As soon as they leave the apartment building, Wei Ying unabashedly links his arm with Lan Zhan and snuggles up to him. It shields him from the cold winter breeze as much as his hold on Lan Zhan will keep him from slipping on the half-frozen snow. He’s decided that as long as Lan Zhan doesn’t object to it, he’s free to do whatever he wants. And far from objecting to it, Lan Zhan actually wraps his arm around him, so that Wei Ying really ends up stuck to Lan Zhan’s side.
He smiles up at Lan Zhan happily, and Lan Zhan squeezes him once in reply.
If this is a dream, he never wants to wake up.
They make the tour of the park like that, walking slowly as Wei Ying points out all the best sights to Lan Zhan. Lan Zhan listens to whatever Wei Ying has to say, and seems a little mesmerized by the ducks sliding clumsily over the frozen surface of the pond to get to the food that some generous soul has left for them.
“Do you like ducks?” Wei Ying asks when they’ve been standing there for a while, watching the ducks slide over the ice in search of food, and Lan Zhan still makes no move to continue their walk.
Lan Zhan doesn’t reply immediately, so Wei Ying gets in his face and pouts, “Lan Zhaaaan. Talk to me.”
Finally, Lan Zhan turns away from the ducks.
“I prefer rabbits.”
Wei Ying laughs. “Rabbits! I see we’re sticking to a theme. Snow hares and Lan Zhan; a very good combination. Very fitting. I like it. Do you keep rabbits?”
“No.”
“Aw, no! You deserve some cute, fluffy rabbits!”
“I was not in a position to take care of them properly.”
Wei Ying leans into Lan Zhan’s side, thoughtful. “I’m sure you’d take care of them very well. You should get some, Lan Zhan. I’d come visit you, too, to see the rabbits.”
Lan Zhan doesn’t reply, but for some strange reason, he places a soft kiss on Wei Ying’s temple. With that, he finally moves on.
They finish their walk around the pond and leave the park through the gate closest to the department store to do the shopping Wei Ying has been wanting to do. It’s Saturday and the department store is full of people, all trying to get their weekend shopping done. Couples are parading past them, dressed in their nicest date outfits, but Wei Ying is here with Lan Zhan, so really, who’s the lucky one here. They wish they were as lucky as Wei Ying. They walk past a popular coffee shop, and Lan Zhan offers to buy him a coffee, which Wei Ying gladly accepts. He hasn’t had any caffeine for days.
The coffee is delicious, and he would give Lan Zhan another kiss in thanks, but he’s not sure if he should do that here, in public. Later, he tells himself, when they’re back in his apartment. After he’s teased him a little bit more about the rabbits.
Wei Ying originally only wanted to pop into the department store to because he’s run out of envelopes and wanted to buy new ones, but Lan Zhan seems to be in a shopping mood. He takes Wei Ying to the household section of the department store and wanders through the aisles, picking out things here and there, comparing items and their functionality. Wei Ying helps him make the correct decisions, or at least the correct decisions in Wei Ying’s opinion. He teases Lan Zhan by telling him he should buy everything in red, because red is obviously the best colour. It clashes horribly with Lan Zhan’s all-white approach, but that’s half the fun.
Lan Zhan, oddly, listens to him and picks a fancy kitchen knife with a red handle, a red coffee machine, and more items that have the colour option red. Only when Lan Zhan is already paying (even Wei Ying’s envelopes managed to land in Lan Zhan’s basket somehow), it strikes Wei Ying that all the stuff Lan Zhan is buying is not intended for Lan Zhan at all. It’s all for Wei Ying.
“Lan Zhan,” he says, panicking a little. “You can’t buy me all this stuff!”
Lan Zhan ignores him stubbornly and pays for everything.
“Lan Zhan!”
“We should also get some groceries,” Lan Zhan says, completely refusing to even respond to Wei Ying’s protests. He waltzes on with his newly acquired shopping bags in tow; a force that cannot be stopped. If Wei Ying didn’t know better, he would say that Lan Zhan is amused about Wei Ying’s inability to stop him. But such things are below Lan Zhan.
