Chapter Text
One thing Lan Sizhui liked about his cousin was his intensity. Everything Lan Jingyi did was the most that he could do. When they were little he would always try and run the fastest, eat the most, and when Sizhui had decided he wanted to go to a music intensive boarding school, Jingyi wrote him the most expressive letters.
Now Sizhui was back in Yunmeng and living with his family again. Jingyi was lazily looping around him on his skateboard as they walked to school, saying every thought running through his head. It was nice. He had missed it.
He tuned back into his cousin’s ramblings when his voice soured. “Oh fuck me.” Jingyi’s previously bright smile had pulled to irritation as they had approached the school building. Sizhui followed his line of sight to a group of teenagers around their age hanging out in front of the building. They were just standing there, talking.
Jingyi, apparently eager to add to his confusion said, “Fucking Jins” as if that explained anything. Before Sizhui had the chance to berate him for his language, Jingyi had already picked up his skateboard, grabbed onto his sleeve, and started fully dragging him towards the building, not making eye contact with their loud group of peers.
They appeared harmless, but the taller boy’s shackles were raised so he stayed alert. The “fucking Jins”, as Jingyi had put it, made no effort to move towards or interact with them, but he could feel several pairs of eyes burning into them as Jingyi dragged him inside.
Once out of their sight, he apparently felt safe to unload his thoughts, “Man, I hate those annoying ass rich kids.”
Sizhui scrunched up his nose, “Aren't we going to an annoying rich kid school?”
Jingyi snorted in a distinctly non-Lan like manner and slung an arm over his shoulders. “Yes, but we aren’t all asses about it. And that my dear cousin, is the difference.”
Against his better judgement and upbringing, Sizhui huffed out a laugh.
“But don't worry about them, they are pretty easy to avoid. I’ve only got one class with a Jin brat in it and even though he's a total pain in the ass, he's pretty easy to ignore. Let's just focus on getting you to all your classes on time.”
Sizhui smiled, easily following his lead. His class schedule was pretty straight forward, though he was disappointed to discover he had few classes with his cousin. Orchestra, trigonometry, economics, and literature in the morning. Then he had lunch, a study hall, chemistry and physical education. Jingyi and him only shared their music class, lunch, and P.E..
It was sad, but not the end of the world. He was capable of making new friends.
=================
Ok, it was the first day. It was unlikely he would make a new best friend on his first day. That was just an unrealistic expectation. But he was almost to lunch and had yet to garner more than a few curious glances. He had managed to strike up a conversation with a girl sitting next to him in trig, but she seemed more interested in whatever she had been drawing in the margins of her notes than chatting after class.
Which, as he said, was fine.
His next class was literature, which he loved. That had to be a good omen, so he took a deep breath and tried settling into class. Their teacher had put a seating chart at the front of the room, which put him in the far back corner. An illogical part of his brain told him that it wasn’t a great place to sit to encourage him to make friends. A different illogical part of his brain that sounded a lot like Jingyi told that part of his brain to shut the hell up.
Other students filed into class, groaning about assigned seats, a couple throwing envious glances at Sizhui’s placement before taking their spots in the first row. Right before the bell rang someone scurried in, shrinking slightly beneath their teacher's gaze before taking a quick look at the seating chart and darting directly towards Sizhui. He slumped into the seat directly next to him as the teacher began going over the syllabus.
Sizhui’s seat neighbor was a boy, long hair pulled into a loose braid down his back. He also looked noticeably younger than most of the people in their advanced lit class. He eventually contented himself with taking notes on the syllabus and mentally rating the novels they would be reading this year.
After the syllabus, she handed out a stack of old, well worn novels and a worksheet of background information about the author. She left them with a half hearted encouragement to work together before sitting back at her desk and pulling out her own book and sipping at her thermos.
At least he could content himself with working through the rest of class instead of stewing in his own loneliness.
Or not.
He supposed it was only the first day of class but three short answer questions hardly felt like enough to keep a room full of twenty students busy for half an hour. Already, everyone else had broken off into groups to talk with friends and covertly play games.
Before Sizhui was able to mentally relegate himself to another lonely class period, the younger boy sitting next to him spoke up. “Hey, uh, are you new here?”
Ok, ouch.
