title: foolhardy
fandom: Guardian
series: bold (tracking post)
words: ~3,500
rating: teen (for this section, at least)
pairings: Da Qing & Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan (endgame Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan&Da Qing OT3)
contents: AU: near-canon; AU: soulmarks; tattoos; plays very loosely with the canon timeline; spoilers through episode 6-ish.

summary: Zhao Yunlan and Da Qing finally talk about that fight. Sort of.

author’s note: follows immediately after hasty, and won’t make a lot of sense without it. Also, thematically, I was thinking of jam like a logjam, something stuck that you have to clear before you can move forward.




Morning comes with a hot wind blowing through the open window, and a complete lack of cats in the apartment. But Zhao Yunlan’s texts have been read, though Da Qing hasn’t responded. That’s... better than yesterday.

Even if the cat isn’t at the office, either. Wang Zheng says he’d checked in early, before heading back out to scout the city. Which is 90% Da Qing making the rounds of the various undocumented Yashou he knows will give him snacks and 10% asking them about strange happenings -- but it’s not like Zhao Yunlan has a better idea of how to track down the Hallows.

The fact that Zhao Yunlan is stuck checking his phone for news... is his own problem. He tries to be subtle about it, but it’s almost certainly one of the reasons Zhu Hong keeps glaring at him as she and Guo Changcheng fill him in on their research.

“Lots of people remember him,” xiao-Guo is saying when Zhao Yunlan looks back up. The poor kid is shaking hard enough to rattle the pages of his notebook, clutched too tightly between his hands. He starts flipping through several sheets, and Zhao Yunlan wonders why he wrote so much down. It shouldn’t have been hard to get the basics.

“Professor Shen was quiet, but well-liked as a student.” Zhu Hong cuts in, smoothly summarizing what Zhao Yunlan needed to know and illustrating what Guo Changcheng should’ve started with. “When I showed his picture, he was recognized immediately by several of his fellow students.”

Too bad xiao-Guo isn’t paying attention.

“One of his classmates told me about a time that he accidentally ruined a lab experiment, and Professor Shen spent all night helping him re-do it so he wouldn’t fail the class,” he rattles off, less like a report and more like he’s trying to talk up the best points of getting a puppy. “Another student befriended him because she was also from the Children’s Home, and Professor Shen still telephones her every year on her birthday. His undergraduate literature professor --”

“Ai!” Zhu Hong elbows him in the ribs.

Guo Changcheng startles hard enough to drop his notebook to the floor with a clatter.

“Do we have to waste another day on this?” Zhu Hong asks, while the kid flails around trying to grab his notes. “He checks out, he’s a scientific genius. You’d be a fool not to hire him.”

“What?”

“That’s what this is, isn’t it?” She taps a foot impatiently. “A final background check before you offer him a job here? He’d obviously rather be working with us than in his mentor’s lab, or he’d already be there.”

Zhao Yunlan narrows his eyes at the mention of his mentor’s lab. Lin Jing has no doubt been spreading his romance-drama version of Shen Wei’s story around the office. Poor Professor Zhou, so profoundly maligned. Still, it’s better than having the truth spread around.

Guo Changcheng scrambles back to his feet. “Professor Shen spotted Hong-jie,” he says, almost nervous enough to make it a question. “A-a-anyone who can spot Yashou would be good to have on the team. Right?”

Zhao Yunlan twirls his latest lollipop for a moment instead of answering. He didn’t say anything of the sort when he sent them out yesterday, but again, it’s definitely better than the truth.

“That’s a good thought!” He says finally, leaving them to guess which thought he might be referring to. “Run along, now. Don’t you have real work to do?”

Zhu Hong turns on her heel and leaves, smart girl. Guo Changcheng, on the other hand, looks despondently at his notebook for another minute before scurrying after her. Maybe he wanted to share more valorous stories of Shen Wei’s youth. He and Lin Jing can start a fan club.

From one perspective, hiring Shen Wei isn’t a terrible idea. They could definitely use his help, considering his extensive knowledge of Dixing biology and powers. He’d even make a fine field agent -- after all, he’s been attacked multiple times and kept his head, was lucky enough to survive getting tossed off the roof of a building, and has shown himself completely unfazed by Zhao Yunlan’s lackadaisical management style. That’s better than xiao-Guo on his best day.

But any such hiring is likely to put Shen Wei directly in contact with Hei Pao Shi, sooner or later. He’d managed to stay undetected in the car when the Envoy fought Gao Tianyu, but he couldn’t hide forever.

