Archive of Our Own

When he arrives at Lotus Pier Prep, Wei Ying is still reeling from the sudden death of his parents in a hit-and-run accident over a year ago, and trying to adjust to his new family. The noisy chatter of other children scares him a bit - he’s never been to a school, and he’s never even seen this many people his age before in his life. His foster-parents had thought it was too much trouble after he ran away the second time, just before term started, and Dad had always home-schooled him. Dad’s so smart, the smartest!

Was.

Anyway. Wei Ying tries to make up for this by being cheerful and friendly, so that no-one can see how much he doesn’t belong. It only partly seems to work. The other kids seem to be slightly in awe of him, whether because of his talent, or because of his connection to the ridiculously wealthy Jiang family. They don’t dislike him or anything though, and most of them are friendly back, even if they are hesitant to approach him.

Only a few don’t seem to fall for his charm, which is rude. Jiang Cheng is one, although he’s slowly learning that his new brother is rude to everyone, and it’s not just that he hates Wei Ying for getting his dogs sent away.

(It’s not his fault, he didn’t ask Uncle Jiang to send Jiang Cheng’s dogs away. Uncle Jiang decided that on his own after Wei Ying had a panic attack. Wei Ying thinks that if he’d been given a bit more time, he’d have been able to sort himself out, and then Jasmine, Princess, and Little Love would have been able to stay. He’d said as much to Yanli-jie, but she’d just sighed and told him to take his time, and then she’d lied that Jiang Cheng didn’t blame him, because she’s the best).

(The problem is, dogs reminded him of his foster-parents’ home in the countryside, and the first time he’d tried to run away to look for his real parents.)

Wen Qing is the other. She’s in Year 6, while he’s two years younger, and she’s always reading in the library when he goes to check out a book. He tries to chat, but each time she sends him a look that means she’s seen right through him and then ignores him.

Today, the noise of the playground is too much, and he takes a seat opposite her and begins to read quietly. It is then she discovers that she actually does speak.

“Wei Ying, do you want to go out with me?” is the first thing Wen Qing ever says to him.

Because he has a strong survival instinct, he does not say anything like ‘I thought you were mute!’ or perhaps ‘do you ignore everyone or just me?’ and goes with the fairly neutral option of,

“Go out? Go where?”

She blinks and then sighs dramatically. This is strange, but getting any response encourages him, so he follows with,

“I know we’re not supposed to leave the school building, but I’m good at sneaking out, don’t worry! I can help you!”

This makes her frown. He tries to reassure her.

“I never get caught!”

That doesn’t seem to help, but after a second she shakes her head.

“No, idiot, I meant do you want to be my boyfriend? We don’t actually have to go anywhere.”

This is confusing, so he says, “Aren’t we already friends though?”, ignoring the fact that they have never had a proper conversation.

She shakes her head again.

“Boyfriends are special friends. It’s like in my books, when a person is sad they meet another person, and they become boyfriend and girlfriend, and then they’re happy.”

This makes slightly more sense.

“Qing-jie, are you sad?”

She ignores the familiar form of address and he relaxes a little.

“No, you idiot, you’re sad.”

And, how does she know that? He’s tried so hard to hide it. To distract her, he says,

“Aw, Qing-jie, you don’t have to lie to me! But I’ll be your boyfriend if it’ll make you happy!”

She’s not buying it, obviously, but says anyway,

“I won’t tell anyone you’re sad, if you don’t tell anyone we’re going out. It’s embarrassing. Deal?”

He nods, and from that time forwards, he and Wen Qing are special friends.

---

Wei Ying’s memory, particularly of the years immediately after his parents’ death, is patchy at best, but two events from his time as Wen Qing’s boyfriend stand out.

First, the movie night. He can’t remember what they were watching, or who else was there, or even how old they were at the time. It was a tradition at Lotus Pier Prep that everyone still at school on a Friday evening would gather in the main hall and watch something together with the help of a projector. The cooks would leave popcorn and drinks in the kitchens, and the oldest kids would pick them up as they walked past. This meant they were in charge of distribution, too, and so everyone was impatient to grow up.

He is sitting next to Wen Qing, and it must be winter, because it’s already pitch black outside. Halfway through whatever they’re watching, someone passes the popcorn in their direction, and they both reach for it at the same time, and their hands touch. Wei Ying likes touching people, but Wen Qing doesn’t always. Tonight, she hisses and bats at his hand, and if they weren’t in danger of sending the popcorn flying they’d be playfighting already.

But Wen Qing must sense that today, her rejection sends a little pang of hurt straight through him. She’s always been good at telling when he’s actually happy, and when it’s just a mask. Once the popcorn bowl has been captured by the group of friends sitting next to them, she reaches out slowly and holds his hand.

Wei Ying’s gaze shoots to hers, and even though the movie is the only source of light he can tell she’s giving him a particularly fierce glare. But she doesn’t take her hand back, and so he grins at her and they watch the rest of the movie like this. The warmth of her palm seeps into his soul.

Later that evening, Yanli-jie makes her special soup just for him, and he just knows that it’s Wen Qing’s idea.

For all her prickliness, Wen Qing is good at taking care of people.

Secondly, the one time Wen Qing hugged him.

One balmy Sunday evening in early summer, when he returns to the dorms after a weekend that felt like a whole week, he finds a hidden corner of the common where he knows nobody can see him, and whips out his phone.

Madame Yu’s relatives had been visiting. He doesn’t like Madame Yu’s relatives, they’re all at least as old as her and as fond of making pointed remarks about him when he’s in earshot.

Which is not to say they’re untrue, necessarily, although he can’t always understand what they’re talking about.

But this weekend, the anniversary of his parents’ deaths had caused them to change target. He didn’t particularly care what they said about him, but his parents were the best people in the world. It wasn’t fair that these people, who probably hadn’t ever met them, would talk about them like they were dirt.

He knew better than to raise a fuss in front of Madame Yu, so he didn’t say anything to embarrass her and stayed on his best behaviour. It wouldn’t do to give them more reason to hate him.

Even though it was hard sometimes, like when they were eating dinner together, and they called his mother names while casting glances in his direction. Jiang Cheng and Yanli-jie didn’t seem to notice; they were sitting next to Uncle Jiang and telling him about their week at school. Uncle Jiang looked disapprovingly at his wife from time to time, but she ignored him, and he didn’t dare do any more. Wei Ying was only able to nibble at his meal, and left as soon as he could.

Anyway, Wei Ying’s purpose in his quiet corner is to find out why everyone is so mean to his parents, even though they’re dead and can’t hurt anyone.

An hour later, he’s crying as silently as he can; he’s glad now that he chose the best hiding spot in the whole building. It would be bad if someone found him like this, what if they hated him because he’s weak? He doesn’t want people to hate him.

Once he thinks he hears footsteps, and looks up, only to see Wen Ning disappear round the corner towards his dorm room. Wen Ning is Wen Qing’s sister, and he’s his friend, too. He’s scared of everything, but he’s really nice. They’re in the same year. Wen Ning wouldn’t hate him for crying, because he also cries sometimes, but despite knowing this Wei Ying doesn’t call out. He doesn’t want to be found.

He goes back to his sobbing.

It’s not long (he thinks) before he feels arms wrap around his shoulders, and he looks up, startled. It’s Wen Qing, and she’s… hugging him? He tries to stop crying, but then Wen Qing pats his back and tells him it’s okay, and he knows actually it’s really not, and he just can’t.

Wen Qing doesn’t say anything else, just crouches awkwardly and stays with him until he calms down enough to talk.

That evening, he learns a lot of new words.

Seduce, whore, traitor, Gypsy, cheat are among those he looks up after reading articles about why his father, Wei Changze, left his position in Uncle Jiang’s business to be with his mother, Cangse Sanren.

Discrimination and prejudice he learns from Wen Qing, when she tries to explain to him why people who never knew his mother feel confident enough in their opinions of her to pass judgement publicly.

---

When Wen Qing leaves Lotus Pier Prep, she gives him her new phone number. Because Uncle Jiang is rich, Wei Ying has had a mobile phone ever since he went to live with them, but Wen Qing’s family could barely afford the tuition fees even with the generous scholarship the school had offered to her and her brother. The new phone had been a gift from her dad to congratulate her for getting into her new school, Gusu College.

She tells him they can’t be boyfriend and girlfriend anymore because Gusu College is a long way away, and they won’t see each other often, but she makes him promise to text her every day so she knows he’s alright.

The next two years speed by, and he keeps his promise to Wen Qing, and then he also passes the exams to get into Gusu College.

He doesn’t ask Wen Qing to be his girlfriend again, though, because he meets Lan Zhan on his very first day there and immediately decides that Lan Zhan will be his new special friend.

(And also because now he’s older and he knows what couples are supposed to do, and he decides he doesn’t want another girlfriend just yet.)

---

Uncle Jiang drives Wei Ying, Jiang Cheng and both their luggage to Gusu College, while Yanli-jie goes in the car with Madame Yu. As a result, the atmosphere is pretty relaxed, despite Jiang Cheng’s nervousness and the irritable behaviour it leads to.

Once they arrive at their boarding house - Ming House - he carries his suitcase and bags inside, where an older student acting as a guide explains to him that students in Years 9-10 share two-person bedrooms and shows him to his and Wen Ning’s room.

He dumps his bags, goes back out to say goodbye to Uncle Jiang who only tells him to look after his sister and brother, goes inside to say hi to Wen Ning, unpacks, eats dinner in the dining hall following a tour of the house and the school given by another older student - their house prefect, Song Lan, it seems - and realises that the unsettled feeling he’s experiencing won’t go away even if he keeps busy.

Nobody’s being mean, although he’s felt Jiang Cheng’s roommate, Ouyang-something, sizing him up. It seems to be just curiosity? He’s probably harmless, and if not, Wei Ying can take him on.

The problem is the stillness, he thinks. Lotus Pier Prep is in the middle of a bustling city, while Gusu College is in the countryside, far away from any major urban centres or roads. He knows that Caiyi is close by, but that hardly counts. It’s so quiet he feels cut off from the rest of the world, even a little bit trapped.

Not that he’d admit it.

So after they all get chivvied back to Ming House, and everyone continues settling in and getting to know one another, Wei Ying slips out quietly.

It’s like he told Qing-jie - he knows how to sneak out, and he never gets caught.

Except this time he does.

“You’re not allowed there,” a voice tells him from behind.

He whirls and sees in the dim light of the September evening someone who can only be described as the prettiest boy he’s ever seen, standing about five metres away and staring at him harshly with luminous golden eyes.

 If he smiled, he’d be even more pretty, he thinks.

“Uh - hi?” he tries. “I’m Wei Ying! Who are you?”

The boy doesn’t answer him directly, and repeats his earlier statement.

“You’re not allowed there.”

Wei Ying looks at his surroundings a bit more closely and sees that he’s just walked through a gap in a hedge, at the far end of what appears to be several large sports pitches.

“I’m not? My mistake! But that makes it even more exciting, right? Do you want to come exploring with me?”

