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Lan Huan woke up in a white linen covered bed which was usual…only this one was half the size of his normal one. He blinked up at the ceiling. These were not his hand crafted light fixtures, those were garish fluorescents. He looked at his hands and arms. There was a needle lodged in one of them. Well that wasn’t right. He went to remove the needle but a hand gently covered his.
“Hey big guy,” the voice said softly. “You need to leave that in, okay? Let the nurse remove it later.”
Lan Huan’s eyes travelled up the man’s arm to his face. Jiang Cheng. His lovely Jiang Cheng. The man he had had a crush on for a year now was smiling down at him and…touching him.
“Am I dead?” Lan Huan asked.
Jiang Cheng shook his head. “No, sweetheart. You fell, it was Fairy’s fault. You were walking her and she saw a squirrel, she launched herself at it, sending you flying. I had to send Wei Ying to collect her as I had to get you to the hospital as soon as I could. That’s why we are here now.”
“I was walking Fairy…with you?” Lan Huan was very confused. As far as he was aware he had only had a few brief cherished conversations with Jiang Cheng.
Jiang Cheng frowned down at him and put a cool hand on his brow. “What do you remember last?” he asked.
“Wangji's wedding to Wei Ying,” Lan Huan replied.
Jiang Cheng’s eyes widened. “And nothing after?”
Lan Huan shook his head. “Is that wrong?”
Jiang Cheng bit his lip. “No it’s not wrong, it’s just…” He sat down and took Lan Huan’s hand. “I’ll talk to the doctor about it when he gets here, you just rest.”
Lan Huan looked at their joined hands. “You’ve never touched me like this before,” he said.
“I…no I suppose I haven’t,” Jiang Cheng replied.
“Do you know?”
“Know what?” Jiang Cheng asked.
“Do you know about my crush on you? Is that why you’re being so nice to me right now?”
Jiang Cheng cocked his head to the side. “You had a crush on me that far back? When did it start?”
“From the day Wei Ying said this is my brother Jiang Cheng.”
Jiang Cheng’s mouth opened wide. “What! You never told me this before!”
“That is because Wangji forbade me,” Lan Huan said sadly.
“He forbade you?” Jiang Cheng parroted.
Lan Huan nodded. “He said I couldn’t approach you because it might jeopardise his relationship with Wei Ying so I could only admire you from afar.”
“Ahhh, this makes sense now. That’s why I had to approach you,” Jiang Cheng said.
“What?” Lan Huan asked.
Jiang Cheng shook his head. “Nothing, carry on.”
“You don’t understand how torturous it’s been Jiang Cheng. Every time you wear those tight jeans I want to do inappropriate things to you…”
“Ahhh yes, you’ve always been an ass man...”
“And when Wangji said I could not have you, it made it even worse! You were like forbidden fruit! I wanted to taste you so badly I was salivating!”
Jiang Cheng snorted. “I feel like it’s wrong to be happy right now but this might be one of the best days of my life.”
Suddenly Lan Huan turned onto his side and clasped Jiang Cheng’s hand in his. “I’ve been given a second chance at life, A-Cheng!”
“It’s just a little concussion…”
“My mortal form remains to see another day on this glorious spinning ball and I don’t intend to waste a second of it! Marry me Jiang Cheng!”
Jiang Cheng spluttered. “What?”
“Marry me. I can’t live another day without you. I know you don’t love me, but marry me for any other reason…because…because I’m rich! You’d never have to work another day if you don’t want to. Or marry me because I’ve been reliably informed I have a well endowed pe..”
Jiang Cheng put a hand over his mouth. “Please stop talking,” he muttered.
Lan Huan looked up at him with imploring eyes and Jiang Cheng whined. “Don’t give me that face, that face is cheating.” he pulled his hand away.
“I’m sorry Jiang Cheng, I will be silent. I know all this is coming out of the blue for you…”
“Actually it’s a lot more familiar than you realise…” Jiang Cheng muttered.
Just then the doctor entered the room and Jiang Cheng took him aside to talk. Lan Huan pouted and tried to think of a way to get Jiang Cheng to be more responsive to his advances. Maybe he could convince the nurse to give him a sponge bath, he knew his abs were looking good, he rolled up his top and let out a little shriek. Jiang Cheng ran back to his side. “What? What’s wrong?” he asked.
“My abs! What happened? I’m all squishy!” Lan Huan poked himself in the stomach.
Jiang Cheng sighed. “You are not all squishy you just haven’t had as much time to hit the gym recently…”
“What? But I go every day! I don’t understand.”
“You’ve lost a few of your memories.”
“I have?”
Jiang Cheng nodded. “The doctor has explained you have temporary amnesia. It shouldn’t last. We just need to give you some time.”
“How much time have I lost?”
“A little over a year…”
“A year? I’ve lost a whole year!”
