Chapter Text
The alarm pierced the quiet atmosphere.
Shen Yuan had his face smushed against the pillow, and immediately groaned at the mere sound. He didn’t want to wake up, he was done with everything (not really, but he was a lazy bitch but won’t admit it out loud).
He lay there for five more minutes, almost falling asleep again when his little bubble was shattered by the knocking on his door. The door was knocked in short, but quick knocks that were meant to annoy him. Shen Yuan knew exactly who the little devil was behind the door.
The knocking didn’t stop, and a high-pitched, sarcastic and annoying voice rang out from the hall. “A-Yuan! Wakey wakey!”
Shen Yuan’s eyes snapped open, and he turned his head towards the door and yelled out, “Shut up!”
The person behind the door let out a snort, and they knocked five more consecutive times before their footsteps gradually got quieter, implying they had left. Shen Yuan let out a sigh of relief. He rolled onto his back and looked at the ceiling. He couldn’t see shit. He was too tired to get his glasses from his nightstand. He rubbed his eyes and reached out blindly to search for them. Once he did, he put them on and didn’t do anything, still laying in his bed with his eyes closed.
He was about to fall into the inviting arms of sleep again when more knocking came from his door. He was about to call the other person off when he realized the knocks were different. The knocks were much more softer, almost hesitant but still had something to them to know there was still a sense of urgency in them. Nothing too bad, but just as a reminder.
The person tentatively called out, “A-Yuan, wake up. We only have 45 minutes left before classes start. We wouldn’t want to be late on the first day.”
They hesitated again. “I’ve left some instant ramen for you in the kitchen. Not the best breakfast, but it’s all we got at the moment and A-Xian already ate the leftovers from last night, so apologies for that. We were planning on going to McDonalds early for breakfast but we’re running out of time. Get ready A-Yuan.” They added, before their steps faded away.
Shen Yuan sighed again, willing the sleep to leave him to wake up and use the restroom. He was going to take his time until he remembered he had less then 40 minutes left. He cursed, debating on whether on taking a shower or not. He had taken one the night before, so he figured he was fine. He took out whatever clothes he could find and put them on without having the care to check if the clothes matched.
He walked out of his room and made his way towards the kitchen. He was glad the apartment he had was spacious enough. He didn’t know what to do with it before, but now there were signs of life from the countless pieces of takeout littering the kitchen counters and the kitchen island in the middle. Shen Yuan spotted the instant ramen in the counter and immediately scooped it up and sat at the island, eating it quickly. It was a bit cold now, but it would do.
Shen Yuan heard a door slam and he looked up towards the sound, his gaze locked to silver-gray eyes. He was about to say his thanks when he realized it was the wrong person. The man in front of him had dark, disheveled hair, the kind girls liked. He was wearing ripped jeans and a shirt that had too many holes. Shen Yuan never understood why guys liked wearing shirts like that; to him it looked awful. The guy had multiple piercings: one on the side of his lower lip, one on his left brow, and multiple ones on his ears. At the sight of him, Shen Yuan scowled. On the other hand, the guy instantly smirked and a glint of mischief appeared in his eyes. It was the annoying, the troublemaker, the biggest headache to Shen Yuan: Wei Wuxian.
The man (who Shen Yuan didn’t consider one) strolled and made his way to where Shen Yuan sat, who was minding his own business and slurping up his ramen. Shen Yuan knew anything that came out of his mouth was never good, so he pointedly ignored him.
A presence appeared at his right side. Shen Yuan didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging him, so he kept eating. Wei Wuxian leaned on the island, putting his chin in his hand, smirk still present on his face. Shen Yuan just continued to glare at him.
“What is it?” He asked, because all he wanted to do was to eat in peace, and this devil just wouldn’t leave him alone. The one in question looked him up and down, the smirk growing. He locked eyes with Shen Yuan again and said, “Nice Sailor Moon t-shirt.”
