YueRui

@Shen Quanrui Whatever the reason was for Ricky's agreeable attitude today, Xingyue was thankful for. He watched as half the crepe disappeared from its box, which was more than what he normally saw Ricky eat, no matter how much the total quantity of food was. Xingyue ate his crepe in big bites, wanting to both prove his point to not waste food and encourage Ricky to eat more alongside him. It seemed to be going all too smoothly for him, as the medicine took its effect rather quickly and Ricky's eyelids began to droop. "Mm, it could be," Xingyue said, helping to clear off Ricky's food when the younger mentioned sleeping again. He hoped that Ricky would be out cold by the time he threw the trash away. "Let me take the trash out," he said, "Rest if you must. I'll wait for you to wake up before we watch the drama again, no rush." he gently urged the younger. Before Ricky could mention turning the house alarm on again, Xingyue quickly slipped out, taking the longest route that he could out to the dumpster in the back to dispose of his handiwork.

@Wang Xingyue "No it doesn't," Ricky said with a huff, although he obediently continued to cut at his crepe. He managed to finish half of it before his stomach began to feel a little tight, and his mind hazy again as if he had just woken up. "I can't anymore," Ricky said, pouting at Xingyue, not wanting to be scolded for not finishing. He didn't even know why he cared that Xingyue was upset! Xingyue was just his manager, so if he tried to boss Ricky around, then Ricky should just tell him off. Instead, he sniffled pitifully. "I feel sleepy again... I think there's too much sugar in this."

@Shen Quanrui "It's not body shaming. It's called waste-prevention," Xingyue shot right back at Ricky. "You always tell me to throw whatever you don't finish away, which doesn't sit right with me." It was about time that he air out his grievances, if he was going to be in charge of Ricky's food and drink delivery until the younger recovered. Xingyue sighed and rounded the corner to sit on the edge of Ricky's bed once again. He lifted the lid of his own crepe box, surprised to find as much powdered sugar on his as there was on Ricky's, which he had already spiked with the sleeping powder. Maybe it was a good sign for him, since that would make Ricky less suspicious that anything was added to his food. "Mm...next time you tell me which place you want. For today, just try to eat what you can, okay? Besides, doesn't bitter enhance sweetness or something like that?" he tried to reason, anything to make the crepes more appealing so Ricky would eat more.

@Wang Xingyue "Stop body shaming me," Ricky said, unboxing the container marked 'Strawberry' and leaving the other one on Xingyue's side of the lap desk. "I just can't eat that much. Are you saying I should force myself to finish? It doesn't taste good by that point." Ricky cut delicately at his crepe, scraping together a pile of strawberry, cream, and crepe in the perfect one to one to one ratio. There was a lot of powder over the crepes, which Ricky wasn't a fan of, so he made a face and let Xingyue know when he sat down. "Too much powdered sugar," he said, "and it doesn't even add to the flavour? It's kind of bitter. Don't buy from this store next time."

@Shen Quanrui Ricky had not even washed up yet since last night, which made Xingyue wondered if the younger was getting just a little too complacent with his pampered lifestyle while injured. "Mm, your strawberry is in here," he said, laying everything out. "Don't you want to change too?" he asked, gesturing at the outfit that Ricky had been wearing from the night before, "Anyways, I'll be right back," he announced, ducking into Ricky's bathroom to change into the guest pajama pants. Xingyue didn't know why he continued to humor Ricky like this when there were many other routes to go, but since he was already in so deep, there was no use turning back now. "The blueberry one is for me," he said, poking his head out of the bathroom, "I want you to finish all your breakfast today. You eat too little." he half-scolded Ricky.

@Wang Xingyue Ricky was still waking up when Xingyue walked in. He rubbed his eyes, puling himself with great effort to sit up since he had leapt right back into bed after disarming the security system. "Struhberry?" He had thought Xingyue would be used to their routine after a day of training yesterday, but Ricky swore every time Xingyue served him food, he would just proceed to stand there like a statue, albeit a not-so-bad looking one. "Your pajamas are where you left them," Ricky said through a yawn. "Come sit here."

@Shen Quanrui Ricky's sweet tooth triumphed once more. Xingyue had been thinking more along the lines of savory crepes, but since Ricky had made his demands very clear, he had to go with the requested order. He swung by the store to pick up the crepes, but he also made sure to bring along his sleeping pills too. His rationale was that since he had fed them to Ricky too late into the night, the drugs didn't have time to take effect while he was still at Ricky's house. Therefore, if he started off with breakfast, then the younger could very well be asleep by lunch time, leaving him ample time to search. Once he had done his handiwork in the crepes and let the powder disguise itself as the whipped cream on the crepe, he headed over to Ricky's house. He couldn't believe that the alarm had been properly set (and it was a good thing he didn't take his chances with it last night). "Here's breakfast," Xingyue said, placing the bag over Ricky's lap desk again, "Sit still, let me set it up for you."

