Work Text:
When Shen Wei opened his eyes that morning, near the end of winter, he found himself alone in bed. He did the math in his mind for a moment, concluding that this was a day when he should usually wake up with Wu Xie beside him. The sounds coming from the bathroom confirmed that he was correct, just a little drowsy.
He didn't move from where he was, wondering why Wu Xie had gotten up so early. And wondering further, why hadn't he himself woken up sooner, not even when he had missed his husband's warm embrace?
The soft blanket was still all over him, and his pajamas were still up on the hem where Wu Xie always tucked his hand to sleep, stroking the shallow curve of Shen Wei's lower back.
Shen Wei felt too lazy to even stretch and remained there in the same way until Wu Xie came out of the bathroom, already dressed for work.
Only half of Shen Wei's face and his braid were visible outside the blanket, his dark, tender eyes threatening to close again at any moment. And Wu Xie laughed softly at the sight, going to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Good morning, love. You still have an hour and a half to stay in bed."
"Why did you get up so early?" Shen Wei’s voice came muffled.
"The day shift starts an hour early for me today. Without a librarian in the Department, someone who knows about books has to put everything in place. Poor Wang Zheng can't do all the work."
"The Department's rare books?" Shen Wei sighed, hiding a little more of his face inside the blanket. "I'd love it if I could come help with that..."
Wu Xie raised his hand to stroke his husband's hair. "Maybe you can, sweetie. As far as I know there's no impediment to Your Honor doing some volunteer work in the chaos of the office."
"I have lectures at the university," Shen Wei pouted.
"Night shift. I get home at two o'clock today, rest until ten o'clock and return for the night shift. I'd appreciate it if you helped me with the books."
"I don't have an excuse to go to the Department today..."
"Don't worry, I'll find a way." Wu Xie got up, going to the closet to look for something, while Shen Wei followed him with his gaze.
"Yunlan will think I'm being invasive..."
"There are two people in the world that Yunlan never thinks bad things about. One is the sweet Professor who he is more or less dating long distance. And the other is Your Honor."
Dating long distance. Shen Wei was distracted by those words, and the next thing he knew, Wu Xie was putting an extra blanket over him and tucking him in right.
"A-Xie... there's no need for another blanket..."
"I'm leaving you an hour earlier. Another blanket will keep you warm so you can sleep a little longer."
"I'm never warm without you. You know that."
Wu Xie sighed, leaning over to kiss his husband's forehead and hair again and again, and then the cheek and lips, as best as possible with the blanket in the way. "Sleep warm for an extra hour, my stubborn sweetie. I'll see you later."
Shen Wei hummed something affectionately and as he watched Wu Xie through the half-open door, picking up the food he had prepared the night before and the coat, his heavy eyelids and the comfort of the blankets overcame him.
…
When Shen Wei opened his eyes again, it took him a moment to regain his perception of time. The house was silent, his alarm hadn't gone off yet, he wasn't late. His body felt sluggish, having followed Wu Xie's advice to the letter and slept an extra hour.
Shen Wei had never actually needed to sleep before. Sleep used to be a luxury. First to his young, spoiled self by the two gods he loved. And then to his older self, when he wanted to disconnect from his own pain for a moment.
When he was rescued, he needed to sleep a little each night to recover from the time he spent under the curse. And that need hadn't gone away even after Wu Xie had retrieved the pendant for him. He didn't mind, the few hours of sleep he had in his husband's arms were precious. And the pleasure of waking up to his current life, which was much happier and more hopeful than it had been in millennia.
Waking up alone was something that happened sometimes too, but he always knew it was temporary. That little bit of time when he was alone, was the time when Zhao Yunlan was learning for the first time in this life that he was wanted and loved. Shen Wei remembered people being very cold towards Zhao Yunlan before, so the kind of love he received from Wu Xie was refreshing.
Oh, if Shen Wei didn't know how refreshing Wu Xie's love was.
But that morning, Zhao Yunlan had woken up alone, while Shen Wei had been tucked under the blanket and showered with kisses. By that time, he was probably already in the office and had already met with Wu Xie - and hopefully, with the meal that Shen Wei had left prepared for him the night before.
This didn't mean that Shen Wei couldn't pamper Zhao Yunlan a little more, even if for now, it had to be from a distance.
