Work Text:
Thinking about Wei Ying wearing skimpier and skimpier outfits to do her early morning workouts in the living room of the apartment she shares with Lan Zhan. She’s never worked out so much before, but Lan Zhan looks so good with delicately flushed ears and a flat startled look.
The string bikini isn’t a GREAT choice insofar as working out goes, but it sure does get results!
(The results: Lan Zhan making a sound within the ballpark of “meep!,” dropping her cup of water onto the ground, and disappearing into her room for the remaining 28 workout minutes.)
Wei Ying has a tremendous wedgie by the end and her tits have fallen TOTALLY out of her bra. She adjusts herself for propriety and then lounges on her yoga mat To Recuperate for Half An Hour, just.... just in case Lan Zhan comes back out again and sees her, sweaty and panting.
The panting is a lie. Wei Ying couldn’t do a super strenuous workout in a string bikini. But she wants Lan Zhan to look at her tits, barely covered, heaving appealingly. This is what Lan Zhan, her best friend, deserves for wearing skintight leggings with no underwear last week. (Again, my best friends playing seduction chicken agenda emerges. Lan Zhan knew what she was doing. She did not expect these consequences, of Wei Ying, practically naked, stretching all over their floor, sweating lightly, blinking up at her and smiling as she crossed the room.)
The escalation of Seduction started as an accident!!! But Wei Ying has always loved getting a rise out of Lan Zhan - they even discussed it when they decided to move in together; Lan Zhan (who also loves it) promised Wei Ying she'd ever say if it became Too Much (it won't.) But one day Wei Ying is doing her workout in, like, regular workout clothes and her shirt rides up when she's in a headstand so her ratty sports bra is showing, and Lan Zhan makes a surprised noise and when Wei Ying falls out of the stand and looks, Lan Zhan is blushing.
"Ah," thinks Wei Ying, a scientist who sees something she very much likes; a competitive girl who sees a fun new challenge; a person privately in love with her best friend slash roommate. "How do I replicate these results?"
And now three months later here she is: string bikini. She WOULD have dropped it weeks ago, because it seems, y'know, maybe a little Not On to aggressively flirt with your roommate so much all the time, but Lan Zhan is ALSO escalating. Like when she fed Wei Ying a bite of her snack and then left her fingers on Wei Ying's lips, pressing.
I hope that, at this point, you are picturing them doing everything short of making direct eye contact and touching themselves while mouthing 'I dare you to do something about this' because that's spiritually .02 millimeters from where both of them are at the String Bikini stage.
Wei Ying thinks Lan Zhan meeps and hides in her room during the string bikini incident because Lan Zhan is Shocked and Shy; actually Lan Zhan just knows her own limits and is cognizant of the fact that Wei Ying may not expect her to walk up and start surprise-fingering her mid-headstand.
Two days later Lan Zhan calls Wei Ying into her room. “Do you think that’s an ingrown hair?” she asks, roughly two seconds before flashing Wei Ying her ENTIRE left tiddy.
It's a lot! It takes Wei Ying a full minute before she gets it together enough to look! (There’s nothing there.) Both of them, in that moment, thinking: Wei Ying is just a few centimeters away... it would be so easy for Wei Ying to just... put her mouth on it...
Wei Ying makes eye contact as she lightly touches the edge of Lan Zhan's nipple. "I think it's fine," she says, dying hornily inside.
The critical issue here is that yes, they are both all in on seduction chicken. Yes, they've both clocked that it seems to be fine so far so like, fair play.
But giving in? Giving in and TOUCHING? Giving and ADMITTING the seduction is working? That means LOSING. Yes, Lan Zhan went into her room and came three times from just her fingers and plotting her own escalation, no vibrator or anything, after seeing Wei Ying doing string bikini exercise in the living room. But she didn't fold in the MOMENT and that is critical. She hasn't lost.
Perhaps - PERHAPS - Lan Zhan, after Wei Ying says she doesn't notice any ingrown hairs, asks "Did you look close enough? Maybe if you run your hand over it you can feel it?" again just staring directly at Wei Ying like "I dare you"
And yet!! And yet.
Wei Ying escalates again by pressing kisses to Lan Zhan’s cheek after workouts, when Lan Zhan is just re-entering the living space (after, you know. masturbating to cope), while she’s still sweaty and scantily clad. Lan Zhan can’t reciprocate because that would mean Losing. She considers many options, including Accidentally turning her head when Wei Ying next brushes her lips across the corner of Lan Zhan’s mouth, turning it into a devouring aching kiss, long and slick and hard, until Wei Ying is begging for more— but no. That won’t do.
Five days of cheek kisses later, roughly a week after Wei Ying examined Lan Zhan’s breast, Lan Zhan brings a plastic tub, roughly the size of a shoebox for high boots, into the kitchen while Wei Ying is puttering around making noodles. There, without even looking at Wei Ying, she opens the box, and takes out a succession of larger and larger dildos. She washes each thoroughly, and places them in the dish drainer to dry.
