wwx as a con man who has been dealt bad cards by life, left poor and traumatised until he comes across lwj's profile - rich and lonely, easy target.

approaches him to get money out of him and disappear... falls in love in the process.

wwx is not bad per say. his crimes mostly target big corporations who will never even notice anything is gone.

that's enough for him until wen qing comes to him desperate - she needs money to get wen ning the proper meds, and it won't be cheap.

wwx doesn't plan to do any harm, even then. he just looks for someone who has had it easy all their life, taking some for someone who needs it will hardly ruin them, and he'll be gentle in the process.

he's not a monster, come on, the guy will get some company out of it.

all he needs to do is find someone who has had it easy, who is lonely and most likely starved for affection, who has money and given the right scenario would trust him with the money he needs.

he doesn't even have to fake a reason, a while into their friendship he will change wen ning's medical records to show a fake name and he will just have the guy help him with the bills. it's barely even a lie. harmless.

it's almost like destiny that wwx comes across lwj's profile. he's looking for soothing music that will help him sleep when he finds the guqin player.

a guqin player, in 2020? rich and lonely? this will be done by the end of the week.

wwx does extensive research but finds little more than lwj's music, which either means he's hiding things (a shitty man would only make wwx even more compelled to steal from him) or that he truly is that boring and lonely.

and now he knows exactly where to find him.

lwj's family owns an art complex (library, museum, research, studios, coffee shop, etc) to which wwx shows up a few times as a visitor to gather lwj's schedule first.

when he has it, it's an easy game.

he shows up soaking wet from the rain, with a cut on his arm and holding a huge guqin in a case (borrowed from nhs, who got it... god knows where, he never asks).

he goes straight to lxc, who is taking care of the library per schedule - better not to approach lwj first, builds trust to be introduced by his brother.

shaking voice, pitiful looks, wwx says:

hi, uh. i- uhm. sorry, i'm moxuanyu, i was told... oh my god, i'm dripping on your floors, i am so sorry, i was in such a rush, and, uh. anyway. i was told there would be a beginner's course for guqin starting today?

"oh", lxc says, a gentle and worried gaze on him, "you're referring to last year's schedule, i'm afraid,"

according to plan. wwx was sure to print the previous year's information to hand lxc - also helps in looking clueless and lost.

from then on, wwx knows lwj will be alone in the studio practicing that entire afternoon. he makes an impressive show of being disappointed by his mistake, pretends not to be able to even lift the guqin alone with the cut on his arm, tells a sad story here and there...

less than 20 minutes is how long it takes for him to have a clean wound, a dry shirt and coat, a mug of hot tea and an appointment with lwj for private classes (as soon as lxc convinces him to take a student, which should be...)

wwx takes the last sip of his tea exactly when lxc comes back to guide him to the studio.

damn, he must have some influence on his brother.

wwx presents himself all the same helpless character for lwj at first, and for the afternoon he even pretends he doesn't understand even the simple directions lwj offers in the class.

lwj is patient, but it doesn't go very well.

for the second class wwx tries more of a shameless portrait that is much more like himself - he can blame the previous weakness on the circumstances of being hurt, wet and miserable that first day, after all.

that is better.

classes go well, but aren't enough. wwx gets involved in every activity he knows lwj will be a part of, lxc unknowingly helps him in his attempts to get lwj a friend.

slowly, he gets the opportunities he has been after.

lwj is handsome, calm, collected, patient with his shenanigans, intelligent, educated, gentle, quiet, lonely, passing time with him is no hardship. getting closer is harder.

slowly, wwx is annoyed out of his own character, pursuing his own instincts to chase lwj everywhere to get his attention, which he puts himself in denial about.

it's just about the money!!!!!!!! he tells himself.

still, they find friendship somehow. wwx starts going to lwj's house, they share meals, spend time together.

lwj never asks for anything, but never stops him neither, so it's even easier than wwx could have thought.

wwx's first mistake is being honest about his parents dying. he needed an excuse not to talk about family and it was the perfect one.

he doesn't expect lwj to share that same experience.

telling his life tragedies changing names and a few details always came easily to attract pity and comfort.

the thing is, now that sharing is genuine, and he can't help but to get attached.

he soon discovers he truly is an exception in lwj's life.

he finds himself like that position way too much, way too soon.

listen. he likes lwj, quite a lot. they... became friends somewhere along the way.

it's fine, though. it could be fine. he could not disappear entirely maybe, make up an excuse to see him occasionally, pretend he's out of the country the rest of the time, who knows.

he feels less guilty about everything when he finds himself being honest in their friendship.

it's easier to find lwj is truly perfect and the absolute best to him when he at least cares about him too, you know. less like a con, just lie by omission.

wwx's second mistake is to try to test lwj's boundaries.

they have been friends for months by this point, lwj has already taken care of wen ning's first bill, and wwx wants to know how far he can push it so he doesn't ruin it.

nothing better than faking being asleep.

asleep he can pretend his actions aren't his own, observe lwj's actions when he thinks wwx isn't looking, and cross lines without facing consequences in case he goes too far.

that's how wwx ends up suggesting a movie, pretending to fall asleep 10 minutes in.

he allows his head to fall to lwj's shoulder, tries to remain still for any signs of discomfort.

lwj doesn't push him away. quite the opposite, actually.

it takes no time for him to relax under wwx, 5 minutes for him to let his fingers go through his friend's hair.

it's so careful, so gentle, so natural, almost as if lwj doesn't even realise he's doing it.

how long has it been since wwx was last touched like that? this lovingly, maybe not ever.

wwx presses closer to lwj's neck and allows himself to truly enjoy the touch, relaxing more and more as lwj's fingers slowly move.

it takes another 15 minutes for him to actually fall asleep against lwj.

wwx wakes up an hour later to the feel of lwj's strong arms... oh, god. he keeps his eyes closed and pretends to be asleep as lwj gets him on a bridal carry. what the fuck. what the fuck. what the fuck.

he feels his friend lowering him to a soft bed, covering him with a duvet that smells of lwj.

damn. he hadn't planned that far.

wwx will blame it on his half asleep braincells.

he grabs lwj's arm when he tries to move away, pretends to only then wake up,

"lay down with me, lan zhan" he says, almost a whine.

it's not even close to lwj's bedtime. his plans had been to leave wwx to rest, maybe cook them something, wake him up to eat maybe, let him stay the night if he wanted to. he could take the couch, it's fine.

lwj will blame it on absolutely nothing. he wants to lay down with wwx, so he does.

wwx wraps himself all around lwj, buries his face on lwj's neck again. you know, like friends do.

had he allowed himself to think of anything before falling asleep, wwx could have realised he was falling in love.