Silk Strings

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian were classmates. Then Wei Wuxian debuted as Yiling, part of the hottest idol group in the world. They were a rocket, burning bright–and then burning out. Through the build up and the fallout, Lan Wangji could do nothing but watch. When given the chance, he won't let that happen again.

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Written for Day 3 of WangXian Week. The possible prompts were "Rebirth | Mementos | Celebrity AU"

Thanks to cenedrariva for the beta!

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Lan Wangji had expected the inevitable implosion. Expected it and dreaded it.

The musical group's name was Nightless City. Their formation had been legendary. The company behind them–WenMusic–bragged about the stringent trainee life and almost tournament-like selection process behind choosing the members. A show even followed them every step of the way, with fans sending in their votes for and comments against different hopeful trainees.

Some people–Lan Wangji included–argued against the treatment of the boys in the show, against the toxic environment they were clearly in. However, the show had excellent ratings, made a lot of people a lot of money, and the people complaining were a small percentage of the fans. They were labeled as angry anti-fans, the complaints were silenced, and the show went on.

For months, Lan Wangji watched the trainees work themselves to exhaustion, and remembered the bright, hopeful smile of his closest–and only real–childhood friend. Wei Ying.

"This is my chance! I'm gonna be an international star, just you watch!" He had laughed and pulled Lan Wangji into a side hug. "You'll be seeing me on TV soon, Lan Zhan. I guarantee it!"

Was being famous worth the toil and hardship the trainees went through on that show? They were so thin, worked impossible hours, trained longer and harder than Lan Wangji had thought possible. Surely something had to give.

Finally, six members were selected. As predicted, Wei Ying was one of them, going by the stage name of Yiling. He was even their lead vocalist and dancer. By then his legal name had changed to Wei Wuxian. It was like there was nothing left of Lan Wangji's friend. The perfect, elegant idol Yiling had replaced him.

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Loyalty–perhaps misplaced–and a stupid childhood crush made Lan Wangji follow Nightless City's career. After all, Wei Wuxian had not responded to any of his texts or calls or social media messages since becoming a trainee. He obviously didn't care about Lan Wangji. Why should Lan Wangji care what happened to Wei Wuxian now?

Except he did. He couldn't help it.

It helped that their music was decent. It was too rough and dark for Lan Wangji's usual tastes, but Yiling's vocals were worth every second. His worry for Wei Wuxian's health kept him watching every interview, every music video, every public appearance, checking for signs that his friend was alright.

And if he sent yet another message that was never answered, no one had to know but him.

Though there was no show to follow their exploits anymore, WenMusic released plenty of videos of the members in dance rehearsals or vocal rehearsals or dress rehearsals. Look how hard they work, the videos said. Look how passionate they are. Look how dedicated.

Nightless City rocketed to superstardom almost overnight, and the rocket never stopped. Album after album after EP after tour after interview after photoshoot after video. Their faces flooded social media. Their songs conquered the radio and the internet. Nightless City was everywhere at once.

Their concerts always went off without a hitch too. A flawless run from start to finish. And everyone was always smiling. They were the perfect idols, and everyone loved them.

Something had to give.

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Because Lan Wangji was watching so closely, he saw it happen. The first crack in the immaculate image of WenMusic's prize act.

Yiling made a misstep in a dance rehearsal video. It was minor. Expected even, as they were learning a new routine. One of the group members made a snippy remark about it. Yiling laughed it off, but it sounded strained. That was the first hint that something was wrong. It only grew more obvious from there.

If an interviewer asked one of the other members a question that did—or could—relate to Yiling, the group's responses either sounded like they had been rehearsed, or were thin, backhand comments.

Who eats the most? "Oh do you know who eats the most kimchi? Yiling. He loves kimchi, never leaves any for the others. Isn't he adorable?"

The group mate that takes the longest shower? "Easy, Yiling. His hair is so long, you know. The fans love it, so it deserves all that hot water."

Who's the most annoying? "Haven't you noticed Yiling never stops talking?"

