Chapter Text
Bunching the suit coat up to his nose for a third time, Hua Yong inhaled with new expectations. Shaoyou’s brow pinched, watching, waiting on the verdict that would prove he was right.
Hua Yong’s eyes raised above a hill of dark fabric. His look was wide, but hesitant - an internal debate if his conclusion should be shared directly, or sugar coated.
Throwing his arms up into the air, Shaoyou sighed with exasperation. “It was washed two nights ago! I put it in the basket and you, yourself, washed and folded it!” His fingers rubbed at the bridge of his nose, attempting to rub away stress but to no avail.
“Then he did wear it.” Hua Yong declared with greater certainty, face still pressed into the suit coat.
“That’s impossible.” The assumption was waved off without a second thought. “I got this during the conference in Country A last year, remember? It was tailored to me exactly. Wenlang wouldn’t be able to fit in it.”
Nothing more was offered in return. Hua Yong resumed tracing his nose around, hunting for specific spots to sniff as if it would spell out the answer for them. The sleeves, collar, underarms, all of it held the same familiar iris scent.
Every ounce of tension exited through Shaoyou’s breath. His shoulders loosened, giving a brief moment of silence to think and try a different angle. “Did you change laundry soaps?”
Hua Yong’s muffled laugh buzzed up into his cheeks, brushing his skin with a light rosy hue. “An iris scented soap it seems…” His eyes rolled, nose staying buried.
Sunlight trickled through the inner sheer window curtain. It crept high up the wall, glowing around Shaoyou’s forgotten briefcase he had set next to the front door the moment Hua Yong started peeling off his layers without warning.
The enigma was fiercely particular about every detail when it came to Shaoyou. From how his hair fell, to the fold of his sleeve cuffs, Hua Yong refused to allow him to take a step outside if anything was out of place. In his own words, the world had to see Shaoyou as he did. Which, unsurprisingly, often led to a jealousy so strong at hypothetical admirers, that it pulled both of them back to bed.
Chen Pinming was wise enough to never schedule morning meetings anymore.
In shorter, more careful strides than usual, practically scuffing the rubber bottom of his slippers across the floor, Gao Tu rounded the corner to the entry way. Resembling both Shaoyou with his briefcase in one hand, and Hua Yong with his nose down in his sleeve, his mind was completely distant to where he physically was.
With curious, sleepy eyes he finally acknowledged them. “Did we change laundry soap?” He lacked any usual greeting, his mind too detail oriented to let changes lie without knowing why.
“You too?” Shaoyou sighed. A headache began to form around the top of his head. He had too much to worry about with Shengfang Biotech’s newest research project, he didn’t need the mystery smell to add to the list of things he was forced to worry about.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose he sneaked a glance from between his fingers, watching how content Hua Yong was to shove his face into Gao Tu’s clothes. The enigma pulled and sniffed, resembling more bloodhound than man.
With a deep inhale directly against Gao Tu’s collar, Hua Yong seemed to settle on his deductions. “Was this recently cleaned too?”
“Ah,” Gao Tu stumbled momentarily. No one would fault him for it - having the enigma’s mouth so close to his neck had to be distracting. “Yes, it was, but it smells so much like-”
“Wenlang.” Hua Yong jumped ahead to answer. His eyes darkened a degree, teeth tugging at the corner of his mouth as he made up his mind.
Without a word he began to move. Hua Yong walked as if he was attached to a rail, taking a direct line without stopping. He made it impossible not to follow him.
Gao Tu joined without question, trailing one step behind as they collectively swerved into the bedroom, dodging the same fallen bedsheets as a collective unit. Shaoyou had a feeling where they were headed. It wasn’t hard to piece together, not when they were missing the one person whose scent was slathered onto nearly everything they wore.
The door to the main walk-in closet slammed open as Hua Yong chose dramaticism over caring if the wall behind it survived. Time seemed to stop, allowing each of them to get an eyeful of the culprit who stood frozen, caught red-handed in the act.
Regardless of how quickly Wenlang recovered to shove the sweater that he had been rubbing on his neck back onto the shelf, his secret had been blown wide open.
Hua Yong’s brow lifted, amused at the frantic attempt to hide the crime. His warpath dulled momentarily, just enough for his strides to take on a bit of a bounce, leading him right to the sheepish alpha.
