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Xiang Fei’s life has never been easy, but it hasn't been particularly hard either. His life was, and always would be, average. He had an average childhood; he never needed anything money-wise, but always wanted it. His parents divorced when he was a teenager, but his mother got remarried a year later. He had a broke college life, living on stale ramen cups, but he was never dirt poor.
Yes, Xiang Fei’s life had always been average, until he had hit twenty-three.
After dropping out of college in his second year, Xiang Fei had taken a random office job. Early mornings and late evenings. He would take the train to and from work, and cracked open a cold one (of Pokémon cards) before — not — sleeping, then the cycle repeated.
After a month of this, he suddenly got a boost of creativity. At first, Xiang Fei had gone to college for a literary degree, something to do with writing, before that crashed and burned before his eyes. But now, on his morning and evening train sessions, he pumped out words like they were candy, writing at least 10 thousand words per session.
And thus his baby was born, Proud Immortal Demon Way. On a whim, and not wanting his creative genius to be wasted, he had uploaded the first 50 chapters onto a free web novel site. Then, a week later, the views had skyrocketed.
People loved it, and continued to love it as it progressed! But, with popularity came hate. People were obviously interested in an Xianxia setting, demons, cultivators, all kinds of sorcery and whatnot, but people loved it for the opportunities it gave, specifically in the romance interest.
It didn’t take long until the pressure of donations weighed on him, and his once sub-interesting web novel spiralled into straight-up written porn. It wasn’t even that good! He only knew some things from pornhub! And instead of watching it for entertainment, he had to study that shit religiously!
His passion project was slowly losing its captivating spark, at least for him anyway, but it paid the bills, and he even had the opportunity to actually quit his job and still stay afloat financially!
It was around chapter 230, the main story was practically wrapped up, he was just milking the sex scenes to make a decent buck, when his unenthusiasm was starting to show in his writing. It just didn’t hit the same as it used to.
So, to save his budding career as a writer, Xiang Fei decided a change of scenery was the play! Or, better yet, a return of scenery! Screw his stuffy flat and creaky bed (or computer setup if he was feeling super fancy) and hello stuffy train and creaky cart!
Sitting back in his usual spot, laptop in his lap, his fingers stilled, waiting for the creativity to come back. It didn’t.
He tried everything! Changed the spot, changed the time, changed the train, and nothing worked! Maybe it wasn’t the train, maybe it was the job? No, that couldn’t be it! He started to feel the fatigue of writing while he was still working!
After a month of this experiment, more dry chapters were released on the regular (he needed to stay consistent!), and he gave up. For another week of just nothing, he decided to try one last time. He didn’t bring his laptop or his headphones, just himself.
It was early morning once more, though he had assumed his sleep schedule had fucked itself up once more after he didn’t need to wake up at the ass crack of dawn for work, the plague of his thoughts decided to wake him up anyway. He sat in the train for half an hour, riding the lines back and forth.
It still didn’t work.
Xiang Fei sighed, about to get off and return home, when a piece of paper hit him square in the head. It was filled with a bunch of business jargon, nothing that interested him, but it still ticked him off.
Did someone throw this at me? Did they think I was some homeless guy sleeping or something?
Looking down at his attire, he could see where that impression could have come from.
Still, he sat up and looked around his cart, glaring at anyone who seemed suspicious. No one was looking at him, or even looked slightly guilty. There was one lady, dressed in a comfy cardigan sporting a drink in her hand and staring down at her phone, but other than that it was only middle aged business men.
It must have been one of those asshats. But none of them paid him any attention! Some were on their phones, some were looking through their belongings, and some were just staring out the window. (There was even one guy actually sleeping! Poor guy, must have shit hours. Man, I don’t envy him.)
Grumbling, he grabbed the document. Out of spite, he refused to return it. They were either careless with their belongings or they actually threw them at him. He didn’t bother reading the information on it; he didn’t care that much, but he did grab a pencil from his pocket. (Why does he have a pencil? Who knows, he always writes digitally)
Xiang Fei chose to spend his remaining time drawing a few doodles. Some were crude, just general faceless figures making goofy expressions, before they slowly started to develop into something more. Xiang Fei was no artist; he could draw, but he wasn’t a professional or anything. But sitting in that train, something alighted from within him.
First, he had drawn the top half of a male. It was a starting drawing, to gain the figure first, before the features started to develop.
