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OK SO: 

• In a world where Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi are celebrity actors
• Lan WangJi comes from a distinguished acting family
• Had his first role as an Adorably Serious Toddler 
• Followed by a whole slew of small parts as a Child Older Than His Years
• At twelve has his first starring role as a Blank-Faced Kid Hero 
• By sixteen he is a recognized powerhouse in the narrow niche of Inscrutable Hot Boys 
• The media isn’t really sure how to deal with the fact that he’s equally deadpan out of character
• There’s a small but aggressive contingent of people who say he’s wildly overrated, he’s only popular because he’s pretty, teenage girls have no taste, blah de blah
• This is, of course, wrong. Teenage girls have excellent taste. 
• He is very pretty though.
• Teenage girls also appreciate this.
• Teenage girls contain multitudes.
• (a notable set of teenage boys also appreciate this)
• Wei WuXian, on the other hand, has no pedigree whatsoever, of the acting variety or otherwise. Everyone knows the story of how Jiang FengMian took in his best friends’ child after that terrible car accident, so generous of him, so lucky for that child, look at all the opportunities that incredibly talented child has now, sometimes things are meant to happen.
• This is a terrible thing to say
• That doesn’t stop people from saying it
• People are terrible
• Wei WuXian learns this very young
• Though all the Jiang children grow up in The Industry to some degree, it’s Wei WuXian who the camera really loves
• This is just fine with Jiang FengMian, who is delighted in equal measure by Wei WuXian’s talent and the reminder of his friends
• This is also fine with Jiang YanLi, who would rather be cooking
• This is mostly fine with Jiang Cheng, who likes acting, but loves his brother, and makes no secret of his wish for them to star in a series of buddy flicks together
• This is very much not fine with Madame Yu
• Out of all of them, she is the most clear-eyed, and she can see how this drama will play out
• She loves her children with every drop of blood in her body, would do anything to keep them from repeating the mistakes of her generation
• Wei WuXian is not her child
• Wei WuXian is a mistake
• She suffers him in memory of the affection she once bore her husband and not one iota more
• It’s not a perfect childhood, by any means, but Wei Wuxian is too good-natured to dwell on its shortcomings. He survives his own teenage heartthrob years, and matures - mostly - into a young star, the kind the media loves and loves to hate, jealous of his talent and ability even as they salivate over it. The balance is hard to maintain, and his friends and siblings keep trying to convince him that he doesn’t actually have to do it alone. He should get a personal assistant!
• He doesn’t want a personal assistant, doesn’t need a personal assistant
• No way
• Nope
• YanLi, I can manage, it’s fine!
• Right up until he’s walking home from a night of drinking
• It’s raining, it’s fine, he doesn’t actually attract any attention unless he wants it
• There are two figures huddled up against the wall, and one of them happens to look up
• It’s Wen Ning

• Cut to: Wen Ning is Wei WuXian’s Personal Assistant
• Sorry, I’m not sure how to make that transition
• Work with me here
• Wen Ning writes m/m novels on the side
• They’re maybe, a little bit, based on Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi
• Wen Qing is Wen Ning’s editor
• Wen Ning isn’t always sure where to draw the line and file the serial numbers off
• Wen Qing keeps him in line
• They make bank
• Which is good, because they got thrown out by their rich family
• They’re fairly prominent as part of the Chinese Mafia
• Also they’re assholes and would taunt Wen Ning by making fun of his stutter, and holding his hands down when he tries to stim, and stealing his things, and only serving food that he finds really upsetting
• As soon as he hit 18, Wen Qing bundled him up and ran into the night with him and swore to him that they were never going back
• They were just barely on the right side of managing when Wei WuXian passed Wen Ning in the street and recognized him from the time the Wen family threw a fancy banquet and had invited all the top stars
• Wei WuXian hadn’t wanted to go, but also hadn’t been given a choice in the matter
• He’d skulked around the edges of the room and then had run into this kid around his own age
• The kid had looked so miserable that Wei WuXian had clowned around with him to make him laugh
• It had!
