Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mass is not proportional to volume.

A girl as small as a violet,

A girl who moves like a flower petal,

Is pulling me toward her with more force than her mass.

"What's that you're reading?"

His student stops and turns to him with a blink- like they forgot they weren't alone- before giving him an easy smile. "Hello, coach. It's just a book Kimberly recommended to me. It's like a collection of poems or something? I'm not into that stuff but she says that this collection's good so I thought I'll give it a try," they say with a grin that doesn't quite reach their eyes, voice too forcefully high-pitched from their usual tone to truly be sincere.

They stand up before folding the current page they're on crudely and closing the book. It looks brand new based on the paper quality but that particular page looks abused to hell and back- even then during their lunch break, Luke can't help but notice how his student just stayed on that one page.

The book gets shoved unceremoniously in their back pocket, increasing the creases that it already has. Luke holds back a wince at the treatment of said book before starting to walk back to the middle of the training room with his student. "Kimberly..? Oh! That ninja master you have?" He asks his student and he's given a slightly bigger smile in return, followed by a nod.

The subsequent sparring match starts and Luke can't help but notice how much his student has improved- granted, still not really a master yet, but much, much better than the last time the two of them have sparred.

Alarmingly.

The spar ended with Luke's win and he laughs as his student faceplants on the rubber mat. They laugh with him as he pulls them back up to stand with a hand only for him to frown a bit as he stares up at their face.

Something seems off.

"You a'ight? Something bothering you?" He tries but the student just shakes their head. 

"Don't worry about it coach, might just be off my game today," they say with a grin before waving him off. Sometimes Luke wishes it would be as bright as when they first met, he's never seen them quite that lively in a while.

He gives the student a few more tips about their form- how to better try reading their opponent instead of just charging in hands blazing like they always do- and they seem to be more attentive than usual.

"Anyways, that's all I can do for you today! Ya got anything going on these days other than training to get stronger?" Luke asks and sees something flicker in his student's expression.

"Not much," is their short answer, they say it with a slight wince that they try to hide with a smile. Luke translates it to: 'I want to get even stronger and I'll do anything to get it. I can't afford to have distractions'. This Kimberly person was probably right in trying to recommend them a book, their student really needs a hobby.

Luke smiles and pats them in the shoulder. "Take it easy, 'kay?"

"Of course," they reply.

It sounds hollow. The kid's always been bad at lying.

They set off, waving goodbye as they leave. Luke crosses his arms and leans against the fencing of the training facility as he watches their back. The student walks through the same familiar route they walked on with Bosch to see Metro City together.

It was a shame, what happened to Bosch. They didn't have a lot of time together but he had a lot of potential. If only… No- there really was no way he could've stopped him, huh? Sometimes, that's just how it is. A mad dash for strength tends to leave people down a path they can never get back from. 

A thought flashes by Luke's mind, remembering parts of the poem.

Mass is not proportional to volume…

His student slows their walking as they look up at a building still under construction after all this time, hand lifting to trace the nayshalli necklace around their neck.

Eyes far away, never smiling fully, desperately striving to get much stronger- his student hasn't been the same since that incident in Nayshall a couple months ago.

Pulling… toward with more force than mass…

…

What was on the rest of the page again?

Luke sighs before trekking back into the facility. He'll have to search up the poem later, there must be something in there that can help.

🏢

Mass is not proportional to volume.

A girl as small as a violet,

A girl who moves like a flower petal,

Is pulling me toward her with more force than her mass.

In that moment,

Like Newton's apple, I-

"Ack-"

"Watch it!"

Luke turns to see a familiar face glaring at him. 

Great. It's this guy.

Something in his expression must've set the other off because not even half a second later, the other man scoffs. "What, you try'na replace the meat in your head with an actual vocabulary now? Well try to do shit like that somewhere else 'cause people are actually trying to properly walk here on the, you know, sidewalk. The place on the side of the road where you walk."

He sees Jamie's eyes try to sneak a peek at the page his phone's on and he pockets it immediately. The site is basic white with black text so it's a bit academic looking- must be where he got the vocabulary jab from- and it'll be absolute hell for him if Jamie finds out he's looking up a poem.

Luke rolls his eyes, feeling his blood starting to heat up already.

Okay, he admits it's partly his fault this time since he wasn't looking at where he's walking- but does this guy have to be so goddamn obnoxious about it?? Also, he really saw someone clearly looking at their phone while walking- Luke looks around the empty ass sidewalk to check if there's anyone else around, there's no one- and didn't think to side step??

"Oh? No apologies? No nothing?" Jamie tilts his head in that annoying way he always does when taunting him and Luke stops the urge to grab his braid and pull it down out of sheer pettiness as if he's some kid in a playground.

"Well, I was about to but not anymore since Mister Pretty Boy over here is being a little shit about it," Luke defiantly puts his hands on his hips and stands his ground. Jamie mirrors the pose and scoffs as he raises his chin at him. Luke then raises his chin back just to make the height difference between them all the more pronounced.

"Well, it looks like Mister Meathead is trying to pick a fight."

Oh, say less.

And, like clockwork, the two fighters start a fist fight in the middle of the sidewalk.

"What are you supposed to be now? Not feeling like walking around like a mustard bottle today?" Luke barks out as he throws a sandblast out of his punch. 

"I'm not taking that shit from someone who wears shit-" Jamie jumps over the projectile and an incredibly speedy downwards kick is sent his way immediately. "-That makes him look like he works in a burger joint!" 

Luke grits his teeth as he blocks its full force, sending him back several steps.

Before Jamie can step in and follow up more, Luke quickly does an uppercut that the other fighter coolly dodges back.

He waves his arm to cool it down from the heat and inwardly curses as Jamie takes a quick drink from his gourd.

Their fight rages on and his opponent's punches and kicks only get stronger. Jamie's flushed and he's sporting a smile that annoys Luke to no end- it makes his chest feel tight, like his damn heart is about to burst out of his ribcage.

Mass is not proportional to volume.

A slender hand grabs his arm and pulls him in, his chest and face meet an elbow and a fist. Luke grits his teeth as the grab sends him back and immediately stands back up to throw a punch at the other before they could finish a gulp.

Jamie curses as he's sent back, wiping spilled drink from his chin using his sleeve before giving Luke a manic grin. The light purple of his current clothes where stray splashes of drink had landed has turned a darker color. He crouches down before suddenly sliding into a breakdance that makes Luke jolt and step back lest he get hit by the other's feet.

… small as a violet,

Luke blocks fists pointed at his face and replies with hits of his own, only for the other to oh so easily evade them by mere centimeters.

… moves like a flower petal,

The drunken boxer steps back to take more drinks and Luke finds it as an opening to pounce. Just before Luke gets to him, the other fighter's braid becomes undone and his top opens as he gets ready to use the full effects of his drink- useless, because immediately right after, he gets caught by the pounce and they both get sent immediately to the ground in a mix of wild hair and tangled limbs with Luke on top of him, ready to bash him in.

…pulling me toward her with more force than her mass.

Jamie steels himself for the punches that are about to come next but nothing arrives. He just lays there with Luke's heavy hands on his shoulders pinning him down.

What is Luke thinking about currently? Jamie doesn't know, but he doesn't dare to move lest Luke actually snaps out of his stupor and continues the attack. They stare each other down and he takes advantage of the momentary pause to catch his breath. The one who breaks eye contact first is Luke- and it's to glance down for a split-second. His blue eyes move back up almost as quickly but the gaze is far away as the hand on Jamie's shoulder lifts to move the strands of hair blocking his face to the side.

The back of the hand lingers momentarily on his cheekbone, Jamie could feel the roughness of the fingers ghosting over his skin. Like a deer in headlights, he feels his entire body freeze. Luke's eyes look lost. What is he seeing right now? Jamie has an idea but he refuses to entertain it currently, they're still in the middle of a fight after all.

✨

But then he starts to slowly inch down.

"Luke-?!" In his sudden shock, Jamie breaks the moment.

As if his soul crash-lands back to his body that same instant, the blonde above him freezes and their eyes meet again with more consciousness in them.

"Fuck-"

Luke says it more to himself- like an inward curse- as he scrambles back up to get off of him so Jamie's pretty sure he wasn't supposed to hear it. Funnily enough, the panic in that tone is what cements the momentary fuckup to him more. Instead of quickly trying to stand up and keep distance, he slowly sits up instead, eyes trained on the MMA fighter who's back to something resembling a fighting stance.

The tint on Luke's cheeks can be chalked up to the exertion during the fight. He can say excuses to himself about how Luke was just tired and decided not to punch down at that moment like he was supposed to. He can stand back up, ignore what just happened, and go back to a fighting stance to play dumb and give the other an out.

Jamie Siu, however, is not dumb.

And he sure as hell ain't giving Luke an out.

He, also, is a little shit who has decided that he wants to give this dude something to keep him awake at night. No, he's not being petty, he's just being… a little silly. Yeah, that's right. A little silly. Plus, living rent-free in this musclehead's brain sounds pretty funny now that he thinks about it. He breaks into a grin and watches a million emotions cross Luke's face.

"Oh? Does Mister Sullivan like what he sees? "

⭐

Jamie Siu is a devil that God sent from hell to torment him. Probably to pay for his sins from a past life. Or just this life. Whichever the fuck it is- it doesn't change that Jamie Siu found something new to grind his gears with.

Yeah, Luke lost that earlier match. Shut the fuck up.

How does Jamie of all people even know how to amp up his own appeal? Does he look in the mirror and check out which angles he looks the best in? How does he know how to make his voice go all sultry like that at the snap of a finger?? And why the fuck does Luke even care???

Ugh, no, now's not the time for that. He feels like he's forgetting something.

He remembers how Jamie looked under him earlier, hair disheveled and face red from whatever drink he chugs to power up. His lips looked shiny- was he wearing lipstick? Or chapstick? Luke doesn't have the brainpower right now to note the difference because what he knows is that looking at it was what caused him to fuck up and they're the reason for his downfall.

What were they fighting about even?

…Right, they bumped into each other.

Because he was reading something on his phone and wasn't looking at where he's going. He stops the urge to slap his palm on his face as he just now remembers that this all started because he's trying to look for ways to distract his diligent student and try to steer them in a good path towards strength. Or find them a hobby or something- he's not very good at this but at least he's trying.

He pulls out his phone from his pocket to open the page he was in earlier, having half the mind to lean against the boardwalk's fence instead of standing smack in the middle of it with his phone out like an idiot and risk bumping into someone again.

Mass is not proportional to volume.

A girl as small as a violet,

A girl who moves like a flower petal,

Is pulling me toward her with more force than her mass.

In that moment,

Like Newton's apple, I rolled toward her

Without stopping until I reached her.

It was first love.

The Physics of Love 

                          -Kim In Yook

An image of Jamie Siu flashes in his mind.

Luke almost crumples the phone in his hand to resist the sudden visceral urge to throw it into the sea.

🍶

Jamie Siu is by no means a small man. He's quite muscular and under that slender figure is strength that can make even those who are three times his size get thrown around with ease simply using their own body weight. It's just that when he's beside Luke, who is considerably more muscular and a few inches taller, he's-

-small as a violet,

-moves like a flower petal,

Is pulling me toward him with more force than his mass.

"Fuck!" The curse he lets out is so sharp it makes the trainees nearby jolt… and the pained groan right after is- honestly- pretty pathetic. But no one's gonna tell him that, and neither will they comment on how he looks like an idiot sitting on a fallen punching bag he just destroyed with his elbows on his knees and his face in his palms.

"I am so, so fucked," he seethes to himself and doesn't see that his student has walked in on him looking like the personification of pining despair.

"To be completely honest, Coach, I don't think destroying another bag is going to get you in trouble. It's not like it's the first sandbag here you've destroyed."

The voice makes him almost jump and he looks up to his own student looking at him in concern. 

Shit, this is so uncool.

"Oh- Uh- Hey- Psshh, no that's not- it's not- nah, don't worry about it," he stumbles his way into a barely coherent sentence and receives deeper concern from his student's- and the other trainees'- eyes.

"...Oookay. Hm, since you're so out of sorts, why not grab a bite to eat first then, Coach? There's this new boba shop that opened and I heard their baked nachos are really good," they ask and Luke can't help but perk up. Baked nachos and boba sounds amazing right now actually.

He dismisses the trainees for a lunch break and follows his student on the way to said boba shop.

They talk about whatever they've been up to during the walk. Apparently his student has been frequenting Nayshall lately and this little girl named Yua- who they've been regularly visiting- has started trying to teach them how to do beadwork or something. That must explain the necklace then, must be from her. 

It looks like he's not the only one who's been trying to look for a way to distract them. The smile doesn't quite reach all the way it used to yet but their steps seem a bit more light-hearted than before.

That's good.

The boba shop looks incredibly chique from outside and there's quite a line inside already. Luke feels relieved he decided to change his shirt earlier before going out for food.

A sweet tinkle of bells ring out in the shop as his student goes in to open the door with him following close behind them. The lady behind the counter lets out an "Oh, it's you! I'm glad you made it!" with a dazzling beam, only to shock still when she sees Luke behind them. His student waves at her and turns back to ask their coach what he wants but realizes he looks to be frozen and distracted by something else.

The student blinks and follows their line of sight only to see one of their masters sitting on one of the counter seats with their back against them. "Master! Fancy seeing you here!" They greet and Luke jolts and tries to discreetly scold them, causing them to turn at him in confusion.

Some of the customers start to notice what's happening and a few have started to visibly panic. Having these two men in one space, especially with how they always are outside, would be bad news.

None other than Jamie Siu himself turns around in his seat to regard the two upon being called. Luke could see the cogs turning in his head in real time as a mischievous smile plasters itself on his pretty face. He hasn't even done anything yet but Luke already knows the short time he'll be here will be exhausting. So much for a break.

" Fancy seeing my disciple here too!" He sharply grins before turning his eyes to the fighter behind his student who looks like he wants to be anywhere else but here.  

