Call Anytime

Never Gonna Give You Up

After dropping that bombshell, Jiang Cheng tells his brother how Lan Huan and he stayed in touch after the seminar, calling, sexting (Wei Ying almost chokes at that), even meeting up for dinner a couple of times.

"We made sense, Wei Ying," he shakes his head. "Then his husband, this guy called Meng Yao, came to see me at work and-"

"Wait, you mean Jin Zixuan's half-brother, Meng Yao?" Wei Ying sits up straight.

"What? Isn't that guy called Jin Guang- Jin Guangyao, oh..." Jiang Cheng turns to his brother. "I didn't make that connection at all."

"Let's put a pin in that for now. What did a-Yao tell you?" Wei Ying puts his hand Jiang Cheng's, hoping to calm him.

"He told me that their marriage was on the rocks because Lan Huan was already cheating on him with this other best friend of theirs, Nie Mingjue-" He stops when Wei Ying almost falls off the couch.

"A-Sang's da-ge?" He gasps. "Why is everyone dating everyone else!" And how the hell did I never hear of Lan Zhan before?

"I don't know anything about your friends, just shut up for a second and stop interrupting me." Jiang Cheng looks miserable. "If you hadn't swooned over Lan Wangji at Walmart-"

"Target!" Wei Ying corrects him.

"Then, I would have never even told you about this." Jiang Cheng sighs. "Anyway, so I obviously called Lan Huan and he said that Meng Yao was full of shit. But he couldn't deny that he definitely did not tell me that he was married. Like, at all. So, I broke up with him." He shakes his head. "No, we were never technically dating, I suppose."

"A-Cheng." Wei Ying's eyes are prickling with tears. He hugs his little brother, hoping to convey how much he loves him. "You can tell me anything. Please tell me next time."

"You bet your ass, I will!" Jiang Cheng pulls away. "Or else, you'll keep running into the arms of my exes' asshole brothers."

"Wait a second," Wei Ying's eyes narrow. "My Lan Zhan did nothing wrong."

"Your Lan Zhan?" Jiang Cheng looks like he's going to scream. "I'm going to break your legs."

"What?" Wei Ying stands up and takes away the beer bottles, more for his own safety than anything. "He clearly thinks you 'dumped' his brother, and so he got a bit angry. It happens! You, of all people, should understand that."

"I cannot believe we're having this conversation." Jiang Cheng stomps his feet. "You cannot date him! Isn't there a bro code or something, here?"

"Well, the bro code says I can't date Lan Huan, not his brother!" Wei Ying pouts.

"I hate this." Jiang Cheng starts moving towards the door. "I really fucking hate this, Wei Ying."

Wei Ying can't help but cry a little bit as his brother slams the door behind him.

"A-Zhan!" Lan Huan is awake. He was excited about his little brother's first date in almost a year. "How was dinner?"

"It was..." Lan Zhan thinks of lying but can't bring himself to do it. "Not good."

As he informs his brother of the events of the night, he can't help but notice that Lan Huan looks paler by the second. He interrupts himself to get his brother some water.

"I'm really sorry, Huan-ge." He looks at his feet. "I had no idea they would be related."

"Of course, you couldn't know that." Lan Huan sips his water. "It's all my fault, anyway."