• That backfired when the kid’s older brother’s girlfriend had come over and slapped the kid, saying that he’d been warned not to flap his hands like that, and if he was only going to stutter, then he should just be quiet
• Wei WuXian hadn’t taken kindly to that
• Things had escalated until half the guests were being restrained by the other half
• It could have actually gone really badly
• He finds out later that their names were Wen Ning and Wen Qing, and he wants to apologize for having made trouble for them, but it’s much, much too late for that
• Everyone knows that the Wens are deep in the local organized crime 
• But they have so much money and influence that they’re untouchable
• Eventually there’s a report on the family’s terrible crimes, and there’s a massive public outcry
• So much so, in fact, that anyone even remotely connected with the family is implicated, deserving or otherwise
• There go Wen Qing’s hopes of supporting her brother and herself with a job
• No one will even consider hiring anyone with the name “Wen”
• Which brings us, eventually, to meeting Wei WuXian again
• They’re nearly begging on the street when Wei WuXian recognizes Wen Ning
• Coincidentally, he needs a personal assistant!
• Also, Father, weren’t you saying that your friend was looking for someone dependable, hardworking, trustworthy, for their office?
• I have just the candidate for you!
• Jiang FenMiang is dubious, but grudgingly impressed when he actually meets Wen Qing
• He asks his friend to consider her, as a favor
• Friend is also impressed
• She is hired!

• Somehow, Wen Ning gets it into his head to keep a journal
• Wen Qing is too exhausted to pay much attention, for awhile. She’s working so hard to prove that she’s more than her name, and there’s so much to do, and it’s so emotionally exhausting to try to unlearn all the coping mechanisms that had helped her survive her family but are serving her poorly now
• But it gets better
• And one day she lifts her head
• And realizes that they’re not just treading water anymore
• And she starts to cry
• And poor Wen Ning is very startled and doesn’t know what to do
• And in desperation he tries to distract her by showing her his writing
• And you know what?
• It works!
• Her baby brother is actually a pretty good writer!
• A little rough, and some of his turns of phrase are unusual, but the story is very charming, on the whole
• She’s worried that she’s biased, but the more she reads, the more she’s pretty sure that, no, Wen Ning is actually a pretty good writer!
• She finds herself correcting his spelling automatically
• And is mortified, because she doesn't want to make him regret having shown her this
• But he’s just delighted that she’s stopped crying
• And goes to get more journals
• He’s got several!
• And in between doodles and notes about Wei WuXian’s coffee order, there are lovely little vignettes and chapters and a few whole stories, beginning to end
• Many are loosely based on Wei WuXian and the hijinks he and his friends get up to
• And also the extraordinary pining that he does for this old friend of his
• Wen Ning thinks they should just get together
• So he writes that
• Wen Qing is unexpectedly thankful that her baby brother doesn’t seem to have any interest in writing sex scenes
• She stays up all night reading them
• And then, with his permission, starts typing them up, and doing some light editing
• They look over the result together
• And then do some more editing
• This goes on for awhile
• It’s a nice thing they do together in the evenings, a distraction from all the stress they’re under
• And then he brings her a letter
• He’d submitted one of their stories to a publisher
• And the publisher wanted to move forward with it!
• Wen Qing is flabbergasted
• And also delighted
• They come up with a pseudonym
• Possibly involving radishes
• They absolutely do not tell Wei WuXian a single word of any of this.
• He doesn’t have a clue
• He’s not the most observant individual
• It’s ok, he makes up for it in other ways
• And so it goes
• The books are a hit
• They make bank
• Also, incidentally, Wen Ning is very good at being Wei WuXian’s personal assistant
• He’s very reliable, and has a good memory for details
• Also, people tend to like him
• He finds it surprisingly rewarding
• Anyway! 
• Meanwhile: 

• Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi were teenage stars together in some kind of terrible high school drama
• They, of course, had massive crushes on each other
• But neither did anything about it
• Except that there was that one time where Wei WuXian had a blindfold on
• I’m not entirely sure why
• Just go with it
• Possibly his character is an archery star and is shooting blindfolded?
