There are many things to appreciate about Meng Yao: he's dependable (in regards to Lan Huan), he's kind (to Lan Huan), and he's smart (which he makes known to Lan Huan). At the present moment, Lan Huan prays to any deity that will listen that Meng Yao will be dependable…as in, he will dependably be more interested in trying to claw Nie Mingjue's eyes out than in whatever Lan Huan is doing.
(Side note: praying is only to be done in extreme cases, since in this specific corner of suburban Michigan, you never know what, exactly, will decide to answer your prayers.)
Lan Huan briefly considers texting Nie Huaisang and telling him—very frantically—to find another window…you know, one that doesn't open into the living room where Meng Yao and Nie Mingjue would have a clear view of him? However, Nie Huaisang's phone promptly slips out of his hands, tumbling down three stories…hopefully into a convenient bush, probably onto cold, hard concrete. The expression of pure anguish on Nie Huaisang's face suggests the latter.
That option gone, Lan Huan tries to frantically gesture to the left, where the rest of the apartment is. Surely Lan Huan will be able to sneak into one of the rooms and open the window there? But no, Nie Huaisang simply stares at him in confusion, and then—oh Lord, why—proceeds to tap harder on the window. Lan Huan pounces forward and messes with the locks on the window, glancing behind him to ensure that Meng Yao and Nie Mingjue are still at each other's throats. Good.
He undoes the locks, ready to slide the window open…and then a voice asks, "Lan Huan?"
Lan Huan whirls around, spying Meng Shi squinting at him in confusion. He wonders if there's a wikiHow article on what to do if your friend's mother finds you trying to sneak another friend into her house—through her window, no less. There probably is, now that he thinks about it. Lan Huan immediately says, "I can explain! I was—"
She interrupts him, which is nice since he didn't really have an excuse planned out. "Trying to open the window?" she guesses. "Well, I suppose it does get hot in here with those two fighting all the time." Nie Mingjue and Meng Yao don't seem to notice the subtle jab thrown their way, still wrestling. Nie Mingjue is winning, right up until Meng Yao elbows him in the neck.
Lan Huan has bigger things to worry about, though: he whirls around, only to find Nie Huaisang missing entirely. Oh. That…is mildly alarming. It also explains why she isn't freaking out about the child standing outside her third-floor apartment's window. Lan Huan turns back around, pasting his warmest smile onto his face. "I suppose it does, Ms. Meng."
Meng Shi walks closer, conversationally saying, "Lan Huan, if you were always hot, you should have told me! Here, let me help!" And then she walks over and yanks the window open.
Fact: Lan Huan's preferred temperature range is, on average, hotter than most peoples'. Fact: even Meng Yao's properly heated apartment is a bit too cold for him. Fact: if he stands in front of the open window for too long, he will probably turn into an icicle. He forces his lips to stay in their warm smile—and wishes it was warm enough to stop his shivering. The things he does for Nie Huaisang.
As Meng Shi walks back away, Lan Huan immediately leans out the window, eyes wide and frantic, searching in horror—and then he spots him. Nie Huaisang is hanging off the window ledge by just his hands—visibly strained, but still managing. Lan Huan stares at him blankly. "You…have good grip strength."
"Of course I do," Nie Huaisang wheezes out, grunting in pain as he tries to pull himself up from his position. Lan Huan has half the mind to help him, but the truth of Nie Huaisang's grip strength still has him stunned, and all he can do is watches Nie Huaisang's fingers flex, wishing (with too much shock to be embarrassed) that Nie Huaisang wasn't wearing such a heavy coat. Eventually, when Nie Huaisang throws him a panicked look, Lan Huan finally manages to shake himself back to awareness enough to reach over and haul him up with his right arm, his left keeping him stable on the window frame.
As Nie Huaisang collapses inside, he stares at Lan Huan with blank eyes. "…You're strong."
Yes, well, Lan Huan does go to the gym, but Nie Huaisang is the one whose fingers could probably shatter steel. Lan Huan nearly says as much, but then Nie Mingjue lets out a triumphant roar and Lan Huan finally remembers to shove Nie Huaisang behind the sofa, safely out of sight.
Nie Mingjue and Meng Yao are too preoccupied to notice anything else—Meng Yao horribly disheveled from their wrestling match, Nie Mingjue not even winded—but more importantly, Meng Yao is frantically scrolling through his phone, probably checking the lottery numbers, and—
Ah, yes, the face of Crushing Disappointment, one Meng Yao wears every time the numbers aren't right. With a frustrated groan, he lets the phone drop onto the coffee table before collapsing onto the sofa, face first, not at all concerned about how it looks.
