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There’s a sudden rattling vibration that startles Lan Zhan awake. He blinks blearily and calculates where the sound is coming from. He’s met with silence, and within seconds, he’s plopped his head back down onto his warm and cozy pillows.
There’s a few seconds in which he comes to a startling realization that his phone is on ‘Do Not Disturb’. Only a handful of people’s calls go through at this time of night, so he sits up once again and begins to pat down the bed in search of his phone.
He comes up empty handed.
He glances over to his left, and sighs, granting himself a moment to admire the sleeping form besides him. He brushes a few stray strands of hair away from Jiang Cheng’s face, smiling fondly as a soft little snore escapes through his lips.
His phone begins to vibrate once more with an incoming call and Lan Zhan sighs remembering why he’s up in the first place. Turning to where the sound is coming from, he inwardly bemoans the fact that his phone is unfortunately sitting on the very edge of his bedside table and all he can do is merely watch as it vibrates off onto the floor.
He leans over Jiang Cheng, and blindly pats the ground in search of his phone. Thankfully the man is a heavy sleeper so he simple sighs in his sleep and snuggles deeper into his pillow. Finally, his hand grazes the edge of his phone, and he’s able to lift it up, quickly answering the call.
“Yanli is going into labor” his brother says in lieu of a greeting and Lan Zhan nearly falls off his bed.
“Seriously?” he asks in a near shout, though it’s silly, he can’t fathom why his brother would call him at two in the morning just lie to him about such a thing.
“A-Yao just received a call from a very frantic and frazzled Zixuan. They’ve almost reached the hospital. We tried contacting A-Cheng, but his phone keeps going to voicemail. Figured you could wake him up and let him know he’s minutes away from becoming an uncle” Lan Huan says.
There’s some shuffling in the background, followed by an urgent and slightly angry yell.
“Lan Huan, hurry the hell up!”
“A-Yao, darling, relax” Mingjue laughs.
“Jiang Cheng? Wait—what? Why would I know—what?” Lan Zhan questions ignoring the voices of his brother’s boyfriends. He panics slightly blaming it on his sleep muddled brain. Could his brother somehow know about his and Jiang Cheng’s relationship—or well, whatever it is they have going on. They haven’t really quite talked about it.
“Well you’re his roommate” Lan Huan laughs before asking, “is A-Zhan still asleep?” and Lan Zhan’s shoulder sag in relief.
Roommates. Right.
“Lan Zhan, wake Jiang Cheng up! Tell him our nephew is seconds away from being born!” Jin Guangyao screams.
“Mn. I’ll make sure to get Jiang Cheng to the hospital in time” Lan Zhan assures before hanging up.
Unable to help himself, Lan Zhan softly graces with the tip of his finger the contours of Jiang Cheng’s face. From his brow bone, to his nose, across his cheek bone down to his lips and chin. He prods his shoulder lightly and whispers his name.
Jiang Cheng whines sleepily and bats away Lan Zhan’s hand.
“Five more minutes” he mumbles when Lan Zhan shakes him a bit. He plops his arm backwards, stretching out on the bed.
“A-Cheng doesn’t have five minutes” Lan Zhan says softly as he maneuvers himself atop Jiang Cheng. “A-Cheng’s jiejie is about to give birth”
“Whose doing labor?” comes the sleepy mumble and Lan Zhan huffs a laugh.
“Your sister is going into labor, come on, we have to go. You’re going to be an uncle”
“My sister is gonna have a baby?” Jiang Cheng asks slowly sitting up in bed hands subconsciously lazily running up and down Lan Zhan’s thighs. “Oh my god—oh my god, my sister is having a baby. Oh my god, Lan Zhan! I’m gonna be an uncle!” he exclaims more awake, clutching at Lan Zhan’s thighs in a bruising gripping vice.
“Congratulations” Lan Zhan says with a soft smile pecking him on the lips. He reluctantly removes himself off of Jiang Cheng and pulls him off the bed. He quickly hands him his discarded sweats, and walks over to his closet to pull on a clean t-shirt over himself. “Here” he says handing Jiang Cheng one of his hoodies, “you get cold easily, come on”
Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes at him, but takes it nonetheless, a beautiful scarlet blush adorning his cheeks.
—
Child birth was stressful.
Not only that, but Lan Zhan was slightly on edge.
There wasn’t much he could do for Jiang Cheng, whose shoulders were a hard tense line, jaw set in a firm lock. His bottom lip was plump and slightly bruised from him worrying it between his teeth so much.
All the waiting and not knowing was nerve wrecking, and Lan Zhan couldn’t help but feel anxious with everyone around him, especially Jiang Cheng, looking so damn worried. He feels terribly selfish but he realizes he needs Jiang Cheng tucked safely between his arms, body a solid comforting anchor to appease his nerves and anxiety.
He briefly wonders if Jiang Cheng feels the same.
He sets out to look for him, recalling briefly him mentioning he needed more caffeine to make through another hour of this. Eventually Lan Zhan finds him leaning against a wall near the coffee machine area in the waiting room. His stomach drops when he catches sight of some nurse caressing his arm, while she twirls a strand of her hair in her other hand. He can’t really tell from this angle if Jiang Cheng seems interested in her or not, but nausea rises up in his throat and he’s bolting back to where he came from.
He thinks he can hear someone calling his name, but he’s not too sure. The blood rushing in his ears is far too loud to focus.
A hand takes his wrist and he stops dead in his tracks.
“Lan Zhan—hey, A-Zhan, is everything okay?” Jiang Cheng asks worriedly hands cradling Lan Zhan’s face carefully.
“Mn.” Lan Zhan nods, but his visions getting a little hazy and his hands keep shaking at his sides.
“Look at you—you’re shaking, A-Zhan, what’s the matter baby?” Jiang Cheng asks wiping away a stray tear from Lan Zhan’s cheek. “Tell me what’s wrong”
Lan Zhan shakes his head, but peeks over Jiang Cheng’s shoulder, which doesn’t go unnoticed.
“Do—do you like…”
“A-Zhan, for god’s sake…no! What the hell?”
“You’re angry?” Lan Zhan quizzes.
“Gee, what gave it away? Damn it, Lan Zhan. Is that what you think of me?” Jiang Cheng hisses stepping back.
“Of course not” Lan Zhan bristles, “but you are free to do as you please. I just wondered if—“
“Free to—Free to what, Lan Zhan?” Jiang Cheng questions angrily. “Are you—I mean do you…do you not want to be with me anymore?” he asks defeated.
“I want to be with you always” Lan Zhan whispers, “wasn’t sure how A-Cheng felt” he says moving in to timidly take Jiang Cheng’s hand in his.
“I thought I was being obvious”
“You never said”
“Well, it seems I made a mistake, then” Jiang Cheng sighs.
Lan Zhan crowds Jiang Cheng against the wall and kisses him soundly, swallowing every gasp and whimper and moan.
“So” someone says clearing their throat, and Lan Zhan reluctantly releases Jiang Cheng, “we’re done pretending y’all aren’t fucking anymore?” Lan Huan laughs.
With burning ears, Lan Zhan shoves past his brother dragging his boyfriend away.