Work Text:
A hole punched rewards card-one that’s obviously seen a lot of use-burns a hole in Xingqiu’s pocket as he hands a cone of Cherry Bomb ice cream over the counter to the tired woman he can only assume is the poor babysitter of the day for the little girl beside her.
He’d witnessed several too many tired parents getting dragged by their angelic child to feel much sympathy. Conniving gremlins bribing their sitter of the day with promises of obedience. The occasional unpaid older sibling babysitter that’s too busy suffering to care.
“Here’s your change. Have a nice day!” He waves back to the girl as the door shuts behind them, bell ringing. Then he doesn’t waste a second in darting to the back room, where he nearly runs straight into his fellow employee. To his mild annoyance.
“What’s the hurry?” The blue haired man questions casually, typing on his apron. Sometimes Xingqiu wishes he had a stool to step on so he could flick him on his forehead.
“What number job is this?” Xingqiu shoots back in response. Although he has a sizable fortune, for whatever reason, Kaeya seems to enjoy hopping from job to job. Everything from a bartender to a waiter in a tea shop. He’s not even sure how the guy got hired after job number eleven. Maybe name dropping. Probably flirting. Certainly not with his resume.
Xingqiu ruffles his bangs in an attempt to undo the indent left by his worker cap. Kaeya only raises an eyebrow and walks out of the room. “Good luck with your boyfriend,” he calls.
The only response is an unseen scowl and slamming back door.
It’s less than a minute’s march across the crosswalk to his doom, even without Xingqiu jogging. His stomach grumbles, and he consoles himself with the knowledge his lunch will be more frozen yogurt and stolen glances at a very cute worker he’d spotted over a week ago. It isn’t often he crushes, but when he does, he crushes hard. Enough that a woman with barely similar light blue hair sent him spiraling into daydreams. (He’d gotten a full lecture on how to properly treat customers after zoning out staring at the mint chocolate chip carton.)
As always, the frozen yogurt shop is bustling with customers. He has to stand in a line to get the cup. To him, all the more time to scan the busy shop. It doesn’t take long to spot the familiar icy blue hair behind the counter, adjusting the plastic name tag he knows reads Chongyun in inked cursive.
It’s a pattern by now. Grab the cup, move to the classic flavored dispenser, pull the lever down and wait. Just like every other time.
Only, this time there’s a disruption in his settled routine. He’s so distracted that a girl a bit shorter than himself in a slightly crumpled suit trips over who-knows-what and collides with his shoulder. His arm jerks from holding the container under the dispenser to somewhere that ends with frozen yogurt on the ground, a wide berth from the other customers, an apologetic man in a much crisper suit, and a certain employee holding out a stack of paper napkins to Xingqiu while another brings out a mop.
Oh he wishes he could move. The closest he’s ever gotten is seeing Chongyun over the counter. And he’s pretty sure he still has a dent in his hair. Don’t forget the new smear of chocolate fudge ice cream on his sleeve.
“Here’s some napkins.” He’s too close for poor Xingqiu’s heart to take. So he’s relieved when Chongyun retreats after handing him the napkins, retreating back to the counter. Otherwise he might have dissolved into a puddle right there and then.
“I apologize for my colleague’s actions.” The serious man says to him, glaring at the girl, who just smiles innocently and turns to Xingqiu.
“Sorry about that! I’m a bit clumsy. Good thing I dragged my friend here with me!” She punches the man’s arm and his scowl deepens. The pair couldn’t be more different.
Xingqiu assures them it’s fine and no real harm was done before replacing his frozen yogurt. He gets in the long line behind a pair of women with painfully tall heels and espresso frozen yogurts. He distracts himself from Chongyun manning the checkout counter by considering how in the name of Teyvat they can walk without falling.
He doesn’t know if he should consider his luck good or bad today. Chongyun’s refilling the fish-shaped candies after a father and his daughter took a generous serving. In front of him. And he’s smiling angelically at Xingqiu while he scoops up his white chocolate chips.
“Hi!” He’s talking to Xingqiu. Abort mission. I repeat, abort mission before the agent explodes. “I’ve seen you here a lot. You must really like frozen yogurt.”
The silence that follows as Xingqiu tries to find a response seems to stretch on to infinity.
“Uhm... N-not that I’ve been looking forward to you coming in I’m not creepy...” There’s a light blush dusting Chongyun’s cheeks and it sends Xingqiu reeling. How is it that he could get any cuter than he already was? It should be illegal, Xingqiu’s heart stutters out.
After internally considering his life choices he manages to respond, “Yeah, I like frozen yogurt.” But I like you better, he would add if he wasn’t so flustered and had about ten times more social confidence. His face likely matches the color of the cherry toppings for ice cream sundaes. He must have had the right response though, because the smile that’s as sweet as the gummy boars he used to eat as a child appears full force and almost kills him.
“Say, I don’t... I-” Xingqiu can see the short girl who stumbled into him minutes before rolling her eyes out of the corner of his eye, and she’s not hiding the fact she’s watching their little interaction. But he’s more focused on how to ask the question that’s been nagging him for way too long.
The frosty haired employee seems to decide something with a resolute shake of his head and he looks straight at Xingqiu, interrupting his little flustered-fest. “Would you like to meet up sometime? That’s not here? As in on a date?”
❆ ❆ ❆
He walks. He walks past the boy feeding the pigeons, he walks past the blind woman sitting on a bench, he walks past everything; past the jingling bell at the door of the ice cream shop. Past the knowing look Kaeya gives him. Past the counter, and into the back room. Where Xingqiu proceeds to have a thorough mental breakdown sitting on a plastic fold up chair in the back of an ice cream shop.
“So, how’d it go?” Kaeya asks, sauntering in with an air that says he already knows the answer.
“I got a date,” Xingqiu says numbly. He feels like his brain is frozen in place trying to process as Kaeya gives him a condescending look, a sharp eyebrow raised.
“Well, Lover Boy, I never would have guessed.”
“I got his number.”
“Yes, that’s considered normal if you’re going on a date with someone.” Kaeya folds his arms and leans against the open door frame with his classic devil-may-care attitude.
Realization finally sinks into Xingqiu’s stunned line of thinking. “I got Chongyun’s number. We’re going on a date.”
“You’ve already said that.”
“We’re going on a date and his number is in my phone-“
“Xingqiu, it’s your shift soon, stop hyperventilating.”
Needless to say, Xingqiu only panics further when his phone lights up with a message from a snowflake symbol: Can’t wait for our date tm! :D
He’s two seconds away from grabbing Kaeya by his broad shoulders and shaking him down for whatever first date wisdom he may possess when the man releases a heavy sigh. “Chill. He asked you out. He’s interested in you. He’s probably praying that he won’t screw this up right now. Why aren’t you interested in me again?”
“Because you aren’t my type,” Xingqiu answers immediately.
“Exactly," the man stresses. "Apparently, you’re his type and he basically asked you out based on what flavor of frozen yogurt and toppings you get. It’ll be fine.”
A buzz.
Another message.
Btw, ur really cute.
Xingqiu descends back into madness.