Work Text:
Lan Zhan has attended the Young Innovators technology conference in San Francisco for the past four years, ever since he moved to the Bay Area after college to begin working for his family’s company. He stays at the conference hotel, because it is easier than driving back and forth to the East Bay every day, and because much of the networking opportunities happen, to his vague annoyance, after hours at the hotel bar.
Which is how he's ended up sitting at a cramped table tonight with Wei Wuxian of YilingTech, Nie Huisang of Nie Industries, and Jiang Cheng of Yungmeng Software. Lan Zhan is sipping on his second seltzer of the night when the conversation comes around to what, if Wei Wuxian and Nie Huisang's laughter is any indication, was a hilarious run-in at a post-keynote meet and greet the night before.
"She was practically licking my ear," Jiang Cheng says, his face scrunched up in horror as Wei Wuxian clutches himself laughing.
"And you weren't interested?" Huisang says innocently, but Lan Zhan has spent enough time around the man to suspect he is anything but.
"Oh my god, she was like… eighty years old."
"I'm pretty sure Madame Jin is fifty-five," Wei Wuxian says. "It could have been a good time."
"I was not interested," Jiang Cheng practically yells. Lan Zhan barely keeps himself from flinching. He notices several patrons in nearby booths look over in their direction in alarm.
"Why do you always get hit on by sexy MILFs and I'm stuck fending off drunk CFOs who’re personally keeping Viagra in business," Wei Wuxian pouts. Lan Zhan only understood about half that sentence, but it was enough to leave him appropriately horrified.
"Would you be interested in the MILFs, Wei Ying?" Nie Huisang asks.
"If they were rich enough, yes!"
Nie Huisang snorts and turns back to Jiang Cheng. "So how'd you escape?"
Jiang Cheng looks proud when he replies, "I told her I had a girlfriend."
"I did not know you were dating someone," Lan Zhan says. He's generally fairly good at tracking these things. He thinks it's important to stay up to date with the lives of those in his industry he works closest with. (Friends, he can hear his brother say in the back of his mind, but he has long since learned to ignore that voice.)
"I'm not," Jiang Cheng says, exasperated. "It was a lie, duh. And it worked."
"Lying is not polite," Lan Zhan says before he can stop himself. Jiang Chang looks like he's about to yell again, but Wei Ying interrupts before he can open his mouth.
"It would have worked better if you'd said you have a boyfriend."
"But I'm not gay," Jiang Cheng says, the exasperation in his voice only growing stronger.
"Yeah, it would also be a lie, dumbass," Wei Ying says, rolling his eyes fondly. "It would work better that way. Make her think she has no chance."
"Bisexuality exists," Nie Huisang says, fluttering his ubiquitous fan in one hand. It has the Nie Industries logo on it, but Lan Zhan suspects Huisang keeps it around more to have something to hide behind when he wants to escape eye contact than out of a sense of branding.
"Yeah, but do you really expect a drunk cougar to know that?" Wei Wuxian responds, and Nie Huisang nods in assent.
"Fair point."
Lan Zhan doesn't understand how his industry compatriots can come up with stories like this so quickly. Knows he wouldn't be able to improvise like that, even if the thought of lying casually didn't make him feel anxious and unsettled.
He excuses himself politely as the rest of the group orders a second round of beer, returning to his room and his familiar evening routine before lying down in the too-soft sheets of his hotel bed. Conferences like this always leave him on edge. He knows they're important. The technology GusuLan is working on is important, and it won't help people if no one ever hears about it, but Lan Zhan isn't good with people. Doesn't understand how Wei Wuxian can slide into a conversation like it's the easiest thing in the world, or how Nie Huisang, for all his nervous energy, always seems to escape uncomfortable social situations like a minnow darting through waves. (Jiang Cheng seems to mostly yell when he's stuck somewhere he doesn't want to be, and for all Lan Zhan questions his business sense, it does seem to work for him most of the time.)
—
Lan Zhan is exhausted by the end of the next day after hours of sitting in uncomfortable seats, listening to people give lectures about topics he understands better than they do. But there's a networking happy hour that evening, and Lan Zhan doesn't want to waste company resources by missing any scheduled events, so he dutifully shows up at the sprawling ballroom and orders a decaf iced tea from the bar. The room is sparsely filled, people trickling in slowly, even though the schedule had clearly indicated the event began at 8pm and it is already 8:30. Perhaps the lack of other options is why the tall woman in red - Lan Zhan thinks he's seen her at a few of the panels today, but does not know who she works for - latches on to him as her company of choice.
