Chapter Text
The sun had set by the time they made it back, thanks to Cheng Xiaoshi insisting on getting ice cream from the other side of town. They'd dropped Qiao Ling off on the way. There had been no hitches on the road there.
The surprise however, barged into their studio.
Xixi had fallen asleep on Lu Guang's shoulders. His arms felt stiff as a board. Cheng Xiaoshi had taken her into his arms and told him to "Rest up those noodle arms" while he tucked her in. Lu Guang nodded gratefully and decided he would lay down for a while too.
That was his plan at least, before the doorbell rang.
He turned around, ready to tell that customer that sorry, but they were closed today and they would have to come back tomorrow.
Only, it wasn't a customer that had walked in.
A small boy with bubblegum pink hair, equally pink eyes and clothes that had seen better days. His hair was rumpled and limp in a way that said this kid had not had a shower in a while. He was fragile-thin in a way that suggested a lack of food but the look on his face was one of a hunter ready to pounce, a mix of desperation and anger mixed into one clawing expression - or maybe it was of a cornered prey, baring its fangs at the enemy.
Most notably, there was a knife pointed right at Lu Guang.
"Where is my sister?" The boy shouted, even as the handle of the knife trembled in his hands. "I know she's here! What did you do to her? Where is she?"
Lu Guang froze.
"Tell me where she is!" He jabbed the knife in Lu Guang's direction, taking a step closer. "Or I'll- I'm not scared to hurt you! Where is my sister?"
They stared at each other in a tense silence, waiting for the other to make a move first until the thud of heavy footsteps coming downstairs grew louder.
At the sudden noise, the boy panicked and charged forward like a bull that saw red. Arms raised, blade pointed at the white-haired man before him that dared take the only person he had left. If they'd so much as lay a finger on her, he'd kill them, he'd kill them-
A figure whizzed past. The knife in his hands fell with a loud clang against the tiles and he found himself pinned to the floor.
Li Tianchen gritted his teeth even as half his face felt cold from being pressed against the ground and kicked back as hard as he could. Kick kick kick, wherever he could - mostly aiming for the chest but only reaching the arms - until, in a moment of desperation, he turned his head around and bit down onto the hand holding him.
There was a very loud curse and he was quickly let go of, which he used the split second of distraction to crawl back to where the knife had landed. He stood up, whipped around, and poised his weapon at ready.
He took in the features of the man before him. Black hair, longer than the white-haired guy's. Taller too, and wearing a yellow jacket. He was nursing the angry bite mark on the back of his hand, which Li Tianchen took great satisfaction from.
"Give back my sister!" He yelled again, "I know she's here! I saw you two taking her into the studio, where is she?" He was outnumbered two against one, backed into a corner where he couldn't get to the door as easily and they were definitely stronger than him. But he had a weapon.
He took an impulsive step forward, brandishing it in the air but the black-haired man did not even move back or flinch. Why wasn't he scared, why wasn't he scared?
Instead, the man gave him a strange look and lowered himself down on one knee. He raised his hands up to his head (even the one with small droplet of blood trickling down), palms facing Li Tianchen. When he spoke, it wasn't with anger or even fear. "I'm not going to hurt you." It was the gentlest tone the boy had heard in a while. "Your sister's safe. You can see her but can you put the knife down first?"
It was a trap, right? Li Tianchen's eyes darted between the two men, one in front of him and one still frozen in front of the counter. It was a trick to get him to let go and they'd attack. He wouldn't let that happen, not when he hadn't seen Xixi yet.
There was another thud of footsteps down the stairs, this time much lighter. All three heads turned towards the source at once.
"Xiao Xi!"
The blade in his hands fell to the floor in his excitement as he rushed past the taller man to his little sister. He hugged her tight, and she hugged back before pulling away and shaking her by the shoulders.
"Xixi, why did you go? I told you to stay put and you left! I told you, you can't trust people and you follow these strangers! Why don't you listen to me?"
She signed guiltily, "Hungry."
"I was working on it, okay?" Li Tianchen bristled. He started shaking her even harder. "I was trying to get food, that's why I had to leave! All you had to do was stay put so I could get back to you! Why can't you listen?"
He stared at her, desperate for her to understand. She looked away. "Why can't you listen...?"
She made a small whimper at the back of her throat, slowly turning into a sniffle until tears started to well up in her eyes.
"No, don't cry, Xiao Xi- don't cry, I didn't want to yell at you." He let go of her shoulders before hugging her again. "Don't cry, I'm sorry. Don't cry, okay?" He cupped her face and wiped the tears away with his palm. "Let's get out of here, I've got you."
He made to take her hand but she pushed back, shaking her head furiously. "No? What do you mean?"
She shook her head again, this time pointing to Cheng Xiaoshi before signing, "Stay."
"Stay?" Li Tianchen repeated, clenching his fists at his side. The fear and anger he'd tried to tamp down was back again. "We're not staying! Let's go!"
He roughly grabbed her wrist and dragged them both to the door. Even as she dug her heels into the floor, he was much stronger. "Stop doing that!" He barked at her. "We're going!"
Cheng Xiaoshi stepped forward, ready to stop them but a hand fell on his shoulder. He whipped around and looked at Lu Guang incredulously. His partner had a small frown and was shaking his head. The cat doorbell rang just as Cheng Xiaoshi opened his mouth to argue, distracting him for a moment from what he was about to say as he watched the door swing shut.
