Picture it: Two deeply intertwined people with romantic histories they’d prefer not to look back on, falling for one another. How brave would they have to be to risk the most important person in their life by making them part of a tradition that has never worked out? What would that look like?
If those two people are Wei Qing and Yue Fei, what it looks like is business as usual, if you ignore the amount of pretend-it’s-casual handholding and the way Wei Qing leans against Yue Fei, instead of the wall, at the end of a long day in his four-day workweek.
(He added Tuesdays out of respect for his team, but Mondays are still non-negotiable. Ah, to be rich~).
They don’t talk about it, they don’t swap spit or share a bed or do anything that would be out-of-place in a children’s movie. But little bits of dependence and softness make their way into their daily rituals, if you know where to look:
At the blanket that wraps over them as they watch General Su fight for the honor of the deposed princess, their legs close enough to touch and hands entwined where a few months ago, they would have been a cushion away from one another. At the dirty dishes, and the way Yue Fei’s hips brush across Wei Qing’s as he gets better and better at washing pots and pans, the way neither apologizes for the contact, or jumps away from it. The way both sets of fingers linger, fixing imaginary imperfections in each other’s clothes and brushing hair back into place across one another’s foreheads.
It’s sweet enough to construct entire cities of spun sugar, and both men are so enchanted that they daren’t say anything, lest the delicate minarets crumble and the walls melt. They just enjoy it for what it is and wonder at what more might develop if they’re just good enough.
If this dream can really hold, if they can both be worthy of it.
—
While Yue Fei and Wei Qing are saccharinely orbiting one another and feeding the R&D team a very abstinent flavor of dog food, Wei Qiwan is experiencing eye-twitching amounts of stress at the reports coming from the monitored elevator bank and the doorman of his little brother’s penthouse.
Hand-holding, hand-holding, all this: Yue Fei, didn’t you say you knew?!
Had the man already decided he was sure for forever? It has only been 27 days since he warned him, and they’d spent ALL 27 acting like middle schoolers engaging in their first-ever courtship! Where was the careful consideration?! Where was the forbearance that father always praised that Yue Fei person on?
Did he really think this covered it?
Even if they are only holding hands, his brother is a distressingly romantic person. All the problems between them come down to this! Wei Qing definitely already has feelings, big ones, if that unguarded and happy little look in his eyes is any indication. Wei Qiwan would be happy for him, if he wasn’t so stressed. But he is stressed. Stressed and downing calcium like he can drown those ulcers faster than they can develop (fat chance).
No one knows the pain of being a bro-con who has to pretend not to be one.
No one knows how invested he is in his brother’s happiness, or the troubles he foresees, if this collapses just like everything always does, under the gravitational pull of Wei Qing’s personality. And unlike Wei Qing, he doesn’t even have an assistant to share his troubles with. He doesn’t trust anybody enough for such things, except his parents. And they- heh. His father would clap his shoulder and tell him to drink hot water, his mother would cry endlessly over her two little babies fighting with one another. For all intents and purposes, he’s Wei Qing’s parent! A single father!
So he just has to stew in his own worries, alone except his extra-strength TUMS.
He decides to check into Yue Fei’s background again, going past those reports from the deprogramming institute where his father had picked him up, sending his own team to try to figure out what his personality had been like, living in that cult. After all, if Yue Fei really wants to love his brother, Wei Qiwan needs to know what his love looks like.
Once bitten, twice shy; he won’t make another mistake like he did with Gao Zhong.
It better not be any of that communal bullshit he’s heard about. Wei Qing playing around can still be accepted, but if Yue Fei thinks he can have multiple lovers while attached to his brother– heh. Wei Qiwan is willing to play the tyrannical elder brother. The tyrannical elder brother who controls an entire security company.
He can’t disappear him or anything so dramatic, but sending him far away is within his abilities.
Maybe a nice prison sentence to clear his head. After all, in the labyrinthian laws of this country, who hasn’t overstepped on something? Not that he’ll do that, unless he really, really has to. Wei Qing would be upset, and Wei Qiwan’s already at his limit when it comes to bearing (probably deserved) hatred from the one person he most wants to protect.
No one understands. Truly. Sometimes, he even confuses himself with these dumbass and contradictory impulses. If he could go back, he’d– fuck, he’d choose so differently, at every last step. Be more ruthless to others, be more honest with Wei Qing, be better at thinking before speaking, even when it’s about unspeakable things.
That’s why it’s so vital, that he be more careful, more sure, more correct going forward. He can’t afford another misstep.
