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

"Same. I like to keep it simple. I like sweet stuff but when it comes to milk tea, I've always liked the classic. My baba used to make it in summer all the time, it just makes me feel nostalgic for freedom. A time when I don't have to deal with school." He loved those times, it meant that he didn't have to worry about being bullied or being picked on. He was just alone, discussing how to best harvest bananas with a bunch of old uncles and grandpas while his parents worked and he sipped tea ... and tried to help too. Sometimes.

Once he had made the order, he pulled his bag forward and slipped his panda carefully into it, not wanting to risk losing him. "What do your parents do? Mine harvest bananas."

"Nothing useful," Chenglei said honestly, waiting for their order to be done. Banana harvesting was perhaps unusual, but it was still better than whatever his parents got up to. "My mother pretends to be a housewife. She's bad at pretending. My father sells stuff online. He's bad at that too. Mostly they just fight."

It was like a way of life for them. Chenglei wasn't too bothered. Whatever.

"Oh. That sounds..." Chaotic. Awful. Loud. Scary. "Nice enough." It was good to be polite, even if they sounded insane. He shrugged his shoulders and took his drink and Chenglei's too, thanking the auntie before handing Chenglei his order. "My ma and ba are never home, they work all the time. Even when I was a kid. It's nice in some ways, I don't have to worry about privacy." It did mean that in the holidays, he spent a good chunk of the day alone.

Hell, he spent most of his time alone. "They want to make their banana business grow so I have something to work with going forward. It's supposed to be my legacy. Banana farmer." He wasn't into it.

"Hm." Chenglei wasn't sure what to say to that. "I like bananas." That was true. They were a nice fruit, as fruit went. He took a sip of his milk tea and started walking again, making sure that Yihao was tagging along. He looked around, frowning a little, but then dismissed it. This newfound paranoia was strange, maybe he had to sleep more. He was started to hallucinate or something. "I don't have a legacy. Seems stressful to have one."

"It is!" Yihao laughed as he sipped his drink, pausing to look at a fun mascot handing out free laundry detergent samples. It was so cute! He did love when mascots came to the mall. He turned and watched Chenglei, wondering why he kept looking over his shoulder. Was he worried about people seeing them together? It seemed odd, they were always together at school now. Or may he was worried about other friends catching them. "Everyone okay?"

"Yeah, sure. I just gotta..." Chenglei frowned, then grabbed Yihao by the arm. He made sure not to walk too fast, but he did walk toward one of the bathrooms further away from the central hub, figuring there would be fewer people there. Then he walked inside, let go of Yihao and pulled him against the wall, pressing against it as well next to him. He watched the door and covered his lips with one finger. "Stay quiet."

If someone was following him, it was that one weird guy. He definitely knew what he was wearing by now. If the guy followed them in here, he was confronting him.

What was going on? Yihao had no idea what to think. This bathroom was all quiet and isolated and suddenly, they were in together, right against a wall, watching the door. Did he want to hide from friends? From his parents?... Was this a weird prank? Either way, he said nothing and just looked at his friend, completely baffled but very obedient. He would NEVER upset his friend.

There was nothing for ages and he really did think that perhaps Chenglei was just being a bit weird when the door opened and a guy came in. He raised an eyebrow, not sure if he was supposed to know the guy or not. He looked at them funny and ... well, fair. Okay. That made sense. Then he went into a stall. Was that the guy or not?

All right, wrong guy. Maybe false alarm on all of this. Damn. Now he looked crazy, great. At least Yihao was very unlikely to judge him, he liked him way too much for that. He sighed, releasing some tension he hadn't realised he was under, then waved at Yihao. "It's fine. Let's go."

That said he already opened the door to head out the bathroom, only to come face to face with exactly the guy he had been waiting for. And, no, the reaction of immediately attacking and twisting his arm behind his back to force him down was likely not justified.

"Chenglei! What are you doing?!" Oh no, his best friend was assaulting an adult. This was way, way, way worse than fighting at school. He could go to jail! He panicked and flailed his arms, trying to reduce the chaos a little as he tugged at his friend to try and get him off the adult. "Calm down, what are you doing?"

"Listen to your friend!" Meng Yao snapped as he held his arm being almost yanked from it's socket - dear God, where the hell was Xue Yang? This hurt a lot. "This is very unwise, young master!"

