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Chapter Text

Xue Yang didn’t see Xiao Xingchen the next day, or the one after that. It wasn’t like he wanted to – it was just that their short interactions had been the most interesting thing in his life in a long while. Well, interesting might be the wrong word. Irritating would be more appropriate. Infuriating, maybe. But the next days passed without any further incident. A-Qing still pretended to be sick, though the other workers knew her tricks, and on Sunday she got kicked out.

“No sick person can scream like that,” she said in a mocking voice that came surprisingly close to that of Ming Su, a particularly nasty worker.

“Well, you did yell at him to ‘get his dirty fucking fingers off you’,” Xue Yang pointed out with a not insignificant amount of satisfaction in his voice. They were sitting next to each other on a busy sidewalk, and Xue Yang carved away at his stone dragon while A-Qing shot glares at people who gave them funny looks.

“He grabbed my arm, what was I supposed to do?” she asked with a pout, as if Xue Yang had scolded her.

“Break his wrist?” he suggested with a shrug, “Or tell me to break his wrist, if your skinny arms are too weak.”

“Shut up,” she muttered and threw a candy wrapper at him, “What are you doing there anyway? Is that a fish?”

“It’s a dragon, you cretin,” Xue Yang said indignantly.

After an hour, A-Qing complained that she needed to stretch her legs, and she scurried off to wherever she spent her time when she wasn’t annoying Xue Yang. Another two hours later and Xue Yang had finished his little stone dragon. He examined it from all angles and decided that it definitely did not look like a fish, thank you very much. With a sigh he got up and almost fell to the ground again when his left leg decided that it was too tired to obey his commands. For a few steps the numbness in his leg made him limp in a poor imitation of an old man, which got him an exceptionally pitying look from a passing woman. She pressed a few coins into his hand and hurried along, muttering something that sounded vaguely like “And at such a young age, what a waste.” Xue Yang was a bit dumbfounded. Many a people had called him a waste, sometimes of time, sometimes of space, but no one had ever paid him for it. He grinned at the money, already having decided what to buy with it.

He arrived back at the shelter when the sun was starting to sink behind the tall buildings of the town. In his hand he held a bag of candies, from which he popped one into his mouth as he pushed the door open with his foot. Behind the counter sat a worker called Zhen Fu, and Xue Yang’s already good mood improved by another large margin. Zhen Fu was an idiot, but he was a gossiping idiot and Xue Yang had waited for someone to pester since Thursday.

“Yo, Zhen Fu!” he called though the hall and several heads turned in his direction. He noticed with bitter satisfaction that some eyes were filled with fear at the sight of him. But Zhen Fu was undeterred, he just briefly looked up and rolled his eyes.

“What do you want?” he asked snidely.  Xue Yang gave him his most poisonous smile.

“Just have a chat with my good friend, that’s all,” and he audibly crushed the hard candy between his teeth.

“What about?” 

“Oh, nothing special. I just heard you have a new addition to the team. Another kind soul to care for the poor homeless of this city?” he wiggled his eyebrows and passed Zhen Fu a candy, which he eyed suspiciously.

“Yeah, what about him? You have a problem with him?” Zhen Fu somehow sounded hopeful, as if the prospect of Xue Yang filing a complaint about his co-worker would brighten his day.

“Nah, not really. What’s his deal though? He seems kinda…weird.”

“Hah!” Zhen Fu spat, and Xue Yang know he had him. “Weird is putting it mildly. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the guy’s a damn saint. He doesn’t work here. He volunteers.”

Xue Yang pulled up both eyebrows. “People still do that?”

“Well, he does apparently. Something about wanting to help those less fortunate. I’m honestly not sure if he’s kind or just stupid.”

He said something else, but Xue Yang wasn’t listening anymore. He was certain that there was something off about that Xiao Xingchen. No one did work like this from the goodness of their heart. He had to be getting something out of it. Maybe he wanted to use the homeless for some kind of smuggling cartel? God knows there were enough corrupt workers here. 

