Chapter Text
"No," is Lan Zhan's immediate and only response to Wei Ying's request.
"What do you mean no?" Wei Ying whines.
"I don't lie."
Wei Ying can only sigh heavily at that, though he makes himself feel a little better by being dramatic about it. He knows Lan Zhan always tells the truth or keeps his mouth shut, which is why his brother has known they're together since their second date, and even his strict, traditional uncle found out about (and grudgingly accepted) their relationship over a year ago.
Wei Ying, on the other hand, has zero qualms about lying to avoid awkwardness, which is why he and Lan Zhan got actually, officially, legally married a month ago and he still hasn't even told any of the Jiangs that he's interested in men. (It also helps that his family, unlike Lan Zhan's, lives halfway around the world in China, so they can't casually pop over to his apartment without warning or run into him and Lan Zhan out on the town.)
"Don't think of it as lying?" he suggests, not willing to let go of hope yet. "You can tell the truth about how we got together, just, you know, pretend it happened a month or two ago instead of four years ago."
"We got together after a party in college," Lan Zhan points out. "Would your siblings believe that you went to a frat party one month ago?"
Wei Ying grimaces, both at the valid issue with his plan and at the memory of how awkwardly they stumbled into a relationship after years of confusion and denial. He's lucky that Lan Zhan tolerated him being an idiot sometimes—and still does. "Fine, then just be your usual stoic self and let me lie about it. Does that violate your moral code too?"
Lan Zhan frowns subtly. "How is this lie easier than telling them the truth?"
"Jiejie will kill me if I tell her I've been dating someone for four years and even got married and I hid it from her," Wei Ying explains. "Or she'll be really sad about it, which would be even worse. And Jiang Cheng will be pissed off but also probably sad that I didn't tell him." He should've told them when he and Lan Zhan got together, but he put it off until eventually it felt less awkward to hide the relationship than to tell them about it.
"Do you really think you can keep them from ever finding out? How will you tell them that we're married, eventually, without revealing everything?"
Wei Ying sighs, not wanting to admit that Lan Zhan's objections make an awful lot of sense. He made his own bed by keeping their relationship secret for so many years, and he'll have to lie in it sooner or later. It's just so much easier to avoid it—if you can call having your husband pretend to be your brand new boyfriend easy. "I won't hide it forever. I just don't want to dump everything on them at once, you know? 'Hey, I'm bi and I've been dating my boyfriend for four years and we moved in together last year and eloped a month ago. Anyway, how are things back home?'"
Just the thought of saying all of that to Yanli and Jiang Cheng stresses him out, let alone telling Uncle Jiang and Ms. Yu. He has no particular reason to think they'll object to him being with a man in general. Ms. Yu has made a few comments over the years, but that doesn't mean much since she hates pretty much everyone, and the rest of them haven't really said anything to make him worry. It's just that Wei Ying has never quite grown out of his childhood fears that the Jiangs would reject him. He's made a nuisance of himself in plenty of ways over the years, but there's still a little part of him that wonders if there's a line he'll one day cross and not realize until it's too late.
Lan Zhan studies him intently, probably reading all of Wei Ying's secret fears into his smile. Lan Zhan knows him too well by now to not be able to read between the lines. Sure enough, he asks, "You don't think they'll accept you?"
"They will, I think. I mean, I'm pretty sure jiejie will, and probably Jiang Cheng, and I think Uncle Jiang would, I hope. And Ms. Yu already disapproves of me in every way, so this won't make much difference." He laughs somewhat awkwardly. He's twenty-five and fully independent now, so the Jiangs potentially rejecting him isn't terrifying in the way it was when he first came to live with them, but he'd really rather avoid it if he can.
Lan Zhan won't stop looking at him like he knows everything going on in Wei Ying's head, and the last thing Wei Ying wants is for him to start fussing. "Look, forget it. I'll just suck it up and—"
"All right." When Wei Ying stares dumbly at him, Lan Zhan clarifies, "I'll do it. I'll pretend. But you have to promise that if they respond well to hearing that we're dating, you'll tell them the truth before they leave."
"I will, I will," Wei Ying promises. "You're the best, Lan Zhan." He throws his arms around his husband (after one month, the novelty of thinking "my husband" has yet to wear off) and doesn't think beyond that for now.
As he drives to the airport to pick up Yanli and Jiang Cheng, Wei Ying blasts music and sings along loudly enough to drown out any thoughts he might have about being nervous. There's no reason to be nervous. He's about to see his siblings, two of his favorite people in the whole world. He and Lan Zhan rearranged their apartment to plausibly look like only one person lives there, and Lan Zhan is safely away at the home of his very understanding brother for at least the first few days. They got their story straight in a way that won't require too much lying, hopefully, unless Yanli asks a lot of questions. It'll be fine.
Traffic is a pain, so Yanli and Jiang Cheng are already standing outside the arrivals terminal with their bags when he pulls up. He hops out of the car to help, and Yanli immediately catches him in a hug. "A-Ying, it's good to see you. It's been too long."
"It has. I feel like something has changed since last time I saw you..." He grins, eyes landing on Yanli's stomach.
She swats at him. "It's not showing that much!" It's true that if Wei Ying didn't know, he wouldn't guess that she's almost four months pregnant. That's the main reason for this trip, her last opportunity to travel freely before her first child is born. Wei Ying is glad that she's here, and glad that Jiang Cheng is accompanying her instead of her husband, who was too busy with work to travel.
"You look great, jiejie," he says, and Yanli beams at him. "You too, Jiang Cheng."
Predictably, Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. "I see you haven't changed a bit."
"You'd know that if you called me more often," Wei Ying retorts. "Come on, let's get in the car before someone complains about us hanging out in the active loading zone."
They talk easily for the whole drive to the hotel, about the flight and their parents and Yanli's pregnancy and the places they drive past and definitely not about Wei Ying's love life (or lack thereof, as far as his siblings know). It's nice having Yanli and Jiang Cheng here, just the three of them together again for the first time since they visited over Wei Ying's winter break junior year of college. Wei Ying has been back to China since then, but it's different with Uncle Jiang and Ms. Yu around, or Yanli's annoying husband.
The hotel Wei Ying suggested isn't far from his apartment, but, not coincidentally, far enough that they won't be able to walk over and surprise him (and Lan Zhan, who can't very well be in exile for the whole two weeks). They drop their bags off and take a little while to freshen up before heading back to the car to go to the apartment. "I'm curious to see your apartment," Yanli comments. "You never let me see it on video chat."
"That's because you'd be horrified at the mess," Wei Ying says. "But don't worry, I cleaned it up for you." In truth, their apartment is usually clean anyway because Lan Zhan hates mess; that's just the excuse Wei Ying uses so he doesn't have to explain the one bed with pillows for two, or the pictures of him and Lan Zhan, or Lan Zhan himself sitting at the table while Wei Ying talks to his family in the bedroom.
"You don't have to worry about impressing us, you know," Yanli says fondly.
"It's already a lost cause," Jiang Cheng adds, making Wei Ying laugh.
He's happy to show his siblings his apartment, because it's a part of his life that he wants to share with them, but his heart hasn't quite gotten the memo, pounding as he unlocks the door. He's worried that he and Lan Zhan overlooked something when they rearranged the apartment to look like Wei Ying is the only one who lives there, or that Yanli and Jiang Cheng will notice the things they didn't bother to hide—Lan Zhan's clothes in the shared closet, his toiletries in the bathroom drawers, or the various decoration details that are much more his aesthetic than Wei Ying's.
"It's nice," Yanli says as she walks in first.
"It's small," is all Jiang Cheng has to say.
"It's actually pretty big by California standards. Housing prices are terrible." It's relatively big, of course, because Wei Ying doesn't live alone, but he's going to leave that part out for now.
"I like it. It's cozy." Trust Yanli to be diplomatic.
"Let me give you the tour. Here is the exciting living room slash dining room slash occasional office." He gestures at the room, which boasts a couch in front of the TV and a table that fits two comfortably and four if you're really good friends, doubling as a desk when they bring work home. "Here's the kitchen." It's small enough that he and Lan Zhan can't be in there at the same time without some (totally accidental) groping happening, but adequate.
Yanli, unsurprisingly, takes a closer look at the kitchen, eyeing the spice rack (Wei Ying's contribution) and the high quality pots and pans (Lan Zhan's) and peeking into the fridge. "Do you cook much? You have a nice set-up."
"Ah, well, you know me and cooking." Wei Ying laughs. He likes the food he makes, but in the interests of not making his husband choke and die, he lets Lan Zhan do most of the cooking, just adding his own spices and sometimes some meat on the side.
Yanli laughs too. "I do. I'm going to cook you some things while I'm here, maybe stock up your freezer."
