My YWY3 Archive Pile

by vegetablebirb

Summary:

Please enjoy these bites of stories (with various ships) that never got fleshed out fully.

Chapter 1: Preface

Hi folks,

It’s been a while and I’m not sure if anyone is still reading anything about Youth With You 3 as it has been nearly 2- wait, holy shit - 3 years now. Wow, time sure flies. I’ve been rewatching the last season recently since all the episodes and extra content are available on YouTube now ahhaha. I was also sifting through some of my old WIPs and found many projects that have been abandoned when I stopped writing. On the off chance a fellow fan comes across this, I hope you enjoy these bites of stories that never got fleshed out fully.

Have a good one,

~iwi 🌻

Chapter 2: Tang Jiuzhou / Luo Yizhou [Behind Closed Doors]

Summary:

This scene was cut from the original fic as I couldn't figure out how to work it in.

Jiuzhou sang ‘Gravitation’ because a few of the younger cast members pleaded with him to join them. Yizhou smiled when Jiuzhou sang his lines and pointed at him. Jiuzhou was glad the dim lighting hid his blush.

Jiuzhou knew he was singing badly, but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d enjoyed karaoke so much.

He was curious what song Yizhou would choose. Maybe some kind of patriotic piece?

Jiuzhou couldn’t have been more wrong.

Jiuzhou knew he was completely done for when the first notes of Gen Neo’s ‘Stop Sugar’ poured from the speakers.

Objectively speaking (completely objective!), Luo Yizhou was an attractive guy. Like really attractive. Jiuzhou had eyes after all.

He was utterly entranced. The way Yizhou smirked while singing the lyrics was driving him insane. Forget butterflies, Jiuzhou’s chest was full of feral moths slamming themselves face first into a lamp at 50 miles per hour.

Oh no, Yizhou was doing body rolls now.

Jiuzhou commanded himself to look away. But his eyes refused to obey, remaining glued to Yizhou’s slim figure.

Yizhou held his gaze and Jiuzhou felt pinned down by Yizhou’s eyes. He barely registered Yizhou walking up to him until Yizhou had dropped himself into Jiuzhou’s lap.

The other cast members screeched in delight and nearly all the cameras in the room swiveled to focus on the two of them.

Yizhou’s voice broke as he attempted to hit a high note. He rolled off of Jiuzhou’s lap in laughter and thankfully didn’t return. Jiuzhou didn’t know how much more his poor heart could take.

Chapter 3: Luo Yizhou / Yu Jingtian [untitled]

Yizhou pushed the door open. Liang Sen was already asleep in his bed and Shi Qi was standing over him watching him slumber. Shi Qi straightened when they came in, but quickly resumed his fixation on Liang Sen’s bald head.

“Shi Qi, again?” Jingtian hissed at the boy in dialect.

“I need my daily fix!” Shi Qi whispered back.

The four of them froze as Liang Sen shifted in his sleep.

“My head--” he mumbled, not waking. “Shi Qi -- I swear...I’ll kill you.”

Shi Qi giggled quietly. Yizhou shook his head as he watched Shi Qi confidently reach out and placed his hand on Liang Sen’s head. Shi Qi nodded with satisfaction, removed his hand, and left the room without saying another word.

Jingtian hippity-hopped over to his bunk on his good leg.

 

Yizhou blinked awake a little after 7AM. He sat up quietly, not wanting to disturb Jingtian from his much needed sleep. As Yizhou swung his feet over the side of the bed, he felt a hand tug at his wrist.

“Ge…” Jingtian mumbled sleepily, face still buried in the blankets. “Stay.”

Maybe it was the way the weak rays of sunlight barely peeked their way through the crack of the curtains. Perhaps it was the ambient sounds of Liang Sen’s snores. Or the feeling of Jingtian’s fingers clinging to his wrist.

But for whatever the reason, Yizhou laid back down on the bed and slept in for the first time in years.

Chapter 4: Qiu Danfeng / Chen Yugeng [Chronicles of a Campus Matchmaker]

Summary:

*sigh* Sometimes I think the reason I never finish things is because I love slow burns too much lol

“This is weird,” Danfeng said decidedly.

