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In a rickety hotel in a poor mountain village, Zhao Yunlan lies awake. His eyes are closed, but the lines of his body are too tense for the relaxation of sleep, and every now and then he stirs, restlessly, blinks and stares at the darkness for a moment, only to return to the futile pretence of rest.
There is no door to open or close in this place. Da Qing comes on four paws, silently, fur as dark as the shadows, and jumps onto Zhao Yunlan's chest. Zhao Yunlan flinches, but doesn't curse, only wraps his arms around the cat - probably too hard, but the cat doesn't complain.
Da Qing purrs, a determined and deliberate rumble, and doesn't stop until Zhao Yunlan has, finally, fallen asleep.
Then the cat extricates himself and jumps to the ground to quietly pad out of the room, apparently too restless himself to remain.
In the corner, the watchful darkness stirs.
Zhao Yunlan can't help but notice Shen Wei isn't wearing the jacket any more. The sky has already grown dark and the air is cooling, but Shen Wei has taken off the jacket Zhao Yunlan gave him. Earlier, when Zhao Yunlan and the others returned from the mountain, he even wore it inside - but he's not wearing it now.
Zhao Yunlan throws another look at the man walking beside him. They're ostensibly taking a stroll through the village, and Zhao Yunlan can guess what his team are thinking about that, but he has a reason. He's good at always having a reason, though privately he has to admit they're growing flimsier by the day.
Not as flimsy as Shen Wei's, though. I'm just an ordinary person, Shen Wei had told him, right at the beginning when Zhao Yunlan had called him on his very not-ordinary reaction to a student's death - and it had only escalated from there. Shen Wei stands out everywhere, even to someone who's seen the sort of things Zhao Yunlan has. These last days, here in the mountains, he's seen even more: glowing artifacts with strange powers; an entire tribe of people turned into energy ghosts; a man imprisoned in a pillar; those ugly Youchu creatures; the Black-Cloaked Envoy himself wielding the Mountain-River Awl to save Wang Zheng's boyfriend.
And somehow, for some reason, Shen Wei had decided to come to this place as well. Zhao Yunlan had tried to keep him out of things - to guard against whatever Shen Wei's agenda might be; to guard Shen Wei's safety - but Zhu Hong had fallen asleep rather than watch the professor, and she'd behaved very strangely afterwards.
Too much isn't adding up here. Zhao Yunlan keeps adding more to the already sizeable list of questions he has for Shen Wei, and he can ask none of them - not and hope to receive a meaningful answer.
Instead he winks at Shen Wei. "What, you don't like my jacket any more?"
They'd been walking side by side; now Shen Wei stops and turns to face him. They've circled round and are in front of the hotel again, several of the others in sight. Shen Wei pays them no attention; for a long moment he seems to study Zhao Yunlan - looking for something or gathering his thoughts, Zhao Yunlan isn't sure.
"I do like it," Shen Wei says finally, seriously - too seriously to be talking only about a jacket. Of course, that's how Shen Wei usually sounds, talking to him: always too something, always implying another layer beneath the obvious.
Zhao Yunlan can only laugh and point at him. "Good!"
After a moment, Shen Wei's mouth quirks. "Chief Zhao," he said, "don't you have something more important to ask me?"
"Right," Zhao Yunlan agrees. "So I said."
That was the excuse Zhao Yunlan had given for this little stroll: that he had something he wanted Professor Shen's opinion on. He grins, rummages around inside his pocket and shifts so the people outside the hotel can see both of them clearly, though they won't be able to hear their conversation. Lin Jing is talking to Zhu Hong, the two students are standing by the open door, and it's dark enough that Wang Zheng and her boyfriend are safe sitting outside on a bench, sticking close to each other. They haven't left each other's side since Sang Zan was freed from the pillar.
If Shen Wei notices Zhao Yunlan's little precaution, he doesn't mention it. He only raises his eyebrows. Then he sucks in a sharp breath as Zhao Yunlan pulls out and opens a fabric bag, showing him the Longevity Dial and the Mountain-River Awl.
