Work Text:
Song Lan is sitting on the couch, but something is missing. Something very dear to his heart, and he simply cannot get comfortable without it. Without his husband by his side.
Song Lan sighs and gets up, to search for Xiao Xingchen, who definitely is in their home, but hasn’t made an appearance since dinner.
He quickly checks the bathroom and their bedroom, before he goes to the study, where he should have looked first, really.
Song Lan stops in the doorway instead of immediately going to drag him away from the desk, and takes in the scene in front of him.
Xiao Xingchen is clearly marking his student’s essays, and either the current one is especially well written, or Xiao Xingchen thinks the mistakes he finds are endearing, because he’s smiling at the paper in front of him.
Song Lan loves seeing him do what he loves, but he would love it more, if Xiao Xingchen could spend the evening with him.
“What are you doing?” he asks, slightly startling Xiao Xingchen who throws him an accusing glare.
“What does it look like?” he asks with a nod to the essay in front of him.
And to the sizable stack to his left.
“Like you’re doing something you now have two weeks for,” Song Lan says and walks into the room.
He cards his fingers through Xiao Xingchen’s hair, lightly scratches at his scalp, and Xiao Xingchen sighs.
“You know I have to do this,” he says and Song Lan rolls his eyes at him.
“I also know that today is the first day of a two weeklong holiday, so you have time. There is no need to mark them today.”
“I want to get this out of the way,” Xiao Xingchen gives back and Song Lan sighs as he puts his hand on Xiao Xingchen’s neck.
“Sweetheart, it’s the first day. You had classes all afternoon. Why not relax for a little bit and start fresh tomorrow?” Song Lan tries to coax him away from his desk.
He knows that approach didn’t work when Xiao Xingchen looks down at the opened essay.
“Just this one,” he argues, but Song Lan knows him better than that.
If he finishes that one, there will be another one that catches his eyes and then he’ll do that one too, and maybe even a third and then Song Lan won’t just miss his husband on the couch, but also in bed.
It’s not an acceptable prospect.
“I’m missing my husband on the couch. I have no one to cuddle up to,” Song Lan says, and Xiao Xingchen throws him a betrayed glance.
“That’s just unfair,” he complains. “You know I can’t say no to that.”
Of course Song Lan knows it, that’s why he said it.
“If you wouldn’t be so incredibly stubborn, I wouldn’t have to do it. I did try another approach first,” Song Lan tells him with a smile, and kisses Xiao Xingchen’s pout right off his lips.
“What a horrible successful bribe,” Xiao Xingchen mutters and closes the essay without even looking at it.
“Fine, you win. Take me to relax,” he demands and looks up at Song Lan, who is more than happy to oblige him.
He bends down, and picks Xiao Xingchen up right from the chair, not even straining with his husband’s light weight in his arms.
“I love that you can do this,” Xiao Xingchen sighs as he puts his arms around Song Lan’s neck and rests his head on his shoulder.
Song Lan easily carries Xiao Xingchen into the living room, before he sits down, Xiao Xingchen secure in his lap.
“I thought you wanted to cuddle and relax,” Xiao Xingchen laughs but he snuggles against Song Lan’s chest, and makes no move to pull away.
“This is exactly what I wanted,” Song Lan gives back and nuzzles the top of Xiao Xingchen’s head. “My husband close and relaxed.”
“I could have done that in an hour, once I finished that essay,” Xiao Xingchen complains, but he doesn’t seem really mad that Song Lan pulled him away from his work.
“You still can,” Song Lan tells him with a wink and extracts his arm from under Xiao Xingchen’s legs, showing him that he swiped the essay and Xiao Xingchen’s red pen from his desk.
Xiao Xingchen laughs, bright and happy, and he peppers Song Lan faces with kisses, dropping the last one right onto his lips.
“I have the best husband,” Xiao Xingchen contentedly sighs and makes grabby hands at the essay.
Song Lan hands it over willingly, and laughs when Xiao Xingchen wriggles around to find the perfect position. In the end, he slides off Song Lan’s lap, wedged between the armrest and Song Lan, legs still thrown over his lap and arms interlinked.
Song Lan wonders how he could possibly work like that, but he’s not going to question it, not when his husband is close and happy and incredibly warm and comforting against him.
Once Xiao Xingchen is comfortable, he immediately holds his hands out for the essay and his pen. Song Lan barely let go of them, before Xiao Xingchen is already engrossed in his grading again.
Song Lan sighs, but it’s more fond than anything. The fact that Xiao Xingchen loves his students, and loves teaching them, is just one of the many things that Song Lan loves about him, and he would never force him to drop his work, not even during the holiday.
Song Lan is content, now that he has Xiao Xingchen with him on the couch, and he just watches him work, knows that any noise would disrupt Xiao Xingchen in his thoughts, but Song Lan is happy right where he is.
Xiao Xingchen turns a page but before he goes back to grading, he presses a quick kiss to Song Lan’s shoulder.
“I love you,” he says and then immediately turns his eyes back to the essay perched on his lap.
“I love you, too,” Song Lan says with a small chuckle and braces Xiao Xingchen’s affronted glare when he leans to the side to press a kiss to his forehead and dislodges the essay in the process.
It’s a small price to pay for a perfect moment.