Archive of Our Own

“Hello? Lao Wang?” Xiao Zhan said into the phone as soon as his plane touched down in Shanghai.

“You here?” Wang Yibo asked.

Xiao Zhan began to smile. “Just arrived,” he said. “What’s the plan today?”

It was another one of those days where Xiao Zhan had just touched down in Shanghai, but Wang Yibo was scheduled to leave to Zhengzhou in another handful of hours so they only had a short time to spend together. Early on in their relationship, Xiao Zhan had warned Wang Yibo that this wasn’t ideal and Wang Yibo was young and would probably want someone who he could see more often. No matter how many times Wang Yibo said that yes, he did want to see Xiao Zhan more often, but some of the time was better than none of the time no matter what, and as long as Xiao Zhan still liked him, they could make it work.

It was only because Xiao Zhan did like Wang Yibo so much back then that he’d been willing to try—still half sure that a 21-year-old youth in the entertainment industry surrounded by beautiful people would grow tired of a relationship where they sometimes, meeting up meant a handful of stolen hours in an airport lounge in between months of separation. But it had been over two years since they had that conversation, and instead of breaking up with him, Wang Yibo had bought them a house, had gotten them staff that were more than happy to make arrangements so that they could take their days off together every couple of weeks or so, and if they couldn’t always meet up for important dates, Wang Yibo sent him more than enough presents that Xiao Zhan never questioned how much Wang Yibo loved him.

So even though Xiao Zhan also wished he could see his boyfriend more often than he did, he never complained about it, knowing that Wang Yibo was really doing his best.

“Come to the VIP entrance. I have a place to take you,” Wang Yibo said.

Xiao Zhan raised his eyebrows though they weren’t on video call. “Do you even have time? Doesn’t your flight leave soon?”

“Still have a few hours so hurry up,” Wang Yibo said.

“Where are we going?” Xiao Zhan asked, curious.

“Surprise,” Wang Yibo said.

Xiao Zhan smiled as he walked faster. “Yibo says to hurry,” he said to his assistant who was forced into a trot.

“Go go,” she said. “I don’t want to deal with Yibo-laoshi if you don’t make it on time to whatever he has planned.”

When Xiao Zhan and his team made it to the VIP exit, sure enough, Wang Yibo was already waiting in a rented car, sitting in the driver’s seat, facemask pulled down and cap lifted enough so that they could recognize him.

“I’ll bring him back in a few hours,” he said to Xiao Zhan’s team as Xiao Zhan opened the passenger’s door to get in.

“Just don’t be late,” Xiao Zhan’s assistant said. “If you trend tonight for missing your flight, everyone’s going to know you two met up again.”

“They have no proof,” Wang Yibo said, looking proud of himself.

Xiao Zhan’s assistant shook her head, but she was smiling as she waved them goodbye.

Xiao Zhan fastened his seatbelt once he got in, tossing his sling bag into the back seat. “So can you tell me where we’re going now?” he asked as Wang Yibo readjusted his facemask again.

It was already night time, and with their facemasks and hats on, it would be difficult to make out either of them even if people were to squint through the windows.

“Surprise, I said,” Wang Yibo said but reached one hand over, wiggling his fingers until Xiao Zhan rolled his eyes but put his hand in, letting Wang Yibo hold it. “How was your flight?”

“The usual,” Xiao Zhan said. “But you rented a car just for this?”

“Worth it,” Wang Yibo said. “Anyway I haven’t driven in awhile and want to practice more.”

Wang Yibo had finally gotten an automobile license late last year, and Xiao Zhan was pretty sure it was primarily thanks to his sheer talent at picking up new skills. Xiao Zhan had only gone driving with him a handful of times in the middle of the night to practice, and as far as he was aware, Wang Yibo really hadn’t practiced too much aside from that. Since he’d gotten his license, though, he’d been so excited that any time they went somewhere and the time allowed for it, Wang Yibo would drive. In Beijing, they still drove the old sedan that Xiao Zhan had gotten second-hand off a friend back in Chongqing originally for his parents but had brought over to Beijing once he and Wang Yibo got too famous to take DiDis and public transportation. In other cities, Wang Yibo liked to rent cars like this to get around and practice.

Xiao Zhan had to admit that it was nice that Wang Yibo actually enjoyed driving since traffic in any big city was always awful and not enjoyable whatsoever. So since Wang Yibo liked it, Xiao Zhan was usually happy to let him be in charge of all the driving.

“You’re not too tired though?” he asked.