Nie Mingjue sighs and uses one arm to scoot him over before snapping up the remote and choosing whatever movie strikes his fancy. Normally, this is around the time Lan Huan starts gently guiding them into whatever movie he wants to watch, but now he just anxiously eyes the sofa. Nie Huaisang is still sequestered behind it, trying to go undetected, and it's going astonishingly well.
As Nie Mingjue scrolls through Netflix and Meng Yao holds back his tears, Lan Huan slowly, unremarkably, walks toward the edge of the sofa and discreetly points left. Nie Huaisang, on his hands and knees, brows knit in concentration, nods his head and mouths a single word: Distraction.
Lan Huan seals his eyes shut, sends up a prayer to his ancestors asking for forgiveness, and then blurts the first thing that comes out of his mouth: "So, I might like guys."
Nie Mingjue glances over at him with astonished eyes and Meng Yao momentarily pops out of his position to stare at him. There is a beat of silence, during which Lan Huan feels his face go unbearably hot, mostly due to one reason, which Nie Mingjue handily summarizes: "Lan Huan, we know. We talked about your celebrity crush last week."
His celebrity crush—from middle school, dammit!—was, in fact, a man, something neither Nie Mingjue nor Meng Yao had commented about. Instead, they both, in a rare show of cohesion, ganged up on Lan Huan and made pressing observations such as "His fashion sense is abysmal" and "His personality is atrocious" and "Wait, isn't he in prison for doing cocaine or something?"
Truly terrible friends.
In Lan Huan's defense, all that he really cared about was the man's face—and he did have quite the face—and middle school Lan Huan was an idiot.
So, Lan Huan clears his throat. "Yes, well, now you know for sure."
The silence makes him squirm until Meng Shi cheerfully bursts into the living room and asks, "Who wants hot chocolate?"
Nie Mingjue and Meng Yao are immediately on their feet and in the kitchen, leaving Nie Huaisang clear to scuttle across the living room and into the hallway. Lan Huan yells a quick "I'll be there in a moment!" and goes right after him.
The first thing Nie Huaisang says after his perilous escape is, "You're gay?"
"Bi," Lan Huan corrects. After all, he had dated Jiang Yanli in middle school, and. Well. Whatever. "…Huaisang, I've been out for a while."
"Have you been?" Nie Huaisang asks vaguely.
The answer he receives is not, at all, vague. "Yes."
"Oh." Nie Huaisang sighs, fiddling with his phone. "Sorry, I should have known."
Well, yes, but also no, but Lan Huan doesn't feel like getting into that. He redirects his brain to a more pressing topic. "How did you get to a three-story window?"
"Uh. I climbed?"
"You climbed," Lan Huan echoes dumbly. "You could have done anything, and you climbed!" Why is that so hot? Lan Huan thinks he's going to die.
Nie Huaisang waves him away. "My brother taught me—he keeps saying that I'll have to take care of the town one day, and I'm like, 'No, no, that's your job.' And he keeps saying—"
I won't be here forever, I'll go to college eventually! And then Nie Huaisang will say, Oh, with what money? And then it goes on and on and on because this is a conversation that Lan Huan has heard many, many times, and it always unfolds the exact same. "Yes," Lan Huan says, cutting it when it becomes clear that no additional information will be learned today, "right, I should have known." He sighs. "Okay, whatever. You're here. Go look for the doll and I'll keep Mingjue and A-Yao out of the hallways."
Nie Huaisang grins. "You're a fast learner." And then he takes off running, leaving Lan Huan behind.
Great.
It's when Lan Huan is cuddled up with a miscellaneous penguin plushie on the couch, still staring anxiously down the hallway, hot chocolate in hand, that Nie Mingjue and Meng Yao decide to ruin his day. "So," Nie Mingjue says conversationally, "about your sudden revelation that you like men."
Ah, right—that. Not his best idea, but it was the first thing that came to his mind back when he was faced with nothing as inspiration but Nie Huaisang. Face heating, Lan Huan murmurs, "I was being silly. Forget about it."
"You were not," Meng Yao says, very calm and very patient. Nie Mingjue doesn't send him his standard look of seething rage, just a look of tolerable one, and Lan Huan very suddenly realizes that they discussed this—that they intended to gang up on him and pry his secrets out of him, to make him face the mortifying ordeal of being known.
