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Lan Zhan, historically, does not like surprises. He likes to know in advance what is happening and when. He likes to read menus before leaving the house. He likes to have a meticulously organized grocery list for their twice-weekly trips to the store. He likes to add outings and routine events to the shared calendar in his trademarked baby blue tile color. He likes routine and plans going As Planned.
So of course his favorite part of his life was a delightful, startling, wonderful surprise. Since they first bumbled into each other, just children, just learning who they are, knowing Wei Ying has always been one groundbreaking discovery of life and self after another. When Wei Ying asked if he could plan something special for him for today as a surprise, Lan Zhan couldn’t think of a good reason to deny him.
“It’s your birthday, sweetheart! It’ll be a good surprise, I promise. I’ll plan the whole day, and I’ll tell you what to wear and when to be ready to go, and I’ll make sure you get to eat something really good. And the day after, we’ll spend the whole day in, just us.” He’d wrapped his arms around Lan Zhan’s waist, in their freshly painted living room with the artwork finally on the walls. “We’ll have really good sex and go on an adventure and order dim sum and make those sweet potato tacos you love and have a spa day and lounge on the couch and watch cartoons your uncle wouldn’t approve of. A nice, long extended weekend just the two of us. I promise, baby.”
In the wake of such promising offers, Lan Zhan agreed, tentatively, if his boss permitted the unnecessary days off. To his dismay and excitement (Lan Zhan contains conflicting if predictable multitudes) his boss had been delighted to give him the days off, chirping about how Lan Zhan hasn’t taken a day off since Wei Ying nearly died of appendicitis.
(This was also how his coworkers discovered he even had a partner- Lan Zhan begging Qin Su for a ride to the hospital because he was too busy panicking to drive. Wei Ying teases him about it to this day. Lan Zhan reminds him about having severe stomach pain for three days and not saying anything. Wei Ying promises not to be such a dumbass again. Lan Zhan forgives him. On it goes.)
Now, on a Thursday of all days, after the promised really good sex (really good, actually, wow), Lan Zhan is freshly showered, thick hair woven back in a soft rope braid, stomach full of French toast, fresh fruit, and green tea. He’s dressed in a white, hand-knitted turtleneck wool sweater and a pair of azure blue, wide-leg overalls with a cinched waist- Wei Ying told him to wear something practical, and this is not only practical but makes Wei Ying say, “Holy fuck, baby, you’re so pretty! Are you trying to kill me?”
“Mn.” He pushes his glasses up his nose, the silver glasses chain tinkling.
Wei Ying laughs in that bashful way of his that makes his cheeks turn pink and his nose crinkle and his eyes turn into soft little half-moons. “I have something for you.”
Wei Ying reaches into the under-the-stairs closet (also called the Spider Closet for very important reasons) and draws out a soft bundle wrapped in azure blue fabric with pinked edges.
“Happy birthday, baby.”
When Lan Zhan unwraps the bundle, he gasps. It’s a quilted jacket, similar to ones he was admiring on Amazon but didn’t purchase due to the synthetic fabrics. This one is pure cotton with wool batting according to the delicate embroidery on the collar seam, stitched in a single strand of cobalt blue embroidery thread. The different patches of blues and whites and hints of pale pink are exactly what he’d wished for, the frog buttons a call to his heritage and the dropped shoulders softening his imposing frame.
“Did you- Wei Ying did you make this?”
“Yeah. I know you liked that cheap one. It wasn’t hard. Lots of little pieces, so I actually reduced my scraps a bit. No big deal-”
“When did you do this?” Lan Zhan had already let the quilted jacket disappointment go months ago, assuming it wasn’t meant to be.
Wei Ying never knew how to let anything go, including him. Wei Ying recycles kindness like a rebreather recycles air.
“In free moments while you were at work. I just tucked the pieces in the bin with the blanket I’m making you. You didn’t even notice!” Wei Ying shifts. “Do you like it? I know it’s not exactly like the one you wanted, but-”
“It is perfect. I love it. I will wear it every day.”
“Not every day. It’s too hot to wear everyday. I’ll make you a thin one for warmer months.”
Lan Zhan hums, slipping his arms into the sleeves of The Jacket, leaning forward to kiss his partner, all cherry ChapStick and warmth.
“Thank you. Wei Ying.”
“There are- mn- pockets. On the- On the inside. And the out- outside,” Wei Ying murmurs between kisses. He adjusts Lan Zhan’s new threader earrings, the little preserved forget-me-nots swaying, casting light on the foyer wall. A birthday gift from Nie Huaisang, to celebrate his second piercings healing.
(Yes, Shufu knows. No, he’s not thrilled. Heaven forbid he finds out about the butterfly tattoo on his back.)
“Okay, you’re perfect! Come on, sweetie, let’s go!” Wei Ying grabs the keys and bounds out the door, dragging Lan Zhan by the hand. “We’re going for a twenty-five minute drive, so if you want to put on a podcast episode or an audiobook, you will have time. We’re not going on I-4.”
