Chapter Text
He gets the first combination to the safe wrong, and his hands shake as he hears the shuffling of footsteps outside, his time running out.
Shao Fei hates undercover operations with a vengeance, even those that last for no more than a few hours. Here he is, crouched behind an exorbitant-looking dark oak desk and trying to open a safe to retrieve its contents. Crucial evidence that will help them nab their target, who has proven to be a slimy and slippery rat for the past three months. They’re on their very last leg of this massive case.
All they need is the supply list Xu Le, the leader of a new but highly effective underground drug smuggling ring in Taipei, has kept in this safe. Zhao Zi deduced the possible passwords for him this morning, and Shao Fei knows he’s only got two more tries before alarms in this room go off.
When the second try opens the safe, Shao Fei nearly collapses in relief, but he’s not out of the woods yet. He double checks the papers in the safe before stuffing them in his dinner jacket, and shutting the door to the safe again.
There’s a party going on downstairs - the only reason why Shao Fei had a chance to sneak up into this heavily guarded floor in the first place. He opens the windows to the room and begins his descent from the fourth floor, which is the way he got in.
He’s not James Bond, damn it. At the end of this, he’s going to ask Chief Yan for extended leave and compensation. Shao Fei knows he looks like a monkey scaling down the walls of the four-storey mansion. Climbing upwards is an easier feat.
He clears two floors before he misses a step.
Shao Fei yelps like an idiot, his limbs scrambling for purchase as he falls.
He lands shortly after, but it doesn’t hurt as much as he thinks it should. His eyes snapping open, Shao Fei stiffens in surprise as he sees the man crushed under his body.
“... Tang Yi, what are you doing here?” Shao Fei hisses. “You’re not on this case-”
“If I didn’t come you’d have broken something right about now,” the man, dressed in a sleek navy blue suit, groans softly. “Get up.”
This is Tang Yi, his assigned partner of three years in Team Three. A man he cannot stand, who challenges him on every little thing, refuses to talk to him properly when he asks questions and-
-and a man Shao Fei trusts to watch his back.
Before he can open his mouth to argue with him, voices and hurried footsteps sound and Shao Fei pales when he remembers the noise he made. Just as he’s wondering if he should make a run for it, Shao Fei is tugged to his feet by the hand and slammed painfully against the wall behind him.
“Tang Yi, what the fuck-”
The words die on his throat as a mouth closes hotly over his, not even giving him time to catch his breath. Hands fist in the collar of his shirt as he’s kissed to within an inch of his life, letting Tang Yi do as he wants as he explores Shao Fei’s mouth with his tongue.
For a moment, he forgets why he’s here.
Shao Fei moans softly, and then the moment is broken as bright lights shine on them.
Dizzy and trying to get more air into his lungs, Shao Fei’s mind really doesn’t catch up for a good second. When it does, the flush that makes its way to his face and colours the tips of his ears is real. Leaning against Shao Fei, Tang Yi’s breaths are short and shallow too, but he’s clearly more lucid than his partner is.
“You guys are not supposed to be here. This section is cordoned off,” the man standing at the front of the group of four security guards says, his tone gruff.
“Ah... We’re sorry,” Tang Yi returns, looking embarrassed as he straightens. “We were... erm...”
“Geez,” another one interjects. “Get a room next time.”
“Yes, yes we will. Sorry about that,” Tang Yi laughs, grabbing at Shao Fei’s hand and pulling the dazed man along.
They leave under the men’s watchful gazes, and once they are out of sight, Tang Yi drops Shao Fei’s hand, turning around to glare at him.
“Can you actually think through things before you act?” Tang Yi snaps in a low voice. “If I didn’t follow you and do some quick-thinking, we would have been caught earlier-”
“I didn’t need your help!” Shao Fei hisses back, a familiar anger rising in his gut. “You took advantage of me!”
Tang Yi looks to the sky at the comment and wonders if it’s too much to ask Chief Yan for another assignment again. How did he ever end up with such an impulsive, dumb partner?
He spins on his heel and begins walking in the direction of the valets standing outside the stairs leading up to the entrance of the party. Behind him, Shao Fei follows, muttering under his breath.
Whatever, Tang Yi sighs inwardly, at least the idiot is unhurt.
He’ll just make a complaint to Chief Yan and get Meng Shao Fei to write another 10,000 words in report for this instead.