"A rough, shapeless pearl of no value, waiting for its jeweller."
Alexandre Dumas, author of The Count of Monte Cristo

Lan WangJi looked around the empty space he had created with joy, wondering and hoping if a certain somebody would like it. The book store remained as it always did, except on Wednesday nights, when he transformed it into the Book Club.

This was a new thing, a new idea he hoped to open the members' eyes to new and exciting books, but also to treasure the older classics. After all, they were classics for a reason, and this shop was more than just a shop, as a story is not just a story.

People looked for many things within the pages of books, be it wealth, health, and happiness. But Lan WangJi believed that the Universe gave you signs...all you had to do was accept them.

So for tonight's book discussion, he had announced last week that anyone wishing to attend, should read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. And what a story it was!

Love and romance, betrayal and revenge, it was a magnificent story.

He hoped people had read it...he wished Wei WuXian had read it.

Wei WuXian...

The devastatingly handsome man had eyes of silver starlight, his cheeks like the rosiest of peaches...and when he smiled...Lan WangJi forgot to breathe.

They had been dancing around each other for weeks now...every discussion something more than just words. Lan WangJi loved his inquisitive mind, his capacity for understanding every point of view, his reasoning and his ability to tell the truth. Wei WuXian gave his honest opinion and if he didn't like something, or if he thought an author was taking liberties, or committing the sin of lazy writing, Wei WuXian would pick up on it immediately.

And since Lan WangJi had started this Book Club, he began to live for Wednesday nights.

Wine was poured, ten glasses for now and XiChen had prepared some cheese and grapes.

At precisely seven o'clock, the door chimed and Su She walked in. Lan WangJi resisted the urge to scowl, not that he would have been able to tell anyway.

With him was Meng Yao, an invitation forwarded by Lan XiChen, on the basis that Meng Yao was lonely and this would give him a chance to come out of his shell.

Jin ZiXuan and his vile cousin, Jin ZiXun were next. The former always looked too proud to have even picked up the book, and the latter always had an opinion...

Lan WangJi sighed.

An arm came around his shoulders.

"I'm sure he'll come, Didi." XiChen told him, warmly.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Lan WangJi smiled a little too politely and carried on looking at the door.

Meng Yao approached wanting to talk to XiChen so Lan WangJi was left on his own again...and as he watched the two of them walk away, he wondered what a certain purple cladded young man would have to say about that...

Just then, the door jangled and Lan WangJi held his breath...but it was MianMian. Following in her footsteps, the Nie brothers entered. Nie MingJue seemed to hold something against Meng Yao for some reason, and he did scowl, transforming his face into a terrifying expression.

Lan WangJi stepped back.

And then finally, Jiang YanLi and Jiang WanYin walked in, the latter checking behind himself.

Lan WangJi waited...

And waited...

And waited...

But the door closed and didn't open again.

Lan WangJi felt his heart sink.

All of a sudden, he wanted to cancel tonight, just tell them to help themselves to the refreshments and they would table this week's discussion until next week. It didn't matter, he would-

"Lan WangJi?" A soft voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Mn?"

Jiang YanLi smiled gently.

"My brother said to tell you he's definitely coming tonight. He's just running a little late."

And with that, the sun broke through the clouds, the rain disappeared and there was only blissful happy thoughts.

Jiang WanYin was scowling, but he put that on hold for a few seconds to ask after his Xiongzhang.

Lan WangJi pointed behind himself.

Jiang WanYin scowled even harder.

But then, the door opened and a drenched Wei WuXian walked in, gasping.

Lan WangJi was next to him in second.

With a towel.

Gently wiping his face for him.

"Can you believe it? In the seconds, Lan Zhan, seconds it took me to park the car and sprint here, it rained this much?"

Lan Zhan doesn't care.

Wei Ying is here.

That's all that matters.

He resisted the urge to take him into his arms.

They have to jump out of the way, because the door is roughly pushed open by Wen Chao and Wang Lingjiao. They did not even apologise, entering and aiming for the drinks.

"Is Wei Ying alright?"

Wei WuXian shivered just from the sound of his deep voice.

He nodded shyly.

Wei WuXian looked forward to Wednesday nights. Ever since Lan Zhan had come up with this genius plan, Wei Ying was rooting for its success...and for something else. He and Lan Zhan knew of each other...like passing acquaintances, but Wei Ying could see him himself falling really hard for this guy.

Not only was he drop dead gorgeous, but something in those golden eyes had the ability to pull him in and, Wei WuXian hoped, never let him go again.

