Work Text:
Wei Ying recognized the cane before the face, and forgave himself. Almost four years had passed since he'd said goodbye to Lan Zhan, give or take a skull fracture.
Lan Zhan's cane was still blue and white, something that would be judged far too colorful for his character by someone who didn't know him. Did Wei Ying still count as such a person?
"Lan Zhan!" he shouted from the other side of the grassy area, waving a hand over his head and ignoring the way Wen Ning ducked away from concussion risk. He grabbed Wen Ning's hand with his free one and tugged him forward over the grass. "Lan Zhan! Hi!"
Lan Zhan had turned, and it was a good thing that Wei Ying had been correct about the cane, because otherwise this would have gotten very awkward very fast.
"Lan Zhan!" he said again when they were on the same side of the small park. How much could four years change a person? Wei Ying felt like this Lan Zhan was someone completely new; he felt like not a minute has passed since their last conversation.
"Wei Ying." Lan Zhan's voice was deep and measured, his movements economical, and his back ramrod-straight. He inclined his head but didn't hide his smile, and didn't show any surprise. "Wen Ning."
"Good morning," Wen Ning said, because it was morning. The only reason they were out of their shared dorm was because Wen Ning had asked for company to a free breakfast event.
"Good morning."
"Good morning." Wei Ying snorted as he completed the circle. "You don't have class, right?" Lan Zhan would be starting his final semester now. Wei Ying felt a lump in his throat, the possibility that he would lose Lan Zhan to the passage of time once more, and didn't wait for Lan Zhan's answer before continuing: "Let's get coffee."
"I still do not drink coffee." There was a smile in Lan Zhan's voice. Had that been something they'd done as children? It was neither a blur not fully gone, but he couldn't remember—he remembered Lan Zhan just fine, and his smile, and all the time the three of them had spent together in school, remembered wanting to take Lan Zhan and Wen Ning to an amusement park and changing direction to a simple ice-cream parlor instead because neither of them could handle the crowds or the walking—but the coffee, he couldn't remember, was it a story or joke or—
Wei Ying choked out a chuckle and threw a quick look at Wen Ning, who was making a look of his own in Lan Zhan's direction. Lan Zhan blinked slowly at him, then at Wei Ying.
"A hot beverage would be good."
Back in school, Wei Ying had held up most of the conversations, being naturally more talkative than either Wen Ning or Lan Zhan, and maintained the habit in most social situations, but suddenly he floundered.
He said something about the weather, and something about how it was good that there was no ice on campus even in winter, and something about the iced coffee he was going to buy even though it was still cold outside.
Lan Zhan ordered tea.
Wen Ning got hot chocolate.
Wei Ying read his order off a note in his phone, because he could never remember what exactly it was. By the time he backed away from the counter, Wen Ning was shooing Lan Zhan away from the waiting area to a table.
It was a good thing, because Wei Ying had forgotten to pay. He swung back, laughing it off, quipping about losing his head if it wasn't connected to his body, losing energy only when he joined Wen Ning and had to be guided through putting away his wallet, which he couldn't remember holding.
"I— "
"Join him," Wen Ning said kindly, which was good because Wei Ying didn't know what he was going to say. At least this one was an emotional silence and not one due to his brain being permanently scrambled. He signed and looked at Wen Ning to communicate that he didn't want to exclude him by leaving him alone to get their drinks. Wen Ning returned a look that said he would forcibly push Wei Ying to the table if he didn't go peacefully.
Wei Ying went.
The table was circular and out of the way. Wei Ying sat with his back to the door so Wen Ning could join and sit with his back to a wall, as Lan Zhan had done. He wanted to ask how Lan Zhan had been all these years. What he had decided to study. What his plans were for after graduation. If he'd ever gotten bunnies like he'd dreamed.
He talked about a goose he'd seen several days previously instead. It had walked around, wings fluttering, neck extending back and forth, with intense focus, searching for something in the grass. He'd taken a video, and now shoved it across the table to show Lan Zhan, because he'd never seen a goose move like that. He talked about the bird's webbed feet and how they folded up when they were raised off the ground during every step.
He mentioned Wen Qing and the progress of her medical degree. He mentioned the cat he met on the street every day, how he wondered if it was a stray and if it would object to coming home with him. He welcomed Wen Ning when he arrived with the drinks and lightly pushed at his arm: "We tried bringing it home," he admitted, "But Wen Ning's nose started running after less than an hour."
Lan Zhan laughed where he was supposed to, and nodded along to the narrative. He shared a story of his own here and there, showed a photo of the fat rabbit he'd seen in someone's driveway when he'd gone to get ice cream once. His phone case had clouds on it.
Lan Zhan said one thing only when the conversation drifted briefly to classes before returning to the safer waters of funny-looking clouds.
"I took time off."
He wasn't taking a full semester load.
He was going to be around for more than just half a year.
He liked strawberry ice cream now. He offered his phone number before Wei Ying could offer to meet again. He interrupted the end of their conversation to point out a cat being walked on a leash outside the cafe. He offered Wen Ning a spare hair elastic.
"I missed you," Wei Ying heard Wen Ning say when he held open the door for them.
"Me too," Lan Zhan replied, then turned to face Wei Ying. "And you."
They'd been inseparable before, the three of them, from the moment Wen Ning had transferred to their school and Wei Ying had worn Lan Zhan down.
Maybe they could be again. It would never be what it had been once, but maybe they could rebuild.