Work Text:
This fic is intended to be read while listening to this.
“No fair! I wanted the train!” A young, indignant Jiang Cheng complained. His puffed out cheeks only accentuated his round baby face, adding to the image of a child throwing a tantrum.
“Aww, don’t worry didi! We can play with it together!” An equally young Wei Ying replied, holding the box for a large model train. Although, unlike Jiang Cheng, he wore a wide smile on his face, as if he was born laughing.
“A-Cheng.” Jiang Fengmian began to explain. “A-Xian won the train fairly. He hit more moles on the whack-a-mole machine so he got the bigger prize.”
“I don’t want this stupid stuffed animal!” Jiang Cheng suddenly burst out, throwing the prize bag on the grassy ground, which was covered with confetti and other festival waste. “You always side with him!” He accused.
The yelling got the attention of Yu Ziyuan who was at a nearby stall with Jiang Yanli. “What trouble are you causing now?” She asked sternly as she approached.
“A-Niang! Why does Wei Ying get the better prize?” Jiang Cheng complained.
Yu Ziyuan narrowed her eyes at Jiang Fengmian as he explained. “San Niang, A-Xian won it fair and square.”
“Oh and I'm sure you let that kid go first! Give him a good chance to show off, why don’t you! You’re proud of him, that's what it is! Do I need to remind you which one is your own son?”
Wei Ying, who had been silent since Yu Ziyuan approached, spoke quietly. “It’s okay. Jiang Cheng can have the train.”
That seemed to have been enough to stop the two adults from arguing, but Jiang Cheng still felt insulted. “I don’t need your pity! I could have won that by myself!”
“A-Cheng. Shut up and accept. This is what you’ve been whining over so take it.” Yu Ziyuan said.
“No! I can do it.” Jiang Cheng insisted.
As Jiang Fengmian and Jiang Yanli tried to mediate, Wei Ying quietly placed the train box on the grass, picked up the paper bag with the stuffed animal that Jiang Cheng had tossed on the floor, and quickly snuck away.
◦ ~ ☾ ~ ◦
Wei Ying walked until the loud sounds and bright lights of the festival were nothing more than echoes in the distance, hidden beyond trees. He ended up in a small clearing on the top of a high cliff, surrounded by rocks and bushes, and near the edge, a long-fallen tree trunk perfect for sitting on.
Holding the paper bag close to his chest, he looked up at the brilliant night sky. It was the same everywhere and every time. The cold nights on the streets, the roof of the orphanage when he snuck out, the many different windows of foster homes, the window of his newest room which he shared with Jiang Cheng. Every time he looked up, it was the same sky. It was the same sky his parents might have looked at once.
“Who’s there?” He asked, surprised, as he heard a ruffling noise from a nearby bush.
For an awkward moment, nothing moved, Wei Ying thought he might have mistaken the sound of a squirrel or bird for a person. That was, until a young boy his age stiffly walked out from behind the bush.
Wei Ying immediately smiled. “Hi! Wanna be friends?”
The boy quickly turned around and began walking in the opposite direction, shoulder length black hair falling after him.
“Wait! Wait!” Wei Ying jumped off the log, running after him. “Don’t go! Come back!”
The boy paused for a moment.
“My name’s Wei Ying! What’s your name?”
The other slowly turned around to face him, blinking with a blank face. “...you’re here.”
“Huh? What do you mean? Of course I'm here, silly! We wouldn’t be talking otherwise!” He teased excitedly.
The boy did not respond. Only continued to look with a blank face.
It was then that Wei Ying noticed that he had strikingly beautiful yellow eyes. Golden like light caramelised sugar. They almost seemed to glow in the moonlit clearing. “Oh wow, your eyes are super pretty! Like a cat’s! I like cats, they're not dogs.” He explained.
lwj: “…”
“Are you here for the festival? Did you have fun with your family?”
“Crowded. Not going.”
Wei Ying sat back down on the log. “Come sit with me? We can watch the stars together instead!” He invited.
For a while, it seemed like the boy was going to turn him down, but after a few minutes of drawing constellations in the sky, Wei Ying felt the other sit down methodically on the other side.
“Y’know, you still haven’t told me your name yet.” Wei Ying said. “Jiejie told me it's rude not to say your name after someone else has.”
