Work Text:
Valentine’s Day had always been quiet.
No different from any of their ordinary weekdays… which weren’t too ordinary, but you get the idea.
As a boy, Dan Heng used to think Valentine’s Day had to be flashy, the “spending a whole day outside with your partner and faking a proposal for desserts at the end” kind. From the cheesy, cliche dramas he used to secretly watch while his mother wasn’t looking, he thought a Valentine’s Day without heart-shaped balloons and red flower petals raining down everywhere you go wasn’t a Valentine’s Day at all.
Of course, with his personality, he would’ve found it all a bit overwhelming. Yet that was the norm, and he had expected to have to conform to it.
But after being in actual relationships, and now with three whole years of matrimony under his belt, he knew better.
Today wasn’t about outperforming every other couple with a fireworks show at the park. It was about spending time with your loved ones, and thankfully, Dan Heng’s husband shared the sentiment.
So they chose to stay home.
They wouldn’t step a foot out the door.
Home-cooked meals, content silence, and cuddles in every room.
That was their Valentine’s Day.
And it starts with waking up to the smell of coffee and… something sweet?
Dan Heng always woke up earlier than his husband to make breakfast since Ren was constantly rushing from location to location for his shoots. Sometimes it was five in the morning, sometimes it was noon. What started off as a choice eventually became routine, and it was no different on Ren’s days off.
So imagine Dan Heng’s confusion when he awoke to an empty bed, the spot next to him cold and Ren’s presence replaced by a pillow.
He sat up with a yawn, stretching his arms above his head as his eyes adjusted to the morning sun. Out of habit, he glanced out of the window at the skyline view from their penthouse. The time on his phone read eight — a bit earlier than the time Dan Heng usually wakes when Ren wasn’t working.
The scent of caffeine wafting from the kitchen was unmistakable, reinforced by Ren’s absence from their bedroom.
Dan Heng slid his feet into his slippers and left the bedroom. He stepped out onto the loft, the scent of that “something sweet” becoming clearer now. It was coming from their waffle maker, buttery and aromatic.
He walked up to the banister, leaning against it and looking downstairs. Ren was in the kitchen, his back turned to Dan Heng while he fumbled with something on the counter.
“You should be asleep,” Dan Heng called from upstairs.
Ren looked up, pausing briefly at the sight of his husband standing there in his favorite among Ren’s hoodies, hair a gorgeous mess and eyes narrowed from sleep.
“I could say the same for you,” Ren said, smirking at him in a way that spelled mischief. Unfortunately, Dan Heng was too drowsy to notice.
Upon hearing Dan Heng’s voice, their “children” had instantly perked up. They gathered around beneath the loft, making their respective happy noises — barks, munyas, awoos, and lots of o((•'ω´• ))∋ -s.
Dan Heng did a quick headcount.
One, Cublade.
Two, Sesame Cake.
Three, Rice Dumpling.
Four, Toasty Dragon.
Five, Baobao Long.
Six, Bandaged Seal.
Seven, Ghost Seal.
That’s all of them.
At some point, Dan Heng had decided to stop questioning why every animal they brought home resembled one of them.
As Dan Heng descended the stairs, their pets came to greet him at the bottom, following him like a cloud around his feet.
“I’m not the one who came home at three in the morning,” he retorted, approaching Ren from behind to see what he was doing.
His husband turned around right as he reached, effectively blocking his view with his larger frame.
“No peeking,” Ren huffed, cupping Dan Heng’s waist.
Dan Heng gave him an unimpressed look, arms crossed over his chest. Out of pure curiosity and the need to annoy his husband, Dan Heng got on his tiptoes and attempted to look over Ren’s shoulder. He was immediately pulled back down.
“It’ll be worth it,” Ren defended hurriedly.
“Worth forsaking sleep for?” Dan Heng furrowed his brow, leaning forward and resting his chin on Ren’s chest — it made it appear like he was pouting.
Ren usually couldn’t resist that face, but today, he was a man of sheer unshakeable will.
“Are you not?” Ren teased, drawing a small quirk of Dan Heng’s lips that he just couldn’t suppress. “Have a seat. I’ve already fed the little rascals.”
