Zao was tired, bored, and he was starting to get a craving for drugs again. His feet were sore, he was hungry, and Yao would not shut up about the art in the muesum. "Isn't this so interesting?"
"If you say so."
Yao looked over at him with a disapproving glare. "Come on, try to enjoy this while you're here."
Zao looked back with a tired look. "Yao, the only reason I'm here at all is because you wanted to, and I'm preumptively apologizing for the takeout you're all going to eat for dinner the next few days."
Yao groaned, but he turned back to the statue and stormed off, with Zao following behind him because he didn't really have anything he wanted to look at. There was something about World War 2, but he really didn't care. After a couple minutes of walking around bored out of his mind, he pulled out his phone and began texting his girlfriend.
Zao: how are you?
(Y/n): I'm fine. How's the muesum?
Zao: -_-
(Y/n): Aww, don't worry babe. We can binge a bunch of red panda videos when you get home.
(Y/n): You did tell your cousins that I was coming over, right?
Zao: i'm sure I did at some point
(Y/n): Go make sure. I don't want to be an unwanted surprise.
Zao: okay I'll see you at home
"Ai yah." He looked up to see Yao glaring at him before snatching his phone away. "Can you put this away for a few hours and focus on being in the moment for a little?"
"Yao, the nine of us are all over this place, Ming couldn't even be bothered to leave the house, and I'm sure you know for a fact that half of us are following you around when we'd rather be at home ignoring each other."
"It repeatedly confuses me how you make any friends at all."
"Did I tell you my girlfriend was coming over tonight?"
"Ai yah, do you not even pay attention to yourself?"
"Hey, I'm just making sure 'cause she told me to. Besides, I like bugging you."
Yao threw his hands up in the air. "Oh, just go wait by the exit while I enjoy myself, I'm sure you'll be much happier that way." He stormed off in a random direction. Zao laughed to himself before wandering around. After twenty minutes, he finally found the gift shop and began looking at all the random shit they had there.
"I see you annoyed the shit out of Yao."
"I see you pissed off Jia Long." Zao looked at Jin, who was holding an umbrella with a painting printed on it. "How long have you been here?"
"Uh... half an hour? I just hope that they finish soon, I'm hungry. Why are we here again?"
"We are placating our cousins because they know we have nothing better to do and we probably have to be sorry for something anyway." Zao picked up a mug and looked at it before putting it back and grabbing another one.
After another hour, all nine of them were gathered in the gift shop waiting for Yao to finally choose which set of pencils he wanted to buy, and then they finally got on the train to go back to the house Zao and his roommates lived in. "So, why is your girlfriend at the house anyway?"
"Zao has a girlfriend?"
"How did that happen?"
"How much longer is that going to last?"
"You invited your girlfriend over for dinner?"
Zao rolled his eyes and waited for all the bystanders to stop staring. "Yes, like any other relationship, we're actually doing pretty well, so shut up, and yes, I told that earlier Jin, pay attention please."
"You haven't answered my question."
"Because her parents are out of the house tonight, all her other friends are busy, and I ignore you every chance I get anyway. And takeout is cheap." He heard some people groan at him, but Yao had bemoaned that fact for ten minutes when he first told him, so he was numb now.
Zao: did you get dinner?
Ming: Dinner is on the table right now.
Zao: thank you.
They all got off the train and began making their way back to the house. "Umm, don't we need to get food?" Kuro asked as they turned down one street.
"Ming said she had food already."
Kuro raised his eyebrows. "You trust Ming to get off her ass and get food without prompting?"
"Dude, if she didn't get food, she'd have just said, 'No, fuck you, go get it yourself.' Besides, even if she is lying, I'll just go get it myself. I just want to go to home and sit down for a few minutes because I'm tired and my feet hurt."
They made the way to the house and Yong Soo ran up to the door to knock on it despite the fact that Zao and Kuro both had keys to let him in.
Ming opened the door for him and rolled her eyes at him. "Hey guys, how was the muesum?"
"It was fine."
"Cool. Come in, dinner's on the table. Wash your hands if you feel the need to. In case he didn't tell you, Zao's girlfriend is over, but I like this one, so please try to rein in your shit for a few hours. Oh, and Mei, you can't sleep in the living room tonight, Jin burned the couch yesterday so unless you want to sleep on the floor, you have to sleep with me in my room."
Mei groaned while Yao glared at Zao as if it was somehow his fault the little shit had burned it while he was away at work. Everyone came inside, kicked off their shoes, and went to go wash their hands.
"Well, at least you had the deceny to clean up a little," Yao said as he looked around. Zao did the same, noticing that it did seem a little nicer than usual. Maybe he cleaned up when he was high off his balls.
"Yao!" Yong Soo ran into the bathroom where they were and tugged on his brother's arm. "Yao! There's good food in the dining room! Come on, come on, everything looks really good!"
"What?" Yao and Zao both quickly washed their hands and followed him to the dining room.