He knew what filming Street Dance was like for Wang Yibo where not only did they have long hours filming, but also long hours practicing behind the scenes. As Wang Yibo’s schedule was so packed that he could only be there at most a couple of days before and after each performance, he often spent most of the night in practice rooms before or after actual filming sessions. Xiao Zhan always worried about how tired he would be and usually snuck extra vitamins and medicinal herbs into his suitcases.

“Not too tired to take you on a date,” Wang Yibo said, glancing over at him and grinning.

“How late did you stay up last night?” Xiao Zhan said suspiciously.

“Don’t worry, it wasn’t that bad,” Wang Yibo said. “I wanted to make sure I had energy to take you out.”

“Is your assistant going to say the same thing if I ask him?” Xiao Zhan said.

“Go ahead and ask. He’ll agree,” Wang Yibo said.

“Will he only agree because you’re bribing him to let you take me on a date?” Xiao Zhan said.

“You’ll never know, will you.” Wang Yibo grinned.

Xiao Zhan rolled his eyes but since Wang Yibo had clearly put some planning into this, he let it go. They rarely got to go on real dates between their busy schedules and how troublesome it was to make arrangements for privacy.

“Are you taking me to visit your set?” Xiao Zhan guessed.

“You want to go?” Wang Yibo asked. “I already took you last time.”

“I’m just guessing,” Xiao Zhan said. “If not your set, then…” He racked his brains for what else was in Shanghai that Wang Yibo might think he’d enjoy. “That hotpot place we went to last time?” he asked.

“Oh if you want hotpot, the director for Street Dance recommended me another good one,” Wang Yibo said. “That guy really knows his hotpot. I’ll take you next time.”

Xiao Zhan hummed. “Okay, so not that hotpot place… some other food?” Every so often, Xiao Zhan liked to spend spare time browsing trendy new foods and recipes to try out—usually too busy to actually make anything himself, but every time he sent Wang Yibo some new boba shop that had opened or a new dessert place with cute pastries, he could almost be assured that Wang Yibo would find some way to get him that food whether it was taking him there himself or making an assistant queue in line for hours. He couldn’t remember mentioning anything recently to Wang Yibo, though.

Wang Yibo grinned, still keeping his eyes on the road and Xiao Zhan felt him rub his thumb over his knuckles. “Give up.”

“Wow, you’re really not telling me?” Xiao Zhan said and pouted. “Fine, then I’m busy too.” He pulled out his cellphone and started up the episode he’d downloaded onto his phone for the flight over to Shanghai.

He waited as the noise played over his phone speakers until Wang Yibo grunted.

“You’re watching Street Dance?” Wang Yibo said.

“Correct,” Xiao Zhan said.

“Stop, you’re going to make yourself car sick if you try to watch while we’re driving,” Wang Yibo said.

“I won’t if you drive well enough,” Xiao Zhan said.

“Seriously, you don’t want to feel bad when we get to the place,” Wang Yibo said.

“So it is food,” Xiao Zhan said triumphantly.

Wang Yibo rolled his eyes. “Do you want to eat or not?”

“Just let me finish this part. I didn’t get that far in yet and people keep sending me spoilers. Does Qiao Zhi really not win?” Xiao Zhan said.

“He—”

“Shush, don’t spoil it,” Xiao Zhan said, turning the volume up louder just in time to hear Huang Xiao’s commentary that he and Qiao Zhi had already started planning collaborations this season and suddenly, he was alone.

Xiao Zhan sighed. “You really didn’t vote for him?” he said, jabbing Wang Yibo in the side.

Qiao Zhi was a b-boy from the last season of the show who had collaborated with Huang Xiao, a more contemporary style choreographer on Zhang Yixing’s team. They had turned out to be a surprising combo who turned into good friends over the course of several collaborations. Though they weren’t on Wang Yibo’s team, Xiao Zhan had quite enjoyed all of Huang Xiao’s choreographies, understanding the film and literature references behind them no matter how Wang Yibo said that technically, Huang Xiao usually wasn’t dancing street dance styles even if his choreography was impressive. 

“I didn’t vote at all,” Wang Yibo said. “We have to be fair. Qiao Zhi was better at sticking with the music but his performance that time wasn’t that good—C-Lil is definitely a powermoves b-boy, but he doesn’t listen to the music as much. I couldn’t pick one over the other.”

“But Qiao Zhi was injured,” Xiao Zhan pointed out.

“That doesn’t change the facts,” Wang Yibo said. “We’re just judging by the single performance—sometimes a really talented dancer just isn’t in the groove that day and loses. It happens.”

“Heartless,” Xiao Zhan said.

“It’s fine. We saved him back in the cypher rounds,” Wang Yibo said.