What terrible friends! "Guys, I'm bi. We know this."
"Oh, we know," Nie Mingjue mutters. "The way you stare at my brother is evidence enough, thank you very much."
Lan Huan chokes on his hot chocolate. "What?" What staring? He doesn't stare at Nie Huaisang an abnormal amount or anything! He stares at him for a perfectly reasonable amount of time, which he also does to everyone else! He knows because he's timed it before and perfected the art of not staring for too long. He lets his incredulousness be known through his seething huff as he takes another sip from his mug. This is ridiculous. This is slander.
"You're not denying it," Meng Yao points out, looking like he's having far too much fun with this.
"I didn't think I'd have to!" Lan Huan protests.
"You don't have to," Meng Yao agrees, "because it's true. Lan Huan, we love you, we really do, and we want you to stop lying to yourself."
There's not much lying to himself that Lan Huan can do when his heart went doki-doki after being kabedoned in the boys' locker room, but he is taking that secret to the grave, dammit! He glares at the far wall, internally decrying the injustice of it all.
Nie Mingjue snorts. "Whatever. If you're going to be like this, at least be less obvious."
Oh. Ah. Nie Mingjue is mad at him for liking Nie Huaisang, which Lan Huan knows because he can't remember the last time Nie Mingjue openly disagreed with him (for some topic other than Meng Yao). Immediately, Lan Huan is filled with mortification at the reminder that Nie Mingjue is Nie Huaisang's older brother, and…and…
Lan Huan buries his face into his sweater, which is doing nothing to keep out the cold from the open window. Even Meng Yao and Nie Mingjue are both shivering, but they both care more about Lan Huan's comfort than their own, so they aren't saying a word like the stubborn morons that they are, and everything is definitely not going as planned.
Meng Yao huffs out a laugh. "There you go." Nie Mingjue makes a reluctantly agreeable grunt. There will probably be a precious few minutes of silence before they start a wrestling match over something inane again.
Lan Huan surges to a stand, slamming his mug of hot chocolate down onto the table. "I don't have to stand for this." And then, without preamble, he marches deeper into the house, leaving his best friends and their death matches behind him.
Well. They should be sufficiently distracted now. It's time to find Nie Huaisang.
Nie Huaisang is rummaging through the laundry room when Lan Huan finds him, muttering psychotically to himself. "It's got to be here," he says. "Where else could it be?"
"…You haven't found the doll?" Lan Huan asks, astonished. After all, voodoo dolls do tend to be very noticeable, in his personal experience.
Nie Huaisang turns to him, surprised, before tugging him into the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind him. "I haven't found it," he agrees, then pauses. "It might not be in the apartment."
Lan Huan stares at him, horrified. "I froze the living room for nothing?" He's still shivering, wondering why Meng Shi had let him open the damn thing in the first place—surely there are laws against leaving windows open during an autumn evening in Michigan?
Nie Huaisang scowls. "No, no, this is a good thing. Now we know that he doesn't keep it here when he knows my brother is coming over, but I don't think he would keep it too far away from himself…" He taps his nails on the granite counters, the click-click-click drawing Lan Huan's memories to the window edge once again. "It's got to be somewhere in the Koi Towers apartment complex…" He pauses, the clicks ceasing with him, as he tilts his head and considers something.
"Okay," he says finally, "I have a plan. We're both going to search as much of Koi Towers as we can manage."
"What?" Lan Huan takes a deep, sharp breath. "Huaisang, they will notice if I leave—"
"Koi Towers is too big for me to search all on my own, and you know your way around better. It will be more efficient if we search together."
"How am I supposed to just…just go? What will I say?" Lan Huan demands. He likes it here! He likes Meng Shi's cooking and Meng Yao's thinly veiled threats and Nie Mingjue's very open ones! He definitely wants Nie Huaisang to be happy—the thought makes his chest flutter—but surely—
"Please?" Nie Huaisang asks.
Lan Huan's stomach folds inside out before he sighs and whispers, "Fine. I'll do it. Give me a second to figure out how to…" He waves his hands vaguely.
It's moments like these that make him wish he wasn't merely the nephew of a Chinese immigrant, but actual old Chinese-Michigan blood, because then there would have undoubtedly been some sort of oddness settling into his veins and making him…well, more. More powerful, like the Nie, he guesses. Or maybe as distant as the Wen that live on the hill overlooking the town, or the Jiang whose land no trespasser ever comes back from…or even the Jin and whatever the heck is going on with them that Lan Huan hasn't managed to puzzle out yet.
