Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?

[gayapeel]

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[gayapeel]

"Hello, buddy."

After class, Yihao hurried after the new kid so he couldn't escape him, determined to be a good desk buddy who could teach him the ways of their school! He wiped the spit balls off his neck that had slowly gathered throughout and tried to make himself look presentable as he stood in front of Chenglei and blocked his path, very eager for his attention. "Hi! I'm Song Yihao. I should show you around ooor do you want to know anything? I'm here to help!"

[fourthewin]

"...I was just going to leave." Because, frankly, he was tired, he hadn't gotten enough sleep, and he was also more specifically tired of this place already. He was just sick of people, honestly. He looked at that boy in front of him, trying to place him. Right. The guy that was on the desk next to him.

Chenglei rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. The teacher hadn't called him Song Yihao. That had been some weird nickname, which seemed kind of unprofessional, honestly. This school clearly sucked. "I don't need any help."

[gayapeel]

"But... you can't leave. The school day is way longer, don't you know? It's only lunch break, you have class again in an hour." Yihao explained, not sure if he knew that or not but he wanted to help Chenglei out. He didn't want him to get into trouble, the teachers would call him a failure again - he always failed at every task he tried! He was bad at sports, he wasn't an excellent student and he was not cut out for responsibility but he could do this. He knew it.

"I have to help, it's what I do. I'm your desk buddy." And he was apparently taking it very seriously. "Can I show you where to get lunch? Do you know? It's nice, you'll like it."

[gayapeel]

Same old, same old. Just another day at school. The war cry of 'kill the pig' was what he heard first from halfway across the courtyard before the usual suspects started chasing him down. He had offended them greatly by refusing to give them his backpack in homeroom this morning and this act of defiance could not go unpunished.

Though honestly, Yihao thought the punishment was the amount of running they made him do.

They eventually managed to catch him just outside the classroom and knock him down on the floor. He winced as his hands scrapped the pavement and he tried wriggle away as they boys started to surround him. He could hear a crowd gathering and phones were coming out as the boys proceeded to kick him and push him around with their foot, laughing.

[fourthewin]

When Chenglei walked down the hallway, he wasn't actually paying attention to his surroundings. He was looking at his phone, reading a book, headphones in, pretty much doing what he could to shut out his surroundings. It worked well, until he had to step by someone, then step past someone else and then it was getting excessive, so he looked up, right into some of the people filming with their cell-phones.

Honestly confused, he looked down, frowning when he noticed Yihao there. He still wasn't really thinking, he simply bent down and reached for his hand to help him up, not trying to understand anything past the moment. The music was too loud for him to hear the gasps of the people watching and when the ringleader of the bullies stepped up to him, he saw his lips move, but didn't hear what he was saying.

"Huh?" Honestly, he didn't really care, but he still pulled down his headphones. "What?"

"Mind your own business, blondie."

[gayapeel]

Yihao didn't know what to do, it was so unexpected and surprising that it took him a while to grasp that Chenglei was helping him. Saving him! He was being saved... which may not be a good thing, given how everyone was looking at them now. He ducked behind Chenglei and watched the bullies start to square up his poor buddy, his head racing in his chest.

"You want to start shit with us, punk?"

They moved in closer and closer, the ringleader was all up in Chenglei's face and Yihao hid, wishing he was brave enough to also defend Chenglei in return.

[gayapeel]

"Chenglei!" Yihao cried out as he ran as fast as he could through the locker room, trying to get to his friends before the other boys did. He was only in a towel and using his hand to grip it, looking panicked and afraid as he quite literally leapt at Chenglei and clung onto him. Almost naked, slightly damp and trembling in fear. The other boys started to laugh at the display as Yihao tried to hide against Chenglei for safety.

Since the fight, the bullies had doubled down on their mockery and bullying. They hit harder, acted out more and worst of all - they broke into his locker and stole his clothes.

"Chenglei! Help me!"

