Chapter Text
Luo Binghe kept a folder of charts on the highest shelf of the kitchen, inside the cupboard above the fridge.
It was the same shelf where he kept his box of kid-unfriendly tools – hammers, pliers, nails, and the like – because it was too high for anyone but him to reach. The box dominated the shelf, with its imposing heft and the intimidatingly sharp objects that jutted out of the top at odd angles, so it was easy to miss the cute, pink folder that lay beside it.
The folder itself was relatively unblemished, apart from the dimple in the corner where Luo Binghe always grasped it to take it down from the shelf. The papers inside, however, were crinkled to the point of resembling leather and splattered with grease stains. Each paper was meticulously segmented to record the date, the meals that Luo Binghe had made that day, how much of each dish his brothers had eaten, a distressingly blank section for any comments his brothers had made about the food, and a more filled-in section for notes about what was good or what should be avoided in the future.
In other words, neither of them would just tell him what they liked, so he had to figure it out for himself.
Hua Cheng was a food egalitarian, scarfing down anything that was put in front of him without much distinction at all. It seemed to be a holdover from his days on the street more than a true lack of preferences; he still had to be reminded that anything he didn’t finish could be saved in the fridge for later, after all. He sometimes would make little suggestions, such as using a bit more salt next time, but nothing more revealing than that.
Recently, though, he was beginning to show priorities in the order that he ate things, and Luo Binghe was observing carefully for patterns that might reveal what foods Hua Cheng actually wanted.
Lan Wangji was picky, but didn’t make his tastes obvious. He would suffer through foods he disliked out of sheer politeness and attempt to clean his plate no matter what. Furthermore, he refused to speak at all during mealtime and his comments afterward always amounted to a flat, “it was good.”
It took a long time for Luo Binghe to pick up on the fact that the way Lan Wangji organized his plate was the clue. While Hua Cheng would mix everything together and take bites indiscriminately, Lan Wangji would first divide all the types of food, seeming to be particular about which were on the side of the plate closest to him. The food nearest him he would eat in small bites and swallow without chewing, keeping his chin tucked down with the remainder of the piece held delicately near his mouth for the next nibble. The food farther away he ate in larger bites that he took time to chew, his conspicuously empty chopsticks allowed to rest in his hand on the table. He alternated between eating the food that was near and far with methodical consistency.
After awhile of watching Lan Wangji place his meat near him at every meal, Luo Binghe had finally asked bluntly, “A-Zhan, do you like meat?”
Lan Wangji had looked down at his plate, a wrinkle emerging between his eyebrows. After a long moment of silence, he shook his head once.
Luo Binghe put down “no meat for Lan Zhan” in his notes with two underlines and spent the night researching viable substitutes.
Suffice it to say, he kept careful track of what his brothers liked and disliked regarding meals, so by now, he had a fairly good idea of what he should be packing for their respective school lunches every day. This morning, he was almost done with a simple vegetable stir-fry. It would be far too bland to his tastes, and his fingers were itching to douse it with more seasoning, but he wasn’t the one who was going to be eating it.
“Luo-ge,” Lan Wangji said quietly to get his attention.
Luo Binghe hummed a wordless “go on” without turning away from the stove.
Lan Wangji hesitated, then took a bottle of chili flakes from the other side of the counter and pushed it toward him. The gesture was accompanied by a meaningful stare that Luo Binghe could feel right up until the point when he actually looked over to meet Lan Wangji’s gaze, which was when his little brother’s eyes quickly dropped to focus on the bottle instead.
Luo Binghe picked it up, squinting at it to make sure this wasn’t a mistake. “You want me to add this to your lunch?”
Lan Wangji, still resolutely avoiding eye contact, nodded.
Well, now. This was a big, chili-colored red flag.
In his summary chart depicting what Luo Binghe had gathered of their overall likes and dislikes, Lan Wangji’s column very clearly had the word “spicy” circled and slashed in bright red marker. It was the one type of food that could break Lan Wangji’s careful composure as he struggled to swallow it. Once, Luo Binghe had been testing out some Indian-style curry recipes and had accidentally given the ultra spicy bowl to Lan Wangji instead of the iron stomached Hua Cheng.