Chu Shuzhi is the only Dixingren who has ever been permitted to join the SID. Bringing in a second simply isn’t an option. Zhao Yunlan isn’t sure he could get another one on the books without the combined political will of both governments, and the stars are unlikely to align so well for him in this lifetime. So there’s no way to hire Shen Wei openly.

At the same time, he isn’t at all sure that the Envoy would be willing to look the other way if Shen Wei came on without official sanction. Even if Zhao Yunlan could say straight-out that Shen Wei had been honest with him about it, and that seems remarkably unlikely on its own.

But he might ask Shen Wei anyway, sooner or later. It’s always possible that the professor has figured out a way around it.

Zhao Yunlan props his feet up on his desk and sits back with a sigh. He tries to picture a younger Shen Wei, half-grown and coltish, on his first few days on the surface. It’s a hard time for Dixing refugees, homeless and friendless in a world that fears them. Somehow, Shen Wei managed to acquire a very high-quality fake identity, send himself to school, and thrive here.

The kind of will it would take, to push forward in a strange land at such a young age--

Zhao Yunlan laughs softly to himself. Shen Wei had told him that he’d gotten his name from someone special. It hadn’t occurred to Zhao Yunlan at the time -- he’d assumed it was a parent or family member, before he was orphaned, but -- that couldn’t be the name he was born with.

So Shen Wei is a bold liar, as well as a smart one. It was practically an admission, and Zhao Yunlan had missed it, too caught up in the moonlight to pay attention.

Was he supposed to miss it? Or was Shen Wei trying, in an oblique manner, to be as honest as possible?

Looking back, Shen Wei has been decidedly non-subtle when it comes to Zhao Yunlan. If he stops trying to interpret Shen Wei’s behavior through a Haixing lens, if he just lets the pieces come together--

It reminds him of meeting Da Qing, honestly. One casual introduction in his dad’s office, and suddenly he was running into the cat every time he turned around. Da Qing wormed his way into Zhao Yunlan’s classes, hung out with his friends, and started sleeping in Zhao Yunlan’s apartment every time he left the window open. The only difference is how often Shen Wei turned down offers to see him socially -- but if he knows Zhao Yunlan’s reputation as the bigoted head of the SID, that’s understandable.

Zhao Yunlan wonders if Da Qing saw it that way, the whole time.

---

Zhao Yunlan turned his computer to the camera feed from Shen Wei’s office later in the morning. It was empty at the time -- of course it was; Shen Wei must spend some amount of his day actually teaching his students. Zhao Yunlan really needs a copy of the professor’s class schedule if he’s going to feel so disappointed at an empty room.

But he leaves the camera up while he reads reports, and glances back from time to time. He is eventually rewarded with Shen Wei’s undoubtedly predictable return. After a brief conversation with a pair of students who had followed him home like ducklings, Shen Wei settles into his desk with a stack of research texts and proceeds to read them with obvious interest.

In the privacy of his own office.

Zhao Yunlan can’t even pretend that he’s watching for any honest reason. Does he think Shen Wei uses Dixing powers in his office on a regular basis? Or that they’d be visible if he did? No, Zhao Yunlan just wants to know what Shen Wei is like when no one is watching. He’d be embarrassed by it, if his own rude behavior could still embarrass him.

He thinks about calling Shen Wei on the phone, about being able to see his face in the moment that he recognizes Zhao Yunlan’s voice. To be sure of that one, unguarded moment--

But it wouldn’t be fair. He still hasn’t been able to talk with Da Qing, and until he does... reaching out to Shen Wei like that doesn’t feel right.

So he lets the impulse fade. He pulls another lollipop out of the drawer instead, and goes back to his own paperwork. He leaves the camera feed on, though. There’s something comforting about being able to see Shen Wei working at his desk, jacket off and sleeves rolled up, while Zhao Yunlan is working at his.

At lunch time, Shen Wei takes a lunch box from his desk -- in the same style as the ones he gave Zhao Yunlan last night, maybe even the same color -- and leaves, presumably for the staff kitchen.

Zhao Yunlan barely hesitates before doing the same. He knows this snooping is far past the point of being inappropriate, but it was hardly appropriate when he started. No reason to stop now.

He comes back with his food re-heated in time to see Shen Wei finish pouring tea, his own lunch set out in front of him.

“Ah, Shen Wei! Eating at your desk.” Zhao Yunlan tuts judgmentally at the screen while he grabs his chopsticks. “It’s a bad habit.”

“Says who?”

Zhao Yunlan startles when Da Qing jumps up to sit on the corner of his desk and drum his heels into the side of it. He hadn’t heard the cat come in at all, and he wastes a moment turning to look at his door -- yes, still closed--

-- which is more than enough time for Da Qing to shove his face directly over Zhao Yunlan’s lunch and inhale theatrically. “When it smells this good, who cares where you eat it?”

