Chapter Text
There is always a student in every class who seems to glide through the school year without a care in the world, always arriving late but never facing consequences. This student was Wei Ying, who, with a laid-back demeanor and a charming smile, would always stroll into class long after the bell rang, often carrying a cup of coffee or typing on his phone without paying attention to the teacher’s unpleasant expression. In his defense, Wei Ying was known by everyone so it was only fair and appropriate to stop by and say hi to everyone that crossed his path.
As any other day, Wei Ying being late had not been an exemption. He had run through the door and sat on his assigned seat as the bell rang. In all honesty Wei Ying considered that to be on time. Mr. Song, who was Wei Ying’s current teacher, sighed as he saw Wei Ying smile teasingly at him and then turned around to talk.
“Huaisang, are you still down for this weekend?”, Wei Ying asked as he sat his body weight on his friend’s desk.
Nie Huaisang sat behind Wei Ying, something they both loved. Wei Ying loved having one of his best friends so close to him and Nie Huaisang loved the idea of being able to hide behind Wei Ying when the teacher was calling people up to the board. They had both been surprised at the sitting chart given at the beginning of the year but neither complained as it was absolutely perfect.
Nie Huaisang nodded at Wei Ying’s question, “Yeah, brother won’t be here this weekend so I can do whatever.”
“I’ll text Wen Ning.”
“Should we have takeout or should I make something?” Nie Huaisang whispered as class was quieting down.
“Order. Pizza? Uhh- Let me ask Ning” he whispered back.
Wei Ying sat up straight the moment he heard the professor request everyone’s attention. He looked up for a second before lowering his gaze to his hidden phone. He waited for an answer from Wen Ning but it never came, perhaps actually paying attention to class unlike him.
”Please clear off your desks as I hand in the test.”
Wei Ying looked back up immediately, his eyes in shock. He did not remember a test being mentioned before. Ughhh. He groaned as he started going through his backpack, shaking his things and moving wrinkly papers from one side to the other, he smiled victoriously the moment he felt a pencil.
Great!
Wei Ying’s victory only lasted a few seconds as he noticed the lack of the eraser on the pencil. Huh, of course it was broken, he thought. It was Jiang Cheng’s pencil. Wei Ying giggled as he remembered his brother having to buy pencils more often than usual. Jiang Cheng had a bad temperament and his pencils were often the victims of his outburst.
He went through his backpack again, disorganizing everything even more. Nothing.
“Uhhh”, Wei Ying turned around again and looked at his friend who seemed to be having a meltdown of his own, “Yo, Do you have an extra eraser?”
“No, I’m sorry”
Wei Ying gasped, “Liar! You’re the student with different pens and pencils in all colors of the rainbow! You’re rich!”
Nie Huaisang laughed shyly, “Shut up, I forgot my pencil case this morning. I only have this one pencil to survive the day.” He lifted a small pencil in front of Wei Ying’s face.
Wei Ying whined and turned back around. Despite always being late and having the attention span of a pigeon, Wei Ying was smart but not smart enough to take a test without an eraser. That was a dangerous game he did not want to take as Wei Ying cared about his grades even if others thought otherwise.
“Here! You can borrow mine”
A softer voice next to him brought his whole attention.
MianMian
Of course it was. MianMian was Wei Ying’s crush. Everyone’s crush. MianMian was known by all the guys in his grade for being what many would consider the perfect girl: Shy and pretty but also strong and confident when needed. MianMian had just become class president and was doing a great job as she actively listened to student’s concerns and came up with ideas and solutions immediately. She always striked for a fair environment and Wei Ying admired that about her. Gusu Academy was known for having the sons and daughters of important people in the country, as well as the richest. Wei Ying was not part of such families, but after his parents had passed away in an unexpected accident, Wei Ying had been adopted by the Jiang family. After being properly adjusted to his new life, Wei Ying had been able to join Gusu Academy along with his brother. Sadly, kids did not see him as “one of them”, which resulted in Wei Ying getting rejected and bullied his first few weeks. Wei Ying tried his best not to feel inferior and kept doing his best until one day the teasing stopped. He had learned that those that rejected him had faced repercussions for their actions. Later on, Wei Ying had also discovered that a student had brought the principal’s attention to this issue repeatedly until something was done about it. He then decided that he liked those who stood for what was right and that had inspired him to do the same in the face of injustice.
