Chapter Text
The life of one Lan Jingyi was an easy life to live as it was, one he thought was much easier to live compared to others.
Jingyi would wake every day, go to his classes, then to work, then back to campus to study and finally go back to his dorm and sleep; just what any other person wanted for normalcy, nothing more, nothing less.
He didn't wake up to words strewn across his body, etched into skin with penmanship that resembled infinite time but would disappear after a quick splash of water and soap, or have to deal with hair that changed colors based on someone else's mood, or wake up to face the tatted words that would one day be the first thing uttered to him by a soulmate. He would never have to deal with a peculiar red piece of string tied to his finger that wouldn't even show him to his soulmate until he had found them, or even have to wait in anticipation as a counter on his wrist told him up until the exact second he would bump into his soulmate.
No, Jingyi was blessed with an inconspicuous soul mark. One that could be easily feigned and promised privacy, one that wouldn't humiliate or be seen by any other. In truth, Jingyi should feel incredibly blessed; to not have his soul mark be widely displayed for the whole world to lay witness to, Jingyi could simply blend in. Pretend he had already met his soulmate, pretend he wasn't looking for his other half. Really, Jingyi was one of the lucky ones.
But.
But, Jingyi didn't want to be one of the lucky ones. He wanted to have his soul mark be loud and proud, something that couldn't be irrefutably mistaken for anything else. Something that absolutely screamed, "Hey, soulmate! I'm right here, aren't you glad you could tell?"
But no, Jingyi had to have the most boring soul mark to exist. What did he know he was missing out on when he couldn't even tell what it was? So what if he couldn't see some lame color, he was perfectly content with all the colors he could see at the present moment. And it's not like when he found his soulmate the color would rush to him all at once. No, Jingyi had to suffer with discovering the color slowly each passing day until he could see it clearly, the only color he was lacking in this world. For someone with virtually no patience to wait like Jingyi, it made him just a little more sickened, to be honest.
Despite all that he wanted, he knew his soul mark was the one thing he couldn't ever change by sheer willpower alone. Trust him, he'd tried. And tried even harder to find his soulmate, with various degrees of failed relationships to show for it.
Yet, if Jingyi was being completely honest with himself, he privately thought that the whole notion of his particular soul mark was kind of...romantic. Pray that Ouyang Zizhen never heard him even think that, he'd never hear the end of it.
It brought him at least some comfort to know that one day he'll meet the person the stars had aligned him with, and know in that instant that they were meant to be, for as long as they would have Jingyi. One day, he wouldn't have to guess if he would ever find love, or have to think about the fact he would live alone for the rest of his life.
He shuddered, pushing negative thoughts away before they had a chance to form, pulling himself out of deep thinking. For now, all he wanted to do was get to his first class of the semester in one shape, soulmate or not.
The Life Sciences building; he was so sure he had a class there last semester, but the current path he was taking looked completely unfamiliar. The cold sweat of panic was creeping up on his neck, and he tried his best to act as nonchalant as possible as he reached the building that might hold the classroom he needed to get to three minutes ago.
Life Science: Rooms 101-499
He sighed with relief, willing his thundering heart to stop for a moment just so he could catch his breath, and darted inside, already more familiar with the building's interior than its exterior setting.
It didn't take long for him to finally find the right classroom, and so he opened the door, not bothering to look around to see if he'd find a familiar face and instead zoned in on the only empty chair that wasn't sitting directly in front of the professor's podium.
He pulled the chair back, setting his backpack on the desk as he took notice that the professor hadn't even walked in yet, despite the fact it was already passed the starting time. Jingyi was feeling quite lucky, despite the fact it was a Monday.
He got to quick work of setting up his materials, taking out his worn-in pencil pouch and borrowed notebook, digging into his backpack for his planner when he heard a slight intake of breath to his right.
He turned with an inquisitive face to find his elbow mate staring with an extremely confused face at Jingyi's materials, notably his pencil pouch.
"Is...is that a fish?"
"Huh?" is all Jingyi could reply, and he stared at the pouch in question that the other student was pointing at.
It was old, in the delicate shape of a gray fish, so hyper realistic that it always made people do a double take. He had lost it sometime in his first year and had only found it yesterday, finding it full of his favorite brand of pencils and pens. He'd shoved it into his backpack without a second thought, happy that he'd be starting his second year with his favorite stationary.
Jingyi couldn't quite pin what type of reaction the other student was giving, if the pull of his eyebrows was done in curiosity or disgust, and therefore asked his next question without hesitation.
"Do you want to see the inside?"
