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When Yu Wenzhou adopted his hognose snake, he hadn’t predicted this. He’d accurately predicted that Huang Shaotian took a few weeks to warm up to Magnolia, and even now, the most he would do was not fake cower behind Zheng Xuan. He predicted that there would be a small uproar on social media, confirmed by Huang Shaotian updating him on what the fans thought of his new pet.
Apparently, most people thought he was a cat person, or that he should be a cat, Huang Shaotian had glossed over that part and refused to explain. Others seemed to think that because of their vice-captain, Blue Rain should have a corgi and others still thought that Yu Wenzhou was betraying his name by not getting a fish. Which admittedly, was an opinion held by many pro players, though Yu Wenzhou wasn’t entirely sure which ones were serious and which ones were mocking him and his name again.
The point was, that while there were a few surprises regarding people’s reactions, for the most part things followed the expectations Yu Wenzhou had.
Except for this, this was not something that Yu Wenzhou had predicted, and it had very quickly thrown off his composure, leaving him scrambling. He took a moment to be thankful that Huang Shaotian wasn’t here, otherwise he’d be taking a photo, recording the moment in his “Moments of Yu Wenzhou” notebook, or most likely both. And laughter, there would be laughter too.
The point, the point was, that Yu Wenzhou had never expected to see the way Zhang Xinjie’s face lit up when he caught sight of Magnolia in her enclosure. He was beside it in moments, peering in at Magnolia who was coiled around one of her fake trees. Yu Wenzhou had never seen Zhang Xinjie this excited, this cute, before in his life and he hoped that his reaction wasn’t noticeable to Zhang Xinjie.
“I didn’t know you’d adopted a snake,” Zhang Xinjie seemed wholly uninterested in looking away from Magnolia and Yu Wenzhou couldn’t blame him, she was currently wriggling a little closer to the glass, curious about the new figure.
“I only adopted her recently; would you like to hold her?” Zhang Xinjie nodded before the words were fully out of his mouth and Yu Wenzhou reached in, Magnolia reaching up into his hands willingly, lying happily in his palms.
Yu Wenzhou proffered her to Zhang Xinjie, who reached out slowly, watching Magnolia carefully to watch for any negative reactions. Magnolia stretched out towards Zhang Xinjie, forked tongue flickering out against his skin before she wriggled her way into Zhang Xinjie’s hands, coiling herself up in delight and making herself at home.
Seeing as Magnolia had been distinctly uninterested in being held by anyone other than Yu Wenzhou, he was surprised to see how quickly she was willing to be friendly with Zhang Xinjie. On top of this shock, the moment Magnolia made herself comfortable in his hold, Zhang Xinjie flushed pink with delight and Yu Wenzhou felt that he should be allowed a moment to recover from the sight.
Zhang Xinjie’s eyes were wide and fixed on the way Magnolia was wiggling contently in his hands, pink blush spreading across his cheeks, lips parted and curved up in a smile. He was cooing softly to Magnolia, praising her upturned nose that earned her species its name, as well as telling her how pretty and perfect she was. In short, Zhang Xinjie was being dangerously cute, and it was unfair that Yu Wenzhou had not been warned about this before being exposed.
In fact, it was irresponsible for Zhang Xinjie to look this cute, flushed pink with delight, and not warn poor unsuspecting innocents about the effect he would have on their hearts. Yu Wenzhou wondered when his inner monologue had become so similar to Huang Shaotian. This did not deter his inner monologue from suggesting that this was a nefarious plot from Tyranny to distract their opponents by weaponising how cute their vice-captain is- Yu Wenzhou belatedly realised that Zhang Xinjie was speaking.
“-name? Are you feeling okay?” Yu Wenzhou looked back at Zhang Xinjie and realised that he was much closer than he had been before, meaning Yu Wenzhou could see how the pink flush was trailing down his throat and he couldn’t help but wonder how far down the flush spread. He then remembered that Zhang Xinjie had just asked him a question and looked concerned.
“Magnolia.” Zhang Xinjie furrowed his brow, still concerned, “her name is Magnolia.”
“What about Baobao?” Yu Wenzhou wondered if Zhang Xinjie would be offended if he went and sat down, of all the names he’d guess for his friend to suggest, Baobao was not one of them.
“Why Baobao?”
“It’s cute, she’s very cute, it suits her.” Once Zhang Xinjie had assured himself that Yu Wenzhou was in fact okay, he returned his attention to Magnolia, cooing softly at her as he ran one finger over her head gently. “I think she likes the name Baobao.”
“But Magnolia is on the forms.” Yu Wenzhou watched as Zhang Xinjie’s expression shifted into a slight frown and he felt his conviction break under the, if he was honest with himself, minimal pressure. “Baobao could be her nickname.” Yu Wenzhou decided that giving in to Zhang Xinjie was clearly the best idea he’d ever had when his friend lit up in delight and he cooed gently at Magnolia, telling her that she was the best snake with two lovely names.
Yu Wenzhou knew that he was acting off, but he thought that it was fair for him to be slightly distracted when Zhang Xinjie was right there and murmuring soft endearments at his snake. The flush had not left his cheeks since he’d spotted Magnolia and Yu Wenzhou was working very hard at not letting his gaze linger for too long.
