Work Text:
“I’m home!”
“In here!” Xiao Zhan called back, smiling at the sound of Wang Yibo’s voice. They were both in Beijing for a few days for work, which was always a treat. Xiao Zhan loved not having to live out of a suitcase or constantly worry about security at hotels, and after work, he could just go straight home to where all their things were. He doubly liked it when Wang Yibo was also home and they could actually spend time together in person instead of their usual texts and video chats.
After a moment, Wang Yibo shuffled into the living room, shedding his facemask and then baseball cap and then jacket as he did, tossing all the items onto the dining table before turning his attention to Xiao Zhan. Wang Yibo looked paler and a bit thinner than usual, tired, but he began smiling as soon as he saw Xiao Zhan and with every step closer, his grin widened until Xiao Zhan was sure he was up to no good.
“Wait, no, Yibo—” Xiao Zhan only had the time to say before Wang Yibo had sprawled onto him. “Ugh, you’re so heavy!” he complained, struggling half-heartedly as Wang Yibo tightened his arms around him.
“I’m tired,” Wang Yibo mumbled into his stomach. “Pity me.”
Xiao Zhan wanted to push him a little more, but he really did sound tired and these last few weeks hadn’t been easy for anyone. “Mm work go okay?” he asked, running a hand through his hair and messing it up more.
“Yeah,” Wang Yibo said. These few days in Beijing, Wang Yibo had mostly spent filming and doing a few photoshoots for his endorsements.
When Xiao Zhan did ads, he generally was given a cutesy script, told to smile and walk around the set, and say a few lines. Probably the hardest thing he’d ever had to do was paint a bit, and commercials that wanted him to actually paint and not just act like it were few and far between due to how time-consuming it was. But Wang Yibo, thanks to his cool guy image and his very open broadcasting of his hobbies, was always told to dance or ride a car or motorcycle or do skateboard tricks. So even his adwork tended to be more tiring than the average celebrity endorsement.
“But we might have to rework my schedule again,” Wang Yibo continued mumbling into Xiao Zhan’s stomach. Xiao Zhan tried not to squirm too much though it tickled. “Han-ge had to rework some scripts—they’re figuring out my schedule again so I don’t know when I’ll have to leave.”
“It can’t be helped,” Xiao Zhan said sympathetically, squeezing Wang Yibo’s shoulder a few times in half a massage.
The last couple of weeks had been particularly turbulent in the entertainment industry with calls for reform and petitions being made in the wake of so many scandals and investigations. Wang Yibo’s own Day Day Up had also been rocked when a scandal suddenly broke about Qian Feng who was the most long-lasting host apart from Wang Han. With his sudden resignation, the entire show had been thrown into disarray.
In the meantime, every celebrity studio suddenly had to review new guidelines and decide on courses of action. This was all on top of whatever projects they had that might be affected by all of the recent resignations and blacklistings.
So these past few days, they were all exhaustively busy from multiple social media platforms having to reprogram things to take down rankings, to PR managements having to redo ads encouraging VIP voting, to cancellations of entire idol produce shows. Though Xiao Zhan had had to endure a lot in 2020, now looking back, he was grateful that because of everything, his management had long gone the route of government backing, and he and his management and his lawyers now all had experience immediately issuing lawsuits and shutting down any rumors and potentially dangerous fan or anti behavior before it could blow up. Wang Yibo, having gone through his own fair share of antis and shisheng fans, and having been there for all of Xiao Zhan’s problems last year, had gotten just as fast about acting. It just felt like the rest of the entertainment industry was now catching up.
So though there was a lot of rearranging of schedules and homework reading up on new guidelines these last few days, Xiao Zhan hoped it would be good for the entertainment industry in the long run.
“Poor Yibo, poor Yebo,” Xiao Zhan half-coaxed, half-teased him. “Poor Bobo.”
“I know, I’m so poor. Cheer me up, Zhan-ge,” Wang Yibo agreed.
