Wei Wuxian works in film production, but his dream is to make his own films and see them on the big screen. Then, he gets his big break. The boss says to send his latest script to world famous Lan Wangji. Except WWX sends him his self insert fic instead... #mdzs #wangxian

Worst of all...in the midst of wwx rushing to somehow hack into lwj's email and delete it before he can see, his boss gwts a call back. WWX is sure that this is it. This is how he loses any and all credibility. He's toast. Hes burnt toast being scraped into the trash.

Except the boss tells him Lan Wangji loves the script and has taken the deal. WWX gets to work with the actor of his dreams....only its with the self-inseet fic he wrote as a sullen and depressed college dropout.

Its overly dramatic and full of ridiculous missed and second chances. The ending is depressing. Its a testament to his misery at the time, infatuated with an up and coming actor and an industry that was farther away than the stars themselves. His fic didnt even do well on ao3.

Barely any kudos, and he'd deleted it in a drunken fit not long after. The only copy left was on the messy hardrive with poor naming conventions... And unfortunately, it just so happened that the file name of his actual script was almost identical.

Why oh why did a 20 yo wwx name his stupid self insert fic love-in-retrospect_ final_FINAL and then write a film called Love in Perspective??? Stupid stupid, you unoriginal nightmare. But lwj wants a meeting, and how could wwx say he made a mistake and actually the script you

got was my idiotic solliquy on why we should be together. He can't, thats the truth. Wwx attends the meeting.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity after all. And besides, he didnt even used lwj's name. He used his own childhood name, Wei Ying, but he made up one for lwj. Its barely self insert, so other than the last name, theres no way he would be found. And this is his dream.

He tries to maintain his cool in front of an international acclaimed celebrity he used to fantasize about. Lan Wangji is even more handsome in the flesh. Those eyes seem to glow and even his very posture makes wwx weak in the knees. They exchange pleasantries,

lwj's manager handles most of the talking. wwx knows how to smooze better than anyone, so its childs play to bedazzle the lwj'a management. His boss sits back and looks on with fond approval of her prodigy. Wwx turns a bright smile at the actor, and turns up the charm.

"Mr. Lan, I'm honored you agreed to work with me. May I ask what drew you to my script?" Hes on the edge of his seat, talking to his celebrity crush!!! But Lan Wangji only blinks absently before he asks a question that sends shockwaves through Wei Wuxian's core.

"Wei Ying? Do you not remember me?" (This is pure kdrama indulgent nonsense btw)

Initially, when Lan Wangji received a script written by one Wei Wuxian, he almost tossed it aside automatically. That last name still brings a bittersweet feeling he doesnt think even the best script would prevent. Then, he saw the name of the main character.

Wei Ying. A name he hasnt seen since high school. The object of all his desires and the subject of his greatest failures. Its not that common of a name, but perhaps hes mistaken. Then he finds his own name further along the page.

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan... What are...what could be the chances of this happening? Very low, surely... He looks at the name on the email one more time. Wei Wuxian. His fingers hurry to type it in the search bar.

Theres not much about him on the internet. But lwj finally finds some success when he looks up films produced by the company wwx works for. At one of the red carpet premieres, he'd been in attendance as part of the production team. Lwj finds a picture of him during the party.

Theres no mistaking it... The man in one corner, beaming proudly at the camera is definitely Wei Ying, lwj's high school crush. ...who just sent him a script written under a stage name about a fictional love story between the two of them....

It seemed like....like perhaps this was a confession. Lan Wangji, back when he was still Lan Zhan, an awkward teenager with glasses too big for his face and an embarassing bowlcut that his uncle would trim in their kitchen. He shared one class with Wei Ying. But one was enough.

They were paired up for a simple debate project that should have been straightforward and an easy A. Instead, it was two weeks of LZ arguing more with his partner over their project than the people they were meant to debate. It wasnt as though WY was wrong...far from it.

Their assigned topic was ridiculous and one sided, but there were core talking points they could utilize that would suffice. And LZ was a strong student. He could win the debate even if he disagreed with himself. But WY could not.

Throughout those two weeks, WY would argue against their own points. "Its ridiculous. Why do we have to defend something dumb like this?" "It is the assignment," Lan Zhan had repeated for the 15th time. "It is to build skills in understanding the other perspective—"

"But the other perspective is dumb! And like, decades old! Theres nothing left to debate!" And although lz bad secretly agreed with wei ying, he couldnt give in. This was the assignment after all.

When debate day came, lz walked into class prepared for the lowest grade he'd ever gotten. He was already thinking of the explanation be would have to give to his disappointed uncle and the extra work he would have to do to make up for it Except wy didnt do anything hed expected

He debated perfectly, utilizing the points lz had ingrained, sticking to the speech. He left the other team scrounging for evidence for their rebuttal. At the end of the time, their teacher declared them the winner and gave them a high grade.

But wy continued to surprise lz. He stood up on his desk and declared loud enough for the class next door to hear, "And that was all bullshit!!!" He spent the next 5 minutes explaining why his points were idiotic and criticizing the teacher for such an assigment.

It carried on until their teacher sent him tp the office and deducted points from his individual score. Before he left, wei ying looked over his shoulder and sent lz a wink that set his ears aflame. He'd heard that the next year, the teacher opted for a differwnt assignment.

lz had thought that would be the last time he'd ever hear from one wei ying, but he was mistaken. for the rest of the year, even after the quarter ended and they no longer shared a class, wy continued to talk to him.

"Lan Zhan! Did you do the homework? What did you get for..." "Hey Lan Zhan, are you heading for guqin practice? That's so cool, can I come watch?" "Lan Zhan, there you are! Come sit with me for lunch!"

again and again, wy would search him out. without fail, they would run into each other everyday. it never mattered that lz rarely had anything interesting to say. it didnt matter that he'd treated wy so poorly when they were working together. inevitably, wy would find lz.

and when lz began waking up to wet spots on his bedsheets and chasing the remnants of vivid dreams of wy whispering, "lan zhan, lan zhan, lan zhan..." in his ear, lz had to admit to himself he didn't think of wy the same way he had at first.

having an illicit crush on the brightest start in the school was torture at its worst. wy was rarely ever alone, and lz was too intimidated by the large groups of friends he always surrounded himself with. he'd wait for wy to seek him out instead of going to him first.

but that was enough, lz reasoned. if wei ying was a star, then lan zhan was the astronomer tracking its path across the expansive night sky. and that would be enough. by graduation, he promised himself. at graduation he would confess his feelings. and it would be perfect.

unfortunately, lan zhan learned the hard way what it meant to no take the chance when he had it.

graduation was a full year away, and summer was fast approaching. he wouldn't be traveling, but without the excuse of school it would be hard to see wei ying. and lz, who had gotten used to seeing wy everyday, did not think he could survive weeks without him.

the plan was simple. ask wei ying for his home phone number. he should have asked for it months ago, but lz disliked being so personal. when they worked on their project together, they communicated via their student email. simple and efficient.

but lan zhan thought having wei ying's landline would be useful. he could call wei ying, and hopefully he would answer. he vaguely remembered wei ying talking about his adoptive family, how his brother went to a fancy boarding school far away, but wy lived with his sister

and his adoptive parents. the chances of them picking up were dangerously high, but it would be worth it lan zhan reasoned. as long as he got to see wei ying, it would all be worth it.

with determination singing through his veins, the next day he walked into school ready to ask wei ying the hardest question he'd ever had to ask. he lingered by the lockers waiting for wy, who was always late most mornings. but even though lz waited past the bell,

wy did not appear. his next thought was lunch time. without fail wy would surely spot him in the entryway and yell for him to join his table. so lan zhan stood waiting at the entryway to the cefeteria with his lunchbox in hand and waited for wy's delighted call of, "Lan Zhan!"

...But minutes past. and past. and past. and then the students began trickling out of the room, sending the odd quiet kid whose glasses covered half his face weird looks for waiting there all angry. and still, no wy. lan zhan shoved his cold lunch away, appetite gone.

perhaps wei ying was sick and absent due to that reason. he would try again tomorrow he decided. sure that this would be the right move, he focused on class and waited for the new day.

but the new day came and went, and still no wei ying. then the next day came to pass... and the next...and the next. and soon, it was the day before summer break, and lan zhan had not seen nor heard from wei ying all week.

After that day, lan zhan wouldn't see anyone for an entire month. It was his last chance to get to wei ying. So, finally, he resorted to the one thing he never wanted to do. Wei ying had always been surrounded by friends. They seemed to never end, endless crowds of admirers.

All centered around one bright, shining boy. Lan zhan had never enjoyed talking to strangers. If it hadnt been for the school project, he never would have befriended wei ying in the first place. It would be worth the fear of talking to a stranger if he could finally talk to wy.

Luo qingyag shared a class and was often seen around wy. Sometimes they seemed to flirt, and lz despised the jealousy that rose within him. But wy always made it clear that he wasnt interested in anyone. Lz was able to swallow past the hurt to savor knowing wy was single.

But lqy was nearly as friendly as wy, so surely she would have wy's number. So, after mustering up every ounce of courage, lz asked her once classes ended. "Luo Qingyang, may I speak with you?" His classmate blinked up at him in surprise. Lz desperately tried to pretend the

entire class wasnt staring at him. It was unlikely, most had already left to enjpy their summer break. "Uh, sure!" lqy replied once the shock wore off. She guided him out to a bench beneath a bright green tree, speck of blue sky peeking between leaves.

"So, what's up Lan Zhan?" Lqy asked. Lz clenched his fingers in the fabric of his pants, no doubt wrinkling them. "I sought you out to ask if you—" his throat felt clogged and it had taken every ounce of will to not run away. Hed forgotten how hard it was to talk to his peers.

It made him appreciate how easy talking to wei ying was. Lz sighed one more time and finally asked, "Could you please perhaps share Wei Ying's phone number with me?" He hesitated only a second before continuing, "I would like to speak with him over the break."

He didnt say that talking to wei ying felt like a physical need. Like if he didnt, a part of him that had begun to bloom would soon shrivel up. That he didnt know what would happen if he couldnt talk to wei ying. He waited a tense, horrible few seconds as lqy watched him.

The expression she wore was complicated. Shed seemed content to talk earlier, open and honest. But now, she appeared...apologetic. Before she even spoke, something within lz had already shriveled up and died.

"You dont know? Wei Ying's brother got sick....very sick. He and his whole family had to move all of a sudden. He only told Nie Huaisang, who told me. "I can give you his phone number, but I dont know if it will even work anymore..."

The only thought in lz's head for far too long was, No, thats not right impossible. Thats not....it couldnt. Wei ying wouldnt have...he... Lqy's smile was sad and dripping with pity. "It was all so sudden...he had to transfer out and since his brother is too sick to move.

"Huaisang said they packed up and left in a day...he didnt say goodbye to any of us." Lz's voice sounded too far away. "When...when did he...?" "Tuesday I think."

So if lz had just been braver and asked sooner...if he had asked on monday when wy was nowhere in sight. If he raced to wy's house...he might have made it. "Did he...leave a way to contact him." Lqy's hand came up to hover by his shoulder.

"I don't know...Huaisang might, if you ask him?" The presence of her hand, though not invading his space by touching him, is warm. "I'm sorry Lan Zhan, i had no idea you two were such good friends..." Were they? Were they really? Not close enough for lz to ask for his number.

Not close enough for wy to tell him about his move. Not close enough to cross the chasm that had opened up between them, expanding every second. Lan Zhan bowed his head as his shoulders shook, but he didnt reply. Because what more could he have said?

The next few days were a blur of lan zhan trying desperately to get any information, practically clawing for it. He had nhs's number because it was the same as nmj who was friends with his brother. My nhs was little help. He said he didnt know either, that he was waiting for

Wei Ying to contact him also. He seemed less surprised than lqy, like he knew, at least to some extent, how much wy meant to lz. Lz wasnt sure if that made him feel any better.

He even tried wei ying's email, again and again. He must have sent hundreds of emails... But since wei ying was no longer a student at their school, his school email was soon deactivated. And lan zhan was left wondering about everything he had done wrong.

Thinking about what if's all through his last year at high school and his first couple years of college. Dreamt about what he wished he had done when he was scouted by an agency and did his first movie role.

He kept thinking of wei ying, nearly every day, even as his career flourished. Thought and thought and thought and never really ever stopped thinking of wei ying. Even on the day when he saw their names written side by side, just like on that group project, all those years ago.

Surely, this is a sign? Years later, over a decade, but Wei Ying had finally found him. When Lan Zhan entered the entertainment industry, he let himself imagine a scenario where they might meet again. Where wy would see him on a screen and get to him.

And he did. He has. Wei Ying found him. Finally. Lan Zhan enters that meeting with his heart fuller than its been since high school. He'd spent the night thinking about what he would say. How he wouldnt hesitate this time. He read the script. He knows. He understands.

