Chapter Text
“Ugh, I can’t take this anymore!”
Qiao Ling rolls her eyes at Cheng Xiaoshi’s sudden outburst. He acts as if they’ve been working him to the bone or something– they haven’t. He’s just lazy.
She tells him as such.
“Cheng Xiaoshi, stop being so lazy,” she scolds. “You don’t see Lu Guang complaining, do you?”
“Hey, I’m not lazy!” Cheng Xiaoshi immediately protests. “We’ve been working all day! I need a break! Lu Guang, you understand me, right?”
Lu Guang looks up briefly from the photo he’s been studying. “You’re exaggerating,” he says flatly. “Get back to work.”
“Noooo,” Cheng Xiaoshi groans, throwing an arm over his face for dramatic effect. “Lu Guang, how could you betray me like this!”
“See, I told you,” Qiao Ling says proudly. “Glad to see that there’s at least one sensible person running this place.”
“I am sensible!” Cheng Xiaoshi argues. “Sensible people can get tired, you know! I just need a break. I need… sugar!”
“That’s the last thing you need,” Qiao Ling scoffs, but before she can berate Cheng Xiaoshi any further, Lu Guang sighs.
“I’ll go get us boba,” he says evenly, and Cheng Xiaoshi lights up with excitement.
“Really?” he exclaims. He flings his arms around Lu Guang’s neck, practically draping himself over the other man. “Oh Lu Guang, I knew you were my favorite! I want–”
“Raspberry iced tea, 75% sugar, light ice, with strawberry popping boba and tapioca,” Lu Guang intones.
Qiao Ling lifts an eyebrow, but Cheng Xiaoshi doesn’t even bat an eye. “And–”
“And a yellow straw,” Lu Guang finishes. “I know.”
Cheng Xiaoshi grins. “You know me too well.”
Lu Guang pats his hand absently on Cheng Xiaoshi’s arm and gently pulls away to stand, before turning to Qiao Ling. “What would you like?”
Qiao Ling startles. She’s still a bit taken aback by what she just saw, but she shakes it off quickly. “Um… brown sugar milk tea would be great. Thanks, Lu Guang.”
“Sure. I’ll be back soon.”
And with that, Lu Guang walks out of the studio.
Huh.
Cheng Xiaoshi immediately flops down on the couch with a satisfied sigh. “Well, no point working until boba arrives!” he says, as if that makes any sense at all. But Qiao Ling isn’t going to scold him about that right now– she has a more pressing concern at the moment.
“So… Why didn’t you tell me you guys are dating?”
It feels obvious in retrospect, but Qiao Ling still feels a bit hurt that they didn’t bother to tell her. They could’ve celebrated! But before she gets the chance to chew Cheng Xiaoshi out, he’s shooting up into a seated position, his eyes going wide.
“Dating? ” he repeats, his voice incredulous. “Who, me and Lu Guang? We’re not dating.”
Qiao Ling narrows her eyes, giving him a look that he knows all too well, but he just shakes his head furiously.
“Don’t look at me like that!” he yelps. “I’m telling the truth!”
“You really expect me to believe that?” Qiao Ling says, crossing her arms in front of her.
“Why would I lie about that?” Cheng Xiaoshi retorts. “Trust me, if I was dating Lu Guang, I would be bragging about it to everyone I know.”
“So you do like him!” Qiao Ling exclaims, pointing a triumphant finger at him. She knew she wasn’t imagining things!
“Well, duh,” Cheng Xiaoshi says, rolling his eyes. “Obviously I like him! Have you seen him? He’s like the hottest guy I’ve ever met!”
“Okay, and you haven’t asked him out because…?”
“Did you even hear what I just said?” Cheng Xiaoshi complains. “He’s like a fucking supermodel. Totally out of my league.”
Qiao Ling frowns. Don’t tell her that he doesn’t see it…
“What are you talking about?” she asks. “It’s so obvious that he likes you back.”
“What? No it isn’t.” Cheng Xiaoshi doesn’t even pause to consider Qiao Ling’s words before dismissing them, which kind of pisses her off. “Literally why would he go for me?”
Oh, right. She forgot that she was dealing with the most oblivious man on earth.
Qiao Ling reaches over and smacks her palms on Cheng Xiaoshi’s cheeks, forcing him to look right at her. He wrinkles his nose up petulantly, but he knows from experience that any attempts at escape will ultimately end in failure.
“Cheng Xiaoshi,” she says flatly. “Listen to your wise, older sister. He likes you.”
The look that crosses Cheng Xiaoshi’s face at those words surprises her. There’s something like discomfort in the eyes that are steadfastly avoiding her, or…
Something like fear.
“Haha, maybe…” he says awkwardly, but he’s already trying to squirm his way out of her grasp. Confused, she lets him go, and she watches as he slumps his head heavily in his hands, his elbows propped up on his knees.
