#but people won't leave me alone so they keep getting the brunt force of my worst traits

[omohole]

it really fucking sucks being just aware enough to know youre having an episode but not being able to do anything about it. i know im probably acting irrationally and being awful because i am awful but i dont know what to do. it feels like im always like this but that clearly cant be true because otherwise id be completely alone. i dont want to hurt the people i care about but also they should leave. i dont get why theyre here to begin with. fuck man - R

[rose-tinted-vision]

Fic: My Cabbage got dug out by the pig

Relationships: Huzi & Wang Yuqian, Wang Yuqian & Xiao Yunzi

Summary: Hu Zi notices someone staring at his friend.

[read it on ao3!]

Hu Zi is in the midst of an argument with Wang Yuqian- because obviously sliced fish porridge is superior to osmanthus porridge- when he feels a pair of eyes staring at him.

He turns in time to see Xiao Yunzi hastily looking away. Hu Zi shrugs, dismissing the other's behaviour and returns to the debate with Yuqian. He was used to others staring by now, used to the accusations slung at him, used to the public’s prejudice against him.

As long as he still has his friends, he could weather it all.

—

It starts becoming a common occurrence.

The strange thing was that Xiao Yunzi never joined Cheng Jinian in bullying him, never said a word against Huzi, never exhibited any hostility towards him, so why all the staring?

“Ice cube,” Hu Zi nudges Qi Xiaoxuan, “have you noticed that Xiao-xiong keeps staring at our table?”

Qi Xiaoxuan, like the unsubtle tactless block of ice that he is, turns to look right at Xiao Yunzi, who faces the brunt of Xiaoxuan's intense glare head on. He has some nerves of steel, Hu Zi will give him that. He has seen lesser men cower under the force that is Qi Xiaoxuan, next Commander-in-Chief of the Tiangang Hall. Just for that, he has Hu Zi’s respect.

He eventually breaks off their staring contest, turning back to his noodles with a shrug.

“What does that mean?” Hu Zi frowns, jabbing him in the arm, “hey, it's fine if he's threatening me, but what if he means to come after Xintong or Yuqian?” 

“He won't,” is all Ice Cube deigns to say.

—

Hu Zi figures it out a few days later.

It wasn't him that Xiao Yunzi was staring at, it was Wang Yuqian. That realization only serves to make him more nervous. Of the four of them, Wang Yuqian’s fighting skills was the lowest, while Xiao Yunzi’s was comparable to Qi Xiaoxuan’s.

It would be all to easy if Xiao Yunzi intended to harm Wang Yuqian.

But that was not the case either, Hu Zi realizes.

He notices that whenever they went out drinking till midnight, Xiao Yunzi would be there at a table over, either alone or with Da Chengqiang, silently keeping vigil.

(That explained the other night when they had all but passed out in Zuihuatang, only to find themselves back in the dormitory the next morning).

He also notices that during classes where they had field practice with low level demons, Xiao Yunzi would stay in their periphery, flying sword at the ready to deflect any stray spell or blade that came too close to Wang Yuqian.

The most important point of all was that this behavior only extended to Yuqian.

Hu Zi chalks it up to Xiao Yunzi having a crush on his friend, and leaves it at that. As long as the man did not harbor any ill intentions towards Yuqian, it was okay to leave him alone, in Hu Zi’s opinion.

—

“Who would be dumb enough to switch teams with you?” Hu Zi exclaims, before his mind catches up with his mouth.

He knows the answer even before Yuqian says it, “Xiao Yunzi.”

Hu Zi can only gape at his friend. He had assumed that Yuqian did not know about the other man's staring, given how dense he was on most days, but he guessed that even the densest of bricks would notice someone practically stalking them everyday.

Though he had not guessed that Yuqian would be so heartless to use someone’s feelings against them.

Or perhaps- they were already together, which would explain why Yuqian had immediately approached Xiao Yunzi, out of all the other people they knew.

“What's your relationship with him?” Huzi blurts out, curiosity getting the better of him, “he stares at you all the time, and cares about you a lot.”