“Hey!” a voice pulled him away from his (admittedly ridiculous) conspiracy theories and back into reality. “Is that candy?”

“No,” Xue Yang said and turned to A-Qing, “It’s small rocks I’ve wrapped in candy paper and put into a bag.”

She slapped his arm and reached for the bag, but Xue Yang held it just out of her reach. “What do little four-eyed girls say when they want a piece of candy?” he asked in an annoying sing-song voice.

“Give me the fucking candy,” A-Qing deadpanned.

“That’s my girl.” Xue Yang tossed the candy at her head.

-

The next day was a Monday, which meant that the woman whose name Xue Yang kept forgetting would be at the reception again. He didn’t care to meet her after she’d sent him out into the pouring rain, and so he left early when the sun was just beginning to crest over the buildings. It was a cold day, and his hoodie did little to keep away the biting wind. He pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and made his way to the small park right next to the big shopping mall. He liked the contrast between the tall building with its glass front and the quaint park with its little pond. It was like the small patch of nature still held some significance, even among the much more prominent buildings. It somehow made him feel like he belonged. Xue Yang walked slowly, observing the people who rushed by on their way to work, or god knows where. Sometimes he envied them for the business in their lives. He often tried to find a job. Every time he saw a “help wanted” sign in the window of a convenience store or coffee shop, he would go inside and ask if they still looked for help. Most of the time the only thing they gave him was a shocked look before mumbling something about already having hired someone. But they didn’t take the sign off the window. Xue Yang used to feel disheartened at that, disappointed even. Now he just felt tired. Once he had managed to get a trial shift at a gas station. But as he already said, Karma was a bitch, and during his shift someone attempted to rob the station. Attempted, because despite his slender build, Xue Yang was quite adept at fistfights, and he managed to beat the assailant unconscious. It doesn’t need saying that he didn’t get hired after that.

He sighed. He shouldn’t care about that anymore, but he had always been one to hold on to his petty grudges. Speaking of not being able to let go, Xue Yang’s thoughts slowly drifted over to that new worker, who seemed so adamant on being a good person - on doing good for the sake of it, and not just for himself. That alone made him untrustworthy in Xue Yang’s book. People didn’t do anything without expecting something in return. Especially not something as unpleasant as volunteering at a homeless shelter. At this point, Xue Yang was impatiently waiting for Thursday to arrive, if only to get a better understanding of what exactly it was Xiao Xingchen wanted to accomplish.

But Thursday was still three days away, and there was nothing interesting to do in the meantime. That was one of the worst things of being homeless, of having no real purpose in life: days just blended together into one singular mass and everything became a monotone grey. Xue Yang could no longer remember the last time he had felt significant, or even just a part of the world he was living in. He just existed from one moment to the next, never really sure how he still managed to hang on. Xue Yang was desperate for a reason to keep going, even though he would never say that out loud.

He tried to push the depressing thoughts into a far back corner of his mind that was reserved solely for them, and slumped down onto a park bench. He was just about to close his eyes, when he saw it. A flash of white out of the corner of his eye. But it couldn’t be. He just imagined it, because he had been thinking about the man. He still turned his head, only to confirm his doubt.

But no.

There he was, Xiao Xingchen, in a stupidly clean looking white coat, strolling through the park like some kind of spirit who had accidentally manifested among the unmown patches of grass. For a moment, Xue Yang contemplated calling out to him, but then he remembered the unspoken rule that inhabitants of the shelter should never approach the workers in public (because apparently, they were just that much of a stain). And so he pushed the urge down and settled on observing the man, who seemed to be deeply lost in thought. He looked so at peace that Xue Yang was surprised he didn’t fall asleep while walking.

Suddenly, there was a loud splash from the pond next to Xue Yang as two ducks landed simultaneously on the still surface, and Xiao Xingchen turned to follow the noise with his eyes. Xue Yang quickly averted his gaze – he didn’t want to get caught staring and also give the other a chance to ignore him and continue on his way. But apparently Xiao Xingchen was not keen on living up to Xue Yang’s expectations. Only a few moments passed before Xue Yang heard footsteps approaching.