He took one of his hands out from under the blanket, reached for his cell phone on the bedside table and brought it under the blanket, opening Zhao Yunlan's contact. He had never done this before - to send a message directly to Zhao Yunlan. And he felt like that little Ghost King again preparing a silly gift for the Mountain God, his heart full of anticipation.
He smiled when he opened the contact and saw Zhao Yunlan's status photo of the day: Da Qing sleeping on the pile of papers on a desk that was clearly not his, with the caption "Traitor".
For a moment, he lost himself thinking about all those unexpected relationships that had enriched the lives of so many.
But that was a long thing to think about, including the fear he had about his identity ruining good things for the people he loved. If he got stuck in that, Wu Xie and Zhao Yunlan would be the first people who would suffer. It was best to get back to the simple task he had set himself: writing a message to Zhao Yunlan.
He thought it would be hard, but the first sentence flowed easily, knowing that Wu Xie showed him his messages, so Zhao Yunlan was fine with Shen Wei addressing him by his first name.
*Good morning, Yunlan
A-Xie has been telling me about how tiring your most recent case has been. I hope you are resting well in your free time. Please don't push yourself too hard.
I prepared some food to renew your spirits, so have a leisurely breakfast. Don't skip any meals or I'll be worried. I hope you like the dishes I made this time. Let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like me to cook for you.*
Shen Wei almost, almost , typed I love you . He didn’t even use to send such a thing to Wu Xie - he’d rather say that in person - but for a second, it almost slipped from his fingertips, since he couldn’t say those words to Zhao Yunlan’s ears. Not yet.
He stared at the screen for a while, unsure of how to finish the message. This was absolutely different from the notes the Ghost Slayer sent to the Lord Guardian. It was simply a kindness from Shen Wei to Zhao Yunlan and was much more complicated than an official work letter. He wanted Zhao Yunlan to be comfortable with the message. Maybe even happy, he hoped.
*Tell me if I can be of any further help to you and a-Xie. Please take good care of yourself.*
Should he add an emoji? His husband and almost all of his friends sent emojis. Now he understood, regularly well, that part of texting. Zhao Yunlan would sometimes send messages with strings of emojis for Wu Xie to decipher and Shen Wei would laugh every time he saw it, Wu Xie had come a long way from reading ancient murals in lost temples and palaces, to now having to read his boyfriend's emojis... Shen Wei was laughing softly at that very moment thinking about that. That always amused him.
Shen Wei didn't look like a man who sent messages with emojis. But Zhao Yunlan seemed to like them. He sighed and decided to choose something, but the amount of options would give him a headache.
He thought about the past and present, and Zhurong's yellow and gold robes - and now Wu Xie always sent him a little yellow heart in text messages.
So it was easy to decide. The color that Shen Wei loved and that he preferred could have been associated with him was definitely not his 'work color'. It was that subtle blue of blue poppies, which Zhurong had never forgotten despite him only saying once that he liked the color. The blue that went from pale tones to a little brighter in his favorite clothes. It wasn't complicated.
Easily, he found a little light blue heart and added it to the end of the message, instead of some formal closing. And then he stared at the message, satisfied but still unsure. Foolish and shy like the little Ghost King still existing within him, he closed his eyes as he clicked 'send'.
Still with his eyes closed, he pressed the phone against his chest with both hands, a little anxious, because now it was too late, the message was already gone and perhaps he was more afraid of dealing with a response than of having sent the message itself.
He had to remind himself that Zhao Yunlan was working and an answer wouldn't come anytime soon - if at all. But he still had a few minutes to stay there, under the blankets where Wu Xie had tucked him in so he would be warmer in his husband's absence… He was never warmer without Wu Xie.
And then he realized. He had been so distracted by the task of sending the message that he hadn't noticed sooner. He lifted his own hands just enough so he could look at them. The tips of his fingers and under his retracted claws were pink - his once dark claws, now translucent like crystal. A soft blush was spread over his normally pale skin. His hands remained warm. Just like his whole body. The comfortable warmth he never felt when he was alone for a long time and that which emanated from his husband had already faded. It was there, still on his skin, still in the blood in his veins.
Leaving the phone aside, Shen Wei got out from under the blanket and stood up. Just a few steps and he was in front of the mirror. Warm was also his face now. The little blush on his cheeks wasn't a result of his shyness. The rosy on his lips still remained even when he didn't have his husband's kisses. With his fingertips, he touched his face tinged with warmth.