@Wang Xingyue Ricky thought for a long while before he nodded his agreement. "Okay, crepes," he said. "Lots of strawberries and whipped cream. Bananas are okay, too." He hung up without waiting for Xingyue's confirmation, rolling back over in bed. At once point, he had slipped back into unconsciousness, but when he woke again, it was because of the blaring alarm triggered in his house. He hobbled out to the hallway to disarm it, not one big apologetic as he checked the intercom camera and said to Xingyue, "I forgot to disable the alarm before you came. You can come in now."

@Shen Quanrui As Xingyue retreated back to bed that night after a gruelsome day of entertaining Ricky, every thought of how he had to handle or dispose of the younger, and every other option in between, crossed his mind. Xingyue had considered just knocking Ricky out cold and disappearing without a trace after that. The only issue with that plan was that he had nothing to fall back on in their relationship if he didn't find the key information to bring Shen Tianfeng down yet. He also considered the possibility of trying to win Ricky over or finding a weakness to threaten him with to make the younger aid his cause, but given what he'd observed, Ricky would be more or a burden than the actual task at hand. A long, sleepness night passed by, and Xingyue had only managed to doze off when his phone's ringtone went off again, blaringly into his ear. Ricky was on the other end, but that didn't instill a sense of urgency into Xingyue. Instead, he hummed in acknowledgement, "Mm..breakfast? How about crepes?" he suggested, his instinct telling him to help his bleeding wallet out.

@Wang Xingyue “Only things coming in and out can set it off, silly,” Ricky said, beginning his struggle to the bathroom again, relieved since Xingyue promised to spend another day with him. It wasn’t that Xingyue was particularly good company, it was just that Ricky liked having someone to discuss ‘Queen of Tears’ with. Xingyue was almost as efficient as Zhengting when it came to retrieving food and taking care of Ricky, too. As soon as he washed up, Ricky crawled right back into bed and fell asleep with all the room’s lights left on. He intended to do some scheduling and planning for his videos once he was healed enough to film, but for some reason, he was just extra tired, even though he spent the entire day at home. He didn’t wake until near noon the next day, groggy, disoriented, and hungry. The first thing he did, before his eyes were even fully open, was call Xingyue. “Hungry,” he whined as soon as his call was picked up.

@Shen Quanrui Ricky's sudden attentiveness to his surroundings startled Xingyue. How did his spoiled airhead boss know how to set up an alarm system? "You're going to stay alone with an alarm system? Isn't that kind of scary that anything could set it off?" he asked, thinking about other possible factors, "Like animals or the weather outside?" he asked. Xingyue sighed as Ricky didn't seem the slightest bit impaired by the pasta. Xingyue held the bag of unfinished food in his hand, deciding that he'd only throw out the penne, but the bread that he spent /his/ money on would have to be his consolation dinner that night. With no choice but to leave, Xingyue had to use the night to figure out another plan. "Mm, I'll come," he agreed, "Just...call me when you wake up." With a resounding defeat for the night, Xingyue left the Shen Mansion and chucked the trash in the dumpster outside with an annoyed huff. This Shen Ricky was making revenge even harder for him, which only made Xingyue want to see the family behind bars even more.

@Wang Xingyue “Just bag all this up and throw it out,” Ricky said of the half-eaten penne. There wasn’t anything else to clean up, and Ricky just wanted to wash up and sleep. While Xingyue gathered the garbage, Ricky pulled his phone over to set up the alarm system. “I’ll set the doors to lock and alarms on going in and out to start in five minutes, so hurry and go! I have to get ready for bed. If the alarm goes off, it gets messy, and the police have to come.” Ricky slid out of bed, hobbling for his crutch again so he could make it to the bathroom. Then, as if nearly forgetting, he looked back at Xingyue. “Are you coming tomorrow?”

