bakerstreet | THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE MEME

Sizhui chooses not to take that moment to remind his father that he doesn't even drink coffee, because he assumes Mr Wei probably asked what he wanted and he said tea, at least he hopes that's what happened or his father was making breakfast muffins in return for a coffee he would not drink.

Besides, he's a little too distracted from making the point by the fact that his father is blushing. This is a literal code red. Sizhui has never in his entire life seen his father blushing. He nearly drops his phone! He clearly goes into some kind of state of shock when he realises the truth of Sizhui's statement and Sizhui feels like he might have gone into some kind of state of shock as well. He feels like the wifi ran out and his thoughts are buffering. What is happening right now?

"A-die..." he finally manages, slowly "Do you... like Mr Wei?"

He's pretty sure his father hasn't liked anybody since his mother left, he's dimly aware that he's been on a couple of dates with people (usually when talked into it by Uncle Xichen or, even worse, one time it was Great Uncle Qiren) but it's always been a cursory thing; he agrees to go on one date out of politeness and then that's usually the end of it. This, though? This feels like something very, very different.

His brain was definitely in that same BSOD state that Sizhui's was in. He can't think, he can't breathe, he's pretty sure his heart just stopped. He can't get a reboot either until he hears what is said next that makes him feel faint.

He steps away from the phone and his son and just.. whoa. "I- I need a minute," he said as calmly as he possibly can, but god he was freaking the hell out. He doesn't manage to meet Sizhui's gaze before he's going out the backdoor and into their spacious garden. He doesn't stop until he's gone far enough that he's not immediately viewable from the house.

He gasps for air and puts a hand on a tree to help balance him. He feels his head is spinning. He can't like someone. He can't. How he'd let today become so insane, he doesn't know but he has to put an end to this. Somehow the thought just about kills him though.

Somehow he worms his way over to the rabbit hutches where he takes out one and holds it close to him. "Little Rabbit.. how do I fix this?"

Sizhui nods a little dazedly, watching his father disappear out the back door and into the garden - some part of him wants to follow but he knows he can't, so instead he just takes the time to process what the hell was happening. The answer to his question had to be yes, there's no way that kind of reaction would have happened if it had been no, and Sizhui thinks, as well, that he's right in his assessment that his father hasn't liked anybody in a very long time - not since SIzhui was a baby, in face. He can kind of understand, then, why it might be so overwhelming to have feelings for somebody when the last person...

Well.

His father doesn't like to talk about his mother much, or at all, but from what Sizhui's managed to learn (mostly from his uncle, when he was old enough to ask the questions he didn't dare ask his father) she kind of... ripped out his father's heart and stomped it into tiny pieces by being a cheating, gold digging bitch.

Sizhui doesn't have a lot of hate in his heart, but every inch of it is reserved for his mother for abandoning them.

So it's no wonder his father's having some trouble right now.

He returns to making the muffins, he doesn't know what else to do.

In the garden, the rabbit twitches its nose unhelpfully at Lan Wangji, but it is very soft.

It had been a stressful and confusing day, but taking a few minutes to sat in the grass with two white balls of fluff did a world of good for him. Bichen and Shuoyue stayed close by his side like they usually did. He loved their quiet, peaceful presence. It was true, they often said the rabbits belonged to Sizhui, but it wasn't the child who leapt at the chance to take a pair of bunnies home. Although, it wasn't a lie either. The rabbits did belong to Sizhui. They just also belonged and were very dear to Wangji too.

He starts off trying to think of what to do tomorrow to get out of this non-relationship, but by the end he isn't thinking about anything. So reluctantly, he gets up and puts the bunnies safely away. He gives them extra hay and treats before going back inside.

When he sees Sizhui working on the muffins still, he feels guilty but is grateful too. If his son was truly angry with him then he wouldn't have finished these for him. He starts going about making some tea to go with the muffins when they're ready. A few couple be sampled tonight without any harm, after all.

After the kettle is on the stove, he turns to Sizhui and finally speaks. "Yes, but it doesn't matter. He's in a relationship already and I can't do that to someone else."

Sizhui gives his father a small smile when he enters, but he just keeps working on the muffins, waiting while the older man moves around the kitchen and starts making tea. He knows he'll speak when he's ready, and he's clearly going through a lot right now so Sizhui doesn't want to push.

When he does speak, Sizhui pauses in his stirring of the muffin mix and turns to face him. He frowns thoughtfully.