Being a brother is definitely more difficult than running a company, he’ll use that as his quote next time he’s asked to give advice to random entrepreneurial seedlings!
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
—
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Add to that the length of time that Yue Fei has been living independently and the tendency of cult members to stay forever, (or, for the boys, be kicked out as teens), it proves rather difficult to find any place to pry up the wall and sneak in to uncover secrets long-buried.
The water-thin reports make President Wei feel that his company needs to get better at intelligence-gathering. How embarrassing will it be, if he has to go beg Lady Long to investigate his own matters using her family’s resources? They’ll be no recovering, especially if that bastard older brother of hers finds out! That ass would no doubt publish it in Dragon’s Gate’s annual shareholder report, to highlight how high they stand above provincial security services.
Ugh. No, absolutely not!
…Unless he really has no other choice.
~(Two weeks later)~
…
Fine, the heavens hate him. This is his karma. On week three of getting descriptions of Clouded Leopards instead of useful information about whether or not the person pursuing his brother is a sexual deviant, Wei Qiwan sends out feelers to his school senior Long Shouning after all. Isn’t it just being teased and losing face? Bah, what’s that, compared to all he’s already sacrificed in his waylaid attempts to protect A’Qing?
“Ah, little junior brother Wei! Jiejie is so happy to hear from you, what’s this email you sent, eh? You know I love jokes, but it’s not yet my birthday~”
Wei Qiwan folds like a suit cheaper than any that has ever adorned his body. Reputation comes and goes, but heartbreak is forever, and he’s paid enough hush money over his little brother’s appetites to know Wei Qing won’t stay ambiguous for much longer. Any day now, he’s expecting to see him pressed against some wall or other. Probably in high definition. Maybe at some sort of shareholders meeting.
Wei Qiwan needs certainty first. Before the two of them take any steps that can’t be undone.
Yue Fei has always seemed steady and devoted, but Wei Qiwan needs to know for sure, needs proof that he isn’t a gentleman in public and a monster in private. After all, Wei Qing is vulnerable to just that type of dog. Wei Qiwan still remembers his idiocy, walking into that restaurant and hearing his little brother’s voice, all high-pitched and wrong, in the private box reserved for Wei Qiwan’s-
He has to know.
Wei Qiwan’s sleep cycle and ulcers demand it. He is being prematurely aged, even finding a strand of grey hair. At this rate, he’ll look like Wei Qing’s old uncle instead of his elder brother, and how aggravating will that be? He hasn’t even met a nice girl and started a family yet, he can’t possibly be promoted to uncleship so early!
—
While Wei Qiwan confronts his own mortality and is given the run-around by his former school goddess and current terrifying Medusa, Wei Qing happily laps up as much warmth and comfort as he can, his only concern when (if ever) it’s appropriate to declare himself again.
When it’s okay to push a little more.
After all, he is in a rather awkward position, as Yue Fei’s boss. Sure, Yue Fei’s salary is still (technically) paid by his father, but even through all the ambiguity, their roles are still that of superior and subordinate. Yue Fei still calls him ‘Master’ when speaking of him to other people, still organizes his entire life in that charmingly diligent way that speaks of top-tier, professional service.
Wei Qing doesn’t want to cross any lines he shouldn’t. He isn’t looking for a repeat of his inappropriate entanglement with Xiao Lirong. Even though Yue Fei’s ability to scold him has been upgraded over the last six months, and he has never seemed like that kind of person, Wei Qing doesn’t want even the shadow of impropriety to hang over them. Especially since he is already at the limit, having been the first one to kiss him (twice!) and declare himself (once, so far).
So for now, he has to play on Yue Fei’s timetable, and accept going however slow or fast he wishes.
Luckily for everyone involved, this soft and safe intimacy scratches a long-buried itch in his heart. Other than his sex drive, he feels no need to press things further. Though yes, it does make finding release trickier. He still feels wrong, thinking of Yue Fei in such compromising positions.
But now that they are holding hands and Yue Fei is lending him his strength and care on a regular basis, he also feels he can’t fall back on his spicy chats with Ta Yeh Yeh. When in doubt, apply the golden rule, right? And since he’d be upset if he found out Yue Fei was having such intimate conversations with someone, he can’t either. Anything else would be the height of double standards. Before their museum date, the app got deleted, TYY got a last, massive tip, and Wei Qing courageously faced stone-cold celibacy.
If only his sex drive would be as high-minded as his morals.