Their eyes were sharp, almost feline-like. They held strength, like they could snap you in two with a simple glare alone. Then their mouth, a scowl. Two teeth sticking out like a goblin's, sharp, pointy, but hot. Then, their eyebrows, frowning, deepset. They were thin, even for males. With the face done, he moved on to the hair. It was long, dead straight, and Xiang Fei had decided to shade it with the lead. Moving down, they wore a fur coat, the skin of an animal they had hunted. And, with his ears warming, he had drawn a rather busty chest poking out from his — shirtless obviously — attire.
It perfectly encapsulated what he had always envisioned Mobei Jun’s appearance to be. Mobei Jun, a lesser character of PIDW — Luo Binghe’s right-hand man — and Xiang Fei’s favourite.
So what if he made his fictional ideal man into his books? Sue him! He likes big, busty men!
His initial sketch of Mobei Jun slowly delved into sketches of the main cast. Luo Binghe, Ning Yingying, Liu Mingyan, Shen Qingqiu (now there’s a handsome man, but his scowl just didn’t hold the same shuddering effect that Mobei Jun’s did), Sha Hualing, and so forth.
He had just finished a short sketch of a potential new wife when his stop arrived. He was practically beaming with joy as he hopped off the train, walking home with a skip in his step.
Maybe his novel wasn’t over with after all.
After a few sketches of his had been uploaded along with more chapters, everyone freaked. Apparently, they loved it; seeing their favourites be depicted physically added to the aesthetic of it all. He had even gotten more publicity because of it.
With said publicity came offers. One company had reached out and wanted to buy his book profits! Apparently, they wanted to make it into a marketable graphic novel set! It was a major upgrade in his indie career!
He had agreed almost immediately, on the one condition that he got to work on and have final say on all designs and storyboards. They had agreed almost instantly. Having the original creator draw most of the graphic designs would add great publicity, especially for indie projects.
And so his graphic novels were released one by one! It didn’t hit it super big, but he definitely had a bigger fanbase! Hitting almost the millions (fingers crossed for the new year!)
But his sponsors weren’t done yet. With his fifth graphic novel release, fans were not expecting it to be the final. With the release of the graphic novels, Xiang Fei had neglected uploading new chapters, or so his fans thought.
While signing off on the deal, he had a clause that prevented him from releasing the finale of PIDW, saving it for the final graphic novel first.
Fans went wild. They had not been expecting this twist, and they were drooling over it.
Along with the finale release, Xiang Fei had also signed off on his first meet and greet at a local con! Honestly, his company were geniuses.
Xiang Fei, being the antisocial dweeb that he has always identified himself to be, had not been expecting the velocity of how many fans would actually show up.
It was a big con, and he wasn’t the only famous (can he really call himself that now!?) person in attendance, but holy shit, there was still a voluminous line waiting in his queue.
Xiang Fei’s ego was boosted sky high, and he was most definitely posturing with a lot of his fans, but who could blame him? He had never been popular before! People teased him all through school for his ‘NEET’ interests. But now? Now everybody loves him!
“What the fuck is this?” A hand slammed down on his table, a book underneath the person's palm. Xiang Fei looked up to see a scrawny man, though naturally beautiful, he must admit, absolutely fuming.
“I’m sorry?”
“This ending. What the fuck, Aeroplane?” Xiang Fei barely got two words in before this ‘fan’ started rambling on about his novel's ending. How it was ‘trash’ and ‘unoriginal’ and a ‘real let down’
“I mean, do you even care about your fucking protagonist? He seemed so miserable in the end!”
“B-But he had his wives—?”
“Those NPC’s? Sure, I can admit the main three may care about him, but you lost the plot at wife number five! Jesus, all my time dedicated to this slop! Fuck!” The people behind him started to stir at the dude, annoyed by the holdup.
“Come on, man! If you hated it so much, then why did you read all 300 chapters and buy the completed graphic novel set?” Xiang Fei wasn’t sure how the person behind his anti-fan could have been so sure that he had the completed set, but the fact that he didn’t refute it was enough of an answer.
“Hey, aren’t you that Shen kid? The youngest of that really popular company, right?” The person, who was no doubt about to go on yet another tangent, paused. He was wearing a hood and a cap, but he wasn’t fooling anyone. At being recognised, the man quickly pulled his cap closer to his face, grabbed his signed copies, and skedaddled.
So, that was how Xiang Fei had met his best friend.
It was water under the bridge; Xiang Fei honestly found the story hilarious. After getting home from the con, he had received a personal dm with a donation attached to it.
It was from his biggest anti-fan, Peerless Cucumber. This @ had been stalking his web novel since chapter 65, and had, at first, enjoyed it. He was one of the bigger early donations, all supportive, until his novel started to change, getting more raunchy.
Peerless Cucumber had a lot to say about the transition, and since then, had become an enigma in his fanbase.