When Zhang Xinjie had to leave, Yu Wenzhou was torn between relief and disappointment. Magnolia was firmly on the side of disappointment, stubbornly trying to keep her grip on Zhang Xinjie, even as he gently put her back into her enclosure. Yu Wenzhou had never seen her this sulky before as she buried herself under a small pile of leaves, making Zhang Xinjie laugh quietly, telling her he didn’t want to leave either.
“May I come visit again when you have time?” Yu Wenzhou once again got distracted by the bright hope in Zhang Xinjie’s eyes and he managed to get something out that was near enough to assent that it didn’t arouse too much suspicion.
Once Zhang Xinjie was gone, Yu Wenzhou enjoyed five minutes of peace and not being tormented by Zhang Xinjie and his wide-eyed delight before Huang Shaotian came bursting through the door, eyes sharp and knowing. Yu Wenzhou took a moment to lament the fact that his vice-captain knew him so well, and then it was too late, and Huang Shaotian had thrown himself into his speech with gusto.
“You like him, Xinjie was telling me that you’re acting weird and so I asked him how you were acting weird, because sometimes when you’re being weird you’re just distracted by your new snake, did you know that Xinjie is calling her Baobao, I thought you named her Magnolia, I told him this but he didn’t seem to be interested in knowing about it, he said he already knew that but if he already knew this then he shouldn’t call her Baobao, and anyway he said that you kept looking at him and if you’re looking at him then it’s going to be like Ye Xiu all over again with the looking and the pretending not to look, and the talking about them, you wouldn’t stop talking about Ye Xiu, “Senior Ye is so impressive, did you see how Senior Ye coordinated with Su Mucheng? Did you see how he lured Han Wenqing into that trap and forced Zhang Xinjie off-course?” Huang Shaotian’s impression of him was closer to a breathy infatuated eight-year-old, but he was also on a roll and Yu Wenzhou didn’t expect that trying to interrupt would be very effective. “And since you’re looking at Zhang Xinjie now, now you like him don’t you, is it because he’s also a master tactician, is it, is it? Because if it is, why have you never looked at Xiao Shiqin like that?” Yu Wenzhou wished he’d kept his face smooth but he’d failed and Huang Shaotian caught his blush, “you did like Shiqin! I knew it! I thought I saw you looking at him but then Su Mucheng wanted to show me something, I’ll tell her she’s too distracting later, captain, captain what are you going to do about this?”
“About what?” Huang Shaotian looked very exasperated at him, as if Yu Wenzhou had missed something important in his speech.
“About you liking Zhang Xinjie! He was very pink when he left, was that your fault?”
“No, he just, he liked meeting Magnolia.” Yu Wenzhou blinked when Huang Shaotian clapped his hands together in delight.
“That’s even better! He likes your scary snake and she likes him, this is all very important!”
“Magnolia isn’t scary, she’s just shy.”
“She hisses at me when I try and talk to you Wenzhou,” Huang Shaotian gestured at Magnolia’s enclosure where the hognose was in fact making a face at Huang Shaotian. “You always say she’s small and she can’t hurt me, but you can’t tell me she isn’t scary.”
“She really isn’t scary-“ Yu Wenzhou hadn’t really expected to get any more words out before Huang Shaotian continued speaking, when he became convinced of an idea, it was rare for him to let it go, clinging on and dragging everyone in the vicinity into his plots and schemes. Yu Wenzhou suddenly realised that time he’d gone out for bubble tea with Xiao Shiqin and the table had been covered in flower petals might have been Huang Shaotian’s doing. At the time they’d both assumed it had been a mistake, but looking back, his vice-captain had been unusually inquisitive about his time with Xiao Shiqin.
“Anyway, if Xinjie likes your scary snake, and your scary snake likes him, then it makes sense for the two of you to get together, if you won’t do it for yourself then you should at least do it for Magnolia, or is her name Baobao, I thought you put Magnolia on the forms and you’ve been telling everyone that her name is Magnolia but Xinjie kept calling her Baobao and he isn’t one to get these things wrong, so I was wondering if you renamed her? Also, captain, you shouldn’t call her Baobao, people will think she’s a cute fluffy dog and then you give them a snake, that’s just too frightening, you should think about naming her something terrifying because she’s a snake, it’s important that the right impression is given off.”
“I didn’t rename her Shaotian,” Yu Wenzhou was long used to filtering through to see the main point behind Huang Shaotian’s long speeches, “Xinjie just thought Baobao was cute, I said it could be a nickname.” Huang Shaotian’s mouth snapped shut and he tilted his head to the side, eyeing Yu Wenzhou carefully, amusement bright in his eyes, and Yu Wenzhou couldn’t help his concern. That was the face his vice-captain donned when he’d found a great idea that would wreak havoc in his wake, something that Yu Wenzhou often encouraged, but when the expression was aimed at himself, he suddenly felt an overwhelming rush of sympathy for Wang Jiexi, who was the last target of Huang Shaotian’s mischief.
“I see captain, you were just being a good friend, letting Xinjie have a connection with your snake, I have to go now, I have things to do, I am a very busy pro player after all, your diligent vice-captain, you just sit here and you don’t have to worry, I know exactly what I have to do Wenzhou, I have such a good plan!” Before Yu Wenzhou could protest, catch Huang Shaotian’s sleeve or do anything else that could’ve stopped his plans, his vice-captain was already out of the door. He trusted Huang Shaotian, he did, but what he thought was an excellent idea for Yu Wenzhou’s love life, typically extended far beyond what Yu Wenzhou would do himself.