Zhao Yunlan grins, offering the Hallows like trophies. "See what we've got."
Shen Wei's fingers twitch, as if he wants to reach out and grab the Hallows. Zhao Yunlan freezes for a moment, his grin turning stiff; he covers for it quickly with an exaggerated smirk, thinking, If it's the Hallows you're after and not me, I don't know what I'll do.
If that's why Shen Wei got close to him, it would make sense - more, ultimately, than someone like Shen Wei wanting him. Something in Zhao Yunlan's chest tightens. Why should anyone go to such troubles - moving in next to him, tidying his flat, cooking breakfast for him - with no ulterior motive?
It's the reasonable thing to think. He just can't make himself believe it, not with the way Shen Wei keeps looking at him.
Shen Wei's hands close into fists. "One wasn't enough?" he says, sharp and quick. "Now you're carrying two Hallows with you? Chief Zhao, don't you know how dangerous these items are?"
Zhao Yunlan lets out a laugh. Is Shen Wei worried about him - is that it? Of course the Black-Cloaked Envoy had made a similar fuss earlier - and he wouldn't worry about the SID chief. Still, Zhao Yunlan can't resist saying, "Wow, you're sounding exactly like someone else I know."
Come to think of it, hadn't he said more or less the same thing to the Envoy, too, earlier today?
Shen Wei's expression narrows; he opens his mouth - and then he abruptly turns away, just as Zhao Yunlan sees a bright blue figure rushing into the courtyard.
It's a masked energy being, just like the ones the night before, and it's charging towards Wang Zheng. Without a thought Zhao Yunlan throws himself into its path, fumbling for his holster.
He has just enough time to get his hand on his gun, and to notice the knife in the energy ghost's hand; then, abruptly, Shen Wei is there, imposing his body between them, hands outstretched. In Zhao Yunlan's left hand, the Mountain-River Awl suddenly pulses with a bright glow; in the ghost's hand, the knife pulses in the same light, just as it stabs into Shen Wei.
The next moment, there's only a cloud of black energy where Shen Wei was, rapidly dissipating like so much smoke. The ghost, too, has vanished from existence. Only the knife, no longer glowing, falls to the ground.
"Shen Wei!" Zhao Yunlan jumps forward, into the dispersing energies - reckless, but desperate. "Shen Wei!"
Nothing happens. The space around him remains empty; Shen Wei remains gone.
"Professor Shen!" both of Shen Wei's students shout, and Jiajia adds, "Where is Professor Shen? What did that thing do to him?"
"I don't know," Zhao Yunlan says, blankly. Shen Wei can't just be gone.
"It's my fault," Wang Zheng says, desperately. "He was after me."
"No, not your fault," Sang Zan tells her, his slow, stuttering speech only emphasizing his emphatic sincerity.
"I thought you said the energy beings were all gone," says Zhu Hong, eyes narrowed. "Where did he come from?"
The Black-Cloaked Envoy had said, earlier, that with the breaking of the pillar any remaining energy beings tied to this place should have been released. This one had clearly not been willing to let go. Maybe ...
"The knife," Zhao Yunlan says, stuffing the Hallows back into his jacket. "Lin Jing, take a look at the knife. It was glowing." He throws Zhu Hong a meaningful look, jerking his head towards the students; she glowers but dutifully goes over to - hopefully - calm them down. "I don't know what just happened, but we're figuring it out," he says firmly, for his own benefit as much as everyone else's.
Shen Wei can't be gone. Maybe he was just taken away somewhere? But that didn't look anything like teleportation - it's only been a few hours since Zhao Yunlan saw Zhu Jiu teleport away from the caves, and the image is vivid in his mind. What happened to Shen Wei looked nothing like a portal either, or a Yashou transformation.
It looked like dispersing, like dissolving. Can a person be dissolved into black energy like that? Surely they can't.
Perhaps if they're Dixingren, they can.
