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Chapter Text

It was as Ye Xiu was leaving his home after yet another fight with his parents that the impossible happened.

Grabbed from behind and dragged roughly into an alleyway, Ye Xiu struggled and fought against the people in dark cloaks. He could see a car only a few feet away and he knew instinctively that if he was forced into it he might never be seen again.

Scratching furiously at the arms and biting deep on the hand around his mouth Ye Xiu put every bit of self-defense training he had into practice. He twisted his arm and pulled himself away from the man holding him. Spinning around he punched the other man in the face sending him to the wall behind him with a sickening crack. There were two men left, and as one ran forward with a syringe in his hands Ye Xiu used his arms to protect his head, even as he felt the sting pain of the needle to his left arm and pushed the other man back, throwing him to the ground.

Ye Xiu fought desperately drawing up every ounce of energy possible. He may not have taken up martial arts like his brother, but that didn't mean he was completely defenseless. He too had been trained briefly in self-defense before he had run away. The last man shifted from side to side and slammed Ye Xiu into a wall catching him off guard. The man snaked his hands around Ye Xiu trying to suffocate him. Whether into unconsciousness or until death mattered little.  Ye Xiu was having trouble breathing and spots started to appear in his vision.

He needed to get free now. 

But how?

His strength wasn't enough, but maybe—

He remembered the pen in his upper coat pocket.

Reaching his other hand to his chest coat pocket, he slid a metal pen out—one he had swiped off his brother’s desk earlier— and stabbed it deep into the arm around his neck.

The man howled and threw Ye Xiu at the ground cursing at him, and clutching his bloody arm pen still lodged in it. The man growled and pulled out the pen roughly, advancing on Ye Xiu, anger burning in his eyes. Ye Xiu scrabbled around for another weapon, anything to help him. Spotting the heavy case on the ground next to him Ye Xiu reached for it and grabbing it, threw it with all the force he could into the face of the kidnapper.

His aim was true and the man saw only a black blur before he was knocked unconscious, slumping to the ground. He was bleeding from several points from his head but he wasn't getting up.

Finally.

It was over.

Rubbing at his sore neck, Ye Xiu reached for his phone and dialed his brother’s number, no doubt his parents would want to have a chat with the men. Waiting as the call connected Ye Xiu rubbed his left arm too, finally feeling the pain he had to ignore while on adrenaline. His arm was starting to burn painfully and his body felt hot. Very hot.

Why was everything so hot?

Ye Xiu got his answer when minutes later his clothes no longer fit him and he looked up to see the panic in his younger brother’s eyes.

“Gege…?” Ye Qiu whispered voice caught in his throat. Ye Xiu wondered how bad he looked when even his brother looked that worried. But he had more important things to worry about as he was picked up and raced into the Ye Mansion. His wounds still bothered him and his neck was likely bruised from the attempted strangling considering his voice wasn't working too well.

Placed onto his old bed Ye Xiu suffered though the battery of questions from both his parents and his brother while orders were barked out. Unlike a few hours ago when his father refused to even look at him, and his mother was frowning at him, both were pale and conversing in the corner of his room. Ye Xiu saw security, and household maids and even members of the extended Ye Family cycle through his room while the Ye Family doctor checked over his wounds noting them and then taking pictures of them before he started on his treatment. The doctor rubbed medicine and bandages around his injuries primarily on his arm and neck before moving away to talk to his parents.

His brother helped him into soft fleece pajamas that were only a bit big on him, before helping him to bed even though he wasn't sleepy. He gave his brother a rather exasperated look, but nothing seemed to get through as his brother simply tucked him back into bed, heads shaking. Ye Xiu sighed and patting his brother's head reached out to his twin. Ye Qiu blinked at him, taken off guard by the action so Ye Xiu took the initiative and hugged him. Ye Qiu looked like he needed the comfort, and even if hugging wasn't something the twins normally did Ye Xiu wasn't going to deny his twin comfort.

Except, now his parents looked worried. His father's voice was becoming more heated, and corse as he watched the pair. Ye Xiu frowned, mind already connecting the dots. His parents thought he had mentally reverted to his younger self when his body shrunk, and his lack of a voice as well as his sudden affection to Ye Qiu wasn’t helping matters. Moving back from Ye Qiu, Ye Xiu grabbing his phone from his bedside table and started typing out a message to his brother, hoping to thoroughly disprove any assumptions before they got too far.

He only half succeeded, if the looks on his parents’ faces were any indication.

