“What the fuck?” Xi found himself saying, lightly, before he remembered how many uncharitable people were currently watching. “I mean, I don’t remember meeting jio—Mike, I mean, not before the little cake delivery thing.”

“Me either,” Jiong said, taking the chance to get in close behind Xi again, for what was probably the fifth time this night. Xi, trapped by the simmering rice pot in front and the hovering camera that had him and said pot in frame from a top-down angle, couldn’t do as he wished and reach back to give Jiong a warning shove. “They have any proof?”

> sidestander: hey, hey, hey, just what are you two doing?

> sidestander: isn’t that Star-nim’s hand on Xi’s waist????

> Fan ZZ: isn’t that just Star hyung trying to get closer to the rice (¯﹃¯*)

> Fan AAA: yeah, sausage + rice so fucking good

> Fan AAA: #1 lazy dinner

> swearmouse: kind of sad for Star-nim, though, it’s just rice after all

> swearmouse: Xi-oppa, Xi-oppa, don’t you still have those dumplings left over from last month (〃∇〃 )

Man, when Claire wanted to get at someone, she really went all out. When was the last time Xi had seen her use such expressive kaomoji? And that wasn’t even touching her calling ‘Xi-oppa, Xi-oppa’ like some fucking ghost…

> Fun Fan B: *appears in a flash* I can come over for dinner tomorrow, right? I remember you stress-made a bunch?

> YuriGod: petitioning to check on the dumplings!! I’m in your area right now, I can chase away reporters from your building as well!!!

> XiXi: it’s swearie’s imagination, lol, those are long gone

> YuriGod: ah… but… _´ཀ`」 ∠ ):_

> Fun Fan B: [cry] then… what’s going to be for tomorrow’s dinner?

Sometimes, he really didn’t know what to do with these friends of his. While he was somewhat touched by the sudden, semi-obvious rush to sideline Xmyheart’s weird little bombshell, drowning it out in unrelated conversation, the tone of the nonsense they were saying was still very much intended to needle Jiong. ‘Ah? Xi’s cooking you dinner? Well, you’re only getting a rushed one, a sub-standard one, an inferior one~~’ —that kind of thing.

Meanwhile, in the seldom-used mod-only chat:

[mod_mayuuu]: I don’t know, I think the vid seems legit?

[mod_mayuuu]: that or someone paid way too much to fake it

[mod_urakilla]: yeah, it’s got that shitty old Daehu watermark

[mod_urakilla]: dunno if the software for that is even available anymore

[mod_mayuuu]: oh?

[XiErXi]: yeah, the guys that ran that k-club were stingy as fuck

[XiErXi]: used old-ass software for vid output, and it was read-only unless you paid for clips

[mod_z]: wow, and they were still that popular?

[XiErXi]: haha, all the clubs back then were terrible. Daehu was actually the most reasonable one

[XiErXi]: couldn’t even get vid output from most of them

[mod_urakilla]: yeah, that’s why the commercial side of things has always been so strong

[mod_urakilla]: people trying to make back their gear investment

[mod_mayuuu]: so I guess I can give Xmy the go-ahead?

[XiErXi]: yeah, yeah, sure

Xi had only watched about thirty seconds of the clip provided by the eager Xmyheart’s mystery informant, but nothing about it stood out as problematic. Sure, it looked to be a bog-standard, somewhat cringey challenge video from nearly ten years ago, back when facing off against (read: crushing) rival streamers and random wanna-bes was the highlight of Xi’s night, but such embarrassing content could be found anywhere. What was interesting was how on earth that video was supposed to mean that Xi had met Captain Jiong, when a quick face-search of the entire video pulled up zero hits of said captain.

> Xmyheart: doesn’t anyone want to know how they really met??

> Xmyheart: I saw proof, ok, gold-plated proof!!

> Fan AAA: …and?

> [swearmouse is doubting that there is any proof.]

> [Fan ZZ is only interested in rice, rice.]

> Xmyheart: they met in a k-club, ok! How is that not news??

> Fun Fan B: lolol yeah right

> Xmyheart: for real, it was even at Daehu!

> sidestander: post proof, then

> Xmyheart: [daehu-meeting.vid]

> Xmyheart pours out a fragrant splash of wine to the gods! Xmyheart has pinned [daehu-meeting.vid] to the channel for an hour!

> YuriGod: wow, so confident

> Fan AAA: Xmy-noona, ah… haven’t you just been deceived??

> Xmyheart: what frigging deception, haha

> Xmyheart: don’t you recognize the guy in the challenge, the one with the light effect mask? Hmm???

> Fan ZZ: omg

> swearmouse: ?? I don’t?