Young master? The fuck. Thug, punk, a while number of names he'd expect to be called right now. This was unexpected and it kept him from just letting go. "Why the hell have you been following us, you pervert? What, you like looking at a cute boy?"

He assumed it was about Yihao. Made sense. Yihao dressed way too cute. "The hell am I letting go. You're lucky if I don't call security. He's a pervert, Yihao."

"I'm not a pervert. Would you please get off me, young master? I can't retaliate." He wasn't strong enough and he was not technically allowed. For a bastard Jin to hurt a Zhao was a great offence. He couldn't do it but fortunately, Xue Yang could. He wasn't bound to any hierarchy like he was, not as politically at least. If only he wasn't lingering around the donut stand!

"He's a pervert? He doesn't look like a pervert." Yihao frowned and tilted his head to the side. "Are you sure he's one?"

"I'm not! I can assure you, I have no interest in either of you."

"What, you think perverts have a sign that reads 'PERVERT' around their neck? If he's not a pervert, then why would he call me master?" Seemed to be the only reasonable explanation to him. Chenglei was still unsure though, but whatever he'd have done next, he was stopped when another guy, this one dressed in black, with long hair tied back, the sides shaved, definitely looking a lot more dangerous than the current pervert, stopped by them.

Xue Yang casually moved his hand, showing the knife he was holding. He just looked at Chenglei. "Let go of my friend or I'll gut your friend."

Chenglei's eyes widened, but he was not ready to test if that threat was idle. He let go immediately, backing away and pulling Yihao behind himself.

Yihao was terrified, he clung onto Chenglei and gripped him tight, pulling him back as they moved against a wall. He wanted to protect his friend but his feet wouldn't move and he didn't know what to do, he couldn't look away from the knife. The scary one with the knife stood there, looking dark and devious, while the 'pervert' dusted himself off and readjusted his coat.

"Don't wave your knife around near the young... around him." Well, now Chenglei made him feel gross using the word master. He sighed and looked at the punk, shaking his head in disapproval. "Zhao Chenglei, I am not a pervert. I was sent by your grandfather. Do you know what that means?"

God, he hoped so.

"...nah. Pretty sure my grandfather's dead." And these two didn't exactly look like angels sent from the heavens. Demons, maybe. Although the scary one with the knife had now made said knife disappear, in favour of eating the donut he had bought just before stepping in. How did that pervert know his name? So there was something more to this. He really wished Yihao wasn't here now. "If it's a family thing, go talk to my parents. Good luck with that."

"I did. They're ... awkward to speak with. Your grandfather is dying, he's not dead and he has rejected his son as the heir of his organisation. Of course, this means that it has to skip a generation. Congratulations, you are his heir." Meng Yao smiled and then turned to Xue Yang, a smile on his face that showed how exhausting this whole trip had been. "It's quite the honour, isn't it?"

"... This is weird." Yihao mumbled to his friend, not sure what he was supposed to do. "Feels like something out of a manga." Especially the sort he read.

"Yeeeeah." Chenglei had to agree with Yihao here. "Let's go." That said he turned on his heels, wrapped an arm around Yihao and simply tried to head right for the nearest exit.

Xue Yang caught Meng Yao's eyes and shrugged. What could they expect, given this kid had no idea? He walked a few steps, trying his best to keep up with the teens. "He's not lying, you know? Ain't optional either."

"This is the worst prank ever." Chenglei stopped again, since that other guy was in the way, turning back to the pervert guy, whatever his name was. "I'm a loser nobody. Go bother someone else."

"You can't walk away from this. To do it will put you and your little friend here in danger, maybe even your family. Just stay and talk about it with me. Let's sit down somewhere... we could go to Starbucks." It was the only place he could think of and he knew young people loved trendy hotspots like that so maybe it'd convince him. "Stop and talk to me, please."

Yihao clung onto Chenglei, completely confused and utterly terrified. He peered behind him at the two men and then looked away, not sure what to do. "They're really creepy. What do we do? Do we tell someone?"

"Why would Yihao be in danger? He's got nothing to do with this." Whatever 'this' even was. Starbucks? Was that where gangsters went to discuss their business? "Leave him out of it."