Xiao Zhan chuckled. “All right, all right, I’ll cook tonight. You didn’t eat yet, right?” he said.
“Feed me,” Wang Yibo said.
“What a baobao, no wait, baobei—you should have let Yixing take the Didi plate,” Xiao Zhan said.
“No,” Wang Yibo said.
“Aww, Mr. Cool Guy out there, but baobei at home.” Xiao Zhan poked Wang Yibo’s cheeks. “A cute little—”
Wang Yibo snapped his head to the side, and Xiao Zhan quickly snatched his fingers away before he could be bitten.
“Stingy. Why can’t I touch a little.” Xiao Zhan pouted.
“Fine. You touch a little, and I’ll touch a little,” Wang Yibo bargained, offering up one cheek and reaching one hand behind Xiao Zhan’s waist, making him squirm.
“Aren’t you too tired for that?” Xiao Zhan demanded, going red while hitting him a few times. When Wang Ybo couldn’t give up, Xiao Zhan finally shoved him. “Okay, okay, stop playing around. Let’s go make dinner.”
“Naw, I’d rather eat something else now,” Wang Yibo said, grinning up at him and groping a little further down.
Xiao Zhan rolled his eyes and shoved him again. “Food,” he said, and when Wang Yibo didn’t budge, pulled out the big guns. “Bo-ge, I’m hungry,” he said pitifully. “I haven’t eaten all day.”
When Wang Yibo didn’t immediately give him, he widened his eyes and pouted. “Yibo-ge, I’m so hungry.”
He knew it worked when Wang Yibo groaned and pushed himself upright to glare at him. “You’re worse than your little daughter, you know that?” he said.
“You buy Jianguo more clothes and toys than I do,” Xiao Zhan said. “She’s getting spoiled.”
“Gotta have her recognize me as dad too,” Wang Yibo said. “And stop trying to change the subject. You really didn’t eat all day?”
Xiao Zhan couldn’t help grinning. “I ate, I ate—”
“What did you eat?” Wang Yibo demanded.
“Um, yogurt for breakfast… salad for lunch…” He began counting off.
“What? That’s it?” Wang Yibo said. “No wonder you keep getting skinnier. Get up,” he demanded, pulling Xiao Zhan up too and pushing him toward the kitchen. “What do you want to eat? Hotpot?”
“Hasn’t your stomach been acting up?” Xiao Zhan said. “No, I’ll just make congee out of the leftover rice from yesterday. Keep things light before you have to start eating out again. Come help me chop.”
“Okay,” Wang Yibo said. “What do we have in the fridge we can add?” he asked.
“You’re not allowed to get inventive,” Xiao Zhan said quickly as he checked their rice cooker for the leftover rice. “I still remember the wasabi you put in that dumpling that I ate!”
“Hey, it was New Year’s—if you can even wrap a coin in a dumpling, there should be some other surprises, right?” Wang Yibo said.
“If you’re going to add weird things, you can only do it on your own food,” Xiao Zhan said, rolling his eyes but laughing too. Ever since they’d gotten together, Wang Yibo was honestly an even better boyfriend than Xiao Zhan expected. It had been Wang Yibo’s persistence that made Xiao Zhan decide to take a chance on him in the first place, and throughout the years, Wang Yibo had done numerous other things—selling his motorcycle to get Xiao Zhan the contract breaking fine he needed though things hadn’t worked out when he tried to leave Wajijiwa, lending Xiao Zhan some of his bodyguards when Xiao Zhan’s popularity exploded and his management wasn’t ready for it, hiding Xiao Zhan’s name under his own rehearsal time so stalkers couldn’t find him, so on and so forth. But apart from the big gestures, it was the small things that Xiao Zhan loved—how he would nag Xiao Zhan to eat and sleep so that he always felt taken care of, how he’d buy him random things just because he thought of Xiao Zhan or their home or their cat and thought it would be nice or useful or funny, or how Wang Yibo hadn’t cooked a single day in his life but wanted to come in the kitchen to help him when he did despite being a truly awful cook.
