Chapter Text
The minute the plane touched down in SFO, Katy could’ve cried tears of joy. Even though she made frequent trips to Hunan and was used to long flights, something about being back in familiar territory made her eyes swell up. It still felt odd to her. She felt like her life’s book had been thrown aside and replaced with a fairy-tale one. Multiple chapters had been written at once, and she still felt thrown off by everything.
Shaun look as equally excited to be back on land as she was. He had slept most of the way back to the Bay, and she could tell that he was both physically and mentally exhausted. While she had written new chapters, Shaun had to revisit old ones- ones he thought he had ripped out and burned. He had also lost his father, and while Katy didn’t think he was really “father of the year”, she understood what it was like to lose one.
After picking up their luggage, that had surprisingly increased from their trip, no thanks to Xialing and Nan, she and Shaun walked to the ride-share part of the airport.
“Where should we call it to?” she asks, setting her bag down near her feet. Shaun leans back onto a pillar and sighs. The sun is shining bright above with a few clouds for shade. They wait under a giant “B” sign.
“My place,” he answers while dropping his backpack on the ground, “We can crash there, unless you want to go home?”
“And face the wrath of my mother? Your place it is.” Her finger swipes through her apps until she reaches Lyft. She looks through her favorites, which is just “Shaun’s <3”, “Home”, “Karaoke”, and “Hell”, appropriately named for the hotel they work at, or worked at she guesses. In the midst of everything, they might have forgotten to mention they wouldn’t be able to go to their shifts. That probably means they’re fired. Oops.
She scrolls to Uber to double check the prices and settles on Lyft. Her finger hovers over Shaun’s name.
“Hey, I never asked before, but,” she starts, a bit nervous, “What name do you prefer?”
He looks over confused for a second before he understands her question. There’s a pregnant pause were they look at each other. She feels odd under his gaze, like he’s trying to uncover something deeper with her question. She feels her face start to get a little hot, even though the weather is a nice, cool 57 degrees.
“Whatever you want,” he answers, finally with a small smile, “though you’re going to have to work on your pronunciation skills for one of them.”
“Hey! I just don’t have the tones down, okay?”
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed you calling me ‘Dude’ to avoid Shangqi.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Right, and my dad’s not a warlord,” he leans over to poke her lightly on her forehead. She whacks him away and they lapse into a comfortable silence. Katy squats down and sits on one of her bags that only contain clothes. A moment passes before she shuffles her bag and herself closer to Shaun.
“I’ll call you both,” she says, as she leans on his left leg. Her head rests against his thigh and she can feel the firmness of it against her cheek. “You’re both to me, anyway.”
She doesn’t look up, but she knows that he’s staring down at her. She wraps an arm around his leg loosely and opens up her phone to check where their driver’s car is located. Five minutes away it says. She wants to pretend what she said was casual and simple, but the meaning behind her words ring in her head. She has so many things she wants to tell him. She wants to tell him that she will be there for him, that she accepts both Shaun and Shangqi. Or, at least try. But she settles for absently refreshing Lyft.
Shaun shifts slightly and clears his throat. She purposely doesn’t look up, but suddenly, she feels his fingertips against the top of her head, then his palm. His fingers card through her hair and she feels whatever tension in her shoulders drop. His hand is warm against her, and when he brushes against her ear, she leans even further into his thigh.
“Which name do you prefer?” he asks, and she looks up at him with confusion.
“Uh,” she draws out dumbly, “What are my options?”
“Well, we got ‘Legolas’ or ‘Katniss’ for starters.”
She scrunches up her nose in disgust.
“Ew, no, too white.”
“We could do ‘Kagome’?”
“Ehhh, I don’t know, I want something fancier.”
He snorts in amusement, fingers still carding through her hair.
“Like what?”
“Like ‘Demon Slayer’ or ‘The Asian Archer’. We could really market that along with ‘Bus Boy’.”
