YueRui

@Shen Quanrui "He didn't want to burden you, even when he decided to move on," Xingyue concluded for Ricky. He had expected to have left by now to get on with his own proper business of the night, but seeing Ricky eating ever so daintily, like a squirrel would to a nut, had him rooted in his spot. A part of him was expecting to see Ricky start slurping the noodles because he couldn't keep up the act anymore, but when that didn't happen, Xingyue received the remaining noodles with a sigh. He didn't want to waste his own spendings, so he dumped the noodles back into the spicy soup, making quick work to slurp them up for his dinner that night. "Alright, let's do that. WIll you be fine with just your parents at home to take care of you? Or do you still want me to come over?" he asked, fully expecting that Ricky wouldn't ever be willing to be alone at home without someone to wait on him hand and foot. At least if Xingyue was only on the clock was partial duties, he'd have even more time to investigate.

@Wang Xingyue Ricky was devastated to hear Xingyue confirm that Zhengting was mad at him, even if it only showed as a twitch over his brow. "He didn't say anything when I asked him..." he mumbled, pulling the bowl of noodles in front of him, chewing mechanically. The noodles were heavy on his tongue, and he didn't have much more appetite after going through half the bowl of washed noodles. "Finish the rest," he said with a pout, patting at his lips delicately with his tissue. "Ah Yue, I change my mind. Let's cancel the schedule for the weekend. I just want to rest... my leg hurts."

@Shen Quanrui When Xingyue got his revenge on this family, he just knew that it would taste ten times as sweet because of all the bitterness he swallowing right now. He finished up washing the last of Ricky’s noodles and pushed it back to the younger so he could eat it and shut up. “Oh yeah, he’s really upset at you,” Xingyue lied effortlessly, “After being your loyal social media manager for many years, you forgot something super crucial about him,” Xingyue said, referring to the fact that Ricky had no idea that the other’s sick mom was currently hospitalized and being cared for by top-notch doctors out of Xingyue’s pocket. The corner of his lips tugged into a small smirk as he said this, wanting the spoiled princeling to understand some shame for once. Xingyue gestured at the noodles, “Eat. Or else you won’t recover as quickly.”

@Wang Xingyue The instant Xingyue mentioned his pay cut, Ricky felt the phantom touch of Xingyue's horrifyingly-thin lips stealing his first kiss again. The mere memory of it made Ricky want to withhold Xingyue's next paycheque from him completely. "I didn't cut your pay because you came to get me," Ricky muttered, wilting at the thought of his extremely undesirable and unromantic first kiss. He would give any amount of money to be able to redo that day, and if he was given the choice, he would stand a few feet away so Xingyue couldn't try anything. "Well, of course Ting-ge is worth a lot, but he keeps saying he won't come back no matter what... Ah Yue, you know him, right, since he recommended you? Can you ask him if I did something to make him angry?"

@Shen Quanrui Xingyue just had to remind himself of the bigger picture. It wasn't worth it to pick a fight with Ricky now, not when he was literally sitting inside the Shen Manor and so close to getting his hands on the information he needed. Ricky may have tried to insult him, but he was not Xingyue's first rodeo, and so Xingyue continued to wash the noodles nonchalantly, depositing them back in Ricky's bowl once they were rinsed off. "You can offer him as much you feel he's worth," Xingyue answered, "Just the same way as you cut my pay for saving you from the kidnappers prematurely, you have that ability, don't you?" Xingyue asked, rising to deposit another scoop of noodles. Ricky had been just too close in that moment, and they almost brushed into each other once more. Xingyue held Ricky's stare, as if challenging the younger to continue irking him.

@Wang Xingyue "Just save the soup for yourself," Ricky said, as if Xingyue was stupid for not realizing it in the first place. "Anyway, even if you somehow didn't know, you should've asked me if I can eat spicy food before you bought it." He watched with a hawk's eyes as Xingyue set up his noodle-washing station, as if Xingyue could mess up at any moment and Ricky would have to correct him, just like with the short reels all the damn time. Ricky didn't even know why he kept Xingyue around, now that he thought about it. He decided to express this aloud: "Ting-ge would know what to do. How much money do you think I should offer him to come back?"

