Work Text:
“I'm going to die. I'm in the middle of a 20th century shopping mall surrounded by other people, and somehow i'm going to die.”
Shang qinghua didnt ask for much. Good food, a warm bed. All reasonable things for someone of his social status and station in life.
And yet.
Somehow he had been demoted from leader of a company; to best friend; to pack mule; all because liu qingge was busy and someone had to carry shen yuans bags as he went through his weekly shopping spree.
Clearly he asked for too much. Or too little. Who knew.
“You're not going to die, stop being dramatic and hurry up i want to go to this store before it gets crowded.” completely unsympathetic to the suffering he was currently inflicting upon his supposed best friend, shen yuan walked a few feet ahead, tapping out something on his phone. Probably his 40th status update to his father, who had allowed him out of the house on the promise that shen yuan would be reachable at all moments and accompanied by someone- despite shen yuan technically being a university student and no longer needing such harsh supervision.
Today was shang qinghuas turn to play chaperone.
“Bro slow down- whether it gets busy or not you'll still go in! cant i take a break?? We've been here for hours!” without even turning to look, shen yuan carried on,“we've been here for two hours and twenty three minutes, i have another forty seven minutes before my scheduled lunch with my parents, and then another hour after that before i have to attend-”
OKAY! We get it bro! You have a very tight schedule!! Pardon this lowly one for wanting a sitting break!!
Truthfully shang qinghua wasn't in any mortal danger. Compared to shen yuans tall willowy frame shang qinghua was a bit shorter and much more muscular. He may be in the same tax bracket as shen yuan, but he was much more...personally involved in his family's business. That is to say, compared to shen yuan whose only exercise involved walking around and carrying the burden of being related to shen jiu, shang qinghua had to actually do work, lest he be shamed for his ‘laziness.’ or fired.
Shang qinghuas ‘family’ was a subsidiary of the massive Cang Qiong Corporation, dedicated specifically to construction and all the work needed for it. Getting permits, thinking of smart way to get around certain limitations, to actually carrying around heavy piles of who knows what (shang qinghua knows what- he ordered it all!) compared to shen yuan who probably didn't even know what his own parents divisions were for (schooling and government affairs!) shang qinghua and his fellow members of the an-ding company were integral parts of this beast of a family, okay?!
Regardless! Point was that shang qinghua should be above playing bag holder to the son of the husband of the owner of their parent company!
Even if the aforementioned owner and his husband probably didn't agree…
Whatever!
He suddenly felt immense pity for liu qingge, who usually has to deal with these outings. At most shang qinghua had only ever come along for the ride of watching his best friend and their mutual buddy's horrible attempt at not quite flirting. At least he doesn't think they're flirting. That would be a lot funnier than them awkwardly arguing over who's prettier.
(it's a tie but he's partial to liu qingges handsome face)
Regardless!!
Liu qingge was busy today- who knows what that guy gets up to in his downtime. Or were the shopping trips his downtime…
Who knows!! All shang winghua knows is he would do anything for some noodles or a burger right now. Sadly he already knew shen yuan had a ‘scheduled lunch with his parents’ which meant his father had nagged his ear off for not spending enough time at home and that he dragged his husband into it.
Shang qinghua was on his own.