Dan Heng didn’t press further. Let him keep his secrets, it’s not like Ren would ever make him wait for long. Even so, letting his husband make breakfast for him didn’t feel right. He wanted to help, but since Ren was adamant on keeping it a surprise, he wouldn’t force it.
“Just don’t overdo it,” Dan Heng couldn’t help but add. He put his hand over Ren’s, feeling the newly-changed gauze wrapping around his knuckles.
“I won’t,” Ren promised.
It wasn’t anything serious, just a cut and some swelling from a minor accident during filming. But if he had downplayed it or said anything other than agreed, Dan Heng would have been on his case in an instant.
As Ren let go of him, Dan Heng stepped out of his husband’s embrace, only for his heel to bump into something fluffy.
He looked down and saw their two cats trying to nuzzle against his feet. Dan Heng bent down and picked them both up before heading for the dining table.
The seals had bounded back to the little pool they had installed for them near the window, drifting around in their floaties lazily. Their chimeras were hopping around excitedly on the couch, probably full of energy from whatever treats Ren had just spoiled them with. Cublade remained loyally by his owner’s side, standing on his hind legs to see what Ren was doing.
Everyone seemed particularly energetic today.
Dan Heng sat at the table, letting Rice Dumpling curl on his lap as Sesame Cake went over to his bowl to get a few more licks of water.
Barely seconds after he settled down, a cup of coffee was slid towards him before Ren returned to whatever it was he was making.
Stroking Rice Dumpling’s fur absently, Dan Heng took a sip of the coffee. It had already been adjusted to suit his preferences, with just enough milk and sugar to keep it light yet far from the abomination of caffeine Himeko had introduced to him — Ren knew he was still traumatized from that time.
Dan Heng watched with his chin in his hand as Ren removed the waffles from the iron and placed them upon the plate he had been hovering over. In spite of his better judgment, Dan Heng tried again to see what it was.
As if sensing his curiosity, Ren took a step to the side and obstructed his view. He glanced back and smirked at Dan Heng like he’d just caught a child peeking through their birthday gifts before continuing to work in his surprise.
Dan Heng felt his cheeks flush, though he wasn’t sure if it was because he was caught, or because he was still as in love as he was when he used to fan over his now-husband on the big screen. That “insufferable” smile had instantly captured his heart when he first laid eyes on it in a small cinema over a decade ago. But by now, he had come to love much, much more beneath that charming exterior.
The exhaustion after spending nearly a whole day of filming; the clinginess after overseas shoots; the guilt after kissing someone else for a scene.
Strangely, he was quite inexpressive for an actor, but everything he did felt like more love and affection than Dan Heng could take in this lifetime.
Despite his work, Ren always found time to help proofread Dan Heng’s manuscripts. He pays attention to absolutely every small thing about Dan Heng, from every one of his childhood friends’ names to how warm he liked his water based on different weather and moods. That wasn’t all good though, because he consequently knew how to make Dan Heng fold like laundry — it was how they ended up with seven kids. And sometimes, when he was home, he’d carry Dan Heng around everywhere, with the simple explanation of “why be apart when I can be with you?”
Of course, Dan Heng could never have any qualms about his husband’s behavior.
Ren loved him more than anything, and he made sure to remind Dan Heng of it every day.
It was still kind of hard to believe that he was actually thriving in the life his younger self had dreamed of.
A few minutes later, Ren approached with his masterpiece in hand. He placed the plate in front of Dan Heng.
Dan Heng blinked at it, speechless.
He had meant to say “thanks” or some other thing, it’s just that he was not expecting this.
Two waffles topped with an unhealthy amount of whipped cream. Fruits and nuts were arranged deliberately on both the cream and the plate, forming two hearts. At the edges of the dish were wiggly words written in chocolate syrup — Dan Heng tried not to focus on the fact that Ren had probably struggled to exert strength and keep his hands still due to his injury.
I LOvE Y0U
“You made this?” Dan Heng blurted, even though the answer was more than obvious.
“Got the recipe from you,” Ren said, sitting across from Dan Heng.
Dan Heng raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t remember giving you such a showy recipe,” he said as he picked up the utensils.
Ren shrugged.
“You must’ve forgotten. It was a while ago.”
Dan Heng glanced at him skeptically as he cut out a small piece of the waffle. With an even amount of frosting and toppings, he lifted the fork to his mouth.
