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Xiao Shiqin was stressed. Su Mucheng noticed it first, watching as he became more and more jittery as he drank his third cup of coffee in as many hours, pen tapping a loud staccato beat against the table, irritating those around him until they’d all given up glaring and walked from the training room hours ago. The sun had long set and the whole building had retired for the night. All except Shiqin.
She wandered in, expecting a greeting from her boyfriend but she simply got a distracted grunt, causing her to pout and drape her arms around his shoulders as she stood behind him. When this also failed to get a reaction, she nudged at him slightly, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek, something that made him startle and he looked up at her as if he’d only just noticed her presence.
“Mucheng! Is something wrong?” At her teasing pout, Shiqin frowned slightly, looking as if he was going to turn back to his tactics but she caught his chin, keeping his eyes on her.
“We miss you. You stay in the training room so late, Xiao Sun says that you train even longer than he does and he stays late as well.” Shiqin waved one hand, unconcerned and the moment Mucheng released her grip his head turned back to where he was plotting out the latest tactics for the next match.
“I’m busy Mucheng, if you’re bored you could always spend some time with Xiao Sun, he’s less busy than I am.”
“I’m nearly as busy as you Shiqin.” Sun Xiang had a scowl written across his face as he walked into the room, depositing himself onto the chair beside him. His hand then forcibly held Shiqin’s leg down, forcing him to stop bouncing it restlessly. “But I’m not the one obsessively draining coffee so I can work for longer.”
“Besides,” Mucheng began pressing soft kisses on the side of his throat, distracting Shiqin as Sun Xiang grabbed his notebook and slipped it into his bag. “All your tactics are effective.” Caught between his two partners, Shiqin didn’t have much of a defence and his gaze flickered between the two helplessly as Sun Xiang pressed a soft kiss to his lips. Which was lovely and sweet if it hadn’t merely been to create an opportunity for Mucheng to steal his coffee cup and tip it into the bin.
“This-“ His protests were cut off with a choked moan when Sun Xiang decided to press warm, open-mouthed kisses to below his jawline, but he soldiered on. “This is Shadow Strategy and it’s-“ Mucheng deposited herself into his lap and began peppering kisses all over his face, even as she stole his glasses. “It’s unfair!” He offered plaintively but Mucheng’s laugh rang out, clearly she didn’t agree and Sun Xiang’s snort only backed her up.
“Everything is fair in love and war.” Before he knew what was going on, his two partners had somehow managed to bundle him into pyjamas and pin him down on his bed, wrapping him tightly in the blankets until he had no choice but to fall still and go silent, glaring ineffectively from where he’d been turned into a human burrito. Sun Xiang rolled his eyes as Shiqin continued to silently protest the treatment, tucking himself behind the older man, wrapping him into a tight hug.
Mucheng clapped her hands together happily at the sight, taking a quick picture of the heart-warming scene before either of her boyfriends could protest. Sun Xiang scowled weakly from where he was but favoured tucking his face into Shiqin’s hair and this caused a hot blush to stain the other’s cheeks as Mucheng tucked herself into bed on the other side of him.
“As Zhang Xinjie would say: Having regular habits is beneficial to one’s health.” Shiqin muttered something indecipherable and grumpy under his breath and Mucheng simply pressed two kisses to his slowly drooping eyelids. “Sleep Shiqin, your tactics will be there tomorrow.”
Despite his best efforts to stay up later than the other two and sneak back to his room where his backup notebooks were, even with the caffeine, the multitude of late nights in the last week took their toll and he soon succumbed to a deep sleep. The moment this happened, Sun Xiang and Mucheng went silent to better listen. Whenever they had a match coming up, Shiqin would grow stressed and whenever he was stressed, he talked about tactics in his sleep.
Typically, he’d mumble vaguely about anything sweet, macarons being a frequent occurrence in his subconscious mind. But now, after over a week of throwing himself unceasingly into Excellent Era’s tactical strategy for the next game? Both Mucheng and Sun Xiang would bet their yearly salary that whatever came out of Shiqin’s mouth would be focused upon Glory tactics. And they’d both be right.
