Work Text:
Lan Huan had just come home from his last class of the day when his phone rang. It was an unlisted number, but he recognized the first few digits as belonging to their town's school system.
"Hello?" He answered.
"Good afternoon," the voice of a young man sounded over the phone. "Is this Lan Huan?"
"Yes," he replied. "With whom am I speaking?"
"This is Principal Shen," the man said. "I'm calling because your little brother, Lan Zhan, was involved in a fight with another student."
Lan Huan felt his heart drop. "A fight? What happened?"
Principal Shen sighed. "It's unclear exactly what happened, but it seems as though Lan Zhan bit another student after he said something to him."
Lan Huan frowned. That seemed very out of character for A-Zhan. He was quite aloof for a six-year-old, and he did have a tendency to bite as he was growing up, but that was only to family members who made him deliberately mad, and he had grown out of it!
A-Zhan was a very sweet and quiet boy now, one that wouldn't even dream of hurting a fly. In fact, he recently had a nightmare about accidentally stepping on Mr. Cloud's, the class rabbit's, paw, and cried for almost an hour when he woke up. He watched the ground very carefully when he walked around for a whole month after that.
So this was all very strange, but Lan Huan wouldn't be able to ask his didi about it until he goth there, so he gathered up his things and drove to the elementary school.
The secretaries recognized him from his consistent attendance at PTA functions and quickly let him through once they saw him. When he entered the office, he saw A-Zhan sitting in a chair next to another boy he'd seen in his class photos. Next to him was a man, young but still looking a little older than Lan Huan. He was beefy, his frame hardly able to squeeze into the chair at the principal's desk, and he was scowling with an almost deadly look on his chiseled face.
"Ge," A-Zhan said, looking up at Lan Huan as he walked in and forcing him to tear his eyes away from the other man.
"A-Zhan." He said primly, and sat down beside his brother. "What have I said about biting people?"
"Not to do it." A-Zhan said blankly.
Lan Huan sighed. "Then why did you do it?"
A-Zhan said nothing, turning to look at the boy beside him instead.
Immediately, tears began to well in the other boy's eyes.
"I didn't mean it!" He cried out.
The man next to him growled. Lan Huan never thought he would ever find a human growl sexy, especially not one aimed at intimidating a child, but today was an odd day. "What didn't you mean?"
The little boy sniffed. "I... I said th-that he was so quiet, n-no one would b-be friends with... with him."
Lan Huan's heart clenched at the words. His didi was always quite quiet, and didn't have many friends, but he had never said anything about that bothering him. If it was enough for him to bite this boy, A-Zhan must have been very deeply upset. Had A-Zhan been lying? Was he deep down very insecure and said about his adorable nature? Had Lan Huan neglected his little brother for so long that he didn't notice?
Or was A-Zhan trying to hide it from him? Lan Huan did often tease him about this. Was he such a bad brother that he hadn't noticed how much his teasing was hurting his didi?
He didn't get the chance to ask, as Principal Shen then entered the room and shut the door behind him.
"Sorry for the wait, gentlemen," he said as he took his seat at the opposite side of the desk. "I was just on a personal call with my wife."
"No worries," Lan Huan said. The other guardian grunted in response.
It isn't sexy, it isn't sexy, it isn't sexy--
"I'm sorry, Zhan-xiong!" The little boy suddenly exclaimed. "I was wrong! I shouldn't have been mean."
A-Zhan nodded solemnly. "Mn. I'm also sorry for biting you. I should not be violent when I am upset."
The little boy stuck out his hand. "Friends?"
A-Zhan didn't respond, but he did slowly shake the offered hand, as if reluctant to touch him.
"Oh wow, that was easy!" Principal Shen laughed. "As I'm sure you understand, there are limited punishments available for primary school students. So they are just being let off with a warning for now. But if this behavior repeats for either of them, we will be looking at suspension."
Lan Huan nodded emphatically. "I completely understand. I can assure you this will not happen again, right A-Zhan?"
He gave A-Zhan a pointed look, to which he nodded with all the seriousness that could be contained in a six-year-old body. "I will not bite Nie Huaisang again."
