Work Text:
The coffee shop bustled with too much action for a Monday morning. Xue Yang couldn’t help stifling a yawn every other second, causing A-Qing to look at him disapprovingly. He just stuck his tongue out at her, it wasn’t his fault he was tired at ass-o-clock in the morning.
The first part of his shift was spent hanging up tacky Halloween decorations for A-Qing, though, which wasn’t too terrible. And he liked Halloween, and was really sad they weren’t allowed to wear their costumes on Halloween next week. He washed his hands after coming back inside, finally done with all the decorating. He wondered if he could somehow convince A-Qing to let them dress up, maybe offer to owe her more favors or more morning shifts…
“Excuse me?” Someone at the counter called tentatively, knocking Xue Yang out of his scheming and back to the present. He blew some hair out of his face, walking up to the register while looking in his apron for a Sharpie.
“Hi, what can I get for you?” Xue Yang asked, looking up at quite possibly the prettiest man he had ever seen in his life. His jaw dropped slightly, freezing in place. Of course the day he looks the messiest he’s ever been is the day he meets a fucking model, for fucks sake!
“Can you surprise me?” The man asked, a faint embarrassed blush across his cheeks. Xue Yang nodded frantically, trying to make his mouth work.
“Of course! Any allergies I should know about? And what size?” He could feel A-Qing’s eyes on him and winced as he realized he would definitely be getting made fun of after this.
“No allergies, and a medium will be fine. Thank you.” The man looked relieved.
“Of course, can I get a name for the order?” Xue Yang asked, grabbing a medium cup and palming his Sharpie.
“Xiao Xingchen.” He—Xiao Xingchen—answers with a smile.
“Alright,” Xue Yang smiled, “We’ll get your drink out to you shortly.” The man nodded and slowly made his way to one of the tables. Something about it was familiar about the way he navigated, but he couldn’t place his finger on it. He shrugged, whatever.
He wrote the man’s name on the cup. After a second of thinking, he jotted down his number right under it. He mentally pat himself on the back. And was a little grateful A-Qing would not see this embarrassing way of trying to get a boyfriend.
Sadly, Xue Yang had to take care of the next customer and didn’t even get to see the pretty man pick up his drink. But the rest of his shift, he kept looking at his phone for any new notifications and was always disappointed. By the end of the night, he figured the other man simply wasn’t interested and gave up.
The next day at work, he was less tired considering he had a later shift. A little more sleep did wonders, he swore. Not to mention there weren’t as many customers that day compared to the day before.
The bell above the door rang out, announcing a new customer. Xue Yang instantly turned on “customer-friendly” mode but faltered a bit seeing the man from yesterday, accompanied by a dog. His face turned pink at the reminder of yesterday’s failure but he didn’t bring it up.
“Hello, welcome back!” Xue Yang greeted. The man’s mouth widened before he smiled.
“Hello, I remember you.” Xiao Xingchen said. Xue Yang chuckled.
“Considering it was only yesterday, I would hope so.” Xue Yang teased, before his face dropped. Here he was, flirting with the man who had already rejected him. Shit. But Xiao Xingchen just laughed.
“By the way, what’s your name?” Xiao Xingchen asked, a tone of genuine curiosity accompanying the words. Xue Yang was confused, he had his nametag on, right? But he answered anyways.
“Xue Yang. What can we get you today? Another surprise?” He asked with a smile. The other man nodded.
“That sounds nice, I liked the one yesterday.” Xiao Xingchen smiled softly.
“I’m glad! Would you be interested in a pup cup for your friend here, as well? No pressure.” Xue Yang asked. The man thought for a second.
“Sure, I didn’t realize this place had any.” Xiao Xingchen reached down to scratch his dog behind their ears. Xue Yang smiled, though he did dwell on him not reading the menu because he was sure it was up there.
“Of course, your total will be $6.46.” He watched the other man pull out his card, swiping it quickly. “There you go, we’ll have your order out in a bit.” Instead of going to sit down, Xiao Xingchen decided to stay by the counter. Seeing as it was just Xue Yang in the front for right now, he was the one making his drink this time.
“So, do you like working here?” The man sparked up a conversation. Xue Yang hummed a bit.
“Sometimes, the early shifts are hell though. Especially with pulling all-nighters for classes.” He chuckled, “I get to meet a lot of interesting people, though.”
“Do you find me interesting, Xue Yang?” Xiao Xingchen asked, smiling softly. Xue Yang chuckled.
“Of course, I did give you my number after all.” Xue Yang replied back flirtily before paling and realizing what he said.
“Huh?” Xiao Xingchen asked.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up, I realize you didn’t text the number so I shouldn’t have pushed it…” He trailed off, looking down.
“Oh…” The man mumbles. Xue Yang’s heart drops and he throws his hands out as if in defense.
“Don’t worry about it, I’m sorry if I freaked you out!” Xue Yang said immediately.
“No, no, that’s not it. The thing is, my vision is not what it used to be,” Xiao Xingchen admitted with an awkward chuckle, “I’m blind, I simply couldn’t see your number. I’m very sorry.”
Xue Yang’s mouth formed an O shape. It made a lot of sense, Xiao Xingchen asking him to surprise him, being very careful navigating when he hadn’t had what Xue Yang assumed was his service dog, and the name tag thing. He felt terrible.
“It’s okay! I didn’t realize, I’m sorry.” Xue Yang said, fidgeting with his Sharpie.
“If you’d still like to give it to me, I’d love your number, still.” Xiao Xingchen says, pulling out his phone from his pocket. He used the voice commands to open his contacts, before turning the phone to him. Xue Yang almost collapsed out of pure shock.
“Really?” He blurted out. The other man giggled at his tone.
“Absolutely.” Xue Yang nodded before remembering.
“Of course you can have it. My number, I mean. Yes, of course.” He quickly took the phone and created a new contact, typing his phone number in with trembling fingers. He handed it back with a smile.
“I’m excited to receive your text, Xue Yang.” Xiao Xingchen smiled before taking ahold of his dog’s leash and heading out of the coffee shop.
Xue Yang slumped against the counter with a dreamy sigh. Suddenly, he was hit in the head with a broom.
“Get back to work, lover boy!”