A voice that sounded suspiciously like Ye Xiu’s told him that if he’d been faster he likely could have caught and stopped Huang Shaotian. He ignored it pointedly, in favour of reaching into Magnolia’s enclosure to stroke her. She wasn’t plotting some overly elaborate plan to get him a boyfriend, he could relax like this, and pretend like he had no idea what Huang Shaotian was up to and ignore the fact that he genuinely could not predict what his vice-captain was about to do.
Huang Shaotian thought that his captain should have more faith in him. He was fully aware that he couldn’t go speak to Zhang Xinjie about Magnolia/Baobao, that would be too obvious and Zhang Xinjie was perceptive enough to put all the pieces together too quickly. However, Han Wenqing, Han Wenqing didn’t have all the pieces for this situation. He knew Yu Wenzhou had adopted the snake, leaving a comment of congratulations, but he didn’t know about Yu Wenzhou’s crush on Zhang Xinjie, which meant he was the perfect candidate, as Zhang Xinjie’s captain, to ask for information.
Huang Shaotian: Lao Han, Lao Han, is there anything new that Xinjie is talking about recently?
Han Wenqing: If you’re trying to beat my Xinjie at a game again, don’t involve me, he told me you used my information against him last time.
At least he would’ve been the perfect candidate if he hadn’t remembered the last time Huang Shaotian had asked him for information to win that last spreadsheet battle against Zhang Xinjie.
Huang Shaotian: Lao Han! You’d hold such a little thing like that against me? That was so long ago, that’s already in the past, do you hold things like this against your other friends? I could be asking about Xinjie for totally innocent reasons, I AM asking about Xinjie for totally innocent reasons, you can’t hold the spreadsheets against me like that, it’s been so long.
Han Wenqing: It was last week, Shaotian.
Huang Shaotian cursed at his phone for a little bit, he’d already forgotten when his last spreadsheet war with Zhang Xinjie had taken place, who was Han Wenqing to remember such specifics, especially when he really was asking him about something innocent and he wasn’t plotting against Zhang Xinjie this time. Well, he wasn’t plotting against Zhang Xinjie to win their ongoing battles at least.
Huang Shaotian: :troublingraincrushedbytree: :troublingraincrushedbytree: :troublingraincrushedbytree: Lao Han how could you treat me like this, aren’t I your friend?
Han Wenqing: I’m not getting in between the battles you and Xinjie like to play. I can tell you about the new bakery I visited if you want?
Huang Shaotian: I saw you visited, I saw you post a picture, you went with Zhang Jiale but he wouldn’t tell me anything about it, that was so unfair of him, you’ll tell him that won’t you? But tell me tell me tell me, did you like it, what you ordered looked very good, but it also looked bitter, do you eat bitter things like the old man you are?
Han Wenqing: Do you want to hear about the bakery or not?
Huang Shaotian: I want to hear about it, I won’t insult you anymore today, tell me about the bakery!!!
So, while Han Wenqing turned out to be an excellent resource for a new bakery that Huang Shaotian could take his team to the next time they were in Qingdao, he stuck to his promise of not offering up any information about Zhang Xinjie at all. Huang Shaotian cursed him out in his head and then turned to his second option to find out more about Zhang Xinjie’s current state of mind.
Zhang Jiale’s phone rang for an annoyingly long time before he finally picked up and Huang Shaotian didn’t get to say a single thing before Zhang Jiale was already speaking.
“I’m not going to tell you anything about those spreadsheets. I don’t even understand the game you’re playing with Xinjie right now.”
“Did I ask about Xinjie, Zhang Jiale, huh? Did you even hear me mention your vice-captain’s name, maybe I was inviting you to lunch the next time Blue Rain plays Tyranny, maybe that’s why I’m calling you, because we’re friends and I want to spend more time with you? All this suspicion from you, and there’s no reason at all to be suspicious like this senior!”
“So, are you inviting me to lunch?” Huang Shaotian thought that the deadpan, and full of doubt tone from Zhang Jiale was unfair, just because he wasn’t calling about lunch plans this one time didn’t mean he was never going to call about lunch plans.
“Of course I’m inviting you to lunch, you’re my close friend and a respected senior, why wouldn’t I be inviting you to lunch, we can have a Zhang-Huang lunch, won’t that be fun? We’re playing each other in two weeks, if you’re not too busy crying with your team when my Blue Rain crushes you into the dust then we can have lunch afterwards!”
“You-!” Huang Shaotian revelled in Zhang Jiale’s outraged squawk, settling in to listen to the insults raining down on him, mentally making a note of the restaurant Zhang Jiale kept insisting was too good to take someone who was so rude to. Looking it up on his phone yielded a number of good reviews and Huang Shaotian looked forward to trying the food when he took Zhang Jiale out to lunch after their match.