Those golden eyes were staring into his with concern...and something else now. The towel was scrunched between their two bodies and they were unconsciously leaning towards each other...enough for Wei WuXian to drink in the scent of sandalwood. Lan Zhan was drowning in the fragrance of Lotus flowers and wine, a heady combination, but then those pink lips looked so tantalising...

"If we're all here..." there was a clearing of someone's throat and a polite cough.

Lan WangJi was startled out of his trance, watching the way Wei Ying licked his bottom lip and bit it with his two bunny teeth.

He stifled the tremors erupting through his body, an abnormal reaction to something so ordinary.

Wei Ying smiled at him...and Lan WangJi was pretty sure at this point, his heart was only beating for this man.

"You better go." Wei Ying was saying to him. "Can I keep the towel for now? I don't want to drip on your floor."

Lan WangJi took a good look at the rest of him. His black trousers didn't seem wet...but....but his red t-shirt clung to his abs like a second skin.

Oh dear...

Lan WangJi snatched the towel and covered Wei Ying like a tortilla, tucking the edge inside at his neck, before any more errant thoughts got him in more trouble.

He bodily moved Wei Ying to sit at the front.

Not because he wanted to look at him some more and didn't want anyone sitting in front of his view...not at all...

Jiang YanLi sat next to him and then there was a commotion because Jiang WanYin returned from scowling in the corner to claim the seat next to her, but since Jin ZiXuan had got there first, he was forced to sit in the second row, behind Wei Ying.

Wei Ying lifted his fist for Jiang WanYin to bump, but both of them looked dissatisfied with the person sitting next to their sister.

Everyone else just sat down in the closest available chairs. There were six chairs on both sides but they needed an extra one for Jin ZiXun who was scowling at his cousin for ditching him.

XiChen handed him a chair before going to sit in between Nie MingJue and Meng Yao, also in the front row.

Lan Zhan picked up his notes and began.

"Good evening. As requested at last week's meeting, the book for this week's discussion is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Please raise your hand if you read the book."

He looked around to see around seven people had raised their hands. He smiled a content smile, especially because Wei Ying's hand was up.

"And how many of you finished it?"

Only two hands remained up: Jiang YanLi and Wei Ying.

Lan Zhan was so proud of him.

"Have you seen how big it is?" Wen Chao complained.

There were murmurs of agreement all around the room.

"One thousand and seventy-eight pages." Lan WangJi replied, with a cold look.

"See? It's thicker than a dictionary!" He settled back as if he had proved his point.

"I don't see what the issue is." Wei WuXian chirped. "If you read, let's see, one thousand and seventy-eight pages divided by seven, that makes a hundred and fifty four pages for seven days...totally doable." He beamed at Lan Zhan. "I read it in four. So good, though."

"Show off." Wang Lingjiao muttered under her breath.

Lan WangJi glared at her.

"I have read it countless times, each time enjoying myself thoroughly."

"I watched the film." Jiang WanYin said, smiling proudly as if it was a good thing.

"Well done!" Wei WuXian exclaimed with a mocking congratulatory tone. "Waaay to go for a book club."

Jiang WanYin shoved him from behind.

"Which one? There were six different ones...and that's just in English." Nie Huaisang was using a leaflet to fan himself, even though it wasn't that warm in the shop.

"The one with Dumbledore."

"Are you sure it was the right film?" Wei WuXian collapsed in a fit of giggles.

"Boys." Jiang YanLi gently admonished them.

"Two hours compared to to how many? Four days you say, it took you?" Jiang WanYin whispered as if no one could hear him.

"That's not the point." Wei WuXian told him earnestly. "If you read the book, you can pick up on the mood of the author while he was writing it, you can get a sense of the time his scenes took place, especially with a period novel, and the separate nuances of the characters are missed on camera. The book is special because it picks you up from the comfort of your armchair and plonks you right in the middle of Chateau d'If, the prison where Edmond Dantes was locked up in."

Lan WangJi wanted to kiss him.

"So what do we all think of our main protagonist?" Lan WangJi asked.

"His whole character arc was amazing!" Wei WuXian gushed. "From innocent man and devoted son, on his way to being made captain and going to marry his beautiful fiancé, he was living his best life...and then, due to the jealousy and greed of those four men, he went to prison, as innocent as he was."

"I thought he was a bit thick." Su She piped up.

Su She was normally quiet, so this was going to be interesting.

"Why?" Lan WangJi prompted.

