Chapter Text
The newly one year old A-Ling is still a creature of mostly rolls as he toddles after Xianxian, shrieking his favorite word out of the few he seems to know so far, “NO,” and holding onto the outdoor furniture in Yanli’s tiny yard for support as he goes, A-Yuan chasing after them both with tossed out “Sorry, uncle!”s and “Sorry, auntie!”s as he goes.
“They grow up so fast,” Wei Ying says, wiping a (mostly) fake tear from his eye as he leans into Lan Zhan’s side. Jiang Yanli is radiant, practically glowing as she watches her son.
“How do you handle it?” Yanli asks, turning her gaze onto Wei Ying.
“I don’t,” Wei Ying says honestly, “Like a week ago A-Xian told me she’s three and not a baby and I had a meltdown and told her she was grounded until she was forty. I don’t even think she knows what grounded is yet.”
“You didn’t actually ground her, did you?” Yanli asks, sounding a little like she’s fighting laughter over Wei Ying’s plight.
“Yes,” Wei Ying says at the same time Lan Zhan says “ No.”
“No? No? I bear you a beautiful, perfect daughter who loves you most despite the fact that I spent 42 hours in labor-”
“It gets longer every time,” Lan Zhan tells Yanli who hides her smile behind her hand like that will keep Wei Ying from realizing they’re conspiring against him . The fact that his older sister and his husband have become close friends in the last couple years is a tragedy.
“-with her, and you tell me no? No! Divorce. I am running away to Aruba to live out the rest of my days, unloved , on a beach drinking margaritas.”
“Why do you have to be like this?” Jiang Cheng asks when he comes through the sliding glass door at the tail end of Wei Ying’s tangent, an entire stack of wrapped birthday gifts in hand. “Jie, where do you want presents?”
“The table,” Jiang Yanli says, gesturing to a table with it’s mountain of presents at the same time Wei Ying says “Holy shit, Jiang Cheng did you buy out an entire Babies R Us?”
“Babies R Us doesn’t even exist anymore, numbnuts,” Jiang Cheng says as he stalks off towards the table.
“That’s not an answer!” Wei Ying calls after him.
“ JIUJIU!” Xianxian shrieks as she abandons A-Yuan and A-Ling and skids towards Jiang Cheng in a whirl of flailing toddler limbs, only to be swooped up into Jiang Cheng’s arms and settled on his hip.
“How’s my favorite girl?” Jiang Cheng asks, flashing Wei Ying’s daughter the kind of smile that Wei Ying and the rest of the Jiang’s only discovered was possible when Shanxian was born, before looking towards Jin Zixuan with a haughty look, “Look, she loves me most.”
“She’s already seen me, dumbass. You got here late,” Jin Zixuan says, pretending to be unbothered as he fakes his way through acting like he has any idea what he’s doing with the grill. Eventually Nie Mingjue or Mianmian will swoop in to make sure food gets cooked properly, and if they don’t Wei Ying’s pretty sure Madam Yu and Madam Jin have an entire spread prepared in the kitchen already, just waiting to swoop in to save the day if it’s needed.
“Can we not call people dumbasses around my three year old, who, may I remind everyone, is very smart and repeats things?” Wei Ying asks, only to be ignored because Shanxian has shoved a rock into Jiang Cheng’s face and is babbling on and on about it very enthusiastically, which, to be fair, is probably infinitely more interesting than Wei Ying’s complaining.
“You’ll never betray me, right?” Wei Ying asks A-Yuan when he leads Jin Ling over, holding onto his chubby little toddler hands in an attempt to keep him steady. It works, mostly, though Jin Ling plops down on his butt as soon as they come to a stop.
“Never,” A-Yuan says solemnly, four years old and very serious. Wei Ying can’t help but coo and bend over to pinch his round little cheeks.
When Wei Ying stands back up Wen Qing is there, squeezing Yanli’s shoulder and apologizing for having to leave so early, before she turns her sharp gaze on Wei Ying and Lan Zhan. Wei Ying feels Lan Zhan stand just a little bit straighter behind him, which is an incredibly neat effect that Wen Qing has on the man. Wei Ying understands. Wen Qing is terrifying.