Huang Shaotian did feel a little bad about his next step in his efforts to find out if the latest of Yu Wenzhou’s crushes was requited. However, it was for a good cause as since his captain had adopted his territorial and possessive snake, Huang Shaotian couldn’t help but feel as if the list of potential partners for his captain had dwindled. While many of the other Glory players seemed to be willing to compliment Magnolia/Baobao when she was gracing their social media feeds, he suspected that they would be less willing to accept her when Yu Wenzhou held her out, offering to let them cuddle her.
Huang Shaotian took a moment to remember how Zheng Xuan was a filthy traitor, too lazy to refuse to take the snake, and the resulting delight from Yu Wenzhou had effectively crumbled everyone else’s resistance, and somehow cuddling Magnolia/Baobao had been implemented at the end of training. When confronted about his role in causing this to happen, Zheng Xuan merely shrugged, stating that Yu Wenzhou’s snake was actually quite nice to cuddle when she was in the mood for it.
But Magnolia/Baobao wasn’t the reason Huang Shaotian was here, or at least, she wasn’t the main reason. Lu Hanwen was sat on a sofa, half watching a documentary about artic penguins, while also typing on his phone, fingers flying across the screen, as was expected from a pro player. Huang Shaotian had watched Blue Rain’s newest and youngest member catapult himself at the other rookies in the league, and from what he’d been told, Lu Hanwen was quite close to Han Wenqing and Zhang Xinjie’s little rookie, Song Qiying.
“Huang Shao! Does captain need me for something?” Huang Shaotian was pulled out of his thoughts by Lu Hanwen’s voice and he blinked himself back to focusing on the task at hand.
“Is Song Qiying afraid of snakes?” When Lu Hanwen blinked at him in confusion, Huang Shaotian remembered that he hadn’t meant to ask his question that bluntly, but what was done was done and now he simply had to wait for Lu Hanwen’s response.
“I asked him that too Huang Shao!! When captain got Baobao I thought that maybe Qiying wouldn’t want to visit Blue Rain and I said that he had to make sure when they come to play us that his hotel isn’t too far away, but then he said he doesn’t mind snakes!” Huang Shaotian nodded, while this wasn’t the information he was fishing for, it was still useful in that it demonstrated Lu Hanwen’s friendships were flourishing. “Oh also he mentioned that Senior Zhang might want to get a snake too because he really really liked Baobao, Qiying heard him talking to Senior Han about it!”
Lu Hanwen was truly the best decision Blue Rain had made ever, offering such useful insight into Zhang Xinjie’s current thought process that Huang Shaotian rewarded him with five packets of snacks he’d been saving. Lu Hanwen lit up in delight before squirreling them away, carefully not letting the packets crinkle too loudly. Huang Shaotian would’ve laughed but he’d opened a packet of shrimp snacks and Yu Wenzhou had somehow sensed the bag being opened and had appeared behind him looking hopeful. He denies the scream to this day, Song Xiao is a filthy liar and a traitor for having a camera out for no reason.
The new information that Zhang Xinjie had been so enamoured with Baobao/Magnolia that he was considering adopting his own snake meant that he was a prime candidate to be Yu Wenzhou’s partner, he wouldn’t merely tolerate the snake’s presence, but would actively revel in it. Judging from Yu Wenzhou’s genuine delight when Blue Rain had caved and agreed to cuddle Magnolia/Baobao, it was definitely something that had to be high on his list of requirements for a potential partner.
Huang Shaotian stopped suddenly on his way back to his room when a thought struck him, surely, as precise and certain of his likes and dislikes as Zhang Xinjie was, it could be assumed that Zhang Xinjie would have his own list of expectations and requirements for his potential partners and Huang Shaotian wasn’t certain of what those were. He couldn’t allow himself to let Yu Wenzhou pursue a relationship with Zhang Xinjie before he found out what the requirements were, after all, what kind of a vice-captain would he be if he didn’t gather all the relevant information before sending his captain off in pursuit. Huang Shaotian resolved to ask Zhang Jiale if he had any insights when they met for lunch, Zhang Jiale was always a font of information and Huang Shaotian valued his observations, whether they had to do with Glory or his interpersonal situations.
Zhang Jiale was a filthy deceiving traitor and Huang Shaotian would never be taking him to lunch ever again, and after this final lunch was concluded, he would be sending a message to Zhang Jiale, expressing his betrayal and making it clear that no more lunch dates would be forthcoming. Huang Shaotian looked forward to recording the message for Zhang Jiale, he imagined it would be cathartic to do so.
While Huang Shaotian wondered if he should film Troubling Rain killing something with his voice overlaying the video clip, for maximum effect of course, Zhang Xinjie started to frown at him.
“I thought he’d invited us out to eat?”
“You’ve known him longer than I have, what do you think he’s up to?” Zhang Xinjie’s reproachful gaze only made Zhang Jiale’s grin wider.
“I’ve only known him for a few months longer, once we debuted Shaotian was determined to befriend every single pro player he had so much as five seconds of interaction with.” That seemed to catch Huang Shaotian’s attention and he shot Zhang Xinjie a wounded look.
“It wasn’t just for me Xinjie, you know that! I was collecting friends for my captain too, he was being too reserved to make friends, and I am a good vice-captain, it was my duty to make sure my captain had all sorts of friends to make him happy!” While Huang Shaotian was talking, he somehow managed to guide them to their table, holding a conversation with the waitress at the same time.
