Chapter Text
“I don’t understand why I have to be here.” Xiao attempted to rub the fatigue out of his eyes as he gazed upwards at the glaring red “Xinyue Kiosk” sign on the building before him. Behind him, the car door shut as Zhongli followed him out onto the curb.
“It won’t be so bad,” Zhongli soothed, as he straightened the cuffs of his suit and his tie. He waved the driver goodbye before turning back to Xiao and continuing. “Ajax and I have been here quite a few times before. I think you’ll find the menu to be suitable to your taste.”
Xiao frowned slightly, his brow furrowing. “It’s not the food I’m concerned about, though I’m not sure that recommendation says very much. That friend of yours will eat anything.”
“Not everyone is as particular as you are with your culinary preferences,” Zhongli teased, chuckling lightly. Then he paused, pressing his lips together in a small frown. “And Ajax is not my friend. He is my fiance.”
Xiao pretended not to hear this correction.
“Come. Ms. Ningguang has been looking forward to this dinner for months now.”
Ah, yes. His true concern lied not in the taste of the food, but in the fact that this dinner was one that Ningguang had not shut up about since April. As if he didn’t have enough work on his plate already these days. Xiao’s scowl only deepened as he loosened the collar of his black dress shirt. The late afternoon sun felt unusually hot for early September, yet he’d trade the stuffiness outside for the oppressive atmosphere he was about to face inside the kiosk in a heartbeat. He was about to retort that nothing Ningguang looked forward to had ever been anything short of being “bad” when Zhongli pressed a firm hand against his back and swiftly ushered him inside.
It was probably the nicest, most expensive restaurant Xiao had ever set foot in, which was actually saying quite a lot. Towards the back of the private second floor of the kiosk, they found Ningguang sitting down at a large, round table, her glistening white-blonde hair matching perfectly with the pearlescent silk table cloth. As he followed Zhongli and the restaurant host leading them, Xiao watched as she spun the lazy susan so that the freshly poured cups of tea stopped squarely in front of the foreign woman sitting beside her.
“...supposed to be competitors, but Amber is actually such a huge fan. You should’ve seen the way she was gushing over Ganyu’s fancam from last year’s Teyvat Music Awards,” the foreign woman had been saying.
“I could say the very same,” Ningguang said, smiling the same plastic smile that she always reserved for her investors and business partners, the same one that made Xiao’s gut twist upon sight. “I can assure you that no one streams Aristotle’s music videos more than Hu Tao does.
“I’m so sorry Ms. Beidou couldn’t make it tonight, but I’ve arranged it so that you could meet with her as soon as tomorrow morning,” Ningguang continued, as she reached her elegantly gloved hand forward to deliver the foreign woman a cup of tea. “We’re all very, very excited for this… Ah, you’re here.”
She interrupted herself as Xiao and Zhongli reached their table. Both she and the foreign woman stood up politely from where they sat as they made their introductions.
“This is Mr. Zhongli, Jade Chamber Entertainment’s VP of Strategy,” she pronounced, and Zhongli gave the woman a polite nod as he reached forward to shake her hand, exchanging polite words of salutation.
“And this...” Xiao thought he caught a warning flash in Ningguang’s eye in the brief instant that she turned towards him before her “business” smile was plastered back on as she spun around to face the woman. “This is Alatus.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” the foreign woman smiled as she reached forward to shake his hand. Like Ningguang, she was tall, blonde, and carried herself with a sense of authority, but there was a much softer look in her blue eyes that rarely (if ever) shown in Ningguang’s red ones, and Xiao immediately liked her much better—though it didn’t exactly take much for him to like anyone better than Ningguang.
“This lovely woman is Ms. Gunnhildr of Favonius Entertainment,” Ningguang told them, gesturing politely towards the foreign woman.
Favonius Entertainment. Xiao bit his cheek, his insides filling with apprehension as he tried to recall what he knew about Favonius. To his knowledge of the music industry, they were one of the largest entertainment companies in Mondstadt, known primarily for their idols and idol groups. Most notably, they were known for representing the ridiculously popular idol singer Barbatos, but they also had Aristotle, that Mondstatian girl group that was all the rage in Liyue at the moment, and that boy group named… Knights? Knightship? Knight-something. He couldn’t remember. It wasn’t like he had any interest in idols in the first place.
