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The fire dancing in shades of gold and red in the fireplace cast its light into the open environment of Zhao Yunlan's apartment. Blankets, pillows, books, and Wu Xie were spread out on the floor in front of the welcoming warmth.
Zhao Yunlan rolled onto his side, in the blanket cocoon where he had existed for an hour, ever since they had gotten home and taken a hot shower. His eyes wanted to close, but his mind persisted in following Wu Xie's movements as he turned the pages of the book, took the cigarette out of his mouth and let the smoke slowly escape through his half-open lips.
"Darling," Zhao Yunlan called softly, "come to sleep. Your books wait until dawn."
"It's almost dawn, Yunlan," Wu Xie chuckled, “Can't you sleep?”
"Lots of thoughts. But I'm sure I can sleep if you lay here with me."
"What if I make hot chocolate? A snack will help you relax." But Zhao Yunlan was still pouting. "And then afterwards I lie down with you and we sleep."
“That sounds perfect.”
As Wu Xie got up to make hot chocolate, Zhao Yunlan continued to follow him with sleepy eyes. He had already observed that hand-knitted sweater in detail. Pale yellow, as light as baby clothes. The women in the department had a name for those light colors, but Zhao Yunlan certainly wouldn't remember that, it was information that his brain had put aside a long time ago. His logic lay in the affection and attention with which Shen Wei took care of Wu Xie - that sweater was new. And it already had the pleasant smell of Wu Xie's mild cologne.
"When will our baobei return from Beijing?" The baobei in this case was always Shen Wei, specifically the sweet Professor.
"This is the last night he's staying there. The Conference ended yesterday, but Xiao Hua wanted to take my sweetie to see a painting exhibition today,” Wu Xie replied, as he sorted out what he needed to prepare the drink.
"I still wonder if it's good for him and the respectable academic career he has, hanging around with mob people..."
"Shen Wei couldn't be safer than staying with Xiao Hua. In the ordinary world, Xiao Hua is just a businessman. He is part of my family - one of the parts I care about. And my family is my husband's family, even if they are mobsters. They will not cause problems for Shen Wei's academic career or my career in the department. Soothe your worries."
Zhao Yunlan remained silent for a while, reflecting, as the smell of chocolate began to fill the apartment.
"Does your family know about us?"
“My family besides Xiao Hua who watched our drama in the rain live?”
"Yeah, the others who weren't eating popcorn during our drunken romantic cliché."
"Ershu and my Nainai know. My Nainai told Ershu 'polyamory is not a seven-headed thing you find in a tomb, Wu Erbai. They are like any couple, but with three people instead of two.' So Ershu asked Shen Wei how he was about it."
"And what did Shen Wei respond?"
"He said that you are a good partner for me and that he has a special affection for you. And that he wants you to continue to be part of our life - perhaps as his life partner or who knows, as you get to know each other better, as a romantic partner too." Wu Xie brought the two steaming mugs to their nest in front of the fireplace, while Zhao Yunlan processed what he had just said. He sat next to his boyfriend and waited for him to come out of the cocoon to grab a mug for himself.
"And your family accepted it like that, easily?"
"I don't know what my parents think about this, I haven't spoken to them. My Nainai has seen a lot in this life. Three people in a romantic relationship is nothing more than what it is. If we all respect each other and live well, that's what matters."
"I wish I could take you to meet my parents too. But it wouldn't be easy with them at all. I haven't even come out about being bi." He held the mug between his hands and cautiously took a sip, tasting the steaming drink.
"I forget that people have to go through these things like coming out to their families..."
"And have you never experienced this?"
"No, I didn't. I simply introduced Shen Wei to my family as my partner. Nainai said 'oh, he is so beautiful and so cultured and polite!', while Ershu wanted to know if now that I was getting married, we intended to have children, to which Shen Wei replied that he had no plans to get pregnant. Everyone stared at him for a while, because he doesn't usually make jokes like that.”
Zhao Yunlan stared at Wu Xie for a long time, watching his mouth slowly savor the hot chocolate and how his tongue passed his lips with satisfaction at the delicious taste. Maybe he didn't want to sleep anymore, not immediately after finishing his hot chocolate.
So he made the mistake of revisiting what Wu Xie had just said.
Although he had never asked explicitly, he didn't have many doubts about the couple dynamics between Wu Xie and Shen Wei - even that was one of his fears when he had started dating Wu Xie, that maybe they wouldn't be a good fit when it came to sex. But it had been quite the opposite, much to Zhao Yunlan's surprise. He had continued to be able to call Wu Xie 'first wife' after all.
"A-Xie... Did Shen Wei simply tell your family that in case anyone between the two of you could get pregnant, it would be him?! Isn't that a little... too explicit?!"
"We actually switch, but..." Wu Xie was thoughtful for a while. "Ah, that explains why my Nainai laughed so much..."
…
Beijing.
On the couch in front of the fireplace, Xiao Hua enjoyed the company he supposedly had for that entire week – except for the times when Shen Wei was working with the SID as the Ghost Slayer. The Conference had been real, as had been the painting exhibition, but late at night Shen Wei was usually not there with him, and then returned in the mornings, before the sun rose.
Xiao Hua had slept for the hours that Shen Wei had been away since the beginning of the night, and then Xiuxiu had jumped onto the edge of the bed, waking him up and saying that Professor Shen had returned 'earlier' this time.
And since it had caused him to lose sleep, enjoying the company seemed appropriate.