“Mmm,” Shiqin shifted sleepily, a soft, contented sigh slipping out from his lips, “the optimal way to counter Yu Wenzhou’s Box One tactic is to identify the bait and eliminate it early on.” Mucheng had to stifle her giggle in a pillow. Out of all of Shiqin’s habits, this was one of her favourites. Sun Xiang chimed in with a question.
“How do you identify Yu Wenzhou’s bait for his Box One tactic?” Shiqin’s reply came at once, almost as if he were awake but the slow cadence of his voice gave him away as still being asleep.
“You watch their matches and analyse them post game, then you’ll know exactly what to look for. The one who wants to know you best is always your enemy.” Sun Xiang rolled his eyes, looking over at Mucheng, amusement in his eyes.
“He sounds like a fortune cookie.” At the deadpan incredulity, Mucheng had to press her face into the pillow to prevent her laughter from waking Shiqin from his much-needed sleep. When she peeked out one eye, she had to resist the urge to squeal at the soft look of pride in Sun Xiang’s eyes that he’d made her laugh.
Mucheng propped herself up on one elbow and leant over their sleeping boyfriend to press a soft kiss against Sun Xiang’s lips. The younger man startled back slightly and Mucheng’s heart ached at the thought that he still didn’t feel comfortable in their trio, still felt like the odd one out. She brushed her thumb against his cheek, affection in her eyes and Sun Xiang flushed in the face of it, hiding his face in Shiqin’s shoulder despite being taller. Mucheng smiled at how flustered he seemed, and she settled back into her previous position, wrapping her arms around Shiqin before falling asleep.
Shiqin paused when Mucheng stopped walking towards the exit, eyeing the entrance to the arena pensively. He tilted his head slightly to the side, silent question in his eyes, even though he suspected where this was going. While the other members of Excellent Era left, Mucheng turned to Shiqin, bright smile and eagerness painted across her face.
“Other than us, only Happy hasn’t lost a single match.”
“You want to watch their match?” Mucheng nodded firmly before hitting upon an idea, turning to face her boyfriend fully, gaze open and earnest.
“The one who wants to know you best is always your enemy.” She nodded wisely, expecting Shiqin to laugh at the words but to her surprise, his eyes were wide and delighted. Not only that, but he seemed slightly flustered as well and she filed the titbit away for later use.
When they shuffled their way into some free seats, Su Mucheng’s eyes zeroed in on a familiar hoodie and she leant down beside his ear and whispered his name loudly. Their boyfriend whipped his head around, eyes wide and immediately flustered, a reaction that raised the urge to coo at him. He shushed them loudly, flailing slightly as he attempted to justify his presence at the arena as opposed to on the shuttle back to their building.
“I’m not here to watch Happy!” He denied loudly, eyes refusing to meet theirs as he searched for the next plausible response. “I’m here to watch Everlasting!” Su Mucheng hummed thoughtfully, teasing clear in her eyes as she nodded.
“Excellent, you can study Everlasting and we’ll study Happy.” Shiqin couldn’t quite hold in his snort of laughter at that and Sun Xiang turned away from both of them pointedly, his next words clearly meant to mock.
“The one who wants the know you best is always your enemy.” Mucheng turned to look over at Shiqin and the same expression as before flickered across his face, surprise, delight and ever so slightly flustered. To distract herself from the urge to capitalise on this moment, she pulled off Sun Xiang’s hood, watching his flailing was very amusing to both her and Shiqin before all three settled in to watch the match.
After the match, when Shiqin was out of earshot, Mucheng grabbed Sun Xiang’s arm and hustled him into an empty corridor. He went to protest but the glee and mischief dancing in her eyes had him pausing for a moment, waiting to hear what she had to say before expressing his opinion.