@Shen Quanrui Xingyue really had not intended on staying behind to help Ricky finish his dinner. The noodles were supposed to be a distraction while Xingyue went to his father's study to see if there was any useful information he could fine. And on top of that, who was Ricky to be ordering a drink out of Xingyue's expenses? The older bit down on his lower lip in annoyance as he took out his phone again, "You and your strawberries..." he mumbled under his breath. To add insult on top of injury, Ricky was actually treating Xingyue like his personal servant, even after work hours! Xingyue made a decision right then and there that he would never buy food for Ricky again, even if the younger seemed kind of pitiful sometimes. "I'm going to grab a bowl then," he said, heading out of the room. In a short amount of time, he found a bowl from the kitchen and looked around to get an even better idea of the Shen Manor's layout. Quickly making it back to Ricky's room to avoid suspicion, Xingyue sighed and shook his head, "All this soup is going to be wasted because of you..." as he poured some water from a water bottle into the bowl to serve as a cleaning agent.

@Wang Xingyue "Oh... order a strawberry green tea," Ricky said, straightening up to make space for his dinner over his desk. Had Xingyue really gone to get Ricky dinner without Ricky asking? It was the first time he acted out of his own accord, and Ricky would be lying if he said it didn't soften his heart even if the flavour of the noodles wasn't quite right for him. Sure enough, as soon as he opened the container, he was met with a mess of red-coated noodles. As soon as the pungent hit him, he wrinkled his nose. "I can't have foods that are too spicy. It'll make me swollen. After you order my drink, come wash my noodles."

@Shen Quanrui Once again, the two of them were back in that very same uncomfortable position of Xingyue delivering food for Ricky when he was tired at night. "It's me," Xingyue said as he entered the room, shutting the door behind him, "You haven't eaten all day, so I thought I'd get you some dinner before I left," he said, holding up a little plastic bag with a container of noodles inside. "I got you some malatang noodles," he said, "It was close by." He didn't know Ricky's spice tolerance, but surely if the younger could handle having needles inserted in his lips and god knows what else done to his body, then a little spice wasn't going to kill him. "Want something to drink? I'll get it for you." he offered before Ricky could give out a snarky demand.

@Wang Xingyue Xingyue's inability to learn gave Ricky a major headache. Once he was finally afforded some peace and quiet, he confirmed his schedule for the next day, sent it out to the group, and put his head down over his arms to rest for a while, too tired to limp to the bed or the couch. He thought he had only closed his eyes for a second, but a sharp knock jolted him awake, and he hurried to wipe the drool from the corner of his mouth as he painstakingly lifted his body. One of his staff members had probably left something behind—morons. "Come in," he called out, pushing the pad of his ring finger into the inner corner of his eye to wipe. "Door is unlocked... I think."

@Shen Quanrui Ricky was not the only frustrated one between them. He was nitpicking at Xingyue as if Xingyue were the one who so desperately wanted to join in on this recording, and it wasn't Ricky himself who was so desperate to have someone do it with him. The most simple solution would've been to remove Xingyue from the video entirely, but for some unfathomable reason, Ricky was adamant about continuing to practice. Xingyue was more than happy to wrap up at the end of it, and he quickly accepted his new task without another word of complaint. The rest of the film crew was waiting downstairs for Ricky's call. After sitting around for most of the day, they were all eager to go home too, standing up and heading out without another word once Xingyue conveyed Ricky's message. He would've done the same too, but seeing as there was no one else in the house in the moment, it was such an opportune moment to explore. Xingyue had to have a cover though, and so after another quick plan in his head, he headed out to the closest restaurant nearby to pick up a quick dinner for Ricky, who hadn't eaten all day. He came back about half an hour later, and went back up to Ricky's room, knocking on the door to enter again.

@Wang Xingyue By the end of their training session, Xingyue still looked too rigid. If Ricky put that kind of content out onto his page, he'd have exactly zero followers by the next morning. "No... no, no, no. Why are you so bad at this?" Ricky threw his hands up in defeat. There was no way they'd make any more progress at this rate, and Ricky was beginning to tire as the sun began to set. "I give up. I can't film this today. Tell everyone they can go home." Pulling his chair back against his desk, Ricky pulled his tablet over from the side to review the rest of the week's schedule, figuring he'd need to move some things around for the lack of content today.

