Work Text:
Yu Wenzhou was a constant in Zhang Xinjie’s life. They’d met each other the season before they debuted and despite being on different teams, they’d remained close throughout that time. Wenzhou would often send a message inquiring as to his health, remaining within the designated times that Xinjie set out for replying to messages. In fact, Wenzhou had been the first to ask which times would be convenient for him if the other wanted to talk and the gesture solidified Wenzhou as a close friend in Xinjie’s mind. As time went on, his schedule slowly shifted to accommodate the other and by the time Xinjie noticed, Yu Wenzhou was neatly slotted into his life, like he was filling a gap that Xinjie had never realised was empty.
He’d started to notice more details about the other player. How his lips would quirk whenever he heard something amusing, often smiling at his own jokes, the way his head would tilt to the side when he was deep in thought and his habit of spinning his writing instrument, drawing attention to his hands. Xinjie sighed. He was supposed to be cooking his meal, not focusing on Yu Wenzhou, no matter what warm feelings welled up in his chest when he thought of the other pro player. Wenzhou’s birthday was fast approaching and despite it being in the middle of a season, Huang Shaotian had invited every single person on his messaging list to a party and everyone knew if they didn’t attend, Blue Rain’s vice-captain would bombard them with insults until Wenzhou found out and forced him to apologise.
Xinjie frowned at the thought of Huang Shaotian. He didn’t dislike the other player, though occasionally his energy was too much to bear, Shaotian was typically pleasant company, chipping in with a cutting observation about a team’s tactical positioning before falling silent again. Xinjie had long since realised that simply because Shaotian liked to play the fool didn’t mean he was one. However, it wasn’t Shaotian’s personality that occasionally grated on Xinjie’s nerves, it was how close he was to the object of his affections. He, along with everyone else in Glory’s Pro Alliance, was well-aware that Huang Shaotian and Yu Wenzhou may as well be joined at the hip. There was no one else Shaotian would listen to, no one else that Wenzhou let touch him without a thought and Glory’s fans, as well as most pro players were convinced Blue Rain’s dual core were dating. Xinjie had come to terms with this a long time ago, was content with the fact that he couldn’t confess to Wenzhou as he was already in a relationship. The knowledge may make something in his chest go tight but, in the end, Wenzhou was still a loyal friend and it was enough. It had to be.
Zhang Xinjie took up enough of Wenzhou’s thoughts that Shaotian felt perfectly entitled to mock him endlessly about it. He was currently laid out on his captain’s bed, spilling crumbs without care into the sheets while Wenzhou began reviewing the team’s line up, occasionally shooting a question to Shaotian, keeping his vice-captain mildly engaged. However, whenever Shaotian wasn’t using his brain to consider Blue Rain’s tactical formations, he kept up a steady stream of chatter about Wenzhou’s crush on Zhang Xinjie. It was grating enough that Wenzhou half wished he’d never told the other man about it in the first place as he was now living with that mistake.
“And you’ve been harbouring a crush on him since season four, ever since he helped Tyranny knock Excellent Era and Ye Xiu off their pedestal, I was there when you watched that match, you were already in love. In fact, when you first met him, you didn’t bother asking who he was, you just stared at him as he dissected your tactics and you were half in love with him at that point and you didn’t even know his name!” Yu Wenzhou glanced up at the ceiling for a long moment, as if he were praying for patience.
“Shaotian-“ but his vice-captain apparently wasn’t finished yet.
“Shh captain I’m still talking! I’m not sure why you want to keep the whole thing a secret, Zhang Xinjie has never dated anyone, you don’t have any competition outside of the fans and I think that telling him about your crush would be much better than sitting on your feelings and mooning after him from afar. You watch all his games and every time his tactics work out your face lights up in this really stupid, soppy smile, if he ever saw it, he’d know how much you like him in a single moment captain and you should just tell him already.” Shaotian’s long stream of consciousness regarding Wenzhou’s feelings only needed three breathes to complete, as was expected from the Pro Alliance’s resident chatterbox.
“Shaotian you know exactly why I’m hesitant to confess to Xinjie.”