“Out of bounds. Come back or I’ll tell on you,” comes the curt reply. His generous offer is rebuffed just like that!

And this unfairly beautiful boy is not only rude, but also hates fun and is a snitch? Wei Ying will have to do something about this.

“Sorry sorry!” He smiles blindingly at the boy. “I’m new, I didn’t know, please let me off just this once? I need to learn all the escape routes in case of… a terrorist attack… or something! It’s good to be prepared, isn’t it?”

Unsurprisingly, that doesn’t seem to mollify the boy at all. Oh well. Next step - bribery. He walks back towards the boy, who is presumably still within bounds, fishing something out of his jeans pocket.

“Tell you what, I’ll give you these!” he says, triumphantly holding up a bag containing several coca cola Haribos that are varying degrees of sticky. “I’ve been saving them up all summer, but you can have them! Then we’ll be friends, and friends don’t tell on each other. Deal?”

The boy only scoffs. Wei Ying finds himself struck dumb - because who in their right mind would refuse free sweets, or even more bizarrely, who would refuse an offer of friendship from him, the Wei Ying?

His powers of speech, which have helped him out of many tricky situations, thus stolen from him, he can only allow himself to be escorted back to the main school campus. The boy doesn’t follow him back to his house, though, so perhaps he won’t tell on him after all.

He can work with that. Wei Ying’s never backed down from a challenge.

Sparing a moment to wonder what the other boy had been doing so close to the school bounds if he was so intent on following the rules, he waits for a precious half-hour and then proceeds to explore the other side of the school.

This time he doesn’t get caught.

---

At orientation on their first official day at Gusu College, Wei Ying spots the boy from last night again. He does the only logical thing. He waves.

His new friend Nie Huaisang follow his gaze. Nie Huaisang says,

“Wow, Wei-xiong, you’re so brave, waving at Lan Zhan!”

“Why, do you know him?”

An expression of horror flits across Nie Huaisang’s face, there and gone in a blink of the eye.

“You’re waving at him and you don’t know who he is?”

Wei Ying shrugs awkwardly. He’d been too distracted to ask for a name. Nie Huaisang takes this as the admission of ignorance it is and continues.

“That’s Lan Zhan, of the Lan family! You must have heard of them, right? You’re a Jiang.”

He snorts, because is he really seen as a Jiang by anyone save the social workers who visit sporadically? One of the first things he’d learnt when he’d gone to live with them was to call Uncle Jiang and Madame Yu ‘Dad’ and ‘Mum’ only when the authorities visited. Even his horrible foster parents had insisted on being called Mum and Dad, but unfortunately for them he hadn’t particularly wanted to. Uncle Jiang had looked sad when Madame Yu taught him this, but hadn’t protested.

Anyway, that’s all very interesting, but why does talking to a Lan make him brave? He asks as much.

“Well, you see, he’s super talented - ” unfair, he’s pretty and smart? “ - but he’s like a block of ice! If you get too close, you’ll freeze to death!”

“I talked to him and I’m not dead, am I?”

“You will be soon,” mutters Jiang Cheng from where he’s brooding on the grass. Jiang Cheng won’t admit it, but he’s in a bad mood because he’s homesick and nervous. Nie Huaisang seems even more agitated (and rightly so) to learn that Wei Ying had already interacted with the block of ice.

Wei Ying ignores them both.

“Nie-xiong, how do you know all this anyway?”

“Well, his brother and my brother are best friends, and Huan-ge often brings him along when he comes to visit da-ge. I’ve tried talking to him, but he’s so scary!”

“He doesn’t seem scary to me…” he muses.

Nie Huaisang looks at him like he’s grown an extra limb.

“Are you kidding me? How did you even meet him, you’ve only been here for less than a day!”

He makes a face.

“Long story,” he says, adding in the privacy of his mind which I’m never going to tell you. “What house is he in, by the way?”

Nie Huaisang, luckily, humours him.

“He’s in Jing House, like me and Huan-ge. All that old architecture, he’ll fit right in. Better than me, anyway.”

Wei Ying ponders this. Something occurs to him.

“Wait - Lan Zhan, like Lan House?”

Jiang Cheng snorts.

“Are you an idiot? Of course Lan Zhan like Lan House. Did you forget that Gusu College was founded by an ancestor of the Lan family, Lan An?”

Wei Ying hadn’t forgotten - he hadn’t known in the first place. It’s Jiang Cheng who forgets sometimes that Wei Ying had spent the first eight years of his life growing up in a world far removed from the old families of the business community. He waves a hand dismissively, then calls out to Lan Zhan.

“Lan Zhan! Why aren’t you in Lan House?”

Lan Zhan shoots him such a venomous glare that he can kind of see where Nie Huaisang is coming from. It’s even more full of hatred than the one from yesterday evening, or perhaps that’s the light. His short response - “Ridiculous.” - is painfully audible to everyone nearby.

“Why is it ridiculous? It was a legitimate question!” he whines.

Nie Huaisang seems shocked by his audacity, but recovers quickly.

“Uhhh… well, Wei-xiong, Lan House is for girls…” he suggests.

“Isn’t it mixed, though?” He’s sure he read that on the school’s website.

“Technically, but everyone knows it’s a girls house really…”

He turns to Jiang Cheng for backup.

“Jiang Cheng, isn’t the Peacock in Lan House though?”

They both shudder, because Yanli-jie is also in Lan House, and while she’s told them he’s nice to her, neither of them really believe her. Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes.

“You know that’s only because he’s spoilt and his mother threatened to reduce his allowance if he didn’t.”

It’s a fair point - but he happens to know that there are a few other boys in Lan House too, though not many. Moreover, Wen Qing and a few other girls are in his house, Ming House, too. She’d told him she preferred the atmosphere. Wen Ning had joined Ming House in order to follow his sister.

“I don’t think it’s ridiculous…” he mutters, but before he can either expound his logic or go to argue with Lan Zhan about it, the teacher arrives to explain the day’s activities.

Starting with a workshop on the school rules and customs. What fun.

---

Anyway, Wei Ying decides that Lan Zhan will be his special friend, and so he makes an effort to get close to him. This is both easy and hard. Hard, because he’s not entirely sure Lan Zhan knows what a friend is. Easy, because he and Lan Zhan are in all the same classes (it’s not his fault and it’s certainly not Lan Zhan’s fault that they’re smarter than almost everyone else in the year, no matter what Jiang Cheng says).

If the teacher allows pupils to choose their own seats, Wei Ying can be found glued to Lan Zhan’s side. If there’s a group project, Wei Ying volunteers immediately to be paired with Lan Zhan. He even does this outside the classroom, when he’s not spending time with Jiang Cheng - on the sports field, in the music practice rooms, the library, the corridors, the dining hall…

The fact that Lan Zhan doesn’t seem interested in actively seeking out company, yet remains too polite and well-bred to tell Wei Ying to get lost even when it’s abundantly clear he would like nothing more, is a bonus.

For example, one time Lan Zhan is studying in the library. Studying! In the library! He’s sure nobody else in Year 9 does - at the very least not until exam season. Wei Ying is only there to print off homework and perhaps choose something to read, to help him procrastinate said homework. (He can’t deny, though, that Lan Zhan’s potential presence was not a motivation in making the trip, which could have been postponed indefinitely otherwise.)

He completes these tasks, before spotting Lan Zhan at a table near the library counter, his books and folders neatly stacked to one side. Wei Ying cannot be held responsible for what happens next.

 He saunters over and taps Lan Zhan on the shoulder from behind, delicately, with one finger only.

Lan Zhan doesn’t move.

Well then.

So he walks around in front of Lan Zhan, planting his hands firmly on top of Lan Zhan’s homework, so that he’ll have no choice but to look at Wei Ying instead. Wei Ying glances quickly to see what, exactly, the nerd is working on.

A language worksheet? Perfect!

Lan Zhan looks up with a glare. Wei Ying laughs - quietly, so they don’t get kicked out - and picks the sheets of paper up to wave in the air.

Lan Zhan turns away, as if denial of his antics will make them stop. It would be a good tactic, perhaps, on anyone else. He knows you’re supposed to ignore bullies and they’ll go away. But Wei Ying is not bullying Lan Zhan - in fact he only has his favourite block of ice’s best interests at heart!

While Lan Zhan is ignoring him, he plops his newly-borrowed manga on top of Lan Zhan’s textbook, then proceeds to pretend to give up, settling down with his own homework at the next table to wait.

Honestly, there’s a slight possibility that Lan Zhan is amazing enough to complete all his homework without needing to look at his textbook, which would spoil the plan. Nevertheless, he keeps his fingers crossed.

Sure enough, perhaps ten minutes later, there’s clatter, and then a shout in what is distinctly Lan Zhan’s voice.

“Wei Ying!”

Everyone looks over. He catches the eyes of the librarian, who glares at him, like he’s the one who made the noise, before standing up to come over.

He turns to Lan Zhan with an innocent expression carefully fitted to his features. It doesn’t last beyond the first glance. He bursts out laughing - okay, he is making quite a lot of noise now, but it’s not his fault - and shuffles his chair over.

Lan Zhan’s chair is overturned on the ground behind him, as he stands with an air of righteous fury.

His friend has dropped the manga on his desk, and is staring at the open pages like it’s the most scandalous thing he’s ever seen.

Perhaps it is? He doubts Old Man Lan has ever let his precious nephews entertain themselves with anything but the highest of arts, and Lan Zhan lacks the initiative to go searching for what the rest of the world enjoys. That’s what he, Wei Ying, is there for, to introduce Lan Zhan to the best of what the modern world has to offer!

He gets his giggles under control just enough to defend himself.

“Haha - Lan Zhan, it’s - ” he wheezes, “it’s - ha - it’s educational!”

Lan Zhan does not look amused; nor does he look persuaded. Wei Ying picks the book up, opens it to a page with more dialogue, and shoves it in Lan Zhan’s face.

“See? It’s in a foreign language! It can help you with your homework!”

That was, after all, the reason he’d given, when a librarian a couple of weeks ago had asked why he was suggesting manga that she thought he wouldn’t be able to read. In fact, he taught himself Japanese in order to read manga, but it sounds better the other way around, in a school like this.

Lan Zhan looks ready to grab the book off Wei Ying and tear the book to pieces. Fortunately for his new acquisition, the librarian - not the judgemental old lady but the cool man, today - chooses that moment to arrive and usher them out of the library. They don’t get any further punishment, because Lan Zhan was the one who broke the rules, and his family are the ones who actually pay for most of the new books.

“How’s that for firsts? First manga, and first time getting kicked out of a library!”

Lan Zhan storms off without a word.

---

The next year, Wei Ying convinces Lan Zhan to bend a rule.

Lan Zhan is really good at athletics, and he seems to like it too. He can beat Wei Ying in a sprint and in a cross country run, but it’s only because he’s temporarily taller than Wei Ying and so his legs are longer. He’s a bit miffed, but he figures it’s nice to be challenged for a change. Lan Zhan had better watch out, because soon Wei Ying will be taller than him, and then he’ll win all their races.