Both Tyranny players found this impressive while also agreeing to never let Huang Shaotian know that he’d impressed them. If he ever caught on, there’d never be another moment of peace for the GPA and it was likely that the other players would never forgive them.
“So, you aren’t up to something?” Zhang Jiale found that he was glad that Zhang Xinjie wasn’t aiming that look at him, the younger player was often reserved, but with his eyes narrowed and lips pressed together with suspicion, he couldn’t help the slight fear that rose in him. Not that he’d ever admit it, but the way Huang Shaotian simply laughed in the face of this sharp look was almost admirable, although, from what he could gather, Huang Shaotian and Zhang Xinjie often played games against each other, and the mouthy Blademaster had likely just build up an immunity.
“Why would I be up to something Xinjie? There isn’t anything I could be plotting for, expect the match tomorrow but everyone is always plotting for matches, you are always writing sneaky sneaky notes in your little notebook, my captain does it too, writing writing writing all the time, just like you’re doing now, what are you writing?” When Zhang Xinjie simply continued making notes, Huang Shaotian let out an elongated whine before lacing his fingers and resting his cheek on them despondently.
“That may work on your captain, but I’m not Wenzhou.” Huang Shaotian swatted the comment aside as if it were an actual bug existing within his space.
“When did I ever say you’re like Wenzhou, I can only think of a few ways you’re like Wenzhou, do you want to hear them?” Zhang Jiale couldn’t help but feel as if this was a trap, that Huang Shaotian was playing some verbal game with Zhang Xinjie, but he suspected saying that out loud would only result in Huang Shaotian protesting loudly, and he didn’t have the energy to argue against the protests.
He ignored the voice in his head that sounded a lot like Lin Jingyan chiding him and telling him he needed to look out for his juniors, refuting the thought with the argument that Zhang Xinjie didn’t need looking after with regards to Huang Shaotian. In fact, he seemed to relish in their little contests, even the ones that ended with scores of messages on his phone, all crowing their victory.
“I’d like to hear them. Maybe your captain would want to know as well?” Zhang Xinjie’s lips curled up into a smile that radiated cunning and Huang Shaotian thought briefly that Yu Wenzhou had excellent taste, Zhang Xinjie looked very good when he was planning to be just a little mean.
“Wenzhou will always be on my side, I don’t every have anything to fear from my captain!” The single raised eyebrow from Zhang Xinjie was offensive, as was the inelegant snort that came out of Zhang Jiale but Huang Shaotian powered through it, this was for his captain after all! “I thought that you are similar because you are both very sneaky, big-brained and you like Magnolia, I mean Baobao equally!”
Zhang Jiale sensed that he didn’t need to say a word here, that this, whatever this was, needed to stay between the other two. Zhang Xinjie had his head tilted to the side, seemingly assessing Huang Shaotian, who seemed unaffected by the steady gaze being levelled at him.
“You came out to lunch with us just to say that?”
“No! I came out to lunch with you, my favourite Zhangs, to say many many things, like, Zhang Jiale, you’ve ignored all my requests for a PK! How are we supposed to maintain our friendship if I can’t hit you many times over with my beloved Troubling Rain’s sword?!”
“You-! If I did accept your requests you’d be shot dead immediately, your sword would be no match for my Dazzling Hundred Blossoms!”
“If friendships must be maintained then why didn’t you accept my last PK request?”
Zhang Jiale pointedly looked down at his bowl of food at Zhang Xinjie’s calm question, feeling as if this was nearly positively a trap, and although he didn’t think his vice-captain would maim him too badly as they had a match the next day, he might be subject to the torment that was Zhang Xinjie keeping a steady gaze on you before looking away in disappointment.
“You could PK your teammates! Jiale always boasts that he’s an excellent PK partner!” Huang Shaotian was a filthy betraying traitor and Zhang Jiale was never going out to lunch with him again no matter how much he begged. He didn’t even look apologetic, simply selling him out with a bright grin, haloed in the sunlight from the restaurant window.
That wasn’t the point.
Huang Shaotian you don’t even live with Xinjie, why can’t you accept this, take one for the team and not throw unsuspecting Spitfires into the line of fire?! From Huang Shaotian’s faux apologetic look, it seemed that he could read every thought floating through Zhang Jiale’s head and cared not for them.
“I would PK you Vice-Captain Zhang! Just say the word and I will PK with you!” To his relief and smugness, Zhang Xinjie turned his attention back to Huang Shaotian.
“I’ve never asked Jiale to PK me, I’ve asked you many times, why won’t you PK with me Shaotian?” Huang Shaotian countered this by covering his face with one hand and flapping the other futilely.
“Ahhh, that’s another thing you and my Wenzhou have in common! You both are too scary sometimes!” Zhang Xinjie’s face brightened at being called scary and Zhang Jiale carefully placed another spoon of soup into his mouth, pointedly not meeting anyone’s eyes.
“Are you prepared for the match tomorrow? I heard that Wenzhou has been distracted recently.”
“Yeah, distracted by the way you-“ Huang Shaotian’s mouth snapped shut and Zhang Xinjie’s eyes narrowed, Zhang Jiale thanked the universe that his food had arrived, and he sipped at his soup loudly, trying to disperse the tension.
It didn’t work.