"Well, he just seemed to be too good? You know, excellent first mate, promoted to nearly Captain, and then he's got the beautiful Mercedes. Kind of unbelievable, if you ask me." He huffed in his seat.

"But that's sort of the point, isn't it?" Wei WuXian replied, turning in his seat so he could look him in the eyes. "He was betrayed by not only the magistrate, who should have been honest as a government official, but his fiancé's cousin, Fernand Mondego, his neighbour, Caderousse, and the accountant on the ship, Danglars. And he only realised this when he met Abbe Faria, and that meeting was the Universe giving him a kiss for throwing all that shit on him. Only when his eyes are opened to the gross betrayal of people he knew, people who should have protected him and instead sold him down the river...he changed."

"Was that a good thing?" Lan WangJi asked, delighting in this debate.

"Most definitely!" Wei WuXian announced. "His previous innocence would have gotten him killed because he was surrounded by wolves, he needed to be cleverer than them."

"I don't think Caderousse was a bad guy." Jiang WanYin spoke.

"Oh, come on! Jiang Cheng, okay, he was owed money, but did he really have to take it from a guy who's only son was still at sea? Couldn't he have waited? Edmond Dantes had given his father only two hundred francs to last him for the three months he would be at sea, and that Caderousse had come and collected the day after Edmond had left, one hundred and forty francs. I imagine sixty francs to be desperately short of an amount to get through three months, especially if the original estimation was two hundred. When Edmond came home, the cupboards were empty."

"A debt is a debt. It should be paid as soon as possible." Jiang WanYin sulked in his seat.

"But surely kindness can be applied to someone in dire straits, no?" Lan XiChen said, adding his voice. "As Wei WuXian said, what if he had waited?"

"And don't get me started on Fernand Mondego!" Wei WuXian returned his gaze to the delectable young man at the front, watching him with appreciation. Of course he blushed.

"I thought he was great." Wen Chao said, staring at his girlfriend's chest. "He wanted something and went for it. Kudos to him."

"Wow...man, that is so shallow!" Wei Ying exclaimed. "Mercedes wasn't a thing! And she was in love with Edmond Dantes anyway. But Danglars...that was straight up jealousy. He's the one who started everything. If he hadn't stirred up the other two, Edmond Dantes would have been just fine. If you had to blame anyone, you can blame him."

"Danglars was a business man, end of." Jin ZiXun defended. "A man who saw an opportunity when it presented itself."

"Jeez, how can you say that?" Wei Ying turned a hundred and eighty degrees to glare at him. "He's the one who came up with the plot and got Edmond Dantes arrested. Of course he was bad."

"Not as bad as Villefort. If you wanna blame someone, what about him?" Jin ZiXun replied, picking his nails.

"I believe he was only protecting his family." Meng Yao said to that.

Everyone stared at him.

"You're right, he was protecting his father, but really, he was protecting himself. If it came out that his dad was a pro- Napoleon supporter, his career as a magistrate would have gone down the tubes, so no, that's a shitty excuse for a shitty man." Wei Ying huffed.

"I believe, he was also someone who didn't waste an opportunity. Alright, you say he did it out of fear for his position, but from a career perspective, it was the right thing to do." Meng Yao smiled, showing both his dimples.

"A-Yao, he was letting Edmond Dantes go, cleared of all charges, until he discovered who the secret agent was, his own father..." XiChen sighed. "Was his position more valuable than the life of an innocent man?"

"Yes, because that innocent man's life was the payment he had to give. Of course it's worth it."

Now everyone stared at him for different reasons. Su She patted him on his back.

"Personally, my favourite character was Abbe Faria. Someone who had done something bad and decided to repent, all by himself. And then the Universe gave him Edmond Dantes, someone to teach, to mold, to instruct, to give design to that which was shapeless. He is the master jeweller. And his end result was the Count of Monte Cristo. Bravo to this book!" YanLi said in her soft voice, made all the more poignant because she used her softness to deliver such powerful words.

Wei WuXian reached over to hold her hand, giving it a squeeze and smiling at her for speaking her mind.

To Lan WangJi, this made Wei WuXian even more desirable, the fact that he cared so much about his sister.

Wei WuXian was conscious of Lan WangJi staring at him, but he couldn't quite get past the shyness in his mind to look up and at him. He liked Lan Zhan so much, it was terrifying for him, and the only reason he paid so much attention to this book club and the discussions, diligently reading everything that was suggested, was solely because he had the hots for that beautiful man.

