Wen Qing normally opened the shop at nine in the morning. Today she was a little early, twenty minutes to be precise, and on an ordinary day, Wei Ying would have already opened up, at least the shutters, even if he was hidden away in the back.

Immediately on edge, she opened the shop as normal, listening for the low hum their sewing machine made, or the clickety clack of the oil heater whose timer has stopped working ages ago, or any sign of life...but there was nothing.

So she kept the front door locked, making sure the closed sign was facing the right way, and stuck her head into the room that Wei Ying had made his own. She even did the lights, just to be certain. Her eyes caught on his tailoring shears, hefty in her petite hand, but she raised them like a knife and climbed up the stairs as silently as she could.

One of them creaked loudly and she cursed herself for not avoiding it. There was no noise coming from up there...which was more worrying. What had happened last night? Was she wrong to have left Wei Ying to the other's mercy? But she could have sworn Lan Zhan looked like the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her little brother. That's how she thought of him, ever since he'd followed A-Ning home. Po Po had taken a liking to him and the rest was just history.

She fished out her spare key and unlocked the door, jumping into the living room with a screech that died on her lips as she faced Lan Zhan in a t-shirt and pyjamas, wielding a saucepan...

He eyed the scissors in her hand, and she mirrored that same look, and then they both put their weapons down quietly.

"Where is he?" She asked, tersely.

"Wei Ying is still sleeping." Lan Zhan answered, politely.

"Still? Is he alright?" The anxiety in her voice alerted him that this was not a usual occurrence.

He put a hand on her arm to stop her charging into Wei Ying's bedroom, quickly removing it when she glared first at it, and then at him.

"What were you doing?" She asked, not bothering to keep the accusationary tone out of her words.

He pointed to takeaway menus on the counter.

"Wei Ying has no food in fridge. Was going to order breakfast." He stepped back as she made herself comfortable on a stool at the breakfast bar.

"No need, Mo XuanYu's does great breakfast fair. I'll pop over and get us something. But first, let's talk." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Mn. I have some questions about Wei Ying." Lan Zhan knew there was nothing he could do about his face, however he injected as much sincerity into his tone as possible, wishing everyone could read him as well as that precious man still asleep in another room.

"Why are you still here? What exactly do you want with Wei Ying now?" She got right to the point.

"I only want him. Nothing else."

"That remains to be seen. He may be a trusting fool, but I am not."

"I'm not leaving." Lan Zhan told her, equally stubborn.

"Do you know how fucked up he was when I found him? Your family did that to him!" She hissed, furiously. "What right do you have to come back now, when he's just about managed to pull himself together? It is beyond cruel to lead him on if you don't intend to stay!"

"I. Am. Not. Leaving." He enunciated, firmly, maintaining eye contact.

She appraised him for a good few minutes before she spoke again.

"Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Why is there no food in fridge?"

This must have been bothering him very much, for him to have mentioned it twice now.

"Wei Ying is not allowed to cook. He nearly burnt down the apartment once, and I can't risk it."

"Cereal? Milk? Bread?" Lan Zhan had a hard time believing her.

"It was the toaster. He put bread in for his breakfast, was "inspired"", she actually did the speech marks, "and forgot about it, going downstairs to make whatever it was that he'd thought of. We only knew something was wrong when the firetruck pulled up outside." She sighed. "He gets distracted easily, so if you're sticking around, make sure he eats regularly. He has a high metabolism, burns through calories like a sprinter."

"Why does Wei Ying not sleep well?"

She frowned at him.

"You should go ahead and ask your uncle about that one. He still has nightmares about that day."

Lan Zhan could feel himself getting upset over that, his fists clenching in anger.

"If Wei Ying says he did not do it, then, he did not do it."

"Your uncle didn't think so." She laughed humourlessly. "And it wasn't a private meeting like you'd expect, oh no, your uncle intended to humiliate him. Your brother was there, as well as two others, I think their names were Shu MinShan, and Meng Yao. None of them wanted to listen to him. He doesn't have a bad bone in his body, but your people tore him down. I can't forgive that easily." She gave him a measured look.

"I agree." He said, surprising her.

"Hey everyone..." Wei Ying yawned and stretched, coming out of his bedroom.

Wen Qing glared at Lan Zhan one last time before standing up.

"I'm going to get breakfast. Anything extra you want me to pick up for you?" She pointedly didn't look at Lan Zhan when she said that.

