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Zhao Yunlan reclined comfortably on the couch in a room full of very wealthy people and pointedly ignored the strongest, most badass man he knew who was a few steps to his right, kneeling demurely on a small cushion and trying desperately to pass for a harmless, doe-eyed twink. It wasn't the worst effort. It helped that Shen Wei was absurdly pretty and that it hadn't taken much window dressing to turn him into an even tastier morsel than usual. What didn't help was how Shen Wei feigned genuine submissiveness about as well as he held his liquor — which was to say not at all. Zhao Yunlan had learned that the hard way on one of their first cases together so he was being very careful to vet anything he passed over to his… well. Partner, technically, but here and now they were up to their necks in potential suspects in the middle of an exclusive resort for wealthy men and their very human pets in pretty collars.
The joint task force he and Shen Wei were a part of were trying to root out the source of a web of criminal activity in the province and it had come down to infiltrating the resort where several potential suspects spent a significant amount of time. When the idea had first come up over tables of evidence and too little sleep and too much bad coffee, Zhao Yunlan had eagerly volunteered the two of them for the undercover roles. Shen Wei, who'd been Zhao Yunlan's partner for a couple of months now and was therefore not the least bit surprised, had rolled his eyes but agreed. Zhao Yunlan had immediately started searching websites for the perfect collar for himself.
Then they'd realized the one holding the leash, so to speak, needed to be the one doing all the schmoozing.
Shen Wei had briefly paled before his expression had turned resolute, the version Zhao Yunlan had learned to interpret as completely terrified but too stubborn to admit it. So Zhao Yunlan had looked fondly at the exquisite leather piece he already had pulled up, closed the window after bookmarking it for later, and started shopping for Shen Wei's collar instead. Shen Wei hadn't been nearly as enthusiastic about the process, but he had been palpably relieved at Zhao Yunlan taking on the more gregarious role. Shen Wei could glad hand just fine, but this was likely to be at least a week of round-the-clock role play and they weren't infiltrating an academic conference. Surely he could pull off 7 days or so of acting like he didn't make junior officers pee themselves with a stern look. Right?
Honestly, Zhao Yunlan hadn't been expecting it to be quite this much of a disaster. He knew for a fact Shen Wei actually had been a wide-eyed ingenue once upon a time; Zhao Yunlan had seen the photos. How baby Shen Wei hadn't been eaten alive before he'd ever even made it into the police academy was anyone's guess. Now, however, that armor apparently didn't come off around strangers, not even when it meant an undercover op going more sideways by the moment. Now they were three and half days in and not only had they not made any progress, they were in danger of just plain getting made. Given the company they were keeping and the secrets floating around, that was the sort of thing that might have some significant consequences.
This maneuver was going to be their last ditch effort, otherwise they were going to have to bail and call it a failed mission. Zhao Yunlan didn't think Shen Wei had ever had a failed mission. That was probably why he'd agreed so readily when Zhao Yunlan had whispered the idea in his ear the night before while they were huddled safely under the covers in case of cameras or listening devices. Anticipating the opposite, Zhao Yunlan had prepared a mental list of arguments earlier but Shen Wei, curled into Zhao Yunlan and all tightened up with agitation and disgruntlement, had just nodded immediate agreement. As he smoothed Shen Wei's soft strands of hair back like he was a grumpy, cuddly Da Qing, it occurred to Zhao Yunlan this wasn't going to help the thing he had for his partner at all.
(He was fairly sure Shen Wei felt the same way, especially after the last few days, because some of those make outs had definitely not been feigned. He just wasn't sure and he really didn't want to be wrong.)
From his position on the couch, Zhao Yunlan saw out of the corner of his eye as Shen Wei took a deep breath and straightened up his already perfect posture a little more. Zhao Yunlan didn't tense but he did take mental stock of the room. He was still talking to the same well-positioned executive he had been for the last forty minutes, the other's own 'boy' draped over his lap and posing to best effect. Zhao Yunlan wasn't impressed by the effort; the secret to looking available but untouchable was a good lounge.