"You're here on vacation, jiejie," Wei Ying reminds her, but doesn't argue. Their freezer is well-stocked enough, but he does miss Yanli's cooking. "Come on." He leads them to the bedroom and stands in the doorway, looking around. With Lan Zhan's pillows and separate comforter in the closet, it looks like it could be the bedroom of a single person, probably.
"What do you need such a big bed for?" Jiang Cheng asks. "You're not that tall."
"I've got to have space for company." Wei Ying waggles his eyebrows. Too much? he wonders. But it seems like the kind of thing he would've said when he was single, back in the day.
Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. "Oh, yeah, I'm sure you're very popular. That's why you've had how many girlfriends now since you came to America?"
"Say, Jiang Cheng, have you had any luck asking out that Wen Qing of yours yet?" Wei Ying shoots back, and Jiang Cheng huffs.
"And here I thought you two might grow out of bickering like this at some point." Yanli shakes her head, smiling.
"Maybe once Jiang Cheng finally grows up enough to get the girl he's been pining for all these years," Wei Ying teases. Jiang Cheng steals a pillow from the bed to hit him, and even as Wei Ying is being chased through his apartment, he feels very happy to have his siblings here with him.
The next morning, they work their way through some of the obligatory local tourist destinations, from the old mission to the bell tower with the scenic view to Wei Ying's favorite Mexican restaurant that he can never take Lan Zhan to. Yanli exclaims with delight at the beautiful views of the beach and the mountains. Jiang Cheng does not, but he does praise the food and, at the end of the day says, "You live in a pretty nice place."
"I'm glad you think so," Wei Ying says smugly, but he's happy. He doesn't need his siblings' approval of his choices, but it is nice to have it. (He really hopes they'll approve of his choice of Lan Zhan.)
The second day, they drive into the foothills to enjoy the view and do some light hiking and have a picnic. It's great, except when Yanli starts asking too many questions about his social life. "I feel like I don't know how you spend your time when we're not here, aside from work." That makes Wei Ying feel guilty because the only reason he hasn't said more is that it's hard to talk around Lan Zhan's presence in his life. He manages to brush off her questions at first, saying he needs to focus on the winding road, but that only makes Yanli get worried enough by the time they get out of the car to ask, "Are you doing okay here, A-Ying? You're not lonely?"
"You know me, jiejie. When have I ever had a problem making friends?"
"And enemies," Jiang Cheng mutters, but he's eyeing Wei Ying like he's worried too.
"But you tell me so little," Yanli presses. "In university, you were always sending pictures of you with your friends and talking about the fun you were having, and there's so much less now. How am I supposed to know if you're happy?"
"Of course I was having more fun in college. But I'm still happy." It's true that he doesn't have as much time to mess around, but he also shares more scenery or food pictures than people pictures these days because his people pictures are selfies with Lan Zhan, or pictures of Lan Zhan unaware that he's having his picture taken, or pictures of Lan Zhan judging Wei Ying for taking pictures instead of enjoying their time together, or pictures of Lan Zhan taking pictures of Wei Ying just to be contrary. "I'll take lots of pictures just for you, okay? So many selfies you'll get sick of my face."
"I could never get sick of your face." Yanli's smile says, I see what you're doing, but she lets it go for now.
They're at dinner that evening when Wei Ying gets a text from Lan Zhan saying, Are you busy tonight? It might be deliberately cryptic in case someone sees Wei Ying's phone, or it might just be Lan Zhan being Lan Zhan.
at dinner then home alone, he writes back. He hopes that means Lan Zhan will come by tonight. It's a little embarrassing to miss his husband so much after two and a half days apart, but it feels strange to come home to an empty apartment and not be able to tell Lan Zhan about his day, or just throw himself into Lan Zhan's arms to demand distraction from his day.
"Something nice?" Yanli's words cut into his thoughts. "You were smiling at your phone," she explains when Wei Ying looks up.
"Just a game notification." He laughs and hastily shoves his phone into his pocket. Jiang Cheng looks like he wants to say something snide, so Wei Ying interrupts to ask, "Hey, do you mind if I bring a friend to dinner tomorrow?" That was the plan all along, but he was going to put off asking about it until tomorrow. If he's going to see Lan Zhan tonight, though, he wants to be able to show that he's not being a total coward.
"Of course!" Yanli's enthusiasm is unsurprising but a little intimidating. "I'd love to meet any of your friends."
"I hope your friend is ready for jiejie to ask him a million questions," Jiang Cheng says wryly.
"He, uh, isn't much of a talker," Wei Ying warns. Yanli is tactful, so she won't push too hard once she realizes what kind of a person Lan Zhan is.
Jiang Cheng scoffs. "Good excuse."
"He's really not!" Wei Ying protests. "You'll see tomorrow. Anyway. How's the husband, jiejie?" The change of subject fools absolutely no one, since Wei Ying never talks about Yanli's husband if he can help it, but the important thing is that it works. There will be time enough to talk about Lan Zhan once they meet him, after Wei Ying has mentally prepared himself.
When Wei Ying gets back to the apartment that night, it's quiet. He's disappointed for a moment before he notices that the bedroom door is closed. Bounding over, he opens it to find Lan Zhan sitting on the foot of the bed. "What are you doing hiding in here?" He doesn't wait for an answer before hurrying over to kiss Lan Zhan like they haven't seen each other in weeks.
Lan Zhan kisses back with equal enthusiasm, and it's a while before he pulls back and explains, "I thought I should be careful in case you weren't alone after all."
"I am! They went back to the hotel early. Apparently pregnancy makes you tired." He wrinkles his nose at the thought.
Wei Ying goes for another kiss, but Lan Zhan stops him with a hand on his chest. "Tell me how it's been so far."
"Come on, Lan Zhan. We haven't so much as kissed each other in over two days and you want to talk?" Wei Ying doesn't want to talk for many reasons, but in his defense, he also really wants to kiss Lan Zhan.
He's sure Lan Zhan also wants to do things other than talk, but he has iron self-control when he wants to. He eyes Wei Ying sternly until he gives in, standing back. "Fine. Everything's okay. I told them I want to bring a friend to dinner tomorrow and they're excited to meet you. Jiejie was worried that because I don't talk about my social life it means I'm sad and alone and don't have any friends, so she's going to be really enthusiastic even before I tell her we're dating. And hopefully still after I tell her we're dating. I guess I'll find out tomorrow if she thinks being sad and alone is better or worse than being in a gay relationship."
Lan Zhan grabs his hands and pulls him back in, which is probably an indication that he thinks Wei Ying is freaking out. He's probably not wrong that Wei Ying is freaking out, but only a little. He reminds himself that he only has a little reason to freak out, if that. Lan Zhan doesn't say anything, only gives Wei Ying a more gentle, reassuring sort of kiss.
"I'm fine, Lan Zhan," Wei Ying says when they break apart. He laces their fingers together and notices that Lan Zhan is still wearing his wedding ring while Wei Ying's is hidden in a drawer for now. "Whatever happens, I've still got my amazing husband."
Lan Zhan smiles. "You do."
Wei Ying's worries are still there in the back of his mind, but it's easy to ignore them with Lan Zhan smiling at him. "Are you going to spend the night?" Lan Zhan nods. "Good. Then now seems like an excellent time for you to fuck me." He promptly climbs into Lan Zhan's lap and kisses him harder. When Lan Zhan pulls him in close, everything else is forgotten for now.
Wei Ying, if you ask him, does a masterful job dodging his siblings' prying about Lan Zhan the following day. They probably think he's just being annoying about it for no good reason, but that's fine as long as it gets them to give up on asking more questions. Besides, they'll find out soon enough that he's actually being annoying for a pretty good reason.
When dinner time rolls around, they go to a steakhouse Wei Ying likes that has good vegetarian options for Lan Zhan and food that he thinks his siblings will enjoy. It's usually busy enough that nobody will pay any attention to their conversation, but not so noisy that they won't be able to talk properly. (This conversation could be awkward enough without having to yell over background noise.)
Lan Zhan is waiting outside when they arrive a few minutes late, perfectly on time as always. He's overdressed for this restaurant in a light blue button-up and nice jeans, but appropriate for a new boyfriend nervous about meeting the family for the first time—probably, right? Wei Ying dressed up when he first met Lan Zhan's family, but that doesn't count since it was college graduation and also Lan Zhan's family is overly formal like that. (If anything, this outfit is dressing down for Lan Zhan.)
Wei Ying automatically hurries over until he's standing right next to Lan Zhan, then remembers himself and gives him a friendly shoulder punch before moving what he thinks is an appropriate friendly distance away. (Debatable considering how much he liked to invade Lan Zhan's personal space back when they were just friends—or not even friends yet, if you asked Lan Zhan.)
A shoulder punch, really? Lan Zhan's expression says, with some amusement. Wei Ying misses the good old days when Lan Zhan didn't find it funny when he got flustered.