He had never seen Lan Wangji cry before, or since. It was not an experience he thought was worth repeating.
“Tell me when to stop,” he said as he began shaking the chili flakes into the pan.
Lan Wangji watched him owlishly as he poured, and poured, and poured…
“Stop.”
That was half the container! Luo Binghe wanted to protest as he screwed the cap back onto the significantly lighter bottle. But Lan Wangji’s round eyes had curved into happy crescents, softening his otherwise blank expression, and it made the last vestiges of baby fat clinging to his cheeks positively beg for a pinching.
Unfortunately, Lan Wangji saw his fingers coming and scurried off before his face could get tugged on. Luo Binghe rubbed his thumb and forefinger together mournfully as he watched his little brother disappear up the stairs.
Geez, Lan Wangji was 15 already…
Luo Binghe couldn’t keep from sighing as he scribbled a note about the spice into his chart, filling the leftover space with question marks. When he replaced the pink folder in the shelf above the fridge, he had to wonder how long it would be until Lan Wangji could reach that high as well.
“Luo-ge,” Lan Wangji piped up again the next morning, his eyes fixated on the dumplings Luo Binghe was pinching together.
“Mm-hm?”
There were a few solid seconds of silence before he pointed at the cluster of completed dumplings that had meat fillings.
Luo Binghe pinched the dumpling he was working on too hard and the dough tore. “You… want some of the meat dumplings in your lunch?”
Lan Wangji nodded earnestly, going as far as to move his head three times instead of just once. His lips were pressed into a solemn line that naturally made his chin jut out a little, which might have made him appear more dignified if he had an adult jawline to finish the effect. Instead, the soft edges of his face meant it only called further attention to his teenage features.
Ah, Luo Binghe wanted to pat him on the head! If only his hands weren’t sticky from the dumplings!
“Are you sure you’re going to eat them?” he asked lightly.
It was only a simple question, but Lan Wangji’s eyebrow twitched and the muscles in his face tensed, straining around his eyes.
Finally, he answered curtly, “They will be eaten.”
By whom? Luo Binghe wanted to ask, but he wasn’t keen on watching his brother tie himself into knots avoiding that one without lying. At least he had established that someone with very different taste in food was taking Lan Wangji’s lunch. Lan Wangji disappeared after the brief moment of silence anyway, leaving Luo Binghe to his thoughts.
Was… Was Lan Wangji being bullied? He did tend to have trouble making friends, but he also didn’t react to most teasing, so as far as Luo Binghe knew, nobody had ever gone out of their way to harass him at school. But then again, most of Luo Binghe’s information about Lan Wangji’s academic life came from teachers now that he had aged out of attending the same school as Hua Cheng, and teachers simply could not be trusted to report such things.
They really were all the same in the end, Luo Binghe thought viciously, they couldn’t be bothered to lift a finger for the kids placed under their care unless they knew they were being watched. Even then, they were more likely to punish the kids who were defending themselves than the little monsters that started it. He thought he had made himself clear to Lan Wangji’s teacher – the man had begun spontaneously crying during their last meeting – but perhaps it was time to check in on that spineless fool.
If Lan Wangji was being picked on, if he was going hungry at lunchtime because those lazy teachers couldn’t be bothered to notice, if he was being verbally abused by some snot-nosed brat with a death wish…
Luo Binghe carefully sequestered the dumplings he had made for Hua Cheng and then looked around to double check that he was alone in the kitchen. He rinsed off his hands and went digging through his baking cabinet until he had produced a box of blue food dye pellets. He returned to the counter and made sure each meat dumpling for this mystery bully had a pellet nestled in the center.
Once he was done packing up these lunches, he should probably give the school’s bullying policies a read. He wasn’t going to let those snakes in the administration weasel their way out of this one.