"And what about Mercedes herself?" Lan WangJi asked, putting his cards away.

So far, this evening was a success with all the members taking part.

"You haven't said anything." Wei WuXian turned around to his friend, Nie Huaisang.

"I don't know...I don't know anything," He cried, hiding behind his poor excuse for a fan.

"Tell me you read the book, at least?" Wei WuXian asked, with a smile.

"I might...have."

Since it was clear he didn't want to say anything else, Wei WuXian grinned and left him alone.

"I think Mercedes was brave." MianMian said, quietly.

"Why?" Jin ZiXuan turned around to speak to her.

"Because she was pregnant and had no way out, except to marry Fernand Mondego, and she did it with her head held high."

"What about her promises?" Lan WangJi said.

"In the heat of the moment, anything can be promised." Wei WuXian replied instead.

"Really?" Lan Zhan asked, and it was apparent to anybody watching them that they could be talking about something else entirely.

Wei WuXian shivered under the weight of those golden eyes. He had been cold, chilled from the freezing rain when he had come inside, but the way Lan Zhan was looking at him now, he felt like he was trapped inside a volcano.

"Really." Wei Ying replied, his silver eyes maintaining eye contact bravely now. "A promise made in times of stress does not count."

"Fernand Mondego had asked her for an answer regarding his proposal for marriage. She said, "my heart belongs to another. I love Edmond Dantes." She went so far as to claim to him, "no one will be my husband except Edmond Dantes." Lan Zhan went on, quoting the book from memory.

"She hadn't seen him in four months, of course she would make those kind of promises." Wei Ying sat forward. "But all that was on the night Albert was conceived.  The shit hit the fan straight afterwards."

"And she ditched him the first chance she got."

"Not out of choice!" Wei Ying stood up. "She didn't know what to do! She had just received the letter telling her that Edmond Dantes was dead...what else was she supposed to do?"

"Wait for him." Lan Zhan replied in a voice of steel, also stepping forward.

Behind them, the door chimed, but neither paid any attention to it.

"Wait for a dead man?" Wei Ying clenched his fists in frustration.

"Yes."

"When she knew she was going to be a mother? That society frowned on children being born out of wedlock!"

"So she lied to the man willing to marry her, passed off Edmond's son as his, and you think that's alright?" Lan Zhan took another step towards him.

"She did what she had to, to survive!" Wei Ying cried, stepping forward.

"So what about when she met the Count of Monte Cristo for the first time?"

"She recognised him! But she felt bad for the way she was, for marrying Fernand. That's why she couldn't tell him the truth!" Wei Ying was breathing heavily.

They were almost chest to chest now.

"What would you have done if you were in Mercedes' place? Tell me!" Wei Ying shouted.

"This!" Lan Zhan grabbed his red t-shirt and crashed their lips together, not even fully comprehending what he was doing, so fired up by what he saw as Mercedes' betrayal, something unforgivable in his eyes.

Wei Ying was shocked at first, but then his touch was so electrifying, and made him lean into the kiss, wanting more and more. He melted into Lan Zhan's body, angling his face so his lips could taste more of those soft, soft lips, and when he paused to breath in, Lan Zhan took advantage of that and dived right in. The sensations bursting in his chest were magnified with the delicious sandalwood scent.

Tingles broke out all over his body, his gut clenching as passion exploded in his veins.

His hands wrapped around Lan Zhan's neck pulling him closer as this kiss got hotter and hotter, and Wei Ying needed more.

When they broke apart, Wei Ying smiled up at Lan Zhan.

"Wow..." He whispered. "Do that again."

Lan Zhan had been about to apologise, and he looked up to find the shop empty and the closed sign facing outwards to the public.

And Wei Ying was asking him to do it again...this beautiful man...

So of course he did.

The End.

A/N

I was inspired by our current favourite author, MXTX's books, all three of them hitting the top ten best sellers list in the New York Times magazine/paper.

And I've always loved The Count of Monte Cristo and the parallels between what happened to Edmond Dantes and Wei WuXian were kind of similar. If you haven't read Alexandre Dumas' book, please try to. It's such a fantastic story and hopefully something you like.

So....this is the end....and there's DEFINITELY NOT going to be a second part....this one was agonisingly difficult to write, but I hope you like it.

I'm binging on chocolate now behind a locked door.....I need to after the stress I put myself under writing this.

A massive thank you to DBDavenport8 For supporting this idea...I was ready to throw in the towel and give up before I called her, but her enthusiasm for the project made me finish it.

Have a great day, everyone!