However, most of their allocated sports time is spent on team sports. Lan Zhan… does not really excel in these.

He probably could - he’s fast, and strong, and clever - but whenever he’s placed in a team, he will be given the position that requires the least interaction with its other members. This term, they’re playing hockey, and so Lan Zhan doesn’t even bother to warm up with the rest of them and wait for an assignment. Instead, he goes straight to the shed to get kitted up in his goalkeeper’s gear.

This is also not bullying.

Last year, people had tried to get Lan Zhan more involved. The teachers had tried, Wei Ying had tried, even Jiang Cheng and some of the others had joined in.

(“Awww, Chengcheng is making a friend! This gege is so proud!”

“Shut up! I’m trying to promote good relations between the Lan and Jiang families!”

“You know, that’s the literal definition of friendship, right?”)

After the third time in the row that Lan Zhan had volunteered to be goalkeeper (for football, this time, during their fifth week at the school), Wei Ying had decided to wheedle him into playing a different position. Preferably one where Wei Ying could watch him and talk to him.

He had run over, and proceeded to ramble on at him about why it would be such a good idea for Lan Zhan to change his mind, and all the benefits that forming a closer friendship with him could bring, and hadn’t noticed the way Lan Zhan’s fists had become more and more tightly clenched.

Eventually, the teacher had followed him over, to try and get them both to play again. Wei Ying had volunteered to play goalkeeper so Lan Zhan could go on the field for real, the teacher had said what a good idea it was and had tried to push them both in the right direction, and Lan Zhan had promptly burst into tears.

Well. Perhaps burst wasn’t the right word. Elegantly sniffled a couple of times.

It was at this point that Wei Ying noticed the clenched fists and the face that was more expressive than he’d ever seen it before.

As he began mentally kicking himself, the teacher had awkwardly told Lan Zhan that he didn’t have to play today, and perhaps he should actually go and sit on the side and have some time to himself.

That evening, after dinner, he had talked to Lan Huan for the first time. Lan Huan had explained to him that his little brother found social situations overwhelming and stressful, and team sports even more so because of the necessity of communication and the expectation of success. Wei Ying hadn’t really understood, but he figured Lan Zhan’s ge knew what he was talking about. Lan Huan had also threatened to end Wei Ying if he made Lan Zhan cry again, although he hadn’t said it so explicitly.

Needless to say, from then on, Wei Ying had become the champion of Lan Zhan’s right to play the most isolated position possible in any given sport. Not because Lan Huan had threatened him! Because you can’t make friends with someone if you make them cry all the time.

Today, it occurs to him to ask Lan Zhan if he actually likes playing goalie for both football and hockey. Wei Ying has volunteered to play defence, and the ball is at the other end of the pitch, so they have time to chat.

Lan Zhan goes quiet in a way that says, not really - at least, that’s Wei Ying interpretation.

“You really don’t? But then why do you do hockey at all?”

Lan Zhan glares at him, like he’s said something stupid. Wei Ying thinks it’s a valid question.

“No really, Lan Zhan! If you don’t like being goalie, and you hate all the other positions, what’s the point? Can’t you just stick to running or something?”

The glare fades by .000000001%.

“Pupils are required to sign up for at least one team sport each term, and attend practice every week.”

Wei Ying didn’t know that. He, personally, enjoys sports more than lessons, and has never looked for a way out. However, he knows one must exist, because Nie Huaisang is not here - and never is, when ‘here’ is the sports pitches - but he never gets in trouble for it.

“Huh,” Wei Ying says, intelligently. Perhaps Nie Huaisang is just sneaky enough to convince everyone he comes each week? Lan Zhan is clever, and his brother has been at the school for years, and surely he’d know if there were a way.

He resolves to ask Nie Huaisang next time he sees him, and turns his attention back to the practice match just in time to see that he needs to sprint up the pitch to intercept the ball, which he does with a quick smile backwards.

---

So it turns out the Nie Huaisang is being a bit sneaky, but it’s technically allowed.

What he does is sign up for a sixth-form club that runs at the same time as the junior sports sessions on a Tuesday (for which he acquired permission from his housemaster), and then has fixed his weekly LAMDA lessons so that they coincide with Thursday’s sessions.

“And then you see, Wei-xiong, if anyone asks me why I’m not at hockey on a Thursday, I say that it clashes with my drama lesson, and my drama lesson takes priority because my parents are paying extra for it! And then nobody argues, and I’m left in peace and quiet. You won’t argue, will you, Wei-xiong?”

Wei Ying is fairly sure that you’re not allowed to fix your drama, music, or other extra-curricular lessons at a particular time until you’re in Lower Sixth, but whatever.

“Well, Nie-xiong, I can’t argue that your excuses are well-thought-out and extremely waterproof, but I can argue about peace and quiet. Quiet, yes, but peaceful?” They glance at each other conspiratorially, and burst into giggles.

---

So when the time comes for them to sign up for the next term’s sports - he and most of his friends are going for cricket - Wei Ying goes to find Lan Zhan and suggests that he could have ask to have his piano and his violin lessons on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons respectively. He’s been observing the music school timetables for a few weeks, just in case, and he knows that no other pupils have their lessons at that time every week. Lan Zhan could probably say that he wants hour-long lessons, instead of the standard half-hour (it’s true, anyway, Lan Zhan had told him), but that he doesn’t think it would be a good idea to miss that many of his academic lessons.

(It had taken him a while to actually find the correct timetables - it’s not even a specialist music school, why do they even need two violin teachers and three piano teachers? There’s only one flute teacher, but that might be because aside from Wei Ying there are only four other flautists in the school.)

It's believable, and like all the best lies, it’s based on a truth, and Wei Ying knows that Lan Zhan prefers music to sport anyway, so he’s actually doing Lan Zhan a double favour here. Triple, because if it works Wei Ying will be sacrificing a significant portion of the time he spends with Lan Zhan.

After he makes his suggestion, he glances across at Lan Zhan who’s sat beside him. Lan Zhan looks stunned.

And then it happens.

Lan Zhan smiles.

Wow.

“Thanks, Wei Ying,” he murmurs, and it might honestly be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to him, because that smile, however small it might be, is overflowing with sincerity.

Wei Ying absolutely has to make Lan Zhan smile again.

Wow.

Coincidentally, at some point at the start of the next term, he’s chatting at Lan Zhan and his older brother, who’s come to eat with them, and said older brother says,

“Any friend of Lan Zhan’s is my friend too! Call me Huan-ge.”

Well. Okay then.

---

PSHE is the bane of any student’s existence. It’s a fact of life. Every week of term time, whatever school year the student is in, it is mandated that they should sit down with their classmates for an hour to learn about or discuss a narrow range of topics that still manage to include everything from the boring to the unsettling to the ridiculous.

Nobody pays attention all the time - this is another fact. If the student is hardworking, they’ll stop listening sooner than the rest, because they’ll have taken in everything there is to know about a particular subject the first time it comes up.

Most students listen with their ears half-open while they banter surreptitiously, straining to pick up the keywords that are guaranteed to make any immature teenager snigger.

Wei Ying is not sure exactly how Lan Zhan fits into this universal truth, because every time he glances at him he has the same expression, and moreover it’s the same one he’s seen on his face in any vaguely academic setting since their very first day in Year 9.

The point is that Wei Ying never even pays attention to the schedule for PSHE sessions anymore. After all, there’s rarely anything new. At the start of Year 11 the topics of ‘revision’, ‘study skills’ and the like had been added to the rota, and people had even focused for a while - partly because it was new, and partly because more than half of his classmates suddenly realised that GCSEs would be upon them in less than a year.

Encouraged by this success, the whole Michaelmas Term for them had been filled with PSHE sessions on nothing but how to study well, how to remember things, how to make the most of their time, and so on and so on. Everyone had quickly stopped listening again.

Granted, perhaps the ‘how to remember things’ could be useful to Wei Ying outside the classroom.

After their first PSHE session of the Lent Term, however, Wei Ying feels persecuted by its existence for another reason. He leaves the theatre where the session took place without saying hi to Lan Zhan or even looking to see what he thought. He definitely doesn’t wait for Jiang Cheng or Nie Huaisang, who he’d been sitting with. Instead, he goes to find his sister.

She’s in the middle of her mock A Levels this week, but she’s the best and always has time for him - she even said so.

“Jiejie, why would one person like another? You know what I mean. I don’t understaaaand,” he whines into the hug she’d greeted him with.

She’s surprised but doesn’t push him off or even bat an eyelid, as far as he can tell. Proof once again that she’s the best, if he needs it.

The thing is, PSHE this week had been an introduction to the LGBTQ+ community - something which the school hadn’t deemed important enough to teach them about before now. Wei Ying’s not stupid, he’s known of the existence of words like ‘gay’ for years now, and even that there are people in the world whom they describe.

It’s just… he hadn’t really come across them in a context where they could apply to him before? He’s feeling confused, and he doesn’t like it.

They sit down on a sofa in her common room. After thinking for a few seconds, she asks,

“Why are you asking, A-Ying? Is there someone you like?”

“No!” he blurts out quickly - too quickly for Jiang Cheng, who’d managed to sneak up behind him at some point.

“He’s in denial, a-jie,” Jiang Cheng snorts.

“I am not!” he says, outraged, because he’s too confused to think of a smarter reply. Instead, he supplements it by whacking his brother on the head, and Jiang Cheng pokes him back, and they’re about to start wrestling right there before Yanli-jie stops them with a gentle admonition.

Turning back to focus on him, she looks almost worried.

“You know, A-Ying, we’d support you no matter who you liked, right?” she says softly.

He can feel his eyes burn a little as he nods, even though he doesn’t like anyone, because what is a person supposed to do when faced with such a perfect sister? He goes to hug her again, tighter.

“Well?”

Jiang Cheng always knows how to spoil the moment.

“Well what?” he says against Yanli-jie’s chest.

“Now that a-jie’s said that, aren’t you going to tell us who you like?”

For the love of -

“I don’t like anyone!” he protests again, louder.

He’s even fairly sure of this point. For all that he’d been teased about Mianmian, he’d never seen her as more than a good friend - not even a special friend, like Wen Qing or Lan Zhan.

“I believe you, A-Ying,” his sister says, while frowning at Jiang Cheng.

“What? It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“Who do you like then?” he asks, attempting to redirect the conversation.

Jiang Cheng goes bright red and clamps his lips shut.

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about!” he parrots at his brother, dodging a smack. “Your jiejie and gege will love you no matter what!”

After a pause Jiang Cheng mutters something that sounds like ‘boy’. Any and all boys, or one boy in particular? Wei Ying will have to investigate. His sister goes to hug Jiang Cheng instead.

“Me too!” she chirps, as if they aren’t both painfully aware of her unrequited crush on the Peacock. He catches Jiang Cheng’s eyes and they both scowl.

“Alright, alright,” she scolds them. “He’s been getting better recently. He’s even helping me study sometimes.”