After the men were moved off to ‘somewhere’ (Ye Xiu figures it’s better not to know with his family), and interrogated, as well as their items searched, it was discovered that their actual target was not, in fact, Ye Xiu but Ye Qiu. According to the documents they carried and they were supposed to kidnap/drug Ye Qiu. When Ye Xiu had left earlier without 'his' security the kidnappers had jumped at the chance, even though it was within steps of the Ye Residence, unknowing that it was Ye Xiu instead of his brother they had attacked. Ye Xiu himself had simply managed to get caught in the middle of this scheme and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“So they were trying to get to you,” Ye Xiu muttered casually. He wasn’t blaming his brother, rather just affirming what he had speculated. Ever since he had run away three years ago, there had been few if any actual publicity of him as the original heir of the Ye Family, originally because of his father, and later on because he simply wasn’t around.

Ye Qiu winced, no doubt feeling guilt over his brother's situation.

Reaching out to his little brother, Ye Xiu ruffled his hair again. “This wasn’t your fault.” He told him, his smile soft before he looked at his hands, flexing them slowly thinking.

If he wasn’t mistaken, his brother did have a computer… and he did have his account card.

“Ye Qiu, do you still have a computer?”

Ye Qiu looked at his brother in disbelief, already connecting the dots. 

“You were nearly kidnapped and de-aged and you want to play games? “

And yet, contrary to the conversations held earlier, playing games was apparently the correct answer.

Somehow.

Ye Qiu was still trying to figure out what logic his brother was using because now their parents were not only fully agreeing with their eldest but they fully supported his brother’s plan.

They even went so far as to set a team to research everything Glory because they wanted to know how a professional gaming company had managed to protect one of their sons while their elite teams had failed.

It didn't take long for everyone, Ye Xiu included, to figure out why. Both pairs of grandparents were funding the alliance and keeping an eye on Ye Xiu. Their father, in particular, made a face like he had swallowed a lemon, while their mother looked incredibly unhappy. It was well known in the Ye Family that Ye Xiu was the favored grandchild, and between their father and Ye Xiu, their grandparents would always spoil Ye Xiu shamelessly. When Ye Xiu had run away,  it was no secret that their grandparents had been unhappy with their parents, both sets pointing out the many limitations set upon the twins and the number of other relatives that could or wanted to be groomed to run the company.

Even three years on, and family events were full of awkwardness and tension when Ye Xiu's seat continued to remain empty.

Ye Qiu himself felt the whole thing was a little unfair to their parents considering how impossible his brother was.  Ye Qiu knew firsthand the kind of shamelessness his brother could dish out and considering his brother constantly played his parents even before he ran away Ye Qiu could empathize with his parents.

(Ye Qiu tries hard not to think of the times with the frogs and shivers.)

Unfortunately, Ye Qiu had never managed to keep his emotions in check when it concerned his brother and he made the terrible mistake of saying so out loud.

Ye Xiu's reply was swift and shameless.

“Who was it that wanted to run away first? I'm sure Mother and Father still don't know about that time you stole my ID in high school or that time—”

Ye Qiu tossed a pillow at him, cheeks burning.

"Shut up!"

“I said left, not right.” Ye Xiu said frowning as he watched his brother attempt to work his way through the beginner dungeons. Again.

It had been a few hours since his parents had decided to follow through on his brother's scheme and even though he was training with Ye Xiu every minute they weren’t eating or sleeping, his progress was incredibly slow. Just moving his character across the screen was taking all of his concentration and the fact that he had to know more than the average player so he could masquerade as his brother, who was using his name just made it all the more infuriating. For all that Ye Qiu had played some games when he was younger, he did not remember any of them being this complicated. 

 “Attack its eyes, not its feet.” Ye Xiu repeated watching as his brother once again failed to land a hit.

“I’m trying!” Ye Qiu hissed fingers shaking and cramping up. 

Ye Xiu watched him struggle with the controls thinking hard.

At this rate, his brother wouldn’t be ready to go on stage any time soon.

“Stop,” Ye Xiu said taking the mouse from his brother. “New tactic, I’ll play and you’ll watch. We’ll run down all the classes and then work on your skills later.” Vacation had only started, he still had a few weeks to get his brother playing at the pro level, but knowledge would work for now.

Climbing into his brother's lap, Ye Xiu took over the computer and logged off the character his brother was using. Reaching for the clear case that held several leveled character cards Ye Xiu drew a witch.

