Work Text:
Zhang Jiale stared at his credit report email incredulously. What were these two new credit cards opened in his name in the last month?
"We weren't sure it was you, but he was so skillful we thought it couldn't be anyone but you," they explained when he called inquiring about the accounts.
How did skill factor into opening a bank account??
Apparently, this mysterious stranger, who knew all his personal information, had saved the local bank from a Gate Outbreak and somehow hoodwinked them into believing he was the famous hunter Dazzling Hundred Blossoms who urgently needed to open a bank account on an undercover mission...to buy cigarettes.
Really, there was only one bastard who would have the gall to do this.
"Everyone thinks you're dead," Zhang Jiale snapped, barging into the open apartment rented under his name and snatching the cigarette bought with his money right from Ye Xiu's fingers. To his annoyance, Ye Xiu just shrugged and offered him a lighter that Zhang Jiale had a feeling was also just purchased recently.
Disgusted, Zhang Jiale threw the cigarette back at him.
It was only when Ye Xiu didn't catch it that Zhang Jiale really took a second look at the other man. Torn clothes, a subtle tremor in his hands, obviously mana exhausted.
"You look like shit. You bought cigarettes but not clothes?"
"I thought they'd earn me pity points."
This earned Ye Xiu a middle finger.
"What happened? I think I deserve to know that much at least."
Ye Xiu fished out another cigarette and lit it, seemingly in no hurry to explain. Zhang Jiale truly wanted to shake the man, but barely resisted. He had standards! Those god damn pity points were working, but he would never admit it.
"Excellent Era was planning on replacing me, and conveniently an S-class Gate appeared so I cleared it and left afterwards."
Zhang Jiale stared. The S-class Gate that appeared at Excellent Era opened a month ago and only recently closed last week. Moreover, it was reported to have been a unique Gate that only accepted one hunter at a time, and Excellent Era had claimed after it's former guild leader One Autumn Leaf had tragically failed to return, the hunter succeeding him had been the one to clear it.
"Why did you let that newbie Sun Xiang get credit for it?"
"Does it matter?" Ye Xiu asked, putting out his cigarette with just as much carelessness as he treated his own reported death. "As long as the gate was cleared, I never cared for credit. I signed a contract to disappear quietly."
"Why?" Zhang Jiale wondered out loud. Why would Ye Xiu give up all the resources of one of the top guilds in the country so easily? And why was he so non-chalant about it all? If it were Zhang Jiale, he would be fuming at the injustice. That contract could not have been at all fair, or else Ye Xiu wouldn't have to resort to stealing Zhang Jiale's identity to bum some cigarettes.
Ye Xiu gave a weary but knowing smile. "Why did you leave Hundred Blossoms?"
Zhang Jiale froze, not expecting his own sore spot to be touched.
There was a lot that the leader of a large guild could do, but tied under so much responsibility, there was also one important thing they were unable to do: leave freely to chase after the SSS-class gate that appeared every five years to whisk away hundreds of victims before disappearing once again. Many guilds treated it as a natural disaster to be endured, no one wanted to attempt to clear it anymore. Especially not when it always disappeared by itself - but who knew how long that would last?
Both Zhang Jiale and Ye Xiu had lost a partner to that gate.
"Are you really going after it?" Zhang Jiale gave him a skeptical look. "In that state?"
"Well, I called you here for a reason."
"Called me here? You stole my identity!"
"It worked, didn't it?"
Something in Zhang Jiale snapped. Knowing he would never be able to beat Ye Xiu's goddamn clever mouth, he did the next best thing. He grabbed the bastard's shirt and kissed him silent.
Physical contact like this was not unfamiliar to them. As hunters, this was the easiest way to exchange mana in emergency situations. And from the dizzying speed at which he felt his mana leaving him, Zhang Jiale could tell Ye Xiu was near dry. This asshole! Acting so confident when he was this much of a mess.
Miraculously, even after they separated, Ye Xiu stayed quiet. He must have really been exhausted, but Zhang Jiale didn't miss the chance to brag. "My kissing skills are pretty good aren't they?"
Ye Xiu smiled. "Better than our first. I remember this cute little new hunter who bit-"
"Hey!" Zhang Jiale screeched. "If we're going to work together you can't bring up my black history!"
"I could be convinced to forget," Ye Xiu countered, pulling Zhang Jiale in for another kiss.