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thinkin about wangxian, best friends in high school, huge obvious secret crushes on each other; everyone knows wei ying is bi and only wei ying and lan huan know lan zhan is gay. there’s, of course, high school party games. a dare, a kiss. a month of furtive dating and desperate
make-outs when they’re supposed to be grabbing breakfast before school. wei ying calls lan zhan his childhood sweetheart. lan zhan kisses wei ying again. one hand-job, sticky-sweet in the summer heat circa graduation. they’re going to different universities. they stay in touch.
lan zhan dates a series of men, a new one each year: pei huang from his chinese lit class, liu hengchao from his rehearsal group, cao yizuan from work. he brings them home, introduces them around. most don’t last much longer than that first visit. wei ying dates, too. one girl
for two years, another girl for three months. a guy for six. a string of hookups. another guy for a year and a half. he doesn’t bring most of them home, but still introduces them to his adoptive siblings when they come visit.
he and lan zhan are still friends!
he and lan zhan are still friends!
they’re in different places, physically, but if they’re both back home or work travel brings them to the same place, they’ll go out for dinner and catch up! they email regularly! they’ll call once a month or so! wei ying always refers to lan zhan as “my first and best friend!”
sometimes when they’re together with partners, wei ying will laugh and say “remember when we were childhood sweethearts, lan zhan?” or lan zhan will clarify “yes, this is the wei ying who was my first kiss”
anyway, crucially, they’re both happy with this outcome. lan zhan, serial monogamist that he is, likes his boyfriends very much, sometimes even loves them; wei ying falls head over heels with most of his partners. they both have their fair share of breaking up and being broken up
with. wei ying spends some time alone after each one. lan zhan..... doesn’t.
thirteen years after they separated for college, wei ying is transferred to a new branch opening not too far from lan zhan’s work. he jokes about couch-surfing until he gets settled. lan zhan agrees.
thirteen years after they separated for college, wei ying is transferred to a new branch opening not too far from lan zhan’s work. he jokes about couch-surfing until he gets settled. lan zhan agrees.
lan zhan’s apartment is a one-bedroom but he has a pull-out couch. he’s cleared it with his boyfriend, who asked a series of pointed questions (“it was just that one month thirteen years ago, right? nothing since then?” to which lan zhan can honestly say “yes”) and then said okay
wei ying and his girlfriend break up when he moves; they’ve only been together a few months and neither are particularly interested in a long distance relationship. wei ying jokes that he’ll find someone new soon and move in with them, clear out of lan zhan’s space.
lan zhan says “no need,” but does offer to ask his coworkers if they know anyone interested in dating a young 30something new to the city.
it’s fun, being so close again! lan zhan tries to time out sex for evenings when wei ying is out on dates, and mostly succeeds. wei ying
it’s fun, being so close again! lan zhan tries to time out sex for evenings when wei ying is out on dates, and mostly succeeds. wei ying
engages in one very sneaky very guilty handjob to the sounds of lan zhan absolutely wrecking his boyfriend the night his date is cancelled last-minute, and thinks about apologizing but doesn’t want to make it weird. he starts looking for a place of his own the next day.
two months after wei ying moves out, lan zhan and his boyfriend break up. since wei ying lives close now and has had enough sucky breakups of his own in his time, he takes lan zhan out to commiserate. “usually i’d buy you shots, haha,” he says, and orders lan zhan his favorite
dessert instead.
lan zhan kisses him.
“haha, am i a rebound,” wei ying asks, even tho there’s not much ‘ha’ about that.
he walks lan zhan home. lan zhan kisses him again at the door. wei ying makes his excuses and goes home, where he proceeds to once again jerk off about it
lan zhan kisses him.
“haha, am i a rebound,” wei ying asks, even tho there’s not much ‘ha’ about that.
he walks lan zhan home. lan zhan kisses him again at the door. wei ying makes his excuses and goes home, where he proceeds to once again jerk off about it
they keep doing their usual activities together— lunches, dinners, live music, museums— only now they keep kissing after. for all that they were childhood sweethearts, if wei ying held a torch for lan zhan the entire time, it wasn’t one he was consciously aware of. and lan zhan
has known he loves wei ying, but it was always that all-over full-body kind of love. not just sexual or romantic, everything. so he was happy with friendship, and remaining committed to his partners.
now it feels different. now it’s not sneaking off and hooking up. now it’s
now it feels different. now it’s not sneaking off and hooking up. now it’s
getting to know your best friend in a new way as an adult. learning about everything they’ve learned together with everyone else they’ve dated. maybe there’s another furtive sticky summer handjob, but they go back to wei ying’s to shower after.
they’re dating.
they’re dating.
they take each other home for new years.
wei ying jokes about moving in again with lan zhan. he jokes about how their year is almost up, and who will lan zhan date next?
lan zhan hums. he gets a mischievous look on his face. says, “yes, i think i’m done dating wei ying”
wei ying jokes about moving in again with lan zhan. he jokes about how their year is almost up, and who will lan zhan date next?
lan zhan hums. he gets a mischievous look on his face. says, “yes, i think i’m done dating wei ying”
he waits less than .03 milliseconds (because he doesn’t actually want to break wei ying’s heart even for one beat of it) before taking out a ring.
