Chapter Text
It was exactly 9:56 pm when Lu Guang checked his watch for the fifth time, the anxious tap tap tap of his feet against the sunroom floor nearly drowned out by the rain pouring against the glass roof.
Where was Cheng Xiaoshi?
He checked his wristwatch again, then the wall clock for good measure - God forbid his watch ever being out of sync, what a headache that would be.
The numbers flashed up at him mockingly; 9:57
Cheng Xiaoshi was supposed to be back home by 9:17 sharp. A 40-minute delay.
Lu Guang had sent a text by the 20-minute mark. A call when another ten passed with no reply. Was the change because it was raining? It hadn't been in the original timeline, nor in any of the ones that followed. A reasonable explanation to his whirring thoughts - Cheng Xiaoshi was simply waiting out the rain somewhere.
But no, Lu Guang thought again as he bit his thumb - a habit he'd been yelled at a lot for, especially by Qiao Ling - a waiting Cheng Xiaoshi was an idle Cheng Xiaoshi and an idle Cheng Xiaoshi with no person to bother usually means a Cheng Xiaoshi doom scrolling or playing games on his phone. He would've seen the texts.
Lu Guang could feel the beginning of a spiral starting to build as the rain pattered in time with his slowly quickening heartbeat. Was there any other explanation he could find? Why was it different this time round?
The door alarm cut his thinking short.
"Welcome, boss~"
He beelined straight for the door, turning the lights on as he went. "Cheng Xiaoshi?"
Then he stopped.
"Sorry I'm late," he said sheepishly. Soaked all the way through his clothes. He closed the door behind him, the pounding rain taking the cat's farewell greeting away with it. Lu Guang would scold him all the way into next week for dripping water all over their welcome mat if it hadn't been for one thing, or rather, person.
"Who is that child?"
"Ah, yes, about that." Cheng Xiaoshi rubbed the back of his neck, nervous under Lu Guang's stare. "I don't actually know her name but I found her by herself in a back alley and I was thinking we could maybeletherstaywithusfortonight."
"What."
"We could let her stay for tonight?" He pulled out his pathetic-wet-dog face. "Please?"
Lu Guang pinched his nose. This man was going to be the death of him.
He took a proper look at the girl hiding behind Xiaoshi's legs. She looked small for her age (or that was just Cheng Xiaoshi's too-big jacket that he'd wrapped around her), maybe five or six at most. She had her bubblegum pink hair tied up into two ponytails limping loosely at her side and a dirty shirt that looked a size too big for her. Her equally bright pink eyes stared up at him, unsure.
Noticing where his gaze was, Cheng Xiaoshi gestured to her. "Look at her, Lu Guang. We can't possibly leave her alone outside!"
Lu Guang sighed, regarding both of them carefully. "Alright," he acquiesced after a few moments of considering. "You," he pointed to Cheng Xiaoshi, "are going to go get changed first. I don't want you getting sick and whining like a man child."
He ignored Xiaoshi's offended squawk and turned to the girl with a much softer tone. "Please have a seat on the sofa," he said awkwardly, unsure if she was old enough to understand. She glanced up at Cheng Xiaoshi as if asking for permission. After receiving a smile and an encouraging nudge, she nodded slowly and made her way to the sunroom where he had pointed to.
Cheng Xiaoshi headed upstairs to dry off (only after promising that he'd mop the floor later) and Lu Guang checked that she had settled on the couch before making his way to their tiny kitchen.
He came back to the sunroom and placed a plate of watermelon diced into small cubes in front of her and took a seat on the opposite end of the couch, giving her ample space. She watched him curiously but did not take any of the fruit.
He cleared his throat. "For you," he said. Lu Guang hated how tense he felt. He had enough trouble talking to people his age, how was he supposed to talk to small children as well? Kids like snacks, right? He had hoped the watermelon would make a good impression.
"My name is Lu Guang." He extended a hand out to her awkwardly. She tilted her head and looked at his outstretched hand but just like the watermelon, she didn't take it so he was left there hanging.
A burst of laughter cut through the silence. "Pffft- Did you seriously- haha! Did you seriously try to offer a handshake?"
Lu Guang quickly retracted his hand and glared at Cheng Xiaoshi doubling over in laughter and clutching at the wall for support. "What else am I supposed to? I can't offer her a hug when I don't know if she's comfortable with that!"
"Oh you are so bad at this," he wheezed. "Would you like to hand her our studio business card next?"
"Shut it!" Lu Guang ignored how his ears grew warm.
Once Cheng Xiaoshi was done laughing at his expense, he took a seat on the floor between them and turned to the girl. "Don't mind him," he told her good-naturedly. "My name is Cheng Xiaoshi, in case you missed it earlier. It was kinda loud with the rain outside. This guy here's Lu Guang, my partner, and you're at our photo studio where we also live. Can you tell us your name?"
She looked at him for a few seconds, processing, before making gestures with her small hands. Cheng Xiaoshi didn't know a lick of what she was trying to tell them but Lu Guang caught on quickly enough.
"My name is (?)"
The last sign was one that Lu Guang didn't recognize - what looked like an 'X' and an 'I' over her nose. He repeated the motions and saw how her eyes lit up. "Is that your sign name?"
She beamed and nodded happily. Cheng Xiaoshi stared at Lu Guang in amazement. "How did you get that?!"
"I've learned a bit of sign before." He blushed under the attention. "But I only know the basics and I'm a little rusty anyway."
