Work Text:
yixuan doesn’t see zhuyan as soon as he thought he would after that night.
the rainy days cease, and they close that case, immobilizing bai-zhu easily with bells like zhuyan had told him to. when his father asks how he knew where to go and what to do, yixuan simply explains that the archivist made valuable contributions with the scrolls he’d found, and his team’s long hours of research had made it possible. not one to doubt yixuan’s competence or abilities, his father had nodded and left it at that, not asking any further questions.
he doesn’t care for credit, he never did.
but he’s uncertain whether he should tell his father about the whirlwind of a visit he received the other week, so he decides to credit the success of the case to their archivist and the rest of his teammates instead.
it’s been a few weeks since then, yixuan continues on with his days as he normally would. though there are significant changes in his daily routine xiao-chen begins to point out (to his surprise. he wasn’t aware his brother paid much attention to how he moved about in a day) as nights continue to wave by. like how he spends so much time cleaning his sword by the window than he used to before, or how he’s been staying closed up for unreal hours in the office late into the night and leaving only at the break of dawn.
now, see.
though xiao-chen calls him out with suspicious eyes (he understands it’s a little out of character for him to suddenly change the schedule of his working hours), yixuan has nothing to respond with except the truth.
which is, he really does have many cases to work through? there are 4 different demons going around the city, making bold attempts to show the workings of the ‘real hierarchy’, trying to make loud claims that they won’t be put under the rules and regulations of their mortal half, won’t be bound by it. angrily insisting that they won’t be held back under the control of the demon hunting bureau.
he found it a little amusing when he first heard they’d specifically made sure to point out his name and the demon hunting bureau as motive for their actions, except.
the bold attempts they made following their ridiculous claims turned out to be the unwarranted targeted murders of so many citizens.
which bought an abrupt stop to his amusement and caused the activation of his workaholic tendencies.
it’s eating away at his internal energy at a faster rate than any other case he had to work on before, especially with the rising reports on his table every passing day. whoever those demons are, they’re working tightly, and if he isn’t wrong, the probability of them having connection with the higher-ups isn’t looking to be all that low either.
he’s almost completely certain someone’s helping them move their pieces from behind the veil. it’s unlikely for murderers, or even yet, demons to go uncaught for weeks as they bring rise to countless casualties. even with all the equipments and men sent out into the field, they’re unable to get any relevant clues or information regarding the identification of the assailants.
as his workload grows and he has no proper reports to offer the minister, his father has also begun to try and persuade him to sending a letter to the royal court, asking for assistance from their investigative/assassination organization. that which yixuan refuses to dabble in, knowing the dirty behind-the-scenes of all their dealings.
he presses two fingers to his temple, grimacing at the beginning of a headache that pulses under his skin, “heavens.”
“i understand you’re truly caught up with the complexities of this case but,” xiao-chen is saying from where he sits on the other side of the table. “you are sure you’re not waiting for someone?”
yixuan picks up his pen-brush to note down the findings of the day before he leaves for the night, “xiao-chen.”
“it is a reasonable assumption to make, you look as though you’re on edge.” the younger boy says, gesturing to his face with the thin book he’d been reading. “…waiting for something.”
“it’s the case.” really.
“sure it is,” he agrees, simply, and then adds, “but also someone else.”
it’s always hard to get xiao-chen off certain topics when he’s hellbent on proving himself to be right. yixuan scribbles down another sentence before responding, “who would i have the chance or time to meet, being here all the time?”
“that visitor from a few weeks ago.” he states, not a question.
his hand freezes on the parchment, “who?”
“our guard stationed at the entrance told me absently a few weeks ago she saw a figure leaping over the roof inside the demon hunting bureau and when she made an attempt to catch whoever she thought to be trespassing, she saw you let them in before she could.” his brother gives him an unfamiliar tilt of a smile he can’t place properly before sipping on his tea, “though whoever it was left just minutes later.”
yixuan purses his lips, “it is not what you think.”
“was it a woman? diē* told us to not shy away from romantic endeavors, we only have to tell him if we find someone worthy of our affections and-”
“xiao-chen.” yixuan cuts him off, pouring himself some tea too, strangely parched, “it was not a woman, and no, it was a visit without warning. this is no romance.”
“so you keep saying.”
he tries to not roll his eyes. simply sets his cup aside and returns to writing, “continue on with your reading and spare me the pain of this conversation, would you?” not that this is one, but the thought of entertaining topics and happenings of romance with his 16-year-old brother isn’t something he wants to be doing right now.
he can feel his brother’s hawk-eyes on him, but pays it no mind, intently keeps his focus trained on the words he copies down, careful.
xiao-chen resigns to the silence and flips a page.
when another quarter of the hour passes and he makes some progress with the notes, he gets up, picking up his cloak and wrapping it around his shoulder, “it’s nearly time for supper, come. i’ve figured out some cracks in the case i want to discuss with diē before we settle in for the meal.”
xiao-chen closes his book.