“Then it wouldn’t be a surprise,” Wang Yibo said, but obediently got out the cutting board.
At home when they had time to do this, Xiao Zhan was the designated cook as the only one of the two who actually knew how to do it. Wang Yibo was usually relegated to helping with basic tasks that even he couldn’t mess up, and then dish duty after.
“So what do you want to chop?” Wang Yibo asked. “Green onion, cilantro, what else?”
“Oh, we still have pork—we should use that up before you leave again,” Xiao Zhan said. “Chop this into little pieces—we can make thousand year egg & pork congee. Get the ginger too. Do you want salted duck egg?”
Wang Yibo shook his head. “Too much salt. I still gotta film tomorrow.”
“Your cheeks are naturally chubby—”
Xiao Zhan yelped as he received a resounding slap to the ass.
“ Your cheeks are naturally—”
“Wang Yibo, are you human?” Xiao Zhan demanded, smacking him with the still-clean spatula. “Ask yourself every day are you human or not?”
Wang Yibo cackled.
Being with Wang Yibo was just fun and despite the stress of work lately, by the time they had set the table for dinner, they had about five extra small side dishes to add to their congee that Xiao Zhan had dug out of their cupboards. Xiao Zhan ladled out a big bowl for Wang Yibo who then, not to be outdone, ladled an even bigger bowl for Xiao Zhan.
“I can’t eat that much—I want some side dishes too,” Xiao Zhan said.
“That’s what you get for eating a salad for lunch,” Wang Yibo said. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have ordered takeout for you if you were too lazy to cook.”
“I’m supposed to be dieting,” Xiao Zhan said.
“You’re too skinny, here—”
“Stop adding more to my bowl, Wang Yibo! Stop!” Xiao Zhan shouted as Wang Yibo added even more congee in and looked proud of himself when it was completely filled to the brim.
“If I can’t finish this, you’re eating it,” Xiao Zhan threatened, looking down at his bowl in despair.
“Yeah, yeah, hurry and eat,” ‘Wang Yibo said, picking up his pair of chopsticks.
Xiao Zhan, though, went to get his laptop and put it on the table, angled in between the two of them so they could both see the screen. “Hang on,” he said, opening up his browser until he got to the page he wanted.
“Really? You want to eat while watching me eat?” Wang Yibo said as Xiao Zhan started up the newest episode of Wang Yibo’s hotpot.
“Why can’t I?” Xiao Zhan said. “I’m catching up on your episodes like the world’s most supportive boyfriend. I even bought the VIP membership for you.”
“Why would you do that when I already have it,” Wang Yibo said. “Waste of money.”
“For support,” Xiao Zhan said.
“Unreasonable fan behavior,” Wang Yibo said.
Xiao Zhan reached over to smack him.
In fact, Xiao Zhan had gotten in the bad habit of watching shows while eating after he’d moved to Beijing in his early 20s. At the time, he’d been so poor, paid so little while he was trying to make it in the industry that he was living primarily off of his dwindling savings. He didn’t have the money to go out or to invite friends over to eat, so to keep himself company, he liked to pull up something to watch when he ate by himself in his little studio apartment. Back then, it had usually been Spongebob reruns. Nowadays, he usually caught up on Wang Yibo’s shows if he didn’t have to eat out for work.
“The real thing is right here you know,” Wang Yibo said.
“Hush, you, you’re talking,” Xiao Zhan said just to mess with him. He could see Wang Yibo’s unhappy glower in the periphery of his vision so he purposefully didn’t look at him, staring at the screen. “Aww look, you’re so tired, getting a massage. And you say I’m the old one.”
“Oh you know, I was thinking about getting a massage chair,” Wang Yibo said as he began to eat. “I saw a good deal on Taobao last time, and you’re always sore from sitting in planes and stuff for too long. It’s cheaper if you buy at least three, so if we got one for your parents and one for my parents, and one for us—”
“You want to buy three massage chairs?” Xiao Zhan turned from the screen to look at Wang Yibo. “Absolutely not. If you want to buy one for your parents, I won’t say anything, but we don’t need one and my parents—you’ve seen their house. There’s no space.”
