Work Text:
Yanfei listened to the ticking of her office clock slowly lulling her into a sense of drowsiness. Today was a paperwork day; no client meetings, no investigations, just Yanfei, her brain, and her favorite fountain pen.
The afternoon sun filtered in through the windows, bathing her office in a warm glow. Yanfei stood from her chair and stretched; the pleasant popping in her back gave way to a pleased sigh. She walked to the wall, opening her window to let the cool salty sea air from the harbor blow into her stuffy office. The effect was almost immediate, she could feel the cogs in her head beginning to turn after growing rigid from hours of reading.
She watched as people wandered about the cobblestone streets of Liyue Harbor. Some were in a rush pushing past crowds of people and almost tripping in their haste while others languidly went about their day, stopping by market stalls to peer at goods and talk with the owners trying to strike a bargain that would lighten their mora pouch a little less. A typical day.
Yanfei sat back at her desk reorganizing her stacks of documents and was ready to dive back into her work when there was a knock on her door. She called out and her secretary popped her head in.
“Miss Yanfei, there is someone here who wishes to meet with you.”
“I’m not seeing clients today.” She dismissed.
“Ma’am, she’s been very insistent.” Yanfei didn’t miss the slight irritation in the woman’s tone.
Yanfei looked up only to see Hu Tao’s head pop up above her secretaries’ in the barely opened door, her eyes sparkling with joy and mischief. She wished she hadn’t looked, it made it all the more harder to reject her. If she sent her away she’d only come back later in the afternoon. “Fine.”
Her secretary opened the door enough for Hu Tao to slip in and closed it behind her.
“Hello. Guess who just got sued again?” Hu Tao said in a sing-song voice, walking, skipping and slightly dancing her way to Yanfei’s desk.
“Oh really? For how much this time?” Yanfei asked, picking up the paper placed on her desk, her eyes quickly roving over the lines of text. She used a hand to cover her mouth, hiding the smile that grew from Hu Tao’s goofiness.
“Only-“
“Ten million mora?”
Hu Tao placed a splayed hand on her chest and made a face of mock exasperation as she took a seat across from Yanfei. “I know, how tragic. They’re trying to put me under!”
Yanfei pursed her lips at Hu Tao’s lack of seriousness, unable to tell if that was a death joke or genuine concern for her business. Even so, she couldn’t help the smile again making its way to her own face at her next question. “And who’s going to be your lawyer?”
Hu Tao stared at her dumbly as if the answer should have been obvious. “You of course!”
“You already know I’m not seeing clients today. The office of Yanfei is closed for the day.” She stated, writing out a couple lines on her newest client contract.
She heard a hum across from her, Hu Tao leaned forward to play with the decorative scale on her desk. Her glossy black nails a contrast to the glinting silver on her fingers compared to her pale skin. “Then I guess I will just hang out here. As a friend.”
Yanfei let out a sigh. Hu Tao was a distraction to her work. She didn’t have time to sit down and chat with friends which is why she didn’t really have many herself but she enjoyed her job and it gave enough social interaction that outside of work she didn’t need much. While the law was a solid thing, the people trying to work around it never quit and so her hands were always busy. Even so, she welcomed the director's visits to the office if only to ramble about their days while she idly worked, but of course she never got much done.
Hu Tao on the other hand also had no friends and she was only as busy as fast as people died and however quickly she was trying to push a new marketing scheme. Some of which had landed her in legal trouble and became the first step to their slowly budding friendship. As long as Hu Tao was in her office, it meant she was staying out of trouble.
“Then why don’t you inform me of your predicament. As a friend .”
Yanfei looked up and saw the smile on Hu Tao’s face was no more, replaced by a much more solemn look. “One of my clients' grandchildren believes that I didn’t follow through with his grandfather’s final wishes.” Hu Tao crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her chin out to the side. “Which is completely bogus of course! I take my job very seriously.”
“And why would he think that?”
“Because apparently his grandfather had already signed papers decades ago but I wasn’t able to find them. The wife repeated what his final wishes were to me since she already knew them and we signed the document.”