"And hello to you too, Mister Sullivan~" Jamie drops his voice to a sultry tone, teasingly playful as he watches Luke close his eyes to bite back a squirm and die inside.

"...Hey," Luke hisses out in reply with a forced smile and could quite visibly see in his peripheral vision how some customers' jaws drop at the 'surprisingly civil' exchange.

The kungfu fighter pulls two nearby chairs closer to him with one foot- which, not gonna lie, was pretty smooth- and motions them nearer. Their student bounces to Jamie and, in a quick movement using only the tip of his shoe, kicks the further chair towards them. They beam at him and take their seat, which means…

The chair right beside Jamie himself is the seat he wants Luke to take.

There's a twinkle in Jamie's eyes and Luke can't help but seethe as he begrudgingly sits down. This is for his beloved student, nothing else. You'll be okay Luke, don't let it get to you.

The two newcomers order what they want- Luke just gets a classic one while his student takes a good look at the menu before going on a spiel of ingredients that sounds like a magic chant- and then they start talking to Jamie about the gangs running around Metro City. Luke stays quiet, on edge and waiting for whatever prank or stupid thing the drunken boxer is gonna say this time to make fun of him.

As their student talks about how they've been trying to learn ninjutsu skills lately, Jamie subtly leans in to 'hear better', proceeding to uncomfortably encroach in Luke's space.

Stubborn as he is, Luke decides to not move out of his way, side-eyeing the other man with a glare instead. Jamie hums and looks up at him with a smirk and a raise of an eyebrow and-

✨

-And the light from one of the suncatchers on the glass windows hits his face just right. He looks like he just jumped out of one of those artsy Instagram photography accounts and Luke would've stopped and appreciate the sight if not for the knowledge that Jamie Siu is a demon who is fucking around and doing this on purpose.

Luke's blood is simmering under his skin already when their order arrives- which is quite quick. His student must've ended up accidentally jumping the line due to knowing who the lady behind the counter is. A couple cups of boba and two plates of baked nachos are placed in-front of them but before he can reach out for his drink, a slender hand snakes past him and takes it instead.

Oh, this motherfucker.

"Ooh, classic milk tea? Haven't actually tried it from this shop yet. Lemme see," he then punctures the cap of Luke's drink that Luke paid for with the straw himself and then proceeds to take a sip from it- only to make a face and push it back towards Luke who just sat there dumbfounded and seething. "That's too damn sweet. What are you, a kid?"

…This man is really testing him. He can feel his blood boiling and it's taking basically all his sense of control to not just deck this asshole's face right here right now. 

"What do you think are you doing?" He says through grit teeth and stops himself from crushing the cup he's now holding when Jamie reaches over to take a nacho from his plate and then proceeds to go for the baked dip.

"Hmmm?" Jamie tilts his head in that fucking way he always does when taunting him and then makes a show of eating the nacho in one bite- followed by an "Mm!" As he does a double take and then proceeds to lean over to try and take a nacho again. Luke, using all of his self control not to grab the fucker's head and slam it down the counter, slides the plate away as far as he can.

"Uh, Master, if you want some you can take from mine!" Their student, sensing the rising tension, tries to dispel it by pushing their plate closer instead. Jamie happily accepts it and then sits back contentedly.

Luke, still pissed, rolls his eyes at the other master. "If you want some so bad, go order for yourself," he scoffs before taking a sip of his drink.

Oh, damn that's good.

The reaction to the drink must've showed on his face because Jamie grimaces. "Ugh, you're basically drinking cake," he grumbles audibly, causing Luke to snap back.

"What the fuck kind of bubble tea isn't sweet?"

"Not all bubble tea has to be sweet, genius. At least I don't drown mine in a buttload of sugar," Jamie sips from his own- which Luke just now notices is actually a larger cup than his- before offering it.

Luke doesn't think much about it when he leans in to sip, only to recoil with a cough after tasting it. "Eughk - that's so damn bitter!" He sips from his own bubble tea to drown out the taste from his mouth and Jamie rolls his eyes, calling him a "baby" before sipping that thing he calls a 'bubble tea' as if it didn't taste like someone liquefied a plant's roots and then put it in a cup with some tapioca pearls in it.

"Ooh, what did you order, master?" Their student pipes up, possibly trying to dissuade the rising tension more, and Jamie just shrugs.

"Golden Dragon milk tea," he says and offers it.

"With higher concentration, zero sugar and no additives," the lady behind the counter pipes up with a strained smile, as if saying that 'Golden Dragon isn't supposed to be that bitter, he specifically just ordered it that way.'

Their student takes a sip and hums. "It's not that bad! It's kind of like a very very… very lite and... smoother version of the energy drink in your gourd," they say and Luke frowns. Wha- energy drink? That's what's in the gourd?? It isn't alcohol???

Well, now that Luke thinks about it… there's no way someone would get piss drunk, still have such pinpoint accuracy in their hits, and then proceed to immediately sober up again right after fighting. He should've known.

Realizing that they're the only one who hasn't 'technically' shared their drink, their student hums before looking down, debating whether they should offer or not. That causes the two masters to finally look down at the drink and then freeze.

"What IS that?"

"Yo, that's not bubble tea, what on earth is that??"

The student looks up with a pout. "It's still bubble tea! I just couldn't decide on an add-on so I decided to add all of them."

They clutch the drink closer to themselves, seemingly deciding not to share it after all. Well, calling it a 'drink' is generous. That thing is basically 10% liquid, 10% ice, 80% everything else.

There's the tapioca pearls at the bottom, egg pudding above that- and then chocolate(?) pudding above the egg pudding because they apparently couldn't decide which to get- then there's some white stuff- a whisper of "Is that nata de coco?" from Jamie beside him in a disbelieving tone informs him of what it is- some popping boba, red bean paste, a bunch of other things that Luke gave up trying to identify, and to top it all off, cheese foam above what little drink fits in the tiny space that the cup can still hold.

The two masters turn to look at the lady behind the counter who just gives them something between a defeated smile and a tearful grimace.

The student huffs and then proceeds to mix the 'drink' and then Jamie lets out a pained sound. "That's like- what was it - halohalo. You came to a boba shop and made halohalo," Jamie deadpans.

Luke makes a face when their student takes a sip and it takes a bit for the 'drink' to climb up the straw because of the messed up consistency.

"Mm!!" The student beams. "It's pretty good!" They then point the straw towards both Jamie and Luke and they both lean back as if it's a venomous snake being offered to them.

"You can pay me to drink that and I still won't," Jamie groans with as much vitriol in it he can muster and feels a squeeze on his knee from Luke in agreement.

He blinks. Does he realize where his hand is?

Oh, right- he was supposed to be pissing this guy off. Their student did such a cursed thing that he ended up on the same side as Luke without meaning to.

"If you wanted halohalo, we could've just gone to a place that specializes in it. Metro City's big, I'm sure there's one somewhere," Luke sighs and, despite the insinuation that they shouldn't have come here, the lady behind the counter nods vehemently.

They pout and then proceed to try to steer the conversation away from their hodgepodge of a drink and about the Metro City Metro instead. Luke perks up and turns to face his student more, asking if the gang activities are still incredibly prevalent there. "Sadly," they reply.

Jamie feels another squeeze on his knee as Luke hums.

"I've tried many times to get them out of there, you know, so that normal people can start using it for once instead of it just being a whole beat 'em up level every time someone goes down there. But then they still stubbornly stay and the city just ended up installing bus stops everywhere instead. It's kinda sad, I really wanna see the train working like it's meant to one day. What do you think, Master?"

The student turns to Jamie and he gives them an easy grin.

"Well, since they don't let up no matter how much you beat them down… how about a little talk with their leaders, hm?" He smirks and watches as their student's mouth morphs into an o.

"Wh- hey now, don't teach them shit like that," Luke frowns at him and the drunken boxer gives him a look.

"It's good training. 'Sides, they don't think twice about chasing people down, what's wrong with being the one to chase them down? You know, give them a taste of their own medicine," he says sagely and gives their student a wink.

Feeling bold, Jamie pulls his chair closer than he already has. The hand on his knee slides up to his thigh due to the movement and then immediately pulls back as if burned. A glance at Luke tells him that he truly didn't realize where his hand landed and, funnily enough, his face looks like it's about to combust. Jamie can't help but smirk as he purposefully bumps his leg against the other.

Luke tries to pull back for more space but feels the leg of his chair graze against his student's foot, making him stop.

Fuck, he's trapped.

His eyes dart around to search for an escape and slowly gets riled up when he feels Jamie snicker. Yep, feels. That's how close he is. This asshole is having too much fun.

"Now, this is what you'll do," the drunken boxer leans over Luke's space entirely and lowers his voice, causing their student to lean over too to listen to his stage whispering as if telling them to beat up more people is some secret technique no one else should know and not what the both of them are already doing in their free time anyways.

Luke gets sandwiched between the two and bites back his bubbling panic when he feels a hand land on his own knee- only to get distracted by Jamie pulling the nachos he's already slid away closer to him so that he can take some from it. 

This man is driving him insane.

Something his student says makes Jamie throw his head back to laugh and Luke's eyes turn to him. It's not that funny so the movement must be for show- and like he expected, Jamie starts to make another move to grind on his gears, hooking his foot around Luke's ankle and sitting back to fully face him and their shared student in a precariously laid-back position.

It was done so subtly that Luke's pretty sure no one's meant to know about it but him. The chairs also do not have a backside to lean on so if he decides to lift his leg up, Jamie can just tumble backwards and eat shit.

Luke shoots daggers at Jamie with his eyes but remains ignored, the shorter man continuing to talk to their student as if nothing's happening. An internal battle with himself commences: is he going to keep his leg down, for the sake of the peace and order here inside this newly-opened boba store, or is he going to lift it and let Jamie fall backwards? 

On one hand they won't end up causing trouble, but on the other hand, he gets to see Jamie Siu eat absolute shit. And it will be hilarious.

Choices, choices…

Luke side eyes Jamie in the midst of his dilemma and watches him animatedly talk, feeling the way his foot pushes and pulls around his ankle as he subtly swings his weight around.

He isn't wearing the usual style of clothing he always does when they bump into each other, instead, he has black tracksuit pants on and a puffer jacket that is cropped to show-off his waist, similar to his usual jacket. The zipper in-front zips down to close instead of up and he's decided to keep it half-open. Jamie sways backwards a bit in the middle of telling a story and Luke flexes his leg to make sure his ankle stays firmly in place.

Something gold flashes underneath the jacket and Luke squints his eyes to try to see it properly. Is that a necklace? Or a dog tag maybe?

"My eyes are up here, Mister Sullivan." 

Luke's gaze snaps up and gets met with a wide smile that widens even more as he feels his own cheeks heat up. Fuck- he got set up! Jamie, you bastard!!

'Like what you see?' Jamie mouths soundlessly- but in such an exaggerated way that the movements accentuate his lip shape- and Luke wants to bash his own head against the counter. Only thing stopping him is the fact that it's most likely that he'll end up accidentally destroying said counter instead of the other way around.

"...M-master? Coach??"

Luke freezes and mechanically turns to see his student staring at their two masters with owlish eyes.

Was he able to read Jamie's lips during their exchange?

The student looks between their masters, mouth hanging open, before looking down at Jamie's clothing to check whatever it is that Mister Sullivan liked seeing.

Well, shit.

Luke, absolutely not panicking at all, kicks Jamie's leg with a cough to make him sit up straight and unhook his foot around Luke's ankle… then proceeds to reach over to zip the jacket all the way down, closing it fully. He needs to focus right now and Jamie is too goddamn distracting. "Y-yeah? What is it?" Luke asks and winces when their student immediately shakes their head and raises their hands up in a placating gesture.

"Oh, no- I wasn't looking at all, nuh uh! Don't worry about me coach, he's all yours-" 

"NO! No- nope, that's. Nm– No. Nonono. Nonononono- that's- no. That's not- we're not- we-" Luke struggles to let a coherent sentence out- which seems to be a running gag today for some reason, and he watches his student's eyes slowly dawn in understanding. Whatever it is they're understanding, he doesn't know- but he's got an inkling that it's not very good for his current predicament.

"Haha, it's not anything like that. We're just playing around," Jamie smoothly interjects before taking a sip of his milk tea, eyes filled with mirth as he looks at Luke. "The great Jamie Siu can't help but live rent free in other people's minds, apparently." 

Well doesn't he just look so proud of himself.

Their student looks between the two of them more and Luke can almost see the gears turning in their head. "S-should I..?" They ask, motioning to leave so that the two masters would be left alone and Luke pipes up.

"Ah- WE should leave, you are absolutely right!"

He abruptly stands up and takes his cup of milk tea. Dammit, he was too distracted to eat his baked nachos so he didn't even get to have a taste- whatever, it's halfway done anyway thanks to Jamie. At this point, there's no use trying to fight for it.

"Lunch break is almost over, we should get back to the Training Center," Luke motions his student to stand up before beelining straight to the doors, not even looking back.

Once outside, he takes a deep breath and feels his stomach rumble. Ugh, guess he'll have to get something to go on the way back. He's got a tasty drink at least- although he's not very sure if he'll be coming back here after whatever that was.

It takes a bit before he hears the bell on the doors and he turns to see his student waving at him with a billion questions in their eyes. Luke decides to answer none of them. "Alright, let's get back. And we're going by Beat-Up Square first so I can get some pizza to go since someone decided that the food I bought is free game."

He chances a glance inside and sees Jamie grinning at his phone, tapping on something before looking up and meeting his eyes. The grin morphs into a smirk as he waves with his fingers, adding a wink for good measure.

Luke closes his eyes and breathes deeply, controlling his rage in order to stop his sudden urge to punch a fucking wall.

"Uh, Coach? May I ask wh-"

"Nope." Luke answers and then stomps to the direction of Beat-Up Square. He is not answering questions today, thank you very much- especially when he has a ton of questions to himself too.

Like, for example: What the actual fuck does he see in one Jamie Siu?