While trying to be the very best boy he can be, Wei Qing is having spring dreams at a level he hasn’t experienced since high school, his subconscious taking care of the impulses and yearning that his waking mind leaves him no outlet for. It’s embarrassing enough that, in addition to his continuing self-appointed kitchen duty, Wei Qing also finally starts doing his own laundry.
After all, there’s simply no way to tactfully explain twice-weekly duvet and sheet scrubbing.
Though if the amused warmth hidden deep in Yue Fei’s eyes is any indication, he has some idea of what triggered this change, and the attempt as discretion is completely unsuccessful. But then Wei Qing, newly aware of the existence of the hidden laundry room, notices an uptick in Yue Fei’s washing as well and decides that it’s not worth stressing over. They’re both blushing a lot in the mornings, both going through a statistically significant amount of laundry detergent, both avoiding the parallelism and what’s behind it.
It’s fine. They can suffer together. The suffering even tastes a little sweet.
—
Wei Qing swears at the screen and morosely reloads his last save before weakly waving the controller at his human pillow, Yue Fei. Although the couch has finally been broken in by all their lounging over the last several months, it’s still most comfortable with a human bolster.
“Please, the game is definitely glitched against me~” Wei Qing whines just a bit, like a child looking for satisfaction against a bully. It would take someone truly heartless to resist. Yue Fei doesn’t meet the description.
He shifts his weight, pillowing Wei Qing more comfortably against his chest while taking the controller and smoothly killing the robotic crocodile that has turned Wei Qing’s little character into mincemeat three times now. He even has time to jump a little further into the river and kill another one to harvest a purple component for whatever Wei Qing is trying to build. He makes it look entirely too easy.
Wei Qing fakes a pout, Yue Fei explains diligently.
“You always rush forward so bravely, but you should read the resistance information as well. A few frost bombs and you can harvest as many materials as you like, no cheating required.” Yue Fei hands back the controller and gently knocks his hand against his boss’s forehead.
“Ah, and Yue Fei, what would it say in your manual?” Wei Qing takes it back, battling his eyelashes flirtatiously. They’re on Yue Fei’s timetable, but there’s nothing wrong with a little flirting, okay? It pays dividends.
Yue Fei shifts.
“Probably…that I am weak to this.” Yue Fei looks down, eyes flickering darkly between Wei Qing’s open brows and soft mouth. “Well-behaved, warm, you.” Yue Fei seems to come to some decision; a heartbeat later, he leans down and gently licks once against Wei Qing’s lips, tongue darting in to brush against his teeth and withdrawing before Wei Qing’s senses have time to catch up.
Hah? Come again?
…did he just?
Really?
Wei Qing’s found his weakness as well, and won’t you know, it perfectly matches Yue Fei’s!
Never one to miss an opportunity, Wei Qing surges up and presses their mouths back together, an odd mixture of tension and bonelessness as Yue Fei’s arms go down automatically to support him, while they engage in an angularly-challenged kiss. For someone who has had so much practice, Wei Qing is charmingly uncoordinated, and it’s more a biting of lips and bumping of teeth than anything else, but it’s still the best kiss he can ever remember having.
Because Yue Fei started it.
Yue Fei leaned down first, Yue Fei licked first, Yue Fei supported his suddenly-soft spine so he could kiss him again, after that initial taste. Stone. Cold. Sober. Yue Fei wants to be like this, with him, even knowing all the worst parts of him. So even with the strange way their necks bend and their mouths don’t quite line up, it’s still the nicest kiss Wei Qing’s ever experienced.
There’s a sorrowful scream from the neglected game. Yue Fei lifts his head up and inhales deeply before rubbing Wei Qing’s head and nodding to the death animation. “Ah, looks like you’ll have the chance to try again– your quarry respawned.” Wei Qing nuzzles against his thigh before taking back the controller and diligently bombing aquatic robots for some silly fetch quest. His heartbeat needs a chance to calm itself. He needs to process. Enshrine this forever.
Indeed, it is really useful to learn about resistances.
There are no other kisses stolen throughout the night, no declarations, but Wei Qing still falls asleep with a sense of possibility and potential that he hasn’t felt since he was a fresh graduate with more ideas than sense. Yue Fei- Yue Fei is seriously considering him.
They, a them, might really exist. The best person he’d ever met might be willing to belong to him, with him.
What had he possibly done to be worthy? And how badly had he screwed up his first life, to have missed something as wonderful as this? Yang Wushe can’t hold a candle to Yue Fei, no one can, yet he’d been blind to all that was good for him. Maybe the gods were so disgusted that they threw him back?