He didn’t let the comment outwardly affect him, instead leaning into a neutral smile. “Yes, I just transferred this year. I was going to a different school but this one is closer to home.”
“That's cool,” the younger boy idly twirled a pen between his fingers, “I wasn’t sure if you were new here or if I just didn’t know you. It's a pretty small school, but I don’t know everyone. But I uh, i'm not saying I know everyone, it's just that you didn’t immediately turn to talk to someone. Not that you look like you don’t belong here or anything, I was just thinking I don’t know anyone in this class, well I know names and faces but I don’t like know know anybody because I don’t really know know anyone in this grade and-” His face was progressively heating up as he rambled on. At least Sizhui wasn’t the only one nervous on the first day.
“I understand what you mean. I’m still working on getting to know everyone. This one is Lan Sizhui.” He offered what he hoped was a comforting smile, silently relieved when some of the tension left the other boy’s shoulders.
“This one is Ouyang Zizhen. Sorry about that, I’m still kinda new around here too. I just joined last year but most of the people here have been going to school together since kindergarten.”
Sizhui nodded in understanding, “I have a couple of cousins who have been going here since then. We don’t share a lot of classes though.”
Ouyang Zizhen nodded as a slightly awkward silence fell between them. Sizhui couldn’t help another glance towards the clock. Still twenty minutes left. Then his eyes fell towards Ouyang Zizhen’s half open backpack and the stack of old books crammed inside along with binders and notebooks for classes.
One of which looked familiar. He pulled a matching collection of poetry out of his backpack. The other boy’s eyes lit up upon seeing it.
“Have you read that?” Ouyang Zizhen’s voice edged on hopeful, barely holding back excitement.
“Yes, I had actually hoped we’d be covering some of these in class.” He thumbed through his own copy before coming to a heavily annotated page and sliding it towards Oyuang Zizhen to inspect.
From there conversation flowed more smoothly. Smooth enough that they were cut off by the bell as they had been debating the meaning of a passage beloved by both of them. Ouyang Zizhen actually half jumped out of his seat in surprise before frantically packing his supplies away.
“This was really fun! My next class is on the other side of the building but we should do this again tomorrow!” Sizhui barely had time to agree before his new friend bolted out the door.
The rest of the day sailed by much the same as the first, but it didn’t weigh as heavy on his shoulders when he didn’t quite connect to others in the rest of his classes. It was the first day and he had already made a friend.
After school Jingyi took the bus with him to the Cloud Recesses, a small music store run by Sizhui’s father. They had both waved at A-die before heading to the back to change into the traditional robes that made up their unofficial work uniforms.
It wasn’t enforced, and father definitely had employees who preferred business casual. His father preferred robes and Sizhui was always quick to follow in his father’s footsteps. Jingyi was never one to feel left out so he also wore robes, though he hid sweatpants and beat up converse underneath.
His father looked up as the pair came out of the back, a silent question in his eyes for his nephew and son.
Sizhui slid behind the counter easily, into a quick hug, before looking to see what had to be done around the shop. “Hi A-die, classes were good. The school is easy to navigate and Jingyi and I have a couple classes together. I met someone in my literature class who I think could become a good friend.”
The corners of his father’s mouth ticked up and he sorted through order forms for new instruments. “I’m glad you enjoyed your first day. I had many good experiences there. I hope you find the same.”
The bell at the front of the shop rang and Sizhui went up to begin helping them in their search for whatever brought them in.
=================
Generally speaking, Sizhui really liked his job. He liked working with his father and his cousin. He really liked it when he and his father were asked to do musical performances for events. He even liked assisting customers looking for new strings, or set orders to get damages repaired. That being said, he could not stand ignorant people who didn’t understand that learning a musical instrument was a skill that took time and a lot of effort.
So when Jingyi had yelled from the back that they had to leave now or else risk whatever store from closing before they got there, he unrepentantly set the woman he was trying to explain it takes more than two months for an eleven year old to play a xiao on his father and hurried out of the store without changing out of his work robes.
