Work Text:
Gongyi Xiao is working the graveyard shift again. He isn’t sure how he’d gotten stuck with it for the second time that week—probably the manager’s bratty granddaughter had gotten her grandfather to switch the schedules around again—but this was probably against some sort of labor law, wasn’t it? To have an exhausted teenager be the only one guarding the cash register at the twenty-four hour mart? Well, it didn’t matter. What was another hot summer night spent in the fluorescence of the store lights? At least there was air conditioning. And it wasn’t like too many customers came in this late.
Which means that it is pretty unusual when the bell over the door jingles sometime around three AM during this shift. Gongyi Xiao glances up from his book—required summer reading for class, might as well get a head start—and finds himself face-to-face with a very tall, very good-looking guy who is quite probably a complete weirdo, considering that 1) he is awake and wandering around this late without having gainful employment to justify it and 2) he is wearing sunglasses at night.
“Hi!” says Gongyi Xiao, all politeness. HH Palace Markets hired him for his customer service skills, after all. “Can I help you with anything, sir?”
The man cocks his head towards the sound of Gongyi Xiao’s voice, and his lips quirk up into a smile. “No, that’s all right!” he says cheerfully. “Thank you very much.” He turns to shuffle off towards one of the aisles, and immediately collides with a giant display of paper towels. “Oh! Excuse me!”
As Gongyi Xiao rushes forward to scoop the rolls of paper towels off the floor, he realizes two things in quick succession. First: the man is not wearing sunglasses for weird reasons, he’s wearing them for disability reasons, which makes Gongyi Xiao feel like a jerk for judging him. Second: up close, this guy is even cuter than he thought. He has long dark hair spilling over his shoulders, and really nice cheekbones, and he’s wearing a tight white t-shirt that rides up as he bends over to grope for a paper towel roll, revealing that—Gongyi Xiao does an involuntary gulp—he has really nice muscle tone.
Gongyi Xiao is an employee. He is a hospitality representative. He is a very good boy, and he is not going to thirst over a customer. Not on work hours.
“Don’t worry about it, sir!” he chirps, stacking the paper towel rolls back into place. “It’s fine! I’ll get it!”
The man straightens up, worry written all over his face. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to—to ruin all your hard work…”
Gongyi Xiao stifles a laugh as he slots the last paper towel roll into place. “No harm done, really. There isn’t much art to paper towel stacking.” He turns to face the man, and finds, to his surprise, that he is blushing. “Are you sure I can’t help you find anything today?”
“Ah…” The man nods, still pink in the cheeks. “Maybe that would be wise after all.” He reaches up to adjust his glasses, elegantly.
Everything about him is elegant, Gongyi Xiao thinks, from his spotless white shoes all the way to the clean line of his jaw. Stop it, he tells himself. Get a grip, Gongyi Xiao! “What do you need?” he asks with as much professional detachment as he can manage.
“Do you have a candy aisle?” The man smiles, and very rudely takes Gongyi Xiao’s breath away. He should have some sort of license for that smile. “A friend of mine has been having a rough time, and I thought I’d surprise him with a sweet treat.”
At 3AM? Gongyi Xiao thinks but does not say. “That’s very kind of you!” he says instead. “We do have a nice selection of candies.” He starts towards the end of the aisle, but hesitates. “Would you like me to—er—guide you?”
“Oh, if you don’t mind!” The man holds out his arm, and now it’s Gongyi Xiao’s turn to blush as he places a hand on his bicep. Professional detachment. His arm is so warm and well-muscled. PROFESSIONAL!
He guides the man down two rows over to the candy section but before he can draw his hand back, the man reaches up and covers it with his own. Gongyi Xiao freezes.
“Uh…?”
“Thank you very much,” the man says with the utmost sincerity in his voice, tilting his face towards Gongyi Xiao’s. “Since my eye surgery—I simply haven’t been able to navigate by myself for so long…” he trails off, biting his lip. Gongyi Xiao feels a deep pang of sympathy. “I suppose it’s silly, isn’t it? To go buy candy in the middle of the night for your roommate.” He laughs once, clear as a bell and somehow self-deprecating. Gongyi Xiao rushes to reassure him.
“Not at all!” he says hurriedly. “There are much stranger things to buy at three in the morning!”