With the unexpected donation, he opened the dm. He was surprised to see an apology for their actions at the con — oh my god, nepo Shen was Peerless Cucumber holy shit — and how it was completely immature and senseless.
After talking for a bit, they had grown closer. Xiang Fei could happily admit Shen Yuan was his best friend, though Shen Yuan couldn’t (he doesn’t have any other friends, so he doesn’t know why Shen Yuan even bothers), but still, they were close.
After being friends for months, Xiang Fei decided to share his secretest secret to his fame.
“Behold!” Xiang Fei gestured dramatically to a stained subway train seat. Shen Yuan’s nose curled at the sight, his rich ass never having had to grace such a place before. Seeing the clear unexcitement at the spectacle, Xiang Fei decided to backtrack.
“Ah, come on, man! Don’t shake it till you try it!” Xiang Fei flopped onto his seat, patting the one next to it.
“I’m good.” Xiang Fei shrugged him off, choosing to instead grab out his new sketching pad.
“Fine, step back and watch the magic happen!” Xiang Fei, after taking a moment to absently look around, take in the atmosphere, and take a large whiff of the air, began.
“You’re fucking disgusting.” Xiang Fei chose to ignore the jab, instead already locked in to his new artpiece. It wasn’t a large shock that he had started off with Mobei Jun; he was his usual creative model to really kickstart the day of doodles.
Xiang Fei hadn’t even noticed when the seat beside him sank underneath Shen Yuan’s weight, or the peering eyes over his shoulder. It was a few more minutes before he had a sharp intake.
“Dude…” Xiang Fei looked up to see Shen Yuan slightly pale, looking straight at Xiang Fei.
“What?”
“Do you do this every time?” Xiang Fei’s eyebrow rose, and he nodded. Is riding the subway really so weird for creative inspo? Shen Yuan just shook his head.
“That’s so fucking creepy, man…” Xiang Fei was even more confused.
“What is?” Shen Yuan looked back up again, as if only just realising that, fuck, Xiang Fei doesn’t even know what he’s doing. Two hands suddenly grabbed his face, wrenching his head to turn to his left and look at the seat almost directly opposite him and—
Fuck.
Seated straight, staring out the train window, sat a large man. He had short black hair, icy eyes, a scowl, and looked exactly like who he was currently sketching.
“No fucking way…” Xiang Fei mumbled, finally starting to understand just why he had so much artistic inspiration in this cart.
“How could you not fucking know you were drawing some stranger every day?” Xiang Fei ignored him, ripping out the sketch paper and scrunching it into a tight ball of humiliation.
“That’s it. I got to go MIA. I can’t move on. What if he’s seen my books?! He’s on cover two! Fuck fuck fuck!” Xiang Fei’s hands fisted into his curly hair, yanking.
“For some reason, I doubt that hunk would read your nerdy novels, dude…” Shen Yuan awkwardly patted his back.
Not knowing how to move on from this revelation, Xiang Fei quickly got up from his seat and started power walking towards the doors. He wasn’t expecting the sudden bustle of the train when it stopped, stumbling back onto his ass — gaining the attention of the handsome stranger — before booking it straight out of there.
“Nope nope nope nope nope—” Xiang Fei didn’t look back.
It had been weeks since he had left his bedroom, too mortified to look at anything that wasn’t his black duvet cover.
He had ignored all calls from his manager, his parents, and Shen Yuan. His life as Xiang Fei — the semi-successful author — was over! Done for! He could just wither away!
“Get up, you pansy!” His bedroom door slammed open, and Shen Yuan stomped in, ripping off his comfort duvet.
“Hey! How’d you get in?!” Xiang Fei cried, still desperately trying to reach for his beloved.
“You gave me a spare, jackass. You were worried about being left alone for too long after you had that nightmare where you died after electrocuting yourself with your pc.” Shen Yuan grabbed his ankle, yanking him hard off his mattress.
“Now get up and get dressed, we've got to go.” Shen Yuan was already shuffling through his closet, chucking a bunch of his printed tees to the corner of the room, trying to find something decent — by his standards — for Xiang Fei to wear.
“Where?” Xiang Fei grumbled, his voice muffled by the floor that he had yet to move from.
“I got you a date.” Xiang Fei shot straight up, as if unbelieving of what he just heard.
“Fucking excuse me?”
“You heard me. I was sick of you wasting years of your life unintentionally drooling over some random guy, so I did something about it. He’s waiting out in your lounge room.” Xiang Fei quickly shuffled over to his bedroom door, ripping it open to see no one. Shen Yuan scoffed, chucking a plain button-up at his face along with a pair of worn-down jeans.