Yizhou took a pensive bite of his burger. It left a small smear of ketchup on his upper lip, making him a little less perfect and a little more human. “It doesn’t have to be. Do you want to do an icebreaker or something?”

Danfeng shook his head. “I guess I just wanted to talk to someone. Someone with answers?”

Yizhou raised his eyebrow as he shoved a few fries into his mouth. “I spent a whole semester waffling over whether I should ask Jiuzhou out only to have him ask first, and you think I have answers?”

Danfeng sat back in his seat, stumped.

“I get why though. It’s because I’m like you.”

“Like me?”

Yizhou nodded sagely, finishing up the last of the fries. Danfeng slid his nuggets over to him, not having much of an appetite. Yizhou promptly stuffed two in his mouth.

“We’re not really talkers, just listeners. Observant of others.” Yizhou took another bite of his burger. “So why was Jiuzhou the only one I couldn’t figure out the right thing to say to him?”

Danfeng’s hands clenched.

“Maybe I was just scared of what I would find if I tried looking into it. That he wouldn’t like me back and I would never get over it.”

Chapter 5: Bai Ding / Wang Haoxuan [untitled]

Summary:

The 'world's stupidest checklist' idea was eventually absorbed into an NCT fic I wrote later.

The world’s stupidest checklist was penned into existence at the picnic table under the old mulberry tree in the park on a Saturday afternoon.

“What do you mean you think you two are going out?” Duan Xingxing asked Bai Ding incredulously.

“I mean that Haoxuan’s changed this past week.” Bai Ding sipped his juice box with stress. “I’m just so confused. Like sometimes he calls me bro and other times he calls me babe.”

Liu Guanyou hummed thoughtfully. “What else?”

“On Friday he leaned on my shoulder when we were on the bus?”

“That’s so cute!” Guanyou exclaimed.

“I think he was sleeping though?” Bai Ding added hastily.

Xingxing leaned forward in his seat, super invested. “And?”

“He kinda patted my head-”

“Like a dog?” Guanyou interrupted.

“Like a child?” Xingxing asked at the same time.

Bai Ding chewed his straw. “Like I was something precious.”

Xingxing pretended to puke. Guanyou threw his hands up with exasperation, “And you didn’t jump his bones?”

Bai Ding’s face burned. “What?! What does that even mean?”

Chapter 6: Niu Zaizai / Zhang Shuaibo [4AM Decisions]

Summary:

This silly, wholesome segment was trimmed to turn the fic into a more mature one for the Wang Jiachen/Yi Xuan pairing. Then after a while, it became a Valorant fic before posting lmaooo

“Stop moving! You’re gonna get your ear cut off!”

There was the sound of scissors snip snip snipping . And Niu Zaizai watched the strands of severed hair float to the ground.

“Okay, I think that’s enough.”

Zaizai lifted his head and looked in the mirror.

“Messy as hell,” he said as he ran a hand through his shaggy locks.

Shuaibo set the scissors down on the side of the sink with a definitive clang. He planted his hands on hips. “Well, that’s what you get for wanting a haircut at four in the morning. And with kitchen scissors!”

Zaizai pouted, “They were the only ones I had.”

Shuaibo blew a strand of hair out of his own face with irritation.

“Hey Shuaibo….” Zaizai said with a grin, hand creeping towards the abandoned kitchen scissors. “Your hair seems to be long too.”

Shuibo shot Zaizai a murderous look.

“Touch my hair and I will end you, Niu Zaizai. Do it, I dare you.”

Without batting an eye, Zaizai reached up and swatted at Shuaibo’s ponytail.

He shrieked as Shuaibo tackled him to the ground.

Chapter 7: Sun Yihang / Lian Huaiwei [Sun Yihang’s Field Guide to Falling in Love]

Yihang was determinedly looking away from Huaiwei because he knew - he just knew - if their eyes met, the water works would start.

He could practically feel the concern rolling off the man sitting beside him.

“Xiao Hang?”

Sh1t. The lump grew painful in his throat.

“What is it?” Yikes, the words came out a lot colder than he expected.

“Everything isn’t set in stone. Really.”

“I’m fine,” Yihang tried for a smile but failed. “I’m fine,” he repeated once more as if to convince himself.