She seems nice enough at first, asking Lan Zhan about his work and nodding politely as he outlines GusuLan's plans for the upcoming fiscal quarter. Soon she's turning the conversation towards more personal questions, though, asking where Lan Zhan lives and what he does when he's not working. (The answer to the latter is that he's always working, but she just laughs and pushes for a different response Lan Zhan doesn't know how to give.)
"Such a pretty boy like you does nothing but work?" she asks, and Lan Zhan can feel her grab his arm, fingers tight on his elbow. He feels trapped. Doesn't like it when people touch him at the best of times, much less when it's a stranger prying into his personal life or lack thereof. He pulls away, perhaps too forcefully because the woman lifts an eyebrow at him.
"Strong, too. How would you feel about getting out of here…"
She's reaching for him again, and Lan Zhan's mind goes blank. The only thing he can think of as he desperately searches for a polite way to get the hell out of this situation is Jiang Cheng's self-satisfied voice saying yeah, but it worked.
He opens his mouth, then suddenly remembers Wei Ying's a boyfriend would have been more effective.
"I have a boyfriend," Lan Zhan blurts out, and feels himself flushing red.
The woman looks at him, then takes a step back. "Always the pretty ones. Pity."
Then Lan Zhan is, mercifully, alone.
—
Lan Zhan leaves after an hour - earlier than he'd been planning on and after much less networking than he'd meant to do, but still enough time that he can convince himself he isn't wasting company resources.
He means to go back to his room, but ends up at the hotel bar again, nursing a Diet Coke (an indulgence he usually doesn't allow himself) and thinking about his lie, guilt gnawing at him. What if the woman had been someone important? What if she spread word about Lan Zhan's non-existent boyfriend and the whole thing came crashing down around him? What if his uncle found out?
"Oh hey, imagine seeing you here!" a happy voice says from behind him, and Lan Zhan turns to see a smiling Wei Wuxian waving at him from the entrance to the bar. "Whoa, what a face. Did someone slip caffeine into your tea tonight?"
"It's Diet Coke," Lan Zhan says, holding up his drink. Wei Wuxian laughs and heads over, pulling up the stool next to Lan Zhan without waiting for an invitation.
"But seriously, you look like someone ran over your cat."
"I don't have a cat."
"It's a metaphor, Lan Zhan. What's up?"
"I…" Lan Zhan pauses for a long moment before he finally gives in. "I told a lie."
Wei Wuxian blinks at him, looking worried. "About what? Is it stock price valuation stuff, because there's probably still time to correct yourself if…"
"What? No. I would never lie about valuation," Lan Zhan says forcefully. GusuLan is set to go public within the year, and the thought of doing anything that might risk federal investigation sends anger racing through him.
"Whoa, whoa, I didn't think you would," Wei Wuxian says, hands raised in mock surrender. "You just looked so worried I figured it had to be something big. What did you lie about."
"Boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?" Wei Wuxian asks, and Lan Zhan realizes he might need to clarify.
"I… told someone I have a boyfriend."
Wei Wuxian blinks and remains silent.
"I do not have a boyfriend."
"Wait, were you trying to escape a MILF? Ooh, or a DILF?"
Lan Zhan still doesn't know what either MILF is, or a DILF for that matter, but he has enough context clues to assume the women grabbing at his arm earlier probably qualified. He also suspects it isn't a terribly polite term.
"She was… a perfectly nice woman. I acted hastily."
"Wow, she must have been clingy if it threw you out of whack. You clearly got away, though, so that's good!"
Lan Zhan stares at his Diet Coke.
"It's… not good?" Wei Wuxian asks cautiously.
"Lying is impolite. What if she finds out the truth? Or if my uncle…."
Lan Zhan trails off, and he can feel Wei Wuxian staring at him.
"And your uncle would care?" Wei Wuxian asks.
"Hm," Lan Zhan hums in assent.
"Heh, you should just date me. Then he couldn't say you were lying."
Lan Zhan looks up sharply. He'd known Wei Wuxian was smart, both a good coder and good at people, but he hadn't expected him to solve this particular problem so easily. "You would do that?"
There's a long pause, and Lan Zhan thinks he sees Wei Wuxian’s eyes widen, though he can't quite figure out why. He's about to ask if everything is okay when Wei Wuxian unfreezes and smiles broadly.
"Absolutely. Here, give me your number. I'll… take you out sometime. And then if your uncle asks about it, you can tell him you do have a boyfriend, no lies detected."
Lan Zhan lets out a breath, then takes the phone Wei Wuxian is holding out and carefully inputs his number, taking time to add his full name in the contact information section.
“Thank you, Wei Wuxian,” he says, gratefully.
