Realistically, it is impossible to fall asleep at four PM and not wake until the next morning. Well, absent the sleep deprivation that Wei Qing does not have, now that he’s such a well-rested homebody. Still, Wei Qing makes his very best attempt.
After all, he would really, really like to have Yue Fei be the last person he greeted the morning with. Even if the circumstances don’t match the phrasing, he wants it. So he stays still and soft, even when he wakes up a second time and feels Yue Fei stirring behind him. Sleep longer, stay, try meditation.
He nuzzles sleepily as Yue Fei slides his arm out from under his neck and tries to separate from him. And when he feels the dip in the bed and the cool air rushing in as Yue Fei distances himself from him, he gives in to his inner shamelessness, just a little bit. Just enough to whine and roll over and send a blind hand to grab at his shirt and pull closer to him. He knows he’s taking too many liberties, but he’s never been very good at not chasing what speaks to him.
Still, when Wei Qing hears Yue Fei sigh, he decides not to push any further. If Yue Fei really wants to return to his own bed, he… won’t stop him. He won’t pout (externally). He’ll be reasonable since he has to.
But Yue Fei just shifts and instead of leaving completely, Wei Qing feels calloused fingers sweeping the hair from his forehead.
“So troublesome.” The words are barely a whisper, in the same tone Yue Fei had used when he still spoiled him.
And sure enough, he’s in a spoiling mood. He huffs and moves Wei Qing’s shirt-clutching hand to a safer part of his stomach, but allows the contact. After a few minutes of consideration, he silently summons a steward and has his laptop brought in so he can work while being held hostage.
Like this is perfectly normal. Like the whole world hasn’t gone topsy-turvy at just the concept of them, together, in bed. Even if they’re clothed, even if they’re chaste, even then, this is… Closeness.
Wei Qing… Wei Qing would do almost anything, to have a normal like this. Somehow, the steady breathing and the soft tapping of the keys manage to lull him into something not quite sleep and not quite waking. An odd and wonderful waste of time, that he manages to stretch out all the way until four in the morning.
—
Twelve hours is a totally reasonable amount of sleep after a near-death experience.
That’s his story and he’s sticking to it. Even if his bladder forces him up and disallows further sticking to Yue Fei at right around four in the morning. Wei Qing does his best to ‘wake up’ cutely, although sleeping with damp hair and in an oversized bathrobe probably ruins most of his charm. He looks more like an abused dumpling than anything else. Oh well.
Yue Fei looks up from a Wei Securities spreadsheet and wordlessly presses the back of his hand against Wei Qing’s pillow-imprinted forehead. Wei Qing’s temperature must be within his expectations, because he returns to typing.
“You’re lucky you’re not dead.” His eyes never leave the screen, but with only two of them in the room, in the bed…
“I know. I’m sorry. I just…” Was worried that I’d pounce on you, and then you’d leave. Nope. Can’t say that! “…Really felt like swimming?”
It’s a stupid excuse for a stupid act. Wei Qing wonders what image he has in Yue Fei’s heart, that he accepts it so readily. No doubt something silly and tragic. Being looked down upon isnt’ great, but those really were his dumb actions (if not his dumb reasons), so Wei Qing can only accept it.
Yue Fei raises an eyebrow.
“I will find some high school health lectures to remediate you.” Why is that unimpressed voice so appealing? “Until then, you could at least endeavor to check the temperature. Or ask the crew. Or-” He looks up, measuring the breadth of Wei Qing’s robe-covered arms and torso. “-Or, I suppose we can strap you into floaties like a child.”
Wei Qing doesn’t think he’s joking. He wouldn’t be surprised if Assistant Yue is about to do some online shopping.
“Ha, no- I- I can check the temperature! And wait fifteen minutes, no need for high school classes or floaties!” Wei Qing wanted to overthrow his image. And while ‘child’ was marginally better than ‘trashy fuckboy,’ Yue Fei wouldn’t fall in love with a child anymore than he would a fuckboy. So… in between being bratty and being good, Wei Qing must figure out how to be needy enough to be pampered, but strong enough to be respected.
It’s a challenging needle to thread, no doubt.
Luckily, he’d been smart once. He could probably be smart again if he tried even a little bit. Found something worth applying himself. He steals glances at Yue Fei. Yep. This right here was worth it. Imagine waking up together because of love, and not recent life-risking acts of stupidity?
That- would be nice…
“What?” Yue Fei senses his gaze, and takes time out of his busy spreadsheet editing to cast him a glance.
“Hmm? Nothing, nothing! Just- bathroom!”
