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Lan Zhan desperately wished to be anywhere else.
Everywhere he looked, there was complete chaos. A child was crying over a torn stuffed dinosaur while a harassed-looking young woman tried futilely to quiet him. Another was attempting to bury presumably a friend in a sandpit as a group of small spectators cheered her on. Others ran and screamed indiscriminately, ducking and weaving around the legs of parents and guardians. Every so often, a baby would wail somewhere in the sea of people. The noise was giving him a headache. His left eye was starting to develop a tic.
Lan Zhan did not belong here. Had he not owed his brother a favour, he wouldn’t have come here even under pain of death. But here he was, on this open day, holding tightly to the hand of his young cousin, lest he run off and be lost in the crowd. Lan Jingyi wasn’t making it easy to keep him in sight, constantly pulling and trying to wriggle free. He pointed at everything, asked rapid-fire questions, and wanted to play with every child who so much as glanced in his direction.
Unexpectedly, the young boy suddenly made a lunge forward, jerking Lan Zhan’s arm. He frowned.
“Jingyi -” he began, looking down at him, then suddenly cut off when he noticed his cousin’s intent.
Lan Jingyi was holding up a stuffed rabbit that did not belong to him. It was clearly worn and well-loved. Its white fur had the bobbly look of a toy that had been machine-washed many times, and one of its ears had been neatly stitched back on. Lan Jingyi waved it in the air, and Lan Zhan followed his line of sight to a young man holding a boy of a similar age in his arms.
The first thing he noticed was the smile. Warm and friendly, with an alluring hint of mischief in the crooked curve of his lips. The stranger was disarmingly handsome, with misty and intriguing grey eyes above high cheekbones, and his long hair in an attractively messy ponytail.
He was wearing a simple red T-shirt under his leather jacket, and ripped charcoal grey jeans. A looped chain dangled from his studded belt. Lan Zhan normally thought very little of this style, but the stranger wore it exceptionally well. He suddenly felt very plain in his simple pale blue button down and white slacks with sensible shoes.
Belatedly, Lan Zhan realised he was staring, standing frozen in place while Lan Jingyi tried in vain to drag him forward. The smiling young man was walking toward them, patting the back of the boy he carried, who wiped at his eyes with chubby fists. Stiffly, Lan Zhan took the embarrassing few steps forward required to meet somewhat in the middle.
“You dropped this!” Lan Jingyi announced loudly, as he had yet to master his polite conversation voice.
The other boy sniffled, looking down at the rabbit. Understanding his role, Lan Zhan bent slightly to lift Lan Jingyi up so he could proudly hand the rabbit toy over. The boy took it gratefully, offering a watery smile as his sniffles finally quieted down.
“Thank you,” he said quietly, clutching the rabbit tightly to his chest.
“Do you like rabbits?” Lan Jingyi asked eagerly. When the boy nodded shyly, Lan Jingyi suddenly gestured wildly, and Lan Zhan had to jerk his head out of the way to avoid being elbowed in the face. “My cousin has a rabbit! It’s cute and fluffy and white and it has long ears and it eats carrots! But lett - letti -”
“Lettuce,” Lan Zhan supplied.
“Yeah! Lettuce is his favourite! It’s, uh… Roman lettuce!”
“Romaine,” Lan Zhan corrected mildly. He saw the stranger’s lips pressed tightly together, and suspected he was trying not to laugh.
The stranger cleared his throat, then smiled and bounced the boy gently in his arms. “A-Yuan? Do you want to play with your new friend?”
The boy nodded again. Left with no option but to go along with the plan, Lan Zhan lowered Lan Jingyi back to the ground as well.
“Stay close,” he said to Lan Jingyi, before releasing his hold. The two boys trotted over to a patch of grass a short distance away, where a-Yuan sat quietly while Lan Jingyi immediately began telling a very animated story that involved spinning, hopping, and spreading his arms as wide as he possibly could.
