Thread by @larkspur_9

#MoXuanyuWeek2023 day 3: modern AU

MXY knew he shouldn’t have let himself get comfortable. Letting himself relax had clearly been a huge mistake.

After years of bouncing between foster homes, he’s gotten pretty good at telling the shitty ones from the good ones.

And he’s figured out—well, he /thought/ he figured out, after so many years of trial and error—how to keep from making waves in the good ones.

He’s been here a year, the longest he’s gone without either running away or getting kicked out for being too weird or too difficult.

And for a second there, he really let himself think…

But that was his first mistake, wasn’t it? Letting himself think this might be permanent.

A year ago, when he first came to live with WWX and LWJ, he was determined not to mess it up.

They were the first gay couple he’d been sent to live with, which was really cool, and they just seemed so great. So he made sure to be on his best behavior. He cleaned up after himself. He was always polite. He didn’t make too much noise or take up too much space.

He doesn’t know, exactly, when he stopped doing all that. But as he thinks over the last few months and catalogs all the things he’s don’t wrong…the list isn’t short.

His room is a mess. He plays his music too loud. He comes home past curfew all the time.

A few weeks ago when he got called down to the principal’s office, and LWJ had to leave work to pick him up, he should have done some serious groveling and promised to be better.

And when LWJ had been all understanding and sympathetic instead of mad, he should have calmly answered all his questions instead of shouting “I don’t want to talk about it!”, storming off to his room, and slamming his door.

And now it’s way too late to fix it.

Because WWX and LWJ have only ever fostered one kid at a time. They’ve told him a little about each of the kids they’ve fostered before. They have a shelf full of family photos, the two of them with a different kid in each frame.

So as MXY lurks outside the kitchen doorway, eavesdropping while they talk on the phone with a social worker about an emergency placement, he knows it’s the beginning of the end. They’re taking in a new kid, and pretty soon, he’s going to be out.

He slinks away before the catch him listening at the door, and when they come to tell him about the new kid, he nods along agreeably. They ask him if he minds sharing his room for a little while, and he doesn’t ask any questions about what they mean by a little while.

He’s not ready to hear them say it. But it’s obvious, isn’t it? The new kid, A-Yuan, is four. Who’s going to choose a greasy teenager with behavior problems over a cute little kid?

A-Yuan is dropped off about an hour later. And MXY wants to hate him (even though hating a four-year-old is demonstrably pathetic), but he takes one look at that tiny kid with his big, scared eyes, and his heart breaks.

He hovers in the background as WWX and LWJ show A-Yuan around. The kid is quiet and surprisingly clingy—even though they’re complete strangers to him, he’s always latched on to one or the other of them.

And then somehow, MXY ends up the one with a kid clinging to his leg.

“We’re going to go get dinner started,” WWX says, grinning. “Shout if you need anything.” And he drags LWJ out of the room, leaving MXY alone with the kid, who’s staring up at him with those big dark eyes.

“Are you scared?” MXY asks.

“No,” says A-Yuan, clearly a lie.

“It’s okay if you are,” MXY says. “Being in a new place is scary. But it’s really nice here. You’ll see.”

“Okay,” A-Yuan says.

MXY tells A-Yuan all about how nice LWJ is even though he looks so stern, and how WWX thinks he’s so funny and cool but he’s really just a big nerd.

When WWX and LWJ call them into the kitchen for dinner, A-Yuan finally lets go of MXY’s leg but grabs his hand instead and asks to sit next to him at the table.

And that’s when MXY has a flash of genius. Maybe this doesn’t have to be the end for him.

Little kids are a lot of work. Especially scared little foster kids. Maybe MXY can make himself indispensable. If he can prove that he’s worth keeping around, maybe he doesn’t have to lose his comfortable home with the best foster parents he’s ever had.

He puts his plan into action over the next couple weeks. First of all, he starts being careful again about noise and mess and rule-breaking, like he should have been all along. And he devotes all his free time to A-Yuan.

He takes him to the park across the street to play after school. He reads him bedtime stories. He lets him share his bed when he wakes up with nightmares.

He almost forgets that this is part of a plan, because mostly he’s just enjoying being a big brother.

And so, even though he saw it coming from a mile off, he feels a little blindsided when, one afternoon while he and A-Yuan are constructing an elaborate pillow fort in their room, WWX leans in the door and says, “Hey, A-Yu, can you come talk to me and Lan Zhan for a minute?”

This is it, then. He’s done. He doesn’t know why he ever thought his stupid plan would work. He just made everything worse for himself, because of course now he’s completely fallen for A-Yuan. Now he’s not just losing a good foster home.

He’s not just losing secretly soft LWJ and over enthusiastic nerd WWX. He’s losing the sweet baby brother he never knew he wanted.

He follows WWX out into the living room, steeling himself. The last thing he wants is to make a big embarrassing scene.

LWJ is sitting on the couch waiting for them, looking completely unreadable. WWX sits down beside him and bounces a little in place, weirdly fidgety.

MXY hesitates, then takes a seat, too.

“Okay, so,” WWX says. “Okay.” He glances at LWJ and laughs nervously.

Why can’t he just say it? Dragging it out is only going to make the awkwardness last longer.

“Well, first I guess we should. Um. We noticed you haven’t gone out with your friends since A-Yuan got here.”

That’s…what? WWX is right, MXY hasn’t hung out with his friends outside of school in weeks. He’s been too busy trying to prove that he’s useful to have around at home. But what does that have to do with WWX and LWJ kicking him out?

“Don’t get me wrong,” WWX continues. “We love that you and A-Yuan enjoy spending time together. But you don’t have to completely give up your social life for nonstop family time, you know?”

Oh. So that’s his angle. It’ll be better this way for you too, A-Yu. You’ll have time for your friends again.

“Right,” MXY says. He clenched his hands into fists at is sides, focusing on the sharp points of pressure where his fingernails dig into his palms.

“Right,” WWX echoes.

“Was that all?” MXY prompts when it doesn’t seem like he’s going to continue. He just wants to get this over with already. Rip off the bandaid.

“Uh, no. There’s one other thing.” A smile flickers onto WWX’s face and drops off again just as quickly.

“We were, um. We thought… It’s not a big deal or anything if you don’t, but…” WWX taps frenetically on his knees until LWJ reaches out and takes his hand, stilling him.

“A-Yu,” LWJ says, steady and grave, and why does it feel worse that LWJ is going to be the one to do it?

“How would you feel about adoption?”

MXY’s mouth pops open. Did LWJ really just say…?

The silence drags out a beat too long, and LWJ clears his throat. “As Wei Ying said, if you would prefer not to pursue a formal adoption, we understand. You have a place with us regardless.”

“You’re not kicking me out?” MXY asks, some small part of him waiting for this to be a trick.

“Of course not, A-Yu!” WWX says.

“You are our family,” LWJ says.

And, well, so much for MXY’s efforts to not make a big embarrassing scene.

He launches himself at them, pulling them into a hug. He maybe cries a little bit. But they both cry too, so whatever.

He’s still a little weepy when he goes back to his pillow fort adventure with A-Yuan. The kid takes one look at his face, gets this serious little frown, and says, “Don’t be sad, gege.” Which sets off the waterworks all over again. It’s the first time A-Yuan has called him that.

So embarrassing. But also perfect. MXY has a family. A real family. One he gets to keep.