@Shen Quanrui Did they speak two different languages? Surely, the concept of 'the other side' couldn't have been that hard to understand. "No I meant-" Xingyue started to clarify, wanting to say that he just wanted to move from Ricky's left side to his right. The younger didn't give him a chance to explain before he started to take things into his own hands again, facing Xingyue head on. "Mm, fine," Xingyue said, taking a small step back so he could see Ricky better. When the younger started to move, Xingyue started off following just fine, though seeing the full expression that Ricky invested into his performance made it somewhat tacky to Xingyue, and as the song went on, he was more focused on the cattiness in the other's gaze than he was the way Ricky's arms were moving.

@Wang Xingyue "What other side? Across from me? How am I going to get you in the video?" Ricky groaned, falling back in his chair with a dramatic air. "You're hopeless." Then, because he really couldn't afford to post the video on his own, he sat up and turned his chair to face Xingyue. Maybe for the amateur influencer that Xingyue managed before, this kind of effort would fly, but if Ricky wanted more, he was just going to have to show Xingyue how things were done around here. "Let's try this. I'm going to do it the opposite way, and you just mirror me. DON'T mess up again."

@Shen Quanrui If Ricky would just turn his body slightly so that XIngyue could see him better, then perhaps keeping pace with the general sequence of the movements wouldn't have been so difficult. But of course, Ricky was too invested in his own image that he left Xingyue to his own devices, which naturally led to a lot of little minor mistakes that Xingyue tried to salvage whenever he couldn't keep up with the beat. At the end of their first attempt, he felt as aggrieved as Ricky was trifled. "I can't really see you well," he tried to explain to Ricky, "Maybe if I could stand on the other side, it'd be easier to follow you."

@Wang Xingyue Xingyue's standard of 'got it' was truly low. He looked like a fish floundering on land, to be frank, but Ricky didn't say it, not wanting to destroy Xingyue's confidence and thus end up ruining the video. "Let's try it and review the footage after to see where you can improve," Ricky said, setting up his phone on the tripod to film. Adjusting the frame and then his own chair so they were both in view, Ricky started the music, watching the countdown on screen carefully so he could start right on time. He hit all of the moves, of course, while maintaining his face in an angle that would hide his bloating, but even out of his peripherals, Xingyue was completely bombing it. Once the snippet of the song ended, he turned to Xingyue. "Are you serious?"

@Shen Quanrui Ricky's clear disapproval was unwarranted - he should've already known that Xingyue was not a dancer, and this wasn't something he was interested in doing to begin with. "I'm doing what the video is doing!" Xingyue answered incredulously. Was he not doing a body roll? He felt like he was. He was already feeling the tension in his muscles for squeezing and rolling them in ways that he was not used to. Xingyue had trained his body to react to brute force, not to do these big repetitive actions. Another two tries later, he looked to Ricky, "Well, I think I got it," he said, though he had no will to be on camera. It was best to keep his face off the internet and out of the public's eye, especially since Ricky had quite a following. Xingyue was hoping the younger would see his terrible dancing and scrap the idea of having him in the video all together. At worse, Xingyue would just feign being hurt for having his dance rejected.

@Wang Xingyue "Managers aren't supposed to be in the video with the artists."

"And staff aren't supposed to talk back to their employers, but here you are," Ricky said without a second glance toward Xingyue. He sipped on his unsweetened green tea while Xingyue practiced, tilting his face this way and that as he checked on his condition—his face had been quite swollen as of late. It wasn't helping that Xingyue was being so difficult, too. After a long while, Ricky checked on Xingyue again, and he was completely horrified to find he made no improved. It had gotten worse, somehow. "What are you doing?" he yelped. "Roll your body like a wave, not like... that!!"

@Shen Quanrui First Ricky was mocking Xingyue for expecting to be part of the video, now he was giving him dirty looks for not wanting to be part of the video - what the heck did this kid want from him? Xingyue raised a brow and shot an equally disdained look back at Ricky, "But I'm your manager," he reminded the younger, "Managers aren't supposed to be in the video with the artists." Between practicing for the dance and fetching the green tea though, the latter sounded so much more appealing. Xingyue got up to get the bottle from the fridge first, bringing it back to Ricky. Despite his initial complaints, Xingyue didn't want to lose his job when he was getting closer and closer to achieving his goal every day, so when he returned, he diligently watched the video for ten minutes, moving his hands and torso with jerky motions as he tried to keep up with the tacky moves in the video.

