Work Text:
How do you escape loneliness?
Even with people around you, loneliness is unavoidable.
Even with good repute, great name, and position, loneliness remains.
The last time he felt the beholden warmth of company was his brother. Zhuo Yixuan, the person who understands him the most, the one who guides him and teaches him all the lessons he needs as a young master, was the closest person to little Zhuo Yichen. Other than that, his father was also there, yet to be as close yet stern. Both were his tunnel vision; no other people were ever closer to him.
Since that night of darkness, loneliness remains in his heart.
Wen Xiao came, but her warmth was unsuited. Her company is constant, yet not enough. She’s like his bonfire, warming him for the winters after that night. Yet when he’s moving, or when she’s not around, the cold surrounds him again, claiming him out of the comfort of his warden.
For the last eight years, Zhuo Yichen has used the remains of his clan as his lifeline. His father’s friends adopted him as their own at the bureau, and with that, he managed to make a name for himself. Over time, the elders let him become one of their commanders.
When the old bureau’s office was so damaged that it needed major remodeling and was too damaged for the imperial to fund it enough, Yichen took the origin of his name seriously and housed the bureau in his ancestral house.
All of it to help him fight against his loneliness.
But it’s not enough.
He has many company now, yet none are enough to warm him against the cold of loneliness.
That is until He came.
Zhou Yuanzhou came to his abode with offers of help and a chance to avenge his father and brother.
Henceforth, the cold of loneliness is replaced by the iron of revenge.
But slowly, that tang of hate is replaced by the oblivion of confusion.
When Zhou Yuanzhou came, Zhuo Yichen was keen to hold on to his knowledge of the great demon.
Of course, he is flighty with his words; he is cruel and unfeeling to his surroundings.
Of course, he uses his energy without any bounds and shame; he is a proud, powerful demon.
But his thoughts about the big, bad, cruel demon are always faltered by the moments of his oath.
Those empty, cruel eyes are so keen on death that he even has Zhuo Yichen swear on making sure it happens.
It doesn’t sound like what a big, powerful, and cruel demon would do. Why would they? Why would a bad person teach Zhuo Yichen the way to kill him?
What kind of comedy is this?
By that point, Zhuo Yichen doesn’t know when it began.
The cold of loneliness hasn’t attacked him in a long while.
He doesn’t know whether Zhou Yuanzhou’s nature changed him or whether their banter or dynamics made him feel slowly pulled.
He doesn’t know whether the whole team changes him: Bai Jiu, with his little trust in his presence; Pei Sijing, with her ironclad will; Sweet Wen Xiao, with her backbone and gentle demeanor; or Ying Lei, with his sparks of youth and joy.
But no matter, Zhuo Yichen felt the change. And he wishes it stayed this way.