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Yibo collapses on his hotel bed, tired and keyed up all at once. It’s been over two hours now since Xiao Zhan messaged to say that he was done for the day and was heading back to the hotel, and every minute since then has felt like torture.
His impatience is all Xiao Zhan’s fault, really -- he could have made it through the rest of his day like a normal person, but that giant gremlin had to go and say all those deliciously indecent things to him during their lunchtime call. (Everyone thinks that Yibo is the mischievous one… if only people knew how this man tortures him...)
Yibo lifts a hand to run it through his hair and sighs at how unsatisfying it is to do that now that his hair is buzzed so close to his scalp for his new cop drama. His fingers are still exploring the novelty of the bristly hair on the sides of his head when his phone buzzes on the bed next to him. Then again. And again. And again.
Ah, he’s back. Yibo grins and licks his lips in anticipation -- but when he lifts his phone, he sees the notifications aren’t from Xiao Zhan at all. It’s Da Laoshi, Yu Bin, Lulu, and a couple of other friends. He sits up, feeling his gut twisting in a depressingly familiar way.
Fuck.
The messages are all variations on a theme. What’s happening with Zhanzhan? Is he okay? Do you need anything? These fuckers never quit! Let us know if we can help...
Yibo clicks one of the Weibo links in the messages and his stomach drops. It’s a shaky cell phone video of Xiao Zhan at the door to his section of the floor at the hotel, and he’s just… standing there, his hoodie pulled up over his head while people -- goddamn these assholes -- continue to crowd around him.
In another video, Xiao Zhan looks like he’s resting his forehead on the door in frustration. Yibo's face heats up in anger and he finds himself yelling at the video like a madman. Why isn’t he going through the door? What is he waiting for? Is the keypad not working? Why are there so many people there? Where the fuck is security?
He checks the timestamps on the Weibo posts. A half an hour ago, roughly. Where is he now?
The panic is rising in his chest. There’s nothing he can do from where he is in Beihai. Nothing. He can’t even call now. He knows the drill. If sasaeng fans are that close to Xiao Zhan, Yibo can’t risk calling and having anyone see the notification or hear his call. All he can do is wait for Xiao Zhan to call when it’s safe to, which is a terrible, helpless feeling.
He thinks about what his mom had told him once -- that having children bound you to another person with a love so profound and risky that it was like ripping your heart out of your chest and letting it walk the world, naked and vulnerable.
Xiao Zhan isn't a child, of course. He's a grown man, capable of taking care of himself -- but Yibo can't help but worry about him like this. So it’s killing him that he can’t do anything for him in this moment. He has the overwhelming urge to start throwing things.
He had tried to stop this kind of shit from happening, tried to set things up so he could guard his love from afar -- months ago. Yibo had been staying in that same hotel last fall while shooting Luoyang when it was confirmed that Xiao Zhan would come to Hengdian to film Yu Gu Yao.
To his dismay, Yibo learned that he would be wrapping his role in Luoyang just weeks before Xiao Zhan would arrive. But if he couldn’t be there personally to watch over him, he would at least try to make his stay as safe and secure as possible. And so Yibo started outfitting two rooms on his floor with enhanced security -- passcode locks, soundproofing, blackout shades, and more. They figured out ways to smuggle Xiao Zhan in and out of the hotel for visits -- methods he could continue to use to avoid unwanted fan encounters during filming.
For awhile, it seemed like it was working. Xiao Zhan had been so good at not being seen that fans invented rumors to explain why they had not caught him coming and going from the hotel. And then this happens.
Yibo's phone finally buzzes with the message he has been waiting for.
Xiao Zhan’s face appears on the screen. He looks exhausted, but is still the most beautiful thing Yibo has seen all day.
Yibo tries to contain his anger at the situation. “I saw the vids. Fuckers. Are you okay?”
Xiao Zhan nods and opens his mouth like he has more to say, but then just heaves a sigh and shakes his head. Yibo understands-- it’s draining being pursued by rabid fans.
“Where are you now?”
“In my room. Hotel staff finally got a clue and helped manage the crowds so that we could get into our rooms the other way. But fuck, that took forever. We just - we just couldn't get that door to open and the people were pressing in from all sides with their cameraphones out. So we - we couldn't really do anything. It was --” He shook his head. "You don't know how much I wanted to just yell at them."
Yibo spits out a bitter Ha! at that. "I do know, Ge. God, it pisses me off that we have to take that shit in silence. But what happened at the main door? Did - did the keypad fail?” Yibo grimaces as he asks, worried that all his efforts to protect Xiao Zhan had backfired and set him up for this nightmare experience.
“It looks like it was because the fans -- or whoever they are -- messed with the keypad, trying to break the code, they somehow jammed it up.”
The idea that the additional security measure he had put in place had failed and trapped Xiao Zhan in the hallway with those crazy fans is too much. “Oh my god Ge, I’m so sorry! If that door hadn’t locked up--”
Xiao Zhan cuts him off with one of his devastatingly handsome eyebrow quirks. “Why are you apologizing, Lao Wang? That door kept them from getting into our section of the floor, and doing shit like planting hidden cameras like they did to you. Or crowding me right in front of my room. Everything you’ve done has made me safer. Don't beat yourself up over this, okay? The door will be fixed soon, and my team is already working on a statement to tell fans to back off.”
"I-I just wish I weren't so far away--"
"Ah, Lao Wang, I wish I could see you too. But I feel your presence all around me here, everything you've done... it makes me feel loved and cared for."
"And you are! I'm just so angry they still got you, and I--" Yibo closes his eyes with a deep sigh. "I wanted to leave the sunrises and sunsets of Hengdian to you, not all this - this sasaeng shit.”
“If only something as simple as a security door could cleanly separate the good from the bad in this business," Xiao Zhan smiles. ”At least this crazy life brought you to me. That makes the rest bearable."
Yibo can't hold back his croaking laughter. "So cheesy. That should be my line."
"Then come and get it. The door will always be open to you."