Before all of this went down, he for sure hated that guy. They clash so much when in the same space and every little thing they disagree on turns into a full on fight. Everytime he sees that cute taunting smirk on that smug face, he can't help but get riled up. Whenever that asshole whips his hair at him in that cute condescending way, his blood boils and he's got a very strong urge to grab that stupid cute braid and pull.

But then, all of a sudden, just one instance and somehow everything's suddenly different? What the fuck?!

How did Jamie Siu's stupidly pretty face turn from punchable to kissable after just reading one stupid poem?! It doesn't make any sense!! Stupid Jamie and his stupid braid and his stupid glossy lips and pretty eyes and tiny waist and cute smile and-

…

… …

"What the fuck?!"

"Coach."

"What?!" He turns and stops when he realizes he's said that much louder than necessary, closing his eyes to calm himself down lest he gets riled up by his own thoughts again. "Sorry, I didn't mean to raise my voice. My bad."

What on earth is he even doing- acting like some grade school kid with a stupid crush or something? He's an adult and he should act like it.

Well, it would be much easier to act like an adult about this if only Jamie Siu would stop acting like a kid who decided that teasing him to death is a good choice of action against this life-altering crisis he's going through right now.

"... Coach."

Luke opens his eyes to meet his student's shaky grin, as if they're trying their best to not burst out laughing. "We just walked past the square," they point out and, true enough, Beat-Up Square is two blocks past them and he's going to fuck off nowhere. Great. The blonde pinches his brows with a deep sigh and looks up at his student again only to see a stupidly big grin on their face. "Is… that what you were troubled with when I saw you sitting on that punching bag earlier?"

'Master Jamie?' They soundlessly mouth in question, mimicking what said master from earlier did.

Luke closes his eyes, puts a hand on his face, and then groans into his palm. Filled with grief and despair and whatever else synonym along those words that he can think of. Seriously, why on earth is this happening to him?

He hears a giggle and, upon opening his eyes again, he's met with the sight of his beloved student looking like they just hit a jackpot in the casino- a grin stretches on their face cheek to cheek and barely contained excitement practically emanates off of them as they hold back a squeal.

In the end, wasn't this his initial goal? To get his student's mind off of things? Luke can't help but smile in relief. It may be to the cost of his own sanity but at least he accomplished what he set out to do.

"I knew it!!"

…Huh?

"Li-Fen owes me 5,000 Zenny," they say as they pull out their phone and then proceed to type on it at lightning speed, the keyboard sounds on it going off in unison with their nails clacking against the screen.

… …Huh??

Their phone chimes back at them in record time and they read the message they just received before looking back at him with it clutched tightly in their hands, giddy and bouncing on the soles of their feet. "So- oh great Coach of mine- how and when did you realize this exactly? And depending on your answer, I might get another 5,000 zenny or lose it."

… … … Huh???

What is this about? Do they know something that Luke doesn't? There's a bet?! On what? On who?? Him? Jamie? Both of them?? Also, a whole 10,000 zenny prize is on the line for this thing???

Luke wants the ground to open and just swallow him whole.

Still, his student is looking at him with such hopeful eyes- probably because whatever he's about to say might make their wallet heavier- and he can't fail them now. 

"Well-" he starts and then stops. Is he really going to say it? Won't it lead back to what caused this whole thing- that poem? And then they'll be reminded of Bosch. Luke looks up at his student's smiling face and eyes the nayshalli necklace around their neck. Does he tell them?

"I want to get my 10,000 zenny fair and square so do include every important detail," his student says, fingers ready to type whatever answer they get. 

Luke sighs. "You… you know that time around a week ago? When we were in the training center and you were reading a book?"

The student blinks and tries to think about it. Well, they may or may not remember it- after all, from what Luke knows of what's happening in their life right now, it's not just him that's trying to distract them into doing other things. Their eyes light up and they look back to Luke. "Oh, yes- the poem collection Kimberly recommended?"

Okay, so far so good. No odd reactions there. "Well, I got to catch a glimpse of the poem you're on for a bit before you closed the book… and, well, I got kinda curious and searched it up-"

And as Luke was talking, his student reaches into their back pocket and pulls out said book, now with more wear and tear on its edges. "Huh, I never would have guessed you to be a romantic, Coach," they say in a surprised tone and Luke sputters. Why does he keep getting picked on? This is a serious problem that is affecting his life seriously- it's not a laughing matter.

"That's not it! I just- I got curious and looked up the poem on my phone and as I was reading it, we bumped into each other! That's it!" He confesses the truth- there's no point trying to hide it to his student anyways, since they seem keen to know every last thing about whatever this is.

They open the said page, now even more abused than before, to check on said poem. Luke looks over the paper to re-read the poem he hasn't seen in almost a week at this point, lest he accidentally break the phone in his hands.

Mass is not proportional to volume.

A girl as small as a violet,

A girl who moves like a flower petal,

Is pulling me toward her with more force than her mass.

He remembers sharp eyes looking up at him- with the stray light of a suncatcher catching on high, tan cheekbones.

In that moment,

Like Newton's apple, I rolled toward her

Without stopping until I reached her.

Ah. As expected, an image of Jamie Siu is what that thing paints vividly in his mind. First that fight they had in that sidewalk- and now the relentless teasing he's started to dish out in order to antagonize him further.

It was first love.

Eugh.

He curses to himself as he feels like he's taking psychic damage from a damn poem. This feels so dumb, how can a simple poem send him into such a crisis? Unbelievable.

Luke looks up at his student and stills. A wistful expression has taken over their face as they stare blankly over the page.

Ah, there it is.

Longing is in his student's eyes. That's the, sadly, inevitable end credits of their first love- especially when it was tragically lost as quickly as it was gained. Did Bosch even know? Were they able to tell him? Would the outcome in Nayshall have changed if he knew?

…No, that's too selfish. His student would never do such a thing. Most likely, due to all the problems that boy had and how many lives were at stake, they must have chosen not to tell him until the end.

Their hand reaches up and traces red and blue beads. The weight of the nayshalli necklace hangs heavy around their neck.

Luke was about to say something in order to lift his student's spirit, probably a few inspirational words that might end up turning too cheesy and make him cringe later, but then a jolt in their shoulders coupled with a fast snap to look at him makes him stop.

"...First love??"

Luke stares at them blankly as they gape at him. What is his student talking about??

"Coach- I- Coach." They inhale deeply, clapping their hands together before pointing them at him. "Coach."

"Uh, yes? I am Coach."

"...Coach," they hiss and the agency in their tone makes Luke a little bit worried. Most likely because, knowing his student, they're about to say something completely out of pocket. They breathe in and out several times, seeming to be trying to summon courage, and Luke takes a sip of his milk tea as he waits for them to say whatever it is they're about to tell him.

"Coach, is Master your first love?"

Luke chokes on his milk tea.

"Aha! Oh my Gods, I can't believe this!! How long have you and master actually known each other, Coach? This is wild!!" They cheer triumphantly- as if they proved something when they definitely did not- while Luke hacks and coughs for dear life in order to protect himself from the sudden attack of a singular dedicated tapioca pearl deciding to Sumo Headbutt the back of his throat.

"No!! What the f- No, absolutely not! And I literally only met him, like, last year, there's no way!" He almost curses at his student and is simply met with narrowing eyes.

"Uh-huh, sure. Then why is it that Master is the one you thought of when you read this poem, huh??" They raise their eyebrows suggestively and Luke rolls his eyes.

"It doesn't have anything to do with the last part- I just kinda related to it okay? So what if Ja- ugh, so what if there's a certain specific person that I think of when I read it? That doesn't mean anything."

"Coach. My man. The poem is LITERALLY about first love. And you RELATE to it," and then they do a weird hand motion as if they're trying to compare the softness of two invisible oranges.

"Okay, now listen here you- that doesn't correlate AT ALL because you listen to that one meme mashup song unironically, saying you relate to it, and as far as I know, you're not saving any dicks by giving them CPR and you don't like Reese's Puffs."

There was an offended gasp from a bystander nearby that reminds the both of them that they are in public.

His student turns to the scandalized old lady staring at them with owlish eyes. "Sorry ma'am, I just don't like peanut butter-based sweets," they wince and she blinks- clearly confused at the statement- before speed walking away from what she now thinks are two huge weirdos at the side of the road.

Great. Today is going great. He sure ain't going to remember this suddenly in the middle of the night right as he's about to go to sleep around 3 or 4 years in the future. No, not at all.

Luke retraces his steps back to the square they missed as his student attempts to reel the conversation topic back in.

"Okay, if he's not your first love, how was your first love like then?" 

Why is this happening to him? Did he do something in his past life to warrant this? …Or this life? He was a massive shithead when he was younger. Maybe this is karma coming back to bite his ass.

"Heck if I know. There must be one in the past or something. I'm much older than you, you know," Luke sighs and his student just tuts at him.

"But you always remember your first love, no matter what! Well, that's what Kimberly told me. Anyways, you don't need to give a name, just try to remember what they were like," they say and Luke suspiciously eyes them. This sounds like a very leading question.

Luke just shrugs and does a vague motion as they approach the food truck in the middle of Beat-Up Square. 

"I don't know- I like chicks with nice midriffs? If I see one walk by me when I'm around the bay area, I always turn. Probably one of those."

"Yeah, sure, whatever- a pretty lady walks by and you turn to look- no shit, I do that too. Pretty sure anyone attracted to ladies would do that- and that is not the point, Coach!! I mean a specific person in your life that you had some cute bubbly feelings for. There must be one! "

Luke makes a face as he orders his food and tries to remember, just to get his student off of it.

"Hm, I don't know- I've always been more focused on games and tinkering and stuff when I was a kid, not much about liking someone or…" he then trails off.

The student eyes Luke as he blinks, a flash of recognition crossing his eyes before he closes them and he shakes his head. "What is it? Oh, so you do have one! Oooohhhh~ what were they like? How did you know each other? When was this?"

"Wha- I mean- I don't know! Slow down! I'm just kinda realizing now that me teasing and purposefully trying to grind someone's gears back when I was this small obnoxious brat might've meant that I must've liked 'em and wanted their attention."

And now the conversation has been completely far removed from the original point they started in: which was how he realized this… thing he has with Jamie Siu in order to get that clean additional 5,000 zenny on top of the 5,000 zenny his student has apparently won. Luke doesn't know whether to be thankful or not due to this highschool-girl talk they're having right now. Maybe he can look for ways to steer the conversation again further so that he doesn't have to face the fact that he is a man who's despairingly pining for the most annoying fucker in his life right now.

He receives his pizza and they start the walk back to the training center. Luke looks up at the clear blue sky and reminisces.

"It was this weather too when we met, I think? My dad took me to Hong Kong with him for work stuff and we were there for, like, a week," he recalls and then takes a big bite of his food. He hums at the flavor- man, nothing beats that food truck for a quick bite.

His student stares at him with slowly widening eyes. "...Hong Kong?"

"Yeah. We were staying in my dad's friend's house while they were out of town and he let me go outside but not too far. Apparently there was some gang stuff happening around the area. Not sure what dad was there for but I was a little shit back then so I went farther than I should."

There was no sound of typing as he says this so it might be that his student literally already forgot about the bet with this Li-Fen person or they're just too enraptured by his little story.

"Anyways- found this kid… around my age, I think? And boy, he was beat up. Got caught in some of the legit gang stuff, or that's what I know of from what one of the kids I was playing with. And, well, I was a curious little shit so I just went up to him and tried asking him about it," Luke laughs as he recalls the memory. "Dude was pissed. As if me just trying to talk to him offended him or something- and, well, I don't remember much but I was probably pestering him so much it ended up in a whole fist fight. My dad got pretty disappointed in me when he came back to see his son sporting a black eye. Told me not to go out anymore and just play games on my gameboy instead while we're there."

He looks over and almost laughs when he sees his student all wide-eyed and barely holding back excitement. One would think they're watching a whole telenovela here or something. "Judging from what you said earlier, you didn't listen to your father?"

Luke shakes his head. "Nope. The next day, he asked some neighbors to keep an eye on the door and make sure I stayed home- then I climbed out a back window the moment he left. Went straight to where the kid was sitting alone and went back to annoying the shit out of him. He probably hated my guts," he throws his head back to laugh. "Before long, we were throwing punches again and it took these two tall dudes that looked alike shouting at us in… Cantonese..? I'm not really sure. Anyways, it took them stepping in for us to stop and then they talked to me in English when they noticed I was gawking like a fish. I pulled a lie out of my ass immediately though- said we were just playing around and copying the films I saw on the local TV last night. I think it's his expression changing when he heard their voices that got me into action- I wanted to get him out of the potential scolding since it was my fault the fight started after all."

"...Looked alike? Like, twins?" His student asks, phone clutched tightly in their hands. They seem to be hung up on that one detail for some reason.

"I mean… I guess? I don't know, it was a very long time ago. They were dressed kinda the same but for all I know, it was just a uniform or something and they're not related at all." Luke shrugs. He doesn't really recall much about that Hong Kong vacation other than stuff related to the kid he played with and the nice auntie next door who cooked very bomb food- no idea what all those things she gave his Dad are called but he sure as hell licked his plate clean every night. 

He vaguely remembers going to a theme park or like a movie-set or something too but, apparently, nothing struck his mind clearer than a kid who threw a punch straight to his face with no warning.

"Anyways, we settled down on a park bench and the two dudes stayed a good distance away to watch us behave so I just pulled out my gameboy and played Mario with him. He didn't speak a lick of English and really sucked at the game but he seemed to enjoy it at least. I was found out anyway since someone snitched to my Dad that I was outside and he picked me up then and there. Told him the same lie I told the other two dudes and the next thing I knew, he'd dropped me off at the same place the next day with some snacks and ice lollies to give to the other kid as an apology. I ate most of it though! Man, I really was a brat back then, huh- deciding not to leave some kid who's clearly trying to sulk alone."

