Chapter Text
Lang thought of himself as something of an expert at reading Shih-na. Her emotions were subtle, her expression and body language rarely changing even under extreme circumstances, but they had worked together long enough that Lang could typically deduce more or less how she was feeling with reasonable accuracy.
Arguing with an airline employee in Italian after nearly 24 hours’ worth of flights, apparently, qualified as nuclear-level extreme circumstances. For possibly the first time in half a decade, it didn’t take any level of expertise to tell that Shih-na was pissed off.
“What kind of idiots do you have working here to be able to lose half the luggage on our flight?” she growled, her hands clenched tightly into fists on top of the man’s desk. Her makeup, usually immaculate, had started to fade, revealing dark bags under her eyes.
“Again, ma’am, I am extremely sorry.” The employee looked exhausted as well, having given this same apology to at least half a dozen people before them. “If you go online and fill out a claims form, a compensation agent will follow up as soon as possible, but unfortunately there’s nothing I can do at the moment.”
Sighing, Lang grabbed his own suitcase, mercifully one of the few that had made it to their destination. “Shih-na, let’s just get to the hotel and get some rest. We have time to go shopping before meeting with the police tomorrow, so we can get whatever you need then.”
Pursing her lips – Lang tried not to notice that her lipstick had smudged in the corners – Shih-na straightened her posture with a deep breath in and out. “You’re right, Shifu,” she conceded, voice tight. “I’ll hail a taxi.”
With no further fanfare, she marched towards the exit, knuckles white around the handle of her briefcase.
Lang spared the employee a quick word of thanks before rushing after Shih-na. He found her standing next to a cab, door open and waiting for him. After he loaded his luggage into the trunk and climbed inside, she followed suit, slamming the door closed and giving the driver the address to their hotel.
Ten minutes passed in silence, Shih-na staring blankly out the window, before Lang mustered the courage to speak up. “Is everything okay? I’ve never seen you this mad. Did you have something important in your suitcase?”
For some reason, he thought he saw a hint of fear in Shih-na’s eyes before she shook her head. “No, everything relevant to the case was in my carry-on. I’m…just tired. I apologize for my behavior.”
“It’s fine.” Lang waved away her apology with a dismissive hand. “I told you that you didn’t have to spend the whole day working, though. Most of that paperwork could’ve waited.”
“It needed to be done, so there was no reason not to. I don’t sleep well on planes anyway.”
It was nearly impossible to argue Shih-na into being less dedicated to her job, so Lang just shrugged. “If you say so. Oh, but speaking of sleeping – I actually have an extra pair of pajamas if you want something to change into for tonight.”
“I would appreciate that, yes,” Shih-na said, tugging uncomfortably at the collar of her shirt.
While she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty on a case, Lang had caught on fairly quickly that Shih-na otherwise prioritized cleanliness very highly. He imagined she wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea of sleeping in the same clothes she had spent the last day travelling in. Glad he was able to at least make this night a little easier on her, Lang nodded and made a mental note to retrieve the extra pajamas first thing after they were checked in.
Their hotel wasn’t too far from the airport, so soon enough, they pulled up to the entrance. Shih-na seemed to have regained most of her composure during the drive, but gave the smallest of huffs when she reached for her suitcase and was reminded that it wasn’t there.
Upon entering the hotel, an upscale establishment that boasted a long history of visits from celebrities and politicians, they were greeted by a smiling young woman standing behind the counter.
“Good evening,” she said as they approached. “How may I help you?”
Lang slid his passport and business credit card across the polished marble. “Just checking in.”
“Of course, sir.” Looking over his credentials with a nod, the employee said, “I have you for…two weeks in one king room.”
“Thank y– wait, one room?” Lang glanced to his side, eyebrow raised, as Shih-na stepped forward.
“We should have two king rooms,” she interjected, flipping through emails on her tablet. “Connecting, preferably.”
The employee clicked a few more keys before pursing her lips. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I only see one room with your information.”
A twitch returning to her eye, Shih-na drummed her fingers against the counter impatiently. “Was the other one cancelled?”
“Hmm…I don’t see any cancelled rooms for you either. Oh, but I do see you stayed with us last year! Thank you for choosing us again,” she added, a hint of desperation seeping into her customer service chirp.
