It Can't Be Anyone But You

Writing the Fool - Part 3

With heavy steps, Lan Zhan leaves Jingshi. Never before had he slept so poorly. Dreams filled with the swirls of perfect calligraphy strokes danced behind his closed eyelids. The artistic lines tempted him to follow as they slid around his body, pulling on his robes as gently as a summer breeze. He followed them anxiously in hopes they would lead him to their creator.

But they never did. Instead, flashes of silver nipped at the trailing strokes. Twinkling starlight danced around the inky black curls until finally, dark united with light, night blended with day, and yin melded with yang.

When he awoke an hour earlier than his normal time, Lan Zhan's soul longed for something that remained lost to him. His heart ached with a strange sense of incompleteness as he dressed and ate breakfast. It refused to fade as the hours passed making him wonder if the unpleasant feeling was real or imagined.

Now, standing outside the classroom doors before anyone else in Cloud Recesses had even risen from their beds, Lan Zhan wishes for nothing more than to meet the person who left him yesterday's note.

Not wanting to frighten his friend, he...

Wait.

Can he call them that?

Friend?

He recalls what Xichen said to him yesterday about Wei Wuxian wanting to be his friend and a tiny shiver draws out goosebumps all over his skin. The idea of him being friends with such an unruly and untamed person is absurd. What benefit is there to being friends with someone like that?

Lan Zhan shakes the unsettling thoughts from his mind and slips inside the classroom. There is a privacy screen that stands at the front left corner of the room. It's the perfect hiding place. From behind the thin, dark blue fabric painted with white cranes and snow covered mountain tops, Lan Zhan steals occasional peaks to see if anyone enters the classroom.

He stands in practiced silence, his body still on the outside but buzzing on the inside.

The anticipation at solving his first mystery warms his skin until he's nearly sweating. The thump thumping of his heart gets louder as his sharp eyes watch the dawn's shadows form and glide effortlessly across walls, floor, and desks. His left hand grips Bichen tightly. Lan Zhan feels like he's on the edge of a precipice, an invisible pull threatening to entice him over the edge.

He waits.

And waits.

Lan Zhan doesn't realize he's holding his breath until lets out a disappointed sigh as the first footsteps on the lecture hall's floor break through his engrossing concentration. Sounds of muffled giggles and soft voices float inside the room followed by the swishing of robes and clearing of throats.

A heaviness settles around his heart. The weight of it is unusual and definitely somewhat painful. His fingers relax around Bichen's hilt and his hand falls to his side. The buzzing under his skin fades as the chill of the early morning air seeps through his robes, chasing away the warmth his hope manifested within him. His golden eyes that had searched relentlessly for his secret admirer betray him as a single tear falls down his cold cheek.

Wiping the unwelcome moisture from his face, Lan Zhan slowly steps out from behind the privacy screen. He expects to be greeted with shocked faces and gasps of fear.

Instead, he hears, "Lan Zhan!"

His eyes are instantly drawn to the boisterous voice calling his name.

Wei Ying's smile is more dazzling than ever before. It is brilliant and honest and filled with so much happiness that Lan Zhan feels dizzy from its intensity.