Oh, oh, oh it's magic (Xie and Kevin)

[xie_er]

Zhao Jing used to be a nobody, born into influence and wealth but always in the shadow of those around him. In magical circles he was even worse, a barely-remembered witch that didn't have enough power for any familiar to even consider looking twice at him.

Somehow, though, after many years (and a few suspicious deaths), he's managed to climb his way to the CEO of Five Lakes, his power - of both kinds - growing exponentially.

The previous CEO was surrounded by some unfortunate rumorus before his death, so Zhao Jing has been focused on repairing the reputation of he company and solidifying his support, mundane and magical, which means it is far too delicate a moment for Xie to be in the spotlight, even if he was promised he'd be allowed to stop hiding when the position was in Zhao Jing's hands.

He just has to wait a little longer, that's all, and it's not like it's difficult to only appear in his animal form whenever Zhao Jing is in public, just uncomfortable, and the last thing they need is for somebody to recognise Xie for any of the things he's done to help his witch get where he is today, when his position is still so precarious...

He tells himself all the excuses he's heard from Yifu, repeats them in his head like a mantra as he sits through all the meetings and negotiations, a little black cat and Zhao Jing's feet, watching the men and women he's speaking to for anything Yifu can use. He hangs around when Zhao Jing steps out the room, listens to what they say behind his back - that's his job with normal people, to be a pair of ears they don't realise are there. Even paranoid types who scan for bugs would miss him, which he finds funny, privately, because he is a bug of a sort.

Not that he's allowed to take his original animal form - a scorpion would be out of place if anybody caught sight of him, and Yifu doesn't like the idea of him hiding in pockets or anything like that. He says it's dangerous, that something could happen to him, but Xie privately thinks he just finds the form creepy. Even around other magical people, the cat is preferred - his job with them is to be a reminder that Zhao Jing has a familiar, and a relatively powerful one at that.

It's hard for familiars to change the form they can take, but he did it, for Yifu.

He tells people the cat is called Scorpion, and that somebody else named him - which is technically true, Xie does mean scorpion, and his parents named him - and that he's vaguely embarrassed to have such a fiercely named cat.

(He doesn't tell magical people anything at all, they know Xie isn't a pet so they're less likely to ask, at most they will wonder why his familiar always stays in animal form. Zhao Jing just tells them he's shy. He isn't, he doesn't care about people seeing him, but it's easier to do the things Yifu wants him to do when nobody knows what he looks like)

Xie hadn't always known he was powerful - when Yifu had taken him in he'd been told he wasn't much, but that maybe he could be useful. Later, when some witch had made an offhand comment about it, the story had become that Yifu recognised his power and took him in before anybody else could steal him away, that he just wanted to protect Xie from the people who would use him for his power. Xie was already so far gone by that point that he accepted it, that he told himself he was lucky he had Yifu to protect him, to guide him.

It's funny how easy it is to lie to yourself.

When the meetings are over for the day he finally shifts back to human form, spending a few minutes stretching out the kinks that come from forcing himself into a form that isn't quite his, especially with how much he's had to do it over the last few weeks, and then going in search of something to eat. He could probably just head back to his own apartment since he doesn't think Yifu needs anything else from him, not today, but the outsiders have all left and everybody in Yifu's manor at least knows Xie, even if they don't know that Xie and Scorpion are one and the same, so it's safe to be around them.

He likes to spend as much time here as he can get away with, likes to remind Yifu he can be useful in other ways... and maybe he likes to keep an eye on this new apprentice Yifu has taken on. He doesn't understand why he needs anybody else when he has Xie, but the last time he'd questioned somebody new in the house Yifu hadn't spoken to him for a week, so he doesn't voice that thought out loud - he just watches the guy suspiciously every chance he gets, and wonders how easy he would be to get rid of.

He's halfway to the kitchen when something makes him stop. A tug of power, the vague echo of chanting, there's a ritual happening and something about it is drawing him close. He frowns, confused, and follows the pull...