Lan Huan doesn't even have the option of living in a cardboard box behind an Olive Garden, creating horrible monsters to terrorize the town. He's just…Lan Huan.
Oh, well, when he puts it like that, it's suddenly much more depressing than he originally thought it was.
Sighing, he tells Nie Huaisang to not come out until Lan Huan makes a sufficient enough distraction, and then slinks out to the living room, where Meng Yao and Nie Mingjue are having a staring contest. Meng Yao's eyes twitch, obviously red and burning, but he still manages to keep them open. Very dedicated, apparently.
Lan Huan declares, "I'm going for a walk. Alone. To…think about my feelings. About Huaisang." Much to his horror, it actually works, and Nie Mingjue waves him off while Meng Yao makes an aborted gesture, probably in an attempt to do the same, only to realize that significant movements will probably provoke a blink.
And so, Lan Huan is safely outside the apartment, staring at a pensive Nie Huaisang. "You're feelings about me?" he asks.
Nope, nope, nope, he is most certainly not having this conversation. "It's an inside joke," he lies hastily. "It makes more sense with context."
Nie Huaisang considers it. "Well, tell me later then." Lan Huan nods but knows that he will never, ever tell Nie Huaisang the truth, because he's not a masochist like that.
"Anyway," Lan Huan says, "why don't you take the even apartment buildings, and I take the odd?"
"Sure," Nie Huaisang agrees easily. "You'll head over one building, then?"
"Yeah," Lan Huan agrees. "The layout of the area is pretty simple so you shouldn't get lost."
"I'll call you if I do." Lan Huan stares at him, then down the hallway to the window leading outside, where there is a broken phone somewhere, lying sadly on the ground. Nie Huaisang follows his line of sight and then winces. "You know what, it'll be fine."
"If you say so," Lan Huan mutters. And that's how he finds himself walking dully through the autumn evening's air, entering apartment building thirteen—which is a terrible choice for naming an entire apartment building, by the way. What kind of man is Jin Guangshan, forgetting that doing this is surely asking for something to go very, very wrong?
He settles for sighing quietly to himself, closes his eyes, and steps foot into building thirteen of Koi Towers. There is no real difference in doing so, but the mere air here feels charged, forbidding in a way that makes his skin crawl. It's at the moments like these that Lan Huan usually pulls out his phone and listens to some music, or perhaps a podcast, to take his mind off the creepy crawlies. Now, he has to divert his full attention to the hallways.
Building thirteen is just as large as building twelve, and its layout seems to be the same, so Lan Huan sets forth.
It takes him ten embarrassing seconds to realize that he doesn't know where to look. Surely Meng Yao wouldn't leave a voodoo doll lying around on the ground in the middle of the hallway? With growing dread, Lan Huan realizes what he has to do.
Carefully, he knocks on the door of apartment number thirteen-oh-one. For a second, nothing happens, and he knocks again, at which point the door finally opens. On the other side is a young man, dressed head-to-toe in Jin brands, who looks a remarkable amount like Jin Zixuan.
"Jin Zixun," Lan Huan greets amicably. The sound he receives in return is just a grunt, but he soldiers onward. "Ah, did A-Yao happen to—"
Jin Zixun scoffs. "I'm not going to talk about that bastard!" he yells before slamming the door shut in his face.
Well. It's not as if Meng Yao would entrust something so precious to Jin Zixun of all people, anyway, so he supposes this isn't a loss. Sighing to himself he walks over and knocks on the door to apartment number thirteen-oh-two. This time, there is a loud clatter echoing on the other side before a woman's bright voice calls, "It's open!"
Lan Huan handles the doorknob and realizes that it actually is open, so he turns and pushes. The apartment is…bear. Unrenovated. Not a hint of furniture to be seen, and the one spot in the kitchen that he can make out from here seems equally as empty. It still sounds like someone is cooking, playing a TV show that Lan Huan doesn't recognize on a television that doesn't exist. "Come in!" the same woman's voice calls, only much closer now.
Lan Huan nods to himself and slowly pulls the door shut instead of stepping in. He doesn't intend to die just yet, so he goes to apartment number thirteen-oh-three.
This time, no one answers, but the door creaks open by itself, inviting him into the endless black abyss on the other side. Lan Huan once again finds himself slamming the door shut. Surely this is some kind of health code violation? He should ask his uncle to speak to Jin Guangshan about it.
