Chapter Text
Happiness had always been a strange concept to Shen Wei. Humans seemed to have so many different ideas what would bring it about: wealth, power, revenge, or even love, the most elusive and incomprehensible of all. What they didn’t realize was that while a demon might be able to procure them all that, no demon could grant them happiness, not even for the price of a soul. (Shen Wei had stopped accepting those a long time ago, those for sale were generally not very pretty, and he had no idea what to do with them.)
Only now, after so many decades, did he finally come to understand what all the fuss was about. If this was what happiness felt like, it suddenly made sense that humans were so desperately seeking it.
Shen Wei put a hand to his chest where a strange elation seemed to fill him, made out of sunshine and Zhao Yunlan’s smiles and the weight of Lin Lin’s head on his shoulder. It tasted like ice cream and the salt of the sea and Zhao Yunlan’s lips. It was digging your hands in the wet sand and raising up a castle just so Lin Lin could tear it down. It was Zhao Yunlan taking his hand, warm and sure and surprising. And then Lin Lin taking both of theirs, slightly more sticky, and demanding to be swung into the air. It was trying things you never tried before for the simple pleasure of lighting up the eyes of someone you had come to inexplicably care about.
When the sun turned golden and started its slow descent towards the misty horizon, Lin Lin was so tired that she fell asleep riding on Shen Wei’s back, her arms around his neck and her hair tickling his throat. It was time to go home, and Shen Wei had never felt so reluctant to do something inevitable.
Zhao Yunlan drove them back to the house because Shen Wei couldn’t tell him that he had an easier way to get home, and also he felt surprised to realize he didn’t mind travelling in Zhao Yunlan’s strange vehicle if it meant sitting next to him and being able to unabashedly watch him in the falling darkness.
The stars were coming out when they stopped in front of the house, and Zhao Yunlan gave him a rueful smile. “I, uh… have an early shift tomorrow, so I probably should head home,” he said.
“Oh.” Shen Wei smiled back, trying to not let his disappointment show. “Of course.”
“But I had a lot of fun today. I could come back tomorrow. Bring dinner? If you need more help, or, you know, just want the company.”
“Yes!” Shen Wei nodded quickly, and now his smile was genuine and bright. “I would very much appreciate that.”
Zhao Yunlan beamed at him, and Shen Wei beamed back. It took him a solid moment until he realized that for Zhao Yunlan to be able to drive home, Shen Wei had to get out of the automobile. He ducked his head, reaching for the door, but in that moment Zhao Yunlan leaned over, stopping him with a hand on his arm.
When he looked up, Zhao Yunlan kissed him. Softly. Surprisingly. It wasn’t like that electrifying kiss they had shared at the beach, but it was almost more earth shattering for its gentleness. Zhao Yunlan’s mouth lingered, their breath mingling warm against Shen Wei’s lips, and he could hear Zhao Yunlan’s smile when he whispered, “Just to avoid any misunderstandings.”
Those words tugged at something inside of Shen Wei, but he shoved it away.
He got out of the automobile and picked up the sleeping Lin Lin, watching Zhao Yunlan drive off before he moved from the front step straight to his bedroom with a twist of his body. Then, with Lin Lin safely tucked in, he stepped out on the terrace behind the house and looked up to the stars shining brightly in the sky above. He had watched them for well over a century now, but never with such a feeling of joy in his heart. He would do anything to hold onto it.
Over the next days, Shen Wei lived, which was honestly something he had never done before. He had existed—in this world, mostly, but sometimes others. Had dealt with humans (often badly) and his own kind (even worse), but mostly kept to himself. He had played music, read books, or taken a night time stroll through a museum or temple of old. Had watched the trees grow and the mountains shift. But he had never sought out a connection to a human being, and now there were two of them to engage him in games of hide and seek, or simple conversation and sometimes lingering kisses that seemed to make his heart grow in his chest. It was the most curious, wonderous feeling. A rush so heady, that Shen Wei couldn’t help but wonder if it wasn’t some spell, some kind of magic he had gotten caught in.