@Shen Quanrui "I'll let him know..." Xingyue said, slightly swayed by how lonely Ricky sounded so innocent. If Xingyue didn't know any better, he would've thought that Ricky was a neglected child of two rich but absent parents, relying solely on the comfort of one friend to get him through each day. But in reality, Ricky didn't need his parents nor did he lack any sort of attention with his social media team and followers. He was probably just not used to having someone walk away from him, since it was probably the other way around most of the time. Xingyue perked up as Ricky's sleepiness began to kick in. Now was his time to work without disturbance! He couldn't let one of his precious days just slip by when the house was empty like this. "You rest," he gently urged Ricky, "I'll leave once I'm finished cleaning up..." which of course, he would do so very slowly to ensure that Ricky would be none the wiser as he probed around after he was 'off duty'.

@Wang Xingyue "How do you know?" Ricky sniffed. How much busier could Zhengting be now that he wasn't working for Ricky anymore? What new job did he take? Which influencer was he working under? It drove Ricky crazy to wonder where Zhengting had gone without even a goodbye, vanishing one day without a trace. "The next time you talk to Ting-ge, tell him I miss him. I don't want anything, I just want to talk to him." Growing sluggish after all those carbs, which Ricky usually tried to avoid, it was time to call it a day already. He yawned, wiping off his hands. "I'm tired, Ah Yue. You can go home now."

@Shen Quanrui Xingyue didn't realize that Ricky had taken a great offense to him eating the bread directly from his hand. He didn't think much of it at first, but then it dawned on him that Ricky was not the type to even offer food randomly to others in the first place, so it was probably a shock to him too. Xingyue looked back at the TV screen, trying to avoid confrontation at all cost if it could be helped. He cleared his throat, leaving Ricky to eat until he broke the silence again. "Your Ting-ge? He's busy right now," Xingyue answered without even lifting a finger. What was Ricky trying to get at, bringing up Zhu Zhengting every time he got uncomfortable with something. It wasn't as if complaining about Xingyue to his Ting-ge would make the other pity him any more enough to come back to this cruddy, underpaying job.

@Wang Xingyue Ricky leered and nearly dropped the focaccia in Xingyue’s lap when he decided to each from Ricky’s hand instead of picking it up himself. The tissue around the crust was already a bit thin, the oil threatening to seep through and touch Ricky’s fingers, but Xingyue decided to /eat from his hand/. Did Xingyue think he was too good to hold it? Ricky threw it back down on the tray, hurrying to pick up another tissue to wipe off his hand. How dare Xingyue let his monstrously thin lips get so close to Ricky’s hand. This time, wrapping three extra layers of tissue around the bread, Ricky began nibbling at a fresh corner, his pasta abandoned for now. “You still talk to Ting-ge, right? Call him now. I want to talk to him.”

@Shen Quanrui Xingyue didn't know that being a caregiver for his pampered boss would also include offering up his body as a headrest. It seemed that Ricky enjoyed eating in this position though, which Xingyue wouldn't put up a fight with as long as the medicine-coated pasta was making its way into Ricky's body. Xingyue kept his eyes glued on the TV once he was back in bed, not touching the food until prompted. He hesitated when Ricky handed over the piece of bread to him. Was he supposed to take it? The younger was holding it right up to Xingyue's mouth though. And since it was safe to eat, Xingyue decided to just go with his gut feeling. He leaned forward to take a bite out of the bread, then gently pulled Ricky's thin wrist away from him. "It's pretty good," he said, "But you eat first." He chewed on the bread, feeling it the moisture out of his mouth as Ricky paved the way for the destruction of Xingyue's personal bank account. "Mm...sure," he agreed, very, very unenthusiastically, "Whichever you'd like."

@Wang Xingyue "My appetite is good," Ricky insisted. He hit the play button on the next episode of their drama, slinking down against Xingyue's shoulder again before reaching for his pasta. He speared up a singular tube of penne for eat bite, chewing until it was ground into practically nothing in his mouth before taking another piece. Then, after ten pieces of penne, he put down his fork in favour of taking a bite of the focaccia. "Mm," he complimented, offering the large piece he'd just taken a bite out of to Xingyue. "Ah Yue, you don't like pasta? You can eat this. It's really good. Next time, I want to try the one with pesto."

@Shen Quanrui It was never just a simple task to carry out when it came to handling Ricky. Xingyue had to deliberately hold back his facial muscles from twitching when younger invited him to eat again, lest it give away that there was sleep medicine powder spiking the pasta. "Alright," he muttered, though he gestured for Ricky to eat first, "You don't have to wait. I'll change and come right back." Xingyue grabbed the pajama pants that he had left over Ricky's vanity chair earlier and went to change into them. He would just have to avoid eating the pasta, and things would still go according to plan. Once he came out, he rounded the bed to settle by Ricky again, "You should eat while it's still hot. It'll stimulate your appetite better," he advised, "So you can recuperate sooner."

