Chapter Text
‘ Fuck ...fuck.. fuuuck ,’ Wei Wuxian swore under his breath as he pulled into the empty parking lot of a strip mall. He bolted out of his car and headed to the store front. In his rush, he almost hit the emergency alarm instead of the lock on his keys.
‘ Fucking great. ’ he thought as he stopped and carefully hit the lock button. He then tried to calm himself down as he stood outside the store and pressed the call button to notify someone to let him in.
It was 6:58. He made it in time. He was not, in fact, late for anime school as he was afraid of. Earlier this morning he woke up late to a dead phone battery. Lacking his alarm and his navigation, he tried his hardest to pull up to work on time and by some grace of a merciful deity, he had done it.
Normally, he could get to a 5 a.m. shift on time with no complaints. He was more than used to being up early for work. He hated it, but he had done it for so long that it became a bearable type of punishment. Despite that, he enjoyed his job and usually felt awake once it was time for his break. Hell, he had even done grueling 9hr shifts in the stockroom starting at 4am during Christmas time and barely complained about it. This should be a cakewalk for him, it was only a 6 hour shift at 7am. And yet, this shift has been nothing but trouble for him, though it hadn’t even officially started!
It was Wei Wuxian's first day transferring to Marshalls store number 10331. Though he had worked for the company for around two years now, this was his first time setting foot in this particular store. It was a rather new location, having only opened a year prior.
The district manager Nie Mingjue was looking for seasoned workers to fill empty positions after a string of employees quit earlier in the year, leaving the store severely short staffed. Having two years under his belt at a busy location and having been trained in all departments, Wei Wuxian was an ideal fit. Mr. Nie assured him they left for reasons unrelated to management and that the store was a good place to work. Whether he believed this or not was irrelevant. Wei Wuxian couldn't care less about the politics of upper management, or the reason why so many people had quit. What mattered to him was that this new assignment was close to his new university. The fact that it offered higher pay and steadier hours also helped.
Having changed his course of study, Wei Wuxian moved campuses to the school that better suited his career course. This store was conveniently located in the same town as his new school, so he accepted the transfer with little coercion. Sure, he was a little bummed about leaving his old coworkers, but connections come and go. He knew they could always keep in touch and visit whenever. He transferred stores, he wasn’t dead.
As he thought back on the circumstances leading up to this moment, he tried not to stare at an associate fiddle with his keys in the doorway. His mind was pleading ‘ please hurry up, ’ but he didn’t want to come across as tardy AND desperate -- what a bad first impression!
When the associate finally got the door open, he had already accepted that he'd clock in late today. Oh well.
"Sorry to make you wait so long. I was having an issue with my key. You must be Mr. Wei."
The man smiled and let Wei Wuxian in, locking the door behind him. The person greeting him was tall, standing around 3 inches taller than Wei Wuxian, with the most killer jawline he’d seen in a while. He looked more like someone who sold herbalife on instagram rather than upper staff at Marshalls. His height was impressive given that Wei Wuxian himself resembled an awkwardly long string bean at times.
"I'm Lan Xichen, an ASM. The store manager Meng Yao told me you'd be coming today. Mr. Meng will be in later. I'll be the one getting you started today.” He reached out his hand in greeting. Wei Wuxian shook his hand, nodding in acknowledgement. “Oh, and don't worry. I'll clock you in for 7. I took a while getting the right key, so I won't make you take a late on your first day."
"Ahaha thank you. Still, I should've been earlier, Mr. Lan." he conceded, trying his best to sound casual about it. For Lan Xichen to read Wei Wuxian so easily, either he was incredibly perceptive or Wei Wuxian was showing his emotions more on his face than he thought he was. Perhaps it was both. He thought about asking, but decided it was better to play it off rather than dwell on it. It won’t happen again. He’ll prove it with his actions rather than saying it.
"Come with me, I'll get you sorted into our system. Also, you can call me Xichen."
“Alright,” he nodded and followed Xichen across the store into a manager office near the stock room. “You can also call me Wei Wuxian.” he added a little too late.
“Isn’t your name Ying? That’s what it said on your paperwork.”
“It’s a nickname.”
For the next hour, the two went over the mind numbing data side of things-- switching over Wei Wuxian's payroll to the new store, updating his register numbers and markdowns access, transferring his log in numbers, etc. It was all trivial and boring stuff but given how hectic Wei Wuxian’s morning had been thus far, he gladly welcomed the slow pace.
The previous night he was uncharacteristically nervous about his transfer. Though, he really shouldn’t have been. A few days ago, he bid his old store a bittersweet farewell. He got along rather well with everyone and they threw him a little going away party on his last day. There was cake in the breakroom and some of the staff wrote him letters. Afterwards, he went out for drinks with his closer coworkers, promising to keep in touch and stop in occasionally.
In addition to this store being closer to his school, it was also closer to his uncle’s family. Last night he went out for dinner with them to celebrate both his new job position and his acceptance to a different school. He gracefully got kind of very drunk at the local cheesecake factory and had to be taken home by his cousins Yanli-jie and A-cheng. He doesn’t really remember much except for Yanli driving his car home while Jiang Cheng followed behind them. Yanli scolded him the whole car ride home and Jiang Cheng cursed him out lovingly for getting drunk when he had work the next morning. He found that the two left him a note bedside telling him where his keys were because they didn’t know where it normally went. It was something that he found endearing yet annoying as it also contributed to his lateness this morning.
