Vermont

When you wanna commit #ZhanCheng but don’t know what to do with Wei Wuxian, that juggernaut between them… I don’t want to fridge him or age him up or down. Let’s just write around him, then. Take him as granted.

Let’s say that the three of them are in American college, at a small and sterling liberal arts college, because Jiang Cheng is a classics nerd and Wei Wuxian can’t let his same-age adoptive brother go be a nerd in Vermont all by himself now, can he?

A-Die and A-Niang adopted Jiang Cheng when he was five, and Jiang Cheng has never recovered his memories of or before his time on the streets—or if he has, he’s never spoken of them. It breaks Wei Wuxian’s heart to think about it, so he doesn’t think about it. Instead he follows Jiang Cheng to Vermont. The campus is beautiful, all ivy and stone and fall foliage, and Jiang Cheng enrolls in advanced Greek and Latin while Wei Wuxian scours the catalog and decides just to take survey courses to start.

They’re placed in dorms on opposite sides of campus and Jiang Cheng’s roommate doesn’t show up until the day before classes start. Wei Wuxian is in Jiang Cheng’s room when this Lan Wangji arrives, pristine in white, with an older and smilier clone of himself in tow and a matching set of Goyard. Wei Wuxian can’t help but stare at the older brother, who’s gorgeous beyond all belief, so he completely misses love happening at first sight.

But he doesn’t miss, as Lan Wangji unpacks his suitcases one by one, drawing out his things item by item, that every single one of them is obscenely well-made and in perfect condition. Wei Wuxian catches Jiang Cheng’s eyes and quirks his brow in a “wow, rich people, what a tribe” kind of way, but Jiang Cheng doesn’t seem to commiserate.

Instead he says, “Where are you from, Lan Wangji?”

Lan Wangji doesn’t pause in his methodical unpacking, which he performs like a choreographed dance. “San Francisco,” he says briefly, and nothing else.

Jiang Cheng seems to deflate. He’s always been sensitive to rudeness, and in a moment Wei Wuxian conceives a towering resentment of this rich boy who thinks he’s above civil conversation. So, “The Golden State,” he says, sugary sweet. “Lucky you! Is the homeless problem there as bad as people say? If only the rich would pay their taxes!”

Lan Wangji does pause, this time, and says, evenly, “Houselessness is a systemic problem and requires a systemic solution. California is the state that places the heaviest tax burden on the wealthy, who for their part should do more than their part to bring forward a just and equitable society.”

He turns back to the suitcase he’s working on and shuts it and clasps it. The suitcases nest, Wei Wuxian notices, fascinated despite himself. He doesn’t let this glimpse of the inner workings of rich-people luggage distract him, he’s opening his mouth to say something cutting, when Jiang Cheng speaks first.

“What does a just society mean to you?” he asks Lan Wangji, who answers, decisively and conversation-endingly, “More than I care to discuss in the moment.”

Jiang Cheng looks crushed. Wei Wuxian is furious. “In that case, seeya!” he says, and drags Jiang Cheng out of his room, across campus, and into his own, and tells him, “Your roommate is a tool. You’re welcome here anytime, okay? Even when I’m not around.”

“I think your roommate might have something to say about that,” Jiang Cheng says.

“Nah,” Wei Wuxian says. “Nie Huaisang seems super chill.”

It turns out Nie Huaisang does have something to say. “Wei Wuxian,” he says four weeks into the semester. “When were you planning to notice that your brother is in love with his roommate?”

Wei Wuxian stares. “What?” he says.

“Head over heels in love,” Nie Huaisang says mercilessly. “And I happen to like your brother, so you and I are going to put our crafty heads together and figure out how to get him what he wants.”

“No!” Wei Wuxian says. “Maybe,” he says the next day, resigned to the truth upon clear-eyed observation, “we can find someone else for Jiang Cheng to fall in love with. Someone way more deserving.”

“Nope,” Nie Huaisang says. “That’s not how love works. But guess what. Lan Wangji volunteers at the homeless shelter two days a week. Don’t you think Jiang Cheng could use an extracurricular activity? Let’s not tell him the real plan, though. It’ll work better that way.”

Wei Wuxian thinks he’ll have to strong-arm him into it, since his brother likes books a lot more than he likes people, but Jiang Cheng just looks at him, wide-eyed, and says, “That’s a great idea. When should we start?”

And that’s how Wei Wuxian gets roped into it.

He grudgingly admits it’s worth it, when he watches Lan Wangji watch Jiang Cheng with the clients. Jiang Cheng might like books better than people, but people like him back, as his books can’t do, and Wei Wuxian watches Jiang Cheng learn that truth and learn to love it. It’s beautiful.

It’s also beautiful watching Lan Wangji fall in love with him, because he does.

“He’s in love with you,” Wei Wuxian tells Jiang Cheng—it’s week eight—who blushes.

“How can he be? He’s perfect. I’m me.”

“Yeah you’re you, and that’s why he’s in love with you.”

Jiang Cheng hugs him for that, and Wei Wuxian hugs him back. He’s resigned. His stupid brother, falling for a stupid statue. A stupid rich statue, at that.

But Wei Wuxian’s stupid brother and the stupid rich statue are both too shy and unsure to make the first move.

“That does it,” Nie Huaisang says in week eleven, and arranges to pass out stone-drunk in Jiang Cheng’s bed on a night Wei Wuxian arranges to be strategically unfindable behind his and Nie Huaisang’s strategically locked door.

Nie Huaisang tells it later. “Oh my God,” he says. “They were adorable. Jiang Cheng was like, ‘I hope you don’t mind if I sleep on the floor, I know there’s really not much space,’ and Lan Wangji was like, ‘I do mind. I mind very much. You may share my bed,’ and Jiang Cheng was like, ‘I couldn’t possibly,’ and they went back and forth about it until Lan Wangji picked Jiang Cheng up and threw him onto his bed. Jiang Cheng was like ‘Oof!’ and Lan Wangji must have been just overcome because he proceeded to climb on top of Jiang Cheng and kiss him breathless. Then—”

“That’s enough!” Wei Wuxian says. “This is my brother you’re talking about.”

Nie Huaisang shrugs. “Your loss,” he says. “Lucky for me, I watched the whole thing and now I have lots of ideas for an upcoming sculpture series.”

Wei Wuxian gags.

It turns out that his brother’s new boyfriend plans to major in philosophy, and soon Jiang Cheng is reading the Critique of Pure Reason like it’s his job. He still trills Sophocles in the original, though, so he’s still himself.

Wei Wuxian turns to Nie Huaisang. “Think you can help me bag the big brother?” he says.

“Let me at him,” Nie Huaisang says comfortably.

The end!

I don't know if Goyard luggage actually nests, but I doubt it!