He flicks the top of her head, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to surprise her. Her hands jump to cover the spot and she whirls around to glare at him.
“What? What’s wrong with that?” she yells out.
“We aren’t marketing anything,” he rolls his eyes and uses the hard that was touching her hair to move her own out of the way. He rubs the spot he flicked, and because it felt so good, she decides to let it pass. “Any other suggestions? Or are we gonna stick to ‘Asian Archer’?”
“Nah, that would deff’ fit into stereotypes. I think I’m good with ‘Shaun’s Badass Beautiful Bodacious Bootyfull Bestie”.
“Oh, my god, that is so stupid,” he laughs out loud, “You don’t even have an ass!”
“And, how would you know that? Been staring at my ass much?” she’s laughing too.
“You literally threw your bony ass on me when during training in Ta Lo.”
“It is not bony!” Katy scrambles to rise to her feet, “I, 100% have a BBL effect goin’ on here.” She gestures to her ass and at this point Shaun is wiping a tear from his eye. She hears him mutter ‘BBL’ between his wheezes. “Shaun!” she yells out embarrassed. He’s bending over now, clutching at his stomach. She rushes at him and playfully slaps him in his arm.
“Sorry, sorry, oh, my god,” he’s still laughing, one hand out to try and swat Katy’s advances.
“Um, excuse me? Lyft?” a voice calls out. They both look towards their left and see a white Prius parked in front of them. “For Katy?” the driver asks unsure. The driver looks young, maybe their age or slightly older. He’s cute, Katy thinks.
“Right, right, yeah, that’s me,” she glares at Shaun, “Sorry ‘bout that.”
He sticks his tongue out at her and before she can do it back, he grabs his bag as well as hers that are on the ground. She grabs the handle of her roller luggage and brings it to the back of the car. The driver opens the trunk and helps Shaun stuff the bags in the back. The driver reaches over to help Katy, but suddenly, Shaun steps in his way.
“I got it, dude,” he says with a tight smile and takes her luggage and pushes it into a space in the back. Katy’s eyes widen in surprise at Shaun and is about to apologize to the driver, but he already walked back to the front seat. Shaun catches her gaze and raises his eyebrows as if saying, “Yeah?”
She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. Men. She walks over to the right side of the car to open the door. She plops down and reaches to grab the seatbelt, but before she can even get her hand on the metal clasp, she feels a hand grip her left thigh. Suddenly, she’s sliding over the black mesh seats until she is pressed right up on Shaun.
“Um, hello?” she asks with a frown, acutely aware of their pressed bodies.
“Hey,” he responds causally, one hand still placed on her thigh, the other on his phone.
“Personal space, much?”
“Nah, I’m good. Put your seatbelt on,” he brings his phone over to her, “Look at this tiktok.” She narrows her eyes at him, but eventually looks at the looping video while putting the metal clasp in place. It’s a Naruto edit of Kakashi. That’s actually hella impressive she thinks.
“He’s so cool,” she says after watching it loop for the second time, “I like that glitch thing at the end.”
“Yeah, me too. I wish I knew how to edit stuff.”
Then, they lapse into silence, watching Shaun’s For You Page on TikTok, occasionally commenting or laughing at a funny video. The driver is quiet for the most part too, but he keeps glancing back from the mirror. Katy catches his eyes and before she can even smile, his eyes are back on the road. Okay, awkward.Maybe he recognizes them from the infamous Bus Boy and Girl video? There’s a squeeze on her thigh and she jolts slightly. She brings her attention back to Shaun, but his eyes are glued to his phone, still scrolling. Her eyes slide towards his hand that is firmly on her thigh.
His hand is so big. It encompasses her thigh. She doesn’t know whether to be grateful that she’s wearing jeans with no holes in them, or disappointed. She watches his thumb caress the denim absently. This is definitely new. While they were always touchy with each other, this touch was oddly unusual. This felt intimate. They were used to reaching out for one another at karaoke, clinging to each other’s arms during a scary film, and sometimes sleeping on the other’s shoulder. But these soft caresses against her thigh were making her feel warm inside.
