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]

Tony squeezes his arm around Lisa's shoulder, as if trying to say she doesn't have to. But she shakes her head and carries on:

"Rob murdered my father. Bashed his head in. Stabbed him. Hanged him. Sent him to Hell in exchange for Losley's services and to take over the family business. I tried to save him, but couldn't cut him down in time."

"Fifteen," Kevin provides.

"Everyone said it was suicide, but I knew it wasn't, and I couldn't figure out why everyone - even my mum - believed it. But I knew.

"He sent Losley. She appeared in my room, did a spell to make it that I couldn't move. Threatened my life, told me to be a good girl. Smashed my face in. It had nearly healed in the morning. Everyone assumed I did it to myself.

"I had trouble remembering, couldn't quite rationalise it, until I released what she was much later."

She shrugs at the end of it, worried its not as impressive a story as it feels. But Tony's fingers on her shoulder squeeze again.

[xie_er]

Xie listens to the story quietly, taking it in.

He wasn't that much older than her the first time he killed someone, but by that time he'd already been hardened, already learned to be a survivor - and already knew about magic. It must have been a lot, he thinks, for her to go through all of that.

"And then you stopped her." He says softly, clear respect in his voice.

[weird_cop]

"We did," Lisa says, twirling a finger to include the others.

"Stopped her, saved my Dad from Hell. Not at the same time."

Tony pulls her to him, kisses her temple.

"Saved a lot of people from Hell."

[xie_er]

That, he thinks, must have helped. She couldn't stop what happened to him, couldn't get him down in time - but she could save him from hell.

"You've done a lot of good. All of you." He says quietly. He isn't really used to being around people like them, people who've dedicated their lives to saving others, to protecting people.

Then moments like this come along and remind him how good they are, how good Kevin is.

How different they are to him.

[weird_cop]

"love you," Kevin reminds him, quietly. He's picked up some of those vibes, figures that Xie could do with the reminder.

"Done a lot of not good things, too," Tony says, thinking of a lot of things, but looking at Lisa.

"Like nearly blowing the whole operation by going crooked..."

"But you didn't..." Kevin starts.

"No, clam it, Kev. You know Rob Toshack was like a dad to me. You know I'd have gone with him that night if he'd asked me."

He hasn't actually said this aloud, and Lisa's face hardens, but she's also not surprised.

But Tony's been thinking of Rob a lot recently and it's coming to the surface, so she lets it.

[xie_er]

Xie leans into him a little more, some of the tension easing.

"Love you too."

He glances between them at the exchange, a little taken aback but also a little intrigued. More than a little, really, but he takes a moment to wonder if he should pry.

"Loyalty is a hard thing to break." He observes eventually - because honestly, he understands it. People are compelling, you form connections despite yourself, and those connections can drive you to do things you wouldn't normally do.

In a lot of ways it's exactly what's happening to him right now, it's just that Kevin is a good influence rather than a bad one.

[weird_cop]

Kevin pulls a face because he doesn't actually believe it, but he thinks Tony now, is telling himself stories about what he would have done, because he's been casting himself as the bad guy recently.

And he knows why, he thinks.

"Rob Toshack wanted to sacrifice us to Losley," he tells Xie, out loud. "He was going to betray all of the soldiers who worked for him, including Tony."

Tony flashes him a look which is somehow annoyed and also grateful, for saying it out loud.

"I was a fucking idiot," he says mildly, finally glancing at Xie to nod. He understands about loyalty.

[xie_er]

Oh.

Tony's frustration with his continued defence of Yifu suddenly makes perfect sense. Tony thinks he was an idiot, and seeing Xie supposedly make the same stupid choice made him angry - at Xie, maybe, but mostly at himself.

Xie thinks he ought to be a bit more generous with himself. With both of them. Because it's not that fucking simple.

"It's only stupid in hindsight." He says "The signs are never... they're not there from the beginning, and when they are there they start small, it's easy to ignore them, explain them away. Especially when it's someone you care about, someone you think cares about you. It's obvious now, might even have been obvious from the outside... but I bet it wasn't obvious to you at the time. You can't be angry at yourself for not knowing what you didn't know."

[weird_cop]

"Always so clear in hindsight," Tony agrees. And he feels like that's an apology, and and acceptance of one. Maybe.

He glances at Kevin, who did a lot of covering up for his ungrateful ass back then, and Kevin shrugs.

"It doesn't matter what you were like," he says.

[xie_er]

Xie nods slightly, feeling a little more understanding between them. He's still a bit of a dick, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Xie won't start to like him.

Du Pusa is a total bitch and he likes her.

Kevin's comment catches his attention, though, and he glances over with a faint smile.

"No," he agrees softly "you really don't judge people based on their past, do you?"

[weird_cop]

Kevin drops his gaze a little, slightly embarrassed.

"No," he says. "Guess I never saw the point in that."

"Ray of sunshine, mate," Tony says. "Still say you should have been on kids' TV."

[xie_er]

"Just another reason it's so easy to love you"

"If Kevin had been on kid's TV then I would have ended up bonded to you and I don't think anybody here would have wanted that." Xie replies to Tony dryly.

It's a little bit weird, actually, knowing that Tony was supposed to be there as well - would that ever have been the plan? To bond to Tony instead? That wouldn't have gone nearly as well.

[weird_cop]

Tony shakes his head.

"I couldn't have pulled off the transference ritual, and we all know it. We'd've just probably killed each other instead. Simpler, but no one would have been happy."

Lisa glances at Tony, following that train of thought.

"You ever think that in another life you and I might have met while you were undercover working for my Dad?"