Before the other could protest, he zipped it wide open, pulling out all of the gel pens and pencils until it was bare, opening the flaps to reveal the bone structure of the fish inside the pouch. It was great, if not a little detailed, and he therefore couldn't help but pull his lips back in a wide, shit-eating grin.
"I'll pay you to never show me that horrid thing ever again," his companion said, shuffling through his wallet before slamming a couple of bills right next to Jingyi's fish pouch, poking said pouch further away from him with the end of an expensive Apple pen, inching it away from his opened laptop.
Jingyi could do nothing but laugh, loud and honest, at the continnued look of bewilderment his seat mate gave him, whol looked like wanted to keep pulling bills out of his wallet if Jingyi didn't put it away right at that moment.
"I'm sorry, I promise not to pull it out again if it scares you that much. I'll try to remember not to bring it again next time bro," Jingyi laughed again, hurrying to leave a pencil out as he shoved the fish pouch back into the depths of his backpack.
"Please, as if something so...so...ghastly could ever scare me. It just caught me a bit off guard," the other hmphed, perfectly manicured eyebrows pulled into his face.
Just before Jingyi could respond with anything else, the professor finally walked into the room, pulling the attention of Jingyi and his skittish seat mate to the front of the large lecture hall. The professor had only just barely placed his briefcase down before he started his lecture, the only other sound being that of pens and pencils gliding on paper, or the quiet clack of keyboards typing the required materials that would be needed for the class.
Just when it seemed the professor was finally wrapping up for the day, the professor announced the available lab times, and stressed that it was recommended to find a lab partner to divide the workload. The professor had only just said that when Jingyi felt his seatmate shift before grabbing onto Jingyi's forearm with such strength that he almost missed the professor stating that lab's would only need to be done once a week, twice if you were falling behind.
"This is my only class of the day so decide if you want to go to the lab in the morning or after this class or I'll pick for us," the seemingly-permanent scowl etched on his seatmate's face did nothing to deter the faint hint of hesitation that was so clear in the way he avoided eye contact, Jingyi knew he shouldn't be rude but couldn't bite his tongue.
"Ah, so quick to pick me as a lab partner after you insulted my fish, what if I wanted someone else as a partner?" Jingyi folded his arms, not really trying to get out of the vice-like grip but loosen the hold on him.
His seatmate scoffed, rolling his eyes before looking around. "I don't see anyone else coming to beg for you, consider yourself lucky we happen to be seatmates and I took pity on you."
"Sheesh, alright, yeah, after class works, I have a gap until my next class. Send me your WeChat," Jingyi gave in, reaching into his backpack to hand his phone to the scowling seatmate wo finally extracted himself from his side.
"There, just sent a message to myself. It's under Jin Ling." Jin Ling glanced at his phone, "and you're Lan Jingyi? You related to Professor Lan Wangji?"
Jingyi sighed dreamily as he muttered out an "I wish," before shaking his head, packing his bag as he talked.
"No, no relation to him or his family. My -ah, family members took on the surname through a marriage or something like that. Although it'd be so cool to have Professor Lan as your uncle or something, could you imagine?!"
"I don't have to image. He's my -ugh- uncle," Jin Ling responds, pushing the strap of his backpack up higher as he stood to leave class.
Jingyi processed the other boy's words in record speed, managing to catch up as Jin Ling rounded the corner to leave the building.
"He's your uncle? How?!"
Jin Ling rolled his eyes, and although he looked greatly off-put, his next words were laced with nothing but arrogance. "His soulmate is my uncle Wei Wuxian, who's my mother's brother, so we see them all the time at family events. Good thing they bring their son Wen Sizhui too or I'd be bored to death with all of them. My cousin Sizhui comes to this school too but he was studying abroad a bit. I think you'd like him, your weirdness -no offence - wouldn't throw him off."
Jingyi snorted at his last words, rolling his eyes as he distinctly remembered it wasn't him who got scared of a little fish pouch.
"Alright, well, I'm gonna head into the cafeteria, you coming?"
Jin Ling stopped his steps, so Jingyi turned to look at him, eyebrow raised in question.
"Um...you're inviting me to hang out, right?"
Jingyi snorted, muttering out an "obviously, c'mon," but was stopped before he could take another step.
"Sorry, I just don't -ever - eat in the cafeteria. Um, would you mind if we went to my favorite cafe?"