“Mr Wei, you seem a little out of it. Are you alright?” Xichen asked, motioning towards the paper that he had hardly filled out.
“Oh! I’m fine, just tired. You know how it is,” Wei Wuxian said.
Him and Xichen made small talk while going over training videos that he’d seen before, entering data in computers. He told Xichen some anecdotes from his old store. Like how once they had an associate who didn't know how to use the purse key and instead of asking for help, she cut the wire with some pliers. Or about how sometimes Wen Ning from the shoes department used to put the display stickers on his forehead until a supervisor caught him and made him take it off. He once went a full 6 hr shift with one on him before someone said anything. These all seemed to make Mr. Xichen laugh quite a bit and served as a good ice breaker.
He also told him about his own family and school but nothing too compromising. While Xichen seemed like a nice guy, he was still a manager. Managers could use your personal information against you at any time, he had learned from past experiences. He wanted to be amiable and get close to his coworkers, but never cross the line when it came to management. You never know what could compromise you in the workplace.
In turn, Xichen shared some stories from this new store as well as some personal stories. Apparently Xichen, Mr. Nie, and his old manager Mr. Xiao attended the same university for their undergraduate courses and were good friends. He shared some of their college stories. It was nothing but grueling all nighters and insomnia guided study sessions. At the moment, he was in an MBA program online and studying business administration, hoping to get further along in the company. Xichen had been working here for about 4 years now. He had majored in business not out of passion but because his family approved of it. It didn’t seem like he didn’t especially care about a lot of things. He was a simple person and went along with anything that made him reasonably happy. If his job paid well and he was good at it, then he was content.
They talked back and forth for quite a while about trivial matters -- work, the weather, school. It was a pleasant, normal conversation between coworkers. Midway through their small talk, Xichen received a page over the walkie asking where his location was. Since Wei Wuxian didn’t have a walkie he could only faintly make out the voice coming from Xichen’s earpiece. While Lan Xichen had taken him into the breakroom to give him a locker, he didn’t remember to take a walkie. He figured he didn’t need it just yet. Now he realized that was a mistake.
“I’m still in the ASM with Mr. Wei. Am I needed?” he said into the mic.
“Yes, I’ll meet you.” the voice answered.
“Copy that.” he said into his mic.
“I’ll be right back.” he said, turning towards Wei Wuxian and putting his mic down.
“Oh, okay. No rush.”
With that he got up, shutting the heavy office door behind him. Wei Wuxian was alone within the eerie white walls of the windowless room. Outside, he could vaguely hear Xichen conversing with someone.
------
"Brother, I finished balancing the registers. A new truck is arriving soon. I’ll need you to verify the shipment with me.” Lan Wangji said as he met Xichen.
“Did the delivery driver contact you?”
“Yes, he’ll be here in an hour.”
“Alright. Have Mr. Meng verify it with you while I finish up orientation. He’ll be in soon”
“It's not done yet?”
“Almost, I just need to get a few more access codes approved. Why?” Xichen asked. He knew his brother wasn’t too interested in their new hires, or in any of their coworkers really. He rarely greeted anyone first and did his work alone. Though to be fair, many of their previous coworkers had been rather inept, so he didn’t blame his brother for keeping to himself. However, Xichen was surprised at the sudden question.
“The other associate who was scheduled to help left early. I could use the extra help. This person is scheduled for the backroom, correct?”
‘Ah, so that's what he wanted,’ Xichen thought.
“Yes, he’s supposed to be in the backroom until the store opens and then take care of the registers until 2pm. We’re almost done. Give it 30 more minutes or so.”
“Mhn.” he hummed. Again he spoke, more hushed this time, "Brother, wasn’t he late today?”
“Ahh, Wangji, there you go again.” he said, and patted his brother on the shoulder. “This is how you scared away the newer backroom recruits we got last month. You don’t need to be so straight laced about these things. You had Miss Luo nervous to walk through the wrong door after you glared at her a few months ago.”
Wangji furrowed his brows at the memory. He had a bad reputation amongst the newer associates for how cold he could be, but this incident with Luo Qingyang was an accident. Truly, he didn’t dislike Miss Luo. She was a helpful, well rounded worker. Everyone at their store loved her and she was one of the few people Lan Wangji actually respected at Marshalls. However, it was his biggest pet peeve when people used the store exit door as an entrance and vice versa. Lan Wangji always said that they were labelled for a reason. Luo Qingyang had the misfortune of doing it right in front of him one day while she was coming back from her lunch break. He always tried to apologize to her, but she purposely avoided him for a while afterwards.
“That was a mistake, but there is a correct way to do things.” He cleared his throat and changed the subject. “Weren’t you waiting for him this morning? He wasted your time.”
“I know, I know. You want things done right. And thank you for the concern, but you know we’ve had far worse associates in the past year. As long as it doesn’t become a habit, it won’t be an issue. People aren’t always what they seem, Wangji.” Xichen reassured.