Ren watched.
The flavors exploded on his tongue. Hot, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside — kind of like his husband in a way, but Dan Heng refrained from talking with his mouth full. The cool whipped cream provided a delicate contrast that stimulated his taste buds. The fruits and nuts added extra flavors to the mix, leaving him craving for more with each bite.
Dan Heng swallowed.
“I would’ve killed for this when I was fifteen,” he commented flatly, cutting another piece of the waffle with such composure anyone else might have assumed he didn’t like it at all. But as long as Ren got the message, all was well.
“Would you, now?” the man chuckled slightly, as if he knew something Dan Heng didn’t.
Dan Heng cut another piece, making sure to get a generous amount of everything. This time, he held it out towards Ren.
“I’ve already—“ Ren started.
Dan Heng nudged the waffle against his lips.
Ren sighed and opened his mouth to accept.
Dan Heng watched to make sure he chewed.
“It’s good,” REN commented on his own work.
Dan Heng nodded approvingly.
As he ate his breakfast, they talked a bit about their respective jobs, Ren about his upcoming schedule, and Dan Heng about his manuscript ideas. Ren had to physically restrain the chimeras from jumping onto the table and messing up the breakfast he’d worked hard on for his husband. He was given more bites of food as a reward while their children watched enviously.
When he finished, Ren offered to wash his dishes for him along with the others that had been accumulated during his breakfast-making journey.
Dan Heng thanked him with a kiss and carried Rice Dumpling over to the couch. He had left his laptop on the coffee table last night, too sleepy to charge it after falling asleep while waiting for Ren to come home. Sesame Cake climbed onto the couch to loaf, and Rice Dumpling decided to get off his owner’s lap to loaf right next to him.
Thinking that the sweet breakfast was enough “excitement” for Valentine’s this year, he pulled up his latest manuscript and got to work like he would on any other day. At most, Ren was probably going to appear with a bouquet of his favorite flowers in a moment.
Absorbed in his writing, Dan Heng didn’t notice when Ren had finished the dishes and headed upstairs. It was only a few minutes later when he heard footsteps approaching from behind.
Something red slowly appeared in his peripheral vision, and Dan Heng didn’t need to look to know what it was.
He leaned back against the couch, tilting his head up to see his husband looming over him.
He wanted to act exasperated, but he really couldn’t help but chuckle.
“You know the last three bouquets you got me this month are still alive?” Dan Heng asked as he accepted the flowers and hugged them close.
“And?”
“We’ll run out of vases again.”
“We can get more,” his husband responded, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Despite being the one who gifted them and his busy schedule, Ren was voluntarily responsible for taking care of the flowers. He wanted to keep them alive and thriving to make sure Dan Heng was always met with gorgeous flowers with color as pure and deep as Ren’s love for him. In spite of the extra work, he always got more.
Their go-to florist even said that if Ren ever stopped buying Dan Heng flowers, she’d go bankrupt.
“…You’re impossible,” Dan Heng rolled his eyes with a smile.
At that point, he had noticed that Ren was holding something else behind his back. Another gift?
Like Dan Heng’s mind had been read, Ren walked around the couch to sit next to him, still perfectly hiding whatever it was behind him. Cublade, as always, followed him everywhere. Ren slung an arm over the back of the couch, leaning closer in a way that seemed oddly reminiscent of some of the scenes from his most recent romance movie.
It felt very deliberate.
“Do not tell me you got another chimera,” Dan Heng deadpanned.
Ren huffed a laugh as he pulled out, not a chimera, but another bouquet from behind his back.
Roses.
Dan Heng accepted the fiery red bouquet and looked between the two types of flowers.
Their chimeras chose that moment to hop onto the couch, causing the two cats to be bounced off the surface of the couch before landing back down with a soundless plop. Both did not even twitch from their loaves; Rice Dumpling yawned.
“Baobao, Toasty, no eating,” Dan Heng warned as the little creatures began nibbling at the ribbons and paper holding the bouquet together.
They backed off in disappointment, and decided to go bother their sealblings instead.
The only time Ren had gotten him roses was for their first date, when he had absolutely no idea what Dan Heng’s favorite flower was and was too awkward to ask.
