S don't want none unless you got B

by Lisa Telramor

Wei Ying wanted to make a great first impression on the Hot Library Guy when they got assigned a project together. Unfortunately, Lan Zhan missed the innuendo of Wei Ying's shirt entirely.

Wei Ying practically vibrated with energy as he slid into his usual seat at his friends' study group table. The world was bright, his day was full of promise, and—

"What the fuck are you wearing?"

—he knew he was going to get a great reaction. Wei Ying grinned at his brother. "What, this?" He spread his arms out a bit so he could show off to the table.

Only Wen Qing and Nie Huaisang looked up to join Jiang Cheng in staring. Well. Wen Ning looked up and looked back down again immediately. Wei Ying kind of expected that reaction though. For the others, he leaned into being over-the-top. "It's just a little something that came in the mail today."

"Why." Jiang Cheng eyed Wei Ying's new shirt like he wanted to set it on fire.

Wen Qing snorted and went back to her reading. "None of us need to know your sexual preferences," she said.

"Do we dare ask what inspired the bold choice?" Nie Huaisang asked, a brow arched over his smile.

Wei Ying ran a hand over his new shirt. He was proud of it, really, even with all its tackiness. It was charcoal gray with lettering across the front, two emojis replacing words at the beginning and end of the phrase. A green snake at the start, a bunny rabbit at the end. Boldly proclaiming "Anaconda don't want none unless you got Buns." It was awful. It was amazing. Wei Ying was already loving the reactions it was going to get.

"Well you see," he said, "I was at the library the other day…"

"Oh, here we go," Wen Qing muttered under her breath.

"And I happened to overhear Hot Library Guy saying he has pet rabbits." Wei Ying grinned. "So I thought, hey, you know what'd be a great pun?" He pointed to the rabbit on his shirt. "This would be a great pun. So I ordered it. And guess what?"

"What?" Nie Huaisang asked, shit-eating grin mirroring Wei Ying's own.

"I just got into that class transfer I was going for. The music one that had the waitlist? Someone dropped. And now I get to be in that class and Hot Library Guy is in the class too. Pretty sure he barely knows I exist, but we got assigned our first class project together and I'm going to definitely take advantage of that."

"Oh god, you're never going to shut up about this guy are you?" Jiang Cheng groaned. "It was already annoying with you stalking him in the library."

"Jiang Cheng," Wei Ying said patiently, "it's not stalking when we're both there to use the library. I'm allowed to have eyes."

Jiang Cheng rolled his own eyes so hard he looked like he could have been a possessed guy in a horror film.

"Anyway," Wei Ying said turning back to Huaisang, "I'm meeting up with him in, eh, fifteen minutes? And I'm going to win him over."

"I see." Nie Huaisang nodded. "And if his anaconda isn't interested in yours? "

"Oh my god, please don't," Jiang Cheng groaned.

"I'm very good at snake charming," Wei Ying said with an eyebrow wiggle. That was exaggeration; he had two awkward kisses beneath his belt, one of those with a girl, but Wei Ying was well-liked. He could definitely charm Hot Library Guy into turning that intense stare his way. That guy had resting smolder-face.

"Knock it off," Wen Qing cut in. "None of us want to hear about your hard-on for your mystery man. Also, you're making my brother uncomfortable."

Wei Ying glanced at Wen Ning. He had his shoulders hunched around his ears and a blush on his cheeks.

"Ah, sorry, Wen Ning," Wei Ying said.

"Please make safe choices and never tell me the details," Wen Ning mumbled, hiding in his textbook.

Nie Huaisang snickered. "Are you sure? Because I'm curious if Wei Ying will—"

"Huaisang," Wen Qing and Jiang Cheng said in one aggrieved voice. Huaisang kept smirking and fanned himself lazily with a sketchbook.

"Anyway," Wei Ying said, taking back control of the conversation, "wish me luck with Hot Library Guy."

"Do you even know his name?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"Uh." Wei Ying did not. Their partnership had been chosen by drawing lots and matching numbers.

His brother snorted. "Yeah, good luck with that."

Wei Ying huffed. "Watch, I'll be back in a few hours with his phone number and everything." Which he really should be leaving to meet up. It wasn't far to go, but he was trying to impress a man, and being late didn't seem like the sort of thing to do when a guy looked like some kind of deity in pressed button-down shirts. "Good luck being lonely and single." He turned away, almost missing his brother giving him the middle finger.

"If you get his number, it's because you're project partners!" Jiang Cheng called after him.

What was that? Wei Ying was too far away to hear, how tragic.

*O*

Hot Library Guy, by chance of luck or divine intervention, had managed to get them a study room. Wei Ying took a second to admire his silhouette as he approached. The guy was just so pretty. Flawless skin, straight, dark hair long enough to neatly tie back, long-lashed eyes with an unusual gold-brown color, and a resting pout models would kill for. He almost always wore button down shirts or sweaters, and never pulled the sleeves up more than a bit above the wrist. It should have made him look like a middle-aged accountant, but somehow he looked better than some celebrities on magazine covers.

In short, he was amazing and Wei Ying was definitely going to get the guy to like him. He was very likable.

"Hey! Looks like you got a good spot!" Wei Ying said with a little wave as he entered the study room.

Hot Library Guy looked up, met Wei Ying's eyes, then his gaze dipped down and his resting frown became something a lot closer to a scowl.

That wasn't really the reaction Wei Ying had been going for with the shirt, but okay. Maybe he'd made a poor choice there, but it was just their first meeting for the project. "I'm Wei Ying."

"I know."

Wei Ying waited for him to introduce himself, the silence uncomfortable. He laughed to cover the awkwardness. "Ah, I missed your name earlier, you are?"

"Lan Zhan," Hot Library Guy said before turning his full attention back to the notebook in front of him.

"A man of few words…" Wei Ying said awkwardly. He pulled out a chair, sitting backward on it so he could lean toward the table. "So, I was thinking about the project—"

"I have already chosen a selection of composers to pick between," Lan Zhan said, like Wei Ying hadn't opened his mouth. "Choose one between them. I already have sources for their biographical information, and several musical scores to perform. You may pick between those for whichever is more appealing. I expect you to do your part in this assignment accurately and in a reasonable timeframe."

Wei Ying closed his mouth. What the fuck. "…You know this is supposed to be a partner project, right?"

"I am aware," Lan Zhan said, looking even more distasteful, like the mere concept of group projects were insulting.

"So, I'm supposed to have a bit of say in what we're doing."

Lan Zhan met his eyes. "I've given you options to choose from. Ultimately, you need only do your part."

Wei Ying opened his mouth. Closed it again. He leaned back to sit upright. "Show me what you've got, then, I guess. We can go from there." Wei Ying could honestly say that he'd never had a project partner completely take over before. If anything, it was usually Wei Ying getting distracted and dragging his partner down some rabbit hole with him. Even then he'd use his partner as a sounding board, not just make all the choices. This way felt like he was some kind of cattle being prodded into a box.

Wei Ying didn't like the feeling.

Over the next twenty minutes, Lan Zhan laid out information in nice, neat categories with nice, neat citations and nice, neat printouts of musical scores arranged by levels of difficulty. Every attempt Wei Ying made to strike up conversation was unceremoniously ignored and the next potential composer brought up.

Some people probably would have been fine with all of this. Hell, Lan Zhan had done enough background work that he'd practically handed Wei Ying a fill-in-the-blank style report. The worst (best?) thing was that Lan Zhan even had good taste. The composers and pieces were all topics he might have chosen himself, albeit if Wei Ying were trying to take the conservative side of the musical road. With little to complain about and being given no room to be friendly, Wei Ying was stuck frowning at musical scores and pretending he wasn't pouting about the whole thing.

He'd been looking forward to this! He'd been crushing hard for a while now! He still was crushing! But jeeze was Lan Zhan kind of a jerk. A very very hot jerk that Wei Ying couldn't actually feel mad at because he was also apparently really smart and organized, two things that were ideal with a project partner.

"You play flute, correct?" Lan Zhan said flipping to a new page on his notebook.

"Ah, yeah. It's been a bit since I played seriously, but yes."

"Do you play any other instruments? Depending on the score you choose, certain instruments would pair better than others."

"I play flute, have dabbled in piccolo, and took dizi lessons for a while, though I wouldn't say I've mastered it."

Lan Zhan nodded and made a few notations. "I am experienced in piano, violin, and guqin. There is only one Chinese composer in the choices as I didn't want to assume you knew traditional instruments based on name alone."

Right, because as the only other Chinese guy in the class, there was always the possibility that he hadn't been raised bilingual or to learn traditional instruments. Thankfully—or unfortunately, Wei Ying could never really decide—Madame Yu had insisted that all her children, foster kid included, would get as much Chinese culture shoved at them as possible. Language, history, calligraphy, instruments… Sometimes he used to joke that she was trying to make them be scholars in some ancient setting. That usually meant having Jiang Cheng roll his eyes at him before they both suffered through learning more characters and their proper brush strokes.

"If we go with that, I guess I could figure it out," Wei Ying said, flipping to the correct sheet music. "Our professor's probably going to want Western composers though. You know, the whole Western bias and all."

"All the more reason to introduce a bit of difference," Lan Zhan said. For the first time since Wei Ying sat down, Lan Zhan's displeased scowl seemed to be aimed at something other than Wei Ying's person.

"It'd be nice if people remembered that the world doesn't end with Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, right?" Wei Ying said.

"Mm." Lan Zhan's scowl softened slightly. For a second he almost looked like he tolerated Wei Ying's presence. And then the moment passed and he was back to frowning in Wei Ying's direction.

Lovely.

"Choose one of the composers by Friday," Lan Zhan said. "Then we can meet here on Saturday to decide on a piece of music and perhaps start learning it."

"That works I guess." He still wasn't happy with the whole setup, but since Lan Zhan didn't look like he'd back down and let Wei Ying chip in more, Wei Ying could at least try to hold up his end of things. Maybe if he did a good job, Lan Zhan would stop looking at him like he committed some kind of crime in front of him. "What time, or maybe give me your cell phone number?"

"Nine," Lan Zhan said.

Okay. No number. "Nine at night?"

"Nine in the morning."

"On a Saturday?" Wei Ying asked, aghast.

"Is that a problem?" Lan Zhan asked coldly, like if it was a problem, he'd make a worse one.

Wei Ying resigned himself to not getting to sleep in that day. Ah, goodbye sweet indulgence of the weekend! And goodbye any thought of partying Friday night… There was no way he'd be able to get up before nine if he went out drinking. "No… No, that's. Fine."

"Very well, then we're done here."

And just like that, Lan Zhan started packing up everything that he wasn't leaving in Wei Ying's care and perusal.

Wei Ying was half tempted to follow him out and do… something. Probably something annoying because then there'd be an actual reason for Lan Zhan to scowl at him, plus he'd have that attention square on himself instead of being dismissed like a tedious chore. But honestly, Wei Ying was still a bit too caught flat-footed by Lan Zhan's… everything… to pull off his usual level of attention whoring.

So Lan Zhan left and Wei Ying stared after him for an embarrassingly long time.

(Yes, Lan Zhan was just as pretty walking away as he was from the front, thank you libido. The bitchiness was less of a turn on, but not a complete deterrent. No one ever said Wei Ying made smart choices.)

The piles of composer information and sheet music were still spread in front of him when Wei Ying let his face smush against the table. "Ugh," he groaned.

"How did we mess up a first conversation so badly?" Was it Wei Ying's personality? His looks? It wasn't the long hair or pierced ears because Lan Zhan had longer hair and one ear pierced, so clearly he was also someone giving the middle finger to gendered grooming stereotypes or whatever. Was it the shirt?

The anaconda-bunny shirt had seemed funny. Maybe Lan Zhan was a prude?

