Gin stood there for half a minute, suddenly suggesting: "Shouldn't we follow him and watch?"
"You're so evil," said Feisha in disdain.
"Are you sure that's the word you want to use to describe a n.o.ble vampire?"
"I thought you would've been honoured."
There was an awkward pause.
"What in the world did I do to make you think that I'd like to be called evil?" asked Gin, shocked.
The reply was sincere. "You don't even need to do anything for me to think that."
Gin parted his lips, two razor-sharp canines glistening in the light.
"I've been meaning to ask you this for a while now, but doesn't it feel weird to keep on extending and retracting your teeth?"
Gin's gaze held warning. "No, it just tickles a bit. Makes me want to bite someone, in fact."
"I think you should get a shot of rabies vaccine," Feisha quipped, turning on his heels and bolting towards the kitchen.
———————————-
It wasn't quite mealtime, and so the dining hall was unusually quiet and deserted. Feisha crouched by the entrance and made a 'be quiet' gesture at the figure storming towards him. In response, Gin crept noiselessly to the other side of the door.
Inside, Dea was standing next to the stove.
"Good job!" Gin fist pumped out of the blue.
Feisha was unimpressed. "He hasn't even done anything yet."
"I'm raising his spirits."
"If you don't shut up, he's going to notice and then you'll become one."
As if on cue, Dea's ear twitched. The two eavesdroppers ceased their argument immediately and tensed up at the same time.
Antonio raised his head. "What are you looking at?"
Dea's eyes remained locked onto the entrance. "Nothing."
"I can smell a human," said Antonio, sniffing the air."
Feisha broke into cold sweat.
"Ignore him," Dea said lightly. Antonio continued to cook his steak.
In Feisha's mind, if Dea spends all day picking fruit, then Antonio spends every waking hour cooking food. He'd always been able to find leftovers whenever he rummaged around the shelves so far.
Dea watched Antonio work, once again falling silent. The steak was skilfully slipped onto a plate and pushed towards Dea. "Want some?"
"I don't eat meat."
"One of these days you're going to have to change your diet. It's destroying one of life's greatest pleasures."
"I'm a light faerie, not a dark faerie."
Antonio just shrugged in response and grabbed some cutlery off the rack. While he ate, Dea's expression showed a trace of hesitation.
The steak was finished in record time.
"What did you come here to talk about?" asked Antonio, putting his plate down. "You used to leave as soon as I took my first bite."
Dea looked at the ground. His pride as a faerie made it very hard for him to spit out his next words.
Feisha's knuckles were turning white.
Dea let out a breath. "No, nothing. I just wanted to ask if you needed any fruits. I'll be taking my leave now."
"Hold on."
Antonio's mouth and Feisha's mind called out at the same time.
"You haven't asked me yet though?"
"What?"
"You said that you came to ask if I needed any fruits. But you haven't asked me yet."
"Because I don't want to ask you anymore," said Dea, making to leave.
Suddenly, Gin's body was violently shoved into the doorway. Before he could flip out, the perpetrator clung onto his legs tightly, wailing, "You can't do this, you can't treat Hughes like this!"
…What did he treat Hughes like? Gin stared at Feisha's face full of grief and anger, completely baffled.
"How could you do this to him? Hughes has been nothing but gentle and considerate towards you, especially with your sharp canines. Do you think that's an easy thing?" Feisha said, hands exaggeratedly gesturing. "He's risking the possibility of contracting teta.n.u.s every single time you kiss, you know?"
…Invisible folk can contract teta.n.u.s? Gin was even more baffled.
"And!" said Feisha, scrambling off the ground and running to Dea, "This is true love! You've known them for so long, how could you have the heart to tear them apart? And you call yourself their friend!?"
…Even the mere idea of a n.o.ble vampire being friends with a werewolf was laughable, Gin thought in disdain.
"Shouldn't you be congratulating them in this time of happiness?" asked Feisha with his back to Dea, furiously winking at Gin.
Gin's brain may not form the correct connections on most days, but today was clearly not one of those. He slowly picked himself off the ground, coldly looking at the cautious Dea and confused Antonio. "Are you really together?"
The room was silent. Feisha coughed.
"…Yes," said Dea.
Antonio's face was full of question marks.
Gin abruptly turned around, hand bracing him against the door frame and exaggeratedly shaking his head: "I can't believe this, I just can't believe this… How do you want me to believe such a harsh reality?"
"How do you want to believe it?" asked Dea.
"That'll be up to you," Gin said, immediately serious. Hopefully they can make Hughes believe as well, and then their misunderstanding would be solved, and then he'll be able to embrace that slim body again…
His thoughts were no longer on the current situation.
Dea frowned in disgust at his lecherous expression. "What do you mean?"
"Gin, it's time to wake up to the truth," Feisha quickly cut in. "No matter how much you interfere, Dea's never going to like you. Just move on, man. What Dea and Antonio have between them is true love, you should be congratulating them…."
"…" Everything's already been said, what's he meant to follow up with?
Thankfully, Feisha was a quick thinker. "You should go. Leave. Stop being third wheeling them… Just leave, Gin."
Gin played along. "Okay, fine, I'll leave immediately - don't think that I won't. But- But I'm not giving up, you hear me? I'll be back!"
Watching Gin's retreating figure, Feisha let out a relieved sigh.
"What the h.e.l.l are you guys trying to pull?" Antonio's perplexed voice came from behind them.
"I'll explain," sighed Dea.
"You do that- I'll be outside getting some fresh air. I need to cool off a bit after what just happened."
Feisha loosened his tie, walking outside only to find Gin dejectedly standing there.
"What's wrong? Everything went to plan."
Gin turned around with red, puffy eyes.
"…I still think you should get a shot of rabies vaccination."