"You really are a surprise sometimes," Xiaoshi laughed. "I thought we were playing charades."
"Maybe you're the child instead of her," Lu Guang snorted. "Xi..., but we need your full legal name. There's not much we can search for with just a sign name."
"We could ask her to write it down?" His partner suggested. He got up and fetched a notepad and pen and offered it to her, smiling. "Can you write it down for us, please?"
She stared at the notepad and for a second they were convinced her parents hadn't taught her until she took it into her lap and started writing. She tore off the leaf she had written on and stuck it onto Cheng Xiaoshi's arm.
"Li...Tian...Xi"
The room fell into silence as both of them thought. "I'm not familiar with that name," Lu Guang said.
Cheng Xiaoshi smacked his head against the coffee table. "I know like three different Li's, none of them have ever mentioned having a daughter with pink hair and pink eyes."
"We can check our client's names. There's bound to be someone."
"She's not from around here, I've checked," Xiaoshi responded lamely, "I asked the shops nearby where I found her, none of them have seen her before but I guess it wouldn't hurt to look again."
"Or we could ask her directly."
"Oh, right."
"Idiot," Lu Guang scoffed with no heat. He dug through his mental library of CSL he had learned years ago and signed as he spoke. "Where is your home?"
She shook her head. "Don't know."
He tried again, forming a triangular roof with his hands, then the strokes for ‘人’ with his fingers, furrowing his eyebrows. "Family?"
She nodded and signed back with a middle fingered tap to the chin and a hand over her ear. "Big brother."
"Where?"
"Don't know."
"How old are you?"
She held up seven fingers.
"Mom and dad?"
That pulled a sudden reaction from her. She made a small noise of distress which quickly devolved into loud cries. "Hey, hey, it's okay," Cheng Xiaoshi was quick to soothe. He patted her back gently. "It's okay, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to."
She nodded through her tears and they gave her time to calm down, Lu Guang shifting guiltily in his seat at having made her cry. "How about we stop here for today. You must be tired," Xiaoshi told her.
She nodded again, rubbing at her eyes.
"You can give her one of my shirts to change into," Lu Guang said. He looked at Cheng Xiaoshi's jacket drowning her small frame. "They should at least fit better than yours. I'll call Captain Xiao in the meantime, he might be able to help us."
"Good thinking, Guang Guang!"
Lu Guang remained downstairs while the other two went up. Cheng Xiaoshi dug through their closet and picked out the smallest shirt they had then showed her to the bathroom after confirming she knew how to change herself. The shirt was more like a dress on her so he tied up small knots at the shoulders so the hem wouldn't drag on the floor and make her trip.
"There, all done!" She giggled lightly and twirled around like a princess.
He herded her into the bedroom and her eyes lit up at the sight of their bunk bed.
"!!!"
"Hehe, yeah, pretty cool right? Mine's the bottom bunk, Lu Guang sleeps up top because apparently I move around a lot in my sleep."
"You do."
"Ack-!" They both jumped at the sudden appearance. "Give us a warning next time! Anyways, where would Miss Li like to sleep?"
She jumped excitedly on her feet and pointed to the top bunk.
"Are you sure?" Lu Guang questioned. "It's rather high...the chances of falling-"
She pointed again insistedly as if to say "I can handle it!"
"Come on Lu Guang, you've been sleeping there for years and you've never fallen once." Cheng Xiaoshi nudged him.
"Alright..." But he went to fetch their spare pillows to block off the sides anyway.
She scrambled up the ladder with ease, beaming as she went and settled down onto the bed. Before she laid down to sleep, she signed a happy "Goodnight" to the two men below. Lu Guang translated it for Cheng Xiaoshi and he flashed her a bright smile and two thumbs up. "Wake us up if you need anything," he called.
She sent back her own tiny thumbs up and settled comfortably behind the mounds of pillows.
Which sort of left them with a conundrum.
Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi stared at each other.
It was the noodle bowl situation all over again, wasn't it?
Lu Guang coughed and made to go downstairs. "Um, goodnight then."
"Wait." Cheng Xiaoshi grabbed his wrist before he could take a step. "Where are you going?"
"Couch? Where else would I sleep?"
"My bed," Xiaoshi replied without missing a beat before turning red. "I meant- You can take my bed, I'll take the couch."
"No, that's your bed."
"I was the one that let her choose, it's the least I could do-"
"It's fine, I'm used to napping on the couch anyways."
"Then you complain when you're sore. Don't be stubborn, just take it."
"I said it's fine."
"You know what?" Cheng Xiaoshi dragged him over to the bottom bunk and pulled him in. "There, now we're both taking the bed."
"It's too small for the both of us!"
"We'll manage."
"Cheng Xiaoshi."
"Shhhh." He pressed a finger to his lips and pointed with his other hand to the bunk above. "Quiet, or you'll wake her up."
Lu Guang's noise of protest died in his throat and he settled for a glare instead. He pulled the pillow out from under their head and smacked Cheng Xiaoshi with it.
"Hey!"
"Shhh, you'll wake her up."
Cheng Xiaoshi glared back and mouthed, "You're horrible." Lu Guang rolled his eyes and shifted to find a comfortable position. They'd better get to sleep soon. There would be a lot to talk about and a lot to do when morning came.
He hadn't realized the rain outside had died down to a gentle drizzle.
"Goodnight, Lu Guang."
"Goodnight, Cheng Xiaoshi."