crying at the idea of childhood friends wangxian walking hand in hand... small... with matching friendship bracelets..............lan zhan giving wei ying one of his favorite plushies bc wei ying is having nightmares and he wants something to help him sleep..........sobs

thinking also about little lan zhan being very introverted and his mother worries about him because he wasnt making friends, but then she learns about wei ying and dotes on him too :((

so imagine like, wei ying adopted by the jiangs, and they are terrible parents as we all know so basically its yanli who takes care of jc and wy.
one day madam lan is there with lan zhan on a saturday and receives a call from yanli, telling her that wy cant stop crying+

because he misses lan zhan :( and she asks "wei ying?" and lan zhan is like "wei ying???" and yanli asks if she could bring wy over. so madam lan asks lan zhan if he would like that and lan zhan frantically nods and madam lan is like "oh, finally"

with permission, yanli (she is like 12yo) gathers a upset wei ying on her bike and brings him to the lan's house (they live close by).
madam lan opens the door and she is surprised to find out that yanli is a child as well, she sounded very mature on the phone, very polite

so she gets worried about it a little because from the things yanli says to her like "here is wei ying's backpack, i hope its okay for him to hang out with lan zhan for a while. he is allergic to peanuts and has asthma, his (that asthma thing) is on the front pocket of the +

backpack"
make it sound like yanli is used to taking the parent hole to his siblings. she keeps that knowledge for later.
meanwhile, as soon as wei ying takes a look at the house and spots a shy lan zhan hiding behind madam lan's skirts, he screams "lan zhan!"

and lan zhan answers a hopeful "wei ying?" eyes big looking at yanli, but soon he reaches out a hand as if calling wei ying over. wei ying goes enthusiastically, and hugs lan zhan.
"lan zhan, i missed you so much!"
and lan zhan hugs back. meanwhile madam lan is delighted.

her son was never one to allow physical affection other than hers. he has always shied away from xichen's head pats, and the older understood his little bro's boundaries so he didnt insist.
so, to see him accepting hugs from this other child is a surprising sight.

after yanli leaves, madam lan takes the boys (who are holding hands now, so cute!) to the living room where there are blankets, pillows, and some of lan zhan's toys. and lets them settle down and play together while she goes over to the kitchen to make them some snacks.

(its one of those houses with the kitchen separated of the living room by a counter ok, she is not leaving two 6yo unsupervised)
while she makes some snacks and juice, she observes how wei ying chatters and creates stories and lan zhan listens attentively, still quiet as always.

but wei ying doesn't seem disencouraged and keeps talking and every time lan zhan answers he smiles big like its the best thing ever.
eventually they eat snacks and watch a movie together while madam lan sorts through some work papers (she is an attorney ok)

and then eventually yanli comes to get wei ying and madam lan asks for their house number so they can schedule more play dates for the boys, as they seem very attached to each other.

after a few occasions, madam lan finds out about how yanli family is, and how she is, indeed, the one who cares for her little brothers. so when she brings wei ying over on weekends she invites yanli to stay as well, and they talk about life and madam lan even helps her with+

homework. when xichen comes home from visiting their uncle, he meets yanli as well and they become friends. yanli tries to bring jiang cheng too when he is not buried under the dozens of extracurricular classes their mother enrolled him in.

so yes basically madam lan takes care of the yunmeng sibs because the jiangs are shitty parents.
and wangxian grow up together and eventually start dating and then marry and adopt children.

ok backstory no one asked for: lwj's dad died a while after lwj was born. because i said so. and he was not very good as a father.
lan qiren lives all the way in the other side of the city and sometimes madam lan takes the boys there

as a toddler, lwj just wont get away from his mother's side except for school, so only xichen spends some days with his uncle, lwj just visits.
lan qiren is very busy because he is taking care of the company for his late brother (madam lan didnt want to because she+

prefers working as a lawyer and spend as much time at home as possible with her sons) but he is a good uncle, he does his best and even teaches them to play guqin and piano.

wangxian meet at school because wei ying insisted in befriending lan zhan even if he always spent the breaks alone, and got attached to each other so much... sobs

as children they just know that they love each other very very much and that they are the best of the bestest best friends. when they become teenagers and start understanding more about life and relationships they start noticing that they really love each other

probably at like 13 or 14 they peck each other's lips and become very embarassed and dont talk about it. but as they grow and really understand they start dating for real. no angst, no misunderstandings, just mutual acknowledgment of love. they share every first until-

adult life and live together in college. marry as soon as possible. etc. and this is just very self indulgent because im in a soft mood. dont judge me.

