Deng Xi called him at far too early in the morning. Sun Fang, who was lazying about in bed and refusing to get up even though he’d waken up at a very reasonable hour, frowned. He clicked his tongue and picked up the phone, only hitting accept before he dropped it again.

The speakers sparked to life and Deng Xi’s voice could be heard from the other end, ”Your brother is hilarious.”

”What did he do?”

”Alright, so you know how he’s got that company of his, the entertainment one?” Deng Xi said, his voice barely containing his laughter. Sun Fang nodded, forgetting for a moment that his cousin couldn’t see him. Deng Xi continued, ”They’re fighting for resources with another company and Sun Yi decided to go spy on them—they didn’t recognize him at all. They tried to hire him as a model! Sun Fang! Can you believe it?!”

”Yeah, Sun Yi’s pretty nice-looking, right? He’s got that clean and innocent look going for him,” Sun Fang said. He pushed a pillow behind his back and squirmed around until he was sitting up, leaning against the headboard.

Deng Xi din’t bother to contain his laughter this time, ”Even though he’s the boss of a rival company they’re actively fighting for resources with, they didn’t recognize him at all! He’s not a threat to them, Sun Fang. He’s like a puppy constantly trying to get through the fence; his struggle is cute, but he’s not dangerous.”

Letting out a puff of laughter, Sun Fang said, ”I see your point.”

”And the best part is,” Deng Xi’s voice took on a mockingly serious tone here, ”Sun Yi told your father about it when he came home to the mansion, and your father had no idea what to do.”

Well, that part wasn’t surprising. Sun Fang’s father wasn’t a man he had a lot of memories of, and he didn’t imagine that he had a lot of experience comforting people, much less his own child. Likely, he’d said something mean unthinkingly and Sun Yi had been faced with the bitter fact for the first time—that their father just didn’t know how to be a parent. He’d never been very interested in knowing either, not until Sun Yi suddenly made him turn over a new leaf.

But bad habits weren’t that easy to get rid of, after all.

”Was this the only reason you called?” Sun Fang asked.

Deng Xi scoffed, ”Trying to get rid of me already? I’ll have you know, I have a good and proper reason to call you.”

”Oh? And what’s that?”

”We have the due date for the baby, they say they’re gonna have to induce labor and do a c-section. Mianmian wants you to be there,” Deng Xi added, his voice going back to that cold and serious quality Sun Fang was more used to.

”Send me the date,” Sun Fang said. That Mianmian would need a c-section was worrying and it was of course a done deal that he’d be there. There had been talks about it for a while, Mianmian had texted him lots of complaints, but he had halfway expected it to be a moot point. That it wouldn’t actually happen. Sun Fang said, ”Tell Mianmian that of course, I’ll be there.”

Deng Xi made an affirmative noise. Sun Fang could vaguely hear something in the background and then his cousin said, ”Sorry, got to go now,” and hung up before he had a chance to answer. Sun Fang rose an eyebrow, but decided to leave it be.

He flopped back down on the bed, staring sightlessly up at the ceiling. Then he exhaled softly and rolled off the bed, almost stumbling when his feet hit the floor. He strode off in the direction of the bathroom, and did his business in silence.

His butler was waiting for him when he came out. Sun Fang stopped in his tracks and blinked, ”Do you need something?”

”Your breakfast is ready,” his butler said and turned around to lead the way to the kitchen. Bemused, Sun Fang followed.

”What will you be doing today, Young Master?” his butler asked while he was eating.

Sun Fang swallowed his mouthful of food and answered, ”Don’t know.” Then he returned to eating and ignored the musing sound his butler made. His butler was an AI, it only made that sound because it had something to say and wanted him to ask about it. Instead, he ate the rest of the meal and then lazily drew figures on the tabletop’s counter.

His butler finally relented and asked, ”Perhaps you should go shopping?”

Sun Fang leaned back and narrowed his eyes at the butler. ”Are you up to something again? Because if this is like that time you redecorated my whole room because I said I really liked the decor in that one room in a movie, we need to have a talk.”

”I assure you, I have no plans to redecorate,” his butler said emotionlessly.

Sun Fang hummed. ”So, then?”

His butler stayed stubbornly silent, and Sun Fang imagined that if his father ever saw an AI butler like this, it’d be returned to the store as a faulty item. But the stubbornness of his butler was part of what made him inordinately fond of it and so he let it slide.

”Fine then,” he said and rose from his seat. ”If it means that much to you, I guess I’ll go shopping.”

His butler didn’t have the fascial muscles needed to express emotion, but something about the way that he stood still managed to convey his pleasure. Sun Fang hid his smile by turning away and made a show of sulking, dragging his feet theatrically.

So his butler was up to something and needed him to go shopping to do it… he’d play along. He’d moan and groan and complain yes, but he’d go along with it. It would probably be fun, anyway—his butler would never do anything to hurt him.