“I’m Wei Ying,” the stranger said, holding out his hand. Lan Zhan shook it.
“Lan Zhan,” he replied, far more calmly than he felt. Wei Ying’s hand was warm, and his grip was comfortably strong. Lan Zhan wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not when it seemed like Wei Ying’s fingers ghosted across his palm as they let go.
“He’s a sweet kid,” Wei Ying said with a smile, nodding over at the kids.
Lan Zhan glanced over as well. Whenever Lan Jingyi visited his home, he found it to be a stressful experience. The boy was loud and full of energy, asked endless, mostly nonsensical questions, and was far too fascinated by his guqin for Lan Zhan’s comfort. But even he could see that Lan Jingyi was kind and considerate when it counted, so he nodded.
“You must be proud,” Wei Ying continued.
“Mn,” Lan Zhan agreed. It took him a few moments to realise Wei Ying may have misunderstood.
“He’s not mine.” Wei Ying’s head actually tilted slightly as he looked askance at him. Lan Zhan suddenly realised that was a very odd and potentially suspicious statement to make, and his ears felt hot. He was glad he wore his hair down today to cover them. “He is my cousin. I am babysitting currently.”
“On open day?” Wei Ying chuckled. “I think you got the short end of the stick.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… I’ve been to a few of these so far, and now I can honestly say it’s probably the most tedious thing I’ve ever done. If a-Yuan didn’t deserve the very best, I wouldn’t even be here. Seems likely to me that whoever asked you to babysit today knew that.”
Lan Zhan frowned. It had been his brother, not Lan Jingyi’s parents, who had asked him to attend this event. But he wouldn’t throw Lan Zhan under the bus, would he? Suddenly, the relieved look on Lan Huan’s face when he accepted the request seemed much more suspect.
Wei Ying saw the look on his face and smiled that charming, crooked smile again. There was a beauty mark under his lower lip that was incredibly distracting.
“However it turned out, it’s not all bad. Looks like the kids are getting on like a house on fire. If they end up going to the same school, we might even get to see each other again.”
Lan Zhan couldn’t help but blink. Wei Ying laughed ruefully and swept a hand over his hair. “Sorry. Was that a little too forward?”
Stunned into silence, Lan Zhan simply could not find the words to express himself. This never happened, and he had no clue what to do. Usually, his demeanour, the attitude he unwittingly projected - his vibe, as Nie Huaisang would so eloquently put it - tended to scare people off. But not Wei Ying, to his surprise.
“Look, I am sorry,” Wei Ying continued after several seconds of silence, his hand rubbing awkwardly at the back of his neck. “If I crossed a line or anything -”
“No,” Lan Zhan interrupted. “You didn’t.”
Wei Ying’s shoulders relaxed, and that easy smile came back. His eyes were warm and interested. “Good,” he said. “Good.”
Lan Zhan was spared having to respond when the kids came running over once more. Lan Jingyi’s overalls had grass stains on the knees, and there was a smear of what he hoped was mud over the cartoon duck embroidered on the pocket, but Lan Zhan couldn’t find it within him to care. A-Yuan was more relaxed, though he still leaned against Wei Ying’s leg and wrapped an arm around it, the other tightly clutching his toy.
Lan Jingyi tugged on Lan Zhan’s hand, peering up at him with the biggest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen. He raised an eyebrow. “What is it, Jingyi?”
“A-Yuan -” He glanced back at the boy, who smiled shyly. “A-Yuan wants to come and see your rabbit! He wants to pet it and feed it some lett - carrots! Can he come over? Please? Please, please, please?”
“Jingyi,” Lan Zhan admonished gently, “you have to ask for permission properly.”
Still gripping his hand, Lan Jingyi turned to face Wei Ying. “Sorry,” he said. “Can a-Yuan please come over to play?”
