Working with my Idol! And lover? (zhanyi)

Chapter eleven

"You know," the pale blond started. "You're quite special, Xixi."

He yawned as he pushed himself into the covers even more. Zhan Zhengxi was on the chair infront of his bed, listening to whatever Jian Yi was telling him.

"How?" the other asked quietly.

"You are the reason." he pointed a finger. "Why I love to act."

Zhan Zhengxi nodded and gave a small smile.

"Why?"

"When I was thirteen I wanted to be like you." Jian Yi replied slowly. He was tired but he wanted to get the message out before falling asleep. "I wanted to perform on screen beautifully and not be myself. I didn't want to be a loser in high school who struggled on physics all the time and had to use his older brother for protection from bullies. Play a character who is much cooler than me and everyone loves them."

"Wanna know my inspiration for becoming an actor?" Zhan Zhengxi stood up and slid onto the other side of the bed, next to Jian Yi.

"You were only fourteen when I first saw you." Jian Yi laughed softly. "Let's hear your inspiration." and he turned to the other.

"At the age of twelve and a half, I was walking down the street with my younger sister." Zhan Zhengxi said. "We stopped when we heard some loud noises coming from a small tent. There was a line. A short one but a line. Forgetting about Ma's shopping list, we joined the queue and bought some tickets to watch a show. There I saw a whole play on the topic of some weird fantasy story. But man, I loved it. I wanted to be that stupid hybrid of a tiger and butterfly so bad." he started to laugh and Jian Yi grinned. His story seemed so silly but at least it wasn't some sort of 'escape'. His smile quickly faded when he was reminded about his own 'inspiration' and carried on listening.

"So I asked Ma about it and she let me practise. Only I had to make sure to keep this as a hobby, and not allow it to become my job in future." Zhan Zhengxi frowned. "So anyway, I auditioned for the series as Matteo and I got it! You must know the series was quite different at the time as we were only kids. Of course you do, aha.. I told Ma to trust the process and slowly I gained popularity."

"I also knew who you were, Jian Yi." he continued. "I thought you were much better than me at acting. You seemed so.. real...? How do I explain.. I mean you are really good with playing a character. You can make me fee any emotion at any time." he complimented. "I asked She Li if we could ask you to play as Matteo and I could be Hugo. I wanted to be in his position and understand what he was going through. And then the fear of being hated as much as Matteo did towards Hugo bugged me for a long time. I wanted to be cold to you at first but.. I just couldn't."

"Yeah, ahah! I remember! You called me Mr Jian." Jian Yi cackled. "I was quite worried we'd never be able to get along. You know.. I was gonna quit after this movie."

"Why would you resign?" Zhan Zhengxi inquired with concern in his voice.

"I mean.. you were the only reason why I wanted to act. And something happened — don't ask me, I don't know either — and I gave up everything." he explained. "But I decided to make my goal to meet you before leaving the entertainment industry. So now that I did.. I feel troubled because I love acting. But only with you." he admitted the last part sheepishly.

He was quiet for a few minutes but he soon spoke. "Then go. Find something you really love instead of something you love only because of someone else. I believe that would help you." Zhan Zhengxi suggested.

Jian Yi contemplated this for a moment, before it turned into minutes, then hours, and now days.

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