Chapter Text
One year later…
Wei Ying looked at himself in mirror, frowned, and began fussing with his tie again. It just looked weird. Lan Zhan wore suits a lot and looked incredibly sexy in them but on Wei Ying it looked like some teenager playing dress up.
Lan Zhan walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around him. Wei Ying leaned back, relishing in the warm, solid strength of Lan Zhan’s chest.
“Quit fidgeting. You look fine,” his boyfriend said in between pressing soft kisses into his neck.
“I still don’t know why I have to wear a tie.”
“It’s a formal event and you are the guest of honor,” Lan Zhan pulled back and turned Wei Ying around so he could fix his tie. Wei Ying looked back at the mirror. Huh. Whatever Lan Zhan had done, the tie looked measures better than it had.
“You should be the guest of honor, Lan Zhan. You did all the hard work. I just drew pictures and played a game.”
"Easily the year's best new TTRPG. Finally a challenger for Wizard of the Coast's supremacy. You must play this new game set in the mythology of Ancient China. Even if you don't play games, buy this book for the stunning artwork alone."
Wei Ying buried his face in Lan Zhan’s chest. "Quit quoting my press! You know how much it embarrasses me."
“I will not. I am proud of what you’ve done.”
“It’s not even for sale yet, Lan Zhan. Good reviews prior to release mean nothing, my publishing boyfriend taught me that. It might flop and there will be no sales at all.”
“Presale numbers are extremely high, Wei Ying, it will not flop.”
“Enough, enough, I can’t with you. So what do I do, exactly? I’ve never been to a book launch party before.”
“Eat, drink, circulate, talk to people. Like any event.”
Wei Ying turned to pull Lan Zhan down into a kiss. “I guess I’ll figure it out, I’ll have you with me.”
“Mn.” Lan Zhan pulled away, and looked down. He seemed, for some inexplicable reason, to be nervous.
“Lan Zhan?”
“There will be a lot of people there tonight.”
Ah. That made sense. Lan Zhan was not ever one for crowds. Even the nights he had been with Wei Ying observing as he and his game group played, he seemed overwhelmed by the number of people and they were all people he knew.
“Yeah, Jiang Cheng invited, like, everyone.”
Lan Zhan frowned at the mention of Jiang Cheng’s name. He had not wanted to hold the launch party at Lotus Pier but Jiang Cheng had been incensed at the idea of holding it anywhere else. What would it look like, if my brother had his book launch party at some chain hotel? This discussion is over, Lotus Pier is hosting and you can just put your damn Gusu publishing corporate credit card away, a-Jie and I will be taking care of everything.
“Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan, love of my life. You are going to have to learn to get along with my brother. I love both of you too much to have you always staring at each other like you want to step outside and slug it out.”
“I am always perfectly civil to Jiang Cheng,” Lan Zhan said stiffly.
“At a-Jie’s wedding you didn’t even make eye contact with him.”
“Exactly. Perfectly civil.”
Wei Ying rolled his eyes but decided to let it go. There had been some improvement in the past year. It would take more time, that’s all. A-Yuan had turned out to be the secret weapon. He adored his Uncle Cheng and his vibrant outpouring of affection every time they were together clearly melted Jiang Cheng’s heart. Even Lan Zhan had to agree that he couldn’t be too awful of a person if A-Yuan loved him.
“But we really should get going, Lan Zhan, it’s getting late and the traffic might be crazy this time of day.”
“Wei Ying…” Lan Zhan still looked nervous. His hand clenched and unclenched at his side.
“What is it?” Now Wei Ying was really curious.
“There will be a lot of people there. People who know you and people who I work with and people from the community, and I find myself...disinclined to have you there without it being clear what you mean to me.”
He put his hand into his pocket and began to take something out, and Wei Ying might have poor situational awareness at times, he really, really might, but even he could see what was going on here.
“Oh, fuck,” he said.
Lan Zhan stopped moving. He might have even stopped breathing.
“Lan Zhan is this a proposal? Are you really proposing to me right now with the word ‘disinclined?’”
Lan Zhan looked down. He stepped back. “I’m -”
Wei Ying surged forward and grabbed his hand. “No no no! Don’t you dare apologize or take it back! It’s my proposal! And it’s the best one ever because it’s from you. Now put the damn ring on my finger because now we have to get to the party so I can parade around and reach for things with my left hand all night.”