“They’re getting older though. Your grandma could also use it,” Wang Yibo pointed out.
Xiao Zhan sighed. He was truly an absolute sucker when Wang Yibo was this considerate toward his family. Ever since both their grandfathers had passed away, he’d been extra attentive to their remaining grandparents. “Fine, I’ll see if they’re willing to throw out some old stuff and make room for it.” He caved in.
“Well, we need three for the deal,” Wang Yibo said.
“We are not going to spend that much money on three massage chairs, Wang Yibo,” Xiao Zhan said. “So help me if I come home and find one here, I will make you return it.”
“I’m just saying. You’re getting old too. And it’s a good deal,” Wang Yibo said.
“I’m getting old?’ Xiao Zhan kicked him under the table. “Who was the one who dressed up like an old man for your shows? More than once even.”
“Yeah, dressed up like one,” Wang Yibo said.
Xiao Zhan rolled his eyes. “Fine, this old man is too old and tired to sleep with you later,” he said.
“Why would an old man be unable to sleep?” Wang Yibo grinned at him.
“You said it, Wang Yibo. You better hold to your words. If your hands come anywhere near me tonight—”
“Okay, okay, I was wrong, Zhan-ge is right,” Wang Yibo said quickly.
“Don’t impulse buy anything without getting permission first,” Xiao Zhan repeated one more time just to be clear. It wouldn’t be the first time Wang Yibo had gone and bought something they couldn’t use or didn’t need because he thought it was a good idea. He was distracted from more preemptive lecturing when the people on screen suddenly burst into laughter.
“You know, you seem a lot more comfortable this season than the last,” Xiao Zhan commented as he saw Wang Yibo give the ‘good move’ hand signal to some comment Han Geng had made on screen.
“I’ve been on the show once so I know what to expect now,” Wang Yibo said.
“You also just know most of these people better now,” Xiao Zhan said. “Mr. Slow-To-Warm-Up,” he teased. “You were even so cool guy to me when we first met.”
“How would you know? You don’t even remember the first time we met on set Day Day Up,” Wang Yibo said. “I can say I remember the first moment I set eyes on my future husband, but you —”
“What husband? We’re not married, and you were barely an adult back then,” Xiao Zhan said. “And I do remember—you were a good dancer.”
“You only remembered after we watched the episode together,” Wang Yibo said.
“That’s not true, I just didn’t remember every single thing about that filming. You don’t either,” Xiao Zhan said.
“Do too,” Wang Yibo said.
“Do not,” Xiao Zhan said.
“Do too,” Wang Yibo said.
“Do not.”
“Do too.”
“Do—are you stupid, Wang Yibo?” Xiao Zhan said.
“You’re arguing with me too,” Wang Yibo said.
“ Anyway , I remember how you never even spoke to me back then or when we met for A-Ling,” Xiao Zhan said. “I was the one who had to approach you first.”
“On director’s orders,” Wang Yibo said. “It’s not like you volunteered.”
“You could have approached me!” Xiao Zhan said.
“I literally messaged you first on Wechat and you ignored me,” Wang Yibo said.
“Well who says ‘I’m Wang Yibo’ without even an emoji?” Xiao Zhan said. “I thought you were mad at me.”
“Why would I add you if I was mad at you? I barely even knew you,” Wang Yibo said.
“I don’t know. Why are you mad at me now?” Xiao Zhan said. “Anyway stop trying to pick a fight. I watch even more of your shows than you watch mine now.”
“That’s cause you make fun of me when I get jealous,” Wang Yibo said.
“For good reason. Why are you even getting jealous of fictional characters?” Xiao Zhan said.
“I’m jealous of anyone you’re around more than me,” Wang Yibo said matter-of-factly.
“You’re jealous of anyone I’m around period.”