Jiang Cheng nodded. “But it’s temporary!”
Lan Huan swallowed. “I think I need you to hold my hand again.”
Jiang Cheng immediately took his hand in his and squeezed it. “Everything is going to be fine, I’m right here.”
“Where is Wangji?” Lan Huan asked.
“He’s on his way now, with Wei Ying and…well maybe I need to explain about…”
“ShuShu!” A small child came running into the hospital at that very moment and wrapped an arm around Lan Huan’s leg. He lay his head down on top of the leg he now held tightly in his little hand. “ShuShu don’t die,” he whispered.
Wei Ying suddenly appeared behind A-Yuan and collected him up into his arms. “Now, my little radish! We talked about this! Your ShuShu is fine, he just needs a little rest.”
Wangji came to stand next to Wei Ying. “Brother, how are you?” he asked.
Lan Huan blinked back at them all then beamed. “I’m a ShuShu! When? How? Can I hold him? Put him down next to me, I want to look at him!”
Wei Ying and Lan Zhan exchanged worried glances but placed A-Yuan down onto the bed much to A-Yuan and Lan Huan’s sheer delight.
Jiang Cheng pulled the two men aside. “He doesn’t remember anything past the wedding…” Jiang Cheng explained.
Wei Ying frowned. “But the wedding was after we adopted A-Yuan…”
“Not that wedding,” Jiang Cheng mumbled. “Your wedding.”
“Ahh,” Wangji said. “Is it permanent?”
Jiang Cheng shook his head. “The doctor thinks it is temporary, so I’m just trying to keep him happy and hoping it will all return soon.”
Wei Ying’s eyes widened. “Oh god, he doesn’t remember that you two are…”
“No, I think it’s best to keep it that way for now.”
Lan Zhan and Wei Ying nodded and Wei Ying squeezed his brother’s hand reassuringly. “He’ll remember you soon, I’m sure of it.”
Jiang Cheng looked away awkwardly and nodded. They moved back towards the bed where Lan Huan was playing pat-a-cake with A-Yuan. “Oh I love him so much! Will there be more? Perhaps a girl? A-Yuan has been telling me how much he would love a sister.”
Wei Ying laughed. “Maybe one day, this one is quite a handful by himself but then you know what it’s…”
Jiang Cheng gave him Wei Ying a look and he stopped talking. “Anyway, how are you feeling?” Wei Ying asked.
“I feel fine, I've escaped death!” Lan Huan exclaimed.
Wei Ying looked at Jiang Cheng who rolled his eyes. “Oh Lan Zhan he did tell me you forbade him to pursue me, which we’re gonna have a little talk about at some point.”
Wei Ying’s eyes widened. “Lan Zhan you did? That’s so hot.”
Jiang Cheng shook his head. “You two deserve each other.”
Lan Huan looked up from the bed at Jiang Cheng. “We could have that too,” he said wistfully. “If you would only marry me.”
“What?” Lan Zhan said.
Jiang Cheng pinched his nose. “He keeps asking me to marry him.”
“Oh my god that’s adorable!” Wei Ying squealed. “A-Cheng I think you should tell him…”
“Tell me what?” Lan Huan asked.
Wei Ying picked up A-Yuan. “We’ll leave you to talk,” he said as he headed out of the room with Lan Zhan following closely behind.
Jiang Cheng rubbed his forehead.
“What does he think you should tell me?” Lan Huan asked.
“Nothing,” Jiang Cheng mumbled.
“A-Cheng, please if there is something I should know I implore you to share it…”
“I’m already married,” Jiang Cheng shouted.
“What?” Lan Huan asked.
“I’m already married,” Jiang Cheng mumbled, looking down at the floor.
Lan Huan put a hand over his heart. “So this is what it feels like when your heart crumbles into a thousand tiny pieces,” he said sadly.
“Oh God, don’t look like that, I can’t take it,” Jiang Cheng said as he leaned in to kiss Lan Huan’s forehead. “I’m married to you, you big dumb idiot.”
Lan Huan blinked. “What?” he asked.
“I’m married to you,” Jiang Cheng said, pointing to his wedding ring and it’s matching counterpart on Lan Huan’s hand.
“This can’t be real…did I die? Are you just a figment of my imagination?”
“Dear God, okay I guess we’re doing this,” Jiang Cheng slumped back into a chair next to the bed. “Okay, so after those two horn dogs got married, I was feeling a bit sad that I still hadn’t met anyone and I guess you were feeling a bit sad about your feelings for me. Anyway, we got to talking one night, we’d both had a lot to drink and one thing led to another and…”
Lan Huan’s eyes widened. “We kissed?”
Jiang Cheng rubbed his forehead. “Erm…we did a lot more than that…”he muttered as his cheeks turned red.
“What? Tell me! I want to know it all!” Lan Huan said excitedly.
