Zhao Yunlan was a man of simple tastes.

(“What, really?” Da Qing had asked, the first time Yunlan had said this out loud, perching on top of Yunlan’s then-beginning collection of wine and liquor.

“I said ‘simple’ not ‘cheap’,” Yunlan had pointed out.)

A man of simple tastes, which meant that every now and then Yunlan liked to go out to one of the city’s two underground clubs. The drinks were invariably cheap, and a night of getting out on a floor full of other moving bodies and ignoring everything but the sound and the beat soothed something in Yunlan, made it easier to deal with his daily work of balancing procedure against his office full of talented oddities. The last few years had been busy enough, or busy-not-quite-dying enough, that he’d let the habit lapse, but the thought had cropped up once or twice recently that he might like to go out again.

So far, the thought had met with two checks. The first turned out to not actually be a check. In fact when Yunlan had, very casually and completely in passing, mentioned the modern, cosmopolitan (and only a little likely to be raided) notion of a dance club, xiao-Wei had laughed at him.

“I attended the university as a student not that long ago,” he’d pointed out, eyes still bright with amusement even after he’d stifled the open laughter. “I’ve been to Upstairs more than once, while it was over on the west side. Though I admit I spent more time listening than dancing.” His nose had wrinkled just the tiniest bit. “It’s loud, but I certainly enjoyed it more than the Wings.”

Yunlan had made a considerably less reserved face. Dragon City’s very own superclub was not his idea of fun either.

So that was one hurdle cleared easily. The second, however, was giving him more trouble.

“Do you honestly not own a single t-shirt?” Yunlan asked from the depths of Shen Wei’s wardrobe.

“No, as I told you ten minutes ago,” xiao-Wei said patiently from where he sat on the bed in the oldest pair of jeans he owned (which weren’t very), still shirtless. It wasn’t that Yunlan objected to xiao-Wei being shirtless—far from it. But he did object to the idea of hitting an underground nightclub in any of xiao-Wei’s usual wardrobe. Every relaxed knit shirt the man owned was long-sleeved, and while he didn’t object to seeing xiao-Wei drenched in sweat, either, he’d rather it be for better reasons. The irony was not lost on him, that xiao-Wei, or at least his clothes, would have fit right in had they actually been going to the Wings.

“I don’t suppose…” Yunlan started, in his best coaxing tone.

Xiao-Wei cut him off briskly. “No, I will not borrow one of yours.” Yunlan sighed. He hadn’t really thought xiao-Wei would agree; his lover was way too much of a tailoring snob to wear anything that wasn’t perfectly his size.

“Okay, okay. I guess it’s one of these, then.” He pulled out the lightest-weight of xiao-Wei’s band-collar button downs. Plain white, at least, which would blend decently. Xiao-Wei slung it on, doing up the buttons swiftly, and then allowed Yunlan to roll the sleeves up over the elbow, plainly amused.

“And you say I’m the clothes-horse,” he teased.

“You are. I dress for comfort.” Yunlan mostly said it to see xiao-Wei roll his eyes, and grinned at him, leaning in to steal a kiss. “Come on, let’s go before it’s too packed.”

The Upstairs, currently tucked away in the re-zoned commercial block behind the University’s Department of Athletics, already had the music going. Scraps of a driving beat escaped each time the heavy door at the bottom of steep concrete stairs down below street level was opened. That was really only a tease, though. Past the ticket table and through the next door, they walked into a wall of sound.

A bit of it was from the people who always insisted on attempting to talk to each other, either gesturing vigorously to supplement meaning or leaning over the tables scattered around the room, lips nearly brushing each other’s ears. Some of it was the enthusiastic yelling that met any especially stylish transition by the DJ in his nest of equipment and multicolored lights. But most of it was always the music itself, rushing like a tidal wave out of the tall speakers. Yunlan stretched his arms over his head, feeling the vibration of it settle into his muscles and bones, and tipped his head back, laughing. This was what he came for.

A hand at the small of his back made him look around to see xiao-Wei smiling at him, small and warm, unmoved by the sudden dive into high volume but pleased by Yunlan’s pleasure. Xiao-Wei’s thumb stroked up and down Yunlan’s spine, through the fabric of his worn t-shirt, and he gave Yunlan a little push toward the crowd out on the floor.

Oh well. It wasn’t like he’d expected getting xiao-Wei out onto the floor to be easy. Yunlan nodded agreeably and threaded his way between laughing, shouting, breathing bodies until he was in the thick of them, breathing along with the beat and the surge of motion from one body to another.

