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]

"Nothing that can't wait."

Some things are more important than kissing. And Kevin's really proud of his soup. He brings the abandoned bowl over, but doesn't stop kissing until he's pressed a soup spoon into Xie's hand.

"I like watching you eat."

It's true. And he can be free with those compliments now. He can tell Xie exactly how beautiful he is.

[xie_er]

Xie just huffs a softly amused sigh, but he accepts the spoon and does turn his attention back to the soup.

Mostly.

"Then it's a good job I like eating everything you cook." He replies easily, though there's the tiniest touch of pink to his cheeks at even that small compliment.

[weird_cop]

"That is lucky," Kevin agrees. He pulls his own soup over so he can finish it, but smiles at the pinkness on Xie's cheeks.

Note to self: make Xie blush more.

"Is there anything I haven't made that you want me to try?"

[xie_er]

Xie considers this for a moment but eventually shakes his head.

"You already make my favourite, I don't need anything else. I'm happy to see what you're going to make next"

It's always delicious, and it means he eats things he normally wouldn't even think of, he's more than happy to let Kevin Cook whatever he feels like cooking.

[weird_cop]

"Well, if you do want anything, ask."

Be assertive, demanding even, even if it makes him a bit of a brat, it's okay.

But when Xie's bowl is empty, and Kevin's nearly so, he pushes them aside and leans over for another kiss.

[xie_er]

Xie agrees that he will - and he will, whenever he gets a desire for something on a whim, he'll ask, because he knows Kevin would want him to.

It's another little step, but progress all the same.

He leans into the kiss when it comes, glad of the reminder that they can do this now, already thinking of all those little moments that will be so much better now that kissing is a thing that can be added to them.

[weird_cop]

Kevin is not, traditionally, a 'take it slow' man. He has always been a 'pub and Grindr' man who previously moved straight in with the first guy to ask if he was alright when the weight of magical London hit him.

Now, in theory he'd be more than happy to sweep this beautiful assassin right up into his bed and swallow him up.

But instead he wraps his arms around his shoulders, and enjoys the moment.

"Lisa found some box sets of a terrible old home improvement show."

Cuddling on the couch is another option.

[xie_er]

He isn't sure whether to feel called out or quietly pleased that Kevin has paid enough attention to him to pick up on his interests. He knows he's not subtle about it, but other people (Yifu) certainly never noticed or cared.

He tries to imagine Yifu ever agreeing to curl up on a couch and just watch TV and it almost makes him laugh.

"Sounds perfect." He agrees, wanting nothing more in that moment.

Well. Maybe some things more, but the fact he wants to do more with Kevin than just fall into bed with him - and that Kevin wants it to - makes him happier than he'd care to admit.

It'll be nice, he thinks, to have that kind of comfortable, affectionate contact with someone - that isn't just them leaning against each other because of injuries.

[weird_cop]

Kevin grabs beer from the fridge and happily leads the way into the living room. He leans back on the couch and pulling Xie into the crook of his arm, so he can occasionally just turn and bury his face in his hair.

It's just perfect, he thinks.

[xie_er]

Xie settles against him comfortably, a tiny smile creeping into his face the first time Kevin presses his face into his hair. His hair takes a lot of time and money, he's glad it's being appreciated.

(Also his expensive conditioner smells amazing, if he does say so himself)

The switchblade stays tucked away, instead his fingers idly trace circles on Kevin's thigh, just above his knee. Occasionally, he'll lightly slap his hand down or grip onto his knee instead, whenever he has a strong reaction to something awful (or unbearably 90s) happening on screen.

"How is this man a professional?" He gripes at one particularly egregious example of hideous taste.

[weird_cop]

"The nineties were a very different time."

He's more than happy to make snarky comments, or enjoy Xie's comments, but primarily he's enjoying the sensation if closeness, having someone who feels so comfortable around him that he's expressing opinions through the medium of a hand on Kevin's thigh.

And really this show sucks, he's only watching it for Xie, but it's worth it for the commentary.

[xie_er]

Xie is well aware that this is something Kevin is watching for him, without complaint, and he's really going to have to watch more football, isn't he?

If he can do it cuddled up like this, maybe it won't be so bad. Maybe.

He already knows, though, that he'll even go to a pub. He'll even put his hair in a ponytail, that's how much he appreciates everything Kevin does for him.