“Hello…Xue Yang, wasn’t it? From the shelter?”  

Xue Yang looked up and immediately felt a very irritating sting in his chest at the sight of Xiao Xingchen’s smile. The other stood there in the bright sunlight of the early morning and looked downright fucking ethereal with his smooth white skin and his even whiter coat. The only dark thing about him was his hair, smooth and black and perfect, just like the rest of him. Xue Yang scoffed, which Xiao Xingchen apparently took as a reply to his question.

“Oh, I could have sworn I had gotten the name right.”

Xue Yang rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in an attempt to shield himself from the goddamn aura of purity Xiao Xingchen exuded.

“No, you’ve gotten it right,” he said. Somewhere in his mind, two forces were engaged in battle, one wanting to tell Xiao Xingchen to fuck off, the other wanting to ask him to sit down. Xue Yang settled on neither, simply staring at the spill of black hair down Xiao Xingchen’s shoulders, as that was the only thing about the other that didn’t blind him. Xiao Xingchen, ever undeterred by any rudeness Xue Yang had to offer, sat down next to him, close enough that Xue Yang was able to make out a faint wooden smell, mixed with something sweet.

“Are you enjoying the morning?” Xiao Xingchen asked.

Xue Yang couldn’t help himself; he gaped at the man before him. “Are you making fu… small talk?”

“You ask that as if it were something strange,” Xiao Xingchen chuckled. Xue Yang didn’t say that it was, that no one had ever attempted to make small talk with him because honestly, that would sound pretty pathetic. And so he shrugged and tore his eyes away from Xiao Xingchen’s smile. Really, was there anything about the man that wasn’t bright?

“I’m just killing time,” Xue Yang muttered because it sounded better than This is the only place that doesn’t make me feel like I’m some sort of alien.

“You chose a good place. The chrysanthemums are beautiful here,” Xiao Xingchen gestured at the flowers around them.

For a moment, Xue Yang didn’t know what to say. Then he decided on “You’re so weird,” because someone finally had to tell the poor guy.

“Hah, people keep saying that,” Xiao Xingchen laughed awkwardly and looked down as a slight blush crept into his cheeks. Xue Yang stood up. This was too much. The entire situation was so unfamiliar that it felt more dangerous than any of the countless fights he had been in. Xiao Xingchen looked up alarmed, and with shock did Xue Yang realise that the expression on the other’s face was a familiar one. Regret. Regret as in I shouldn’t have said that, something Xue Yang had thought more often than he dared to count. And he knew how it stung, the knowledge that you said something you couldn’t take back, well aware that you’ve just made another irreversible mistake. So he sighed and plopped back down onto the bench.

“Whatever. It’s not like it’s the bad kind of weird anyway,” he said as nonchalantly as possible, not looking at Xiao Xingchen. The silence that followed was almost unbearable, and so Xue Yang put on a grin. He didn’t know where the sudden urge to reassure Xiao Xingchen came from, and how it had managed to replace his mistrust for the man.

“So, what’s your deal? Four-eyes and I have been making bets.”

Xiao Xingchen relaxed, the stiffness vanishing from the line of his shoulders and a small smile reappeared on his face.

“Four-eyes? A-Qing you mean?”

“Everyone calls her four-eyes, you better go with the flow, Xiao Xingchen,” Xue Yang said, knowing A-Qing would kill him if she ever found out. It was still worth it, because Xiao Xingchen seemed to be gullible as hell. He nodded.

“And what kind of bets have you been making?”

“Well, we heard that you’re volunteering at the shelter and we’ve been betting on what you’re getting out of it.”

At that Xiao Xingchen laughed, but the brightness of the sound was slightly dimmed by the sadness in his eyes.

“Getting out of it? Well, I suppose–“

“Xingchen?”