While he had not become active in school the same way MianMian was, he still did his best to make everyone feel accepted and welcome. He had seen MianMian go from a shy girl to a strong minded person and naturally he had gained a big crush on her. Despite not doing anything about it he would still often fantasize about dating her and going out on dates with her.
Wei Ying stared at the rectangular eraser, fiddling with it as his mind filled with thoughts of MianMian’s generosity. She was truly the perfect girl. Besides his older sister, of course. We Ying shook his head and inspected the eraser carefully until he saw some lines scribbled on one side of the eraser.
“...zhan♡”, he whispered.
Zhan…Lan Zhan. Wei Ying felt his heart throbbed. The eraser was a small lucky charm token girls often made in hope of dating their crush. MianMian liked someone else and of course it was someone pretty and responsible like Lan Wangji.
Wei Wuxian softly whined, now there was no way he could have a chance with MianMian. Lan Zhan was the vice president of the class and was also very supportive of MianMian. He was serious and followed the rules like his life depended on it. Wei Wuxian knew Lan Zhan was the nephew of the actual president of the school so he had connections and a bright future ahead; not to mention the fact that he had the best grades in the school. The Lans were respected and known by the whole country, for God’s sake, they had founded the academy itself. Not only that, but the Lans were also blessed with beauty. Lan Zhan was certainly beautiful. Ethereal. He had long black hair and jade-like skin: smooth and pretty. Elegant features and a serene expression. He had never cared for men or their appearance but he could appreciate beauty.
Wei Ying couldn’t deny the fact that MiamMian had good taste in men but this did not stop him from feeling heartbroken. His love life was over before it even started! He did not dislike Lan Zhan despite being so different from him, but he couldn’t help but feel jealousy and anger towards the man for taking MianMian’s attention and not realizing it. He stared at the back of Lan Zhan, who sat in front of him. He wanted to pull his hair as an attempt to demonstrate something. Nothing really. The eraser slipped from his fingers while cursing in his head, sending the eraser tumbling to the floor.
He sighed, eyes now staring at his empty hands and before he could react, Lan Zhan had noticed the eraser on the floor and reached down to pick it up. Lan Zhan handed the eraser back, waiting for Wei Ying to grab it.
“Oh, right, thanks!”,- Wei Ying grabbed the eraser back as he looked at the small letter and the heart engraved.
“You…”,
Wei Ying looked back up, his eyes locking in with a golden gaze.
“My name…your…” Lan Zhan, whose whole body was now turned in Wei Ying’s direction, seemed to be at a loss for words, his eyes fairly opened as he confronted Wei Ying.
Shit
Wei Ying felt his body tense up, anxiety rising from head to toes, “WHAT? The eraser? Haha… it’s not mine, it’s-”, Wei Ying stopped. He could not tell Lan Zhan whose eraser this was. MianMian had done nothing to him but be nice and to repay her by telling her crush of her feelings would be low of him. MianMian would never forgive him if word spread around and Wei Ying would be publicly shamed for revealing a girl’s feelings, “It’s mine.”
Lan Zhan stared at him intensely, his lips parting before turning around to face the front of the class as the teacher passed the test to him. Wei Ying blinked as he saw the smallest tint of red on the ears of Lan Zhan. He couldn’t blame him, he was sure his own face was three shades redder. Everything had happened so slow and so fast at the same time that Wei Ying did not have time to think about a better answer.
Fuck, now Lan Zhan thinks I have a crush on him.
Wei Ying tried his best to concentrate on the test that was in front of him but he couldn’t. He looked at the back of Lan Zhan through his eyelashes. He seemed like nothing had happened, his posture perfect as always, long black hair covering most of his broad back and steady breathing. That made Wei Ying feel even worse. Of course he wouldn’t care. His eyes went back to the test and back to Lan Zhan through the majority of the class and had jumped out of his chair the moment he heard the bell rang. He left the place in a hurry after turning the test over to his teacher, not wanting to see anyone and most certainly hoping to avoid a conversation with Lan Zhan.
Wei Ying could feel a headache grow by the minute. He massaged in between his eyebrows, trying to ease the tense expression on his face as he stopped running, having made his way to the cafeteria. The place was packed with students trying to eat, but Wei Ying did not feel like waiting in the line that was forming, he instead made his way to an empty table and grabbed his phone out of his pocket to text the group chat.
Gooners of GUSU (and Wen Ning)
—-------------------------------
Wei Ying
Im at the cafeteria
Jiang Cheng
Ok
Wen Ning
I’m on my way ☺️
Nie Huaisang
WHY YOU LEFT WITHOUT ME?!
