***
I will never leave him. It will be this, always, for as long as he will let me.
Madeline Miller
***
Zhan Zhao has a problem.
Well, in truth, he always has at least a few of varying importance, but this one is new.
This one is serious.
A serious problem.
He also has skills. Years of study and training and working the toughest cases and he's never failed.
At work, at least.
Oh, it's taken him more than one try before, and some cases have had him in knots for weeks, but as long as he doesn't give up, he figures it out.
There is literally no problem he hasn't been able to solve with the proper application of time and attention.
This new problem, though….
It's a bit more challenging than the others that have come before it.
Well, maybe not more, so much was different now. For one, Zhan Zhao is perfectly capable of ignoring his father on his own and doesn't need Bai Yutong to hide him in his closet anymore.
It's strange because he and Bai Yutong practically lived in one another's pockets before he left to study in the US, but this was never a problem then.
Were his legs always this long?
They weren't this long in high school.
He would have noticed.
Maybe it's because he always wears white now. Psychologically speaking, white is a significant choice, but Zhan Zhao also knows Bao Yutong very well, and he's comfortable making the judgment that it has less to do with an obsession with innocence and purity and everything to do with his obsession with cleanliness and order.
He also knows for a fact that Bai Yutong is not innocent. Aside from being a general menace with an uncontrollable urge to cause trouble, stick his nose in everyone's business, and make Zhan Zhao eat things that are green, Zhan Zhao was the third person in the world who knew when Bai Yutong lost his virginity, and he was only the third because Bai Yutong lost it with someone else.
He also knows that it wasn't all that great because they both complained to him at school in different classes.
After that, he made a point never to be friendly with anyone Bai Yutong dated.
But still, it wasn't a problem then. It wasn't a problem in the years after they graduated. It wasn't a problem when he left for the States, and it wasn't a problem when he was in the States, even though it felt like he was missing a limb.
It wasn't a problem until that glass-covered road his first week back.
That was the first time he'd seen Bai Yutong in all-white. It makes sense, then, that that's when the problem started.
The white makes Bai Yutong's legs look miles long. Makes him stand out like a flame in the dark.
It's a problem he can't solve.
This…noticing Bai Yutong thing.
He has other things to do. He has his work, which he cares a great deal about. His teaching and his writing. He needs to buy groceries before his coffee supply runs out.
It pisses Zhan Zhao off. Makes him meaner than he already is, which makes him feel guilty because Bai Yutong and the others who end up in the crossfire didn't do anything wrong.
He doesn't like feeling guilty.
He doesn't usually. A tendency towards psychopathy, one of his teachers in the States said. Nothing to be concerned about, so long as it didn't develop further.
And it hasn't, Zhan Zhao would like to point out. He is not a psychopath like Zhao Jue, not that he's missed the other characteristics they share, but that's an issue for another day.
He just isn't very sympathetic. Or generally interested in people who aren't committing crimes.
Except, apparently, Bai Yutong.
Ah, that's what it is.
Bai Yutong.
Bai Yutong is his big, serious problem.
***
Bai Yutong is not his problem.
It's those fucking slippers.
And that blanket wrap with the ears.
Zhan Zhao's problem is growing worse by the day.
One he has already tried working through with his psychology library and a few of his more discreet peers.
Nothing has helped.
Since he can't understand the problem, he tries to avoid it.
He makes it two days without seeing Bai Yutong outside of work before the man follows him home like a particularly attached koala bear, and Zhan Zhao's problem is back.
It's sitting on his couch in…
Are those footie pajamas now?????
Where the fuck did those come from?
How did they end up in his apartment??
Why do they have such cute ears?
Bai Yutong already has ridiculously cute ears. He doesn't need another pair.
He hides himself in the shower and has a quiet existential crisis, interrupted naturally by the one person he knows who has no shame.
Yutong is making tea and starting the movie; Zhan Zhao has no idea which movie because he wasn't listening, but Yutong is insisting that it doesn't start without him, so Zhan Zhao exits the shower, dries himself off and ends up on the couch without any conscious thought.
Bai Yutong is seated next to him, sprawled because that's how he always is when they're alone, in an unnecessarily tight white shirt that's so thin Zhan Zhao can see his nipples through it.
And those freaking ears.
Why the ears??????
He can't stop looking at those ears.
And the nipples.
He can't stop looking at the ears and the nipples and the ears and the nipples, and why? Why? Why?
Zhan Zhao prefers things warm, Bai Yutong likes the cold, so the rooms are a few degrees cooler than usual, and it's like his nipples harden into points right in front of Zhan Zhao's eyes.
And his legs are stretched out, his sweatpants worn down enough to see the definition of his thighs and calves.
And it's just legs, nipples, ears, legs, nipples, ears over and over in Zhan Zhao's mind.
It's an obsession from which there is no escape.
Well, realistically, he could leave.
Yutong stretches, shifts, his body curving towards Zhan Zhao, oblivious to the torment he's causing.
As always.
His nipples are pointing at Zhan Zhao now.
Zhan Zhao is not going anywhere.
They're just…pointing right at him, and Mouse is staring at the screen, enraptured because he's so easily entertained by explosions and fight scenes.
Pointing right at him…
They should be punished, although Zhan Zhao can admit he's not sure how he came to that conclusion.
He pinches it.
Then he pinches the other one because it has to be equal, naturally.
Yutong's chest undulates, then stills, and they're still pointing at him.
Maybe he should try- he pinches and twists, and Yutong's back arches off the couch.
"Cat, what?" Yutong sounds confused and a little out of breath.
"They're pointing at me." Zhan Zhao's eyes don't leave the two little peaks pressed against the thin fabric of Yutong's tee-shirt. "Watch your movie."
God knows Zhan Zhao couldn't be less interested in an action movie, but he likes science, and variety is important in science.
He pinches, twists, and pulls this time.
There's a thud somewhere nearby, but not the sharp kind that comes with something breaking, so it's fine for now.
He tries alternating pressure, the strength of the pinch, the sharpness of the tug, rucks up Yutong's shirt and uses his nails.
Yutong's nipples turn red and swollen, rising and falling in great heaves. The impressions from Zhao's nails don't fade immediately.
Semi-permanent marks of Zhao's presence. Visual evidence of Yutong's body giving way to Zhao's.
Would it look different if he used his teeth?
Yutong's skin tastes clean and smells faintly like the fancy soap Bai Jintang keeps him stocked with.
He takes a handful of pec and squeezes, worries the skin with his teeth, catches the numb with his teeth, bites as gently as he can stand to.
Bai Yutong's entire body spasms and jerks, shaking the couch with the force of it.
He pulls back because you can't solve a problem without looking at the bigger picture.
