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earthpodd · 6 years

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Chapter 2 – Ea, the Sword of Rupture

Read the prologue here.

Read chapter one here.

Read on AO3.

@bl-gifs , @andwebegin there you are.

“Detective Lun?” Shen Wei asked as soon as he heard Kun Lun’s tired ‘hello’. Despite knowing it was definitely the detective on the other side of the line, he still had to make sure. “Xiao Wei, as much as I love to hear your voice, isn’t it a bit late for a social call? I know you must have missed me greatly, but–.” The archaeologist didn’t waste time and cut the other man off right away. “I might have a lead for you.” He started, so Kun Lun would know that he meant business, and that it was the only reason why Shen Wei was even calling him. “Someone called the museum today. They were trying to sell an artefact to be added to our collection. They didn’t say what it was, but claimed the item to be very valuable and ancient.” He took a deep breath after that, trying to recall as many details as he could. “There’s a chance it could be Ea.” When he finished retelling the information, he gave the detective some time to process his words, and then continued. “I scheduled a meeting with them tomorrow to inspect the artefact and begin negotiation. Would you like to join me?” For his part, Kun Lun was pretty impressed at how fate worked things out. He had been thinking about the case and then boom, the archaeologist called him with a new lead. It could have been any of the other people he had investigated, but it was Shen Wei who came to him with the information. It made him wonder if there was more to it than just what was related to the case. He was not one to entertain such ideas, but he was still irked by the connection he felt to this man.

Noticing how the other male had gone radio silent, Shen Wei cleared his throat lowly to catch his attention. “Detective Lun? Are you there?” The response to his question came in the form of an obviously forced laugh that was meant to pass the impression that everything was fine. He could guess the expression on Kun Lun’s face, a sheepish grin, eyes crinkling and a hand raised, waving his extended forefinger as if to accuse someone of calling him out without actually saying the words. “Is Shen Wei worried about little old me?” The archaeologist could hear the amusement in the other’s voice and it made him narrow his eyes, trying to make sense of the other man. “Are you going to be joining me tomorrow to investigate?” He pressed the issue to stir conversation away from the flirty banter Kun Lun always seemed to bring up whenever they had a conversation. The detective sighed, bobbing his head in a nod. His expression grew even more tired. “When are we going?” He asked, so he could prepare himself and come up with a plan for when they met with the suspect. “Late afternoon. We are coming to their house. Come by the museum around four and wear a suit.” What the detective didn’t know was that Shen Wei had already orchestrated a plan for them to catch the suspect if they turned out to be the culprit. “Xiao Wei…” Kun Lun dragged out his name, lowering his voice in the process. “Do you have a thing for men in suits?” In his office, the archaeologist lowered his gaze, eyes closing as he shook his head. The nerve of this man. He ended up sighing out loud, even if he would have preferred to remain silent. “You’ll pretend to work for the museum like me. I told him we would be sending two people to inspect the item.” He explained, brushing off the detective’s flirting yet once again and quickly added. “I’ll hang up now. I will see you tomorrow, Detective Lun. Sorry for disturbing you so late.” Kun Lun was surprised by the apology and chuckled lightly. “Goodnight, Xiao Wei. Dress nicely tomorrow, you’ll look even more handsome with me.” Shen Wei didn’t there respond to the second part of the other’s words, instead, he just muttered a ‘goodnight’ and hung up the call. He was feeling rather aggravated now.

Sighing, the archaeologist stood up from where he was seated behind his desk and adjusted his glasses against his face. He was pretty tired as well and this conversation with Kun Lun had left in him a strange mix of emotions. To some extent, he was excited to be helping with the case somehow, even if the item turned out not to be the Sword of Rupture, but he was also feeling other things, mostly regarding the detective. He felt a strange sense of longing when speaking to Kun Lun on the phone, as if he would have preferred to be face-to-face with the other man. The detective’s constant flirting made him wonder if the man was like that towards everyone, if this was just with him, or even if he was serious with it. He also felt a little bothered by how much Kun Lun had managed to affect him in the span of twenty-four hours. It had never happened before.

Shaking his head to get rid of those thoughts, he parted his lips to exhale a deep breath. The clock marked half past eleven in the evening. He was supposed to have left three hours ago. Gathering his things, he locked his office, said goodbye to the security guards and left to go home. He would need all the rest he could get in order to face the day ahead of him.

