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That first day Shen Wei never leaves his didi. He coils around him tightly and both of them sleep in Zhao Yunlan's lap, while Zhao Yunlan just sits on his couch and watches them. Da Qing is lying next to Zhao Yunlan, his head on Zhao Yunlan's thigh as he stares at the two sleeping dragons.
"They're cute," Da Qing says at some point and he sounds almost disgusted by the observation.
"Yeah," Zhao Yunlan agrees, his hand moving towards the two dragons almost of its own volition before he stops himself. He doesn't want to disturb them. He moves his hand to scratch behind Da Qing's ears instead.
Da Qing angles his head a bit for better scratches and makes a small half-hearted purr. At some point, Zhao Yunlan forgets to keep on scratching as his attention strays to the two dragons in his lap.
"We need food," Da Qing announces after some time and Zhao Yunlan looks at him questioningly. That came out of nowhere, but it is Da Qing and when isn't he thinking about food? "Shen Wei will be annoyed if you don't eat. And I'm pretty sure both of them need food at some point," Da Qing says, moving his head a bit in a small gesture at the sleeping dragons. He sounds a bit annoyed at needing to state the obvious.
"Oh," Zhao Yunlan says, staring at the dragons. "You're probably right," he agrees and then looks a bit helplessly at Da Qing, gesturing at the two tiny dragons in his lap.
Da Qing sighs heavily, stands up and turns into a human. "Fine, I'll order something."
Zhao Yunlan tilts his head back to look up at him. "Make it something that's good for dragons," he says, grinning slightly.
Da Qing grimaces at him, looks like he's about to say something, and then glances down at the sleeping dragons and nods.
Zhao Yunlan has to wake Shen Wei up in order to have him eat. He feels kind of guilty about it, part of him just wanting to let Shen Wei sleep for as long as he wants to. But he slowly strokes the top of Shen Wei's head anyway, calling his name until Shen Wei actually opens his eyes. Shen Wei's didi still seems to be fast asleep, Zhao Yunlan wasn't quite sure if he should try to wake him up or not. He never got around to actually meeting Shen Wei's brother before now and that might be overstepping more than a few boundaries, even if the tiny white dragon is currently sleeping in his lap.
Shen Wei looks up at him, adorably sleepy, and warbles a wordless question.
"There's food," Zhao Yunlan says softly. "Your didi is still sleeping. I wasn't sure if I should try waking him."
Shen Wei shifts, moving around his didi until he's looking at his sleeping face. He pokes his muzzle softly against the side of his didi's head, making soft churring noises. There's a very small answering sound from the white dragon, but no other sign of life at all. Shen Wei rubs his head against his didi's neck comfortingly.
Then Shen Wei looks up at Zhao Yunlan again, and he gets the message even without words; the tiny white dragon is not about to wake up anytime soon.
"But you really should eat something, Xiao Wei," Zhao Yunlan tells him.
"I ordered food," Da Qing announces from where his head is buried in a food container.
Shen Wei chirps once and coils a bit more firmly around his didi.
"You don't need to move anywhere," Zhao Yunlan assures him gently. He lifts one of the food containers that Da Qing had left on the couch next to him—under normal circumstances, Shen Wei would definitely disapprove of that, but right now Zhao Yunlan isn't sure he even notices.
And then Zhao Yunlan proceeds to feed Shen Wei, holding out pieces of food for Shen Wei to bite into. Zhao Yunlan has seen him eat as a dragon before, but never quite literally from Zhao Yunlan's hands, and he can't quite explain why it makes something squeeze at his chest and his heart flutter.
Shen Wei eats in dainty little bites, before suddenly stopping and bumping his muzzle pointedly against Zhao Yunlan's fingers and making an emphatic chirp.
"I'll eat after you're finished. I promise," Zhao Yunlan tells him.
Shen Wei looks at him like he might have some doubts, but then chuffs quietly and takes another bite of food.
Shen Wei doesn't eat all that much, and when Zhao Yunlan tries to make him eat more he just turns his head away quietly.
"Alright, fine," Zhao Yunlan says, relenting. He's not completely sure how much Shen Wei might need to eat in this tiny form anyway. "You can go back to sleep if you want to. I'll call the university and tell them you can't make it tomorrow."
That makes Shen Wei squeak suddenly, in what Zhao Yunlan is almost sure is an instinctive protest. Zhao Yunlan pets the top of his head lightly. "Don't tell me you were planning on leaving your didi quite yet."
Shen Wei warbles in distress, coiling all the way around his didi again, since he'd had to move a bit to be able to eat. Then he looks up at Zhao Yunlan with pleading eyes.
"You'll stay with him for tomorrow and we'll figure out the rest after that," Zhao Yunlan tells him reassuringly.
Shen Wei hesitates for a moment and then chirps in agreement and nuzzles his head down next to his didi. A few moments later he seems to be fast asleep again.
"Don't forget to eat," Da Qing reminds him, jolting Zhao Yunlan out of his contemplation of the sleeping dragons. The cat is staring at him disapprovingly from behind his own food, but that might just be because Da Qing had to pause his eating to tell him that.
Since he currently has two tiny dragons sleeping on him Zhao Yunlan just sticks his tongue out at Da Qing before pulling his food closer.
Eventually, it's time to actually go to bed. Zhao Yunlan contemplates the issue and then somehow manages to move the dragons to the bed. With some very careful manoeuvring, he gets one hand free to move the blanket out of the way and sets the dragons down gently. It's still enough for Shen Wei to lift his head up slightly and warble sleepily at him.
"It's time for bed," Zhao Yunlan says softly. "I just need to stop by the bathroom first."
Shen Wei warbles softly and then lets his head fall back down. Zhao Yunlan hesitates, reluctant to move anywhere at all. Da Qing jumps up on the bed with a huff and stares at him, until Zhao Yunlan sighs and turns towards the bathroom.
Behind him, he hears Da Qing make a small inquisitive noise that's answered by a very soft warble.
When Zhao Yunlan gets back from the bathroom Da Qing is lying next to the dragons, not quite tangled up with Shen Wei the way he usually is, but close enough that the dragons are pressed up against his side.
Zhao Yunlan feels his heart melting in his chest, which is definitely not something he has any intention of letting Da Qing know. He quickly pulls off his clothes (and doesn't drop them on the floor) until he's only wearing boxers and a t-shirt. He carefully crawls in under the covers, thanking himself for the foresight of moving them earlier. He reaches out to turn off the light on the nightstand before settling the blanket over himself and carefully tucking it around the cat and dragons.
He doesn't want to wake anyone up again so he moves carefully as close as he can, curling up around the tiny dragons until they're bracketed by Da Qing and himself.
There's a soft warble in the dark. "Go back to sleep, Xiao Wei," Zhao Yunlan whispers. Shen Wei makes the same noise again and Zhao Yunlan moves his hand to very carefully pet Shen Wei—and probably his didi too. Shen Wei lifts his head to rub against Zhao Yunlan's palm and with a small, content sigh Zhao Yunlan settles his hand down, partly covering the two entangled dragons.
The soft churr Shen Wei makes sounds incredibly satisfied.