@Wang Xingyue Since the two of them were watching the drama together, Ricky would wait for Xingyue. He paused the show, closed his eyes for a quick second, and napped until he heard the front door swing open again. He sat up and brushed his hair out, not wanting to look slopping even in front of a peasant like Xingyue. "Yay," he cheered, reaching out for the tea. He sipped on it while he waited for Xingyue to set up his little bed table, but before he dug in, he looked expectantly at Xingyue, standing there like a wooden block once more. "Hurry and get changed. I'll wait for you to eat."

@Shen Quanrui At this point, Xingyue was going to have to go back to Victoria and ask that there be a budget set aside just for his business expenses (yes, that's what Ricky was: a business expense) since the younger was only revealing a more complex and expensive palate with each meal that he asked of Xingyue. "I'll go pick it up then," he relented when Ricky finally asked to be fed. It was already getting dark outside, which meant that it would be even more reasonable for Ricky to get sleepy after eating his meal. Everything would go swimmingly in this case. "Mhm, how could I forget the strawberry green tea," he muttered, changing out of the pajama pants before heading off to pick up the food.

Getting Italian food in their Chinese city wasn't cheap. Westernized restaurants tended to scale up the prices to sell the idea of a "luxurious experience", but Xingyue didn't buy it. Carrying out the food was much cheaper, and the portions felt heavier in the tinfoil box than if they were placed into a fancy, but small serving dish. After grabbing the food, he stopped by the pharmacy to pick up some sleeping pills that were created for heavy insomniacs. He crushed a pill and sprinkled it unapologetically over the penne pasta, since Ricky had wanted to eat that one the most. Once he got back to the manor, the white powder had been completely dissolved into the pasta sauce. "I'm back," he announced himself, "Ready to eat? Here's your tea."

@Wang Xingyue Before Ricky knew it, they had already finished another three episodes. He blinked, his eyelids sluggish after having stared at a screen for so long. He was feeling a little sleepy too, but for obvious reasons, he wasn't going to fall asleep in front of Xingyue. “Uh huh… I want to eat now,” he said, lazy as he reached for the remote to skip the end credits onward to the next episode. "And get a side of focaccia and oysters." When he got up to let Xingyue get ready to go out, he noticed the foundation marks left all over the shoulder of Xingyue's shirt. Ricky had gone light on the setting spray today, since he planned on staying home. He put his cheek back down to cover it, hoping Xingyue hadn't noticed. "Pick up a strawberry green tea for me on the way back."

@Shen Quanrui As time progressed, Xingyue minded the drama less and less. While yes, there were still much better things that he'd rather be doing, keeping up with the storyline of Haein and Hyunwoo, and finding it just a little funny that a rich conglomerate family's hunting trip could go so awry. The method to kill a boar wasn't all too outlandish either, so Xingyue noted it down for himself just in case this information would be useful in the future. All the meanwhile, Ricky was getting more and more comfortable with using Xingyue as his personal pillow. Xingyue thought to complain about it at first, but seeing that his boss/enemy wasn't fussing around and was instead just demurely lying on his shoulder to watch the drama, Xingyue let him be. "Mm, alright," he agreed, picking up his phone to check the time, "Tell me when you want to eat and I'll go pick it up for you," he said. It was a perfect opportunity for him to swing by a store to pick up some sleep inducing pills during this time too, which would make up for any lost time that he was spending on the drama right now. "You hungry yet?" he asked lowly.

@Wang Xingyue Ricky considered what Xingyue had to say, then the corners of his mouth quirked up ever so slightly. "Ah Yue, you're finally starting to get it." Ricky had no interest in an unlikely love story himself, but he certainly liked to watch about them. He finished his tea, and with nothing forcing him to sit up straight anymore, Ricky slid lower and lower in the bed, until his cheek was level with Xingyue's shoulder. Inch by inch, he leaned until the side of his head rested against Xingyue. This was fine—it wasn't romantic like it was in the dramas or anything. After all, Ricky did this all the time with Zhu Zhengting. Zhengting had been the person Ricky was the closest with, and now that he was gone, Ricky wouldn't mind filling the vacant position. "Ah Yue, I want penne alla vodka for dinner."

