On a rainy Tuesday, Yue Fei steps out of the office to meet their food courier.
Normally, Receptionist Xiao or the runners from downstairs handle such things, but Yue Fei could honestly use the chance to stretch his legs. He just doesn’t have the same passion for mechanics as those people upstairs have– even Receptionist Xiao is drawing up cute little panel designs to swap out as a form of boutique customization.
Although his childhood left him with an above-average interest in the academics that had been largely forbidden to him, he can only take so much of electrical diagrams and resonance maps and autoCAD files for interchangeable plastic housings. It’s fine, but at the end of the day it’s… just plastic. Plastic and metal and clever little parts, but there’s no soul to grab his attention, even if he’s very proud of all the hard work hidden within.
He’s the odd man out in this.
Wei Qing seems to understand it, and the rest of the team is incandescent with the strength of their opinions on types of closures and ideal locations for passive charging ports, but Yue Fei– eh, Yue Fei can’t fathom why three ridges or two ridges on the snap is something that can span fifty minutes of debate. It makes his ears ring and his eyes cross, but he’s happy to see Wei Qing so engaged. After all, the man has a stellar education and a top-rate brain. It’s nice to see that those talents hadn’t atrophied in the time they’d been away.
So he happily leaves them to it and enters the elevator to the lobby, where someone with entirely too many packages of noodles and dumplings is presumably waiting, dripping all over the tile. Delivery boys really are the unsung heroes of our time.
Yue Fei frowns.
…Elevator engineers are not. Or rather–
Yue Fei sighs and rolls his eyes, as the elevator starts taking him up instead of down. What glitch? Bah, the only glitch in this system is a certain emotionally-stifled CEO. Sure enough, when the doors open on the top floor, Wei Qiwan is nonchalantly waiting outside. Yue Fei leans against the mirror-finished back of the cab and waves Wei Qiwan in. By all means, my lord.
Wei Qiwan commits to his role. He widens his eyes a little and shrugs his shoulders before stepping in. Yue Fei gives the performance a six, wondering why the person so obviously masterminding this interaction seems disinclined to directly look at him.
“Assistant Yue, if you need to meet, it’ll have to wait. I have something to discuss with the lobby set.”
Yue Fei gives a shallow smile, privately roasting his former employer. Oh mighty CEO, this would be a little more believable if you didn’t have your own private elevator. Why are you in this one at all?
Eh, whatever.
More time away from the Church of Robotics. He won’t expose Wei Qiwan when he’s trying so hard to raise his skill in acting. It’s good to have goals and try new things, he shouldn’t hamper him over something as small as a little detour on the way to the lobby. Yue Fei plays along with the lie:
“President Wei is too kind. The elevator must be broken– I was also heading to the lobby.”
“Picking up something for Wei Qing?” Wei Qiwan asks with an unstudied air that’s too studied to be believable for a second. Even though this is clearly a clumsy trap, Yue Fei relaxes. Blame his last life, he still can’t harden his soft spot for the last ally of his first existence.
“Mmm. With the rain, the whole team ordered in.”
“The company cafeteria isn’t bad, we invested a lot in it.”
“I’ll be sure to let them know, Wei Qing certainly used to love the little cakes the sisters at the cafe made.”
How many evenings had they spent here, after Wei Qing got out of class and wanted to run over to shadow his brother? Enough that the cafeteria sisters would hold back a few cakes and send them up every day, just in case, practicing their piping skills to make the little high school then college cutie smile.
Yue Fei wonders how long those cakes went uneaten before the sisters gave up and stopped sending them? The thought of it makes his heart hurt.
Luckily, Wei Qiwan is here to drag him out of his regrets for Wei Qing.
“Their savory work is quite good, I have their beggar’s chicken at least once a week and never have to send it back.” Ha, a CEO ordering something with the word beggar in the name; this is the obliviousness that Yue Fei remembered so well from the lighter days before the loss of Wei Qing had sapped all the lightness out of the pair of them.
Yes, deep thoughts have no place in this conversation. No, this is the banal chatting repeated in elevators everywhere; Yue Fei wonders what Wei Qiwan actually wants him for. After all, the building isn’t that tall, and Wei Qiwan has never been much for idle chatter. They don’t have endless time to casually speak.
Sure enough, Wei Qiwan hops on his use of his brother’s name to segue into his actual purpose.
“Still dating?”
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.
“Tfr.”
“Qtb rajgafv la, jr ojg jr fzqgfrrlcu lcafgfra?”
“…Lf vlv.” Llw jcv wlzfv vglcxr, yea ktb’r xffqlcu agjmx?
“Who asked who out?” Didn’t we already go over this?
“Lf vlv.”
“Xbbv.”