Wei Ying loves him, just as much as he does. He wrote this for him, for them. Lan Zhan wouldnt dare miss this chance.

wy and his team are already there when lz enters with his manager. instantly, the speech he'd spent countless hours perfecting disappears as he takes in the sight of wei ying after all these years.

he's perfect, he thinks deliriously, perfect as ever. his hair is long, brushing his shoulders as he moves his head to talk to everyone in this fancy restaurant's small private room. he's even charming to the waitress as she serves their tea.

he's still the brightest star in the sky, effervescent and gleaming. impossible to look away from. until this point, wei ying has yet to speak to lz directly. in fact, besides the occaisional lingering (and somewhat admiring if lz dares to say) glance, wy barely acknowledges him

perhaps he is wary of bringing such a private matter when there are so many eyes and ears around. lz can appreciate it. he would prefer the reunion and subsequent beginning to be held in privacy as well. for now, he will follow wy's lead and wait for him to bring it up.

it's then that wy suddenly turns to lz, as if he'd read his mind. lz's heart leaps into his throat and lodges itself, pulse beating a drum against his ears. Then, wei ying says, "Mr. Lan, I'm honored you agreed to work with me. May I ask what drew you to my script?"

'Mr Lan?' what...why would wei ying call him that? wei ying, who often didnt treat his teachers with formality and called them by their name? why would he call him mr lan? lan zhan waits for the cheeky grin or wink, a hint that says wei ying is kidding.

but no such hint comes. in fact, he notices for the first time that wei ying isn't looking at him the way he did when they were younger. like he was excited to see him. like lan zhan meant something to him.

instead, lan zhan realizes with dawning horror that makes his heart fall into his lap, that wei ying is looking at him with the same distant awe and star struck admiration that every other fan looks at him with

"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan says. The words feel like jagged rocks the way they claw up his throat. "Do you not remember me?"

There's a moment of hope, fleeting in its wonder, when something surprise flashes across wei ying's expression. and lan zhan lets himself bask in the thought that yes, he does remember me. he lets it carry him away on wings about to take flight.

then, wei ying replies, "Yes, I know you!" and lan zhan is soaring through the clouds. "Of course I do!" he's reaching up towards the heavens and beyond. "How could I not?"

he's soaring past galaxies, towards the star at the center of his own universe, shining as big and bright as it had so many years ago. "You're world famous actor, Lan Wangji! Who wouldn't know you?"

and just like that, gravity sinks its fingers into lan zhan's wings and rips them off, sending him tumbling down to earth.

(top of the thread for now. please remember we are using kdrama logic where big bulky glasses and ugly haircut are apparently enough to make someone seem like a different person ) https://twitter.com/gentil_minou/status/1800236720035975173?t=VGE5Qbq21qn31d5nCTBrrw&s=19x.com/gentil_minou/s

"It's an honor to work alongside you, Mr. Lan," Wei Wuxian says, trying to tamper down the excitement he feels. "But, oh, my name is Wei Wuxian, not Wei Ying." It hasnt been for years at this point. Even his family and friends call him Wuxian now.

And yes, maybe hearing that name for the first time in so long coming from The Lan Wangji does some seriously wacky things to his already racing heart, but it was probably a mistake. Honestly, maybe they can have a meeting later on to change the characters names.

If anyone found out he used his birth ne for the mc, hed be a goner. The name Lan Zhan will need to change too, just a blast from the past that his old classmate probably wouldnt mind, but maybe he would. Hes not sure what hes up to now; hes not even really sure why he picked it.

His head was in all kinds of mess back when he wrote this thing. He probably just like the name. But remembering those years of his life stings worse, even all these years later. He chooses not to dwell in them.

Lan Wangji is as quiet and serious as he is in all the interviews he's given over the years. The public barely has any info about him since he only ever talks about his projects. But honestly, thats part of the charm in wwx's opinion. Its like a puzzle he wants to solve.

To break apart and see the inner workings inside of it. Lwj doesnt look all that different in this moment, but wwx cant help but think he looks agitated... His movie roles are all quite serious and somber, and wwx has seen the quiet anger he shows when the movies require it.

But he's never seen this annoyed expression before...not in any movie he can recall... Its so familiar it gives him goosebumps on the back of his neck. "No," lwj says with thinly veiled calm. "Your name is Wei Ying."

The room goes silent except for the tastful classical music the restaurant plays in the background. Wwx laughs awkwardly and opens his mouth to diffuse the tense atmosphere with a joke. The force of lwj's glare silences him.

Hes not wrong....it is his name. How Lwj figured that out, wwx doesnt know, but why is he making such a big deal out of it. His boss cuts in helpfully. "Wow, Mr. Lan, you are so astute! Wei Wuxian's name is coincidentally the same as the main character, but we can change it."

Lwj's head whips in her direction. His glare becomes impossibly angrier. "Why?" "Er, Im afraid i dont understand the question?" Lwj answers through clenched teeth. "Why would you change it?"

"Why cant we?" Wwx answers for his boss. "I was thinking it might be a good idea anyway." Slowly, lwj meets his eyes, and something devastating shimmers in those depths. It makes wwx feel like hes messed up terribly somehow. "You...you want to change the characters?"

Wwx shrugs and replies nonchalantly, "They're just random names i chose for the characters. It wont change the story or anything. The names dont actually matter."

By lwj's response, wwx knows he messed up. The actor's hands tremble where they are clasped on the table. He bows his head, the fringe of his short hair long enough to hide his eyes, and again wwx gets that odd feeling of deja vu. "I see," lwj replies simply.

He's silent for the next few minutes as the waitress brings them their meal. Little by little, the tension seems to defuse. But even though lwj's manager and wwx's boss have already started eating, wwx cant bring himself too. Lwj still hasnt looked up.

Its isnt long before those clasped hands unwind and press themselves onto the table as lwj stands up. Without even sparing a glance at wwx, he announces, "I apologize for taking up your time. I will not be doing this film after all. Thank you... goodbye."

He inclines his head towards wwx's boss before walking briskly put of the room, leaving wwx blinking in his wake. "Wangji?" his manager tries to call, but the actor is either ignoring him or has left. The manager turns to wwx and his boss. "I'm so sorry. He seemed so excited

about your script. I'll talk to him and get back to you guys asap." The manager leaves before wwx even has them time to fully register what just happened. Somehow, he'd gotten his big break and lost it all in one day. How did this all go so wrong so fast...

"Well," wwx's boss says after some time has passed. "That became a mess huh. Lets see what this restaurant has to drink." She calls back the wait staff and asks for the strongest drink on their menu, all while wwx is still reeling from the past few minutes. "What the hell just

happened," he mutters. His boss shudders with the weight of decades spent working in film industry. "Welcome to showbiz. You just got your taste of your first superstar diva." Wwx shakes his head. "I dont think...nothing I've ever seen about Lan Wangji said he'd do this tho..."

His boss sends him a pitying look. "Ah, a fan? I'm sorry kid. That was an awful way to learn." The waitress brings them a bottle filled with clear liquid that his boss nods approvingly at alongside two small and thin shotglasses.

The alcohol is bitter on his tongue but glides smoothly down the back of his throat before landing warmly in his tummy. Wwx pours another drink for himself and his boss and tosses it back after she has. His boss continues. "I just dont get it. He seemed so excited about it..."

The alcohol seems to curdle in the pit of wwx's stomach. "You dont think it was me, right? That meeting me turned him off of doing the film?" His boss sighs. "Maybe, he figured out your real name so maybe he or someone at their compant did their research, saw your background..."

She trails off but wwx doesnt need her to continue. It wouldn't be the first time his lack of degree has held him back in this line of work. He only managed to crawl his was up to this role by working hard from the very bottom of the ladder.

Of its own accord, his hand rubbs corcles along his side, where a long surgical scar stretching from his lower abdomen to his side is hidden beneath his shirt. Its not the first time wwx has had to acknowledge the way his past effected his present, even now.

"Maybe he just changed his mind," he says, trying for levity. "Realized my script was just too lame for a top star." His boss chuckles as he pours her another drink. "I didnt even read this one, you said you sent him the wrong script right? What was this one about?"

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Talking about it feels a bit like someone is taking a back scratcher but using it on his insides. "...It's about a boy and his best friend, only the boy's best friend didn't really think of him as a friend. Probably mostly just tolerated him honestly.

"The boy had a lot going on back home...but the boy's best friend was one of the few ways he was looking forward to anything. Then, the boy had to move away suddenly, but he forgot to tell his best friend and then lost touch..." When wwx remembers writing this story,

he mostly remembers the tears that fell over his keyboard, the taste of salt mingling with the alcohol on his lips. Ridiculous, because it was. It still is. "But the boy hoped his friend would find him. Even as he went through the worst stuff imaginable, he hoped."

His boss nods sagely as she offers him another drink. "How does it end?" Wei Wuxian scoffs derisively into his drink before taking the shot. "Like that. They meet years in the future by chance and the boy confesses, but by then his friend has moved on.

"He's happier without the boy and getting married to someone else. So the boy realizes he fucked up and he lives the rest of his life in misery. The end."

It's a terrible ending, he knows that. Terrible in that it's real. He's not new to the world of self-insert fanfiction. They are supposed to be escapes and impossibly fantasy that allows a fan to be one step closer to the idol of their dream. But a drunken and depressed wwx went

the opposite route and wrote the most depressing self insert fic ever. He doesn't even know why he used the Lan Wangji tag, or why he even chose the guy in the first place. Maybe it was the last name or the fact that LWJ's roles seemed to be the only thing that spoke to him at

the time. Maybe he was just sad, drunk, and horny. Whatever the reason, Lan Wangji had just simply fit with. As soon as he popped into wwx's head, he couldn't imagine anything else. His boss hums and throws back her drink.

"Sounds depressing as fuck." Wei Wuxian's laugh is bitter and hollow. "Yeah. No wonder he turned it down." His boss pours him another drink, and wwx let's the alcohol wash everything else away.

At some point, he passes out in the middle of this fancy private room in this fancy restaurant like he's still a bar-hopping teenaged lightweight. He wakes up in a room covered in greens and greys with a familiar wall displaying decorative paper fans.

Wei Wuxian groans, wishing he were more surprised. His next of kin is currently on her honeymoon. His next of next of kin is currently in the middle of a grueling residency halfway across the country while her brother is busy caring for their whole family. And, well, his

roommate isn't exactly able to lug a grown man on his own. That would have led to the last possible resort. "Rise and shine sweetums! You owe me, like, an entire house for making me carry you home by the way."

Wei Wuxian reluctantly rolls over in bed to the grating sight of Nie Huaisang in his art deco silk robes pulling open the curtains of his floor to ceiling windows, letting in a truly evil amount of bright morning light. WWX tries to throw a pillow, but misses completely.

Is the sound of honking and blaring traffic coming from the downtown streets below, or is that his own pounding headache. "Fuck off," he says unintelligibly.

Nie Huaisang, who has always been able to translate wwx's nonsense, understands perfectly. "Nope," he replies happily. "Do you know how much sleep I lost going all the way out to get you? All by myself? That stupid roommate of yours was too drugged up to even pick up my calls."

"That's not my fault!!!" Wei Wuxian dives to hide beneath the covers, only for Nie Huaisang's surprising strength to snatch it right out of his fingers, dragging both him and the duvet to the floor. "Nu uh. Do you know how hard it is for all three of us to be free?

Get up, he's already on his way. The three of us are having brunch like a proper estranged friend group that meets once or twice a year." There is no arguing with nhs when he gets into one of these moods. With great, great, //great// reluctance, wwx picks himself blearily up

off the floor and attempts to make himself at least somewhat presentable before his roommate arrives. His hair is a matted mess and theres something that might be puke on the front of his shirt. Glancing at nhs' closet, he selects his most expensive shirt and hops in the shower.

"How did my boss even get your number?" he asks nhs while still drying his hair. "How do you think you got this job in the first place. We're competitive bingo buddies," nhs replies as he finishes setting up the table with a five star brunch spread, move one chair out of the way

The doorbell rings and nhs says, "Finally, took him forever," before opening the door and letting wwx's roommate and brother wheel himself in. Jiang Cheng expertly maneuvers his wheelchair around the edges of the room, narrowly swerving around nhs' overpriced coffee table.

"Hey, you moved that further into the hallway on purpose!" jc barks only half joking. Nie Huaisang sticks out his tongue, "Gotta keep you nimble somehow." Jiang Cheng grumbles under his breath, clearly as excited about being awake this early as Wei Wuxian is.

"You, survived I see." "No thanks to you," wwx shoots back goodnaturedly as he helps his adoptive brother slot into the space at the front of the table nhs had cleared out for jc earlier. he rubs jc's close-cropped hair for good measure and ducks away from his outraged arms.

"You think I'm gonna make Sandu carry both me and your fat ass? No way." "You're the guy who named his wheelchair." "Says the guy who named his freaking laptop!" "Suibian is hilarious name for a computer!!!"

