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The dishes are being washed by Lan Huan after their breakfast and Jiang Cheng is waiting for him by the door, worrying his lip between his teeth and staring at him in wonder.
“Are you really ok with me spending the whole morning with them?” Jiang Cheng starts for the fifth time. “If you aren’t, I can stay home with you and-”
“Baobei.” Lan Huan giggles, cutting him off. “They’re your family, it’s more than fine with me if you want to spend some time part of your day with them. It’s your birthday and you will still come back home for us to have dinner together, won’t you?”
“You’re family too.” Jiang Cheng mumbles, because there’s no way on earth he’d say it out loud. His lips hurt a little for being chewed by his teeth and he is a little bit grumpier, or perhaps just more sensitive, than he usually is.
Lan Huan gives him a look. Not that he would be really capable of giving a real bad look for Jiang Cheng, but that’s the closer he can get to a pointed look.
“Ugh, fine, your lonely soul, spend the whole morning on your own if that’s what you want!” Jiang Cheng grumbles and crosses his arms before his body. “I’ll eat a bunch of delicious food with a-Ling and I’ll send you so many pics you will regret all your choices.”
He’s acting like a spoiled child and he knows it but it’s his birthday and it gives him the free pass.
Isn’t it just fair that he would be the one to choose what his day should be like?! So why couldn’t he just bring his boyfriend along with him for a family gathering?!
The unfairness of the world!!!
“I can’t wait to see those pics.” Lan Huan smiles softly at him and arranges the dishes in the dishwasher to dry it out. “Don’t be late for dinner, uh? I’ll make something nice for us.”
Jiang Cheng sends him a weird look and moves closer to cup his cheeks carefully, exaggerating his actions on purpose while analyzing his face.
“You mean you will buy something nice for us, right?! I don’t want to have my apartment burnt down on my birthday.”
“A-Cheng!” Lan Huan makes an indignant noise, pouting with a look that screams betrayal and nods anyway. “Of course I mean it, how could I try to serve you something today out of all the days? Can you imagine how hellish it would be if I got you food poisoning again?!”
Jiang Cheng tries to hold it in yet the laugh bubbles up too fast and he is already leaning in to grab his boyfriend’s shoulders for support when he breathes again.
Lan Huan got both of them food poisoning once and then he never tried any other recipe if Jiang Cheng wasn’t inspecting his every move.
His fear of doing it again is lovely, since it reminds Jiang Cheng of a child who just fell off their bike and is afraid of trying riding on them again, yet it’s something they will have to work on for sure. Jiang Cheng wouldn’t deserve his own name if he didn’t help Lan Huan to be free of at least that specific fear.
“I’m sure it wouldn’t happen again,” Jiang Cheng reassures him with a shaky voice, still affected by all his laughing. “But I won’t lie, I’m also grateful you won’t try to cook today.”
Lan Huan makes a noise once more and this time he pinches one of his cheeks in annoyance.
“I will make this place the most romantic environment, though.” He states, holding his chin up on stubborn pride.
“Of course you will, you’re a sap,” Jiang Cheng teases, poking the soft skin near his ribs.
“I’m your sap!” Lan Huan gives back, smiling wide at him and stealing a soft kiss.
His shoulders are grabbed in his moment of distraction post kiss and his boyfriend gently pushes him toward the doors, earning only a protesting noise.
“You need to go if you still want to have your morning brunch with your nephew, so go.”
“Are you kicking me out of my own home?!”
“I am! Now go!” Lan Huan laughs and Jiang Cheng stares at him indignantly.
“The unfairness!” He tries to sound more offended than he is and pouts to earn a goodbye kiss too. “Wait me for dinner, won’t you?”
“Who else would I wait for, baobei?”
…
When Jiang Cheng arrives at the coffee shop Jin Ling likes (one of those which are actually cat coffee stores and make you feel blessed whenever a kitten decides your lap is his new favorite place), he doesn’t even question Zixuan’s presence.
It took him some time, but even he is able to admit Zixuan is indeed family already. It serves him right after lending half of his DNA for making Jin Ling’s life something possible.
