By Your Side

“I’m not lying,” Zitao protested, hoping to keep her guard down by speaking to her. “Honestly I just didn’t know what you were talking about,” he turned to face her, done with her pacing around him. He wanted to be able to see her and not have his back turned in case she was the enemy. He couldn’t risk anything, not when there was a demon on the loose.

Zitao didn’t flinch when she turned to face him, keeping that ring held tight against his palm as he met her gaze steadily, searching for that balance of relaxed and prepared to attack, attempting to communicate through body language alone that he wasn’t about to hurt her and he also hoped she would lower her guard as well.

Shaking her hand in his, he thought about the Street Fighter game in the corner and tilted his head to the side. “That’s your specialty is it?” he questioned. 2D fighters were one of his favourites too - maybe he would challenge her at her own game. “You’ll find me as TAO if it only lets me have three letters - TAOZI if it’s five,” he replied, settling himself at one end of the game.

“How noble of you,” he said at her offer to pay. “But I can pay my own way,” he flipped a coin between his fingers, half of the expertise of the motion coming from the small amount of manipulative power he put into the coin. “One round sounds fine to me,” Winner get’s status, Zitao thought to himself. Why did he always get caught up in these nerd games? He didn’t deny that he enjoyed them though. It was how he let loose - in the nerdiest way possible. Sometimes he laughed at himself when he went home at the end of the day.

Though he was surprised that nobody had taken Hyuna to a cat cafe before. That was a little strange - didn’t people go to cat cafes when on a date or otherwise? Why wouldn’t someone take her to one? Or maybe Zitao was just like that. He was always the kind of person to enjoy taking someone somewhere there was lots to look at, whether it was a park, or a museum or an aquarium...he didn’t care where. That way, if they ran out of conversation topics, they could turn to external sources and talk about what they saw around them. It was like a security blanket just as much it was a chance to really get to know someone. That was his motive most of the time. Some people didn’t like it - in fact one of the first people he took on a date complained the whole time he wasn’t paying enough attention to her. Which was ridiculous. She kept checking her phone every five minutes.

Kiss your muse

Kick your muse

Tell your muse how they really feel

Tell a deep dark secret

My muse will take their shirt off

My muse will eat a something gross

My muse will slap your muse

My muse will tell you about their first love

My muse will tell you about a time their parents hurt their feelings

My muse will run around the house naked

My muse will prank call someone of your muse’s choice

My muse will do something sexual to your muse

My muse will tell yours about a crime they committed

My muse will tell you about their first time having sex or what they imagine their first time to be like

My muse will clean your muse’s house

My muse will cook your muse dinner

My muse will go out on a date with your muse

My muse will buy your muse flowers

My muse will tell your muse what they think of the new blockbuster movie

My muse will wear a costume of your muse’s choosing

My Muse will tell your muse what they are afraid of

My muse will tell your muse an embarrassing story

My muse will tell your muse a nightmare they’ve had

My muse will tell you a bold faced lie

“What...?” Zitao said slowly. He began to slowly come to the realization that maybe she knew there had been a demon attack and was now asking him where the demon went. “I don’t know,” he managed to get out. This girl was only human, but she carried herself in a way that told him she had confidence in her abilities and in herself. It would do no good for Zitao to even question or challenge her. If it came down to a fight, neither of them would get out unscathed, and that was good reason to avoid one now.

But somehow, Zitao got the feeling that the answer he’d given was not what she wanted to hear. Swallowing, he took a few steps back, putting some distance between him and the mysterious girl, though being mindful of the fact that there was a body back there - somewhere. He turned his head slightly to make sure he knew where it was so he didn’t trip - only to find the space it had been was empty. The grass was still pressed down where it had been lying, so he knew he hadn’t been imagining it.

As the manager left, Hyunseung’s faith in him continued to pour over him. The only people who’d ever had this much faith in him were his parents. He guessed he should expect such positivity from a fellow angel, but somehow this was something else. And after all, he was right. Destiny and fate worked in unexpected ways. And the fact that he’d been found by the right person and ended up here in front of Hyunseung...maybe this is what he’d been called to do. If he only made it so far, then so be it. But until that moment, Zitao would fight for every moment he could spend working in this area. He might never get another chance.

“Thank you,” Zitao said softly, his lips curling into a smile. It only widened as Hyunseung encouraged him towards the set, Zitao felt ready to take on the world, and he’d barely gone a few steps. He listened to Hyunseung’s words and nodded. “I can do that. They briefed me on it already I think. It didn’t take very long,” he flushed when he added that last bit on - because the fact that it hadn’t taken very long was both bragging about his skill and a testament to simply how easy moving his body in complicated formations was for him. Learning the set had been easy - but now he had to replicate it. His heart was already racing.

Picking up the peach juice for her, and a green tea for himself, he headed over to the table and sat down, holding the juice out to her with a smile. “Here,” he wraps his hands around the tea. He feels a cat jump up onto his lap and lets out a surprised sound before reaching down to pet the cat gently.

He fell into a slight silence as he petted the cat who was purring happily in his lap, eventually standing on his haunches to paw at his cheeks. Zitao affectionately cuddled the cat, his face flushing when he remembered he was here with a girl. He really couldn’t be more masculine if he tried he supposed...oh well. It was better he be himself instead of pretending he was some macho man who had no feelings for the adorable animal in his lap. And he loved the cat seated in his lap.

“I can see that,” Zitao said, smiling gently at the father-daughter affection. He watched the little girl dart off as requested by her father and turned back to him as he spoke. He reached out to shake his hand, glad that he’d learned the name of the stranger at last. Barom.