⥲⍟⥳

“Is this your house?” Chu asked, glancing at the mansion they had stopped in front of. At first glance, he wouldn’t have expected Guo to be one of those spoiled rich kids with way too much money to spare and no regards for other people’s efforts and struggles. His expression soured up almost immediately. The writer just nodded, turning his head to look at the boxer. He had no idea of what was going on in the older male’s mind. Despite the fact that their car ride had been mostly a silent one, nothing seemed to be wrong between them, which was why he was surprised by the anger in Shu Zhi’s voice when he talked to him again. “You can get out now.” Changcheng was hit by a sudden wave of sadness. He didn’t expect that kind of behaviour from Chu. He was about to ask the boxer what was wrong when someone knocked on the car’s window. Rolling it down, Guo noticed that it was his uncle on the other side of the glass, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “Why didn’t you pick up your phone? I have been calling you for hours. I was about to send a search party after you.” He scolded, tempted to grab his nephew by the ear. Then, all of sudden his expression and tone both changed. He lowered his head and looked at the man driving the car. “Who is that? Your boyfriend? You could have told me you were seeing someone. I wouldn’t be so worried if you had told me. Come outside and get him in, let me meet him.” Before either of them could say anything, the writer’s uncle walked back into the house, forcing him to quickly get out of the car and move to the door of the driver’s side. He didn’t expect Chu to be opening it without needing any coaxing from Guo to join him inside. “M-My uncle is a bit protective.” He explained, looking up at the boxer apologetically. He was met with no response.

The only reason why Shu Zhi was agreeing to this whole thing without an argument was to see whether the assumptions he had made about Changcheng were correct. He had a bit of a habit of jumping into conclusions when dealing with new people and not giving them a chance to show themselves for who they were. Waiting for Guo to lead the way, he followed from close behind, keeping himself quiet until they reached the entrance room, which was already bigger than his entire house and decorated like the bedroom of a King in movies. He sat by the writer’s side, but left a little distance between them. The boxer could feel the other’s uncle observing him in scrutiny, probably because of the scrapes on his face. “Where did you two meet?” The silence was broken by the eldest one’s question. “Honestly I never thought Changcheng would find someone so soon. He has never seemed in anything other than books, I was starting to think he was a monk.” Chu wondered if Guo was going, to tell the truth to his uncle, or if he would just go along and pretend that they were actually dating. Usually, Shu Zhi would refute right away, but he wanted to know how the writer would proceed. As in on cue, Changcheng stood up, moving to stand by his uncle’s side. His hands were shaking avidly, and it was clear from his face that he was embarrassed by something, either his father figure’s words or the whole misunderstanding. “Uncle, he is not my boyfriend.” The youngest out of them started, lowering his gaze to the ground shyly. “I have just been trying to get him to help me with my book and he gave me a ride home because it was late.” The second part of his speech came rushedly, as if he was afraid of something. Guo’s uncle fixed him with a look that looked suspiciously like disappointment, as if he was staring at a delusional kid chasing hopeless dreams. The boxer didn’t really like that look. “He has some good ideas.” He spoke up, at last, bringing all of the attention to himself. “I think his book will be a bestseller when he is finished.” Honestly, Chu had no idea if Changcheng’s writing was even good, but from the little time he had spent with the boy, he could tell that his social skills were not the best, that he preferred to observe rather than talk and that he was passionate about this. Writing sounded like Guo’s last hope, and Shu Zhi didn’t like the idea of someone looking down on the writer for that.

“Does that mean you are going to be my muse?” Changcheng asked, voice slightly louder and full of surprise, breaking up the trance they had all been in since Chu’s little speech. The boxer resisted the urge to roll his eyes and sigh, and merely nodded at the boy, though his gaze was more focused on the writer’s uncle, waiting to see what his reaction would be. Unexpectedly, the man broke into a huge smile and stood up as well, patting Guo on the back before pointing in the direction of Shu Zhi. “Nephew, you should keep this one.” And then he chuckled, as if everything made complete sense and ruffled the writer’s hair. “I’m going to bed now.” He started and then his gaze fell on Chu. “You should join us tomorrow for dinner. Auntie has already gone to bed, so she couldn’t meet you, but I’m sure she will like you.” The uncle then moved towards the stairs and looked at his nephew once again. “Help him clean those cuts and don’t stay up too late.” There was genuine affection in the man’s words now, a stark contrast from the look he had given Changcheng when he explained the misunderstanding. The boy, for his part, just nodded, and moved back closer to Shu Zhi. He shyly tugged on the boxer’s sleeve as his uncle left the room to urge the man to follow him.

