bakerstreet | HAPPY POCKY DAY!!!

[Oh, shit. Lan Zhan's back already!?

Wei Ying hastily stuffs the box of cherry pocky into his shirt, along with a box of strawberry for Huaisang and box of green tea for Jiang Cheng deep into his pockets. He might not be perfectly stealthy considering just how often he gets caught stirring up trouble but at least, he has enough sense to make sure nothing looks amiss at first glance.

He quickly bounds over to where he'd been copying, pointing to a stack of paper.]

Yeah, I did! It's all right there. See? Can I go now?

[The longer he has the goods on him, the more likely he's going to get caught with it. He needs to make a quick escape! But maybe, he's coming across a little too eager...?]

[The honorable Hanguang-Jun returns! All he sees is Wei Ying at the table and the stack of paper. So, he doesn't seem to suspect anything yet.]

Hm. Let me see...

[Lan Zhan sat at the table and looks through the copies of his written calligraphy. For once, his handwriting is passable and decent, and even legible. He even counted all the papers, making sure each page is exact.]

Mn. This is satisfactory. Some errors on your line strokes and characters, but I can make some out of it. You may go now, but come back tomorrow to finish the rest.

Of course! See you tomorrow, Lan Zhan!

[Wei Ying jumps up from his seat with even more exuberance than he usually has after being set free from detention. Lan Zhan's approved of his calligraphy and doesn't seem to have noticed anything unusual yet. He's practically home free!

Or at least, he was. While the pocky in his pockets were reasonably secure, the one he'd stuffed down his shirt isn't. It turns out that Wei Ying didn't tuck his shirt very well either because the box falls straight through to land on the floor with an audible rattle, thud, snap as the pocky pieces break.

Oh. Oh, dear. This can't look good. Wei Ying gives a nervous, but still charming grin.]

Eheheh.

[Oops.]

Edited 2019-11-12 05:15 (UTC)

[At the sound of the thud, Lan Zhan took notice. Caught!]

...Huh? Wei Ying, is that one of mine?

[And broken pocky! That's unacceptable! No longer biscuit stick perfection. He scowls when he immediately recognized one of his boxes, now smashed into little pocky pieces. No good!]

Wei Ying! Shameless! The pocky is not for you! Come back with the rest!

[Now how fast a gremlin can run? Because Lan Zhan is on his tail, chasing after him! Or chasing him out of the jingshi!]

But Lan Zhan~! You still have so many! What's a few boxes to you when you have so many?

[It turns out a gremlin can run really fast! Especially when there's stolen pocky on the line. With his own box left broken and forlorn on the floor, it's imperative that Wei Ying defend the remaining two now. Huaisang and Jiang Cheng are counting on him to share delicious pocky with them! He can't fall in battle here!]

It's so mean not to share them with the rest of us! Isn't greed prohibited in the Cloud Recesses?

[And after attempting to evade him in the jingshi for a bit, Wei Ying makes a hasty dash for the door and toward.... well, anywhere, really! Anywhere he might find Huaisang or Jiang Cheng! If Wei Ying hands off the pocky to them, Lan Zhan will have to choose between targets to get them back, right? And then he'll be able to make a true escape!

He's a genius! His plan is sure to work!]

Hnrgh. If you wanted any, you could have asked...

[Let's assume gremlin ran fast enough, made his escape, and his plan did work! At this point, Lan Zhan accepted his defeat and simply surrendered.

And anyway, with his rhetoric, he did have a point that's worth contemplating further on his own. So there's that! For now, the victory is rightfully Wei Ying's.

At the end of the day as night-fell, there's a knock on the door, and what do you know? Lan Zhan's generous nature shows. It's a package of chocolate pocky being left on his doorstep as proof of his surrender and his answer.]

Edited 2019-11-17 07:00 (UTC)

[By the time the nightfall comes, Wei Ying's already pleasantly buzzed from a jar of Emperor's Smile he'd snuck in a couple nights before. When he hears the knock, he goes out to check and spots the box of pocky. Chocolate, huh? It's no cherry but still sounds tasty. He steps outside to look around and see if there's any sign that he might still be around.]

Hello~? Lan Zhan? You still out here? I've got something to share with you, too.

[It just so happens that Wei Ying still has another jar of Emperor's Smile that he's willing to share, too, not that he expects fuddy-duddy Lan Zhan to take him up on the offer. But even if his classmate won't drink with him, it's only fair that Wei Ying give up his remaining jar of liquor after winning this argument the way that he did.]

He was down the path away from the house but within line of sight when Wei Ying discovered the pocky box. When Lan Zhan heard him calling him out, he turned his head around.

"Hm?" Genuinely curious as to what kind of games he's up to now, Lan Zhan turned his head around. Seeing the jar, he frowned. It's not a fair trade, at least to him.