Wei Ying
Oops!
Nie Huaisang
BITCH
Wei Ying sighed deeply and locked his phone. Ughhh! What if Lan Zhan told everyone? If he rejected him publicly? Not like he cared but he would be embarrassed. People would think he was gay when he wasn’t. Madam Yu would punish him for causing a scene and he would have the worst senior year ever. He would graduate as the gay teen who got rejected by Lan fucking Zhan. Ughhh.
He looked through his backpack and grabbed a piece of chocolate bag he had forgotten he had as he waited. He bit into it as his thoughts clouded his mind again. All of this was so stupid and yet it was causing him a horrible headache.
“Hey, why you left so suddenly?” -Nie Huaisang sat on the opposite chair. His hands carrying a small tray with food. He saw the pensive gaze of Wei Ying and his lips curled into a big smile. “Don’t tell me you got in trouble again?!”
Wei Wuxian whined and rested his head on the table.
“Ughh, Why are you whining?!” Wei Ying heard an angered voice next to him. Jiang Cheng.
“I think he got in trouble”, Nie Huaisang responded, looking at Jiang Cheng who just cuffed. Wen Ning joined the table, sitting next to Nie Huaisang.
“Detention?” Wen Ning asked.
“Nooo, my life is ruined” He whined again.
“YOU SAY THAT EVERY TIME!”, Jiang cheng said loudly.
“This time's for real! Jiang Cheng, be nice to me!” Wei Ying sat properly again and stole two fries from his brother’s tray, who just looked at him scandalized.
“Get your own food!”
“I’m sad! Do you not care?!”
“NO.”
Nie Huaisang laughed and whispered something to Wen Ning, who laughed softly a bit after.
“Whatever,” Wei Ying said “I’ll just change my name to Sean Buttercup and move continents”
Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes, trying to hide his smile.
“Tell us what happened so we can help your stupid ass”, Nie Huaisang, unphased, murmured as he typed on his phone.
Wei Ying deflated again, “It’s embarrassing, I might have to just go along with my plan of moving away”
“I will miss you Wei-Xiong” Wen Ning said through a smile.
Jiang cheng snorted as he rolled his eyes, “I won’t! He’s always getting in trouble!”
“I’m in trouble!” Nie Huaisang answered “We just took at test and it was so hard”
“We are writing an essay in Mr Xiao’s class” Wen ning looked at Jiang Cheng, who just looked down at his food with a frown as he nodded. “I hate essays.”
“Aiyah, Does no one care about me anymore?” Wei Ying pouted, his head now resting on the cold table.
“Here, drink this and stop bitching”, Jiang Cheng put a box of juice in front of Wei Ying. He did as he was told and tried to go along with the conversation that had now shifted to the field trip that was happening later on in the semester. Wei Ying started thinking of his possibilities. He could just ignore Lan Zhan for the rest of the year. It was their senior year after all so once graduation happened, he would never have to see that face again. He could also act like nothing ever happened, Wangji never really talked to him, or anyone for that matter. Finally, he could just confess and get rejected. Maybe that was the best option. It was the option. Wei Ying stood up decisively, gaining a few curious looks.
“Where are you going?”, asked Jiang Cheng
Wei Ying scanned the place until he saw a tall figure dressed in white. Lan Zhan. He could feel his hands shake and his bottom lip tremble but he needed to do things now. No regrets!
“Lan Zhan! Hey, Zhan!” Wei Ying said loudly, not fully screaming, but loud enough to catch the boy’s attention. Lan Zhan turned around and looked around confused until his eyes rested on him.
“Let’s talk after class!” He smiled and waited for an answer.
The boy, whose face was now as pale as a ghost, only nodded once and turned around.
“Are you asking Lan Zhan for help!?” Nie Huaisang asked with wide eyes.
“He must really be in trouble,” Wen Ning added after.
Jiang Cheng forced Wei Ying down, making him sit again as if he was a child, “No shit! What the heck are you planning? What did you do?!”
Wei Ying did not answer but instead smiled and changed the conversation to their plans for the weekend.
As the day progressed, Wei Ying tried his best not to think about it too much but it was quite impossible. He had never confessed before and much less to a boy so he was unsure of what to say. He needed to think of something but nothing would come up. Classes were over and everyone was leaving for the day. Wei Ying was meant to leave with Jiang Cheng and then meet Wen Ning at the front gates, however, there had been a small change of plans. Now Wei Ying waited outside of his classroom, alone. Lan ZHan was always the last to leave for some unknown reason and while Wei Ying didn’t care at all, today he needed things to go fast.