"Children!" nhs interrupts a delightful conversation that might be a new record for how quickly wwx could turn jc purple. "Can we have just one family meal where you aren't at each other's throats," nhs whines. wwx rolls his eyes as jc says not quite under his breath, "Yes mom."

Wei Wuxian sees jc winces as he tries to stretch across the table and reach for the pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice. He helps him out, pouring himself a glass too. "Bad pain day?" he asks simply, remembering nhs' comments about his brother being drugged up last night.

about his brother being too drugged up to pick up the phone last night. Jiang Cheng grunts in answer, which wwx knows is a yes. "New pain meds aren't working the way the doctor thought." Wei Wuxian pats his brother on the back once before dishing out their expensive meal.

NHS pours a heaping helping of champagne in wwx's glass of orange juice and his own, though wwx notices nhs' glass is less mimosa and more straight alcohol. Nie Huaisang raises his glass to cheer and declares, "Fuck cancer." WWX and JC repeat, "Fuck cancer"

in unison and the three clink their glasses together before sipping their drinks, alcoholic in wwx and nhs' case and simple juice in jc's.

Maybe it's having to revisit one of the worst times of his life because of that script, or maybe its being beside his brother and his own painful scar, but the memories resurface clearly like he can see them play out on the surface of the yolk of sunny side up eggs.

Junior year, when Jiang Cheng had to suddenly quit school and move to a specialized hospital far away because he'd been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in his digestive system. How he begged wwx and nhs to keep it a secret and tell everyone he'd gone to private school,

too ashamed of his failing body to admit the truth. How Wei Wuxian spent the year living with his sister and uncle, pretending everything was fine at school even though when it felt like the stench of death was always lingering in the corners of his home. How every

time the announcement bell went off, he was so sure it would be "Will Wei Ying please come to the office" and he would receive the worst news of his life. (How the only bright spot that entire year was a funny quiet boy with glasses to big for his beautiful head.)

It turned out that the phone call wouldn't come at school at all, but on a random Sunday when he was planning how to have the best summer ever. "A-Cheng's health has gotten worse..." His uncle told wwx and Yanli-jie, already sobbing as wwx squeezed her hands too, too tight.

"We think—He asked if we could be with him for....for the next few....He wants us there." At the time, it was a no brainer. They packed up in a day and were on an airplane by the next. It wasn't until a week had passed that Wei Wuxian realized he never got to say goodbye.

(Cancer really fucking sucks doesn't it? Imagine what it would be like if you had to deal with that and being ethnically cleansed from your home and life? Consider helping someone who's in that situation. They've only raised 600 euros so far) https://www.gofundme.com/f/gaza-help-my-family-escape-genocide-and-afford-treatment…

But if Wei Wuxian is being honest, there simply wasn't time to think about anyone or anything outside of that sterile hospital room. He used to tease jc about being taller than him, about his muscles growing bigger. But seeing him wither away in a hospital bed

made such a thing feel like the cruelest joke imaginable. Then his kidneys started failing, and it snowballed from there.

By pure spiteful hope, Wei Wuxian tested, and discovered he was a match. It was a no brainer for him to give one of his own if it meant that Jiang Cheng had a chance. Except things were rarely ever so easy.

The next few years, Wei Wuxian struggled with his own health as his brother seemed to finally, somehow get better. Jiang Cheng went into remission, and at the same time Wei Wuxian was struggling to get out of bed. He barely managed to graduate high school on time.

And now, he couldn't even attend his classes. It was on that campus where Wei Wuxian met Wen Qing, who was able to tell just by looking at wwx how sick he was and how much he'd been lying to his adoptive family that was finally starting to get back to normal.

She made him promise to get help, on the condition she wouldn't tell his family. But it was too late to save his grades, and by the time he was checked into his own hospital finally getting treated, he'd been kicked out of school.

Madam Yu was enraged. All that time and money and effort they put, and he wasted it all on goofing off and flunking college??? How dare he, did he not realize what an embarrassment he was to their family name? She had both a sickly child and a college dropout?

She cut him off, made it impossible for him to contact his adopted siblings, and Uncle Jiang didn't seem to even care enough to react. And Wei Wuxian had to figure out how to scrounge up enough money to pay for treatment without any support from his adoptive family.

The next few years were a whirlwind of Wei Wuxian living with the Wens as he recovered, becoming estranged from his siblings, learning of his adoptive parents sudden death, finally being well enough to work odd jobs, and eventually learning Jiang Cheng's cancer came back.

There's nothing quite as effective as several tragedies happening all at once to bring a family back together. Luckily, this time the cancer was treated, though it meant that Jiang Cheng had become too weak to walk around on his own.

But at least, Wei Wuxian thinks as he chucks a tater tot at JC's head, at least they're both here. Nie Huaisang pulls wwx out of his reminiscing when he points out, "What I don't get was why were you out there getting drunk with your boss of all people?"

He might as well tell them. It's not like anything else will come out of it besides a story. "I got dumped by Lan Wangji." Nie Huaisang's drink spews out of his mouth and onto his salmon and eggs dish, as Jiang Cheng scoffs. "Stop playing around."

"I'm not!" wwx argues, partially out of a need to feel anger instead of hurt. "We sent him one of my scripts and he accepted! Then we had a meeting yesterday and he changed his mind and walked out all of a sudden."

"You dumbass. He didn't dump you, he rejected you. There's a difference." Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes as Nie Huaisang wipes the mess in front of him in somewhat of a daze. "Whatever," wwx huffs, "I didn't want him in my movie either. I'll find someone else to act in it."

Nevermind how he really feels. As long as no one ever mentions how he really feels, Wei Wuxian can ignore how Jiang Cheng is right and he feels woefully, horribly rejected.

"Besides," Wei Wuxian continues as he makes himself another mimosa. "What does it matter what some random actor thinks about me? It's not like I'm trying to be Lan Wangji's friend or anything."

There's a clatter across the table as nhs drops his fork on the ground. "Wei-xiong...don't tell me...you don't know? Wei Wuxian sends him a questioning look. "Know what?"

"We used to go to school with him," Nie Huaisang says slowly. "Lan Wangji's just a stage name. His real name is Lan Zhan."

(top of the thread for now. have to do some other writing tonight so probably won't update until tomorrow. please dont hesitate to let me know what you think <3) https://x.com/gentil_minou/status/1800236720035975173…

The table shakes under the force of Wei Wuxian's laughter. "No, no he's not!!!," Wei Wuxian sputters and slaps his hand on the table, rattling the glasses. "Lan Wangji? The same as our Lan Zhan? Really funny Nie-xiong." Jiang Cheng shoves his brother off the table.

"Stop that, you'll spill something!" To Nie Huaisang, he asks, "Lan Zhan? Who's that?" "The guy Wei-xiong couldn't stop talking about our junior year." "Ah. The nerd that made my brother into an even bigger idiot."

WWX should be offended by that, and normally he'd throw shade back at JC, but right now he's too busy struggling to breathe from the force of his laughter. Admittedly, there was a moment of shock when NHS first said LWJ was LZ, but the shock quickly evaporated into laughter.

"Imagine that! Lan Wangji being Lan Zhan!" His giggles are starting to subside and his cheeks are probably bright red. He feels almost deliriously lightheaded. "You're so funny, Huaisang. Nice try. Next you'll tell me your brother is dating LWJ's brother." NHS doesn't laugh.

Slowly, the last of WWX's giggles dissipate as he takes in the foreign expression NHS's face. There's only been a handful of times he's seen him wear something like this, and none of those times were funny. "Huaisang...it's a joke, right?"

Huaisang stands up and heads toward the bookshelf on the other side of the living area. "Tell me you're joking," WWX demands urgently. Memories from his childhood come crashing into his head, knocking into the ones from yesterday and creating a mess he's afraid to untangle.

Jiang Cheng sticks his phone screen in front of WWX, showing off a nearly obscene photo from Lan Wangji's latest covershoot. "//This// is the nerd you talked my ear off for an entire ear? This guy???" Wei Wuxian shakes his head slowly, gingerly taking the phone.

He knows this photoshoot well. Spent a frankly embarrassing amount of time staring at it. In it, Lan Wangji is only wearing jeans with the top button undone and the edge of his dark briefs clashing with his pale skin. The photographer has LWJ lean back against the wall,

thrusting his hips slightly towards the camera. His gaze is off towards the left, bored and uninterested, even though his hand is sitting low on his belly, index finger flirting with the band of his briefs and the tiny nearly invisible hair peeking past.

Wei Wuxian knows this picture //extremely// well, which is why he would know if that was a picture of his former classmate? He would know. If he didn't know, he would have figured it out yesterday during the meeting, right? //"Wei Ying...Do you not remember me?"//

NHS returns and slams a thin hardcover book with 2000s generic geometric art on the cover. "Whats that?" JC asks, saving WWX from having to remember how to make words work. "Our yearbook. Wei-xiong didnt get one, but I sure did."

He flips through the pages, snapshots of a simpler time featuring bad haircuts and worse style. Surprisingly, for someone who wasnt there for his senior year, Wei Wuxian is in a large number of photos. It makes sense; in his junior year he joined as many clubs and teams as he

could, determined to spend as much time as he could away from home and the depressing reminder of why this year was so different from the last. On any other day, he'd probably ask to borrow it so he can reminsce on times long gone.

Today, however, he combs over every page as fast as possible looking for a familiar bowlcut or the flash of thick glasses. "Is Lan Zhan even in this?" he mutters have to himself as he flips another useless page. NHS shrugs. "You know, he never joined any clubs or anything.

"Just did his work and went home. It was even worse after you left." WWX hesitates for only a second mid page-flip. "...what do you mean?" "It's like even when he was in class, he wasnt. I didnt even see him in the cafeteria or between classes. I don't know where he ran off to,

but wherever it was no one else saw him either." WWX hums quietly. It makes sense; he was the one who dragged Lan Zhan to the cafeteria, outside, everywhere. And until they worked on that project together, he didnt even know him.

He spent a lot of time wishing he'd tried to be a better friend. It seemed as though everything he did annoyed Lan Zhan, like he barely tolerated his presence. Wei Wuxian wouldve given up sooner, but it was like befriending LZ was the only thing he could do.

He couldnt cure his brother's cancer, couldnt even make his sister feel better and stop her from crying everyday. Couldnt bring his parents back from the dead. Could barely fake it enough to get through the year.

So he'd thought the least thing he could do was befriend someone who didnt seem to have any friends. It felt like the only thing he could do, and he couldn't even do that successfully. WWX flips ahead to the class photos, and finds him pretty quickly.

Lan Zhan's picture is on the bottom left corner, the very last slot in this spread. Unassuming, easily overlooked the way he'd been throughout school. Wei Wuxian had always felt proud he'd seen him. When he finally started getting to know LZ, he'd been surprised others didnt.

WWX finger traces the frame around his small portrait. He'd always regretted not having a picture to remember him by. He used to dream he could go back in time just to get a selfie of the two of them, so Lan Zhan's face would blur and disappear with the passing of time.

Looking at him now, he wonders how he could have ever forgotten. An uneven and unflattering bowl cut, coupled with glasses so thick they make his eyes look like he's seeing them through a fishbowl. Lan Zhan used to always wear this bland expression, like a straight line.

As though life was too boring to bother even reacting to. Wei Wuxian got to see that expression change in the short time they knew each other. It was the bright spot of his day; seeing yhe myriad of expression Lan Zhan had.

He puts Jiang Cheng's phone right next to the photo, and tries to see them side by side. "See," NHS says. "They're the same."

At first glance, WWX doesn't see it. Lan Wangji holds himself with such confidence and grace, like some wild beast poised for attack. Even with his gaze looking off camera, it sends shiver up Wei Wuxian's spine. It's everything Lan Zhan's photo isn't. Awkward and uncomfortable,

somewhat pained. He looks like he wishes he were anywhere else. If Lan Wangji is the hunter looking for prey, then Lan Zhan is mouse trying to find a place to hide. But...the longer Wei Wuxian looks...the more he...

It's the shape of his jaw, sharp edged and severe. Whenever WWX was annoying LZ, his jaw would clench like he was angry, not unlike the way LWJ is holding his jaw so as to show off the line of it. Their noses are the same. Though Lan Wangji's hair is shorter in this photo and

artfully tousled as though some lucky soul spent a night running their fingers through it, the color is the same. The little peek of collarbone from Lan Zhan's school uniform is a match for the mouthwatering display Lan Wangji shows off.

But the eyes...oh how did Wei Wuxian mistake though eyes. Lan Zhan's fishbowl lenses made his eyes practically insanle large, while Lan Wangji's are angled sharply with well defined liner that enhances their natural shape. But the color is the same. Exactly the same.

The same golden hue, the kind that seemed dull to everyone else, but to Wei Wuxian seemed like it shone brighter than any star in the galaxy. Molten gold like the very sun. A feeling like elation mixed with agony spreads through him. "It's him...I really found him..."