“Oh, really?” There is innocent amusement in the man’s voice. “Like what?”
Gongyi Xiao thinks for a moment. “After midnight, anything other than condoms or energy drinks is sort of unusual already,” he muses. There’s a beat of surprised silence, and then his words catch up with him. “Um! That is—I didn’t—”
The man brings a hand up to cover his mouth, but he can’t hide his full-body laugh, chiming and lovely like a pealing bell. “You’re kind and funny! How wonderful!”
Gongyi Xiao flushes even more deeply as he fails to tamp down a smile. “I didn’t mean to be vulgar,” he half-mumbles, which only sets the man off into more laughter.
“Please,” he gasps, wiping a tear away from under his glasses. “Please, I need to know your name, nice stranger. I would very much like to be your friend.”
Gongyi Xiao goes to tap his nametag, but then he remembers the man won’t be able to see it. “It’s Xiao! Gongyi Xiao.”
“Mm. Gongyi Xiao.” The man is still smiling as he rolls the name over in his mouth. “A good name. Handsome!”
Gongyi Xiao has to work hard not to trip over his own feet in surprise. He wishes the man could see the smile he directs at him. “Do you mind trading a name for a name?”
The man’s lips part in a silent O. “I apologize! My name is Xiao Xingchen.”
Xiao Xingchen. “A good name,” Gongyi Xiao says, permitting himself the savor of bravery. “Handsome.”
Xiao Xingchen looks briefly startled, and then he bursts into laughter again. This time, Gongyi Xiao joins him. He feels giddy, almost drunk. Is this what falling in love feels like? he wonders, and then mentally whacks himself over the head. This man is mostly a stranger! Calm down, Gongyi Xiao!
Xiao Xingchen’s laughter slowly subsides. He has to brace himself against one of the shelves to stay upright, and his face is blotchy with color. Gongyi Xiao is suddenly overcome with the urge to hug him that is so strong, he forces himself to whirl around and snatches a pack of candy off the shelf. “Here!” He presses the bag into Xiao Xingchen’s hands with a force that surprises himself. “This—this is a good one! For your friend!”
“Oh, thank you!” Xiao Xingchen offers up that lethal smile again. “Would you mind guiding me to the checkout then?”
Gongyi Xiao is grateful Xiao Xingchen can’t see his blush as he takes his arm again. Gosh, he wishes he knew how to flirt for real. He needs lessons. They don’t teach this in school! Gongyi Xiao doesn’t know why not, since this is clearly an applicable real-world skill!
They reach the cash register, and a mad, impulsive thought pops into his brain. Instead of stepping behind the counter, Gongyi Xiao pauses. Before he has time to lose courage, he says loudly, “Actually, it’s on me.”
“Hm?” Xiao Xingchen tilts his face towards Gongyi Xiao. He still hasn’t pulled his arm away.
“It’s on me. The candy.” Gongyi Xiao feels brave. He feels suave! He’s like those cool baristas who wink as they hand over the drink to their cute customer and say, “For you, no charge!” He can do this!
“Oh, I can’t let you do that!” Xiao Xingchen insists. Gongyi Xiao blanches.
“No, really! It’s fine!” Even though his manager will probably skin him alive for giving away store goods. It’s okay. Gongyi Xiao is ready to die for love.
“That would be stealing from the store!” Xiao Xingchen looks visibly distressed. Gongyi Xiao feels visibly distressed too. This isn’t how it’s supposed to go!
“No, no! Wait! I’ll take it out of my salary!”
“Now I definitely can’t let you do that.” Xiao Xingchen reaches into his pocket for his wallet, and Gongyi Xiao panics.
“If you go on a date with me, I’ll call it even!”
The complete silence is filled only by the distant humming of the fluorescent lights. Gongyi Xiao wants to sink into the floor. He wants to lock himself in the freezer section. He wants to quit his job at HH Palace Markets and move to a distant mountain to tend a flock of sheep. How can I be so dumb?
But as Gongyi Xiao opens his mouth to apologize for being born, Xiao Xingchen surprises him by…giggling. It isn’t a nervous ‘I’m-weirded-out’ giggle. It is a genuine ‘that-was-funny’ giggle. “How can I say no?” he says, turning the full blast of that devastating smile on Gongyi Xiao. “Are you free tomorrow?”