Wei Ying heaved a sigh. "Okay. This is still salvageable," he said to himself. "We still have a whole project to do. Yeah, if Lan Zhan is micromanaging, we have less reason to meet up more than a couple times. But. I'm likable. I can turn this around. I just have to engage him. Somehow." And worst-case scenario, bother him until he gave in and accepted Wei Ying as an inevitable part of his life. That's how Wei Ying made several friends over the years! Talk toward someone enough and they'd eventually answer, and that gave you a foothold!

*O*

"—and he wouldn't even exchange phone numbers," Wei Ying complained to his captive audience—ahem, brother. He meant brother.

Jiang Cheng had a long-suffering scowl on his face and had steadily upped the volume of his headphones every few minutes as Wei Ying's rant continued.

Wei Ying was pretty sure Jiang Cheng was going to go deaf, or at the very least give himself awful tinnitus if he continued doing that. As it was, Wei Ying could almost make out the individual words in the songs. "Jiang Cheng," he whined. "You're ignoring me."

Jiang Cheng grunted, the same not-really-listening response he'd been giving the whole time. Rude.

"You're going to hurt your ears," Wei Ying said.

A distracted hum, Jiang Cheng's eyes still firmly on his notebook and the scowl affixed to his face.

One day his face would get stuck like that and he'd scare away anyone that tried to talk to him even more often than he already did. Jiang Cheng would probably like that though. Wei Ying sighed and slumped aggressively against his bed. "I just wish I knew what I did wrong," Wei Ying grumbled to himself. Not everyone liked Wei Ying on their first meeting. In fact, a lot of people found him annoying. That didn't mean that he wasn't upset that his long-distance crush didn't even want to talk to him.

"Are you done complaining yet?" Jiang Cheng asked as Wei Ying pouted to himself for more than a few seconds without talking.

"No," Wei Ying said just to spite him. "Do you know what the worst part is?"

Jiang Cheng sighed like he was resigned to dying. "No, but I'm sure you'll tell me."

"Even when he's being a jerk, he's still really hot. And had good taste in music."

"And I'm tuning you out again," Jiang Cheng mumbled, shoulders hunching as he doubled down on his notes.

"You're an awful listener anyway," Wei Ying said.

He should have just called Yanli-jie. She'd be appropriately sympathetic.

Wei Ying was about ready to do just that when Nie Huaisang walked in and tossed his bag in the general direction of the couch.

"A-Sang!" Wei Ying said with an extra edge of whine in his tone. "Jiang Cheng is ignoring my pain and killing his eardrums."

Nie Huaisang lifted a brow. "And that's news?" He took a sip of some kind of pink smoothie, thoroughly unimpressed. "How'd the meeting with Hot Library Guy go?"

"Terrible," Wei Ying said, playing up the whine even more. "He was cold and prissy and didn't let me brainstorm about the project at all. Worse, he's still the hottest guy ever even when he's scowling at me." He stood up and gave a fake swoon into Nie Huaisang's arms. Huaisang, being a better bro than Jiang Cheng, obligingly moved his smoothie out of the way for this to be possible. "I need comfort, sympathy, and extra spicy curry for dinner to make up for it."

"I can provide maybe two of those," Huaisang said.

"Is one of them spicy curry?"

"I can call for delivery, but I'm not paying."

"No sympathy meal?" Wei Ying pouted.

"Darling," Nie Huaisang said with a heavy edge of sarcasm, "you haven't even explained why I should be sympathetic yet. Getting a free meal is pushing it."

"A guy can try." Wei Ying straightened up and Huaisang pulled his cell phone out, tapping away to make their usual orders from the Thai restaurant they liked—a compromise after they couldn't find a Chinese place in the area that hit the right nostalgia of the food they had growing up.

"I'm getting it Thai hot for you, so you'd better spill all the juicy details."

"Oh, I will. Jiang Cheng!" Wei Ying yelled. "Thai for dinner, you want?"

Jiang Cheng growled under his breath and tossed his headphones at the table. "Do neither of you care that I'm trying to study?"

Huaisang took an obnoxiously loud sip of his smoothie.

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes so hard they'd get stuck looking at the back of his head one day. "Right. Of course not. Order me Pad Woon Sen."

"You want soup?" Wei Ying asked.

"I want noodles and soup."

"If you want noodles, just get Pad Thai like a normal person. And their soup isn't as good at Jiejie's."

"No one's is as good as Jiejie's," Jiang Cheng said. "But I want noodle soup and you're being obnoxious, so you're buying me soup."

"Jiang Cheng," Wei Ying whined.

"Nope, shut it, I'm studying in my room and if I hear one more thing about your crush, I'm setting something on fire. Knock to give me my food and fuck off."

"Charming as ever," Huaisang said, fanning himself with a flier from the junk mail pile that lived on the counter. "Food is being delivered in half an hour, so spill on all the details. Like if Hot Library Guy lives up to his nickname when you get close."

"Oh, he lives up to it," Wei Ying said with a sigh. "He's still too hot. But he's also kind of a dick?"

"The pretty ones usually are," Nie Huaisang said with a knowing nod. "I would know."

Wei Ying soled his eyes. "Okay, but you're not in the same league of pretty as—ow!"

"It's paper," Huaisang said, whapping Wei Ying with junk mail. "Less insults, more substance."

"Okay, okay! First off, he glared at me the whole time, then he shot down any attempt I made to make conversation, and he already had most of the project picked out! Who does that?"

"A partner willing to do the work for you," Huaisang said with the jealousy of someone who always got the slacker in group projects—not that Huaisang tended to do more than the bare minimum he could get away with.

"Yeah, well that's boring. Anyway, really snobby about it too. And he wouldn't exchange phone numbers like a normal person. Like, does he expect me to figure out his email address? There's probably only so many people here with the family name 'Lan,' but really…"

"Lan?" Nie Huaisang straightened from his slouch against the counter. "As in Lan Zhan?"

"Yeah." Wei Ying blinked. "How'd you know?"

"Hot Library Guy is Lan Zhan." Nie Huaisang looked stunned for a moment before he started giggling.

"What?"

"You have a crush on Lan Zhan. Oh, wow, you couldn't be more different from him if you tried."

"Wait, you know him?"

"Know him?" Huaisang smirked. "His older brother's dating my older brother. We've been at the same get-togethers. Trying to make conversation with him is like talking to a brick wall. Actually, the wall would be more expressive. I'm pretty sure Lan Zhan's default setting is disdain."

"So it's not just me then? He's like that to everyone?"

"Eh." Huaisang shrugged. "He's distant to neutral with most people, but easily pissed off and if you make a bad impression, he holds onto it. Pretty sure he thinks I'm a petty, whiny brat that's useless, because he won't say more than two words to me ever. And not consecutively."

"One, you totally can be a petty, whiny brat. I've seen you around your brother. Two, is there any way to get him to like me?"

"You still want him to like you?"

"Uh, yeah, of course? Huaisang, he was bitchy, but he also has good music taste, is hot, probably could be cool to talk with if he actually talked, is hot, and is secure enough in his masculinity to admit to liking cute, fluffy bunnies! Where else am I going to find a man like that."

Huaisang held out the dregs of his smoothie. "Here, I think you're thirstier than I am."

"I don't want your overly sweet disaster drink!"

"Excuse you, it is dragon fruit and strawberry and it is delicious." The drink returned to its proper place in Huaisang's face. "Anyway, I don't know how to make him like you. If I could make him like me, I'd have done it just to ward off the awkward when our brothers leave us in a room together. Just be yourself or something. You're good at annoying people into being your friend."

"I don't want to just annoy him; I want to sweep him off his feet!"

"Ugh, and people think I'm dramatic." Nie Huaisang rolled his eyes. "Woo him. Show him you're someone to be impressed with. Or do you not want to put in the work?"

"No, no, I can do that." An idea formed in Wei Ying's head, slowly, like a bit of fluff becoming a thread. The project would be the way to do it. He already knew now that they had similar taste in music. He just had to impress Lan Zhan by exceeding expectations. Wei Ying could do that.

In fact… His eyes slid to where he'd left the pile of sheet music. Wei Ying loved to surprise people. Being predictable was overrated. Everyone would be expecting a report on a well-known, very white, very European composer. It wouldn't be the smart thing for their grade to choose someone else, but oh, Wei Ying had the strong gut feeling that Lan Zhan would like it if Wei Ying chose the Chinese composer. Why else include them? And maybe Wei Ying was a bit out of practice with a dizi, but he could get back in shape easily enough to perform.

Wei Ying bit his lip, new energy coiling through him. He needed to start working. If he was going to impress Lan Zhan, he needed to be flawless with his research, writing, argument, playing, all of it.

"Wei Ying?" Huaisang waved a hand in front of his face. "Are you having a sexy fantasy in your head or just zoning out?"

"I need to…" Wei Ying waved a hand toward his room. "Research. Can you leave food at my door when it gets here?"

"Seriously?" Nie Huaisang pouted. "You're skipping out on me to do homework?"

"You told me to try wooing Lan Zhan. Homework is a place to start."

Huaisang opened his mouth, then closed it, a considering look on his face. "Not what I had in mind, but he definitely is a nerd. Go for it I guess."

"Thanks!" Wei Ying gathered up his things and charged toward his bedroom, thoughts tumbling over each other like pebbles on their way to a landslide. His first impression failed? Well, he'd just have to make a better one.

*O*

Jiang Cheng wandered out of his room in time to grab food as it got there, thankfully without Wei Ying hanging over him. Nie Huaisang looked put out to be left alone, but honestly it was a relief not to hear them chattering even with his headphones on. "Done gossiping?" Jiang Cheng said, snagging his carton of food.

"For now I guess." Huaisang sighed and waved a hand at Wei Ying's door, which he'd set food outside of. Wei Ying had yet to surface and get it. Jiang Cheng bet it'd go cold and his brother would step on it when he finally finished whatever idea had possessed him and left his room. "Wei Ying's being boring."

"He's being annoying," Jiang Cheng corrected. "He never shuts up about the hot library guy. I think I'd shove the two of them in a closet and lock the door if I ever met him just to end my suffering."

"They'd just be eye-fucking each other," Huaisang said dismissively. "Or worse, making out in front of you all the time." He paused, one hand frozen as it unwrapped his plastic take-away fork. "Or better. They'd be really hot together."

"Ugh. That's my brother you're talking about." Jiang Cheng got out a bowl from the cupboard to eat his food in, rather than eating it from the container like a heathen. They had perfectly usable dishware and, so long as it got washed regularly (Wei Ying), it was better than some flimsy waxed cardboard. "You know the guy he's talking about then?"

"Hmm, yeah he's practically my brother-in-law…ish. Brother of my almost-brother-in-law."

Jiang Cheng, who had met Nie Huaisang's brother on more than one occasion, had trouble picturing what his significant other might look like. Because he'd seen the library guy a few times, and he was fit, yes, but he'd expect Nie Mingjue would be into, like, bodybuilders or something. Weight lifters? Someone about as muscled as he was at any rate considering how much of a fitness nut he could be. Library guy could be a model. His brother had to be at least similarly attractive, and that was a weird thought. "Huh. Small world."

"Right?"

"So…" He spooned steaming broth and noodles and meat into his bowl. "You know library guy."

"Lan Zhan."

"Lan Zhan, whatever. If he's practically your in-law, you know what set him off at Wei Ying."

Huaisang shrugged. He ate a bite of curry from his container like he didn't care if he was contaminating any leftovers with his germs. "Eh. It could be a lot of things. He hates disorder, loud people, rule breaking, and any kind of wild fun…"

"But?"

"Oh, it was probably the shirt."

"The shirt." Jiang Cheng wrinkled his nose. Wei Ying and his awful taste in tacky clothing. "The innuendo?"

Huaisang snorted. "Oh no, he's a very literal-minded person."

"…So he thinks Wei Ying feeds bunnies to snakes."

"Probably." Huaisang grinned around the plastic tines of his fork.

