xv.

wu fan is writing on a book with liu chao and bing yang are bickering each other when yixing peeks on them from the classroom’s door. like always aware he is, wu fan looks up to find yixing’s cute dimple. it successfully affects wu fan to smile as well, but bing yang steals the start with yelling, “zhang yixiiing~!”

yixing chuckles seeing bing yang’s childish act, because liu chao follows him. when the two tells yixing to come in, yixing bows before doing so.

“how are you, xing?” liu chao asks. “please have a seat!”

“thank you. i’m fine by the way,” yixing replies as he sits down. he also puts meal box down onto the desk.

“whoa, you’re bringing lunch for us?” bing yang asks with shining eyes.

yixing shakes his head with smile. “it was originally for lu han, but he didn’t attend the class this morning. so i thought of you guys, just maybe you want to taste changsha’s cuisine?”

“is it stinky tofu?” bing yang opens the meal box. “whoa it really is! can i take one bite?”

“take all you want,” yixing tells them. as expected, liu chao and bing yang immediately rush into the stinky tofu. liu chao hands yixing one, but yixing shakes his head. “i can’t eat spicy food well,” he excuses.

“oh poor you. someone can’t eat spicy food well, someone else can’t eat seafood at all,” liu chao teases the crown prince who is playfully irritated.

“oh shut up,” wu fan grunts, while two of his friends laugh sarcastically.

“you can’t eat seafood?” yixing asks the crown prince, and the latter shakes his head. “wow, it’s kind of ridiculous. why, allergic?”

again, wu fan shakes his head. “not really. physically, i have no allergic to seafood. it’s just because i hate it—hey,” he scolds bing yang who is telling yixing something about you will laugh out loud when you know the reason and his classmate only grins. wu fan sighs. “well yeah. i hate seafood.”

“but why? seafood is good for your health, i tell you. especially fish—it has proteins,” yixing says, like being a talkative mom ever.

“but i eat eels,” wu fan defends.

“you eat eels but you don’t eat seafood? interesting. they both must be having some explanation why you hate and why you love.”

the two of his classmates are trying their best to hold back the laughter, which is annoying for wu fan. he himself doesn’t know whether yixing is really innocent like that or a massive dumb.

“um… well… i hate seafood because… when i was in the empress’ womb, her highness always ate seafood to develop my brain nicely.”

long pause. yixing is like waiting for the next sentence but it never comes out from wu fan’s mouth. he frowns. “…that’s all?”

and wu fan innocently nods.

“that’s ludicrous! how come you hate seafood just because of that, duh,” he caresses his forehead. “you should thank the empress, you know.”

“i told you so,” bing yang snickers, making wu fan embarrassed and suddenly feel the urge to throw bing yang somewhere out the college.

“then? the reason you eat eels?” yixing’s face is back to the curious look.

“what are you, a reporter?” wu fan teasingly asks which is answered by yixing with i’m so curious yeah! and he laughs to that. “my personal cook said eating eels is good for men’s vitality. in order to conserve royal family’s descendants, i must look after my vitality, got it? and else, i will be strong enough to—”

“wow wow wow, stop it, your majesty, too much information!” yixing covers his ears with his hands. wu fan, liu chao, and bing yang laugh at him because he’s just ridiculously cute like that.

“okay, okay, sorry,” wu fan holds his hands up. “anyway, will you let me eat some?”

yixing uncovers his ears and asks, “excuse me?” then wu fan gestures as if asking permission to eat the stinky tofu. yixing finally gets it but he raises his eyebrows instead. “you want to eat this?”

wu fan frowns. “why not…?”

“i mean, you’re a crown prince, you must take a good care with foods that will be entering your stomach, to your body. what if you can’t handle the spiciness? and suddenly your stomach will be burning up and you can’t stop going to the toilet?” yixing asks nonchalantly—because he is just too innocent.

actually it’s so funny, but wu fan finds it adorable and warm. he’s glad knowing yixing is paying attention to him with his own way. he personally doesn’t mind if the spicy stinky tofu will burn his stomach because he can handle spiciness and—for god’s sake—it’s yixing’s home-made meal. although it belonged to lu han, but in the end yixing gives it to him and his two classmates. no big deal. he must try it.

“you worry too much,” wu fan says. he grabs the chopsticks from liu chao’s hand which is earning a yelp from him and calmly takes one piece of the stinky tofu. he munchs the tofu, tasting the spicy sensation and… it tastes really good. no, it’s excellent.

“how is it…?” yixing asks him hesitantly, feeling scared like he’s going to poison the crown prince.

wu fan nods. since he’s still eating, he can’t speak out so he just gives yixing two thumbs up that makes yixing yell of happiness. liu chao and bing yang give applause to yixing like fans supporters they are.

when wu fan finally swallows it, he says, “if you want to, someday you can join royal household’s examination to be in the kitchen division.”

yixing sticks his tongue out. “no way i’ll try that or the kitchen will be messed up because i dance there.”

wu fan effortlessly laughs, but deep inside his heart he wants yixing to try because imagining yixing cook for him is really good, or at least he can see yixing every day in the palace—that’s nice too. the feeling that occurs whenever yixing is near from him feels really warm and comfortable. it’s not a sin to hire someone he likes to cook for him, right?

suddenly, his cell phone rings. he reluctantly picks it up but when he finds out the caller’s id, he presses the green button like a shot. “yes, your highness.”

hearing that, yixing, liu chao, and bing yang shut their mouth up. when wu fan calls someone with ‘your highness’, it must be between the emperor or the empress. just a minute later, wu fan ends the call and rapidly packs his belongings up. he also grabs yixing’s meal box but yixing doesn’t complain.

“sorry guys, her highness called me. important things are up. see you later—and yixing, thank you for the nice lunch. it was really delicious i can’t help but bringing the rest because i don’t want them to eat it,” wu fan says before really leaving the classroom.

and yixing can’t hide his smile, because actually, the stinky tofu he made is truly for wu fan as a gratitude. gratitude for willingly asking the ministry of arts and culture to renovate his department’s building. well, he’s going to tell him later.