Huaisang jumped out of the white Sports car belonging to Xiao XingChen, not even glancing backwards once.

He was spooked.

After eating lunch with Mo XuanYu, and Wei Ying, he was trying to see things from their point of view while simultaneously trying to keep his agenda open, but it wasn't working.

He still had so many questions, and although Baoshan Sanren had given him her number, and told him that since she never slept, he could call her whenever he felt like it, but that didn't help him at all. Whenever he thought about her, he just felt an overwhelming amount of guilt.

She had patiently shown him all around her amazing home, and they'd only had time for some of the floors, but what he had seen was mind-blowing.

Huaisang was impressed.

Not only with the high-tech modern labs, their intense research into haematology, bloodwork, and the connections between venom and its reactions with different blood types, but also how much benevolence went into her daily life.

Huaisang thought he was being subtle when he was asking her about the people who worked there, and for a second, he thought Baoshan Sanren was being affectionate for his benefit alone. But he had seen the genuine admiration and fondness in all those working for her. She made them out to be like one big family, and it was so clichéd that Huaisang wanted to laugh if she expected him to fall for it.

And yet...

Try as he might, the cynical part of his nature, the part that never allowed him to take anything at face value, was eagerly waiting for the other shoe to drop; to find some fatal flaw in her set up. He wanted to see the shadows behind the light, a selfish reason for all her good deeds, and the real reason behind her actions, but he was looking for ghouls that didn't exist. In his mind, the doubts remained because no one could be that good, right?

It had come to a head when he'd met Mo XuanYu.

All of his walls had come crashing down when he realised that everything they'd worked so hard for was orchestrated by Baoshan Sanren.

All of his 'evidence', all the photos in HD quality, the documents that now probably wouldn't stand up in a court of law, all of it had come from Baoshan Sanren. He wondered if the vampires had secretly been laughing at him all this time? Feeding him what he wanted to see, and he hated himself for eating right out of their hands.

At the same time, he prided himself on being able to tell when someone was lying to him.

And so far, no one has.

That was the bittersweet truth.

Both Mo XuanYu and Baoshan Sanren had promised him that neither knew about the information dump, and both swore to be genuine about their intentions.

There was so much information buzzing around in his head that it was beginning to hurt, because his thoughts were going round and round in circles, and he knew he was putting unnecessary pressure on himself, but it seemed like this was the only way.

He had to reach a decision.

And he wasn't at all ready to do it.

Opening the door of the home he shared with his brother and now his brother's fiancé, Huaisang hoped that neither of them were home. They usually spent time in each other's company without encroaching on their individual space, and Da-Ge would be sure to notice if Huaisang tried to wriggle out of it.

Unfortunately, they were both sitting in the lounge, waiting for him.

He wasn't actually sure if that was the case, but it sure felt like it from the way both of their faces lit up.

"Thanks for messaging last night that you wouldn't be home," MingJue says, upon seeing him.

Huaisang nodded and sat down heavily on the cream sofa, suddenly feeling exhausted. He sank deeper into the plush softness, closing his eyes and throwing his arm across them for good measure, wanting to shut out the outside world.

No one says anything at first, but then after a few minutes, Huaisang feels the space next to him dip. Before he can open his eyes, he feels the warmth of his softest blanket wrap around him, and he smells the hot chocolate before seeing the steaming mug in front of him.

He looks up to see his older brother standing behind him, ready to knead his shoulders because, a) he can and b) he's the best at shoulder massages.

XiChen is sitting next to him looking worried, and he presses buttons on a remote. Soothing classical music turns on, relaxing Huaisang further.

"Are you hungry, A-Sang?" XiChen asks him.

It's such a simple question, and since Huaisang has already eaten, the answer is no. But it's the care with which those words are spoken, it's not just lip service; these people know and can see how stressed he is, and they're doing their best to make it go away.

He doesn't even know he's crying until Da-Ge comes to sit on his other side and wipes under his eyes with the rough pad of his large thumbs.

"Shall we watch a movie?" XiChen asks him, when Huaisang finds it hard to speak.

He nods, wanting some kind of background noise to fill the emptiness in his chest. To chase away the static in his head.

The Matrix movie is already on and is about halfway through, on one of the channels.

It feels as if the Universe is trying to tell him something.

Huaisang loves this movie; it's on his top ten can-watch-it-anytime-over-and-over list.

It's when the main character, Neo, is asked to make a jump between two skyscrapers, and he's told all he has to do is believe he can do it, that Huaisang sees a parallel between what's going on in the movie, and his life.

More specifically, his immediate situation and that of the main character.

"How do you know what the right thing to do is?" He suddenly asks them. Huaisang gestures towards the screen. "How did he know what to do?"

Da-Ge speaks first. He and XiChen are the bread to his filling right now, sitting on either side of him and comforting Huaisang just by their close proximity.

"You don't know," he says with a sureness. "No one knows what the right thing to do is, most of the time."

"But I," Huaisang pauses to really think about what he wants to say, "I can't not do anything."

"Two negatives don't make a right," XiChen smiles kindly at him. He gestures towards the television screen. "Morpheus was convinced that Neo was the 'one', right? And the only way Neo could move forward was by removing that pressure from himself, and he did that by denial. It freed him to do whatever he needed to do, and the label became a moot point."

"Are you making that about me?" Huaisang glances at both of them.

XiChen grins while shaking his head. "No...are you?"

"The point is, it sometimes helps to step away from the problem because we're too close to it, can't see the wood for the trees, so to speak." Da-Ge tells him.

Huaisang nods, reaching for the remote control himself.

"I've spent all this time, three years to be specific, researching all those missing people, putting the clues together and working it out. I'm ready to go public right now." He looks miserable.

"But?"