Zhao Yunlan feels ill. His head hurts. "Shen Wei," he murmurs. Is Shen Wei Dixingren? It's not like this is the first time he's considered the possibility.
I don't care, Zhao Yunlan thinks wildly. Just be all right, you hear me? Whoever the hell you really are. And if that's an irresponsible thought for the chief of the SID to be having, he doesn't give a damn about that, either. The real Shen Wei is the Shen Wei he knows; he'd stake his life on it.
He forces himself to pull himself together for the benefit of everyone else, puts on a grin. "All right, people, let's get to the bottom of this. Lin Jing, what have you got?"
Lin Jing grimaces. "My readings are weird," he says, rapping his hand against the device he's holding, as if he thought it might be glitching. "And the knife is even weirder."
"Weird how?" Zhao Yunlan demands.
Lin Jing's eyes widen; clearly Zhao Yunlan's words came out too harshly. Damn, he can't let everyone see how worried he is. If they see - if they know - then he'll lose his grip entirely.
"Right, boss," Lin Jing continues hastily. "So there's been some degree of ambient black energy here from the start, right? We talked about that. But there's more, now. Just here around the hotel."
Shen Wei? Zhao Yunlan thinks, desperately.
"And the knife is almost inert now - not glowing like you said - but there's a residual energy signature, and it's very similar to the Sundial. Er, I haven't had a chance to properly look at the Awl yet - I won't until I get back to the lab - but presumably to that, too."
Similar to the Hallows. What is that knife capable of? What did it do?
The Mountain-River Awl restored Sang Zan; can it restore Shen Wei as well? Zhao Yunlan takes it out, holds it in his hand, wills it to activate. It hums, then drones in his ears, white and gold flashing across his vision - there's an image he can't quite make out, perhaps ruins under a stormy grey sky - and then it stops. He sways and nearly falls, but Da Qing grabs his arm to steady him. Zhao Yunlan grits his teeth.
Damn, where's the Envoy? He brought back Sang Zan; surely he can help with this as well.
Would he, though? If Shen Wei is Dixingren, is here in Haixing illegally, and somehow deliberately insinuated himself into the SID's business - would the Envoy even want to help? Wang Zheng's plea might have moved him, but would Zhao Yunlan's?
Defeatist, Zhao Yunlan chides himself. Even if the Envoy only wants to arrest Shen Wei, that's better than Shen Wei being gone. Zhao Yunlan can work with that, convince the Envoy - surely he can.
But they're hours away from the city, and he never thought to bring the incense that can summon the Envoy. For a moment he almost goes straight for his car, almost drives back on the spot. But he can't shake the feeling that he's needed here, that if he leaves, something vital will be lost.
"Lao-Chu," he calls. "You drive back to the office, summon the Envoy for us."
To his credit, Chu Shuzhi doesn't argue about bothering the Envoy; he only nods sharply and goes for the car he drove here. It'll probably take him until morning, on these difficult mountain roads, but it's worth it.
One way or the other, something has got to work. Something - someone - has to bring Shen Wei back.
Spread out, stretched apart - every part of him, every thought, too far from the next: Shen Wei knows this feeling. Has known it for thousands of years.
First, there's the Hallows' power tearing at him. Then there's nothingness.
Later - much later - there is a feeling, slowly travelling through his fragmented self, transmitted from one wisp of energy to the next: a dimmed, warm almost-comfort, a mindless restfulness. There's little difference between him and the earth his energy has sunk into, in this state.
Then, he is dreaming - what awareness seeps into him of the world around him is filtered through his own subconscious. Time and imagination blend, and always, in every time, in every dream, he is searching for Kunlun. Sometimes he thinks he sees him, but Kunlun is always gone before Shen Wei can reach him.
The dreams ebb, eventually. It's like waking, afterwards - but slow and drawn out, not the clear alertness after sleep that he's used to. Anaesthesia feels like this, to him. (He doesn't need it, doesn't need Haixing medical procedures either. But when your university classmates have seen your injury, when the doctors have diagnosed it before you've found the opportunity to mitigate it unseen, it's best to simply accept it, after all.)
