"Thunder makes a loud noise, but it is the Quiet sky that lasts." By Marty Rubin

Wei Ying ran for the elevator,  and the whole stunt became a sort of disaster, because his foot became entangled in the straps of the duffel bag, and he ended up falling into the confined space.

Luckily, two strong arms caught him.

Wei Ying looks up into beautiful golden eyes. They are like liquid metal, and just as hot.

For a good few minutes, his mind goes completely blank.

Not a single thought.

The stranger coughs politely.

Wei Ying can only feel the heat of his hands on his own waist, but he stumbles to an upright position and gives him a brilliant smile, and thanks him.

Smiling is good, right?

Smiling is friendly… most people would smile back…

Not this guy.

He looks straight ahead and presses the button for his floor.

Unfortunately, so does Wei Ying.

It turns into a little petty fight about who's going to win, until Wei Ying realises they were going for the same button.

So he lets the shockingly good-looking guy press it…because it's no skin off his nose.

They're standing side by side, facing forward. Wei Ying notices two things: the guy's ears are absolutely the colour of ripe chillies, and he has luggage too.

"Oh…you're moving in today, too?" He says, in a bid to be friendly.

After all, he did save Wei Ying’s face from eating carpet, so he had to try!

"Mn."

"Me, too, and we're on the same floor! How cool is that?" He continues smiling, and for just a second, the man turns to look at him.

It is an incredible experience, having his whole attention on Wei Ying. Wei Ying feels as if time is standing still; he can neither move nor think of anything clever to say.

At this moment, there is only him, and this beautiful stranger.

The elevator pings out of tune, and breaks the magnetic silence.

Without a word, the beautiful stranger picks up his own luggage and walks out, the perfect picture of beauty and elegance.

Wei Ying struggles out and hurries to his new apartment, just in time to see 208's door close with a quiet click. He turned to his own door, 206 clearly marked upon it and entered, wondering who was staying in the middle home, at 207.

He had just moved in and hadn't had time to get to know any of his neighbours, and he hoped they'd be nicer and a lot more friendly than number 208.

But unfortunately, he didn't have long to find out.

Wei Ying was in the kitchen, still unpacking when the most raucous, almighty noise had him grab his frying pan and run outside.

At the same time, a half asleep hunk in bunny pyjamas opens his door, swinging a baseball bat.

Wei Ying stops, getting an eyeful of that candy.

The noise stops just as suddenly as they had come out of their homes.

"What the fuck was that?" Wei Ying runs a hand through his hair.

How can somebody look that good…in pyjamas??

The stranger whirls the bat a couple of times as if he's exercising his wrist. He sighs and goes back into his apartment.

Wei Ying is about to do the same thing, when the noise starts up again, and boy, is it loud!

He comes back outside at the same time as the hunk.

"It's coming from there." Wei Ying says, pointing out the obvious.

The stranger knocks politely on the door.

"Do you think he has a pet lion?" Wei Ying says, crossing his arms over his chest.

He's wearing a tank top and he knows his arms look good. He catches the stranger staring and his own smile only gets wider.

"Listen, Pal, whoever that is, they're not gonna hear you when there's an aircraft trying to land inside." Wei Ying politely shoves him out of the way.

He slams his palm a few times on the door and shouts, "Hey! Buddy, cut it out!"

He's not sure what to expect.

The cacophony halts as suddenly as it started.

"You're welcome." Wei Ying says to #208 Hottie.

The man nods, clearly approving of Wei Ying's heavy handed approach, and goes back into his apartment.

Wei Ying is just about to go back to his own life, when 205 opens and old man pops his head out from behind his door.

"Hi! I'm the new guy in 206!" Wei Ying says, figuring it's a good time as any to meet his neighbour. "The name's Wei Ying." He holds out his hand.

"Everyone calls me Uncle Four." He huffs, happy that Wei Ying was making an effort. "And about 207, deaf as a dead mouse. Don't bother making a racket." Uncle Four returns back inside his home.

"It's 'deaf as a door post'," he corrects.

Although Uncle Four isn't wrong, dead mice can't hear…

The peace lasts all of twenty minutes.

Now that he knows there's no point knocking on the door, Wei Ying implements his noise cancelling headphones and switches on his music.

But now he's tense because someone else is banging on the next door's door. He rakes it for all of two minutes before he's outside too, the headphones around his neck.

#208 Hunk is hitting that door quite hard.

Wei Ying can see the outline of his biceps. This guy is built…

"Um…Uncle Four told me that the person in there is deaf. They're not gonna hear you, Pal."