“Is it my fault you’re the most beautiful person on earth?” Wang Yibo said. “I have a right to be jealous.”
Xiao Zhan rolled his eyes. “Well, I still expect you to watch The Oath of Love with me,” he said. “I’m gonna quiz you on the episodes.”
“Hah, that’s if you even remember what happens in those episodes,” Wang Yibo said. “And I’ve got a pretty good chance if you remember them as much as you remember our first meeting.”
Xiao Zhan sighed. “You really do have an ox-temper,” he said. “Stubborn.”
“Says the one who won’t let me win a single argument,” Wang Yibo said.
“That’s cause I’m reasonable so I only argue with you if I know I’m right.” Xiao Zhan sniffed.
“Wow, the bald-faced lies. I’m telling your parents the next time I see them,” Wang Yibo said.
“Then I’m telling your parents you bully me and see who’s gonna get in more trouble then,” Xiao Zhan said.
Wang Yibo sighed. “All right, all right, you win. Eat your food.”
Xiao Zhan smiled sweetly at him and obediently picked up his chopsticks.He hadn’t been paying much attention to the screen, occupied with talking to Wang Yibo, so he had no context when he heard the Wang Yibo on screen say, “I’m not older than 30.”
“Why are you bragging about your age?” Xiao Zhan said.
Wang Yibo glanced up at the screen, watching for a moment. “Oh, that’s when they had us play ‘I have, you don’t have,’” he said.
“How do you play that again?” Xiao Zhan asked. The game sounded familiar though he couldn’t remember the exact rules.
“Well their version, you hold up five fingers.” Wang Yibo held up one hand, waiting until Xiao Zhan paused the video and also held up one of his own. “Then you think of something you have that the other person doesn’t,” he said. “And try to eliminate the other person first, so if I said, I have a motorcycle license.”
Xiao Zhan put down one finger. “I can imitate Spongebob,” he said.
Wang Yibo grinned and put down one finger. “I don’t mind eating eggplants,” he said.
Xiao Zhan made a face and put down a finger. “I...went to university,” he said.
Wang Yibo put down a finger. “I went to idol-training,” he said.
“I can cook,” Xiao Zhan said.
Wang Yibo put down a finger. “I can do a handstand.”
Xiao Zhan put down his last finger and sighed. “This isn’t fun. We know each other too well.” He started up the video again. “Don’t you know them pretty well too? Yixing isn’t 30 yet.”
“How did you know that?” Wang Yibo said in between mouthfuls of food as Zhang Yixing said that exact thing on screen.
“His birthday is only a few days away from mine,” Xiao Zhan said. “He tried to call me ‘ge’ and I told him not to. Haven’t you been friends with him forever? Why don’t you know?”
“Why would I remember his birthday? He’s not my boyfriend,” Wang Yibo said.
“Wang Yibo, you—”
Wang Yibo looked completely unbothered.
“You really don’t remember any birthdays other than mine?” Xiao Zhan demanded.
“I remember mine,” Wang Yibo said. “And my parents.”
“Forget it, I don’t even have words for you,” Xiao Zhan said, picking up his bowl to start eating again.
“I’m romantic,” Wang Yibo said with a grin.
“You’re ridiculous,” Xiao Zhan said but felt a little happy anyway. “So did you lose? You’re the youngest.”
While Wang Yibo probably had more life experiences than the actual civilian given his job, he still usually lost when playing against others in the entertainment industry on account of being so young.
“No, Henry loses first,” Wang Yibo said. “His wave thing is pretty cool though,” he said. “Look, he’s about to do it.”
On screen, Henry Lau really did do the face wave, raising one ear, and then one eyebrow, the other eyebrow, and then the other ear to complete the rest with his other arm.
“Wow, can you do that?” Xiao Zhan turned to Wang Yibo.
Wang Yibo shook his head. “I tried, but I can’t do everything,” he said.
“You can do everything,” Xiao Zhan said. “Do it, wiggle your ear,” he ordered.
