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]

Kevin smiles back at him, accepting the apology and trying to express that he shouldn't need to apologise: Xie's insecurities aren't his fault. And then he smiles wider at the joke.

"I don't know, that kid's got the vibe of someone who could take your switchblade away from you."

After a second he thinks more seriously and says:

"It's easier than I thought it would be, being around teenagers. I've kind of avoided kids once I stopped being one. Too many bad experiences, you know?"

[xie_er]

"Maybe," He concedes - he doesn't mind so much when it's a joke, and also that kid does seem remarkably resourceful "but I think even he would struggle to get all my knives"

It had taken Kevin a solid ten minutes or so to get all his knives off him when he was cooperating. Mostly cooperating.

His smile softens when Kevin turns more serious and he reaches over to squeeze his thigh reassuringly, nodding slightly at the confession.

"I know what you mean," he says, remembering the story Kevin told him about what he'd gone through growing up "I'm glad it's been easier. You've been pretty great with those kids, I think."

Certainly better than Xie, but even from an objective view he's been handling them pretty well, in Xie's opinion.

[weird_cop]

Still teasing: "Well, he is still a kid"

And then he rests his hand on top of Xie's, squeezing back in thanks for the reassurance.

"Thanks, that means a lot. As long as we can keep them safe and out of trouble, That's all I need."

[xie_er]

"Probably easier said than done, with those two" Xie admits, since both of them seem like they might be good at getting into trouble, and he knows from experience that being an unbonded Familiar practically invites trouble no matter what you do "but if anybody can do it, you can."

Especially with Xie at his side to help him.

He almost says something about Kevin being good at keeping him safe and out of trouble, but he doesn't want to invite a dozen examples of that not being the case. He still thinks it is, it's just... more like he always got him out of trouble rather than keeping him out in the first place.

[weird_cop]

"Thank you," Kevin replies, "for your faith in me."

Back at the house, with a couple of pans simmering on the stove, he pulls Xie to him and wraps his arms around him.

"I know you've got my back, and I love you."

[xie_er]

Xie leans into the embrace, sliding his own arms around Kevin's waist with a soft smile. He responds with a kiss, first, though of course he doesn't even need to draw away before he can respond with words.

"I love you too. And always. I know you've got mine, too."

It's nice, he thinks, to actually have that kind of partnership with someone, to know that everything he gives to Kevin he'll get back in some other way. None of it, from either of them, is giving with any kind of expectation, but it's always returns all the same.

[weird_cop]

It takes a bit of wrangling to get permission from both Quill and Beth, but by lunchtime the next day Kevin has a rough teaching plan for how to go about teaching a fourteen year old boy how to do magic, that is entirely different from any of the ways Kevin learned.

He starts by explaining to Ezra that there are multiple ways of doing magic, but he was going to teach him the safest, and probably the most reliable way, albeit the way that was probably the slowest for results. He doesn't mention familiars, or the Sight, to start with; instead he starts the boy on simple meditation techniques and Tai Chi, learning to bring magic into himself and cultivate it there.

But as he talks through the theory, Kevin realises that this is just what he needs; the chance to articulate exactly how the magical techniques he learned with Zhao work and to contrast it to the magic of London and the sacrifices. He might not tell Ezra about familiars, or blood sacrifice, or the ghosts that haunt so much of London, but he delightedly tells Xie everything, talking his metaphorical ear off nearly constantly, day and night, as he pulls it all together.

"It's all the same," he realises, "cities like London have just cultivated their own flow through history and architecture and the people who live there. Familiars generate it yourselves, I think. Maybe. That's why your power is so... clean."

Like spring water, rather then the E. coli ridden mess of the Thames. It's the best metaphor he can come up with at the time.

And Ezra, he finds, is a natural. It's almost annoying, how quickly the boy picks up what Kevin had to work his arse off to acheive. He struggles with meditation at first, but Tai chi and movement proves more effective at getting him to apply himself. Then he pools a healthy source of power within himself and starts asking for spells.

