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]

"Yeah, you're not wrong," Kevin agrees. He thinks the kid would do well with Xie there.

"I'm nearly at going home time, though. Let me know when you've had enough and I'll come get you."

[xie_er]

"Just come and get me whenever you're ready to go, it's fine"

He can put up with this for a while yet and he has a feeling Ezra isn't going to be inclined to stop any time soon.

[weird_cop]

"Will do."

Kevin gives Xie a little warning a little while later, and comes outside to find Ezra sitting on the wet ground, giving his full attention the cat.

He doesn't comment on how the kid must be getting cold out here, but in turn he doesn't actually realise that the way he knew immediately here they were could be noted by an observant, skittish little boy.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I gotta take Scorpio home for his dinner."

[xie_er]

Xie also doesn't think about the fact that he turns towards Kevin when he gets close - cats have good senses of smell, right? It's totally normal.

He gives Ezra a last friendly headbutt and then pads over to Kevin.

[weird_cop]

Kevin scoops Xie up, thinking all the time that he's probably sore, and grins at Ezra, only to be disappointed when he gets a polite, forced smile in return.

"Thanks for looking after him. I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

Ezra nods, but doesn't really say anything beyond a quick wave at the cat.

"Right, you ready for a hot shower and a massage?"

Only when they've driven off does Ezra go back inside, looking for food.

[xie_er]

"I love you" Xie says in response, though they're barely driven away before he's climbing into the front seat and shifting back, stretching as best he can in the confines of the car.

"It's not too bad after just one day, but I'm not going to say no" He adds with a smile across at Kevin.

Spot watched them go from the dining room window and now he's sitting waiting for food to be served.

[weird_cop]

Kevin draws from his old boxing training to lecture Xie casually about how muscles need maintenance, not just care when they're sore, and to take advantage before he, Kevin, gets bored.

Ezra meanwhile, is beginning to wonder about the way that cat was acting, and takes a seat next to Spot.

He doesn't say anything though. Because he's not sure what he should say.

He'll wait until tomorrow and see if they're back.

[xie_er]

Xie listens to the lecture with fond amusement, and leans over to kiss him on the cheek when he's done, amending his 'not going to say no' to 'yes, please, beloved and generous boyfriend of mine, give me a massage when we get home'.

Spot glances over at Ezra when he sits down, and though he was kind of grumpy with him for butting in on his chance to talk to Kevin, he did still get some time after Ezra left so the grouch has softened a little bit. So he gives the other boy a nod and is actually kind of tolerant of him sitting there. He even offers an opinion on the food just to make conversation.

[weird_cop]

The conversation is awkward, possibly a bit rude, and more than once Ezra decides Spot is being a dick, or Erza is accidentally a dick himself. But... it doesn't suck, having someone to talk to. And when Ezra realises this, he makes a little more effort to be nice.

Over the rest of the week, he waits for Kevin and the cat to turn up, and tries to get some time with the latter. He doesn't express any of his concerns to the cat at all, but he does start reading a lot about cat behaviour on the internet.

Something's a bit up.

[xie_er]

Xie is trying to be more like a normal cat, but the problem is that he's never been exposed to one person this consistently, at least not one who's paying attention. Usually it was just the occasional meeting, and he spent a lot of them just pretending to sleep places so he could listen in, actually interacting with people as a cat is new so he slips up sometimes. He doesn't think it's anything too bad, assumes Ezra probably just thinks he's kind of an odd cat - he underestimates Ezra's investigative abilities.

He also doesn't want to start avoiding the kid because he feels like his presence is helping, and he likes to feel useful.

For his part, Spot is growing to tolerate the idea of maybe having something approaching a friend here - he starts sitting with Ezra more regularly at meals, even when the conversations end up more argument than not. Slowly, even the arguments are starting to be not so bad.

The fact that Ezra seems focused on 'Scorpio' is helpful, it means he gets to spend more time with Kevin - mostly he checks in for any news and sometimes comes with questions about Familiars and the bond, which Kevin can relay from Xie whether he's there or not. Mostly, the office is just his favourite place to skip lessons whenever he can get away with it.

[weird_cop]

Kevin is happy to talk to Spot while Xie does his unexpected new job of therapy cat to another troubled kid. He finds he likes the kid - usually Kevin avoids teenagers due to his own unhappy memories of them when he was one, but Spot doesn't remind him of any of the bullies so it works out okay.

He can't share any news about his dad due to operational secrecy, but he tries to get across the confidence he genuinely has that they're closing in on him. Tony is working some angles, and might be able to get close to Conlon snr soon.

But he has more than enough enthusiasm for talking to Spot about Familiars, about how the bond works, and for asking his own questions, encouraging the kid to open up to him about his own experiences.

Ezra, meanwhile, is gathering enough information that 'Scorpio,' is not a normal cat, and that Kevin is not a usual cat owner, and he's beginning to get suspicious of what the man's doing here at all.