“Shiqin likes it when we quote tactics at him.” Out of all the things Sun Xiang expected Mucheng to say in private, that was not what he was expecting but she was already elaborating. “The one who wants the know you best is always your enemy, when you said that to him earlier, his ears flushed red and he was flustered, the same way you get when we kiss you!” Sun Xiang opened his mouth to protest this, deny the reality that he enjoyed their affection but Mucheng was already waving him off. “Just, next time you have a chance, try and quote something he says.”
With that, Shiqin returned and Mucheng shot him a glare that clearly warned him to keep his mouth shut on their new information and Sun Xiang shrugged internally to himself. After all, they didn’t have many advantages over their tactician boyfriend, and if Mucheng wanted to sit on this one until she felt it was the right time to unleash it, he wouldn’t stand in her way. She knew far too many of his weaknesses for him to stop her. Mucheng held out her hand expectantly and Sun Xiang jogged for a moment to catch up, tangling their fingers together with minimal blushing even though the bright smile from the other two ruined his efforts.
The first opportunity to put their new knowledge to the test came at the very next training session, Sun Xiang ceded the floor to Shiqin who drew a quick sketch of Yu Wenzhou’s Box One tactic, pointing at the scribble that indicated Huang Shaotian. He then continued tapping on this little scribble as he posed his question.
“In season eight, when Yu Wenzhou used his Box One tactic against us, Huang Shaotian was the bait, is this always the case?” There was a long silence and Shiqin looked like he was about to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration until Mucheng broke the silence.
“No, Huang Shaotian is effective bait because he’s loud and annoying, but Yu Wenzhou knows what kind of bait to dangle for each team he faces, post-match analysis demonstrates that the bait changes game to game.” This time Sun Xiang knew what he was looking for and caught to flush that tinted his vice-captain’s ears and he exchanged a look with Mucheng, her eyes smug and filled with an “I told you so”.
The next training session had a similar question poised, this time in reference to Zhang Xinjie and his cleric’s positioning. Sun Xiang jumped onto this one with ease, knowing more about the vital nature of range when he played a Berserker, a close-range class.
“Zhang Xinjie’s positioning changes depending on the needs of his teammate. Like all clerics, his role is to support but Zhang Xinjie is different due to Tyranny’s aggressive style, his damage is higher than most clerics meaning he often moves into an offensive position, further from his teammates. That’s the opportunity to strike and kill his teammates as it means they’re often out of range of his healing.” This time the flush was deeper, spreading from his ears to his cheeks and Sun Xiang and Mucheng watched in amused fascination as their boyfriend coughed, rubbing at the back of his neck, embarrassed.
Once they were alone, Shiqin turned to face them both, cheeks still flushed red and both Sun Xiang and Mucheng admired how pretty he looked with the colour dusting his cheeks. Whenever he spoke, he’d often gesticulate as he did so and with the flush still decorating his cheeks his partners were more focused on his appearance than- oh wait he’s talking.
“-and I’ve never heard you two so engaged in the tactical discussion. Not to say you don’t pay attention but most of what you two have been saying recently I don’t talk about in the sessions and I’m not sure where you’re getting this information and-!” He was abruptly cut off by Mucheng pressing a finger to his lips, a smile on her face while Sun Xiang was at his back, caging him between the two. Pressed so closely against him, they felt the fine tremor over his skin and Sun Xiang nosed at his neck while their girlfriend replied.
“You talk in your sleep Shiqin.”
“I- what?”
“She said,” there was a pause as his boyfriend took the time to press another kiss on his neck, sucking to leave a mark, “you talk in your sleep. And before matches, you talk about your tactics and you sound like a fortune cookie when you do.”
“I- wait- I do this often?” At Shiqin’s wide eyed confusion, Sun Xiang paused once again, glancing at Mucheng to convince their tactician boyfriend to analyse this later.
“Shiqin.” Mucheng’s voice is gentle and lilting, “Xiao Sun is busy marking you and I would like to be busy kissing you. Can’t we discuss this later? Or tomorrow?” Shiqin opened his mouth but all that slipped out was a soft moan and he nodded, helpless in the face of their dual attack.
“Shadow Strategy again.” Was his last coherent thought before he sank into blissfulness easily, supported by the two he loved most.