Jiang Cheng is still full of the breakfast he had some hours before the meeting yet he doesn’t say anything when Jin Ling excitedly says their order to the attendant and even adds a “Can you add extra cream on the top of the mocha? Jiujiu loves it when it’s extra fluff!”
The attendant is sympathetic enough to say yes with a kind smile and Jiang Cheng only wants to tuck his face into his sweater in shame and die .
It’s mortifying, to say the least, that even Jin Ling, a child , knows about his sweet tooth. Something he is sure he didn’t know before.
Jiang Cheng is silent when he grabs a spoon and points accusingly to his sister and her husband, silently asking which of them told his nephew.
“He deserves to know,” the asshole he once thought deserved to be in his family says and he wonders if he could free himself of a murder accusation if he told the jury it was his birthday. Do birthday people get a free pass for murder?
He hopes they do. It would be of great use to him.
“Shouldn’t I be the one to decide it?” Jiang Cheng hisses in whispers so Jin Ling won’t know he wanted to keep a secret from him.
“I’m his father, I know when information can be useful for him,” Zixuan grins at him and pokes his son cheeks affectionately. Jin Ling barely spares him an eye, too occupied patting, in awe, the kitten on his lap.
“And how did you find it out? You just looked at his face or you had to actually take an exam for it?” Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes and ignores it when his sister giggles .
He knows he is lucky there’s no real heat behind what they’re telling each other, given that her reaction would be way different if there was.
He also knows there is no way for people to think Jin Ling isn’t Zixuan’s child. Jin Ling is the spitting image of his father and even their personalities are very compatible most of the time. There’s still that small percentage of time when his nephew seems to be acting more like Yanli, which he is glad that existed.
“I don’t know if a-Li told you already,” Zixuan starts when Yanli moves to get their order, for the only reason that a cat also blessed Jiang Cheng and he could never take it off of his lap. “But she will have to leave early to go back to work, you’ll have to content yourself with Jin Ling and I for today.”
“It’s boys day!” Jin Ling adds with a wide smile in his direction and Jiang Cheng just melts.
Who is he to complain about spending more of his birthday with his brother-in-law than with his sister when he has this sunshine with them?!
“It will be boys day, indeed,” Jiang Cheng agrees softly because he is unable to be anything but soft with Jin Ling.
Zixuan sends him a knowing look. Yanli puts their order on the table, sticking to his side in an apologetic hug that will probably last until she has to go away, and Jiang Cheng splits his attention between hugging her back and fishing his phone in his pocket to take pictures of their food and send to his boyfriend.
Jin Ling squirms in delight and excitedly shows them how pretty is the art on top of his hot chocolate. “It’s a puppy, jiujiu! A puppy!”
Jiang Cheng huffs a laugh and spoons the cream on top of his coffee to try it, happy to see his nephew so joyful with something so silly.
And when Zixuan encourages Jin Ling to tell them more, Jiang Cheng has the feeling his day won’t be as bad as he thought it would.
Perhaps spending some of it only with the boys wouldn’t be so bad after all.
…
The ice cream on Jiang Cheng’s tongue isn’t enough to cool down his annoyance with the irritating song that echoes in the whole floor they’re in, the floor designated for kids.
“How can you do it every time?” He finally questions when the same song is played again and he is already on the verge of stepping up to smash that machine down into dust.
“You get used to it after the seventh time or something like that,” Zixuan replies with a shrug of his shoulders. His attention is split between Jin Ling and the disturbingly colorful sweet he is having.
Jiang Cheng holds his strawberry ice cream protectively closer to his chest when Zixuan eyes it and shakes his head in a clear no .
“You let Jin Ling choose yours because you wanted to, I won’t give you mine,” he points accusingly.
“I wouldn’t ask for it anyway, brat,” Zixuan glumbles and pouts and that’s so ridiculously childish that Jiang Cheng simply burst into laughter.
“You should’ve seen-,” his stomach hurts with the force of his laugh and he curls up forward, shaking. “Oh my god, your face.”
There’s an indignant noise coming from beside him and he is aware of who is making it but he just can’t look at him now.
It’s stupid how childish they can be with the other and it’s probably Jin Ling’s influence too, yet Jiang Cheng can’t make himself stop.
It’s the first time he is seeing Zixuan pouting and it’s because of ice cream on top of everything and it shouldn’t be so funny, probably it even isn’t. The fact still makes him laugh like there’s no tomorrow.