Lan Zhan hums, settling into the passenger seat and turning the seat warmer on. He picks an episode of Behind the Bastards (The History of American Masculinity Grifters Part 1) and Wei Ying cheers. Wei Ying loves Behind the Bastards, and Lan Zhan doesn’t mind it. It’s his birthday, and he wants to watch his partner’s smiles, wants to keep them in a jar like glowing fireflies.
Settling back against the heated seat and snuggled into The Jacket, Lan Zhan puts his faith in Wei Ying. Not knowing the plan makes him anxious, but he's known Wei Ying for a decade, loved him just as long, and now they live together and have a life shared. On Lunar New Year, he is going to give this man a Ring, but for now, he'll just sit in the car and gaze star-struck at his beloved.
Wei Ying laughs along as Robert Evans criticizes some kind of weirdly militarized masculinity grifter beach vacation bootcamp… thing. One hand sits far too casually on the steering wheel, and the other is brushing a thumb over Lan Zhan’s knuckles. Wei Ying’s hand is brown-skinned, darker than the rest of him, with rough, pale palms. They're covered in tiny scars from cuts and burns, pale, shimmering pink in bright relief against dark skin and intersecting brightly colored tattoos. The thumb is calloused, stiff and creased with dryness and wear from the many works Wei Ying applies himself to.
Never found a skill he wouldn't learn, his Wei Ying.
“Twelve thousand dollars? Baby! We could take a whole vacation with that!”
“We have. We went to Arizona and went stargazing. We spent barely one thousand dollars.”
Most of that money was spent on their cheap flights and cheap lodging, spending their days in motels and eating peanut butter ramen to stretch their budget and replace all the salt they sweat out. It was the best, brightest, most perfect moment of Lan Zhan's life, stretched out on the ground on the edge of a vista point, holding Wei Ying’s sweaty, grimy, less calloused, scarred and burned hand, staring into a belt of the Milky Way. It had been an astronomical amount of money for them at the time, to the point where Wei Ying joked about how they better not fall and crack their heads open unless they plan to run out on the bill.
(Wei Ying had fallen and cracked his head open, struggling up the stairs to their dingy apartment the night of their return. Shufu had paid the urgent care bill and not even made a big deal about it. Lan Zhan knew then his uncle had finally warmed to Wei Ying.)
Eventually, Wei Ying pulls into a battered, mostly empty parking lot.
“Okay, here we go!” Wei Ying kisses the back of Lan Zhan’s hand. “Are you ready, baby?”
Lan Zhan stares at the building in front of them, and the other cars in the lot.
“Wei Ying, what are we doing here?”
“We don't have to bring anyone home, but I thought we might look and see. There's cats, of course, but today they're doing an adoption event with a rabbit rescue.”
“Wei Ying, pets are…”
“Forbidden, I know. In Shufu’s house. But in our house, pets are permitted. In fact, pets are encouraged , baby.” Wei Ying rubs warmth into his clenched hand with both of his own. “What do you think? Do you wanna go and see if we find any babies to bring home?”
“I. Haven’t had. A pet before.”
“I know. But there’s so much information. I picked good books for you to read, and already found several experts on YouTube that will help you learn and I reached out to some people we can talk to. I’ve got it all in the Spider Closet and our Cloud. We have a big yard and a big house and one of us is always home.”
Lan Zhan clenches his hands tighter. It’s always so difficult, these things.
“Pets are just friends in a different shape, baby. And these friends are looking for a place to be safe and loved. They need people.” Wei Ying rubs his knee. “Why don’t we just go and see if anyone speaks to us?”
He wants to. Lan Zhan very much wants to see the animals. He wants to pet them and play with them and watch them. He’s always had a soft spot for animals, and his Wei Ying knows it. Wei Ying has, apparently, been planning this for a while. He’s probably been sneakily reading and researching whenever Lan Zhan wasn’t in the room. Listening to videos while making The Jacket.
Lan Zhan loves him so much. He is so going to marry him.
“Okay.”
“Okay!” Wei Ying bounces out of his seat, nearly shuts his ponytail in the door (again) and skips around the car to open his door for him and offer him a hand. “So the flyer said we have to go inside and meet the staff before we can pet anyone. I'll do all the talking, okay? You're just here to pet animals and have fun.” Wei Ying swings their hands. “Let's try to avoid dogs, though, okay?”
“Mn.”
Wei Ying has spent over a decade at war with his cynophobia so his adoptive brother and niblings could have all the dogs their hearts desired, and while he no longer has a breakdown, they still make him nervous. Strange dogs still have him clinging to Lan Zhan’s arm or crossing the street. He recently gifted his niece a (parent-approved) Irish setter puppy, and both little Yue-er and Jiang Cheng cried. The little thing was so small she fit in the palms of Wei Ying’s hand, and yet he’d still been a ball of tension as he’d handed her over to their excitedly vibrating niece. The puppy had immediately started yipping and licking her face.
“I win the noisy toy competition,” Wei Ying had choked out.
Lan Zhan is fairly certain Jiang Cheng’s expression meant ‘We’ll fucking see about that, you stupid idiot potato whom I not-so-secretly love,’ but since all of his expressions are just variations of a scowl, it’s really anyone’s guess.
