Chapter Text
It was a hot, humid night. Beneath the make-up he’d worn to conceal his markings, Xiao Jiu’s skin was itching, and he had to constantly resist the temptation of rubbing at it with his fingers.
They’d had dinner, and were now walking down the street towards Yue Qi’s apartment, their hands occasionally knocking together. They hadn’t really discussed it, but Xiao Jiu felt very certain he knew where the night was going - by the covert looks Yue Qi had been giving him all evening, and by the fact that this had become something of an habit during the past six months or so.
And why shouldn’t it have become an habit? They were both attractive, red-blooded, young men (or, in Xiao Jiu’s case, young, formerly dead and occasionally man-shaped). Sex was a natural need. This was a convenient way of obtaining it.
Still, Xiao Jiu was a little surprised when Yue Qi pushed him up against a streetlamp to kiss him. Yue Qi had never displayed an exhibitionist streak, and Xiao Jiu had always shied away from kisses that didn’t act as a direct prelude to sex, because it just felt like the sort of thing friends with benefits ought to do.
He went along with the kiss anyway. It felt nice, and it wouldn’t change much if they broke convention just this once. Plus, Yue Qi tended to get upset over the most idiotic things, and Xiao Jiu didn’t see why he should risk ruining such a promising night over one kiss.
One surprisingly long kiss.
Once Yue Qi drew back, Xiao Jiu bent to check the state of his face in the mirror of a nearby parked car. He was a little flushed, his lips swollen and dark, but his make-up, he was pleased to notice, had not smudged, and - in this shitty lighting, at least - it was impossible to even tell he was wearing it. “I look just like Shen Yuan.” He was surprised, though he wasn’t sure why. He always looked just like Shen Yuan, plus the markings - take away the markings and what do you get?
“No,” Yue Qi said, taking his hand and tugging him upright. “Xiao Jiu always looks like Xiao Jiu.”
Something squeezed and turned over, in the pit of Xiao Jiu’s stomach.
Had he eaten something off at the restaurant?
Was it even possible for familiars to get food poisoning? It shouldn’t have been - they couldn’t fall ill, and injuries didn’t stick.
Hopefully, he would be all right. He had plans to get laid that night, and Yue Qi wouldn’t think he was sexy if he was puking his guts out.
Though, he reasoned, Yue Qi was too saintly to send him home, if he did get sick. He would probably be stupidly nice and hold back Xiao Jiu’s hair as he vomited, and then get him a glass of water and a cold compress for his forehead, and lend him a spare pair of his pajamas, which would be warm, and soft, and smell like Yue Qi’s laundry detergent.
On second thought, there were some definite upsides to getting sick.
Somewhere between being deeply horrified at himself for that thought and noticing that he was just standing there staring at Yue Qi like an idiot, he managed to formulate, in something vaguely approaching his normal tone (granted, approaching it in a seedy neighborhood at night to hold it at gunpoint, but it was still better than nothing), “That’s ridiculous, Qi-ge. I didn’t look like this before, did I?”
“I recognized you just fine, didn’t I?” said Yue Qi, and then he cupped the side of Xiao Jiu’s face with his palm, and leaned down to plant a short, dry kiss to the center of his forehead, and then simply started walking again, tugging Xiao Jiu with him by the hand, like that gesture hadn’t somehow rearranged Xiao Jiu’s heart within his chest cavity.
It was fine, thought Xiao Jiu dazedly, as they made their way down the silent street. It was a fluke. It was never going to happen again.
***
It happened again, it wasn’t a fluke, and it most certainly wasn’t fine.
“I think I have a heart condition,” Xiao Jiu announced, flopping down onto the sofa and neatly shoving Shang Qinghua off of it with his foot.
“You don’t have a heart condition,” said Shen Yuan, in his I am a respectable magic practitioner who Knows Things Regular Humans Cannot tone of voice, which worked better on people who hadn’t known him since he was thirteen and hadn’t heard him practice his I am a respectable magic practitioner who Knows Things Regular Humans Cannot tone of voice until they were heartily sick of it.
“You don’t know that,” Xiao Jiu insisted, “The internet says I do.”
“Oh, well, if the internet says so…” Shen Yuan muttered.
“I get you, bro,” said Shang Qinghua, reaching up to pat Xiao Jiu’s shoulder comfortingly, like he wasn’t at all afraid of getting his hand bitten off. It was, perhaps, the most horrifying moment of Xiao Jiu’s entire existence, and he’d been murdered once. “Self-diagnosis is an hell of a drug.”
Gingerly, Xiao Jiu picked up Shang Qinghua’s wrist, holding it between his thumb and forefinger like it was some sort of venomous serpent, then dropped it into the man’s lap. “That is not what’s going on here. I have symptoms. Here,” he said, opening Shen Yuan’s laptop, which he’d been holding in the crook of his elbow, and gesturing triumphantly at the screen, “look. Increased heart rate, spells of dizziness, increased body temperature-“
“And are these symptoms happening all the time,” Shen Yuan asked, raising a brow, “or just in conjunction with the presence of something or,”, he paused, “someone?”
“It does happen more often when Qi-ge is around,” Xiao Jiu admitted, “but I don’t see what that has to do with anything. Unless this is an allergic reaction.” He didn’t think one could be allergic to people, but maybe it was Yue Qi’s cologne. He had changed it, recently, at Xiao Jiu’s suggestion.
“I think the word you’re looking for his crush,” Shen Yuan said, like he was an authority on the matter and not an idiot who had managed to miss Luo Binghe’s constant and relentless salivating over him.
“That’s absurd. We’re sleeping together. You can’t get a crush on someone you’re already fucking.”
Shen Yuan’s mouth twitched. “Then you’re head over heels in love,” he said, reaching out to pat Xiao Jiu’s hand.
***
Over the course of the next few weeks, Xiao Jiu came to the conclusion that Shen Yuan may, in fact, have been onto something.
This was bad.
Since he and Yue Qi were already sleeping together, in a completely casual way, there was no way to ask for a more committed sort of relationship without, well, asking. And obviously he couldn’t do that - it was humiliating, and, besides, there was always the chance that Yue Qi would reject him. No - what Xiao Jiu needed was a way to subtly gauge Yue Qi’s interest.
And he could see a fairly foolproof way to do just that.
For the first time since the overgrown brat had invaded his life, Xiao Jiu found himself glad for Luo Binghe’s presence.