Principal Shen smiled at him and was abut to respond when he was cut off by the blaring of a ringtone. He paled and fumbled to grab his cell phone.
"Sorry, sorry, my wife is calling again!" He called as he rushed out of the room, answering the call with some sweet, placating nothings as the deep voice of a man bellowed out of the other end.
Lan Huan turned to the other young man as the door swung shut behind Principal Shen, his face written with all the confusion Lan Huan was currently feeling.
"I'm sorry about all this." Lan Huan said to him. Both A-Zhan and the other boy, Nie Huaisang, and hopped down from the chairs and gone to play with the floor toys in the corner of the room, leaving the two of them alone at the desk.
"A-Zhan isn't usually like this, but he used to be for a long time," Lan Huan explained. "He's always had a hard time expressing his emotions, but it's been even worse since our mother died. He was very aggressive for a while after that, but it's calmed down in the last year. But I suppose he's been very sensitive lately. I'm trying my best to take care of him and teach him how to be with others, but it's not the same. Our mother was the only person who's opinion he truly cared about, I think, so it's been hard to get him to listen."
He didn't know why he was telling all this to the man, a stranger, but he didn't himself regretting it. The man had an intense look in his eyes as he met Lan Huan's gaze, but it didn't feel judgmental.
"I'm sorry, too," he sighed, his voice much softer than it had been before. "I came in here blaming the kid's parents for his behavior, fuming about it on the whole drive over, but I was wrong. I tend to think that I'm completely unique, the only one that's raising my little brother while grieving myself, especially when I see those condescending homebodies at all the PTA meetings, but I should know better than to assume. We're both just trying our best, though I wouldn't lie to you and say that Huaisang doesn't do this often. He definitely doesn't think before he speaks, but trust he'll be losing all Pokémon privileges when we get home."
"What?" A little head popped up next to them, aghast and bewildered. "B-but Da-ge! Jin-xiong is going to trade me his Charizard tomorrow!"
"Well, reschedule your little business deal, kid." He said with an eyeroll.
Nie Huaisang pouted, but then relented. "Can A-Zhan come over for a playdate then?"
The man sighed. "Only if it's okay with his brother..."
"Lan Huan," he supplied. "And I'd be delighted to bring A-Zhan over tomorrow. What time are you free?"
"Anytime after 3pm. And the name's Nie Mingjue, by the way."
"Mingjue." Lan Huan repeated with a smile. It was a beautiful name, and he hoped his appreciation of it didn't show too much on his face. "It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Lan Huan," Nie Mingjue smiled. Lan Huan felt a pang in his heart. He was absolutely done for.
As they looked into each other's eyes, neither of them noticed Nie Huaisang slip a small piece of paper into Lan Zhan's hands. Lan Zhan looked it over thoughtfully, then nodded at Nie Huaisang.
"Can Yingying come?" A-Zhan suddenly piped up from next to them.
Lan Huan turned to him with a questioning gaze. "Who is Yingying?"
A-Zhan had never mentioned any friend named Yingying before. Why did he suddenly want to invite them over?
But as usual, A-Zhan said nothing, simply staring expectantly at his ge, as if he expected him to know everything in the world. It was honestly quite endearing.
He acquiesced with a sigh. "As long as their guardians are okay with it."
"They are." A-Zhan said. He hadn't blinked in a while.
Lan Huan frowned. He was going to need a little more assurance than that, but it was fine for now, if it made his didi happy.
"Let me get your number then," Nie Mingjue said, after A-Zhan had wandered back to the corner and resumed staring at a piece of paper in his hands.
Lan Huan hurried to pull out his phone, wishing the blush would come down but knowing that it was futile. But if the smug look on Nie Mingjue's face was anything to go by, maybe it didn't matter too much if he embarrassed himself a little here.
When they had finished exchanging numbers, A-Zhan began to pull on his pant leg, so he rose out of his seat.
"It was nice to meet you," he said with a little wave as he was all but dragged out of the office by an impatient child. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
Nie Mingjue nodded and smiled. "Looking forward to it."