“Aw, c’mon. It’s Wei Ying by now, right?” he replies with a flap of his hand.
“Ah,” Lan Zhan says, and hands the phone back. “Thank you then, Wei Ying.”
It's not until later that night, when he's lying in bed waiting for sleep to come, that it strikes him Wei Ying might have not been serious about his offer. Lan Zhan has never been good at detecting sarcasm, and he'd been so grateful for a solution to his problem that he hadn't even stopped to consider. But surely Wei Ying, who'd once flipped off an entire room of MIT professors before leaving to create his own startup, would have had no problem telling Lan Zhan he had misinterpreted.
—
Lan Zhan's phone beeps when he is going from a panel on the use of machine learning in modern medical technology to a roundtable on diversity in STEM. There are still twenty minutes until the diversity panel starts, so he pulls out the phone and carefully opens up his messages. It is from Wei Ying.
u free 4 lunch??
Lan Zhan is in tech. He knows that, theoretically, people type like this. But he doesn't think anyone has ever sent him a text like this before. He carefully holds himself back from sending a corrected version of the message in return. Instead he types out I am free from noon until 1:30pm. -LWJ, then silences his phone and heads to conference room 502.
He checks his phone again after the diversity roundtable, which had included four white men, one white woman, and one uncomfortable looking asian woman and was, in Lan Zhan's opinion, an almost aggressively wasteful use of his time. He's surprised to find his annoyance melts away a little when he sees a new message from Wei Ying -
omg u type like a granpa
followed by a second message -
lunch date? I'm buying!! meet me @ the poke place on 2nd floor @ 12??
Lan Zhan has one more panel to attend before the lunch break - a presentation on new advances in encryption technology by Su She, who is an idiot. He has been dreading it, and he finds the prospect of something to look forward to afterwards to be… not unwelcome.
He carefully types out a response -
I will meet you at noon. -LWJ
- then heads towards the presentation feeling lighter than he has all morning.
—
Lunch is nice. The poke place has vegetarian options, thankfully, and Wei Ying actually apologizes when he realizes Lan Zhan doesn't eat meat. "This is perfectly acceptable," Lan Zhan says, taking his tofu and cucumber rice bowl from a harried looking cashier.
"Yeah, but I wouldn't have taken you to a fish place if I knew! How come I never knew that, Lan Zhan? We've been friends for years!"
Lan Zhan's brain does a double take at Wei Ying's words. All this time he'd assumed the people he spent time with at conferences and industry events were colleagues at best, but perhaps Xichen had been right all along. Lan Zhan has no idea how one's supposed to tell when an acquaintance has become a friend, but Wei Ying is an expert at these things, so he's willing to believe him.
Wei Ying also insists on paying for their meal. "This is a real date, Lan Zhan. Remember? And I asked you, so I pay. Plus, then you have to pay for the next one, and we can go somewhere super expensive."
Wei Ying grins, and Lan Zhan lets himself smile back, which seems to shock Wei Ying.
When they part for opposite sides of the convention center after finishing lunch, Wei Ying blows Lan Zhan a very embarrassing kiss and then says, loud enough that passers by stop and turn, "Dinner date tomorrow?"
Tomorrow is the last day of the conference, and ostensibly it would be wise to leave his schedule open for any final networking opportunities. Lan Zhan doesn't hesitate before he nods yes, and Wei Ying's answering smile makes it feel worth it.
—
Lan Zhan has no idea if their agreement extends beyond a surprisingly enjoyable conference hall lunch and hotel restaurant dinner, or if Wei Ying assumes that satisfies the requirement for fixing Lan Zhan's predicament. His answer comes two days after he returns to work, when his inbox pings with a new message from [email protected].
date number three time, Lan Zhan! U no what that means! ;) lol just kidding. it means we should go see a MOVIE!!! ive got tickets for tonight @ 8 at the metreon, if your free. lemme know!!
Once again, Lan Zhan restrains himself from commenting on the grammar and spelling, or Wei Ying's horrifying choice of professional domain, instead responding with a brief I am free. -LWJ.
The movie Wei Ying has bought them tickets to is Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, which Lan Zhan has heard of but assumed was for children. The first few minutes don’t disabuse him of this notion, but then Wei Ying leans over and whispers into his ear that they’d had to fully reprogram their animation software to get this mix of 2D and 3D to work, and suddenly Lan Zhan is entranced. He barely even notices when Wei Ying yawns halfway through and stretches an arm behind his seat, beyond a faint hope that he will let his arm drop farther onto his shoulder. It’s an odd impulse. Lan Zhan usually finds too much physical contact grating, especially in public, but he doesn’t examine it too closely because suddenly they are mixing black and white, classic animation, and a whole handful of other artistic techniques into the movie and he is leaning forward excitedly.