The darker voice came from behind them and Xue Yang turned on instinct, ever vigilant of any kind of danger that might be headed his way. There stood a tall man, dressed in a crisp dark suit and an equally dark trench coat. His black hair was short and the expression on his face solemn. All in all, Xue Yang thought, he looked like he just came from a funeral.  Something about him was familiar, but Xue Yang couldn’t quite think of what exactly it was.

“Zichen, you’re here already,” Xiao Xingchen said and got up. Xue Yang didn’t feel disappointed at that, he definitely did not.

The man nodded and his eyes wandered to Xue Yang. They widened slightly when they landed on his face. “Who’s your…friend?” he asked, and something in his voice suggested hostility.

“I’m his protégé,” Xue Yang grinned, purposefully wide so that his canines were exposed. People always told him that they were uncharacteristically sharp. Xiao Xingchen laughed and shrugged.

“More or less. This is Xue Yang. He’s one of the people staying at the homeless shelter,” he said and smiled at Xue Yang, who kept his eyes firmly on the much more familiar animosity in the face of Xiao Xingchen’s friend.

“I…see.” There was a slight hesitation in the man’s voice as nodded and inclined his head, “I’m Song Zichen. Nice to meet you.” His tone indicated that meeting Xue Yang was anything but nice.

“Shall we go?” Song Zichen asked Xiao Xingchen, who nodded, much to Xue Yang’s annoyance.

“Well, I’ll see you on Thursday, Xue Yang,” Xiao Xingchen waved and made his way out of the park together with his friend. Xue Yang felt something while watching his retreating form, although he wasn’t really sure what it was.

-

“He’s triad,” A-Qing said with finality.

Xue Yang snorted. “Triad? You on the organised crime train again?”

A-Qing ignored him, “Did he carry a suitcase? I bet he did. So, this Song Zichen is a member of the triad, and Xiao Xingchen is his informant or something. Maybe he wants to get homeless people to spy for him.”

Xue Yang almost regretted telling A-Qing about his encounter. Almost. Her conspiracy theories were even funnier than his own. It was Wednesday evening and they sat next to each other in the already mostly empty dining hall. A-Qing had an open book in front of her and Xue Yang had started to carve another statue. He attempted a crane, but the intricacy of its wings proved to be problematic.

“Maybe we’re approaching this from the wrong angle,” Xue Yang mused as he tied to chisel a feathery texture into the stone, “Maybe he’s just doing something super mundane, like work in an office or something.”

“Yeah. A triad office.” A-Qing said.

“Why don’t you ask him when he’s in tomorrow? I bet you two bags of candy that he’s actually just another Mr. Boring.” At least then his lie to Xiao Xingchen wouldn’t be a lie anymore.

“Deal,” A-Qing said, “But you ask. I don’t want him to murder me in my sleep.”

-

Xue Yang got up early on Thursday. Not that he had ever slept longer than 6AM, not with the mattress being about as comfortable as a solid brick of stone. But for some reason he wanted to be up before anyone else, just so that he could take a shower without people pressing him to hurry the fuck up. He hopped under the cold stream of water and thoroughly cleaned himself. The water couldn’t quite get rid of the tangles in his hair, but he supposed he could borrow A-Qing’s comb afterwards. Memories of Xiao Xingchen asking if he wanted a brush flashed before his eyes. He inwardly cringed when he remembered his own reaction. It had been rash, just like everything else Xue Yang did, and definitely not something Xiao Xingchen deserved. Ever since meeting the man in the park, the possibility of him actually just wanting to be nice had entered Xue Yang’s mind. Even though that was hard to believe. At least he didn’t seem to have taken Xue Yang’s unreasonable outburst to heart and turned it into a lifelong grudge against him, as Xue Yang himself would have done. 