Luke can't help but wonder where he is now. Is he still getting into fights in Hong Kong? He tries to remember the vague features of his face and decides that little tiny Luke must've thought he looked interesting enough at least to decide to leave a whole bunch of kids he just befriended over one kid who threw a punch when asked a question.

Well, the fact that he recalls the whole encounter now during this whole 'first love' conversation must mean something, right? He also remembers being quite sad when it was time for them to fly back. He didn't really get to befriend the dude- most of his 'conversations' with him were one-sided and if the other kid did reply, he didn't understand whatever it is he was saying- but he still tried to say goodbye.

"We're not going to meet ever again- and you don't understand me anyways- so I'll just tell you straight up!! I think you shouldn't get into other fights willy nilly before healing properly first because the bruises on your face might get worse and that's a shame because your eyes are really pretty!!"

Luke stutters in his steps and almost trips over his own feet. The small bit of pizza still left in his hand gets crushed and the cheese almost spills out of the wrapper.

"Coach?!" His student worriedly freezes in their steps and looks over at him, wondering what just happened.

Which Luke would like to mirror back to them because what on earth did just happen?! He must have really pissed some karmic God in a past life for him to suddenly remember in great detail the shit that child Luke said to a random kid in a place halfway around the world almost a couple decades back when he didn't even know where Nigeria was in a damn world map a few years ago.

If said karmic God is around somewhere, he would like the ground to open and then eat him up.

"...You okay, Coach?"

Luke makes an agonized sound. "No, I am not okay, my soul is leaving me right now," he says. With a defeated sigh, he tries to salvage what's left of the poor pizza and then eats the mush out of the wrapper. At least it still tastes good. "I can feel the cringe I've done crawling on my back."

He can see the Training Center in the distance. Finally, salvation.

"Ah… is this cringe about you and the kid you met?"

"Yes and I don't want to talk about it- honestly, I wish I had the damn guts that little me had right now," for what exactly? Luke doesn't know yet. But if he had an ounce of the rizz that younger him decided to display by full-on confessing to another kid who doesn't even speak the same language he does, he'll have a much easier time dealing with one Jamie Siu right now.

"Hmm," his student looks at him in that familiar way he knows by now in which they want to ask a question but have no idea how to articulate it. After a few beats of mentally fighting with themself, they just decide to drop the question and- dreadfully- change the topic back to where they were before. "Anyways, Coach! Mind telling me about the realization you have about a certain drunken boxer who also happens to be my master?"

Luke eyes his student with narrowed eyes before sighing and giving up.

They seem to know something that he doesn't- but at this point, what else is he going to be surprised about?

🌠

The moment he steps out of the shower of his unit is the most relaxed he has been today. Seriously, his damn heart feels like it just went through several rollercoasters and it doesn't feel healthy AT ALL.

At least in the safety of his home, he can fully wind down and relax for the day.

Luke is wondering which game to play to unwind for the night when he hears his phone jingle with a new message. When he opens it, two completely innocent words from an unknown sender greet him and they make his heart immediately drop.

❓     Rent free.

[11:34 PM]

…How in the ever living fuck did Jamie Siu get his number?

There's no doubt about it. Only that guy would be sending something like this for a first message, especially this late fully knowing that he'll be finished with work and at home right now. He tries to recall and the time that took his student to follow him out of the store earlier- coupled by him turning to see Jamie tapping something on his phone before looking up at him and waving with a shit-eating grin- suddenly made so much more sense.

His student ratted him out!!

And now he is left to deal with the consequences as he stands shock still in the middle of his own room like a damn deer in headlights, glaring at the phone in his hands, thumb hovering over the message sent to him, and agonizing over what to reply.

Luke scoffs. What is he sweating for? He doesn't care whatever Jamie thinks- he kinda does actually but cut him some slack here, he's having a crisis -, he can just say whatever he wants because there's a whole city separating them right now from each other and he's not distracted by that fucker's presence at all to make an incredibly room temperature-brained decision.

He saves the contact and names it "J😡".

"As if," he messages back and doesn't get a reply to contest it.

The next day later, after around the hundredth time he's checked his phone in-case a certain someone texts back, did he realize just how right Jamie's message is.

…He is so fucked.

Chapter Text

It's been some time after getting a certain drunken boxer's number and, honestly, Luke has almost forgotten all about it. He's been busy training the new batch of recruits that Buckler sent his way and some of them need a lot of work.

In the middle of a short break, one of the new recruits offers him an… 'alcohol' flavored snack. He stares at it before giving her a confused look.

"...Kid, I don't think you should be ingesting alcohol in the middle of training," he comments and receives panicked sputtering.

"Oh, no no! It's not alcoholic, Coach! There's no percentage on it- see? It's just alcohol ‘ flavored’ !" She defends herself in panic. Uh-huh. Sure. Some of the other recruits make gagging noises as they take some of the other bags she has and- woah, there's like a whole corner store in her backpack, how many snacks does she even have??

"What's the point if it's just 'alcohol flavored' but has no alcohol in it? At that point, you're just eating shitty beer chips. At least saké flavored KitKats have actual saké content," another recruit points out and they start a debate somehow on alcohol-flavored things and her liking them just means she may have underlying alcohol problems.

Luke almost spits out a laugh when he turns the bag in his hands around and sees a very crudely drawn cat with a bowtie holding a mug of beer in its hand above the flavor text. Is this the brand's mascot? It looks ridiculous but also kinda cute... Also a bit worrying that it looks like it's drawn by a child. Well, it being an alcohol flavored snack with zero alcohol in it should've worried him much earlier, actually.

He walks towards the bench where his phone is and snaps a quick, blurry pic, stills for a moment, before snickering to himself as he takes a better picture, making sure the lighting doesn't obstruct the mascot.

L.S.🌟      [20230523_0174829.jpg]

L.S.🌟      Didn't know you took brand deals

                       [9:03 AM]

He doesn't get a reply- probably won't- but he at least thinks it's funny.

Luke puts the phone back down and walks to his recruits, tossing the bag back to the new girl and laughing as she tries to one and down what's left of one of the opened packs. He claps to get his students' attention and some of the new ones who are still eating snacks scramble to clean up.

"Now, don't forget to hydrate yourselves! Your break is ending in a minute."

It's business as per usual in the Buckler Facilities, teaching the newbies proper form, telling them what to do and what not to do in certain situations, having them practice with each other and take note how another trainee's size would affect which places it will be best to hit in order to take them down- and the occasional random text from his student about whatever they're up to right now whenever the group is struggling and he gives them a short break.

Not that he's checking because he's expecting a text from a specific someone or anything.

Apparently, his diligent ‘little’ student is somewhere in China, studying under a new master who deals with… medicine or something? Just recently they were in Nayshall and studying under that parkour streamer on Footube, he saw one of the VODs and the part where the two of them ran through the bridge was pretty cool. They really are a busybody, huh? The type that can just never sit still.

He checks his phone again when lunch break occurs and sees the earlier unread messages he received from his student. They're just a few updates, random things they see, and some food pics. Really photogenic food pics. Guess they actually learned quite a bit about how to use a camera from that Rashid guy. Luke's quite glad he didn't see the messages earlier or else he would've felt hungry while training.

…Ah, now he wants some bao too. 

He remembers his student bringing him some a while ago- saying how their friend loves the bao from this one particular shop and it turns out to be actually really tasty. He didn't get to ask where they got it from though because they immediately wanted to spar after and now, he's craving it. Great.

Will it work if he just randomly walks up to someone in Chinatown and asks them where to buy bao? That seems embarrassing. His student seems busy running errands for their new master… he wonders if they'll answer if he asks. They're on the opposite side of the world so it must be almost midnight where they are right now.

Still, he chances a message and not even a couple minutes after, a full address- paired with a phone doodle of directions on top of a Guga Maps screenshot- is sent back.

Ah, he really appreciates his student so much.

Mood incredibly lifted, he makes his way out, barely hiding the skip in his step. He evades the puddles around the facility as he goes, having half the mind to get the new wide brooms out and easily accessible later- some trainees that were playing around broke the old one and the new one just arrived as per his request along with the new sandbags he asked for. 

The old ones are getting quite flimsy and the contents are practically spilling from the seams- his boss said that it's just because of him specifically and that the other 'normal' trainees are using it just fine though. Guess he should at least be thankful that the cost isn't taken from his salary.

The sky isn't clear as can be, it was raining earlier after all, but he can't help but feel as if this is the brightest day of his week. Must be the bao making him excited. Surely, nothing else can metaphorically rain on his parade-

And as if on cue, his entire world stops after just several paces into entering Chinatown.

A man as small as a violet,

A man who moves like a flower petal,

Luke forcefully closes his eyes as his steps halt. Damn it, he jinxed himself. Not without a heavy sigh, he looks back at the sight that caused him to freeze in the first place.

Jamie Siu is by no means small but, compared to Luke's much bigger stature, he's almost delicate to his eyes. Almost. He knows best that he's absolutely not delicate at all- he'd probably hate being called that word. He's defeated Luke through using his own body weight and throwing him over quite a few times and, despite the light looking punches, he sure as hell knows that they sting on consecutive direct hits.

At that moment, certainly, he moved like a petal too- every soft breeze flutters his clothes in a way that captures the eye and makes one's gaze stay there as if dazed.

The drunken boxer lets out a laugh. It isn't as full and hearty as the ones he tends to do when fighting him- which does things to Luke's heart actually. It's more proper and formal, controlled even.

-pulling me toward him with more force than his mass.

Honestly, the only reason he's not approaching right now- like a sailor to the call of a siren- is because he feels frozen in place- like a hitbox controller having the left and right buttons pressed down at the same time. Simply because his mind is too busy fighting itself on whether he should continue going on his way or walk away immediately.

Ah.

This is not rain on his parade. It's a goddamn hurricane.

If Luke had not realized his feelings at that time around a month ago, he… might have at this very moment. The sudden realization of that thought makes Luke absolutely reel.

✨

In traditional Chinese clothing- or rather, just the top, since it appears he’s still wearing modern pants and his signature shoes-, hair waving behind him as he laughs, surrounded by the gold wires of canary cages, and incredibly bright in comparison to the overcast sky after the earlier rain- tragically brighter than everything he's seen this whole, rainy week- is none other than his rival, the great Jamie Siu. 

He looks… stunning. Luke wants to slam his own hand into his face at the thought but he can't lie to himself.

The bao that was his original objective has been completely forgotten and, if he thought that his mind can't get any more blank, he apparently is absolutely wrong because the moment Jamie Siu turns and notices him, expression lighting up so much that some people around him has to turn to look at what he just saw, he fully believes he might've just forgotten his name.

✨✨

Dammit Jamie, you can't be looking at him like that first thing after you see him- people might get the wrong idea!

That bright expression on the other's face, however, turns from bright glee into one of pure mischief and Luke immediately knows he's about to have a very bad time. Instead of turning around like a normal person who's just deduced that they're about to have a bad time though, Luke's feet stay planted on the ground, stuck and unmoving.

"Pffhahaha! You look like you've seen a ghost!! What's the matter with you?" Jamie grins as he jogs to approach- is he really that excited to make fun of him? The moment he's right in front of the blonde, he tilts his head in that usually taunting way that they both know pisses off Luke- except the way his hair falls to the side in such a graceful arc that it matches the flutter of his clothes just makes Luke grumble in agony even more.

Dammit! He didn't even do his hair differently, it's in the exact same braid as it always is! His brain doesn't seem to correlate the information though as there's nothing but air up in there right now and he’s barely holding on to his pride so as to not audibly gulp in-front of his dressed-up rival like an idiot.

Luke opens and closes his mouth like a fish, unable to form a single thought or muster an eloquent enough reply. Man, he really is thankful that he had his first realization in an alley with no one else but Jamie Siu and not somewhere like here- right in the middle of Chinatown with a bunch of people walking by. Is it the sharper, bolder makeup? The way his poise is a bit different? The way he seems to be glowing today? He cannot see himself from the third person but he's pretty sure he looks like he's a damn fish out of water right now.

Which is dumb- he literally just changed his top, it doesn't make any sense.

A snap in-front of his face brings him back to reality and- as if a boa has just let go of his neck- he starts breathing normally again. When did he stop breathing?

Jamie eyes him and, upon realizing what's happening, absolutely beams. Man, he doesn't really want Jamie to gain 'make fun of Luke' as a hobby but he sure is making it goddamn easy for him to do so, huh? Luke can only close his eyes, bracing for what he knows is coming.

"Like what you see?"

Fuck, not again . Luke makes a sound akin to a dying squirrel and Jamie throws his head back to laugh. No, please, this can't be the start of a recurring occurrence between them- his damn pride won't be able to take it any more.

He opens an eye to peek and sees Jamie's cheeks tinted red from his laughter. If he’ll hear that hearty laugh more then he might not mind, actually.

Great, now he just wants to punch himself. What the hell was that passing thought just now? That can't be right- is he being possessed by a lovesick ghost or something? It's because of that damn conversation with his student that made him rethink entirely about his feelings, probably. Dammit.

“Anyways, what are you here for anyways? Probably not just to see me, right? If so I think you need your head checked- you might have hit it somewhere,” Jamie teases with a shit-eating grin that Luke really is tempted to punch off of his face- but that might ruin what seems to be painstakingly done makeup so he'd rather not.

In the returning busyness of Chinatown after the earlier sudden attention when Jamie called out to Luke happily, a girl walks by and coughs to clear her throat right beside the blonde, in the middle of it is a word that sounds almost like…

Bao.

Luke claps so loud he surprises both himself and Jamie. "Bao!!" He exclaims and Jamie blinks. "Bao! That's what I'm here for! Crap, I almost forgot," he pulls out his phone and looks at the directions that his student messaged him once more.

The drunken boxer blinks again before turning around and seeing Li-Fen sit down at her usual spot. How did she know Luke was here for bao?

He should question her later.

Peering into Luke's phone, Jamie sees a picture of a crude drawing on a map and an address. “Bao Bro's?” Luke’s shoulders jump before looking up at the other man instead of his phone- fuck, when did he get so close?