Elation, because only in his wildest dreams did he think he would find Lan Zhan again. Someone who meant so much during the worst time, someone he missed like it was his heart that was cut out, not his kidney. Elation, because look at him. Lan Zhan transformed.

He became the man of everyone dreams. Confident and charismatic, drawing the eye of everyone who saw him pulled into his orbit. Just like how WWX could never look away. Now the world sees everything WWX saw in him years ago.

//Wei Ying...// Agony, because it dawne on Wei Wuxian that when Lan Wangji had asked if he remembered him, WWX had said no Agony, because Wei Wuxian had in fact forgotten him.

"How," he begins, clearing his throat. He feels both rushed and terribly slow. "How did you know Huaisang?" Huaisang sits back in his chair with exaggerated triumph. "A lady never reveals her secrets." WWX is only mildly annoyed. He cant truly be, focused on too much else.

"I don't get it," Jiang Cheng cuts in. "Yeah he's hot or whatever, but what the big deal. He's just some guy." His face scrunches up in distaste, like even that one phrase gave him hives. Wei Wuxian doesn't look away from the picture in the yearbook as he replies,

"He's not just some guy...he's...he's //Lan Zhan//. Dont you get it?" "Not at all," JC deadpans. Truthfully, WWX doesnt know how to explain himself. How does he convey the depth of his feelings, how they seem deeper than any ocean. How can he explain to someone else when he

can hardly explain it to himself. A stray giggle escapes, the last remains of incredulousness. He can admit now that that fanfiction was written about Lan Zhan, that at his lowest low, all he'd wanted was a second chance at a friendship that barely began.

How hilarious that somehow, his subconscious had recognized Lan Wangji's true identity before Wei Wuxian did. His smile drops with the force of a landslide. Lan Wangji agreed to do the movie and act as himself, only to change his mind. Because WWX didnt recognize him.

Seeing wwx's expression, jc interjects, "Oh no. What did you do..." WWX groans and bangs his head on the table. He grumbles, not wanting to put this comedy of error into words.

Somehow, NHS always sees through him. "You forgot who he was, didnt you." If a sinkhole opened up in the middle of NHS's penthouse WWX would welcome it. "How was I supposed to know? I didnt think Lan Zhan would become some big shot actor! Did you? Besides I thought he hated me."

"Yeah, all you ever mentioned was how much you annoyed him. He probably saw you and was like not this idiot again," JC adds with a snarky grin. WWX shoves his wheelchair away from the table. "Shut up Jiang Cheng."

Before JC can launch his wheelchair into WWX's chair and devolve their brunch into a wrestling match, NHS cuts in. "I dont know about that..." WWX, who's now standing on a chair using his foot to kick JC away, snaps his head towards him. "What do you mean?"

NHS idly swings his fork like its one of his decorative fans. "Its just that...when you moved, Lan-xiong seemed awfully upset. He spent that first week waiting around in the hallways randomly, and he even asked MianMian about you. He even asked me about you..."

WWX leaps from his chair and sprints around the table. He grabs NHS by his shoulders and shakes them back and forth. "What do you mean he asked you about me? What did he ask?" NHS's gaze drifts to the side. "He asked how to get in contact with you ..."

WWX briefly entertains the thought of wrapping his fingers around NHS's noodle neck and strangling him. "He asked you," he begins through gritted teeth "how to contact me...and you didn't...think to tell me that?!" NHS cowers, curling within himself and looking like a squirrel.

"Hey now...Wei-xiong I didn't even know how to contact you at the time. Your phone number was discontinued, what was I—" "You had Jiang Cheng's phone number!!!" Wei Wuxian shouts, half-crazed. "Why didn't you pass that along!!" NHS, the slippery little bugger he is, yelps and

slides out of WWX's grip. He bolts past him and ducks behind grabs the handle of JC's wheelchair, using him as the barrier. "Wei-xiong, now calm down Wei-xiong... I didn't think you cared that much." WWX swipes at him, only for NHS to swivel JC around and block him.

"Hey! Why am I getting punished?" JC shouts, gripping his seat. "Nie-xiong..." WWX says with false calm. "Now please tell this gege why you didn't think he would want to talk with his dear friend."

Sweat beads down NHS's forehead. "I didn't realize you were so close..." He jerks JC's chair again, crouching behind him as WWX chucks a slipper at his head. "Who are you to decide who I'm close to!" WWX yells. He's turning red, he knows. He's overreacting, he knows.

But also, he's remembering all those long nights when he really needed a friend....when he really wanted a specific friend. His voice is terrifyingly still and quiet when he says, "Nie Huaisang, today I am going to kill you."

NHS lets out another high-pitched yelp as WWX chucks his other shoe, this time nicking him in the shoulder. "Jiang Cheng save me!" he shouts as he whips the wheelchair around to evade a thrown chopstick. "Will you two cut it out! Why don't you just talk to the fucking guy!"

WWX pauses in the middle of lifting a fork. "...What?" He can see a vein beginning to pop in JC's forehead. He also, er, might be looking a bit green from being spun around so much. JC rubs his temples. "He already asked about the script once right? So he was interested?

Just fucking explain or apologize or whatever and fix it. And get the fuck off me Huaisang!" WWX stands frozen long enough for NHS to feel safe enough to crawl away from behind the wheelchair. The thing is...Jiang Cheng isn't wrong.

He absolutely can talk to Lan Wangji—to Lan Zhan. He has his manager's email. He knows how to get in touch. It wouldn't be impossible. Certainly not as impossible as it would have been 13 years ago. And yet, at the same time he can't help but think...

"What if...what if the reason Lan Zhan rejected the movie wasn't because of I forgot him..." he admits to the room as well as himself, "but because he remembered how much I bugged him?"

JC and NHS glance at each other silently. "I mean, think about it," WWX continues, "I was always the one trying to get his attention, right? I was the one getting into his space. How do we know he didn't just remember that and decide, Actually I like my life better without him."

He's thinking about the scene he wrote in his fic; the character Lan Zhan, played by Lan Wangji who is apparently just Lan Zhan, telling Wei Ying that he's happier now in this new life without him. That Wei Ying in the fic put himself out there only to be soundly rejected."

He's thinking about how close fiction has been to reality so far, so why not in this as well. Softly, NHS says, "He asked to talk to you. He didn't just ask, he almost begged..." WWX turns watery eyes towards NHS.

A little louder, NHS continues. "And then, that whole last year he was even more quiet. Only ever came to class and assembly and that's it. It's like he was done with school the moment you left." The knot of tension that had begun forming in WWX's throat begins to relax.

"And besides, he liked your script about Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, didn't he?" WWX breathes in through his teeth. "How do you know about my script, Huaisang?" This time, his menacing tone is all for show. Truthfully he'd feeling lighter than he has all week.

NHS ducks behind JC's wheelchair one more time, peeking out from the side as JC rolls his eyes. "Um. Bingo night?" WWX's eyes flutter close and he chuckles. Of course. "My boss likes gossiping too much. No wonder you two are friends." He glances suspiciously at NHS.

"If you knew about my script, then why were you surprised about Lan Wangji acting in it?" Nie Huaisang becomes unnaturally rigid for a moment before snapping up straight. "Did you hear that? I think that was my phone? Better check what's going on. Da-ge might be fighting with

one of his boyfriends again." Then NHS disappears in a blink of an eye, almost like he was never there. "It's creepy how he does that," JC grumbles before wheeling himself back to the table to scrounge what he can from the remnants of their breakfast.

He peers up at WWX. "So, what are you going to do?" NHS's yearbook still sits on the table, looking as good as new. Lan Zhan's picture stares sternly back at WWX. Perhaps it's wishful thinking, but he does seem...colder than the Lan Zhan WWX knew.

He thinks back to yesterday, and the way Lan Wangji said his name. //Wei Ying// He didn't sound cold at all. Not really... Maybe it's wishful thinking, but Wei Wuxian can't help but think he sounded...hopeful. And that, he thinks, is good enough for him.

Wei Wuxian smiles and looks down at the photo of his dearest friend, just as dazzling back then as he is now. "I need to call my boss and see if she has Lan Wangji's manager's phone number." (goodnight for now, thanks for reading ) https://x.com/gentil_minou/status/1800236720035975173…

(also, while you are here) https://gazafunds.com/…

Every week, Lan Wangji blocks out a slot in his busy schedule, tucked in between photoshoots and acting or interviews. During this time, there is only one person in the world who has access to Lan Wangji.

"Wangji! Did you get the invitation yet? I want your RSVP ASAP." comes the warbled audio from Luo Qingyang's grainy video feed. As always, he can't quite figure out where she is. The last time they spoke, she mentioned going undercover for an investigation and being hard to reach

How she is able to plan her wedding while under such a secretive mission is a talent LWJ can't ever fathom. It's only because of the grueling state of this industry that he was able to shake off the 9pm bedtime all Lan's suffer from. "I submitted my answer last week."

"Good! Otherwise I was going to dissolve our friendship," she jokes as LWJ sees she's clicked away from their call to check something. It took a while for LWJ to become used to LQYs brand of humor, particularly the fiery nature of it. It was not unlike her approach to friendship

She is similar to Wei Ying in that manner, determined to befriend someone even when that someone makes it nearly impossible to. He wishes he could've seen the chaos their interactions were. A small smile tugs at the corner of lips at the thought, even though the taste is bitter.

LQY's exclamation slips through his musings. "Whoa....you're bringing a plus one?" she asks far too enthusiastically. "You didnt tell me you were seeing anyone, are you holding out on me? Whos the lucky guy??" Though her smile is teasing, it sits like lead in his stomach.

Any hint of a smile drops completely from his face. He'd replied to her invitation only a day after he saw the script, during that breif period where hope carried him through life on a cloud, only for that hope to dissolve at that disastrous meeting nearly a week ago.

He cant fathom what he was thinking back then, caught in a powerdul wave that had been hurdling towards an unseen rocky shore. But, at the time, he really had thought that script was supposed to mean something. Something about him and Wei Ying.

"A mistake," he mutter darkly, averting his gaze. "I made a mistake. Please correct it; I will be the only one in attendance." There's heavy pause he valliantly tries to ignore, until LQY wisely remarks, "In the decade and some change I've known you, you've never made a mistake"

LWJ's shoulders tense and he pulls from his considerable repertoire of acting skills to brush aside her suspicions. "Unfortunately, I have." At least he isn't lying about that. "In this instance, I must have selected the wrong option by accident as I was preparing for a scene."

"Aha! You never bring your phone on set. Give it up, /Lan-gongzi/." She says her old title for him like its an insult. "What really happened." LWJ curses and sighs, knowing that when LQY is like this she might as well be a hawk digging her talons into his skin.

If he doesn't tell her now, she will just continue asking him until he does. It's what makes his dear friend such an incredible journalist, as much as he hates how astute she is in moments such as these. "...I met with Wei Ying recently."

He hears a clatter on the other end and when he checks, his phone screen is black. He blinks with confusion until LQY reappears. "Sorry, dropped it because what do you mean you saw Wei Ying? Where? How?"

His hands twist in lap as he tries to stop themselves from tangling, a shameful habit Shufu worked hard to teach him out of. LWJ swallows and replies, "He sent me his script." "His script?" "Wei Ying is a writer now. He works in film" He can't help the bit of pride sneaking in.

Even as the words pain him, even though each thought of WY and their ill-fated reunion sends icicles diving for his heart, he can't help it. He is proud of Wei Ying and hopes to support him, even if from a far. "No kidding? Are you for real? Thats..." LQY trails off.

Her smile beams sincerely at LWJ from the video feed. "That's wonderful Wangji. Wow." "Mn. Wow," he says, letting a bit of tease through that serves to make LQY giggle. "But if you guys reunited...what does that have to do with my wedding?"

But before Lan Wangji can respond LQY jumps to her feet. "Your plus one! You were going to invite him as your plus one!" Her delight practically blasts from his phone but LWJ has to hurry to correct her. "No, Luo Qingyang. As I said before, it was a mistake..."

LQY slowly sits down. "...Oh?" she says forlornly. LWJ can only nod and avert hia eyes. Another beat of silence until that fierce glare he's only seen her use against the worst of his bullies crosses her face. She drags her suitcase into view and begins throwing clothes in.

"I'm gonna kill him." "...Excuse me?" "You heard me. I'm gonna murder that fucking twink."

LWJ coughs to hide his amusement. "And what of your investigation?" he asks half serious. "They're politicians. They'll fuck up again soon." She pauses and stares into the camera. "Shit. I may have to kill you for that too. Top secret mission and all." His shoulder shakes with

silent laughter as the tension drops. He doesnt know how she manages to do it, but LQY is one of the few who know how to make LWJ relax. He's always been grateful for all those times she snuck into the disused music room he used to hide in their senior year and refuse to leave.