As if that can make up for the many times he made her cry. She takes one look at their faces, still unconvinced, and sighs.

“I’m proud of you for telling us, A-Cheng,” she says, realising that she won’t be able to change their minds about this so easily.

Jiang Cheng, curse him, takes the distraction.

“Thanks, a-jie,” he mumbles, then turns to Wei Ying. “See, you dumb moron, how hard is it to admit that you like Lan Zhan?”

That is not what he had been expecting.

“But I don’t!” he says. “Jiejie believes me, don’t you?”

She is the best, and nods, even though he can see the curiosity on her face too.

“Don’t you think I like girls though? You teased me about Mianmian too!” he says to Jiang Cheng.

“It’s called being bisexual, idiot. You can like both. Were you even listening in PSHE?”

The question, as far as he can tell, is rhetorical, since they’d been sitting next to each other.

“More than you, anyway,” he retorts. “And I’m not. Bisexual, that is. Jiejie, make him stop,” he pouts, receiving an indulgent smile in return.

The subject is soon dropped, for which he’ll never stop being grateful to Yanli-jie, but he doesn’t stop thinking about it. It sits in his mind like a lump of oddly-shaped cold stone, and he turns it over and over as Yanli-jie goes to her house kitchen to cook them soup, as he tries to distract Lan Zhan with little success during their lessons together, and even into exam season and the summer beyond.

He’s not bi - is he? He doesn’t think he has a crush on anyone, but if he does it’s probably Lan Zhan. Does that make him gay? But he’s already had a girlfriend, so does that mean he is bi after all? He doesn’t have anything against girls or boys, and theoretically he’d be happy to go out with either gender. But practically?

He doesn’t know.

---

He amends this to any gender, after Nie Huaisang comes out as non-binary, not that he’s interested in them in particular.

On a side note, PSHE really is rubbish - the short LGBTQ+ course had touched on trans people only briefly, and the teacher’s disapproval had been abundantly clear. It had taken Huaisang months of questioning their gender and researching in their free time to learn enough to be confident in their identity.

Huaisang hasn’t told many people yet, either, unsure about how the declaration will be taken. Thankfully, all of their friends are supportive and trying to understand, at the very least - and their brother as well, after they’d mustered the courage to bring it up. In fact, Mingjue-ge is even more protective of his younger sibling now, if anything. Huaisang is lucky to have him.

---

There’s a tradition at Gusu College - well, there are several, it comes with the overall venerability of the place. But this particular tradition is that the students, at the start of their Lower Sixth year and A-Level career, will have an informal, unsupervised dinner together, before going to the sports fields to hang out and get drunk.

The teachers almost certainly don’t know about this part of the tradition, otherwise they would surely have put a stop to it. Anyone caught with alcohol or drugs is usually dealt with swiftly, generally facing suspension or expulsion.

On the other hand, perhaps it’s allowed to continue because the majority of the year group gets involved, and if they’re all expelled, it wouldn’t be much of a school.

Wei Ying is looking forward to it. He’d been tiptoeing around Madame Yu all summer, since she’d been in ill health and this had made her even more irritable than normal. Jiang Cheng had also been worried about her, and this made him also less tolerant of Wei Ying’s antics.

He just wants to unwind and have fun without being judged.

Lan Zhan would probably judge him, but he highly doubts that Lan Zhan is aware of what’s going down tonight, and it’s even less likely that Lan Zhan will want to join them anyway.

But first, he has to get through the dinner. He arrives with some other people from his house, among them Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang. The latter had decided to switch houses after they’d come out publicly when GCSEs were over. Jing House and its rampant masculinity hadn’t suited them, and a lot of their friends, Wei Ying included, are in Ming House.

It’s not that dinner will be boring, as such; he hasn’t been able to catch up with many of his friends yet, and everyone has stories to tell about their holidays. He’s currently chatting to Wen Ning about what he and his sister got up to, and about her preparation for med school - her term hasn’t started yet, but apparently she’s already working harder than ever.

He’s heard a lot of these things from Wen Qing already - they don’t text everyday like they did after she left Lotus Pier Prep, but it’s a close thing. She tends to phrase the tales rather differently, of course. He would have liked to visit them both, but Madame Yu doesn’t approve of their family, so he didn’t even ask. He didn’t sneak out, either, because someone would surely have noticed his absence and told her.

Instead, the only fellow students he’d seen all summer were Jin Zixuan and Nie Huaisang; he’d spent the rest of the time with Jiang Cheng or Yanli-jie. He’d also done a lot more painting than normal, especially when Jin Zixuan was around.

Everyone knows that Madame Yu and Madame Jin want their children to get married when they’re old enough, and it seems like the Peacock has finally got his head out of his arse and is taking more of an interest in his jiejie. Still, he didn’t quite trust that Jin Zixuan isn’t going to make Yanli-jie cry again.

Therefore, he found himself often painting trees in the park which Madame Jin had suggested to her son as a good location for a date; or going into town to gain more experience at life drawing - since he’d already done portraits of everyone on the estate - at times that seemed to coincide with the couple’s excursions.

He never had to intervene, fortunately or not, but Yanli-jie had never actually told him to stop, despite reassuring both him and Jiang Cheng that the Peacock really had changed. Incidentally, he’s been feeling more and more comfortable drawing recently.

Perhaps he should have chosen Art as one of his A Level options… but Engineering was already pushing a lot of boundaries, even if he wasn’t expected to take up as important a position as Jiang Cheng in the family business.

It’s never been explicitly stated, but he knows Uncle Jiang wants him to be Jiang Cheng’s right-hand man, just as Wei Ying’s father had been to Uncle Jiang. It’s a great opportunity, both to advance his own career and to repay the Jiangs for taking him in. He and Jiang Cheng had made a promise to stick together.

Even if he can’t exactly see himself in the role. There are still two years before he has to worry about that, but Jiang Cheng is already starting to be mindful of his image and won’t fool around with him so often.

Huaisang starts recounting one of their misadventures from their stay at the Jiang estate, and he turns back to the conversation as they all sit down at the tables in the dining hall with their food.

The Nie family is almost as well-respected as the Jiang family within the business community, and so Madame Yu had no real grounds to deny Mingjue-ge’s request that his sibling be allowed to visit for a couple of weeks. However, it was mortifyingly obvious she disapproved of them now, although she hadn’t minded them in the past. Much to their credit, Huaisang had pretended that nothing was out of the ordinary.

Incidentally, Huaisang is almost certainly the one who’ll be providing all the alcohol later, but whenever someone brings it up, they deny all knowledge and look innocently confused. It’s hilarious.

Wei Ying is probing Huaisang again to see if he can get them to slip up, with very little success, when he looks up and sees Lan Zhan staring at him, from his position at a table across the hall by himself.

He’s still a bit upset over Lan Zhan’s chastising words at Results Day last month, otherwise he’d have dragged his friend over to sit with them, but there’s no time like the present, so he waves enthusiastically and calls,

“Lan-er-gege! Good holiday? Will you be joining us later?”

Lan Zhan doesn’t respond, which is hardly surprising but still disappointing. Some of his friends level betrayed glances at him. Wen Ning looks adorably confused. Jiang Cheng mutters something along the lines of ‘here-we-fucking-go-again’ and Huaisang perks up, the way they do when they think they’re hearing some juicy gossip.

“Wei-xiong, you mean he didn’t visit you over the summer like I did?”

Huaisang undoubtedly already knows the answer to this.

“Why would he? Can you imagine Lan Zhan having fun in Yunmeng, with all the spicy food? Anyway, he was probably too busy with extra homework or music practice or something.”

Before Huaisang can say whatever’s on the tip of their tongue, though, Jiang Cheng says under his breath,

“Jin Zixuan got his shit together, now it’s your turn.”

He hears the implication clearly, because needling him about this seems to be one of Jiang Cheng’s new favourite activities in the past six months. The implication is that Wei Ying is in love with Lan Zhan, and if he wasn’t so strongly in denial, he could have invited him over.

Wei Ying does enjoy spending time with Lan Zhan, even if he seems boring, but he’s not sure he has a crush on him. He’s not even sure he’s gay, although that conversation with Yanli-jie and Jiang Cheng last year had left him doubting.

But Jiang Cheng is operating under the assumption that Lan Zhan would come if invited, which directly contradicts what Jiang Cheng always says - how Lan Zhan must hate Wei Ying for bothering him so often.

There’s no point dwelling on this, however, since the question never arose. He responds with an airy,

“Chengcheng, does this mean you care about me?! This gege is so happy!”

This inevitably leads into a round of playfighting, with Huaisang complaining about being caught in the middle, and the subject is thankfully dropped.

---

Much to his surprised, he sees Lan Zhan waiting by the exit of the dining hall. To his even greater surprise, Lan Zhan seems to be waiting for him, since he says,

“Wei Ying. I will come.”

His friends move past him, sniggering. Wei Ying is too shocked to even call out to them.

“Lan Zhan! You- do you even know where we’re going?”

“Mn. Brother warned me.”

This choice of words has Wei Ying doubling over in laughter. Why does nobody ever believe him when he says Lan Zhan is funny?

Once he can breathe again, he gestures to the path and they trail after the others to the sports fields. Wei Ying engages him in one-sided conversation all the way there, telling him about his holiday, that time he and Huaisang had snuck into the kitchen, and his excitement about the coming year.

When they arrive, most people already have a drink of something or other, and Wei Ying scans the crowd to check that Wen Ning hadn’t come too, because much like Huan-ge had warned Lan Zhan, Wen Qing had threatened to tear him limb from limb if he let her brother get drunk.

She’d also hinted that the best way to ensure Wen Ning’s, and consequently his own, safety would be to escort him back to house himself, but he wouldn’t miss this for the world.

Mianmian appears and hands Wei Ying a bottle of beer. She looks uncertainly at Lan Zhan, who solves the problem by extending his hand for a bottle of his own.

He’s never seen Lan Zhan drink alcohol before! Wei Ying thought he would be the type to stay clear of anything even mildly against the rules - he always has before, after all. This evening is going to be so fun!

---

The evening is not fun.

Wei Ying doesn’t get to drink more than just enough to make him pleasantly tipsy, because when Lan Zhan does eventually take a sip, he falls asleep almost instantaneously. Since he came with Wei Ying, it is deemed that Wei Ying should look after him until he can be woken, and then take him back to his room. It is deemed by Huaisang specifically, while they’re making their rounds, and he very much does not like the scheming look in his friend’s eyes.

Taking Lan Zhan back to his room proves to be harder than it sounds. Lan Zhan does not seem to object to being led towards the main school by Wei Ying, but when he spies the dining hall he decides that he wants to cook something for Wei Ying.

Needless to say, Wei Ying will not let him use the school kitchens without permission or in this state, but… he kind of does want to try Lan Zhan’s food.

“I promise I’ll eat your food another day!” he tells Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan honest-to-god pouts. Pouts. It’s easily the most expression Wei Ying has ever seen on his face.

“Now.”

“Lan Zhan, not now! I’m not hungry, we just had dinner!”

“Snack.”