• Work with me here
• anyway
• Wei WuXian has a blindfold on
• And it’s supposed to be the kind you can actually seen through
• But that didn’t look right on camera
• So he actually is blindfolded
• And the director and crew are still staging the shot or whatever
• And Wei WuXian is messing around like an asshole
• Because let’s be honest
• We love him
• And so does Lan WangJi
• But he’s a bit of an asshole
• So he’s messing around like an asshole, kind off in the corner so as to not actually get in the way
• And then Lan WangJi goes quiet
• And Wei WuXian is sure that he’s stormed off in a huff
• Everything is quiet for awhile
• And then Wei WuXian feels someone grab his wrist
• And push him up against a tree
• And kiss him
• And kiss him
• And kiss him
• And then they pull away
• And Wei WuXian isn’t having that
• That was some quality kissing
• He would like more please
• He grips the wrist back
• And pulls them back in
• More making out ensues
• They are only interrupted when some very loud footsteps tromp through some leaves nearby
• It’s Wen Ning
• He was looking for Wei WuXian because the director says that they’re going to start shooting soon
• He absolutely saw Lan WangJi kissing Wei WuXian up against a tree
• He is also pretty sure that they didn’t see him
• So he makes sure they know he’s there
• This is the right move
• Wei WuXian’s anonymous make out partner twists their wrist free
• And flees

• Cut to several years later 
• They've both moved on
• (No they haven't)
• And they're working on another movie now
• Something historical
• Mostly because I'm weak for long hair and sumptuous fabric
• Let me have this please
• And Wei WuXian is doing an interview
• And is asked what his favorite book series is
• And without hesitating he names Wen Ning’s books

• He really just connects to the characters
• He feel like he really knows them
• Also the joke the main character in that one book makes? Hilarious!
• Wen Ning is delighted
• He had also thought that joke was hilarious
• Wen Qing had wanted to take it out
• But he pushed back and wanted to keep it 
• She was so pleased that he was voicing opinions that she gave in
• It’s something both of them have had to learn, because passivity and giving in to authority were coping strategies that they’d needed when living with their family
• I have a lot of Wen Qing and Wen Ning feels
• Lan XiChen has been aware of his little brother’s crush for probably longer than Lan WangJi has been aware of it
• Lan WangJi isn’t particularly self-aware
• (Unless he’s being measured against Wei WuXian)
• Lan XiChen is also a celeb actor in this AU, incidentally
• He does a lot of indie stuff that somehow makes it big
• There’s a whole generation of teens that have posters of him on their bedroom walls
• There’s a vocal minority who prefer Lan WangJi
• But Lan XiChen is widely acknowledged to be The Hot Brother
• Lan Qiren is their manager
• Also their guardian, since their parents died
• Usually the guardian-as-manager set up is a very bad idea
• But all indications are that Lan Qiren takes both of these roles seriously
• They didn’t have ideal childhoods
• But they’re not messed-up former child stars either
• Probably they had a lot of therapy
• Please imagine tiny!LanZan acting out his feelings with puppets
• They were probably rabbit puppets
• Lan XiChen knows that his baby bro has a massive crush
• So when the interview comes out, he sends Lan WangJi the boxset
• Lan WangJi starts reading them
• Wei WuXian is delighted
• And starts badgering Lan WangJi abt them
• What's your favorite bit?
• Don't you love the main characters?
• Don’t you think they’re cute together
• Have you gotten to the good bit yet?
• What’s your favorite part?
• Meanwhile Wen Ning is dying watching both of them reading his books
• There's a behind the scenes photo somewhere of both of them reading the same book 
• Lan WangJi is sitting upright, his copy is a brand new hardcover, and he has a bookmark to keep his pace
• Wei WuXian is sprawled next to him with his nose deep in a dog-eared, broken-spined paperback with a coffee stain on the back cover
• Both of them are in full costume, robes and wigs and hairpieces and all
• They’re playing former-best-friends-who-have-chosen-different-sides, and the photo was taken in between shots of their big emotional showdown
• A very specific portion of the internet goes wild
• What the photo doesn’t show, though, is that that becomes a common sight on set
• They start talking about the books, once Lan WangJi has finished the first one
• Wei WuXian likes the first book because it’s about two people who have known each other forever finally falling in love