So Kevin teaches him simple things - nightlights, water manipulation, and then basic healing. And Ezra applies himself eagerly, dutifully keeping the secret that he promised to keep.

Until a couple of months down the line, when Ezra takes a nasty fall in the skate park when messing one evening after school. After the initial shock as worn off and he realises that he can't stand up on his own, Ezra takes one scan around to make sure there isn't anyone watching, then places his hands on his torn open knee, and focuses on knitting it back together.

[xie_er]

Xie, meanwhile, has thrown himself into the admin of buying a house. He still comes along with Kevin most days, but he takes more breaks so he doesn't over-exert himself again. At first, the whole prospect had seemed a little daunting - the kind of thing that Yifu would tell him not to worry about, contracts and documents and finance, all things that Xie had no experience of and somebody else could take care of for him.

He quickly realises it was just another way Yifu kept him from being independant. It's not entirely untrue that somebody else takes care of most of it, but that somebody else is the lawyer and that's just how the process works. It's also a somebody else who actually shows him the documents he needs to sign, and gives him a chance to read through them and ask questions and actually understand.

Most of the process just seems to be waiting, though, so while all of that's going on Xie turns to the important part. Decor.

Some of his self-imposed days off are taken up making calls and reading contracts, most of them are taken up creating pinterest boards and researching local contractors. He has a vision.

It's a vision he shares with Kevin - in between listening with genuine interest at Kevin's various revelations about the nature of magic and sharing his own thoughts, he sends mental pictures of mood boards and colour schemes and asks his opinions, always taking them into account and making revisions where he needs to. Especially for the kitchen.

When he doesn't have his days off, his focus is on Spot. He keeps a close eye on the young familiar, watching for signs that he's getting too close to needing a bond, still trying to reach out to all the contacts he can to try and find some options for him. Since he's not sure how much they want to reveal to Spot about what's going on with Ezra (and vice versa) he starts having lessons of his own, whenever Kevin is busy with Ezra, Xie is busy with Spot. They talk about shifting, about learning different forms and what it feels like, about bonds and what to look out for and all the tricks that Xie has picked up over the years - some that he learned from his parents, but most that he had to learn for himself.

And Spot takes to the lessons surpisingly well - it takes a few weeks for Xie to draw him out of his sullen disinterest, but eventually he starts paying attention, starts embracing being a familiar as something kind of cool and not just a thing that's brought him no end of trouble.

(Xie gets it, he really does)

Unfortunately some of Xie's stories are perhaps not the best for an impressionable teenage audience, and Spot gets it into his head to start doing a few of his own patrols of the local area, just to make sure the cops are keeping up their end of the whole 'making sure he's safe' deal. It's probably something of a miracle that the first notable thing that happens on one of his little trips isn't him attracting unwanted attention.

Ezra might not see anyone watching, but crouched in a nearby bush is a certain scrawny bengal cat. Spot had been keeping half an eye on Ezra as he passed, knowing how the other boy liked animals and not wanting to catch his notice. He'd hesitated when he saw Ezra fall, caught sight of the mess he made of his knee, and wondered if he ought to go and get help or something. The hesitation is long enough to see Ezra start healing himself and think what the fuck...

He moves forward, sliding out from under the bush and trotting over to Ezra, sitting in front of him with a pointed look... or as pointed as a look can get while he's still a cat. He realises belatedly that he's in the wrong form for this kind of confrontation.

[weird_cop]

Ezra is just reaching the point where he reckons he can put his weight on it, at least to limp back to school and make it through the night. Tomorrow he'll have more power, and he can show Kevin, and show off how well he's done...

..and then he looks up and there's a cat sitting in front of him, with a very un-cat-like expression on its face.

Ezra knows what a cat looks like when it's not a cat.