Wei Qing flees after his surreptitious looks are noticed. To the safety of the bathroom, where his and Yue Fei’s still-damp clothes are piled on the floor outside the shower, as if it’s natural instead of a freak event, not to be repeated. He toes them to the side and takes care of his poor bladder. Washes his hands, judges his own wakefulness before giving in and brushing his teeth. He looks in the mirror as he spits– his hair is getting a little long. Between the shaggy fringe and the oversized robe, he can kind of understand why Yue Fei wants to put him in floaties for sink-happy children.
Still though! Dignity! Charm! He had it! Once?
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.
He cups his hands and wets his hair into something less deranged before abandoning the hard-working robe in favor of proper boxer briefs, long-slung gray joggers, and a white undershirt. Thank goodness the bathroom was connected to the closet to make this seem elegant and natural instead of a mad dash towards casualness.
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“Are those the cost projections?” Keep him busy answering! Get a flow going, and the bed can turn into an abnormally comfortable workspace, he’s sure of it.
—
Yue Fei looks over, hands already braced on the mattress, before nodding and relaxing back down. They are both dressed, and this is a working vacation. Sort of. There’s really no functional difference between working here or in the living room, only the living room involves stairs that Wei Qing could theoretically fall from. And since his charge had been a little sticky as of late, Yue Fei somehow knows that if he leaves, Wei Qing will follow him. And with his luck, probably break something. Sprain an ankle, at the very least.
He shakes his head ruefully and tilts the screen so that Wei Qing can follow along.
“Yes. They’re a little off-base. I suspect Ms. Li and Mr. Zhao are so eager to work that they are underbilling their hours.”
“Underbilling? Ah, what freaks we’ve hired.” Wei Qing leans over and checks the figures. “Well, once we’ve run a few projects without me fucking off, they’ll bill more honestly, right?”
“That or quit.”
“Hey! I’ll have you know, I used to be a very charismatic leader. You have no idea how many little brothers and sisters worked extra hard to make the school festivals perfect, just because I inspired them with my dedication!”
“No, I remember.” There’s a trace of fond nostalgia in his voice, but Wei Qing is too unfamiliar with the emotion to catch it.
Anyway, he’s happy enough without that bit of icing on a cake that is already perfect! Because it works! Casualness, proper dressing, and a distraction is all it takes to stretch out this closeness, even when conscious. Who needs Netflix and chill when you’ve got spreadsheets and near death? They semi-seriously bicker and chat all the way until an early breakfast and for Wei Qing, it’s as sweet as any Disney-perfect date.
The paid-for-discretion cabin crew also relaxes.
Ah, if Young Master can really stay this domestic… the amount they’ll save on cleaning products alone! Breakfast is made with especially tender care and contains all their hopes for wedded bliss. Or whatever is occurring between Young Master Wei and Assistant Yue Fei. They don’t know, and they’re wise enough not to ask, but still… Whatever it is, please keep at it! With a little less drowning if possible, but otherwise, jiayou!
—
Despite all the progress he feels he’s making, Wei Qing still cuts the vacation short. They’re back in port after only a day and a half of what could loosely be called sailing. What? He stayed out long enough to spoil Wei Qiwan’s plans (goal) and got plenty of sun. Both wins. But with Yue Fei watching him like a lifeguard every time he approaches a railing or the hot tub, and with the first night’s shared bed situation not re-emerging…
He’s wise enough in this second life to not push his non-existent luck too far.
So, he’d rather go back to slay some more dragons before the office on Wednesday. This time he might even be high enough level to survive! Yeah, if lounging on the boat and lounging in his living room were so similar, he’d rather save the environment and just chill at home.
Just the two of them, just like he wanted.
—
Yue Fei is also grateful to be back on land. To have a space away from Wei Qing and a normalcy to return to. Not because he’s catching feelings. He’s absolutely not. That would be absurd. Especially just four weeks in. He has standards for his own conduct. And more importantly, he has routines that he likes and wishes to return to.
His own small bathroom, one that his wayward master has never been in, much less been pressed against him inside of. His own bed, with gray-blue sheets and a comforter that is never tucked in, for all Wei Qing teases him about his tidy impulses. He needs the comfort of his own territory, untouched by Wei Qing, hidden from view. He needs something uncomplicated, something that is just his.
Not because his feelings have changed, or grown, or anything as foolish and ill-advised as all that. Just- just because he has always needed time to process, and in the last few days, he’s had time for nothing but appreciation and worry, clashing up against one another and giving him endless stomachaches.
It’s what he tells himself anyway.
—
Yue Fei is reconsidering his life choices, as he makes pancakes and watches Wei Qing once again fail at dragon slaying. Once again spending half his week at work, and half his week at home, alone, being a good boy. The pancake malforms, and Yue Fei scrapes it away and tries again.
This kind of well-behaved Wei Qing is just too lovable. Too easy to give into.
And yet-
“Stop and stretch, it’s been forty-five minutes.” Yue Fei keeps his voice crisp, the commanding tone not at all diminished by the ladle in his hands. He hums approval as Wei Qing pauses the game and heads to the bathroom, so very compliant.