Last time, it wasn't until another surge of the Hallows' energy swept through the world that finally, he snapped awake - aware again of where he was, what had happened to him. That was the point when his body reformed, energy into matter, amid the earth that sheltered him for so long.
Ten thousand years, last time, between being pulled into the ground, his body turned to energy and dispersed in the soil, and coming awake again. This time, it's not even ten minutes - his power is learning, after all, and he has the skill of it now.
Shen Wei hadn't been fast enough to counteract the effects of the knife - wasn't prepared for a weapon infused with the Hallows' energies. When he regains himself, the damage has already been done: everyone knows what happened, and if he simply appeared again, in plain view - then he'd be able to offer no explanation, nor hide the fact that he's not human. He'll have to think of another way.
Too, Zhao Yunlan has sent for the Black-Cloaked Envoy to be summoned. If Professor Shen returned now, how could he explain his absence for the Envoy's visit? Or how could the Envoy explain taking no interest in such happenings?
No, Professor Shen can't return before the Envoy's part is done. Until then, at least, it's best to remain in energy form, to hold back from pulling himself back to physicality.
It will still be difficult to explain this away. The SID, no doubt, can cope. Zhao Yunlan will probe and prod and attempt to wheedle or trick answers from him, but Zhao Yunlan will live with the uncertainty all the same. Shen Wei's students, on the other hand, are not ready for any of this - they don't even know about Dixing. They've already been exposed to too much. He'll need to think on how to reassure them.
Zhao Yunlan, too. It's easy to think of him as ready for anything - he's not perturbed by much. But watching him from the darkness now, it's clear he's more out of sorts than Shen Wei would have expected, considering how briefly they've known each other, how suspicious Zhao Yunlan is of him, how far they've yet to come.
It's good he has Da Qing to take care of him when Shen Wei can't.
A cluster of black energy in the shadows cannot smile. But watching over Zhao Yunlan's sleep, his familiar presence easing his spirit, Shen Wei feels like smiling nevertheless.
Zhao Yunlan wakes abruptly to the distinct feeling of being watched - and not by Da Qing. He opens his eyes, half expecting to see Shen Wei sitting next to him, the way he did only four nights ago. Then he remembers: Shen Wei is gone.
But the feeling doesn't go away, familiar, soothing. He hates it, this false reassurance that his body wants to trust. It itches against his skin.
He'd been startled and alarmed, that morning at his flat, to find Shen Wei there - but after the initial adrenaline surge had passed, he'd found himself almost smug about it. Whatever Shen Wei's secrets were, he'd spent his time like that, watching Zhao Yunlan, cleaning his flat, making him breakfast. Taking care of him.
Zhao Yunlan would have thought the neat professor would be put off by his mess, but it almost feels like it brought them closer.
And it's not just that night - with that context, other things have become clearer. Moving in next to him, massaging ointment into his arm, watching him sleep - none of these things have anything to do with Zhao Yunlan's job. Sure, Shen Wei involved himself in the SID's cases as well, poked his nose into things he should have had neither the interest nor the qualifications for, but there's a much more personal flavour to what Shen Wei does. It should alarm Zhao Yunlan, and instead it makes him feel like he's won some sort of competition.
He'd facetiously accused Shen Wei of putting a tracker on him, following him around, and Shen Wei, smiling and unperturbed, had lobbed the accusation right back at him, called him the stalker instead. It should worry him, but Shen Wei's interest has never felt like a threat.
Despite the cryptic warnings, despite the secretive behaviour and mysterious knowledge, he seems to genuinely want to be near Zhao Yunlan, to take care of him.
No. Seemed to want.
Abruptly, Zhao Yunlan sits up. He can't keep lying here feeling like Shen Wei is here, when he isn't. He can't stand it.