Jingyi was similarly dressed up and half running down the street, beat up skateboarding under his arm, undoubtedly dirtying his fine white robes. Sizhui was quick on his tail, matching his stride as Jingyi began his explanation. “My axel got bent during my free period because I was trying to do this trick off of a bench by the tennis court, and the usual shop I go to got shut down last month. Apparently there's one like three blocks from the Cloud Recesses? Hopefully we can get there before they close.”
The store was not closed. Jingyi pushed eagerly into the store, taking a quick glance around before bee-lining to a shelf of different skateboard parts. Sizhui followed him inside, looking around as Jingyi looked for the right parts.
The space was very cozy. Colorful posters covered the wall space not holding vibrant display racks. Several boards were hung up, elaborately painted decks facing outwards. There seemed to be a variety of both pre-made boards as well as parts to build new ones.
Once Jingyi had a handful of small metal parts he led Sizhui to an empty check out desk. A single ring from a bell on the counter sent a kid running out from a back room to the register, already spewing apologies.
“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t hear you guys come in! What can I do for you?” The skate shop employee was shorter than both Jingyi and Sizhui, long hair pulled back in a ponytail. He was dressed casually, an oversized t-shirt over a striped undershirt and a pair of roughed up skating gloves over his hands. He also had sharp eyeliner around those familiar round eyes-
“Ouyang Zizhen?” Sizhui’s mouth moved before he was able to recognize the words coming out of it, but the immediate recognition on the other’s face told him he was right.
“Lan Sizhui!” Ouyang Zizhen looked entirely shocked to see him, eyes moving quickly between him and Jingyi “Hi! Uh, trouble with your board?”
Jingyi nodded and handed him the parts he had picked up. “Yeah, I wanted to get some parts to fix it before you guys closed.”
Ouyang Zizhen nodded as he began rigging up Jingyi’s items. “Cool, do you skate too, Lan Sizhui?”
“No, I was just accompanying Jingyi so I could duck out of work a few minutes early.”
“Oooh where do you guys work? I didn’t know anywhere nearby had such fancy uniforms.” Oh right, they were still in their robes, drastically overdressed for buying skateboard parts.
Jingyi responded easily, pulling out payment, “The Cloud Recesses. It's a music store about three blocks that way,” he gestured vaguely down the street before looking Ouyang Zizhen up and down, “You know how to skate?”
That got a snort out of his new friend. “I’d sure hope so. It would be kinda sad if I worked here and didn’t.”
Jingyi grinned and leaned against the counter, “You have any suggestions for good beginner boards?”
Sizhui tried to interject but Ouyang Zizhen seemed to have gathered the meaning behind the words quickly, “Well it depends what your new skater wanted to do. If it's just for commuting, a longboard would probably be the easiest to learn. If you want to do anything fun on it obviously you need a street board,”
“Obviously.” Sizhui should interrupt. Skateboarding, while not strictly against Lan rules, certainly wasn’t encouraged. Jingyi had always skated the line, but Sizhui wasn’t sure. But maybe…
“This sort of build is really beginner friendly. The wheels are big, which gives good support and can be traded out once you have grasp of what you’re doing,” Ouyang Zizhen gestured to a few display boards hanging behind the desk.
Jingyi considered the options before turning to Sizhui, gesturing to the boards as if to ask what he thought.
Sizhui was hesitant, years of priority crumbling in the face of his cousin and cool new friend. “How much is a board?”
Zizhen looked surprised that he had agreed so easily. “You don’t have to get one today! Don’t feel pressured, if you want, we should have a practice board in the back. You can try that one out if you want. We have a black top behind the shop if you want to try a little before committing to anything.”
Jingyi laughed. “You're a terrible salesman, but doesn’t this place close down in like five minutes?”
Sizhui agreed, “We wouldn’t want to keep you from closing.”
Ouyang Zizhen waved off their concerns easily. “That's not really a problem, the owner is pretty chill about that sort of thing. I normally hang out here a bit after close most days so it's not a big deal. I'll just close up the front and we can start with the skate lesson.” He made a move towards the front door before pausing, “Unless you guys had plans this afternoon! Obviously I don’t want to hold you up!”
Sizhui smiled. Zizhen was a good friend. “I didn’t have any plans. Jingyi?”His cousin pumped his fist in the air with a celebratory whoop.
