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[threedontknows]

 

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[threedontknows]

Trying his hand at redemption. [He scoffs and reaches for his fan.]

It’ll never happen. He’s too ruthless, and cares for no one but himself. And even if he is redeemed, what good would it do! Our world hates him now.

[creeksidealtarboy]

Good.

You making his life hell? [He wants that for him. Aaron got his revenge. He would tear the Bishop apart of he sae him here.]

[threedontknows]

My presence here drives him crazy. [He laughs.]

I stumbled on something the other day that could play out nicely, if I choose to keep going down that path.

[creeksidealtarboy]

Well, don't leave me hanging. What did you find out?

[He pushes his hair back from his face, eager to hear this scheme.]

[threedontknows]

[Huaisang pulls out his fan from his belt and opens it with a flourish.]

He thinks I harbor a decades-long crush on him. [He gags slightly. It’s gross.] But if he wants to think that about me, it makes him vulnerable.

[creeksidealtarboy]

[Aaron wrinkles his nose.]

Well.

Alright. You ain't gonna -

[He puts a hand on his chest. Why the fuck doesn't he just carry cigarettes with him?]

[threedontknows]

You disapprove.

[It’s pretty obvious.]

Which part offends you? That I’d entertain ideas about other men or that I’d pretend at all?

[creeksidealtarboy]

[Aaron looks, for a moment, genuinely confused. Then he shakes his head.]

Nah, nah, it's nothing. It's a good plan. Hit him where it hurts and all.

[threedontknows]

[Huaisang is not convinced, but he isn’t about to let Aaron know that.]

I have to get creative here. It isn’t as though I can use my magic or my influence as a clan leader.

[creeksidealtarboy]

Not until you're paired. Then you can get your magic back from them.

[He grins.]

You can really do magic? Real magic?

[threedontknows]

[He shrugs.]

Protective talismans and Daoist magic. I was never any good with martial arts or swords.

[creeksidealtarboy]

Eh, that's alright. I can fight and it isn't as cool as magic.

[He settles back.]

Show me sometime, huh?

[threedontknows]

My mind’s my greatest asset — yours too.

[He leans forward to finish off the rest of the tea.]

The mistake of my peers was to rely on their spiritual powers and magic. They underestimated me because they thought I was frivolous. True — I like nice things! But they let it blind them to what I was capable of.

[creeksidealtarboy]

Yeah, and people hear my accent and think I'm some backwater hick. And shit, maybe I am. But that don't mean the whole 'uh, I just - just don't know what - what I'm doin' act should be as effective as it is.

They're easy to fool when they already make assumptions.

[threedontknows]

[He folds his fan and pokes Aaron in the chest.]

The assumptions continue here, am I right? How many people have you fooled?

[creeksidealtarboy]

Everyone. [He rubs his chest.]

Raylan. Tim. Dorian, probably. James, that idiot in our group. Norton. Lark.

Everyone I've fucking talked to. No one knows the truth.

[threedontknows]

[Only Huaisang knows the truth. He smiles behind his fan.]

How many of those have seen Roy?

[creeksidealtarboy]

Ah, now that's different. Dorian. The detective, Arthur. Lark. He ain't around no more, though.

No one pushes me here. I don't have to do shit.

[He laughs, unable to help the bit of playfulness in his tone. It's a goddamn good game.]

[threedontknows]

[That’s two people who had directly witnessed and interacted with ‘Roy’. That’s a good number to start off with —

Always best to be cautious.]

Until you get a warden.

[creeksidealtarboy]

Yeah, I don't plan on getting that close to anyone.

[He crosses his legs, lounging.]

Someone's it's random, but I've been reading the network.

People get close. They get to be friends. Then they get paired. Best way to stay away is not to get close to Wardens.

[threedontknows]

Aaaanyone?

[Huaisang grins and leans towards him, still fluttering his fan.]

[creeksidealtarboy]

[Aaron doesn't know why he dies it. In fact later, when he thinks about it, he's going to wonder if this place hasn't made him a little crazy.

But there's no time to think about any of that shit too much because he hesitates for half a second and then leans in to kiss him.]

[threedontknows]

Huaisang isn't expecting that at all. He pulls back quickly, eyes wide, fan dropped to one side as he stares back at Aaron.

"I didn't think you--"

Were one of us. Like me. It's difficult for Huaisang to classify himself as anything, being as secretive as he has for all those years. As a dandy people thought he was flamboyant, but no one would ever call him a cut-sleeves.

But he is, of a sort. He also likes brothels. But he's a collector of beautiful things, a lover of delicate, well-made pieces of art and fine fabrics and porcelain. He keeps birds, he paints trees and flowers. He admires pretty women, lovely men. None of that had been an act.

[creeksidealtarboy]

Aaron picks up the fan and presses it into Huaisang's palm.

"I ain't," he insists softly. "Like you." But his hand lingers there, the touch soft and gentle, nothing like Aaron's outward appearance.

"I ain't- I don't know what, but I like you. You're not like anyone I've ever met."

He mutters it as he says it, like it's a secret, like he can't actually make himself say the words aloud. He had liked Linda, sure, but she was no one important. She was just as bad as everyone else in the end.

And Alex -

Well fuck him.

Aaron only realized what he wanted, impulsive as it was, when he thought about Huaisang's plan. Why it burned him so much. This is why.

[threedontknows]

Labels. Huaisang understands entirely. Aaron isn't the first man he's kissed who's insisted that he wasn't 'like him'. Hell, some of them had their hand in his robe or his cock in their mouth and they were still adamant that they didn't like men that way.

Huaisang takes the fan with a brush of his thumb across Aaron's wrist.

"And I've never met anyone as good as an actor as me." He smiles a little playfully, opening up his fan again to wave his reddened face.

He likes Aaron, and he is beautiful. He'd make a fine addition to his collection.

He closes the space between them with his fan, covering their faces to the door as he leans forward to touch his lips to his.