Title: Unmasked
Fandom: Guardian
Rating: Teen
Length: ~1100
Author notes: Slightly canon divergent--Zhao Yunlan knew that Shen Wei was Dixingren, but only learnt that he was the Envoy when Cong Bo hacked the cameras.
Summary: This wasn't how Zhao Yunlan wanted to learn the truth about Shen Wei--and yet, it was the answer to all his unspoken worries.


Cong Bo meant to blackmail him, and by extension the SID, but it was all Zhao Yunlan could do not to laugh in pure, unadulterated relief when faced with the photos from Shen Wei's office. Photos that were clearly just stills from the camera feed Zhao Yunlan had installed there himself.

Photos in which Shen Wei summoned and held a very familiar blade.

All this time Zhao Yunlan had spent worrying about his safety—worrying how to hide him from the Envoy—for this. He was angry at Shen Wei for keeping the secret from him, of course he was, but he'd also always known that Shen Wei had secrets; had known it and had accepted it. The fact that the answer to his identity was that Shen Wei was the one Dixingren who couldn't be taken from him--Zhao Yunlan was nothing short of elated.

And guilty, maybe. He'd installed the camera in Shen Wei's office precisely for this purpose, but he'd never meant for anyone else to use it against Shen Wei.

"Nice shots," he told Cong Bo. "Mind forwarding them to me?"

His WeChat notif pinged. He shot Cong Bo a too-confident grin as the self-proclaimed whistleblower left.

***

It was late, so Zhao Yunlan didn't try catching Shen Wei at his office. He went straight home and knocked on Shen Wei's door opposite his own.

Shen Wei answered quickly—he always did—still dressed in his suit, complete with the jacket, as if he'd only just come home. Shen Wei obviously wasn't big on casual clothing, but he tended to take his jacket off when he turned in for the evening.

Maybe the suits felt casual to him, compared to his black robes.

Zhao Yunlan raised his hand to wave at him across the short distance. "Hey."

Shen Wei gestured at him to go in. Zhao Yunlan did, noting the swords at the wall once again—and now he knew they probably weren't just for show. The Envoy was a master swordfighter, but he could also summon his own blade to him wherever he was.

Zhao Yunlan sat at the sofa and waited as Shen Wei brewed delicate white tea.

He looked up at Shen Wei coming towards him with a tea tray in his hands.

"Gotta say, it's a bit weird to be served tea by the Black-Cloaked Envoy, Your Highness," Zhao Yunlan said.

To his credit, Shen Wei's step didn't falter. He set the tray down, poured tea for both of them, and raised his eyebrows at Zhao Yunlan in a silent question.

"I did think your casual disregard for the chance of the Envoy finding you was strange," Zhao Yunlan said, fishing for his phone in his pocket. He opened the pictures he'd received and showed them to Shen Wei.

Shen Wei took one look at them before passing the phone back to Zhao Yunlan. "Ah," he said, the corner of his mouth raised in a smile that didn't fit his harmless academic facade one bit. Zhao Yunlan wouldn't want to meet someone smiling like this in a dark alley—but Shen Wei would never harm him.

The Black-Cloaked Envoy would never harm him.

It was humbling, and still just a bit impossible even as it perfectly fit all the other puzzle pieces.

And Shen Wei didn't deny it.

The contrary: he studied Zhao Yunlan's face for a moment, and then nodded. Dark energy washed over him, leaving him in the robes of his office, the decorated mask on his face. Zhao Yunlan fought the inane urge to pluck it off immediately.

(Pluck it off and kiss him, now that he knew they were on equal footing, now that he knew Shen Wei wouldn't think his safety depended on him pleasing Zhao Yunlan—not that he'd ever given the slightest indication that that was his worry, and Zhao Yunlan understood why, but he couldn't have been sure earlier.)

"I have a confession to make," he said instead. He wasn't sure if admitting to planting a camera in Shen Wei's office would be easier to Professor Shen or to the Envoy, but in the end, they were both Shen Wei: the bio-engineering genius who alway took care of his students and the real-life, all-powerful figure from Dixing legends. Zhao Yunlan could've done with more time to regroup his own thoughts about that, but Cong Bo didn't give him time, so he spoke instead, explained the whistleblower and the hidden camera.

"I haven't suspected you for a long time," he said at the end, because that part was important. "I all but forgot I put it there. I'm sorry."

Shen Wei's face remained impassive under his mask. Zhao Yunlan had gotten better at reading his expressions behind his glasses, but didn't have half as much experience with trying to decipher the Envoy.

"I'm sorry too," Shen Wei said at last. "If I were more familiar with electronics—"

Yeah, no, Zhao Yunlan wasn't letting him shoulder the blame for that one.

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but I really feel like you should be angrier at me here, Brother Black," he said.

Shen Wei's lips twitched as he clearly fought not to smile. It was almost as if he didn't mind his secret being revealed, after all the lengths he'd gone to to keep it. But maybe he had been tired. Maybe he had wanted Zhao Yunlan to see all of him.

Maybe the fact that he was still sitting there in the Envoy's robes was important.

Maybe Zhao Yunlan should follow his gut and uncover the rest of Shen Wei for himself.

He leant in, lightning-fast, and took the Envoy's mask off.

Shen Wei stared at him, his eyes wide in shock.

"Better," Zhao Yunlan said. "You're too pretty to—"

But he couldn't finish the sentence, because Shen Wei—the Envoy—was kissing him.

It was everything Zhao Yunlan wanted and didn't expect. Shen Wei kissed like he wanted to devour him or crawl inside him; like the thought of letting him go even for a moment was completely unacceptable—he kissed him like he knew what Zhao Yunlan liked, almost better than Zhao Yunlan himself did.

Zhao Yunlan would forever deny that he whimpered when Shen Wei broke the kiss.

"We should—" Shen Wei had to take a deep breath before continuing. "The pictures—"

Cong Bo, right. Right. Zhao Yunlan willed his arousal down. They had a crisis to deal with. Kissing Shen Wei had to wait.

It was very obvious that Shen Wei also wanted to keep kissing him instead of dealing with the issue at hand, only forced by his sense of duty to stop—but Zhao Yunlan understood his duty just as well. He was already planning.

They'd deal with Cong Bo. And then they would maybe talk in more depth about Shen Wei and the Envoy and what it meant for them—and definitely would keep kissing.

Zhao Yunlan loved having a plan.