Bai Yutong's sprawl is a lot less relaxed now. His grip on the couch is so tight his knuckles are white, and the muscles of his arms stand out in stark relief. His eyes are fever-bright, and his cheeks flushed. There's a wet spot forming where his dick is straining against his sweatpants. His toes are curled so tightly that his feet are definitely going to cramp.
Zhan Zhao dated a girl in the States who used to take him to her favorite sex club. She taught him how the body reacts to different levels of pressure and how sometimes a lighter touch can be much more powerful than a heavy one. They used to experiment with training the body's sensitivity.
"You're so sensitive." Zhao murmurs.
"Am not," Yutong mutters, starting to gather himself.
Zhao scraps his nails over his red chest, down his quivering abdomen, and drags them over the juts of his hipbones and the light dusting of hair disappearing into his waistband.
Yutong's body practically vibrates off the couch.
Zhao remembers there was one place in particular that she'd shown him, insisting that it was one of the most sensitive places for a man.
He pulls Yutong's sweatpants and underwear out of the way, admires his cock, red and leaking, and strokes his fingers down, back, finds that spot right behind his dick, and rubs his knuckles just enough to be forceful and watches Yutong shout and come all over his own stomach.
He is sensitive. Whether he wants to admit it or not.
He's never seen Bai Yutong like this before. Always so in control, always so perfect, and here he is spread out on Zhan Zhao's couch, covered in his own-
He hauls Yutong to his feet with his shirt and drags him to the bedroom.
For his part, Bai Yutong looks wildly confused at the turn the night has taken, but he doesn't put up much of a fight when Zhao strips him and pushes him down on the bed. He looks more like a wide-eyed rabbit ready to run than a mouse as Zhao climbs over him, and nothing like the Cassanova he'd been painted as in high school.
His eyes get even wider when Zhao presses his legs open and holds them there.
That's when he manages to get a question out, but to Zhao's surprise, it's not, "What the fuck are you doing?" it's, "Why haven't you kissed me yet?"
His lips are red and shiny and plush. He's been chewing them again, despite his parents spending an obscene amount of money to break him of the habit in middle school.
So red.
So lush.
New problem.
Easy fix.
He kisses Bai Yutong until he's out of breath, and then he does it again.
Kisses him until his lips are even redder and more swollen. Until he tastes the tang of iron and Bai Yutong's fingers are leaving bruises on his arms.
Then he kisses Bai Yutong in a whole lot of different places.
Some don't do anything; some make him laugh, a few make him shiver, and one makes him scream when Zhao pries his cheeks apart and licks.
***
Bai Yutong wants it noted for the record that, yes, he is a neat freak. He likes things clean and neat and orderly.
He doesn't like dirt or germs or anything most people would call nasty.
But that….thing….whatever Zhan Zhao did with his tongue in that place doesn't count.
***
The first time he fucks Yutong, it only occurs to him after, when the heat has cooled and his mind is back, that sex is pretty fucking messy, and Bai Yutong does not like a mess.
Or germs.
And there's a whole lotta something covering his stomach.
Yutong's still looking a bit dazed when Zhao looks down at him and smears a hand through the mess on his stomach.
"It's okay, Mouse. It's white."
Yutong blinks at him stupidly, which is fitting because it's the stupidest thing Zhao has probably ever said.
He smears the mess further up Yutong's chest. Across those beautiful, swollen tits, and watches his eyes go hazy again.
"Cat, it's okay because it's yours."
Which, well, there's no hope for him at that point.
He has to fuck Yutong again.
Not that Yutong seems to be all that upset about it.
***
When he wakes up the next morning, he finds his mind more focused than it has been in weeks and his body buried under a heavy blanket and a heavier person.
Given what he did to Bai Yutong last night, he supposes it's only fair that he let him use him as a pillow.
And he's warm, and Zhan Zhao hates being cold. He's also surprisingly soft for someone with so much muscle.
He squirms out from under Yutong, but before he can get out of bed, he notices something that makes him feel both horrible and horribly turned on at the same time.
He fell asleep before cleaning Bai Yutong up, and now his cum is leaking out of….
He should put that back in. Yutong hates being dirty, will probably hate the feeling of it dripping down his thighs.
Yeah, he should put it back in.
All of it.
Every drop.
Yutong is still red and a bit swollen, but nothing concerning. He certainly enjoyed it last night based on how loud he got.
And he's still warm inside, Zhao's fingers slip in easily.
He gets a little…focused for a bit there, and it takes a few minutes to come back to himself, and when he does, he finds Yutong rubbing his weeping cock against the bed in his sleep.
They have time before work, and Yutong looks so soft, so vulnerable, and loose-limbed in Zhan Zhao's bed.
It's nothing to lean over him, take a firm grip on his wrists, and line himself up.
The breadth of Yutong's shoulders are just begging for his mouth, so he leans in and nips at his ear hard enough to wake him and says in the same tone he knows makes Bai Yutong freeze when he hears it, "Bai Yutong."
And then he sinks his teeth into his shoulder as Yutong's eyes snap open, and he plunges inside.
***
It's the best morning Zhan Zhao has had in a while. His mind is clear; he's already mentally halfway through his work for the day, and apparently, he remembered to restock his coffee supply at some point last week.
Also, sex makes Bai Yutong very, very affectionate because he hasn't been more than a couple of steps away from Zhao all morning. Even now, standing at the counter sipping his coffee and mentally preparing himself for the day, Yutong is tucked up right next to him, nuzzling his cheek and neck in between sips of his own coffee.
Which one of them is the cat again?
It's nice, though. Yutong is warm. Zhao is relaxed, and his problem is pretty much fixed.
"We're going to be late," He murmurs when Yutong starts pressing gentle kisses to his neck.
"I'm not ready," he whines.
"We have a briefing."
"Fine, we can go, but only if you promise to do that thing you did this morning tonight."
"If you're asleep when I get home."
He knows from the glint in Yutong's eye that Bai Yutong's going to be dead asleep no matter what time Zhan Zhao gets home today.
***
Zhan Zhao gets home at six on the dot, and Bai Yutong is passed out in bed, buck naked and ready…
***
The problem is not fixed.
But it's not as big as it was before. Instead of one huge problem, he just has a series of slightly smaller ones.
He can't stop thinking about the sounds Bai Yutong made.
The whimper when he kissed him.
The moan when he set his teeth in his neck.
The gasp when he first pushed in.
The squeal when he pulled Yutong back to sit on his cock.
It's not enough to make work impossible, but he does need to take short…breaks when he notices his focus faltering again.
***
There is a dark, mostly empty back section of the police parking garage that most officers don't like because it's a longer walk to the entrance. Bai Yutong prefers it because there's more room for his precious car, so it's almost always the only one there.
Zhan Zhao pushes him up against the door to suck on his tongue until they hear footsteps and have to leap apart.