Anyways, forget that! What's important right now is-

“Wait, you know what shop it is-”

And then he's immediately abruptly cut by a finger flick against his bangs. It doesn't hit him directly but he is buffeted by the wind that blows between his eyes anyways, causing him to step backwards only to step back forward when a hand pulls his forearm back to place.

“Keep it down! Jeez, what are you, an excited puppy? Everyone here knows where Bao Bro's is, c'mon.”

Then, the next thing he knows, Jamie's walking away from him with a pep on his steps. Luke stills for a couple seconds before scrambling to follow the other fighter so that he doesn't lose him. The braid is easy to tail enough at least, what with the bright red tie on the end almost acting like a lure to him.

When he realizes what body part is past it though- and what it might seem to be where he's looking at for other people - he immediately averts his eyes and keeps his sight glued to Jamie's shoulders instead.

There's a giggle from somewhere they pass through and it is most likely not pointed at him but he can't help but die inside anyways. This day is going swimmingly .

They are in-front of a shop with a familiar looking sign- his student barged in the training center wearing that mascot head on the sign once to scare him- and Luke’s mouth immediately waters when he smells the scent drifting from inside the shop.

“Yes!! It's this! Dammit, Jamie, I could kiss you!!” Luke happily walks up to the counter like a kid, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement and unseeing how the other fighter froze in his steps when he walked past him.

The person on the counter sees.

She decides not to dwell on it. “Ah- Welcome to Bao Bro's! Um, what can I get for you, sir?” she asks in accented english. It's a bit rare for someone like this man to come by when it's her shift so she might as well get some practice in conversation. It's a tight knit community and she hasn't been here for too long so they tend to default to Cantonese when ordering from here.

“Can I get uuuuhhhhh...” and then the blonde trails off as he looks up at the menu and only sees Chinese characters. He stares at it for a bit and bites his bottom lip. Alright! Conversation practice time! The lady by the counter was about to offer help but an aborted snicker and someone waving from the side stops her.

She turns and sees their beloved Peacekeeper with pursed lips, cheeks a bit pink from mirth and barely stopping himself from laughing, arms crossed with a hand covering his shaky smile. “Don't help him, Hui. It's funny,” he mouths to her in Cantonese. Ah, there goes the chance.

She doesn't quite understand what is funny to him and, honestly, she just feels kind of sorry for the other man- still, just because she owes Jamie a bit for keeping the streets here safe, she ultimately decides to go with it.

The blonde looks down at her and she raises her eyebrows as if urging him to say his order- and seriously, she feels a bit guilty seeing his almost lost and panicking expression. “...I'm sorry,” she says in Cantonese with an apologetic smile and the blonde just beams at her.

“Oh no, yeah, I'm ordering. I'm ordering… Just…” And he pulls out his phone to go to Guga Translate before pointing his camera at the menu.

It doesn't work.

“Ah, the sign is handwritten so…” she falters and the blonde just nods at her with an oh, before pocketing his phone. “Um, so, can you-” and then he vaguely points at the sign and she feels like dying inside. This is the most awkward conversation she's ever had since coming here and she'll try to tell off Mister Peacekeeper later. Absolutely.

“So this is…” She starts and points at the first item and sees the drunken boxer pout in her peripheral vision. “...Original Pork Jian Bao, ” she finishes in Cantonese. Which results with her and the blonde just staring at each other.

The drunken boxer tries and fails to smother his laughter at the side. This really feels mortifying- and she’s pretty sure the other man feels the same way.

“...Jamie?” With a defeated tone in his voice, The man sighs.

“Yes, Mister Sullivan?” Jamie steps in beside him with a big shit eating grin plastered on his face that the blonde refuses to look at.

“Can you..?” and he motions to the menu. 

“I don't know, can I?”

Now he's just being mean. He laughs out a sound that seems to be coming from his belly- which she has never heard him do before- and shakes his head with mirth. The blonde- Mister Sullivan, was it?- glares at him looking like he really wants to throw a punch. She doesn't blame him, considering what the peacekeeper is doing, but it is honestly quite bizarre seeing Jamie act like this. He's always been helpful around here, intimidating to troublemakers but incredibly respectful to elders too, so seeing him terrorize this poor man with teasing, especially wearing formal clothing like that, feels like whiplash.

“The first one is Pork Jian Bao. Second is chicken. Third is veggie. And they have a special promo going on written on that flier over there that if you bring a friend that's never been here before, they'll give you two Jumbo Bao for free.”

“Really?!” Mister Sullivan exclaims and immediately, much to the lady's surprise, grabs the Peacekeeper by the waist and all but slams his smaller body against his. “I-! He-!! We're friends! He brought me here! Does that mean we can get the promo?”

His large hand encompases, like, half of Jamie’s waist and she can quite literally see the moment Jamie realizes it and frowns so deep it might just permanently stay there.

“Uh… well…” She takes note of how he doesn't outright push the other man away.

“I'll take 6! That's a whole box, right? Wait, how big is this Jumbo Bao? Is it possible to make all the baos Jumbo??” He asks excitedly, unaware of how Jamie's trying to stealthily wrench his fingers out of their insanely tight grip around his waist.

“Oh, no! Jumbo Bao is only for limited promo. We’ll only give two per new pair that comes in,” she says. A soft tune rings behind her and she taps her phone chime off before stepping a bit to the side to take out three enormous bao from a huge makeshift steamer and then depositing them to the display to keep them warm before putting new ones in.

“Woah!! Jamie, look how big the Jumbo Bao is! I want it!! Jamie!”

Jamie’s whole body looks like it's being played around like a ragdoll due to how strong the big man's grip is on his waist. She purses her lips as hard as she can as she steps back to her usual place to avoid laughing at the sight- it reminds her of her dog when given a new rope toy. At this point, she might as well start preparing the blonde's order as she's quite sure Jamie wouldn't say no to it. Karma hit him quick.

“Jeez! Fuck!! Calm down! Calm down, Luke!!”

Their Peacekeeper repeatedly hits Mister Luke's chest as if tapping out and the other stops but looks at him incredibly hopefully, as if he wasn't just shaking the life out of the other man seconds before. Jamie lets out a huff and crosses his arms, wanting to fight back until the end despite the obviously crumbling defense. “I don't know. Are we friends? Because you're looking real punchable to me right now and I don't think I do that to friends.”

…Does the Peacekeeper even have friends? He patrols alone and most of the people around him are either disciples or admirers. It's a breath of fresh air seeing him acting this close with someone, actually. She looks at the two and it's quite amusing how far he has to tilt his head back to look at the excited puppy- er- man gripping him. 

“I'll give you the other jumbo one!”

That makes her and the drunken boxer blink. That's quite nice of him… but didn't he really want jumbo bao? She isn't even sure if Jamie can finish that. He doesn't eat much.

As if thinking the same thing, the Peacekeeper just sighs and rolls his eyes at the other man.

“Just give me a normal one. You can get the two Jumbo Bao.”

“Jamie!!” And then a weird sound leaves the drunken boxer- something between a squeak and a hiccup - when he's suddenly smothered into a bear hug and then lifted up from the ground.

“Kkh-! What the heck?! Put me down!! It's just bao, jeez, don't fall for me now!!” The moment Jamie is let go, his shoulders visibly relax as he breathes deep to make up for lost air- rubbing his slightly stinging side. Guess Mister Luke's grip got a bit too tight without him noticing- well, considering the size of those forearms, he probably gives tight hugs. She can't help but smile at their antics as she finishes preparing the blonde's order, leaving one bao separate for Jamie.

“As if you don't make it easy enough already.”

The employee snaps her head up and stares at the blonde man after hearing it. She… just heard that right, right? Did he even know he said it out loud? And did anybody else hear that?? She looks around to check- some of the other customers, a few of whom were occupied with their own gossip earlier- all look up at that in shock. So it wasn't just her imagination? That just now was real?

“...What was that?” Jamie narrows his eyes- he probably didn't hear the other man because he was catching his breath after being practically flailed around like a chew toy - and the blonde stills for a split second before rolling his eyes.

“I said that's stupid. As if,” he scoffs and pouts to cover his embarrassment. The peacekeeper glares at him suspiciously… And then a smile slowly stretches on his face, cat-like and incredibly playful.

The employee, who was just about to give the blonde his order, immediately clocks the expression.

She pulls the paper bag back to herself and the blonde takes half a second to process it before tilting his head to the side to evade the palm going straight for his face. He takes several steps back and gets into a fighting stance. Did he see the startup of that palm move from his peripheral and then acted on it? If so, that was such a quick reaction!!

Some of the other customers lift their chairs up and motion the others to move the tables to the side to give them some space. A few of them know how these two roll apparently- she should probably ask about them later, she did not know that their Peacekeeper has a… special someone.

Their battle is wild- it incredibly shows how different their fighting styles are. Unlike Jamie who has to rely on tactics most of the time to take bigger opponents down, Mister Sullivan has such pure heavy strength behind his hits that she can't help but feel in awe.

Four gulps of drink later and the Peacekeeper’s hair falls out of his braid with such style that she and the other customers can't help but cheer. Usually, the normal troublemakers around here don't get him going this much! The other man must be such a master too to get him like this.

Jamie's jacket falls open and the upcoming punch towards him is rendered too short, as if the blonde has frozen mid-step, leaving the other fighter freely able to step back unpunished. Something shifts a bit on the drunken boxer's face, as if he notices something off, but it immediately goes back to the lax, drunken expression he has on four drinks.

The larger fighter clicks his tongue in annoyance and frustration before his forearm turns into an angry red and he fires up what seems to be blasts of fire.

“Sandblast!” he barks out as he unleashes them towards the other man. They really are such amazing feats of strength- but not all of them connect. Most likely because of his darting eyes that don't seem to know where to look. Something tells her that he probably doesn't usually fight like this, his footwork looks incredibly practiced, as if it comes as easy to him as breathing- it's just that he seems to be in a state of thinly-veiled panic for some reason. The couple of projectiles that actually reach Jamie gets blocked and the drunken master is able to close their distance right away.

“The next batches are done, Hui. Call Bao Bro to make deliveries,” the owner suddenly says to her, not even looking up from the ledgers she's calculating, and the employee jolts before leaving her front-row view of the two masters’ battle. Ah, she got so focused watching their fight that she didn't even notice her phone’s chime going off.

It's too bad that she couldn't watch it through to the end but, judging from the loud “Agh!!” followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground, she can at least deduce who won the fight.

Luke groans as he sits up. Dammit, not again- that's twice in a row now. Usually they end up evening out when it comes to their little matches, now Jamie's on the lead.

"I fucking knew it, you're holding back!" The drunken boxer points at Luke accusingly, fire blazing in his eyes as the customers start returning the chair and tables to their usual places. What is he so angry about now? He was doing just fine earlier- he even let him have the two jumbo baos!

The larger fighter goes back up to his feet and barks back in defense. "No, I'm not! Fuck you!! The heck are you talking about?!" The offended tone he lets that out in is visceral. He really did try his best, thank you very much. He may not be able to do very good today specifically but don't fucking dare erase his efforts.

That seems to convince Jamie- it better do because it's the whole truth - but he still doesn't stop the accusation because he's one stubborn son of a bitch. "Then what are you freezing like a deer in the middle of the fight for, huh?! You could have won there, I know I fucked up the timing with that fourth drink and was entirely open!"

" 'Cause I was distracted!!"

"What were you distracted by?!"

"This!!!"

"Bitch, you just motioned at all of me!"

" Exactl-" and then Luke Sullivan snaps his mouth shut with a very loud clack after belatedly realizing that he is digging himself right into a hole.

Smack in the middle of Chinatown.

Jamie blinks before he looks down at himself and then looks back up at him again. He's more covered than he always is- the only skin showing is what little is visible of his chest and abdomen through the open buttons of his traditional clothes. Luke has seen him with his whole top uncovered before- what's the big deal??

Then the blonde reaches forward to close the loose cloth back to where it's supposed to be, rendering his earlier visible skin unseen. It doesn't make any sense, he's seen him showing more skin before.

But to Luke, it is different. In such formal clothing, the view is... 

No, he'd rather not think about it.

Luke closes his eyes and breathes in a heavy inhale to both calm himself down and to avoid seeing the absolutely shocked but beaming expression now on Jamie's face. It's not worth it Luke. Be the better man and start walking away.

So he does, turning around to pay for his order and take the paper bag for the bao- with a quick thank you to the now confused lady by the counter, of course- before beelining to exit Chinatown. He can feel his face burning. Dammit.

Of course, because Jamie Siu is Jamie Siu, he immediately follows to further taunt him in his despair. The soft sound of the patter of his footsteps on the wet concrete is highlighted by the giddy laugh that spills out of him and Luke takes note of the sound, puts it deep in his memories, locks it in, and then throws away the key.

He enters Luke's vision once again from the side with a big, happy smile as he ties his hair up in a ponytail. He begrudgingly admits to himself that it looks good on the smaller fighter before closing his eyes and cursing himself for even thinking that thought. "Damn, I almost feel kinda sorry now. Almost. Should I be paying rent? 'Cause I sure am taking a hell lot of space up there! Oh no ," he does a display of putting a hand on his cheek in mock concern and Luke wants to just dig a hole and perish inside.

It must've shown on his face because the giggle right after is downright atrocious .

Jamie is about to say something more while reaching up to- to do something - whatever the fuck it might be just to tease him- but Luke catches the hand before it reaches his head.

Ah, the other man was about to mess up his hair. Fuck, he kinda regrets stopping him now. They both halt and Luke watches as the smaller fighter freezes in his steps, probably not expecting Luke to retaliate mid-escape… Which is an absolutely correct assumption.

"Shut the fuck up," Luke pleads, face red. "Please, just shut the fuck up."

Jamie tilts his head, his unruly hair following the movement. "Are you gonna make me?" He challenges.

What does he mean by that.

What the fuck does he mean by that.