The only thing telling him this was not the case were the looks Zhao Yunlan would sometimes give him, searching and with a hint of suspicion stubbornly in place. His questions were always subtle, but Shen Wei could feel his frustration growing with every evasive answer he was giving. He knew he had to explain his existence to Zhao Yunlan at some point, probably sooner than later, but he kept putting it off.
A week later, they were heading back to the house from a trip to one of the big gardens humans made for recreation where they had previously destroyed all of nature’s own beauty. They had had a meal while sitting on the ground on a blanket, and Lin Lin had climbed some strange structures like a monkey. Like so often, Shen Wei had been worried at first, but Zhao Yunlan had smiled at him fondly and reassured him that it would be fine; apparently these things were made for humans of her age.
The excursion had been surprisingly pleasing, like many of the human activities Zhao Yunlan was introducing him to, but it was getting late now. They were walking down a small street that Zhao Yunlan had called a “shortcut”, Lin Lin on Zhao Yunlan’s back this time, and Shen Wei was just wondering if it would be all right to take Zhao Yunlan’s hand, when there was suddenly movement in the dark.
Shen Wei stopped, a hand on Zhao Yunlan’s arm, as all his senses went on alert. There were no chickens this time. This was a real threat. These were demon hunters who had set a trap for him to step in. Once they dropped their enchantments Shen Wei could sense them: five figures in dark cloaks, each of them holding a crossbow directed at him.
He was still moving to shield his companions when five bolts came, aimed without regard for collateral damage. He couldn’t slow time for more than a split second, but that was all he needed to summon his blade into his outstretched palm. With a boost of his power, he pushed Lin Lin and Zhao Yunlan down, swung his weapon wide to deflect three of the bolts, and evaded two more before coming to a protective stand in front of them.
But he knew it wasn’t enough. They were too many. Fear seized him like he had never known before. He wasn’t invincible, but killing him was far from easy. The same couldn’t be said for Lin Lin—or for Zhao Yunlan, who had come up in a crouch with his gun in hand, trying to shield Lin Lin between them.
“Police! Stand down!” he called, gun pointed at one of the hunters.
Shen Wei let his eyes bleed red, let his power rise up and pool in his left while he was holding his demon blade in his right. If he had to fight, he would fight. And if they hurt what was his, he would make these self-proclaimed vigilantes regret each and every day of their lives that had led them here.
But maybe they realized that they had picked the wrong fight, the wrong day, and most definitely the wrong demon, and they probably hadn"t expected to find themselves confronted with human authorities. Whatever the reason, they vanished into thin air—or rather magic pollution so strong it made Shen Wei choke.
He had to take a few deep breaths before he could banish his weapon into the demonic realm again and turn around to Zhao Yunlan and Lin Lin. He was still a little breathless, but it was the relief flooding him when he saw that both were unharmed that almost made him dizzy.
“Come on,” he said, quickly holding out his hands for them to grab. “We need to get away from here.”
Lin Lin was already clutching his leg, her big brown eyes wide, and he quickly bent down to pick her up. He reached out to Zhao Yunlan again. “Come on!”
But Zhao Yunlan just stared at him with an unreadable face. “You’re—you’re not human.”
Shen Wei stood and watched him, a strange cold settling around him. He had known he couldn’t hide it. Not forever. He slowly shook his head.
“All this time…” Zhao Yunlan sounded completely disbelieving. “You’ve been lying to me.”
“I’m sorry,” Shen Wei said, desperately searching for the right words. “I didn’t know how to— Please. They might come back. We have to get away from here!”
Zhao Yunlan looked at his palm, which was still outstretched, and made a face. With his mouth pressed into a thin line, he finally gripped Shen Wei’s hand, and gripped it hard. His eyes were boring into him with a cold glare, and all Shen Wei could do was to step forward with purpose and pull Zhao Yunlan with him.