Lan Zhan just looked at him. “So it’s a yes?”
Wei Ying tried to kiss him but he was laughing with joy too much to do so effectively. “I love you, you idiot man of course it’s a yes!”
***
Wei Ying swallowed nervously. How had he not noticed just how many cameras there were? Nie Huaisang had insisted that the stream had to be of the highest quality. He and Mo Xuanyu had worked tirelessly to learn the ins and outs of streaming and what equipment they needed and how it needed to be set up. Nie Mingjue had commissioned a beautiful custom table from a local artisan - Wei Ying was scared to ask how much he’d paid for it. He and Lan Xichen were both insistent that it had been their pleasure.
Wei Ying had not been much help in this process, only drawing logos when called upon, or offering an opinion or expressing his preference for some of the decisions that needed to be made. He and Lan Zhan had been too busy with the publishing process.
Qin Su ,MianMian, and Wen Ning had worked hard on the charity Wei Ying and Lan Zhan had decided to start. The check from the Jiangs had provided the initial capital, and Gusu publishing kicked in a nice donation as well. There were also sizable anonymous donations that Wei Ying was convinced came from his brother and sister and new brother in law, but he couldn’t prove it and they remained tight-lipped every time he brought it up.
They had started their first after-school program last week. They provided mentoring, and a place for kids to gather and play role playing games in a safe environment. All homework had to be complete before the first die were rolled. The response had been so overwhelming they were already planning fundraisers so they could start additional programs in other neighborhood schools. It gave Wei Ying no end of pleasure to know the first people able to play his game were teens from disadvantaged backgrounds.
So they had all been busy, working toward this day, when they would reveal their game system to the world. And everything was coming together. In five minutes they would be live.
There had been other streams - session zeroes, character introductions, several streams he did alone explaining the rule sets and things specific to his system, but this would be the first live stream of a real game. No script. No prearranged structure. Just them playing in a new campaign with their characters for all the world to see.
Oh, no, what if it flopped? What if no one even tuned in and it was horrible?
“Fifteen seconds, Wei Ying,” said Nie Zongjui. He was a cousin of Mingjue and Huaisang who had majored in film studies and worked in production at a local news studio before he had been convinced to come over and join their venture.
Lan Zhan stepped up and kissed him quickly. “You’ll be amazing, have fun,” he said.
“Hey,” Wei Ying said. “I’m going to marry you.”
He said it every day, several times a day, and had since the book launch party last week. He just loved the way it sounded to say it out loud.
“That you are,” Lan Zhan answered.
Nie Zonghui counted him down and Wei Ying looked into his camera and smiled.
“Welcome to Session 1 of The Untamed Role Playing Game! I am your game master, Wei Ying, and we are excited to bring you this actual play stream of the new Untamed system which is available tomorrow for sale from Gusu Publishing!”
He glanced over at Zonghui, who gave him an encouraging nod so he forged on.
“If you have watched any of our previous streams we have had some player character introductions and session zeroes where we rolled stats and bought starting equipment. So tonight we will be picking up with the adventuring party as they meet and continue on from level 1. And a reminder, if you are interested in running your own game, our three core books drop tomorrow - the Player’s handbook, game master’s guide, and monster manual.”
He reached down and picked up a map and held it up to the camera. “And if you click on the link provided and pre-order the set of three books, the first 500 orders will receive a signed copy of the map of the world of the Untamed. It’s signed by me and every one of our player characters.”
He went through a couple of sponsor messages and gave some more ordering information, feeling his nerves build and build. Was anyone even watching?
When he finally got to the point where his mic got cut because they were rolling the introductory video, Zonghui spoke to him through his earbud. “All 500 of the bundled pre-orders are gone. We have 17,000 live viewers and the number is growing every second. You’re doing great.”
Wei Ying looked up and his eyes, as they always did these days, found Lan Zhan. His fiance nodded at him, letting him know he was here and believed in him.
Wei Ying smiled and nodded back.
I’m going to marry him.
Nie Zonghui counted him back in and Wei Ying looked at the camera and said “Are we ready? Let’s play!”