As a manager, Xichen had long dealt with bad associates and even worse customers. Through his talk with Wei Wuxian during his orientation he knew that he wasn’t a bad guy. He’d just had a rough morning. He already proved to be quick with the reassignment process. Xichen had gone through grueling orientations that should've been done in 2 hours, yet took upwards of 4. In comparison, this orientation was a walk in the park. It only took long because of the sheer amount of data that had to be transferred over. Wei Wuxian had worked for the company for years and hadn’t had refreshers on some basic trainings.
Wangji looked down, ignoring the last comment. He did not want to think about how the store had been going downhill recently. It made him angry beyond belief but he remained brother’s quiet sake. He didn’t want to make it into a bigger issue than it had to be. Silently, it still angered him.
He simply responded with a hushed, “Yes.” With that Xichen nodded and the two mutually returned to their business.
All this while, Wei Wuxian grew anxious waiting in the office alone. He could make out bits and pieces of the conversation. Hearing words like “truck arrival” and “late.” He wasn’t entirely sure whether the two were talking about him, or work, or maybe both. The uncertainty made him a little on edge. Great. He really needed to try harder to make a good impression going forward. It seemed like both associates already had a poor opinion of him.
When Lan Xichen returned, the two finished up the reassignment process. As a last order of business, Lan Xichen gave Wei Wuxain a post-it-note reminding him of all his important info -- the code to the breakroom, his register log in, locker number, combo, and weekly schedule. Normally, Wei Wuxian entered things like this in his phone, but his phone was barely hanging on to life at 11 percent, so he opted to enter it in later. With that he slipped the note in his pocket for safe keeping. All that was left was a small store tour so he knew where everything was and then he was officially a part of Team 10331.
Xichen was showing Wei Wuxian where they kept the cleaning supplies when he received another page on the walkie.
“I’m going on my lunch now, Mr. Meng and I verified the shipment. The boxes are at the back gate.” reported the same voice from earlier.
“Alright, thank you, have a good lunch.” Xichen responded
Then a third voice, that he assumed was Mr. Meng, also chimed in over the walkie, “Thank you Mr. Lan, have a good break.”
Wei Wuxian was puzzled hearing this. ‘Lunch? It was only around 9:00 last he checked. Why was someone taking their lunch so soon? Also who was that? ’
“Lunch? Did I mishear? Isn’t it too early for that,” he inquired.
“No, you heard correctly. The backroom team came in at 5am this morning. So it’s about right for them to take lunch right around now.”
“Oh, that makes sense.” Wei Wuxian reasoned.
“Indeed, you should also go take your break now too, Mr. Wei. It’s been two hours already. After that’s done I’ll show you the backroom and you can get to work helping us.”
“Got it, I'll see you in 15 then.”
He refrained from asking who the person Xichen was talking to was, realizing they’d meet soon enough.
------
“Ah shit,” Wei Wuxian muttered to himself, looking down at the mocking silver buttons on the breakroom door.
He’d just emptied out his pockets in an attempt to find the post-it-note with the breakroom passcode on it, but it wasn't there. Fuck. He was just saying that he needed to make a good impression from here out, but here he was, losing things that really shouldn’t be lost.
Then he realized he could ask for the passcode over the walkie, but he didn't have a walkie. Damnit . He thinks he remembers the code.
It was 3313. Right!? Or was it 3133?
He decided he'd rather try it than go bother Xichen again.
3...3...1...3. Beeep beep beep beep!! It screeched at him.
He tried the other one.
3...1...3...3. Beeep beep beep beep!!! Wrong again.
Frustrated, he resigned himself to walking back to the ASM to get the code from Lan Xichen again, this time writing it on his arm in pen so he doesn't misplace it. However, as he was about to turn away, he heard the chlink of the doorknob turning.
He backed away as it opened. Inside, he saw a man moving a stopper under the door with his foot, effectively letting Wei Wuxian inside. The man moved swiftly and began walking away before Wei Wuxian approached the door. The mystery coworker had finally made an appearance.
"Ah thanks, haha," he laughed nervously as he entered the breakroom. "I had the code on a post-it in my pocket, but I lost it. Guess that wasn’t the safest place to keep it, huh?" he beamed. He was half talking to himself, half trying to make small talk.
"Mhn," the man replied, not looking back at him. Wei Wuxian could hardly see the man as he turned back. All he could discern was cropped black hair against a neutral face.
"Maybe next time I should just write it on my arm, though I'm sure I'll remember it by the end of today." he joked. “Oh I’m Wei Wuxian or Wei Ying, either is fine! Nice to meet you!”
The other man clearly wasn't interested in talking, only responding to Wei Wuxian’s intro with a hushed “You too.” He then returned to a table against the wall and looked down at his phone screen.
‘Okay??? That was kinda rude...Ugh I’ll try again later then.’ he thought.
He didn’t want to start his shift trying to find the worst in others so he tried to rationalize this response. Maybe the man was tired and didn’t want to talk. Xichen said he got in at 5am and god knows Wei Wuxian wasn’t a morning person so he tried to sympathize. Though, personally, he was the type that had to be loud even if he was tired. It helped him wake up. If he was talking then he could distract himself from the fatigue, but this guy could've been different. His cousin was like that. If anyone so much as asked him if he wanted some coffee when he had just woke up, he'd curse them into next week. Thinking about this, Wei Wuxian shut up a second. Instead, he scouted the interior for the clipboard containing the daily lineup. When he came in he was too distracted to check what time he should take his own lunch.