Xiao Zhan, about to feel bad for Qiao Zhi and Huang Xiao, suddenly didn’t feel so bad anymore. “You did?”

Wang Yibo nodded. “Yeah, if Yixing-ge wasn’t planning to do it, I would have,” he said.

Xiao Zhan had to admit that was something he did really admire about Wang Yibo. No matter how difficult it was and regardless of personal emotions, Wang Yibo really was fair when it came to judging and decisions like this. Last year, when he had the chance to save a dancer, he’d saved Wallace Chung’s A.K. Dong instead of someone out of his own street because he was truly a good dancer. This time, though A-Wei had lost a battle for his street and Boris was originally from Zhang Yixing’s team last year, he’d saved the two of them simply because he felt their performances merited it whether or not they ended up on the same team at all. Since Wang Yibo said it, Xiao Zhan had no doubt that he really would have chosen Qiao Zhi to save if Zhang Yixing wasn’t planning on doing it. 

Xiao Zhan sighed. “Well, good, I’m rooting for them,” he said.

Wang Yibo did take his eyes off the road to glare at Xiao Zhan. “What do you mean rooting for them? You should be rooting for me.”

“They work together so well, though. That exorcism dance from last year still gives me chills when I think about it,” Xiao Zhan said.

“Oh yeah, when he shook and the dust from his head fell—super cool,” Wang Yibo said.

“And the blood too,” Xiao Zhan said. “On his chest. Remember that part?”

“Totally creepy,” Wang Yibo agreed.

Xiao Zhan laughed. “Cool, not creepy,” he said as he shut off the video on his phone. “Anyway, the cypher—was that the one you said you won last time?”

Wang Yibo nodded. “Yeah, you can watch it later. I actually really thought Geng-ge was going to win, though,” he said. “That second round with the krump music—well, you’ll see it later. He managed to do this vibration to a record scratch exactly catching the beat—it was super cool. The entire audience went nuts!”

Xiao Zhan laughed. He remembered Wang Yibo calling him after the cypher while they were getting makeup touch-ups before music choices for the next round. Wang Yibo had been so excited that he was talking at 2x speed, but Xiao Zhan had understood that Han Geng had apparently pulled off some very cool move.

“But you won,” Xiao Zhan reminded him.

Wang Yibo nodded, a wide, boyish grin stretching across his face. Sometimes, with how professionally Wang Yibo behaved at work and how he took care of Xiao Zhan, Xiao Zhan sometimes forgot how young he was until times like this. “Yeah, I still can’t believe Tony-laoshi said I did well,” he said. “He’s real old school—one of the original inventors of locking.”

Xiao Zhan smiled, listening to Wang Yibo talk about the cypher—how he’d gotten tips from Nelson right before about locking, some new things he’d tried though he hadn’t really had time to practice. Wang Yibo was busy recounting some moves that Bouboo and Rochka had taught him when he pulled up into a shopping center.

“Where are we?” Xiao Zhan looked around the unfamiliar neighborhood.

Wang Yibo grinned and got out. “Come on,” he said, shutting the door behind him.

A little tentatively, Xiao Zhan got out as well, noting the shopping plaza they were in. It was just past the usual dinner time, so there weren’t as many people out anymore, but still enough that Xiao Zhan tugged the bucket hat down lower on his head and made sure he was hidden well enough before following Wang Yibo out. 

Wang Yibo had parked at what looked like an employee entrance, leading Xiao Zhan to a nondescript door in the side of the building, unlocking it with a key fob.

Xiao Zhan raised an eyebrow because clearly Wang Yibo had put a lot of planning into this if he’d even managed to get his hands on a key fob ahead of time. “A shopping plaza? Isn’t this risky?” he whispered as he followed close behind Wang Yibo, wanting to reach out to grab his sleeve so he wouldn’t get lost, but not daring to in case they were seen.

“It’s fine. I had it arranged,” Wang Yibo said. He turned and even with the mask on, Xiao Zhan could tell Wang Yibo was grinning as he reached to take Xiao Zhan’s hand, tugging him closer as they strode through a dimly-lit hallway. Through the walls, they could hear the sounds of the shopping plaza though there was no one else in this employees’ hallway except them.

“It’s not even closed yet,” Xiao Zhan said.

Nowadays, on the rare occasion that they did eat out together, they had to make special reservations ahead of time, make sure security was tight, and usually snuck in during off-hours when no one else was around.

“This place is closed. No one else will be there except staff,” Wang Yibo reassured him. “Trust me. You’ll like it.”

After a few more turns, they emerged out of an employee entrance at the back of a shop and nearly shocked a girl waiting there to death.