—
“i wasn’t going to tell him either way.” xiao-chen says, sounding put upon.
they’re on their way back to his office, yixuan would probably have a late night again. his father had, to his younger brother’s exasperation, called the other staff members of the bureau to share dinner with them so they could discuss the case. he has to sift through their findings and see if their speculations align. he thinks it might, and it’d help him sleep better if he learns something of relevance before he retires for the night.
xiao-chen had asked if he could stay until a little later and followed him. the older doesn’t mind. tonight of all, he’d like some company.
“you should stop with your attempts at lying to me, you’re terrible at it. you’ve always been terrible,” yixuan says, then motions a finger between the two of them, “you and i both know you were considering telling diē of it all after the others excused themselves.”
xiao-chen almost told their father of zhuyan’s existence.
the existence of the same demon xiao-chen still thinks is a woman, and a human.
on both parts which he is wrong about.
yixuan doesn’t bother to correct him, because either way, it doesn’t matter.
when they arrive to his office, xiao-chen places a hand on his arm, “xuan-ge, it won’t change our mind about you if we found you to have a majestic lover who waits for you and who you meet late after midnight on rainy d-”
yixuan flicks his brother’s forehead, cutting him off, then moves to let them in, “let it go. there is no lover, for goodness’ sake, i already told you -”
they come to a pause outside the open door, not entering.
there’s someone sitting on his desk.
no - there’s.
zhuyan’s here – (?)
and he’s sitting on yixuan’s desk.
yixuan stares, taken aback.
he’s donned in a full black ensemble this time, though his telltale golden embroidery designs aren’t missing, nor has the style of his hanfu changed, flowing. his hair is tied in the same braid as before, but this time, it falls loosely over the front of his shoulders, strands deliberately framing his face in a messy, intentional way.
the demon smiles at him, moves his fingers in a curled manner as if to wave. his umbrella is placed to lean back against the desk, and his other hand is occupied with what looks to be the other’s case scrolls.
yixuan is, like all those weeks ago, momentarily struck at his sudden appearance.
when did he…?
“guards –” xiao-chen starts urgently and yelps when yixuan pulls him in the office and closes the door behind him. the younger frowns at him and whisper-exclaims, “ge, the guards - there’s a stranger sitting on –”
he knocks lightly on his brother’s head, “he’s a friend. lower the levels of your voice, the entire estate need not be aware of his visit.”
“friend?” xiao-chen asks, turning to the demon still seated on the desk, who spares a second to smile gracefully (?) at the younger boy. “i haven’t seen him before.”
zhuyan lets out a soft laugh, setting aside the scrolls. he glances at yixuan, “so who’s this?”
“my younger brother, zhuo yichen.” he moves towards his desk, then beckons at xiao-chen to follow, “this is a new… acquaintance of mine, zhuyan.” the supposed lover you keep talking of, which i won’t tell you about just yet.
xiao-chen is clutching his book closer to him and nods politely, hesitant.
zhuyan raises his brow around a smile as yixuan nears him, “does it run in your family to feel intimidated by my face at first sight or?”
yixuan ignores the self-serving compliment and the reminder he makes of their first encounter all those nights ago and to see what the demon meant by that, looks back to his brother, whose ears are beginning to redden a little. he represses a growing smile as to not scare the teenager off, “will you not join us?”
“no, it’s.” his eyes dart from zhuyan’s face to yixuan’s, the demon’s smile grows amused at that, “i thought it’d do you well to have company tonight, but since he’s… here, i’ll just head back to my quarters.” he slightly bobs his head before murmuring a faint, “good night.” and giving one additional nod (eyes still lined with confusion and surprise) to yixuan, he leaves, closing the door lightly behind him.
yixuan turns to the demon, giving him and the way he lounges on his desk a pointed look. he doesn’t like anyone sitting on his desk. when zhuyan only stares back at him, clueless, he sighs and rounds the table to settle back into his chair, deciding to let it be.
the demon rises from his position, charming his umbrella to float back up into his hand.
yixuan waits for him to sit at the now unoccupied seat on the other side, but the demon rounds the table and leans down to peer at the open scrolls, eyes wide in curiousity. the former allows him, this immortal is an obvious odd being and yixuan is simply just not going to question anything.
he squints, “homicide cases?”
yixuan ignores the feel of zhuyan’s arm brushing against his shoulder and nods in response, “you haven’t heard of these?”
he shakes his head, “i was back home this past month, at mount kunlun.” he takes one of the scrolls into his hand, absently placing his umbrella on the desk. he makes a thoughtful noise. “all these murders seems to be interconnecting, the way the bodies have been kept to show, the way they died. what’s that about?”
yixuan hesitates. by regulation, he’s not allowed to share the details of any investigation with those not in the bureau’s employ, but.
zhuyan can help, and he’s helped before, so.
yixuan pulls out a parchment he’d kept under the pile of scrolls on the side and hands it to him, “it is surely done by the same person. this demon – he leaves these signatures at every place of his attack; we don’t have records of his sigil anywhere in our records. it’s putting up a wall to our progress with the case.”
zhuyan leans back on the desk, unfurling the parchment. his eyes narrow, “that rightful bastard.”
yixuan waits for the demon to look at him. when their eyes meet, he asks, “you know who it is?”
the demon looked like he tasted something bitter. he folds the paper and gives it back, tutting to himself, “a nian. it’s a hybrid with the animal form that i can only explain looks like what you mortals would call a ‘lion,’ though not really one. that signature belongs to him, it used to be everywhere in the wilderness before. he liked leaving a mark.”
he nods along, “and would he be working alone?”
zhuyan shakes his head, “no. he moves around in a pack, it’s unlikely he’d be able to get a fill to his ego if he were to venture out alone, he’s big on pride.”