"If somebody did that to a room in my house I'd stab them." He says a little later "Look at the colour of it, the blood wouldn't even show up."

[weird_cop]

"The stuff stains dark, though."

Kevin is pragmatic in his approach to stabbing.

"Anyway it'd warp the MDF."

Why is there so much MDF?

[xie_er]

"Serves them right for not using proper wood." Xie sniffs disdainfully.

He wouldn't trust anybody else to decorate his house anyway. He'd decorated his apartment himself whenever he had spare time. He thinks about decorating the safe house again, then realises suddenly that he probably owns his apartment now. And Yifu's mansion. And half a dozen other properties.

Depending on how many of them are still part of the estate, anyway. That's one use for the lawyers at least, they can work all of that out for him.

[weird_cop]

Kevin would be a fan of burning Zhao's mansion to the ground if it came to it. He hasn't really considered Xie's apartment as a future home, but if pressed he might admit to the occasional idle fantasy.

"I take it back anyway I think blood stains would improve that."

[xie_er]

Xie isn't really sure he'd want to live in either one, they just... belong to a part of his life he doesn't want to go back to, now. Especially the mansion. Maybe he could sell them, use the money to buy a home that suits the two of them...

It's strange, probably, to be thinking about such things - even idly - the same day they kissed for the first time, but the fact that he belongs with Kevin isn't really up for debate, even if they don't work out romantically. It's not that witches and Familiars have to live together, technically he hasn't lived at the mansion for a few years, but it just feels right to consider a life with Kevin.

If he stays out of prison, that is.

"Fire would improve it more"

[weird_cop]

"In fairness, I've seen worse. That kitchen in the back is legitimately haunted."

It's so weird, the way the woman keeps coming in and out of the frame. It took Kevin a minute to figure out what was wrong.

[xie_er]

Xie twists his head to look up at Kevin, startled.

"It is? And you can see it, even on film?" He asks, genuinely fascinated. It's obvious enough from Kevin's tone that he's not just being euphemistic, it's actually haunted.

He didn't know Kevin's Sight included ghosts too, he wonders what else it includes that he hasn't thought to consider.

[weird_cop]

"Yeah I never figured out if it's an electromagnetic thing or not, but it shows up on film."

It makes some movies unwatchable, through no fault of the film makers. One actor carries a particularly disturbing ghost through all of his roles.

"I think she must be the ex-wife of that guy. He's still guilty about moving on."

[xie_er]

"Maybe he subjected himself to that awful decor as punishment." Xie observes, twisting back to look at the TV.

Still, his mind is still on the Sight, and after a moment he speaks up again.

"The next time something like that shows up, can you show me?"

[weird_cop]

Next time.

Kevin is quiet as he realises that he's used the shared link to show Xie his viewpoint in the safety of their home, and once in the frantic rush on a fight - Xie thinks that the Sight is an occasional thing, and not a filter that he sees the whole world through.

"Yeah, next time we're out I'll show you what the city looks like."

[xie_er]

Kevin is mostly right - he assumes that the Sight is limited to certain objects or things like ghosts, so he figures there's probably not much worth looking at in the safe house, he doesn't know what else he can see with it so he's not completely sure how it works - he's interested, though, he just isn't sure what questions to ask.

He nods agreement to the offer, already looking forward to it - and readjusting his idea of it based on the statement, because while he imagines there probably are a lot of ghosts or magical objects in the city, he gets the impression it's far more than that.

[weird_cop]

Kevin settles back again, but not before kissing Xie on the top of his head and running his fingers lightly across his forearm.

"I keep forgetting I can just share things with you. I want to show you how I see the world.

[xie_er]

"I'd like to see that" Xie admits - the idea of Kevin letting him see the world through his eyes is almost weirdly romantic? That he'd share something like that, let Xie in, it's hard for him to express how meaningful it feels, but it does, somehow.

As the latest episode continues, the warmth and comfort of the moment feels like it's seeping into his bones - or maybe that's just sleepiness. Either way his eyes keep sliding shut.

"Bed after this one." He says, even his mental voice sounding ready for it.

[weird_cop]

Kevin agrees, realising he's sleepy himself - partly lulled into it by how relaxed he is.

"Where do you want to sleep tonight?"

That's up for Xie to choose, Kevin himself quite happy to take things slow or to sleep with Xie in his arms, however he chooses.