Who has the weirdest sleep habit? "Yiling. The guy barely sleeps, always up and working. Sometimes he wakes them up with all his extra dance practices and composing sessions. But he's the front man after all."

Yiling never said a bad word about his band mates, not even a matching backhanded compliment. He ruffled their hair and patted their back and told them they were embarrassing him, laughed it off, and moved the conversations on.

It was so different from the Wei Ying that Lan Wangji had grown up with. That Wei Ying would have had a witty comeback about someone else having the weirdest sleep habit or being the most annoying. That Wei Ying had been ready for a fight, any time, anywhere. He wasn't so passive.

He sent another text.

The fans began to argue about whether the rest of Nightless City were being mean to Yiling or not. Some said it was just how their friendship worked. Others said they were being cruel. Lan Wangji sided with the latter.

People started comparing photographs. Yiling from when Nightless City debuted versus now. He was noticeably thinner. His tanned skin, which his fans love, looked paler, and it wasn't makeup. His overall appearance was obviously more tired once people began to look for it. Even his body language had changed. From an open, confident stature, to holding his hands in front of him with shoulders pulled in. He was still a perfect idol, but it was taking its toll on him.

Fans began to bombard the company with complaints and requests. Let Nightless City take a break. Let Yiling go home for a while. Lan Wangji even put in his own request among the thousands. A whisper within a scream. Let Yiling rest.

Then, the concert that ended it all.

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It was their fourth concert in their Red Moon tour. The opening number and the greeting had gone exactly as practiced–as usual. Then the real concert began.

During one particularly physically-demanding dance, one of the other members of Nightless City stepped out of formation. They moved into Yiling's path, and he tumbled entirely off the stage. The whole act was caught on camera–and dozens of fan cams–every terrible frame. It was slowed down, screenshot, made into gifs, and the evidence was damning.

No member of Nightless City stepped out of formation by accident. They practiced far too much for such a thing. Especially not so far. Not in such a premeditated way, to that exact spot. They had made him fall on purpose.

Lan Wangji didn't care if it was on purpose or not. He let the rest of the fanbase handle the accusations. His attention was on the news.

Within an hour of reaching the hospital, Yiling's rep released a statement. Wei Wuxian, stage name Yiling, was hospitalized after falling from the stage during a Nightless City concert. He had broken three bones and had a bit of bruising. It would take time to heal, but he would make a full recovery.

Lan Wangji breathed for the first time since the fall.

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A week later, court papers were filed. Yiling was suing WenMusic, Nightless City, and his bandmate specifically.

The evidence of abuse that came out of that lawsuit had the country reeling.

The on-site medical personnel for Nightless City was a member of the Wen family that ran WenMusic. She released the medical records for Yiling and fifteen other unnamed idols licensed under WenMusic. None of the records were made public, but their contents were summarized. Against Dr. Wen's professional advice, WenMusic had been driving their idols to chronic dehydration and muscle fatigue.

Yiling's medical history was alluded to in more detail. Apparently there were several instances of injuries unrelated to training, and it was highly suggested that these were inflicted by the other members of Nightless City.

A copy of the paperwork trainees signed upon joining WenMusic was also released. It revoked the trainees' rights to personal electronic devices. They were only allowed to communicate with their family, friends, or fans at WenMusic's discretion. The details of their daily schedules and training regimes were not explained, but were also said to be at WenMusic's discretion. The clauses were well hidden within the minutiae in the twenty-page document, easily overlooked unless someone pointed it out.

And suddenly Wei Wuxian's lack of communication made a lot more sense. He had not cut ties with Lan Wangji because he thought he was better than him, or because he didn't see them as friends, or he didn't care. All of Lan Wangji's suppositions on the matter had been wrong. Wei Wuxian had been locked away, unable to call even if he wanted to.

Instinctively, he tried to call Wei Wuxian's phone. As usual he got no answer. Despite the lawsuit going strong for weeks now, Wei Wuxian didn't have his old phone back. Perhaps he never would.