If there’s one thing Wei Ying is very good at, however, it’s being obnoxious. So, when Lan Zhan is busy picking out some food in the grocery store, he vanishes into a different isle and picks up something else. When he returns to Lan Zhan’s side, he drops his loot into the shopping basket Lan Zhan is holding with an impertinent grin. Lan Zhan stares at the objects for a moment and then shoots Wei Ying a look. To Wei Ying’s delight, he leaves the items in the basket and heads to the cashier to pay.
With bags full of groceries and other items, they return to Wei Ying’s apartment.
Once again, Lan Zhan prepares them a delicious late lunch, and when Wei Ying is full and feeling lazy, Lan Zhan sets up the new coffee maker and gets it running.
“Yessss,” he moans when Lan Zhan hands him a perfect little cup of espresso. “Caffeine.”
The caffeine revives him enough to remember the shopping he did earlier. Enthusiastic, he digs the items out of the pile of shopping that they haven’t cleared away yet and holds them under Lan Zhan’s nose.
“So,” he says with a grin. “I have plans for you this afternoon.”
He knows by now that he can’t always anticipate Lan Zhan’s reactions to his teasing, so honestly, it’s a gamble every time. But Lan Zhan paid for the lube and condoms Wei Ying put into his shopping basket without complaint, so he can’t imagine Lan Zhan suddenly having any moral objections now. Lan Zhan takes the items, but then, instead of eagerly jumping Wei Ying and debauching him on the spot, he puts them aside. Instead, he wraps his hands around Wei Ying’s waist and draws him close.
“I would stay,” he says, and he sounds actually sorry, “but I have to leave soon.”
Wei Ying lets his face drop on Lan Zhan’s shoulder and whines. “Lan Zhan, way to burst my bubble.”
“I am sorry.”
Another kiss finds its way on Wei Ying’s temple.
“And tomorrow?”
“I have an appointment with my family.”
Wei Ying whines again. He had hoped he could spend the entire weekend with Lan Zhan – there goes that dream.
A sudden thought strikes him and he jolts up.
“Wait – don’t tell me you have a wife and children waiting for you at home.”
Lan Zhan looks at him with an expression so offended, Wei Ying can’t help but laugh.
“I will be with my brother and uncle,” Lan Zhan informs him primly.
“Sorry, sorry,” Wei Ying apologises, still laughing. “But I would kick your ass if you made me a homewrecker.”
“No.”
The answer is so immediate, so absolute, Wei Ying has no doubt that Lan Zhan is entirely serious. He would never do something like that.
“Fine,” Wei Ying sighs. “I’ll let you go. But I’ll miss you.”
“Mn.”
Lan Zhan makes sure that everything is in order and Wei Ying has everything he needs before he leaves him. He also gives him his phone number and promises him that he will contact Wei Ying soon. Wei Ying is happy about the promise, but it still leaves him with a sense of worry. Lan Zhan might step out of his apartment and decide that Wei Ying isn’t worth the effort, isn’t worth coming back. He likes Lan Zhan. He doesn’t want to lose him. Not now. But he also can’t hold onto him, has no claim to his attention or time.
He sighs again when Lan Zhan puts his coat on, but accepts Lan Zhan’s goodbye kiss gracefully.
Lan Zhan’s fingers linger on Wei Ying’s cheeks, stroke the skin there before he finally lets go, and it’s the only gratification that Wei Ying has – that Lan Zhan seems equally as reluctant to leave Wei Ying as Wei Ying feels reluctant to let Lan Zhan go.
“Take care, Wei Ying,” he says, finally, and vanishes out of the door.
