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Vein closed the door behind him, leaving behind the music and the crowds and the bright coloured lights of the club and finally letting himself breathe in the cool night air.
Not that he didn’t like crowds; and his position meant it was important to socialize with his underlings and… other citizens, so he went out every weekend to see what was up around town.
This club was even one of his favourites; the patrons were always entertaining, and the owner was very loyal. The music was good, the drinks were well-mixed (and safe), and so on…
Sometimes, Vein just needed a second of peace and quiet.
So he’d thrown a handful of cash at his bodyguards, threatening to rip out their throats if they followed him outside, and left to have a quiet smoke in the night.
(Maybe he was a little drunk. Just a little.)
The cool air was doing wonders to his headache, and Vein allowed a smile to slip out.
He leaned on the wall beside the door, pulling his pack of cigarettes from his back pocket and bringing one to his lips before instinctually reaching into his coat pocket for his lighter—
He’d left his coat inside. His smile disappeared and Vein bit back on a curse, knocking his head on the wall behind him as he stared up at the dark sky.
An upbeat song was filtering through the door, not quite faint enough to ignore.
Vein turned his head when he heard a click beside him, seeing a small flame shivering in the night air.
Someone was standing beside him, which was more than a little unsettling to Vein; he should’ve been able to notice someone getting so close.
Vein let his eyes drag over the man’s figure. A long clack coat over a black shirt that was buttoned just low enough to hold his gaze for a second; a chain that had some sort of pendant on it; and Vein finally looked up from the small tattoo between the man’s collarbones to meet his eyes behind a pair of round glasses.
The stranger was very handsome. So Vein smiled and leaned forwards to touch the tip of his cigarette to the man’s lighter.
The stranger smiled as well, putting his small black lighter back into his pocket without saying anything.
Vein inhaled, closed his eyes, exhaled a cloud of smoke. He glanced curiously back at the man.
“Much appreciated,” he said.
“Of course.”The man touched the tip of his sun hat in what Vein guessed was mocking respect. “Who am I to deny a beautiful man in need of aid?”
Vein laughed, more surprised than anything. “How forward.”
In truth, he couldn’t remember the last time someone had just… said something like that to him. Usually, someone implying that Vein could need any kind of help was worth a knife to the throat from one of his underlings, and maybe deeper, depending how nice he was feeling.
This stranger just seemed… totally unaware of who he was talking to, but there was something in his eyes that still left Vein cautious.
“A little too crowded inside?” The man asked as Vein took another drag of his cigarette.
“Something like that,” Vein vaguely answered, letting his eyes dip back down to the tattoo on the man’s throat. “And what are you doing out here, then? Do you smoke?”
The stranger gently grabbed Vein’s hand as he was reaching to his back pocket for his pack of cigarettes. “Ah, no. Thank you, but I’m trying to stop.”
Vein just nodded and glanced away, trying not to fluster (and since when did he get flustered ?) at the man’s fingers curling against his wrist. Nobody ever dared to touch him like that.
The man let go of his hand, sticking his own into his pockets just a little too casually.
Vein took another drag from his cigarette. “Would it be too forward of me to ask your name?”
“Just enough, I think.” The stranger chuckled, then stuck out his hand (to shake?). “Liu Xiao.”
“Vein,” he introduced himself, placing his hand in the man’s— in Liu Xiao’s. He grinned. “And… you really don’t know who I am?”
Liu Xiao bowed his head and lifted Vein’s hand to his mouth, brushing a kiss to his knuckles. He glanced up at him from under the brim of his hat. “Should I?”
That wasn’t an answer. Liu Xiao smiled gently up at him and Vein decided he didn’t care right now. “Maybe not.”
“Do you dance, Mr. Vein?” Liu Xiao straightened, lacing his fingers with Vein’s without letting go of his hand.
“There’s hardly any music,” Vein protested lightheartedly, but he let his cigarette drop to the ground and stepped closer when he felt Liu Xiao’s hand on his waist.
“There is,” the other said, shaking his head, “we’ll just have to be quiet.”
Liu Xiao closed his eyes and led them into a dance, spinning them slowly in place to match the rhythm that was still slipping through the closed door of the club, some kind of slow mushy love song Vein would never voluntarily listen to.
Vein’s hand rested comfortably on Liu Xiao’s shoulder as he watched the other man, still with his eyes closed and looking as though he didn’t have a care in the world.
He was either completely oblivious to Vein’s power and position or he was making a damn good act of it.
Vein didn’t close his own eyes. He wasn’t that naive.
When Liu Xiao’s hand slipped just a little lower on his waist, Vein thought of how easy it would be for him to end the night with a knife between the ribs or a bullet through the head, because he stayed outside to dance with a stranger through the cool air.
When Liu Xiao pulled him a little closer, still spinning them in a circle with his eyes peacefully closed, Vein wondered if he should have kept a knife on him when he went out to smoke.
When Liu Xiao finally opened his eyes to meet his gaze, Vein had the thought that his eyes were beautiful, and felt the sudden urge to brush the hair from his forehead and lean closer.
When Liu Xiao pressed him against the wall and kissed him, Vein didn’t think of anything at all.
Liu Xiao kissed him gently and carefully, at odds with the way he’d abruptly pushed him against the cool brick, sliding his fingers down to brush against Vein’s wrist, almost as if trying to feel his pulse.
He pulled away just as fast, leaving Vein propped up against the wall with his free hand clutching Liu Xiao’s jacket and trying not to look too dazed.