@Wang Xingyue Ricky shot Xingyue a nasty glare. Did he not comprehend the words that were coming out of Ricky’s mouth? Xingyue’s sole strength was truly only his pretty face, and Ricky had no idea how he had survived so long acting as the social media manager for whoever his past employer was. “What… you’re supposed to be in the video with me,” Ricky said, slowly lowering his hand before he remembered there was still highlighter on it. He wiped it off a tissue, then plucked his phone from Xingyue’s grasp so he could mount it on the tripod in front of the mirror. “Look, I’ll put it up like this. You’re so slow. Learn the dance, we’re going to film in ten. Ah, but get me a green tea first. There’s one in the fridge.”

@Shen Quanrui The song itself was already enough to give Xingyue a headache, but the cringey and unnatural looking dance moves were the thing that made him recoil back from the phone in obvious disdain. He glanced up at Ricky while the video was playing, watching how the younger was moving with the music that came from the phone. It just didn't make sense why a boy would want to do this dance, even if Ricky did have the body figure to do so. "Do you want me to record you from here?" Xingyue asked, "The people seem to be doing it with a phone stand in front of them, there's no special video work going on. What do you want me to do?" he asked, turning on the camera and holding the phone up to capture Ricky.

@Wang Xingyue "Sit down, will you? You're making me nervous," Ricky said, taking another long sip of his water before he pulled out his reference video, sliding his phone over to Xingyue. "It's called 'Say So'. You know Doja Cat, right?" She was, of course, Ricky's idol in being a cat, not that Xingyue would know. Ricky dipped the tip of his ring finger into a pearlescent highly to touch up over the tip of his nose and the cupid's bow of his lip, examining himself carefully before his vanity mirror. While the video played for Xingyue, Ricky watched himself practice in the mirror, precise with his movements in order to make the entire dance look perfectly relaxed. "Got it?"

@Shen Quanrui Not even a minute after he sat down, Xingyue was back on his two feet again. Begrudgingly, he stood up and approached Ricky. Clearly this was going to be yet another one of those challenges that Ricky wanted someone to do with him before the official recording. At least with that notion in the back of his mind, Xingyue would just meander through the actions and hope that Ricky didn't nitpick him. "What do you want to film?" he asked, holding his hand out for a reference video, just like that 'Dog Splashing in the Yellow River' (or whatever it was called) example from before.

@Wang Xingyue While Ricky had a drink, he checked on his messages. All his collaborations had to be rescheduled, of course, but pushing all of them out for at least two months was too suspicious. What if people came up with wild rumours for him? Ricky needed to post a challenge, and he'd need a second person in it just to show he wasn't shutting out /all/ collaborations, but that some people were simply being put on the back burner. Ricky glanced around the room. Unfortunately for him, the most photogenic one was Wang Xingyue, but he also happened to be the worst influencer. /And/ he stole Ricky's first kiss. Ricky heaved a sigh after watching Ricky for a while. "A-Yue. Come here. Film with me."

@Shen Quanrui Xingyue couldn't believe that with the schedule change, his job had gone from 'manager' to 'personal assistant' to what could only best be described as a 'modern day indentured servant'. It wasn't that he owed Ricky anything literally, but somehow that was how the younger managed to make him feel. From running errands outside to pushing Ricky from room to room in his oversized apartment, Xingyue felt that his legs weren't his own anymore. They existed only because Ricky needed him to do things on his behalf. He wordlessly took the water bottle from Ricky while the other set up for his next video. Filling it up with warm water and putting it back by Ricky's tableside, Xingyue finally took a seat on the couch behind the younger, catching his breath since the morning.