“You two are gonna be okay with A-Yuan tonight, right? His stuffed turtle’s in Yanli’s living room, so don’t forget it, and if he doesn’t get to bed by 7 he’ll be cranky, so-”
“Wen Qing,” Wei Ying says, grabbing Wen Qing’s shoulders and fearing only for a brief moment the murder that gesture could possibly cause, “I know what to do. We take care of A-Yuan all the time. We are literally in the process of making us taking care of A-Yuan a 24/7 full time, permanent dealio-”
“Don’t say dealio it makes you sound so lame-”
“-and then we’ll be having this conversation every other month but in reverse, with me being the worrywart. We’ll be fine. Lan Zhan will remember his turtle, and we’ll let him have some sugar cause it’s a birthday but not too much sugar, and tuck him in at 7 and I’ll drop him off at pre-school in the morning. We’ve got this. We’ve kept an entire child alive for three years now, we’re basically experts!”
They are not experts- Shanxian ate a lego literally yesterday for reasons that Wei Ying and Lan Zhan decided they don’t want to fathom but apparently was because ‘Red tastes good’ - but his words do seem to reassure Wen Qing at least a little.
“Lan Zhan?” Wen Qing says, looking to Wei Ying’s husband as though he’s the final confirmation on this. Which, rude. But, also, fair . Lan Zhan is at least half of Wei Ying’s self control on any given day, and the other half can only be attributed to the thought ‘What would happen to Xianxian if I did this?’
“He’ll be fine,” Lan Zhan says, taking Wen Qing’s arm and leading her back into the house, the trail end of “I won’t let Wei Ying convince him he’s a radish this time either,” trailing back to Wei Ying’s ears.
“ Rude!” Wei Ying calls after his husbands retreating back. “You like pretending to be a radish, don’t you?” He asks A-Yuan, who nods seriously and wraps his arms around Wei Ying’s leg.
Later, there’s cake and ice cream, and Jin Zixuan tries to get Jin Ling to shove his hands into the smash cake for pictures and he shrieks “ NO! NO! NO!” because he’s apparently just as prissy as his father is.
Wei Ying records the moment on his phone while Lan Zhan holds Wei Ying up with an arm around his waist because Wei Ying’s laughing too hard at Jin Zixuan’s baffled face and Jin Ling’s screaming to stand and hold his phone steady at the same time.
“It’s not that funny, asshole,” Jiang Cheng says and slaps Wei Ying upside the head before seeming to realize what he’s done and looking at Xianxian- who he’s holding again because he’s a dirty rotten daughter thief- and saying “Violence isn’t the answer. We don’t hit people, okay?”
“Yes, Jiujiu,” Shanxian says with a rapid little nod, seemingly hung up on every word her uncle says.
“Why does our daughter love my dumb baby brother more than us?” Wei Ying asks Lan Zhan mournfully.
“Because even the best child can have terrible taste,” Lan Zhan says quietly and presses a quick kiss to Wei Ying’s temple when Wei Ying tips his head back against Lan Zhan’s shoulder and cackles.
“I like you so much, you know?” Wei Ying says once he’s recovered, craning his head back to peer up at Lan Zhan.
“Mh,” Lan Zhan says, “The marriage vows might have given it away.”
“You like me too,” Wei Ying sing-songs, the warm chatter of his family around him and A-Yuan’s shriek of laughter as Nie Mingjue slings him up onto his shoulders swelling above it.
“I do,” Lan Zhan agrees oh so easily, and god , Wei Ying is so in love with him and the easy way Lan Zhan loves him, the way he keeps loving him, that it makes him feel a little mad with it.
“You do. Wow, Lan Zhan, that’s so embarrassing for you.” Wei Ying says and smacks a kiss to Lan Zhan’s cheek, reveling in the fond little smile that curls the corners of Lan Zhan’s lips up and Jiang Cheng’s heckling about how they’re gross and there’s ‘ children here, Wei Ying, your children.’
End