[closed post -- training]

[onthewillowsthere]

The day after Evil Twin Magnus leaves, Galahad shows up for his training with Lan Wangji exactly as he always does (although later in the day, because Lan Wangji asked him to wait until afternoon to meet) -- if Lan Wangji were going solely on his appearance, he'd see absolutely nothing out of order. He throws himself into the sword forms with his usual focus. But he's gripping the hilt of his sword too tightly, and his movements are tense; he's never graceful, but today he's almost clumsy, and each failure or misstep only seems to pull him tighter, like an overwound watch.

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[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji knows Galahad, and Galahad's body, in the way that only a teacher can, in the way that a teacher has to. He knows the way he holds himself when he is tiring; he knows how far he can push Galahad past that first wave of weariness, how to make it satisfying and how to call a stop when it is only stubbornness for stubbornness' sake.

"Stop," he says, barely an incense time into this afternoon's practice.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad freezes in place, stumbling a little as his foot skips. "Hanguang-jun?"

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji instinctively steps closer, poised to catch him if he does fall, and then goes still and looks him over when he doesn't. He recognizes the tension Galahad is carrying -- it might be easy to mistake, because Galahad is like him if he had never learned grace. Galahad always holds himself as straight as an arrow. This is not that. "You don't need to tell me what is distracting you, but there is no use in training you if your mind is elsewhere."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad's fingers tremble on the hilt of his sword and he sheaths it, mindful of safety as Lan Wangji has taught him to be. He's silent for a few moments, and then he says, "Magnus."

[lightbearinglord]

Surely Magnus would have mentioned something, or at least been visibly distraught this morning when he said Galahad's name, if he and Galahad had fought. It takes barely a moment for Lan Wangji to make his guess, then. "The other Magnus?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Evil Twin Magnus," Galahad agrees. His lip trembles, too.

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji's time with the other Magnus was not pleasant, but it was ultimately endurable. Galahad is like him, though. He likes things to be as he expects them to be. He likes to be understood, and he has gone most of his life without that understanding. He is young, and the world is still opening up before him, and his friend -- his best friend -- was wrong in every way yesterday, the kind of wrong that nags like a biting insect. "I didn't like him, either. What happened?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"He didn't understand anything. Me. He didn't understand why Magnus isn't a Fighting Guy any more. He didn't touch me. He--"

[lightbearinglord]

"I know." Not entirely certain of his welcome when the proximity is for comfort rather than an adjustment of his stance, Lan Wangji steps closer to Galahad anyway. "He looked like Magnus, but he was empty."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad looks up. When he'd told Claudius last night, he'd felt too apart from his body to do anything but recite what had happened as dispassionately as possible -- although Claudius knows him too well not to understand how upset he was, and held him and stroked his hair and then made him take a hot bath while Claudius told stories about various alchemical mishaps of his youth, until the pleasant drawl of his voice made Galahad's misery abate enough for sleep.

Now, though, as he meets Lan Wangji's eyes, he's uncomfortably present in himself. To his dismay, tears begin running down his face. "He used his power on my mind."

[lightbearinglord]

Lan Wangji's jaw tightens. He will never forget the way Galahad jerked back from him, the sharpness of his No! at even the gentle offer of spiritual energy to steady his mind, an attempted gift from someone who loved him. For some hollow facsimile of Magnus to touch his mind without asking -- it is an unimaginable violation. He steps in closer still and settles his hands at Galahad's shoulders. Galahad even cries just as he does: silent, tears streaming down his face. "What did he do with it?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"He made me feel friendly towards him," quietly. If it were anyone besides Lan Wangji (or Claudius, last night), he would feel foolish for being so upset about such an innocuous manipulation, but Lan Wangji is so like him. Lan Wangji will understand. "He made me trust him."

[lightbearinglord]

The thought of it turns Lan Wangji cold and hot at once. He and Galahad both learned as children to trust in authority, to be calm and obedient and never to question the rules. The freedom to form his own judgments has often been a tiny revelation, painfully-won. Thy mind has been thy fortress, Claudius said to him as he struggled to breathe with the knowledge of all of Aornis' thefts and manipulations washing over him.

His hands tighten at Galahad's shoulders -- not painfully, but with a wash of anger and sudden protectiveness. It's an irrational thought, but he should not have let that Magnus, who was a stranger, go. At the least, he should have warned him to behave himself. "He should not have done that," he says, fierce with it, more feeling in his voice than Galahad might typically hear in weeks of their calm, methodical training.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad gives a miserable nod, grateful that Lan Wangji -- as predicted -- does understand, and tries to wipe his tears away with his sleeve. "He wanted to find Jack, and I was afraid-- that he would take him."

[lightbearinglord]

After his own conversation with Magnus, Lan Wangji doesn't think that likely, but he doesn't say so. If Galahad was afraid, there was a reason for it. He lifts one hand so that he can use his own sleeve to wipe Galahad's tears instead; there is considerably more fabric, and it is soft and silky. He did exactly this for Claudius when Claudius was a child. "Did he find him?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes." He turns his face up to make Lan Wangji's task easier. "I came too. Jack placed himself in my hand."

[lightbearinglord]

He's gentle about that task, and thorough. He feels a terrible ache of fondness at the way Galahad is trusting him -- to touch him, to care for him, and to listen to him. "Jack knew Magnus was wrong, too."

[onthewillowsthere]

A little nod. His chest feels too tight, and although he's stopped crying now he hiccups. "He wasn't my friend," he says. "It felt bad. Wrong. I hated it."

[lightbearinglord]

"I know," Lan Wangji says again. He takes a breath to sort out how to say what he wants to say. "It wasn't that he didn't know me. Claudius didn't know me, but I could see that he was the same. I could imagine becoming his brother again. I couldn't imagine ever mattering to Magnus."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes. I met Claudius too," he says, relieved all over again that Lan Wangji understands the difference.

[lightbearinglord]

"That was better." He will be immensely glad to see his best friend again, most likely later today after he has taken care of his various obligations, but he liked the other Claudius, too; he is glad to have met him. He dries a few lingering tears, careful around Galahad's eyes, and then at last overcomes his doubts and pulls him into a proper embrace.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad immediately folds himself awkwardly into Lan Wangji's arms. His body is stiff and unyielding, but he holds on tightly.

[lightbearinglord]

Galahad is still slight and small, his tense body wrapped in Lan Wangji's arms and his sleeves, but Lan Wangji can feel the growing strength he has been developing. He is viciously proud of him, of all his diligence and determination in spite of everything. He holds him as tightly as he dares, as tightly as he can without causing him pain. Lan Wangji understands. Galahad doesn't have to speak.

[onthewillowsthere]

He doesn't say anything. He's still overwhelmed by his feelings, by the sense of betrayal by Evil Twin Magnus, by the tension his body is holding. But he's understood -- he's unfathomably grateful to be understood, to be known. He's never met someone as like him as Lan Wangji is, someone who could see him the way Lan Wangji does. It's not the careful study Claudius has made of him, though Galahad loves that study with his whole heart and matches it every day; it's not the effortless warmth of Magnus or Percival. He and Lan Wangji have struggled with each other but they're the same.

[lightbearinglord]

After a time, Lan Wangji relaxes his hold. He doesn't let go, but the ferocity of the embrace eases. "I think he will not return. If he does, I will handle him."