Work Text:
“Brown sugar pearl latte.”
Lan Jingyi comes awake with a start and an undignified snort when Jin Ling plops the cup in front of him.
“Whazza-- CoCo?” Jingyi makes grabby hands for the straw, which Jin Ling hands over, barely rolling his eyes, before distributing the rest of the drinks. “I love you!”
Jin Ling glares at him, but it’s undermined by his pleased blush. “Whatever. You’re gonna die from diabetes.” He hands Zizhen a cup with his favorite green tea and honey jelly and Sizhui’s more reasonable black tea latte with pearls before taking out a taro milk tea for himself.
“Oooh, something new?” Jingyi tries to grab Jin Ling’s tea, but Jin Ling deftly maneuvers out of his reach.
“Hands to yourself, you horrible Lan!” Jin Ling sits down at the far end of the table, keeping Zizhen between himself and Jingyi. “I don’t suppose you’ve finished your part of the slides?”
Jingyi claps a hand to his chest. “You wound me! Of course I have finished my slides! This is our first conference presentation. I’m not going to fail, not with Hanguang-jun in the audience!”
Zizhen bumps his shoulder against Jin Ling. “Thanks for the tea,” he says. “And I looked over your slides. One of the transitions wasn’t working, so I fixed it.”
“Aw farts,” Jin Ling says. “Thanks.”
Jingyi gapes at him and then bursts out laughing.
“What?” Jin Ling scowls.
“Farts?!” Jingyi snickers. “Bro, what the fuck?”
“Jingyi.” Sizhui, ever the peacemaker, reaches out to his cousin.
“Dude, you sound like a NERD!”
“Shut up,” Jin Ling hisses. “I got in trouble, okay? My sister’s learning to talk, and her second word was fuck.”
The table was silent for five whole seconds and then Jin Ling’s friends dissolve into laughter. After a moment, Jin Ling’s frown relaxes and he smiles.
“Oh, shit, dude,” Jingyi gasps, wiping his eyes. “Your mom must have been pissed!”
“Yeah.” Jin Ling’s grin widens. “Thankfully, she thinks Uncle Wei is the culprit and not Jiujiu or me.”
“Oh,” Sizhui says, “that explains why Baba was sulking. He said Auntie Yanli didn’t bake any new cookies this week.”
“Hah, yeah.” Jin Ling takes a sip of his tea. “He’s in big trouble. But now me an’ Jiujiu’ve gotta be super careful. Mama has threatened to start a swear jar.”
“Don’t worry,” Zizhen says, slinging an arm around Jin Ling’s neck, “we’ll help you break your bad habits.”
“Yeah,” Jingyi chimes in, “maybe we can make a talisman that shocks you if you swear.”
“I will break your fu--nky legs, Lan Jingyi,” Jin Ling threatens.
Jingyi only laughs harder, so Jin Ling swipes his tea and drinks nearly a third of it down before Jingyi recovers and reclaims his tea. It was disgusting, but it was worth Jingyi’s injured expression.
“Can we please get to work on this presentation?” Jin Ling gripes. “I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of my family.”
“Yes,” Zizhen says. “I want to practice our sword routine, too. Thanks for the tea, Ling-Ling.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re welcome. Now, let’s practice.”