Time to change tack.

“In fact, not only am I not hungry, I am actually extremely tired! I’d probably fall asleep before you finish cooking, and then it’ll be wasted. You don’t want to waste food, right? You’re a good boy. Another day, yeah?”

This makes Lan Zhan frown, and then walk very quickly towards the houses. Wei Ying gets whiplash from the sudden change in direction and has to run to catch up.

It becomes clear soon enough that Lan Zhan is heading towards Wei Ying’s house, rather than his own, but when he tries to turn Lan Zhan around, all he says is,

“Wei Ying should rest.”

Wei Ying is not, in fact, tired, despite what he said, and it is Lan Zhan who needs to rest, but he is beginning to suspect that explaining this would not help in the slightest. Instead, he says the first thing that comes into his mind:

“But Lan Zhan, I want to sleep in your room!”

Lan Zhan gasps softly and turns on his heel, heading in the right direction this time. Thank goodness. He’s not sure why that was so effective, but he’s not questioning it.

When they get there, Lan Zhan makes Wei Ying lie down on his bed, before he even considers getting in himself. Wei Ying’s attempts to resist are met with Lan Zhan’s unreal arm strength - it must be a musician thing - and so he complies, resolving to sneak out as soon as Lan Zhan is asleep. It’s getting close to Lan Zhan’s normal bedtime, so it won’t be long, he reckons.

The next morning, he sees Lan Zhan at breakfast, and tries not to be disappointed when Lan Zhan doesn’t seem to remember the previous evening. He’ll just have to find another way to get Lan Zhan to cook for him.

---

Wei Ying barely manages to manoeuvre Madame Yu into a deserted classroom, away from the main hall where the first parent-teacher evening of his Upper Sixth year is still in full swing, before she starts yelling at him.

He’d known it was coming, ever since not one, not even two, but four of the teachers he shared with Jiang Cheng had praised Wei Ying in the most glowing terms and only tacked on a few sentences about Jiang Cheng as an afterthought.

It’s only a few weeks into the academic year, and they’re already playing favourites. Can’t they restrain themselves a little?

Trying to direct the conversation away from his prowess at Maths, or Business Studies, or Economics, had proved ineffective. Jiang Cheng didn’t take Engineering, so at least Madame Yu hadn’t gone to talk to his teachers in that subject.

In a last-ditch attempt to escape her notice, he’d spied Huaisang over by the refreshments and gone to join them, certain that she wouldn’t follow. He’d spent a good half an hour socialising, before he’d looked over at her again and realised that if he didn’t move, she’d just start laying into him right where they were.

She’d been casting increasingly hostile glances in his direction ever since he was chosen as House Prefect, an appointment that was as much of a surprise to him as to the entire student population apart from Lan Zhan. Wei Ying himself had thought the position would go to Jiang Cheng, who after all had a much better track record of staying out of trouble.

But no, apparently Wei Ying is a better role model for the other students in his house. Something about perseverance and care for his fellows? He doesn’t really understand it.

Lan Zhan now - when it was announced he’d be Prefect for his own house, nobody had been surprised in the slightest.

Madame Yu had made it very clear that she would have preferred her own son to be chosen, and for once Wei Ying had agreed with her. Ironically, neither of them could do anything about it. He’d asked his House Master, a young Mr. Cheng, and Jiang Cheng had apparently been much further down the list of potential Prefects for some reason. Better that Jiang Cheng should lose out to him, so that he and not Jiang Cheng could be the subject of Madame Yu’s ire.

This evening had just been the final straw.

Wei Ying notices with an odd sense of detachment that she’s screaming so loudly it drowns out most of the noise filtering down the corridor. He’s lucky nobody else is around.

It’s her normal rant, just in greater quantity and at a louder volume. Ungrateful, should never have taken you in, curse Fengmian’s weak heart - he’s heard it all before.

She’s never raised a hand to him, although he thinks she may have come close once or twice when he was younger. The words aren’t so bad. He’s lucky. Many orphans are never adopted at all. He’s learned to deal with it.

“How dare you think you can upstage A-Cheng, you brat? Because of you, people in the company are daring to question his right to succeed his own father. I told Fengmian we should have thought twice before taking such a parasite in, but his misplaced compassion wouldn’t allow him to ignore the plight of his former friend’s whelp.”

Wei Ying had been distancing himself somewhat from the Jiang business in an attempt to dissuade that kind of talk, and as a consequence he’d been unaware it was already present. He keeps his expression neutral - not blank, since that would only cause her to shout at him for not paying attention too.

“This can’t go on, do you hear me? Do you? Otherwise you’ll be lucky if I don’t kick you out straight away.”

In a voice he doesn’t recognise as his own, he asks,

“What should I do then, Madame Yu?”

She harrumphs.

“What you should do, boy, is leave and never come back, but I doubt Fengmian would let you go without a fuss. So long as you don’t surpass A-Cheng in school for the rest of the year, his position should be safe.”

He says nothing. He’d thrown his GCSEs too, without being prompted - he’d figured that since they hardly mattered anyway in the grand scheme of things, it would be a worthwhile trade for a summer of peace.

Only, his summer hadn’t been peaceful, and the act itself had left a sour taste in his mouth, that had only grown with each exam. Even worse, Lan Zhan…

Lan Zhan had come up to him on results day and inquired after his grades. When Wei Ying had shown him his list of Bs and Cs, Lan Zhan had said,

“If Wei Ying paid more attention in class, you would get better grades.”

Wei Ying had plastered a fake smile on his face, told Lan Zhan that of course he was right, and held in his tears until he reached a deserted bathroom.

A Levels are much more important than GCSEs. If he wants to get into a good university, he’ll need good grades. It would be difficult to calculate his responses in the exams precisely enough to stay just a smidgeon below Jiang Cheng. He can’t do any less than his best in class, either, because the teachers would notice and ask why.

But in the absence of a better plan, there’s nothing else to be said. He signals his assent, and Madame Yu strides out without a backwards glance. He sits for a while to gather his thoughts, before rejoining the crowd of students and parents in the main hall.

---

He lies awake that night, turning over possibilities in his head, as the sounds of his friends’ laughter from the surrounding rooms shifts to preparation for sleep and then to silence. He’d gone to bed early. The only thing that improved his mood had been the worried look on Jiang Cheng’s face and the muffled “Sleep well, idiot”, which was the closest his brother ever came to showing his care.

It’s a hard problem to solve. He really wants to do well this year, to show what he’s capable of and that he’s earned his position as House Prefect. He also knows with absolute certainty that Madame Yu will follow through on her earlier threat, so he can’t just ignore it until it goes away, his favourite strategy.

The answer strikes him in a flash of inspiration. The only solution he can see is to not be in Jiang Cheng’s classes. He can’t drop them all, so he’ll keep Maths, which is Jiang Cheng’s strongest subject, and the only one he can keep up with Wei Ying in. He can continue with Engineering, since Jiang Cheng doesn’t take that. Business Studies and Economics can go, and he’ll replace them with Art.

This part of the plan works well, since it’s widely known that he already spends a lot of time in the art department, and it’s a plausible reason for dropping two subjects that he was doing well in. He’ll need all the spare time he can get to catch up on two years’ worth of work, after all.

He’s certain that he can convince his academic tutor, too - he’s very persuasive. It’s very late to be reshuffling like this, but he’ll make it work. For a start, he knows the exams haven’t been booked yet. Madame Yu will still be angry, but she doesn’t consider Art or Engineering to be real or appropriate subjects anyway, so in her eyes Wei Ying will be sabotaging his own future even if he gets good grades. Her main worry will be that he’s losing face for the family, but this will be balanced by the opportunities it will afford her to say ‘I told you this brat was no good’ to all her acquaintances.

And perhaps - perhaps if he wants to take his little rebellion one step further, he can change his half-drafted university application too. He can’t deny that he would feel relieved to escape the cut-throat world of business, but Jiang Cheng would feel so angry and betrayed. Is it worth it?

He falls asleep pondering this question.

---

Wei Ying is taking a break from unpacking. It’s only Lent half-term, so he’s allowed to leave a lot of his things in his room at school. However, in addition to his normal load, he’s got a big bag with his portfolios and another with actual schoolwork.

Him studying for exams? Unheard of, but perhaps it’s time he starts.

Those two bags are now unpacked but not sorted away; the miscellaneous clutter has been moved to miscellaneous corners of his room, and all that’s left are the clothes he packed. One week’s worth of clothes is not that much, and could be unpacked in no time at all, but try telling that to his over-exhausted brain.

It’s not that schoolwork has been harder, or that he’s been spending more time studying. It’s just the general atmosphere of gloom that lingers over the Upper Sixth in particular, but also over all the other students who are tired of the horrible British winter. As House Prefect, he’s expended a lot of energy trying to battle this unholy miasma, and as a result, his defences are lower than ever.

He deserves a nap.

It is, of course, at this point that Jiang Cheng, his beloved little brother, barges into his room.

“Wei Ying, let me borrow your maths notes from last week!”

He’s studying already? Good for him. Get out of my room and let me sleep.

That’s not entirely fair, though, since Jiang Cheng has been really feeling the pressure, more than anyone. This may or may not be because of several terse conversations with his mother that Wei Ying had not been supposed to overhear; they amounted to ‘this year is your one chance to prove to your family and future business that you are not a disappointment’.

Wei Ying really can’t complain about Madame Yu’s treatment of him, since she’s equally harsh on all her children.

It is in this spirit of compassion and camaraderie that Wei Ying makes a big mistake: he waves a hand in the general direction of his desk.

The desk with all the papers he brought home from school on it.

“You haven’t finished unpacking yet? Lame,” snorts his brother.

“My dearest A-Cheng, not everything is a competition,” he sighs. There’s the noise of rustling, and then -

“Actual letters? How old fashioned,” Jiang Cheng comments, unnecessarily. “Where are they from? Ooh, Lanling University? Yiling? Are these your offer letters?”

With a sinking feeling of dread, Wei Ying realises that they are. He brought them home in case he felt like reading all the small print. He gets up.

“Hands off, didn’t your mother tell you it’s rude to read other people’s correspondence?”

But he sees that Jiang Cheng has already opened the first, unfolding the paper before Wei Ying can reach him.

A few seconds pass by.

Perhaps he won’t notice? Jiang Cheng can be really unobservant sometimes. It’ll be fine.

“Wei Ying.”

It’s not fine.

“Why do you have an offer from Lanling to study Fine Arts?”

Well shit. Time to deflect.

“Don’t you know how the application process works, Chengcheng? When someone as overwhelmingly talented as me applies to a university such as Lanling, they make you an offer, and - ”

“Fine. Arts.”

So that didn’t work.

“Naturally, since I applied for Fine Arts, they won’t offer me a place to study Biochemistry, right?”

He watches as the emotional gears turn on Jiang Cheng’s face. First there’s confusion, which is quickly eclipsed by betrayal, before he settles - like clockwork - on anger.

Wei Ying swallows. Yanli-jie’s not at home, as an outstanding university student herself she doesn’t get half terms. He’s going to have to weather this storm alone.