“Now, watch carefully…” 

Thankfully, Ye Xiu wasn’t the only one thinking ahead, as the next day his grandparents made an appearance, and with them the current vice-chairman of the Glory Alliance, Zhang Wei.

Together with his grandparents, they go over the steps necessary to allow Ye Xiu to play.

During every match, his brother will go into a computer booth, but instead of controlling his character, Ye Xiu will be in control in a separate room. It’s a simple solution to a problem Ye Xiu had been worried about, and although Ye Xiu is very thankful, he can see his grandparents plotting.

No doubt this help will not come free, and when they finally lay out what they want, Ye Xiu knows he is trapped.

He should have seen this coming.

“So you’re going to model for Grandmother’s clothes brand…” Ye Qiu said gleefully, the moment he sees his brother.

Ye Qiu watches as his brother picks up the pages for the modeling contract like he’s picking up a dead rat.

Ye Xiu stares at him, a little confused before it hits him that his brother doesn’t know about the arrangement between them and their grandparents before turning to smile at Ye Qiu.

“Yes, but I’m not going to be the only one. Grandfather is eager to put you to work.” Ye Xiu says ignoring his brother's shriek of anger.  No one had told him. 

“What work? What did you do?“ Ye Qiu demands, his hands crossed.

Ye Xiu tries to not laugh at the face Ye Qiu is making. His brother so dearly reminds him of a red panda trying and failing to be tough.

Turning back to the computer, Ye Xiu adjusts some more settings. “If you want to know, you should catch up to grandmother. She seemed eager to file the paperwork.”

Seconds later, his brother races out of his room, trying to look dignified as he tries to find their grandparents and hopefully to put a stop to whatever was going on.

Ye Xiu smiled to himself.

He had forgotten to mention that their grandparents had already left.

To say that Tao Xuan was surprised to hear Ye Qiu detailing his later than planned arrival from his mysterious family was like saying the sun was a little hot or the ocean was a little wet. It was a huge understatement. Ye Qiu worked the hardest in Excellent Era and often wouldn't leave the Excellent Era building if he wasn't forced.

And yet, even this fact paled in comparison to the fact that Ye Qiu had requested a meeting with him. So when the day arrived and Tao Xuan cleared his schedule knowing that something had happened to the captain of Excellent Era, he was prepared for any number of things.

What he wasn't prepared for was Ye Qiu to arrive accompanied by a smaller child, who was evidently his younger brother. Ye Qiu had always been so secretive about his family and yet here he was in front of him talking about them. Ye Qiu spoke evenly about an undisclosed incident that had happened and due to reasons his younger brother was no longer able to stay at home. Therefore their parents had sent his younger brother to him and had even gone so far as to get permission from the alliance and it had been approved.

Tao Xuan was equal parts, confused, and worried over everything that is presented to him.

What did that even mean?

“Brother Tao, you don’t need heart medicine do you?” The child, Ye Xiu asked him a few minutes later in that exact same tone that Ye Qiu did. It was too similar to Ye Qiu that Tao Xuan was blindsided.

Was the Ye Family genes that strong that even the brothers' mannerisms were that similar?

It truly made him wonder.

And then as if Ye Qiu hadn’t just dropped a huge metaphorical bomb on him, he went on to announce that some people were waiting outside to talk him about a sponsorship, that Tao Xuan nearly dropped his cigarette. At Ye Qiu's words, a woman in a crisp, rich looking suit entered, flagged by two taller men in black suits.

Everything about them screamed money and tons of it, and as they went over the conditions for the sponsorship Tao Xuan could barely contain himself as he wrote his signature on the crisp, white pages. Tao Xuan had always hoped a big sponsorship would come to Excellent Era, but never had he dreamed that the sponsorship would come from Ye Qiu's mysterious and super-rich family.

When the women, Yu Yan of the Golden Leaf Corporation, finished the paperwork; Tao Xuan was still in complete disbelief.

The amount was mind blogging, and the terms were more than generous. As long as Ye Qiu was supported during his time with Excellent Era they would never want for anything money-wise. It was both a boon and a curse. Tao Xuan knew to never to cross Ye Qiu's family. There lay danger in doing so.

Reaching out a hand, he picked up his phone.

He had much work to do.

"Ye Qiu, right?" Su Mucheng said catching them in the hallway afterward. She had noticed the difference immediately between the twins. Years, of living and interacting with Ye Xiu meant she could easily tell the difference. When her eyes met Ye Xiu's she squealed, and hugged him, apparently overcome with happiness. "So cute!"

