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The youngest child and only son of the Ouyang Sect’s leader, Ouyang Zizhen had grown up as the baby brother to three older sisters, doted upon and teased in equal measure. When it came to younger brother duties, he was an expert. The errand boy told to fetch things and deliver love letters, the make-up doll to test new powders and rouge on, the favourite warm pillow to lean against and cuddle with – you name it, he’s seen and done them all. He dutifully ran errands and sat still through itchy brushes because he was a good obedient little brother. But out of it all, Zizhen would readily admit that he genuinely enjoyed cuddling with his sisters, especially when it was cold outside.
Da-jie, with her tall sturdy frame that Zizhen hoped he could match someday, loved to tuck Zizhen under her chin with warm, steady hugs that had never failed to chase Zizhen’s childhood nightmares away. Er-jie would let Zizhen rest his head on her lap while she read out her latest romance novel to him, or lean lazily against his back when he was in charge of the reading. With San-jie, Zizhen would tuck his face into the crook of her neck while she petted his hair, arms curled warmly around each other.
The best kinds of cuddles, though, were when they would set out bedrolls next to the brazier in Da-jie’s room during winter nights, limbs tangled as they huddled together under sheets pulled from each of their rooms. It was a tradition that had started one day when Zizhen was still a toddler and managed to wake all three of them in his post-nightmare hysterics. Rubbing her eyes, Er-jie had carried him to Da-jie’s room with San-jie trailing groggily behind, and they had all promptly fallen back asleep in a messy pile on Da-Jie’s bed. Zizhen hadn’t had a single bad dream for the rest of the night. Even now, when Zizhen was almost an adult and his sisters had all married out into happy loving unions, the tradition continued (to their mother’s fond exasperation). Whenever his sisters came back to visit their maiden home, they would take blankets to Da-jie’s old room and huddle together like children as they shared their latest news, and inevitably end up falling asleep right there on the floor in a warm tangled pile.
Cuddling was such an absolutely integral part of his childhood and close relationship with his sisters that Zizhen was horrified when he realised that his new best friends…
Just.
Don’t.
Cuddle??
With anyone at all???
No one??????
To Zizhen, his sisters’ favourite ragdoll, the idea of keeping a personal distance even with family members was hard to wrap his head around. Though in fairness, once he had gotten past the initial shock, he had to admit that it wasn’t entirely surprising. None of them had sisters nor mother figures in their lives, and well, Zizhen had to acquiesce that just trying to imagine Hanguang-jun, Lan-lao-xiansheng or Sandu Shengshou cuddling was enough to fry even Zizhen’s active imagination.
Still! Zizhen couldn’t believe they were missing out on something he enjoyed so much.
And so Ouyang Zizhen was now on a self-imposed mission. It was too bad that his friends’ guardians weren’t the cuddly sort, but it was never too late to start cuddling. Zizhen would take it on himself to promote to his friends how superior cuddling was as an activity.
He started with Jingyi, because Jingyi’s personal bubble was smaller than the other two’s. On a normal day, Jingyi would spontaneously sling an arm over a friend’s shoulder, draping lazily along their side. Jingyi wasn’t picky – it was usually whoever he was walking closest to when the fancy struck him. Out of their group, Sizhui would respond with smiling equanimity born from long familiarity, gamely taking up the shared weight. Jin Ling would splutter and attempt to shove Jingyi off, which more often than not resulted in half-serious-half-playful scuffling.
Zizhen himself tended to respond in kind, slinging his own arm over Jingyi’s shoulders so that they were mirrored, the two of them giggling like children as their newly-doubled width made getting through doors and through denser stretches of forest comically tricky. It was, he thought, what having a brother was probably like, or at least that was how it had always been in his imaginations. But now Zizhen was determined to put his plan into action.
The next time Jingyi reached for a friendly tussle, Zizhen angled his body so that he could grab Jingyi into a proper hug, holding on tight.
The change in pace clearly caught Jingyi off guard for a moment but the talkative Lan was nothing if not adaptable. The surprise quickly melted off Jingyi’s face in exchange for infectious delight as he wrapped his arms tightly around Zizhen’s slimmer shoulders in return, a huge grin on his face. Zizhen grinned back just as wide.
In some unspoken agreement, they attempted to continue walking in that tangled position but the endeavour ended with them spinning around in silly circles instead, their laughter carrying in the breeze. A little further in front, Sizhui and Jin Ling paused to glance back at their antics, Sizhui smiling indulgently and Jin Ling rolling his eyes.