“W-Wang Yi—Wang-gongzhi,” she gasped, clutching her chest.

“Sorry, did we scare you?” Wang Yibo said, stepping fully into the shop as Xiao Zhan was still trying to figure out why someone had called Wang Yibo “gongzhi.”

Then he took in what he was looking at and stared.

“Is it safe?” Wang Yibo asked the girl.

When Xiao Zhan looked at her, he saw very familiar-looking white robes.

“Yes, everyone is gone. The shop is closed. Let me get the manager,” she said, bowing twice very quickly before she hurried off, face red even under her makeup.

Xiao Zhan didn’t pay much attention to her, distracted by the scenery. As they were at the back of the shop, they were facing a back wall, but it was a wall that Xiao Zhan would recognize anywhere with its curved eaves and sprigs of bamboo framing a hexagonal window.

Xiao Zhan felt his heart speed up. “This is—”

Wang Yibo pulled off his facemask and turned to Xiao Zhan with a grin. “The Chenqingling Serendipity restaurant,” he said and tugged him further inside by the hand. “They just opened up. I reserved tonight for us.”

Xiao Zhan stared, looking around the too-familiar set of the Cloud Recesses—the dark wood accents, white walls, the plants that were artfully placed around the windows, the lanterns that hung above, the cloud motifs carved into even the stones forming the bases of the pillars.

It had been three years since Xiao Zhan had last been to this place, but he’d never forget it. That summer, he’d spent long days leaning on Wang Yibo on benches here, climbing up onto the roofs to film and then look at the stars, chasing him around these wooden walkways with insects, teasing Wang Yibo half in-character and half with the excuse of being in-character because he liked this young man who was to be his love interest so much. He could still feel the hard wood beneath his knees as he scribbling Wang Xiao onto paper he was supposed to be writing rules on. He remembered long nights filming so late that his eyes were dry, but he still enjoyed it because he was with the boy he liked, and when he whined, Wang Yibo would pull him under one of these eaves for shade and hold his little fan for him. Playing Wei Wuxian had changed his life—he’d acted as a character who could be brave and fun and extroverted the way Xiao Zhan wasn’t naturally, had fallen in love as easily and quickly as his Wei Wuxian had with Lan Wangji, and though no one could have predicted it, it was a show that had propelled both he and Wang Yibo into A-list stardom.

Abruptly, Xiao Zhan felt his vision blur and he sniffed.

Wang Yibo, who had been eagerly pulling him around this mini Cloud Recesses set, pointing out different features, quickly turned to him. “Zhan-ge? What’s wrong?”

Xiao Zhan sniffed again and shook his head, cuddling in close to Wang Yibo and shrinking himself a little so he could bury his face into his boyfriend’s neck. “I just… I didn’t know I missed it,” he mumbled.

He felt Wang Yibo exhale and then run a hand down his back, soothing. “Glad you like it, Zhan-ge,” he said.

Xiao Zhan hit him lightly on the chest. “I thought you weren’t the sentimental type,” he said. “Didn’t we leave this behind already?”

At the farewell concert, it was supposed to be their official departure from The Untamed. The two of them had gotten explosively popular, and new sponsorships and offers for roles and appearances were pouring in. It was their chance to really establish themselves in the entertainment business, so they couldn’t hang onto The Untamed forever no matter how reluctant Xiao Zhan was to part from it. Since both he and Wang Yibo’s careers were still continuing to rise and their relationship was doing well, he’d put The Untamed in their past as memories he would always treasure but that he didn’t expect to go back to. So even though he’d heard about this little pop-up restaurant being built some months ago, he’d never even thought about visiting it with how busy they were and how troublesome it would be. He’d never thought that Wang Yibo, who still sometimes got jealous about Lan Wangji when Xiao Zhan teased him, would take him here.

“I thought it’d be nice to bring you back here on our in-between birthday,” Wang Yibo said.

“Our…” Xiao Zhan realized the date suddenly—September 5th, exactly one month in between their birthdays. He exhaled and smiled, pulling back from Wang Yibo but looking fondly at him. “You know, when you said you were the type to remember important dates, I really thought you were joking” he said. “ I barely remember my birthday most of the time.”

“Check our supertopic more often and I guarantee you’ll never forget any important date,” Wang Yibo said proudly.

Xiao Zhan snorted, smiling at him as Wang Yibo pulled his facemask down for him and tucked it into his pocket.

“If you’re ready, I can show you around.”

Xiao Zhan only now noticed that while he had been getting sentimental, an older woman dressed in the purple robes of YunmengJiang sect, had come up to them and been waiting patiently to one side.