And Ningguang knew this very, very well, which was why he still didn’t understand why she wanted him of all people here at their meeting with Ms. Gunnhildr, and frankly, no explanation that Xiao could come up with was one that he wanted to hear.
“Please, call me Jean,” Jean Gunnhildr insisted, as they all took their seats around the table. Three empty seats remained, and as he stared at the one beside him, that dreadful feeling of apprehension within him only grew.
He swished the rock sugar around in his tea as Jean, Ningguang, and Zhongli fell into polite small talk. Must-try restaurants in Liyue… funny mishaps with their idol groups… Zhongli’s upcoming wedding (“Congratulations!”)... and whatever else he ended up tuning out. His eyelids were feeling quite heavy as he wondered how soon he could excuse himself out of there without coming off as too impolite. Winter comeback season was approaching rapidly, and his agent, Verr Goldet, seemed to have found him more work than ever this year. These sorts of industry talks and networking events were simply the worst. Nothing felt more draining than putting on a likeable persona just to “connect" with people (though it wasn’t like he was exactly bothering with that to begin with).
He suspected that the reason Ningguang wanted to meet with Jean Gunnhildr in the first place was to get a partnership going with Favonius Entertainment to help promote JCE’s girl group, DPS, in Mondstadt—something that Ganyu had briefly mentioned to him not long before (though he couldn’t figure out how this had anything to do with him)—but Ningguang was certainly taking her sweet, sweet time with getting to that topic of conversation, and Zhongli wasn’t exactly helping either. As their menus were opened, he had launched into one of his long, lecture-like spiels on the history and cultural significance of potato shrimp platters and matsutake meat rolls and whatever other appetizers Ningguang had ordered for the table.
Zhongli… If not for all that he owed him, Xiao wouldn’t have even bothered dragging himself out to such a dreary meeting in the first place.
“You’ve been quiet, Alatus,” Ningguang mirthlessly mused (it sounded suspiciously like a threat), as the waiter collected their menus and refilled their tea. “Tiring day?”
“Hm?” Xiao looked up to meet three pairs of eyes that had all suddenly turned on him. His skin prickled uncomfortably from the sudden attention. “Something like that,” he muttered, lifting his tea to his lips to take a sip, signaling his refusal to take part in whatever pointless dialogue she was trying to get him to partake in. He thought he saw Ningguang glare at him out of the corner of his eye before pivoting back to face Jean.
“I do hope you’re feeling alright yourself. Have you had any difficulties adjusting to jet lag?” Ningguang asked.
“Oh, of course! You know how it is in this industry,” Jean said, laughing lightly. “It’s not like I get much sleep on the regular anyway. Barbatos, though... He’s been knocked out all afternoon.”
“I see he hasn’t changed much,” Zhongli muttered in amusement. “It’ll be good to see him again after so long.”
“Speaking of, I hope they haven’t run into any issues?” Ningguang spoke politely, but Xiao could sense that the concern in her voice was real—though, there was no doubt in his mind that there was a different reason behind her worry besides simply caring for some random idol’s wellbeing. “If there’s a problem regarding their transportation, perhaps I could call a few cars to check in on them?”
But Jean only shook her head in response, looking slightly abashed. “No need to worry. I’m terribly sorry that they’re running so late—”
“It’s no problem at all. Traffic at the harbor is known to be atrocious at this hour.”
“I received a message from Ms. Lisa several minutes ago. I’m truly sorry for making you all wait. They should be arriving any minute now...”
Only moments after the words came out of her mouth did they hear footsteps approaching from the stairs below.
“Yo.”
Even Xiao turned his head in the direction of the new voice. From across the room, the host was leading three new arrivals towards the direction of their table. In the front was a tall, fit man with tanned skin and stylized navy hair. He looked as if he had just returned from a photo shoot, which—judging by the makeup on his face that Xiao could see as he drew closer—he probably had. A tall, mature-looking young woman dressed in a purple blouse and pencil skirt followed him, and behind her followed the one he recognized as the idol singer Barbatos.
