Chapter Text
It all starts when someone makes a fleeting comment about how Wei Ying is the only one that the famed Lan Er Gongzi will tolerate to talk to for more than two sentences at a time.
Wei Ying thinks if they were there to witness his and Lan Zhan’s weekly library sessions together, where the older boy looked like he had a disapproving scowl permanently tattooed onto his immaculate features, they would perhaps think twice about that statement.
Him and Lan Wangji had been picked in the past to work on one ongoing project together, because unfortunately for both parties they happened to be seated next to each other in History of Literature, and through that experience Wei Ying can safely affirm that the other boy hated his guts.
But when the project ends, and Lan Zhan starts bringing Wei Ying an extra portion of his own lunch (which his own cooks and maids had apparently specially prepared for him) out of the blue, the rumours really start.
Wei Ying can sort of guess Lan Zhan’s motives for doing something like that; he has a reputation of being “charitable”, and he saw Wei Ying as an easy charity case — the dirt poor, bastard kid who was ex-communicated from his adopted family, and doesn’t really fit in in their elite university made up exclusively of heirs to influential political families and Titans of Industry.
Lan Wangji thinks he’s good at hiding his emotions, but Wei Ying can see right through his pity.
More than once, during their study sessions, Wei Ying’s stomach had grumbled so violently that even Lan Zhan took notice.
“Go eat lunch.” The older boy bit out, a signature scowl on his face.
“I’ve no money to buy lunch.” Wei Ying replied cheerfully, giving the other his best shit-eating grin. He unbuckles his belt, ignoring Lan Wangji’s scandalized expression, and tightens it severely around his waist. “There, problem solved.”
The problem was decidedly not solved, because barely ten seconds later Wei Ying’s traitorous stomach gives its single loudest, longest grumble yet.
Lan Zhan slaps a wad of cash on the table. “Go eat lunch.” He repeated.
“Don’t wanna.” He says, smiling brightly through the humiliation of having money flung at him like some lowly hooker by a boy barely older than himself.
Lan Zhan stares at him, and in that moment Wei Ying was genuinely concerned that after several months of putting up with Wei Ying’s antics, the Second Jade of Lan would finally snap and clock him across the face with his thousand dollar laptop.
But after a few seconds, Lan Zhan simply leaves the library, returning minutes later with two sandwiches and an apple.
“Eat lunch.”
For someone who was so good at History of Literature (and all his studies in general, really) the boy had a surprisingly limited amount of words in his vocabulary. He sounded like a freaking robot.
Wei Ying huffed, snatching the food off the table and scarfing it down at lightning speed, giving Lan Zhan a stare that said “happy?”, once he was done.
In all honesty though, after surviving exclusively on the instant ramen he’d piled in his dorm for the few weeks, real food did taste quite nice.
But of course, a glorified charity case was not how everyone else saw their relationship. The theories were wild, if Wei Ying may say so himself.
To his mild annoyance, but definitely not surprise, the gossip mostly target him, painting him out to be some sort of shameless seductor hanging off Lan Zhan for his money. Because the righteous, powerful, fabulously rich Second Jade of Lan could never willingly do something so unbecoming of his status, right?
That kind of vicious mindset perfectly encapsulated the kind of environment that Cloud Recesses University was; everyone was constantly concerned with social climbing, and status. It was why Lan Zhan had girls hanging off his arm religiously, even though it seemed like he never opened his mouth or even glanced their way. Because if status was the most important thing, Lan Zhan was their one-way ticket to the very top.
Which was why it was a particularly terrible, horrible, very bad idea for someone like Wei Ying, who was already had a target on his back at the university because of his... interesting background and lack of social capital (or any capital really) to be involved in any way shape or form with any controversy that even had the slightest, most fleeting mention of Lan Wangji in it.
It was also why Wei Ying was currently scouring their campus, trying to find Lan Er Gongzi to beg him to put a stop to this.
Technically, he could wait until Lan Zhan drops the extra lunch at the table the next day, but he’d just been informed that a third-year student who liked Lan Zhan a lot had apparently heard about the rumours, and she had a reputation for being particularly ruthless with her “competition”.
Wei Ying isn’t going to take any chances on waking up the next day with a missing toe or something equally terrifying because some crazy heiress had hired hitmen to go after him.
He finds Lan Zhan sat at one of far benches overlooking the golf course, in deep conversation with his brother. Wei Ying had met the older Lan only once, because he was currently studying abroad for his masters, and only visits his brothers on the weekends where he can make time to fly back. Wei Ying has decided that he was a little less...intense than his younger brother.
“Er-Gege!” He yells shamelessly, waving both arms in exaggerated motions in Lan Wangji’s general direction, a stellar imitation of the fly guys he’d see at carnivals as a kid. It never fails to instantly get Lan Wangji’s attention and annoy him at the same time, Wei Ying thinks smugly. Unfortunately, it also draws attention of several other students, who turn around to glare at him disdainfully, as if he was something stuck to the back their shoe after a long trek through the mud.
Wei Wuxian begins waving manically in their direction too. That gets them to turn away immediately.
To be fair, he really does look like a homeless person who had broken into the property after having spent a few particularly rough nights on the streets. He was in yesterday’s crumpled sweater which he hadn’t bothered to hang up properly let alone wash, his pants had several grease stains on them, and his hair makes him look like he’d been dragged backwards through a bush.
It surprises even Wei Ying sometimes that he hasn’t been kicked out of CRU for the way he dresses alone — everyone else, without fail, always looked smart and put together in their hand-pressed clothes and designer.