The next moment they were on the terrace outside the house. The evening sun was warming the stones and lighting up the surface of the small lake beyond, the air filled with the sweet scent of lavender and jessamine. It was so close to perfection it seemed almost unreal.
“Can we do that again?” Lin Lin squealed, so delighted at what had just happened that she seemed to have forgotten the scary men already.
Shen Wei gave her a quick smile. “Not right now,” he said, putting her down. He took a moment to collect himself, a hopeless undertaking as it seemed. When he couldn’t avoid it any longer, he turned around to face Zhao Yunlan.
“You must have questions,” he said quietly.
Zhao Yunlan raised his eyebrows. “You think?” When Shen Wei remained motionless and silent, he shook his head, hand going to his neck. “Who were those people?” he asked with what Shen Wei recognized as the voice of Officer Zhao.
“Hunters.”
“What do they hunt?” Officer Zhao asked.
Shen Wei’s voice became even more quiet. “Demons. Vampires. All kinds of creatures of the night.”
“And what are you?” That snide question was all Zhao Yunlan.
Shen Wei reached out and put a hand over Lin Lin’s eyes. Then he let his eyes bleed red. His teeth came out. He looked up at Zhao Yunlan defiantly. He wouldn’t be ashamed. He was what he was. “Demon,” he said, and then thought he might as well go all out. A pair of smokey black wings shimmered into existence at his back.
Zhao Yunlan stared at him for a long time, then his gaze dropped to Lin Lin who was wriggling and giggling in Shen Wei’s hold. “What about her? Is she too...?”
Shen Wei quickly shook his head. “No. She’s entirely human.”
“But she’s not your daughter,” Zhao Yunlan said, as if he was just now having that epiphany.
“I told you that.” Shen Wei frowned. “I couldn’t father a human child.”
Zhao Yunlan laughed mirthlessly. “If she’s not yours, how did she come to be with you? Did you steal her?”
“No!” Shen shot back indignantly. As if he would go around robbing parents of their children. “She was given to me as payment.”
“Payment?” Zhao Yunlan looked at him utterly appalled. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“It’s not like I asked for it!” Shen Wei shot back with a dark look. “You humans, always looking to blame someone else for your base motives. Always trying to cheat yourself out of the consequences.”
“Do you even know who her parents are?”
“No, I—”
“Don’t you realize they must be worried sick?” Zhao Yunlan was looking at him as if he had never seen him before. In a way that was true, of course.
“You don’t understand. They’re not—”
But Zhao Yunlan wasn’t listening anymore. He turned away from Shen Wei abruptly, and with a few quick steps he had grabbed Lin Lin around her middle, lifting her up.
“W—What are you doing?” Shen Wei asked, panic seizing him. He felt like his whole body was filling with lead.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Zhao Yunlan scoffed. “I’m a police officer. I’m taking responsibility. For all I know her parents are desperately looking for her.”
Shen Wei shook his head. He had checked; he knew where she had come from. No one was looking for Lin Lin. But Zhao Yunlan was not paying him attention any longer. He was walking away with Lin Lin in his arms. And all Shen Wei could do was watch. Zhao Yunlan’s stride was wide and confident, but his shoulders were hard with tension, and Lin Lin’s little face looked back at Shen Wei, her eyes wide and confused and her lip starting to tremble.
“Zhao Yunlan,” Shen Wei called, his voice breaking. “Please wait. Yunlan!”
Zhao Yunlan stopped, but he didn’t turn around. “Don’t call me that,” he said. “Liars don’t get to call me that.”
Shen Wei sucked in a sharp breath, pressing a hand against his chest. It was as if something was breaking inside of him, thousands of shards cutting him to pieces. He hunched his shoulders, trying to breathe, which wasn’t even strictly necessary for him, and yet he felt like he was suffocating. Something spilled from his eyes, and when he touched his face with a trembling hand, his cheek was wet. Something was wrong. Everything was wrong, and he had no idea what was happening to him.