Wang Yibo, like the version of himself on the screen, looked down, concentrating to try and wiggle an ear, but no matter how hard he tried, it didn’t move.
Xiao Zhan laughed, happy that Wang Yibo had done it just because he asked. “I hope Henry pulls that out in a battle later on. That’s impressive,” he said.
“Don’t cheer for him. You’re only allowed to cheer for me,” Wang Yibo said. “And my team.”
“Right, right, I’ll only help you jiayou,” Xiao Zhan said and began eating again, turning his attention back to the show.
On screen, Han Geng said, “I have a wife.”
“Oh I remember this,” Wang Yibo slapped the table. “I was gonna say I have one too, but—”
“I’m your what ?” Xiao Zhan demanded. “Since when am I your wife?”
“I mean technically, that’s what everyone called you on set A-Ling,” Wang Yibo said.
Xiao Zhan bared his teeth at him.
“And you didn’t let me finish,” Wang Yibo said. “I was gonna say…” One corner of his lips quirked up in a mischievous smile. “...my motorcycle.”
Xiao Zhan stared at him for a moment and then put down his bowl and chopsticks, narrowed his eyes, and folded his arms. “You really want to say that, Wang Yibo?” he said.
Wang Yibo cackled at the same time as he tugged at Xiao Zhan’s arms, trying to pull him over into a hug. “All right, all right, I was just joking,” he said. “I already sold one wife for you, didn’t I?”
“Do you know how wrong that sounds?” Xiao Zhan demanded.
“You’re the only wife I—”
Xiao Zhan smacked him.
“The only husband I—”
Xiao Zhan pinched him this time, making Wang Yibo yelp.
“It’s only a matter of time, so I think it should count,” Wang Yibo insisted.
“Who said I want to marry you?” Xiao Zhan said.
“Don’t worry, even if you don’t now, I’ll make sure you do by the time we get married,” Wang Yibo said.
Sometimes, Xiao Zhan didn’t know where this self-assurance came from or if it was more charming or, “Annoying,” he said though he knew from Wang Yibo’s even wider grin that he was definitely blushing.
“Xiao Zhan, I mean it,” Wang Yibo said, leaning forward to take Xiao Zhan’s hand that had long-since loosened from his bowl with too much sincerity and earnestness. “Someday, that’s how I’m gonna introduce you.”
“As your wife?” Xiao Zhan said, trying to lighten the atmosphere because he could feel himself blushing harder.
“As your husband,” Wang Yibo said.
“Stupid…” Xiao Zhan mumbled, both annoyed and a little surprised that even after three years of dating, Wang Yibo could still make him feel butterflies like this.
Wang Yibo finally had mercy on him, though, and loosened his hand again, putting Xiao Zhan’s bowl back into one hand and chopsticks in the other. “Anyway, hurry and eat. We’ve nearly watched the whole episode and you’ve barely eaten anything,” he said, and when Xiao Zhan obediently began to eat, grinned again. “See? I take care of you so well, makes you want to marry me, doesn’t it?”
Xiao Zhan kicked him under the table.
After dinner while Wang Yibo was busy doing dishes, Xiao Zhan got involved in another set of work-related calls about some things his team now had to make doubly sure to keep track of online, and a short chat about new strategies for how to gauge popularity now that the rankings had all been pulled down. They weren’t too worried about Xiao Zhan as his current popularity was so high that brands were competing for him instead of vice versa, but it was still good to keep an eye on things.
By the time he’d gotten off the calls, Wang Yibo had finished not only the dishes but had also showered and gotten on a set of work calls himself with what sounded like his manager as was the life of an A-list celebrity.
And by the time Wang Yibo got off his call, Xiao Zhan had gotten into bed with his glasses on and was browsing Weibo.
“Looking at our CP supertopic again?” Wang Yibo said, crawling under the covers as Xiao Zhan scooted to make room for him.
“I’m not you,” Xiao Zhan said, ignoring him, but letting Wang Yibo sling an arm around his shoulders to pull him close.