"Yeah, usual for me, but can you ask him for some green tea with orange blossom for Lan Zhan? And if he's got any of those cute pastries? Maybe some cinnamon rolls wouldn't go amiss either." He grinned at her, not too subtly pushing her towards the door.

He sat in her recently vacated seat and smiled up at Lan Zhan like a lovesick fool.

Wen Qing rolled her eyes at both of them before leaving, slamming the door for good measure.

Wei Ying held out his arms, making grabby gestures for Lan Zhan to come and give him a hug, which he promptly did, making them both feel much better. They stayed like that for a while, enjoying the peacefulness of the morning, and the fact that they were together. The newness of their relationship was still something to get used to, even if they both had loved each other from a distance for so long.

"Wei Ying slept well?" Lan Zhan couldn't help but feel guilty about what his uncle had done to him.

"Fantastically!" Wei Ying beamed at him. "In fact, that's probably the best sleep I've had in ages...I shall have to keep you around for that!"

"What does Wei Ying have planned for today?"

"Dunno, whatever's left to finish in the shop, I guess. Why?" Silver eyes, sparkling with curiosity shone up at him.

He looked so irresistible, Lan Zhan couldn't help himself, kissing those beautiful lips. He tasted toothpaste and that unmistakable lotus scent that seemed to surround his Wei Ying, who was currently moaning into his mouth. That sound, right there...was doing things to both of them.

Keys clattered noisily onto the coffee table in the living room, and they broke apart immediately, neither embarrassed about what they were doing.

"A-Ning!" Wei Ying got up to hug him.

"Gege!" Wen Ning hugged him back just as enthusiastically, before he noticed Lan Zhan. "Zhan-ge!" He rushed up to meet him, and then remembered that Lan Zhan didn't like people touching him...which suddenly made things awkward.

So he looked all over the place, unsure of what to do next.

Both Wei Ying and Wen Qing watched them from a distance, Wen Qing with a wry smile on her face and Wei Ying just felt uncomfortable seeing their interaction.

"Breakfast time!" He called out, when it became too much.

Wen Ning brought over the stool from the breakfast bar and the three others settled down in the same positions as last night. Just as well, Wei Ying thought, seeing as Wen Qing was still hostile-looking.

She was pulling out their drinks separately, lining them up on the coffee table. When she got to Lan Zhan's green tea, she put it in front of him.

"Promise I haven't spat in it." She said, ever so sweetly.

"She hasn't!" Wei Ying quickly reassured Lan Zhan. "You haven't, right? Right?" He asked her.

Wen Qing merely smiled and took a sip from her black coffee, no sugar.

"Where did you two meet?" Wei Ying asked Wen Ning, considering it safer to talk to just him for now.

"I saw JieJie go across the road. Can't pass up these!" He bit into his cinnamon roll.

Wei Ying went and got a plate for Lan Zhan, loading it up with pastries first. They smiled at each other while Wen Qing tried not to make gagging noises.

"So...is this permanent?" She gestured between the two of them with her free hand.

"Um.."

"Yes." Lan Zhan told her.

"Then tell me you've thought this through? What are you going to do, when your uncle finds out?"

"A-Jie....we can discuss that later..." Wei Ying started to say, but Lan Zhan stopped him speaking with a look.

"For now, we don't tell him."

Of course there was uproar.

"What do you mean, you're not telling him? For how long? How exactly are you gonna hide him?" She was yelling and she didn't care.

But it was the hurt look in Wei Ying's eyes that Lan Zhan couldn't tolerate, and he took Wei Ying's hands in his, ignoring everyone else.

"Only until I obtain evidence of Wei Ying's innocence."

There was more noise outside of their own private bubble, but Wei Ying now had tears in his eyes, and he threw himself into Lan Zhan's arms, sniffling. Lan Zhan was on a roll now, so he figured he should just put everything out there, his plan for dealing with his family.

"Also we are going to design a new collection for WeiLan Creations. The Winter collection. We are going to rub their faces in it." He managed to add before all Hell broke loose.

Wei Ying was shaking his head and crying, and saying words which Lan Zhan wasn't going to listen to, while Wen Qing hadn't stopped shouting, and really, why was she so loud?

Wen Ning was the only calm one, carefully sipping his caramel latte, watching the show.

When the other two ran out of steam, and finally settled into silence, Wen Ning spoke.