He also knows that Kevin, apart from being a witch, is also an undercover magic cop, working at the school because the school needs magic protection. He doesn't know what from, but a cat that isn't a cat is definitely magical, and as this isn't Xie, the odds are it's one of the magic people Kevin's here to protect them from.

He stills where he's sitting, meeting its gaze steadily, and wonders what he should do, pooling a little bit of magic around his hands, just in case.

He wishes Kevin had taught him more magic self-defence.

"What do you want?"

[xie_er]

Spot is left with a decision then, because does he just turn tail and leave? Does he come back and confront Ezra? Except if he's going to do that there's no point leaving at all because it would be blatantly obvious the cat and the boy are one and the same, especially for a witch.

He can feel the way Ezra is gathering the magic in his hands and that makes his decision for him - he isn't about to turn his back on that, and he really needs a mouth that can actually form words right now, so after a moment longer of just staring he changes form.

He has a hundred questions as soon as he's himself again, but chief among them is the one that Ezra probably isn't expecting.

"Did my dad send you?"

He doesn't think that's the case, he's pretty sure they would have made a move before now if Ezra was working for his dad somehow, even with Kevin and Xie hanging around most of the time, but better safe than sorry right? He is a witch after all.

[weird_cop]

It's entirely possible that Spot's question is answered by the way his shifting causes Ezra to fall over backwards, from his half kneel over his wounded leg, hard back on his ass, in a way that twists the knee and reminds him that it's not nearly fully healed. He loses control of his magic when he does so, and it dissipates harmlessly into the air.

"Sp - ow, fuck - " his expression of surprise is cut short by the pain in his knee - "Spot?"

[xie_er]

That does sort of answer the question - nobody who is actually here looking for him would be so surprised by him shifting. Maybe. It's possible his dad still sent Ezra without telling him Spot was a familiar, but it feels even more unlikely than it did before. He's not entirely convinced, but it helps.

"uh, yea..." he admits, feeling the tiniest hint of guilt that he's caused Ezra further injury with the surprise.

"...are you okay?" He's confused and suspicious and has a lot of other questions, but he figures he should probably at least check.

[weird_cop]

"Yeah," Ezra says quickly, flustered enough to be easily led by direct questioning, "I'm fine. I fell off my skateboard, it's nothing."

Or it will be nothing when he's healed it, anyway. There are more important things going on here. More important questions to be answered. He tries to ask or answer them all at once, working out the order of importance has he goes."

"Have you always been a... no, wait. No one sent me, I swear... oh."

The realisation hits, and he blinks at Spot with sudden understanding, knowing what he does about what any one of the other kids here have been through.

"Is your Dad after you?"

[xie_er]

Spot shrugs, sullen and awkward at once, looking away and wishing he hadn't actually said anything. Or wishing that Ezra had stuck with the questions he almost asked.

"Yea." He admits. "Probably."

Maybe he's lost interest by now, who knows, but as long as he's out there he's a threat. He wonders if this will blow Kevin's cover, Ezra already figured out he had cop vibes...

"So you're a witch?" He throws back a question of his own, a distraction just as much as genuine interest.

[weird_cop]

"No," Ezra says, without really thinking, before he realises that yes, technically he is.

"I mean, not really. I've only been learning a few weeks."

He bites his lip thoughtfully, not wanting to force Spot to go over painful ground, but also wanting to make it easier to cover ground they probably each think is supposed to be a secret from the other.

"...I bet, um, that's something you'd want police protection for, right?"

[xie_er]

Spot just raises an eyebrow at him until he corrects himself, and he thinks it's kind of weird until Ezra admits he's just learning and now Spot is the one putting things together because who else is going to be teaching Ezra magic?

Maybe if that wasn't the case he'd be more cautious, lie about Kevin's presence, but if he's going to go teaching somebody magic right under Spot's nose without even telling him, Spot's not going to trouble to keep his cover. He nods.

"So how come he started teaching you?" If this is their solution to his little problem he swears to God...

[weird_cop]

Ezra, unaware that there even is a problem, lifts a shoulder sheepishly.

