Work Text:
Above the fifty-story building located on China's busiest shopping street, two figures moved nimbly.
They approached and began a physical fight. One of them punched the taller man in the jaw. The impact of the punch made him retreat with an angry roar. The man responsible for the attack used this time to move away and, with excellent skills from years of training and improving his physique, he performed a backwards somersault, crawling towards a structure and hiding. His green eyes lowered their gaze to the gun on his belt. He pulled it out while searching for the bullets in his pocket. With a click, he reloaded his gun. His sharp senses noticed footsteps heading towards the place where he had taken refuge. He gripped the gun, his finger firmly on the trigger.
The footsteps suddenly stopped, and the tension increased; you could hear the car horns on the congested streets meters below where they were. The breeze hit them, ruffling their hair, forming a beautiful and tragic image of the situation.
He revealed part of his face and raised his hand, shooting without hesitation at the man who dodged the bullet by taking refuge behind a pillar. He withdrew his body looking around for something he could use against his enemy. He grunted in irritation at failing in his search and his hands groped his clothes in search of some bladed weapon that could be used in a direct confrontation. He smiled with satisfaction as he stared at the sharp knife mirroring his emerald eyes.
That face-to-face confrontation wasn't planned by either of them. Or maybe it was. Shen Jiu, codename: Qingqiu. One of the best spies in the Cang Qiong corporation and arch-enemy of Luo Binghe, – the damn darling of the military –, a natural sniper, annoyingly excellent at what he does.
Some brave souls dared to create rumors that if they weren’t enemies, they would potentially be a deadly duo, ones that even the most self-centered would not dare to face. However, that possibility would not occur, not when Luo Binghe and his damned team were plotting against politicians from important sectors.
It wasn't that Shen Jiu was interested in politics or that his job was limited to defending them. However, he had missions to accomplish and he certainly wouldn't stand idly by while Luo Binghe and his men planned to kill Cang Qiong's target from the beginning: Qiu Jianluo, a businessman directly linked to corrupt politicians, his company drowning in debt and his image clean to the public, the reality only seen by restricted individuals: controversies involving his name, rumors of alleged harassment against young people and his own sister, complaints about employee exploitation within his company, unsanitary conditions, mismanagement, lack of professionalism. All of this was enough to keep him from being out of sight of corporations that act in the shadows.
And this damn beast! Getting involved in matters that were none of his business, trying to kill a target that Cang Qiong had been thoroughly investigating for years. If his plan succeeded, all the documents, reports, and evidence that had been gathered for decades against Qin Jianluo would go down the drain. And Shen Jiu could not allow that.
Fortunately, Shen Jiu had always been exceptional at his job, so he quickly noticed a suspicious movement on the enemy side. Luckily, he realized the connection between all the sniper's latest victims.
"His last victim was Wu Yanzi, a socialite seen at parties thrown by Qiu Jianluo's family. He was an active participant in the country's politics, constantly seen at the governor's parties, always alongside Qin Jianluo and his sister. All the previous events occurred after the harassment allegations." He explained, pointing to the board and the photos of each person under investigation.
He turned and observed the expression on the faces of each of his coworkers, all of their eyes focused, but a gleam of confusion and false understanding still remained there. He sighed, resigned to those idiots, massaged his temples and abandoned the pen he was holding, walking away with firm steps to his office.
He pushed open the door and walked to his desk, organizing the piles of papers and fiddling with his notebook. His left hand gripped his blazer. He didn’t dare look at Yue Qingyuan standing at his door, staring at him with those eyes of pity and remorse. Shen Jiu held back the urge to punch the furniture with a deep breath.
"What do you want, Mr. Yue?" He asked with a false smile, raising his eyes, which had previously been focused on closing open folders on the device's screen, to look at him. The green irises seemed to look through his soul.
“Luo Binghe…” He began a little hesitantly.
At that moment, his always cold eyes seemed to soften, but his eyebrows raised in doubt. He absentmindedly closed his notebook, still paying attention to his boss.
"What's wrong with Luo Binghe?"
"Some of my men informed me earlier that they spotted you earlier at the same restaurant where the dinner with Qin Jianluo and his associates will be taking place."
Shen Jiu narrowed his eyes and finally looked away to stare at his phone on the table. His fingers tightly gripped the armrest of his chair. Something made him uncomfortable enough to cause this sudden silence. Yue Qingyuan was about to question what was wrong, but in the blink of an eye, Shen Jiu had already organized his work items and hurried past his boss. Yue turned his body to look at the back of his colleague who had stopped in his tracks as if he remembered something.