Zizhen’s heart was warm and full to bursting. This was the first success in his three-step plan, and he already knew that it would all be so worth it.
Sizhui was next on the list. Zizhen considered his tactic carefully.
Everyone who knew Lan Sizhui would agree that he was a friendly person. Sizhui had the warmest smiles and the kindest eyes, and was always willing to lend an ear to your problems, big or small. As far as Zizhen could tell, Sizhui wasn’t averse to physical contact – he readily helped to patch up their night-hunt injuries and had no issues during stealth missions when they need to signal without speaking or huddle together to avoid detection.
At the same time, Sizhui was just so put together (it was that exemplary Lan upbringing) that he naturally gave off a bit of an air of distance. He also rarely, if ever, initiated physical contact for the simple pleasure of it, the way Jingyi did.
In the absence of more information, Zizhen decided that honest communication was key here. He waited for a time that they were doing the night watch together, and asked Sizhui if he could hug him.
Like Jingyi, Sizhui had an initial moment of visible surprise. Also like Jingyi, he happily did not seem against the idea. After a moment of serious thought (Sizhui always devoted time to thinking things over before accepting or rejecting), he nodded and said yes.
Smiling broadly in his responding excitement, Zizhen wrapped his friend into a warm hug, arms looping firmly but not too tightly around his shoulders and upper back. Zizhen could practically feel the confusion saturating his friend’s body, lines not tense but also not unbending from his classic straight posture. Zizhen persisted, careful to allow space for the other boy to break away if he wanted to, and eventually felt his friend relaxing in the hug. Gentle hands tentatively placed themselves across Zizhen’s upper back in mirror to his.
Zizhen smiled to himself. This was good, this was perfect – once Zizhen had warmed his friend up to the idea of cuddling, he would teach Sizhui how to hug back the way he liked it and they could explore what Sizhui liked best. There was plenty of time ahead.
They rallied together to tackle Jin Ling. And well, while Zizhen and Sizhui had originally been planning to go for a more subtle route, tackling was pretty much what they literally ended up doing.
It was a cool autumn night in a forest a bit west of Lanling, where there were on their latest group hunt. As per normal, they had set out their bedrolls close to each other to conserve warmth. Zizhen, Sizhui and Jin Ling had just barely lied down when Jingyi, who was meant to be on watch, unceremoniously threw himself straight over all three of them, lanky limbs going everywhere.
“What are you doing!?” Jin Ling squawked violently, instantly flailing. Jingyi, to his credit, clung on like a sticky octopus, thwarting any attempts to dislodge him.
“Cuddling!” Jingyi chirped back shamelessly. They couldn’t see Jingyi’s expression from their angle, but by the lilt in his voice he no doubt had a shit-eating grin on his face.
Jin Ling was so perplexed by the unexpected answer that his squirming lessened for a moment in sheer bafflement. “Huh???”
Zizhen took one look at the flailing duo and made a split second decision, gleefully jumping onto the makeshift cuddle pile. Now that things had progressed as they had, it wasn’t like they could go back to cautiously testing the water. And maybe Jingyi was onto something with this aggressive cuddling tactic. Sometimes you just had to go straight on.
Jin Ling gave a distinct oof at the bottom at the sudden increase in weight, but regained his breath speedily to yell, “Ouyang Zizhen!!”
Zizhen grinned back, unable to muster any remorse as he tightened his embrace around Jingyi and Jin Ling. As their friendship continued, they were fast learning to tell the difference between Jin Ling’s reflexive blustering and words that reflected his true feelings. Their friend’s face was as red as a lychee but he didn’t seem actually put out by the situation. As expected, Jin Ling deflated not long later, grumpily allowing them to smother him like particularly heavy quilts.
Doing a little victory dance in his head, Zizhen cuddled closer to the two, then eyed Sizhui on Jin Ling’s other side. The older boy was watching their antics with a fond look on his face, which just wouldn’t do at all. Freeing a hand from the tangled pile, Zizhen tugged on his friend’s sleeve. Sizhui quickly got the message, shuffling in as well to lean against Jingyi, following Zizhen’s guidance to drape his arm over their backs. With that achieved, Zizhen stretched his own arm out in parallel, hand curling warmly around Sizhui’s shoulder.
“It’s too damn warm,” Jin Ling muttered at the bottom of the pile, but made no further movement to eject them.
Absolutely success.