Scratching at the back of his head, trying to rid himself of the sensation, he shuffles out of his room. He doesn't think about where he's going, but it's hardly a surprise when he finds himself in Shen Wei's room. With unsteady fingers he lights a candle. A bag is leaning against the wall; a neatly folded blanket lies ready on the unslept-on bed. Zhao Yunlan's jacket - the one he'd given Shen Wei on the drive here - is hanging over a chair, as if waiting for Shen Wei to return.
Zhao Yunlan lets out an involuntary noise, hands reaching for the jacket, fingers clenching in the waterproof fabric. He pulls it against his chest. It's his own jacket, damn it - this is ridiculous. But it's Shen Wei who wore it last, only hours ago. Zhao Yunlan grimaces. His eyes burning, he lifts the jacket to his face -
- only to flinch away from the stink. Youchu blood.
In a fraction of a second, several pieces of information rearrange themselves in his head.
You sound just like a friend of mine, he'd said to the Envoy. You're sounding exactly like someone else I know, he'd told Shen Wei.
The words burst from his mouth: "Hei Pao Shi?"
What the hell? No, seriously, what the hell?
Well, thinking about it, this explains many things - but it makes many more mysterious in a whole new way. The Black-Cloaked Envoy watched him sleep? Cleaned away his empty wine bottles, did his dishes? The Black-Cloaked Envoy looked at him like that, heated and intent even when teasing, like whatever was between them was important somehow? Why?
Zhao Yunlan lets out an incredulous, desperate laugh. This should change everything. But does it even matter, now? Shen Wei is gone.
He bends his head, buries his face in the jacket after all, stink or no. The Youchu blood hasn't touched the inside; it's fine. Zhao Yunlan forces a shuddering breath. The Black-Cloaked Envoy can't be gone. He mutters to himself, feeling ridiculous and overwrought, "What the hell could be powerful enough to kill Hei Pao Shi?"
The darkness that is Shen Wei gathers in the corner. Zhao Yunlan knows, has worked out the truth.
Zhao Yunlan knows, and realising just who it is he's been worried for hasn't lessened his feelings; instead it looks as if that truth has knocked loose the tight grip he was keeping on himself. His shoulders are shaking; his voice is unsteady. He's still thinking - of course he is; Shen Wei can practically see his thoughts racing - but he's grieving, too.
Shen Wei can't watch this.
He knows what it's like to wait - has waited for Kunlun for an eternity, dreaming of searching, and then searching in truth, until finally he found him again. Even now, he's still waiting: Zhao Yunlan is not Kunlun yet, after all - too wary and suspicious beneath his casual devil-may-care demeanour; still largely ignorant about Dixing and its people; too guarded, too flippant, too unwilling as yet to be sincere.
Though perhaps not here and now.
Shen Wei knows the pain of waiting for what may not come. How could I do this to you? Zhao Yunlan doesn't even have a promise to hold on to, the way Shen Wei did. Besides, the complication of Chu Shuzhi's coming summons to the Envoy no longer matters here, now that Zhao Yunlan knows.
Shen Wei gathers himself, energy coalescing, shaping into a man's form, into flesh. He puts a hand on Zhao Yunlan's shoulder, sends a stream of black energy towards the open doorway with the other to soundproof the room. "Zhao Yunlan," he says, quietly.
Zhao Yunlan jumps half a metre away, drops the jacket and stands there staring, mouth and eyes open, frozen in place.
"I didn't mean to frighten you."
"Shen Wei." His name sounds like it's torn from Zhao Yunlan's throat, and then suddenly Zhao Yunlan's arms are wrapped around him, Zhao Yunlan's face is buried in his shoulder, and all he can do is hold him, heart hammering, the precious man in his arms shaking - only for a moment, before Zhao Yunlan tears himself away. "Shen Wei," he says again. And then, still too urgently, "Hei-laoge, you're really here. Are you okay?"
Shen Wei looks at his own arm, double-checking that when he pulled his form together, it reshaped itself as intended with Professor Shen's look and casual outfit, not the Black-Cloaked Envoy's robes - and then realises it doesn't matter, that Zhao Yunlan knows and would likely have said the same thing no matter what Shen Wei looked like. "I'm fine."
