Capturing My Demon King Costar

There's nothing Yao Shen can say to defend himself in the face of Xin Hulei's words.

"Well, I said what I had to say." 

He rummages through his shorts and gives Xin Hulei the clay vial with Yan Shuyi's memories.

"Can you take me back to my apartment now?"

He feels Xin Hulei's warm touch on his shoulder, but doesn't look up into his face. Moments later, the dimly lit backroom is replaced by his dimly lit living room.

He steps away from Xin Hulei. "Thank you."

Xin Hulei remains silent, but even his silence feels to Yao Shen like admonishment.

"Even if you don't want to talk with me again, I'm still going to find a way to remove your seal."

He turns away from Xin Hulei, walking towards his bedroom. "Excuse me for not seeing you to the door, I don't think you want to, anyway." A small petty part of Yao Shen wants to add that it's not as if Xin Hulei needed permission to get into his house.

He walks into his bedroom and closes the door behind him with a thud. Not waiting to see if Xin Hulei leaves.

After some time, his grumbling stomach forces him to get out of bed.

He peers out his bedroom door, but as expected Xin Hulei is nowhere to be seen. Yao Shen tries to convince himself he's not disappointed.

He makes a quick instant noodle dinner for himself. It's bland and unappetizing, but he doubts that even the best of Xin Hulei's dishes would have tasted good at the moment.

After his lukewarm dinner he takes a bath and then climbs into bed.

Despite how tired he feels, he knows sleep won't come easily. 

Tired of turning and twisting in bed, he picks up his phone from the nightstand. One of the reasons he came back was to check if Bi Jialu or anyone else had gotten in touch with him because of work.

He has no new messages from Bi Jialu, but several unread ones from Xin Hulei. All dated from early in the day.

[Xin Hulei: Jincan and Heimao are very annoying]

[Xin Hulei: I wish you were here, at least you would distract Jincan]

[Xin Hulei: you aren't replying, busy?]

[Xin Hulei: Is everything alright?]

Seeing the messages spaced several hours apart makes Yao Shen's heart clench painfully. Xin Hulei clearly spent great part of his day worried about him.

[Xin Hulei: do you want to come over today?]

Yao Shen doubts Xin Hulei will be asking him that question again any time soon. The realization makes something sour climb up his throat.

[Xin Hulei: I'm worried about you, I'm coming over]

That's Xin Hulei's last message, afterwards he must have come over to Yao Shen's house and decided to wait for him, seeing as his mobile and all other belongings were still inside the apartment.

In the end it was Xin Hulei's concern for him that brought Yao Shen's house of lies tumbling down.

He could laugh at the irony. Instead he spends hours looking up at the water-stained ceiling until he eventually falls into a restless sleep.

---

The next day he considers going back to Youdu to try and find the Black and White Impermanences, but he barely has the strength to get out of bed, let alone handle something more strenuous.

It's too risky for him to wallow in his own misery when Si Wang can 'drop in' at any moment, so he improvises.

Whenever his thoughts drift in the direction of Xin Hulei he calls it a 'migraine'.

'This migraine really hurts.'

'I wish I could just go to sleep and wake up without feeling terrible about this migraine.'

'I wonder how long it takes for a person to get over a migraine.'

Eventually, Si Wang does check up on him.

[Hos- Shi Wang, are you going to Youdu today?]

Yao Shen immediately snaps at him. "Can't you see I have a migraine?"

[Yes, I can, it must be really awful, since it's all Shi Wang can think about.]

"Yeah, well, you're making it worse. I'll come by tomorrow if I feel better."

[Please do, the other kings are growing restless. We need to show some progress regarding the demon king situation.]

Yao Shen just shouts the word 'migraine!' at him, and Si Wang eventually disappears.

The day passes slow as molasses. Yao Shen makes some more instant noodles that taste like cardboard and eats them while scrolling through his phone.

He forgot he followed his and Xin Hulei's supertopic on one of his dummy accounts, and is shocked to see his feed populated by a series of posts from people whose avatars are pictures of him and Xin Hulei.

Currently, a new post is making the rounds.