And that was the problem, with these half-formed soft feelings that had spread since the yacht, or maybe even before it. The snare hidden in the sweetness.
Wei Qing was being so good precisely because he was being short with him. Wei Qing was staying home and cutting off those messy people and (at least sort of) focusing on his work because Yue Fei had been reborn unwilling to accept his shortcomings.
So what happened to all that progress, if he let his own feelings get in the way? If he once again started making allowances?
Wouldn’t Wei Qing start slipping back? Start self-destructing again? Maybe not, maybe if Yue Fei locked him down and became his real-life Ta Yeh Yeh, Wei Qing would stay good, but for how long? And could a relationship, any relationship, survive one of the participants withholding affection to try to hack the behaviors of the other? It wasn’t ethical, wasn’t moral, wasn’t a line that he could cross.
Even if it was for Wei Qing’s own good– Yue Fei does not have the stomach for that.
Kill his enemies? Sure. If he was pushed far enough, if the law couldn’t act. Squash rumors and block sycophants? ‘Til the ends of the earth, he’d do his level best. But hold Wei Qing in his arms and pretend he didn’t have feelings? Or worse, pretend to love with, without being 100% committed and sure of it?
No, not that. Never.
Wei Qing’s safety is the most important thing. And if this state of affairs is the best way to guarantee that, then Yue Fei will not continue to entertain these strange new feelings. He will strangle them in the crib and be who Wei Qing needs him to be. Put whatever this is back in its box, and cross no more lines, lounge in no more beds that don’t belong to him.
Maybe that’s the real reason for his rebirth. Not to extricate himself, but to right his wrongs. To save him. Finally.
The table is set, the distance maintained, by the time Wei Qing returns, drying his hands on his pants.
“Breakfast.”
—
It is good that Yue Fei has organized his feelings because during Wednesday’s late afternoon meeting, he is called up to the president’s floor. Publicly, via Wei Qing’s private office intercom, so naturally, Wei Qing throws a fucking fit. He leaves the meeting and slams the door, hard, before promptly trying and failing to remove the intercom from the wall.
“No! Fuck him, don’t go!”
It’s the first full tantrum of his new life, and Yue Fei has a moment of panic before he figures out how to deal with it. Firm, but not unkind. That should work, with this new, obedient, Wei Qing, right?
“He is your employer, and this is also technically his office.”
The whole building belongs to the head of the Wei family. Who is Wei Qiwan, no matter how much Wei Qing likes to ignore it. All these little tantrums and fights and booked yachts, all this insubordination, only exist because Wei Qiwan allows it. It’s actually quite the big plot hole in his whole ‘big bad brother routine,’ which Wei Qing should have picked up on, if he wasn’t so blinded by pain and rejection.
Not that Yue Fei can tell Wei Qing that. Not when he’s worked up like this.
“Then he can come here himself and start shit!” Wei Qing rolls up his sleeves, like he’s actually going to try to fight his brother’s phantom. Or do significant property damage. Evidently, words will not be enough to stave off this, but Yue Fei really does need to accept the summons. After all, he wants to know if Wei Qiwan has properly reflected. It will help his plans (and increase Wei Qing’s happiness) if he has.
“Wei Qing.” Yue Fei grips his hands and tries to settle him down back behind the desk. Where an executive should sit, how an executive should act. Calm and collected.
“What? Why does he-?” Wei Qing slaps the desk. “You’re my assistant! You’re mine! He shouldn’t speak to you at all, it’s not fair-” Wei Qing’s eyes are red, and behind the anger, is naked fear. Yue Fei can see it.
Baffling.
Yue Fei does not understand why a simple call can arouse this much panic, but he does not need to understand to address it. He squats next to the chair that Wei Qing is just barely still sitting in. Demands eye contact, uses that voice that has proven so very effective.
“Master Wei. I will go, as your assistant. I will return as your assistant. Be good and wait.”
Be good.
Wei Qing balls his fists against his thighs. He doesn’t accept it but also doesn’t stop Yue Fei from walking out the door. He’s… being good. Yue Fei will do his best to make this meeting quick, and when they get home… he’ll make hotpot and let Wei Qing play as long as he wants, or maybe watch a movie together, as a reward for this.
He’s being more indulgent than he should, but how can he possibly be harsh to him, when he’s so very upset?
—
“Since when are you sleeping with my brother?”
Well, that’s direct.
Yue Fei blinks, only blindsided for a second. But of course, it makes sense. The yacht belongs to the Wei family, the checks are cleared by Wei Qiwan, the staff’s discretion naturally does not extend to (not) reporting back to their boss. He and Wei Qing had shared a bed that first night, and a steward had come in to bring him his laptop– But (perhaps infected by the old Wei Qing) Yue Fei is oddly disinclined to explain. At least not immediately.