At any rate, dogs are no longer a major obstacle in their lives, but also not a realistic new family member. Neither of them really enjoy dogs, Wei Ying out of fear and Lan Zhan out of an aversion to lots of noise and chaos that dogs seem to bring. Plus, Lan Zhan is big enough to admit that as ridiculous as it is, he can’t quite forgive the dog bite scars peppering his beloved’s body.
Inside the animal shelter, it smells of animals, cat urine, cheap pet food, and cleaning products. Very few potential adopters have arrived so far. It’s very early in the event. Lan Zhan assumes that Wei Ying planned it this way. His partner marches right up to a staff member with multicolor dreads and gold vampire grillz on the top and bottom. They look supremely cool.
“Hi! We’re here to look at the rabbits!”
“Okay, are you adopting together or separate?”
“Together!”
“Sure.” The friendly staff member stamps the backs of their hands with a number 4. “Go ahead and have a look at all the cats in here and the rabbits outside, just down the hall. If you see any cats you want to pet, write down their name and cage number on this clipboard.”
The staff member hands them a clipboard with a pen on a piece of coarse twine. Lan Zhan touches the twine and immediately surrenders the clipboard to his partner.
“When you’ve made the rounds, return your clipboard to me. My name’s Carter.” Carter grins, pointing to their name at the top of the clipboard.
“Oooh, you’re our adoption buddy! We’re friends now! Thank you in advance for your help!”
Carter grins. “I’ve been here a while, so if you have any questions about any of the cats, let me know. Outside with the rabbits, you should ask Xitlaly. She runs the local chapter of their rescue. She’s got a red ponytail. She’s the one to talk to if you want to meet any of them.”
“Thank you, my liege!” Wei Ying gives Carter a cheerful fistbump. “Come on, baby. Let’s go make some more friends!”
Lan Zhan nods. “Thank you, Carter. I like your grillz.”
“Thanks! I like your earrings!”
Lan Zhan’s ears warm, nodding as he follows his partner. Wei Ying pulls him out past cages full of cats into a series of play yards, one of which is full of small pop-up pens in the shade of a huge live oak tree. It smells much better out here, and the air is cool and has that nice cold front smell to it.
He hesitates, there under the awning covering the puppy play pen. Oh, Lan Zhan wants this. He wants this so badly. He can count on one hand the things that he reached for just because he Wanted. His gender, his partner, his profession. Everything else was just needs.
“Are you okay, baby? We don’t have to if you’re not ready.”
Wei Ying spoils him, coddles him, never ever gives him anything but a light, gentle pressure- more like he’s holding him up than pushing him forward. If Lan Zhan said he wanted to turn around right now and never come back, Wei Ying would go with him, lead the way, apologize to Carter, and drive him to the little cafe for a special treat.
“Mn. I am ready.”
“Why don’t we go find Xitlaly and see if there’s anyone in particular she thinks we should meet?”
“Mn. Good idea.”
Xitlaly is very easy to find, her hair half natural inky black and half a bright, crimson red, all pulled back in a ponytail almost as thick as Lan Zhan’s. She waves when she spots them.
“Hi! We’re potential rabbit owners. We’ve never had rabbits before!”
“Hi, nice to meet you! I’m Laly. How much pet experience do you have?”
“Not a whole lot, but we’ve been thinking about it for a while. We alternate days working in-office or at home, so someone is always home, and they’d have free reign of the house, and we have a sunroom on the bottom floor where they’ll live when not supervised. The temperature this summer remained within the acceptable range.”
Wei Ying pauses to take a breath, and Laly takes the moment to ask Wei Ying many more questions, both of them speaking very fast. Lan Zhan can’t quite keep up with spoken words the way he can with writing or music, so he lets the sound of his partner’s voice wash over him, and waits to be needed. At one point, he tilts his head to rest his cheek against Wei Ying’s shoulder, and Wei Ying’s arm snakes around his shoulders to give him a squeeze.
“And you, sir? What are you looking for in a pet?”
Lan Zhan blinks, looking out just past Laly’s left ear. “I would like two, so they can be friends. I hope they will love me, and want to sit with me sometimes. But they should love each other, too. I would like them to be younger, but adults. Medium size would be best- between 8 and 12 pounds. They must be tolerant of young children, even if not enthusiastic.”
“Do you have children?”
“Not yet, but we have a young niece and nephew. We plan to have children of our own in a few years.”
“So a bonded pair of larger rabbits who are friendly and tolerant of tiny hands, and will bond well with their owners… Come with me.”
Laly leads them past a small platoon of very cute dwarf rabbits who bounce over to them as they walk by. They’re too small to be realistic candidates, but Lan Zhan vibrates with longing. He’s never even been allowed to hold a rabbit. He’s never had the opportunity.
Wei Ying squeezes his hand.
“This is Rue and Sage. They’re about 18 months old, litter and house trained. We have purebred paperwork for them- they’re English spots. They have excellent manners. Their mom had to move her parents into the house and she no longer had time or room for them, but she trained them well and they have very nice manners.”
“Have they met any kids?”
“Yes, my own daughters. They were very sweet with my girls.”