"Hey!" Wei Ying greets him. Turning to Yanli and Jiang Cheng, he says, "This is Lan Zhan. He's Chinese too, obviously. Well, he was born in America, but somehow his Chinese is better than mine—or fancier, anyway. Point being, you don't have to test out your English on him unless you really want to. Lan Zhan, this is Jiang Yanli and Jiang Cheng."
"It's nice to meet you." Lan Zhan bows properly to them.
"We're happy to meet you," Yanli says after bowing back.
"We've heard absolutely nothing about you," Jiang Cheng adds, and Yanli shushes him. It's not a good sign that Jiang Cheng is already grumpy, but maybe this way he'll get it out of his system before Wei Ying reveals that he's dating Lan Zhan.
"Let's go in," Wei Ying says pointedly.
They get a table quickly, and true to form, Yanli starts questioning Lan Zhan, polite but very clearly eager. "How long have you and Wei Ying known each other? He didn't tell us much."
"We met in college. We lived in the same dorm our first year." That's an easy question for Lan Zhan to answer without lying, thankfully.
"Oh, wait, now I remember why your name sounded familiar!" Yanli says. "Wei Ying used to talk about you a lot when he was in university." That's not a secret, but Wei Ying really hopes she won't embarrass him by repeating the sort of things he used to say about Lan Zhan. He was such an idiot back then, talking about this guy he knew who was so smart and so talented and so good looking without realizing that he was into him.
"Yes, we...saw each other often." That's a fair description. They weren't really friends at first—or, well, Wei Ying thought they were but Lan Zhan didn't. Then they were kind of friends but also kind of in love with each other, except that Lan Zhan realized how he felt but didn't act on it and Wei Ying, again, was an idiot who didn't understand his own feelings or notice Lan Zhan's. It worked out in the end, but it's embarrassing to look back on it and his siblings don't ever need to hear all the details.
"Did you keep in touch after college?" Yanli asks.
"...yes," Lan Zhan answers. His uncertainty is obvious to Wei Ying but hopefully not to anyone else.
Wei Ying jumps in to keep Lan Zhan from having to lie or bend the truth. "We did at first, since we moved to the same city, but you know, we were both busy with work and it kind of fizzled out. We just reconnected recently."
"That's great!" Yanli's enthusiasm is genuine, but there's a hint of confusion underlying it. She's probably wondering why a friend Wei Ying just reconnected with is important enough to be invited to dinner on the third day of their visit.
Wei Ying is saved from having to explain that immediately by the waiter coming to take their drink order. He opens the menu to have an excuse to not talk about himself or Lan Zhan for a bit, pointing out his favorite dishes to Yanli and Jiang Cheng. They make their choices and order, and then Wei Ying finds Lan Zhan eyeing him sternly. Get on with it, his expression says.
"Hey, um, guys... I have something to tell you." Yanli and Jiang Cheng look at him curiously. "The thing is, Lan Zhan and I, we, uh..." It's tempting to stall, but Wei Ying is usually good at shamelessly saying things and dealing with any resulting fallout. It's about time he put that skill to good use on this topic. "Lan Zhan and I are dating," he blurts out before he can overthink it further.
For the few beats of awkward silence that follow, Wei Ying's mind races with anxious what ifs, but then Yanli smiles and everything feels right with the world. "Really?"
"Really." Wei Ying is almost tempted to just tell the whole truth now, but Jiang Cheng still looks grumpy and he needs to work up the courage to put it all out there. "When I said we reconnected, I mean, you know..."
"So you're...gay?" Wei Ying has never hated more how Jiang Cheng's default expression is a frown; it makes it so hard to know if he's judgmental or disgusted or annoyed that Wei Ying kept this a secret or just not wanting to show that he's as happy for Wei Ying as Yanli is.
"Bi, technically. Lan Zhan's as gay as...whatever is really gay, I don't know, but I'm into girls too. Probably why it took me so long to get a clue about liking him." He smiles wryly at Lan Zhan, who looks fondly back at him.
"You mean you liked him back in college?" Yanli asks. "You did seem awfully fond of him when you talked about him back then. I remember—"
"I guess I did like him back then!" Wei Ying interrupts, rather loudly, before Yanli can repeat anything too embarrassing. Lan Zhan raises an eyebrow, definitely amused at his expense now. "Anyway, uh, we're together now and I wanted you to meet him." Yanli is smiling fondly, but Wei Ying still doesn't know what to make of Jiang Cheng's reaction. He reaches over to give Jiang Cheng a friendly shove, like he's not worried at all. "Is that a problem?"
The furrow between Jiang Cheng's brows deepens, but then he shrugs. "Date who you want to date. I just don't want to know all the sordid details." That's as close to approval as Wei Ying can expect from Jiang Cheng, really. He'll take it.
"I would never!" Wei Ying protests, which is a filthy lie. He absolutely would, especially if it would annoy Jiang Cheng, but not in front of Yanli.
"You don't need to hide anything from us, A-Ying," Yanli says warmly. "Not the sordid details, I mean, but you don't need to worry. We love you and we're excited to get to know Lan Zhan."
Lan Zhan nods to her, to all appearances perfectly calm. Wei Ying hopes he looks calm too, even though he's not. He's relieved and happy and excited for his siblings to get to know Lan Zhan, but also afraid that they'll react differently when they find out that he and Lan Zhan are actually married. Will they feel the same when they realize that him being with a man is not just a phase but a commitment for the rest of his life? Will they approve of the relationship but be pissed off that he hid it from them for so long?
The conversation moves on and at least Yanli asks Lan Zhan polite getting-to-know-you questions instead of prying too much into their relationship. Wei Ying does his best to relax, just not so much that he lets something slip in conversation or gets too touchy with Lan Zhan to look like they're a newly dating couple or does that thing where he gets lost in Lan Zhan's eyes. (Lan Zhan always does it right back, and their friends tease them about it, but Wei Ying doesn't care. It's just that it would be way too obvious if he did it now.) It's a struggle for sure, but Wei Ying avoids any slip-ups and manfully resists the urge to play footsie with Lan Zhan.
At the end of the meal, Wei Ying indulges himself and holds Lan Zhan's hand while they walk out of the restaurant (and studiously ignores that his wedding ring is gone now). New boyfriends hold hands sometimes, right? Maybe even more so than couples who have been together for years and are past the honeymoon stage. (He and Lan Zhan have yet to pass the honeymoon stage.) Yanli notices and smiles in a completely unsuspicious way, so Wei Ying decides it's okay.
"Will you have time to meet again, Lan Zhan? We'd love to get to know you better." Yanli is by and large a wonderful sister and a harmless person, but the determined look in her eyes tells Wei Ying he should be worried about her grilling Lan Zhan.
Lan Zhan looks at Wei Ying, who says, "Lan Zhan has to work but I thought we could hang out on the weekend."
"That sounds great!" Lan Zhan nods to Yanli, which hopefully she realizes is as close as he ever gets to enthusiastic agreement.
Wei Ying turns to Lan Zhan and hesitates. Is he allowed a goodbye kiss? Surely a goodbye kiss is a normal coupley thing. Will his siblings find it weird for him to kiss his boyfriend (husband) in front of them? But Yanli kisses her annoying husband in front of them, so why would it be weird if he does the same? He just needs to make sure not to look too in love with Lan Zhan while he does it, and he can do that, right?
Overthinking everything like this is really not Wei Ying's style, so he just tells his brain to shut up and gives Lan Zhan a quick peck on the lips. "See you on the weekend," he says lightly. "We'll talk about plans."
"See you," Lan Zhan echoes. He nods to Yanli and Jiang Cheng and adds, "Goodnight."
It's very admirable that Yanli waits until they're in Wei Ying's car to say, "Your boyfriend is so cute, A-Ying!" On the one hand, Wei Ying agrees that Lan Zhan is very cute and he's glad Yanli thinks so. On the other hand, he doesn't know how to respond to that without gushing.
"I'm not sure 'cute' is the word I'd use for him," Jiang Cheng says dryly.
Wei Ying turns around in the driver's seat to glare at him. "What are you saying?"
Jiang Cheng holds up his hands defensively. "You don't have to fight me for his honor. I just wouldn't call any tall, muscley man who never smiles 'cute.'"
"That's because you've never seen him with a rabbit." Wei Ying is probably smiling a terribly fond smile right now, but it's hard not to when strong, serious Lan Zhan gently handling small animals or small children is the cutest thing he's ever seen. Jiang Cheng raises his eyebrows and Wei Ying quickly turns around again. Secret or no secret, he doesn't need Jiang Cheng seeing him get sappy and mocking him.
"It sounds like you really like him," Yanli says.