@Shen Quanrui Xingyue didn't know if he should start laughing maniacally or crying atrociously at the thought of sitting through fifteen more of these 'only one hour long' episodes. The time that he had to continue his search around this manor was already limited enough, and now it was going to ebb away before his very eyes while he sat in this room with no way around it. There had to be some way around it, and once again, Xingyue's mind flew to the cabinet of over-the-counter medicines that he could use on Ricky to make his work a little easier. Perhaps a small dosage of sleeping pills would be effective for him. He'd plan to slip that into Ricky's dinner if possible, but for now, he supposed he had no choice but to keep up with the plot of the drama. Somehow, Ricky had managed to close the space between them, catching Xingyue off-guard when he felt their shoulders touch. "Oh...mm yeah it would be the most logical. But isn't the point of these dramas to show unlikely love stories? I bet she'll find something in him that makes him special to her. Fans usually love that more than straightforward and clean love stories anyways" he answered, trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about.

@Wang Xingyue “I haven’t, why would I be watching it again if I’ve watched it once? What a waste of time.” Ricky slouched in his seat, picking up his drink to sip from again as the second episode started up. “And all the episodes are only one hour long.” One hour was not nearly long in enough in Ricky’s opinion—if it were up to him, he would have each episode last three hours, and have the entire season be fifty episodes long. Some dramas were just too good to only be told in a mere sixteen hours. Ricky glanced at Xingyue as he slid lower and lower. He didn’t enjoy sitting upright, and when he watched dramas with Zhengting, Zhengting also let Ricky use him as a cushion. Of course, Zhengting had never done something as outrageous as try to kiss Ricky, although to be honest, if Ricky had to choose between either one of them, he would let Zhengting and his much fuller lips in a heartbeat. Ricky inched closer, until they were shoulder to shoulder. “Don’t you think Haein should dump that man? He doesn’t get her at all.”

@Shen Quanrui Things were not working out the way that Xingyue had intended for them to. Realizing that he was now stuck in the bedroom with an endless marathon of this drama playing before him with Ricky, Xingyue resigned to his fate and rounded the bed to sit on the other side of Ricky once again. "Mm, well...alright," he said, leaning against the headboard this time, a little less rigid now that he realized he was going to be stuck here for a while. "Have you watched this drama before?" he asked Ricky, trying to see if there was any hope of getting Ricky to skip the parts he considered boring. "That first episode took a little long huh? How much longer is it than normal episodes?"

@Wang Xingyue Ricky was shocked silent when he was hauled up like a sack of flour, only yelping when he was put down. His stomach hurt from where Xingyue's shoulder blade pressed against him. He rubbed at his stomach with a pout, taking a moment to process Xingyue's ultimatum. Poor people were so sensitive about money, he realized. "I won't," he promised, his spirits lifting when he realized Xingyue was going to stay after all. He pinched the sleeve of Xingyue's guest pajamas, which he had luckily not changed out of yet. "Sit down! Let's start the second episode."

@Shen Quanrui Xingyue halted mid-way out the door when Ricky said that he wanted to tag along. When was this little princeling so courteous towards his guest, much less his staff? Xingyue didn't /want/ to be escorted out, since this was the most prime moment for him to finish up his search. Thinking of the few drawers that he had left open after being called back to the bedroom by Ricky, he quickly had to change up the tone of things. "You're injured-" he said, dropping his change of clothes and going back to grab the crutch out of Ricky's hands. Resting it against the wall, he all but hefted Ricky up over his shoulder and carried him back to bed. "You shouldn't move until you're fully recovered. Is that what you've been doing when nobody is around to watch you?" Xingyue shook his head, "Nevermind, just stay in bed...I won't leave." This sounded way too cowardly to change his mind after being so resolute about leaving, "If you promise not to talk about my pay anymore. Everyone needs to make a living...you know?" he asked, looking Ricky in the eyes as their faces were only about a fingers length away from each other again.

@Wang Xingyue Ricky watched Xingyue slide off the bed, but it didn't register in him what exactly was going on until Xingyue was grabbing the clothes he came in. Ricky wilted. He had big plans for the weekend—binging all of it in one go! How could Xingyue just abandon him like this? "But we were gonna..." He trailed off. What was he going to do just now? Beg that thin-lipped monster to stay so Ricky wouldn't be alone in the large house? Xingyue wasn't worth begging. Although Ricky's chest tightened, he dropped his head so Xingyue wouldn't see his misty eyes. "Okay. I'll see you out." After half a day of resting, he managed to limp to the corner of his room for his crutch, which he'd vehemently hid away the day before, and hobbled back to join Xingyue. Although he agreed to let Xingyue leave, it was clear on his face that he wasn't happy at all about it.