Staring up the names on the board, he located his name followed by first break time, register number, and lunch. Looks like he was set to take lunch at 11:30. Another thought popped in his head just then. He looked at the break times to see who was scheduled to be on lunch right now. Reasoning that he could use the lineup to figure out who was in the room right now and uncover the mystery man's identity. He had seen the man’s name tag, but only for a second. It wasn’t enough to make out a name. And now he was sitting with his back towards Wei Wuxian. He may be shameless, but Wei Wuxian typically knew what the best approach was to get close to people. He prided himself on being friendly with all his coworkers, even the ones that were usually curt. This guy probably didn’t want a huge conversation. But he could at least thank him using his name. It would be a small gesture, but enough to break the ice, he hoped.
Running his finger down the column that read “lunch break,” he found the one that corresponded to the current time. The name was printed alone under the title backroom coordinator -- Lan Zhan.
Lan? He had heard him say the word ‘brother’ in his conversation with Xichen earlier but hadn’t connected the dots. Perhaps they really were brothers. Maybe he'd ask Xichen later if it came up. Maybe that would be how their conversation started. However, he ruled it a little too personal. Instead he focused it on the title. If he was coordinator he was likely to want to explain to Wei Wuxian how he liked to operate. Most coordinators do.
Trying one last time, Wei Wuxian spoke up again. "Thanks again for opening the door. You're the backroom coordinator?"
“Mhn.”
"I also work in the backroom a lot. I didn't this morning because Mr. Xichen was busy getting my info set up but I'll be in there after my break."
He nodded slightly. Not even giving Wei Wuxian a "mhn" this time. Wei Wuxian was starting to get annoyed.
“Aii, you’re so cold. I’m just trying to make small talk. We’re coworkers, I’m sure we’ll see a lot of each other, so we should at least be friendly. Plus I’m trying to thank you properly. Or maybe you aren’t a morning person, huh, Lan Zhan?” Wei Wuxian joked in a chummy sorta way.
Hearing his name be used, his shot up from his sitting position clanging the chair against the floor. His back was still turned so Wei Wuxian couldn’t read an expression.
‘ Finally, a reaction! ’ Wei Wuxian thought. Maybe now they could make some headway.
“What did you call me?” He demanded, voice low and gaze icy. He shot a glare in Wei Wuxian’s direction before turning around fully. For the first time since he entered the break room he saw the man’s full face. The first expression he read on it was anger.
‘Uh oh. This won’t be good’
“Lan Zhan? That's your name right? That's what it said on the clipboard at least?” he defended, trying to deescalate the situation.
As he said that, Wei Wuxian’s eyes landed on a shiny coordinator's badge around his neck. The embossed letters read ‘Lan Wangji’ in all caps. Reading this, Wei Wuxian uttered a pathetic “Oh.”
"My lunch is over." He announced, not even looking at Wei Wuxian, and headed straight to the computer to punch out.
"Hey!! There's no need to be so cold. It's just a question?! If you go by a different name just tell me. I won’t use it again! I’m new here! How was I supposed to know when you didn’t even introduce yourself." He countered.
“You didn’t ask.”
As the grumpy man stalked out of the break room, Wei Wuxian wanted to protest.
‘What do you mean I didn't ask! I clearly wanted you to introduce yourself after I introduced myself?!’ He thought, but it was no use.
Since Lan Wangji had already exited the breakroom, he figured that following after him would only make it worse-- not better. Wei Wuxian felt that his reaction was FAR too disproportionate for the offense committed. If anything, Wei Wuxian thought that he himself should be the mad one here but such a thought wasn’t gonna fix the situation. Instead, he moped.
' What a great first day so far. I got lost, was almost late, forgot the code to the breakroom, AND made the backroom coordinator walk out of a conversation with me. And it had barely been two hours! Smooth, Wei Wuxian. Smooth! ’ he thought to himself.
‘ Ugh I'm sick of this new store. I miss my old store where Wen Qing would yell at me for riding around on the shopping carts. And the times when Mr. Song would bring us food if we did especially well with credit card sales. Take me back! I don't care if my hours were worse and I got paid less, it was FUN. This store is anything but fun, ’ He continued.
He decided it'd be best to finish out his break listening to some music to clear his head. It was okay, everyone has had bad first days. His first day at his previous job was even worse. He had spilled coffee on his supervisor and swore he’d be fired on the spot. At the time it was his first job so he really had no other place to go or any experience to rely on. He thought he was screwed but somehow he scraped by. But this store was different -- the needed his expertise. Even if the backroom coordinator didn’t like him, his job was secure. And besides, the store hasn't even opened yet. So he got on one coworker's bad side? There were dozens of other coworkers he hasn't met yet.
His thoughts kept streaming through his head as a series of shrill beeps escaped from the break room doors lock.