• Lan WangJi likes the first book because it’s about the protagonist finally realizing that his erstwhile antagonist is actually in love with him
• Both of them are very confused as to how the other came to that conclusion
• Meanwhile Wen Ning is slowly dying inside
• He keeps texting Wen Qing variations on “HOW CAN THEY NOT KNOW”
• This is Wen Qing’s new favorite drama
• The books are just the start, though
• Lan WangJi starts bringing Wei WuXian his coffee in the morning
• It’s some ridiculously sweet concoction involving several flavor syrups and far too much whipped cream
• He explains to Wen Ning that it’s more convenient for him
• Wen Ning takes this at face value
• Wen Qing laughs herself silly when she hears
• Wei WuXian drags Lan WangJi to try this tiny hole-in-the-wall place that serves the best congee he’s ever tasted
• It’s unbearably spicy
• Lan WangJi is privately sure that he won’t be able to taste anything for at least twenty-four hours
• It’s worth it for the grin Wei WuXian throws him
• It’s bright and delighted and unalloyed and so beautiful
• They start to spend evenings together too
• Even after a long day of filming, it feels like they haven’t spent enough time together
• Wei WuXian follows Lan WangJi home and sprawls across his couch and complains that he doesn’t have the right junk food
• Wei WuXian falls asleep on the sofa and wakes up the next morning with a blanket over him and a piping hot cup of coffee in front of him
• After a particularly grueling night shoot, Lan WangJi drags Wei WuXian into a taxi and gives the driver Wei WuXian’s address
• He bundles Wei WuXian up the stairs, into Wei WuXian’s own home and into Wei WuXian’s own bed, street clothes and all
• Wei WuXian is out like a light, but Lan WangJi is still overfull of restless energy, starts reflexively putting things away and straightening things up
• He goes to close an open cabinet door, and is caught by a flash of familiar packaging
• It’s his favorite tea
• Right at the front
• Clearly brand new and unopened
• He feels…
• He doesn’t know what he feels
• Something complicated
• There’s probably a word for it
• But right at this moment, he’s dismayed to realize that he can’t come up with it
• He texts his brother about it
• His brother always knows how to help
• Lan XiChen does not know how to help
• But he is patient, and kind, and knows better than to give his baby brother more information than he needs
• He fell in love with his own best friend, once
• It didn’t end well
• Sometimes he’s worried that Lan WangJi won’t follow his own heart because Lan XiChen set such a bad example
• Possibly he should go back to therapy for awhile
• It goes on like this for awhile
• Work days turn into evenings turn into weekends
• Wei WuXian is all elbows and restlessness, sprawled across furniture and into Lan WangJi’s personal space
• His restlessness makes space for Lan WangJi, pushes everything and everyone away until he finally has space to breathe deeply
• It’s hard for him, sometimes, when the world is loud and closing in and and entirely overwhelming
• He’s always compensated by going quieter, stiffer, more still and reserved and untouchable
• Lately though, as his uncle gets him bigger parts and more exposure, it just makes people get louder, crowd in closer
• Wei WuXian, though, is loud, and expressive, and makes people step away for fear that he’ll flail all over them in his enthusiasm
• There’s space, in the bubble that Wei WuXian creates, for Lan WangJi. It’s like the eye of the storm, quiet and calm, and despite the roar of the wind and rain Lan WangJi is always dry and safe here.
• Lan WangJi, for his part, is porcelain and precision and unflinching acceptance and understanding, a constant in Wei WuXian’s dizzying world
• The moments when they’re in Lan WangJi’s apartment, just the two of them, talking or sipping tea or reading or just sitting, are treasures he savors, lodges them deep in his heart to pore over later in detail
• Wei WuXian has always been too much, too loud and too excitable and too honest. They tried to teach him to be less, and he tried, he tried so hard, but it would burst out, beyond his control and all the more difficult for it. 
• With Lan WangJi he can be himself, be excited and loud and take up as much space as he needs, and when the tide ebbs, Lan WangJi is still there, a steady rock in his sea.
• The knowledge that Lan WangJi will be there helps him slow down a little, calms the frantic worry that maybe if he’s too quiet he’ll be forgotten, if he doesn’t draw attention he’ll be left behind
• Wei WuXian should probably also get therapy
• Let’s be honest, the entire cast needs therapy
• Or at least some way of processing emotions
• Therapy isn’t the only way of doing that!
