Wild Creatures

Chapter 20

"Any idea on who could have done this to you?" XiChen asks.

They briefly discussed this last night…but Lan Zhan knows how hard all of this is for his brother; so he answers as best as he can.

"We went back to the alley later…and we found this." Lan Zhan pulls out the button they had discovered near the pools of dried blood on the ground.

XiChen studies it carefully.

"You think this came from your attacker?"

Lan Zhan nods.

"I don't know for sure…but I feel like I've seen it somewhere before…" XiChen remarks. "Do you mind if I hang onto it a while longer? Just to see if I can find something."

"Sure." Lan Zhan tells him. "I keep coming back to two things, though."

"What?"

"Well…I find it really hard to believe I'm the only one. That's the first thing. The second thing is, who bit me? Did they know this was going to happen to me? Or did they just think it was okay to leave me there to die, all alone?" Lan Zhan’s fists clenched in anger.

No matter how much he thought about it, that thought was the worst one.

That someone was cruel enough to bite him mortally and then not take responsibility.

But he forced himself to concentrate.

"And it bothers me that there might be more people like me around…and if there are…where are they? Who turned them? And why is it, nothing has come out into the open?"

"You've been really thinking about this, haven't you?" XiChen felt proud of him.

His brother was taking charge of his new situation in such a good way…it was admirable how he wasn't simply…wallowing in misfortune.

"The one thing I have in abundance is time." Lan Zhan replies.

"I would like … no." XiChen shakes his head as if he's clearing away something. "I want to go there too, that alley. In the daytime. We might find something you missed. When did you go?"

"At night."

XiChen nods to himself.

There's a noise by the door and they both look to see A-Yuan still dressed in his baby blue bunny pyjamas. His top has a hood over his head, complete with bunny ears. He yawns and makes his way to Lan Zhan, and stretches up his arms.

Lan Zhan picks him up without thinking, unconsciously kissing the top of his head as A-Yuan promptly falls back to sleep. This is another bundle of warmth, and Lan Zhan feels almost normal.

He looks up to find XiChen staring back at him in shock.

"What?" Lan Zhan murmurs in a low voice. He doesn't want to wake the sleeping child.

"I…um…you…you're really going to do this…" XiChen still seems to be lost for words.

Lan Zhan lets him process for a few more minutes.

There is something priceless about these morning moments, something utterly domestic and ordinary, and yet because Lan Zhan has never had this, it is even more precious.

"It's just…I never imagined you, Hanguang-Jun influencer extraordinaire, to…" XiChen gestures towards Lan Zhan cradling the sleeping form of A-Yuan.

"And?" Lan Zhan doesn't mean to sound sharp but doesn't understand his brother either. "What are you getting at?"

XiChen smiles suddenly.