Instead of the multiple paper boxes he had asked Ming Yue to get, there were several plates of traditional Asian foods, like salted salmon, wrinkled green beans, kimchi, and a lot more. "Ming, what take out place did you go to?"
"I didn't go anywhere," Ming said as she sat down at the table.
"Then how-"
"Excuse me." Yonsu stepped to the side as (Y/n) came in with a plate of sweet and sour pork that she placed on the table. "Sorry if nothing tastes quite right. I couldn't find any measurements for the spices in the cookbook I found, and because Kuro wanted to screw with Ming, he turned off the wifi, so I couldn't look up any recipes online. I tasted everything, but I haven't had a lot of authentic Asian food, so it might taste off."
Yao turned around to face Zao. "Did you hire a chef?"
"What? No, she's my girlfriend."
Yao's eyes widened. He looked back to (Y/n), then at Zao. "That's your girlfriend?"
"Yeah." He walked over to her and squeezed her in a quick hug. "Everyone, this is (Y/n). (Y/n), this is the other half of our family, Yao, Kiku, Yong Soo, Mei, and Jia Long."
"It's nice to meet you all. Umm, is anyone going to be upset if I use a fork instead of chopsticks, because I've been trying to figure them out for half an hour with no success."
All of them assured her she was fine, so she smiled before rushing back into the kitchen and coming back with several pairs of chopsticks for everyone else. She handed them to everyone before taking her seat between Zao and Mei. Once everyone was seated, the dishes of food began to be passed around the room.
"So, one of you explain to me why some girl who isn't in your family cooking for all of us," Yao said once everyone had a plate of food. "Not that I mind, this seems much better than takeout, but that doesn't seem very fair to (Y/n)."
Ming laughed. "Well, we were going to have takeout, but I told her what the plan was and she seemed a little uncomfortable. Ten minutes later, she found one of your cookbooks and asked me if she wouldn't mind me making food instead. Next thing I know, she came back with ten bags hanging off her arms and the house smelled like actual food."
"Did you help at all Ming?" Mei asked.
"Of course not."
"Oh, you poor thing!" Mei wrapped one hand around (Y/n)'s shoulder. "Dear, you did a great job with all the food. I mean, I'm sure Yao has a few notes, but he's a food snob and no one really cares anyway."
"Hey!"
(Y/n) managed a small smile and a laugh. Slowly, as the meal progressed, she began to relax and eat more food. Eventually, all the food was gone and everyone began putting their dishes in the sink. It was clear (Y/n) was happy everyone liked the food, and she volunteered to clean all the plates. Zao told her she was allowed to relax and he decided to do it instead.
That didn't stop his cousin from talking about him with his girlfriend in earshot of him though. "If you don't mind me asking, what do you see in him?" Zao lowered the power of the sink so he could hear her answer.
"Well... It's hard to explain. He's really funny to be around and he can be arrogant and cocky at times and sweet and caring at other times. When he's not joking about sex or trying to insinuate something, he can be kind of childish, which I think is cute. He's open with me and does his best to make me feel special, even though I know he's been with a bunch of other girls before me. Not to mention he's fun to record when he's high."
"Does he do drugs around you?"
"Occasionally, if he has a bad day. It doesn't happen very often, but usually one of the others calls me to get me here when they're tired of dealing with his bullshit."
"Does he treat you well?"
"You're sweet to worry about me, but I'm fine. Zao has never laid a hand on me if I expressly tell him not to, and he always makes sure I'm comfortable. I don't know what you quite think of him, but I promise you, he's practically harmless." Zao didn't know whether to be happy or offended.
Finally, Yao seemed to give his approval. "You're very interesting. Don't be afraid to come to one of us if he does screw something up."
"Oh please, Kuro's been giving me self defence lessons. If he screws something up, he's the one who should be afraid."
Zao finished cleaning the last plate and put it in the dish drain before making himself known to the two of them, wrapping herup in a hug and dragging her off. "I believe I was promised red panda videos."
"That you were. Once Kuro turns the wifi back on."
----
"Nngh... Zao."
Yao cracked one of his eyes open. Of course his sex-crazed cousin couldn't keep his hands off of his girlfriend. (Y/n) had lost track of time and ended up there until 10:30, so Zao insisted that she stay over, and since there was no couch anymore, he'd suggested he sleep in her bed.
He was not expecting Zao to say, "Babe, I'm just going to get some water."
"Mmmm... but I'll be cold without you."
Zao laughed. "I'll be back in just a few minutes, calm down."
"Baaaabe."
"Shhhhh, you're gonna wake up Yao, and he becomes a cranky old man if he doesn't get enough sleep."
I do not. "Hurry up then."
"Okay, okay, I'll be right back."
Not even a minute later, Zao came back and got into the bed. "(Y/n), go to bed."
"It's easier to sleep when you're around."
After a while, Yao heard her breathing slow down, and then Zao's as the two fell asleep. Despite how he'd felt about his cousin for the longest time, Yao was happy he'd finally managed to find something worth holding onto.