[fourthewin]

"Get. Off. Me." No, he didn't know what exactly was happening and, no, he didn't really care what people were going to think, but that didn't mean he wanted to have Yihao cling to him while almost naked, in public no less. He rolled his eyes and tried to pry him off him, but he was gentle about it, not actually wanting to hurt his friend. Yes, he supposed at this point he had to admit that they were indeed friends. "What's the matter with you, huh?"

[gayapeel]

"They stole my clothes." Yihao pouted and no, he didn't get off, he clung onto Chenglei's shirt for extra support and turned his head, noticing the group of bullies behind him, smirking and laughing among each other. They were right by his locker, which had been clearly pried open. "What do I do now?! I need my clothes! I can't go to class naked!"

Obviously. He wriggled around Chenglei as he slid behind him for protection and the other boys in the changing room were having a field day with it.

"Look at the faggot feeling up blondie! I knew they were gay!"

[thesuspense]

"Yao. Hey." Xue Yang walked into the room, the office that Meng Yao was currently using, since he got the honour of taking care of the ailing leader's paperwork, while the old man was too sick to get up. Seemed like kind of a lose-lose deal to Xue Yang, but what did he know. Maybe Meng Yao was really enjoying this.

He leaned against the desk, looking down at Meng Yao and waving when he was sure he had his attention. "Old man is growing impatient. Really wants to meet the little brat."

[downstares]

"I see. Well, that is unfortunate. Children can be so hard to find." They weren't - he knew where Chenglei was, he just didn't want to go and find him. It was a lot to be expected to find the child, train him and set him on his way to be a leader. All he had wanted was to win some favour with his father and now here he was, doing some old bastard's paperwork and accidentally becoming his babysitter too.

He looked up at Xue Yang and shrugged his shoulders, still writing even as he looked away. "I'm sure it'll happen any time soon." Likely when he finished all this paperwork.

[fourthewin]

Chenglei knew he had made a mistake when he slapped the side of that damn claw machine and finally gotten Yihao his baby panda, because now Yihao kept looking at him with that weirdness to his eyes and he had no idea what to do about it, so he just avoided looking his way and walked through the mall with him, wherever the boy wanted to go.

It was too busy here, he had no idea what was so great about this place, especially since it wasn't as if he could afford to buy anything. "I've no idea why people do this for dates."

Not that this was a date. Ah, crap. "Just not a lot to do, is there?"

[gayapeel]

"I guess people like to look at things that they can't have. I mean, we don't have to stay long. We can just get milktea and then head to the manga cafe." He said date. He called it a date. He called it a date and then he won him a panda. He was smiling and bouncing along beside his new best friend and potential date, hugging his panda close and feeling very proud of himself. He did slow down a little every now and again to look into stores and see what they had.

He was a lot less bothered than Chenglei, pausing to watch an ad for a movie in the front of a DVD store and happily pausing by a greet card stall to browse the fun designs.

"Thanks for the panda."

[fourthewin]

Chenglei wasn't really sure what he was expecting where his parents were concerned, but - truthfully - when they ended up mostly just yelling at each other, then at him, then at Meng Yao and then, finally, sat down with the man and let him talk to them. It was kind of depressing, honestly, so Chenglei headed into his room and looked around. Nothing much here. He didn't own much, his room was small and he didn't actually have any furniture, just a mattress on the ground and a lamp next to it. That was less due to poverty - not that they had much money - and more due to the impracticality of owning much when moving so often.

His clothes were in two piles on the ground, washed and unwashed, and he started packing the washed ones into a bag, since it gave him something to do. The only other items in his room, really, were his books and manga, some of them piled up, some of them strewn about. Hey, the room didn't have a window, it was difficult not to kick things over when he got up and couldn't see a thing.

