Work Text:
Zhang Jiale likes lounging on his bed like this, long floppy ears over his eyes, stretched out on his side, lazy and content. His nose twitches occasionally and he’s in a warm patch of sunlight with nothing pressing on his schedule, he checked. There is nothing he needs to do except laze about in the sunlight, and he drifts off into a nap before he can stop himself.
He wakes up to the sensation of tiny sharp teeth chewing on one of his ears, and he blinks his eyes open to meet the bright green eyes of Zhang Xinjie. Who is shifted and has commandeered one of his ears to chew on. Zhang Jiale cannot help but melt internally, no matter how many times he sees it, Zhang Xinjie’s shifted form of a tiny black kitten with little white tufts on his ears is endlessly endearing.
Zhang Xinjie had admitted that he’d expected his shifted form to grow with him as he got older, but his form remained kitten sized much to his consternation. Zhang Jiale had never voiced it, but he’d sent thanks to whatever ensured that Zhang Xinjie remained a tiny kitten, precisely for the fact that Zhang Xinjie was able to curl up in his stomach fluff.
Zhang Xinjie is still tugging insistently at his ear, and Zhang Jiale cracks his eyes open once more to see what the issue is. Zhang Xinjie puts his paws— his tiny little paws— on his side and futilely tries to roll him onto his back. Zhang Jiale catches on and rolls over obligingly so that Zhang Xinjie can clamber onto his tummy. He disappears into the fluff immediately and Zhang Jiale can feel the rumbling start up soon after.
Zhang Xinjie refuses to relinquish his grip on Zhang Jiale’s ears, drifting off to sleep and still gently chewing on his ear as he dreams. The rumbling of Zhang Xinjie soon soothes Zhang Jiale back to sleep, feeling the slight prick of Zhang Xinjie’s claws as he begins to knead at his stomach, contentment practically radiating off him in waves.
Zhang Jiale isn’t sure how much time has passed when he wakes up to the soft click of his door. He realises he’s shifted back in his sleep and Zhang Xinjie has now commandeered his shirt to chew on as he naps. He blinks lazy eyes to see Han Wenqing beside the bed, watching them both fondly. His voice is a low rumble as he speaks, familiar and comforting.
“He said I’d be able to find him here,” Zhang Jiale watches, slightly sadly, as Han Wenqing gently scoops Zhang Xinjie off his stomach. He manages to coax the still asleep kitten to give up his grip on the shirt in favour of being able to gnaw on Han Wenqing’s finger instead. Zhang Jiale is abruptly reminded that Zhang Xinjie fits easily in just one of Han Wenqing’s hands.
“Was it the ears again?” Han Wenqing looks fondly exasperated and his tail swishes behind him and Zhang Jiale wishes that Fang Rui was here to try and capture it.
“He informed me that his craving could not be satisfied with my small ears and then he left. Jingyan was betrayed.” Zhang Jiale held back a snort at the image of calm Lin Jingyan desperately trying to coax a shifted Zhang Xinjie closer. He reaches up to tweak one of Han Wenqing’s striped ears, which soon turns into petting him, and relishes in the way his captain leans into his touch.
“You left Jingyan, alone and betrayed?” Han Wenqing didn’t get the opportunity to answer as the door to the room is nudged open and Lin Jingyan comes padding in. He noses at Zhang Jiale gently and he reaches down to scratch at his ears. “You want me to ride on you?” At the more insistent and enthusiastic nudge Zhang Jiale is about to shift before he catches sight of what Han Wenqing is doing.
“Are you putting Xinjie in your pocket? ” In fairness, Zhang Xinjie is very pocket sized, in fact, now that Zhang Xinjie is in the pocket with his little tail poking out, Zhang Jiale is mostly distracted by how cute this is. He mentally pulls himself back on track to think about how Han Wenqing should not be putting his vice-captain in his pocket, no matter how tiny and pocket sized he actually is.