"But if I do that, it's going to put many good people in danger. People who are trying to do the right thing, people who are just trying to get by. They're caught in the middle, and now I don't know what to do, because if I do nothing, then what about all those people who had their lives taken away? Who is going to speak up for them? Are they just going to be forgotten, swept under the metaphorical carpet because no one knows what to do about them?"

"Do you have to decide right now?" Da-Ge asks him.

Huaisang shakes his head. "I don't know..." he murmurs.

"Things always seem better in the morning," XiChen tells him. "Why don't you go and lie down for a bit? Try not to think about what's troubling you, and when you wake up, you will know what you're going to do. Works like magic, doesn't it, A-Jue?"

Da-Ge does something he hasn't done for years: he pats Huaisang on his head.

It's such a random thing for him to do, and it's filled with nostalgia, a reminder of their connection when they'd just lost their parents, and all they had was one another.

Huaisang looks outside, to the dusky premonition of twilight when the world was filled with a special kind of magic. As the seconds pass by, the painter's palette changes from peach and gold to indigo and China blue, with a scattering of diamonds in the sky.

Suddenly, the idea of his bed looks promisingly good. Lying down sounds like a remedy for his malady, and Huaisang stands up.

"Thank you for looking after me," he bows.

Da-Ge is already shaking his head, that it's not necessary when XiChen smiles at him with all the kindness in the world.

"A-Sang, family doesn't need to say that. It just is."

Huaisang tilts his head in acknowledgement.

Maybe tomorrow would still light up with questions, or perhaps miraculously, the answer would present itself in a shower of celestial glitter falling from the heavens, but for now it was time to rest.

*************

Saturday afternoon was spent watching Huaisang leave in a bubble of confusion, and since there was nothing more Wei Ying and Lan Zhan could do here, Baoshan Sanren convinced them to go home and relax.

They found A-Yuan and JingYi playing Ludo with Uncle Qiren as he bravely tried to teach the latter about patience and the unhurried joy that lay in biding one's time.

The children were too excited at the thought of playing more board games and they ended up playing the Game of Life. Uncle Qiren decided he needed a nap and left them to it.

About half way through, A-Yuan suddenly looked at Wei Ying and said, "Baba, when are we going to go home? The new one?"

Wei Ying stared back at him, flummoxed into silence as his mind fumbled for a correct answer, and luckily Lan Zhan knew what to say.

"Probably in a few weeks. We still have to ask you both if you want bunk beds or separate ones."

That produced cheers.

Game forgotten, JingYi fetched Lan Zhan's tablet so they could look at possible options, and then of course, Lan Zhan being the most thoughtful person in Wei Ying's life, asked them what they wanted their room to look like, decoration wise.

That produced a whole new debate of possibilities, themes tossed back and forth, which gave Wei Ying time to recover.

They make plans to visit the hardware store tomorrow, as part of Family Sunday.

Later, after they tuck the kids into bed and read them another of Dr. Seuss' gems, A-Yuan wraps his chubby arms around Wei Ying's neck in a soft hug. His eyes are mostly shut already, but he's still smiling.

"I love you, Baba," he whispers. "And you too, A-Die."

Clearly meaning Lan Zhan.

JingYi is in a similar state, but he gives them what could be an explanation.

"Shifu said that's what we should call you guys. I love you both, too. Baba and A-Die." He falls asleep with the biggest smile on his face.

Wei Ying carefully extracts himself from his sleeping child, trying to act nonchalant about the bombshell their children have slain them with, but it's no use when he's trembling so hard that only Lan Zhan's embrace makes it better.

He can tell that Lan Zhan is just as affected by them, their casual way of smashing their carefully constructed world made up with eggshells, and then remaking it with the solidity of unbreakable love instead. He buries his face in Wei Ying's neck, breathing heavily even though it's not necessary for him.

Up until now, neither Wei Ying nor Lan Zhan had addressed the issue of what the children would call either of them. Xian-Gege and Zhan-Gege were acceptable for now, because neither wanted to push anything more on A-Yuan or JingYi.

Who knew that Uncle Qiren could and would solve the problem so easily?

Wei Ying holds him tightly, hoping the contact would allow him to get his racing heart under control again, even if his eyes had lost the memo about being cool and shamelessly decided to leak all over the place.

Thankfully, Lan Zhan's Egyptian, ridiculous thread counted shirt was incredibly porous, dutifully soaking up every one of his tears.

Family Sunday suddenly became even more important, for all of them.

*************

Uncle Qiren wore a smug smile every single time his minions/grandchildren used the new names for their parents.

Lan Zhan decided to ignore him while Wei Ying kept giving him heart eyes, and Uncle Qiren had to suffer through a hot/cold application of his own making.

Da Tuzi smiled even more at all of them, especially when JingYi announced that their new room was going to be space-themed, with rockets and stars that his Baba and A-Die were going to paint for them. A-Yuan added bunnies and there was a small dispute because JingYi said outer space was no place for cute, fluffy bunnies, and when A-Yuan pouted, he suggested that it might be okay if they were Astronaut Bunnies, and peace was re-established.

The trip to the hardware store was exciting; they bought paint and Lan Zhan found stencils, went to a fabric shop and ordered curtains and children-friendly bed linens, visited a furniture store to buy the boys what they would need, including beds and desks, ate lunch in between all that, and finally made it back to the manor in time for dinner.

The children were politely cranky as a result, falling asleep at the table and needing to be coaxed awake enough to finish eating.

It was early, even by their standards, that Wei Ying and Lan were finally free for the evening.

They had just settled down to write another chapter for Wei Ying's book, when his phone went off. Wei Ying reached for it absent-mindedly, still floating in a bubble of family time and love, when he was shaken out of it by the name on the screen:

Qing JieJie.