“What about Business? Without a Business degree, nobody’s going to let you work in Dad’s company, even if you are his adopted son.”

Adopted son, yeah. Was that distinction really necessary? Wei Ying is suddenly even more tired.

“I know, alright, I know,” he says.

This particular path was always a gamble - risk being kicked out of the Jiang family for overshadowing his brother, and risk being cut out of his siblings’ lives, or hope that Jiang Cheng doesn’t hate him for breaking their promise to study together and join the company together.

That hope seems very distant, at this moment.

“You - you don’t want to work in Dad’s company? After everything we’ve done for you? Are you really that selfish?”

And now he’s starting to sound like his mother. Great. Wei Ying knows that, underneath the anger and the harsh words, Jiang Cheng is hurting, and that hurts Wei Ying more than the words being thrown at him.

“I mean, I always knew you were an idiot, and I always knew you liked your stupid art, but I didn’t think you were this stupid. Don’t come crying to me when you leave uni with no job and a whole load of student debt, I won’t give you a thing.”

If this were a normal argument, he’d respond by saying ‘jiejie would’, and sticking his tongue out. He stays silent.

The lack of reaction seems to infuriate Jiang Cheng. But really, what is his brother expecting? Remorse? For him to decline all those offers and make a late application to a second-rate university so that he can keep the second part of the promise at least? It won’t happen, and they both know it.

Jiang Cheng tears the letter from Lanling - the one that he’s holding - in half, and again, and again, as if one act of vandalism isn’t enough to properly convey his sentiments. Wei Ying snatches the others away before he can finish. Thank goodness for UCAS. He isn’t planning on accepting Lanling anyway - the cost of living there is too high. Whatever.

“Jiang Cheng - ”

The sound of two doors slamming. From the room next door, stifled, ugly sobbing.

He’s left alone in his own room, paper floating to the floor, and wonders if he can stay in there the whole week. He dismisses the thought - Jiang Cheng would probably just shout at him through the door.

He considers texting someone. Jiejie? He can’t make her pick a side this time, and he can’t deal with her disappointment too - in his decision, or in his inability to get along with his brother, it doesn’t matter.

Lan Zhan? He doesn’t want to distract him, since he’s beyond a shadow of doubt already revising.

Wen Qing? He hasn’t really come to her with a problem of his own accord before, but he thinks she’d understand if he did, for once. What are special friends for, after all? But as a med student, she’s always busy, and she has her own problems to deal with.

Perhaps he will, perhaps he won’t.

He finds the godforsaken maths notes, shuffles them into a neat pile, and puts them on top of his desk, to be slipped under his brother’s door later.

For now, sleep.

---

The tension between him and Jiang Cheng remains, even after they return to school. It’s nothing he can’t deal with, but now and then he finds himself wanting an escape from the sulking and the cutting words.

That’s why, when Lan Zhan suggests they play some duets together again, Wei Ying doesn’t even have to think about it before agreeing.

Although art’s always been his favourite, Wei Ying loves doing anything creative - it allows him to channel his energy into something beautiful and purposeful. He feels less like a cloud of overenergetic gas particles, and more like a focused beam of light.

Perhaps the similes need some work.

Okay, so he might even enjoy creative writing, but that doesn’t mean he’s good at it.

Lately, though, art has become less of a retreat and more of a stressor, with coursework deadlines approaching. Music is his second-favourite, so it’s honestly a wonder that he hadn’t thought of it before.

Wei Ying is always the one who suggests they play music together. Normally, it takes a whole lot of nagging to get Lan Zhan to agree too. Of course they play in the school orchestra together, but it’s not the same - Lan Zhan is half a room away, on the very front desk of the first violins, because obviously he’s the best violinist in the school and so gets to be leader.

Once or twice a term, sometimes more, Wei Ying will beg Lan Zhan, who will eventually give in because they’re friends, and they’ll play music together. Sometimes Lan Zhan will accompany Wei Ying on the piano, and they’ll play through whatever he’s learning on the flute at the moment. Sometimes they’ll find anything that can be played as a duet between violin and flute. There’s a lot of Baroque stuff for unspecified instruments, but sometimes Wei Ying will get his hands on cheap books of musical numbers or pop songs arranged for two instruments.

Perhaps that’s why Lan Zhan is always a bit wary.

Today is Saturday morning, which means that as Prefects he and Lan Zhan have both just finished guiding their houses to and from their correct seats in the assembly hall.

Isn’t being a Prefect supposed to be a privilege? Why do they make them do work like this? It’s so unnecessary.

It being Saturday also means that they both have free periods next, although some year groups and subjects do have classes to get to. Wei Ying waves condescendingly at the poor bastards as they file out of the hall, smirking as one catches his eye.

Lan Zhan clears his throat.

“Wei Ying,” he says.

“Present!” he jokes, because another of their thankless tasks is to take the rollcall in their houses from time to time, when the teachers are busy. Lan Zhan gives him a look that says, you’re ridiculous, but I will not mention it because we are friends. Again, Wei Ying’s interpretation only, no guarantees.

“Yeah? What is it, Lan Zhan?”

After a moment, he reaches into his bag and hands something to Wei Ying.

“I have found a copy of Telemann’s Canonic Sonatas. Would you like to play them with me?”

Sure enough, Wei Ying is now holding a copy of Telemann’s Canonic Sonatas. He’s heard of them, but never played any.

“Sure thing, Lan Zhan!” It’s unheard of for Lan Zhan to ask him to play duets, so of course Wei Ying has to agree, even if Telemann isn’t his favourite composer. He opens the cover and takes a look at the first. It looks like it’s written as a solo, but… yeah, there’s the little symbol that shows when the second player should enter. It seems fun.

“Let’s go,” Lan Zhan says, before gathering his things and walking in what is presumably the direction of the music school.

“Wait, right now? I thought you meant, like, after dinner or something!”

Lan Zhan pauses and looks back at him.

“Now. You are not busy, are you?”

Not exactly - he’d been planning to use his free periods to go to the art school, but he could do that another time.

“Okay then! Let’s go!”

He wonders where Lan Zhan’s sudden enthusiasm comes from, but decides it doesn’t matter. His day is already looking brighter.

Telemann, here we come!

---

Because Gusu College is Gusu College, they hold a Leavers’ Ball as opposed to a prom. Unlike the dinner at the start of Lower Sixth, all those in attendance are also graciously permitted to drink, although the alcohol each person may have is theoretically controlled.

And what better way to increase the prestige of the event than to allow each leaver to invite up to two guests, who generally turn out to be some of the richest people in the area? Even better, these people will happily pay for tickets to attend the event, since their children are brainwashed into thinking it will be the highlight of their school careers.

Uncle Jiang and Madame Yu had not even blinked before spending a ridiculous amount of money for the privilege to accompany their son (Jiang Cheng, of course, Wei Ying is adopted, and wouldn’t have asked them anyway) to what will probably be the most boring party Wei Ying has ever gone to.

Wei Ying had offered to buy Yanli-jie’s ticket, but she had insisted on paying for her own, just as she’d insisted that Wei Ying invite her as his guest. Up until that point, Wei Ying had been planning to find the few others who were attending on their own (mostly the children of foreign businessmen who were too busy to travel halfway across the world for one night), as soon as it would be polite to leave the dinner table.

Because a four-course meal is somehow also an essential part of a Leavers’ Ball.

Now, however, Wei Ying thinks he might not even have to do that if he wants to have fun. He hasn’t been able to properly hang out with Yanli-jie in absolutely ages, and he’s hoping that with a little bit of alcohol and a more relaxed atmosphere, Jiang Cheng will also deign to join in without too much of a fuss.

Everyone knows that while the leavers party as hard as they can under the limited surveillance of a few teachers, the parents discuss business deals elsewhere, and so don’t pay attention to what else goes on. Even if Uncle Jiang and Madame Yu see something they perhaps shouldn’t, all Jiang Cheng has to do is point to whichever business partner’s child is doing something worse, and say he’s building bridges.

So, he’s hoping that the irresistible presence of Jiang Yanli will entice Jiang Cheng over so that they spend the final event of their school career together in something resembling harmony.

Upon entering the dining hall, which for one night only is decorated with - heaven forbid - flowers, table cloths, and the like, the seating plans and a cursory glance around show that, sure enough, all the rich families are in attendance.

In fact, it seems that Lan Zhan is bringing his older brother and his uncle (no surprises there), and they will be seated opposite Wei Ying and his jiejie. To his horror, the rest of their table will be made up by Mo Xuanyu, whose guest is Jin Zixuan.

From this Wei Ying infers that Mo Xuanyu is yet another illegitimate son of Jin Guangshan. Could have told me that earlier, Xuanyu!

Hopefully Yanli-jie, Lan Zhan and Huan-ge will be enough to balance out Lan Qiren and Jin Zixuan. Xuanyu can be a force for good and evil, depending on his mood. A glance at Yanli-jie shows that she is, unfortunately, delighted by the arrangement.

Oh well.

---

He’s on his first drink of the real party, when Jiang Yanli’s presence does attract Jiang Cheng over; shortly afterwards, she goes to talk to Jin Zixuan.

He groans.

“I still don’t get what she sees in him.”

His words cause Jiang Cheng to look at him darkly, but he says nothing.

“He made her cry! Twice! You were there! And he’s never shown anything but reluctance towards the match!”

Jiang Cheng huffs. “A-jie says he’s been coming all the way down from Lanling twice a term this year just to visit her.”

Wei Ying had not known this. Why had he not known this? Why had she not told him? She must have known that he would have tried to be nice about it.

Except - surely Yanli-jie hadn’t insisted on coming to this event just because she knew the Peacock would be there? He tries to dismiss this thought, but it’s hard when he’s actually slightly tipsy already and she’s just abandoned him with Jiang Cheng after barely ten minutes when she is aware that things are tense between them.

Perhaps she’s sick of mediating their disputes. He would be, too – they’d been bad enough over the family group chat, but watching them interact in person must be excruciating. Jin Zixuan, for all his faults, does not treat her like a glorified peacemaker. Perhaps she’s better off with him after all.

Unaware of his thoughts, Jiang Cheng isn’t done talking.

“I bet she’ll see him more than we see you next term.”

 “Awww, Chengcheng, will you miss this gege? Also, I cannot believe you just compared me to Jin Zixuan!”

“At least Jin Zixuan understands the concept of loyalty,” comes the muted reply. Oof. That one hurts.

“Excuse me, I think you’ll find I understand many abstract concepts at a much deeper level than that Peacock ever could, including loyalty and hermeneutics!”

“And yet you’re wasting all that academic prowess on an art degree.”

“It’s not a wa-”

“Yeah, whatever. I guess it’s not that you don’t know what loyalty is, but you think you owe it to your fucking boyfriend over the family who raised you.”

“For the last time, Lan Zhan is not my boyfriend!”