With Zhao Yunlan and Lin Lin gone, he looked around, at the house—his sanctum—but it was just an empty ruin. He didn’t know how long he stood there, time didn’t have much meaning for a demon. The sun was almost down when he stepped into the house—stumbled, really, because his legs didn’t seem to work right anymore—but there was nothing magical anymore about the golden light filtering into the rooms. For the first time, all Shen Wei could see was dereliction and decay.
He sat down at the piano, but his hands seemed to have forgotten the music. Shen Wei balled them into fists and pressed his eyes closed, tried to find at least some remnant of himself inside, but there was nothing left but the sensation of being ripped apart. He wondered if this was what it felt like to die, if this was damnation, but no one came to drag him off in chains.
All he could do was sit, frozen in place, as his eyes kept leaking. It didn’t stop, and Shen Wei was suddenly scared it never would. This was all that was left. He couldn’t take it. He needed… he needed…
There was no twist, no step through space. There was nothing graceful about it. He just slipped from his seat and crawled and then cowered in the darkness.
*
It was late, closer to dawn breaking than dusk falling, and while Zhao Yunlan was far from ready to face a new day, he just wanted this one to end. Having his heart broken twice in one day was not a pleasant experience. As he took the stairs up to his apartment, he just tried to shut his brain down, tried not to think about everything that had happened. Not Lin Lin’s tearful little face when he told her that she couldn’t go back, that she had to go with the tired-looking lady from social services. The little girl had tried to hold onto him, had cried for Baba and Lan-gege and it had taken Zhao Yunlan every ounce of professionalism to not break down or just grab her and run.
Where to he wouldn’t have known anyway, because he didn’t even allow himself to think who had caused all this. To think of who Shen Wei was or what he had done. But he couldn’t help the image of him rising before his eyes, the devastated look on a face so deceptively innocent. No, he wasn’t thinking about this; he only wished he could have shut his heart down as well.
Finally home, he unlocked his door and stepped inside, slipping off his shoes in the dark. His apartment wasn’t big and he’d have known the way to his bedroom even blind. But as tired as he was and as much as he longed to just fall face forward onto his bed, he knew that would just lead to more thinking, and he really needed to curtail that. Maybe a drink would help with that, and if it didn’t maybe three or four was the remedy.
With his eyes already adjusted to the darkness, he left the lights off in the living room as well, so that the only illumination came from the faint street lights falling through the windows. With his mind focused on the bottle of wine he was planning to empty, it took him a few steps to notice the dark figure hunched on the floor by the couch. Zhao Yunlan froze. Then his hand flew to his gun, but before he could draw, the figure raised its head from its knees and Zhao Yunlan recognized—
“Shen Wei.” He let out the breath he had been holding. “Goddamnit.”
Shen Wei pulled himself up from the floor, and Zhao Yunlan glared at him.
“So now you’re breaking into my apartment?” He huffed. “No. What am I saying? You can just shimmy yourself in, right?”
“Zhao Yunlan…”
He sounded awful, but Zhao Yunlan was not willing to let that affect him.
“No.” He held up his hand. “This is not how it works. You can’t just come here, into my apartment, without asking, without being invited—”
“I—I’m sorry.” Shen Wei looked at him distraught. “I don’t know how—”
And then he vanished.
“What the fuck?”
Zhao Yunlan turned in a circle, looking around, but already there was a knock at the door. He narrowed his eyes, stomped to the door and ripped it open without bothering to ask who was there. Sure enough, Shen Wei stood on his doormat, looking up at him with forlorn eyes. It was decidedly unfair for a demon to look like that.
“Can I come in?” he asked. The light from the hallway revealed how completely dishevelled he looked, his face pale and his eyes red-rimmed. “Please,” he said, and it sounded close to begging.
