Chapter Text
“I’m going to go get some coffee,” Xichen said, standing up from the table abruptly.
Mingjue looked up at him curiously, one eyebrow raised. “Again? I thought you didn’t like coffee.”
“I'm getting the taste for it. And they have some teas and other drinks.” Xichen gave his friend a smile. “Would you like anything?”
“They don’t have actual coffee,” the other man said dismissively before returning to the paper he’d been mulling over for the past half hour. “Don’t take too long.”
“Wangji?” Xichen asked, turning to his brother who hadn’t looked up from his studies.
“Mn,” was the answer he got, along with a quick glance. It was all the answer he needed. He’d known Wangji’s favorite things since the younger brother was born anyway.
Xichen grabbed his wallet from his backpack before pulling his coat on and, with a cheery wave, set off from the library towards the campus coffee shop.
It was quiet this time of day, with a few of the tables occupied by couples or study groups similar to the one he’d just left. There were two workers behind the counter. One was off to the side, chatting with a few girls that had gathered there, the occasional burst of laughter breaking up the monotony of the smooth jazz playing over the speakers.
The other was near the register, an open book in his hand, but his attention was consistently diverted towards his co-worker, sending annoyed glances his way every minute or so. Xichen paused in the doorway for a moment, admiring the man. His hair was tied back and his uniform was over so snug over his shoulders and chest before it tapered down to a slim waist. A model would be jealous of his body, and an angel would be jealous of his face because every inch of it was pure heaven.
Xichen took a deep breath before stepping inside and walking up to the counter. Light grey eyes turn to him, for a moment still holding onto the annoyance directed toward his coworker before softening to something Xichen would dare call happiness. “Hello.”
“Hey, what can I get you today?” Jiang Cheng said with all the smoothness of someone who said the same thing dozens of times every day. His book had been replaced with a marker and his other hand was reaching towards the cups, waiting to know which to grab.
For a moment, Xichen let himself admire those hands before he squinted up at the menu, asking as he always did, “What would you recommend?”
“Are you feeling like coffee or tea today?” Jiang Cheng said in response, as he always did.
“Tea.” Xichen leaned for just a bit, admiring Jiang Cheng’s jawline as he turned to look up at the menu.
Jiang Cheng bit at his lip as he considered for a moment, glancing back at Xichen as if he could decipher some unseen code that would tell him what the ideal drink would be. Or maybe, Xichen hoped, he just wanted to look at Xichen. “Chai latte? Something warm since it’s cold out?”
You could always keep me warm in the cold, Xichen thought to himself, knowing he would never dare to say it. But then again, he had a line prepared this time. “That sounds lovely. Thank you.”
The barista nodded, typing in the orders. “Medium good?” Xichen affirmed yes. “Are you also getting a dragon fruit tea today or no?”
“Yes. Can’t forget Wangji.” Xichen smiled a little wider when he noticed the other worker perk up at the name, doing a double-take before his shoulders slumped a little. Maybe I should send Wangji on a drinks run one of these times. But then he would miss out on Jiang Cheng ogling time.
Unless he could see him outside of the coffee shop.
As Xichen paid, Jiang Cheng wrote the order and the name down for the dragon fruit tea and passed it off to Wuxian almost without looking before he grabbed the other cup. “Name?”
It surprised Xichen that even after weeks of him coming in, of always asking for Jiang Cheng to order something for him, he always asked for his name. It made him wonder if he was waiting to hear something else.
And today might be his chance to actually hear it.
Xichen took a deep breath before evenly saying, “867-5309.”
Jiang Cheng nodded, the marker moving swiftly across the cup. He reached the zero before he stopped blinking. “That’s a phone number.”
“Yeah. Mine. Call me?” He remembered to wink and hoped that it wasn’t as stiff as it had felt when he’d practiced it the night before in front of his mirror.
Wuxian moved behind him, setting down the completed dragon fruit tea order and grabbing the cup Jiang Cheng had been writing on from his hand and began fixing the drink. Jiang Cheng blinked at Xichen, his empty hand and marker still held aloft.
“Call you?”
Xichen’s heart twisted in his chest at the question. Had he overestimated everything? Had he gone too far too soon and ruined it? “Um, yeah. If you—you know, if you want.” He could feel the heat rising in his neck and burning his ears.
Jiang Cheng was still staring at him. Xichen could see the shock written clearly across his face, though the other emotions he was far less sure about. They watched each other for what seemed like an eternity, both struggling to find the orders to break the tension.
It was Wuxian, in the end, who did so. He placed the steaming chai latte next to the dragon fruit tea. “There you go, Xichen. Have a great day!”
“Thanks.” With one final glance at Jiang Cheng, he grabbed the two drinks and fled the coffee shop.