After the movie they start talking about the computer animation the team behind the film must have used, Wei Ying pulling out his phone to google and stumbling on a treasure trove of information about new algorithms and tweaked frame rates, and the next thing he knows they've been talking about virtual reality and the opportunities for using game engines in future filmmaking for two hours on a bench outside the theater.
They only call it a night when Lan Zhan feels himself starts visibly drooping. Wei Ying insists on driving him home, walks Lan Zhan up to his front door where they stand for several minutes finishing their conversation before Lan Zhan finally forces himself to say goodbye. He pauses for a moment, door half open, because Wei Ying looks like he’s about to say something, but then Wei Ying just gives him a short wave and Lan Zhan steps inside.
He stares at the ceiling above his bed for… too many hours, before he's finally able to fall asleep that night.
—
Wei Ying takes him bowling for their next date, and when Lan Zhan shows up to the seedy-looking bowling alley he's alarmed to see there's a whole cadre of people waiting for him. Wei Ying hadn't mentioned this was a group outing.
Lan Zhan spends longer than is strictly necessary getting shoes from the rental counter. Then, when he can't delay anymore, he edges his way over to the group. He can tell when Wei Ying notices him, because he jumps up and waves excitedly before hopping over a row of plastic seats and grabbing Lan Zhan's wrist. He can feel the pressure of Wei Ying's fingers on his skin like burning, thinks the tips of his ears might be a matching red, as Wei Ying eagerly introduces him to the group.
It's a mix of people Wei Ying apparently knows from his days working as a line cook at a nearby taqueria, people in the industry Wei Ying went to school with back before he dropped out and, Lan Zhan notices with a flash of annoyance, one woman he recognizes as a part of the Wen Family.
"Oh, that's just Wen Qing," Wei Ying says with a grin as he notices Lan Zhan looking her way. "The one good Wen!"
"What did you call me, you dumbass?" Wen Qing asks in a flat voice, and Lan Zhan vaguely wonders if he's going to have to fight someone in a bowling alley. But Wei Ying cracks up and starts apologizing profusely, in a way that sounds like this is something they've done many times before.
"My sincerest apologies. Wen Qing is a nightmare. Her brother is the one good Wen. He's in fine arts at Berkeley and has a big show this weekend or he'd be here tonight too."
"That's what I thought," Wen Qing says, then finally cracks a smile as well. "It's nice to meet you, Lan Zhan. I've heard a lot about your work."
It turns out Wen Qing wasn't being polite. She hasn't just heard about his work, she's read Lan Zhan's graduate school thesis. They get so into the weeds discussing it that Lan Zhan has to be reminded three times it's his turn to bowl, before Wei Ying finally forcibly separates them, yelling "No more work talk! This is fun time!"
"We should probably listen," Wen Qing says with a shrug. "The number of times I've had to sedate Wei Ying to keep him from going on a 72 hour work bender… if even he is telling us to cool it on the shop talk, we might want to listen."
Lan Zhan is, worryingly, unsure if Wen Qing is joking about the sedating thing. He hopes so, because he wants to resume this conversation at some point. She had some very interesting thoughts on the limits of artificial intelligence.
—
Wei Ying starts texting him memes constantly. Lan Zhan's getting messages so often now that he has to turn his phone ringer off if he wants to accomplish any work at all. He only understands one out of every three things Wei Ying sends, but it's nice feeling like someone is thinking about him throughout the day. That Wei Ying cares enough to send him baffling photos and the occasional poorly lit selfie, even if he's just doing it to assuage Lan Zhan's overdeveloped sense of guilt.
Lan Zhan drives himself to Wei Ying's apartment one night. They're supposed to go out for Thai at a nearby hole-in-the-wall Wei Ying is obsessed with, but Lan Zhan parks and lets himself into the building because hoping the man remembers what time he's supposed to be out front is a losing game. Wei Ying had given him a key the week before, since the front buzzer to his building is broken and Wei Ying's sense of time is… poor, at best.
When Lan Zhan steps into the apartment the lights are all off and the place is eerily silent. He thinks for a moment Wei Ying has completely forgotten they had a date scheduled, but then the sound of furious typing reaches Lan Zhan from the far bedroom.
Lan Zhan knocks, and when he gets no response he risks pushing the door open.
Wei Ying is sitting in near complete darkness, massive headphones over his ears and face illuminated an unnatural blue by his computer screen. He's typing furiously, and Lan Zhan suspects he's been sitting here for hours. Long enough for the sun to set without Wei Ying noticing and turning on a light.