Xiao followed as Ningguang, Zhongli, and Jean all stood up from the table to greet the newcomers. Kaeya Alberich, he learned, was the name of the tall, blue-haired model, and he actually had just returned from a shoot he had as a newly appointed ambassador for the luxury perfume brand, Scent of Spring. The woman that had followed him was his manager, Lisa, and as for Barbatos…
“I’m Ningguang, current CEO of JCE—Jade Chamber Entertainment. It’s a pleasure to meet you at last,” Ningguang said, her plastic “business” smile making its comeback as she shook his hand. “We’re all such huge fans, and Mr. Zhongli has had nothing but good things to say about his time with you back in university.”
“Oh really?” Barbatos gave a sly grin as he tilted his head, eyeing Zhongli from the side. “I don’t believe that for a minute,” he chuckled.
He wasn’t sure how he would’ve described his first impression of Barbatos—if it even counted as a first impression to begin with. Certainly, the idol singer gave off a very familiar aura, though Xiao supposed that was only natural given how many ads and news articles starring him were shoved in his face on a daily basis. Even next to someone like Kaeya Alberich, he stood out strikingly in his own way despite his much shorter physique. As he animatedly spoke, the twin braids in his hair bounced lightly against the deep green cardigan he had thrown over his white button-up. He looked exactly how you’d expect an idol to look. Perfect skin. Perfectly dark hair. Certainly not like someone who had been “knocked out all afternoon” and had been just woken up and dragged out to some pretentious dinner meeting. Of course. He had to keep his image perfect.
Xiao felt sick.
“Ms. Ningguang is prone to exaggeration,” Zhongli replied, and Xiao was amused to see Ningguang glaring daggers into the back of Zhongli’s head for a change, but Barbatos only grinned broadly in response.
“Good to see you again, you old man.”
“As charming as ever, you are.”
“Alatus,” Xiao said, bringing his arms out from behind his back and introducing himself as it became his turn for the obligatory handshake with each of the three. Kaeya Alberich’s eyes lit up.
“Kazuha’s producer,” he recognized.
“That’s correct.”
“So you’re Alatus,” his manager Lisa mused, her bright pink lipstick curling upwards from name recognition as she smiled at him. “My, is everyone at JCE this good-looking? I would’ve guessed that you and Zhongli were both celebrities yourselves.”
“Right? I assumed you were both models or something,” Kaeya chuckled as he shot them a wink. (At least Xiao thought it was a wink. It was kind of hard to tell if it was a wink or a blink when Kaeya’s side swept bangs hid one of his eyes.)
“You’re keeping talent like this hidden in production, Ms. Ningguang? Debut them already,” Lisa teased, and the others all laughed, Ningguang sounding more strained than usual.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, Xiao averted his eyes, stomach clenching. He didn’t bother trying to hide his discomfort at the compliment. This was exactly what was wrong with this industry these days. “Talent”? All she had been referring to was their looks. He felt Zhongli’s hand pat him softly on the shoulder.
“I’m Barbatos,” the idol suddenly cut in, elbowing a chuckling Kaeya out of the way as he stuck his hand out. His round eyes crinkled as he smiled friendly at him. “I’ve heard a lot of your work, and I really like it. I’m a big fan.”
His eyes were a shocking green, which for some reason Xiao didn’t expect them to be. Xiao nodded at his comment, but he didn’t say anything in response. To return the statement would be a lie. It was near impossible to avoid Barbatos’s tunes when they were blasted in practically every shopping mall in Liyue, but he couldn’t listen to that sort of overly-manufactured, generic pop music without it leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. In fact, just the fact that the idol singer was at this meeting in the first place was already leaving him with a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach. There was absolutely no way Ningguang could be up to any good.
Perhaps Barbatos was actually a nice person. Perhaps Barbatos actually had some smidge of talent and individuality left under all those layers of image-crafting and micromanaging.
But it didn’t matter, and he was sorry that it didn’t, but as far as Xiao was concerned, he wanted nothing to do with his sort.
They took their seats at the table, Barbatos taking the empty one on Xiao’s right. In the time that they had made their introductions, two waiters had returned with their first starting round of soups and dishes. He could feel Barbatos’s legs bouncing beside him in excitement, as he stared around at the delicacies on the lazy susan before him. As Zhongli stood up and began dividing and scooping the bamboo shoot soup for the table, he recounted tales from his university days abroad in Sumeru where he had met Barbatos, a newly arrived freshman at the time, through a music club he had then been the president of when he was in his senior year—this was before Barbatos dropped out to prepare for his debut, of course. The idol chimed in with his own tales every once in a while, as did Ningguang with her polite laughter and tactful flattery. The conversation was friendly. Zhongli looked like he was enjoying his time.