Luke closes his eyes and takes a heavy breath again, thinking that he doesn't want to see another shit eating grin stretch on Jamie's face. The drunken boxer snickers before slowly stilling once he notices that, despite all of his jabs and heavy teasing, the hand holding up his arm is surprisingly gentle.

He blinks, suddenly aware of the micromovements of the fingers around his wrist. Huh.

The bit back sound of agony Luke makes afterwards is comical enough for Jamie to snap himself out of the momentary stupor and let out laughter as the other opens his eyes to give him a deadpan stare.

"Ha Ha. Very Funny," Luke rolls his eyes and lets go as he stomps off to continue his beeline out of Chinatown.

Jamie watches his retreating back, grinning and pleased with himself as he shouts out a "See you around, Mister Sullivan!" at the top of his lungs.

Luke looks back at him with a pout and sends him a discreet middle finger that he just laughs at. Once he's out of view, Jamie makes his way back to where he was hanging out earlier near the canaries, his footsteps light and his mood considerably better than earlier- not that it wasn't already good. Hui calls out to him for the one bao that Luke promised and he can't help but feel giddy as he takes it.

He almost lost their little altercation- turns out, the woes of his little gay awakening and whatnot do not matter to Luke when there's serious food involved, apparently. It was as if their positions were reversed for a moment there. That was off. Good thing that a quick fight got them back to their usual banter.

People tend to gossip but they let whatever it is be, especially when it comes to anything involving fights. This time though, it seems that the other residents of Chinatown can't help their curiosity and proceeded to approach right after he sits down to try and prod more out of him: asking him about what's happening between him and 'the man he’s always fighting with', how it came to this, what he is trying to do- all those kinds of stuff that's probably been in the rumor mill for a bit considering the teasing he'd dished out in the open last time in the boba shop for some of those with sharp eyes to see.

And, well, if one person from Chinatown saw, everybody else might as well have been there themselves.

"You shouldn't be leading people on, boy. Try to set a good example for the children," the lady selling canaries says and Jamie can't help but let out a surprised laugh.

"It's just a bit of teasing," politely defending himself from the sudden accusation is gonna be tough. He ends up somehow reverting into a kid when it comes to Luke, may it be the senseless playground insults that devolve into fistfights or just feeling downright teasing and playful nowadays- which is weird, if you ask him.

…When did he start feeling comfortable with Luke enough for that to happen?

“It's not like anything's gonna happen, we're just playing around. Next thing you know we'll probably just forget about it and go back to the usual fighting shtick once we're sick of each other's guts," he shrugs and blinks at some of the elders' knowing looks thrown his way in confusion. What are they looking at him like that for?

Li-Fen, who was typing on her laptop a couple meters away, apparently has been listening in because she pipes out a loud and clear "Uh-huh, sure. Just a bit of teasing. And you are absolutely not expecting anything to happen.”

Jamie frowns in further confusion as the peanut gallery around him proceeds to throw their own thoughts out with no filter.

"Ah, kids nowadays with their little games. Back in my day-" Huh?  

"My, my, dear me, playing around with feelings tends to lead to heartbreak, my boy." Wha- where did that come from?!

"Oh, gege, you should know better!" Okay, where did this tiny-ass kid pop out from and what exactly is she talking about?!

"Jamie, if you want to try out this perfume I got that makes all men do a double take-" Oh, God, no. 

" Aiyah , what are you waiting for, boy? Just be a man and shoot your shot!" And now, the old man inside the textile shop has come out of said textile shop and is scolding him.

"In all honesty? I think being straightforward is the way to go. Some just can't pick it up no matter how hard you put it down, you know?"

Wh-

Is that Chun-Li?! Giving him love advice???

Before he can even try to conjure up anything to reply to the slew of unnecessary and unneeded words thrown out his way- not to mention feeling starstruck too because Chun-Li herself has joined in the conversation somehow- a hand claps him on the shoulder. He looks up to see Board Breaker Ren sigh and give him a pained smile. 

"Jamie, dearie, I love and appreciate you a lot but you are going to end up giving that white boy a heart attack before anything happens."

An eruption of agreement sweeps through the crowd that has inexplicably formed around him and Jamie is left dumbfounded as he's given a slew of "Good luck!"s and "We're rooting for you!"s as they disperse.

Li-Fen closes her laptop, stands up, and leans down to steal take the bao on his lap but he immediately snatches it up, apprehensive all of a sudden. “Hey! Luke gave this to me, get your own! This is mine.”

The girl just gives him a sly smile before similarly patting him on the shoulder like Board Breaker Ren, saying, “ ‘ This is mine’ , huh. You do you, ge. You'll get there someday,” and walking away, pulling her phone out as she disappears into the crowd.

…What the fuck just happened??

🥟💕

Master Aki’s… ‘ medicines’ need very very close attention- especially for someone as empty-headed and clumsy as them… so when their phone chimes up with that message beside the packets they're memorizing and sorting, the mess they almost made was pretty much expected- it's actually more surprising that not everything has spilled into one big, toxic pile on the floor.

“If you drop those and mix them up again, the results will not be pretty. Those are more potent than the last ones, you know,” a cool voice says nearby and they immediately straighten up in attention.

“R-right! Sorry Master!”

They ignore their master's “How many times do I need to tell you to stop calling me that,” as they arrange the poisons again before taking their phone to read the message fully.

…Dammit, they lost. 

With a sigh and a heavy heart, 5,000 zenny is sent to Li-Fen. “I just lost a bet, Master. I was so sure I was going to win this one,” they say with a pout. They tend to ramble with Aki sometimes- they can't help it for some reason, especially after being her student for a while now and getting to know more about her in the process.

‘If these interactions were meaningless simply because they were aimless, almost everything in this world would also cease to have meaning.’

She said that once. It moved something within them so much that they now end up pretty much talking Master Aki's ears off whenever they are together. The poison master probably knows about them more than anyone at this point but it's just so easy to pour out to her for some reason. She doesn't seem to mind- but, then again, as long as it doesn't get in her Master's way, she doesn't seem to mind anything at all.

“A bet about the one who read a poem and discovered his feelings? Or is it today's turtle race.”

“Wha- I did the turtle race bet one time,” at least they know that she listens- even though she tends to say that things they do or worry about do not matter at all, the fact that they're still here means she's not tired of their antics. She doesn't realize it herself- would probably deny it when told- but she's actually quite the sweet person underneath all the poison talk.

“But yeah, it's the former one. The bet is a bit different today- since they’re both kinda dense. Man, maybe I should be a bit active with them moving forward or else it's gonna take them years to get there,” just like a couple certain kicking Masters they have who have had… ‘feelings’ for their rivals for years and have absolutely not done anything about it. Ken already has enough problems on his own right now so they can't really blame him but in Juri’s case, c'mon girl, Chun's just right there waiting.

“Wonder who I can ask to help with it… Master Marisa is too straightforward so not her, Master Juri is… Master Juri,” they ramble off as they sort out the poisons again. “Hmmm… Master Rashid, maybe? They seem like the type to have casual rizz-” and then they cut off when they see something in their right peripheral.

They don't see anything out of the norm at first but looking closer, there's something off with Master Aki. Something has changed in her poise. She always stood all prim and proper even when they're bumbling around recklessly but now, she almost looks like she's ready to strike. Was it something they said?

“...That name you just mentioned…”

They light up with an o. “Master Rashid?”

And with another call of Master Rashid's name, a dangerous glint appears in her eyes. They don't know if it's good or bad but it's very rare that Master Aki presses into something that they said- so they can't help but indulge a bit.

“Do you know Master Rashid, Master? They're quite a big name on footube- not that you watch it or anything, you probably don't- but I learned a lot from him! He taught me parkour which was pretty neat!”

Aki narrows her eyes. “Ah, I see. I now know who to blame for why you are always bumbling around like a one-winged beetle,” she says and her student pouts at the tease… which actually makes them suddenly feel off when they realize that Master Aki did not tell them to stop calling her ‘Master’ like she usually does.

“This other Master of yours…” 

“Yes?”

“...Tell me more.”

🐍

Metro City's nights have been growing a bit colder recently. Summer hasn't ended yet but some say that maybe Autumn might be coming in early- not to mention that one rainy week sometime before too. Luke fixes the hat on his head as a chill breeze passes by- he runs hot so he's not really affected by it but he should start telling his students to bring in jackets just in case, he doesn't want any of those excitable kids to get sick.

As the Buckler Coach is walking home, a movement that momentarily obstructs a street light catches his attention. He's about to wind down and get something from the food truck in Beat-Up Square when he decides to follow his curiosity and try to look for the movements again, following the shadows through several alleys and turns.

He then spots a familiar tall figure jumping from one building edge to another, followed by laughter. He knows that voice from anywhere. That up there is his student. 

Just before they run and do another jump, Luke shouts out a "Hey!". His student stops and turns, immediately clocking him from below. They let out a very excited gasp and then turn to motion to someone else. A woman peeks down from the building and his student proceeds to climb down via using pipes and window ledges with barely contained energy.

The woman with them laughs and then jumps down, making Luke panic for a second, but she then proceeds to do cool Megaman-esque wall jumping against a street light and the side of a building- which is quite sick if it wasn't for the initial heart attack she gave him. Now that Luke looks closely, she moves very ninja-like.

Wait, is this the 'Master Kimberly' he's been hearing about?

His student grins at him and then proceeds to whisper something to Kimberly, making the ninja snap her head up to turn and look at him with wide eyes.

…What's with the suspiciously big grin stretching on her face?

" Uh-huuuhhh , so this is the lovesick Coach I've been hearing about?" She smiles wide and Luke feels his heart drop.

"I- wh- huh?" No, please, not like this. This is mortifying- is this really gonna be his first impression with a fellow Master? Fuck, he can already feel the warmth of embarrassment on his cheeks. How much does she know?

Kimberly throws her head back to laugh as their shared student gasps at her antics, probably not expecting her to go straight for the jugular with that comment. Still, ever the diligent apprentice, they try to help him save face at least. "Hey! Uh, hello Coach! Good evening!! Uh, what's got you walking around this area?"

The ninja gives him a toothy grin. "Looking for someone? Chinatown is a few blocks away that direction-"

"Master-!" their student hisses in embarrassment, tugging on her sleeve as Kimberly laughs again, waving them off. They look at him with apologetic eyes before glancing around to gauge which direction he initially came from. Uh-huh. Okay. They're not even trying to hide it anymore, seriously.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop teasing. Hey there! I'm Kimberly Jackson, it's nice to finally meet you!" she smiles and offers a handshake that Luke, who's still feeling overwhelmed, takes anyways. Their student leans down to whisper something to her which she waves off again with a "Yeah, yeah, I know- you don't have to keep reminding me-" before they both look at him and give him two innocently wide grins.

"...I'm Luke Sullivan, nice to meet you. And that just now was absolutely not suspicious at all."

He feels kind of tired all of a sudden- really, he doesn't have the energy to match this amount of energy this late. His student having the straight man role between these two for some reason is giving him incredible whiplash too- usually they're the one who’s bumbling around with some antic up their sleeve. No wonder these two vibe so much.

"A-anyways!! We'll leave you to your own devices, Coach! Master Kimberly and I still got a lot of training to do for tonight so-!" Their student grabs Kimberly by the arm and starts to practically sprint away in the opposite direction. 

The ninja laughs at their panic and turns to give him one last look. "Good luck, lover boy! I'm rooting for you!" She shouts with a massive grin and a wave.

Luke wasn't able to react before the two were out of his sight, leaving him standing there alone in the middle of some random street in total confusion.

Okay, that just happened. Apparently, this Kimberly knows a lot about his current troubles- which, in hindsight, should have been obvious to him, considering it was her who gave the book recommendation to his student and they would've then relayed to her what kind of mess that thing got their Coach in.

He was starting to retrace his steps so that he can go back to his route to Beat-Up Square when he hears a commotion from the distance.

There's a woman's loud scream and he immediately sprints. A few blocks away, after several turns, is a lady clutching her bag for dear life as several dudes with TVs and boxes on their heads swarm around her trying to pull it away. Luke shouts as he approaches them, fists clenching and readying for a fight.

"Hey!"

"Bold of you to fuck around in my streets!"

A familiar voice shouts at the same time he does and another man jumps down from a balcony on the opposite sidewalk. They both turn to look at each other and still. What are the odds of him encountering Jamie Siu here?

The drunken boxer raises an eyebrow at him in similar surprise before a sharp screech of "Please help me!" makes the two of them turn back to the situation at hand.

With a wordless truce, they both jump into action as one of the robbers realize how fucked up they are and proceeds to let out an ear piercing whistle to call for backup.

"Dammit! I'll take care of the newcomers, get her out of there!" Luke barks out as a sandblast sends three of the assholes down to the ground. Jamie gets down and spins a breakdance, feet kicking away a couple men as they shout in pain. 

The drunken boxer scoffs as he drinks a swig from his gourd. "You don't get to order me around."

It's not like he can just slip past the robbers anyway- they seem to have come out from whichever way possible and are now swarming them like ants. Still, no matter how many there are, they'll regret getting in the Top Player's way.

Bodies fall down to the ground unmoving one by one despite the group's best efforts to gang up on them and soon enough, the two find themselves slamming back to back against each other.

A thug with a bigger stature lunges at Jamie and the drunken boxer glances behind him to see another thug approaching Luke with a shattered bottle. "Switch with me," Jamie steps back and turns the MMA fighter around who apparently has the same idea as he is, his massive reddening fist pulled back and ready to hit.

"Beast Mode, baby!"

Is the last thing Jamie hears before ground shakingly loud hits fire up from behind him. Taking advantage of the robber's shock upon seeing one of his larger friends get absolutely obliterated, Jamie unarms the man with a quick snatch of his wrist and then sends a palm strike straight into his face.

The man flies back and falls to the ground, staying there unmoving. Jamie looks back and sees that the one he left Luke with has clocked out too, passed out on the asphalt as the MMA fighter steps back and shakes the heat off of his fists. Some of the robbers freeze as they belatedly start to gauge the strength of the two fighters, a couple or more yelping out "Oh, fuck this-" before running away as the others still standing curse at each other about what the hell they were dragged into. 