“By me? I would have thought it would be yourself distracted by me, after all, your latest spreadsheet puzzle didn’t last long.”
“You shouldn’t insult me like this Xinjie, what if I was making it easy for you, making it easy so you could figure it out and not embarrass yourself, how do you know that I wasn’t plotting this entire time to lull you into a false sense of security?”
“You are probably just as distracted by what your captain is distracted by.” Despite the offended spluttering from Huang Shaotian, Zhang Jiale noticed that he wasn’t exactly refuting the statement and he hummed softly, drawing both sets of eyes back to him.
“Your soup is getting cold.”
“I haven’t ordered yet,” while Zhang Xinjie was wholly unconcerned, Huang Shaotian yelped and shoved multiple spoons into his mouth at once. The strange tension dispersed but Zhang Xinjie had a calculating gaze in his eyes and Zhang Jiale suspected that he had figured out whatever it was that Huang Shaotian was keeping to himself.
“Shouldn’t you pay for me Xinjie, you are my senior after all!”
“We debuted the same year Shaotian.” Before Huang Shaotian could come up with a rebuttal, Zhang Xinjie’s lips curved up into a sharp smile that had Blue Rain’s vice-captain’s mouth snapping shut. “Besides, I have some things to do before tomorrow’s match.”
Huang Shaotian watched Zhang Xinjie leave and waited for a few more moments to ensure he was really gone before he whirled on Zhang Jiale.
“You are a sneaky sneaky betrayer Zhang Jiale, did you know that??? I invited you out to lunch as a gesture of friendship and you betray me like this, I can’t believe you, cannot believe that you would do this to me after all our years of friendship!”
“What did I do?!” While Zhang Jiale prided himself on riling Huang Shaotian up, he usually liked to know exactly what it was that elicited the reaction.
“You brought Xinjie! And then he was all interrogatory and scary, and maybe you’re used to that because you live with him now, but it’s all scary and he left like he’s got a plan and that always means trouble for me!”
“How am I to blame for you getting yourself into trouble with Xinjie? Besides, you called it a Zhang-Huang lunch, how am I supposed to know that doesn’t mean bring Xinjie? You always want to spend time with Xinjie, or talk about Xinjie, I thought you just wanted to get me to do the heavy lifting with his schedule!”
“I wanted to talk to you!”
“Not about Xinjie?”
“Yes about Xinjie but only a little bit, I also wanted to tell you that Han Wenqing finally told me about that bakery! I have it written down in all the important places so I’ll never forget!” Zhang Jiale felt his mouth drop open as the almost threatening message from Yu Wenzhou made sense.
“Wait, is that the reason your captain sent me a message suggesting that I was encouraging you with notes? Even though he’s the only one who really encourages you when you’re on one of your crazy plans?”
“I don’t know what my captain gets up to, that’s all down to him, I can’t control him at all.” Huang Shaotian realised the conversation was getting incredibly off topic and veered away from his last thought back onto his 3 step plan to get his captain a tactician boyfriend at long last. “I just wanted to talk about Xinjie a little, after he touched Wenzhou’s snake, I thought he liked it a lot-“ Huang Shaotian didn’t expect the tea kettle whistle-shriek that emitted from Zhang Jiale, nor the way he blushed pink enough to rival his old team jacket.
“YOU CAN’T TELL me things like that!” Zhang Jiale’s voice dropped drastically when he realised how many people had turned to stare at him, but Huang Shaotian just continued to stare at him blankly. “Huang Shaotian you can’t tell me about Yu Wenzhou’s…snake!”
“Why not? He tells me about it all the time, he tells the whole internet about it, and pictures!” Zhang Jiale thought that his soul had just exited his body.
Goodbye cruel world, he thought sadly, I never even got to push Ye Xiu in a pool…wait-
“What are you talking about? Pictures of his…snake? Isn’t that too inappropriate?”
“It’s not inappropriate, just look at them, do you think pictures like these are inappropriate?” Zhang Jiale instinctively shut his eyes but at Huang Shaotian’s impatient noise he peeked them open, only to be met with images of a small cream and red snake. “See? Yu Wenzhou’s snake!” Zhang Jiale couldn’t help his wheeze of relief which was followed immediately by dread.
“Wait when Xinjie was talking to Captain Han about getting a friend for Baobao he meant a snake?!” Huang Shaotian’s shrug conveyed both his nonchalance and non-commitment to an answer. Zhang Jiale made a mental note to revise his email to Han Wenqing about the companion that Zhang Xinjie wanted to acquire for Tyranny.
“How am I to know, I can’t spy on Tyranny, that would be good for Wenzhou though, his boyfriend comes with another scary snake-!“ While it was clear that the last couple of sentences were more for Huang Shaotian than him, Zhang Jiale felt as if the final puzzle piece had slotted into place, and Huang Shaotian’s motivations were finally clear.
“You’re trying to matchmake your captain and my vice-captain!?” Huang Shaotian blinked at him as if he’d grown another head and Zhang Jiale couldn’t help but think that was unfair, especially since his friend had been talking nonsense for the past two hours.
“That was the whole point of this lunch! So I could ask you how Xinjie is doing, I know he probably has a list of what’s best in a romantic partner and I thought you could help with my information!”