Respectfully decline the drink. "No. Now hide that before you get discovered or you'll get punished by the paddles again." And getting punished by paddles for rule-breaking isn't something Lan Zhan is keen to endure again, not over Emperor smiles or a common snack. If Wei Wuxian gets discovered for sneaking alcohol again, it will be his consequence.

"I'll pretend I don't see it."

Edited 2019-11-18 00:29 (UTC)

Oh? Lan Zhan's not going to confiscate it, is he? Well, Wei Ying's perfectly fine with simply stashing it for another night of festivities. He's not planning to drink any more tonight, anyway.

"But you still don't have to go, Lan Zhan! How about we share the pocky instead? Food tastes best in good company, after all."

And maybe, just maybe he has an ulterior motive to the invitation. There is that game Huaisang was telling him all about that he wanted to try. It sounded fun and someone like Lan Zhan would be a much more fun opponent for it than any of his other friends.

He doesn't feel like it. To confiscate it. If he reported it, then both of them will end up being punished which Lan Zhan isn't too keen to experience again.

Lan Zhan is about to decline and refuse. "Wei Ying, it's for you."

At the suggestion, he seems tense and terse at first, and then he has second thoughts at his invite.

"All right." At that, when he clearly intended to take his leave for the night, he walks back. Part of him wonders what is he up to.

Edited 2019-11-18 02:52 (UTC)

Wei Ying leads him inside and takes a seat on the floor, gesturing for Lan Zhan to join him. That tension's not completely lost on him; is he really that bothered that he has liquor? Maybe he shouldn't suggest they play the pocky game right way, then.

First, he needs to get Lan Zhan to relax and unwind just a little first. If liquor's not an option, he'll just have to try something else, won't he? Like conversation. Wei Ying's good at that (or so he thinks).

"So how was your day, Lan Zhan?"

His tone's casual and light as he opens up the pocky box and offers him a stick.

Lan Zhan was, for the most part, is neutral as that's his usual expression. There was some tension between them. He seated across from Wei Ying, noticing his usual friends aren't around.

He does seem to relax and not very wary. For the most part, he isn't temperamental now as he is earlier before. It's a minor quarrel, but they quarrel and banter on most days.

"Good." At the offering, Lan Zhan takes a stick. His expression of his classmate is curious.

Quarrels and bantering are pretty common, indeed, but that doesn't mean that Wei Ying necessarily likes the fact there's always so much friction and tension between them. It's, honestly, part of why he just can't seem to content himself with writing this all off as a loss. Why does the idea of Lan Zhan disliking him bug him so much? It's not like he's ever really cared with anyone else.

However, that's getting just a little too close to actual self-reflection so he better stop that right now in favor of shoving another pocky stick halfway into his mouth before chomping on it with a crunch.

"So... it was just good? Nothing interesting or special happened at all? Didn't read any good books? Anything like that?"

Lan Zhan nibbles on a biscuit stick as he continues his seemingly fixed gaze. He simply enjoys a snack and enjoys Wei Ying's company.

With a slightly bored look. "Hm. It's simply another day, Wei Ying. I read. Copy rules. Write in books. It's boring..." A small confession.

"Well, if that's all you do everyday... Of course, it's going to get boring, Lan Zhan!"

He's such an old fuddy-duddy. Maybe Wei Ying should introduce him to that game now, after all.

"So how about we play this game Huaisang told me about to liven things up a little?"

He pulls out another pocky stick with a little bit of a flourish and points it right at Lan Zhan.

"It'll make your day less ordinary!"

Edited 2019-11-23 11:57 (UTC)

"Mn. But everyone must be diligent in their studies." He said, however inwardly he actually agrees with him.

"...what? A game." His eyes following him with curiosity. "Ridiculous." A game involving pocky indeed.

"How to play...?"

"It's easy," Wei Ying says casually as if this isn't his first time playing the game himself. "I bite one end of the stick and you bite the other. We each take turns biting little pieces off until we reach the middle. First one to turn away loses!"

He leans his cheek in his hand, smirking a little. Lan Zhan might be a formidable opponent but with face as thick as Wei Ying's, there's no way he can lose!

"Doesn't it sound fun? Want to play?"

Lan Zhan eyes him with suspicion. "...extremely ridiculous." But he won't back down from a challenge. The idea is an influence from one of his friends, no doubt.

And yet his heart begins to race at the thought. Basing on Wei Ying's instructions they'll be very close.

"You lose." He said as if the battle is already determined and decided in his favor.

Taking one a chocolate pocky stick out, Lan Zhan placed it between his lips. His golden eyes are fixed like a tiger.

"..." No way he'll lose to him!