***
He drags Bai Yutong into the mostly unused basement bathroom, locks the door, and shoves him against the sink until Bao Yutong gets one of those long, long legs around his waist, and they can grind against one another properly until they both come in their pants.
***
When he finds himself drifting during a briefing, he catches Yutong's eye, watches his spine straighten, and his eyes widen in something that almost looks like fear before Zhao excuses himself to get a cup of water.
Yutong follows a moment later, and Zhao shoves him into an empty hallway and drops to his knees.
Bai Yutong's teeth leave holes in the sleeves of his brand-new white dress shirt.
Zhao can hear the briefing through the wall, so they don't even miss anything.
***
Bai Yutong's ass in workout shorts….
He's not even doing anything bendy, just grabbing ingredients for lunch and Zhan Zhao can't stop staring.
He needs to….
Yutong freezes like a deer in a hunter's light when he turns around and finds Zhan Zhao staring. "No. Zhan Zhao, no. I just started - damn it, thirty minutes! Just wait thirty minutes!"
Silly Yutong, there's no waiting 30 minutes. If he waits thirty minutes, that means he won't be able to work for at least two hours. If he doesn't wait, that cuts it down to one.
"Mouse…."
"No! No. Thirty minutes, just let me finish lunch.." He can literally see the moment Bai Yutong's willpower disappears.
It may or may not be related to Zhan Zhao's hand in his pants.
Yutong lunges to turn off the stove as Zhan Zhao starts herding him towards the bedroom, but he's laughing, bright and clear and happy in a way he hasn't been in a long time. He even jumps into Zhan Zhou's arms and nearly sends them both to the floor. Zhan Zhao's following the workout plan Yutong set for him, but he's still got a ways to go.
He's dedicated, though, because he's noticed how often Bai Yutong likes to pick him up and how much he likes when Zhan Zhao picks him up, so he's working on it.
***
One night after solving their latest case, Yutong makes noises about fucking Zhan Zhao, fingers stroking down his back and pinching his ass. It's flatter and not as nice as Yutong's Zhao muses, no matter how many squats Yutong goads him into doing.
"Have you ever tried it?" Yutong asks, in the way he has when he's trying to be casual, but is actually very, very invested in the answer.
"Yes."
"What?! With who? When?"
"The girl I dated in the States. She had a strap-on and one of her friends from the sex club." He looks over when Yutong doesn't respond, and the gobsmacked look on his face makes it occur to him that he hasn't actually told Yutong about that period of his life. "I'm not sensitive there. It can be painless with the right preparation, but I can't get off on it. Some men just don't have that sensitivity in that area."
Yutong is incredibly sensitive there, but he gets annoyed whenever Zhao points that out so he's stopped.
"You can fuck me if you'd like. I don't mind." He offers when Yutong frowns, but Yutong just shakes his head and flops down next to him.
"No, it's no fun if you're not enjoying it." He stretches and puts his hands behind his head and Zhao can't help but stare at his chest.
He tweaks a nipple, watches it immediately swell and harden. "You're chest is well trained now, though." He muses.
Yutong looks confused and then embarrassed, covering his chest like the blushing maiden he definitely isn't, and he sounds horribly offended when he says, "You! You've been-I knew something was wrong; they've never been this sore before!"
"Do you like it?" Zhao reaches for the other nipple, but Yutong slaps his hand away. "I think they're even bigger than they were before."
No amount of arguing or begging gets Yutong to let him near his chest for the next week.
It backfires spectacularly on Bai Yutong, though, because once he finally does relent, Zhan Zhao manages to make him come twice just from playing with his chest and nipples.
***
He catches a uniformed officer bad-mouthing Bai Yutong in the breakroom, and he's well aware that Bai Yutong can fight his own battles, but he finds he doesn't want to ignore it.
Can't ignore it.
It only takes a few minutes to explain what makes Bai Yutong such a good officer and, by extension, what the officer needs to work on before he leaves.
Ma Han pulls him aside in the hall and says, "You might get your message across better if you don't make people cry."
Zhao Zhan has no idea what she's talking about, but she scares him on a good day, so he just nods.
***
He watches Bai Yutong take part in combative training, where he wipes the floor with every opponent and, later that night, gives in to the dark urge to make him cry.
Licks and licks until Bai Yutong is shivering on the sheets, fat tears falling down his cheeks.
***
But he hasn't been able to get that squeal, and he starts to lose focus again because he can't stop hearing that sound in silent moments in his office.
It's become painfully obvious that Bai Yutong likes pressure, intensity, and oversensitivity with his sex. At night he hurries Zhan Zhao through the first fuck and then turns into a babbling mess when Zhao carries on with the second.
And third, if it's a good night. But that's more Zhao's weakness than his. Apparently, sex recharges Bai Yutong like a freaking battery.
But still no squeal.
He can't do anything about it during the day because he wants to hear it; that's the entire point; that damn sound is haunting him. It's distracting him from their current case, a brutal killing spree by a beautician who's apparently snapped after years of dealing with pain-in-the-ass customers. She's been on the run for a week, leaving a trail of bodies behind her, and they've been two steps behind the whole time.
Zhan Zhao's focus is shot. Bai Yutong hasn't wanted to cuddle, darting off back to work immediately after anytime they spend together.
Zhan Zhao is at his breaking point.
It doesn't take too much effort to arrange things so that everyone else is gone while he and Yutong are left in the office with paperwork.
When he walks into Yutong's office and locks the door, the other man audibly swallows but, to his credit, gets his pants down faster than Zhao actually thought was possible, given how tight they are.
"Have to stop doing this at work," Yutong mutters, giving his impression of a responsible, rule-abiding adult and putting up absolutely no resistance as Zhan Zhao pushes inside.
It's a good thing Zhao waited until everyone was gone because he gets that squeal when he pushes Yutong against the cold glass door of the office, and Yutong tears down the blinds when Zhao fucks into him so hard the door rattles.
Afterward, when they're tangled together in Yutong's chair, trying to catch their breath, and the glass is clean, Zhan Zhao's mind is blissfully silent.
"Seriously," Yutong mutters, still not sounding that serious, "Have to calm down at work."
Zhao hums in agreement but doesn't actually say anything.
The solution to the case snaps into place in his mind.
"I've got it."
Yutong sits up so fast he nearly tilts the chair over. "What?"
"The first was an accident. The second was the real target, and all that followed were just distractions. She'll be near the second crime scene."
Bai Yutong does an admirable job arranging the search on his phone while pulling on his pants. Zhan Zhao gets a little focused on the flex of his thighs and buttocks, but when he looks up, Yutong gets that rabbit in the headlights look and points a finger at him.
"No! Not until the case is over. No touching, Zhan Zhao!"