Yanfei hummed. Death was always a fickle legal matter. One side was gone forever, unable to speak for themselves, the only thing keeping them alive was memories and the much more tangible documents which Yanfei always found to be the most reliable.
“I really hope you worked something out with his wife.”
Hu Tao reached into her jacket and pulled out a piece of paper, unfolding it and placing it before the lawyer. Yanfei cringed a bit at a legally binding document being wrinkled and creased within the confines of a jacket but smoothed it out and took a look.
It was a simple contract stating that the wife would be financially responsible if it is discovered that her late husband's final wishes were not actually what she said they were to be.
“So you just need proof of the original document so an old woman isn’t out ten million mora?”
Hu Tao wasn’t paying much attention anymore, passing one of Yanfei’s rather expensive and decorative paperweights back and forth between her hands. “More or less.”
Yanfei leaned forward out of her chair and took the paperweight out of Hu Tao’s hands, putting it back in its rightful place and plopping back down. “Again, I’m not seeing clients or making new ones today. I have a lot of work to catch up on. If you want to talk about this over the paperwork, you’ll have to come back tomorrow morning.”
Hu Tao let out a sigh and slumped down in her chair before springing back up on the balls of her feet. Yanfei met her eyes as Hu Tao slowly ran her fingers along the front of Yanfei’s desk stopping next to a familiar small paperweight. A silence hung in the air between them, the quiet issued challenge. Yanfei stood and placed her hand on the other side the same distance from the object as Hu Tao. Yanfei moved her hand but Hu Tao was simply faster, snatching up the object and tossing it up and down in her hand as she made her way to the office door.
“Too slow this time, Yan.” Hu Tao said, sticking out her tongue and darting out the door.
The room became a bit emptier after that, the clock on the wall ringing out a hollow sound. Yanfei closed her eyes, a familiar wanting ache finding its home in her chest once more as the smell of smoke and plum blossoms slowly dissipated from her office.
---
Yanfei rose with a bit more pep in her step the next morning, gazing into her bathroom mirror and only leaving once she was satisfied with her appearance. Today was a client day after all so she had to look her best.
She placed her hat on her head, adjusting to make sure it was perfect, and walked out the door with her book and vision attached to her side. She tried blowing the stubborn strands of hair that refused to sit anywhere but in the middle of her face to the side as she made her way down the cobblestone street of Liyue Harbor.
The sun peered over the ocean horizon, warming the streets and casting long shadows among the buildings. Travelers still weary from yesterday’s journey passed her on their way out of the city. Yanfei gave her greetings to the familiar faces of the early crowd, excitement thrumming through her thinking about all the things she was going to work on today.
She had a couple meetings today, Hu Tao among them, and Yanfei found herself eager for that one the most. Perhaps it was because she was easy to work with or maybe it’s because Yanfei was fond of her, both of those were pretty strong candidates. She entered her work building and made her way to her personal office. Her secretary wouldn’t be in for at least another hour and in that time she would be able to fully prepare for her day.
Her first case was less than exciting, civil of course and she strongly disliked them. Divorce cases without children were much easier to handle, but those that did left her always feeling unsatisfied, almost as much as the parent who lost sole custody or the businessman who lost his house to his ex wife. It was never cut and dried.
Yanfei never grew bored of her job, but the clock slowly moved as she worked her way through her first two meetings of the day. She said goodbye to her client and pulled all the papers out on her desk she would need for Hu Tao’s case and waited. By the time a quarter after ten rolled around, Yanfei could feel a bit of irritation growing. Her time was money of course, and the director was no exception to that.
The clock ticked, Yanfei watching it out of the corner of her eye as she idly worked on something else. Her annoyance slowly increased by the minute and after over an hour she huffed, throwing Hu Tao’s papers in a document and shoving it in a drawer. She would have to meet with her another day.
She gathered the things she needed to go meet a separate client a little early and walked to her office door. She reached for the handle only to have the whole door come racing towards her, jumping back far enough just in time to ensure it didn’t smack her in the face.
