Chapter Text
the new boy walks into school all cute blue shirt and pretty smile and kind eyes, and he's an instant hit. everyone loves him. everyone wants to talk to him. after acing a biology test that half the school failed, everyone wants to ask him what a tympanic membrane is and 'zhengting, can you be my lab partner?' 'zhengting, can you tutor me?' 'zhengting, can i sit beside you in algebra?' 'zhengting, can we be teammates for p.e.?'
justin watches the sheep flock around the wolf from across the room in disgust. "why is ruibin asking him for biology help? ruibin got the highest score for the quiz!"
xinchun laughs his charming little fairy laugh and reaches across zeren to ruffle justin's hair. justin leans away so far that he knocks over chengcheng's juice into his mashed potatoes. "hey!" chengcheng exclaims, but justin doesn't listen.
"at least try not to sound so bitter," xinchun chuckles, and justin has half a mind to smack his tiny head.
"i'm not bitter," he says, eyes going back to zhengting and the thickening crowd of feeble-minded humans crowding around him. "it's just--" he's cut off by zhengting waving towards them, and struggling to get past the people around him. justin looks at the time on his watch -- a funny little thing he wears for novelty -- eight minutes to the end of lunch, it says.
he closes his eyes so that he doesn't have to see the grin on xinchun's face as he grumbles, "he said he'd eat with us today, that's all."
---
"god, i'm starving," justin sighs loudly into the air, head collapsing onto the backrest of the couch. he looks at the door and waits for the doorbell to ring, or for the sun to stop shining, or for something that doesn't seem like it'll arrive in this century.
from his place across the living room, zhengting looks at his younger brother with mild concern. he doesn't encourage this -- inviting humans into their home to feed on them, or feeding on humans at all. for one, blood is impossible to wash off the carpets. two, he's the one who has to deal with wiping memories because no one else can do it besides zeren, and zeren says he doesn't believe in forgetting. but, still, it's allowed. and zhengting doesn't want him to starve. and justin did try living off of every other blood substitute that exists once upon a time; messy little piggy he is, it goes without saying that he failed miserably.
"what time is he coming?" zhengting asks softly.
justin doesn't look up from his phone when he answers. "he said five," he grumbles, exasperation aggravated by hunger. zhengting worries more, because patience and being hungry aren't exactly justin's strong suits; it shows with the way the blue veins around his eyes keep surfacing and resurfacing. zhengting bets he isn't even aware.
"there's a bag in the fridge, if you..." he takes a gamble. it proves itself a gamble when the only answer justin has is a scrunched nose.
"i'd rather stab myself a thousand times," he says, and it's quiet until he finally looks up to see zhengting looking at him. if he wasn't so hungry, he would have laughed at how concerned his brother looked. going to high school with all of his siblings, it was easy for him to forget the immense age gap.
"it's an expression," he elaborates for zhengting's sake. "you know i only eat organic."
a loud ding dong! rings before zhengting can say anything. justin almost jumps out of the couch and breaks the door in his excitement.
"hey, chaoze!" justin greets loudly, enthusiastically, hungrily. chaoze is startled but all he does is smile. all he ever does is smile. "you got that, uh-- the... textbook?" justin can barely hear his thoughts over his hunger, so his words start tripping over each other. he's dragging his classmate in before anything else can be said.
"uh, yeah! i got the notes from last meeting, too," chaoze answers, not even allowed a hello to the people sitting in the living room because justin is pushing him up the stairs.
"watch the carpet!" zhengting yells too late -- just right after a door upstairs closes shut.
he sighs, already thinking about how much scrubbing he's going to have to do.
---
xukun is a flight risk. or, at least, he feels like one with six boys gathered around him, staring at him -- really staring at him, like he's done something wrong. he hasn't, but he's starting to wonder if he has, or if he's about to, or if he should.
"um," he coughs out.
the youngest-looking one narrows his eyes -- justin, xukun remembers vaguely. "you like zhengting, huh," is all he says. and xukun waits for more, but nothing comes, so he nods.
"uh, yeah," he answers awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck.
"where're you taking him?" one of them asks, stare unfaltering.
"to the, uh, bowling alley," he smiles. "he said he likes bowling, so. ..."
"bowling, huh," the justin one narrows his eyes so much that they disappear.
"uh ... yeah..."
"interesting." justin cocks his head once towards xukun, and xukun doesn't know what this means until a different brother is pointing a finger at him. tall, kind of scary looking, with round glasses and a turtleneck, and blonde hair.
"if you try anything funny, put your hands anywhere they shouldn't be, or make zhengting cry for some reason, like maybe stepping on his bowling shoes, or letting his fingers get stuck in a bowling ball without helping him out of it until he thinks it'll never come off and he has to get to get his fingers cut off a--"
"chengcheng!"
"right," chengcheng stops, then narrows his eyes again. "if you try any funny business, we'll make your head the bowling ball. a--"
"okay, guys, come on, enough. let him breathe," zhengting breaks through the crowd to pull xukun out of it. "sorry, i took a while. i couldn't find my bowling shirt." he smiles to apologize, and it's infectious, so xukun finds himself smiling too.
"is this it?" he grins, eyeing the gucci logo on zhengting's white sweater.
"yeah," zhengting smiles, then it breaks into a giggle, then both of them are laughing.
and justin is scrunching his nose because their happiness smells like garbage.
"okay, get out of here already. just--" he pushes them both out of the door. "have a great time," he bids them a fake-sounding goodbye.
winking at zhengting, he adds, "don't get too thirtsy, ge!"