For someone that frequently acted like a weird mix of Xi’s diehard fan and the despotic gatekeeper of his harem, Claire had surprisingly little knowledge of who was who in the karaoke circle Xi had spent a good chunk of his time in over the years. Or, well, that was probably being a bit harsh, considering that the guy in the challenge video—the guy Xi had been facing off against—wasn’t strictly someone considered part of the circle.

After all, though Andy Bai had been a part of Eric’s group, it hadn’t been for more than a few months before he hit it big. And once that happened, he hadn’t been proactive about keeping touch with the few contacts and friends he’d made in the circle. Probably, if Janey and Xi and company hadn’t all grown up on the same street, and hadn’t still been seeing each other’s family for one reason or another, Janey would have drifted apart from everyone like that as well.

“Anything ringing a bell for you, Mike?” Xi asked, more for the show of it than because he cared. “And honestly, could you move? Rice is almost done, so I want to start the meat.”

No response, just the tightening hold of Mike’s hand on Xi’s hip.

“Mike?”

[MrJiong]: this…

[XiErXi]: what ‘this’?? So VR suits were tighter back then, fucking sue me

[MrJiong]: no, I mean

[MrJiong]: this might be a problem

[XiErXi]: ??? what??

[MrJiong]: I mean, I, that guy, I was dating him back then

Uh-oh.

“Sweetie?” Xi twisted around to meet Jiong’s blank look of panic, taking delicate care to keep the fingers he was pinching Jiong’s arm with out of the camera’s sightline, “why the hell are you bullying me like this on stream, huh? Can’t you wait?”

> Fan C: o_O!!

> swearmouse: wtaf?

> YuriGod: heheheheheheehe

> Policefan B: oi, oi, break that the hell up! What nonsense are you doing to our Xi-er!!!!

Sadly, Jiong didn’t flinch when pinched; he just stood there one more moment. Only when Xi scowled at him did he come back to his senses and take a step back, allowing Xi enough room to navigate over to the fridge and grab the marinated pork.

> XiXi: chill out, haha

> XiXi: just a bit of teasing, you know how it goes [wink]

> Fan AAA: isn’t that how criminals are encouraged, lol

> Xmyheart: Xi-er should definitely punish~

> swearmouse: +1 for punishment

> Policefan B: +50 for strictest punishment

> mr fly: woah, woah, woah, just what’s happening here?

> mr fly: our Xi’s being molested on stream???

“You guys are all one hundred percent thinking too much,” Xi said, moving the frying pan into place on the stove. He hated that he could still feel Jiong’s tense, freaked-out frame hovering nearby, hated that he’d pushed himself to do more than just cooking up a pot of rice and calling it a day, hated that the team behind Andy Bai were shameless enough that they’d leap at the chance to stir up drama like this on Xi’s stream.

He didn’t for a moment believe that Xmyheart had been handed that silly video by some random, overly curious fan; a lightning quick search on ‘Andy Bai’ made it clear that he would be coming out with a new album in a bit. Considering the amount of dubiously earned attention Xi had gained by having his fledgling relationship with Jiong outed for everyone to see, it was only natural that someone would try and squeeze out a benefit from it in this fashion.

> XiXi: swearie, the challenger in the vid is Radian

> XiXi: you know, Radian from Geometrica?

> swearmouse: whaa? really??

Technically he went by his real name now, but nothing said that Xi had to make things easy for Bai and his asinine PR team. And anyway, it was more than likely that more people would recognize him from the group he’d debuted in than would recognize him solo, not because he hadn’t had any solo success, but because Geometrica had been a big deal for a year or two, a scarily big deal.

Sure enough:

> swearmouse: wow… so crazy that he’d do that

> YuriGod: hehehe weren’t we all nuts back then?

> XiXi: yeah, it wasn’t anything uncommon to go around challenging people over and over

> sidestander: so that’s how it is, huh?

> Xmyheart: waiiiit, does that mean??? I’m talking to mfing radian rn????????

> anbai: …um, yeah?

And of course, of course, of course the guy himself, or at least the person operating the guy’s ID had a thick enough face to show up in person. Xi could see the headlines already: Bai’s Old Rival?!, Bai Bai’s Embarrassing History Revealed!!, Before He Rose Up, Star B’s Shocking Appearance?! Because Xi, never mind what he was doing now, back then, they’d totally been hardcore rivals to the bitter end, rather than two people who smiled and nodded at each other when their teams happened to pass by at the concours.

> anbai: [blushes] you guys must think I’m really free, really shameless

> anbai: sorry, Xi, I just couldn’t help myself

> XiXi: haha, it’s no big deal

> XiXi: how’s the new album coming along?