“Isn’t this a bit much?” he asked Ren. Together, both bouquets practically took up all the space in his arms.
“Nothing’s too much if it’s for you.”
Dan Heng felt heat creep up his neck.
“I had already gotten you carnations, but remembered you also wanted roses,” Ren explained, combing his fingers through Dan Heng’s hair, “So I got you both.”
“I did?”Dan Heng tilted his head in confusion. That was the second thing he didn’t remember telling Ren about today.
Ren nodded.
“You wrote it to me.”
Dan Heng was even more puzzled by that. He looked down at the two bouquets in his arms, trying to remember if he had texted Ren anything about roses recently, but nothing came to mind.
“You don’t recall? That’s fine,” Ren said.
Dan Heng didn’t see the familiar, knowing smirk that curved at the corner of his husband’s lips.
With a light push, Dan Heng’s laptop was shut and placed back in the coffee table.
Dan Heng turned his head just in time to see Ren getting up, and he just barely reacted when Ren’s hands slid behind his shoulders and under his knees.
A confused noise slipped from his throat as he was lifted into his husband’s arms with zero notice.
“Ren—?! What are you doing?”
“Work is off limits. Taking you back to bed,” he mumbled.
Cublade tried to follow, but was gently told by Ren to stay — “make sure the chimeras don’t tear down the house” didn’t need to be stated.
Dan Heng just let Ren carry him upstairs and into their bedroom, still holding the two bunches of flowers. It wasn’t out of the ordinary, since Ren tended to bring him everywhere more often than not.
They heard a couple shocked o((o'ω´o ))∋-s, water splashing, the chimera’s cheeky awooing, and Cublade’s barking as the door closed. With the hustle and bustle of their seven children shut out behind the door, Ren plopped Dan Heng onto the unmade bed.
He took the flowers and set them aside, before getting into bed right next to his husband. He pulled Dan Heng into his arms, closing his eyes as he buried his face against the crook of Dan Heng’s neck.
“What is this all about?” Dan Heng couldn’t help but ask.
“Peace and quiet,” Ren said, voice muffled against Dan Heng’s body. All that waffle making and decorating took more energy out of him than expected, apparently.
“I told you, you need more sleep,” Dan Heng huffed as he thread his fingers through Ren’s hair.
Ren grumbled into his shoulder.
As the day went on, Dan Heng couldn’t help but feel like something was different.
Ren being clingy was normal, but he saying and doing some weirdly specific things. Like he was playing a role in a movie and Dan Heng was his love interest.
Like pinning him against walls and furniture at every given opportunity, saying some things that seemed too mushy and poetic to be Ren’s doing, gifts with notes hidden all around the house. The last one made Dan Heng double down on finding out exactly what time Ren had woken up today, even with their morning nap.
After a nice hot shower and a delectable dinner, which Ren had absolutely insisted Dan Heng sit back and let him prepare it alone but was stubbornly denied by Dan Heng, they decided to put on a movie to end the day. Well, they didn’t exactly decide it — Ren very “subtly” suggested it during dinner.
Ren told Dan Heng to get a blanket and pillows. As Dan Heng ascended the stairs, he looked back and saw Ren looking at something on his phone with pure focus in his eyes. Regardless, Dan Heng let it be and went up to their bedroom.
When he returned, he found a whole lineup of snacks waiting for him on the coffee table. Some were his favorites, some he hadn’t eaten in a while, there was even one he used to love but it had been discontinued in their region. Ren had prepared each of their kids their own little bowls of treats, mainly so that they would be less likely to take theirs — but that rarely worked.
“Where did you even get these?” Dan Heng asked, dropping the blanket and pillows onto the couch.
“Ordered them online,” Ren said, picking up the remote.
“Did you know I liked these?”
Ren didn’t respond.
Instead, he turned to the television and began scrolling through the options. After looking through a few, he picked what seemed to be a random one, but Dan Heng recognized it immediately.
It was an old favorite of his — his number one pick before he laid eyes on Ren’s debut film.
“I used to love this movie,” Dan Heng commented. Today was feeling strangely nostalgic.
“More than mine?” Ren teased.
“Always so full of yourself,” Dan Heng scoffed, though the small smile on his lips betrayed the criticism.
