Work Text:
1. Hair
Zhao Yun Lan loved Shen Wei’s hair. He loved how it was now long enough to be pulled back into a messy ponytail. He loved how he could push his fingers through the silky strands and have Shen Wei make a humming noise of contentment. And he loved how Shen Wei seemed to be more and more like the Shen Wei he met ten thousand years ago. Open, trusting, long hair half tied up.
Zhao Yun Lan was also trying to get Shen Wei into some adult cosplay because his glorious hair deserves clothing from another age. It has been a failure so far but he has hopes.
What Zhao Yun Lan doesn't love was getting his foot caught in the long twisted hair clogging the shower drain.
“SHEN WEI!!!”
2. Sleeping
Beside the initial months of sleeping upon their return Shen Wei doesn't sleep much. He can sleep, which was apparently something he couldn't do before. Now he can fall asleep for maybe two to three hours before he was up and ready to start the day.
Zhao Yun Lan, despite being arguably not fully human anymore, still required a full eight hours of sleep to be a functional member of the community. And he doesn't like it when his living sleep pillow decides to leave the bed, leaving him alone in the large king sized bed that was meant for two.
He finally recruited Lin Jing to buy, upload and teach Shen Wei how to use an iPad to access all the books a person might ever wanted to read.
Now Zhao Yun Lan can re-enact a koala by clinging to Shen Wei all night, while Shen Wei read his boring books.
And all he had to do was make sure Lin Jing’s bonus wasn’t cut for a month.
3. Food
Shen Wei cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner, and will make snacks for Zhao Yun Lan. He knew the really expensive kitchen was worth it.
The problem was Zhao Yun Lan wasn't a big eater to start with. Food has never been a priority. He can appreciate a good meal but he was more likely to skip lunch and dinner when there was a case or when he was too lazy to even consider cup noodles. So Zhao Yun Lan made the extra effort, stuck sticky notes on his monitor, left messages on his phone, anything to remind him that Shen Wei made him food out of love. Zhao Yun Lan made sure he ate all of Shen Wei's cooking.
The one time Zhao Yun Lan attempted to cook it did not end well for Shen Wei's prized none stick pan.
4. Transport
SW could drive, which had surprised Zhao Yun Lan initially because Shen Wei was completely hopeless when it came to modern technology. Completely hopeless, to the point that he was still using a pen and an old timey typewriter to complete his reports. It took many weeks of frustrating lessons to get Shen Wei to use a computer. But now the man is a champion at Angry Birds.
But yes, Shen Wei being able to drive was a surprise. As often as Zhao Yun Lan picked up Shen Wei from work, Shen Wei had done the same for Zhao Yun Lan when he needed to attend work events. And every time Zhao Yun Lan felt the spark of warmth in himself as he looked up and see Shen Wei in their stupidly expensive truck, a soft smile just for him.
5. Money
Shen Wei cannot be trusted with money. As he was an immortal being for ten millennia, who could conjure up anything he wanted from nothingness, meant that Shen Wei honestly doesn't have a concrete concept of money.
On the one hand this was great because Zhao Yun Lan can buy stupidly expensive anything without the love of his life getting angry. On the other hand this was how they ended up with boxes of books arriving by fast track delivery that they had nowhere to put. So now said books was piled in their living room floor, acting as their coffee table that they couldn't actually use because Shen Wei loved the books as if they were his babies.
Not to mention the red packets during New Year that the children received, which wiped out Shen Wei's wage for a month.
The point was, Zhao Yun Lan now controls their budget. Like any responsible wife.
6. The Shrine
How do you tell the love of your life, the light of your soul that no, he couldn't move all the pictures of your previous and current lives into their new home. Look, Zhao Yun Lan was very happy? Grateful? Desired? Creeped out? That the love of his life kept a look out over all of his (sort of) past lives, but this! This was like going into the hideout of a serial killer and being encountered by his murder wall. And just - just no.
Okay, yes, after the initial what-the-fuck of the whole thing, Zhao Yun Lan was just mostly tired and sad. Shen Wei spent ten millennia only able to watch what might have been Kun Lun's reincarnations live their lives and die without being able to intervene. Terrified it would destroy all hints of the man he loved. Yeah, Zhao Yun Lan sometimes thinks about what a bastard, what an idiot he was. The way he left crumbs of himself through Shen Wei's life but forgot to reinforce his own presence. Forgot to leave his own atoms in She Wei’s time and life, because Zhao Yun Lan was too busy trying not to burn out his own soul. Trying to find a way back for the both of them.
So Zhao Yun scans the photos and paintings, and stores them on Shen Wei's phone and the laptops, put them in usb sticks. And Shen Wei watches with eyes dark and mouth a straight line. Afterward, alone, Zhao Yun Lan burns the physical copies in their back yard. He might love all of Shen Wei but he wasn't about to have a physical shrine dedicated to himself in their home.
Because fuck, that would be admitting that Shen Wei was a nutcase that was one step away from kidnapping the subject of his obsession.
7. Touch
This should be a given, but living together in the same space, sharing their lives, being able to reach out and touch. Zhao Yun Lan will never take that for granted. For so long, in that space where he was all and nothing at the same time, Zhao Yun Lan couldn't touch Shen Wei, only able to see glimpses of man like light refracting off stars.
But living together now meant Zhao Yun Lan could rest his head on Shen Wei's shoulders, could touch Shen Wei's hands, could touch in the thousands of ways he wanted without fearing Shen Wei would turn immaterial like the clouds in the sky.
So, Zhao Yun Lan touches, and Shen Wei always reaches back.
.Endo.
[And they all lived happily ever after.]