Zhao Yunlan laughs, incredulous. "You're fine. Of course you are. Are you -" He shakes his head, apparently at a loss for words, struggling to pull his self-control back together. "That knife -"
"It must have been fashioned from material exposed to the Hallows' energies over a long time," Shen Wei tells him, and watches Zhao Yunlan grow more steady with this more practical subject matter. "Such items are very rare, but you know another one."
"Eh?" Then Zhao Yunlan catches on. "My father's black energy gun?"
Shen Wei nods. He's never been sure how the metal it was made from ended up in the maker's Haixing hands, but it's unmistakable for someone who knows its kind.
"But you're not immune to it. What the knife did to you -" A shiver seems to run through Zhao Yunlan's body.
Shen Wei can't hold himself back; he puts a hand on Zhao Yunlan's upper arm, just below his shoulder. Zhao Yunlan stares at it, then puts his own hand over it.
Zhao Yunlan's hand clenches over Shen Wei's. He's really here, solid and touchable.
"Ten thousand years ago," Shen Wei tells him quietly, "the Hallows did something similar to me. It took me a long time to come back, then, but luckily, the experience has taught me how."
"Luckily," Zhao Yunlan repeats, and he knows it comes out mocking, but he can't help himself. "Ten thousand years." It could have taken him ten thousand years to return, if he hadn't already known how? That's too much to wrap his mind around.
Shen Wei is the Envoy, and he's ten thousand years old. Damn, Zhao Yunlan always thought that was an exaggeration, but from Shen Wei's own mouth, it can't be.
Shen Wei blinks, rapidly. "Do you mind?"
"Huh?" Has he missed something - what is Shen Wei talking about?
"My age. That I'm not human. Or an ordinary Dixingren either."
Zhao Yunlan grins, wide and provocative. "Shen Wei, I never for a moment thought there was anything ordinary about you at all."
And now he doesn't have to be suspicious any more about Shen Wei's possible nefarious intentions - Shen Wei is the Envoy. Dixing's terrifying enforcer, yes - but also the man who saved Wu Tian'en's life, who brought Sang Zan back and spoke with such understanding of the connection between Sang Zan and Wang Zheng. He's the professor who worried about Li Qian and the friend who took care of Zhao Yunlan when he was ill, and now that the puzzle pieces are starting to fit, Zhao Yunlan can't worry about his intentions any more.
Some of his giddiness must communicate - the corners of Shen Wei's mouth quirk upwards.
Then Zhao Yunlan remembers that sensation from earlier. "You were there, weren't you? Watching me sleep. Why didn't you -" He breaks off. Shen Wei didn't appear until Zhao Yunlan had figured out who he was. He swallows, and very deliberately continues, "Did you come back as soon as you could have?"
Shen Wei ducks his head. "You've sent Chu Shuzhi to summon me. I can't be in two places at once, you know."
Zhao Yunlan snorts, then looks around. This place isn't exactly private, to be talking about these things. "If someone wakes up -"
"I silenced the room. We can speak freely," Shen Wei tells him. He hesitates, then adds, "I still don't know what to tell the others."
"Eh," Zhao Yunlan says, making a face, "we'll just tell them the Awl spat you back out. And I'll speak with the two of you in private." He winks at Shen Wei. "No one else needs to know there's only one of you. Don't worry about it."
Shen Wei's expression goes still. "You think I'm overcomplicating things," he says - and Zhao Yunlan winces, because he didn't mean don't worry to sound dismissive; rather the opposite. But Shen Wei is already continuing. "I intended for Professor Shen to return after you had spoken to the Black-Cloaked Envoy. But there would have been - still will be - consequences to this, now that you know. There are more things at stake than you're aware of."
