Yunlan isn’t sure why he’s so antsy. Shen Wei isn’t looking at him, not really, focused instead on treating Yunlan’s arm. Between Yunlan’s sentences, in those tiny spaces between the words, he’ll lift his gaze to meet Yunlan’s, and Yunlan has to remind himself to breath again.
He tries to lighten the mood with a joke or five, but he’s running short on material after being rejected like that.
“You should join the department.”
“No, thank you.”
Maybe Yunlan misunderstood something in the look Shen Wei gives him each time he sees him across a room. Maybe he needs to think a little more about it.
Shen Wei, in contrast, is entirely unfazed. He merely sets about his task as intently as he sets about everything. Until this point, Yunlan regarded it as a challenge of sorts. A game. What would it take to knock the groomed professor off his equilibrium?
He’d thought—He’d thought…
But now Shen Wei’s hands are brushing a little high, a little close to his sleeve, and Yunlan stutters over the second half of his sentence.
“There,” Shen Wei says, releasing him. There’s that soft smile, the one that never reaches his eyes.
Yunlan stands up. “Thanks,” he manages past a forced smile.
Shen Wei stands with him. “Be careful with it until it heals,” he says.
“Will do,” Yunlan says, already past him.
Shen Wei’s gaze lingers on his back. It’s heavy. Yunlan can feel it through his jacket as he crosses the hallway in two strides. He gulps as he sees his own door along the hallway.
It’s not far enough, Yunlan realizes as he pauses in Shen Wei’s doorway. He hears—feels—Shen Wei’s breathing hitch behind him. Yunlan rests his hands on either side of the door jam.
Three steps. That’s all there is between their individual spaces. That isn’t escape. That isn’t going to help. Yunlan will still be jittery, still be aware of him. He won’t be breathing any easier.
His eyes sharpen.
Then again, does he really want to?
“Yunlan?” Shen Wei asks from behind him, still on the opposite end of the hall, voice soft and uncertain and good on the ear. “Is there something else?”
Yunlan blinks. “I can’t,” he says to the open hallway, “wrap my head around this.”
“Pardon?” The voice is closer, but only slightly.
Yunlan steps away from the door, finds the knob, and closes it with a gentle click.
Behind him, silence responds. He turns around.
Shen Wei is staring at him, then at the closed door, then again at him. He manages to radiate both confusion and wariness in such elegant ways.
“I can’t wrap my head around this,” Yunlan repeats, more sure this time.
“Around what?” Shen Wei asks.
“This.” Yunlan gestures at the space separating them. “There’s a chemistry.”
“We’re friends,” Shen Wei says. He’s not making eye contact anymore.
Yunlan moves forward. He’s slow, calculating, like cornering a suspect. Shen Wei allows himself to be cornered.
“Good friends,” Shen Wei amends weakly.
“You don’t want to work with me,” Yunlan says.
“I feel it’d be inappropriate—” Shen Wei’s back hits the wall.
Yunlan cups one cheek, and then the other.
“I think you should leave,” Shen Wei whispers.
“Do you?” Yunlan asks, and he kisses him.
And when Shen Wei kisses back, it clicks. This. This is what they both wanted.
Tag: zhao yunlan
(chuucrazy here) omg all those kiss prompts are amazing, it’s hard to choose! but how about weilan + 20?
fkyb:
Hi honey @chuucrazy, sorry for the wait ❤ thanks for sending this in 💞
20) top of head kisses
“Can you, like, bend your knees a little bit?” Yunlan asks Shen Wei. Shen Wei quirks one of his perfect eyebrows but obeys, lowering himself until he has to look up at Yunlan, for once.
Yunlan cradles Shen Wei’s face in his hands, splaying his fingers to cover as much skin as he can, his thumbs resting on Shen Wei’s mouth. He leans in and kisses the top of Shen Wei’s head, firmly but softly, breathing in Shen Wei’s cold incense scent until his lungs feel ready to burst.
With a grunt, he lets go of Shen Wei, allowing him to stand up to his full height again. Shen Wei gives him a confused look, lips parted in an amused smile.
“What was that for?”
“Aaaah, I just never kissed you there and I had to do it immediately least I die of my shame?”
Shen Wei shakes his head with a fond look, which makes Yunlan grin, which makes Shen Wei look at his lips, and it all goes downhill from there.
GUARDIAN FAKE SUB: Wait, you like me?? For my personality???
“I like so many things about you, Xiao Wei,” Zhao Yun Lan said as he traced the features of Shen Wei’s face. Yun Lan was sappy even during the day, but at night, post coital, he was particularly verbal about it. “So many things.”
“Like what?” Shen Wei asked.
“I like that smile you’re making right now, the one you make when you humor me.” Yun Lan kissed the smile. “I like your ears and your eyelashes.” Another kiss was laid upon each. “And I even like your personality.”
“Wait… You like me for my personality?” Shen Wei blinked. “I did not expect that.”
“Yeah, I know. I was surprised too!” Yun Lan laughed and Shen Wei scrunched up his nose. “I know you’re a little old fashioned…”
“I am literally ten thousand years old.”
“Yeah, old fashioned!” Shen Wei rolled his eyes before rolling over to turn away from Yun Lan. “But…” Yun Lan traced the curve of Shen Wei’s shoulder with his fingertips. “I love how earnest and observant you are. I even love your inability to understand technology.”
“Yun Lan!” Shen Wei reached behind to smack Yun Lan’s chest. “Now you’re just mocking me!”
“Oof! No no! Not at all my dear Xiao Wei!” Despite Shen Wei’s cold shoulder, Yun Lan pulled himself closer, draping himself over Shen Wei’s cooler body. “Every part of you is so endearing. Even the parts I don’t understand.” Shen Wei only huffed in reply. “This unworthy one loves you for you, Xiao Wei.”