[downstares]

"Young master, I've spoken with your parents and we agre-- oh." Meng Yao entered the room and looked around, his eyes widening slightly. For a teenage boy, Chenglei had a nice room in some respects. Compared to what it could be, it was definitely an improvement. Unfortunately, for someone like Meng Yao, anywhere but his own room was a horrifying nightmare mess. He looked around at the clothes on the floor and his whole body itched as if he was covered in a fine layer of dirt.

He was working on this, on his OCD and his perfectionism. He remembered what Xichen had told him and took a nice, deep breath before smiling. "Can I help you pack? We will leave together."

[fourthewin]

"No! It's just bleached!" This was the third or fourth girl who came up to ask him if his mother was French, because his hair was blond. He had only been here for fifteen minutes, because his driver had insisted that they had to be on time, even early, and he had tried to argue, but that guy was strong.

So here he was, feeling like a dork in this school uniform and really wishing he had any of the ways he usually repelled people, but apparently he had lost them all. He was also literally lost, he had no idea what way to go. Was this even a school? It seemed like a gigantic park, with fountains, and then there were some buildings in the distance. How big was this campus? Maybe he should have let his driver actually let him out by the entrance, he'd just not wanted to get that much attention. But instead, here he was, being chatted up by girls who read too much manga or watched too much anime and cars were constantly driving past anyway. Expensive cars. Limousines. There had been a horse-drawn carriage not long ago. What was this place?

[gayswan]

"Are you lost?" Lurking behind Chenglei was Lan Wangji, second son of the Lan family and apparently a very quiet approacher - it was impossible to hear him coming. And yet, there he was, standing behind Chenglei with an impossible to read expression on his face. Blond hair, new to the school and a little rough - he was likely the boy he suspected him to be. Zhao Chenglei.

"It may seem overwhelming but it's easy to find your way around. Shall I find your first class for you?" He held his hand out to take his timetable from him.

to Wangji

[fourthewin]

something weird is happening

I'm supposed to go somewhere for debt collection

[gayswan]

How is debt collection weird?

to Meng Yao

[fourthewin]

I need advice...

[downstares]

ask away

I have time

[fourthewin]

No, he did not feel ready for this, but he doubted he ever would be. He had to do it though, for Yihao's sake. At least Xue Yang was with him, it was always easier to feel tough when he didn't have to do it alone. Obviously he also had bodyguards, but he didn't know any of them, not really, and Xue Yang had actually practised with him yesterday. Hauntingly, he had been good at the 'uke' role too, there was something he'd never be able to unsee.

But for now, it meant that he entered the warehouse with someone he sort of kind of trusted by his side and he could just try to stick to the script as much as possible. The biggest issue was Yihao recognising him, so the first thing that happened was Xue Yang walking in ahead of him and pulling Yihao up, covering his mouth, and pleasantly smiling at the other men in the room.

Chenglei nodded, but didn't bow. Important. He had to be a boss. "That's the boy?"

Obviously, but apparently rhetorical questions were necessary to really convincingly be an asshole.

[gayapeel]

Well, this was terrifying. He was still trying to catch up with the part where his parents trafficked drugs and he was their bargaining chip, never mind all the men with guns around him and all the talk of selling his organs or sending him back to his parents in pieces. His heart was racing in his chest as he saw Xue Yang approach and opened his mouth, hoping to plead with him over this whole mess. He didn't exactly know Xue Yang but he knew him well enough that he turned to him with whatever pitiful hope he had.

Only to have Xue Yang put his hand over his mouth and make it impossible for him to properly beg. He whined and squirmed in his head, not sure what was happening now. And then he heard that voice, that strangely familiar voice. He turned his head and craned his neck, seeing Chenglei there in front of him.

Zhao Chenglei. What the fuck?

His eyes widened comically and tried to say his name behind Xue Yang's hand but it really didn't come across.

[downstares]

I heard all went well.

Congratulations, young master.

Well executed.

[fourthewin]

Xue Yang helped a lot. Then he was a lot less helpful.

But Yihao seems mostly all right...

I wanted to ask if he can go out... Maybe with guards?