Title: all I need to know
Fandom: Guardian
Rating: PG? (references to sex, but no actual sex)
Length: ~700 words
Notes: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, established relationship, secrets, no spoilers. Also for the FFW Bingo prompt, Floating, and kiezh's prompt of Shen Wei, "No. I won't." No warnings apply.
Summary: Three months of mutually investigating each other, occasionally crossing over into actual B&E and/or stalking, and Shen Wei decides to enforce his boundaries now, when they’re finally together?


Zhao Yunlan is kneeling on a stool, both elbows propped on the breakfast bar, watching Shen Wei cook. It’s more comfortable than it probably looks and has the added bonus of drawing attention to his backside. He’s caught Shen Wei looking more than once. Maybe he can use that.

“Shen Wei, will you tell me something?” he asks, casually.

“No, I won’t.” Shen Wei sounds infinitely patient and, even when Zhao Yunlan pouts, remains unmoved.

And it’s all because something that should have been innocuous has ballooned into a mystery that’s gnawing at Zhao Yunlan’s insides. This morning he saw Shen Wei and Wang Zheng exchange identical manila envelopes, and when he enquired what was going on, Shen Wei had just said that Wang Zheng was doing some word processing for him on the side.

Word processing! Zhao Yunlan’s been trying to unlock the mystery all day, and the more dead ends he comes up against, the more it drives him crazy. Wang Zheng is being scrupulously discreet, and Lin Jing refused outright to give Zhao Yunlan her computer password. Zhao Yunlan’s wiles usually work better on Shen Wei anyway, so he hadn’t pushed too hard, but he’s been poking around the subject for nigh on fifteen minutes now and gotten nowhere.

Three months of mutually investigating each other, occasionally crossing over into actual B&E and/or stalking, and Shen Wei decides to enforce his boundaries now, when they’re finally together?

If it was just scientific papers or university course texts, there’d be no need for all this secrecy. It’s definitely something bigger. Something significant. Something he needs to know.

“If you tell me, I’ll blow you so sweet…” he tries.

Shen Wei turns from the kitchen counter, wooden spoon in hand, and levels him a look, making his low opinion of this kind of sexual bartering very clear. “It’s really far less interesting than you seem to imagine.”

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?” says Zhao Yunlan, even though Shen Wei is probably right. It isn’t the answer he wants; it’s to get rid of the damn question. After all, if it was anything really juicy, Shen Wei wouldn’t have asked Wang Zheng of all people to type it up for him.

Zhao Yunlan wonders if she worked on it during her regular hours, and whether he can claim a right to view, as her boss, but the prospect of disappointed looks from all concerned makes him abandon that line of enquiry before he starts. “Fine,” he grumbles. “Will you tell me one day?”

“One day I’ll ask Wang Zheng to send you the file, and you’ll read a sentence and a half and give up out of boredom,” says Shen Wei. It’s impossible to tell if he’s bluffing.

Zhao Yunlan sighs. “Why won’t you just lie to me? Whatever you say, I’ll believe it, and then I can stop wondering.”

But even as he says it, the thought appals him, so it’s a relief when Shen Wei steps up to the other side of the breakfast bar and cups his cheek, bringing them eye to eye.

“I have no intention of lying to you, ever again.” His sincerity seems as deep as the ocean.

“But keeping secrets is—”

“Is sometimes necessary.” Something dark is lurking behind the sincerity; it looks an awful lot like pain, and Zhao Yunlan hates himself a little for any part he’s played in dredging it up.

He drops his gaze to Shen Wei’s mouth and swallows, and forcibly releases his grip on the helium balloon of his curiosity, letting it float away. Then he turns his face into Shen Wei’s palm and kisses it. It smells of citrus. “Okay,” he says. “Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you’re right. I still really want to blow you, though. No strings.”

The corner of Shen Wei’s mouth quirks deliciously, and he leans in and presses his lips to Zhao Yunlan’s, hard and sweet with unspoken gratitude. “I look forward to it, but if it’s all right by you, after dinner?”

Zhao Yunlan grins at him. “Whenever you want me,” he says, and means it. And for the space of an evening, at least, he caves to other curiosities, and nothing else matters.


END