Wei Ying blinks a couple of times, somewhat surprised, but it quickly gives way to delight. Lan Zhan wants to play with him! It's exciting! So without hesitation, he attaches his mouth to the other end, holding his friend's gaze with a look of cocky amusement, waggling his eyebrows a little.

Battle start!

Wei Ying nips off a tiny bit from his end of the stick. Your move, Lan Zhan!

Edited 2019-12-03 10:49 (UTC)

Lan Zhan's eyes remains fixed on him. His breathing is calm and even. His expression is passive, almost unreadable, and remains largely unimpressed and wordless. "..."

Lan Zhan's remains unmoved and still. Each tiny bit of a nibble on the biscuit as Wei Ying comes closer and closer...perhaps too close as he could feel the warmth radiating off him.

"...Hmph." At the last minute, despite what he said, Lan Zhan couldn't bear it. His hand on his lap clutch the fabric of his robe, tensed and nervous, as his heart skipped a beat. Conflict feelings begin to stir.

Sudden and swiftly, like a sudden jerk, he turned his head away, breaking the biscuit before Wei Ying reached him. He just can't and decides to loose on purpose, an unconditional surrender.

As their lips draw just a fraction closer with each consecutive round, Wei Ying's feelings of anticipation grow like a crescendo gradually building up in his chest. Lan Zhan really is handsome like they say, he thinks, admiring just pretty his eyes and how delicate the lashes surrounding them are. His lips look so soft, too; if things keep going as they are, soon Wei Ying will be able to verify it for himself. If he hadn't been so determined to keep his mouth on the stick and not screw this up, he might've been wetting his lips in preparation, as it chaotic butterflies are alight in his stomach.

But just when their lips are about to meet, Lan Zhan throws the game completely, leaving a stunned and slightly disoriented Wei Ying to stare at him. It takes him a second to recover enough to finish eating that final bit of pocky. He won, right? Lan Zhan quit the game so that means he won by default, right?

But then why does Wei Ying feel like he lost?

After a brief, uncharacteristic moment of silence, he forces a grin and takes out another stick, speaking in that piping, cheerfully oblivious tone of his.

"Good game, Lan Zhan! I should've realized you'd be a tough opponent after all the duels we've had. But it was fun though, right? Maybe we should do another round. Best of three? What do you say?"

In response, the conflict within Lan Zhan's consciousness becomes clear as he has long realized what is the objective of the game. That he wondered what Wei Ying's intentions are. As much he felt the temptation to try again, righteousness and doing the right thing will prevail.

At first, there is a flash of defeat, but then regaining his composure and calm, he managed to look straight-pointedly at him.

"Wei Ying, you...you should save your first kiss to someone who you're destined to be with and wanted to spend your life with." He said, with every intention to throw Wei Ying off his silly game.

Edited 2019-12-07 03:59 (UTC)

"First kiss? Destiny? What are you talking about, Lan Zhan? It's just a game that Huaisang told me about. That's all."

Though now he's wondering a little bit about just why Huaisang would tell him about it in the first place. From the way he'd talked about it, he'd made it seem like he might want to play it with Wei Ying himself. Weird. That's about as much thought as he gives to Nie Huaisang and whatever ulterior motives he might have for the moment. Wei Ying's more focused on on the youth before him.

"But first kisses are important. You're right about that. I guess I shouldn't just gamble mine away like that. Save it for someone really special who likes me like that. Surely, there's a beautiful maiden out there that wants a kiss from me."

Lan Zhan begins to scowl when Wei Ying begins his foolish talk about kissing a maiden when Wei Ying intended to kiss him or Lan Zhan thinks he wanted to kiss him. "Your first kiss isn't a game."

At the mention of Huaisang, Lan Zhan pretends to dust off imaginary dust off his long sleeves and then straightens up his robe. Henceforth, the romance dies before the last pocky biscuit crumbles.

Very cooly, "Then save your first kiss for a maiden." He said, pretending to be nonchalant. Slowly Lan Zhan rose to his feet, with every intention to leave, the scowl fixed on his face as if he drank a jar of bitter vinegar. "Extremely ridiculous."

"Lan Zhan, wait. Did I say something wrong? Are you mad? What's all of this about?"

Wei Ying gets up from where he's sitting, too, with an almost comical expression of confusion on his face. It probably doesn't help that he's unconsciously using the same cautious, appeasing tone he's overheard his Uncle Jiang use with Madam Yu during one of her foul-tempered moods.

"I was just telling you that first kisses aren't a game. And I'm saving mine for somone special. But the game with the pocky! That is a game. Who said I was kissing any maidens anyway? I haven't kissed anyone!"

Wait, why is he trying to prove his fidelity to Lan Zhan of all people...

Edited 2019-12-07 06:59 (UTC)

HAPPY POCKY DAY!!!

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