Work Text:
~
“What am I doing here, again?”
Jiang Cheng sounded so tormented that Jiang Yanli couldn’t help shuddering, and for a moment, she doubted the genius of her and Wei Wuxian’s plan.
Her younger brother had been running himself ragged all year, caught up in a whirlwind of negotiations, deals, and surprisingly successful attempts at restoring the clan and the business to their former glory after their father’s permanent retirement. It had worn the new head down to the bone. Yes, perhaps a children's party was not something Cheng had time for, and sleep seemed more important, but still…
Yanli smiled at him, her dark eyes sparkling with kindness. Hugging him by the shoulders, she led him to a counter lined with kitchen utensils and nodded toward the aprons.
“You're A-Ling's favorite uncle, remember? Don't you want to wish him a happy birthday?”
Cheng snapped back in his usual manner:
“He has plenty of uncles, don't you think? I could just drop by for dinner and play with him.”
“And by nine, you'd be dead on your feet, dozing off with A-Ling on the sofa, as happened so many times before,” Yanli replied with the same gentle smile. “A-Cheng.”
Cheng had to admit she was right. And yet… baking muffins with the kids—sorry, cupcakes, Jin Zixuan, also known as his peacock brother-in-law, would never let him forget the first term—and decorating them with icing and sprinkles while the minutes of his only two days off in six months ticked away… That was a kind of torture you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Or at least not on Zixuan.
“I don't even have children,” Cheng made a final attempt.
“Exactly. You don't,” Yanli muttered under her breath.
Not catching her words, Cheng asked again:
“What?”
““No, no, nothing—just talking to myself. Postpartum brain, you know. Although it’s been five years…” Yanli shook her head and tied an apron around him. “Children’s party first, then lotus soup. Okay? And tomorrow I’ll cover for you with the parents so you can sleep all day.”
To avoid a conversation with his mom and dad about the business — and his perpetual shortcomings — Cheng would agree not only to bake muffins… cupcakes!… but even side by side with Zixuan.
But Yanli (and Wuxian) had someone else in mind for Cheng's partner in crime baking cupcakes with the kids.
Before Cheng had time to study the recipe on the tablet properly, the room filled with the voices of adults and children, and the loudest was, of course, his adoptive brother, Wuxian.
“A-Cheng! I can't believe you made it!” Wuxian said, beaming, and patted Cheng on the back.
Cheng was genuinely glad to see him. Yes, it had taken him a while to come to terms with his adoptive brother’s decision to leave the clan, move to Gusu Lan, marry his college boyfriend, and open a school for gifted children. But over time, Cheng had come to respect that choice—especially now that there was a happy, healthy family of three.
“Where's your better half?” Cheng asked his brother.
“Oh, he's already here, changing A-Yuan's clothes. With the kid’s knack for getting into trouble, I sometimes feel like I did give birth to him,” Wuxian scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully.
Cheng decided he really didn't want to know.
“Uncle! Uncle!” Jin Ling, wearing a red hat with a white pompom, ran up to them and waved two identical hats excitedly. “These are for you.”
Cheng crouched down and took the hat from his nephew's hands.
“Isn't it a bit early for the International New Year’s Day, A-Ling? Do you remember your birthday is in November?”
Ling frowned.
“Of course I remember! But I was watching a cartoon, and the adults were baking cupcakes while wearing hats like these, and I wanted to do that too for my Bday.”
“All right, all right,” Cheng said, patting him on the head and putting his hat on. “How do I look?”
“You’ll be the worst father in history, spoiling your children,” Wuxian said jokingly, clicking his tongue as their satisfied nephew ran off to join the other kids.
“You tell me,” Cheng retorted. “You let A-Yuan do whatever he likes.”
“Which makes me the worst by now,” Wuxian chuckled. “It’s a good thing A-Yuan takes after Zhan. Speaking of Lan,” Wuxian turned to Cheng. “Did Yanli tell you who you’re baking cupcakes with?”
“What do you mean, who?” Cheng frowned. “It’s A-Ling.”
“Um... no. The children do it with their parents.”
“But…”
“Ah! There comes my better half!”
Wuxian retreated so quickly that Cheng’s hand grasped only empty air. Cheng followed him with his eyes, squinting as he planned the cruelest revenge. He had no doubt that Lan Xichen, who entered the room after his younger brother, had been invited by Wuxian himself.