He's leaning against his door frame, admiring the view.

"I am not your friend." The guy grits out, his jaw clenching.

Wei Ying is taken aback.

That's quite rude, even for his standards.

"Alright." He says, feeling rather hurt. He goes back inside and closes his door.

Lan Zhan wishes he knew what to say to make it better, only because he was tired and this infernal noise kept waking him up, he had only to open his mouth, and the truth just fell out.

Luckily, he stopped himself from completing that sentence, which was, "I am not your friend, because I want something more."

But now, he saw the hurt look on that gorgeous man's face and he immediately felt bad.

Now what? He couldn't think with this racket going on.

He went back inside his home and opened his laptop.

********

Wei Ying was trying and failing to sleep.

The noise was growing in decibels and in frustration, he tears off his headphones and flings them at the wall, where the noise is coming from.

He's tried everything, from burying his face under every pillow and cushion he can find, but it's no use. His bed is right up against wherever the hulk is sleeping, and it's actually worse.

There's a soft knock on his door.

Wei Ying sighs, looking blearily at his watch. It's one in the morning and he has work at nine. He is in no way ready for that day.

At least, the godawful noise seems to have stopped.

The knock comes again.

Wei Ying drags himself up to go and answer.

There are three people outside.

"Hi, I'm MianMian, and I just wanted to apologise for my aunt. She fell asleep on the couch and it's not good for her." She has her arms wrapped around the sweetest looking old lady, with hundreds of cute wrinkles on her face. She's half the size of him.

Wei Ying does a double take.

He bites his lip from saying what he really wants to, which is, there's no way in hell that noise came from this sweet old biddy….absolutely-no-fucking-way…

"So, I'm taking her to my place now. You don't have to raise a complaint against her…"

They start walking away before Wei Ying can tell them it wasn't him.

The other person is still standing there, and thisvis the second shock of the night.

It's #208 Hottie.

Wei Ying thinks he's got to be dreaming, because this guy is holding out a bunch of lotus flowers…and they're just like the ones from home…

"For you." He says, in the best voice evah.

"Um…thanks?" Wei Ying says. He does not squeak it.

"I must apologise for my earlier rudeness. I did not want to…upset you." He looks hopefully at Wei Ying.

"But…it's like, really early in the morning. You went out to buy me these…now?" Wei Ying can't help noticing the guy is fully dressed now.

"I couldn't sleep." The beautiful stranger says.

They share a quiet smile at that.

"Why don't you come in?" Wei Ying says, stepping back to allow him entry.

But the man does not look like he wants to.

"It's rather late." He says. "And if you are not opposed, then I would like to take you on a date."

Wei Ying looked disappointed at first, but then like a blooming sunflower, his smile spread across his cheeks and he beamed at him.

"I don't know your name." He says shyly, hiding his face in the flowers just given to him.

"I apologise." The man actually bows.

Wei Ying is melting…

"I forgot myself because you are so beautiful. My name is Lan WangJi. But please, call me Lan Zhan."

He holds out his hand.

Of course, Wei Ying is going to take it.

"Wei WuXian, but Wei Ying for you."

And then in the most romantic move ever, Lan Zhan bends and places those delicious lips on his hand.

Wei Ying is not going to wash this hand.

Not in this lifetime.

"So…is that a yes?" Lan Zhan asks him.

Wei Ying realises that he has yet to answer.

He's nodding even before his lips are saying yes.

************

"And that's how Baba and A-Die met? Because of a great whale?" Baby A-Yuan is asking Wei Ying.

Wei Ying is biting his lips and trying not to laugh out loud.

"Wei Ying!" The quiet admonition comes from the doorway, where his husband has just overheard the ending of Wei Ying's bedtime story for their little one.

The softest look is in his eyes as he comes into the room. He kisses their son goodnight, and there is a chaste one for his husband, one of many before the night is through.

"Your father is right, though. That night changed our lives forever." Lan Zhan adds, gratefully.

If that noise hadn't disturbed both of them on that day, he doubts he would have gotten enough courage to buy Wei Ying those beautiful flowers as an apology. Wei Ying had laughed when he'd heard the whole thought, but Lan Zhan still feels bad about it.

They switch off the lights as A-Yuan falls asleep.

"Now…" Wei Ying says, when they reach their bedroom. "Kiss me properly, husband."

THE END

A/N

Just a quick one because I was inspired. This is a gift for the best friend ever, my wonderful Bestie @edzooc8r

Happy New year and thank you for your lovely words. I hope your nights improve!

Charlie.

P. S. I really tried to keep it short and it's still twice as long as you wanted!😬