“My Xinjie likes it.” Zhang Jiale’s ears prick up, something that makes Lin Jingyan rumble in delight, and he realises he can actually hear Zhang Xinjie purring. Lin Jingyan then headbutts him more insistently, making him sway this time and Zhang Jiale shifts, landing in his bunny form with a soft thump.
Han Wenqing’s hand is warm as he’s gently lifted and placed securely on Lin Jingyan’s back. Zhang Jiale wriggles, making himself more comfortable before going boneless. Lin Jingyan is always so warm and he’s content to remain as he’s transported to the common room.
Han Wenqing takes a seat, Zhang Xinjie still in his pocket, and as soon as he looks settled, Lin Jingyan pads over and rests his head in Han Wenqing’s lap, blinking slowly and happily at him.
Zhang Jiale, not one to be outdone, shuffles until he’s in Lin Jingyan’s mane, happy to flop over onto his side when he’s safely ensconced in Lin Jingyan’s mane.
He isn’t fully aware of what is going on, he can hear the hum of the TV, but he’s mostly focusing on the soft noises Lin Jingyan is making, and the fact that Han Wenqing’s hand is gently stroking over his tummy. He wriggles a couple of times to demonstrate his happiness before he goes boneless under the touch.
The peace is interrupted by a series of indignant squeaks coming from Han Wenqing’s pocket and Zhang Xinjie’s ruffled little head pokes out, little nose twitching. Han Wenqing reaches down to move him, but Zhang Xinjie bats at his hand insistently until Han Wenqing retracts it.
Zhang Jiale watches with increasing delight as Zhang Xinjie begins to make his journey up from Han Wenqing’s pocket to the crook of his neck. He tumbles a few times, but he adamantly refuses any offers of help until he reaches his destination. He then sits there haughtily, carefully grooming his ruffled fur back into place.
Zhang Jiale pokes his head out of the fluff of Lin Jingyan’s mane in favour of twitching his nose at Zhang Xinjie. He gets a tiny flick of his tail in response and it’s enough for Zhang Jiale to stretch out again in contentment.
In the warmth of Lin Jingyan’s mane, there’s nothing better to do than take a nap, and Zhang Jiale is up to the task, falling asleep soon after.
Zhang Jiale is the first to admit that he’s not a morning person. When Zhang Xinjie slips out of bed to go on his morning walk, Zhang Jiale will make a series of noises that don’t constitute language as Zhang Xinjie presses a kiss to his forehead and reminds him what time breakfast is. Unlike some of his other partners, Zhang Jiale is not good at dragging himself out of bed to join Zhang Xinjie on his walk. The one time he did he walked straight into a tree and Zhang Xinjie had fondly told him to go back to bed.
So it is a surprise to exactly no one when Zhang Jiale comes wandering down to breakfast twenty minutes late, hair still half over his face. Zhang Xinjie’s tail flicks with displeasure and he comes over to brush his hair out of his face, securing it with one of the ever-present hair ties since Zhang Jiale had joined the team.
Zhang Jiale takes a moment to press his face into Zhang Xinjie’s neck, pressing a kiss to his skin and humming happily, content to bask in his presence for a long moment. He ignores Ye Xiu patting his tail fondly, knowing that the puff of his tail tended to be irresistible for his partners. He does react when Zhang Xinjie tugs at one of his ears, stroking the fur before speaking.
“Breakfast is on the table Jiale.” Zhang Jiale makes a disgruntled noise before prying himself off Zhang Xinjie and accepting the bowl and spoon from Han Wenqing. If he was a little more awake and observant, then he may have noticed the quirk of Han Wenqing’s lips.
Zhang Jiale puts his spoon into his bowl and the contents squeaks. He blinks, brow furrowing as he thinks about how he’s supposed to have congee in his bowl and that congee isn’t supposed to squeak. He looks down at his bowl properly for the first time and Fang Rui is curled up in the bowl, blinking up at him cutely. Zhang Jiale looks around the table properly and notices that he’s being mocked. Lin Jingyan reaches over from where he’s sat and tweaks one of his ears fondly.