They decided to sit on the carpeted floor, using the pillows as their fortress — it was closer to the snacks. As Dan Heng got comfortable next to Ren, the man wrapped the soft blanket around them.
When the movie began, Dan Heng rested his head on Ren’s chest, and Ren held him closer. He had barely watched any movie that didn’t have Ren starring in it after his debut, and this one was released over a decade ago. He wasn’t sure how Ren just “randomly” found it, but he was glad he did.
The plot slowly came back to him as the movie progressed. Turns out, there were a couple of jokes that flew over his head a child and a lot of foreshadowing he had missed. Over half of the snacks were barely touched, Dan Heng too engrossed in his childhood movie, and Ren too absorbed in his husband’s expressions.
By the time it was over, Dan Heng’s eyes were wet.
Ron gently wiped away the tears that had formed in Dan Heng’s eyes, wrapping the blanket tighter around Dan Heng and pulling him closer. Their pets huddled around him, unaware of why their owner was crying but trying to comfort him anyway.
Dan Heng couldn’t help but smile, and Ren lowered his head to give him a light kiss on the lips.
“So, did I manage to fulfill your idea of an ideal Valentine’s Day?” he asked quietly.
Still thinking about the emotional ending of the film, Dan Heng didn’t exactly catch the wording of Ren’s question, so he nodded.
“I tried following your instructions as closely as possible,” Ren added.
Now, that made Dan Heng look up.
“What instructions?”
“Do you really not remember?” Ren asked, but it didn’t sound like a question.
He reached onto the couch for his phone, and Dan Heng watched him open a website he didn’t even know Ren knew about.
With a red and white interface, Ren entered the bookmarks section. He didn’t even have to scroll, as there was only one work he had marked.
Dan Heng’s eyes widened in horror.
No.
No.
NONONONONONONONONO—
Ren clicked on the title, “Roses In Full Bloom”, and the page took a moment before the full story loaded.
“Everything I did today was based off of this,” he calmly explained.
Dan Heng stared at the phone screen, absolutely dumbfounded.
“That is you, isn’t it,” Ren asked.
Yes.
Yes, it very much was.
It was his old username on AO3.
That was his fanfiction.
He wrote that.
That—
That Ren x Reader fic.
It was all coming back to him.
That heart-shaped ensemble of pure cavities during breakfast? Dan Heng had come up with that mountain of sugar after seeing something similar in a restaurant menu.
Those extra roses Ren had gone out and bought at the last minute? Dan Heng’s used to think roses were the ideal Valentine’s flower because it was what his father used to get his mother.
When Ren suggested watching a movie and was looking through his phone earlier? Dan Heng had ended his fic with the only movie he liked that didn’t have Ren on the cast, and had even used his favorite snacks as the ones Fanfic Ren and Reader enjoyed in the story because he didn’t know any better.
And all those unusual, weirdly specific choice of words, all the small gifts, and the deliberate actions Ren had been doing all day? Dan Heng had combined everything teenage-him had known about romance from literature and media.
Dan Heng was the one who had penned Ren’s entire script for today.
And the realization that his husband had read the fic Dan Heng wrote about him was pure embarrassed horror.
“Ren!” Dan Heng cried, hitting Ren on the chest before he could stop himself.
And after a whole day of keeping it to himself, Ren finally burst out laughing.
“Can’t I draw inspiration from a piece of literature online?”
Dan Heng snatched the phone from Ren’s hand.
”I was fifteen!” he nearly screamed.
“You’ve liked me for that long?” Ren chuckled.
“You knew that already!”
Dan Heng briskly scrolled through the whole story, cringing at his immature writing style. Compared to his peers, he was always considered a brilliant writer at his age. But at his current level, even last year’s book seemed weird, much less one from over a decade ago.
“H-How did you even find this?! And when did it gain so much attraction?!?!”
He remembered his story getting barely any readers at first, since Ren was still starting out at the time.
“Look in the album,” Ren said.
Dan Heng left the website and entered Ren’s photo gallery, clicking on the most recent picture.
It was a screenshot of the very top of a ranking.
Top 100 x Reader Fics For Lonely Singles On Valentine’s Day
Dan Heng nearly passed out.
But hey, at least his celebrity crush was there to hold him.