The two rabbits are of medium size, and very obviously a pair, snuggled together. Rue is white, with brown ears, nose, dorsal stripe, and spots. Sage is white with similar markings in black.
“Oh, Lan Zhan, look! They’re so cute! Their noses have little butterflies on them!”
"That's part of the breed standard," Laly supplies. "Normally breed information is a vague shrug with rescues."
"Chef's assortment of genetic material," Wei Ying laughs. "Are there any conditions the breed is known for?"
"Not that I'm aware of. They passed their health checks, too."
They are exceptionally cute. Rue and Sage notice the attention and hop over from where they’re cuddling in a bin of hay. They stand up on their back legs, noses twitching with curiosity and the desire for treats.
“Can we go in?” Wei Ying asks.
“Sure, go ahead!” Laly beams, her red hair waving back and forth.
“What do you think, Lan Zhan? Do you want to go in?”
Lan Zhan eyes the little pen. It’s just big enough that they can sit comfortably on the AstroTurf while still leaving the rabbits room to move away if they want to.
“Don’t you…?”
“I will. Do you want me to go first?”
Lan Zhan nods. Wei Ying has held animals before. He will observe from out here. Wei Ying kisses his cheek, using their still joined hands to keep his balance as he steps over the walls of the pen. He sits down on the grass with his usual thud, long, lean legs crumpling and folding in familiar shapes, and the bunnies startle a bit, hopping away.
Wei Ying just grins and waits, wiggling a little with excitement. Rue considers him first, taking a few little bounces over to him, sniffing his knee before coming closer to sniff his old Chucks.
“Hi, Rue,” Wei Ying coos. It’s similar to how he coos when Lan Zhan gets sleepy. “Oh, you’re so pretty.”
Rue seems to agree, hopping into Wei Ying’s lap, her little nose twitching cutely. Wei Ying gently rubs the rabbit’s forehead, and when she settles, behind her ears. Rue melts into his lap, apparently content. Watching closely, Sage shifts away from the other side of the pen, approaching a little more cautiously to sniff his free hand.
“Lan Zhan, can you come in here so Sage doesn’t feel left out?”
“Mn.”
Sage darts away as he steps in, sitting cross-legged close to his partner to give her as much room as possible.
“Hello,” he whispers. “It is nice to meet you, Sage. I do not want you to feel unappreciated.”
Sage must like his voice, because she comes back over, front paws on his crossed legs.
“She has exquisite taste,” Wei Ying chuckles, still petting Rue.
Lan Zhan tentatively pets her head, gasping at how soft and warm she is. Mirroring Wei Ying, Lan Zhan starts by rubbing her nose and the top of her head before reaching behind her ears. Sage tenses just a little, but relaxes as he keeps up his ministrations.
Sage approves of his attention, and climbs into his lap, circling until her front paws are settled on his thigh. Lan Zhan thinks his heart might burst as Sage snuggles into him, closing her eyes as he pets along her back, watching he soft fur sink and rise as his hand glides over her body. He can see her grinding her teeth as he massages behind her ears, completely limp in his lap.
She is. So soft. He’s a little obsessed with how soft she is. He is a little obsessive, generally. With grammar and syntax, with cooking, with cleaning, with research, with Wei Ying…
“Aw, Lan Zhan. She loves you.”
“She only just met me.”
“That was long enough for me!” Wei Ying laughs.
Lan Zhan smiles. Their brief romance in high school was so long ago now, a source of gossip and speculation at the time- the pretty academic girl (as far as they all knew, anyway) with the rascal delinquent boy. It was all very overwrought and cliche. Many comparisons to Romeo and Juliet were made. All of them deeply erroneous and extremely annoying. Shufu had nearly coughed blood when he’d first introduced Wei Ying as his boyfriend, but it was far from forbidden. After he left that school, romance terminated, he’d never really forgotten the menace who played with him and chased him so loyally. He’d never expected to find someone that willing to prise him out of his shell.
He’d never expected Wei Ying to roll back into his life like heat lightning years later, and ask to pick up where they left off. Shufu had not even coughed up blood about it, grumbling about being too old to argue with the universe. (He was barely even forty.)
“-Really, sweetheart. Aren’t these girls perfect?”
“Mn.” Lan Zhan pets Sage again. “I like Sage very much.”
“Rue is great. She’s not bothered by my loud mouth!”
Lan Zhan smiles. He loves Wei Ying’s loud mouth and all the things that come out of it. Sage will learn in time, he’s certain of it.
Lan Zhan lets time slip away from him, sitting in the dappled sunlight beneath the live oak and smelling the cold front air and feeling the coolness of the ground he’s sitting on and petting Sage. It’s so quiet, and peaceful, and there are windchimes in the tree that make music when the breeze blows. He soaks it all in like a sponge.
He doesn’t get many moments like this- a new experience that ends up being sensory bliss. Last time he felt like this, he’d been bundled into a macrame swing and left to sit there for a little while so Wei Ying could struggle his way through repotting all of their house plants in an inefficient but supposedly more fun way. It had been heaven on earth until he realized he was stuck. Wei Ying had cackled mercilessly once he was free of his very comfortable prison. Then Lan Zhan had stuffed him in the swing so he could clean up all the potting soil and put the gardening supplies back in the shed. It had done nothing to curb his partner’s laughter.