[Frankly loving: Sisters, does anyone know who this blond guy with our LeiLei is? This photo just showed up everywhere and is generating a lot of speculation. Is he a foreigner? Please if anyone knows anything about this let me know, anxiously waiting online.]

The picture shows Xin Hulei walking down a busy Beijing street, shoulder-to-shoulder with a shorter blond man with a healthy complexion and sparkling yellow eyes.

Yao Shen recognizes Jincan immediately. He's almost glowing from joy at being out and about with Xin Hulei. A bright blue beanie hides his unusual butterfly wing ears, making him look no different than a human man. Albeit a racially ambiguous one.

[LeiShen 4ever: Who is this guy? He looks like an idol. Is he a foreign idol? How did he meet Xin Hulei?]

[Fan fantasy: I hate how he's acting all close with Xin Hulei >8/ he's all smiles. Doesn't know that our LeiLei belongs to ShenShen?]

[Dragonfly: Psh, so flashy, don't worry sisters, there's no way a guy like him would be LeiLei's type. He likes classic beauties like ShenShen <33]

[Dancing star: We might be reading too much into this. They're probably just friends who are spending some time together.]

Yao Shen reads through all the comments with mixed feelings. While he agrees with the more rational fans that there is nothing unusual about Xin Hulei hanging out with another person, he has a little more information than them.

Just the day before Xin Hulei was texting him about how annoying Jincan was being, and then one day later he's taking him out for a stroll?

It's not Yao Shen's place to speculate, anyway. He and Xin Hulei were never even in an actual relationship. 

They were friends with benefits at best, so Yao Shen has absolutely no reason to feel jealous.

He tries to put the whole thing out of his mind, but not long after his phone starts vibrating.

Ye Fang texts their 'Crimson Cuties' chat group:

[Sunrise Star: does anyone want to hang out today or tomorrow?]

[Tan Liansi: i'm busy, go bother someone else...]

[Sunrise Star: i'm asking everyone...not just jiejie]

Nothing like Tan Liansi being humiliated to make Yao Shen feel marginally better about his day.

[Xin Hulei: i'm busy too]

[Sunrise Star: oh, yeah, I saw eye.emoji gege can bring his friend, if he wants]

[Cute didi: I saw the photos, he looks interesting. I'd like to meet him too]

Yao Shen doesn't expect Gao Wu to be interested in Jincan too. Did that stupid caterpillar roll around in sugar and now everyone suddenly finds him irresistible?

Maybe he has special spirit animal powers of seduction? Yao Shen wouldn't put it past him.

He needs to say something too, since he has read the messages.

[Little Menace: I feel a little under the weather, maybe another time]

Everyone else in the chat ground, including Tan Liansi, wishes him a speedy recovery. The only glaring exception is Xin Hulei who doesn't say anything else.

Whether it's because he knows Yao Shen isn't sick, or because he doesn't care, Yao Shen can't tell.

Yao Shen has almost put the whole thing out of his mind when his phone vibrates again.

A small part of him holds a faint hope that it might be Xin Hulei, so he checks it.

[Cute didi: Does gege know who this is?]

Attached he sends one of those same candid photos of Xin Hulei and Jincan.

It takes a lot of restraint for Yao Shen not to hurl his phone at the wall.

Fuck Jincan! Why is everything about Jincan today?

[Little Menace: I have no idea, why does didi want to know? :)]

Yao Shen is about to text Jia Hao and warn him that his man has his sights set on a completely different supernatural creature when Gao Wu texts him again.

[Cute didi: Gege must have heard Fang-jie praise Tan laoshi for the protection talisman she got her. Apparently Tan laoshi comes from a family of Daoist priests]

[Cute didi: you could say I'm in the same line of business]

Yao Shen frantically thinks to himself: Please say 'acting', please say 'acting'.

Gao Wu doesn't say acting.

[Cute didi: has gege heard of exorcists?]

[Little Menace: no, what's that? :) :) :O :) :#]

Yao Shen types one stupid smiley face for each panic level he's reaching. This is just what he needs, on top of everything else.

Moments later Gao Wu confirms his worst fears.

[Cute didi: a regular person like gege has no reason to know this, but there are demons on the loose in our realm. Someone like me gets rid of them]