Lan Zhan coughs politely, and then a bit louder when Wei Ying still doesn't look up. He's loath to interrupt the man, knows how it feels to get dragged out of a coding haze like this, especially if he's in the middle of a breakthrough, but he also knows Wei Ying had been excited about dinner tonight and, more importantly, has a tendency to forget to eat real meals until it starts actually affecting his health.
"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan says, carefully but loudly enough to be heard over Wei Ying's music.
"Just, ah. Just a sec…" Wei Ying responds, not looking up. Lan Zhan thinks for a moment, then heads to the kitchen. He digs through the cupboards and freezer until he finds enough food that hasn't gone bad to make something resembling a healthy meal. Then he walks back to Wei Ying's room and sets it close enough that hopefully the man will eat some of it out of habit, if nothing else.
Hours later, Lan Zhan snaps to with a start, realizing he's just been watching Wei Ying type in a half daze. It's fascinating to watch him work, and Lan Zhan is tired enough from a long week of meetings that it had been… nice to sit on Wei Ying's comfortable bed with nothing to do. He looks at the plate he'd set next to Wei Ying and sees with satisfaction it's mostly eaten. So at least the man’s gotten a vegetable in him today. Then he looks over and sees Wei Ying's head dip dangerously towards the laptop in front of him.
Lan Zhan stands quickly and puts a hand on Wei Ying's shoulder to keep him from tipping over completely. He's blinking sleepily at the laptop screen, hands gone still on the keyboard.
"Bed," Lan Zhan says firmly. Wei Ying shrugs his shoulder, apparently trying to get back to work, but Lan Zhan reaches out to block his hands from the keyboard.
"Bed, Wei Ying. You won't be happy if you fall asleep on your computer and delete half your code."
Wei Ying makes a soft pouting noise, but doesn't fight when Lan Zhan gently pulls him out of his chair and prods him towards the bed. Lan Zhan carefully unties Wei Ying's Converse after the man has flopped face first into his mattress, then tries to roll him over so he's not lying half off the bed. He has Wei Ying in what should be at least a tolerably comfortable position when the man's arm suddenly shoots out and clutches at Lan Zhan's shirt.
"Wei Ying," he says gently, trying to pry himself free, but Wei Ying just grumbles sleepily and pulls harder, dragging Lan Zhan down onto the bed next to him. The next thing he knows, Lan Zhan has Wei Ying wrapped around him like a limpet. Wei Ying's breath has gone soft, even, short huffs that mean if he's not asleep already, he's at least most of the way there. Lan Zhan debates pulling himself free, but he doesn't want to wake Wei Ying, and he's honestly half asleep himself at this point. It would be reckless to drive home like this, he tells himself, before letting his own eyes fall shut.
The next morning Lan Zhan wakes up with Wei Ying tucked up against his back, one arm slung over his waist. Lan Zhan carefully extracts himself, then turns and watches Wei Ying, his mouth half open, hand grasping for his missing Lan Zhan shaped body pillow, until he blinks himself awake.
"What… Lan Zhan, what time is it?"
Wei Ying blinks again, then seems to realize the room is filled with early morning light.
"Oh my god, I missed our date. Did you sleep here?"
Lan Zhan feels a rush of embarrassment hit him. It had been wildly presumptuous not to head home last night, after he had finally gotten the man to sleep. But then Wei Ying is grinning brightly and pulling himself out of bed.
"Wait, let me show you what I was working on. I swear I stood you up for a good reason…"
Wei Ying drags his laptop off his desk, then pulls Lan Zhan back down onto the bed with him. It should be awkward, but Wei Ying starts walking Lan Zhan through his code and suddenly he can't think about anything else.
Wei Ying is halfway through building the framework for a data transfer network to rival WenCorp's flagship product, and what Wei Ying has is. It's genius, really. Wei Ying codes like he speaks, free flowing but every piece somehow fitting together seamlessly. Plus, from what Wei Ying explains of his plans for the program, it would fix the glaring security flaws Lan Zhan has long since despaired of the Wens ever properly addressing.
He says as much, and Wei Ying perks up. "I had that same thought, but I haven't explored the problems with Fyrewall too much. What are the biggest issues you've seen?"
And god, even Xichen has long since banned any discussion of Wen encryption from his conversations with Lan Zhan. But Wei Ying listens intently as Lan Zhan launches into a comprehensive list of every problem he has with Fyrewall. How WenCorp should stop selling the program and fix their legacy databases before it causes real damage. How they don't give a shit as long as it's bringing in money, but there's people's personal data on there. PII about children, thanks to the schools they've sold the program to, and it's not right.