• But this is a modern AU, so we’re going with talk therapy
• But they have a shooting schedule
• Which means that this entire situation is temporary
• Both Lan QiRen and Jiang FengMian have started to send Lan WangJi and Wei WuXian, respectively, new scripts, new arrangements, new plans
• Neither Lan WangJi nor Wei WuXian is dealing with them
• The requests pile up in their email queues, in their mail, in Wen Ning’s voicemail
• Wen Ning is hired by Wei WuXian, though, not Jiang FengMian, and does his best to shield Wei WuXian from his increasingly frustrated manager/foster father
• But on the last day of the movie shoot, there’s an incident
• Someone pissed off at the Wen Family recognizes Wen Ning and tries to stab him with a catering bread knife
• Wei WuXian jumps in front of him and gets stabbed instead
• Lan WangJi is terrified and furious and beside himself with worry and doesn’t know how to handle any of these emotions
• In that moment he realizes that he’s fallen in love with Wei WuXian
• And he also realizes that if he ever loses Wei WuXian he’ll never be the same
• In Lan WangJi’s defense that’s a lot to take in 
• Especially when your secret crush is bleeding in your arms
• Wei WuXian, meanwhile, can tell that Lan WangJi is furious
• The rest is harder to read, especially when you’re bleeding in your secret crush’s arms
• Lan WangJi’s arms are very strong
• It’s very nice
• Too bad Lan WangJi is mad at him
• :(
• Also everything hurts
• Maybe he’ll just pass out now
• Wen Qing happened to be visiting the set
• She was going to be a doctor before she and Wen Ning ran away from home
• Her family had taken advantage of her medical skills, and had made her patch up anyone they had “interrogated” too hard
• Everyone else is frozen in place, and she is so angry
• How dare their family’s sins continue to haunt them
• How dare anyone try to hurt her baby brother
• How dare anyone hurt Wei WuXian, the first person besides herself who ever stood up for Wen Ning
• She stops the bleeding and yells at security to get the guy with the knife
• They do
• It’s very difficult to not swing into action when Wen Qing is yelling at you
• They get Wei WuXian to the hospital in a crush of sirens and shouting, leaving Lan WangJi with blood on his costume and panic in his heart and no idea what to do with himself
• Wen Qing looks at him, and looks at her brother, and gently takes both their hands and leads them to Lan WangJi’s trailer
• Lan WangJi doesn’t want to go, but as established, she is a force to be reckoned with
• She gets the blood off them, as much as possible, then bundles them both into street clothes, and drives them to the hospital
• She has a lot of experience not freaking out in extreme situations
• Once Lan WangJi and Wen Ning and Wen Qing actually get to the hospital, though, no one will tell them anything
• Wen Qing goes off to find someone who might care slightly less about patient privacy
• Lan WangJi calls his brother
• He doesn’t know what else to do
• Lan XiChen picks up, of course
• He’ll never not answer when his brother calls
• He doesn’t interrupt as Lan WangJi haltingly tries to explain what happened
• Wen Ning tries to help, but is stuttering too much to be intelligible
• He tells Lan WangJi to stay there, he’s on his way, Wei WuXian is going to be ok
• He gets Lan WangJi calmed down, finally, just as he’s heading out the door
• As Lan WangJi is hanging up, Wei WuXian’s foster father and manager bursts into the emergency room, startling Wei Ning so badly he nearly falls out of his chair. Lan WangJi is beyond startling, sitting frozen as if a single word might shatter him. 
• Jiang FengMian doesn’t even look at them, just runs to the on-duty nurse and demands to see his son. 
• Behind him, two faces that Lan WangJi dimly recognizes burst through the doors, a pair of siblings with such a strong resemblance to Jiang FengMian that they must be his children, Wei WuXian’s foster siblings, Jiang YanLi and Jiang Cheng. 
• Jiang Cheng spares an angry glace for Lan WangJi and Wen Ning, then storms after his father.
• Jiang YanLi, on the other hand, pauses, looks after her father and brother, then comes to sit next to Lan WangJi.
• She looks at him assessingly, then gently takes his hand.
• She is gentle, and telegraphs her intentions clearly; he could avoid her if he wished to
• He is surprised to find that he doesn’t wish to
• Her hand is warm, and her smile is kind
• “Lan WangJi?”
• He nods, still silent. If he opens his mouth, he is afraid that all his panic and worry will fall out across the floor, so he keeps his words locked up, where they can’t spill out and incriminate him
• She smiles, and introduces herself
• He nods; Wei WuXian speaks of her often, his beloved sister, who chased dogs away from him and dried his tears and found him when he ran away
•  She peers around him, at Wen Ning, sitting several seats away, and pats the chair on her other side
• Wen Ning comes to sit with them, and they stay there together, in silence, as they wait for news.

• He’s going to be ok!
• Of course, I wouldn’t do that to you, dear reader!
• Or to Lan WangJi
• I mean
• Not for long
• Ahem
• Moving on
• He’s going to be in the hospital recuperating for awhile, but he’s going to be fine
• Lan WangJi doesn’t leave his side
• When Wei WuXian finally wakes up, the first thing he sees is Lan WangJi asleep in a chair at his bedside
• His head is tipped back against the wall, and his brow is creased with pain or worry
• “Lan Zhan…”
• His voice is hoarse, and too quiet
• “Lan Zhan!”
• A little louder
• Lan WangJi blinks awake, starts, looks down at him.
• “Wei Ying!”
• And he smiles