In walked a short girl with double space buns and some funky earrings. She appeared to be around his same age. Upon seeing Wei Wuxian she looked at him a bit quizzically before speaking.
"Oh hi there! I don't think I've met you before?" she said, half as a statement, half as a question.
"I'd bet so!" he laughed. “I'm a new transfer to this store. I work in the backroom and as a cashier. The name's Wei Wuxian, nice to meet you!"
“Gotcha, good to know I wasn’t forgetting someone,” she said.
“Nice to meet you too, I’m Luo Qingyang. I'm opening the fitting room today but I'm trained in all departments. I'm sure we'll see each other around a lot!" she continued.
“That's good to hear! Also...” he trailed off as he began to lower his voice. “Do you know what’s the deal with the guy that just left? Lan Zhan, or Lan Wangji, is it? Is he always that grumpy? I was trying to talk to him and he just left!!”
“Lan Wangji? Mr Lan? He's the backroom coordinator.” she answered, eyes wide.
“Yes, him. Does everyone call him that?”
“Usually, yeah.. You’re pretty bold to call him by his first name. I don’t think anyone calls him that, like ever, not even his brother. We all call him Mr. Lan even though he’s like 20.”
“Oh….” He said in realization. “so that’s where I fucked up. He probably thought I was being rude on purpose or something. I really didn't know!! I just read what was on the schedule.” He lamented, half saying his thoughts out loud.
Then he realized, ‘Wait? Brother?? So Mr. Xichen and him ARE related. Wait why didn’t Xichen mention that his brother works here?? What the fuck?’
“Yes, that’s where you fucked up, to put it your words,” she teased.
“Ah, gotcha. Well thank you for telling me that Miss Luo.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Huh.” Was he going to have another fucking fight with a coworker about titles. Jesus fucking chr-
"You don't need to call me 'miss.' We're around the same age, aren't we?”
“Oh thank god,” Wei Wuxian sighed in relief. He was so scared to have another fight about pedantic matters with another coworker back to back. It was barely 9:30 and he was Tired.
“I thought that's how you guys refer to each other around here since both of the Lan’s seem to talk like that. I was gonna lose It if I had to call all of you mister and miss all the time. I can be polite, ya know, but I can’t stand formalities like that all the time.”
“You’re good, you’re good. Only the Lan brothers talk to people like that -- but they're just freakishly polite. Mr. Meng too, I guess. But everyone else around here calls each other by their first name. Like normal people do.”
‘Finally, there was a kindred spirit in this goddamned Marshalls!! Luo Qingyang, you are the Only person I can fuck with in this store so far.’ he celebrated internally.
“Okay, so I can call you Luo Qingyang? Is that good?”
“Yes that's perfect. Or just Qingyang. I can call you Wei Wuxian then?”
“Yup. Or Wei Ying. Either's fine.”
“Okie doke. Glad we’re on the same page.”
He gave her a thumbs up and checked the time. His break was almost over, it was now time for him to navigate through the minefield of talking to Lan Wangji again as he set to return to the stockroom. “Good talking to ya, Qingyang. I’ve gotta go back now. I’ll see you around?”
“Yup. Enjoy the rest of your first day! Oh and I forgot to mention it but I like your scrunchie. It’s nice. I don’t see many guys use ‘em!” she said.
“Huh?” he asked. ‘ What scrunchie? I thought I tied my hair back with a regular black hair tie. ’ Moving his hands to his head he felt the texture of cotton scrunchie. Pulling it out he stared at the black and red floral hair accessory. It was Yanli’s. ‘ Oh, so that’s what Qingyang was staring at when she came in .’ His cousin must’ve tied his hair back with it last night when he ever so beautifully threw up in the sink. How sweet, he had to thank her when he saw her next.
“Oh, haha it’s my cousin’s, but thank you!” He said, and exited the breakroom.
-------
“Mr. Xichen!” Wei Wuxian called out to him as he made his way to the backroom.
“Mr. Wei, what’s the matter?”
“Nothing much, I just need another copy of the post-it note you gave me. I lost it, this time I'll put it in my phone, and write it on my arm immediately. How embarrassing, I couldn't even open the breakroom door. Your brother helped me actually.”
“Really, Wangji did?” Xichen asked in surprise.
“He did. Why didn’t you tell me you had a brother, or that he worked here??”
“My apologies, it slipped my mind. And I’m about to head to my lunch but I’ll get another post it for you as soon as I return.”
“Gotcha, no problem. Also sorry to keep bothering you so much but, I have one last thing.”
“Go ahead.”
“I think I made your brother quite upset actually.”
After saying this, Xichen’s normally placid face tinged with concern.
“I was trying to thank him for helping me with the door, but I called him by the name on the daily schedule as opposed to what everyone else seems to call him. He got really mad so I wanted to apologize, but he just glared at me and walked out. I know I’m about to go work with him in the backroom right now so I really don’t want any bad blood between us, but I don’t really know how to fix the situation right now.”
Hearing him out, Lan Xichen’s gaze softened a bit. He was glad that it was only a minor offense instead of something actually concerning.
“That’s alright, Mr. Wei. My brother has been stressed out a lot recently. I’m sure Mingjue has told you about the amount of employees that quit recently.”