One of them bodily tries to drag the lady to still take the bag from her- massive kudos to her for having such insane grip strength by the way- before deciding that pulling out a knife is a much better idea than what he's doing.

Jamie curses and starts to run towards her but then gets pulled back almost immediately by a thug who has grabbed him by the braid.

"...Bitch."  

There's enough venom in that, judging from the way some of the robbers freeze instead of helping, that makes him a bit glad that the sheer anger he has right now was able to be conveyed into that one word. Jamie grabs the base of his own braid and whips it so that it catches over the thug's neck, he then yanks on it to pull his foe straight towards him and the man's cardboard covered face meets a sharp kick from his knee. He feels a crunch- probably the fucker's nose- and he doesn't feel at all remorseful as he pulls his hair out of the now loose grip.

The sharp sound of the knife falling on the sidewalk resounds behind him and Jamie feels his shoulders lose their tension. Luke got the dude, it seems.

Jamie gives the last remaining robbers one last look before turning and jogging towards the now crying lady, her bag clutched tightly against her chest as the thugs scurry off in fear, whimpering like dogs with their tails between their legs.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, you're alright now. Can you stand?" He asks softly and she nods, still crying as he helps her shakily get up from the ground. 

There's a single bruise on her knee and several scrapes here and there due to being dragged on the asphalt but other than that, she seems fine. "H-he… the other guy, he-" her hiccuping and crying prevents her from completing what she wants to say and Jamie rubs her back to calm her down.

"Is she alright?" Luke approaches and Jamie turns to him, ready to say a quick jab as per usual, but then freezes.

"Luke, your arm!" He gasps and the MMA fighter stills before looking down at the wrong arm. "No, you idiot, the other one!" He hisses as he practically runs to him in order to check the damage.

The cut runs diagonally along Luke's left forearm, intersecting with another scar that's already there. Thankfully, it's pretty shallow and doesn't look like it will need any stitches but seriously, the blood made him panic for a second.

"It's just a scratch, don't worry about it," Luke assures him before unzipping his jacket. There's a sound of fabric ripping and Jamie scrunches his face as Luke uses the bottom of his shirt as a makeshift gauze.

"I'm sorry- I'm so so sorry, this is my fault-" the lady weeps and Jamie almost jumps. Nope, he absolutely did not forget that she's there- of course not. "Is- is there anything I can do? Do you need wet wipes? Alcohol?? Should we call an ambulance?? " 

"I'm fine, I'm fine, don't worry about it- are you alright though? You ain't hurting anywhere, are you?" Luke asks her and the lady assures him that she's fine. It's good that she's calmed down a bit now at least.

"Actually, can I get some wet wipes? I'll wipe the blood off," Jamie pipes up and Luke turns to look at him as if he just grew a second head. The drunken boxer just rolls his eyes at him as the lady opens her bag to get a small packet of wet wipes squeezed into the corner. The two men both freeze as they see what's occupying most of the real estate of the lady's bag.

There's thick wads of cash in it.

" Damn - no wonder they wanted it so bad. Payday?" Luke asks as the lady jumps, as if forgetting that, yeah, the wads of cash in there are not normal at all.

"Oh, no- I…" she trails off before pursing her lips and spilling. "...I got them from gambling," she says with a sigh. Jamie hums as he holds up Luke's too massive forearm in his hand, wiping the blood and grime around the covered cut. Luke watches as if it's the most fascinating thing he's ever seen.

"Pissed off the wrong people?" The drunken boxer asks and the lady shakes her head in panic.

"N-no, that's not- I mean, I hope not?" She bites her lip as she starts to think about it. "I stopped after a particularly large win since I thought this should be enough for my grandma's heart medication for quite a long time. I guess I got too excited to get home to show her and didn't notice if I really did piss off some people."

Jamie visibly softens before turning to her with a smile.

"...Tell you what. We'll walk you out to the main street and I'll call over a couple of my goons to walk you home safely, will you be alright with that?" He asks and the lady lights up before profusely thanking them both. Jamie nods to himself before turning to Luke- who seems to be stuck in his own world. "...Does it hurt?" The drunken boxer asks him and Luke startles, as if he’s forgotten he's of the earth and still in the mortal plane, existing.

"Oh, no- not at all, it's fine. I'm just spacing out," he absolutely isn't at all distracted by how his own hand and forearm dwarfs Jamie's when they're side-by-side. Nope, not at all.

Jamie narrows his eyes and glares at him suspiciously before blowing out a huff, the long strand of hair he has that's apart from his braid swaying as he does so. He flicks the air in-front of Luke's forehead, making the MMA fighter yelp, before letting go so they could position themselves on either side of the lady they just helped. She eyes the two of them curiously as they walk.

They give the gang members they come across nasty looks so they won't be disturbed and, honestly, Luke is quite thankful that Jamie offered her someone to walk home with after this. Who knows if some other thugs decide to mess with her on her way home.

Upon arriving at the noisier main street, Jamie hollers at a Canary Gang Little Sister nearby who immediately stands straight when she realizes it's her he's calling. He shouts out something in Cantonese and the girl yelps before sprinting towards the direction of Chinatown. A few minutes later, the little sister comes running back towards them with a couple of dudes with cardboard boxes on their heads in tow, stopping just in-front of Jamie before standing in attention.

"You called for us, sir?"

…?

"Yeah, this lady here got jumped by some thugs earlier. I want you to walk her home and make sure she gets there safely, got it?" The commanding voice he uses is almost a whiplash to the soft tone he used earlier. The lot says their affirmatives and the lady thanks the two of them again before going on her merry way home with two guards on either side of her and the Canary Little Sister following a few paces behind just in case.

"And those were…?" Luke asks and Jamie side-eyes him before scoffing.

"Just some disciples of mine. They've been training under me to learn the drunken style for a bit- no one comes close to our student though," he shrugs before snaking his fingers around Luke's arm and pulling.

Luke's entire body stiffens as he gets dragged towards the direction of Chinatown with Jamie's hand tugging him by the crook of his elbow. "Stop pulling back, I'm not going to poison you. I'm just going to apply proper medical aid, geez."

Oh. Huh. Okay. That doesn't explain why he has to pull him by the arm like this but Luke isn't going to complain.

Despite it being quite late in the night already, Chinatown is still bright and bustling. Crowds of people walk about doing their businesses and there's a plethora of smells that makes Luke's stomach rumble. Ah, that's right, he was supposed to be on his way to Beat-Up Square earlier to get dinner. He has completely forgotten.

There are some intrigued eyes that follow the odd pair but the two of them do not notice their gazes at all- what with Jamie's tunnel visioned determination to go where he wants to get to while expertly weaving and sidestepping in the crowd, and Luke just… enjoying the moment. There's no active thought in his head at all currently because it is occupied by the sight of Jamie's back as he pulls him through the streets of Chinatown by his uninjured arm.

Mass is not proportional to volume.

Again, it echoes in his head. He shakes it off.

Despite the warm air wafting around in the dense Chinatown, a chill breeze passes by. The way Jamie clutches his arm a bit tighter during it doesn't escape his attention. He's wearing his usual midriff-exposed garb, is he gonna get mad if Luke offers him his jacket? ...He probably will. Luke doesn't want to ruin the moment so he stays silent and walks up a bit so that they're side-by-side. Their sides press. The smaller fighter doesn't push him away.

That's good enough.

Jamie looks up to glance at him and check how he's doing before going back to his determined trek to wherever he wants to take the other fighter- the slight furrow of his brows and purse of his lips make Luke's heart grow a few sizes. To be honest, at this point, Luke doesn't even care where they're going. Jamie can lead him to a damn giant mouse trap for all he cares and then slam his injured arm down on it and he won't realize what's happened until it's done.

Surprisingly, they arrive at an incredibly familiar shop with a dancing mascot at the front- he didn't even realize the route they were taking. To him, Bao Bro is a familiar figure at this point- he didn’t know at first that the mascot does the deliveries himself at first, actually. 

His trainees absolutely loved the guy when he came over to the Buckler Facilities. Luke ordered some bao on his phone for the first time, as a little treat to his students but mostly because he was craving it again, and the sudden commotion had them all excited. It ended up becoming a hit, so much so that people went and asked him for the shop's number.

Snapping him out of his thoughts with a literal snap of his fingers in-front of his face- Jamie makes him sit on a table outside before heading inside and speaking to the owner lady behind the counter in Cantonese. A girl that was typing away on her laptop at a nearby table stops what she's doing upon their arrival and then stares at him, almost in shock. Not knowing what to do, he just gives her an awkward wave and a " 'Sup?".

Her eyes immediately clock the wound and she raises her eyebrows. "What happened to that?" She asks and then turns to look at Jamie who was still waiting by the counter for whatever he asked for.

"Just some thugs. They were trying to rob a lady and one of them had a knife. Didn't actually notice it until all's been dealt with so it ain't really that bad," Luke explains to get the heat off of his fellow master. The girl hums with a slow nod before giving Jamie one last look and then resuming her own business, fingers now clacking much faster against her laptop keyboard.

There's pings coming from her laptop at an alarming rate that makes Luke a bit nervous for some reason- she probably ain't messaging any friends about him being here, right? That thing with his student earlier that night is making him a bit nervous about how far their reach actually is in the city.

He looks at the girl's laptop and clocks the Bao Bro sticker. Luke remembers his student carrying those around but they aren't weird to see here since they are literally at the bao place those things originated from. Maybe he's overthinking-

Jamie arrives just in time to cut off his paranoid thoughts and then deposits a big basket of bao right in-front of him, much to Luke's excitement. He pulls a nearby monoblock chair with his foot before sitting on it, facing the blonde as he puts down a first-aid kit on the table. Luke half-watches as he rummages in it before pulling out what he needs, he's more focused on the bao, honestly- he didn’t realize how hungry he was until food is in-front of him. The drunken boxer tuts in annoyance as he removes the tattered cloth that the blonde used as a makeshift gauze and crosses his legs.

Luke's arm is then placed to rest on top of Jamie's knee.

He jolts and pulls back a bit only to receive resistance as Jamie frowns at him, clutching his arm tighter and putting it back down, closer to his lap now.

"What, does it hurt?"

"Huh? No, it's just-"

"Then, stop damn moving and squirming around and let me do my thing, jeez," the drunken boxer rolls his eyes and cleans the wound with wipes again, clicking his tongue and taking a water bottle to wash it better. The liquid pools on the asphalt beside them, mixed with a bit of red from the wound, and- despite the stain it might bring- Jamie doesn't move his foot away when the puddle reaches his shoe. "Stay still, meathead. This won't take long."

Jamie glances up at him and then stills for a moment before looking back down and grumpily resuming what he's doing- albeit with what seems to be a very very faint tint of red on his cheeks. Must be exhaustion from the fight earlier and then the sudden panic to bring him here to treat the wound- Luke thinks.

It… actually looks kinda nice on him. It's not as stark as the tint of red that he gets when he's drinking the 'energy drink' from his gourd but he likes both all the same.

This up close, he can clearly see how slightly faded the makeup on his brows and the bright red eyeliner on his eyes are. They are usually pristine- must have been a long night. Jamie glances back up again only to freeze a bit before looking back down with a huff and a small tilt at the edge of his lip that he's trying to stop. "Well if you're already that busy, I guess you're fine after all," the drunken boxer whispers under his breath as he furrows his brows a bit to focus harder on what he's doing, wiping the wet surface area of his forearm and readying the medication. Busy with what? Luke doesn't really know so he just nods.

"Gaze too hard and he might melt from the intensity," the girl pipes up from the nearby table and Luke jerks back to reality- literally jerking backwards physically too- as he remembers that they are out in the open and absolutely anyone can just see him staring at Jamie like it's nobody's business.

Jamie curses as he pulls away the tweezers just in-time for him to not accidentally stab the wound. "Don't surprise him like that, Li-Fen, I'm trying to do a very delicate procedure here," he scolds before pulling Luke's arm back to him and dabbing the medicine on the wound using a damp cotton ball. He just receives a grin from the girl as Luke's brain buffers to process the information.

Li-Fen? Where has he heard that name before?

… Wait, that Li-Fen?!?!

Luke turns to her with wide eyes as the grin on her face stretches wider. She wiggles her eyebrows at him as she watches as a litany of questions in his mind suddenly gets answered. "I'm not doing anything wrong here," she shrugs. "Just consider this payback for the 10,000 zenny I lost because of a certain someone. Well, I managed to get half of it back but I don't forget grievances, you know?"

"...10,000 zenny?" Jamie, still focused on his task at hand, doesn't turn to look at her but raises his eyebrows all the same.

"It wasn't for anything bad, just a little betting between friends," she reassures him before eyeing Luke with a pout . "By the way, I bet against you the first time, ge. Too bad mister 'Coach' here had different plans and it cost me a big chunk of a month's allowance," she blows a raspberry at Luke as the blonde reels.

She bet against Jamie the first time? What does she mean by that?? And have they been betting more since then since she managed to get half of the 10k back??

Wait, does that mean that the messaging pings from earlier is actually his own student after all? Agh, who is he kidding, of course it is. She's probably told them about this current situation the moment he sat down the same way his student told Kimberly all the deets. Heck, they probably have a whole group chat for all he knows.

Jamie dresses the wound and takes extra care to make sure the adhesive sticks properly on Luke's skin, rubbing the edges so that it'll stay flat. He pats the skin beside his handiwork proudly with a huff and a satisfied nod to himself. Luke can't help but feel the edges of his lips tilting upwards. What the hell, that was so damn cute -

He immediately closes his eyes and turns away before the thought fully finishes. Dammit, he can't be this down horrendous after just seeing something as mundane as that. Have some sense, Luke. At least try to act normal.

"There, all done. No need to thank the Great Jamie Siu but you're welcome anyways," he flicks the air just in-front of Luke's forehead again and the blonde throws his head back from flinching. Yep, Jamie Siu is still Jamie Siu. Thanks for the reminder, he almost deluded himself there.