Xue Yang stopped his reminiscing when the cold water started to feel uncomfortable against his skin. He stepped outside the shower and hastily dried himself off to get into his clothes before other people could make their way into the washing room. By the time he was done with everything, the shelter had become busier, and people shuffled through the hallways. He looked for A-Qing, but she wasn’t in her room or her usual spot in front of one of the few heating units. Xue Yang was just about to check the entry hall when something hit the back of his head. He whipped around, ready to strike back at whoever it was, but before him stood A-Qing, book in her hand and grin on her face.

“You ready to buy me two bags of candy?”

Xue Yang smiled sweetly, “No, but I’m ready to eat two bags of candy.”

“Let’s wait until the others are gone. He’s more likely to drop his cover with fewer people around,” she said ominously and looked around in a way that screamed ‘please notice me, I’m tying to be inconspicuous’.

Xue Yang got the strange urge to ruffle her hair, even though that would most likely get him a kick in the shin. But it did make him remember something.

“Hey, can I borrow your comb?”

Her eyes narrowed and he knew what was coming, “What’ll you give in return?”

“My eternal gratitude and the knowledge that you did something good for once.”

A-Qing rolled her eyes but still shuffled through her bag.

“Fine. But you owe me something.”

Xue Yang gave an exaggerated bow and started brushing his hair, carefully trying to work out all the tangles. He should cut it again, but his scissors had been stolen and his knife wasn’t sharp enough.

It took about two more hours until most of the people had left the shelter and by that point Xue Yang was sure that not a single knot was left in his hair. A-Qing had started reading again, a book titled The Murder on the Second Floor.

“Let me guess,” Xue Yang drawled as he ran the comb through his hair again, now more out of boredom than necessity, “The killer is a member of the triad?”

A-Qing glared at him and snatched her comb out of his hand.

“Don’t you have a bet to lose?” she hissed. Xue Yang shrugged; might as well get it over with. He got up, stretched, and made his way slowly to the entrance hall. It was empty save for the person sitting behind the reception counter. He was wearing white again, because of course he was, and looked as flawless as ever. Xue Yang was glad he had taken that shower and brushed his hair – somehow it made he feel more entitled to talk to Xiao Xingchen. He almost rolled his eyes at the thought – as if appearances were the main cause to set them apart, and not their general position in life.

Xue Yang sauntered over to the desk, a grin plastered onto his face. Xiao Xingchen looked up when he heard the approaching steps and the corners of his lips stretched into a smile. It looked honest, not like the ones people sometimes directed at Xue Yang when they deemed him worthy of their pity.

“Hello, Xue Yang. I would ask if you are enjoying the morning, but I have a feeling you’re not one for small talk.”

Xue Yang made an exaggerated gasp and leaned against the desk. “Was that a joke?”

Xiao Xingchen didn’t reply, but his eyes were lit up with mirth. They aren’t white, Xue Yang thought dumbly. Of course not, Xiao Xingchen wasn’t blind. Instead they were a warm black, if black could even be such a thing. Well, since Xiao Xingchen’s appearance didn’t seem to be bound to the same rules as that of mere mortals, it wasn’t impossible.

“You still owe me an answer,” Xue Yang said casually, as if he hadn’t been staring deeply into the other’s eyes for the past ten seconds. 

Xiao Xingchen blinked. “An answer?“

„What are you getting out of this? You know, volunteering and stuff.”

That same sad look reappeared on Xiao Xingchen’s face and Xue Yang wondered what it meant.

“Would you believe me if I said that I’m just doing this because I want to help?”

Xue Yang was about to say no, when something stopped him. He didn’t know what exactly, maybe the expression on Xiao Xingchen’s face, maybe the way his voice dropped a few cadences.

So, “I don’t know,” Xue Yang decided on, and realised it was the truth. “It’s hard to believe, but, well. Maybe there are people like that. Or maybe you’re a member of the triad and want to use homeless people to establish an information network.”

Xiao Xingchen’s eyes widened with every word out of Xue Yang’s mouth. For a moment it was quiet.