Comments

[xie_er]

Xie considers this and realises it's true - he doesn't get on with Tony at all, but if he had to trust Tony to watch his back... he actually probably would? Which is a novelty, for him. There are a lot of people he considers friends, but he knows they'd serve their own self-interests first. He doesn't blame them, it's just.. the world they all lived in.

He wouldn't trust Tony as much as he'd trust, say, Lisa, and he only trusts him as much as he trusts his desire to not disappoint or upset Kevin, but still, it's there.

Even Quill, who he feels like he barely knows, clearly doesn't just view him as dangerous prisoner on the left, if they're ambulance conversation was anything to go by.

"I'd have their back, too." He says, like he's just realised that - which, he has. It's sort of because he doesn't want to disappoint or upset Kevin, but he'd do it.

[weird_cop]

Kevin smirks again at the realisation.

"Yeah, they get you like that."

He reaches over with his more healed hand and nudges Xie lightly in his shoulder, falling quiet for a while to finish watching the show.

[xie_er]

Xie just rolls his eyes, but it's obviously more amused than actually irritated.

He quiets as well, settles to watch the show and occasionally reaching over to grab some popcorn. It feels like finally resting after everything that's happened, and something in him just... settles.

He didn't get much sleep at the hospital, though, so somewhere during the next episode his eyelids start getting heavy and he starts dozing - eventually migrating sideways enough that he's leaning on Kevin's shoulder.

[weird_cop]

Kevin glances at him when he does that, and is suddenly struck by the overwhelming desire to shift and put his arm around him, but the need to decided if that is appropriate or not is put off by the fact that doing so would probably hurt a bit too much.

So he leans back and sits like that for a while, comfortable enough to let it go, until eventually he realises that it wouldn't be good for either of them to fall asleep here. If nothing else, Kevin needs to be slow and patient with himself getting into bed.

But... he really likes sitting here, with Xie's head on his shoulder, and the smell of his hair product just dominating the popcorn. So after turning the TV off he allows himself just a minute of enjoying this feeling.

Then.

"Hey, sleepyhead. I have to get upstairs."

[xie_er]

Xie stirs with a grumpy little pout that soothes as soon as he's awake enough to be aware what is face is doing. He fights back a yawn and lifts his head, a moment later realising exactly where his head has been resting and feeling a flash of awkwardness.

"Sorry." Even his mental voice is almost a mumble, sheepish and sleepy in equal measure. He grabs the popcorn bowl and sets it back on the tray along with the mugs, grabbing them as he stands.

"Do you need any help?" He asks then, glancing back at Kevin, unsure how much his injuries will impact his night-time routine.

[weird_cop]

There's a pause as Kevin contemplates the act of dragging himself upstairs, pulling his clothes off and collapsing into bed, and which bits of that he can do on his own versus which bits he can't ask for help with. There's not a lot left in the middle.

Eventually he shakes his head.

"No, I got this. Thanks. If I do need you, then you'll probably hear screaming first."

He manages it, in fact, but not without making a mental list of reasons he needs both arms back at full use before he finishes with his gut wound.

And then he lies awake for a few hours, remembering what it felt like to deliberately kill a man.

[xie_er]

Xie nods, takes the tray to the kitchen and leaves it by the sink to deal with later before following Kevin upstairs.

He's entirely ready to just curl up and fall back asleep, but there's something at the edge of his mind that keeps him from drifting off. He doesn't know quite how to interpret the emotions he's picking up on, but it's clearly something bothering Kevin enough to keep him from sleeping. He could probably ignore it with a little effort, but instead he rolls over, facing towards Kevin despite being in different rooms, and reaches out through the link.

"What's bothering you, do you want to talk about it?"

[weird_cop]

When he realises he's been keeping Xie awake Kevin feels guilty more than anything else. He turns his head - his injuries keeping him on his back - to face the wall between them.

"No, it's okay. I'm sorr..."

