The snow blankets outside in a beautiful white sheet, and Wu Biaoqing blinks awake to it falling lightly as the sun rises in the sky, and he smiles at the beautiful sight.
He turns against his D. Porthault embroidered sheets, an intricate pattern with blue flowers that fit well in his room, Zheng Shun had remarked the first time he visited, and clicks open his phone just as his lover calls him.
He puts it on speaker phone and snuggles back under his covers, his room too cold for him in his thin silk pajamas.
“Good morning sleepy head,” Zheng Shun’s rich voice echoes through the speaker, and he sighs contently, feeling like he could fall asleep listening to his lover talk just as he had done that night, “how are you?”
After a brief pause Wu Biaoqing replies somewhat like a mumble, “sleepy, for one.”
The laugh he receives for the comment makes his heart flutter, and he continues, “I’ll crawl out eventually. My mom will drag me down for presents if I don’t.”
“You sound so excited for Christmas,” he chuckles, “If your mom doesn’t drag you down, I will.”
“What?” Wu Biaoqing sits up, surprise coloring his face, “I thought you wouldn’t be here for two more days!”
There’s a softness to his voice that makes Wu Biaoqing feel like he’s melting when Zheng Shun replies, “surprise. Happy birthday, my love.”
“I-I’ll be down in a minute!” He exclaims, a bright red flush to his cheeks as he clambers out of bed, “I need to get ready. I wasn’t expecting you!”
“Mn,” Zheng Shun hums, “I’ll be waiting!”
His heart pounds in his chest with anticipation as Wu Biaoqing gets ready, deciding to skip showering so he can see his boyfriend as soon as possible.
They were supposed to spend all week together on a cruise, courtesy of his sister, but after unfortunate weather condition delays and Zheng Shun’s impromptu urgent business trip, Wu Biaoqing wasn’t expecting him to fly back until after his birthday.
The thought that despite all the troubles, Zheng Shun still found a way for them to spend his birthday together, has Wu Biaoqing falling for him all over again.
He patters down the stairs, pulling his hair up at the same time, and only narrowly avoids biffing it after missing a step and losing his footing.
Luckily he makes it down without dying or breaking any limbs, and comes face to face with his sister, Wu Yanxiu.
“Happy birthday, didi!” She says with a bright smile, Wu Biaoqing returning his own small one as he mumbles his thanks, “you better save your boyfriend, dad just stole him and got out the scrap books.”
Wu Biaoqing groans, “we need to put a lock on that cabinet,” and they make their way together into the main living room, a large spacious room with a long couch and a giant Christmas tree towering over everything in the corner, piled to the brim with presents all around.
The lights of the tree are off, which he appreciates, since he knows how much the rest of his family like them.
Every year he’s reminded how lucky he is to have such a wonderful family, always so considerate of what types of environments he can and can’t function in, and accommodating him as if it’s nothing.
He hears his dads booming voice filled with tears, crying, “he was so tiny… my baby…”
The sight of his lover by his father’s side looking helpless, as if not sure how to console him, makes him tempted to take a picture, but he opts instead to sigh, “dad, you’re going to scare him away!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“I won’t,” his father argues defensively, “shunshun has been nothing but enthusiastic about looking through these.”
Hearing his father’s gruff, authoritative voice calling his boyfriend Shunshun is almost enough to make Wu Biaoqing double over in laughter.
“Quit smothering him,” he chides, shooing his father to scoot so he can plop down on the couch beside him and wrap Zheng Shun in a big hug.
Zheng Shun responds in kind, nuzzling close, and his voice is slightly muffled as he talks while resting his head against Wu Biaoqing’s and pressing a kiss against the top of it, “I missed you.”
Wu Biaoqing hums, melting under the attention after being starved of affection for days, “I miss you too baby.”
His sister, Wu Duxin, acts as if she’s going to throw up, so he sticks his tongue out at her and holds Zheng Shun tighter out of spite.
