Chapter Text
Song Credits:
Accidentally In Love by KiD RAiN
I think about it every time I think about it
Can't stop thinking 'bout it
How much longer will it take to cure this?
Cheng Xiaoshi slowed. The soft singing pulled at him like the ocean’s tide, stirring emotions up within his soul.
Where was it coming from? Who was singing so early in the morning?
Just to cure it 'cause I can't ignore it if it's love
It makes me wanna turn around and face me
But I don't know nothing 'bout love, ooh
…Maybe he should get up earlier more often. He hadn’t wanted to come this early, but Qiao Ling had insisted this was urgent. He would never tell her he was grateful, but maybe he was.
Come on, come on, turn a little faster
Come on, come on, the world will follow after
Come on, come on, 'cause everybody's after love
He spun in slow circles, taking in the sound, trying to determine where it came from. It was the prettiest voice he’d ever heard, and he was going to find out who it belonged to, even if it killed him to try.
So I said, "I'm a snowball runnin'"
Runnin' down into the spring that's coming all this love
Melting under blue skies, belting out sunlight shimmering love
He stopped in front of a small shop, tucked away in a corner. Porcelain Voce. The music drifted under the doorway, softly bleeding into the halls of the shopping center. Lulling and peacefully dangerous.
Well baby, I surrender to the strawberry ice cream
Never, ever end of all this love
Well, I didn't mean to do it
But there's no escaping your love, ooh
He could sink into this sound. Let the melody ruin him, flood into his lungs. Drown within its beauty. His fingers felt foreign, detached, as he reached for the door handle.
So come on, come on, turn a little faster
Come on, come on, the world will follow after
Come on, come on, 'cause everybody's after love
The door swung open and the singing stopped to the chime of a small bell.
Cheng Xiaoshi blinked at the man behind the counter. He was as gorgeous as his voice. He felt his face flush, and he quickly glanced away. Wait, were his eyes blue? His head whipped back around quick enough to give him whiplash— no, they’re grey. He cleared his throat. “Good morning.”
The shopkeeper nodded back, seemingly unphased by Cheng Xiaoshi’s… whatever that was. “Good morning.”
He stood in the doorway, keeping up his awkward eye contact. It wasn’t until the man shifted that he realized what he was doing. That he needed to move.
He took a quick step into the store, letting the door swing shut behind him, the bell chiming once more. His swallow felt too loud in the eerie atmosphere, the echos of emotions drawn out by that unearthly voice rippling in the air.
Pottery. He was in a pottery shop. He needed to… buy some pottery.
Cheng Xiaoshi moved his mouth into what he hoped was a sincere, non-assuming smile. Normally, he was fine. Normally, people were fine. Small groups were fine, he had no problems. But this man, his voice, his eyes —
He moved through the shelves of cups, plates, and vases. He was not fine. Had he really just come into a pottery shop because he heard someone singing?
Well, yeah, the sound had been heavenly. And the man it belonged to? He swallowed again.
But what was he going to buy? He didn’t need any plates. And it wasn’t like he could just walk out. He had already stood in the doorway and stared for far too long for it to be normal. The last thing he needed was for this majestic man to think he was a creep.
He rounded the corner of a shelf. Qiao Ling wasn’t going to be very pleased if he wasted his whole day here, looking at pottery. His eyes snagged on the front desk. There were a bunch of small, porcelain trinkets in a glass case.
He didn’t need one, but anything was better than coming home with a random (expensive, he noticed) plate. He could feel the shopkeeper’s eyes on him as he admired the objects in the case.
A bunny, a kitten, a dog. Butterflies and flowers, a camera, an owl. A handful of random objects, each for four dollars and ninety-nine cents. They weren’t like the vases or the fine china and cups. There was something about them, something that gave them a spark of life.
“Could I get the dog?” He looked up to meet the other man’s eyes. They were deeper up close. Like they could swallow him whole.
He pulled the dog out of the display and deftly wrapped it in what Cheng Xiaoshi assumed was paper. “Anything else?”
“Uhm, no. That will be all.”
“Four ninety-nine.”
He fished a five-dollar bill out of his pocket and placed it on the counter. “You can keep the change.”
There wasn’t even a hint of a smile as the dog was placed inside a brown paper bag and slid over to him. “Have a nice day.”
“Thanks,” his heart settling in his gut, he waved, and the door swung shut behind him.
Lu Guang sighed, placing his head in his hands on the counter.
He hadn’t even noticed he’d been singing. But that didn’t change the fact that he was reckless, and he was caught. He should have been more cautious, kept himself better in check. He knew it wasn’t safe to sing, even that early in the morning. Just his luck that someone was there the one time he slipped up.
He massaged the bridge of his nose. It was okay. It was fine. He’d been entranced, that much was clear, but it wasn’t like he would come back. Nobody ever came back.
It wasn’t like it mattered.
And he would never do it again.