"You are a gang leader's heir, of course your boyfriend's in danger." Xue Yang felt that was pretty obvious, honestly.

Chenglei glared at him, but he really wanted to stop standing close to the men's rooms, so he relented. "Whatever. You pay, if we go to Starbucks."

"It's not that he's in danger, it's just that anyone by association can be caught up. Unless, of course, we talk a little." Meng Yao smiled and bowed to the boy, gesturing for him to take the lead and following along behind him. Yihao didn't know how he felt, he wasn't sure what to do but he didn't really feel comfortable leaving alone. Even so, he didn't want to intrude on Chenglei either. His instincts said leave but his fingers found their way to grip into Chenglei's fabric.

"Xue Yang, perhaps you could take our young master's little friend to go and get a snack." Meng Yao suggested, just trying to get some privacy with Chenglei.

Even if it seemed near impossible.

"I'm not letting him leave with that psycho." Granted, right now Xue Yang was looking pretty harmless, even kind of strangely cute, with powdered sugar on his cheek, but he had seen him threaten Yihao so casually before.

"We're just gonna go over there and pick something while you sit down. Relax. Come on, kid, I have snack money." Xue Yang gestured to the counter, now that they'd reached Starbucks, and Chenglei still wasn't sure, so he looked Yihao.

"Yell for me if anything happens, yeah?" He wasn't liking any of this, but he supposed he had to find out what the deal was.

Yihao didn't want to go with the knife man, he really didn't but he knew he had to be brave for Chenglei. He nodded and then looked at him, determined but terrified. "Same. If anything happens, yell. I will protect you." Maybe impossible but he wanted to at least try.

As Yihao reluctantly went along with Xue Yang, Meng Yao watched for a moment before raising an eyebrow, turning back to the boy. "Young love is awfully sweet." He clicked his tongue and then gestured for Chenglei to take a seat.

"We should talk business."

"...there's no love, he's just in my class." And Chenglei supposed they were kind of friends, but he was still trying not to let that happen. Even if he had glanced over at him three times so far, only stopping to frown at Meng Yao instead. "What's with the clicking? I thought it was 'young master'."

Not that he'd ever gotten respect from an adult before, didn't mean he wanted to be clicked at. Even if he did reluctantly follow and sit down.

"My apologies." Whatever, he didn't care. He smiled at the young man, waited for him to sit and then followed suit. He sat down and leaned on the table, trying to work out how to best go about this. "I want you to understand that I have no stake in this, not really. If you don't want to come, you won't come. You won't be the heir and someone else will take your place. I just want you to understand that whoever does, they are unlikely to want you alive. Years down the line, if you changed your mind, they'd lose everything - who'd want that person alive?"

It was unlikely that whoever became the next leader would allow someone like Chenglei to exist for any longer so really, there wasn't much of a choice. He slipped his hand into his inside pocket and pulled out a USB, holding it out to Chenglei.

"Here is all the information on your family, thought you might find it interesting. It's not everything but it's the gist on what we do, how we do it and how long your family has done it."

"If you've got no stake in this, why would you be here?" Chenglei just muttered it, entirely too reminded of so many gangster movies that he'd watched. He took the USB and looked at Yihao again, to make sure he was fine. He seemed fine, if a little overwhelmed by the amount that Xue Yang was ordering. Good.

He swallowed and looked at Meng Yao again, doing his best to keep his face neutral. He wasn't feeling neutral, he felt very unsure and a little scared, neither of which he wanted to admit to. Acting like he didn't care about anything was a lot easier than this. "I haven't even finished high school yet and it's not looking like I will, so what am I even supposed to do? I can't be a gangster."

"I'm here because I have to be. I was asked to find you and tell you. Sometimes we have to do things for the sake of doing them." He didn't want to do it but he knew it was essential to do it, whether or not it mattered. "If you do accept the offer, I am here for you. As a teacher." For some awful reason, that was the role that was thrust upon him. "I'll show you how to be a gangster."

Leaning in, Meng Yao kept his voice nice and slow. "It's not hard, promise." It wasn't easy but luckily, this boy would not really have to do any dirty work - he'd just be a figure head until he was old enough to decide what to do himself. "You are so fortunate, you do not even know. You should jump at this chance, it's incredible."

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