And if he put a little extra effort into the sinuous twist of his hips, well he did want to get xiao-Wei out here eventually.

One song and then another pounded through him, and he gave himself over to the rhythm of them until he could feel it vibrating down his spine, until he could nearly taste each singer’s rage and joy in the heavy air. The press of other bodies all around him, moving to the same beat and the same emotion, made his whole body feel warm and loose, made it easy to give and turn with the crowd, to laugh when a pair or group got energetic enough to demand more space. It made him notice at once when space suddenly opened up around him. He looked around for a moment, puzzled, before he spotted the reason. Shen Wei was coming towards him.

No.

Shen Wei was stalking towards him.

His stride was deliberate and unhurried, each step coming down with such absolute confidence that Yunlan felt like the ground should shake from it. His expression was smooth, but everyone between him and Yunlan was crowding back out of his path and Yunlan couldn’t blame them. Shen Wei’s eyes were fixed on him and nothing else, so intent Yunlan thought anything between them might burn from the heat of it. Shen Wei didn’t make the smallest threatening gesture, but the leashed potential for sudden action rolled out from him like smoke curling through the air.

Yunlan took a step forward to meet him, because oh fuck, yes.

Shen Wei lifted a hand to slide through Yunlan’s hair and down the back of his neck, caressing and unmistakably possessive when his grip tightened. Yunlan gave with it easily, stepping into Shen Wei and reaching out to curve his hands around Shen Wei’s hips, tugging until Shen Wei moved with him, and Shen Wei’s lips curled in answer to Yunlan’s wild grin. They were so close Yunlan could feel the brush of Shen Wei’s breath against his cheek. And for all that Yunlan was the one guiding their steps and the flex of their bodies as the bass of the next song came up, fast and heavy, Shen Wei kept that last little bit of air open as they moved, controlling the space between them as effortlessly as he’d just controlled the space around them.

It made Yunlan so hot he could barely think.

When Yunlan went out to these things, he gave himself up to the sound and the space. He let the rhythm of the music and the rhythm of the crowd blend together into one thing, and let that thing pound down his spine and move him. Shen Wei moved with him, now, but he cut through the crowd like a knife through water, slid between the other bodies on the floor without a hitch, every step smooth and certain, aware of every movement around him. Instead of becoming a part of the club’s rhythm, Shen Wei made the club’s rhythm a part of him.

And the whole time, he never looked away from Yunlan. Didn’t let go. Didn’t let the breath of space between them close. It was that easy display of control, even more than the strength of Shen Wei’s hand on his nape, that made Yunlan hard and breathless with desire.

He tightened his hands on Shen Wei’s hips and breathed into the tiny space between them, trusting his lover to see the words his lips shaped, “Xiao-Wei, please.”

When Shen Wei finally closed the distance to catch his mouth in a slow kiss, Yunlan’s knees nearly gave out from the rush of heat through him. When Shen Wei drew back and tipped his head toward the door, Yunlan nodded fervent agreement. Shen Wei smiled and slid his hand down Yunlan’s back to curve around his waist, unmistakably possessive, and turned toward the door. Even caught up in the pounding bass and throaty vocals of the song just starting, every club-goer in his path cleared their way with no more than a look from Shen Wei.

Yunlan was seriously wondering if he’d make it to the door without coming in his jeans.

The cool evening air, once they got past the outer door, helped clear his head a little. All that really did, though, was make him very clearly aware of how hard he was, desire for the man beside him burning like fire through his body. He was also increasingly aware that they were in a nice, dark alley between buildings, with no one else present. Yunlan contemplated this for a moment before mentally wadding up his never-much-used sense of caution and throwing it over his shoulder. He turned to xiao-Wei, hands sliding up his back to press him closer, and leaned in to kiss him, just as heated and wet and persuasive as Yunlan knew how. The way xiao-Wei pulled him in closer, arms tightening around him, was promising, and Yunlan murmured against xiao-Wei’s ear, “Right now?”

The sound xiao-Wei made was nearly a growl, and he stepped into Yunlan, pushing him back against the concrete block wall of the building. “Right here?” he asked, low, lips brushing Yunlan’s as he spoke.

“Oh fuck, yes,” Yunlan agreed fervently, shuddering with the feel of being caught between Shen Wei’s body and the unyielding wall. He loved this, loved being the one thing that could turn the collected and reserved Shen Wei so fierce and intent. Loved feeling the weight of Shen Wei’s attention, knowing he was at the center of it.