WenMusic attacked Yiling, filing a counter-suit. He was breaking his contract, they claimed. Except Yiling's contract had been fulfilled before the start of the Red Moon tour. He had avoided resigning by claiming he was needed at one practice or another, and then the tour started. He was no longer under contract. And nowhere in that contract did it say he couldn't sue for damages both physical and mental.

The fight went on for weeks. It was public, and people attacked and supported Yiling by turns, but eventually he won his lawsuit.

Social media blew up with people celebrating or cursing the outcome. Nightless City was done for. WenMusic would likely never recover. But the beloved Yiling was free from an abusive relationship.

Yiling posted a video in response. It showed him sitting at his computer, his right arm still in a sling. All his fancy jewelry was gone except for a guitar string bracelet on his left wrist. He wore all black clothing, as usual, but his expression was more relaxed than fans had seen in a long time.

"I want to thank everyone who has supported me all this time, and apologize for all the trouble this may have caused them. It was something I had to do. Something I've needed to do for a long time. I hope you will continue to support me in the future."

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And then Yiling vanished from the public eye.

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Thirteen Months Later

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Lan Wangji checked his phone for any notifications, but there were none. Sometimes there were, but it was always his email or his bank or an app he had forgotten was even on his phone to begin with. It was never the notification he was waiting for. There was never any news about Wei Wuxian, nor any messages from him directly. Shaking his head at his own behavior, Lan Wangji slid his phone into his pocket and left the break room.

Gusu Music Store had a generic name, but it was one of the largest music equipment stores in the country. They had nearly every instrument Lan Wangji could think of, off the top of his head, and those they didn't have they could order. There were stands full of cords and pedals, racks of speakers, displays of headphones and recording equipment. Even Lan Wangji's own chosen instrument, the guqin, was in stock. As were replacement strings.

Every day was a little different at Gusu Music Store. There were regular customers–the guy who constantly lost his air pods and needed a new set; the girl in the rock band who regularly bought customized guitar picks and new strings; the old man who came in for cleaning rods and oil to care for his xiao; and others. But every day brought someone new. Someone who had not decided what they wanted to play, just that they wanted to play something. Someone who needed to replace an instrument they had owned since they were a child. Someone who was buying a gift for a loved one.

And everyone who visited Gusu Music Store loved music. No matter their instrument or the type of music they played, they all loved the art of making music. That was what kept Lan Wangji in love with the store.

Oftentimes, the store was quiet enough for Lan Wangji's mind to wander. It made sense that Wei Wuxian had not contacted him. They had not spoken for years before the lawsuit happened. He probably didn't remember Lan Wangji's number, or thought Lan Wangji had moved on. Not to mention that he had his own healing to do after all he had dealt with from WenMusic. And surely he had other friends he could turn to. He was very outgoing, unlike Lan Wangji.

Lan Wangji closed his eyes for a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose. This always freaked his coworkers out. They said his face was so impassive that they had no idea he was frustrated until he pinched his nose, so the sudden motion, and the fact that he was frustrated enough to move, startled them. But today he was indeed that frustrated.

The longer time went on, the more he worried about Wei Wuxian, not less.

With a deep sigh, he did his best to focus back on work. It was winter, so the old man would likely come in for more oil soon to keep his xiao from cracking. That was what Lan Wangji expected of that day, and he was right, but that's not all the day had in store for him.

It was almost closing time when the door opened and a young man entered. There was a big, thick scarf around his neck to ward off the cold that covered half his face. He also wore his stylish sunglasses–just dark enough to slightly obscure his face but not enough to make seeing difficult. A fashion choice, not a necessity. Though Lan Wangji did his best not to stare at customers with anything more than a courteous eye, he had to admit that the skinny jeans and jacket this customer wore made him look very attractive. His hair was just long enough to be held in a high ponytail that Lan Wangji was sure half the internet would say was sexy.

The customer wandered around the store for a few minutes, looking at the dizi on display briefly before moving on to the guqin section near the back. His long fingers traced the air over the strings but never touched.

As the guqin was Lan Wangji's instrument of choice, he left the counter to his coworker and made his way over. "Are you interested in anything in particular?"