Xbbv? Qts lr atja ubbv? Tef Mfl yfmbwfr j ilaaif ifrr mjreji. Glv Qfl Hlkjc atlcx atja tf tjv yeiilfv Qfl Hlcu lcab atlr bg rbwfatlcu? Tef Mfl aegcr jcv ibbxr ja atf wjc, bqfcis regqglrfv. Deiilfv, tjt, fnfg rlcmf tlr offilcur tjv mtjcufv, tf mbeiv yjgfis yfjg ab gfraglma tlr ybsoglfcv’r rmgffc alwf, cfnfg wlcv yeiislcu tlw.
Yue Fei keeps waiting for a threat extending from this line of questioning, a ‘gotcha’ moment that confirms his suspicions. But it doesn’t come. From that ‘Good’ as they pass the seventh floor to the time the doors ding open in the lobby, Wei Qiwan asks nothing else.
He doesn’t even look back at him as he walks out. It’s a very strange series of events, but it’s also outside of Yue Fei’s purview. As long as Wei Qiwan doesn’t make trouble, Yue Fei won’t go looking for it. Probably, the man is just completing some strange brain circuit. And his protectiveness is a good thing, something Yue Fei wants to nurture, despite all the awkwardness and ineffectiveness in how he expresses it.
Wei Qing could always use another person in his corner. More love to surround him.
—
Yue Fei finds the sopping-wet delivery boy, tips him well, and takes the two jumbo-sized plastic carrying cases from the boy’s overburdened arms. Who knew seven people (eight, if you count him, though he’ll probably end up eating from Wei Qing’s plate) could eat so much, all from just sitting around in an office?
Yue Fei half-expects Wei Qiwan to follow him back up, but it seems the man finally remembers his private elevator. At least, if that flash of his foot as he enters is any indication. Yue Fei chuckles and punches in 17. Between these two brothers, why was all their ridiculousness just cute to him? Was this Stockholm Syndrome?
Eh, if it is, he’s had worse disorders, and worse people to feel enthralled with. If he’s captive, he’s captive– all the better to keep his baby safe, and keep his baby’s brother from completely giving in to his most misanthropic compulsions.
Yue Fei returns to the conference room, where three versions of the tactical Roomba are having something very close to a fashion show, down the middle of the raw-edged teak conference table. Yue Fei begins arranging the containers on the sideboard, with Receptionist Xiao pitching in and helping with cutlery, napkins, and serving ware. Research Assistant Wu looks very much like she wants to join them, but she’s busy taking meticulous notes on every bit of the robotic catwalk.
It’s hard to be an assistant; even if Yue Fei can’t feel her pain through his bubble of love, he sympathizes with it. He’d felt similar despair, cleaning up after all of Wei Qing’s shortsighted liaisons, once upon a not-so-distant time.
Who knows, maybe one day Ms. Li will make Ms. Wu feel as good as Wei Qing makes him, but he doubts it. After all, that would be illegal, at least in the office. He snorts.
Yue Fei hides his affection (doesn’t hide it at all) by making Wei Qing a plate based on his exacting preferences and gently sliding it in front of his boss. He’s rewarded when Wei Qing takes a break from staring encouragement into his chosen Roomba to smile sweetly at Yue Fei, stars in his eyes and a youthful delight in his expression.
Ah, really kissable.
Wei Qing can keep hyperfixating on little bits of tech, as long as he wants, if it fills him with this much happiness. Yue Fei can stay by his side and just make sure he doesn’t starve to death in between demonstrations.
A good life, a life worthy of living.
The rest of the world melts away with the pounding rain against the walls of glass. Yue Fei does not know which designs win and lose, does not remember which type of fake picture frame goes with which boutique delivery to which client’s pre-order. He just knows that Wei Qing is warm and brilliant beside him, and everyone else combined does not come close to matching his brilliance, that the rain cannot extinguish this sun.
This is the Wei Qing that he wants to hold up and show to the world, the kind of person that only a fool would judge, only the truly blind could dare disdain. Yue Fei’s quiet pride and pampering leak out with every look and bit of Wei Qing’s favorites added to his distracted plate. By the end of this working lunch, the entire team is stuffed with not just delicious takeaway, but with unexpected dogfood.
Finally, Ms. Xiao doesn’t have to keep the secret; everyone on the floor can see the special relationship between the man in charge and the man that stands beside him and clears all obstacles. She nods and cuts her eyes and everyone understands that this is exactly what they think, but they should all play dumb until it’s time to give their congratulations.
Their office becomes extremely productive.
—
And that productivity bleeds into their private life as well. Their steps are still cautious, but ever since that first little Netflix date, and the closeness that came after, the dynamic is certainly softer, the personal space more nebulous.