“Sorry I’m late.” Hu Tao tripped through the door, beads of sweat rolling down her head as she planted her hands firmly on her knees and bent over gasping for air.
Yanfei sighed. “You are aware that I charge for lateness right?”
“Since when?” Any breath Hu Tao had was stolen from her once more.
“Since always. You’ve just never been late before. That’ll be-“ Yanfei tapped her chin in thought, already knowing the cost but playing up the part. “Sixty thousand mora.”
“Sixty thousand?!” Hu Tao straightened up and pulled the pockets of her jacket inside out revealing that they were empty. “I don’t believe I can afford such mora at the moment.”
“I can take it in payments.”
“What about looking the other way just this once? For a friend?”
Yanfei closed her eyes and shook her head. Upon opening them, Hu Tao had visibly deflated.
“What if I buy you dinner?”
That took Yanfei by surprise, but she supposed it was very on brand for Hu Tao to wiggle her way out of every situation. She weighed the options on the scale in her head and the idea of a free dinner after a long day of work sounded quite good at the moment. An equal bargain.
“I suppose I will allow this.”
A smile flashed across Hu Tao’s face at her success but it was also sly and knowing. Yanfei realized she walked right into her hands but it was not unwelcome. The wind blew through the open window ruffling the papers on Yanfei’s desk and reminding her of the work at hand. She motioned for Hu Tao to have a seat and took her own chair behind the desk, pulling out the folder she had filed away minutes ago.
“So the goal here is just for me to help you find the original document, yes?”
“Exactly.” Hu Tao leaned forward and placed the stolen paperweight from yesterday down and grabbed one of the fountain pens off Yanfei’s desk. “We don’t have very long, about three days, so it might require some all nighters.”
Yanfei leaned over and straightened the pens that were knocked askew. “I hope your workspace is organized.”
Hu Tao followed that with nervous laughter. Of course. It wouldn’t be the worst thing she’d ever done but digging around in a mortician’s paperwork was not exactly how she wanted to spend her evenings. Yanfei pointed at every spot that needed to be signed and accompanied it with her own signature and kicked Hu Tao out of her office who did nothing but complain and drag her feet as she was shoved out of the door. Not that she could stay either way as Yanfei was leaving to meet with her clients for the day. The sooner she did the sooner she could help her favorite one.
---
Yanfei made her way to the restaurant Hu Tao had picked and plopped down at an empty table. The location was outdoors which she always personally took advantage of whenever she could since she spent a lot of time cooped up in her office. Once again Yanfei sat there and waited for an extended amount of time without Hu Tao showing up. She was a bit irritated that not only was Hu Tao late for their meeting this morning, but also the dinner she had asked her too. It wasn’t much longer however, when Hu Tao showed up winded once more.
“Sorry I’m late, you know, again. I had to close up shop. One time I let Zhongli do it and he left the bodies out of the cooler. I’m sure you can imagine the smell I came into the next day.”
Despite her annoyance, Yanfei waved it off. “Any later and you would have had to take me out for another dinner.”
“I don’t really see a problem with that.” Hu Tao smiled.
They placed their orders and sat in silence. Hu Tao was writing in a book thoughtfully while Yanfei looked around them, kicking her feet slowly beneath the table as her chair was a bit tall so her feet dangled just a little. She looked over at Hu Tao’s book when she wasn’t looking and saw the format of poetry.
Yanfei had never admitted to Hu Tao that she had read and enjoyed her poetry. She never asked and so Yanfei never told. There was always one she would go back to over and over again where Hu Tao talked about a girl she was in love with but in a way that was so subtle Yanfei couldn’t figure out who it was. There was a part of her deep down that hoped it was herself but she also thought it was a ridiculous notion to think about it in such an elementary way. Yanfei never would have looked at that poem twice if it wasn’t for the descriptor of a crooked smile and a smugness that supposedly dropped off this girl's tongue with every word.
When she thought about it, that could literally be any woman in Liyue Harbor, even the Yuheng. If she were being honest with herself, none of the women in the Qixing were Hu Tao’s type. Or perhaps that was just her jealousy of another woman other than herself catching Hu Tao’s eyes.