---
Sunday is boring. Wei Ying should be perfectly used to being alone in his apartment, but it feels far too empty now. So many things in here remind him of Lan Zhan – all the things that he brought Wei Ying, even the food that he bought for Wei Ying to eat. The bedsheets in which Lan Zhan had embraced him. The beautiful red coffee machine. It’s distracting, to be reminded of Lan Zhan everywhere.
He originally planned to catch up on his work since he missed university on Friday, but he finds he’s unable to concentrate and can’t get on with his work at all. Whenever he’s reading a text, he finds his mind wandering, wondering about where Lan Zhan is right now, if he’s thinking of Wei Ying, too. It’s unbearable. He’s like some lovesick young maiden, pining for her lover at war. It’s pitiful. He’s known Lan Zhan for all of three days.
He’s moments before losing patience with himself when the doorbell rings.
Wei Ying’s heart hammers in his chest. Could it be? Could it be Lan Zhan?
He practically flies to the door.
But when he opens the door, he isn’t greeted by a tall figure in a white coat. A a short, mustached delivery man waits for him. When he sees Wei Ying, he hands him a package, mumbles something in his mustache, and vanishes down the hallway before Wei Ying can even give him his thanks.
He hasn’t ordered anything, so why on earth did a package land on his doorstep?
But his name is written on the label of the package, along with his address, so he takes the box to the kitchen and opens it, peeking inside curiously. He picks out a few air cushions that are in the way, and there –
It’s a rabbit plushie.
It’s a giant, fluffy, white rabbit plushie, and it can only come from one single person.
He takes the rabbit out of the box, and its fur is so soft he can’t help but hug it, squeeze it, and scream into its fur a little. He’s full of emotions and they need to be expressed somehow. Lan Zhan sent him a rabbit plushie.
It’s the cutest plushie he’s ever seen, perfectly white, with powdery pink inner ears and shiny black eyes. It’s absolutely perfect.
Still holding the plushie, he digs for his phone, snaps a photo of him and the plushie, and sends it to Lan Zhan with a quick message.
[Wei Ying] LAN ZHAN. ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME? (((( ;°Д°))))
[Wei Ying] This is the cutest rabbit I have ever seen!! I’m happy now. I don’t need you anymore. ヾ｜*￣ー￣｜
[Wei Ying] That was a joke by the way. I need you…. and the rabbit. ( ˘ ³˘)❤
[Lan Zhan] I am glad that you like the rabbit. It will be there for you when I cannot.
[Wei Ying] _(:°з」∠)_
[Wei Ying] You’re killing me, Lan Zhan, you’re killing me.
[Wei Ying] I will take good care of it, I promise.
[Lan Zhan] Good.
Wei Ying squeezes the rabbit to his chest, giving it a little kiss in place of its owner.
Lan Zhan is the absolute best. He listened to Wei Ying’s whining and sent him a rabbit plushie to cheer him up.
With a sigh, he closes the book he’s been trying to read and heads for his bedroom instead. He’s not going to get any more work done today. But he has a rabbit for company now, so he might start with a nap.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 5/?
Fandom: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Choi Saeran/Original Character(s), Choi Saeran/Main Character
Characters: Choi Saeran, Main Character (Mystic Messenger), Rika (Mystic Messenger), Original Characters
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Main Character (Mystic Messenger) is with Mint Eye, Named Main Character (Mystic Messenger), Torture, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Denial, Pining in Denial, My God the Denial, Passive Suicidality, Dubious Consent, Religion, Toxic Religion, Creeps In Positions Of Authority, Existential Angst
Summary:
Rage, she tells him, is a battery that charges itself. It’s a paradoxical, self-sustaining snake forever finding strength and sustenance in its own bruised flesh, and he wonders if that’s what he sees burning behind the stony blue-grey of her eyes whenever he catches her watching him. He wonders where he can find it for himself, if the white-hot intensity of anger like hers could burn away the terrors that constantly claw his insides to pieces.
She tells him not to be an idiot. God only plants fires inside people who deserve to burn.
She was the Savior's sister. He was a nobody. They were never supposed to fall in love.
