Work Text:
Sibling Chat
Meng Yao: Emergency meeting at my place. No one's dead. Come when you can.
Qin Su: i think the lovebirds are working but i can be there in 10
Meng Yao: Drive safe, I'll see you in twenty. Text me when you're here instead of buzzing up. Thanks
Meng Yao rubs his temples and sighs deeply. It's already been a long night, promising only to get longer and he hasn't even had dinner yet. Tea. Tea is what he needs, something soothing and decidedly non-caffeinated. Digging through the cabinet he grabs the herbal blend Xichen left the last time he visited and quickly prepares two cups.
Taking a moment to find his smile, he heads back to the living room and his new brother. He's always taken pride in his crisis management abilities, but normally he has time to make his lists and plans without worrying about a distraught eleven-year-old breaking down in his living room.
If he wasn’t already acutely aware of his presence, it would be easy to miss the child sitting in his favorite armchair. He’s small, far too thin for his age, and absolutely swimming in a borrowed pair of sweatpants and t-shirt.
“Feeling any better after your shower?”
"Yes, thank you."
Some deep part of himself recognizes the tone and posture of someone who has been told so often to make himself smaller that with each 'sit still', each 'be quiet' and each 'not now, go away' he feels less like a person and more like furniture. The vice-like grip that had settled around Meng Yao's heart when he'd first seen Mo Xuanyu at the Mo estates earlier that day squeezes so hard and sharply that he wonders for a moment if anger can cause a heart attack in someone still in their mid-twenties.
He takes a sip of his tea to cover his frown and tamps down that line of thought. It's not helpful and he can find a better use for that anger later.
"Our other siblings will be here as soon as they can. Qin Su is on her way now, but I'm not sure when Jin Zixuan and his wife will get off work, so it won't be too many people at once." he says softly, looking into his teacup rather than at the skittish boy.
"Okay."
"You'll like them. No matter how often I tell her it’s not necessary Yanli-jie always brings food, so chances are we'll have something good for dinner."
"Okay."
"If she doesn't we can order something in. Whatever you'd like."
Mo Xuanyu only nods and sinks further back into the chair. Sighing, Meng Yao reaches for the remote. "Let's see if we can find anything good on TV, hm?"
-----
If Qin Su's arrival text comes as a relief, the sight of her in his doorway holding two large travel containers of coffee is almost enough to make Meng Yao cry with joy.
"A-Su, you're a lifesaver." he says reaching for the mug.
"Oh no you don't." She pulls the coffee away, her smile and teasing tone hiding none of the honest concern in her eyes. "You never call anything an emergency, the building could be on fire and you'd probably tell us you're dealing with a 'situation' at your apartment. So spill first, then coffee."
“I’ve been investigating Father’s… extracurriculars and one of my leads finally turned something up. His name’s Mo Xuanyu, he’s eleven years old and he’s sitting in my living room right now. ”
Wide eyed, she gapes at him a moment before silently handing over his coffee. “Okay. I have… one or two questions. First of all, what the fuck? Second, are you sure? And more importantly, did you kidnap this kid? Is he alright? Why is he here?”
“I’m not going to grace that first question with a response. And, no, I didn’t kidnap him. From what I can find out his mother would have met Father while she was working as a waitress at an upscale seafood place downtown. I haven’t sent a paternity test yet, but the math works out; Jin Industries hosted several corporate events there around the appropriate time. According to Madam Mo-- Xuanyu’s aunt-- they had an on and off affair for a few years before her sister passed away.” He stops to take a long sip of coffee, eyeing Qin Su over the top of the cup to see how she’s taking the news. Between the three of them Jin Zixuan has always taken new evidence of their father’s depravity the most personally, but- given her own mother’s history with the man- he knows that these things are incredibly difficult for her to hear.
She’s paler than usual and he can see her hands shaking as she clutches her own drink, but her voice and eyes are steady as she says, “Okay. That’s terrible and all, but.. Meng Yao. Why is he here?”
“He was living in a shed, A-Su. His aunt has a nice house out in the countryside and she was keeping him out back in a shed. And before you ask, yes, she gave me permission to take him. All I had to do was remind her what kind of favors a connection with our family could give her.” He smiles sharply. “We won’t follow through of course, but I could use your help with him while I arrange things to ensure his safety.”
“Of course. I’ll help however I can. Come on, Yao-ge, time to get to know our baby brother.”
In less time than it takes to brew a pot of tea, Qin Su has herself settled on the couch and is chatting quietly to A-Yu about her day. He’s not much more responsive to her than he’d been during Meng Yao’s attempts, but he’s watching her attentively and it’s enough that he feels comfortable stepping into his office to make a few calls. He quickly becomes so absorbed in his work that he only half listens when Qin Su knocks to tell him she thinks they should warn Yanli and Zixuan before they arrive. It’s probably not a bad idea, their eldest brother has never dealt well with surprises.