"If you can get a hold of his laptop, that would be ideal." He told Lan Zhan.

"That's the plan. I have to find it first."

"If you can't, then don't worry too much, all we need is the email address that sent the pictures to the press in the first place. Once you have that, it's all over for them." Wen Ning continued to finish his breakfast, and then he stood up. "They'll have tried to hide where the email came from, because that's the easy part. If they bounce around the VPN, they might think that's enough to hide them."

"It isn't?" Wei Ying asked him, still in a daze.

Wen Ning just laughed.

"Just get me what I asked for. Everything else is my business." He waved, still biting into his favourite treat as he walked out.

"Don't let on what you're doing." Wen Qing told Lan Zhan, also getting up to leave. "Right now, we have the element of surprise. It's the only advantage, that and my brother."

"Mn."

"I mean it!"

"Mn." Lan Zhan did not smile at her despite the twinkle in her eye now.

"And you!" She jabbed a finger in Wei Ying's chest. "Are you actually coming in to work today?"

"Ow...yes, of course I am. Ten minutes?" Wei Ying rubbed the place she had touched.

"Okay." She left.

Wei Ying turned to face Lan Zhan.

"Is it...is it dangerous, what you have to do?"

Lan Zhan opened his arms, and Wei Ying gratefully climbed into his lap.

"Not dangerous. Just don't like lying." He whispered next to Wei Ying's ear.

"I'm sorry you're going to do this...we can stop, you know-"

Lan Zhan held his finger against Wei Ying's lips.

"No. We have a plan. It is a good plan."

"But Lan Zhan....you said...you said Winter collection? What month is it...it's already November...if I recall, the Winter runway shows are in early February...that gives us less than two months to prepare...! Oh my God...Lan Zhan!" He started to hyperventilate, choppy breaths trying to squeeze his lungs...

Lan Zhan grabbed the brown paper bag that their breakfast had arrived in and forced Wei Ying to breath into it, waiting until he was calm. Then he gathered him up into his arms again, this time holding him tight.

"I am here. Wei Ying is here. We can do this. We can do this."

Wei Ying was silent. He closed his eyes briefly, not wanting to think about anything any more.

"You know...when they first kicked me out like that...I was kind of...lost." He whispered.

"I am sorry Wei Ying had to go through that. We will make them pay." Lan Zhan's voice turned to steel.

"That's not why...it's not why I'm telling you, Lan Zhan." He sat up to look deeply into golden eyes. "Please hear me out?"

Lan Zhan nodded, already missing his warmth, feeling better when Wei Ying leaned against him again. There was something soothing and utterly right about having Wei Ying in his arms like this.

"It didn't matter to me that I was alone...I mean, I hated leaving you...but after what he told me about you hating me, I was glad that you at least, had family. You know, to help you get through that time. Do you get what I'm trying to say?"

Lan Zhan shook his head, his fingers playing with the longer silken strands of Wei Ying's hair, marvelling at how soft it was.

"I mean...they're your family. You have to think about this, what we're going to do. Once you take that step, there's no going back. This is your uncle and your brother  we are talking about." There was a hint of desperation in his voice.

Lan Zhan hated that. His Wei Ying should always be happy.

"Wei Ying is my family now. I must protect him first." He didn't notice Wei Ying was crying until he felt the wetness on his chest and realised his t-shirt was damp.

His arms tightened.

"Don't cry. It hurts." It did, a horrible sharpness in his chest that wouldn't go away.

Wei Ying reached behind him for a serviette, wiping his eyes and wincing at the rough texture.

"I'm sorry...it's just that all of this...it's kind of overwhelming. I've been alone for so long...I've forgotten what it's like to lean on somebody else, that's all." Now much calmer, he settled closer.

"Wei Ying will never be alone again. Wei Ying is mine."

Wei Ying shivered, the hot breath against his ear awakening all sorts of tingles in his stomach.

"ARE YOU GONNA GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE AND DO SOME WORK TODAY?" Wen Qing hollered from down the stairs.

"God, I love her, but she's loud." Wei Ying smiled, and reluctantly stood up.

"Mn." Lan Zhan could feel his lips turning up in answer. He also stood up.

"Promise me you'll be careful today? Please?" Wei Ying kissed his cheek, the worry still present behind his smile.

"Am always careful." Lan Zhan pulled him back into a proper kiss, just enormously ecstatic that he could.