Jiang Cheng tried not to grin back because he always looked stupid when he smiled too wide. The shirt Wei Ying got especially because Lan Zhan had bunnies. The irony was perfect. "And you didn't warn Wei Ying earlier?"

"And miss this kind of drama?" Huaisang said, looking like some scandalized wife on a sitcom. "No, but I didn't realize the library guy was Lan Zhan. It's not like I'm ever there when Wei Ying is."

"No, you just avoid the library."

"I prefer the art building to study in. It has everything I need."

"Technically you're a business major."

"Because Da-ge is making me. I'm an art minor anyway, so it fits."

"You know, if you really wanted to be an art major, your brother would cave with enough begging."

"Mm, probably. But a business major is useful even if I am an artist. So many people in the arts have no sense for money and advertising."

Jiang Cheng was never going to understand his friend. At least Jiang Cheng's business degree was something he chose for himself with full intention of one day taking over his father's company, and he treated it with all the seriousness that eventual responsibility deserved. "Anyway, try to keep the drama away from me. Wei Ying's ridiculous most of the time, but he's insufferable over this guy."

"Hmm, we'll see." Nie Huaisang smiled like the inscrutable bastard he was before swanning off to catch up on his social media or something.

Jiang Cheng didn't want to know if now was one of the times Huaisang was indulging in his porn collection. He really didn't want to understand what drove people to look at that stuff either.

From Wei Ying's room, snippets of music started and stopped like he was shuffling through something and dismissing it just as fast.

Right. Jiang Cheng would finish his meal in his room with his headphones on and get his work out of the way before Wei Ying came out of his hyperfocus to bother him again. Goodness knew this wasn't going to be the last of Lan Zhan and Wei Ying's weird obsession over him…

*O*

Wei Ying was going to win at projects, which was totally a thing that could be won at. Was it exactly what Lan Zhan wanted him to do? No. He'd used Lan Zhan's suggestions as a jumping off point, but inevitably they'd taken a turn somewhere in the fifth deep dive into different composers.

It had been a hard choice on who to pick. There were dozens of composers from China alone that could have gotten a mention. In the end, he'd gone springboarding off Lan Zhan's choice of a Western-influenced composer with historical significance, choosing Lui Tsun-Yuen.

While his choice wasn't from the same time period of most of the composers his classmates would undoubtedly be researching, Wei Ying was fully ready to argue that Lui Tsun-Yuen had impact on both Western and Eastern music. He'd translated Western music to Chinese instruments, and brought Chinese music to a greater Western audience. Yeah, Wei Ying could have gone with someone similarly influential, like Wang Jianzhong who'd bridged Chinese folk music with Western piano pieces, but Wei Ying had wanted to focus on a composer who composed for Chinese instruments more so than Western ones. Lui Tsun-Yuen had been a master of the qin and pipa, and Lan Zhan played guqin.

Of course, that hadn't left Wei Ying with an easy way to participate in the music since he was useless with string instruments, but he'd had the brilliant idea to adapt an accompaniment to a qin piece for dizi, and the next thing he had known it was ten in the morning, dozens of sheets of paper around him, and he hadn't slept at all.

He was also very hungry and needed to pee something desperate. Had he even eaten dinner the night before? Or drank water in the last… uh… fourteen hours, give or take a bit?

Wei Ying scrubbed at his eyes. Ugh. He needed to pee, get coffee, and get to his eleven o'clock class in that exact order.

He was still definitely winning at projects though.

*O*

Lan Zhan was known to be rigid, methodical, and exacting. He expected the same high standards from others that he held himself to, and while it had made him few friends, it had earned him a decent amount of respect from the adults in his life. At almost twenty, he felt less of a need to appease authority figures unlike in the past, but old habits died hard, and he remained inflexible in his expectations.

The biggest banes of his college experience so far would be, in order, weekend parties (and the underage drinking at them), vocal reports (because he much preferred writing to speaking), and group projects. Because group projects were a special kind of hell that teachers loved to inflict on their students in the name of preparing them for practical life, where they would presumably have to work with other human beings in collaborative efforts. Lan Zhan remained skeptical. He would go into a career field that did not require him to work with people on the daily, thank you.

And speaking of group projects, he was fairly certain the current one was punishment by the unfeeling universe for some incidental sleight. His partner was brash, loud, sloppy, and apparently a hater of rabbits. That last item made him an enemy by default.

Unfortunately, Wei Ying didn't seem to be picking up on Lan Zhan's animosity, because he greeted Lan Zhan with a grin and a wave when they met up to continue their work on the project.

"Lan Zhan!" Wei Ying said too loudly, a bounce in his step. "Hey, how's your week going? Did you do well on the quiz? I'm surprised I didn't miss any questions since I kind of had to skim the reading…"

Another strike. If Wei Ying couldn't bother to do required readings, Lan Zhan didn't hold much hope in him being actually useful for the report. Well, Lan Zhan was intending to do the bulk of the work regardless. So long as Wei Ying could speak on their topic for the presentation and play whichever piece of music he chose, Lan Zhan would be satisfied.

As Wei Ying swung down into a chair at Lan Zhan's table, Lan Zhan couldn't help noticing that his hair was more of a mess than their last meeting, and there was the start of circles under his eyes, a bluish smudge that almost went unnoticed. Despite this, Wei Ying still looked cheerful. It was annoying that the man had a nice smile, because he was handsome even in disarray. Thankfully it took more than a pretty face to distract Lan Zhan from anything.

"Did you choose a composer and score?" Lan Zhan asked, ignoring the questions to get straight to the point.

Wei Ying blinked slowly before slouching back in his chair. "Okay. No small talk. Got it. So…" He tapped fingers against the table, seeming not to notice the action or the irritating noise it made. "I looked everything over. And then I had a thought."

"A thought." Lan Zhan felt like something heavy pressed down on his shoulders. …Wei Ying didn't choose any of his carefully picked options, did he.

"Yup!" Wei Ying flashed another grin. "So, not to call our music class racist—" A wave of a hand and Wei Ying leaned forward to say significantly softer, "—but it's kind of racist—I was thinking we should totally do a Chinese composer for the project. Broaden the cultural horizons outside of Western canon and all of that like you said."

"So you chose Xian Xinghai?"

Wei Ying rubbed the side of his nose. "Ah. So, don't be mad." Lan Zhan's stomach sank. "I get why you chose Xian Xinghai. He definitely bridges West to East how he pulls from Western music in his compositions. But. I was thinking. I was kind of torn between Wang Jianzhong and his whole…" Wei Ying waved a hand. "Chinese folk music, Western classical piano thing. And then there was Lui Tsun-Yuen because he's known for qin compositions and he was one of the first Chinese artists to bring Chinese music to a broader Western audience. And you play qin. And I took the music for one of the qin compositions and worked up a dizi harmony!"

Wei Ying grabbed a slightly crumpled paper from his bag and shoved it at Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan took it with trepidation. It was a musical score, handwritten, slapdash and ink-speckled, but a moment of reading it, it sounded like a proper score.

"Oh, and…" Wei Ying handed him a second score, this one printed. It was for qin, the same piece, though the notes were different. "Ha ha, I know they're not one-to-one note wise, but qin and dizi need to weave with each other, not copy to get the full effect. I figured if we did this, we could pull in some Chinese traditional music theory." Wei Ying smiled, a bit nervous as Lan Zhan continued to not say anything. "Ah, for the rest of the report and presentation, we can talk about a bit of history of East meets West, discuss Lui Tsun-Yuen's history and composition work…" He pulled out more papers, similar to the ones Lan Zhan had given him before, notes on the composer, his history, and some of his works neatly typed up on the rumpled pages. "And then pick out some Chinese musical theory that separates his work from the Western canon—like how traditional Chinese instruments compliment each other—and then play this piece so they can see what we meant. So we'd get to broaden musical horizons and have some fun in the process…"

Lan Zhan paged through the notes, not letting anything show on his face. He wanted to shoot down the proposal on principle alone. He'd done a good deal of work already on the other composers and Wei Ying had scrapped it all. At the same time… "You wrote this?" Lan Zhan asked, holding up the handwritten score.

"Yes?" Wei Ying said like it was a question and not an answer. "I did it at like three in the morning, so it probably needs tweaks, but I figure we could work that out in practice."

"You write music often."

"Not often, but I like to mess around and come up with ways to play things on instruments they weren't written for. It's usually pop songs, not classical, but…" Wei Ying shrugged.

Lan Zhan released a slow breath. He was angry, he realized, but not for the reasons he should be. Oh, he was annoyed that Wei Ying scrapped his work to pursue his own topic. He was also annoyed that Wei Ying had actually chosen a somewhat compelling topic. But what he was angry with, at its heart, was that

Wei Ying was apparently skilled and studious when he wanted to be. It would be so much easier if he was the idiot his wide grins made him look to be. Instead, he was loud, annoying, pretty, and smart.

No, no, the additional information didn't change much. Wei Ying's faults still outweighed his strengths. (And the thing with the bunnies was unforgivable, a permanent black mark to his person.) But.

Lan Zhan felt his lips shift in as close to a wry grimace as his generally expressionless face would allow. He wanted to play the music and hear what it would sound like together.

"What do you think?" Wei Ying asked, looking a bit like he was torn between excitement and nerves, squirming a bit in his seat.

Lan Zhan sighed. "I am willing to change our composer. I will handle the essay and general slides for the presentation. In return, you will do most of the presenting."

"Wait, really?" Wei Ying broke out into a grin so wide his eyes were barely visible crescents. "I can totally handle presenting! You look like someone who hates public speaking, huh? Just chip in a word or two and answer any questions and we'll be good for participation points. I can definitely do more on the essay if you want. Or even just make slides from it." He waved a hand. "Make this equal and all. Ah, um."

And Lan Zhan felt a twinge of…something, something he didn't want to look too closely at as Wei Ying looked shy for the first time since meeting him.

"Um, do you like the music though?" Wei Ying bit his lip like Lan Zhan's response actually meant something to him.

Lan Zhan would not lie, but he wouldn't give inflated compliments either. "It is competently written and appears to be a decent accompaniment for a qin. You know dizi better than you implied."

Wei Ying blushed like it had been effusive praise. It was an irritatingly good look on him. "Not that well. I just like playing around with music."

"We will use it," Lan Zhan said before he could get distracted by Wei Ying's looks any more than he'd already been. "We will meet to practice this week. When are you free?"

"Uh. Tuesday evenings, all but evenings Wednesdays, and midday on weekends?"

"I will email you a schedule for practice," Lan Zhan said decisively. "Respond if any of the times will not work."

"Sure…"

With that, Lan Zhan decided that this meeting was over. He stood, collecting his things as Wei Ying stared at him dazedly.

"Wait, that's it?" Wei Ying blurted.

"Was there something more you needed?" Lan Zhan asked as coolly as he could. There were so many more pleasant things he could be doing with his time. Like homework or organizing his books by size and color. (Or less sarcastically, spending time with his rabbits. Life had not given Lan Zhan much free moments to dote on them of late.)

"I… guess not? You'll send me what I need to make the slides?"

Lan Zhan was tempted to repeat that he'd handle the slides as well, but… There was something annoyingly earnest in Wei Ying's expression that he couldn't brush off. He gave an internal sigh, though his outward appearance remained as neutral as ever. "I will send the essay when I am done."

"Okay." Wei Ying kept sitting. "Great. Uh, have a nice day?"

"Mm." Lan Zhan would be having a nice day as soon as he got home and could put this ridiculous group project to the side for a bit and relax.

*O*

"So," Wei Ying said to Nie Huaisang, who he'd cornered at first opportunity. "You know Lan Zhan. What does it mean if he agrees to change plans on a project, but is also still cold as heck. Does he still hate me, or do I have a foot in the door here?"

Huaisang gave him an unamused look over the book he'd been trying to read. A textbook, something business related that he probably hated anyway.
Wei Ying waited.