“You won’t even look at me. You’re fine?” There was a hint of hurt in Huaiwei’s voice and Yihang felt like the biggest jerk in the world.

“What’s the matter?”

Crap, now the other members of the team were starting to turn their attention to him.

Yihang felt even worse when Duan Xingxing asked him if he was feeling down. At least he’d scraped in a few votes. He couldn’t even imagine what Xingxing must’ve been feeling.

“Nothing’s the matter. I’m pretty happy.”

He slumped back in his chair.

He bit his lip nervously, hyper aware of Huaiwei’s unwavering stare.

Moisture pricked at the corners of his eyes.

Yihang stood abruptly.

“Restroom!” he managed to croak out and made a mad dash for the door.

Huaiwei was hot on his heels and Cao Yu was tailing after them too. As Yihang sprinted down the steps towards the sideroom, he saw Yan Xi stand from his seat as well.

What a sight they must’ve been. Two guys in brightly colored suits along with another guy in a skirt chasing after a crying kid.

Chapter 8: Duan Xingxing / Liu Guanyou [Rigged]

Summary:

My greatest regret in all of this is that I never completed a Duan Xingxing/Liu Guanyou fic.

[excerpt 1]

“Look! Yinghao brought all the members on the dance team sparkly stickers!” Xingxing excitedly pulled the sheet of stickers out of his pocket and waved it in Guanyou’s face.

He began peeling the stickers off one by one and sticking them onto Guanyou’s shirt. “I saved them all just for you. The whole school needs to know that you’re my favorite.”

Guanyou felt a lump in his throat as his plain shirt was soon covered with colorful hearts. 

This felt wrong. So wrong.

The selfish want for another kind of love from his best friend. Guanyou craved it. And he felt guilty for doing so.

“Uh...I don’t have any stickers for you. But….” Guanyou dug through his bag for something, anything .

“But I do have this apple sticker with a dinosaur on it,” Guanyou lamely held it out to Xingxing. He wished the ground would swallow him up.

“Thanks, I love it!” Xingxing stuck the fruit label right in the middle of the giant heart sticker Guanyou had seen Yinghao put on him earlier. Guanyou told himself it didn’t mean anything.

 

[excerpt 2]

Guanyou was packing up his equipment when he caught sight of the familiar questionnaire. Ha! Xingxing had made fun of Guanyou for holding onto the questionnaire when he had kept it too.

Guanyou tugged the sheet of paper out of Xingxing’s folder and read through his responses.

Most of them were pretty generic. Star sign (Capricorn). Hobbies (dancing and yo-yo, though Guanyou was surprised he hadn’t put basketball).

But when he got to the more specific questions, Guanyou thought it started to get a little strange.

He felt a sudden jolt when he got to the ideal height question. They had left checkboxes for taller versus shorter and a blank for the student to put their own height.

Xingxing had marked the box for ‘shorter’ and instead of writing his own height on the blank, he had written ‘preferably around 172.5cm’ with a winky face.

172.5cm.

That was Guanyou’s height.

 

[excerpt 3]

Chang Huasen, dressed up in a dashing suit, looked surprised to see him. “Guanyou? I thought you weren’t coming...”

“Please let me in.”

“But tickets-”

Guanyou clasped his hands in front of his chest, the universal sign of begging. “Please please please. It’ll only be for a bit.”

For a second, it looked as if Huasen was going to agree. But then he shook his head, “I’m sorry, Guanyou. You know I love you, but I can’t just let you in.”

Guanyou nodded in concession and began to trudge toward the exit.

He halted. Was he really just going to give up?

Guanyou spun around and sprinted around the ticketing table past one very startled Huasen, two chaperones who attempted to grab him, and into the writhing mass of dancing students.

 

“Guanyou?” He saw Xingxing’s mouth form the shape of his name, voice buried under the loud bass.

Guanyou probably looked crazy, he was sweating and periodically checking over his shoulder for the chaperones that were after him. His fit of t-shirt and sweatpants stood out like a sore thumb amongst the luxuriant formal wear of the other students attending prom.

But Xingxing was grinning at Guanyou from across the dancefloor, looking at him like he was a million bucks.