His tail wagged excitedly as he looked down and realized the characters written down on the page in front of him no longer looked like a blurry mess. Maybe like this he could actually learn to read- 

“Hm. No, this won’t do.” 

Lei Mu froze, and Jade Face’s tongue clicked in disappointment as she reached over and slowly pulled the glasses off, making sure one of her hands brushed against the side of his face. Lei Mu blinked as the world became slightly blurry again. 

“Ah- wait-” He reached out, but Jade Face stopped him by simply placing one painted nail against his forehead, pushing him back slightly as the glasses held in her other hand dissolved into a fine green dust. “Why-” 

“These don’t suit you at all.” Jade Face said, sliding her finger down and flicking his nose. “They make the pink of your marking look off and well… we wouldn’t want to ruin the only thing you’ve got going for you, sweetheart.” 

Lei Mu slumped. 

“Did it really look that bad?” 

“Oh sweetie.” She wrapped her arm around him, pulling him close until his face rested in the nook of her neck. “You looked awful.” 

-

Awful, awful, awful. 

That word is all that rings in Lei Mu’s head as he gently places the glasses (given to him by MK and Tang after one too many bumps into the walls and counters of the Noodle Shop) onto his face. 

The world becomes clearer, like he expected it to, and he blinks, taking in the room around him, the characters on the spines of the books on the shelf in front of him- Chuntao’s favorites, they’d said, didn’t smudge together any more. He was glad he’d never asked if they were all multiple copies of the same book to her face. She’d probably laugh at him for that. 

He sighed, before forming a flower in his hand to stare at. He’d never actually gotten to see a flower up close without it going blurry. The petals were…pretty, actually. The small details that he’d never gotten to see before prompting him to sit down on the couch, pulling up his legs to sit criss crossed, as he turned the flower from side to side, running a hand over the petals before creating a new flower to study it as well. 

He must’ve gone through 20 flowers before he startled upon hearing the front door opening. 

He couldn’t hear Chuntao’s footsteps, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t walking towards him, so Lei Mu quickly removed his glasses from his head, and, not being able to find a better place for them, set them down on the coffee table, placing a piece of paper over top of them to keep them hidden. 

Standing up, he kicked the flowers he’d carelessly discarded to the floor underneath the couch, before walking towards the hallway. 

Chuntao enters the room before he gets there. 

Lei Mu freezes mid-step, mind drawing a blank, and his tail swishes before he starts moving again, summoning a white rose into his hand and holding it out to Chuntao. 

“Welcome home, Angel Cake.” 

He gives them his best smile. 

Chuntao raises an eyebrow. 

“You’re hiding something from me.” They said, glancing around for any signs as to what could’ve happened while they were away. 

Lei Mu does the stupid thing. 

He winces. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said, tossing the flower to the side, that plan abandoned. “You’re an assassin- what could I ever hope to be able to hide from you?” 

“That’s what I’m wondering.” Chuntao easily steps around him, entering the kitchen first. He humed upon seeing that the oven is still intact. “Well, you haven’t destroyed the kitchen at least.” 

Lei Mu opens his mouth to say that he would never and that he knows full well how to cook, and then remembers the time Chuntao had in fact come home to a ruined kitchen, and wisely for once decides to keep his mouth shut. 

Chuntao turns and starts making his way to the living room. 

Lei Mu is quick to follow him. 

“My books are still intact…” Chuntao says as they run a finger down one of the book's spines. They turn, staring at where Lei Mu has decided to sit down on the couch once more, fiddling with his tail, pointedly not looking at Chuntao as they walk back over to stand in front of him. “Leilei, what did you do?” 

There’s a hint of amusement in Chuntao’s voice, and if Lei Mu had bothered to look any deeper than that he would’ve found concern as well. 

As it is though, he’s busier fighting to keep a blush from appearing on his face, nervousness starting to roll into embarrassment the longer Chuntao keeps staring at him with that look. Preoccupied like this, he makes a crucial mistake. 

He briefly glances to the side at where the paper rests covering the glasses. It was no more than a split second look, but to an assassin paying attention to his every move…

It was more than enough information. 

Chuntao reached over to pick up the paper, and Lei Mu slumped, knowing the battle had been lost. (Not that he’d expected to win in the first place, but hey, he could at least have some hope). 

