#wu youxuan: so there's an 'us'?

[lizhly-writes]

tell us more about qi mingtao! clear cannon fodder, but i'm kinda curious about whether the high school bully dude ever advances into the adult stage of the novel by becoming some low-to-middle-ranking corporate flunky that pretends he's got the ear of the president to bully clw somehow...

Qi Mingtao is richer than you. Qi Mingtao is better than you.

...at least at Chen Liwei's school, anyway. Qi Mingtao is certainly more well-off than Chen Liwei, but let's face it: it's not hard to be more well-off than Chen Liwei. Like you said, he's cannon fodder. He's not particularly special, and I didn't really mean him to be. He's either 1) wealthier than anyone at the school, but like, still small fry 2) has a relative that's in a position of power at the school itself, like an uncle who's a superintendent or something. Either of these ensures that he's got people following around doing what he tells them.

It's not impossible for him to advance into the adult stage of the novel. People grow up. People need jobs. Low-to-middle-ranking corporate flunky seems appropriate.

Bullying Chen Liwei at work... well, however that turns out that will depend what kind of bullying we're talking about. If it's just some mean remarks and minor favors, whatever. Chen Liwei could probably deal with that himself without too much of an issue. But if it's anything ruining Chen Liwei's career, life, livelihood, etc?

At a certain stage, this will become a very bad idea, because Wu Youxuan will kill you.

[lizhly-writes]

hi there, i am URGENTLY trying to distract myself from my life, so i wrote this. i'm sure real life problems seem a lot more distant when you're contemplating a fictional character's problems

So, was Wu Youxuan expecting to be kabedon’d by his ex-boyfriend? No, not really. Wu Youxuan had gotten used to being the kabedon-er, not the kabedon-ee. This had been the case even back in high school; Chen Liwei had liked Wu Youxuan, but he’d viewed sexual attraction with a distantly amiable curiosity that hadn’t particularly motivated him to be the aggressor in any situation that didn’t involve violence. He’d been happy enough to let Wu Youxuan do anything he wanted.

This was apparently no longer the case, since Chen Liwei was now pinning him against a wall.

It was hot, sure. Wu Youxuan would have appreciated this a lot when he was a teenager. On some level, he was still appreciating it now. Unfortunately, he knew the only reason Chen Liwei was doing this was to have a conversation that Wu Youxuan super did not want to have.

Wu Youxuan had managed to lie his way out of a lot problems, but this particular one, he hadn’t really figured out, on account of the fact that he genuinely did not think he would ever see his ex-boyfriend again. Also he hadn’t actually wanted to think about his ex-boyfriend again. Didn’t everyone say it was unhealthy to keep thinking about your ex?

If Wu Youxuan didn’t give a shit, he could easily get out of this situation with judicious use of violence. Too bad he liked Chen Liwei’s face too much to actually break it.

“You’re so lucky you’re pretty,” Wu Youxuan muttered.

“What,” Chen Liwei said, narrowing his eyes. God, he was beautiful. Why did he have to be beautiful.

“Can I help you, Chen-xiansheng?” Wu Youxuan said without missing a beat, smiling invitingly.

[lizhly-writes]

anyway i wrote some sibling bonding. sibling bonding by way of trying to interfere with your brother's love life. you know. normal things. probably doesn't happen in 'canon' but. eh.

“You know, I wanted a cute sister-in-law,” Chen Lihua said reproachfully over dinner one night.

“Shut up about that,” Chen Liwei said reflexively, before what she said actually caught up with him. “Wait, why are you bringing that up.”

“I thought you’d be really cute with A-Lian. She’s so fun.”

It took him a moment. “Mu Qilian?”

“Oh, you remember her!” Chen Lihua said, eyes lighting up. “Isn’t she pretty?”

Chen Liwei didn’t really care what Mu Qilian looked like. Mostly he didn’t care about what anyone looked like. What was more memorable than any physical trait was this: “...That’s the girl you’re psychologically torturing.”

Chen Lihua made an affronted noise. “That’s called making friends. Just because you’re allergic to the concept doesn’t mean it's psychological torture.”

No, Chen Liwei was pretty sure it was psychological torture, because he was pretty sure that Mu Qilian did not actually want to be friends with Chen Lihua. Whenever he actually saw them together, there was usually a lot of yelling and screaming on Mu Qilian’s end as Chen Lihua blithely pressed on whatever buttons she needed to pick a fight. Was this intentional? Chen Lihua was certainly capable of acting nicer. Whether or not she considered ‘acting nicer’ part of the friend-making process was… unclear.

“You don’t need to pair me with your… friend,” Chen Liwei said. “It’s not like she’s interested.” He thought for a moment, and added, “In anything to do with either of us, but especially you.”

“Rude!” Chen Lihua blared. “That’s so rude. If you’re this rude, how can you get A-Lian’s attention? You’re so lucky you’re pretty!”

“I’m pretty sure I’m nicer to her than you are,” Chen Liwei said dryly. After all, he met the low, low bar of not immediately starting an argument the moment they made eye contact.

“You’re arguing with me about how nice you are to A-Lian?” Chen Lihua said, delighted. “You didn’t say you’re not interested--”

“I’m not interested.”

“Urgh,” Chen Lihua said. “Why. She’s pretty and smart and fun and this one time she tried to kick me in the head, it was so cute. You would like her so much. I like her, you should too.”

Chen Liwei squinted. “It actually sounds like you’re the one who --”

“Just talk to her! I think you’d really get along! It’s not like you’re really saving yourself for that Wu Youxuan, right?”

“...What.”

Chen Lihua blinked at him guilelessly. “What?”