“I apologize,” Liu Xiao smiled, not sounding sorry at all. “That might have been… a little too forward?”
Vein didn’t give him an answer and instead let his hand slide up to tangle into Liu Xiao’s hair, pulling him back in for another kiss.
Liu Xiao followed willingly, and when they parted again, Vein tightened his hand in the other man’s hair to keep him close.
“What do you want ?” Vein finally hissed, looking him in the eye. “I’m not fucking stupid, you have to know who I am. What is it you’re after?”
Liu Xiao didn’t look anywhere near as scared as he should have been, looking curiously back, and he only laughed. “Company.”
Vein paused. “What?”
Liu Xiao’s eyes flitted to the door of the club, and Vein reluctantly followed his gaze. “We’ve got company.”
The door burst open and the club’s loud, upbeat music followed one of Vein’s bodyguards out, who froze for a second as he assessed the situation.
Vein knew what he must’ve looked like, with one hand pinned against the wall by a stranger while the other was buried in said stranger’s hair, but his bodyguard was apparently even stupider than he looked because he immediately pulled his gun and levelled it at Liu Xiao’s head.
“Boss, are you all right?” He asked, holding the weapon steady as Liu Xiao took a step back, his fingers sliding from Vein’s hand, then another, separating them completely.
“You incompetent idiot,” Vein snapped, grabbing the gun by the barrel and wrenching it away from the guard, “I told you to fucking leave me alone. Is the concept of privacy lost on you!? Everything was under control.”
“Sorry, Boss,” he stammered, “you were just— gone for a while, and—”
“Get out of my sight if you want to keep your useless head,” Vein snarled, spinning the gun in his hand and pressing it to the man’s forehead, “and don’t come get me unless I call you, you fucking waste of money. Got it?”
“Yes, boss,” he said faintly, and scurried back inside.
The door closed and the music quieted down to a whisper again.
Vein turned back, but he already knew Liu Xiao would be gone before he saw the empty street.
He tossed the gun to the ground.
Vein touched a hand to his lips in a disgustingly yearning way. He just knew this stranger wouldn’t stay out of his head for a good long while.
“Shit,” he sighed, reaching into his back pocket for a cigarette before he remembered he still didn’t have a lighter.
“ Shit ,” he said again, with more feeling this time, but paused when his hand brushed against a lump in his pocket that definitely wasn’t there before.
He slipped his fingers in and pulled out a small black lighter, tucked into the pocket by his hip that Liu Xiao had been resting his hand on.
A smile ghosted across Vein’s face as he lit another cigarette and took a long drag, staring out into the empty night.
A week passed.
Vein didn’t think of Liu Xiao at all.
That was a lie. He asked around, got his subordinates to look into the name wherever they could, made use of all his resources, but nothing ever turned up for a ‘Liu Xiao’; either the man was using a fake name, didn’t exist, or he was a professional at staying out of notice.
Vein was trying to finish his paperwork, he really was, but his eyes kept straying to the little black lighter that was propped up on his desk.
After he’d broken one of his subordinates’ arm for asking about it the third time, no one really paid attention to it anymore.
Except for Vein, who couldn’t help his eyes being drawn to it every few hours.
Was this Liu Xiao’s grand plan?
To get into Vein’s head, put his thoughts into a loop so he couldn’t focus on his duties and eventually trip up and make a fatal mistake?
But Vein still didn’t know what Liu Xiao was really after. His position, his power, his money…?
Vein couldn’t deny the man had already stuck his claws in his thoughts and dug out a comfortable place for himself there.
He blinked, then closed his eyes and massaged his temples, sighing.
Liu Xiao was nowhere to be found, and Vein was more than sure they’d meet again only when Liu Xiao wanted them to.
… Never mind how many more times he’d visited that same club over the past week.
A knock came at the door and Vein pushed his paperwork aside on the desk.
“What?” He snapped, injecting just enough annoyance into his tone that he knew they wouldn’t answer again unless it was important.
“We caught someone trying to break into the house, sir,” came the voice of one of his subordinates. “He says you’re expecting him, but he ain’t registered anywhere for a meeting.”
Vein stood abruptly, and winced at the way his chair scraped loudly against the ground. “Send him in. Now.”
He walked around his desk and leaned back against the front of it, swearing to himself he wouldn’t be disappointed if it wasn’t Liu Xiao.
But, speak of the devil.
Vein couldn’t help but grin as the man himself was pushed into the room and tossed unceremoniously to his knees in front of Vein, hands cuffed behind his back, his hat and coat missing. His shirt was buttoned up decently this time and his glasses had been knocked crooked, with a split lip and a bruise starting to form on his cheekbone.
Vein made a mental note to have whoever had caused that killed, then raised a hand to dismiss his subordinate. “I’ll take it from here.”
“Sir, he was—”
Vein smiled pleasantly. “Get out.”
His subordinate nodded and left, closing the door behind them.
Vein looked back down at Liu Xiao, considering him curiously, pretending like his chest wasn’t exploding into a dozen fireworks or whatever the fuck. Ugh.
Liu Xiao finally looked up at him, meeting his eyes, and smiled. “Vein. Hello again.”
His eyes were just as beautiful as Vein remembered them being. He stared down at him, more than a little fascinated.
“So you do know who I am,” Vein said, bracing his hands back on his desk to lean forwards. “What in the world are you doing here, then, Liu Xiao?”
Liu Xiao licked the blood from his split lip and grinned back up at Vein. “I missed you.”