Wei Ying has nothing to say to that that isn't embarrassing and just too much, so he turns the car on and pretends he needs to focus very hard on pulling out of the parking lot. Yanli chuckles softly but doesn't comment, just pats his knee and lets it go for now.
They talk about other things until they part ways that night, but the following morning as they stroll around downtown, Yanli is full of questions. "So how did you and Lan Zhan get back in touch after all these years?"
"Oh, uh, there was a party. Friends of friends kind of thing. There are quite a few Chinese or Chinese-American people here, but that community is still a small world a lot of the time. I'm surprised we didn't run into each other more often." It's true that they were at a party together some three months ago, but they went together. It was also after that party that they decided to get married, with enough liquid courage in Wei Ying's veins for him to bravely ask.
"Aww, look at that smile." Wei Ying didn't even realize he was smiling, but he's not going to be embarrassed about smiling over that memory. "Was it love at...first-time-in-a-while sight? Did you even know he was gay?"
"Yeah, I did." Wei Ying hopes he can remember all the lies he's telling. They discussed some of it beforehand, but not every detail. "Since college. I don't even remember how it came up." (A lie; it came up when they got together, though he already suspected that Lan Zhan was interested in him by that point.) "Anyway, we talked—well, I talked and he listened and occasionally made agreeing noises—and we had such a good time that we kept in touch. And one thing led to another and here we are."
"How long has it been?" Yanli asks.
"The party was three months or so ago and we started dating last month." Wei Ying picked the day they got married as the day they started dating so it would be easy to remember, though the downside of that is it means saying they've only been dating for a very short time and needing to behave accordingly.
Sure enough, Jiang Cheng asks, "That's it?"
"So what?" Wei Ying elbows him, almost knocking Jiang Cheng into some passing tourists.
"Nothing. I'm just surprised you're introducing your brand new boyfriend to us."
"There's nothing wrong with that!" Yanli protests. "It's not like he was a stranger before they started dating, and if Wei Ying likes him, I'm glad we get to see him. We might not have another chance to meet in person for a while."
"Exactly!" Wei Ying gladly grabs at the excuse.
"Now tell me, what happened back in university? You talked about him so much for a while and then at some point you stopped." Yanli's expression is all innocent concern, so Wei Ying can't be mad at her despite her questions making his life difficult.
That point at which he stopped telling Yanli about Lan Zhan was when they started dating. Wei Ying's friends all laughed at him for being so stupidly, blatantly in love with Lan Zhan once he finally figured out his feelings; there was no way he'd be able to hide that from Yanli, who knows him much better, if he talked to her about Lan Zhan. So he stopped talking about Lan Zhan by name and told her, "My friend and I did such and such," or just didn't tell her about the things they did together—though to be fair, they got up to some things he wouldn't tell Yanli about no matter what.
"Oh, uh...nothing happened, really. Everyone was busier senior year, and Lan Zhan takes things so seriously that he was always working and I didn't see much of him." It's true that Lan Zhan was very focused on his responsibilities that year, but he could be convinced, with some effort, to set them aside to go out and have fun, and with no effort at all to set them aside to have sex. Wei Ying catches himself smiling at the memories and quickly covers it up with a laugh. "Luckily Lan Zhan has mellowed out a bit now. He's not all work and no play anymore."
"Well, it's good that you got a second chance to get to know each other," Yanli says brightly.
It's nice to see her being so happy for him and Lan Zhan, even if it is for a lie. Wei Ying sternly reminds himself, in a voice that sounds a lot like Lan Zhan's, that he has no reason to think she won't be happy for him once she knows the whole truth too. Soon, he tells his inner Lan Zhan. There's still a week and a half to go. No need to rush.
Lan Zhan joins them for dinner again on Friday. He comes straight from work, looking very dashing and very overdressed with his jacket and tie. (Wei Ying teases Lan Zhan that he's the worst Californian, considering how rare it is to see anyone wear a suit to work here, but he can't say he minds the eye candy.) He greets Lan Zhan with a kiss, tugging him in by his tie.
"Are you always this into PDA?" Jiang Cheng asks when they break apart. "Or only in a new relationship? I don't know on account of you being pathetically single all through high school."
"Do you really want to go down that road?" Wei Ying teases. He was indeed single all through high school, though he flirted all over the place, but Jiang Cheng has no room to talk when he was too. "Anyway, Lan Zhan loves me whether I'm popular or not." If anything, Lan Zhan is the jealous type who is happy Wei Ying didn't get much action before him.
"Does he now?" Jiang Cheng is still mocking, but he looks a little surprised.
Too late, Wei Ying realizes that Lan Zhan probably wouldn't love him if they'd only just started dating and only been back in touch for a few months. Before he can backtrack, Lan Zhan calmly responds, "Yes, I do."
Jiang Cheng looks even more surprised now, so Wei Ying jumps in with an airy, "Who are you to question our relationship?" He forestalls any further discussion by taking Lan Zhan's hand and pulling him toward the door. "Let's go in already."
They make innocuous conversation about Lan Zhan's work for a while before Yanli says, "So, I'm curious to hear more about how you got together, given what Wei Ying has said about being clueless about his feelings."
"I told you about the party," Wei Ying reminds her, hoping to avoid digging deeper.
Unfortunately, Yanli's eyes are twinkling and she clearly wants to know the full embarrassing story. "You just said 'one thing led to another.' That tells me nothing."
"Wei Ying told me his feelings while drunk," Lan Zhan volunteers. "I was already interested, so I was pleased when he made the first move." It's the truth, albeit taken very out of context. Lan Zhan probably would have been much more pleased if Wei Ying had only taken two months to make the first move instead of years. (Although, as Wei Ying likes to complain, Lan Zhan could've made the first move himself instead of just waiting for Wei Ying to get his shit together.)
Yanli smiles, accepting that at face value. "That's cute."
"So what you're saying is you both suck at feelings?" Jiang Cheng isn't wrong, but that doesn't mean Wei Ying wants to hear it from him.
"You be nice to my hu—my boyfriend, Jiang Cheng," he chides. Lan Zhan gives him a look, but his siblings don't seem to think anything of his slip-up.
"Fine, you suck at feelings," Jiang Cheng amends. "I'm surprised you ever managed to confess to anyone." Wei Ying opens his mouth to tease about how he's no better, but Jiang Cheng snaps, "Don't even start."
"I think that's nice," Yanli cuts in. She turns to Lan Zhan. "Wei Ying must really like you to make a move."
"Jiejie," Wei Ying whines. It's not that embarrassing since of course Lan Zhan knows how much he likes him, but it's different hearing Yanli say it.
Yanli's smile turns indulgent. "All right, I'll stop. So, Lan Zhan, your family lives in town?"
The next morning, they go to the beach, which is great; Wei Ying loves the beach. He "picks up Lan Zhan on the way" (like they didn't spend the night together in their apartment) and then gets Yanli and Jiang Cheng from the hotel and drives to his favorite beach. They stake out a good spot with their towels and everything seems fine until Lan Zhan takes off his shirt and Wei Ying wants nothing more than to immediately plop down in his lap and kiss him all over. Is looking like I want to eat my boyfriend up appropriate newly dating behavior? he wonders.
Luckily for him, Yanli and Jiang Cheng are both, in different ways, paying more attention to Lan Zhan's muscles than to Wei Ying's reaction. "You must work out," Jiang Cheng says, sounding vaguely disgruntled (jealous, no doubt). "A lot."
"He does." Wei Ying sits down next to Lan Zhan and throws an arm around his shoulders because he can, he thinks, and he really wants to.
"What are you sounding so proud about?" Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes and turns away.
"While you guys compare muscles," Yanli teases, "I'm going to see how the water is. Unless you want to join me?"
Jiang Cheng goes with her while Wei Ying and Lan Zhan watch their stuff, and Wei Ying laughs at how they both shriek upon discovering that the ocean here is cold. "You could have warned them," Lan Zhan says.
"Where would be the fun in that?" Once his siblings have made peace with the water temperature and are splashing around, Wei Ying turns to Lan Zhan and gives him a kiss, then dips his head to nip lightly at his collarbone. "You should be shirtless all the time. Do you think I can get away with some kissing?"
"You can do whatever you want." Considering that Lan Zhan isn't especially into PDA, Wei Ying takes that as a pointed comment about how he doesn't actually need to hide anything from his siblings.
Instead of acknowledging that, Wei Ying grins. "So you're saying you wouldn't mind some hickeys?" Lan Zhan gives him a judging look and Wei Ying sighs. "Fine, fine. But we're going to make up for it later."
"Yes, we will."
Lan Zhan's words make Wei Ying shiver, and he quickly turns away, since now isn't the time to get too into anything. "I'm going in the water for a bit." He gives Lan Zhan one more kiss, and slides a hand down his chest and abs just because he can.