He nodded. “I know a bit.” Of course he had, that was the main reason why Mr. Nie wanted him to transfer. Though he hadn’t pried about who quit or why.
“Most of those associates worked directly under my brother. A few of them walked out in the middle of their shifts and never returned, so Wangji has been having a rough time. As you know, he’s the coordinator. When things don’t run smoothly, it's all on him. We’ve tried to fill the spots as best we can, but you can’t hide short staffing. I don’t think it’s your fault personally; any other day, he’d correct you and move on. But you caught him at a bad time. I’ll talk to him later. Just go do what he asks of you right now and don’t say much else. It’ll work out.” Xichen recommended.
Knowing that it wasn’t directly his fault, Wei Wuxian felt a little better. He knew that if he played his cards right he could resolve this quickly. All he had to do was show Lan Wangji that he was competent in his job and then apologize. Since Mr Lan seemed to be in need of reliable staff, he’ll get over it quickly. Wei Wuxian wouldn't say anything before that in case they argued more. For now all he had to do was not offend Lan Wangji further.
“Thanks, Mr Xichen. Have a good lunch.”
“No worries, thank you.”
As Xichen left, Wei Wuxian made his way to the stockroom. He hardened himself a bit, promising not to cause trouble. He couldn’t mess things up before he had a chance to prove himself. As he opened the door, he took a deep breath and walked in.
Inside the stockroom unopened crates of merchandise loomed like cardboard skyscrapers on every side, threatening to fall at the smallest disturbance. It was fully packed; they had just received a very large shipment. The back gate where the trucks arrived was barricaded with even more boxes. Next to this blockade, Wei Wuxian spotted Lan Wangji. Slowly, he approached and once he reached within 7 or so feet of the man, Lan Wangji turned around. The previous ice in his gaze melted, reduced only to obsidian eyes tinged with mild annoyance.
“Mr Xichen said I’d be helping you for the next hour. What do you want me to start on, Mr. Lan.” he asked, staring at the boxes next to Lan Wangji--not daring to make eye contact. Calling someone around his age “mister” made him want to gag but he put up with it.
“Start on the boxes blocking the exit paths. Move them to the tables and process what you can. I’ll work on these.” He answered, not looking at Wei Wuxian, but at the wall behind him. Looks like they were both on the same page about not wanting to make eye contact with each other.
"Copy," he uttered. Although every ounce of his being wanted to inquire about what the hell happened in the breakroom, he wordlessly started on the boxes framing the emergency exits.
‘ Bite your tongue for fucking ONCE, Wei Wuxian. ” he thought. ‘ You can fix this, but only after you do what he asks. ’
Usually, unloading boxes made a shift go by fast, but the hour he spent in the stockroom dragged on at a snail's pace. He kept noticing Mr. Lan’s scrutinizing gaze land on him. He was analyzing Wei Wuxian's every move, looking for any slip up so he could correct his actions. Though having done this job for so long, he made no mistakes. He progressed in his task efficiently and wasted no time. Still, the feeling of being watched made him itch. He had to remind himself not to meet Lan Wangji’s gaze in case it made things worse.
‘Just do your work, Wei Ying. Just do you work.’ he repeated in his head like a mantra.
In an attempt to distract himself from thinking about it, he pulled his hair out of it's ponytail so the shoulder length tresses hung at his face, obscuring his peripheral view. That way he would only look at the merchandise directly in front of him. Normally, he concentrated better at work with his hair up. It made it easier to make eye contact with customers and for him to see what he was doing, but right now he’d really rather not see the man judging him out of the corner of his eye. Though after a while of observing and catching no faults, Lan Wangji went back to unpacking the boxes on the opposite side of the room. They kept to their own sides of the stockroom, rhythmically collapsing boxes, undoing plastic bags, and sorting away recyclable packaging.
Finishing up the last box in the stack he was working on, Wei Wuxian checked the time. It was 10:20, almost about time for him to go to the registers. Thank god. If he had to spend another second in the stockroom or hell fire, he knew he’d collapse on the spot. The pressure of having Lan Wangji's eyes on him felt like it took 13 years off of his lifespan. He'd definitely want a drink after today's shift to forget about that nightmare.
“I finished unpacking and laying out all the clothes in the stack on the back wall. I’ll be heading to the front end now.” he announced, practically running out of the stockroom.
As he left, he was met with a stern “Mhn,” from Lan Wangji.
It looked like he had passed his first backroom session with Mr. Lan. How exciting.
Making his way to the registers, he breathed a sigh of relief. He was free!! Finally, he could work on something without being watched like a hawk.
The rest of his shift passed by easily enough. It was like any other day at the registers. He regurgitated the same old script for each customer, slightly tweaking it each time. It was nothing but a lot of “Hi, how are ya?”,“Find everything okay?”’, and “Do you have a rewards card with us?” Despite using the same script, he had a knack for making small talk with customers. And for some reason he was amazing at selling credit cards. His old store managers were quite sad seeing their credit card superstar leave them, but he knew they’d manage somehow.
