Title: Coming Upstairs
Fandom: Guardian
Rating: G
Length: ~700 words
Notes: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan pre-slash. Set pre-series, but contains spoilers for later episodes.
Summary: Shen Wei arrived in Haixing less than a week ago.


The lollipops—as he later learns they’re called—are heaped carelessly inside a jar made of something thin and brittle that isn’t glass, on the convenience store counter.

“Can I help you?” asks the middle-aged woman behind the counter, and Shen Wei realises with a start that he’s staring, his hand on his chest, covering his pendant.

He shakes his head, flustered, and means to leave, but he can’t tear his eyes from the spirals on the candy wrappers jumbled together in the jar.

*

That night on the mountain, under the stars, when Kunlun promised they’d meet again, he couldn’t have predicted Shen Wei would soon be swallowed into the ground. He couldn’t have known millennia would pass before Shen Wei found his way home. Kunlun had made his vow in good faith—but Shen Wei had vowed to protect Ye Zun in good faith, too, when they were young. Sometimes Fate has other ideas.

*

Shen Wei arrived in Haixing less than a week ago. He’s still adjusting to Human clothing fashions, to the food, to carrying paper money in a wallet, to shops and traffic and strangers passing him by in the street without a second glance. And to the irregular rhythms of his own heart, which was faint and slow for so long while he was buried.

It’s a lot to get used to.

No one here recognises him as the Black-Cloaked Envoy or an imposter, but his human guise feels as flimsy and transparent as the lollipop jar. His glasses keep slipping down his nose, and now his hair is cut short, the back of his neck tingles with each tiny breath of wind. His watch is a weight around his wrist, ticking away the seconds. He had been wondering if he’d ever adapt, if he should go home to Dixing and be with his people.

But he came Upstairs for a reason, and now he’s faced with a jarful of familiar-looking lollipops, it must surely be a sign. This is Kunlun’s time.

*

In their emotions, Humans are just like Dixingren, but their preoccupations are different: Dixingren are always measuring their powers against each other, always jockeying for position that way. Humans are concerned with time, with seniority.

Shen Wei excels by both standards, but the running of Haixing is not his concern, so he practises modesty, humility and respect to anyone who looks older. At first it feels demeaning, as if he’s encouraging people to take liberties with him, but after a while he starts to appreciate not having to be in charge. Responsibility is a heavy burden, and here, at the bottom of the Human hierarchy, it’s possible to make friends.

He’s curious about the differences between people, though. Would the citizens of Dixing change if they were subject to the cycles of day and night, or is there something fundamentally different about them? Are Humans obsessed with time and money only because they don’t have dark energy and their mortal frames are weak? He resolves to study the matter, in between conducting his duties as Ambassador and searching for Kunlun.

He enrols in a science course at the university. Biology won’t have answers yet, but it can help him refine his questions.

*

In the end, embarrassed at having lingered so long in the convenience store, he buys a lollipop from the bemused shopkeeper and steps out into the street where the midday sun is casting shadows under cars and people and trees.

A number of Humans are wearing dark glasses to shield their eyes. They’re all in modern clothes, and few of the men have beards. None of them has a white lollipop stick between his lips.

Shen Wei slips the candy into his pocket and wonders how to continue his search. He’s already tried the phone book and the university library. But the watch on his wrist promises he has time now. Plenty of time. And when he finds Kunlun, when they’re reunited, he will give him the lollipop he’s just bought, and Kunlun will laugh at him.

The thought quickens Shen Wei’s footsteps and makes him smile.


END