Work Text:
1
When Ye Xiu was 25, already on the threads of his relationship with Excellent Era was at its end, he found himself in an unusual predicament. He was in bed when he tried to roll out of the sheets. Something oval and hard poked his sides, making him tense in confusion.
It was a large egg. Propped up next to his stomach like it belonged there. It was at least the size of a small pillow or a medium sized plush doll.
2
Ye Xiu sat up, staring. He touched it, expecting the egg to move or at least jiggle. It was warm.
He wasn't exactly awake when he said, “I don't remember giving birth to you.”
3
After a few days of waiting, mostly because he forgot it even existed and a part of him had no clue what to even do with an egg this large, it hatched.
“...One Autumn Leaf?” He watched as the miniature One Autumn Leaf, the size of a small child, roll around in cosplay of his avatar counterpart.
“Ah! Ah!”
“You! Don’t eat the account card-”
4
“You had a little treasure and you never told me?!”
“Mucheng-”
“Who's the mother? Ye Xiu, who did you cheat with? My brother in heaven must be crying right now!”
Su Mucheng wanted to hate the little Ye, but instead she squealed when he tried to run around in the bedroom, “He’s so precious, ah, ok I forgive you.”
5
“He needs toys, a crib, baby carrier, diapers-”
“Mucheng, where can I even put a crib?” Ye Xiu reminded her that his contract with Excellent Era was nearly at the end. All he needed were the necessities. He was able to pay for them himself, he wasn’t that badly off and asking Su Mucheng for it didn’t sit right with him.
“In my room of course. I can babysit!”
“And the phone?”
“So you can call me to babysit.”
“...The clothes?”
“To match with him! A single dad and his child in matching clothes, so cute… That’s something everyone wants to see!”
6
“Mmm-”
“Oh, oh little Ye is trying to say Mumu!” Su Mucheng was excited, watching One Autumn Leaf mouth out syllables.
“Mama!” He shouted, making grabbing motions towards Ye Xiu and cooing.
At first, Su Mucheng looked wronged, she was the aunt, why didn’t the baby call out to her? But a thoughtful look appeared on her face when she turned her gaze to his face.
“...Can I also call-”
“No.”
7
“You should call him something else other than One Autumn Leaf.”
“Hm, but isn’t that what he is?”
“But if you were to call him that around other people, they would think you’re one of those obsessed fans.”
Ye Xiu watched as Su Mucheng pull out a list on her phone, proceeding to say the names she thought would be cute for One Autumn Leaf, “I want little Ye to be called Su Muxiu, but I think that the fans would mistakenly say we’re a pair. Ye Xiaoqiu is the next best thing! Oh, but since he is the light of your life, maybe something bright would do it for him! I would say Huang, but HuangYe is a horrible CP. Bao? He is a precious treasure afterall-”
“Ye Xiaoqiu.” He stopped Su Mucheng in her tracks.
One Autumn Leaf smiled gummily in approval, his face soft and tender looking.
8
“Ye Qiu, hand him your account card-”
“Mama!” One Autumn Leaf ran into the room, crying.
Liu Hao choked on air as Ye Qiu bend down to hold the teary toddler. Tao Xuan froze in his tracks, wondering if making him retire was really a bad thing if he was hiding a child from the team. And Sun Xiang? He just gaped as One Autumn Leaf threw a toy, a plush version of Dancing Rain, at his face. His accuracy was unusually deadly. Thankfully Sun Xiang didn’t react too badly, all he did was pick it up from his lap.
“Bad!”
“Xiaoqiu.” Ye Qiu was reproaching, scolding him a little when he didn’t calm down.
“Mama, don’t like.” One Autumn Leaf’s spoiled tone made him lighten up a bit. Afterall, he couldn’t stay mad at his most favorite thing.
“Ok, ok. You don’t like. But it’s not nice to throw things alright?”
The way he acted made their eyes feel hot.