He wasn’t passionate about selling them or anything. In fact, he was the first to point out the evils of their credit card in particular. The interest rate was crazy high and you could only really use it at their companies stores if you weren’t approved for the best one. It was just an over glorified piece of black plastic, but it was his job to offer it so he did. He never tried to scam someone into opening it by lying about the benefits, unlike some of his more snakelike coworkers. Ahem -- Wen Chao , that little bitch . He wasn’t such a bootlicker for a company that truly didn’t give a shit about him.
Why so many people would take him up on the offer so often, beat him. Wen Qing said it was because he was a decent looking guy with floppy eboy hair that actually brushed his teeth more than once every two days and didn’t exude incel energy. People were charmed by the pretty boy facade and just agreed. He decided to talk that as a compliment and not a manifestation of her bitter (yet totally justified) thoughts about male beauty standards. Either way, he was stupidly good at this aspect of his job.
About an hour after Lan Xichen returned from his lunch, he came to the front end to check in on Wei Wuxian.
“Mr Wei, how has your first day been treating you?”
“It’s going pretty well now. It was a rough start but i’m making it through.” He chuckled, thinking about his comically bad luck this morning. “Oh yeah, I have these for you.”
He pulled out two long slips of receipt paper with a signature on them. They were credit card approval slips. Xichen’s eyes widened in surprise. Getting two cards in one shift was hard even for the slimiest salesperson, getting two in one hour was like ascending to the retail godhood.
“Oh, you got two on your first day. Let me get you a raffle card. Keep it up!” he said, reaching for the drawer they kept the cash office stuff in.
Wei Wuxian was about to return to his register as Lan Xichen spoke up again.
“Oh yeah, I talked to Wangji.” Xichen added, not looking up from writing Wei Wuxian’s raffle ticket. “He said you guys settled it. I don’t know what you did or didn’t do but he doesn’t seem to be so mad about it anymore.”
Huh!??!
“We didn’t say anything to each other?? I just went to the stockroom, did what he told me, and then left. He seemed pretty angry still when I was there but we didn’t talk.” He muttered in confusion.
“Hmm. Well maybe you can ask him about it later then. I asked him if you two had a disagreement and all he said was that it was resolved now. As I’m sure you’ve realized, he doesn’t elaborate on things unprompted. But it seems like he’s not upset anymore. Though be a little more careful next time, Mr. Wei.” Xichen warned.
‘It won't happen again,” He promised and returned to his register.
As he finished up his shift he kept thinking about what Xichen told him. Truly, him and Lan Wangji were fundamentally different people. He mostly figured out what had gone wrong between them.
Since Lan Wangji wasn’t the type to elaborate, he probably didn’t speak unless spoken to, or unless there was something he had to say. When Wei Wuxian had made all that small talk, he never directly asked Lan Wangji anything. So in Lan Wangji's mind, none of those words were addressed to him. He had no reason to respond. Even when Wei Wuxian introduced himself, he directly didn’t ask for Lan Wangji’s name. Wei Wuxian thought it was rude that he hadn’t introduced himself back, but to Lan Wangji it was probably rude that Wei Wuxian hadn’t asked for his name. The two weren’t trying to be rude to each other. Their styles of communication were just completely different.
Wei Wuxian was the type that tended to imply things rather than say it outright -- hoping that the person he was talking to would understand him, and usually they did. Lan Wangji on the other hand, didn’t like to make assumptions about what other people wanted from him so he erred on the side of saying too little rather than too much. The two were like night and day. If they hadn’t miscommunicated in their first interaction, it would only be a matter of time before they miscommunicated about something else. This wasn’t a bad thing, but to work together effectively in the future, they had to know how to speak to each other in a way that the other would understand.
If anything, Wei Wuxian saw it as a good thing that their first argument was about something so trivial. If they had argued about something more important, like handling a big shipment or about money in the cash office, the results would be far more catastrophic. Something as pedantic as fighting over names and titles could be fixed easily. When he thought about it like this, he didn’t hold any ill will towards the guy.
As the clock neared 11:30, Wei Wuxian prepared to go on his lunch break. It was a completely normal lunch break spent feasting on the generous free snacks management provided -- beef flavored instant noodles. It sure beat buying them from the vending machine for 90 cents, but really? Was that the best management could do? Maybe because Wei Wuxian was used to food from Mr. Song’s family bakery, he found the whole thing kind of pathetic. But he himself forgot to pack a lunch in his panic to get to work on time, so it would have to do.
Ten minutes into his feast, he was interrupted by the shrill beeps of the breakroom’s keypad. Hearing the breakroom door open, Wei Wuxian carefully used the mirror on the wall to see who had entered without revealing to the person that he was inside. Catching a glimpse of the short black hair and light blue button up shirt he knew it was Lan Wangji. Finally, he could make the amends he was thinking about for the past two hours.
After hearing Lan Wangji punch his numbers into the computer, Wei Wuxian got out of his seat ready to greet him. Walking towards the lockers, Lan Wangji met Wei Wuxian with a casual nod. The previous anger in his scrutinizing eyes were softened into a completely neutral expression.
“Mr. Lan,” Wei Wuxian started. “I’m really sorry about earlier.”
“It’s fine,” Lan Wangji responded, heading for his locker. Once again, he avoided looking Wei Wuxian in the eye.
