Chapter Text
Meng Yao sat stiffly in the chair across from the principal’s desk, hands folded neatly in his lap, trying not to fidget.
“I’ll be with you in a moment.”
Principal Yu didn’t look up, fingers moving rapidly across her laptop keyboard. The only sound in the room was the sharp tapping of keys and the faint hum of the air conditioner. Meng Yao’s gaze drifted, catching on the glossy red of her nails as they flashed under the light.
Click. Click. Click.
“So…” she finally said, still typing. “Meng Yao. Nine different schools in ten years.”
She paused, then looked up.
“That is a lot.”
Meng Yao straightened slightly, offering a polite nod. “My mom is in the army, so we move around a—”
“Yes, I’m sure,” she cut in flatly. “You’ll find Gusu High is just like your old school.”
Before he could respond, something smacked loudly against the window.
Both of them turned.
A clump of dirt slowly slid down the glass, leaving behind a muddy streak.
Principal Yu’s expression darkened. “Same little impudent rats everywhere,” she muttered, irritation sharp in her voice.
Meng Yao blinked. “…Um. Excuse me?”
She exhaled sharply, already shoving a printed schedule toward him. “Here. Your classes. Now get out of my office.”
“Oh—yes. Thank you.” Meng Yao stood quickly, clutching the paper.
As he turned to leave, the door swung open—and he walked straight into someone.
The impact was solid.
Meng Yao staggered back slightly, looking up.
The boy towering over him was dressed entirely in black, radiating an effortless, almost lazy kind of menace.
His expression was bored, eyes half-lidded as if nothing in the world could possibly interest him.
Meng Yao swallowed.
The boy glanced down at him once, disinterested and dismissive.
“Wei Wuxian,” Principal Yu called from behind him, her tone instantly more exhausted than before. “Come in.”
The boy didn’t respond. He just walked past Meng Yao without another glance.
Meng Yao stood there for a second longer than necessary.
Well, he thought, adjusting his grip on his schedule, that was… something.
---
“Hello, Nie Huaisang.”
Meng Yao turned to find a boy smiling brightly at him, hand already extended.
“I’m supposed to show you around.”
Meng Yao shook his hand. “Hi. Nice to meet you.”
Nie Huaisang nodded, glancing down at a paper in his hands. “Right, so… uh… Meng Yao?”
Meng Yao nods. “That's me”
Nie Huaisang continues. “Let me give you, a breakdown of the school hierarchy.”
He gestured dramatically across the courtyard.
“Over there—” he pointed to a group of impossibly attractive students lounging like they’d been placed there for a photoshoot, “—we have the standard beautiful people.
Now listen carefully: unless they talk to you first, do not speak to them. Don’t even look at them.”
“…Noted,” Meng Yao said.
“Good.” Nie Huaisang nodded approvingly. “Next, the jocks.” He pointed to a group throwing a ball around, shouting over each other.
“The drama geeks—” a cluster of students nearby were passionately reenacting what looked like a tragic death scene.
“The Ivy Leaguers—” he gestured to a group of intensely focused students buried in books.
“Hi, guys!” Nie Huaisang called brightly.
They all ignored him.
He sighed, looking at Meng Yao. “Yesterday, I was their god.”
Meng Yao raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”
“Someone started a rumor that my GPA dropped below 3.5.”
Meng Yao blinked. “So they kicked you out?”
“Hostile takeover,” Nie Huaisang said solemnly. Then, after a beat, his expression sharpened. “But don’t worry. I’ll get my revenge.” he says with a conniving glint in his eyes
Meng Yao studies him for a moment.
And thinks I’m going to like this guy.
And then
That's when he saw him.
Time didn’t slow down.
It stopped.
Across the courtyard stood the most beautiful person Meng Yao had ever seen in his entire eighteen years of life.
Tall. Elegant. Effortlessly composed.
And his eyes—
Hazel, catching the sunlight at just the right angle, shimmering like something out of a dream.
“Oh my God,” Meng Yao heard himself whisper.
“What group is he in?”
Nie Huaisang followed his gaze.
“…Oh.”
He sighed.
“That,” he said, “is the ‘don’t even think about it’ group.”
Meng Yao didn’t hear him.
“Lan Xichen,” Nie Huaisang continued anyway. “Senior. Student council president. Homecoming king. Voted most handsome man. Probably going to be president of the country someday.”
As if on cue, Lan Xichen laughed at something someone beside him said.
The sound hit Meng Yao like a physical force.
His knees nearly buckled.
“I burn,” Meng Yao murmured dramatically. “I pine. I perish.”
“Of course you do,” Nie Huaisang said, already tired.
He crossed his arms. “Look, he’s hot, I get it. But there’s a widely known fact about the Lan brothers—”
“Mm-hm,” Meng Yao said absently, still staring.
“They’re not allowed to date. At all. Their uncle is terrifyingly strict. That includes him and his even worse younger brother, Lan Wangji.”
“Yeah, okay,” Meng Yao said, not listening in the slightest.
Nie Huaisang closed his eyes.
“Oh, boy.”
He grabbed Meng Yao by the sleeve and started dragging him toward the building.
“Come on. We have class.”
Meng Yao let himself be pulled along—but his gaze lingered just a moment longer.
Right on Lan Xichen.
And just like that—
Everything changed.