bailongmediakink | Round One

As I was driving home from a convention I suddenly had the vivid image of Shen Wei putting on gold lip paint.

Why? What was the the context? Was it for a ritual? An undercover thing for a case? A performance of some sort? Something kinkier? Something angstier?

(There was a lovely branching discussion about this on Twitter, if you want a starting point: https://twitter.com/glymrs/status/1233747206852640771, but I'm honestly interested in as many interpretations of this idea as people want to throw out there. Go wild!)

Thanks to

fangirlishness for beta reading (´ ∀ ` *)

-

Zhao Yunlan misses the one year anniversary. He doesn't mean to, of course, but immediately prior to the big day, he's at a symposium in Cold City, giving a lecture on security protocols in relation to Dixing powers. Then a storm forces all flights to become suspended and he spends the entire day, along with the next one, waiting at an airport and only has two brief phone conversations with Shen Wei, who is in Dixing.

When Zhao Yunlan finally gets back to Dragon City, all the celebrations are over and he's only given a small piece of cake as a token. It's his father who personally comes to his apartment to hand it to him and, although Zhao Yunlan wants to tell him to fuck off, he just smiles and accepts it.

-

The second anniversary goes better. Zhao Yunlan wakes up in his own bed, not exactly alone, thanks to Da Qing jumping on his chest and then out the open window.

Splashing noises are coming from the bathroom, undoubtedly made by Shen Wei. Zhao Yunlan stretches in the gloriously warm patch of sunlight hitting his bed and waits. After a period of silence, Shen Wei comes out fully dressed–he's wearing the Envoy's outer robe on top of a suit and shirt blacker than any fabric Zhao Yunlan has ever seen. His face is...

Shen Wei isn't wearing his mask, nor his glasses. His face is bare except for–Zhao Yunlan sits up to see better–some gold paint on his lips. His expression is unreadable and it makes worry twist inside Zhao Yunlan.

"Xiao Wei, baby, what is this?"

Shen Wei looks away before he answers, "Remembrance..."

Oh.

"...I need to make one appearance in Dixing to say a few words about him. Then I'm free to do whatever you like," Shen Wei continues and Zhao Yunlan feels like he's missing information.

"They like him now?"

"He gave them–us–light."

Two years ago Shen Wei had exploded Ye Zun and himself in a mix of light and dark energy. Shortly after, Zhao Yunlan had commited suicide by Guardian Lantern.

Somehow, however, a day after that, Zhao Yunlan had been spat back into his body and Shen Wei had miraculously reformed out of the floating energy in the middle of the throne room in Dixing. The Lantern had kept glowing, unerring, like the Sun since then.

After the shock of... rebirth? reincarnation? plain-old returning? had faded, Shen Wei had told Zhao Yunlan that in the nowhere and everywhere between time and space, Ye Zun had done something to keep the three of them from dying. Ultimately, Ye Zun had ended up forcing Zhao Yunlan out of the Lantern and replacing him with himself.

Why, Shen Wei had had no clue, Ye Zun hadn’t said.

The public had not been told of this, as far as Zhao Yunlan knew–only the top officials in Dixing.

Confusion must be showing on his face, because Shen Wei explains, "The news broke the day before the anniversary last year. My suspicion is that it was someone from the palace, a follower who had overheard, maybe. I think... most didn't believe it when they heard. But some wanted to show gratitude and respect and I–"

Silence engulfs the room, Shen Wei's eyes get teary and Zhao Yunlan puts two and two together. "You joined them in the tribute. That’s what the lipstick– You confirmed the rumor that way."

Shen Wei doesn't answer immediately, just grimaces, perhaps in an attempt to smile. "He's my brother. I couldn't leave him."

"Of course not," Zhao Yunlan agrees. Grabbing his clothes, he goes to the bathroom to get ready himself. He doesn’t have any scheduled appearances but damn, if he’s not going to spend the day glued to Shen Wei’s side.