Nie Huaisang sighed. "I don't know. Just because I've met him, doesn't make me a mind reader in all things Lan Zhan."

"Well yeah, but what do you think?"

"I think you made a good choice with something on the project and he's probably focused on that. He's really not a talkative person, Wei Ying."

Wei Ying swung into the free space on the couch, narrowly missing Huaisang's feet as he sank into the cushion. He grabbed a pillow just to have something to squeeze his feelings at. "But does it make up for the bad first impression? Was he at least a little impressed? He agreed to my music, but does it have a deeper meaning?"

Nie Huaisang pushed him with one foot until Wei Ying was squished against the arm of the couch. "I think you're thinking too hard about it. And interrupting my homework time."

"You don't even like doing your homework."

"I hate it," Huaisang agreed, "but Da-ge is visiting this weekend and if he catches a whiff of me not being done with my work, he's going to stand menacingly and watch me do every last bit before we have any fun, so you need to go away."

"…Would your brother know Lan Zhan enough to give advice?" Wei Ying mused.

The foot moved to his face, and Wei Ying sputtered, slipping onto the floor to escape it.

"Wei Ying, I find your romantic drama hilarious, but if you involve Da-ge and my time with him into it, I will make life difficult for you for the next month."
Wei Ying froze, realizing Huaisang was dead serious.

Emphasis on 'dead' because Nie Huaisang could be terrifying, actually, when he bothered to be.

With a wary laugh, Wei Ying lifted his hands in surrender. "Right. Now isn't the time. I'll just. Let you think about that and get back to me later."

Huaisang eyed him coldly before turning a page in his book. "Jiang Cheng should be at the A quad cafeteria right now. I'm sure he has all the time of a meal to listen to you complain."

"Good idea! I'll just be going…!"

Wei Ying ducked out before he pushed his luck any further. Jiang Cheng might yell and bicker and complain, but it was Nie Huaisang who held grudges and got revenge. He was easygoing right up until he wasn't, and Wei Ying learned the hard way where those boundaries sat.

Well.

Time to bother Jiang Cheng. Maybe he'd have some insights.

*O*

Lan Zhan hadn't taken much notice of Wei Ying before their class together. He was peripherally aware that their paths crossed before then, but Wei Ying had been one more pretty face. Nothing to Lan Zhan and no reason to think he would be anything.

Now, it felt like everywhere Lan Zhan went, he caught glimpses of him. Wei Ying was at the dining hall, sitting outside in the middle of the academic quad doing homework, studying in the library, passing distant on walkways as his laughter rose above the sounds of people.

Lan Zhan hated it.

He hated it even more when they started practicing together.

Lan Zhan would admit that he was less in practice with his guqin than the other instruments in his repertoire, but he fell back into practice easily enough. Wei Ying said he was out of practice as well, but from what Lan Zhan could tell, he picked it back up easily, breathing life into the dizi and playing familiar, popular songs to warm up without seeming to realize that his was a skill many people didn't and couldn't do on the fly.

Worse than Wei Ying's skill, Lan Zhan found that he was easy to play with. Fun, even, following Lan Zhan's lead or playfully embellishing in ways that consistently sounded better. It was incredibly frustrating.

And he wouldn't stop being relentlessly friendly even as Lan Zhan tried to brush him off.

Lan Zhan wanted the class to be over and done with so that he didn't have to deal with the irritating duality of his emotions. Wei Ying was annoying, he reminded himself even as Wei Ying somehow found him in the crowded dining hall and sat beside him, chattering away about something that Lan Zhan wasn't listening to. He was flippant and disrespectful, cutting off people in class more than once during discussions. It didn't matter that his topic was generally better thought out, or more insightful. He was loud and bright and everything Lan Zhan wasn't. It was jarring and terrible and Lan Zhan definitely was not finding himself looking for Wei Ying when a day went by not seeing him in the area. He definitely didn't want to smile when Wei Ying laughed genuinely at something.

He was a rabbit hater. That was unforgivable.

Lan Zhan definitely didn't want to have anything to do with Wei Ying at all.

*O*

Wei Ying let the last note of their duet linger for a moment, at peace with the harmony of sounds. That had been their best rendition yet. Somehow, every time they played together it got better, like they were sliding into synch. Lan Zhan had to have agreed because he looked like he was almost smiling over his guqin.

It was a beautiful expression and a beautiful song. Wei Ying honestly thought they were getting along better lately, or at least during rehearsals. The paper and presentation had long been prepared and they had the next slot to present and perform, but Wei Ying wasn't ready for this to end. Playing with Lan Zhan was fun. Wei Ying wanted to try playing music with him in any of the instruments they knew. He wanted to hear Lan Zhan talk about his life, or his brother, or the bunnies he had. He wanted to pick his brain about music theory and ask what time signature was his favorite to play in and what his favorite song was.

Wei Ying had told Lan Zhan all about himself in their time working together. That he had a brother and sister. That he liked fast, challenging music the best when he played because it pushed him to the limit. That he loved to learn, but he didn't care for structured schooling. How he was waiting for someone special to have his first kiss with.

Lan Zhan had gotten angry at that, not taking the hint at all. What did Wei Ying have to do? Show up in a crop top and booty shorts and give him a lap dance to convince Lan Zhan he was into him? (No, that was a bad idea no matter how funny it would be. The reaction would not be worth breaking the soap bubble-fragile thing between them.) Lan Zhan was more than a pretty face! Wei Ying actually knew him some now, and while Lan Zhan was kind of bitchy, a control freak, and outright rude with how blunt he could be, he also was insightful, intelligent, a beautiful musician, and had a snarky sense of humor buried somewhere in there. It usually came out in the bitchiness. Wei Ying was totally into that and a little crush was snowballing into something bigger.

About the only thing keeping Wei Ying from falling off that last ledge was knowing that no matter how hard he tried, Lan Zhan didn't like him.

He'd take friendship if he could get it. If not…

There was the rest of the class. Maybe another future music class, and there was always staring wistfully from afar in the library like he'd done before this class together. If Wei Ying was lucky, maybe Lan Zhan would play music with him if he asked nice enough.

"I think," Wei Ying said, breaking the silence and wiping the tiny smile off Lan Zhan's face in the process, "we're getting better. It's practically perfect by this point. We're going to surprise the heck out of everyone in class and get awesome grades." He grinned, inviting (hoping, entreating) Lan Zhan to smile along, or at least to look at him with a tiny bit of the softness he'd just shown his instrument.

No, of course Lan Zhan gave Wei Ying his resting bitch face and a non-committal hum.

"What, you think we could do better?"

"There is always better," Lan Zhan said with all the seriousness of some monk, or maybe a motivational poster.

Wei Ying pouted. "Sure, but it's good. They're going to like it."

"It will be unexpected," Lan Zhan said, and with him that was practically a compromise.

Wei Ying grinned again. "Add some diversity to this class!"

Lan Zhan gave the smallest of huffs, but it was practically a laugh and an acknowledgement, so Wei Ying would take it as a win.

They packed up their instruments slowly, the silence between them almost comfortable by now. Normally Wei Ying had trouble with silence, but Lan Zhan made it easier. Made silences feel full enough that he didn't have to fill the air with chatter at every moment. Wei Ying tried to build hope that Lan Zhan would be interested in friendship. Or at least music. Oh, Wei Ying never cared so much before. It was so much simpler to talk and joke and ask and tease when it didn't mean anything.

He took a breath. "Hey, Lan Zhan?"

Lan Zhan glanced up from fitting his guqin into its protective case. One brow lifted in silent question.

"Uh." Wei Ying tried not to fidget, shifting from one foot to the other. "After our presentation. Would you ever want to play together again? Music. Play music together because I think we sound nice together, and I'd like to play more songs with you. If you'd like that. If you don't, uh that's fine too I guess—" Aaaah, he was babbling! This was embarrassing! Lan Zhan's face was inscrutable as ever. Wei Ying's resolve crumbled. "Never mind, actually I should go, good session, thanks!"

Wei Ying grabbed his bag and dizi and turned to go as Lan Zhan still watched him with a blank face and too-direct stare. He didn't think he could handle rejection at the moment. A no, even a kind no, would be enough to send him into a humiliating puddle of despair.

"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan said as Wei Ying had one foot out the practice room door.

Wei Ying froze. Turned to meet Lan Zhan's eye. Lan Zhan was frowning, but it didn't look like the angry frown he usually got around Wei Ying. "Yeah?"

"I…" And then it seemed Lan Zhan struggled for words. Having never seen him anything but resolute, Wei Ying watched with interest as Lan Zhan's lips pressed together. "We could," he finally bit out. "Play together after."

Wei Ying blinked before grinning, all the anxiety melting away like cotton candy on his tongue, and the joy just as sweet. "Really?"

"Only music," Lan Zhan said before that lightness could spread very far. "We work well instrumentally if nothing else."

"Ah. Right." Wei Ying could translate that to 'Lan Zhan still hated him, he just liked playing music more' or something. That was… still kind of progress, right? Wei Ying would take what he could get. "Just name a time and I'm there, dizi, flute, or messing with an instrument of your choice."

"Hm." Lan Zhan nodded sharply. "I will see you in class."

It was a dismissal, and yet almost a polite one compared to how Lan Zhan would storm off half the time. Wei Ying took it. Unlike what most people thought, he did know when not to push his luck too far. The universe just gave him more time to potentially het Lan Zhan to like him. Best not fuck it up already. "See you, Lan Zhan!"

*O*

"A-Zhan," Lan Huan said, his tone subtly suggestive as Lan Zhan mentioned Wei Ying's name for the third time in their weekly post-brunch discussion. Wei Ying's name had come up the week before and the week before that as well. His brother was building these mentions into a pattern.

"Do not," Lan Zhan said before his brother could even hint at more.

"I can't be glad that you're making connections?" Lan Huan said, a faint smile on his lips as he sipped his tea.

"It is a class project with a classmate I was assigned partnership with."

"Who you just admitted you intend to play music with again," Lan Huan pointed out.

Lan Zhan pursed his lips.

"There's nothing to be ashamed about enjoying someone's company."

"He is annoying and loud and hates rabbits," Lan Zhan said.

"Ah. And only one of those is unforgivable," Lan Huan said, still clearly amused at Lan Zhan's expense. It was very annoying. This was one of the few moments that he could see why people so often despaired of their own siblings.

"Do not tease me," he grumbled.

"I truly am glad to see you spending time with someone. Even if you don't like everything about him." Lan Huan set down his tea. "You haven't made a single friend in college so far. I was worried you spent all your time in class, work, or doing homework."

Lan Zhan flushed, his ears warm as he realized his brother's estimate of how he spent his time was fairly accurate. It didn't include the time spent with his pets or time spent exercising or playing music, but he didn't have much of a social life. He'd never had much of one, merely people who circumstance shoved at him again and again, like Nie Huaisang had been over the years.

It never bothered him. It bothered his brother, someone who was social and friendly to anyone who gave him a moment of their own time and attention, to a very large degree because he seemed to associate solitude with loneliness. Lan Zhan had his brother, his uncle, his rabbits, and several professors on campus whom he could have engaging discussions about intellectual matters. He was content. Why his brother saw it as lonely had never made much sense from Lan Zhan's perspective, any more than Lan Huan's enjoyment of social events made sense.

They were very different people at their cores.

"He is not a friend."

"But maybe someday he could be," Lan Huan said with his ever-present optimism. "And if it doesn't happen, I'm at least glad that you're having some fun."

Something in how he said the word 'fun' itched at Lan Zhan's hindbrain. Clearly his brother had some kind of misunderstanding of his relationship with Wei Ying. Just as surely, Lan Zhan wasn't going to be able to sway him from it.

"Do not put too much hope on that," he said after a moment.

Lan Huan merely smiled. He was annoying when he thought he knew more than Lan Zhan did about Lan Zhan's own emotions. "Oh, and have you seen Huaisang lately? I'm still surprised that you rarely see him considering you go to the same campus."

