Fluffy WangXian Oneshots Book Two

A Piece Of Cake Part 5

Lan Zhan feels anxious.

Today is the day of the Civil ceremony, and the past four months have been leading up to this rollercoaster of events, for which he is totally unprepared.

Outwardly, he looks the same as normal, but inside, he's a mess.

Ever since XiChen told him just after the new year that he wished to propose, and of course, Lan Zhan gave him his blessing, because the unspoken request was there - if you don't approve, then I won't do it - and Lan Zhan definitely wanted his brother to be happy. But ever since that happened, there has been a quiet wave of panic slowly building.

Lan Zhan hates weddings.

Other people's weddings are bad enough, but this is XiChen's wedding, and for that, Lan Zhan has to smile, Lan Zhan has to help and be supportive, and Lan Zhan has to BE there.

That slowly building wave of anxiety is creeping up on him, threatening to engulf him, and it is all he can do not to run away to some quiet place and hide until it's all over.

He doesn't understand people who enjoy going to weddings at all. Once, he had made the mistake of asking his brother what he hated about weddings, too, and he had never seen XiChen look so surprised before. Then he had to quickly change his question to what XiChen liked about weddings, and then, he suffered through thirty minutes of XiChen listing all the very things Lan Zhan hated with the opposite preference.

XiChen LOVED weddings. Hating them seemed to be something he could not imagine, let alone talking about in this vein.

XiChen liked talking to people the most, he said, enjoying spending time with other members of society and sharing that experience.

Clearly, XiChen had a low bar of expectations, and an even lower bar for intelligence, something he apparently could overlook in a heartbeat.

So Lan Zhan's work is going to be cut out for him today.

XiChen has already decorated the Hummer in pink and cream satin bows that reach from the side mirrors to the centre, with flowers, and the only good thing that Lan Zhan can say about today is that Wei Ying is here.

They're waiting outside the house for XiChen and MingJue to come outside.

"I think your brother is a secret Barbie fan," Wei Ying winks at him, taking another closeup of a beautiful peony elegantly tied in silk.

Lan Zhan distracts himself with that possibility. XiChen does like pink more than the average human, so it's not a farfetched theory.

"Did you know, Lan Zhan? The creator of Barbie said that Ken will never be a husband but always a boyfriend because they wanted Barbie to be financially independent and never have to answer to someone else? Especially true in the sixties." Wei Ying nudges him, trying to get him out of his shell.

Lan Zhan takes his hand and immediately feels better. He can sense himself relaxing in increments, one limb at a time.

"Won't you talk to me, Lan Zhan? Tell me what's wrong?"

Trust Wei Ying to notice.

"I do not like weddings." He's said it often enough that Wei Ying already knows this. But today, it means something different.

"You know, I thought you were joking before, but I was obviously wrong. Tell me then, how can I make it better for you?"

Lan Zhan is surprised at first, looking down into beautiful silver eyes filled with nothing but sincerity. He had expected Wei Ying to laugh at least, finding a way to make fun out of it. Obviously not laughing at how Lan Zhan feels, but in the way of trying to lighten his tension by making it into something ridiculous. Only, that approach isn't going to work today, and Wei Ying has figured it out already.