Zhao Yunlan doesn't like at all how serious that sounds. He pats Shen Wei's hand, which hasn't left his arm all through their conversation. "Hei-laoge knows more than I do. You have your reasons, I'm sure." And he'll get Shen Wei to tell him all about them, soon enough. There's no more reason for secrecy now, is there? "I'll keep your secrets - but you can let me help."
Shen Wei's nod is hesitant, but it's a nod. "You'll have to, this time." He looks away, pulls his hand back.
Shen Wei didn't have to talk to him, didn't have to return now. He could have kept to his plan of appearing first as the Envoy, could have denied the connection Zhao Yunlan had made - could have kept pretending to be two different people. Instead he took a leap - and for someone as private as Shen Wei, for someone like the Black-Cloaked Envoy who's used to dealing with the highest stakes, that can't have been an easy decision.
Zhao Yunlan can look forward to fewer secrets between them all he wants; what has he given Shen Wei, to even half-way match that show of faith?
Even though they're still standing close, even though Shen Wei hasn't yet taken a single step away, now that they're no longer touching they're suddenly too far apart. Zhao Yunlan reaches for Shen Wei's hand again, and Shen Wei's eyes widen, but he doesn't pull away. The Black-Cloaked Envoy is letting him hold his hand.
"Shen Wei." Zhao Yunlan's voice comes out more hoarsely than he wanted. Damn, he's been flirting with Shen Wei since they met; he should know how to do this. He ducks his head, tries to make a joke of it. "I'm really not good at this talking-sincerely-about-your-feelings thing," he says wryly. "But with you -" He bites his lower lip. "You know, right? When you were gone - when you vanished like that -"
His throat closes up, and he has to look away. He can't joke about this.
He pulls Shen Wei's hand to his heart, holds it there.
Shen Wei swallows, his Adam's apple moving. "I know," he says, just as hoarsely, before Zhao Yunlan can make even more of a fool of himself. He doesn't move his hand away. "It's - it's the same for me."
The words - the knowledge - rush through Zhao Yunlan like a wildfire, leaving him breathless, out of air. For a long moment they simply stand there holding on to each other, grinning at each other like idiots. Shen Wei's hand is warm against his chest, against the hammering of his heart.
"It's still the middle of the night," Shen Wei says eventually, reluctantly. "You should rest more."
"Shen Wei," Zhao Yunlan says, pitching his voice low, leaning forward, tucking the depth of his feelings safely away under the cover of flirtation, "Hei-laoge, do you really think I could sleep right now, without you?"
Shen Wei visibly swallows again. His eyes are glued to Zhao Yunlan's face - to his lips. "Zhao Yunlan."
The space between their body is heating up with the tension between them, tight and thrilling, inescapable.
"Stay," Zhao Yunlan rasps.
And after a moment, Shen Wei nods.
Shen Wei is inordinately pleased that Zhao Yunlan doesn't let go of Shen Wei's hand on the short walk back to Zhao Yunlan's room. Perhaps this is too much, too fast, but despite everything Zhao Yunlan has seen of him today, Zhao Yunlan isn't hesitating, is drawing closer instead. Shen Wei can't help but wonder if this is how this step was always meant to be taken - the truth, bringing them together.
Bringing Zhao Yunlan one step closer, too, to being the Kunlun of Shen Wei's memories, who knew him, all of him, effortlessly, and delighted in it all.
They sit down together, side by side, and Zhao Yunlan leans against Shen Wei. Shen Wei wants to wrap himself around him and never let go.
"Shen Wei," Zhao Yunlan asks, lips moving against his cheek, "are you sure?"
Shen Wei can only smile, turning all the fondness of his gaze towards Zhao Yunlan. "I have always been sure about you."
"Always?" The flash in Zhao Yunlan's eyes is unmistakable - he would not be Zhao Yunlan, had he not noticed. But he sets it aside for now. "Good, that's good," he murmurs, leaning forward. "Come here - you can watch me sleep again another time."
And for the first time in ten thousand years, their lips meet.
In a rickety hotel in a poor mountain village, Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei rest in each other's arms.
Outside, the morning mist disperses, and the sun begins to shine.