Absently, Wei Ying notices that they’re speaking a lot more loudly than they had been; that he’s somehow managed to finish his first drink and start a second one during the short conversation they’ve had so far; and that jiejie must have left the room, because otherwise she would have pulled them apart the moment they started arguing.

Probably.

The point is, they’re attracting attention. People are snickering and whispering, and he wonders if anyone will ‘kindly’ take it upon themselves to inform Lan Zhan that Wei Ying is gay, and that he should steer clear in case he gets infected. Wei Ying personally pities the poor sod who thinks that would be a good way to win the approval of the youngest member of the Lan family.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t seem to care about the glances and the gossip.

“Does he know that though? Because the way he behaves around you is frankly disgusting, and I can’t even understand half his facial expressions.”

Wei Ying opens his mouth to protest that Lan Zhan is not disgusting, but his brother doesn’t wait to hear what he has to say.

“People keep comparing you to your mother, but now I think you take after your father more.”

Ordinarily, Wei Ying would love to be compared to his parents. However, in this case, ‘people’ probably means something more along the lines of ‘Madame Yu’s friends’.

He takes another sip of his drink and steps closer to Jiang Cheng.

“And what, precisely, do you mean by that?”

His brother knows how much the memory of his parents means to him, and how many times he’s been cut throughout the years by those who remember them poorly. He wouldn’t use her like them, to insult him - at least, he wouldn’t mean it. Not his brother.

Would he?

Jiang Cheng sneers.

“What? You were both seduced away from your rightful places by a pretty face. At least your mother was said to be lively, even if she was an uneducated whore like her mother before her!”

“Take that back!”

Before Jiang Cheng even finishes his tirade, the remaining contents of Wei Ying’s drink are soaking his expensive suit. His fist follows shortly after, and then they’re brawling.

Not one minute later, the two teachers on babysitting duty are pulling them apart, to the disappointment of their jeering classmates. Jiang Cheng seems like he’ll have a black eye, but Wei Ying probably doesn’t look any better.

Mrs. Wang, deputy headteacher and head of physics department, starts shouting before either of them can.

“Wei Ying! Jiang Cheng! It may be your last few hours at this school, but I can and will expel you both if you do not stop fighting right this second!”

Wei Ying doesn’t protest. Neither does Jiang Cheng.

“Go to your rooms and cool off. And don’t try to start anything on the way - I shall be escorting you, and then I shall be informing your family.” At this, Jiang Cheng goes terribly pale, which would be funny in any other situation.

Wei Ying wonders if he can persuade Nie Huaisang to host him and his luggage for the night - he would ask Lan Zhan, but he’ll disapprove about the fighting and that will make everything worse, and also the Lan family live so nearby that they walk to these sorts of gatherings. There’s no way he’s facing a two-hour car ride with Madame Yu tonight.

---

Wei Ying follows Mrs. Wang back to his room, but he doesn’t stay there. Instead, he picks up the six-pack of beer he keeps hidden in his wardrobe and takes it, and himself, to a secluded corner behind the gym.

Of course, he then proceeds to drink them, and the rest of the night is a blur.

In the morning, he’s woken up by Jiang Yanli emerging from the ensuite in their - hotel room?  She must have hired a taxi and then spent ages finding somewhere in Caiyi with space that late at night.

He always causes trouble. Just how much did he cause last night?

He thinks he remembers a hand in his hair, and another guiding him back to his rooms. Jiejie? She’d let him cry, and said she’d take care of him. He feels a stab of guilt. He must have ruined her evening with the Peacock.

Not as much as he’d ruined his own, though. Jiang Cheng had been an arsehole, and then there’d been the fight, and they’d both be sore and, even worse, in trouble with Madame Yu.

He checks his phone and yeah, he’s not reading those messages while he’s hungover.

And besides, he’d upset jiejie, and -

And suddenly he comes across a fragment of a memory, and it might honestly be the worst yet.

Lan Zhan, asking him how he could help even though it was way past his bedtime, and Wei Ying saying,

“Get lost.” Everyone always leaves me, so - “Get lost.” It’s better if he leaves now - it won’t hurt so much - before I can drag him down - “Get lost.”

And then, Lan Zhan must have listened him and gone home to bed, because the next thing he remembers is crying and asking, Yanli-jie, why does everyone always leave me? When he knows perfectly well why, and he always has. He’s just not enough.

Shit.

So he’s ruined his relationship with Jiang Cheng and Lan Zhan in the same night, along with whatever tolerance Madame Yu might have had for him. He lets out an ugly laugh and hears his jiejie hurrying over.

“A-Ying? How are you feeling?”

She sounds worried. He tries to muster a smile, but it won’t quite come, and suddenly he’s being folded into a hug.

“Shh, it’s okay, A-Ying, everything will be alright, jiejie is here…”

---

Wei Ying doesn’t text Lan Zhan over the holiday, doesn't go to school for results day, and so he doesn’t see him again either until the third day of freshers’ week, by which time he is feeling constantly hungover and tired.

Honestly? He’s been avoiding Lan Zhan, otherwise they would have run into each other much sooner, living in the same halls and everything. This time, however, Lan Zhan pokes his head (very elegantly!) out of his door before Wei Ying can sneak through his own.

“Wei Ying?”

If he’s speaking to him, that’s a good sign, right?

“Ahaha, hi, Lan Zhan! How have you been? I haven’t seen you around!” Obviously, since there’s no way Lan Zhan would join the rest of the freshers for immoral, alcohol-filled nights out in town - not that Yiling has much to offer by way of nightlife, really.

“Fine. And you?”

“You know,” he waves a hand, “the usual.”

Lan Zhan frowns, likely wondering whether ‘the usual’ is now code for ‘an eternally drunk nuisance’. He winces.

“About the night after the Leavers’ Ball, I really wanted to apologise! I don’t remember it all that clearly, but I think I was rude to you when you just wanted to check on me. You caught me at a bad time, but that’s not really an excuse, so - sorry!”

Lan Zhan doesn’t really look appeased by that, but he sighs and says, “There is no need for apologies,” like the gentleman he is. Wei Ying does not argue. Lan Zhan asks whether he’s been to the arts building yet, and if he’d like to go find it together. Wei Ying replies that no, he hasn’t, and yes, he’d love to Lan Zhan, are you kidding?

Perhaps university won’t be so bad after all.

---

Wei Ying is just tidying up in the studio, when Wen Chao walks in. Not his idea of a fun encounter.

He does his best to be inobtrusive and goes about his tasks without looking at Wen Chao, because he knows that if he looks at Wen Chao he will want to punch him in the face as hard as he can, and that’s never a good plan when you’re trying to stay out of trouble and in university.

Wen Chao has been on the edges of his periphery since the start of term, like a particularly annoying fly. Wei Ying assumes he’s a student at Yiling, and that he’s in the arts department, because really, why else would he have the misfortune to run into him so often?

He still can’t quite believe Wen Chao is related to Wen Qing and Wen Ning. Wen Qing had called him after he got his place at Yiling and warned him explicitly to stay away from her ‘fucking incompetent arsehole of a cousin’ because he’s ‘the worst news you’ve ever heard in your life, I’m not joking, Wei Ying, you better listen to me.’ At the time, he’d been touched by her concern for him, disguised in the same way as Jiang Cheng would hide his behind barbed words.

(Not that he’s spoken to Jiang Cheng recently, he’s been too busy really to call, although they do text each other sporadically.)

Now, though, he can see where she was coming from.

Today his luck must be particularly awful - Wen Chao and his cronies actually walk up to him, stopping to peer at the landscape he’d been working on. It’s based on a photo he’d taken of the park near their halls while he was on a walk with Lan Zhan, and a print of this photo is balanced on a tabletop within eyesight, but not too close.

Wen Chao must spot it, though, because he laughs (and if he never hears that sound again it’ll be too soon), and scoffs.

“What the hell? Is that even the same scene? Lame.”

So Wei Ying is feeling like painting in a more abstract style today. Sue him. And like that, all his meagre supply of patience disappears.

“Oh? Young Master Wen! So your eyes do work after all! I was beginning to have my doubts!” he retorted.

Wen Chao is about to reply, when Wang Lingjiao, who is standing to his left, nudges his elbow and whispers in his ear. He looks at the photo again.

“No wonder it looks so bad. Fucking faggots can’t draw like real men.”

Wei Ying is confused as to what may have prompted this remark, before he remembers that he’d directed Lan Zhan to sit on a bench in the background of the shot, and that most people in the university who know them, and several who don’t, think they’re together.

He knows he should ignore the taunting, but there’s something about being falsely accused that really gets to a person. He’s not gay. He’s sure of it now. The knowledge has been weighing down on his mind the past few days. In fact, his session in the studio this afternoon had been an effort to switch off his overactive thoughts for a few hours.

He snorts.

“Like you’d know what proper art was if it was staring you in the face.”

Wen Chao can’t seem to think of a smart reply to this, but unfortunately, he’s unwilling to leave it at that. He picks up the jar of dirty water that Wei Ying was using for cleaning his brushes. Wei Ying can see where this is going. A bolt of panic rushes through him. He drops the palette he’d been cleaning at the sink and sprints towards them.

He’s far too slow.

“That looks better already, don’t you think, faggot? Leave the art to people with actual talent,” Wen Chao sneers, before turning and leaving the studio.

He hears them sniggering as they re-enter the corridor, and then it’s just him and the slow drip-drip-drip of water falling on the floor.

That bastard - !

Yes, he had been painting it for fun, but he’d also been hoping it could contribute to his end-of-year assessment. He’d been proud of it, and now it’s ruined.

Oh well, there’s nothing he can do about the painting itself really, save put it straight in the bin. The harassment on the other hand - it’s not so bad for him, because he’s not actually gay and so it’s a mild inconvenience at most, rather than a well-directed personal attack. But if he doesn’t file a complaint and get Wen Chao warned, what if he does similar things to people who are?

Like Lan Zhan.

The thought of Wen Chao taking a pair of scissors to one of Lan Zhan’s precious scores and insulting him in a similar fashion makes Wei Ying resolve to do something about it. He remembers reading something about a harassment procedure in the freshers’ handbook. He’ll have to check that again this evening.

For now, though, he continues to tidy up, trying not to think too hard about it, then goes back to the halls to meet Lan Zhan before dinner.

---

As he finishes dinner, he can practically feel the gazes of the other students crawling over his skin. At Gusu College, at least all the students were his friends, and if they teased him, he’d be able to give them a taste of their own medicine. He’s been at Yiling for no more than a couple of months, and while everyone seems to know of him (or rather, him and Lan Zhan), he can put names to less than half the faces here.

It unsettles him, he feels out of control and tense. He doesn’t let Lan Zhan see though, and gobbles up the rest of his dessert like nothing’s wrong.

He’s good at pretending nothing’s wrong.

He’s unable to give the dessert the appreciation it deserves. The food in the canteen is so divine that he would be content to eat there every day for the rest of his life, if it weren’t for the atmosphere. He starts concocting excuses for eating in the halls instead - he needs something good, since Lan Zhan’s been able to see through him with terrifying ease recently, and he doesn’t want to worry him.