Chuntao blinked in confusion at the gold-rimmed glasses sitting on the table. Then she looked back over at Lei Mu, who avoided her gaze once again. The blush was finally starting to break loose on his face, and she could see his body jump with a silent hiccup. 

They gently pick up the glasses, before sliding to kneel on the couch beside him, their knees brushing up against his leg. 

“Look at me.” He whispers, Lei Mu obediently turning towards him and- “You’re holding your breath again, silly boy.” 

Lei Mu breathes out slowly while Chuntao gives a small laugh. 

“Are these yours?” They ask, holding the glasses out towards him. Lei Mu winces again.

“Tang and MK gave them to me.” He says, starting off by matching Chuntao’s tone of a whisper, like they’re sharing important secrets, and slowly getting louder. “Ca- can’t imagine why though. I’ve got 20/20 vision!” 

He holds up one hand in the form of a sideways peace sign beside one of his eyes, winking at her with a smirk. When Chuntao’s expression doesn’t change, he lets his hand fall as he hiccups again. 

“I’ve seen you walk directly into a very visible pole, Lei Mu.” Chuntao smirks a little at the memory, before reaching out to brush Lei Mu’s hair away from his face. “Now let’s see…” 

He slowly slid the glasses onto Lei Mu’s face, and Lei Mu, though he continued to fiddle with his tail, did nothing to stop him. 

Chuntao made a noise of contemplation as they leaned back to examine the full picture in front of them. Lei Mu looked away. 

“I know- they look awful on me, right?” He gives a sad little laugh- “Doesn’t suit me at all, huh?” 

Chuntao gently grabbed hold of his face, turning him back to stare at her. 

“On the contrary.” She said, lightly tracing circles on his cheek with her thumb. “I think you look almost cute in them.” 

She smiles at him, and Lei Mu blinks, the statement processing- 

His face lights up pink and blue, and he hiccups, the glasses slipping slightly from the motion. Chuntao huffed out a laugh as she adjusted them for him, holding the glasses in place as he hiccuped again. 

He keeps a firm eye on her visible hand, not her face, clearly expecting some kind of trick up her sleeve. 

Chuntao clicks their tongue, and gives Lei Mu just enough time to process what’s about to happen, before they lean forwards the extra inch and kiss him. 

The tree root underneath Lei Mu’s feet relaxes back to its original position, and soon Chuntao finds themself leaning down in order to still meet Lei Mu’s lips. 

After another brief second, she hums slightly, considering. Something doesn’t feel right. Despite Lei Mu not protesting, there’s no response from him, and he feels… tense, still. Almost like kissing a wall. 

He’s about to pull away, ask him what’s wrong, if he didn’t want to be kissed after all, when Lei Mu hiccups. 

Chuntao’s eyes flutter open, amusement fast replacing concern, as they take in the pink and blue blush covering Lei Mu’s face. They don’t move away, huffing out a laugh as they smile, lips still brushing up against his as they mutter- “You’re weak.” 

Lei Mu pushes him back, and Chuntao lets him, keeping hold of Lei Mu’s wrist and watching as he uses his free hand to cover the lower half of his face. 

He hiccups again. 

This time, Chuntao openly laughs at him. 

“How many people have you kissed-” 

“Shut up.” 

“No, I want to know if I should be laughing mockingly or pitifully.” 

Lei Mu took a moment to answer, seemingly waiting until most of the blue and pink had faded from his face to do so. 

“You just caught me off guard, that’s all.” 

“Oh really? So thing’s would be different if I did it again?” 

“Yes-” Lei Mu didn’t get the chance to finish, as Chuntao reclosed the distance between them and kissed him again. 

And, well. 

Chuntao wished he could say it was better. 

“Tch. Just as bad as the first time.” He muttered as he pulled back, before laughing again as Lei Mu’s stunned face swapped to an offended one. “Seriously, did you never practice this?” 

“Practice? Please, I don’t need practice.” Lei Mu waved his free hand in a circle, creating a daisy within his palm, and holding it out for Chuntao to take. Chuntao instead let out a sigh, easily brushing the hand and the daisy out of his way. 

“Clearly you do.” 

“Don’t know what you’re talking about-” 

“You kiss worse than a brick wall.” 

“Hey-” 

“C’mere, I’ll teach you-” 

Kiss Number 5

“You missed.” 

“Have you considered, that maybe, I was purposefully aiming for your cheek?” 