Wei Ying giggled and ran off towards his bedroom, blowing him a kiss.

*********

Lan Towers were two huge skyscrapers smack bang in the middle of Manhatten. Brain child of the famous architect, Sir William Henry Jones of the even more famous Jones Design Corp., the twin towers were linked by a single bridge. Applauded by the business world as a phenomenal breakthrough in physics, the Towers stood at 1400 feet tall, a staggering 176 feet taller than the Empire State Building.

His uncle Qiren had wanted to make a statement, and that's what he did.

Lan Zhan stood outside, staring up as far as he could see, trying not to miss his Wei Ying. Now that he had finally found him, he didn't want to let go, not even for a minute.

But he could not forgive those inside for what they had done to an innocent soul. What was also niggling him, was why? Why had they done this? And why pick on the best thing to happen to them since the craze of the little black dress? He knew Wei Ying was admired and envied in the fashion industry, but who wanted to remove his presence like that? What did they stand to gain? He didn't want to believe that his uncle would sabotage his own company, but it was looking like that was exactly what had happened.

There was definitely more to this whole story than just some leaked photos to the press, and once Lan Zhan entered this building, there would be no turning back.

A warm arm came around his shoulders.

Lan Zhan looked into honey coloured eyes, so similar to his own, and he did not want to believe his brother was a bad person.

Lan XiChen had helped to raise him, held him when their mother died, rejoiced with him all through their triumphs...and to believe that all along, he had harmed the one person Lan Zhan loved...it was so hard to do.

"Didi? Are you alright?" Concern was etched into that familiar face. "You've been standing here for a good few minutes now. What are you thinking about?" They walked in together, clearing security.

"Inspiration." It wasn't exactly a lie...just the topic in both their minds was different.

"Don't worry too much about it. If uncle is a little harder on you than the others, it's only because he cares so much about us." XiChen reassured him.

They entered the private elevator to take them straight to their floors. XiChen was right up at the top, while Lan Zhan had his own studio just one floor below.

He knew this was his chance.

"I was looking for old designs."

"Old designs? How old?"

Lan Zhan kept his eyes down, knowing full well XiChen would detect the lie if he was looking straight at him.

"Three or four years ago. It's on my old laptop, I'm researching for now. Do you know where we store old media?"

"Should be in the data banks." XiChen scratched his chin. "Although I don't know why you want to go back to that. As I recall, wasn't that the Lopez scandal?"

Lan Zhan had forgotten about that entirely. He wanted to kick himself.

The Lopez scandal was to do with another prominent fashion house, who was abusing it's models, underpaying and overworking them, until a whistle-blower pulled the plug on the whole thing. No one in the fashion industry had escaped unscathed.

"I had some designs I was working on with Wei WuXian, stored in my laptop. I just wanted to see if I could go through our sketches." It was a plausible excuse, and he hoped his brother would just cooperate.

"You should speak with Meng Yao, he's head of security. Any old media would have gone into storage in the basement, and he'll be able to help you find it." XiChen patted him on his back and got out of the elevator on his floor.

Lan Zhan didn't bother going to his studio now, he went straight back down again.

*********

Meng Yao was a sharp mind hiding behind a bright smile and dimples. It was the dimples that made him look trustworthy more than that expression on his face, or that smile.

Lan Zhan hated him immediately.

"I need to find my old laptop." He told him.

"All media is accessible from the hard drives. We underwent a security overhaul around two years ago. Everything is uploaded to that." He smiled unhelpfully.

"I had some sketches on my old device. Brother said you would help." Lan Zhan wasn't going to give up, but he was well aware Meng Yao had been in the meeting that got Wei Ying fired. He hoped the mentioning of Lan XiChen's name would spur the security guy into action.

"Do you need your actual laptop?" He asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Yes." Lan Zhan pointedly looked at his watch.

"If it's anywhere, it'll be in the basement." He paused, clearly not wanting to take any action.

"I am aware."

"It's a big place."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, I cannot spare anyone from our security detail to help you today." The fake smile was forced now.

"Just clear me through security. I can find it myself." Lan Zhan told him firmly.

Meng Yao stifled an impolite laugh.

"Won't it be easier just to draw something new?" He suggested.

Oh, he was one of those. A skeptic. With not a hair of interest towards their profession, despite earning his wage here.

Lan Zhan lost all patience with him now.

He pulled out his phone and called his brother.