Lan Zhan would never ever admit that he avoided Nie Huaisang like a particularly flamboyant plague. Lan Huan wanted them to be friends so badly. Instead, they had a grim sort of co-misery where they suffered each other's presence for the sake of their brothers. The Nie brothers would never be people Lan Zhan chose to spend time with on his own, but he would put up with their… uniqueness… for his brother's sake.

"I have not."

"That's a pity. Mingjue visited him recently. It sounds like he could use someone to temper some of his vices."

And Lan Huan thought that Lan Zhan would be able to do that? He raised a brow, judgmental.

Lan Huan sighed. "Yes, A-Sang will be A-Sang. His grades have improved since he moved in with his friends though. Mingjue giving a grade minimum to keep the funds for the shared apartment seems to have been motivation enough to have him do better in class."

"Hm." Lan Zhan could not care less if Nie Huaisang passed his business classes. If anything, he wished from some of their previous forced time together, that he would change majors entirely. There was no point in taking classes only to waste money to not put in the effort or take interest in them.

Lan Zhan tuned out his brother turning the topic to the Nie brothers. It was better than the prodding into his social life, but not by much. His brother would eventually turn back to a topic they both could take interest in.

*O*

The last lingering notes fade in the silence of the classroom. Wei Ying takes a breath before straightening up with a grin. "Now that the presentation and performance are done, are there any questions?"

The blank looks of about half the class meet him, and even the few that had looked interested and engaged in the presentation don't raise their hands. Well, he wasn't expecting much from an intro class. Honestly, barely anyone asked questions about anything. That was exactly why Wei Ying made a point to ask something during the other presentations.

"No one?"

Beside him, Lan Zhan gave a tiny, almost unnoticeable sigh, as he started to put away his guqin.

Wei Ying made eye contact with the one girl who had looked most interested in the whole thing, and she hesitantly raised her hand. "Yes, you!" He really needed to learn his classmates' names.

"Do you have any recommendations for learning more about Western and Chinese musical interaction?" she asked.

Wei Ying's grin was probably verging on manic, but he had really been hoping someone would ask him something along those lines. "Yes! In fact…" He pulled a sheaf of papers from his folder. They were a bit messy, but he'd been in a bit of a rush when he printed them. "I have the names of a few more composers, a few helpful links, and some YouTube channels for anyone interested in learning more!" He walked forward to give a sheet to the girl and one to their professor. Their professor had listened to the whole presentation attentively enough, but Wei Ying could not get a read on the guy. He would genuinely love to know if the project went over well or if they'd just taken a huge ding to their grade for choosing a composer from China.

A few other students looked interested in the paper, so Wei Ying handed them a sheet too.

"It's a pretty interesting topic," he said happily. "It gets kind of complicated when you look at historical tradition—which is at least as long or longer for musical tradition in China—and how Western concepts of pitch and notation has completely changed how even traditional music and instruments can be performed."

The teacher tapped his wrist and Wei Ying took the warning for what it was. "Buuuut, that is a topic for another day. Thank you for listening to our presentation."

There was a smattering of applause before they were allowed to return to their seats. Wei Ying grabbed his flash drive and dizi with a bounce in his step, knowing he'd done well no matter what their grade ended up being. He flashed a grin at Lan Zhan, but Lan Zhan of course was already paying attention to their professor and not looking his way at all.

Wei Ying had to wait until class ended to bounce over to his side. "Lan Zhan! We did a good job! We totally expanded some horizons today."

"Hm."

"Oh, don't be like that! You can be a little happy. We definitely had our best musical performance yet."

Lan Zhan didn't answer. That was fine. He hadn't told Wei Ying to get lost yet. He was definitely being upgraded in relationship. He wasn't even getting scowled at!

"I'm glad I put together that reference sheet. I figured someone had to take interest. And between the two of us, we looked into so many different composers. I hope you don't mind that I straight up copied some of that stuff you had written about the first Chinese composer you mentioned. I figured we should both have something on that. And your citations were way more precise than my four-AM web binges. I mean obviously I included some of that too, but I didn't save every—"

"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan said, actually cutting his rambling off.

Wei Ying stumbled, caught off guard. Lan Zhan usually only interrupted when he was so far past annoyed it had gone into anger. His expression didn't look angry though. "Uh. Yeah?"

"When did you make a supplementary sheet?"

"Um. Last night? I know we didn't talk about it and it was last minute—"

"It was a good idea," Lan Zhan said.

It didn't even look like it hurt to say that.

Wei Ying's heart skipped a beat. Ah, damn. He was in deep now wasn't he. He wanted Lan Zhan to look at him serious and sincere like this and say nice things all the time. Or no, not all the time. His heart probably wouldn't be able to take that. Wei Ying could feel his face heat to an embarrassing degree. "Oh. Thanks."

Fuck, Lan Zhan was too pretty when he was being nice. Wei Ying liked him being bitchy, but he was deadly with the tiny smile on his lips. "I need to—" Run for the hills because he had to have a gay panic attack? "Uh. Email me when you want to meet up to play music again? Or find me at class? Or where ever."

Wow. Smooth, Wei Ying. Like silk.

"I just remembered I have, like, a paper due in an hour." A lie. "I forgot about it with the whole presentation." Another total lie. Pull it together, Wei Ying! He dragged a grin back on his face. "Ah, that was good though! You're a great partner, Lan Zhan! Talk later!"

He ran before Lan Zhan could do more than vaguely frown in confusion. It probably made Wei Ying look more than a little crazy. It wasn't like he had dignity or anything, no, not him. He kept running until he all but ran into Wen Ning as his friend had the unfortunate timing to leave the biology building right where Wei Ying was running.

"Ah, shit!" Wei Ying swore as he narrowly avoided slamming into Wen Ning. As it was, they clipped shoulders. Wei Ying got a bruise, but Wen Ning's folders scattered onto the ground. "Shit." Wei Ying scrambled for papers before they could fly away. "I'm so sorry, Wen Ning, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"Are you okay?" Wen Ning asked, stopping Wei Ying in the middle of picking up his things even though it was all Wei Ying's fault that they were a mess. Wen Ning was too kind for this world. "Wei Ying?"

"Nn," Wei Ying groaned. "I don't know how to answer that."

"Are you injured?"

"No."

Wen Ning nodded slowly. He gathered up the rest of the papers that Wei Ying missed and patted his shoulder. "Let's go find a bench."

"Okay…" Wei Ying tried to straighten the papers he ended up with as Wen Ning led the way to one of the tucked away benches that lurked around campus. The kind that were great for wither doing your homework at or for slightly-public makeouts. Not that Wei Ying ever had a chance to use them for that, but he'd run into people using them for that more than once.

Wen Ning settled them both on the bench and took back his papers, neatening the stacks and setting them all aside to fix properly later. Wei Ying fiddled with his back strap the whole time, wondering if he shouldn't get up and keep running, like that could stave off a worse anxiety spiral.

He'd think that he would learn better by now, but no, his first instinct would always be to run for the hills when his emotions jump-scared him.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Wen Ning asked as Wei Ying's tugging of his bag string upgraded to picking loose threads until they started to unravel.

"Happened?" Wei Ying laughed a humiliatingly fake laugh. "Nothing."

Wen Ning waited because he had the patience of a saint and the stubborn endurance of a boulder.

"Okay, so I had the project with Lan Zhan."

"Yes," Wen Ning acknowledged, because all of Wei Ying's knew about said project in detail by this point whether they wanted to or not.

"And that was today. Went over really well, performance was flawless, a few people actually looked interested and everything. Which is good, great, awesome, definitely getting a good grade, yeah?" Wei Ying knotted his fingers together. "And then after class, Lan Zhan actually said something nice about it to me? That I did good? And maybe smiled? And it was maybe too beautiful and good and I panicked?" He buried his face in his hands, blushing all over again just thinking about it. "And I ran away? And just? Feelings?"

Wen Ning patted his shoulder slowly. "You've been crushing on him for months?" he said, bemused.

Wei Ying peeked between his fingers. Wen Ning looked confused and concerned in a way only he could without any of the exasperation any of Wei Ying's other friends would have had. "Yeah. But that was on Hot Library Guy. And now it's Lan Zhan, who color codes his class folders and sticky notes. He only ever seems to drink tea, hot and unsweetened. He gets these little lines between his eyebrows when he's confused and they're just a little different from the ones when he's annoyed."

Wei Ying hid further in his hands. "His phone lock screen is a picture of his bunnies. He's sarcastic and funny even when it's aimed at me and he's so easy to annoy and so brilliant at playing guqin I could watch his fingers play for hours."

Wen Ning was very silent beside him, only the hand on his back a reminder of his presence.

"I love playing music with him. I want to try all the instruments we know and just goof off. I want to drag him to one of our lunches to see if he and Jiang Cheng would get along as terribly as I think they would. I want to text him stupid pictures at random hours. I don't even have his cellphone number."

Wei Ying trailed off, not knowing where to end this list. He could go on and on about all the things he knew about Lan Zhan now that he's not just a pretty face.

"You like him as a person," Wen Ning filled in as the silence stretched.

"So much," he confessed. "But I don't know if he's started liking me, and if he doesn't even want to be friends let alone date, I am going to be really messed up over it."

"If he doesn't come to like you as a person," Wen Ning said with slow, serious deliberation, "and can't see the value of your friendship, then he's lesser for it. You're a good friend and a good person."

Wei Ying could count the number of times someone has called him a good person on one hand and half of them were Wen Ning. "You're gonna make me cry," he mumbled. "Ah, Wen Ning, you're too nice. Way too nice to me."

"You're not always kind to yourself, so someone needs to be."

"Aaah, Wen Ning, you're killing me here." See, this was why most of Wei Ying's friends were emotionally constipated people who couldn't say anything nice ever. Wei Ying didn't know how to handle compliments let alone compliments said with such sincerity. "Dead. I'm dead."

"You're very loud for a dead person," Wen Ning joked gently.

Wei Ying whined in the back of his throat and leaned against his friend. Wen Ning patted his back patiently.

"Feeling better?" Wen Ning asked after a few minutes.

"A little," Wei Ying said into his shoulder. Wen Ning had nice shoulders. Perfect for leaning on and good arms for hugs. It probably was the whole archery thing. Though Lan Zhan had really nice arms too. Maybe Wei Ying liked people with nice shoulders. Was that a normal thing to like? It was probably a normal thing to like.

If his brain had the energy to run off on tangents about built shoulders, Wei Ying was probably going to be okay.

"Thanks, Wen Ning," he said pulling himself upright. "You always know what to say to calm me down."

"That might be a side effect of having anxiety," Wen Ning said wryly. "It's applying all the sort of things I tell myself, outward."

"You should listen to advice-Wen Ning. He makes a lot of sense."

"I try," Wen Ning said with a small smile.

Wei Ying sighed. "…Now I need a pick-me-up."

"Hm. Are you done with classes for the day?"

"Yeah, that presentation was the last of it."

"There's someplace I've been wanting to go…"

"Oh?" Wei Ying straightened, giving Wen Ning his full attention.

"I thought I might go with my sister or Huaisang, but you'd probably enjoy it too…" Wen Ning gave him a tiny smile. "There's an animal café that opened last month. There's three rooms to interact with different animals. So far it's really popular with students missing their pets."

"Are any of these animals dogs?" Wei Ying asked warily. It was bad enough the sheer number of people who walked their pets in town; he wasn't sure he'd be able to handle being in a café with one nearby, even if it was in a different room.

"Surprisingly, no. There's a cat café half an hour away form it and a lot of dog friendly businesses all over, so they wanted to stand out with something different. There's guinea pigs, rabbits, and budgies. I thought Huaisang would appreciate the birds."