But the longer Xiao stayed there, the more his distaste for it all grew.
He hated all the warming-up and fabricated small talk. The time-wasters. These corporate people always seemed to focus more on impressions than on the actual substance that it was built for, leaving the actual work for everyone else to do while they socialized. What point was there in trying so hard to appease each other? What point was there in faking it? They were all only here to use one another anyways.
So what was it this time?
It was Jean Gunnhildr who finally spoke up, after much, much too long. “Well, I suppose we should start discussing what we actually all came here for.”
From next to her, Ningguang’s back straightened to attention, and Zhongli set down his tea. Lisa smiled at the two of them as she folded her hands politely before her. As Xiao set down his chopsticks, he found himself letting out a sigh.
Barbatos turned to look at him in surprise, which he supposed was warranted. Xiao had hardly spoken a word all evening since their introduction, and Barbatos looked as if he wanted to say something to him when Ningguang interrupted.
“Oh, yes, of course. So regarding DPS…”
Jean nodded as she smiled politely. “We would love to work with DPS and their promotions in Mondstadt.”
Ningguang immediately beamed, but her smile started to waver as Jean continued. “However…”
She cleared her throat, “Our artists at Favonius have had relatively little promotions here in Liyue themselves—”
“Yet they’re doing so well in terms of popularity,” Ningguang interjected. “Both Barbatos and Aristotle have been charting extremely well despite the lack of promotions—”
“Oh, absolutely, but Liyue has such a huge market for music and entertainment that we’ve hardly yet to… Well…”
That they’ve hardly yet to exploit, Xiao grimaced as he completed Jean’s statement internally in his head. Typical of these big companies. Always putting money above everything else. It should hardly be a surprise to him that Favonius was no better than Jade Chamber after all.
“That we’ve hardly yet to deliver for,” Barbatos chimed in for her from beside him. “I haven’t had a concert or a fan-meeting of any sort in Liyue in the past three years.” Xiao scoffed to himself, as he wondered how much of that politically correct statement Barbatos actually meant. He was unfortunately not discreet enough in doing so, and Barbatos frowned a little at his reaction. Luckily, however, Ningguang didn’t seem to notice.
“I understand,” she replied silkily, “If it’s a partner that you’re looking for to handle your Liyue promotions, then Jade Chamber would be more than happy to work with you in that aspect.”
“Absolutely,” Zhongli agreed. “Which of your artists are you looking to promote here?”
“Oh,” Jean straightened up in her seat. “Barbatos’s last two comebacks had seen some pretty high digital sales in Liyue even with little to no promotion here, so we’re looking to give back to the fans with a Liyue-centered comeback this time.”
‘Give back to the fans’? This bullshit corporate lingo. Xiao was starting to feel worse and worse about all this. He crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair, ignoring the unhappy side glances that both Barbatos and Jean were now sending his way. It was a good thing that Ningguang was looking a little too panicked now to notice because she probably would’ve murdered him right then and there.
“Well,” Jean was starting to fidget a bit in her seat now. A kinder person than Xiao would’ve cooled off with the glare he was now sending in her direction, but he didn’t. “We all really liked Alatus’s songs that he’s produced for Kazuha and Ms. Beidou—and they all charted very, very well. He seems to understand what the people of Liyue want musically, so we were wondering… if he’d be interested in working with us for Barbatos’s Liyue comeback as well.”
There was a period of silence as Jean’s voice trailed off into nothingness. Xiao was very much aware that the chillness in the room was caused by his lack of response, but he said nothing, only quietly reaching to refill his tea, ignoring the anticipating stares of everyone at the table.
No, it did not bother him that Barbatos was sitting right next to him.
Finally, after much awkward tension, Zhongli let out a slow exhale. “Well, what do you think?” But Xiao could tell from the tone of his voice that Zhongli already knew his answer.