“Why would I know that? Why aren’t you asking Wenqing about this?” Huang Shaotian mumbled something at the table and Zhang Jiale simply raised one eyebrow, willing to wait.
“He won’t talk to me about his Xinjie anymore, he says he got caught in the crossfire of one of the spreadsheet wars.” Zhang Jiale snorted at Huang Shaotian’s obvious resentment until his next words sunk in.
“Wait you only invited me to lunch because you wanted to talk about your matchmaking plan? I knew you weren’t inviting me to lunch because I was a ‘respected senior!’ You’re so full of bullshit Huang Shao!”
“I wanted to go to lunch with you too! It was multitasking! You know, pro players are supposed to be good at multitasking, if you’re struggling I would be willing to help you out, I am a very helpful junior to my poor struggling seniors whom I respect the most, so much respect-“
“I will forgive you if you drop this immediately.” Zhang Jiale kept his sigh of relief quiet lest he offend and set off his friend again. “Besides, Xinjie nearly certainly knows what you’re up to, you were not subtle. At all.”
“Really?” Huang Shaotian chewed on his lip and Zhang Jiale spared a thought for how he might talk less if it were him biting at Huang Shaotian’s lip. He shook that thought away quickly, it was definitely not the time to dwelling on thoughts like that.
“You were acting so weird! And doesn’t Xinjie pride himself on linking up the thread that follows everything that comes out of your mouth?” Huang Shaotian’s head tilted to the side and the next expression that stretched across his face was oddly vulnerable.
“You noticed the thread?” Zhang Jiale felt like the air was weighted with something fragile now, something he wasn’t sure he had the right answer for.
“There’s always a thread, you just have to pay attention.” Huang Shaotian bit at his lip again and Zhang Jiale wondered if he’d said the wrong thing before his friend’s lips curled up into a soft smile, cheeks dusted pink, and Zhang Jiale wondered if someday he’d get to see if the flush could spread any further.
“It is very nice, very nice of you to say that, you’re very observant Jiale, but do you really think Zhang Xinjie figured out what I was up to, I thought I was being really sneaky, and if I wasn’t Xinjie never covers for me against my captain, he always sells me out so if he knows he might be selling me out right now!” While Zhang Jiale would like to laugh at Huang Shaotian’s concern, he had seen Yu Wenzhou on the warpath before, and he was of the opinion that in those cases it was best to throw yourself out of the way and hope you weren’t the target.
“I don’t think he’d say anything now, the match is tomorrow and I think he’ll sell you out after Blue Rain lose, he can visit your captain then.”
“Hey! What are you saying that Blue Rain will lose, we’re going to crush you into the dirt and my Xiao Lu can dance on your grave!” Zhang Jiale almost regretted the taunt when Huang Shaotian added it to the list of reasons that he should be covering the cost of their dessert.
He ended up shelling out for dessert in the end, Huang Shaotian’s happy noises as he enjoyed his fruit made it worth it. Even if there was a long tangent about how fruit didn’t belong in water, something about rescuing tactics, followed by Huang Shaotian telling him to keep a look out for Yu Wenzhou, as if Blue Rain’s captain didn’t have better things to do than stalk his vice-captain to collect blackmail material.
Then again, Zhang Jiale never really gave much thought to Yu Wenzhou’s schedule, maybe he really didn’t have anything better to do than follow Huang Shaotian around, although Zhang Jiale really doubted that. It was nice to hear how passionate Huang Shaotian was about defending his captain’s busy schedule, he managed to keep up his spiel all the way to his hotel until Zhang Jiale managed to shock him into silence by stealing a bite of his food and then sprinting away.
There were going to be a deluge of messages from Blue Rain’s vice-captain, Zhang Jiale could feel his phone vibrating in his pocket, but he couldn’t help but look forward to it, a smile tugging at his lips.
“Captain you shouldn’t listen to a single thing that Xinjie tells you, I haven’t been up to anything at all-!” Huang Shaotian burst into their hotel room with his usual defences falling from his lips, only to snap his mouth shut at the sight of his captain on his back with Zhang Xinjie straddling his hips.
All three of them froze before Huang Shaotian leapt back into action, already babbling out how he actually needs to check in with the rest of the team before the match tomorrow, and that he was going to do that right at this moment and not come back for a very long time. He could see Yu Wenzhou opening his mouth, probably to tell him that he didn’t have to leave but the way his captain’s shirt was pushed up suggested that he had interrupted something more than just a chat, and so he went back to fleeing, making his way to Zheng Xuan’s room.
He wasn’t about to admit to his fist pump in the hallway however, it wasn’t befitting of a vice-captain to gloat after all. Well, at least gloat out loud, silently and quietly in his head was another matter, and was definitely on the table, he decided as he knocked enthusiastically at Song Xiao’s hotel room door.
The long suffering look he received was just rude, and he told them both as much as he kicked off his shoes and began telling them about his lunch and asking them if they’d done anything half as exciting.
Huang Shaotian felt that he could now revel in his victory, admittedly he was stretched out on Zheng Xuan’s bed, having used his vice-captain privileges to chase Zheng Xuan onto Song Xiao’s bed and Song Xiao into lying mostly on top of Zheng Xuan, but Zheng Xuan could nap through anything, and he’d been chased out of his room by Zhang Xinjie and the inappropriate eyes he was aiming at his captain. Very inappropriate! Not at all suitable for poor innocent Blademaster eyes! And Yu Wenzhou did nothing to stop him! Just made the exact same eyes back at Zhang Xinjie! Betrayal!