With a small jump, like a child caught doing something wrong, the customer flipped around, holding the scarf up over their face. "No! I mean, yes. Yep, I'm interested in something specific."

Lan Wangji's eyes narrowed ever so slightly and the customer gave a nervous laugh. That laugh was familiar, as was that voice–muffled though it was behind the scarf. Lan Wangji ran his eyes over the customer again, taking in all the details. The hair, the eyes half hidden behind the sunglasses, the tone of his skin, the shape of his ears, his body type and clothing style, his height.

Heart thundering in his ears, he said, "Wei Ying?"

The customer sighed and pulled his scarf down, took off his sunglasses. And there was Wei Wuxian, offering a shy smile. "It's been awhile…Lan Zhan."

Affection surged through Lan Wangji. No one had called him by that name in years, and the memories of their school days washed over him like a warm bath. Words failed him. "Mm."

"Listen," Wei Wuxian continued, rubbing the toe of his no-doubt-expensive boot into the floor. "I need a favor. I said I was interested in something specific and the truth is I'm interested in someone specific and that someone is you."

Lan Wangji frowned. "What?"

Since their school days, Lan Wangji had been attracted to Wei Wuxian. Not just his body, but his personality and the bright aura that surrounded him. It was so vastly different from his home life. It made the entire world seem bearable. But Lan Wangji was not like that. He was quiet and introverted and had resting-angry-face. There was no way Wei Wuxian meant he was interested in that way.

Wei Wuxian grabbed Lan Wangji's hands, making his heart lurch. "I need a guqin player."

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There weren't many cafés or restaurants open after the music shop closed, but they found one and claimed an outside table. It was far too late for coffee, but Wei Wuxian bought a piece of cake for himself and a caffeine-free tea each for him and Lan Wangji.

At Lan Wangji's raised eyebrow, he gave a sheepish smile. "I'll have you know my therapist would be thrilled to see me eat this cake. All these calories."

His smile turned self-deprecating for a moment, but then he shook his head and so shook off the moment. Lan Wangji watched him slowly cut off a bite of cake with his fork, then, with gusto, shove it into his mouth. And so the entire cake went, bite by bite, into Wei Wuxian's stomach. There was something fascinating about watching him eat, and Lan Wangji was perfectly content to sit and sip his tea in silence as it happened.

"Okay," Wei Wuxian let out with a content sigh. "Now for business."

Lan Wangji nodded and sat up straighter. As he had explained it back in the store, he needed a guqin player for some project he was working on. "You need a guqin player."

"Yeah." He mimicked Lan Wangji and sat up straight. "I'm finally in a place where I feel like I can do it again, you know? I could go out there in front of the cameras and be that guy again—"

"What company are you with?" Lan Wangji interrupted.

'Be that guy again.' There was no way he had re-signed with WenMusic.

Wei Wuxian waved his hand in the air absently. "QNE."

Qinghe Nie Entertainment. Lan Wangji relaxed. QNE was known for being strict but also fair. None of their actors, models, or idols had ever said a cross word about them, as far as Lan Wangji knew. It was run by two brothers who had publicly shamed WenMusic in the wake of the Yiling lawsuit.

"I'm gonna go by my real name this time. A solo act. Wei Wuxian," Wei Wuxian explained. "My manager and I have talked about it a lot with the producers at QNE, and even the COO." Nie Huaisang, the younger brother. "We've decided we want the title and theme of my first album to be Rebirth."

Rebirth. It fit perfectly. The way Wei Wuxian had been treated by WenMusic and the state he was in after the lawsuit, the way he vanished for over a year–his reappearance would be like a rebirth for his fans. Lan Wangji nodded to show his agreement.

"And I said I wanted more traditional music for some of the songs. A guqin, specifically." He ran his fingers over his guitar string bracelet. "The depth of the emotion and sound fits really well with what I'm trying to convey with this album, you know?"