Chen Yehui whispered under his breath, “ABO?”
9
“Um, Sun Xiang,” Ye Xiu’s hands were trying the dig into his pockets, but One Autumn Leaf kept squirming in his grip, “Sorry, but can you grab it from my pocket- Xiaoqiu, stay still.”
Sun Xiang hesitated, but got up from his seat. As soon as he tried to go near Ye Xiu, the toddler started to hit him.
“Xiaoqiu, don’t aim for the face. That’s Excellent Era’s possession.” Ye Xiu patted his back, rocking him and patiently waiting for the new captain to get his account card.
10
“...Ye Qiu.”
“Hm yes?”
Sun Xiang followed him and Su Mucheng, who was holding onto multiple travel bags, out of the building after finding out Ye Qiu’s financial situation.
“I-” His face was bright with a flush, “You, a child-”
“Yes, he's Ye Xiaoqiu. He's cute right? Well, is that all?”
“As if something can be cute if it came from you!” Sun Xiang was floundering as Ye Qiu moved to leave, “Wait!”
“Sun Xiang?”
“Give-me.”
“...I can’t give you my kid-”
“Alipay account.” If his face could get any redder, it would match Excellent Era’s colors, “Compensation…”
11
When Chen Guo saw Ye Xiu and the toddler in his arms, she immediately gave him the job without even asking so much as if it’s still available.
Her face crumpled when she realized that the only space left was the storage room at her place.
“Ah it’s fine, as long as Xiaoqiu can be comfortably cared for somewhere that won’t be cold-”
Chen Guo interrupted him, her eyes reddened with emotion, “I’m sure one of the other workers won’t mind changing rooms.”
She was already making connections and parallels to the newest drama she was watching, where the main character was thrown away even though they’re with a child.
12
[Ye Qiu retires, Excellent Era refuses to say why!
Today marks a sad time, the first person of Glory, Ye Qiu, retires out of nowhere, without so much as a goodbye to his fans. There’s speculation on why: his hand speed decreased, he was forced to, he got married, etc. But according to some insider information, Ye Qiu has a child?!]
Chen Guo rounded on him, more inclined into believing he was Ye Qiu, as he said before.
13
Tang Rou patted little Ye’s head, “He looks just like you.”
“Thank you.” Ye Xiu was humble.
“Cute and tender.”
“...Thank you.”
“Like a fresh meat bun.”
14
The tenth server slowly found out that Lord Grim and God Ye were one and the same.
Because of little Ye refusing to sleep without being near Ye Xiu, he would constantly grab on the mic, trying to talk to the other players in gibberish. Sometimes Ye Xiu would ask them to quiet down or not use explicit language.
He was known as Mama Ye mockingly by the people that disliked him.
Though some of them accidentally called him that in teamspeak and didn’t hear the end of it from their teammates.
15
A regular internet cafe goer walked up to Ye Xiu, who was multitasking, making sure that One Autumn Leaf stayed asleep, took care of what the customers wanted to eat, and played Glory. He would whisper into the mic, giving instructions that some of the patrons unconsciously followed, even if they were in an entirely different map, server and game.
“Excuse me?” The man gingerly approached him, appreciating his figure.
“Is there anything you need?” Ye Xiu asked politely.
He was flirted with until Tang Rou went up to him and said no animals are allowed in the building with the exception of service animals.
16
“Xiaoqiu, don’t press those buttons.”
Ye Xiu gently pulled away the tiny hands that smashed the keyboard, making the patrons sitting near the front desk grin happily at the cute image they witnessed.
One Autumn Leaf looked enviously at Lord Grim’s avatar. He also wanted to play with Ye Xiu. He huffed, not liking how everyone but him could play. Someone even took up his spot as a good child!
Whoever this Bao Zi was, he already didn’t like them.
17
Ye Xiu knew that a normal child would want to go out, so he asked Chen Guo if he could have a day off to bring Little Ye to the park.
