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]

Xie nods, understanding. He can think of some contacts Kevin would have known who'll be able to put him in touch, people who are unlikely to know too much of the truth and therefore won't be a risk to his cover.

"That makes sense. He agrees, following it up with the people he thinks Kevin should reach out to, and the names to ask about. He's happy to write it down for later, bit figures Kevin should know who he's thinking about.

[weird_cop]

Kevin nods, already making plans about how he'll approach it, what he'll say.

"If the cover is intact I'll have to find what they think I'll have been up to. We went missing together but only one of us has been in the papers. What they're expecting will inform how I go forward."

It's weird. He went into this knowing Xie was going to be his partner, but now he has to go undercover in a way that cannot be separated from Xie, and he's nervous. He'd much rather do this completely on his own.

[xie_er]

Xie nods thoughtfully.

"I can see if I can find out what people have been saying? Whether people know I'm the Familiar or if they still think of us as two different things, and if people know we're still together."

That should help, at least, he thinks. And let them know if he should be going into this in human or animal form - or at all.

He doesn't really like the idea of not being involved at all, of Kevin going in on his own.

[weird_cop]

"Thanks."

Kevin dishes out the food, bringing the plates through to the table and pausing to kiss Xie on the head.

"If you can't find out immediately, let me handle it. It is my job, getting information without giving anything away."

[xie_er]

Xie glances over at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you think I can't do it without giving anything away?" His tone is relatively mild, almost faintly amused at the implication of Kevin's words - at least, it's faintly amused as long as the implication is unintentional.

[weird_cop]

Kevin flushes, looking down at his plate in embarrassment.

"That's not what I meant."

But what did he mean, then? Xie kept this secret from Kevin all that time - the one secret Kevin didn't figure out, and the one that nearly ruined the whole operation. He shouldn't be making those implications.

And yet he still said it.

"It's just... it's my job."

[xie_er]

"You don't think you should be asking me to do it?" Xie guesses after a moment, any potentially raised hackles immediately soothing.

It is sort of his job too, now, but not in the same way. He has experience that will be useful, but it's a different kind of experience.

"I'm just going to ask Du Pusa to find out what people know. She's good at getting that kind of information and I trust her." He pauses for a moment before adding "Do you want to meet her first?"

He knows Kevin would probably trust her if Xie does, but he also knows it's probably going to put his mind at ease a lot more if he actually knows her.

Plus he hasn't actually gotten to see her in months.

[weird_cop]

It's more than that, though. It's asking someone who isn't a UCO - isn't even a police officer - to take risks that would usually be the responsibility of him or Tony, trained and experienced in it.

The nature of their unit mean Quill and even Ross have done this in the past, but... they were pulled into it by the Sight. This is someone Kevin cares about.

But... that's a Kevin problem. He'll deal with that later.

"I do want to meet her," he admits now. "But not because of this."

[xie_er]

Xie smiles slightly, reaching over to take Kevin's hand and squeeze it briefly before returning to his meal.

"I'd like you to meet her, too."

He will not, however, suggest inviting her to the barbecue.

"I can see when she's free when I call her to see what she can find out?" he offers instead

[weird_cop]

Kevin smiles when his hand is squeezed, looks up to nod at Xie. He's being a bit weird, and he knows it, he should let him do what Kevin knows he's good at.

"Yes," he confirms. "That's a good idea."

He wants meeting her to be a relatively neutral thing, separate from any of the police stuff.

"Hopefully she'll approve of me."

[xie_er]

"I think she will." Xie says softly.

Whatever her thoughts on Kevin and his job, she'll see how much he loves Xie and that, he thinks, will get her on side in a heartbeat. She didn't say anything bad about Yifu (Xie wouldn't have stood for it) but she wasn't very good at hiding her expression and it was clear she didn't really like him, she'll approve of him trading up.

He doesn't think any of his complaints about Kevin from before will influence her opinion, he's actually more worried about her mentioning them.