“Lan Zhan? Baby, are you still in there?”
Lan Zhan blinks, slow and sedated.
“Mn. I am here.”
“What do you think? Do you want to meet anyone else?”
“Laly says that Rue and Sage are perfect for us.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we’re not perfect for some other bunnies.”
“Okay.” Lan Zhan doesn’t really have any interest in meeting anyone else. He wants to take Rue and Sage home now. But that might be unreasonable and hasty, so he follows Wei Ying’s suggestion, getting very slowly to his feet so Sage knows to move.
They browse a few more of the pens, asking Laly about other rabbits, and even meeting a few, but ultimately, none of the other rabbits are suitable for them, or seem particularly interested in getting attached to them. Wei Ying finds himself with the dwarf rabbits bouncing around him like fuzzy, legged, tennis balls. Lan Zhan snaps a picture and sends it to the extended family groupchat.
Wei Ying grins, kissing a dwarf rabbit on the head as he asks Laly to reserve Rue and Sage. They head inside to ask Carter for the paperwork and Wei Ying says they’re going to go to the store and come back. Carter congratulates them and they head inside to the lounge area to fill out the appropriate forms. Lan Zhan watches while Wei Ying struggles to keep his cramped, hasty handwriting somewhat legible.
“Here, baby. You need to sign this.”
Lan Zhan endures the weirdly greasy pen and coarse twine long enough to fill out his part of the paperwork.
“Are we keeping their names, baby?”
“They are both named after plants that rabbits can’t or don’t enjoy eating. It seems silly. However, their names are cute and they match. I believe we should see if they know their names before we decide.”
“Okay, that’s a good plan.” Wei Ying takes the clipboard back, kissing his cheek. “We should give this paperwork to Carter and go shopping for our new daughters. There’s a pet store down the road. Do you want to come shopping with me? Or you can stay here with the girls.”
“I want to go with you. You will not spend enough money on them.”
“And you will spend too much.” Wei Ying boops his nose, laughing when he goes predictably cross-eyed. “That’s okay. I need your input anyway. You're the sensible one.”
Historically, this is only somewhat true. There was the time Wei Ying goaded Lan Zhan into doing Jell-O shots with him. And the time he tried that Buzzfeed hack of putting the toaster on its side to make a grilled cheese for Wei Ying. And the time he decided to try building a PC in a desk drawer to impress Wei Ying (it caught fire). And the time he let Wei Ying eat him out after eating 23 jalapeno poppers.
At any rate, Lan Zhan is usually the sensible one.
Wei Ying turns in their clipboard to Carter, pays the adoption fee, and promises to return. Carter promises to get the microchip and adoption paperwork together with Laly. It seems so simple, so easy. Lan Zhan’s life has been altered permanently and it took just over two hours total.
“That felt illegally easy, didn’t it.”
“Mn.” Lan Zhan settles into his seat as Wei Ying turns his seat warmer back on. “And now we are parents.”
“Practice for later.” Wei Ying waggles his eyebrows suggestively, and Lan Zhan ignores him. It's this dance they do, flirting with their future while they grow up a bit more and watch their savings gradually increase. Wei Ying did the same thing when they started working on the house, old and moldering with a large yard with plant beds, full of promise and termite damage.
Wattaya say we take a tumble in these tulips, baby?
(Lan Zhan adores their tulips.)
It takes half an hour to decide between the $130 rabbit hutch and the $230 rabbit hutch.
“Lan Zhan, they likely won’t even spend nights locked in it once they are acclimated.”
“It will be their home. They should have a nice home, Wei Ying.”
“Lan Zhan, I could build them a nicer home than this.”
“Then why are we buying a hutch?”
The poor Tractor Supply employee assisting them sighs.
“I have no idea when I will get around to that. You want raised garden beds, remember? We need to get those built asap if we wanna plant spring crops.”
“We should get the larger hutch. There are two of them, and they will be happy to sleep in there once they have larger reign of the house.”
Wei Ying crumbles easily. “Okay, baby. We’ll get the big one.” He turns to the clerk, Rhett. “Can you bring the big one to the register while we grab some other things?”
“Sure, man. Whatever.”
“Thanks, kiddo!”
Rhett gives them a sulky look before dragging the large box over to the register. Lan Zhan doesn’t blame him.
“Right. Laly says the girls like orchard grass better than timothy and that they like having pellets as a snack. Baby can you find a rabbit pellet that’s mostly timothy hay?”
“Mn.”
Wei Ying collects a large bag of hay, and sets two glass water bottles and a mineral block in the cart.
“What about this?” Lan Zhan presents a wobble toy that dispenses pellets as the rabbits play with it.
“Oooh, yes! Get two!”
Self-control, thy name is definitely not Wei Ying.
Wei Ying picks treats and Lan Zhan selects a range of toys and little places to hide. They ring up and Wei Ying pays without blinking, and Lan Zhan, a relative nobody in the very un-lucrative world of copyediting, thanks his lucky stars that ethical hackers make enough money that Shufu never needs to know how much they spent on their rabbits.