But he doesn’t actually steal any of it, just sits back and watches Zhao Yunlan with a tentative smile. He’s wearing one of Zhao Yunlan’s old t-shirts, from a band he’d liked back in college.

Zhao Yunlan feels suddenly off-balance. He’d spent the last day worrying himself to pieces about Da Qing’s feelings, and then this. Of all the possible ways it could’ve gone, he never imagined that Da Qing would want to pretend nothing had happened.

Zhao Yunlan places a hand on the cat’s knee, warm through the denim of his jeans, because however else he’s feeling -- he is glad to be forgiven, and sorry for ignoring Da Qing yesterday. The cat’s smile grows confident, and he leans down to rest his forehead on top of Zhao Yunlan’s head.

“There’s a whole other lunch box for you,” Zhao Yunlan offers, gesturing to where it sits on a nearby table. He knows Da Qing will hear the subtext: both Shen Wei gave us food, and I saved it for you, two things that mean a lot in cat.

“Good.” Da Qing swipes a chunk of chicken from Zhao Yunlan’s bowl anyway, and licks the sauce off his fingers ostentatiously afterward. “You see what I mean about his cooking, don’t you.”

“Mm.”

Da Qing grabs the other box and hops back onto Zhao Yunlan’s desk with it. He ends up sitting cross-legged on the desk, hunched over the box in his lap while he eats. He doesn’t even bother to heat it first, the barbarian.

It doesn’t stop him from enjoying it.

Zhao Yunlan watches him eat for a minute, trying to figure out how to start the conversation. He twirls his chopsticks idly, thinking. Not that he wants to have this talk, either. They could skip it, and play it by ear. That always worked in the past, right?

He glances over at his monitor, where Shen Wei is finishing up his own lunch much faster than he and Da Qing. It makes something in Zhao Yunlan’s chest tighten. He’s been playing it by ear with Shen Wei, and it hasn’t been working.

Damn it.

Zhao Yunlan clears his throat. “About Professor Shen.”

Da Qing actually stops eating to frown at him. “What?”

“I...” Zhao Yunlan’s mind goes blank. He should’ve made a plan before he started that sentence.

After a minute of silence, Da Qing snorts, and shoves more rice in his mouth. “Look. I’m over it. Fuck up your life however you want.”

“I don’t want. To fuck things up.” With us, he means, and hopes somehow that Da Qing can read it off his face, because he can’t for the life of him figure out how to say it.

“Then you might want to stop sending lao-Chu after him. You won’t be able to watch through his window if the Envoy takes him away.” Da Qing nods at the screen, where Shen Wei’s office now sits empty, though his briefcase is still on the desk. Zhao Yunlan hadn’t even seen him go.

Zhao Yunlan always assumed that Chu Shuzhi was supposed to be spying on him -- well, him and the SID. But he’d thought about it as a political ploy, a way for Dixing to keep an eye on the Haixing enforcement arm. Not as a way of tracking potential Dixingren on the surface. But why wouldn’t that information be passed along? The Envoy could snap up refugees before they make trouble, and keep the SID in the dark.

It makes his stomach churn. At some point, when he’s done recruiting the Envoy, he’s going to have to talk with Chu Shuzhi, too, damn it.

But all of that’s about Shen Wei, and what might happen to him. It’s not like Da Qing to get worked up over a stranger. “Is that what pissed you off?”

The cat sticks a foot out to kick at Zhao Yunlan’s chair, visibly impatient. “Who says it pissed me off?”

Zhao Yunlan gives up on subtlety and hisses at him in irritation. “You left.”

“Oh.” Da Qing blinks at him, expressions flitting across his face too quickly to read. “Oh. No. That’s not... Okay, it was, but--”

He makes a thoroughly disgusted noise and sets his food down.

“It doesn’t matter to you. Usually.” Da Qing waves both hands widely, in a gesture that seems to encompass the office and everything in it. “This. What you are. But that’s how you were acting, with him.”

Like a human.

Zhao Yunlan remembers Da Qing asking him what wrong Shen Wei had actually done, to deserve to be targeted by the SID.

“Yeah. That’s fair.” Da Qing had called him an idiot, too. Which was also fair. “You’re right. It shouldn’t matter.”

Da Qing narrows his eyes. “Does it?”

Zhao Yunlan hesitates. It does matter. If he wants to be friends with Shen Wei, he can’t keep interpreting his behavior like he’s Haixingren. That’s what got him into this mess in the first place.

But it doesn’t make Shen Wei more suspicious than anyone else. “Of course not.”