There was a brief moment Shaoyou couldn’t fully see - a tilt of Hua Yong’s head, and a squirm of Wenlang’s mouth that seemed to be the perfect balance of regret and pain.
“Really?” Hua Yong hummed, his voice taking on a tone of playful scolding. He snatched the sweater that had been hastily returned, turning it briefly over for another inspection. “My clothes too, Wenlang?” The time between the rhetorical question and Hua Yong shoving his face into the cashmere material to inhale deeply was hardly a second long.
“What are you trying to do, hm?” The click of Hua Yong’s tongue was muted against the sweater. “Are you having a midlife crisis and need to assert dominance all of a sudden?”
Wenlang’s eyes shied away. Stuffing his hands into his pants pockets almost made him look smaller, more docile. It wasn’t too dissimilar from a dog being scolded for its bad behavior.
The pressure of the focus being entirely on him eventually pushed the alpha to cave. “I thought…” Wenlang’s tongue rolled like it had to push through syrup for him to speak. His attempt to discreetly pull his phone out and check what was on the screen wasn’t missed. It was a glowing beacon in the dim mood lighting of the walk-in closet.
With his chin down, Wenlang looked up through the low hang of his unstyled hair. “You don’t like it…?” He purposefully left words unsaid, struggling to buy time so he could glance at whatever was written across his phone.
Hua Yong, on the other hand, was quicker to act. An enigma’s reflexes were quick, comparable to lighting. He didn’t give Wenlang time to register when his phone was seized, he left him to twist in the wind and eventually catch up.
“Hua Yong!” The alpha roared, but nowhere near the level of his usual irritated anger. It was more thin; worried.
Merely needing an elegant side step to avoid Wenlang’s hands, Hua Yong glared at the alpha’s phone, holding it right up to his face. For a brief moment, it was a miracle it didn’t burst into flames. The way Hua Yong’s eyes glared like the phone offended him, was intimidating to the point that not even Wenlang tried to disturb him - or he had finally given up.
It was completely unexpected when the enigma’s fury eased, and a long, knowing smile slipped into place.
“Wenlang.” Hua Yong breathed like he had just received the best present he ever could. “Did you really think-”
“Don’t!” Wenlang’s warning came out strained and lacking any real threat. It had no ability to stop the enigma from turning the phone around, much less telling off the smallest kitten.
Shaoyou understood in an instant to lean forward and squint to read the bold title in full view on Wenlang’s phone. The weight Gao Tu pressed on his shoulder gave the omega support to copy the action, adjusting his glasses for a better look as he did.
Pressed in tight with tacky ads bracketing both sides of the article, the title was loud with its content being unmistakable: “15 Ways to Make your Lover go Wild for You!”
Gao Tu had more tact out of the two of them. His hand flew up to his mouth to fight back the soft awe that naturally tried to come out, but the sentiment still made it up to his warm eyes. “Oh…” His inhale was sharp when his palm pressed tighter to his mouth. “Oh, A-Lang…”
“How old are you again?” Shaoyou couldn’t help himself. The way Wenlang stood, face flushed, steam practically coming out his nose as he breathed, teasing him was a natural reaction. “I think I remember seeing other alphas flirt by scenting things in secondary school.”
Stuck between the decision to explode or melt and hide away, Wenlang locked his jaw. “If you don’t like it, then I won’t scent your clothes anymore.” It was a borderline magic trick how all his words were well pronounced when his mouth didn’t move.
The promise made in haste hit Shaoyou harder than he would dare to admit. “Hey!” His back bristled. “You’re going to leave me out?” He huffed, making the back pedaling easier to come out.
The stubborn wolf never quite understood the benefit of balance - it was always all or nothing with him.
“I could strangle you right now.” Somehow Hua Yong always seemed to be able to make casual threats sound so loving. The phone was shoved against Wenlang’s chest for the alpha to take back, and to give Hua Yong the opening to dangle his arms over the alpha’s shoulders.
“Wenlang, you’re so useless.” There was no bite to his teasing. Hua Yong smiled, practically love sick with how he gazed up at Wenlang who didn’t quite know how to take the underhanded insult.
Nothing seemed to settle Hua Yong’s hands. His fingers tensed, curling and uncurling in the air, searching for something to squeeze and play rough with. If they didn’t need to be in their respective offices in under an hour, there was no doubt that Hua Yong would make good on his threats.
“Next time, do it directly.”