title: morning light will warm my tired bones
fandom: Guardian
length: ~500 words
relationship: Shen Wei & Da Qing
content notes: comfort fic, set more-or-less during Episode 33

summary: Zhao Yunlan wasn't the only one worried about Shen Wei while he was gone.



Shen Wei wakes slowly, awareness of the world seeping back to him in waves. The smell of Zhao Yunlan's bedding comes first, a familiar mix of laundry detergent and shampoo that lets him relax further into the softness of the mattress. Sunlight glows golden through his closed eyelids, falling through the blinds Zhao Yunlan has started to leave open for him.

He's home.

The exhaustion has finally washed out of his bones a bit, though he feels like he could sleep for a week and still not be fully rested. But his dark energy is recovering, and the chill he couldn't escape before is gone, replaced with a thick, buzzing warmth all the way down to his fingers. He doesn't want to face the day, but there is too much to do to stay here, no matter how much he wants to.

Shen Wei can hear the shower running, pipes creaking the way they do when Zhao Yunlan cranks the hot water all the way up. It's morning, then. He can get up and make tea before Zhao Yunlan finds out and scolds him for getting out of bed so soon.

Shen Wei braces himself for the ache of moving his limbs, rolling into a better position to sit up -- and freezes. The pressure against him isn't just the lumpy weight of the blankets. Several of those lumps are breathing.

Shen Wei's eyes blink open.

Da Qing is curled up beside Shen Wei's head in cat form, small body somehow stealing most of the pillow. The rest of the cats on the bed are unfamiliar: a pair of bobtail calicos, two gray tabbies, and three lanky, half-grown black-and-white kittens lounging in the blocks of sun cast onto the duvet.

While Shen Wei watches, a fourth kitten -- orange, but clearly the same age as the other three -- scrambles over the window sill, meeps happily at finding its siblings, and launches itself onto the corner of the bed.

When Shen Wei turns his head, Da Qing has one eye open, watching him languidly.

"Don't even think of getting up," he interrupts himself with a broad yawn. "Your lordship."

"Hm." There really isn't a way out of the bed that doesn't involve tumbling all the sleeping cats to the floor. Shen Wei finds himself suddenly uninclined to make the effort. "This is a more pleasant trap than the last one I stumbled into," he says softly.

"It's not a trap," Da Qing insists, tail twitching. "They were worried about you."

Shen Wei blinks. "The cats?"

"Yeah. I've been telling them about you for weeks now. The Adventures of Hei Pao Shi. You're very popular." Da Qing's tail twitches again. "When you didn't come back at first, they... expressed their concern. It would've been rude not to tell them you'd returned."

"And they decided to sleep over?"

"Cats do what they want." Da Qing suddenly glares at him. "Besides. You had nightmares."

"Ah." Shen Wei feels a warm fondness sweep through him. "Please let them know I'm grateful for their attention, and I apologize for any distress I may have caused."

"Sure." Da Qing closes his eyes and sighs, settling back into the pillow. "Fish is the best apology."

Shen Wei huffs out a laugh, careful not to jostle anyone. If he's going to stay in the bed a little longer, it's nice to have the company. "I'll keep that in mind."