Wei Ying agrees with him. Even better, he adds his own issues to the list, from the haphazard way they release bug fixes to Wen Chao's truly hideous font choices. Lan Zhan hasn't had this much fun talking about work in months. Possibly years.
—
The next week, Lan Zhan opens up his news feed over breakfast to see breaking headlines about a Wen Industries hacking incident. Lan Zhan scrambles to click through and find out more, heart racing at the thought of all that private data out in the world, until he scans the details and. Well.
Users had opened up their Fyrewall apps to see the screen overrun with digital rabbits and a comprehensive description of exactly where the breakdowns in security were in this and several other Wen products.
"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan says as sternly as he can manage when the man picks up his phone on the fifth ring.
"Whu…" Wei Ying responds, clearly having just woken up. Possibly by Lan Zhan's phone call.
"Fyrewall."
"Oh," Wei Ying says, and then Lan Zhan swears he can hear a giggle from the other end of the line. "Whoever hacked it must be really smart, huh?"
"Hm," Lan Zhan says, biting back a laugh of his own. This is too serious for him to find it as satisfying as he does.
"A real genius, right? Good thing they're clearly a benevolent defender of the people and not some black market scammer."
"Good thing," Lan Zhan says, and suddenly his stomach turns as his brain flips from satisfaction at the security flaws being exposed to a rapid rush of catastrophizing. "What if someone…."
"And if this guy is so smart, probably no one will ever be able to track it back to him. Especially if he had an inside source, like the blogs are speculating. So sad, really, that if he got into the app from inside the Wen headquarters there's no way to track it back to any outside source. Right, Lan Zhan."
"Hm," Lan Zhan says again, but his brain stops racing toward thoughts of federal investigations and maximum security prisons. If he's confident in anything, it's that Wei Ying is just that smart.
"So I got us dinner reservations tonight," Wei Ying says through another yawn. "See you at seven?"
"Yes," Lan Zhan says, then lets himself listen to the sound of Wei Ying's breath on the other end of the phone for a long, self-indulgent moment before he ends the call.
—
Lan Zhan spends the next morning at work standing up, heading toward his office door, then returning to his desk. He gets no work done. Finally, just before lunch, he forces himself to walk down the hallway and knock on his brother's door.
He hears a polite "Come in," from inside, so opens the door and steps in. He waits for Xichen to look up from his computer before speaking.
"Brother, I have… a problem."
"Is it the Sunshot OS debugging?" Xichen asks, looking worried.
"No. I finished that."
"Wait, seriously? I thought that was going to take weeks. When did you find the time?"
Lan Zhan doesn't say he worked all weekend on it, because his brother gets angry when he says he worked all weekend on things.
"It's… a personal problem."
That successfully distracts Xichen from lecturing him about work-life balance. Lan Zhan thinks he sees laughter in Xichen eyes, but he powers on because he's not sure who else he could even go to with this.
"I… am dating Wei Wuxian."
"You're what?" Xichen says, and Lan Zhan feels a small hit of satisfaction when the laughter on his brother's face is replaced with surprise.
"I accidentally lied and said I was dating someone, and then Wei Wuxian agreed to actually date me, so that it would not be a lie," Lan Zhan explains. He thinks it's a clear and concise summary, but Xichen looks entirely bemused.
"So you're… faking that you are dating Wei Wuxian?" Xichen asks. He looks like he is trying to debug a particularly dense bit of code.
"No, I am actually dating Wei Wuxian."
"And… you don't want to be?"
"That's the problem. I…" Lan Zhan stiffens his resolve, then continues, "I am realizing I do want to date Wei Wuxian."
Xichen pauses for a long moment, and Lan Zhan thinks he sees the laughter return to his eyes. Infuriating.
"So you are dating Wei Wuxian, for real. And that's a problem because you want to be actually dating Wei Wuxian, for real," Xichen asks.
"Yes," Lan Zhan replies.
"You know, little brother. I think you can probably work this one out on your own."
Xichen stands and claps Lan Zhan on the shoulder before leaving his office. Lan Zhan is so annoyed that it takes him a minute to remember this is Xichen's office in the first place, so he has no idea why his brother has left and he's remained.
—
They go on more dates. Wei Ying takes Lan Zhan to his favorite dim sum place. Lan Zhan takes Wei Ying to the beach, where they kick their feet through the frigid water and spend so long talking about the latest episode of Schitt's Creek (which Lan Zhan reluctantly watched on Wei Ying's insistence, and equally reluctantly now admits is "Very funny, Wei Ying. Please stop gloating.") that they don't ever get around to talking work. Lan Zhan has beer in his fridge now that he doesn't drink, just so he has it available when Wei Ying stops by.
