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

xie_er posting in

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...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

xie_er

Xie stills in amazement, eyes wide even though they're not quite what he's seeing with in this moment. The city through Kevin's eyes is incredible. It's almost overwhelming, too, and he decides immediately that wherever they end up it should be somewhere out of the way, quiet, somewhere Kevin can get a break from this constant assault on his senses.

In this moment, though, it's not so much an assault as a feast. There's so much to take in.

He leans into Kevin's embrace and just absorbs it all, feeling a kind of peace wash over him - standing here on the balcony of their little house (for however long it will be theirs), wrapped in Kevin's arms and sharing this sight... he doesn't want anything else. He can handle everything that's going on, everything that's coming, as long as he gets to have this.

From:

weird_cop

Kevin would say no, but that would be a conversation they can have later.

Right now, he enjoys the sensation of Xie in his arms, looking out on the city that he's known for years, and thinking how significant it feels that he can share this.

"I've never been able to share this," he says softly. "The five of us... we can talk to other people but we can't show them. Until you."

From:

xie_er

"I'm glad you can share it with me." Xie admits - more honesty than he's really used to, but it comes easier with Kevin, especially through the link.

"I've never felt this close to someone."

Not even Yifu, though that's hardly a surprise. He's close to Du Pusa but that's different, she's his best friend but even that bond is nothing like this.

From:

weird_cop

Kevin can't quite say the same, though the closeness is unique in flavour. He just isn't ready to promote Xie above anyone.

He turns his head, kisses Xie on the temple.

"I'm so pleased you decided to stay."

From:

xie_er

Xie's smart enough to know that Kevin can't necessarily say the same - he knows enough about his history for that. Kevin actually has people around him, too, which is something Xie has never quite managed to achieve, not in the same way. He knows his relationships - romantic or otherwise - have never been the most healthy.

It's part of the reason he has to second guess this one so much.

Xie twists, leaning up to catch his lips.

"So am I."

From:

weird_cop

Kevin adjusts his grip, turning Xie around so his hands are around his back, holding him against him as he sinks into the kiss.

He closes the link when he closes his eyes.

"Do you want to go to bed?"

From:

xie_er

He doesn't really want to go anywhere, but the evening air is cool and he isn't dressed for it, and he is tired.

It doesn't hurt that bed is a tempting alternative.

So he hums an agreement against Kevin's lips - though he doesn't intend to move until he's good and finished with the kiss.

From:

weird_cop

Kevin doesn't quite move then. With no physical indication that Xie's ready to move yet, he holds him tight, hands against his back, and kisses him long and tenderly until they're both ready to move.

From:

xie_er

Eventually the chill overrides his desire to kiss - or, at least, to keep kissing right this second - so he pulls away a little with a soft smile and backs towards the balcony door, grabbing Kevin's hand as he steps back to lead him inside.

He knows it isn't necessary, but he likes the contact.

From:

weird_cop

Kevin will absolutely pretend it's necessary, squeezing Xie's hand fondly as he follows. He uses his other hand to shut the door and then leaves it on Xie's hips as he backs him towards the bed.

He stops before Xie can be backed into the frame, moving around to sit on the bed and bring Xie to sit down next to him, kissing all the time.

From:

xie_er

Xie honestly wouldn't mind being backed into the bed, he thinks, but he doesn't mind that he stops and sits, as long as the kissing continues.

He sits almost sideways, folding one of his legs on the bed so it's easier to face Kevin, to keep kissing comfortably. He wraps his arms around him, pulling him closer.

From:

weird_cop

Kevin turns himself into Xie's arms, letting himself be held as his own hands play lightly with his braids, smoothing them out over his shoulders and down his back. He stops short of unbraiding them, however, and ends up with his fingers tracing small patterns in the soft hair at the top of Xie's neck.

"Such beautiful hair"

Yes he says it a lot. He doesn't think he can say it too many times.

From:

xie_er

"I've never known anyone to like my hair as much as you do"

There's laughter in his tone, faint teasing, but he's not mad about it - far from it, actually, he loves that Kevin is so enamoured with his hair. He takes such good care of it and he's proud of that fact, it's nice to have that appreciated.

From:

weird_cop

Well, they're wrong. Everyone who doesn't like Xie's hair is probably wrong.

"It's not just your hair."

He stops kissing long enough to pull back and look at Xie's face, running his thumb lightly along his cheek from the corner of his eye to his mouth.

"You have beautiful eyes. And cheekbones, and mouth"

He replaces his thumb with his own lips even while thinking the last word.

From:

xie_er

"Trying to make me blush?" He asks, amused.

Except, if he is, it's working, because there is a dusting of pink across his cheeks.

"You're the one with beautiful eyes, anyway." He adds

From:

weird_cop

"Yes," Kevin replies simply, moving his mouth only slightly to start kissing Xie's cheeks.

"Because you also have a really attractive blush."

From:

xie_er

Kevin, Xie thinks faintly, is going to be the death of him. He knows he's pretty, but he's really not used to being told it.

And being told he has an attractive blush only makes it worse.

So he deals with it by shoving Kevin backwards onto the bed and leaning over him to kiss him thoroughly.

From:

weird_cop

Kevin laughs through the link, falling back happily and grabbing Xie's shoulders to make sure he comes with him.

"Nice try, but you can't shut me up by kissing me."

He lays on the bed, bringing his legs up so he can lie flat, feet flat on the covers and bent knees framing Xie's hips, and for a few seconds he just enjoys lying there with Xie on top of him.

Soon though, he starts running his hands down Xie's sides, fingertips tracing over the fabric of his shirt.

From:

xie_er

"I'll have to try harder then" Xie replies, smirking against his lips.

It's nice, though, not having to stop kissing to talk.

Kevin's fingertips tracing his sides send pleasant shivers through him, and he shifts slightly on top of him, rolling his hips a little. His own hands are between them, gripping the fabric of Kevin's shirt.

From:

weird_cop

Kevin pauses at the bottom of Xie's shirt, before gently pulling on it, easing it out of his trousers just so Kevin can move his fingers beneath the fabric, touching the skin beneath it.

"You don't want me telling you how gorgeous you are?"

From:

xie_er

It feels good to have hands on his bare skin, good enough to want to share, so he relinquishes his grip on the top of Kevin's shirt in favour of sliding them down so he can return the favour.

"It's not that," he smiles, a wicked tone in his mental voice "I'd just like to see what I can do to shut you up."

From:

weird_cop

Kevin slides his hands up again, tracing the muscles on Xie's back as he does so. He marvels at how this feels, sharing like this. He runs a finger down the spine, and finds a shudder running through his spine.

"You're welcome to try. I'll just keep telling you that you have a lovely smile, even when you're trying to sound wicked."

From:

xie_er

"You can't see my smile right now." He retorts - or his blushes, either, with how close they are, and that's probably for the best because it's slightly humiliating just how overwhelming he's finding the barrage of compliments.

He can't hide the way the rest of him reacts, though, the way it makes his hips shift and his breath quicken.

From:

weird_cop

"Good point."

Kevin fixes this by moving his hands further up, pushing Xie slightly away so he can see that smile. But also so he can grab that shirt and push it up over Xie's head.

"Not that I can ever forget your smile."

From:

xie_er

He resists the push for a moment, trying to get his blush under control. It doesn't really work so he gives up and lets himself be pushed. He can live with it when Kevin also uses it as an opportunity to remove his shirt, and he's quick to throw it onto the floor behind them.

"How can you say things like that with a straight face?" He complains, pushing Kevin's shirt up as well.