"Do not compromise your investigation on my behalf. It was an misunderstanding on my part." LQY drops one of her tasers. "Oh?" LWJ nods. "I thought him sending me a script was a message, but it appears Wei Ying has forgotten me. It was only wishful thinking on my part."

Its easier to say today than it was last week, but it still stings. Having to confront and tear down a garden constructed of the love he'd allowed to bloom for 13 years has left him covered in dull thorns that are no less painful.

"Wei Ying forgot you? That asshole!" Lan Wangji shakes his head and shoves past the thorns. "It was only a year. Truly, a handful of encounters. Certainly not enough to make a lasting impression." "Still. I didnt think hed forget about you. All he ever did was talk about you."

LQY sits back with her arms crossed. "Then why did he ask you to star in his film?" LWJ lifts his hand and gestures to his entite self. He raises an eyebrow as if to say, Isnt it obvious why? LQY shakes her head. "Yeah, yeah. We get it. Okay Mr Sexiest Man Alive 2017."

LWJ winces in embarassement bit relents as his friend laughs at his expense. "It doesn't matter. I am not doing the film." "Ah, I see..." she replies, but he can tell he wants to know more. LWJ shakes his head, trying to make it clear he doesnt have anything more to say

It's hard to say much else, other than he'd made a fool of himself over dinner. Counting on a short and fleeting encounter and expecting it to hold the same weight in Wei Ying's heart as it does his own. It's clear now more than ever that Lan Wangji is little better than the

fool he once was in his youth. He'd thought about continuing with the movie, contemplated the idea of it as he sat in that meeting with Wei Ying's voice ringing in his ears. At the very least, he would be able to work alongside Wei Ying. Surely, he'd thought, that was enough.

But Lan Wangji knows himself. He is greedy, horrifically greedy when it comes to his deepest desires. And the thought of all those months spent at Wei Ying's side as he acts in a play that is and isn't about them, it would be too much. Far too much.

The easiest and best answer for them all, is for Lan Wangji to quit the production and maintain this peace they've had. For Wei Ying, and for his own glass heart. "Well, as long as your not spending all your free time writing songs about the guy," LQY continues.

LWJ shuffles awkwardly in his seat, hoping the keyboard piano that sits permanently in his trailer is out of view. He changes the subject instead. "And how is wedding planning going?"

LQY slaps her forehead and groans. "Ugh, it would be a lot easier if my fiancée's parents weren't still trying to get her to wear a suit and tie, as if she didn't have her bottom surgery months ago so she could wear the dress she wanted. As if this wasn't a lesbian wedding for a

reason!!!" The conversation slips easily into LQY's continual frustrations with not simply eloping with her partner when she'd had the chance, with Lan Wangji providing the right amount of straightforward address that makes her laugh and relax.

It isn't long, however, before there's a knock on the door of Lan Wangji's trailer. He frowns as LQY asks, "Who's that?" "I'm not sure. I am not due to be on set for another hour." They exchange goodbyes and LWJ hangs up before heading for the door.

And to Lan Wangji's immense surprise and confusion, he opens the door to find an absurdly large bouquet of flowers held by, of all people, an awkwardly smiling Wei Ying.

"Oh, uh. Hi, um..." Wei Ying sends a shifty glance to the side where other trailers sit along the studio's backlot. "I know this is weird but, do you think I could come in before someone comes by?" Lan Wangji steps to the side automatically, still barely registering this moment.

Without wasting another moment, Wei Ying manages to squeeze himself and his bouquet of yellow and white flowers through the door. He sets the flower down on one of the small tables and takes in the room with a low whistle. It's a standard trailer in LWJ's experience.

Not all shoots will have them, preferring large rooms where staff can meet and set things up properly, but it's a permanent clause in his contract to have a quiet room he can return to when in need of privacy. This one has a dressing table and his keyboard piano, as well as

a small kitchenette and a seating area in the back. Perfectly suitable for the Lan Wangji's current needs. But it's the presence of //Wei Ying// gawking at his electric kettle that makes Lan Wangji think there's something especially extraordinary about this particular trailer.

"Wow, I guess being a big shot celebrity gets you the good stuff," Wei Ying says. He turns to look over his shoulder. "You really have come a long way, haven't you?" Lan Wangji inhales, but the breath is caught in his throat.

The look Wei Ying sends him is different from the polite professional display he wore during the meeting. It's warmth and sunlight. It's lunch time in the cafeteria with Wei Ying asking about every single item in Lan Wangji's lunch box. It's the hallways between class, when WY

asked question after question about LWJ's guqin practice, like nothing could ever be so interesting. It's leagues different from the WY he met only last week, and it churns Lan Wangji's heart into a howling hopeful storm. The welcoming embrace of summer rain after a heatwave.

He swallows and forces himself to ask, "Wei Ying...why are you here?" It is cruelty to cultivate hope only for it to rot and fester. Lan Wangji begs his naive heart to understand this, even as it sings, /He remembers, he must. He remembers you./

But even knowing the danger of encouraging this, he can't dig up roots that have spread deeply over 13 years. Wei Ying's hand comes up to rub the back of his neck in a gesture of adorable awkwardness. He glances at the bouquet at thrusts it out in front of him.

"Right, yeah...I came to apologize, basically." His words seem to stumble in his mouth the longer Lan Wangji doesn't accept the flowers. "I tried asking my boss to contact your manager, but then we found out you didnt want to talk-which is understandable I guess..."

Wei Ying lets out a little whine that sends something in Lan Wangji boiling. "Will you please just accept the flowers before I go insane and stuff them in my mouth." His cheeks flushed a becoming pale pink, and Lan Wangji has the insane image of himself reaching past the

flowers to carress Wei Ying's cheek and learn if it really is as hot as the sun. But he doesn't do such a thing. He accepts the bouqet instead, letting the intensity of its smell, white peony and yellow carnations, fill his head and return some sense if possible.

His eyes flutter closed as he breathes in the flowers, and when they open, the pale pink has bloomed into a bright, discomposed red. The flowers serve well in hiding the tiny quirk of Lan Wangji's lips. In their youth, WY was always the one flustering him.

It's intoxicating seeing that familiar dynamic played out in reverse, and it makes Lan Wangji want to tease even though he should play nice. "But that does not explain why you are here, in my trailer. Unauthorized guests are not permitted here."

(Let's see if we can do something fun and kind like giving flowers to a long lost crush. Go to http://gazafunds.com and give a little to a random campaign. It can be as little as you can, even just the minimum, but share a screenshot. Heres mine. Lets see what good we can do)

Somehow, Wei Ying's laugh becomes even more awkward. He reaches out and fiddles with the petals on one of the flowers. "Well so, you see... since I couldn't get your number and I didn't think your agency would take too kindly to me walking up and just asking to meet..."

Lan Wangji quirks an eyebrow waiting for Wei Ying to continue. Wei Ying groans. "I may have—accidentally really— looked online and found out that you were here shooting today and there was a bunch of security and no way were they going to let me in—which by the way Lan Zhan

you need to hire more—" Lan Wangji's eyes widen and he inhales, feeling as though those wings that had been ripped off are meticulously being put back together, one feather at a time. "—because some of your fans are insane like seriously why were they planning how to follow

you home, and anyway so since the guards weren't going to help you I had to sneak past them—" "Wei Ying..." Interrupting is a deplorable habit, but if Lan Wangji doesn't say something he might combust.

"—and yes I know //technically// that's illegal and probably breaking in onto a set is bad, but also it's good it was me and not someone else because it was way too easy to get in here—" "Wei Ying." "So actually the jist of it is you should be furious with the security and not

me because my reasons for breaking in are good but your security is dumb and anyway you can't be mad at me because I'm here to say sorry—" "Wei Ying!" "I said I'm sorry! Don't be mad! Gah!!"

Then, with cheeks flushed looking the most stressed Lan Wangji has ever seen him, Wei Ying pulls a flower bud off the the bouquet and stuffs it in his mouth. Lan Wangji is certain no bouquet could be large enough to hide his smile "Wei Ying. I am not angry."

Wei Ying makes a questioning sound that dies off when Lan Wangji reaches forward and wraps his hand around his wrist and brings it down at his side. "Wei Ying...you called me Lan Zhan..." Wei Ying swallows the small flowerbud whole.

(today is Eid al Adha, one of most sacred days for muslims. One way of celebrating is giving zakat or charity to those in need. Please consider giving to those who can't celebrate this holiday because a cruel occupation continues to ruin their lives.) https://twitter.com/GazaDirectAid/status/1802149127335076251?t=0Sge7VSUF-qIZmDsPI0OzA&s=19x.com/gazadirectaid/

(Also if you find it annoying that i keep sharing links in this thread instead of updates, kindly rethink your everything and i suggest you read something else. Consistently my posts about gaza dont do nearly as well as fandom posts, so ofc im going to make it so its unavoidable)

For a second, Lan Wangji watches in wide eyed shock as Wei Ying l's face scrunches up at the pain of swallowing a flower whole. Then, Wei Ying starts coughing uncontrollably hacking coughs. "Wei Ying!"

Lan Wangji lunges for the mini fridge as Wei Ying doubles over, tossing the bouquet on the counter in the process. He opens a water bottle and coaxes Wei Ying to drink it down, even as tears slip down WY's cheeks.

A few sips of water followed by deep gulps eventually work to unclog whatever had plagued Wei Ying, whose heaving gasps are a welcome relief to his terrifying coughs just earlier. "Oh my god," Wei Ying begins, voice still hoarse. "Why did I do that?"

Lan Wangji, in comparison, hides his concern poorly beneath the calm. "I do not know." "Please don't let me do that again." "Please do not."

Still hunched over, Wei Ying looks up and meets Lan Wangji's gaze with watery eyes. "...Lan Zhan?" The smile creeps across, unbidden and most welcome. "Wei Ying."

As though to prevent it would be to stop breathing, soft laughter spills from Wei Ying's lips even as he wipes tears lingering on the apple of his cheeks. He crouches down to pick up the bouquet. "Wow. I had a speech prepared and everything, but au really fumbled it in the end."

Lan Wangji joins him, picking up fallen petals and a peony unceremoniously tossed from the bundle. "What was the speech?" "Pfft, does it matter now?" "Yes," Lan Wangji replies, ensuring that Wei Ying can see the seriousness in his expression. "It does."

Wei Ying's hand seem to stumble as they hold onto the bouquet like a tether keeping him moored. "...It was long and winded and honestly a mess. I thought of most of it on my way here and I really should have written it down cause I can't remember a single word."

The smile that follow is worth, in Lan Wangji's opinion, a thousand and one practed speeches. Wei Ying continues, brown eyes dancing between Lan Wangji's. "But the gist of it was... Lan Zhan, I never forgot you. Not for a day. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you."

There's a sensation not unlike what Lan Wangji would imagine a stampede of elephants would sound like if they were to race through his chest. "And actually, if we wanna make today a really brutally honest day," Wei Ying says, his hand coming up to rub the shorter hair behind his

neck. "Actually, um, that script I wrote is, um, partially inspired by you. Er, us, I mean." Now Lan Wangji thinks if a herd of elephants were to stomp through his trailer, he wouldn't have even noticed.

Wei Ying's hand comes up in front of him as he stammers. "Not, in like, a creepy way, you know. Just like, um." Lan Wangji manages to not say he wouldn't mind if it //were// in a creepy way as long as it was Wei Ying, but only just.

"I know, Wei Ying." The corner of Lan Wangji's lips quirk up. "I read your script." A pretty pink flush rises into Wei Ying's cheeks. "Ah, right. Yeah, so you did....you read...all of it..." The pale pink darkens into a bright glaring red.

"Right. Well." Wei Ying clears his throat. "It's a script. So, fiction. Right. It's a story." "Mn. A story. About us." Wei Ying sputters and suddenly his hands are covering Lan Wangji's mouth and the blush has stretched down underneath his shirt collar.

Lan Wangji smiles against the warm palm pressed against his lips. He's acted in roles where his characters required extra bite and smugness, but rarely has he had a chance to do so in his personal life. It's refreshing, even if Wei Ying's refusal to address the subject at hand

isn't. Lan Wangji read the script as well. It's clear what Wei Ying meant when he wrote about these characters based off themselves, Fictional though it may be, he still wrote a romance even if the ending was unhappy.

Whatever the reason for the unhappy romance, Lan Wangji understands the true test of patience. He's waited all these years for this moment; he can wait a bit longer. "Wei Ying," he mutters against Wei Ying's skin until he removes his hand. "Are you still looking for a lead?"

Wei Ying lights up in an instant, like dawn cracking over the horizon. "You're saying you'll do it? You'll act in my movie??" Lan Wangji nods. "On one condition." "Yeah, yeah of course! What is it?"

"Change the ending of your script."

"Huh? Seriously?" Wei Ying's face scrunches im bewilderment. "That's it?" "Mn." Lan Wangji nods. "Those are my terms." The most pressing at least. He despises the ending Wei Ying chose, full of grief and misery. Hopeless and depressing.