“What’s wrong with Sailor Moon?” A third voice asked. Both the man sitting at the kitchen island looked up. A man stood in the hallway, his hands holding a cup of what Shen Yuan presumed was coffee. He was wearing a simple white shirt with simple dark jeans. Despite the simple choice of clothing, it hid nothing of the man’s beauty. Kind, almost hazel like eyes behind circle-rimmed glasses were watching the two of them with amusement. Almond hair hanged down his face in bangs. Everything about the man screamed patience and gentleness. Shen Yuan’s sour mood from earlier instantly dissipated at the mere sight of him. Xie Lian smiled at them both, amusement still present in his face.
Wei Wuxian’s smirk from earlier disappeared and was replaced with a grin. “A-Lian!” He called out, standing up from his chair and running at the man at full speed and unceremoniously throwing himself at Xie Lian. Almost like second nature, Xie Lian put his cup on the kitchen counter and caught Wei Wuxian with grace, stopping and catching him like he weighed nothing. Shen Yuan knew there was a lot of muscle hidden underneath, but that still didn’t stop him from being surprised.
Xie Lian’s laugh sounded like bells. Not the big and annoying ones that gave you a headache, but the ones that were pleasant to the ears. Wei Wuxian straightened himself and beamed at him, his grin never faltering.
“It was nothing A-Lian. I was just saying things out loud.” Wei Wuxian said, turning his face to Shen Yuan and gave him one of his infamous shit-eating grins. Shen Yuan flipped him off, and at that Wei Wuxian snickered.
“Is your stuff ready?” Xie Lian said.
“Stuff?” The clutches of sleep still hadn’t left Shen Yuan, so it took him a bit to process what had been said.
“College, A-Yuan.” Xie Lian sighed, and it was becoming a regular occurrence. Out of the three of them, Xie Lian was the most on top of things, which wasn’t saying a whole lot. Maybe because he realized just how much of a loser both Shen Yuan and Wei Wuxian were, but he had made it his personal mission to at least be in charge of two of them. Shen Yuan couldn’t help but feel guilty, and he tried his best to pick himself up and not be much of a burden to Xie Lian. Even Wei Wuxian had stopped giving them a migraine and instead became a weekly headache. Process is slow, okay?
“Oh.”
Welp. Look at yourself, Shen Yuan. Promising to be better for the sake of your friend and not changing a bit. Such a productive man. Now stop being a lazy bitch and stop burdening Xie Lian. He didn’t deserve having a friend like him, and Wei Wuxian knew it as well.
Shen Yuan was about to stand up and get his stuff ready before a heavy weight hit him in the stomach. He groaned and glared at Wei Wuxian, who was whistling a little annoying tune to himself.
“A-Xian,” Xie Lian chastised him.
Wei Wuxian just kept grinning at him. “Sorry A-Lian, but you gotta know just how lazy A-Yuan. Can’t blame me for trying to help a dear friend of mine.” Wei Wuxian pointed an accusatory finger in Shen Yuan’s direction. “Look at him! He’s still groggy from sleep. Look at all the mess he did at the table.”
Again, it took Shen Yuan a moment to process what he said and looked down to his bowl. Sure enough, some of the ramen had landed on the sides of the bowl and it made a mess. He looked at his own shirt and while it wasn’t as messy as the table, it was still dirty.
Well, shit. He had to put on a new shirt before they left or else he would look like he was a starved man who hadn’t eaten in two weeks. Or, you know, a pig. Yeah, a pig who was in the body of an average Asian kid. What a pretty sight he is to sore eyes.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Continuing to be a burden to sweet and precious A-Lian over here. You see A-Lian? It would be best to just kick him out.”
At this, Shen Yuan stood up and glared at Wei Wuxian. “Kick me out? Are you dumb? Don’t you remember that this is my apartment? Maybe I should just kick you out of the apartment. How about that?”
Immediately, Xie Lian placed himself in front of Wei Wuxian and held his arms out to Shen Yuan.
“A-Yuan, please calm down. You know A-Xian didn’t mean it, he was just joking around. No need to get mad about it, I promise.”