"So! You lost 10,000 zenny from a bet? Does Miss Chun-Li know?" The drunken boxer asks and Li-Fen freezes, immediately paling.

"...Oh, wow! Look at the time! Whoops~ Jiejie must be looking for me! Gotta go!!" She immediately packs up in record time and sprints away in retreat. So she's related to Chun-Li somehow, huh? Small world.

The sound of Jamie's nail tapping against the table catches his attention and the bao basket is pushed much closer to him. "What are you spacing out for? Eat up."

Luke beams brightly before stilling at the kind gesture and eyeing the man beside him suspiciously. "For me? Is hell freezing over?"

Jamie attempts to flick his forehead again and he evades to the side just in time. "No, you idiot. Ugh, if you don't want to eat, suit yourself. I feel empty after that damn mess from earlier," he grumbles before taking one of the bao and biting into it.

Now that Luke actually focuses on the food instead of being distracted by the man in-front of him, he comes back to being hungry and his mouth immediately waters. He eagerly eats half a bao in one bite and lets out a low moan as the flavor overtakes his senses. Damn, that's good- the bao from this shop really never misses. He doesn't really know what the filling is- it's quite different from the pork buns he always bought but damn does it taste good.

He turns to Jamie to ask, just in-case he ends up craving this particular flavor again sometime in the future, but then stops when he sees that the other fighter is frozen, looking at him with wide eyes. "...Jamie?" He calls and the drunken boxer snaps back to reality, turning away and immediately chugging from his gourd as a deep red hue colors his cheeks.

"Ugh, whatever. Just fuckin- eat up. Don't worry about it," he says, turning to look at a wall instead of at Luke.

Luke blinks before looking at the same wall to try and figure out what Jamie is seeing only to look back at Jamie in confusion. He then tries to lean down to his eye level and look at the wall again just in-case he didn't see it the first time.

Jamie's shoulders shake until he can't contain it anymore and he just bursts out laughing, sending a palm to Luke's cheek to push the blonde's face away as he shakes with mirth. "Man, stop that! You are so dumb!!" He laughs lightheartedly and despite the insult being quite straightforward, the tone he says it in doesn't make it feel like one.

"Pff- what are you talking about? I just wanna see what you're seeing- what the heck?" Luke can't help but laugh with him too. "I don't know what's there that's so interesting! Do you have a third eye or something? Are you seeing something normal people can't see??"

The drunken boxer throws his head back to laugh. "No, just- shut up, man. Eat the damn food," he chastises and finishes the bao he is holding before leaning forward to reach out for another one. The red tint high on his cheeks makes Luke barely stop himself from doing anything stupid and the big, silly, smile on his face makes him feel like he's up in the clouds. He put that there, hell yeah. Let's go.

Luke hums as he finishes his bao off and then takes another. Jamie can't help but eye the wound on his arm as he does so.

"It doesn't hurt?" He asks and Luke just shakes his head.

"Eh, didn't even feel it. Don't worry about it, it's gonna heal anyways. It ain't that serious," he shrugs and Jamie just frowns at him.

"That's why you have so many damn scars on your forearm. You do know evading is an option, right? You don't have to charge forward like a raging bull all the time."

Luke fully turns to the other fighter, feeling defensive all of a sudden. "It's not like I had another choice, he was going to stab the lady. Pretty sure the knife would have done more damage to her than it did to me-"

"You're a big guy, grab the hand holding the knife or something! I know you're strong enough to have wrestled it out of his grip- seriously, if that were me, neither of us would've been wounded."

The blonde frowns as he leans forward. "Yeah? You think you could've done that in that split second?"

"Yeah absolutely!"

"Pff, really-"

"Really, really!" Jamie, now pissed off, stands up abruptly. The quick movement sends his chair a couple paces back, the sound a bit grating to the ear. He leans down as if talking down to a kid, hands resting on his hips. "I didn't even need you there! Pretty sure it would've turned out flawlessly either way with just me alone."

Oh, it's on.

Luke puts back the bao he's holding and scoffs as he stands too, forcing Jamie to stand straight back up as the blonde's chair falls backwards behind him. He lightly bumps his chest against the drunken boxer who braces his legs in order to not get pushed back.

"Oh, yeah? As if you won't get yanked down to the ground immediately once they realize that braid of yours is so easy to pull," he lifts a hand to swat at said braid and Jamie slaps his hand away.

"Excuse me?" The drunken boxer lets out an offended huff before rudely pointing at his face. With this almost nonexistent distance between them, Luke stops the urge to just lean down and bite the damn finger. "As if you won't get stabbed multiple times if you were the only one in there. Probably because you think you're some big indestructible guy, huh? I don't need defense, I can just block with my face! Hrhr," he exaggeratedly puckers his lips, puffs out his chest, and lifts his arms in a mock imitation of Luke, speaking in a dumb voice that makes him sound like a muppet and then doing random noises as if he's some character from Animal Crossing.

"The fuck, I don't even sound like that!"

"Yes, you fucking do! 'Beast mode, baby!' That's how you sound! What the fuck even is that?" Jamie goads him more and tilts his head in that irritatingly endearing way he always does when taunting him.

Luke doesn't know if the boiling his blood is doing is because he's incredibly pissed off or because whatever the fuck this man in-front of him is attempting to copy- which he absolutely does not do, by the way - makes him feel a visceral urge to squeeze his cheeks as hard as he can. Jesus Christ.  

"You wanna go, br-"

Before he can finish the question that would most likely result in them clashing fists, someone clearing their throat very loudly and knocking on a table nearby makes them stop their escalating back and forth. They both turn to see the shop owner with the Bao Bro mascot standing to the side and pointing at them. Ah, he must've been the one to call her.

The woman raises an eyebrow and looks down to look at Luke's arm- which is, you know, kinda wounded.

Quietly, they both back down and rearrange their seats.

Jamie does a quick bow of apology and says some reassurance in Cantonese before they both sit back down and awkwardly resume eating in silence. With a satisfied huff, the owner collects the first-aid kit from their table and walks back to the shop, leaving the two men to their devices.

"... …Pff-"

"Shut up, Luke," Jamie hisses, munching on a bao and giving him a subtle glare, head turned away from Bao Bro- who's still standing by but swaying a tiny bit to resume his job - and the front of the shop, where the owner's in full view of them.

"Aww, Jamie doesn't wanna get scolded again?"

"Bitch- we both got scolded. Now shut the fuck up and eat your goddamn food."

The two of them continue eating in silence... It doesn't take even a minute before Luke breaks the silence.

"I don't do that anyways."

Jamie turns to him with a look. "Really. You're still going on about that."

"But I don't-!" Luke raises his voice and stops when the shop owner turns to glare at him. He gives her an apologetic smile before looking back at Jamie and giving him a pout. "I don't do that."

"You're literally doing it right now!" Jamie reaches up to pinch the sides of his bottom lip together between his thumb and index finger and Luke sputters as his face is brought down.

"Wh-!"  

"See- you're pouting!" Jamie points right at his mouth and, again, he has to stop the urge to bite Jamie's stupid finger.

Luke grabs both of Jamie's wrists in one hand before wrenching them away from his face. "No, I'm not pouting!" He says, pouting. Jamie points at him again, mouth in an 'o' and before Luke can stop his impulses, he snaps his teeth together in a mock bite.

Jamie squeaks before freezing up, not expecting the sound that just came out of his mouth at all. They both blink at each other before bursting out laughing.

The drunken boxer tries to wiggle his hands away but stops when he realizes that both his wrists are fully, firmly trapped in Luke's large hand. The stupidly huge forearm further accentuates the difference in their stature and Jamie belatedly feels the heat that has risen to his cheeks.

Luke doesn't catch up to it fast enough though, just letting his own laughter die out before eyeing Jamie and noticing how the drunken boxer's gone unnaturally still. “Hey, you okay?” Luke asks as he leans closer in concern, bringing the hand trapping the other's wrists against his collarbone. That expression, paired with those blue eyes that seem to bore into what the blonde is looking at, makes him feel things.

✨

Shit. Jamie’s trapped. There's a hand that's just landed beside his hip on the monoblock chair, not quite touching but the heat feels searing anyways. What's got him so petrified all of a sudden? Even Jamie Siu himself doesn't understand.

He sees worry in Luke's eyes and, honestly, it is quite sweet of him. He feels his heart beating a tiny bit faster under his gaze.

It takes a while before Luke realizes what is happening and Jamie could literally see his whole face light up. It's almost as if there's imaginary floppy ears on top of his head and a wagging tail on his back too for added effect.

"Like what you see?"

Jamie's entire world stops.

He says it in an echo of what the drunken boxer said the last couple times- except it has an entirely different tone than expected. Simply because Luke can't stop the edges of his mouth from tilting up and his eyes are so bright and hopeful that Jamie doesn't see any shred of teasing in them at all. He's like a proud, beaming puppy asking for a treat because he did a good job. Inexplicably unable to stop himself, Jamie- whose wrists are still trapped in Luke's one hand- reaches up to pinch the blonde's cheeks and scoffs out a disbelieving laugh.

"You… have no rizz at all," the way Jamie sounds like even he's astounded by the information he just uncovered makes Luke blink. "You were actually doing better when you weren't talking," he says it so slowly as if he's discovered a new species and is explaining it in a documentary.

"Wha-" Luke lets go of the wrists in his hold, taken aback by the statement, and Jamie's hands end up landing down to rest on his chest. "What is that supposed to mean?? I mean- you did stop for a moment there, don't lie-"

"But that was when you literally weren't talking! Bro, the moment you opened your mouth, the atmosphere you set up immediately crumbled," he says, shaking Luke's shoulders and almost offended at how that earlier comeback was received- even though he was the one who received it. Damn it, what the hell, he was doing so good before the line too! He then turns to look at Bao Bro who was just quietly watching their antics from a short distance away. "You get what I mean, right?"

The mascot stares, eyeing the drunken boxer's hands as they possessively reach up to rest on the junctions between the blonde's neck and shoulders despite the quarreling they're doing. They're quite close to each other but neither seems to mind or notice. The blonde mouths 'set up' and 'atmosphere' in absolute confusion as if he has never heard those words in his life- telling Bao Bro just how much… let's say ‘density’, for lack of a better word, they're dealing with here.

He's just a mascot trying to do his job who doesn't fully get whatever this is that's going on with these two- so he decides in the couple seconds he has to think that he'd rather not go against Jamie Siu who he has a higher chance of meeting and seeing on a day to day basis.

Bao Bro nods. 

"See! Even the mascot agrees with me! You got W subconscious rizz and L conscious rizz, unbelievable. No wonder you get no bitches-"

Luke sputters before pointing at Jamie's face for a rebuttal. In mirroring fashion, Jamie snaps his teeth for a mock bite and Luke yelps before pulling away. The action unlinks the hands from his shoulders and he immediately leans down to grab Jamie’s chair so he can pull him in just to prove a point- or something. Luke doesn't really know why he did it but he feels like if he does pull away now, he'll lose their little fight.

Jamie bites back a gasp, heart almost lurching out of his chest as he's bodily dragged closer, hands landing back on Luke's shoulders so that he doesn't fall backwards and eats shit. The sound of the monoblock chair's feet sliding against the asphalt is grating but it is entirely overtaken by the quick heartbeat ringing in his ears. 

They’re so damn close. Luke's crowding over him. For some reason, it's hard to breathe.

His rival’s not doing it on purpose, is he? …No. He's not consciously doing it, judging from the expression on his face. In his mind, they're still having a little playground quarrel that he wants to win. What the hell?

"Uh, huh, sure, 'cause you're just sooooo good at hitting on people you think you can give me pointers, huh?"

And, just like that, Jamie's attention is pulled away immediately. "Hey , Jamie Siu doesn't hit on people! People hit on Jamie Siu!"

Bao Bro stares at the odd duo whose faces are so close to each other's that a single accidental graze from someone walking by can probably make them kiss. He's probably not the only one thinking that actually, judging from the look on the owner's face as she eyes them so they don't cause further trouble. For a random bystander who doesn't have any context on what's happening, their current conversation… or quarrel absolutely doesn't match their actions at all.

"Are they flirting or are they about to fight?"

Speaking of, a Canary Little Sister whispers to the older member beside her. They're just here to run an errand and buy some bao but ended up unable to go in the shop due to Jamie Siu's presence just right outside. "Honestly, I have no idea," the other member replies back and continues just staring at the two.

The blonde pouts again and Jamie can't help but glance down at his lips before snapping his eyes back up. Luke, still trying to fight against the earlier ‘L rizz’ accusation, continues to yap for his own defense. "But!! You did stop earlier though! Stop capping, I saw that!"

"No, that's me cringing. You are just absolutely mistaken-"

"You weren't cringing, I saw the expression on your face! I'm not blind!"

"You're not blind but you're dumb as hell, bro. Are you going delu-" and then Jamie bites back a wince after almost saying delulu out loud- seriously, he can't keep picking up these weird words that their student says.

They continue quarreling as the shop owner just looks at them in exasperation. Seriously, she doesn't even understand half the words they're spouting at each other at this point- they might as well be talking in an entirely different language. She motions to the Canary Members outside and they jolt at the sudden attention before hastily speed walking in the shop.

Despite the bright red cheongsams fluttering in the wind as they move, Jamie Siu does not notice them at all.

"Holy shit," they turn to look at each other in awe. They just walked so close to the Peacekeeper without catching even a glance or getting a warning?! This is unbelievable- "What are you two here for?" The owner asks and they both stand in attention, remembering what their errand was. Okay, they better keep this newfound information for the future.

They say their orders and patiently wait as all of the baos are counted and placed in bags. Another look at the two fighters as the canaries leave confirms further that Jamie's attention is fully, completely captured by the man before him.

The moment they turn the corner and get out of sight, their walking immediately turns to a full sprint as they hurry to tell the others what they just witnessed.