"I kind of... blackmailed him," he offers, sounding more guilty than he wouldn't be if this wasn't his friend's police protection he was messing with.

"I mean, I caught him doing magic and asked if he'd teach me. I wouldn't really have blown his cover, especially not if I'd known they was here for you. They didn't tell me nothing about you, I promise."

[xie_er]

"....well, obviously they didn't." Spot says after a long moment, because it's clear that Ezra didn't know anything about him, and they didn't tell him about Ezra either...

He isn't sure what to say for a long moment but eventually a corner of his mouth twitches.

"What kinda cop lets himself get blackmailed by a teenager..." he says. He's joking, mostly, because he does trust that Kevin and Xie can keep him safe, he wouldn't still be here if he didn't, but it is funny.

[weird_cop]

Ezra jumps on the chance to laugh, shaking his head in companionable mocking of Kevin.

"Maybe he skipped that part of cop training cause he was learning to be a witch, I don't know."

Ezra's not stupid, he's pretty sure that Kevin is teaching him magic because he thinks it's good for the troubled teen, but he's not complaining.

His mouth twitches again, fighting back questions about shapeshifting and all the things that he's never asked or been told about Xie (or Spot), but doesn't want to press a painful subject.

Instead he pushes himself into a position to stand up, and holds a hand out to Spot. "Help me up? We should go back before they start asking questions."

[xie_er]

Spot snorts, nodding his agreement. He's quiet for a moment, contemplating his own questions and whether or not he actually wants to ask them, knowing they'll invite other questions in return. It's not that he minds talking about being a familiar, but if Ezra hasn't already figured it out maybe it would be nice to be something like friends with a witch who wasn't only looking for his power.

"Sure." he nods, holding a hand out and bracing himself to haul Ezra to his feet, keeping a careful eye on him as he stands in case the injured knee has any trouble supporting his weight.

[weird_cop]

Ezra doesn't bother to pretend he's less hurt than he is; he stands up gingerly with Spot's help and holds on to his hand as he gently tests his weight on his leg.

It hurts, but he still grins.

"Hey, that's much better than it was. I did pretty good with that."

[xie_er]

"Yea it was kinda impressive." Spot agrees. He doesn't know how hard healing magic is, he just knows his dad can't do it, but he still thinks it's cool that Ezra has managed to learn it in only a few weeks.

He's a bit jealous, admittedly, since he has all this power and he can't do anything with it. The shape-shifting is awesome, obviously, but he'd rather be able to do actual magic. Maybe one day when he has a proper bond he'll find something else actually worth liking about being a familiar. Maybe.

"You okay to walk back?"

[weird_cop]

"Yeah," Ezra says, testing it again and taking a few steps.

"Let's not go to the nurse or anything. I want to show Kev tomorrow."

It makes sense to him - he wants to show off how far he's come, and he wants to be told he did it right, and he also semi hopes that Kevin will just finish it off for him.

"Is it okay if I tell him I know about you? I'm not gonna ask for any of your secrets or anything."

[xie_er]

Spot raises an eyebrow but he doesn't protest - he isn't going to tell somebody to go to the nurse if they don't want to, and it's Ezra's leg, if he wants to show it off he can do that. Kevin'll be in tomorrow anyway so it's not like it's going to do much harm not getting it looked at. Probably.

"I don't think he'd give them if you did." He shrugs. As much as he might joke about Kevin being easily blackmailed, he knows he wouldn't actually tell Ezra anything about Spot that Spot didn't want him to.

"But yea I don't mind. Means they don't have to waste their time trying to hide us from each other and can focus on more important stuff." Like actually doing their job, or teaching Ezra more magic.

[weird_cop]

"I wondered why I hadn't seen Xie around that much," Ezra muses. "I figured he was avoiding me after I got mad, but I guess he's been hanging out with you, right? Shapeshifter stuff?"

He hopes that's not prying too much.