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

[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.

[weird_cop]

Kevin has decided he'll figure out that when he gets to it, that he'd rather be able to move and dress himself than avoid awkward questions.

He puts his hand on Xie's shoulder in solidarity as they go through the portal - into the portakabin outside the Gipsy Hill Station that still functions as the ops room for the Met's magic specialist unit.

There are smiles and hugs from the women, manly shoulder claps from the men, everyone obviously happy to see how much they've both healed overnight.

Costain gives Xie a wry smirk. "Now I see why you wanted him to do this earlier."

[xie_er]

Xie nods.

"The healing technique is very effective when you have more power to put into it." He agrees - not pointedly, he isn't interested in rehashing that argument so soon, but it is the truth.

Despite everything, he's still a little taken aback to see how happy they are about his recovery as well as Kevin's - especially when it was his fault that Kevin was pulled into the fight in the first place.

[weird_cop]

Kevin meanwhile, has a look around the room he hasn't seen the inside of for going on for years, and is unsurprised at how little has changed. The Ops board is busy, not quite dismantled yet, full of everything he already knows, and with the general concepts side filled with all the new magic he's been learning.

"Right," says Quill. "first things first, do you want to do the honours, Kev?"

Kevin declines the roll of black tape he's offered, and gets the grim satisfaction of watching the DC tape a big black cross over Zhao's face.

(The picture of Xie, he notices has already been removed, but he sees the relationship thread still there.)

Lofthouse takes them through what to expect - separate interview rooms, independent interviewers for each. She will be with Sefton, Quill with Xie if he wants it.

"There are also briefs waiting for you both," she adds. "If you want them present."

[xie_er]

Xie's eyes stray to the board eventually, skimming over the information that he already knows, almost checking it for accuracy. He sees the thread that should lead to a picture that isn't there and he's smart enough to guess what's missing. He hopes it was a good picture.

He looks away, though, when they tape the cross over Yifu's picture. He wonders if he'd still feel this way if he'd been the one to kill him, or if that would feel better. Maybe it would feel worse. He realises, then, that what he's really mourning is the idea of Yifu that he'd built up in his head, not the actual man.

Anything else negative is just the vague guilt of being glad to get rid of the man Yifu was.

He feels, he thinks, much like Kevin does about killing him - he knows it was right, but he still needs time to process it.

He surprises himself by agreeing to have Quill with him - he remembers what Kevin said about them having his back, and decides maybe it would be nice to have backup he can rely on.

He'll take the brief too; more information is always better than less.

[weird_cop]

Without even thinking about it, Kevin tugs lightly on Xie's power. A way of knuckling his shoulder without even touching it.

The wards end at the door of the portakabin, so Kevin and Lofthouse step out first, into the car park and cross to the station proper, where Kevin gets to experience the mixed admiration and confusion he generally gets from the rest of the Force. He brought down Jing Zhao singlehandedly, yes. But how?

Mostly, he knows, it's admiration.

The interview is tough for the same reason. The interviewing officer, only doing her job, keeps coming back to his injuries, not understanding how they're so healed. Lofthouse keeps pushing the photos they took last night, emphasising that they know DC Sefton was stabbed, they know Zhao was in the act of strangling his son, who Sefton was charged to protect.

"And how was Xie Zhao able to meet up with his father in the first place, wasn't he being watched?"

Kevin just retells his side.

[xie_er]

Xie, on the other hand, has to check three or four times if Kevin is sure it's okay to tell the whole truth exactly as it happened - it's not that he thinks Kevin did anything he shouldn't have, he's just really not used to "tell the truth to the cops" being the appropriate strategy, he's used to having a story.

The interviewer he's speaking to has some trouble with the injuries as well, until Xie finally snaps and asks if he'd prefer Xie was croaking out his whole story in agony and if not then to stop fucking asking. He does.

He has to explain how he ended up there on his own about seven different ways, and that's where he has trouble with the truth - he skirts around admitting he was left on his own in the house, and just talks about having worked out a way to slip past their precautions. He expects they might still get in some trouble, but he does his best. It should have been secure, in fairness, they didn't know the wards would allow him to pass as long as Kevin already had.

He does talk about how he knew Kevin could track him, that he didn't expect Yifu to show up himself and that he was just hoping to be able to lead them to him, frames the whole thing about a cooperative prisoner being a little overzealous in his support of their goals, just in case it helps him later on.

He is interrupted, though, most of the way through the interview, by someone arriving to explain that his lawyer had contacted the station and asked the interview to be suspended until he could arrive.

Xie didn't know he had a lawyer.

[weird_cop]

Quill does interrupt at one point to say yes, the team left a suspect alone in the safe house and yes they thought the uniforms outside would catch him leaving but they didn't okay bring him and the superintendent up on charges for that stop grilling the lad.

When the interview is paused, the same news is brought to Lofthouse, who pauses Kevin's interview, leaving him kicking his heels in the interview room not talking to his brief.

"Everything okay?"