Something about learning to cook? Cooking is a useful life skill, and one that he hasn’t yet mastered, to his jiejie’s chagrin. And then he could make food for Lan Zhan too.

Lan Zhan doesn’t seem to notice that anything’s off today though, for which he is grateful. He keeps the conversation to light and meaningless topics; he doesn’t particularly want to talk about the unpleasantness this afternoon yet.

Finally, his plate is empty, and he’s been sitting and chatting at Lan Zhan long enough that he can leave without raising any eyebrows. Lan Zhan is opposite him, his golden eyes placid but also intense (and how does that even work?) as he watches Wei Ying silently. He seems to sense that it’s time to go, standing without a word and waiting for Wei Ying to jump up as well, before picking up his tray and heading to the back of the canteen to dispose of it.

Lan Zhan remains silent for the entirety of the walk back to the halls. Wei Ying natters on, but none of his remarks or questions get even a grunt. Lan Zhan’s distractedness makes Wei Ying even more nervous, and so he talks more, and by the time they’re outside their respective doors, he has no idea what he’s saying.

“Wei Ying,”

“-and seriously, why would you call them zucchinis, that’s so weird, I mean of course it must be something to do with Italian - yeah, Lan Zhan? What is it?”

“I need to talk with you. Come inside.”

He does a double take at that, because Lan Zhan is inviting him inside his room, which is notoriously clean and tidy and more importantly off-limits as a general rule, if you don’t want to be eviscerated by Lan Zhan’s death glare. Wei Ying remembers that one time when they’d just arrived, and Qin Su, who’d been allocated the room across the hall, had baked cookies and left them inside everyone’s rooms as a sort of ‘dorm-warming’ gift. Poor Qin Su hasn’t been able to look Lan Zhan in the eye since, and Wei Ying feels a bit bad about this because he’s friends with both of them.

Still, he chirps an agreement and follows Lan Zhan in, gasping in exaggerated awe at the cleanliness, the sparkling surfaces, the perfect colour scheme.

“Lan Zhan, are you sure you didn’t get an interior designer to furnish your room? No way you could have done it yourself… oh wait, I forgot you’re perfect at everything, never mind!”

Lan Zhan ignores him, because he says the same sort of thing every time he’s allowed in. Instead, he waits till they’re both seated and Wei Ying shuts up before he begins.

“Wei Ying, I’ve been… thinking of moving to private accommodation for next year, closer to the arts centre.”

Next year seems a long way off, but come to think of it they had an email about some sort of deadline earlier this week, right? But it’s not a big deal, Lan Zhan seems way too nervous. Is he scared that Wei Ying will be upset?

“I… would you… like to rent an apartment with me?”

And he was most emphatically not expecting that.

Lan Zhan should know better! Wei Ying’s a disaster with no sense of personal space, and a personal space resembling a caveman’s dwelling (he hasn’t used a hoover since he arrived at uni). He can’t cook, or clean, or do laundry, or any of the useful skills you might look for in a flatmate. To put up with his level of nonsense, you’d have to be crazy (which Lan Zhan certainly isn’t), a literal angel (which Lan Zhan certainly is), or -

Now, Wei Ying’s not stupid. He might be a little bit oblivious, and he may not have the best opinion of himself, but in the fresh light of university, with the gossiping wisdom of his fellow students following him around like a bad smell, how could he have failed to notice that Lan Zhan seemed to like him? For whatever reason.

If he wants to share a flat with Wei Ying in an attempt to get closer, he… doesn’t know how he’d feel. But he really needs to clear this up with Lan Zhan. Ignoring this problem hasn’t made it go away, and the words are now on the tip of his tongue, barrelling forwards with the unstoppable force of - well. That’s not important.

“Lan Zhan, you love me, right?”

His best friend’s eyes widen ever so slightly, the only reaction he knows he’s going to get.

“Because, I don’t like you in the same way. Don’t get me wrong, Lan Zhan, I really, really love you, you’re my favourite person, I like spending time with you more than just about anything - well, apart from jiejie, but you know you can’t beat that, so accept your defeat - so I really like you, but I don’t ‘like’ like you? You know what I mean. I guess something broke in me, growing up - or perhaps it’s because of a lack of good role models, after my parents - ”

Nope, not going there. He glances at Lan Zhan, who now looks… sort of sad, rather than surprised? Wei Ying ploughs ahead.

“But wouldn’t it be awkward if we lived together, now that you know all this? Not that I don’t want to, of course, but… I don’t know, I’m just me, I guess, and you’re - ” here he gestures wildly at the room “ - and you deserve so much more, don’t you think?”

He looks down, fidgeting with the hem of his jumper as he waits for Lan Zhan’s reply. When it eventually comes, Wei Ying is so shocked that he lifts his head and meets Lan Zhan’s earnest gaze, without any conscious thought.

“Not broken.”

The words clang through him. He doesn’t need to wonder what Lan Zhan means, by this point he considers himself something of an expert on interpreting his best friend’s words. But how could anyone not love Lan Zhan, who is the most perfect being in the entire world? There has to be something wrong with him.

“Lan Zhan ah, have you seen yourself, I’m pretty sure - ”

“Wei Ying, stop. Let me speak,” Lan Zhan interrupts, and this catches him off guard so much that he can’t think of anything to say, and that’s probably what Lan Zhan was aiming for, the cunning bastard. He’s always been able to make Wei Ying speechless.

 “Wei Ying is not broken. You’re… right, I do love you. I have also known for some time that Wei Ying does not love me romantically. But you are not broken.”

Lan Zhan had known for some time? But Wei Ying had only been certain for a week or so! Not fair! Stunned, he can only listen as Lan Zhan continues.

“Wei Ying is just as good and talented as I am,”

“Says the guy who got five A-Levels to my three - ”

“Wei Ying!”

He shuts up again.

Lan Zhan sighs.

“I know that was not your fault. You had… extenuating circumstances in your family, but you still got straight A*s.”

How does he know this? He’d thought he’d been very careful. If he knows - if he knows, then -

Lan Zhan’s voice breaks through the simmering panic lurking at the edges of his mind, and he realises he must have said some of that out loud.

“Before your argument with Yu Ziyuan, you were talking to me. I followed you, and overheard. But Wei Ying, that’s not the point. You are good and talented, and everything I deserve, but even if I didn’t love you, I would still admire you, because you are the best person I know.”

That was… a lot of words. He tries to focus on that, rather than the meaning of said words, because if he does consider their meaning he’ll start feeling guilty, and he needs to focus on the conversation. Focus, Wei Ying, focus!

“Not feeling romantic attraction does not mean that Wei Ying is broken. My love for you should not make you feel obliged to respond in kind,” is how Lan Zhan chooses to conclude.

When Wei Ying doesn’t reply, thoughts in turmoil, Lan Zhan sighs quietly and moves on.

“I do love you, but that is not why I want to share an apartment with you. You are aware that I do not have many friends at university - ”

“Understatement,” he mutters, but subsides under Lan Zhan’s glare. “Go on, I promise I won’t interrupt again!”

“And of all my friends here, you are the one I trust the most, and also the one who would benefit most from moving closer to the arts centre.”

That does actually make a lot of sense. He has made more friends than Lan Zhan this term (not that that’s saying much, in all fairness), but if he had to pick one to live with, it would be Lan Zhan, without a doubt. There’s just one thing he doesn’t understand.

“But Lan Zhan, why do you need someone to share an apartment with? The Lans are, like, super rich, right? At least as rich as the Jiangs, and that’s saying something. Why would you choose to share an apartment when you could have one to yourself? You’d prefer that, wouldn’t you?”

When Lan Zhan doesn’t speak immediately, he raises his head. Lan Zhan looks… shifty. Huh. That’s a new one.

“When… When I accepted my place to study music at university, Uncle cut my allowance by half. He does not consider it a proper investment. Sharing an apartment would help with living expenses.”

What. The. Actual. Hell.

“But Lan Zhan, doesn’t your family run a music business? Not a ‘proper investment’? That’s absurd! I don’t understand!”

Wei Ying cannot, in all honesty, say he’s surprised that Lan Zhan’s uncle would punish him for disobedience - he’s met the man a handful of times, and has been unable to form a good impression no matter how hard he tries. Lan Qiren is harsh and inflexible. Although he practically raised Lan Zhan, of course, so there must be a kernel of good in him somewhere.

“Uncle wanted me to study business - ”

“Like Huan-ge!”

“Mn, like my brother. When I took Music at A-Level, it was with the understanding that if I wanted to continue my studies in that direction, I would do so at conservatoire, where I could at least learn something practical.”

He hadn’t known that. And honestly, if Old Man Qiren can’t see the value in a music degree, he’s worse than Wei Ying had thought. And practical? How ridiculous. Lan Zhan spends practically his whole time outside of lectures in the music section of the arts centre, playing by himself, to an audience, with other musicians; sometimes Wei Ying even plays with him.

It’s like Lan Zhan can see all these thoughts on his face, because he huffs the most adorable little laugh.

“Uncle was trying to make me change my mind, and when I didn’t, his pride wouldn’t let him back down. But enough of that. Now does Wei Ying understand why I asked you to share an apartment with me?”

He nods mutely, mulling over everything he’s just learned.

“So what does Wei Ying think?”

“Oh. Oh! Yes, Lan Zhan, of course I’ll move in with you, I’m so excited, I can’t wait for next year. Have you done any research? Oh, I know, we should do it together! What time are you free? I’m free most of the weekend - ”

---

Later that evening, after he’s left Lan Zhan’s room, he receives a text from him. It’s a link to the university’s LGBTQ+ society webpage; specifically an article on… asexuality and aromanticism? He replies quickly, then reads it, and his heart overflows. Lan Zhan is just so good to him.

He forwards the link to Wen Qing, with the message,

look what lan zhan sent me qing-jie! it explains so much!!!

Wen Qing may be slogging her way through her third year of med school, but it’s not long before he gets a reply.

Scary ex:            

you mean you only just realised you’re aro?

you’re hopeless

also why lan zhan? did you stop ignoring his massive crush on you and apologise for not loving him back?

you did didn’t you

he should be sending you links to the uni counselling service instead

She lives up to her name. Scary ex who knows him scarily well. He won’t tell her she’s right though.

Wei Ying:

but hey we talked!!

                              and guess what!!

                              were gonna share a flat next year!!!

                              im so excited qing-jie!!!!

Scary ex:            

no shit

good for you though

does that mean you’ll be leaving a-ning by himself then?

Oh gods. He can’t believe he forgot that Wen Ning lives in the same halls as them this year. He turns off his phone to try and escape. Wen Qing is terrifying when she’s angry.

---

Of course, when the news gets out that he and Lan Zhan are going to share an apartment, the university gossips have a field day. It apparently serves as confirmation that they are a couple. Wei Ying has a lot of fun relating the stories they tell to Lan Zhan, who watches him with the most precious smile he’s ever seen, laughing along with him.

His life isn’t perfect, but so long as his reliable Lan Zhan sticks around he thinks everything will work out.