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It didn't take long for Lu Guang to realize that Cheng Xiaoshi was naturally adventurous and all about trying new things. They were often busy helping clients at the studio, but Lu Guang would find himself being dragged to a new boba spot, park, or arcade by his partner at least once a week. He would excitedly introduce him to the people he had started to make connections with there, a ball of energy, thoughtfulness, and optimism that Lu Guang couldn't help but admire. But… all of that momentum had to run dry sometime.
Lu Guang first noticed it in the weeks they had started playing basketball together in college. His new friend was a force to be reckoned with on the court and they could - and did - play for hours on end. They would grab water during breaks and Lu Guang would find a snack occasionally, but Cheng Xiaoshi rarely went to his bag or a vending machine for anything. It was only when his stomach would growl well into the evening or - on particularly long days - when he would start to wobble on his feet that he would realize just how much he needed to eat.
One day, he complained of a stomach ache before he dramatically layed on the court, face in his hands. "Shit, I forgot again!" Lu Guang sat next to him, valiantly resisting the urge to roll his eyes, until Cheng Xiaoshi peeked and pulled himself into a sitting position. He told Lu Guang he'd had trouble remembering to eat since he was a child, an embarassed smile flashing on his face when Lu Guang offered half of his energy bar. He gratefully took it, watching the sun as it started to slip closer to the horizon. "I get sidetracked and don't feel it 'til it's right in my face," He explained. "It was a little better when I had more structured meals with Qiao Ling as a kid but now that I'm an adult and have to make my own? Doesn't stick."
Lu Guang nodded and made sure he knew it wasn't something to be ashamed of, a plan already forming in his mind. He started to bring enough snacks for two when they would meet on the court and would hand him something to eat whenever he grabbed his own food. The first time it happened Cheng Xiaoshi's smile has been blinding and after that? It became a habit that stuck with him. He set aside snacks when they met on campus and after they had graduated and started working late photographing or editing at the studio, he made sure to have something on hand. There was something waiting for Cheng Xiaoshi after he came back from a dive, too ("Even if it feels like you ate recently, you haven't."), and Lu Guang would lend a hand with meal prep if they were having a particularly stressful week.
Lu Guang didn't cook often, but he soon found making something together and sharing it with someone you cared about was an experience in itself. The food tasted better somehow, even if it was something as simple as a bowl of fruit or a bowl of rice, and the smell, taste, or sight of their weekly fried rice was enough to conjure the memories of Cheng Xiaoshi's jokes and the shows they often watched during their dinner.
He thought that it had become a comfort to both of them. Cheng Xiaoshi would never go hungry and Lu Guang would never be starved for cherished memories and happy moments with his partner.
All of this culminated in new recipes. It started with the case of Yu Xia and Lin Zhen's noodle recipe when they had tried to make it themselves and evolved into Lu Guang occasionally noting meals Cheng Xiaoshi took to on a dive, or occasionally doing a few searches in recipe books online. He improved with a few pointers from Cheng Xiaoshi and after they made a handful, the ravenette even made a request or two. They tried Hon Shao Rou and Mapo Tofu, and Lu Guang tried his own kind of Hot Pot that combined both of their favorite meats and seafood.
After a hard case where they delivered a parting letter to a relative - now long passed - for a client, Cheng Xiaoshi wiped his eyes and turned to him. "Do you think we could make her xiaolongbao?"
Lu Guang nodded, feeling the weight of their twelve hours of interactions. The way Cheng Xiaoshi had laughed at her lighthearted teasing, the stern but kind voice she had always used... It was a good way to remember her, to keep a part of her alive, even if they had never met. "We'll try to do it justice."
It tasted like a home they had never visited; memories and details, still fresh, that they can't help but share. There was the warmth of a new memory and experience that was now all their own.
They made a few more after that - Chen Meijuan's fish, Emma's parents' springrolls, and even homemade boba tea similar to Dodo's parents now re-opening restaurant. It brought a little closure if nothing else and a way to remind themselves they were still in the present. Lu Guang brought pieces of them here and there to Cheng Xiaoshi when they were out photographing, and it never failed to make him smile.
Cheng Xiaoshi asked if they could make a meal that his parents used to cook one day, and they made it together. He had a sad smile at first, but it quickly turned into laughter as he shared memories about them and his time growing up with Qiao Ling. Lu Guang stole a little of his rice later and Xiaoshi batted his hand away, grabbing his phone and snapping a photo of the two of them instead. The day after, Lu Guang found the photograph of them tucked in the notebook that he'd been using to write down recipes. More and more are added after that, sometimes by Cheng Xiaoshi, or himself, or Qiao Ling.
They surpise him - with a warm, comforting soup after a long night of nightmares; his favorite boba during lunch and after a long day of editing; and a pudding decorated like a cat that's almost too adorable to eat.
Lu Guang never stops surprising them in return by finding new places to keep energy bars, nuts, and other snacks; in his bag, his desk, the waiting area. When Cheng Xiaoshi has been sitting for too long, Lu Guang will grab one and toss it in his lap (sometimes he'll catch it, but not often). He still smiles thinking about the time he handed Xiaoshi one in the darkroom and his partner had nearly dropped the photograph he'd been trying to hang, shouting, "Are you kidding me?! Where are you hiding hem?"
They continued to invite Qiao Ling over for dinner, and leave her a bit of leftovers if they know she's going to stop by.
Lu Guang finally reaches the end of the recipe book towards the end of the year. When he tells Cheng Xiaoshi, he insists they celebrate. They invite Qiao Ling, Dong Li, and Xu Shanshan and have a feast fit for a king, incorporating their favorite meals so far. At the end of the meal, Qiao Ling hands Lu Guang a wrapped package while Cheng Xiaoshi flashes a knowing smile. He almost tears up when the wrapping falls to the floor, revealing a customized recipe book full of fresh, blank pages. The divider tabs are cats, and everyone in the room had made doodles of him cooking on the first page.
His smile doesn't fade the whole night. Neither do theirs.
When everyone has left and the food is put away, Lu Guang sets the new book on the coffee table. He stifles a yawn before-
"Think fast!"
He turns and almost catches the packet of mixed nuts thrown his way, but it soon falls to the floor with a dull 'thwack'. Cheng Xiaoshi starts cackling and Lu Guang's gaze moves from the packet to his partner before he joins in, laughing softly. "You'll never find them all."
"Try me."
They spend the next half hour finding and throwing Lu Guang's emergency stores at each other. Cheng Xiaoshi does not - in fact - find them all, but he gets close. By the time they climb into the bunk bed, Lu Guang's face hurts from smiling so much and Cheng Xiaoshi is a mess of giggles.
Cheng Xiaoshi holds him close before Lu Guang can fall asleep he presses a kiss of his forehead and then his lips. "Thank you for doing all this. For everything."
"It's good for me too. Plus," he teases, "you would have passed out on the court one day if I hadn't."
"Rude."
Lu Guang restocks his hiding places the next morning, and by the time he opens his new recipe book he finds familiar handwriting on the second page, along with the telltale sounds of pans in the kitchen.
'Lu Guang's Favorite Breakfast Eggs :)'
The same sense of home, of happiness, blooms in Lu Guang's chest. He puts a check next to the recipe and joins his parner in the kitchen.
No, neither of them would go hungry again.