"Xiongzhang...I'm with Meng Yao now. I don't think he understands." Lan Zhan told him. And then he handed his phone to a now pale-faced Meng Yao.

The smile vanished, replaced with a calculating look.

"I understand, Sir. Of course, Sir. Very well, Sir." He handed Lan Zhan his phone back. "Follow me." He said curtly.

"Thank you, Xiongzhang." He whispered into the phone before closing it, hiding his smile as he followed Meng Yao into another elevator.

The silence between them was wholly awkward, the security man despising Lan Zhan for basically telling on him to his senior, but the way Lan Zhan saw it, he should have just cooperated.

They had to use a freight elevator to take them down several levels, and despite it being a shorter distance, it seemed to take forever. When the creaking steel doors slid apart, Lan Zhan was not prepared for what he saw.

A single light illuminated where they stood, and Meng Yao reached around the outside of the elevator to switch on the lights, not bothering to get out.

Lan Zhan had the fleeting fear of being trapped here, but he reassured himself that XiChen knew where he was, it was going to be fine.

But as the old tube lights flickered on, stretching far, far into the distance, his sense of foreboding grew. It was parallel to the widening smirk on Meng Yao's face, imagining what Lan Zhan was thinking.

"Good luck." He said with insincerity, before letting the doors close on his evil smile.

Weirdly, Lan Zhan felt much better now he was alone.

All around him were metal cages filled with old furniture and equipment, office supplies and the like; now he just had to find the right year, assuming these were sorted by date. Meng Yao had handed him a bunch of tiny keys before he left, and now Lan Zhan could see tiny padlocks on all the cages.

Luckily, there were numbers on the padlocks, and the keys had engraved numbers, so that at least was easy. Lan Zhan looked at his phone, unsurprised to see he had no signal. He took off his jacket and laid it under the light switch, rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

********

Wei Ying was hip deep in ivory tulle, trying to fix a blunder by another tailor. The wedding was three days away, and a tearful bride had entered the shop and cried on Wen Qing, who felt sorry for her and told him of her predicament. Of course, when Wei Ying found out about her situation, he couldn't say no.

But he kept glancing at his phone, and wondering why Lan Zhan hadn't responded to any of his gifs, or emojis. Had he changed his mind? Was he in a meeting? What was going on?

He didn't have time to think about it too much because they had a sudden rush of customers and he had to go outside to give Wen Qing a hand. When that finished, it was straight back on the sewing machine to finish the wedding dress. It was past eight in the evening when he next got the chance to look at his phone, and was shocked to see the time. Where had the day gone?

It seemed like only hours ago, he had been sitting with Lan Zhan, enjoying their breakfast time. And then he had another thought as inspiration struck. He went to the drawer where his most precious fabric was stored. On the bottom, he had five yards of a pale blue silk, squirrelled away for a special occasion...or for a special somebody.

Giggling to himself, he quickly cut the pattern on calico first before transferring it over onto the fluid silk, so soft and luxurious between his fingertips. He hoped Lan Zhan would like it, not letting himself dwell on the possibility that Lan Zhan wasn't coming back.

********

Lan Zhan was tired and hungry but excited. It was past eight o'clock now, and he knew Wei Ying would be waiting but he was so close to finding it. He had worked his way through twenty of those cages, figuring out the pattern, because there really was one, as to how whoever had organised everything had done it.

And just when he was going to call it a night, he found his laptop.

But not Wei Ying's.

He searched that entire cage two more times, with no luck. So that meant whoever had framed Wei Ying wasn't taking any chances. He took it anyway, and summoned the elevator to take him back up, switching off the lights when he left.

The moment he had a signal, he tried calling Wei Ying but there was no answer. Confused, he looked around to see that it was past midnight and the tower was deserted.

Now he felt awful, because Wei Ying, who already was so worried when Lan Zhan had left that morning, what must he be going through now? And God, he didn't want to think what Wen Qing was going to do to him.

His first priority was Wei Ying, so he hailed a taxi and headed towards the shop.

******

A/N

At an astounding 4470 word count, I'm really proud of myself, for resisting the urge to press the publish button.

Please enjoy!

And what do you guys think? Exciting? Or not?

I have terrible judgement when it comes to my own work, but I hope you like it.

As usual, don't forget to indulge in some lovely chocolate and remind yourself that the Universe loves us all.

Let's be happy.