The rest of the room had roughly the same population and configuration of people as it had for the last half hour, so he didn't know what had made Shen Wei decide now was go time. Regardless, it was cue enough that he was ready, so Zhao Yunlan nodded along with the executive's unending, senseless self-promotion and lazily reached over to the small side table. From the selection of small desserts, he hovered a moment over a bit of cake with sweet white cream in the middle, the possibilities of that imagery not at all lost on him, but it would be too sweet for Shen Wei's tastes. Instead he selected a moderately sized strawberry dipped in chocolate. Zhao Yunlan had seen Shen Wei indulge in occasional bites of chocolate and memorable was one word for it. (That chocolate had begun appearing as occasional gifts from Zhao Yunlan after that first time was just him being thoughtful. Absolutely no one but Shen Wei was buying that story.)
Without looking, Zhao Yunlan held the strawberry out — down low. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shen Wei's head tilt just slightly and he could well imagine the look on his face as he tried to puzzle out the solution to a challenge. Zhao Yunlan waited patiently, even as the man in front of him slid a judging side-eye in Shen Wei's direction.
"Your boy…" he said, delicately, a bare step shy of a sneer, "he's a bit… rough."
"The sweetest victories come from the greatest challenges," Zhao Yunlan answered with a toothy smile. "His training is coming along well."
His conversation partner hummed noncommittally. "Generally, practiced companions are preferred here. An image to maintain, you understand."
"Image is everything," Zhao Yunlan said with a nod. "He's bit like a sports car, though. Very much worth the trouble, if you take my meaning." He turned his gaze away as if uninterested in any further self-defense, casually scanning the room to see what kind of audience they had and gaining a better view of Shen Wei in the process.
Shen Wei shifted, body dropping so he was on his hands and knees, eyes focused on the strawberry in Zhao Yunlan's hand like it was an enemy combatant to be eaten alive. With a sinuous grace Zhao Yunlan had only ever seen him execute on the practice mat, Shen Wei crawled the few steps to Zhao Yunlan's outstretched hand, hips and shoulders rolling loose enough to hint at excessive flexibility on demand. There he paused again, his face a truly adorable study of concentration as he figured out the next step in his plan of attack.
Zhao Yunlan realized he was being spoken to again and snapped his attention back to the conversation — half of it anyway, it's not like he could completely ignore Shen Wei kneeling at his hip. His conversation partner hadn't noticed; he was watching Shen Wei now with a feigned disinterest.
The strawberry trembled ever so slightly in Zhao Yunlan's fingers and he glanced down to discover Shen Wei had leaned forward and was taking the tiniest bite possible out of the tip of the fruit. He pulled back a few inches as soon as he did, his throat working in an obvious swallow despite the minuscule bit of berry and chocolate he'd consumed. Then he slowly leaned back in and started taking barely larger, kitten sized bites of the treat.
It had been Zhao Yunlan's suggestion, but it turned out he hadn't actually considered what it would be like to have Shen Wei literally eating out of his hand, lips quickly turning slick and red from the warm strawberry juices, the barest wisps of his breath against Zhao Yunlan's fingers. This was much, much worse than Shen Wei feeding himself a bit of chocolate. In an excellent but terrible development, he was relaxing into it too, muscles losing tension they'd been carrying for days. Without the hard shell he habitually wore, he looked pliable and delicate and desperately in need of protecting. Zhao Yunlan had only ever seen him so unguarded in private and seeing it so suddenly in this situation was like seeing him stripped bare.
Zhao Yunlan realized he was full on staring at Shen Wei and whipped his head around only to discover no one was paying any attention to his break of character. Half the room was also outright staring at Shen Wei and absolutely no one was looking at Zhao Yunlan. Which was so understandable, Zhao Yunlan's ego didn't even protest. Hah. See if anyone questioned Shen Wei's place there now.
