ARCHIVE OF DIXING | English 镇魂 Guardian Fanworks Directory

Zhu Yilong thinks the guy cleaning his office window is cute, unfortunately he disappeared like a ghost. Years later he finds himself thinking about the same man, a part of him wishing to see him again. But what if he's already there?

Tucked away in a corner of Florida, there's a tower block that among anything else, isn't that physically beautiful or well built, but the oddly sized apartments are cheap to live in, and the tenants are as expected, so bit different from your average Florida man. Where else would there be a unified group of introverts, the laziest local Pd imaginable, a coffee shop run by a narcissistic owner, and a bunch of weirdos?

Oh yeah, they're all American Chinese too, which means the arguments tend to be in mandarin as well as English. It's mad in the unlucky block, absolutely crackers!

Boya hates his neighbor for being happy, Zhan Yao can't stand his exercise addicted neighbor and his all night training, and Shen Wei has no issue with his fellow resident, unless obliviousness counts as a probable cause for concern. They all drink far too much overpriced coffee, think about revenge too much, yet somewhere along those lines they learn to live with each other.

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"Where's your hand," Bai Yu asks, but it sounds like he already knows the answer, like he could tell exactly from the silence, from Zhu Yilong's breath. Like he just wants him to say the words.

Zhu Yilong swallows. "Where you wanted it," he says, and he can hear Bai Yu's smile in response.

Or: Bai Yu and Long-ge find that they can definitely do this over the phone.

It's been years since the tv series was shot and aired, and everyone seemed to have moved on. Until Zhu Yilong was presented a way back.

「居老师家大白白 」

Inspired by 23/4 TF event, presented in text message style.

Much as Zhu Yilong hated to admit it, Bai Yu intrigued him. The heartbreaker who drew a crowd could have anyone he wanted without making any effort. Yet he'd gone to the trouble of finding out where Zhu Yilong worked, came here, and even pretended to be interested in the art. What kind of Love 'Em and Leave 'Em did that?

Zhu Yilong, a gallery owner, meets Bai Yu, a notorious heartbreaker.

Zhu Yilong wakes up in a universe where they’re filming Guardian following the novel.

When he finally unlocks their apartment door and steps in with a quiet murmur of “I’m home”, what greets him is the sight of Bai Yu sprawled on the sofa in the middle of their living room, diligently scrolling on his phone.

Besides some pretty boring stuff - Bai Yu was here to learn some new and interesting stuff, not the mediocre ones - the post had some kinky and interesting ideas as well. But one particular bullet point caught Bai Yu’s attention.
“Instead of sending pictures, call them. Let them know what exactly they are missing.”, Bai Yu mumbled, his eyes already glued closely to the screen. This article seemed promising after all.

"So we would like to know what do you think of love. How would you define the feeling of it?”, the female interviewer asked with a handsome and reassuring smile.
“Hm, love? That’s a hard question. Well... I would need some time to think about it if that’s okay?”, Zhu Yilong asked with his typical doe-eyes.

There are several lists inside Bai Yu's head, just for this weekend. A few items from the Yes column, a Maybe or two. The rules they've agreed to (no talking about work, no calls, absolutely no mention of monkeys, I mean it); the rules he's carefully keeping track of in general. Some things they wanted to do besides-- well, everything from the first list.

Or: After months of phone calls, texts, and brief get-togethers, Bai Yu and Long-ge manage to carve out a little vacation for themselves. Long-ge doesn't get much of a chance to read his book.

Zhu Yilong tries to find a replacement for Bai Yu.

Written for Day 4 of Zhubai Week 2021.

The message comes in right as midnight strikes. Bai Yu knew it would be coming and yet still could not keep the butterflies in his stomach under control when he saw the message from his Long-ge.

Zhu Yilong is no longer young, he has donned many characters before, and of course some of these have given him insight into what it is that he feels for his former co-star, Bai Yu. However, Bai Yu doesn't seem to feel the same way, apparently satisfied with their amicable relationship since their first meeting. So Zhu Yilong has convinced himself that this is enough, and that he shouldn’t be greedy.

But when Bai Yu surprises Zhu Yilong with the news that he has a girlfriend, things begin to change.

How much really is enough, how long can Zhu Yilong distract himself from the truth, and will Bai Yu realize that Zhu Yilong cares more than he lets on?

Beta'ed by: Fangirlishness

"Stay," he says, and gently presses down until Zhu Yilong's forehead is resting on his shoulder. "Stay," he says again, quieter. There's still a tension to Zhu Yilong that he doesn't like. "Your body stays here," he murmurs close to his ear. "Your mind can go wherever."

- or, Bai Yu and Long-ge figure things out together. They also shoot a drama on the side.

When they had been filming Guardian, Zhu Yilong and Bai Yu had become inseparable and had spent a large amount of their time together. Despite their clear mutual attraction, nothing had happened between them however. Only a few touches, maybe a few kisses. Okay, more than a few kisses, but the point remained regardless: nothing had happened. After filming had ended, they'd both been whisked far away to different places to work on their next projects. They had never talked about what hadn't happened that summer or discussed the little that had or could happen. That is, until they started to share the same dream, a dream startlingly similar to a certain novel extra in the heart of a valley, where a plum tree stood guard before a small hut.

A tired Zhu Yilong goes home.