“Good.” Da Qing takes two of the tiny tea-spiced quail eggs from his lunch box -- two! -- and drops them in Zhao Yunlan’s bowl, smiling proudly.

“Ha!” Zhao Yunlan stirs them into his rice, hoping they’ll warm up a bit. He won’t let a little thing like temperature keep him from eating them, but it’d be a shame not to enjoy them.

He glances over at the computer screen again while he chews. Shen Wei is back, stowing his lunch box and straightening the tea set.

Da Qing catches him looking and grins wider.

Zhao Yunlan waves a hand at the screen. “But this doesn’t bother you?”

“Nah.” Da Qing tilts his head thoughtfully. “It’d be better if you were there, so he’d know you wanted to be there. But this is fine.”

And he goes back to shoveling food in his mouth like he hadn’t just approved of Zhao Yunlan stalking someone. He remembers Da Qing’s comment that the professor moved across the hall because Zhao Yunlan hadn’t called him often enough. Da Qing’s boundaries have always been... unconventional.

“I don’t understand why he’d want me there. He doesn’t have a good reason to trust me.”

Da Qing shrugs. “He doesn’t have a reason to make you food, either.”

Which is a good point. Shen Wei doesn’t actually have a reason for spending so much time and effort attracting Zhao Yunlan’s attention -- at least, not one that Zhao Yunlan understands. But he keeps doing it.

“He said, last night, that he wants to be friends.”

“Oh, is that what he said,” Da Qing teases, in a sing-song voice. “He wants to be ‘friends’.”

“Shut up.” Zhao Yunlan feels his face heat. They haven’t talked about the heixiu at all, and what he saw there. He’s definitely not going to bring it up now.

“Make me.”

Zhao Yunlan aims a slap at the cat’s shin, but Da Qing twitches away with a smirk at the last second.

“Too slow!”

Zhao Yunlan catches sight of the screen again. Shen Wei is packing up his notes, suit jacket back in place.

Da Qing leans sideways to rest his cheek heavily on the top of Zhao Yunlan’s head, arms braced on his shoulder. “If you want him to trust you, then show him he can.”

“Eh?”

“You haven’t been up to the Garden District for months.”

Closer to a year, really; he thinks Da Qing dragged him there last fall for a photography exhibit by one of the Yashou artists he follows.

There’s a small Yashou community in the area, people who take in newcomers and show them how to live in a human city. They take in Dixingren, too, from time to time, with the same care and practicality they’d give to their own.

He’s lucky that Da Qing took him there when he was still in school; he’s been ‘xiao-Zhao’ to Da Qing’s friends for years now, and no one has -- yet -- connected him to that evil SID Chief.

It’s perfect.

He scrambles for the phone, calling Shen Wei’s office number before he can talk himself out of it. He barely manages to catch the professor on his way out; he can see the way Shen Wei pauses, one hand on the door, before he walks back to the desk to answer.

“Hello?”

“Professor Shen!”

He also gets to see the way Shen Wei smiles when he recognizes Zhao Yunlan’s voice.

“Ah! I was hoping -- are you free tomorrow?” he asks, stumbling through the sentence as he realizes, yes, tomorrow is Saturday, so he’s free as well. Not that he wouldn’t clear his schedule in a heartbeat.

He really should think about what he’s going to say, before he dives in.

Shen Wei turns a page in a paper calendar on his desk. “After four, yes.”

Da Qing makes a pleased noise, eavesdropping on the call from where he’s still propped on Zhao Yunlan’s head.

“Great!” Zhao Yunlan shoves the cat off. Da Qing miraculously manages not to fall over, and slumps back on the desk with a glare.

“You were admiring the lamp on our table yesterday. I thought you might like to see the gallery it came from.”

Shen Wei’s smile widens enough that Zhao Yunlan can hear it in his voice. “I would enjoy that.”

They make arrangements, and then Shen Wei excuses himself so he won’t be late for class.

Zhao Yunlan hangs up slowly, grinning to himself.

“Aww, lao-Zhao has a date!” Da Qing croons.

“No, we have a date.” Zhao Yunlan points a finger at his skeptical look. “I have to bring you! How else will I get free ice cream?”

Even as Da Qing’s friend, he’s an outsider, and everyone knows it. Having Da Qing there will smooth things over.

And get them free ice cream.

“Hm.” Da Qing pretends to think about it. “Only if you buy me fried chicken from the stall on Anfu Road.”

“Done!”

Zhao Yunlan settles back in his chair, a warm, fluttery feeling swelling underneath his ribs. He has a date.

A complicated, sideways conversation of a date, but he thinks that might be true of every other interaction he's had with Shen Wei. At least this time, he has something to say.