Chapter Text
July 2005
Lan Wangji walks around the campus, already wearing his complete school uniform even if official classes were still to start the next day. His older brother had thought it might be a good idea for him to explore the school he was going to get transferred in, just to get the feel of the place. He had spent most of his childhood with his father in London, and although this was just another international school his family mostly owns, it was still a new environment. He did like the idea of seeing the place before spending his middle school and high school here.
He had looked around most of the school, only seeing a few students—mostly council members like his brother—getting ready for the first day of classes tomorrow. He’s now inside the music building, the last area of his places to see. He peeks in one of the rooms through the small glass window of the door, wanting to see how the inside of the room would look like.
It was a plain white room with wide windows, the afternoon sun filtering through the glass as the curtains sway from the wind outside. There was a grand piano in the middle of the room, and what looks like an open violin case in one corner beside a table.
Someone must have accidentally left it there, he thinks. He tries to open the door, expecting that it would be locked, but the door knob turns easily. He lets himself in, thinking of at least closing the windows in case it rains. He gets minorly distracted by the piece on the table as he closes the window.
He knows the piece. It was the last thing his mother taught him before she had been too ill to move.
The sudden urge to play fills him, even though he has not played in over a year. He thinks about how the building was mostly empty anyways, before he sits down in front of the piano and begins to play from memory.
Lan Wangji’s eyes remain on his fingers as they dance around the piano keys. He had played this same song for his mother a hundred times, and he knows it like the back of his hand. But his hands were still careful, making sure to hit every note on time with the right pressure.
He was about to finish when he noticed the door slightly open, a student looking like his age peeking out. Lan Wangji was not sure, but it felt like the world had slowed down.
The student had long hair, messily tied into a ponytail with a red ribbon. The sunlight rays from the window illuminates his face, his lips curved into a small smile. His bangs were almost covering his silver eyes, slightly widening when he realized that he had stopped because of him.
“H-Hey! Sorry. I didn’t mean to barge in and be weird like that.” The boy says as he walks to approach him. “You were really good! You’re actually super good I think I have a few tears in my eyes!”
Lan Wangji feels his ears getting warm, but he couldn’t do anything but stare.
“I haven’t seen you here before. Well, around campus at least. I’ve been studying in Gusu since grade school but I’ll be starting junior high tomorrow. Are you a freshman too?” The boy chats, still looking at him.
“Mn.”
The boy smiles at him widely, looking like he’s trying to put him at ease. “I was actually practicing the piece you were playing earlier. I play the violin!” He points out to the corner where the violin case had been left behind. “I took a break cause I felt like the violin sounded kind of sad playing alone? Ah-jie usually plays the piano with me.” The boy pauses, looking like he’s thinking about what to say next. “Can you please play with me so I can practice?”
He feels his ears warming again when the boy looks at him with such wide eyes. “I do not play with strangers.” He says getting up from the piano.
The boy was quick to block his way, both arms raised at his sides. “Then I’ll be your friend. We’ll be classmates anyways.”
He remains quiet as he stares at the boy, with his incomplete uniform and messy hair, and what looks like a small bright smile eternally planted in his face. He wonders why he reminds him so much of the sun.
“I’m Wei Wuxian. Wei Ying.” Wei Wuxian says.
Lan Wangji thinks it’s rude to just ignore it, “Lan Wangji. Lan Zhan.”
Wei Wuxian smiles at him widely. “Ah then could you be Xichen-ge’s brother? You really look alike!” The other blinks up at him, suddenly staring in his eyes with a serious expression. “Your eyes are gold though. They’re really pretty.” He says, a slow smile curving into his lips.
Lan Wangji feels his ears get warmer. He blinks, and Wei Wuxian seems to snap out of his daze.
“Xichen-ge helps me practice sometimes. Ah-jie usually plays the piano for him too.” The boy takes another pause, still not moving from in front of him. “That said,” he starts again, “please help me practice as well.”
Lan Wangji blinks, moving himself out of the daze. He feels so unlike his usual self in this boy’s company, and he has yet to decide whether it is in a good or bad way. He quickly moves to escape the boy again, getting past the boy this time.
“Ah, Lan Zhan!”
He turns and looks back in shock, having not heard his birth name in a while.
Wei Wuxian pouts at him. “Don’t look at me like that. You gave me your name so I thought I could call you that.”
He’s not sure why, but he remained standing by the door frame.
“Ah-jie’s birthday is tomorrow, and she really likes this piece. I want to perfect it so I can surprise her and we can play it together. Please help me.” Wei Wuxian explains. “I promise I won’t butcher it! I’m good enough now. I just need a few more runs with a piano to make sure I get it right.”
“Ridiculous.” Lan Wangji says, feeling his ears heat up once again as he moves to sit back down on the piano.
He can see Wei Wuxian’s wide smile from his peripheral vision, and he decides he would not like to stare at it anymore because he was sure it was bright enough to rival the sun, and staring at the sun definitely wouldn’t be good for his eyes.
“Once.” He says, not really one to play with strangers and people he just met.
“Twice.” Wei Wuxian bargains.
He looks back at him with a blank stare.
Wei Wuxian blinks at him charmingly. “So I can adjust, in case I find issues the first time. Please, Lan Zhan.”
He sighs internally, before going back to the piano and getting ready to play.
The other hurriedly picks up his violin, and he nods as a cue before he starts playing.
Lan Wangji starts to play as usual, careful and perfect. He usually doesn’t dare to take his eyes off his hands, but he couldn’t help but take a peek at the boy playing across him.
He almost misses a note at the sight. He continues playing, watching as the other plays with so much passion and warmth. The afternoon sun makes the other look almost ethereal, and Lan Wangji thinks scenes like this are worthy of being painted.
Before he knows it, the piece is ending and he’s catching his breath. He flushes when he realizes he played like he had been running after the violin, getting carried away with the other’s emotions.
Wei Wuxian turns to him with a bright smile, unaware of the inner turmoil he had just given him.
~~~~~
Lan Wangji was walking out of the building with his brother, heading to the parking lot. After he had played for the boy—Wei Wuxian—twice, he had left him alone to practice while he went back to the student council office where he assumed his brother was. He finds himself thinking about his “new friend” as his brother had put it. He wonders why Wei Wuxian had felt like an enigma, when he talked like an open book.
He was about to enter the car when he sees a figure on the rooftop of the music building. It’s already late afternoon, the sunset painting the sky behind the dark figure orange and red. He squints a little, trying to see better, and he realizes that the figure has his long hair in a ponytail, the wind carrying it to the side, a violin case leaning towards his leg.
“Ah, I guess Wuxian picked the locks again.”
He glances at his brother standing by the door on the other side of the car.
“He really likes the rooftop.” His brother smiles at him. “I’ll let Yanli know so she can drag him to the office before anyone else sees him. Do you want to say goodbye to your new friend first, Wangji?”
Lan Wangji looks back up on the rooftop, before shaking his head and getting inside the car. He stores the information at the back of his mind though.
Wei Wuxian. Wei Ying. He has long hair. He plays the violin. His smiles feel warm. He likes rooftops.