Full Summary:

Who knew that one chance encounter could change everything?

Sun Xiang pulls a klutz moment and runs into a rather handsome stranger, causing him to stumble and nearly fall to the floor—except the stranger catches him in his arms. The man is not the most handsome, that title remains reserved for Zhou Zekai in all honesty, but he's the type of person to become more desirable the more one stares at him. Sun Xiang is about to apologize, because he is the one at fault for running through the halls, when the stranger speaks and stuns him into silence.

"Are you falling for me?" The stranger smirks bewitchingly, amber eyes crinkling with mischievousness and alight with an indescribable brightness.

Sun Xiang blanks out.

Seeing Sun Xiang at a loss for words, the stranger's smirk widens, if possible, and brings Sun Xiang closer so that he's leaning against the stranger's shoulder. The stranger uses one hand to brush aside a stray strand of dirty blond hair behind Sun Xiang's left ear. "No, actually," the man's voice softens then, the dulcet tone casting a spell on Sun Xiang, "I think I may have fallen for you."

Chapter 2: Meeting the Battle God Himself

『Lady Fortune must be smiling on me today, to allow me to meet someone as cute as you.』

Sun Xiang purses his lips and then tactfully decides to ignore the flirtatious response. 『Where are we going at 7?』

A few seconds later, he receives a reply. 『You aren't from around here, so you probably have not explored H City properly. Have you ever been to H City's Garden of Eden? The flowers cultivated there are beautiful, I've heard.』

Garden of Eden? Sun Xiang thinks and shakes his head. No, he has never even heard of such a place in H City, despite having come to the city a handful of times.

When he returns his gaze back to his phone screen, he realizes Xiu has sent another text.

『Ah, but these flowers might disappoint, like anything else when compared to your beauty.』

Sun Xiang chokes on air, and his phone nearly slips from his grasp. His hands fumble to keep it from falling to the floor and cracking its screen, and just as he reestablishes his grip on his phone, a voice pipes up from above.

"There you are. What are you doing, sitting on the ground in the hallway?" His reverie broken, Sun Xiang looks up and sees Yue Ziqin standing before him.

The guild leader for our club's guild, Sun Xiang reminds himself. "Ah, um, nothing, Brother Yue, I just got lost in my thoughts and had to take a breather." Sun Xiang stows his phone away into his jacket and looks away, hoping his blush from before has faded already. He keeps his gaze shifted to the side as he stands, too embarrassed to look at his fellow teammate.

"Alright. Hey, do you want to join us and grab something to eat after this cross team training? I heard we'll be done just before seven. It'll be a bit early for dinner then, but the guys and I were thinking of an all-you-can-eat or a barbecue," Yue Ziqin offers as the two of them begin walking to the meeting room.

"I...I can't tonight. Sorry, something came up." Sun Xiang stuffs his hands into his pockets, his gaze firmly fixed ahead.

"Damn, really? Next time then, dude." Yue Ziqin doesn't say anything for a moment. All of a sudden, he stops walking, prompting Sun Xiang to finally look at his teammate. "Yo, Sun Xiang, are you okay?"

Sun Xiang blinks and then realizes how he has been acting ever since he ran into Xiu. He forces himself to smirk and says, "Yea, just an off day. Don't sweat about it. I got a reply from a chick I've been chasing just now, so that's why I'm rain checking you guys."

Yue Ziqin slaps Sun Xiang's back in congratulations. "Nice going, she hot?"

The dirty blond shrugs, his eyes shifting to the right. "She's kinda hot. Nice to look at, but not the hottest, you get what I mean?"

He gets a nod in response.

"Yea, I know what you mean. Anyway, the room should be right over...ah, over here." Yue Ziqin opens the door and looks at Sun Xiang, signalling for him to enter first.

Sun Xiang almost does, except he remembers that he still hasn't responded to the text. "Shoot, you go in first. I need to reply to her; you caught me right after she suggested a place we could go tonight."

Yue Ziqin nods sagely. "I'll explain to the captain then. Good luck with making sure she isn't pissed at you for the long wait." Yue Ziqin walks through the open door and closes it behind him, or nearly so. He turns his head back to throw out, "You'll probably have five minutes max before someone will be sent to grab you again," before vanishing into the room. The door hits the doorframe, but remains slightly ajar afterward.

Sun Xiang nearly breaks out into cold sweat at that, as he's more afraid of what response he will get after making Xiu wait so long.

With a cloud of dread visibly hovering over him, Sun Xiang pulls out his phone and types a quick reply. 『That sounds fine』

There's a bit of a wait, causing Sun Xiang to throw nervous glances at the now ajar door. He doesn't think he has long before perhaps the captain himself comes out to drag him to this practice session with Excellent Era.

Even if he is the best newcomer of the season, so far, it doesn't mean he gets a lot of slack. The amount he's getting right now, being late and all, is more than he expects.

『 I thought I've been forgotten about after such a long silence 』

Shit, Sun Xiang despairs. Three dots appear at the bottom of the chat for a moment, and a new text bubble forms.

『That's perfect then. I'll make reservations for Firefly Pavilion as well, if it's alright with you?』

'Firefly Pavilion,' even Sun Xiang has heard about this restaurant. Not just anyone can make a reservation, especially at such late notice. 『Wait, isn't that the newest and hottest restaurant to open up in the entire district? Isn't it really pricey and hard to get into?』

From what little Sun Xiang remembers of Xiu's clothes, as his attention had been drawn to other things, the older man did not look like he has a lot of money. He dressed rather simply in fact, though it might just be a preference. Sun Xiang isn't sure.