Ye Xiu smiled warmly. "You were cuter as a child." He countered, leading the pair into an elevator.

Su  Mucheng blinked at the response.  "Ye Xiu? How are you so tiny?" She asked frowning.

Ye Xiu pointed at his brother. "It's his fault."

Ye Qiu hisses at his brother, dignity be damned.

Su Mucheng giggles.

Chapter Text

"Move closer," Ye Xiu said motioning to his brother.

Ye Qiu was currently running a medium level dungeon, as a battlemage and while his the younger twin’s apm was well above average, his mechanical skills left much to be desired.

If Ye Qiu wasn't being pushed for high proficiency at battlemage, Ye Xiu suspected that his brother might have been a decent Witch or Elementalist where his high apm would have greatly enhanced his performance. Making a note in the notebook in front of him, Ye Xiu continued to lecture his brother about his run through the dungeon.

"Fierce Crow is weak to knockback. To increase attack power, swing your spear over one-hundred eighty degrees and then use this attack here..." Ye Xiu motioned taking control of the character.

It wasn't one of the cards owned by either Excellent Era or the Guild and was instead a character that had been bought for his brother to use while he teaching him, though why Ye Qiu just had to name it 'Herald of Autumn' he could only guess, assuming it was likely his brother trying to dig him. Regardless, his brother was making steady progress in his learning, considering his character had just become level fifty.

“Why not use Falling Flower Palm here instead of Dragon Claw?” Ye Qiu asked trying to wrap his mind around why one set of moves was better than another.

Ye Xiu smiled and went back to showing his brother the ins and outs of the game he treasured.

He had missed having someone to talk to about Glory and although Ye Qiu wasn’t Su Miqiu, just having someone look at him and not see some god was nice.

“…that’s stupid. How exactly am I supposed to know what one-hundred eighty degrees are? Do I look like a ruler?”

Ye Xiu looked at him rather pensively. “So you did cheat off my homework in middle school. I wondered why you wanted to see my backpack so many times.”

Ye Qiu went red. “I did not!” Even though it was obvious he was lying.

Ye Xiu smirked. “Really?”

(Well, that and messing with Ye Qiu was always fun.)

When the rest of the Excellent Era arrived back from vacation, things were vastly different.

Instead of the slightly worn chairs and only a single roll of computers, everything was slick and new. Entire rooms that had been little more than big closets had been revamped, and instead of only one meal being offered, all meals and snacks were provided.

There were bodyguards’ stations at both exits and instead of only one silver researcher there were now four of them. It was a complete one-eighty from the Excellent Era many of them knew but the strangest thing was the teenager wandering the halls. At first, many had assumed the teenager to be one of the children of the new workers, but the team was shocked to discover that the teenager was, in fact, the younger brother of Ye Qiu himself.

For what reason he was currently staying at Excellent Era, or even how that had been allowed, no one knew, but after the angry look on Ye Qiu's face the only time someone asked, no one dared ask again.

Some things were better left unknown.

(It was the only time the team had seen Ye Qiu mad and many of them feared that cold, cruel look in his eyes.)

Everyone in Excellent Era found it weird that their captain practiced in a separate room than the rest of the team and yet somehow Ye Qiu always seemed to know what was happening in the main training room. Either through voice chat or messages, Ye Qiu was nearly instantaneous in redirecting anyone that was straying in drills or messing up teamwork. At first, the team assumed Ye Qiu was watching them through the use of cameras, but after a lengthy search and a rather blunt message from Ye Qiu about there being no cameras, the entire team started getting a little freaked out and several theories popped up.

Maybe he had the cameras hidden really well?

Eventually, after yet another search had proved fruitless, another theory had been put forth.

Could Ye Qiu actually be a mind reader?

It was a scary thought that seemed more likely as time passed but because the poor team members were far too cowardly to speak to talk to Ye Qiu they settled for merely whispered about it among themselves. They unknowingly made the situation worse as they freaked each other out more and more instead of calming each other down. Until the rumors and theories that they all heard about their mysterious captain reached a fever pitch of such height that crosses and garlic started appearing in the team dorm rooms, and no one not even the janitor complained.

“Little Yang, put up your phone up and concentrate. Talk about your theories about me later.” Ye Qiu said through the voice chat, even though the microphones were muted on their side. More than one team member cursed and several freaked out.

One player even took out a Christian cross and started turning around wildly trying to see if their captain was hovering in a corner, or the doorway. When no one was able to find Ye Qiu in the room, they started muttering prayers.