@YunmengLotus talked about marriage promises and i thought... imagine them both as soon as they learn whay marriage is, basically what was explained to them was "two people who love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together"

so they are like. omg we need to marry! and announce that to madam lan. and madam lan is soft so of course she will conduct a fake marriage ceremony to two 9yo.

and in the end they kiss each other' cheek :((( and give each other those candy rings dkkfkdkdkdnsisk

i just imagine that they are soulmates in every universe and this one is not an exception. they are destined to be together ok.

now think about how they know everything about each other. growing up together, whenever they eat together in the school's cafeteria they just trade food between each other's bowls without blinking. lwj always get the meat portion because he knows wei ying wants it

and as soon as they sit down lan zhan is already sliding the chilli sauce over to wei ying and wy is fishing the meat with his chopsticks, then transferring the broccoli from his own bowl to lan zhan's.
people who don't know them for a while just look at them like. wow how.

in highschool i bet wei ying gets popular because of his brilliance, but he totally declines everyone's advances and just goes over to lan zhan's side uwu

i also love the concept of non sexual intimacy so they constantly cuddle because i say so. they cuddle every time its possible. madam lan lost count of how many times she has seen them sleeping on the couch together. she doesn't even question it because she just. Knows.

ah forgot to mention. remember the hand holding at 6yo? they keep it up forever. its almost automatic. they are each other's comfort and they are always holding hands and playing with each other's fingers.

yes and when i say there is no drama in this i mean it. no angst teen lan zhan is insecure because someone approached wei ying and asked him out while they were studying in the library? wei ying slaps that insecurity away by rejecting the person and coming back to lan zhan's

side and immediately grasping his hand and kissing it.
"what did you tell them?"
"i rejected them of course, i already have my lan zhan, what else in the world would i want?"

they are SAPPY and they spoil each other rotten.
english class and the assignment is poetry? you guessed right, their poems are about each other. jiang cheng gags in the background because he grew up with these idiots being gross forever ("god cant they tone it down")

prom?? wei ying climbs the stage after lan zhan's piano presentation with a bouquet to ask him to prom

maybe wei ying also starts loving music... but the jiangs wont enroll him in lessons, and when he tells that to lan zhan, he asks lqr to teach wei ying too. and while lqr finds wei ying very undisciplined, he discovers wy is very talented and learns fast

something about the way his nephew holds wy's hand and guides it in the piano keys and how soft he looks makes lqr reconsider being hostile to wy... so he slowly warms up to him despite still being very strict as always

the image of lan zhan playing piano while wei ying leans on his shoulder and slowly falls asleep... when the piece ends lan zhan carries him to the couch and caresses his face, kisses his forehead, and leans into him too. intertwines their fingers.
madam lan finds them like that

so she puts a blanket over them and calls yanli to tell her they fell asleep and wei ying probably wont go home

their first real kiss... its wei ying's 16th birthday... lan zhan composed him a song. they sit together behind lan zhan' guqin and he plays wangxian for wei ying... at the end wei ying is in tears already. so he hugs lan zhan and is hugged back.

"you wrote that for me? lan zhan, i love you so much"
"mn, for you." he pulls out of the hug and presses his forehead to wei ying's. "wei ying, i love you."
and wei ying holds his gaze, then cups lan zhan's cheek. they slowly come together. starting chaste, like that peck.

and then start moving, lips against lips, exploring each other. experimenting. their mouths fit perfectly.
"wow lan zhan, this is.. really nice,"
and lan zhan just pecks his lips again and they continue kissing, deepening. learning.

"are we boyfriends now?"
"wei ying, i think we already were"
"when you put it like that... yeah, i think we were. but without the kissing. why weren't we kissing? i want to kiss you more"
"mn"

if i didnt make it clear... they did say i love you to each other quite often. but in that occassion they were like. faces close. and things felt right. so they kissed.