⥲⍟⥳

The following day, Shen Wei was on edge the whole day, something that was odd given his personality and steely determination. Everyone at the museum noticed that, and even the students as he explained some of the histories of the objects they had on display for them. It was like his head was somewhere else, which was not far from the truth, but rather than thinking about the meeting with the person trying to sell the artefact, he was thinking about the man that would be accompanying him, Kun Lun. Time seemed to drag on and on, and he was tired of urging the clock to hit the scheduled time of their meeting.

As the clock finally struck twenty to four in the afternoon, the archaeologist excused himself from his duties and proceeded to the staff room to get changed. He had actually bought a new suit before coming in to work and he wanted to try it on before the detective arrived, so he could make sure it looked good on him. The task didn’t take much of his time, and soon enough he was standing in front of the mirror. The man was now dressed in a midnight blue suit piece with thin white stripes, a grain pattern white and dark blue shirt underneath coupled with a midnight blue tie and trousers in the same colour. Even his black shoes were new and shining. “You look handsome, Xiao Wei!” The voice caused the man to quickly spin on his heels to look at the intruder. There, leaning against a wall was Kun Lun, looking stunning in a cream coloured smoking with midnight blue details on top of a white shirt and midnight blue trousers. The sight gave Shen Wei a fuzzy feeling inside his stomach, and he noticed that their outfits matched. It was not always that he was caught /this/ out of guard, but the detective had successfully rendered him speechless.

Once some time had passed and he managed to compose himself, Shen Wei adjusted his glasses, just so he would have something to do before looking at Kun Lun again. There was a blush threatening to spread across his cheeks, but the male fought it as much as he could. “You look good as well, Detective.” He finally said, tugging at the bottom of his suit and walking towards the exit of the staff room. His words earned him a cocky smile from Kun Lun. “Shall we go?” He gestured outside of the room, trying to keep the conversation in the line of work, so he wouldn’t be caught in yet another session of getting flustered over the detective’s incessant flirting. Kun Lun laughed in amusement and then gestured outside as well, eyes locked with the archaeologist’s own. “Lead the way, Xiao Wei.”

⥲⍟⥳

Guo took Chu by the hand to lead him to the bathroom, where he made the boxer sit down, so he could rummage around and get the medical kit. Using a piece of cotton soaked in disinfectant, he gently cleaned Shu Zhi wounds, blowing the skin afterwards, so it wouldn’t sting. Thankfully, they were not very big and just scrapes, so he wouldn’t have to give the older man any stitches or anything. After cleaning, he applied some medicinal ointment to speed up the healing process and put a light blue Dragon Ball Z Band-Aid on a particularly bigger scrape on Chu’s jaw. After he was finished, Changcheng smiled boyishly down at Shu Zhi, both hands hidden behind his back as he bowed slightly forward. “It’s done.” It made for an adorable and endearing sight, but the boxer only ruffed in response.

After that, the writer took them to the kitchen, where he grabbed two bowls of fruit salad and poured some yoghurt on top of the cut fruit pieces. He figured that Chu might be hungry after being at the academy for so long and then bringing him home. “Don’t you have adult food?” The boxer asked with that same usual sourness to his voice, which made the boy frown a little sadly, but when he went to get something else for the man to eat, Shu Zhi grabbed his wrist to stop him and just started eating the fruit salad. Guo smiled brightly, as if such a small thing had made him the happiest person in the world. It was rather strange, but Chu found it fitting to the other male’s personality. “What happened to your parents?” The boxer asked after a little while. The question had been nagging at the back of his mind for a little while now. He knew that it could come across as rude and insensible, but he just had to ask. “They died in a car accident.” Changcheng responded in a feeble voice. “My uncle and aunt took me in after they passed and have cared for me since I was little, even though I never did much for them in return.” The writer smiled a bit sadly, but quickly tried to cheer himself up. “But I know they love me very much.” Shu Zhi didn’t respond immediately, he just stared at the other male with an unreadable face and nodded, taking the time to process the information. “I lost my family, too.” He admitted, but didn’t elaborate nor offer any more information, but it seemed like Guo understood, because the writer just pressed a hand to his shoulder and smiled, though Chu could see tears brimming in the corners of his eyes.