(He also thanks Wei Ying’s side job of scientific glassblowing and foil glasswork, which is doing quite well.)
Lan Zhan loads their many smaller purchases into the trunk of their Forrester while Wei Ying battles the boxed hutch into the backseat.
“Baby, you might have to hold the girls on your lap on the way home.”
“Oh no,” Lan Zhan deadpans cooperatively, partially because he wants to be funny and partially because he wants to hear Wei Ying laugh.
He laughs. Lan Zhan smiles. The world is good.
The world is still good as Wei Ying pulls into the parking lot of a PetSmart.
“Just a few more things to get, and then we’ll go fetch our girls, okay?”
“Mn.”
Lan Zhan trusts Wei Ying as he picks out a carrier large enough for both rabbits to share and a heavy-duty canvas pet bed to put in the bottom.
“What do you think, baby?”
Lan Zhan eyes the blue carrier and creamy pet bed. He nods. He also approves two harnesses and leashes and matching tags, and picks out a set of nail trimmers, a soft brush, and a silicone curry brush. Wei Ying studies a selection of cleaning products for cages and puts a bottle of cleaning spray and a tube of wipes in the cart. Two litter boxes, six ceramic bowls, a couple more wooden hides and climbing towers, some collapsible tunnels, and another chef’s assortment of toys later and they’re standing in another checkout.
Wei Ying waves his card over the receiver, bouncing on his heels. The cashier gives him an amused look. Lan Zhan is still agreeably processing the fact that in a few minutes, they will be picking up their pets.
Their pets.
Little furry animal babies that will depend upon him and his partner for the rest of their lives.
It’s kind of difficult to process, actually.
But finally, they’re back at the adoption center, which is now overcrowded with people poking at kittens and children shrieking at the rabbits. The parking lot is absolutely full. It must be chaos inside.
“Do you want me to go in and get them and you can wait here?”
No, he doesn’t. He doesn’t want that at all. He hates that idea. But he nods. Lan Zhan nods because even more than he wants to go and pack up their new babies, he wants to be able to help build their home when they return. He can let this small thing go.
Wei Ying kisses his cheek and his knuckles before he goes in, hauling the carrier with the little pet bed in it, and he disappears into the mass beyond the door. Twenty minutes later, he’s walking out the side gate, chattering with Carter. The carrier has an obvious weight to it, carefully cradled in Wei Ying’s arms instead of being toted by the handles. The next thing Lan Zhan knows, the passenger side door is popped open, and Wei Ying is offering the carrier.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this? I can rearrange some stuff to fit them in the back seat. They’re heavy.”
“Mn.”
And Sage and Rue are in his lap. When he peers through the peepholes in the semi-synthetic case, they're huddled together, visibly frightened.
“Hello, babies,” he whispers. “We are going home now.” He turns to Carter. “Thank you, Carter.”
“You're welcome! I hope they love their new home. You guys are gonna be great pet dads!”
Lan Zhan nods, holding the heavy carrier full of rabbit on his lap. The support ridges on the bottom dig into his thighs, but he doesn’t care. Rue and Sage stare at him through the peepholes. Wei Ying drives, and Lan Zhan holds them as steadily as he can. Wei Ying cusses at a pothole he fails to dodge, but much more quietly than usual.
Lan Zhan huffs out a laugh, imagining the same thing what it’s their first human baby. Wei Ying, who probably knows exactly what he’s thinking, snickers and says, “Shut up, sweetheart.”
Lan Zhan’s huff becomes a snort, and Wei Ying giggles and hits another pothole.
“Oh, shit! Sorry!” But it’s not convincing, because he’s chuckling even harder. “Fuck!”
When they get home, Lan Zhan carries Rue and Sage inside, setting them down in a safe corner without a draft where they can watch each other.
Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng and Mingjue really made their home beautiful. Restored pine flooring with decades of nicks and wear, refinished and restained. Deep jewel tone accent wallpapers and complementary lighter shades of paint dominate the space. A mishmash of reclaimed furniture reupholstered or otherwise customized sits alongside new art and a live edge coffee table and end tables, salvaged from a live oak that toppled in a storm. Potted plants and herbs are lush where they thrive in sconces in the kitchen and tumble out of bowls and planters already out of reach of any bunnies. Lamps and candles and adjustable overhead lighting come together to build a warm, welcoming space.
Built-in storage and bookshelves are stuffed full of old reference books and citation guides and pleasure reading sit between random sentimentals. There’s an ugly vase Wei Ying thrifted and filled with vegetation from the university gardens for their first anniversary, a large rock they smuggled out of Arizona, a quartz bowl full of different smudging bundles and a weird incense burner that might be a tapir. Tucked away on the entertainment center, the shelves, the wall above the stairs, are photos, some selfies, some taken by strangers, some even professional. Proof that a family lives here. Lan Zhan and Wei Ying live here.
