Five weeks had gone by, without a word from Shen Wei. Da Qing was worried for Yunlan, but there was nothing he could do.

A couple of days after their return, Da Qing gathered the courage to confront him on his own actions.
"It's not like you to be this silent, if you're angry at me I understand, you can call me names if you want to but I had to do it that way, I had to make sure that he had a reason to stop the war."

Yunlan raised his eyes for a few seconds, time enough to say, "I'm not angry at you, Da Qing, I understand, and I'm fine, you don't have to worry. You did good, Yezun stopped, the war is over, and Wei.. he's alive, and that's really, really good. I couldn't really hope for anything more."

He averted his eyes again, and spoke with barely audible voice, "I haven't locked the window, you can come home to sleep whenever you want."

He meant every word, how could he be angry, he was happy, relieved, a tragedy had been avoided, he was about to lose Wei forever and only thinking about it brought back so much pain that he will forever be grateful for how things had turned out.
Wei was out there, somewhere, alive and hopefully with a piece of his heart restored now that he knew that his brother wasn't dead and that he didn't hate him anymore.

Maybe saying that he was happy wasn't exactly the right word, he missed him like hell, but he kept reminding himself that he was alive, and that's all that mattered to him now.
After all, it had been his fault if Wei had almost died. Because of his recklessness Wei had become weaker. Since the day they met he had caused him nothing but trouble.

~~~~~

Nine weeks without Shen Wei.

All this time Yunlan had tried to act normal, everyday he had worked with the Sid team to get rid of the few troublemakers that hadn't retreated back to Dixing.

He also helped the city recover from what had happened, putting on the front the stoic image of the Mighty chief of Sid that everybody expected of him.

But then he would go home.

He would look at the empty kitchen remembering all the times Wei had cooked for him, before laying on the bed without eating, unable to sleep, thinking of Wei and hoping that he was well.

Today had seemed just another day like all the rest, but as he came home he sensed something, he realised that he wasn't alone.

"Wei?" he called, but the answer startled him.

"Not exactly." And Yezun's figure came out of the shadows.

"Why are you here? Alone? Where is Wei, what have you done to him?" Yunlan asked, moving his hand to touch his gun.

"Such harsh words, it makes me feel like you don't trust me" Yezun replied in a mocking voice.

"Should I? Where is Wei?" Yunlan asked again.

"He's so stubborn you know, but he is fine. He keeps saying that we should make amends and help Dixing become a better place... I don't see why I should bother, they mean nothing to me, but once he's made a decision it's quite hard to change his mind."

"He's fine..." murmured Yunlan, as if that was the only thing he heard.

"Yeah, I think I said that already."

"Then why are you here?"

Yezun moved closer.
"It's nice to have a brother again, I've been alone for so long, but he's so serious all the time, how could you bear his company is beyond me."

"There's nothing wrong in being serious, you should be grateful to have him with you."
Yunlan said rather annoyed, how could he not understand how lucky he was to have Wei with him..

"That's the point, you see, he's with me and yet he isn't, a part of him is here, but he's so stubborn he refuses to admit it."
Yezun didn't have his mask on and Yunlan could clearly see his expression.
It was weird how similar and yet how different the brothers looked in Yunlan's eyes.

Yezun frowned a bit.
"He wants to see you, but he will never come here to meet you after all that happened."

Yunlan's heart ached.
"Can I see him? Can you take me to him?"

Yezun laughed.
"To Dixing? That's no place for you."

"Then..."

"Then there's only one thing I can do," he said and Yezun's hand shot to Yunlan's throat, his superior strength allowing him to raise his body as if he weighted nothing.

Yunlan fought for breath, and instinctively tried to reach his gun, but Yezun laughed again.
"Do you really want to be the one to kill Wei's brother?"

Yunlan's fingers stopped, he couldn't decide what to do, his body was weaker for having been treated so poorly in the last weeks, and he couldn't breath under Yezun's strong grip.

He thought of Wei, of all the times he had saved him as if he could sense when he was in danger, and he imagined hearing his voice calling his name.

But it wasn't just his imagination.
"Yunlan! Yezun, stop!"

Not even a second and the hand released him.
"What took you so long?" Yezun murmured, holding his own hands in the air, then he said, "He's all yours," and vanished.

Yunlan could make out the words: "Making amends is so tiring," before he was gone.

Wei rushed to his side.
"Yunlan! Are you alright?" he sounded worried and he used his power to heal his bruised throat.

Yunlan looked at him and forgot all about his aching throat.
Not only that, he forgot ever thinking that Wei would be better off without him, he forgot how he had felt thinking that he had almost caused Wei's death.

Right now he had only one thought. Wei was here and he wanted to keep him here by his side forever.

He gripped his arms.
"You're here. You're staying with me?"

Wei averted his eyes.
"I will go back as soon as I've healed your injury. I'm from Dixing but your life is here, it's better this way."

"What life?" retorted Yunlan. "There is no life without you."

"Be serious Yunlan, it's not safe for you to be around me," and he turned his back, as if ready to leave.

"Safe is overrated." Yunlan grabbed him again and turned him around, but didn't give him time to think of a new reply because he sealed his mouth with his own.

Wei didn't fight it, he would never fight Yunlan. Instead he stayed still expecting Yunlan to back away but Yunlan didn't release him, didn't stop kissing him until he finally felt Wei's lips part a little.
Encouraged, he kissed him with new vigor, sticking his tongue between his parted lips and tasting his mouth throughly.

Yunlan pulled him closer and started moving, ever so slowly, leading them both towards the bed.
Pulled against Yunlan, Wei let him ravish his mouth unable to resist him.

When Yunlan felt the bed behind his legs, he broke the kiss and let himself fall on it, pulling Wei down with him, then kissed him again before Wei could even process what was going on.

Kissing each other felt so good, when Wei's arms went at both sides of his head and his body pressed against his own, he let go of his grip on his arms, opting instead to sneak a hand in his soft hair while the other went behind his back to press their bodies together even more.

It was a series of deep heartfelt kisses that annulled any will Shen Wei still had; Yunlan broke the kiss but his lips stayed so close that they brushed against Wei's when he said, "So, are you staying with me?"

Yunlan's hands moved on Wei's body and Wei was lost once again like the first time, and he whispered against his lips, "Yeah," before Yunlan kissed him again.

That was another sleepless night for Yunlan, but this time he welcomed it.

And then, he welcomed it again.

And again....

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