"Um..." Jingyi opened his worn wallet containing his student ID, thinking of a way to find money quick before he'd be forced to admit he had absolutely nothing on him. "Ah I-forgot, my money is in my other wallet, I only brought my student ID for the cafeteria meals-"
Now it was Jin Ling's turn to snort, already leading Jingyi towards the sidewalk where a shiny black car stood, a man already holding the door open for them. "Who said you'd be paying? C'mon, weirdo."
Jingyi couldn't process how he'd been roped into sitting at the Western-style cafe, somewhere he had no idea even existed, staring at the plate of food that Jin Ling had ordered for him when he couldn't even order for himself. He glanced at Jin Ling, noticed he used one utensil to cut the piece of food and another to eat with. Following his lead, he cut the strange pastry, sniffing it once before biting into it. His eyes widened as the sweetness of it exploded in his mouth, sweet enough to give him cavities -just how he liked it. He dug into the food with gusto now, finding it rather filling as he took the last bite.
He sighed as he leaned back into the booth, bringing his hand to his stomach in content. Jin Ling smirked, taking a long drink from his tea after dropping heaps of sugar in it before speaking.
"I come here often with my mother and uncles for breakfast these days. I used to come here with my cousin Sizhui before he left abroad, but it has been a while since I've seen him. Ah, I don't think I finished telling you about him, did I?"
Jingyi hummed, closing his eyes as he listened to Jin Ling speak of his 'awesome' cousin Sizhui, and how he was his uncles' pride, the perfect son that any family would ask for. He also spoke of himself, droning on about how he didn't really want to come to university but wanted to get away from his family for a bit and 'live how the other half lived,' a chance which he thought wouldn't come up again if he didn't come to study. He was a business major, but it was all just formalities. He'd be inheriting his father's business when the time for him to retire came, and would work there during the summers he was free. It seemed like his life was planned out, but Jin Ling seemed like he didn't mind. Much.
"What about you? What's your family like?" Jin Ling paused to drink, eyeing Jingyi as he waited for an answer.
Jingyi hummed once more, sitting up straighter now, gazing into his own cup of tea as he spoke.
"Oh, well you see - it's been a while since I've seen my own uncle. I used to live with him before coming to the university, but when he found out I wanted to be in the English Language department he...didn't really approve. I don't know, I hope he's well but...yeah. It's been quite lonely, what with no big family or anything. There's just...really not much to say, sorry."
He gave a crooked grin, the silence stretching until it was pierced with a quiet sniffle. Jingyi looked up in shock to see Jin Ling reaching for the tissues on the table, blowing his nose loudly as he looked back up.
"Jingyi...let's be friends from here on out, okay?"
Jingyi scoffed, looking anywhere but at the blubbering mess in front of him, nodding his head in agreement nonetheless.
It would be the first of many breakfasts that Jing Ling paid for that semester.
*****
The day had been busy.
Jingyi had been called into work earlier than normal that September morning for a double shift and, not one to say no to some extra cash, he'd gone to the restaurant, helping set up and run around taking the early riser customers in stride, up until lunch hour had passed by and gone. It had been a little strange to get accustomed to a full work day that it honestly left him a little exhausted by the time he took off his apron, rushing out of the door as he checked his phone for the time.
Just a little after six in the afternoon. Plenty of time to still go to the library and get his homework done.
He spotted a vending machine a building away from the library, stopping as he felt his stomach grumble. In his complete focus of work all day he'd forgotten to pack the usual lunch he'd take to work, and dug around his pocket for some spare change. He figured he could manage to a small snack until he'd be back in his dorm and even splurged on both a drink and a pack of cookies, convincing himself it was a balanced meal if he had a drink to go with it.
As soon as he'd stepped into the building and checked out a laptop, he'd found his favorite table to sit for the rest of the night - or at least until his body permitted - sitting with his chair facing the back window, not letting his eyes get distracted from anything other than his work.
He clacked away, working earnestly to write the outline on the importance of preserving ancient artifacts for an anthropology class, then pulling up the syllabus for his biology class to get some reading done ahead of the class tomorrow with his devil of a friend, Jin Ling. Once he'd located the book and read the information needed, taking diligent notes on his notebook, he pulled up his work email to check for any new requests.
Only one new email greeted him, asking for an outline to a history essay he was sure he'd probably done before. The screenshot attached to the email showed the other student had already paid Jingyi, so he pulled up his WeChat pay to see that the money had indeed already been transferred to him.
He sighed, knowing he shouldn't expect much work considering the new semester had only just commenced, but it was still a little frustrating to be in the zone to only end up doing one measly thing.
Regardless, Jingyi got to work writing the outline of the essay in record speed, already attaching it to the email he'd been sent by the time he saw a shadow fall over his side.