“You know what,” Lang cut in, plastering on a polite smile. He laid a hand over Shih-na’s to still her, immediately jerking back when he realized he was touching Shih-na’s hand. “It’s fine. How much for a second room?”
“Well, we’re actually, um, fully booked until Monday.” Clicking around on her computer for a moment, the employee’s eyes lit up hopefully. “Oh, but the room next to you should be open then, so I can book that one for you for the remainder of your stay!”
“Perfect. Just put it on the same card.”
After grabbing their keys with a small bow, Lang turned towards the elevators and gestured for Shih-na to follow. “Lang Zi says no matter how loudly you bark at a stone, it will never produce water. I’d rather just sleep than argue about a room that doesn’t exist.”
“Of course.” Shih-na hit the button for their floor. Three soft dings signaling their ascent sounded before she spoke up again. “But I booked two rooms.” Her tone was almost petulant.
It took all of Lang’s willpower not to let a smirk creep onto his face. “Hey, everyone makes mistakes.”
Shih-na tilted her head back to look at him. Forget water, her glare could melt stone down to pure magma.
“So,” Lang hastily continued, “don’t be too mad at, uh, whatever employee screwed it up. We’ll live. This is still better than that time in Paris they kept pushing our flight back every couple hours instead of just rescheduling it, yeah?”
“All so they wouldn’t have to provide hotel vouchers for the night?” Shih-na’s nose wrinkled in a grimace, but at least her annoyance had been redirected elsewhere for the moment. “It would be difficult to top that.”
With a chuckle of commiseration, Lang led them down the hall to their room. At least it was plenty spacious, with a kitchenette in one corner, a velvet lounge chair in another, and a couch in front of the city-view window that took up the entire far wall.
Once he had tucked his suitcase away in the closet, Lang knelt in front of the couch, sticking his arm underneath the cushions. After a few moments, he sighed. “Doesn’t fold out.”
“And it’s too small for you to sleep on.”
Lang straightened up and crossed his arms. “Well, I’m not making you sleep on it.”
“How chivalrous.” Shih-na’s eyes roamed around the room, lighting on the uncomfortable-looking chair before she shook her head. “The bed is a king size. There’s plenty of room for both of us. No need to over-complicate things.”
Heat crept onto Lang’s face and he held up his hands in front of his chest. “It – no, it’s fine, I’ll just grab a couple pillows and sleep on the floor.”
“No, you won’t,” Shih-na said firmly. “We both need to be well-rested enough to perform our jobs. This is the most logical course of action.”
Lang frowned. “I guess that makes sense,” he started, hoping that conceding this didn’t make him seem too eager. “I just…don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
Shih-na regarded him for a moment, expression inscrutable, then shrugged. “I won’t be.”
When she didn’t elaborate further, Lang cleared his throat and nodded. “Alright then. Um, lemme grab those pajamas for you.”
“Thank you. Do you mind if I take the first shower?” Shih-na asked as he dug through his luggage.
“Nah, go ahead.”
Shih-na accepted the clothes with a bow. “I’ll be quick.”
Once the bathroom lock clicked and Lang heard the rushing of water from the shower, he let out a long breath, leaning back against the wall.
“Get it together,” he muttered to himself. “This isn’t that big of a deal. Lang Zi says…” Shoulders hunching, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and began to stalk back and forth, from one side of the hotel room to the other. He made it three laps in silence before growling, “Lang Zi didn’t say shit about this.”
It was downright juvenile, Lang knew, to be so riled up over just sharing a bed with Shih-na for a few nights. They were both mature adults. They’d spent countless hours alone together in much smaller spaces than a luxury hotel room; hell, on more than one occasion they’d had to change into new disguises in the same closet or the back of a car. Trusting each other unconditionally could mean the difference between life and death, so they couldn’t afford to waste time getting flustered over every little thing.
Shih-na was doing – had always done – a great job at the whole not getting flustered thing, for her part. Of course, Lang was grateful to work with someone he could always count on to be level-headed, and was glad she was comfortable enough with him to be unfazed by this arrangement. But, if he allowed himself an unprofessional thought…he couldn’t say he didn’t wish she was a little fazed. That his feelings weren’t so plainly one-sided.
No – this was exactly where he didn’t need his mind to go right now. He didn’t need to do or say anything stupid that would send the smartest, most capable person he’d ever worked with – the only real friend he had in this wolf-eat-wolf environment, even if the jury was still out on whether she considered him as such – running to find a new job.