“Yes!” She approved, “I should come along-”
“You can’t.” Tang Rou said with a decisive shake of her head.
“I’m the owner-”
“Guo Guo, you have an appointment with one of the lighting technicians.”
“Well, can’t you-”
“If I can’t go with them, neither can you.”
18
“Ye Xiu!” Ye Qiu came running into the internet cafe, image be damned. He was red and panting, as if he just ran, “You, you!”
“Me? Me.” Ye Xiu just nodded.
“I-A kid?!” He couldn’t even get out a sentence.
“Yes. Very cute and soft.” Ye Xiu boasted, hugging the toddler to his chest like a proud parent.
“Which woman do I have to pay off to keep their hands away?!”
One Autumn Leaf turned his head towards the man, gasping, “Two mama?”
Ye Qiu nearly fainted.
19
“Oh, it’s good that you’re here actually. I wanted to see you.”
“Wu-what?” Ye Qiu felt like his chest was heavy, “Stupid brother I also-”
“Can you help me get identification for Xiaoqiu?”
20
After getting Ye Qiu to forge paperwork for his One Autumn Leaf, Ye Qiu put his contact information on Ye Xiu’s phone, his number, QQ, Weibo, email…
“Isn’t this too much?”
“No, it’s not enough.”
21
Chen Guo, of course, dragged Tang Rou and Ye Xiu to the All-Star event.
“Is it alright to bring Xiaoqiu there?”
“...Well, you can’t offload him to anyone else right? Plus, Xiaoqiu is too good, look at his bright little face! He can’t do anything wrong.”
One Autumn Leaf proceeded to blow spit bubbles.
22
Ye Xiu defeated Du Ming in a spectacular fashion.
Instead of running away though, he was stuck in the room due to One Autumn Leaf fussing.
The cameras manage to get a glimpse of him kissing the child on the forehead and jostling him to sleep.
It was silent for a few moments. Most were too busy holding up their phones and taking photos of the elusive God Ye, shocked that he truly had a child.
23
Ye Xiu got tired of the badgering from the pro players that kept knocking on his QQ. He made an executive decision.
He went onto his newly made Weibo and uploaded an image of a sleeping little Ye, surrounded by Dancing Rain plushies.
It was quoted by Su Mucheng and became one of the most liked, shared and commented post on the site in under 24 hours.
24
Multiple teams sent their own official plush toys to him after that. Zhou Zekai sent a large penguin toy and multiple Cloud Piercer merchandise. Jiang Botao and Xiao Shiqin were more tame in their gifts, sending Ye Xiu parenting and kids books. Zhang Jiale pampered the toddler with a bunch of baby clothes. Huang Shaotian sent a children’s book of words and Yu Wenzhou, to spite him, gave the child okra plush toys with the baby furniture he got. Wang Jiexi sent in a peapod plush and a variety of fake plants for little Ye to chew on. Zhang Xinjie gave Ye Xiu a baby monitor and instructions on how to handle children.
Ye Xiu’s room was overtaken by all the items being sent to him.
Even Li Xuan and Tang Hao had a hand in it. They collaborated and gave Ye Xiu a small playhouse and a large toy car that little Ye can play with. Both sneaked in a couple of words, saying that they’re willing to watch and play the toddler if needed.
Most of them were cute things like that. Some however, took it to the next level.
Han Wenqing bought a house. Sun Zheping sent him a black credit card that linked to his bank.
Sun Xiang still sent in monthly funds to his Alipay.
Not wanting to be outdone, all of the people that already gave gifts sent even more outlandish ones. He quickly turned away Fang Rui’s hand in marriage.
Ye Qiu wasn’t happy and made sure to care for his brother, blocking others and sending gifts back, replacing it with his own: a bigger house, more credit cards, higher quality items and even a maid that can help Ye Xiu out. Su Mucheng only smiled as she went shopping with Chu Yunxiu for One Autumn Leaf.