Xintong nods along,”it’s interesting,”

Interesting indeed, Hu Zi reflects as he studies Yuqian's expression, which had turned contemplative. He knows there's something that their friend is hiding from them, something that he is not ready to share yet, and he is fine with waiting.

(He is betting on the secret relationship theory, though he does not understand why Yuqian would not tell them if he is seeing Xiao Yunzi. There was nothing to hide about that, did Yuqian not think that Hu Zi would support him?)

The moment is broken when Xintong exclaims with a frown, “Wait, that means you swapped over such a powerful guy to the enemy team!”

Hu Zi inwardly groaned, praying that Xiao Yunzi would keep out of their way, on the account of Yuqian being on their team.

(He hears from Cheng Daqiang later that Xiao Yunzi had Team Killed Cheng Jinian, effectively stopping him from capturing the dragon plague before Hu Zi).

—

He had been ready to tease Yuqian about his secret admirer, to ask him how he managed to command such undying loyalty from someone so powerful, but everything explodes all at once, and he promptly forgets about it all.

The Council of Elders’ repeated attempts to acquire power is laughable, nearly comical, even. Trying to nominate Cheng Jinian for any position would not get them anywhere, surely they realized that by now? Neither would trying to bully them into submission work, even Wu Lidan was with them on that.

Hu Zi walks out of Tiangang Hall a free man, and several hundred times over in his friend's debt.

He has been ready to face his death, maybe join his mother in diyu, and yet his friends had come proudly storming the courtroom in their respective red, white and blue robes of their rank with their troops in tow, demanding justice for their friend.

“Thank you for defending me,” he says, though he feels that those paltry words are not enough to convey the gratitude he feels.

He is about to ask Yuqian just how he managed to get word out when they had went straight to Tiangang Hall from the prison when Xiao Yunzi calls him away, and Hu Zi realizes- of course, wherever Yuqian was, so was the other; always in his orbit, or whatever it was Yuqian wrote in his romance novels.

They can not afford to celebrate their win just yet, though. There is still Qi Xiaoxuan and the world to save.

—

It was as if once he started noticing, he could not stop picking out the way Xiao Yunzi treated Yuqian differently.

(Not that the man was being subtle about it).

He had learnt during their weekly drinking nights that Xiao Yunzi had spoke up for Yuqian in front of the Elders, effectively double-teaming to shut them down.

Next was that Xiao Yunzi has also been visiting their house more often. He usually makes a beeline straight to Yuqian, though their meetings never lasted longer than a minute and often left his friend looking more forlorn than not.

He had assumed that Xiao Yunzi had no ill intentions towards Yuqian, but if he was threatening his friend then he would get a taste of Hu Zi’s fist. He has considered giving Xiao Yunzi the shovel talk- if he, Xintong and Qi Xiaoxuan teamed up together, it would surely be more than enough to give him a good beating.

But Xiao Yunzi acted faster than he expected, kidnapping Yuqian back to Qianyu right under their noses. 

Hu Zi has half a mind to chase them down and fight it out with Xiao Yunzi- stalking their friend and kidnapping him now? He should have dealt with the man earlier. 

Until Yuqian returns with a box of red pearls in tow, revealing his real identity as the Prince of Qianyu, with Xiao Yunzi as his personal guard.

“I knew he was suspicious! he was always staring at Brick!” Huzi says triumphantly, “I thought he…” looked like he wanted to devour Yuqian. He clamps his mouth shut, swallowing down his words at Xiao Yunzi’s warning glare.

“...You two hid quite well,” he hastily tacks on, averting his eyes from Xiao Yunzi, making a silent vow to keep his mouth shut around the guard.

He thinks Yuqian says something about it, but his mind is still spinning from the revelations of the day, still reeling from the emotional rollercoaster that his friend had just set him on.

(At least the mystery of Xiao Yunzi’s strange fixation on Wang Yuqian was resolved. It was one less thing for Hu Zi to worry about, and they gained a valuable ally from it, too).