That very Lan Xichen, head of the Gusu Lan clan, was Cheng’s biggest pain in the... heart in their clans’ joint projects. And the phrase “pain in the heart” was all too accurate, because Cheng had been endlessly and tragically in love with the man for many-many years—and his younger brother and sister knew it very well.
***
“He'll kill us! I swear,” Wuxian whispered to Yanli, pretending to stir the batter with a whisk. “Me. He'll kill me, because you're the one he loves too much.”
“Don't talk nonsense. A-Cheng loves us both.”
“So you’re leaving the possibility of murder?” Wuxian frowned.
“Nonsense! A-Cheng isn't going to kill anyone!” Yanli laughed, but after darting a glance at Cheng, who at that moment was watching them with a particularly meaningful expression, she added: “Well... maybe he is...”
Wuxian pursed his lips.
“You're such a comfort.”
***
“I think the batter is too thick, Mr. Jiang,” whispered six-year-old Lan Jingyi, Xichen's son.
“Do you think so?” Cheng, assigned to their team by those conspirators, thoughtfully lifted the whisk and frowned. He had followed the recipe to the letter…
Xichen smiled softly and patted his son on the head.
“I think Mr. Jiang might have used too much flour.”
“I’m no cook,” Cheng admitted, angry at himself.
Xichen put down the baking trays he had been buttering and moved closer to Cheng, accidentally bumping elbows with him.
“It's okay, it's just cupcakes. May I?”
Cheng nodded and rapidly moved away. A look of confusion flashed across Xichen's face, but it quickly disappeared. However, Not only Cheng noticed the pause—the younger Lan did too, who began looking between the men.
Xichen added some warm milk to the batter, stirred it, and showed the result to his son.
“What do you think?”
Just right! Mr. Jiang, please add chocolate chips and jelly candies!” Jingyi said, sounding like a professional pastry chef.
Cheng couldn’t help but smile.
“Yes, chef!”
He poured the chocolate and jelly candies into the bowl and was about to take the spatula from Xichen, but ended up getting his fingers messy with the batter. And, as if possessed by demons—completely unlike the head of the clan—he licked it off his fingers under Xichen’s darkened gaze.
Wuxian, secretly watching the scene, turned to Yanli and gave her a thumbs-up.
***
Three weeks later.
“Good morning, A-Cheng,” Xichen greeted him, standing by the coffee machine. “You were sleeping so peacefully, I didn't want to wake you. Coffee?”
“Double and lots of sugar,” Cheng muttered, wrapping himself in the bathrobe that was helpfully hanging on a hook in the bathroom.
“I remember,” Xichen smiled.
Cheng walked over, kissed him on the cheek, and hugged him around the waist. Then he headed to the table and sat down.
“So you're my second dad now, Mr. Jiang?”
Cheng jumped up from his chair, and Xichen choked on his coffee.
Jingyi, whom Cheng hadn't seen in the living room, came over to the table and sat down opposite him.
“Do you have lots of second dads?” Jiang Cheng asked matter-of-factly.
“Oh, no, you're the only one,” Jingyi replied innocently. “You know, I've been asking Dad to invite you over for dinner so many times, but breakfast is fine too. Thanks, Dad.”
Embarrassed, Xichen ruffled his son's hair and whispered to Cheng so that his son didn't hear: “Sorry.”
Cheng just smiled and moved closer to the child to help him eat.
***
After breakfast, Cheng and Xichen settled on the sofa and talked quietly, while Jingyi slept in the armchair by the window, hugging a stuffed dog.
“Don't tell me we were doing that while your son was in the next room. I was...”
“What? Yelling? I liked that,” a mischievous smile played on Xichen's lips. “Don't worry, he was at my uncle's. We were alone.”
“Did you make breakfast yourself?” The thought made Cheng feel cozy.
“Yes, I don't get to do it very often, but I love cooking for Jingyi. Ordinary moments… unfortunately, there aren't many of them in our lives.”
“I couldn’t imagine the First Jade of Gusu Lan being so sentimental.”
Xichen didn't answer. Instead, he pressed his lips to Cheng's neck.
“You smell like lotus flowers,” he said. “I hope you'll stay with us more on weekends. If you want to, of course.”
Cheng hugged him tighter, realizing that “us” was an intentional phrasing. He knew he had started this new chapter of his life not only with Xichen, but also with his son, and this made him feel twice as happy.
— I'd love that.
And it would be nice to give Jingyi a real dog... Xichen, for sure, wouldn't mind.