“We had sex, okay?” Jiang Cheng hissed.
“Oh my goodness! And who was the giver and who was the receiver?” Lan Huan asked delightedly.
“I am so glad you have your own private room right now, I was the receiver, okay? But we’ve been known to…switch it up on occasion and now I want a hole to appear in the floor and swallow me whole.”
Lan Huan beamed back at him from the bed. “What happened the following day?”
“Well, I went into shutdown mode, convinced that you wouldn’t want anything else to do with me. But you…you immediately programmed your number into my phone and demanded I go to breakfast with you and while we were at the table waiting for our eggs you never let go of my hand, not once. Then I started thinking, hey, maybe this is more than just a one night thing.”
“Of course you were more than a one night thing! My A-Cheng! My sweet, sweet A-Cheng! I’m devastated to have forgotten our relationship but I’m thrilled to call you mine.”
Jiang Cheng shook his head but a small smile appeared on his face. “Anyway, after that we started seeing each other, in secret at first.”
“In secret? Oh my how delicious!”
Jiang Cheng laughed. “Yes you loved it. We just weren’t sure how Lan Zhan would take the news, and it was sorta nice to have something that was just ours you know?”
Lan Huan looked at him. “I know this is a strange situation, but I really want to kiss you, and it’s such a strong urge that I might…”
“Die if I don’t get to taste you right now…” Jiang Cheng interjected before leaning forward and pressing their lips together. He pulled away with his eyes still closed and pressed their foreheads together. “You say that all the time,” he sighed.
“I wish I could remember you,” Lan Huan whispered.
Jiang Cheng kissed his forehead. “It’s temporary, remember? You’ll remember me soon. Let’s keep talking.”
“Who proposed?” Lan Huan asked.
Jiang Cheng sat back down. “That’s actually a funny story. You had this whole big thing planned for my birthday. Fancy restaurant, balloon ride over the city, I think there might also have been a dove release at some point? Then you were gonna pull out the ring and make me the happiest man alive,” he shook his head. “Then one night you were just making me dinner and I was moaning about how everyone was an idiot and the world would be a better place if they just all did what I told them to do. Then you turned to me and with complete sincerity you said ‘I will always do everything you tell me too sweetheart’ and that was it. I knew.”
“You knew what?” Lan Huan said, hanging on his every word.
“I knew you were my end game, my forever. I threw you down on the dinner table, kissed you like a sailor on leave and practically ordered you to marry me, luckily you were completely on board. We were married six weeks later.”
Lan Huan sighed. “I want to remember. I want to remember all of it.”
“I know, and you will…there’s probably something else I should tell you…”
“What?” Lan Huan asked.
Jiang Cheng smiled. “It’s getting late. I’ll tell you tomorrow, huh? You need to get some sleep.”
Lan Huan nodded and lay down. Jiang Cheng kissed his lips gently. “Sweet dreams, baby,” he murmured.
“I hope they are of you,” Lan Huan replied as he closed his eyes.
**********
Lan Huan did dream of Jiang Cheng and millions of kisses and thousands of touches and hundreds of happy days and somewhere in the middle of all that happiness was a little boy with his hands holding tightly to both of theirs, looking up at them both with eyes filled with love…
The next day, when Jiang Cheng arrived, that same little boy Lan Huan had seen in his dreams was holding his hand and practically dragging Jiang Cheng towards the bed. “Baba!” The little one shouted as he clambered up onto the bed and threw himself at Lan Huan. “Hello Jingyi,” Lan Huan said with tears in his eyes. He kissed the boy's temple as he hugged him tightly. “I missed you.”
“Baba, I missed you too! A-Die is rubbish at playing chess!”
“Hey!” Jiang Cheng retorted as Lan Huan chuckled. Jiang Cheng leaned down and kissed Lan Huan. “You remember us?”
Lan Huan nodded. “Every wonderful second.”
Jiang Cheng let out a breath of relief. “Thank God, they’re letting you out today. I was so worried I was going to have to set up the spare bedroom.”
“Do not do that,” Lan Huan said in a low voice.
“Baba coming home? Yey!” Jingyi said, waving his hands in the air. “Baba tells the best bedtime stories!”
Jiang Cheng put his hands on his hips. “Well it’s clear you have a favourite parent!”
Jingyi stuck his tongue out at him and turned to Lan Huan. “Baba, he told me bedtime stories about killer monkeys and nasty witches!”
“It was the wizard of Oz, it’s a classic!”
“It was too scary!”
Lan Huan smiled at them both. “My wonderful family. I wouldn’t change you for anything.”
“We wouldn’t change you either Baba,” Jingyi said, hugging him once more.
Jiang Cheng came to sit on the side of the bed and put his arms around both of them. “You are both my world,” he said softly. “Come on, let’s go home.”
**********