“What?” Xiao Xingchen blurted out, his voice reaching a surprisingly high pitch. With his mouth agape and his eyebrows scrunched together, this was the first time he didn’t look like a heavenly official who had just descended to the mortal realm. “Triad? I – what? But…” 

His eyes flicked from Xue Yang down to the files on his desk, as if he half expected to find a sheet saying, “Welcome to the Triad”.

Xue Yang laughed. His arm slipped from the wooden counter as he bent over and clutched his stomach while unrestrained laughter spilled from his mouth. Xiao Xingchen looked utterly confused, with hints of alarm in his eyes, and Xue Yang found it even prettier than his usual dignified look. That thought sobered him up quite a bit because no, he definitely didn’t think Xiao Xingchen was pretty.

Xue Yang straightened himself and gave the perplexed man before him an apologetic look. “Told you we’ve been betting.”

“And…and you thought I was in organised crime?”

“A-Qing thought you were in organised crime. I thought you were a boring office worker.” He didn’t mention his first theory that Xiao Xingchen wanted to establish a smuggling cartel in the shelter.

“I…I don’t know what to say,” Xiao Xingchen admitted, and he looked halfway between laughing and crying.

Xue Yang shrugged, “If it makes you feel better, the first time we met she was convinced I was Yakuza. There is just something about that girl and organised crime.”

“Why would she think that?” Xiao Xingchen sounded seriously interested, as if he was a psychiatrist trying to determine someone’s sad past.

Xue Yang just wriggled the fingers of his left hand in front of Xiao Xingchen’s face. “Apparently there’s something about chopping off the pinky of disgraced members.”

Xiao Xingchen looked at the empty space where Xue Yang’s finger used to be for just a second, before his eyes found Xue Yang’s again.

“I’m sorry,” he said, and there it was again, that honest tone so completely free of pity. The usual annoyance that was there whenever people talked about his hand didn’t come. Instead, Xue Yang felt strangely warm. Wasn’t autumn supposed to be cold?

“Ah, whatever. It’s been gone for ages. So?”

“So?”

“What are you doing if you’re not trying to achieve world domination by volunteering at a homeless shelter? I mean, you have to earn money, right? Otherwise we’d be on the same side of this desk.”

Xiao Xingchen cringed and looked down again.

“I… I own a flower shop.”

Xue Yang spluttered. “Holy shit.”

“What?” came a loud shriek from the hallway. Xiao Xingchen’s head whipped around and he saw A-Qing standing there, staring at him with her mouth hanging open.

“I win, four-eyes. Flower shop owner is about as boring as it gets,” Xue Yang said, even though he found it pretty damn interesting.

A-Qing came out of her hiding spot and gave Xiao Xingchen a cold look, “He has no proof that he’s telling the truth.”

“Uhm, I have, actually,” Xiao Xingchen said and dug around in the bag that was standing on the floor next to him. “Here.”

He slid a little card over the counter and Xue Yang and A-Qing bent over it almost greedily.

It was a white business card with a little flower design on one side. “Bright Moon and Gentle Breeze – Flower Shop. Proprietor: Xiao Xingchen”, it announced. Xue Yang and A-Qing looked up at the same time and gave Xiao Xingchen an incredulous look. He sighed.

“Go ahead. Say it.”

“That name sucks,” A-Qing said.

“That name is amazing,” Xue Yang said.

Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing looked equally surprised at Xue Yang.

“What? It’s so stupid that it’s practically guaranteed to stick in everyone’s mind.”

“Or really?” A-Qing adopted a mocking tone. “Where did you buy those beautiful flowers?”

Xue Yang caught on immediately and pretended to be swirling a wine glass, “At the Bright Moon and Gentle Breeze of course.”

A-Qing shrugged. “I guess it works.”

Xiao Xingchen was quiet for a second, then he burst out laughing. It was a nice laugh, open and unguarded, and Xue Yang wouldn’t mind hearing more of it. He noticed how Xiao Xingchen closed his eyes when he laughed like that, and that there was just the slightest hint of a dimple in his cheek.