"Your shirt is sticking out your fly," Zhan Zhao tells him, unwilling to admit his focus had lapsed again so quickly.
S. C. I. finds her in a building two blocks away from the second murder scene, with a clear view of where her victim died. Since they catch her with the murder weapon, Yutong decides the interrogation can wait a day and sends everyone home to finally rest.
Zhao bites red, swollen marks all over Yutong's thighs and ridiculously firm buttocks as first light comes through the window.
When they get back to work, they can't figure out how to fix the blinds in Yutong's office, so they just tear down the other set so it matches and pretend they don't know what the team is talking about when they comment.
***
For a time, Zhao's problem is solved.
Occasionally, it pops up.
Like the time Yutong had to tackle a suspect into a pool, and Zhao had to watch him strut around in wet clothes, water dripping…
He took him in the showers in the empty locker room, and they nearly yanked the showerhead out of the wall.
Or that bakery where Zhan Zhao had discovered the most delicious petit fours and couldn't stop thinking about what they'd look like disappearing into Yutong's mouth, so he'd bought a dozen and fed them to him in the kitchen. He's not sure why Yutong looked so wreaked and weak in the knees just from Zhao feeding him, but he files it away like he does everything he learns about Bai Yutong.
Or the time Yutong had worn a new pair of white leather pants that had been just a degree tighter than the previous pair, and he'd had to pull over and let Zhao fuck him over the hood of his car so they could focus enough to interview the witness to the crime they were supposed to be investigating.
Or the time they'd had the same weekend off, so Zhao handcuffed him to the bed because he couldn't stop thinking about that time when Jintang had returned, and Yutong had handcuffed them together, and the contrast of the gleaming metal and Yutong's soft skin wouldn't leave his brain.
….He might have a bit more than a little psychopathy in him, but that's a problem for another day.
Yutong was in such a good mood that Monday that he waltzed into the office whistling and scared the hell out of their team.
All in all, Zhan Zhao has found an effective way of dealing with his problem, and everything was going smoothly.
He's even gotten the rest of his life in hand. Grocery shopping and cleaning and doing laundry regularly. He doesn't remember any of it, but that's not unusual.
Then, a day comes when Bai Yutong does something so spectacularly dangerous on a case that Zhan Zhao actually loses control enough to rip into him at the crime scene.
They don't talk for the rest of the day, and for the first time in a long time, Zhan Zhao goes home to an empty apartment.
Of course, Bai Yutong doesn't want to see him. He spent the rest of the day looking like a kicked puppy whenever Zhan Zhao caught sight of him, and the team actually felt bad enough that they were being well-behaved and nice.
Bai Jintang actually brought her brother a fancy coffee from his favorite place across the city.
She brought one for Zhao, too, and they spent an hour in his office commiserating about Bai Yutong's lack of survival instincts and common sense.
Bai Yutong avoids him for two days, and Zhan Zhao would be impressed if he wasn't so annoyed.
What's worse, the team is treating Zhan Zhao too well. Like he's not the one who embarrassed Bai Yutong and made him miserable. They keep bringing him coffee and sympathy when he needs neither, and Captain Bao calls him into his office and…well, Zhan Zhao is not actually sure what the old man was trying to say; it was awkward and all over the place, and he was trying so hard to be subtle that he only succeeded in being utterly confusing.
Still, it's been a quiet two days.
The anger is still there because Bai Yutong is an idiot who never thinks about his own safety or about what would happen to Zhan Zhao if Bai Yutong were to die, but it's also really, terribly, horribly quiet in Zhan Zhao's apartment.
His focus is shattered.
He needs to apologize. Needs to make Bai Yutong understand so he can get back to work.
He goes to Bai Yutong's apartment to wait for him, since Yutong is doing such a good job of avoiding him.
It's surprisingly empty. The fridge is bare, and most of the kitchen utensils are missing. Even the air is stale like the windows haven't been open in some time.
He's eating the last of Yutong's dairy-free, sugar-free ice cream (it's disgusting) when the man himself bursts in.
Yutong looks like he's about to cry, which makes no sense. "Kitten, I-"
Zhao holds up a hand, and Yutong falls silent. He tosses the rest of the ice cream in the garbage and motions Yutong over until he's standing in front of him.
It's funny. Bai Yutong was a decorated fighter pilot. He had a very respectable military career before following the family path into law enforcement, but he can't stand still when Zhan Zhao is looking right at him.
He fidgets constantly, like a mouse's twitching whiskers.
It's adorable.
"Kitten, I'm sorry-"
"Don't. You have nothing to apologize for."
Now, he looks adorably confused. And wary.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lost control and acted like that at a crime scene. I truly didn't mean to embarrass you, but I want you to listen to me. I'm going to tell you what's going to happen if you ever get hurt or killed, Mouse. Do you understand?"
Yutong just nods.
"If you ever get hurt on a case, I am going to track down whoever hurt you and hurt them a hundredfold. Then I'm going to find whoever helped them, their friends, their families, and I'm going to hurt them. Then I'm going to find every officer that let you get hurt and hurt them a thousandfold because they didn't help you."
Bai Yutong's eyes go a little wide, a little scared, but he nods.
"If you ever get killed, I'm going to hunt them down and murder them. Their friends, their family, and anyone who knows them. Then, I'm going to kill any officer that was there and survived. Any officer that should have been there and wasn't. Any paramedic that failed to save you. Do you understand?"
This time, when Bai Yutong nods, he looks at Zhan Zhao with something softer, lighter, and when Zhao reaches for him, he practically flies into his arms.
They don't make it to the bedroom.
Zhan Zhao takes him on the kitchen floor, on a pile of torn clothes, while all their scattered pieces come back together.
He thinks he might be saying something, but he's too out of it to know for sure.
***
Zhan Zhao is saying, "Please don't leave me. Don't get hurt. Don't get killed. I can't stand it. I won't live without you. Please don't go where I can't follow."
And Bai Yutang is saying, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I won't.. I had to stop him. I'm sorry. I won't ever leave you."
***
After that, Zhan Zhao's mind is clear. Sharper and more focused than ever.
Bai Yutong keeps his promise and acts with more care when it comes to his own safety. He even stops and waits for backup on multiple occasions, always looking over at Zhan Zhao when he does, like a puppy looking for a treat for doing the trick right.
And since positive reinforcement of behaviors is the best way to enforce positive behavioral changes, Zhao Zhan gives them to him.
Bai Yutong responds particularly well to being spread out on the hood of his car and blown.
Or to being eaten out with his face shoved in a pillow.
Or curling up next to Zhan Zhao with his phone while Zhao writes.
He listens when Yutong says, "Harder, harder, oh god, again, there again."
He actually throws his back out, listening to Yutong's demands, but it works out because it takes a few hours for Yutong to be able to walk again, so they just commiserate together on the floor until then.