There, that should be enough of a lead-in to satisfy Bai and his shameless PR flacks. Jiong was still freaking out on the other side of the kitchen counter, but at least he was doing it well out of frame. And now Xi had enough space to start up the stir fry and, and there’d soon enough be something to eat to calm himself down and provide a minor talking point.

> anbai: so yeah, absolutely would not recommend showing your face onstream for the first time like that

> anbai: though idk if I actually need to, surely there can’t be any kids out there as boneheaded as I was back then >.

> swearmouse: so wait, wait, let me get this straight

> swearmouse: you were trying to show off? For Star-hyung??

> anbai: it was totally in vain, too [cry] [cry]

> Fan AAA: yeah lol that performance was uh

> anbai: I know, right??

> anbai: couldn’t show my face at school for a week _(´ཀ`」 ∠) _

> swearmouse: …wow

Somehow, having seen that reaction from Claire, Xi couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for Bai. Claire had very deliberately marked herself away on global chat, and hadn’t even responded yet to Xi’s apology from the day of the event, but if she had been in the mood to talk to him, Xi could easily imagine the torrent of disappointment and disgust she’d be unleashing on her former idol. To think that his taste could be like this, he could almost hear her saying. Truly f***ing unbelievable…

> XiXi: so I guess mike was in the crowd, then? One of the background blobs?

> anbai: haha, you’ve got it exactly

> anbai: so the video’s just… it’s not like, proof proof, on the face of it

> anbai: but I have the chatlog as well, the official room one from after you were done crushing me, lol

> Gossip Fan B: *perks up* ehhhh???

> anbai: it’s nothing special, it’s actually…

> anbai: I don’t think Mike even said anything [sweatdrop]

> mr fly: but surely you can let us see it, hm? [smile]???

> anbai: it’s literally just got his ID announced as being part of the room

So one had to wonder why the fuck the great Andy Bai would show up, most likely in person, to post so-called proof of, of what exactly? Xi and Jiong having happened to pass each other by in a fleeting manner ten years ago?

> anbai: should I just copy and paste? Will that be weird?

> Xmyheart: ah ah ah let jiejie help you ok~ it’s easy~

> Xmyheart pours out a fragrant splash of wine to the gods! Xmyheart has pinned [placeholder.txt] to the channel for an hour!

> Xmyheart: I’ve given baibai access, so just go ahead~

> anbai: haha, ok, thank you [bows]

> anbai, as Xmyheart’s fellow petitioner, has pinned [daehu chatlog.txt] to the channel for an hour!

Xi, currently frying up the second batch of the marinated pork, couldn’t break off midway to gawk at the stupid chatlog the way most of the people in chat were doing. He told himself that seeing what happened later than everyone would be fine. He told himself that everything would be fine even if said chatlog had him being a monumental prick; it had happened ten years ago, and there was only so hot the media could fan the flames against him over some minor backtalk from back when he’d been in uni.

> Gossip Fan B: this…

> [Gossip Fan B is dying of laughter!]

> sidestander: ??

> Fan AAA: hahaha side-noona, you’re new here, right?

> Fan AAA: learn well!!! The cruelty of our Xi-er never changes!

> YuriGod: hohoho even back then…

> anbai: bullied to death, QAQ

> anbai: senior, just how will you compensate, huh?

> sidestander: still don’t get it [confused]

> Fan ZZ: come on, imagine it! A young, earnest challenger, right, boldly going forth to sing opposite the big god, right

> Fan ZZ: challenger loses face, he’s just crushed, right, and after, the god shows up and is like, I hope your oppa comforts you well~~~

> sidestander: ohhhh, and then Star-hyung didn’t even say anything…

> Xmyheart: that aside, just think, how would God Xi even know there was a special oppa watching for baibai?

> Xmyheart: obviously, poor baibai told him! Probably there was even a request, you know, ‘can god show mercy’, that kind of thing

> sidestander: lol yikes

> Fan AAA: and as you can see!! Request was completely denied!

> Gossip Fan B: [cough] [cough] can this hyung make a point [cough]

> Gossip Fan B: it was cruel, sure, very cruel, but if you think about it, wasn’t God Xi doing andy a favour?

> Gossip Fan B: after all, with those looks, if he went clinging to oppa to comfort him after his loss… [cough] [cough] [cough]

> anbai: either way it all failed QAQ

> anbai: singing not enough, tears not enough, it wasn’t long before I gave up

By now, the stir fry was pretty much done, and the rice pot had long since been taken off the flame to steam a bit, so Xi finally had space to raise the first of many questions in his chat with Jiong:

[XiErXi]: were you really dating this guy back then?