“Wang-gongzhi, Xiao-gongzhi,” she said respectfully. “Or would you prefer Lan Er-gongzhi and Wei-gongzhi?” She smiled.

Xiao Zhan blushed but smiled and glanced at Wang Yibo. “Better make it Wang-gongzhi or this one will start drinking vinegar,” he said.

Wang Yibo snorted but didn’t argue, putting one hand at the small of Xiao Zhan’s back to guide him inside.

“I’m sure you’re both more familiar with this set than I am.” The manager began showing them around. “But we’ve got two main rooms here—the Cloud Recesses, and Lotus Pier,” she said. “They’re replicas of your original set. As you can see, the Jingshi bed is here… and over here is Lotus Pier. This part is a replica of the boat you used.”

“So which one do you want to have dinner in?” Wang Yibo asked as they toured the little restaurant.

Xiao Zhan smiled at him. “Let’s do the Cloud Recesses,” he said. He’d had far more scenes with Wang Yibo at the Cloud Recesses and was fonder of it than the emotional scenes at Lotus Pier.

Wang Yibo nodded, and after a particularly mischievous grin, went blank-faced, one hand behind his back and the other continuing to guide Xiao Zhan by the waist.

Xiao Zhan laughed. “Oh, I thought you didn’t want to be Lan Wangji anymore,” he said.

“Be quiet in the Cloud Recesses,” Wang Yibo said in that deep voice of his, and Xiao Zhan laughed harder.

“But Lan Zhan, this mouth was made for speaking,” Xiao Zhan said. “If not for speaking, then I—”

Wang Yibo kissed him then, shocking Xiao Zhan into silence before he quickly shoved Wang Yibo away and hit him a few times.

“Wang Yibo! In public!” he hissed, bright red, glancing over to the manager who was very pointedly not looking at them though she had such a bright smile on her face, she looked like her birthday had come early.

“Wei Ying and Lan Zhan did it in public too,” Wang Yibo said. 

“Wang Yibo!” Xiao Zhan said, trying to pull away only to have Wang Yibo tug him back.

“All right, all right, don’t get mad,” Wang Yibo said, smiling at him. “She’s a fan.”

“I won’t tell. I’ve signed an NDA and everything. I made everyone here sign and only your fans are working tonight—even the cook ships—um, I mean, supports you two,” the manager said very quickly. “All the security cameras are off. You have total privacy.”

“W-We don’t need that much privacy,” Xiao Zhan said, even more embarrassed, though it did make a lot more sense how Wang Yibo had even gotten the key fob for the employees’ entrance.

As they were the only two people in the restaurant, being seated was easy enough and Xiao Zhan once again saw familiar-looking ceramic bowls and cups.

“Would you like to see the menu? Your dishes are already prepared, but the names might be fun to see,” she suggested.

“I just told them to prepare one of everything to begin with since we don’t have much time,” Wang Yibo said, reminding Xiao Zhan that they really only had a couple of hours before Wang Yibo had to leave on his own plane out and he’d still made the effort to bring him here. “If you’re still hungry, we can order more.”

“That’s more than enough,” Xiao Zhan said, looking at the paper they’d been handed with a long list of items written on it. There were Chenqing spring rolls and Waterborn Abyss cold dressing and Xian-Xian grilled fish, so on and so forth.

“Then I’ll have them start bringing the dishes out?” the manager said.

“Thank you.” Wang Yibo nodded.

“How expensive was this?” Xiao Zhan hissed as soon as the manager had left.

“Not that bad,” Wang Yibo said. “They’re fans and excited that we wanted to come,” he said. “They only made me pay a reservation fee since we’re booking it out tonight. The food is all free though.”

“And you shamelessly ordered everything?” Xiao Zhan demanded.

“I’ll pay them anyway,” Wang Yibo said. “Hey, look at these.” He pushed one of the chopstick holders at Xiao Zhan.

They were all shaped like little bunnies and very cute.

Xiao Zhan smiled, moving his set of chopsticks to a napkin so he could pick up the little chopsticks holder. “They really did go all out, didn’t they,” he said.

“It’s not perfect, but the closest we’re going to get to going back,” Wang Yibo said. “Like it?”

“Like you,” Xiao Zhan said.

Wang Yibo burst into a wide grin. “Good.”

Even though Xiao Zhan knew they shouldn’t take too long here, he couldn’t help taking photos of every new dish that was served, delighted at the creativity.

“Is this even allowed in the Cloud Recesses?” He laughed as he saw a bowl of congee with chili oil floating on top. “Isn’t my spicy congee forbidden?”