Wei Wuxian stepped forward, trying to get Lan Wangji to look at him. He wasn’t gonna let this go so little grudges could fester under the surface and pile up into anything big. He was gonna apologize now, and do it properly.
“I’m glad you think so, but I still need to say it. I really misunderstood you earlier. I thought you were being rude earlier when you didn’t respond to me, but now I think I was wrong for not directly asking you what you wanted to be called. It won't happen again. I’m sure we’ll be working together a lot so I want to clear the air now. Is there still an issue?” he asked. He preferred using softer words during apologies but given who he was dealing with, he had to be blunt. He knew that ‘it's fine’ never really meant it's fine.
Lan Wangji still wasn’t looking at Wei Wuxian as he spoke, instead he stared inside his locker as he removed his nametag and fished out his things. When he was done, he backed away from Wei Wuxian again. He grew impatient as Lan Wangji continued to ignore his best attempts at sincerity but tried not to let it show. A few seconds later Lan Wangji began to speak. His expression was still indiscernible.
“No, there is no issue. You can call me whatever. It caught me off guard is all.” he replied.
“That’s not alright, people should call you the name you want to be called.” Wei Wuxian protested.
“Either name is fine.” he insisted.
“Fine. Then I’ll keep calling you Lan Zhan, and you can call me Wei Ying.”
“Isn’t your name Wuxian?” He asked, not arguing with Wei Wuxian’s choice in names. Though he wouldn't admit it, this made him kind of happy. No one aside from his parents called him his first name.
“Sorta. It’s a nickname really. When I was a kid I used to play pretend that I was a famous cultivator who saved the world from evil. It’s kinda stupid, isn’t it? But either way, the name I came up with for that persona was Wuxian. Ya know like the saying ‘no envies.’ Anyways, my family used to indulge me so much that they used it more than my real name and it just sorta stuck.” He explained, feeling kinda embarrassed that such a nickname stuck with him into his twenties.
“Mhn”
“So I go by both, though most people use Wuxian. They say it fits me. But you can call me by my first name, and I call you by yours. Is that fair?” he asked, but caught himself before Lan Wangji had time to answer. “Wait, Zhan is your first name, right? Is ‘Wangji’ your middle name then?”
“I already said it's fine. And yes, Wangji is a nickname as well,” he answered.
“We have more in common than I thought.” Wei Wuxian smiled.
This is good, we’re talking like coworkers should now.
Wei Wuxian was also curious about the origin of this nickname but decided it was best not to pry. He had already made so much progress so he didn’t want to ruin it all by asking for information that Lan Wangji hadn’t volunteered. There could be a reason why he didn’t speak up on it. Either way it wasn’t his place, so he left it at that.
“Hm,” Lan Wangji nodded, this time making eye contact. “My shift is over.” he said and headed for the exit.
“Have a good one!” Wei Wuxian called as the man exited the breakroom.
“You too.” He answered, retreating into the white corridor of the store.
Wei Wuxian returned to the table he was previously seated at, content with how he handled the situation.
‘ Good job for real, Wei Wuxian.’ he thought to himself. ‘I think from now I’m gonna enjoy this new store a whole lot more now .’ Happily, he finished slurping down the rest of his instant noodles.
------
As Lan Wangji left the breakroom, he headed towards the manager’s office to wait for his brother so the two could leave together.
“You two are getting along pretty well for having started off on the wrong foot.” Lan Xichen's voice called out from behind his brother.
“Xichen-ge.” Lan Wangji said, as he turned around to greet his brother. ‘You heard all that? ’ he thought as he looked quizzically in his direction.
“You handled that a lot better than you did when Su She called you the wrong name a few months ago. I’m proud of you.” Xichen reassured him. Truly, he was glad to see his brother get along better with their coworkers.
“Wei Ying at least used my name, instead of calling me John.” Wangji responded, still mad about that incident. Really? John? A white person’s name?
“Is that so?” Xichen added, closing his eyes and exhaling in a small laugh.
Wangji chose not to answer that, knowing that his brother would lead into yet another lecture about how he should try and make more friends. He didn’t want to hear it and thankfully Xichen didn’t push any further. Wordlessly, the two made their way outside the store and into the car and started their drive home.
When they hit their first red light, Xichen broke the silence.
“It looks like you two might end up being good friends.”
Looks like he wasn’t gonna let it go after all. Deciding to try and end the conversation there, Wangji added, “He’s a good worker is all. I hope he keeps it up.”
“So he met your standards as coordinator?” Xichen inquired, not taking his eyes off the road. He knew that staring at his brother straight on would make him less likely to talk. He carried on as if the conversation as casual as possible, though they both knew that Xichen was trying to hint at something more.
“Mhn” Wangji responded. he wasn't planning on budging a single bit on this issue. He was sick of talking about making friends.
“Alright.” he added, finally dropping the subject.
Drowning out the day’s concerns with the white noise of radio news in the background, Lan Wangji reclined a little further in the passenger’s seat and enjoyed the rest of the ride home in comfortable silence. He would contemplate his true opinion of Wei Ying another day. All he wanted to do right now was ignore the problems at work and complete the boatload of assignments waiting for him once he got home. The work of a tired gay college student never ended after all.