He finds Jiang Cheng and Yanli in the surf, only up to their knees, and like a good brother, runs in and splashes them both. Yanli shrieks and Jiang Cheng curses before promptly retaliating. "Watch your language! There are children here," Wei Ying scolds him, even as they engage in a full-on splashing war. Yanli, sensibly, moves away from them.
The fight ends with Jiang Cheng tackling Wei Ying into the water so they both end up soaked and laughing. "You're my favorite brother, Jiang Cheng," Wei Ying says as Jiang Cheng gets to his feet and offers him a hand up.
"You're my least favorite," Jiang Cheng retorts, par for the course.
"And also your favorite, since you don't have any others." Wei Ying grins.
He looks around and notices that Yanli has gone back to sit with Lan Zhan. Wei Ying is about to go rescue him when Jiang Cheng asks, "You're leaving already?" If he was still joking, Wei Ying would shrug off the question, but something sounds off. He turns to see Jiang Cheng frowning at him. "You can't leave your boyfriend alone with jiejie for a few minutes?"
"What, you want another round?"
His teasing question fails to distract Jiang Cheng. "I don't get you."
"What don't you get?" Wei Ying asks warily.
"You never said anything before about being gay or dating or anything, and now suddenly you spring a boyfriend on us."
"I told you I'm bi. Are you sure you don't have a problem with that? Or with Lan Zhan?"
"I don't!" Jiang Cheng protests. "It's just...you know about my stupid, embarrassing crush, and I didn't even know you had a boyfriend for the last month. You didn't even tell jiejie. I thought..."
Wei Ying can guess what he's getting at. Jiang Cheng thought they were close enough that Wei Ying would share something like that with them. It makes him feel extra guilty that he's been hiding Lan Zhan for a lot longer than a month, and more worried about how Jiang Cheng will take that. "I'm sorry. It's not that I didn't want you to know. I just didn't know how to bring it up." He laughs a little. "The only reason I know about your crush is because I've seen it for myself. We never really talk about that kind of thing."
Jiang Cheng reluctantly concedes the point with a nod. "Well, talk about it now," he says gruffly. "It's weird if we don't know what's going on in your life."
"I will, I promise." Jiang Cheng looks mollified and Wei Ying has had enough of this conversation, so he finishes it by tackling Jiang Cheng into the water again. Jiang Cheng's shriek is hilarious, and Wei Ying enjoys himself and doesn't think beyond that.
When they emerge, sandy and dripping wet, Lan Zhan eyes them skeptically and Yanli hands them each a towel. "I see you had some fun," she says.
"We always have fun." Wei Ying makes only a token effort to dry off before plopping down next to Lan Zhan, who tolerates Wei Ying's hair dripping on him.
They chat about the beach and the weather and other such harmless topics and Wei Ying relaxes, gradually, drying off in the sun and slowly leaning his head onto Lan Zhan's shoulder. Yanli insists on taking a picture of them, though Wei Ying makes her promise not to send it to Uncle Jiang and Ms. Yu. Even with his conversation with Jiang Cheng in the back of his mind, Wei Ying feels good, happy to see that the four of them can enjoy their time together.
When they've had enough of the sun, they wander into a nearby coffee shop that's used to sandy beachgoers. "Do you come here often?" Yanli asks. "You seem to know your way around."
"We used to go to a different beach more often before we—before I moved into this apartment, but now I usually come here."
"Didn't you move a year ago?" Jiang Cheng asks. "Before you guys met again?"
"You know what I mean." Wei Ying tries to brush it off. "This is why I need coffee, so I can talk properly."
"Green tea for Jason," the barista calls, and Lan Zhan stops eyeing Wei Ying to go get his drink.
"Jason?" Yanli asks.
"His English name," Wei Ying explains. "Technically his actual name, I guess. That's what it says on everything official and what most people called him in college. I called him Lan Zhan to be contrary at first, but it stuck, and it sounds better anyway if we're speaking Chinese. And he doesn't mind." Lan Zhan returns with his tea in time for Wei Ying to finish, "Right, Lan Zhan?"
Lan Zhan's confused blinking makes Wei Ying laugh, and Yanli and Jiang Cheng with him. "I admire you for putting up with him," Yanli tells Lan Zhan, "given how different you are."
"Are you sure he's worth it?"
Jiang Cheng is joking, but Wei Ying bristles anyway. He's ready to argue when Lan Zhan answers with an entirely serious, "Yes, he is."
Jiang Cheng doesn't know how to react to that, but Yanli smiles and pats Lan Zhan on the shoulder. "You should keep him, A-Ying. He's a good one."
"That's my plan." Wei Ying knows how lucky he is to have Lan Zhan. His thumb automatically reaches to feel his wedding ring, to remind himself that he really does get to keep Lan Zhan, and he's sad to feel only bare skin. Just for a little while, he tells himself.
They all get their drinks and are about to move outside, where it's less crowded, when a couple comes in walking a sizable dog. Wei Ying doesn't run screaming from dogs anymore like he did when he was little, but he still really doesn't like them, especially ones that look big enough to do some damage. Reflexively, he shrinks into Lan Zhan, who moves between him and the dog like he always does. (He really is a good man, never shaming Wei Ying for his fears.)
He only notices once the dog has moved a relatively safe distance away that Jiang Cheng and Yanli are both looking at them in surprise. "You just got together and you already told him about that?" Jiang Cheng asks. Wei Ying doesn't usually tell people about his fear of dogs if he can help it, just says he doesn't like them and pretends he's not actually scared.
"Three months is long enough!" Wei Ying protests over Lan Zhan's shoulder. "Plus, people take their dogs everywhere here. It's hard to avoid them."
Wei Ying doesn't realize his mistake until Jiang Cheng says, "I thought you've only been dating a month."
Shit. It's hard to remember his lies while also focusing on whether the vicious beast is coming any closer. He tries to laugh it off. "Wishful thinking, maybe? I was ready to go as soon as we met again three months ago, even if I didn't get it yet. But anyway, we've known each other longer than that."
"Wei Ying told me about his dislike of dogs in college," Lan Zhan explains. "Before we were dating." That's also true, though it was only a few months before they got together.
"I see. Well, it's nice of you to look after him," Yanli says. "Come on, let's go drink outside."
Wei Ying happily leads the way out, leaving the ferocious dog and the awkward conversation behind.
Sunday is largely set aside for Yanli's plan to make sure Wei Ying is well-fed for the next few months. At some point when Wei Ying wasn't around to stop him, Lan Zhan volunteered to help her, and that's how Wei Ying ends up nervously sitting around the apartment with Jiang Cheng while Lan Zhan takes Yanli grocery shopping. "What are you so fidgety for?" Jiang Cheng asks after five minutes of Wei Ying finding excuses to pace all over the apartment.
"Getting in my steps, since we'll be here all day." Jiang Cheng doesn't believe him, but it's enough to get him to drop the subject with an annoyed huff. The truth is that Wei Ying can't stop thinking about Yanli and Lan Zhan talking, without him there to rescue Lan Zhan from having to lie. Will Yanli ask him the questions Wei Ying has kept her from asking until now? Or will she give him a stern talking to about taking care of Wei Ying? (That thought at least makes him smile. If anything, Lan Zhan is even more protective of Wei Ying than Yanli is; she has nothing to worry about with him.)
When they finally come back, Yanli is smiling easily and Lan Zhan looks as relaxed as Lan Zhan ever does. "How was it?" Wei Ying asks him as they go fetch another load of groceries (having shooed Yanli to the couch to rest).
"Fine," Lan Zhan answers.
"Fine? That's all you have to say?"
"Your sister is very polite," Lan Zhan says calmly. "She doesn't pry." He gives Wei Ying a Significant Look. "She cares about you very much. I can't imagine that anything would change that."
"I know, I know," Wei Ying grumbles. He doesn't need Lan Zhan nagging him. "I'll tell her, I promise. But for now, just cook and don't say anything. I'm sorry in advance for all the food in our freezer that you won't be able to eat."
"We planned some meals that I can eat too." Wei Ying's eyes go wide, and Lan Zhan explains, "Just in case I come over, Yanli-jie said."
"You can come over every night." Lan Zhan stays stone-faced in response to Wei Ying's flirting, but Wei Ying thinks he catches some fondness in his eyes. (There's usually fondness in his eyes when Lan Zhan looks at him.)
While Yanli and Lan Zhan cook, Wei Ying distracts himself from wanting to eavesdrop, or better yet butt in to steer the conversation in safe directions, by kicking Jiang Cheng's ass in a series of video games. It's a nostalgic feeling, him and Jiang Cheng messing around while Yanli makes them food, and it feels good to have Lan Zhan in the middle of it, chopping veggies as he and Yanli discuss their plans. Lan Zhan is his new family, and Wei Ying is happy to see him fitting in with his old family. (He gets so distracted by those feelings that he loses the next round and has to tackle Jiang Cheng when he crows about it.)