“Wei Ying”, said a soft voice behind him.
“Oh, Lan Zhan” Wei Ying turned around and looked at Lan Zhan, whose bright golden eyes seemed to be looking behind him, trying to ignore eye contact. Wei Ying thought that was cute, Lan Zhan was just a teenager like everyone else after all.
Without realizing, he dragged Lan Zhan by the arm to a secluded area. He shouldn’t care where he fake-confessed but he still wanted to save face.
He faced Lan ZHan after making sure no one was around. Many students looked into their direction but did not pay any mind as they were ready to head home. Wei Ying liked the corner he had dragged Lan Zhan into, it was mostly isolated and the professors often forgot about its existence so it was perfect for a fake-confession. Lan Zhan was now looking at him with an intense gaze, making Wei Wuxian breathless. They were closer than they should be but Lan Zhan had not stepped away. In fact, he seemed to be waiting for Wei Ying to do something.
“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying said again. He was still holding Lan Zhan’s arm but he could not do much about it as his body refused to move. Wei Ying felt like he was in a trance, unable to move, speak, or think. His heart was racing by the second and he could feel his thoughts slipping away. His eyes were in fact beautiful. A beautiful golden. Lan Zhan’s gaze was intense but his eyes still radiated curiosity; perhaps fear. He had also just noticed that Lan Zhan was taller than him by an inch or so. He shook his head and took a few steps away.
Confess, get rejected, move on.
“So, the eraser! Ha-ha, you know….” Wei Ying did not know how to start the conversation. He was often good at creating lies and getting himself out of trouble but this was different. At least it felt like it. “Listen, It was my eraser and you clearly saw what it said. Let’s just forget about it, okay? You clearly don’t like me so let’s move on!”
Lan Zhan looked at him as he talked. He took a few seconds before trying to speak.
“You-”
“Ah, Ha-ha! Don’t say anything! I’m just gonna walk away and take the L, you know?” Wei Ying laughed awkwardly again, “… I will live with the rejection, it’s okay!”
“I was not pl-”
Wei Ying covered Lan Zhan’s mouth with his left hand. He knew this was a fake confession but he couldn’t get himself to be rejected. He knew his face was warm as his fake-confession was nothing but awful. He thought about MianMian and wondered if he could ever confess his feelings. Wei Ying was known for flirting around with girls and many believed that he was some type of fuckboy who could make his way into a girl’s skirt but that was not true. Wei Ying did flirt, sure, but it was innocent flirting! Making girls giggle helped his ego but it never went more than. In all honesty, he hadn’t even had his first kiss yet! (Not like anyone needed to know.) Wei Ying shaked his head, feeling sadness all of a sudden. Wei Ying was not good enough for MianMian. She was sweet and talented and he had the reputation of a shitty dude from those bad-written y/n fanfics. He felt his heart break at the idea of seeing MianMian and Lan Zhan together. They would make a cute couple, no one can deny that, “But I was truly in love.”
Lan Zhan had not removed Wei Ying’s hand from his mouth but his eyes grew bigger at the sudden confession, the tip of his ears going a darker shade of red. Wei Ying looked down as he took his hand away from Lan Zhan’s mouth, not daring to look at his classmate in the face and not noticing he had said something aloud. “Aiyah! I will go now, okay?! I’ll see you monday!” Wei Ying left, leaving a confused and flustered Lan behind.
His fake confession had been horrible but an absolute success. Lan Zhan had rejected him and he could now breathe freely. His backpack was no longer as heavy as it felt before and his smile no longer looked forced. Wei Ying made his way to the parking lot, where there were only a few cars left. Everyone had gone home in a hurry.
“Wei Ying”, a soft voice called from afar, making Wei Ying look around.
“MianMian! What’s up?!”
“I was hoping to get my eraser back”
“Oh! Yeah, totally!” Wei Ying took the eraser out from his backpack and handed it back to her. He would not dare to mention anything but he knew where the conversation was heading.
“Did you notice?” She asked shyly.
“What!?? No, I would never see that you have a name written on your eraser as a lucky charm token”
MianMian laughed, “Right, well, please do not say anything. I know you wouldn’t but still. I’m the class president, I shouldn’t be doing stupid stuff like this”.
MianMian looked at the eraser on her hands before putting it somewhere in her small purse. She looked at Wei Ying with a serious look, waiting for an answer.