"Mr Wei is already seeing somebody?" he asks, and it's hard to hide his disappointment - he was just started to get a little excited for his father, to have finally found somebody he liked, and Sizhui thought Mr Wei was awesome, so the more he'd thought about it while his father was in the garden, the more he'd started to think it might be kind of cool.

"Wait, are you sure?" he asks, "Did he say he was?"

It kills him that he can see that disappointment on Sizhui's face. His son was already excited about this relationship and they'd only known each other for a day? He never should've said anything! What kind of horrible father was he for letting his son get excited about something like this so fast?

Right. Since it was Sizhui who was the one attached.

Anyway..

He nods with a frown, but of course there are more questions and he holds out a hand and shakes his head. "Yes, I'm sure. It's alright, A-Yuan. I don't want this to affect your friendship with him as your teacher. Just.. let this go, please?"

Some people were meant to find love and others weren't. He didn't know why it was this way, just that it was. If he knew back then what he knew now, he would do it all over again and the reason was the boy standing in front of him. "I have no regrets."

Sizhui bites his lip, clearly uncertain, but he doesn't want to upset his father any more than he already is so eventually he nods.

"Okay..." he says slowly "but.. I'm sorry that when you finally liked someone they turned out to be in a relationship. I still think you should try and be his friend, you need more friends."

And if that relationship happened to not work out and there Lan Zhan was, well, that would just be a happy coincidence, right?

He turns back to the bowl to start spooning the muffin mixture into the pan.

He isn't so sure he was going to be able to be the man's friend and hold that line, but he was going to have to try. At least for this week, Lan Zhan was stuck with him.

"We'll see," he promises in a vague sort of way. Unlike that phrase to some, between them it was more like 'I'll try'. "Thank you for making the muffins. I can take over again if you'd like... and I'm sorry if using your recipe was inappropriate."

"A-die," Sizhui laughs slightly, shaking his head "you can bake these muffins for whoever you like, you know, they're very good muffins, and the recipe isn't only for me."

He thinks it's sweet, though, that his father calls it his recipe.

"And it's okay, they're nearly done anyway." he's almost finished getting the mixture into the pan and then they just need to go in the oven - at which point he has got to go and text Jingyi and tell him everything.

He wants to argue that yes, the carrot muffin recipe belongs to Sizhui and he would never make them for anyone else again. After this mistake of letting someone in, even for a few hours, had been painful. He would simply not bake for anyone besides Sizhui and his family again. Who else did he need?

He thanks his son again and when the muffins are in the oven, he takes a spot at the kitchen table to sit and enjoy his tea. Just before Sizhui runs off though, he says, "You'll use discretion about who you tell, won't you?" They both knew Jingyi was going to get the whole story, but he was more concerned about anyone beyond that. "Your uncle. He doesn't need to know about this." In particular, Xichen.

"I won't tell anyone except for Jingyi," he promises - he knows his father knows him well enough that it would be a very obvious lie to claim he wasn't going to tell the other boy. His uncle, he knows, would be very interested, but if Mr Wei really is seeing somebody, he feels like telling uncle Xichen will only start up the attempts at matchmaking again, and Sizhui is quietly confident that such tactics will never work for his father.

He heads upstairs then, dropping onto his bed and grabbing his phone.

alright, so.

The best beginning, he thinks

a-die had been TEXTING Mr Wei because Mr Wei GAVE HIM HIS PHONE NUMBER, and he was confused because he didn't know how to respond to the way Mr Wei texted. The important thing, though, is that I asked him if he likes Mr Wei and he said YES. Only then he said it didn't matter because Mr Wei is in a relationship

Whenever the muffins were done, Wangji ate a couple before packing them up for the next day. After that, he went straight to bed and let his silly gossiping son enjoy his night in peace. If he happened to look at his phone a few more times that evening before he finally fell asleep, that was his own business.

Meanwhile, Lan Jingyi stared at his phone in disbelief.

omg! I can't believe your dad LIKES someone! That's so unfair Mr. Wei is taken! He should steal him! (^.~)☆ Who's the other person? Is it another guy?

Sizhui has a muffin of his own as an evening snack, then settles comfortably in his room to keep messaging Jingyi after his father has set goodnight.

He said he didn't want to do that to another person, so he wouldn't try and steal him

A stance that Sizhui understands, considering his history.

He didn't say who it was, we should find out

Sorry bad joke .･ﾟﾟ･(／ω＼)･ﾟﾟ･. ! The Sizjinzizling detectives are on the case!

It was a dumb name they'd once come up with when they were little and pretended to have a detective agency. The game itself didn't last too long, but joking about it had been going on for years. He wished Sizhui a good night and sent him a link to a cute rabbit video he'd found.

