Lan Wangji was admittedly having trouble picking the right location for his first date. It has to be something light, fun, and impressionable enough to make the object of his affection agree to have a second date and hopefully many more. Thus, he called his big brother, the only person he could ask for any advice whatsoever. They had agreed to meet after work at the cafe near his garage.

Walking in, he sat at the booth facing the door. He ordered enough food for both him and Xichen, tapping his foot to the rock beats coming out of the jukebox. He was just about to start eating when Xichen finally appeared.
"Am I late?" Xichen asked, as he slid into the chair opposite Wangji's. Wangji just shrugged nonchalantly. "Sorry, there's this case we are handling right now about drug trafficking that is driving me crazy. We haven't been able to figure out how they did it without triggering any alarms. Anyway enough about my boring work, so, what's up?" He picked a dumpling with his chopsticks and popped it into his mouth enjoying the burst of flavours with the broth inside. "Mm, this is good, I'm starving."
Lan Wangji let him savour the dumpling before he cut right to the chase. "Well, you can start by giving me ideas on where to take a man out to a first date, that's light, fun, and guaranteed to make him swoon over your little brother." Wangji speared the chicken and put it in his mouth.
"Ooh, progress, nice. Is this the same guy you swooned over a few days ago? Yanli's brother?"
"I don't swoon, and yes, his name is Wei Wuxian, and he's an adorable little bunny." He grinned.
"Hmm.. you do realize that you just swooned right?"
"Did not."
"Whatever you say, little bro." Xichen half shrugged. "So, first date huh? Hmm, why don't you take him to the carnival? The one near the pier? It's a safe ground, and you will have fun there, and there will be fireworks too. And let's not forget carnival food!"
"You know what, I think that's a great idea ge. I will think about it and plan something out. Something that my bunny will like." He smiled imagining Wei Wuxian's face.

"By the way, I was thinking about my upcoming birthday this weekend? Ming wants to invite some of our close friends to celebrate it at home, and I want you to be there too if that's okay with you."
"Mm, I don't have any plans, I'd probably ask Qing to come. Oh btw, did I tell you Qing's younger brother is in town? He moved here to live with her."

"Oh? That's great! Then we should invite him too. More the merrier." He stabbed the last piece of the chicken before Wangji could call dibs and ate it.
"Ge!" Wangji whined and Xichen laughed
 

-----
 
The Jiangs were having a picnic because Yanli wanted to buy a birthday gift for her best friend's birthday, and since her boyfriend was unable to accompany her, she asked for her brothers' help with choosing a gift and spend some times together as a family. They rarely did that nowadays, with the boys were busy with school and Yanli.. well, Yanli's situation is complicated, and she did not want to worry her brothers with her problems. Besides, she kind of... ashamed and did not want to admit that she did have a problematic relationship.
 
Thankfully, her brothers, although not fond of Zixuan, were able to barely tolerate him, for her sake. Although sometimes they looked like they were about to throw a punch or a kick, they reigned it in. Their displeasure still reflected on their face, but they tried to be civilized enough not to give anymore trouble to their beloved sister.
 
She hummed lightly while preparing food, all her brothers' favorite, and packed it into couple of huge picnic baskets. She left a note to Zixuan to tell him about her whereabouts and checked her phone for the battery. It should be on at all times, with Zixuan's tendencies to check on her in odd times, she didn't dare to leave the phone unattended. Or else.
 
She shook her head and walked to her car, bringing the picnic baskets, lost in her thoughts.
 
 
---
 
 
After they had been to the mall and she had spent some time to select her gift, the siblings decided to go to the nearby park for their picnic. They spread the bed sheet under the shade of a maple tree and sat down while talking about anything and everything. Her brothers were always a delight. They brought sunshine and rainbows to her otherwise pretty dull days with their wit and snarky comments. Oh how she missed them, their banters, and their love showed clearly, erasing any doubts that they won't love her if they found out about her secret. But this is not the time nor the place to talk about that. She put a smile on her face and tried to enjoy the rare moments she had with her brothers. The freedom of being able to talk as she wished, laugh as much as she liked, dance on the green grass with her feet bare. She missed her old self.

Even though they were laughing and giggling she noted that something was bothering Xian. He was always a bundle of joy since the day her father brought him home, a small and beautiful child, with a calm demeanor and wisdom beyond his age. So now, when she saw confusion behind those pretty caramel eyes, she had to ask. She asked Cheng if he could get them drinks. Once Cheng had huffed and left, she turned to Wuxian and asked, "Xian, is there something on your mind? You know you can always talk to me about anything, right?"
 
Xian's ears were going visibly red.
 
"Ah, jie, I do have something in my mind, but I never thought that you could see it clearly."
 
"Xian, I've been your big sister since forever, of course I always know if something's been bothering my brothers. Even if you tried to hide it. And you hide it well, Xian. I just hope I can be of help if you need it." She caressed Xian's face fondly.
 
"Well, in that case, I do need some kind of an advice, jie, about... someone."
 
"Oh? Do you like someone? Is she someone I know?"
 
"I don't think you know him, jie. And it's a guy. I don't know, I feel kinda... overwhelmed by my own feelings." He groaned into his palms. "I mean, he's a certified bad boy, some kind of a player, but the way he acts around me... it's almost sounds like he's... sincere. Am I making sense, jie? I don't know if I can make sense of it either, it's all super weird. I mean, I never liked a boy before, but this guy... well, he stirred something in me."
 
"Hmm, well, I can't really give you advice on this Xian, since you know my own relationship is kind of rocky, but here's something I can tell you." She pulled his face between her hands. "Follow your heart. If it tells you to go on, then try, but if it tells you to run? Run for your life." She held on for a bit before she put their foreheads together. "I do wish I listened to my heart a long time ago. Then it might have been different now."
 
Wei Wuxian only hugged her sister close. He knew vaguely of what happened to her, but he dared not ask. He trusted his sister to resolve it by herself, and if she can't, well, there's always him and Cheng.
 
"Thank you, jie, you know we love you very much, right? You can always tell us anything. And I mean, anything." He said pointedly and kissed her hair. He heard a faint sniffle, but she didn't say anything more, only nodded.
 
Jiang Cheng came back to the scene of his siblings hugging each other and soft sniffles.
 
"I was just gone for a whole of 5 minutes...5 minutes!! What happened?" He dropped the drinks he bought on the bed sheet and shifted closer. "Jie? Xian?"
 
"We're just having a moment, Cheng, come here, give me a hug too" she urged her youngest brother to join in their group hug.
 
"Cheng likes Huaisang." Xian muffled words came out from Yanli's shoulder.
 
"Xian! I'm gonna kill you!!" He tried to grab Xian's hand but he already moved outside of his reach.
 
"It's true, jie, he likes him, and you will not believe the hints that Sang throws at him and yet he fails to notice them. It breaks my heart to see them suffer from their own stupidity!" Xian laughed at Cheng now, his eyes crinkled, making him look younger and unrestrained.
 
"Oh yeah? What about you then? A little birdie told me that you have a date with a certain 'someone'" he air-quoted himself. "I do hope you prepared yourself, Xian, he's famous for being a notorious womanizer..." Jiang Cheng slurped his drink and tried to avoid the topic about himself and Nie Huaisang, because although they had kissed, he still wasn't sure where it was all heading.
 

Wei Wuxian narrowed his eyes. "You're changing the topic, Cheng!"
 
Yanli only chuckled with her brothers' relentless bantering. This was one of the things that she missed most from their previous life together, the voices, the never ending teasing, and she felt warmth in her heart for the first time ever since she left home to be with her now boyfriend.