"Dang, really?" Wei Ying lit up. He hadn't had a chance to hold something small and furry in ages. They hadn't had any pets growing up since if Jiang Cheng couldn't have his dogs with Wei Ying's phobia, none of them got to have a pet. Wei Ying had tossed around the idea of getting a cat or rabbit now that he was in college, but it hadn't felt right to get a pet when he couldn't say he'd have a pet-friendly place to live every year on campus. And the bunnies… "I wonder if Lan Zhan knows about it?"

"I don't know if he does or not, but would you like to go? I could use some time with tea and animals," Wen Ning said, looking hopeful.

"Just us or are we taking the whole group?"

"I'm open to all of us."

Wei Ying grinned. "Right, I'm going to make some phone calls…"

Fifteen minutes later and two more people to the plans, Wen Ning led the way into town.

*O*

Lan Zhan was rewarding himself. He'd survived his first group project of the semester as well as made it through working with Wei Ying. He thought that deserved a bit of relaxation after all of that. Which was exactly why he was trying the new café his brother told him about, one that had rabbits people could interact with.

He was a bit skeptical about the concept; not every animal was comfortable around strangers, let alone an ever-revolving number of them. While he was hoping for some decent tea and a few cute animals, he was also going to reassure the part of him that worried for the animals' wellbeing. If it looked poorly managed and the animals were stressed, he would be reporting it to someone. Hopefully that would not be necessary though.

The café had a bright, cheerful sign and cartoon animals drawn in the windows. A bell jingled as he entered, a two-door system to potentially make it more difficult for an animal to run out if it managed to leave its designated room. The front room was full of tables with a few people eating or drinking things, and a front counter showcased the available foods with a board listing the pricing. Food and animal time were separate, and spending time with the animals was paid by the half-hour. The board also had a notice that no more than four people could be in an animal room at a time. Lan Zhan approved of that policy, at least. A glance beyond the front counter showed that the animal rooms were decently sized, they weren't spacious enough for more than that amount of people.

There was also a place to wash hands before and after visiting the animals. Another thing he approved of. It would greatly reduce the risk of contamination between food areas and animal spaces, as well as prevent illness from spreading from animal or person.

He approached the counter and paid for a half hour with the rabbits. Tea could come after, something to enjoy on his way home.

The first room had guinea pigs, three college students with treat pellets lounging around a pet-friendly floor. There were five animals visible and plenty of places where they could retreat from attention if they didn't feel like interacting. Acceptable. The next had birds and… Nie Huaisang?

Lan Zhan paused. He had not expected to run into someone he knew. Perhaps he should have expected it because Nie Huaisang loved birds of all kinds, and it was one of the few topics they could occasionally talk about without annoying each other too much. There was someone in the room with him, a vaguely familiar face who he believed was surnamed 'Wen,' but Lan Zhan had never spoken to the man to be sure. Nie Huaisang and his friends were engrossed with coaxing budgies onto their shoulders with sunflower seeds. Lan Zhan gave them a long look before slowly turning to the rabbit room.

It was the last room, the furthest back in the building, likely because rabbits were the most sensitive to noise. There were two people in the room already.

Lan Zhan's stomach gave a flip when he realized the one holding a black Netherland Dwarf rabbit was none other than Wei Ying.

He walked closer like in a trance, unable to take his eyes off the way Wei Ying grinned and rubbed his nose into soft bunny ears.

"Ah," he could just make out Wei Ying saying, "it's so cute, I could eat it up!"

It was like a slap in the face.

"That sort of shit," the other person in the room said, "is why that dumb shirt went over badly."

"Jiang Cheng! You know I don't want to eat it! It's just so cute! Like… Like a marshmallow. You wanna gently squish it. With love."

"You're full of shit." The person, Jiang Cheng, gently poked at the ear of a different rabbit where it lingered near his knee. "They are kind of cute. But dogs are better."

"Lies. Dogs are scary, slobbering monsters. With huge teeth. Nothing like this fluff." Wei Ying held out the bunny.

Lan Zhan wasn't sure what he was feeling all of a sudden. Did Wei Ying like rabbits? Had he… misunderstood something?

He must have made a sound, or perhaps Wei Ying finally caught sight of him out of the corner of his eye, for he turned and looked in Lan Zhan's direction. And grinned, eyes scrunching into crescents like seeing him was something to be truly happy about.

"Lan Zhan!" Wei Ying said, too loudly as the rabbit in his hands squirmed free to move somewhere that wasn't in the arms of a loud human. The person with him whipped around and scowled just as dark as Wei Ying was bright.

Lan Zhan could make a hasty retreat, still. He could come back another day and pretend that this never happened. That he hadn't seen Wei Ying cuddling a rabbit and being unfairly attractive. He could—stand there frozen as Wei Ying slipped out of the rabbit room, shutting his companion in behind him to bounce over to Lan Zhan's side.

"Lan Zhan, there's rabbits! You have to come pet one! They have such tiny little noses and are stupidly soft. C'mon, c'mon! Just ignore Jaing Cheng. My brother's grumpy but the bunnies are cuter anyway."

Wei Ying caught Lan Zhan's hand in his and Lan Zhan wasn't sure if he should pull away like he'd been burned or let this happen and give in to Wei Ying's addictive smile.

It was hard to string thoughts together between the vary warm hand on his and the smile and the rabbits. "Wei Ying likes rabbits?" he asked as he finally strung two brain cells together.

"Yeah! I like most animals that aren't dogs to be honest. But rabbits are always super cute so they win over the birds and guinea pigs here."

"Ah." What was he supposed to do with this information? Lan Zhan had been holding onto his sanity by reminding himself that Wei Ying didn't like rabbits, and yet… And yet. It was suddenly very hard to remember why he found Wei Ying so annoying on their first official meeting.

"Come pet rabbits!" Wei Ying said and pulled him into the rabbit room.

Why were they still holding hands?

"Oh hell no," the other person in the room said.

Lan Zhan looked over and made eye contact with the man Wei Ying called his brother. Said brother's lip was curled in disgust at their joined hands. Lan Zhan scowled back, gripping Wei Ying's hand in reflex.

"Yeah, I'm out." The brother scoffed and pushed Wei Ying away from the door.

"Jiang Cheng, don't be rude."

"I'm not third wheeling whatever the hell this is."

"Going to third wheel Huaisang and Wen Ning then?"

"They're not dating and they're less obnoxious." Jiang Cheng pinned Lan Zhan with one more glare. "Don't traumatize any bunnies."

The door closed harder than it should and Lan Zhan frowned at the way the rabbits twitched away from the sound.

"Wow. What does he think we're going to do? I'm here for bunnies, not acts of public indecency." Wei Ying shook his head and tugged on Lan Zhan's hand. "Ignore him. Come pet the big floppy gray bunny! Her name is Cosmo."

Lan Zhan let himself be dragged and introduced to one of the largest rabbits he had ever seen. She might also be the most laidback rabbit he'd ever met. Her ear twitched when he let her smell his fingers, but otherwise she let him pet her soft fur, teeth softly grinding in contentment. Beside him, Wei Ying picked up the dwarf rabbit again, letting it settle on his lap.

"I think," Wei Ying said, "someday I want to have a rabbit. Or maybe a cat. Something soft and fluffy. That's probably a long way off, but eh, gotta have something to look forward to. If I get a bunny though, it's totally going to be named Bunnicula."

Lan Zhan raised an eyebrow.

"You know. Like the rabbit from the children's books? He's this vampire rabbit?"

A vampire rabbit. What an odd concept. "I don't believe I've encountered that character before."

"Aww, little Lan Zhan was missing out."

"Hm." His childhood had been full of books his uncle handpicked and approved of. There hadn't been much fantasy on that list. In truth, he wasn't sure he'd have read fantasy even if his uncle had approved of it. He'd always gravitated for books he could learn from, and a range of classics that had pre-approved literary value.

Perhaps he should branch out. Only a bit; he could at least look up Bunnicula later.

The next twenty-five minutes were some of the most surreal moments Lan Zhan had ever experienced. Wei Ying spent them cuddling rabbits, feeding them treats, and talking like if he let himself be silent, something terrible would happen. Lan Zhan wasn't entirely sure what Wei Ying was talking about anymore. At some point, he'd zoned out to look at details like Wei Ying's smile, how gently he touched the rabbits, and the way Wei Ying kept almost touching him before any gesture would be redirected to the nearest rabbit.

Lan Zhan might have a problem.

That problem might be Wei Ying.

It was not the same problem as their first meeting at all. Also, Lan Zhan might need to make more effort to stop repressing. Or perhaps double-down on it. He was yet to be sure which course of action would yield the best result for this particular quandary.

Because Wei Ying was attractive. And if Wei Ying liked rabbits after all, the biggest deterrent in keeping him at arm's length would be gone.

Lan Zhan wasn't sure what he was going to do about this problem just yet.

*O*

Wei Ying was being totally normal. The most normal. Normalest. Whatever. He definitely wasn't having a minor gay panic attack and covering it up with babbling and bunny snuggles. Thankfully, Lan Zhan didn't seem to notice anything different than normal. …Which was a little worrying because what did that say about Wei Ying's default state? Or perhaps Lan Zhan was merely charmed by the adorable bunnies and their soft fur and was tuning Wei Ying out as background chatter.

Fair enough.

Wei Ying almost wished Jiang Cheng would come back because Wei Ying might do something very stupid if Lan Zhan smiled at him again. His stomach was already doing a little flip-flop at the soft look Lan Zhan gave the bunnies. Lan Zhan with bunnies might be better than Lan Zhan's music-zen face. There were totally subtle differences and Wei Ying was becoming a Lan Zhan face connoisseur.

Wei Ying paused to breathe and bury his nose in soft, soft bunny fur. Rabbits were so much better than dogs, Jiang Cheng, like, could you knit a sweater with dog fur? …Actually, Wei Ying didn't want to know the answer to that. The idea alone was enough to put a man off sweaters.

A knock on the glass door jarred him out of his bunny-and-Lan-Zhan high. Wei Ying turned to see Jiang Cheng, Nie Huaisang, and Wen Ning all at the door.

Huaisang tapped his wrist watch.

Ah. Time's up.

He set the current rabbit he'd been cuddling down, letting it bounce over to Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan who was looking between the door and Wei Ying, face blank again.

"Looks like I'm all out of bunny minutes," Wei Ying joked. "Next time I'll have to get twice the time or something, ha ha."

He stood, stretched, his legs protesting how long he'd been on the floor. Wei Ying hoped he wasn't imagining the way Lan Zhan's gaze flicked to his waist for the split second his shirt rode up. He couldn't handle getting his hopes up, so he was going to squash the thought right there.

"Guess I'll see you later?" Wei Ying said, giving Lan Zhan a grin.

Lan Zhan hummed softly. His hands were still buried in rabbit fur. The edges of his expression were almost as soft as that fur and Wei Ying couldn't be imagining that.

His heart beat a bit too fast. No one had to know but the bunnies.

"Let's do this again," Wei Ying said over his shoulder as he pulled the door open.

He didn't have a chance to hear if Lan Zhan responded because the second the door was open, Huaisang slung an arm around his neck and pulled him into the hallway.

"Hi, Lan Zhan," Nie Huaisang said. "By Lan Zhan!"

Wei Ying was dragged down the hall, unable to glimpse one last look at the adorableness that was Lan Zhan and rabbits.

Damn it Huaisang.

"What the hell?" Wei Ying complained under his breath as they rushed out of the café.

"Spill," Huaisang said, ignoring the way Jiang Cheng and Wen Ning hung back with uncomfortable expressions.

"Spill what?!" Wei Ying huffed, pulling his arm free. "Lan Zhan just happened to show up while we were with the bunnies! That's literally it!"

Huaisang rolled his eyes. "You keep going on and on about how he hates you—"

"He does!"