Probably from the jet lag or something.
The rest of the drive goes smoothly. His hand is still on her thigh, and Katy tries not to look too much into it. Instead, she takes her phone out and shows him her own For You Page. They quickly find out both pages were very similar, but occasionally there would be one that pops up that the other hadn’t seen before. Shaun was pretty deep in “Berries and Cream” TikTok, and Katy had only just started seeing the remixes pop up.
It felt off being in the city. Driving through downtown should have felt like it was home, but it just reminded her of how different both her and Shaun were now. The city felt nostalgic, like they had left for years and now only just returned. She was dreading going to her own apartment, fearing her mother’s anger and disappointment. She wasn’t exactly clear to her why she would be gone and when she would be back. Katy turned off her location from Find My Friends, so her mom wouldn’t go snooping. Thinking back on it now, Katy wonders if Ta Lo would even show up on the map. There had to be some magic involved.
Shaun’s apartment looks the same as ever- a small garage he rented from the Auntie who ran the restaurant next door. She was smitten with Shaun and was charmed by him in more ways than one. She always made sure to give him extra Bao’s once a week. She was nice to Katy too, but even she could tell Auntie had a disdain for Katy’s Cantonese.
The car pulled up to the curb with a soundless stop. The future really is electric.
Shaun finally removes his hand from her thigh and opens his door on the left. Katy slides out after him, trying not to feel too disappointed that the ride was over. The driver opens the trunk and starts handing out the luggage. As she’s walking over to assist, Shaun tosses her a pair of keys.
“Would you open the door, so we can toss these in?” he asks.
“Yeah, for sure.” She wants to mention that she has her own, but heads over to the door instead. The keys jingle in her hand and she finds the one that has the “Warriors” printed on it. The gate is heavy and would slam the second she lets it go, so she stands there making space for Shaun to bring the bags in. He leaves them at the entrance near the big mirror and goes back out to grab the last one. When he comes back, she waves goodbye to the driver and slides out of the gate’s way to close it. Shaun watches the car drive away.
“What was that about?” she asks.
“Nothing, just kept giving you weird looks,” he replies, giving her a quick glance.
“Probably recognized us from the video. Maybe, he wanted to turn us in?”
“You know, I completely forgot that we’re probably wanted by the police because of that.”
“Well, now he knows your address,” she jokes, but he doesn’t laugh. She rolls her eyes again, “Don’t worry, Jon Jon said we had like a billion views. Someone is bound to recognize us. And, if the police want us, I’m sure we can find a way to deny it.”
“Hmm, we’ll see. Let’s get inside, anyway.”
Shaun shuffles over to his door and she hands him his keys wordlessly.
“Home sweet home, or whatever,” he says, holding the door out for her. She grabs her roller luggage and brings it inside along with another bag. Once everything’s inside, they take their shoes off and jackets.
“Do you want to eat first? Or just crash?” she asks, tossing her jacket on the kitchen counter. She opens the fridge door and stares at their options. Scratch that- they have no options. There’s an unopened bottle of Soju sitting in the back, three Heineken beers, milk she knows is expired, and leftover Thai food that probably has mushrooms growing from it. She grabs his Britta and checks for clean glasses in the cupboards. “Okay, I lied, we have no food, so either we order in or eat your moldy oyster sauce.”
“I say we nap, then go get food later. That sound good?”
She hands him a filled glass and takes a large gulp from her own. “Yeah, mind if I shower? I feel like my hair smells gross.”
“It does have the ‘airplane smell’,” he jokes, “Yeah, I don’t mind. Your towel’s in there.”
She narrows her eyes at him. He holds his hands up in defense. “I swear it’s clean. I did laundry right before the bus attack.”
“Cool, okay, let me get a change of clothes.”