@Wang Xingyue Since Ricky wasn't going to work from his parents' manor, he moved back to his own apartment to continue with his schedule. Someone was always carting him around in a wheelchair now, which Ricky absolutely loved. It was a shame he couldn't be crippled all the time. Being unable to put weight on his leg meant he couldn't do his regular reels. Instead, he switched to streaming from his desk, talking about this and that while he did his makeup, as if he was getting ready to go out for the day. His viewers, whilst confused with the change, took it all in a stride. Not being able to walk meant Ricky needed more help, too, and naturally, all of that fell on Xingyue. He had mostly forgiven him for stealing his first kiss—he had to, otherwise being around him was going to give Ricky an aneurysm. "A-Yue, my water bottle is empty. Refill."

@Shen Quanrui Bite him? That was hardly the worst thing that Ricky could do to Xingyue in the moment. What if he kissed him again...or did something even more unthinkable? Xingyue leaned in, his reflexes ready to kick in at any moment as he stood on the balls of his feet rather than on his heels. "What- ow!" he snapped, flinching backwards as he covered his mouth and shot Ricky yet another glare. "What the hell- if you didn't want me to eat your food, just don't offer it next time," Xingyue said, forgoing the last of his formalities of Ricky that he had been trying to hold up since day 1. "I know how to get myself out, no need," Xingyue said, turning on his heels and heading out without another look back at Ricky.

Since he was on the upper floor, it was convenient for him to map out the layout of the house, which would make for easier investigation in the future. Seeing that the housekeepers weren't around, he peeked into each individual room, eventually locating Shen Tianfeng's office that was down the hall from Ricky's room. All the important information was bound to be locked up in there, so his only goal was to get in and thoroughly take a look. Though he had the mind to start right then and there, Xingyue decided it was better to retreat and come back another day as Ricky's boyfriend when it was positive that his parents were truly out of the house and no one would run into him like the unfortunate soul Lin did.

@Wang Xingyue When Xingyue hesitated, Ricky's impatience got the better of him. "What are you so afraid of? I'm not going to bite you. Get closer." Once his beckoning finally pulled Xingyue close enough, Ricky flicked him over his mouth, hard. Those lips felt worse than they looked, and Ricky recoiled visibly once he doled out his punishment. He didn't want to admit to Xingyue that was his first kiss, so a hard hit would have to do to remind Xingyue that he better know his place. "Now clean up and leave. Xiaofei is going to show you out."

@Shen Quanrui This was truly such an awkward situation to be in. They were eating in silence, but Xingyue was already coming up with a list of 100 excuses for him to get out of the room as soon as he finished eating. It didn't take long for him to finish those four measly yet overpriced soup dumplings, and he was waiting for Ricky to just twitch even a little so he could take the handle from there to excuse himself. Unfortunately enough, Ricky called for him yet again, and Xingyue made a face as he realized they had to close the distance between them again. "Can't you just say it from here? There's nobody else listening," he said, standing up and putting the rest of the trash in the plastic bag it originally came in, "Let me just clean up, and I'll leave you to your space to rest and recover." Xingyue needed Ricky to fall asleep so he could sleuth around the house. Then again, with his injured ankle and the dramatic nature of his, Ricky wouldn't be going anywhere even if he was awake. Seeing that the younger wasn't budging, Xingyue sighed and went over to the edge of the bed, "What is it?"

@Wang Xingyue Ricky couldn't hold back an expression of disgust when he watched Xingyue eat all four of his soup dumplings in the same amount of time it took Ricky to eat one. Did Xingyue have to wolf down his food like he hadn’t eaten in a decade? Where was the decorum? Was his father so busy caring for him that he didn't bother to teach him manners? Ricky didn't bother to lecture Xingyue, though, instead focusing on his draining of his soup dumplings. He was a caveman, and his skull was too thick to get anything else too complicated through. Xingyue was destined to drive Ricky around and remember simple things like Ricky's drink orders. Once he finished with his food, Ricky set aside his trash for Xingyue to take care of, laying a hand over his full stomach. He wanted to say something about his schedule for the foreseeable future, but when he looked over at Xingyue, with truffle oil glazing his furiously thin lips, rage took ahold of Ricky. How dare Xingyue think he deserved to take Ricky's first kiss. No, even if it wasn't Ricky's first time, how dare Xingyue think he deserved to kiss Ricky /at all/ with that mouth? He beckoned at Xingyue. "Come closer. I want to tell you something."