Chapter Text
Everybody loves Zhang Jiahao.
He’s beautiful, adorable, secretly hilarious, and insanely good at dancing. Everyone in that stadium on the fateful night of the finals knew that he deserved to debut. And everyone wanted to show him that love.
So much love, in fact, that it was starting to feel a little… competitive.
Jiahao will always be his favourite gege.
While everyone else adapted quickly to his stage name, Arno, Zhou Anxin simply couldn’t. For him, it was always Hao ge. Even when he spoke Korean, it slipped out naturally—hao hyung, jiahao. Switching names felt wrong. After all, Jiahao had always been his Hao ge.
And Anxin took pride in that.
He met Jiahao first. He knew him the longest. He loved him before anyone else did. So obviously—obviously—he had every right to keep Jiahao’s affection all to himself, right?
“Hao ge~”
Anxin reached out for a hug, already knowing Jiahao would melt instantly. The older boy always did. Jiahao hugged him warmly, securely—everything about him just felt like home.
Anxin was certain no one else in the group got hugs like this.
Jiahao was reserved. He opened up slowly, carefully. Even now, despite being closer to everyone, he was still stiff with skinship and expressing affection.
Which is exactly why Anxin loved the idea that he was the only one Jiahao truly opened up to.
Zhang Jiahao only willingly hugs Zhou Anxin. Yes!
Or so he thought.
Because apparently, Jiahao had opened up to someone else.
And unfortunately, that someone was He Xinlong. Don't get him, wrong, he loves his Xinlong ge. But with Jiahao, Anxin just doesn't like to share.
The three of them had bonded a lot during the survival show, and Jiahao—against Anxin’s wishes—had grown fond of the third-to-last maknae.
Xinlong was a gentleman. Always considerate, always checking on others. And he was especially attentive to Jiahao.
To Anxin, Xinlong just acted like a gentleman.
But with Jiahao?
He was downright adorable.
He teased him, played with him, slipped easily into a comfortable older-brother–younger-brother dynamic—something Anxin had been absolutely certain was his thing with Jiahao.
“Hao gege! How did you sleep, ge?” Xinlong chirped, holding both of Jiahao’s hands and swinging them side to side. “You didn’t stay up late again, right? My beautiful gege needs his beauty sleep so he can stay pretty for me~”
Ugh.
That voice. That agitating, grating voice.
His gege?!
Anxin frowned and pouted, promptly leaving the room before his heart shattered completely. How dare Xinlong steal his gege and call him sweet names like he had known Jiahao for years?
Whatever.
It was just one person he had to share Jiahao with. He could handle that.
He’d just have to be extra affectionate.
He needed to remind Xinlong who Jiahao’s first baobei was.
♡♡♡
“Hao ge, can you come to my room tonight?”
Anxin lay sprawled across Jiahao’s lap while the older boy ran soothing fingers through his sweaty hair.
“Why, didi?” Jiahao chuckled. “Can’t sleep again? Is Xinlong’s laugh creeping you out too much?”
Anxin’s heart skipped at the sound of Jiahao’s laugh, so endearing—but also, Xinlong again. His roommate had already mentioned his silly habits before Anxin could even complain to his gege.
“Ugh, yes,” Anxin huffed. “Can you kick him out and sleep with me instead?”
He was joking. Mostly.
“Okay,” Jiahao agreed easily. “But you’d better wake up early tomorrow. No playing around like last time.”
Anxin immediately remembered.
That night had… escalated.
Sue him. Hao ge looked unfairly good in the mornings, and he was just a horny teenager.
♡♡♡
Anxin waited on his bed while Jiahao finished (what felt like—to anxin) a hundred-step skincare routine. Though, nothing could dampen his excitement. He could already imagine the warmth, the fresh shampoo scent, the soft skin—
“Hao-ge is sleeping with us today? Yay!”
…Of course.
Sometimes Anxin regretted insisting for Xinlong to be his roommate. Not that he hated him—but every sleepover always turned into a sharing situation.
Why did they even push the beds together?!
“No. No. Absolutely not, He Xinlong,” Anxin pratically growled. “He’s sleeping on my side, so get your filthy hands away from him.”
Jiahao laughed softly as he approached. “Your beds are joined, right? I can just sleep in the middle. No need to get feisty, Xinnie.”
Anxin immediately melted at the gentle voice. He almost forgot why he was mad.
“No, ge!” he whined. “Xinlong will secretly kidnap you while I’m asleep! And you’ll fall if you sleep in between!”
Which… wasn’t entirely wrong.
In the mornings of their sleepovers, Jiahao would end up mostly on Xinlong's bed while the younger hugs his waist tightly. Xinlong uses “needing something to hug on while sleeping” as an excuse, which just gets him and adorable coo from the eldest of the three.
“It’s okay, ge,” Xinlong said sweetly. “You should sleep on Anxin’s side. I don’t want you falling into the gap.”
Oh. So now he was the nice guy.
“You’re so sweet, Long-ah,” Jiahao said fondly and pressed a soft kiss to Xinlong’s cheek.
First he painted anxin as the villain, then he gets a kiss?! Unacceptable!
“And you,” Jiahao pointed at Anxin while climbing under the blankets beside him. “If you play around, I’ll drop you on the cold floor. No more kisses.”
For Anxin, that was the worst possible threat imaginable.
“Yes, ge,” Anxin whispered solemnly.
“Good night, didi.”
Xinlong replied easily. But Anxin could only stare at Jiahao’s peaceful face as the older slowly closes his eyes. How could someone look that perfect while sleeping?
“Ge…”
“No, Anxin.”
“You want me to kick you off your own bed?”
“…You didn’t give me my goodnight kiss yet.”
Jiahao sighed, eyes opening slowly. Seeing as the younger was being dead serious, he cupped Anxin’s face and leaned in.
First one landed on the lefft cheek.
Second on the right cheek.
Then the forehead.
And one ticklish kiss on the nose.
Then—finally—a soft, chaste kiss on his lips that lasted three seconds.
Anxin was already burning pink.
Jiahao smiled gently, pulling him closer into a warm embrace.
“Sleep, didi.”
And Anxin did—drifting off completely content, wrapped safely in Hao ge’s arms.