Male Reader inserts

boldness || yan mingsu

[fluff]

source: Rebirth: The Professional Substitute, 職業替身

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Yan Mingxiu was a handful and not a day passed that you were thankful Zhou Xiang was his husband and not you. Had you been on the receiving end of his (what A - Xiang so lovingly called precious) whining, you'd have popped him in the jaw more times than either you or he could count. You'd taken up Jiang Yuan's place when he went on to become Zhou Xiang's agent, the previous attendant job having been too much for him to juggle with Zhou Xiang quickly becoming a popular face.

That meant, more often than not, you were caught between spats in the Yan family. Nothing big since the Homosexuality Incident with Mingxiu and Zhou Xiang, but still tedious to deal with, especially since Wang Yudong was still sore from Mingxiu's stubborn illegal fundraising rumor. Not like it hadn't been true, but Yudong was nothing if not arrogant. You didn't fancy him much in any case.

You were, to put it nicely, a mediator.  Crudely, a babysitter.

Not a day passed that you didn't rethink you career choice (suck up to the 1% why don't you?) but one person made it all worth it. Not Mrs. Yan, although she was a very sweet lady, but the eldest Yan son, Yan Mingsu.

He was so handsome, an intelligent face with beautiful eyes and a straight nose upon which he held a pair of glasses (reserved for reading papers). His lips were thin and often pressed in a straight line, even the soft beginnings of wrinkles at the corners of his mouth and between his brows fit him perfectly. Oh how you loved him. He was perfection incarnate to you.

But for all you knew, he wasn't interested in a romance at all. As a CEO, he was very business minded, focused on his business and Buddhist getaways, like a regular boring CEO. You didn't see how he would ever have room in his cookie cutter life for you, especially not with how his younger brother ended up being gay. You're pretty sure his father would have a conniption fit if both sons ended up gay.

Well, it's not like you saw him much anyways. It wasn't your job to look after him. No, you had your hands full with Yan Mingxiu and his business. You could barely take a seat before someone or other was bothering you for help. Half the time you just wanted to lie on the ground and let the Earth take you. Certainly, you could say that these instances were you at your lowest. And you were at your lowest often.

It was during one of these low times that you were approached by Yan Mingxiu, asking you for a favor. It was nothing big, a simple errand for something he needed to send his brother but had forgotten to give it to him when they had last gotten together. This wasn't something out of the ordinary - Mingxiu often got too hasty when it came to getting home to Zhou Xiang, so it's not like he could be blamed for forgetting (just as well if you wanted a raise anytime soon).

You'd taken the simple manila folder of whatever over to Mingsu's building, heading to his office with determination and a purpose. It was a direct delivery to Yan Mingsu himself so you wouldn't have to hand it off to a secretary and wait for them to lose it. And yet, here you were in a foreign building, still helping inept office workers do their own jobs. You had been pulled aside by what you had thought was an intern, mistaking you for a big brother office worker from a different floor.

You helped him politely, thinking of how good things came to those who put out good, but if you had known he was actually someone who'd been hired to this company for at least 5 years, you wouldn't have even bothered. You got caught up in the flurry of the office, simply integrating into an environment that you were all too familiar with. Buzzing around like the little busy bee you were, you hardly noticed the bespectacled eyes watching you work. You flitted around, pushing papers between workers who looked at you strangely, but you hardly gave them a second glance. You were doing your job.

Until you got pulled aside by Yan Mingsu.

"I ought to give you a promotion with how hard you're working." You blinked, not quite catching the jab until you noticed the slight quirk to the CEO's lips. You could feel your face heat up as you remembered what you actually came to the building to do.

"Your brother wanted to give you something. He forgot to earlier." Yan Mingsu nodded and took the manila folder from you before looking out onto the rest of his office workers. You followed his line of sight, looking out into the sea of hard working (hardly working?) people. While you were distracted, trying to see what Mingsu was so focused on, he returned his gaze to you, his face returning to its stern and stoic resting expression.

"My little brother is lucky to have you." There was more that he had left unsaid, you could feel it in the way your chest shuddered. You sighed, not wanting to seem ungrateful in the face of the family that controlled your pay, but you really didn't adore your job. You couldn't even say you were lucky to have it, just that you were lucky to get such a high pay.

"I do believe he thinks that. With how eager he is to skimp work, somebody has to be there to assist." Mingsu nodded, wholly in agreement. It wasn't that Mingxiu was a flighty man with no sense of work ethic - that was far from the truth, especially when he put his mind to something - but everything else was severely pale in importance compared to Zhou Xiang.

"Well, I -" you started to try and take your leave before you were cut off a simple and elegant wave of Mingsu's hand. You stared up at your employer's big brother, eyes wide. Had you offended him in some way? A jolt a fear stabbed through your stomach before Mingsu adjusted his glasses.

"If it isn't too bold of me to say, if Mingxiu doesn't give you a raise in pay, I would be more than happy to compensate for his lack of." You gaped a little, a bit speechless by the very vivid boldness of the gege in front of you. You never imagined Yan Mingsu to be generous in this way - it was unheard of from most CEOs, not to mention the eldest son of Yan laoye. It was very bold. Even a little bit (a lot) vulgar. You couldn't help but politely wave him off.

"Ah, excuse me, but you don't need to do that. Yan Mingxiu pays me enough as is." The way Mingsu pressed his lips into a line told you of his distaste and dislike, but ... it also made you want to return the sentiment in kind. Mingsu wouldn't have offered to pay for you raise himself if he didn't really really like you.

"If you do want me compensated though," you bit your lip to ground your jittery self as you watch Yan Mingsu perk up a bit, excited to hear your input, "you could always take me out for coffee or tea or something. Anything really. Y - You have my number so whatever you pick just send me the details." You we're so nervous bowing and saying goodbye to your superior that you hardly had time to notice the red tinging Yan Mingsu's face and the tips of his ears.

A worker came up behind him, asking for assistance with something. Yan Mingsu cleared his throat, adjusting the lovestruck look back into his normally stern and calculating face. He turned and gave the worker some instruction, appeasing their worries, before heading back to his office. At least now he had something besides work to look forward to.

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OK I HAD THIS PLANNED FOR EXACTLY AFTER I FINISHED READING PRO SUBSTITUTE BUT I TOOK TOO GOTDAMN LONG anyway here you go, the cute awkward CEO 哥哥 fic no one asked for