Chapter Text
It's early this Saturday morning, 7:26 to be exact. Tang was resting peacefully in bed, but that would soon change as he awoke. Tang rolls over in bed, lying flat on his back. He groans as his eyes slowly open wide, his green globes being greeted by the blurry visage of his bedroom ceiling.
He looks over to his right side spotting his nightstand, his glasses sitting atop it. With a calloused hand, the scholar reaches for them and places them on his person. He yawns, looking toward the clock and finding it to be 7:30. Tang sighs as he turns back over and covers his eyes with an arm.
"Oh, come on, Tang. Why did you wake up so early?"
He lays his arm back on the bed.
"Maybe I'll just go back to sleep..."
Tang shuts his eyes and yawns.
"Its not like I have work today..."
Just as he's about to drift off to sleep again, he suddenly catches the smell of food wafting into his room.
"Huh?" Tang says sniffing the air.
"Hm, what is that? Cinnamon? Garlic? A hint of ginger..."
He sits up in bed, still half asleep, his olfactory senses taking full control over him. Well, that and his empty stomach.
"Oh and what's that... baozi? shengjian bao, maybe?"
Tang gets up from bed, instinctively grabbing his cane as he does. He moves out of his room and into the hallway, his stride fluid, almost effortless. You’d think he was floating in mid-air. As he steps out of the hallway and into his living room, he turns left, continuing to follow the scents that lead him out here from start into the next room. Tang takes a big whiff of the air around him and begins to salivate.
It smells absolutely divine in there...
The academic raises his head, each aroma filling the space around him, breaking him out of his hunger-induced haze. The first thing he notices is a dining table—a small wooden one. The chairs around it all pulled out to varying degrees. He’s in his kitchen. No real surprise there.
Where else would Pigsy cook him some delicious baozi?
It’s been a while since Pigsy came over without Tang asking him to. Usually, he just waits for Tang to show up at his restaurant and whips him up the usual. But Tang didn't question it. Besides, if he wanted answers he could just ask the pig himself!
Tang turns away from his dining table and beings scanning the room for his friends presence. He spots someone just ahead of him, standing in front of where the stove should be. But that someone isn't Pigsy... No, this someone appeared to be human with long, wavy black hair reaching down nearly the whole length of their back.
Tang blinks, staring at them as his tired mind beings to connect the dots.There's a complete stranger in his apartment.... in his kitchen.
He yelps aloud, taking a step back. He grips the handle of his cane in an attempt to stable himself as his whole body beings to shake with fear.
What are they doing here? What did they want? Questions like these flood Tang's head a mile a minute. Why are they in his kitchen? Why are they in here making breakfast? Did they know about his affinity for a good meal? Is this meant to be some sort trap to lure Tang out?
How could they use his one of many weaknesses against him!?
But all these thoughts soon cease as the long-haired stranger glances over their shoulder and looks directly at him. A single light brown eye stares at him wide eyed watching him curiously. Tang stills. Then only a second later their gaze softens, a smile spreading across their face—fond, friendly… familiar?
Though he doesn't get much time to have a chance to recall. Within seconds, the stranger turns fully around and starts approaching him, fast. “Tang!” they shout, arms outstretched for a hug. “You’re finally awake!” Startled, Tang jumps back, tripping over one of the dining chairs. “Ah—!”
As he begins to fall backwards he feels arm catch him from behind. It was the stranger's. They loom over him holding Tang securely in their grasp. Not too tight nor too rough. Just firm.
"Are you okay?" They ask but the scholar ignores them.
To busy gawking at the individual before him.
They're a man. A conventionally attractive man, at that. Defined cheekbones, a chiseled jaw, kind eyes... He's also young—about twenty years younger than Tang. Tang knows him. He would recognize that face anywhere...
"Shao Jiaxu?"
Jiaxu smiles, a light chuckle escaping him.
"So, you do remember me."
He tilts Tang's chin up with his cane and gives the older man a once-over.
"Gods, look at you...
His eyes trail up his face.
"your just as..."
He pauses, meeting Tang's gaze. Tang is blushing, and now, so is Jiaxu. With panic in Jiaxu’s eyes, he quickly pulls away, setting Tang back on his feet and handing him his cane.
"A-ahem! Sorry about that... I just..."
He laughs it off.
"Heh, listen, sit down and relax. I'm just about done here anyhow."
He pulls out a chair for him, Tang agreeing with a simple nod. He sits down and Jiaxu leaves his side, returning to back to what he was doing.
With his back turned, Tang sinks into his chair. What the hell is happening right now? Why is... How is Shao Jiaxu in his kitchen? He isn’t real—he’s the star of a 70's show called Day by Day, one Tang was obsessed with back in college. So, how is he possibly... unless...
Last night, he was converting his old Day by Day VHS to digital on his laptop...
Had the VHS been haunted this whole time, the spirit inside only awakening after being disturbed? Or worse... a demon was watching him convert the tape and decided to masquerade as Jiaxu to deceive him.
