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“Da-ge, you can’t fight with your fans like this. Especially not over -”
Zhehan glares at Gong Jun over the top of the bubble tea, clearly brought to his hotel room as a bribe. It’s probably outside his filming diet, but what Majie doesn’t know won’t hurt her (plus he’ll sweat it all off by noon tomorrow anyway, Gong Jun thinks miserably). But even the boba isn’t enough to mollify Zhehan.
“Isn’t that a little hypocritical coming from you? Who was it out there chasing off his fans with an umbrella the other day?”
Gong Jun gives him an arch look. “Technically I was just blocking them with the umbrella. One of the crew actually shooed them off. But that’s different and you know it. Dealing with fans being rude onset is one thing, but - you’re trying to have a parking lot fistfight on your Weibo.”
There’s silence for about ten seconds as Zhehan visibly decides whether or not he wants to keep arguing about this. Then the stubborn set of his jaw goes lax. Zhehan sets down his tea before flopping back onto the couch with a frustrated huff, landing with his head on Gong Jun’s thigh. Gong Jun scratches idly at the back of Zhehan’s head, making his hair fluff up where it’s still damp from a shower. Zhehan relaxes into the touch and shuts his eyes. Just like a cat, Gong Jun can’t help but think as Zhehan melts further into him. He likes this. Likes having Zhehan’s trust, being able to talk him down from his moods. Likes that Zhehan allows him to take care of him.
Zhehan, his face now shoved against Gong Jun’s shirt, mumbles something unintelligible into his stomach. “Hmm? What was that?” he asks. Zhehan rolls back over and blinks up at him.
“It’s just something from a novel I had Xiaoyu download for me.” Gong Jun waits for him to continue, curious. Zhehan usually prefers physical books, unless it’s something he might not want to be photographed reading. “One of the characters said it - ‘they’ll never let you be famous and happy’. Sometimes I feel like it’s annoyingly true.” Zhehan reaches up to poke at the space between his eyes. “You’re furrowing again, Junjun. Your face will freeze like that, and then what will all the dream girls think?”
Gong Jun snorts. “Whatever they want, they always do. Anyway, this book. It seems depressing. How does it end for them?”
“Oh, everybody dies,” Zhehan replies cheerfully and sits up. “The lovers end up together in the underworld though, so that’s a pretty happy ending.” Gong Jun hums noncommittally as Zhehan shuffles into the kitchenette to get a glass of water. He doesn’t think that’s so happy. Wouldn’t it be better if they could both live instead?
They end up spending the rest of the night watching some variety show rerun on the hotel television. Zhehan’s distracted enough by it that he doesn’t get on his phone again, but Gong Jun keeps thinking about what he said. Up til now he hasn’t weighed being happy too much in his life. As long as he was working and making enough money to take care of his family, what did it really matter?
But Zhehan makes him think about it. What he’s willing to sacrifice for this career, and what he isn’t. And the answers are starting to scare him with how bold they are.
“Zhehan?” he asks as they’re getting ready for bed. He’s sitting against the headboard, fiddling with the sheet. Zhehan pokes his head out of the bathroom, toothbrush hanging from his mouth.
“Mmpph?”
Gong Jun takes a breath before he continues. “Do you think we can? Y’know. Be ‘famous and happy’?” Zhehan’s eyes go soft and fond at the question. He holds up a finger before disappearing back into the bathroom to spit and rinse. A minute later - and plenty of time for Gong Jun to regret actually asking, why is he this embarrassing - Zhehan comes back out and sits on the bed.
He’s smiling, which is never a good sign. “So are you saying that you’re happy with me, huh?” Gong Jun looks away as he blushes. Not one to be left waiting, Zhehan practically crawls on top of him. “Aiya, so shy,” he teases with a laugh.
“You’re just fishing for compliments,” Gong Jun complains, but he wraps his arms around Zhehan’s waist and lets himself get thoroughly kissed.
When Zhehan finally pulls back to take a breath, he settles into Gong Jun’s lap. “Well first, I don’t think you need to worry too much about the famous part - at least not with this project.” It’s frustrating but most likely true. Even though they both know that they’re creating something special here, even though the entire cast and crew knows, they’ll be lucky if it ever sees the light of day. And then they’ll be up against whatever S-tier dangai is being pushed by the studios that actually have a budget not made up by nuts. “But if the masses somehow do decide that Lao Wen and A-Xu are worthy of their money and time, we’ll still be fine.”
It’s easy to believe Zhehan, with his endless confidence. Gong Jun loves it when he’s like this. Still… “And what makes you so sure? Do you have some secret weapon no one else has figured out?” he can’t help but ask.
Zhehan grins down at him, his nose scrunching up. “Yeah, gege,” he says, which does something funny to Gong Jun’s breathing, “I’ve got you.” And just what the hell Gong Jun is supposed to do with all that faith, he doesn’t know, but he figures that flipping them over and kissing the living hell out of his boyfriend is a good start.
Two years later, Gong Jun pulls up in the driveway of the rented beach house and kills the engine. The sun is just starting to set behind the horizon, and he pauses in the car for a moment to enjoy the view. He’s driven straight here after wrapping on his latest drama, a xianxia project that’s going to make everybody a ton of money and then likely be forgotten about after six months (not like ShanHeLing, he thinks with a fierce warmth). His family - his entire family - arrived yesterday to get the vacation house set up before he got here, wanting to make the most of his time off. He’s got a week break in his schedule before he has any other livestreams or brand ad shoots. Shortly after that, they’ll be in Beijing together for another court appearance. Things are going well, but there’s still a long road ahead.
As though he can sense Gong Jun is out here thinking about him, the front door opens and Zhehan comes out, followed close behind by Lufei. He looks good. He’s tanned and glowing, and his hair is curling damply at his shoulders where it’s grown out again. It’s only been a few weeks since he came to the set on a visit, and they’ve been on video calls every night until they fall asleep, but Gong Jun still feels a jolt of nerves and giddy relief every time he sees his husband again.
Zhehan waves and starts to jog over. The way that the sun spills behind him reminds Gong Jun of that book Zhehan had quoted back when they were filming, before the unexpected success of ShanHeLing - and everything that came after, the good and the bad. As he gets out of the car and goes to meet him halfway, Gong Jun still believes in the impossible promise that Zhehan made back then, sitting in his lap and still unaware of the road ahead. And while he may not care that much about famous after all, Gong Jun knows that he won’t have to worry about the happy part ever again.