#xiecan (邪灿) evidently it can mean 'evil and magnificent'? works for me unless they already have a different one somewhere

[xcziel]

Between Dusk and Dawn

by @alxina & @xantissa

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Relationship: Wu Xie/Wang Can

Characters: Wu Xie (DMBJ Series), Wang Can (DMBJ Series), Wang Meng (DMBJ Series), Liu Sang (DMBJ Series), Wang Pangzi, Zhang Qiling

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, AU, Undercover, Anal Sex, Oral Sex, Hand Jobs, First Time, Angst, Humor, Romance, The 10 years when Wu Xie was a mob widow

Summary:

When Wang Can stumbled onto Wu fucking Xie while hiding abroad, he expected everything but being told to play a goddamn honeytrap on the man!

Sex he could deal with, but emotions were not supposed to be a part of this.

-

The low roar of the engine as it made its way through the desert sounded oddly loud in the early dawn. The sand had started picking up the silver from the horizon, widening around him as he stared ahead through the windshield. Wang Can stared at the road stretching ahead, seeming almost limitless in the faint light, and stepped on the gas, the whine of the engine drowning out all of his thoughts.

He was still feeling faintly queasy, so he rolled down his window, letting the cool air hit him in the face, and didn’t roll it back up when he started feeling a little better. The car seemed suddenly small with the windows up. He still wasn’t sure whether it had been the right decision to leave at night instead of waiting for Wu Xie to wake up and then leave in the morning. It had been hard, picking up his clothes from the bed in the dark and getting dressed as quietly as possible, but it would have been even harder if he had had to look at Wu Xie’s expression while he dressed, then still make the decision to leave. No, it was better this way. He wasn’t stealing away like a thief in the night, he was just making… strategic choices. Choices which he could follow through without risking them being waylaid by his own unreliability. Because that was what he was when facing Wu Xie - unreliable. He would have had to leave anyway, there was really no point in dragging this out anymore than he had to.

He shifted a little on the seat, trying to get comfortable despite still being sore from being fucked only hours before, and he clenched his thighs reflexively as he remembered that. There were a few more hours of driving ahead of him, and he tried to focus on that for now.

It was only much later that Wang Can realised that he had left the headlights on even once the sun was up. It frustrated him, and he swept his gaze across the dashboard, checking if there was anything else that had escaped his notice, and saw the pack of wet wipes sitting in a corner where he had obviously forgotten to put it back under his seat. The wipes made him think of Wu Xie, and he reached out with one hand to get at them, trying and failing to reach them, before letting them stay there for the time being.

They had reached the meeting place where Wu Xie’s backup was supposedly waiting. Wang Can was curious as hell, but managed not to ask. He told Wu Xie he was going to leave the next day. He told him he didn’t want to talk. He preferred sex, it so much easier that way, just flesh and sensation.

And he did leave in the morning.

Just… earlier in the morning than he might have implied.

It was easier to focus on what he was doing. On making sure no cars were tailing him, on keeping track of his fuel, or the occasional speed trap.

He stopped for food twice. Once at a gas station to buy a hot dog wannabe, and the second time by a small trailer parked at the edge of a side road leading off the highway towards some sort of small town. There were plenty of other cars - all local - parked on the side of the road, people eating from small plastic bowls while leaning against their cars.

The stew was phenomenal, tasting all the more amazing with half of a fresh baguette. He ate in his car with the AC blasting full force, and tried to ignore the papayas piled on turned over crates beside the trailer and the boy selling quarters of them for a few coins, using a large knife to skilfully cut them open with one whack and scraping the seeds into a bucker by his feet, the breeze carrying the scent towards him and irritating him to no end.

He switched the AC to internal air circulation and was oddly glad for the amount of spice in the stew, which made his nose run and him unable to smell anything.

A few hours later, Wang Can was pulling up in front of the street where Lao Shen lived, and, even as he killed the engine and picked up his bag, he glanced out through the window to see if there was anyone around whom he recognised. Coming here was a risk, but he hoped the information that Wu Xie was alive hadn’t yet reached any of his handlers, and he had to get the documents he had stashed here. Money, equipment, those he could deal without, but the documents would be so very hard to get, and those he had here were acquired through a local freelance contact not exactly Wang sponsored, so, to him, in the situation he was in, they were priceless.

He got out of the car and walked up to the front entrance, feeling the back of his neck tingle from the way two mercenaries whom he hadn’t seen before looked his way as he entered. Of course there would have been a dozen new recruits during the time he was away in the desert, but even still, Wang Can watched them as he made his way through the open hall and towards the stairwell. He walked over to his room, which was at the very end of the corridor, turning the key in the lock and pushing in without making too much noise. It smelled musty inside, and he flicked on the light switch and immediately made his way to the bed, looking around once to check that everything was in its place.

Dropping to a low crouch, Wang Can peered under the bed, running his fingers along the edge, then moved them further inside until he felt the familiar shape of the package underneath. Wang Can ripped off the tape holding it in place and let it drop into his hands. He returned to the desk to open it and see what he could use at the moment. He didn’t want to risk damaging the documents, so he brought out his combat knife and sliced it open at the top, then scattered the items out on the surface of the desk.

“You know, Hans must have liked you, because he actually tried to cover for you when I called.” Lao Shen sounded tired, the characteristic rasp of his voice more pronounced than usual.

Wang Can let his hands drop on the desk as he slowly looked around.

“Don’t move,” Lao Shen said, the distinct sound of a safety being pulled back echoing in the quiet house. “I’m too old to get into a hand to hand altercation with you.”

“Lao Shen,” Wang Can said slowly, watching the man silhouetted in the doorway.