Luo Binghe pulled up to the school curb a full half hour early to make sure he wouldn’t miss his target. A secretary came out of the building after he had been idling for several minutes to make sure he wasn’t a creepy stranger.
She really should have asked him for an ID instead of giggling at his handsome smile and leaving. That was just common sense safety; kids could get kidnapped with security like this! He took out a notepad and added it to his list of grievances.
“Dage,” Hua Cheng said, giving the back of Luo Binghe’s seat a kick to make sure he was listening. “You pulled me out of class early for this? Zhan-ge doesn’t even need you to pick him up.”
Luo Binghe shushed him. “This is about your brother’s safety. I’ll apologize to Shizun tomorrow morning.”
Hua Cheng screwed up his face in disgust. “You just want an excuse to talk to Teacher Shen. He always runs away from you for a reason, you know!” He slid down in his seat, adding under his breath, “And stop calling him Shizun, he’s my teacher and I can’t even call him that anymore because of you, it’s embarrassing…”
Luo Binghe’s mind had begun to wander before Hua Cheng finished speaking. He tapped his pen against his lip as he tried to recall what was in the baking cabinet when he had gone through it this morning. Maybe he could make some chocolate chip muffins for Shizun as a show of sincerity in his apology? If he was remembering correctly, he had enough chocolate chips leftover from his last batch of cookies…
He scribbled “choc muffins” at the bottom of the page and doodled a few hearts around it. Hua Cheng huffed and soon the rapid clicking of buttons for a handheld game could be heard from the backseat.
After another fifteen minutes, students began filing outside in a steadily increasing stream. Luo Binghe got out of the car and stood by the gate, keeping one eye out for Lan Wangji as he inspected the kids that walked past him, just in case.
It turned out that the ultra vigilance was unnecessary because when his little brother finally emerged, he was flanked by another boy, who seemed to be chattering in his ear nonstop. The boy’s hair looked like it hadn’t been cut for a while and was pulled up in a messy ponytail, though the end of it had gotten stuck on the last loop of his hair tie so one lock clung awkwardly to the back of his head. He bumped Lan Wangji with his shoulder too hard as they were descending the front steps and Lan Wangji stumbled, missing a stair. He narrowly managed to catch himself from spilling onto the ground and shot the boy a look.
The boy responded with open-mouthed laughter, revealing two rows of blue-stained teeth.
Luo Binghe didn’t need to see anything else.
He approached them with a smile fixed on his face, though his intentions were somewhat betrayed by the way he angled his head, which emphasized his height advantage by demanding that the boy look up in order to meet his eyes, or else admit defeat by casting his gaze lower.
Lan Wangji finally seemed to notice his big brother’s presence once they were within a few feet of each other. His eyes widened just a fraction and the natural, slight part of his mouth pinched shut in a comically understated gasp.
“A-Zhan,” Luo Binghe called out innocently. “Who is this?”
The boy cut in straightaway, figuratively and literally as he launched himself in front of Lan Wangji with the biggest, bluest grin. “I’m Wei Wuxian, Lan Zhan’s classmate! You’ve gotta be Lan Zhan’s big brother, right? It’s nice to finally meet you!”
Lan Wangji turned his thin-lipped surprise in Wei Wuxian’s direction.
Wei Wuxian winked at him and responded to the wordless question, “What, you thought I didn’t know you had a big brother just ‘cause you never mentioned him? Come on Lan Zhan, if you just talked a little more, I wouldn’t have to spend so much time figuring you out and you’d be much better at keeping your whole mysterious beauty shtick! I could totally tell when our classmates were talking about their plans for the holidays and complaining about their families, you looked like you wanted to share and-“
Lan Wangji’s eyebrows lowered just enough to hint at a suspicious squint.
Wei Wuxian snickered. “Yeah, haha, you got me Lan Zhan, I still can’t read you for shit. But I can read your text message history over your shoulder. And when you were checking messages from someone named ‘Brother’ the other day, there was a selfie of someone who looked suspiciously like that,” he jerked his head at Luo Binghe, “next to a tray of cookies. So…”
“I am his big brother,” Luo Binghe confirmed, reasserting himself into the conversation with a step forward, shortening the gap between him and Wei Wuxian so that the kid would have to crane his neck just that much more. He tapped the corner of his own mouth, which was upturned to show a flash of teeth. “I see you enjoyed the dumplings I made.”