Zhao Yunlan sighed and held the door open so that Shen Wei could pass him by, but didn’t meet his eyes. Closing the door, Zhao Yunlan took a moment, trying to collect himself, but when he turned back around and saw Shen Wei standing there, looking lost and a picture of abject misery, it already was for naught.
Still, he tried his best to harden himself against all the squishy feelings Shen Wei evoked in him and that made him want to draw the other man—demon, he reminded himself—into a hug. Instead he asked, “What do you want?”
Shen Wei hesitated. “Where is Lin Lin?” he asked quietly.
Zhao Yunlan let out a heavy breath. “We tried to locate her parents. Turns out she’s an orphan.”
“Yes. I know.”
Zhao Yunlan cocked his head. “Did you?”
Shen Wei nodded. “I looked. When she told me, I looked. Where…?”
“A good place.” At least Zhao Yunlan desperately hoped that it was. “She’s being taken care of. But… she’ll miss you,” he said with a sad smile. “She’s gotten attached to you.”
Shen Wei looked like he might actually be dying inside; it was hard to bear.
“She’s not a pet,” Zhao Yunlan told him, maybe more harshly than necessary. “Even if she doesn’t have parents, you can’t just keep her. There are laws.”
“I—I didn’t know… you said I should—” His voice was breaking and he visibly swallowed. “I didn’t think—”
One hand clutching his chest, Shen Wei doubled over, letting out an inhuman sound.
“Shen Wei?” Worried now, Zhao Yunlan took a step forward. “Are you alright?”
“No....” Shen Wei shook his head. He looked terrified. “Zhao Yunlan… I—I think... something is wrong with me.” Tears leaked from his eyes. “I don’t understand… It—It hurts.”
And like that, Zhao Yunlan’s heart broke for a third time that night.
“Why does it hurt so much?” Shen Wei gasped. “I can’t… make it stop. I can’t—”
It would have been difficult for a far more jaded person to hold back at that point. But Zhao Yunlan"s worst-kept secret was that he was soft like a marshmellow inside. There was no way he could just watch Shen Wei fall apart, confused and scared, in his living room. He closed the distance between them with a few quick strides and pulled Shen Wei into his arms.
He trembled and clung to him like a man drowning.
“It hurts,” he choked out against the hollow of Zhao Yunlan’s throat.
“I know.” Zhao Yunlan blinked back his own tears. “It’s okay.”
As Shen Wei shuddered, Zhao Yunlan put his hand against the nape of his neck. “Shhhh. It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”
“Is this what it’s like?” Shen Wei whispered despairingly. “Does it always feel that way?”
“Does what feel that way?”
“Love.”
Zhao Yunlan took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “No,” he said quietly. “Not always.”
Shen Wei raised his head to meet his gaze. “I’ve never… before Lin Lin… before you…”
His dark eyes were so very desperate, teardrops still clinging to his lashes, and it made Zhao Yunlan’s heart seize. Smiling felt painful, but then everything felt painful at that moment. And yet there was only one thing Zhao Yunlan could do.
He took Shen Wei’s face in his hands, thumbs gently wiping at his cheeks. And then he leant in and kissed him. It wasn’t a kiss to comfort, they were far beyond that. It was a kiss to lay claim. A kiss that said that it was okay. That he was forgiven. That Shen Wei belonged to Zhao Yunlan now, and he didn’t care what or who he was, that he wouldn’t let him go.
Shen Wei kissed him back like a man fighting for his last breath.
It felt inevitable when they stumbled towards the bedroom, and yet like a precipice. The wildest choice of all the crazy decisions Zhao Yunlan had made in his life, and yet he had never been more certain about anything.
He had taken many men to bed, but nothing had felt like Shen Wei, fierce and powerful, trembling in his arms, kissing him with desperation while Zhao Yunlan pushed his suit jacket off his shoulders. His fingers, usually so smooth, fumbled with the buttons, and his hands shook when he finally brushed Shen Wei’s shirt apart, pushed up his pristine vest so he could touch the hard body underneath.