She noticed people had shifted away from their table out of obvious dislike for Hu Tao. If Hu Tao noticed she made no comment. With no one surrounding them, it made Yanfei feel as though they were the center of the universe, just them and the steaming food that had finally been placed between them.
Yanfei enjoyed her crab roe tofu, almost forgetting about it at one point as she ranted about upcoming changes in the Liyue laws. Hu Tao listened diligently with her head in her hands, not missing a single word.
“This is really good, you should try it.” Hu Tao said, interrupting her after a while.
Hu Tao held a bite of veggies and noodles dripping in a thick broth in her chopsticks and casually held it out in front of her. Yanfei ignored it and instead reached across the table towards the source only to have her hand smacked away, Hu Tao moving her arm a bit further across the table so Yanfei would get the hint.
She got the hint alright. Yanfei hadn’t even leaned forward and she already felt a blush creeping up her cheeks. All the while Hu Tao had that innocent smile with undertones of mischief on her face that was more dazzling than the sun sparkling off the incoming harbor tide.
She opened her mouth, allowing Hu Tao to place the food inside. It was savory but oddly sweet as well. She expected nothing less from Wanmin Restaurant. Yanfei didn’t miss the small flush painting Hu Tao’s cheeks as she continued to eat. “It is good. I’ll remember it for the next time I’m here.”
As the sun dipped below the horizon most people were headed home for the day, but not Yanfei and Hu Tao who had finished their meal and were walking slowly along the streets towards the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. It was fairly quiet, merchants closing their stalls for the day, the ocean lapping against the stone in the harbor below.
“I wonder…” Hu Tao began but then shook her head.
“About?” It was unusual for her to not finish her thoughts as Hu Tao was notorious for just saying what was on her mind.
There was a small pause before Hu Tao voiced the rest of her thought. “Sometimes I wonder what people think when they see us walking around together.”
“Probably that you got yourself in trouble with the Millelith again and need to be bailed out.” Yanfei meant it to be a light hearted jab but the heavy weight around Hu Tao did not change.
“You’re right.” Hu Tao hummed. There was something else there that wasn’t said but Yanfei didn’t want to pry.
A group of stumbling sailors was walking in their direction, Yanfei paid them no mind until they got uncomfortably close, crossing the path just to be on the same side as them. It sent red flags popping up in the back of her mind but if she knew one thing, it was best to ignore arrogant drunken men and be on your way.
“Freak.” One of them yelled as they passed, purposely running into Hu Tao and almost knocking her over, Yanfei grabbing her by the collar of her jacket to keep her upright.
Yanfei felt anger flare up inside her, her vision heating up on her side, turning around to yell at the sailors when she felt a strong grip on her shoulder.
“You don’t have to defend me.” Hu Tao said, bending down to pick up her hat that had been knocked off her head. She dusted it off, clearly more worried about her hat than herself.
Yanfei felt a blush rising to her face, crossing her arms and pretending to be nonchalant. “I- I wasn’t defending you. I was merely defending my client.”
Hu Tao smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I don’t care, really. If people want to waste their time being hateful, then so be it.”
Nothing more was said after that. They arrived at the parlor, Hu Tao fishing for the keys in her pocket and holding the door open for Yanfei. She wished she brought her jacket as the foye was very chilly. She shouldn’t have expected anything less of a funeral home of course. She was led through the mostly empty room to a set of stairs, climbing up behind Hu Tao.
Hu Tao’s office was surprisingly organized. A couch was against the wall, her desk was clear of clutter and her bookshelves were organized. Yanfei peaked at the shelves; there were several books on the history of the parlor, documentation of ancient plagues, diseases, and viruses, and books on what to do with the dead to ensure they properly passed on. Everything was covered in dust however, an indicator that Hu Tao either didn’t clean her office, or wasn’t in it very much.