There are more movies, and dinners, and sometimes just nights on Lan Zhan's couch watching whatever show Wei Ying is newly obsessed with, and all the while Lan Zhan can feel a clock ticking louder and louder in the back of his head. This is going to come to an end at some point. No one is nice enough to keep dating him forever based on one poorly-thought-out hotel bar agreement.
It's starting to affect their time together, Lan Zhan knows. He's getting awkward about it, so terrified of this all coming to an end, that long pauses are beginning to slip into their conversations, Lan Zhan getting distracted by his own brain in a way that leaves Wei Ying looking alternatively confused and worried.
"Do you want to do dinner at that vegan place next week," Wei Ying asks one night, after a too long silence when Lan Zhan's brain had gone full static on him, a running ticker of thiswillendthiswillendthiswillend.
Lan Zhan looks at the furrow between Wei Ying's eyes and, without thinking it through, say "We don't have to, if you aren't interested anymore."
"Oh," Wei Ying says, and Lan Zhan isn't sure but he thinks he sounds annoyed. This is what Lan Zhan had been terrified about. Why he'd held back on the question that's been burning inside him for weeks now.
"If you don't want to… go on dates anymore. We don't have to," Lan Zhan forces himself to continue, because the thought of Wei Ying doing this out of… pity, or obligation, is more painful than even the thought of it ending.
"Yeah, that's fine," Wei Ying continues, voice flat. "Listen, I should head out, Lan Zhan. Take care, okay?"
Lan Zhan watches helplessly as Wei Ying grabs his ratty backpack off the floor near Lan Zhan's couch. (Near Wei Ying's side of Lan Zhan's couch. And Lan Zhan doesn't know what's going to go there now. There's never been anyone else to have a side of the couch in his house.)
The sound of the door closing behind Wei Ying rattles through Lan Zhan's brain, and it takes him a few minutes to realize he's crying. Huh. He hasn't done that since he was a child.
—
Wei Ying doesn't text. Lan Zhan hadn't expected he would, but the deafening silence affects him more than he would have anticipated. He turns his ringer back on, but his day remains uninterrupted by any notifications. After three days of pouring himself into his work, Xichen stops by his office, looking worried.
"Want to talk about it?"
"No," Lan Zhan says, and turns back to his computer. Xichen stands in the door, unmoving, until Lan Zhan sighs and turns back. "Wei Wuxian and I broke up. I am fine."
"Oh, Wangji."
That night Xichen stops by Lan Zhan's apartment and bodily pulls him from his computer, hands him a plastic Tupperware of soup, and forces him to sit on the couch.
"What are you doing?" Lan Zhan asks as Xichen starts flipping through his Apple TV menu.
"Making you eat soup and watch a romantic comedy with me."
"Why?"
"It's what you do when you break up with someone," Xichen says before hitting play on something called 'What's Your Number.'
"Is it?" Lan Zhan asks, but he takes a bite of the soup. It's tolerable.
"Supposedly," Xichen answers with a shrug.
"This movie is terrible," Lan Zhan says fifteen minutes later, grimacing at the screen. Xichen bursts out laughing, and Lan Zhan has just enough time to be shocked at how uncharacteristically loud his brother is being, before he says "you're right," and switches the tv over to a recorded performance of the New York Philharmonic.
Lan Zhan clutches the tub of soup and looks over at his brother, sitting straight-backed and familiar in Wei Ying's former spot on the couch. He supposes there are worse ways to fill the empty space.
—
Lan Zhan spends two weeks being wildly productive at work then heading home to lie awake in bed for hours before repeating the cycle again the next day. He knows he has bags under his eyes, and suspects he doesn't have long before Xichen stops by for another intervention. The knock on his door one Saturday afternoon isn't exactly a surprise then. The furious continuation of the knocking when Lan Zhan decides not to get up off the couch and answer, though, is. As is the angry voice suddenly shouting through his door for him to open the fuck up, Lan Wangji, I swear to god.
Lan Zhan opens the door, because he's slightly concerned Jiang Cheng will break something if he does not, either Lan Zhan's house or Jiang Cheng's own body.
The second the door is open, Jiang Cheng starts screaming at him, and thank god Lan Zhan has a house, not an apartment with neighbors. Though he's starting to worry deaf Mr. Jones from down the street might be able to hear at this point and will call the cops on them.
Then he finally listens to what Jiang Cheng is saying.
"If you're going to dump my horrible brother I GET IT but at least tell him WHY. He is being FUCKING INSUFFERABLE and is going to ACTUALLY DIE from eating nothing but Cheetos and Red Bull."