Being the maven he is in history and myth alike Tang didn't like either of those conclusions. But the former is definitely the less concerning. So, he takes a deep breath and asks, "Shao Jiaxu?"
“Yes?” Jiaxu replies eagerly.
"What are you?"
Maybe asking such a direct question was risky, but his curiosity was just as potent as his fear at the moment.
Jiaxu's posture slumps.
Oh no...
Tang slides down out of his chair, cowering behind the table. He grips the table's edge tightly, trepidation flooding every fiber of his being as he waits for his response.
"I-I'm... I'm..."
He pauses, then takes a deep breath.
"I'm Shao Jiaxu.
Jiaxu replies, grabbing a plate of what looks like baozi.
"You recognized me just a moment ago didn't you?"
He turns toward Tang and finds him hiding behind the table. Jiaxu's body immediately slumps; his expression shifting quickly from surprise to betrayal to frustration, and then finally he smiles at him—that same warm, welcoming smile—and sets the plate in the middle of the table.
Tang looks up at the plate of baozi, or rather shengjian mantou to be exact. He'd recognize those delicious pan fried morsels anywhere. The shengjian mantou piled high...
If Jiaxu's smile didn't reel him in then the pile shengjian mantou sweeted the deal!
Once his back is turned to him again, Tang reaches for one of the baozi at the top of the plate with a pair of nearby chopsticks then takes a bite. Its good. It's really good! From its soft but crunchy exterior to its sweet and savory broth soaked contents. As he goes in for another bite, a bowl is placed in front him. This makes the scholar pause mid-bite and glance up at Jiaxu.
He's smiling still but one of his eyebrows is arched, his eyes staring down at him in an almost teasing manner.
"Is he judging me?" Tang thinks, getting up off the kitchen floor.
It isn't as if Tang couldn't see the absurdity of what he just did. Cowering in fear one minute, and the next, reaching for a bite from the plate offered to him by the very man you were supposedly a afraid of. But also, Tang didn’t asked to be judged. Let alone in his own home.
"What was that look for?"
Jiaxu pauses at the counter and chuckles.
"It's nothing, really."
He returns back to the table, pulling out a chair for himself, and setting a bowl in front of him.
"I just... missed you."
Tang slowly lowers himself into his chair.
"Missed me?"
"Yes..."
He sets his hands on the table fiddling with his thumbs.
"The day you put that Day by Day VHS into your dorm's VCR, I've been watching you. From your lower moments when all you needed was a friendly face to cheer you up. Or when you just needed something on in the background to help you focus while studying. I was there for you! Whenever you needed me..."
Jiaxu stops fidgeting, lying his hands flat on the table.
"Then you moved out of your dorm. Put me away... but I knew it would only be matter of time before you came and got me out again. Wanted to watch Day by Day again. And I was so happy when you finally did I... couldn't just sit idly behind the screen anymore. So, here here I!"
Slurping up a grip of noodles from his chopsticks, Tang chews then swallows and replies, "Oh, wow! I..."
He didn't know what to say. Heck, Tang didn't know how to feel right now. A part of him felt bad for putting Jiaxu's VHS away for so long, while another was alarmed by the knowledge that he had been watching him throughout his college years. Though on the brightside, this fact almost completely confirms Jiaxu is a spirit.
Almost.
There is a more unlikely option, that he might be the VHS itself. He did say Tang "put him away," after all. It would also explain why he looks like Shao Jiaxu...
An object could manifest into a spirit or demon if large amounts qi of are transferred into them. So...Tang begins to blush, old, embarrassing memories from his college days rising up from the deep recesses of his mind. He shakes his head.
"No! No, no, no!" he yells mentally at himself. Dread sets in as he recalls the times alone in his dorm room—when it was just him and the TV...
"Oh, gods, please, not right now!"
But before the indignity of his past can overtake him, he hears Jiaxu’s voice.
"Uh, Tang?"
Its sweet, calming tone snaps him right back to the present.
"Are you alright?"
"I...O-of course I am!" He says, pulling up his glasses, a deafening silence filling the entire kitchen until Tang coughs to break it.
"Ah, so, Shao Jiaxu?"
"Yes?" Jiaxu asks, his voice just as hopefully as before.
Tang takes moment and just focuses on what's in front of him. He looks down at his noodles, then at the pile of Shengjian Mantou, then back at the man who had made it all for him and sighs.
"I'm sorry."
Despite the circumstances, he its not like Jiaxu has tried to harm him in anyway. He clearly means well. Plus, he can cook so that's a bonus!
"Oh, there's no need to apologize! I'm just happy to be by your side again."
"Well, if that's the case then I guess you'll be living here, right?"
"I-I...if you'll have me!"
"Sure, nice to have you roomie."
Tang didn’t know what might come of this strange arrangement of their's, but with baozi on the table and a once-fictional man smiling at him from across it… he had a feeling things were about to get a lot more interesting.