Hu Tao entered a room to the right of her office and came back with a stack of folders, setting them carefully on the middle of the floor. Yanfei followed her back into the room and her stomach dropped. The room was massive with shelf upon shelf upon shelf of folders. It gave her a headache just looking at it.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Hu Tao said, pulling another folder off the shelf. “It looks a little overwhelming. Not to worry! Everything is organized alphabetically and by year since the beginning of the parlor. One document for the wishes before death and another filed later when the client eventually dies.”
Yanfei pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. At least she wasn’t running around all over Liyue like she had with some jobs. It could be worse. She held out her arms, Hu Tao dropping a stack in them with a smile. She kept walking back and forth until they had completely emptied all but the top shelf as they were both too short to reach it. Hu Tao stood staring at it with a hand on her chin deep in thought.
“You wanna sit on my shoulders? I think we could reach it then.”
“Hu Tao? Go get your desk chair.” Yanfei pointed to the door.
Hu Tao merely smiled as she left the room and came back dragging the wooden chair. All it would have taken was Hu Tao losing her balance with Yanfei on her shoulders for them to topple over and knock down the bookshelves, the chair was a much safer option, at least, that's what Yanfei told herself.
They cleared the rest of the shelf and another bookcase and plopped down together on the floor of the office. It was okay at first, all Yanfei had to do was glance at the signature on the bottom of the page and match it with the name of Hu Tao’s dead client. Easy work, but the repetition quickly grew boring. Four bookshelves and hundreds of papers later, Hu Tao had begun singing to pass the time. It wasn’t bad but it came out randomly, sporadic and loud, a long stretch of silence being interrupted by a few verses sung in a silly tone. It was endearing to Yanfei.
The floor had grown uncomfortable, Yanfei standing and stretching. She grabbed a few stacks and set them next to the couch plopping down. Hu Tao joined her shortly after sitting right next to her. The couch wasn’t very big so they were almost touching as they sat together. Hu Tao was like a pillar of warmth and Yanfei was rather grateful for it compared to the cold office floor.
After many more hours, Yanfei felt her eyelids and head growing heavy, repeatedly jerking up as she found herself dozing off. She forced herself to try and stay awake, she needed to keep moving. There was only so much time to find the document and she couldn’t sit here all day for the next two days, she had other clients during the day time. Hu Tao had passed out at some point. Her light snoring filled the room with the slow rising and falling of her chest. She looked peaceful.
Yanfei wasn’t sure when she fell asleep on top of Hu Tao, only that the morning Liyue Harbor sun filtered through the office windows shining in her eyes. The grogginess of a long night with little sleep hit her full force with a slowly building headache. She took in a breath, taking in the heady scent of smoke and plum blossom.
She knew Hu Tao wasn’t asleep below her, her breaths were in quicker intervals and she could feel her heart thrumming in her chest as opposed to the slow rhythm of someone completely unconscious, and a small blush on her face. Yanfei would pretend to remain ignorant for Hu Tao’s sake as she was clearly trying to remain as still as possible.
She grabbed her hat and her law book, quietly creeping along the floor, keeping up the act of obliviousness. She hoped she didn’t look too disheveled as she passed a couple parlor employees. The salty sea air was much different to the stuffy dusty office Yanfei had been in all night and she welcomed it with open arms.
Yanfei headed straight to her own office, not having the time to stop at her house before the work day began. Her eyes were heavy through all her meetings and she wanted nothing more than to lay her head down on her desk and sleep. Luckily the day slipped by her easily and she headed home throwing off her clothes and sinking into a nice warm bath. She would have stayed there for the rest of the night if she didn’t remember she had to go back to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
Hu Tao was already in her office when she arrived napping at her desk, bolting upright when Yanfei shook her awake.
“Fancy meeting you here.” Hu Tao said sleepily.
Yanfei rolled her eyes and assumed her position on the couch with Hu Tao plopping down beside her once more. They worked quickly for hours, the sun dipping below the horizon outside and the moon high in the sky.
She watched Hu Tao move through her piles of papers, watched as she would bring her ringed thumb and finger to her mouth and lick them to try and separate two pieces of paper. Yanfei hadn’t even realized she was staring until parchment was waved in front of her face.