The current theory was starting to make more and more sense in a kind of twisted way, that even other departments in Excellent Era were starting to take notice. While a good number of them thought it was a good joke, several of them took to the newest theory like a fish to water because to them it made sense. 

(It would be weeks before either of the Ye brothers had heard of the theory and by the time, they did, it was too late to stop the gossip. As far as the people who worked in Excellent Era were concerned, Ye Qiu was without a doubt a creature of the night.)

Eventually, the rumor mill got so crazy that when one of the more brave direct members decided to question Ye Xiu, nothing concrete came of it and both sides ended up more confused for entirely different reasons.

“Did your brother always have gold eyes?”

“Does your brother go out during the day at all?”

“Is your brother a mind reader?”

“How does he always seem to know what we’re doing?”

"Does your brother seem to drink a red liquid?"

 “….” Ye Xiu blinked at them confused as the questions were just so strange and out of the blue. 

Maybe they were sick?  He’d need to watch the team more carefully if the stress was already starting to get to them.

“You think Su Mucheng knows?”

“Of course she does. That’s why she doesn’t need to fear him!”

“Wait, I heard Captain Ye’s family is the big new sponsor. You don’t think…?”

“Everyone knows but us.”

“Well, even if the captain is a vampire he’s a tame one.”

“How is he tame? He destroys us in-game.”

“You still have your head attached, don’t you?”

There were several loud gulps, as the reality sinks in. Be destroyed in-game or alive in real life? There was no comparison. It was obvious what their choice would be any day of the week.

“Suddenly, his lectures don’t seem so bad anymore.”

Unfortunately, neither brother quite understood the kind of terror that was starting to creep up on Excellent Era as the brothers tried collectively to play the part of ‘Ye Qiu’. Ye Xiu watched his teammates closely trying to ensure nothing Ye Qiu did was out of place, while Ye Qiu himself worked hard at Glory trying to absorb all the knowledge he would need to play the part of his brother.

It was only when Su Mucheng started to connect all the gossip running rampant in Excellent Era that she pulled the brothers aside and to tell them about the ‘supernatural’ rumors floating around.  Suffice to say neither brother knew quite how to take the fact that ‘Ye Qiu’ was apparently some kind of vampire.

Ye Qiu made a disgusted look still unable to understand how his brother's teammates had come to such an outrageous conclusion.

“Vampires do not exist.” He muttered angrily, turning away from the conversation and going back to running the training problem his brother had recently assigned him.

He didn’t have time to deal with this nonsense. Even though he would not be playing in actual matches that did not mean he would never play in front of other people. There were plenty of other events he would need to be ready for, such as All-Stars where the alliances reach would not be able to help him.

Ye Qiu was so focused on his training that he messed the look on his brother’s face.

(He would later regret this.)

[Excellent Era Chatroom]

Users:Wu Xuefeng, Xue Mingkai, Qin Tianran, Xia Ming, Yin Xiong, S5 Newbie(Wang Shi) (+2 others) are logged in.

Moderator: Ye Qiu

S5 Newbie(Wang Shi): Question for old gen.

Wu Xuefeng: Yes?

S5 Newbie(Wang Shi): Did YQ always have gold eyes?

Xue Mingkai: Not this again.

Xia Ming: Strange that this always comes up. [light reflects off glasses on female avatar]

Wu Xuefeng: Captain’s eyes are brown. It’s just the lighting. [tired emoji] [long suffering Wu Xuefeng.Jpg]

Qin Tianran: [facepalm emoji] Obviously. Why is this even a question?

Yin Xiong: [sighing woven shadow emoji] Who knows…

S5 newbie: So captain has always been a vampire…

Wu Xuefeng: What

Xue Mingkai: What

Qin Tianran: What

Xia Ming: What

Yin Xiong: What

[S5 Newbie and +2 users have logged out.]

Xue Mingkai: hey @Ye Qiu get over here and explain! What’s going on!?

Qin Tianran: +1

Yin Xiong: +2

Xia Ming: +3, though I doubt @Ye Qiu will answer, he doesn’t have a phone.

Xue Mingkai: I forgot that he lives under a rock. @Su Mucheng weight in! What's going on?

Su Mucheng: Switch to the Shine Chatroom and I'll explain.

Xia Ming: [thumbs up]

Wu Xuefeng: [thumbs up]

Xue Mingkai: [thumbs up]

Qin Tianran: [thumbs up]

Yin Xiong: [thumbs up]