"—but that was not the look of a man that hates you," Huaisang continued, steamrollering over Wei Ying's protestation. "I know what a pissed off, spiteful Lan Zhan looks like. He doesn't like me much at all. The look he gave you back there? About as far from hate as you can get."

"You're joking."

"Does this look like the face of a man who is joking?" Huaisang asked, dramatically serious in a way that almost looked fake. Wei Ying was half expecting someone to jump out with a camera or something. But no, it was just Huaisang being Huaisang.

"That's." Wei Ying sputtered. "Dude, he still glares at me whenever he makes eye contact! Yeah, he tolerates me more since we started playing music together, but he's turned down every attempt I had to get his phone number or do something friendly outside of music and classwork. You're seeing too much in this."

"Okay. But," Huaisang said holding up a finger, "counterpoint: Lan Zhan doesn't spend time with anyone he hates outside of being forced to. Not even the siren call of fluffy bunnies would have had him enter that room if he didn't like you. Also, he's weirdly intense and either goes hard on eye contact or avoids it. Don't read too much into that."

"Again, he tolerates me. That's not exactly friendship or whatever you're seeing."

"He tolerates me," Huaisang said. "He was looking at you like you were the fluffy bunny back there."

"What, like he wanted to pet me?" Wei Ying asked. "Or that I was cute?"

"He sure wanted something from you."

"Ugh, can we not?" Jiang Cheng said behind them. "Look, the guy made gross eyes at you when he realized it was you holding the damn rabbit. He's into you. Can we stop talking about this?"

"Is he?" Wei Ying said, whirling on his brother. "Are you sure?"

"Very," Jiang Cheng said with a grimace.

"Lan Zhan might like me," Wei Ying said like it was a revelation.

Huaisang threw his hands up. "Oh, so you believe him?!"

"Jiang Cheng doesn't have fun watching other people's love lives."

"You're hopeless." Nie Huaisang moved to Wen Ning's side and linked arms. "Come on, A-Ning, clearly we're chopped liver."

"Hey, Wen Ning didn't do anything!" Wei Ying yelled after them. He sighed and turned back to his brother.

Jiang Cheng looked like he wanted to run after Huaisang, but had too much pride to do it.

"You really really think he doesn't hate me? Might like me?" Wei Ying asked in a small voice. "Because I don't think it's just a crush anymore. And if he doesn't like me I think it's going to hurt a lot more than it would have a month ago."

"Stop being insecure," Jiang Cheng said, lip curling. "You know the guy better than I do. And if he doesn't like you, I'll kick his ass."

"I'm pretty sure Lan Zhan could kick your ass," Wei Ying said with a lopsided smile.

"Fuck you," Jiang Cheng said. "He's built like a willow-whip. I could take him down."

"He has biceps like crazy, Jiang Cheng."

"Ew, get that look off your face."

*O*

The usual post-brunch time with his brother had been absent of most of Lan Huan's usual chatter. Lan Zhan knew that it was his fault. He'd been unable to do more than make vague noises in response to every attempt Lan Huan made to talk. He had too much on his mind and was out of his depth on how to address it. Emotions were not Lan Zhan's strong suit. He had always felt things strongly and struggled to verbalize about them. Generally, he let action cover where words failed, but that wasn't an option at the moment. He'd never had to seriously consider attraction in all its sides before.

"A-Zhan," his brother said after Lan Zhan failed to respond to a humorous work anecdote with more than a distracted hum. "What is on your mind? Are you having problems with classes?" Lan Huan leaned forward, a look of gentle concern on his face. It was a look that worked very well on younger students in the past.

It was a look that tended to work on Lan Zhan too, because he knew it to be sincere. More than once in his childhood that look was directed at him, and he'd spilled his problems in halting, frustrated words. He almost wanted to do the same here, but he genuinely wasn't sure where to start, or how to bring up the topic in a way that wouldn't be humiliating.

Lan Huan always meant well, but sometimes, Lan Zhan had learned, siblings could be embarrassing just by existing.

"Classes are well," he said, stilted and knowing it.

Lan Huan waited a moment for more, and raised a brow when nothing came. He switched tracks. "You mentioned planning to visit the pet café. Did you end up going?"

"Yes."

"And? Were the rabbits worth visiting it for?"

"They were adequately cared for and had places to retreat to if they no longer desired to be social."

Lan Zhan felt like the robot some people used to call him, back in grade school, with all the viciousness a child could possess. The words were factual. Flat.

Absolutely not useful at all.

"I see."

"They were soft," he managed.

"The photos on their website looked very nice," Lan Huan said.

Lan Zhan struggled to wrangle words upon his tongue. It should not be so hard. It was only four words. "Wei Ying was there," he grit out after a long pause.

His brother, infinitely patient with him, had kindly waited for him to speak.

"Oh?" Lan Huan said. Then, "Oh!" as he realized that this was more than an idle statement. "With the rabbits?"

"Yes."

"…Gentle with the rabbits?"

"Yes," Lan Zhan said, and he wondered if his brother heard the despair that he felt in that word, because he had lost his final objection to Wei Ying's person, and the looming reality of how strongly he felt for him was terrifying. Romantic love and attraction was terrifying.

Lan Huan, because he didn't have the same deep hangups over the thought of love despite their shared upbringing, smiled like this was great news.

"I may," Lan Zhan admitted like pulling off a particularly sticky bandage, "have judged too quickly as he seems to like rabbits after all."

"No snakes then?"

"No. It was a… misunderstanding."

Lan Huan's smile got even bigger. Lan Zhan eyed him warily. "And?" his brother asked.

"There is no and," Lan Zhan said.

"You're not going to ask him out?" Lan Huan raised his brows.

"…There is no reason to seek out a relationship."

Lan Huan was pouting. "You like him. From what you've said, he likes you. Why not date?"

"I have no need for a romantic relationship at this point."

"Do you want one?"

That was a foolish thing to ask. Want. There were so many kinds of want and Lan Zhan refused to let the baser sort dictate his life.

"Do you at least want friendship?" Lan Huan asked hopefully.

It was a terrible idea. The crush Lan Zhan had would only get tangled and complicated, taking root and growing stronger if he actively sought out Wei Ying's time and attention. But. "I do."

"Good. You need more friends in your life! And you never know, perhaps it will become something more!"

Lan Zhan could see his brother all but writing out a fictional timeline of Lan Zhan and Wei Ying sliding from friendship into something deeper. He could keep deluding himself with romantic fantasies because Lan Zhan wasn't going to be the one to act. Attraction didn't have to become anything. Friendship could be enough. He didn't want to lose himself to the messy mental state that their family got into when they were deeply in love.

But if Wei Ying wanted it…

Lan Zhan squashed the thought and the too-bright memory of Wei Ying's smiling with his whole face, a bunny tucked under his chin.

*O*

Wei Ying wasn't taking chances on his appearance this time. He'd gotten Lan Zhan to agree to a music session a week ago and he wasn't going to blow this opportunity. Which meant no joke shirts. No looking like a slob with his brain running off in half a dozen directions. He would make a good impression, and Lan Zhan would totally say yes to dating him.

That was the plan.

And that was why he had his friends sitting on his bed in his shitty, tiny bedroom as Wei Ying pulled clothes out of his closet for the most rushed fashion show ever—with his 'date' in a half hour because no one ever said Wei Ying had great time management.

"So. We have the classic red and black, the gray sweater and skinny jeans combo, or the layered green shirt with the dark pullover and the same black pants as the first outfit. Which one says 'mentally stable' and 'datable' with a side of 'hot and wild in a good way'?" Wei Ying indicated each outfit as they hung off the top of his closet door.

On the bed, Jiang Cheng looked like he was in a hostage situation and unhappy about it. Wen Qing looked about a step below that in her lack of enthusiasm, and Wen Ning looked nervous. That was Wen Ning's default expression though. Huaisang was the only one giving this his full attention, and the one that Wei

Ying trusted the opinion of most, but it always helped to have more perspectives.

"I think the gray one," Huaisang said. "It's closer to Lan Zhan's color palate, so more like he already has a claim on you, so that might make him subliminally more into you."

"Just pick a damn shirt," Jiang Cheng said, flopped back and staring at the cracked ceiling like it might fall and kill him. "It is not this hard."

"Ok, gray is good, but is it hot enough?" Wei Ying said. "Because the red is still spicy. And tight, which is a plus. I think he'd look at my ass in the skinny jeans, but in the red shirt he might be more likely to look at all of me."

"Lan Zhan seems like the sort to be into a bit of mystery," Huaisang argued. "The sweater is a little big, so it'll show shape and skin in a more enticing guess way."

"I have a lab in twenty minutes," Wen Qing said. "Can I leave yet?"

"Hmm, mystery is fun. And no, Wen Qing, I need all of your support."

"You're going to lose a friend if you keep this up," she threatened.

Wei Ying didn't take her seriously. She and Jiang Cheng were all bark.

"Wen Ning, what do you think?"

Wen Ning froze like a small mammal suddenly thrust into open space. "Um. They all look nice on you?"

"A-Ning, you can do better than that," Huaisang said, gently slapping at Wen Ning's knee.

"…Gray brings out your eyes?" Wen Ning said after a moment of his shoulders hunching in increased nerves.

Wei Ying looked at Huaisang. Huaisang hummed. "It is the right shade of gray. How about your hair?"

"Messy updo? Let some of it frame my face and bare neck to draw attention there?"

"I regret ever saying girls take forever to get ready," Jiang Cheng announced to the room. "You're worse."

"I have to look nice for a date," Wei Ying said with a sniff.

"It's not even a date. Neither one of you has confessed or asked the other out."

"It could retroactively become a date," Wei Ying reasoned.

"I hate you so much," Jiang Cheng said.

"I'mma try on the gray sweater combo. Take a pic to send to Yanli-jie?"

Jiang Cheng groaned, but he was already reaching into his pocket to dig out his phone. Ha!

Wei Ying stripped to Huaisang humming joking stripper music and Wen Qing mumbling complaints about her eyes. Like she never saw him in his underwear before. Sheesh. The sweater settled on like a soft hug, all warm and a bit big in the best way that let him hide most of his hand in the sleeve if he wanted to.

The skinny jeans always looked good on him, so Wei Ying didn't have any worries there.

"Ta-da!" He did a spin. "Good? Or do I need the spicy red?"

"Save the red for your next 'date,'" Huaisang said, eying him over. "And wear the one choker you have; he'll be guaranteed to look at your neck that way."

"Yeah?" Wei Ying grinned at the thought.

"Definitely."

"Eww," Jiang Cheng said. "Can we go now?"

"I haven't held you captive that long."

"Only through twelve possible clothing combos," Jiang Cheng grumbled. He snapped a picture for their sister while Wei Ying had his cheeks puffed up in exaggerated irritation. Rude! It was supposed to be a flattering photo!

"I'm leaving," Wen Qing said. "I literally can't stay and watch you panic over nothing any longer before lab."

"Is it good enough?" Wei Ying asked as she maneuvered her way off his bed.

"You're very huggable," she said, humoring him. "Next time just have Nie Huaisang be your eyes for this. He's the only one that cares about clothing."

"Jiang Cheng cares."

"Correction. The only one who cares about how your clothes look on you."

"Okay, fair." Wei Ying let her escape. He was basically done anyway.

"Seriously. Can the rest of us get back to living our lives, or are we still hostages?" Jiang Cheng asked.

Wei Ying rolled his eyes. "Fine, you can go. Wish me luck."

"Fuck no, I hope you trip in a mud puddle on the way over," Jiang Cheng grumbled, dodging Wei Ying's swat as he left before Wei Ying could change his mind.
Nie Huaisang and Wen Ning, best, most wonderful friends that they are, were still on the bed.

Wei Ying felt nerves bubble up again now that he didn't have his brother to banter with. Oh, right, that was the point of having Jiang Cheng here. Something something, distraction, something.

"Are you done freaking out?" Nie Huaisang asked watching him freeze on the spot.