There was a moment of clear debate on Wei Ying’s face, then he sighed. He crouched down in front of a-Yuan and gently ruffled his hair. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s a bit sudden. Not to mention Wen Qing would kill me if she found out I let you go over someone’s house the first day I met them…”
Lan Zhan could admit that was entirely reasonable, and he admired the show of responsibility. Despite that, he felt almost as crestfallen as a-Yuan looked. He felt an indescribable pull toward this handsome stranger, and didn’t want to part ways so suddenly. If the children ended up in different schools, how would he find Wei Ying again?
Should he ask for his number? He’d never asked for anyone’s number before. His phone existed largely as a means for those who already had his contact information to reach him if needed. How did he even go about this? How did one even go about asking for someone’s number? Did he just ask directly? Was he meant to wait for a specific opening in conversation? Was he meant to wait until they were saying goodbye? Was there some sort of protocol he was meant to -
“You could come, too!” Lan Jingyi suddenly said, startling both adults.
Wei Ying recovered first, and he laughed as he stood up. “You’re a smart kid, huh? That would solve things, wouldn’t it? But it’s not just up to me. Lan Zhan? Would that be all right with you?”
“Yes,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound as eager as he felt. His lips curled as Wei Ying smiled warmly at him.
He decided Lan Jingyi was his favourite cousin. Anything he wanted, Lan Zhan would get for him. He would never again complain when he was given babysitting duty. He would answer any and every question, and would even personally teach Lan Jingyi to play the guqin, if he so desired.
“All right, then. It’s a date.” A pause, as Wei Ying seemed to realise what he’d said. He cleared his throat. “A playdate, I mean. For the kids.”
“Mn,” Lan Zhan agreed, relieved to realise Wei Ying felt at least a little off balance as well.
“Hey, could I… could I get your number? You know, just in case we get separated or something.”
Apparently, it was just that easy, Lan Zhan noted. “Of course,” he said. After a tiny hesitation, he added: “I would also like yours. For the same reason.”
They exchanged phones to key in their respective numbers. Lan Zhan noticed Wei Ying’s phone was full of games, and that his contact list was huge. He briefly worried what Wei Ying would think of the limited number of contacts in his phone, but made himself dismiss the idea as foolish.
“You really like rabbits, huh?” Wei Ying asked, smiling, as he handed Lan Zhan his phone back.
Belatedly, he remembered his background was a picture of his rabbit nibbling on some carrot sticks. His phone case was also rabbit-themed, a gift from his brother.
“I do,” he said quietly, as he tucked his phone back into his pocket.
“Nothing to be embarrassed about,” Wei Ying assured him. “Rabbits are really cute. Right, a-Yuan?”
The boy nodded, half of his face still pressed into Wei Ying’s leg. “I love them,” he said softly, but firmly. He looked up at Lan Zhan. “What’s your bunny’s name?”
“His name is Jujue. Would you like to see a picture of him?”
To say the boy’s face lit up with delight would be an understatement. Lan Zhan pulled out his phone once more, quickly finding a picture where Jujue looked especially cute (not that that was difficult), and crouched down so a-Yuan could see.
“He’s so… so… fluffy,” a-Yuan finished with a happy sigh.
Lan Zhan’s lips twitched into a smile. “Mn,” he agreed.
Wei Ying was beaming down at them, but then he let out a long sigh. “Looks like this tour’s finally getting started,” he said, nodding to several teachers moving among the crowd with clipboards. “Hopefully we’ll be able to go around together.”
It would have been nice, but it was not to be. All too soon, they realised they would be separated into different groups. As he started shuffling away to stand with his tour guide, Wei Ying smiled over his shoulder.
“You better not forget about our date, Lan Zhan! I’ll meet you by the gate when this is over, yeah?”
“I’ll be waiting,” Lan Zhan said seriously, even as his ears felt hot and several curious eyes turned to look at him. It was worth a little embarrassment to hear Wei Ying’s delighted laugh as he disappeared into the crowd.