-

Zhao Yunlan stares at himself in the mirror as he mulls over an idea.

He has been struggling with the Ye Zun situation since before it was neatly resolved. Because, see, Ye Zun had made Zhao Yunlan's worst nightmare a reality but he'd then saved him from it.

Then, there’s the fact that Ye Zun is Shen Wei's beloved brother, and Zhao Yunlan now knows the whole story of his terrible life and understands why he’d made his bad–absolutely horrible, completely shitty–choices.

Zhao Yunlan sighs and picks up the bottle of gold paint. The liquid is runnier than he expects and he makes a mess out of his face twice before he finally gets the paint to sit on his lips right. Except it looks dull, so much less vibrant than the brilliant glimmer on Shen Wei's lips. But Shen Wei needs to be on time and they have to get going, so there isn't enough time to redo it again; Zhao Yunlan leaves the bathroom.

Shen Wei is waiting for him, fiddling with his tie, frustratedly pulling it away from his throat. He lets go of it immediately when he sees Zhao Yunlan.

"You..."

"Do you like it?" Zhao Yunlan grins at him.

Shen Wei stares at him silently, his expression blank once again.

"If you don't, I can remove it," he backtracks.

"No. Don't. I love it. Just–" Shen Wei waves a hand in front of Zhao Yunlan's face, dark energy sweeping over him briefly. "Like this."

Everything feels the same.

Zhao Yunlan walks back to the bathroom mirror, where he sees the dull shine is now as bright as the paint on Shen Wei's lips.

"It reacts with dark energy," Shen Wei says from the doorway.

Zhao Yunlan hums in acknowledgement. Then, "Shall we go?" He makes a step toward Shen Wei and finds himself getting pulled in for a soft kiss.

"Thank you," Shen Wei whispers against Zhao Yunlan's smiling lips and pulls them into a portal.

-

Picture inspiration behind the dull/bright gold

This is FANTASTIC! What an absolutely marvelous fix it! I'm particularly impressed because you managed to do so much with so little. I've read a lot of fix it stories, and this has one of the most convincing gimmicks I've seen, especially given the length. The use of the gold lip paint is AWESOME and PERFECT - I love how you made it react with the dark energy! Gorgeous!

Bravo! I know you're relatively new to the fandom, and cannot wait to see what else you write! Thank you so much for filling my prompt! <3 <3 <3

AAA!!!! I'm so glad you liked it! <3 <3 <3

this has one of the most convincing gimmicks I've seen, especially given the length.
This is some high praise, thank you so much! <3
I'm really happy you liked what I did with the gold lip paint, I was very excited about writing that.

Also thank you for making this glorious prompt and for tweeting about the meme–I probably wouldn't have found it otherwise.

Wonderful!

<3

I'll say it again properly now: this is lovely!

I like the melancholy mood most of all. Fixing it through a sacrifice by Ye Zun is a wonderful idea. I care about Ye Zun, so that doesn't mean it turns everything hunky-dory. It's still sad. And of course he means a lot to Shen Wei, too. And the fact that Zhao Yunlan goes with him, wearing partner look lipstick, that's just a wonderful combination of sad and romantic.

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you too! You were a very quick and kind beta and without you this probably wouldn't have been posted so fast (or maybe even ever), so really–thank you so much!! <3

I love Ye Zun a lot and I really want him to be well and happy; he's suffered more than enough. But this idea hit me and didn't let go until it was written. While writing, I wasn't sure if I was hitting the amount of angst/bittersweetness I wanted but now I'm thinking that maybe I managed well.

I do have a small continuation idea, which would make this less sad, but I'm still trying to decide if it's a good idea *thinking emoji*

I never thought I'd be posting icons to the kink meme, but here we are! :D

They are just as much for glymr's original prompt as they are for cyberbrain's story. The idea of the remembrance made me choose serious looks, black clothes, and subdued colors.