“Aren’t you the rule-breaker?” Wang Yibo said. “Look at this.” He pointed to four skewers of some very familiar-looking fish.

“Oh god, is that the awful fish that they made us eat?” Xiao Zhan said. “Blegh, I remember I almost puked it was so bad.”

“I didn’t have to eat it,” Wang Yibo said.

“Oh yeah, that was with da-Chengzi and Shijie,” Xiao Zhan said. “We had to pretend it was so delicious but it was raw and had glue all over it and the smell—super gross.” He wrinkled his nose.

Wang Yibo didn’t look very happy that Xiao Zhan had apparently forgotten who he was eating the gross ‘roasted’ fish with, but thinking back to that time, him and his Jiang siblings had all gotten indigestion from it. At the time, because he took any excuse to talk to Wang Yibo and since Wang Yibo was off filming something in another city and not even on the set, he’d sent him a series of pitiful stickers and complained about how bad he felt from eating the raw fish. Then, because Wei Wuxian would, he demanded Wang Yibo come back quickly from wherever he was because Xiao Zhan was suffering so much.

It had worked better than he expected and he’d been a little touched when Wang Yibo went into a complete panic, sending him a dozen texts and promising to come back as soon as he was done filming. Then within an hour, Xiao Zhan was getting sent express delivery of about 10 different types of stomach and indigestion medicines along with another dozen messages from Wang Yibo telling him to take them and to ask the director for a break if he felt that bad.

“Wah, what about us?” Wang Zhuocheng had said when he saw the special delivery. “We had to eat that gross fish too.”

“You’re not Lan Zhan’s little runaway wife,” Xuan Lu had said, looking pleased though also a bit pale thanks to the bad food.

“Who’s the runaway? He’s the one not here,” Xiao Zhan pointed out.

Xuan Lu looked even more delighted. “Aww, does Xian-Xian miss Lan Zhan?”

“No, no, no, anyway, this is for everyone,” Xiao Zhan said, face not thick enough to deal with the teasing. “I don’t have ten stomachs. Here.” He passed out the different medicines, letting the other two pick and choose as he selected one to try himself. 

“Thank you, Wang Yibo!” Xuan Lu said, clapping her hands together although Wang Yibo was nowhere around.

“Right, right, thank you,” Wang Zhuocheng agreed. “Even though you play favorites.”

Remembering that, Xiao Zhan smiled at Wang Yibo’s unhappy look across the table. “You know that time, da-Chengzi and Shijie wouldn’t stop teasing me when you sent me all that medicine,” he said. “They said Lan Zhan really cares about his Wei Ying cause they didn’t want to embarrass me, but they really meant…”

“Meant what?” Wang Yibo said.

“You were too obvious,” Xiao Zhan said.

Wang Yibo snorted. “You think I was the obvious one?” he said.

“You sent me express delivery with 10 medicines,” Xiao Zhan said.

“You sent me so many messages whining about how bad you felt—what was I supposed to do?” Wang Yibo said, looking exasperated.

“All right, all right, best boyfriend,” Xiao Zhan said.

Wang Yibo sniffed. “You didn’t even agree to date me for so long after that,” he said.

“All right, all right, that was my bad,” Xiao Zhan said, reaching across the table to take his hand. “Anyway, I’ve been with you for so long now. I’m not going anywhere.”

“You better not,” Wang Yibo said. “Look how hard I work for you every day.”

Xiao Zhan laughed. “All right, all right, most romantic boyfriend ever too.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Wang Yibo said, looking a little appeased as he picked up one of the fried fish skewers and bit into it. “You know, this isn’t bad at all,” he said.

“Give me one. I have to erase my traumatized memories,” Xiao Zhan said.

Since Wang Yibo was due at the airport, once they finished eating and Xiao Zhan took his last photos of the place, he happily followed Wang Yibo back out the employee’s entrance. Nowadays, he was so used to Wang Yibo paying for everything, that he didn’t even bat an eyelid, leisurely taking photos and trailing his fingers over the decorations as Wang Yibo settled the bill with the manager. So he didn’t notice anything unusual until, instead of going down the stairs of the employees’ hallway, they went up the stairs instead. 

Xiao Zhan shot him a glance. “Aren’t we leaving?” he asked.

“Not yet. I have another surprise for you.” 

“What?” Xiao Zhan couldn’t resist asking.

“Are you going to do this every time I say I have a surprise?” Wang Yibo asked.

“Maybe.” Xiao Zhan grinned at him but followed him up several more flights of stairs until he started to get winded.

At the very top of the last flight of the stairs was another locked door, but Wang Yibo’s key fob opened it as well.