The next day, Lan Wangji is back to his image of perfection. He wears a white and gray pin striped shirt, a gray suit with matching vest, and a light blue tie. It is subtle, but a little extra effort might have gone into his look today. (Although it really is hard to tell since he usually dressed well).

Once they get to the school, he goes straight to his office to get to work. If he happens to keep glancing at his watch and the door who is to know? At precisely seven, his sleeves are rolled up and suit jacket hung up. He gets started with unpacking the books whether a certain man with drinks is there or not. Nearby, Lan Wangji has a basket of muffins, set of napkins, and small plates set out on a nearby table in an inviting display and soft classical music is playing in the background.

Edited 2021-08-01 10:17 (UTC)

Sizhui definitely noticed that his father was even more well dressed than usual, that he'd taken a little longer this morning, and even though he'd been told that nothing was going to happen with Mr Wei, it still made him smile.

He and Jingyi can't really talk about it, though, since his father is right there while they get started helping with the books.

At around three minutes past seven - which is practically on time for Wei Wuxian, but also absolutely not his fault because the line at the coffee shop was longer than he expected - a sleepy figure comes through the library doors with a bag from the coffee shop in one hand and his own coffee clutched in the other.

"Morning boys," he nods at the kids, then turns his attention to Mr Lan and for a second he can't say anything at all because it is, once again, entirely unfair for anybody to look that perfect at 7am. Also his sleeves are rolled up, which, oh god Wuxian might have a heart attack, there is no earthly reason that should be as sexy as it is, and yet.

He's also wearing a waistcoat today, a darker grey one over a deep red shirt (his sleeves are also rolled up, he doesn't think it looks as sexy), though he doesn't have a tie on and he's still wearing jeans, and his hair is in a ponytail that's almost approaching neat.

He clears his throat.

"Morning Wa- Mr Lan," he corrects himself, mindful of the kids still being there (Sizhui grins at Jingyi).

"I have tea," he says, putting the bag down on the table next to the muffins - which he is already eyeing up - and starts to take the cups out of it "I, uh, I didn't know what to get you two so I grabbed a couple of non-coffee frappuccinos just so you weren't left out, but don't drink them if you don't want to."

Sizhui! Why did you have to notice everything? ~~Because you're the best boi.~~

There's almost a smile on his face when Wangji turns around and sees Wuxian approach. He sets the heavy box he had in his hands down on a table for fear he might drop it. The other man looked remarkably handsome in the dark colors and the waistcoat. It might have been a put off yesterday when he first saw it, but even the not-quite-perfect ponytail was perfect.

It is what the image brings out in him that makes him get shy. It doesn't help the boys were there and Wangji knows what Sizhui was likely thinking. Everything seems so on display and obvious, it makes him feel incredibly vulnerable in front of them.

Fortunately, he doesn't have to think too hard for a response, since the tea and talk of food are a wonderful topic to grab on to. "Thank you, Mr. Wei," he answers. "Please help yourself. Boys?"

Jingyi is dying! He was trying to catch Sizhui's eye but doesn't manage it before attention is being drawn to them. "Ooo I love frapps!" He comes hurrying over to Mr. Wei with a bright grin. "Thank you, Mr. Wei! This was really nice of you." See? He can be polite.

Sizhui says thank you as well, waiting for Jingyi to choose which one he wants before taking the other, and Wei Wuxian manages a bright grin to all of them.

"You're welcome," he says cheerfully, "These look great! Where did you get them?" he adds, grabbing a muffin.

"A-die and I made them," Sizhui tells him, deciding to help out since his father seems to be struggling a little bit, though he does so casually, like he couldn't wait to tell Mr Wei that they made the muffins themselves.

"You made them?" Wuxian gasps, looking between Lan wangji and his son with wide eyes "But they look so good! And-" he takes a bite and makes a noise of delight. Sorry Lan wangji, but he speaks around the mouthful when he adds "they taste amazing!"

Where did they get them? Where did Wuxian think they got them? What kind of question was that? Fortunately Sizhui answers while Lan Wangji flounders over how to react to that. The confusion and that overwhelming feeling really only gets worse the more Wuxian speaks too.

The gasp over learning the muffins were homemade brought the tiniest color to Wangji's ears then his brain short-circuits over his reaction to them. What adult talks with his mouthful?! But also, the relief is real! Inwardly, he's so pleased Wuxian likes the muffins he is having trouble holding on to any negative judgment.

He nods, gaze dropping modestly. "Thank you, Mr. Wei." Was that another almost smile? No, you were clearly imaging things. He hides it anyway behind the tea.