Thankfully, before Lang could get any more lost in his own thoughts, he heard the shower come to a stop and a hair dryer power on. Snapped back to reality, he grabbed a stack of files from his briefcase and fell into the chair in the corner, trying to pretend like he had been engrossed in them this entire time.
A few minutes later, Shih-na emerged from the bathroom, a small puff of steam escaping behind her. Combing her fingers through mostly-dry hair, she paused in the hallway to look herself up and down in the floor-length mirror opposite the door.
Her borrowed pajamas consisted of a t-shirt that had been given out at some corporate event Lang had been obligated to attend a few years ago, the sleeves hanging just past her fingertips, and a pair of dark flannel pants with the waistband cinched as tight as it could go while the hems had been turned up two or three times so she wouldn’t step on them. She attempted to push one of the sleeves up to her elbow, but it fell back down as soon as she let go. Her brow furrowed in annoyance for a moment before she shook her head and settled back into neutrality.
As Shih-na turned to enter the bedroom, she jumped ever so slightly when she noticed Lang, as if she had forgotten he was there. She glanced downwards at her clothes, and when she looked back up at him, he could swear her cheeks were pink – but if it wasn’t a trick of the light, she was probably just flushed from the hot water.
“It’s all yours,” she said, gesturing behind her.
“Right. Thanks.” Lang jumped to his feet and rushed to the bathroom as quickly as he could, before Shih-na could notice that he had no excuse for why his face was red.
Somehow, it hadn’t occurred to him just how big his clothes would be on her, and he was not prepared in the least for the sight. Shih-na was a lot of things – smart, beautiful, kind of terrifying at times – but adorable was something she rarely projected; not on purpose at least.
It was absolutely, 100%, completely unprofessional to imagine a life where this was normal, where Shih-na slept in his pajamas every night and graced him with one of her rare smiles before bed and –
Shit. These were going to be a long three nights.
…
It had to have been at least an hour since they turned in, and yet, despite her exhaustion, Shih-na’s mind was racing too fast for her to sleep. Ever since she got out of the shower, she had been anxiously turning over her decision to insist they share the bed.
It wasn’t that she had any qualms with this arrangement. Lang’s feelings for her were painfully obvious, but so was his staunch code of honor. He maintained a definitive boundary of “friendly respect” between them, and frequently overthought even the most casual of gestures, like touching her hand earlier in the lobby. She had no reason to believe he would make any sort of unwanted move on her, but if he did, he wouldn’t live to regret it anyway.
While this had been a perfectly sensible resolution to the sleeping arrangement issue, it was one she hadn’t been able to plan ahead of time and determine whether it was in character for Shih-na. She had been playing this role for years now – long enough for it to feel uncomfortably…comfortable – and usually made spur of the moment decisions with ease, but couldn’t help second-guessing this one. Would Shih-na have preferred to maintain her distance and let Lang sleep on the floor? Or should she have deferred to her boss and insisted he use the bed while she took the couch?
Shih-na frowned as she realized that neither of these ideas had registered as even a flicker in her mind earlier. They seemed equally as plausible, but she had simply decided that she and Lang would share the same bed without entertaining any other possibilities. Why hadn’t she given it any more thought beyond that?
Because – because it was simply one of many potential courses of action that her character may have landed on. That was all. It ultimately didn’t matter that it had been this one. Lang wasn’t going to accuse her of subterfuge just because she recognized that they were both tired and could benefit from sleeping in a real bed. He was unlikely to interpret this as a romantic signal, either, given her previous patterns of behavior and the carefully measured progression of their relationship thus far.
And that was exactly how she wanted it, Shih-na told herself, even as she had to suppress the urge to roll over to face Lang – purely to observe him from a new perspective, of course; to file away information about his sleeping habits for future reference. But if he was still awake, and happened to be facing her right now, and they were suddenly staring each other down, mere inches apart…it was another branching path she would have to confront without a strategy in mind, too tired to think straight.
Shih-na clutched tighter to the comforter, trying to stamp down the terrifying thrill building in her chest at this idea, like she was climbing to the precipice of a roller coaster. As much as she wanted to believe that she was the architect of the ride she was taking Lang for, she realized she was losing sight of what was waiting beyond the next drop.
All she could do was pray that she could keep her balance on the edge.