As much as Tang Yi wanted to look up and catch Shao Fei in the act of blatantly staring at him over the menu, he decided against it.

If he did look up, he’d probably cause him to avert his gaze, the tips of his ears probably burning red. However, if this meal was going to go smoothly, it meant Tang Yi needed to keep his provoking of Shao Fei to a minimum.

So that meant trying to not embarrass the man for however long the meal will take (which was going to be extremely difficult, since Shao Fei was just so damn easy to embarrass).

The waitress interrupted Tang Yi’s thoughts, and Shao Fei’s unabashed staring, and Tang Yi carefully watched how his companion rattled off several dishes to her. He laughed internally at Shao Fei questioning about the origin of the food, exposing himself as yet again unfamiliar to fine dining or extravagant luxury.

Tang Yi orders what he always does, the meal that means the most to him.

And he couldn’t help but note their preferences in drink said a lot about their respective characters; Shao Fei’s sweet, bubbly and childish exterior which hid a fizzling fire of passion beneath, and Tang Yi’s own calm and stoic appearance of a man forced to act a lot older than his actual age...

But perhaps that was just over thinking things...

The process of watching Shao Fei attempt to pour water shouldn’t have been as endearing to Tang Yi as it was, especially since usually everything the policeman did just ended up annoying him.

And if seeing him flinch at the pain in his arm caused Tang Yi to be momentarily worried for him, then it was purely because he felt moderately responsible, and definitely did not have anything to do with him caring for the police officer.

Their fingers touched briefly as Tang Yi took the jug from him, and although he wasn’t one to believe in sparks flying or tingles, he couldn’t help but notice how much warmth Shao Fei seemed to be giving off.

(He just hoped that wasn’t a sign of fever again, dealing with a non-feverish Shao Fei was difficult enough)

'Why is it that watching Shao Fei drink with two hands is unspeakably adorable?' Tang Yi thought to himself briefly, before internally shaking his head at himself. 'Get a hold of yourself, Tang Yi! You’re the leader of a gang, for goodness sake!'

Tang Yi knew he should probably say something to ease the awkwardness, but found it more enjoyable watching Shao Fei fill the silence with inane chatter.

Chatter that seemed to include something about spicy food and cola... If Tang Yi was being honest, he wasn’t really listening, preferring to watch as Shao Fei got more animated with his demonstrations.

And then a piece of his own spicy meal was being shoved into his face, along with Shao Fei’s glass of cola. It tasted gross, even if Shao Fei was right about the cola accentuating the spicy flavour.

A more petty Tang Yi would’ve made a comment on how he’d probably eaten more fine food in his life than Shao Fei had even seen, but that version of himself would have ended up with a gun being pointed at him again.

The remainder of their meal continued in pleasant awkwardness, Shao Fei taking every opportunity to speak about something or other (usually related to the food) and it wasn’t long before they were parting ways.

Much later, back at home, Tang Yi suddenly found himself realising Shao Fei hadn’t moved back to his side of the table for the rest of the meal, which wasn’t really a revelation in itself.

What shocked Tang Yi was how comfortable he felt with Shao Fei by his side...

A feeling he could (and wanted) to get used to...

Shaking his head, Tang Yi decided to push those thoughts to the back if his mind, figuring the increasing multitude of encounters with Shao Fei over the past few days would decrease after then and everything would go back to normal...

Right...?