"He's not eating?" Lan Zhan says before he can bite the words back. Then he stops and grabs Jiang Cheng by the wrist, which seems to finally quiet him for a moment. "What do you mean I broke up with your brother?"
"I mean you broke up with my moping asshole of a brother.”
"But… he broke up with me?"
Jiang Cheng now looks both angry and confused. Lan Zhan finds he's starting to feel similarly.
Half an hour and three beers (Jiang Cheng) and two Diet Cokes (Lan Zhan) later, it turns out that while Lan Zhan has been sitting at home trying to code his way out of depression over being dumped, Wei Ying was also been sitting at home, trying to code his way out of depression over being dumped. And, in actuality, no one had been dumped at all.
"I have to go," Lan Zhan says, standing up and nearly upending his drink in the process. Jiang Cheng sighs and stands as well.
"Are you going to apologize to my horrible brother?"
Lan Zhan nods.
"Come on. I'll drive."
—
"I'll find parking," Jiang Cheng says as he pulls to a stop in front of Wei Ying's apartment building. "You still have your key?"
"Yes," Lan Zhan says and tries not to flush. He'd been meaning to return it, but the prospect had felt so horrifyingly final that he hadn't been able to make himself.
"Good. Go see if you can drag him out of his sadness cave. I'll be up soon."
Lan Zhan lets himself into the building, then knocks tentatively at Wei Ying's apartment.
He isn't sure what he's expecting, but he's shocked when the door swings open. Wei Ying looks terrible. Lan Zhan's heart clenches as he gets a full look at the bags under Wei Ying's eyes, the way his shirt hangs off his already too skinny frame. Jiang Cheng was clearly right about Wei Ying not eating enough.
"What are…" Wei Ying starts, before going silent, and that makes Lan Zhan's heart flip again. Wei Ying is never silent.
They stand like that for too long, silence stretching, before Lan Zhan realizes that, for once, he is going to have to speak first.
"I didn't break up with you," he says, before he can overthink things.
"But…" Wei Ying stammers.
"I thought you broke up with me."
"I didn't," Wei Ying says. "I wouldn't."
"I thought," Lan Zhan says, because this is probably something they should have talked about weeks ago, now that he thinks things through, "that we had an end date. That you were doing me a favor, and wouldn't want to keep dating forever. Just to keep my uncle from getting angry."
"Fuck," Wei Ying says, and then he's stepping out of the apartment and up into Lan Zhan's space. "Lan Zhan, I don't give a shit about your uncle. I thought you'd finally realized I'd tricked you into this whole thing and were done with me for good."
"Tricked me?"
"You took me up on my stupid suggestion back at Young Innovators, and I, uh. Thought it was too good to be true, honestly. Just wanted to enjoy myself as long as I could before you figured out the whole thing was ridiculous and unnecessary and dumped my ass."
"I don't want to dump you," Lan Zhan says, blinking furiously. "I like your ass."
"Oh my god, Lan Zhan," Wei Ying says, and then suddenly he is on him. Arms around Lan Zhan's neck, hugging him tightly. Lan Zhan has missed this so much.
He feels Wei Ying mumble something into his neck and pulls back (regretfully, painfully) and asks "What?"
"Can I, uh. Can I kiss you?" Wei Ying asks. And Lan Zhan can't stop himself anymore. He has Wei Ying's face in his hands the next thing he knows, and then they are kissing. Like it's necessary for his survival. Like he doesn't need air anymore, just Wei Ying's mouth on his.
"I don't want to watch this," Jiang Cheng says from behind them, and Lan Zhan startles as he pushes past them into the apartment.
"That's homophobic, Jiang Cheng," Wei Ying yells while Lan Zhan tries to get his tongue back into Wei Ying's mouth.
"Fuck you," Jiang Cheng yells back. Lan Zhan suspects he is flipping them both off, but he's too busy pulling Wei Ying closer to care, kissing him until Wei Ying cannot manage words anymore. He thinks he's succeeded by the time someone wolf whistles from down the hall and they finally break apart.
—
They share a hotel room at next year’s Young Innovators conference. Lan Zhan is late to two morning presentations and, scandalously, one afternoon panel he is supposed to be speaking at. He also has to wear a scarf the entire conference, despite the unseasonably warm spring weather, to hide the plethora of hickeys Wei Ying has left up and down his neck. But Wei Ying introduces him to three up-and-coming programmers at the keynote afterparty, two of whom sound very interested in coming to work for GusuLan technology after they graduate, so he thinks it's overall an acceptable use of company resources.