“i know that much, i think,” yixuan comments, and elaborates when zhuyan looks at him expectantly, “he’s a little more than angry and thrown of balance with my - all our - existence. with the accomplishments of the bureau.”
zhuyan laughs, delighted, “sounds about right, he’s. his murder motive is simply that. he can’t bear with the stinging feeling of inferiority.”
“that bit was obvious,” he begins to jot down the details, “it would be hard to capture them, won’t it?”
zhuyan flips his hand up and down to show uncertainty, “not much, he’s a little hotheaded, it’ll work in your favor. they’ll go wherever he goes, so you don’t have to worry about them being scattered. the hard part for all of you would be locating him, i’d say. he leaves no trace.”
yixuan can work with that, he stands up to organize the useless documents to the other side so he can start anew. this is something, he finally has something to have sent to the minister. “did he just leave those signatures anywhere?”
“it used to be just around the wilderness before, he only ventured out into the human world five years ago.” zhuyan tells him, his fingers absentmindedly playing with the trinkets on his desk.
that could be why they didn’t have a single record of the signature and drawing in their records.
he quickly stacks the scrolls and folds the parchments, making short work of it. zhuyan’s attention has drifted to a glass ball he found, humming softly as he examines it.
yixuan doesn’t look away immediately, he can’t help but notice how well zhuyan wears the whole white-silver tones of his hair — there’s something about it. he hasn’t seen anyone pull it off quite like this before.
it’s a little enchanting.
“what had you suddenly deciding to come here for?” yixuan asks, moving a pile of documents aside and tucking them under the desk alongside some few other discarded stacks.
zhuyan looks away from the glass orb, letting it drop back into the satin box he got it from, “i was hoping to make use of the favour you owe me from last time, but i suppose that can be put off for another day.” he cracks his neck to the side, wincing. then shakes his head, pushing his hair back.
“what were you hoping to make use of it with?”
zhuyan gives him a sly smile, eyes sparkling, alight. “another day.” he brushes off non-existent lint from his sleeves, looks up, “also, would it be okay for me to assist you and your team with this case? i could help speed up the searching bit. the sooner it’s over, the better, yes?”
yixuan stares at him, searching. then moves to shelve the scrolls, “won’t you be expected back home?”
“i live with my best friend, he has my back covered for atleast one week. and we will be able to sort out this case within 5 days.” zhuyan says with a clap, not giving yixuan a chance to respond before, “that’s settled then, i’ll come in early tomorrow morning and see if i can track him or any of pack members down.”
yixuan’s lips twitch upwards, “well.” okay.
he blinks, thrice in a row, “what?”
“your enthusiasm is… something notably unique, that’s all.” he says, trying - and failing - to not smile at the open confusion on zhuyan’s face.
zhuyan makes a noise, “i am but a diligent being.”
he turns away, pretending to focus on putting away the scrolls so he isn’t seen smiling for a long time. he just can’t help it, “and you say that in a way that suggests otherwise.”
the demon wrinkles his nose, “your intuition skills are a little scary.”
yixuan closes his eyes to push back his laughter, “i’ve been told.”
zhuyan tsks. yixuan hears the sound of the umbrella opening so he turns back to him, “leaving?”
“yes, i mean –” his eyes lights up in an unfamiliar glow of playfulness, he opens the window, “– it’s raining.” he points out.
yes, yixuan sees that. “right, and?” is the rain supposed to be his cue to leave?
zhuyan’s smile widens, and he does the same thing he did the last time he came, sits on the edge of it and twists around the sill so his back faces the room, then laughs to himself, the sound rich with genuine liveliness, “i happen to hear your brother talk of some lover of yours paying you visits on rainy evenings long after midnight.”
yixuan mentally makes a note to have a serious talk with xiao-chen about his choice of words later, “eavesdropping, were you?”
“it doesn’t fall under my fault if i just happen to be born with enhanced hearing and people talk in my hearing vicinity.” he shrugs, still wearing that winning smile. sly fox, yixuan thinks. “me leaving earlier than i’d originally planned is to ensure you’re able to meet with this mysterious lover of yours, i wouldn’t want my presence to delay it.”
yixuan shakes his head at his antics, a little entertained, and turns back to the last pile of scrolls on his desk, methodically organizing them in sections.
“whoever could this majestic person be?” zhuyan is asking, then laughs again when yixuan’s expression flickers with humour, “quite curious.”
when yixuan looks up, parting his lips to reply, the other man has already disappeared.
this time, he’d left red ripples of energy in his wake.
yixuan smiles, small, as the red waves dissipate.
outside, the thunder roars.
—
they solve the case within four days.
—