“Doesn’t mean you’re not in it,” Wang Yibo said.
“My manager said I should post something while everyone knows you’re still in Beijing,” Xiao Zhan said. “She said I’ve been getting comments that I only post when you’re gone and it’s like I’m pinning the ‘fandom house collapsing guide’ on my Weibo. She says I’m being too obvious that we’re dating.”
“So let them collapse,” Wang Yibo said. “It’ll happen sooner or later.”
“Where does your self-assurance come from?” Xiao Zhan said absently as he tapped on a video.
“I have a wife,” Han Geng’s voice rang out from the speakers.
Spliced right after it was Wang Yibo’s, “So do I,” that he’d answered from a latter time in the video where he also had a racing license, followed by a third splice of Xiao Zhan’s own face with a photoshopped blush.
“You’re totally in our supertopic!” Wang Yibo shouted. “I knew it!”
“Ow, stop shouting,” Xiao Zhan said, hitting him a few times. “I can’t believe other people think the same as you out there.”
“So what?” Wang Yibo said, laughing harder, pressing on Xiao Zhan’s phone to replay the video. “Wow, they did a good job. It really looks like it.” He replayed it again.
A tinny, “I have a wife” and “I do too” rang out from the speakers again.
And then Wang Yibo replayed it a third time.
“Wang Yibo, stop watching it!” Xiao Zhan said.
Wang Yibo cackled and replayed it a fourth time until Xiao Zhan wrestled the phone back from him and shoved it under his pillow.
“Has anyone ever told you how annoying you are?” Xiao Zhan demanded.
“No,” Wang Yibo lied, holding up five fingers.
“That’s not how you play,” Xiao Zhan said. “And put your finger down.” He reached for Wang Yibo’s thumb, trying to wrestle it down as Wang Yibo moved his thumb back and forth, until Xiao Zhan caught it in a fist to forcefully push it down, laughing.
“Has anyone ever told you how cute you are?” Wang Yibo said.
“What is this? The opposite of ‘I have, you don’t have’?” Xiao Zhan said, rolling his eyes. “‘You have, I don’t have?’”
“Yup, no one’s ever said I’m cute—they always say I’m cool,” Wang Yibo lied to his face.
Xiao Zhan snorted. “Fine. has anyone ever told you how baobei you are?” he said.
“Never,” Wang Yibo said.
“Wow, I’m texting Yixing to tell him to give you back your plate,” Xiao Zhan said, reaching for his phone.
Wang Yibo caught him by the arm and wrestled him back until he’d pushed down one of Xiao Zhan’s fingers, leaving him with three left. “You’re the only baobei here,” he said.
“That was my question not yours!” Xiao Zhan argued.
“Well it’s gotta be untrue for you,” Wang Yibo said. He ignored Xiao Zhan’s struggles to hold Xiao Zhan’s thumb and first two fingers in his hand.
“Hey, that should still only be two down—why are you holding three of my fingers?” Xiao Zhan demanded.
“Taking a penalty for cheating,” Wang Yibo said.
“Who’s the cheater?” Xiao Zhan demanded. “I’ve never cheated!”
“Yeah, definitely you,” Wang Yibo said as he tried to wrestle another finger down. Xiao Zhan yelped and tried to kick him, laughing.
“Not fair, you barbarian!” Xiao Zhan said. “Ruffian!”
He struggled, but in the end, Wang Yibo’s hands were bigger and he caught Xiao Zhan’s pinky too.
Xiao Zhan pouted at him. “You’re really not kind, Bo-ge,” he said.
“Sure I am,” Wang Yibo said, holding up that hand that had all but the ring finger caught in Wang Yibo’s grip. “Last question—who’s got a husband?”
“Is this ‘I have, you don’t have,’ or ‘you have, I don’t have’ now?” Xiao Zhan said, doing his best to sound casual and not to blush as he looked up at him.
Wang Yibo kissed his ring finger. “Whichever you want it to be.” He grinned. “Either way, you’re losing.”