He felt the graze of teeth against his thumb and looked back down, careful to settle his face into a possessive indulgence should anyone manage to tear their gaze away from the vision working his way through the fruit in Zhao Yunlan's fingers. Nearly finished with the strawberry, Shen Wei had a small smear of chocolate on his lip that he licked away even as Zhao Yunlan watched. Then he leaned forward and slipped his tongue between Zhao Yunlan's fingers to dexterously steal away the last bite of strawberry.
Zhao Yunlan clenched his jaw to try and keep his expression as neutral as he could because goddamn he had not expected that! A quick grin twisted across Shen Wei's lips as if he were proud of himself right before he leaned forward again and carefully started sucking Zhao Yunlan's fingers clean.
Zhao Yunlan promptly lost track of anything else going on in the rest of the room. He couldn't look away, couldn't hear anything but the buzzing in his ears and the tiny little wet sounds as Shen Wei sweetly reduced Zhao Yunlan to ash. The soft, wet heat of his mouth wrapped around Zhao Yunlan's fingers, the slick slide of his tongue along Zhao Yunlan's skin, the gentle pull of barely-there suckling, and — oh, fuck, was that a little hum? Like he was satisfied? Zhao Yunlan managed to swallow down the squeak that tried to slip out. With the traces of juice and chocolate apparently tidied up to Shen Wei's satisfaction, he peeked up at Zhao Yunlan through his lashes.
The pride in Shen Wei's eyes almost instantly turned uncertain as soon as he got a look at Zhao Yunlan's face. He slid a glance sideways as if suddenly realizing the rest of the room was now very nearly silent and his expression, still brutally unarmored, visibly fell and he started to lean back. Zhao Yunlan panicked because apparently he was somehow screwing this up — they'd been doing so well! Shen Wei had been so proud! He did the only thing he could think of that fit the context. Seizing Shen Wei by the back of his neck, fingers tangling in the soft leather collar, Zhao Yunlan rolled up to a sitting position and swooped down to kiss him, licking the last traces of chocolate and strawberry off his lips. Shen Wei gave a small trill of surprise, but leaned into it, letting Zhao Yunlan have him as he pleased.
It took a few moments of drowning in the taste of chocolate and strawberry and Shen Wei, but Zhao Yunlan did manage to regain his wits. He pulled back and murmured "Good boy" loud enough to be overheard by anyone nearby. He didn't think the roughness of his voice would be held against him and the swipe of his thumb across Shen Wei's lips that he couldn't help probably looked possessive.
He all but threw himself back against the cushions, forcing his attention back to the delicate matter at hand, and found his erstwhile conversational companion looking far more impressed than he had earlier. Zhao Yunlan smiled and set about spinning the legitimacy they'd just gained. After a while he could finally take the chance of glancing back down. Shen Wei hadn't moved and was still kneeling softly at Zhao Yunlan's hip, eyes lowered, long lashes resting on flushed cheeks, lips still very red and slightly parted.
Given their current location, Zhao Yunlan felt it was pretty ironic he needed to act relatively unaffected while he was actually suffering. Shen Wei, head still tilted carefully down and the buckle at the nape of his neck exposed, glanced up suddenly to meet Zhao Yunlan's eyes, his expression shifting into calculating. Then he gave Zhao Yunlan a lightning quick grin that was legitimately wicked. That look said Shen Wei had finally realized he could make Zhao Yunlan do absolutely anything he wanted and as soon as they were truly alone, Zhao Yunlan was going to find out exactly what that was like. Zhao Yunlan very nearly had an out of body experience with the intensity of lust and anticipation that jolted through him along with a teeny, tiny little bite of fear because there was no way Shen Wei was going to go easy on him if they were playing this game. Zhao Yunlan was going to suffer a thousand deaths and it was going to be amazing.