Glancing at his phone after he hangs up he sees several new texts, each a few minutes apart.
Sibling Chat
Jiang Yanli: What’s wrong?
Jiang Yanli: I can cancel my last meeting today
Jiang Yanli: A-Yao? A-Su?
(One missed call from Jiang Yanli)
Qin Su: Congrats, Dad! It’s a boy!
Meng Yao winces slightly, Qin Su had attached a candid photo of Mo Xuanyu watching TV with his knees curled up to his chest.
Sibling Chat
Jiang Yanli: oh no
Jiang Yanli: I’ll call A-Xuan. He’s in meetings all day today, but he’ll answer for me. We’ll be over as soon as we can & I’ll bring something nice for dinner
Qin Su: <3
Rejoining the others in the living room, Meng Yao accepts another cup of coffee, for once glad that his sister has no qualms making herself at home in his apartment. “I’m not sure that was entirely helpful,” he says, keeping his voice carefully neutral.
“No?” She raises an eyebrow. “They’re on their way, aren’t they?”
-----
Meng Yao allows himself a final glance over his shoulder at Xuanyu-- contentedly playing a game on A-Su's phone-- before filing into the kitchen behind the rest of his siblings. Before he can decide where to start they're talking over each other in a whispered explosion.
"Oh A-Yao he's so thin."
"Where's his family? Do they know what's going on?"
"See? That's what I said! But you got all offended when I asked."
Ignoring the chatter he turns away to start unpacking Yanli's cooler. He schools his face into a pleasant, mild expression as he pulls out a pot to start reheating the soup.
Of course he's offended, he only wishes he was surprised at his siblings' lack of faith in him. He supposes he deserves that; he's lied to them all at one point or another, after all. He'd just hoped that after they'd decided looking after each other was more important than any approval-- or disapproval-- they might get from their parents things would be easier. He's so lost in thought he doesn't notice that the kitchen's gone quiet behind him until he feels a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Sorry A-Yao, we didn't mean to turn this into an interrogation." Yanli smiles at him, and in the face of such open affection he feels his shoulders relax. "Here, let me," she says, gently taking the spoon from his hands.
"A-Xuan?" There's a weight behind the word that Meng Yao can't quite decipher, but Zixuan clearly understands what's expected of him because when he turns to face him his brother nods and pulls out a chair at the small kitchen table.
"That wasn't… A-Yao, come sit. That didn't come out right. This is all a lot to take in."
He thinks about refusing, thinks about taking his leave and bringing Mo Xuanyu out for dinner and not coming back until the apartment is blessedly empty. But, no, he reasons. This is his family- Mo Xuanyu's too- and they dropped everything to come lend a hand. The least he owes them is a rundown of what he knows, and of what still needs to be done.
Meng Yao hates repeat explanations.
"His mother's dead," Qin Su says and squeezes his hand. "He was living in a shed at his aunt's. And, Meng Yao? If you'd left him there I never would have forgiven you, even if she hadn't given you permission to bring him home."
Her fierce gaze warms his heart and he smiles gratefully.
Jin Zixuan pushes back hard from the table, face pale. It's hard to be sure if he can't process this sitting still or if he'd noticed the trembling hunch of Yanli's shoulders over the stock pot. He presses a kiss to her temple as he starts to pace.
"What's been done already?"
"Not much, but I've made a start," Meng Yao replies, comfortably back on familiar ground counting each completed task off on his fingers. "I ordered him some things-- clothes, books, a few toys-- which will come in tomorrow. He'll need more, but they should last until the end of this week. I spoke with an associate who knows more about family law than I do and she said she'd look into a few things for us. And there's a cheek swab in the fridge for the paternity test. I'll drop that off as soon as the lab opens in the morning and they should be able to get me the result by the end of Wednesday."
"How will we get something to compare it to? I don't think Dad--" he cuts himself off seeing the look his brother and sister exchange. "What?"
"They have a file to compare it to already," Qin Su replies with an edge to her smile.
"It's the same lab where our tests were done, we can trust them to be discrete. And as for dear Father, well… if he doesn't want his DNA on file maybe he should be more careful about whose resume he spits on."
Jin Zixuan freezes on the spot, looking like he'd swallowed a lemon. A year ago Meng Yao might have taken offense, but he knows his brother better now.
"If you're trying to think how to apologize, save it for when you've done something wrong. If you'd like to be helpful let's split up the rest of the to-do list."