Of course, Wei Qing tries to be thoughtful about it. He knows that he can be sticky, and he knows that Yue Fei can’t really escape him, given their life and work (im)balance. He keeps a careful tally in his heart of who initiates and who leaves, trying to pick up on the signals that Yue Fei might be too permissive to give him.
And since Yue Fei is silently doing the same, they often end up at a strange stop-and-go impasse, where both kiss and retreat, kiss and retreat, until someone just goes for it and they end up tangled up against one another, no idea about why they were so hesitant to burrow into one another and enjoy the privileges of their closer relationship.
Like now, with Yue Fei half on the floor and half over Wei Qing, pulling his hips forward and pressing against his chest, kissing him so deeply that it’s like he wants to pull the very soul from his body. This had started with one of those thoughtful little standoffs. They’d kissed up the elevator, cuddled through meal prep, separated for showers, and then returned for a very well-mannered dinner, with only the occasional taste of the other’s meal from a stolen kiss. You couldn’t take them out in public, but it wasn’t an adult movie either.
And then-
Ha.
Then, Wei Qing had started licking along the side of his cup, legs splayed out and his foot hooked against Yue Fei’s thigh, just south of where they both wanted it. He’d laughed at some silly ad on the television, his foot had gripped, his eyes had widened, and Yue Fei had lost it.
Had needed to taste what he knew to be delicious.
So he’d followed his instincts, twisting his body toward Wei Qing and letting his hands guide the rest of his movements, giving Wei Qing plenty of time to scoot away or close his legs or anything at all to stop it. But of course, he hadn’t. No. Wei Qing had smiled at him, one dimple rising higher than the other and giving him an edge of misbehavior that Yue Fei wanted to kiss into oblivion. Had even used that same foot that had teased his thigh to pull against his spine, encouraging him to come closer, faster, claim him.
And thus, they’d ended up in this position. Yue Fei too eager and too worried about crushing him, awkwardly perched half-on and half-off the sofa, Wei Qing nippingly teasing him, encouraging more tastes of contact, more everything between the two of them.
Yue Fei still can’t make heads or tails of the pacing that’s supposed to be so natural. Lu-laoshi misled him. In the moment, all he wants is to become one with one another, but he doesn’t know that he can afford the aftermath if Wei Qing comes to regret it. So instead, there are these fits and starts, which he’d regret if they weren’t so damn pleasant.
As sexual dysfunctions go, this is a nice one to have.
“Wei Qing.”
“Yes, baby?”
“Wei Qing, what do you want?” Yue Fei slides down and kisses the bit of waist exposed by his bunched-up shirt and those criminally low sweats that have become Wei Qing’s exclusive at-home clothes ever since they started hooking up. Sometimes he wants to put the other man in something nice and high-waisted, just to regain some control of his roving eyes and hands.
Wei Qing arches up and away from the cushion, enough that Yue Fei’s lips slide deliciously close to the drawstring separating them. Ah, why’d he worn underwear after showering? What regrets he had, about now having two layers between himself and Yue Fei’s beautiful mouth, when he could have had just one.
“I want whatever you’re offering. Always.”
Yue Fei finds a bit of baby fat across his hip and bites lightly against it.
“That is about as helpful as saying you’re hungry, but insisting I choose the restaurant.”
This is a common sin of Wei Qing’s. Yue Fei loves it but still complains to his captive audience.
“What can I say, you always perfectly divine my tastes- ah~” Yue Fei sinks fully to the floor, his knees widening into a full kneel and pushing Wei Qing’s limp feet further apart. His hands roughly massage the top and sides of Wei Qing’s thighs, his face pushes forward, and his teeth pull at the red cotton drawstring, just like Wei Qing had been hoping.
Yue Fei really, really does understand his tastes. Every time. Indubitably.
“Baby-”
“You’re calling me?” Yue Fei rolls his neck, the drawstring coming loose and his chin teasingly rubbing against the most sensitive parts of Wei Qing’s inner thighs. “And what are you calling me to do? You still haven’t said, sweetness.”
Turnabout is fair play, he can also use pet names. Even if he’s a little stilted with them sometimes, the results are better than he imagined; he’s never heard Wei Qing whine so prettily, and he’s heard him in plenty of steamy situations. A quiet pride builds in Yue Fei, as he lovingly tortures Wei Qing, insisting on not moving until the man writhing beneath him tells him exactly what he wants.
“Baby, baby- you know-” Another kiss, farther from the place he knows Wei Qing wants him. Wei Qing’s feet come to rest on the swell of his ass again, trying to trap him, but only his words will do that.
“Yue Fei, please, kiss me.”
“I am kissing you.”