Their eyes found each other, and their lips found each other, but there were no words, nothing that could capture that feeling of a pact being forged that could not be broken. With every step, with every piece of clothing that fell to the floor, Zhao Yunlan felt like he was unwrapping something sacrosanct, something that was not made for him, but that Shen Wei was giving to him anyway. Just to him.
As they reached the bed, he pushed Shen Wei down onto the rumpled sheets, and then had to take a moment to look at him like that: lying in Zhao Yunlan’s bed, ruffled and thoroughly kissed, lips parted and chest heaving, eyes full of awe.
Zhao Yunlan’s own desire for Shen Wei felt like a toxin running in his veins, and he impatiently pulled his shirt over his head and pushed one knee between Shen Wei’s legs as he leant over him. Shen Wei responded by curling his fingers into the hair at the nape of Zhao Yunlan’s neck and pulled his head down into another almost brutal kiss.
Pushing down with his hips, Zhao Yunlan could feel the hard length of Shen Wei pressing against his belly, still separated by too many layers of cloth. But it was still not enough, would only be enough if he had Shen Wei’s cock in his hand, or maybe his mouth, or, yes, god, the idea of Shen Wei actually fucking him had his heart racing in his chest.
He reached down with one hand to fumble with their belt buckles, but Shen Wei stopped him, strong fingers curling around his wrist. When Zhao Yunlan looked up at him, questioningly and slightly out of breath, Shen Wei’s dark eyes were full of hunger. And then he flipped them with one easy move, sending a thrill through Zhao Yunlan’s body as he was reminded that this was no ordinary man in his bed, but something more powerful than he could fully comprehend.
Zhao Yunlan didn’t know what he had expected, but probably not the usually so polite and formal Shen Wei pulling off Zhao Yunlan’s pants and underwear, wrapping his strong fingers around Zhao Yunlan’s cock and then bending his head down to take him into the hot furnace of his mouth, and down even further until he was pushing into his throat.
Zhao Yunlan’s whole body arched, his balls tightened up, and he breathlessly gasped, “Shen Wei! Shen Wei!” as he pushed against his shoulders, because it felt too good, too much, and he didn’t want it to end so quickly.
Shen Wei pulled off and looked up at him questioningly, his hair dishevelled and his mouth bruised, and Zhao Yunlan had never seen anything more arousing in his life.
“I won’t—I want—” he stuttered, and Shen Wei’s eyes narrowed. And then he smiled that devastating smile, right there, with his lips still red from sucking Zhao Yunlan’s cock, and let his hand slide down, one finger pressing between his cheeks.
“This?” he asked, and Zhao Yunlan’s heart stopped for a second.
He nodded, unable to get a word out or look away from Shen Wei’s dark gaze, from all that desire and wonder and affection.
He had only done this a few times, and truly enjoyed it even less often, but now all he wanted was to feel Shen Wei pushing inside of him with all that strength and power he was yielding and that he wouldn’t give to anyone but Zhao Yunlan. He wanted to bind them together, physically and emotionally, so that he could keep Shen Wei save and hold him close and never let him think he was alone again.
Preparation was easier when your lover was a demon, and yet it hurt that first moment when Shen Wei pressed forward and sank into him, filling him, pinning him in place. But then he started to move, slow thrusts reaching deep inside of him, igniting his whole body as pleasure pooled in his belly.
His cock was hard and aching, and Shen Wei wrapped his fingers around it once more, stroking so torturously slow and yet just to the point, the contrast granting him no room to catch his breath. All Zhao Yunlan could do was hold onto him, hand clutching Shen Wei"s shoulder and pulling at his hair, eyes holding each other captive as Shen Wei slowly fucked him to the brink of breaking apart. And then, just when Zhao Yunlan thought he would keep him there forever in perfect pain and pleasure, his thrusts became harder, faster and he was flung over the edge, as Shen Wei came inside of him with a strangled gasp of, “Ah Lan!”