"Tsk. Why does it feel so weird to see you here? I didn't take you as the studious type."
Jingyi laughed, something between a scoff and disbelief, greeting Jin Ling.
"I could say the same thing. What brings you here, and how'd you even find me?"
"Sizhui said he likes this spot the best but that it was already taken when he came in earlier. I came to see who could possibly even find this place, and here you are."
Jin Ling crossed his arms, calling over his shoulder as he kicked Jingyi's chair, "Sizhui, come here! This is that weird kid I was telling you about, remember, from my bio class. Jingyi, stand up so Sizhui gege can greet you."
Jingyi stood as Jin Ling moved to the side, before his hand was jostled into a firm and warm handshake, one that sent something indescribable through his nerves. He looked up, and had to stop himself from audibly gasping.
"Nice to meet you!"
Jingyi had to do a double take, looking up, up, up to the taller senior in front of him.
The sight of the older student before him left him utterly speechless. Inky dark hair and equally dark eyes beckoned him into the other's space like a sailor beckoned to the call of the sea, so round and lightly muted from the glass panels of the glasses perched perfectly on his nose. He tried not to stare as he figured out he couldn't quite tell what the color of his eyes were, figuring then that they must be that one damn color he couldn't see, and Jingyi mourned the thought that he probably wouldn't know any time soon.
The only other way Jingyi could pay attention to something other than his mesmerizing gaze was the equally enthralling pull of the stardust littering the other's face, a mole perched just below his cheekbone, the other just above full lips - one that asked to be kissed endlessly.
He told himself to not let his gaze roam down the other's body, to not let himself purposefully seek a visible soul mark and ruin the illusion of chance he was hoping for whenever he met someone new. He could spare himself some pain and let himself dream that the so-called spark he felt when the other grabbed his hand was real, and not a jump in his mind that craved a soulmate that just wouldn't show up.
Alas, he had always been a bit of a masochist.
He let his eyes flit quickly over the other's exposed neck, arms and hand, devout of any other markings that matched what he'd seen on others - when he finally found it.
Jingyi's eyes zoned onto the thin piece of red string tied to Sizhui's left pinky, a certain string that he would never own.
Ah.
For those who had the red string of fate as their soul mark, it had become normal to tie the same string when they were away from their lover - their soulmate. Two celebrities who had the red string couldn't bear with the fact the red string wasn't visible to everyone unless their soulmate was near, and therefore tied an actual piece of string to show the visible strengths of their love. It was to show a clear mark of someone with this particular soul mark in a long distance relationship, something that was visible just like any other soul mark.
It shouldn't have hurt to look at, Jingyi had seen the same string tied to plenty of other's fingers, and although he felt a small pang of jealousy, those feelings then had been nothing to the quick dash of shattered hope that he felt now looking at it tied securely over the long, thin finger, the string almost faded surely from time.
Ignoring the feeling of his chest caving in, Jingyi shifted his gaze back to Sizhui's eyes, pulling his lips up into one of his easy smiles.
"Nice to meet you too. You must be the famous Sizhui Jin Ling won't stop talking about."
"Ah, this cousin of mine. He hasn't been causing you any trouble, has he? Don't let him bribe you into doing his work, let him do his own thing every now and then," Sizhui meant to whisper the last part but Jin Ling caught it, sputtering in indignation that he would never bribe someone as strange as Jingyi.
Sizhui just laughs as he releases his hand, his whole face lighting up and all too magnetizing that Jingyi says the next words before he can even process what he's said, wanting some form of contact now that his hand had been released.
"Gege, you're so pretty...is that okay? Can I call you gege?"
Sizhui laughs again, and Jingyi would absolutely make a fool of himself any time if it meant being able to hear that sound whenever he wanted.
"Have you no shame, Lan Jingyi? Already getting so familiar with my cousin and it hasn't even been five minutes," Jin Ling spat out, furrowing his eyebrows together.
"Don't listen to him, of course you can call me gege," Sizhui smiled, gentle and serene, like the stroke of a brush on a fresh piece of parchment.
It left Jingyi feeling parched.
"We were just about to go get some dinner, wanna come with? Jin Ling's paying," Sizhui said, all wamr smiles with a gentle tilt of his head as his eyes darted to the discarded wrapper on Jingyi's desk.
Jingyi didn't even have to look at Jin Ling to know what kind of face he was probably making at the moment, and thus kept his eyes solely focused on the wonderful, bright face in front of him.
"If Jin Ling's paying, then count me in!"