Zhao Yunlan the detective and Shen Wei the immortal are back in this short and simple story.
My immortal Shen Wei is heavily influenced by Twilight, which was another of my past obsessions.
Guardian is still my current obsession. >^.^<
"Well, thanks again for the massage and the liniment. You've repaid your debt, but I'd still like to get together for dinner or drinks some time. Let's be friendly neighbors, okay?" Zhao Yunlan held out his hand.
Shen Wei grasped Zhao Yunlan's hand. Friends. He could definitely work with that.
From that night, Shen Wei began to visit Zhao Yunlan's apartment, watching him sleep.
After Zhao Yunlan left and went back to his new apartment, Shen Wei waited, listened for the sounds from the room across the hall to cease. He then quietly pried open a window in what would be the bedroom. It was as Zhao Yunlan had said; there was no furniture yet, and his clothes lay on a heap on the floor. Shen Wei went to pick them up, then put them back down and he reminded himself that he must leave things untouched.
The beautiful man lay asleep on the sleeping bag he had just bought that evening. It must not have been very comfortable, judging by his tossing and turning. However, detectives learned to sleep anywhere, whenever they had a few minutes, so Zhao Yunlan remained asleep.
It fascinated Shen Wei, who, for several hours, watched Zhao Yunlan breathing in and out, in and out through his slightly parted lips. Now and then his eyes would move under the lids, and he would mumble something, sometimes jerking himself awake, then immediately falling asleep again, breathing in and out, in and out. What were you seeing in your dreams just now, my Yunlan? If I were able to dream, I would definitely dream of you, he thought.
Shen Wei stayed until the sun started to rise, then went out the way he came in, through the window. When he landed on the ground below, he looked longingly up, picturing Zhao Yunlan eventually waking up, most likely stretching and yawning, with his hair messed up. What he would give to see that someday...
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Zhao Yunlan woke an hour later, stretching and groaning at his sore joints. Sleeping on a hard floor with the sleeping bag was not as easy as he had thought. Sleeping in a car or van during a stakeout was better. But it was not just the floor that made his night restless; he had a dream but could not recall it, and it stuck there, in an unreachable part of the back of his mind. Normally it would not bother him - everyone has dreams that they cannot remember. But something about this one called to him, demanded to be recognized...it was about a - darn, it slipped away again. Maybe it would come back to him later in the day...
It was a bright, sunny day, and it was quiet in DragonCity, so Zhao Yunlan left work when the movers called. They brought his furniture and other belongings up to the room and left. Zhao Yunlan had not had time to plan, so he stood in the middle of everything, wondering where to put things. At this rate, he would probably have to sleep on the hard floor again.
Shen Wei smiled as he heard the movers bringing up the furniture. Zhao Yunlan would be able to sleep in his bed tonight. He wondered how the room would look and where the bed would be. If it was right under the window, he would have to be extra careful, or possibly find another way in. Maybe he could take a peek, under the guise of being "neighborly."
He opened his door and saw that the door to the room across the hall was half-opened. The movers must have just finished setting the room and left. Good timing. He gently knocked on the door, calling out Zhao Yunlan's name as he did, and as he stuck his head through the open door, the delicious scent of Zhao Yunlan hit him like a sledgehammer again. He took a moment to collect his thoughts, calm the inner beast, remind himself that he was not a monster anymore.
"Oh, Professor Shen, help me, please!" Zhao Yunlan's anguished voice answered him.
Help? What happened? Shen Wei nearly tore the door off its hinges in his haste. The room was a mess - had he been robbed already? What was this neighborhood coming to?
"Detective Zhao! What happened? I heard noises outside but I thought it was the movers bringing in your things. Had I known I would have stopped them -"
"I guess it looks pretty bad, doesn't it?" Zhao Yunlan rubbed the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed. "I didn't really take the time to plan things out yesterday, and when the movers came with all this stuff and just left everything, I guess I got a bit overwhelmed. Last time I use a discount mover."
What a relief! His Yunlan was safe! If he was harmed, he would hunt down the person and tear him apart. Shen Wei then smiled at the irony of his thoughts; Zhao Yunlan was in more danger with a blood drinking vampire living across the hall. He looked around at the furniture and mentally laid them out in the room.
"If you do not mind, would you like me to help you?" Please say yes, please say yes, Shen Wei silently prayed.
"I was hoping you would say that," Zhao Yunlan looked relieved.
Together they arranged the furniture according to Shen Wei's mental floor plan, and fortunately he was able to make it so that Zhao Yunlan's bed would not be directly under the window. Bad feng shui, he reasoned.
He also helped with the unpacking to speed things along, so that Zhao Yunlan could go to sleep earlier, and he could visit and spend more time watching him.
"Professor Shen, you really saved ME tonight. You have more than repaid your debt, and in fact, I owe you. It's late tonight, so I will treat you to something another time," Zhao Yunlan wiped the sweat from his face, briefly noticing that Shen Wei's face was still dry and showed no signs of fatigue.
"Let us call the debt repaid on both sides," Shen Wei smiled. Now that he knew how the apartment was set up, he could easily get in and out and not wake Zhao Yunlan.
A couple hours later, Shen Wei was back in Zhao Yunlan's bedroom, watching him sleep in his bed. Zhao Yunlan was apparently a restless sleeper by nature, judging by the tossing and turning, despite not being on the hard floor. He smiled as he untangled the blankets from his legs and then covered him with it. Now and then Zhao Yunlan would mumble something in his sleep, and a little crease would form between his eyebrows. Shen Wei gently stroked the crease until it disappeared, and Zhao Yunlan sighed and fell into a deeper sleep. It was like watching a little innocent boy.
The nightly visits continued for a while, with Shen Wei arriving an hour or so after Zhao Yunlan's breathing evened out in slumber, and then leaving as the dawn broke. One night, Zhao Yunlan was having a particularly restless night, and as usual, Shen Wei knelt by the bed, soothing him. Suddenly, Zhao Yunlan's eyes popped open and stared at Shen Wei.
"You! You are the one who keeps appearing in my dreams!"
Zhao Yunlan held on to Shen Wei's shirt and tried to sit up, but Shen Wei held him down and stared deeply into Zhao Yunlan's eyes, until they closed and he was still. Shen Wei backed away, horrified that he had been caught and had to use hypnosis on him. Zhao Yunlan would not remember what had happened tonight.