The apartment is full of different smells and the small kitchen is crowded with pots of cooling food by the time they sit down to eat a late lunch/early dinner together. Yanli's made her specialty of lotus root and pork rib soup, with a lotus root and tofu stir fry on the side. It tastes like home and Wei Ying feels so warm and happy, eating his favorite food with his favorite people. There's even a bottle of baijiu for him and Jiang Cheng, with Lan Zhan refilling his cup when he finishes.
"So attentive." Yanli smiles across the table at them. "You two are very in sync for having been dating such a short time. I guess since you're old friends too."
"That's right." Wei Ying raises his cup in a toast toward Lan Zhan. "Old friends." Old friends who have been together for four years and in love for longer. Jiang Cheng looks at them for a long moment and then pointedly pours himself another drink. Wei Ying is relaxed enough now to laugh.
They linger over their meal for a long time, and then Wei Ying washes dishes while Yanli packs away the food. (Jiang Cheng turns on the TV, probably so he doesn't have to try to make conversation with Lan Zhan.) Keeping her voice low enough that it won't carry to the living room, Yanli says, "You weren't kidding that Lan Zhan doesn't talk much. But he seems like a good guy."
"He is." There must be something sappy in Wei Ying's expression because Yanli smiles.
"I meant what I said yesterday. When you get a good guy like that, you should hold onto him." Wei Ying hasn't even opened his mouth when she adds, "Don't say anything; I know what you think of my husband."
"I'm just happy you're happy, jiejie." He doesn't get it, but he doesn't have to understand his sister's relationship.
"I'm happy you're happy too," Yanli says. "I worry about you so far from home. I'll worry less knowing you have someone like Lan Zhan to take care of you."
"I do." It would be so easy, in a way, to just tell her now, but then he'll have to repeat it to Jiang Cheng, and also he doesn't want to ruin this nice moment or Yanli's good opinion of Lan Zhan. Another time, he tells himself.
By the time they're done, Wei Ying has sobered up and everyone is ready to call it a night. They go through the somewhat ridiculous charade of Lan Zhan walking out with them and going to his car like he's going to drive away, when in fact he's going to go right back to the apartment once they're gone. Yanli and Jiang Cheng don't question it—why would they?—saying goodnight and then following Wei Ying to his car.
Everything seems fine until a minute later when they're waiting at a red light and Yanli suddenly shifts, looking around her chair. "A-Cheng, is my sweater back there?"
There's some rustling in the back seat and then Jiang Cheng says, "I don't see it."
"I must have forgotten it. I'm sorry, A-Ying, do you mind going back for it? It's chilly in the mornings."
Yanli sounds so apologetic and Wei Ying has no good reason to say no, or at least no good reason that isn't "Lan Zhan is in the apartment and I don't know how to explain that to you." If they'd said in the first place that he was spending the night (or had him hang around so that was implied), it would be fine, but now that they pretended he left, they're stuck.
"Sure." He reluctantly turns the car around and drives the short distance back. "I'll run up and get it."
"I can do it." Yanli holds out her hands for the key, and Wei Ying's brain short circuits without providing any good reason to say no. He gives her his keys, then pulls out his phone to send a quick text to Lan Zhan: jiejie coming! hide
An eternity seems to pass, but his phone clock tells him it's only a minute before Lan Zhan replies, She's here. I'm hiding.
Wei Ying waits two more anxious minutes and when Yanli still doesn't come back, he tells Jiang Cheng, "I'll go see what's keeping her."
In the apartment, he finds Yanli rummaging around in the living room. "I can't seem to find it," she tells him. "Did I have it with me earlier?"
"I don't remember." Wei Ying looks around distractedly. The bedroom door and the bathroom door are both closed, so presumably Lan Zhan is in one of those places. (Wei Ying assumed that Lan Zhan was smart enough to not try to hide behind the couch, but the tiny part of him that was worried about that breathes a sigh of relief.) Yanli has no reason to go into the bedroom, which was closed earlier too, but there is a slight chance she'll go into the bathroom.
To his relief, Yanli soon gives up on looking. "Maybe I left it back in the hotel after all, unless it's in the grocery store or Lan Zhan's car. If it's lost, I guess we'll have to figure it out tomorrow. Do you have something I can borrow in the meantime?"
"Uh, sure." Unfortunately, all of Wei Ying's clothes are in the bedroom. He doesn't know if Lan Zhan is taking hiding seriously or if opening the door will reveal him standing right there. Is there a way he can signal that he's coming and give Lan Zhan time to hide under the bed or something? (Will he even fit under the bed?) He doesn't think they're talking loudly enough for him to hear clearly unless he's standing by the door.
"Is something wrong?" Yanli asks.
"No, no. Let me see what I have." Wei Ying makes for the door decisively, so he can just get it over with one way or another. He's hopeful, but he should have known better than to expect Lan Zhan to be good at deception. When Wei Ying opens the door, he's standing by the closet, making no attempt to hide. He looks surprised, and then confused when Wei Ying tries to subtly gesture for him to move somewhere less obvious. He's not visible from the living room, but a moment later, before Lan Zhan has moved an inch, Yanli comes up behind Wei Ying.
"Hello," Lan Zhan says inanely. He looks uncharacteristically a little flustered, though probably not enough for Yanli to tell.
While Wei Ying is frantically trying to think of a good explanation for Lan Zhan's presence, Yanli says, "Oh, Lan Zhan! I'm sorry." She sounds surprised at the beginning and amused by the end. Wei Ying still has his back to her, but she pats him on the shoulder. "You didn't have to fake us out about your boyfriend spending the night. We're all adults."
"You're an adult. I don't know about Jiang Cheng." To Wei Ying's great relief, Yanli laughs. It still feels awkward to him, but awkward in a "my big sister is aware of my sex life" way rather than a "my dark secret has been revealed" way.
"I won't tell him, if that'll make you feel better."
"Thank you," Wei Ying says meekly. Yanli is a good big sister and at least doesn't tease him as he hurriedly finds a sweater to lend her. He says a sheepish goodbye to Lan Zhan, who's giving him that "You're a ridiculous person but I love you" look, and they head back to the car.
"Did you find it?" Jiang Cheng asks.
If it were Wei Ying, he'd make a joke about finding something else, but Yanli is a much better big sister than he is a big brother. She only says, "No, but I've got something to tide me over and we'll see tomorrow." Wei Ying's heart rate returns to normal and he lets himself relax for now.
On Monday, Lan Zhan goes to work and Wei Ying and the Jiangs leave on a road trip up the coast. Aside from Jiang Cheng's snide, "What, your boyfriend isn't coming with us?" when Wei Ying picks them up (Wei Ying responds with his most saccharine smile and "No, he was tired of you"), it's like any other time that the three of them have spent together. Despite living far away from them for many years now, Wei Ying is still comfortable with his siblings, and spending time with them is easy, especially with plenty of topics to focus their conversation on like beautiful scenery and annoying drivers.
The road trip is fun and relaxing (aside from the annoying drivers) and Wei Ying arrives home on Thursday afternoon feeling good, aside from the return of the nerves he managed to ignore for a few days. He's really enjoying this time off with his siblings, but he's very aware in the back of his mind of the countdown until they have to leave and he'll lose the chance to tell them the truth about his relationship with Lan Zhan in person. It might be easier to do it over video chat, or even by text, but he feels like he owes them the truth face to face after waiting so long. Besides, unless it goes badly (which he's reasonably sure it won't at this point), he'll feel much better for not having this hanging over his head anymore.
On Friday night, with less than three days remaining, Wei Ying comes back to the apartment after being out on the town with his siblings and flops onto Lan Zhan on the couch. Lan Zhan studies him for a moment and then asks, "What's wrong?"
"I don't know why this is so hard." Wei Ying rubs his hands over his face. All it will take is a few words: "The truth is Lan Zhan and I are married. We got together four years ago." Wei Ying is great with words. It shouldn't be so hard to get these ones out.
He still has his hands over his face and reluctantly moves them to find Lan Zhan looking at him. Wei Ying has become an expert at reading Lan Zhan over the years, and today he finds sympathy and sadness in his expression. At last, when Wei Ying doesn't say anything else, Lan Zhan asks, "Are you ashamed of me? Of being married to me?"
"What?! No, of course not!" The mere thought of Lan Zhan believing that that's how he feels horrifies Wei Ying. "Lan Zhan, no! Did you really think that?"
"No." Lan Zhan smiles, just a little grimly. "Then are you ashamed of yourself? For being bisexual, or for choosing to marry a man?"
"I'm not!" Wei Ying protests. He had only the smallest of crises when he realized he was interested in Lan Zhan that way, mostly just worrying about whether Lan Zhan could possibly be interested back, and he had exactly zero doubts about marrying Lan Zhan.