When he finally stops, there are tears in the corner of his eyes and his cheeks hurt just as much as his stomach does.
Jiang Cheng inhales deeply to ground himself again and glances up at his companion to apologize for the fit of laughter. He is surprised to find out Zixuan is actually smiling softly at him .
“Eh?” Jiang Cheng blinks with the eloquence of a door and the other shrugs off.
“It’s cool to see you happy, you know?” Zixuan pointedly avoids his eyes when he opens his mouth to speak, staring at the ice cream on his hands like it’s the most interesting thing he has ever seen.
If his cheeks weren’t so pink, Jiang Cheng would think he was hearing things.
“Some years ago you were always sad and we- I didn’t know what to do to make it better,” he continues. “It’s good to see you’re happier. I guess everything is going well?”
Jiang Cheng never thought he would hear Zixuan, out of all people, being the one to tell him what he is telling.
He never thought his sister would marry the peacock too, so he guesses he isn’t the better person to predict the future.
“It is,” Jiang Cheng agrees. “Everything is well, I mean. I am…”
He thinks of Jin Ling, of Lan Huan. He thinks of the nights they share, of their routine since they moved in together and how warm it makes him feel.
Jiang Cheng thinks of how grateful he is for being able to mend his relationship with Zixuan after all the trouble they went through when he still was an asshole with Yanli.
He thinks of how better he is with handling his problems and how he is now able to talk with Wuxian, his childhood friend, without feeling like he should punch his smiling face.
Jiang Cheng breathes slowly.
And smiles.
“I am happy, yeah.”
After hearing it, Zixuan takes a look at him. A real look, that one that makes Jiang Cheng feel like his soul is bare for his eyes to see if he wants to, and gives him a smile full of teeth.
“And I’m happy to know that.”
…
A trail of flowers on the ground is what welcomes Jiang Cheng home. He smiles fondly, looking around to make sure Lan Huan isn’t seeing how stupidly happy he gets just finding it and kneels to pick one of them before he follows the path they make.
The petal is caressed by his thumb, the smooth feeling under his fingers is grounding him into the present and delaying the fastening pace of his heart.
It’s not uncommon for him to be welcomed by romantic settings anymore. Lan Huan, as the most romantic person Jiang Cheng knows, never loses a chance to decorate their apartment in the most creative ways, always willing to show his love through surprise dates.
Most of the time, they aren’t even in the apartment, however, making it there is easier than making it somewhere else and Jiang Cheng was clear about wanting to spend at least the night at home on his birthday.
Jiang Cheng is surprised, however, when the petals guide him to their balcony and the sight takes his breath away.
There are flowers attached to their railing, a circular table is carefully settled right in the middle of the room, gently illuminated by the candles placed on it, petals similar to the one he is holding are sprinkled everywhere and he can smell a mix of the sweet flowery perfume and a spicy familiar smell that can only mean that Lan Huan really planned everything to be about him today.
At what cost, he doesn’t know.
Probably at Lan Huan’s tongue cost, since his boyfriend couldn’t take too much spice.
His gaze sweeps the room, searching for the person who prepared all of it and he is starting to get confused about not finding him there when fingertips gently caresses his nape.
Jiang Cheng turns around to face his man and his knees almost buckle when his eyes lay on his kind face.
The brightest smile, the one Lan Huan reserves only for him, is a blessing, gracing Jiang Cheng with his presence and tugging Lan Huan’s lips up in the most endearing way.
“Welcome home, my love,” Lan Huan whispers with that soft voice of his and lowers his hand to carefully stroke Jiang Cheng’s wrist.
Jiang Cheng knows what is coming, he is already accustomed with this particular way his boyfriend had of showing that he cares.
He is excited for it anyway.
Lan Huan doesn’t disappoint. He pulls his wrist closer, never ceasing the caressing, nuzzles at Jiang Cheng’s palm and this time he has to take the petal out of the way for him to kiss it.
The catch is that Lan Huan is the artist between them. His hands, for him, are one of the most important parts of his body for the reason that he doesn’t know how to paint using any other method.