That's how Sizhui found himself in a small lot behind the skate shop, trying to balance on a skateboard as Zizhen glided easily around him calling out occasional corrections and tips to balance. Jingyi was sitting nearby, using tools Zizhen had brought out to fix his own board, happy to call out his own helpful remarks.
The board that Zizhen had brought was obviously very old. He had said they regularly got junk boards through the shop that they tried to recycle or restore for the owners. This one must have been in the recycle pile and it was no wonder why.
Most of the paint was chipped or faded away, flame stickers peeling off the wheels. Still, Sizhui could make out a red tiger on the bottom, as well as a number of faded stickers from local stores and old bands he couldn't recognize. In loopy, delicate writing, a few characters that had been painted on had survived; Chenqing. To explain in full detail, a weird thing to put on a board.
Jingyi led him through the steps of being able to push and move forward, albeit wobbly.
Just as he was able to get a little speed without immediately falling off the board, the back door of the shop slammed open, loudly hitting the wall. “Ew, what are you doing here?”
Sizhui almost fell off his board before he recentered himself and looked up to see the loud new addition. He was younger, probably around Zizhen’s age. He was wearing a bright yellow matching athletic set with an equally bright skateboard tucked under one arm. And he was staring directly at Jingyi, who seemed to recognize him immediately.
“Skating, what does it look like dumbass?” He stood up from where he had been working on his board, ready to walk over, but Zizhen beat him to it, inserting himself between Jingyi and the yellow kid.
“Jin Ling! I thought I texted you that I was showing someone to skate behind the shop?” Zizhen looked like he was trying to speak down a rabid animal, which was fair because this Jin Ling looked about ready for a tantrum.
The kid scowled, throwing his long ponytail over his shoulder before pointing at Jingyi, “Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d have the stupid Lan from my calc class! I literally told you about-”
Zizhen cut him off, “I don’t know everyone two grades above us!”
Jin Ling looked ready to retaliate before his eyes fell to Sizhui and his scowl deepened. “You’re going to fall off if you stand like that. Put your left foot slightly further back and bend your knees.”
“What? You don’t get to come in here screaming and then start ordering around Sizhui! What the fuck are you even doing here?” Jingyi took another step closer to Jin Ling who returned his glare right back to his previous target.
Jin Ling puffed up his chest (Sizhui tried not to think of a small kitten raising its hackles to appear larger) “I’m actually supposed to be here. I was meeting with Zizhen and I know Sang-gege actually knows I’m here using his skating space.”
“Who the fuck is Sang-gege?” Jingyi snapped.
Zizhen sighed, making another attempt to talk down the kid who was (probably?) his friend. “Nie Huaisang is the owner. And he does know they’re here because I texted him about it. A-Ling, they're cool I promise.”
Jin Ling and Ouyang Zizhen silent glaring contest for several tense seconds before Jin Ling rolled his eyes. “Fine, but if you’re teaching the Lan to skate, at least teach him to do it properly.”
Jin Ling perched himself on top of the small half pipe in the lot, watching expectantly. Zizhen seemed amused by the behavior and took up his post of slowly skating around him to give tips. Jingyi now joined him, though he kept a mistrustful eye on Jin Ling.
As it turned out, Jin Ling’s tips, while delivered blunt at best and downright rude at worst, were helpful. Jingyi kept snapping back anytime Jin Ling opened his mouth oftentimes contradicting whatever advice he had shared, but between Sizhui and Zizhen they were both able to mediate their more hot headed friends.
By the time that Sizhui and Jingyi had to head home, Sizhui was able to push fairly confidently, and make wide turns. He could also pick up a little bit of speed, though his turns were more unsteady then. Eventually, he had to dust off his now slightly ruined robes from all the times he had fallen (whoops, sorry a-die) and return the borrowed board.
Except he wasn’t ready to stop yet. He wanted to keep practicing and he liked his beat up edgy board he had been practicing on.
Zizhen must have seen the reluctance in his eyes because he had just smiled and said, “It’s a junk board, so it shouldn’t be a problem if you take it home to practice on. I’m not sure of how sturdy it is though, so just consider what you’ll be wanting for your own board.”
When he got home, A-die was reading with a cup of tea. He didn’t say anything about his dirty robes, or his scraped up palms, but his gaze did linger on the skateboard.