“Hiya!” He grins at Lan Zhan, before bowing respectfully at Lan Xichen. “Hello, Zewu Jun.”
Lan Xichen bows back politely. Wei Ying decides he likes Lan Xichen. He doesn’t openly gawk at Wei Ying’s appearance like many other people will in this situation, doesn’t even ask how his brother had come to associate himself with someone like him.
“You must be Wei Gongzi! Lan Zhan was just looking for you.”
That had Wei Ying blinking in surprise.
“Brother.” Lan Zhan says, his tone held an unspoken message that Wei Ying can’t understand.
“I’m sorry.” Lan Xichen says, gathering himself and his stuff up quickly, patting his brother on the back. “My flight is waiting. It was nice meeting you, Wei Gongzi.” He says, then...“I like your shoes. Very two thousands.” his face dead serious, although the crinkles around his eyes tells Wei Wuxian he was holding in a laugh.
Wei Ying’s grin widens, tapping his neon green crocs together in a mock Irish dance. “Thank you! I like them too.” He got them secondhand for three dollars in a sale online, but no one had to know that.
He gives Lan Xichen a final little wave as the latter turns, no doubt jogging the rest of the way to the closest helipad.
Wei Ying sighed. Rich people.
Lan Wangji turns to him quizzically after his brother had left.
“You first.” Wei Ying says, curiosity getting the better of him. What could prompt Lan Zhan to go looking for him? Unless he’s also bothered about the rumours too...
“We should start a fake romantic relationship.”
A pause.
“Haha.” Wei Ying says awkwardly, unenthusiastically. He always thought Lan Wangji had no sense humour. He’s wrong, he does; it’s just a really really bad one.
When a few seconds pass, and Lan Wangji doesn’t resort back to his serious self, “Look, that joke was super edgy and everything, but...”
“Was not a joke.”
“Yeah. Like I was definitely not drunk off my fucking face last nights.” Wei Ying snarks, ignoring the dirty glare he gets for cursing.
“I do not understand.”
“You know what,” Wei Ying sighs, scratching his forehead in annoyance, he’s pretty sure he’s getting dandruff all over Lan Wangji’s designer bag, but he finds himself not really caring. “I’ll go first. Have you heard of the rumours going around? They think we’re boinking.”
Lan Zhan remains emotionless, which is highly irritating when Wei Ying is over here having a quarter-life crisis.
“Which I know must be devastating for your reputation as a self-imposed celibate, but it could literally be fucking fatal for me, because now your little gaggle of fangirls will send their bodyguards after me. And I have no means of defending myself!”
“We should start a fake romantic relationship.” Lan Zhan says again, imploringly, as if Wei Ying should be able to magically grasp some sort of important hidden message through that single sentence.
Wei Wuxian decidedly does not.
“Fuck off.”
“I will...pay you.”
“I’m not a fucking hooker!” Wei Ying sputters in indignation. This was truly going too far—
“No. There is no sex involved.”
“Well, then, I’m not your charity case!”
“No,” Lan Zhan looks as calm as ever. Wei Ying wants to punch him in his stupidly flawless face. “Because you’d be earning the money.”
“No.” Wei Ying echoes the other boy, but he says it with a lot more force. Fuck Lan Zhan. He clearly isn’t taking this seriously. Wei Ying will just have to deal with the situation himself.
“I’ve heard of the rumours.” Lan Zhan says eventually, when he sees Wei Ying’s turning to leave. That gets Wei Ying to pause for a second. “I am aware it could prove...dangerous for you. I am sorry for causing this. This is the only way you can be protected.”
Protected? Lan Zhan was suggesting all of this to... protect Wei Ying?
So the whole romantic relationship thing was not a joke? At Wei Ying’s expense? But why would Lan Zhan care about him enough to do something like this? It seemed so out of character.
“This kind of rumour will not stop. Unless I...I date someone else. And I cannot do that.”
“Why not?” Wei Ying frowned. It seemed so simple. In fact, Wei Ying was about to suggest that as a solution himself.
“Everyone here is...someone in the real world.” He’s speaking in euphemisms, but Wei Ying can understand perfectly. “Companies and family names attached to them. If I date them, I will be forming an alliance.”
Wei Ying finally gets it. The Lan corporate empire was just too big. They have eyes and media trained on them at all times. It’s okay for students from lesser known families to date each other in university, but for someone with Lan Zhan’s kind of status...
Wei Ying, on the other hand, is a nobody. No one knows who he is. Lan Zhan can mess around with as many people like Wei Ying as he wants. Rich heirs and heiresses have boy-toys and side chicks all the time. It will probably fly right under the radar.
It will definitely change his standing in the University though. If people thought he was close to Lan Zhan, if he really had his ear, they would think twice about touching him.
“It’s settled then.” Lan Zhan says curtly, standing up when it had been several minutes and Wei Ying still wasn’t talking. “I will text you the terms and conditions.” He makes his way towards the nearest gate, where a black car was already waiting.
“Terms and conditions?” Wei Ying jogs after him in disbelief. This cannot be happening. He must still be drunk and in some fever-induced dream. “What term and— wait...I never gave you my phone number?”
“Someone will get it for me.”
“Someone will— what the fuck Lan Wangji!” Wei Wuxian yells at him. Lan Zhan looks as unfazed as ever. “That’s creepy as fuck!”
Lan Zhan turns around suddenly, which has Wei Ying almost running head-first into his chest. “Would you like to give it to me yourself?”
“No!”
“Then I will see you tomorrow.” Just like that, his driver closes the car door, and Wei Ying was left alone on the road, inhaling fumes and contemplating all the wrong choices he had made in his life that had lead him to this point.