Yet, when it comes to worshiping something, he chooses to worship Jiang Cheng’s hands instead of his own. According to him, he can be the artist, but Jiang Cheng is the one who makes him feel like a masterpiece under his touch and there’s nothing else he would love more than feel like someone special for him and for him only.
It’s needless to say that Jiang Cheng flushes furiously every time he is reminded of that moment, though he can’t bother the knowledge of making his beloved feel special.
Honestly, it only encourages him to touch him more, even if only those soft and discreet touches that are easily slipped off as coincidences.
They happen too many times for still being a coincidence in their relationship. Lan Huan never points it out.
“Is today a special day?” Jiang Cheng teases, brushing his fingertips on his boyfriend’s cheekbones.
“Mn,” Lan Huan agrees. His smile is even wider. “It’s the day the love of my life was born. He is twenty six years old today, can you believe?!”
Jiang Cheng makes a shocked noise and lands his hand on his chest in false surprise. “No way you’re dating such an old man!”
For that Lan Huan looks indignant. “A-Cheng, I’m older than you!”
Jiang Cheng fails to suppress his laugh at the offended face in front of him and almost loses the sight of it softening into a small smile as he covers his mouth desperately.
Lan Huan is such a sap he can’t even get offended for real with Jiang Cheng’s jokes. If he laughs, Lan Huan softens and smiles again.
So much a soft hearted person, tsc.
“Can I know what you got for us today?” He asks only when his laugh subsides.
It’s strange for him to laugh so much in a day. He isn’t complaining, though.
It’s good to feel this free once in a while.
“I ordered all your favorites from your sister’s restaurant,” Lan Huan admits, avoiding his eyes for the first time this day.
It’s easy to know the reason, there’s almost nothing in his sister’s menu that he doesn’t love. And there’s too much he adores.
For Lan Huan to order so much food… It’s understandable that he feels shy afterwards.
“Please tell me you didn’t order desserts too,” Jiang Cheng falsely pleads, grabbing his hands to distract him from his shame. Not that he would ever admit it being the reason behind the act, of course not. “Jin Ling made us have so much ice cream. I swear I won’t be able to eat any sweets for at least a month!”
“I bet you‘ll be having it in less than a week.”
“A-Huan!” Jiang Cheng makes a noise of indignance, holding in the pout to avoid the kissing that would come after it.
“We both know you can’t live without indulging your sweet tooth, baobei,” Lan Huan smiles apologetic and squeezes his hand gently. “Should we eat now? I still have a present for you.”
“I thought the dinner was the present?” Jiang Cheng tilts his head quizzically, looking up at Lan Huan’s face while he leads him to his seat.
“It’s part of it, of course,” Lan Huan responds. “However, it’s not the main point. We’ll eat first, then I’ll show you.”
Jiang Cheng pouts, annoyed.
How is he supposed to be concentrated in eating if he knows there will be a surprise for him after it?!
He can’t even feel the hungriness that usually surges when he smells the delicious fragrance coming from his sister’s food, damn it!
Fuck Lan Huan and his big mouth that couldn’t keep the surprise a secret.
Fuck Jiang Cheng and his curiosity for taking his appetite away.
They eat in silence, in respect of Lan Huan’s costumes.
Actually, Lan Huan eats. Jiang Cheng plays with the food in his plate, taking a bite here and there only to be able to say he didn’t completely ignore what was served for him.
His curiosity takes the best of him and he knows, he just can’t stop it.
Lan Huan sighs, giving him a look before walking away to bring his present to the balcony.
“You’re going to eat cold food later when you feel hungry, you stubborn man,” His soft voice comes from the other room in warning, Jiang Cheng only smiles.
Both of them know how used to it he already is. In his college days, Jiang Cheng didn’t really bother to warm up all his food after they grew cold so he just went along with eating them as they were and assumed it was ‘the destiny wishes’ that he ate it that way.
It obviously wasn’t, yet try telling it to a college student and wait for the answer you’ll get.
Lan Huan comes back with his canvas and a wooden support for it, something that is probably just for show.
Jiang Cheng has the feeling he already saw this specific canvas before but he can’t put his finger on when it was.
He doesn’t have to wait a long time to find out. After it’s placed on its supporter, Lan Huan takes the cloth covering it away and Jiang Cheng gapes.