Shen Yuan sighed, and while he was still staring daggers into Wei Wuxian, he reluctantly apologized. It was worth it, as Xie Lian’s face broke out in relief.
Shen Yuan washed his now empty bowl and went back to him room to change to another t-shirt. This time, it contained of characters from Bleach. He stepped out of his room and got his bag from where he had left it in the kitchen, and made his way to the front door. Xie Lian and Wei Wuxian were already waiting there. Wei Wuxian was excitedly talking about who knows what, and Xie Lian was listening, smiling the whole time because he wanted to be polite or maybe because he was enjoying it. They both turned at sound of his footsteps. Xie Lian turned and offered him a smile, and Wei Wuxian pouted at being interrupted.
Wei Wuxian was about to grab his keys before Shen Yuan quickly got his own. Wei Wuxian blinked, looking at him in confusion. “I’m driving,” he stated, his tone making it clear there was no room to argue.
“I can drive, A-Yuan. I have a fucking license.” Wei Wuxian said back.
“It’ll be easier if we all go together in one car. Wouldn’t do you any favors to be late on the first day. Surprised you haven’t been kicked out by now.”
“You’re not my mom. And besides, it wouldn’t hurt being late a third time.”
“You’re lucky I like you enough to care about your attendance to not disappoint your family.”
“How the hell do you know what my family would say?”
”I’ll call your mom and brother. Tell me how you like that.”
Xie Lian’s eyes kept moving between the two of them, almost comically, like both of them were playing ping pong and Xie Lian was the referee. Does ping pong have referees? Wei Wuxian and Shen Yuan didn’t know cause they just didn’t care.
A hand came between their faces, blocking their sight off of each other. They both came back to their senses and guilt immediately swelled in their chests. They both promised themselves they wouldn’t be as big of a headache to Xie Lian as his two best friends were! And look at them now, arguing with each other just like how Xie Lian mentioned his best friends did.
Nobody deserved Xie Lian, especially the two of them.
“Don’t worry, I’ll drive.” Xie Lian said, fishing out his keys from his pocket.
Horror washed over Shen Yuan’s and Wei Wuxian’s faces at the same time. They made eye contact, and the message was clear and obvious in their faces: in no circumstances are we letting Xie Lian drive.
They felt awful, but it was the truth. He was nowhere near a perfect driver. But they just couldn’t say it out loud. Shen Yuan was close to saying it once, but Wei Wuxian had slapped a hand over his face and lied to Xie Lian.
“No need, A-Lian. A-Yuan can drive instead. I changed my mind.” With that, a forced smile appeared on Wei Wuxian’s face.
“Yeah, no need to trouble yourself,” Shen Yuan added.
Xie Lian’s gaze swept between the two of them, as if searching for something. He put his keys back in his pocket and faced again with again with a smile.
“Alright, it’s best if we hurry to not be late then.” Xie Lian said, and clapped his hands in front of him. With that action, his watch on his wrist caught his attention and he looked, and suddenly his face became pale.
“We only have 15 minutes! Hurry, hurry, hurry!” Xie Lian exclaimed, ushering all three of them to step out of the apartment.
“What the fuck? Already?” Shen Yuan asked, and he checked his phone and, of course, they were going to be late.
“Shit,” he cursed under his breath. He locked the apartment and ran down the stairs, too much in a rush to use the elevator. It was a good thing that they were on the third floor, so it wasn’t too bad. Shen Yuan was scared he would trip, but miraculously he made it to the parking area in one piece. He ran to his car, with Xie Lian and Wei Wuxian hot on his trail. It wasn’t until he reached it that he realized he hadn’t grabbed his keys.
He was about to run up the stairs to his apartment again when a voice rang out. “Catch!” Wei Wuxian called out, and Shen Yuan caught the keys in the air and unlocked his car and got in. Xie Lian got on the passenger’s seat, and Wei Wuxian threw himself to the back.
“Did we get everything?” Shen Yuan asked, out of breath. Xie Lian shook his head, also panting.
“Alright then, let’s go.” And with that, they were off.