"You've seen that your siblings can accept you being with me. So what are you worried about?"
"I'm not worried," Wei Ying insists. "Not really. It's just, you know, sometimes..." Sometimes scared little boy Wei Ying hangs out in the back of happy grown up Wei Ying's brain and tells him that despite what his rational mind tells him, he does have reason to be worried that the people he loves will leave him. But there are things he doesn't say even to Lan Zhan, so he leaves the sentence unfinished.
Lan Zhan reaches down and takes his hand like he gets it, or maybe just to offer comfort even though he doesn't get it. "Just tell them," he says, gentle but firm. "You'll feel better once you do." Wei Ying squeezes his hand for strength and tells himself that Lan Zhan is right. Tomorrow, he promises himself.
The next morning, Yanli and Lan Zhan do a much smaller version of last week's kitchen takeover, packing a picnic to take to the rose garden. The cloudy morning has given way to a beautiful day by the time they arrive, bright, with scattered clouds to keep the sun from being too intense when they lay their blanket out in the grass near the roses. "Ah, what a lovely place!" Yanli declares.
They spend hours there, eating and drinking and talking. Yanli and Jiang Cheng tell Lan Zhan a bunch of childhood stories in an attempt to embarrass Wei Ying, but they should know that he's not easily embarrassed, and he has nothing to hide from Lan Zhan after all these years. Besides, even when they do succeed a little, Wei Ying doesn't mind because it's nice to see Lan Zhan smile, and his siblings too.
"What embarrassing stories would your brother tell about you, Lan Zhan?" Yanli asks
"There are none," Lan Zhan says.
"Really, nothing? Or is your brother just like you and he wouldn't say anything?"
"His brother talks more, but he still wouldn't have anything to tell," Wei Ying puts in. "You have to understand, Lan Zhan was an incredibly boring kid who kept to himself and studied way more than he ever needed to and never did anything interesting." He nudges Lan Zhan with his shoulder and adds, "No offense, Lan Zhan."
"Then why the hell does he put up with someone like you?" Jiang Cheng asks.
"I'm excellent company, thank you very much," Wei Ying retorts. "I did get on Lan Zhan's nerves a lot back in the day, but he learned to appreciate me, and to have more fun in general."
"Do you ever let him talk?" Jiang Cheng asks dryly.
It's possible that Wei Ying is overcompensating so Lan Zhan won't have to lie about anything, but this is also pretty typical for them. "He doesn't like to talk, unless he has something important to say. Right, Lan Zhan?"
"Mn." After a moment, Lan Zhan adds, "I enjoy Wei Ying's company, despite our differences."
Yanli smiles and Jiang Cheng mutters, "I'm glad someone does," like he's not also here because he enjoys Wei Ying's company. Wei Ying just grins smugly.
They walk around for a while taking pictures of all the different sizes and colors and arrangements of roses, along with plenty of pictures of all of them. Once they're satisfied, they sit back down, and Jiang Cheng holds out his hand to Wei Ying. "Hey, let me borrow your phone. Mine's almost dead and I promised Mom some pictures."
Wei Ying, feeling relaxed and happy and a little sleepy from the sun, automatically unlocks his phone and hands it over without thinking. Too late, he stops to consider what Jiang Cheng will be able to see on his phone. He doesn't have any strange tabs open, as far as he can remember, or any suspicious recent messages, but he does have a lot of pictures of and with Lan Zhan. Nothing risqué, at least, because Lan Zhan is cautious, but a record of their time together going back years.
He watches, trying not to be obviously nervous, as Jiang Cheng chooses a few pictures and sends them to Ms. Yu. He thinks maybe he's safe, but then Jiang Cheng smirks at him and Wei Ying's blood runs cold. "Got any other good pictures?" he asks.
"Give me my phone back, asshole." Wei Ying laughs to show how unbothered he is, so Jiang Cheng will be more likely to let it go.
"No way." Jiang Cheng starts to scroll, eyes on the phone screen. Wei Ying makes a grab for his phone, but Jiang Cheng dodges, scrambling to his feet.
"A-Cheng, be nice," Yanli tries, but of course it won't be that easy. Lan Zhan, for his part, is watching them with a perfectly neutral expression.
"Are you sure you want to look?" Wei Ying tries another tack. "You might not like what you see."
"I've seen your dick before," Jiang Cheng retorts, thoroughly unimpressed. "I can deal."
If Yanli wasn't here, Wei Ying might hint at there being even worse things in his pictures (although there aren't, because Lan Zhan insists that he be cautious too), but it's too weird in front of her. "Come on." He tries one more time to snatch the phone, but Jiang Cheng is prepared and curls away.
"What do you have in here that you're so worried about me seeing?" Jiang Cheng is enjoying this way too much. Wei Ying isn't easily flustered, so of course he's loving this chance to get him. "Some illegal activities? A bunch of other girlfriends—boyfriends—whatever?"
Wei Ying's gaze flicks over to Lan Zhan, and he swears his husband is fucking laughing at him. Not, you know, an actual laugh, but there's a twinkle in his eyes like he's enjoying Wei Ying's suffering too instead of worrying about what Jiang Cheng might find. Maybe he's not worried; he wanted Wei Ying to tell the truth from the beginning, after all.
"Just give me my phone!" It's too loud, Wei Ying's nerves getting the better of him. He did promise to tell the truth today, but not like this.
Jiang Cheng looks briefly startled, but it's not enough to make him stop. Instead, he starts to run away, still scrolling as he goes. "Be careful!" Yanli calls after him.
Wei Ying takes off running, chasing Jiang Cheng across the grass. He loops back around, leading Wei Ying in a circle around Yanli and Lan Zhan, and he's just beginning to move away again when he stops running so abruptly that Wei Ying crashes into him. Wei Ying manages to grab his phone back, but he can see the second it's in his hand that it's too late: it's open to a picture that he and Lan Zhan took after their courthouse wedding, a selfie with their hands held up to show off their matching wedding rings.
When Jiang Cheng turns around, he looks...betrayed, which is not an expression Wei Ying ever wanted to be responsible for putting on his face. "What's that about?" he asks, voice flat.
"What?" Yanli hurries over, confused. Lan Zhan comes up behind Wei Ying, putting a hand on his shoulder, and Wei Ying holds up the phone so he can see the problem. "What is it?" Yanli presses.
"Here." Wei Ying hands over his phone freely, now that he has nothing more to hide.
Yanli stares at the picture, wide-eyed. "You...are those...wedding rings?" She hides it a little better than Jiang Cheng, but she's clearly hurt.
Wei Ying sighs heavily. "Yeah. We, uh..." Lan Zhan squeezes his shoulder and that makes him feel brave enough to conclude, "We got married. About a month and a half ago now."
"But...I thought..." Yanli frowns, trying to make sense of what she's hearing.
"You didn't just start dating, did you?" Jiang Cheng asks. He looks angry now, which is painful in a different way.
Wei Ying is immensely relieved when Lan Zhan comes to his rescue. "No. We began dating four years ago, during our last year of college."
Everything feels way too tense, so Wei Ying laughs. "We fooled you, huh?"
Nobody else laughs. If anything, Jiang Cheng looks angrier. "Are you just playing with us? Because it's fun?"
"I..." Wei Ying would like Lan Zhan to rescue him again, but that's asking too much. This was his idea, and it's his responsibility to deal with the fall out. "I didn't know how to tell you," he admits. "I didn't say anything when we first started dating because I didn't know what you'd think of me dating a guy. And then...time passed and it just felt too awkward." And I was scared, he will never in his life say, but they can probably guess.
"And now?" Wei Ying thinks he catches a hint of sympathy under Jiang Cheng's anger, but maybe it's just wishful thinking. "Were you ever going to tell us the truth if you didn't have to?"
"I did plan to tell you before you left. I just...hadn't figured out how yet." Wei Ying takes a step back so he can put his arm around Lan Zhan, mostly for his own comfort. "To be clear, this was all me. Lan Zhan tried to talk me out of it, so don't blame him."
"Did you really think you couldn't trust us with this?" Yanli looks so sad at the thought that Wei Ying feels terrible despite the reassurance of her words.
"I'm an idiot, okay?" He tries again to laugh it off, but it still doesn't work. "Let me just get it all out: We started dating four years ago. We moved in together last year, and about six weeks ago, we got married. No party or anything, just to make it official."
Jiang Cheng's brow furrows. "Is this some kind of citizenship thing?"
Wei Ying laughs, for real this time. "No, this is an 'I'm in love with Lan Zhan' thing." He looks over at Lan Zhan, who is already looking fondly back at him. "We wanted to get married, so we decided to just do it."