So one evening, over dinner, he asks Spot directly.

"Hey, what do you think of that Kevin bloke?"

[xie_er]

Spot is occasionally frustrated that Kevin can't tell him much, but he has to (begrudgingly) admit that it's still more than he knew about his father's whereabouts or dealings before, and at least they seem pretty confident that wherever he is isn't close to Spot, and in some ways that's good enough for him.

The Familiar stuff is more interesting anyway. It takes some time before he really opens up about any of his own experiences beyond shrugs and non-committal responses, but towards the end of the first week he does admit that he thought it was pretty cool when he first shifted, and that he used to think that being a Familiar would make it easy to get away from his dad when he was a bit older - until his mum died.

"I dunno. Seems alright." He shrugs when Ezra asks him about Kevin, deliberately vague and giving Ezra a slightly wary look "Why?"

[weird_cop]

Ezra, motivated by his friendship with Spot, his loyalty and the trust that Spot is a good guy, misinterprets that expression as being wary of Kevin, and immediately ducks his head, lowering his voice conspiratorially.

"I dunno. He seems sus. Like, he hardly talks to the other grown ups, and what does he even do. And what's with the cat?"

[xie_er]

"He's an admin guy, right? What do any of the admin people even do?" Spot drops his voice to match without even thinking about it, but also his mind is racing trying to come up with some explanations that'll stop Ezra poking around because, well, he knows what he does, and what's up with the cat, too.

"Maybe he's just shy. That's probably why he brings his cat as well." He says, shrugging again and hoping Ezra will drop it. He's pretty sure he shouldn't be telling Ezra that Kevin is an undercover cop here for his protection, even if he doesn't like lying to his only friend here.

[weird_cop]

"I just..."

Ezra sighs after a moment, and decides to go ahead and say it.

"...look, I lived on the streets for years, okay. Tell me that guy doesn't have massive cop vibes? And I've been looking up cat behaviour. I don't think that's a cat at all>"

[xie_er]

"You think he's a cop? Why would a cop be here?" Spot hisses, mildly panicked because isn't Kevin's whole thing being undercover? How has Ezra seen through him so quickly?

"And if it ain't a cat, what is it?"

[weird_cop]

"I don't know," Ezra admits. "It looks like one, but it doesn't act like one. Maybe it's some sort of... look, don't laugh, okay?"

Because Ezra's about to say something ridiculous.

"But they can do all sorts of things with drones these days."

[xie_er]

Spot, to his credit, does not laugh.

He does give Ezra a very withering look though. Even though he should probably be glad that Ezra hasn't somehow managed to guess that Xie is a shapeshifter as well as guessing that Kevin is a cop.

"You think the cat is a robot?"

[weird_cop]

Ezra suddenly scowls at him, embarrassed and insulted. He spares a fraction of a second to make sure no one's looking, and shoves Spot in the shoulder.

"Shut up, I'm not stupid!"

He's not, and Spot doesn't have to act like he is.

[xie_er]

"Sure, sure, you're not stupid." Spot concedes, holding up his hands. The thing is, Ezra isn't stupid, in fact he's pretty fucking smart, but that suggestion is pretty... out there.

"But there's got to be a better explanation than drone. Maybe it's just a weird cat."

[weird_cop]

"Fucking weird cat," Ezra says, still sulking but mollified by Spot's implied apology.

"Just be careful around them, okay? Something's up."

[xie_er]

"Well you be careful too, then. If you think they're suspicious just stay away from them, probably better that way."

It would be sound advice on the streets, Spot knows, especially if you suspected somebody of being a cop, so he hopes Ezra follows it - and stops watching them so closely and coming to weird conclusions because with a brain like his it wouldn't be a surprise if he came to the right one, sooner or later.

[weird_cop]

"I will be," Ezra assures him.

Ezra is not a careful kid, by nature, and while he does keep his distance, kind of, he keeps an eye out for both cop and cat, looking for anything to support his growing hypothesis. And to make sure they're not actually after Spot.

[xie_er]

Spot has trouble visiting Kevin as often when he's watching out to make sure Ezra doesn't see him visiting Kevin. He also doesn't warn Kevin that Ezra's on to him, because that feels a little too much like snitching, actually, and maybe it'll be fine and Ezra's suspicions will go away.

It's a few days after Ezra has told Spot his concerns that the strain of being a cat for full time office hours hits Xie in an unexpected way - he gets a cramp in his leg.

After some choice expletives he asks Kevin to lock the door so he can shift back for a bit just to ease the cramp.

[weird_cop]

Kevin is already up when Xie starts swearing, so locks the door before turning back, all his attention on Xie the cat and then the human.

"Take a seat," he says, dropping to kneel in front of his chair. He tucks his hands up past the cuff of Xie's trouser leg and eases some magic up as best he can without getting Xie to actually drop trow in his office.

He doesn't realise that this whole thing is being watched by a kid who took the idea of drones to heart and set up a baby monitor camera in a tree outside.