『Don't worry, sweetheart. Let me treat you the way you deserve to be treated, like a blessing to the earth. No—the most precious treasure I will ever encounter, the center of my world.』

Sun Xiang does not know how to respond.

How is he going to survive the next two or so hour-long wait? How is he going to survive the team training…

*Ding*

His phone screen had blanked out earlier due to his inactivity, so Sun Xiang turns it back on and opens the chat again—and freezes.

『I guess I should mention to dress nicely, but I don't think you'll look bad in anything.』

Moments later, a second message appears.

『Though, you'll obviously look best in nothing.』

Sun Xiang is 100% certain that his face is brighter in hue than a ripe tomato.

With a grimace, he shoves his phone into his jacket again and tries to calm down. The manager had somehow arranged a cross team training with Excellent Era, which is amazing because that means working with the battle god Ye Qiu himself.

...Ye...Qiu? Xiu?...

Sun Xiang shakes his head. What is he thinking; the guy he just met has nothing to do with the captain of Excellent Era. It's probably been more than five minutes already. Well, here goes nothing.

The next moment, he pulls the door open and enters.

He finds himself facing a devilish smirk that he knows will feature in his dreams tonight.

"Ah, Sun Xiang, this is Ye Qiu. He has graciously offered to be paired up with you, as Excellent Era does not have a berserker in their lineup. You two will be working together."

Sun Xiang is pretty sure his team captain thinks that he is doing Sun Xiang a favor, but Sun Xiang feels that his life has just been signed away.

"We've met before, actually. Xiang Xiang is truly unforgettable," Ye Qiu interjects, extending a hand out to Sun Xiang.

A flurry of whispers ring out throughout the room at that moment, of which Sun Xiang ignores as best as he can, though his ears turn slightly red at the tips once more.

With a serious face, Sun Xiang reaches out to shake the hand, saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Senior Ye Qiu."

Only, when Sun Xiang's hand makes contact with Ye Qiu's hand, the older man grasps it and bends over to press a kiss to the back of his hand.

"Ah…" Sun Xiang squeaks in all but name.

Sun Xiang immediately flushes red and tries to yank his hand back, but Ye Qiu tightens his grip and refuses to let go.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sun Xiang can see the stunned looks on everyone in the room, all of them as speechless as he is.

The professional smile on his face turns awkward. Ye Qiu glances up briefly, and Sun Xiang easily catches the spark of mischief dancing in those amber eyes.

Sun Xiang nearly keels over on the spot due to this man's next action. Even if no one else knew what just happened, and even if Sun Xiang himself did not even really see it, the action is unmistakable. Sun Xiang definitely feels something wet lightly flick at his hand a moment later and feels his soul figuratively fly away once he realizes what exactly he felt.

With a sly smirk, Ye Xiu slips his tongue out to taste Sun Xiang's skin, all the while locking eyes with Sun Xiang.

Hmm, Ye Xiu contemplates, does this junior eat a lot of sweets? He tastes sweeter than I had imagined.

Ye Xiu straightens, his posture almost military in how perfect it is. A radiant smile crosses his face as Ye Xiu poses a question to the room at large. "How about we start the training?"

No one responds at first, the silence in the room stifling.

Sun Xiang's lips crack apart a bit. The blond tries to put together a sentence. "Uh...Senior Ye…"

Ye Xiu's eyes glint. "Now now, no need to be so formal. I already told you to call me by my first name, though not in as many words."

"...Understood, Senior Qiu," Sun Xiang finally murmurs, helpless in the face of this great god.

"Splendid." Ye Xiu looks around and sees everyone still standing in their original spots. "Let's get to business, everyone. Come, Xiang Xiang, your seat is right here."

Ye Xiu leads Sun Xiang over to a pair of computers, one of which is already logged in and showcasing the battle mage 【One Autumn Leaf】 waiting on the screen. The other screen merely displays the 《Glory》 logo.

"You'll be sitting next to me, as that's where you should always be—by my side." Sun Xiang does not want to look back at all to see everyone's reactions, though he can feel their stares searing through his back like lasers.

Ye Xiu knows all of this, as Sun Xiang's thoughts are all clearly displayed on his face. His team as well as the one Tao Xuan invited over are both equally as transparent. He pays it little attention, however, and just continues on with his plans of seduction.

He's not even bothering to keep his voice down, Sun Xiang cries mentally. In his mind, the small avatar of himself is rocking back and forth, arms wrapped around his legs, as the avatar cries a waterfall of tears.

His blush has only worsened with each passing second, and Ye Qiu still has not released his hand.

Ye Qiu gently guides him to take a seat, and his weak knees all but collapse on him when he sits down.

This...this is not how he expected to die.

Notes:

I want to thank Shaf for her lovely beta work (whose reactions are pure gold as always)
and darling Sora, whose this entire fic is dediated to
She even drew a picture for the first scene of this fic! (Don't mind the yaoi hands w)

You can find the photos on my AO3 version of the fic, which is on my AO3 account → users/MTKiseki/pseuds/MTKiseki

Cross-posted under MTKiseki at AO3

Beta'd by Shaf

Gifted to Sorataxd at AO3

Part 1 of the Take Another Look At Me series