Yun Lan knew he had struck the right nerve when Shen Wei’s shoulders stopped being so tense. “Stop talking and go to sleep.”
“I’ll sleep better if you let me hold you properly.” Shen Wei said nothing, but his body relaxed and Yun Lan pulled him closer still. “My sweet Xiao Wei. Perfect in everything, even in personality and temperament.”
Shen Wei sighed. There were some things not worth fighting. But it did warm him in a deep part of his heart, to know that just as he loved all of Yun Lan, Yun Lan loved all of him.
Guardian, episode 23
I’m still stuck on this scene, emotionally. What I love about this particular bit is that when Shen Wei pulls his arm out of Zhao Yun Lan’s grip, Yun Lan remains standing there with his hand open, so when Shen Wei drops his arm down, Yun Lan’s fingers slide across his skin. It’s such a tiny detail but I love it so much! No idea if that was intentional or if it was just a lucky shot but it adds so much to the feeling of that scene. Because Yun Lan is funny and acerbic and headstrong but he’s rarely gentle on-screen. So, when it happens, it’s all the more profound.
During a bank robbery you’re surprised when the criminals seem to recognize you and retreat in fear. Only later do you learn that your high school sweet-heart now runs a global crime syndicate and has you placed on a “No Harm” list. You decide to pay them a visit after all these years.
“You’re…turning yourself in,” Zhao Yunlan repeats, staring at the guy who shot him in the arm during last week’s bank robbery.
“Yes,” the man says earnestly. And then, in a rush, “I am so sorry for firing at you, Chief Zhao! I swear I didn’t mean to injure you! I’m a terrible shot! I didn’t think I would hit you! You have to believe me!”
Da Qing blinks at the man, incredulous. “So you came back to Dragon City to turn yourself in, even though you already fled the country, because you felt guilty?”
The man nods vigorously. “Yes! That’s the only reason! There are no other reasons!”
“Yeah, because that does not sound suspicious at all,” Zhao Yunlan mutters. “What happened to your face?” he asks, eyeing the bruises. He’s pretty sure the man had also been limping when Chu Shuzhi brought him into the interrogation room.
“Nothing! No-one hit me or threatened to kill me slowly if I didn’t come back!” the man says in a hurry, and then winces. “Please don’t ask me any more questions, and just lock me up, I am begging you.”
Zhao Yunlan eyes him for a long moment.
Although it doesn’t happen very often, this isn’t the first time something like that has happened. It is, however, the first time they’ve managed to bag someone so loose-lipped. There’s no reason why Yunlan can’t make good use of this situation and fish for some answers.
“Does this have anything to do with…the Black Cloaked Envoy?”
The man’s face turns pale. “I’ve already learnt my lesson, Chief Zhao. I will never forget your face, and I will never, ever, ever mess around in your jurisdiction again.” He drops to his knees. “Please don’t make him kill me,” he whispers, terrified.
A logical person would take their blessings and enjoy the occasional easy arrest. A rational person would not mess with their highschool sweetheart turned criminal syndicate boss. Zhao Yunlan was an officer of decent standing. Fraternizing with the Black Cloaked Envoy was potential career suicide.
After realizing that the Black Cloaked Envoy and Shen Wei were one in the same. The first thing he did was enter the nearest shady criminal hotspot in uniform. The second was to waltz through known Dixing territory unarmed and interrupt a drug deal. Third, because Shen Wei hadn’t gotten the message yet, he sauntered up and down Dixing streets with a sign: ‘I want to talk.’
He honestly couldn’t less about the uptick in his arrest rate. Or how his status left him near invincible in Dragon City.
After a week of increasingly shameless actions, a bag went over his head. Yunlan found himself in the back of an old van blindfolded but not bound. Twenty rough minutes later, he unceremoniously got shoved into a car.
Bag off, he discovered that he and Shen Wei sat in the back of a limo with heavily tinted windows.
It was Shen Wei. The mask couldn’t hide his phoenix eyes and delicate eyelashes. The black expensive suit fitted Shen Wei to a tee. He should have looked intimidating but there was a hint of refinement and elegance in his crossed legs and folded hands. This was his Shen Wei.
“It took you long-”
Shen Wei held up his hand.
“I brought you here to warn you. Do not involve yourself with me again.”
Leaning into the car seat, Yunlan crossed his arms. Cocking a brow, he drawled, “Ah Wei involved himself with me first.”
Shen Wei’s lip tightened into a straighter line.
“You’re not the only one with unresolved feelings.”
Yunlan shifted forward. Resting his chin on his interlocked fingers, he said, “I’ve been looking for you.”
He stood up. A step later, he sank into the seat next to Shen Wei. The space between was less than a 10 centimeters. Yunlan scooted until there existed practically none.
“Now that I’ve found you, you’re not getting rid of me easily,” he purred.
Shen Wei pressured his shoulder. A suggestion for space to open up between them. Yunlan ignored it.
“You must be mistaken.”
“Bull,” Yunlan said. Grasping Shen Wei’s chin, he guided their faces to look directly at another. “Shen Wei. Black Cloaked Envoy. You are the one I fell in love with over ten years ago.”
Shen Wei’s gaze diverted.
“You’re an officer. I am a criminal.”
Pulling Shen Wei’s attention back up, Yunlan broke down his sentence. “Do you still love me?”
He felt Shen Wei nod as much as he saw it. His heart soared. His words caught in his throat. Since his words failed, he leaned forward.
They kissed. Chaste and sweet, it ended much too quickly for Yunlan’s liking. Shen Wei stared at him wide-eyed.
“I love you. We can figure everything else out as we go.”
@sarah-yyy @thewickling thank youuuu!!!! 😍😍😍😍
The Last Good Bar 
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