It reminds him of those first months after Wei Ying moved, and Lan Wangji refuses to relive them. Wei Ying hums and scratches the side of his nose. "You're not the first one to criticize the ending. My boss hated it to."

The words tumble our before Lan Wangji can stop them. "Yes. It is bad." "Hey!" Wei Ying exclaims. "It is not your writing that is bad, but the manner in which it end," Lan Wangji continues. Something like fire licks up his throat, eager to escape.

"Wei Ying's writing is masterful, it's only that... a story such as that deserves better. Characters such as the ones you've created deserve a happy ending." //We deserve a happy ending,// Lan Wangji doesn't say.

"Well, I suppose I have to rework it anyway," Wei Ying mumbles almost to himself. "It wasn't supposed to be a script in the first place." "Hm? What was your story intended to be?"

Wei Ying waves Lan Wangji's question away, the blush returning to his cheeks. "Don't worry about it. Point is, you have yourself a deal, Mr. Lan." Wei Ying extends a hand for Lan Wangji to shake and seal the deal.

It's an effort to keep his own hand steady as Lan Wangji takes Wei Ying's smaller hand in his own, shaking it three times and finding it hard to let go. "Just...one more thing." "Hm?" Wei Ying beams up at him, noticeably still holding on as well.

"Do not ever call me Mr. Lan again." Lan Wangji's lips purse in distaste. His smile turns daring, and then Wei Ying is rising up on his tiptoes and teasing, "Why? What you don't like Mr. Lan? But Mr. Lan sounds so fetching on you. Mr. Lan! Mr. Lan~~~~"

This time, Lan Wangji is the one to turn away with heat rising into the tip of his ears, as Wei Ying's laugh plays a symphony in them.

Lan Wangji has a few minutes to spare before he's called in for his next scene, so he offers Wei Ying a drink under the guise of catching up. It certainly is that, in part a way for him to learn what passed all these years separated. But though Wei Ying is less

willing to discuss the years immeadiately after his disappearance, he has endless enthusiasm for the work he's done these past few years. He makes more than a few references to Lan Wangji's projects, and if it wasn't for how aware he is of his notoriety,

Lan Wangji would be almost hopeful that somehow in their time apart, Wei Ying paid special attention to him. But he'd learned long ago the naivety of such hopes and the anguish it attracts.

Wei Ying's face scrunches in disgust as he sips from the sparkling water Lan Wangji offers him. But it shifts to adorable delight when Lan Wangji retrieves a bottle of whiskey he'd been gifted years ago. Though what would the gifter think if they saw Wei Ying chug 10000$ whiskey?

For a few minutes it's as though time has rewound to when life was much simpler, when Lan Wangji sat with Wei Ying on the edges. Outside against a wall during break. A table in one of the quieter parts of the cafeteria. The corner of the classroom, when LWJ was easily overlooked.

"You've changed so much, Lan Zhan," Wei Ying says, smiling as always. "Not really," he replies, thinking of how his heart used to beat exactly this way back then. How he used to feel just as full and warm and excited as he does in this moment.

Inevitably, Lan Wangji is given his notice to appear on set and Wei Ying departs, leaving his script on the table. "I mean it, Lan Zhan. I'm glad you're here." He beams and as the door shuts behind him, and outside the sun sets and the trailer dims in the sudden darkness.

"Me too, Wei Ying," he whispers, "Me too." On the counter sits a peony fallen from its stem. One of it's petals must have been damaged from the fall, wrinkled and broken.

The rest of the bouquet will fit in vases, whether it's one large vase or multiple small ones. But this lone flowers sits broken and alone. But perhaps that which was broken is not beyond repair. He strides across the room to the script Wei Ying left behind for Lan Wangji.

Lan Wangji flips to the center to a flashback scene where the characters are sitting under the shade of an old maple tree, side by side. He places the peony in the middle of the page and closes the book, pressing down on the cover to seal it tight.

Lan Wangji traces the name Wei Wuxian with his index finger, again and again memorizing the paths his fingers make, so that even in his sleep he won't forget it. He heads outside to inform his manager that his schedule must be freed for a project of utmost priority.

(Top of the thread because pov switch. Sorry, this part wasnt supposed to take so long >.<) https://twitter.com/gentil_minou/status/1800236720035975173?t=p2JlrulDkyILocaijUsiRw&s=19x.com/gentil_minou/s

(ART!!! @🐇 MADE THE MOST ETHEREAL GORGEOUS WEI YING!!!!! please show them all the love in the world because LOOK AT HIM!!!!!!) https://x.com/moonbunny2301/status/1803630937525330398…

Wei Wuxian has a month before production will start, during which he has to take this fanfiction that really isn't much of a script at all and somehow turn it into one. How did this even get mistaken for a script in the first place? But no matter. Now that Lan Zhan is on board,

there's no way to go back. But not only does he somehow have to do this in a month, but he also has to figure out how to fix the ending. So of course, like any creative, Wei Wuxian spends the month procrastinating and wasting time, until he's only got a few days left before he

has to meet with the production and the director to start casting. Well, he wouldn't call it wasting time exactly. He and Lan Zhan met up a few times in between his busy schedule, ostensibly to get his ideas for the script, but mostly just to catch up.

Sometimes he didn't quite believe it. A person larger than life he could only ever dream of knowing from afar, sitting across the table sipping pu erh tea like it's a delicacy and nodding with utmost seriousness when Wei Wuxian shows him his favorite memes from the past 10 yrs.

(MORE ART MORE ART MORE ART @🐇 MADE THE HOTTEST LAN WANGJI (and also the sweetest teenji ever omg) AHHHHH please show them so much love isn't he incredible???) https://x.com/moonbunny2301/status/1803947788939726934…

But it's not wasting time at all, because somehow in between watching the delicate way Lan Zhan picks up his cup and the shock of hearing a perfectly timed witty joke float from his lips, Wei Wuxian sees how his old dear friend and this unattainable god are truly one and the same

Controlling his more....complicated feelings is less simple. But as long as he doesnt acknowledge them or let them get in the way, then that's fine, right? Especially not so close to production.

Nie Huaisang, when Wei Wuxian had updated him, was as smug as expected, fluttering the fan in front of his enigmatic expression as Wei Wuxain stared blankly back at him. "Aren't you curious how I knew?" he'd asked.

Truthfully yes, but WWX was still miffed and the surest way to get back at NHS was to ignore him. So he did. When at last NHS's whines and complaints and badgering made him crack a smile, NHS took it as his cue to say, "His brother is dating my brother."

Wei Wuxian shoots up from where he's lying on NHS's plush designer sofa that looks less like a sofa and more like an art piece. "What?? Since when???" NHS shrugs. "Da-ge doesn't tell me about his relationships, Wei-xiong. I learned about this one after stalking his ig comments.

I haven't met him yet, but Lan Huan posts photos of his brother on his private account constantly." The next second, Wei Wuxian is by his side, drawn by the temptation of Lan Zhan's private photos. "Wait what, really? Let me see."

NHS is already scrolling when WWX's brows furrow and he thinks to ask, "How do you have access to his private account if you haven't met him yet?" "Secrets," NHS replies absently before showing Wei Wuxian the profile.

What must be hundreds of photos of Lan Zhan slide by. Some recent, from red carpet events or articles that everyone must have, interspersed with ones that would not be available to the public. These include a Lan Zhan with his brother and his uncle. A few include Lan Zhan

alongside a woman who seems vaguely familiar. Many are of Lan Zhan alone, looking at something off screen and still appearing like a model on stage. Wei Wuxian can't help but smile, thinking about how even when Lan Zhan isn't trying his poise is effortless.

NHS scrolls further down, and here is where it gets interesting. The Lan Zhan here is less polished, though no less handsome. He's wearing his glasses again, but his hair had grown out of the bowlcut Wei Wuxian knew so well, reaching his shoulders, neat and straight.

Lan Zhan at college, he realizes. Lan Zhan before he was scouted and debuted. Lan Zhan before, but after him. The Lan Zhan from in between. Wei Wuxian doesn't know when NHS handed his phone over, too engrossed in each picture. "What was he like," he whispers, "after I left?"

(Sharing this again. As of today theyre at 1300. Please, even the smallest bit helps) https://twitter.com/gentil_minou/status/1800640227528306695?t=-WXqJJECWbpHMFpz2MCszA&s=19x.com/gentil_minou/s

(um...i just remembered this whole scene with nhs was supposed to be a flashback. please pretend i didnt forget and the tenses are correct and maybe i can convince myself djkfhdsjk

It'd taken a minute for Nie Huaisang to reply, "Didn't I already say?" He'd levied a fierce glare upon NHS. "I haven't forgotten my promise of murder Huaisang. The high pitched whine must have sounded like a whistle to those walking on the streets below.

"What's more to say!? He was miserable, that's it. I guess. I don't know, I barely know him. Why don't you ask him?" NHS had finished by plopping down with a pout on an overly overstuffed pouf. Wei Wuxian had gone back to the pictures, silent as he scrolled as far as he can go.

How could he have explained that even if NHS did know, if he knew everything there was about Lan Zhan and these last ten years, it would never be enough? Only a time machine would give WWX the answer he seeks, and he was too busy to conjure up the time to make one.

And for whatever reason, even if it made little sense, Wei Wuxian was certain the piece that was missing from the end of his script was this. This in between, the part after and the part before. The liminal space when they'd been apart

At least there was one revelation from that conversation with Nie Huaisang; if Wei Wuxian wanted answers, he'd need to go to the source. Luckily, through whatever secrets of his, NHS has the address to Lan Zhan's secluded home high up in the mountains.

But when Lan Zhan pulls open the door to his traditional style home with its sleek modern finishes, dressed in comfortable cream colored slacks and a sweater Wei Wuxian wanted to bury himself in, the questions Wei Wuxian had disappear in a burst of butterflies in his tummy.

"Wei Ying?" Lan Zhan asks, puzzled, "is something wrong? Why are you here?" But Wei Wuxian is finding it hard to think about anything besides— "You still have them," he blurts. "Your glasses. I didn't think you would."

If they arent the same pair, they must be very similiar. But no, they have to be; theres the nick on the side that WWX remembers happened after of that Jin bully whose name he doesnt care to remember shoved LZ into a locker. It was one of the only times WWX served detention

and this time looked forward to it. He wanted to blacken the guy's other eye as well. Lan Zhan adjusts the frames. "Yes, they are. I need them to see." A puff of a laugh eliminates the rest of the nerves that seem to only catch Wei Wuxian off guard when he's around him.

Theres a little tug at the corner of Lan Zhan's lips that make them into a small half smile. Its not the smile he wears for acting gigs and photo ops. Its real. Its beautiful. Hes suddenly grateful LZ doesnt smile often like this when he's not on set. Those fans can be crazy.

Theres also a smug feeling hes relishing, knowing he gets to see it. "Huaisang told me your address," WWX answers and unspoken question as LZ steps aside to let him in. LWJ frowns. "How does he know my address?" WWX shrugs, more interested in the interior of his home.

The layout is simple enough, with a sunken living area featuring a low tea table surrounded by cushions and a sofa further behind. The place is open concept with a sparkling white kitchen and not an inch of dirt anywhere. But Wei Wuxian is drawn to the other side of the room

where three shallow steps lead to a grand piano that's the centerpiece of a large alcove shaped like a semi-circle. A sliding glass door is open onto a wooden deck surrounding a courtyard and garden, with paneling on the side meant to look like traditional rice paper doors.

It incredible. If he didn't see the spotlight over the piano, Wei Wuxian would thin there was a halo surrounding it. "You still play?" he asks excitedly, tossing his laptop bag carelessly int the direction of the couch as he slips off his shoes and crosses the room.

Behind him, Lan Zhan straightens his laptop bag. "Mn. I never stopped." Wei Wuxian lets his fingers walk across the piano keys, not pressing down but simple jaunting. A gallavant through memories and a time long gone.

Back when they were teens, if Wei Wuxian ever had trouble tracking Lan Zhan down, there was one place he knew he would be. The music room was rarely used outside of extracurriculars, so it was always empty during lunch. Which was when Lan Zhan would hide away make it his refuge.

How many lunch periods did Wei Wuxian spend pestering him to play a song? To sing, to show him what he composed. Once, he'd even asked if Lan Zhan would write something for him, to which LZ had replied with indignation and reddened ears as WWX's laughter chased him from the room.

"Play something for me," Wei Wuxian says, throwing a laugh over his shoulder as he glances back at Lan Zhan still standing in the hallway. In his glasses with his hair neat but not styled, he's transported back to those days, and suddenly Wei Wuxian is hit with the realization

that he wants Lan Zhan to play for him. //Needs// Lan Zhan to play for him. He'd come here for inspiration. To finish a script that had been left bereft and abandoned for nearly a decade. Inspiration can be found anywhere though. In a park, watching the leaves sway in the wind

At a cafe, listening to snippets of conversations as strangers drift in and out of his life for the briefest moment. On a couch, watching a movie or listening to a song. At a moment's notice, inspiration is everywhere.