“I’m leaving now.” The boxer stated, getting up and moving to exit the kitchen with the other male followed him. The writer took him all the way to his car and when Shu Zhi got in, Guo smiled at him through the window and waved goodbye, though before Chu could leave he hurriedly shouted. “Don’t forget to come tomorrow or my uncle will be upset.” The boxer grunted in response and revved the engine to leave, but he had no intention to bail on them. He threw one last glance at Changcheng and then sped out, driving away from the writer’s home and towards his own.

⥲⍟⥳

The address given by the suspect was not very far from the museum and led them to a huge house. Gathered by the door, Shen Wei knocked twice politely and waited for someone to answer them. A maid around their age was the one sent to pick them up and lead them to the vendor’s office. She knocked on the door once to announce her presence and then opened it, scouting both males inside. “Your guests are here, sir.” She bowed forward in respect and then moved to stand by the door. The suspect, Huang Jin greeted them with a warm smile, standing up to shake both males’ hands. “Hello, hello! You’re Mr Shen from the museum, right?” He asked, looking at the archaeologist, whom just smiled politely and nodded before turning towards the detective in disguise. “This is Kun Lun. He is our new recruit at the museum, though he usually works in the field.” As if on cue, Kun Lun raised a hand and waved at Huang Jin, he already had a lollipop in his mouth. The vendor smiled again and then gestured towards the chairs in front of his desk. “Please, sit down. Would you like some water, tea or anything?” Both males shook their heads while following the command and lowering themselves into the designed seats. The maid slipped outside of the office and closed the door behind her to give them some privacy.

Sitting behind the desk once again, Huang Jin propped his elbows onto the wooden surface and intertwined his fingers, leaning forward to look at the duo. His smile was rather forced, as if he thought that looking amicable would make them more likely to buy whatever goods he was selling. “So…” He cleared his throat, even though both Shen Wei and Kun Lun already had their attention on him. “I have some paintings from the Zhou Dynasty, a vase from the Han Dynasty…” The detective cut him off abruptly, leaning forward as well to look straight into Huang Jin’s eyes. “We are not interested in any of that. Where is that valuable and ancient artefact you spoke of on the phone?” The question was delivered in a rather sharp and brusque manner, which earned Kun Lun a subtle elbow to the side that had him retracting as Shen Wei smiled at the vendor apologetically. “My apologies, Mr Huang. Kun Lun here has been curious about this item since we spoke yesterday, so he is a bit eager.” The archaeologist patted his company on the shoulder trying to seem reassuring. The suspect apparently bought that, because he released a boisterous laugh and stood up. “Let me get it for you.” He started, walking towards a corner of the office that was behind a tall shelf. “I actually bought this recently from a Western man, but such an item belongs in the museum…” Both men ignored the rest of Huang Jin’s sentence as they exchanged looks due to the new information. It seemed like Huang Jin was not the culprit, but rather the person he bought it from.

Returning to where he had left them, the vendor settled a large box on the desk and opened its lid. Inside of it, there was an exquisite sword. It had the form of a lance, but without the elongated cable. Its handle was made of pure gold and the blade itself was black with intricate red lines adorning its extension. The crimson colour seemed to vibrate as if it were alive. Shen Wei was stunned at the sight. It was obviously Ea in front of them, but the lingering question was, who was this man that sold it to Huang Jin? The passionate archaeologist inside of him was excited to be seeing such illustrious relic. As Kun Lun questioned the vendor subtly to help with the investigation, Shen Wei reached to touch the sword, but as soon as it made contact with his skin the male jumped back in shock, drawing the attention of the other two men in the room. “Are you alright, Xiao Wei?” The detective asked, hurriedly moving close to his partner in this case and placing a palm upon his shoulder. “What happened?” The archaeologist looked at him, but didn’t say anything right away. His expression was still pretty visibly shocked. “I…”