[weird_cop]

Kevin smiles at him, reassured by his certainty. He's looking forward to it, partly to meet someone important to Xie, but he also wants to make sure Xie has his real friends back in his life.

"Yeah, I'm a ray of sunshine, I bet she'll love me."

[xie_er]

"Well, I do" Xie replies with a fond smile.

He probably should warn Kevin that she won't like him immediately, but he figures Kevin can handle himself against any of her barbs, and in fact that will probably help too.

"Just be yourself and she will" He adds

[weird_cop]

Kevin snorts briefly out loud.

"Be myself," he repeats, like that's not as easy as it sounds. "I'll do my best."

It occurs to him that he doesn't know anything about Du Pusa himself, but probably the less he knows about her the better, until she decides what to tell him.

[xie_er]

Xie just shakes his head, amused.

"That or cook for her, that should win her over fairly quickly."

[weird_cop]

Kevin snorts again.

"My secret weapon. I was going to save that for when she really hates me and I need to get her on side."

[xie_er]

"That is how you won me over." Xie jokes dryly.

It's not even entirely untrue, in a small way - there's so much more about Kevin that Xie fell in love with, but the fact that he cooks such delicious meals for him is definitely a bonus. If he's entirely honest with himself, as well, he fell a little bit in love with him the first time he made wonton soup.

(He fell a little bit in love with him a lot of ways around then, even if he didn't quite realise that's what was happening)

[weird_cop]

"All part of my plan to stop you from killing me," Sefton jokes. " Couldn't be certain the bond would work."

At least they've not had to put up with frozen pizza again.

"But I still want to take you out sometime. Have someone else cook."

It'd be so nice. To have a date.

[xie_er]

"On a date?" Xie asks, startled.

He shouldn't be, he knows he shouldn't be, because if Kevin was happy for his friends to know about them being a couple why would he care about complete strangers? Why wouldn't he want to go on a date?

And yet, Xie just hadn't expected it. Hadn't even really thought about it, if he was honest. He'd sort of given up on the idea of dates entirely a few years ago.

[weird_cop]

Kevin looks up, in turn startled by Xie's reaction.

"Yeah. I mean, not until you're comfortable with it, I know the press are still sniffing around."

But it's so obvious and normal to him.

"And not if you don't want to."

[xie_er]

There's a moment, just a moment, where 'not until you're comfortable with it' feels like the old excuses. Like he's just dangling the possibility but delaying it for Xie's sake, except that eventually the excuse will change and it'll never happen...

Then he comes to his senses and reminds himself, again, that Kevin isn't like that. Kevin means what he says.

"I want to." He says quickly - a little too quickly, as though despite being able to brush off those old feelings he still worries that the offer will be taken away if he doesn't say yes fast enough.

"I've never been on a date." He adds - hesitant, embarrassed to admit it, but trying to get better at actually saying these things.

[weird_cop]

It takes Kevin just an instant - but still, he feels, too long - to adjust to that revelation, think of course he hasn't.

He nods, pleased that Xie is sharing and shrugs a little.

"I've not been on many," he admits. Its difficult when you're closeted and undercover. "But I know how to order food. Do you want to do it soon, or wait a bit?"

[xie_er]

"Soon would be nice, if it wouldn't get in the way of anything...?" He suggests. He doesn't mind waiting, he's waited long enough, and he knows it might depend on what their plans are and what people know.

But he really would like to go on a date with Kevin. Would really like to bask in the knowledge of being with someone who actually wants to go on a date with him.

[weird_cop]

"Next week," Kevin suggests. "Work permitting. I'll ask the others if they have any recommendations for a good place.."

He doesn't really see any barriers, if they pick the place right, and now he knows Xie wants to, he wants to do it soon.

"I'm going to have to dress up, aren't I?"

[xie_er]

Xie smiles - he's getting used to not hiding his pleasure at these things, not when it's just the two of them - and he nods happily.

"Next week." He agrees "And yes, you are."

If he's going on his first date, they're going to do this properly.