In which case, he should really worship properly from here on out. Maybe donate a new temple or something? Sponsor a bunch of monks to go to monk school, or whatever they do? Save a hundred cows, retrace the steps of an ancient pilgrimage, buy a thousand shaving kits and send them along so they can all have shiny heads?
Yue Fei takes his temperature when he brings it up, but promises to research ‘methods of expressing piety’ all the same.
—
Wei Qing focuses on the project, the gods that he is suddenly curious about, and the in-game manuals that he always treated as flavor text. Yue Fei focuses on Wei Qing. Focuses on cataloging the way his lips had tasted, and how right it had felt, to lean down and find him waiting, eager for a kiss. Even with the awkwardness of the angle, the fit had felt dangerously perfect.
Yue Fei’s hesitation is reduced to token resistance.
He’s still worried that Wei Qing may eventually tire of the boring life he offers, and the monotony a single bed-partner might bring, but he increasingly doesn’t care.
Well, that’s not right? He cares a lot.
He cares more than he wants to. But he thinks, as much as it will hurt, that he still wants to experience all he can of Wei Qing. If he’s tossed away at the end, at least he’ll have his memories to keep him warm. It would be the most painful torture, but he deludes himself into believing that he could fall back into line, even if it ended, if that’s what it took to stay in Wei Qing’s life and keep watch over him.
And even if he is chased away– can’t he go to Wei Qiwan’s side, and keep his love safe from that not-too-close, not-too-far distance?
With only the thinnest of pretexts remaining between them, Yue Fei is almost completely won over to the idea of just going for it, even if it creates problems for a future potentially heartbroken him.
Sure enough-
Ten days after that first (third) kiss, Yue Fei decides to go for it.
It’s all thanks to a certain asshole appearing at a certain party and reminding Yue Fei of exactly the caliber of trash that he has to defend against. If he knew that Wei Qing re-committing to the company would lead to so many monsters crawling out of the muck, he might have encouraged him towards professional gaming instead.
Sure, the R&D department is cute and loyal enough, but they aren’t quite worth all this headache intruding on his and Wei Qing’s world. After all, if there was no business focus, there’d be no Project Lagan, and there’d be no fucking elbow-rubbing party, for Wei Qing and Wei Qiwan and the rest of them to attend. No fanfare big enough to attract the attention of one of the very worst people that Wei Qing ever had the misfortune to brush up against.
Yes, Yue Fei really should have encouraged him to be the world’s worst videogame streamer instead.
After all, in his last life, Wei Qing never had to see that manipulative, cold-blooded sack of shit again. In this life, he did. It was impossible not to have regrets over it. Regrets and homicidal urges.
And the worst thing was, Wei Qing didn’t even know he needed to guard against him!
Author’s Corner:
All the biggest knives are in the past, I promise! But the past plays a big part, yeah? 
Anyway, you’ve met Bachelor #2. Now it’s time for Bachelor #1~
Yue Fei: No.
Wei Qing: Huh? What’s wrong with Gao Zhong? Obviously, my heart belongs to Bachelor #3, but don’t we all like Gao Zhong?
Yue Fei & Wei Qiwan: No, we do not.
Haha I feel sorry for big bro and his ulcer but boy, he really need to learn how to communicate. Properly.
thanks for the update~💕
Their love is definitely reminiscent of middle school crushes. I remember those days says the old reader now in her 30s lol
Oooooh my god!! Finally going to know what this bastard did to our baby?! I’m sharpening the knives 🔪🔪
I feel so soft ~
Thank you very much Author for that sweet sweet chapter (/cough before the knives /cough)
why is literally every chapter so gooooood dammit
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Yay! Hahaha. Aaaaah, can’t wait!
Thank you for the chapter!
Don’t use that as a quote ay, Wei Qing will think that you’re picking a fight with him! Hahahaha!
ah, I’ve caught up. looking forward to seeing this Gao Zhong and what shittiness he brings.
thanks for the chapter <3
MY GODS the sweetness of this chapter!!! Yue Fei is ready to go all in at last!!! 🎉🎉🎉 I’m so curious to see Gao Zhong!
We do not as well and we have not even met him. Thanks for the chapters.
I feel like the relationship between the 2 as they get even closer will be extremely healing for both of them and I fully support it. To be with someone who helps them rationalize their own insecurities and love them in a way they never thought they would get is just so nice to see