His boyfriend, blissfully unaware, just whispers, “happy birthday,” while pressing a kiss to his nose, and his father sighs loudly beside them.
“Qingqing,” he says, “hurry up and marry him already.”
Wu Biaoqing splutters, face dusted with a bright pink blush, “what?”
“He’s so perfect…” his father huffs, “if you don’t marry him, I will.”
“Dad!” Wu Biaoqings frowns, “stop trying to steal my boyfriend.”
“I can’t steal him if he’s your husband!” His father shoots back.
“They shouldn’t be rushing into that kind of thing, dear,” adds his mother, “and you shouldn’t be encouraging it.”
At her glare, he immediately relents, “alright, alright, I’ll drop it.”
Wu Chengxiao claps, getting everyone’s attention, “should we open presents now? I’m sure the birthday boy would like to go first.”
Wu Biaoqing sighs, “you make me go first every year.”
“Well, it gets you out of the way sooner,” she shrugs, dragging over more presents than is probably necessary for him to have, “there’s a lot more, but it’s mostly from dads friends, so pretty boring.”
As his dad gasps indignantly, Wu Biaoqing laughs, “let’s hope I get some kitchen utensils again this year for the new kitchen.”
Zheng Shun hums, adding, “I still can’t believe you gutted and rebuilt the entire kitchen in the LIFE headquarters and got absolutely nothing to go inside of it. We still need to buy a rice cooker…”
Wu Biaoqing laughs harder, “you think I’m going to get a rice cooker for my birthday?”
“Well,” Zheng Shun shrugs, “maybe you got it for Christmas.
Wu Biaoqing rolls his eyes, and turns his attention to the presents in front of him.
The first gifts are all obvious—
Collectors items from different international LOW events, a new vase to replace the one that was broken early that week— Wu Biaoqing blushes when he remembers just how he and Zheng Shun broke it— with the same design, a LOW themed clock that doesn’t make a ticking sound so Wu Biaoqing can use it without worry, their yearly tradition of a 14.5 million yuan anonymous donation to a charity each family member picks, and a bunch of cat toys and streaming equipment.
There’s one present though, that’s different from the rest.
The wrapping is very obviously personally done, unlike his parents and sisters who tend to use bags or pay to have their gifts wrapped, and it’s so small Wu Biaoqing can barely think of what it could be.
He feels Zheng Shun tense slightly beside him, his nervous habit of tapping his fingers against his leg showing up once more.
Zheng Shun is always one to go all out for gift giving, similar to Wu Biaoqing himself, so a single small item is unusual when he hasn’t asked for any new jewelry.
Usually, Zheng Shun gets whatever he asks for and tells him so beforehand, because Wu Biaoqing doesn’t usually like surprises, which only makes the whole ordeal even more intriguing.
He slides a hand to rest against his partner’s thigh reassuringly, and unwraps the small gift to reveal a dark box with no brand name or logo.
When he opens the box, he immediately starts smiling.
“Baby,” he says softly, “it’s beautiful.”
Zheng Shun smiles, but he still looks worse for wear, “I’m glad you like it.”
In Wu Biaoqing’s hands is a solid gold necklace with a pendant of a camellia flower, and their anniversary date on the back.
He remembers Zheng Shun asking if he preferred gold or silver to wear during competitions, so it makes sense.
The necklace is a sort of bind, in a way, that makes Wu Biaoqing’s heart flutter.
A signifier of the connection between them that can hang directly on his body, yet isn’t so obvious that everyone has to understand it.
Just the two of them understanding is more than enough, and he can’t help but lean over and kiss his cheek as Zheng Shun helps to clip it on, Wu Duxin’s look of utter disgust be damned.
“There’s- there’s something else,” Zheng Shun adds, clearly increasingly more nervous than before.
He’s even more confused at that point, so he takes out the wrapping paper the necklace was on top of, and suddenly everything makes sense.