“Because you think he’s dating Han Wenqing but I think you’re wrong about that!” In the face of Wenzhou’s raised eyebrow Shaotian felt the urge to backtrack but he held firm. “You aren’t often wrong but Old Han gazes at Lao Ye with far too much emotion in his eyes to be dating his vice-captain!”
“You really should stop speculating about their relationship Shaotian.”
“I saw Wenqing pinned against a wall by Ye Xiu, I swear I saw it and when you see something like that it’s impossible to not speculate about their relationship!”
“People speculate about our relationship.” Shaotian flopped onto the bed with a huff, spilling more crumbs onto the sheets and Wenzhou made a reminder to change his sheets before bed.
“And there isn’t anything there-!” A sudden realisation overcame Shaotian and he burst off the bed in one fluid movement, running out of the door while yelling at Wenzhou over his shoulder, “I’ll come back and review your choices with you later captain, I just thought of something really important bye!” Before Wenzhou could respond his vice-captain was out of the room and gone, leaving him with not much to do in response but shrug helplessly and hope that whatever Shaotian wanted to do wouldn’t result in him getting punched.
Over at Tyranny’s headquarters Huang Shaotian was very close to getting punched. Blue Rain’s vice-captain was ducking and weaving while still shouting insults as apparently, he wasn’t aware of the concept of shutting up when he’d talked himself into trouble. Zhang Jiale was swiping at him, attempting to smack the other player around the head with little success as Huang Shaotian was very experienced in escaping blows due to his lifetime of finding the most irritating thing to say before saying it aloud.
“Stay still and let me hit you!” Jiale swore when Shaotian simply stuck his tongue out tauntingly as he danced out of reach again.
“You aren’t even the Zhang I want to see, I wanted to see the Zhang who’s won a championship!”
“YOU-!” Before he could catch and wring Huang Shaotian’s neck, Han Wenqing came and placed a hand on his shoulder, holding him back. While it would be amusing to watch Jiale strangle Shaotian, he didn’t want to handle Wenzhou showing up with a pouting Shaotian later.
“Xinjie is free for half an hour right now-“
“Yes I know and he’s in his room.” Han Wenqing was forcibly reminded that Shaotian was close with his stoic and serious vice-captain. To distract himself, he patted Jiale on the shoulder briefly.
“Don’t kill him. Wenzhou still wants him around for some reason.”
Xinjie was startled out of his thoughts by Huang Shaotian bouncing into his room and depositing himself onto the edge of his desk, grinning down at him and Xinjie could feel a headache forming already. He put down his pencil, stuck his notebook in a drawer before looking up at his friend expectantly. What Shaotian said however, Xinjie was not expecting in a million years.
“You know I’m not dating Wenzhou right?” Before Xinjie could reply, Shaotian was already soldiering on, bulldozing ahead, as was typical. “Just because the media and the fans all think we’re dating doesn’t mean we are. I think captain is great and everything but I don’t want to date him and besides that, he’s been mooning over you since you kicked Ye Xiu’s ass in season four and he never got over that because he stares dreamily at your matches whenever we watch them for analysis and-“
“Wenzhou likes me?” Shaotian went very still and quiet but Xinjie didn’t seem to notice. “Why didn’t he tell me?” When his friend pretended to be very interested in the ceiling, Xinjie’s eyes narrowed and he forced Shaotian to meet his eyes. “Why did he never tell me?”
“He may have thought you were dating Wenqing?” Shaotian squeaked out, he’d never actually intended to reveal that Wenzhou had a crush on Xinjie, he’d only meant to possibly jar Xinjie into action.
“Captain’s going to kill me.” He thought sadly to himself while Xinjie was trying to realign his world that had been suddenly knocked off its axis.
“Since season four?” Shaotian peeked out from where he’d buried his head in his hands to see a faint blush creeping up Xinjie’s neck and his rising fear abated slightly as it seemed like his captain’s feelings were returned.
“Season four,” he confirmed, “when your tactics decimated Ye Xiu he looked like he was in love.” The typically calm, serious look on Xinjie’s face lifted as his eyes softened but something flickered through them, darkening the rising joy.
“Shaotian. Are you aware of the term ‘asexual’ regarding orientation?” Blue Rain’s vice-captain frowned for a moment, confusion flickering through his eyes at the sudden change in topic.