“It helps if you look at the names on the documents.” Hu Tao said, a small smile upon her face.
Yanfei looked away feeling a little embarrassed at being caught. She realized she’d gone through an entire stack of papers without even so much as looking at them, just unconsciously setting them aside one by one.
Hu Tao didn’t look away from her after, however, her arm resting on the back of the couch. Yanfei was hyper aware of it. She kept having to go back and look at papers she’d already looked over twice before. Her brain was so preoccupied her eyes read none of it.
Hu Tao wondered if this was a mistake. They were both tired with little sleep from the last two days and she really didn’t want to ruin a friendship by pushing too far even if she knew the vibes were right. She scooted closer, Yanfei stopped shuffling through her stack and glanced over.
Hu Tao leaned forward a bit, her sleep addled brain giving her the courage she wouldn’t have otherwise. She slowly gauged Yanfei’s reaction, but when she didn’t pull away, she pushed further, closing her eyes and hoping that Yanfei would meet her halfway. Hu Tao felt the couch dip with the weight of the lawyer leaning towards her and she sucked in a breath, completely freezing. She could feel Yanfei’s bangs tickle her nose and mustering up every ounce of courage in her body she was about to go the rest of the way, that is, until the door to her office burst open.
Zhongli stumbled in looking a bit annoyed but he couldn’t possibly be more annoyed than Hu Tao in that moment. “Hu Tao, there’s a bit of a problem downstairs I need you to come look at.”
Hu Tao looked over at Yanfei who had gone back to her respective side of the couch, a paper hiding her face. “Night ceremonies. I’ll be back.”
Yanfei only hummed in acknowledgement letting out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. Hu Tao was gone for quite some time and upon returning she found Yanfei placing folders back on the shelves in the side room and gathering her belongings.
“I’m pretty tired and so are you. Let’s come back to this tomorrow.” A glance at the clock. “Or today technically.”
“Oh. Okay. See you later.” Hu Tao rubbed the back of her neck, a sad look on her face.
Yanfei wanted to grab herself by the shoulders and just shake with every step she got further from Wangsheng. She was so dumb. For as smug and confident as she always held herself, she was really a fool .
---
Today was the last day they could look for the document so Yanfei had to power through. She couldn’t just chicken out because the girl she likes tried to kiss her. Yanfei arrived at the same time as yesterday after her daily business only this time they worked mostly in silence. She sat alone on the couch while Hu Tao didn’t move from her desk unless it was to grab another stack. It was hard to ignore each other's presence but they pushed on regardless.
Yanfei was worried that they had missed the document. It was possible it never even existed at all, but Hu Tao said the widow had been pretty confident in their contract. They’d already gone through seventy years of paperwork in three days and could only go back so far as the client had only been almost a hundred.
She was about to give up hope after another hour when her eyes looked over the stacks on the floor and she sprung out of her seat, the papers on her lap spilling all over. She snatched it up and almost laughed in relief.
“This seems to be it.” Yanfei said, eyes roving up and down the paper. The name signed at the bottom matched that of Hu Tao’s client long before she was the director of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. In fact, Hu Tao wasn’t even alive when it was signed.
Yanfei trudged carefully through the stacks on the floor until she was in front of Hu Tao’s. The director stood up and walked around the desk and squinted at the paper with tired eyes. “Yeah that’s the one.”
“Great! I’ll take this back to my office and have a talk with the other lawyer tomorrow morning.” Yanfei was pretty happy that she didn’t have to go tell an old woman she was ten million mora in the hole.
“Wait. Don’t go yet. I don’t think we’re actually done here.” Hu Tao snatched the paper from Yanfei’s hands and placed it on the desk behind her.
The lanterns in the room were almost out, the only light being slivers of the moon filtering into the office and the uneven pulsing of red from their visions.
“I think there’s a bit of unfinished business here.” Hu Tao reached forward and brushed a bit of pink hair away from Yanfei’s face. “You’re pretty.”