“Do your best to bring this dinner forward, you have connections, right? Come to an agreement then, during that time, I’ll keep Luo Binghe in my sights.” The spy declared, looking at him over his shoulder.
He opened the brazer, adjusting it on his body, as he walked out the front door of the place towards his car, his emerald irises shining with fury.
He shook his head hard, shaking off the moments that had led him here. There was a noise of something being cocked and an icy barrel was pressed against his head. He kept calm and slowly raised his head to look into the brown eyes that held a reddish glow.
Inwardly, he cursed the next generations of Luo. Damn Tianlang-Jun. Why did this old man stop using a condom just when his wife was fertile? He always claimed to hate snotty children, and Luo Binghe was no exception.
“Hello, A-Jiu.” Luo Binghe sneered, something dark flashing in his eyes.
“Luo Binghe.” Shen Jiu spat with hatred.
“Why so angry, Qingqiu? If I remember correctly, you were the one who planned our lovely meeting, I was surprised, I admit. You’ve always been so sneaky, haven’t you?” he hummed with amusement as he played with the barrel of the gun over the spy’s head.
"Damn you, Luo…" he interrupted his own speech, throwing his body against him, their bodies collided forcefully, the sniper groaned painfully with the impact of his back against the hard ground. " … Binghe!"
Binghe’s hand loosened when he was surprised by the fall, dropping the pistol, which skidded across the ground for a few meters. They looked at each other, Shen Jiu on top of Luo Binghe’s body, his hips resting on the man’s thighs, while his hands were on the shooter’s well-built chest. The two pairs of eyes furtively shifted away and remembered the gun. Binghe’s eyes widened and with his hands on Shen Jiu’s shoulders, he pushed him back. However, he had expected this move, so when he felt his body being thrown back, he kicked the man’s covered chest, knocking him down.
He stood, facing him, his foot against the defined abdomen that kept him pinned to the ground. He thought he was in control, but the one on the ground grabbed Shen Jiu's ankle and pulled him down, making him lose his balance, giving him a chance to advance towards the gun. About to grab the gun once more, an extra weight was against his back, his face hitting the ground, this made him acquire a frown and turn his body with precision.
The sight of Shen Jiu sitting on Luo Binghe’s lap was sinful, his lower half exerting an indecent grip on the sniper’s hips to keep him in place. Suddenly, the tense atmosphere dissipated, Luo Binghe bit his lower lip, one hand loosely resting on the spy’s waist, squeezing him provocatively. The frown on Shen Jiu’s expression deepened. Luo Binghe took advantage of this distraction to apply force to his waist to gain control of the situation, turning their bodies around, standing on top of the spy, his hands instinctively reaching for his shoulder.
“Don’t you dare.” The venomous words that came out of Shen Jiu’s lips only made Binghe’s smile grow wider.
Until Qingqiu raised his hand, pressing his index and middle fingers on the receiver in his right ear. He closed his eyes, feeling a headache from Yue Qingyuan’s stupidly worried voice on the other end, demanding to know his situation. He rolled his eyes and unexpectedly kicked Luo Binghe in the stomach, standing up and pulling out his gun again, aiming at the sniper who was able to regain his posture and climb the structure that Qingqiu had previously been hiding behind. He jumped over Shen’s sights and reached for the pistol, pointing it at the spy, his index finger sliding across the trigger with frightening subtlety.
Armed, they never looked away. Yue Qingyuan’s irritating voice in his ear, Binghe’s mocking smile, the honking of the cars. All of this was the reason for a burning anger to run through Shen Jiu’s body.
He felt his blood boiling with hatred. He didn’t think twice before pulling the trigger and watching the bullet fly through space and hit Luo Binghe’s chest. He roared in rage when he noticed the bulletproof vest. He took two steps back, feeling himself losing his reason, his anger making him act on impulse, he gripped the gun tightly, taking a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, Luo Binghe was standing in front of him, his full lips curled as if he found it amusing. No. He was definitely enjoying this. There was no doubt about it.
Deep in his thoughts, he grumbled as he felt himself being pulled away. He yelled something incoherent at Luo Binghe, who only laughed. He tried to pull away, but the grip on his wrist was firm enough. The thought of using the gun to hit him crossed his mind and he smiled briefly before the smile was wiped from his lips as he was pushed against the wall of the building's emergency stairs. He cursed amidst the painful groan.
Everything was very silent, so the green irises opened and stared into Luo Binghe's almost red eyes, the affectionate glow in them left him speechless for a few moments before his expression closed again, raising the gun and hitting him hard on the head.
"Stupid!" He shouted.
"A-Jiu." He muttered sadly.
"No!"