"I definitely would have turned if that was the case."

Kevin laughs lightly, and pushes himself up to stand as his beer is empty.

"If we're going to keep drinking I'm opening the Jack Daniels," he announces.

Thinking about it, he asks: "Hey, should we invite them to stay over? We've got a spare bed."

[xie_er]

"We definitely would have killed each other." Xie agrees, and though he's pretty sure that's true, his tone is relatively light, like it's just a joke.

He smiles slightly at the exchange, shifting on the chair as Kevin stands so he doesn't fall from his perch on the arm.

They do have a spare bed, don't they? Xie never had gone back to it and by this point even the drawers in that room are empty, everything of his having migrated over to the master bedroom. Even his guitars have moved ever since he took advantage of the warmer weather to play on the balcony one evening.

"Yea, that would be nice."

[weird_cop]

"You both staying?" Kevin then asks outloud, dangling four empty whiskey glasses in his hand.

They agree, but quickly equally agree that the conversation had better not get too serious for a bit, because there's plenty of non-work conversation to be had.

On sitting, Kevin pulls Xie off the armso he's fully sitting on his lap, and demands a more full update of what Lisa and Tony have been up to, continuing the coversation as they get gradually drunker, long into the evening.

[xie_er]

Xie settles comfortably in Kevin's lap with a contented expression, feeling that same warmth that he always does when Kevin shows him affection in front of other people. He wonders if that will ever go away, wonders if he'd even want it to.

He gets even looser and more relaxed as the evening wears on, the alcohol spreading an entirely different warmth through him, until he's draped lazily across Kevin and the chair, his glass loose in his hand as he listens to the conversation flow around him.

After a few drinks, he's a little more open, a little more prone to actually speaking his mind rather than hiding it away - it's part of the reason he doesn't actually drink that often, because for a long time he had too many secrets. These people know most of his secrets, though.

He does tell them that this is nice, that he's enjoying himself, and that he doesn't know if he's actually ever had an evening quite like it.

A few more drinks and he starts getting mixed up between speaking through the link and speaking out loud - luckily he's so used to using the link when it's just the two of them that it's mostly one way; him using the link instead of out loud.

By the time they're nearing the bottom of the bottle, he's mixing up Chinese and English.

[weird_cop]

Kevin finds himself more and more frequently acting as a translator - both from telepathy and from Chinese, which he is pretty conversant in, although his accent isn't great - to Lisa and Tony's great amusement. And to Kevin's as well, as he's really enjoying seeing Xie relax more.

"What does gege mean?" Tony eventually asks.

"Big brother," Kevin says. "But also like... good older male friend? You know those kids to whom every adult was 'auntie' or 'uncle?'"

Not quite like "Uncle Tony" and "Uncle Kevin," at least to Jessica. But that doesn't stop Tony making a remark about he wants to be a brother rather than just an uncle, as brother is closer.

[xie_er]

Xie nods along with the explanation, including a comment about how he's too young to be uncle (well, too young to be shushu is what he actually says).

He laughs slightly at Tony's remark, leaning in to Kevin's shoulder to hide his smirk as he speaks to Kevin - successfully through the link.

"I'm sure he wants Lisa to call him gege."

[weird_cop]

"I do not want to know what private pet names they have for each other," Kevin replies, desperately trying not to be the most inappropriate with 'daddy' comments.

Except... oh.

"Do you want me to call you gege?"

Kevin turns his face into Xie's head to unsuccessfully hide the fact that they're having a private conversation. Lisa and Tony make eye contact, and then shrug it off, figuring they're allowed.

[xie_er]

Xie has to press his face in closer to stifle his laughter at the first comment, though the second comment earns Kevin a nip of teeth against his collarbone.

"Maybe sometimes" He murmurs with a grin.

He seems to remember they have company and drags his face away, but he doesn't look remotely embarrassed.

[weird_cop]

Well, okay. And now Kevin's thinking about that nip on his collar bone and that tone in Xie's mental voice and Xie is sitting in his lap and there's going to be consequences.

Lisa and Tony are both smirking at them. Both thinking how utterly adorable they are.

Kevin coughs awkwardly.

"Sorry," he says, though he doesn't sound it.

"No you're not," replies Tony.

[xie_er]

"No, he's not." Xie agrees smugly, because yes he is a little awkward but he isn't mad about it, Xie knows that, and it makes him happy.

He does take pity on him a little, though, and thinks he probably ought to change the subject.

"Oh, are you both free tomorrow? You could do your shopping," he waves a hand between Kevin and Tony "and Lisa and I can have our chess match"

At least, that's what he's trying to say, but a handful of words end up in Chinese instead of English.

[weird_cop]

Tony switches his gaze to Kevin, who translates, and then smirks again.

"For your hot date," he fills in. "Absolutely. You're going to look fucking knockout when I'm done with you."

Lisa laughs. "Okay, I'm up for hungover chess, that sounds like a plan."

[xie_er]

Xie doesn't know why Kevin keeps needing to repeat what he's saying, he's not slurring that badly is he?

"He's already pretty gorgeous." He smiles, kissing Kevin on the cheek. Still, he's looking forward to seeing him all dressed up - and he's pleased for him to spend some time with his friend.

"We'll both be playing with a handicap." He adds to Lisa with an amused smile.

He managed all of that in English, at least.

[weird_cop]

Lisa returns the smile, but it quickly turns into a yawn, and she leans her head on Tony's shoulder.

A quick exchange about being tired, and Tony makes the effort to heave her to her feet.

"Okay, I better get this gorgeous lady to sleep," he says, with a smile to both his hosts. "Great party, mates."