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Wei Ying didn’t mean to start dating the only person on the moon base he can’t keep up with. He would have, of course! It’s so rare to see anyone better at things he cares about than he is that the novelty alone would be as good as romance.
Sadly for him, all of his friends are sure Lan Zhan wants nothing to do with him. Wei Ying isn’t convinced: the first-in-class Space Corps cadet spends too much time glaring at him to want him gone entirely. Without Wei Ying his standing would be unchallenged, and where’s the fun in that? How do you even know you’ve won if you don’t have to fight for it?
So Wei Ying makes sure he signs up for every course and extracurricular Lan Zhan does, and maybe he doesn’t spend quite as much time practicing how to be perfect at everything, but it’s fine. He’s good at improvising. Why bother with perfection when there’s so much more to learn?
“Hey, do you think you could trick Lan Wangji into sitting next to you?” Huaisang asks idly. “For like, a long time? As a dragon?”
Wei Ying was going to say yes right away, and additional conditions only make him more determined. “No problem,” he declares. “And I don’t have to trick him; Lan Zhan loves me! I’ll go ask him right now!”
The great thing about the Space Cultivation Corps’ first and most prominent academy is that it’s located on the moon. The moon, Earth’s one and only moon, clearly the best moon in the solar system. Definitely the closest to a steady supply of human goodies which some people happen to have a secret weakness for.
Wei Ying doesn’t know if all dragons like sweets or if it’s just Lan Zhan, but it doesn’t matter. Wei Ying was first in line for cloud delivery this morning, so he has candy in his pockets and only one dragon interesting enough to tempt. He’s been waiting for an excuse all day.
“Loves you?!” Jiang Cheng repeats, with what’s definitely the right amount of incredulity. Wei Ying's brother is much more realistic about his relationship with Lan Zhan and much less interested in watching him make a fool of himself. “Wait, hang on, I need to record this.”
Well, maybe a little interested.
Wei Ying bounces to his feet just as Huaisang says, “And can you be a fox? For artistic purposes. I’m supposed to create something locally relevant that symbolizes duality.”
Wei Ying pretends not to understand, because he’s a funny person. “I’m always a fox,” he says cheerfully. Which may be one of the many problems Lan Zhan has with him, but that’s speciest, so Wei Ying tries not to think about it. Much.
“Is that even true?” Jiang Cheng is asking Huaisang. Wei Ying doesn’t listen for the answer, already focused on Lan Zhan across the courtyard, but he hears it as he skips off anyway.
“Would I lie?” Huaisang asks innocently. His voice is amused and absolutely sounds like someone lying right now. Wei Ying mouths yes to himself, and Jiang Cheng says it aloud at the same time.
More importantly, Lan Zhan looks up when Wei Ying throws himself down beside him. He doesn’t have to: anyone would have seen Wei Ying coming, especially Lan Zhan who’s always aware of everything, and Lan Zhan is usually quicker to dismiss him the more outrageous he’s being. Not that Wei Ying is ever outrageous!
Still, his presence should have qualified as a thing Lan Zhan entirely ignored, so Wei Ying beams at him and goes right to the point. “Lan Zhan, I got you candy! I wanted to give it to you all day but no one dared me until now. Is it your favorite kind? You should tell me what you like so next time I can get the right one!”
Lan Zhan’s expression is justifiably unimpressed. He’s probably trying to study, which he really does too much of, and Wei Ying is interrupting him just because Huaisang wanted entertainment. “Why,” Lan Zhan says.
“Why the right one?” Wei Ying asks, putting his hands behind him and casually leaning back so it looks like he’s closer to Lan Zhan. “Because you’d like it. Or why next time, which obviously, the answer is the same!”
“Why the dare,” Lan Zhan says.
“Oh, because I like seeing you like things,” Wei Ying says carelessly. “Or why did I wait for a dare? Because you probably don’t believe me, so I had to wait for a reason you would!”
It’s true, but he didn’t think about how it would sound. “Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan says. He doesn’t act as annoyed as he usually does when he says it. “If you tell me the truth, I will believe it.”
Wei Ying laughs. “Lan Zhan!” he exclaims. “So brave of you to risk your dragon reputation for someone like me! I'm honored, truly! Can I see you, please, let me bask in your benevolence? I know I'll be inspired to be even better!”
Lan Zhan does not seem smug or benevolent now, but that's okay, Wei Ying just isn't pushing the right buttons. He'll get it eventually. Lan Zhan is mysteriously complicated and Wei Ying has as much fun trying to figure him out as he does trying to surpass him.
“Then,” Lan Zhan says. “What is my motivation?
It takes Wei Ying a long moment to realize he's made a joke. A joke! Lan Zhan just made a joke, and Wei Ying was here to see it!
“Okay, I'm giving you the candy whether you agree or not,” Wei Ying tells him. “Because that was funny and it's going to make my day better every time I remember it. Every day, in fact. From now until forever.”
That Lan Zhan might consider him competition is almost as good as him being funny where Wei Ying can hear it.
“Show me proof of forever,” Lan Zhan says, letting Wei Ying stack candy on his book one piece at a time. “And I will show you.”