"Don't make me bite you to death," Gin said, baring his bloodstained teeth. Feisha jumped.
"Did you attempt suicide by trying to bite off your own tongue?"
"No, I accidentally bit it while trying to hold on to Hughes earlier."
Despite Gin's use of the word 'accidentally', Feisha quickly pieced together the information.
"You mean… Hughes was at the restaurant?" he asked slowly.
"Yes."
Well, f.u.c.k.
"You know," Feisha said, placating. "Some people in this world just can't become robbers because they're born with negative luck stat modifiers."
Gin gritted his teeth. "It's only been negative since I met you."
"Calm- Calm down."
"Do you have any more brilliant ideas?"
"Yes," sighed Feisha.
"I hope it's better than your last idea."
"I don't know if this will be better than the last one, but I do know that this is the last idea I'll think of."
"What is it?"
"Come clean with Hughes."
———————————-
Outside Hughes' door.
Gin looked at Feisha with a solemn expression. Feisha's hand retreated from the doorbell.
"Can you not look at me like that?" he asked, turning around.
"Like what?"
"Like you're looking at a kamikaze pilot."
Gin thought about it for a while and settled for closing his eyes. Feisha raised his hand again, intending to ring the doorbell, but hesitated again.
"Nevermind, just keep your eyes open."
"Why?" asked Gin, opening his eyes.
"Because you looked like you were having a moment of silence."
———————————-
Hughes was not at all opposed to Feisha's visit, but every single one of Gin's begging looks went unacknowledged. Hints of jealousy started brewing inside of Gin's happiness at seeing Hughes again.
Hearing the click of the door closing behind him, Feisha sighed. "This whole mess was my fault."
"No," said Hughes gently, pouring a gla.s.s of orange juice. "It's not your fault."
Feisha took over the gla.s.s, watching his reflection in the orange liquid. How could such a gentle, compa.s.sionate person like Hughes be together with that person-shaped pervert Gin? What a waste of a good soul…
He started reconsidering the purpose of his visit.
"I just don't like it when he hides things from me," murmured Hughes.
………
Feisha sighed. One of them doesn't hesitate to hit hard, the other doesn't mind being hit. A match made in heaven indeed.
In his mind's eye, he could see an image of pearls running happily into the embrace of a pig.
Hughes' expression hardened. "Is that all you came to say?"
"No, I'm here to explain what went on in the kitchen. The truth is, Gin only said what he said to make Dea and Antonio act out our script. A script to make you believe that they're together and has nothing to do with Gin anymore…" Feisha shrugged. "As you can probably tell, it didn't exactly go according to plan."
"I know," Hughes said, smiling.
…Wait, he knew that as well?
Feisha decided to stop beating around the bush. "What don't you know?"
"I don't know when he's planning to apologise to me, and explain this whole fiasco from the very beginning."
In any case, that punch felt good to throw.
———————————-
Feisha opened the door, expression dark. It wasn't until hopeful look on Gin's face faded away to hollow disappointment that he cracked a smile and gestured for Gin to go in.
Feisha was immediately thrown out into the hallway, door closing heavily behind him.
He stared at the carpet beneath him.
Whatever happened to 'bros before hoes'?
Translator's notes
"I'm raising his spirits." "If you don't shut up, he's going to notice and then you'll become one."
Puns, puns! Wherefore art thou puns?
What Gin first says is 我是在替他打气wǒ shì zài tì tā dǎ qì (lit. I'm cheering for him). 打气 (dǎ qì) in also means, literally, 'hitting air'. But we need to go deeper – 气 qì, in addition to air, can also mean 'anger'. This is where the pun comes in:
Feisha's follow-up is 如果你再大声点，他就会出来打你出气了rú guǒ nǐ zài dà shēng diǎn, tā jiù huì chū lái dǎ nǐ chū qì le (lit. If you're louder, he'll come out to hit you as an outlet [for his anger]). Can you spot the similarities?
"Some people in this world just can't become robbers because they're born with negative luck stat modifiers."
There's a saying in Chinese called 喝水都会塞牙缝hē shuǐ dōu huì sāi yá fèng (lit. Even drinking water will get things stuck between your teeth). It's used to describe people who have such bad luck that they'll, metaphorically, get stuff stuck between their teeth even when they're just drinking water.
In his mind's eye, he could see an image of pearls running happily into the embrace of a pig.
Oh joy, I love Chinese sayings. What Feisha actually sees instead of wine is一朵鲜花欢欢喜喜地蹦跳到一坨牛粪上yī duǒ xiān huā huān huān xǐ xǐ dì bèng tiào dào yī tuó niú fèn shàng (lit. a fresh flower happy skipping onto a heap of cow dung). This is a reference to the saying, 一朵鮮花插在牛糞上yī duǒ xiān huā chā zài niú fèn shàng (lit. a fresh flower inserted into cow dung), which is used when something really good is wasted - in this case, Gin is the cow dung and Hughes is the pretty flower, wasted by being together with Gin.
English is in reference to the saying, "[to] cast pearls before swine".
One of them doesn't hesitate to hit hard, the other doesn't mind being hit.
Remember how Gin had blood in his mouth after Feisha left the dining hall?
Whatever happened to 'bros before hoes'?
Here's a fun one: 新娘娶进房，媒人扔过墙xīn niáng qǔ jìn fáng, méi rén rēng guò qiáng (lit. marry the bride, throw the matchmaker over the wall). What a good proverb.
Regarding Gin bottoming
Lol a ton of people seemed to be kind of confused last chapter. Maybe because I had a typo in the t/n. (Oops) Gin bottomed for Dea because Dea doesn't take s.h.i.t from n.o.body, but Hughes is a beautiful angel who lets Gin top. Hope this clears some stuff up.