And Ningguang must have too, because before he could verbally respond, she rushingly announced, “I’m sure Alatus would be—”
“No pressure, of course!” Barbatos chirped, sounding contrastingly cheerful to the tense atmosphere. “Don’t worry if—”
“Oh, no, not at all,” Ningguang cut in. “It’s really no issue for hi—”
“It’s late notice, and I know we’re kind of springing it up on—”
“The timing we can alw—”
“No,” Xiao finally spoke, setting down his teacup with a thud, shutting down the conversation. From across the table, Kaeya Alberich let out a low whistle.
“Alatus,” Ningguang called. She took a very slow and very deep breath. A threatening storm brewed in her red eyes. “I’m sure this is an opportunity that you can at least consider—”
“I’ve considered it,” he replied coolly. “And my answer is no.” He stood up, pushing in his seat, ignoring the pink that decorated Jean’s cheeks, the daggers that Ningguang was now staring into him, the impressed look in Kaeya’s eyes, the surprise in Lisa’s, and the concern in Zhongli’s, but it was what only looked like a mix of confusion and maybe hurt in Barbatos’s eyes that made him hesitate, if only for half a second.
For that half a second, maybe he felt guilty. Maybe he felt that he was being too harsh. He was most certainly being too rude. But it didn’t matter. This was not something that Xiao was willing to compromise on.
Not ever.
“If you’ll excuse me, I have some work that I must return to. Thank you for the meal,” he directed at Ningguang, as he turned on his heel and headed for the exit.
He was just beginning to push past the heavy front doors of the restaurant when he heard a steady set of footsteps follow behind him. Xiao paused in his step, letting the doors close in his face in front of him, but he couldn’t bring himself to turn around and face Zhongli.
“Xiao,” Zhongli called as he drew level with him.
“You knew,” he found himself swallowing a lump in his throat. “You knew, didn’t you?”
Zhongli hesitated before responding. “They knew we had connections. I knew only that the representative from Favonius Entertainment had specifically agreed to discuss DPS’s partnership under the condition that they were given the chance to meet with you.”
He scoffed, turning his head away from Zhongli’s gaze. “I’d say that was enough for you to guess.”
“Yes,” Zhongli admitted, his voice surprisingly quiet. “Yes, I had guessed what their intentions were.”
“And yet you brought me here to meet with them anyway?”
“Because I think you're only holding yourself back like this, and I wanted you to at least consider it.” Ridiculous. He must be kidding himself. But when Xiao finally turned to meet Zhongli’s eyes, it was a serious expression that adorned his stone face.
Xiao sighed, closing his eyes as he crossed his arms and leaned against the front door of the kiosk. “What is there to consider? We’ve had this conversation, and I’ve made my feelings on idols clear. I want no association with anything of that sort—”
“I don’t think—”
“I’m sorry if this disappoints you, Zhongli,” he said, and he was. After all that Zhongli had done for him, it did guilt Xiao to let him down like this. “I know he’s a friend of yours, but I can’t do this. And I won’t.”
There was a brief pause. It was so silent in the kiosk he could hear his heart pound. From beside him, Zhongli let out a gentle sigh. “Xiao, I know it’s—”
“It’s not,” he snapped, more aggressively than he meant to. His chest clenched as he gnashed his teeth together. “Forget it. This is between me and Jean… and Ningguang and Barbatos or whatever.”
“Then why is it that you won’t at least give him a chance?” Zhongli demanded, more firmly this time, as his amber eyes bore into him.
“...You know how it is,” Xiao mumbled, after a period of silence. He turned back around so that he was facing the closed doors. “They’re fake. Worthless. It’s the same every time. Everything about them is just a well-fabricated lie. The whole profession should just be done away with.
“And people call them artists? There’s nothing artistic about a manufactured product.” He pushed open the door. The night had chilled, and the fresh breeze that flitted through the open door cooled his skin. Sounds of the evening traffic echoed about into the kiosk. “The way they’re nearly all that’s left of the music scene now is disgusting. And if you ask me, the industry is better off without them.”
Ignoring the voice of protest from beside him, Xiao let the heavy door shut itself behind him as he exited the kiosk and stepped out into the night.
If not for the fact that he hadn’t realized that he and Zhongli were not the only listeners in on their conversation, perhaps he would’ve changed his choice of words.