Chuntao rolled his eyes. 

“Based on the last four kisses? Absolutely not.” 

Kiss Number 10

“You’re getting better.” Chuntao brushes his thumb over Lei Mu’s bottom lip, then lets go. “Still awful though.” 

“That feels slightly contradictory.” 

“Do you wish for me to just insult you?” 

“No ma’am. …I think.” 

“Buddha give me strength.” 

Kiss Number 16 

“Good, you’re finally starting to relax a bit.” 

“Psh, please, I’ve been relaxed this whole time.” 

“LeiLei.”

Lei Mu holds Chuntao’s gaze for a moment, before looking away, the cocky smirk he’d been sporting slipping into a pout. 

“I’ve been relaxed.” He doubles down on his statement, “Definitely relaxed.” 

“...Whatever you want to tell yourself, Lei Mu.” 

Kiss Number 22

“How long are we going to keep doing this?” 

“Until you get it right.” 

Kiss Number 34 

“Hmm… acceptable, I suppose.” Chuntao lets go of Lei Mu’s wrist, and steps back, watching as Lei Mu stumbles a little, catching himself by placing his hand against the nearby tree. “At least you just feel like an inexperienced kisser now instead of a wall.” 

“I- I take offense to that.” Lei Mu ran a hand through his hair, trying to fix it up a little but only succeeding in messing it up more. “Really though, were the 34 kisses really necessary?” 

“Oh, you were counting?” 

Lei Mu realized his mistake as soon as he saw the look on her face. 

“Oh, not really.” Lei Mu hurriedly backtracked, “I just assumed since you were so eager to kiss me that it must be a fairly high number- you know considering how many times you kissed me, maybe you’re actually lying about me being a bad- a bad- um. You know, have you thought that maybe you’re the bad kisser here??” 

With every word out of Lei Mu’s mouth, Chuntao took a step closer, until they were just as close to him as they were before. 

“Hm. Let’s make it 35 then, shall we?” She hums. 

“Wha-” 

Lei Mu isn’t given any time to react, as Chuntao’s arm snakes around his waist again, except this time, instead of pulling him closer- 

She dips him, smirking at the startled noise he makes, before kissing him once again. 

Chuntao notes, with some amusement, that Lei Mu has tensed up again. 

They let out a laugh against Lei Mu’s lips. 

“You know, if just dipping you brings us back to step one, we really do have our work cut out for us.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lei Mu whispers, sounding a little dazed- and then he hiccups again. 

Chuntao leans back with a raised eyebrow. 

“Seriously LeiLei?” 

Being surrounded by her visage (never mind his own pathetic self being reflected)....

He’d make excuses to not go there if he didn’t know she’d see right through them. 

Besides, it was just mirrors, after all. It wasn’t dangerous, he could handle it. 

It was in the mirror room that Jade Face had brought them today. She looked pretty. Prettier than normal, like she’d dressed up for something. 

Despite wearing the clothes she had picked out for him, he still felt horribly underdressed when standing beside her. 

“Sweetheart, come here.” She pulled his hand, moving him to stand with his back to one of the mirrors. She seemed to inspect him, and he obediently stayed still, not even allowing his tail to swish. Jade Face gently placed her hand against his cheek. “What do you think about me?” 

Lei Mu was thrown by the question. 

What did he think about her? 

Well, she was very pretty, that’s for sure. 

Her laugh was nice, even if she was only laughing at him most of the time. 

She made good food- he’d managed to figure that out when she actually let him eat it. 

The clothes she made were nice, he liked how soft the fabric felt. 

…

Which one of those was he meant to say? She wouldn’t like it if he gave her the wrong answer. 

Apparently she didn’t like how long he was thinking about it either, as her nails dug into his skin slightly. 

“Tell me, what do you think about me?” She repeated, slightly more forcibly. 

Lei Mu fell back on the only reliable thing he could think of. 

“I… love you.” He whispered. 

She smiled at him, and Lei Mu let the tension seep out of his shoulders as relief set in. 

He’d answered right. 

And then she was stepping forwards, her eyes glowing dangerously. He subconsciously took a step back, his back hitting the cold glass surface of the mirror behind him. She leaned closer to his face, and he squeezed his eyes shut, turning his head to the side, his breath creating condensation on the surface of the mirror as he fought to keep his breathing under control. 