“Uh, Lan Zhan?” Wei Ying sounds shaky. Lan Zhan allows herself to think of smirking triumphantly. “That’s uh. That’s a lot of toys.”
"Is it?" Lan Zhan says, dismissively, like a liar. "Huh."
"Do— do you use them all at once?"
Lan Zhan just glances at Wei Ying and continues washing the dildos. (She doesn't, really, but Wei Ying should draw whatever conclusion is most devastating to her.) She leaves them in the dish drainer ALL DAY, organized by size and color. Places her toy tub on the ground by it, where anyone could look in.
Wei Ying did not know Lan Zhan had such profound ammunition in her back pocket. She is starting to think that she is outclassed. What else does she have now that she's busted out both the string bikini and cheek kisses? Can she... could she just start working out totally naked in the living room? Is that the next step here?
(That is definitely the next step here.)
+++
Meanwhile their friends are SO EXASPERATED. Please picture a casual hang at Nie Huaisang's. There are lots of people over. No one is Dressed Up but Wei Ying is wearing her cutoff jorts that show a lot of her ass, and Lan Zhan is wearing a very nice, very thin dress with a skirt that goes just below her knees. Wei Ying is braless under her tank top. Lan Zhan's lace bra is unlined, and you can see every swirl of the lace and also her nipples whenever they're even marginally hard.
There's totally enough seating if you're down with sitting on the floor, which Wei Ying USUALLY is, but like, escalation, right? Mutually assured seduction. So she's all "it's fine if I sit in Lan Zhan's lap!"
The body heat between the thin skirt and the skin of Wei Ying's ass is tremendous. Plus Lan Zhan tangles her fingers in the ends of Wei Ying's ponytail and tugs lightly, so all their friends watch as Wei Ying presses her back against Lan Zhan's breasts and hard nips and rests her head on Lan Zhan's shoulder, tilted back, while Lan Zhan mutters commentary into her ear in a way that occasionally makes Wei Ying squirm. Very secluded. Secluded even though they're in front of like, twenty other people who are all watching this display in horror.
+++
Or, like, Jiang Cheng has this celebratory dinner? And Lan Zhan gets up to use the bathroom, but she pauses behind Wei Ying, who rests her head against Lan Zhan's chest while Lan Zhan leans over to murmur something to her. Her hair is totally falling over Wei Ying's face. No one can see whether Lan Zhan is kissing Wei Ying's forehead or not. When Lan Zhan leaves, she cups her hand around the side of Wei Ying's neck and squeezes; Wei Ying yelps.
While Lan Zhan is in the bathroom Jiang Cheng glares at Wei Ying and is like "Are you guys dating yet" and Wei Ying is like "soon, Jiang Cheng. Very soon."
(Jiang Cheng, extra exasperated: God, you two are such useless lesbians. Wei Ying, affronted: I am a useless BISEXUAL u dick)
Wei Ying confesses to Jiang Cheng that she's probably going to lose the seduction battle. And they're like, is that.... really losing though? If you both shudders like each other—
Wei Ying: Jiang Cheng, I'm going to stop you right there. We love each other.
Jiang Cheng: You've discussed this and you know this and you're doing whatever the fuck a seduction battle is and yet you're claiming you're NOT together?
Wei Ying: Oh we don't need to discuss it. We just both know.
Jiang Cheng: Does Lan Zhan actually know this though...
+++
So. yes. Their friends: all exasperated. Wei Ying told Jiang Cheng she’s probably going to lose. Incidentally, Lan Zhan has also told HER sibling the same. Lan Huan, bless him, doesn’t grok the full situation from “By the time we next dine with uncle, I will bring Wei Ying as my girlfriend,” but he’s very supportive!
The implication is there: they both think Wei Ying will eventually lose the battle. What can Wei Ying do after fully naked living room yogalates? How much further can she go? Lan Zhan has remained, oh, 88% clothed throughout all this! She has so much more ammunition! Sure, Wei Ying has seen her left tit... but there's an entire right breast left. And, like, her crotch. Wei Ying is pretty sure Lan Zhan knows she doesn't depilate down there, by now, but does Lan Zhan? Wei Ying has no idea! Lan Zhan could bust out that information at any time! and then where will Wei Ying be?
(A horny wreck, losing the seduction game for utter lack of ability to restrain herself any longer.)
Like, they're both very good at denying themselves things they really want. They both have a good amount of practice letting go of their desires in favor of serving duty, and the greater good. They're both highly integrated into their communities, meaning they have considerable exposure to some profoundly annoying people, and they treat them with the utmost civility and respect. Shit has gone down in their mutual past. But the thing about denying yourself is that when it's something you don't HAVE to deny yourself, it becomes so much harder to live without.
