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Ben Jie Ming doesn’t grace people with his presence often, always holed up in the morgue, as if he was keeping the lifeless bodies company. Yet, he really, really, couldn’t refuse the dinner with Luo Fei and XiaoMan, this time. He had been postponing it for weeks now, and he should’ve known that, sooner or later, the precint would encounter a somewhat peaceful time.
Therefore, here he was, fixing his tie, a task that was proving to be so much more difficult than he anticipated, with his shaky hands. If some outsider had tried to take a guess, perhaps they would’ve said it was the first time for him to go for dinner at Luo Fei’s place. That would be incorrect, as it was a common occurrence since the three of them had started seeing each other. If he had to be honest, he had been going to Luo Fei’s place even before that, as it was true that he and the detective had been in a relationship for quite some time now. XiaoMan fit perfectly with the two of them, so welcoming her into their life came naturally to the both of them.
So, Ben Jie Ming didn’t really have a reason to be nervous, other than pure concern over fucking something up. He wasn’t practical with relationships that involved girls, as he only really kissed one in middle school and then ruled out every possibility of liking them. XiaoMan was a surprise for him, and to Luo Fei as well, not because he didn’t like women, but because he had never seen his friend so interested in one of them.
“Earth to A-Ming, helloooo? Can you hear me?” Ben Jie Ming looked up from his tie with a surprised sound. Qin XiaoMan was now behind him, smiling, and Luo Fei was sitting at his desk, playing with his cane.
The man smiled at his expression, and stood up, walking closer to him.
“You were taking too long, so we thought to check up on you. Who could’ve thought you were fighting with your poor tie! Look at this! - Luo Fei untied the messy knot made by Ben Jie Ming’s fingers with a fond smile - Let me do it for you, mh?”
Ben Jie Ming let his arms fall along his sides, trying to bite back the smile that came so naturally to him everytime Luo Fei got close. XiaoMan rocked back and forth on her heels, reaching out to hold his hand.
“You seem quite happy, XiaoMan” The girl smiled and nodded.
“It’s been a while since we had dinner together! You’ve been so busy with detective Ye this past weeks, and we’ve been investingating that robbery case… I missed you, that’s all!”
Ben Jie Ming felt quite ashamed at that, because he hadn’t been that busy at all. He sure had to work but, considering Ye ChangQing’s way of dealing with cases, he could’ve wrapped them up earlier. So he smiled apologetically at Luo Fei’s snort, knowing damn well his partners knew about his little white lie.
“I missed you too, should we go then?” he said, cursing the shake in his voice. If XiaoMan noticed, she didn’t show it, and just tugged at his arm once Luo Fei let the man go, after he was done fixing his tie.
The other man offered him his arm, and XiaoMan hugged the one she was tugging moments ago. The three of them were smiling quite fondly as they walked out of the precinct, not caring about the stares of the few passersby still out.
On their way to Sullivan’s apartment, Ben Jie Ming found himself not shaking anymore. His heartbeat also calmed down a bit, sometime in between their silly chattering.
“It’s like that, huh? Let’s ask Ben, then!” Luo Fei’s rare whiny voice cut throught Ben Jie Ming’s thoughts.
“He’s gonna tell you, I’m right! Isn’t that true, A-Ming?” Qin XiaoMan pouted a bit. Ben chuckled, because how could he tell her she was wrong, after that? He would’ve took her side either way, and Luo Fei knew that.
And since he knew, he resorted to whining a bit more.
“Ben! How could you, really… There once was a time where you only took my side! Now look at you two, conspiring behind me to see my downfall…”
After that, they all chuckled. It was rare to see Luo Fei behaving in such a silly manner, and Ben Jie Ming was glad he and XiaoMan were the reason for that.
As they went up the stairs, XiaoMan grabbed both of his arms, and dragged him towards Luo Fei’s apartment, making him giggle. Luo Fei complained with a “Hey!” when she basically snatched the man from him, but he followed that with a light chuckle, and suddenly Ben Jie Ming felt a bit stupid for being nervous. How could he ever ruin something that worked so well? He loved his two partners and they loved him even more.
Suddenly he felt warmth spreading from his chest and, for once, he didn’t try to analyse it, he just let himself feel it.
XiaoMan noticed his hand finally grabbing hers back, and tilted her head.
“A-Ming? Everything alright?” she asked as Luo Fei caught up with them.
“I- yes. I just love you both very much”
“Silly” XiaoMan replied, quickly followed by Luo Fei’s “We love you too, Ben”
And that’s all it took, really, to make the warmth in his chest bubble up to make him smile widely.