Work Text:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a Glory professional in possession of great skill, must be in want of a rival.
Ye Xiu and Han Wenqing were the most famous example that people cited. People generally also agreed that Zhang Jiale's eternal rival was actually managing to win the championship cup, while Zhou Zekai's greatest rival was social interaction.
While much of the public thought that Tiny Herb and Blue Rain would be each other's rivals given Blue Rain denying Tiny Herb back to back chanpionships in Season Six, this wasn't actually necessarily the case. Oh, Liu Xiaobie was absolutely gunning for Huang Shaotian's title of Sword Saint but he knew the rivalry wasn't exactly reciprocated - Huang Shaotian had his own unrequited rivalry going on with Ye Xiu. And according to the gossip Liu Xiaobie has heard from the seniors, Yu Wenzhou apparently had a thing going on with one of the previous captain of Blue Rain.
No, Liu Xiaobie has always noticed a certain tension between Wang Jiexi and Tian Sen which wasn't present in Wang Jiexi's interactions with the other pros. Liu Xiaobie isn't quite sure what possessed Wang Jiexi to choose Tian Sen, of all people, to be his rival - but the evidence doesn't lie.
Exhibit one: Wang Jiexi glares at Tian Sen a lot.
Most of the time it feels as though Wang Jiexi is always looking around, cataloguing what's going on and calculating the best way to get things done. There is a really intense stare that he sometimes uses when he's playing Glory or dissecting professional matches, but it is rarely directed at people.
Which is probably a good thing - with his mismatched eyes, being the subject of Wang Jiexi's stare can feel like he was seeing into your soul and judging you. Quite frankly, Liu Xiaobie had always been a little terrified of Wang Jiexi's stare. It could be a very effective weapon and Liu Xiaobie was pretty sure it had made Yuan Baiqing cry at least once, even though Yuan Baiqing still insisted it was because of the eye strain from staring at a screen for too long.
Generally speaking though, Wang Jiexi doesn't tend to stare at people very often. So it's very noticeable how Wang Jiexi spends a higher than usual amount of his time during matches with Royal Style looking at Tian Sen. He'd even timed it once during one of Xu Bin's grindier matches - Wang Jiexi had managed to stare at Tian Sen for a whole sixty-seven seconds without blinking.
Wang Jiexi also does a thing when staring at Tian Sen where his eyes narrow and his one side of his lip curls up. There's a different emotion behind it compared to when Wang Jiexi is dissecting a match of Glory, a flash of heat which makes it seem almost as though he is mocking Tian Sen. It's not a look that Wang Jiexi ever directs towards anyone else either, as far as Liu Xiaobie can tell.
Likewise, Liu Xiaobie has caught Tian Sen staring at Wang Jiexi in a pretty intense way. He doesn't know Tian Sen all that well, but talk in the Glory pro chat is that while Tian Sen may look as stacked as a grizzly bear his personality is more like a cuddly teddy bear. But Tian Sen, whenever he catches Wang Jiexi's eye on him, always stares back. Tian Sen sometimes also does this thing where he raises an eyebrow and smiles with teeth, as though he's trying to provoke Wang Jiexi.
Exhibit two: Wang Jiexi often taunts Tian Sen.
In the general scheme of things, Wang Jiexi is known to be one of the more well behaved pros. Unlike Ye Xiu's inability to be anything other than a shameless troll or Huang Shaotian's inability to stop trash talking, Wang Jiexi's only issue in social interactions is his tendency to make cryptic statements or conversational leaps which are difficult to follow.
Yet for some reason, Wang Jiexi just seems to enjoy making fun of Tian Sen. Whenever they have the time to talk during matches, Wang Jiexi is always asking incredibly personal questions or making not-so-subtly pointed statements. A couple of times, Wang Jiexi has asked Tian Sen if he was getting enough sleep even when Tian Sen wasn't looking obviously tired. Liu Xiaobie knows that Wang Jiexi means it as a psychological attack because Wang Jiexi asks him the same question all the time whenever he stays up too late the night before, often coupled with an incredibly disappointed look that makes Liu Xiaobie want to evaluate his life choices.