And then her fangs were biting into his shoulder, and he bit his tongue so as to stifle a pained yelp. 

He slid down a little, his knees almost giving out, having not been prepared for the slight pain, but Jade Face kept him held up with one hand against his chest. 

Involuntarily, he let out a whimper. 

Jade Face’s hand twitched, and then she was pulling back away from him. 

Lei Mu thought that’d be it. That she’d do her usual thing and let him drop to the floor and leave him there while she left to do other things, having grown bored of her toy. 

A flash of silver reflected in his eyes. 

And then there was a hot pain searing through his chest. 

Lei Mu’s breath hitched. 

Something in his chest twisted. 

And then Jade Face was stepping away. 

Lei Mu put a hand to his chest, vision shaking in horror as he pulled his hand away to see red. 

He wobbled, and tried to stabilize himself against the mirror, but only succeeded in creating a red smear as he collapsed to the ground. 

He coughed, tasting blood, the hitching movements of his lungs only making his chest hurt more. 

Jade Face tsked. 

“Weak.” She said, dropping the blood stained knife to the floor, Lei Mu’s attention being caught on it as it seemed to fall in slow motion before clattering to the floor. 

He managed to catch his horrified reflection in it’s silver surface. 

Rearing back, hands still clutching at his chest, he tried looking somewhere else, anywhere else- 

Every part of the room was shining his dying reflection back at him. 

Jade Face wasn’t in the reflections anymore. He wasn’t sure if she’d already left the room, or if his dying image was determined to haunt him. 

Lei Mu pressed his face against the cold glass of the mirror he’d practically fallen against, panting, choking on blood. 

He was scared. 

He didn’t want to die. 

His vision was slowly turning a mixture of red and pink swirls. Was that normal? 

It frightened him even more. 

His reflection was moving. 

The last thing he saw before he passed out was the glowing pink eyes of his reflection stepping out and reaching out for him. 

-

Lei Mu sat kneeling on Chuntao’s bed, staring down at where his knife had clattered to the floor. From the angle he was sitting at, he couldn’t see his reflection within it. 

He was kinda glad for that, really. 

It was the same knife Jade Face had used to stab him after all. 

He continued to kneel there, staring down at it. 

He hadn’t meant to knock it off the shelf. Chuntao had told him to go to bed, that they’d be with him in just a few minutes, and his tail had accidentally bumped it while he was climbing onto the mattress. 

He didn’t know how long he’d been sitting there staring at it. 

His fur was standing on end, with anxiety, probably. 

…He didn’t want to pick it up. 

It didn’t make sense, he’d had it for years, he’d been using it for years, there was no reason why he should suddenly be afraid of it now. 

He was still sitting there, ten minutes later, when Chuntao finally entered the bedroom. 

“What are you doing?” She asked, before following Lei Mu’s gaze down to the knife. She bent down to pick it up- 

“Don’t!” 

He paused, hand hovering above the knife, glancing up at Lei Mu. 

There was a moment of silence as the two made eye contact. 

And then Lei Mu looked away, tail swinging behind him anxiously, his body trembling. Chuntao let out a small sigh. 

“We can’t just leave a knife on the floor Lei Mu, it’s a safety hazard.” 

“I know.” 

“Do you want to pick it up?” 

“...No. You can do it. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I stopped you.” Lei Mu’s eyes flickered back to Chuntao, then glanced away again just as quickly when he saw that they were still staring. “Just- hurry up and do it please? Get it over with.” 

Chuntao picked up the knife. 

Lei Mu’s breathing sped up. 

Chuntao grabbed a small box from the bedside table, gently placed the knife inside, and put the box inside a drawer, closing it shut with a click. 

Lei Mu’s breathing didn’t slow down until Chuntao had climbed onto the bed beside him and gently leaned against him. 

“What’s wrong, Wildflower?” She asked. 

Lei Mu didn’t answer, instead burying his head into her shoulder, letting out a small sigh as she started running her fingers through his hair. Gently, Chuntao laid back, maneuvering Lei Mu so that his rose wouldn’t be squished while they lay down together, shifting so that Lei Mu’s head was on their chest instead of their shoulder. 

Lei Mu’s tail wrapped around their leg. 

“...I love you.” Lei Mu hesitantly whispered, in a tired voice. 

Chuntao paused a moment, before continuing to comb his fingers through Lei Mu’s hair.