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[threedontknows]

 

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[creeksidealtarboy]

He threads his fingers through his hair, brushing it from his face. "Yeah, that's how I knew." He admires the fan for a moment, not even noticing how close he is until he's kissing him again.

Ah.

Yeah, this is nice.

He lets it linger this time, putting a hand on his but nothing else. Nothing more. So when he pulls away, it's with a smirk.

"There. Now you got something better to think about when you're having to kiss that other guy."

[threedontknows]

“Ah! How could you be so cruel as to remind me!” Huaisang folds his fan and flops back onto the cushions on the floor, his broad sleeve covering his face. It’s easier to cover up the big grin that way.

“I hate him so much. I’m glad he’s here. I burned down the world just to get my revenge.”

[creeksidealtarboy]

Aaron sits back, quite pleased with himself. "Too bad he's got that nice thing going on the outside," he says with a breathless sort of laugh. "I don't have an excuse to punch him in the fucking face for you."

[threedontknows]

Jin Guangyao had been doing well keeping himself in the shadows, although--

"Oh!"

He sits up again quickly. It occurs to him that he'd given himself away publicly. "He tried to play a song on the network a day or so before the breach began. Do you remember? It might have made you feel uncomfortable. That's the song that drove my brother insane!"

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Songs can make people crazy?" he wonders, leaning over towards him. "I remember it. What a dick." He shakes his head. "Did he do that to fuck with you?"

[threedontknows]

"I wouldn't be surprised. He just enjoys causing harm in general though, little viper."

Though it is difficult to tell what goes on in Jin Guangyao's head sometimes. Who can really say why he does anything beyond expressing his spiteful, jealous little heart.

[creeksidealtarboy]

He really wants to wring that man's neck. Maybe he should, but it might fuck with Huaisang's plans, so - he squashes that idea.

"What happens if you get paired, huh? How fucked are you?"

[threedontknows]

He shrugs his shoulders. Getting paired doesn't intimidate him like it might with Aaron. "They'll know the outline of my plan, but there isn't anything I can't talk to death. Besides -- who could possibly argue with a brother seeking revenge?"

[creeksidealtarboy]

He nods, thinking it through. "That's clever. That's the angle I'm doing with the Bishop. No one would get pissed at me for wanting revenge."

[threedontknows]

"I'm angry with him, and we're just getting to know each other. He was morally corrupted and someone who took advantage of young people who needed his help -- he needed to die."

That, as his brother would say, is the righteous path.

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Yeah, I know," he mutters. "He just pulled us all out and told us that he needed to exercise his demons. Which is code for - well, you know. Getting off." He waves a hand, like it doesn't matter, like he's killed him, so fuck it.

"And your guy, I won't touch him, but I'd like to nail him to a goddamn wall."

[threedontknows]

Huaisang winces. There are a lot of evils in the world -- he's seen his fair share, but there's a special sort of suffering that needed to be reserved for someone who did that.

"You could. He'd play innocent the entire time, I'm sure."

He scoffs and sits back, waving his fan again to give himself a little breeze. His hair flutters and he looks down in some serious thought.

"Did getting your revenge fulfil you?"

[creeksidealtarboy]

"Yes and no. Getting the revenge was good. Making everyone jump through hoops to figure it out and then the my big goddamn reveal at the end? That was fulfilling." He realizes that it probably makes him selfish for it, but he feels good about what he did to the Bishop.

"My lawyer, Marty? He - he was a good guy. I had him fooled the whole time, but I think he figured it out in the end. Like...like we was dancing, you know?"

[threedontknows]

He didn't reveal himself right at the end. He hadn't wanted to; the death had been enough. The look on Jin Guangyao's face when he saw his body's body in that coffin, stitched back together in the place of his mother? That had been enough.

"Did you give yourself away, or was he just that clever?"

[creeksidealtarboy]

"I - fucked up. Said something I shouldn't have and he almost - almost left without saying anything. Then he came back and I couldn't lie to him anymore. The case was won. He couldn't go back on it then! It didn't matter what he thought because I knew he would never got back on his word."

He shrugs.

[threedontknows]

So it was a bit of both.

"My friend figured me out, when it was all said and done. He never outright accused me, but he implied it. I wasn't angry with him though. I was counting on him to be clever enough to investigate where I'd pointed him."

[creeksidealtarboy]

"If he knew what you did, why didn't he say anything?" he wonders, toying with the tea cup.

[threedontknows]

"I'm not entirely sure. Possibly because he realized I was done with my revenge, so there was no reason to expose me. It wasn't as though I was going to mess with the cultivation world any more than I had."

[creeksidealtarboy]

And here, Aaron looks the smallest bit skeptical. He leans forward, looking down on him on the cushions.

"Did you?"

[threedontknows]

He shakes his head, which he is very, very good at.

"No, I didn't. I'd destroyed everything -- there wasn't much point to do anything else if I had wanted to. I wanted to focus on my clan and putting my brother to rest, finally. "

[creeksidealtarboy]

"And then you ended up here for your fucking redemption?" he scoffs. "Sounds like you did everything right. You feel fulfilled?"

[threedontknows]

Who's to say? Huaisang knew the ache and pain of loss would never truly go away, but at least he didn't have to see his brother's murderer walking around as a free and influential man.

"No. I miss him."

[creeksidealtarboy]

Aaron sobers a little, all fun and games gone for the moment.

"Yeah? Tell me about him?"

[threedontknows]

Huaisang become serious, his light and warm expression turning dark and melancholy.

“He was good to me. Even when I thought he was being horrible, he was always good to me. We lost both our mothers - we’re half siblings, and our father died unexpectedly. Da-ge had the world on his shoulders.”

He closes his fan and sets it down onto the table.

“He was righteous. Good was good and evil was evil; there was nothing in between. He was stubborn. He kept things from me, important things. He could have a temper. It got worse and worse near the end of things, but he was always hot-headed.

“But was brave, and loved his people deeply. He loved me.”

[creeksidealtarboy]

Every male figure in Aaron's life had been objectively bad. His father beat him. The Bishop abused him. He had found comfort with people he knew, people who were like him. Siblings, he supposes, orphaned in either a literal or metaphorical sense.

But they weren't protectors of each other. Aaron's never had that. He's been his own protector, then created a reality where he could act as the protector to his imagination.

So while he can't relate, he can see the effects of it echoed in his friend. Huaisang had been what he portrays himself as. He had been light and delicate, much like the fictional Aaron, until he lost that and had to stand on his own.

"Man I'm - I'm sorry. He sounds good, like he was a good guy. World needs more people like that, not less."