“It has been a long time since someone other than Xiuxiu or Xiazi has stayed in this house with me. Sometimes I think it’s a bit too big.” Xiao Hua stared at the fire ahead, the fireplace warming the room that usually turned cold when Shen Wei wasn't hiding his true nature.
“Some people don't understand what it's like to lead a life you don't like, but there is a certain weight of duty and promises that drag us to places we don't want to be. Often, we are standing alone in these places…” At that moment, Shen Wei realized that his life had changed drastically. He wasn't at his house. He was not hidden, silent and isolated. And even so, he wasn't bothered about being unmasked.
“How my home is to me is similar to how the world has been to you for millennia, no?”
“Hm. After I lost them both, I had a few years of happiness once, which ended in tragedy. And nothing beyond that. I was never really happy again. I believe I would never have experienced happiness again if you all hadn't found me.” Day after day he was grateful for what he had back and yet incredibly surprised by the new things that enriched his life.
“Wu Xie found you. He wanted to go on this expedition, to find out if that temple existed. We decided it was interesting enough and followed him. We didn't know exactly what we were looking for other than the temple itself. Being able to see a five thousand year old building would have been worth the expedition. Who knew his heart was guiding him to you…” What else could I expect from Wu Xie after all? “You know, there's a greater fortune in this than anything we've ever encountered in this business of ours. Friends are not things I'm used to finding.” It was curious to Xiao Hua how there was something so familiar about Shen Wei's sadness that made him step closer, contrary to what he usually did. He didn't expect them to actually become friends, though. But there they were.
“You seem to have good friends now.”
“Yes, now I have some. But there wasn't always someone by my side. I lost Wu Xie and Xiuxiu for many years until I could meet each of them again and discover what kinds of bonds were left, if anything could be built from the naive childhood friendship we once had. I have been lonely for most of my life. And it was strange hearing your story for the first time. That day I was wondering how strong someone had to be to not fall apart under the weight of loneliness that had been imposed on you.” Millennia is a too long time to feel like that.
Every time the fire in the fireplace crackled, it took Shen Wei to a memory of loneliness where he watched the fire burn while remembering what had been taken from him - supposedly forever, but fortuitously he was mistaken.
“The only thing that kept me going... was knowing that if I let it all fall apart, the world in which the only one of those I loved was left would come crashing down. Today, it’s no longer just that.” Maybe I’ll have the chance to stay with them for longer than before. Maybe it’ll be a fleeting moment in my existence. But it doesn’t matter. The world we, together, swore to protect, now has more value to my heart than it ever had.
“And what else keeps you going on now?”
“This here, what I never had before. Friends and family. This is the world you all live in. I want this world to prosper and be a safe place for people to build happy lives. Like this life I have now.”
"The mafia is definitely not the ideal family you deserved..."
"I was born among creatures that don't even have souls and devour their own. The debts you may owe because of the life you lead are none of my business - not now while you are alive. And there is still so much time to pay off these debts before I have to meet each of my family members on the other side. I don't understand how you can trust something that can eventually kill you. Or condemn your soul."
"Shen Wei... I haven't had many people throughout my entire life that I could afford to call friends, because I could never let my guard down and easily give a vote of confidence, even when I often wanted to. I know from the beginning that you can kill me. But there's one thing about you that sets you apart from everyone else, the thing that makes me know I've found a friend: if you had to kill me, for whatever reason, you would never stab me in the back. You would look me in the face and honestly tell me your reasons for raising a weapon against me.”
Shen Wei wondered how many times someone had tried to stab Xiao Hua in the back, for power, for revenge, for fear. Somehow, that was also like him, like what had gotten him imprisoned. It was difficult not to feel furious about what the greed and ignorance of many stole from some beings who were trying to survive any way they could.
"That day will never come. You will never be under my blade. My family is mine and nothing will make me turn against it." His emotions could be felt through the room becoming colder, even with the fireplace right in front of them.
Xiao Hua would always think that those kind of words could come from anyone and be frivolous. But when it came from Shen Wei, it was raw and real.
Before anything else was said in the room, Huo Xiuxiu came from the kitchen, wrapped in a thick robe over her warm pajamas, carrying a small tray in her hands. The smell of cappuccino and whipped cream filled the room as she placed the tray on the coffee table.
"Professor Shen, this is because I have mercy and will not let you be subjected to Xiao Hua's horrible cooking." She took one of the mugs for herself and sat down in the armchair. "Did you forget any windows open? It's freezing in here."
"Sorry, I think it was me." Shen Wei blushed in embarrassment as he took a mug for himself, accepting the delicious-looking offer. Tasting the steaming drink, so sweet and pleasant, he focused on the flavor - of the cappuccino and the taste of having people who cared gathered around him. And slowly, that cold that seemed perpetual, began to disappear from the environment. It didn't come back to him. It just went away. Like when he was at his home, Wu Xie's warm presence made him relax and give way to the comfort of the human world instead of the cold of the Underworld.
"Much better!" Xiuxiu adjusted herself better in the armchair, watching the two men disappear behind the mugs. She had prepared more, just in case. "Now, Professor Shen, how was the mission with your two idiots? Did they cause you a lot of trouble? Did you catch the ghost? Have you ever made out with Wu Xie when you were in your attire as the Ghost Slayer?"
Shen Wei almost choked on his drink. "Have mercy and never give him that suggestion!"
"Oh, I see..." She took out her cell phone from her robe pocket and Xiao Hua just shook his head at Shen Wei. It would still take him a long time to learn not to fall into Xiuxiu's tricks.
…