[曦澄 | XiCheng][MDZS Modern AU]: All The Things I Never Told You [~PART 1~]

〽️👁‍🗨 Chapter 1: 'I am my brother's keeper.'

Lan Xichen was sipping on his morning coffee before starting off his journey to work. 

He vaguely remembered to remind himself to fill the tank of his beloved Porsche  with gas on his way there, it was high time  –  his baby was running on fumes.

Source:  https://jamesaevans.medium.com/my-10-favorite-porsche-pts-colors-28a9839492e1

His eyes were scanning the newspaper distractedly. He was still thinking about his brother. 

***

Just a week ago he had surprised him greatly, announcing, at the traditional monthly family dinner at the end of the month, that he intended to take over their uncle's business after his mysterious and very sudden death. 

Their father had only raised an eyebrow, and their mother had gasped and conveniently dropped her tea cup to the floor, growing pale.

- Is this a joke, Wangji?  –  he had mocked.

- No. I am serious.

But of course. 

Lan Wangji was always serious; he couldn't help himself. It was a stupid question, a rhetorical question even. His younger brother just didn't know how to have fun! Always solemn, a little gloomy maybe, but always brilliant  –  he had graduated and obtained his excellent diploma to be an architect in just 3 years, instead of 5, his talent in Drawing and Mathematics visible from a very early age. He was the pride and joy of their parents, although they never showed it, but now that might just be over.

Lan Xichen smirked secretly. Why?

Because the business his Di wanted to take over was... a sex shop.

***

Despite being a well-respected and talented lawyer, Lan Huan was the black sheep  of the family. 

He announced his first boyfriend to their parents at the age of 15. Ever since, he studied hard, his mind clearly set on becoming very rich and successful, in spite of his father's family's riches. 

Obstinate and playful, he knew that he had to separate himself from his family, and his family's reputation, as soon as was humanly possible  –  he was just so different! He liked to work hard, for 20 hours a day sometimes, for weeks in a row at other times, but when he had fun  –  it was legendary! He was the heart of the company and his friends and colleagues adored him  –  he was smart, entertaining, and lavishly generous.

Being so very different from his brother, who was pure, boring, and very conservative, he managed to try out life's pleasures as soon as the offset of his early twenties. 

Girls, boys, drugs, alcohol, special  secret apartments where special  parties were being organized for the wealthy brats of notorious New York families, kinky bars and clubs, road trips to exactly nowhere  –  but always with the right  people, who provided the right  entertainment  –  he had had it all. Enjoying life to the fullest was his philosophy, it was his way of managing with stress.

The things his haters never forgave him were his charm, his fortune, and his good connections, both with the Force, and the Underworld of the Big Apple.

So now he was looking incredulously at his strict father, his stiff and uptight neurotic mother, and his cold and distant brother, and he was grinning.  The sex shop was rather something more suitable for him  himself!

- Ahh! Explain, baby brother, because I am truly... baffled!   –  he sniggered, sipping on his coffee that he had secretly spiked with a little bit of bourbon.

- Yes, please, darling.  –  their mother muttered, trying to suppress the blush on her cheeks.

Lan Wangji huffed.

- Why are you looking at me like that? It will just be an exercise in Marketing and Sales, in running a pre-existent business, before I start my own thing. Mom, you know too well I am not good with people. How can I work in a...firm?  –   he rolled his eyes, and cast a poisonous look at his Ge. He loved Lan Huan, but he was so super annoying  at times!

- Oh, I see.  –  their mother had mumbled allegedly shyly.

- Wangji, you know that people  do enter shops,  and do some shameless shopping,  too, right?!?   -   Lan Huan grinned cheekily.

- So.  –  their father had interjected, casting a cold look at the young man and cutting short this childish bickering.  –  You mean things like Marketing, Sales and Accounting only?

- Precisely.  What else is there?  –  Lan Zhan answered coldly, sipping on his tea.   –   It is an existent, running, and mildly successful business. I could experiment. The easiest thing is to shut it down. I need some rough idea how things run, before I start something serious.

- You are so young, darling...  -  their mother had sighed.  –  Are you sure... you will be... up to this?  –  she blushed again.

Lan Xichen burst in wild laughter quite heartily. He just couldn't picture his child of a brother buried in sex dolls and porn magazines! His virgin  brother.

- Oh, Di! I think it will be fun! I really think you should go for it! I think it will be fabulous!!!!   –  he exclaimed a little too enthusiastically, and a little too merrily, it seemed.

- Hmmm.  –  that had been the only response from their father.

***

Yes. He truly was worried for his brother. Lan Wangji was usually very prudent and cold-blooded about things, but once something fascinated him strongly  –  he had the awful tendency to get lost in it, get addicted to it,  and rush head over heels, devoting himself fully. It was actually a trait that both brothers shared. Wangji's trusting nature had gotten him into trouble many times before, and he mostly grew up without friends, as people tended to use him, abuse his trust, and leave, oftentimes  -  mocking him.

Huan had no idea how things were going to play out at all, but, biting his lips, he swore to himself that he would keep an eye on his Di, constantly. They were very different, as different as the day and the night, but also similar in many ways, and he loved talking to him; Lan Zhan was his closest friend, although he had the habit of exhibiting asshole-y tendencies from time to time. Yet. he was his brother and the young lawyer loved him. He felt the strong urge to protect him, it was just his nature.

He sighed, throwing the newspaper on the table nonchalantly. 

He had been single for too long. He knew that once there was a new boy in his life, or maybe a new girl, his anxiety would settle. 

And the fun would start.

Again.