Title: An Honorary Member of the Anti-Social Social Club
Fandom: Guardian
Rating: G
Length: ~1000 words
Notes: OCs, f/f, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan outsider POV. Jiajia is the female student who goes on the field trip. (Here's a screencap of her hiding behind Shen Wei.) Quan is the male student field-tripper. Inspired by this conversation in sid_guardian. Many thanks to mergatrude for beta. No warnings apply.
Summary: In which an emergency meeting of the Professor Shen Fan Club is inquorate.


Guanlin is the last to arrive. He drops onto the grass between Jiajia and me and steals one of Jiajia’s guotie without asking. “What’s the emergency?”

I shuffle away and tilt my sketchbook so he can’t see what I’m drawing. I’m not in the mood for his critiques. It’s not like he knows anything about art, anyway.

Jiajia smacks Guanlin on the arm, harder than he was expecting going by his reaction, and announces, “I called you here today because—”

“Wait, do we have a quorum?” Yanyan’s sitting with her back to the tree, legs crossed, eating tofu fried rice out of a Sergeant Black Cat lunchbox. She’s been friends with Jiajia since elementary school, which is the only reason she’s a member of the Professor Shen Fan Club. She doesn’t even take biology (but she does admit the professor’s gorgeous; I mean, no one can deny that). “Are you sure we’re authorised to represent?”

I smile down at my drawing. There are nearly a hundred and fifty members of the Fan Club on Weibo. Jiajia officially took over as president from Weiwei two years ago when Weiwei graduated, and she usually takes her responsibilities seriously. Not today though, apparently.

“Shut up! This is big!” Jiajia swallows her mouthful of dumpling and pulls out her phone. “Quan sent me a message to say Motorcycle Guy visited Professor Shen’s office again this morning! He saw him!” She holds up her phone to show us a photo of the two men: Motorcycle Guy has one hand on the professor’s shoulder and is pointing at him with the other; Professor Shen is smiling.

“See? I told you,” says Yanyan. “I bet they’re dating.”

“What? No way!” Jiajia sounds outraged.

“Why ‘no way’?” I ask, looking down again, concentrating on my shading. “Because they’re both men?”

“It’s not that.” She sounds emphatic, and I relax, letting my pencil strokes lengthen again. “Motorcycle Guy looks like he’s never cracked a book in his life! Professor Shen should be with someone intellectual so they can have erudite conversations. A meeting of the minds.”

I glance up. Her eyes are usually sparkly and kind, but they’ve gone dreamy now. I try to cement the image in my mind so I can draw it later.

“Maybe Motorcycle Guy has hidden depths,” suggests Yanyan.

Jiajia frowns. “I mean, maybe? Professor Shen seems to like him, so I guess he must have. But—”

“But you don’t think he’s worthy,” I say. Maybe I’m wasting my time with this sketch. It’s stupid. The ear looks weird, and I probably won’t end up showing it to anyone.

“I just think Professor Shen deserves someone—” Jiajia casts around for the right words.

“Like you?” suggests Guanlin. There’s a mean edge to his teasing. I consider accidentally spilling my coke on his bag, but I don’t.

“No!” Jiajia rolls her eyes. “Like, I don’t know, someone perfect.”

Guanlin snorts. “A Disney princess.”

“I’m confused,” says Yanyan. “I thought Professor Shen was the Disney princess.” She closes her empty lunchbox, tucks it neatly into her bag and takes out her phone.

“Maybe Motorcycle Guy is his prince,” I say, “rescuing Professor Shen from a thousand years of solitude in his enchanted library. I think he’s cute. And you know what they say about opposites attracting.”

Jiajia chews her lip. “I mean, I guess.”

“Maybe he’ll let Professor Shen suck his lollipop.” Guanlin smirks. Yanyan kicks him, and I smile gratefully at her, but she doesn’t notice. I make a mental note to buy her a coke next time we all go out to eat.

“I just think, you know, what if Motorcycle Guy is dangerous?” says Jiajia. “I mean, a thug or a, a drug dealer or something? Professor Shen’s so nice and kind, he probably wouldn’t want to hurt his feelings.” She seems genuinely concerned.

I stop drawing. “Well, we could do a little digging, like a background check. We could make sure Motorcycle Guy isn’t mixed up in anything disreputable. That he is worthy. And if we find out anything bad, we’ll tell the Professor.”

“Background check how?” asks Guanlin. “You can’t tail him on foot. What are you going to do, put a tracking device on his motorcycle?”

I ignore his sarcasm and say to the others (but mostly to Jiajia), “My cousin would lend me her scooter. If we follow him, we can at least find out where he works and his name.”

“And if he’s married,” says Yanyan. “And once we know his name, we can look him up online. Would that help you sleep nights, Cinnamon Roll?”

Jiajia hesitates. I can tell she wants to do it, she thinks it’s the right thing to do, but she’s nervous. “Yes, but I don’t think it should be an official Fan Club action. The Chancellor might find out.”

“It can be an Anti-Social Social Club project, then,” says Yanyan. That was her and Jiajia’s secret society when they were in high school. They started it after Jiajia’s brother gave her the jacket. “Qiao Xin can be an honorary member.”

“The university won’t know,” I tell her. “It’ll just be you and me, going for an innocent ride on my cousin’s scooter.”

Guanlin gives me a look, but I don’t care. This has nothing to do with him.

“Yeah, okay,” says Jiajia, softly. “Let’s do this.”

Her eyes meet mine, and I look back at my picture. It’s finished. And it’s not terrible, objectively speaking. I think I captured the professor’s smile pretty well. And I know she’ll be happy when I give it to her, and she’ll tell me she loves it. Maybe she’ll even genuinely like it. But I’m not giving it to her in front of the others. I shut my notebook. “Okay,” I say. “Operation Background Check is a go. I’ll call my cousin tonight.”


END