“You’re not getting anything from me though,” A-Qing jabbed her finger at Xue Yang, who tried and failed to look away from Xiao Xingchen. “You said office worker, and that’s about as far away from flower shop owner as it gets.”

“Now you’re being a sore loser,” Xue Yang complained, his eyes still glued to Xiao Xingchen, who was now wiping tears off his face.

“What were the stakes?” Xiao Xingchen asked. He was slightly out of breath and his face was flushed, and Xue Yang’s thoughts entered an incredibly dangerous territory. He dug his nails into his palm and bit his lip, but the damage had been done. Xue Yang cursed his own weakness and forcibly tore his gaze away from Xiao Xingchen.

“Two bags of candy,” Xue Yang pouted and glared at A-Qing. “You ate half of the one I bought the other day.”

“Well, I lent you my comb,” she retorted. Xue Yang didn’t miss the way Xiao Xingchen’s eyes flicked to his now-smooth hair. Xue Yang’s hand immediately came up to tangle in the strands as a weird kind of self-consciousness took a hold of him. Xiao Xingchen followed the motion with his eyes. It was very quiet for a minute and the atmosphere verged on ‘inside of a volcano’. Then, Xiao Xingchen seemed to snap out of his reverie and bent down to rummage through his bag. When he came up again, he placed two pieces of candy on the counter.

“Here’s a consolation prize. It may not be a whole bag, but at least…”

He didn’t get to finish because Xue Yang and A-Qing simultaneously lunged for the treats. Xue Yang half expected it to be some organic, sugar-free herb candy, but when he popped it into his mouth, he tasted artificial sweetness and bliss with hints of lychee. He hummed contently. A-Qing eyed hers a bit suspiciously, but in the end the promise of sugar was more alluring than the fear of poison, and she quickly discarded the wrapping.

For a moment, silence spread through the room while its noisiest inhabitants were too busy savouring their treats.

“Thanks.”

The word would have been inaudible, had it not been for the quietness and it made Xue Yang almost choke on his spit. A-Qing didn’t look at either of them, she just turned and marched out of the hall.

“Well, that’s a first,” Xue Yang muttered, candy clacking against his teeth. “Looks like sugar is enough to make her join the triad.”

“And for you it wouldn’t be?” Xiao Xingchen pulled up an eyebrow, the cynic expression somehow not matching the softness in his face.

“Am I that easy to read? Three meetings and you’ve already figured me out.”

Xiao Xingchen smiled and shook his head. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Maybe I’ll figure you out when we spend more time together.”

This time, Xue Yang really did choke. He coughed violently and swallowed the remainder of his candy. Xiao Xingchen jumped up and hurried over, carefully patting Xue Yang’s back.

“Are you alright?” he asked, as if his casual offer of company hadn’t just sent Xue Yang into a coughing fit.

“Sure,” Xue Yang pressed out after he managed to get enough air into his lungs. He realised that Xiao Xingchen’s hand was still on his back, tracing small circles against the fabric of his sweater. The warmth felt foreign, and Xue Yang struggled to remember the last time anyone had touched him like that. Gently, without the intention of violence behind it.  But Xue Yang’s sweater was dirty and entirely unfit for something as clean as Xiao Xingchen’s hands, and so Xue Yang quickly straightened and took a step back.

“I uh…better get outside and leave you to your important work,” he said weakly and hoped that none of his embarrassment showed on his face. Xiao Xingchen looked a bit concerned, but he nodded.

“Xue Yang!”

His name was called just as Xue Yang was about to step out of the door. He turned his head and saw Xiao Xingchen still standing where he had left him.

“If you ever need anything…please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Xue Yang didn’t know what to say to a request like that – a request made for Xue Yang’s benefit, but by someone else.

“Okay,” he agreed, even though it wasn’t okay at all.

-

Xue Yang returned to the shelter several hours later when it was already dark outside, and the chill of the autumn evening started to seep through his clothes. The first ting he noticed when he entered the shelter was that the person behind the reception desk didn’t wear white. The pang of disappointment that surged through him was entirely uncalled for though, and completely unreasonable to boot. When Xue Yang walked past the reception, the woman (who he faintly recalled to be called Wan Jin), did a double take and squinted at his face.