They lay with their legs entangled, too exhausted to care about cleaning up in that moment, Shen Wei still half on top of him and close to slipping into oblivion. But there was one last thing Zhao Yunlan needed. Thought they both might need, actually. And so he stroked Shen Wei’s hair and quietly asked, “Show me?”
Shen Wei tensed. He realized what Zhao Yunlan wanted and pushed himself up on his elbows, looking down at him uncertainly.
“Are you sure?”
Zhao Yunlan nodded. “I don’t want you to hide what you are. And I want you to know that I don’t care either way.”
Shen Wei closed his eyes. He exhaled, and when he opened them again they were red. Zhao Yunlan sucked in a deep breath at the sight of Shen Wei—wild and dangerous and beautiful. Blushing, Shen Wei ducked his head, but Zhao Yunlan reached up and stopped him with a palm against his cheek. And Shen Wei smiled at him softly, revealing sharp teeth.
“What about…?” Zhao Yunlan glanced over Shen Wei’s shoulder before giving him a meaningful look.
Shen Wei frowned and then seemed to take a moment to concentrate, as if this was a more difficult task, but then black wings shimmered in the early light of dawn, there and yet not quite there, as if Zhao Yunlan really only could see them from the corner of his eye.
“Why are they so…?” He didn’t even know the word for it.
“They don’t belong in this dimension,” Shen Wei explained.
Zhao Yunlan gazed up at him thoughtfully. “What about you?”
Shen Wei leaned down and gently pressed his lips against Zhao Yunlan’s.
“I think I do now.”
~*~
Two months later...
Shen Wei looked up from the stack of paper Zhao Yunlan had just handed him.
“These… are these adoption papers?”
Zhao Yunlan nodded with a smile. Shen Wei’s education in all things human was ongoing, but he had made a lot of progress. A few weeks ago he might have asked whether Zhao Yunlan needed a blood sacrifice to seal the deal.
“I didn’t want to tell you as long as I wasn’t sure it would work out. Today I got the official confirmation. If we want we can adopt Lin Lin. I mean, I would be the one adopting her, since you, well, lack a birth certificate for starters. But that doesn’t mean—”
Shen Wei was already on his feet, interrupting him with a forceful kiss.
“Then you’re not disappointed—?”
“Disappointed? No. Of course not. I’m... very happy.”
He smiled one of his sweet smiles, the one that even after over two months made Zhao Yunlan question whether he had actually dreamed that whole demon business, because, surely, it wasn’t possible to be a fearsome demon, and yet be so incredibly adorable.
Still, he had to make sure.
“Even though you won’t be her father, officially?”
Shen Wei shook his head. “When I first got Lin Lin, you told me that I could make the choice to be a father to her. Will you give me that choice again?”
“Of—of course.”
“Then it is better this way. You’re a police officer. You know about human rules. I still find many of your customs baffling.”
Zhao Yunlan squinted at him. “You want me to be the responsible parent? Is that what you’re saying?”
Shen Wei gave him an innocent look. As if Zhao Yunlan would fall for that.
“All right,” he said. “We can split the responsibilities. You’ll protect her from evil forces and see to it that she eats three meals a day—”
“Other than ice cream and lollipops.”
“Right.” Zhao Yunlan wagged his finger at him. “And I’ll make sure she goes to pre-school, doesn’t play with your demon blade, and gets all her shots.”
Shen Wei looked at him taken aback. “She needs to get shot?”
Zhao Yunlan smiled at him with a glint in his eye. “What?” he asked. “Don’t you trust me?”
For a moment Shen Wei’s dark eyes narrowed, studying him from under furled eyebrows. It made heat pool in Zhao Yunlan’s belly, and that devious demon bastard obviously knew that, because he leaned in and kissed him softly, before he whispered against his lips, “Only as far as I can throw you.”
Luckily, that was quite far.