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]

"Hey Skip," Kevin says abruptly. "Can you go ask the guv if I'm done here? It'd be nice if we could get a chance to pack this time."

Costain nods, and heads inside to get Quill's approval, leaving them with Lisa, who has barely looked up from her phone as she files through all the data she's compiled since the abduction.

"I think I know how they found you," she offers. "It's not us, at least, it's the press."

"Ask Lofthouse if we can have a garden. And a detached, I don't think the neighbours liked us."

"I'll see if there's a room in Buck Pal going spare."

[xie_er]

To...pack?

Oh. Of course. They picked him up just a few streets away which means the safehouse is compromised, again.

At least Kevin's thinking ahead and he won't have to spend more time without his things while they wait for them to be ferried over.

"Fucking press." He grumbles.

Still, a detached house with a garden would be nice...

[weird_cop]

"Sorry."

Expression of shared sympathy, not an apology. Costain returns with Quill's approval and Kevin unlocks the Golf, raising a hand in goodbye to both of them.

He lets Xie onto the passenger seat and reaches out to stroke him, even as he's pulling out.

"How are you doing?"

[xie_er]

Xie pushes up into the petting, which is not something he would have ever really put up with before, but from Kevin it feels... nice.

After they've pulled away, though, he shifts back to human form - mostly so he can reach over and rest a hand on Kevin's thigh as he drives.

"I'm angry, but I'm okay." He admits "Thank you for coming for me."

[weird_cop]

Kevin moves his hand just a bit too late. Deliberately, to sneak in a potentially patronising pat of Xie's head which means he gets to feel his hair briefly. Then he settles into letting Xie have his hand on him.

"Always," he repeats.

"It went pretty well," he adds after a moment's thought, replaying the rescue and arrest in his head. "We make a good team."

They both stayed calm, communicated, used their own strengths. No one was harmed beyond a few cat scratches, and neither Kevin nor Xie came out injured. Better than he'd usually expect. He hadn't had to draw on Xie's power, but he could have.

[xie_er]

He gets away with the pat - not because Xie assumes it's an accident, but because he can get away with a lot more than anybody else would.

"We do, don't we?" Xie replies thoughtfully. There were moments of it during the fight with Yifu, but today he could really see the potential... being able to communicate, to work with each other. Xie felt useful, felt like part of it even without Kevin taking any of his power, and even when they weren't communicating they seemed to be on the same page.

"Quill... when we were in the ambulance, he said something to me about... having a knack for this thing... like he thought I'd be able to be part of what you all do..."

[weird_cop]

"Did he?"

That makes Kevin surprisingly happy, he finds. That little bit of approval from Quill - who, despite not being that much older than the rest of them, definitely brings a lot of Dad energy to the team.

From one angle - Kevin can't stop what he does and retire to live in a magical mansion with his convict partner and Familiar like Kexing. That's not an option for him, he's in too deep. So Xie either comes along for the ride or waits around at home.

From another - he would hate to just drag Xie into this. And they made a very team. And If Jimmy sees it...

"Would you want to? If we can figure out all the legal shit - is that what you'd want? To work with us?"

[xie_er]

Does he? He isn't sure, entirely - but he also knows he doesn't really want to sit at home waiting for Kevin to get back, or worse sit in jail while Kevin is off living his life. They'll still be linked, that's the thing, and with the addition of the empathy, even just the idea of sitting around while Kevin might be in danger is frustrating.

He wants to feel useful, wants to stay busy - and he wants to be at Kevin's side. Lending him power, working with him, keeping him safe.

"I think... I think I would want that." He says eventually.

If he's being entirely honest with himself, the hesitance is largely from the idea of admitting he wants something that he might not get.

[weird_cop]

"Okay," Kevin agrees. He surprised how much he wants it too, the image that is already forming.

"So you know... the circle has five points, that's not going to change. And legally - you're not a cop, obviously. So you'd be - a human resource, I guess. Mystically, I'd be the point on the circle, you're my Familiar. But we're partners."

He's trying to manage expectations, his own as well as Xie's.

[xie_er]

Xie just nods - he understands there's going to be some severe limitations on what he can do if he works with them, it's probably going to have to go through a million different legal checkpoints, but he could be some kind of... CI, or it could be community service or something.

The magic side of things, well, he definitely understands that.

"It's like the wards. Magically, I don't count as a person." he says matter-of-factly "Before you start, it doesn't mean anything, it's just a Familiar thing."

He pauses for a moment, finding a way to phrase it that Kevin will be less likely to find distasteful.

"Oh, no, that's it. Magically, we count as one."

[weird_cop]

After a moment to adjust his reaction to that phrasing, Kevin nods.

"That's it. We're one point on the circle. I think I can even use that on the wards for the next place, maybe I can fix it so I don't have to let you out manually each time."

[xie_er]

"Don't you enjoy being at my beck and call whenever I want to leave?" Xie asks, glancing over at him with an innocent expression.

He wonders how often they're going to have to move like this. Surely there'll be an end to this nonsense eventually, right?

[weird_cop]

"Love it," Kevin replies, deadpan.

"I just want a bit more freedom for you. I can't wait until this whole thing is over and we can just... be safe."

[xie_er]

Xie nods his agreement - there's still so much to go, he's really not looking forward to the trial, especially with the latest press coverage, but eventually they'll get through it... he hopes.

"I would like to go to the supermarket or for a run without having to tell cops first." He says, then glances over at Kevin and amends "Well, without having to tell other cops."

[weird_cop]

Kevin looks at him out of the corner of his eyes and smirks.