The sunroom is entirely new, separated from the rest of the house by a split door with custom stained glass Wei Ying made. Inside, there are a few hanging ferns that should be safe for rabbits if any leaves fall. Lan Zhan takes a moment to admire Wei Ying’s stained glass detailing in borders at the tops and bottoms of the panes. Little bugs and flowers marked out in rich color. There are stained glass lanterns hanging from the beams above, with retro vintage lightbulbs glowing warm and cozy, activated by light sensors in the thriving garden just outside. The floor is a textured outdoor tile stained green, warmed from underneath to protect Lan Zhan’s sensitive bare feet. It will be suitable for the rabbits, not too warm or too cold, and textured enough that they won’t struggle to get around. He’ll order a heating plate and a cooling plate for them later…
Wei Ying built this place for the rabbits. He built it on purpose, thinking of him, thinking of his secret little dreams nobody else had ever tweezed out of him. That sneaky little shit-
Lan Zhan is going to marry this man within an inch of his life.
“Okay, baby.” Wei Ying is panting slightly, face attractively flushed. “Everything is inside. Do you want to wash their bowls and bottles while I start building the hutch?”
“Mn… I will help with the hutch.”
Which means that Lan Zhan gets to watch up close as all the prominent joints of Wei Ying's lean fingers fiddle with screws and screwdrivers while his biceps and triceps hold wood panels together. It's so good, watching Wei Ying make things, put pieces together, perform an act of god right in front of him and just call it his day’s work.
The hutch construction goes well, and they set it up with one of the litter boxes and both water bottles.
“Do you want to put them in there?” Wei Ying offers.
Lan Zhan hesitates. Rue and Sage are his gift. Wei Ying did all of this for him, for his birthday. But he wants to share this with him. He wants this gift to be his but this joy to be shared.
“I will get Sage. You can get Rue.”
“Sure, baby.” Wei Ying kisses his cheek. He fetches the carrier from its spot in the corner and opens the lid, lifting out Rue as gently as he can. She squirms and panics a bit, kicking her feet. Wei Ying shushes her softly, petting behind her ears even though it doesn’t calm her down. He gently sets her down inside the hutch.
Lan Zhan copies his partner’s movements with Sage, only restraining her so she won’t harm herself, and setting her in the hutch as gently and quickly as possible before closing the door.
“We should keep them in there until tomorrow morning, and then open the bottom door,” Wei Ying says. “You can do that when you get up, okay?”
“Mn.”
With the rabbits more settled, Wei Ying watches while Lan Zhan assembles the rest of the little hides and climbing toys, hay and bedding and toys and bowls of water and pellets. He’s supposed to be sketching out schematics on his tablet for little enrichment toys he wants to build in the future, but that can always be done later.
“I love watching you do things, do you know that?”
Lan Zhan glances up, seeing a familiar sort of wistfulness in his partner’s face, the softness around his eyes, in the curve of his mouth.
“Always so precise. So deliberate. I used to watch you all the time in school, gege. It’s like watching art.”
Lan Zhan holds his gaze, watching back. He remembers distinctly, still, that bleak time when he broke up with this same boy, transitioned over summer, transferred to a new high school and moved on with his life despite the unanswered what if in the back of his brain… only to bump into Wei Ying three years later at university freshman orientation. He remembers thirty seconds of sheer terror being squeezed out of him in a crushing hug.
I missed you. I missed you, you big idiot. How dare you go and get taller than me, huh? Always trying to show me up, you complete shit. Do you have any idea how much I missed you, gege?
If Lan Zhan cried, that’s between them.
If he attached himself to Wei Ying like a limpet and fused himself there for the rest of his life, that’s their business. Besides, it was a mutual fusing. Like two injured comb jellies attaching to each other in order to survive. What if became what Is in one minute.
“You’re the one who’s actually an artist,” Lan Zhan argues, like he does every time Wei Ying says these things.
“You’re an artist too, baby. Look at you, what you’ve made of yourself. The best kind of art there is,” which Wei Ying says every time.
It’s one of Lan Zhan’s favorite things, having these little conversations over and over, knowing to expect the same love and warmth every time.
“Wanna order dim sum for dinner and watch cartoons?”
“Mn.”
Cartoons and take-out were both forbidden when he was in Shufu’s house, just like pets and alcohol and loud music. So many things were forbidden, in fact. Being an adult now, he understands that Shufu was barely out of his teens when strapped with a preschooler and a newborn, overwhelmed and not financially secure, and did his absolute best. Takeout, alcohol, and pets are expensive and/or labor intensive, and Shufu could not handle more than what he already had. Insistence on quiet and limited television time kept the landlord forgiving about the inevitable damage children do to a (cheap) home, and largely prevented unvetted media from entering the household.
Lan Zhan understands this. He does. But sometimes eating dim sum out of plastic takeout containers on the couch while watching cartoons with his partner still feels like some kind of sneaky indulgence.
He changes into pajamas even though it’s only early evening, brews a pot of tea, settles on the ochre couch with Wei Ying snuggled up against him and plush teal cushions at his back, and drags a heavy flannel quilt over them. Wei Ying hums, kissing Lan Zhan’s hands before wrapping them around his trim waist.
“What do you want to watch, gege?”
“Bluey.”
“Oh, yeah?” That sly tone makes Lan Zhan’s ears heat up.
“Mn. We would benefit.”