“What, do you think I’m an idiot? Of course, I wouldn’t invite someone random to your house. But he is waiting for you at the coffee shop near the station. Go if you want, I don’t care.” Shen Yuan grabbed Xiang Fei’s phone and keys, chucking them at the other.
“Why the fuck would you do that?!” Xiang Fei yelled, and yet he was still hastily changing nonetheless.
“Look, first off, I didn’t track him down; he called after me when he saw you run off like an idiot. Second, you’re my.. friend or whatever, and I want you to be happy… Or whatever.” Shen Yuan clicked his tongue, arms crossed. Xiang Fei couldn’t help but coo.
“Aww! You’re such a tsunder— Eh!?” Xiang Fei fell back when one of his plushes hit him square in the face, laughing hard as Shen Yuan stormed out.
Xiang Fei was screwed. So unbelievably screwed. He shouldn’t have made fun of Shen Yuan and consequently made him leave. He needed support for this!
The handsome stranger was sitting at an outside table, a drink sat in front of him, untouched. He was scowling, looking out to the street, and still was so damn hot! He wasn’t wearing his work suit this time, but he was still wearing a suit — and even better one!
At least the one from before was somewhat modest; this one didn’t even bother to shamelessly outline this man’s unbelievable package in front!
And yes, he meant his chest, not…
“Don’t think about that, don’t think about that! Xiang Fei, whatever you do, do not think about that man’s dick—”
“Xiang Fei?” Xiang Fei nearly fell face-first into the asphalt when he heard such a voice call his name.
“Y-yes?” Xiang Fei shot his head up, locking eyes with the other. The man gestured with his fingers to come over, and Xiang Fei would be an idiot not to comply.
“H-how did you know my name?” Xiang Fei sat in the seat across from the man, squirming under the intense gaze.
“I looked you up.” There it was. The ending line. He looked up Xiang Fei, and no doubt found his novels, and no doubt found Mobei Jun. He was fucked. He wanted to leave; he wanted to leave so bad, but that intense look kept him stuck.
“S-So… you know about…” Xiang Fei couldn’t continue; he just couldn’t admit casually, ‘hey, so I made a character with your image accidentally, my oopsie!’ and live to tell the tale!
“Mn.” Clearly, he hadn’t needed to, since the man already knew.
“Listen, I swear to you it was an accident — a coincidence — I didn’t mean to base them on you, I swear! I guess I had just seen you on the train so many times that you were stuck in my head — not stuck, not like that — like what? What am I even saying?!” Mobei Jun just listened, continuing to stare at him without saying a word.
Xiang Fei wanted to die. God, he really wished Shen Yuan was here; at least he’d get a smack up the head and finally shut up.
“I really am sorry — If you want to sue, you can! — Oh fuck, please don’t sue! — fuck, what have I done? I swear I’ll get rid of all the sketches of you, just please—”
“Date me.”
“What…?” That certainly got him to shut up. Xiang Fei’s eyes snapped up, locking back with his. He certainly didn’t hear what he just thought he heard, right? And yet, the man made no effort to clear it up.
“Did you just say… Date you?” The man just nodded. Huh.
“… Why?”
After a long conversation, Mobei Jun — yes, his name was actually Mobei Jun. Apparently, not only did Xiang Fei accidentally steal his face, but also his name, too. Unsurprisingly, his name — along with his face — is plastered all over their town to promote his company. Who knew Mobei Jun was so popular? Did others make that connection too?! — had revealed that he had been down bad for Xiang Fei for years as well, but he had known about his crush. (Unlike a certain someone)
“You… Liked me? Why?”
“Well… I hadn’t, at first, even noticed you. But one day I had been late for work, and one of my documents had slipped out of my hands and flew over to your seat,” More like his face, but whatever. “I had planned to go over and retrieve it, but you had already started drawing on it.” Xiang Fei shrank back, feeling embarrassed by his past actions. “You had looked very pretty sitting there, and I guess I have been—”
“Hopelessly in love with me ever since?” Mobei Jun nodded, and Xiang Fei grinned, smug.
“Well, I guess I’ve been hopelessly in love with you ever since, too…” Xiang Fei’s cheeks warmed, but his dopey grin was still present.
“False. You didn’t even know I existed until a few weeks ago. I win.”
“Uhm, not true! I’ve liked Mobei Jun much longer, so hah! I win!” Mobei Jun scowled, not one to enjoy losing. Xiang Fei backpedalled, immediately admitting defeat.
“You win! You win! You’re the longest hopeless romantic! I concede!”