Wei Wuxian grinned again, shamelessly displaying the blue stains. “Sure did! Could’ve used a little more spice in my opinion, though. But the dye was a fun surprise! Haha, I really thought Lan Zhan had gone and picked up a sense of humor on the way to school for a second. Blue for ‘Lan Zhan,’ right? But then he went and threw a fit when he saw– well okay, okay, he frowned, but you know how it is right, you live with him. Anyway-“
Lan Wangji tugged on his sleeve once and Wei Wuxian shut his mouth abruptly, turning to face him with his whole body. Lan Wangji, seemingly unprepared to have his full attention despite prompting it, quickly looked down.
“Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian giggled and patted him on the shoulder. “Sorry, sorry, I know, I’m embarrassing you.”
The tips of Lan Wangji’s ears were turning a suspicious shade of pink. “Not you.” His gaze flicked meaningfully to Luo Binghe.
What was going on? Luo Binghe was here to protect his little brother from a shrimpy teenage menace, not embarrass him in front of…
Lan Wangji had managed to look up at Wei Wuxian again, but dropped his head once more when Wei Wuxian responded by playfully sticking his blue tongue out at him.
… Oh…
Luo Binghe smoothly transitioned his reflexive smirk into a more natural smile. So that’s how it is.
Lan Wangji’s nostrils flared in a soundless huff and he mumbled a “goodbye” at Wei Wuxian before gracefully fleeing to the car.
“Bye Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian called after him, one hand cupped around his mouth while the other waved fast enough to have blur lines. “See you tomorrow!”
Lan Wangji stopped short halfway through a step, nodded without turning around, and kept walking. It was hard to tell from this distance, but his ears were surely bright red.
Not a bully then, Luo Binghe thought, sizing up Wei Wuxian once more with this new information. At least, not intentionally.
“So, you’re A-Zhan’s friend?” he asked, testing.
“Nope!” Wei Wuxian chirped.
Luo Binghe’s smile faltered. “No?”
“Not yet,” Wei Wuxian amended. “He just gives me food sometimes. But I will be, I have a five-step program in motion, and by the end of it, he’ll have no choice but to be my friend!” He puffed up at the end of this declaration, placing his hands on his hips to exude confidence.
“I see,” Luo Binghe said, more to himself than Wei Wuxian.
He bid the kid farewell and returned to the car. Lan Wangji was sitting in the shotgun seat, staring at the dashboard hard enough to see through it. Hua Cheng was still playing his game, his face oddly passive for the speed of his fingers on the buttons.
Luo Binghe sighed as he got into the driver’s seat and shut the door. “You could have just told me you made a friend, you know.”
“All the fuss was just to meet Xiao Zhan’s dumb crush?” Hua Cheng asked. His hands on the game didn't falter at all as he spoke. “I could’ve told you about that, I hear him practicing sappy love songs in his room all the time.”
Lan Wangji twisted his head to frown at him, apparently angered enough to even wrinkle his nose slightly.
“I don’t hear you denying it, didi,” Hua Cheng said dryly.
“Ridiculous,” Lan Wangji muttered too late as he faced forward.
Still calling him ‘ge’ when he’s gone but ‘didi’ to his face? A-Zhan isn’t the only dishonest one here. Luo Binghe tactfully restrained his amusement to another sigh and started the car.
The next day, Lan Wangji received two packed lunches, one of which was labeled with a piece of tape that read, “for your friend.”
Lan Wangji was glad he thought to check it during his commute to school instead of handing it over to Wei Wuxian blindly this time. Inside was an alarmingly red portion of fried rice that had been carefully crafted into a heart, looking almost like a valentine.
He took out a chopstick and messed up the shape before replacing the lid, his ears burning the same color.