Wait, that wasn't a guitar string bracelet. Lan Wangji reached out for it before he realized what he was doing. Wei Wuxian's words halted at the motion but he didn't stop Lan Wangji from pulling his wrist forward to get a closer look.

The weave of the thread, the binding liquid seal. This was not a nylon-wrapped metal guitar string. This was a silk taigu string. A guqin string.

This—There was no way this was—

"It's brought me a lot of good luck, just like you promised."

Lan Wangji's ears were burning. He remembered the day he gifted this string to Wei Wuxian. It was Wei Wuxian's last day of school before he left to be a trainee. Lan Wangji had been upset and avoiding him, but could not let him just vanish from his life without a word. So he had taken one of the strings from his own guqin and held it out like an offering.

"For good luck," he had said.

To think Wei Wuxian had kept it all this time—

"Why?" he asked. "Everything you went through…"

Wei Wuxian smiled. "But I made it through all of that, didn't I? And I swear, none of it happened while I was wearing this. Things only got bad when I took it off. It really is magic!" A slight giggle. "Maybe it's the power of Lan Zhan's feelings."

Lan Zhan jerked back, his hand pulling away from Wei Wuxian's wrist, but Wei Wuxian was quick to grab it again and lace their fingers.

Even Wei Wuxian was blushing now. "I didn't say anything before because, well, you know what was happening at the company, and I know it's been years and you've probably got someone else now, but the honest truth is…I've liked you for a long time, and this bracelet has kept me sane through a lot of awful shit in my life. But even if you don't like me back, that's okay, and I hope you'll still play guqin on my album for me."

There was entirely too much in that speech to respond to.

"You…like me?" Lan Wangji repeated. "Romantically?"

A dutiful nod. "Yes."

"You are not looking for a guqin player for your album. You want me to be the guqin player on your album." Of all the professionals, the award-winning players. Him.

Another, emphatic nod. "Yes." Wei Wuxian winced. "That is, if you still play."

"I still play," Lan Wangji answered quickly, almost before Wei Wuxian finished speaking. It made Wei Wuxian grin. "I will play for you."

The grin turned sad. Why did the grin turn sad? Wasn't that what he wanted?

Wei Wuxian unlaced his fingers from Lan Wangji's. "That's great. I'm glad. Thank you, Lan Zh-Wangji." He gave a close-lipped smile. "I'm glad we can still be friends."

Friends? But he—Lan Wangji could have kicked himself. Instead, he reached out for Wei Wuxian's hands, both of them this time. Wei Wuxian gasped and looked down at them, then up at Lan Wangji's face again.

"I have played for you for years," Lan Wangji admitted. "Because I have liked you for years. I will continue to like you, probably for the rest of my life."

Tears gathered in Wei Wuxian's eyes, but did not fall. "I'm not the same as I was in school."

"I know. Neither am I. We will learn again."

A few tears fell then, but Wei Wuxian was smiling. "Lan Zhan, my heart isn't ready for this yet!" he chastised. "You were supposed to hear my album first. I wrote a whole confession to you!"

Did he now? Lan Wangji smiled and it must have caught Wei Wuxian off guard because he stopped crying. "I wrote a song for you too." He squeezed Wei Wuxian's hands. "We can sing them together."

Wei Wuxian laughed. "It's like you're in my head. That was my idea!"

They were not the same people they had been back in school–before Wei Wuxian became a trainee, before Lan Wangji moved out of his family home to live alone. They were a product of their lives so far. But Wei Wuxian had kept the good luck charm Lan Wangji had given him, and had come back to him, and confessed to him. That was a good foundation to start with. They could build up from there.

"I'm with you, Wei Ying."

Wei Wuxian pulled one hand free to push some loose hair behind his ear, a shy motion. Then he tapped the bracelet on his left wrist. "You always have been, Lan Zhan."

One thing was for certain: Lan Wangji would never let Wei Wuxian go through the stress of being a celebrity alone again. He had been forced to watch through a screen before. This time he would stand at his side.

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fin

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If you like my writing style, check out my other fics and look me up on goodreads (Jessica M. Dawn) for more.