“You didn’t return the key?” Xiao Zhan asked.

“She knows we’re up here,” Wang Yibo said as they emerged out onto the roof of this section of the shopping center.

If Xiao Zhan had expected some sort of elaborate setup for a date, maybe a surprise cake or something for their in-between birthday, it wasn’t there. They had really just walked out onto a barren rooftop of a big shopping center where there was a huge air filter humming loudly and some random litter and cigarette butts.

“What are we doing up here?” Xiao Zhan asked, confused.

“Looking at…” Wang Yibo was staring up at the sky, looking around in a panic, but Xiao Zhan didn’t see any drones or whatever Wang Yibo might have prepared—nothing unusual in the dim night sky at all with its usual haze.

“What?” Xiao Zhan asked, also glancing around to help Wang Yibo find whatever he was looking for.

Wang Yibo groaned. “We were supposed to see the stars and the moon,” he said. “You were going to like it so much! Remember last year? You really wanted to go stargazing but I couldn’t work it out with my schedule—”

“It’s all right, you bought me that moon ring,” Xiao Zhan said. 

“Yeah, but I promised to take you stargazing this year,” Wang Yibo said.

Xiao Zhan vaguely remembered something like that though at this time last year, they really hadn’t been able to work things out with their schedules and weren’t even in the same city when Wang Yibo wanted to celebrate 9/5. Honestly, Xiao Zhan probably wouldn’t have noticed the date except that Wang Yibo had sent him a present and then called him to complain about it. That night, because he was feeling particularly moved and a little cheesy himself, Xiao Zhan had made Wang Yibo go outside to look at the night sky while he did the same where he was. He’d been filming Ace Troops at the time and out in the wilderness so he’d had a great view of the sky as he spoke on the phone with Wang Yibo. But Wang Yibo, if he recalled…

“Last year you were in Shanghai too! You were still filming Season 3 back then—you know what the sky is like here!” Xiao Zhan laughed, pushing Wang Yibo as he looked up at the sky. Between the haze of the city and the light pollution, it was basically impossible to see stars in any of China’s bigger cities. 

“Fuck, and I thought it was going to be such a nice surprise for you,” Wang Yibo cursed. “We actually managed to get a few hours together this year.”

“You were even here though!” Xiao Zhan gasped, tearing up from laughing so hard. “You were complaining how you couldn’t see anything at all!”

“Fuck you,” Wang Yibo said.

“Don’t you mean ‘love you’?” Xiao Zhan said, grinning at him.

“I said what I said,” Wang Yibo said, making Xiao Zhan laugh even harder.

He reached over to cup Wang Yibo’s face in his hands and planted a kiss on his lips. “Wang Yibo, you’re really too funny.”

“Don’t call me funny. I’m supposed to be cool,” Wang Yibo said.

“So cool you brought your boyfriend to stargaze in the middle of Shanghai.” Xiao Zhan laughed and kissed him again. “I like you so much, Wang Yibo.” He cuddled in close, wrapping his arms around Wang Yibo’s waist.

The night air was a little cooler now in September, and Wang Yibo obligingly pulled Xiao Zhan closer, rubbing his arms as he sighed. “This is the worst,” he said.

Xiao Zhan chuckled. “No, no, this is nice too,” he said, kissing him again on the cheek. “We can be by ourselves, out in public—sing, dance, make out…” He gave Wang Yibo a suggestive glance. “Even though there are no stars,” he couldn’t help teasing.

Wang Yibo sighed again, but let Xiao Zhan coax him into a kiss and then another one and then a much deeper one that left Xiao Zhan’s head reeling. He had to smack Wang Yibo a few times so he’d stop and let Xiao Zhan catch his breath.

“What? There’s no one up here,” Wang Yibo said. “You just said we can make out all we want—”

“I take it back,” Xiao Zhan interrupted. “Singing and dancing only.”

“Not fair,” Wang Yibo said.

“It’s fair, it’s fair,” Xiao Zhan said, and feeling mischievous, really began to sing. “Ni zhui, wo duo~” He couldn’t do a good Cantonese accent, but he popped his hips to the beat. “Jieguo yi shuo de, hen chiluo…”

He could tell the exact moment that Wang Yibo recognized the song by the way his eyes lit up. “Wait, I thought you said you were on the episode that the dancers were challenging each other,” Wang Yibo said, his grip tightening around Xiao Zhan’s hips. “Isn’t that the performance ibuki does next time?”

“I am,” Xiao Zhan said, continuing to sway to the music in his head. “Yixing sent me that clip of you with your cute little gouzaizai ears. I told you people keep sending me spoilers.”