“What the fuck are you even talking about.”

“Oh,” Chen Lihua said, in a tone of great realization, and then, much more casually, “Nothing, really, it’s just that I think you should get out more! Make friends! With A-Lian!”

Chen Liwei narrowed his eyes. That was not what she meant. If that was what she meant, there was no need to bring up her hopes for his love life and Wu Youxuan in the same conversation.

“Wait,” Chen Liwei said, connecting some dots. “Wait, is that why you hate him?”

“Hate is such a strong word,” Chen Lihua said. “Also, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Chen Lihua definitely knew what he was talking about. She’d actually started off reasonably friendly with Wu Youxuan, on account of classifying him as her older brother’s friend. At some point, this behavior had turned in favor of passive-aggressive comments about having nowhere else to live and metaphors about taking in stray dogs. Hate was a strong word for it, but there was a definite uptick in hostility that Chen Liwei hadn’t really paid much attention to.

“You think we’re in a relationship,” Chen Liwei said.

“Don’t be silly, I know you’re not in a relationship,” Chen Lihua said. “Which is why I’m telling you that A-Lian would be such a good girlfriend. You know, if you wanted a relationship. Which I guess you don’t.”

“You’re trying to stop me from being in a relationship,” Chen Liwei amended. “With… Wu Youxuan? Why do you think--”

“I don’t think anything,” Chen Liwei said promptly. “A-Lian always says I’m brainless, which is really funny when I outscore her in exams. If I’m brainless, what’s she? Really, it’s worse for her than me.”

“Stop trying to change the subject!”

“Oh, would you look at the time, I have a lot of homework to do actually, so, if you excuse me --”

“Chen Lihua you little shit get back here--”

[lizhly-writes]

hiya.

First impression of Wu Youxuan: nothing.

This is what Chen Liwei thinks of most of his classmates. Log down the name, remember the face, pick out their impressions toward him --- hostile, neutral, favorable --- and save it for later. ‘Wu Youxuan’ settles firmly into the neutral category and then Chen Liwei forgets about his existence the rest of the time.

Until he doesn’t.

The thing is, Wu Youxuan genuinely thinks that Chen Liwei is going to kill him.

It’s a little special, considering that nobody ever thinks he’s serious when he says he’s going to beat people up. He does it, and there’s this shock of “wow, the school grass is so much more powerful/domineering than we thought”, before it all goes back to the status quo of “surely a little white face like him couldn’t really put up a fight and everyone else who tried were just weaklings and/or we just had a bad day and we’ll definitely get him next time.”

It isn’t like Chen Liwei is invincible, but he’s certainly better than their expectations of him. He surprises them every time. Even if it’s the same people he’s fighting.

Memory of a fucking goldfish.

And then there’s Wu Youxuan, who, despite the fact that Chen Liwei has barely even shared the same airspace as him, is overwhelmingly convinced that Chen Liwei will beat him down into mincemeat.

Admittedly, yeah, at one point, Chen Liwei was absolutely going to do that. But first of all: that was a misunderstanding. Second of all, Chen Liwei honestly thought that Wu Youxuan was going to forget, because that’s what happens every fucking time Chen Liwei tries to make threats. It’s just “haha, you wouldn’t really” or “do you really think something like you could ever do anything” or “nice joke! I didn’t know you could make jokes!”

No one ever fucking takes him seriously.

Except, for some reason, Wu Youxuan.

Wu Youxuan is afraid, and Chen Liwei isn’t ashamed to say that he likes it.

Hey. He’s never claimed to be a good person. School forum gossip that he’ll soften if the right girl comes to tame him? That he might be a jerk, but deep inside, he’s got a heart of gold? Lies. He’s jerk all the way down.

Chen Liwei demands unreasonable things from Wu Youxuan, and Wu Youxuan keeps giving them to him. What, as if he thought it was perfectly normal to ask some random classmate to help him beat up other people? Like Chen Liwei is that far removed from regular social etiquette? Come on.

Is this what it’s like to be Qi Mingtao? Shit, he might understand why that guy goes on power trips so often, then. This is fun.

Chen Liwei doesn’t really expect Wu Youxuan to stay afraid. Chen Liwei isn’t so unreasonable that he’ll try to keep him that way. It’s not like he hates Wu Youxuan enough for that. So Chen Liwei keeps making threats, and he keeps not following through on them, and if it were Chen Liwei dealing with this kind of behavior, he’d figure out the pattern and then fuck off.

Except Wu Youxuan doesn’t do that.

“I’m not actually going to beat you up if you don’t listen to me,” Chen Liwei outright says.

“Fuck off,” Wu Youxuan says. He’s still swinging that baseball bat that Chen Liwei gave him, proper form and only getting more proper. Getting better, getting stronger, like Chen Liwei wanted him to, and that’s the thing: why is he still doing what Chen Liwei wants?

Even after all of this, even after Wu Youxuan’s grown a spine, he still gives into whatever unreasonable thing Chen Liwei demands of him. Isn’t that something.

“Are you just used to listening to me by now?” Chen Liwei says. “Fucking weirdo.”

Wu Youxuan glares up at him. “I,” he says, almost over-enunciating the word, “am going to beat your face in.”

It’s a threat. In general, Chen Liwei can’t even remember how many times he’s been threatened. This sort of thing happens everyday, and it usually only pisses him off.

Chen Liwei surprises himself when he ends up laughing instead.

Fucking hell, is this what it’s like being in a good mood? He hasn’t had one of those in a while.

“You,” Chen Liwei says, grin still pulling weirdly at his face, “are going to have to try harder than that.”