#Gege wrinkles his nose like a rabbit

[lanwangjihouse]

[ellayuki]

12.01.20

The Untamed/MDZS  /  Lan Sizhui (& WangXian)

~

He sits by the stream, a snow-white bunny in his lap, listening to the soft sounds of nature in the early morning, and enjoying the few moments of peace and quiet he has before Jingyi and the others find him and his day has to start.

Uncle Qiren would probably scold him if he were to see him now, call him frivolous for spending time with the rabbits instead of doing something productive with his time, but honestly? Sizhui thinks he can be excused today. His birthday comes but once a year after all.

He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and laying down in the grass. He could fall asleep like this, he thinks. 

He doesn’t fall asleep.

But he does lose himself in his thoughts, still petting the bunny, still listening to the flowing water a few feet away.

He’s so deep in thought, he doesn’t hear the approaching footsteps, nor does he hear the whispers and the giggling. 

Which is why he almost has a heart attack when something plops on his chest.

Several somethings. 

And not just on his chest.

He opens his eyes and sits up with a startled yelp.

All around him and all over him are what seems to be all the rabbits in the Cloud Recesses. He can’t help the giggle that escapes him. 

It matches the one coming from behind him.

When he looks, Senior Wei and Hanguang-Jun are there, smiles on both their faces.

“I’m having flashbacks,” he tells them, nose wrinkling. “I’d have thought that being an adult would mean I’d stop being buried in a pile of rabbits, or like a radish, but apparently not.”

Senior Wei snorts at that. “Yes, of course,” he says, “We’ll stop spoiling our son, right, Hanguang-Jun?” He turns to the man in question with a wink, and Sizhui is glad he’s able to hide his flushed cheeks from at least one of them. 

“Mn,” Hanguang-Jun says, still smiling fondly. “Wei Ying and I should stop spoiling our son.” (And when will Sizhui get used to either of them calling him that? Because right now it seems like never.) “We should. But we won’t.”

He bends down, scoops one of the balls of fluff surrounding them, and absurdly, ridiculously, puts it right on top of Sizhui’s head. His shocked expression probably matches Senior Wei’s, he thinks. 

“Happy birthday, Sizhui,” Hanguang-Jun says, hand resting on Sizhui’s shoulder. 

“Yes, happy birthday, A-Yuan,” says Senior Wei, and he looks like he might be tearing up, just a little.

Sizhui thinks he might be tearing up a little bit himself. 

He smiles up at them. “Thank you,” he says, breathlessly happy. “Hanguang-Jun, Senior Wei. Thank you.”

~

("You could call either of us 'dad', you know," Senior Wei says to him a little later, a mock frown on his face. "Ah, the days when I was 'Xian-Gege' to little A-Yuan. They're long since gone." It sounds almost wistful.

"I could," Sizhui says, cheeks burning red. "Someday, maybe," is all he can promise.

Going by both their faces, apparently, it's more than enough.)