“What?” Xue Yang snapped, wondering if there had maybe been an arrest warrant issued for him because of his latest fight. Granted, it had happened several weeks in the past, but sometimes these things came back after months to bite him in the ass. But Wan Jin’s expression didn’t look like she was about to hand him over to the police.

“You’re Xue Yang, no?”

If anything, that made Xue Yang grow even more suspicious, and he narrowed his eyes at her. Almost every worker in this shelter knew his name, if only because of his problematic past and the rumours that surrounded him like nasty flies.

“And if I was?”

She rolled her eyes and slammed something on the counter. “No need to be so dramatic. The pretty boy who was in before me asked me to give this to you.”

Xue Yang knew who she meant, of course he did, there was literally only one pretty boy in the whole shelter, which was all the more reason from him to glare at her. Still he stepped closer to the counter and eyed the small thing on top of it. Unsurprisingly, it was another piece of candy. He felt a laugh bubble up in him, but he quickly forced it down, not willing to show any kind of strong emotion in front of people who may or may not use it against him.

“Oh. I see,” he just said and snatched the candy.

“You’re welcome!” Wan Jin shouted after him, as if she had been her personal gift to Xue Yang.

The shelter had plenty of bedrooms of varying sizes and capacities, but there weren’t any ascribed beds. That didn’t mean that there was no order to the sleeping arrangements – almost everyone had a usual spot to which they stuck. Xue Yang’s was in the smallest room by far, which some might see as a disadvantage, but it also meant that he had to share it with only one other person. It was an old man who wasn’t in often, and if he was he mostly just slept, so he was part of the list of people whose name Xue Yang couldn’t be bothered to remember. All things considered, it was probably the most private room in the entire shelter. And since most people knew at least of Xue Yang and his reputation, there had never been anyone trying to contest his right to the room. But today when Xue Yang pushed the door open, he found someone already occupying his mattress. He groaned.

“This is the male ward, four-eyes. But I forgive you, maybe you need new glasses and didn’t see the sign.”

A-Qing didn’t as much as bat an eyelash at his weak insult and threw something in his direction instead. It hit him in the chest, which was quite the accomplishment considering it was a small piece of paper. He picked it up and recognised it as Xiao Xingchen’s business card.

“So, a flower shop, huh?” A-Qing sighed, almost sounding disappointed.

“You believe him that easily?”

“Well, at first I thought the shop might be a front, but…well, Bright Moon and Gentle Breeze is just too embarrassing to be connected to the triad. He’d get fired immediately.”

“Maybe you should pay him a visit there, make sure he’s not doing anything illegal,” Xue Yang suggested with a smirk and plopped down next to her, making sure he was far enough away to not touch her.

“Maybe you should pay him a visit, considering how you leered at him the whole time,” she shot back.

Xue Yang dropped the candy he had been unwrapping.

“I didn’t – I wasn’t leering at him, what the fuck?”

A-Qing grinned triumphantly. “You wouldn’t be so quick in denying it if you didn’t know it was true!”

Xue Yang threw whatever he was holding at her face and realised too late that it was the candy.

“Thanks!” she laughed and dodged to the side when he lunged at her. She quickly jumped up and skipped to the door. “If it makes you feel better, I think he was leering back. Good night, jerk. Sweet dreams.”

“Yeah, I hope you choke on it!” Xue Yang called after her, even though it was the depth of pettiness. A young girl of barely 18 shouldn’t be able to make a simple statement sound so lewd. He cursed and fell back onto his mattress. He hadn’t leered. Hadn’t even as much as stared! And he doubted that Xiao Xingchen even possessed the ability to do something as un-heavenly as leering. But A-Qing had always been way too wrapped up in her conspiracy theories, and so he didn’t think about it anymore. At least not for too long.