"Rude. I'm perfectly fine."

"Uh huh." Huaisang sighed. "This is another reminder; he likes you. Hot Library Guy Lan Zhan likes you. Go get 'em."

Wei Ying laughed weakly.

Wen Ning stood quietly and crossed the room to put a hand on Wei Ying's shoulder. "You are a lovable person," he said bluntly. Caring. "One person's opinion will not change the fact that you are cared for and deserving of love."

Wei Ying felt a little like he was in therapy hearing affirmations he was supposed to recite and a bit like he was hit over the head with a two-by-four of feelings.

"Too much?" Wen Ning asked, still solemn.

"Way too much, buddy," Wei Ying said, holding back emotional tears. Huaisang watched them, torn between distaste and fondness. Wei Ying wrinkled his nose at him because, yeah. Feelings. God he didn't know when someone was nice and positive about him. "Okay, it's time to go. I can do this."

"You can," Wen Ning said.

"We'll have emotion-binge ice cream at the ready," Huaisang said. "Hopefully in celebration."

Wei Ying laughed and pulled himself together. Fixed his hair and clothes one last time. "Right. Okay." Flute, bag, phone, keys, check! "See ya!"

"Let us know how it goes," Huaisang demanded.

"You'll be the first to know!"

They're meeting up in the music building to use one of their practice rooms. Wei Ying had tried suggesting somewhere else, but Lan Zhan was practical; if space was available, it was better to use it than to potentially bother someone in another space with noise. Frankly, Wei Ying felt like if they played in public, they'd probably just get an audience, but eh. This was fine. It meant privacy and privacy meant that Wei Ying could try to ask Lan Zhan out.

He just had to psych himself up enough to do it.

For once he was on time. Not early. Not late. Almost exactly on time. And of course Lan Zhan was already there, his guqin set up on the desk. He was tuning it, soft plucked strings creating ambiance to the elegant way he sat. Wei Ying waited a second to enter just to appreciate how nice he looked, even under shitty florescent lights.

Lan Zhan glanced up. Wei Ying could see a softening around his eyes now that he was looking for it. Heck. Lan Zhan really might like him after all. Especially with how his eyes lingered on the sweater.

Wei Ying smiled. "Lan Zhan! Hope you haven't been waiting long!"

"Wei Ying." Lan Zhan gave him his full attention.

That felt good. Lan Zhan looked good. All pale colors and loose fabrics and ethereality to him that made Lan Zhan look like he could be some kind of spirit or maybe a god. Well. If a god wore tunic shirts and oxfords on the regular. Wei Ying set his bag down next to the table like a normal person instead of standing and staring to take in the ambiance a bit more. It was Lan Zhan in a music room; there were better places he could look at Lan Zhan being hot later. Hopefully with his explicit permission to stare as much as he wanted.

He chatted aimlessly as he got his flute out—both of them, the dizi and his Western flute. The whole point of today was playing around, and they had several instruments apiece that they could use in the room. Wei Ying fully intended to mix and match and improvise just for the fun of it. He'd bring up the 'would you want to date me' after playing. It would be the best time because Lan Zhan always looked like he was in a good mood after they played, and he'd be reminded of the ways they did get together, and Wei Ying wouldn't have been anxious-babbling the whole time because he couldn't talk and play a flute at the same time.

Best timing. Perfect timing. It was definitely a plan.

Unfortunately, Lan Zhan didn't know about the Plan. As Wei Ying ran through a quick scale to check pitch and air flow, Lan Zhan's hands stilled on the strings, watching with that beautiful, terrifying, piercing gaze he had.

"Wei Ying looks nice," Lan Zhan said when Wei Ying lowered the flute from his lips.

Wei Ying blushed. "Thanks, you too." Oh shit that sounded insincere. "I mean you always look nice but that shirt is really—" The sleeves rolled up to show his forearms, all muscled and elegant. "Uh." Words, how dare they fail him now?

"Wei Ying?"

Oh, fuck it. He was going to be distracted the whole time unless he just got it over with. "Lan Zhan." He tried to sound confident. Serious. He got a perplexed blink in return, but Lan Zhan didn't look wary.

"Yes?"

"We got off on the wrong foot—and it's probably my fault because I make bad first impressions—but I think we're past that by now, and you seem to, uh, like spending time with me. And I like spending time with you." Lan Zhan's eyebrows were going up, up, up his forehead. Wei Ying started talking faster. "And I like you, even when you were being kind of mean? And you're not being mean now and I really like you, like-like you." Shit that sounded juvenile. "I want to kiss you." Too blunt! "And go on dates. And adopt bunnies with you." Wei Ying covered his face as it burned. "Oh god it sounds like I'm picturing us married and that's way too much, I am so sorry, I'm just going to shut up now."

Silence.

Shit. Shit, did he ruin everything? He peeked between his fingers, fully ready to make a joke and dial it back to comradery and change subjects and hope that Lan Zhan would still play music with him.

Lan Zhan stared back at him, wide-eyed and slightly flushed. He didn't look disgusted. He didn't look freaked out or anything either, which was good. Wei Ying totally freaked some people out in the past and he knew he had a problem of talking too much and digging himself into holes.

"I," Lan Zhan said slowly, "I also like you. Music. Smiles."

Wei Ying felt like the clouds of anxiety were being speared with sun-rays of hope. "Yeah?"

"I want to go on dates," Lan Zhan echoed. "Kiss you." He leaned closer. "See you with rabbits."

Wei Ying leaned in too. "I want to meet your rabbits."

"You will."

A flutter of anticipation shot through Wei Ying as Lan Zhan bridged the last little gap between them. Wei Ying's eyes fluttered shut, his heart beating a million miles per hour like some fainting maiden in an old-timey romance movie. The kiss was a gentle press like Lan Zhan was testing the waters.

Wei Ying wanted Lan Zhan to devour him whole.

He might be a little extra about this. Haha. Ha.

They pulled apart and Wei Ying found himself smiling. He didn't know when it started, might have been smiling the whole kiss, and there was even a small smile on Lan Zhan's face too.

"Be my boyfriend, Lan Zhan?" he asked.

"Mm." Lan Zhan smiled a bit wider. "Yes." Then he kissed Wei Ying much less gently. Oh. Oh, Wei Ying liked that.

They didn't get around to playing music that day, but neither of them minded.

*O*

"Stop it," Jiang Cheng said as Wei Ying bounced in place.

"Stop what?" Wei Ying looked out across the campus grounds, waiting. Nie Huaisang and his older brother were in sight, walking their direction, but still no Lan Zhan. Or either Wen sibling, but he was kind of expecting them to be late. Wen Qing had to change from a lab before heading this way.

"Being all smiley. It's gross." Jiang Cheng scooted another foot away like Wei Ying had a communicable disease instead of a grin on his face.

"But I'm happy."

"You've been happy for three weeks straight. It's creepy."

"Is it gross or creepy, make up your mind." Wei Ying bounced on his toes a bit more. Huaisang waved in the distance and Wei Ying waved back.

"It can be both," Jiang Cheng grumbled. "I still don't get why you even like this guy. He's like trying to talk to a brick wall."

"Eh. He just doesn't like you," Wei Ying said.

Jiang Cheng glared at him. "You shouldn't date someone who doesn't like your family!"

Oh, this again. Wei Ying rolled his eyes because it was a rare person who did get along with Jiang Cheng. Thank goodness his sister had the patience and kindness of the family. Wei Ying didn't have to worry about Lan Zhan not liking her. Who wouldn't like Yanli-jie? (He wasn't going to admit to being a little worried about how Jiejie was going to react to Lan Zhan though. Jiang Cheng didn't like anyone, but if Jiang Yanli didn't like someone Wei Ying dated, he might just cry.)

"How long have you been waiting?" Huaisang asked, swanning up to them in his swishy dress clothes looking like he was one of the people performing tonight instead of the seniors of the music department.

"Too long," Jiang Cheng grunted at the same time Wei Ying said, "Eight minutes."

Huaisang ignored Jiang Cheng to drape himself on Wei Ying. "Oh, so you've been waiting eons. Ignore the grump; we're all early if the Lan aren't here yet," he said to his brother.

Nie Mingjue—who still didn't look much like Huaisang honestly (half-siblings, right?), and more like a bouncer at a fancy club—smirked. "We're on time. I think the Lan are late for once."

"We're also on time," a voice said from behind Wei Ying.

He turned around and grinned. "Lan Zhan!" His eyes slid to the man next to him. "And Lan Zhan's double." It was like they were twins except that the other Lan Zhan had an open smile and friendly aura that couldn't be more different from Lan Zhan's usual stoicism.

"Brother," Lan Zhan corrected.

Ah, Lan Zhan had dressed nice too. He looked so good in a light blue tangzhuang. There were even little embroidered bunnies around the button knots. Wei Ying got too distracted staring at his boyfriend—boyfriend! It still didn't feel real!—and missed whatever Nie Mingjue said. Although it must have been aimed at Lan Zhan's brother, since the man turned his smile in that direction before moving to greet the Nie.

Wei Ying could not care less about anything Nie Huaisang or his brother were doing. He only had eyes for Lan Zhan.

Lan Zhan moved forward to catch his hand. It was a warm, casual touch, and more than Wei Ying had expected to get in public when they first started dating.

Three weeks in, and knowing Lan Zhan a bit better, he had the feeling that Lan Zhan had either a low-key exhibitionistic side, or like… some kind of territorial thing going on, because he like to touch. Nothing obscene or anything, but he reached out and touched casually where he didn't touch literally anyone else that Wei Ying had seen.

It might do something for him.

Jiang Cheng made a disgusted noise. "Really?"

"We are literally only holding hands," Wei Ying said, sticking his tongue out at his brother.

"You're eye-fucking."

"If we were eye-fucking, you'd know it." They hadn't gone that far yet. Wei Ying was enjoying going slow. Every new thing felt exciting and special, and that could also make it a little overwhelming, so it was fine just making out and shit for the moment.

"Wei Ying," Lan Zhan said softly, tugging on their joined hands. "My brother. Lan Huan," he said with a nod to his double.

Lan Huan smiled hard enough to almost have dimples as he turned to Wei Ying. "I'm so glad to finally meet you! A-Zhan has spoken a lot about you."

"Only good things, I hope," Wei Ying said with a forced laugh. It was so weird seeing that much emotion on someone with a face so much like Lan Zhan's. Did not compute.

"Actually," Lan Huan started, his smile edging toward a smirk.

"Please do not," Lan Zhan interjected.

"Aw, no please go on," Huaisang said. "Brothers exist for teasing."

"Is that your way of saying I should tease you more?" Nie Mingjue said with wry humor.

"Please, your teasing has no effect when I have no shame."

Nie Mingjue tipped his head in consolation.

"A-Zhan has had many good things to say about you even before you both cleared up your initial misunderstanding," Lan Huan said. "It was very cute how he—"

"Brother, please," Lan Zhan said, ears red.

Wei Ying grinned. "I'm sure I can hear all about it later." He squeezed Lan Zhan's hand so he wouldn't think he was just teasing. Mostly. He did want to hear more about what Lan Zhan told his brother, just maybe not in public.

"Of course," Lan Huan said. "We should get to the performance."

Wei Ying and Lan Zhan trailed a bit behind the group. Wei Ying had to smile watching their friends and family bicker and tease and interact. This was nice. He could see this happening a lot in his future. And through it all, Lan Zhan's fingers were tangled with his own. His boyfriend. It still felt like he was floating on air a bit, but hey, young love. He was allowed to be over the moon about it.

"Lan Zhan," he whispered as they got in line to get into the performance hall. Lan Zhan tilted his head slightly, listening. "I hope when we're doing our senior performance, we can do a piece together."

"I can compose it," Lan Zhan whispered back.

A possible future. Them still together. Thinking forward and Lan Zhan was thinking it too. Wei Ying grinned and grinned. "I look forward to it."