"Don't need to tell me, I know anyway."

But he agrees, he wants somewhere that's a lot less under constant surveillance.

He turns into the drive of the semi with some reluctance, and sighs as he parks.

"I was kind of getting used to the place."

[xie_er]

Xie nods. He'd been getting used to both places, but at least at this one they had their briefings in the basement instead of taking up the kitchen. Not that it made a lot of difference, but still.

He kind of liked the neighbourhood too, now that he'd had a chance to spend some time in it.

"Maybe the next place will be nicer." He can do optimism sometimes!

[weird_cop]

"Maybe," Kevin agrees. "I don't know if we're in as much of a hurry this time do they might find something nicer."

As they enter the hallway, letting the front door shut behind them, Kevin reaches out to Xie's shoulder, and then his jaw before leaning in to kiss him.

It's been a weird day, he just wants to assure himself this is real.

[xie_er]

It makes sense, they know the place is compromised but the immediate threat has passed, if they've got time to go back and pack up they have time to think about where they're being sent next.

Xie is just kicking off his remaining shoe and wrinkling his nose about how his sock is damp after walking from the car, but that's driven from his mind with the touch on his shoulder. He looks up just as Kevin's hand curls around his jaw and leans in at the same time Kevin does.

He wastes no time stepping closer, wrapping his arms around Kevin's waist. He's wanted to do this since the moment he entered the room earlier.

[weird_cop]

"Hi."

Kevin holds Xie close for a minute, letting himself feel the relief of having worried and found him again, the regret about everything that's happened today, and the sliver of joy that comes from the newness of a relationship.

"Wherever it is, I'll be there."

[xie_er]

That, he thinks, is all he really needs - it would just be nice to have his guitar and hair products and a garden and all that other stuff.

It is far too early to say something nearly so sappy out loud, though, so instead he just smiles and kisses him again.

They'll make it work, together.

[weird_cop]

Eventually Kevin, always regrettably practical, dies let go so they can make a start on gathering the important things - which also involves throwing a meal together out of things in the fridge to use up. He winds up back in the basement, though, leafing through his books and trying to work out what ritual today's kidnappers might have had in store.

It's relatively late when Lofthouse turns up to say they've secured somewhere.

[xie_er]

Xie spends most of the day sorting through and organising things into the things he wants to take right away and the stuff that can follow on later.

Once everything is packed up and Kevin is downstairs with his books, Xie makes them both a cup of tea and takes them downstairs. At first, after depositing the tea and stealing a kiss, he's happy to just sit and keep Kevin company, but after a while he pulls one of the books towards himself and starts flicking idly through it.

When Lofthouse shows up, he's glad - he wasn't looking forward to settling in to a new place too late, so he wouldn't have been happy to wait too much longer. It doesn't take much time to gather up the things they've packed and head to the new house.

[weird_cop]

As Xie keeps him company, Kevin starts chatting through the link - every time he reads something interesting or makes a connection, he shares it. At first this is just a way of repeating his own thoughts to solidify his ideas, but it soon becomes an exchange of ideas, the way his team so frequently brainstorm things out loud.

He comes to the conclusion fairly rapidly, that the ritual the kidnappers were trying - to resurrect a biddable Zhao through the sacrifice of his own familiar, wouldn't actually have worked. It was based on hearsay and legend that didn't seem to be based on anything that had ever been actually performed.

"And you thought I was bumbling around" he remarks.




The house itself is small and kind of drafty - two bedrooms sharing a single bathroom, a tiny kitchen that luckily adjoins a large combined living area, and a loft conversion which can house the portal boxes but no ops room.

"You'll have to report into work like the rest of us," Lofthouse tells Kevin, but not without including Xie in a way that implies he wouldn't be unwelcome.

The thing that grabs Kevin's attention, though, is that the master bedroom has a balcony - one that looks over the city from their hilltop vantage point, and as soon as Lofthouse is gone, he calls Xie outside to look at it.

[xie_er]

They were, Xie agrees, useless idiots. They'd always been that way, though, which is why Yifu cut them loose as soon as they'd fulfilled their purpose.

He's not particularly impressed by the house. It has some potential, but he doesn't understand why anyone who's met Kevin for more than five minutes would give him a house with a kitchen that small. He keeps his thoughts to himself - doesn't even complain to Kevin - but the sooner this is all over with and they can choose where to live, the better.

He puts his things in the second bedroom more for the look of it than any intention, and it's entirely possible the bed in there will never be slept in as long as they're here. He's already wondering if it would be worth moving the second set of drawers into the master bedroom.

He's just setting up his guitars when Kevin calls, and he sets down the half-erected stand to go through into the other room, stepping out onto the balcony automatically.

"Oh..." he says softly, out loud, and steps close to wrap an arm around Kevin's waist as he looks.

Okay, maybe the house isn't that bad.

[weird_cop]

Kevin wraps both arms around Xie, holding him close as if trying to keep him warm, and rests his head against his.

He lets Xie admire the view with his own eyes, and then:

"Look."

Kevin's view of the city is as much feeling as visual, and he's not sure how much of that comes through, even with empathy. A maelstrom of emotion and meaning and importance, swirling up from millions and millions of smaller meanings and emotions and fears. The city glows once with its own light, and again with this feeling of power.

He turns his head slightly, towards a specific sight in the sky. A faint image, which as Kevin focuses on it, gets more intense, of spinning spitfires and Sopwith Camels and Lockheed Martins; the rattle of gunfire and the soft fall of parachute silk.

He presses his lips to the side of Xie's head as he shares the view.