same time. It is supposed to be a surprise for our anniversary,” Lan Zhan explains.
“Boo, you know I love to see when you wear new clothes, you are holding out on me,” Nie Huaisang pouts
Lan Zhan gives him a teasing look and pats his arm to feign condolences.
“Well, now that we are ready, we just have to wait for Wei Ying and Zixuan to get ready” Wen Ning leaves to go to the living room to go sit on the couch
“Which will take for-fucking-ever.” Nie Huaisang groans following him out, sitting on the seat right next to him, “I bet Wei Ying even isn’t awake yet.”
“Hey, I’m awake we were getting ready in the other bathroom since you all were hogging the big one” Wei Ying walks in Jin Zixuan following suit, he is fixing his cuffs, freezing when he spots Lan Zhan’s new look, Lan Zhan look downs bashfully at his heated look.
“You look gorgeous sweetheart” He walks right in front of him to cup his face and look him over. He continues looking down, following his neck until it hits the gray robe, seeing blue peak under the bottom.
“What’s with this?” Wei Ying says, picking at the sleeves, peeking through to see the dress underneath.
“I wanted to surprise you all for our anniversary,” Lan Zhan responds, pulling his arm out of Wei Ying’s grasp, and goes to stand in the middle of the room.
He turns around with an unsteady breath to untie the tie and lets the robe drop to the floor. The others in the room gape at the sight of the dress hugging his body, the leg slit, and most shockingly, the back window showing off his scarring.
No one said anything, and Lan Wangji turned around with a worried expression. They don't like the dress?
Jin Zixuan was the first to speak
“Wow, you look- “ he cuts himself off
“Weird?” Lan Zhan self consciously asks
“No, no! Lan Zhan!” Everyone is quick to reassure him with “You look so beautiful!” and “You're stunning!” and complements of the like.
“Give us a spin sweetheart!” Huaisang added.
Lan Zhan gave Huaisang a puzzled expression, but still slowly started spinning in place.
Huaisang started whistling, Wei Ying cheers while Wen Ning claps excitedly.
Lan Zhan gave a small smile “Thank you, I’m glad you all like it”
Jin ZiXuan clear his throat in order to distract from his flustered expression
“Well, now that we are all ready, we should get going to dinner” He then walks over to Lan Zhan to offer his arm. Lan Zhan takes it and they walk out to the car.
“Not fair, I wanted to go with Lan Zhan!” Wei Ying whined
“I guess you’ll have to come with us,” Wen Ning said, feigning his condolences, patting Wei Ying’s arm.
Wei Ying Pouts at him while taking Huaisang’s hand, following Jin Zixuan and Lan Zhan out towards the car.