Right now, it's in the slow nod Lan Zhan does in lieu of a reply. It's in the sudden tightness of his throat as he moves away from the piano in a daze. It's in the way Lan Zhan looks at up at him for the briefest of seconds, searching, before his hands touch the piano keys.

Even when Lan Zhan was playing simple scales or a warm up he could do sitting backwards, Wei Wuxian was in awe of Lan Zhan on the piano. It was like magic; beams of light that seemed to shoot out from the keys, blinding as they spun around the room.

It was different from watching his poano instructor back when he was forced to take lessons and waiting for the hour to end so he could go outside and play. It was hypnotic. If the world disappeared outside the walls of thst music room, Wei Wuxian wouldn't have even noticed.

Now, when everything is so different, this at least is the same. Lan Zhan starts slow, hesitant. The melody streams like a slow moving river from the piano as he warms up. Then, as if the stream has reached a cliff, Lan Zhan's music cascades like a waterfall.

His fingers dance across the piano keys, taking shape in a song thats well known. Its not a composition Wei Wuxian knows, not even from his years of watching Yanli-jie's piano recitals. Its nothing like anything Wei Wuxian has heard of before. The song is...

In its quiet melancholy, there is peace. In the rising of the notes as they skip through the air, there's a fall. Its personal and devastating. Its universal, its true. It carries Wei Wuxian through the forest and brush down mountains unknown. And yet, its wonderfully familiar.

He thinks for a moment about closing his eyes and just listening...listen and breathe. But the moutains and trees change form into words sprinting across the page, and between one second and the next he's snatched up his laptop and sitting on the floor next to Lan Zhan.

His back rests against the piano bench's legs as Lan Zhan plays, transitioning into other songs, and occasionally going back to the first one. Wei Wuxian types on his keyboard in time with Lan Zhan's playing, the words of the script and the notes of the song whirling around them.

The words, when they finally come, are not as elusive as Wei Wuxian thought they'd be. They feel a bit like coming home after a long, long journey. That feeling of yanking off his socks and wiggling his toes free; of dropping the heavy backpack, his shoulders finally free.

The problem with his original ending, was that it didn't make any sense. The Wei Ying and Lan Zhan in his script did not want to end. Their final meeting, the lingering glances, the reluctant goodbyes. It wasn't an ending that fit. But...it doesn't have to be the ending scene.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lan Zhan leans back and stretches his neck. He glances down at Wei Wuxian and, after making eye contact, smiles that quiet barely-there half smile, before he goes back to play that first song again. In a way, it can be a beginning.

It's dark outside by the time Wei Wuxian finishes. A breeze rustles through the trees in the courtyard, the only sound left when Lan Zhan finally lifts his hands off the piano keys. For a while, the watch moonlight trickle into the garden, casting a silver light over dark greens

"I finished it," Wei Wuxian says into the din. "The script is done. I'll send it to my boss tomorrow for final revisions...but..." He looks at Lan Zhan shyly. "Would you like to see it?"

Lan Zhan nods once, twice, three times, before scooting down the bench. Wei Wuxian sits down beside him, feeling the remnants of Lan Zhan body heat warm him up. He sets the laptop on the piano top and watches with bated breath as Lan Zhan reads.

He really should've remembered how fast Lan Zhan can read. He reads the new ending—the old one having been shoved somewhere closer to the middle—in only a a few minutes and before Wei Wuxian is sure he's ready, Lan Zhan sits back.

He doesn't look at Wei Wuxian right away, which only makes him want to bite the nails of his fingers into nubs. For a brief minute, Lan Zhan is still scanning the final words. The moon shifts in its path and no longer lights up only the courtyard.

Lan Zhan never turned on the lights, their work lit by the glow of Wei Wuxian's screen. The room that was dark only moments prior is now bathed in silver light. When Lan Zhan finally looks at Wei Wuxian, moonlight lives in his eyes, a bit of silver amongst the gold.

"Wei Ying..." he begins quietly. Wei Wuxian tries to keep his voice steady. "Yeah? What'd ya think? I probably need to revise it a couple times but...yeah. How is it?" Lan Zhan's smile is a perfect, tiny crescent moon. "It's perfect, Wei Ying."

The dam breaks like relief as the breath he'd been holding escapes from Wei Wuxian's lungs. "Really? Cause honestly I think it's great, but the vibe changes completely right. Like now it's more romcom than melodrama, which isn't a bad thing. I love romcoms! But, it is good huh."

"Mn. Perfect." Lan Zhan repeats, steadfast as ever. Wei Wuxian's laughter skips like rocks across a pond. "Is that seriously all you can say? Just perfect?" A frown appears between Lan Zhan's brow. He lifts his finger up to say wait a minute as he takes out his phone.

After a minute or so, he reads in steady monotone, "Talented. Brilliant. Incredible. Amazing. Show-stopping. Spectacular. Never the same—" The rest of Lan Zhan's recitation of the great Lady Gaga's meme is drowned out by Wei Wuxian's laughter as he bows over onto the piano.

"Lan Zhan!" he says between hiccuping breaths, "I showed you that meme last week!!!" "Hold on one moment. Please." Lan Zhan pulls up another picture and dutifully recites, "Spectacular hago. Fantastic hago. Amazing hage. Unbelievable hage—"

This time the piano shakes under the weight of Wei Wuxian's laughter.

"Lan Zhan, pfff." He fails to control his laughter completely. "I didn't know your Korean accent was so good." Lan Zhan juts his chest out with pride, just a little bit. "I have been practicing for a roll in a music video." "Really? Who? When?" Wei Wuxian says, unable to help

the excitement he feels as his kpop fan senses burst through. "Can I come?" Lan Zhan regards him warmly. "Wei Ying is always welcome."

There's a beat as Wei Wuxian's lingering giggles subside, not unlike the moment the shared in Lan Zhan's trailer. The moon draws its path across an indigo night sky, shadows growing and shrinking in the room behind them as Wei Wuxian lets himself bask in Lan Zhan's presence.

It's silly, he thinks. How it feels like the light in the room is coming from the glow of Lan Zhan's skin, pale as jade and unblemished. The way it bounces off his hair and gives it a shimmering sheen. The way in this moment, the earth almost feels like its gone still.

Unbidden, he glances at Lan Zhan's lips. A little chapped but still such pretty pink. And Wei Wuxian has thoughts. Many, many thoughts. His new script included many scenes his original didn't. Of course, like any romcom, there was a kiss scene.

Wei Wuxian remembers all at once just who and what he was thinking about when he wrote the scene moments ago. "Wei Ying," Lan Zhan begins slowly. "May I make another request?" Slowly, Wei Wuxian nods. "Anything."

Lan Zhan's lips part a little bit something tremulous flits across his face. He leans forward ever so slightly, his hand coming for leverage— Only for it to slip and fall on the piano keys, a harsh, discordant sound makong them jolt and jump apart.

Wei Wuxian's heart races in his chest, heavy breaths that fill the silence left in the wake of the jarring melody as it fades into far away soundwaves and ether. He feels the moment slip away like sand caught by waves, scattered into the sea.

Lan Zhan is quiet, staring at his hand still resting on the keys. His lips are still open, but more in shock than...than how they'd seemed earlier. Wei Wuxian too feel like he's being carried by a powerful wave and scattered at sea.

"Lan Zhan?" he tries, willing his old firned to look at him, desperate for a life preserver of some sort. "What—what were you going to ask me?" At last, Lan Zhan turns back to him and Wei Wuxian can see his expression more clearly.

Its lost some of its earlier warmth, as if the clouds have rolled in and blotted out the sky. He relaxes, somewhat, the longer he looks at Wei Wuxian. But it isn't quite the same.

Wei Wuxian watches as Lan Zhan swallows and his mouth opens and shut, and he thinks maybe he's not the only one in need of a life vest. Lan Zhan glances away from Wei Wuxian back at his hands on the key, his jaw clenched.

This time when he turns back, Wei Wuxian imagines themselves drifting at sea, too far away from the other to latch on for safety but not being pushed apart. The distance between them still there, but at the very least he isn't floating further away.

If he's being honest, he's terrifed that if he makes the wrong move, they will. "Hey, Lan Zhan," Wei Wuxian says, throwing out a lifeline made of hope. "Would you be interested in working on our movie's soundtrack?"

(Sorry to everyone who was hoping for a kiss or confession. I have other plans eheh. In the mean time, go to http://gazafunds.com https://twitter.com/gazafunds/status/1800997156024655885?t=uzt9VCrbkna3SsGvG9VuyA&s=19x.com/gazafunds/stat

Lan Wangji accidentally presses on a key, its sharp discordance cutting through the air in half. The note amplifies, ringing in his ears long after its faded into the din of night. "Me? Compose the soundtrack for your film?"

Perhaps he misheard. Perhaps the ringing is from a sudden bout of tinnitus. For there is no reason why Wei Ying would ask him of all people. But Wei Ying only nods, the tempo speeding up until his hair is kicked up like waves. "Yeah, yes I'm sure Lan Zhan. It has to be you."

In the night, Wei Ying's eyes are darker than the night sky. Silver moonlight shines in them, making them appear grey Lan Wangji looks at each of them in turn, searching for a hint of a secret joke. Anything that would reveal this farce. But all he sees is /Wei Ying/.

His words manage to escape the thickness of his throat. "But Wei Ying...I am not composer... how could I..." he trails off, unable to even say. Wei Ying only grins that lopsided grin, the one he's always failed to hide just before he contradicted a teacher's argument.

"Yes you are. You wrote that song, right?" He doesnt have to explain which one. "The rest are familiar enough, but that was entirely you," he finishes with a conviction that sets the night on fire. He isn't wrong. Lan Zhan did. Over many sleepless nights spent huddled over

the keyboard piano in his room, headphones plugged in with only the gentlest of taps lest he wake Uncle and lose the privilege of an instrument in his room. Night after night, where the evening chill would be cast away by a sunbright smile.

But that was a song written by a Lan Zhan confused by the depth of these new bewildering feelings about the most frustrating boy in the world. He hardly remembers writing it, only that in the end there was a physical manifestation of the storm in his heart.

That doesn't make him a composer, however. Certainly not one who could score an entire film. He opens his mouth to say as much, only to be cut off. "Not by yourself, of course not. You can work with someone else. More experienced, probably. But it has to be you."

LWJ's fingers on the piano keys stand out, flushed and stark white, knobby at tbe knuckles. He use to play piano every day of his life. For as long as he can remember. He can hardly remember the way his mother looked, but he rmcan vividly remmeber sitting in her lap as he played

Setting his hand atop hers, playing simple nursery rhymes. Music, from the very start, was about him. The notes and melodies flowed in his veins, carried oxygen to his lungs, lit him from within. But it was only ever a hobby. A sharp distinction from film quality.

Quietly, Wei Ying sets his fingers on the piano keys besides Lan Wangji's. Tan against white, they stick out more sharply than Lan Wangji's. But next to his, they fit in perfectly.

"Lan Zhan, did you know you used to tap on your knees on class?" Wei Ying begins in a hush. "I doubt you even noticed, but once I did it was impossible not to see it. In the hallways, or at lunch. Even when you were angry at me, your fingers were tapping."

Wei Ying's pinky brushes Lan Wangji's, an electric shock that makes him shiver. "You dont do it anymore. How come?" he asks quietly. The answer should be that such idle habits are unprofessional in his career. He became so used to embodying someone else, it wiped away himself.

But in truth, he hardly has time to play these days. There is simply none, not when there are lines to read and rehearse and magazine spreads to shoot and sleep to catch up on. A keyboard in every trailor, usually dusty and left untouched.

Wei Ying must read Lan Wangji's answer in his silence, for he continues. "I know you can do it Lan Zhan. Better than anyone else could. You're the only one who can make the music for my film. It has to be you."

He slips his hand atop Lan Wangji's, fingers aligning. The breath halts in Lan Wangji's throat. He looks up and finds Wei Ying staring back, unflinching. "You understand why...right?" Wei Ying whispers.

This time, Lan Wangji doesn't see the moon in Wei Ying's eyes. He only sees that which has always been there. The singular defining feature that's as unnamable as it is simply /Wei Ying/. Slowly, he twists his wrist until their palms slide together and their fingers entwine.

He squeezes as he says, "Mn. Yes. I will do it. I will compose for Wei Ying's film." Wei Ying's resulting smile lights up the entire room.

As expected, composing a film score is not simple. There is no manual that describes the process step by step. Luckily, the film's producer and Wei Ying's boss, the legendary Baoshan Sanren introduces Lan Wangji to a more experienced composer, Xiao Xingchen.

Though blind, XXC has made a name for himself in this industry and agreed to assist as a favor to BSSR. LWJ is familoar with his work only through post production, but watching a professional weave masterpiece after masterpiece from thin air is enough to leave him awed.