“That’s- you know that’s not where- higher. Higher, please.”
Wei Qing is red-faced and shy; Yue Fei decides to take mercy.
He’s weak for that begging of his. Wei Qing’s directions are clear enough, and Yue Fei is delighted to comply. He leans to the side so that he can push Wei Qing’s legs back together and slide off his pants and underwear, in the same practiced manner from a week ago in the bathroom, from last night in his dreams. And then he does what else he’s been dreaming of, settling back onto the floor, pulling Wei Qing’s bare bottom towards him, and pressing wet kisses up his ticklish thighs.
Wei Qing jumps at the contact and shivers once more in anticipation. Yue Fei adds firmness to his kisses.
“Be good, sweetness.”
Wei Qing’s nod is frantic, as he unblinkingly watches Yue Fei get closer and closer to where he is twitching with the need for contact. He looks like a charmed snake, and all he wants is to be captured. So Yue Fei does just that. Braces his hands on Wei Qing’s freshly-kissed thighs and lifts himself up, just enough to duck and swallow down Wei Qing.
It’s fast and unexpectedly thorough, and Wei Qing moans from the feeling of it. From the way Yue Fei’s eyes had looked, as he’d wrapped his lips around him and wholeheartedly devoted himself.
It’s obscene.
It’s transformational.
Wei Qing’s lost in the sensation and coming undone before he can so much as warn the wheat-skinned angel kneeling before him. All he can do is run trembling fingers through his mussed-up hair and babble praise and apology as Yue Fei slides away and tilts his head against his knee, so pleased that it’s almost coquettish.
It’s a surprising look on a man that’s bigger and stronger and firmer than him, but man, does it work.
“Yue Fei, how are you so- fuck, that was- you’re too amazing, too perfect, too everything.”
Wei Qing means it, with every bit of his spent soul. And then he starts giggling, at the idea that Yue Fei’s lazy delight has more to do with the lack of mess than his own performance. It’s a very dangerous thing, to laugh without explanation when a man has just finished pleasuring you, but Yue Fei looks more relaxed with every giggle that escapes Wei Qing’s reddened lips. Wei Qing still feels like he ought to explain, in the interest of their future bliss.
“Sorry, I was just imagining that you’re pleased because there’s no extra cleaning.”
Yue Fei bites softly into his thigh, smiling dangerously.
“I like your laugh. And yes. It’s nice not to waste anything you give me.”
Wei Qing grabs a throw pillow and groans into it. It’s becoming his go-to move, every time Yue Fei rocks his world and leaves him boneless. It’s not even the physical contact, it’s the things he says and the way he looks after it. How can his buttoned-up man, who never seemed to care about any of this kind of thing at all, now say such things with such a calm face?
What kind of skill was this, and did it leave Wei Qing any way to survive without just constantly panting after him?! As far as he knew, he was the (reformed) lothario here, so why did he feel so outclassed pound-for-pound for sultriness? It’s a great problem to have, but it still makes him ever so curious. He stays hidden in his pillow of protection until he feels a chuckling Yue Fei moving his legs around and sliding him back into his pants. Oddly enough-
“Yue Fei, where did my underwear go?” He pokes his head out to ask, feeling distinctly breezy in his newly re-tied sweats. Yue Fei climbs back up, wraps him in his arms, kisses him until he forgets the question. Only once Wei Qing is on a completely different page does Yue Fei answer.
“Don’t you want me to have sweet dreams again?”
That’s it, he’s deceased. Back into the pillow he goes, foisted with his own (evidently contagious) puckishness.
Unseen, Yue Fei’s laughter vibrates through him.
Author’s Corner:
Fluff after unresolved angst.
Wei Qiwan clown hours continue (now with the added awkwardness of him *kinda* feeling like he should comfort Yue Fei but still wanting to test him and watch him as a brother). Yue Fei and I have an equal vague confusion about the joys of engineering. Wei Qing continues to be pampered and happily wrong-footed in this relationship.
1st!
My first ‘first!’ 😇
This is just skfkkgkgkg 😍😍😍😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 thank you for the meal 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 and I always love to see the R&D team nerding out. Absolutely delightful
I died and went to heaven ~
What a big chapter and it’s not even my birthday (ﾉ∀`)
Thank you so much for that chapter !
So much sexy sugary goodness I LUV IT!!!
thanks for the chapter <3
Thanks for the chapter~
I just found this absolute gem of a story and I love love love it! Thank you for writing it! 😍
Yue Fei is a natural talent 😄! So is receptionist Xiao but not at the same kind of people handling. Hey I think Wei Qiwan’s bad acting makes him seem vulnerable. Am I crazy?
You are not crazy.
Sweet sweet sweet!!!!