“You are so cruel to your husband.” Binghe dramatized as his hand massaged the injured area.
Married.
Yes. Shen Jiu had been married to this idiot for five years, almost six. Luo Binghe should have just been his nickname, since he was a complete idiot with a capital “I”. They met a decade ago when Luo Binghe was still a college student finishing his business degree and Shen Jiu was just a reclusive professor who, for personal reasons, took a leave of absence from the profession for years, only to later be forced to attend the students’ graduation dinner. Just exaggerated formalities for his great achievements to the university with efficient, albeit very, very cruel, teaching methods.
He bumped into Luo Binghe as he was leaving the place and the young man was returning with some girl. Shen Jiu wouldn’t have paid any attention to it if it weren’t for the boy shouting his name, flattering him, claiming to have read articles about his journey in the professional field.
Ever since that encounter, Luo Binghe seemed to be chasing him until he got a taste of Shen Jiu, and this happened at one of the many dinners he insisted the former teacher attend, and when he dropped him off at home, he pulled him in for an aggressive kiss. That was just the beginning of many stolen kisses, Luo Binghe didn’t apologize for these inappropriate behaviors, and Shen Jiu, at a certain point, got tired of arguing.
And oh, how vividly he remembers the day he discovered Luo Binghe's work.
"Damn idiot!" he shouted, throwing a plate at his groom.
"A-Jiu, I swear I didn't want it to be like this, but-
"Shut up, Luo Binghe! I'll kill you for getting in the way of my missions!" With a plate in his hands, he ran after the man who was climbing the stairs of the house to escape from him.
They both knew what the other was working on, and this was not supposed to get in the way of their marriage. However, Luo Binghe was, as always, the most idiotic man who ever lived, and so he always had to get in the way of something. When Cang Qiong's targets started to be killed suddenly, the team in charge of the case found it strange, but they never reported these suspicious deaths, and this problem grew bigger until it reached Shen Jiu's ears, who called Luo Binghe, shouting in his ear for hours later at home.
Returning to the present day, the spy's blood was still boiling with anger at his husband for sticking his nose into situations he shouldn't be meddling in. So when Binghe brought their faces closer to kiss him, he pulled away, which made the sniper's face hit the wall.
He turned his back to him and began to check his clothes, cleaning off the dirt that insisted on sticking to his clothes. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, mentally counting to any random number, when he felt strong arms encircle his hips from behind. Warm breath against the back of his neck and a low chuckle against his ear. His hands remained on Luo Binghe's and tried to free himself from that grip. Without success, he sighed in frustration as he felt the soft touch of Binghe's lips against his neck, kisses trailing a path to his shoulder.
The slow kisses left him oblivious to his own reactions, not noticing the way his head tilted to the opposite side to feel the touches more intensely.
The hands of his husband, his arch-enemy, groped all over his lower body, squeezing his waist with a certain amount of force, enough for him to squeeze his eyes shut tighter, looking for something to keep him from thinking too much about which direction this was taking.
Hearing Binghe’s soft chuckle against his shoulder, he opened his eyes and narrowed them. Quickly freeing one of his arms, he elbowed Binghe in the abdomen.
"We'll talk at home. In the meantime, think about your own actions." He said, still with his back to him, looking at him over his shoulder.
After that, he turned around and walked down the emergency stairs. Luo Binghe’s eyes followed him until he completely disappeared from sight. After that, the sniper chuckled to himself and let his back fall against the wall. He raised his head up and gave an amused smile as he gently shook his head.
...
The next morning, the spy was already at the company early, ready to face a pile of documents delivered that day.
"Mr. Shen!"
Shen Jiu suddenly stopped and his eyes searched for whoever had shouted at him, when he noticed a young woman running towards him. The receptionist, of course.
"Yes?" he turned his body to face her.
She straightened her body, breathing heavily, looking around somewhat embarrassed.
"Well... Do you remember that mandatory registration for the heads of all departments? After all your data was duly entered, I still haven't been able to complete your registration. I found it strange, but it seems that Mr. Shen's name is incorrect. Can you go check with me?" Shen looked her up and down to assess her behavior, her feet tapped the floor nervously and she seemed to be sweating coldly. He turned his gaze to her.
"Sure. Where should I go?" he asked, shaking the cup of coffee in his hand.
“Follow me, please.” The woman turned and started walking in a direction. Shen chuckled to himself and dropped his drink on a random table.
With his hands free, he rummaged through one of his pockets and held it as he followed in the receptionist's footsteps.
The surname Luo highlighted on his identification was something that stills make his husband laugh for a long time, but he honestly don't cares.