Of course he had seen that before, it was his paint.
The one Lan Huan did after he joked about being painted for him, the one he had never seen around the house despite knowing it had to be there somewhere.
Jiang Cheng gets up to look at it closer, to inspect every detail he can despite his lack of artistic skills.
It is beautiful and he can’t believe it’s him painted there.
He doubts he really carries that fairy air but that’s how his Lan Huan sees him and it’s plenty to take in in a small time and without any preparation.
Everything is so soft, so bright and Jiang Cheng melts in his spot.
Does his boyfriend honestly think of him as an illuminated presence in his life just like he thought of him?
Are they really the cheesy couple they never admitted being out loud?
“It’s so pretty,” Jiang Cheng smiles, reaching out to touch it carefully. He retreats his hand almost immediately, afraid of ruining the paint.
He turns around, ready to look at his favorite artist's face.
“Seriously, I can’t believe you-”
Jiang Cheng freezes. His boyfriend is on his knees.
“A-Huan?!” He stops right on his track, staring intently at the velvety box in Lan Huan’s hands, a small golden ring strategically arranged on a pillow into it to look even prettier than it already is.
“Jiang Cheng,” Lan Huan begins, a small nervous smile on his face. “I love you.”
They don’t usually say it out loud, though they are well aware of how they feel for each other.
Hearing it in this kind of situation… Jiang Cheng flushes beat red.
“I have loved you for so long I don’t know how it feels to not do it anymore. I don’t know how to not love you every single day and I don’t want to lead how, too,” he continues, because Jiang Cheng didn’t scream nor did him run away so it’s taken as a good sign. “We’re always saying- joking. We’re always joking we’re already family for each other and I know, we know, there’s a sense of truth behind it.”
“It is truth.”
“Of course, my love, how couldn’t it be after we literally started to share every second of our lives with the other?” Lan Huan chuckles, not taking the interruption to his heart. “What I meant to say is that we already think about the other- already think about us as a family. Most of the time, we don’t need anyone else.”
He pauses and thinks for a moment.
Jiang Cheng can feel his heart in his throat . His pulse is so fast he wonders where he can’t feel his heart.
“I don’t mean we don’t need other people in our life, but whatever we look for, whatever we need daily, we find in each other. All the support, all the reassurance, all the… confidence,” he whispers, knowing too well that’s a fragile topic for both of them. “We find it together, don’t matter how long it takes. And, damn, I’m the luckiest for finding it with you.”
“I-I’m the luckiest, too,” Jiang Cheng intervenes. He won’t let himself be put on a pedestal that doesn’t belong to him, he won’t let Lan Huan put him so high he won’t be able to come down. “For having you, I mean. We’re lucky together.”
If he thought he was embarrassed before, he didn’t know his face could burn like it is burning now.
“We are,” Lan Huan agrees and smiles reassuringly at him. He knows too well how much trouble it is for him to talk about feelings like this. “That’s why I’m on my knees now, that’s why I want to ask you.”
Lan Huan breaths slowly.
Jiang Cheng holds his breath.
“Will you marry me?”
He lets his breath out, staring at the man on his knee in complete disbelief.
There’s a list of things he could expect for his birthday.
An engagement wasn’t one of them.
Lan Huan doesn’t move, waiting for him to fully understand the situation despite his nervousness. Jiang Cheng once again feels his heart burst with love for this stupidly caring man who doesn’t mind being in discomfort if it’ll give his beloved time to think.
Lan Huan is so careless about himself it hurts . Lan Huan is so caring about him it makes him want to protect this man forever.
That’s when Jiang Cheng realizes he knew the answer all along.
“Who else would I ever marry, you silly man?” He asks fondly.
Jiang Cheng doesn’t wait for a reaction or for him to understand his answer, he just pounces on him.
It’s a miracle they don’t fall.
Lan Huan hugs him so tight he loses his breath again yet how could he even complain?
Jiang Cheng hugs him just as tight.
During life, people have to let some things go, people have to keep some things with them.
This is something Jiang Cheng will always keep.
Not because he has to. He will keep it because he wants .
And there’s nothing else he would want this much.
There’s nothing else he would want more than Lan Huan.