He has final say, however. Wei Ying had made it clear that Lan Zhan would be listed first in the credits, assuring everyone in the meeting he was the very best secret in the business, much to everyone's amusement. Seeing the look of pride on Wei Ying's face was more than enough

And, he'd already ensured that at least one song would make it into the movie, not matter what.

In the months leading up to filming, Lan Wangji finishes his other projects, ensuring he can devote all of his efforts to Wei Ying's film. But as a result, they were hardly able to meet aside from across a large table with a hundred voices between them.

Ahead of final casting, Lan Wangji is ready to begin. No matter what happens, anything is worth the opportunity to see Wei Ying everyday. Surely, there can be nothing better.

(Yeah....surely nothing could go wrong here.....surely not........ Hehe) https://twitter.com/gentil_minou/status/1800236720035975173?t=nhbrsO7Yu6xmT8S9qAYyUg&s=19x.com/gentil_minou/s

Wei Wuxian has a problem. A horrible, catastrophic problem that could jeopardize his entire film. All of the actors auditioning to play him (or well, film him. BSSR finally agreed to let him change the names of the main characters, at least, but its still sorta him) suck.

Their movement are to exaggerated or dramatic, sometimes veering into downright insulting. Sometimes they miss the nuance of the teenage period, and depict him as literally bullying Lan Zhan, which couldn't be further from the choice!

Other times, they show the separation period as him being an emo depressed loser, and while Wei Wuxian can admit he wasn't in the best headspace he certainly wasnt a loser! He shouldnt have to unload his family's trauma just for them to understand it!

The worst was when someone who was clearly a fan weirdly obsessed with Lan Zhan auditioned for the role. Like the Su Something guy who made such intense eye contact with LZ during his audition that Lan Zhan had to put on sunglasses inside just to deter him.

That's another thing. Wei Wuxian isn't the only one who finds fault in every actor. When Lan Zhan requested to be a part of the casting choice for this role, Wei Wuxian was delighted. He'd be the one to act with them after all. They could even do the chemsitry test right there!

But if Wei Wuxian is bad, Lan Zhan is way worse. He finds fault in everything, from the actor's mannerisms and voice to the shape of their cheekbones to their laugh to anything and everything. At one point Lan Zhan denies someone simply for wearing matching socks.

"You would never wear matching socks," he'd told Wei Wuxian simply as the actor huffed out of the room. Wei Wuxian couldn't fault him. He /was/ wearing mismatching socks that day. And everyday. Who has time to sort their socks??

And it was sorta funny at first, Lan Zhan being the Simon Cowell of their group, with BSSR chewing through her nicotine gum like it was skittles from all the frustration. But now, filming is set to begin next week, and they still have no lead.

Wei Wuxian had briefly—usually at night (er, late-early morning more like) as he was tossing in bed— thought about maybe filling the role himself. It's himself after all. Would it even be acting? But the thought of acting out the scenes he'd written in front of Lan Zhan...

It was too much. It would be too, too much. He can't do that, not when their rekindled friendship is so fragile and new. He can't risk it. Besides, he has his hands full with everything else, the whole directing and writing thing for example. No, someone else needs to play him.

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This is the laat day they have blocked out for this with Lan Zhan, who has a week long promotional tour for a movie he's about to release. (Dancing with Zithers, an action film where he carries a guqin around and blunt force hits people with it. Wei Wuxian is very excited.)

But their list continues to dwindle, until with only a few names left Baoshan Sanren turns to Wei Wuxian and grumbles, "you better find someone in this next bunch otherwise i'll make you be the lead." On the other side of him Lan Zhan inhales. He doesn't know what that means.

Would Lan Zhan want to work with him? Would it....could it work? He...he knows the lines already. Knows the mannerisms and actions he wants delivered with them. Has imagined at length how each scene should be played out, everything from lighting to the gestures to expressions.

When he imagined them before, Lan Zhwn appeared in crisp high definition, but the person opposite him is a formless blob that Wei Wuxian couldnt picture no matter what he tried.

But what if he did? What if he put himself in that image? What if acted alongside Lan Zhan in a story that is at it's core about them? What if he did it himself?

The next audition begins, and a man with a slight build and dark hair wrapped in a bun walks in. Wei Wuxian frowns. He's shorter than he would have liked. The man stares at them with wide, black eyes that in this lighting appear almost silver.

Baoshan Sanren dutifully, if somewhat tiredly, recites, "Please state your name and age for the camera test." The man lithly turns and cheekily grins for the camera stationed at the back of the room. "Mo Xuanyu. 24."

BSSR stares back at him, unimpressed. "Like you normally would, please. The acting part hasnt started yet." And it's like a the curtain has dropped and the cocky tilt of his hip disappears as Mo Xuanyu snaps straight. "Er, right, yeah! I'm Mo Xuanyu, 24 years old."

BSSR asks him about the productions he's worked on before, mainly musical theater and stage plays. According to MXY, he's been interested in this film ever since he saw the casting call. He praises the script and assures them that he can act both ages, as required of him.

His smile is crooked but endearing and Wei Wuxian can't help but smile. Beside him, Lan Zhan scribbles something down. /Too young./ Wei Wuxian nods before turning to Mo Xuanyu and says, "You've read the script right? Pick it up from page 13, scene 5."

He expects Mo Xuanyu to take the script, but is suprised when he doesn't, instead facing the camera empty handed. MXY's shoulders slacken and puts on a pout. "Look outside. No, really, Look!" The script doesnt call for this but MXY uses hand motions to

indicate physically moving a person. "Look! The sky! Crystal clear and blue, just like you! Why would we waste it inside, let's go!" He runs through the scene, not skimping on any of the motions as he recites the lines. The scene is one of the first where the main character

convinces his love interest to leave their project behind and run. Its essential to show the differences between the two characters, and the start of their bonding. And Wei Wuxian jaw drops before the end. So far, MXY is perfect.

"Wow...that's good. Really good." The words escape Wei Wuxian's lips without his notice. Beside him, BSSR is similarly impressed, hiding her smile behind a withered hand. But her eyes spark like wildfire under the overhead lights, which speaks volumes to anyone who knows her.

On his other side, Lan Zhan remains impassive. Not a single eyebrow twitch, no hint of a smile or frown, not even a subtle movement of his fingers. Wei Wuxian can't read him at all.

He frowns. Before this, Lan Zhan would at least do...something. Maybe others would gave trouble reading him, but Wei Wuxian never did. He nudges Lan Zhan's elbow, hoping he will at least looke at him. But Lan Zhan only stared at the opposite wall, unresponsive.

Mo Xuanyu latches on the praise with enthusiasm, and makes it clear he's not just a fan of the script. He showers BSSR with enough compliments to make her preen like a peacock. And he doesn't leave Wei Wuxian out of it either.

"I've read everything you've ever written, Wei-laoshi! Youre increidble!" Wei Wuxian does a double take. "Me? But how? I've never published anything..." Not officially anyway...so that would mean...

Patches of bright red bloom across MXY's face. "Erm, uh. We might have a mutual friend sorta. But dont tell him i said anything. What matters is youre incredible Wei-laoshi!!!!" A growl rests in Wei Wuxian’s throat. He is going to kill Nie Huaisang one of these days.

Finally, Lan Zhan moves, if only to look at Wei Wuxian with mind-numbing fondness that spreads a blush across Wei Wuxian's own cheeks. "He is right. Wei Ying has incredible talent," he whispers quietly before turning back to blankly staring at nothing.

Wei Wuxian is going to combust and BSSR will laugh at him and this movie will never be made. Lan Zhan, why! BSSR requests Mo Xuanyu act another scene. One of the darker, more difficult ones. Where his character has hit rock bottom and MXY must show it, tearlessly.

Wei Wuxian had emphasized this when BSSR asked about this direction. But ot was necessary. Wei Wuxian, despite the turmoil and pain, never once shed a tear during those years, preferring to bury his feelings with drink and sarcasm. The tears would come later, when all was well.

The moment BSSR mutters "Action", Mo Xuanyu's expression shifts and its as though a curtain has fallen. His expression darkens, frown lines teasing the corner of his mouth that had before this tilted up in perpetual joy. He sets a hardened gaze on at them.

"I'm fine," Mo Xuanyu says darkly, possesed by the spirit of a young depressed Wei Wuxian. "It's nothing you need to worry about Wen Ping. Just focus on school." BSSR continues playing the role of not-Wen Qing as MXY hits each cue and line perfectly.

Sardonic and bitterly sarcastic when necessaey, and horrifyingly cold and hateful when the buttons are pressed. Wei Wuxian sits at the edge of his seat, looking into a mirror at himself on his worst days. And beside him...

Lan Zhan sits stiff— well stiffer than usual...unnatural. He's unnaturally stiff. Like he's seeing a corpse. Wei Wuxian should be watching MXY's performance, but he cant look away. The very pupils of Lan Zhan's eyes seem to tremble eith some inexplicable feeling.

What could this mean? When the rest of the room is teeming with a vibrating energy of excitement, of enthusiasm, when BSSR is clearly about to explode from joy, why is it that a grey cloud seems to hover over Lan Zhan?

Mo Xuanyu spits out the final line and turns away and a hush falls over the room. Then BSSR begins clapping, slowly at first then with great exhuberance. Wei Wuxian claps along too, except his attention is stolen but the weight of Lan Zhan's gaze in him.

Those honey brown eyes tremble as they struggle to meet Wei Wuxian. "Lan Zhan?" WWX tries. Theres a beat as Lan Zhan swallows and seems to fortify himself before he asks, "Was this...was this really what it was like?"

Wei Wuxian blinks in confusion. "What?" Lan Zhan seems agitated, enough so that Wei Wuxian almost recoils. "Before...after...when we..." "Lan Zhan, what are you—" But the agitation erupts and the next second Lan Zhan is across the room facing MXY's back.

"Wei Ying," he says, gravelly and almost like he's in another time. The way he says his name, like its a plea, has Wei Wuxian standing to his feet, seconds away from going to him. But before he can move, Mo Xuanyu turns around, and BSSR puts her dainty hand on Wei Wuxian’s arm.

A woman her age should not have this much strength, but its enough to keep Wei Wuxian locked in place. MXY looks up at Lan Zhan in confusion, tilting his head and sending questioning looks back to them at the table. But Lan Zhan only says, "Wei Ying...you...are you..."

MXY meets BSSR's eyes, and something seems to click. Confusion melts from his face as it returns to that dead-inside expression that looks so much, too much like Wei Wuxian is looking in a mirror at himself in his youth. And with horror, it dawns on him who Lan Zhan is seeing.

"What are you doing here." Mo Xuanyu says coldly, like it's not a question. Like a Lan Zhan is an exasperation. Like MXY would rather be amywhere else. Lan Zhan's expression cracks, and Wei Wuxian's heart falls with it.

"I—I..." Lan Zhan hesitates, the most unsure WWX's ever heard him. 180 plus cm tall and yet in this moment he looks so small. "I just wanted to ensure you were okay..." Mo Xuanyu sneers. "What does it matter to you."

"Wei Ying...please..." MXY regards Lan Zhan derisively. Scum beneath his shoes. He scoffs and turns away. Lan Zhan catches his arm before he can. "Come back....come with me. Please."

Mo Xuanyu rips his arm back and bares his teeth like a feral animal. "Get lost," he hisses. He stalks to the other end of the room, his stiff back like a brick wall. And Lan Zhan is left standing in the center of the room, empty hand outstretched and face shattered.

"...And cut! Wow, Mo Xuanyu...that was some impressive ad-libbing. How was it?" BSSR must be addressing MXY, who turns around bashfully in Wei Wuxian's periphery. But he can't bear to look away from Lan Zhan's still form.

MXY fiddles with a strand of loose hair. "I, uh, I read the script. There's a part when they were kids where LZ kept telling WY to 'get lost' so I thought, wouldn't it pack a punch if we reversed it? But I'm no writer so..." Wei Wuxian doesn't pay attention to rest of their

conversation. Something about BSSR telling MXY they should add it to the script. Something about how amazing he is. Something about how they've finally found their lead. And Wei Wuxian would agree. He absolutely would. Mo Xuanyu was incredible as him. Perfect in every way.

Except for the way Lan Zhan won't look at him, won't look at Wei Wuxian, won't look at anyone or anything. Except for the way Wei Wuxian knows that despite the way BSSR is praising both their leads' acting skills, that Lan Zhan wasn't acting.

He's practically Lan Zhan's biggest fan. Has seen every movie and show and video he's been in, multiple times over. He knows Lan Zhan's acting. That wasn't Lan Zhan acting. Lan Zhan wasn't talking to the character Wei Ying. He was talking to him.

(finally the end of this incredibly draining scene... i need to figure out how to go from here to where i want to go next lmao. as always, none of this went the way i planned sdjhgfdj) https://x.com/gentil_minou/status/1800236720035975173…

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