She grabs her necessities and heads over to his small bathroom. Her pink towel is folded nicely on his storage rack. She closes the toilet lid with an “ew” and places her fresh underwear and pj’s on it. As the door closes, Katy finally takes a look at herself. She somehow looks more mature and older, but at the same time, tired and weary. There are a few cuts on her face from the Big Battle and from the limited training that they did while over there. She felt like it was months that she was in Ta Lo, but it was just a few days. All three of them stayed to help with repairs and Shaun and Xialing had begun the process of deciding what to do with their father’s body and massive underground empire. There were a lot of assets and accounts to be looked at. In all honesty, Katy thought that Shaun would stay behind, but he was firm in his decision to come back to the city with her. She absently wonders if Shaun will be rich now. Maybe he can move out of this shitty apartment.
She grabs her brush from the rack and brushes her hair. She looks over to see her strawberry scented hair products still in the corner of the tub. Finally satisfied with detangling her hair, she strips and turns the water on to hot. Shaun’s water always took a good second to warm up, but it was still better than sharing a bathroom with three other people. Shaun was clean for the most part, a “delicate messy” he said, so she always felt comfortable showering and bathing at his house.
When the water was finally hot enough, she steps in and groans. The water felt like heaven on her back. Any grime from the airplanes was being melted off, and Katy couldn’t be happier. She wanted to stay there forever, but she also knew that there was only so much hot water. She wanted to make sure there was enough for Shaun when he got in.
The scent of strawberries (or at least artificial ones) floats through the bathroom. After scrubbing herself with her soap from Bath and Body Works, she rinses and turns off the water. She towels herself off and puts on a fresh set of clothes: an old, ratty shirt Shaun gave her one time when she needed to shower from a night out, and blue, plaid Warrior sweats, another gift from Shaun.
She wipes off the mirror with her hand and opens the door. She’s greeted with cool air.
“That shower was literally heaven,” she tells him, while wringing her hair with a towel.
“Yeah, I know, I could hear you,” he laughs and heads to the bathroom for his own shower. Katy has the decency to feel slightly embarrassed he heard her moaning in his bathroom, but she also feels the weight of the day crashing into her. Deciding that her hair is decently dry, she puts it on Shaun’s laundry drying rack and then flops on the bed. Now, this is really heaven.
There was nothing like being in your own bed. Not my own but close enough.
Katy rolls around until she’s under the white comforter. She grabs one of the extra pillows and hugs it tight. The hum of the outside world and sounds of the shower feel like a lullaby as her eyes close. She melts into the bed and takes a deep breath. It smells like Shaun. Katy bought Shaun cologne for his birthday a few years back. She got a really good deal at Macy’s and even bought him the aftershave too. It’s been his signature scent since.
Katy hears the water turn off and after a beat, the door opens. She opens her tired eyes slightly to see Shaun in the kitchen placing the Brita back in the fridge. He’s shirtless. Of course, he’s shirtless.
He never took his shirt off in front of her before. Not even in high school. When she saw him in the cage fighting his sister, she thought maybe it was because he was embarrassed to be seen without it or maybe he was trying to hide it to avoid questions. She knew he worked out, but she didn’t know he worked out. There’s a difference. Katy works out, but she doesn’t work out or else she would look like that.
And, yes, Katy has eyes that work just fine. Just because he’s her best friend does not mean that she has to be oblivious to the fact that maybe, juuuuussstttt maybe, Shaun might be super-duper hot. She thinks that this is something she’s going to have to process latter, but for right now, it’s sleep>horniness.