He stops, sighs. He feels like he owes Xie honesty but isn't sure I feel guilty for killing your lover is really something that should be about Kevin's feelings. So it takes a second to work out.

"I've been responsible for death, before. But this was the first time I actually made the decision to aim."

It sounds like a silly thing to confess to a man who has been committing murder since he was 16.

[xie_er]

Xie may have been committing murder since he was 16, but he does remember how he felt the first time, how long it had taken him to come to terms with it. Those feelings are nothing more than a memory, now, and in his darker moments he scoffs at his naivety, but he still thinks maybe he can draw on them to try and help, here.

"It sits with you for a while, the first time." He admits softly "and maybe it should. It's no small thing."

Maybe if he hadn't become so desensitised, hadn't buried those feelings in alcohol and sex and then killed so much more that they became pointless to hang on to, maybe....

Maybe Yifu would have killed him a lot sooner because he was no longer useful. Maybe he would have driven himself mad. Xie did what he needed to in order to survive and it's hard for him to regret it. Killing people made him feel as powerful as everybody claimed he was...

"You did it to save me, though. You did it because he wouldn't have stopped, otherwise. I know I'm more practical about life and death than a lot of people, but truthfully the world is better without him in it."

It still hurts to say that, still stings to betray the man he loved for so long, but that doesn't make him think it any less true.

[weird_cop]

"I know. It was the right choice, and I'd do it again, only before he even got to you next time."

Part of Kevin has wanted to kill Zhao for what he was doing to Xie, before he even knew the extent of it.

"I'm just processing."

[xie_er]

Xie nods slightly to himself in the dark - it's good, he thinks, that Kevin isn't wringing his hands with guilt over it, Yifu doesn't deserve his guilt.

"Do you want me to just leave you alone?" He doesn't say it unkindly, he just isn't sure if talking helps or not. Now that he knows what's bothering Kevin, he can safely ignore those feelings at the edge of his mind and go to sleep - but he also doesn't mind listening if he wants to talk.

[weird_cop]

Kevin reaches a head towards the wall, not quite able to touch it.

What he wants is the physical sensation of someone holding him, grounding him, as he works through it. What he has is a link through which he can draw magic. It's not the same.

"I'm okay," he tells Xie. But he draws a small sliver of that power into himself, lacing threads of it through his injuries so he can concentrate on the sensation.

"Get some sleep. Thank you."

[xie_er]

Xie feels that little draw of power and wonders at it, there's something about it that feels like... like Kevin's almost trying to draw him closer. Is he imagining that? Is it some kind of wishful thinking?

Not that he wants...

He doesn't know what he wants. He doesn't know what Kevin wants.

He sighs to himself, indecision warring for a moment before he gives up trying to figure it out and just closes his eyes, gives Kevin a quiet good night through the link and tries to get some sleep.

[weird_cop]

Kevin eventually sleeps, and wakes later than usual to a quiet house. He lies in bed at first, using his own power to work on his arms enough that he can face the prospect of dressing himself.

He doesn't reach for Xie's power yet, wanting to wait for him to wake, so as soon as he has sweatpants and a T shirt on he makes his way downstairs.

They need to go make a statement today but they have time.

[xie_er]

When Xie does wake and everything is so quiet, it feels oddly disorienting for a moment - he's so used to there being other people in the house by this point, it throws him off a little bit when there isn't.

He rises slowly, says good morning to Kevin through the link without even thinking about it and then goes to have an extremely long shower. Between the warehouse and hospital and injuries he feels grubby as hell and wants nothing more than to be clean again.

Finally he comes downstairs, clean and dressed and hair fully braided, and only then does he wonder if he should have offered to help with breakfast before he showered, if Kevin was able to do it with his injuries or if he's just been waiting.

[weird_cop]

There is no cooked breakfast, that's for sure. Kevin put the tea on, stuck bread in the toaster and retreated to the couch.

He didn't say anything about it though. When Xie said good morning, Kevin replied and actually asked permission before starting on his meditation proper. By the time Xie comes down he's feeling significantly better.