Zhan Zhao is doing better, too. He's sleeping at regular intervals and eating meals at normal times that aren't all takeout or junk from the convenience store down the street.
He's even gone grocery shopping. He doesn't remember it, but there's fresh food in the fridge, and he hasn't yet run out of his favorite coffee drinks, so he must have. It's not unheard of for him to do normal, thoughtless activities for hours while absorbed in thought and not remember any of them.
He even does better on the police physical test than he has in any previous year.
Granted, he spends the entire run staring at Bai Yutong's ass a few feet ahead of him, but still, it's an improvement.
And Yutong lets him bed him over the bench in the locker room after as a reward.
He briefly wonders what Bai Yutong would let him do if his shooting ability miraculously improved….
Turns out he'll suck Zhan Zhao off under his desk while he's on a work call with the university.
And that's not counting what they got up to at the private firing range after Zhao demonstrated his hard-learned new skills.
Unfortunately, his newfound peace doesn't last long.
He dealt so well with the previous problems that he got cocky, and now he's unprepared for this new one.
Zhao has a new problem.
Again.
Once again.
Bai Yuitong doesn't seem to have an apartment anymore. He doesn't even try to keep up the pretense by saying he has to water his plants (he has none) or needs to do laundry (he has a service and a disturbing habit of needing to buy new clothes anyway because blood never comes out of white).
They're watching TV on the couch; Bai Yutong sprawled across his lap because now that he doesn't bother pretending he lives elsewhere, he's also stopped pretending that he's not allowed to touch Zhao.
He barely let Zhao out of arms reach while he was cooking dinner, constantly darting around to touch him somewhere or randomly kiss him.
Now he's practically purring with Zhao's hand absently stroking his hair, and Zhao can't stop because this is the stillest Bai Yutong has been all week.
Even on Thursday when Zhao fucked him three times during lunch. An hour later, he was up chasing a suspect for ten blocks because sex might be tiring for a normal person, but for Bai Yutong, it's like getting a new set of batteries.
That and he fucking glows for hours after an orgasm, but Zhao doesn't mind that one.
He lives here now, Zhao realizes.
Which is his new problem.
All of Bai Yutong's stuff is god knows where because it's certainly not in his tiny apartment.
Which means he needs a bigger apartment because if they try putting Bai Yutong's stuff in here, they won't have room to breathe, let alone move.
And Bai Yutong deserves to have his stuff. All the gifts from Jintang that he adores, the wardrobe he's spent years cultivating.
All his fucking workout equipment.
The thought of big, bright Bai Yutong crammed into Zhan Zhao's tiny, shitty apartment sticks in his brain and doesn't leave.
Yutong doesn't deserve to be crammed into a box too small for a regular person, let alone the light of Zhan Zhao's life.
He can already feel his focus slipping.
He needs to get ahead of it this time.
The simplest solution is just to buy a new one while Bai Yutong is at work, but none of the apartments he looks at are suitable.
He ends up buying a house because he gets annoyed with all the failures the real estate agents show him, and he doesn't want to waste any more time on such a pointless activity. It's more expensive than he would like, but he checks his accounts. He could do it, though it would leave him in a precarious position for a little while.
Still, it's survivable, and Bai Yutong loves to cook, so two kitchens totally make sense.
Wait, there's a third option. Why is he being so stupid?
He calls Bai Jintang, who screams through the phone for five solid minutes when he tells her what he's doing and then rolls up with an army of lawyers and people in suits and takes over.
It's always amusing to see the amount of power in such a tiny woman and to watch her steamroll over people three times her size.
By the time she's done, she's knocked twenty thousand off the asking price and spent twice that much having the second kitchen turned into a breakfast nook and installing a pool and hot tub (because they are very different things, Zhao) over the lot next door.
Which she also bought.
Zhao asks for a privacy fence and endures the filthy jokes she makes without reminding her it's her baby brother she's talking about.
He might be slightly evil, but he's not suicidal.
When it's all done, he contemplates sitting down and rethinking all his recent life choices but then realizes he has Bai Yutong's car and his meeting will be over soon.
He picks up Yutong from work and refuses to let him drive, which apparently makes him think Zhao is dying or something because he starts getting a bit like he does when he's in a difficult interrogation, and he doesn't shut up until Zhao parks in front of the house and hands him the deed and keys.
He uses the time Bai Yutong is wandering through in a daze to arrange the movers and order takeout, and they eat on the living room floor of their empty new house, and Yutong doesn't stop smiling.
And for once, he doesn't complain about the takeout.
Zhan Zhao's mind feels like a razor blade.
***
There are a few hiccups.
New house equals new fantasies to cycle through, and he can't stop thinking about them until he's checked them all off.
Yutong ends up calling them out for a week to set up the house, neglecting to admit that the movers did that for them.
By the time he has Yutong in the shower, the bath, the living room on that plush new couch, again on the plush new carpet on the stairs, and has those bruised lips wrapped his cock in his new home office, he thinks he probably needs to give Yutong a break, but his partner insists otherwise, and by the time they go back to work the next week Zhao feels a lot more focused, and Yutong has a slight limp that takes him a few days to shake.
Not that it slows him down at work at all.
***
He runs into Lan Chenglin in Gongsun's lab one day, just in time to hear him call Bai Yutong something surprisingly vile, even with their terrible relationship.
Zhan Zhao doesn't know if he's just that fearless or he just really doesn't know his audience because even Gongsun Ce wouldn't allow someone he hated (and he doesn't quite hate Bai Yutong) to be called that in his presence.
But Zhan Zhao is the second in command, the team is his responsibility, and insulting his team leader is not something he can abide.
For the health of the team.
Lan Chenglin just doesn't know how to take a hint, though, and doubles down when Zhan Zhao points out that it's unprofessional to talk about one's colleagues that way.
And maybe there's a bit more psychopath in Zhan Zhao than he's ready to admit.
"Bad things happen to fake cops." And there's a smirk on his face as he says it that promises something is definitely going to happen to Bai Yutong in the future.
Where does he get off threatening Bai Yutong?
To two of his own teammates, no less.
And so smug, like he's not afraid of them at all. Zhan Zhao knows he's not that intimidating; he relies on Bai Yutong for anything remotely physical, but that hardly makes him harmless.
Also, there are cameras in here.
Lan Chenglin just smirks when Zhan Zhao turns to him, "Do you know what I would do if Bai Yutong was hurt?"
A gleam catches his eye.
Oh, Gongsun got a new scalpel. It looks like the new model from the States, cut with a diamond laser, and extremely expensive.
He picks it up and examines it under the light.
"This is beautiful work. I imagine it slices through bone as cleanly as it does skin."
When he looks up from admiring the blade, Lan Chenglin is gone, and Gongsun Ce is staring at him from across the room.