Shaun wipes the back of his hand against his mouth and walks over to the bed. Katy stares at him lazily. He lifts up the covers and slides in next to her. She wiggles back to give him more space as he drops the covers back over them. He doesn’t have blinds or curtains, so the light of the day still shines through the thin slits of the windows in his apartment. There’s a soft glow that surrounds them, and if she wasn’t so tired, it would be difficult for her to sleep, but the warmth from Shaun’s body is enough to soothe her. Her eyes track his movements as he moves to get comfortable. He sleeps on his back while she sleeps on her sides. She watches how his chest move with every breath and how his eyes flutter, trying to find a way to keep out the light. Her own chest tightens at the sight. He’s ridden with scabs and bruises that even Ta Lo’s healers couldn’t heal fully, but he still manages to look…
He just looks different to her now. Not in the bad kind of different, but the oh, no, this might have consequences kind of different. She feels her eyes linger on the largest bruise that’s on his chest. It’s dark with yellow around the edges. Nan had given them ointment to help, but knowing how messy Shaun was, it was probably going to be days before they found the jar from his bags and suitcase.
She hesitates, her fingers rising from underneath her cuddled pillow to touch right above the bruise. Shaun tenses under her featherlight touch, but his eyes remain closed. She traces the outer edge, careful to not apply too much pressure. He lets out a breath. She continues her sketch across his hard chest. She’s never done this before, to Shaun or anyone. She’s had sex before, so has Shaun, but this was a new kind of intimacy for her. She wonders what would happen if she went lower, towards his abdomen or his pelvic. Would his skin be just as hard and taunt?
Her gentle finger works its way down slowly, stopping at another bruise on his left rib. This one is must be from one of the rings. She can see the indentations. The white covers rub against her wrist as she moves from one side of the bruise to the other, a constant reminder that if she just pulled it down, she’d have full access to the rest of his torso.
Katy feels memorized. She can feel every breath Shaun takes, every flex. She can feel his heartbeat through her soft tracing. She is the artist and he’s her canvas, laid out before her, already painted in black and blues. She wants to repaint him, replace the bruises and scars with flowers and the sun. Maybe she would add clouds and birds, and, perhaps, if he wanted, she would add the sea.
Her fingers dip towards the covers, ready to pull them down, when suddenly, his hand finds hers. He holds her hand, firm enough to stop her, but gentle enough for her to pull away with no resistance. Their eyes meet and Katy doesn’t remember being this close to him. She can smell his own soap and mint of his toothpaste. She swallows as they stare at each other, her eyes switching from his left to his right one, confused on where to settle.
“What are you doing to me?” he asks, his voice barely a whisper.
She opens her mouth to respond, but nothing comes out. Her face begins to heat, caught up in embarrassment from her caresses on his naked torso.
“I-“ she begins.
“Do you know what you’re doing to me?” is his second question. He pulls her hand down to touch his chest, right above his heart. It’s beating incredibly fast. Her palm is flat against it.
There’s a moment of silence, her brain still raking for an answer to give him that won’t make her seem like the biggest creep in San Francisco. She’s always been so quick-witted. One of her strengths was having a razor tongue, able to answer anything with coyness or humor.
Her lack of answer was an answer enough, she supposes. Shaun takes another look at her. Then, he slides his free arm under her neck and pulls her up to lay her head on his shoulder. His arm coils around her, resting on her waist. His chin rests on her head. The heat from his chest almost scalds her. Her heart is beating just as fast as his. She can hear his now thump, thump, thump. His fingers slide under her (Shaun’s) tee shirt and curl around her own naked skin. The act alone sends shivers up her spine.
“We need to wrap up your chest,” she murmurs into his chest. She needs space. This is too weird. Why is her heart beating so fast? Why is she nervous? Why is he?
“If you keep touching me like that,” he says in a low voice, and she can feel the vibrations, “we aren’t going to get any sleep.”
What? He’s got to be fucking with me.
Katy begins to rise with the aim to create space between them, but Shaun’s grip around her becomes hard and firm. He pushes her even further into his chest, if that’s possible.
“Stay,” he asks.
She nods her head slightly, thankful she can hid her face from him. It’s blazing red now.
She tries to relax and calms herself with a few deep breathes. Shaun’s fingers rubbing her hip aren’t helping, but her adrenaline from early is fading quickly.
She closes her eyes, listening to the orchestra in his chest.
“Sleep,” he commands. And she does.