The nervous jitters, the reason he came back despite them already agreeing to host their own celebration alone in a few days, the constant occasional questions about his aesthetic preferences, the insistence on knowing his favorite towel brand and toothbrush and painter—
Wu Biaoqing can barely breathe, so overwhelmed with the rush of different emotions crashing over him.
He turns to face Zheng Shun, tears springing in his eyes and clumping his lashes together, “did you really…?”
Zheng Shun nods.
“I-I probably should’ve talked to you beforehand, but I wasn’t even looking when I found the place and it was just absolutely perfect, I know you’ll love it, so I was putting money down on it without even thinking, and then I got nervous thinking you wouldn’t want to,” his boyfriend rambles, “but I asked your parents and they said it would be fine so they helped me pick everything out and decorate it, we can go there tonight and I’ll show you everything and- and-”
In lieu of a response, Wu Biaoqing simply shuts him up with a chaste kiss that has Zheng Shun blushing beautifully.
His dad grins widely, “you see why I said they should get married, right?”
His mom rolls her eyes, but doesn’t disagree.
Inside the box is a small gold key, one that looks like it attaches to the back of the necklace charm so they can hang on the chain together.
There’s an engravement of all three of their shared favorite, most important flowers, and a simple word underneath—
Home.
Wu Biaoqing holds him close, and can’t help the tears that roll down his cheeks as he presses their foreheads against each other.
“Do you like it?” Asks Zheng Shun, hopeful.
“It’s perfect,” he says quietly, like a shared secret, “I can’t wait to see our home.”
The word out is beautiful to Wu Biaoqing—
Our team, our game, our family, our home.
He hopes that as the years go on, and his birthday passes each time, there will be many more ours to go along with it.
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I helped my parents with shopping pretty much every day this week, and then spent all of the 24th & 25th suffering through family gatherings. Pain. So, chapter 21 isn’t quite ready yet, but I didn’t want to leave everyone hanging when it was already pushed back, so here’s a little Christmas special! Happy birthday Wu Biaoqing (and severely late happy birthday Chang Hui, who has been left abandoned since I wasn’t able to commission birthday art in time for this update… I promise I love you).
Itfcu Vtec jcv Qe Dljbdlcu jgf rb rkffa abufatfg, P mjc’a kjla ab kglaf atfw abufatfg wbgf lgi lc atf jmaeji cbnfi! Qlat atf Jjcvs mbcf jga mbwlcu ab j mibrf lc j ofk mtjqafgr jcv atf fcv bo atf olgra ybbx vgjklcu cfjg, P’w fzmlafv obg ktja’r lc rabgf obg atf ZPJ mtjgjmafgr, rlcmf atf cfza 2 jgmr P tjv qijccfv obg ZPJ rlcmf yfobgf la kjr fnfc mjiifv wjxf la mbeca!!
I hope everyone is enjoying despite the delays, and I’ll work hard to keep getting updates out weekly if possible, but I may have to switch to bi-weekly due to my chaotic schedule these next few weeks. I basically won’t have any break until… *checks calendar* march 1st (╥﹏╥)
That’s all! Thanks for reading, and I look forward to seeing everyone in the next chapter. Happy holidays to everyone who celebrates, and have a lovely winter to everyone who doesn’t~
Hiii!! I found your story today and I’ve been having a blast while binge-reading it! I love our boys!!!
This extra was so sweet I couldn’t stop smiling <3 Those two are so cute alksjdalsdjals
Happy holidays to you too! And please don’t stress, we’ll be happily waiting over here for the next chapter, but your health is more important!
Aww I’m so glad people are still finding this, and I’m even more happy that you enjoyed it so much!! ⁄(⁄ ⁄ ⁄ω⁄ ⁄ ⁄)⁄ our boys are really too sweet, someone get me a dentist appointment because I get cavities writing them together… thanks for reading <3