[xie_er]

"Apparently I have a lawyer?"

It must be one of Yifu's, Xie knows he has some on retainer - has even dealt with one before, when Xie was nearly caught and had needed them to get him out of hot water. Yifu had been fuming about that for a month, even though it wasn't even Xie's fault - they'd been double crossed, but Yifu acted as though Xie should have seen that coming, somehow.

He doesn't know why they're stepping in to help him now, though. Yifu clearly didn't want to go down the legal route to try and get him back, probably thought it was too risky or was too busy using the lawyers to keep himself out of trouble, and now that he was gone, what did they care about Xie?

Money, as it turned out, hours later when the lawyer finally turns up and demands some time alone with his "client". Yifu's money, specifically. He guesses the assassin from last night must have been in touch to get some help, so now they knew that one of their largest sources of income was dead and, well, they were his lawyers, so even before the death certificate and the autopsy and whatever else had to happen, they knew that Xie was his heir.

Xie hadn't even known Xie was his heir.

Ultimately, though, they were very interested in resolving these issues so the funds currently tied up in probate nonsense could stop being tied up and start going back into their bank accounts.

[weird_cop]

While Xie is kept refreshed with tea in the portakabin - where he can make no one particularly nervous - Kevin finally finishes his interview, is dryly informed that he probably won't lose his job, and returns to take his turn waiting.

"I don't know what I expected, but not this."

There's no way Zhao expected Xie to survive him.

[xie_er]

Xie would enjoy the way he was making people nervous if he wasn't busy working out what the fuck was going on.

"He didn't have a will, but I was legally adopted and he doesn't have any other family so..." Xie explains over the link, once he gets the explanation himself.

That's what he gets for having his wife murdered, he guesses.

There's some argument with the lawyers when they try and convince him to twist the facts so he can sue the police for Kevin killing Yifu. He shuts that down immediately, but they keep trying until he suggests that he could get someone else to handle the issue of Yifu's estate if they liked.

He eventually convinces them that he would, in fact, just like to finish his interview and go back to the safe house and that they can be in touch to discuss the criminal proceedings later, please.

If he even decides to stick with them, he has a trust of his own (he thinks he still does, even though he hasn't had access to it recently) but it's not exhaustive and they're not cheap lawyers, and if anything goes wrong with the estate he only has his trust to fall back on.

He thought he'd just have to tell a difficult story, not deal with messy financial matters.

Finally, finally he gets everything sorted - with many sarcastic comments to Kevin along the way, and gets to finish his interview (the lawyer interrupts a lot, but he gets through it) and at last is returned to the portakabin.

[weird_cop]

Meanwhile Lofthouse has been facing a lot of awkward conversations and having to pull a lot of strings, but Lisa and Tony enjoy just sitting at Kevin's end, occasionally chiming in with their own comments for him to relay. Tony says if you murder a lawyer no one will arrest you is just one helpful interjection.

When Xie is returned to him, Kevin finally claps a hand around his shoulders to congratulate him on getting through the day.

"Thank you for not having me arrested," he says, deadpan.

[xie_er]

Xie knows it's just a friendly gesture, he does, but he's so tired from the whole day and his throat is starting to hurt after so much talking, even with the healing and the tea, that he can't even stop himself from swaying into it gratefully, just soaking up the contact.

He rolls his eyes at the comment - not at Kevin, but at the fucking lawyer trying that bullshit.

"How serious was Tony about not arresting me, because that lawyer might find he trips and falls onto some knives at home this evening." He deadpans right back.

[weird_cop]

"Dead serious," Kevin tells him.

"Not tonight, though. Tonight I want to go home, watch a terrible movie and eat chilli. Wanna come?"

[xie_er]

Xie pretends to consider this as though he has a choice.

"I'm not sure, do I have to make the chilli?" He asks, gaze flicking to Kevin's injured arms. How do you even make chilli?

[weird_cop]

Kevin considers this question for a minute, keen to offer to make it, but a twinge around his midsection tells him not that his arms are the problem, but he probably should lie down for an extended period of time.

"I'll get someone to bring take out."

He squeezes Xie's shoulder again before removing his arm, looking over at Tony who nods as if to confirm: one take out ordered.

"It'll be in the basement by 8."

"Cheers, Skip."

[xie_er]

Xie makes a show of further consideration, mostly to ignore how much he wishes Kevin's arm had stayed where it was (even if it had already lingered longer than was probably normal)

"In that case, I suppose I can be convinced to come home."

When did the safe house become home? He doesn't know, but he ignores the little voice in the back of his mind that tells him it isn't the safe house - it's just wherever Kevin is.

[weird_cop]

The problem for Kevin is that he doesn't actually have a place that is home right now. He'd ended the tenancy on Joe's place before going undercover: there's stuff in a lock up somewhere but no bed waiting for him.

So... the safe house. Until he figures out what his future is.

When they are home though, and he's easing himself on to the couch, it's not his loss he's thinking about.

"You okay?"