Jingyi's eyes move from one adult to the other and the to Sizhui. This was adorable and pathetic! He's gotta help out. As he picks up a muffin, he says, "Mr. Lan is an excellent baker and a great cook too! He makes the best vegetarian food! Want to see the birthday cake he made for me last month?" He hands off the muffin he was going to eat to Sizhui (he was already holding the frappaccino and not putting that down). He holds up a picture of a soccer themed birthday cake from his phone.

"Jingyi!" Wangji hisses, now fully blushing. What just got into this kid?

Edited 2021-08-01 11:59 (UTC)

To anybody else, it might not be obvious how utterly, utterly flustered his father was by this entire encounter, he was so good at concealing his emotions that it took time to learn how to spot them.

Time that Sizhui has spent (and Jingyi too), so it is blatant to him just how far gone his father is for the other man - he really, really hopes that Mr Wei is actually single after all.

Sizhui takes the muffin from Jingyi and sips at his frappaccino in a desperate attempt to hide his smile. He really loves his best friend sometimes.

(All the time)

"Do I!" Wuxian grins broadly and leans in to take a look at the picture on the phone. He nods approvingly, looking up at Wangji with a smile "That's really good, you're so talented Mr Lan."

(Is he blushing? He looks like he was blushing. It's adorable. Why is everything he does so perfect? Jiang Cheng's warnings are in the back of his head but he just can't bring himself to listen to them, he's crushing hard)

"It's really noth-" Wangji begins, only to be cut off by Jingyi again.

"They also have this really nice house off Willow Drive- you know, one of the best areas in town- where it's just the two of them and-"

"Jingyi!" Wangji snaps. "Go unpack!" Sizhui! He's going to kill your friend!

Wei Wuxian is trying so hard not to laugh right now - he thinks he could be mistaken but he's pretty sure Jingyi is trying to big up Wangji to him, which is frankly adorable.

"C'mon let's finish our muffins over there and get back to the books," Sizhui says quickly, shoving muffins and napkins into Jingyi's hand and then grabbing his sleeve to pull him away from the adults before his father actively murdered him.

(He probably wouldn't actually.)

(Only because he'd get blood on the books, though)

Wei Wuxian grins a little at Wangji as the teens leave.

"Well he's your biggest fan, huh?"

He totally was. Don't you want a rich, single man who can cook and bake like a dream, Mr. Wei? Leave that dirtbag you're with for him! (Just don't tell anyone that's what you're doing!)

Unfortunately it backfires as the look on Mr. Lan's face makes Jingyi's life flash before his eyes. He quickly lets Sizhui lead him away, but then he has to keep trying to hide the fact he's actually laughing. Your dad was so cute, Sizhui!

Without an audience, some of the tension leaves Wangji's form, though clearly not all of it. This was so awkward!

"He's.. " Something. Anyway. "Sorry about that. Did you get a chance to look over the details I sent you last night?"

Wei Wuxian does want a rich, single man who can cook and bake like a dream, you are correct, Jingyi.

"I did," he grins, allowing the change of subject so that Wangji can stop looking quite so awkward "I think I know what I need to do, so let me just finish this amazing muffin and we can get unpacking?"

Jingyi's pro-Wangji TED talk has made him wonder, though - was that inspired by childish ideas of his own, or had Wangji actaully done or said something that indicates he might actually be interested, despite what Jiang Cheng seems to think about his lack of interest in anybody? The idea of somebody as perfect as Wangji actually wanting him was kind of wild, but could it be possible?

The continued compliment brings Wangji's focus fully back to the music teacher. Any anger or resentment fades to some of that original shyness from yesterday. He shakes his head and takes another sip of his tea. "You don't have to rush, we have time. I'm glad you like them. They're my son's favorite."

He takes one of the plates. He sets one of the muffins on it and circles around to take a seat at the table. He looks up at Wuxian and gives that almost-smile again.

~~~

Jingyi pulls Sizhui aside and whispers, "I may have overdone it a little."

Of course Wangji sits down with a plate in order to eat, because he's so impossibly perfect that honestly Wei Wuxian has trouble believing he's real.

He sits at the table opposite him, grabbing a napkin so he doesn't get crumbs all over Wangji's perfect library.

"Sizhui has good taste," he smiles.

~~~

Sizhui giggles and shakes his head.

"It's okay, Mr Wei didn't seem to mind." he smiles. "And I thought it was very nice of you to say those things."

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I'm not properly awake, just a quick one before I go back to sleep

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