"Where'd he go?" Zhan Zhao didn't even get to threaten him yet.
"Seriously?" Gongsun shakes his head, "Leave the scalpel if you're going after him."
Which is kind of insulting, Zhan Zhao doesn't steal.
"Of course."
***
Everything is going so well Zhan Zhao ends up agreeing to dinner with Bai Jintang and Gongsun Ce without thinking about it. He's not sure why Bai Yutong thinks they need to do the official introduce the boyfriend to the family when Jintang and Ce have been together for well over a year now, and it's in no way a secret, but who's he to say? At least they're in one of their good periods now, and they haven't broken up and gotten back together violently since the last time several months ago.
He dresses up because Yutong warns him Jintang picked the restaurant, and they pick up Jintang and Ce in Yutong's new baby that Jintang bought him a couple of months before and in which Zhao absolutely didn't fuck him until his fingernails left permanent imprints in the patent leather back seats just last week.
"Did it come with this damage to the leather?" Gongsun asks because he's an observant bastard, but Jintang manages to distract everyone until they get to the restaurant.
She absolutely knows where those marks came from, judging by the glares she sends the two of them every time Gongsun isn't looking.
At the restaurant, Gongsun is a surprisingly good sport when interrogated about his intentions, although Jintang does eventually come to her boyfriend's defense and ask Zhan Zhao what he thinks makes a good relationship.
"Emotional bonds of equal strength," he says. "Everything else can be traded and balanced as needed, but without equal emotional input, neither side will get what they need for a happy, healthy, functional relationship."
Jintang seems pleased by his answer, even Gongsun smiles.
Bai Yutong outshines the chandelier hanging over their table.
***
Gongsun refuses to ever ride in the car again, so it's safe to assume that Bai Jintang eventually told him where the marks in the leather came from.
***
His father calls him about a marriage interview the next week, and Zhan Zhao promises to think about it just to get him off the phone.
He does think about it, but he quickly comes to the conclusion that all his needs are met, if not by himself, then by Bai Yutong, who didn't bother to even bring his bed to their new house, so there's no mistaking where he spends his nights.
He texts his father that he's not interested and not to try again while he watches Bai Yutong cook his favorite chicken dish for dinner.
No one keeps his mind calmer and clearer and more focused than Bai Yutong, and Zhan Zhao's not giving that up without a fight.
Or unless Bai Yutong wants to stop but based on the frequency with which he climbs into Zhan Zhao's lap or lectures him about his health, that's not going to happen anytime soon.
Thankfully.
Zhan Zhao's not actually sure what he'd do without Bai Yutong beside him at this point. He's not sure if it would be a survivable uncoupling, given how interconnected they've become.
When Bai Yutong is ready to marry and start a family, it's going to be a struggle to adjust.
His relationship with his father continues to deteriorate as his life living with Bai Yutong improves, and not long after he refuses the marriage interview, Yutong's parents start making noises about his own. The closer Bai Yutong has gotten with Bai Jintang since she returned, the further he's drifted from his parents, becoming critical of their handling of what happened to her when she was young and their attitude towards it since. He ignores the first few interviews, even taking on extra work as an excuse to avoid them, before reluctantly turning to Jintang for help.
In typical Jintang fashion, she covers for Yutong by causing a massive explosion and announcing her engagement to Gongsun Ce in every major newspaper without warning anyone in the family.
At the very least, he hopes she warned Gongsun this time, though Zhan Zhao notes that no matter how annoyed Gongsun is with the attention (and he gets very, violently annoyed on several occasions), he never once denies they're engaged.
Zhao helps Yutong pick out a very expensive specialty wine fridge for him.
A week later, Jintang visits the precinct with a large rock on her finger, so he guesses the engagement is real, and they throw a small, impromptu party to celebrate with just the team, Jintang, and the twins.
Ma Han teases Gonsung by asking him what it's like to be the least threatening person in the relationship.
Gonsung brushes it off, too evolved to be bothered with something like that, so Ma Han turns the question on Yutong, who gets adorably flustered, though Zhan Zhao has no idea why.
"Bai Yutong is the most dangerous person in all his relationships." Zhan Zhao says, which makes Yutong smile and the others laugh.
"You've clearly never seen your face when someone is standing too close to Bai Sir," Jiang Ping says, and the others nod along even though Zhan Zhao has no idea what they're talking about.
"Yeah, that look is how we know whenever you're thinking about Bai Sir," Wang Chao says, and they all laugh some more.
Zhan Zhao lets it go; god knows with their job, they need to find things to laugh at, and they're all tipsy now, but he makes a mental note to ask Yutong about it later.
***
"It's so fucking hot," Yutong moans later, Zhan Zhao's thrusts pushing him up the wall because he's been letting Yutong manage his strength-building workouts, and his reward for meeting his bench press goal was getting to fuck Bai Yutong against the wall. "As soon as you look at me, I know what you're thinking."
Apparently, Zhan Zhao does have a specific expression when he thinks about Bai Yutong.
"I-, ah! I think I might just come from that," Bai Yutong's teeth dig into his shoulder.
Zhan Zhao stops, pulls back
"What? No, why did you stop?"
"That's interesting."
"No, no, it's not. Cat, it's not. Go back to what you were doing and forget I was ever stupid enough to say anything."
But it's far, far too late for that.
He's still confused about why the others think he's scary, though.
***
Turns out he cannot get Bai Yutong to come just from a look, but he gets damn close.
***
At some point, another problem starts to form in the back of his mind, but it takes so long to take shape that Zhan Zhao misses it for a long time.
There are other things to worry about. Cases, of course. Zhan Zhao's relationship with his father implodes, and not long after, he gets confirmation that Zhao Jue is, in fact, Zhan Zhao's father, and he's mostly just relieved to have answers and an excuse not to talk to his father again.
It explains a lot about certain aspects of Zhan Zhao's personality, but Bai Yutong gets particularly offended when he points that out, so he stops.
Bai Yutong still has to talk to his parents, although his relationship with them sours badly when he learns they knew and helped Zhan Qitian cover it up.
He decides Bai Yutong needs a particularly good reward when he walks out on a dinner with his parents because they surprised him with a marriage interview and brought the girl and her parents to ambush him.
Zhan Zhao is feeling particularly vindictive after everything and convinces Bai Yutong to come with him to the Bai family residence on a day he knows its empty.
Bai Yutong catches onto his plan when he locks them in Bai Sr's precious office and clears the desk.
"No, we shouldn't. We'll get in so much trouble. This is a bad, bad idea," Bai Yutong says while he flings his clothes off with more enthusiasm than he ever has before. And then proceeds to be loud as fuck while Zhan Zhao fucks him over his father's desk until all he can do is stare up at the ceiling in a daze, his stomach covered in his own spunk.
