An AU idea that came to me just now as I was cleaning out the coffee pot:
I have a private joke that every time I see fanart of Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingyi, and Jin Ling, I say to myself, "It's okay, Ouyang Zizhen took the picture. He was there."
So what if, in a modern cultivation AU, he gets hits with a curse or spell gone wrong or something that causes him to disappear and everyone to forget him. Everyone except his three best friends, of course. But when they start to go through all their collected pictures for proof of his existence, they realize he was always the one behind the camera. He's not in any of them. (Oh, sure, he took selfies with them sometimes, but those are all on his phone, which they don't have.)
Plot ensues, they probably have to get Wei Wuxian involved, or Nie Huaisang, or (rarer option) older student Mo Xuanyu maybe? Anyway, this middle bit that is still just a hazy cloud in my mind happens and they get him back.
And from then on Jin Ling is especially insistent they all learn how to use the timer function on all cameras so OYZZ can be in the picture too.
