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]

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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."

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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?"

[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."

[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."

[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.

[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."

[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.

[weird_cop]

"I'm corny."

Kevin wriggles out of his shirt, not wanting to sit up too far and dislodge the man on top of him. So he lets Xie pull the shirt off, and then reaches up to run his hands over the chest and torso in front of him.

"And it's also true."

[xie_er]

Xie just rolls his eyes fondly and dives in for another kiss - as much as he wants to appreciate Kevin's bared chest, he's quite content to explore it with his hands instead.

Though he does keep the kiss brief, moving away from his lips in favour of kissing along his jaw and down his neck.

[weird_cop]

Kevin sighs happily, letting his head roll back into the pillows as Xie kisses him, his own fingers tracing circles along back and shoulders and occasionally the top of his arms.

"And you feel so good as well."

Of course, part of this is due to the fact he suspects Xie has never been given enough honest compliments, so he wants to make sure he gets them.

[xie_er]

Xie has probably already received more compliments in the past ten minutes than he'd ever really had in his life before, or at least before Kevin 'stole' him. He responds to this one with a nip of his teeth against Kevin's collarbone.

"You feel good." He retorts, then soothes over the bite with his tongue "You taste good, too."

[weird_cop]

Kevin gasps faintly with the nip, shuddering involuntarily when Xie's tongue finds him. He squeezes his hands over his biceps and then tucks them under Xie's arms to return to his back.

He's aware that Xie's mouth is right by the chain of his own locket, but he neither wants to draw attention to it, nor does he feel like removing it, so he lets that thought go.

"You're amazing."

The fact that he can't come up with a more specific compliment right not is probably because Xie is succeeding in driving the power of words out of his mind.

[xie_er]

Xie's noticed the locket, and he's curious about it, but he also doesn't really want to stop what they're doing to ask about it right now, so he just kisses around it, working his way back up Kevin's neck to nip at his earlobe.

He smirks a little at the vagueness of the compliment - it still sends a thrill through him, but it's also a sign that his 'plan' is working.

He rolls his hips again, pressing in so that Kevin can feel how turned on he is just from this, from Kevin's skin beneath his fingers, his lips, from the compliments too, not that he'd admit that.

[weird_cop]

The thing is - the thing is, is that Kevin doesn't need to physically feel how turned on Xie is, because he can feel it, and that itself is a turn on in itself - that he can't work out where his arousal stops and Xie's starts, and how much is from the combination of that pleasure.

He hums in pleasure from Xie's teeth at his earlobe, and walks his fingers down, past his waist, to the top of his hips, and then slipping cheekily under the waistband of his trousers.

"Do you want me as much as I want you?"

On the surface it's a stupid question, because of course. But nevertheless - Kevin wants Xie to say it.

[xie_er]

"You know I do." Xie's almost drunk on it, himself. Just feeling how wanted he is, it's almost as overwhelming as the compliments. It's not completely new to him, as such, because he's certainly seduced plenty of men who were hungry for a pretty boy like him, but it doesn't even come close to how it feels to be wanted by somebody he wants this badly.

Besides, knowing it is one thing, seeing it in their eyes or feeling it in their touch, it's nothing compared to being completely enveloped in it. To feeling it in his soul.

"I've wanted you for a while," he admits "I tried to tell myself I didn't but I couldn't deny it. I wanted to be your Familiar and I wanted to be yours, wanted you to be mine, too. And I wanted this," he kisses down Kevin's neck as he talks, punctuates it there with another nip of his teeth, a squeeze of his hands along Kevin's sides.

"right now I want it, want you, more than I've ever wanted anyone."

He feels stupid saying it, awkward even, but he allows the neediness to creep in just a little bit, thinks Kevin deserves it in return for all the nice words he's given Xie. He's not so good at compliments, isn't sure what to say, but this he can manage.