If that wasn't enough, Liu Xiaobie has even overheard Wang Jiexi bringing up Tian Sen's mother before - even Liu Xiaobie knows that shit-talking about someone else's mother is just asking for trouble. Though Tian Sen had just answered normally, pretending that it wasn't an attempt at trash talking, before turning the question back on Wang Jiexi with a seemingly casual smile.
Liu Xiaobie has also caught Wang Jiexi laughing at Tian Sen several times, which Liu Xiaobie is pretty sure was attempt to display dominance.
Back in his dark dark past as a newly debuted sixteen year old, Liu Xiaobie had tried telling Wang Jiexi jokes to see if Wang Jiexi really was a humourless Glory playing robot like Fang Shiqian had claimed. Liu Xiaobie had been mostly sure that Fang Shiqian had just been joking, but Wang Jiexi had always seemed so serious when Liu Xiaobie had been a trainee that he couldn't be certain. Most of the jokes Liu Xiaobie had attempted were received with blank stares but he'd managed to make Wang Jiexi's lip twitch a couple of times and even gotten a smile once, so he was pretty sure that Fang Shiqian had been lying (at least about the humourless part).
Fact was, Wang Jiexi was a hard person to make laugh. The only other thing that Liu Xiaobie knew could make Wang Jiexi laugh - other than Tian Sen - was watching videos of Huang Shaotian's misery and misfortune. Just goes to prove that Wang Jiexi was a bit of a sadist, which wasn't exactly news given half of the training Wang Jiexi makes them do. So Wang Jiexi definitely doesn't mean anything kind with the laughter, even if Liu Xiaobie sometimes sees Tian Sen laugh back - he hadn't pegged Tian Sen for a sadist but it was always the ones you least expect.
Exhibit three: Wang Jiexi talks about Tian Sen a lot.
Wang Jiexi tends to listen a lot more than he talks, which Liu Xiaobie has read somewhere is meant to be the sign of a good leader but personally he thinks is a great way to make people say something self-incriminating. Either way, the fact remains that Wang Jiexi tends to communicate in a fairly succinct manner, if sometimes too succinct.
There's a lot that Wang Jiexi doesn't say, preferring to just silently keep his observations to himself. Post-match meetings tend to involve a lot of awkward side-eyeing as Wang Jiexi patiently waits for them to contribute their thoughts before he provides his own analysis.
However, Liu Xiaobie knows it's easy to get Wang Jiexi talking about the Glory meta and Glory in general when compared to trying to pull out stories or gossip about the other pros. Wang Jiexi has been around for ages - there's only a handful of pros left that predate him - and definitely has his thoughts and opinions on the other pros, but Wang Jiexi generally tends to keep them to himself. Which is probably a good idea from a general relationship management perspective, but Liu Xiaobie thinks makes things much less fun.
Yet when Liu Xiaobie asks, Wang Jiexi is strangely willing to talk and has a lot to say about Tian Sen - about Tian Sen's effect on the Exorcist meta, about Tian Sen's appearance in his latest advertising contracts, about Tian Sen's terrible taste in tea, about Tian Sen's warm and hardworking personality, about Tian Sen's beautiful eyes and dazzling smile…
… wait a moment, Liu Xiaobie thinks. Wait a damn moment. That doesn't sound like something that one would say about someone they consider a professional rival. Or at least not something that one would say about someone they only consider a professional rival.
In fact, when forced to re-evaluate the evidence - the heated glances, the obviously familiar interactions, the unexpected talkativeness - Liu Xiaobie comes to the terrifying conclusion that Wang Jiexi might not want Tian Sen as a rival but instead might want Tian Sen in another way entirely.