“I-Oh, well-“
“Pretty stupid if you can’t see that I like you.” Hu Tao flicked her in the middle of her forehead and then fiddled with the ring on her thumb. It felt pretty redundant to say considering they were in almost the same position as yesterday. There was an obvious attraction between them. “And if I’m not mistaken, I think you feel the same.”
Yanfei remained silent. She would be lying if she said she didn’t return feelings for Hu Tao but she couldn’t help but sometimes wonder if the girl liked her because she was one of the only people in Liyue who was nice to her or if it was a genuine attraction built up from all the time they spent together.
She shook her head at such an awful thought running through her head. Everything Hu Tao did was from the heart, and her feelings would be no different. Yanfei however was technically on the job, a lame excuse she put in her own head as Hu Tao walked closer to her until Yanfei’s back hit the edge of the desk.
“Tao..this is…unprofessional.”
“Is it?”
Yanfei didn’t have time to utter another complaint - nor did she want to - as Hu Tao closed the already small distance between them. The light from their respective visions pulsed in unison.
Yanfei was grateful for the desk beneath her as Hu Tao had rendered her both breathless and weak in the knees. She felt the rings of Hu Tao’s warm hands run along her cheeks, past the base of antlers, moving to tangle in her hair.
It wasn’t long before they left there, moving down to trail along her exposed midriff, lightly running over the scales on her sides causing Yanfei to shiver against her. Hu Tao must have noticed, and so her hands ran over them again, Yanfei groaning into her mouth while Hu Tao only smiled against her. The director's fingertips just barely brushed underneath the fabric of her top but we’re gently pushed away. It surprised Yanfei just how handsy she was, but then again, Hu Tao had always been a very hands on kind of person.
Hu Tao let her fingers gently run over Yanfei’s scales one last time for good measure, continuing down to where they rested on her backside. With a strength she didn’t know Hu Tao possessed, Yanfei was picked up from beneath her thighs and placed on the desk. She knew Hu Tao was bold, but it was this boldness that made her blush even more if it were possible.
Attempting to be bold herself, Yanfei tugged Hu Tao forward, the small action causing the girl to gasp and trip forward between her thighs, the rings on her hands clicked down on the desk and ruffled whatever papers were on it. Papers.
That’s what she was here for. Yanfei placed her hands on Hu Tao’s shoulders and gave a soft push. She got the memo and separated them but thinking it was only to breathe, Hu Tao leaned forward again only to be stopped by a firm hand gripping her chin.
“I- the paper. I need to go back to my office with the paper so I can close this case.” Yanfei could feel the panic thrumming in her heart. She didn’t know what else to do, these feelings weren’t something written down in one of her many law books that could guide her. They were lawless and without rules. Something she would have to take time to think about.
She wanted to pull her own hat over her eyes to avoid Hu Tao’s searching gaze. She looked cute with the flush covering her face and her cheeks squished underneath Yanfei’s fingers.
“I-I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She said, letting go of Hu Tao’s face, hopping off the desk and trying to camly walk out of her office.
Yanfei skipped all the way to her own office, setting the paper on her desk down and running home to bury her face in her pillows. How easy it was to want and imagine something but when it was finally before you Yanfei had no clue what to actually do. No idea where to start.
---
Hu Tao was promptly on time to Yanfei’s office the next morning to sign the ending paperwork. For two people who usually said so much when they were together, the silence was awfully loud between them.
“You know…” Yanfei started to say, not lifting her head from the paperwork at hand. Time to use her words. “I like you too.”
Hu Tao snorted. “I know. I could tell by how you were kissing me yesterday.”
Yanfei felt her brow twitch in annoyance from what could have been a sweet moment ruined by Hu Tao’s blunt bravado but also couldn’t help the smile that crept upon her face, it was just like Tao anyways.
“I suppose this means you’re my girlfriend now? That I’m courting you.” Hu Tao leaned forward, trying to get Yanfei to look at her.
She smiled. “Only if you take me out for dinner again.”
“I guess it’s a date then.”
Yanfei had made a contract with her parents to live a happy life. So far she’d done a pretty good job of keeping up with that. She couldn’t help but think that Hu Tao being a part of it now was a step in the right direction to keeping her promise.