Jiang Cheng is still frowning and Yanli still looks sad and everything is so unbearably tense that Wei Ying wants to scream, but then Yanli's expression transforms into a smile. "You have to let me throw you a party. Probably not any time soon what with the baby coming, but some time, to make up for not inviting me to your actual wedding. It's going to be big and fancy and you're not allowed to tell me you don't need it." She pokes him in the chest to emphasize her point. "Deal?"
"You drive a hard bargain, but it's a deal."
"Good." Yanli hugs him and so much of the weight on Wei Ying's shoulders lifts.
There is still the matter of Jiang Cheng, though, and when Yanli pulls away, Wei Ying finds him wearing an expression midway between a frown and a pout. "I'm sorry, okay?" he tries. "I promise I'll never hide getting married from you again." Despite the seriousness of the situation, he can't resist turning to Lan Zhan. "For the record, I'm not planning on ever getting married again." Lan Zhan's smug nod makes him grin.
"Please stop," Jiang Cheng groans. Even hearing that annoyed grumbling makes Wei Ying happy, because he knows what Jiang Cheng sounds like when he's really angry and that's not it.
"I'll never stop." Wei Ying decides to go for broke and gives Lan Zhan a kiss, though at least he has the decency to not start making out (for now).
"I take it all back," Jiang Cheng says. "If you're going to be insufferable in a relationship, you can keep hiding it from me."
"Someone's jealous." Wei Ying flashes his best annoying grin at Jiang Cheng, who glares back.
"Someone's an asshole."
"Is he like this with you too?" Yanli asks Lan Zhan, interrupting their bickering.
"Less so," Lan Zhan says diplomatically. He pulls Wei Ying into his side, safely away from Jiang Cheng. Lan Zhan's arm is warm around him, and Yanli is smiling and Jiang Cheng looks only normal degrees of grumpy and finally, after all that unnecessary stress, Wei Ying can feel that everything is all right.
On a whim, Wei Ying organizes a last-minute barbecue at the beach on Sunday. He hadn't planned to introduce his friends in town to Yanli and Jiang Cheng, in part because it would make hiding his relationship with Lan Zhan way too awkward, but now that it's all out in the open, he feels like he wants to show his siblings every part of his life here. They invite Lan Zhan's brother too (and Wei Ying makes a mental note to apologize for kicking Lan Zhan out to spend a few nights in his spare bedroom).
They get together a decent crowd, and Jiang Cheng complains about having to speak English (in an attempt to cover up his obvious self-consciousness) but otherwise it goes well. Yanli charms everyone, Jiang Cheng manages to get along with Wei Ying's friends once he gets over himself, and Lan Huan just smiles when Wei Ying says, "Sorry about this whole mess." (There was no particular reason to expect otherwise, but he is quite protective of his little brother, including wanting to protect his feelings from Wei Ying's poor decisions.)
"So," Yanli says as she keeps Wei Ying company at the grill, "I realize I never got the real story about how you got together.
"Oh, uh..." Wei Ying flashes her a sheepish grimace. "Lan Zhan will have to tell you that story because I was drunk and don't remember much."
Lan Zhan sticks close to Wei Ying's side at any get together, so he only has to turn away from his (minimal) conversation with his brother to say, in an extremely bland voice, "He went to a frat party and got very drunk. Somehow he ended up at my apartment, woke me up in the middle of the night to confess his feelings for me, and then fell asleep in my bed before I could respond."
Yanli snickers, and Jiang Cheng, who caught most of the story, asks, "And you still agreed to date him after that?"
Lan Zhan's only answer is to look at Wei Ying with so much affection, like he's making up for having to hide his real feelings earlier. Wei Ying grins back at him, and Jiang Cheng groans. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone be as grossly in love as you two. I'm going to go hang out with your friends instead."
"That's his roundabout way of saying he's happy for you," Yanli explain as Jiang Cheng hurries away.
"It is?" Lan Zhan asks skeptically.
Wei Ying laughs. "Welcome to the joys of being Jiang Cheng's brother—or brother-in-law, in your case." He's relieved to see Jiang Cheng being his usual self, not holding anything against him. Lan Zhan still looks unconvinced, but he accepts it.
"And what about getting married?" Yanli continues. "How did that happen?"
"Oh, that. You know how I told you we reconnected at a party? There really was a party, but we went together." Wei Ying needs one hand to flip burgers, but he reaches out with the other to take Lan Zhan's hand. "Someone was talking about this fancy proposal that a friend of theirs did in a park—which was a mess, actually; they got rained on and then a dog ran over and jumped on the guy while he was kneeling. But anyway, it got me thinking about marriage, you know?"
"And then you proposed in a park?" Yanli asks.
"Not exactly." Wei Ying smiles wryly. "I was drunk again, after the party, and Lan Zhan took me home, and...I don't even remember what I said anymore. Do you, Lan Zhan?"
With a (subtle but clear) long-suffering sigh, Lan Zhan says, "You rambled at length about how silly you feel fancy proposals are. Then when we reached our apartment, you finally concluded, 'Marriage sounds nice, though. We should do that, don't you think?'"
"I hadn't heard that detail," Lan Huan says dryly. "Very romantic."
"It's the thought that counts. Granted, Lan Zhan wasn't very impressed either, but then I said some sappy things to convince him I really meant it, and two months later, we got married."
He and Lan Zhan exchange looks again, and Yanli says, "You two are so cute." Then, "I understand why you didn't do a full ceremony, but you could have at least taken more pictures, knowing one day you'd be telling your big sister about it and she'd want to see what it was like."
"I'm sorry, jiejie," Wei Ying says meekly. "I promise we'll take lots of pictures when you throw your big party for us."
"You sure will." Yanli sounds partly excited and partly threatening.
"I did take some pictures that day," says Lan Huan, who was their witness. "I can show you if you haven't seen them."
"Oh, I'd love that!" Yanli exclaims.
The two of them go over to the picnic table to look, leaving Wei Ying and Lan Zhan alone, still holding hands. "This is nice, isn't it?" Wei Ying asks. It's more than nice to have so many of his favorite people in one place, to keep nothing hidden and have them accept him as he is.
"It's very nice," Lan Zhan agrees, squeezing Wei Ying's hand. "We'll do it again someday soon."
His words are what Wei Ying didn't even realize he needed to hear, already anticipating Yanli and Jiang Cheng leaving tomorrow. "We will. With Yanli's kid and I guess even her husband if he really wants to come." With that to look forward to, there's nothing to be sad about.
Late the following afternoon, Wei Ying takes his siblings to the airport for their flight, parking his car so he can walk them in and say a proper goodbye. Yanli hugs him, and then Jiang Cheng, and then Yanli again, good, tight hugs that make him really appreciate seeing them in person instead of through a computer screen. Yanli tears up and Jiang Cheng, wanting to stop them from getting maudlin, asks, "You have any other secrets you need to spill before we go?"
Wei Ying laughs. "No, none. Nothing important, anyway.
"You're sure?" Jiang Cheng presses. "I don't want to find out the hard way again."
"No secrets, I promise. I'll tell you everything from now on. Way more than you ever wanted to know."
"You're so annoying. Jiejie, let's just go already." Jiang Cheng tugs on Yanli's arm, but without much feeling.
"You'll come visit soon?" Yanli asks. "After the baby is born."
"Of course. I have to come spoil my niece or nephew." Wei Ying smiles brightly to balance out Yanli's sadness, though his eyes are wet too. "Thank you both for coming. It was a lot of fun."
"It was," Yanli agrees.
"In spite of everything," Jiang Cheng adds.
Before Wei Ying can say something snarky in return, Yanli says, "Thank you for showing us your life. All of it, in the end. I'm looking forward to seeing your apartment and Lan Zhan on video chat from now on."
Wei Ying smiles sheepishly. "Yes, jiejie. Now go on already or we'll be here all night."
There's another round of hugs and then Wei Ying stands and waves until his siblings disappear into the security line. Then, feeling happy and sad at the same time, he turns to go home.
By the time he gets back to the apartment, Lan Zhan is home from work and waiting for him. He comes and gives Wei Ying a kiss. "Everything went well?" he asks.
"Yeah, they're all set to go." Wei Ying doesn't say anything about the complicated feelings that go with people you love living halfway around the world, but he doesn't need to.
Lan Zhan takes his hands and says, "I love you."
They say that to each other often enough, though maybe not as often as they should, but it makes Wei Ying smile every time; four years on it's still exciting that Lan Zhan loves him. Lan Zhan loves him, and now they're married, and sure, some of Wei Ying's family is usually a long plane flight away, but some of it is right here, in the apartment they share.
"I love you too," he says. He thinks about the two weeks' of his siblings' visit, the good times and the stupid messes he got them into, and smiles. "Thanks for putting up with me."
Lan Zhan doesn't lie, so Wei Ying has to believe him when he says, "I always will."