There are six apartments on one floor, three on each side, so he turns and knocks on apartment thirteen-oh-four. This time, an actual person opens the door—and, even better, it's someone Lan Huan knows. "Luo Qingyang," he says, letting out a sigh of relief. "It's you."
"It's me!" Luo Qingyang agrees cheerfully. "How did you get here, of all places?"
"I was at A-Yao's," Lan Huan explains, "for a sleepover. Luo Qingyang, can I ask you a question?"
"I don't see why not," she says.
"Did A-Yao happen to give you a doll to look after?"
"Uh. Not that I know of? I'm sorry."
"It's fine," Lan Huan assures. "I will keep searching. Knocking on doors is bound to get me somewhere."
Luo Qingyang's eyes immediately widen in horror. "No! Are you asking to get killed? You can't just go knocking on—" Her expression shutters. "Did…did you go in order?"
"Yes."
"Oh, wow. I'm sure the residents in oh-two and oh-three weren't very welcoming, huh." She says it weakly.
What can Lan Huan do but agree? "Well, oh-two seemed rather intent on me entering, actually. Oh-three wasn't…well, they opened the door." Into the underworld, probably, but Lan Huan decides not to dwell on that part.
Luo Qingyang makes a vaguely astonished noise. "What? They actually wanted you to come in?" She acts as if the idea is absolutely preposterous, and Lan Huan can't tell if it's an attack against his character or an attack against her neighbors'. If the latter, then he wonders if she should really be saying such things in the middle of the hallway, where anyone can listen in.
Rather than pointing that out, Lan Huan just asks, "What do you mean?"
"Like—nothing ever happens to you! Other than Wei Ying and the blood, I mean. But, like, you're Lan Huan!" Yes, that is what's written on his birth certificate. She must see the confusion on his face because she continues, "You know…you're, like, untouchable!"
He's heard people say that about his brother, certainly, but he's quite sure that this is the first time anyone has said it about him. "Sure," he agrees, somewhat doubtfully. Hadn't he always been approachable? In middle school, he'd had many friends. Nowadays, he has nowhere near that many, but he's friendly enough. No one seems intimidated to do projects with him or anything…but is "untouchable" really how people think of him? Maybe he needs to work on it more.
With that in mind, he decides to change the subject. "Thank you for telling me," he says eventually. "I'll keep going, now."
"What? Did you not hear what I said about getting killed?" Luo Qingyang demands. "Going around and knocking on doors is a disaster waiting to happen, especially in this building!"
Lan Huan feels his lips pull slightly downward into a frown. "What should I do, then?"
She rolls her eyes as she snaps up her coat. "I'm coming with you."
Oh. "I really can't trouble you like this," he insists, but Luo Qingyang storms stubbornly passed them all.
"It's not any trouble. Besides, I need to make my presence known, anyway—you know, assert dominance and all."
Lan Huan does not, in fact, know, but he moves to the side, anyway, watching as she walks confidently past him and to the elevator. He…really hadn't expected her to actually help. He and Luo Qingyang can't, exactly, be considered more than acquaintances. Her best friend (and relative due to some unspecified relation) is, after all, Jin Zixuan, also known as the current boyfriend of Jiang Yanli, his ex-girlfriend. He has nothing against either Jin Zixuan or Luo Qingyang (in fact, he has a strange sort of kinship with Jin Zixuan, who also gets drenched with blood on a regular basis, but that's beside the point) but he never expected Luo Qingyang to actively help him.
A pleasant sort of feeling settles in his stomach, and it takes him an embarrassingly long three seconds to figure out that it's joy. He follows Luo Qingyang into the elevator obediently, a small smile tugging at his lips.
The button Luo Qingyang presses is for floor two, but the elevator stops in between the two stories and slowly creaks open. Lan Huan is met with a long, dark corridor with a single, flickering light. Luo Qingyang calmly presses the "Close Door" button and Lan Huan decides not to comment.
Afterward, the door finally opens on the second floor, and Lan Huan steps off the elevator, not realizing how tense he'd been until he no longer is. Licking his lips, he asks, "What was that?"
"A thing," Luo Qingyang dismisses, waving her hand. "I told you that it's dangerous to go around by yourself."
Well, that isn't ominous or anything. But, suddenly, the cold grasp of fear encircles his heart as he demands, "Are all the buildings like this?"
"Um, not all of the buildings do this much hosting, but they all definitely do some."
"Huaisang is searching building twelve on his own," Lan Huan whispers in horror. "Oh, I—I should go and stop—"
Luo Qingyang snorts. "He's a Nie, he'll be fine."