[MrJiong]: [sweats]

[MrJiong]: it was more kind of like…

[MrJiong]: um……

[XiErXi]: fxcking just say it

[MrJiong]: I will, I will, it’s just

[XiErXi]: fucking. say. it.

[MrJiong]: *clings to Xi-er’s legs*

[MrJiong]: please don’t be mad?

[XiErXi]: what fucking

[XiErXi]: I’m asking you a simple fucking question1!!

[XiErXi]: what the fuck is there to be mad about other than this bullshit delaying!! ANSWER! IT!!

[MrJiong]: …

[MrJiong]: jiongjiong doesn’t want Xi-er to think bad of him T_T

Xi, currently chopping up the steamed Chinese sausage with a lot more force than was strictly necessary, didn’t know at all how to feel. He could feel Jiong’s pleading gaze on his back. He could see the lively mocking going on in chat, worlds away from the shocked reception he’d half expected.

Bai’s PR team was probably ecstatic. With just a bit of crying and sighing over the one that got away, he seemed much more relatable, a distinct step away from the cool, pure beauty type that he’d played as Radian of Geometrica. Xi might take a short-term hit from his rabid fans, but they’d likely soon be steered into frothing over publicity for the new album, healing Bai Bai’s past hurt by shoving the title song as far up the charts as it could go.

Technically, Xi should be feeling relieved. Annoyed, but relieved, because now he could even predict the future slant of the media’s articles on him, and that was better than being in the dark. Instead, he was—he was furious.

He didn’t want to be furious. He didn’t want to feel jealousy grinding away in his chest, jealousy at the thought of Jiong having been the type that someone like Bai would wildly pursue. Bai was gorgeous. Bai hadn’t come up as one of Jiong’s former paramours, likely because his company had suppressed it in preparation for this PR move, after which any problematic pictures or other hard evidence of their former involvement would completely lose its sting.

Even if something serious popped up, Bai would have the halo of being the one who lost out, the one cast aside by an uncaring Jiong. His PR team would spin him as too young to know better, and Jiong’s PR would inwardly cry tears of blood while emphasizing that it was all such a long time ago, and anyway, didn’t everyone already know Michael Star had been a bit, heh heh, say no more?

[XiErXi]: still not saying it??

[MrJiong]: …QAQ

[XiErXi]: …

XiErXi has temporarily blocked MrJiong!

“In my defence,” Xi said, as he added a generous helping of thinly sliced Chinese sausage to each of the plates in front of him, “oh, what can I even say… long night, maybe?”

> Fan AAA: then isn’t every night long??

> YuriGod: long night, schmong night, gimme dat rice (¯﹃¯*)

> [YuriGod is desperately wishing for the power to teleport!]

> mr fly: ah but, didn’t Yuyu say she was in the area? Is there a need to teleport when you can just walk [smile]

> YuriGod: whaaa, you’re here?

> YuriGod: long time no see~!

> [Hungry Fan B is desperately wishing for the power to cook!]

> [Xmyheart is desperately wishing for the power to cook!]

Now that Xi and the slightly stiff Jiong were seated on the couch in the living room and digging into the loaded plates, the rain of desperate wishes for this and that was never-ending.

> [sidestander is desperately wishing for the money to buy that glorious view!]

> sidestander: soooo pretty omg, I didn’t know there were even any high rise flats in that district

> starmike: haha, it didn’t look anywhere near this nice five years ago

> starmike: and even now, it’s such a business-heavy district, the nearest supermarket is half a mile away and pretty much just sells pressed shirts, cigarettes and ramen [sweatdrop]

Xi, still smiling as he ate, couldn’t help but feel a wave of resentment at the fact that Jiong would answer fucking random non-questions in his chat, but in private… haha.

Just. Haha.

At least the stir-fry was good.

> Fan C: ah, this is murder ah ah ah

> Fan C: aren’t you just dragging us all on your date??

> XiXi: if it’s any comfort to you, the rice is a bit softer than it really should be [smile]

> Fan C: ……

> [Fan C is threatening to wash this channel in blood!!!]

> [Fan C demands compensation for the abused single dogs1 of this channel!!!!]

> anbai: speaking of compensation…

> XiXi: hahaha, what could I even give you these days that you’d even want

> XiXi: favourite pastry, maybe? I’ll try my hand at anything, just let me know what you’d like

> anbai: well, if it’s something I want [shifty eyes]

Now, though Xi still couldn’t really remember the events that had led to his crushing poor, naive Andy Bai onstream all those years ago, he couldn’t help but begin to understand why he’d gone that far. This fucking coyness, over a goddamn pastry that wouldn’t even be eaten if it was fucking sent—

> anbai: …could you maybe lend me Mike?

Single dog (單身狗): Chinese slang, a self-deprecating phrase for people who are single.↩