“...Lan Zhan.”
“Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan!” He repeated happily. “You have a pretty name. It’s very special!”
“I don’t like being special.” The other replied in a flat tone.
“Eh?!” Wei Ying said, surprised. “But being special is a good thing! Jiejie said I’m the only a-Xian in the world, so I’m a very special boy! Isn’t it boring to not be special? Everyone would be exactly the same as everyone else!”
“Just for once,” Lan Zhan said, “to be like everyone else.”
“Hmm...” Wei Ying pretended to think about it a little, but his child brain was easily distracted. “What do you think the stars are?” He wondered.
“Shufu says they are giant burning spheres of gas.” Lan Zhan replied factually.
“Eh, I bet he’s just making that up.”
He tilted his head. “Why would he lie?”
“‘Cause, y’know, that’s what grown-ups do! They make things up!” He explained happily. “Santa, Easter Bunny, kangaroos… Stuff like that!”
A pair of light, golden eyes looked at him with doubt.
“Haha, anyways, wanna make shapes out of the stars?” He asked.
“Don’t know.”
“I’ll let you think about it!”
“Can’t”
“Eh?”
“Don’t know what shapes.”
“Oh.” Wei Ying said. “How about you pick!” He suggested.
A moment went by where the only sounds present were those of a cool summer night.
“Rabbit.” Lan Zhan replied eventually.
“Kay! Let’s have a race, first one to make a rabbit wins!” Wei Ying announced happily, swinging his legs a little. “Three, two, one-
“See it.”
“Eh, already! You’re really good at this! Did you choose rabbit on purpose ‘cause you already saw one?”
Lan Zhan shook his head. “I like rabbits.”
Wei Ying laughed. “I like rabbits too.” After a pause: “I like eating them!”
Lan Zhan turned to stare at him as if he had just insulted his entire family. Those yellow eyes pierced into him, juxtaposed completely by his still baby fat filled face.
Wei Ying couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “Aiyaahaha! You should see the look on your face! I’m joking, I’m joking, I’ll never eat rabbit again if you want Lan Zhan!”
Lan Zhan looked away, seemingly having forgiven him for a sin worse than desecrating his ancestors' graves.
“Sooo,” Wei Ying continued. “What do you think they really are? The stars, I mean.”
“...Never told anyone, but, I think they’re lighthouses.” He confessed quietly.
“Hm?” Wei Ying prompted, intrigued.
“Billions of lighthouses. Stuck at the far end of the sky. They can see all the other lighthouses out there, and they want to talk to them.” His eyes looked down. “But they can’t, because they’re all too far apart to hear what the others are saying.
All they can do, is shine their lights from afar.
So that’s what they do.
They shine their lights at the other lighthouses, and at me.”
“Why you?” Wei Ying asked.
“Because. I’m one of them.” He said wistfully.
“Oh.” Wei Ying said. He didn’t like seeing the other sad. “Here! You like rabbits, right?” He asked as he passed the stuffed rabbit Jiang Cheng had won towards the wide eyed boy.
“It’s soft.” He said in awe.
“I won it from whack-a-mole! Well, technically my brother won it but-
“WEI YING!” A very Jiang Cheng like voice shouted over the trees.
“...speak of the devil.”
“YOU BETTER GET BACK HERE. WE’RE LEAVING WITHOUT YOU IF YOU DON’T SHOW UP IN THE NEXT 30 SECONDS.”
“Aah! Sorry Lan Zhan, but I gotta go!”
“No need for thank yous and sorrys.” Lan Zhan held out the bunny plush.
“Nope! You keep it. It’s yours now!” Wei Ying said as he started to run.
“Wait.” Lan Zhan said.
Wei Ying stopped. “Yeah? What is it?” He replied.
“Will you be here next year?”
“Mhm! Same place, same time, okay?”
“Mm.”
“TEN SECONDS.” Jiang Cheng yelled.
“Going now for reals! Bye bye Lan Zhan!” He waved as he ran back through the trees.
“Mm.” He said, even though he was sure Wei Ying was too far away to hear him.
The night sky once again felt too quiet as the stars shone at him. He curled his body on the fallen trunk around the soft plush rabbit.
Next year. Same time. Same place. He wouldn’t forget.