They manage to get everything cleaned up and are long gone by the time any of the Bai's return.
***
Bai Jintang sends them a particularly expensive dessert and encrypted thumb drive that night via private courier.
Apparently, for some reason, neither of them wants to dig into; she has cameras in their father's office.
Zhan Zhao feels like it should be weird to watch himself have sex, but it's mostly just…
"Hot," Yutong mutters as he watches Zhao lift his leg over his shoulder to open him up more, "So fucking hot."
They feed each other desert in bed and tuck the thumb drive away for safekeeping.
Yutong even lets them relax for a few minutes before changing the sheets.
***
Yutong starts making noises about telling people they're living together, which… is odd.
Did they not already know?
Zhan Zhao didn't think they were trying to hide it and realizes he's told multiple people. Everyone at the university where he teaches and at his publishing house knows.
So does pretty much everyone at the station.
Was it supposed to be a secret?
He keeps his mouth shut and lets Yutong make the announcements. A few people look confused, but a look from Zhao shuts them up, and they nod along.
Their families balk, which isn't surprising, but since they really only talk to Bai Chi and Bai Jintang anymore, and those two are over the moon, they don't get stuck on it for long.
Everything should be perfect. Most people were supportive, money changed hands, but Yutong made sure they got a cut, and Bao Sir had no issue as long as they continued to perform well.
There were a lot of 'I told you so's,' a lot, and Yutong did have to put down a few idiots that made snide remarks around the station.
When he mentioned never hearing any of it himself to Ma Han, she laughed so hard she fell out of her chair.
But other than all of that, they settle into a life so peaceful that Zhan Zhao feels like it's a trap. Like he's missing something and has no idea where to even start looking.
It sticks in his brain for months.
Then a year.
A year of cases, some complex, some less so. A handful of conversations with Zhao Jue that he only tells Bai Yutong about. Zhao Jue seems concerned and then amused as time goes on, and Zhao talks more and more about living with Bai Yutong. In an odd way, he even seems happy for him.
Ironically, eventually, it is Zhao Jue of all people, that figures out what his problem is.
***
Right before the finale kicks off, Zhan Zhao is in the middle of his latest novel, stuck on how to get to the climactic final scene he has planned.
Bai Yutong comes back from a run and finds him staring into the full refrigerator, trying to figure out what he's craving, and asks what he's doing.
"I went grocery shopping again." Zhao realizes.
"You did?" Yutong sounds confused.
"I don't remember it. I never remember grocery shopping."
"You're sleep grocery shopping?" Yutong sounds concerned now.
"No, I just don't remember unimportant things. The brain has a limited capacity for memory, so I don't waste it."
"Ah, makes sense…" He still sounds off, though.
"You never go grocery shopping with me," Zhao realizes.
Yutong nods, "No, I shop alone." He sounds like he's being careful. "Wait, how do you know if you don't remember?"
Zhao gives up trying to figure out his snack and closes the door. "I never forget anything that involves you."
He goes back to his writing, leaving Yutong standing in the kitchen.
He finally has an idea of how to bridge the scenes in his book.
A few minutes into typing, Yutong joins him with a plate of cheese and crackers, and Zhao's mouth waters.
He eats as he types, and Bai Yutong curls into his side.
He gets oddly clingy at the weirdest times.
***
He starts to narrow down that problem at the back of his mind.
It's Bai Yutong because it always is, but there's something else. He's rarely away from Zhan Zhao these days, aside from the few times when they're needed in different places for a case or Zhan Zhao has classes to teach at the university.
The few nights they've spent apart usually end with Bai Yutong falling asleep while they're talking on the phone. And almost always, while he's reminding Zhan Zhao to go to sleep at a decent time.
Zhan Zhao just finds very little draw to a bed that doesn't have Bai Yutong in it.
He thinks it might be a clothing issue. Bai Yutong wears a white tie one day, a gift from a boundary crossing coworker, and Zhan Zhao gets so out of sorts he makes them switch in Yutong's office at work.
Yutong borrows one of Zhao's jackets one day after his is ruined while apprehending a suspect, and Zhao has to pull him into an off-limits storage closet and get two fingers in him before he could calm down.
He watches Bai Yutong bathe one night, resisting Yutong's attempts to get him in the tub, too, because he just wants to look at him. At all that flawless, soft skin stretched over well-defined, well-cared-for muscle. Aside from a few scars, the only marks on it are Zhan Zhao's.
"Bai Yutong, sometimes I can't tell if you really are this perfect or if my brain is just filling in the gaps because I want you so badly. But I don't think even my brain is that powerful."
Yutong always gets extra clingy when Zhan Zhao has these moments.
He kisses every inch of Bai Yutong multiple times. Once, he gets so distracted during a weightlifting session that he makes him stop and grab the bar so he can eat Yutong out until he comes all over his precious workout bench.
Zhan Zhao has a problem, and all he's managed to do so far is narrow it down to the fact that the problem is Bai Yutong.
He feels like he did better with the previous problems.
Bai Yutong spends his precious day off sitting at the back of Zhan Zhao's lecture hall, asking beautifully intelligent questions that prove he is actually paying attention whenever Zhan Zhao rants about psychological theory, and Zhan Zhao just has to get on his knees after that.
They never do find the expensive pen Bai Yutong dropped between the seats.
He definitely did better with the previous problems.
He watches Bai Yutong fold laundry and make dinner and can't stop staring at his hands.
His bare, bare fingers.
Unfortunately, just as it feels like he's getting a handle on the problem, Zhao Jue returns.
***
Zhan Zhao loves his work with the S. C. I. He loves mysteries and solving puzzles. He loves going to work every day with Bai Yutong and coming home every day with Bai Yutong. He likes catching bad guys with Bai Yutong and dispensing justice with Bai Yutong and stopping evil with Bai Yutong and eating with Bai Yutong and bathing with Bai Yutong and doing chores with Bai Yutong.
….
He may be approaching a level of codependency with Bai Yutong that's not necessarily healthy.
But when Zhao Jue asks him for his help, Zhan Zhao feels compelled to accept.
Zhao Jue has stumbled across a child trafficking ring, and because even Zhao Jue has limits, he'd like to destroy them all. Because he's a psychopath, he'd like to destroy them all alongside his son.
Because he's got a little bit of that psychopathic tendency, Zhan Zhao agrees.
But he remembers what Bai Yutong had told him about when he left for the States. How leaving with no warning made Bai Yutong feel.
Zhan Zhao's not doing that again, and when he talks to Zhao Jue about it, clarification comes like the sun breaking through the clouds after a storm.
Bai Yutong's left hand was empty. Unadorned.
Bare.
That was Zhan Zhao's problem.
"I loved a woman like that once," Zhao Jue shares.