“Yeah, lack of sexual attraction-“ he cut himself off to look properly at Xinjie, “oh!”
“You know Wenzhou best- is this- would it be an issue?” The bright smile that overtook Shaotian’s face was reassuring.
“Captain will be fine about it. He- he’ll explain himself when you confess.” Shaotian hopped off the desk and smiled as another idea hit him. “Oh! You should confess next week when you come celebrate his birthday with us! I’ll see you then Xinjie!” Shaotian exited his room as quickly as he’d appeared and Xinjie reached into his drawer and pulled out what he’d been considering gifting Wenzhou on his birthday.
He’d bought the watch on impulse, something he rarely did, but he’d seen the watch and couldn’t shake the image of it around Wenzhou’s wrist. It had a black leather strap with dark blue stitching and he wondered if, with the new information he’d just received, it would be a good idea to give it to Wenzhou. His friend, like other pro players, kept up to date on any interviews the other teams did, often searching for material to mock each other with but they’d all been roped into a joint interview about what they would get their significant other for Valentine’s Day with Ye Xiu providing commentary. He’d commented that he’d get his loved one a watch, practical, unobtrusive and useful. There was no way Wenzhou would have forgotten, Ye Xiu often mocked people for their answers, he’d see the significance immediately and Xinjie wrapped the present, mind made up.
The atmosphere at the party was lively and loud, people shouting across the room at one another, Huang Shaotian darting around like an over excited puppy, likely hopped up on too much sugar. Han Wenqing noted with amusement that he was avoiding Zhang Jiale who was still shooting glares at him from across the room. Zhang Xinjie was behaving strangely, for lack of a better word, Wenqing would almost describe his vice-captain as jittery, even though he was stood as calmly as he ever was. His attention was called away by Zhang Jiale lunging for Huang Shaotian and he darted over to prevent his teammate from killing Blue Rain’s Sword Saint. When he looked over to Xinjie for reinforcements, he’d disappeared, along with Yu Wenzhou.
Yu Wenzhou’s head tilted to the side, curiosity in his eyes when he was presented with a wrapped gift, as per Xinjie’s style, it was immaculately wrapped, standing in contrast to the haphazard gifts he usually got from Shaotian. He frowned ever so slightly, realising that Xinjie seemed on edge as he watched him unwrap the gift, open the box and- oh-
Nestled in the box was a watch, dark leather with blue stitching but though the gift was beautiful, Wenzhou’s eyes left it to stare at his friend in shock. His hands trembled slightly as Xinjie carefully wrapped the watch around his wrist, touch achingly gentle as he fastened it securely. Wenzhou swallowed, throat working as he tried to keep his voice steady, tried to remain calm.
“I remember-“ he took another breath, but his voice still wavered, thready and soft, “I remember an interview we all did, where they asked what we’d gift our loved ones. Your answer had Ye Xiu mocking you for your regular habits, you said you’d buy them a watch, I’m not mistaken am I- I didn’t misunderstand?”
“You didn’t misunderstand but Wenzhou, I may love you but I- I’m not interested in the physical aspects of a relationship.” To his surprise, relief spread across Wenzhou’s face and his smile was so bright that Xinjie was certain it was the only thing he’d ever want to see again.
“I feel the same way, it’s a relief that we’re compatible this way.” Wenzhou’s cheeks were flushed a lovely shade of red as he laced his fingers through Xinjie’s tugging him over to his bed and propping up his laptop on the bedside table. “I was analysing Happy’s latest match and was wondering what your thoughts were on this moment here-“
Zhang Xinjie felt the warm bundle of emotions in his chest spread out until it felt as if his whole body were infused with joy. Even as nothing had seemed to changed, they discussed tactics with one another every day whether in person or online, when Wenzhou, absorbed in the footage, tucked himself more comfortably under his arm, Xinjie couldn’t help but reflect how well the other fit. Like a puzzle piece he’d never known was missing but still fit into his life perfectly. He pressed a kiss to the other’s forehead, filled with fond affection and joy, feelings that matched the one’s that filled Wenzhou beside him.