“Lan Zhan, we don’t need to study parenting on your birthday. We can watch something fun.”
“Bluey is fun.”
“Okay. Bluey it is.” Wei Ying cues up the next episode. “You’re gonna be such a good dad someday, gege.”
“Mn. I hope so.”
“Well I know so, so there.” Wei Ying grins up at him. “We can work on it later, after dinner, okay?”
“Mn. Not right after dinner, though.”
“Of course not! We’re gonna eat buns until we get tummy aches. I’m gonna get so many scallion pancakes. Oooh! Rice pudding with pork floss!”
“Mn. Get both.”
Lan Zhan’s eyes flit toward the sun room. The bunnies are nowhere to be seen, no doubt tucked into a dark corner of the hutch.
“It feels later than it is,” Wei Ying says. He’s such a chatty person. “It’s not even 4 yet.”
“Mn. We have done a lot today. And you always feel relaxed after spending a lot of money all at once.”
“Hey!” Wei Ying pinches his arm as he giggles. “You don’t seem to disapprove overly much.”
“No,” Lan Zhan whispers. “I don’t.”
He hunches over Wei Ying, squeezing his partner tightly, like he’s trying to force Wei Ying into the aching hollow beneath his ribs. “Thank you, for helping me do the things I don’t know how to do.”
“Aw, baby. You know I love doing these things for you. I hope someday you can do these things on your own, but for now or even forever, I’ll be here.”
“Mn.”
Lan Zhan tucks his nose into the little space under Wei Ying’s jaw. His skin smells nice, a little salty, a little like his violet leaf pinyon pine body soap, and a little of something else that just smells like Wei Ying. He’s wearing the pajamas he wore the night before, which only enhances that sleepy Wei Ying smell. It’s clean, and warm, and bone-meltingly familiar.
Rue’s little face eases into view, watching them closely.
You have a soulmate, Lan Zhan thinks, I have one too.
“Happy birthday, baby.”
“Happy birthday- Thank you, Wei Ying.”
Wei Ying laughs as he adds an order of honey walnut shrimp to the cart.
-
It’s cold in the morning when Lan Zhan wakes up. Wei Ying whines when he leaves their bed, long, wiry arms octopus-ing around his warm pillow as Lan Zhan tucks the blankets up under his partner’s chin and kisses his messy hair. He bundles himself up in a sweatshirt and sweatpants, sticks his feet in his running shoes, and prepares to leave.
But before he can head out the door, he spies the harnesses hanging next to his keys, and remembers there’s something he’s supposed to do this morning. Toeing his shoes back off, Lan Zhan’s socked feet barely even whisper across the hardwood floors as he opens the top half of the sunroom door and unlatches the bottom half.
Inside the hutch, the bunnies flinch away from the screen door, startled by the sudden disruption to their new world. They watch him, noses twitching in unison.
“Good morning,” he whispers, unlatching the bottom door of the hutch to make a little ramp and steps back a few paces to sit on the floor. “I hope you will be happy here…. I am not good at talking.
“Wei Ying is very good at talking, and he has a nice voice. You’ll get used to him. He sings, sometimes. Or plays music. I hope you like his music. I hope you like him.
“He is my favorite person in the whole world. He is strange and erratic and delightful… wonderful. He needs taking care of, sometimes. He gets lost in his brilliance… It can be hard to bring him back. I hope you will help me help him.”
Rue pokes her head out through the open ramp. Lan Zhan barely moves, watching her.
“It turns out,” he murmurs, “that I am very good at talking about Wei Ying.”
Sage peers out from behind her sister, blinking at him with her huge eyes.
Lan Zhan very slowly raises his phone to take a picture of them and send it to Shufu.
“Baby? Are you still here?”
“I am in here.”
“Ah…” Wei Ying leans over the bottom door, tattooed forearms toned, spotted with a few bite marks and burns and cuts, mixed in with the colorful ink. “How are our new daughters this morning?”
“Settling in, I think. Very curious. Still tentative.”
“I don’t blame them. Poor girls. This is at least the third time their lives have been completely upended.”
“And the last.”
“Mhm. We’re practically experts in lives being upended. They couldn’t be in safer hands.”
Rue bounces over, settling into his lap. He smiles- Rue is definitely the outgoing one. They really couldn’t be with better people. Wei Ying has been in a state of upend since he was four, and only just recently got to settle when they rebuilt this beautiful home. Lan Zhan reinvented himself in three months once when he was fifteen and has tweaked and altered and nurtured that invention ever since. In a year or two, when they’re more stable and sure of themselves and mature, he’ll do it again and carry their children, as he always dreamed. Another quiet wish to be fulfilled.
Sage sits next to him, hunched with her feet under her, but being very brave. Rue settles into his lap in a hunch of her own, unsure but willing. He rubs behind her ears.
“Thank you, Wei Ying. For this.”
“You are so welcome, baby. I want you to have everything you ever wanted.”
“What else do you want?”
“I’ve already got it, baby. I can’t think of anything else but this.”
Lan Zhan’s phone vibrates with messages from Shufu.
They are very cute.
Are you happy?
Lan Zhan responds with the easy, honest answer.
I am the happiest I have ever been.