“Proof of forever,” Wei Ying says aloud, because that's how he thinks best. Most of the time words can't keep up, but when he finds them they help him see patterns he might have missed. “Proof that you make my days better forever? Lan Zhan, I think you might have to date me for that!”
“Very well,” Lan Zhan says. And he turns into a dragon.
Well, he was already a dragon, of course. But now he looks like one, and Wei Ying doesn't have time to wonder what just happened because Lan Zhan is the most beautiful dragon in history. Wei Ying’s never gotten to see him up close before!
He’s blue, everyone says. Even Wei Ying has said it. “Blue” absolutely does not do justice to his scales, and Wei Ying thinks even calling them scales is a little bit demeaning because Lan Zhan’s dragon form is covered in tiny shimmery colors that give the impression of blue at a distance but look like safety and solace up close.
Which Wei Ying currently is. He is. Right. There.
“Oh, wow, you are so beautiful,” Wei Ying blurts out. “Can I touch you?” What is he saying? “I mean, I really want to touch you, but I know that’s probably against five hundred dragon rules or whatever.” And also probably some fox rules, if foxes had rules. Wei Ying thinks someone might make some up just for him if he keeps going like this.
That hasn’t stopped you before.
Wei Ying squeaks, and it would be very embarrassing if it wasn’t a perfectly valid fox sound in human form, because Lan Zhan just used dragon language to talk to him! In his head! Because dragons don’t talk out loud, which honestly explains a lot about Lan Zhan.
“Okay, I just heard you say it was fine!” Wei Ying exclaims, because if Lan Zhan is going to do things like be funny and agree to date him and turn into a dragon just because he asked, Wei Ying can’t be held responsible for how he interprets anything he hears. He reaches out and lays a hand on one of Lan Zhan’s antlers.
He didn’t actually mean to; he was going to poke one of Lan Zhan’s claws and then that seemed too much like holding hands so he went to ruffle Lan Zhan’s feathers which is obviously not compromising at all, except that Lan Zhan lowered his head and then his antlers were pressed into his palm. Pushing against Wei Ying’s fingers, sparkling purple and then pink on their way to full iridescence. Wei Ying runs the hand down his face because he wants to see if the color change will follow.
It does.
By the terms of our agreement, Lan Zhan tells him, you must now turn into a fox.
Wei Ying honestly has no idea what their agreement is at this point, but Lan Zhan is a stunning dragon and Wei Ying is, well, Wei Ying. “I feel I should warn you,” he says, because he’s naturally brilliant and very gifted and also the most clever trickster alive but he’s not a dragon. “I’m actually more embarrassing as a fox?”
That is definitely not what he meant to say. He’s not embarrassing at all, of course! He’s adorable! He’s a delight! Anyone would be lucky to see his fox form! Wei Ying uses it all the time, mostly to sneak around places he isn’t supposed to be, which just goes to show how resourceful he is.
We are dating, Lan Zhan says. You’re only embarrassing if I am embarrassed. I will not be.
“That’s very funny,” Wei Ying informs him, “considering you’re embarrassed by me all the time, but also Nie Huaisang dared me to do this part too. Turn into a fox, I mean. While you’re a dragon.”
Lan Zhan does not immediately revert to his too-pretty-to-be-human form and stalk away, never to speak to Wei Ying again unless bribed with a sufficient quantity of candy or possibly annoyed into yelling at him for reckless inattention to his own safety. Wei Ying thinks safety is overrated, but bribing Lan Zhan is becoming more and more entertaining. Case in point: right now.
I am not interested in your friend's promises, Lan Zhan says. Only yours.
Did he promise something, Wei Ying wonders. Wait, did Huaisang? To Lan Zhan?
In his scramble to ask – telepathically, like dragons do – he realizes Huaisang dared Lan Zhan too. Tell the truth, Huaisang told him. Is this the truth? That Lan Zhan will date him if he proves he can keep up? Keep keeping up?
Lan Zhan thinks foxes are forever. Like dragons. This is Lan Zhan's exchange: one form for the other, in all honesty, and he will stay with Wei Ying. Side by side. For… now? Forever? It could be both, it probably isn't either, but there's so much room in between.
Wei Ying will need a lot more information before he can make better guesses about what Lan Zhan means, but he hasn’t come this far just to give up now. “You promise too!” Wei Ying exclaims. “Go out with me, somewhere–”
It’s probably not real, but in case it is, he has to make up for the dare part of it. And if it isn’t, he can’t be too cute. “Somewhere traditional,” he finishes. “The palace!”
They can take great pictures at the moon palace even if Lan Zhan is tricking him somehow, and if he isn’t there are jade bunnies. Everyone loves bunnies.
Tonight, Lan Zhan says, and Wei Ying’s eyes widen.
Okay, time to be a fox! He’s not going to figure Lan Zhan out like this, and he was dared, after all! He wraps his tails around him and turns even more furry and cute than usual, stepping deliberately on top of Lan Zhan’s claws before throwing himself at those pretty rainbow scales. Dragon Lan Zhan is very warm, and fox Wei Ying is very cuddly.
He thinks maybe they’re more complementary than opposite after all.