"Sorry, A-Jie. Since you caught us, I guess we could only tell you the truth."

Jiang Wanyin's eyes grew wide. What is Wei Wuxian up to now?

Jiang Yanli tilted her head, a bit confused.

"It's Jiang Cheng!" Wei Wuxian suddenly cried out, pointing at Jiang Wanyin.

Before anyone can react, Wei Wuxian begins to ramble.

"Jiang Cheng has been so short with me these days, I'll suggest we should hang out and he'll reject me... Today I asked him to hang out with me in the arcade and he told me that he had some school project he had to work on with a classmate... But guess what? The classmate told me he was actually going on a date today!" Wei Wuxian stopped to take a deep breath, letting everyone drink up his words.

"A date-?" Jiang Yanli asked.

Then Wei Wuxian continues, "So, as the big protective bro I am, I decided to go spy- well, spy is too big of a word, all I really wanted was to watch and make sure he is safe!! But unfortunately, Jiang Cheng caught me! And... And..." Wei Wuxian took a deep breath, crumpled up his face, and ran to hug Jiang Yanli.

"And A-Jie! Thank god, you are here-!! Jiang Cheng was about to murder me in front of his new boyfriend!" Wei Wuxian fake sobbed. "Say, what is Jin Zixuan doing here?"

Jiang Yanli, extremely confused, asked, "A-cheng has a boyfriend?"

"Yeah! Him!" Wei Wuxian wiped away a tear and pointed at Lan Xichen. He gives the boy a mental apology for putting him on the spot.

Lan Xichen, whose smiling face was now confused, pointed a finger at himself. Me? He seems to be asking.

Jiang Cheng was rendered speechless. Jin Zixuan felt awkward as hell, his face unreadable.

Jiang Yanli looks at Lan Xichen. She asked, "You are A-cheng's boyfriend-?"

Wei Wuxian said, "Yes!" as Jiang Wanyin shouted, "No!"

Then Wei Wuxian said, "No-?" and Jiang Wanyin said, "Yes-?" The two boys shoot each other dirty looks.

"Are you A-cheng's boyfriend?" Jiang Yanli asked again, to Lan Xichen, ignoring the other two boys.

Being put on the spot, Lan Xichen didn't know what to do. Both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Wanyin's gazes bore into him.

Then Lan Xichen gave Jiang Yanli a bright smile. "Yes!" he said.

Wei Wuxian's jaw almost dropped onto the floor. Then remembering his act, he shouted, "Yeah, see, see! A-Jie, I wasn't lying! Jiang Cheng was gonna murder me in front of his boyfriend!"

"You are right," Jiang Wanyin snarled. "I'm about to murder you."

"See, see!" Wei Wuxian yelled hysterically.

Jiang Yanli put out a hand. The two boys immediately become silent.

"You are-?" Jiang Yanli asked.

Lan Xichen scratched his cheek with a finger. "Yes! You must be..." remembering he doesn't know Jiang Yanli's name, he rephrases his speech, "You must be Wanyin's A-Jie! Wanyin talks a lot about you!" he smiled.

"Ah, really?" Jiang Yanli said.

Lan Xichen and Wei Wuxian nodded vigorously. Jiang Wanyin gaped at his A-Jie and Lan Xichen in disbelief. Jin Zixuan is enjoying the show. (He's the one here for the tea 😉)

"Well, I didn't know A-cheng had a boyfriend," Jiang Yanli mused.

"He does!" Wei Wuxian said hurriedly. "Our Cheng-Cheng is just shy! That's why he didn't tell us, A-Jie!" Wei Wuxian sighed dramatically.

"..." Jiang Wanyin refrained himself from throwing Wei Wuxian off the balcony.

"Well, A-cheng," Jiang Yanli turned around.

Jiang Wanyin froze.

From behind Jiang Yanli, Lan Xichen smiled and put up a thumbs up.

Today, Jiang Wanyin met someone. Someone who is as idiotic as Wei Wuxian.

"A-cheng," Jiang Yanli said softly. Jiang Wanyin looked back at Jiang Yanli. "A-Jie," he mumbled.

"A-cheng, why didn't you tell me?" Jiang Yanli asked.

"I..." what is there to tell?! Wei Wuxian you started, then you should have ended it!

Jiang Yanli smiled. "It's okay, A-cheng, A-Jie is here to support you, you don't have to hide anything from me."

Speechless, Jiang Wanyin can only nod. Then remembering Jin Zixuan, he feigned ignorance and asked, "What is Jin Zixuan doing here, A-Jie?"

"Yeah! What is he doing with you, A-Jie?" Wei Wuxian piped up.

Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan froze.

"U-uh," Jiang Yanli blushed. "I'll tell you when we get home. Now, A-xian, we should all go, we shouldn't interrupt A-cheng's date. I'll go now." Jiang Yanli gave one small smile and left. Jin Zixuan followed her like a small child following their parent.

The rest stood there in front of the coffee shop until a staff member came out and told them to stop loitering in front of their store.

While walking, Wei Wuxian said, "Phew! Thanks, Xichen for covering for us!"

Lan Xichen smiled and replied, "It's no problem, it seems like you needed help, so I helped."

Then Wei Wuxian exclaimed that he felt suddenly very thirsty and went to the slushie shop next door.

Lan Xichen's break time was almost over and he had to get back to work. But before that...

"Wanyin!"

"Don't you dare call me that!" Jiang Wanyin threatened.

"Then what would I call you?" Lan Xichen asked, confused.

"What do you think?" Jiang Wanyin snapped. Why is this guy still here?

Lan Xichen thinks. Then he tilted his head. "A-cheng?" he smiled.

Jiang Wanyin stared at him. "Why are you still following me?" he asked. Wei Wuxian, get your ass back here.

Lan Xichen replied, "Oh, I want to ask for your number."

Goosebumps pricked down on Jiang Wanyin's back. He took a step back from the boy. "Why?" he asked.

"Oh, remember the jacket I gave you? The left pocket contains two chocolate balls, a cat sticker, and a photo. You can keep the chocolates and the sticker but I really need the photo back," Lan Xichen said smiling, a small hint of urgency in his voice.

Suddenly Jiang Wanyin felt very irked at Lan Xichen's smile. Does his face not hurt from smiling so damn much?

"I don't want anything!" Jiang Wanyin snapped. "Give me your phone."

Jiang Wanyin grumbled as he entered his phone number into Lan Xichen's phone.

"Pfft."

Jiang Wanyin looked up quizzically.

"It's nothing, ah. I was just thinking you remind me of the cat I had when I was little," Lan Xichen said, taking back his phone.

"Well, I'll see you then. You can bring the photo to the coffee shop, I usually work a bit after school. Goodbye, Wanyin!" with a smile and a wave, Lan Xichen headed back to Aunt Luo's coffee shop.

Jiang Wanyin's mouth dropped open when the realization hit him.

Lan Xichen tricked him!

Why would Lan Xichen need his phone number?! As the boy said, Jiang Wanyin could just bring the item to him at the coffee shop! Jiang Wanyin didn't need to give Lan Xichen his phone number-!!

"Yo, Jiang Cheng! Guess what, I forgot I don't have money but the lady there was super nice and gave me this free cherry popsicle!" Wei Wuxian popped out of nowhere.

Jiang Wanyin swatted the popsicle out of Wei Wuxian's hand without looking.

Wei Wuxian gaped at his popsicle, now on the floor, slowly melting into a puddle of sadly abandoned juice.

"Mommy! That guy is gonna make his friend cry!" a small boy yelled to his mother in the distance, pointing at Jiang Wanyin.

"Damn who hurt you?" Wei Wuxian said, frowning. "I wanted to eat that!"

"Popsicles are unhealthy," Jiang Wanyin declared. "And why did you lie earlier? And such an outrageous lie? Why didn't you say Lan Xichen was your boyfriend? Why me?"

"If I say Lan Xichen was my boyfriend, A-Jie will know I'm lying straight off the bat," Wei Wuxian said matter-of-factly.

"See, if I had a boyfriend or a girlfriend, I'll be the kind who will brag in front of everyone's faces, and you are the kind who is too shy to tell anyone and will be like, "No! He is not my boyfriend!" Wei Wuxian said the last part in a high falsetto voice.

"..." Jiang Wanyin wants to hit Wei Wuxian on the back of his head.

"You do know that we have to tell A-Jie the truth sooner or later right?" Jiang Wanyin asked.

"Well, yes, but I rather A-Jie scold us at home and not in front of the peacock," Wei Wuxian replied. Then the boy yawned.

"Ah, what a day!" he cried out to the ceiling. "I can't wait to tell Hua-xiong and Luo-xiong about our mission today.

"If you tell anyone about what happened today, I'll cut off your tongue," Jiang Wanyin said.

"Don't worry, I'll replace you with a guy named Bob," Wei Wuxian jokes.

"Wei Wuxian!"

✨

😁

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Thank you for reading!

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It probably wasn't what you expected but hopefully, you liked it! ❤️

Comments and votes will be (highly) appreciated! As usual!

Word Count: 1560