Intellectually, Lan Huan does know that Nie Huaisang is a Nie and thus should, theoretically, be fine, but he's also Nie Huaisang, who hates physical activity of any sort…and, then again, he's also Nie Huaisang, who hung easily off a window ledge using only his fingers. Maybe he will be fine. Still, Lan Huan wishes that he was able to warn him.
He settles for sulkily following Luo Qingyang. She takes to knocking on doors for him, sweetly asking her questions to the person—or the not-person—on the other side. Sometimes, she simply closes the door once it opens, and others, she doesn't knock at all.
Lan Huan is left to wonder, once again, what is up with the Jin.
On floor five, Lan Huan finally acknowledges, "This is going to take too long."
Luo Qingyang sighs. "Well, do you have an idea where the doll might be?"
Where would Meng Yao hide a voodoo doll? Well, it's not in his apartment, and he doubts that Meng Yao would entrust it to some random person (or not-person). Luo Qingyang just shakes her head and ventures onto the next door, which is opened by a child around the age of six, of ambiguous gender, smiling daintily up at Luo Qingyang. She says pleasantly, "A-Fu, did anyone give you a doll to take care of?"
A-Fu giggles. "No, but I have other dolls."
Luo Qingyang's smile doesn't move an inch. "Ah, then how about you run along and play with them."
"Do you want to play with me?" They sound incredibly hopeful.
"No," Luo Qingyang says.
A-Fu shrugs. "Suit yourself." And then they slam the door shut in Luo Qingyang's face. Lan Huan was unaware until now that children can have such strength, but also Lan Huan has the sneaking suspicion that A-Fu is not, in fact, a child.
"Dolls?" he asks vaguely.
"Dolls," Luo Qingyang agrees. She does not elaborate. Lan Huan decides not to ask.
It's not until Luo Qingyang is about to knock on a door under which an endless stream of water runs, flowing directly into a fenced-off, incomplete elevator channel that seems to be running vertically from the top to the bottom of the building. Or perhaps it's actually completely finished. Either way, Lan Huan isn't keen on finding out, and he manages to think of a reason to not have to find out. "What if," he says, "A-Yao hid the voodoo doll in Jin Zixun's apartment?"
Luo Qingyang frowns, hand a finger-width away from knocking on the door. "Jin Zixun would never agree to that."
"Yes, but what if A-Yao hid it there without telling him? And he retrieves it after Jin Zixun goes to school every day?" Jin Zixun is, after all, part of the debate club and tends to arrive at school much earlier than his peers.
Luo Qingyang considers. "Well, I suppose it's possible…"
Lan Huan's phone buzzes and he's so startled that he nearly slips and falls on the liquid—which, he realizes with a vague terror, is definitely not water. Scrambling, he pulls out his phone, realizing that Nie Huaisang has texted him.
Huaisang: How far have you gotten?
Me: I'm still in building thirteen.
Huaisang: Really? I just finished here! Is this too much?
Me: No! I actually have an idea of where A-Yao put the doll!
Huaisang: Oooo where?!
Me: Jin Zixun's apartment.
And that's how Lan Huan finds himself thanking the heavens that Jin Zixun both lives on the ground floor and leaves his window unlocked. Luo Qingyang, who has been forced to rope Jin Zixun into a long conversation, seems less than pleased with this entire setup, but Lan Huan isn't exactly having the time of his life, either, so she has refrained from actually mentioning it.
Lan Huan is not special in any manner, but he's quiet enough when he tries to be, so Jin Zixun remains unaware of the intruder making his way into his apartment. It may take crawling behind Jin Zixun's (massive) sofa, but Lan Huan does eventually manage to reach the entry to the hallway—after entering it, he should be in the clear.
But then he actually turns and faces it, and stares.
In front of him lies a hallway so long that he cannot see its end, as it fades away in some terrifying endless monotony, shrinking into the distance like some demented hotel room. The doors lining its hallways are similarly endless. Lan Huan closes his eyes and takes a deep breath—to prepare himself, but all he ends up getting is a single thought floating through his head:
Goddammit.
A/N: this chapter was originally posted March 1st, 2021 on ao3...I just kinda forgot to post this chapter here and I have no idea why or how. here's the ending note that i originally posted with this chapter:
"JKLKJLADSLJKD SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVER INSPIRATION JUST RANDOMLY STRUCK SO HERE I AM AHHHH
HOPE YOU LIKED IT"
If you liked this, please Favorite, Follow, and Review!