But it didn’t matter really, maybe he was lying on a bed that wasn’t his, and from the looks of Song Xiao’s sleepy face, he was likely about to be kicked out so that his teammates could sleep, but overall he counted the day as an absolute victory. He did know that Yu Wenzhou would be plotting his counter-attack against him as Zhang Xinjie had absolutely sold him out and told him about all his plotting, but even that was okay because it would give him an excellent opportunity to flee from Blue Rain and visit Zhang Jiale.
Huang Shaotian didn’t notice, but Zheng Xuan and Song Xiao both took note of the dreamy sigh that floated over from the other side of the room. If they (Song Xiao) could figure out who or what made Huang Shaotian make that noise, it might be enough information to trade with the next time Yu Wenzhou was on the warpath for some prank that they were definitely not involved with.
They both shuddered remembered when they’d sold out Lu Hanwen and Huang Shaotian immediately and had been punished because Yu Wenzhou had said they weren’t demonstrating teamwork.
They would’ve protested, but the calm, measured smile Yu Wenzhou had aimed in their direction was terrifying enough to have their mouths snapping shut without another thought going to join Huang Shaotian and Lu Hanwen in the common room without another thought. Even though the two Blademasters had spent the time clearing up the confetti and glitter laughing at the both of them, it was still a good inter-team bonding moment.
Not that either of them would admit to that, and not that the bonding was enough to lure them into doing it again. Hence, the need for bargaining.
Huang Shaotian plays through the events of the day again, pleased with his days work. The only thing that still plays at the edges of his mind is Zhang Jiale and why he closed his eyes so quickly when he was trying to explain about Baobao.
It was possible that Zhang Jiale was afraid of snakes, but if he was, Huang Shaotian trusted that he would tell him about it so he could get rid of the picture. It was very strange that Zhang Jiale reacted like that, insisting that he couldn’t hear about it, that it was inappropriate-
The answer came to him all at once and Huang Shaotian couldn’t help his bark of laughter that quickly escalated into uncontrollable giggles. Zheng Xuan, who had been using Song Xiao as his human sized weighted blanket for his nap, jerked awake and shot him a dirty look that suggested that if he didn’t flee the room now, he was going to get things thrown at his legs soon. As Blue Rain often pointed out, no one needed their legs in perfect working order to play Glory.
Huang Shaotian fled, chased out of the room by a few pillows being flung at him and the door swinging shut behind him was a relief, no more grouchy teammates lambasting him for interrupting naptime with his noisy laughter. If he were able to get out his words around his laughter, he’d explain why he couldn’t help himself, but then again, it would be less fun to explain it to his team, when he could just message Zhang Jiale about it directly.
While Huang Shaotian was now resigned to camping out in the hallway until Zhang Xinjie left, he was comforted by the fact that there was only twenty minutes left before his friend had to leave to tend to his next schedule item, meaning that he could spend the time in the hallway carefully crafting his message to Zhang Jiale in a way that would result in him flushing that lovely pink colour again.
Time flew by and soon enough, just as he thought, the door swung open and Zhang Xinjie exited, flush high on his throat. He caught sight of Huang Shaotian sat in the hall, levelling him a knowing look and the flush only deepened.
“You don’t get to take credit for this!” Huang Shaotian simply made a non-committal hum, watching Zhang Xinjie weigh up the pros and cons of trying to sway him, and deciding that a tactical retreat would be for the best.
When Huang Shaotian entered the room, Yu Wenzhou was sat on his bed, cheeks just as flushed as Zhang Xinjie’s throat had been and Huang Shaotian simply grinned at him, waiting for the right moment. When Yu Wenzhou’s head tilted down for a moment, Huang Shaotian took the implied permission with gusto.
“I told you didn’t I captain, I told you that you liked Xinjie and I was so right, I was the most right, I am the best vice-captain, it might have taken me a while but I got you a tactician boyfriend finally, it wouldn’t have taken me this long if you’d just cooperated with the plans, but I am still proud because now you have Xinjie who likes your scary new snake and it’s all thanks to me! You can’t even get me in trouble for sneaking around because I was only having lunch with friends, there was no plotting going on at all, no matter what Xinjie told you, it was just lunch with friends, but it ended with you and Xinjie having a talk so I can still be proud, even if it wasn’t my plotting, aren’t I just the best vice-captain?”
“You are the best vice-captain Shaotian.” Yu Wenzhou’s soft smile settled in Huang Shaotian’s chest, and he grinned back, going to flop onto his bed, enjoying the taste of victory. He should’ve known he was being lulled into a false sense of security.
“I know you were plotting, but I can let that go for now.” Huang Shaotian didn’t move, but he did commit himself to a heartfelt groan, that only earned him a quiet laugh. After all his efforts! After all he’d endured!
Yu Wenzhou’s retribution would be swift and unseen, and Huang Shaotian willed himself to sink deeper into the mattress. He would revel in his victory for now, waiting for his captain to strike.
“Maybe Jiale will protect me,” Huang Shaotian thought mournfully, “or at the very least comfort me…I should ask him!”