“Of course not! I would never do that”
“Thank you. Have a good day, Wei Ying. I must get going. I have a meeting to attend.”
“Uh, MianMian” Wei Ying spoke softly, making the girl in front of him stop walking. She turned around and tilted her head as if she was waiting, “Do you really like him?”
Wei Ying truly did not want to know the answer but hearing it might help him move on and step aside. MianMian laughed softly, her face a soft pink now.
“Yeah, I mean, he is cute.” MianMian looked down at her phone and then walked away as she mentioned something about being late. Wei Ying felt his heart break more and more as she walked away from him. Lan Zhan was truly lucky. That light pole bastard.
Wei Ying made his way to the local cafeteria, which was around a five minute walk from the academy. As he walked, he would show his frustration by kicking rocks and cussing about the whole day. He wondered if Lan Zhan had feelings for MianMian. They spent a lot of time together as class representatives so it was just natural to develop feelings, right?
He eventually entered the cafeteria, which was small and rarely had customers, but Wei Ying believed in helping small businesses so this had become the hangout spot.
Nie Huaisang waved at Wei Ying from the table he was sitting on. Wen Ning, who sat there as well, smiled softly as he took a bite from his cupcake.
“Did you guys order me anything?”
“Yeah, your shitty iced vanilla latte,” Nie Huaisang commented as he slid the drink in front of Wei Ying.
“Hey!!” Wei Ying hit his friend’s arm while sitting down.
“So….”, Wen Ning started after a minute. Wei Ying realized both his friends were looking at him expectantly.
“What?”
“Are you gonna tell us why you needed to talk to Lan Zhan?”
Wei Ying rolled his eyes. “Where is Jiang Cheng?”
“He left.” Wen Ning mentioned uninterested.
“Stop changing the subject!” Nie Huaisang pointed at Wei Ying with his small green fan he carried everywhere.
“Fuck off, you guys are fucking annoying” Wei Ying rolled his eyes again, wondering if this was how his brother felt on a daily. He needed to be nice to him from time to time.
“You love us,” Wen Ning laughed.
“Ughhh, not anymore” Wei Ying took a sip out of the drink and rested his head on his hands for a bit. Eventually he leaned in; his friends followed his action. “Alright. But do not tell Jiang Cheng and do NOT laugh”
His friends agreed to his conditions by nodding a few consecutive times. Wei Ying told them about everything that had happened, feeling his face go warm at every detail he shared. His friends did not once look away from him as he talked but they started laughing the minute he was done.
“You guys are the fucking worst.”
“HAHHHAHA B-But Wei-Xiong, why- HAHA, Why did you not just tell him that you found the eraser on the floor or something?” Wen Ning asked as he tried to control his breathing. Wei Ying blinked. Huh.
Wen Ning was right. Why did he not think about that? Why couldn’t his brain be useful when needed? Now he had to live with the embarrassing memory of confessing to Lan Zhan. He groaned in embarrassment.
“Either way, it was very sweet of you to cover up for that one girl.” Wen Ning added.
Nie Huaisang started fanning himself, trying to hide the grin on his face. Wei Ying arched an eyebrow but did not make a comment about it.
“Yeah, Now that you know her secret, you should help her out!”
Wei Ying thought about what his friend said at the end of the conversation. Help MianMian date Lan Zhan? Absolutely not! He was not cupid. Although, doing that could probably help him get close to her, maybe not date her but be one of her closest friends, and if he became a close friend of Lan Zhan, then they could laugh about the confession later. Truly, the idea of having to avoid Lan Zhan for the rest of the year sounded awful! Too much commitment. Being his friend was a better plan. He could ask if he liked MianMain romantically and help him make a move. Brilliant. The issue was the fact that Lan Zhan barely talked to people so getting close to him was almost impossible.
—-----------
Of course Wei Wuxian liked a challenge and that is why he had walked into class the next morning with a Get Close to Lan Zhan Plan smirk on his face.
The bell rang as he sat down and touched Lan Zhan’s shoulder with his index finger “Lan Zhan, hey!”
Lan Zhan did not look at Wei Ying but he did shift his body a little bit towards him and nodded once “Good Morning, Wei Ying.”
Wei Ying felt his stomach turn as he heard his classmate's deep voice. His plan had started and it seemed like it was gonna be a success. Of course, Wei Ying did not pay any mind to the soft pink color on the tip of Lan Zhan’s ears.