Running his fingers over his parted lips, he could feel the heat of his own breath. In true wonder. In his night sky eyes, the darkness that engulfed everything no longer lay - now it shone like a starry night.
He was used to chasing and keeping what he could of Wu Xie's warmth when they were together at home. He was used to being warm again and feeling that way from the skin to the inside, when his husband touched him, when he received treats like hot drinks and vivacious love.
But alone, all by himself-
He remembered crying when he felt the freezing rain washing off his body the warmth left over from the last hug he had exchanged with his Zhurong-jun. He didn't know that would have been the last. For nearly six millennia, it had hurt that he didn't know at that moment, so he would have gone back and-
He wouldn't have needed to go back because he would never have left the Fire God's side.
Remembering his old self, Shen Wei knew that he would have chosen to fight, impulsively. Not because he didn't care about Kunlun waiting alone on the mountain. But because he had to, at least, try to return to Kunlun taking Zhurong with him.
And then he wouldn't have watched Kunlun fall apart when he realized that Zhurong wasn't coming back.
He looked at his reflection in the mirror some more and on his delicate hand, the golden ring on his finger said that he was married.
In the past, Kunlun and Zhurong were married - they had been so long ago, before the Three Sovereigns, when Fuxi still stood strong alongside Nuwa and Shennong. At that time, the Ghost King, yet so young, had achieved the equal status of a spouse, but he would never have dared to say that he was married. Wedding rings didn't exist at that time. Shen Wei wondered if Zhao Yunlan missed sharing this with Wu Xie. Whether it was for the present life or an echo of what they had already meant to each other.
In any case, things were reversed this time. And although Shen Wei would never forget that he was married, he was proud of the ring shining on his finger. And the heat that spread in his chest and kept him in that strange sensation of, for a moment, not carrying the freezing cold of the Underworld within himself.
The alarm clock finally rang next to the bed.
Turning off the alarm clock, Shen Wei started looking for his clothes, while still wondering about many things. Among them, if Wu Xie had done something to him or the blanket and that was why he was still warm and feeling so alive.
He was almost certain that it had been Wu Xie. Because if it hadn't been, then-
Would he ever know what Wu Xie really meant when he said that Shen Wei was not part of the Ghost Tribe?
When Shen Wei was almost fully dressed, only missing his shoes and coat that were next to the front door, he remembered that it was out of the question to go teach at the university with his long hair. One of these days he would get careless and step outside his building before changing his appearance.
He no longer changed it to go downstairs to visit Pangzi. From that to ending up accidentally forgetting in some other situation, it was just a step. He had gotten used to being himself very quickly when he was surrounded by safe people. Before, he didn't use his real appearance even when he was alone.
Essentially, he had already changed himself inside .
Or he was simply regaining much of what had been lost each time he lost one of his loves.
When he picked up his cell phone that was almost forgotten on the bed, checking it before putting on his shoes to go out, a message notification was waiting.
To his surprise and utter anxiety, it was from Zhao Yunlan.
*Good morning, baobei
'My sweetie made you breakfast' was the first thing a-Xie told me when I got to the Department. The food you prepare never fails to bring me joy. Don't worry, I'll take care of myself, after all, I have to survive until the day I can take you and a-Xie on a date the way you deserve.
How was the art exhibition in Beijing?*
Shen Wei tripped over his own shoes while reading the message and half put on his coat, unwilling to let go of his cell phone. He felt himself grinning at the screen.
Zhao Yunlan had not just responded, he had started a conversation. Never before had Shen Wei felt so happy to have a cell phone.
He missed the handle twice while still staring at the screen and then realized where he was (not) going and took a deep breath. "Shen Wei, you need short hair and your glasses. You can't go out there half-Professor and half whatever you are now."
Dissatisfied, he put his cell phone in his pocket to arrange his clothes correctly on his body, put on his glasses and ran his hand through his hair, saying a momentary goodbye to his beautiful long dark braid.
He would try to keep his cell phone in his pocket for a few hours, after all, Zhao Yunlan was on working hours.
He failed. That day, he didn't go in to teach the first class before texting back to Zhao Yunlan, with a far too happy smile and flushed cheeks.
…