“We were convinced by Ye Xiu?” The hopeful lilt in his voice merely cements Zhang Jiale’s belief that they were all in on this and plotting against him.
“You do say that Fang Rui is a skam noodle, Jiale.” Han Wenqing’s betrayal was backed up by Fang Rui squeaking enthusiastically from where he was still coiled up in the bowl. Han Wenqing reaches over to try and fish him out of the bowl and he is foiled by Fang Rui making a sad noise and trying to burrow deeper into the ceramic.
“If only the fans could see you now Lao Han, defeated by a ferret.” Ye Xiu blows out a plume of smoke after speaking, as if to punctuate his point. Zhang Xinjie had once asked Ye Xiu why he even took up smoking if he can blow out smoke at will, Ye Xiu had blinked a few times in confusion before tilting Zhang Xinjie’s face up for a kiss. Zhang Xinjie had remained standing in the hall for a few moments afterwards, cheeks pink before mumbling that the kiss hadn’t actually answered his question.
Han Wenqing gives up on trying to coax Fang Rui out of the bowl, deciding to nudge the bowl into the centre of the table instead, letting Fang Rui crow over his victory happily and moving back to the kitchen to get Zhang Jiale an actual bowl of food. Fang Rui, after deciding that his bowl was safe from being confiscated, hops out of the bowl and runs around the table to excitedly squeak at everyone around the table, pressing his face against their hands, nuzzling in close. He also tries to stick his face in Zhang Jiale’s congee but Lin Jingyan scoops him up and places him on the floor before flicking his tail around to distract him. Fang Rui’s delight is punctuated by the soft thud thud thud of Lin Jingyan’s tail.
Zhang Jiale takes the reprieve for the blessing that it is, eating quickly to stave off the inevitable slightly disgruntled looks Zhang Xinjie would start shooting at him soon. As much as today has been scheduled for the rare opportunity to have all six of them in the same place, it doesn’t mean Zhang Xinjie appreciates any deviation for what little is scheduled
As Ye Xiu moves to clean his bowl and to go bother Han Wenqing under the guise of helping, he takes the opportunity to tweak at one of Zhang Jiale’s ears, enjoying the way it makes him yelp indignantly and swipe at him. Ye Xiu dodges out of the way and Zhang Jiale can hear the low murmur of his voice and he would bet Dazzling Hundred Blossoms that Ye Xiu is scritching at Han Wenqing’s ears to distract him.
When Zhang Jiale goes to wash his own plate, Ye Xiu has shifted and shrunk to a much smaller size and is floating out of reach and puffing out small rings of smoke that drift lazily through the air. Zhang Jiale tries to reach out and grab him but Ye Xiu floats out of the way, throws his head back like he’s laughing before flying out of the room, still blowing his smoke rings.
A loud cancopahcy starts up soon after this, and then Ye Xiu comes speeding through the kitchen, Fang Rui on his back and Zhang Xinjie clutched in his claws. Fang Rui’s squeaks seem to be full of excitement and are clearly egging Ye Xiu on, while Zhang Xinjie’s squeaks clearly convey his disgruntlement, as does the way he’s gnawing at Ye Xiu’s claws. Lin Jingyan goes bounding after them, more to rescue Zhang Xinjie than Fang Rui and Zhang Jiale can’t help but laugh, sounding ringing out in the kitchen. He catches Han Wenqing’s eye and watches in delight as a smile spreads across his face and he reaches up to cup his face briefly, touch soft.
He knows that Zhang Xinjie likely heard his laughter, Ye Xiu wasn’t flying that quickly, and he knew that he would likely nip at his ears a few times in order to demonstrate his displeasure, but then he’d settle down for a cuddle and the rest of them would gather around, content to bask in each other’s company, warm and content. Zhang Jiale can’t think of anything he would rather have.