“He also very nearly died. It’s interesting that that’s not the main thing you’re concerned with.” If Wei Qing were here, instead of panicking hollowly down below, he’d recognize the sliver of anger in Yue Fei’s tone.
Wei Qiwan bats away his insinuation. “You are paid to protect him, rescuing him is within the boundaries of what is expected. You are not paid to… entertain yourself… at his expense. So how long has it been?”
Yue Fei wonders who Wei Qiwan has doing his wetwork, since he’s still by Wei Qing’s side. Did Wei Qiwan even have such dark connections, before Wei Qing’s death blackened them? Yue Fei wonders if he’ll find out, if he allows this misunderstanding to stand? Eh… Probably not worth it to find out. After all, Wei Qiwan isn’t his enemy. And Wei Qing would be sad. So he stops being disingenuous, even if part of him still wants to churlishly push Wei Qiwan.
“My relationship with Young Master Wei is as it has always been.” More or less.
“So you always share a bed?” Wei Qiwan sounds thrilled. Okay, now Yue Fei is going to go ahead and take offense.
“No, normally he has a veritable parade to meet that need.”
For years, you allowed all sorts of types to take advantage of him, yet it’s suddenly an issue if I enter the running? Why exactly is that? Still. Diplomacy, even if his hackles are up and he’d rather not investigate why he’s so very offended, even though he himself knows he’s unworthy.
“Your brother sleeps poorly. Especially when alone. Since he canceled the orgy, which again, you are oddly okay with, there was no alternative. Should I really have let him toss and turn all night, after drowning, just because your staff might misunderstand? Would that be protecting him?”
That makes Wei Qiwan show some genuine emotion. Makes him pause.
“Is… was he alright? The bosun said it was almost a full minute.”
98 compressions, six breaths as he knelt on that deck and demanded Wei Qing return to him. Yue Fei exhales.
“He’s very resilient.” Kid was basically indestructible, as long as he stayed away from bad men and tall buildings.
“That’s… good… then.”
Wei Qiwan is thirty-six this year, but the exhaustion in his shoulders speaks to a man decades older, old enough to be Wei Qing’s father. And indeed, sometimes, it really feels like it. Not that Wei Qing’s ever been in a position to notice. No, he went straight from brotherly hero-worship to wounded face-slapper in training, with no time to rest and look for nuance.
“But still. If- only if, mind you-” Wei Qiwan looks up, conviction turning his brown eyes near-black and setting him right-footed again. “If anything ever did happen, Assistant Yue would need to be sure. Forever sure. There are some things for which Wei Qing has no resilience.”
“I know.”
“As long as you’re clear on that.”
Just like that, Yue Fei is dismissed. Then called back, because at this point in his life, Wei Qiwan devoured tips on negotiation tactics with the same fervor that Wei Qing read those self-help mantras of his. It’s almost laughable, but Yue Fei knows better than to give in to the hysteria that bubbles up in him.
“Was he upset? Next time, I can simply text you to spare him.” An offer of alliance. Deals made in the dark, for the good of the third person… If you discount their feelings about being ‘handled’ rather than included. The same dance from his last life, accelerated. But this time-
“No, thank you. Speaking without his knowledge is not something I am willing to do, as his assistant.”
Eyes appraising, this time, Wei Qiwan does not stop him.
Author’s Corner:
Wei Qiwan, you absolute tree stump.
While other male leads talk about little black rooms, Yue Fei moves closer and closer to bubble-wrap bondage play instead. Someone check that man for packing peanuts!
Wei qing panicking when wei qiwan called yue fei omg…. you’re too good baby 😭😭
Got some PTSD showing there, I think, to be so terrified of losing Yue Fei again 😢
I don’t if tree stump is a good summary of my feeling for the older brother but I did enjoy a lot the very very acid tongue of Yue Fei towards him. Like yeah his behavior s*cks for someone wanting to protect his little bro…
Thanks for the chapter, the fluffy beginning was so so my taste !
i’ve caught up! i’m loving this.
thanks for the chapters <3
I was so proud when Yue Fei refused to panic and get defensive under big brother’s accusation! If that’s what he thought, he should have shown him some gratitude for replacing all those bodies with his own.
Little black rooms ummmm…. Thank you .
❤️❤️
Spreadsheets and near-death 😳😂😂 what a combination.
No darn it I’m crying on the bus why are they so good my heart is hurting 😭
That’s some real separation anxiety he’s got! Geez, I’m so angry at both, Yue Fei and Wei Quiwan from the past/previous life!!! Wei Quiwan traumatized Wei Qing and left him crying for help without providing any. Not even a shrink or something…Just how cruel is that?!! 😭 No wonder he ended up so tragically!