Neither of them have to deny themselves the other. Not at this point in their lives. It's an exciting protracted and intricate courtship ritual, that's all. Their lives are less fragile now; nothing will shatter when Wei Ying finally kisses Lan Zhan on the lips. Nothing will break when Lan Zhan brings Wei Ying to her bed. Something may strengthen, in fact; something may build. There's too much love for a worst-case scenario.
Also, too much horniness. Wei Ying's nerves have been humming with arousal for weeks now. Lan Zhan has been pretty consistently wet, nipples hard, any time she leaves her room — and most times she stays in it, too.
So! They both know Wei Ying is going to absolutely lose it eventually. The elastic of this seduction chicken game will hit critical tension, and it will snap, and they will come crashing together, and it will be Wei Ying who makes the first move.
The only question is when.
+++
What they DON'T expect is Wei Ying, in four-day-old unwashed sweatpants and a thirdhand ratty cardigan with the sleeves pushed up, doing dishes in the kitchen, bopping around to the music from her busted old iPhone 4, which has been placed into a cereal bowl to amplify the sound. Her hair is twisted back and held in place, horrifyingly, by one of Lan Zhan's nice cooking chopsticks.
She's not even playing the game! She's just washing a huge cooking pot, body shaking from the combination of the vigor she's using to scrub and the beat of the music! The light coming through the kitchen window is neither soft nor golden. It does not gently illuminate Wei Ying. It's harsh, actually, enough for the dregs of a peel-off face mask caught in Wei Ying's baby hairs to be pretty cleanly visible.
She's not trying. She's just doing chores. This isn't even an uncommon sight in their apartment. She often dances while doing dishes in loungewear of questionable cleanliness.
But.
She's beautiful.
Lan Zhan loves her.
And so Lan Zhan breaks first.
(Hours later Wei Ying will laugh and say, "Lan Zhan, i wasn't even naked!" and Lan Zhan will say, "Since you weren't trying, this means I can still win" and Wei Ying will say "Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart" and awaken yet another series of quickly-lost seduction games)
Lan Zhan, who has previously fantasized at length about fingering Wei Ying mid-headstand, a friendly surprise little hello, feels her mouth go dry at the sight of Wei Ying just... being fully Wei Ying. The only hydration she can think of is, honestly, Wei Ying's cunt. She comes up behind Wei Ying, standing with her front pressed against Wei Ying's back.
Wei Ying, expecting an escalation from Lan Zhan, freezes. What filthy thing is Lan Zhan going to whisper in her ear?
The filthy thing is, apparently, a mumbled "is this okay" approximately .02 seconds before Lan Zhan pushes a hand down the front of Wei Ying's sweatpants and finds out just how much underwear she's not wearing.
Her hand flexes. She puts her other one on Wei Ying's belly and pushes up until she's cupping a breast, thumb running rough over Wei Ying's nipple.
"Lan Zhan?" Wei Ying asks, shocked to have actually won this battle — and accidentally, too! — as Lan Zhan strokes her fingers lower, working them through Wei Ying's slick folds until she can feel the warm wet center of her. "I mean, yeah uhhhhhh it's okay, of course it's okay."
So Lan Zhan gets Wei Ying off right there, plastered against her back, finger-fucking her, rubbing at her clit frantically with her thumb, feeling the shape of Wei Ying's breasts under her hand instead of imagining it from that exercise-only string bikini. She presses her face against Wei Ying's neck, mouthing against the skin, teasing it with her teeth. Her face is damp. She tells herself it's from sweat, as Wei Ying arches her neck and tilts her head back against Lan Zhan's shoulder to give her better access, gasping. Wei Ying's hands are still sudsy. She drops the scrub-brush when Lan Zhan fucks her first finger into her, in order to grip the edge of the sink tight and keep from falling down.
She slumps against Lan Zhan's chest as she comes.
Then Lan Zhan is grabbing her hips, whirling her around, quick and disorienting. Wei Ying drapes her sudsy hands around Lan Zhan's neck and spreads her legs, planting them to stabilize herself. She kisses Lan Zhan, desperate, longing, finally. On the lips, not on the cheek. A culmination of years of flirting and nearly four months of a pointed seduction game.
Lan Zhan reaches down long enough to tug Wei Ying's thigh up between her legs and grinds against it. She doesn't have to grind for very long. She's pretty sure Wei Ying can feel how wet she is, even between the fabric of Wei Ying's sweat pants and Lan Zhan's leggings and panties.
As she shudders through the aftershocks of her orgasm, Wei Ying kisses her cheeks and forehead and lips.
"I win," she whispers.
Lan Zhan grunts at her.
Lan Zhan gets to win too, in a way! Wei Ying runs a damp hand down Lan Zhan's quaking side and kisses her just under her ear. "Take me to bed?" she asks.
It takes Lan Zhan a moment to pull herself together enough to respond. She reaches past Wei Ying's shoulder, grabs the single remaining dildo in the dish drainer, and then slots her free hand into Wei Ying's.
"Okay."