While the tension in his shoulders doesn’t fade Zixuan seems genuinely relieved, both for the apology and to be given something concrete he can do. It must be a family trait.
“Well, A-Li and I have the most space,” he says, taking a stack of bowls from the cabinet and starting to set the table. “We’d be more than happy to--”
“No!” Mo Xuanyu comes barreling into the room, skidding to a halt and going pale as the weight of their attention settles on him. “I- I- I- Sorry. I just mean… Can’t I stay here?”
“Of course you can,” he finds himself saying automatically.
Oh. Oh, that hadn’t been part of his plan. Yanli and Zixuan are the ones with the house and the loving marriage and the money to spare. He’d just assumed that the boy would be taken in by Yanli’s all encompassing big sister aura and it would be settled; even Zixuan had been excited about the prospect of future children recently, in his own awkward way.
But he supposes it’s too late to worry about that now. Breaking a promise at this point would more than likely ruin Xuanyu’s trust in all of them, not just in himself. He watches, only half paying attention as Yanli apologizes for not including him in this conversation sooner and ushers him over to the table for dinner. He’s still wondering if he can fit his office furniture into his own room to make space for a second bedroom when he catches Qin Su’s raised eyebrow. He smiles and shrugs in return before sliding more vegetables into her bowl.
“Don’t give me that look. Eat.”
With everything as settled as it’s going to be for the time being it’s easy to slide into the routine of a family dinner and he’s never been more grateful to Yanli for insisting Zixuan host them weekly. Qin Su entertains them with stories of the weirdest houses she’s seen on the market and even Xuanyu laughs when Yanli tells them about a client who’d decided that a pair of swans would be just the thing to make his event unforgettable. From the sound of it he hadn’t been wrong.
The easy back and forth gives him more than enough time to start chipping away at the question of logistics. He can do a considerable amount of work from home. And with a little time it should be easy to make Xuanyu see he’d been happier with his other siblings.
They stay long enough to help clean up and promise that they’ll be back tomorrow to help with whatever needs doing. Zixuan doesn’t even roll his eyes when Yanli volunteers her brothers to go furniture shopping with him to help with the heavy lifting, just reminding Meng Yao not to move any of his things until they’re there to help. He’d had no intention on doing so, but the concern was sweet. In the end it takes several pointed yawns and reminders of the time to shoo them out the door.
Suddenly finding himself alone in the apartment again with Xuanyu, Meng Yao mentally prepares himself for a long night. He’s far too wound up to sleep and despite his drooping eyes his brother isn’t much better off judging by the way he sits fidgeting on the couch.
“You’ll take my bed tonight. I have some work to do, so if I get tired I’ll sleep on the couch.”
Xuanyu's eyes widen in surprise and he frowns, but seems either unwilling or unsure how to argue.
“It’s only one night. Go on, it’s past bedtime already and it sounds like we have a busy day tomorrow.”
“Okay,” he replies and shuffles off to the bedroom, careful not to trip over his borrowed pajamas.
Meng Yao sighs and looks at the couch. Yeah, it’s definitely going to be a long night.
“Um,” says a small voice from behind him. “Do you think-- Su-jie said maybe you might like to tell me a story? Since my books won’t get here until tomorrow. She told me you’re really good at them. If you want.”
He can’t imagine what his sister told the kid, but this is the first time he’s asked for anything all day and he blesses her for that. This will be so much easier if they can get him used to speaking up for himself. “Of course.” He lays a light hand on Xuanyu’s shoulder, nudging him towards the bed. “I’m sure I can come up with something, although I’m afraid she may be overselling me as a storyteller.”
In the end he fumbles his way through a few of his own childhood favorites and a poem or two he had memorized for his mother when he was young. Maybe it’s those old memories turning him maudlin or maybe it’s just the emotional toll of the day catching up with him, but he finds himself completely unprepared to hear a quiet, “Thank you er-ge.” as he closes the bedroom door behind him.
The words follow him as he wanders the apartment checking the door and turning off the lights. He can feel them beating in his chest as he settles himself onto the couch, hugging his legs close. Resting his chin on his knees he closes his eyes, amazed once again by the seemingly endless way his heart seems to be able to stretch to accommodate new family lately. In one afternoon Mo Xuanyu had reached into his heart and found a corner for himself Meng Yao had never known existed. In a daze he reaches for his phone, scrolling through his notifications.
Sibling Chat
Jin Zixuan: Call us if you need anything.
Jiang Yanli: Yes! I know you’ve got things in hand, but please don’t forget you’re not doing this alone!
Qin Su: 👆 and don’t forget to sleep tonight
I won’t. Thank you. I love you.
He sends the message quickly before he can feel weird about it and sets his phone down. Maybe being an older brother again won’t be such a bad thing.