"We have to go after them!" He pulled himself free from the hold but Lu Guang was right in front of him not a second later, staring at him seriously. "Cheng Xiaoshi, listen to me," he said calmly. "Let them be."
"Let them be?! Lu Guang, how could you-"
A finger pressed to his lips. His partner was slightly shorter so he had to look down but he was taken off guard by how close Lu Guang had stopped to him. "Let me finish," he chided softly, "they've been surviving on their own for a while and they know where the studio is. We can't force them to come to us. The boy is right, we're nothing more than strangers to them."
"But-"
"We can't force them to accept our help if they don't want it but we'll keep an eye out in the meantime, understood?"
"I-" Xiaoshi opened his mouth again, but snapped it shut after taking a pause. He looked away, not liking what Lu Guang said but he was right. "Fine," he snapped.
He didn't mean for it to come out so harshly. It wasn't really Lu Guang's fault at all but he just felt so...
A hand landed on his shoulder. His partner's eyes were crinkled upwards lightly in understanding that he wasn't sure he deserved and he was looking at him so kindly Cheng Xiaoshi's heart almost did a little flip.
"I'm just...going to go take a nap upstairs."
Lu Guang nodded, not saying anything else. He left the room, feeling a pair of eyes follow him.
They came to a stop in a hidden alleyway not too far from the studio.
Li Tianchen turned to his sister immediately, ready to yell but the anxious downturn of her mouth made him pause before slowing down.
"Xiao Xi..." He knelt down. "Listen, okay?"
She nodded, still looking at him with teary eyes.
"You can't just follow strangers, okay? Not- not everyone is nice." Not everyone could be trusted, she needed to understand that. "We're lucky they didn't do anything. What if they hurt you? What if they were just pretending to be nice?"
She didn't respond, only kept her head low.
He patted her head. "Let's go, I got food."
She nodded again, and the twins left, hand-in-hand.
They weren't fighting but they weren't not not-fighting either.
Cheng Xiaoshi has been quieter over the past days.
They were still talking just fine but there were less mindless video game sounds, less pointless banter for the sake of just fooling around and no mop of black hair peeking up between the railings of his bunk bed in the mornings with a whiny "Lu Guanggggg, wake up you old man, you'll sleep in till noon!"
Cheng Xiaoshi has been sleeping in later than him, the culprit easily guessable from the tossing and turning he'd hear below before he fell asleep. He was spending more time in the darkroom during the day too.
Lu Guang knew he wasn't mad at him. If Cheng Xiaoshi needed space, he'd give it. It had been raining on and off as well, which certainly didn't help. His partner had never liked the rain in contrast to him.
Hence his being out on a grocery run alone before the rain started.
He didn't mind some alone time where he could wander with his thoughts while tracing the familiar path from the closest market back home. It was nice.
Lu Guang opened up his umbrella, making sure the bag in his hand was covered from rain before stepping out. He walked calmly, navigating the rush of crowds, some also opening up their umbrellas and others running for shelter.
His steps faltered when he saw a short pink blur rush past. He turned around, offering a small sorry as the people behind suddenly stumbled into him. The figure had turned on that corner, hadn't they? Before he could give himself time to hesitate, Lu Guang's feet were already carrying him along the trail.
He turned into a small alley, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. There wasn't much, just a dumpster and empty crates stacked on top of each other. Stacked in a very specific way, he noted.
As he walked closer to the end of the alley, Lu Guang deliberately took care to make his footsteps louder. The sand and grit on the bricked ground made a rough squelching noise when mixed with the rain.
"Those wooden boxes have too many gaps. You're going to get cold."
The pink-haired boy appeared right away, standing protectively, teeth bared. "How did you find us?" He growled.
"Coincidence, I was in the area and saw you." Lu Guang replied calmly and raised the arm holding the grocery bag up a little so he could see.
"And you followed me."
"Yes, I doubted you had anything to keep you from the rain."
The boy's intense gaze faltered for a split second before returning just as fierce. "That's none of your business."
"No, I guess not," Lu Guang hummed, but he stretched out the umbrella towards the boy all the same.
He reeled back, and yelled, "We're not coming with you! I don't know what you and that other guy said to my little sister but we're not staying! Go away!"
"I'm not asking you to come, I'm giving you the umbrella."
Lu Guang's hand was still outstretched in offer, as if taming a feral cat. He was starting to get soaked too but at least there wasn't much other than vegetables and sealed packs of instant noodles in the grocery bag. Li Tianchen studied him warily.
"I'll leave it here then." He took a step forward and put the umbrella on the ground. The boy watched his every move with beady eyes, not moving but not stopping him either. Then, he took out a few bowls of instant noodles and placed them under the umbrella.
"It's better if you have somewhere to cook it but hot water works fine. Leave it for longer if you can only get cold. Crush them in your palms first, they absorb water faster that way."
Li Tianchen stared between him and the food in disbelief.
"It's better than nothing," Lu Guang continued, "it's what I used to do when...back in university."
He tilted his head up at the sky, noticing that the rain had gotten heavier. With no more reasons to stay, he turned around, leaving with one less umbrella and three bowls of instant noodles.
Hopefully Cheng Xiaoshi wouldn't mind. Probably not.