"They're waiting for us this time," he explains, his voice sounding out of place after using the link for so long. "Lofthouse put off the cogs of the machine as long as she could but..."

Well, Kevin killed a man. He shrugs. "We'll be interviewed separately, but we can talk."

[xie_er]

The important thing is that he managed to eat, so Xie feels less guilty about not thinking of it for so long. He nods his understanding when Kevin explains.

"It's fine. I'm ready to go whenever." Well, he might go and put some eyeliner on. It feels like armour and he might need it, but at the same time he doesn't feel that nervous - he's already told them the worst details of his life, this is nothing. His only concern is making sure he doesn't say anything that would get Kevin in trouble.

[weird_cop]

"I'm just going to have a wash now I can hold a washcloth."

So Xie has time, at least, if he wants to put his armour on. Kevin moves to head upstairs, but pauses at the base. He can't have a shower, he knows, without getting his dressings wet, which means...

"Can you give me a hand?"

[xie_er]

Xie nods, figuring he'll make himself a cup of tea and do his makeup while he waits - until the request for help comes and he glances over at Kevin.

"Of course" He says without hesitating, moving to follow him up the stairs. It's only fair after Kevin helped with his hair

[weird_cop]

There's not a lot Kevin really needs - he goes into the bathroom and eases his T shirt off again, standing awkwardly by the sink as he soaks a washcloth.

"Just need help with my back," he explains.

He's self-conscious for some reason. He knows he shouldn't be, after all he's done for Xie, but standing there with his own chest exposed... he's not sure why he feels like he cares what Xie thinks.

[xie_er]

Xie can appreciate the view from a purely aesthetic perspective, but he's also trying not to. That feels a little too charged in a way he doesn't want to examine too closely.

"Okay" Xie says easily, holding his hand out for the washcloth and then wiping down Kevin's back in smooth, careful strokes, occasionally pausing to rinse the cloth out before continuing, trying to ensure it isn't too wet so he doesn't get drips running down his back.

[weird_cop]

Kevin bows his head to enjoy the sensation, the pleasure off having too many days worth of sweat and dirt wiped away, and the more personal sensation of having Xie close to him, having someone else take care of him, just for a moment.

He aches for it. But he can't tell if he aches for contact, or he aches because of who used to fill that role, or if he aches, just a little, for Xie specifically.

But he closes his eyes and focuses on the feeling of being clean, before admitting he can probably managed the rest of his arms and chest.

"Thank you.."

[xie_er]

He almost wishes it wasn't just his back, or that it would take longer, because it feels like it's over all too soon and the washcloth between them feels all at once absolutely necessary and far, far too much.

Maybe this is just because it's been a while, he's a little touch starved... or he just needs to get laid.

He can't imagine there's going to be much chance of that but he's going to have to do something. After these interviews are out the way, obviously.

He steps away reluctantly - needs to, before he does anything stupid - and nods even though Kevin can't see it.

"No problem"

[weird_cop]

Fortunately - or not, depending on the point of view - Kevin is too focused on himself to be able to separate his own feelings from anything he might be picking up in the link, so he takes the washcloth into his own hands, readies it to take over, and grins at Xie in the mirror.

"I'll let you know when I'm ready to go."

It doesn't take long - though when he gets to his legs he's careful and doesn't bend too much, and he would like to be able to wear clothes a little more serious than the sweatpants that are comfortable against his dressing and the trainers he doesn't have to lace up.

But he's ready to get this over with.

[xie_er]

Xie nods, retreating from the bathroom to go and do his makeup.

He examines his bruised throat in the mirror while he works and wonders if maybe Kevin should have healed him less - they're a lot more faded already, and some of his other bruises have practically vanished, he doesn't really look as beaten up as he had been.

At least he can explain they've been magically healed, he supposes, and it is easier to speak this way - but he knows how important looks can be.

When they're both ready he heads back downstairs, just as willing to get this out of the way and figure out what's happening next.