“My—oh right,” Wang Yibo said and made a face, though he was still swaying along to Xiao Zhan too. “Why did he send that to you?”

Xiao Zhan laughed. “I ask him for blackmail material from your set,” he said nonchalantly. “I don’t know Han Geng or Henry well enough to ask them.”

Wang Yibo snorted. “Blackmail material? That stuff’s openly broadcasted.”

“ibuki hugged you,” Xiao Zhan reminded him.

“I didn’t hug her back,” Wang Yibo said. “And it was the song she wanted.” He squinted at Xiao Zhan. “Anyway, since when do you drink vinegar?”

“Since you started adding it to everything we eat,” Xiao Zhan said.

“Really?” Wang Yibo asked, looking pleased.

Xiao Zhan snorted. “As though I have anything to be jealous of,” he said. “You didn’t even hug her back.” He repeated Wang Yibo’s own words and grinned.

“Didn’t dance with her either,” Wang Yibo said, shifting until he was taking one of Xiao Zhan’s hands in his own and guiding him into half a ballroom stance.

“Mm ni zhui, wo duo, jieguo, yi shuo de hen chiluo,” Xiao Zhan started singing again.

“That’s not the only line in the song,” Wang Yibo said though he continued dancing and spun Xiao Zhan out.

“Too bad, I don’t know Cantonese,” Xiao Zhan said, laughing as Wang Yibo reeled him back in and then yelped when Wang Yibo abruptly dipped him.

“Ni zhui, wo duo, shale, guangyin tai duo, sha ke, sha keeee,” Wang Yibo drew out the last line in that slightly raspy way his voice got when he was singing in a lower timbre that Xiao Zhan found incredibly attractive.

Xiao Zhan laughed, holding onto Wang Yibo’s shoulders as Wang Yibo pulled him upright again. “What? Willing to dance jazz this year?” he teased.

“Nope,” Wang Yibo denied even though he had just been dancing with Xiao Zhan.

“What about with me?” Xiao Zhan asked, popping his hip again to the beat of the song. “To make up for the lack of stars?”

But Wang Yibo switched up songs entirely. “Wang buliao, ni de ai, dan jieju nan gengai~” he belted out, letting go of Xiao Zhan as he started singing his favorite Liang Bo’s “Boy” instead.

Xiao Zhan snorted in laughter. “What do you mean ‘it’s hard to change the ending’?” 

“Wo mei neng ba ni liu xia lai, geng bu xiang ta neng gei ni yi ge qidai de weilai~” Wang Yibo sang, dramatically gesturing at him.

Xiao Zhan laughed harder. “Who exactly do you think is going to give me a ‘future I’m looking forward to’?”

“Dai ni qu kan xing de nan hai~” Wang Yibo sang, butchering the beat of the original song.

Xiao Zhan burst out laughing, reaching for Wang Yibo’s hands and pulling him close. “All right, all right, youzhi de gouzai~” he sang, rhyming to the original lyrics.

“Who’s the naive puppy?” Wang Yibo demanded.

“Oh do you prefer ridiculously dramatic puppy?” Xiao Zhan said, glancing at his watch for the time. As there were no stars to look at anyway and Wang Yibo would be cutting it close if they had traffic on the way back, he began tugging Wang Yibo back toward the roof entrance.

“I prefer ‘Zhan-ge de nanhai~’” Wang Yibo sang.

Xiao Zhan pretended to puke. “Zhan-ge de gouzai,” he sang back.

Wang Yibo gave him an unimpressed look, looking so funny that Xiao Zhan couldn’t help laughing and kissing him. “Thank you...my gouzaizai,” he couldn’t help teasing.

“Zhan-ge!” Wang Yibo complained.

“It’s cute!” Xiao Zhan said. “Now hurry up. We still have to return your fob and I don’t want you late for your flight.” He tugged him back inside. "You know, I think it really is serendipity that we met," he said, their voices and footsteps echoing off the concrete walls around them in the narrow stairway. "We met playing WangXian on set...fell in love like they did..." He glanced at Wang Yibo, smiling. "Now we're even at this restaurant."

Wang Yibo, though, snorted. "What serendipity? That was all my hard work," he said. "I auditioned for that drama for you," he said. "I worked so hard to get you to date me. I'm the one who brought you to this restaurant!"

Xiao Zhan grinned. "All right, all right," he coaxed him. "You bent serendipity to your will, my determined little gouzaizai."

“Zhan-ge!”

“Ask the set if you can keep your little puppy ears,” Xiao Zhan said.

“Xiao Zhan!”

"Happy 9/5, Bo-zaizi!"