Capturing My Demon King Costar

MY COSTAR CAN SEE INTO ME

Yao Shen goes very still. Xin Hulei's words completely blindside him.

He has no idea what Xin Hulei could be keeping from him.

Slowly, Yao Shen sits down on the sofa, his eyes not leaving Xin Hulei.

For his part, Xin Hulei's expression remains unchanged. "I've been sharing your dreams."

"What?"

Xin Hulei looks away from Yao Shen, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I know you've been having nightmares."

"Why...why didn't you tell me?" Yao Shen asks, feeling very conflicted about the whole thing.

"I didn't think much of it, until I heard what Jia Hao said." Xin Hulei's expression grows a little conflicted. "I think it's related to the blood contract."

Yao Shen hasn't thought about the blood contract in so long that he almost forgot about it.

"Is that something it can do?"

Xin Hulei shrugs. "I don't know, you were the first person I signed one with."

Yao Shen lets out a dry chuckle. "Well, you know what I wanted to tell you about, then."

"I figured," Xin Hulei says, nodding. "I'm sorry, I should have said something earlier."

Yeah, he should. "Why didn't you?"

Xin Hulei rubs the back of his neck and looks away. "I regret that I ever made you sign that contract. I didn't know what I do now, or I never would have made you do it." Yao Shen can see the tense line of his back as he looks out the windows at the dark night sky. "It gives me certain powers over you. I've never used them, nor would I, but it still feels...wrong."

Like how he can sense where Yao Shen is, whenever they're both within a certain radius. He told Yao Shen about that, but Yao Shen didn't think much of it, and put the whole thing out of his mind.

"What powers exactly?" Yao Shen asks, closing his eyes against the dark thrill that goes down his spine.

Xin Hulei turns to look at him. "I don't know, I haven't tried to find out. I just know I can sense where you are, and now...this."

This.

Yao Shen feels some kind of way about the whole thing, but he can't fully voice his thoughts. Part of him is a little freaked out, in the same way Xin Hulei is, another, bigger part, can't stop thinking of the possibilities.

He puts all that out of his mind for now, and redirects the issue back to the conversation at hand.

"Uhm, what did you see, from my nightmares?"

"The first time it happened I didn't even know it was your nightmare. I thought it was mine, because of the cicadas."

Yao Shen remembers that one. Xin Hulei was talking about cicadas as Yao Shen fell asleep, and he dreamt about swarms of them blotting the skies.

"I only realised the dream was yours because everything in it ignored me, and was drawn to you instead." He looks at Yao Shen, his eyes dark and full of a feeling Yao Shen can't name. "I saw you cowering in fright, looking up at the swarms of cicadas as if you thought they were going to devour you."

The panic and despair of that dream is still present in Yao Shen's mind. He can recall with vivid clarity the feeling of seeing the world turn dark around him, as if the sky was about to fall on his head, and then...nothing. The nightmare vanished and he woke up.

"What did you do? In the dream?" Yao Shen asks.

"I went to you and hugged you. It didn't seem like you noticed, but after that, I woke up."