The shadows didn’t hide the slow, pleased curve of Shen Wei’s mouth. “All right.” His hands slid down Yunlan’s arms, lifting them up. Yunlan’s eyes widened as long fingers wrapped around his wrists and pinned them against the wall over his head. Heat shot down his spine and tightened between his legs, and the sound he made didn’t have actual words in it.

“Shh,” Shen Wei told him, and caught his mouth in a slow kiss. Yunlan moaned into it, softly, opening up for the way Shen Wei’s tongue filled his mouth. He’d never actually said that it turned him on when Shen Wei was commanding, but he’d figured Shen Wei had probably noticed; looked like he’d been right. Shen Wei gathered his wrists in one hand, grip still immovably firm, and stroked the other down Yunlan’s body, slow and caressing. Yunlan whined when that gentle pressure settled between his legs, and jerked sharply against Shen Wei’s hold when Shen Wei squeezed him through his jeans. Shen Wei’s grip on his wrists didn’t even shift, and Yunlan moaned out loud.

“Yes, that’s good.” Shen Wei’s fingers flicked open Yunlan’s jeans and slid inside to wrap around his cock, stroking him slowly. Yunlan was panting for breath, now, dizzy with how good it felt to be pinned against the wall and fondled, to feel the weight of those dark eyes fixed on him.

“Xiao-Wei,” he managed, and broke off with a gasp as Shen Wei’s fingers tightened around him.

“Hush, my own.” The velvety, caressing note in Shen Wei’s voice lay over steel command, and the heat winding up Yunlan’s spine cranked tighter. “I have you.” His thumb circled over the head of Yunlan’s cock, slow and firm, and Yunlan whimpered. Shen Wei took his mouth for another kiss, and murmured against his lips, “You’re so magnificent, my Yunlan. Come for me.”

Wound up to the breaking point from the whole evening, Yunlan couldn’t have resisted that order even if he’d wanted to, and right now all he wanted was to let go and let himself be caught by Shen Wei’s hands. He groaned into Shen Wei’s mouth as pleasure rolled through him like waves crashing down, heavy and unstoppable, shaking him apart in Shen Wei’s hold, raking down his nerves until it finally left him stunned and panting, leaning against the wall.

Shen Wei made a distinctly satisfied sound into his mouth, kissing him one more time, slowly, before finally loosening his grip. He eased Yunlan’s arms down again, hands running up them to rub his shoulders. “All right?” he asked softly.

“Oh yeah.” Yunlan shifted to lean against him, laughing breathlessly into the curve of xiao-Wei’s neck. “Wow. We should come here more often, if it gets you that riled up.”

Xiao-Wei huffed against his ear, arms sliding around him. “I wouldn’t say I was ‘riled up’.”

“I would. And it was amazing.”

Xiao-Wei was quiet for a moment, one hand curling back over Yunlan’s nape. “You are very… compelling, when you let that much of yourself show openly. I wanted all of that to be focused on me.” His voice was soft, a little halting, and Yunlan wound his arms tighter around xiao-Wei.

“Yeah,” he agreed, just as softly. “That’s exactly how I felt, too.” He smiled, feeling the thread of tension through xiao-Wei’s shoulders ease. “You know I like it, that you want me this much. And this much of me.”

Xiao-Wei’s hand tightened, and his voice turned raw. “All of you. I want everything you are, and have been, and will be.”

Yunlan let himself melt into that hold with a tiny, contented sound, treasuring up the certainty of being wanted so completely, for exactly what he was. “You have it. Everything I am is yours.”

Xiao-Wei turned his head to press a kiss to Yunlan’s temple. “Thank you, my heart.”

Yunlan would have been happy to stay like that for a bit, but it was getting colder now the sun was down, and a lick of chill breeze across some very delicate parts made him shudder and hurry to do his jeans back up. “Want to continue this at home?”

Xiao-Wei laughed softly, eyes bright and pleased in the dimness of the alley. “That sounds like an excellent idea.”

As they walked back to the Jeep, though, Yunlan tucked away the thought of going out more often to think about later. Or maybe alternate methods of riling Shen Wei up a little. He couldn’t help wondering what expression it would put on Shen Wei’s face if Yunlan equipped their bed with some nice padded cuffs.

Xiao-Wei’s sidelong look, as Yunlan started the car, told him he wasn’t hiding his smirk well at all, but that was all right. Xiao-Wei was the one who wanted all of him.

The one he didn’t need to hide from.

End