Work Text:
Zichen can't ignore the feeling that he's being watched any longer.
When he looks up, there's a small girl beside him, standing on her tiptoes, looking at his laptop screen intently. In her arms is an almost threadbare stuffed puppy.
Wangji always tells him he gets so absorbed in his work that he becomes completely oblivious. And this girl is too slight a thing; he's not surprised he didn't notice her right away.
"Hello there," he says, catching her attention.
He looks around the cafe, trying to look for her guardian.
The girl tears her eyes away from his computer to look at him. She says nothing.
"Where are your parents, hm?" he asks again, preparing to stand up to look for her parents.
He is stopped however, when the little girl thrusts her stuffed puppy into his arms.
"Can you please draw my puppy?" she asks in loud, tinny voice.
Ah. Zichen hesitates.
The girl has been watching him examine the illustrations for his upcoming book, after all. She must have assumed that he made the elaborate watercolor pictures displayed on his laptop.
The thing is, as good as Zichen's written pieces turn out, he cannot say the same for his drawings.
He sucks at it. He doesn't want to let down any child today.
"Ah, let's look for your guardian first, okay--"
Her bottom lip juts out, trembling. "Please?"
"Ah, where are your guardians, hm?" he asks desperately, panicking as tears start to gather in the girl's light-colored eyes--
Zichen has never been confident when it comes to kids. He hates seeing them cry.
"Okay. Okay, I'll draw your puppy, okay?" he says, returning to his seat, and fumbling inside his bag for his notebook and a pen.
The girl plops the stuffed toy on the table, on his laptop, probably so Zichen can see his reference properly.
His fingers shake. He's never been good at this. He hates it already, knowing he'll disappoint the little girl--
"I'll draw quickly okay? We have to look for your guardian," he says to the girl, smiling at her in assurance. "Sorry if it's ugly—"
"Not ugly. Puppy is never ugly," the girl says softly, her eyes sad and disappointed at him.
"Okay, okay, sorry," Zichen apologizes, feeling guilty. He gets to work.
He does his best, but it still turns out ugly.
The drawing of the puppy doesn't hold a spark to the artworks he commissioned Nie Huaisang to do.
He almost wants to tear the paper instead of giving it to the kid.
"Sorry, here you go—" he says, bracing himself for the disappointment in her face.
She takes the drawing from him with gentle fingers, as if afraid she'd crease the page he tore from his journal. She looks at Zichen's clumsy rendition of her beloved stuffed puppy.
She says nothing and Zichen waits with bated breath.
"A-QING!"
A tall man holding a large potted plant hurries to them. He looks out of breath, his forehead dotted with perspiration, as he kneels beside the girl, sets the plant on the floor, and wraps his arms around her.
Zichen's mind short-circuits.
All that registers in his head is how beautiful the man looks.
"A-Qing, dear, I've been looking everywhere for you," the man says, his tone a mixture of distressed and relieved. "I was so worried! Don't do that again to gege—"
The girl— A-Qing— seems to have only noticed him. She hands him the drawing and says simply, "Xingchen-ge, it's Puppy."
Xingchen takes the paper and looks at the drawing.
Zichen deflates. Dear lord, he really does hate his drawings.
"A-Qing asked the drawing man to draw it," the girl says, pointing at him.
Xingchen looks at him for the first time and Zichen wants to die from embarrassment.
"Thank you," Xingchen says, standing up, brushing the dust off his trousers. "For this, and well, keeping A-Qing preoccupied. She really likes to run off when I take her out on errands."
"I-it's nothing. I was about to look for you, really, but she was adamant about the drawing," Zichen replies. He wants to apologize for the quality but Xingchen speaks again.
"Oh, yes." His face is soft as he looks down on A-Qing, who's already retrieved the toy.
Xingchen runs his hand through her hair tenderly. "One of the puppies we adopted at the flower shop died this week," he says quietly. "I guess she's not over it yet."
"Oh."
"So thank you for indulging her," Xingchen beams at him.
That smile should be made illegal. Zichen's heart rate skyrockets.
"—ge! Gege!" A-Qing raises her voice to catch their attention, tugging at his sleeve. "I'm thirsty."
"Oh! Oh sorry, I didn't hear you." Is that a blush on Xingchen's cheeks?
Zichen needs another cup of coffee; he must be hallucinating.
Xingchen pauses then turns back to him. "I want to thank you for the drawing. Can I get please get you something?"
Zichen realizes he hasn't introduced himself yet.
"I'm Song Zichen," the words come out of his mouth in a rush. God, he's embarrassing.
Xingchen blushes. "I haven't even introduced myself yet!" He covers his face with both hands then holds one out for Zichen to shake. "I'm Xiao Xingchen. I'm A-Qing's older brother."
The blush on those cheeks is quite fetching and Zichen has to work harder on focusing on more important matters. He takes Xingchen's hand and shakes it.
"So, can I buy you coffee? As thanks?"
And really. How can Zichen say no?
Before he can overthink it, he's agreeing and inviting Xingchen and A-Qing to join him at his table. Xingchen smiles so wide and Zichen has to pretend to clear the stacks of paper from his table so he won't turn blind by that smile.
A-Qing chooses to sit beside Zichen, eager to look at more pictures. Xingchen places the his potted Hyacinth on the table before he leaves for the counter. Zichen catches a whiff of the flowers' sweet scent.
He'll probably regret how sappy it sounds later, but this must be what new beginnings smell like.