“All right, what’s wrong with you?” she asks, her hands on her hips. “I thought you’d be excited to hear that Lu Guang likes–”
“Please stop,” Cheng Xiaoshi interrupts, and Qiao Ling is struck by how defeated he sounds. “Just… don’t. He doesn’t… It’s not like that, okay?”
As if Qiao Ling would give up that easily. “And what makes you so sure?” she challenges. “You’ve always been shit at recognizing when people like you.”
It’s true– Cheng Xiaoshi has broken many a heart on accident due to his chronic obliviousness, and he’s well aware of it. Still, the reminder doesn’t seem to bolster his mood at all.
“Yeah, but… I know it’s too much to hope that Lu Guang would like someone like me. So I just can’t.”
Someone like him?
Oh, Qiao Ling has some things to say about that.
“You’re an idiot,” she states firmly. “You’re not allowed to talk shit about yourself, and you know that,” she scolds. Cheng Xiaoshi jumps a bit at that, looking away guiltily– they've had this conversation before.
“Only I get to do that,” she continues. “Or Lu Guang,” she adds as an afterthought.
“Also, Lu Guang totally likes you. And I’m going to prove it.”
That gets an instant reaction as Cheng Xiaoshi whips his head up to look at her, his eyes panicked.
“What? Qiao Ling, you can’t! Please don’t say anything, I don’t want to– I can’t lose this.”
The urgent plea causes Qiao Ling to pause. “Can’t lose what?”
Cheng Xiaoshi bites his lip worriedly and looks away. More than anything, he looks like he’d rather be anywhere else.
“What I have with Lu Guang right now,” he explains, his voice small. “It’s… special. I’ve never had a friend like him before, and I can’t– I wouldn’t be able to handle it if he left.”
His voice quivers as he speaks, and Qiao Ling instantly feels bad. Of course he would worry about that. And now she’s gone and poked at all his sore spots, forcing him to relive old pains for no reason.
“Look,” Cheng Xiaoshi says shakily. “I know I’m not… special, or anything. Just a loser whose own parents left him and who works in a dead-end photo shop. Not that I don’t love it here, but…”
He chuckles self-deprecatingly, and Qiao Ling forces herself to bite her tongue for now.
“Lu Guang… he’s so smart,” Cheng Xiaoshi sighs, his voice taking on a noticeably softer tone. “Really, he’s incredible. He could go anywhere, could do anything he wanted to do. And the fact that he’s chosen to stay here? It’s more than I could ever have hoped for.”
There’s a gentle smile on his face now, and Qiao Ling’s heart clenches at the sight. She had known Cheng Xiaoshi had it bad for Lu Guang, but this…
“So please, don’t say anything okay?” Cheng Xiaoshi asks, something terribly vulnerable in his voice. “I don’t want to scare him off. I know I can be… a bit much.”
Qiao Ling stares at Cheng Xiaoshi for a long moment. He’s being stupid again. She hates seeing him like this, hates how he can think so little of himself. She opens her mouth as she raises her hand to smack some sense into him, but before she gets the chance, the door opens.
“I have boba,” Lu Guang announces, only to pause at the scene in front of him. “...Am I interrupting something?”
Cheng Xiaoshi immediately jumps to his feet and dashes behind Lu Guang, grabbing onto his shoulders and peeking at Qiao Ling nervously.
“Lu Guang, save me!” he whines. “Qiao Ling is being mean to me again!”
Qiao Ling watches the two of them closely, noting how easily Lu Guang relaxes into the touch, how comfortable he seems in Cheng Xiaoshi’s space.
She opens her mouth to argue on principle, but stops when she sees the pleading look in Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes. “He–! Ugh, whatever.”
She’s already pushed him enough for one day. She can let him have this one– but this conversation is not over.
“I’m sure you deserve it,” Lu Guang says mildly, smirking at the offended gasp Cheng Xiaoshi lets out.
“Why, you–!”
The two immediately start bickering, even as Lu Guang passes a drink into Cheng Xiaoshi’s hand. Qiao Ling takes her own drink gratefully, quietly sipping it as she continues to observe.
Now that she knows, she can all too easily pinpoint the adoration in Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes as he playfully bumps his shoulder against Lu Guang’s. It makes her smile a little, if only to herself.
Her little brother is in love.
And from where she’s sitting, it seems pretty obvious that the happiness in Cheng Xiaoshi’s eyes is being reflected right back at him.
Still, she can admit that Lu Guang is a lot harder to read than Cheng Xiaoshi. She needs to investigate further. For Cheng Xiaoshi’s sake, she’ll try to be as subtle as possible, but she’s not letting this go yet.
Cheng Xiaoshi makes a stupid joke, and Lu Guang groans, bringing a hand up to cover his face in exasperation. But though this tactic successfully hides him from Cheng Xiaoshi, Qiao Ling is at the perfect angle to see the fond smile playing at Lu Guang’s lips.
That’s right. She’s not crazy, and Cheng Xiaoshi is a moron. As for Lu Guang?
Well, that remains to be seen.
But Qiao Ling is determined to find out.