"What happened to her?" Zhan Zhao asks, wary.
Zhao Jue smiles, "She got to know me and left."
"What did you do?"
"I let her go."
So even the terrible Zhao Jue is affected by love. That's somewhat reassuring to Zhan Zhao.
Zhao Jue is an artist, and Zhan Zhao inherited some of that skill from him. He makes the rings in an abandoned warehouse the night before they're scheduled to leave on the smuggler's boat.
Delicate silver and white gold because those will look best against Bai Yutong's skin and fit his chosen aesthetic. He engraves a cat endlessly chasing a mouse on the inside, puts his own ring on his finger, and the other in a small envelope with a note.
"You have a certain look when you're thinking about Bai Yutong." Zhao Jue muses while he watches him write. "It's rather predatory. Like a cat who's cornered the mouse and knows the carnage is about to begin."
Is that what Ma Han was talking about when she said they could all tell?
***
They drop the envelope in the maildrop at the dock.
***
Bai Yutong gets the letter mere hours after the boat has set sail.
He's not sure what he's more enraged over, that Zhan Zhao didn't take Bai Yutong with him or that he thinks this is an appropriate way to propose.
At first, Bai Yutong only notices the note because Bai Chi accidentally opens the envelop and forgets to look past the piece of paper, and all Zhan Zhao's note says is, "With father. When I get back…"
And then nothing.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Bai Yutong rages, abandoned again, while Zhan Zhao is off with only a psychopathic serial killer to take care of him.
"Maybe there's a hidden message!" Zhao Fu suggests, desperate for something that will calm his boss down.
The others quickly throw out different ways to find different kinds of invisible ink, but thankfully, Luo Tian is smart enough to pick up the envelope and shake it just to check.
The chime of the ring as it hits the table silences the whole room.
Jiang Ping squeals, Wang Shao claps, and the others happily point and giggle as they watch Bai Yutong stare at the ring as it spins and eventually stills.
"Is that…
"Yes!" Ma Han yells, unable to control herself.
And then they all have to watch Bai Yutong manfully try not to cry.
"There's something on the inside," Luo Tian says, and when he hands it to Bai Yutong, the engraving of the cat and the mouse catches the light and gleams.
"Put it on, Bai Sir!"
"No! No way! That asshole has to put it on my finger himself."
Bai Jintang gives him one of her nice silver chains to hang it around his neck until that time comes, and if the S. C. I. team is a bit more motivated than normal, it's only because child trafficking rings are the worst of the worst, and they need to be caught as quickly as possible.
It has nothing to do with seeing Bai Yutong fiddling with his ring whenever he's still or troubled.
***
Thankfully, between Bai Yutong's natural skill and the S. C. I.'s motivation, they catch up to the traffickers and Zhan Zhao and Zhao Jue relatively quickly.
They do have to call Bai Jintang for help because they catch up to them at sea, and the police don't have boats fast enough to catch the traffickers.
Gongsun Ce is not happy that Bia Jintang is once again in the middle of a case, but by this point, everyone knows it's because he's worried about her safety and not about the evidence, so they all ignore him.
The twins are always useful in a fight anyway.
Zhao Jue sticks around long enough to make sure Zhan Zhao, who catches a bullet from a trafficker in the abdomen, is going to be okay before he disappears.
Not that the S. C. I. makes much of an effort to catch him anymore. They're all a bit distracted, legitimately, this time, anyway. He's pretty sure he saw Luo Tian put someone through a wall, and Ma Han was hanging someone off the side of the boat at one point.
And Bai Jintang is always a bit crazy in a fight. Zhao Jue regrets not spending more time with her before.
But it is Bai Yutong he keeps the closest eye on, keeping pressure on Zhan Zhao's wound as the S. C. I. captain cuts his way through anyone standing between him and Zhan Zhao.
He likes his new son-in-law, he decides and hands off the care of Zhan Zhao without a fuss. He disappears before Bai Yutong has to explain letting him go.
***
Pain is not something Zhan Zhao is accustomed to, and the pain from a gunshot wound is immense. Everything else is a bit slow, a bit muted, beyond the pressure of Zhao Jue's hand and then Bai Yutong's because Bai Yutong bursts in just in time to save them, per usual.
Bai Yutong's never not been able to save Zhan Zhao.
Yutong looks like he's on the verge of crying and also very angry as he yells for the medical team.
Very, very angry.
At Zhan Zhao, not the bad guys, which seems kind of backward, but Zhao gets distracted when he notices that Bai Yutong's hand is bare.
His ears start ringing.
Where the fuck is the ring he made?
Yutong is still yelling something about safety and partners and stupid risks when Zhao spots the chain around his neck and pulls on it until the ring pops out of his shirt.
"Zhan Zhao, are you listening to me at all!?" Yutong shrieks as the team and then the medics crowd around them.
Zhao nods along; he's not listening at all. There's a strange ringing in his ears that manages to drown everything else out, but the thought that Yutong's finger is bare, bare, bare.
He does manage to get the ring off the chain and grab Yutong's flailing hand.
He gets the ring on Yutong's finger, the ringing stops, and everything is right with the world.
Then the world goes black.
***
He vaguely remembers sirens and terribly bright lights.
He wakes once, that he remembers, in the hospital to a furious Bai Yutong at his bedside with red, red eyes, but all he has the energy to do is grab his hand, look at the ring on his finger, and smile before he's out again.
***
Bai Jintang delights in giving him a detailed rundown of his half-conscious proposal and Bai Yutong's flustered response. She's less pleased with how terribly worried her brother was, how afraid Yutong was that he'd end up a widow before he even got to get married, but she's willing to let it go if Zhan Zhao goes along with her plan.
***
A week after he gets out of the hospital, Zhan Zhao escorts Bai Yutong to his beloved sister's wedding and walks him all the way up to the altar.
***
He briefly wonders if Gongsun Ce knew this was supposed to be a double wedding from the start or if Jintang's true motive was using Yutong and Zhao to get Gongsun there instead of the other way around.
Either way, the problem is solved, and Zhan Zhao can focus again.
***
Zhan Zhao is still taking it easy a week later. Bai Yutong has told him their honeymoon is postponed until he's one hundred percent recovered, and he hasn't let Zhan Zhao do anything but lay still while Bai Yutong rides him painfully slowly.
Zhan Zhao is not stupid. He knows it's punishment, and he's accepting it with appropriate seriousness.
There may or may not be a competition going to see which of them comes first the most often.
Zhan Zhao is winning, and it is not cheating that he's using the lingering pain from his injury to do it.
He's grading papers on the couch when Bai Yutong returns, arms full of groceries.
…..
….Wait…
"Go back to your book, kitten."
***
Ma Han does eventually ask him where he thought the food was coming from, and she laughs for a long, long time at his answer.
~fin~