Work Text:
Xiao Zhan is bending over to tie his sneakers when he feels Wang Yibo tugging on his hair.
“Ai, Lao Wang,” he sighs, swatting at his hands, “can you not leave my hair alone? Don’t make me regret taking this role, you brat.”
“I can’t resist, gege looks so wild with his hair like this,” Yibo says, and Xiao Zhan is sure he can hear an admiring smile in his words.
“Wild, hm?” Xiao Zhan laughs as he stands up and pulls out his phone to text his staff. “Just you wait, it will only get longer. There are months left of filmmmmf—!” The rest of his words are lost when Yibo pulls him into a hard, hungry kiss, his fingers raking roughly through Xiao Zhan’s hair.
Xiao Zhan stumbles on his feet, then relaxes into Yibo’s embrace. It’s been nice these last few weeks, having more time at home together between filming and their other work projects, but there’s never enough of this. As they kiss, he breathes in his scent, warm and familiar. Yibo’s hands slide down the nape of his neck, trail over his shoulders, then rest covetously on his chest, fingers kneading the firm muscles there.
Yibo pulls back slightly to meet Xiao Zhan’s eyes, lips curling into a lazy smirk. “Wild,” he repeats, his voice low and full of intent. “I like it.”
“Don’t start something we can’t finish,” Xiao Zhan breathes, as much for himself as for Yibo. “I - I have to get to the airport, you know.” He takes a step back, in part to stay his own desires — he has a schedule to keep — but Yibo grips him by the arm.
“No wait. You owe me something.”
“Mm?”
“Don’t move,” Yibo says, reaching into his pocket to pull out a small elastic band. Then suddenly his hands are in Xiao Zhan’s hair again, tugging hard.
Xiao Zhan winces. “Ow! What are you—?”
“You lost the game last night, remember? You didn’t want to call me gege, so this is what I want instead.”
“What?” Xiao Zhan raises an eyebrow at Yibo and reaches up to feel the back of his head. A stiff tuft of hair sticks out, probably 6 or 7 centimeters. He flicks at it and twirls it around a finger, imagining just how ridiculous he must look. “Very funny,” he says with a roll of his eyes. But when he moves to pull the elastic out, Yibo’s hand is there to stop him.
“No, Zhan-ge. Leave it,” he says. “A bet is a bet. Wear it with pride. Where’s your sense of honor?”
“Waahh,” Xiao Zhan laughs. “You want me to wear a pigtail? In public? I’m not a test pilot,” he protests, remembering when Yibo had to wear a pigtail in his movie, Born to Fly. “Don’t be unreasonable. I look silly.”
“You don’t look silly,” Yibo insists, although it comes out unconvincingly because the corners of his mouth are clearly twitching with the effort not to laugh.
Xiao Zhan slits his eyes at Yibo. “Really. I can’t go out looking like this. There will be people in the airport and it will be a whole thing.”
“And so what?” Yibo challenges. But before Xiao Zhan can push back, Yibo’s eyes soften and he adds quietly: “It’s your turn anyway.”
“My turn?”
“Yeah,” Yibo sighs. “People think we broke up, or that maybe I don’t like you anymore, just because I edited my bio. So I wore the jacket with the 33 and the shirt with the field of yellow flowers, and posted with kadian to show that’s not true. And now— now it’s your turn,” he says, lips gently pouting. “To show people we’re still good.”
“By looking ridiculous in a pigtail? How will that show anything?”
“Because it was a big deal in Born to Fly.”
“So you want me to wear a pigtail to cue your movie?”
“Yeah,” Yibo says. “But - but it’s more than that, ge. I mean, in the movie, at first you think it’s funny, cool guys wearing the pigtail. Then later you find out it’s a sign of respect… and brotherly love.”
Xiao Zhan winds his arms around Yibo and smiles. “Brotherly love, huh? So you want me to show up at the airport wearing a symbol of brotherly love from your movie? Four years after A-Ling, our story of brotherly love?”
Yibo shrugs. “Well if you put it that way, then yes.”
Xiao Zhan reaches behind his head and flicks the pigtail again. His hair isn’t quite long enough to gather up into the elastic, so it sticks out awkwardly from the back of his head, leaving the rest of his hair long against his neck. It’s sure to draw attention for being so pointless.
But then he looks at Yibo’s hopeful gaze and thinks: Maybe it’s not so pointless after all.
“Okay,” Xiao Zhan finally says. “For brotherly love.”
“Really?”
Xiao Zhan feels his heart squeeze just a little at the way Yibo’s beautiful eyes light up. “Yeah,” he says with a smile. But that smile fades as he picks up his bucket hat and studies it. “I can't wear a hat with it on, though, and don’t know if I should—”
“No no, you can’t go out without a hat,” Yibo agrees. He grabs a plain black baseball cap off a hook by the door. “Here, let me,” Yibo says, reaching up to carefully thread the pigtail through the back of the cap before he pulls it down over Xiao Zhan’s head. He cocks his head and studies his work. “Perfect.”
Xiao Zhan turns his body from side to side, as if posing for an imaginary camera. “Looks good?”
“Always.”
“My turn then,” Xiao Zhan says, and grins at the delight on Yibo’s face... then sighs when his phone buzzes in his hand. There's never enough time. “Van’s here,” he murmurs, bending down to give Yibo a kiss. “But I’ll see you in Hong Kong.”
Yibo smiles. “See you in Hong Kong, Zhan-ge.”
